#soldier is my favorite guy i finally animated one of his lines

[part1cleman]

you are all weak! you are all bleeders!

[30somethingautisticteacher]

Homecoming

A little one shot that refused to leave my head until I had written it!

****

Buck and Tommy were both on their 48 hours off. It always felt kind of magical when their schedules lined up perfectly. They were sitting on Tommy's couch, Buck's head in Tommy's lap as he slowly ran his fingers through Buck's curls. At some point, the conversation turned to their favorite calls they'd ever been on.

"Tommy, it was so sweet and beautiful," Buck began, his eyes lighting up with the memory. "This guy, he did everything he could to make it home to his family in time for his daughter's Christmas concert. He'd been deployed for months, and it was going to be a surprise."

Buck's voice grew more animated as he continued, "We managed to get him there just in time. The look on his daughter's face when she saw him in the audience... God, Tommy, it was incredible. They had missed him so much."

Buck began to choke up, overwhelmed by the emotion of the memory.

Tommy nodded with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Sounds great, sweetheart," he said in a low, rough voice. "Really... really special."

Buck, caught up in his recollection, didn't notice the slight strain in Tommy's voice or the way his smile seemed forced. Tommy continued to stroke Buck's hair, but his mind seemed elsewhere.

"What about you?" Buck asked, turning his head to look up at Tommy. "What's your most memorable call?"

Tommy hesitated, his hand stilling in Buck's hair. There was a flicker of something – pain, perhaps – in his eyes before he masked it. "I... I'm not sure," he said finally, his voice distant. "There have been so many."

Buck frowned slightly, sensing something off in Tommy's demeanor. "Hey," he said softly, reaching up to touch Tommy's cheek. "You okay?"

Tommy took a deep breath, his eyes growing distant. "I just... those soldier homecoming things are hard for me," he admitted, his voice thick with emotion. "Soldiers coming home to their loved ones. Everyone so excited to see them. Telling them how much they missed them. I just... that wasn't my experience when I came home from Iraq."

Buck sat up, turning to face Tommy, his expression filled with concern and understanding. He took Tommy's hand in his own, encouraging him to continue.

Tommy's voice was barely above a whisper as he shared his memory. "I came home on a plane full of soldiers. When we arrived and exited the plane, there were signs and people hugging and crying. And I just stupidly stood there with no one waiting for me."

Buck's heart clenched at the pain in Tommy's voice. He squeezed Tommy's hand, his own eyes filling with tears. "Oh, Tommy," he said softly. "I'm so sorry. I can't imagine how lonely that must have felt."

Tommy nodded, swallowing hard. "It was... it was tough. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for those who have people waiting for them. But sometimes, hearing those stories, it just brings back that moment of feeling so alone."

Buck pulled Tommy into a tight embrace. "You're not alone anymore," he murmured into Tommy's ear. "I'm here. And I promise you, I'll always be here.

As they held each other, Buck realized how much there was still to learn about the man he loved.

"Thank you for sharing that with me," Buck said softly as they pulled apart. "I love you, Tommy. All of you, including the parts that hurt."

Buck's eyes were filled with tenderness and determination as he continued, his voice low and sincere. "If you let me and trust me, I will do everything I can to bandage the broken parts of your heart."

Tommy's breath caught at the depth of emotion in Buck's words. He cupped Buck's face gently, his thumb tracing Buck's cheekbone. "Evan," he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "You already do. Every day, just by being you, you heal parts of me I didn't even know were broken."

Buck leaned into Tommy's touch, his eyes brimming with tears. "I want to be there for you, always. To create new memories that overshadow the painful ones. To be the one waiting for you, no matter what."

Tommy pulled Buck close, burying his face in the crook of Buck's neck. "You are," he murmured. "You're my home now, Evan. The best home I've ever had."

And they settled back into each other's arms, there was a new depth to their connection, born from both vulnerability and understanding.

In that moment, Tommy felt lighter than he had in a long time. He smiled at his boyfriend, a newfound warmth in his eyes. "So, my favorite call," he began, his voice soft but content, "it all started with an old friend reaching out to me about a missing cruise ship..."

Buck's eyes widened in recognition, a slow smile spreading across his face. He playfully punched Tommy's shoulder, his heart swelling with love and appreciation for the man beside him.

And as Tommy began to recount the story – their story – Buck snuggled closer, hanging on every word.

Also available on Ao3

[scarlettaagni]

I'm assuming you reblogged the 'send me a character' thing with intent, so I will ask about. Cyclonus! please : 3

ye ye! I guess I'll refer to G1 (cartoon) Cyclonus by large

favorite thing about them: the most nuanced bitch this side of the cartoon! Decepticons constantly pull themselves down by only looking out for themselves and being conniving little shits to each other instead of only their enemies (and that's the point) but here you have a complete inversion, a Decepticon (second-in-command, no less) who is LOYAL. not only loyal, but selfless, by their standards?? nothing matters to Cyclonus beyond Galvatron, the Decepticon cause, and combat. he should be a force of nature but is rendered inert by an incapable leader because he just wants to follow. He's a warrior first and foremost but he gets to basically be in charge and isn't dumb muscle, e.g. he knows psychology (or at least how to work a crowd). Cyclonus is one year old and yet feels like he personally met Roman gladiators or something, he's great. A character of visible, textual multitudes in the G1 cartoon, which was notoriously allergic to nuance

least favorite thing about them: bro, the character assassination, like in Headmasters anime or the comics. I know by and large the Decepticons are dumb as hell, but I get like personally offended when chars are just dumbed the hell down for the sake of a joke or to facilitate the plot. If you have to do that, just pick more-fitting character or come up with a justification, fr. you'd think watching G1 five times in a row would inoculate me to this, but no. (for the record, his weird amplified cowardice I'm counting as stupidity) This doesn't apply to like, gag manga, that's the whole point of them

least favorite thing about them pt 2: that last answer felt like cheating so I guess while I like both demon and final designs, I hate how held back his final design is! I joke about the Unicronian legs being fine af, but he had curvier legs and they took them away. His neck is blank and featureless, so is his face. He looks fine this way, but there were so many interesting details they could have kept even when making him look more uniform with previous character designs. I guess I can thank AKOM for once, for letting us see his old design in motion lol

favorite (serious) line: damn. if I gotta pick? I guess for characterization: [out of breath] "It has been too long since I had an opponent that was worthy of my FULL attention..." or alternatively, "Galvatron...!" said like Roger C. Carmel is crying in the sound booth purely just for the line delivery

favorite (silly) line: "Everybody's gotta be somewhere..." [casually waltzes past a guy Scourge just roundhoused through a screen]

brOTP: I used to joke that Cyclonus and Scourge are at most drinking buddies to me, and I learned that's literally how they met in IDW

OTP: G1? CycMags. The rituals are intricate. It's about the symmetry. Two second-in-commands, more competent than their not-up-to-the-task leaders, the Soldier and the Warrior. They pointedly unname each other. They get petty when they're in the same space together. Cyclonus saved Ultra Magnus' life so that he could end it himself. He's sure he'll win but is perfectly open to Magnus ending him. Cyclonus views him as an equal, and despite the attempts on each other's lives, that is what makes it healthier than...

NOTP: Cyclonus/Galvatron. he's down so bad but it's obviously one-sided. he can do MUCH better, he just doesn't want to. Cyclonus won't consider any other options...... unless

random headcanon: he's prone to parroting. if someone uses a particular word or phrase, he'll use it in a sentence soon after, and phrased exactly the same way too. then it just becomes part of Cyclonus' vocabulary forever. which is how you get a guy who uses words like "vanquish" and "insolent" also saying things like "wimps" and "losers"

unpopular opinion: I'm so not with the silly ear interpretation of his horns. It's cute, and I'll make some jokey references to it, or have characters refer to them as such (derisively) but I'm insistent that they're horns. He's based off a demon, the Unicronians are clearly made in Unicron's image, they're horns. I'm a bigger fan of the wings swiveling up and down

song i associate with them: this is more of a song for all the Unicronians as a group, but I just like this one

favorite picture of them: there's some silly ones I already shared but I might as well pick one he looks really good in

in short: I like the him a normal, healthy amount

[ultraericthered]

Anime Update V3 6

Vinland Saga S2 - Ketil and his family's return to the farm was all that I could've dreaded it would be. Thorgil is rallying people up to fight and die to defend the farm from Canute's approaching forces, Leif still has not been able to meet with Thorfin, and Ketil, already not in the best of moods, completely snapped when he learned Arnheid had tried to escape the farm with her now dead ex-husband. I had to watch Ketil butalize a pregnant Arnheid in his impotent rage at her "betrayal", which as you could imagine was not pleasant, and now the unhinged yet emboldened Ketil is fully committed to killing any who dare try to take away all that belongs to him, meaning he is ready to lead all the soldiers and slaves at his farm into war against Canute! But I hope he doesn't even get to the front lines 'cause Einar had damn better fucking murder this piece of shit for what he did...

Hunter x Hunter - So I was recovering from my first ever case of Covid-19 for much of the last week and it might've effected what I thought I saw...did I really watch a fight between Leol and Morel where Leol was surfboarding on top of orange juice? I think they said it was water, but that's not what it looked like to me! The fight ends with Leol finally dead while outside Palm continues her undercover work at the creepy old perv's Don Corneo-esque setup, and Knov infiltrated the castle only to freak the fuck out and run away just from sensing the stronger Ants' sinister aura: I really think the experience drove the guy mad, and he didn't even have to fight anyone! And of course, Killua finally recovered and is back on his feet, but not alone since Ikalgo is willing to brave the world with him as his new friend, and that whole last scene and Ikalgo's thoughts really did touch me. Like, I was not going into this ready to feel things for this dynamic between a psychotic albino asassin kid and a scrawny, silly-looking Octopus Chimera Ant, it's a surprisingly wholesome development!

SHUFFLE! - Could not say much on this episode, as it was centered on Primula, easily my least favorite girl. I don't even dislike her per say, but her character is thus far very shallow and used for these painfully unfunny "lol, you're a pedo lolicon!" gags at Rin's expense, and from her set-up I am very skeptical, fearful even, that she's being set up to play the Ken Tennyson from Ben 10 Omnitrix role and essentially force Rin together with the girl she thinks needs to be his one true love. And what was even up with the plush cat business? Rin failed to get out of the claw machine the same brown plush cat that Primula already has? That one's ragged and worn out so he buys her a totally different yellow one? I wasn't following the thread.

KonoSuba - The whole episode was Kazuma and his party having to put up an actual fight against Verdia, which was both challenging but also as frequently hilarious as I'd expect. With Verdia being a headless knight, it figures that at some point his head would have to be taken and kicked around like a soccer ball: he was just asking for it! And since he's an undead fiend, Aqua gets to make the kill with her healing water spell. Kazuma and his party earn a reward, but have to use it to pay off the damages Aqua's flood caused to the town!

Symphogear XV - Following a government investigation closing things off for S.O.N.G, what's meant to be a day off leads to a bit of friction between Miku and Hibiki when Miku calls her girlfriend out on her inconsideration of Tsubasa's feelings. And then a Alca-Noise attack occurs nearby, leading to Millaarc tracking down Miku and Elfnein, having them kidnapped while also initiating the gory death of one of the traitorous government guys. In the next episode, Chris and Maria team up to fight Vanessa when she's on the move, cut short when a golden light shines from the newly reappeared Chateau du Triffages, from which a mysterious new foe seems to be emerging...

Eureka Seven - The episode "Helter Skelter" was easily the most intense one seen yet. Holland has Renton, Eureka, and the kids locked in the cooling cellar again but this time for their protection from what he knows is iminient: Ray and Charles infiltrate the Gekko, shut down the power, and go on a sniping mission. Ray manages to corner Talho just as she's retrieving the kids, and seeing Eureka with children who look to her as a mother is deeply triggering to her for some reason. Charles, meanwhile, gets his fight to the finish with Holland, who fatally shoots him during a moment of distraction. Credit to Charles, though, he goes out with one last "up your's" to Holland, shooting him in the leg before falling and breathing his last. Stupidly they let the captive Ray go look at her husband's dead body, and she triggers an explosive on it that allows her to make an escape out into the open sky. As Renton narrates that this was not the end of this ordeal, I decided to watch the next one, "Memeto Mori". From the title alone, you can guess what happens and oh God is the route to getting there unsettling as hell. Ray lost the ability to bear children years ago and Eureka is apparently to blame for why it happened. Having lost her husband and feeling she has nothing left to lose, the very depressed and completely unhinged Ray uses her Swan ship to assault the Gekko in hopes of killing everyone on board. She doesn't come even close to accomplishing that, but she does finish what Charles started and nearly kills Holland just as her ship's shot down with her getting maimed and burning to death in its explosion. And because the world hates Renton, he can't even mourn his one-time surrogate parents in peace before he's pulled into a blood donation to save the life of his abuser, who's the guy who killed them both! Damn, I knew the Beams' story wasn't going to end well but geezus, Dai Sato did not feel like pulling punches here. An utter tragedy.

Gintama - None this week.

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

HI ARI IM SORR Y FOR SPAMLIKING U BUT HOWVE H BEEN ana do u have any yuki thoughts to share w the class i’m curious :33

NEVER APOLOGIZE RIKO u can spamlike as much as u want <3333 I’VE MISSED U how have u been?? what have u been up to?? :33 tell me tell me 🎤🎤

uni has been eating me alive a tiny bit so i haven’t had much time to catch up on my tbr which depresses me T_T OTHER THAN THAT I’M DOING GOOD THO and wahhhh…. yuki 🥺🥺🥺 my beloved. tysm for asking riko AND WHILE WE’RE ON THE TOPIC that One yuki fanart of yours…. i just about collapsed when i saw it riko u drew her sooo gorgeous …….. women w big beautiful warm brown eyes >>>>>>>>>> Anything Else BUT OK yuki thoughts!!! i don’t think abt her as often as i should but i do have a couple hehe >:33 i love her!!

(jjk manga spoilers under the cut!!)

ok so first of all; i know i’m entirely delusional but idc i STILL think she’s coming back. i believe. i’m akutami’s strongest soldier. i just think it’d be so perfect if she swept in with todo and larue <33 ready to kick some ass <333 i know i probably shouldn’t trust gege too much but i trust him to handle his women decently . like he isn’t nearly as awful as some other shounen authors and i’m tired of people acting like he is …….. the bar is in the lowest layer of hell to be clear but still!! i believe in her return <333

i just think her final line is so so so interesting, and it’s such a specific choice to let it go unfinished…. ”it all boils down to…..” idk i just feel like she’ll come back and say the full line >:33 and it’ll be the coolest line ever also sidenote but i love the panelling here SO much the way her own words are getting DRAGGED into the black hole….. this is my favorite jjk fight overall btw it’s my most beloved ever ever ever none of u will see me again when it gets animated

and!! this is also in connection to this fight but kenny/yuki is one of my absolute favorite dynamics in jjk <333 i think it’s soooo funny how the two characters kenny seems to like most are yuki (beautiful stunning intelligent ruthless special grade woman) and takaba (silly little guy :33) I LOVE THEM SM i need them to live together. i need them to be best friends 4 life. i need to see them all interact so bad it’s never gonna happen but i would literally do ANYTHING riko….,, i adore all three of them <33333 my angels on earth

but honestly i just think yuki and kenny are so interesting….. any time they talk i just feel like they’re two scientists discussing their shared area of interest like there’s so much animosity but also a mutual understanding, it makes me oddly happy for some reason??? and obviously there’s also the fact that yuki is the kind of human being that kenny loves the most; someone who never ever gives up. even as she’s literally been teared into halves, she uses her last strenght to create a fucking black hole despite the risk and i can’t even imagine how much respect kenny must feel for her after that??? yuki & yuji are both the same in that they’ll get up again and again, no matter what, and i think that’s why both of them have a special place in kenny’s heart. yuki/kenny is toxic yuri to me idc i adore them like nothing else. they’re so funny!!!

but kenny aside, i really do think yuki is such a wonderful character. she’s just Everything. she’s so intelligent, so powerful, so all-consuming. such a perfect example of what a special grade is like. i really love the fact that she isn’t necessarily always on the Good side, she has her own ideals and goals and sometimes they conflict with what the good guys want. but yuki still desires a world without curses, at her very core, and i think that tells us so much about what kind of person she is!!

AND AND AND AND ANDDDDD arguably my favorite thing about her is how beastcoded she is. LIKE. she is a Beast and she’s gritty and she’s ruthless and she bites and bites & this is exactly how i think powerful shounen women should be depicted. akutami underutilizes his women for SURE but he still treats them with respect in the sense that their strenght doesn’t have to be justified, their bouts of insanity and pure instinct don’t need to be justified, all sorcerers are a little sick in the head and that statement goes beyond gender. yuki is a tiny bit insane and we love her for it <33 JUST LOOK AT THESE PANELS WAHHH she’s the coolest ever

”heal yourself!” ”hell no!” is one of my fav pieces of dialogue in the whole manga <33 god i love yuki vs kenny vs choso SO much… three bad bitches duking it out <33333

[eyrieofsynapses]

…maybe an unpopular opinion, but I think I like Eliot's hand-to-hand fight scenes more than the ones in big-box movies.

see, I was rewatching a bit of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (yes I've seen some of the MCU, no I have not seen Infinity War or anything past it because I refuse to watch it without other people to cry with and my friends haven’t been available) before I rewatched Rundown. and guys, I adore TWS. easily in my top favorite films of all time. the fight scenes are fantastic! holy heck, the emotional weight! if you asked me which movies I love hand-to-hand in the most, that'd be at the top of the list, easy. Steve and Bucky in that final scene? ohhhhhh my gods.

but then I bounced over to The Rundown Job and just… y’know the bit where Eliot takes out the guys after Hardison signals him at the elevator? it feels so much more fun. I can't pin down exactly why, but it feels closer, more personal, more impactful. probably some of it comes from how Eliot is having--maybe not exactly fun, but how he likes doing his job. there's something about it.

and it's not just TWS that I can compare this back to, either. off the top of my head, I love it more than The Batman's hand-to-hand combat (which is admittedly rough because it's early-years Bruce, but still) and probably most anything else I've seen out of the MCU. animation isn't live-action, obviously, but I've seen some really solid combat in DC's animated work too. like, I haven't seen a ton of hand-to-hand work (it seems the film industry is understandably more fond of sword fights and such), but personally I find that when it comes to sheer fun, Leverage is really hard to beat.

now I'm not gonna compare it to sword-fighting or things like that. that's another ballgame. but hand-to-hand specifically… I'm not a violent person, but I dunno, y'all, there's just something about how Eliot fights that makes him fun to watch in a way I'm not sure I see elsewhere. probably it's partly that I'm just ridiculously fond of him. it is absolutely in large part because Christian Kane a) does his own stunts and works with the choreography, b) actively integrates Eliot's character into his work, and c) is just an all-around fantastic madman of a person.

but! they get so very clever with it! all the different things he'll grab to improvise with! I mean, where else do you get somebody who uses umbrellas, pipe organ pipes, whisks, screen doors, golf clubs, appetizers, literally anything to take opponents out on a regular basis? hauling people up over his shoulders and his back to toss them into dumpsters? comments like "if I'm not honest with you, you can't improve"? counting every single dude in a massive ship and then counting down as he takes each one out? barreling out of nowhere to tackle a dude? who else gives us lines like "that's what makes it fair" to the dude who laughs at him for not carrying a gun?

and it's hardly like we don't know Eliot's going to win--Eliot always wins--but there's still tension to it. he's not so good as to be perfect. he struggles, he comes back with bruises and cuts and the occasional broken rib, it's not like there's nothing at stake here. we've seen him have to let somebody go or otherwise mess up. too many opponents or too much muscle make him wary. he's competent as all hell, but he has to be sly and tricky and clever about how he fights as much as he has to deliver enough force. Eliot doesn't just fight well, he fights smart. he uses his surroundings and knows when to play possum and how to target an opponent's weak spots.

like. goddamn. I can watch him versus Roper in The Carnival Job a hundred times, and it still shakes me to the core to see him go down for that brief moment. in that second, you can believe he's in real danger. and he does come out of it hurt and limping and covered in blood. but we still have no doubt that he's an absolute badass!

oh yeah, and also: he has fun. there's always that little smile he's got when he's about to take down a bunch of unwitting thugs. laughing at Quinn when he's got bruised ribs and bloody teeth. looking at the pipe from the pipe organ in Van Gogh in surprise when it rings when he hits a guy before giving it an appreciative grin. sizing up Mikel and running through each situation (and, you know, that little make-out in the basement). staring at the dude in Lonely Hearts and going "fisticuffs? seriously?" with that tone of amused disbelief before flipping the guy into the harbor.

it's his job and he's not fond of hurting people, exactly, but he takes pride in it and he enjoys proving himself over and over. he enjoys the challenge. and it's kind of impossible not to love watching him beat it every. single. time

anyway yeah, if you ever ask me "who's the most fun to watch fight hand-to-hand?" it's probably always gonna be Eliot, tbh.

[study-coffee-chicago]

Seasons of PD: Season 7: Don’t You Ever Do That Again, You Hear Me? (A Halstead Brothers + Halstead Sister! Imagine)

A/N: There are mentions of B1ack Liv3s M4tter (apparently this ended up in that tag, so I changed the wording, so hopefully it’s not there anymore) in regards to peaceful protests in this. And there are mentions of counter-protesters causing riots. I tried my best to portray this as professionally as possible with Y/N's views, Kevin's views, and Jay's views. I did not try to offend anyone at all and I'm very sorry if I did.

Also, I don't know if one part counts as threat of sexual coercion, but I'm fairly certain that's what it's called, so trigger warning for that.

Your age: 18

Jay's age: 32

Will's age: 34

"I get that it's important to you, but I'm not letting you go!" Jay argued as you stood across from him in a screaming match.

"Why? Because You don't believe the same things as me because you haven't met a bad cop? Because you fought for this country and know people who died for it?" you yelled back.

"Yes, me being a cop and a soldier obviously has something to do with this! But I'm also trying to keep you safe! They turn into riots!"

"You do know that's not the Black Lives Matter protesters who start them, right? They're peaceful. Counter-protesting assholes come and start things to give peaceful protesters a bad image!"

"I don't want you to get hurt if something happens! Tear gas hurts, kid. I don't want you to come home with burning eyes and the possibility of going blind and tell me I'm right. I'm trying to prevent that!"

"I know you are, Jay! I just want you to let me have my own damn opinions and do what I want for once!"

"Has a cop ever hurt you in some way? Pulled you over illegally?" Jay roared.

You wanted to tell him your story about something like that that had happened five weeks ago, two weeks after the infection scare across the entire city, but you couldn't because you knew he'd do something stupid and you didn't want that. "No, but--"

His phone rang, cutting you off. "I'll be there," Jay said quickly. Then, he turned back to you. "I gotta go, caught a case. I'll see you later and we can talk about this. Calmly."

"So, you're saying there's a chance you'll let me go?"

"There's maybe a .001% chance, but sure, believe what you want."

You rolled your eyes and he left. But, as he shut and locked the apartment door, he stopped. "Love you," he whispered. Because, with what he did on the job, he knew that there was the possibility every day of him not coming home to you.

***

When you woke up, you were shocked not to see a text from Jay between 3 and 5 am saying that he wouldn't make it home tonight. He usually made it a priority when on a case to tell you that he wouldn't be coming home so that you wouldn't worry.

But, there was a voicemail from him around 11 pm last night and it was currently 9 am.

You put your phone on speaker and played it.

"Hey, Y/N, I'm sorry about arguing. If you really want to go, I think Kevin has his RDO tomorrow so I can see if he's going if you-- OW!" Then, the line just continued playing, and dragging noises were heard until there was a crash and the line went dead.

"Jay? Jay?" What the hell had happened? You quickly replayed the message to make sure it wasn't an issue with your phone, but when you heard the same exact thing again, you knew something had gone terribly wrong.

You went to dial Hailey's number to ask if she had seen Jay when there was a loud knock on your door. You quickly ran across the apartment and looked out the peephole. You saw Hailey and Adam and quickly flung open the door.

"Hey, Y/N," Adam said as he entered.

"Have you guys seen Jay?" you asked.

You saw Hailey visibly swallow. "Listen," she started, but you cut her off.

"What happened? What's going on? He usually texts me if he's going to be working until the morning and I didn't get a text and I got a voicemail and--" You took a deep, gasping breath.

"What voicemail?" Hailey asked as she placed a hand on your shoulder.

"I- It cut off partway through and he yelled and-- wait, he wasn't with you?"

"No," Hailey answered. "He said he had some personal stuff to take care of when we were at a scene and then took off. Then, he never came back, so we decided to check here to see if he just came home or something happened."

"He never came home." Your eyes widened, finally processing what it meant if he wasn't here and Intelligence couldn't find him. "You're telling me he's missing? Again? Oh, no. This can't be happening, not again. Not after our fight last night. I didn't even tell him what happened or that I loved him or--"

"Y/N, I need you to take a deep breath," Hailey told you and you tried to match her breathing. "His radio might just be dead or something like that." She knew that she was lying, but she was trying to stop you from freaking out. "Can you give me your phone so Adam and I can listen to the voicemail?"

You nodded and handed Adam your phone. He pressed play and you watched as his jaw clenched as he was listening to it.

"Shit," he muttered once he was done. "We need you to come to the district with us. Just for safety."

"Can you give me a minute?" you asked. "I- I'm in my pajamas and I haven't brushed my teeth and--"

"We'll leave in half an hour, okay?" Hailey asked and you nodded. "While you're getting ready, we'll send the voicemail over to Kim and Kev. Jay's gonna be okay."

"How do you know that?" you almost whispered.

"Because Jay's one of the strongest people I know," she answered. But, in reality, she wasn't sure about that. They had no idea where he was and according to the timestamp on that voicemail, it had been a little over ten hours since he sent it. For all they knew, Jay could be out of Chicago right now. Scratch that, he could be out of Illinois.

***

"When did you get this voicemail?" Hank asked as everyone in Intelligence, minus Jay but including you, were in the bullpen and trying to trace where the call came from.

"Around 11 last night, Boss," Adam answered for you.

"Okay. So it's been almost 11 hours," Voight said.

"I need a break, excuse me," you said and quickly excused yourself to the locker room.

You made your way to the locker room and sat down and leaned against the wall. This couldn't be happening again, not after that crazy borderline sociopathic drug dealer kidnapped Jay a few years ago and Erin went in and saved him. This could not be happening again.

You thought back to the fight last night and something your mom would always say when she was in a fight with one of the boys or when you had thrown a temper tantrum and then had to go to bed.

I'll always tell you I love you because when you walk out that door or go to bed, I'll never know if that was the last chance I had to tell you I love you.

God, if you hadn't argued with Jay, maybe you wouldn't be feeling this way. Obviously, you'd be feeling scared and upset because Jay was missing and no one had any idea where he was, but at least you wouldn't feel guilty like you currently did.

You felt guilty about starting that fight in the first place by bringing it up even though you knew what his answer was going to be. You felt guilty about yelling. But most of all, you felt guilty and you regretted not saying love you when he left...because that might've been the last time you'd have been able to tell that to your big brother who had always been there for you...even when he really didn't want to.

Jay's Nokia flip phone buzzed as he walked out of school. It was his mom.

"Hey, Mom," he greeted.

"Jay Halstead, if you answered your phone while you're driving..." she trailed off, trying to think of a good threat.

"Mom, I didn't. I was talking to some friends about going for tacos tonight, so I just walked out of school a minute ago."

"Oh," she said.

"What oh?" Jay asked. "That sounded like a bad oh, Mom."

"Well, I wish I would've known that before a professor called in sick to give an exam to his students and I agreed to pick up the extra hours."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can't bring Y/N to the dentist. And I thought since you weren't busy, you could. I also may or not have promised her that she could go to Build-A-Bear after to get a new outfit for Beary because she's so scared."

"Mom," Jay groaned.

"I know, I'm sorry. But, how about this: you do this for me, and I'll extend your curfew by two hours on Friday and Saturday."

"Three," Jay countered.

"Two." Amelia Halstead stood strong.

"Three."

"Two and a half."

"Deal," Jay agreed.

"Thank you. I'll see you tonight. Love you."

"Love you, too."

***

"No," you whined as Jay told you that you had to leave after he walked you home from school later. "I don't wanna go to the dentist. They scary."

"No, they're not," Jay told you. The doctor was what was scary for him with all the needles for the shots. But, the dentist had never bothered him, even when he was a little kid it had never bothered him.

"No!"

"What if I let you bring Beary into the dentist, would you go then?" Jay practically pleaded.

"And you give me chocolate before we leave?"

"If you promise to grab your toothbrush and brush your teeth in the bathroom at the dentist, then yes, I'll give you some chocolate to eat on the way there." Jay was desperate at this point. He knew he shouldn't be giving you everything you wanted, but what were big brothers with a giant age gap for anyway if not to try and spoil his little sister?

"Okay!" You ran off to go grab Beary and your toothbrush and toothpaste while Jay made his way to a high cabinet in the kitchen and grabbed five squares of Dove milk chocolate, three for you and two for him.

In the car, Jay handed you the cholates and you started eating them while you held Beary close to you, trying to gain some comfort out of your favorite stuffed animal.

***

You gripped Jay's hand as you sat and waited for your name to be called. Beary was held in your other hand and you were squeezing him tight against your chest. You had just brushed your teeth like you promised Jay that you would, but you were still utterly terrified.

"Y/N Halstead?" a dental hygienist came out and asked.

You didn't say a word, just held Jay's hand tighter.

"That's you," Jay said gently and with a smile on his face, trying to make you feel less scared.

"No, not me," you told him as you frantically shook your head.

The dental hygienist squatted down in front of you. "Are you Y/N?" You didn't do anything, but Jay must've nodded to confirm that it was indeed you. "And who's this?" she asked as she shook Beary's paw.

"Beary," you said shyly.

"Well, I'm fairly certain that Beary will be with you the entire time. We even have little sunglasses you and he can wear when we shine the really bright light on you to protect both your little eyes. Does that sound good?"

You turned to Jay. "Me and Beary get sunglasses, Jay Jay!"

"I heard! Do you want me to come back with you?"

You thought for a second. "Please come."

Jay laughed. "Okay." He turned to the dental hygienist. "Is that okay?"

"Perfectly fine."

You stood up and held Jay's hand as you walked back into the dentist to get your six-month check-up on your baby teeth.

***

"That wasn't so bad was it?" Jay asked as the two of you walked out to his car after you finished.

"No!" you said as you shook your head. "I even got a pretty bracelet with Belle on it, see?" you exclaimed as you held your hand out to him to show off your yellow bracelet with a charm that had Belle from Beauty and the Beast on it.

Jay acted all surprised and said it was pretty even though he watched as you had picked it out while he had explained to the secretary how your mom would call to schedule your next appointment in six months.

Jay opened his car and made sure you were buckled in and then got in himself and started driving.

"Do you know where we're going?"

You gasped. You had forgotten you got to go to Build-A-Bear after!

"Build-A-Bear!" you yelled. The volume of that yell would've made Jay wince had he not been driving.

"Yup, that's where we're going."

"I think I'm gonna get Beary some new pajamas," you decided.

"What color?"

You held Beary out in front of you. "What color pjs do you want, Beary?" You brought him up to your ear and nodded as he "told" you what color pajamas he wants. "He said blue!"

"Blue pajamas. I'm pretty sure we can find those."

***

Jay and you walked into Build-A-Bear Workshop at the mall and you were met with children running around. To Jay, this was the definition of hell. Except for you, he was fine with you running around, but he really didn't like all the other kids that he had to be careful not to bump into.

"C'mon, Jay Jay!" you told him as you tugged him along to the pajama section.

He allowed himself to be tugged along by you and then you held up almost every single pair of blue pajamas to Beary to see which one was his favorite. He had decided on a pair of light blue pajamas with stars all over them. There was even a cute little hat with a pom-pom on top to go with the pajamas.

Jay paid and then you left with Beary and his brand-new pajamas. You had plans to have him sleep in those pajamas tonight, too.

Unbeknownst to you, Jay hadn't even really wanted to come. The only reason he brought you was that he got his curfew extended. But to you, it was just another fun afternoon with your big brother.

You were startled out of your daydream when you felt a hand on your shoulder. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

Kevin.

"It's fine. I'm fine," you said quickly.

"No, you're not. And that's okay. Hailey and Voight went to see if Jay's where his phone pinged at."

"We fought," you told him.

"You fought?" Kevin asked as he slid down the wall to sit next to you.

"It was stupid. I should've just agreed with him and maybe I wouldn't be feeling like this."

"Like what?"

"Like utter shit." You sighed and ran a hand through your hair. "We were arguing about the BLM protests that were happening tonight. I wanted to go, but he wouldn't let me. The last thing I did was roll my eyes at him, Kev."

The two of you sat in silence for a few moments while Kevin figured out how to comfort you.

"Maybe talking about it will help. What'd you argue about?"

"Just that I wanted to go and he wouldn't let me because he thinks riots will break out. And you and I both know that's not the BLM protesters, that's the counter-protesters. But, he thinks I'll get hurt. I also think it's because he's a cop, so he feels like I'm protesting him, but I'm not. I'm protesting the system."

Kevin nodded. "I get it. Believe me, I do. I live it every day."

"How do you do it?" you asked. "Be an activist and a cop at the same time?"

"Just try and do the right thing with the information you have. And, explain that you're protesting the system and the bad apples, not the police force as a whole."

"I tried. But Jay doesn't think I have a right to protest because I've never had a bad experience with a cop." Which was a lie, but you weren't ready to talk about that just yet.

"Did he say that exactly?" Kevin asked.

"No, but, he asked me if a cop has ever illegally pulled me over."

Kevin nodded. "I know Jay and I know he would never say that you didn't have the right protest. He fought for that right. He mention anything else?"

"That tear gas hurts."

"I think he just wanted to keep you safe, same thing I'd do for Jordan and Vanessa."

"He sounded like he changed his mind on his voicemail, though. He thought that maybe if you were going, then he'd let me go...at least, that's what it sounded like."

Kevin nodded. "All I can say is that until we found Jay, I'm not going to one. Getting your brother is my first priority and it's the first priority of everyone in this unit."

"My first priority, too."

"Kev!" Adam yelled as he banged on the door. "You in there?"

"Yeah, bro! What's up?" Kevin asked.

"We need you to meet with someone!"

***

The hours passed and with each of them that did, you got more and more nervous for Jay's safety. You guessed that this is how he felt when you asked if you could go to the protest, knowing that he'd constantly be worrying about you until you came home safely.

"Y/N, we gotta go," Trudy said as she entered the bullpen around 9:30 pm that night.

"Why? What's going on?" you asked as you grabbed your phone and started following her.

"They found Jay."

"Is he okay?" you asked quickly.

"Y/N..."

"No! He can't be dead, Trudy! He can't!" you wailed.

"He's not. But, he has been shot."

You froze. Shot. Jay had been shot.

"He's en route to Chicago Med right now."

"Can you- can you bring me there?"

"That's where we're going right now."

***

"Will!" you yelled as you ran into the ED and saw your oldest brother.

You ran right up to him and hugged him, not caring that he almost dropped his iPad he had been using to chart.

"Whoa, Y/N." He set the iPad down. "Hey, I know. But Crockett's operating on him right now and he's one of the best surgeons in the hospital."

"I thought you were better than him. You need to do the surgery, Will. you need to save Jay!"

"Y/N, I know it sucks, but I'm family. As much as I want to operate on him, I can't legally do that."

You paused and looked up at him. His eyes were slightly red, but he hadn't been bawling the way that you had been.

"Dr. Halstead! Incoming!" Maggie yelled.

"What does she mean?" you asked, still hanging onto him. "You're still working?"

"There's been a ten-car pile-up on the highway. I have to. It's my job."

"But Jay's in surgery!" you yelled as you pulled away from him. "These people are more important to you than your own brother?"

"They aren't but--"

"But you're working anyway instead of waiting to find out what happens to him?"

"I can't do anything to help Jay right now. But I can help all these people who are pouring in."

"Dr. Halstead!" Maggie shouted again.

"I'll be up in a few hours, I promise," Will told you.

***

A few hours had passed and it was now past midnight. Jay was still in surgery. Will was sitting next to you, in a spare pair of clothes he had packed instead of his scrubs that were covered in blood, and you were leaning your head on his shoulder, close to being asleep.

That was until Crockett came out and Will jumped up, causing your head to hit the back of the chair.

"Ow," you mumbled.

"Sorry," Will apologized and then turned back to Crockett. "What's the verdict?"

"He lost a lot of blood," Crockett told the two of you.

"But he's gonna pull through, right?" Will asked what the two of you were both thinking.

"We'll be out of blood soon."

"What do you mean out of blood?" Will asked, taking a step toward the surgeon. "There's no way you can be out of blood!"

"With that pile-up, we can. I'd recommend you go and say your goodbyes and pray for a miracle."

Will put his hands on the back of his head and started pacing the room. Your breath caught in your throat. This could not be happening. Jay couldn't die, he just couldn't.

Crockett started to walk back towards the operating room.

"Wait!" you yelled. You didn't know what had taken over you, but at this moment, you'd do anything to save your brother. You rolled up your sleeve. "Take my blood."

"Y/N," was all Will could manage to get out.

"I'm sorry, Y/N, but there's protocol for that. I'd love to let you do it, but--"

"Fuck protocol!" you yelled, all the anger and sadness and anxiety that had built up over the past fifteen hours exploding at this very moment. "Rush my labs. Or don't even get my labs done at all. I haven't had sex, so I don't have any STDs. I don't have any diseases or deficiencies since I moved in with Jay years ago. My blood type's O-neg, so I'm a universal donor. Take my goddamn blood, Crockett!" You didn't care that all that information was out in the open because you were barely processing what you were saying. The only thing you cared about was making sure that your brother was okay.

"Y/N," Will said as he walked up to you and placed a hand on your shoulder.

"Don't touch me! And you sure as hell don't want to tell me to calm down!"

"Y/N," Will started again as he took his hand off your shoulder. "What Crockett's saying is that it's not ethical for him to do this. He could get fired."

"Where's the paperwork?" you asked as you turned back to Crockett. "I'll sign whatever I have to sign to make sure you aren't liable at all, that I'm donating this of my own free will. You can even take double the amount of blood that you normally do since I'm a universal donor. Just get me the paperwork."

Crockett and Will shared a look.

"I'll go get a nurse to get you the paperwork."

"Wait, no, no, no," Will said as he walked closer to Crockett. "You can't be serious about this!"

"She said she'll sign it."

"But, I have to co-sign it since she's a minor. So, no, you are not donating blood, Y/N. You almost passed out when I drew vials of your blood years ago. You know what's gonna happen if we take two units of blood? You are gonna feel like utter shit."

"Last I checked, I'm 18, so I can sign my own paperwork! God, I'm not a fucking child anymore, Will! I can make my own decisions!" you yelled back. "And if I don't do this, Jay will die. He'll die, Will. So, I'm giving him my blood with or without your support."

***

You sat in a chair, the ones that Will had told you about years ago with the big padded bar thing that came down in front of you in case you passed out. Typically, they'd just have you lay down in a bed, but since they were short on beds and Will told them that you had a history of getting dizzy and nauseous during simple blood draws, they had decided to put you here instead.

"Last chance to back out," Will told you as the nurse tied off your arm with a blue rubber tie and started to rub your arm to get the big vein in your left forearm to show.

"Jay's dying. No way in hell am I backing out."

Will sighed. He knew you were doing the right thing, but he also knew that you were going to feel terrible after, and he hated seeing you like that. "Okay," he said. "I'll stay here until they get the needle in you and then I'll get you some juice and cookies."

"Ready?" Monique asked.

"Ready," you confirmed. You turned to Will and squeezed your eyes shut as the needle pierced your vein. You heard the sound of the machine and knew your blood was going in there, but you didn't want to look. Getting your blood drawn, you could watch. But this, this was just too much blood to see, so you looked at Will.

"Doing okay?" he asked a few minutes later.

"Yeah," you answered because that was the absolute truth: you were feeling just fine.

"Okay, I'm gonna go get you some cookies and juice. I'll get an update on Jay while I'm out there, too."

You nodded and he left the room.

This wasn't so bad.

***

Okay, so you were lying to yourself. You were currently in hell. Giving the blood hadn't been an issue, it was how you felt after you were done giving blood.

You were currently sitting in that same chair, drinking some juice that Will had brought you. He told you that there was still no update on Jay, but that they were sending the blood back to him right now. (They had rushed labs on a small vial of blood that Monique took before you started the donation. The results came back while you were giving blood, and since your blood was clean, you could give it to Jay.) But, God, but you felt absolutely awful.

"You doing okay?" Will asked.

You shook your head and then stopped because it made you dizzy and put your head in your hands. "No," you groaned.

He handed you a glass of water. "Drink a bit of this too and then I'll open your pack of cookies."

"Why do you want me to drink water and not juice?" you asked as you closed your eyes and tried to stop the spinning in your head.

"Because, you're sweating, Short Stack. Need you to stay hydrated."

You took a few sips of water and then went back to your juice. Will handed you your pack of chocolate chip cookies and you started to eat them.

"Mhm," you groaned and laid your head down on the padded bar thing in front of you that kept you from falling out of the chair. "I don't feel so good."

You felt hot and cold at the same time and the world seemed to spin every time you lifted your head up. And, those cookies did not sit well with you.

"How do you feel? What hurts?" Will asked, jumping into doctor mode since Monique wasn't around. Will assured her that he could look after you while you recovered from your blood being donated at twice the normal amount.

"I just feel like shit," you told him, not picking up your head.

"You gotta give me some symptoms. Give me some symptoms and then I can help."

"Mhm, fine." You looked up at him and blinked slowly. "I feel hot and cold and sweaty. And I feel dizzy and nauseous."

"Okay. That's either a vasovagal reaction or from your blood pressure being low or from your  heart rate being slowed down."

"What's that reaction thingy?"

"You don't like blood in general, so a nervous system response can happen, which could explain your reactions. But, your BP could also be low, which could explain all this too. And, it's one in the morning and you haven't slept yet, so tiredness could also be a factor."

"Great," you said sarcastically as you remembered the last time your blood pressure was low.

You had taken some of Jay's medication that he had to ward off his PTSD-induced nightmares after you were involved in a shooting at a house party. The one time you took them without sleeping directly after, you felt almost exactly like this...except without the sweatiness. You just mostly felt dizzy. You had called Will, he came over, and then you ended passing out and he had to get you to Med. Then you were admitted and they got your pressure back up. You were also prescribed sleeping pills which had helped immensely.

Will grabbed a blood pressure cuff from a drawer. "Arm," he told you. You held out your arm and he wrapped the cuff around it and pumped the end of it.

You waited as he looked at the gauge on the blood pressure cuff. Will said one number over another number, which meant nothing to you, but must've meant something to him. You raised your eyebrows, hoping he was going to tell you what those numbers meant in non-medical English terms.

"BP's low, which explains most of the symptoms," he told you.

You took another bite of your cookie and washed it down with some juice, but then immediately after started dry heaving.

Will rushed around and then thrust a pink basin under your mouth.

You took a deep breath after you finally stopped dry heaving about thirty seconds later.

"Better?" Will asked. You shook your head. "I'm going to get you an IV of anti-nausea medication."

You were going to argue with him about how he wasn't working, so he probably couldn't get you that. And, you were fairly certain he couldn't prescribe things to family. But, you felt terrible, so you really don't care if Will was being reckless and borderline unethical/illegal right now.

You nodded and then laid your head back down.

When Will came back, he thought you were asleep, but when you heard footsteps, you looked up.

"Alright," he began as he assembled the IV. "Last poke of the day, I promise."

"After this can I take a nap in the on-call room?" you asked as you held your arm out to him once again.

"You know I can't let you do that." Will tied a blue band around your arm and started rubbing it to get a vein in the inside of your elbow. Then, he noticed your pale and sweaty face. "Fine. Hopefully, Goodwin won't fire me after this. But I have a good reason. Turn so you don't see the needle."

You did and closed your eyes. You felt the poke and squeezed your eyes shut, but then it subsided and you felt that weird feeling of the medicine going straight into your veins. God, you hoped this worked.

You hoped Jay would survive because you didn't just go through all that for nothing.

***

You slowly opened your eyes as you felt someone shaking your shoulder. "No," you groaned as you turned to face the other side of the bed.

But then you remembered where you were: the doctors on-call room because Jay had been shot. Maybe it was Will waking you up to tell you--

"Short Stack, wake up. Jay's awake."

That got you wide awake.

You snapped your eyes open, rolled over, and jumped out of bed.

"I take it you're feeling better?" Will asked.

"Sleep helps. Let's go!"

Will quickly led you out of the room and through some hallways and up a few flights of stairs to Jay's recovery room.

He was currently talking to Hailey.

"Jay!" you exclaimed as you burst into the room to see him with a sling and see Hailey helping him with his jacket.

"Hey, Short Stack," he greeted and then turned his attention back to Hailey. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Uh, just that I'm glad you're back," she told him. "I'll give you some time with your siblings." She turned her attention to Will. "Oh, and the things you told me to tell Kim to get are in that corner." She pointed to the left front corner of the room. "Bye, guys." She waved and then left.

You gave Jay a huge hug and tried to avoid his arm that was in a sling. "Don't you ever do that again, you hear me?" you told him seriously and then looked up at him with tears in your eyes.

Jay chuckled. "I'll try not to."

"You better do more than try." You went back to leaning your head against his chest as tears soaked his t-shirt.

"Hey, hey, don't cry," he soothed. "I'm okay. I'm fine, Y/N."

"I was so scared. The last thing we would've done was argue. I'm so sorry. I should never have asked to go to those protests. I know you were just trying to protect me--"

"Hey, it's okay for you to have your own opinions and views. It's just gonna take me a while to get used to you being an adult now and not that little sister who would always hold my hand and beg to go to Build-A-Bear."

"Speaking of Build-A-Bear," Will started and then walked over to the corner of the room and picked up two boxes. They were white boxes with dark blue designs on them. You knew those boxes: they were what the workers put new bears in when a kid came and bought one. You let go of Jay. Will peeked into one of the holes. "This one's for you." He handed Jay a box. "And this one's for you." He handed you the other box.

"You got us Build-A-Bears?" you asked as you raised an eyebrow.

"Just open the boxes."

You did and laughed when you saw Beary in the box, dressed in a hospital gown and white little bunny slippers. Your brothers were not kidding when they said they'd get one for you.

Jay laughed as he opened his. His Build-A-Bear was a light blue color and it also had on a hospital gown as well as a sling on one arm. The bear also had on a policeman cap. "Oh, man," Jay said as he continued laughing.

"Press the right paw," Will told him and he did, causing Ruzek's voice to float through the room.

Stop getting kidnapped. Glad you're okay, though.

You started laughing hysterically at this point.

"One more thing," Will said as he walked over to the counter and pulled out a marker and two hospital bracelets. On one he wrote Beary Halstead. "Jay, what are you naming your bear?" Will asked.

"I gotta name it?"

"Um, it's not an it. It's a he or a she...could be a they, too," you said.

"Fine. I gotta name him?"

"Yes," Will told him.

Jay groaned. "Fine. Blue."

"Boo! That's boring," you said.

He groaned again. "Detective Blue. There. Better?"

"Better," you confirmed.

Will wrote Det. Blue Halstead on the other hospital band. Then, he handed Beary's to you and Detective Blue's to Jay.

"I cannot believe you," Jay said.

"I can," Will laughed. "Now put it on him. Just like Y/N's doing with Beary."

Jay reluctantly put it on Detective Blue's arm. But then he realized something. "Wait, why does Beary have a hospital gown if Y/N wasn't in the hospital?"

"Yeah, about that..." you trailed off.

Jay cocked his head to the side. "What did you do this time?"

"Other than save your life, I got nauseous and Will had to give me anti-nausea medication," you explained.

"Wait, back up. You saved my life? How?" Jay asked as he looked between you and Will.

"She essentially cussed at Crockett until she got what she wanted," Will said nonchalantly.

"Which was...?" Jay pried.

"Giving you blood because the hospital was out because of a car accident. If she wouldn't have given you blood..." Will trailed off, not wanting to say the words.

"I'd be dead," Jay practically whispered.

"Yeah," Will confirmed, his voice at about the same volume as Jay's.

Jay felt himself getting choked up as he pulled you in for another hug. "Thank you."

"I know you'd do the same for me."

"In a heartbeat, Short Stack. In a heartbeat."

You stayed like that until Will went ahead and broke the comfortable silence that had fallen over the three of you.

"I hate to break this up, but there's something else I need to tell you guys," Will said.

You and Jay both turned to him and you let yourself out of Jay's embrace. "Which is?" you asked.

"Voight gave Jay two weeks furlough to recover and I talked Goodwin into giving me two weeks vacation--"

"How in the hell did you do that?" Jay asked.

"Let's just say I'm going to be working Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day. But that's beside the point. We have two weeks of vacation time."

"You do know I work right?" you asked.

"At a coffee shop, not at a big kid job," Will said. "And, I had Kim and Adam stop in there on their way to get the bears. They explained the situation and your work gave you two weeks off. Adam said he may have had to flash his badge, but that's beside the point."

"And you took vacation because...?" you asked.

"We need to make sure Jay relaxes and there's so many protests-turned-riots happening right now that we should probably get out of here."

"You do know it's not the peaceful protesters starting those, right? It's counter-protesters and other people who are racist bigots and people who decided they have no other choice but to be violent," you said, making your views known once again.

"I'm very much aware, Y/N. But, no matter who started it, people were running from tear gas and burning buildings last night."

"Alright, back on topic," Jay started, not wanting to have another argument like he had two days ago with you. "Where are we going?"

"I figured Wisconsin would be a good choice."

***

"It's my turn to pick the music," you whined as Will looked for another song on your long drive to Wisconsin.

"I'm the oldest, so I get control of it," Will argued.

"No, you've controlled it for the last three hours. I've had to listen to nineties hip-hop for that long. My eardrums are gonna bleed. Please make him give the aux, Jay."

"Dude, just give her the aux, and then she'll be quiet. Remember, she likes early 2000s pop-punk and 2000s stuff in general. We'll probably know most of it."

Will reluctantly handed you the aux. "Thank you. And, just to remind you two, I'm a big fan of Taylor Swift's first few albums and 5 Seconds of Summer."

You clicked play on Take What You Want by One OK Rock featuring 5 Seconds of Summer. You queued up some more songs by 5 Seconds of Summer and two by Taylor Swift, just to mess with your brothers, and then you added songs they would know like All the Small Things by Blink-182, Check Yes, Juliet by We The Kings, Dear Maria, Count Me In by All Time Low, and Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard.

By the time Dear Maria, Count Me In started playing, all three of you were jamming out, which caused Jay to forget to put his blinker on when he changed lanes...and there was a cop right there in the emergency turnaround.

Jay heard and saw the sirens behind him and slowed down. He knew the drill from pulling people over on his days on patrol. Now that he was in Intelligence, he practically just ripped the criminals out of their cars and handcuffed them against the side of their (usually stolen) car.

He got out his license and registration, along with his badge because he did have his service weapon with him. He'd be damned not bringing it with him in this day and age...and sometimes there were coyotes and he and Will didn't know if the old hunting rifle at the cabin that your grandpa used to use even had ammunition in and if there was even any ammunition at the cabin.

Jay rolled down his window as the officer walked up to him.

Your hands started to sweat and your heart started to race as you remembered your last encounter with an officer that you didn't know.

You were driving home from the library late at night after studying for a biology exam. And no, the library wasn't an excuse for going out and partying. You genuinely had gone to the library and had had a great and very focused study session for a few hours.

All of a sudden, you saw flashing lights and heard sirens. You turned down your music. You looked in your rear-view mirror and saw that the cop was right on your tail. He turned off his sirens and then turned them on and off quickly.

You were the one getting pulled over.

You pulled off to the side of the road and then rolled down your window.

"License and registration," the officer told you. He looked young, maybe a rookie.

"What's the problem officer?" you asked. Jay always told you that you had a right to know why you had been pulled over.

"You were going three miles over the speed limit, did you know that?"

"I don't recall how fast I was driving." Jay always told you never to admit to speeding because then you could fight the ticket if you ended up getting one.

"License and registration, please," he repeated.

"Reaching into my glove compartment and moving some CDs to get my registration," you narrated and then handed the registration to the officer. "Reaching over to my passenger seat to grab my purse which has my license in it...unzipping my purse...reaching in for my license." You handed him your license.

He ran your information and then came back to the window. "I'm sorry, Miss, but I have to give you a ticket."

You furrowed your eyebrows. For three miles over the speed limit? No fucking way was this happening.

"Uh," was all you could say.

"But, there is something you can do to get out of this ticket. You help me out, I help you out."

"I- I don't understand," you stuttered.

He looked down and you followed where he was looking and cupping himself with the hand that wasn't holding your license and registration.

"I- I..."

"Or I can just up this speeding ticket to going twenty miles over it. Say there was an open container in the car, too," he said.

You had no idea what to say. You couldn't risk getting your insurance upped and getting a minor in possession charge. You'd never be allowed to drive again!

But, there's no way you'd do this. You couldn't. But he was so much bigger than you that he could hold you down with one hand tied behind his back.

He placed his hand on the door handle. "You have three seconds to make your decision. One...Two..."

"My brother's Jay Halstead! Badge number 51163! His Sergeant's Hank Voight!" Your voice trembled as you yelled that and you were close to tears.

He looked back down at your license. It did say Y/N Halstead on it. He handed you back your license and registration. "Have a nice night."

Then, he walked back to his patrol car, got in, turned off the sirens, and drove off. You were so scared that you didn't even look to see what his last name or badge number was.

Once you had stayed pulled over for a good couple of minutes to make sure that the cop was nowhere in sight, you started driving again. You stopped at a drive-thru and got yourself a chocolate flurry with Oreos. Then, you sat in the parking lot with your hands still shaking and your heart still racing as you ate and started to cry. You cried for almost half an hour and waited there for another fifteen minutes so your eyes wouldn't be as puffy when you got home because you didn't want Jay asking questions.

"Y/N, you good?" Jay asked, taking you out of your thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah," you said quickly...almost too quickly. "Why?"

"Will just asked if you wanted to go back because we missed a song and you didn't answer."

"Yeah, I can do that." You quickly went back to the previous song and tried to sing with as much happiness as you did previously. But, you didn't get the image of that night or the feeling of dread out of your stomach for another hour.

***

You woke up the next morning very well-rested. The boys had taken the loft and the two twin beds that were up there and you got to take your mom and dad's old room because you were the only girl, so they said it was only fair that you got the bedroom.

You heard the dripping of water and got out of bed and then padded down the hall and to the kitchen. Jay was standing there in pajama pants and a t-shirt. (Thank God he wasn't shirtless for once in the morning. Your brothers really needed to learn how to put shirts on when they walked out of their rooms in the morning...and maybe by you telling them to put a shirt on all the time, you training them had finally paid off.) He drummed his fingers on the counter while he waited for the coffee to be done.

"Morning," you said.

He turned around. "Good morning. Shocked you're awake. It's only 8 am."

"And I'm shocked you haven't been up for two hours," you retorted.

"Oh, I've been up for an hour, just been reading upstairs. Will's not up yet, though."

"He always sleeps late when he doesn't have to work though, doesn't he?"

"Pretty much. We've made breakfast plans before and he's missed them because he was sleeping."

The timer went off on the coffee pot, alerting you that it was finished. Jay started to pour his in a tumbler. He held out a tumbler to you. You raised an eyebrow, silently wondering why he wasn't pouring it into a mug.

"I was gonna go for a morning canoe ride. You can come along if you want. Wouldn't want hot coffee spilling all over us," he told you.

"Did you bring creamer?" you asked.

"Irish cream creamer, just for you."

You reached into the fridge and grabbed the creamer.

"So, canoe ride?" Jay asked.

"Sure."

He poured coffee into a tumbler for you and then slid it to you to put your desired amount of creamer in.

***

Twenty minutes later, you were starting out in the canoe. You told Jay there was no way in hell that you'd be doing the rowing. He told you that he could only row with one arm because of his sling, so you'd have to do the other side. Skeptically, you started rowing. Jay told you that you'd be fine, just to follow his instructions.

Fifteen minutes later, when you were out in the middle of the lake, facing the forests of Wisconsin, he stopped.

"Why'd you stop?" you asked.

He picked up his tumbler of coffee off the floor of the canoe. "We need to talk."

"About what?" you asked as you picked up yours as well and held it with both hands.

"About your reaction last night when I got pulled over. You freaked. I need to know why."

"I- I didn't freak. I was just tired," you lied.

"You had quite the amount of energy right before that," he quipped.

"It's nothing."

"Y/N, I'm not letting this go. Is it because of the protests and riots and because of all the media coverage and those few bad apple cops and, I guess the system, that you're seeing that's making you nervous?"

"No, it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"You're not going to let this go are you?" you asked.

"I will stay in this canoe in the middle of the lake until you tell me what is going on, Y/N Halstead."

"You wouldn't."

Jay shrugged with the arm that wasn't currently in a sling. "Try me."

You sighed. "Just don't be mad that I didn't tell you sooner, okay?"

"I won't. You have my word on that."

"So, a little over a month ago I was driving home from the library..."

***

When you finished, you were in tears. "Did you get a last name? Badge number?" Jay asked as he rubbed circles on your back with his good hand.

You sniffled. "N- No. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for. Nothing at all."

"If I wouldn't have said- said your name...He had his hand on my door handle! And he was so much bigger than me. I'm sorry!"

You turned and buried your face in his chest. "Y/N, you have nothing to be sorry for."

"I should've told you right away, though! But you just had that really rough case and I didn't want to put too much on your shoulders and--"

"Y/N, I need you to take a deep breath. You need to breathe. This was not your fault. None of it was."

You calmed your breathing and just sat there, silent tears streaming down your face.

"That's why I wanted to go to the protests," you said after a few minutes. "Because I've actually had a bad experience with a cop."

"Which should've never happened in the first place."

"I was so scared," you whispered.

Jay just hugged you tighter as he thought about how strong his little sister was. You had given blood to save his life even though you knew you'd feel terrible after and you hadn't told him about this horrible cop--which he would kick this cop's ass the minute the got back to Chicago--because you didn't want him to have too much on his plate after that terrible case where he put an innocent man in jail and got him killed...which was the main reason he had been shot.

"When we get back to the cabin, I'll try and call Voight. I don't know if I'll have service, though."

"Why?" you asked.

"I'm gonna have him look up who was on their beat near you that night so he can go interrogate people on my behalf. Probably best he does it and not me." Because Jay knew that the minute he saw that cop, he wouldn't be able to hold himself back.

You nodded.

"Hey, cheer up, kid. We're here for two weeks, away from everything. Away from the city and everything that goes on there. And I can promise you that that cop will get what's coming to him, whether that be losing his job or going to jail or prison."

"Do I have to tell Will? Or can you tell him? I really don't want to talk about this again."

"I can do it," Jay answered. "Speaking of Will, if he's not up when we get back, what do we say we wake him up with some cold lake water?"

"Like dump it on him?" you asked as you widened your eyes. Jay nodded. "No, that's mean. Then he'll have to wait for his sheets to dry out and they'll smell the entire time."

"We have spare sheets and blankets in the closet."

"Fine, let's do it. But just so you know, I'm telling him that it was your idea and I also have a lock on my bedroom door here, which will make it harder for him to sneak in and dump water on me."

"I will be sleeping in your room tonight," Jay joked.

"Nope. It was your idea, so you're gonna have to live with Will's payback."

Those two weeks were filled with laughter, pranks, board games, corn hole, swimming, fishing (well, you read either in the canoe or on the dock while the boys fished), and just spending time with each other. You were glad that Will had the bright idea to take two weeks up here...even though he got drenched in cold lake water the first morning by you and Jay.

A/N: I got a request from @ La_lectrice_33 on wattpad for Y/N going to the dentist, so I hope you liked that little scene! I also got a request from an anon on here about Jay and Will's reactions to her growing up, so I put that in here, too. Thank you for over 23k reads! I won't be posting until this Sunday (August 1) when I start posting AUs for AU-gust. Please remember to like/reblog and comment because I love seeing those like/reblog notifications pop up and love reading your comments and asks! As always, if you would like to be added to my tag list, just tell me and I’ll add you! Finally, like my imagines? Buy me a coffee (only $1 through Paypal and other currencies can be used) here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Kayela

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[ererokii]

Warmth of your Touch || Eren Jaeger

➳ Eren Jaeger x Fem Reader

Word Count: 4K Warnings: contains spoilers from season three Taglist: @jaegerbomb20 @sleepysnk (message to be on it in the future)

➳  Note: This is from my canceled december event and it was just laying around in my drafts, i might start posting more of those! Also ignore the typos and such, this is HEAVILY UNEDITED.

The members of the Survey Corps couldn’t remember the last time they let loose and had fun. Around here, everyone was on their tiptoes, waiting for any enemy to strike. Really, all of humanity was like this. But the Scout Regiment was the first line of defense, and they always went underground first before anyone else. 

Many casualties swept over the brigade. The return to Shinganshina hit hardest. With the Beast Titan arrival and the fight put up by the Colossal and the Armored inflicted more damage than any group of titans could. With the death of Commander Erwin, and the retrieval of Reiner by the Cart Titan and Zeke, it wasn’t right. With the soldiers returning back home, it was quiet. No one dared to speak another word.

Only 20 or less able bodies made it back home to their families and were lucky enough to see the rays of the sun and breathe in the air that the Earth gave them. Too bad others were left on that battlefield on that day, their bodies becoming one with mother nature once more. 

The days slowly but surely started to get shorter as summer turned to fall. The colors of the leaves changed for the season, right on time. The hot sticky air turned to crisp, and more damp. The sky let out it’s tears and covered the earth with grey blankets more often. The sun was hiding behind the clouds, as the fluffy white shapes overtook the sky. The rays barely peeked through them, unable to give light for the day. 

With the help of Eren’s new hardening technique, he was able to make a new weapon that saved many soldiers from here on out. Hanji was enraptured about it. This experiment, that was a success, was all she could speak about. Nothing else mattered in her mind, and Captain Levi knew that as well. 

Eren was pushed to the brim with this. Day after day, night after night, the boy was exhausted. They pushed him beyond his limits for the technique. Sometimes, he was in and out of consciousness. His titan form decreased in size, his bones would crack upon another transformation to the point where he couldn’t even stabilize himself with his own legs that had the width of twigs.

Fall soon turned over for the year and gave the duty of the seasons to Winter. Winter came rather hard, and quick at that. The harsh winds sent chills up and down the soldiers' spines as they paid their respects to their fallen comrades. An assortment of bouquets were placed in front of the many grey stones that represented a daughter, a son, a father or a mother. 

The dirt underneath the boots of the breathing was moist from the rain. The crunches of leaves was the only noise that rang in a soldier’s ears, despite the sobs from others. 

Eren couldn’t help but carry the burden. He felt as if it was his fault for their deaths. Their sacrifices, only to keep him alive and well. Humanity’s Last Hope. With the newfound memories from his father, he knew that everything laid in his hands. 

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

The seasons passed as they always did. Life in the walls became busy once more. In a year, the Scouts were able to wipe all the leftover titans in Wall Maria. This meant old residents of this wall were able to return to their homes and start all over again. There was nothing wrong with that, but it meant that the fight for their land was over.

Everyone seemed to show gratitude towards the Scouts. At first, they hated the soldiers who would risk their life to put an end to the Titans reign of power. Called them ‘fat pigs who lived off of our hard working money’. Many soldiers of course took offense to this, but decided to stay silent. After all, they were right about the hard working money. Their earnings were the only things that allowed them to have the supplies they needed to survive. 

Winter approached once more to the soldiers of the Survey Corps. Adjustments were made as they needed to happen. Hanji, was appointed as the new Commander of the regiment. The news of humans being Titans spread like wildfire between every man and woman in the walls. The children stayed oblivious. 

The outside word began to shine brighter if possible. The world was rid of the filth that the Titans had left behind. The grass was able to dance in the wind as flowers began to grow from the soil. Animals were able to come out from years of terror, finally realizing they were free. Even though the man eating creatures weren’t attracted to animals, the sight of any being over an average height could place fear into the hearts of anyone, including living creatures. 

The gust of wind blew against the windows of the rooms in the headquarters. Despite everything being closed, the nooks and crannies were able to fill the once warm shelter, making it cold and gloomy. 

The Levi squad, that consisted of those left over from the battle at Shinganshina, were put to cleaning duty. Of course, that’s what you guys always did when Captain Levi felt it was time for a new cleaning, which was about every other day. 

Currently, you got stuck in a room with Sasha and Connie. Your job was to clean the room, wipe the shelves, mop the floor, wipe the desk that was in there, make sure to sweep the room as well. It was a lot of tasks for a room that was meant for one person.

A hum vibrated in your throat as you stood on your tiptoes, using a rag that was given to you by the Captain, to clean the upper shelves. It wasn’t even that dirty. You would give it at least another few days before it needed to be cleaned. It was like Levi had a secret eye for spotting microscopic dust particles.  It was absurd to say the least.

Behind you were the other two, Connie and Sasha. They did do their work! They actually helped, but for some reason they decided nothing to. You could hear their giggles and the clanging of their broomsticks knocking against each other. The buckets getting knocked over with dirty water didn’t help either but hey, if they got in trouble that was on them. Least you were doing your part.

Maybe you could laugh from your room as you watched them run until their legs fell off, begging for mercy as the hot sun burned against their backs. It always amused you when the Lieutenant stared up at them, unamused. 

You flinched when you heard Sasha let out a screech and a cry of anguish discharged from Connie’s mouth.

“What are you guys doing?” you questioned as you swiveled on your heel, turning to face them. Connie’s ass had met the floor, a hand against the floor to keep him upright and the other on top of his head. Sasha on the other hand, still had her arms raised in the air, a look of revelating shock on her features. They seemed to be playing ninjas again by the way Sasha had her leg up and bent in a right angle. 

“She hit me, that's what she did!” Connie abruptly stated, looking up at the two girls in front of him. “You promised not to hit me! I never hit you!”

“It was an accident Connie! Your head just happened to come into contact with my hand! It wasn’t intentional, honest!”

“What’s going on in here?”

Your eyes widened as you held the wooden stick with a vice like grip to your chest. Your heart began to beat a bit faster than usual. Your posture straightened up as you turned around to look at the short man.”C-Captain Levi!”

The said man looked up at you, then turned his head to Sasha and lowered his gaze to Connie, who was still on the floor. No words were exchanged as he took a step back, realizing the mess that occurred. The cleaning supplies were scattered across the floor, the mop and brooms were on the floor instead of the hands of Sasha and Connie, and not to mention the dirty water was spilled and engraved into the rugs. Yeah, they were in deep shit. 

Without warning, Levi made a ‘come forth’ motion with his index finger, to the pair, glancing his silvery eyes to your stiff body. “Keep cleaning, I’ll make Eren come help you.”

“Yes sir!” you saluted him as fast as you could, internally shaking as the three of them walked out of the messy room. As soon as they left, you could hear yelling from the corridor and their terrified squeaks. 

A huff escaped your lips as you bent over, picking up the spare cleaning supplies. Looks like it would be awhile until someone else came to help you.

He said Eren right?

At the name of the boy, your face heated up as you shook your head rapidly, ignoring any thoughts of them. It was often that the brunette invaded your unconscious mind and overtook every crevice of it. His eyes were absolutely beautiful. They had to be your favorite part of him, besides his personality. The way the irises shined in the sunlight, the rays giving them an ethereal look. His lashes complimented them. They weren’t long, but they weren’t short. Whenever he stared at you, you swore you could just lose yourself in them.

His appearance was changing. His hair became longer and rested at the base of his neck. His shoulders began to broaden as he got a bit taller as the year passed. His loud mouth quieted down as he became more realistic with his goals. He was still the same driven boy you met three years ago.

“Hey.”

Your jaw slacked as you looked over your shoulder. Eren was standing in the door frame, as he looked down upon you. It took you a second to realize what position you were in, on your hands and knees with your back facing him. Scrambling off the floor, you swiftly fixed the shirt and pants of your uniform. “H-Hi Eren!”

Fuck you probably embarassed yourself in front of your own crush. He probably thought you were a weirdo.

“Hi Y/N,” he spoke calmly and walked into the room, brushing a strand of brown hair out of his face as he placed a hand on the desk, using it as leverage to crouch and grab a mop. “They made a big mess huh?”

“Yeah they did..they always manage to get themselves in trouble. Kinda shocked..how they lasted this long in the Levi Squad.”

An amused noise came from Eren as he looked out the window, squinting his eyes. Without speaking, he advanced forward to the glass and moved the curtain out of the way. “Well would you look at that..”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“It’s snowing,” he muttered and took a step back, letting the drapes loose from his hands. “Wonder how they’ll get punished.”

“No way it’s snowing?” you asked, ignoring his last words as you rushed to the window, placing your hands on the cold glass. You had just finished cleaning it, your hand prints would now be stuck to it. “Wow it is,” you whispered, a joyous feeling growing in the pit of your stomach. “We should go outside right now.”

“Now? Are you crazy? Captain Levi would punish us twice as hard than those two! We could probably be on our deathbed if we don’t get to work!”

“Oh hush up Eren! When was the last time we were able to have fun huh? Years right? Literally! Live a little!” you exclaimed, tossing the stick on the floor. 

The brunette grumbled in protest as he shook his head, his strands of hair following his movement. “Thanks but no thanks. I rather live my life peacefully.”

An annoyed groan left your lips as you approached him, your lower lip jutting in an agitated pout. “Come on Eren. Please? For five minutes I promise! Levi is probably on the other side of headquarters right about now!”

He turned his head to the side, his eyes piercing into yours. His eyes were dull, but the curve of his lip meant otherwise. His fingers slithered around the silver pole of the mop, the pads of them moving up and down slowly as if he was thinking about it.

“Guess it can’t be helped,” as dramatic as he was, he let out a loud sigh and dropped the mop of the floor. “Let’s go. Before Captain Levi rips us a new one.”

“You’re the best Eren!”

“Uh huh. Now hurry up!”

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

The two of you put on your winter coats. It was the same one as the ones you were given in your cadet years, just a bit more efficient. The hoods were over your head as you walked beside Eren in the falling snow. It could have looked like any soldiers left the building. Soldiers with no chores, is what you guys were going for. 

“I think we’re clear now,” you said as you took your hood off, looking around the vicinity. Eren glanced down at you and did the same, running a bare hand through his hair. 

“Well go crazy then. You brought us out here,”

“Shut up Eren,” a huff of air passed your lips, the fumes becoming visible to the eye as it turned to mist and disappeared. Your eyes wandered across the dark clouds in the sky, small white particles falling from the insides of them. The grass that you walked on, began to get covered by the blankets of snow, the crunching increasing underneath your boots as you moved an inch or two. Your fingers itched inside your pockets, begging to touch the white mess.

The tip of your nose began to grow cold as you let out a sniffle, scrunching your nose as well as your upper lip in the process. The cold was nothing compared to this though. Honestly, you wouldn’t have minded coming with someone else, but something about Eren made it ten times more special than a random person.

Eren watched you from his peripheral vision, staying silent as the shock and awe look on your face was enough for butterflies to appear in his stomach. You looked like a child in a jewelry store in Wall Sina. You had to have seen snow before, but it was just in the moment that made you look adorable. His cheeks burned with a rosy red as he looked away from you, craning his neck upwards to look at the grey blanket of darkness. If he looked close enough, he could see the sun trying to peek through the stubborn clouds, but to no avail, it could not.

He fluttered his eyes shut as he exhaled slowly, letting the days stress wash away from his body. Eren was exhausted. Emotionally, and physically. His body was used for experiments constantly, he rarely took breaks as he mentioned that he had to be ready for whatever. Emotionally, he hated his power. He hated being a monster like everyone said he was.

He attempted to be normal on so many levels. At first he knew he wouldn’t be better than those ugly creatures that used to roam the land. The townspeople weren’t his biggest fans. They tried persuading the Military Police to shut him down when he first found out about his shifting ability. It was horrendous. He just wanted to be seen as normal amongst those that were classified as a regular human being. 

He tried so hard, yet no one could listen to him. He couldn’t see himself as human. In his eyes, he was disgusting. He was ugly. He was a monster. 

Oblivious that Eren was in his own state of mind, you decided to take a moment to admire his looks. His eyelashes rested peacefully on the top of his cheeks, small puff of air exerted from his lips as his shoulders heaved up and down slowly. The tiniest of snowflakes landed on his supple skin, and melted away automatically from his warm body temperature. His hair started catching the fall snowflakes. The pieces of the small ice crystals scattered across his locks. He seemed like a snow angel, literally. The tip of his ears were a faint red, freezing from the cold atmosphere. 

He was alluring. You wanted to know more about him. You craved to hear his deepest of secrets that only you would know. You desired for him to be by your side, and for you to take care of each other. The only person that knew of your crush on the boy was his friends, Mikasa and Armin. 

Mikasa seemed to notice right away. In your third year of training, she took notice that you were more upbeat when Eren was nearby or you would try your best to be partnered with him, if she wasn’t already. Sometime in that year, she had approached you straight up, with the same look on her face and said--

“Do you like Eren, Y/N?”

“W-What do you mean?! Course I don’t like Eren!”

“You’re lying.”

She was in fact right. You begged her a hundred times not to bring it up to anyone, especially Eren. You would have rather been eaten by a titan, spit out and get devoured once more instead of having to confront Eren about your feelings. And of course since the universe loved messing with you, Armin happened to walk in on the moment you were begging with mercy and got curious as to what you were speaking about. 

“Y/N, do you like Eren?”

“No Armin, why would you think that?!”

“Yeah she likes him.”

“Mikasa!” 

At the embarrassing memory, you didn’t notice that Eren had already been staring at you, knowing that you were gazing up at him. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m not looking at you in any way! Why are you looking at me like that?!”

“I asked you first, Y/N!”

Panicking, you quickly bent over and grabbed a clump of snow, modeling it into a sphere as you muttered things under your breath. He couldn’t know why you were staring because you wanted to kiss him, oh god no he could not. 

“Y/N?”

“Shut up!” you said quickly and threw the ball of snow at his face, a sound of shock leaving your lips when a noise of surprise left Eren as the sphere slid off his face. He blinked rapidly a couple times, small clumps of white stuck to his eyelashes, making his eyes more alluring. 

“Did you just…”

“Yeah I did..”

It was silent as he crouched down, staring forward but not at you. His hand dug into the blanket of snow and modeled a ball, letting out a shaky sigh. His nose has gone incredibly numb already at this point. His fingers dug into the delicate shape as he made eye contact for a split second before winding his arm back, and brought it forward with full force.

Before you had a second of protection, the ice crystal came into contact with your neck, the shape exploding upon contact and sending pieces flying. Some even fell down your coat and into your uniform. “Eren what the hell?!”

“What?” his grin that has been gone for too long, made its way back onto his face once more. Your heart fluttered at the sight. He looked like his old self once again. As much as you wanted to admit it, you missed him. You missed Eren. “shouldn’t have done that if you weren’t ready for a comeback huh?”

“Oh it's on,” you grunted. 

Little kids is what you became once more. Your shouts and his laughter could be heard miles away from headquarters. Shots of snow were being sent back and forth from either side, some hits being successful, others not so much.

Both of you had to have looked the same by now. Your eyelashes were damp from the melted crystals, as well as chunks of snow staying on top of your hair. Your nose was frozen off as the snow came down a bit harder than you expected, but you didn’t care.

It seems like hours have passed since you’ve come out here with Eren. Chores were forgotten in the back of your mind as your smile seemed to brighten by each second. It was sure that the water stains in the room dried, but left a foul stench in there. Captain Levi would for sure come and hunt you guys down for leaving your job unfinished. 

A loud laugh left your mouth when Eren tripped over a covered branch. His body folded as he fell forward, a yelp withdrawing from his lips. His face came into contact with the snow, his body leaving a decent sized human hole in the ground.

“Eren are you okay?!” you called out for when you stopped laughing, small puffs of air leaving your mouth as you walked over to his limp body.

He grunted as he pushed himself up, giving you an annoyed look. “Yes I’m perfectly fine,’ he grumbled and shook his head, reminding you of a dog as the pieces of snow fell off of his head.

“Run.”

Puzzled, your eyebrows furrowed as you looked down at him in curiosity. “I’m sorry, did you say run? Run for what?”

“Five.”

“Eren what the hell are you talking about?”

“Four.”

What the hell was he on about? If this was another one of his ramblings from his father’s memories, you would personally knock him out and tell him to quit it. But there was a different look in his eyes. His eyes were squinted, small creases formed at the corner of his eyes, a mischievous look in his orbs. His fingers clenched around nothing as he slowly got up from his position. 

“Three.”

Realization hit you like a wagon being pulled by horses as you took a step back cautiously, a small lump forming in your throat. Yeah, no. You rather not be crumbled to the ground by a boy, who weighed more than you. That was a death sentence.

Instead of running, because you wanted to be cautious of any possible injuries, you decided to speed walk in the direction of the doors that led to the inside of headquarters. He couldn’t try shit if you were already inside. God, why was Eren like this?

You didn’t even hear the crunches of the shoes from behind you as a pair of arms wrapped around your midsection and knocked you down onto the ground. With a sharp intake of air, your back collided with the pillowy bottom as you wheezed for air. Your eyes widened when you realized how close you were to Eren.

His hands were by your biceps, caging you underneath him. His brown locks fell forward, but they weren’t long enough to tickle your face. His cold breath fanned against your face as you felt yourself drown in his eyes. His eyes glanced down at your lips before looking into your eyes. He felt all of his willpower from keeping him sane. 

It seemed that his body moved on his own as he leaned down lower a fraction, as if he was getting ready to kiss you, but came to terms that it might not be the best idea. You took notice of it as you moved suddenly, bringing a hand up to his hood and pulled it over his head, making sure it covered his eyes. Your other hand raised up to his face, cupping the swell of his cheek as you leaned forward, pressing your cold lips against his own. 

His whole body tensed for a few seconds before melting into the kiss. His eyebrows furrowed as he sat you both up, cradling a hand behind your neck as if to bring you closer. Your hands moved from his hood to the front of his coat, your fingers curling around the material. A new sense of heat seemed to wash over your entire body. His fingers danced on the base of your neck, shivers running down your body, not only from the cold, but from his electrifying touch. With him being at an advantage, his forehead pressed up against yours. Your fingers weaved into his hair, slowly running up to his scalp, desperately trying to stay in the moment. 

He began to get shaky as he pulled away slowly, tugging on your lower lip with his teeth in the process. His eyes fluttered open as he took a look at your face. It looked like you were struggling to open your eyes after the kiss. It made him a bit prideful when he noticed this. 

“Open up,” he whispered, tapping your cheek with his fingers, a boyish smile on his face. He watched as your eyes fluttered open, a hazy look in your orbitals. 

“Hi Eren,” you forgot where you were as you glanced around the area, realizing you were still in the snow. “..I’m a bit cold.”

“Yeah? Me too,” he responded as he looked over your shoulder before pushing himself off of the ground, lending a hand for you. Gratefully, you took it as he hoisted you up. 

“Do you think Captain Levi found that we weren’t there?”

The boy stayed silent as he thought for a moment before shrugging. “Who knows. Maybe he did and he’s looking for us right now. I think we should go back then, before we get punished,” he muttered and grabbed your hand, lacing his fingers with yours. 

You stared down at his calloused palm rubbing up against your own. His hand was different. It was warm and it made you feel safe. Who knew a connection between hands was more than enough to know about your requited feelings. 

“Eren I like you,” you blurted out, your face heating up as you looked down at the ground, listening to the crunches underneath your feet as you advanced forward. 

“Yeah? I knew already.”

“Huh?!” A look of bewilderment and a choke of air was all you could express at the moment. Who betrayed you.

“How—“

“Mikasa,” he interrupted, a hint of smugness in his tone. “I asked her to find out for me last year.”

“Mikasa?” You whispered, voice wavering. You remember that she swore to not tell a soul, not even him. 

“But it worked out right?” He asked and looked down at you, a grin on his face. “You should really thank her one day. She may be silent, but she knows what she’s doing.”

You rolled your eyes as you nodded, hugging his arm close to your chest. “Yeah you’re right. Maybe we should both thank her. She does save your life after all.”

“Hey that’s one thing I would not do. I never asked for it!”

Your laugh could be heard from a few feet away in the midst of the snowfall. Fog began to cloud the outside word as you held onto Eren as a guide. 

Upon hearing your laugh, it made Eren feel human again. His heart was beating faster than normal, a sign that he was feeling another emotion besides fear. The touch of your hand set a fire full of adoration within him. 

Unbeknownst to the two teenagers, their short Captain watched with his hard eyes, his arms crossed over his chest. He had just checked up on Sasha and Connie, who were cleaning the stable and happened to come across the scene not too far away from him.

Instead of deciding to approach the pair and punish them, he let them have their fun. Even if Eren was one of the most hated people in all of Paradis, even the most hated deserved to have someone warm their heart.

[toh-writings]

Fortunes of Love Pt 1 (Eda x OC)

Summary:

When King needs his most loyal soldier fixed, Eda decides to take them to an old acquaintance of hers to get it patched. What starts as a visit turns into another visit, then another, then another. Eda begins to wonder why they were never friends before.

Warnings: None

It was a surprisingly quiet afternoon. Luz was still at school, Hooty was taking a nap, and King was off somewhere playing. And Eda had every intention of taking advantage of the break in the chaos. She slumped onto the couch with a sigh, a steaming mug of tea in her hands. She took a sip of her drink, closing her eyes and relaxing, a lazy smile on her face. This was the stuff.

Eda’s peace was shattered when a screech rang out through the house. She sighed, putting her mug down on the coffee table. Looks like her tea would go cold. She crossed her arms, scowling at King as he dashed into the room, but her face softened when she saw him. He looked like he was on the verge of tears, his little stuffed rabbit clutched tightly in his arms.

“Eda!” he screeched, running into her legs and toppling over. He was quick to get back to his feet.

“I’m right here, King, you don’t need to screech.”

“Eda, Eda, The worst thing ever has happened!” He continued to screech, not bothering to lower his voice a bit. “Francoise’s been injured!”

He shoved the rabbit in her face, showing the arm hanging on by a thread, the stuffing spilling out.

“He needs immediate attention or I fear he’ll lose his life!” The little demon insisted, looking quite devastated at the turn of events. Eda sighed, a soft smile on her face.

“Alright, alright, let me see.”

She gently took the rabbit from him and took a closer look. The thread attaching the arm to the body was in pieces, bits poking out of the worn fabric. It had probably just gotten too old, played with too much, something like that. She wasn’t the best at sewing, but it looked easy enough to fix.

“Guess I can fix it. Just let me get some things.”

She handed the rabbit back to King and gave him a little pat on his head. She had a bunch of junk in the closet to look through.

It was tougher than she thought it would be just to find a needle and thread. Luz had returned from school before she had even found anything.

“Eda? What are you doing?”

The witch huffed from her pile of stuff, the shelves of the closet empty. She grumbled, wading through her pile and standing by Luz.

“Looking for a needle and thread. King broke his doll.” She said dismissively, idly drawing a circle in the air. All the junk on the floor jumped to attention and flew back to their spots. “Clearly, I didn’t find anything.”

“Awww, that’s why King looks so depressed.”

They looked back to the couch where King sat, still clutching his broken rabbit with big crocodile tears in his eyes. He sniffed.

“Yeah. We need to fix that thing.”

Eda went quiet as she thought, pacing the living room. Okay, maybe she couldn’t fix the damn thing herself. That meant she would have to find someone else to do it. She went through all the people she knew in her mind. Half of them hated her, so it was easy to cut the list down. None of the first people she thought of actually knew anything about sewing or stuffed animals. She had to dig deep before she remembered someone who might be able to help. It was a long shot, but they had to try.

“Alright you two, I have an idea.”

She turned to them with her signature cocky smile.

“We’re going to the market.”

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

The Market was busy this time of day, the witchlings who just got out of school running around through the crowd. Eda hated being at the market when it was like this, but desperate times they say. The market was large and there were many stalls, but only one of them was the one they needed. She wished she remembered where it was better. She had never actually been there before, she just passed it every once in a while. After several wrong turns and irritated mumbles, she finally spotted the familiar stall.

“Ah, here we are! Told ya I’d find it.”

She crossed her arms, a prideful smile on her face, but Luz and King looked doubtful.

“It looks like a … fortune-teller?” Luz said, cocking her head to one side.

And so it did. The dark blue stall was decorated with white glittering stars and a crystal ball sat on the counter alongside various other tools. A group of teenagers were clustered around it, giggling and squealing at each other.

“How is some palm reading supposed to help Francoise?” King shouted, looking irritated.

“Just come on, ya little demon. Trust me.”

King continued to grumble his doubts as the approached the stall. The group of teenagers dispersed as they approached, talking amongst each other and staring at their hands in wonder. As they left they could see the witch waving goodbye. She looked friendly enough, her black curls tied back and what looked like a snake hanging on her shoulders. She smiled at them as they approached, though she looked a bit hesitant when she saw Eda.

“Hello! How can I help you?” Her voice was small and quiet.

“There you are! What was it again? Nila or something?” Eda’s voice boomed in contrast to the other witch. She leaned against the counter, a hand on her hip.

“Niliana.”

Eda gave a dismissive wave.

“Whatever, close enough. Listen, Nily, we have a bit of a problem here and need your help.”

She nodded to King. He still looked doubtful, but jumped on the counter and showed the witch his rabbit. She focused on it instantly, brows furrowed as she inspected the damage, humming thoughtfully.

“You want me to fix it?”

Eda nodded.

“It’s desperate! We must heal Francoie immediately!” King shouted, waving his arms around. “I don’t want to lose my best buddy!”

The woman smiled at him, giving his head a few pats.

“He’ll be fine. I can fix him. Come on then, my supplies are in the back.”

She left her stall, leading them into a tent behind it. Luz gazed around it in wonder. It was dark, little balls of light floating around the ceiling giving all the light they needed to see. There shelves upon shelves of stuff surrounding them, crystal balls, crystals, various jars of herbs, and other mysterious substances. Even more dried herbs were hanging from the ceiling alongside various fabrics. In the middle of the room were several comfy looking chairs and a love seat surrounding a round coffee table with a few unlit candles.

“Take a seat, I’ll get working on this.” Niliana told them in her soft voice, motioning to the chairs. Luz hopped into a chair, giggling as she bounced slightly. Eda sat with a sigh, sprawling out over the love seat, but King couldn’t sit. He followed the witch, right on her heals as she walked to what looked like a work table. The shelf above it was lined with various stuffed animals in various rates of decay and mismanagement. King crawled onto the table, watching anxiously as she got to work. The snake on her shoulders slithered away due to some unspoken command, curling around a nearby staff and turning to wood.

“This is a nice place ya got here!” Luz said, still staring around in wonder. “I haven’t meant anyone who was really good at oracle magic before! Can you tell the future? How? What’s your favorite way to do it? What’s all the herbs and crystals for? How…?”

“Slow down, kid!” Eda said, laughing. “Not everyone can talk as fast as you.”

“Oh, right sorry.” Luz said, looking a bit sheepish and shrugging.

“No, dear, I can’t tell the future. Not exactly. Oracle magic is actually quite complicated. It’s more like I see pieces what could happen. I do it by connecting to others magic. I like reading tea leaves the most. The herbs are for the tea. The crystals can be used to focus someones magic so I can read it and use it to tell the future.”

She answered easily, not missing a beat as she worked. The rabbit was empty of all stuffing now, the broken thread removed and the arm sitting next to it. She got herself a bucket and filled it with water, adding an herb here and an herb there. Once the concoction was completed she put the pieces of the rabbit in to soak.

King stared into the bucket, then looked up at her, confused.

“What are you doing?” He asked, the nervousness creeping into his voice. She smiled at him again.

“He’s just taking a bath is all. It’ll make his fur soft and stronger.”

King nodded, keeping a close eye on the bucket.

“What do you mean you see pieces? What does that mean? And what does tea have to do with telling the future?”

Niliana sighed.

“Why don’t I just … show you? Would that appease you?”

Luz’s eyes went wide and she nodded, almost bouncing with excitement. So, she started putting together a pot of tea, heating the water with a magical floating fire. With nothing left to do but wait, she finally sat with a sigh, grabbing a deck of cards to fiddle with.

Luz never stopped talking, but once the witch had settled the girl went oddly silent. Niliana looked over to her to find the girl watching her with intent, curious eyes.

“Sooooo…” She started, a smirk on her face. “How do you and Eda know each otherrrrrrr.”

“We went to school together,” Eda spoke up before Niliana could, but she didn’t seem to mind. She just nodded.

“We were both in the potions track, at least for a short time.”

“Ugh, those classes were so booooring.” Eda groaned, slouching even further in the love seat at the very memory of them. “It was nothing but stirring and stirring. I don’t know how you managed it.”

“Clearly, I didn’t.” She said, twirling a card between her fingers. “I transferred to the oracle track shortly after you left.”

Eda snorted.

“I’m amazed anyone's making potions these days with a class like that.”

Niliana shrugged.

“I didn’t think it was all that bad. The monotony was calming, especially when I was having a bad day.”

Eda waved her hand aimlessly, clearly unimpressed.

“Awww, you guys were friends?” Luz asked, but Eda shook her head, confusing the girl.

“Not really. We were more like … Aquaintances. We knew of each other, but we didn’t hang out or anything.”

“We only really talked when we were paired up for a project.” Niliana added.

“Yeah, I remember that! I always got a passing grade with you watching my back!”

“You made me do all the work.”

“Not like I was learning anything anyway. I still did some of the stirring, didn’t I?”

“Mmmm, I suppose. Not much. You were too busy getting into trouble releasing spirits in the locker room or something.”

Eda snickered, remembering all her troublesome pranks.

“They never could get rid of those spirits. They made me do it!”

Niliana looked doubtful.

“And how exactly did they manage that?”

Eda just smiled, sitting up so she could ruffle Luz’s hair.

“I had to get Luz here into that school somehow.”

They spent a while retelling some of there adventures from school. Well, Eda retold some of her adventures. NIlly occasionally would add something here or that, mentioning something she herself remembered. Otherwise, she busied herself with other things. The tea needed to be finished and handed out and the rabbit needed dried off after soak and restuffed. The tent was filled with laughter. Even King was laughing at some points, though he kept his attention mostly on his rabbit.

“I finished my tea!” Luz piped up. “Do you read the leaves now?”

“In a bit, hun, let me just finish this real quick.”

King bounced anxiously, watching her carefully as pulled the needle through the fabric. Finally, the string was tied off and snipped.

“He’s done! Ya fixed him!” King shouted, eagerly grabbing for the rabbit, but the woman pulled it away.

“One last thing.” She said, opening one of her drawers to pull out a black ribbon. She tied it around the rabbit’s neck, forming a cute little bowtie. Only when that was done did she hand it to the little demon. He snatched it from her hands, giving it a big hug.

“Francoise! You’re all fixed!” He cheered. “Thank you, lady!”

He jumped off the counter, dashing over to Eda to show her his newly fixed rabbit. She whistled.

“Dang, it almost looks brand new! I knew you did this sort of stuff but I didn’t know you were good at it.”

Niliana shook her head.

“How did you even know? I don’t remember telling you about it.”

Eda shrugged, moving to the side so King could sit next to her, Francoise in his lap.

“I don’t know, you mentioned something about fixing stuffed animals during one of our projects.”

“And you remembered?”

“Yeah, I know. I even shock myself sometimes.” She smirked smugly, crossing her legs and putting her hands behind her head.

Niliana rolled her eyes, sitting down and putting a hand out to Luz. The girl eeped gleefully, rushing to give her the tea cup.

“Now, what do you want me to focus on?”

“Uh, what?” Luz asked.

“I need something to focus on. So, what do you want to know?”

Luz thought for a moment, then beamed.

“Oh, oh, I know! Will I ever fall in love?”

Eda rolled her eyes, mumbling something about teenagers and love. Niliana smirked at that before gazing into the cup. A moment later her eyes started glowing teal. Luz watched, fascinated. Several moments passed in silence before Luz got too impatient.

“Well? What do you see?”

Niliana closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. They were no longer glowing, returned to their usual golden brown. She thought for a moment, Luz staring at her intently, slowly inching closer to the witch.

“You will fall in love. In fact, you’ll fall in love with someone you already know and who you’re already close with.” She finally said, placing the cup down on the coffee table.

“Whoa, really? How do you know?”

“When I read your tea leaves, I focus intently on you and whatever you want to know, in this case, love. When I go into my trance, I don’t really see things, I feel things. They're more like impressions. I felt love, that’s how I know you will fall in love with someone. But I also felt a sense of familiarity, which is how I know it’s someone close to you. I’d advise you to figure out if any of your friends like you.”

“Whoa…” Luz whispered, looking amazed. Eda chuckled. It was amazing that her face didn’t freeze like that.

“Alright, hotshot. If you’re so good at this then read my stupid leaves.” She said, leaning forward, her teacup hanging off a finger. Niliana snatched it before it could fall and shatter. She shot the other witch a hard look.

“What do you want to know?”

“I don’t know, just tell me something about my love life or whatever.”

The witch stared into the teacup for a moment before her eyes lit up once more.

“This is all nonsense anyway,” Eda added, sitting back and crossing her arms. Luz looked taken aback.

“What? Why?”

“Simple. There’s no such thing as a set future. It hasn’t happened yet! Sure, you can be told what might happen and give all sorts of random advice or whatever, but it’s you’re own actions that determine what really happens. That’s not something she can control.”

Luz looked a little downtrodden by her mentors' words, but brightened almost instantly.

“So she can’t tell exactly what’ll happen, but she can point me in the right direction! It’s like well-informed advice.”

Eda waved a hand dismissively.

“Whatever you say, kid. Personally, I don’t let this stuff get to me.”

Niliana blinked, her eyes returning to normal once more.

“... alright, there’s a lot more to go through here.” She commented, looking rather thoughtful.

Eda frowned, just a bit irritated.

“What’s that supposed to mean.”

The woman didn’t seem affected by Eda’s steely tone, continuing with her even, soft voice.

“You have a pretty crazy love life already, it can be hard to sift through. You feel a lot of love for the people around you, so it's hard to say if there’s anything new there … There will be others that’ll come into your life and join your little family, that’s for sure. For a wanted criminal, you really draw them in.”

Eda huffed, her irritation fading as a soft smile spread on her face.

“I suppose so... “

She tried not to react to the look Luz was giving her.

It was a few more seconds before Niliana spoke up again.

“For someone who’s dated a lot, you haven’t felt a who lot of romantic love before. But there will be someone someday. Probably someone from your past. You may be nervous about it, it’ll be odd and new, but It’ll be worth it. My advice would be to not go searching for anything, but don’t shove anyone away who might want to get close to you. You may never find love if you stay closed off. But make sure they’re making an effort, too.”

She gave a little nod, satisfied with her reading, and put the teacup next to the other.

“My turn! I want a reading too!” King piped up. Niliana nodded and made him a cup. He snatched it out of her hands with a “nyeh’ and gulped it down. He shoved the now empty cup into her face. “Do your magic, Lady!”

Niliana chuckled, taking the cup from him and reading it.

“You, dear, are going to live a very happy life surrounded by the ones you love. You’ll be very pampered like you are now.”

“Yes! Only the best for the King of Demons!” King said, puffing his chest out. Eda pat his head, nearly knocking him over.

“Whatever you say, tiny.”

They left shortly after that, all waving as the left. Niliana waved back from her tent.

“I liked her. We should visit again sometime!” Luz said, looking up at Eda expectantly. King did the same from Luz’s arms, tail wagging. Eda sighed, a smirk crawling onto her face.

“Fine, if you want.”

The two cheered, running ahead a bit. Eda smiled at them.

[sakurabutterflyart]

Hugfia Week, Day 3 AU

The Princess and The Prince of Thieves

Sofia was known to be the Princess of Enchancia. She used to be a village girl in the village which is why she has a closer relationship with the villagers. Even if she's now the princess of Enchancia, she still enjoys being there. 

As she grew older. Since she's not gonna be the heir of the throne, she'd decided to train as a protector of her kingdom. Just like her brother. 

Nobody in her kingdom knows about it except her family and friends, cause she thinks that it's best to remain a secret. And it did. 

When she was just having a secret patrol in her village and decided to go home with some ice cream, that's a bit far away from other houses. There are currently only few people since it's already closing. Which is a perfect opportunity for thieves to attack. 

Sofia was about to eat her favorite flavored strawberry ice cream, she heard loud noises behind her. Before she could respond what's going on, she saw a guy with black hair and dark green eyes knock her out.

The thieves who are called Black Ice, have been known to be constantly stealing banks, restaurants, and shops. They are known to be the kingdom of thieves, for they can't be easily caught and it's been years but it's still an active thieves group. For they are being well trained and well strategize by their leader named Hugo, who hides behind the name the Ice Prince. For he is the prince of thieves. He used to be a beggar who was about to loose his life, since he still has his fellow brothers in the streets who needs to be fed. Which is why he has no choice but to live his life this way in order to provide all of them.

"Is everyone knocked out and tied." He asked his men.

"All down brother!" Desmond answered. Gently placing the citizen and checking the tied ropes to make sure no one's gonna go after them.

"Let's better hurry, before the village guards finds out we're here. We have to take something home for our guild." He ordered and everyone is taking the things that they will need. They were here for the money but Hugo thinks that he should take something special for his family and that is ice cream.

"Hey Hugo look!" Hugo heard his brother called, waving him to come.

He took off the cloak of the stranger I knocked out earlier, revealing she was a lady. She has soft white skin, She is wearing something like a hunter or a high position knight clothing that is very unusual for a girl to wear. Caramel brown hair that's tied into a ponytail. But what really stand out the most is her tiara and her pink amulet, that I can tell right away that this girl is the princess of Enchancia, Sofia. 

"She's a princess Hugo, what are we gonna do?" Desmond ask, a little worried like we're in big trouble. 

"What's with that tone Desmond? Isn't this a great thing? We can just hold her as hostage and demand the king for a fortune of money and treasures." Axel joined in, squeezing the knocked out princess's cheek.

Hugo's POV

"I don't think that's a great idea big brother. If we do that the king is gonna order all his soldier as they hunt down our home, including other kingdoms that is allied in Enchancia. It's best to leave her alone." I spoke, making sure the action we take don't get us into trouble. 

I look at the princess who is out cold and I gotta admit, she's very pretty. I scanned her looks wondering why did someone from the castle go to the village and with this outfit? 

"How about we'll take something expensive from this princess..." It seems like she brought nothing. The only thing I found valuable is her crown and her... "This necklace looks very expensive-"

I was about to grab it until I was surprised that a very strong grip stopped me. I look at the owner of the hand, it's not my brothers nor anyone around this room but the princess.

I looked at her as she got up, revealing her fierce ocean blue eyes burning in rage towards me. "Don't. You. Dare. Touch. My. Amulet. My father gave it to me, this is too precious!" 

She speak in a low tone expressing anger, but before I can even react she punch my face that took me flying across the room to the walls. It must be her pay back for knocking her out earlier. I manage to stay conscious, when I looked at her amulet it was glowing revealing that it's magical.

While I'm still trying to get up. My brothers are going after her to stop her from attacking me. But she managed to spar them with her sword that seems to be magical, even her punch and kicks are strong to make someone fly. She even gets to shape shift into an animal that is strong, she can even fly as a fairy. As few minutes past, she manage to defeat all 50 thieves from the Black Ice. 

"Now it's your turn." She pointed her sword towards me with anger on her eyes. It was threatening but I somehow find it attractive. She charge at me with full speed, and my brothers cried out in worries. I managed to draw out my weapon. Both of our sword clash that creates a strong wind. 

We were glaring at each other and staring at each other's eyes. The longer I looked to her, her glares may be scary, but she was darn cute. I smirk at the thought that this lady is really... My type.

"You... You're this famous prince of thieves who leads the Black Ice." She grumbled, but it fails to scare me but it made me smile.

"Yep, the one and only Ice Prince. But you can all me Hugo my lady. And I'm guessing you're this famous Princess Sofia of Enchancia, the hero of this Kingdom." I get up and manage to recover from  the pain of her punch. Giving a peck on her hand as greeting. She raised a brow, confuse at my response. "Even though you're known to be in dresses and staying at a castle, what are you doing here in this village?"

She pulled her hand away from mine, still glaring at me. "Don't be so casual to me Ice Prince! I've heard so many rumours about your recent attack through every villages, you've given so many problems in our kingdoms! I'm here to arrest you."

She spoke to her amulet, "Amulet, I called James to bring soldiers to the village's ice cream shop. The Black Ice are here..."

Her amulet glowed. As she continue to draw out her sword and charge after me.

Third POV

They were battling, their sparring took longer with Hugo flirting with her and teasing her. Until the fought ended with Sofia's sword skills and traping him to the ground. 

Hugo's POV

"Hugo the Ice Prince and the leader of the Black Ice. You are under arrest for stealing shops and banks, kingdom to kingdom. You bring enough harm to all of us." She declared, pulling the collar of my shirt and pointing a sword to my throat. 

Our face were so close and I can hear my heart is beating faster than ever before. It was a love at first sight with this girl, even though I never believe in those things and think it's a ridiculous way to fall in love. She's just so beautiful and strong, there's something about her that is so special when I look at those eyes. I just can't take it anymore. 

I smirked at this beautiful sight and also pulling her collar towards me, before she could asked and form a sentence, I silenced her with my lips. I can her hear yelp in surprise between our kiss. She was trying to pull away by letting go of her sword and push me, but I also do the same with mine and hold her hands tightly. Deepening our kiss.

I have never thought of myself as being forceful to a lady before. I promised myself that even if I'm a thief I'll still keep my good side especially to a girl that I will like. But she's a different story, I'm a thief and she's a princess who's gonna arrest me, and I also don't wanna let her go.

After enjoying her touch, I finally let go and let her breath. She looked at me in shock.

"Sorry about that, you're just too cute princess" I smiled at her, and I can see her face slowly turning red in embarrassment. "If I'm really going to prison, then I will never regret kissing a strong pretty lady like you."

"Y-you.. you jerk!"

I winked but I met a very hard impact to my cheek, though it doesn't really hurt cause I really meant what I say to her. 

She was gonna slap me with my other cheek, though this time I caught her hand and pull her closer, whispering through her ears with my lowest voice. "I like you, you're going to be my most precious treasure princess, you're mine now. I won't allow anybody, not even another prince to take you."

I let her go and we stare at each other. Her eyes looks confuse, not knowing what to respond. I sigh, as much as I wanted this moment to last forever, I can't afford me and my brothers nor my family to get arrested.

I snapped my finger and shouted, "Now Derek!"

The ceiling opened with our guild's magic. Revealing a bunch of dark carriages, I can see all of my guild mates, which is also my family, throwing rope ladders for my brother's to retreat to.

"What the! What's going on!" I can hear Sofia shout in anger. 

I whistled with my fingers, loud enough for my horse Electra to come to me. I hop on her and look at the princess. She was about to charge me with her magic sword, but this time I manage to catch her sword with my magic. 

"I'm called the Prince of Thieves for a reason Sofia, I use magic too and I never get captured that easily." I gave her a victorious smile, I can see her face looking very angry and also disappointed.

"You tricked me with those dirty moves and pick up lines. Is this what you use to any girls you fought with?" She ask, clearly disappointed being taken advantage of being girl.

I caress her face as I give a quick peck on her forehead, and patting her. To assure her. "Nope, you're the first lady that I ever treated this way. Even I don't expect to feel this way towards anyone."

Third POV

He smiled and suddenly flew away with his horse, when he saw the Commander James charging at them with arrows and chasing them down. "Stay away from my sister!"

As Hugo flew away, he smiled and shouted to her.

"Goodbye Princess, I'll see you again soon! If other prince tries to steal you away from me, I promise I'll steal you first!" He left, revealing he also steal her tiara. "If the amulet is too precious to you, I'll take this one instead dear! Goodbye for now my lady!"

He left and Sofia gritted her teeth, but she was completely flustered. She doesn't have the will to fight and go after them, leaving it to James. But they weren't able to catch them.

She was completely angry as she walk home with her brother, not being able to capture the greatest thief of the kingdom. She felt her heart tingling and beating just by thinking about him.

She felt dizzy at the feeling. She touched her lips, remembering the pressure he placed on her lips. Feeling frustrated about it. 

"How dare he... Out of all people, why him?"

Not only did he steal her first kiss, he also steal her heart. 

(A/N: This is from my wattpad. In Hugfia Week I'm a bit busy but I'll try joining in.)

[ronnie-azumane]

Flower Rings

Hello everyone! I'm here with another Anisylum collab! This is the first time writing for my OG anime husband, so please go easy on me. But yeah! I hope y'all enjoy and check out the other works from the other creators participating!

CW: Abuse/beating, fluffy hurt/comfort, ATTACK ON TITAN MANGA SPOILERS, mentions of trauma, suicide, and death.

Life in the ghetto wasn’t a walk in the park. Sure, life could be worse, (Y/N) could be going hungry at night, slowly turning into skin and bones. (Y/N) could be shivering the night away in a flimsy tent with a single blanket to keep warm.

Although it’s a little hard to be grateful for what you have when it feels like the oppressor is always watching your every move.

It doesn’t take a genius to see the lack of justice in these ghettos provided by the Marleyan regime, however, young (Y/N) didn’t pay attention to her oppressors as much, they’re only a child after all. Why would they even want to be concerned about politics when the neighbors are playing a game of kickball?

Almost like clockwork, every week at precisely 5pm, the children born in the ghetto would gather in a courtyard and play kickball, with the ball being an old ball accidentally thrown over the fence years ago and the bases marked by old linens.

Kids of all ages gathered as usual at the court yard to divide out the teams and begin their game of ball. (Y/N) wasn’t the youngest there, but at seven years old, they were still young and scrawny, so it was no surprise that (Y/N) was one of the last ones picked.

(Y/N) sighed in relief, however, when they saw that Reiner was on their team. Reiner was three years older than (Y/N), and pretty much tied to their hip. Since both their mothers were friends growing up, they always had playdates together, playing with various figures and creating these elaborate plots to go along with them.

“We’re on the same team? Yes!” Reiner celebrates, jumping around excitedly as any ten year old would.

“You’re only celebrating because you’re too chicken to face me,” (Y/N) teased, sticking their tongue out.

A succession of ‘am not’s and ‘am to’s was promptly stopped when one of the older kids shouted that the game was about to start. Team Black would be kicking first while Team White would pitch.

(Y/N)’s favorite part of the game was kicking, so finding out that the Black Team was kicking first was music to their ears. They ran to the line, getting as close to the front as they could. Reiner held back, as he preferred catching the ball and running fast to get someone out.

(Y/N) was finally up to kick. Team Black had an out and kids on second and third base. If they scored, their team would get their first point.

The ball bounced a slight bit as it made its way toward (Y/N). (Y/N) wound back their leg and hit the ball back, aiming in between the second and third base. The ball flew and (Y/N) sprinted to first base.

What (Y/N) failed to realize was that Jameson, the eight year old boy that had a personal goal of making every day miserable for (Y/N), was waiting by first base.

As they ran toward the base, Jameson positioned himself to where his foot would ‘accidently’ get in the way of (Y/N)’s footing. Sure enough, (Y/N) stepped on his foot, causing them to lose their balance and fall to the ground before hitting the base.

“What the hell, (Y/N), you stepped on my foot!” Jameson shouted, landing a kick in (Y/N)’s side. (Y/N) yelped in pain as they curled into themself.

“You put your foot there on purpose,” (Y/N) sniffled as pain-filled tears leaked from their eyes.

“So what if I did? You still should have avoided it,” Jameson landed another kick to their side.

Reiner, who was zoned out looking at a bee buzzing around, snapped back to reality when he heard (Y/N) yelp in pain in the distance. Before he could think, he found himself running over to the two and punching Jameson square in the face.

Before Jameson could retaliate, Reiner picked up (Y/N) from the ground and ran away from the game, carrying them on his back. Deciding it was not worth the effort, Jameson let them run off as he got back to his game, but not before the team captain of the day switched him to outfield as punishment.

With (Y/N) on his back, Reiner ran to their self proclaimed happy place, if you could call anywhere in the ghetto happy. Near the entrance gate, there was a patch of grass where wildflowers grow, giving them a taste of the natural world that was unknown to them within the walls of the ghetto. He set them down and plopped next to their shuttering frame.

“How are you feeling, (Y/N), are you hurt? Do we need to go to the doctor?” Reiner asked.

“I’m hurt, but I don’t want to go to the doctor.”

“Are you still afraid that the doctor is going to give you a shot?” Reiner teased.

“Shut up! Needles are scary!” (Y/N) whined, causing Reiner to giggle.

Soon enough, the pain in (Y/N)’s side began to fade, and they focused themselves on making a flower crown while Reiner watched the Marleyan soldiers outside the gate train.

“My mama wants me to be a warrior, but I’m not too sure that's what I want to do,” Reiner sighed, lying all the way back on his back.

“How come? Isn’t becoming a warrior one of the best things an Eldian can do for Marley?” (Y/N) asked.

“Yeah, but that would mean I would have to work really hard, while buttheads like Jameson would get to play and make fun of you. It wouldn’t be fair!”

“Why are boys like Jameson so mean anyway? My mommy told me that it just meant that he liked me, but why would someone be mean to someone they liked?” (Y/N) asked.

“Is that a thing?” Reiner asks.

“That’s what mommy says,” (Y/N) finished their flower crown and unceremoniously flopped it onto Reiner’s head, earning a giggle from him. “I wouldn’t want to marry a guy like Jameson, I would want to marry a guy like you, Reiner, who’s nice to me.”

“Then how about we make a promise?” Reiner asked.

“A promise?”

“Yeah, like, we promise to marry each other now, and once we get big we actually do it?” Reiner’s cheeks were now bright red.

“Yeah! I like that! I promise to marry you, Reiner,” (Y/N) extended a pinky out.

Reiner crudely plucked a flower from the ground and tied the stem around (Y/N)’s finger. Reiner’s fingers were chubby and unskilled, so the flower ring didn’t turn out as pretty as the crown, yet (Y/N) still stared at it.

“And I promise to marry you, (Y/N).”

XXX

Reiner ended up joining the Warriors a few years later, to the dismay of (Y/N). The flower ring had since shriveled up beyond repair, but (Y/N) refused to let go of their promise, thinking that if the flower stayed in their possession, it would guarantee Reiner’s safe return home.

However, the mission that was estimated to take the four warriors a year or two to complete turned into a major failure with rumors stating that only one of them was making it home. However, (Y/N) didn’t have the time to mourn her lost friend, Marley was still causing conflict in both the battle front and the home front.

It wouldn’t be until after the Rumbling ended when (Y/N) would meet up with Reiner again. He was in the area negotiating peace with some other nations, and decided a late lunch and catch-up session with his childhood friend was in order.

“So, how was going through puberty like on an island without modern medicine?” (Y/N) asked shamelessly.

“What happened to hello?” Reiner asked, causing (Y/N) to erupt in laughter.

“I’m just sad I didn’t get to witness voice-crack Reiner,” (Y/N) wiped a tear from their eye, causing Reiner to groan.

They then began to catch up, retelling all their experiences from the past thirteen years. Reiner went into detail as to what it was like training with the man who almost killed all of humanity, his trauma, and even his suicide attempt while (Y/N) retold moments of agony in the ghetto, their dad getting drafted for one of the countless wars, and even confessed that they and Jameson dated at one point.

“You! And him!” Reiner stuttered.

“Apparently my mom was right, Jameson pretended he hated me because he couldn’t decipher his own feelings. Dumped his ass a while ago though, he started spending all his money on alcohol.”

“So I’m assuming you’re not seeing anyone?” Reiner asked.

“Not at the moment, why do you ask?”

“Well, (Y/N), I may have had ulterior motives to this lunch,” Reiner pulled out a small box from his pocket and set it on the table, inviting (Y/N) to open it up. Inside was a ring, with the centerpiece shaped as the flower that he tied onto (Y/N)’s finger all those years ago.

“What is this?” (Y/N) stuttered.

“You probably don’t remember, but one day, I gave you a flower ring with a promise. I’m sure it’s long gone by now.”

“Yeah, lost it in the rumbling. Are you really proposing to me right now?”

“No no no! This is just a reminder of that promise we made that afternoon. That promise helped me push through all the hardships I faced,” Reiner flailed his arms a bit, getting slightly flustered.

“So, a promise ring?”

“I promised I’d marry you, didn’t I?” Reiner asked as he pulled out his pinky. Smiling, (Y/N) slipped on the ring and interlocked their pinky with his.

“You did, Reiner, you did.”

[3pirouette]

Fic: Not One Thing (1/1)

Title: Not One Thing

By: TriplePirouette/3Pirouette

Disclaimer: They're not mine.

Distribution: AO3 Anyone else please ask first :)

Story Summary: Peggy and Steve set things straight after she shoots at him. Set During CA: TFA

A/N: For Steggy Week Day 2: Favorite Moment. Who doesn’t love when she shoots him? I love it. So, here’s the missing scene, because during my re-watch I noticed that the first time we hear him call her Peggy was right after Private Lorraine kisses him. Then we go from her shooting him to the bar after Bucky dies, then right to the super sexually charged “You’re late,” at the Hydra facility. This… fills that in? Maybe? Hopefully.

~*~

“I don’t think one thing, Captain. Not one thing.”

Peggy hightailed it to the ladies’ room after she put the gun down, forcing the emotion welling in her throat to stop before it became tears in her eyes. She took a deep breath as the door swung closed behind her, offering her some much-needed solitude.

She’d been fooling herself, obviously, if she’d dreamed that Steve Rogers was different. If his sharp wit and calculating mind appealed to her, that didn’t change the fact that he was a man, and seemed all too happy to get into the same trouble every man she’d ever met got into.

Hadn’t this been what he wanted, to be just like every other man?

She pressed her hand on each of the toilet stall doors, letting them swing open to be sure she was alone before she set her hands on the sink and tried to slow her pounding heart. She looked up at herself in the mirror and felt the pain morph to disgust.

And yet, she still spent two weeks’ pay on that damn dress.

She thought she’d sent a message last night. She didn’t know how much clearer she could have been.

“Get it together, Carter,” she whispered to herself, pushing away from the sink. She should have known better. She should have expected it. Even the way he stuttered at her after he was caught, calling her Peggy instead of Agent Carter, bringing up fondu… he had no idea how to talk to women, but it certainly seemed to knew how to kiss them.

She might not have been so mad about it, except she was the one hoping to be kissed by him. Dreaming of it. Fantasizing about it. She had been since he was thin boned and she was worried she’d break him if she crawled into his lap to kiss him senseless.

Peggy knew better. She’d been burned before. She shouldn’t have put all her hope in one endearing man.

She turned, pushing her way into a stall and began to unbutton her skirt when she heard the door swing open again.

“Wait, so tell me now!” The soft voice was unfamiliar to Peggy, and she couldn’t see through the stall door. She sat quietly, fully dressed, hoping to be ignored.

“Well,” a much more animated voice started, low and deep like honey, “so I start saying that all the women owe him their thanks, right?”

Private Lorraine.

Anger and frustration and betrayal welled up in Peggy’s throat, and she swallowed hard as quietly as she could, afraid of giving herself away.

“Uh huh, go on!”

Peggy can just about see Private Lorraine preening in the mirror through the crack. “And he’s all cute and nervous, hemming and hawing, so I just grabbed his tie, pulled him back into the stacks, and laid one on him.”

“You didn’t!” the other woman exclaimed, excited and scandalized at the same time.

Peggy rolled her eyes. Lorraine had a reputation around the base, as did most women if the men’s talk was to be believed. She wasn’t interested in lambasting the woman any further, deserved or not. She was, however, quite interested in whatever the woman had to say next.

“I did.” There was satisfaction in her words.

“And?”

“And what?”

“And? How was he?”

“Fine.” She could see Lorraine shrug and turn back to the mirror. “I caught him off guard. He wasn’t into it.”

“No! You can’t be serious.”

Lorraine hummed. “I mean, he’s probably a good kisser, but I couldn’t get him warmed up enough to find out. Carter interrupted us.” She sighed.

“Maybe you should try again.”

She laughed heartily. “Oh, if you saw the way those two bickered after she caught him? No. No way am I getting in the middle of that. Would have been a catch, but I’ll let him go. I’ve still got my eyes set on Washington in the 5th Airborne.”

The two chatted on, leaving the bathroom after getting the gossip out. Peggy just sat for a long, long time.

~*~

“I don’t think one thing, Captain. Not one thing.”

He shook his head, trying to find a way to keep her voice from ringing in his ears.

It didn’t work. He didn’t think he was going to get any sleep tonight.

The connection they’d had was tenuous, at best, and he’d thought it was all in his head until she showed up with that red dress on. When she’d uttered those words, “the right partner,” his heart had skipped a beat, finally feeling on steady ground. Bucky, of course, had a few things to say after she left. What Steve hadn’t anticipated was spilling the whole story to Bucky over another pint, detailing from the first punch he saw her throw at Hodge to the backseat of the car in Brooklyn, from Fondue to the red dress.

“Jesus,” Bucky had laughed, clapping him on the shoulder. “You’re hopeless.” He laughed. “Still the same idiot I left back in the States.”

Steve had looked at him, confused.

“She likes you, stupid.” Bucky laughed, and tipped his head to the door she’d come through now hours ago. “You don’t put on a dress like that for someone you don’t like.”

“She just stopped in,” Steve stuttered. “I’m sure she was going to see other people.”

Bucky had looked at him, hard, and he knew he was kidding himself. Then and there he decided that the little looks, the light flirting, the line he was afraid to cross, absolutely needed some crossing.

Unfortunately, Private Lorraine had crossed a line first, and he was left as confused as when he’d started.

“I don’t think one thing, Captain. Not one thing.”

He couldn’t get it out of his head, couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d well and truly messed up.

Her shooting at him had been a pretty clear sign of that.

“I can hear you thinking from over here.” Bucky moaned from his own bunk. “How am I supposed to get any sleep with you thinking that loud?”

“Sorry, Buck- I just—”

“So, Lorraine kissed you. You know how many guys on base she’s kissed?” He laughed, folding his hands behind his head. “Pretty much all of them.”

Steve leaned back and fluffed his pillow. “I don’t think that makes it any better.”

“No, probably not.” Bucky laughed. “Steve. Just put on your big boy pants and tell her how you feel, ok?” Bucky turned at look at him. “I’m telling you, that red dress means she’s all in and you just gotta let her know that you are, too.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

“I’m always right.”

~*~

He caught her in the hallway outside her office, the building mostly empty for the night as she went to lock it up. She caught his eyes and turned, opening the door again and holding it for him to follow in after her. She shut it and crossed her arms, waiting silently.

He spoke after a long moment. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Peggy’s tone was flat.

Steve nodded, hands stuffed in his pockets. “Yeah, I—” He looked down and then back up, earnestness written on his face. “I’m bad at this. You were right, when you said I don’t know anything about women.”

Peggy looked away and then back. “I often am.”

He nodded gain, taking a breath. “She kissed me, Peg, and I froze. I didn’t know what to do.”

Peggy fought hard to avoid laughing. She might not be so quick to amusement if she hadn’t heard Lorraine’s side of it this morning. “So, you kissed her back?”

He cringed, knowing the words that were going to leave his mouth were the truth, but not what she wanted or needed to hear. “Yeah it—it seemed rude not to.”

Peggy did laugh, then. Big, loud guffaws that she couldn’t hold back. “You kissed her back,” she asked through the laughs, “because you didn’t want to be rude?”

Steve couldn’t help it, his eyebrows wrinkled and he shot right back at her. “Hey! I’ve never had a girl grab me by the shirt and kiss me before! I didn’t know what the protocol was!”

Peggy couldn’t help but keep laughing. “Protocol? Proto—” She chuckled, the laughter finally settling down. “You push her away and say no thank you, Steve.” Peggy took a deep, high breath, still letting out little twitters as she gained control over herself.

Steve, however, was still incensed. “Peggy, it’s not funny.”

She tried very hard to not laugh again, breathing in deep through her nose. “Oh, yes it is.”

He stepped forward, getting closer to her. “I’m trying to apologize here.”

She cleared her throat and stood tall. “Yes, yes. You’re…” She took a deep breath, then had to bite her lip again. “You are. Yes.”

“Peggy,” he reached out, taking her hands, and he caused her breaths to stop and her to bite her lip in a different way. “I don’t want to kiss Private Lorraine. What happened was a mistake and I’m sorry you saw it, but… I don’t want to kiss anyone but you. Just you.”

She started breathing again, her eyes bright and holding his gaze. “Steve…”

“You’re the right partner, Peggy. I just… I didn’t think someone like you could be interested in a guy like me in a million years. But when you showed up last night in that dress…” he drifted off, eyes glazing as he remembered and smile blooming on his face, “Well, Bucky says I’m an idiot, but I’m an idiot who got the hint.”

She smiled brightly. “It was quite a large hint.”

“I’m… bad at this,” he confessed, squeezing her hands gently. “I don’t have a lot of practice and sometimes you’re gonna have to just hit me over the head with things.”

She took a deep breath and puller her hands away, sliding them up his arms to his shoulders. “Then let me hit you over the head with this. I don’t want to kiss anyone but you, either. And I’ve felt that way for quite a long time. Serum or no serum, soldier or dancing monkey.” She let her hand play over his collar as her demeanor turned hard. “But I’m no fool, Steven, and if you’re serious, as I am, I won’t aim at the shield next time.”

“There won’t be a next time,” he replied quickly and seriously, taking her hips in his hands and pulling her close.

Peggy smiled just a bit, looking into his eyes, hopeful. “Promise?”

He smiled back as her hands slid around his neck. “Promise.” He lifted one hand, letting it push a strand of hair back behind her ear. Their breaths mingled for a long moment, and Steve spoke quietly, a half-smile on his face that Peggy couldn’t decipher. “So, does this mean that I can kiss you now?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “If you don’t, I shall have to really hit you over the head.”

He moved almost before she finished speaking, slanting his warm lips over hers. It was mere seconds before she was melting under his kiss. A little unpracticed, a little unsure, but what he didn’t have in technique he made up for in enthusiasm. If she’d had any doubts before, she knew now: he hadn’t been lying, he didn’t want to kiss Private Lorraine. Steve wasn’t just a fine kisser, he was a lovely kisser.

And now, he was all hers.

[cosmoscourge-a]

33, 34, 35

What’s the hardest part about being in the rpc on Tumblr?

The fact that I feel like even though this place isn’t great, it’s the best I’m ever going to get.

What’s the best part about being in the rpc on tumblr?

The people I’ve found who truly love and support me. I would wade through all the bullshit twice over if it meant getting to meet you and make lasting friendships all over again.

What’s the biggest problem in the rpc?

Answered here, but I’d say one other big problem (though a rather less serious one) is that nobody is willing to play unattractive or average-attractive muses that aren’t bad guys. I understand that it’s terribly hard to do when every single available faceclaim is an anime character meaning that it’s all but mandatory that They Are The Hottest Shit unless they are cartoonishly ugly--so most people will default to characters who are the hottest shit. However, even so, I would encourage people to play good characters that aren’t 100% in line with peoples’ standards of what is physically perfect and go fc-less if they can’t find a suitable fc. While the superior hotness of my favorite men Lotor and Anakin is non-negotiable, I do have a couple of characters that I’d say aren’t off-the-charts sexy like Psyche, Lottie and Sun-hwa. Sun-hwa in particular I’m planning to go through a character arc centered around how she becomes more positive toward her appearance instead of worrying about what people say about it.

And since I feel like venturing out on a limb even though this may make me seem like a hypocrite…Another big problem, albeit also much less serious than the one I linked to, is that nobody wants their muse to lose. Which sounds incredibly bitchy of me to say, ‘cause my muses are part of a League where every Gym Leader is as strong as a Champion of a regular League, but believe it or not, I have plotted and headcanoned times where my muses have lost, and not just the villain ones--and I have had fun with it. @idanikou‘s Ghetsis has won the Uniman League in our shared canon, and I still have an old thread I need to get to with Knight where his Atlas beats the shit out of Anakin despite having little flying experience and teaches him a lesson in humility and how to be a proper soldier and leader. Feiyun manages to defeat @muse-in-a-box‘s Nicole in the GSS Tournament, but after Nicole picks up military moves from Unima, Feiyun can’t seem to get a win in. @fallenxspirit‘s Spirit and Tobias are constantly tied neck-and-neck in terms of how many battles each wins against the other. @writtenbykaichu‘s Hop is going to have the battle of his life when he defeats my Wallace of all people, who I’d say is my most OP muse other than the ones on this blog. Heck, I have an entire AU with @ondarkestdragonswings dedicated to my entire League being purged by his villainous muse except for a few survivors so for the record beating the League is possible. And then of course the record for the most humiliating defeat of all goes to the most powerful character on this blog, Friedrike Skyherald. She was stronger than Arceus and pummeled the SHIT out of him before he pulled the fucking cheap shot of disguising as her ex-lover who told her that she’d forgiven her. Friedrike literally died when she kissed Arceus thinking her ex was finally making up with her, and he sucked her soul out of her body. So yeah. It’s okay to have your characters lose sometimes, whether in their backstories or in RP. It’s good for character growth.

[yodawgiherd]

You Were Never Truly Gone ch.4

>>>Read on AO3<<<

Finally heading to the M-rated waters, as I promised. Fluff and smut and a bit of worldbuilding, because a story should have a plot. Last I checked...

Despite all the bold words, nothing happened in the end. They were both tired as hell, after watching the stars the whole night, so in mutual agreement it was decided to postpone anything intimate to a later date. Secretly, they were grateful for that. Eren, because this was his first night with Mikasa since coming back, and simply holding was overflowing his senses. Mikasa, because there was that teeny tiny chance that this is still a dream, that she will wake up in the morning alone in her bed.

There was no space between the two during the night. Eren curled himself around her, whispered good night, they shared a kiss and Mikasa fell asleep with a big smile on her face because this was something she always dreamed about happening. To make things better, he didn’t disappear in the morning, snoring softly into the skin of her neck. And with that morning, where the sun shined over her cabin, their new life began.

A week passed.

Mikasa cut Eren’s hair, making it shorter, but declined his offer on doing the same. Hers was long now and getting even longer, but there was no need to restrain it anymore. No ODM gear to tangle into, no fear that an enemy might grab her. For the first time in her life, Mikasa was completely at peace, both internally and externally.

It showed in her posture, in her face, in every part of her life, and Eren loved it. He didn’t even realize it before, but Mikasa rarely laughed, giggled, or showed any sort of happiness out loud. Then again, with life as traumatic as hers, once should not be surprised. Not anymore – now she was laughing and smiling and overall doing those sounds that made Eren’s heart flutter wildly. She was his everything, simple as that, and making her happy was a much better mission than trying to survive in a world of titans or destroying an empire threatening to crush them.

There was always some work around the cabin, from cutting the wood and caring for the few animals to hunting, yet Eren was a quick learner. With him around, even the dullest of chores were fun, because Mikasa had everything she wanted. A home. A man that she loved and that loved her back. Well, maybe not everything, because Mikasa always wanted to have a family too, but there would be enough time for that. For now, life was idyllic.

Also, it was time for some questions.

“Mikasa,” he began one time over late breakfast, “What did Armin say about our time in the paths?”

She watched him over her toast for a few seconds, took a bite, and chewed, clearly buying time. Even after all that, her words were guarded. Mikasa did not enjoy remembering the past, because it was the time of the greatest pain in her life – a time when she was alone.

“He told me that you said that you loved me, and you wanted us to be together.”

“That’s it?”

“Oh, he also mentioned that you never wanted me to find another guy.”, she frowned at him, “I should be mad at you for that, did you expect to die and I was supposed to what? Be alone for the rest of my life?”

“Yeah, that was inappropriate, but I wasn’t expecting to ever see you again.”, her hand on the table, Eren reached over to caress it, “Will you forgive me if I tell you a detail Armin left out?”

From the crinkle in his eye, it would be a good one.

“You have a deal, Yeager.”

“The thing is, I didn’t say those words while staring into the distance, unbothered by everything. No, I threw a tantrum.”

“You what?”

“Like a child. I cried and sat in the water where Armin knocked me, screaming that I wanted to be with you.”

The mental image made Mikasa’s heart ache.

“Eren I…”

“Yea, I was desperate back then.”

The emptiness in Mikasa’s chest echoed its memory, the hollow feeling he left behind when dead. To chase it away, she stood up and rounded the table, seating herself in Eren’s lap. She held his head, angling it up, staring right into those beautiful emeralds.

“Well, we are together now.”

The way he looked at her – it was as if Eren was watching the sun, a beauty so incredible that he couldn’t put it to words. Adoration was a weak one because it didn’t even come close to what he felt for Mikasa.

“So we are…”, he whispered, and then she was kissing him again, the breakfast forgotten for now.

Despite all these little romantic pauses, there was work to be done.

Eren was not passive, offering his own ideas on how to make the cabin even cozier, and most of them were good. They put together a table outside, a few chairs, the woodwork coming naturally to their hands, skilled with blades. Yet work with blades is always dangerous, and one failed woodcarving later Eren was suddenly bleeding from a deep cut on his palm, staring at the red line in annoyance.

Mikasa was quick to move, collecting alcohol and bandages, but Eren waved her down, amused by her actions.

“What are you doing? It will heal.”

But it didn’t. No steam, no quick fix-it, only pain, and more blood, and a realization knocked on the front door of Eren’s mind. Right, he didn’t have his powers anymore.

A nigh professional bandage around his injured hand, as Mikasa had plenty of experience with patching wounds, Eren was forced to lie down, and he stared at his hand while she cleaned the mess he left behind. As always. Sure, it hurt like a bitch and would probably heal for a few days, but Eren smiled on the wound. This - this pain, this felt good. It felt good to be alive.

And the pain was far from the only emotion in the cabin, as things got heated too.

Mikasa adored kissing, Eren was more than happy to assist, and their days were often interrupted by these moments. Completely at random, with no reason other than want. A good morning kiss, a good night kiss, a random smooch while passing each other, a make-out session while hunting that scared the poor deer for life.

He learned that Mikasa’s neck and ears were her weak points, abusing that knowledge shamelessly. Covering the porcelain perfection with marks was a new favorite pastime of his.

Her beauty was ethereal. Be it the contrast between the pale skin and raven hair, now long enough to cascade past her shoulders, or the way her eyes sparkled when she smiled. In his life, Eren could never appreciate beauty. It was filled with dread, with death and blood, with titans and the war. He lived to survive, lived to draw a struggling breath while the world wanted him dead. Only when he truly died did his life change. Now he had time. Time to stop and appreciate the scenery, time to look at Mikasa and see what he was missing all these years.

Eren didn’t think that “beautiful” described what she was. Sunrise was beautiful. The stars, high up in the sky, were beautiful. The flowers Mikasa grew in a part of her garden were beautiful.

Not her.

Somehow, she made everything better. Sunrise was nothing compared to her smile. The stars were enjoyed the best when she was with him, lying on the roof and counting them, giggling anytime Eren tried to find a shape in those lights. The flowers put together created a crown that Mikasa planted on his head, and Eren was the king of the garden for a good minute – a position he would take over the founding titan any day of the week.

No, Mikasa wasn’t simply beautiful. She was perfection.

Evenings were the best because they got to lie down on the roof and watch the stars, hand in hand. It was here that most of their physical exploration took place. Over the clothes at first, a touch here and there, a gentle caress and a quick retreat when the other party gasped, only to be told that “It felt good.” Feelings were a topic hard to describe, but they worked together and were slowly bringing that wall down, brick by brick.

The roof adventures evolved. The kisses were more intense, the touches bolder, the rut of his clothed hips into hers harsh. When Mikasa craved some, all she had to do was meet Eren’s gaze, give him her version of “sexy” eyes and bite her bottom lip, and he was rolling on top of her before she could even giggle.

The evening kisses were slow and sensual because there was no rush. Their work for the day was done, and no amount of stars could ever be as mesmerizing as the girl in Eren’s arms. He would much rather watch her eyes than see the moon. Maybe it was the primal need to please her, maybe it was a magnetic pull, maybe it was…

Who was he kidding, Eren was just a frustrated and horny virgin - that’s it.

So, for whatever reason, he found his fingers slipping under the hem of Mikasa’s skirt one night, anchoring on her knee. Too low from where he wanted to be, but first he had to have her permission. The shy parting of her legs was enough, Eren was dense but not that dense. Up he went, probing at the unexplored territory of her thighs, feeling the muscles. Mikasa had incredible legs, hell, her whole body was incredible, a souvenir left behind by her soldier days. Finally free to do what he wanted, Eren indulged himself, dragging his hands higher and higher until fingers dug into the flesh of inner thighs.

He was close, so close to her heat that Mikasa couldn’t help but feel anxious. This was the last barrier between them, the last thing that they didn’t do and she really, really wanted to cross that bridge. At the ripe age of twenty-two, Mikasa was more than ready. Whispering her consent, she watched wide-eyed as Eren swallowed, giving her a nod of understanding. After what felt like a lifetime, his fingers finally made contact with the fabric of her underwear. Gently, gently and carefully he touched her over the cotton, taking her advice and rubbing the place with two of his fingers. Mikasa reacted beautifully, she gasped into the kisses, cheeks boiling more than usual, her hands tangling in Eren’s shirt. She liked this, the attention, the way he touched her, reminding her that he’s here, that she’s not alone. Not anymore.

Eren rubbed at her more insistently, maybe trying to force more of those pretty sounds out of her pretty lips but the cloth was in the way. And Mikasa wasn’t playing around anymore.

“Take them off.”, she half-ordered, forcing Eren’s eyes to widen.

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

He was still too slow for her tastes, so Mikasa helped him, tugged the underwear down her legs and kicked it away, not minding that it fell from the roof. They would have time to hunt for it later. Eren was still somewhat flabbergasted by how demanding Mikasa got, but she had three damn years to mourn him, to imagine all the things that would never happen and now when they were actually happening she could not wait.

Her hips tilted to a better angle, inviting Eren to push a single finger in, feeling something he never did in his life. It was warm and moist and kinda funny as if he was sticking it into a freshly made pie. However, pies never moaned. The moan, now that was something that tickled something deep in Eren’s brain. Gasps, groans, even little sounds of pleasure – Mikasa made them all but this was the first time she full-on moaned, shameless and loud. God, he wanted more.

Recognizing that the muscled sheath would stretch for him, Eren added a second finger, scissoring his digits. It was a work in the dark, as Mikasa had her skirt on and he couldn’t see what he was doing, so he used her body as a guide, as an indicator of what to do.

She was greedy. Greedy and selfish, yet she couldn’t find a reason not to be. This was what she wanted for so long, so much that it made her cry to sleep at night. Opening her mouth, Mikasa instructed him further.

“There’s a little bundle on top that feels good when you touch it.”

“Oh really?”, there was a slight shift in the fingers on her sex, “Is it here?”

“No, a bit higher.”

“Here?”

“Close…”

“Here?”

“Hng… Y-Yes.”

It was amazing that such a simple touch could make Mikasa gasp like that.

“How should I touch it, what do you like the most?”

In her state, Mikasa didn’t even realize that Eren just asked her how she masturbates. Not that she was ever big on that, but she was a teenager once and did experiment with what the girls gossiped around in the barracks. It was fine, but nothing compared to how she was feeling right now, Eren’s longer fingers filling her in a way her hands never could.

“Small circles, start slow and then move faster and faster. You can be a little rough, but not too much, because it is really sensitive.”

Careful he was, but not too careful, rubbing as she instructed and soon Mikasa was seeing stars that weren’t on the night sky but beneath her eyelids. Brighter and brighter they shined and she wasn’t even able to kiss Eren anymore, panting with head turned. To please her further Eren quick-invented a new hold on her private parts. Two fingers in a palm against her bundle of nerves, he moved in and out of her while rubbing the place and Mikasa lost it.

Here, on the roof of their cabin, clutching to Eren’s back for dear life, Mikasa Ackerman had the first assisted orgasm in her life – and it was by far the most powerful one. She had tears in her eyes once she came back from her high, and Eren was feeling proud, prouder than when he sealed that hole in the wall with his titan.

“Do you..”, she swallowed, head hidden in Eren’s neck, “D’you want me to touch you too?”

“There will be plenty of time for that later.”, he argued, kissing her temple, “We should head to bed.”

Another week passed.

If anything, the cabin paradise got even better. During their evening kissing sessions, Eren didn’t have his fingers all over Mikasa only, but inside her too. Unexperienced but a quick student, he was able to quickly follow given instructions and translate the movements of her body into his fingers, making her feel better and better with every try. Soon, Mikasa wasn’t able to guide him at all, too busy with gasping and moaning while Eren’s mouth kept sucking the last air out of her lungs or marking her neck with a never-ending supply of love bites. And once she was tired and exhausted, once he made her come enough for his tastes, Eren held up the stained hand, licking her sweetness off of and then kissing her, letting Mikasa taste herself on his tongue.

She touched him too, learned how to handle that thing between Eren’s legs to his satisfaction. While he was blushing like crazy at first, repeating that she does not have to do this, Mikasa shut him up with a kiss while her hand dug confidently beneath his pants, fingers curling around the length that quickly became stiff. Jerking Eren off was a bit more difficult because he made a much bigger mess than her, but seeing him melt into her touch and whine and beg when she held the pulsing rod in her hand was so worth it.

It was amazing that all this – all this pleasure they could give each other, was only the first step on a long road that both Mikasa and Eren loved to walk. In no rush, hand-in-hand, taking it one thing at a time because now, there was no limit over their heads. Now, they could enjoy each to their hearts' desire.

Mikasa wasn’t surprised when Eren caught her hand one day and pulled her to him, the bucket she was carrying cluttering on the ground. He hoisted her up but it was day and they were out in the full light with work to be done so Mikasa initially protested.

Her: “Eren wait…”, was weak and not entirely convincing, especially when her legs wrapped around his waist immediately, holding him tight as a vine. Taking her body language as the one Mikasa couldn’t lie in, Eren buried his face in her neck, the scarf being pushed away by his nose as he kissed her there. Out of sheer instinct Eren’s hips began bucking into hers, rutting clothed like an animal against that heated patch of skin between her legs. Even with the barrier the friction was very pleasurable, and soon Mikasa’s head was falling back and knocking against the wooden side of the cabin, the pretty moans leaving her parted lips.

Yet the moment was ruined when she looked back down, her eyes locking with the gaze of their goat. Yams, as they named the animal, was chewing hay, but its somehow incredibly intelligent eyes never left Mikasa’s, watching her with interest. And no, she didn’t want to be watched by a goat while being intimate.

The pull on Eren’s hair was strong, quickly forcing him back to reality.

“What’s wrong Mika?”, he asked, halting his movements, “You don’t like it?”

“I do but…”, she moved her mouth closer, whispering, “Yams is watching.”

“W-What?”

But when he turned his head, Eren could see that the goat was indeed looking, very much throwing his libido from the window. With a sigh, he let Mikasa back down to stand on her feet, even helping her smooth the wrinkled skirt.

“Next time, let’s do it somewhere with fewer eyes.”, she offered, making him grin.

“I’m looking forward to that.”

Quick, so quick that he couldn’t even follow, Mikasa stood on her tippy toes and pressed a fleeting kiss to his mouth.

“Me too.”

While they were having their budding romance, the rest of the world struggled to draw breath.

Armin sent letters, explaining the situation in deeper detail and offering a few ideas on how to defuse the Eren thing. They were mostly informational, intent on catching Eren up on what happened during his absence, with neat rows of numbers and words. But it was the first time that Eren saw the destruction that he caused on paper, the first time he read just how much of an impact rumbling left on this world. It would take decades to recover, most likely more, and still, it would never be the same.

Words, numbers, statistics - the population he killed was reduced to this. Yet Eren couldn’t ignore it because it was his doing, his sins, their blood on his hands. This world, this ruined husk with billions wiped out, that was his doing. In the history books, Eren Yeager would go down as the greatest villain that ever lived, and those who stopped him were eternal heroes.

Mikasa found him sitting over these, head in hands, staring at the small letters. The pain in his face was evident and it was obvious to know why.

A slender hand appeared, swiping the letter away.

“Don’t mind those.”

“Do you want me to close my eyes towards the world? Pretend that I don’t see it?”

“No, but there is no need for you to torture yourself.”, she reached over, gently cradling his cheek, “You are here for me, aren’t you?”

A sad smile spread Eren’s lips.

“Of course.”

But it was not okay, and the following night Eren could not fall asleep. Mikasa was out cold, tired from her busy day, curled against his chest, but rest evaded him. Anytime he closed his eyes, the rumbling played on his eyelids, the death he caused coming back to haunt him. Eighty percent. A ridiculous number, but it was the truth. Eighty percent of all life was ended by him, by his actions. No other war, plague, or famine was this deadly.

Eren couldn’t breathe.

As silently and gently as he could, he slipped out of the bed, rushing outside into the cold air. There he fell to his knees, eyes wide as he gasped for breath. Never since being reincarnated did he think about the rumbling this much. He had a goal before, to get back to Mikasa, to reach the only home he knew in this world, but now that he was here the dangerous thoughts flowed.

Looking over his shoulder, he eyed the cabin, his paradise on earth, eyes watering. How did he ever think that he could have this? A home, a woman that loved him, a woman that was the most beautiful and amazing person in this whole world. How can he smile at her, kiss her, hold her in his arms when his hands are dripping with the blood of millions?

Crying now, sobbing, Eren pressed fists to his eyes, teeth clenching. A genocide later all his dreams came true. He once called Historia the worst girl in the world, what was he then? The worst man, monster, the evil incarnate that somehow got its happy ending. How was this fair? How could the universe stand for such an atrocity?

Warmth, a strong hand that wrapped around him, pulling him to rest against a familiar chest. Putting his arms around Mikasa, Eren cried into her nightgown, fingers bunching the material.

“I-I don’t deserve this.”, he choked,  “I don’t deserve you.”

“Shhh, It will be okay.”, she rocked him gently, “I’m here for you.”

“I’ve done… such terrible things. I shouldn’t have this, I shouldn’t have you.”

“Maybe not, but tell me Eren.”, she pulled back, making him look at her, “What do I deserve?”

The answer was immediate.

“The whole world.”

“Ah, and from this whole world you just gave me, I will pick a single thing for myself.”, softly, she kissed his forehead, “You.”

Overcome with raw emotion, Eren pushed their foreheads together, taking the moment to just stare deep into her eyes, bathing himself in the undying love he saw.

“The universe is not fair if it lets me have you.”

“It never was,”, Mikasa retorts, “not since the beginning. You may be the devil, but you are not the only sinner who ended up redeemed. Remember Annie? Remember how she murdered Levi’s squad, remember how we feared her, hated her? Or Reiner, whose actions of breaking the wall killed hundreds.”

She hugged him tighter, whispering.

“You are not perfect, but if they got a second chance, why can’t you?”

With no good answer in mind, Eren crashed his lips into hers, giving in. Lucky was a word that described fortunate people, but it wasn’t enough to express what Eren was. He had Mikasa in his life, and that was beyond lucky.

Sometimes the memories still tormented him, sometimes he could hear the cries and see the crushed faces, but when that happened Eren simply tightened his hold on Mikasa’s sleeping body, letting her love and touch wash those night terrors away. She was his talisman, his light in the darkness, and the answer to why Eren should be allowed to live. Because Mikasa wanted him to, that’s why.

He held her and thanked God for her, because she was a divine gift to the world. Eren thanked Ymir too for the second chance, even knowing that the girl is gone, finally free. It’s the gesture that counts. And there were other ways to show affection to the angel that redeemed him.

And five days after his breakdown, he got a chance to do so.

Mikasa whined when he pulled the fingers out of her without letting her reach the peak, grey eyes stormy. She watched in disapproval as he sucked the sweetness from his digits, grumbling about letting the job half-done. All Eren did was kiss her even deeper, whispering against her swollen lips.

“I want to taste you.”

“… You just did.”

“Not like that.”, Eren shook his head, moving until his head was in the apex of Mikasa’s thighs, emerald eyes burning with passion when they met her gaze, “Like this.”

“I-Is that even a thing?”

“Believe me – when I bunked in the Marley hospital, there was one thing that the veterans loved talking about.”, he smirked, “Their adventures with women.”

“So, you know how it works?”

“I have a faint idea.”

Her skirt was in the way so Eren bunched it up until it was resting on Mikasa’s stomach. This was the first time he got a good look at the place between her legs, and he found it endearing. It was pink and glistening a bit and reacting wonderfully when Eren rubbed it. Mikasa was dying of shame, her skin boiling red and she even pulled the scarf up, hiding her face into it.

Ever the explorer, Eren moved forward and did what he wanted to for a long time. Sticking out his tongue he licked at her, getting the strange new taste in his mouth. She was sweet and Eren found himself liking it, eagerly pushing down and pressing for more. Mikasa was unsure what he was even doing at this point, but it felt amazing despite the strange sounds. She could feel his tongue tracing her sex before dipping in.

He made her feel good, great even, combining the efforts of his tongue with a rub on her clit. Eren even reached out when he was tongue deep inside her, taking both of her clothed breasts and squeezed hard, forcing a cry from Mikasa’s throat. Unrelenting, he kept pleasuring her until she came all over his face, breathing hard while Eren gently licked her through the finish. And when she was done he crawled up, facing her reddened face with his smug one.

“Wanna taste yourself?”, he asked, and Mikasa didn’t feel like answering with words.

She kissed him instead.

Mikasa, always the great equalizer, insisted that she tries using her mouth on Eren too. It was strange, holding the thing in her hand, it was even stranger having it in her mouth, but Mikasa was determined and nothing would stop her. In her fervor she let it slide way too deep into her throat, and she gagged and coughed and Eren was apologizing so much that she put a hand over his mouth to silence him.

“Shhh.”, she said, “Let me work.”

Grabbing a hair tie from her pocket, she tied the long hair into a ponytail because it was getting everywhere, and as soon as it was tamed she went back to it. And work she did, indulging herself on her wiling partner, trying everything she could think of. It was fun, it was great fun but then Eren let out a tortured groan and tugged at her ponytail, a warning that she understood but decided to ignore.

He exploded inside her mouth, and she swallowed around him, not stopping until he was done. Only then did she move up his body, meeting his flushed face with a bold smile.

“Wanna taste yourself?”, she threw Eren’s words back at him, and his answer was the same as hers.

A deep kiss.

A third week passed.

Niccolo came by with a basket of homecooked food and Mikasa met him outside, saying that she doesn’t feel well. He left the food with a get-well-soon wish, and suddenly there was a day when they didn’t have to cook. They ate the admittedly delicious meal outside, the meat going great with one of the left-over bottles of wine. A tiny bit of red found its way to Mikasa’s cheek, smeared across her scar, and Eren was very glad that this time around it’s not blood.

“You’ve got some sauce on your face.”

“Huh, where?”

“Here..”, ever helpful, Eren reached out to thumb it away but didn’t pull his hand back, letting the touch linger.

Mikasa leaned into it, smiling and overall being the prettiest thing he ever saw. Not to wonder, the next moment he was kissing her.

It was passionate, way more than usual, partly fueled by the wine but mostly by the hunger for each other. The three weeks was enough time, enough for the reality to become what it always was – real. Eren was here, with her, and maybe he didn’t deserve it but she did. Mikasa always fell asleep hugging him and woke up tangled with Eren, never alone or crying into her pillow. And kissing was nice and all but they were two healthy young adults and sometimes, kissing simply doesn’t cut it.

The cabin door banged when he kicked it open, pulling Mikasa back to him as soon as he could. With her eager assistance he managed to unbutton her shirt, letting it fall on the floor. She did the same to him and now they were both topless, naked skin sliding against naked skin.

Eren had a faint idea of how Mikasa's body looks like. They spent a lot of time together, slept in the same bed, and her nightgown was not made of the thickest material. There were times during the night where her ass rubbed just perfectly against his crotch and Eren had to tilt his hips away, lest he wakes her with his raging hard-on. There was also that one time when he walked in on Mikasa changing and was blessed with a sight of her fully naked for about a second before they both went red in the face and Eren slammed the door closed, loudly apologizing.

But this, this was something different altogether.

It was the first time when they got willingly naked with each other. Even during their earlier activities the removal of clothing was limited to the most necessary ones – panties nudged aside, pants pulled down, skirt bunched up. Now it was all and everything, falling on the floor like leaves in autumn and the two lovers stumbled around the cabin, bumping into furniture.

She was beautiful, of course she was, but there were definitive proofs of her hard life left behind on her body. The muscles were one thing, coiling beneath her skin, her abs far more defined than Eren’s ever was. Younger and dumber Eren envied those muscles Mikasa had because she was that much stronger and faster than he, older and wiser Eren worshipped them. They were a part of the woman who was the reason for his existence.

Yet the muscles were not all. Mikasa had scars, a lot of scars, scattered everywhere and Eren had to take a break from her lips to touch them.

“I’m sorry,”, he heard her whisper, misunderstanding his pause, “I know that they are ugly.”

“Ugly?”, he laughed in disbelief, “Mikasa, you got these while saving my life, over and over again. You got them while saving the damn world. You got them while being the bravest and strongest soldier that ever existed.”

Suddenly he was on his knees, and Eren’s lips ghosted over her stomach where a large cut was.

“They are beautiful.”

And he kissed her scar and didn’t stop there. Every single one, no matter how small, felt the touch of his lips, gentle but insistent. To see them all Eren had to take off her skirt too, and now he had Mikasa only in her underwear, a sight that he thought will never bless his eyes. But he was here, she was here, every cut on her skin an obstacle she had to overcome for them to have this heaven together. Slowly and lovingly Eren placed Mikasa on the bed, crawling over her. Her hair, long and unbound, spilled on the pillow, midnight against the whiteness of the sheets. He kissed the cut on her ankle, the marks left behind by ODM gear on Mikasa’s thighs. Eren’s journey was long and arduous but he loved every moment of it. The end was her face, and after he kissed the scar on her cheek that he gave her in his youthful rage, it was done. For today at least, as Eren would repeat the same journey a hundred times if given the chance.

In clear contrast, his body had no marks. No scars, no blemishes, no birthmarks, it was new and it showed. The only cut he had was the one on his hand, a few days old and a result of his own clumsiness. They were both veterans of the same wars, but Mikasa was the one forced to wear the marks on her body. It only made Eren feel even more affection to her, a deep desire to worship her – all of her. With a question he tugged at her underwear and she relented, letting him remove everything from her body. Now she was bare and he could finally take her in fully, nothing hidden from view anymore.

There is no word to describe what Eren felt at that moment. A mix of love, adoration, awe, and, no need to deny it, lust. In his faint memories they were like this before, during their “what if” escape, but that was a dream, nothing compared to the reality. Mikasa was a woman shaped by war, her body was a weapon, yet it lost nothing of its grace. Every move of her mesmerized him, every shift of her muscle beneath the porcelain, every time she drew a breath and those perky breasts rose from their perch, high on her chest. Aching to touch them, he ran his hands over her ribs first, feeling the bones one by one. Finally, he reached those mounds, filling his hands and squeezing, kneading them. It must have felt good because Mikasa groaned, shifting beneath him on the bed.

It was funny – her body was hard, mostly muscles and bones, cut from her training as a diamond. But her breasts were still soft and squishy and Eren couldn’t get enough of them. Her nipples hard against his tongue when Eren mouthed her chest, licking and kissing and leaving marks with his teeth.

“How are you this perfect?”, he choked out, making her blush even more.

“I’m not.”

“Yes, yes you are.”, to make her see, Eren kissed a trail from her breasts all the way up to her mouth, kissing her nose.

Perfect – from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.

Eren’s fingers were at her entrance again, toying and prodding, the touch experienced now. He knew what to do, and Mikasa was soon gasping into his mouth, head swimming. His other hand went on a journey too, touching everything and everywhere, committing this to his memory. The mental image Eren was creating – he wanted to know her, every nook and cranny of  Mikasa’s body for one reason only. So he could make her feel the best that he could.

Exploration didn’t go unrewarded. A nipple, which he flicked and Mikasa let out a short gasp. The second one, that he pulled into his mouth, sucking diligently. Hands busy – one down between her legs, fingers moving in and out and palm rubbing her clit, one at her chest, tweaking that funny nub. Mikasa was reacting well, and Eren got his mouth engaged in a different place, kissing and licking all over her sensitive neck before returning to her abandoned breast. The bite on her nipple sent a shock of pain through all the pleasure, but Mikasa loved that spice.

She came, came hard with a strangled cry that he captured in a kiss, came over his hand and Eren loved that, loved when her hips moved on their own and rode out its orgasm on his digits. But when he tried bringing those fingers up to his mouth Mikasa interrupted him, catching his hand and licking it clean herself.

Today, this would not satisfy her. Today she wanted more.

She was so polite, asking if he could strip too, and Eren almost fell from the bed in an effort to follow her wishes. Now it was her turn to explore, to touch everything everywhere, to trace her fingers over the planes of unmarked skin. Palming the hard erection Mikasa wondered how that will ever fit inside her. Yet with her fingers brushing over his member, Eren couldn’t wait anymore.

“Please,”, he begged in a broken whisper, unworthy as he was, “Please let me make love to you.”

And the angel looked at him, the grey eyes drowning with their intensity, the ethereal being regarded the broken man that shared her bed, the nameless existence that defied death for her. And then, a tiny smile curved her pink lips.

“Yes…”, she said, spreading her legs and tilting her hips up.

“Yes….”, now her hand was on his member, pulling and guiding him insider her.

“Yesssssss.”, was the third hiss as Eren penetrated her, Mikasa’s eyes fluttering closed from the intensity.

It was a tight fit and Eren was glad for the touches from earlier, because without her wetness he had no idea if it could even get in. It took time, rocking back and forth as he pushed in more and more, Mikasa’s unyielding muscles giving way. Even overwhelmed like this Eren wanted to touch her. Her breasts were fun to squeeze, her face a great place to kiss. Still, his hips danced, pulling and pushing and Mikasa’s legs wrapped around him, helping with the movements.

In a primal attempt to establish dominance, or maybe to just stop her hands from distracting him Eren gathered her wrists and pinned them to the bed above Mikasa’s head, holding her stretched with one of his hands. At the same time he finally bottomed out, the head of his member kissing a spot deep inside that was never touched before, the connection making them moan in unison. Joined as much as they could, the pair stared into each other’s eyes, seeing the overflowing love they held. A love that demanded to be consummated.

And consummated it was in rhythmic thrusts, the headboard banging the wall. Her hands easily slipped from the restrictive hold Eren tried to have on them and were now grasping at his broad back. When he moved just right, when he rubbed the perfect place inside her, they changed into claws and carved into the skin, creating bloody wings in their wake. The pain was nothing compared to the pleasure, Eren not even halting in his movements. He fucked her slow and deep, pouring all of his love into the thrusts. Mikasa was moaning right into his ear, the sounds so sweet that Eren could drown in them.

He wanted more.

Eren had to have her closer, had to be touching as much of Mikasa as he could. Sitting up he pulled her until she was in his lap, the new position pushing the thing inside her even further, now that gravity was assisting. They wrapped each other in a hug and then the movement resumed, but now they were both doing it. Eren thrusted and Mikasa rocked her hips, working in unison to reach their goal. Gasping on her shoulder wasn’t good enough, the hot puffs he blew into her hair, so Eren angled his head to kiss her. Now they were exchanging air too in addition to the deep connection of their bodies. It was always better to let Mikasa move because she excelled at anything physical, and Eren was the one faltering when her hips circled, the massage of her inner muscles out of this world.

He was weak, too weak to resist because this was the best Eren ever felt in his life. With a groan, a mumbled warning he came, hips jerking into hers. The finish was something out of a dream, making his whole body shake while whiteness pushed on his eyelids, and Eren knew that this was everything he could ever ask for.

Here in their cabin, Eren and Mikasa took each other’s virginity, finally becoming what they were always meant to be. Lovers.

Mikasa’s lips fell open, the strange sensation of being filled by Eren’s climax worming its way into her brain. Bodies stilled, they sat in the bed, tangled together as close as two people can physically be. Eren was the first to move, kissing the side of her throat.

“I’m sorry,”, an apology pressed into her skin, “I couldn’t stop myself.”

“It’s okay…”, a breathy gasp, “I enjoyed it.”

Overcome, Eren fell on his back, staring at the ceiling, but looking up he saw that Mikasa didn’t follow. She was still straddling his hips, seated upright, watching him with a new spark in her eyes. Reaching out, she ran a finger down Eren’s face, loving the change of perspective. Now she had all the control, all the power, and nothing was restraining her from taking what she wanted.

Mikasa rolled her hips experimentally, making Eren curse as he grabbed her. No, she didn’t like that. Peeling his fingers off Mikasa planted them back on the bedding, leaning down until their lips brushed.

“Stay.”

A single word, a single kiss and she was upright again, stirring her hips. She was a visage on top of him. A beautiful dance of her muscled stomach, the rolling of hips powered by those defined abdominals. The long hair shifting with her movements, curtaining her from behind. The way she tilted her face up, eyes closed, losing herself to the pleasure. The daylight streamed in through the windows, bouncing off of her pale skin and she was bathed in it, beautiful beyond any imagination. Reddened cheeks, swollen pink lips, midnight hair, white skin marked by red love bites, perky firm tits bouncing with her movements. A painting couldn’t be more perfect than Mikasa right now, no artist could ever hope to capture what she was. And Eren was an observer, blessed by this sight, pinned to the bed not only by her weight but mostly by her word.

Being on top was quickly becoming Mikasa’s favorite position. Not that she tried many of them, but being here and free, able to watch Eren fall apart beneath her that was an experience she enjoyed. Faster, she bounced on his lap with more strength and was soon craving a little change.

Hands finding purchase on Eren’s thighs Mikasa leaned back and continued her riding, the sounds of their lovemaking filling the cabin. Full of pure joy, full of him, high on hormones she laughed out loud, head falling back and the ends of her hair tickling Eren’s legs. So long it grew, now that war wasn’t forcing her to cut it anymore.

To help, to assist the divine being, Eren put his thumb to work on her clit and she appreciated it with a deep hum. And this time around, with a lot of cheek biting and digging nails into his palms, Eren managed to hold until Mikasa came first, clenching around him and crying out loud. Done and spent she collapsed but didn’t let his length fall out and Eren had to help himself, thrusting up until he also spilled for the second time, muffling his sounds by her hair.

“Thank you.”, he whispered, kissing everywhere on her face, from forehead to the eyelids, the cute nose that she scrunched, over her lips down to the chin.

Her eyes fluttered open, meeting his jittery gaze with her own.

“Don’t..”, a gentle touch on his cheek, “We did this together.”

“Together…”

There were tears now streaming down his face, tears from the pure happiness that bloomed in his chest. And Mikasa wiped them away but didn’t ask why Eren was crying.

She knew.

To his surprise, Eren enjoyed cooking and gardening a lot. Maybe it was the need to create with his hands, rather than destroy, he had enough death in his life. Still, he was no slouch at hunting yet Mikasa always outperformed him, a fact that he was often teased for.

To test her, if the Ackerman strength had truly left her body, he built a small sparring ring and invited her to join him. Stiff at first, as the fighting grew out of their lives, but on about the third round the blood boiled and the body remembered what it used to be. Mikasa’s unnatural strength was indeed gone, vanishing with the paths, but she was far from weak. Her body was a perfectly put together machine that she mastered, and while she couldn’t pick up Eren with one hand anymore, she could easily do it with two. They punched and danced around and twisted and turned on the ground and Eren came to a realization. Even now, Mikasa crushed him.

Then again, there were certain benefits to sparring, like the feel of her skin on his, the hands that roamed everywhere to push and pull, and….

It was after the fifth time that Mikasa pinned Eren to the ground when his hand circled her hips and pulled instead of pushing her away, the indication rather clear.

“I’ll assume that this was your plan from the start?”, Mikasa asked, not minding the change of physical activity in the slightest.

“You overestimate me,”, he muttered, planting open-mouthed kisses over the sweaty skin of Mikasa’s neck, “I’m thinking on my feet here.”

Well, she would not question his genius.

A chicken came close, eyeing the sweaty mass of entangled bodies writhing around on the ground, curious about what was happening. Noticing a shirt, thrown away in a heat of passion, it pecked at it to try the taste. However, then the black-haired human made a loud noise and it scared the animal, making the chicken run away with flapping wings. The fabric was not worth it.

Several months passed.

Armin sent more letters. The situation wasn’t getting better, but it wasn’t getting worse either. Yeagerists and the rest of the world were barking at each other like rabid dogs, but neither was willing to bite first. Historia mediated peace talks in the meantime, opening Paradis up.

Most importantly, they kept his secret. To the world, Eren Yeager was dead.

In other news, Jean and Pieck were dating, Armin wrote. Reiner was depressed since Eren came back, but he was getting better thanks to Gabi and Falco being awesome. Levi asked how Mikasa was, and Armin smiled and said that she’s okay. The old captain probably had a hunch of bullshittery, considering the look he gave the blond but didn’t pry.

To them, it was an echo that barely reached their private paradise.

It was bliss, no other word to describe it. The days in the cabin alternated – sometimes they woke up with a crack of dawn and were doing chores as the sun rose, sometimes they stayed in bed the whole day, doing nothing but re-exploring each other’s bodies. With the final barrier between them broken, they were experimenting with their intimacy, because no idea was dumb enough not to try. Who would mind? It was just them in the cabin, and they had a backlog worth years of suppressed feelings.

In those months Mikasa’s scarf was used a lot, becoming a blindfold or a way to gently tie someone’s hands. The location was also great to change, and the cabin wasn’t big enough for their tastes, the surrounding river, forest and meadows offering so many new places to try.

When having “fun” outside Yams was a hard limit because he kept watching with an interested expression and Mikasa couldn’t take it. For the sake of her mental health, they began locking the poor goat in the barn as a precaution. And everything was perfect again.

Until one day, when two events found a way to disrupt it.

First – Mikasa missed her period. A thing that was honestly to be expected, and a little miracle that it didn’t happen sooner. Sure, she was drinking some tea that was supposed to help but that was for girls who made a mistake, not for young women that were having sex multiple times per day.

Eren, who initially had a speech about them having to be careful because Mikasa getting pregnant out of nowhere while she is supposed to be living alone would be hard to explain, was nothing but a hypocrite. He was not careful in the slightest, unable to stop himself and pull out more times than he could. Mikasa locking her ankles around his hips at times or refusing to go down from her position on top didn’t help.

Not realizing the implication the period was ignored, Mikasa reasoned that it would come later, but the second event was of a much bigger immediate impact.

Mikasa was feeding Yams in the yard while Eren plucked a goose he hunted earlier, their normal day of an idyllic life. That was all changed when an unfamiliar sound could be heard in the distance, and straightening, Mikasa shielded her eyes from the sun to see what it was. A car. A big black car was coming towards her house, bearing small flags on the sides. There were no roads to her house, but the machine did not care, chugging it over the grass.

“Eren, hide!”, was her warning hiss, and he was quick to obey.

Dropping the goose he all but sprinted inside the cabin, managing to close the door just as the car climbed the hill, getting a clear view for the first time. It vroomed closer and closer until it was here, stopping with a grunt. Mikasa watched it all with the hay basket at her hip and Yams abused her confusion, eating right out of it.

The metal opened to reveal a black-suited man who jumped out, opening the rear door with a bow. Kiyomi climbed out, her face betraying nothing as she looked left and right, taking the whole cabin in. The half-plucked goose caught her attention but she didn’t comment on it, walking over to the table instead.

Understanding the gesture, Mikasa dumped the basket much to Yams’ glee, joining the older woman. Kiyomi had her hands folded on the wood, eyes calculating as always, watching her approach. And when Mikasa sat down, her words were fast and emotionless. Not even a “Hello”, Kiyomi rolled out her plan immediately.

“I am withdrawing my support from Paradis.”

“Excuse me?”

“I will make the announcement in a week. After that, there will no more help from Hizuru, and you will be left on your own. Again.”

Mikasa tapped the table, trying to wrap her head around it.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I want you to understand what will happen. Without us, queen Reiss will be left defenseless and the Yeagerists will devour her. Once she’s gone, who is there to stop their expansion plans?”, Kiyomi’s words were daggers, “There will be another war, and this time it won’t stop unless one side is completely wiped out.”

“If you know that much, why would you ever withdraw your support?”

“You know why.”

So this was about her. Again. This was about Kiyomi’s never-ending plan on planting Mikasa in Hizuru as a shogun’s wife. This was about her bloodline, the thing that was worth more than anything to the old woman.

“You’re threatening me.”, Mikasa understood, “If I won’t come, you will doom this island. How can you do that?”

“Because I tried everything else!”, Kiyomi’s voice finally got heated and she clenched her fists, “I gave you time, I gave you four years to mourn him! I was nothing but a supportive ally while Paradis struggled to catch up to the rest of the world. I devoted so many resources to you that I’ve been called a madwoman back in my homeland. But that ends here.”

She stood up, delivering the closing words with the finality of falling rocks.

“Mikasa, you have one week to decide. Either come to Hizuru and take your rightful place or stay here and watch the island around you burn. If the shogun’s bloodline is doomed to end with you… Then so be it.”

Ever since the end of the war Mikasa did not have those crazy headaches, but now her temples were pounding again as the car disappeared over the horizon. Soon, warm hands circled her and pulled her into a hug, and she rested her head on Eren’s shoulder.

“What do we do?”, she whispered weakly, but he had no answers.

Three days later, it was the anniversary of Eren’s “death”, a year since he came back.

Armin and everyone would be coming tomorrow, but tonight it was just them, lying together on the grass next to the small headstone. Mikasa didn’t come here anymore, for obvious reasons, but nostalgia made her bring flowers and now those were resting on the grave, much to Eren’s amusement.

“Another year.”

“Indeed, but this one was much better.”

“I take it that you prefer the cabin over paths?”

He smirked, kissing her temple.

“Infinitely.”

“Two years there, huh. How did it feel?”

“Not very long, the opposite. They were collapsing fast and I had to save all my memories before they died. There were some I wanted to leave behind so I would forget them,”, a grimace, “Like the rumbling, but I knew that I had to take them all. Otherwise I would never be complete.”

Eren always had pain in his voice when talking about the process of reforging himself, and Mikasa could imagine that it was far from a pleasant experience. And now that she thought about it…

“Wait, since you were dead, you didn’t have your body, right?”

“Obviously…”

“So you didn’t age for two years.”

His eyes narrowed.

“Where are you going with this?”

“You are two years younger than me now!”, she giggled, “A child.”

“Oh come on.”

“I let you drink wine!”, she gasped, “So irresponsible of me. And…”

Whatever Mikasa’s next age-gap joke was would be lost to the history, because Eren silenced her the only way he knew. With a kiss.

In a silent agreement, they didn’t talk about Kyomi’s offer, but Mikasa found herself thinking about it at the dead of night when Eren’s soft snores were the only sound in the cabin. However, now she had a more immediate issue, because his hands got adventurous, slipping underneath her clothes.

“You are not serious,”, she accused him, “Here? Of all places?”

“Why not?”, he was kissing her neck again, slowly but surely hiking the fabric of her dress up, “It’s just a decomposing head there. I should know, It was mine.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“You love me.”

“And I keep wondering why.”

With a grunt he rolled them over, hovering over Mikasa’s flushed cheeks.

“Then let me remind you.”

Maybe it was the need to forget about Kiyomi and her threats but Mikasa ended up going along with his plans. Here they were, naked bodies entangled on the grass with Eren thrusting into her, the leg she had wrapped around his hips pulling in sync. But for once it was not hard enough to dispel the lingering sadness of the place and Mikasa stopped him, making Eren pull out.

Then she was up, scrambling on her knees and turning around, leaning on the wood of the old tree that watched them grow up, that hosted the place of his last rest for three years. Eren understood her wishes, guiding himself back into her once she was done moving, the re-union making them both moan. And then it was hard and fast and bruising. The fingers clutching her hips were marking the porcelain skin with red, the hips slapping into her ass making obscene sounds. Wet, tight, and everything to dream about, Mikasa’s inviting depths crumbled Eren’s mental strength. She was losing it too, head craning and the long hair falling all over her face. Desperate to see her, Eren reached out to brush it aside, and now the midnight cascade went over one of her shoulders. One of her hands moved too, resting on her own ass as support when her body turned sideways, the delicious sounds leaving her at an alarming rate.

Was it strange that she enjoyed having sex here? Maybe. But this was a place of her greatest breakdowns, here she cried again and again at Eren’s grave, unable and unwilling to accept that he was truly gone. Here she broke into pieces and had to pull herself back together again. It didn’t feel like desecrating the place, more like blessing it, overwriting the sad memories with new happy ones.

With a rub at her weak place Mikasa broke, moaning out loud into the night. And when a few of her tears fell on the grass, she realized that this was far from the first time she cried here. But this was the first one when those tears were of pleasure and happiness.

Eren followed her climax with his own and then they collapsed into a sweaty embrace, careful not to fall on the headstone. My most beloved, my dear it read, but Mikasa didn’t feel dread when looking at it anymore. Her beloved was right here in her arms, and she had to make sure that it stayed that way forever. The world was intent on keeping them apart, even now after his death, but she would not let them.

With the sex haze covering their senses, the telltale smell in the air, Mikasa looked at the stars while Eren buried his nose in her hair. Four years after she lost the love of her life, a year after getting him back, and approximately five minutes after being pounded by him from behind to a mind-shattering orgasm, Mikasa Ackerman came to a decision.

“Eren,”, she got his attention and he hummed into her hair.

“Hm?”

Mikasa took a deep breath.

“Let’s go to Hizuru.”

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Mod, who are your top 10 favorite characters and top 10 least favorite?

//I have actually been wanting to discuss something like this, so I’m glad someone brought it up to me.

//I’ll go through with this, but I won’t be discussing my least favorites, since I don’t want to bring any negativity, and to be honest, I enjoy writing pretty much everyone in this blog. I also fear if I share who my least favorites are in the main series, said characters won’t get as many asks, and I don’t want any unfair bias. I can definitely admit to hating Haiji though, because...well...he obviously won't be receiving any questions anymore. Besides, I doubt many people will disagree with me.

Honorable Mentions:

Makoto Naegi

Mahiru Koizumi

Kirumi Tojo

Kaede Akamatsu

Tsumugi Shirogane

Shuichi Saihara

Iroha Nijiue

Mikihiko Koyasunaga

Yoruko Kabuya

Tsurugi Kinjo

Uchui Porosen

Kibin Hatsudoki

//Though to be honest, everyone may as well be an honorable mention because I love writing every single one of these guys. Also, like I just said, don’t let this top 10 affect your asks. I love every character in this blog and I’m happy to make asks for each and every one of them. It was really hard to narrow it down to 10

#10: Tenko Chabashira

This might seem a little surprising, given that Tenko hasn't had a whole lot of screen time and story relevance so far. She's only been prominent in two arcs, Deadly Harmony and Novoselic Revolution, both of which she didn't have as much screen time as most of the other characters. However, not to spoil anything major, I have big plans for her, and what I've pulled out of her so far is something I'm proud of. My main goal is mainly to give her a bit of development, and tone down on the sexism element of her character. Not remove it entirely, mind you, because let's be real, Tenko unfortunately isn't Tenko without it, but basically to not do what the DR dev team did and make it the forefront of her character, while her other exceedingly good traits are just at the back until later on in the story.

#09: Kokichi Ouma

Kokichi is one of, if not, my favorite character in the original DR series. My main goal of him in this series is trying to grapple with his constantly changing attitude, mainly towards the DRV3 cast besides himself. At first he's glad to see them, then he turns spiteful towards Shuichi and Kaede when they try to fight him, then he straight up just abandons them and attempts to cut off contact. As he is right now, he's conflicted about how to feel about everyone. Sure, they all still hate him, but during Cabaret Kyojin's they came to his defense when he most needed it. That whole arc might've seemed pretty pointless and acted as needless filler, but my true intention of it was to flesh out the characters involved, mainly Kokichi and Kuripa. Speaking of which, that's another plot point that I'm looking forward to branching upon: the little companionship those two have going on right now.

#08: Monaca Towa

Monaca is a character I actually tend to struggle with in the grand scheme of things. The reason being that, arguably, she in canon is the second biggest antagonist in the series behind Junko. What I tried to do with Survivor though, is not make her an antagonist, but make her slowly become more and more redeemable, despite her actions. The reason why I went with this approach is mainly due to Monaca's last appearance in the series, where she states to Toko and Komaru that she's kind of just done with everything to do with Junko and Despair. I don't think it would be easy to bring her back as an antagonist because of THAT fiasco, and that is legitimately one of favorite scenes of her...which is funny because it's from DR3 and I kinda hate the anime. Her whole presence in Survivor is based around the idea of trying to seek redemption, but she doesn't outwardly want to admit this, nor does she really think she's worthy or deserving of said redemption. She's an adult now, and she grew a conscience. A guilty one that weighs her down and makes her come back to earth to basically settle things and make peace, and though it's been difficult, I love how she's turned out so far.

#07: Akira Tsuchiya

I understand many have their reservations about Akira after what he did this arc, but he's still legitimately one of my favorite villains in this blog because despite the fact that he's a psychopath who kills and ruins people all just for causing Despair, he's just kinda super relatable. He constantly lives with the attitude of just being done with everyone's shit, and I know a lot of DR fans can relate to that. He's also the kind of guy who marches to the beat of his own drum, which is obviously a very slow beat. He rarely ever does what Tsumugi tells him to do, unless the plan interests him or gives him something to do, and his character in general is based around the idea of "Shut-in NEET who just so happens to have a power complex." Overall, what makes him unique to me is just how normal he is, especially when he's compared to the chaotic sea that is the Danganronpa Villains.

#06: Mikan Tsumiki

Novoselic Revolution had the very important role in the story of mending Mikan. Without her efforts and the sacrifices she made in that arc, there's a high chance that the group would have failed to retake the kingdom from Angie and Mikihiko. It goes without saying that the screentime Mikan got in this arc was some of my absolute favorite moments on this blog from a writers perspective. A lot of people in DR dislike Mikan for her actions and character change in the third case of the second game, which I really don't think is fair. Mikan was just the character chosen to be afflicted with the Despair Disease. Nothing else would have been changed had it been a different character, so her role early on in Survivor is mainly her trying to come to terms with her actions, as well as things like making things right with Hiyoko (and Ibuki by extrension) and reevaluating whether or not she's a good person. Mikan is an emotionally and mentally broken child, and it's my full intent in my writing of her to heal her wounds like she does for so many other people.

#05: Narumi Osone

Easily my favorite Zetsubou villain in the blog. During Novoselic Revolution, I really buttered up how much I enjoyed writing Mikihiko, but in reality, I was just waiting for the Rebirth Duo (her and Akira) to burst onto the scene. She didn't make for as great a twist villain in Life and Lies of Akeru Yozora as I would've liked her to be, but even now, I still feel like she left an impact. I mean, she committed quite the number of atrocities. The main reason why I like Narumi though, is how she diverges from the rest of the Zetsubou group. While most of them are doing their evil things for reasons that constitute to causing as much Despair as possible, she does it for almost the complete opposite reason. She absolutely despises Despair, and the only reason she's with Organization Zetsubou, is so that she can patiently await and watch as the Hope that stems from the people fighting back. It's also plays into her ideal. Narumi is so obsessed with Hope that she believes that anyone and everyone who is without hope, and gives into Despair, doesn't deserve to live (and ideal that also allows her to easily hit it off with Nagito). To name the best example: The UUV. Their revenge fantasy is based around the Despair they feel post Ayumu and Marin's deaths, and not around the Hope of their goal of reforming society, even if by force. When Narumi notices this, is angers her so much she murders all of them in cold blood, believing them to be beyond redemption. As a final note, Narumi's violent nature and lust for bloodshed (and lest not forget her weird obsession with Makoto) is also made all the more tragic when you remember she's literally just a 14 year old kid with not a lot of life experience. For someone to be this far gone at such a young age is pretty depressing, but it also provides me with a lot of great writing opportunities, and god damn it she isn't a fun character to write.

#04: Mukuro Ikusaba.

I could pretty much just copy/paste the basic things I said about Monaca's personal conflict for Mukuro, but on a much more extreme level. This is something that I plan on actually branching on later down the line, but Mukuro's backstory and reason why she has a presence here is briefly mentioned by Sayaka in one post. To sum up what she said, when the Foundation were first starting to use the machines to bring back the victims of the first killing game, Makoto was the one who suggested possibly bringing Mukuro back, something that understandably, his classmates initially were against. However, at the time, Kyoko was still new to being the Foundation Chairwoman, and Makoto very much pressed the issue with her. Kyoko eventually agreed to the resurrection, but in exchange, any and all actions committed by the soldier, most notably any treacherous or bad ones, would subsequently be Makoto's responsibility. Of course, as you can imagine, Makoto accepted these terms, and Mukuro was resurrected. For a while afterwards, many were very wary of her presence, and most didn't outright accept her as a member of the Foundation, even when the Remnants of Despair officially signed up. What you have to remember is that Mukuro wasn't really brainwashed into helping Junko, at least not in the same way that the Remnants were. Most of what she did for Junko is what she did willingly, but Makoto felt that in reality, Mukuro was just another one of Junko's victims and she'd never known Hope in her life, which is why she turned out so chaotic, so his whole intention of reviving her was to redeem her honor, of which he was pretty much successful. The main trait of Mukuro's though that I tend to focus on, is arguably her most serious: her PTSD. Of all the characters who could have been hit hard with PTSD, it makes the most sense for it to be a soldier, and since the beginning of her revival, Mukuro has been cursed by the lingering ghost of her dead Despair sister. Junko's presence in her mind less drives Mukuro insane though, and simply makes her doubt herself and her presence, wondering if it was worth being revived, or whether or not she truly deserves to live. But regardless of how she feels, she's duty bound to the end, and still supports everyone unquestionably, especially towards those in her own branch being Makoto, her boss, the man who saved her, and of course her undeniable love interest, and Kuripa to whom she disciplines, but also acts as a mother/big sister figure to.

#03: Hajime Hinata.

It might just be me, but I feel like Hajime in particular is the fan fav in this blog. I feel he's shown up in more posts than any other character, which is fine by me given he's also one of my personal favorite characters, and is probably my favorite protagonist (it really changes depending on my mood, honestly, I think they're all as great as each other). The remnants of Despair's conflict is an obvious one that you commonly see in post-game fics such as this one, and in Survivor, and my personal opinion, Hajime is undoubtedly the one who has it the hardest. However, out of all of the characters in the series who HAVE trauma (and let's be real, that's undoubtedly a LOT of characters in both DR canon, and this blog) he's also undoubtedly the one who handles it the best. However, there is a limit to how much pressure he can take, and that causes him to lash out (like he did with Mahiru during Misfortune's Revenge, which I know we don't like to talk about but its the most notable example). He's been through a whole load of shit and the pressure is constantly crushing him like a gigantic boulder, yet he still forces himself to carry it. Outside of my own writing, Hajime has so many conflicting thoughts and trauma in other fics, and in Survivor, I don't intend to flat out copy them, but I do desire to live up to them. The reason why Hajime has so many burdens placed upon him, and as of Misfortune's Revenge now has double as many, yet is still able to keep going strong, is because he's no longer allowing himself to be weighed down by events that are in the past and out of his control. What makes his ideal unique, is that he has power, almost limitless amounts of it, but instead of focusing on what he can do with it, he's more conflicted and focused on what he CAN'T do, and changing the past is one thing he can't, and as of such doesn't focus on it. He only ever focuses on the present, and the future, and worries about that. And you've got to hand it to the guy, while it's definitely been better, his life is actually super good right now. He has at least 15 really great friends/found family members, a home on an island resort, an AI companion in his phone who will always help him out and support him, a smoking-hot red-haired girlfriend, a pretty good job and a lot more. For him, it's not simply a matter of abiding by the Foundation and fixing the chaos that he indirectly caused. It's also about the fear of losing what he has, and wanting to protect it.

#02: Ayumu Fujimori.

I've said this one or two times before, but I think Ayumu turned out spectacular, and when I eventually had to kill him off, I felt really bad about doing so. The main reason why I removed him, and why I currently don't have any plans to bring him back, is due to my future plans, having him around would make little to no sense. He serves mainly as a catalyst for the new phase of the story, a much darker one, and with his death, we enter that phase. I know many people are worried about it, but it's not just Ayumu's reason for being in the story that makes him great. While it isn't obvious right away, the main character that I was trying to portray with him, is that he's basically the darker side of Hajime. The two of them share very similar traits in character, personality and backstory. Some notable points would be

Both of them are incredibly self-doubtful, and that self-doubt caused them to become Ultimate Hopes.

Both of them once held huge admiration for a powerful group of people. For Hajime it was Hope's Peak and for Ayumu it was the Japanese Government

Said power called them useless, which led to their transformation

Both have pretty sad backstories, which involve two different types of cruel parents and family's.

They both have a best friend who likes to sleep.

Said best friend ended up dying horribly right in front of them, with them both unable to do anything about it, which eventually leads them both to go insane and make some bad decisions.

Though their methods differ, ultimately, they both want the same thing: a brighter future for their friends and the people they love

Ayumu might be a threat, and an antagonist, but he doesn't really count as a "villain" per se. At the core, he's basically just a misguided young man, who the world treated like shit, so he just wants to get back at it. He's also an influential figure, pulling many people into his fight, and gaining many supporters outside of his friends in the UUV. For the short time he was on the blog, he was an absolute BLAST to write, and you can damn sure bet I'm going to miss him.

#01: Kuripa Kurafto.

This is undoubtedly the riskiest part of this list, especially since we're talking about an OC here, but I also think a lot of you guys saw this coming. I can understand why some of you might disagree with me on this placement, but I'll tell you now, if you're unimpressed, trust me, I am barely scratching the surface of Kuripa's character. As of such, I have to go on this based off of what's already known about him. His whole character I feel comes full circle at the end of the Ultra Despair Gang arc, in which the first monumental event in the blog actually happens: him killing Haiji Towa by stabbing him in the gut and sending him falling to his death. This is then followed by a speech to Makoto, Komaru, Toko and Byakuya, which basically lays out the key part of Kuripa's character, being his ideals. Every protagonist in Danganronpa goes by a certain ideal that contrasts that of their enemies. For Makoto, it's Hope, for Hajime, it's Future, and for Shuichi it's truth. Kuripa is the complete reverse, being a protagonist that represents Despair. He's not outright a villain, or even a generally bad guy, but he definitely has some apparent darkness to him, and is also incredibly violent when at the peak of rage. Of course, it all stems from a huge event in his life, the murder of his little sister Kotoko by the hands of Matta Gyalusetsu, which has led to his over-arcing conflict: his desire to find Matta and kill him as revenge. I tend to hate characters in stories who have the "My Sister is Dead" archetype or trope, but the main reason is because most characters who have that JUST have that, and for Kuripa that's something I'm trying to avoid. One of the most important parts of Kuripa's character is the contrast between his dark, almost psychopathic side that believes murder is a suitable way to indefinitely solve a problem, and his regular self, who to put simply, is a complete and total clown. He's like a walking meme, and makes a total fool out of himself, either through just being a mindless tomfool, a playful perv, or a loveable idiotic otaku. Still, his presence is indeed important to everyone around him, especially seen through his interactions with Makoto, Kibin, Mukuro, Uchui, Kokichi, The Kyojin's and the High Roller staff. This is another thing in regards to Kuripa's conflict that is quite saddening to. Similar to Hajime, as things currently stand, Kuripa has an excellent life. He's a successful animator who makes a lot of money from his work, he enjoys his time at the Future Foundation and really looks up to both Makoto and Mukuro who both treat him with a reciprocated amount of respect, he gets to work in tangent with his best friend, he has many pals, some of which are part of an anime club, and on top of it all, he has a cute girlfriend who playfully flirts back and forth with him all the time. He has everything a guy could possibly ever want, but due to his one track mind, he can never be satisfied knowing Kotoko's killer is still out there, and he will do whatever it takes to avenge her...even if he needs to cut a few people down to get it...

//Doing this kind of self-reflective character analysis is pretty refreshing and fun to be honest, although, doing it makes it sound like I have a big head, and am complementary of my own writing where I know many might disagree with my techniques and opinions. You're free to, believe me, but please keep any criticism constructive.

-Mod

[daydreaming-nerd]

Out of Love (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Request by anon: “Hello there! Can I request a oneshot where Bucky thinks you're falling out of love him and it worsens when he sees you being affectionate with your new guy friend”

Warnings: Angst, fluffy ending, insecure Bucky, implied smut at the very very end.

an: I’m gonna start writing shorter fics because I’m seeing other blogs doing it and I think that might be what people are wanting right now? Please let me know if I’m wrong here lol.

It was a lovey Sunday morning and Bucky and I were taking a stroll through New York after having grabbed some breakfast at our favorite little cafe. It was warm and sunny out with a slight breeze in the air. Spring flowers lined the city streets and everything felt so light and airy. 

I felt someone bump into my right shoulder and I immediately turned to see who it was. I hoped they would say sorry but they said something very different.

“y/n?” the man said, upon further inspection I realized that I knew this man. 

“Tyler?” I said. “what are you doing in New York?”

“I’m here on business! I’ve been here for a month and I’ll be here for another two months.” He exclaimed.

“Wow I haven’t seen you since college!” I said. 

“It looks like you finally got everything you wanted,” he said gesturing to the city around us “you finally got to live in New York.”

“It took a while but I made it! I can’t believe you’re here right now, it’s been so long.”

“I know, I was actually hoping I would run into you here.” He said bashfully.  

All the sudden I felt Bucky squeeze my left hand.

“Oh my goodness where are my manners? Tyler this is Bucky,” I said allowing them to shake hands. “Tyler and I were like best friends in college.”

“So you’re the boyfriend?” Tyler asked.

“That’s me,” Bucky said feeling uncomfortable. 

“Wow the infamous Winter Soldier,” He said looking at Bucky’s left hand. “I guess I don’t have to worry about anything happening to her do I,” he chuckled.

“You definitely don’t,” Bucky said.

“You’re one lucky guy scoring her. You better take care of her for me.” Tyler smiled.

“I will,” 

“Well we better go Tyler we’ve got some errands to run today but you should text me and we can get together again,” I said to him.

“That would be awesome! It was nice to see you again y/n, and nice to meet you Bucky,” He said leaning down to give me a hug. 

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

After seeing Tyler on the street Bucky and I went home to continue our date night. That is until I walked out of the bathroom and he was gone. I asked F.R.I.D.A.Y where he was and found that he was on the gym working out. I figured he must’ve left his water bottle there again but when a two minute task turned into a fifteen minute task I realized that he was probably working out. I didn’t mind though, Bucky had been through a lot in his life, sometimes weird things bring back his old memories and he has to blow off some steam. I was walking towards the bench to take off my heels seeing as we weren’t going to dinner tonight when I heard my phone go off. 

 Any dinner plans tonight? I still haven’t found the best place to get New York pizza? -Tyler

I smiled and thought for a second before replying.

Meet me at Di Fara Pizza in Brooklyn ;)

I grabbed my purse and off I went!

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

“This is it?” asked Tyler looking at the slightly run down pizza place.

“Yep this is it,” I smiled. “The guy who opened it back in 64′, Dom DeMarco still runs the place and makes all the pizzas!” 

“Okay I trust you,” Tyler said before linking his arm in mine and walking through the door. 

“Y/n!” yelled Dom. “I haven’t seen you in so long!”

“Hi Dom! I know things have been crazy lately! I could really go for one of your famous cheese pizzas though,” 

“Coming right up miss y/n!” 

I went and sat down at one of the very few tables. Thankfully there was no one there so we had the joint to ourselves. 

“How did you find this place?” Tyler said as we sat down. 

“Tony actually showed me,” I laughed.

“Tony, as in Tony Stark?” He asked. 

“Of course! He’s the reason I’m here. We met at a convention and he liked my work ethic and spunk. I begged him to let me intern for him and he said yes. So he shipped me out here to New York and now I live in the tower with everyone else.” 

“That’s insane. Your life doesn’t even sound real,” he laughed.

“Yeah I have trouble convincing myself sometimes,” 

“So you and the Winter Soldier? You always had a thing for bad boys but this is even a little crazy for you,” Tyler said as if trying to prompt me into saying I didn’t love Bucky.

“He’s not who he used to be. He’s not The Winter Soldier he’s Bucky Barnes and god do I love him.” I gushed.

“Y/n I don’t know,”

“Trust me Tyler, Bucky is absolutely amazing. He’s so sweet and I know he looks big and tough but he’s really a big teddy bear,” I said

“Here we are miss y/n a cheese pizza made just the way you like it,” Dom said interrupting Tyler’s thought.

“Thank you Dom you’re an angel,” I said.

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

“Thank you for tonight y/n it was really nice to see you again.” Tyler said at the bottom of the Avengers tower.

“No thank you I had a great time! We’ll have to get together again sometime. Maybe this Friday I can get you the clearance to come in the tower.” I winked.

“That would be so cool!” Tyler exclaimed.

“I’ll talk to Tony and let you know,” I laughed.

“Well goodnight y/n,” Tyler said kissing my cheek.

That crossed the line for me.

“Tyler please don’t do that I’m with Bucky,” I said.

“Oh sorry,” 

“Please leave me alone. I don’t know what you’re trying yo achieve here but I’m very happy with Bucky and I’m not going to let you mess it up. Goodnight Tyler,” I said opening the door to the tower. 

I got off the elevator on my floor and saw that the light in Bucky and I’s room was still on. I walked in expecting Bucky to have fallen asleep with the lights on again but there he sat on the edge of the bed waiting for me.

“Hey,” I said softly.

“Where were you?” He asked standing up.

“I went to grab pizza with Tyler,” I said putting my bag on it’s hook by the door. 

“Oh,” Bucky said somberly.

“Buck what’s wrong?” I asked him.

“Nothing,” He said.

I walked over and took his hands in mine.

“Bucky I know somethings wrong just tell me,”

He took a deep breath trying to spit out what was bothering him.

“Do you like Tyler?” he asked.

“Of course not Bucky,” I said putting my arms around his neck.

“I know I’m over reacting but I could tell that he really likes you and I was scared you might feel the same way,” He said wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Well trust me I definitely don’t feel the same way about him. Especially after tonight,” I said rolling my eyes.

“What happened tonight? Did he try anything with you?” He asked getting upset.

“He was a total prick all night. He was trying to act like you were still some evil assassin and then he kissed me on the cheek!” 

“I’m gonna kill him,” He said trying to move past me.

“Woah there tiger, I already told him off,” I said. 

“Really?” 

“Yeah you should’ve seen the look on his face. He looked like he was gonna cry.” I laughed. “You don’t ever have to worry Bucky Barnes, I love you so much I can’t even stand it sometimes. You can’t get rid of me.”

“You could do so much better though doll. Someone without such a dark past, someone who isn’t as dangerous, someone who has both arms,” he said sadly.

“James Buchanan Barnes. Where else am I gonna find a man who can swing me around a dance floor like you do? A man who is old fashioned in all the best ways, who still believes in the notion of buying his best girl flowers for no particular reason. Not to mention a man who’s a gentlemen in the streets and an animal in the sheets.” I smirked.

“God I love you so much doll,” He said picking me up and swinging me around.

“Why don’t you show me how much you love me Barnes,” I said pulling him into a passionate kiss.

“Doll you read my mind,”