#i put sasha too low goddamn it

[aritamargarita]

It's okay we still have our women wrestlers*

(*Fabulous Moolah not included)

thats true i love my ladies!!!!!! they'll never do me wrong EVER! I HAVE FAITH IN THEM!!!

i made this just for this post.

[chxna-cheeseycake]

I feel like talking more about my Dante and Gene Swap AU but this time I will just mainly write out some quick hcs and shit because I don't feel like writing long paragraphs rn lmao. Anyways, enjoy my silly thoughts under the cut!

-Gene's hair is pretty long because he was technically homeless for awhile and didn't have much money so he didn't really have the means to cut it. Same thing goes for the stumble on his face.

-He actually starts liking his long hair though so it's chill with him. Most of the time he just throws it in a low ponytail and calls it a day.

-But Aphmau, Nana and/or Cadenza insist on styling from time to time so he just lets them have their fun. Gene does like the hairstyles they do for him so he appreciates it.

-Naoko (aka Nekoette) does the same thing for him post 15 year time skip which Gene finds really adorable and sweet <3

-Also I just want to make it clear that Gene will not be the father of Naoko and Dmitri cuz I just don't think it really fits with where I want to take this AU

-So Naoko's dad abandons her and Nana when Naoko was a baby while Dmitri's dad actually does die before he was born.

-However, Gene does act like a father figure to the both of them and even helps Nana co-parent Naoko after Naoko's father leaves. Gene and Nana remain as friends though and that's it. No romance here peeps sorry not sorry.

-Gene and Nicole are also just friends but they're friendship gets ruined after they get into a heated argument regarding Nicole leaving for Scaleswind. It'll take a long while for them to resolve this issue of theirs and reconcile.

-During the 15 year time skip when people started coming back to Phoenix Drop to rebuild the village, Gene is very hesitant to take the role of head guard even though the other villagers want him too.

-To be fair the last time he was head guard of a village things didn't go so well...

-So yeah, Gene has a good reason to not really want to take the position of head guard. But he then he starts thinking about how the people of Phoenix Drop need someone to protect them. How Levin, who will soon become a lord, will need a head guard to serve and protect him by his side.

-Only then does Gene decide to take on the role of head guard because people need him and he wants to once and for all prove that he is once more worthy to be dubbed a head guard.

-It's a daunting task of course and past trauma keeps making Gene terrified that he'll mess up again and put his newfound family in great danger. He needs some reassurance that he's doing great at his job and eventually he does realize that he's good enough and makes an excellent head guard.

-Nana tells him that Dante would definitely be proud of the person Gene has become which makes him tear up but with like happy tears of course.

-This AU can be pretty much summed up as Gene getting a redemption arc (that's also written a bit better too cuz that redemption arc in Mystreet... def needs a little work is all I'm saying oof).

-But speaking of Dante, I finally figured out what I'm going to do with him in this AU!!

-I decided to just go all the way with the swapping and make him come back as a Shadow Knight. But since Shadow Knights don't age if they died (at least that's what I recall anyways) Dante here is still like 12 years old when he becomes one.

-Which is very fucking hilarious if you ask me because Dante will be Shad's right hand man like canon Gene so imagine being a Shadow Knight and having a middle schooler be your superior lmao.

-Sasha was absolutely floored by this when she woke up in the Nether as a freshly born Shadow Knight, learning that this literal child is the goddamn general of the Shadow Lord's army.

-Though she still respects him despite the wacky age difference between them lol.

-Also Big Sis Sasha moments because she knows in her heart that this kid definitely went through some shit if he ended up as a Shadow Knight. So even if Dante recoils at the thought of vulnerability, Sasha treats him like a little brother at times and gives him some comfort here and there when it's clear that the kid is especially stressed out.

-Sasha often wonders why Shad decided to turn a whole child into a Shadow Knight in the first place. And a part of her, the old her buried deep within, finds this whole thing disgusting but it's hard to notice with how buried said feeling is.

-Now why did Shad bring Dante back as a Shadow Knight even though he was just a little guy? Obviously because he was in a silly goofy mood duh.

-Nah but seriously, the reason why he did that was because he saw some sort of potential in Dante's restless spirit. He thought that the boy would be naive and therefore easy to manipulate. All he had to do was change up some of the kid's memories and he would have an excellent soldier by his side.

-So Shad messed with Dante's memories and made the kid believe that his older brother purposefully murdered him and had no remorse in doing so. This greatly upset Dante and so Shad took this as his chance to encourage Dante to get revenge on Gene and convinced the kiddo that he could do that by becoming a great and powerful Shadow Knight.

-Dante agreed as he felt such intense hatred towards Gene now and would do whatever it takes to enact vengeance against his big bro. Eventually, Dante became such a good Shadow Knight that Shad made the little dude the general of his army. He also saw Dante as his son so Dante highkey gets special privileges that other Shadow Knights don't.

-Those special privileges turned Dante into a spoiled brat so if people don't listen to him or if things don't go his way, he gets very fucking pissed which is def not good as he is no ordinary bratty kid. We're talking about a kid with Shadow Knight abilities that allow him to slaughter several people in the matter of seconds if he so chooses. He's general for a reason so it's best to keep him happy or else you'll certainly be dealing with a ticking time bomb.

-Would it be correct for me to say that Dante is a demon hellspawn child because that's pretty much what he is.

-And then there's Gene who's a sad, angsty and disheveled heap of a man which makes this AU almost perfect in my eyes lol.

-I don't remember if this is 100% canon or not but I think Shadow Knights can shapeshift to some extent because I remember Zenix doing something like that in S1. But anyways, I bring this up because Dante absolutely uses this power of his to make himself at least a little taller cuz dying at 12 meant that he never got to have any growth spurt so he died short (big L moment lmao).

-He does this mostly because he hates being so short but it's also because he wants to make himself look a bit older as there have been quite the few instances of newbie Shadow Knights not treating him with respect because of his age.

-For reference, Dante was like 5'1-5'2 when he died but he uses his shapeshifting abilities to make himself appear closer to 5'5 most of the time but sometimes he'll get lazy and some other Shadow Knights will be a little confused on why their general shrunk out of nowhere.

-But even with the shapeshifting, it's still easy for others to tell that Dante is a child simply because of the way he acts at times. No amount of shapeshifting can hide that after all lmao.

-Now here's an angsty thought for y'all, Laurance knew about Dante being a Shadow Knight before meeting Gene but obviously didn't know that Dante was Gene's brother. However, once Laurance found out about Gene's whole backstory he decides not to tell Gene about Dante being a Shadow Knight as he wants to spare Gene the grief.

-Laurance does tell Aphmau and Garroth about it who also decide that it would be in Gene's best interest if he didn't know about the whole Dante thing. They think that Gene finding out about it would ruin any healing he has done but they're also afraid how Gene would react to just hearing that info.

-But Gene eventually does find out about his little brother being a Shadow Knight after the 15 year time skip when Sasha gets taken into Phoenix Drop's prison. Sasha first taunts Laurance and Aphmau for hiding such information from Gene and warns them that it's only a matter of time before he finds out.

-And when Gene heads over to the prison to check up on Sasha, that's when the truth comes out. She outright tells Gene that there's something that his friends have been hiding from him and explains what that something is. Gene is baffled and doesn't want to believe it so he confronts Aphmau and Laurance about what Sasha told him.

-Aphmau and Laurance aren't too happy about Sasha exposing them like that but they also expected that this was something she might do after she gave them that warning. So yeah they confirm that what Sasha said about Dante was true which really upsets Gene.

-But like can you blame the man? Technically speaking, they've been hiding this information from him for 15 years which is a long time to be hiding the fact that his younger brother was back and now a Shadow Knight bent on revenge.

-Gene wouldn't want to talk to Aph and Laurance for a bit but in the meantime Nana is there to comfort him because learning such news was definitely not easy for Gene.

-Laurance and Aphmau understand that Gene needs some time to process all this so they respect his wishes and leave him be until he's ready to talk to them again.

-And they do!! It doesn't take Gene all too long to talk things out with Aph and Laurance so they're chill now.

-Gene also can understand why they didn't want to tell him about Dante as that news was pretty hard for Gene to grasp after all.

-Gene needs a really big hug because man am I putting him through the wringer right now oof.

-While Vylad didn't have many interactions with Dante in the Nether, I still imagine that Vylad knew enough about Dante to pity the kid. He knew that there was no way that Dante was always like this. He always assumed that Shad did something that turned Dante into this heartless Shadow Knight general.

-Laurance felt the same way and would actually try to get through to Dante during his initial time in the Nether but it was no use. Dante didn't listen to him one bit and still seemed ever so dedicated to the Shadow Lord.

-And then there's Zenix who would gladly punt Dante off the nearest cliff if he could. He absolutely hates Dante for the sole fact that a 12 year old boy is somehow more worthy of being general of the Shadow Lord's army over him. Zenix is very bitter and thinks Shad has lost his goddamn mind for choosing a damn kid to be his right hand man.

-Dante also hates Zenix as he doesn't like that the other is getting in the way of all of his plans. And as mentioned before, Dante can and will throw a massive (and dangerous) fit if things don't go his way. Also it's absolutely canon to the AU that Dante has at one point kicked Zenix in the balls while in the middle of an argument. It was very unprompted and out of the blue so poor Zenix never saw it coming until it happened.

-Queue Shad watching this happen and lowkey trying to resist the urge to not laugh hysterically (spoiler alert: he's doing very bad at that).

-Also canon to the AU is Shad being a proud father of his gremlin Shadow Knight son that bites people without hesitation and whose favorite hobby is committing arson.

Okay so I don't have any other ideas right now so take this stupid ass meme I made in like 10 seconds. This AU is very fun for me to write about so this def won't be the last post I make about it!

[letstalkaboutshtufff]

A Bad Feeling Pt 1

Levi x Reader

Part 1

Paring: Levi Ackerman x Cadet reader

Warnings: 18+ attempted rape/assault, cursing, mention of injury, violence

Summary: Reader feels uncomfortable around a overly friendly captain. Are they just over reacting? Or is there something else going on. What will Levi do when he finds out?

***************************************************

A.n. ok so I literally wrote this in one go, it's probably trash but I wanted to post it anyway. Please lemme know what you think in the comments! Thank you!

"Y/n! captain Oro is asking for you" you did your best to hide the discomfort Armins words made you feel.

You smiled what you hoped was a convincing one and nodded. With a deep breath you made your way to Captains Oro's office.

Ever since you had been introduced to him those few weeks ago, he had taken a special liking to you. At first you had been excited, having such a highly skilled and well known captain take notice of you was one of the best feelings. Especially since your squad leader, Levi wasn't exactly heavy on praise.

Everyone loved Captain Oro, he was known for his strength and stamina on the battle field. He was both charismatic, and charming. Your fellow cadets practically swooned over him. You couldn't help but also get caught up in his perfection. At first that is..

Over time you noticed things about your meetings that put you on edge. An unnecessary shoulder touch here, a too low pat on the back there. Something was off. And although you had done your best to distance yourself from him, it was hard when your squads often had to work together.

But it was hard to say anything against him because even your cold blooded captain seemed to enjoy his presence.

Once you brought it up to your friend Sasha, about how you felt he was being too friendly. But she waved her hand and basically said you were worrying for nothing, he was just a friendly guy. And you were being dramatic.

Maybe you were overreacting? If captain levi approved of him, surely that meant he was a decent person right? Maybe he was just being really really friendly.

You decided to give him a chance and knocked on his door when you finally arrived.

"Come in" a muffled voice came from the other side.

With a click you entered the candlelit room. It was nearing sundown after all.

"Ah cadet y/n! Perfect, I was wondering if I might ask your opinion on something?" He smiled angelically and gestured towards a parchment on his desk.

"Of course sir" you nodded and approached him, reminding yourself of what sasha said. Just relax.

From the way the parchment was positioned you had no choice but to come to his side of the desk.

"Do you see this area here?" He gestured to what you now saw was a map. "What do you think of leading a squad through here instead of what we originally planned?"

The next 30 minutes you spent completely and professionally discussing strategies. Being the member of your squad that was best at this, made him asking for you completely justified. You felt bad for ever doubting his intentions.

"Thank you y/n, I think I have a better idea of what course we should pursue on our next expedition" he smiled sincerely.

"I'm glad I could be of service" you nodded and allowed a relaxed smile to pass your features. Feeling stupid you had judged him so harshly.

" If you wouldnt mind just one more thing?" You nodded as he pulled out a stack of papers.

"If you could look over this report of the last mission before I send it out? See if theres anything else to add?"

"Sure, I'd be happy to Captain" you grabbed the stack.

"And please if you can, return them to me tonight, I'll need them for the meeting bright and early"

"Yes sir, I'll finish it asap, good evening" and with that you exused yourself.

Tonight? It was already sundown. Well whatever, hes so busy he probably doesn't know what time of day it is.

You found a quiet spot amonsgt the crowds in the common room and got to work.

************************************

"Oi brat, it's passed curfew, go to your room now, we have important work tommorow" the unmistakable voice of your captain rang through the now empty hall.

You looked up in surprise and meet his usual scowl, not even realizing how late it had gotten.

"Hai, s-sorry captain, I'll go now" you gathered the report and quickly left, not wanting to receive another scolding for taking too long.

Oh crap you still had to deliever the report. Changing routes you snuck quietly down the familiar hallways. Not particularly feeling like running into Levi again. Something about him always made you act just a little dumber and it was definitely not because of your non existent crush on him...definitely not.. he was just intimidating is all.

*knock knock*

You waited patiently but there was no answer. Crap did he already go to bed? But he knew I was coming? Ugh what should I do? He needs these reports..

With a sigh you change direction again and head for his personal chambers. There was no way you were getting in trouble for not delivering these reports on time.

You smiled when you saw dim light flood from beneath the door.

Lightly you knocked, "Captain Oro, its y/n, sorry it's so late but I have the rep-" you were cut off abruptly when the door swung open and there stood Oro.

Except he looked nothing like the Oro you were used too seeing. His hair was loose from it's normal slicked back do, and the edges were dripping slightly. His shirt was loosely thrown on revealing a decent amount of skin. He must've just bathed.. you could see why the girls were so obsessed with him. He was, platonically speaking, a very gorgeous man.

You were taken aback but reminded yourself that you did knock after hours so of course he wasnt going to be all soldiered up.

"U-um s-sorry Captain, I have the reports" you averted your eyes and shoved the reports in his direction.

"Ah y/n, thank you, would you please put them on my table? My hands are still slightly wet." He laughed holding them up innocently.

"S-sure" god why were you stuttering so much, you fight goddamn titans for a living?! But somehow you were more nervous now than when a 10meter was clawing at you.

You entered the room and tried to avoid looking around too much.

You always wondered what the inside of the higher ups rooms look-

*click*

You whipped around, alarm bells suddenly back in full force.

"Captain what are you-"

"You're such a good girl, you know that y/n?" Oros whole demeanor changed and you cursed yourself for not trusting your earlier instincts.

"U-um" you really did not know what to say or do as he took a couple steps closer.

"Always so obedient for me, I think you deserve a reward don't you?"

Shit

"That's not...that's not necessary captain, I really should be going" you tried to lunge for the door but he was quicker and much much stronger.

"I don't believe I dismissed you cadet..." he purred pinning your arms to the door in the blink of an eye.

You were by no means weak, but your struggles were useless against him.

"Let me go" it took all your strength not to stutter in fear.

"How adorable, you know I love it when you follow my orders so well, but I think..." you shivered in disgust as you felt his lips near your neck and press down.

"I'd like to see you fight me as well" you whimpered as he sucked and bit down on the soft flesh.

"S-stop it, p-please" he smirked and looked into your fearful eyes with his lustful ones. "Stop? But that's not what you really want is it? You see I know exactly how girls like you are" he chuckled darkly and moved one of his hands to grip both your arms, while the other slid lower. You gasped when he cupped your breast. "S-stop! I'll, ill scream If you don't!" You felt a tear slide down your shaking form.

"Scream?" He snickered like you had told the funniest joke.

"Go ahead and scream doll, itll be very interesting to see what happens"

"W-what?" You were utterly confused.

"Think about it, if someone walks in on us, what would they think? Seeing a cadet after hours in her superiors chambers?"

"B-but I! I was bringing the reports i wasn't-!"

"Do you honestly think theyll care what you have to say? Who do you think theyll believe y/n? You a nobody cadet who's been fighting titans for 3 seconds? Or me, a selfless hero whos saved countless of scouts lives? All I have to tell them is that you came into my room and tried to seduce me. When I tried to restrain you, you screamed. Who do you think theyll listen too? Why else would you be here so late at night?"

"Y-You're..you're insane, you're not a hero, y-you're a coward who-" he grasped your jaw harshly causing you to wince.

"I'd watch that mouth of yours y/n" he squeezed harder. I am your superior after all, and we wouldnt want any nasty rumors going around that would have you suspended from the survey corps now would we?" He bent down and to your horror pressed his lips against yours.

Fuck fuck what do I do?!? Hes blackmailing me now. I cant fight him, hes too strong, think think think.

But your mind was blank when his cold lips pressed against your lips again. "Open your mouth" he ordered in a voice laced with animilistac lust.

You abruptly turned your head away desperate to get away.

"Heh, always such a tease" he traced a finger up and down your cheek, flipping over your lips. "I'll enjoy this-"

"CAPTAIN ORO, COMMANDER ERWIN REQUESTS YOUR PRESENCE IN HIS OFFICE IMMEDIATELY" a voice shouts from the other side of the locked door.

With an annoyed sigh, Oro pulls away slightly, "Did he say why?" He lazily looks over in the direction of the door.

"NO SIR!"

"guess it can't be helped... Alright tell him I'll be there shortly" he yelled out.

"Hai" the footsteps recended and you stood deathly still.

He pulled away from you and you immediately pulled your wrists to you, they were an angry red, and it scared you how much strength he had so effortlessly displayed.

"Sorry doll, it looks like we'll have to continue this another night" he stepped away and began dressing normally as if he hadn't just been assaulting you 5 second ago. You quickly make for the door but his voice falters your step, "Oh and y/n?"

You dont look at him, but fear held you in place until he finished, "If you mention our little moment to anyone, you know what will happen" you nodded quickly, anything to appease him and get out.

When the door shut behind you, you felt the flood of tears break through.

D-did, d-did that really happen?!?

You held a hand to quiet your sobs and quickly dashed through the hallways.

You're heart thumped and you felt the need to vomit. You hadn't felt this way since the first time youd encounted a titan. All you wanted to do was get to the safety of your room, just through the hall.

It felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown on you when a cold voice shouted out and halted your movements. Please not now, oh god any time but now.

"Oi cadet y/n are you deaf as well as dumb? I asked you a question.

"Why are you out past curfew?" he sounded definitely annoyed and you gathered all your strength to hold the sobs out of your voice.

Without turning around you answered, "I-I had to deliver some r-reports..I'll head to my room now.." you stepped forward hoping he would let you go but you were not so lucky.

"Oi brat, did you hit your head? I didn't dismiss you yet. Not to mention you haven't even addressed me properly, maybe some time cleaning up horse shit will remind you how to respect your superiors" fuck he was definitely angry now.

Still you didn't turn around, you couldn't..."S-sorry Captain Levi, I'll do better in the future.." you barely could even focus on the words coming out of your mouth, your heart was beating a mile a minute. Please just leave me alone!

"Hahh" Levi uttered in disbelief and severe annoyance, even the most novice of cadets turn around when being spoken to by a superior. "Are you trying to piss me off brat?!?"

"No sir..." still you didnt turn around, but gulped in fear when you heard sharp footsteps near you.

"Cadet y/n, you have three seconds to turn around and salute me properly before I throw you into the cells for insubordination" he ordered in his dangerously calm voice, that you never thought would be directed at you.

Having no other choice you slowly turn around, hoping to god the darkness of the room would be enough to hide your current state.

You kept your head down, letting your hair fall over your face, but gave a proper salute. Hiding the Wince that came when the tender flesh of your wrist had to bend.

Your eyes were trained on the floor. And you tried to remember how to breathe normally again.

"At least you remember how to-" abruptly his harsh scolding stopped.

Why did he stop?! Fuck did he notice something. No no calm down, he probably just is coming up with another punishment...right?

Wrong...

Levi was far from being done with dicisplining you but he caught sight of your bruised wrist and furrowed his brows immediately. He knew for a fact the last time you spoke in the hall those had not been there. He was quick to take in the rest of your demeanor and knew immediately that the reason you were acting disrespectful was because something was wrong.

"Cadet y/n.." he said suspiciously slow and not full of anger anymore.

"Y-yes?" Please dont ask me, please dont ask me, please dont-

"Look at me"

*******************************

Part 2 here

Okay so that's part 1! Please comment and lemme know what you think🥰also I'm super sensitive so please no hateful comments. Thanks for reading!

[fanmoose12]

the devil you know

Сharacters: Hange Zoe, Levi, Moblit Berner, Zeke Yeagar, Armin Arlert

Genres: Action / Drama

Summary: Can you still miss a person, if everything you knew about them was a lie?

He was wasting precious time. His primary object was Eren and getting to him before the last hope of humanity had his ass kicked by Marleyan tech or another shifter. His second no less important task was finding Eren's brother and playing a little shit show for his Marleyan superiors.

Eren was already being taking care of and Levi had Zeke in his line of sight. All he had to do was swoop in and get the bearded bastard.

Still, the time was of the essence. Every second wasted meant another useless death. And he had enough of this massacre already.

He had to be focused, had to remain vigilant. But as he flew through the burning city his focus began to slip and his attention was occupied by things of no importance to his goal. He couldn't help but wonder - that small cafe that was just exploded by a thunder spear, did she use to frequent it? And that alley to his left, maybe it had led to her house? Did she even have a house here, in the inner city? Or did she live somewhere else, maybe, in barracks with her fellow warriors? Or, maybe, in a little house in the middle of a forest she used to tell him about?

It didn’t matter, he told himself, none of it ever did.

What mattered right now was the plan and following through with it. Everything else was meaningless.

Keep your head in the game, Levi reminded himself, gritting his teeth. He directed his gaze to the ground, where a chaos was unraveling at a more rapid speed that he had expected.

The swirl of people in white uniforms danced around the city. Some of them, armed with guns and rifles, attempted to fight back, others, less courageous ones - ran for their lives.

Each time one of them fell, receiving a bullet to the head, or getting buried under debris from blown up buildings, his heart stopped. Despite his insistent thoughts - she wouldn't care about you, she never did - he still looked for a mess of brown hair in the crowd.

He wasn't sure if his heart would be able to take it if he saw her there - amongst dozens of dead bodies.

She wouldn't care about you, she never did - and yet, he still couldn't treat her with the same indifference.

Keeping Zeke in his line of sight, Levi landed in the nearby alley. He took out his pocket watch, checking the time. His ride would arrive soon, and that meant—

Showtime, he thought grimly, releasing his cables and readying his blades.

It didn't lessen the pain hidden in the depth of his soul, but hurting Zeke, cutting and hitting him gave the catharsis he was waiting for ever since their last meeting.

First he cut off his left arm - that's for all the scouts that lost their lives because of you.

Then he went for the right arm - that's for Nanaba.

He moved to the right leg, cutting it down and making the beast fall on one knee - that's for Mike.

And that's - he thought - as he slashed through his left leg - that's for Erwin, you fucking dipshit.

The beast collapsed, plummeting face-first into the ground. Levi landed on top of him, taking out a grenade.

He plunged his blade into beast's body, afflicting the final wound. He removed the pin, thinking - that's for taking her away from me too.

The crowd around them swayed, the masses stood terrified in a face of their biggest defender losing so easily to a devil from Paradise. Levi would have even smirked, if this whole farce didn't disgust him so much. He would have enjoyed injuring the beast, if it wasn't a part of Zeke's own, carefully orchestrated plan.

The airship was fast approaching, and so Levi pulled Zeke's body out, scowling at the sight of his hideous face.

"You truly are one of a kind, asshole," Levi whispered to him. "I have never seen anyone uglier than you."

"There are some who enjoy my looks, Levi," the fucking monkey managed to say, despite half of his face missing. "One of my admirers used to be your friend once. Tell me, Captain, do you still miss her?"

Fucker.

Levi shoved his blade into bastard's stomach, going as deep as he could. God, he wanted another round with him. He wanted to beat the shithead until there was no sass left in him.

"I would shut up if I were you, beast. Or I'll be busy cutting your tongue during the whole trip back to the island."

"Careful with your language," Zeke advised with a disgustingly sweet smile. "Someone's watching."

Instinctively, Levi looked up. Immediately, he felt his throat close up because there, on top of the building he saw—

Messy brown hair, those stupid, too big glasses—

His limbs moved on his own accord.

"Take him," he instructed Moblit, kicking Zeke's half formed body to him.

"Captain, the airship—"

"One minute," he promised and soared into the air.

***

Goddamnit, but she didn't age a day. The same proud posture, the same determined expression.

She stood on top of a rooftop, a rifle in her hands. Not far behind her Levi could see the Cart Titan.

Was Hange the one who advised the shifter to use the hard machinery? Most probably. She was the one who knew about scouts’ fighting style the most. Knew their advantages, knew how to exploit their weaknesses.

No surprise in that, she was a scout for almost five years too, after all.

All these times she begged him to show his tricks, to explain how he could move so differently from the others, was it with a malicious intent too? Not to satisfy her abnormal curiosity, but to simply gather more intel?

Was there any moment out of thousands, where she wasn’t pretending?

The rifle in her hands trembled, as she saw him appear.

"Levi," she murmured, and his knees almost gave up under him.

Damn her, damn her to hell and back, but even after all the pain she had inflicted on him, after all these lies and betrayals she was still able to set his heart ablaze.

She was the only one who ever could.

"Hange," he said, swallowing down 'shitty four-eyes'. That wasn't her. Not anymore. He lost his four-eyes four years ago, the night before they've ventured to Shiganshina.

Before him now stood a stranger. A stranger he was still reluctant to harm.

"You knew this was going to happen," he told her.

"I guess this is it." Hange nodded.

She didn't try to shoot at him, didn't call for help.

She knew it would only delay the inevitable. She was always too smart for her own good. Apparently that part of her wasn't a lie.

But everything else was. That's why he did what he had to do.

With a heavy heart, Levi took a step forward.

***

"Ah, and here I was worried it'd be a boring trip with only Captain Brooding as my companion." Zeke tilted his head, offering the most charming of his smiles. "Professor Hange, seeing you is always a pleasure. I'd shake your hand, but," he shrugged, pointing at his tied hands. "I'm in a rather unfortunate predicament."

"Zeke," she chocked out, shifting her gaze from him to Levi. A heartbeat later, her eyes widened in realization.

Too smart for her own good, Levi thought, watching Hange deliver a vicious kick to Zeke's thigh, fiery despite the bindings on her own arms and legs.

Watching that was almost satisfying.

"Asshole!" she raged, kicking him again. "Scheming, pathetic betrayer!"

"You're the one to talk," Levi noted dryly.

At the sound of his voice, Hange froze. She calmed down immediately, bowing her head.

Zeke observed the two of them, a malicious spark in his eyes.

"So my earlier guess was right, Captain? You do miss—"

"Shut the fuck up," Levi warned in a low voice. "Or my previous threat would become a reality."

Zeke curled his lips in a smile, and, maintaining direct eye contact with Levi, he had the audacity to wink at him. “My lips are sealed.”

Levi reached to his blade.

"What is going on here?” Jean walked onto the deck, stopping Levi from using his very sharp weapon on their very precious charge. Jean looked around, frowning in confusion. His eyes widened, as they landed on Hange. "What is she doing here?" his face changed, jaw tightening.

"None of your business," Levi muttered, sheathing his blade and pushing Jean away.

"None of my business?" Jean repeated, glaring at him. "I think it is my goddamn business, when you go against the plan without discussing it with us first."

"Careful, Kirshtein," Levi narrowed his eyes. "Despite the stupid democracy, I'm still your superior. Meaning you will do as I say."

"Captain," Jean grabbed his elbow. "I know how you feel about—"

"You know shit," Levi hissed, his low voice almost getting lost amongst the celebration around them. Stupid Floch and his band of fanatical idiots. "This has nothing to do with my so called feelings. But we need to question her. In case you forgot, she is one of Marley's best engineers."

"Exactly," Jean retorted. "She's valuable to them. That's why you had to kill her. Without her they'd be lost."

Without her - I'd be lost too.

The ruckus around them had been growing louder and louder. It was getting hard to concentrate, even without the added distraction of Hange's eyes boring into the back of his head.

He swept his gaze across the deck, looking for Moblit. He needed someone to put an end to that merry festivity, he would have done so himself, but the way Floch and his friends shouted and cheered made him doubt that he'd be able to calm them down without throwing some mouth-breather the fuck out of the airship.

He motioned for Moblit to come closer, ignoring Jean’s enraged gaze, when suddenly, out of nowhere, he heard a sharp cry, the still familiar voice shouting,

"Gabi, no!"

Levi whipped his head around, his eyes widening as he saw Hange - somehow freed from all bonds - launching herself at Sasha.

He rushed there, the malicious voice in his head chanting - this is all your fault, all of it is your fault, it's your inability to let go that is going to-

He stopped when the thundering, earsplitting sound shook the previously cheerful atmosphere.

He froze, staring at the scene with dumb confusion. The smoke rising from a rifle clutched in child's hands, the bullet flying, soaring through the spot where Sasha was standing seconds ago.

She didn’t try to—

He allowed himself to take a breath.

She saved Sasha, he realized, staring at Hange, who wore the same perplexed expression as he did.

"What is going on here?" Armin's soft voice cut through the air, making every head turn in his direction.

"The Marleyans got onto our ship!" one of the soldiers reported.

"Should we throw them out now or—”

"They're just children," Hange spoke up. "They don't know what they're doing."

"Hange-san..." Armin gasped. "What are you—" he turned to Levi. "Captain, what is the meaning of this?"

"She's Marleyan engineer and strategist. I decided it'd be wise to capture her."

"Alright, we'll deal with this later..." Armin muttered, rubbing his forehead. "And about those children..."

"The girl almost killed Sasha," Jean said, coming to stand at Armin’s side.

"Don't touch her!" Hange cried out, covering both kids with her body.

"Don't order me." Jean spat. "You're not my superior officer. Not anymore."

"And yet I still know you, Jean," Hange stared him in the eyes. "I know you're not capable of harming a child. Think of what your mother is going to say."

"You know nothing about me!" he growled, his fists trembling and his face reddening in anger. "You lying, deceiving—”

"That's enough," Levi sharply interrupted. "Moblit, help me deal with our prisoners. There are a lot more of them than we’ve expected."

Moblit nodded readily, obeying his command without a question. As he led Hange back to her place, his grip on her was gentle and his eyes were sad.

Approaching the two children, Levi stared them down, silently ordering the girl to put down the rifle. She surrendered with an annoyed huff.

Her demeanor changed, however, as soon as Levi's gaze turned to her friend.

"Don't hurt Falco, please," she whispered, sniffling. "He isn't guilty, he's not like me."

"No one is going to hurt you or your friend," Levi rolled his eyes, scoffing. "We're not that much of devils."

Putting his arms around their shoulders, he led kids to the back of the airship.

As they were passing Zeke, the girl - Gabi, Hange had called her - stopped in her tracks.

Her lip trembled, as she gawked at the shifter. "M-mister Yeager? You're here too? B-but why?"

What a goddamn circus, Levi cursed.

He sighed, pushing them forward before the beast could even open his mouth and feed the poor kids a lie, or, worse, reveal the truth about his betrayal.

Once he tied the girl and a boy down, he closed his eyes and heaved a deep breath.

Two angry Marleyan children, the bearded beast and Hange fucking Zoe, a person he dreamt about every night he slept for more than two hours. And all of them were aboard one damned airship.

There was one thing Levi was sure of - one hell of a fucking trip was awaiting them.

[smallblip]

I'm thinking about the scene where Marlo talks to the guys about Hitch, and how Armin and Jean were like "are you stupid or what?" Sooo I was thinking, imagine Levi has somehow messed up with Hange, got in a fight with her and she's giving him the silent treatment and cold shoulder.

He's in a fouler mood than usual, and the kids notice so Armin and Jean actually make him confess and when he tells them what he said to Hange they are like "omg what is wrong with you" and "you need to apologize if you want her to talk to you again" while Levi was being so dense and clueless he didn't realize he was actually wrong in the first place until they explained it to him.

Omg! I remember that part because sasha’s voice acting was hilarious! I gotta warn you I’m VERY BAD with writing levihan arguments (because... I just... don’t know what they’d argue about! I can’t imagine beyond little tiffs that they get over with in 10min. This is such a cute prompt so I hope i did alright???🙏🏻)

Levi sitting with the kids during lunch instead of with Hanji and everyone notices. Everyone. Sasha breaks the silence first- “Captain... Why are you sitting with us?”

“Can’t I sit here?”

Everyone looks at each other. No he can’t... he usually sits with Hanji san. And now that he isn’t, the world has shifted two degrees from its axis and its giving them all vertigo. Also Levi looks like he could kill with his glower alone. It’s even putting Sasha off her stew. They look over at Hanji collectively, she’s sitting with Erwin, but she’s glaring daggers at Levi’s back. Something is off.

Mikasa pipes up this time because she’s brave and everyone else is a coward. Also she low key loves tormenting Levi. “Had an argument with Hanji san?” Levi’s eyes widen. He doesn’t even try to deny it.

“What are you brats getting at?”

Mikasa’s bravery is rubbing off Sasha now, “Aren’t you two like... a thing?” Sasha wriggles her eyebrows.

“Also... Hanji san looks royally pissed...” Armin joins in. Might as well. Levi doesn’t look like he’s fighting back.

Levi’s eyes widen. What are these kids? Fucking wizards? How did they know it had something to do with Hanji? It’s true. Hanji has been ignoring him since their last conversation and he doesn’t know why.

Then comes the onslaught of questions and Levi abandons his food altogether, squints his eyes shut and rubs at his temples, what happened captain? What did you do to Hanji san? Why’s Hanji san mad? How long has it been?

After they urge him on he finally spills. (Also he thinks it’s really gross that they all think it’s his fault.)

“Hanji wanted to go to the town this weekend,” Levi says, “she said she spoke to Erwin about giving us both time off, and I told her that was a bad idea because we’re both on duty.”

At this point everyone’s eyes are twitching up a storm.

“And I told her it was very unlike her to be shirking her duties, and that she should tell Erwin I’m reinstating my duties for that day.”

“I’m sorry Captain... But are you daft?” Jean exclaims.

“Captain that’s really stupid of you...” Armin says with confidence. He’s not even stammering.

“He’s an idiot...” Sasha says to Mikasa, not even bothering to whisper anymore.

“Why? Captain’s right! We shouldn’t abandon our duties for a day trip to the town! That’s irresponsible!” Eren says, and already Levi knows that if Eren agrees with him, he’s probably the one at fault here.

Mikasa regrets her lifelong crush on Eren. God. He’s so dense. They’re both so goddamn dense. Everyone ignores Eren.

“Captain you should apologise...” Jean says.

“Why?”

“Um... Because...”

“Because Hanji san had been planning this date for weeks! She was going to confess her undying love for you! And the whole fucking survey corps knows because you two have been teasing and tormenting each other for years!” Armin yells. He can’t take it anymore. It’s all too much. He’s surrounded by idiots. He wants to go home. But he also immediately regrets because everyone in the mess hall is staring at him. He sits down immediately.

There’s a triumphant “YES!!!” from somewhere in the background, it’s Erwin, “I knew you two would come through!” He’s clapping Hanji on the back now.

“Sorry...” Armin murmurs.

“It’s alright.” Levi clears his throat. He can’t believe he’s been shocked into submission. By Armin Arlert of all people. Hanji is wide eyed and blinking now, there’s a blush creeping on her face.

“Captain... Apologising now would be a good idea...” Jean says. He’s always been a smart kid.

“Ah... Yes...” Levi says, getting up.

“What does Hanji san see in him...” Mikasa says as she watches him leave.

“Love is stupid...” Sasha answers, smiling like an idiot.

[theglowyscorpio]

all set | eren x reader

a/n: this is a story in the making, currently available at AO3 and Wattpad. If you like it, please don't hesitate to give me some kudos, leave a comment or maybe follow me on my social media! <3 Any feedback is highly appreciated since I'm just getting started!

pairing: eren yeager x female reader

tags: mature content, alternate universe (modern setting), college/university, recreational drug use, implied sexual content, M/F, F/F, the author is not religious lmao

word count: 4.3k

current chapters: 2/?

playlist: this one was made with a particular playlist in mind. they are really great songs that help to convey this chapter, so I hope you have a time to check them out! :)

a. slomosa - kevin b. upsahl - drugs c. rosenfeld - like u d. kaiba - overdose e. lil kapow - tinman f. bodega - how did this happen!?

***

all set

I lost count of how many parties I went to this week. There was one at Shina, another at... Sasha's. Wait, was it? Or Ymir's? Honestly, both their houses look fairly similar and we always see the same faces over and over again, regardless of where we are getting wasted. Definitely two at my house. The timeline is blurry at this point. If my liver could talk, it would spit out "Screw you, Eren." and I wouldn't be able to disagree.

Classes will start next week so everyone is acting like we're going to stop doing all this for the rest of the semester. That never happens.

I barely enter Reiner's house and the music is already piercing my head. My ears will soon tell me to go screw myself too. The bass was loud. But it was good.

— Hey, finally — Reiner says, giving a hard slap in my back. I can't even get mad at him because he probably didn't mean for it to hurt. Fucking strong bastard.

— Sorry. Lost track of time.

— You know where the things are — he leaves me behind and disappears through the noisy music.

It's hot inside. August has been particularly cruel this year. I'm using a black t-shirt, which is luckily pretty thin, and my black Adidas pants that are somewhat breathable. My hair is in a bun. I will probably be sweating soon, though. Reiner's AC won't do miracles with this amount of people since it is specially packed today. I guess I might see some new faces tonight, huh.

This fact already makes things more interesting.

I walk through the room and then arrive in the kitchen. Connie and Sasha are there.

— Eren!! — I barely open my mouth to talk and Sasha is already giving me whatever weird drink they made. Their drinks sometimes are... unusual, for the lack of a better word. Most of the time they are simply pure shit. They call it scout's fuel, always the same name regardless of what's inside. Maybe that's why my liver hates me so much.

— Thanks — I'm already used to the goddamn gasoline taste — I guess you both want to get us wasted tonight.

— It's our personal mission, so enjoy the fuel — Connie says laughing, raising his plastic cup. I love this duo – who doesn't? – and I can't help but laugh with them, even though it tastes so bad — Everyone is already here, come on — I follow them and find all the familiar faces I've seen all week: Bertholdt, Historia, Ymir, Mikasa, Annie, Armin, Jean, everyone.

The girls look hot, even though I'm used to them. Either way, I avoid hooking up with my friends since the last time didn't work so well. It's better to avoid Mikasa today.

We all sit together while drinking. I light a joint I had already prepared at home and say — Am I crazy or is Reiner's party bigger than usual? —, releasing the smoke a few seconds after. This one is the best grass we could get around our area, I've saved it primarily for today and now I see that might have been a great decision on my part. I'm glancing through the room and looking for some girls, might share this shit with one - or a few - of them later.

— Thank god, I was tired of seeing your ugly faces every fucking time — Jean says. The girls look at him and he rushes to add — I mean, the boys, of course. It's always nice looking at all of you, ladies.

It's not enough to avoid Annie's kick anyway — We can say the same of you, horse face.

Reiner arrives at the perfect time and explains — Since the new semester starts Monday, news about today traveled fast and we got a lot more company than usual.

— Do you know all of them, Reiner? — Historia asks — I've talked to a bunch of them tonight and there are people from all over the campus and from all years as well — Historia always looks pretty, her blonde hair shining even in the low light of the party. Guys make a line to talk to her at all parties so there's no surprise that she's already familiarized with the whole scenario. I wonder what Ymir thinks of it. Probably followed her during this little field trip.

— Hell, no — he grabs the joint of my hand and sucks deeply — I know some of them and some are Bertholdt's friends but there are some random people.

— I bet Reiner knows a lot of the girls — I take my joint back from his fingers — I assume they aren't Bertholdt's friends, though — and grin.

— Hey, I don't see you with any new company either, dude — Bertholdt tries to grab my weed as well, but I avoid his advances. He instead grabs my cup and drinks all of it, leaving me empty. He makes a funny face at the taste. Suit yourself, man, I think to myself, laughing on the inside.

— Yeah, but I'll work on it in a sec — I tease him knowing that he can't handle much of Sasha and Connie's fuel. He always knocks out before everyone. I hope he realizes he needs to stay awake to try anything with Annie. Someday. He simply never gets there.

Hange arrives almost falling over Ymir and spilling her drink on the floor in the process — I think we should all make a toast and make this last party a wild ride!!! — her yelling stabbing us louder than the music.

— Bitch, you are this fucking drunk already? — Ymir says to her, holding Hange's weight on her back — What the hell did the gasoline duo do to you?

— Okay okay, enough with the questions, let me fill your cups because this is the night! — Sasha says, just pouring all that mystery liquid that soon will go straight to our heads — Also, Reiner, where's the food?

We raise our plastic cups and Connie yells — To the new semester! — and we drink, feeling the immediate burn on our throats. It's hard being a scout.

— I need to get laid today — Jean says as he lays his back on the couch — Gonna arrive for the classes pretty motivated next week — he then rests his left arm at the back pillow, behind Mikasa's head.

— You should start roaming, then — her cold delivery puts Jean's subtle attempt at flirting six feet under the ground, as usual. It was pretty damn quick, but I could notice Mikasa glancing at me and then looking the other way. Yeah, I think I need to start roaming soon, too.

— That sounds great, then let's do that!!! — Hange grabs Jean by the arm and they disappear amongst the crowd.

— When all this fun ends, I'll be the one who will probably have to take him home after he gets slapped by some girls — Armin and Jean live with me so we normally go back together. Armin is the responsible one between us, which is not exactly hard considering how Jean and I are — Gonna at least drink some beer before that happens.

— I'll go with you, this drink sucks — Annie says, finishing the drink anyway and following him. We always drink the last drop of it, we never learn.

The girls went dancing, the music was exceptionally good today. A lot of bands I already liked plus some I have never heard before. I need to remember to ask Reiner for this playlist later. Connie was already surrounded by a different group, everyone likes to talk to him. He is popular. The rest dispersed as well and I could hear Hange's screams far away. This is going to be a night for her, indeed.

I start walking around, meeting a lot of people from my classes and others from the campus in general. I talk to all of them and drink a lot in the process, which feeds my need for nicotine every time. I grab my pack of cigarettes and while smoking, I see Levi.

— I must be dreaming — I say, letting the smoke leave my lips with a smile. It reaches him and looks at me with a deadly expression. He is smoking as well, but he only admits one specific brand of cigarettes and hates all the others. Levi usually doesn't show up at these "brat" parties, as he likes to say, since he's a few years older than us. I normally see him at Shina's, which is a popular club slash bar near our university. He's the owner so we all met him there, after going so many times. Shina has the best parties and the best drinks of all the clubs near us. And it couldn't be any other way, since Levi is a perfectionist. There's also a small stage there, where indie bands perform from time to time. My band does some gigs there sometimes.

— Hey — he replies, as cold as ever. He's Mikasa's cousin, so they have the same expressions and hard-to-approach vibe — Already high, I see.

— Always. In fact, today I hope to be higher than usual. What miracle brings you here?

— Some people from the staff decided to come here today so there are fewer brats to piss me off — he drinks what's probably a high priced whiskey and continues — and there's a new girl at the club so we have been showing her the area for a few weeks now.

— There's a lot of new girls here today — although I know Levi doesn't give a crap.

— So? — yeah, he doesn't.

Levi is a pretty successful business owner and even I have to admit that he's hot – is not only common knowledge but a mutual agreement between everyone –, so girls are always trying to get him, but he doesn't screw most of them. He doesn't fuck brats, period. He says he doesn't have the patience. That makes the girls even more desperate. He has the highest standards of every guy I know. When he was still in university – the same we all go –, he screwed not only the hottest girls but also the professors - which went after him and not the other way around. At least that's what I've heard. I think Levi never had to actively look for any girl, to be honest.

I can only laugh at his reply. That's just so him.

— If you want more stuff than what's already in your system, Floch is over there.

— I want, actually. I was going to look for him — I see Floch's red hair among some folks. Floch is usually as busy as Connie but with less than half of the charisma.

He finishes his cigarette, blowing its last white smoke into the air, and we both hear a loud HELL YEAH!! coming from all the other way across the room — Tsk, is that Hange?

— Pfft, it was before, I think it's Sasha now — he doesn't laugh at my reply. He never does. I think hell would freeze while heaven catches on fire.

I think about the music again. It's so good today, what the hell — Hey Levi, don't you think this playlist is too high quality for a Reiner party? I don't get it, his music taste is always pure trash.

— That's from our new girl — he drinks the last drops of his whiskey and starts to leave — You might find her around here — he then suddenly stops and looks at me — Don't get your hopes up, though.

I am not able to ask what he meant by that because he leaves too quickly. Time to look for Floch.

— Hey, Flo-

— Here.

— You didn't even let me finish.

— I know what you want. You are not in the mood for cocaine so you want MD instead, blah-blah-blah-blah. Is that kind of night — he pauses for mere seconds — Am I wrong, Eren?

— Nope, right as usual — Floch is the main person you go to when you need drugs. I mean, good drugs. He looks like your standard rich boy – which he is, by the way – that can do no wrong, but you can get the best stuff from him. I've always found this funny. The weed I have today was his work. He knows my taste well.

Reiner's frat house is huge, so there's plenty of room to walk. I'm approached by a bunch of girls on the way but for some reason, none of them piques my interest. I am pretty set on going after something new today and I have no problem getting laid. It happened every single day this week and it truly happens anytime I want. Which, okay, boosts my ego a little bit. Maybe a lot. I might even have hurt some girls in the process. I was never slapped though, unlike Jean. So that's a win in my book.

I see a few of my friends again, mainly Historia and Reiner, and they are talking to a girl I've never seen before.

She has long black hair and short messy bangs, the kind that goes a little above the eyebrows. I didn't know black hair was my thing until now. Her face has the perfect features, at least for me. She's wearing a sleeveless white top that is so tight that hugs her figure perfectly and makes her breasts look amazing. That type of top that shows the girl's side boob, and I'm a total sucker for those. It is also short so you can see a bit of her waist. And I don't even have to see her ass because I already know it is probably too damn good. Her light blue ripped jeans are cool as well and she has black sneakers. I like her style. She has a bunch of tattoos - a lot on her right arm, one on her left hand, and probably some that I couldn't see because they were behind her clothes. I intended to, though.

Fuck, she's hot.

Historia looks mesmerized talking to her, which is a very privileged view from where I stand because, as I've already said before, she is also beautiful. But she isn't exactly hot. This girl is. Way too much. Oh, and Reiner is there too. Whatever.

I can see a lot of guys want to approach her but none of them do. I went for it. Wasn't this night supposed to be wild?

— Hey, Eren! Guess what, Y/N is the new DJ at Shina! I was telling her how we go there all the time.

— Hi, Eren, nice to meet you — she says, with that kind of smile that people who know they are hot make. I do that too.

— Hey, Y/N — I say. And as I told you seconds before, I'm good with that type of smile as well so that's what she gets — Levi told me he came with the staff and a new girl, so I suppose that's you.

— Yeah, I'll start there next week.

— I talked to him about the party's playlist because I knew it couldn't be Reiner's.

— Yeah, it's Y/N's. She prepared it for the party when I invited the guys from Shina yesterday. We were in the same high school. — Reiner says that looking at me with a face that shows "See that, dickhead? I've known her for some years now".

— It's pretty good! I can't wait for the next party at Shina's to see your set! — Historia was always an angel.

REINER, WHERE'S THE REST OF THE ICE, MAN??, someone screamed far away.

— Shit. Catch up with you later, Y/N.

Too bad, huh, Reiner? He gives me a look that I can't quite figure out what it is, but I know for sure it wasn't a look of support. In the fucking slightest.

— I think Ymir is calling me as well, sorry!! — It was painfully obvious that Ymir wanted to make out with Historia for some time now. They never did. I think only Historia hasn't realized yet that Ymir is thirsty for her for god knows how long.

After Historia left, there was only me and her — So, by any chance, do you go to the same university as us? You look our age but Levi said you are new here — I tried asking this without looking at her body, but looking at her face was even worse. Her eyes were piercing me in the best way possible.

— I'm not exactly new, I'm from the same uni as you guys, but I took a gap year — she takes a sip of her drink — You probably never met me but I'm in the same year as you all are now.

Since Reiner knew her from high school, he also knew she was at the same university all along and never told any of the guys. Smart fucker.

— So that makes you a year older than me — I smirk at her.

— I guess it does — she smirks back as she lights up a cigarette and blows the smoke at me.

Ok, looking good so far.

I'm pretty high at this point, the MD and the music are making me horny, so I don't even bother to pretend that I'm not looking at her body. I'm looking at everything.

— You took something, didn't you?

— Do you want some? I can show you later where to get the best stuff. Anything you are in the mood for.

— I'm all set — she shows me her tongue and I see the acid. The view makes my own tongue feel lonely, maybe I should use it to steal that from her mouth. I hope she's horny as well.

We talk a lot about music since it's something that we both enjoy. She's passionate about it, I can tell. She asks about my band with true interest. Doesn't sound like small talk. She touches her hair and it makes me want to stuff my face in it. She has the smile that makes you want more. Her voice has the same effect.

The loud music allows us to talk near each other's ears. I hope she moans as loud as her playlist. The girls usually love my hair for some reason, either if it's in a messy bun as it is right now or if it's loose. They all love my green eyes too. She can see all that with somewhat detail since we are so close, even though it is a little dark here. If I take you to a room you can see me better, I almost blurb it out. I can see her too and that kills me.

She looks receptive to me but normally at this point I would be already hooking up with the girl. This time it isn't happening. I never have to work so much. I think I understand why the other guys didn't approach her before. She's a little intimidating to talk to, and that comes naturally to her – it doesn't seem to be on purpose. I flirt with her the way I normally do but she is hard to get, she hits every ball I throw. I remember what Levi said before. Oh, right.

But I'm vibing way too much at this point, I think if I touch any part of her I'll get hard immediately.

— This gap year you've mentioned... Did you go anywhere specific?

— I know it will sound cliché, but I went to Europe.

— Where in Europe?

— Everywhere — she says — I went down — the corner of her lips forming a smile  — And up. Everywhere. — and I can swear she sounds flirtatious as hell. I want to bite her lip.

— That sounds... Awesome. — I think she wants to bite me too, or at least I hope she does — Was there any particular reason to leave? If that's not too much to ask.

— Hm, I was kinda... — she stops to think for a few seconds as she holds her hair up and makes a ponytail, looking at the ground, the cigarette glued to her now closed lips. Her neck became exposed, it looks soft as hell and I can't wait to bruise it. She releases the smoke, that flows into the room, and looks deep into my eyes, as deep as I want to be inside her right now — ...stressed.

I reach my limit at this point.

— I can help you with the stress if you want.

— Really? — she's looking at me with the same teasing look and I'm doing the same, so we both know that's not a question I have to answer. Her tongue quickly passes through her top lip, her mouth forming a little wet smile — I don't think I need any help though.

I threw the ball and she hit a home run. My team was out.

I was not expecting that.

We hear some of the guys from Shina calling for her — Oh, they are calling me — Y/N looks at me again and says — See you around, Eren — giving me the same fucking grin I wanted to bite before.

She walks away and I see that her ass is, as I suspected from the very beginning, too damn good.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

After this, some time has passed. I look at the clock. Yeah, maybe a lot. I couldn't tell before because I'm drunk and drugged. I see most of my friends, all fucking wasted. Armin is holding up pretty well, Bertholdt's is knocked down for God knows how long, Mikasa probably smoked way too much weed (who am I to judge?) and looks dead on the couch. I don't see Ymir, Historia nor Reiner - there are too many people in this house to keep count. Sasha's eating something in the kitchen, I can't see what it is, but certainly, she got hungrier than normal after smoking some pot Connie gave her. Connie always holds his drinks well, he's still talking to a lot of people. I pass in front of one of the bathrooms and Hange is there, getting everything out of her system. Oh, and Ymir. There she is, holding Hange's hair, looking as pissed as ever. Levi probably went home hours ago. Jean is making out with some chick, he's going to score tonight. To be fair, he always does, but never with Mikasa.

I saw a lot of pretty girls today and I went for none of them. They tried and I shut them down, even the ones I normally fuck. There's someone I want to taste tonight and she's nowhere to be found. The guys from Shina are missing too, so I know I won't see her today anymore. Damn.

I'm not pissed at her but I'm pissed at the situation.

— Armin, I think I'm going to take off, are you coming?

— Yeah, I'm already pretty tired — he gets up — Jean's probably going to stay here.

— Yep. Probably. — Am I pissed that Jean's getting laid? Even though I could have as well? With someone else, at least? My mood feels off.

— I'm going with you too, I've lost count of how many assholes I had to shut down today. I think I even punched a few — I don't have to look to know that's Annie speaking — You were right, Eren, is it especially crowded today. In the shittiest way possible.

— Then let's go.

— Wait, I need to get my bag first, I left it in Reiner's room.

— I can get that for you, wait up.

— It's a black one. Small.

I sign a thumbs up for her and climb the stairs. I am hundred percent sure I'm going to see someone fucking there but that's the usual. I'm pretty sure I've already seen some people screwing in the corner of the living room minutes before. No one cares.

I open the door and see Y/N in her underwear, putting her white top back on. She does indeed have other tattoos.

— Hey there! — she says smiling, as she also puts her jeans back up, making little jumps so they pass through her ass. Her hair is not in a ponytail anymore.

I say hi in a confusing way.

— I came here to get my friend's bag — I look around for milliseconds like I don't know where the hell I am until I see Reiner lying - clearly naked - under his sheets. Can't be anyone else, with that bleached hair and huge biceps.

What? Ahn?

Hey... Wait a second.

Historia? Clearly naked as well? What. The. Hell. I guess she's not exactly the angel I thought she was?

They are sort of awake, sort of sleeping, kinda like on a different planet. You know, the type of thing that happens after a really strong fuck? That sort. They look exhausted. They look destroyed. And not in a bad way. AT ALL.

— Oh, I saw a bag before. Here you go — she gives me Annie's bag. She's all dressed now. She notices my confusion, I'm too high to act any other way — I've told you I don't need any help — her eyes piercing mine for the hundredth time tonight. Her smile hurts now. Ouch.

She grabs her sneakers and walks towards me and the door:

— I'm all set.

She leaves the room as I hold Annie's bag.

Yeah. I was not expecting that.

***

Thanks for reading (if there's even anyone here lmao). Chapter 2 will be uploaded later but it can be read now at AO3 or Wattpad.

[internalsealpanic]

Thorn part 2

summary: You really should check who’s watching or not. 

a/n: My quest to cram as many kinks into a fic continues. Special thanks to @littleredwing89​ for helping me finish this and proof reading.  Also, yes, I am trying to convert as many people as humanly possibel into Slade simps

warnings: voyeurism, exhibitionism, bondage, blindfolds, degredation-ish, spreader bar, threesome, (what do you call stuffing panties into someone’s mouth), oral (male receiving), vaginal fingering, orgasm denial, dirty talk, spanking and probably somethings I forgot.

villain’s masterlist

main masterlist

part 1

Something’s been bothering you for the last few days- an itching in the back of your mind that made the nerves in your hands prickle even as you leafed through the notes piled high on your desk. You flex your fingers, reading over a transcript of a witness’ statement. There was something wrong. 

 “Give us a good show.”

 Us

 Heat trails up your neck at the memory of his skin against yours but it also agitated something in you. It was probably nothing but the way he said it bothered you. There was something you were missing. A joke. A hint. A pun. Something. Maybe you just hung around Nicky too much. Maybe, but that didn’t still your mind. It was Slade.

 You haul March’s fluffy body on to your lap. She rumbles but makes no move to get up even as you thread your hands through her thick fur. In some lazy retaliation, she pads her little front paws against your papers but you don’t find yourself minding since you’re already too distracted.  You gaze into her dark fur, a sea of black pooling and shifting on your lap like a dark mass of shadows. Your mind buzzes with too many details. That night was cluttered with too many… sensations. You cup your hand over your face feeling the heat rising on your cheeks.  March’s ears perk up and the inky mass in your lap twists to face you. Her golden eyes leering at you questioningly. 

 Us

 Your stomach plunges. You remember Slade's eye, how carefully it inspected the corners of the room, how it would wander to them while you were… The prickling in your mind told you something was wrong. You set your notes down to the side and begin to move March but she yawns contentedly on your lap so you let her be.  You drag your laptop closer to you, arching your back carefully so as not to move March. The scratching in the back of your mind definitely has something to do with the Thorn. Who knows maybe it was something relevant to the case this whole time? The dread rising in your stomach says otherwise. 

 Then there it was. Of course, it was in the fucking fine print. 

 High ranking clientele have 1 week to accept or decline the option to keep their private room videos private.  

 You swore viciously, putting your face in your hands. Your blood rushes to your ears. Of course, they would have cameras! You groan curling in on yourself. March bristles and shifts trying to pry your body open but you can’t make yourself budge not when you just want to implode. March, having given up on your sorry ass, squeezes her way out of your hold and hisses at you as if to tell you off. 

 “Yes, March. I know. I know. Oh my god- Shit, I know.”

 Her judging gaze did not waver even as she flicked her tail at your papers. You look at her pleadingly but she does not relent and even turns away from you. God, even your cat thinks you’re an absolute dumbass. Did Sita know? Did Nina? Did Anthony? Sita, probably not. She wouldn’t throw you under the bus like that. Ok, she would but not this badly. Nina, yeah probably. Anthony, definitely. But those two probably thought you were ok with it. This was such an amateur move. 

 You bite your lip and drum your fingers against the keyboard staring at the clock on the corner of your screen. Your eyes flick to your eyes to your notes and the grumpy cat making a nest out of your papers. There wasn’t much you could do with the case right now, not until Sasha made good on her end of the bargain. That would likely not be for a few hours and …

 You didn’t exactly trust Slade to keep this between the two of you. Besides, shit like this? Shit like this had a bad habit of leaking to other sites and whatever weight you pulled in the force would vanish in an instant. You ruffle your hair in frustration. Of all the mistakes you could make, why him? 

 “Such a good cockslut.”

 You bury your face in your arms as the heat creeps up to your ears. Out of habit, you put some pressure on the back of your neck but instead of quieting your mind, it slung your mind back to when Slade’s hand wrapped around your neck. You could still feel his calloused fingers grazing your sensitive skin, his breath fanning against your shoulder. How the hell were you supposed to fight him when the mere thought of him made you so flustered?! You were a goddamn professional! You want to scream or to be swallowed by the floor or both. Both sounds better. 

 You sigh, exasperation bleeding through the sound. You don’t regret it. Not really. You just wished this wouldn’t end up being career suicide. Sadly, you weren’t lucky. March’s tail flicked angrily at the thought. You say a nasally apology. She, appropriately enough, does not accept your apology. 

 You look at your phone. 1 AM. The thorn should be busy right now, meaning the guards should have their hands full.  You could definitely- Fuck it. You need to delete that thing. 

You spring out of your bed, launching yourself out the door not bothering to change out of your pajamas aside from throwing on a jacket and a pair of tennis shoes. It would be a quick in and out job if you did it correctly. 

 “See ya, March! Don’t wait up!” you call out from the door, waving your jingling keys. The sound makes March stir but she doesn’t look at you. You snort but the fondness in your features wins over the anxiety and the annoyance. 

“March?” Anthony’s voice rises above the echo of sensual music coming from the main room. You freeze, the movements of your limbs stuttering along with your heartbeat. “Uh hey,” you answer, voice infinitely more stilted than you were envisioning. 

 In the low light, you can see Anthony tilting his head, a wrinkle of concern marring his perfect brow. “I thought you were supposed to be off for a day or two since-” his statement falters when his eyes flicker to the hickeys dotting your skin. You fight down the urge to zip up your hoodie. “-since Mr. Wilson likes to play rough.” Anthony continues both from not really being able to stop the words and the need to get more information out of you. 

 You smile easily. For once, you’re thankful for the low lighting of the club. The corners of your lips twitch unconvincingly. “I- Mr. Wilson called me about an hour ago and told me to meet him here- same room- He said something about an offer and considering the tip he gave me… I found it hard to turn down.” You lie, shrugging your shoulders casually and giving him a look roughly translating to ‘eh what can ya do’. You will your muscles not to wince or fidget. Maybe your lie would be convincing enough. 

 Finally, after a long pause, Anthony gives you a knowing look and says “Well, don’t let him work you too hard.” You give Anthony a wry smile unsure what to say. “I won’t. Promise.” 

 You wait for Anthony to disappear before letting your shoulders roll into a slump. You wonder if he’s ever…

 You shake your head. That wasn’t your business but that doesn’t stop your mind from wandering. 

 The security guard in charge of the monitors was almost insultingly easy to take out. Given, he had his hand crammed down his pants and he wasn’t exactly paying attention to the surroundings. Then again, could you really blame him when part of his job is just watching porn?

 You drag his unconscious body to the closet, jamming the door with the guard’s chair. You would think this place could afford a rolly chair. Nope. You suppose they had to cut corners somewhere. They probably should have cut it at the cameras but then again you weren’t the one running the joint. 

 Just as with the guard, getting into the system was fairly easy. The universe may be telling you something. It likely was but you ignored it in favor of the screen lighting up with dozens of thumbnails of naked men and women. You fight down the spike of embarrassment that rises in your chest. The idea that one of these guards watched you as you… It was mortifying but something in your stomach stirred. It was a mix of humiliation and something unexpectedly warm. You shake your head doing your best to ignore the feeling bubbling in your stomach. 

 Underneath each thumbnail was what you assumed to be the client’s initials and what looked to be the dates of each video. Well, they’re horny but organized which really helps you. You type in ‘S.W.’ just to shorten your agony. 

 The screen flickers again and when it lights up with another set of thumbnails, your mouth dries and the blood rushes to your face and to your groin. You bite out a curse for letting your eyes wander to the images. The first one your eyes land on has his back facing the camera in all his naked glory. You scan the image, eyes tracing over the scars littered all over his body and the rippling back muscles you could only see through his shirt. You groan in frustration. You can feel yourself growing wetter. Because of course, you didn’t account for your body’s reaction to him factoring into the speed of your work. You slip up and play one of the videos, the vulgar sounds permeating the room and reverberating in your bones. You scramble to pause the video. A part of you is hesitant to. The better, more logical part of you wins out. It was either propriety or jealousy that won out. Either way, you weren’t eager to investigate, not when the aching between your legs made itself so pronounced. You swear but it came out more whiny and breathless. You tighten your grip on the desk and the mouse. You had to find this thing before you turn into a runny mess on the floor. 

“If you wanted a copy, Kitten, you could have just asked,” a gravelly voice drawls into your ear. You attempt to twist, your body brushing up against something solid. Strong arms and a toned body cages you against the desk. The man certainly knows how to use his large build to his advantage.  You twist and wriggle, a mix of irritation and panic traveling up your spine. Behind you, Slade groans as your ass brushes against his growing bulge. You freeze. Heat creeps up your face and a swelling pool of warmth in your groin makes itself known. The close proximity makes your hackles draw up with all the force of the ‘fuck you’ you felt but you reign it in along with the shiver suffusing through your frame. 

 You take a steadying breath. “How the hell did you know I was here?” you snarl, voice caustic. Unaffected and more amused than anything, Slade leans in closer, his hot breath fanning against your neck. You shiver. Your nose is overpowered by the mix of musk and gin permeating off of him. The scent was delightfully potent making you squirm in discomfort. 

 Slade kisses up your neck, taking his time answering. His teeth catch at your skin once or twice making you gasp. This feels so good. The thrum under your skin worsens. Your mind was starting to become fuzzy with anticipation. This man was definitely trying to kill you. 

 “Anthony told me,” Slade says in between kisses, and the anger that statement should have drawn out of you was nowhere to be seen.  “He told me that you were waiting for me in my usual room. Imagine my surprise when you were nowhere to be seen.” You roll your eyes at him. 

  “Let’s see what you’ve been looking at, Sweetheart,” Slade murmurs against your skin, his lips brushing against your jaw as he maneuvers the mouse away from you. A large hand settles on your hip, calloused fingers toying with the top of your shorts as his thumb traces circles against your bare skin. You whine and lean into his touch not even minding the obvious distraction. 

 You feel him smile against your skin as he reads through the dates on screen. You know he could just zip through these dates, his meta powers enhancing the rate at which his mind processes things.  You know he’s only slowing down to make sure you see the sheer volume of videos he has. Your mind tries desperately to shrink away, to carve out some sort of irritation or maybe even disgust but all you could feel was a rampant tinge of jealousy and you weren’t entirely sure what to make of it. 

 The obscene sound of your desperate moans fills the room, making you flush with embarrassment. On the screen, you watch as your fingers dip in and out of your core. The slick sounds blaring from the speaker make you drip and clench together but you do not look away. Your eyes are fixed on your trembling limbs and your gasping, kiss-bitten lips. You can feel it even now, the way your body greedily soaked up the sinful atmosphere. Your body aches from the memory. 

 You yelp when Slade’s fingers slip past the waistband of your shorts. You buck against his touch, letting his calloused fingers brush up against the bare lips of your pussy. “You making a habit out of not wearing underwear around me?” Slade teases bringing you out of your haze only through the need to defend your last bit of dignity but whatever sharp or witty comeback you have dies on your lips when he curls his fingers inside you. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

 So much for your dignity. 

 Your hips rock against his hand, doing your best to fuck yourself on his fingers and brushing against his bulge. Sure, you were horny as all hell but that didn’t mean you weren’t still the pettiest little shit in existence. You close your eyes and look away from the screen trying to concentrate on the feeling of his hands inside you. But you can’t deny how the sounds from the video made this way hotter than it already was. Gripping your neck with his hand, Slade forces you to look back at the screen.  

 You open your eyes and see yourself bouncing desperately on Slade’s engorged cock. You groan, pussy clenching on his thick digits.

 “Such a good cockslut, look at how well that tight cunt of yours is taking me in.”

 Shame ravages your entire body as you hear yourself pant and whine at the statement. You recoil looking away wanting nothing more than to dissolve into seafoam at the moment. You don’t get to revel in your shame when the hand on your neck shifts and is pushing you down and closer to the screen. “Didn’t I tell you to keep watching, Kitten?”

 “Yes, sir,” you breathe, mouth pressed against the meat of your arm. You try to concentrate on the video- the needy little noises you try to bite back, the sound of flesh slapping against flesh, the wet squelching noises as his cock drills into you. You really do. 

 You hear the click of the mouse. Your eyes watch as another video loads. On the screen, Slade rolls up the sleeves of his white dress shirt, showing off his powerful forearms. There is a woman on the bed blindfolded, obediently keeping her arms in place as Slade binds her limbs to the bedposts with silk ribbons. Her parted legs show off the slick between her thighs flowing down to the sheets. Wordlessly, Slade drags a riding crop against her sensitive hole. You groan almost loud enough to snuff out her cries for him. A prickle of jealousy tugging at you makes you go rigid under his touch. 

 “Jealous, kitten?” he whispers, hand sliding into your shirt, large hand grasping the soft round flesh of your breast. You shuffle trying to kick him but stop when you feel him roll your nipples between his fingers. In the reflection on the screen, you can see him leering at your face twisting in reluctant pleasure. You can feel it against your ear. “Don’t worry, I have plenty of ideas for a good little slut like you.” You hear another click.  

 In the next video, the first thing that registers is a high keen, a mangled version of Slade’s name,  accompanied by a low buzz. In the corner of the screen, Slade’s toying with a remote, flicking the slider up and down with no real thought behind it. The woman whines, a frustrated sound, and you can understand the frustration as you grind your barely clothed pussy against the swell of Slade’s cock. 

 “Sir, please- Ah!”

 “Please, what, sweetheart?” he coos, turning the vibrator inside her back down to the lowest setting. 

 “Plea-” her plea is cut off by Slade flicking it back up to the highest setting then back down. You make a strangled noise of frustration at both the Slade behind you and the one on screen. 

 “Sir, please. Your cock. I need it. Please fill me up.” Tears are streaming down her face. Slade uncrosses his legs and stands up, smiling like he’s just been served something particularly delectable. “Such a good slut,” he purrs, turning the power back up to the highest setting. 

 The camera angle changes. You watch as Slade’s engorged cock sinks into her fold, vibrator still buzzing inside her. “You think you can take something like that? Can your tight little cunt of yours take that much?”

 “Yes, sir,” you answer, rolling your ass against him. He grunts and you grin into your arm. “This tight little cunt can take your large cock,” mouth shaping itself, showing off your pretty lips, “and whatever else you can give me” you say, voice breathy but even. You inject all the cocksure you can into the words trying to sound more challenging rather than pleading. Slade chuckles into your flesh. “We’ll see, kitten.”  

 Slade clicks on another video.  The camera trails over the swell of a woman’s ass down to her sopping core. Her face is pressed against the leather cushions of her couch while her limbs are locked to a spreader bar leaving her open and helpless to Slade’s ministrations. Slade, in all his naked glory, pumps his leaking cock lining it up against her greedy hole. She’s shaking and whimpering, trying to push her ass flush against him but his bruising grip keeps her in place. She cries out and your walls clench on nothing when Slade plunges his cock roughly into her folds. You whimper and buck against him, mimicking the way her ass bounces against his hips. The movement draws out a sharp ‘fuck’ from Slade’s clenched teeth. His thumbs press into the dimples of your back as he pins your hips to the table.   

 “Do you want me to fuck you like I fucked her?” he asks, threading his hand through your hair and yanking you up to his chest. You gasp, the pain making your blood sing.  “Do you want that, kitten?” You nod. “Take off your shirt.” Slade pulls himself back, still pinning your hips against the table with his. You shimmy out of your shirt and jacket eyes glued to the screen. You want him. You can feel how much he wants you too from the possessive way he cages you into the way his fingers curl inside you. They’re crooked just the right way to let you fuck yourself at just the right angle but it’s not enough. They fill you but it’s not the burning stretch you crave. You watch as he fucks into her relentlessly, jealousy boiling over in your veins as her eyes roll into the back of her head, completely and utterly lost in the pleasure.  “Maybe we’ll try one of those on you next time,” he whispers, pulling down your shorts and letting them fall to your ankles. Once again, your body bends over, presenting your bare ass to him. This time willingly as if to ask him to just fuck you however he wants.  

 "Tell me what you want," Slade licks a stripe up your spine, tasting sweat and desperation on your flesh and stopping at the back of your neck. You can feel him nip at your flesh. "What do you want me to do?" 

 All of that, you thought greedily.  I want you to fuck me, use me, make me cum over and over.  I don’t care how you use me. 

 "Would you rather I tell you what I want to do to you, kitten?" The hand shoved between legs is rubbing shallow circles on your clit. The motion easily cuts off whatever coherent reply was resting on your lips. You bow your sweat-drenched back into his chest. The hairs on his chest prickle your back. “I’ll tell you exactly how I intend to use a pretty little slut like you.” He grabs your neck, giving it a light but firm squeeze, his thumb brushing against your pulse. “I’m going to have you gagging around my cock as fuck your throat raw,” he growls. It sounds like a threat but it sends shivers up your spine. “Don’t worry, kitten, I won’t come down your throat. You know me better than that. I’d rather give you a string of pearls to decorate your wonderful breasts,” he says squeezing one roughly in his large hand. Your tongue lolls out thinking of just how much you want this. Slade brings down his palm against your ass; the same broad palm kneads your flesh feeling the familiar heat emanate from the red blooming on your skin. “Then I’ll fuck that tight little ass of yours.” You gasp as he enters your pussy in one swift thrust. The rhythm of his thrusts mimics the one on the screen, slowing down when he feels your insides strangling his cock. He whispers every filthy promise you don’t even dare dream of. 

 “Do you want to cum?”

 “Yeees,” you sigh into your arms. “Please.”

 “Ask nicely.” You’re going to kill him. 

 “Please, Slade. I-”

 “Oh errr-” You freeze. You turn your head to look over your shoulder. You make a horrified bleat when you see one of the security guards standing meekly at the door. He doesn’t bother to hide how blatantly he’s watching as Slade continues to fuck into you drawing little sighs and gasps out of you. Your walls flutter around Slade, sweet and tight drawing a growl out of him. Slade looks over his shoulder as if he’d just noticed your audience. “Patrick, do you think you could give us a few minutes?” Slade grunts slowing his movements. Patrick seemingly surfaces from his slack-jawed haze. “Yes, of course, Mr. Wilson! Right away.” He scampers off shutting the door in a violent haste. 

 “You know him?” you gasp, twisting your body to scowl at him. His pace slows even more as he pretends to thin his answer over. “He’s caught me a few times,” he says offhandedly. You have no idea why this surprises you. “You’re not the first slut I’ve fucked over this desk.” You shiver as Slade pushes you back down onto the table, keeping you still with a hand around your throat.  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he teases, pressing a kiss between your shoulder blades. “You’d want me to fuck that tight little cunt while he watches.” The hot breath fanning against your skin draws a shiver from you. 

 “What do you think, kitten?” he asks, nipping at your ear.  “Don’t worry he won’t mind. No one would mind watching that cute little ass of yours.” You whine in a half-hearted protest. It’s loud and you think you’ll get caught again. Slade seems to think so too as he instructs you to open your mouth.  Your skin feels too hot and your mind is hazy so you obey fully expecting to press his fingers into your mouth. Instead, he stuffs a lacy piece of cloth into your mouth. You make the mistake of flicking your eyes back to the screen to investigate. In your mouth was your lacy underwear from the other night and on the screen was...

 There he sits with the ease of a hedonistic king while one woman sucks on his cock, tears pricking the edges of her eyes, and the other riding his fingers chasing her own high as he devours her mouth. The satisfaction of your jealousy heats Slade’s veins. “Sometimes double is better, don’t you agree, kitten.”  You make a dissenting whine cresting over your lips. “Don’t worry we’ll let you try it at some point.” 

 “Men would pay good money to watch you like that-” Slade tilts your chin, squeezing your chin and forcing you to look at the screen as Slade fucks the woman's throat raw. “or like this-” Slade’s cock plunges into you, deep and filling and hitting all the right spots. Your nails drag against the desk feeling your insides clench around him. He leans into your ear, voice a husky whisper. “They’d pay even better money to have their cocks where mine is-” thrust “-right-” thrust ”-now.”  You whimper around the cloth in your mouth. You tighten around him at the thought of other people vying for your attention and Slade claiming you as his while they looked on with jealousy. Slade barks out a laugh, gripping hard above the arches of your hips to bounce you back on his cock.  You’re so close. You’re going to cum. You cum with a shrill cry. Slade fucks you relentlessly through your orgasm, grunting loudly against your ear. 

 He takes his cock out of you. You feel something warm spill all over your ass. It’s sticky and hot and you don’t need to look to know what it was.   

 He takes your panties out of your mouth. Your breath, greedily sucking in air but it turns into a gasp when you feel the lacy cloth rubbing against your oversensitive skin.“Gotta keep this place clean, kitten- This is a high-class establishment after all.” You don’t protest as he tosses your cum covered panties into your pile of clothes. You simply press your body against the cool surface of the table and let out a tired little sigh.  

 “Feel free to delete the videos if you want. I already have my own copy,” he says casually waving a USB stick as he walks towards the door. “As I said before, just tell me if you want a copy. I’ll happily give you a copy… for a favor.”

 “Fuck you.”

 “Anytime, kitten.”

 You hear the door close. You’re going to have to work to get your clothes back on. Your limbs feel like noodles but first, you click on your video and delete them. You saw several people on the members' list you want nowhere near you or your videos.  Your skin heats again at the thought of those people bidding just to- You push it out of your mind and hit the delete button. 

 You breathe a sigh of relief. 

 Bonus: 

 Slade brings his phone up to his ear after typing in a familiar set of digits. “How did you like it?”

 “Wilson, you’ve got her trained well,” Roman’s gravelly voice, says roughly strained from arousal as he replays some highlights. 

“Indeed, I do.”

 “How much?”

 Slade hums, taking his time to answer. “How much are you willing to pay?” 

 “You would be surprised.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THANKS FOR READING

Tag list:  @batarella , @anothertimdrakestan , @lucy-roo , @multifandomgirl-us , @idkmanicantenglish ,@birdy-bat-writes , @americasmarauders , @l-inkage , @arestorationofbalance  , @cloudie-skay , @wunderstell    @hyp-oh-critical @glorified-red

[goosewithasaxophone]

Attack On Titan seasons 3+4 Spoilers (and 1 if you haven’t started it or gotten halfway thru it yet)

EVERYONE LISTEN UP OR DONT IDC BUT I JUST FINISHED EPISODE 8 OF AOT AND I HAVE AN IRRELEVANT HEADCANON THAT HELPS ME FALL ASLEEP AT NIGHT

Levi says to the kids (i guess they’re not kids anymore 😭😭😭😭) “Don’t die on me” and i just AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA it got me thinking how fuckin TIRED THIS POOR MAN IS of LOSING HIS FRIENDS

he lost his mom as a young child, his squad in s1, Kenny, Erwin and almost Hange (TOO CLOSE MOM TOO CLOSE) in s3, now Sasha in s4 ??? he needs a BREAK !!!!!!!!!!!!

so here’s my headcanon that i think about nonstop ☺️☺️

Levi is alone in his office after they return from the fight between Eren and the other titans. Sasha is put to rest with her things gathered and folded nicely on Levi’s desk to return to her family (are they alive ?? whatever i don’t remember).

He’s sitting at his desk writing a letter to go with Sasha’s things when they’re given back to whomever. Hange walks in, she’s exhausted. They both are. She stands in his doorway watching him. He tells her to come in, his tone gruff and assertive and his voice low and tired. His eyes are dark, even under the light of the lantern on his desk, shedding a low warm glow around the little room.

Hange steps closer and stands behind him where he sits, reading over his shoulder at the letter he’s writing. Beside it, she sees another letter, in fact, it’s a small pile of letters. Each paper has his scribbly writing inked and smudged and aged. She glided her fingers across the sides of the top page in the pile, trying to read them under the dull light. She sees the name “Erwin Smith” appear several times in several variances throughout the letter. Her heart twinges at the heartfelt words in the letter. Underneath that one she searches for other names in the other letters. She sees Petra, Oluo, Eld, and Gunther throughout the other pages.

By the time she finishes reading final letter in the pile she snaps back into the moment and notices Levi writing more aggressively on Sasha’s letter. His pen is taking the pressure from his hands and almost tearing through the paper. Hange has to place her hand on his wrist before he goes too far. He resists and tears a hole in the paper.

“Fuck,” he curses aggressively under his breath. Hange is about to say something, she opens her mouth to try to say something, anything that will reassure Levi that the tear in the page is nothing to fret, he can write another copy. But she knows she can’t say that because his words are authentic and to write another copy would be replicating a feeling already felt. That’s dwelling in the past and Levi doesn’t do that.

So she says nothing, and instead places her hand on his back. If she presses her palm flat against him she can feel his breath grow shallow and rigid. His breathing becomes audible.

Levi does not show emotion. He stares straight ahead and speaks monotonously no matter the situation. He uses his actions as expression and displays loyalty through his behavior.

Unless he’s alone with Hange.

Moments pass and Hange thinks he’s pulled himself together, so she takes a step back. Just as her fingertips lift from the man’s back he slams his fist on the desk and drops his face into his hands. Hange swoops down and throws herself over him like a protective blanket. She snakes her arms around him as far as they’ll go and squeezes tightly.

Levi curls forward from within her embrace and continues to try to control his breathing. He’s failing, they’re both aware, and neither say a word. It’s not until Hange realizes he isn’t going to immediately pull himself together that she takes another action. Shuffling her feet until she’s directly in front of him she brings her arms underneath his and raises him so he’s standing. She can hold him much closer this way.

“Fucking shit,” he sobs. Despite the lack of context Hange knows exactly what he’s talking about. It translated to “Why do I keep losing people?” She says the only thing she can think to say in the moment.

“Not me,” she whispers, feeling her own tears begin to sting her eyes. “Never me.”

“You were too close,” he mumbles. “Don’t ever fucking pull some shit like that again, he growled, remembering back to the sight of her being slammed against the trees, the sound of her voice shouting in pain as she hit the hard surfaces on her way down after her gear failed to suspend her. “That was too fucking close.”

Hange chuckles weakly. “I’ll do my best.”

“No you won’t. Your wreckless ass can’t stand not being at the center of danger.”

“What do you expect, that’s how we learn about things. From the center of them.”

“You’re fucking stupid.”

“I know.”

He brings his arms around her waist and pulls tightly. She knows he doesn’t mean the things he says. She knows he doesn’t think she’s intellectually stupid. He just doesn’t want to lose her too.

“You’re not gonna lose me, but I can’t lose you either, okay?” she said, trying to take a more encouraging turn. “I can’t handle those stupid kids on my own. Someone’s gotta be around to kick the shit outta them and keep ‘em in line, okay?” He nods against her chest and keeps his face buried in her.

It’s late evenings like these, when they return from some sort of mission, after Levi has changed out of his bloodstained clothes and Hange has restored her messy ponytail and everyone else has settled in for a long awaited rest, that Levi finds himself emotionally more vulnerable. It’s late evenings like these that when Hange is around and they’re alone, he can let himself be vulnerable. She’s his closest remaining partner.

It’s the pile of letters on his desk, never sent out, only ever growing with every additional squad member’s death, that Hange sees Levi’s true colors in. He’s not the cold, distant, abusive caption that everyone fears to anger lest they experience his wrath. He’s the damaged, healing, fragile captain that is so goddamn determined to keep his squads alive because every single time a member dies, another small piece of him dies with them. When the kids came into the picture he had never felt a greater weight on his shoulders. Every boy containing Farlan’s eyes and every girl containing Isabel’s, though no one saw it but him. He had to keep these stupid, wreckless, impulsive kids alive, because if he didn’t, who would?

But now the kids weren’t kids anymore. They were growing up. They were maturing. They were seeing things that toughened their skin and their hearts. They were taking control of their lives and realizing the real important things in life.

Levi was glad he could see them grow up and become wreckless adults instead of their old wreckless selves. But it also scared him, because he used to be that fresh new wreckless adult. And now he was the only one left. Him and Hange.

And that’s why he puts up an emotionless front. Because he and Hange are the last two left. The kids may think they are on their own, but Levi keeps an eye out. He watches and observes and takes pride in their enthusiasm on the good days and stays quietly sympathetic in the defeated hope on the bad ones. He’s watching because he cares so much. And that is what makes him so afraid.

Anyway that took me a half hour to type out because the more i thought about it while writing it the more developed it got. So there’s my big detailed headcanon, probably some misinformation in there but that’s because i don’t always understand what’s going on in the show and i’m far too behind to start the manga now. hope y’all enjoy and can suffer through the rest of the season along with me <3

[babylooneytoonz]

Blood Trails [ Pt. 4 ]

Chapter Summary: Being locked up at the HYDRA cell with Sasha makes you have a slight change of heart. Is it just an innocent change of heart or is it your heart's way of trying to remind you what your brain cannot remember?

Warnings: Violence, Implied Child Abuse, Non Con Sex Reference , Implied non descriptive torture tactics

Word Count : 3000+ (I K R ?)

Blood Trails Masterlist link -> here.

Bucky was able to miraculously pull out the magnet from the top of the car that ended up freeing him. He swam up until he was on the surface, and he hopelessly looked around, but he didn’t see anything remotely related to HYDRA or his daughter. His anguish was so much, he fell to his knees, on the middle of the road, and screamed; his eyes writhing in rage and venomous hatred. He was going to hunt you down, hunt each of you down, and send you back to hell. With rage filled eyes, his outfit soaked from top to bottom, he somehow walked all the way to the Avengers facility; and of course, Sam, Wanda, Clint and Tony surrounded him, as he told him what had happened.

“Get the fucking Quinjet ready.” He commanded, as he practically pushed his body into his tactical wear.

Tony raised a curious eyebrow, eyeing the man with the metal arm from the corner of his eye, “I don’t want to put a full stop to your momentum there Barnes, but where exactly are you going to look for Sasha? She may be anywhere in this goddamn world, in any continent or any country.”

“He is right you know –“ Sam began, but then his eyes widened as though a thought had just hit him, “Unless he knows something and already has a lead.”

All heads turned towards him, almost drilling a hole into the man with the metal arm who had just finished fixing his gun holster with his guns. He then turned towards them and murmured, in a loud voice, “I’m going to Hungary, because that’s where Vasili Dreznov operates from.”

“Okay, did I miss something over here?” Tony crossed his arms over his chest, causing Bucky’s jaw to clench as he shot him a dangerous glare.

“That woman got a call.. she said the name Vasili. The only Vasili I know is a HYDRA handler, Vasili Dreznov. The last I heard, he was at the Hungarian base.”

“Well, atleast we’ve got a lead.” Wanda chimed in, as the rest of the team started dispersing and getting ready for their mission; rescue Winter Soldier’s daughter.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Your boots crashed against the concrete metal flooring of the underground HYDRA base in Hungary as you walked through the maze like hallways, that was illuminated by a single LED light in each hallway. You were walking in the middle, with Vasili walking directly behind you. In front of your eyes, Sasha Barnes was chained up, thick metal cuffs adorning her tiny wrists as the HYDRA guards dragged her down the hallway. You craned your neck slightly to turn slightly towards your handler, and your eyes narrowed, your voice hissing in a low voice, “Неужели нам нужно связывать ее, Vasili?” (Do we really need to chain her up, Vasili?)

Your handler didn’t answer, and instead, he just used his arm to push you forward, so you kept on walking, causing your eyebrows to twitch as a sudden surge of frustration filled you up, and only a whisper came out of your lips as she was pushed into one of the cells, and the door was slammed shut on your face, “Она всего лишь ребенок.” (She is just a kid.)

“Похоже, ваше лечение прекращается. Я чувствую в тебе слабость, птичка, и думаю, слабость здесь – действительно опасная вещь.” (Looks like your treatment is coming off. I can smell weakness on you, little bird, and guess what, weakness in here is a really dangerous thing.)

“I’m not getting weak, Vas –“

Arms grabbed you suddenly, and instinctively you let out a loud cry, “No, VASILI PLEASE DON’T…IM ..IM NOT GETTING WEAK.. I JUST… PLEASE NO..” that was soon muffled when something tasting bitter was stuffed into your mouth. Tears streamed across your face and your eyes widened in a sudden fright. Reflexively, you started struggling and squirming, trying to break free from the clutches of the HYDRA guards, who only laughed at the state of pure agony that you were in.

“Looks like наш маленький солдат is getting her memories back, and that is something we will never want, eh?” Vasili made a motion with his hands; a motion you well understood and instinctively, you used stopped walking and with all the force in your body, you jumped where you were standing, the force of which caused the HYDRA guard who was holding you to loosen his grip in order to steady himself from falling and getting disbalanced. You took the moment to hurl yourself to face him, your eyes glaring death into the guard’s eyes as your hands latched to his throat, and you snapped his neck into two, like a twig.

Your eyes widened, when you felt the familiar taser prick against your neck, and you fell to your knees, as pain shot through your body, like shards of glass pricking against your skin.

“N..No..Pl…please..” was all you could cry out as your eyelids started getting heavy, and you felt someone grab your foot and start dragging you against the cold metal floor, the course surface burning against your skin as your body was dragged into the lab, where you were shoved into the electric chair, and the helmet was fixed against your head.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

“Come on, Vasili’s not even banged you yet, and you’re not able to fucking walk.. what you gonna do when all of us take you and your tight little cunt one by one ..”

“Прекрати, Alexei, this one’s a fucked up bitch.. leave her alone.. rumour has it..she bites..” Another guard’s voice sounded through your ears but you were in no position to listen; you could concentrate on nothing but pain..whatever you thought, whenever you tried to breathe, only one thing was what you could feel and that was pain.. blinding, deafening and bone chilling pain.

The guards unlocked the heavily barricaded steel door and the minute it opened, you were pushed into your cell, the force being enough for you to land on your knees, only your hands held out in front of you to save you from a disgraceful fall. You kept laying there, resting your head against the cold floor, just breathing when a soft feminine voice reached your ears, “Больно?” (Does it hurt?)

You fluttered your eyes open, and you pushed yourself up in a sitting position as your palm wiped off the dried up blood on the corner of your lips, where a new gash had now formed. You looked up at the girl who was sitting on your bed and was looking down at you, her eyes widened in fear, yet childlike inquisitiveness.

You didn’t reply, but instead, gripping the corners of your bed, you tried lifting yourself up, slowly, but for some reason, your body seemed to be giving up and you only fell back against the floor with a curse escaping your lips. You let the five year old help you, as she threw out her arm towards you and took it, coiling your fingers against her soft ones as she pulled you up; half of it being your own effort and the other half her super soldier strength.

You fixed yourself on bed next to her and the two of you awkwardly sat next to each other for a few seconds in silence, the things she had said to you now all forgotten and out of your head again.

“Сделают ли они это и со мной?” (Will they do this to me too?) Her voice was soft, her blue eyes fixed on yours as you gave her a ghost of a smile before laying down against the rock like pillow, choosing not to answer her. What were you supposed to say to her? That she was going to be tortured beyond her wits soon and turned into a cold killing machine?

You fluttered your eyes shut, fighting the urge to let your tears flow out of your eyes when you felt her pull the cotton sheet over your broken body. You didn’t know what it was about her that made you feel human again, alive again, like you had a heart and you had feelings again; but worse than that, it caused you to fear in the back of your mind, that she was making you weak.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Your eyes flung open at an ungodly hour, when you heard a voice somewhere in your cell. Propping yourself up on your elbow, you looked up to see Vasili casually seated on a couch not far from where you were laying, with Sasha propped up on his lap, his fingers stroking the girl’s cheeks. You didn’t fail to notice the fright in her eyes and the way she beckoned you with her eyes to call her to yourself, away from him. And you didn’t fail to notice the way the evil man eyed the little girl; reminding you of the hours that you had just let him treat you and your body like a vessel that was only made to please him when he wanted. You couldn’t hide the sliver of disgust that crept up inside you, a sudden instinct that you felt to suddenly protect her, it being ironical that you were the one responsible for her being here in the first place.

"Sasha, can you come over here? Now please?"

You didn't know where you got that courage from, or that spark in your eye, for immediately, the little girl was standing next to you, while the two of you kept looking at the evil smirk your handler had on his face.

You grabbed Sasha's hands, pulling her tiny body behind you as you stood up, your legs still shaking from the aftermath of the torture you went through yesterday.

"She is a five year old kid, Vasili. Leave her out of this. I've never said no to you, but please, leave her out of this."

The thin-faced man only gave a wry, devilish laugh. He slowly stood up, his lips puckered slightly, as though he was trying to suppress an incoming smirk from creasing over his lips. You kept towering over Sasha, your eyes flashing dark, distilled rage as he meandered his way over to you and suddenly grabbed your arm, pulling you towards him.

"Если у меня не будет ее, я заставлю ее смотреть." (If I cant have her, I will make her watch.)

Your eyes clenched shut in disgust, and when you opened them again, your eyes were red and bloodshot.

"You're a disgusting, vile bastard, Vasili."

The only sound that filled your cell after that was the sound of his evil, raucous laughter, as your muffled cries of pain and disgust.

A few hours later,

"Wake up, Sasha."

You nudged the little girl awake.

She rubbed her eyes and slowly fluttered them open. You had no idea what time of the night it was, but from a tiny round grilled window in your room, you could see that the sun wasn't out yet. You gave her your hand as she sat up in bed, and looked at you.

"Now listen to me, very carefully. I am going to try and get you out of here. Okay? But I'm gonna need you to play along with me. Can you do that?"

You gave her weak smile, bringing your palm up to the top of her head as you quickly ruffled it up before you pushed her away, so she fell back against the cold gravel, taken aback.

"Почему бы тебе не держаться от меня подальше? Просто держись от меня подальше. Кто угодно! Убери ее отсюда к черту! Посадите ее в другую чертову камеру! Кто угодно!" (Why dont you stay the hell away from me? Just stay away from me. Anyone! Get her the fuck out of here! Put her in another goddamn cell! Anyone! )

You slammed your fists hard against the back of the door, and repeatedly banged on it, until there was another bang on the door from the outside, followed by a few curses, and then a voice, "Заткнись, солдат." (Shut the fuck up, Soldier.)

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

The Quinjet wasn't crowded today, as Natasha and Bruce were on a classified mission someplace in Afghanistan. This left Bucky, Sam, Tony and Clint; for even Wanda and Vision were out on another mission.

"I hope everyone knows the drill," Bucky muttered, in a low voice, his arms crossed over his chest, as he eyed the team, "We're gonna land in approximately five. There is no scope of failure."

Within the next few minutes, Bucky and the rest of the Avengers, had jumped off the Quinjet; and were already making their way towards the base, slinking through the shadows until the heavily guarded base was in sight.

"Well, to the count of, oh well, what the fuck ?" Bucky growled into the comms, when he saw that Sam was already out, and was running towards the guards in full swing, ready to take his flight, along with Tony Stark all suited up and ready to kick some HYDRA asses. "I thought I said wait for instructions." He growled again into the Comms, as he effortlessly deflected a bullet using his metal hand, and at the same time, that deflected bullet pierced into the stomach of another HYDRA guard that was in close proximity.

A loud thump on your door alerted you and Sasha. Your index finger flew up to your lips and you threw up your palm to keep her where she was as you stood up and with slow, unsteady steps, made your way to the door, when at the exact same time, the door jostled open with a loud noise, and two HYDRA guard's entered; with Vasili on their trail.

They tossed your combat uniform to the floor, and it landed against the concrete with a crash and you looked up at them quizzically.

"Get dressed. We have a situation. And we need you to be armed and ready to break a few necks," he mumbled in a rich Russian accent.

"What's happening?"

"That Avenger scum.. they're here. Now hurry up, моя машина-убийца."

The door slammed shut again, but this time, you did not hear the sound of them locking your cell from the outside. Once you were sure that they had left, you hurriedly bent and grabbed your uniform, taking off the torn rags that you were wearing and started sliding into it, your eyes fixed on the now excited girl.

"Now listen to me, княжна, I will get you to them, and once you are there, you will not look back. You will leave. Is that clear?"

You knelt down in front of her so you were now face level with her. You didn't understand why you were doing this for her, what was the pull that was binding the two of you together, but you knew that this was a chance that she could escape; from meeting the same fate that you had met, and from Vasili's evil eyes. You almost gasped, when suddenly, out of the blue, when you had least expected it, the little girl placed her palms on either side of your cheek, all her fear of you now forgotten.

"А что насчет тебя? Пожалуйста, пойдем со мной.." (What about you? Please come with me..)

You bit your lip hard; but it was more in an attempt to force yourself to not cry as you smiled, shaking your head.

"Я дома, а тебя нет." (I'm home but you are not.)

You stood up, before she could reply because you didn't want her to. For some reason, this little devil of a child managed to bring out a different side in you, a side that made you want to fight the monsters that you were swimming in, but you also knew how powerful they were. You couldn't fight them alone, even if you wanted to. Shaking these depressing thoughts away, you grabbed your gun with one hand, when she smiled at you and slowly slid her hand through your other hand.

"Now trust me, I am going to get you to your superheroes, but you need to start pretending now. We can't let the guards know.. what we have planned, and what we are planning to do. Okay, Sasha?"

"Yes... mama."

"I'm.. I'm.. not your mother.."

You immediately forced yourself to look away, but her words seemed to be radiating like static through your mind. You could hear the sound of a baby crying, somewhere in the distance, but just as soon as you heard it, a sudden jolt of a pain in your head caused that voice to fade away. You gasped suddenly, your palm flying to your throat, as sweat pooled over your forehead and you looked down at her. Before you could react though, a series of bangs and gunshots started ringing outside, somewhere in the facility.

"You're Black Widow's daughter," You whispered, grabbing the girl as you tossed her over your shoulder, holding her there using your free hand, while with the other, you pulled open the door, and aimed your gun, just in case you needed to shoot.

You didn't need to shoot them, you only had to answer them; that you were taking her to safe place, so they couldn't get to her. No one suspected, for they were too busy running towards the area where the fight had ensued.

"Listen, Sasha.. I want you to scream for help, as loud as you can when you see any of your friends, okay?" You nudged her, as you ran towards the source of the commotion, and she just shouted back a yes, her tiny hands pressed against her ears as the gunshots ringing all around the base were too loud.

After what felt like running for an eternity, you finally saw a glimpse of what the Avengers fighting together looked like. It was a madhouse, as though hell was raining down on the HYDRA guards from all directions. Your eyes, however, fell on the glistening, shining metal as it deflected a bullet with such precision, you were almost awestruck, only to be pulled back from your sudden trance by Sasha's sudden screaming, which you know was because she wanted to capture his attention; the Winter Soldier.

He suddenly snapped his head in your direction, his eyes meeting your sharp ones; the only thing that was visible on your face due to your face mask. And slowly, his eyes travelled to the girl that was on your shoulder, a dangerous throaty growl erupting from his mouth, before he started pushing his way through the HYDRA soldiers, right towards you.

You blinked, almost squinting your eyes, as you waited a few seconds, for him to get closer. And once he was almost two inches away you turned your tail and started running, back the way you had come from. You knew what you were doing, you were trying to pull him away from the crowd, from where the fighting was, for you couldn't hand Sasha to him right where the fight was going on.

Bucky was fast, and you could feel his heavy footsteps behind you, as he was almost reaching you, his arms drawn out so he could grab you; or Sasha. But instead of grabbing her, he slowly lifted his gun, aiming it towards your foot and his finger flew to the trigger, when Sasha's cries filled his ears.

"DADDY, PLEASE DON'T SHOOT HER."

A look of confusion washed over his face, and he didn't understand. Nevertheless, he dropped his gun weilding hand to his side, and that was your cue to finally stop running, and lower Sasha to her feet, so she could run to him.

"Sasha, off you go." You pushed her towards Bucky, who caught the little girl in his arms. "I don't understand," Bucky began speaking, but the force with which Sasha crashed against him, he lifted her up in his arms, clutching her against his chest. He kissed the side of her face, and then the two of them turned towards you; both with reasons entirely different from each others, but you were long gone, as though disappeared into thin air.

Permanent Bucky Barnes Taglist :

@really-dont-forget-it @thepeakygurl @all-art-is-quite-useless @baumarvel @janajjj @chipilerendi @nyotamalfoy @skittychat @allidoiswritewritewrite @jessyballet @x0xchristine @evansgirl7 @laisbeltrans @thegayseance @marie1115 @supraveng

Want to be added to the Taglist? Pls fill the form on the link here. 💙

[aprilmmourning]

“It’s me and you, babe, till the end.” Chapter 32

Negan x OC // word count:  1555

Masterlist : x

Wrote this probably about two years ago. Since then, a lot has happened in the show, which I’m not up to date to as far as the details go. Haven’t watched the show since... Can’t even remember. Seen bits and pieces here and there but haven’t seen the last two? three? seasons and have a lot to catch up on. Quite the task.

Both Simon and Rob had looked confused when she first exited the room with Negan, then decided to ignore her when Negan barked orders at them. He told Rob to take the day off, joking that he had one of the easiest job there was, so there wasn't much relaxing to be done. Simon was given a task too, he was supposed to find out if Dwight had returned and meet them outside, Negan wanted to show her Eugene. She didn't ask what he meant by that and knowing she'd soon find out, got a little anxious. Knowing Negan, it could be literally anything. Even though he said it wasn't bad, she didn't entirely believe him when he said that.

Letting go of her hand, Negan opened the door to the stairs and she went in first, starting to go down. He followed her, whistling a tune as they descended slowly, Emilia didn't want to move that much, she had made progress by staying in bed for days and she didn't want to ruin it all now. "You're really not lying?" she asked, after a man had walked by them, going up. "About what?" "Eugene." Negan sighed, "You'll see for yourself, any minute now. Have some damn patience." Fine. Emilia decided not to ask anything else if she got answers like that and just kept walking the stairs, getting a little winded already, she hadn't walked this much in days. Finally they got all the way down to the right floor and Emilia sighed, her sights on the door that eventually lead out. "Now, hold up," Negan said behind her before she could reach the door and she turned around, her eyebrows raised. "You know the rules," he said, looking down at her, the bat resting on his shoulder. "What rules?" she asked, not a hundred percent sure what he meant. Negan started smiling, "The rules baby. Come on, don't tell me that after everything, it all went in one ear and right out the other," he said and tsked, still smiling. "I'm not going to do anything," she said, rolling her eyes, "I told you, I'll behave," she said, then smiled, "I'll try." Negan reached his hand over and put it behind her neck, his arm resting on her shoulder, then leaned closer, "I really need you to behave after all that shit that went down," he said with a low voice, "Now, I'm not going to warn or threaten you, 'cause I don't want to do that, but..." "But you'll do something if I do something, right?" she asked, not happy about what he was saying. She could behave, damn it, she didn't need to be threatened. Negan smiled, the smile not reaching his eyes, "Probably not, but it sure fucking sucks when you're not listening to me. It makes me look really fucking bad around here. They'll start to think I've got a soft spot for you," he joked. "God forbid people think you actually have a heart," she joked back, crossing her arms across her chest, "Oh wait, you don't." Negan chuckled at that, leaning closer,  "I think yours is enough for both of us, huh?" he whispered, "And on second thought, I'm pretty goddamn sure they already noticed I'm crazy about you, there's more than enough evidence to back that shit up," he said, smirking, then moved his hand over her shoulder, turning her around and lead her towards the exit, "Now, let's go darlin', I got something to show ya."

When they got there, she couldn't believe her eyes. Eugene looked completely fine, well-adjusted even. Her and Negan were standing on a raised ledge near the main entrance, looking down at the gated area with roamers. Eugene was minding his business, he hadn't noticed them observing him yet. "See, told you," Negan said, then pulled her closer to him, his arm slung over her shoulders. "So, what's the deal with him?" she asked, narrowing her eyes towards Eugene, squinting because of the bright sun. She wondered if Eugene switched sides so easily or was he pretending, it seemed this option was better than to rot in a cell. "He's valuable, smart. Has a lot of great ideas. You should listen to him speak," Negan said, chuckling, "Shit, you probably have. Look at me forgetting you're from the same group." She had heard him talk though, and she knew he could talk his way out of anything, she remembered hearing how he got Abraham and Rosita to help him and keep him safe. "Huh," she said, still finding it hard to believe what she was seeing, "I don't know what to say." Eugene glanced at their direction, then had to do a double take, seeing who was watching him. Negan waved at him with the bat since he wasn't in the hearing distance, a big grin on his face and Eugene waved back, looking a little hesitant. "You surprised I treat people well when they contribute? When they do their part?" Negan asked, turning to face her. Suddenly a cool gust of wind blew and she shivered, obviously not wearing enough layers for this weather. "No, it's just," she said, pushing her hair out of her face since the wind was flying them all around, "Nothing," she said, not knowing how to express what she was thinking, nor if she should. She got a feeling that Eugene was pretending, that he was still loyal to Rick. It wouldn't make sense he switched sides this easy, since Negan killed Abraham and those two were close. She looked at Eugene again, wondering what he was up to. "Spill it out," Negan said and she saw that he was staring at her, but her eyes were peeled on Eugene, now standing with his back towards them. "Nothing," she said, then turned to Negan and smiled, "I'm just surprised." Negan looked almost offended but then brushed it off. He glanced at Eugene, "You want to talk to him?" Emilia thought she heard wrong. "Talk to him? Me?" Negan looked back to her, a glint in his eyes, "Go and ask him why he's such a pussy and didn't help you when Jason was so goddamn obviously trying to kill you." Emilia didn't answer, which seemed to amuse Negan for some reason. Maybe she had a look on her face. "You really up for gettin' yourself hurt over someone like that?" The look in his eyes darkened as he looked at her intently. "Let it go already," she said with a low voice, "I don't want to talk about it." He scoffed, "Got you feeling pretty fucking stupid I guess-" Emilia interrupted by elbowing him into the stomach, which made him chuckle but at least he shut up. She ignored Negan and turned her eyes back to Eugene, observed him as he strolled around the walker pit, occasionally writing something down. It was odd, seeing him that calm over there. But when she thought about it a little more, she understood that he had no other option to be that way. Stay calm and obedient to survive. Maybe you should've done the same.

Someone approaching from behind stole her attention away from Eugene, and she looked back to see Simon apporaching. "Hey, boss," he said and stopped a few steps away from them. Negan turned to him too, "What is it?" "Uh, need to talk," he glanced at Emilia, "In private." "Shit," Negan said and turned to Emilia, "I thought we'd go and talk to Eugene over there, that would've been goddamn interesting." Emilia thought that she would've skipped that gladly. Now that she was out here, she wanted to go back up. She started noticing that people stared and it made her a bit uncomfortable. "You can get yourself up there by yourself, can you?" Negan asked her, smiling. She nodded. "Go," Negan placed his hand on her back an pushed her gently. So, as she had no other option but to go, she did excatly that, without any protesting or questions. She did wonder what it was that Simon needed to tell him in private. Maybe it was about Amber, maybe it was something else. There were a hundred options and while she slowly and carefully walked upstairs, she thought about all of those.

-

"You see him?" "Yes." "Can you do it?" Rosita asked, sounding almost excited. "Nah, I don't think I can, Emilia's there." "What?" "Yeah, Eugene too." "And? Take the shot," Rosita insisted, itching for Sasha to shoot and kill Negan already. "I can't, she's... She's blocking him." "Well, shit. You sure there isn't a way?" "No." "What are they doing?" "I don't know, talking. Eugene looks like he's ordering people around." "What?" "Yeah, guess they're both pretty content over there," Sasha said, disappointed at what she was seeing. Rosita didn't see, but she sounded disappointed too, "Pretending, they're both pretending." "I sure hope so," Sasha said, still looking at Negan and Emilia through the scope. Emilia's back was towards her, so she didn't see what she was doing, but Negan was smiling and talking to her, looking all happy, something he shouldn't get to be. Not after everything, and she was intent on making sure she saw the day he was dead and be the one that killed him.

[the-magnus-archives-archiver]

Infestation

Case: 0120606 0162907

Name:  Subject: Prentiss’ attack on the Magnus Institute Archive in July of 2016. Date: July 29th, 2016 Recorded by: Live recording of incident at the Magnus Institute, London

[WRITHING WORM SOUNDS]

Sasha: What are you doing?!

Archivist: Almost...

Sasha: Leave it, it’s not—

Archivist: I got it!

[PULLS SOMETHING FROM THE MORASS]

Martin: Guys? Is everyth— OH CHRIST!

Archivist: Shut up and get the extinguishers!

Martin: What?

Archivist: The CO2! Get the goddamn CO2!

Martin: Right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, yep.

Archivist: NOW!

[WRITHING CONTINUES AS EXTINGUISHER SPRAYS]

Martin:There’s too many...

Sasha: Just keep spraying!

Archivist: We need to go!

Sasha: Where?

Archivist: Uh... Uh...

Sasha: Damn!

Archivist: I just... uh... let, let me think!

Sasha: Do you see Prentiss? If we could get her—

Martin: I, I, I don’t see her! I don’t see her! I don’t see her! I don’t see her!

Archivist: Uhhh...

Sasha: John? John!?

Martin: This way! Come on! Come this way! This way, this way!

[RUNNING, PURSUED BY WORMS]

Archivist: Erm... LOOK OUT!

[CRASH] [CLICK] [CLICK] [SOUND CUTS IN MIDWAY THROUGH THE ARCHIVIST SCREAMING]

Martin: And... there we go. Recording again. Did you get it?

[PAINED CRY FROM ARCHIVIST AS SASHA EXTRACTS WORM WITH A SQUELCH]

Sasha: There. And I just want to point out that I didn’t make this much of a fuss.

Archivist: [Breathing heavily, aggrieved tone] I think your removal was substantially cleaner.

Sasha: I’m still not sure why you have this. Drinking in the archives?

Martin: What? No, no, it’s for worms.

Archivist: What?

Martin: For pulling the worms out of people. Like now.

Sasha: You, er... what?

Martin: I used to carry around a knife, but I started thinking that, well, cutting into someone laterally wasn’t really the most efficient way to get them out, and besides which, they seem to be quite slow burrowing in a straight line so, given their size, th-the corkscrew just seemed to be the better option.

...

Look, you guys got to go home every day, okay. I didn’t! I’ve been thinking for a long time about what to do when... well, y’know, this happens.

Archivist: [Softly] Well... thank you.

Sasha: That’s why we’re here?

Martin: Yeah. The room’s sealed, I checked it myself when I moved in.

Archivist: Climate controlled, as well. Strong door. Soundproof. [Sigh] These old files are far better protected than we ever were. Alright, I’ll grant you it’s a good place to lay low, but—

Sasha: They could still come in through the air con.

Archivist: Not easily. And... not en masse. It is actually safe.

Martin: Ha!

Archivist: Except, of course, that we’re trapped.

Martin: Ah... yeah.  Sorry.

...

Sasha: Why record it?

Archivist: What?

Sasha: Before, in the office. It, it was stupid going for the tape recorder like that, and then when you dropped it out there— 

Archivist: I said I was sorry. If I’d known Martin had another one stashed in here, I never would have...

Sasha: No, it’s, it’s fine, just... I just don’t understand. I thought you hated the damn thing. You’re always going on about it.

Archivist: I do! I did. I just... I don’t want to become a mystery. I refuse to become another goddamn mystery. 

Sasha: What?

Archivist: Look, even if you ignore the walking soil-sack out there, and the fact that we are probably minutes from death, there is still so much more happening here.

Martin: I’m not sure we can really ignore the—

Archivist: Every real statement just leads... deeper into something I don’t even know the shape of yet. And to top it all, I still don’t know what happened to Gertrude. Officially she’s still missing, but Elias is no help and the police were pretty clear that the wait to call her dead is just a formality. If I die, wormfood or... something else, whatever, I’m going to make damn sure the same doesn’t happen to me. Whoever takes over from me is going to know exactly what happened.

Sasha: You don’t think that would... put them off?

Archivist: [Bitter laugh] I hope so. Only an idiot would stay in this job. Martin: [Chuckles] Wouldn’t that make you an idiot?

Archivist: Yes, Martin, that was my point.

...

Sasha: Can you see what’s going on out there?

Martin: Ish. When did we last clean these doors?

Archivist: What can you see?

Martin: Worms seem to have backed off a bit. There’s a few lurking in the corners. Ooh, ooh hey, there’s the other tape recorder!

Sasha: Any sign of Prentiss?

Martin: No. No, it looks like they’re... waiting, I think.

Archivist: For what?

Martin: I don’t know. Tim, maybe?

Sasha: Oh god!

Martin: I think he was out at lunch.

Sasha: Quick, someone call him. Tell him not to come back inside.

Archivist: There’s no signal in here. We just have to hope he heard the noise. 

...

Sasha: John, what did you mean by “real statements”?

Archivist: You know what I mean. The ones that have weird wrinkles, or that just seem to have something solid to them. They all have one thing in common.

Sasha: They don’t record digitally.

Archivist: And we have to use the tape recorder. At this stage, if it records to my laptop I almost don’t bother. I don’t—

Martin: There! There, there, there! I see him!

Archivist: What?

Martin: Tim. Tim’s outside.

Sasha: Oh god, he doesn’t know. He doesn’t see them.

[SASHA AND MARTIN BOTH START CALLING OUT TO TIM] TIM, LOOK OUT!

Archivist: It’s soundproofed. He can’t hear you!

Sasha: What is he doing? No, Tim, just run! Leave it alone! 

Martin: Oh no, no, no, no...

Sasha: Turn around. Just turn around.

Martin: Oh god. There she is, there she is.

Archivist: [Muttering] There’s nothing we can do.

Sasha: Ah, screw this.

Archivist: What, Sasha, NO!

[DOOR OPENS]

Sasha: Tim, look out!

Archivist: Watch out for the tape—

[CLICK]

[CLICK]

Tim: ...still working? Ah, okay. Test, test. What are you doing on the floor? Huh. [Imitates Archivist voice] Statement of Joe Spooky, regarding sinister happenings in the downtown old—

[DOOR OPENS]

Sasha: Tim, look out!

[WORM SOUND INTENSIFIES]

Tim: Sasha?

Sasha: Behind you! Run!

Tim: Oh...

Prentiss: [Slowly intoning over worm sound] Do you hear their song?

Sasha: TIM!

[IMPACT, WORMS AND SCUFFLING] [SASHA BREATHING HEAVILY AS SHE STUMBLES THROUGH DOORS]

Sasha:Damn it!

[CLICK]

[CLICK]

Archivist: Right. There we go. Martin, what do you see?

Martin: Hm? What?

Archivist: I can’t really stand up yet. I need you to describe what’s going on. For the record.

Martin:  Ah, yeah. Sure. So, um, Sasha tackled Tim and there was kind of a struggle, but she made it out of the Archives. That, that was about two minutes ago and she’s gone to get help. P-Probably. I mean, she, she couldn’t... she wouldn’t just run so...

Archivist: Did it look like any of the worms... got her before she left?

Martin: No. I don’t think so. Tim neither, I think. It was hard to tell after she tackled him. There was just a lot of movement and, and shouting and, and wriggling...

Archivist: Stay with it, Martin. Tim. What happened to Tim?

Martin: They got split up and he ran into the office. You said that’s where you made the hole. When you were recording. And they all came through, so... he’s dead. He’s dead in there and he’s covered in worms and that’s it.

Archivist: We don’t know that.

Martin: ...Maybe. Maybe, maybe he found the spare CO2.

Archivist: Spare? What? Where? I never saw any.

Martin: Oh, I, er... I, I hid them in old casefile boxes.

Archivist: What, why?

Martin: Well, so the worms didn’t know they were there! Look, I know it’s stupid.

Archivist: Yes. Yes it is. They’re just... they’re just unclassified parasites. They don’t have consciousness, they can’t plan, they’re just an unthinking infection.

Martin: Seriously?!

Archivist: What?

Martin: Why do you do that?

Archivist: Do what?

Martin: Push the sceptic thing so hard!? I mean, it made sense at first, but now? After everything we’ve seen, after everything you’ve read! I hear you recording statements and y-you just dismiss them. Your tear them to pieces like they’re wasting your time, but half of the “rational” explanations you give are actually more far-fetched than just accepting it was a, a ghost or something. I mean for god’s sake John, we’re literally hiding from some kind of worm... queen... thing, how, how could you possibly still not believe!?

Archivist: Of course, I believe. Of course I do. Have you ever taken a look at the stuff we have in Artefact storage? That’s enough to convince anyone. But, but even before that... Why do you think I started working here? It’s not exactly glamorous. I have... I’ve always believed in the supernatural. Within reason. I mean. I still think most of the statements down here aren’t real. Of the hundreds I’ve recorded, we’ve had maybe... thirty, forty that are... that go on tape. Now those, I believe, at least for the most part.

Martin: Then why do you—

Archivist: Because I’m scared, Martin!. Because when I record these statements it feels... it feels like I’m being watched. I... I lose myself a bit. And then when I come back, it’s like... like if I admit there may be any truth to it, whatever’s watching will... know somehow. The scepticism, feigning ignorance. It just felt safer.

Martin: Well... It wasn’t.

Archivist: No. No, it wasn’t. Still, it’s not my fault we’re going to be eaten by worms. Speaking of, can you see anything?

Martin: Not much. They’re just... there.

Archivist: How many?

Martin: Too many. And more keep coming up through the floor. I didn’t think they could get through.

Archivist: Prentiss?

Martin: No, I can’t s... Oh, there she is.

Archivist: What’s she doing?

Martin: I don’t know. She’s messing with the boxes. She’s holding one up and... ahh!

Archivist: What?

Martin: She’s... She’s destroying them. Sort of.

Archivist: Sort of?

Martin: Well, I don’t really know what that stuff coming out of her mouth is, but I think we should probably burn them.

Archivist: Right. Right. ... Why are you here Martin?

Martin:  Well, well, Prentiss is out there and you can’t run so—

Archivist: I mean at the Archive in general. Why haven’t you quit?

Martin: Are you giving me my review now?

Archivist: No... We’re clearly doing a whole heart-to-heart thing and, truth be told, the question’s been bothering me. You’ve been living in the Archives for four months, constant threat of... this. Sleeping with a fire extinguisher and a corkscrew. Even you must be aware that that’s not normal for an archiving job? Why are you still here?

Martin: [Considering] Don’t really know. I just am. It didn’t feel right to just leave. I’ve typed up a few resignation letters, but I just couldn’t bring myself to hand them in. I’m trapped here. It’s like I can’t... move on and the more I struggle, the more I’m stuck.

Archivist: Martin...You’re not, uh... You didn’t die here, did you?

Martin: What? What? N-No... what?!

Archivist: No, I just... No, just the way you phrased that...

Martin: Made you think I was a ghost?

Archivist: No... it’s—

Martin: No, no... it’s just that whatever web these statements have caught you in, well, I’m there too. We all are, I think. [Sigh]

... 

A ghost? Really?

Archivist: [Tiredly] Shut up Martin.

[CLICK]

[CLICK]

[FIRE ALARM IS SOUNDING]

Elias: Right, tell me again, please.

Sasha: You’re kidding.

Elias: You did bring a tape recorder. I just thought John would appreciate as many supplementary recordings as possible. For the record.

Sasha: Well, for the record, if we don’t do something now, it won’t matter either way.

Elias: So... these are the worms he and Martin have been going on about?

Sasha: The ones terrorising us for months? Yeah!

Elias: To be honest I always thought they were just... overreacting. Other staff have seen them around, but no-one’s reported any aggressive behaviour or anything like that. You know how those two are... John puts on a good show, but sometimes I swear he’s worse than Martin.

Sasha: Look, Elias. I don’t know what you think is going on, but I have just seen thousands of... fleshworms pouring out of the wall! God knows how long they’ve been hiding! Tim might be dead, and the others...

Elias: Of course. The fire alarm was a good move, but it does mean most staff have evacuated, so we’ll deal have to with them ourselves.

Sasha: There are thousands of them, Elias.

Elias: Not quite what I meant. On John’s insistence I recently changed the Archive’s fire suppression system to use carbon dioxide. Should have done it years ago, really—

Sasha: So why hasn’t it gone off?

Elias: Because there isn’t an actual fire.

Sasha: Right, right. Can we set it off manually? I think John’s got a lighter somewhere.

Elias: He’s not smoking again, is he? Anyway, it shouldn’t be necessary. There is a manual release, a few floors down.

Sasha: Wait. Wait. Will it hurt Martin or John?

Elias: Almost certainly. Er, I’m not a doctor, but I know dumping a lot of CO2 on people isn’t generally considered a good idea. I really don’t want to have to find another Archivist so quickly after Gertrude, but from what you say... it might be a mercy. You know the situation best, so...?

Sasha: Let’s go.

[CLICK]

[CLICK]

[FIRE ALARM CAN BE HEARD... AS CAN SOUND OF BANGING ON WALL]

Martin: I thought that wall was meant to be solid?!

Archivist: So did I. We don’t have any sort of weapon, do we?

Martin: I mean... I mean, I suppose we could use—

Archivist: Don’t say the corkscrew!

Martin: Okay.

Archivist: How many of them are outside of the door?

Martin: I don’t know. I can’t see because the window is covered in worms.

Archivist: Right. Right. Damn. Well, Martin I guess this is—

[SOUND OF PLASTERBOARD AND TILE BREAKING]

Tim: Hi guys!

Martin: Tim!

Archivist: Tim?! What the hell? I thought... how did you...?

Martin: You made it!

Tim: Funny story really. I ran into the office, worms everywhere, horrible death and everything, tripped and fell in some boxes and there were like 20 cans of gas in there.

Martin: Are, are you alright? You seem a bit...

Tim: Fine! Fine! Gas... bit light-headed. Not a lot of ventilation in the tunnels. Come on!

Archivist: In-Into the tunnels?

Tim: Yeah! Actually, not that many worms in there anymore. I think they’ve mostly gone into the Archive. Although the ones down here are faster for some reason. And quieter.

Archivist: You’re not bitten, are you?

Tim: No, I don’t think so! Have a look!

Archivist: Yes, alright Tim, you look fine. Put them back on, please.

Martin: Can can you walk, John?

Archivist: No, I can limp.

Tim: Then let’s go!

Archivist: Martin, could you pass me the tape recorder?

Martin: Sure. I think it’s running out, though.

Archivist: Fine. I suppose I can turn it back on when we’re being eaten alive.

Tim: Why do you have a second tape recorder, Martin?

Martin: Oh, um... well, I’ve been using it to record myself. I write poetry and I think the tapes have a sort of... low-fi charm.

Archivist: ... I see.

[CLICK]

[CLICK]

Sasha: [SPEECH IS ECHOED FROM THE ROOM AS SHE WALKS] 

[With some despondency in tone] Okay, John. I know you’ll want to know what’s been happening. If you’re still alive after this. The worms are on the upper floor. Not as many as down in the Archive, but enough. 

I set the fire alarm off, so everyone’s evacuated except me and Elias. I didn’t see any signs of the fire brigade, but I haven’t been near a window in a while. There was a... I guess you’d call it a... a wave of worms. I got cut off from Elias. I hope he made it to the fire system, but who knows. Maybe everyone’s dead already. 

I’ve had to retreat into Artefact Storage. That should tell you something about how bad it is out there.

God, I hate this place.

Did I ever tell you I first joined the Institute as a practical researcher? I had to analyse and investigate all the stuff in here. Take notes after sleeping in the rusted chair, write in the memory book, all that sort of thing. I transferred after three months. Would’ve quit, but couldn’t afford to back then.

Never understood why they keep this stuff secret. I mean, we’ve, we’ve enough here to send any sceptic packing, but it’s just locked away. I... I asked Elias about it once, but he just muttered something about funding and mission statements. He’s good at changing the subject, isn’t he?

Sorry. I’m rambling. No worms, though, so that’s good.

Oh, hey. I’ve found... I’ve found that table you were talking about. Don’t really see what all the fuss is about. Just a... basic... optical illusion. Nothing special... just... just a... wait... 

[Hushed and panicked] John! John, I think there’s someone here. Hello? I see you. Show yourself.

[DISTORTION INTENSIFIES] [SASHA SCREAMS, TAPE RECORDER DROPS] [DISTORTION FADES TO A CRACKLE]

Not-Sasha: [Words warped] Hello? I see you.

[FOOTSTEPS]

[Clearly] I see you.

[CLICK]

[CLICK]

[WATER DRIPS]

Archivist: Update. I don’t know how long we’ve been down here. These tunnels are a maze, and we don’t know where we are. We have four of the--

Tim: Martin’s gone.

Archivist: I’m getting to that. Martin has disappeared. Tim was right about there being fewer worms down here, but they are much faster. More aggressive. None of us have been hit yet but... during one of the more alarming encounters, Martin ran off.

Tim: He thought we were behind him, I think.

Archivist: He didn’t think at all. Tim was with me, and my leg slowed me down. He must have taken a turn we didn’t see or something. We lost him. But, Tim has managed to find what looks to be an actual trapdoor, so... we won’t need to bludgeon our way through any more drywall. I’m recording this in case—

Tim: In case the trapdoor opens back into the Archives and Prentiss is there to kill us.

Archivist: In as many words, yes. Tim?

Tim: Alright

[TRAPDOOR IS PUSHED OPEN TO SOUND OF FIRE ALARM AND LOTS OF WRITHING]

Prentiss: Archivist

Tim: Ah.

Archivist: Shit.

[CLICK]

[jamesbucksiclebarnes]

Rating: Mature: Language, violence, Major Character Death.

Chapter List: [1] | [2] | [3] | [4] | [5] | [6] | [7] | [8] | [9] | [10] | [11] | [12] | [13] | [14] | [15] | [16] | [17]

[AO3 Link] | [Fic Page]

Tag List: @crossbowking, @khaleesislytherin

SERIES SUMMARY:

"Not human. She was not human. They all knew it. Could almost feel it, but couldn't make sense of it. That was why they were afraid. Not because of what she used to be Before. But because of what she was now."

Having found herself serving as the right-hand to the Governor for too long, Synnove le Jacques does her best to make things right with the people of the Prison. Stuck beside her partner in crime, her irritatingly obnoxious and hideously problematic best friend, Merle, she does her best to fight back against the monster she has let the Governor become.

CHAPTER TITLE: At The Gates of Hades.

When we arrived at the gates of Woodbury, night had fallen.

We had parked the cars up the road, out of sight, and made the rest of the journey on foot. As per the plan, I separated from the group once we were within throwing distance of the gate, skulking off into the shadows to the right. I got as close as I could without being spotted and waited for Rick to fire off half a round into the gate.

Once he had drawn the attention of the two guards, I stalked forwards, keeping low and silent until I reached the building where the gate met the solid brick wall. It was easy to climb. I’d done it a dozen times before.

Neither of the two people lying prone atop the guard walk that ran along the top of the gate noticed me. It took me a second to realize I didn’t recognise either of them, meaning my sheer presence alone wouldn’t be enough to subdue them.

They continued to fire into the darkness, toward the upturned car Rick and Daryl were hiding behind.

“G’day mates,” I greeted loudly.

Both the burly man and athletically slender woman jolted at the suddenness of my voice. The girl was the first on her feet, swinging her rifle toward me. I stepped into her guard as quick as lightning, grabbing the gun by the barrel and twisting it to the side.

The woman let out a hiss of pain as her finger twisted inside the trigger guard, forcing her to pull her hand back. With her grip on the rifle loosened, I was easily able to yank it from her grip, turning in place to make a move against the man.

He was tall with wide-set shoulders and thickly coiled arms, but his size made him slow. By the time I’d disarmed the woman, he’d only just managed to get onto his feet.

I used the butt of the gun to strike him in the chest, winding him easily before smoothly reaching to pull my knife free from my belt. The motion was so quick and elegant that the woman didn’t even have time to register what I was doing until my arm was mid-swing.

She sucked in a breath of fear as I slashed the knife toward the man.

The strap of his rifle frayed and snapped. Having not expected the rifle’s full weight to suddenly be in his hand, the man’s grip faltered slightly. I lifted my leg and kicked at the man’s forearm, jarring his loose hold on the gun enough that it clattered to the floor.

The woman, overcoming her slight shock, stepped forward in an attempt to subdue me. I felt her coming and stepped backwards, ducking beneath her arm before straightening behind her. The rifle in my grip fell to the floor, enabling me to reach out and grab her, lifting my other hand to hold my knife to her throat.

The man’s eyes went wide, his mouth opening in shock as he raised his hands.

“No, no,” he pleaded. “Please. Take me, not her. Please.”

I watched him silently for a moment, taking in the pure fear on his face as his gaze slipped between my face and the knife I was gently pressing against the dark skin of the woman’s throat.

“Relax, big boy,” I said after a minute, letting my grip on the woman fall lax. Purposefully, I stepped away from her, sheathing the knife. “Just needed to get your attention.”

The woman took a quick step forward to stand beside him, her hand reaching up to the unmarred skin of her throat.

From the road bellow, Rick’s voice called up, “Open the gate!”

The man seemed to do a double-take when he looked down at Rick, his eyes going wide. Beside him, the girl’s face contorted into a scowl.

“We’re not letting you in here,” she said pointedly.

“Fine,” I sighed. “I will.”

I saw her eyes snap down to the discarded rifle by her feet mere seconds before she actually made a move for it. My knife was out of its sheath, flying through the air, and embedding itself in the wood between the grip and trigger guard before her hand could even reach it. She jerked back.

“We aren’t here to fight you,” I insisted.

“Tyreese! Sasha!” Karen’s voice called from the darkness.

The man, Tyreese, jerked his entire body toward the sound as he called out, equally confused as he was concerned, “Karen? Karen, are you okay?”

She stepped out from the shadows of the trees and into the light. “I’m fine!”

“Where’s the Governor?” Tyreese asked with a suspicious glance toward me.

“He fired on everyone,” Karen replied, a hitch in her voice. “He killed them all.”

Tyreese and Sasha shared a troubled glance before looking back down at her, gesturing a hand toward Rick. “Why are you with them?” he asked.

“They saved me,” Karen replied.

Sasha turned to look at me, her brows furrowed, thick lips turned down at the corners. “Who are you – why are you here?”

“Synnove,” I answered. Their instant, somewhat shocked reaction told me that they had definitely heard my name before. “We were on our way to finish this when we found Karen and the others.”

“They… He… He killed them all?” Tyreese asked, his voice shaken slightly as he gave me a heart-wrenched look.

I nodded once, swallowing against the sharp sensation in my throat.

With a deep sigh, Tyreese looked to the woman standing beside him and pursed his lips. Seemingly making up his mind, he turned and began to climb down the haphazardly built ladder. Sasha followed him. Once they were both on the ground, I jumped down, landing on the asphalt beside him with nary a sound.

Together, we pulled open the gate.

Rick approached purposefully, looking intensely up at Tyreese, his lips in a tight line.

Tyreese was almost comically larger than Rick, which would have made me laugh had the circumstances been different.

“Karen told us Andrea hopped the fence, made a break for the prison,” Rick informed them. “She never made it.”

Both Sasha and Tyreese’s expressions fell. They knew what that meant. The Governor had gotten to her first.

“She might still be here,” Rick stated, giving both guards pointed looks.

I felt something cold spread through my vines as both Sasha and Tyrese shared a troubled glance. Neither of them knew where to even begin looking for her.

But I did. And the realization made my stomach twist painfully.

“Follow me,” I breathed, grabbing Rick by the sleeve of his shirt and tugging him forwards.

I led them down to the cells with my heart lodged in my throat. The distant tang of copper lingered on my tongue, the smell growing stronger with each step toward the building in which we had always housed our prisoners. When we reached the hall, the stench of both death and blood was almost overwhelming.

“This is where he’d keep her,” I stated with a hoarse voice, gesturing down the hallway toward the ominous metal door at its end.

Rick made a move to step past me and I reached out to grab his shoulder. He turned his head jerkily, giving me an agitated look before his expression softened slightly at the sight of my guilty frown.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” I breathed.

He gave me a nod of acknowledgement before pulling away.

Michonne followed behind him, her hand gripping the handle of her blade as if she, too, had the sense she may need to use it.

Daryl lingered in the entrance of the hall, watching me as I stood there in indecision. Did I want to know what lay behind that door? Probably not. But I didn’t want them to face it alone. With a curt nod to the man beside me, I began to follow Rick and Michonne down the hall.

Rick tried to push the door open only to find the lock securely in place. He called out Andrea’s name and was met with a breathy, weak response from the other side. Spurred on by concern, he attempted to throw his body against the metal door, willing it to open beneath his weight. It held strong for a few moments before finally crumbling from the assault, bursting open and filling the hallway with an overwhelming stench of blood and death.

Rick stepped inside, followed shortly by Michonne. The looks on their faces solidified the idea that what lay beyond was nothing but bad news.

Daryl stepped in next. He let out a sigh through his nose at the sight before him.

Next, I slowly passed through the doorway.

Andrea sat, partially sunken to the floor, against the metallic wall beside the doorway. Her pale skin was almost grey, coated in a thick sheen of sweat. On her shoulder was a wide, gaping circular wound, spilling blood down the front of her shirt. I had lived in this world long enough to know a biter’s mark when I saw one.

While Rick, Michonne, and Daryl stood around her, I found my gaze being drawn across the room to the second body. Slowly, I stepped over to it, coming to a stop beside it with a sickening feeling beginning to well in my stomach.

Crouching down, I reached out to touch the corpse’s shoulder and began to turn him over. I needn’t have bothered. I already knew who it was. Looking down at his slackened expression was still a punch to the gut.

“Goddamn it, Milton,” I whispered to myself.

“He turned on him,” Andrea breathed from the other side of the wall.

I turned in place to look at her with a frown.

“He tried to help me,” she wheezed.

My frown slowly turned into a sad smile as I looked back at her, nodding. Figures the moment Milton did something out of his comfort zone, it’d get the poor guy killed. I turned him over onto his back, putting his arms over his chest as some kind of sign of respect, before straightening and coming to stand beside the others.

Tyreese and Sasha were both lingering in the doorway. Their matching expressions of horror would have been comical in a less devastating circumstance.

The group shared their final goodbyes with Andrea. It was heart-wrenching to say the least. I barely knew the woman and even I felt close to tears.

When she looked over to me, I gave her an appreciate nod. “Sucks to be the good guy sometimes, don’t it?” I asked with a sad grin. The remark made her chuckle which, in turn, made her wince.

Michonne’s goodbye was the worst. My jaw clenched so hard it began to ache. I was trying too hard to hold back the sorrow. But once all was said, Rick gave her a gun and we left her to do what needed to be done.

The sound of the gunshot made everyone flinch. Even me.

Later that day, I stood upon the steps of the town hall with Tyreese, Karen, and Sasha beside me. We told the people the truth of the Governor’s actions, of the stories he had spun in order to make us seem like the villains. Some had accepted our words as fact whilst others had argued that I was just trying to save face.

Karen’s assurances were the only thing that kept them from revolting against me and soon, when the sun reached the centre of the sky, many of the people of Woodbury accepted me once again as their friend and comrade.

Rick came to stand beside me, offering the people of Woodbury sanctuary at the prison. He wasn’t shy about describing the difficulties. Starting anew would be a lot of work but, with all of us, it was entirely possible to begin a community that valued its people more than its power.

Almost everyone agreed. Those who didn’t decided to leave of their own volition. We didn’t stop them.

I began yelling out orders for Nelson and Margarette to fetch the buses from the Governor’s yard and for the rest of the people to gather their belongings. We couldn’t be sure when or if the Governor would even return, so it was best to act quickly. I stressed that fact as calmly as I could. Everyone obeyed without question.

Once I was confident everyone was in motion, I led Daryl and Rick to the supply rooms. We still had a dozen or so seeds that had yet to be planted, a whole shelf full of canned goods, and whatever weaponry the Governor had deigned to leave behind. Daryl began packing the stuff up in boxes.

I grabbed Rick by the shoulder and jerked my head toward the second door. It led to a small enclosed pantry, within which I knew lay something that would be beneficial to Rick in particular.

He walked beside me over toward the door and I pulled it open with a wide grin, watching his expression as he saw what lay within.

The pure, elated look of joy on his face was enough to warm my chest, to set the sorrow toiling within aside for a welcomed moment.

“Our youngest was still dependant on this when she and her mother first arrived,” I explained, looking into the cupboard with a smile. “Believe it or not, most of it was found in the town itself. Didn’t even need to go out venturing for it. Lucky for you.”

Rick turned away from the shelf of baby formula and gave me a wide grin. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

The day passed us by quickly. Everyone was almost ready to go before the sun had dipped beneath the tree line.

I was standing by the school bus with Daryl, making sure all the kids were getting on safely, when the thing I had been dreading the most happened.

Two girls, pale with curly red hair and wide, innocent eyes, came bounding up to me. Their faces were identical down to the last freckle across their tiny, button noses. The Helena twins had taken to me the moment we’d met, when their mother had first joined the guard alongside me. Since her arrival, we had spent a lot of time together, to the point where the twins had begun jokingly referring to me as “Aunty Syn”. The moment I saw them all but skipping up to me, their twin ponytails bouncing along, my heart froze mid-beat.

My entire body went cold. I could barely move by the time they reached me, both throwing themselves at me with such force I let out a grunt and had to step back in order to keep my balance. Their arms wrapped around my waist as they both let out a series of sweet giggles.

“We knew you’d come back,” Tayra said chirpily.

“Mommy said you wouldn’t, but we knew,” said Ava.

Slowly, my entire body fighting against the urge to break down right then and there, I wrapped my arms around them. My chest was so tight I was struggling to breathe, my jaw clenching and unclenching with the effort it was taking not to cry.

How the fuck was I supposed to tell these girls… These sweet, innocent girls that their mother was dead? That she’d been gunned down by the very man that had promised them safety?

My mask was beginning to slip. I couldn’t keep it in place. Face contorting into a miserable frown, I looked beside me with a desperate look at Daryl.

Understanding dawned on his face instantly. But what could he do?

The girls pulled away from me and I, against all odds, managed to slip that mask straight back into place with enough effort to tear a figurative muscle. Neither of them sensed anything was wrong.

“Are we all going to the prison now?” Tayra asked with a grin. “I’ve never been to a prison before.”

I lowered myself down into a crouch and touched both of their shoulders on opposite sides. “Yeah. We are. You excited?”

Both girls nodded gleefully.

I gave them what even I admit was a strained smile. They were ignorant to the reality that awaited them. Did I have the willpower to be the one to pull the veil of innocence from their eyes?

“Good. You got everything?” I asked.

They shared a thoughtful look before nodding at me with a grin. “Miss Silvia packed our bags for us,” Ava answered.

“Did she remember Mr and Mrs Piggy?” I asked them with a forced look of humorously exaggerated mock doubt, referring to the identical stuffed pigs they never slept without.

Tayra giggled. “Of course, she did!”

I nodded and rose to my feet. “That’s good. Are you ready to go?”

That was when things took a turn for the worst. Ava and Tayra shared another look in the way I guessed all twins did. It was a look that carried an entire conversation. When they looked back at me, their demeanour had shifted slightly. They seemed almost shy.

“We’re waiting for Mommy,” Tayra said.

“We don’t want to go without her,” Ava added.

I had hoped beyond hope that they just wouldn’t bring it up. A stupid hope, I know. Really, it was cruel of me to stretch this on. Selfish, even. But I’d needed a minute to gather the balls to do it.

With an unrestrained miserable look at Daryl, I lowered myself back down into a crouch and reached out to take both of their tiny hands in my own.

Daryl, understanding my need to do this alone, took a deep breath through his nose before walking away, toward where Rick and Michonne were standing by the other bus.

“Listen girls,” I began, fighting to keep my tone clear and crisp. The sorrow beneath my voice was unmistakeable, however, and both girls looked troubled as they glanced down at our joined hands. “Your mum… uh… Your mother, she… She’s gone, girls. I’m sorry.”

They blinked up at me in confusion. Both of them had already begun to tear up, their green eyes shining as they shook their heads in almost perfect unison. They pulled their hands from mine and stepped back.

“No – No, she’s not!” Tayra yelled angrily.

“What do you mean she’s gone?” Ava, unlike her sister, was timid and confused. “Gone where?”

Fucking God. I was struggling to keep my own emotions in check, to keep my own eyes clear and my voice unhitched. “Hey, hey,” I said softly, reaching back out to take their hands again. Ava let me. Tayra didn’t. “I know it’s difficult to understand, but your mother was doing what she thought best to keep you girls safe. But the Governor… The Governor was a bad man and he hurt everyone. Everyone that was with him. Including your mother.”

“The Governor?” Ava asked, her pale auburn brows furrowing. “But he cares about us. He’s our friend.”

I shook my head. “He was, once. Mine, too. But he changed.”

Tayra’s tears had begun to slip free of her wide eyes, trickling down her reddened cheeks as she glared at me with a scowl. “You were supposed to protect us!”

My throat closed up. I was forced to squeeze my eyes shut in order to force back the tears that had begun to gather. “I know,” I said, my voice breaking on the last word. “I know, girls. I tried.”

“You didn’t try!” Tayra yelled, her voice now carrying across the street. People turned in our direction.

Ava was still standing there, holding my hands, as she began to sob herself. With her sister screaming at me in the background, she stepped forwards and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I held her tightly to my chest whilst her sister watched, disgusted.

“Don’t hug her! It’s her fault!”

“Shhh,” I whispered to Ava. My gaze remained on Tayra as I opened one of my arms, inviting her in.

It took her a minute. She had to work through the anger first, I think. I could relate to that. But soon, almost screaming in defeat, she leapt forward and into my embrace.

We hugged for a good few minutes as I struggled to keep my own emotions swallowed down. I doubted my own breakdown would do them any good.

After a little while, Silvia stepped out of the bus where she had been organising the other children, and came to stand beside us with a sad look. I glanced up to her at her arrival, nodding as I pulled away from the twins.

“Alright, girls,” I breathed softly. “Time to go. I’ll meet you there, okay?”

They both nodded. Tears still streaked down their cheeks, but they had exhausted themselves with their own sobs. Tiredly, they staggered over to Silvia, who helped them up onto the bus with one final, thankful look in my direction.

I waited a few moments until the doors of the bus closed before making my way over to where Rick, Daryl, and Michonne still stood. They were helping some of the townsfolk load their belongings into the storage section beneath the bus.

Daryl noticed me first. He stepped around Rick with a concerned look. “You alright?”

“Absolutely not,” I answered with a forced grin. “When are leaving?”

“In about five minutes,” Rick answered. “Ready?”

I looked down the road. Memories played across my vision as I took in sight before me. The first time I’d seen it, overrun with biters in the dark, dreary light of dusk. Then, a few weeks later, the first time I’d looked down this street and seen nothing but the living. The feeling I’d had when I realized we’d actually done it. Made a place. A home. I had a vivid memory of Merle and Martinez running down the street, chasing a football that had gone astray from a group of young kids. They’d fought over who would get it first.

Merle had fallen flat on his face, which had tripped Martinez, who had rolled to a stop just a few feet away from where the ball had come to rest.

A small, bittersweet smile stretched across my face as I looked back to Daryl and Rick. “You guys go. There’s something I need to do.”

Both Rick and Daryl shared a concerned look before turning back to me with near matching frowns.

“You sure?” Rick asked, his forehead creased in worry. “I don’t like leaving you here alone.”

Daryl didn’t even give me a chance to respond. He stepped forward, glancing at Rick with a nod, before declaring, “I’ll stay.”

Rick nodded and looked to me. “Don’t be long. We’ll leave one of the cars behind for you.”

I nodded my appreciation and stood by as he climbed onto the bus and into the driver’s seat. Daryl and I stood side-by-side and watched the buses pull out of the front gate and onto the road beyond. Three of the cars followed closely behind.

The silence that settled once they were out of sight was almost deafening. I turned in place to look back down that long road, at the line of shops and houses that made up the majority of the place I had, until recently, called home. A sharp sensation began to build in my chest.

Without a word, I began to walk down the street, my hands shoved into the pockets of my jeans.

Daryl followed along behind me, respectively silent.

When we reached my apartment building, I stood by the front doors for a good moment before gathering the will to actually go inside. I’d lived on the top floor, in the apartment beside Merle’s and above Martinez’s. As I walked up the stairs, looking down each hallway, I felt myself hollowing out. Almost every door had been left ajar, giving me a decent look inside most of the apartments. They were barren, stripped of personal belongings, and had an almost ghostly air about them. Logically, I knew people had been through here no more than half an hour ago, but it felt as if this place had been abandoned for years.

When we reached the top floor, I found myself hesitating at the beginning of the hallway. My initial thought was to gather my own belongings in solitude, so that I’d have a spare moment to myself in order to finally allow the tidal wave of emotions welling within me to spill over. But now, I wasn’t alone. Though I doubted Daryl would judge me if I broke down there and then, I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of exposing myself so vulnerably to him quite yet.

Walking into my own apartment after all this time would be hard enough, but the second idea that filtered in through my foggy mind was even harder. Yet, I knew, deep down, it was what needed to be done. I could deal with losing the majority of my shit. It was only stuff, after all.

Taking in a deep breath, I began walking down the desolate hallway with my heart in my throat. Passing by my own door, I came to a stop in front of Merle’s apartment. He’d never locked his damn door.

It swung open easily, exposing the room beyond before us in all it’s plain-ass glory. You wouldn’t really expect it of Merle, but he kept the place almost pristinely tidy. Even folded his damn shirts. I used to make fun of him for it, though I knew it was a habit he’d likely picked up in the army.

Remaining in the doorway a beat, I turned my head to look at Daryl with a sad smile. Without a word, I jerked my head toward the interior of the room. Understanding dawned on the young Dixon’s face, his mouth twitching downward in a sad frown. Taking in a deep breath through his nose, he nodded at me and stepped past, into the room.

I followed, gently closing the door behind me.

“Damn neat-freak,” Daryl remarked under his breath as he turned in place, taking in the room with a snort.

I let out a soft laugh, walking over to the haphazardly built bookcase against the right wall. We’d kept a stash of Russel’s moonshine in the cabinet beneath the last shelf, along with a handful of what Merle referred to as “keepsakes”. He’d told me a story about each one, and though I was almost eighty-seven percent certain half of them had been utter bullshit, there was one hiding in there that I knew he’d spoken honestly about.

As Daryl moved further into the room, lifting the lid of the trunk at the end of the bed, I lowered myself down into a crouch and pulled open the small cupboard door beneath the bookcase.

The box of bottles sat at the forefront of the shelf. There were roughly six bottles left, all mostly full of the clear liquid, with their lids firmly latched. I pulled them out with a sad smile, placing them on the carpeted ground beside me. Behind that box was another, smaller cardboard rectangle. Gingerly, I pulled it to the front of the shelf.

Inside, there were enough knick-knacks to make the Little Mermaid squeal with joy. A shitty, metal cigarette holder with a painted image of naked woman on the front; an old, rusted bullet, supposedly from World War Two; exactly two-dollars-thirty-five in coins; a belt buckle depicting a skeleton riding on a motorcycle; and a small, closed jewellery box.

I took out the plain box, holding it in the palm of my hand for a moment. The box had belonged to the previous occupant of my apartment. I’d kept it in my possession until Merle had shown up. I still remembered the day I’d given it to him, mockingly getting down on one knee and opening the empty box with a declaration of, “Would you do me the honour of fucking right off out of my life forever?”

He’d given me a mock-gasp and responded in a high, mockingly feminine voice, “Yes, yes. A thousand times yes.”

The memory made the corners of my sad smile twitch. My eyes began to sting with the urge to cry. I swallowed back against the sharp sensation in my throat and rose up to my feet, taking a deep breath before turning to face Daryl. He was partway through rummaging around in Merle’s old trunk, pulling out his shirts and discarded books and tossing them to the side without much thought.

I moved toward him, gripping the box in my hand tightly.

He noticed my approach and straightened, his gaze going from my frowning face to the box in my hand and back with a curious expression. “What’s that?”

I opened my mouth to answer, only to find no words would come. Looking back down at the box, I cleared my throat and let out a shaken breath before trying again. “It wouldn’t feel right leaving these here. I think he would’ve liked you to have them.”

I offered the small, black box to him with a sad smile.

He kept his gaze on me for a moment, furrowing his brows in confusion before taking it from me and looking down at it with indecisive confusion. The moment he opened it, I felt the change in the air instantly. His expression fell for a moment, contorting into a visage of complete and utter sorrow before a slow, sad smile spread across his face. Holding the box in one hand, he reached up and pulled the dog-tags from the small cushioned interior.

“He, uh… He wore them all the time at the start,” I explained, my voice shaky and slightly hitched. “They kept getting grabbed by biters when we were outside the fence, so I convinced the idiot to take them off whenever we went on runs.”  

The sound Daryl made was halfway between a laugh and a sob. Honestly, I felt that sound in my damn soul. With a sniffle, he shook his head and lowered the dog-tags back into the box, handing it back to me without closing the lid. I took it with a confused frown in his direction.

He just shook his head again, eyes downcast, mouth pulled in a taut line.

“Daryl…” I breathed, but he turned away and walked over to the window, shoulders teased, head down.

My lips pouted in a frown as I stood there, looking at his back with my brows furrowed. After a silent moment, I looked down at the box in my hand, at the silver chain and small pieces of metal, the only things that remained of his brother… and slowly lifted them out. I placed the box on top of the junk inside the trunk before walking forwards, coming to a stop behind Daryl’s stiff back.

“I’m going to put these on you,” I said matter-of-factly. “And if you move, I might just choke you with them.”

Daryl jerked around to face me, his eyes wide and full of misery as he shook his head again. “I can’t wear them. They ain’t mine.”

“The hell you can’t,” I responded, keeping eye contact with him as I lifted the chain up, over his head.

To give him credit, he didn’t move. Just watched me with his brows furrowed as I lowered the dog-tags, securing the chain behind his neck with a small, sad smile. We were standing so close I could feel the warmth of his body, hear the way his heart-beat thundered rapidly inside his chest.

“He loved you, you know,” I said softly. “In his own weird, entirely fucked up way.”

Daryl’s miserable expression faded for a brief moment as he snorted a breathy chuckle. Surprisingly, he didn’t dispute me on it like I’d half expected him to. Instead, he looked down at the dog-tags that now dangled from around his neck and swallowed back against his emotions. Gently, he lifted a hand and grabbed the tags, pursing his lips in an effort to stop them from quivering.

I took half a step back in order to give him some room.

“I miss him,” he said after a moment, his voice soft, gruff and shaky.

My heart squeezed painfully in my chest at the admission and I, myself, had to swallow back against the sharp emotion stuck in my throat. “I know,” I breathed. “Me, too.”

His gaze lifted from the tags to meet mine, almost as if he hadn’t quite believed me. But the fact that I’d been able to say it at all told me it was true. I really would miss the problematic little fucker. It hadn’t really hit me until that moment. The reality of how much I’d actually cared about the man. He’d been a horrible person but somehow, he’d managed to wiggle his way into my heart more than I cared to admit.

Daryl seemed to see that realisation manifest on my face, and he dropped the tags to his chest, reaching out for me with one hand. His fingers curled around my tattooed upper arm and he pulled me gently toward him. I stepped forward, allowing him to wrap his arms around me in a tight hug.

I went stiff, unsure how I felt about the sudden, unexpected embrace. Truthfully, I think I was trying to convince myself that I didn’t need it. That I could handle the grief on my own. That I didn’t enjoy the feel of his hard, coiled arms around me.

Of course, that lasted all of three seconds before I all but collapsed into him. My own arms wound tightly around his waist and I buried my face into his shoulder. We stood together like that for a while, tightly holding one another, until I sensed the room beginning to darken. The sun was setting beneath the rooftops across the road, casting a long shadow into the windows of my apartment building.

With a sniffle, I allowed my arms to unwind from around him and stepped back. Neither of us made eye contact as we separated, each making some kind of excuse not to look at one another. I turned back toward the bookshelf, making a half-hearted remark about bringing the moonshine back to the prison, whilst he lifted a hand and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, declaring he’d go downstairs to start the car.

I tried not to let myself focus on his lingering scent after he’d left the room. Tried to pretend that each time I thought back to that moment, my heart didn’t try to leap out of my chest.

Blowing out a long breath, I bent down and lifted the box of moonshine. Whilst walking past my own apartment, I paused and glanced at the door. Did I dare?

No. No way. I’d had much too many emotional moments today. I didn’t doubt another one would just push my already unstable mind that one step too far.

True to his word, Daryl was waiting for me by the front gate with a running car. I loaded the moonshine into the trunk and slammed it shut before climbing wordlessly into the passenger side.

When Daryl was securely in the driver’s seat, he turned his head to glance at me. “Ready?” he asked.

I shook my head, glancing into the side mirror with a frown. “Not really.”

Daryl waited for my go ahead. It took me a second to mentally say my goodbyes to the place before I turned to look at him with a sad smile.

“Alright. Get me the fuck out of here.”

[hazyheel]

WWE Monday Night Raw 9/30/19 Review

The Raw season premier was an up and down show. There were some really fun moments, and even a few good matches, but it was dragged down a lot by some stupid shenanigans. Lots of the interviews were weird, and the storylines were kinda off putting. Plus, we didn’t add any new matches to Hell in a Cell. The show is on Sunday, and we don’t know anything about it. Let’s hope smackdown goes into overdrive to fix that, because it seems like Raw has been building to this show rather than their pay per view. I thought my complaints about this last week were kinda invalid, because the seeds were sown, but those seeds were then harvested and eaten on this show, so I will now complain about the lack of build. This is my review of this week’s Raw.

This was the first time in what has felt like years that we’ve seen the theme song, and I loved that. The new set looked pretty cool too, although the screen kinda bled into the stage which looked odd. Dio Madden, Vic Joseph and Jerry the King Lawler were on commentary.

Rey Mysterio Promo: Rey came out to like no noise, so I’m not sure if that is because of some problems micing the crowd. He thanked Dominic for getting him to this point, and promised him that he’d bring the universal Championship home. However, Brock Lesnar quickly came out to interrupt, with Paul Heyman in tow. Heyman was about to start talking, and Mysterio grabbed the mic out of his hand. He was about to start talking, but Lesnar picked him up and nailed two F5′s and left Mysterio laying. Lesnar looked out at Dominic in the crowd, and the two actually had a bit of a stare down, before Lesnar walked out of the ring and approached him at the barricade. Dominic slowly sat down in his chiar, but he pulled Dominic over the barricade, and launched him into the post, and even slammed him on the ground. Then Lesnar threw him in the ring, and gave him problably the biggest German suplex I’ve ever seen him give. He was going to attack him more, but Mysterio grabbed his leg, and ate another F5 for it. He almost left the ring, but he came back to give a couple huge vertical suplexes as Heyman begged him to stop. Lesnar was about to walk away again, but opted to get back in the ring, kick the crap out of some of the medical personal taking a look at Mysterio and Dominic, before throwing the two of them out of the ring very violently. We later saw that Dominic pulled a stretcher job as Mysterio comforted him and say sorry. 

Grade: B+.  Obviously, the promo was fine at best, but this was about the attack. This was incredibly violent in all the ring ways. On smaller guys like Rey and Dominic, Lesnar’s moves look so dangerous and awesome. Dominic sold well for his first time, but I don’t know how much of that was selling and how much of that was just a goddamned monster throwing a kid around and the kid crying. But that was a great looking German suplex, and I really hope that Dominic is okay. Highlight of the night. 

Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks: both ladies were out without anyone in their corner, and Bliss actually got some pyro for her entrance, which was cool. Becky Lynch came out to join commentary as well, and she was delightful right away. In the ring, things started with Banks being super vicious. After Banks put Bliss down in the corner, she hopped up on the turnbuckle and started to yell at Lynch on commentary. Lynch promptly hopped up and yelled right back, which allowed Bliss to hit a sunset flip powerbomb for a near fall. Banks then started to absolutely destroy Bliss as the went to the outside, laying in strike after strike and even trapping Bliss in the turnbuckle. As they fought, Bliss was able get some offense in, but Banks quickly hit a running knee to take control back. Then she feigned a quick injury and called for Bayley, only to hit Bliss’s leg and roll her up with a handful of tights for the win.

After the match, Lynch and Banks brawled in the ring, and Lynch forced Banks to run into the crowd. Lynch asked where Banks was going, and she said that she won’t be able to run away on Sunday. She said Banks made it personal, now Lynch will make it painful. Then she vowed retribution and dropped the mic. 

Grade: D+. I didn’t like this match at all. It was really odd, and didn’t flow super well, along with some awkward exchanges from the commentary team really hurt this match. The finish was awkward and quite weird, and Becky’s presence was kinda unnecessary too. Just not the greatest match.

Seth Rollins Interview: He was absolutely pissed about Lesnar kicking the crap out of Rey and Dominic, and he doesn’t know whether or not he will win at Hell in a Cell. But he said he will do his damnedest to survive and retain the championship. However, he was not sure about the status of his Universal Championship match for tonight. 

Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode vs. Heavy Machinery for the Raw Tag Team Championships: Ziggler and Tucker started things off with some amateur wrestling, and went back and forth for a bit until Tucker took him down with some shoulder tackles. He quickly tagged out to Otis after some nice agility. Ziggler fought back against Otis, and tagged out to Roode, only for Otis to plow both men over and follow up with stereo vertical suplexes from Heavy Machinery. The challengers maintianed control until Roode low bridged Tucker, and set him to the outside before tagging himself in. Roode then threw Tucker around a bit at ringside, and the heels started to beat him down with some tandem offense. At one point, Ziggler was mocking Tucker a bit, until Tucker caught a dropkick and then monkey flipped him into the turnbuckle. Otis got the hot tag, and threw Roode and Ziggler all over the place, girated a bit, and was just  really funny in general. He was able to hit a double caterpillar on the two champions, but when Tucker went for the compactor, Ziggler caught him with a Zig Zag. He then superkick Otis to make him drop Roode, and then threw him into the turnbuckle. Ziggler then gave Tucker a superkick and Roode finished him off with the Glorious DDT for the win. 

Grade: B-. Good stuff here. Just some classic tag team action that didn’t do too much that was wild, but was pretty solid. I liked the closing stretch a lot, and I think Roode and Ziggler are definitely improving as a tag team. 

Miz TV: He sent his thoughts and love to Rey and Dominic before starting. He put over the season premier a bit, and welcomed Ric Flair out first, and then Hulk Hogan. Jimmy Hart as also out there, but they didn’t have a chair for him for some reason. Miz called the three of them that they are legends, and then Flair said that he was sick of listening to Hogan talk for thirty years. Hogan then wooed, and Miz said that they’ve had to listen to that for a lot longer, and they love it. Miz asked Hogan what it was like to see Flair across the ring from him, and Hogan started to yell about the city and stuff. Flair then said that although Hogan was the biggest draw in history, he was the best wrestler in history and he is sick of playing second fiddle. Hogan then said that it sounded like Flair wanted to take a fight, and they both squared up a bit. They looked like they were gonna fight, but Hogan said that they weren’t spring chickens anymore. The crowd chanted one more match, and Hogan said that they should add one more page in their legendary career. Miz then announced that there will be a huge 5 on 5 tag match at Crown Jewel, with Flair in one corner and Hogan in the other. Hogan announced that Seth Rollins was his team captain. Rollins was super excited to join the team, and he started to yell at Flair. Flair was about to welcome out his captain, but they played Orton’s music to early. So, Flair’s captain was Randy Orton. Orton told Rollins to crawl out of Hogan’s ass for a bit, and to listen up. Orton said that over the next few weeks, they will pick their teams, but he wants a match between captains tonight. Rollins accepted for some reason, even though he still probably has a Universal Championship match later. They were about to start the match, but King Corbin walked down the ring. Orton then attacked Rollins from behind, and he and Corbin beat Rollins down. Rusev then ran out and helped Rollins out a bit, which is weird because I thought he was a heel. Rusev was able to hit Orton with the Machka kick, and Rollins nailed Corbin with one too. Rusev followed that up with a Machka kick to Corbin as Rollins gave Orton a suicide dive. 

Grade: C-. This was a wild segment. I have no idea what Flair’s script was, but he didn’t follow it at all. Flair looked happy to be out there, but he was acting a bit wild. But as cool as this segment was, I didn’t really care much about it. Honestly, this would’ve gotten lower, but after Hogan and Flair started to jaw jack, I was terrified that they would be the headlining match at Crown Jewel. Luckily, it’s just a big tag match, and I was so happy that I bumped this up. But yeah, this wasn’t a great segment. 

Rusev Interview: Charly asked where Lana was, and he just looked really sad for a second, so Charly moved on. He said that he wanted to cash in on the debt that Rollins owes him for saving his ass a few minutes ago, and challenged him for the Universal Championship. Jeez, is Lana dead or something?

AOP Vinette: They talked about how they grew up in violence, so now that is what they are best at. 

Viking Raiders vs. The OC: Ivar and Luke Gallows started things out with some huge power moves, but both quickly tagged out and the Raiders started to beat down on Karl Anderson. Gallows then tagged in and started to lay into Ivar with some strikes, only for Erik to quickly get the hot tag. Erik rocked Anderson with a quick combo, and then a knee to the face. The OC took control back during the commercial break, but Ivar soon tagged in, and he beat down Anderson with agile and powerful offense. At one point, the Viking Raiders nailed Anderson with a springboard lariat into a german suplex for a near fall. In the finish, Ivar gave Anderson a tope suicida, while Erik nailed Gallows with a huge spinebuster. Ivar tagged in and won the match with a splash.

Grade: C+. This match was okay, I wasn’t hugely into it. Just a lot of slow offense with no one retaining control long enough to be entertaining. The work was fine though. 

Charly Caruso Backstage: She was running down the attack from Lesnar, and called it criminal. Cesaro then showed up, and started to say that Lesnar wasn’t a criminal, and he wished that he would’ve been able to beat the crap out of Dominic. Ricochet then walked up and told him that he wasn’t half the man Rey is, and challenged him to a match. 

Cesaro vs. Ricochet: Ricochet started things up quickly, flipping off of Cesaro’s chest and then hitting a dropkick. Cesaro started to hit some strikes, but Ricochet monkey flipped him out of the ring. The two quickly got back in the ring and beat each other down, with Cesaro nailing a Gorilla press into the knee for a near fall. Ricochet quickly got the win with a springboard spike rana.

Grade: B-. This was good for what it was, but it was criminally short. 

Firefly Funhouse: Everyone in the funhouse were really scared, and Ramblin Rabbit even died. They were all scared about the Rollins and Fiend match. Bray told them all that it is okay to be scared, because Hell in a Cell is a terrifying place built for pain and suffering. He said that the Fiend will always come back to protect the Funhouse, but he isn’t so sure about Rollins. Bray then said that he was gonna find the Fiend and tell him to be nice, but laughed it off and waived goodbye to everyone. 

AJ Styles vs. Cedric Alexander for the United States Championship: Styles started the match out fast with some shoulder tackles and chops, but Alexander quickly started to use his agility and speed to dodge and score a rana and a basement dropkick. He was able to nail a dropkick and put Styles on the outside, but Styles intercepted his tope con hilo with a forearm. Alexander then tried for a springboard move, but Styles caught him on the shoulders and hung him up on the top rope. Styles then nailed a forearm out of the ring and to the floor, and we cut to commercial. When we came back, Cedric quickly fought back into things, nailing a Neuralizer. Styles responded with a series of strikes, but Alexander dodged the final hit and nailed a back elbow, followed by a detonation kick for a near fall. Styles then countered out of a Lumber check, and hit a beautiful reverse DDT. Styles then tried for the Styles Clash, but Alexander put him on the apron. Cedric then dodged the Phenomenal forearm and hit a Michinoku driver for a close near fall. Styles responded with a German suplex and a facebuster, but still only a near fall. In a goddamned awesome finish, Alexander went for the Lumbar Check, but Styles rotated in mid air and gave Alexander a sunset flip, before transitioning right into a Styles Clash for the win. 

Grade: B. Good stuff here. Lots of fast paced action and fun counters, but I really think that Cedric should’ve won here. He has jobbed to Styles a lot lately, and Styles should probably be in the main event rather than the United States Championship picture. Also, that finish was sooooooo good. 

Street Profits backstage: the two just said that they’d be on NXT this week, and put over their championship match on Wednesday. They put over the main event, and Hell in a Cell. Then they said that if you say the Fiend’s name three times, he will appear. So that was fun. 

Lacy Evans vs. Natalya: The two locked up right away, and Evans was incredibly disrespectful right away. The two went back and forth with some striking and signature offense, and Lacy even smashed Nattie’s head into the stairs in a vicious spot. That got her a near fall, but then she smashed Nattie’s head into the mat over and over again. Nattie fought back with some nice strikes in the corner, nailing a discus lariat for a near fall. Nattie tried for the sharpshooter, but Evans escaped. Nattie continued to attack Lacy on the apron, and as the ref was pushing her back, Lacy raked the eyes. Evans then rolled up Nattie with a handful of tights for the win.

After the match, Evans nailed the Woman’s Right and walked away.

Grade: B. Good stuff. These two actually have a bit of chemistry, and I’m into it. I don’t think that this was their last match, and hopefully things will only get better. 

Paul Heyman Interview: He seemed totally desperate, and said that while Brock stepped over the line, it was Vince’s fault for booking him on the Raw season premier. He said that Lesnar was going to destroy Kingston on Friday, because he is in fight mode. He said that Lesnar winning on Friday is a spoiler, and he’ll be the new WWE Champion. 

Maria Kanellis Interview: Maria said that Rusev isn’t the father of her child, and walked away. Sasha Banks then came in and grabbed the mic, and she told Lynch that she was going to destroy her in Hell in a Cell and make her tap out. No man can win her match. 

Rusev vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE Universal Championship: Rollins treid to start things with a handshake, which Rusev used to take down the champion right away. The two both tried for their signature offense, but neither man could get anything. Rollins was able to score some strikes, but Rusev caught him running the ropes and nailed a fall away slam as we cut to commercial. That cut was of the Fiend too, so that was cool. As we came back, Rusev locked in a bear hug, and King Corbin and Randy Orton watched from the apron. As the two continued their brawling, Rollins put Rusev out over the top rope, and gave him a pair of tope suicidas. Rollins put Rusev back in the ring and went for a splash, but Rusev caught him, only for Rollins to get a small package for a near fall. Rusev then hit a high kick, and then a spinning uranagi for a near fall. Rusev went for the Machka kick, but Rollins caught him and rolled him up for a near fall. Right as Rusev kicked out, Rollins nailed a superkick and barely powered Rusev up for a Falcon’s arrow. He tried for the Curb Stomp, but Rusev dodged it and put Rollins on the apron. Rollins then tried for a springboard forearm, but Rusev caught him with a Machka kick. Just then, Bobby Lashley made a big return, as did Lana. The two then made out on the stage for a super long time. After they finished (not like that), the Fiend showed up and attacked Rollins, who had rolled to the outside. He slapped on the mandible claw and put Rollins down with it. 

Grade: B. This match was pretty good, but it super fell apart at the end. Rollins and Rusev had a good contest that was a pretty good main event for Raw, but then all the stuff with Lashley and Lana, and the Fiend did the same thing that he’s done every week it seems like, and I kinda lost interest. Still though, Lashley and Lana made out for a super long time, and Rusev just watched. That must’ve sucked for him.

Overall Grade: C+

Pros: opening attack; cesaro vs. ricochet; evans vs. nattie; main event

Cons: no rollins vs. mysterio on the card; Bliss vs. Banks; miz tv and flair being weird; lots of random stuff during the main event; ramblin rabbit died again :(

[sargentsnowy-blog]

Max paced the waiting tent on the beach same, sweatting nervously. "What if she says no..." He mumbled, Neil and Preston watching him in concern. "Oh my god what if she just...leaves?!"

"Max she's Nikki. She'd never run from her own wedding. Plus your best man is her sister so she'd be hearing a mouthful if she did," Neil says in a gentle tone, trying to calm down the groom before he sweated out his suit. "Chill."

"DUDE I CAN'T." He turned to him in panic, his eyes wide. "Seriously Neil, what if she just...puts it off..? I've been planning this shit for months."

"Don't think too low of her, Maxwell," Preston says with a snicker and straightening his bowtie.

Funny thing is, Max was looking great even tho he was panicked. He had on a dark midnight blue suit with a white shirt underneath. His bangs were pinned out his face so his forehead was showing and two stray curls were free. Great.

He growled and kept pacing.At the same time, Nikki was literally walking in circles while ranting. She wore the same color of Max's suit except her dress was specked with white glitter so it looked like stars.

Her three brides maids, Nerris, Ered, and since she asked Max to find one, his ex Sasha, just watched her. They glanced at each other as they watched.

"Max is a good guy but how would he react to what I have to tell him....?" She looked to the three girls for support.

None of them said anything.

"Uh...you're right! Max is a good guy I'm sure he'd be fine," Sasha cut in awkwardly, looking at Ered and Nerris who kinda just winced at her. "...."

"Haha yeah you're right," Nikki says, a little more confident. "I'll give it to him."

Nerris smirked at her and looked to Sasha who sighed in relief.

Then the music started. Neil and Preston had to practically push Max to his place by the beach water, taking their own places after calming him down a little.

Luckily since it was night, no one could see him sweating. Even with the lights on. So he was fine. This is fine.

His breath caught in his throat when he saw Astria, Nerris and Harrison's tiny child, skipping down the isle with a basket of blue rose petals in her hand and spilling over the white carpet.

Then the brides maids walked out, bright smiles on their faces as they got to the end and stood on Nikki's side. 'oh god oh god...' Max gulped as Nikki walked out her tent, a sparkly dark blue veil covering her face. 'Dammit Nikki walk slower-' But she was walking quickly, stepping onto the platform and across from him.

'Okay Max, calm your ass down.' He slowly lifted her veil and saw her bright pretty face, a wide smile on her red lips. Her makeup was clearly done by Sasha cause it was perfect. Also Nikki didnt really know how to do it.

"...damn..." Max muttered softly, his eyes wide in awe. "You're fine-"

Nikki snorted and laughed, shaking her head. "Thanks Maxie."

"AHEM stop flirting," Gwen says from beside them, her face in a smirk. "Haha sorry," Max apologized sheepishly, looking to Nikki with a more confident smile. He grabs her hands and waited for Gwen to start.

All was going well until they got to the vows.

And when Max opened his mouth, his mind drew a goddamn blank. "Uh..." His eyes widened. "Uhm....I..."

Nikki tilts her head in confusion, raising her eyebrows. "What's wrong?"

"I forgot my vows—"

She winced. "Oof-"

"I'll just wing it." He clears his throat. "So Nikki as you see I forgot my vows and I'm just gonna say it right here right now that I fucking love you and always will. Why? You're perfect to be honest. Everything you do is just...great. You're pretty, funny, amazing, stupidly smart, I don't even know if I'm in your league. Still don't. And this got very cheesy let me just." He coughs. "Anyways I'm pretty sure I'd be a fucking dumbass alone and not talking to anyone if you'd just not gotten off that bus. Can I stop...?" Nikki laughs and nods “yeah you can”

“Anyways!" Nikki smirked. "Its my turn." "Ahem! Max you're really nice when you want to be and a soft cunt to me and me only and I love it. Especially how you're just yelling at someone then turn to me in the sweetest tone cause you know I hate people yelling at me! Hence why my mom wasn't invited!" Her grip tightened on his hands. "You're a smart idiot, pretty cute...wait thats an understatement. You're pretty damn hot ahem. And I'll never freaking forget..." She smiled softly, looking up to him with soft and watery eyes. "...how you let me move into your apartment when you found out what my mom was doing to me. That was honestly the best day of my life besides you proposing to me." Max's eyes widened and he tilted his head with a grin. "It was nothing..."

"We weren't even dating!" She laughs. "And you know exactly how to cheer me up! And..." She sniffed slightly. "F r i c k. Gwen stop crying your emotions are spreading."

She looks to Gwen who was actually sobbing. "S-sorry--" Nikki sighs and sniffs. Then she started crying. "DANGIT." Max snickered and wiped her tears. "Pfft keep it together Nik."

Nikki nods and sniffles again. "Max I really...really love you you don't even know how much...to be honest I started liking you when we cracked that egg...haha and then...you big wimp you asked me out in freshman year of college!"

Max gasped playfully. "Not the point."

"You never break a promise...right?"

"Nope."Nikki looks to Gwen with a small smile, nodding.

"Ahem...Maxwell Greenwood...do you take Nikki Skyler as your wedded wife, to spend your life with her until your dying ages?"

“I do," Max responds confidently, his anxiety fading.

"And do you, Nik-"

"I do I do I DO."

Gwen laughed and looked to Preston who walked up, holding two golden rings on a velvet pillow.

Max and Nikki took one and pushed it up each others right middle fingers before looking up at each other excitedly.

"You may now, k-"

Before Gwen could even finish, Nikki was in Max's grip and he was kissing her happily. Nikki snickered and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing back just as happy and excited.

They break away with bright eyes and smiles before running down the isle. Nikki tossed her bouquet into the hair with a laugh and Preston shoved the girls out the way, catching it and shouting, "NEIL GAY MARRIAGE IS LEGAL AND I CAUGHT IT!" Neil gulped and sighed softly.

-AT THE AFTER PARTY-

The clinking of wine glasses echoed around the party as everyone celebrated the marriage.

Max and Nikki were sitting beside each other and chatting with everyone about how Max was taking her on a cruise for their honeymoon.

A very expensive one that David totally helped him book.Speaking of David, he was sobbing into Gwen's shirt, just so happy that his SON finally got married to her and kept that promise he made years ago."Pfft David...calm down..." Gwen patted her HUSBAND'S head and stood up, clinking her glass with a smirk. "Everyone! Hey listen up!"

The crowd goes silent and everyone looks over to her, curious and surprised.

"Toasts you assholes to the newly weds!""Oh! Oh! Oh!" Sasha jumps up. "I have one!"

Max and Nikki look to each other in surprise before looking back at his ex.

-SKIP AFTER THE TOASTS TO THE WEDDING PRESENTS WHERE I'LL MAKE ALL OF YOU SOB-

"A new TV for the apartment!" Nikki says excitedly, opening Nerris' and Harrison's present. "It has a sound bar!"

"Neil gave us a new PlayStation. Playstation 7." Max looked to Neil and smirked, Neil grinning and shrugging."Open ours," Gwen says excitedly, grinning.

Max took their present and opened it, finding a vacation pass to france. "Why don't you guys take this?"

"Well we think you guys might need it later." Gwen looks to Nikki with a small smile.Nikki gulped nervously and started to fidget in her seat. 'Crap.' "Uhhhh Max?"

Max turns to her. "Yeah Nik?"

She smiles anxiously. "I have a present for you." She picks up a small box. It was wrapped with a red bow on top.

Max shrugs and takes it, tearing the paper open while humming.

She looked over at him, sweating.

David hurried and grabbed his camera, turning it on.

Max opens the box and his breath caught as he pulled out two pacifiers. One was blue. One was pink. He lifted his head slowly and looked to Nikki with wide eyes.

Nikki looked over at him with an anxious smile, saying, "Maxie...we're having twins.." Max stayed silent for a while, just staring at her. Then tears streaked down his face. "..."

"Ah- Max!" Nikki tried to wipe his tears but he just hugged her tightly, sobbing into her shoulder.

"...haha h-how long..h-have yo-you known..?"

She hugs him back. "2 months.." He sits up, wiping eyes only for more tears tears to fall down. "Fuck fuck fUCK...Nikki ima be a dad. A fucking...dad."

She laughs and nods. "A great one too. You're probably gonna be crying when they go off to preschool."

Max blinked and nodded. "Yeahhhhh you're probably right." He then stood up and stood Nikki up too.

"Max what're y-"

Max pecks her lips and said, "you have to dance with my dad, idiot."

...

@jennythemagicbear requested this sorry its in this format I wrote it on discord.

[doomednarrative]

Odd numbered questions

Since you didn’t give me a character, I answered them all for Rhys. (This is really really long so every question after the first is under a read more.)

1. What does their bedroom look like?

Post Helios crashing, all of the Handsome Jack posters have been removed and torn up. I like to think that Rhys has his own room in the Helios remains camp so that he can visit Vaughn and the others whenever he wants to, and I think this room would actually be kinda bare, if only because of the lack of resources available to decorate with. If they’re able to find any paint maybe he’d paint it the Altas colors since he’s now the Atlas CEO, but other than that there’s not much there besides a bed and nightstand and a closet for his clothes. (Later down the line in my vision for post game story, he basically just moves into Vaughn’s room and that’s a bit more decorated.)

3. Do they exercise, and if so, what do they do? How often?

Rhys is definitely Not the exercise type (despite Vaughn’s best effort to get his twig of a best friend/boyfriend to put on some muscle), but he’s at least taken to going on daily walks when he can either around the camp or outside of it for a bit. Keeps the fresh ideas flowing and at least keeps him on guard.

5. Cleanliness habits (personal, workspace, etc.)

It depends on his mental health most days honestly. For appearances alone if he’s got a day full of important CEO duties, he’ll always make the effort to get dressed up and look very presentable for the time that he’s at work. When he gets home tho, if it’s a bad mental health day, that all goes out the door when he steps foot in his room and can decompress. If he’s Really bad mentally, sometimes Vaughn has to step in and remind Rhys to do some things so he doesn’t fall into bad habits permanently.

7. Favorite way to waste time and feelings surrounding wasting time

I feel like Rhys is the type who would probably enjoy drawing in his spare time. He doesn’t get to do  it often since he’s a CEO with a lot of duties there and he likes hanging out with his friends a lot, but when he does get to, its more loose doodling and more often than not used as a stress relief. He might have some negative thoughts about wasting time when there’s more important things to do, but he also knows that sometimes he Has to separate himself from his work, both for his own mental health and because Vaughn or Fiona will Make Him take some time off if he won’t do it himself.

9. Makeup?

Considering I headcanon Rhys as trans, I’m gonna say that makeup isn’t really his thing. Though he has been known to wear just a bit of eyeliner from time to time when the mood strikes. (He sucks at applying it tho and asks Fiona to help him whenever he does wear it.)

11. Intellectual pursuits?

After pulling out all his cybernetics on his own and fucking up some stuff internally by doing so, Rhys started collecting as much reading material in any and all forms about cybernetics and how to build and maintain and install them as he could. He’s become a lot more knowledgeable about the topic since having to do so to save his own arm and eye, and he plans to use that knowledge to help out the people of Pandora later on in the future through the use of Atlas tech. (His own cybernetics still aren’t the best because he jury-rigged them in the beginning when he was kinda desperate and not at full mental capacity, and his fine motor control suffers because of this, but he’s constantly working on the tech to improve it. He’s no expert in the field, at least when it comes to self application, but he’s trying his best.)

13. Sexual Orientation? And, regardless of own orientation, thoughts on sexual orientation in general?

If he had to put a label on it, Rhys would probably say that he’s pansexual, leaning more towards men. In terms of what he thinks in general about orientations though? He really couldn’t give two shits. People are who they are and like who they like and he’s not one to judge for any of that. It’s honestly one of the furthest things from his mind a lot of the time.

15. Biggest and smallest short term goal?

(This one I actually don’t have an answer for, but when I think of one, I will post it.)

17. Preferred mode of dress and rituals surrounding dress

Rhys has two modes of dress: Fully suited kickass CEO, or oversized shirts with the sleeve possibly ripped off for his cybernetic arm with baggy sweatpants. He’s either at the top of his fashion game or he gives no two shits either way.

19. What do they think about before falling asleep at night?

Depends when you’re asking. Pre him and Vaughn getting together, probably about all the shit he regrets with Jack and Helios crashing and all the people he’s killed and horrible things he did in the name of his job on Hyperion. Post him and Vaughn getting together when they start sharing a room and sleeping in the same bed? He tries to focus more on the now, on being lucky that he’s still alive after Jack tried to kill him and that he still has his friends and that they’re here together.

21. Turn-ons? Turn-offs?

Honestly, people being nice to him and not calling him a dumbass is his major turn on. Turn offs is a longer list but the top of that list is people degrading him and only seeing him as a klutz and not someone they can take seriously.

23. How organized are they? How does this organization/disorganization manifest in their everyday life?

Rhys is chaotically organized, much to his friends and potential future employee’s dismay. I headcanon him as having ADHD, so some of it definitely comes from that. The other part though comes from the fact that he just has his own ways of doing things that don’t make sense to anyone except him (and sometimes Vaughn.) He’s never lost any important documents or the like, but he’s more prone to losing certain articles of clothing (except for his socks, he’s careful with those) and other more personal items. He can’t count the number of times he’s misplaced his stun baton when he really needed it.

25. How do they see themselves 5 years from today?

Married to Vaughn while being a successful CEO for Atlas and actually making decent strides at improving life on Pandora for All it’s inhabitants and basically doing the Opposite of what he would have been doing on Helios if he were still there.

27. What is their biggest regret?

He has a Lot of regrets that plague his conscious constantly for a long time, but plugging that goddamn ID Drive of Nakayama’s into his data port is one of the Biggest ones. So much shit wouldn’t have happened if he had never done that and hadn’t let Jack get deep into his systems.

29. Reaction to sudden extrapersonal disaster (eg The house is on fire! What do they do?)

Rhys is the one who runs around screaming (most times) until someone gives him instructions on what to do. He does have times though if he’s able to be level headed enough that he can make a solid plan to solve the problem as well.

31. Most prized possession?

The ECHOeye implant where Jack’s AI is held captive. (if you had him keep it and not destroy it that is, which I did.) It’s not prized for the fact that it’s important to him or that he misses Jack or anything like that. It’s prized because he knows if He has the implant, no one else can get ahold of Jack but him. And keeping Jack in the implant means that he’s suffering alone in there by himself which Rhys feels is what he deserves. (He keeps the implant in a bio-encrypted lock deep down in his office’s vaults at Atlas. No one except him knows that it’s even stored there.)

33. Concept of home and family?

His friends are his family. Vaughn, Fiona, Sasha, LB, Gortys, heck even Athena and Janey and August, he considers them all his family to some degree, with Vaughn being the closest out of all of them. And as far as a home goes, that’s just wherever they all happen to be together in his mind.

35. What activities do they enjoy, but consider to be a waste of time?

As mentioned earlier, Rhys enjoys doodling at times but sometimes considers it a waste when he knows he has more important things he could be doing with his time.

37. Are they more analytical or more emotional in their decision-making?

Absolutely more emotional. He goes with whatever his heart tells him is right every single time, which doesn’t always have the best results.

39. What recharges them when they’re feeling drained?

Rhys used to play guitar a bit in college, but once he got to Hyperion that hobby died very quickly. Somehow, Fiona found out this fact (most likely through Vaughn since Rhys never talks about it) and gave Rhys a slightly used guitar she was able to pawn off of someone one day as a gift. She claims it was just to get him out of everyones hair but really, it was just her being nice. Rhys has since then been slowly learning how to play again and likes to pull it out and play by himself when he’s too low on energy to be social. (If he’s too drained for even that, then a nap will normally suffice for a recharge as well. Preferably one with Vaughn, but those are few and far between since he’s got people to look after.)

41. How misanthropic are they?

Rhys is normally a pretty social person and generally enjoys society, but at times, he does tend to withdraw from people and isolate himself after the Helios incident. It’s not for the fact of hating people or society in general, it’s more the fact that he spent so much time alone after defeating Jack and while rebuilding Atlas that sometimes, being around people is just too much and he needs some time alone. He gets better with this as the years go by, but in the beginning he’ll sometimes go two or three days alone before interacting with people again. (His friends worry the first few times this happens, especially Vaughn, but they come to understand his reasoning after he actually takes the time to explain his absences to them. Vaughn is sometimes allowed to see him during those times though because he’s Vaughn and he knows how to just be around Rhys naturally and do his own work without making Rhys talk or interact much.)

43.How far did they get in formal education? What are their views on formal education vs self-education?

It’s canon that Rhys went to college, but as far as actually finishing and what degrees he got, I’d say he got his bachelors and no further than that, unless he was doing his own independent studying on his own, which he might have done to push himself forward at Hyperion. Rhys is all for self education, he’s constantly doing that himself when it comes to running Atlas and learning what he needs to do to be a successful CEO there.

45. Superstitions or views on the occult?

Don’t think Rhys is much for superstitions or the occult. He doesn’t really Need to be when things like Vault Monsters exist in real life for him.

47. If they were to fall in love, who (or what) is their ideal?

Vaughn is definitely his ideal person. He compliments Rhys in a lot of different ways, they have a lot of history from being best friends for so long, and they get each other on a deeper level. Vaughn has always been important to Rhys throughout their whole journey from college to Hyperion to the now. And after seeing how Vaughn grew as a person during the time they were separated, he really came to appreciate him as he was and is. Vaughns is his best bro after all, and bros gotta stick together.

49. If this person were to get into a fist fight, what is their fighting style like?

If he remembers to use his robotic arm to fight, then Rhys might actually stand a chance at least to not be knocked out during a fist fight. But if not, he’s extremely weak and will be beat to shit. He really has no style for physical fights other than “Throw my fist and see if it hurts them.”

[vizhi0n]

Sundown - Part 4

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Whooo well here we go the moment you’ve all been waiting for sorta kinda. Plus we’re inching towards the end ladies and gents. 

@flames-bring-a-ton-of-ash @kijilinn @ladylorelitanyfanfiction @hannibalssweaters @manawhaat @negans-network @i-am-negan-trash @jasoncrouse @kellyn1604 @crzcorgi @lucifers-trash-stash @genevievedarcygranger @heartfulloffandoms @strangersangel9 @tolieboy @superprincesspea @divadinag @alyisdead @rapsity @fxcking-negan @haleyea @my-achilles--heel @mypapawinchester  wow its letting me tag ppl that i couldnt tag before but NOT letting me tag ppl i could tag before this website is legit terrible)

Lemme know if you want to be tagged or untagged

Warnings: This chapter is just literal smut. Also loss of virginity, blood, Negan’s potty mouth. 

“Negan. Get your ass to bed, seriously.”

“I’ll be there in a fucking second,” Negan murmured. He grunted as he dragged one of the chairs across the room, tucking the back beneath the door handle. He took a look out the window once more before closing the blinds. I could only see his silhouette as he walked towards me, gently lowering himself onto the ground. He removed his boots before lying on his back shoulder to shoulder with me.

We stared at the ceiling for a good long while, until Negan shifted next to me.

“You asleep?”

“No,” I murmured. “It’s kind of hard when you’re this close to me.”

“What? Do you think I’m going to fucking stab or something?” Negan scoffed. “I’m not that fucking low. Unlike Rick the Prick.”

“He never—”

“He did. Stabbed all my men at one of my outposts in the middle of the night,” Negan replied. “Didn’t even give them a fighting chance. Fucking coward.” 

“i wasn’t there for that,” I whispered. “I wasn’t there for half of that. I was a fucking babysitter, remember?”

“Hey, I’m just stating the facts,” Negan replied. I finally gathered the courage to roll over and face him, careful not to jostle my sore shoulder. I could feel his breath on my face and the heat radiating from his body. When Negan smiled I could see the white of his teeth. “There she is.”

“Why are you trying so hard to get me to betray Rick? Do you really think I’m that gullible?”

“I want you.”

“Excuse me?”

“I want you. On my fucking team,” Negan explained. “I suppose I want you in that fucking way, too, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. It’s clear Rick doesn’t give a shit about you—”

“I don’t care. This whole thing if bigger than me, bigger than Rick—”

“Why do you think Eugene has stayed with us for so long? I wouldn’t have kept his ass around if he’d tried to run. That fucker would have been dead — you want to know why he sticks around? Because he trusts me, and he trusts the system I put in place.”

“Or he’s just scared.”

“He’s not fucking scared. And neither are you,” Negan’s thumb grazed across my bottom lip. “I promise, you’d be taken care of. Hell, you can still fucking garden. And there are plenty of mothers here who would love a babysitter. And you can fight. But you’d be respected. I’d make sure of that.”

“Did you make that same promise to Sasha before you killed her?”

“I never laid a hand on Sasha, and that’s the goddamn honest-to-God truth. She suffocated in that coffin—”

“A coffin that you put her in. Don’t pull that shit with me,” I was aware how close Negan was. His breathing was a feather-light breeze against my lips, dark eyes glinting in the moonlight. “You’re going to have to do better than that, Negan. Be better that. Be better in general—”

“You think I’d fucking change for you? Bullshit. And I don’t expect you to fucking change shit for me. Keep that scowl on your fucking face and don’t let it leave,” Negan purred. “That was my last offer. You said it yourself — we shouldn’t focus on the fucking future.”

“What should we focus on?”

“You know what I fucking want,” Negan’s hand brushed against my hip. “You know damn well what it is we can do to pass the time.”

I made a noise in the back of my throat. His kiss muffled my next words, rough fingers pinching the skin above my hipbone.

You’ve never kissed a boy before what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck—

His beard scratched my skin. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t something I was used to. My brain was officially on autopilot, unsure of what to do with the new emotions, these new feelings. His touches felt good. His lips felt good.

“Let me fucking make you feel good,” Negan murmured. His hand went from my waist to my jeans. He toyed with the zipper, chuckling against my mouth. “Lord knows you fucking need it after the fall you took.”

“Don’t remind me. I’m pretty sure I’m concussed — explains why I’m letting you fucking do this.”

“Hush,” Negan murmured. I was rolled onto my back, pinned beneath his heavy body. He was wincing as his injured leg strained, but he kept going. I chuckled as his beard tickled my neck. He kissed a stripe from my collarbone to my jaw, taking his time. I felt his length press against my thigh and I deftly grabbed it, palming him through his pants. His tipped his head back and groaned, giving me a perfect chance to suckle on his throat.

“You feel that? It’s all for you,” Negan cooed. “All fucking yours.”

I grunted, eagerly shoving  my hand beneath his pants. I was desperate to touch him. I wanted to touch him before I chickened out —

I glanced down, tugging at his cock. I could see his leaking head and when I met his gaze, his eyes were glazed over with pure, unadulterated lust.

“Fuck,” Negan breathed. He thrusts his hips into my hand, eyes fluttering. “Fucking fuck — I need to be inside you.”

Now are you going to tell him?

I released him, arching my back as he yanked my jeans down my thighs. I kicked them away, swallowing nervously as Negan freed his cock from the confines of his pants, wasting no time in caging me between his arms. He steadied himself, brushing the head against my wet folds.

“You fucking want this?”

I did. I verbalized it with a nod of my head. He was big, and it would hurt — I knew the pain wouldn’t bother me, and I was already wet enough. It was the closeness. I could already feel it — the sweat from his body, the smell of leather and salvaged cologne and blood. It was like a blanket I could taste the liquor as he kissed me twice on the mouth, easing the tip in slowly.

My toes curled into the carpet. I gripped the floor with on hand in anticipation, the other reaching up to tug at the hairs on the nape of Negan’s neck. He sunk in slow and deep until I felt full, until I could barely breathe —

“Shit. Holy fuck you’re tight — shit,” Negan rested his forehead against mine. After a brief moment he lifted his head, grunting as he continued to lazily roll his hips. “Were you lying about not being a virgin?”

“You never said anything about it having to be a dick inside me,” I groaned.

“I fucking didn’t, but you should have told me,” Negan slowed even more. When he went to pull out I stopped him.

“I want this.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” I said through gritted teeth. “Keep going.”

He obeyed, stifling my cries with a kiss. He wasn’t going slow — I knew that the slower he went, the more it would hurt. My cries withered down to rhythmic whines as he gripped my cheeks, forcing me to look at him.

“Let go, baby,” Negan murmured. He reached down and circled my clit with his thumb. “Let go for me.”

He fucked me into oblivion, pinching my clit and increasing his thrusts until I was flailing, heels kicking at the carpet. He pulled out a few moments later, pumping his dick with one hand. Cold air hit my skin as he yanked my shirt up, painting my stomach with milky pearls.

“Fucking beautiful,” Negan whispered, chest heaving. He slowly eased out, and I winced. “Shit. Did I fucking hurt you?”

“No. I was already hurt, remember?” I struggled to speak, coming down from an intense high that I’d never felt before. It was a combination of pure ecstasy and pure pain. I had no desire to move any part of my body, and I didn’t. “Holy shit.”

His knuckles stroked my cheek. He pulled me into a kiss, settling down by my side. I slipped my hands beneath his shirt, skimming the pads of my fingers against his chest.

“Never done it with a fucking guy, huh? I was your fucking first?”

“Yeah.”

“How was I?”

“Fine,” Negan seemed a bit offended. I shrugged, hugging his jacket around my body. There was a soreness between my legs that I desperately wished would go away. Feeling a bit sorry for potentially damaging his already fragile ego, I admitted, “It was good. I liked it. I’d…I’d do it again.”

“Oh, I have the fucking stamina for that.”’

“That’s great, but I wasn’t talking about now. We both need to rest. Just…let’s go to sleep, okay?”

Negan nodded, spreading his arms Hesitantly I slipped into his embrace, not knowing what to expect. Gentleness was the last thing I’d ever though Negan capable of, yet here he was, holding me against him and stroking my back.

Close your eyes. Rest.

I did.

I opened my eyes first. A heavy arm was draped across my waist. I was snuggled up against Negan’s side, my head resting on his chest. The older man had yet to stir, so I was extra careful when I slowly peeled myself away.

I let him rest. His leg looked good, not infected, not swollen or pus filled like I’d originally feared. He wouldn’t be able to properly walk for at least a week, and I knew that we definitely didn’t have that much time before our luck ran out.

I uncapped some water and took a swig, feeling my stomach tighten. We’d each only consumed enough food to keep up and awake, but my body craved more. I wouldn’t listen to it.

It was still dark outside. Early. I certainly didn’t feel well rested and I was sure Negan would feel the same. Five hours of sleep was better than nothing.

“Get your fine as back down here,” I heard Negan murmured. I turned — he was staring, a smirk on his handsome face. “It’s fucking early.” “Negan—”

“C’mon. I want to taste that sweet pussy one more time before I die.”

I flinched at his vulgarity, before dismissing it — I used the same language, daily. Such a similarity was enough to make me question whether or not Negan and I had more in common than I’d initially realized.

“We aren’t dying. Quit being dramatic.”

“I’m not being dramatic I’m fucking being realistic. And I’m never one to pass up free pussy,” Negan crooked his finger and I groaned, surrendering and crawling across the carpet towards him. “Good girl.”

“I can’t believe you. I can’t believe that you even would want me—”

“And you say that…fucking why? Good pussy is good pussy, and you biting me turned me on way more than it probably fucking should have. Shit. I can’t believe you were a fucking virgin! You been saving yourself for someone fucking special?”

“No. Years of abuse and bullying really makes it hard to connect and feel vulnerable around people,” I tilted my head. “I mean, this was fine. It was better than fine. I just wish we, you know, had a bed. Maybe some music. Some fancy drinks.”

“I can give you all those things.”

“I mean, I have those back at Alexandria but okay.”

“But here, you’d have the best of all — me.”

I rolled my eyes and Negan laughed. “Man, if only your dick was the size of your ego.”

“Holy fuck that hurts.”

“Yes, it’s called a roast. It’s supposed to hurt,” I leaned on my side, using my elbow to prop myself up. I began tracing light patterns on Negan’s chest, humming, “How’s your leg?”

“Stings like a bitch, but I’ll live.”

“Stings to the point that you can’t run or just…stings? Like a discomfort but not a discomfort that’ll put you on the ground?”

“Look, if we end up having to make a break for it, you but your ass I’ll run,” Negan murmured. “But I’d rather it not come to that shit.”

“It might,” I said sadly. “We don’t have enough water to last.”

“My men will come—”

“Says who? There’s no telling what state their in right now, or how many are even alive. Simon looked and sounded pissed, Negan. This isn’t some little scratch you can put a band-aid on. We fucked you up, good,” I said seriously. “It’s now or never. I mean, seriously, don’t you want to get away from me?”

“No,” Negan whispered I rolled my eyes again as he leaned in, mouth brushing across my forehead before moving down to my lips. His kisses were intoxicating. His tongue was feather light against my own and he moved with gentleness I never thought him capable of.

“Negan,” I murmured, “C’mon. Get up. There’s no way you like me this much, stop pretending.”

“Who says I’m pretending? That’s all on you,” Negan held me still, pausing and staring into my eyes. “When’s the last time someone ever called you sexy?”

“Like, never.”

“For real?”

“Never. Dude, I told you, bullying, abuse and whatnot…” I turned away. “I really don’t want to delve deep into my tragic past or whatever. This was before the world went to shit. I honestly…I honestly think I’ve done better for myself these past few months than I did when everything was normal.” 

“What were you before?”

“I worked. I studied. I cried about stupid shit and isolated myself from everyone. I wanted to be an actress,” I laughed harshly. “Stupid. I even went to school for that shit. Thought I was going to make it or something. What about you?”

Negan didn’t reply. I sighed and added, “You mentioned your wife earlier. Who was she?”

“None of your fucking business.”

“This is supposed to be a mutual trust, a conversation where we equally exchange the same information,” I stared at the ceiling. “I feel like it is my business—”

“I don’t give a rats ass about you or your issues. It’s not my fucking job to coddle you and tell you how fucking special you are,” Negan snapped. “And it sure as hell isn’t my job to make you feel better by telling my sob story.”

“Do you even know how to hold a real conversation? Or is your default just ‘sarcastic, self-absorbed asshole?’”

Negan sat up, and I did the same. There was a burning anger in his eyes, but I remained sitting, stoic, trying not to give anything away. I had no doubt that he would kill me if he felt the sudden urge — fucking him had meant nothing.

Yet deep down you think it did.

“You’re lucky I find you fucking hot, or else you’d be a mess of brains on the fucking carpet right now,” Negan touched his thumb to my chin. “Watch what you say around me.”

“I’ll say whatever the hell I want,” I shoved his hand away. “Dude, you should no by now how little I think of your threats. Most threats, actually. But yours especially because they piss me off.”

Negan tilted his head to the side. I half expected him to grab Lucille and just use it on me, right then and there. His expression was so neutral that, for the first time, I found myself unable to outright tell whether he was pissed or not.

“I’ll let that shit slide. For you.”

“I’m honored. Is it because of my super hot, one-of-a-kind pussy?”

“No,” Negan replied sincerely. He laid back down as quickly as he’d sat up, adding, “It’s because I like you.”

I threw my head back and laughed. Negan didn’t join me. Instead he reached up and pulled me against him, mouth pressing eagerly against mine. His kisses were slower, more delicate, as if he were afraid of hurting me. When he pulled away he was grinning.

“I’d very much like to fuck you again,” Negan purred. “And then again. And again, until you forget your own fucking name.”

You have nothing to lose. You’re too far gone, anyway.

“Go for it.”