#then we’ve had gunther leave

[dear-ao3]

tea is our favorite thing to drink over here cause it’s always piping hot

there's f1 drama?????

asking if there’s f1 drama is like asking if there’s a supernatural gif for everything.

[thebramblewood]

A Very Vampiric Dinner Date, Part 2/3

Previous / Next

Featuring Seth and Morana by @bloomingkyras, Bria, Christoph and Daniella by @ruthplaysthesims, Madeleine by @plasmafruittree, Fawzia by @simvanie, Tiberius by @someone-elsa, and Annika by me!

With special appearances by Erwin Pries, Cassandra Goth, Don Lothario, Johnny Zest, and Gunther Munch! Thanks to everyone in the community who offered suggestions. (And as a big fan of @gunthermunch's Lilith/Gunther pairing, I had to make their paths cross in my own way!)

Helena: That… was… incredible.

Lilith: I told you it would be. And now for the main course. Don’t worry. They’re all volunteers, I promise. They’re required to sign consent forms and everything. We’ve got all sorts to choose from — conspiracy nuts… occult enthusiasts… fetishists… burnouts… and adorably pitiful idiots.

Helena: Wait a minute. I think I went to high school with that g-

Lilith: Focus, Helena! If they’d prefer, we can make them forget they were ever even here — though some of them do like to remember.

Helena: [nervously] But they’ll live?

Lilith: Regrettably, vampire business owners are not above the law. If anyone died, they’d have blood on their hands too, and they wouldn’t hesitate to tear you limb from limb for inconveniencing them with all that red tape. They fatten us up on appetizers so we pose less of a risk.

Helena: Caleb?

Caleb: [reluctantly] If you’re going to drink from humans, this is the safest way to do it.

Helena: But you won’t?

Caleb: Abstaining is my decision, but you have to make your own. No one should pressure you into doing something you don’t want to.

Helena: [meekly] I think I want to try.

Lilith: Good. I booked us a private room — in case you’re feeling shy about feeding in public.

Caleb: Well, this seems like my cue to leave.

[keekee-23]

Daddy Tag Team

A Y/N X Damian Priest Fluff Fanfiction

Summary: Damian Priest tackles his biggest challenge yet – caring for his daughter, Luna, while Y/N is away. Through diaper changes and sleepless nights, Damian discovers that being a dad is the most rewarding match of them all.

Damian Priest stood in the doorway of their home, Luna cradled in his strong arms, as Y/N zipped up her suitcase one last time. The look on her face was a mix of determination and unease. This was her first time leaving Damian alone with their baby girl for 2 days, and though she trusted him completely, there was still that lingering doubt.

"You sure you’re going to be okay?" Y/N asked, her voice laced with concern as she straightened up, her eyes flicking between Damian and Luna.

Damian chuckled, his deep voice full of reassurance. "Babe, I’ve faced steel cages, ladders, and even Gunther. I think I can handle our little princesa for a few days."

Y/N raised an eyebrow, clearly not convinced. “You do realize she’s teething, right? And she’s been extra fussy these past few days.”

Damian nodded, shifting Luna to his other arm. “We’ve got this, haven’t we, princesa?” he cooed at his daughter, who responded by drooling on his shirt.

Y/N tried to smile, but the worry lines on her forehead didn’t quite smooth out. "I know, I know… it’s just, you’ve never been alone with her for this long before. If you need anything, just—"

"—call you," Damian finished for her, leaning in to press a kiss on her lips. "I’ve got this, Y/N. “Go, save the world or whatever it is you do,” Damian teased. “We’ll be here when you get back. Hopefully, with the house still standing.”

Y/N laughed softly, still hesitant, but she knew she had to trust Damian. He was her rock, after all. She turned her attention to Luna, who was happily tugging at Damian’s long hair with a tight grip, her tiny face full of curiosity.

"Mama’s gonna miss you, sweet girl," Y/N cooed, leaning in to kiss Luna’s chubby cheek. Luna gurgled in response, her big eyes lighting up as she reached for her mother’s face.

Y/N reluctantly pulled away, feeling the sting of leaving her baby, but knowing that her work demanded it. As she slid into the waiting Uber, she looked back at Damian and Luna, both waving at her from the doorway. She forced herself to smile and gave them a little wave back before the car pulled away.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Luna’s face scrunched up, and her lower lip began to quiver. Damian looked down at her, already feeling a pang of worry. “Uh-oh. No need to cry, sweetheart. Daddy’s here.”

The lip quiver quickly escalated into a full-blown wail. Damian’s eyes widened. “Okay, okay, we can handle this.” He began to pace the room, gently bouncing her in his arms like he’d seen Y/N do countless times before. “You’re okay, Luna. We’re just going to have some fun today, right? Just Daddy and his little girl.”

After a few more laps around the living room, Luna finally calmed down, her big brown eyes staring up at Damian as if to say, I’m watching you, Dad. Damian took a deep breath. “Alright, first things first—diaper change.”

What should have been a simple task turned into a comedy of errors. Damian laid Luna on the changing table and began to undo her onesie, but the tiny snaps on the fabric seemed to defy him at every turn. “Come on, it’s just a snap,” he muttered, finally getting it open only for Luna to kick her legs and send a tiny sock flying across the room.

“Alright, you’re feisty today, huh?” Damian said with a laugh, retrieving the sock and placing it back on her foot. But the real challenge began when he opened the diaper. “Oh, man. How does something so small make such a big mess?”

He carefully wiped her clean, trying to keep everything under control, but Luna was in no mood to cooperate. She wriggled and squirmed, nearly kicking the wipes out of his hand. When it came time to put the fresh diaper on, Damian struggled to keep her still. The result was a slightly crooked diaper, but after a few attempts to adjust it, he decided it was good enough. “There we go, all clean. Let’s see your mom do better than that,” he joked, holding her up proudly.

The rest of the morning went by in a blur of tiny challenges. Feeding time was a mix of sweet moments and sticky chaos. Damian thought he had the bottle’s temperature just right, but when he went to test it, he ended up spilling milk down the front of his shirt. “Okay, so maybe I should’ve worn a bib too,” he chuckled, wiping it off.

Luna, for her part, seemed more interested in gnawing on the bottle’s nipple than actually drinking from it, which led to a minor battle of wills. “Come on, Luna, you’ve got to eat,” Damian coaxed, trying to gently guide the bottle into her mouth. After some persistence, she finally latched on, and Damian couldn’t help but feel a small swell of pride. “That’s my girl. We’re getting the hang of this.”

Nap time, however, was a different story. Luna had always been a light sleeper, and today was no exception. Damian tried everything—rocking her in his arms, walking around the house, even playing soft music on his phone. But each time he laid her in the crib, her eyes would pop open, and she’d start fussing again.

“Come on, princesa, you need to sleep,” Damian whispered, exhausted but determined. Eventually, after what felt like hours of rocking and shushing, Luna finally dozed off. Damian carefully placed her in the crib, holding his breath as he slowly backed out of the room. The moment he stepped on a creaky floorboard, her eyes fluttered open. Damian froze, holding his breath, but to his relief, Luna let out a tiny sigh and fell back asleep.

Damian tiptoed out of the room, collapsing onto the couch with a sigh of relief. “This is tougher than a ladder match,” he muttered, rubbing his eyes. He pulled out his phone to check the time and noticed a message from Y/N: How’s everything going?

He couldn’t help but smile as he typed back: We’re surviving. No major disasters yet. He added a winking emoji for good measure before setting his phone down and closing his eyes for just a moment.

He was startled awake by the sound of the baby monitor crackling to life. Luna was awake again. “Already?” he groaned, dragging himself off the couch and heading back to her room. He found her sitting up in the crib, wide awake and looking as bright-eyed as ever.

“You know, it’s supposed to be nap time,” Damian said, scooping her up and holding her close. She responded by grabbing a fistful of his hair and tugging, which made him wince but also laugh. “You’ve got a strong grip, just like your dad.”

He spent the next few hours trying to keep Luna entertained. He tried singing to her, but his deep, gravelly voice only made her stare at him in confusion. He brought out her favorite toys, only to find that she was more interested in chewing on anything within reach—including his championship belt, which he quickly had to rescue from her tiny grasp. “Not a teething toy, sweetheart,” he said, holding it up out of her reach.

He tried reading her a story, but Luna seemed more interested in the sound of his voice than the actual words. She cooed and babbled back at him as if trying to have a conversation. “Yeah? Is that right?” Damian played along, nodding seriously as if he understood every word. “You’re already smarter than your old man.”

The hours passed, and soon it was time for Luna’s evening routine. Damian managed to give her a bath without too much water ending up on the floor, though she did manage to splash him a few times. “You’re a little troublemaker, aren’t you?” he said, wrapping her in a fluffy towel and drying her off.

Getting her dressed in her pajamas was another challenge. Luna was wriggly, and every time Damian tried to get her tiny arms through the sleeves, she’d pull them back out. “This is definitely harder than a chokehold,” he muttered, finally succeeding and zipping up the onesie.

Finally, it was bedtime. Damian settled into the rocking chair with Luna, cradling her gently in his arms. He tried to hum a lullaby—one he remembered his own mother singing to him when he was little. Luna’s eyes grew heavy, and after a few minutes, she was fast asleep.

Damian looked down at her, feeling a wave of love and pride wash over him. “We did it, princesa,” he whispered, carefully placing her in the crib and brushing a kiss against her forehead. “You and me—we make a pretty good team.”

He tiptoed out of the room, closing the door softly behind him. He was exhausted, but he couldn’t help but smile as he collapsed onto the couch once more. It had been a challenging day, but also one filled with sweet, unexpected moments that he knew he’d cherish forever.

Just as he closed his eyes, his phone buzzed. It was Y/N, checking in again. Damian grinned as he typed back: Survived the day. House still standing. Princesa asleep. I think I deserve a championship belt for this.

He hit send, leaning back on the couch and finally allowing himself to relax. Y/N’s response came quickly: I’m so proud of you. Can’t wait to be back with my two favorite people.

Damian smiled, feeling a warmth in his chest that was different from the thrill of any wrestling match or victory in the ring. It was the simple, undeniable joy of being a dad, and he knew he wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

The next morning, when Y/N walked through the door, she was greeted by the sight of Damian asleep on the couch with Luna curled up on his chest, both of them snoring softly.

Y/N couldn’t help but smile as she set down her bags and walked over to them. She gently brushed a kiss on Damian’s forehead, then Luna's. "Looks like you did just fine," she whispered, feeling a warmth in her heart.

Everything really had turned out okay—better than okay. It was perfect.

[oh-no-my-hand-slipped]

An Eventful Ride

A snz ficlet based off this prompt

CW/TW: Org*sm, Overstimulation, Spray

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

“Goddamnit…”

They’d been this way before, hadn’t they? To be honest, Reed didn’t have an ever-loving clue. No matter how many times she looked at the map, nothing ever looked right. You’d seen one rock or tree or pond, you’d seen ‘em all.

“Y’alrighd, sweetheart?”

Wendy sniffled against Reed’s shoulder, wrinkling her nose. She hadn’t been feeling too well since the storm a few nights ago before had soaked their sleeping bags and tents — and what had started as a case of the sniffles had become a real hell of a cold.

“We cad stop here for the night…” Wendy began, but Reed cut her off.

“You ain’t spending one more night out here, sick as you are. Gunther reckoned he saw snow clouds Tuesday, comin’ straight for the valley.”

Wendy smiled weakly. “He also told ya thad he was champion at cards, but you beat hib every tibe.”

Reed chuckled, patting the horse’s neck as they came across a bubbling stream.

“He’s not all that at cards, but he’s never been wrong about the clouds. Besides, a cold ain’t anything to sneeze-”

Suddenly, Wendy’s breath shuddered, and she buried her nose into the crook of Reed’s neck.

“hhhtch’chiew!”

Reed tightened her grip on the reigns. Wendy tittered and took out her handkerchief.

“Oh, ‘scuse be. Sduck up on me.”

She dabbed her handkerchief on her partner’s neck, then took to dabbing her nose.

Reed swallowed, her face burning. Wendy blew her nose.

“I really ab sorry, Reed. I didn’d mean to.”

Reed cleared her throat. “Don’tcha worry about it. It just, er, surprised me is all.”

Surprised was quite an understatement. Ever since they’d gotten on the road this morning, Wendy’s sniffles and sneezes had distracted Reed to no end. Something about that pink nose scrunching up, her eyelids fluttering, her whimpers, her shuddering breaths…

And her sneezes.

Not only were they as pretty as could be, but they were always bestowed to Reed on her neck or shoulder, leaving a wet spray on her leather vest.

Reed also rode high in her saddle, the rocking between her legs giving her both relief and a burden she could hardly stand carrying.

“Oh, s-sakes ali-hive-!”

Wendy put her handkerchief to her nose again. Her nose wrinkled, and she batted her long eyelashes.

“I thingk I bay…hay-!”

Reed steeled herself, trying to pay attention to the path ahead of her. But between Wendy’s warm, shuddering breath in her ear, as well as her bosom pressing against her with every hitch, along with the steady movement of the saddle…

“Hih-! HIH-!”

Reed grit her teeth, her knuckles white on the reigns.

“HHHHI’tchiiiew!”

Reed put her hands on her calves, bending forward as her pleasure reached its climax. She willed herself not to shudder as she ground her teeth and leaned back against Wendy.

“Mmmph…”

Wendy looked up, once again cleaning up her nose.

“Darling?”

Reed took a deep breath, readjusting herself in the saddle.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” she sighed. “Just a…bur or s-something, I think.”

Wendy rubbed her cheek against Reed’s shoulder.

“If I felt byself, I’d fight off thad bush for ya,” she croaked. “Nobody messes with by ranger.”

Reed bit her lip.

“W-Why don’tcha try to rest a bit?” she said. “We’ve got a while ‘til the next town, if the map’s right. I don’t want you to tire yourself out.”

Wendy murmured her agreement, already dozing against Reed — who was still trying to get her bearings.

But while Reed thought that she’d get some peace while her partner was asleep, she was sorely mistaken.

To keep herself from falling off, Wendy had, at some point in the ride, thrown her arms around Reed’s chest, nestling into her shoulder. As she faded in and out of sleep, she would rub her cold, leaking nose into Reed’s neck, sniffling and murmuring in her dreams.

If wasn’t long before Reed has both hands on the horn of the saddle, trying not to wake her sleeping partner. However, keeping herself together wasn’t as easy as before.

“Nnngh~!”

Reed gasped, bending forward with a shudder. Wendy yawned.

“Mm, honey?” she murmured. “Y’okay?”

“Yep,” Reed said shortly. “Right as rain.”

Wendy put her arms over Reed’s shoulders.

“Why don’d we camp for tonight? We’ve been riding an awful long tibe, and I’b sure you’re exhausted.”

As much as Reed wanted to get off the horse, a part of her still didn’t feel right camping out in the cold while Wendy was sick.

But, before Reed could argue, she felt Wendy’s nose wrinkle against her shoulder.

Oh no. Oh heavens no.

“Hihih-!”

Reed wrapped the reigns around her hands, pulling them tight between her fingers. She held her breath. She bit her lip.

But all she could think of was —

“hhhhh’TCHIEW! TSH’IEW!”

“GAH~!”

Reed convulsed, unable to help herself. She ground against the saddle, gasping with pleasure that she for so long hadn’t allowed herself.

“Hah~! Haah~”

Finally, Reed rested against the horse’s neck, almost bent over the saddle.

“Reed!”

Wendy slid off the saddle, coming to Reed’s side.

“Honey, whad’s wrong? Can ya hear be?”

Reed breathed heavily, still not quite recovered.

“Maybe there’s a physician sobewhere,” Wendy said, grabbing the map. “And get ya checked…”

Read swallowed. “Wendy.”

“I kndew we should’ve camped for the night! And you were tellin’ be not to get worn out!”

“Wendy. ‘S fine.”

“It’s ndot! Oh, it’s all my fault. If I didn’d go and catch this cold, we would’ve-”

Suddenly, Reed leaned over, taking Wendy’s face in her hands.

“Wendy.”

Wendy stopped, looking up at Reed with wide eyes.

“I ain’t sick,” Reed continued. “And it ain’t your fault. And if it is, it’s ‘cause you’re just too damn pretty. You and your pretty little nose.”

Wendy blinked. “Huh?”

She glanced down, then looked up again, her face turning bright red.

“Oh, sweetheart…”

Reed gave a sheepish smile. “It wasn’t hard the first time, y’know…but the second ‘n third…I couldn’t…er…”

“Now, never you mbind!” Wendy interrupted. “Let’s ged all cleaned up, and then I’ll get in with ya in your sleeping bag. I bet you could use some TLC…”

Wendy took Reed’s hand to help her get off the saddle. Reed limped into her lover’s arms.

She’d tell her about the whole sneeze thing later. For now, what she needed was a sleepy night under the stars.

[pickalilywrites]

Erwin, Mike, Nanaba, Gelgar, Hange, Moblit and Levi Squad getting ready to go on a vacation road trip to a couple of cities. Rented out two vans to fit all of them + luggage (they all know getting one van would lead to an accident).

Getting ready to leave for the long trip though…hopefully someone packed lots of aspirin and ibuprofen for the trip. Modern AU.

thanks, this was fun!

one hell of a road trip

snk veterans. modern au. 1889 words.

Sitting in the driver’s seat of one of the vans, Levi glances at his watch for the fifteenth time. They were supposed to leave two hours ago, but everyone keeps trying to cram last minute items into their luggage cases or running back to grab something else. Levi has gotten out of the driver’s seat a half dozen times already to stretch his legs. Every time, he had told himself to just give his friends a few more minutes and that they’d be ready to leave soon, but he has half a mind to just drive off without them. 

In the back, he can hear his friends arguing. Levi had taken a few aspirin tablets earlier to fend off the inevitable headache that would come with traveling with so many people in a cramped van, but he’s debating taking another one. Enough time has passed that it probably won’t hurt to take another tablet or two.  

“Are you sure we have everything? Maybe we should pack extra clothes in case we run out,” Gunther says worriedly. Gunther is incredibly meticulous, sometimes too meticulous. He’s been fretting over what to take on the trip and had blown up the group chat with dozens of messages last night to ask if he should bring supplies they probably wouldn’t need: tents and sleeping bags even though there were plenty of motels and inns along the way, canned and dried foods in case despite the towns along their route that are sure to have convenience stores or gas stations with snacks at the very least, and survival gear in case their car broke down and they were forced to fend for themselves in the wild which was very unlikely to happen. Everyone had assured him that he was going overboard, but it seems Gunther still isn’t convinced.  

“I think we’ve packed enough clothes, especially you. Do you really need two luggage cases worth of clothes? That’s not including the other bags of stuff you packed,” Eld says. He’s been subtly throwing out unnecessary items while Gunther wasn’t looking, sneaking them over to Moblit who would run back and leave them in the house. “We’re going to weigh down the van with all this stuff you’re packing. We might not make it a mile. It’ll be a miracle if we don’t break down in the middle of the road from all this baggage!” 

“That’s why I packed the survival gear!” Gunther huffs. 

Behind Gunther’s shoulder and out of his sight, Moblit looks over at Eld and shakes his head to indicate that he’s managed to return all of Gunther’s survival gear and emergency rations to the house. It’s extra work, but Moblit was already hauling back extra gear that Hanji was trying to pack too. It was fine when Hanji asked to take their gaming laptop and some of their handheld consoles, but Moblit had to draw the line when Hanji tried to sneak in their entire PC gaming computer.  

Petra slips into the passenger seat of the van Levi is in. Even though they’ve been getting ready to leave for hours, she looks as cheerful as ever. The smile is just a mask, however, because she reaches into the cupholder where Levi has placed the bottle of aspirin and shakes out a tablet before swallowing it down with a gulp of water. Once she’s done, she looks over and flashes a smile at Levi. 

“How are you holding up?” she asks.  

Levi sighs through his nose. He glances at the rearview mirror where he can observe Eld and Gunther still arguing in the back. “Should we just leave now? We can leave them here. They can squeeze into the other van and go on their trip. Let’s just go by ourselves.”  

“A private trip does sound good, but Auruo was looking forward to this group trip so much. Let’s plan a trip for ourselves once we come back from this from.” Petra leans over and presses a light kiss against Levi’s forehead before hopping out of the van to help their friends finish packing. 

Mike is sitting on the sidewalk marking the pit stops they’ll be making on their road trip. The group had debated earlier on whether they should take a map or just rely on the GPS, but Gunther wouldn’t hear of going without a map in case the GPS stopped working inexplicably. Mike had decided to take it upon himself to mark it up with stops for them to reload and refresh as well as take note of any landmarks they’re interested in visiting. 

Nanaba peers over Mike’s shoulder and looks amusedly at the route they’re apparently planning on taking. The route to each city is less of a straight path and more roundabout than Nanaba had anticipated. A closer look makes Nanaba realize that some of these so-called landmarks are actually more out of the way than they should be. It’ll definitely delay their trip if they visit places that veer too far from their destination.  

“Are we really going here? Some of these landmarks sound weird,” Nanaba says. She leans down to take a closer look at the map, squinting as she reads the name of a place Mike has circled on the map. “Shiganshina Emu Farm? Why are we visiting an emu farm?” 

“Why wouldn’t we visit an emu farm?” Hanji pipes up from behind them. Hanji plops themselves down beside Mike. They throw an arm around Mike as if protecting him from Nanaba’s judgmental gaze. “Emus are magnificent creatures. If we’re in the area, we should visit them!”  

“Okay,” Nanaba says, but she doesn’t sound entirely convinced. She frowns as she scans the rest of the map and notices that the other places Mike has marked are equally as peculiar. She grabs the map from Mike while he’s still marking it, leaving a red streak that runs across the map. Nanaba reads out the names. “World Erotica Museum? Corn Palace? World’s Largest Objects? What’s even that last one?”  

“It’s a town with some of the world’s largest objects — absolutely gigantic!” Hanji says enthusiastically and Mike nods beside her.  

Nanaba looks at Hanji and Mike suspiciously. After a pause, she points a finger at Mike. “How much did Hanji pay you?”  

“I didn’t pay him! He’s interested in going to these places too,” Hanji insists, and Mike nods in agreement. 

“I’ve always wanted to go to the World Erotica Museum,” Mike says without even cracking a smile.  

Nanaba observes Mike for a moment and then says to Hanji, “Give me the same amount of money as you gave him and I’ll help convince the others to visit all the landmarks you want no matter how ridiculous they are.”  

Hanji’s face brightens and they hold out a hand to Nanaba to shake. “Deal!”  

Moblit is at the second van trying to shut the trunk. Although he had tried to return the bags Hanji didn’t need, they had somehow found their way back in the trunk of the van. Hanji had even managed to stick them underneath everyone else’s luggage case, making it even more difficult for Moblit to just remove Hanji’s bags and put them back in the house. Exasperated, Moblit throws up his hands and goes up to the passenger seat where Erwin is to seek his friend’s help. It seems, however, that Erwin has already started relaxing. 

A notorious workaholic, it had taken ages for everyone to convince Erwin to clear his schedule for the road trip. Now that he has, it seems he’s on vacation mode. He’s dressed in a Hawaiian shirt (despite the fact that they’re going nowhere near the island), a wide brimmed straw hat, and sunglasses. In his hand is a half-finished mimosa. It’s his sixth one today, and they have two pitchers of sangria in one of the ice boxes they’ve packed that Erwin plans on starting on once he finishes his current drink.  

“What’s wrong, Moblit? You look like you could use a drink. Have a mimosa,” Erwin says. His speech is only the slightest bit slurred, and he speaks slower than usual. He has a serene smile on his face as he raises his glass as if to toast Moblit.  

“No thanks,” Moblit sighs. He should probably leave Erwin to relax anyway. It’s rare that Erwin takes a day off, let alone a week. Desperate, Moblit looks into the van to ask Gelgar for help unpacking some of Hanji’s extra bags, but he finds Gelgar passed out in the back.  

Before this trip had started, Gelgar had taken motion sickness medicine because of the awful motion sickness he gets on long car rides. It was the nondrowsy kind, but he’s been rendered unconscious anyway because of the strength the medicine.  

It looks as if Moblit isn’t going to get any help. He sighs and returns to the back of the van that’s absolutely stuffed with things. He frowns as he takes in the mess in front of him. Maybe if he just rearranges everything, he might be able to fit everything better and won’t have to make a return trip to put back Hanji’s things.  

Once packing is over, they finally start on their trip. Their first stop is a town in-between where they are now and the city of Liberio. It’ll be a few hours for their stop, and Levi is sure it’s going to be an annoying one. While he cares deeply for his friends, their constant bickering can get annoying at times and he expects there will be a lot of it with everyone cramped into the van. It’s surprising to him when they manage a half hour without any arguing.  

He looks at the rearview mirror and frowns. Something isn’t quite right.  

“Where’s Auruo?” he asks.  

Everyone freezes for a moment before exchanging panicked looks. In their haste and exhaustion, they had forgotten their friend. Auruo's absence also went unnoticed in part of the luggage that had filled not only the trunk but also a few seats in the van, making it difficult to see who was seated and who was missing completely. 

“He said he was going to the bathroom,” Gunther suddenly remembers. 

“Didn’t he already go before?” Eld asks.  

“He said he had to go again,” Gunther says. 

“No wonder it was so quiet,” Petra comments. 

“Why didn’t you notice he was gone! You managed to pack sleeping bags and extra blankets for everyone but couldn’t even keep track of all of us?” Eld snorts. 

“Make fun of me all you want, but you’ll be thanking me when we don’t freeze our asses off in the cold,” Gunther retorts. 

“We weren’t ever going to do that anyway because we were going to be booking into motels and inns the whole time!” Eld protests.  

Levi makes an abrupt U-turn that sends everyone yelling as they’re thrown to one side of the van. He ignores the strange looks that Mike and his friends give him as Mike’s van passes them. “Text the others and say we’ll catch up to them after we pick up Auruo.”  

He glances at the bottle of aspirin still sitting in the cupholder. He hopes he has enough to last the entire trip, but something tells Levi he’ll probably need to buy another bottle or two before the trip is over.  

[dioles-writes]

• OC FICLET •

Masterlist | Characters: Felix (he/him), January (he/him), Akali (he/him), Rory (they/she), Kuali’i (he/him)

Credits to @jiphenn as the characters in purple are all hers!

There was a knock at the door.

Felix was with the rest of the Board Game Club, sitting next to Akali as they all drank hot chocolate, chatting and playing board games.

“Can you go open the door Felix?” January asked, taking a sip of his drink.

Felix stood up from his seat, leaving Akali who was absolutely destroying him at Monopoly and swinging open the door.

Standing before him was Kuali’i, multicoloured hair loosely curled, an awkward smile on his face. He looked like he was regretting everything. Felix smirked at him. “Oh, hi.”

“Hey guys, your new club members are here!” Rory popped up from behind Kuali’i with a grin, pushing him through the door. January was immediately all smiles, springing up with his usual enthusiasm. “Oh, you guys are here!” He ran up quickly to lock the door, completely ecstatic. He turned to the rest of the club. “You guys know what that means.” He was grinning from ear to ear. Felix took his seat next to Akali again.

“Power sharing!”

January was absolutely brimming with excitement. “This also gives us a chance to see how we’ve improved!” He continued. “I’ll go first!”

January retrieved a freshly sharpened pencil from his bag, like the very first club meeting. Felix got flashbacks to his freaky aura switch, as he stabbed himself clean through his hand, blood slicking the table. “My power is weight! Meaning I can change the rate at which gravity pulls it down.” He said with a smile, dangling the pencil over his hand.

At the last second he pulled his hand away with a chuckle. “Just kidding!” He stared at the horrified expressions of the original members, his green and purple eyes twinkling. “I’m not doing that again.” Astley, Rory, Kuali’i, Wilder and Gunther looked extremely confused.

“I can do it normally like this.” January placed his thumb over the eraser, and the pencil came crashing down at the table with a large thud, faster than ever. Felix was relieved he didn’t stab himself again.

January stood up, continuing his demonstration. “I can also make it work like this now!” He grabbed the pencil and chucked it across the room. He tapped his thumb against his index finger almost immediately, and the pencil stopped mid-flight, falling harshly into the table again.

“And I can do this now too!” He said, cracking his fingers. He touched the chair he was just sitting on, and the whole club watched, captivated, as the chair slowly started to lift off the ground and float. “Now the gravitational pull is less than it was before, meaning I can float things.” January explained, tapping his thumb against his finger again and causing the chair to fall back down.

“Next is Akali!” January said, taking a seat once more.

Akali pulled his gloves off, and shadows immediately started seeping from the cracks in his palms, his familiar shadow creatures emerging.

This time, instead of three, four came out. They were larger now too, probably nine feet tall, and the air around the creatures seemed colder, more sinister, radiating an ominous presence. “I can make shadow creatures.” Akali said. “I can also switch positions with them.” He flickered to each spot with ease, before finally teleporting back down to his spot. He put his gloves back on. “That’s it.” He said with a shrug.

“Next up is Felix!”

Felix stood up, taking a deep breath. Ever since the club had practiced their powers at January’s mansion he had been working day and night to improve his portals. He’d practiced portaling different objects around his room, then also around their house. He spent most nights when he was free after school at January’s, the two of them working together. He’d been determined to not make a fool of himself again. This would be the ultimate test - to see if he’d actually made any real improvements.

“I can make portals.” He said with a smile, swiping his hand through the air. Below his feet an electric blue portal crackled to life, expanding underneath the entire table and sucking the club in.

When they resurfaced, they were standing on a random hilltop in Germany. Mountains rose up around them, surrounded by large rolling hills, all of it a majestic green. Felix wondered why this place had popped up in his mind, out of all the other countries. The whole club looked extremely alarmed, besides January, Rory, Gunther and Astley, who were probably used to this sort of thing by now. With a swipe of his hand, Felix landed them back in the club room, like they’d never even left.

“WOW!” January exclaimed, clapping loudly and looking genuinely impressed.

Felix grinned at him and sat back down.

One by one, the rest of the club showed off their powers. No one else had improved as much as January and Felix (with Maddox and Astley not being able to improve at all) but the club all had much better control over their abilities from when they last showed them off three months ago.

Eventually, it reached Kuali’i.

He glanced around, looking like he was debating if he should escape or not, before seemingly deciding he was in it too deep to walk away now. He swallowed. “I’m Kuali’i and this is my power.”

He swiped his two fingers up and a red holographic screen appeared in front of him. “I guess you can kind of call it getting my way.” He broadcasted the screen into a bigger one that faced the rest of the Board Game Club. “If I have a goal in mind, I’m able to achieve it as long as I meet three requirements.” The entire club watched him curiously as he continued to explain.

“So, for example, say I wanna grow two inches,” A header with the title ‘GROW TWO INCHES’ popped up on the screen. He clicked it and it expanded, turning into a three-item checklist:

GROW TWO INCHES TALLER

[] Run for five miles

[] Sleep for eleven hours straight

[] Make five new friends

MONTHLY POWER UPS REMAINING: 3

“So as long as I complete these three tasks my goal will happen.” Kuali’i said. “Monthly power ups help me complete a task easier. So in this case I could increase my stamina or speed for a while so I could run five miles more effortlessly.” Kuali’i exited out of the goal.

“That’s why I didn’t join the club at first. Cause I didn’t really need to.” He swiped back a little bit, revealing a goal that read, “AVOID GETTING INJECTED AND FOUND OUT BY THE DIOLE VACCINE”.

Felix thought about how hard January had been pushing the club to recruit him. How many times Felix had brought up the club, trying to convince him to join. How confused he had been for the last few months, on why Kuali’i, who was tall, attractive, well-liked, and had seemingly everything, would want to lose it all when the vaccine came out.

“I still don’t really need to join…” Kuali‘I mumbled. “But it was a task on one of my other goals.”

Felix almost laughed at the irony of it all. He couldn’t believe it. Kuali’i didn’t even want to join them now - he was simply doing it to complete a task. Months of trying to get closer to him, to have him feel more comfortable, and the guy still didn’t really trust them. Felix was absolutely shocked.

“That’s about all I can do.” Kuali’i said, swiping down and making the screen vanish.

[masterthespianduchovny]

I didn’t know that💔, but I also don’t disagree that she shouldn’t have to deal with that!

Unfortunately there are some ppl who can’t separate the actor from the character or realize that there are certain things that you shouldn’t say to the performer.

I don’t want anyone to think I’m downplaying what’s going on, just expounding on my experience I’m various fandoms. While there may be some unhinged ppl who do this offline, what I mean by Online is that if you were to ask most people how they feel about Sydney irl, either they love her immensely or are neutral. This isn’t to say that minority won’t behave rudely offline, just that it’s not a general sentiment among fans.

For example, the guy who played Gunther on friends and Joffrey from game of thrones has had this experience as well and they’re not the only one. Whether or not you’re supposed to be bad or are disliked by even one person, chances are, this actor has been approached by someone telling them as much,

I think the reason they go unchecked online is because SydCarmys have siloed themselves off from the toxic part of the fanbase. We’ve blocked them, muted phrases, avoided Reddit, etc. so their little toxic community thrives among themselves, however, some aren’t content with the echo chamber they live in and have to rope Ayo into it.

I wish her well and that these people will leave her alone. No one should have to deal with that. I also hopes she knows how loved and adored she is. ❤️

this fandom is full of racist and idiotic asshats and the only people i see who call this shit out are sydcarmy shippers.

@currymanganese made a post about the fandom wiki entry on sydney and carmy's relationship, which you can only guess how accurate it is. here's a link to sydney's 'the bear' wiki page as it currently appears.

this is a snippet of sydney's wonderful personality and characterization.

However, she is bad at accepting 'no' or being told not right now. Her perfectionist nature does not allow her to let go of things, either. This often causes her to push for too much, too far, too fast, and then suffer the negative consequences because she did not understand why she was being told not to do something and would not let it go or wait. In times of stress, or rebounding from being treated poorly herself, she forgets her dream of making the kitchen environment safe and can abusively lash out with the worst of them. She resents that her business and administrative skills are often more highly valued at "The Bear" than her chef and cooking skills, though she excels in those areas. She tends to come across to others as young, anxious, and very insecure, wanting a lot of reassurance, until she finds her comfortable regiment and standardized process for completing a task, which allows her talent to come through. She often feels like a fish out of water with the rest of the staff, who are older, poorer, lack formal training, and have long-established ties, but is determined to make it work if it means learning under Carmy and having some control over the kitchen she works in.

this is a snippet of sydney's season 1 section.

Sydney becomes fixated on perfecting the risotto and becomes more aggrieved with every rejection. After being told her latest version is "tremendous", yet still cannot be offered on the dinner menu, Sydney, in a minor act of petty rebellion, serves the dish to a customer. With this act, Sydney is responsible for shoving The Beef down the road to its destruction. The customer, it turns out, is a famous food critic. He writes a glowing review of The Beef, and raves about risotto. The restaurant goes viral. Carmy is peeved, because the reason he wouldn't put the dish on the menu, besides it not being ready, is because risotto is very labor intensive. They do not have the staff to make it during dinner service. Additionally, the high brow dish does not fit the fast casual nature of a sandwich shop's menu. Richie rags on Sydney with suspicion, believing she knew the customer was a critic and gave him her dish to force them to put it on the menu, and to gain herself fame. The restaurant going viral coincides with Sydney's latest innovation push to use ordering tablets and accept online to go orders. Once again going too much, too fast, they begin using the new system before they're ready. Sydney makes a fatal error with the new technology by failing to set up website parameters. As a result, the second the system is turned on, the tiny restaurant is flooded with hundreds upon hundreds of to-go orders, all due for pick up shortly and even more coming in every second. In person, customers are asking for the famous risotto…which is not on the menu. Carmy explodes at Sydney and demands she get out of the way before she keeps making the catastrophe worse, Sydney, who doesn't handle feelings of rejection or inadequacy well, spirals. She lashes out at the staff, and engages in a vicious fight with Richie, who never wanted the tablet system. After saying some truly cruel things about him as a father, Sydney stabs him, whether on purpose or on accident is uncertain, and then immediately resigns amidst the chaos.

"With this act, Sydney is responsible for shoving The Beef down the road to its destruction." IJBOL

and oh look, in season 2, sydney reconnects with claire and goes to al-anon with carmy.

Throughout the process, Sydney reconnects with Claire, who is now a resident in emergency medicine. Sydney attends Al-Anon meetings along with Carmy, discussing her search for fun.

awww sydney faces a setback when ebra stops attending culinary school and sees claire as a threat. sounds about right.

As the opening of The Bear approaches, Sydney continues to work on the menu with Tina's help. She faces a setback when Ebra stops attending culinary school. Sydney also begins to see Claire as a threat to Carmy's focus. Despite these challenges, Sydney remains committed to her role in the restaurant and prepares for the soft opening.

even better, richie alone successfully handles the situation at the soft open. she and carmy even reconcile!

During the soft opening, Sydney feels the pressure to impress her father. She runs the kitchen while Richie takes charge of the front of house. Issues arise, such as running out of forks and Carmy getting trapped in the walk-in fridge. However, Richie successfully handles the situation and takes over expediting. Sydney feels fulfilled after impressing her father, and she and Carmy reconcile.

this page is full of misogynoir and shitty, incorrect OPINIONS about sydney adamu. are these things not supposed to be objective? and yet they make sydney out to be an incompetent, jealous, hysterical, aggressive overstepper. we see this frequently on social media sites when sydney is discussed. and no one ever wants to draw attention to this for some reason. where's the news and media? the hit tweets? the constant posts complaining about this issue?

all people ever want to talk about is how sydcarmy is terrible and how shippers have terrible comprehension of the show. yet this garbage slips by all the time. maybe it's because the same people focusing all their energy on shippers hold those very same opinions, but i think a lot of people simply have tunnel vision and simply do not gaf about sydney.

it's fucking exhausting watching the general fandom treat syd as less than human and have zero understanding of her character. it's like yelling into the void. and i would very much like to know how this garbage wiki can be corrected.

[yakumtsaki]

Welcome to Generation 4, and no spoilers but what the fuck. For reasons that will become obvious, I have to start this generation with a culminative update on everyone post-college. We begin, as all bad things do, in the main house. Sophito and Eliza have been invited over so we can ask their dumb asses to move in (since we’re over the household limit, fml) but we’ve ran into the problem of them refusing to get out of the hot tub.

-So babe, after we bang in the hot tub do you wanna knock my new teeth implants out? -You know it! -SOPHITO GET OUT ALREADY SO I CAN ASK YOU TO MOVE IN -In a minute, mom, gawd!

-Do you think your mom will like me, Soph? -I can’t see how she wouldn’t after watching us have sex in her hot tub!

-Great job knocking my son’s teeth out, Eliza! -Thank you, Mrs. Miguel!  -Please, call me Mom! 

LOL ya I had a feeling you two violent lunatics would hit it off. 

In case you were wondering, Shajar remains THE WORST. Cyneswith is more excited to see Sophito again than his own mother is.

-Welcome home, son! You made your mama proud with all that hoeing, huhu!🌸

-CYN, ARE YOU AWARE THAT SOMEONE IS MAKING OUT IN OUR HOUSE THAT ISN’T YOU AND iVAN?!? IS THAT EVEN LEGAL???

Ah, it’s like we never left!

Jojo is unironically 106yo so it’s wedding time, no time to draw this out at all.

-This wedding looks like garbage >:(

Excuse me?? I even got you those Celebration balloon chairs, I normally get the cheap garden ones and call it a day. If I even bother getting chairs at all, that is!

-I don’t care!!! I want my dream wedding!!!

Ya, best we can do around here is your dream divorce.

-Oh Sophito, standing here with you, in front of our families who don’t give a fuck and June in a wedding dress, brings up so many emotions.. Mainly the urge to scream hysterically.. -It’s gonna be ok babe, just stay calm. Focus on me and the fact I managed to not pop the collar on my wedding suit!

Awww, congrats guys!

-What the fuck is your mother wearing?

LOL sorry I forgot to change her formalwear!

-It’s still better than June’s. 

I SAID I’M SORRY

Despite some small sartorial problems, this is actually one of the better weddings we’ve ever thrown? There’s smustling..

..brotherly reunions..

..more brotherly reunions..

..and a zombie vs robot deathmatch! I don’t know what more Liz wanted, tbh.

A great wedding, if I say so myself!

-It was not. 

Whatever! Time to move on!

Daniel reunites with his bebes and meets their intendeds, who have moved in next door!

-Blue Meatballs, what a throwback! Going from my brother to my daughter.. Wow, I REALLY don’t know how I feel about that.

Let me help, you feel happy! 

-Do I though?

Yes, because June is happy, God help us. 

-Ok then!

June’s little sisters idolizing her is SO CUTE I CANNOT..

..it also makes perfect sense as Cleo and Cecilia are the biggest fucking nerds I’ve ever played, I think I’m legit gonna go in a Curious Bros direction with them.

We leave Daniel in perpetual happiness with Tara and his human and cat bebes-

-and move to Asshole Manor! Ok you two, take a break.

-What? But that’s only the 8th time we’ve banged today!

IT CAN WAIT. 

-It really can’t, we’re 90yo! 

Ya exactly, so the time has come..

..to reconnect, and in Gunther’s case, MEET your kids. Reginald stop thinking about crypto FOR 1 SECOND GOOD LORD

It quickly becomes apparent that we’re dealing with a level of estrangement that a few visits aren’t gonna fix, so it’s time for Gun and Mel to take their kids on a vacation! Isn’t this exciting, kids? 

-Fuck our lives💜 -I’m a woman of science but I kept praying for our plane to crash.  -It’s only 3 days, guys, how bad can it be?  -Our rooms have no computers, Reginald. -That’s not a thing, then people wouldn’t be able give financial advice on the internet! -Ya, they are not. -YOU’RE LYING. GET AWAY FROM ME

-Listen son, this isn’t easy for me to say.. -It’s ok, dad, I think I know what you’re thinking. -Then would you please get out so I can bang Melody in this sauna?

-Let’s go, kiddos, this is gonna be fun!  -Uh, mom, where’s the pilot?💜 -I’m the pilot! -Since when?? -Since this very morning when I took a class! I’ve topped 7 careers, how hard can this be? 

-I am relaxed.. I do not need to give financial advice on the internet..

-I am centered.. I do not need to give financial advice on the internet..

-I am floating.. I do not need to give financial advice on the internet.. -Hey kid, any suggestions on what to order around here? -You mean.. ADVICE on how to ALLOCATE your meal BUDGET?!?

How’s it going, JuJu?

-Having a lot of fun eating soup with chopsticks💜  -Can we go home already? I’m losing career momentum, at this rate I won’t be Chief of Staff by age 23! 

Fine, fine, we’ve made some valuable bonding progress already:

-Aaaaah, isn’t this great? -It sure is, mom!💜 -How many ‘get promoted’ wants do I need to roll before you take a hint? -You know, June, you get your workaholism from me!  -Oh ok then, that definitely makes up for being a teen girl growing up without a mother! 

OOF, ok this will take some time, let’s check out.

We return home and June straight tops the medical career-

-AT THIS AGE. I CANNOT. You know what will make this day even better??

HUHU💙🧆

We’re officially Blueballed! Man, that doesn’t sound right. Look at Melody in her matching teal dress, supportive queen! 

-It seems like yesterday I was trying to break Lakshmi and Gunther up, and now here she is, marrying my daughter!

Ok, legit let’s not think too hard about this because it’s very upsetting. Julian and Stacy I’ve decided I will not marry since they don’t want to and they’re married in their 💜s anyway. Next household..

..and I’m gonna let this picture speak for itself. I found out something genuinely shocking: BRIT AND HALF-ALIEN PROF ARE BFFS. Like they’ve been friends since BEFORE Trista banged Gunther, in her memory panel she become besties with Brit first?? Wtf. 

-We’re gonna be family now, isn’t that exciting, Brit Brit? -OH YA, IT’S EVERY MOTHER’S DREAM: HER SON GROWING UP AND MARRYING HER BEST FRIEND -I know, right?  -THIS IS SICK! -You’re on to talk, Castor, he’s probably into older women because of you and Brit!  -BRIT WASN’T MY PROFESSOR, TRISTA -I wasn’t Reginald’s professor either, I’m an art prof! So I’m broke to boot!  -I’m gonna go lie down. -Ya, right behind you, darling, but I think I’m gonna vomit first! Which is a shame because I just ate some excellent quail’s legs! 

Brit is acting up against this marriage like a rebellious teen, soaping her own gaudy fountain.

-That will teach Reginald! 

It really won’t!

LOL @ SHOWING UP IN YOUR SWEATPANTS, COME ON BRIT

-I WILL NEVER ACCEPT THIS. 

What about now that Reggie gave birth to a beautiful ginger half-alien bb named BRITANNICUS? (I figured Half Alien Prof knocking him up made canon sense, hehe.)

-Ok, I accept this🖤

Good! Time for our final household!

Sugar and Claire! They adopted a bunch of Wulf’s 30 pets and moved into this beautiful house that I of course didn’t build.

Sugar autonomously knocked Claire up the literal second they moved in so we had a shotgun wedding..

..catered by Claire!

-What are these salads you guys are eating?? -Oh uh.. we kinda brought them with us.  -WHY -Uhh.. We don’t feel worthy of your food? -AWWWW. That’s true, you’re not! 

Sugar actually started the military career at like level 8 thanks to his insane college grades and I was like wtf??

-I got fired :(

Ya, that’s more like it.

Claire is also doing shockingly well, she’s a lvl 9- 

-And I’ll be a level 10 once I figure out how ovens work!

-and she gives birth to a beautiful bb whom Sophito attempts to kidnap after showing up uninvited, wtf. Anyway, the bb is a boy and I name him Spice! Now Claire has Sugar, Spice, and everything nice :)

I don’t know what drugs Sophito is clearly on because it appears he came over to legit.. help the new parents? Like he fed Spice and then started cleaning? Very shocking stuff in this family.

Sugar is a really good parent, I don’t know where the fuck he could have possibly learned this but it’s super cute!

AND HE TOPS HIS CAREER AND GETS THIS INSANE BONUS. YAS

I’m so proud of you!!! And boy was that cavalier hat doing a lot of heavy lifting when it came to your face. 

Spice grows up and the Don nose claims another generation :(

-Ah, I’m so glad my son is learning this at age 2 and not age 12 like I did :)

Claire is skilling like crazy because let me tell you, she is UNQUALIFIED AS FUCK. Like legit Wyatt-tier when he started as a SWAT Team Leader and was missing half the necessary skill points..

..and it turns out to be a complete time waste because she tops her career by chance card LOL

Congrats, Claire!!! 

-I knew I’d make it! Claire’s Frozen Meat Delights™ is going global! 

It sure is! Globally banned! What a perfect day, I’m sure nothing will ruin it! Why am I hearing hearts??

Oh right, it’s because SUGAR IS BANGING JESSICA PICASSO WHOM HE BROUGHT OVER FROM WORK

WHAT THE FUCK SUGAR

-I couldn’t help it, we practically have the same face!

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU OMG 

-My genes! 

BRUH. Real talk I legit didn’t know what the fuck to do with this, I haven’t felt as bad as I did for Claire since DANIEL. I think this is very true to life too, like how many hot girls ‘give a chance’ to some fug guy because he was nice/funny/whatever and he ends up cheating?? Fucking hell.

I quickly decide there’s no coming back from this because I even stopped Sugar and then he went back and BANGED JESSICA AGAIN and is full on in love with her:

ONE BOLT. 1 VS 3 WITH CLAIRE. I CANNOT WITH THIS LOSER- 

-so I invite Jessica over so Claire can catch them, this is truly BULLSHIT.

Claire loves him so much she’s straight up heartfarting over him WHILE DIVORCING HIM. HE’S THE WORST

And poor Spice goes into aspiration failure because he had a fear of his parents divorcing, amazing! Great job, Sug!

-WAAAAAAAAH I CAN’T BELIEVE HAVING AN AFFAIR RUINED MY FAMILY, THAT’S NOT WHAT I LEARNED GROWING UP

GET OUT OF HERE SUGAR

Poor Claire immediately goes to teach Spice to talk so she can repair his aspiration..

..and beats up Jessica’s dumb ass. She then rolls the want to go on a date and I’m like don’t have to tell me twice:

WILFRED IS BACK LOL. Bro I still cannot fucking BELIEVE this has happened, Sugar was so loyal the entire time, I think once he got married it triggered the Cyn genes?? I have no other explanation for it. 

Now the question arises, what the fuck to do with Sugar, because I’m not playing a single Sugar household. So, with a heavy heart: 

-It’s ok, bro! -You’re not judging me for destroying my family for no reason whatsoever? :( -Of course not, who am I to judge?

-Sophito’s right, honey, your family, including your dad’s hot ass, will always be here for you with no judgment! Because we have absolutely no room to judge💗

-SUGAR YOU’RE A FUCKING DISGRACE. RUNNING OUT ON YOUR FAMILY LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT, WHAT THE FUCK IS THE MATTER WITH YOU  -I DIDN’T RUN, I WAS KICKED OUT! -SHUT YOUR STUPID TRAP. WE HAVE NOWHERE TO PUT YOU SO YOU’RE SLEEPING IN THE CRYPT WITH SANDY. NOW FUCK OUTTA HERE, I HAD TO INTERRUPT MY WOLF-WAITING TO BERATE YOU 

Sugar happily heads off to work the next morning along with Sophito but I’m not seeing him getting in the car..

..and it’s because JOJO STOPPED HIM TO DO THAT AUTONOMOUS LECTURE INTERACTION. I CANNOT

-Listen here, you absolute disappointment, as long as I’m head of this family you’re gonna be paying rent to live in my crypt! -Well that won’t be very long, you’re 108! -Sophie is gonna be head after me, so good luck with that! Now fork over that 55k bonus! 

-I don’t have that, Claire got it in the divorce! -YOU FUCKING WHAT. SO WHAT DO YOU HAVE -The 20k I moved in with :( -THAT’S AUTOMATIC -I know :( -GET OUT OF MY SIGHT 

Welcome home, Sugar!

Same, Sandy, same. 

[lesbian-in-leather]

They aren’t soft and Memento Mori for the WIPs asks?

((Here is a link to the fic title list))

They Aren't Soft

I think I've mentioned this one a few times on here, but this is the singular eslaf fic I've written! (well, started writing) It's going to be 13 chapters, and follows them from Olaf approaching Esmé just before TEE until he leaves her to die in TPP, showing various moments of the two of them. It's basically an excuse for me to flesh out their dynamic, because I simultaneously do think they actually cared about each other and also think they cannot stand each other for extended periods of time so this was mainly just a fun way to work out how their relationship devolved over the course of the series. So far I've written the first five chapters, plus random other snippets and significant portions of chapter six and seven so that's fun

Memento Mori

This one is the epitome of 'hurt no comfort' it's literally just sad. Each chapter was going to be someone reacting to the death of a member of the sugar bowl gen, in the form of a document collected by Bea II with a total of twenty one chapters (including an introductory and concluding chapter that didn't involve a death). Why did I start this? I don't know. I wrote quite a bit of it, but it was a while ago so if the quality is questionable... don't blame present-me lmao

They Aren't Soft

“Hello, pretty lady. Please, I am Gunther, please, wealthy and stylish foreign-” he had an entire speech prepared – in the days leading up to this little confrontation (that, ideally, wouldn’t turn into one) he’d worked out exactly how he would convince her to hire him as the auctioneer for her upcoming event so he could easily smuggle the twins out of the city. Unfortunately, Esmé Gigi Geniveve Squalor was never one to follow anyone’s plan but her own – and before he could even finish the introduction of his carefully crafted, two-act speech (three, if you included the backstory), she’d somehow gotten across the obscenely large room and pulled him back against her with a knife to his throat. He hadn’t even had chance to fully turn around and greet her.

“I’m going to give you thirty seconds to tell me what the hell you’re doing in here.”

“I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot, please, I-”

“Hands up.” Her tone brokered no argument, and he was glad she couldn’t see the look of annoyance that briefly crossed his features as held up his hands, dropping his cane and trying to stop himself from sighing outwardly as he was forced to leave the concealed knife he’d been reaching for untouched in his pocket. “Now give me one good reason not to slit your throat, other than the fact that your blood would ruin my incredibly In carpet.”

That had, in fact, been his go-to reason. Shit.

“As I was saying, please, I am-”

“I know exactly who you are, you fucking bastard.” He didn’t need to see her to know she was baring her teeth – and he was rapidly starting to question his decision making skills as he was vividly reminded of the more volatile aspects to her personality that he’d somehow managed to forget. Or deliberately block out. “Now what the fuck do you think you’re doing in my penthouse?” Ah. Clearly his acting was too convincing, and she’d mistaken him for someone else. He shifted back away from the knife – shifted, not squirmed – in an attempt to prevent her from getting bored and just killing him for the hell of it, but she only held him more firmly against her, cold metal pressing into delicate skin.

There was only one thing for it. He dropped the accent, hoping the charming grin he was giving her made its way into his voice. “Esmé, it’s me! Olaf!” she paused. She didn’t kill him, which was always a plus, but she also didn’t lower the knife. He heard her draw a slow breath through her nose before letting it out in a sharp huff, which was rarely a good sign. It usually meant she was at the very least thinking about killing him.

Before he had time to really process the knife’s absence, there was a sharp kick to the back of his leg, and he slammed down to his knees on the allegedly In carpet. Apparently, being fashionable had absolutely no correlation to being comfortable, and he felt the sting of the impact ricochet through his legs. Her fingers were suddenly in his hair, painfully yanking his head back as she growled “Stay down,” in his ear, and he was trying desperately to remember if she’d always had this effect on him, or if it was true that absence really does make the heart grow fonder. Or other body parts, at least.

“Esmé, I-”

“I know who you are. Do you not remember the last time we saw each other?”

He frowned. They hadn’t parted on bad terms, as far as he could recall. They’d been fucking without dating – which usually ended up better than their numerous attempts at an actual relationship – and then… Shit. Despite their usually explosive breakups, it actually hadn’t gone badly the last time they’d seen each other, not at all. In fact, they’d parted on excellent terms, and all for one very simple reason.

He’d never actually gotten around to ending things with her.

He’d meant to. But then he’d seen her, and form-fitting, low-cut dresses were apparently In, and they’d gotten… side-tracked. And he knew it’d only be worse if he sprung it on her after sex (he’d learned that lesson the hard way, and it had cost him a new and rather expensive car), so he figured he’d just call her in a few days, and then… he’d promptly forgotten all about it, and now he was in her penthouse a not-insignificant amount of time later and entirely unprepared for how pissed off she was going to be with him.

He was absolutely, completely, and totally fucked.

Memento Mori

“No rest for the wicked.” She muttered to no one in particular as she returned to her room to get dressed, and then downstairs to make herself some bitter wormwood tea and retrieve the paper.

More Romantic authors than myself would suggest that Beatrice’s sleeplessness was due to the news she would receive in that paper. That some primal part of her was aware of the misfortune that had befallen her friend in another part of the world. I would not bore you with such notions, so instead present an ulterior hypothesis – sometimes, as I’m sure you know, we simply have a bad feeling about something, or someone. A baker might have a bad feeling about a certain loaf of bread, and check it only to find that a rat has been nibbling away undetected, and the loaf can no longer be sold. A pilot might have a bad feeling about a certain flight they are to take, and insist everything is double checked on the plane before take-off – perhaps they will find a faulty engine, or suspicious stowaway, but they would never truly know if the flight would have been affected. A particularly fraudulent fortune teller might have a bad feeling when she sees an old, black car pull up at her carnival, but she can do nothing and so tells no one, resulting in a terrible fire and her own death at the hands (or, more accurately, claws and teeth) of a pack of hungry lions. All of these could be seen to be either magic or science – perhaps the baker heard squeaking in the night, or noticed a trail of crumbs that had not been there before. Perhaps the pilot had a sixth sense, or perhaps they used the five that everyone possesses to see the corner of a mysterious person’s coat caught in the toilet door, or heard an odd clunk when they seated themselves in the cockpit. The fortune teller would surely ascribe her feeling to the ‘gift’ many such people claim to have, but it would be far more logical to assume that, since she had no such talent, her misgivings came from her previous association with the owner of that particular black car, and the fact that he was well known as an arsonist, murderer, liar, thief, and cheat at cards.

In the care of Beatrice Baudelaire on this particular autumn morning, I would suggest that mere coincidence or a perhaps subconscious recognition of foreboding patterns are far more likely explanations for her insomnia. But, then again, I have been wrong before.

She sat at her kitchen table and took a sip of her tea as she skimmed the mindless words of the Daily Punctilio, pencil at the ready to complete any crossword or puzzle they might have deigned to include; despite the inaccuracies she usually noticed whenever she attempted to do so. I wish that I could tell her to put the paper down, to read something else, or at least stop at an earlier page – if I could, the misfortune that would befall her and her three currently non-existent, but soon-to-be-orphaned children may not have come to pass at all. Perhaps, if she had never believed what she came to believe, history would have turned out differently. There is no way to know for certain, and there is also no use in speculating, because the fact of the matter is that no matter how much we might wish to, no one can change the past. We can only learn from it, and remember.

Tired eyes caught on a familiar name, and she paused, carefully placing her cup down on its saucer and sitting up straighter to check that she had read the page correctly. Though, usually, it is a wonderful thing to see the name of one’s friend in the newspaper, for Beatrice on this autumn morning, it was a truly terrible thing indeed. Not because she was one of those awful people who wishes to be the most successful out of all her friends – on the contrary, she had often championed the ambitions and achievements of the people she associated with – but on this particular morning, the name itself was rather overshadowed by the page on which she found it. With three words, she felt as if her world was folding in on itself, collapsing around her as she read the title, the word settling itself within her like a lead weight.

Obituaries.

The page began to blur, but even that could not spare her from reading the name again, even as the largely inaccurate paragraph following it became illegible.

Lemony Snicket. Various sections of the paper became marred as she stared at it, reading the two words again and again as little droplets of her grief blurred various inky words together. Her mind turned the name of her ex-fiancé over and over, as if it couldn’t quite comprehend the terrible, looming reality that the paper had presented. She took a deep, wavering breath, and reached for her phone with a trembling hand. As she dialled the familiar number, she was dimly aware that it was a good thing the phone had been within arm’s reach, because she wasn’t certain she would have been able to stand.

[dontatmethanks]

Title: Baby Fever

-Modern universe / Gang AU-

Summary: Hange wants a baby, Levi is resourceful about it because he loves his mess of a wife.

———

“I want a baby!”

Levi choked, a bit of whiskey went up his nose as he broke out into a coughing fit. He stared in disbelief at his wife who giggled at his reaction, Moblit hesitantly reached over to firmly pat on his boss’ back.

“Wha-“

“I want a baby, Levi!” Hange slurred.

Ah, she was already drunk off of her stupid ass.

She made a whining sound at the back of her throat and leaned her head down on the wooden surface of the bar table. The lot of them were having a little meeting amongst themselves to discuss business and they may have allowed Hange to order a few too many drinks.

“Um..” Nanaba blinked, hovering her hand over her inebriated friend’s back. She flinched when Hange’s head shot up and she pouted at Levi, scooting over in the booth to hug his arm.

“A little one, like you…that would be so cute.” She cooed and leaned her head on his shoulder.

Eld glanced at Abel from across the table and mouthed- ‘Oh my God.’

There was a snort and Levi shot a glare in Mike’s direction as he tried to pull his arm free from Hange’s grip but it only tightened.

“Get a grip four eyes, the meeting isn’t over.” He hissed.

“But this is important-“

“We’ll talk about it later.” She sighed and loosened her grip slightly, reaching over to grab his glass of half drunken whiskey. He quickly intercepted her hand and moved the glass away.

“You’ve had enough.”

“You’re so mean to me you know.” The brunette deadpanned with one of her angry little pouts which he would’ve found to be cute if his entire squad wasn’t around to witness it.

One of the waitresses from the bar wandered over to collect the empty glasses, she blushed a bit when Oluo made eye contact with her from the other table beside the both. He and Gunther were cleaning their guns, Oluo made a show out of it when she arrived. She smiled and shook her head, turning to the booth.

“Can I get any of you anything else?”

Levi glanced up at her and shook his head. “No thank you, Petra, we’re fine for n-“

“A baby, I want a baby.” Hange cut him off, staring at Petra dead in the eyes.

“O-Oh?” The ginger haired waitress blinked in shock and both Oluo and Gunther burst out into laughter, Levi could feel his eye twitching.

“What’s funny?!” Hange whined and threw her head back, there was an audible thump from when the back of her head connected with the seat of the booth. She winced and Levi clicked his tongue as he sipped his hand over her head to massage the tender spot.

The one who had been silent this whole time, Erwin smith- the Don of their organization- cleared his throat to bring everyone’s attention back to him.

“..Patrols tonight, Gunther and Eld take the east side, Moblit and Abel west, Mike and Nanaba south, Keiji and Oluo take the North.” They all nodded and began to get up, checking their guns and other weapons as they began to shuffle out of the bar. Erwin watched them leave before sliding his gaze back to the last pair in front of them, Petra scampered off to continue working.

Hange was tugging at Levi’s shirt collar so she could press her lips to his neck, he tried to pull her off but it seemed as if all of the alcohol she had consumed had given her some new kind of strength.

“Christ Levi, take her to bed, do us all a favor and knock her up already.” Erwin shook his head as he got up, resisting a smirk at the last part.

Levi grumbled curses directed at the man as he walked out of the bar. He huffed and glanced down at his wife who was mumbling some nonsense about babies as she traced a finger down the lapels of his suit jacket. He sighed and helped her out of the booth, she stumbled on her feet a bit but he held her firmly against him so that she wouldn’t fall flat on her face. It was a convenient thing that they lived in the flat above the bar- she moved in as soon as they had gotten engaged. He had quick access to his bar and it made sure that they made it home safely.

Hange grunted when he dumped her onto the bed and began to unlace her boots so he could pull them off. She squirmed and huffed, pulling her feet out and sitting up on her knees. The brunette gave him a sultry look- it would’ve been effective if her glasses weren’t sitting askew on her face- he grinned and he plucked her glasses off.

“We could make one now.” Hange chirped as he set the glasses aside. She gripped the front of his suit jacket and pulled him close.

“Han-“

She nearly ripped the jacket off of him and began trying to unbutton his shirt, although her hand to eye coordination was subpar due to her drunk state. He clicked his tongue and gripped her wrists, pulling her hands off of him and pushing her down onto the bed.

“No, you’re way to drunk. Time for bed.”

A drawn out whine left her and she pulled Levi down with her, he had to catch himself with his hands on either side of her face so he wouldn’t crush her- as if that were even possible.

“Please Levi-“ She slid her arms around her husband’s neck and hooked a leg over his hip to press him closer to her.

“I love you.”

His breath hitched when she whispered into his ear and shivered when she tugged his lobe between her teeth in a teasing manner, grinning at his reaction afterwards. His eyes fluttered shut for a brief second as he sighed softly, she took this as permission to pepper his jaw and neck with open mouthed kisses. It was quickly cut short when Levi pulled back and took her face in his hands.

“Hange, I love you, but I’d rather not a make a decision this important while you’re pissed drunk.” He spoke softly, brushing his thumb over her cheekbone.

His words seemed to sober her up a little, she nodded and let him finish undressing her for bed. Once she was just in her shirt and underwear, he dressed down to his underwear as well and rejoined her on the bed. Hange smiled, blinking sleepily as she reached out to him with grabby hands. He obliged and settled into her arms, wrapping his own around her middle.

“We can talk about it later.” She mumbled into his hair once he settled his head on her chest. He hummed in agreement and reached over to turn off the lamp on their bedside table, flooding the room with a comfortable darkness.

•

•

•

A few days later, sometime around noon, Hange was working on her laptop in the bar which was pretty much empty. It was a Tuesday, not a lot of people went day drinking on Tuesdays anyways. She decided to work from home that day in favor of spending more time with Levi when he got back from a warehouse operation that Erwin organized. Petra was keeping her company, the two had become pretty close ever since she had been employed at the bar. The ginger didn’t mind listening to her work ramblings, she quite liked Hange’s animated side.

Hange thanked her when she prepared her a sweet drink, but frowned when she took a sip. “There’s no alcohol in this.”

Petra gave her an apologetic grin. “After the last time you were day drinking Levi gave me specific instructions to keep you sober unless he was around.”

The older woman rolled her eyes and took another sip. “I break one chair, one time…”

“And you nearly fell off the bar counter and split your head open.” Petra deadpanned.

“Okay, fair.” Hange chuckled and turned her attention back to her work.

A while later Levi showed up, Hange saw him enter the bar from the corner of her eye and waved without looking away from the screen of her laptop. She heard Petra greet him, her tone was surprised which was odd because she knew that he would be showing up. At her tone, Hange glanced up at her and then followed her gaze to Levi who was approaching her at the bar.

“Hey-“ She paused when she saw what was in his arms.

“Um…Levi?”

“Yes?”

“Is that…what is that?”

“A baby, Hange, you’ve seen these before.”

He was indeed holding a baby in his arms along with what seemed to be a baby blue diaper bag with elephants on it. The baby was of course very cute, he had soft brown hair and big green eyes- oh he had the chubbiest cheeks, how dare Levi do this to her.

“Yes, okay, but why do you have it?”

“He, four eyes, his name is Eren.” Levi corrected her in a matter of fact tone as he adjusted his grip on the baby.

“…Levi, did you kidnap that child? Tell me the truth.” Hange closed her laptop and slowly got up from the stool she was sitting on to approach them.

“Don’t be an idiot, I didn’t kidnap him, he’s Carla’s kid.”

She sighed in relief, placing a hand over her chest. Carla was the wife of their doctor, he usually patched them up if anyone were to get injured, which happened quite often with the kind of business they were in.

“Okay… and why do you have her son?” She tilted her head, unable to resist a smile when Eren reached a tiny hand up to Levi’s face.

“Her and Grisha are both working and their sitter fell sick, and since we’ve been discussing babies I thought that this would help figure out if we really can really commit to having one.” Levi shrugged, gabbing Eren’s hand before he could poke his eye out.

“Oh Levi..” Hange’s smile widened and she shook her head. Seeing him with that baby was making her stomach flip like crazy.

“Here, take him.” He said as he held the baby out to her.

She nodded eagerly and took the child in her arms, cooing softly while she pressed her cheek against his chubby one. Eren chirped happily and gripped the loose strands of her hair, tugging them as he flapped his arms.

“Hello to you too!” Hange laughed, prying her hair out of his grip with a wince.

Levi set the diaper bag on the bar counter when his phone began to buzz with a call. He fished it out of his pocket and answered it, pressing a kiss to Hange’s cheek before excusing himself to the back. A small whimper came from the baby when he watched Levi leave, Hange bounced him a little to cheer him up.

“That must be an important call, Erwin probably.” She smiled gently and brushed a hand through his hair, inhaling softly. “So this is what babies smell like…It’s quite nice.”

Eren only babbled some baby nonsense in response and Hange found it to be one of the most fascinating things in the world. With her work forgotten and left to be continued later, she walked over to one of the farthest corner booths of the bar and settled down with the baby on her lap. Petra joined her to fawn over him as well, the two women were absolutely entranced. Eren was enjoying the attention, smiling a toothless smile and letting out gleeful giggles when they would tickle his belly or blow raspberries on his cheeks.

That’s how Levi found them after finishing his call, he suppressed a smile and made his way over to the booth.

“There was an emergency at the meet up with Zeke’s crew, they drew their weapons, Abel was hit.”

Both Hange and Petra sat up straight with wide eyes, the brunette held Eren close to her chest with his head laying on her shoulder as he chewed on his fist.

“Is he okay? How bad is it? I should go with you-“ Levi held his hand up to stop her.

“He’s okay, it isn’t critical, we’re bringing him to Grisha’s. Stay here with Petra and the kid, I’ll be back soon.”

Hange’s brows furrowed with concern but she nodded, handing Eren over to Petra so she could get up and follow him out to his car.

“Be careful, please.” Levi paused and turned to face her, keys in hand. His coat shifted at the movement, she caught a glimpse of his gun holstered at his side.

“I will.” He promised, reaching up to cup the back of her neck and pull her head down for a kiss.

She smiled against his lips, despite her worry, and cradled his face in her hands. Her thumb stroked his cheek gently, holding the kiss for as long as possible- or until Levi pulled away. She nearly pouted but let go.

“Get inside, take the kid upstairs with you when Petra leaves.” He told her before getting into his car and driving off.

[levisnackajack]

The Wrath of War

Chapter Seven

Sweat beads slipped down her spine as she crouched over; palms pressed against her kneecaps. 

Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, nerves wrecking her brain. 

Levi stood beside her stationary, eyes planted on the top of her head. 

They had been training together the entire afternoon, clashing together as Levi beat the shit out of her. 

The only good thing that came out of her bruises and cuts was the fact that she learned a thing or two from his instructions. 

“Take a break, clean yourself up and report back to my office for cleaning duty,” Levi finally broke up the tumultuous silence, taking a final glance down at the fatigued girl before striding off. 

She glared at the back of his head, mimicking his words under her breath as he retreated. 

The Captain whipped his head back to glare at Eden and she could swear her life flashed before her eyes as they widened comically. 

“What was that, brat?” He seethed, turning his body back to face her threateningly. 

“Nothing...sir...I was just...repeating your instructions back to myself in case I...forgot...” she lied through her teeth; knowing very well by the stone look on his face that he didn’t buy her story. 

Regardless, he chose not to waste anymore time with her as he marched away, knuckles clenching. 

Eden waited until he had disappeared before beginning to walk back to the castle. She was so preoccupied on her training session with Levi, she didn’t take the chance to appreciate the beautiful scenery surrounding her. 

The field was large and green, the smell of dirt and grass overwhelming her scenes. It had rained during the night and so the aroma was still fresh and delicious. 

She picked a couple of chamomile flowers on her way back.

She pulled her hair out of the tight bun, massaging her fingers over her strained scalp. The girl thought back to Levi’s careful words, useful training tips and the way he so carelessly brought her down as though she had been a ragdoll in his hands. 

Scoffing, Eden walked through the grand entrance, making sure to take her boots off before hurrying up the stairs. 

The freezing water felt good against her aching muscles. 

Eden found the long, plain skirt that fell to her ankles and a tight shirt that Petra had left for her. She decided to leave her hair down, allowing her damp curls time to dry off without the tight grasp of her hair tie. 

She clicked her tongue irritably, closing the door behind her as she walked towards Petra’s room. 

“What’s up?” The older woman chirped after letting Eden in; setting the book she was reading onto the mattress.  

“Well, I didn’t want to risk walking into Oluo or someone else’s room, so I decided to come and ask you where Captain Levi’s office is,” Eden began, clasping her hands behind her back awkwardly. 

Petra nodded slowly, eyes trained on the cadet quizzically. 

“He told me to get changed and report back to his office for cleaning duties...and yeah...” 

Petra sighed, letting out a chortle under her breath. “He really is making sure to leave a good first impression as your superior. He’s just a man with very high expectations...-” 

“Yeah, but I feel like he despises me. Every time he looks at me, I can feel the hatred. I don’t know if I’m overthinking or something, but I literally feel like I can’t do anything right,” Eden seethed, sitting down beside Petra, placing her palms on her temple. 

“I told you, it’s just the way he is. We’re at war, Eden. We’ve seen fellow comrades fall left and right. Naturally, he’ll be harsh on you. But don’t assume that his strictness implies you’re not good. In fact...I overheard him talking with Hange today and he seemed pleased with you. Said there obviously needs some work to be done but other than that, he actually complimented you to Hange! Take that as a win,” Petra smiled gently, reaching to squeeze Eden’s shoulder. 

The Captain had been impressed with her skills? Perhaps all this wouldn’t be for nothing. The feeling of victory blocked her trail of thought as she sat there grinning back at Petra. 

They chatted for a little while, until Eden’s face writhed with fear. 

“Shit. I told you, I was supposed to meet with the Captain right after training.”

Petra’s eyes widened in realization, grabbing her hand and leading her to the bedroom’s exit. 

“I’d tell you not to worry, but Captain Levi absolutely hates slacking.” Ushering her out quickly, she told her exactly where to find his office. 

With a tight nod and a soft ‘thank you’ response to Petra’s ‘good luck’; Eden walked through the castle with trembling hands and a rapidly beating heart. 

She stood before his door, knocking gently as she awaited his affirmative response.

“Come in.”

She pushed the door with her forearm; eyes immediately taking in the details of his office. 

First of all, it was immaculately clean. The bookshelf stood tall, gleaming down at Eden as she saluted Levi before closing the door behind her. His desk was spotless, large stacks of paperwork layered one of top of the other in the most perfect way. 

Eden bit her lip as she edged closer to the man behind the desk. 

He didn’t bother looking up to see who had come in. Perhaps, she was the only person he had been expecting that afternoon. Once she planted her body in front of his desk; he looked up from the paperwork in his hands- tired eyes taking in her informal attire. 

“You’re late,” he said in irritated tone, noticing Eden’s trembling knuckles.

“I’m sorry, Captain. I have no valid excuse. I went to ask Petra for instructions...-”

“Spare me the lecture, brat. You have twenty minutes to mop this hallway spotless. You actually had more time, but since you came late, I’m assuming you’re confident that you’ll be able to clean every bit of surface for less time?” Levi challenged her, brow raising slightly as he tipped his chin upwards. 

Eden looked down at him, her mind plagued with possible comebacks that would earn her a not-so pleasant reaction from him. 

“Yes, Captain.” She nodded at him, picking her skirt as she walked back out of his spotless room. She heard his chair reclined as she assumed he had leaned back into it and her muscles ached for the same. 

Eden was done cleaning in fifteen minutes. 

By the way Levi glared at her in distaste; she could tell he probably thought the young cadet was joking. Eden laughed nervously. 

“I’m serious. You can come take a look if you like.” 

“Of course, I will,” he snapped, brushing past her; the scent of tea leaves and mellow cologne overcoming her senses. She shuffled after him with her head down, her body colliding with his as Levi abruptly stopped in the hallway. 

Her cheeks heated up as she stepped away, her fingers still feeling the solidness of his biceps of when she accidentally gripped him upon collision. 

Levi turned to her, his lips pressed into a thin line as she uttered her apologies. 

He slowly walked along the corridor, fingers gliding under the window pane as he reached the end of the hallway. 

Turning back to her, he held her expectant gaze before blessing her with a stiff nod. 

“Finally you did something right. You’re free to go,” Levi said as he walked past her, shoulder brushing Eden’s one; her muscles crying in pain. 

“Thank you, Captain.” Eden quickly stalked off before Levi changed his mind.

She spent the rest of the evening with Petra, pealing vegetables and helping her cook the soup. It was quiet and the somber clouds that darkened as the sun waved goodbye wept across the fields.

Eren stalked into the kitchen, eyes drooping as he asked whether they were in need of any help. 

“No, but you can stay for the company,” Eden offered, pulling the younger boy into a tight embrace. He returned it with the same amount of force before leaning against the counter and answering all of Eden’s questions regarding Hange’s research. He referred back to Hange’s hypothesis regarding his failed Titan-transforming attempts; causing them to think that Eren could only transform when his mind was set on a clear objective; not because he was instructed to change.

She listened intently, heart sinking at the way he explained how Oluo, Eld, Gunther and Petra had pulled out their blade when he accidentally transformed by the touch of his teaspoon. 

Petra laughed softly, eyes shifting to the ground. “Sorry about that. We’re just not used to acting casually around titans.” 

“Of course, I completely understand. I just need to get to the bottom of this before I lose my mind,” Eren replied tiredly, rubbing his face lazily. 

The brought the food to the dining hall, where the rest of the team was already waiting. Minus the Captain. 

“I’ll go bring the plates. Do you mind letting Captain Levi know that dinner is ready?” Petra asked in a low voice, earning a sigh from Eden. 

“Sure, no worries,” she answered, eyes twinkling at Eren who sent her a sympathetic glance.

Eden walked through the cold estate, the thunderous rain smashing against the walls, wind howling. 

She knocked on his door, entering only after his exhausted voice echoed past the wood. 

“Captain, the food is ready, if you’re hungry,” the girl said in a soft voice. Once again, he looked up from his paperwork a moment too late; brows furrowing together as his silver eyes reflected the moonlight seeping through the window. 

“Alright, good to know.” 

Eden kept his stare for a second longer before he called after her, referring to her surname for the first time since she got there.

“I expect you to process everything I’ve taught you today before tomorrow’s training session. The upcoming 57th Exterior mission requires the best out of you. There’s no room for failure,” he said in a low voice, his calculating eyes measuring the girl before him. 

She nodded hesitantly, bowing her head formally before walking out of the office.

“I will not fail you, Captain.” 

Come morning, her muscles were in excruciating pain, the shades of her bruises a vast juxtaposition against her porcelain skin. 

She met with her Captain on the training grounds right after breakfast and she couldn’t help but notice how exhausted his eyes were, the shadows under his hooded eyes dark and sunken.

That didn’t seem to affect his fighting skills, as he dropped her to the ground again and again. 

“You’re not giving it your all,” he growled, pinching the bridge of his nose in disappointment. Eden let go of the breath she was holding onto in frustration. 

He commanded her back into the first fighting position before aiming for the left side of her face with a stone fist. She ducked, her own right fist catching the Captain in the jaw for the first time ever. 

She gasped, slapping her hand over her mouth as his head snapped to the side. 

“Oh, my God, Captain, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean...-”

“Shut the hell up, brat. Isn’t that the whole point of the training?” He huffed, recoiling quicker than Eden could blink; grabbing a fistful of her now wild hair as he pulled her face inches closer to his. 

“This is all pointless if you’re too scared to throw in a real punch. I’m just wasting my time here.” He shoved her onto the ground as he spoke before running his fingers to fix his t-shirt. 

Eden let go of any anxiety that held onto her as she kicked Levi’s feet from under him. He toppled to the ground only because he had assumed she was giving up. 

She moved over towards him, fist aiming for his face. He let out a low grunt, grabbing her wrist and thrusting her off of him. But she held onto his hand, growling as she pushed closer to the Captain, her temple colliding with the same spot she had previously hit. 

He slapped her across the face with such shrill force, her neck cracked to the side. Blood poured over her lips and trickling down her chin from the way his fingers caught her nose. 

Eden spat the bloodied saliva onto the ground, jaw clenching, teeth gritting as she punched her fist into his abdomen. He let out a huff, his fingers slipping between her raven locks once more. 

Levi picked her up by her hair, barely moved by her thrashing. “Better. I’d be feeling sorry about your own looks if I were you. You cannot beat me.” 

His fingers relaxed, her locks stroking his palms as she dropped to the ground, spitting another round of bloodied saliva. He grimaced, pulling a soft, pearl-white handkerchief out of his pocket before handing it to her. 

Eden stared up at him with carnal eyes, blood pounding in her ears as she wiped her nose. 

Before she could acknowledge his movements, he had picked her up from under her arms, letting her balance on her own two feet. 

“You need to learn when spilling blood is necessary, brat. In this world, there is no place for throwing sympathy at your opponents,” Levi said in a chipped tone as he looked down at his new cadet. 

“It’s different when I’m expected to fight my superiors,” she grumbled, pushing the hair that had stuck to her bloodied skin off of her face. 

He raised a brow. She assumed he was humored by her response. 

“Then maybe I should be harder on you. Perhaps that’s what you need in order to follow orders respectively,” Levi shot back, eyes narrowing. 

“Then maybe you should, sir,” Eden challenged him, the corner of her lips twitching in antipathy. 

He clicked his tongue, snatching the handkerchief out of her fingers in disgust. 

“We’ll see how assertive you’ll continue being after we’ve left the safety of these walls,” he assured in a dangerously calm voice before grabbing her by the chin. 

She winced, hands immediately gripping onto his forearm as she tried pulling away. Alas, she couldn’t budge. 

Levi eyed her nose, tilting her head to the side as he let out of soft “tch”. 

“Not broken. You’ll live.” He instantaneously loosened his grip on Eden’s jaw, eyes shifting back to the castle. 

“You’re free to go. Remember what I said to you.” 

By the time she had slipped open her eyes; he was gone. His words echoed through her mind as she touched her nose. Although the Captain had just told her that there was no place for feeling sorry for her opponent, Eden felt a wave of guilt wash over her as she thought back to the timid, blue discoloration on the line of his jaw. She had punched him on the same spot twice and he had just lectured her about how stupid she was being for apologizing to him.

The days that followed kept to the same routine; minus the cleaning punishment.

She helped Petra cook quietly, her mind thinking back to the sparring session. 

“I can’t believe you caught him in the jaw. Not that he probably felt it, but the fact that you managed to do that...wow,” Petra said as she slapped Eden on the back. Eden shook her head in response. 

“Stop it. It was such a big surprise, but I won’t lie, it feels good knowing I punched him...just a little bit,” she smirked as both women let out soft laughs. 

Eden couldn’t sleep that night. She whipped from side to side, her wall clock indicating it was well after two in the morning. 

She decided to go for a stroll around the castle in peace. Given the fact that it was pouring outside once again, she was confined to linger within the barricades of the castle’s walls. 

Eden was dressed in shorts that lay concealed under her oversized pajama shirt. Her curls rested against her shoulders- she hated the feeling of her hair tied up when she was sleeping. 

She lingered through the hallways, goosebumps sprinkled against her skin. Darkness rested around her, the sound of wind and rain knocking against the stones the only sound surrounding her. 

She walked down the hallway, rolling her eyes at the sound of Oluo’s incoherent snoring. 

Walking along the second floor, she peered through the black corridor camouflaging the Captain’s office. Eden halted in her tracks, honey-green eyes concentrating on the dim light peaking from under his door. 

The girl rubbed her eyes, thinking it was her mind playing tricks. But the light was still there when she centered her attention back onto the floor. 

She stood in the cold hallway, hesitating at what her next move should be. 

She chose stepping backwards, trotting down the staircase rapidly, her mind set on the kitchen as the final destination.

She stood in the cold hallway, hesitating at what her next move should be. 

She chose stepping backwards, trotting down the staircase rapidly, her mind set on the kitchen as the final destination.

Pulling the dried chamomile leaves out of her short’s pocket, she began boiling the water, gently stirring everything together and pouring it into a small teacup. Eden made her way back towards the dreadful dark hallway with the light peaking through the crack under the door. 

She tapped her trembling knuckles against the hard wood, standing there in silence until she heard Levi’s voice.

The Captain’s eyes widened slightly; - the yearning of sleep extremely visible as he sat over his desk. The dark circles under his eyes were far more proclaimed than before; it almost made Eden want to ask him when was the last time he had a good night’s sleep.

“Did you forget your pants somewhere?” He inquired, eyes dragging over Eden’s bare legs as his brow raised. Her cheeks bruised with a faint blush but luckily, the light was faint.

“I made you some chamomile tea,” she began, sauntering over, gently placing the teacup before his hands. Levi stared at the teacup in wonder before moving back to the nervous girl before him.

He gazed at her expectantly, mumbling a token of appreciation before lifting the teacup to his lips. 

“I just wanted to apologize for hurting you, Captain,” Eden began, eyes fixed on the light bruising against his jawline. 

Levi shook his head, exhausted eyes meeting tired ones as he held onto the warmth of the cup. “I told you, stop apologizing for things you’re meant to do. That’s why people think you’re fragile.”

Eden sighed heavily, running a hand through her hair as she tensely looked away. “I understand, but it’s hard not to apologize when all I’ve been doing is looking out after everyone- including myself- my whole life. I just- I feel this weight of responsibility holding onto me for everything that goes wrong.” Levi pursed his lips, the shadow of an urge for her to continue masked behind a stiff nod.

“I never want to let the people I care about down and I guess I just feel inclined to always apologize because I feel like it’s my fault when things do go to hell.”

Eden finally met Levi’s levelled stare, only to feel a wave of surprise gush through her as she saw how his eyes had softened. Perhaps, it was the first time she had seen that hard, dull stare disappear and be replaced with a more gentle one. 

“If you’re still worried about Eren; he’ll be okay. And that’s the thing about people like us- we carry the heavy burden just so no one else has to.” 

He leaned back into his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose before sighing under his breath, “You think I don’t worry about everyone every single day? My job has made me very familiar with loss and sometimes, there’s nothing else to do but accept that you’re on the losing side. I can’t lie to you and sit here preaching how it gets easier with time. The faster you accept loss as part of your life; the better it will be for you. I too- feel like I let my people down if things don’t go accordingly.” 

Eden listened intently as Levi shared with her the secret to acceptance. Her fingers were shaking as sadness raked through her body. 

“I can’t imagine what that must feel,” she said quietly, lips stitching together as she carefully thought out her next words. “Even through all of the darkness and death, you still manage to lead us and have everyone put all of their faith into you. I know I have many qualities I need to work on; but knowing that I have a team that has once been where I stand now makes it just a bit easier. I know you need to be harsh with me so I can learn and I can vouch that as hardheaded as I am; I am always ready to lay my own life down to save anyone’s on this squad.”

Levi nodded once more, gray eyes searching Eden’s face intently. There was something about his gaze that made Eden’s heart break; his eyes held so much trauma and tragedy, it had become part of his daily expressions. 

There was an awkward pause that mixed with the tension between the two individuals as neither of them backed down from the staring competition. 

Until Levi glanced at his clock before standing up to make his way around the front of his desk, leaning against the wood. “It’s very late. Go to sleep. If you don’t wake up on time, just know I’ve assigned you to cleaning stable duties.” 

Eden let out a breathy laugh, turning to slowly make her way to the door. She paused, heart sinking as her eyes fixed on a line of dust resting between the key and the keyhole of his door. She glanced at Levi with wide eyes, gliding a finger across the fragments. 

“It seems like you’ve missed a spot, Captain,” Eden whispered, lifting her finger towards Levi- who’s eye twitched. Eden cocked her head ever so slightly, biting on her bottom lip as she lowered her hand down. 

“I apologies if I’m overstepping, but someone mentioned your strictness to tidiness comes from your childhood. May I ask why?” 

Immediately, Levi’s hooded eyes harden to stone; his brows scrunching in annoyance; jaw clenching tightly. Eden mentally swore, hating herself for completely disregarding the fact that his childhood could have been a touchy subject. 

“Get out,” Levi voiced in an incredibly icy tone, hands pushing his body off of the desk as he made his way to Eden. She backed up, tears pooling in her eyes as she lowered her head. 

“I’m sorry,” She managed to voice before having the door slammed in her face. 

It didn’t take long for her to reach her own room, closing the door shut with her back before sinking against the wooden surface until she had reached the freezing floor. She shook uncontrollably, her thick sobs stranded at the back of her throat as she placed her head in her hands. 

Eden never wanted for this to happen. She merely wanted to make him a cup of tea out of sympathy. Instead, she left his office an absolute mess; leaving behind a vulnerable part of her past with him. 

She wanted to kick herself for pushing him too hard, the tenderness of her heart completely disregarding the fact that perhaps Captain Levi did not want her help. 

That night, Eden fell asleep against the door with cheeks scarred by undisciplined tears; her hand pressed against her chest.

Link to the story in AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28919136/chapters/70952145

[pickalilywrites]

Okay okay you know stern and serious Gunther? A valentines request of him being in love with another guy (perhaps SC) and at some point he loses his cool and gets all flustered and people (his squad) figure out he is gay and in love?

thanks :)

wingmen

gunther x oc. special ops squad. canonverse. 2010 words.

Gunther is usually more attentive to his surroundings, but lately he’s been a little distracted. Because he’s constantly daydreaming, simple tasks such as retrieving a teacup from the cabinet takes Gunther minutes when previously it would have only taken him a few seconds. He wouldn’t say it’s anything in particular that’s caused his lack of focus, but he’s usually tight-lipped with his business to begin with. He’d never admit that these days his mind has been wandering, daydreaming about calloused hands caressing his skin, his own fingers tangling through dark brown locks, or ravenous kisses pressed against his lips as if they cannot get enough of the taste of him. Even now, his mind lingers on the memory of their last kiss and Gunther lifts his fingers without thinking to brush his fingertips against his lips.  

“Hey, Gunther,” a voice says, startling him and making him jump backwards with a yelp. 

“Wh-what are you doing here?” Gunther stammers, shoving his hand into the pocket of his trousers. He tries to regain his composure, but he can already feel his cheeks flushing. He turns around to see the rest of his squad entering the kitchen, much to his dismay. It would have been difficult enough to fumble around one member, but now he has to deal with all three of his friends and they’re all too helpful and conversational for their own good.  

“This is the kitchen, a communal area. I think we’re allowed to be here,” Eld laughs. He walks to the kitchen but leans against the table instead of taking a seat. “Did you want us to leave?”  

“N-no, of course not. It’s a communal area, like you said,” Gunther mumbles. He doesn’t know why he’s so flustered. It’s not as if the squad has caught him doing anything embarrassing, but he finds himself at a lack of words and searching for an excuse for accusations that haven’t been thrown at him yet.  

“Drinking tea?” Petra asks. She bounds across the kitchen floor, footsteps as light as ever, and picks up cup easily. She selects another one and holds it out to Gunther. “Want me to make you a cup?”  

“Sure,” Gunther says. It’s not out of the norm for Petra to make him a cup of tea — it’s not out of the norm for the squad to do small favors for each other — but something about Petra’s offer unsettles him. Maybe it’s the fact that she’s smiling a little too wide as she fills the tea kettle with water or the subtle glances she casts his way as she prepares the tea leaves for steeping. Then again, maybe he’s being paranoid and it’s all in his head.  

“Do you have any other plans today, Gunther?” Eld asks. He’s still casually leaning against the table, arms crossed against his chest and an easygoing smile on his lips. “We’re all just going to be hanging out together this evening, you know, sitting around the fireplace and shooting the breeze.”  

“Yeah, you should join us,” Petra says brightly.  

“We can discuss how our weekend has been and anything else that’s on our mind,” Eld continues. He’s speaking a little more than usual. He’s typically the one to hang back and throw in a smart quip here and there in between Petra and Auruo’s bickering. “We should catch up sometime, Gunther. I feel like we’ve been seeing less of you lately.”  

They’re clearly ramping up to something. It’s making Gunther nervous and his palms are beginning to sweat. It’s not like he’s purposely been keeping his business a secret from his friends. He had just been putting it off because he had wanted to find the right timing, but it seemed like the longer he waited the more difficult it became to reveal his unintentional secret.  

Right now, Gunther has two choices: to play it off as if nothing is happening or spill the details of his life that his friends are clearly itching to know. He chooses the former.  

“We do see each other every night. Isn’t it more a surprise that we aren’t tired of each other?” he jokes, laughing lightly even though the sound of it isn’t genuine when it reaches his ears. No doubt his friends can tell that his laughter is feigned as well.  

“Aw, I could never get tired of us,” Petra says. Her lower lip wobbles in fake pout. “But if that’s how you feel, I guess a little space between friends can’t hurt.”  

Gunther does feel a little bad for turning his friends down, especially once he sees the way Petra’s shoulders slump ever so slightly and the way Eld gives him a tight-lipped smile in acknowledgement of his wishes. Normally, he would accept their offers. It’s not unusual for him to spend his evenings with the rest of the squad just speaking casually by the fireplace until the Captain walks in and tells them to clean up and go to bed, but he’s not sure he’s ready to disclose certain aspects of his life to his friends at the moment and right now they’re a little too close for comfort. Gunther knows that his friends will be more than accepting of what he has to tell them, but he just hasn’t gathered up the courage to tell them outright.  

“Alright, I’ll just spit it out since Eld and Petra are too afraid to say anything,” Auruo says suddenly. He had been hanging by the doorframe in uncharacteristic silence. Now, he pushes himself off from the doorframe and swaggers over to Gunther, hands stuffed in his pockets and his chest puffed out to make his shoulders seem broader than usual. “We’ve seen you sneaking around with that other soldier, hiding in alleyways and empty stairwells when you think nobody else is looking. You think you’re being clever, hiding him away from us, but we know. It’s so obvious with the way you’re so starry-eyed all the time after seeing him, and those hickeys on your neck.”  

“Hickeys?” Gunther yelps, his hand immediately flying to his neck. He tries to remember the kisses pressed against his neck, but it’s impossible for him to recall where any love bites might be.  

Petra tries to help Gunther locate them by gesturing to the other side of her neck right above her collarbone. She turns the stove off and steeps the tea leaves in the kettle before saying to Gunther, “It’s okay, it’s cute.”  

“Cute?” Eld mouths at Petra, who just shrugs.  

Gunther winces when his fingertips brush against a tender spot above his collarbone. A groan escapes his lips. “It’s not like I was trying to hide it. I just couldn’t find a good time to tell you guys,” he mumbles. 

“It’s fine. It happens,” Petra assures him. She sidles up against him, eyes sparkling with excitement. “Tell us everything. What’s his name? What trainee class did he graduate in? How did you two meet? Who confessed first?” 

“Er, Emil. He graduated two years before me,” Gunther says, trying to remember all of Petra’s questions and answer them in the correct order. “We met one time after a memorial following one of our expeditions. We were gathering supplies together and bumped into each other in the storage room -”  

Eld waves off Petra. He throws an arm around Gunther’s shoulders. “You don’t have to answer all of those questions. Just tell us in due time. I’ve seen this guy around. He seems pretty decent. We’d love to get to know him better. You should bring him around. Maybe we could have dinner together.”  

Gunther can feel his cheeks warming up once more. He’s not sure how he feels about all of this, but it is nice that his friends are so eager to meet his partner. “Maybe sometime. He’s pretty shy about meeting new people,” Gunther mumbles.  

“I’m not sure how I feel about it yet,” Auruo says. He pulls out a chair and sits in it backwards, arms resting across the chair’s back. “I’m pretty surprised, though. I didn’t think someone like Emil would be your type.”  

The comment makes Gunther stiffen. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Gunther asks. “What kind of person do you think would be my type?”  

“Commander Erwin,” Petra and Erwin say at the same time that Auruo replies, “Captain Levi.” The three of them exchange looks.  

“Gunther asked who would be his type, not who’s your type,” Petra tells Auruo who sneers back.  

“Who wouldn’t like Captain Levi? Why would you two even pick Commander Erwin?” Auruo sniffs.  

“He’s just objectively handsome,” Eld replies. “That height, that golden hair, those strikingly blue eyes, that jaw, and those amazing eyebrows. Probably the best-looking guy in the whole Scouting Legion.”  

Gunther has to laugh as Eld and Auruo argue back and forth about who is the more handsome of the two men, Captain Levi or Commander Erwin. Every once and a while, Petra interjects with her own opinion. As he observes his friends, he can’t help but think that Emil would also find this conversation amusing. He’s sure that all of them would get along well. He’s considering setting up a time for all of them to meet when a voice suddenly speaks from the doorway.  

“What are you all doing in here?”  

They all flinch at the sound of the Captain’s voice. All their hands move at once to press a fist against their chest to salute their superior, but the Captain waves them away. 

“You’re all being too loud. I can hear you from the end of the hall. If you have that much energy, go clean the castle,” Captain Levi says. He nods at Gunther. “At least it’ll be more productive than interrogating Schultz on his love life.”  

Gunther’s face flushes once more, embarrassed to have his romantic life revealed in front of the Captain.  

“Sorry, Captain,” Gunther’s friends mumble. Although they all apologize, only Eld and Auruo begin to shuffle towards the door.  

“Ral,” the Captain says to the ginger that’s lingering by the tea kettle.  

“I was making tea,” Petra says, gesturing towards the kettle.  

“Ral,” Captain Levi says a little more firmly this time.  

Petra is usually the one who can get away with a lot when it comes to the Captain, but even she knows when to push her luck and when to just do as she’s told. With a little pout, she shuffles out the door after her companions.  

Gunther is about to leave as well but the Captain gestures for him to stay. As Gunther shuffles from foot to foot nervously, the Captain pours himself a cup of tea and takes a long, slow sip.  

“She steeped it too long,” Captain Levi sighs. Nonetheless, he pours another cup and offers it to Gunther to drink. He doesn’t speak until Gunther gingerly takes the tea. “You should bring  your partner here sometime. I can put in a good word for you.”  

“S-sir?” Gunther stammers. He’s unused to such offers from the Captain, who typically keeps to himself unless they’re training, cleaning, or out on the field together. Gunther clears his throat. “I can see when he’s available and arrange a time.”  

The Captain simply hums in response. He takes another slow sip. “Of course, let me know if he ever gives you any trouble. I’d be more than happy to take care of him.”  

The Captain’s words make Gunther nearly choke on his tea, but he manages to swallow it down. “I’m not sure that will be necessary, sir,” Gunther says weakly. 

Captain Levi looks unconvinced. “Well, my offer stands if the occasion ever arises,” the Captain says.  

“I will,” Gunther says. He takes the Captain’s nod as a signal to leave, so he shuffles out of the kitchen as quickly as possible.  

It’s not the reveal he was hoping for when telling his squad about his relationship, but he feels oddly warm and pleasant about the whole experience and it’s nice to know that he has four perhaps overzealous wingmen ready to support his relationship. 

[thecrimsoncavalier]

The Flame in The Darkness

(( Trigger Warning: Violence, and death. If this bothers you, please continue scrolling, it will all be beneath the cut. )) (( Mentions: @the-wandering-tarot-reader for Z’Zanyi, @hollowedscythedancer for Rhiver, and subtle mentions of @dancing-phoenix​ and @star-crossed-spellblade​. Also @the-exiled-veteran)) (( PART I PART II ))

The morning sun would be starting to rise over the Goblet. Unfortunately for Sirius Tia, being at his former office at the recently closed Poisoned Rose Tavern was the last place he had wanted to be. He would’ve much rather been at home with his soon to be wife, Z’Zanyi Zosha. Aside from planning their wedding in recent months, the two were soon to be expectant parents to a pair of twins no less, and Siri would’ve much rather been at home, possibly still sleeping in bed. Unfortunately for the Miqo, there was business that needed to be taken care of, a thorn in the former Manager’s side that couldn’t be delayed any longer.

He’d take a seat at his desk, a light sigh escaping him as he glanced down at two separate pieces of paper that sat before him. One, a letter to his business partners Rhiver Lily and Gunther Vonbraun. With the recent on-goings in his own life, as well as how the three of them had been feeling recently, he had written up a letter offering his thoughts as to closing the Poisoned Rose Tavern, as well as relinquishing the building itself over to them. Sirius had grown to respect the two of them as equals, as well as good friends, so there was part of him that had hoped they’d appreciate the kind gesture.

The other paper, one much less cheery all things considered. After his last near-death experience, Sirius had decided it would be best to have a will written up just in-case something unforeseeable should happen. He wanted to make sure Z’Zanyi, his future children, and what close friends he had were taken care of. He’d snap his fingers, and the letter to Rhiver and Gunther would vanish, likely appearing within their room at the Tavern, meanwhile his will vanished back into his desk. The enchantment he had placed on the parchment would ensure that should something happen to him, it would make it to where it needed to be. As he sat, the clock ticking away, Siri’s mind wandered to the last time he had encountered his brother Xyveth. ‘You’ve always had a habit of leaving a trail of destruction and flames everywhere you go, why should it be any different now?’“I didn’t want to admit it then, but you’re right...my history is as dark and as twisted as your own brother...but I won’t be shaped by my history, I won’t let it consume me and twist me into something like you. You’re a threat to those I care for, so I’m happy to let the monster out of his cage if it means ending this once and for all.” Siri spoke to himself, only to hear a deep chuckle from the couch that sat before his desk, his eyes widening in surprise as they fell upon Xephanos.

“Well, now that you’ve got that rousing speech out of the way, you sure you’re ready for this?” The gunbreaker would ask, his head resting against his fists as he looked at the Miqo’te. Sirius would offer the Xaela a smile. “I am. This either ends with Xyveth dead, or us.” He replied, pulling himself from his chair and walking around his desk to stand before the gunbreaker. “Well, I’m certainly hoping it goes in our favor rather than his. Think we’ve got a few surprises for him this go around.” He grinned, patting his belt where he held his cartridges for the gunblade that rested along his back, only for Sirius to perk a brow at his longtime friend. “Well, one way to find out.” Sirius replied, only to close his eyes and take a deep breath. Xeph would begin to feel a bit of heat begin to radiate within the Miqo’te’s office, and as Siri opened his eyes, a portal would spiral to life just past his outstretched hand, the desert sands of the Sagoli slowly coming into clear view through the portal. Once the spell was completed, Sirius looked over to Xeph. “Ready when you are.” He spoke, quickly falling silent. The look on the Miqo’s one of a possible sense of relief that by the end of the day this would be done, but within Siri’s eyes sat a sense of what some may have viewed as uneasiness or fear. “Hey, we’re both coming home from this Sirius.” The Xaela spoke, walking over and placing a comforting hand on the Miqo’s face. Sure, Xeph may have gathered a reputation for being an asshole or a heartless brute, but he had come to look at Sirius like a little brother, and as much as there were times the little fuzzball made made Xeph want to strangle him, he wasn’t going to let anything happen to him. “You’re right. Besides, being able to regale my children with embarrassing stories about their Uncle Xeph is too good of an opportunity to pass up.” The Miqo replied, flashing the Xaela a wicked smirk, before dashing into the portal. “And I’ll be embarrassing you twice as bad.” The Xaela shouted through the portal. He’d take a moment and glance to the door, and take a deep breath himself, only for his eyes to shoot open and Xeph himself leaped through the portal. Once safely through, the magicks that had been manipulated to open the portal would disperse, Siri’s office falling silent once again.

As the two found themselves back in the Desert, Sirius found his heart rate a bit faster than normal, a low growl escaping him as he shook his head to stop the less than cheerful thoughts. Xephanos would glance over to the Miqo and perk a brow, only to turn his attention towards where the remnants of Siri’s childhood home were off in the distance. “You couldn’t have teleported us any closer?” The gunbreaker would ask, pushing up the sleeves of his trenchcoat to keep from getting overheated. “And you seem a bit underdressed given what we’re about to do.” He spoke, taking a moment to take in the Miqo’s attire. Siri was still wearing his more common suit that most had seen him in quite regularly. “Believe me, I’m not as unprepared as it looks Xeph. And as for why we aren’t any closer, teleporting here like we did may have alerted Xyveth to our intentions, I figure we want as much of an advantage as we can get, so little bit of legwork to be done.” He explained, only to start walking in the direction Xeph had been glancing moments prior. After a shake of his head, Xephanos was quick to follow. As the two walked, they both remained rather quiet. Perhaps it was due to what was coming, and their minds reflecting back to the last time they found themselves within the Desert. Or perhaps it was due to thoughts of something more personal for each of them. Whatever the reason, the moment Siri’s childhood home came into sight, both of them would stop in their tracks. “Well...I’d say we’re close enough...wouldn’t you?” Xephanos would ask, only for an ominous chuckle to fill the pair’s minds. “Well for what it’s worth...it took longer for the two of you to show up than I thought it would. What kept you? Afraid of having a repeat of last time?” the voice would ask, and roughly a mile away from the two, a dark portal would spiral to life, and out of it would walk Xyveth, clad in his black and red armor, face obscured by the helmet he wore, and his large sword being hoisted over his shoulder, his own dark magical energies cracking through the weapon as he looked in Xeph and Siri’s direction.

“Oh believe me Xyveth, there won’t be a repeat of last time, I can promise you that!” Sirius snarled, his gaze narrowed on his brother. “Today this ends.” He growled, a rather vibrant crimson aura quickly enveloping the red mage, his tattoos and eyes taking on a similar coloring. “I couldn’t agree more brother.” Xyveth replied, raising his hand to the sky, dark energies shooting upward and out of his palm, arching away from Xyveth and towards Xeph and Sirius almost like heat-seeking missiles as the wielder of shadows himself flew forward at almost lightning fast speed, bringing his blade down to send a crescent wave of energy towards the pair. As the missiles made their way towards them, Xeph and Siri exchanged a single look between them, the gunbreaker taking a moment to nod his head in reply, and quickly pull his gunblade from his back, slashing wildly through the air to intercept the incoming barrage of magics. Sirius however, would unleashed a wicked almost demonic yell, and as his crimson aura enveloped him, he’d fly forward to meet Xyveth, his robes quickly replacing the attire he had worn to the desert as he brought his hand upward, his rapier quickly appearing within it, similar colored flames to his aura dancing along the blade as he brought it to intercept Xyveth’s. The look in Siri’s eyes looking almost feral as opposed to the calm and collected look they normally held. Xyveth couldn’t help but chuckle as steel met steel. “Well now, has the frightened little child has finally let loose?” Xyveth asked, hoping to strike at Siri with his plated fist. Unfortunately for the crimson furred bastard, Sirius was prepared for that, and a mystic rune would appear to intercept Xyveth’s hand, and before the plate wearing Miqo could react, he’d find himself enveloped in a crimson tempest of flames and lightning, obscuring his view, though his body was being bombarded with the magical energies that had now surrounded him. “Now Xeph!” Sirius yelled, only for Xephanos to charge forward, pulling two cartridges from his belt and loading them into his gunblade. As the Xaela charged forward, he’d pull the trigger on the gunblade, igniting the first cartridge he had inserted, unleashing a rather strong energy surge through the gunblade, enveloping the blade in an electrical blue aura as Xeph slashed at the black clad Miqo’te. Xeph would bring a knee up to connect with Xyveth’s jaw as he leaped upward, knocking Xyveth’s helmet off his head as the Xaela leaped upward. Once he was up in the air, Xeph would pull the trigger on his gunblade once more, the resulting ignition covering his gunblade and he in an aura of red and blue, the aura itself looking almost like a dragon with how it danced along his gunblade, and he’d allow gravity to pull him back down, bringing his gunblade down across Xyveth with as much strength and power behind his swing as imaginable. As Xeph’s gunblade struck him, Xyveth roared out in pain. Before he could attempt to lash out at Xeph however, he’d find another strong magical burst of energy striking him and sending him flying out of the electrical inferno he had been caught in, his blade flying out of his hand and landing in the sand away from him, and Sirius was quick to pounce, pinning Xyveth in the sand beneath him, his rapier resting against the crimson furred Miqo’s throat.

“What are you going to do now Sirius?” Xyveth snarled as he looked up at the Miqo. Siri wore what some would likely call a rather sadistic smile as he looked down at Xyveth. “I told you, your games were ending today Xyveth.” Siri replied, his voice rather cold and ruthless. Xeph stood off in the distance in shock as he pulled himself to his feet. The gunbreaker himself was a bit winded, but he had never seen Sirius like this. “You did, but I don’t think you’ve got the guts to take me out. You’ve never been anything more than a scared little child brother. Always running, always hiding. Well guess what, that won’t do you, or your ‘precious family’ any good. Cause I will get away, and when I do…” SLICE As Sirius pulled himself to his feet, the sound of his blade slicing through his brother’s throat would echo through his mind. Xyveth? His body laid limp on the ground. Siri’s eyes were closed as he turned away from the now dead Miqo. He’d take a few steps away, only to fall to his knees. He was relieved this was all finally over, but he was scared of what he had done. His brother was right, Sirius was never known to be a bloodthirsty savage, but today...something inside Siri had snapped, and that...that terrified the Miqo’te. Xephanos, having finally recovered from his over-expenditure from combat, as well as the shock of witnessing Siri do what he had, shook his head and walked over to the Miqo’te. “Sirius….it’s done.” He spoke, kneeling down to bring himself level with the red mage. Sirius just sorta stayed knelt in the sand for a few moments, his mind finally calming by the time Xephanos had walked over. Siri would pull his eyes open and look over to Xeph, only to shake his head at the Xaela. “Not quite yet I’m afraid.” The Miqo replied, pulling himself back to his feet, and securing his rapier from where he had dropped it in the sand, returning it to his hip as he pulled a black crystal from his belt. “I want to ensure that he can’t come back ever again…” he replied, turning back to face Xyveth’s body. He’d allow his eyes to fall shut, his crimson aura enveloping him once again, his tattoos glowing the same coloring as the crystal that he had been holding in his hand had risen up above him. Despite being a lifeless husk, as Sirius began muttering his incantation, the sinister violet magical aura that Xyveth had roared back to life, completely enveloping the husk. Siri’s aura would envelop him as well, practically making the red mage disappear within it. As the aura’s of the two brothers met, it was as though to conflicting flames were colliding with one another, each tugging and pulling at the other. For a few moments, Siri’s aura began to grow dim, while Xyveth’s grew stronger, almost sentient. Siri would open his eyes, his aura flaring to life. He’d hold his hand out before him, his eyes glowing rather vibrantly as he roared out the final incantation. “Animam eius crystallo ligabis, numquam eximitur!” Xyveth’s aura would flicker now, growing incredibly dim, only for the energies to twist and coalesce, manifesting in what could best be described as a phantom of Xyveth. The phantom would look down to Sirius, and attempt to lunge outward at the red mage. However, before it could, the crystal that floated above Sirius’ head began to glow, and the phantom would be pulled into the gem, screams of anguish echoing throughout the desert. With the spell now done, Sirius’ aura would begin to dwindle itself, the Miqo looking rather exhausted, but he still refused to fall. He’d hold his hand outward once more, and a torrent of flames would fly from his palm, engulfing Xyveth’s body in the wicked flames. Xephanos would carry himself through the sand, his eyes moving to the fire as Sirius retrieved the crystal and secured it on his person. Siri would offer the Xaela a half-smile, only to take a breath. “Now...it’s over….” Siri spoke, only to start to fall forward. His energy was spent. Luckily, Xeph was fast, and before Siri got a facefull of sand, Xeph had a secure grip on him. “I got ya lad.” Xeph spoke, ensuring Sirius was at least able to stand. Sirius nodded his head. “Let’s get home then…” he replied, and with Xeph’s assistance, the two would make their way from the roaring flames, which would continue until all that remained was ash.

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

I’ve mangled the start of this draft

116

Levi felt like shit. Eren had wanted to talk to him, but after spending the morning jogging with Erwin, he’d had enough free therapy. Erwin felt that they should go away. That he and Eren should lie low until this new mess could be investigated fully. Packing up their lives to live in some shit box wasn’t Levi’s idea of a smart plan. Who knew how long they’d be gone if they went? Or where they’d end up. With Hanji and Erwin they were likely to wind up back in Stohess in some equally shitty little house in the shitty suburbs where they’d have to hide their true identities even when it was time for Eren to give birth.

“Are you sure you’re okay with him going out with Armin?”

Crossing his arms, Levi didn’t want to hear it from Mike. His boyfriend had made him a fresh cup of tea and he’d been forced to ignore it thanks to his pissy alpha. He knew doing so would upset Eren, but his bloody stupid alpha had still had its nose out of joint because just that had happened

“Tch. He’s fine with Armin. Eren’s missed him, so leave them be. Our bigger problem is if Kenny is involved and the lengths he’d go to to keep his job”

Honestly he absolutely dreaded the idea of Kenny meeting Eren. Kenny wasn’t exactly normal, nor would he have an issue with ending Eren’s life should the need come up. Should he and Eren leave, it was possible they both be murdered before anyone else had an inkling something was wrong

“Is Kenny really that bad?”

“He’s bad enough. He’d slit a throat and think nothing of it. That little fucker certainly got himself caught up in one hell of a shit show”

Erwin cleared his throat

“Yes, well, I did hope to discuss things with Eren given Floch wasn’t forthcoming last night on his own accord. Has he spoken to you at length?”

No. He’d wanted to… His omega practically begged him with those big shitty eyes to sit down and talk things out

“No. If Floch isn’t going to cooperate I’d rather not put more pressure on Eren”

“Then what do you think we should do about Floch?”

Raising an eyebrow at his friend, Levi wasn’t sure he should be asked about that to do with that lump of walking shit. He’d found himself unable to do anything other than think rationally about the situation due to Eren. Swallowing hard, his alpha growled at his thought, not wanting to admit he wasn’t capable of handling things

“Honestly… Eren and I should be removed from these decisions. We both want Floch to face some form of formal punishment for his actions, but if you ask me what I’d like to do… well… there’s a whole lot of forest out there”

And a whole lot of ways to make sure Floch could never be identified… No. His idiot alpha was far too keen for Floch’s blood to be spilt for all he’d done

“I’ll keep that in mind as a last resort. For now we need to pick the path of least resistance. Ideally that’d mean having Eren have another go at Floch…”

“You can’t sit them down together”

Well… fuck. He’d gone and said it now. Erwin waiting for Levi to continue, though they all knew the outburst was his true feeling on the matter he still appreciated Erwin giving him a chance to cover himself

“I mean… Eren is strong enough for the interview, but… shit…”

He felt like he was betraying Eren. He knew how strong his brat was, yet couldn’t help but definitely not want Eren in front of Floch

“…”

He didn’t have a continuation. Erwin giving up on letting him dig his way out when he’d just gone and dug that hole deeper instead

“Are you telling me Eren isn’t in the right mental space to be questioning Floch?”

“It’s not that. What I would like is for Floch to take any commands off that may be in place, formally and recorded, but as for questioning Floch, I don’t feel Floch would be forthcoming if it was Eren. He’s half insane with his feelings about Eren, to the point he feels no remorse for hitting Eren in the stomach nor trying to bite him. Should Floch threaten Eren, he may not be able to keep his temper. Ideally we lay low until we can get in touch with the panel, then present both Floch and the taped conversations with him”

“Isn’t that going to anger Kenny?”

No shit. It wasn’t even a question worth discussing. Perhaps if he had been more open in the past with his team about his past then Eld wouldn’t be interrupting to ask something so stupid

“At this stage anything we do is going to cause a shitty fucking chain reaction. The only path Eren and I can take is the path that will leave us with the least regrets”

Erwin gave a slight nod. His friend had tried to understand what he was going through with Eren, but not having a mate of his own or having felt the pull of a compatible partner, Erwin couldn’t come close to imagining the way all the shitty “what if’s” had set in. The biggest thing hanging over them was the “what if” of Eren having another possible drop from the stress they were all under

“I’ve already suggested perhaps they’d be best leaving early. If you were to take Eren to Nedlay and work there with Pixis until we’ve contacted the panel…”

Bringing his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose, Levi felt a headache coming on. Erwin was supposed to be the brains of their operation. He should have been putting some form of strategy into place from the moment they’d gotten their hands on Floch. Stating the obvious, the alpha loathed their current situation when doing the right thing could bring Kenny to his doorstep, but if they backed off… If they backed off, then everything would have been for nothing. Everything Eren had worked so hard for had been turned into a joke by Floch. The shit had disrespected his omega, and had proved himself as slimy as turd. Without evidence Floch would find a way to slip through the hands of the panel, especially given they’d kidnapped him

“Even if we drop them in their laps, there’s no guarantee Floch will cooperate or that they will listen. What we need is more data on the Reiss and Reeves families that backs up Floch’s allegations”

Casting a glance towards the cabin window, Erwin felt his pockets for his keys as he did

“I’ve got a copy of the information our team’s pulled up on Floch in the back of my car. Eld, swap out with Gunther. See if you can get a dose of suppressants down Floch’s throat. We don’t need him going feral from his alpha. Levi, you’ll help me run through what we know, I want you to try and think back to when you were with Eren undercover and anything at all that might be related, no matter how small. Mike, I want you to go check on Eren and Armin. I’ll get those files. If we can’t use Eren to take a run at Floch, maybe there something there that’ll rattle him?”

The way Erwin spoke felt as if Levi had labelled Eren as useless. He felt like he’d betrayed his boyfriend, despite promising to always be on his side. This having a boyfriend thing was hard when both of them couldn’t act the way they wanted, harder still when Levi wasn’t sure he was prepared to ask Eren to go into hiding with him if they should need to. Armin and Mikasa were Eren’s real family, and the family he’d need of something went wrong with the pregnancy, as well as being the first two Eren would want to tell if everything went smoothly and they welcomed their little girl into the world without a hiccup. No longer could he make the kind of threats he’d used to, at least not in person while Eren was pregnant

“Use his family. Eren said that piece of shit was a Mumma’s boy… and on top of the shame of having a son like him, I doubt his father would appreciate this going to the press”

“Let’s save the press for now. If Historia is in danger we could tighten the noose around her neck. We’re better off trying to get her on our side, once we’ve analysed everything all over again”

Unless Erwin had a magical shitty fucking teleporter in that shit sedan of his, that would mean holding onto Floch for an indefinite amount of time…

“Tch. How the shit are we supposed to do that given where we fucking are?”

“I’ll do a run out tonight and call through to Petra. She’ll be able to discuss things further with Mikasa”

“Eren won’t be happy about dragging her in, even if she wants to help”

“Whether they like it or not, both she and Jean are already involved”

It was easy enough to imagine Mikasa had the remainder of their team already under her thumb

“That doesn’t mean we need to make shit worse for them. If you’re going out to call anyone, you should alert the panel and get the first available fucking audience with them. The whole point of bringing our families in is so they don’t wind up as collateral damage. Here we are, caught with our shitty thumbs up our arses thanks to fuck-knuckle wank stain. We’re all too personally involved now”

Shaking his head at him, Erwin knew he was right. This filthy cabin was no place for any of them. The longer they spent inside the less dirty the outside world seemed in comparison

“You know, typically people getting sex regularly aren’t as stressed as you are”

Levi could have hit him. Mike and Eld snorting as the alpha glared at his friend. Eren dropping again was nothing to joke about

“Right. Because now’s time to be fucking joking around. Eren’s already had one fucking drop, this could push him into a second, but by all means go ahead and talk about our sex life, just don’t blame me when you’re a dickless wonder and Mike’s feeding you through a tube for the rest of your life”

Erwin chuckled at his grumping giving Levi the feeling he would have reached out and ruffled his hair if the shit stain thought he could get away with it

“At least your sense of humour’s still intact”

“You’re the one who started it. Pop the trunk already, I want to be done with this cabin as soon as possible”

He’d told Erwin that both he and Eren were in agreement. That if something were to happen, then they’d leave without question seeing how intimately involved they were and knowing that as supportive as they were there was no way their friends could truly understand what it’d been like for both of them. Most of their shitty fucking jog had been Erwin prying into his relationship with Eren and how Eren was coping with this. Levi was loathe to admit that Eren really did seem to be coping better with this than he’d thought he would be. He was just as unhappy to admit that quietly part of him was jealous that Floch would always remain a festering wound for the both of them. For Levi it wasn’t enough to play Floch saying he was taking any commands off of Eren. He wanted the arsehole to sit there and to admit that he’d knowingly and vindictively fucked Eren over with what he’d done, and he wanted Eren to have that piece of mind knowing that Floch had absolutely no input into any of Eren’s actions or decisions.

[bakubabes-tatakae]

For The Love Of Humanity’s Strongest (Part Two)

Author’s Note: If you want to be added to the taglist let me know! Happy to do it for anyone!

(Levi Ackerman x Reader)

Summary: When all seems lost Y/N knows that she can count on one person to always be there for her brother, Eren Jaeger, and herself. Can humanity’s strongest not only keep Eren in line, but keep his relationship alive as well?

AO3 Link

Part One

Part Two:

Present Day

We all entered through the gates once again. It had been five years since Shiganshina had crumbled. Erwin was now the commander of the scouts, we finally had a better standing with the public, and there was finally praise when we came through. Just like always, my brother stood in the crowd, watching us come through. I sat on the back of Levi’s horse with him and my best friend, Zoe Hange rode next to us. People were definitely warming up to the scouts. “Hey Commander Erwin, did you give those things a thrashing!” Others shouted about their favorite scouts. “Look, it’s Captain Levi! They say he’s like an entire brigade to himself.” I smiled at the sound of praise that he was getting.

Levi scoffed. He had always been rough around the edges. “Spare me.”

Hange looked over at him. “That scowl will crush your fans, not that it’s any of my business but from a public relations standpoint you might want to lighten up.”

 I laughed at him and he elbowed me some, scolding Hange as he spoke up. “Shut it four eyes.” I laughed harder and Hange shot me a glare.

She turned before speaking again. “Can you believe what we just saw out there, they’re just so fascinating. I can’t wait until we can capture our next one, maybe we can capture an abnormal.” 

Levi cut her off. “We’ve already bagged the most abnormal one there is.”

She got excited. “What? Really? Where?” Her eyes lit up. 

Levi put his hand on top of her head and turned her head to look at him. “Hange, I mean you.”

 * * * * * * 

As we all settled into the barracks to get a bite to eat and sleep some we were hearing some ruckus going on outside. None of us wanted to find out what was going on so we continued to relax. Levi came walking over to where I was standing in the dining area and put his hand on my hip. “So when do you wanna go back to the house and relax? I’m tired of the barracks already.”

I chuckled. “Of course you are. We haven’t even been here ten minutes.”

“There’s better things I’d like to be doing right now.” He winked and pulled me closer to him, kissing right below my ear and whispered. “Wouldn’t you rather be doing them too?”

I looked over at him and smiled. “You mean wouldn’t I rather be doing you?” Levi’s eyes grew wide as he looked at the people standing next to us. He raised a hand to them in an apologizing way and grabbed my hand, dragging me toward the door. Right before we reached the door a member of the garrison burst through, nearly knocking us off our feet along with a few others behind us. 

Levi grabbed the garrison member by the front of his shirt and pulled him to him, ready to scold him when the garrison member spoke. “The Titan’s are attacking Wall Rose!”

We all froze and let that sink in. Levi took charge before anyone could speak. “Everyone move out! All hands on deck. Take down as many of them as you can. Stay in your squads and have each other’s backs. Further instructions will come when we find Commander Erwin.” Everyone started running out the doors. He looked to me. “Find the others and meet me at the barn for the horses.”

I nodded and ran off. Levi might be my boyfriend, but he was also my Captain; what he says goes. I ran through the barracks in search of my team when I was stopped by a familiar voice. “Y/N, where’s Captain Levi?” I turned to see my other team members staring at me. Petra, Oluo, Eld, and Gunther, all looked ready and determined. 

I starting running. “Levi said to meet him at the barn. Let’s go.”

* * * * * * 

As our squads filled the air we all split apart. Levi lead us all just outside the heart of the town. We landed on a rooftop and looked around. There were Titan’s on both sides of us. “Y/N and Petra, tend to our comrade below. Eld, Gunther, take out the Titan to your right. The two on the left belong to me.”

In unison, we all spoke.”Yes sir.” 

Petra and I jumped down and ran to the scout member on the ground. I applied pressure to his wounds as Petra looked over the rest of him to see if there was any hope of saving him. He was badly injured, clearly a Titan had gotten ahold of him. Levi jumped down next to us after taking care of the two he was after. I looked up at him as he walked over. “Levi, I can’t stop the bleeding.”

The man tried to speak. “Captain Levi.”

Levi knelt down. “I’m here.”

“Did this make a difference? Was I helpful?” The man reached toward Levi. “Please sir, don’t tell me this was for nothing.”

Levi grabbed his hand. “We’ve made great strides today soldier, and tomorrow, because of you. Your strength wont die with you, the torch will be carried on, by me. This I swear, on my very life, the Titans will be eradicated.”

I spoke up, feeling his heartbeat stop. “Levi, I’m sorry, he’s gone.”

Levi looked at both Petra and I. “Did he hear what I had to say? Any of it?”

Petra smiled a little. “Yes sir, I think he did. As a matter of fact, I think he heard all of it. Look at him. That’s a face at peace.” The man almost looked like he was smiling.

Erwin came up behind us on horseback. “Levi! We’re pulling out.”

“What do you mean? You damn well know that we can push further.” Levi was getting angrier by the second. “My men didn’t die to pave our retreat.”

I grabbed Levi’s arm to stop him from berating the Commander more. “Captain Levi, hear him out.”

“There’s a swarm of Titans heading north. They’re bearing down on the city. It’s just like five years ago. Something tells me this is going to be bad.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This couldn’t be happening again. I couldn’t go through the same torture as last time. The only other two family members I had left we’re in danger again. I wouldn’t let that happen.

Before he could even stop talking I was in the air. I heard Levi hollering to me. “Y/N!” It was then that he came to the realization of why I was moving so fast. Eren and Mikasa were patrolling in the city today. 

* * * * * * 

I flew through the city with my ODM gear, not even looking back to see if Levi and the other were following me, I didn’t care at this point. I landed on a rooftop where I saw a group of the 104th Cadets, Eren’s group. I stopped and looked over at a familiar girl, I had watched their class learn, and had learned who they were in the process. “You’re Sasha, right?”

“Yes, ma’am. Do you have any idea what’s going on over there?” She pointed to the left of us and I turned toward it. Titan steam was filling the air in an area where we hadn’t even been told there were Titans. “I had no idea.” The group of kids were starting to freak out. I looked around me at all of them. “Buck up and follow me, I might need you guys.”

The bravest of the cadets followed me as I launched my ODM gear and headed toward the steam. When we got to the edge we all watched as the steam started to clear. The skeleton of a Titan was beginning to be visible. There was a squadron on the ground in front of it. He was barking orders. “Keep your distance. Artillery squad, get that cannon reloaded!” 

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had never seen a Titan look like this before. As we all tried to take in what was going on someone emerged from the steam. The kid looked familiar. As I looked closer I realized who it was... Armin Arlert. If he was around then Eren wasn’t far behind. I jumped down from the building and landed in the middle of the squadron. I didn’t care that I was intruding on someone else’s orders, I had to find Eren. “Armin! Where’s Eren!?” 

Before Armin could say anything the Captain started yelling again. “Is this supposed to be your true form monster?” What was he talking about? “I don’t buy it. I’ll give the signal to fire, I mean it!”

Armin started to speak. I had no idea what was going on, but his words made my head spin. “Eren is not a foe of humanity. We’re willing to cooperate with military command and share everything we’ve learned about his powers.”

The Captain of the squad looked at one of the members and nodded toward me, clearly knowing I was about to run over there. Before I could move I was in a headlock with my arms behind my back. What could Armin possibly mean by his powers? “Your pleas fall on deaf ears. He revealed his true form and because of that threat he can not leave here alive. If you insist that he’s not an enemy of ours then show me proof. Otherwise, we’ll blast him back to whatever nightmare he crawled out of.” 

I pushed and pushed against the soldier that was holding me. I would never let them hurt my brother. I even tried to bite his arms. “You won’t lay a finger on him. If you do I swear to go it’ll be the last thing that you do. Humanity’s strongest and I will strike you down. Just try me!”

Armin shushed me. “Y/N, stop.” He looked at the Captain. “You don’t need any proof. The fact of the matter is that it doesn’t matter what we perceive him to be.”

“What?” He was angry now. 

“The report says that hundreds of soldiers saw him. And those that were there said they saw him fighting other Titans. And that means they saw him get swarmed by the Titans as well. To put it plainly the Titans saw him as they see each and every human being, as their prey. And it doesn’t matter how else you may look at it, that is an irrefutable fact.”

The soldiers around us were starting to relax. The one that was holding me back loosened his grip. Mumbling started to go around about how Armin might be right. It was now that I wished that Levi would find us and get this goon off of me. The Captain was even more pissed off. “PREPARE TO ATTACK! Don’t let yourself be swayed by his cunning lies. The Titans behavior has always been beyond our comprehension. I wouldn’t put it past them to assume human form.” He looked over at me. “That’s his sister. It could be in their genes. She might be a Titan as well.” The soldiers swarmed me, each of my limbs being held by another person.

I fought as hard as I could again. I managed to get one of my legs free and kicked one of the soldiers in the face. “Go ahead, try it! If you hurt me or my brother, see what Captain Levi does to you!”

“They speak our language in an attempt to deceive us. I refused to let them continue this behavior unchecked!”

Armin’s face was devastated. He turned to Eren and Mikasa who crouched down on one knee behind him and then looked back to me. I stared at him and nodded, I knew he had a plan, and he needed to act fast. I was useless with this many people holding me back, despite the amount of adrenaline pumping through my system. Armin saluted at them and started hollering. “I am a soldier! And I have dedicated my hear to the restoration of humanity, sir! Nothing could make me prouder than dying for such a noble cause!” 

The soldiers all stared and the Captain looked shocked that Armin still had the courage to push further. “If we were to use his Titan ability and combine it with the man power we have left, I believe we can do it! We can retake this city! For humanity’s glory, in what little time I have left to live, I will advocate his strategic value!”

The Captain looked at Armin with hatred in his eyes. A soldier behind him spoke. “Captain Woerman, his words are worth considering sir. Maybe we should-”

The Captain cut him off. “QUIET!” The Captain raise his arm to signal the cannon soldiers. 

I squirmed more. My brother, and the two I had thought of as siblings my whole life, were in more trouble than they seemed to realize. Where was Levi? I needed someone to help, he needed to be here. As I saw the Captain’s arm start to move downward I flailed. “RUN YOU THREE!” I pleaded with the Captain. “Please don’t do this, they’re all I have!”

Suddenly, an arm reached out, stopping Captain Woerman’s arm from coming down. The man spoke. “That’s enough. You should really do something about your nervous disposition Captain Woerman.”

The Captain looked terrified, he stuttered as he spoke. “C-C-Commander Pyxis.”

The Commander of the Garrison looked over at me, noticing how many people were holding me back. “Let her go.”

The arms released me and I glared at the men who had just been restricting me. “You’re lucky you listened, wait til Captain Levi or Commander Erwin hear about this... they’re going to have fun with all of you.” I chuckled menacingly at them, causing a few of them to step back some. Levi struck fear in most soldiers eyes, something I used to my advantage more than I should. 

I hopped off the ledge of the square and ran to Eren. I wrapped my arms around my brother and squeezed, he was a couple inches taller than me, something I had always hated, but in this moment I didn’t. I released him and he held me to his side, staring at the Captain with malice in his eyes. The Commander spoke up. “Can you not see this soldier’s heartfelt salute?” Armin was still standing in front of us with his fist over his heart. “I’ve only just arrived, but I’m quite aware of our situation.” He looked from the four of us to the Captain. “Gather our reinforcements. I think we could at least do these young soldiers the favor of hearing them out.”

Armin dropped to his knees and his eyes welled up with tears. He had done it. 

I buried my face into the crevice in Eren’s arm and laughed. Eren looked down at me and laughed as well. “He did it.” My eyes welled up and I let a few tears escape, not tears of sadness, but tears of joy for my brother’s safety. 

I let go of Eren and walked to Armin, grabbing onto him and pulling him to me. “Thank you Armin.” I laughed again. “These two idiots would be lost and screwed without you. You’ve saved their asses more times than I can count.”

Armin hugged me back, as tight as he could. I could tell by his grasp that he was still as nervous as I was. “I couldn’t let them hurt him, not with all we’ve gone through in our lives.”

Taglist 💕 @gamegirl23100 @super-peace-fangirl @pjimochi

Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six: *NSFW Ahead!*, Part Seven

Updated: 5/13/2020

[peteywillproceed]

“We Were On A Break!” - Part 2

Author’s Note: It’s here! I’ve been so excited to upload this! Thank you again for all the amazing support so far, I can’t believe we hit a hundred followers already! You’re all so so amazing! As usual, let me know if you wanna be added to my tag list, and I hope you enjoy x

Summary: Tom might’ve broken your heart, but the prospect of you moving to another country changes everything (kinda Friends TV show crossover!)

Word Count: 4,720

Read Part 1 First

Turns out, you wouldn’t.

Mostly because Tom couldn’t keep his hands off alcohol. But also because he couldn’t keep his promises either.

Your eyes fluttered open to face an empty bed. It was cold and the covers were gone, and you felt a little furrow of confusion work its way through your brow. You were used to waking up alone when you’d been together, but some how you’d thought this might change things – that he might finally do the half decent thing and bring you some coffee.

But the open door reminded you that to Tom, you’d never be someone he brought coffee to. You were the person that fixed him up when he was pissed, told him how great he was when he was sad. Yet when it came to you, he couldn’t even find it in his heart to stay a little while.

“Tom?” you called, frustration and sleep coating your voice. You groaned, feeling your muscles protest as you sat up, grimacing at the tight jeans and unforgiving fabric of last night’s clothes. You were still half hoping he might just be in the bathroom, but when loud voices drifted up the stairs, cheers from boys still a little drunk from the night before ringing in your ears, you wondered how you’d let him suck you into this in the first place.

In a huff, you threw yourself out of the bed and grabbed your jacket, double checking none of the sneaky bastards downstairs had helped themselves to your purse. A glance at your phone reminded you you’d never told Sarah where you’d ended up last night, and even Cameron had blown it up with calls. Regardless, you’d missed your first lecture, and you wanted to curse Tom for getting under your skin again.

Poking your head out of the door, you wondered if you could just make a dash for it down the stairs. Doing the walk of shame at 10am in the morning when the only thing you had to be ashamed of was how gullible you were wasn’t exactly an experience you were thrilled about, but here you were. You started sneaking away as fast as you could, making it to the door before a familiar voice stopped you in your tracks.

“Y/n? What are you doing here?”

“Hey, Harrison,” you sighed, dropping the handle in defeat. You glanced past his shoulder to make sure no one else had heard him and put a finger to your lips.

“Are you and Tom back together?” he whispered, eyes lighting up in excitement, and you hastily shook your head.

“No way. I made a mistake last night, probably not the one you think. Now would you save me the embarrassment of having to talk to him?”

Harrison raised an eyebrow, folding his arms as he poked his cheek with his tongue. “You want me to let my best friend make a stupid arse mistake and let you go?”

“Yes?” you said, voice filled with hope, internally screaming as he rolled his eyes.

“Hurry up then, I guess. He’s gonna go for his morning run in about thirty seconds.”

Throwing your head back in relief, you grinned at him and gave him a thumbs up, twisting the handle and darting from the house just in time. As the door clicked shut, you caught the remnants of Harrison brushing off a confused Tom, covering your back as he told him it was just the postman.

As you practically ran down the street, you tried to push Tom to the back of your mind. He was the last person you wanted to deal with right now, and whatever games he was playing could wait. You had bigger priorities right now, and you intended to not let Tom push you about anymore. That was the last time you let him write the rules; from now on, you were in charge.

You turned left at the end of the street, shoving your way into the familiar café on the high street. Your brain was all kinds of messed up, and before you could even start to think about processing last night you needed a huge mug of coffee and the internet.

“Hey, Gunther,” you smiled, ignoring the awe struck look he gave you. “Medium americano to sit in please.”

“Sure, Y/n. No Sarah today? I, uh, kept the sofa free for you.” You followed where he pointed, but there was basically no need for his reserved sign. The café was practically empty.

“Err thanks. But I just need a computer today.”

“Sure, sure. On the house, I’ll bring your drink over in a bit.” He winked at you as you started over towards the computer bar and nabbed the one closest to the radiator, relief washing over you as warmth covered your frozen body.

You tapped your leg impatiently as you waited for it to boot up, annoyed you’d forgotten your phone charger. You were waiting on what could have been the most important email you’d ever receive in your life, and the deadline was last night. You’d been meaning to keep an eye on it all night, but then things had gotten weird with Tom and you’d just forgotten about it.

Studying physics was the hardest but most rewarding thing you’d ever done, but you were graduating and you needed somewhere to keep pushing your mind. So when your professor had brought up that he needed an assistant to work on a PhD program with him in France, you’d jumped at the chance – travel the world, and get an awesome qualification at the same time. All you’d needed was the funding, and today was the day you would know if everything you’d worked for was coming true.

You were holding your breath as the gmail screen loaded, barely acknowledging Gunther’s comment as he set your coffee down beside you. All you could focus on was the string of black text crossing your screen as your eyes scanned the page and took in what it was saying.

“Dear Miss Y/l/n, congratulations, we are delighted to award you the grant to support your further studies in Paris – OH MY GOD!” You screamed in amazement, choking back sobs as all three of the people in the café turned to stare at you. Jesus, you’d done it. Actually done it. You were going to Paris! PARIS! To study the stars! For free!

Your heart was pounding and you could hear the blood racing in your ears. In a haze of blissful amazement, you snatched your phone of the table to call your mum, before remembering it was dead. You could hardly remember getting to your feet and rushing towards the café’s landline, punching in the only number you could remember.

“Y/n? Oh my god! Where’ve you been? We’ve been so worried, we even called your mum thinking you were back there!” Sarah’s panicked voice screamed through the phone, and you wondered how on earth she knew it was you calling.

“Shh, Sarah, shh just be quiet for a sec, okay? I did it! I got the grant! I’m going to Paris!”

There was stunned silence on the other end of the phone, before she too erupted into a set of screams so deafening you had to hold the phone away from your ear. “Y/n that’s amazing! I’m so happy for you! Have you told your mum?”

“No, my phone’s dead and yours was the only number I could remember!” You giggled, relieved to hear Sarah burst into laughter too.

“Oh God, maybe you should call her. She thinks you’ve been kidnapped!”

You rang off quickly, slumping against the wall, overwhelmed by the whole morning. In just the space of a few hours, you’d gone from utterly humiliated to high on happiness and amazement. You’d worked so hard for this, put in so many extra hours just to get half way to where you were today. And here were the results, your future, all laid out in front of you like a pretty picture.

You were going to Paris, to do something you’d always dreamed of doing, ex-boyfriend be damned.

***

A few days later, you were spread out on your bed, putting away the last of your revision notes when you heard the knock on your bedroom door. Figuring it was Sarah who’d forgot her keys, you turned down the music you had playing softly in the background, and called out to her.

“You’d forget your head if it wasn’t screwed on, numpty,” you laughed, snatching the keys off her desk and heading towards the door.

“Err, actually Y/n, it’s me.”

Your hand froze halfway to the door handle, your body rigid with a strange concoction of fear and excitement. You hadn’t heard his deep, velvety voice since last week, and you hated the way the sound sent shivers through your body. You could almost picture him, slumped against the door frame, his fist hovering over the ‘do not disturb’ sign in his usual deliberate ignoring of the rules.

“What, Tom?” you sighed, flinging the door open. God, you didn’t have time for this. You were leaving for Paris in just over a week and you still hadn’t packed half your stuff.

“Can I talk to you a minute?” he asked, his face unreadable. If he was anything, you would have said he looked scared, and the realisation made you start with the shock of seeing him anything other than cocky.

“If you make it quick, I’m busy,” you snapped, standing to one side to let him in.

“Thanks.”

You clicked your tongue and let the door slam shut, folding your arms as he started looking around your room. He trailed his hands over your bed, and you shuddered at the unwelcome memories that flooded your head, the feeling of his cool fingers against your skin and the familiar, lustful stare he’d always had drowning out any sense of resolve you thought you’d had.

Somehow, you pulled it together enough you jerk him out of his trance. “Well?”

“You’re going to Paris?” he spun around, his tone so accusatory you wanted to slap him. What right did he have to have feelings about your future? When he’d given all that up with just a few words months ago?

“If you must know, yes, I am. It’s for a PhD.”

He snorted and you grit your teeth, about to kick him out if he said anything stupid. “Good, that’s…good. I know you always wanted to do that.”

“Thanks.”  You let out the breath you hadn’t realised you’d been holding and pursed your lips.

He looked to the side, hunching his shoulders as if he had far more to say but didn’t know if it was smart to say it. You could see the indecision in his eyes, feeling quietly pleased your choice had unsettled him; finally, he was the one being wrong footed.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well, I didn’t realise I had to run every decision I made by my ex-boyfriend,” you rolled your eyes, restraining yourself from snapping too much.

“It hurt a lot hearing it from Harrison.”

You nodded, but you couldn’t quite bring yourself to feel sympathetic. You didn’t know why he felt like he had such a right to your life, when he’d made it blatantly clear he didn’t want to be a part of it anymore. You fiddled with the rings on your fingers at his comments, trying to clear your head enough to form a coherent answer.

“I can’t say I’m sorry, Tom,” you sighed at last, and he nodded. “I don’t know what you want me to say if I’m honest. You ended things and I’m moving on. I’ve got things to be getting on with and they don’t involve you, so I don’t feel overly inclined to keep you updated on my schedule.”

As you spoke, you could feel the anger bubbling up inside you, and you fought to keep it down. You’d worked so hard to make things right, to make it seem like you couldn’t give a damn anymore, and you refused to crumble at the last hurdle.

“I get that,” he nodded. “When did you find out?”

“Last week.”

“And when did you tell Harrison?”

“Last week,” you shrugged, meeting his eye with a steely glare. You were beginning to get annoyed with all of his questions, because he hadn’t even told you what he was doing here. All he’d done so far was waltz in and throw questions at you left, right, and centre, like the entitled prick you’d never thought he was.

“Was he okay with it?” Tom touched his cheek, drawing your eyes to the brief contact, and you shook your head.

“Does it matter, Tom? If you’re so interested, ask him yourself.”

“I wanted to hear it from you.”

“I don’t know why,” you spread your arms wide “you’ve not exactly called since the last time we saw each other. I’m not someone you can just call when you need me and then dump me the next day. If you’re here to do that, then you can piss off now.”

“Of course I’m not here for that!” Tom’s mouth fell open and he sounded genuinely shocked at what you were saying.

“Then why are you here?” you threw your head back, exhausted already from this conversation and wanting nothing more than to run far away.

“I…don’t know,” Tom admitted, collapsing onto your bed. “After you disappeared the other night, I figured that was the end of us, that I’d really blown it that time. I wanted to call you, to set things straight, but you’d made it so clear in the past that you wanted nothing to do with me that I thought maybe it was for the best.”

“Well clearly you changed your mind,” you eyed him, but his words caught at your heart strings.

“I did. I honestly did. I can’t stop thinking about you, Y/n. You’re in my dreams, in my thoughts, hell I can’t go a minute without something reminding me of you, and when Harrison told me about you leaving...” he gulped, leaving his sentence unfinished and glanced up, red rimming his eyes. You stepped towards him and tentatively put your hand on his shoulder, not sure what to say.

“You’re telling me all of this a bit late. And to be honest, after the way you’ve behaved, I’m not sure I believe you.”

“And you have every right not to,” Tom was suddnely on his feet, inches from your face. Your breathing hitched and he swallowed audibly, his hand reaching up to cup your face. “But know that I’m not here to trick you or mislead you, I’m here as one hundred percent myself, and I’m trying to fix the biggest mistake I ever made.”

The contact made you shiver, drawing you further into Tom’s arms. A thousand thoughts swirled in your head as you stared into the deep chocolate pools you’d once known every inch of. Everything about him was intoxicating, from the slippery velvet words that came from his lips to the deep, woody pine smell that made you want to bury your head into every jumper he owned. You were drowning in Tom, and just for a minute you forgot everything that had happened.

All that you remembered was the here and now, the silence stretching for miles between you as you were locked in his embrace. He was inching closer, and your heart was pounding faster, threatening to burst from your chest in an all-consuming, blinding explosion. You weren’t breathing, hardly moving, as he tilted your chin towards him and brought his hand to tangle in your hair. His fingers threaded through the knots with ease, the familiarity a surprise to you as your eyes fluttered closed at his touch. You were moments away from kissing him, and God you wanted to.

But wanting was not the same as needing.

You stepped back abruptly, watching hurt cross Tom’s face as swiftly as though you’d plunged a knife into his chest. You tried to say something, anything, but the words got caught in your throat, and instead you were breathing hard and gasping for air, the sudden loss of contact a shock. How did you explain to him how you felt? Now you were the one that had ripped away something good, something beautiful, and being on the other side of it felt awful.

But you knew, you were certain, that kissing Tom would only bring you more hurt than you’d already had, and you weren’t sure your heart could take anymore.

“I’m…I’m sorr…sorry,” you stuttered, feeling hot tears start sliding down your face.

Tom shook his head slowly and looked down at the floor. You weren’t certain, but you were almost positive you’d seen the glassy covering of tears just about to fall. “It’s alright.”

“I, um, I think you should go,” you mumbled, twiddling with your fingers. Your heart had broken so many times over this guy that you just wanted to let yourself be alone for once, to feel and suffer and wallow in the overwhelming sadness and heart break that followed you and Tom wherever you went. Perhaps this time, it would finally teach you a lesson.

He met your eyes with a desperate look, but this time he didn’t close the space between you. The anticipation hung in the air as you both waited for the other to make a move, and suddenly the overwhelming urge to run towards him and kiss him until you couldn’t breathe took over your rational brain. You fought it down with a harsh wipe of your cheek, feeling the tackiness of the tears there drying on your palm.

At last, Tom nodded, and started towards the door, grabbing the jacket he’d tossed over the chair. “Y/n?” he glanced over his shoulder.

“Yeah?” you said at last, barely looking him in the eye.

“For what it’s worth, I really am sorry.”

And then he was gone, disappearing from your room as quickly as he’d come without so much as a goodbye. As soon as the door had slammed shut, you felt your heart shatter, and you fell to the floor as your knees gave way, all the strength you’d held suddenly ebbing away.

Tears poured down your reddened face, your hands thrust into your hair as you sobbed into your knees. You curled them into your chest, desperately pulling yourself close in an attempt to shut out the encroaching world that had crushed your fragile body so many times over. It seemed unfair, almost cruel, that this was happening again – you were reliving that horrible night all over again, and you just wanted it to stop.

This was supposed to be a good day. A positive day. Where you’d moved on and were planning for an exciting future. Except now you’d been stripped right back to core, your emotions exposed and everything torn to shreds. Your heart was laying naked somewhere in Tom’s palms, your tears running through the cracks in his skin. Because as much as you hated to admit it, there was still a part of you that longed to chase after him, beg him to stay.

And it was the very part of you that had destroyed you.

***

Departure day came quicker than you’d expected, and you were still reeling from Tom. Harrison and Sarah came with you to say goodbye, their hugs lingering as you stood in the departure lounge.

“I’m gonna miss you!” Sarah sobbed, scraping at her cheeks as fresh tears rolled down them.

“Not as much as I’m gonna miss you,” you laughed. “But you can come visit any time you like.”

“That better be the same for me too, Miss Y/l/n,” Harrison smirked, pulling you into his arms.

“What? You’re the British one here, Harrison, you can make a day trip whenever you fancy!”

“Consider that done,” he winked, and you swatted him on the arm. You exchanged a look with him as the laughter died, both knowing he wouldn’t have been the only British boy with you today if things had gone differently.

“For what it’s worth, Y/n, I’m sure he would have come,” Harrison sighed, stroking your arm.

“Yeah, right,” Sarah scoffed “he didn’t call, didn’t text, just left her there on the floor after ripping her heart out again.”

“Tom’s an idiot, we all know that, but he’s decent when he’s not being stupid.”

“Unfortunately, he’s being stupid most of the time,” you muttered, glancing down at your phone one last time in the hopes he might have changed his mind. But the screen was still blank, just your regular old Spiderman background staring you in the face.

Suddenly, a voice came over the tannoy, and dread filled your stomach. “This is the last call for flight 217 to Paris, France. Please proceed to Gate 48.”

“Well, that’s me,” you gulped, turning to your friends with wide eyes. “Is it normal to be this scared?”

“Moving to another country all by yourself? Of course it is,” Harrison smiled warmly, and you trusted him the most. After all, he’d done it four years ago. “But you’ll be back for graduation next month. By then you’ll have forgotten all of the nerves and you’ll be a proper Parisian.”

You laughed and gathered your bags, giving them one final hug before starting towards the gate. “I love you guys!” You called over your shoulder.

“We love you too!”

You disappeared into passport control, fear filling your stomach. That was it, the last sighting of any familiar faces for a very long time, and it was of Harrison answering the phone. As you handed your passport over to the stern looking lady at the booth, you couldn’t help but wonder if what Harrison said was true, if being a Parisian really was that simple. It didn’t seem it, but if Tom could make a new life in a completely different country, then you sure as hell could to.

Tom. Oh God. You hadn’t wanted to think about him. Not now, when any thought of him previously had left you a crippling mess and unable to talk. Numbly, you took your passport back and wandered into the concourse, looking for directions to Gate 48. Anything to distract you from what might have been.

When you finally found your gate, your head was still full of thoughts of Tom and everything you should’ve said, and the lady checking your boarding pass had to ask you three times before you registered she was talking to you.

“Is everything okay, love?” she asked, stamping the ticket.

“Oh, yeah,” you shrugged ��just a lot going on right now I guess.”

“Yeah, I’d say so. You only just got here in time, take off is in fifteen minutes.”

“Thanks,” you smiled, but it didn’t reach your eyes, and she stuck her hand out as you tried to walk past.

“Guy trouble?” she narrowed her eyes and you jumped in shock.

“How did you-?”

“Oh please, I see enough young men and women walking through these gates every day looking a little lost. And Paris? Is there any please more obvious to go to for a broken heart?”

“I thought it was the city of love?” you raised an eyebrow, and the woman laughed.

“Of course darling, that’s why it’s perfect for heartbreak.”

Her words rattled around in your skull, ‘darling’ working its way through the layers of iron around your heart and embedding itself into the tissue. That was what he had called you. You hadn’t thought about the word in days, and here this woman was, so casually saying it, as if you hadn’t had your heart torn in two by the very man who practically invented the word.

Images of Tom swam before your eyes, the brown curls and dimpled smile nestling into your mind. You felt tears prick in your eyes as the memory of his voice swirled through his ears, so realistic you could’ve sworn he was right next to you.

“Wait!”

It was so random, it was like he was there. You could hear him yelling, a cruel trick your mind was determined to play, and yet it was so real.

“Y/n, please, wait!”

He sounded out of breath, but at the sound of your name you spun around in surprise, dropping your rucksack in shock as Tom came sprinting through the crowd. He was wearing his usual black t-shirt and jeans, but he was clutching a small strip of paper and racing towards you.

“Y/n!”

“Is that you?” the woman who’d stamped your ticket asked with a knowing smile.

“Tom?” your mouth fell open “what are you doing here?”

He skidded to a stop, the eyes of hundreds of passengers trained on him as he bent double and gasped for breath. “I…couldn’t…let…you…leave…without saying…goodbye.”

“What?” you balked, not sure what to say. Your flight was leaving in less than ten minutes – of course Tom would cock this up for you.

“Y/n, please, please don’t go,” he gripped your shoulders, pulling you against his chest. At first, you resisted, but at the sight of his pleading eyes and desperate voice, you collapsed against you, and his chin fell on your head. “Oh God, I thought I’d missed you.”

“How’d you even get in here?” you asked.

“Bought a ticket.”

“You did what?”

“Apparently I’m on the second flight out to Canada now,” he grinned, stepping away from you.

“You did all that to ask me to stay?” your mouth moved before you could think, but Tom was nodding vigorously, still panting.

“I got the wrong airport at first, then I rang Haz and he told me you’d just gone into passport control. I figured I had enough time to make it, but then I got here and your flight wasn’t on the departures board.” So that was the phone call Haz had taken as you’d left.

“You know, asking me to stay isn’t possible, Tom,” you sighed as reality hit you like a truck “I’ve got a job to do, and I want this so badly. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. Asking me to give all that up for you when you broke my heart is…a lot.”

“I know, I know. Okay, look, don’t stay then. But let me follow you.”

“Tom…” you started, shaking your head “this is all so complicated.”

“Well let me make it less complicated for you then,” he said, and suddenly you were kissing, and stars were exploding behind your closed eyes. His lips moved with yours, sending sparks of electricity racing through your veins. Your skin crawled as a thousand fires spread across your body, heat warming your chilled bones. It was everything you needed and didn’t want at the same time, but it felt right, it felt good, and suddenly you knew you should have kissed him the day he’d come to your dorm.

When you broke apart, the lady at the desk was clearing her throat as the final warning bell sounded. “Miss Y/l/n, are you boarding this plane or not?”

You glanced between her and Tom, the prospect of the future or the enticement of the past. You knew what would win out, you were too sensible to give into a guy who’d just run through an airport for you – but there was no reason you couldn’t have both.

“I am,” you nodded, picking up your rucksack and smiling at Tom, whose eyes had widened slightly. “There’s another flight out in two hours. Change your ticket and come with me.”

“Will you meet me there?” he called out as you started walking backwards.

“I’ll be waiting,” you replied, blowing him a kiss. Suddenly, everything felt right again. Maybe Tom would break your heart again, maybe he wouldn’t. But the prospect of forever didn’t mean much right now, you were too busy living your life. All that could come – for now, you just had to focus on your future and taking one step at a time. If Tom was really that serious about you, he’d show it soon enough.

And if he didn’t? Well then, you’d be okay with that too. Because something told you, as you walked away, that whatever was to come would be brilliant.

And you couldn’t wait to find out what it was.

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