#it's chill it's just the way they were like no like isabel falls for her right back at her iiiiiii

[yashy]

You know you didn’t have to start the whole fight club just to date me. You could’ve just talked to me.

[cloveroctobers]

SAVE YOUR BREATH — Armando Aretas [October Prompts] 🧡

A/N: This was inspired by the show FROM and this fic has a slight crossover with the show that I squeezed into this plot. I initially had no plans to take it further than a certain symbol. I was supposed to end it there (while also keeping this short) but I kept writing lol! If you haven’t watched you should for this season especially! Also loosely inspired by Midnight mass 🫣 & just know picking songs that fit the spooky vibe or fall aesthetic is also a job y’all 😆

S/N: If you’re a reader who’s been impacted by the hurricane(s) I hope you and your loved ones are safe during this difficult time! 🫶🏽

PROMPTS ARE FROM HERE & HERE + I’m using: "Give me one good reason not to kill you." "I'm immortal, so…it's actually not possible." + SCENARIOS — 6. Visiting an apple orchard.

SYNOPSIS: in which Armando wants to avenge your death but your attempts to make him let it slide, brings on a new level of danger he’s not all that prepared for.

🏷️: @violetmuses + @believeinthefireflies95 + @nobodygetsza

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ ⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ ⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ ⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧

Giving Armando space wasn’t really effective since he can still feel you hovering, whether you were behind him lounging against the wall and slicing up some apples to eat while you kept quiet for the most part, or just you simply letting your ghost eyes chill through him.

He’s been on his computer for weeks and didn’t want any help. Any wink of sleep he got was not something he allowed on his own, he’s been functioning off caffeine and eye drops to keep him going trying to track down your killer. Mike’s been telling him to let him handle it, since there was a part of Mike that knew Armando would be back to his old ways, especially after losing you. Now that Mike was slowly building something with his son, he didn’t want Armando to throw it all away. Which definitely brought off heated energy because who was Mike Lowrey to tell Armando how to get justice? Armando had his mother to thank for that, even in death, she was still controlling his life. It has been months since he was on the run and since you played a part in his hiding, that meant you had to serve time, whereas Mike pulled a deal for Armando to work for AMMO that would amount up to the added time he needed to serve, You got the short end of the stick.

No shock there—and to make a long story short, you gave as good as you could in prison but Armando’s mother had it planned that if something were to ever happen to her, she had people that would take you out as well, since she had this unhealthy jealousy when it came to you and Armando.

Nothing ever become of you and Armando but she saw it before you two ever had the chance to fully explore.

So when Mike had to deliver the news of your passing, Armando felt like what was left of him died.

Your relationship with his mother was also very complex. Isabel Aretas was the one who stole you from your own family at just eight years old. Nothing Isabel did made logical sense, you would think that the one person that made your child happy, you would still want your child to have some sort of happiness so that they wouldn’t be alone right? Wrong. Isabel strived to be the only one in her son’s life, out of some unresolved issues and because your bond with Armando was also strong, she wanted to take that with her as well.

It took time but it happened.

In her mind, this would make Armando the deadliest kingpin there could ever be. It builds character, which was her excuse for masking her love as manipulation. When you got away from her, you wanted Armando out too but that resulted in many things with Isabel calling you a, “ungrateful bitch,” and Armando being too blind to see how Isabel was going to get them both killed.

She almost succeeded.

“I think you should just let this go, you’re able to start this new life now. Even if you hate it, maybe it’ll be worth it.” You tried to tell Armando, who wouldn’t bring his red eyes away from the screen.

His brows furrowed as he harshly clicked around on his mouse, “No. I won’t. I’m doing this for us.”

“It’s not going to bring me back.” You state, “Karma will get them one way or another.”

“I don’t have faith in that.”

But he had the answers!

“Well maybe you should have some faith in me.”

“Maybe if you minded your business, you wouldn’t be where you’re at.” Armando snapped, which caught you off guard.

You wouldn’t make excuses for him.

That was low and he knew it because his eyes clenched not long after those words escaped his lips. “I’m sorry—

A gush of wind was all that he heard, which means that you actually left him on his own. It was for a minute too, he kept calling out to you like a crazy person in his apartment as the days went on but you wouldn’t break. Sure he was persistent but you were also very stubborn and didn’t mind making him sweat it out.

There was no way he tried to shift his mother’s actions and deem them as your fault. She took you from your family as a child, causing an accident where you couldn’t remember the last eight years of your life—only the new image the Aretas’ built—killed your father instantly in that accident, left your mother in the hospital with a lengthy recovery just to worry herself into sickness and die not knowing if you were ever safe, made you believe you were living with the Aretas out of false pretenses, made everything so squeaky clean that for years you couldn’t find any true history of your past life, tried to mold you into her one of her many soldiers, continued to lie to about not only you but Armando’s upbringing, and gaslit the both of you once those truth’s came to light.

Isabel was taken out of the game first but at least you were able to go out with a smile on your face, Mrs. Aretas couldn’t say the same.

When you did return, it was when Armando found out the whereabouts of your killer. She was free from jail, ironically five months after your murder—the system pinned it on another inmate—and would be down at the apple orchard with her little family.

“Arman…this isn’t a good idea.” You appeared behind him, as he’s flicking the collar of his leather jacket up after sipping into it.

He scoffs, “Appearing from the shadows today? After you literally ghosted me? is rich I have to say.”

“And I had every right to. This vengefulness is making you sick, haven’t you learned this yet? What is it going to take for you to get it through your thick ass skull, huh?” You follow him as he opens the secret compartment in his room that contained all of his weapons.

You were positive Mike did not know about this stash. Armando probably shouldn’t have any of this kind of weaponry in this temporary home Mike had him set up in. Regardless, Armando was smart he wouldn’t just take these handouts since he knew they came at a cost and had numerous bunkers over the globe. If he wanted to be gone again, he could be.

“You need to get out of my way,” Armando says to you as you simply cross your arms after he comes back out with a case.

You tilt your head, “or what?”

With swiftness, Armando pulls a knife that looks awfully familar as he shoves it right underneath your chin, “Give me one good reason not to kill you.”

Flashing your pretty teeth at him with your arms still folded you respond, “I'm immortal, so…it's actually not possible. Is it genius?”

Armando blinks, “doesn’t mean it still won’t hurt?”

“…that’s the thing, you don’t want to hurt me. You want to hurt everybody else.” You reason, which proves to be right as Armando rolls his eyes before removing the blade from your cold skin.

Sighing Armando puts his back to you, “I really don’t have time for this.”

The sarcasm is heavy in your tone, “Sure but you have time to execute a murder in front of who knows how many people and children?”

“No need to worry,” Armando smirks, “I’m the better shooter anyway.”

Huffing you follow Armando as he starts making his way through the apartment, making sure he has everything before closing the door in your face. Of course you throw your hands up before walking right through the wall to follow the man down the hallway. If he was going to do this, then you were going to be right beside him trying to get him to change his mind before he actually got to the orchard.

It was funny really, Armando going to the one place you loved being. Something you could never explain, you always loved apples since you came into Armando’s life. Apple scented things, favorite fruit and snack were apples, loved baking anything that had to do with apples—not that you had that much time to do that either catching bodies and all but in your sprinkle of free time you did. This was only explained once you knew your background, that you weren’t from another place in South America but North. You had grandparents who owned a farm and were still looking for you after your parents passed.

Your parents were in debt to the wrong people.

The Aretas, so they took the one valuable thing and that happened to be you.

Now here you were not getting to enjoy the sights of the orchard because Armando was out for blood. In your honor. Past you who was just doing these things because you knew you could, would be proud but once you got away from the dark of this game, living the life you could have? Changed how you viewed the world. It drastically changed again once Armando Aretas showed up at your door.

“What are you looking to accomplish by doing this?”

Armando sighed as he opens the car door, “I went over this already.”

“Okay…so what are you going to tell Mike and Secada once they find out?” You inquire as you appear on the passenger side, “The first person they’re going to look for is you, you know that right?”

“I have an alibi.”

“Don’t say something lame like visiting my mausoleum all the way in Massachusetts…knowing you can’t leave the state alone.”

Armando goes quiet which lets you know that was exactly what he was planning on using. He hated having you be one step ahead of him and it showed. The blank expression he shot you, had you snorting into your hand and with a shake of your head you start to comment before Armando interupts.

“Save your breath.” Armando mutters

Moving the seatbelt with a sigh, so you can free your braids you say, “no, I don’t think I will. We went long enough not speaking after you disrespected me by playing the blame game.”

He briefly glances over at you, hand tightening on the wheel, he regretted saying that to you, “I didn’t mean any of it, amiga. I was in my head and when I’m in my head—

“You don’t listen,” you finish with a sharp nod, “which is why I’m telling you that this a bad idea.”

He blinks, “is that a immortal feeling or something?”

You laugh again, “I don’t…think that’s a thing? It’s just natural to not want you to end up, you know? Dead.”

“Appreciate that but the only way I get to move on, is if I do this.”

“Until something else feeds that desire to kill again.”

“We’re always going to be killers, though.” Armando replies, “whether you like it or not in death or life. That’s just what we were made to be.”

“And it’s sad that you can’t see that you can be much more than this.” You tell, “Maybe someday you’ll see that.”

Armando hums, “Are you supposed to be my guardian Angel?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that amigo.” You rest your head back against the headrest, “you did say we were killers and I don’t think murders get to hold angel status.”

“Icarus was a fallen Angel though.”

“Touché.”

A small silence falls over the car ride while being surrounded by the busy life style of Miami. To find quality farms required traveling a good distance so Armando appreciated the silence, to gather his thoughts together. He could have gotten there faster if he purchased another bike but he was very limited now being underneath everyone’s eyes.

With the way Armando drove, it felt like less than over an hour where the palm trees started to fade and the grass roads become more prominent. He’s getting off the exit and there’s a lot less traffic around this area, which worked in Armando’s favor since you knew he preferred to go for the silent kill but if it had to get rowdy he could handle that as well. If there were kids there, which you hoped there wouldn’t be many, you prayed that they would be leaving the site before Armando got into position.

“Would you look at that,” Armando pulls your attention away from the passenger window, “Lime green jeep gladiator, we’re just in time.”

You deeply inhale, sitting up in the passenger seat while Armando keeps his distance, “get the case ready.”

“No.”

The dark haired man with the thick facial hair cuts his eyes at you, “fine. Take the wheel, then.”

And his eyes told you not to argue with him, as he twists to the back of the vehicle to grab said item.

“There’s witnesses.” You state, letting go of the wheel as Armando plops the case right into your lap.

Armando nods, “I’ll aim for the tires, make it seem like they got a flat.”

“…do you know if their kid is with them?”

“I know how to aim,” he argues, moving one hand to the case in your lap to unlock for his gun of choice along with a silencer.

Which didn’t answer your question.

He’s getting ready to roll down his window, your eyes go into slits as a black Escalade cuts you two off. You hold onto the arm of the door as Armando tries to swerve to the right as the Escalade also break checks him.

“Arman,” you start, it’s a feeling that felt like the rolling of waves in the beginning of a storm but warm and you haven’t felt warmth in some time.

He’s slamming on breaks himself, that you feel your toes curl just waiting to slam into the gladiator. Yet the gladiator is off to the left in front of the Escalade that’s attempting to shield your view of the car.

“The hell?” Armando questions and you feel your breathing halt.

In front of you was a tree blocking the pathway to the orchard.

“T-This is it. This is what I tried to warn you of.” You say with shaky breath as you glance to meet Armando’s eyes.

There’s a furrow in Armando’s brows, trying to decipher what you were saying to him. He’s caught off guard by you as he’s yanked out of the driver’s side. You feel a pull to your right, which made you frown because why could you feel this touch when it didn’t belong to Armando?

You’re shoved to your knees beside Armando who’s trying to move the hands that hold him, away until a gun is placed to his temple. The doors to the gladiator are opened, revealing your killer and her wife, who quickly grabs hold of their five year old son.

“No. This isn’t right. I killed you.” She pointed at you, still keeping her distance behind what you and Armando believed to be her bodyguards.

Armando keeps his head still but his eyes move to peek at you.

“You can see me?” You whisper before looking around at your surroundings, “…we shouldn’t be here.”

Your killer laughs, “no, you shouldn’t.” She steps forward, eyes are harsh as she glared at you before shushing her partner while she moves in closer, “did you two come here to kill me and my family? Big mistake.”

Armando shakes his head while admitting, “not your family, just you.”

You wish you could have shushed him in this moment too.

There’s a film of gray that spills over the sky followed by the rustle of trees. You don’t feel safe and not just because everyone can suddenly see you now. Where you resided when you weren’t with Armando, allowed you to see many things you still couldn’t explain. Perhaps it took time to make sense and you didn’t have anyone that worked as a guide. In essence this was just like life.

No answers and just winging it.

However you’ve seen this scene plenty of times before. The getting stuck by a road blockage, always a large tree with vehicles trying to find a way around. It was a cycle before they arrived to the town.

“The town.” You inform causing all eyes to turn to you, “we need to leave, now.”

Your killer huffs, “you keep saying that. You want to leave so bad, here.”

And with that she snatched the gun from one of her bodyguards and aims right at you, firing the gun. At least for this death, you don’t even feel it but you can only imagine how traumatizing this must have been for Armando.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊

Waking with a deep gasp that feels as if it’s been punched into your chest, you jolt upwards.

“Whoa, you’re okay.” Armando’s voice is heard to the left of you, his hand rests on your thigh covered blanket.

Your eyes are wide while they connect with his dark ones.

A woman’s voice remarks next, “holy shit! You weren’t lying…and there’s no bullet wound, not even a scar.” Her thumb swipes over your forehead, which you slap away.

“Sorry.” She raised her hands in surrender, “I should introduce myself, I’m Kristi. Armando brought you here in hopes that you’d come back to life. He uh, proved me wrong about you being dead since apparently you were already dead?”

You flick your eyes back to Armando who takes hold of your hand and that’s when you notice they’re stained, “that’s right…”

A click of a gun is heard next, making all eyes turn to a dark skinned man in a blazer.

Not this again!

“Boyd! I don’t think that’s necessary.” Kristi tries to reason.

Boyd scoffs, “I think it is. Sure we get visitors but not ones like her. So you’re gonna tell me the truth and not what I want to fucking hear, are you one of those things because I’ve been waiting to trap one?”

Armando quickly moves to stand in front of the bed, blocking this Boyd guy’s view of you, “Even if she was whatever you’re accusing her to be, why would she tell the person that has a gun pointed at her?”

“That’s fair,” Boyd shrugs, “we just like to have some sort of answers in this fucked up town.”

“Join the club,” you laugh, “since I died, nothing has made much sense. And now I’m back alive or at least somewhat? In this place I’ve only had visions of?”

Boyd starts to lower his gun and shares a glance with the wavy haired woman, who introduced herself as: Kristi.

“…I think we have a lot to discuss before we let you two freely roam the town.”

Armando glances at you from over his shoulder as he speaks, “the town…is that the official name of this depressing looking place?”

“It’s easier to call it as such.” Kristi informs.

Armando realizes that you’re more connected than you let on.

“Sorry about this,” Boyd says as he cuffs Armando who’s confused, “we found some bodies that don’t belong here, along with a young boy who needs looking after, and it’s obvious you were all together and involved in some shit. So I’m going to have to separate you two while we get some more information.”

“Are you fucken serious?” Armando gruffs, “we’ll talk, we have nothing to hide but it seems like you dumbasses do.”

“Yeah alright, wise guy.” Boyd roughly turns Armando around, “I’ll be back before night falls to have a chat with you.” He explains as he shortly looks at you before turning to Kristi, “Make sure she doesn’t leave your sight.”

Armando snickers, “good luck with that, my amiga walks through walls for fun.”

Only that was something you understood, a small smile appearing on the corner of your lips as Boyd and Kristi share a frown, before Boyd leads Armando away from your sight.

“Don’t worry, Armando is in good hands with the sheriff.”

You snort, “that actually exists in this make believe place?”

Kristi pulls up a chair beside you, pulling her stethoscope from around her neck, “unfortunately this place isn’t just in your head.”

A growl rips through your stomach just as she’s scooting forward to listen to your heartbeat and breathing, “When’s the last time you’ve eaten?”

“Immortals don’t really get to eat. We just taste.” You answer.

Kristi nods and pushes back, disappearing behind a curtain for a moment before returning with a piece of a fruit, “Well try this for a change.”

You take the apple from her and wipe it against your sweater with slight laughter. Holding the red fruit towards the light, you bring it to your lips and take a bite. The crunch is almost as satisfying as its taste and your eyes close while you chew. “Honey crisp?”

“I…actually don’t know.” Kristi says, “Food has just gotten better around here…But something tells me I should trust your instincts.”

You smile and breathe in as Kristi places the tool against your chest before moving to your back.

“Tell me something…I have a feeling that your boyfriend—

“Save your breath if you’re trying to hint at shooting your shot at him.” You dismiss.

It’s Kristi’s turn to laugh, “oh no…um…just trying to make conversation. And my fiancée actually works here with me. She’s doing inventory but you’ll probably see her later since I’ll be hiking sometime tomorrow.”

You nod, “Hiking? Armando and I aren’t really hiking people. We grew up in Mexico City where rural wasn’t what we were really used to but he wanted to go to the apple orchard today.”

Kristi hums, “doing some good ol’ apple picking huh? Never would have guessed.” She finished with a laugh.

“Guess we can be full of surprises.”

Kristi sits back in the chair, “you can say that again…there’s no heartbeat when I listen to your chest but there’s a sound when I listen to your back.”

“A sound?” You press.

“Like…a whirling sound?”

You tilt your head to the side, which makes Kristi stand and hand you the end of the tool to place into your ears, raising one arm so the wire can travel underneath your arm, she stretches the stethoscope to place at your back.

“Breathe in for me.”

You do.

“Then out and listen,” Kristi continues to instruct.

Following through again, you exhale all the way out awaiting the sound. The whirling sound, that sounds like wind in a snowstorm. A force against the quiet that has no thudding like a normal heart would and it’s so eerie that you know Kristi can’t explain it either.

Taking another bite from the honeycrisp, you continue to listen while you breathe as you normally would and it’s still there every time you exhale. The season you left behind was autumn in a humid climate, you originally passed in late spring, and now as you got into the town and from what you can see from the window, winter was approaching.

Perhaps your heart was the timer for this town?

“Well…” you say around chewing, “either we’re going to be clueless for a while or I’m going to be answer to saving everybody’s lives. Let the party begin, chica!”

Kristi takes the medical device back and plops back down in the chair, offering a small smile. She didn’t know you yet or the guy you came here with but part of Kristi felt like maybe things will start to become a little bit clearer.

So she saved her breath and hoped.

How much more hope can someone have in a place like this?

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊

Back at the station, Boyd is pacing in front of the jail cell he’s holding Armando in.

Boyd summarized, “So you kill people for a living?”

“I did.” Armando’s monotone was off putting as he sat comfortably in the jail cell.

Boyd shakes his head and corrects, “you do. You stopped for a little bit because you had no other choice but then relapsed at the sake of your…your girlfriend? Wife? Fiancée?

“My family.” Armando rectifies while Boyd didn’t see the difference or really need the specifics.

“Are you some sort of serial killer?” Boyd quizzes, finding Armando demeanor to be too at ease.

“No. I’m many things but that.”

Boyd’s eyes are in slits as he spits out, “Are you unalive too because there’s no way you didn’t get injured while taking four people out?”

Armando raises his hand, “just more blood to scrub. The real person we should be worried about is her. I told you she was murdered in prison months ago and has been haunting me ever since. Now we get to some fucken fallen tree in the road and everybody but me can see her? That sound right to you, sheriff?”

Boyd laughs, “oh you’re gonna learn very quickly that nothing in this town is right.”

“She said she had visions of this place before in spurts.” Armando reveals with his elbows digging into his knees, “And how she never wanted to be here, how she feared that once I didn’t need to see her anymore this is exactly where she would end up. That some type of power was telling her this would be her eternity and I guess mine too if I didn’t get my shit together.”

“W-what does that mean? If you died? We’re not dead. She maybe but we’re not.”

“How do you know?”

“There’s gotta be missing signs of us. People looking for us. We’ve all been gone too long for there not to be.” Boyd mumbled to himself but Armando feels as if he isn’t too sure.

If that is the case, then that means Mike is probably losing his shit right about now.

Armando inhales and sits back, “looks like we got a lot to learn about each then, right sheriff? And I think the first person you actually want to start with…is her.”

Boyd doesn’t doubt that since Armando didn’t hold anything back. He quickly learned that the man was in his late twenties, had heavy resentment for both of his parents, especially the one he just learned was actually his parent and was now stuck working with him to pay for his crimes, which he’s been trained to basically be a killer with the friend beside him, and had no issue turning back into that person but was it worth it?

“Why do I feel like you’re about to throw her under the bus? If she’s family then why stab her in the back?”

Armando shrugs his shoulders, “It’s not stabbing when you do research and hold your cards close. I know what she is but I don’t know much about this place, only she does. Which is why I’m telling you, you need to let me out of this cage if you know what’s good for you.”

Boyd held Armando’s stare and it only took a few moments for him to believe a complete stranger, which is not something he usually did.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊

When they get back to the clinic, they’re greeted at the door by Kristi who waves them in with a finger to her lips. A frown appears on Boyd’s face as he stops by the door while Armando pushes his way by. He stops at the doorway where a blonde reaches for his shoulder to stop him.

From where they stand, he can see you sleeping on your side. Apple rind fallen from your fingertips, as a white as snow singular wing is arched up and out from your shoulder.

“That’s new and I don’t get out much.” The blonde whispers from Armando’s left.

He folds his arms and turns to meet Boyd and Kristi’s eyes with raised brows.

‘Told you so,’ is written all over his face as he moved to step into the room but the blonde, who touched him again tries to get him not to move any further.

He looks at her hand and then at her face.

She suggests, “I think we should give her some space. Until she’s alert and we see how she reacts, if it’s still out.”

“Marielle’s right, That’s not a bad idea.” Kristi observes.

Armando shrugs Marielle’s hand from him, “how long has she been like that? She normally doesn’t sleep…because she can’t.”

“Not long.” Kristi tells as she glanced at Boyd whose face held complete stress, “Maybe we should get Kenny down here or even Sara?”

Boyd immediately shakes his head, “No to Kenny. We don’t need to bother him right now, we can handle it.”

“You don’t know that, sheriff.” Armando disagrees with a humorless laugh.

“Well, thanks for your load of fucking confidence, Armando.”

“I’m just saying.” Armando leans against the doorway, eyeing you again while crossing one leg over the other, “we…mainly her might have just changed the entire game.”

Boyd clenched his fist and stalked out of the clinic to swing at the air and let out a string of curse words.

Armando rolls his head to look at the two women who peer at the direction where the sheriff walked off too. It was so quiet over here that everyone heard his frustrations.

“Is he always like that? And he’s a sheriff? You might need to check his blood pressure.” Armando mentions while Marielle shakes her head at him and Kristi rolls her eyes.

“You’re strangely calm about this, guy with the bloody hands. You should clean that up by the way.” Marielle says.

Armando unfolds his hands to look at the stains and moves into the main area in search of a sink. “Someone’s got to learn how to not lose their shit and I have a hunch that it’s not that many people around here.”

Kristi defends Boyd, “Okay Mr. Calm, we’ll see how long that lasts once you see what the night brings.”

Armando gives a wicked smile to the two women as he shakes out his damp hands, “I’ve seen plenty in my twenty-eight years and I’ve never been afraid of the dark.”

And with that he moves, despite Marielle’s protest, to sit right beside you, almost keeping guard of you this time around.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ ⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ ⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ ⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧

Continue with my October anthology prompts here.

[redfoxwritesstuff]

For Eternity, Chapter 7

Alastor x Angel!Wife Oc (Isabel) Rated: Adult - this fic contains content inappropriate for minors. Chapter Warnings: blood, talk of murder, talk of stillbirth and maternal death.

@impulsivethoughtsat2am Was darling enough to beta <3 Many thanks, Dearheart.

Join us at VoxTek for a Vox themed Hazbin Discord. And my friend runs a Hazbin Fic Community

Masterlist AO3 KoFi

“Let’s go home,” Alastor’s voice came to her, sounding like he was speaking to her from one of his broadcasts. If she didn’t open her eyes, she could pretend she was sitting on her couch, listening to her husband wrap up a broadcast, saying goodnight for now. 

“Alastor?” Slowly, she opened her eyes.

The world that came into focus was dark, with sparks dancing around cut cables. She couldn’t see much beyond the small circle of dim light that she sat in wrapped in Angel Dust’s arms.

“What happened?” She whispered, “Where’s Vox?” 

“Ran off with his tail between his legs,” Alastor wore a soft smile as he held out a red clawed hand for her, offering to help her to her feet. 

“And his screen busted,” Angel Dust added with a snicker. 

“Alastor? Is- is it really you?” Her eyes traced his face, looking for some sign of the man she knew within these strange and haunting features. 

His soft brown hair was gone, though his black tipped crimson bob looked just as prone to falling out of place. No longer did he look at her with warm brown eyes. Now it was a soft pink irises on a backdrop of red where the whites of his eyes should have been. Fire burned in his eyes as he held his hand out to her. 

She watched his eyes flicker over her features, taking her in just as she was with him. Part of her wondered what he was thinking. 

Did he hate what he was seeing? 

Did she hate what she was seeing?

She didn’t think so. He was handsome in a chilling way. Even without his red coat, he was so very red, as if someone had dipped all of his imposing frame in a vat of red dye… or blood. His button-down shirt was as red as his hair and, likewise, accented with black down in a single stripe down his chest.

Though she tried to steady her hand, her fingers trembled as she reached out for his hand. For a moment, she remembered days ago, placing her hand in Vox’s in a moment of trust that spelled her downfall, and she froze. 

“It’s alright, Isa.” his voice was smooth and so right, even when everything else was wrong. “You’re safe now. I’m here now.” 

His palm was wet under her fingertips, and she jerked back at the feeling, looking at her fingers with wide eyes. Red stained her fingers tips, causing her stomach to churn. The black of his palm had hidden the blood that coated the skin.

This was hell. Her Alastor would never take the life of another while they were alive, but now, in death, in the deep darkness of hell, could she blame him? He had killed to save her. 

“It’s okay. Their deaths are not permanent.” Angel Dust rubbed a set of hands down her arms. “They’ll respawn in a bit somewhere and be right as rain.” 

Taking a breath to steal herself, she put her fingers back in his palm, allowing his hand to wrap around hers and pull her to her feet. Was it really killing if death wasn’t permanent? For better or worse, she had thrown herself into the horrors of hell to find him, her Alastor, and she wasn’t sure it would be fair to be scandalized by what he did to save her because of it. 

“Well, aren’t you just as beautiful as the day we wed,” Alastor’s smile grew soft as he pulled her to her feet. 

Isabel tried to look around, but the shadows were unnaturally deep, keeping her from seeing almost anything. “Why is it so dark?”

Sparks lit up pools of liquid, but beyond that, there was nothing she could see. 

Angel Dust rested a hand on her shoulder as he spoke, “Trust me toots, you don’t want to see.” 

“What does that mean?” She whipped her head between the two tall men. It was death. How bad could it be? “What happened?” 

Alastor’s smile widened, sharp yellow teeth on full display. “I simply took care of some riffraff. Reminded the Vees that I’m not to be played with. Nothing more to worry your pretty little head over. Now, shall we leave this place?” 

“What about Angel Dust?” Isabel pulled her hand from Alastor’s, causing his smile to twitch as she turned her attention to the pink man. “Will you be coming with us?” 

“Naw, I gotta stay here,” Angel Dust cut her off before her protests could pick up speed. “If I leave with you, it’ll give Val even more reason to think I was involved. I’ll be home later on.” 

“Home?” 

“We kinda live together in a way.” Angel Dust shrugged. 

“Regrettably.” Alastor rolled his eyes as Isabel looked again between the two men towering over her. 

When she stepped into Ange Dust, wrapping her arms around him tightly, it caught him off guard. His four hands hovered away from her body as he glanced over her head at Alastor, not wanting to face the wrath of the much more powerful man. 

“Thank you,” she spoke softly into the plush fluff of his chest as he struggled to wrap his mind around the fact that, after everything he had done, after he had touched her and exposed her, she wanted to hug him. A pure angel, one of Heaven’s chosen Winners, wanted to wrap him in their arms. “Thank you for bringing me my Alastor.” 

“Sure thing, Birdie.” Angel Dust relaxed after a nod from Alastor, hugging her to him for a moment. “I’m sorry,”

She squeezed him tighter for a moment before letting her arms go slack and stepping back, a warm smile on her face that made Angel Dust wonder if that was the very warmth of Heaven’s Gates, “You were only doing what you had to do. I forgive you.”

“Let’s go, Dearest,” Alastor took her hand in his and tugged her to his side where shadows were coming alive around him. “Close your eyes, hold on to me.” 

The sensation of movement with nothing solid under her feet was nauseating. As soon as her feet touched solid ground, again they were on nothing at all as Alastor pulled them from shadow to shadow, jumping through the city until he finally let them materialize under an archway. The rough sidewalk under her feet lead up to an imposing building. 

“Now, we simply must do something about your attire- not that you don’t look splendid wearing my coat. I’m simply feeling rather underdressed myself.” 

Alastor snapped his fingers with a flourish and a whirlwind of black and green sparks and smoke surround her.

 Simple black ankle boots replaced the slinky white silk stockings and lacy panties she had worn. His coat fluttered around her with the power that wrapped around, birthing a dip hem dress with a sweeping neckline that felt far too fancy for modern times. The thick skirt gathered around her legs in a way that reminded her of the fancier way people had dressed in the past, before casual became the norm. 

It felt good to have her body covered. It felt even better that it was the thicker fabrics she had favored both in life and in death. It’d been longer than she wanted to think about since she had worn something she liked and not the thin airy fabrics that caught Adam’s attention. 

Alastor stepped up to her, unbuttoning his coat and slipping it free from her shoulders. He folded it over his arm, a move that she had seen him do countless times before in life. After wiping the drying blood on his coat, he held his hand out to her again.

“Ma chérie,” He twirled her when she put her hand in his, trying to ignore the flaking feeling of drying blood under her fingers. “Now you’re dressed fit to be seen. Shall we go in?” 

“Alastor?” she looked from him to the large building that looked a lot like a hotel.

“Yes?” 

“Are there, are there people in there?” 

Alastor glanced up at the building that served as his home and domain. “Yes, that is typically how hotels function.”

“Can we talk first? Just us?” Isabel stumbled, not sure what exactly she wanted but knowing they needed to talk, just them, before people.

“Theres a rather modest garden behind the building. Shall we go for a stroll around back?” Alastor offered, unfolding his coat and slipping it onto his shoulders. 

With his coat once again in place, he took her arm and lead her around the large building. The sounds of their heels on the stone pavers with gunfire and explosions in the distance broke the near silence. 

“Charlie brought your gift,” Alastor opened the conversation, knowing well that unless she had made some fundamental growth after death, she would stew in her own anxiety instead of making that first step. “And your message.” 

“Oh,” her heart fluttered, much as it had in another lifetime when they had walked arm in arm through a park and she had realized she had fallen in love with him. 

“You shouldn’t have,” he continued. “I wasn’t worth waiting for. For pining for. You could have begun your afterlife decades ago. You should have moved on from the memory of me, of what we had.” 

“Did you?” she was afraid to ask. “Move on, that is? If you have, if there’s someone else, I understand.”

“There was never another who had even a fleeting hope of holding a candle to you. There was no one after you. There never will be anyone else.” 

“Then why should I have moved on if you didn’t?” 

He laughed, a sound that she had always found sweet. “I had no heavenly hope. You didn’t deserve to be alone for eternity. For me, the loneliness is but a fitting punishment.”

“Why?” there was no way around asking the one question that had plagued her for decades. “Why did you have no hope for heaven? What did you do so wrong that resulted in you being sent here?” 

Alastor was silent for a few moments, leading them to a bench. He directed her to sit. Once she settled on the seat, dress smoothed out under her, he knelt at her feet. Again, she could close her eyes and picture a similar moment they had shared in life. 

His hands, large, dark and clawed, wrapped around her calfs. He massaged the soft skin, running his palm up and over her knees, reveling in the feel of her under his touch. There was nothing sexual about the touch. She knew that even as it had her heart beating in her chest just a little faster. 

After spending decades thinking he would never feel her skin under his hands again, her very presence intoxicated him. Yet that terrified him. He hadn’t even known she was there, and he had almost lost her. 

As soon as he knew how she had gotten to Hell, he needed to find a way to send her back. It wasn’t safe for her in hell. More than that, though, she didn’t deserve to be in hell. She didn’t deserve to be with him. He didn’t deserve to have her spend her eternity at his side. 

But Satan help him, he wanted it. How cruel hell was!

“How did you die? When did you die?” 

“I lived near fifteen years without you by my side. Fifteen long years, until a gunshot to the head put me down like a mangy dog. I’ve been here in the decades sense, making a life for myself.” 

“Alone?” 

“Every night,” He smiled up at her, fingertips caressing her thighs. 

“Why here?” she asked the question he had hoped to distract her from. 

“Do you wish for me to confess to you my sins?” he asked, head hanging in a rare display of shame, not for what he had done but for having to tell her. 

“I just want to understand,” She caressed his head, discovering small, prong like antlers standing between erect tufts of hair she realized were ears. 

“I will tell you,” he sighed deeply, slowly looking up at her again, “after we will have one night together and then we find a way to send you back up there.” 

“I don’t-”

He cut her off. “It’s not safe for you here. You don’t deserve hell. I’ll tell you but you’ll go back where no one can hurt you again just to get to me. Isa, I am here for the sin of murder.”

“Alastor, you-” 

“Let me speak. Perhaps after, you’ll be eager to return to Heaven’s gates and I’ll not have to fear another hurting you.” When she fell silent again, he continued. “My first was my father. After, it was someone once a year or so, not often at all. I’d see someone doing something I felt was unforgivable and served justice myself. It was a minor hobby at best.

And then we lost our child. The doctors, they had been far more worried about trying to save the child as your blood poured out of you. I can still see it, even now, if I close my eyes. Red had always been a lovely color on you, but I had hated the color in that moment. 

Your life slipped away while they didn’t do enough.” 

“Alastor?” Isabel was trembling on the bench, trying to wrap her mind around what her husband was telling her, why he had become a distorted monster in hell instead of a partner for her in heaven. 

He smoothed his hands over her thighs, a soft smile on his face as he took a deep breath. She caressed his head with shaking fingers as she waited, fearing there was more. 

“I killed them in the year after I buried you. Each and every doctor that failed to put enough effort into saving your life fell by my blade. It soothed my heart, knowing that they no longer lived after they had taken my reason for living from me. 

After that- with no one left. Mother was gone, you and our child were gone. There was no reason to hold back. So, I didn’t.”

“How many?” Her lips were numb as she spoke. 

“I was burying my 139th victim when a hunter must have mistaken me for a deer, or maybe he knew exactly what he was doing, what I was doing, putting an end to me and sending me here.” 

Tag List: @preciousbabypeter, @catticora, @alastor-simp, @alastorthirsty, @bafaunfu

[allthelovenina]

Random headcanons of Levi Ackerman x reader

Warnings: none, afab reader

-How you two got closer?

When Farlan and Isabel passed away, he stood by their graves for a very long time in the rain. However, he wasn't alone there all the time but rather had someone by his side after a while. A soldier whose name he didn't clearly remember. He had met this person and had seen them a few times during the training and in the mess hall but never had a real interaction with her, however, he had already noticed her because she was just so clean. Her boots were always polished, and her clothes never had a stain on them, her hair was clean, and on top of all of that, she was the only one who dedicated time and energy to cleaning the place voluntarily. She put the flowers on their graves and stood in silence next to Levi as the raindrops were falling on her hair and her clothes were getting drenched.

She stood next to him in silence until he decided he had to go. He faced her. "You didn't have to." It was his way of thanking her, she assumed. "I want to give my comrades a proper goodbye. Plus, I...didn't want to leave you alone." She continued."Don't get it the wrong way, I know what it's like to...lose your loved ones. I assume you only had them, but...just so you know, you're not left alone in this world." Levi remained silent. In truth, he did appreciate her kindness. However, he was deep in thought about how scared he was from being left alone. He didn't mind being alone, but being left alone was a whole different story, and now it felt like she was bringing him out of that pit of agony. However, he was too overwhelmed to process anything. The next thing he knew was that he landed himself a few "friends" and perhaps a family, his squad and comrades.

How did he find out he had feelings for you?

As the days turned into weeks and weeks were poured into months, he found her presence warming. Despite the December leaves falling and the chill creeping into every corner of the HQ, he felt a little flare, warming up his heart every time he saw her smile. However, these feelings were so strange to him that he never acknowledged them.

It was December, the new year was just around the corner and the training was cancelled though to the harsh weather. Levi found it ridiculous. 'Soldiers must know how to survive in such weather.' Though the temperature was nothing new to him, since the underground was either too hot or too cold, the snow covering the field was something he had never seen. He sipped the hot tea as he watched the snow covered land.

"Levi!" It was her. He turned to the voice, somehow curious. "What is it?" She smiled, same flare warmed his chest up. "I wanna show you something. Come on now!" She grabbed his arm. "Hey! Let me finish my tea first." It was too late, he was already dragged to another room.

"Happy birthday!" Everyone screamed as she opened the door. "Happy birthday, Levi!" He stood there speechless for a moment or two, overwhelmed with everything he was processing, before he knew it a cake was brought close to his face with candles on it. "Make a wish!" Hange said loudly. He looked at you and he wished he hadn't. Cause that damn flare was now a burning fire in his chest. Did she always look like a painting by a famous artist, hanging on the walls of a museum in Wall Sina?

Damn it. This was not normal.

"Come on, Levi! Close your eyes and make a wish. Blow the candle once you made your wish." She instructed him and he followed. Once he blew his candle Hange asked him "What did you wish for?" His expression remained stoic "For this place to be clean one day." He lied, but it was believable enough. What he actually wished was for her to be happy and healthy all the time. He had one wish and spent it on her. "By the way..." he said "Thank you all. You didn't have to."

-How does he show his affection?

He doesn't. Or at least he desperately tries not to. But he can't have his new expensive tea which he bought from Trost District without her. She just has to try it. It gets on his nerves, but the tea doesn't feel right when he isn't having it with her.

His gaze softens when he speaks to her. His expression is less intense and if you listen really closely you can hear the small, tiny hint of joy and softness, the kind of tone which you hear when someone is talking to a baby. Of course, it's not obvious to anyone, even himself.

In the early days of confronting his feelings, he tried to distance himself from her. Perhaps it was a matter of attachment. If he escaped from her, maybe her presence wouldn't haunt him. Despite being successful at avoiding her physically, he could never escape from her. She lived in his mind rent-free.

One night, he tossed his legs as he tried to get some sleep, tonight, like the nights before, she was in his thoughts. He decided to get some fresh air. As he left the room, he saw her in the common kitchen, and he gasped. Not too loudly. She smirked "Did I scare you?" He frowned "No. What the hell are you doing at this hour in the kitchen?" She pouted, and his heart melted once again. "I couldn't sleep, duh."

He glanced for a moment and sighed. "Want some tea?" She smiled. "Yes please." As he started preparing the tea, she started speaking hesitantly. "Uhm...I wanna talk to you." He faces her with confusion. "Are you mad at me? Did I do anythig wrong?" Levi swore he heard her voice trembling "I mean...you've been really avoiding. I...just wanna apologize."

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

He never meant to upset her, but there she was pouting and just so soft for him. His heart dropped, it came to him at that moment how selfish he had been. Never ever was he going to avoid her or do anything to make her look like this. Of course, she wasn't crying or anything but there was just something broken in her voice, a hint of sadness. Levi would've rather have his head rubbed in mod than seeing her like this.

"No, you did nothing wrong...I was just...didn't want to talk to anyone that's all, nothing personal." He grabbed the cups and poured some tea into them. "Here." He put the cup on the table.

Suffer, instead of seeing her suffer, cause that would be less painful.

[romanreignseater]

Diced Pineapples

Jey Uso x Black Reader

Rating: 18+

Warning: Smut; pussy eating, fingering, cum eating, and anal play.

“The lyrics speak for itself, this is exactly how Jey Uso feels about his girl in the summertime 😋.”

A/N: Everyone is in their Jey feels, so I had to hop on the bandwagon 🤭. He’s just so sexy, but anyways hope you guys love the story 💕!! (Masterlist up tomorrow).

GIF: @jeysuso

Shorty so fine, pussy so fresh.

Diced pineapples that my baby tastes the best.

I nearly lost my mind, guess it was a test.

Swept her off her feet and went and bought her ass a Lex.

Paid it off cash so I never wrote a check.

Leave my cars at her crib I'm just stuntin' on her ex.

A hot summer day, chilling in the ATL. My handsome baby to my left and a strawberry daiquiri in my right hand.

Even though my babies, the Usos, lost their tag titles earlier in the year. They’re still the greatest tag team ever.

“I needed this sun baby.” You look over to your man admiring his big hazel doe eyes, his stunning dimples, and cheeky smile. “You deserve this sun handsome.”

Blushing like crazy, Jey covers his face. He was never one to take your compliments, always feeling like you were the perfect one in the relationship. Your perfect brown skin and eyes, your curvy body, and gorgeous face. But, you remind him everyday that he’s the most perfect and beautiful man you’ve ever laid eyes on.

“Enough with the compliments, whatchu drinkin’?!” His eyes slightly close due to the beaming sun. “A little strawberry daiquiri. Something to cool me down.” He smiles and lifts off of his chair to place a quick kiss to your lips. “Tastes like strawberries.” “I know.” You languidly lay your tongue out to reach your straw and sip on your drink. His eyes watching you intensely, the sexual tensions already rising…

You rise out of your lounge chair and sway your hips back and forth, as Mr. Main Event watches your ass bounce during every step. You reached the sliding door and enter your shared lavish house.

“Damn… I gotta have that tonight.” Jey clapped and rubbed his hands together.

Pussy's excellent and I know it sound a mess.

I love to make her toes curl as I'm lickin' on her flesh uhh.

Sex all night couple shots of Ciroc.

Crib on the water got LeBron up the block.

Money ain't the thing baby welcome to the Mark.

Diced pineapples talking diamonds by the jar.

A can of Dole diced pineapples exits the fridge and lands on the white marble kitchen counter. You placed your empty glass in the sink and pull out a can opener.

The lid of the can pops and your red stiletto nails clasp onto the juicy, yellow fruit. You moan as you bite into the decadent fruit. The juices fall in betwixt your voluptuous breasts.

Just as you moved to clean the juice from your tits, a hand grabs your wrist firmly.

“Let me get that for you.” Jey turns you to around, so you face him. He dips his head down and slides his tongue across the expanse of your cleavage slowly.

Your head lolled back as you reveled in the feeling of his rigid tongue. Lost in a sensual trance, you were led out of it as Jey’s voice boomed though you.

“Them pineapples taste just like you baby, real sweet… just how I like it.” His lips practically kissing your ear as he whispered into it.

“So, you want a taste or what big boy?!” Your hand wrapped around his chin, admiring his wet pink lips he just licked.

“You already know I do.”

Bitch so bad got me wishing I could sign her.

Uniform Isabel Marant when you on the team.

Double MG them other niggas fell off, baby girl I just wanna see you well off.

Your thighs spread across the counter and your man’s head lodged in between them. Your cunt made lewd noises, as Jey’s tongue glided across your pussy. The pineapples once in the can, jotted atop your sweet cunt.

“Mmmmm, fuckkkk. Lick that pussy daddy, eat it… it’s all yours.” Your voice hoarse as can be, with the way your man was devouring your pussy. His mouth open wide as he smooched your lips. Sliding his tongue crazily back and forth; swirling and curling it around your sensitive clit.

He places large and wet kisses onto your cunt. Strings of your essence pulling from every drag of his lips. Your pussy beating at every kiss, wanting more, but you knew Jey was an impatient man. Closing your thighs shut to stafe off that euphoric feeling, almost reaching your high.

“Hurry up and take your ass to the couch, you got five seconds.” Jumping off the counter and sprinting to the plush white couch in the living room. Knowing how Jey likes you, you begin to arch your back sensually.

You hear Jey let out a “fuckk”, as he admires your pussy spread wide open. He pulls his shorts off and you feel the couch dip behind you.

Feeling frisky, as Jey placed his hands on your hips, you arch your back deeper wanting to feel every stroke he gave you. “You so fucking nasty, you been waiting for this dick.” You looked back at him, ogling his taut brown member standing up at attention. “You gonna fuck me or n—.” Your body flings forward as Jey rams into you. Your hands quickly fall to the throw pillows and you hold onto them with dear life as Jey begins his brutal strokes.

He pounded into your devilishly, destroying your pussy until it reaches its wits end. Your wig twirled into a makeshift ponytail as he hit those long, deep strokes. “OH MY GO—DDD, don’t stop baby, don’t stop.” His sweet ministrations already a lot, but his thumb soon reaches your blushing asshole.

Your back dares to try and release its arch, when Jey pushes it back down. “You wanted to arch your back like crazy, then you gonna take this dick like crazy.” Jey rubs your hole and enters without warning. His finger abuses your hole and his dick stretches your pussy to new heights.

Jey’s grunts turn into softer moans as your pussy squeezes his dick with might and your hole closes around his long finger. “I’m gonna cum.” “Me too baby, wait for me I’m almost there.” You mouth open wide as he mercilessly pounds into your cunt extra hard, not slowing his pace. His finger exits your hole and rubs your sweet clit.

“Let go baby, let go.” Your pussy squelches as you began to squirt all over his thick thighs and all over the couch. Jey’s hips stutter as he releases into your gaping cunt. You both let out a sigh of relief. Jey then flips you onto your back and scoops up his cum flowing out of you.

His two fingers danced underneath the sunlight as he paraded them toward your open lips. You took his cum into your mouth without hesitation. You swallowed his juice and rolled your tongue out to prove you did it.

Smirking with a fond appreciation, Jey’s head lowers once again as he fingers your pussy, so you can push more of your sweet mixed juices out. He dives into your pussy once more and eats the cum that leaves your cunt.

What a nasty man….

THE END!!

MY TAG SQUAD: @cyberdejos2 @thesamoanqueen @alyanarossi @nayys-world @mzv11 @babybatlover @vogueyonce @harmshake

*Sorry for releasing so late, I hope it’ll leave you busy with sweet dreams 😭❤️!!

[void-botanist]

@vacantgodling in the Bakery Bitches AU (which hinges solely on the premise that Isabel, Rodney, and Hatt were somehow raised as siblings/if Fay and Lou got divorced the kids stayed with Lou) contact ERS has probably been banned. Possibly multiple times. Isabel and Hatt are like chill and normal petty siblings until it's contact ERS time and then they are possessed by what Fay can only describe as "the allure of the goddamn emergency room". Have they had to go to the emergency room? No. Have they beat each other into a pulp over a handful of cards? Repeatedly. Does Rodney play with them anymore? Absolutely not lmao but you know he lost several baby teeth to these shenanigans.

I think in Undermonster AU (where the whole premise is that there is a monster that lives under their childhood basement stairs, with Hatt as an optional sibling) they would fall prey to the classic childhood horror plot where they attempt to play contact ERS with the monster and end up with otherworldly injuries and a locked basement door.

In an AU I'm calling Scholarshipping Up to Salles (where the premise is that Isabel and Rodney got private school scholarships and Isabel becomes BFFs with Fabian instead of Spinder) I think Fabian has scars from Isabel taking this way too seriously (though he's probably managed to give her one right back), and he's so envious of Darnell, who doesn't get tackled nearly so hard. Literally he's sitting in the corner with a nosebleed thinking that she would be nicer to him if he were bi (and he's not entirely wrong).

In actual canon Isabel would still love contact ERS but who would play it with her (well except Tatya, which would probably make her not want to play)?

I was gonna leave it there but then I realized there are three other siblings who would play with less intensity but absolute tenacity: the Labissarns. And Vikedr, too. I kinda want to have Sheri witness them playing it because he definitely thinks that Gannet is not the kind of guy who would wrestle for cards - and play just as dirty as Eely, for that matter - but he totally is.

Sheri taglist: @kk7-rbs

[clarchive]

you have no idea what it’s like being smarter than everyone you know. - farlan, being dramatic in modern sdfg

he  isn't  overly  fond  of  the  beach    ––    sand  gets  everywhere,  there's  too  much  screaming  on  a  normal  day,    &    there's  overall  just  too  many  people  occupying  a  single  space.    there's  no  relaxation  in  that,  really.    but  he  has  a  hard  time  turning  down  isabel  when  she's  desperate  for  some  sort  of  fun    &    wants  him    &    farlan  to  tag  along,  wants  to  show  them  off  to  her  friends.    they're  like  some  weird  sort  of  trophies    ––    look  who  raised  me!      levi  doesn't  care  for  it  at  all,  but  he  goes  because  she  asks  him  too    ––    &    to  keep  an  eye  on  her    &    make  sure  that  her  bad  decisions  don't  end  up  being  nothing  more  than  just  a  few  qualms  or  horrid  kisses.    he  also  goes  because  he  doesn't  feel  like  being  left  home  while  farlan  goes    &    has  fun;    something  about  it  doesn't  feel  right.    they're  a  little  trio    &    they  need  to  stick  together.

so  it's  how  he  ends  up  here,  stomach  uncomfortably  full  of  the  gumbo  that  isabel's  hosts  have  made,  sea  salt  breeze  on  his  tongue    &    through  his  hair  as  the  sun  starts  to  set.    smoke  fills  his  senses  as  the  bonfire  slides  up  a  little  higher    ––    it  had  been  used  previously  to  cook,  but  now  the  real  fun  begins  as  alcohol  is  soaked  up  by  the  good  food    &    the  promise  of  horrid  dancing  as  the  stars  come  out  overhead.    the  lapping  of  the  waves  is  almost  enough  to  lull  him  into  a  false  sense  of  security,  of  sleep.    he  hadn't  wanted  to  come,  but  he  has  to  admit  that  he's  been  having  a  good  time  nonetheless.

he  hasn't  realized  his  teeth  were  beginning  to  chatter    ––    he  forgets  that  the  breeze  picks  up  around  this  time  of  night    &    his  jacket  is  splayed  out  underneath  him,  putting  a  barrier  between  him    &    the  sand.    being  close  to  the  bonfire  does  nothing  to  ward  off  the  chill    &    he  stubbornly  refuses  to  soak  up  the  heat  from  the  sand    &    put  his  jacket  back  on.    farlan  glances  at  him  with  furrowed  brows    &    offers  his  own    ––    it  goes  down  past  his  hands  with  the  height  that  he  has  on  him,  but  levi  acutely  tucks  his  fingers  against  his  palm  to  keep  it  there,  to  sink  into  the  soft  cologne  that  coats  farlan  on  a  daily  basis.

his  arm  wraps  around  slim  shoulders,  chin  hooking  so  that  it's  settled  against  the  crest  of  one.    farlan  presses  back  against  him,  his  back  to  his  chest,    &    levi  allows  himself  to  feel  the  lull  of  the  moment,  the  way  that  he  can  count  farlan's  breaths    &    feel  his  laughter  reverberating  through  his  body.    he  focuses  on  the  cool  slide  of  beer  down  his  throat  when  farlan  passes  him  his  bottle  then  hangs  it  back  between  his  knees  when  he's  done.    levi  looks  at  him  in  the  glint  of  the  firelight    &    thinks  that  he  never  wants  to  this  to  end.

fond  smile  settles  in  as  he  lets  out  the  softest  of  huffs,  letting  it  make  farlan  shiver  as  it  touches  his  ear    &    moves  wisps  of  his  hair.    "  oh  fuck  you  with  that  nonsense.    you  are  not  smarter  than  everyone.  "      it's  fond  exasperation,  but  his  eyebrow�� raises  when  he  watches  one  of  isabel's  friends  attempt  to  do  a  keg  stand    &    promptly  fall  in  the  sand.    "  okay,  you're  way  smarter  than  that  one.  "      his  low  chortle  settles  into  farlan's  bones    &    he  presses  a  gentle,  placating  kiss  against  his  temple.

but  there's  a  twisting  in  his  heart  as  he  watches  the  lighting  dance  over  farlan's  face,  touching  the  spaces    &    high  points  that  he  watches  far  too  often.    it  makes  his  throat  tighten;    he's  so  damn  beautiful  that  it  hurts.    he  leans  forward    &    presses  a  kiss  to  his  temple  again,  then  nudges  his  jaw  so  that  he  can  kiss  him  properly.  

&    levi  doesn't  get  lost  in  many  things,  but  he  gets  lost  in  the  shape  of  farlan,  of  the  molding  of  their  lips,  of  the  way  that  farlan  half  smiles  into  the  kiss    &    grips  his  knee  where  it's  pressed  against  his  side.    he  gets  lost  in  the  sweep  of  his  tongue    &    the  dance  that  he  pulls  him  into,  the  lulling  of  coming  together    &    settling  like  the  waves  lapping  at  the  shore.    &    when  he  pulls  back,  levi  stares  at  him  like  he's  his  entire  damn  world    &    he's  pretty  sure  he  is.

farlan  watches  him  carefully  for  a  moment,  like  he's  waiting  for  the  general  breaking  that  follows  levi  being  vulnerable.    the  moments  when  levi  hides  away  because  it's  too  personal    &    he  needs  to  leave,  needs  to  escape,  needs  to  hide  because  that  means  that  someone  will  exploit  it.    but  for  a  change,  he  doesn't.    he  curls  into  farlan  more    &    kisses  him  again,  sweater  covered  hands  cupping  his  cheek    &    the  angle  making  both  of  their  necks  hurt.

but  as  farlan's  hand  slides  up  his  inner  thigh    &    his  taste  settles  on  his  tongue,  levi  realizes  that  he  doesn't  even  have  the  urge  to  run.    he  wants  to  stay,  wants  to  be  kept.    it's  a  quiet  promise  spoken  over  sand  dunes    &    crawfish    &    noisy  college  boys  trying  to  prove  their  weight  in  alcohol.    when  he  pulls  back,  his  forehead  presses  to  farlan's    &    his  thumb  sweeps  along  his  cheek  bone,  feels  the  honey  warmth  of  alcohol    &    bonfire    &    flush.

"  i  love  you.  "      the  words  are  careful,  first  spoken    ––    something  that  they  don't  indulge  in  often.    they  say  things  without  saying  them  normally.    but  he  needs  farlan  to  know    ––    needs  to  know  that  he's  in  this,  that  he's  drowning  in  him,  that  he's  never  going  to  run.    his  nose  nudges  against  his  for  a  moment  before  he  swallows  hard    &    lets  himself  fall.      

[thesinglesjukebox]

TAYLOR SWIFT FT. POST MALONE - "FORTNIGHT"

As you may have heard, it's been a big couple of weeks (dare we say... [ED. NOTE: WE DO NOT]), and today in particular is a very big day. What day, specifically? It's BEARDO FACETAT DAY! Today we cover music's greatest growlers (and also Taylor Swift).

[5.24]

Taylor Alatorre: Here is what it sounds like to sink fully into a warm bath of your own distilled hype. Many will naturally want to join in, others won't, and much like Post Malone, some of us won't be quite sure what we're doing here either way. Monoculture status: still dead. [5]

Isabel Cole: The one thing I liked about "Look What You Made Me Do" was the shock of hearing Taylor Swift, still possessed of a sweetheart persona despite the fact that she has never made much effort to hide the glint of something sharper in her eye, just come right out and say, unadorned: I don’t like you. After years of waiting, on "Fortnight" Taylor finally returns to a kind of disgust indifferent to its own justification, this time in a song that smartly avoids falling into its own metatextual abyss the way so much of reputation did. Your wife waters flowers, she drones; I want to kill her. The sentiment is shocking, made more so by the jarringness of the not-quite-rhyme (flowers/kill her). The opening verse’s even starker lack of a rhyme scheme suggests both the artist’s desire to discomfit and the narrator’s dissociation. She calls herself a functional alcoholic (well, a former one, although it’s entertainingly ambiguous whether she means formerly an alcoholic or formerly functional), but the track is giving mother’s little helper, a dark fantasia of suburban despair made more, not less, unbearable by the fact that the trap isn’t the picket fence so much as it is the ineradicable knowledge that once, long ago, she had proof that it didn’t have to be like this. At the end of reputation, she wrote, "Hold on to the memories / they will hold on to you." "Fortnight" turns that idea from promise to prophecy, wrenching its bitterness from the unavoidable fact that past joy can’t be outrun any more easily than past sorrow. The official lyrics give the first two lines of the chorus as for a fortnight there we were / forever running to you, indicating she’ll always be reaching for her lost love, but you can hear the line break differently when you listen: for a fortnight there we were forever. The setting is new, but this is classic Swift: happiness fades, but memory lives mercilessly on. By design or by accident, Antonoff’s much-derided featureless electronic wash is the perfect musical backdrop for this story, placing our antiheroine in a musical Levittown. [7]

Hannah Jocelyn: This feels like a non-entity at first: a chill background playlist song from someone whose personality, for better or worse, had always come through. Even something like “Ready for It?” has “Burton to this Taylor” and other wordplay that could only come from Swift. There’s not even the WTFery of other songs on the record, nor the tempo changes and orchestration that make “Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” captivating. Antonoff’s insistence on making everything sound 20 feet away means “it’s just there” is an overstatement. "I love you it's ruining my life" wouldn't pass a hundred notes on 2014 Tumblr. I feel more when Anna Indiana changes “we’ve lost it all” to “I’ve lost it all” than I do when Taylor goes “I wanna kill her.” So I was going to give this a [0], but this piece of shit genuinely grew on me. Taylor and Posty have surprising chemistry, and in its distance, the song finally recalls the '80s torch ballads Antonoff always tries to recreate. Unlike the rest of The Tortured Poets Department, "Fortnight" isn't bogged down in lore; it remembers to be catchy, not the superstar equivalent of someone venting on their Close Friends story. [6]

Alfred Soto: Apart from the novelty of a Yank sending thousands of listeners to Google "fortnight," this opening track is rather spongy as a single -- but then "Anti-Hero" became a genuine radio hit and gained resonance from being one. Maybe she's listening to Elvis Costello: "I was a functioning alcoholic/'Til nobody noticed my new aesthetic" is the sort of clanking couplet he'd cough up for Trust. [5]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Reading lyrics as poetry is a fool's errand even when the artist is practically demanding you do so; all of the critiques of "bad lines" on this album fall into this trap. That being said, "I was a functional alcoholic until nobody noticed my new aesthetic" fails even within the conceit of Taylor's songwriting. It's not that it's incomprehensible per se, but as the second line of a lead single it hits leaden, a collection of perhaps evocative syllables that utterly fails the melodic math test. You can't help but furrow your brow and figure out if there was perhaps a less convoluted way of assembling that. It's inauspicious: given that the Antonoff-Swift production conglomerate seems more and more devoted to creating musical backdrops completely lacking in notable features, you simply must listen to "Fortnight" for the lyrics. Leave aside that I want to write it as "Fortnite" half the time; this is tedious work, a haphazardly set work of serious adult drama that sounds oddly bloodless – Swift has sounded far more unhinged (that's a compliment, to be clear!) on songs where she does not write of a desire to kill. Post Malone is, as he often has been, a saving grace. His harmonies, and especially that counterpoint outro, feel inspired in a way the rest does, helping Swift achieve the Tango in the Night white-collar decadence that she otherwise merely feints at.  [4]

Katherine St. Asaph: A demonstration in one single of the lyrical style of The Tortured Poets Department and why I often like it. (The curse continues!) "Your wife waters flowers / I want to kill her" is concise and striking. "I was a functioning alcoholic till no one noticed my new aesthetic" is deadpan and hilarious; it could do numbers online. "You're the reason ... quiet treason," meanwhile, is a self-consciously crafted Classic Taylor Swift couplet, and thus: not good! The arrangement is drowsy and ambivalent in a way that fits the subject matter -- residual feelings that are maybe mutual, maybe not, but drowned too deep beneath years of history to discern the exact angles. Post Malone's voice is extremely pretty in a way that shouldn't fit him.  [6]

Nortey Dowuona: Session drummer Sean Hutchinson doesn't appear at the beginning. Taylor's vocals take up so much space in the mix that the sub-Vangelis synths and the programmed kick-snare pattern laid down by Jack Antonoff have to become almost a support system to protect the lyrics. Despite Louis Bell's effors to properly mix both Taylor's soft soprano and Posty's far more powerful voice, they blend together in a detrimental way: Taylor too thin and dull to take hold, Post nearly spectral lest he upset the balance of the mix, the synths so rigid and locked in they can't spill out and swarm your ears -- a frustrating miasma of 1987 pablum. So when Hutchinson's more present, sharp contribution comes in at the second chorus, this time repeated twice, it barely makes a dent: Sean is following the pattern. Serban Ghenea and Bryce Bordone's mix doesn't provide him any glory but simply makes it clearer that this is played by a more present and steady hand. And since both voices have been squeezed tightly by Louis, the additional drum work is fruitless. It feels like a credit more to soak up the blood, not to crack the skull itself. [5]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: So thoroughly bland that it makes me yearn for the days of Taylor Swift lead singles that were jarringly, appallingly terrible (We'll never forget you, "ME!"). Short aside: who is Post Malone's A&R? The fact that he's on Tortured Poets Department and Cowboy Carter is baffling given his fundamental blankness.  [4]

Oliver Maier: What's good about the Blue Nile is that you can't describe any of their songs as "plodding", or "featuring Post Malone". [3]

Andrew Karpan: Something is objectively funny about hiring Post Malone to approximate the idea of Mr. 1975. It’s not great, but it works well enough. On some level, one imagines that someone out there wishes his face could be also used as a prop to try and sell an Amazon remake of Road House. At any rate, Swift makes a remarkably similar use of Malone’s face. It lingers harmoniously in the backend when it finally comes in, humming pleasantly like an old car, or like the past made present again. While nowhere near the most interesting or even the most comic study of Swift’s last relationship contained on the ambient, floating morass of content that it kicks off, “Fortnight” nonetheless persists, ticking along in a kind of styled and graceful camp, toward the mediocrity of middle age.   [5]

Anna Suiter: Doing your gardening while your cheating husband watches you music. [7]

Brad Shoup: In a vacuum, “Fortnight” is, well, in a vacuum: suspended and inert. The phrase "in America" drops the ceiling significantly. When used by the workaday pop-rocker, it's lazy; when used by a superstar, it's cynical: a provincial way to give your emotional narrative fake heft. Swift’s so focused on tracing these thick thematic lines off of the story that she neglects to give anything interesting to Posty, who’s kind of a whiz at mixing alcohol and longing. He’s never been in her class as a songwriter, but he’s the better melodicist, and he could have contributed something wry and pining to match the tone of Taylor’s text. But resentful detachment is the move here, an inversion of Gwen Stefani’s “Cool”.  [4]

Ian Mathers: Well, this is now the Fortnite song (although they spelled it wrong? weird unforced error there) I'm second-most likely to get stuck in my head, after that one kid's "American Boy" rip.  [6]

Mark Sinker: As conscience requires I have a vast essay percolating, a full-on battle of the five armies between cultural historians & critics & reviewers & fans & bystanders, as the vast and ghastly dragon flitters once again above us all -- but before all that… FUNKO POPS LINE IN SWIFTIE EXES REAL AND MADE-UP WHEN [8]

Dave Moore: It hits a [6] easy just for "alcoholic/aesthetic" (I've started taking every criticism of this album and adding "...and that's why it's good!"), but the question is whether there's another point left in it. Pros: I can remember the melody, and Post Malone provides the anonymous duet vocals I haven't heard from Swift since Nathan Chapman was filling in. Cons: Annoying use of "fortnight" and [gestures at discourse]. But like a lot of lyrics on this album, "fortnight" sounds better than it looks, and I've learned to stop worrying and ignore the discourse.  [7]

Michael Hong: The best lines -- "I was a functioning alcoholic"; "I wanna kill her" -- are buried under cumbersome lore and clunky metaphors, but that's what makes "Fortnight" feel so real. It's diaristic in its desire to record every feeling, to chase every thought, no matter how lame. The disservice is that despite shattering her American dream, the music still sounds like she's content to live in its image. [4]

Leah Isobel: I guess I feel pity for Taylor, which means the song is doing its job. I'm also grieving a relationship that I loaded with more significance than it deserved, one whose obvious dysfunction was part of its gravitational pull. The narrow melodic and emotional range of "Fortnight" accurately articulates how the afterglow of such a relationship feels -- still intoxicating, maybe even more so because its failure leaves several eminently pullable loose threads. But it doesn't offer any path toward self-awareness or redemption, even as it reaches for the kind of twinkling pop climax her songs practically require. Instead, it promises that Taylor will live in this mythical (probably shitty-in-real-life) fortnight for the rest of her life, or at least the rest of the album cycle. She's doomed to an eternal significance that makes even her soupiest, mushiest songs cultural events. Sucks for her. And us. [3]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[believeinyourotp]

List of Ships

Adaraverse

DylAra (childhood friends to lovers, plus royals)

ArroCy (childhood friends)

Adventure Time

Fiona x Marshall Lee (idk honestly)

Agi.oc’s Butterfly Saga

Jew’hea

Jel’hea

Ris’EL

Blise

Agi.oc’s Rise Storyline (+crossovers)

Tise (OTP)

Jew’hea

Ros’hea

Tigel

Blise

Ris’EL

Agi.oc’s Snow White and Black Pearl

Suthea (Mild, I’m not to crazy about it, but I think they’d make cute pair, even though I’m sure they won’t become canon)

AriSia

Akeelah and the Bee

Dylan x Akeelah (rivals to lovers)

Avatar the Last Airbender

Yue x Sokka (tragic destined lovers, other than that, idk)

Big Hero 6

Tomadashi (friends to lovers)

BPRs and Other Sim stories

Splash of Color

BubbLace (OTP, online friends to lovers, troubled lovers to meant to be)

MerFairy (idk, they could have worked things out)

OliBer (OTP)

Until My Color Fades Away

RoyalBerry (OTP)

Lost in Wonderland

P’Alice (Peter x Alice)

Trust (was taken down already, but this is just from memory)

River (reddish brown hair) x MC (maybe Rain, forgot already, she had black hair in a low ponytail, sported a greyish black hoodie)

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Nabrina

Calbrina

Cursed Princess Club

Lance x Gwen (mostly because I think Lance is the most handsomest out of the Plaid Princes, but also I know how iffy people might be because of the 3-2 year age gap, so maybe an AU where they’re older, and Gwen is not interested in his brother)

Suzanna x Lorena (you can view them how you want, but I feel that they kinda view each other as their precious friend, so it’s a good foundation for something more

Descendants

Chevie (Chad x Evie, manipulative jerk turned to honest and kinder lover)

BAudrey (Ben x Audrey, original couple working things out)

Ever After High

Dexven

Dapple (Daring x Apple, arranged marriage childhood friends to lovers)

Darlase

Ginger x Darling (minor)

Bunstair

Huntlyn (specifically that one genderbent au with a normie guy and cool girl)

Fairytail

NaLi (OTP)

GrayLu (OTP)

Simon x Erza (truth be told this is one of the reasons why I don’t have an OTP for Erza, because I’m a multishipper)

NatZa (sometimes a friendly way, sometimes slightly romantic)

Jerza (It gets really confusing with all the Jellal lookalikes to be honest, because I’m just really confused when I read and watched it, like it cute but you also have to figure out what is going on along with Erza)

Gray x Natsu (Occasionally ship them, but sometimes I’m like they’re like friends, I guess, not really sure, kinda having an internal debate on how I view them, like are they found family or what, ugh…)

MiraFreed (I just did during that one arc, also don’t really ship her with anyone else, not even Laxus)

RenCherry (This is really minor, I did think they were cute)

Lyvia (OTP, If she wasn’t obsessed with Gray, and noticed a certain ice mage who would give her just as much affection if not more, they’d be so cute)

Carla and Lily (I think I was just bored with the main ships and was like might as well ship them)

GajEvy (like I don’t mind them being past enemies, but it would have been cool to see a traumatized Levy more, then she slowly begins to realize that Gajeel is a nice person after a LONG or DECENT period of trying to gain her trust, and when they fall in love, it a complete surprise for the audience and the ship, but it’s done so well that the audience is like oh well let them be together)

ChEndy because if I had to choose someone for Wendy, I rather it be someone who didn’t know her before the timeskip and not just some guy of the opposite sex.

Elfgreen (they’re funny and cute)

Firebreather

Isabel x Duncan

Frozen

Hansanna: A ship that if Disney actually let become can or even semi-canon, would finally be a ship that they did differently, a lovers to enemies then back to lovers (OTP)

Girls’ of Wilds

Goseul x Jaegu

Moon Young x Hi Gyeong

Gangrok x Yeojung

GOL Universe

Game of Love

Adriel x Isabella (everyone keeps thinking that the entire Halyston is all related to each other, it’s hilarious but also kinda irritating. Adriel and Isabella aren’t blood related, but they are kinda related in family history but not really legally, it’s complicated I guess)

Rodrigue x Isabella (they’re ok, I think Rodrigue is really traumatized and doesn’t want to depend on anyone to stop his nightmares from taking over his life, and he’s afraid if he loves Isabella, she will die, I predict that he will do whatever he can to keep her alive, once he opens up and fall in love with her)

Ariana x Akito (can’t tell if the author is trying to develop a possible relationship between them, which is kinda exciting, but I love them a lot, enemies to lovers vibes)

Shanth x Scarlet (Charming boy x Prissy mean girl villain, the author is probably not gonna do much with them, but I want to see her reaction every time she meets him)

Game of Life

Kaena x Hailey (love me myself a secondary/possible subtle couple)

Sykephen x Anah (Crazy ML x a caring and soft non-main lead)

Harry Potter

Harmione (Friends to Lovers)

Dramione (Enemies to Lovers)

Harry x OC

Hooky

Mark x Dani (slightly older crush x headstrong girl)

Monica (childhood friends to lovers)

I’m the Queen in This Life

Ariadne x Alfonso (one sided enemies to lovers)

I Love Yoo

Dieter x Shin Ae (rejected aquaintance to lovers)

Kousuke x Meg (possible avoidant x obsessed (in a good way because they care too much) to reversed roles)

Kingdom Hearts

SoRiKai (childhood friends trio)

Rikai (the ML’s love rival x ML’s crush)

Marvel Cinematic Universe and Shows

Lincoln x Daisy (OTP)

Deke x Daisy

Ben x Daisy (that one guy she met in the lighthouse in space)

BioAstronaut

CaraWard (minor

MayDrew (OTP)

Gordon x Raina

Hunter x Morse (minor)

Alex x Ruby (minor)

CousAlind

Steve x Peggy x Sousa (do poly couples cowards)

Tony x Pepper

Scott x Hope

Miraculous Ladybug

Nathanette ships (OTP)

AliRose (OTP)

AdriGami

ChloDrien

Liladrien

Lukadrien

Marikim

Felinette

JuLila (inspo @gowonielovely )

Felix x Bridgette

Ninonette (minor)

Missions of Love

Hisame x Mami (OTP)

Monster High

Heath x Draculaura (maybe I just like jerks with hopeless romantic potential)

Monster Prom

Oz x Vicky

My Hero Academia

Izumei (this a hint, if I had nickel or dime for every time I shipped Deku with a crazy girl, I’d have two which is not a lot, it’s cool it happened twice)

Dekulissa (minor, kinda watched clips from a movie and thought they had adorable kids in that one Kacchako AU)

TogaDeku (OTP)

TogaChako (Toga made Ochako a better hero)

Kacchako (not sure if I like ship it, but they’re funny in that one AU)

My Little Pony Universe

Flash x Twilight (OTP)

Timber x Sci!Twi

Ouran High School Host Club

KyoHaru

Nekozawa x Renge (minor)

Persona 5

Shiho x Joker ships

PPG’s Winx NG

CrysAngel (pretty guy x handsome girl)

Sera x Reed (OTP)

Bellavon

Henry x Levi

Drake x Elsa x Kenneth

Riverdale

Main 4 polycule

Bughead

Romantic Killer

Junta x Anzu

Riri/Rio x Anzu

Romeo and Juliet

Paris x Juliet

Romeo x Rosaline

Anime

Romeo x Juliet

RWBY

Elderburn

Thunder thighs (OTP, Mercury x Nora)

Tauradonna (OTP, Lovers to Enemies to Lovers)

Neiss (OTP)

Ironwitch (OTP)

Rich Data Farms (OT3, Whitley x Penny x Oscar)

CinnaBun

Rose Lotus (OTP)

NeoRen

Weiss x Pilot

Rich Farmers

Data Farms

White Lotus

Frostbite

Black Rose Lotus

Sunflowyr

Shokugeki no Soma

Soumegu (OTP, friends to lovers)

EriSako (OTP, childhood friends to lovers)

Star Vs. the Forces of Evil

Jarco (OTP, aquaintances to friends to lovers)

Tomstar (OTP, childhood friends to lovers)

Stranger Things

Stancy (right person, wrong time)

Super Secret

Victor x Emma (OTP, forbidden love(?))

The Owl House

Edric x Luz

Lunter (AU where they’re not part of some found family like implied)

The Vampire Diaries Universe

TVD

Damon x Elena

The Originals

Hayley x Elijah

Davina x Tim

Legacies

HoLarke

Sebastian x Lizzie (AU)

Penelope x Josie

Total Drama Island

The Main Cast

Courtney x Justin

Owen x Izzy

Pakitew

Sky x Dave

Wednesday

Tyler x Wednesday (OTP)

Bianca x Wednesday

Enid x Ajax

Winx

Fate

Sam x Musa

Stella x Sky

Series

Jared x Musa (OTP)

Diaspro x Sky

Yandere Sim

Ayano x Taro (OTP)

Budo x Puresu

Budo x Osana

Budo x Raibaru

Ayano x Male Rivals

Yugioh (still haven’t gotten through the main series)

Season 0

Bakura x Miho (OTP)

Kaiba x Miho

[sprolden]

almost, but not quite! the correct answer is "the serpent from the garden of eden plays a game of tic-tac-toe"!

the main antagonist in the book is Sammael, a fallen angel/greater demon who in tsc canon took the appearance of the snake in the garden of eden.

though it is definitely in character for him to play a game of tic-tac-toe (he is very unserious), he would have no one to play it with, because most people hate him for the whole "being the father of demons thing" and the two people who ARE devoted to him are kind of boring and evil and wouldn't want to play tic-tac-toe with him anyway.

context for the other options below the cut:

magnus gets kicked out of a library for undressing - a major plot point of the book is that magnus gets hit by a spell which will slowly make him devoted to sammael. as it progresses, he starts to get markings on his skin. he decides to show these to his friends and starts unbuttoning his shirt, but they were in a library doing research in that moment. the owner notices magnus undressing and kicks him out (and points out that they're not actually in a library, like they thought, but rather a bookstore)

someone walks around with a giant pillow because a baby is on the walls & ceiling - max, magnus and alec's son, is a warlock baby. alec's mom and her second-in-command/implied boyfriend? are babysitting him while the gang is off to shanghai, where the book takes place. at one point, alec calls them, and he finds out the maybe-boyfriend has been walking around with a massive pillow because max keeps using magic to climb the walls and ceiling and they're scared he will fall.

someone falsely claims alec drinks blood + someone owns a cardboard cutout of alec - peng fang, a vampire alec and magnus ran into in the previous book, has a shop where he sells blood. alec notices he has a cardboard cutout of a person with alec's face with a speech bubble saying "mmmm! that's good blood" in hopes of attracting visitors, since alec has become a bit of a celebrity since the last time they saw each other so it's good publicity (even though peng kicked him out of his shop the first time he visited)

a demon asks magnus what he got alec for his birthday - magnus sometimes summons demons for a living, and once he summoned a demon, elyaas, and he ended up confiding in him that he didnt know what to get alec for his birthday. they run into elyaas again, and he asks magnus what he ended up getting him.

jace asks the main villain to clarify if they're enemies or not - both the tmi squad and sammael are very unserious people and everyone was just cracking jokes so jace felt the need to inquire if they were even enemies, not even in a hopeful way, just more in a trying to figure out the facts way. anyway they were enemies

everyone spends 10 mins talking strategy while free falling in hell - they had to get to the deepest part of a hell dimension and free falling was the easiest way to go. since it was planned and they knew magnus would land them safely, everyone was chill about it, so they spent their time usefully.

isabelle rides a massive tiger - to save simon from being tortured, isabelle rides through a portal on hu shen, a faerie who has the appearance of a massive tiger.

the gang catches a glimpse of The Hell Of Boiling Soup With Human Dumplings - Diyu, the hell dimension the gang explores in this book, exists of loads of smaller "hells" with specific torture purposes. they watch as an antagonist looks through many of the different hells in order to find the right destination, this one being one of them.

ragnor suspects alec is tessa - alec survives something only a person with demonic blood ought to survive, because he used the alliance rune which ties him to magnus (who does have demonic blood). ragnor sees this, and questions how it's possible, since the only person alive who is both a shadowhunter and part-demon is tessa. he then wonders if alec is simply tessa using her shape-shifting powers to elaborately prank magnus, and scolds "her" for it

a dragon obliterates a book thief because "it's basically murder" - the library (which isn't a library) the gang visits is guarded by two stone dragons. when someone tries to steal a book, they get obliterated, because "art makes lives worth living, and so theft is the next-door neighbour to murder"

hello dear followers i recently read a spinoff book starring the main characters from the mortal instruments and since it brought back the beloved ridiculous factor the early tmi books had I have decided IT IS TIME FOR ANOTHER ROUND OF

[studiomiguel]

For better or worse, we don’t necessarily choose who comes into (or stays) in our lives. For better, Deb came into mine in the spring of life, when I was just a small town boy living’ in a lonely world, falling in love with her big sister. Soon after meeting them, she and the love of her life extended their friendship to me. First, they looked askance at this weird kid, then accepted and finally embraced me. 

Thirty-three years ago they invited me to pile into their brand new 1990 Isuzu pickup with a camper shell for a road trip to San Isabel National Forrest in Colorado. It was an AMAZING trip. One of the most memorable of my life. The first time I had ever seen a real mountain, breathed alpine air, felt the chill night in the middle of summer! I never knew such experiences existed. New experience after new experience. It put me in the mind of Jean George’s, ‘My Side Of the Mountain’ wherein a young boy named Sam escapes to the Catskill mountains and lives on little more than his wits for a year by making a home in the burned out hollow of a tree. Every morning, I would get up early, hike in the wilderness and imagine that I had escaped my droll reality to a life there in that paradise. On one of those walks would I cut a small sapling into a walking stick. Long-forgotten, they thoughtfully saved this and recently gifted it back to me. 

Every time I drive over Raton Pass on the southern border of the state, I remember the first time in that little pickup at 7800’ with those two dear friends-soon-to-be-family. We laugh together when the trip comes up and Deborah Anne points out that I had eaten the trip’s entire stash of homemade chocolate chip cookies before we ever left the great state of Texas. In my defense: 1) The cookies were delicious and 2) Texas is HUGE! Debbie & her heart understood John Muir’s famous statement: ‘The mountains are calling and I must go'. She and her family would answer that beacon many times in the following decades. 

The second of three sisters, she has always been an upbeat, outgoing and infectious personality with a rapier observational wit. Always the constant and stable mother-figure, it took me years to believe the stories my wife would tell of her wild side before she settled down to care for a family and raise two rambunctious boys.

Growing up as I did with two sisters, it was an easy transition to include a new one in my life and as my own siblings and I grew distant over the years, she proved to be a wonderful surrogate-sister filling that emotional place in my heart. It has always brought me especially great joy that Debbie brightens my own wife’s disposition so and their relationship is perfectly portrayed by Louisa May Alcott in Little Women. If my own love is Jo, then Debbie would be analogous to Meg… maybe a dash of Beth from time to time. Perhaps sisters understand each other in a way that one one else (especially brothers) can. Neither she, nor those like her, realize the feelings of envy that many women feel toward families like her own. Not perfect by any stretch, but thoughtful, engaged and always always connected. I like to say ‘thank God that love is temporal and not geographic’, I have truly seen love defy time and space between my wife and her sisters. 

Rich in the possession of a good man's heart, Deborah raised two children, drove trucks, roofed, baked cookies, worked disaster relief, started (& retired from) a career as a white-hat and now in the third chapter of life in this existence, I see her face new and terrifying realities. Always one to wear a brave face (what mother isn’t), you’d never know monsters stalk in her shadows. I suppose something else she is teaching me is that it isn’t the looming threats or realities that define us, but the faith we exercise when we face them, confident, as my dear sister is, that victory will be ours. 

I wish words could heal us, they are the only power we have. 

[kendallroydefender]

Welcome to Hawkins Hell (Hopper x fem!reader)

Part 1

Summary: After an encounter with the upside down y/n finds herself in a mystery that goes on in Hawkins together with the local Chief of police she has a crush on. (Set in S1)

A/n: Hey everyone! This is the first chapter of my Hopper series re-written! The chapters will be longer. I hope y’all will like it! Feedback would be very appreciated 🖤

The night crawled upon Hawkins. You hummed softly as you wiped the table in front of you. It was late and you had to close the Diner you worked in. Your Co-Worker Isabell had to leave earlier today because her Babysitter got sick and she couldn’t leave her four year old alone. It was a Wednesday afternoon, so there weren’t much people out at this time anyway. The Cook and his assistant left half an hour ago, there had been no customers at that point and it wasn’t likely that people came at this time anyway. So it was just you, alone, but you didn’t mind that much. Being alone at night in the small Diner was kind of peaceful in a way. The clear fall air and the sunset followed by a dark clear night sky.

You heard a rustling of bushes outside followed by some kind of noise. You hoped it wasn’t some drunk guy stumbling through the woods in hope that you would fix him a sandwich. That happened from time to time but it was always harmless, just annoying to get him to go. But no one came out of the shadows of the trees that surrounded the Place. You continued to wipe off the last few tables, longing to finally be home again.

There it was again. A sound outside. You opened the front door “Hello?“ You called into the crisp night air but nobody called back and no noise was heard so you just shrugged it off, maybe it was a fox or a raccoon searching for something to eat. You went back inside and finished cleaning the last table. Just as you wanted to grab your coat you heard it again. This time it sounded closer, almost like a growl. Before you had time to think more about it something came shooting through the door. Glass flew everywhere. You turned around almost expecting to see a shocked animal but what was standing in front of you made you hold your breath as your eyes widened. It looked like a dog or a bear - no scratch that it looked almost like a human body except where its face should have been there was… Well not a face that was for sure. It took a few steps towards you and you took a similar amount of steps back. But your foot got caught in your coat, wich you had dropped. In horror you realized what was happening but it was too late now, you fell down hitting the ground. It came slowly towards you and you began to scream. It let out a chilling noise that made shivers ripple through you and then it… just ran off. Something must have scared it off but you didn’t knew what. Still shaking you got up and went to the telephone that was attached to the wall and dialed the number of the only person that came to your mind. Jim Hopper.

You had met the chief through his frequent visits at the Diner. Pollys Diner was close to the police station and the owner, Polly Carson, lived in Hawkins her whole live and knew everybody. She also knew Hopper since he was a child. You on the other hand were fairly new to this small town. Having settled here after college, not knowing what exactly to do with your degree. Polly happily hired you and you liked the job and the town.

After a few rings a grumpy sounding voice was heard on the other end of the line. “Hello?“ He huffed “Hopper I-" your voice broke “Y/n? S’everything okay?“ His tone changed immediately and he sounded rather concerned, you shook your head even though he couldn’t see and said “No I- I’m scared.“ You were close to tears at this point “Where are you?“ He asked “Pollys Diner. There was this- this thing. It had no face. Jim there was no face.“ You let out “Y/n please go into Pollys office and lock the door, can you do that? I will be there soon.“ He said in a calm but stern voice. You told him you would to that and after he hung up you hurried down the hall into the office. You sat down in the big leather chair in front of the table and pulled your knees up hugging them with your arms. Slowly you closed your eyes and started to take deep breaths to try to calm you down. But you couldn’t help your mind from wandering back, recalling everything about what had just happened. How this thing screeched, how its face opened up. You asked yourself what would had happened if it didn’t got scared off? You didn’t wanted to imagine that.

About ten minutes later, it could have been 10 hours for all you knew, you heard a car approaching the Diner. His big boots made crunching sounds as he stepped onto the glass shards that were once the front door. Shortly after you heard a knock on the door “Y/n? Are you there? Its me. Jim“ You opened the door your eyes finding his and you let out a breath you didn’t knew you were holding, before you flung your body into his arms. He held you for a moment before he leaned back, resting his hands on your shoulders in a comforting way.

You and the Chief knew each other from his frequent visits at your workplace. You got along pretty well and it would be a lie if you said you hadn’t had developed a crush on the handsome man.

“Can you tell me what happened?“ He asked you as he sat down on the edge of the table and you settled back into the chair. “I don’t know.“ You said with a low voice. The last ten minutes that you had waited for his arrival you had made you think about what happened and that it didn’t made any sense. It simply sounded crazy and he would think you were going insane. You didn’t wanted to embarrass yourself even more, you couldn’t even look hin in the eyes. “Can you tell me what you saw?“ He asked with a caring tone but you just bit your lips and shook your head. “You said it had no face?“ Hopper asked again and you forced yourself to look into his eyes. The look on his face wasn’t what you head expected at all. His eyes held worry and compassion so you took a breath before you said “It- It looked like a dog but it was bigger, almost human like but there wasn’t a face, not a real face at least and it… it opened up.“ He nodded and was about to speak again but you spoke up before he had a chance to get a word out. “And I know it sounds crazy. Hell I wouldn’t even believe me if I hadn’t seen it so I completely understand-" Hopper interrupted your rambling “I believe you.“ He said and you looked at each other for a moment before he spoke up again “I’m not sure if I would have a week ago but things have changed around here. I don’t know what’s going on in this town but something isn’t right.“ Shiver run up your spine hearing his words.

As you walked out of the office memories of the previous hour came rushing back to you. Subconsciously you took a step closer to Hopper who gave you a sympathic smile. “What should I do about this?“ You asked looking at the smashed door. “Should I call the police?“ Hopper chuckled “The police’s already here honey.“ You smiled at that for a moment ”Lets get out of here. I’d say just close the diner as you would normally. Tomorrow someone will think an accident or something happened. No need to worry anyone.“ You looked at his face for a second before nodding. You slipped into your coat and took your bag before carefully closing the door and locking it. “Does the Diner has surveillance?“ Hopper asked while fetching a cigarette out of its box. “Hop this is Hawkins no one has any kind of security system around here.“ You answered him and he rolled his eyes in a playful manner. “Wheres your car?“ He asked looking around the empty parking lot. “In the Garage getting repaired. I came here with my bike.“ As soon as you spoke these words Hopper stomped towards the bike to put it in the back of the Blazer. Carrying it as if it was weighting nothing. “Come in I won’t let you ride home on this while that thing is out there.“ He gestured towards the woods. He was right and you were glad that you would arrive home safely. He stomped out his cigarette as you climbed into the passenger seat.

Driving through Hawkins with the radio playing softly you felt your heartbeat relax. You looked out to the woods passing by, “Hop?“ He hummed as an answer “What is happening here?“ He glanced at you “I don’t know Y/n? But I will find out.“ You nodded. After a beat of silence you suggested “I could help you?“ His head snapped towards you “No! The Hell I will do getting you into this.“ You rolled your eyes at him “Hey! I need you to promise me to stay out of any danger, okay? You’re on of the only people I like around here, can’t be losing you too.“ He said sadly remembering Benny. You wanted to comfort him so before you knew it you reached out laying your hand on his one that rested on the console between you. You were scared for a second before he turned his hand around, closing his fingers around your smaller hand, giving it a squeeze. His touch was softer than you had imagined it to be. A fluttering feeling was starting in your stomach. You stayed like this until the car came to a rest infant of your house. “When does your shift start tomorrow?“ Hopper asked “Two pm, why?“ You answered him “Good, I will pick you up around one thirty, that okay?“ You shook your head “No Jim you don’t have to do this.“ He huffed “But I want to, I will not have you drive through the woods with everything going on.“ You glanced down, and felt your cheeks getting warm. “Okay but Hop? Please be safe.“ He smiled at you as a response. You got out of the car and Hopper waited until you got into your house. Waving at him before closing the door of the apartment building. He stayed a few moments after you had disappeared. He didn’t liked this feeling that had started to bloom in his chest. A feeling he hadn’t felt in forever. A feeling he had sworn to himself to never feel again, but somethings cant be controlled no matter how much you tried.

Taglist: @memer-dreamer-freemurr @stitchattacks @evyiione

[heich0e]

PERCOLATE CHAPTER 12 (LEVI'S POV SNIPPET)

thank you for 18k!!

“Mom, I’m just about to get on the train so I’m gonna lose you — I’ll call you tomorrow, all right?”

The cool evening breeze whooshed past the ear that Levi didn’t have his cellphone pressed against as he stood at the top of the steps leading down into the train station, so he cupped his hand around it to better hear his mother's reply.

The two quickly said their goodbyes to end the call, and Levi jogged down the steps into the station below.

Being so close to campus, there were plenty of students milling around the little platform waiting for the train. It was still early in the evening so it was running every fifteen minutes, but there were enough people squeezed into the space that Levi knew the train was likely just about to arrive.

Levi had always hated trains.

They were filthy and crowded and it made him feel claustrophobic trapped so far underground, hidden where the light of day couldn’t reach him. The underground in Shiganshina was admittedly far more tolerable than it was in Mitras where he’d grown up, the risk of being pick-pocketed or outrightly mugged significantly lesser, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. However, he couldn’t deny the transportation system's practicality — especially on evenings where he wasn’t able to drive himself places — so he stomached the discomfort he felt as his train raced into the station, the stale air of the platform whipping the ends of his hair into his eyes, waiting patiently for the doors to open and the departing passengers to file out before he stepped aboard train.

The train was quite full so Levi settled for a spot near the door, careful to position himself so he could lean a shoulder against the wall to keep himself steady rather than having to touch any of the rails, locking his knees against the momentum that tried to push him backwards as the train took off once more. He brushed some of his hair back from his eyes, a little dishevelled from the rushing air from the trains arrival, grateful that he’d texted Isabel earlier and asked her to come and cut his hair at his apartment the next day.

His found his thoughts flickering to the girl who had reminded him to do it in the first place.

He smiled a little to himself, a wry little quirk at the corner of his lips that happened unconsciously. He tilted his face towards the door as he made eye contact with a young woman on the other side of the train car who was watching him, heat rising in his cheeks.

Levi tapped the toe of his shoe against the floor of the train, ignoring how filthy the ground under his soles likely was, and waited with bated breath for the moment the train would pull into his destination. He was the first person to squeeze through the doors when they finally parted — rushing out onto the platform and towards the exit before most people had even made it out of their seats.

He was grateful for the first breath of air he pulled into his lungs once he made it back up to the surface, the cool night air a welcome reprieve from the heavy, stagnant atmosphere that choked him on the train. Levi turned his face up into the breeze as he walked towards The Underground (this time meaning the bar), enjoying the way the air was just crisp enough to be refreshing without any actual bite of chill.

Levi loved the spring.

He always had, for as long as he could remember. It wasn’t as frigid and harsh as the winter, nor as oppressively hot and heavy as the summer heat. He supposed he also rather liked autumn — a season he inextricably associated with a return to school since that’s what he’d done every fall for the past twenty years — but spring was still his favourite.

He liked seeing the birds come back to campus and the leaves reappearing on the boughs of trees, first as tight, knobbly buds but soon unfurling into spindly blossoms which grew into new leaves. He liked the way the sunlight started to last longer, and how the air grew warmer, little by little with each passing day. He even liked the rain, and the way all of the recently grown grass and the new leaves in the trees looked so green after a heavy downpour.

Green had always been his favourite colour, after all. He wondered if it was because it reminded him of spring — or maybe if spring was his favourite season because of all the green.

Maybe it was a bit of both.

Levi rounded the final corner on his short walk to The Underground from the train station, and caught sight of a familiar figure standing just a few paces from the door. Her arms were wrapped around herself, one hand holding her phone to her ear.

She looked stressed.

His heartbeat stuttered a little in his chest, an unexpected tremor running through his bones.

Levi found himself walking a little bit faster.

He couldn’t hear her from so far away, and she was speaking so gently that her lips barely formed the shape of words at all — certainly nothing concrete enough for Levi to try and read.

Levi found himself jostled slightly as he knocked shoulders with a passerby, who grunted out some sort of derisive comment about Levi not paying attention to where he was going, but Levi didn’t so much as slow his pace.

He was only a few metres away when her eyes finally met his — wet with tears and terrified.

And that’s the thing that made Levi finally freeze.

His feet were suddenly weighed to the ground as though cemented there, impossibly heavy, refusing to be moved.

She looked devastated, and Levi was petrified by it.

Her eyes turned far away again, her attention still on the phone pressed shakily to her ear, she barely seemed to have recognized she looked at him at all.

He didn’t know what to do.

What was he supposed to do?

He wanted to help her, desperately, achingly so. But he didn’t know what that meant. What that looked like.

He felt sick.

He watched, the world turning in slow motion, as she fell to her knees, and like a video that had been unpaused, he finally stumbled into motion again, stepping towards her shaking form.

But someone beat him to it.

He had seen the door to the bar open, seen Erwin step out at the same time that the girl collapsed — and he was closer than Levi. He made it to her first.

Levi watched, something hideous and painful and choking twisting inside his too-tight chest, as Erwin cradled her face in his hands, as he soothed her.

He suddenly felt even more nauseated than he had a moment prior, and a vertigo was rushing through him as though he was still standing on the cramped train as it hurtled through the underground.

“I got in.”

Levi should have felt relief to hear those words, but they somehow only made him feel worse.

Levi watched as Erwin guided her up to her feet, his large hands brushing over the knees of her jeans, clearing away little bits of gravel and dirt that clung to the material from its time pressed to the sidewalk.

Levi could feel her eyes on his face, but refused to meet them.

Erwin turned to him, as though noticing him for the first time.

“Rook got into journalism!” the blonde man said brightly, his hand dipping behind the girl’s shoulders. Levi forced himself not to look.

“I can see that,” he said, his voice sounding flatter than he wanted it to. His throat felt thick and uncomfortable as he forced out the words.

Levi watched as Erwin dragged her back into the bar, guiding her with a hand on the small of her back as he steered her towards the table where he shared the good news with their waiting friends.

Watched as Erwin tweaked her nose as she made some sort of denigrating comment about how she was worried she wasn’t going to get in.

Watched the way Erwin never ventured too far from her for the rest of the night.

All ways that Erwin could touch her that Levi didn’t know how, each new instance of casual, warm familiarity filed away in the back of Levi’s mind resentfully as he observed them from a distance. Painfully aware of each time and way that Erwin touched her that Levi wished was him.

But for all the ways Levi knew how to touch her, how he had been learning to touch her over the past few months, he hadn’t known how to approach her in that moment. When she had needed him. Needed anyone.

Part of his mind had screamed at him to go to her, but another told him that it wasn’t his place.

He didn’t know how to touch anyone like that.

Much less her.

Levi choked back the bitter taste of inadequacy, drowned it in another mouthful of beer, and ignored the tug in his chest when he felt her eyes on him again.

[chocominnie]

One Last Time — 05

⇢ pairing: Jimin X Reader

⇢ Genre: Idol!Jimin, Exbf!Jimin, model!reader, sad au, fluff, tons of smut, angst

⇢ Synopsis: Your idol ex boyfriend Jimin cheated on you. You two have been broken up for a while now and the media has been keeping track of you and him. You’re trying to get over him, but the things that happen inbetween makes you re-think the entire breakup, and so does Jimin…

⇢ Song : xxxxx

⇢ Previous : 00 01 02

⇢ Word Count : 3k

⇢ Warnings: dominant jimin, makeout sessions, this is honestly a sad angsty au, cheating, pregnancy, unprotected and protected sex, a bunch of sex, no really a LOT of sexual themes too, I know I’m forgetting some but sorry in advance!

⇢ Copyright: please do NOT repost, translate, or modify my works in any way, shape or form, on any platform. If found doing so , it is considered as plagiarism and appropriate LEGAL action will be taken

⇢ Authors note: This is my mini series for the summer! Get your tissues, things to take your anger out on, and sit back and watch the drama unfold. Shall we begin?

The scent of vanilla with a hint of cinnamon is what wakes you up from your sleep. Hair and body tangled in-between the blankets, which lets you know you you had tossed and turned once again. The frizzball on your head is definitely going to be a challenge to work with. Stretching your limbs, you let out a small yawn only for your hands to drop back down and feel nothing but cold emptiness.

Was it a dream? Dream? You didn’t even have one of your night terrors for the first time in a year. The dream to you seemed rather pleasent. Jimin tangled up in your arms as he holds you tight while you breathe into his bare chest. The warmness is something you had longed for once again and it all felt surreal.

‘‘ You awake yet?’‘

The voice startles you, making you drop your phone onto the comforter and turn your head towards the bedroom door where it came from. His blonde hair and small smile peep through the door, hoping to atleast get a better reaction out of you. 

So it is real.

“ You’re really here? Did I bump my head too hard to where im imagining things?” You pull the covers close to you for security. Just as in your dream, there he is barechest and all.

He lets out a squeaky laugh followed by a smile as he comes towards your bed, tapping them to give you a signal to open. You raise an eyebrow but oblige, spreading them a bit only for him to sit inbetween them. It feels as if you’re heart might explode with the sudden flirtacious moves from him. Something you have been wanting but still aren’t used to.

‘‘ You slept so good that you don’t remember last night?”

You look at him eyes wide and then down to your body, “ Please tell me we didn’t-’’

‘‘ As much as I would of love to, No.’‘

A shot of relief flows through you but sadness soon comes over. He isn’t yours to be thinking these sorts of things. He isn’t yours in general. It wouldn’t be right for him to say things like that to you, while still entangled with another female.

‘‘ Why so sad?” His hands comes to your face to caress your cheeks. You shake your head softly then grab his hand to slowly lower it back down.

Jimin sighs, “ Baby just tell me whats wrong.’’

That word. That word you know always messes things up with your thoughts. Your emotions, hell everything in your body too.

You slowly make your way off of the bed, not interested in the conversation anymore. It’s not like you don’t want to continue, you do, but the guilt of everything that comes with it is enough to stir you away.

‘‘ Jimin don’t use that word. You technically still belong to Isabel.”

‘‘ Is she here at this very moment?” He cocks his head to the side with a smirk. You roll your eyes in response to his cockiness.

‘‘ No. That doesn’t change the fa-”

‘‘ Alright then. Now are you going to tell me what’s really on your mind or do I have to force it out?” He raises his hands and scrunches them with grabby motions. You don’t fall for it though. 

You make your way to the doorway, “ That’s all Jimin. I promise. Just call me by  my real name okay?’’

But that’s not what you want. What you want you know you can’t have. It’s not because you can’t have it because you want too. It’s just that it would make you feel like a terrible, horrible person. The look on his face when you say those words almost make you give in. Those puppy eyes caught yours and for a split second you almost consider it but don’t. It’s hard for you, it really is. Having something dangling in your face but you’re too concious to have it.

He’s still not yours. 

With the morning being spent eating a good breakfast Jimin made your favorite pancakes. You watched him carefully, the way his hair bobbed up and down a bit while his right arm whisked the batter quickly. He seemed so natural and comfortable as if he was used to doing this for you. With your elbows on the island counter and head in your hands while you’re seated, you can’t help yourself to stare at the back of him and let the memories float in your mind.

Memories that never fade from you. It’s cute of him to steal glances of you here and there when pouring the batter into the pan. The small winks he gives you makes your heart flutter and the blood rush to your cheeks. It feels rather good to you to have his presence here. Despite the guilty feeling in the pit of your stomach.

 The rest of the day you two decide to lounge around. Endless movies and tv shows throughout the day as you’re cuddled up next to him with a pink colored blanket for the two of you to share. Clara seems to enjoy her time with him too since she won’t let him put her down. She meows loudly with every movement of him. Such a drama queen.

‘‘ Jimin it’s getting late..” You pause, looking up at him. He gives you a small frown when he sits up in hopes you won’t finish your sentence. “ She might begin to worry you’re not home yet.”

Jimin ignores your comment only to latch onto your body a little more rougher, arms not wanting to let go. You giggle before running your fingers through his hair as his head lays softly onto your chest. You wan’t him to leave mentally, but your body wants to hold on to him for way much longer.

‘‘ Your heartbeat is soothing to me.”

It always has been. Anytime he just wanted to talk when you were in a relationship, he would lay you down and then lay himself on you with his ear pressed against your chest. Some days he would have been happy to talk, others, he just wanted to lay there to fall asleep.

‘‘ Seriously Jimin. You should leave.” 

He shakes his head, ‘’ Shhh. Jungkook is coming soon and I would love to sit here and have you to myself.’’

You raise an eyebrow is confusion, “ Why is he coming here?’’

‘‘ I kind of sort of lost my keys to my home. Isabel came yesterday to give the copy’s she went and made when we were at Ryan’s office.  I left the house key with Jungkook while going after you instead of putting it on my keychain right away.”

So that explains why she came. It also would of been better to have touch pad, or even facial recognition to enter the home. Anyone can just copy the key to your home. The fans are already crazy enough after that time you two saw one trying to follow you into your used-to-be shared apartment. It didn’t end so well either.

“ Why don’t you have touch-pad?” You say, sitting up with a disappointed look.

‘‘ Funny story. When the house was made I thought keys would be better than touch-pad on the outside because any paparazzi who manages to get through the front could snap pictures of the code. So why not use a key right?’‘

You just sigh and shake your head in disappointment, not even wanting to explain why that would still be a dumb idea. “ Whatever makes you happy.”

‘‘ But if you were there you would of stopped me.. right?”

Your eyes shoot down to him only to see him staring right back up into yours. The butterflies in your stomach begin to flutter once more. It’s been so long since you felt those.

‘‘ Yes. Yes I would have told you it was a dumb option because nobody can make it past security without calling you first.’‘ You whisper, both of your faces inches away from each other.

‘‘ I thought so. Can I make another dumb suggestion?’‘ His voice says, faint enough for you to hear making the hairs stick up on your neck.

You swallow slowly as chills run down your spine out of anxiety, ‘‘ What?’‘

‘‘ This.’‘

It all feels surreal to you. His lips against yours moving in sync together it’s all just surreal. Within seconds his tongue is swiping against your lips begging for entrance in which you comply. The way his hands rub up and down your thighs is sure to make you moan against the kiss, grabbing them to lead it to your core. He obliges and traces the outline of it outside of your clothing, laying you down gently on the couch in the process.

Until that painful doorbell rings loudly causing you both to groan. Jimin pulls away with a plop noise and give you a wink before lifting off of you to go see who is at the door. Your clothes are ruffled up a bit and that small wet spot between your legs seems to not too noticeable when you fix yourself up quickly.

Sex with Jimin. You almost had sex with Jimin. You feel wrong about it but at the same time you want nothing more to have him make you a screaming moaning mess. You miss him, the way his stroke game is, and everything about him dominating you in the bedroom. 

He’s still not yours though.

‘‘ Who is it?’‘

You sit up and fix your hair to at-least look presentable. That kiss meant everything to you. Your feelings and body enjoyed it but your mind did not. It slipped your mind that you should of pulled away. Nothing can replace how it felt to have his lips on yours again.

The door opens revealing Jungkook who’s face is a little red and breathing hard. He runs inside and shoves Jimin out the way before slamming the door shut and locking it with his back against the wall. You furrow your eyebrows and get up from the spot you’re sitting in.

‘‘ Jungkook what’s happening? Why are you run-”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

‘‘ Open the door now! I know you guys are in there! Jimin get your ass out here now!’’

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Your eyes go wide. That voice. That oh so familiar voice is standing right outside your apartment door. 

‘‘ I tried telling her you went to practice with Seokjin for some new choreography but she knew I lied. Im sorry I tried to run as fast as I could to my car to get away from her. She followed me here in her car and then I had to run some more up to your apartment.’‘ He breathes hard, handing the new set of keys to Jimin.

Shit! You have no words to say. This wouldn’t of all started if you wouldn’t have been so stubborn yesterday to just take a taxi. You wouldn’t of passed out, he wouldn’t have been here with you all day today.

That doesn’t excuse the fact that this girl is batshit crazy for following Jungkook and showing up at your actual fucking apartment. Jimin looks at you with sorriness in his eyes. You look at him with anger and cross your arms to prove your point as to why he should have left in the first place.

 ‘‘ Im going outside to talk to her. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

Jimin’s hand pushes down the handle to the door and as soon as he cracks it open, the force of the door pushes open harshly hitting the wall next to it, making him stumble back a little.

‘‘ So you think it is okay to go to your exes apartment? I would never disrespect you like that Jimin, you know that!”  Rage has taken upon her, face red and it doesn’t already help that her facial expression is beyond pissed.

Slap!

You watch in horror as her hand connects with his left cheek. Jungkook’s eyes go wide, but then frown into anger before walking over to her. Stomping with each step he takes.

“ Watch what your fucking doing okay? That’s my brother and I certainly do not hit girls but with one click of a button Ryan will be on her way to beat your ass got it?’’ 

‘‘ Jungkook stay out of this! This isn’t your battle. Now you, you have some nerve letting him inside here. Obviously you were not enough for him to go cheating on you.” Isabel says, stepping away from Jimin and leaving him there at the door.

That one hurt. She does have a point though, you should of made Jimin leave regardless of what he said to you. You got caught up in the moments that weren’t meant to be yours. Its true, she has every right to be mad.

‘‘ I don’t appreciate you being around Jimin..” She inches closer to you, hands on her hips. You begin to back up, eyes to the ground of guilt. If only things wouldn’t have unfolded like this.

‘‘ Your relationship to him is starting to be inapropriate.” Isabel’s eyes make contact with yours when you look up. She looks at you as if you’re disgusting, and you can’t blame her.

‘‘ Isabel..’‘ Jimin warns, coming behind her.

On the heel of her feet, she turns around shaking her head. “You don’t deserve to talk. You care so much about her, but did you forget we are a couple? We may just be cooling things off between us, but you are still mine as I am to you.’‘

Jimin sighs, stopping just behind her, ‘‘ Isabel look..”

“ Jimin..” Jungkook starts, uneasy of what his brother is to say next. You know what’s coming and you know that tone of Jimin’s voice all too well.

The same one he used when breaking up with you. You see the tears well in her eyes. Some part of you feels bad for her because you know those words well. You know that feeling all too good.

‘‘ Are you really breaking up with me because of her? We were doing just fine until she showed back up in the picture. Are you seriously doing this?” Her voice cracks on the last words. That made your heart sting a bit. This isn’t right.

Jimin sighs looking at the two of you back and forth. You are the one for him, it’s no doubt. It was a stupid choice for him to cheat on you. It was a stupid choice for him to leave you in the dust like that. You gave him everything. A loving relationship, a home, happiness, you are the highlight of his days. He misses you just as much as you miss him.

“ Isabel we are through. I’m sorry I couldn’t be the man to your expectations. It’s my fault. All my fault and I shouldn’t have let you belie-”

“ Fuck you. Fuck you Park Jimin.” Her words slice through the air, piercing Jimin right in his heart. It hurt for him to hear that, but he deserves it.

Jungkook doesn’t look so shocked, but he does wish Jimin would have did this else-where other than your apartment. Isabel looks at you with envy, reaching into her small chanel bag for something. Jungkook gives her a warning look to just leave before grabbing your arm to make you stand behind him.

“ Isabel I’ll walk you down. It’s best to just leave it be. Please.” Jimin begs from behind her. You watch the tears roll down her eyes and you still can’t help but to feel guilty.

You are the cause of their breakup. Maybe you really should have minded your business about Jimin. Maybe you shouldn’t have entertained his charming ways at all. Looking back down at her hands, you see a small pocket knife she grips tightly. You tap Jungkook and point which makes him push you behind him even more. 

“ It’s a bad idea. You can hurt me but you wont hurt my brother or her.” He says, daring her to make any type of movement towards you. 

Jimin comes behind her and attempts to grab the knife in which she slashes his palm on accident trying to push him away. In that quick second, Jimin hisses in pain while pulling away giving Isabel all the time she has to get to you while Jungkook is already across the room for his brother, forgetting you hiding behind him.

‘‘ Shit! Jimin are you okay?” He asks, but then quickly turns to you, “ Quick! Go hide! Hurry! “ Jungkook screams.

‘‘ Isabel this isn’t what he wants. He wants you to be happy and getting back at me will only upset him more!”  As if your words would even convince the crazy girl in the slightest. 

She just laughs as your words, fastly walking to you who’s, running towards the living area thinking it would cut time shorter if you cut through there to your bathroom.

You aren’t fast enough. She tackles you to the ground where you two rumble around trying to get away from her until she putting all her weight on you as she sits directly on your chest making it hard for you to breathe. 

“ Maybe a little mark on your face will tell you to stop home-wrecking people’s relationship.” She raises the knife up high and you watch in horror before she raises it back to in attempt to make a slash on your forehead.

You block each attempt at her trying to slash anything on your face. Your dad always told you to protect your face in self defense and fighting and thats what you do. Only until with one last thrush, the knife connects with your forearm, making a nice sized gash on it.

‘‘ Fuck!”

The voices in your area fade in and out. You look to your left to see Isabel being dragged out by a pair of cops. But the puddle of blood forming around you rapidly sends you into panic. Only you cant panic. You cant speak. Your vision is slowly loosing faith in you.

Open.

Close.

Open.

Close.

Open.

Cl-

[amive2567]

Levi Ackerman x fem!reader

Contains: Angst, major character death, mention of death, no regrets timeline, blood, graphic descriptions, abuse, swearing, all the bad things of the underground(mention of rape, starving, violence, etc.)

Rated: 16+.

A/N: I just put the reader into no regrets, so there are a lot of quotes.

Words: 4 615

Series Masterlist

Grand Masterlist

.... Part 2 ->

The pouring rain pattered on your maltreated body. You could feel the chill creeping up your spine. The smell of the condensing Titans and the smell of the dried blood of your squad members lied heavily in the air. You three were lucky enough to kill the last scumbag. Well, to be honest, Furlan and Isabel did most of the job while you got captured by one of the Titans. It used you as a chew on. This was until Furlan cut its nape. "Levi will kill us if she dies." cried Isabel and squeezed your hand. "He won´t. You can't help it. It was my own stupidity." You breathed and smiled weakly. You felt your eyelids getting heavier, and you wanted to fall asleep, but you couldn’t. Levi hasn't come back yet, and you had to see him, just one last time. In the distance, you could hear a horse trotting, and you swore that it had to be Levi. Your view got blurry, and you heard Isabel shouting your name, but the darkness already took you in its cozy arms. The last thing on your mind was Levi and why you had never told him you loved him.

"Don´t you dare to believe that I ever want to see you again brat." shouted your father and threw you on the dirty street in front of your tiny house. You stared angrily at the closed door. The only reason why you are in this situation is that you are an adult now, and you had to care for yourself. Everyone knew that you got only a tiny chance to survive in the underground if you are alone. So, you got up from the dirty floor and knocked the dirt off your clothes. You had no clue what you should do, so you began walking around the dark neighborhood.

You won't empathize with your father. He did too many bad things. Your mother always kept him away from those cruel things and got him on the ground if he was in his element of extorting a stranger to get some money. However, after her death, he was unstoppable, colder and crueler. When you didn´t go after his will, he abused you. He hit you until you couldn´t walk for days. But these are just the worst things you thought about. He also did good things like showing you hand-to-hand combat and how to protect yourself from those cruel people of the underworld. But as you reached your eighteenth year of age, he wanted to get rid of you. Two years later, he threw you on the streets. You hadn't eaten for weeks, and your stomach began to show the need for food. You’re used to eat nothing for weeks, but now you had to eat something. So, you decided to go to the market to steal some food.

Your feed dragged you in the direction of the marketplace. You walked casually around and let some things slip in your pockets. A male scream made you wince. "Hey, bitch that's ours." You turned around and began to run away from those stout men in black suits. They followed you panting and yelling.

"Someone has to call the military police." howled one of the four men. But to their problem, no one of them called those stupid cops. A confident smile spread across your face, and you quickened your pace. You sprinted past bystanders, which observed the spectacle bored. They were used to situations like this. "Stupid bitch slow down." yelled one of the Merchants, but you only get faster. Your frail figure gave you the ability to move fast and agile. You turned into a dark, abandoned alley, and you instantly regreted your decision. The walls of the houses around you were too smooth to climb.

"Well, well, little girl, now there is no way out. I assume you will give us a lot of money if we trade you on the black market," he said regretfully and came with elegant steps to you. He grabbed your hand, but you freed yourself from his grip. "Ah, a feisty one. That's good for the business." the yukky man in front of you breathed. His eyes glimmered lecherous. "I don´t think so," You said and kicked him in the guts. His grip loosened. He stumbled back and landed on the floor crying.

‘What a lame-ass.’ You thought and rolled your eyes. The other three looked shocked and angry at the same time. They stormed to you, but you could block their slow punches easily, and at the same time, you punched them back. One of them wanted to tackle you to the ground, but you were faster and kicked him in the stomach. He stumbled back and ran out of the alley. "You will regret this." one of the last two hissed. He stepped in front of you and wanted to break your nose. You grabbed his arm and twisted it around until it broke with a loud crack. He screamed in pain, and you kicked him multiple times in the stomach. He vomited on the dirty floor. You jumped away so the vomit doesn´t reach you. The last one who watched is shocked, but he doesn´t run away. He bared his teeth, and he made the same mistake as the other three and attacked you. But your weak body couldn't react properly, and his punch landed perfectly in your face. Your lip bursted open, and the metallic taste of blood filled your mouth. You spat the red liquid on his face. "Eww. Bitch." he shouted and hit with his fist in your stomach. You tumbled, and he just kicked you again and again. Your view got blurry. The last thing you could see is a short raven-haired guy, who beat up the last merchants.

You opened your eyes slowly, and above you was a blond-haired guy with crystal blue eyes. "Oh look, Levi, our visitor is finally awake," he said, and his glance went over you. Maybe to this Levi guy or how his name was. You sat up and looked around. You were sitting on a blue sofa, and the black-haired, who's probably called Levi, was sitting on a rickety wooden chair. He was sipping his cup every now and then. "Where am I?" You asked snippily and looked at the blonde questioningly. He seemed to be the more talkative of the two. "At our house. The cleanest place you will ever find in the underground" he answered with a wink. The black-haired man just gave a "Tch" and rolled his eyes. "Well, thanks for the rescue. I will leave now." You told them and wanted to leave. "No. You will stay. We saved you. You have to work with us." said Levi monotonous, and the blue-eyed guy pressed me into the cushions. You looked at Levi blankly and finally nodded. You don't have anything else, and above all, you didn’t have the highest chances of survival on your own. "Alright, I will join you," you said, and the blonde patted you on the shoulder. "Then welcome to the League. My name is Furlan Church." he introduced himself. "Well then, we haven't cleaned yet.” Said Levi and got up. He rinsed his cup with skillful movements and grabbed three brooms and threw one at each of you.

"Well, better later than never," said Furlan and handed your helpers their well-earned wages. "Your wedges for the last two times." The three greedily grabbed the bills and marveled at them. You gave the fourth, who made himself comfortable in the red, worn armchair, his wages. He opened his mouth in astonishment and mumbled. "Wow, thank you very much." You smiled at him, and Furlan said grinning. "But woe to you now suddenly throwing money around you. We are being watched." "We know. We are going now. Thank you." said one with a blue shirt, and the other three followed him. You turned your head to Levi, who sat indifferently at the old dining table and cleaned his knife for the hundredth time. The door closed with a loud noise, and you were alone again.

"Since we got the 3D maneuver gear, work has been a lot easier, don't you think." thought Furlan out loud, and you nodded in agreement. "Now there is finally more money for everyone." Levi put aside his white cloth and responded "But especially one of the brats has gotten more money. Is there a reason?" "Well ... you must have noticed that Jan's leg is getting worse again, right?" Furlan pointed out. "Medicine is shit expensive, and the prices have only skyrocketed lately. All because of these damned underground traders." He turned his face to you again and continued to get upset. "Did you hear that the ascent toll went up again? If this continues, we poor people can only dream of seeing the sun once in a lifetime ..." "It sucks when you see how many people here problems with their legs have just because they don't get any sunlight," You complained. For a short amount of time, was quiet until Levi broke the silence. "Your mother also suffered from this, didn't she?" Furlan sat down on the sofa and looked at Levi in surprise. "That's why," he noted and took up the white cloth again and broadened his knife.

A bit sad Furlan looked at his hands in his lap. "Still, it was a lot of money," admitted Levi. "That was his severance payment. Even if it is too late for that, I still hope that he will come to a good hospital," said Furlan, and Levi nodded. "I understand." "How much money are we supposed to save to get out of this dirt hole?" You asked and laid the remaining banknotes on the table. Of course, there was no answer to this question, and you fell again in silence.

The silence got broken by a rumble at the door. "What was that?" you asked inaudibly. You got no answer from the two men, and they jumped up and ran towards the door. You followed and prepared yourself for what was coming next. It rumbled again, and you all tensed up at the same time. Furlan grabbed a knife and positioned himself next to the door. He grabbed the knob and asked Levi and you for permission to open the door. Both of you nodded, and he quickly turned the knob.

A girl with reddish hair fell on the floor in front of the door with a scream. "Just a kid. You startled us," said Furlan sarcastically and put his hands on his hips unimpressed. "What do you mean by a child?" hissed the girl angrily. "I'm not a kid." she looked up angrily, and I could see the fire in her green eyes. "Oh, no? Well then I can throw you out of here with a clear conscience," said Levi, bored. "We just forget that you made the floor dirty and now get your ass out of our house." She tried to stand up but struggled. You wanted to help her and offered her your hand. She glared at you and hissed "I don't need your help." She set herself up unsteadily. In her left hand, she was holding a small bird. "She's stubborn," You mumbled. "Over there." someone yelled from outside. The redhead looked shocked for a moment but quickly fixed her expression again. She tried to get on her feet but failed and fell against the open door. "Tch. Are you saying you're being followed too?" said Levi. "What now?" You asked.

You stood in the door frame watching; three stout guys were running through the alley. "Shit! That snotty-nosed brat just bit my hand!" thought the smallest with a green vest. "Once we have her, the first thing I want to do is have fun with her." "Bastard," You muttered under your breath. "What do you want with that little shit girl?" said another, and the smaller one laughed dirty. He turned around and saw the three of you. "Hey! Have you seen a dirty little brat?" he roared. "I've never seen a clean one here," Furlan said calmly. "What?" the guy in the green vest asked stupidly. "Tell me, don't you belong to one of those thieves?" he asked and came closer to us. "Which thieves?" you asked guiltlessly. As he turned around the corner, he saw the girl who sat next to me. "There she is," he shouted. "What a surprise. Are you a friend, or what?" he asked. "No," you said bluntly. "Well, then you can leave them to us now. You don't want to get into trouble, do you?" Said the guy with the vest. "After all, this brat tried shamelessly to gain access to the 11th ascent out of town!" explained a guy with an ugly pot cut. “You surely know that the 11th ascent is completely subject to the trial of a nobleman named Lobov. Anyone who tries to gain access there must expect damn hard consequences!" "The three of you have already made yourselves criminal offenders." said his friend casually. "Are you finally going out of the way." demanded the guy with the blond hair. "Oh fuck it, I'll just get it myself." the guy in the green vest said confidently. He walked past you with bulky steps and pated Levi on his shoulder. His grey eyes narrowed to slits, and he raised his right arm, in which he held his knife. He cut the guy's wrist and the crimson blood splattered on the clean floor. The man held his hand in pain and whimpered. Levi took a few steps towards him, reached out, and hit him in the face with a clenched fist. The red-haired girl watched him in shock. Furlan ignored the scene and just stood there, expressionless, leaning against the door frame. "Would you like to take your filthy hands from me?" said Levi angrily. "Don't get me dirty." With a hard push, he threw the guy down the stairs. "Oh man, didn't you know that we attach great importance to hygiene here? Wash your hands and come back." explained Furlan with a grin. "They're totally crazy." mumbled one of the three. "Let's go." and with these words, the three ran away.

The red-haired girl looked at the two men in amazement. "You shouldn't hold it against your stomach like that, you could hurt it." You proposed, and she nodded. She loosened her grip a little and mumbled. "I just don't want him to get cold." "Understandable, but how did he get down here in the first place?" You asked, and she answered with a shrug. "I'm not sure, it must have disappeared, probably through a tunnel." she suspected. "That's why I wanted to get him back to the surface," she explained. "And that's why you broke in on the eleventh ascent," You concluded and she nodded. "The little one here doesn't belong underground, but in heaven," she said unhappily. "That's right, but you already know that his wings are broken?" said Furlan and kneeled next to the unknown girl. "Really?" she screamed and looked at the little bird in her hands. You went to the back of the kitchen and pulled out a bandage. You handed it to Furlan, and he treated the tiny bird. "What you can do." said the girl with the pigtails, amazed. "Oh, what are your names? My name is Isabel." she finally asked, her green eyes sparkled in the candlelight. "I'm Furlan, this is Y/N, and this is Levi." Furlan introduced you. "Furlan, Y/N, and my new brother Levi." she repeated with a broad grin. Confused, Levi turned around in his chair and asked "Brother?" "Listen, I really want to join you." she said energetically. You looked at her in surprise. "You use this cool 3D maneuvering gear, right? I've seen you guys." she explained, eyes sparkling with joy. "Back then I could only watch you jealously how you flew through the air like birds, but from now on, I don't just want to watch." "What do you think? I would like to have another person in the League." you asked the other two. Levi rose and came to us. "Please." Isabel pleads. "If you want to stay here, you will first learn how to clean properly, and then we can continue talking." He walked past and left the house. The door clicked shut. "What?" asked Isabel confused, and you grinned. "We all have to go through that." you anticipated. She nodded and looked at the closed door. "Thanks, you are the best." she yelled after him happily.

Over the next few days, you taught your newcomer how to use the 3D maneuver gear and how to clean. The bird had recovered well over the days, and together you released it. On this day, you walked home together, but there you meet a wealthy-looking old man. He closed his pocket watch and looked at you. "What is up Grandpa?" Isabel asked the gentleman. "Do you want anything?" "I want to hire you for a job." the older man answered. "Are you sure that you got the right house?" asked Furlan. "I will reward you richly." said the aristocrat. You furrowed your eyebrows suspiciously. "Get lost," said Levi, and you went past the aristocrat. "I've already paid a deposit for you." He said, and you all stopped as if you got struck by lightning. "Are you kidding?" you asked bewildered. "We don't even know each other," adds Furlan. "That's true, but you should be familiar with this young man." said the old man and pointed to the side street near our house. A horse-drawn carriage stood there, and a man in a suit stood next to it. A man came out of the alley and helped. "Jan," Furlan exclaimed in surprise. "His legs won't be able to carry him for a long time if he doesn't receive treatment soon. Or am I wrong, Levi?" "What are you up to?" you asked brashly. "As I said, consider this to be my deposit. Would you like to hear my offer now?" "Spit it," said Levi cooly. The men helped Jan into the carriage and drove off. "Now for this duty, you have to follow me." said the old man. Your gut told you that you shouldn't do this, but the other three were already following him. You followed them with quick steps.

You walked through the whole underground until you came to the exit. The old man gave you a passage, and you climbed the numerous stairs. At the end of the long tunnel, light appeared, and as you turned the last corner, you got blinded by it. There was a carriage above the stairs, and a man began to speak. "So, these are the four?" "Yes, everyone is talking about their skills." explained the old man behind us. "And who the hell are you?" Levi asked the man in the shadows. "A healthy distrust is never wrong, but you will soon be able to see that you can trust me blindly." said the man. "And why should we believe a stranger?" you questioned him. "The fact that I showed up here should be proof enough that my mere presence here could get killed. Have you already received the deposit?" he asked. "I don't know how it works up here, but where I come from, it's more like being hostage-taking," said Levi. "We only keep this option in hand for the most extreme emergency." said the man in the carriage. "Be that as it may, if your efforts are crowned with success, you will not only be rewarded with a refreshing amount of money, but you will also receive citizenship on the surface." you opened your eyes in amazement.

That evening you were sitting at the dining table while Isabel and Furlan slept on the blue sofa. You didn’t have a good feeling about this mission. It was as if you were walking straight to the edge of a knife and without knowing it. "What are you thinking about?" Levi asked and sat down next to you. "I don't have a good feeling about this. Something is going to happen." You expressed your thoughts. He nodded and just said, "We'll see, now go to bed." "Yes, maybe I'm just too worried," You mumbled and got up. "Are you coming soon then?" You asked him, but he shook his head. You slightly nodded and went to bed. "Wait a minute. So, if we are done with this mission then uh, would you. I mean if you want, well uh. Could we have tea together then?" he asked with a stutter, and you smiled at him. "With pleasure," You answered and went to bed.

You rolled around there several times and still couldn't sleep. After what felt like hours, in which you did not disappear into the dreamland, Levi also went to bed. "You are still awake," he whispered so that Furlan and Isabel won’t be woken up. "I can't sleep," you answered quietly. In the dim light, you saw that he took off his boots and put them in front of the bed. "Are you nervous?" he asked, and you shook your head. "No, I don't know. My thoughts race through my mind, and I can't close my eyes." you answered. "Scoot over. We will fall asleep soon, and if not we can spend the night quietly together," he suggested. "Yeah, we could do that." His body came nearer, so he didn't fall off the tiny bed. His presence calmed you down, and you felt how your mind slowly calmed down. His sent of freshly cleaned sheets got you finally to sleep.

On the next morning, you got ready for the mission. "We are ready," said Furlan. Levi nodded, and we got ready. "The thing with Jan seems to be right, he was taken to a top hospital," said Furlan as we walked through the underground. "We found out who this guy was. The whole thing was not a lie," he added. "Are we going to do this?" You asked him. "He said that we are already inside all of their plans, so we don't really have a choice." It was quiet, and you waited for his answer. "Levi..." began Isabel, but she got interrupted by him. "We just keep doing our thing, but if he was right and these guys really target us, the business can begin." You nodded and got into place.

"Ready?" You asked the other three. "Totally," answered Isabel, and the boys just nodded. You started the 3d Manoeuvre gear and flew past the people. You kicked down the crates of the dealer's supply wagon. The crates flew open, and the food got scattered on the dirty ground. Hungry bypassers took advantage and stole the food. The Merchants yelled behind you, and you flew away. "Yahoo," screamed Isabel with glee, and you cracked a smile. She is such a positive person. "Levi, watch out, we are being followed," warned Furlan. You looked behind you, and you saw more than four hooded figures behind you. "The cops again. They really don't learn," yelled Isabel. "Ey, Levi, wasn't that a really cool saying or what?!" "Are you dumb?" he yelled. You fastly tried to escape them, but they got closer with every second. Levi tried to trick them, but without any success. "The military police is never that fast." realized Furlan. "Maybe these are new recruits?" you assumed. "No doubt they are them. The crest with the swinging wings. Our enemies are the survey corps." said Levi. " The guys who fight titans are really a number of their own." laughed Furlan. "Guys, you know what to do?" asked Levi. "Of course," you answered, and you separated. Just like you have planned it, the survey corps also had to separate.

You flew past the buildings and went through the broken windows. They don't have a chance against you. This is your home, you knew everything about the area here. This guy from the survey corp has no chance. You checked behind yourself if he was there, but not a single soul was behind you. You looked ahead again, and the guy flew in front of you. You forgot to hock the next wire and fell on the dirty ground. You rolled over to reduce more damage, but the guy quickly handcuffed you. "Come on you filth. Let's get u to the boss," he spoke, and you didn't defend yourself. You knew that you wouldn't have a chance.

You got carried to Isabel and Furlan who also got captured. "Don't touch me. You stupid... crap," shouted Isabel, while she struggled against the firm grip of the young girl of the survey corp. "Levi," shouted Furlan. You took your eyes off the two and looked into Levi's grey eyes. They widened a bit, and he surrendered against the tall blond man. "You correctly assessed the situation extremely quickly," he spoke calmly. They also handcuffed Levi and let you sit in front of them on the dirty ground. "I wanted to ask you four a few questions. Where did you get these gears?" asked the blond one, who is also the leader of this gang of so-called soldiers. You kept silent. "You four are really talented with the 3d maneuver gear. Who taught you?" he asked another question. You kept silent. Frustrated, the tall guy closed his eyes and walked towards Levi. "You are the leader, aren't you?" he asked him. "Have you completed training by the military?" With hatred in his eyes, Levi investigated the ones of the guy. Behind him a man gripped his hair and pressed his head violently against the concrete.

Furlan and Isabel gasped in surprise, but you began to struggle against the chains. "Leave him alone," you shouted. You got smacked on the head, and the show went on. "You asshole," shouted Isabel as Levis's face got pressed into a muddy puddle. "I ask you one last time. Who taught you to use the 3d maneuver gears?" the blond man asked impatiently. "No one. We taught it our self," shouted Furlan. "You taught it yourself? I dare to doubt that." said the blond one surprised. "That was the only way to be able to assert ourselves in this dirty hole," answered Furlan. "But what do you people from the upper world understand?" "Stop it and leave my brother alone. Don't act like that just because you're soldiers. " Isabel shouted angrily. The guy took Levis's head from the ground. The dirt of the floor adorned his otherwise so pure face. In his eyes, the anger against the soldier blazed. "My name is Erwin Smith. What's your name?" he introduced himself. "According to your shouting friend, it has to be Levi, or am I wrong?" he assumed. You felt my cheeks turn red. That wasn't very clever of you. "So Levi, why don't we agree on a little deal?" "A deal?" Levi asked. "For my filing of all your crimes, you will lend me your strength, and you will join the Survey Corps." You all gasped in shock. "And if not?" Levi asked. "Then we will leave you to the Military Police. Given the many crimes you and your friends have committed, you will certainly not be treated with kid gloves there." He took a few steps back and turned around. "The decision is yours." It got quiet among us. We all waited desperately for Levis's answer. "Alright. For my part." Levi spat on the ground. "I will join the Survey Corps."

[kashimos-hajime]

gold dripping down your wrist (2/8) | r.b.

summary: His breath flutters against your skin, and you wonder if he feels your heart tripping over in your chest. Or, despite every instinct telling him to run, Reiner gives in.

WARNINGS: ptsd nightmares, swearing, slight angst, otherwise,,, hmmm relatively unscathing besides a whole lot of yearning. dont worry next chapters will be sad as hell! pairing: reiner braun x fem!reader word count: 5.4k

a/n: hehehe biting my lip like a chad for isabel ( @luciilferss​ )

masterlist

crossposted on ao3 x

Shooting up in a silent scream, your hand flies to your neck as the last remnants of your nightmare dissipate. Breath coming in sharp, rapid inhales, you glance around the barracks and find no one else awake. Soft snores fill the room, and you shake your head to yourself, rubbing at your eyes.

No good to fall back asleep, now. 

Your entire body covered in cold sweat, you pluck at the front of your shirt, fanning yourself out as you swing your legs off the bed. A chill travels up your pants and through the holes of your shirt as you glance out the windows. Lunar light is streaming through but the moon itself is already fading. You get up, meandering over to the windows to look out. Some of the Scouts are on guard duty, as always, but other than that—tranquility.

So weird to think they have that when outside the walls, it’s a lawless land. 

Leaning forward, you move until your nose nearly touches the glass, and someone else in the room shifts with a grunt. You look over your shoulder, trying to decipher the shadows when a rough voice calls out right next to you. 

“Creampie?”

Slapping a hand over your mouth so you don’t scream, you look down. Reiner.

“What are you doing up?”

“Did I wake you?” you question warily, and he leans into the moonlight, squinting at you as he rubs at his face. Shaking his head briefly, he studies you with a narrowed glare and you almost want to shift back into the shadows at the perpetually annoyed expression on his face but you’ve learned that he just looks like that. “You can go back to sleep.”

“Are you cold? You look like you’re shivering.”

“No, I’m okay.” Liar. You think even your bones are chattering. 

He sits up, tossing his blanket off. “I can get you another blanket from the supply closet,” he mutters wearily. Standing, he pushes himself up and nearly into your personal space but he stops right in front of you, placing a hand on your shoulder. “C’mon. Back to bed.” He flashes a quick smile before brushing past you and words bubble inside your throat as you turn to watch him sink back into the darkness.

You whisper after him: “I had a nightmare about Marco.”

It is all it takes to make Reiner freeze. He turns around immediately, and you see his eyes before anything else. Wide with guilt, with grief. You lower your own head in shame.

“I’m sorry. I know I should try to move on, but he died all alone. It’s all I can think about. He must’ve been so scared” Keeping your tone as quiet as you can, you turn your face back to the night as he returns to your side. You stare at the stars and point absently at the one twinkling down at them both. “This older kid at the farm used to tell me all that every new star is another soul joining the heavens. Do you think…” Your arm falters and a weak sigh pushes past your lips as Reiner catches your falling hand in his own. You feel the calluses on his palms against your fingers as you swallow tightly. “Maybe that one is Marco?”

Your fingers interlace with Reiner’s as he wraps an arm around your waist, and you let him pull you towards him as he presses a rough kiss against your brow. The motion makes your entire being freeze in motion as he sighs, lowering his head. His breath flutters against your skin, and you wonder if he feels your heart tripping over in your chest. The tip of his nose brushes along your forehead, before he lets go of your hand, and you feel like ice digs into the fingers when his heat leaves. His arm around your waist falls and your head ducks.

The moment’s passed.

“That’s a good way to see it.” Stepping away, you watch his figure slouch, the way his shoulders cave in, and you can’t help the next words that come out. 

“I miss him. All the time. Him. And Thomas. Mina. Like they’re watching me on my shoulders, weighing me down. I can’t see them,” you continue, “but I feel them. All the time. I’m doing everything wrong and I’m letting them down.”

“Hey, don’t think like that,” he commands sternly, eyes flashing up to meet yours. It’s chilling, how much you’re inclined to believe him, but you don’t even nod as he grasps your shoulder. “You did what you could, alright? You just keep going, one foot in front of the other. You were one of the best in our class.” 

“I wasn’t even top ten,” you snort.

“Grades doesn’t make a soldier. Annie should’ve told you that it was all bullshit,” he says and you wince to yourself, lips pressing together You know he’s partially right, but you don’t have the strength to argue the rest. Guiding you back to bed, Reiner gently pushes you back down onto the cot and you fall back, lacing your fingers over your stomach. 

Craning your head up at Reiner, you look at him looming over you, silhouette outlined in silver. He stares down at you, his expression shrouded, and you wonder what he’s thinking in that mind of his.

Your hand lifts from your stomach, and taps on the open space beside you. A soft thump-thump, like your pulse, like an invitation. 

He turns away to glance back at the bed, and the moonlight hits his pale face blindingly. Squinting, you try to discern what emotion plays at his face as a sinking sensation begins to drag at your insides.

He’s going to walk away, a voice inside crows. Who do you think you are? Seducing the guy you have a crush on? As if.

You want to take it back. Excuse it as a moment of weakness. A brief, Can we forget I just did that? They could just move on with their lives knowing some lines are better left uncrossed.

But then, there is a weak: “This one time, alright?” 

Every word turns to dust in your mouth.

He turns back to you before you can respond and crawls into the space next to your own. Your heart lurches in your chest as he settles beside you with a silent groan.

He lifts an arm and you scoot closer, your head resting on his shoulder. Ear pressing into his chest, the soft thunder of his heart fills your entire body as he pulls you tight. Glancing up at him, you watch as his eyes slide shut tightly.

Your own face crumples and you bury it in his chest. “She’d say,” you continue on quietly, “that the the brightest stars were the fiercest warriors.” He stiffens as you twist the fabric of his shirt in a tight fist and your stomach twists as you try to find the words. The shadows are closing in on you, and you can only anchor yourself to the arm swathed around you as you whisper his name. “I was pretty much all alone after she left to find work a few years back. It’s part of why I joined the corps, but I heard she’s back there, now, and—”

“Don’t. Don’t tell me.”

What? 

Head jerking up to look at him, you meet a strong jaw clenching in a sharp scowl. His hand on your arm traces smooth circles and a drowsiness begins to flood your senses as he lets out a soft groan, rolling onto his side and pulling you flush against his chest. A leg slipping between his, you tilt into his chest as his arm wraps around your waist and it’s so tight you can barely breathe. Your arms crushed between their chests, your fingers twist the collar of his shirt and your nose brushes his chin when you shift against him.

“It just makes all this harder,” he explains hoarsely. 

A heat blooms in the small distance between their bodies as you nod. You understand. 

The wooden bedframe creaks beneath their weight as the hand on your back migrates to your shoulder blade and he buries his face in the plane of your shoulder. The searing skin of his temple against your jaw and your stomach in knots, you nuzzle yourself closer.

“I really am sorry for waking you,” you whisper, freeing your arms so you can loop them around his neck, thread your fingers in his hair but he doesn’t acknowledge your words. Their every breath is shared, and you swear their hearts are touching through the thin walls of their skin and sinew.

A gentle wave crashes over you when he hooks his fingers onto your shoulder, so unbearably close that you wish he’d either come closer or push himself away. You want to sink into his chest, hold onto him for the rest of the night as your eyes begin to flutter shut. His arms tightening around you, you think for a moment, you can finally relax. He’s just so warm.

“I know since Annie joined the MPs, there’s a sort of emptiness in you. You miss her. I get that.” Reiner lifts his head, arms withdrawing a bit. “I’m okay with you using me to fill whatever space she used to, but I can’t—” You hear a soft inhale above and you look up. You wonder if he can feel your racing heart under his palm. He’s already looking at you, and when your eyebrows rise in silent question, he shakes his head and looks away, lips curling into a scowl you barely see in the darkness. “I can’t.”

You can’t what, Reiner? Why won’t you look at me?

Then, he shivers, eyes shutting tight as he ducks his head again, and his cheek presses against your temple. Your eyes widen when his arms seem to pull you infinitely closer. “Shit.” More softly to himself: “Never mind. I’ve gotta go back to my bunk.” His breath is warm against your skin. A shudder shoots through you. “I can’t sleep in your bed.” A squeeze of your waist. Your leg slides against his thighs and he only hugs you tighter. “This isn’t right. I shouldn’t—”

“I’ll let go in a minute,” you tell him softly. 

Hs hand flattens along the top of your spine, spreading as if he’s afraid you’ll disappear if he doesn’t catch you. Cradling your head, his hand burns your skin.

When you wake up, it is alone to a mattress underneath your back, but Reiner waits until everyone leaves the room before he kisses your cheek good morning. It’s a one-time occurence, you know, but still, it’s nice.

.

Walking towards the edge of the internment zone, Reiner spots the newspaper cart milling with people, no doubt buying the new papers relaying the Marleyan victory in Fort Slava. The crowd is cheering to one another and his hands roll into fists as the line shifts forward. Meandering nearer, he can’t help but think of Paradis.

It was nothing like the hell they’d described. There were just tall walls, and people. Sure, they were behind a couple of years, technology wise, but they were relatively the same.

One thing that’s different though, was that there had never been the need for papers within the Walls. And if there was news to relay, you would come with the fresh news from Section Commander Miche, or Captain Levi. He’d always read your face as you gave the news—if your eyes still had a spark in them, that meant it had to have a hint of good news.

And you had been so relieved once you reached Utgard Castle you had hugged him so tight that he couldn’t breathe when he caught those eyes glimmering in the dawn. He remembers holding you tight against him with his ‘uninjured’ arm and the way you had just…

You had gone to him first. Not Bertholdt, not Connie.

Him.

And he had gone to you first, when he had seen you swaying in your seat atop a horse who hung his head low. He couldn’t even remember anything else, except seeing you and breaking away from his group, galloping towards you and Bertholdt. You were bloody, a corpse sitting up—his entire body had felt his heart drop into the depths of his stomach, the seizing in his gut. Even after he had thrown your confession into the dirt, stepped on it, told you it couldn’t be—he had betrayed that all in an instant seeing you with Death’s hand on your shoulder.

Shit.

He used to be so much stronger. How else could he still let you go for a mission that’s brought him nothing but ghosts?

“Excuse me.” The words pull out of his mouth as soon as he feels someone collide with his arm. Something falls and his hand shoots out to catch it before it can crash to the ground, his other hand grasping onto their bicep. Paper crunches and he straightens up, immediately finding who he bumped into. Purple hat shrouding a ducked head, she doesn’t look at him, frozen in space. You, he thinks dazedly. You again. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” he continues quietly. “Are you alright?”

A short nod, and then she breaks off, clamping a hand over a plum sleeve where a white armband rests, taking off past him, back deeper into the interment zone. Reiner glances down at his fist, at the paper still clutched tight in his own fist, and his head shoots back up to search for the figure.

Gone. Shit. How did they even disappear so quickly? The road behind him stretches for a distance that would take more than two damn seconds to cross.

Fitting a palm to his brow, Reiner’s expression tightens as he looks down at the paper and he sighs, whipping it open to the sight of their so-called victory.

He’s seeing things. He’s… he’s just tired, and tormented. That’s all. Even the letters of the paper look a bit strange to his straining eyes, and he sighs, lifting his head again to look at the empty road behind him.

.

“This is really crunchy,” you mumble. Krista smiles, pleased. Swinging the axe you’d been using to chop wood into the stump, you swallow and set a hand on her blonde head, rubbing it fondly before taking another bite. “Where’d you get this? We haven’t gone to town this week.”

“Bertholdt, Connie, Sasha and Armin went to go pick some fruits surrounding headquarters while Eren trains. I thought I’d bring some back for you gys.”

“That’s nice.” You grin, taking another bite and letting out a noise of surprise when juice dribbles down your wrist. Good thing your sleeves are rolled up. “You should take one to Captain Levi. I think apples are his favourite.”

“How do you know that?”

“Who doesn’t like apples?” 

Krista shrugs as another shape lumbers over to you.

“What’s going on over here?”

“Reiner, catch.” You grab an apple from Krista’s basket and fling it at the guy who catches it easily with a grin. Taking a bite, his eyebrows rise and you laugh as a delighted expression spreads over his face. “Good, right?”

He nods. His whole body is coated in a fine layer of sweat, the evidence of his labour staining the front of his shirt as he stops next to you. Your heart stutters at the heat radiating off his skin as he looks at Krista. His shoulders rise and fall with his breath, and you swallow to yourself, taking another bite of your apple so you have an excuse to keep your mouth shut.

“You should bring some to Eren and the others,” he suggests. “They’ve been working hard.”

“I will.” Smiling charmingly, the blonde girl adds that there’ll be some left in the mess hall later and waves, departing. You watch her go with another crunch of your apple and you let out a small sound when golden juice dribbles down your wrist. Without thinking, you lift your arm to your mouth, sucking the trail off before it can continue down to your elbow. Something burns into your cheek, and you turn your head.

Catching Reiner staring at you, a mortified feeling strikes through you and you let out a choked sound, dropping your hand. Averting your eyes, you stammer, “Sorry. Habit. Not used to people watching me eat. Mostly ate during work hours back home, so…”

His lips pull into a flustered smile. “N-No. That’s fine. You worked on a farm, right?”

“Yeah. With other orphan kids.” It was so lonely. You look up at him bashfully and he rubs the back of his neck with a hand as he bites into his apple. Unable to help the pleased tone seeping into your voice, you say, “You remembered.”

“Of course I did. You mentioned it,” he replies, waving it away, looking away. His face is red, and you squint against the sun. “You said there was an older kid there. Talked about the stars.”

“Yeah. Yeah, she was like family. Until I joined the corps and met you, Bertholdt, and Annie, that is. You guys just… I dunno.” You rub your elbow, smiling at him. “Times like these make me miss Annie. She’s a better friend than everyone gives her credit for, y’know? We always said when the time came we would work together in the MPs.”

“Uh-huh.” Reiner looks away, eyebrows furrowed together. “It’s getting hot.”

“Yeah.” Your brow crinkles but you let his diversion slide. “We should take a break.” You gesture to the shade nearby and he takes the lead, heading over to collapse against a tree. You rotate the apple between your fingers, you take another bite, nose wrinkling as a wind sweeps against your face.

They continue to eat in silence, not much to be sad. Your heart begins to slow, even as Reiner shifts closer, one of his knees bent, the other crooked flat on the cool grass. Smiling to yourself, you just watch the sun touch everything you can see, and in times like this, of absolute nothingness, you can finally remember how beautiful the world is. 

The sky is blue enough to drown in, the clouds are infinitely fluffy, and the grass gleams white underneath the heat. Even if you’re sweating your skin off, the wind is cold like a kiss, and you feel a delighted shiver course through you.

“It’s so beautiful,” you sigh. “The world. I wish we could see more of it, but what we have here… I think I take it for granted. How truly perfect it all is.”

“Yeah.” His voice rasps against your ear and you inhale the summer wind deeply once again, feeling it fill up your entire chest. “I think I do, too.”

Looking at Reiner, your lips part in a response before rough fingers cradle your chin and tug you forward. Apple core falling to the ground, your arms crumple against a strong body and you barely resist holding him with your sticky hands as a mouth presses against yours. Body melting against his own, your stomach flutters and you let out a soft moan as his hand travelled along your chin to cup your face, thumb stroking your cheek. His other hand rests on your knee and your eyes slide close as a tongue traces the seam of your lips, dips in tentatively. Arm wrapping around his neck, you pull him in deeper by the crook of your elbow and sigh into his mouth.

The soft warmth floods your entire body, cools you down somehow, and you swear you can’t feel the ground beneath your legs. Hours seem to pass—the gust caresses your sweaty skin, the leaves seem to chime. 

It’s idyllic. 

It’s perfect.

It’s only a few beats more before he draws back sweetly, hand falling away from your face and he searches your expression.

“You, uh, missed a spot,” he whispers hoarsely, clearing his throat and drawing back. Smiling dopily to yourself, you wipe at your mouth with the back of your hand but not even that can erase the tingling sensation spreading through your face. Looking into your lap, you chew on your bottom lip, trying to prevent the ginormous smile from spreading while he leans back against the tree, looking out into the distance.

“Hey!” Heads jerking up, the two Scouts spot Ymir glaring at them by the entrance to the headquarters. “Didn’t know some of us were having a day off!”

Mikasa carries a near-passed out Eren into the building while Section Commander Hange and Section Commander Miche wave them, gesturing for them to come back in. You sit up straighter and Reiner lets out a displeased grunt as you tear up some grass by your leg.

“Get that wood and get back in here,” Miche calls. “That’s more than enough for the week.” You find yourself nodding as Reiner pushes himself to his feet and you look up as he walks back into the sun. Their superiors head in, but Ymir lingers, watching them, and you stare back until she seems to let go of her crossed arms, shake her head, and turn back inside.

You blink. Scrambling after Reiner, you catch up with him and wait to see if he’ll see anything. When he only steps towards your pile of firewood and slings the frame to hold bundles of firewood in onto his back, your hand shoots out before you can stop yourself.

He stiffens at your touch.

“Shouldn’t we talk about what just happened?” you ask quietly, a swirling sensation swimming in your chest. Confusion tinted everything as Reiner pauses, glancing at you out of the corner of your eye. “We… kissed just now.”

He ducks his head, lips curling back in a grimace. “Yeah. We did.”

Pangs hitting your chest, you take a step away from him as he bends down to collect the firewood. The sun’s already beating down on the back of your neck as you glance at the pile of wood. “Do you not like me?” 

“What?” He freezes mid-way through grabbing another bundle and you busy yourself with slinging your own carrier onto your back. Your body is burning, and it’s not because of the sun.

“I like you, Reiner, but… if you don’t like me, then I’m okay with pretending that never happened.”

“Of course I like you. You’re a great friend and soldier and—”

You shoot him a furtive look before putting it bluntly: “I like you in the way that I want you to kiss me like that all the time.”

The silence that follows will haunt you for the rest of your life. Your heart pounds in your skull, echoing like the sound of death drums before his shoulders slouch forward and he sighs heavily. You stand upright, head tilting and he grabs the back of your neck and pulls you towards him.

This time, it’s almost devouring the way he kisses you—messy, and warm, and his thumb brushes the underside of his jaw as you bend into his chest, your hands fisted, twisting his shirt at his waist tightly and you barely hear the words he murmurs into your mouth over the pounding of your heart.

“You’re so pretty—“

Panting, he kisses you again and again as you crumple in his arms and you can’t help the stupid smile on your face as you kiss him back, quick punches that last an eternity until they rip themselves off each other. More, Reiner stumbles back, and you tear yourself off of him, just so they remember how to breathe.

Your lungs scrambling for air, your fingers press against your mouth as your gaze falls to the firewood, and Reiner’s heavy breathing can be heard just a few feet away as he falls to his hands and knees. Watching him, your heart cracks into pieces, and there’s a sinking sensation in your stomach. 

Reality slams into you like a fucking horse.

“We shouldn’t,” he whispers hoarsely, fingers digging into the dirt. Your eyes wrench to him and he looks up at you harrowingly. “We’re soldiers. We shouldn’t. We could die tomorrow, next week on that expedition even, and this would be for nothing.”

Falling to your knees, you glance down at the dirt. “I like you.”

“You shouldn’t.” 

You clench your jaw. Your gut cramps as you stare blankly at the grass. “So… what now?” you ask, chest lurching. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“I know. I just…” A harsh swallow. Your breath burns in your chest. A strange pain stitches into your ribs. “We should stay friends.” Everything inside you drains, and you nod, eyes not rising. Your lips still tingle with the sensation of his mouth against your own, and you swallow the hard knot in your throat, but it only lands like a boulder in your stomach. “It’ll hurt less.”

I don’t think it will, you want to argue. I’ll still want you just as much as I do now.

But you don’t say any of that aloud. 

Instead, you try to make it sound joking as you murmur, “You’re the worst.” You flash him a quick smile that you hope dulls the edge of your words, but he merely looks at you numbly.

For a moment, Reiner’s hard frown slips into something more fragile, and he turns away with a hard swallow, whispering out a soft, “I know,” as he gets to his feet and gathers the rest of the firewood. Once his load is on his back, he half-turns to you and he looks at your hands rather than your face. “I’ll see you at the meeting.”

You wait until you can’t hear his soft footsteps cushioned by the grass until you pull yourself together. Lifting your face to the sun, wind chases away the heat clouding your cheeks, and soothes the swollen skin around your eyes.

Grabbing the wood, you rub at your face with the back of your hand and when you get back inside, Connie doesn’t seem to notice anything wrong.

.

Reiner pays the vendor and looks at his cousin, smiling uneasily as she bites into the sandwich. He wouldn’t have much more for the day if they kept going at the pace they’re going, and although he doesn’t mind (not that he could say no) a part of him just wishes he could go home. But Mom had insisted so Gabi could have some supervision and that he needed to get out, she wasn’t getting any younger and he’s so glum! 

“You need to find a nice girl, Reiner.”

He doesn’t know what about his appearance when his mom walked into his bedroom screamed romance, but apparently it was what she read between a soaked shirt and wide eyes and pale skin. 

He’d woken up in a cold sweat, as he does most days, but this time it’d been haunting.

Because it wasn’t flashes of blood, screams, the glint of metal underneath the grey sun. There was no yellow lightning, no deafening crashes.

It was almost like it wasn’t a dream. Trost had been so real, alive around them as you paid for the honeycomb and as you snuck a bite while you thought he wasn’t looking, he remembered…

The way his heart fluttered, the way he couldn’t stop looking you. There was not a moment he remembers your hand was far from his, when their elbows did not brush, when they left each other for a moment. When did he ever stop thinking about your hands, your laugh, the way you could send him into a flurry thinking what every other word you said meant?

“Reiner? You coming?”

Blinking, he looks over his shoulder to see the others already moving on. Pieck lingers near the back of the group, tilting her head at him and he clears his throat, pocketing his wallet and walking towards her.

He never meant for this. You were never meant to be more important than him than breathing. How does he carve away the prints you’ve left on his lips and eyes? Does he even want to? It’s hard to decide. 

Sometimes, he wants to scratch you out of his brain just so you can stop laughing at him. Other times, he wishes he could dig inside his skull and put the memories together in a collage the shape of you just so he has someone to talk to.

“This is so good!” Gabi cries out as Porco sets a hand on her head and Reiner suppresses the smallest smile teasing at his mouth, but it feels tired, and he lets the urge melt away easily. Walking after them slowly, he watches the festival around them, so loud with clowns and buskers and people just talking to one another that it makes his head pound.

His legs feel like they’re about to give up, and his head is heavy as he trails after them. 

“Eat slower,” Pieck censures as they migrate through a thicker crowd, “or you’ll get a stomach ache.”

“They might get a stomach ache either way,” Galliard teases. “Do you see how the slobs are eating?” Walking against the tide, Reiner makes sure he doesn’t knock anyone over going too fast in the opposite direction. The energy would be electric if he didn’t feel so bone-tired. Sun warming his face, Reiner lifts his chin to the sky just as the sound of someone’s voice teases his ear range and his head snaps to the sound, eyes widening.

Stopping in his tracks, he searches for the source and his eyes fixate on the same woman in the purple coat. His mouth opens on its own accord and his eyebrows furrow together as she pays the vendor. He tracks her figure with a quick sweep before turning away to make sure he isn’t trailing too far behind the others.

When he glances back, she’s gone.

Fucking ghost.

He shivers, catching up with the group.

“You’ve got something on your mind,” Pieck observes as he empties out his wallet for the last food stall of the afternoon. They’d just finished their slices of something the man had called pizza, and Gabi had insisted on dessert to finish the day. Explains why he’s standing in front of a portly woman who insists on the kids picking which tart they want.

“It’s fine, Pieck,” he assures, closing his wallet and slipping it back into his pocket, significantly lighter than this morning as Falco grabs a pastry glazed with honey and Reiner’s heart seizes in his chest at the golden sugar glistening in the warm sunlight. “They’re growing kids.”

“I don’t think it’s your wallet that’s the problem,” she says. Galliard grabs a tart with flecks of rose petals within the filling and glances over at the two and Reiner arches an eyebrow at the strangled expression on the guy’s face.

Weird, he muses to himself when Porco grabs another tart and begins to walk over to them.

“You seem a bit lost. Did something happen earlier?” Pieck probes. Reiner sighs, crossing his arms, watching the Candidates switch tarts so they can try all the flavours. It’s so effortlessly… innocent, in a sense, in that gesture. Shit, when’s the last time he ever felt like that?

Gold dripping down your wrist… “I can see you eating the honeycomb, you know?”

God, did he want to kiss you then.

“Nothing happened.”

Pieck frowns, but doesn’t argue it further as Porco finally reaches them.

“Which one do you want, Pieck?” he asks, not waiting for an answer before shoving the rose tart into Pieck’s hands. She smiles fondly, reaching forward to flick Porco’s forehead. Reiner rolls his eyes. “The lady said it’s a popular flavour with… the ladies.”

“Thank you, Pock.” She takes a big bite, the sugar glistening her lips and Reiner’s watching Porco’s face which only opens at the pure delight on their pretty little colleague. Mouth snapping shut, Galliard looks away as if that’ll help the faint redness of his ears, and Reiner shakes his head. He chews on his cheek to prevent the soft smirk edging onto his face before he claps Pieck on the shoulder and heads towards the kids. 

Behind him, he hears a laugh that could only be Pieck’s followed by grumbling and harsh hushing that could only be Galliard’s.

When he glances over his shoulder, he swears he must’ve imagined Porco kissing the corner of Pieck’s mouth, sugary syrup on his lips, too.