#whoever decided this was a good idea needs to choke on a toe

[seokmattchuus]

Okay. So like. I hate mnet chat. I need bubble reopened. Like. Right now.

[hyunjilicious]

a helping hand [henry cavill]

A/n: No idea where this came from, and if you guess who the mysterious person mentioned in this fic is, I’ll give you a cookie. If not, you’ll have to wait until I write the second part!

Summary: you ask Henry to help you take some pictures for your onlyfans account KINKY 3.4k

Warnings: dirty talk, age gap, obsessed henry... stalker-ish?, innocence kink? is that a thing? well, henry has it in this fic, nudes, masturbating (both), cum play slight humiliation, daddy kink.. i think that’s all? It’s pretty tame :)

-

"You're a good guy, right?" you asked, your words reaching Henry's ears as soon as you both passed the threshold into your apartment. 

He turned to look at you over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised. "I'd like to think so, yes. Why?"

Ever since you moved in, he'd been glued to your side. The man that lived across the hall from you, although about 16 years older, turned out to be exactly what you needed in your life. He was polite beyond words, everyday willing to throw a helping hand to whoever needed it, built like a machine and with a sense of humour to match.

Every Saturday you went shopping together, and he would always insist on carrying your bags too, even though you'd take the car to the supermarket and rode the elevator up to your floor. He was the one who you paid with a beer to unclog your shower drain, and you were the one who ironed his shirts every time he needed it. Whenever he was out of town, Kal remained at your place, and whenever you were away from home, Henry came over and cooked in your kitchen, because apparently the window positioning in your apartment facilitated the smell getting out faster.

You had been the one who got him to shower and convinced him to eat after the so-called love of his life cheated on him, and he was the one who convinced you not to stop working on your degree when things got too difficult. He was everything to you. And that's why he was the one you decided to trust with this, too.

"I need some help with something-" you said, walking over into the kitchen, arms full of shopping bags.

"What is it?" 

"You wouldn't judge me, right?" 

"Of course not, darling" Henry laughed, pressing a sweet kiss to the top of your head as he started helping you unpack.

"I need someone to take some pictures of me" you confessed, all of a sudden shy as hell. 

"Hm, ok" he nodded, ripping open a bag of lentil chips he forced you to buy. He urged you to take the first piece, and after you did, he dug in, eyes trained on yours as he waited for you to continue.

"Nudes-" you added and then saw him choke.

Red as a tomato, his eyes bulged out of their sockets as the chips got lodged in his throat. "What-" he coughed, shaking his head. "Nudes?"

"Yeah, well-" you added, taking a step back as you felt he needed the space. "I didn't know if you knew, but I have an onlyfans-"

Henry coughed again, finally placing the bag down. "Definitely did not know"

"Ok-" you laughed, "It's really good money"

"And you need me to…"

"Only if you're comfortable with it!" you jumped in. Hoping it would comfort him, you placed your hands on his biceps, your big eyes looking up into his. "I really trust you with this, but if you don't want to, it's absolutely no problem. I'll ask someone else"

Never in your life had you seen him so out of it. He seemed uncomfortable beyond words, his brows slightly furrowed as he processed your request. But there was no way in hell he'd ever decline such an offer, it just seemed too good to be true.

"I just didn't expect this, that's all" he chuckled, bending down to kiss your forehead. With his hand on the back of your neck, he gently prompted you to look up again. "Just tell me when"

"I mean" you breathed out, looking around. "Whenever you're free. We can do it now, if you wanna"

As his enthusiasm grew, so did his cock inside his suddenly too tight jeans. He couldn't help but grin, as pure lust became visible in the blue of his eyes. "Now it is"

"Thank you!!"

"No problem, darling"

Henry made himself busy around your kitchen, tidying up and placing the newly bought items in their designated place as you rushed to your room to get ready. Your make-up wasn't too extravagant, but the lingerie you picked out was nothing if not too perverse. Everything was visible through the thin material, your ass was completely exposed, and the thick rope you held in your hands was the cherry on top when it came to what Henry fantasised about every night.

"I feel weird" you laughed, stepping into the kitchen, wrapped in a fluffy bathrobe.

"I'm sure you look absolutely beautiful" Henry shook his head, locking his phone and standing up. He walked over and when he reached you, you undid the knot and took the robe off, doing a childish pirouette to show him the full picture. 

"Good?"

"Really good" he sighed, closing his eyes from fear that his self control would crack any second. 

You both moved to the living room and the photo shoot began. Although stiff and self conscious at the beginning, you eventually let loose. For the next hour, you posed seductively for him - you touched yourself, moaned out loud in order to get the right expression, giggled innocently into the camera, stared at him with a ball gag in your mouth and it was only the beginning.

For the second part of the shoot, you moved to the bedroom. This was going to be much easier, since you wouldn't be facing the camera. You kneeled in front of the bed, bending over the mattress as Henry stood behind you, waiting for instructions.

"I'm not sure which angle works best..." you told him over your shoulder. "Can you try a few, and then we'll see which ones we like?"

"Sure thing" he chuckled and got to work.

It was weird, not being able to see him, but you remained there, patiently waiting for him to say something. The room was almost perfectly silent, only the faint music you felt on in the living room being audible. You were relaxed and calm, until you felt Henry's boot push your knees apart. You almost gasped, but then he pressed his hand to your lower back, pushing you further down into the mattress, before he grabbed your ass, lifting it up a bit.

"Much better" he stated, stepping back and resuming taking the pictures.

"Wow-" you breathed out, completely turned on by the stern way he handled your body. "Thank you"

"Absolutely no problem, doll"

And finally, for the last part of the shoot, you handed him the long, thick rope and an instructions manual, opened at page 23. "Can you tie my hands to the bedpost, please? Like it says here"

"This is the shit you kids are into, these days?" Henry laughed, sitting down next to you on the bed. 

As he worked on doing the knot, you stared at the patches of chest hair that were visible between the stained buttons of his shirt. "It's what gets the most views."

"But you don't like it?" 

"I do!" you nodded and then hissed out in pain as he tightened the knot too much. "I think it's hot, I wouldn't do this if I didn't like it"

He seemed pleased with your answer, only sending you a smile before he was finished tying you up. You opened your mouth to speak, but he beat you to it.

"Yes, you look incredibly hot, if that's what you wanted to ask"

You burst into laughter. "Yep, thank you"

Next, you instructed him on how you wanted these pictures to look. The first ones were from the foot of the bed, so that your whole frame would be visible. You arched your back and bended your legs, curling your toes as you pushed your chest out. Even though you couldn't see Henry, his eyes burned your skin. His heavy breathing was audible behind the clicking of the camera, as he every now and then sent you a low grunt of approval.

The lewd sounds he was making had you extremely turned on, as if the way he stared at you wasn't already enough. 

For the last pictures you wanted to take, you asked him to come closer. "I want these directly from above. Get my chest and my hands in, that's all"

"Yep" he agreed, and then moved next to you, the mattress dipping as he settled beside you. Henry took a few pictures, but judging by the look on his face, he wasn't happy.

"What? Tell me" you pouted.

For a second, he looked around the room. You had no idea what he was looking for, and it wasn't as if you could help him while you were still tied to the bed. 

"Let's try something," Henry said, his words coming out more like a question. You nodded in approval and then his left hand found your chest, his fingers expertly undoing the front clasp of your bra. Your tits spilled out and sudden embarrassment creeped up your body, making your cheeks burn.

Your first instinct was to cover yourself with your hands, but your wrists were still tied to the bedpost, leaving you completely exposed. "Oh.." you whined, rubbing your thighs together as you looked at him for approval. Since this was how things were going to go, you at least wanted to look sexy.

"This ok?" Henry asked, his hand on your waist. It was the first time he touched you without a pretext that day, making your pussy all but cry out with need. 

"You tell me" 

"You have really nice tits" Henry grinned and then pushed himself up.

"Thank you…"

And you were completely done and wet for him now. He didn't even try and you were the one who whored around in front of him for an hour, but all you needed was probably a single touch and you'd cum, screaming his name. His massive cock painfully strained against his jeans inches away from your face as his frame towered over your naked chest, taking picture after picture.

"Act more innocent" 

"What?"

"Pout" Henry cleared. "And raise your eyebrows. Guys love that"

Or, in fact, he loved that. As soon as you followed his command, the atmosphere changed. He hid his face behind the phone in his hands, trying to mask his ungodly arousal. As if you couldn't see his cock, all but leaking inside his pants. 

And he did take a few more pictures, two or three, before, without another word, jumping off the bed and bolting from the room.

"What the-" you yelled, pulling on the rope. "Henry, what are you-" and then, you could have sworn you heard a door slam shut.

There was literally nothing you could do, bound naked to the bed. And as if the situation wasn't already messed up enough, the way he left you there, helpless and alone, made the pleasure inside your belly grow exponentially. Thigh rubbing did absolutely nothing to alleviate the pain, and no matter how much you squirmed around, you couldn't do anything else other than keep edging yourself.

You had no idea how much time passed before he returned, but when he walked back into the room, you couldn't have been happier. "Henry-" you whined, looking up at him. "What happened?"

"Nothing sorry" he shook his head. He looked terrified, afraid that you would hate him forever. "I'm sorry, I- heard my phone ring and I-"

It was the worst lie in all creation, but you didn't mind one bit. You weren't mad at all.

"That's ok" you smiled, "You could have told me, but it's fine"

"You're not mad?"

"I'm not" you said, "It comes with allowing some to tie you up, I guess"

"Oh shut up" he blushed, leaning over your body to finally undo the knot. "I'm sorry, but I gotta go now, I really have something to do"

"Yeah, sure, thank you so much, again" you sincerely said, rubbing your shoulders and enjoying the feeling of blood freely coursing through your arms again as you followed him to the door. 

Before hugging him goodbye, you clasped your bra back on, and then moved behind the door so no prying eyes of any neighbour that might pass by could land on you. 

"Wanna come over later?" Henry asked as he walked out of your apartment, "Grab a beer or something?"

"Yeah, sure" you smiled, butterflies in your stomach as you so wanted to ask for another favour. "I-" you muttered before you stopped, shaking your head. "Nevermind"

"Everything ok?" Henry frowned, extending a hand to you. "Tell me"

"It's nothing"

"Come on"

"We'll talk later today, ok?" you asked, hoping you'd gather more confidence until then. He agreed and you went your separate ways. 

Oh and how grateful he was you did. Henry barged into his home, slamming the door shut and locking it in a haze. He stumbled to the bathroom, feeling intoxicated. It was as if the last time he actually managed to get a breath of fresh air was before you asked him to take your pictures. He felt suffocated and attacked. He had you naked in front of him, moaning and doing your best to look confident and seductive, yet he couldn't touch you. Couldn't place his greedy hands on that sweet body of yours, on the body he so often dreamed of ruining. 

Ever since you moved in, you consumed him. You plagued his dreams and whitened his nights. The sweet college girl that didn't know how to change a light-bulb, the one he dreamed of fucking until she cried, was displaying her body on the Internet for strangers to see. He was enraged and incredibly turned on.

About 5 minutes ago, he had stormed out of your room, running to the bathroom to release the fucking pain that tormented his cock. It took him about a couple of minutes of rubbing himself to finish, yet that wasn't enough. As soon as he was alone again, he hopped into the shower, placing himself right under the stream of ice cold water.

It steamed off of him. He was still under your spell, breathing heavily and cursing under his breath. "Holy shit, baby girl" he muttered into the empty bathroom, one hand against the marble wall in front of him. He bowed his head, the water pouring down his face as he thought of you, and the way you touched yourself in front of him. He remembered the smile on your lips when he returned to you, tied to the bed and eager to see him again. His cock fucking twitched at the thought. 

A few painful strokes later and he was cumming again, your name on his lips as his seed left his tip, wasting away down the drain. The shower was completely useless. He felt as filthy as ever.

Henry grabbed himself a beer and opened his laptop, unwilling to let you go. He wasn't an expert when it came to social media and about an hour passed until he gave up trying to find your account. You didn't want to be found and he respected that. Or…

As he scrolled through the apps on his phone, he remembered. 'bbdoggydoll28iwon, I use that password everywhere [...] no, I won't change it [...] I trust you won't hack my Instagram, Henry, shut up'

Oh, and hacked it, he did. He couldn't have cared less about your chats, but he 'ctrl+F'ed his way through all of them, until he stumbled upon a conversation with your best friend, where you discussed different possible names for your onlyfans account. He prayed with all his being, to all the deities he knew, that you hadn't changed and your mind and that you used the one you settled on with your friend. And when he checked the account and saw your cute, little smile in the profile picture, he almost orgasmed again.

Firstly, he tried to log in, but for this, you created another password. Henry didn't even think twice before making a fake email and typing in a random name, as he created himself an account. He pulled his credit card out, fingers sweating as he added in his credentials. And then there you were. 

He couldn't believe his eyes. A month's worth of content, right before his eyes. The last post, made 23 hours ago, was a selfie taken in the bathtub. Foam covered most of your body, but not your tits as you playfully blew bubbles around. "Oh fuck…" Henry groaned, palming himself through his underwear.

He took another sip of beer and scrolled further down. Every post alone was able to blow his mind, but when he came across a video of you getting yourself off, he thought he reached heaven.

Your legs spread apart as your fingers toyed around your clit in circular motions, your toes wiggling with pleasure, your tits, naked and bouncing and you softly rocked your body - he was done. He connected his headphones, willing to believe he could be the only one to hear your innocent whimpers and moans. His hand found his cock without him having to tear his eyes away from the screen. 

"I wish you were here-" you cried out in the video, and he lost it. "I wish you could stuff me, Daddy. I'm needy and alone… please-"

"Jesus Chris, y/n" he breathed, throwing his head back as he bucked his hips, thinking of how sweet your pussy would feel while being stretched to the extreme. 

"... I know you want to fuck me, Daddy…" 

"Course I do, baby girl" Henry grunted, completely sucked in and mesmerised by you.

"Pull my hair-" you whined, before moaning.

"I'd pull your hair until you cried, my baby." Henry moaned. 

"... I wanna be yours… I wish you owned me…"

And then he couldn't anymore. He drowned out all noises and his vision became a blur, another orgasm surging through his body as he thought of you. When he finished, he looked down. His cum had gotten everywhere, on his muscular thighs and on his shirt, but most of it was on his fingers. Normally, he'd wipe it in the blink of an eye, but not now. He stopped and contemplated for a while, imagining how it would feel to coat your lips with his seed. How he wished he could see your pretty face covered in his cum. 

His whole afternoon turned out to be a haze. He didn't eat anything, just downed a couple beers and watched everything you ever posted. Over and over again. It was already dark out by the time he stood up from his desk, discarding his headphones and plopping down on the bed, no care in the world as Sunday would soon roll around. 

He had no idea when he woke up. But he felt rested and desperate to find an excuse to see you again. Henry went and searched for his phone, his heart nearly stopping when he saw 5 texts from you and 3 missed calls. 

*one missed call*

'What about that beer?'

'Henry?'

'I'm bored… I'll watch a movie until you answer, you always leave your phone in the bathroom smh'

*2 missed calls*

'Oh lmao sorry'

'I just knocked on your door but you weren't there. You're probably out. Call me whenever you waaant 😘'

How could he forget?! He stood you up, and then still, you were so sweet to him. Deciding to give himself some time to properly wake up before reaching out, he stumbled to his computer. His intention was to check his emails, as he always did every morning, but this time, his screen lit up exactly where he left it the previous night, on your onlyfans page. 

He was ready to switch the tabs and go on with his day, when something caught his eye. A post, made at 3:42am. His blood boiled as he saw the picture, the thumbnail for your next video - you, bent over some strangers lap, a short school girl skirt hiked up your hips.

"Hi guys!!!! I have many surprises in store for the upcoming days!!! Thanks to a sweet friend of mine, I have some semi-professional pics for you, so you can take a break from my lame selfies 😂. Another thing for you guys to look forward to is a video that I almost didn't film because said friend wasn't available, buuuuuut someone else came through at the last second, and it's by far my most requested post ever. I love you guys, thank you for all your support!!!! Stay tuned. I'll go to sleep right now, edit it for you when I wake up, and post it by tomorrow night. Kisses!"

Needless to say, Henry saw red.

[redorich]

hnngghhh thoughts on Tommy having to go back to the canyon for whatever reason and he just...keeps his eyes closed and doesn't refer to the hermits by name because he's afraid that someone might force that information out of him?

[Hermit Canyon au]

After the terrifying experience Tommy had with the Hermit early on in their occupation of the crater where L'Manberg lost its third life, he's been extremely diligent in keeping mum about the whole affair. When he hears about the Hermits exposing their existences to the public, he's overcome with the urge to scream and swear-- that is, until he's doused with the cold ice bucket of there's more than one of those fuckers.

The Hermit he met was nice enough, Tommy thinks-- at least, nice enough for a demon evoker bullshit jerk! He didn't once try to attack Tommy, just gave him some carrots, scared the piss out of him, and sent him on his not-so-merry way. Neither he, nor any other Hermits, ever took Tommy up on the offer of a free room at Big Innit Hotel. Despite everything, Tommy feels...

He doesn't owe them shit, first of all. He just wants answers.

Tommy sits on the dock just outside the canyon, mustering up the will to go down there and-- and do what? Yell at whoever's there? Ask all the questions he can't think of? Demand to know why they threatened his life over keeping their secret, only to let the cat out of the bag on their own?

Tommy puffs out a breath of air, taking off his shoes so he can swing his feet above the water without soaking his shoes. The water ripples beneath him as fish come up to nibble at his toes, deciding whether or not Tommy Toes are the next best thing to worms on a hook. A shadow falls over the teenager and the fish all flee. Frowning, Tommy looks up behind him, then freezes in place. There's another Hermit standing there, looming behind him with an unreadable, but unpleasant expression on his face.

The Hermit's eyes slide from Tommy to the water below. Slowly, he sits down on the edge of the dock, maybe a foot if that away from Tommy. The teen keeps very still as the blond Hermit shucks his lab coat, tossing it haphazardly onto the dock behind the two. Toxic purple eyes gleam in the afternoon light... but the sun is behind them.

It's stupid, Tommy wants to rage, that he's fucking scared of a man wearing a sweater vest, especially one who looks maybe 5'10". It doesn't change that he has no idea what this man is capable of.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask people," the unnamed blond Hermit says in a surprisingly mild voice.

"Yeah?" Tommy prompts when the man trails off, though he instantly regrets it.

The Hermit looks at him out of the corner of his eye, still facing the water. "Who exactly is this Dream character?"

Tommy can't stop himself from visibly rearing back. Of all the questions he had to ask, all of the people he could have wanted to know, why him?

The Hermit brings his thumb to his lips as he contemplates, idly chewing on his nail. He swings his legs, just barely skimming the surface of the water with his shoes. "Whoever this Dream guy is, he doesn't-- fit. Everyone has their little boxes, you see, the little hats they wear for the different roles they play. As people grow and change, they get new hats, discard old ones..."

The Hermit turns to look at Tommy properly for the first time. "I'm Zedaph, by the way. You're Tommy, right? I've been told I do these things backward."

The Hermit knows his name. He is alone, and not wearing armor, and the Hermit knows who he is and he's asking about Dream.

Zedaph doesn't seem to register that Tommy doesn't respond. He just goes back to looking at the water. Zedaph pulls a pencil out of his pocket, though he has no paper, and twirls it agitatedly.

"Dream is an admin, so he should be trying to fix the gaping holes in your server, but instead he just... doesn't? He's kin, but he's outside of the void. He's wasting magic just by existing and nothing is coming back. Infuriatingly curiouser and curiouser, innit?"

Zedaph sticks the eraser end of his pencil in his mouth and chews on it for a second, then makes a face at the taste and goes back to spinning the beat-up pencil between his fingertips.

"What do you want with Dream," Tommy finally chokes out.

Zedaph's toxic gaze zeroes in on Tommy. His eyes narrow.

"Tommy," he begins, "weren't you running from Dream that time you came to the canyon?"

Tommy's never been good at hiding his emotions, always wearing his heart on his sleeve, so the attempt to wipe all emotion from his face in and of itself says clear as day that Zedaph has remembered correctly. "Maybe so," he says, "what's it to you?"

Zedaph searches Tommy's face intently. "That man-- Dream-- he's not a good person, is he?"

"...He's not," Tommy murmurs.

"He did something to you, something terrible," Zedaph ventures.

"He did," Tommy says.

"Does he deserve to die?" Zedaph asks, putting his pencil aside.

Tommy's brows furrow, his face a mash of conflict. He opens his mouth, closes it for lack of something to say, then decides that silence also says something and it's not the something he wants to say.

"He's a wrongun," Tommy starts slowly. "But with him dead I don't know what'll happen to everyone else. I hate him, I want to never see him again, but..."

Wrapping his arms around himself, Tommy continues. "He fucked me up too, I think. I hate him, but I love him. He was the only one who was there for me in exile, but I was exiled because of him. He gave me a cake, and let me borrow his trident, but he burned my things-- made me burn them. We used to be friends, before he was nuts. Maybe he always was."

He's being disjointed and not making any sense, but once he starts talking about all the shit he's kept buried under layers of I am a Big Man I don't need to Talk about things he finds himself unable to stop.

"I'm always being selfish. What I want doesn't matter. Would having Dream dead be better for the server?"

"That's not what I asked," Zedaph interjects. "I asked, does he deserve to die?" Picking up his pencil again, Zedaph holds it in both hands, as though it's a microscope slide he absolutely can't drop.

"From what you've said, Tommy? I think he does. I think he deserves to die."

Tommy flinches at the bold proclamation from the mild-voiced horrorterror in the beige sweater vest. "But does he--"

"Do you want him dead, Tommy?" Zedaph asks. "Do you want him dead for what he did to you?"

Tommy scowls, thoroughly perturbed. He kicks at the surface of the water; the fish still haven't come back.

"I do," Tommy finally spits.

Zedaph stands up, though Tommy doesn't look at him, only feels his shadow. He hears the sound of something breaking, and then then the shadow disappears. With it, so does Zedaph.

Something rolls across the old planks of the dock and bumps Tommy's thigh. He picks it up. It's half of a snapped pencil.

He hopes this doesn't have too many consequences.

[boop-le-snoot]

BUTT-DIAL? NO, BOOTY CALL | tony stark

explicit, 5,4k words. wrong number text, family shame & wedding drama that isn't even his and a ruined first date. despite the implications of the situation, both reader and tony are very entertained. meet-ugly series, part three.

[no y/n, no "you", no name, no reader description - race/age/body type neutral, she/her pronouns]

💚 masterlist ☀️ taglist & faq 💚

Another sunny day spent wasted in a conference room full of boring, old, conceited chairmen. Tony Stark vehemently refused to commiserate with them, their boring speeches and blunt, straightforward thinking. Sitting through a meeting was like walking on nails barefoot: painful, pointless. Mind-numbing.

His phone beeped loudly and he reached into his pocket, pretending to not see Pepper's disapproving look. Both of them knew he was hoping for a sudden Assemble call - that would surely get him out of the meeting - but as much as he hoped, they never struck at the right time.

Except, this time it wasn't a call for assistance, and neither it was an automated spam message with Pizza Hut promo codes. Tony's eyebrows drew close and his lips upturned as he read and re-read the obvious rant written on his screen, typing up his answer before he managed to resist the morbid curiosity that was fueled by his boredom.

Whoever it was, they were justifiably angry and the whole situation was almost too comical to be true, except he'd known people exactly like the runaway bride, selfish, greedy and stupid. He totally understood the woman's desire to just go and load up on tequila shots somewhere - so he bid her a haste farewell, all the while snickering to himself.

"It's Rogers," Tony offered in the way of explanation to a glaring Pepper, locking his phone away and settling in to continue pretending he was listening as another old, crusty white man offered his input on topics he was too much of a dinosaur to even really know about.

He couldn't stop thinking about the incident over the days, the story making him snort more times than he could count as the memory randomly crossed his mind in the lab, at the coffee pot or during dinner. So when a message came through from that very same number, the smirk snuck up onto his face before he even read its contents.

A brief crash course in memes from Parker had turned out to be more useful than ever. Irritating Rogers with pictures got old very fast, however, in moments Tony got rendered speechless they proved to be the perfect substitute for trying to articulate all his thoughts on the matter.

Celebrity appearance, she said? More likely than one would think. The engineer had nearly doubled over in a fit of laughter when she'd texted him that; obviously, the woman had no clue who she was texting with and he decided to further indulge in his curiosity by asking for her name: Friday did the rest.

A phone number and a name, ten minutes, and all her social media were free for him to stalk. Investigate- uh, observe. With little effort, Tony found both her and her brother, the unlucky groom, and the runaway bride and even her step-dad. On paper, they all looked like average middle-class families. Nothing seemed amiss.

It didn't mean anything, but Tony caught himself thinking about the woman. Perhaps it might have been the mischievous gleem in her eyes that was easily spotted in every picture or perhaps the raunchy sense of humour not much different from his own. Pretty, witty and smart - what's there not to like?

"So that's why you've been going around, smiling like a middle-schooler with a crush," Natasha's voice whisper-shouted in Tony's ear as the spy discreetly peered over his shoulder into his phone. He had the chat pulled up, debating on starting a casual conversation-

"Jesus Christ, Romanoff, somebody needs to put a bell on you," Tony snapped, startled, pressing the button to lock his phone immediately.

"Uhuh," The redhead replied, side-eyeing a snickering Barnes. "Who is she?"

Tony rubbed his face, feeling the beginnings of a blush starting to creep in. He felt like he was caught doing something he wasn't supposed to and the rest of the team acting like children wasn't helping the matter. "I got a butt-dial text about some wedding drama. Some chick's brother's fiance was fucking her own stepdad and ditched the wedding for her old man."

Stunned silence settled briefly into the room as Romanoff's eyes widened and Barnes choked on his orange juice. Serves him right, Tony thought, and continued his coffee-making process in quiet irritation.

"Wait, wait, hold on," Wilson half-laughed half-yelled. "You gotta spill the tea, man, this sounds too good to be true. Stories like that just don't fall into your hands."

With a sigh, he recounted the woman's story and read the texts aloud, silencing his snickering enough to be able to keep a straight face - but not for long, Rogers decided it was the time for another one of his Captain America Is Disappointed In You speeches and Tony himself couldn't even disagree.

Now that he thought about it, he came off as a kind of asshole. She and her family was going through something traumatic and he went and treated it like free entertainment. Which, to be fair, it was, but she didn't deserve to be treated like a circus clown. She actually seemed like a good sister and friend.

"Just text her," Natasha rolled her eyes at him, grabbing the coffee pot out of his frozen hand. "You're not Steve, you can keep a decent conversation via text."

Being compared to Steve and his pre-historic messaging habits really did a number on Tony's ego; the eyeroll he gave Romanoff was truly out of this world, all but teleporting him to his lab where he tried to find a way to approach the woman without coming off as incredibly creepy, as if the fact that he'd stalked her on social media didn't already put him firmly into the weirdo category.

Most likely, Tony would have spent many many days on overthinking before just grabbing one of his suits to make a truly impressive landing on her small balcony downtown; thankfully, fate had intervened and saved him from making another epic mistake. He'd made a note to ask Thor about it sometime, settling down with his tablet and popcorn bowl to watch TV on the team's movie night.

Or, more precisely, Tony settled in to watch the drama unfold as the various members of the team fought tooth and nail for the film that they wanted to watch. He never cared about it much, dozing off halfway through most of them - his teammates had the worst taste in movies - so he didn't bother joining the scuffle except when it was Peter's turn to pick. For obvious reasons.

"If you can't decide I'm gonna have someone else pick a movie," Natasha rolled her eyes, equally fed up with fully grown adults acting like spoiled toddlers.

With a stutter of his breath, Tony's hand reached for his phone as he had an Idea.

Seconds tickled as the "typing..." bubble appeared and disappeared multiple times. She must think he's just a thirsty frat boy; Tony's brow furrowed, but the curiosity was far too strong in him. Something about her vibe, her feisty nature captivated him and kept him thinking about her.

The agreement came as a surprise. In the two minutes the woman had spent thinking up her answer, Tony prepared himself to be rebuffed gently, or, worst case, be called a creep. But no - she agreed, but not before vehemently insisting that if he would end up being a creepy serial killer, she would haunt his ass for the remainder of his life.

Friday couldn't come soon enough. Tony spent most of the day loitering between his lab and the penthouse, glancing at his phone every now and then to make sure she wouldn't cancel on him last minute. The engineer wanted to see the witty, no-filter-having woman in the flesh.

And see her, he did. He'd pulled up in front of the hole-in-the wall Ramen&Bar place Clint had been raving about weeks prior - contrary to popular belief, Tony was perfectly fine with going to places that didn't have Michelin stars - and leaned against the door of his Audi R8, eyes immediately taking note of the figure calmly walking down the street, head tilted down where she was typing up a reply to him.

Tony smirked as she lifted her face up to see him, mouth immediately falling open. The shock was obvious; it lasted mere seconds until her shoulders dropped and she sighed almost... In disappointment. He frowned.

"I jinxed it, didn't I? Here's my celebrity appearance," The laugh was a little nervous and quite sardonic. "Hi, Tony, nice to finally see you."

He smiled, unsure, quipping back easily. "Let's face it, I'm not the worst famous Tony out there." Opening the door of the building for the woman, she stepped in eagerly enough, eyes immediately falling on the bartender and the few dimly lit tables in the back.

"Not by any means," She turned towards him, walking backwards. Tony met her stare; it was just like he'd imagined it to be, curious, mischievous and a little daring. She didn't even attempt to play subtle, raking over him from head to toe. "Not at all, I think," She gave another teasing smile, finally turning around, addressing the bartender and rattling off her order without as much as looking at the menu.

Tony couldn't stop staring. He was aware it was creepy, she was aware of his clever brown eyes barely paying attention to their surroundings or the beer or the food. The woman just quirked an eyebrow every time she caught him. His curiosity couldn't wait any more. "Why aren't you freaking out?" He blurted out, cursing himself out almost immediately after the words left his mouth.

"My almost-sister-in-law was fucking her own stepdad," The woman deadpanned. "I ran out of fucks to give, sorry." She thoughtfully chewed her food, briefly looking to the side. "Not to sound like an asshole, but don't you have enough people fawning over you? Doesn't it get old?"

Tony nodded, choosing to stay silent on the matter besides offering an amicable, "That's valid."

The mischief lit up again in her eyes. "You look taller on TV," She snorted, immediately falling into a fit of laughter at his face full of outrage. He sputtered, muttering something about audacity of some people, which made her only laugh harder. "Here's a pro tip from my 4'11 bestie: when someone calls you short, you snarl at them and say you're fun-sized. She swears by it," The woman remarked conversationally, grinning a two hundred watt smile.

Tony was glad at least someone was enjoying their little... Date. "And you know all about fun, don't you?" He aimed for grumpy; it came out as teasing. His famous smirk made a return appearance as he watched her throat bob.

The atmosphere between them had changed at some point; the same old routine of teasing and dancing around each other, but this time, Tony all but purred in satisfaction, finally meeting someone who was an even match to his wit and charm.

"I do," She replied with that cocky confidence, her devil eyes lighting up, lingering on his face. "Got a problem with that?"

The plate was pushed away, napkin falling into the food carelessly as he gestured for the waiter to bring the check. "As a scientist, I cannot confirm whether a theory is true until I have direct evidence," The bullshit flowed easily from his mouth, but the woman appeared to be amused by it - for a change. "M'fraid I'm gonna need that evidence," His fingers drummed on the table, impatiently, inches away from her hand.

"Of course, Mr. Stark," Her voice dropped, she was fully aware of what she was doing by calling him that. That, and those deep, magnetic eyes made Tony's trousers feel a little too tight for comfort.

His phone rang loudly, dissipating the atmosphere they had created with a shrill noise. Captain Cockblock struck again.

Fumbling fingers, Tony tapped the green icon, shooting an apologetic look to the woman. "Rogers, there better be another alien invasion or I'm revoking your phone privileges," The woman chortled, taking a sip of her beer, trying hard not to seem like she was listening in and failing spectacularly at it. "Today, out of all days? Can't Strange fill in for me?" The engineer palmed his face, running a hand through his neatly done-up hair. It would be covered in soot and sweat in an hour anyways. "Fine, I'll be there in twenty minutes. Romanoff better be hauling Barton's lazy ass out of Bed-Stuy." With a frown, Tony poked the red icon and stuffed the phone back in his pocket, looking for all and all, like an angry adolescent.

The woman, however, didn't indicate any signs of displeasure. Her hand timidly reached out for his, giving it a brief squeeze. "Go, save the world, Mr. Stark," Her smile was sympathetic. They both stood up at the same time, Tony watching her incredulously as the woman untied a scrap of red fabric from around her neck and placed it around his wrist, tying the fabric with a loose but, frankly, pretty knot. "I like that bandanna, would be a shame if you didn't return it," She explained, shrugging her shoulders.

Tony snorted, fondly rolling his eyes, before beelining for the door, activating his Iron Man suit on the way out. Turning around before take off, he noticed her throw a couple of crumpled bills to the server who was too busy ogling him.

He forgot to pay for dinner, Tony realized as he made his way to the other part of the city. Well, fuck, he would definitely have to see her again.

---

An alien invasion during her first good date in ages - scribble, scribble, sigh. She couldn't do much more than that - just as she thought her string of bad luck had ended, the world turned around and flipped her a juicy bird, all but laughing straight in her face. Like that already wasn't enough, oh no, she groused as she spied the debris and random abandoned cars on her way home - it looked like some portion of the battle had been close to her home and only the sheer mental exhaustion that resulted from her life being turned upside down during the last month prevented her from having a full-on freak-out in the middle of the eerily quiet street.

Truly, the fucks she had to give had been expired.

The gloomy mood was interrupted by a cry - for help or of outrage, she didn't know, but the kindness in her, the very values she'd been raised with didn't allow her just to walk by, and with another resigned sigh, she tucked the nice blouse she'd put on for the date under her warm sweater and set off in the direction of the sound, finding the culprit in little under a couple of minutes.

Freeing the trapped civilian wasn't easy but, thankfully, neither it required super-strength or any kind of heavy machinery. The man thanked her and with him in tow, both of them set off to inspect nearby nooks and crannies. Logic won that day - if there's was one person, there could be more.

Hours later, sweaty, sore and bruised, the woman greedily chugged the water bottle someone had passed onto her as the amount of medics and firefighters had finally reached the threshold of when her help wasn't needed anymore. While her date and his colleagues fought whatever nasty that thought NYC was a sandbox battleground for their amusement, the woman found herself helping out with retrieval & evacuation of the civilians that didn't make it out of the neighborhood before the heat of the fight reached it. There were no deaths registered as of then and deep inside, she felt proud, knowing that she had contributed to the statistic at least a little.

Her phone was dying, her body was covered in dirt and scratches from head to toe and the bruises were beginning to ache. Tony's worry-worting was cute but the tiredness overcame her, making her brain sluggish and her demeanor short, so she hastily pocketed the phone, trailing over to the closest man in uniform she could spot.

"Sir?" She addressed him, eyeing the unfamiliar logo on his jacket. "Can I go, please?" She pointed to the yellow tape surrounding the makeshift medical station.

"I'm going to have to see your ID first," He replied apologetically, tapping away on his tablet.

With a sigh, she dug through her purse, giving it to him and using the brief moment of respite to smooth back her hair and dust off her clothing. There was a cloud of concrete and dirt surrounding her.

"I'm afraid I can't let you go just yet, Mr. Stark left strict instructions for you to be picked up by him personally," The agent gave the ID back with a suspicious glint in his eye.

"Oh c'mon," The annoyed whine escaped her lips before she registered it. "It was our first date," She offered to the puzzled agent, only succeeding in making him lean back and inspect her with a raised eyebrow. "Bye," She replied none too kindly, walking off to find a place to sit down.

The time passed in a strange way. The aches and pains and exhaustion made it stop, and if someone would have asked her, she wouldn't know how much of it has passed until her eyes reluctantly cracked open at the sound of a familiar voice, coming to see a pair of expensive shoes covered in dust. At least she wasn't the only one that looked like she'd taken a roll through someone's gritty attic.

"Morning, you Tasmanian Devil," Tony sounded jovial, all things considered.

"Hello to you too, Tin Can," The woman greeted him on par, without missing a beat.

"Now, now," He offered her his hand, which she took gratefully, before pulling her to her feet. "I come with peace offerings. Your building is under quarantine and I've got a perfectly good bed and a shower with thirty settings on it at my place. Whatcha say?"

She only pretended to think about it. Her reply was haste. "I don't make a habit of going into strange dudes' towers but I'll make an exception this once." A shower and a bed sounded heavenly.

Finally getting the chance to look at him, Tony appeared to be unhurt but equally exhausted and dirty. A few scrapes on his face and arms, he was missing his blazer, and had a weary tone to his face. Some parts of his Iron Suit were still on him - like the chest plate - but besides that, he was whole. The red of the bandanna she gave him was equally dirty but still neatly tied around his wrist, just like she left it.

"How's your relationship with heights?" He asked her and all she could do was blink, watching curiously as his body was enveloped by the red and gold, crawling over his skin like a swarm of shiny termites. That was all the warning she got before the metal arms - quite literally - sweeped her off her feet. "Faster this way," She could hear the nonchalant shrug in the metallic voice coming from the helmet. "Now hold on."

Awe and fear culminated inside the woman but the weariness had long since surpassed comfortable levels and all she did was give a weak nod and close her eyes as Tony lifted off, gusts of wind making her skin break out in goosebumps and her hair stand up wildly on her head. During the short trip her eyes fluttered open only once just to close back up immediately - all she saw were clouds, white and fluffy, like marshmallows, and the shining beacons of NYC skyscrapers somewhere far away.

The paralyzing anxiety fully dissipated only when her feet found purchase on the tiled floors, Tony's arms never ceasing to support her swaying frame until the breaths she took were her own and not the result of her fluttering heart and muted panic. "You with me, Wonder Woman?"

"Yes, Weird Science," She mumbled. "Thanks for the heads up," The annoyance had to find a way out and that it did.

"You're welcome," The cocky smirk returned to Tony's face as his suit receded, leaving him barefoot, dirty jeans and a torn tee. He stretched with a sweet groan, gesturing towards the door. "Friday will direct you towards the showers. Feel free to grab a t-shirt from the closet."

The woman nodded, too awestruck by the man and his hospitality, eyes darting all over the tastefully decorated room, the expensive knick-knacks scattered everywhere, the absolutely enormous sloppily made bed. Tony Stark liked to live luxuriously - even the shower was a state of the art technological wonder.

Dirty pants and dusty blouse went flying somewhere in the back of the bathroom as the woman stood up on her tippy toes, reaching for the sky, stretching her sore muscles. The glass wall of the shower had began to fog up from the hot water. The knock went barely noticed by the woman who jumped as Tony's voice startled her out of her daydream.

"Forgot I ran out of towels here..." He trailed off, voice dropping as he spotted her only in her underwear. She turned, responding with a lopsided grin, spying the stack of fluffy grey in his arms, the arc reactor in the middle of his bare chest. He smirked, "Damn. Can I join you?" Giving her what only could be described as a respectful once-over.

Tired as she was, her sense of humour and wit didn't go down for a much needed nap just yet. "I don't know, you tell me. Can you?" Turning back around, the woman made a short show of unclasping her bra and tossing it in the general vicinity of her dirty clothing pile. She'd worn a cute matching set of undies that day and the fact didn't go over Tony's head, she was sure.

The door clicked shut just as she raised her face to the stream of water, feeling calmer with each second, muscles relaxing themselves as the hot stream washed away the dirt and the dust off her body.

"And I thought this evening was ruined," Tony's voice insinuated from behind her. A hand reached for the soap, his body heat scorching compared to the steaming water. He stayed just a few inches away, enough to feel him, enough for her body to respond and crave more. "It's nice to be wrong for a change. Refreshing."

The woman hummed, reaching up to run her fingers through her wet, knotted hair. "First decent evening in ages. I wasn't gonna let some uninvited Predator knock-offs ruin it for me," She was more than a little peeved at the space invaders interrupting her nice date. Tony was a great conversationalist, it was easy to talk to him and he had a brilliant sense of humour. Not to mention the obvious, he was easy on the eyes.

"That's the spirit," The voice was closer now, almost in her ear. Even though her eyes were closed, the woman was aware he was reaching for something, letting him butt her hands out of the way to lather her hair, scrubbing at her scalp meticulously, until the sounds that left her mouth bordered on embarrassing. Once that was done, Tony moved onto her body, running his hands over her back, the outside of her hips. "M'not stepping over, am I?" He asked quietly, touch faltering every time he brushed over a scrape or a bruise.

"No, you're doing great, Tony," It wasn't exactly conventional - sharing a very intimate shower after an interrupted first date, but then again, nothing about this man was conventional and her life had already been turned upside down no less than twice recently. The woman didn't lie, the gentle, caring touch felt soothing.

Arching her back, she lifted her arms to repay him with the same, raking her fingers through his hair, leaning into the shudder that ran throughout his body. It was nice to bask in whatever they had going on, so the motion to face him was almost reluctant. Water droplets stuck to his eyelashes and his eyes were tired but not in a way that suggested he'd kick her out first chance.

Their kiss was sweet, slow, like they already were familiar with each other in a special way. The woman tugged on his lip with her teeth - such was her character - and he pressed closer to her, raising a hand to hold the side of her face. In muted curiosity, she couldn't help but wonder if there ever had been someone that waited for him once his battles were over.

Tony's eyelashes, the very same that had no business being this long on a man, fluttered against her cheek as they stood under the shower, letting water wash away the day.

"I've always wanted to kiss in the rain, like they do in the movies. This is the closest I've gotten," She whispered, gently kneading the arch of his shoulders. "Feels better than it looks, to be honest."

Tony snorted, reaching for the knob to turn it off. "Cheesy," He teased her, wrapping a warm, fluffy towel around her body. Both people made quick work of drying themselves, exiting the fogged up bathroom, making way into the bedroom, padding soft on the carpet and falling down on the bed carelessly.

"I'm the queen of cheesy one-liners," The woman raised her eyebrows, scooting under the sheets next to Tony who opened his arms wide, a smirk on his face. She didn't give him the chance to reply, slotting her lips over his instead and groaning as their heated bodies once again rested against each other.

She ran her hands over Tony's defined pecs, glossing over the arc reactor, raked nails over his tummy, eating up the sighs leaving his mouth at the gesture. He was a beautiful man, she wasn't going to lie to herself. The warmth that settled low in her belly grew, spreading throughout her limbs and temporarily overshadowing the exhaustion.

The engineer, too, was quite excited - his erection poked her hip - and content to be steered to her wishes by the hand in his hair. Groans and sighs left his moist, parted lips as his eagerness bled into his hands, grip firm and steady on the panting woman's hips.

Adrenaline did something to her body, caused it to ache sweetly, a hunger to be satisfied only by a lover's touch. And touch she did; her mouth tasted him, alternating sucking gentle marks onto his throat and nibbling on the skin stretched thinly over his collarbones. Tony's sighs grew in depth and volume with every silent action of worship.

No inch of his body was left untouched, the woman was an all-hands-on-deck kind of lover, happily making her way down until soft lips wrapped around the crown of his cock, making his hips arch into it, hands fisted in the soft white sheets. "You devil," Tony gasped out, limbs turning to jelly, watching the woman all but devour his cock.

She popped off minutely, a trail of sticky saliva running down her chin, sticking to his glistening cock. "The power of Christ compels me?" With a smirk, her tongue trailed from his balls to the very tip, paying extra attention to the frenulum, making Tony shudder and gasp out an embarrassed laugh.

"Uh-uh," Stripped of his usual snark, he was but a man at her mercy.

"It's not very compelling," The predatory stretch of her lips widened as she took mercy on him, giving his cock a few slow tugs with her hand. Her mouth, her hand and his cock were dripping. "Gonna let me do all the legwork, Mr. Stark?" She sat up straighter, inadvertently drawing his eyes to the apex of her thighs where the woman's sex glistened in the dim light, lips swollen and inviting.

It sounded like she was mocking him, teasing him, egging him into a lustful frenzy none of them had the energy for but craved anyway. Tony Stark wasn't the one to back down from a fair challenge so he relented, flipping them over with ease, landing between her spread legs, eyes drawn to the momentary bounce of her breasts. Tony wasted no time in suckling a hard nipple into his mouth, humming in response to her choked-off moan of surprise.

"Tony," Her body arched into his touch, tender skin hot under the callouses on his fingertips.

"Yes, demon, dear?" A lopsided grin and laughter in his eyes preceded the wet stripe Tony licked down to her navel. "Wasn't there something about not telling demons your name? Guess you have power over me now," He trailed off cheekily, soft breaths puffing over her mound.

The woman bit her lip, peering down to rake a hand through Tony's hair, snagging a fistful to gently steer him towards her pussy. Tony's smile was one of satisfaction as he obediently followed her silent order, nosing along the line of her cunt, dipping his tongue to run slow, sloppy lines through the soaked folds.

"Fuck," She mumbled, spreading her legs without shame. "Yeah, right there," Her fingers turned white at the agility of Tony's tongue on her clit. He was swift and relentless in pursuit of the spots that made her moan and clench around nothing. The moisture of her sex soaked his goatee but he couldn't care less.

He growled when she attempted to withdraw, wrapping his muscular arms around her thighs to keep her still for his pleasure, wringing noises that increased in volume with every stroke of his tongue on her sex.

"Tony- please, Tony, I'm gonna-" The warning was brief; her back arched as a broken moan found its way past her moist, parted lips, her pussy spasmed, dripping all over his face and the sheets.

The engineer hid his smile against her thigh, discreetly wiping the obscene amounts of moisture she produced. It wasn't very long until her hands, slightly shaky, were tugging him upwards to meet his face in a rushed, graceless kiss. There was an equal lack of finesse in the glide of his erection along her sex.

"Okay?" He mumbled into her ear, lining himself up with her fluttering cunt.

"Please," She gasped, her hands pushing his hips onto her, eagerly lifting up to accept the sweet intrusion.

There was a quiet stutter in both of their breathing, hearts thudding against their ribs as he finally bottomed out, the thickness of him nestled snugly inside the rippling muscle. The pace he started out was agonizingly slow and inexplicably sweet, neither of them wanting to end their coupling prematurely but not being able to hold back the need that consumed them both.

"Fuck, you're so good to me," Tony's mumbling was overshadowed by the slick sounds coming from the place they were joined. "Gonna fill up this pretty pussy."

The woman keened at the idea, digging her nails into his ass, pulling him further into her.

"You'd like that?" He picked up the pace, blunt tip of his cock catching up with the tail end of her previous orgasm and re-lighting the fire in her belly anew.

"Yeah, Tony, please," No trace of the previous coyness in her voice, the woman was more than ready to beg, murder and steal to feel the man come undone in her arms.

It didn't take long, not with the adrenaline making their blood sing and the chemistry they shared. The brutal pace of Tony's hips quickly grew sloppy and erratic, the tightening of her inner muscles egging him on. He chased his release with deep, powerful thrusts that had the bedsheets rustle pitifully and beads of clear swear drip down his forehead.

As soon as her body arched once more, Tony let go of his control, slotting himself deeply into her spasming heat, cock throbbing as he painted her insides white with his seed, groaning incomprehensible compliments and profanities through his teeth. Chest heaving, the engineer couldn't do much more but let himself carefully fall onto her chest, aftershocks making him twitch when the woman began running a gentle hand through his hair.

"We're doing this again," He decided, still breathless but already a step ahead. She laughed.

Tony Stark taglist: @pilloclock @mikariell95 @letsby @sleep-i-ness @toomanyrobins @mostly-marvel-musings @persephonehemingway @downeyreads @schemefrenzy @lillsxd @slothspaghettiwrites @bluecrazedandbeautiful

[violets-page]

Shot Down |R.R.|

MASTERLIST

A/N: This was my first request and I was so excited! Hope you enjoy <3

The 100, Raven x fem reader? If your kay with it maybe where reader and Raven are in a relationship and had an argument but then the Murphy situation happens in the dropship so the reader helps raven out and when shots happen the reader protects Raven?

You loved Raven, truly. In fact, you loved her more than you thought your heart was capable of. But you couldn’t help but feel like she wasn’t really over Finn. You saw the way she looked at him when he and Clarke were together. You saw the pain of losing your first love and the crushing weight of having to watch him happy without her. No matter how many times she smiled and told you she was ‘so over him’ , you couldn't help but notice how her gaze always lingered on him for a second longer.

When Raven crashed to earth only to have her heartbroken you were there to comfort her. Brought together by her tech-savvy ways and your creative ideas the two of you spent countless days together, thinking up and prototyping weapons. And when night time crept up, throwing darkness onto all those below her, She’d creeped into your bed shuffling blankets to make room on your lap for her head. You’d play with her hair and hum her to sleep as she cried on your lap over a boy who didn’t deserve her.

As you two had grown close an unspoken thing rose between you.

Little kisses through the day, always over before you could move towards her. Cuddling into her bed at night, warm bodies pressed against each other as you fell asleep to the lullaby of her beating heart. Makeout sessions in the forest when no one was around but the trees and birds and all of earth's problems melted away when her hands were in your hair and her lips planted on yours.

Raven hadn’t been one much for public PDA and for a while you thought that was just how she was. It never really bothered you, so what if she didn't feel like sharing your intimate moments in front of a group of immature strangers.

That was until Finn approached you and asked if you knew what boy she was seeing.

*    *   *   *   *   *   *   *

You rolled your eyes as Finn sauntered toward you.

“Hey.” his voice sounded exhausted. Much like everyone's did nowadays.

His hands were shoved in his pockets and he glanced around as if searching for someone. With all that you knew about Finn, you had never actually spoken to him. In fact, you actively avoided him. Desperate not to give off the impression that you were willing to talk to him you let out a hum of acknowledgment.

“I'm worried about Raven.”

Your eyes shot up to meet him. He had no right to worry about her, anything worry-worthy had been his fault. You bit back all the lectures and insults you'd thought you'd say to him someday, the ones you thought up while wiping tears with your shirt sleeve.

“Why.”

“I heard her talking to Octavia the other day about a guy she was seeing. I don’t think she knew I was there but..” he sighed, his hand going in towards his greasy hair as you tried not to grimace at its look.

“None of the guys here are good for her.”

Yeah, none of the guys.

You shoot him a frown and bit back your laugh. “No, but if she was seeing someone how would I be able to tell?”

“Well, when we were together she was always very affectionate. Holding hands in public and kisses all the time. She’s really big on PDA. Ya know?”

You didn't know.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

You held in your emotions for a few days, desperately trying not to let his ridiculous words get to you. But you couldn't help it as you drifted away from Raven. Every time you were together your mind drifted to her and Finn on the ark, holding hands and kissing in the halls where anyone could see. Your mind soaked up awful thoughts until you felt your heart might just explode.

This led to you storming into her tent in a fit of anger. You waved your hands furiously through the air as you told her about the conversation you'd had with Finn.

“I know you're not over Finn, and I know you're just using me to get over him but you don't want him to know about it in case he wants you back. I won't be your safety guard to fall back on until you're ready to get up and walk away!”

“What? That’s not what’s going on at all.”

“Oh yeah, cause it sure as hell seems like every time we’re out you want nothing to do with me. You won't even hold my hand outside this tent much less kiss me.”

“Y/n listen to me!”

“No, I’m so sick of this shit”

You loved her but you weren’t going to sit and watch her fawn over her asshole ex.

When the yelling had gotten too much for you to handle you stormed out of the tent, sweat running down your back from the hot weather and your bubbling anger. You hate how it felt and how it reminded you of stupid Finn and his stupid greasy hair. You remembered a stream you had seen on one of your forest explorations with Raven.

Raven. Raven. Raven.

You hated how even when you were mad and anger flowed through your veins, you couldn’t escape the thoughts of her. You needed to get out.

The stream was probably a 20-minute walk from camp. You knew the woods weren’t safe but you couldn’t stand being cooped up in camp for a second longer. You took one of Ravens’ guns with you, just in case.

When you reached the steam you glanced around before stripping. The woods were hauntingly beautiful, but every time you looked at them all you could see was Raven. Her back pressed against the trees as her fingers weaved knots in your hair. Your fingers slipping under her shirt exploring the curves of her hips. Her lips against yours, silent gasps for air interrupting the rustling of leaves.

You wadded into the water as if it could wash the thoughts from your mind. The water was like ice and only reached enough to go a little over your knees. The light breeze made goosebumps peak from your skin as the water suddenly seemed much warmer. You squatted down, the algae rocks tickling your toes. Splashing your face with the cool water, you scrubbed it, thankful to get rid of the sticky sweat that had built up over the weeks you’d been on earth. You took a deep breath and tried to relax your muscles.

As you sat in the water you thought about everything that’s been going on. More specifically everything going on with Raven. You hadn’t even let Raven explain herself before you stormed out. Your quick temper was always your biggest problem. Hell, it's how you ended up down here in the first palace. Guilt was a sickly feeling, it nestled into your stomach and made you feel like a monster.

Suddenly the woods felt too empty, The river too dirty and everything too loud. You felt loneliness fill your heart, its claws creeping their way up as you choked back sobs. As Raven's face once again visited your memory you decided it was best to get back and apologize before the sun disappeared and sleep took your lover.

As you got closer to camp you took note of the eerie silence, a major contrast from the usual laughs and shouts that filled the camp. Walking in you saw why. Everyone was crowded around the dropship. Most people looked indifferent or only had slight concern etched across their faces. That was until you came across Octavia standing at the front.

She looked as if she would just about pass out. Fear covered her whole face as she tapped her foot impatiently. A walkie-talkie clenched tightly in her hand as her teeth pulled tightly against her bleeding lip.

“What’s going on”

Without her eyes ever leaving the doors of the drop ship she answered you.

“Murphys got Bellamy trapped inside. I- I think he’s going to kill him. Jaspers under the ship trying to get him out.”

You surveyed the crowds trying to find Raven but nowhere was the girl donning the red puffer jacket anywhere to be seen.

“Where's Raven?”

Octavia’s eyes flickered to you for only a moment before returning to the dropship. But with that one look, you knew she didn’t want to tell you.

“Octavia, where is she.” You moved in front of her, blocking her view of the dropship. Annoyance flashed across her features but it quickly vanished.

She sighed “She's under there helping Jasper but-”

That was all you needed to hear before you turned around and headed toward the dropship. Before you could make it two steps Octavia had grabbed your arm and pulled you back. You considered pulling your arm out of hers or even pushing her down so she would let you go. But the girl had a grip like iron and an attitude to match.

“She’s got this. By going in there you could mess up everything. Just trust her. Okay?”

You nodded and stayed put. But her words did nothing to ease the fear that washed over you like a tsunami, drowning you.

A gunshot rang through the air and Octavia’s grip on your arm tightened. One part in an effort to reassure herself and another part to keep you put.

You weren’t super religious but at that moment you begged whoever -if anyone- above to make sure Raven came out of this alive and unharmed.

Minutes seemed like hours until finally a familiar mop of brown hair appeared from beneath the dropship. You felt every muscle in your body relax and the headache that you hadn't even noticed disband.

You shrugged out of Octavia’s grasp and ran to Jasper quickly engulfing him in a hug. His arms hung limp at his sides and you could see his anxiety written across his face. But at least they were okay.

“Oh thank god”

You peered behind him, expecting to see Raven, but no one was there.

As if sensing your unspoken question he spoke,

“She’s still in the dropship. She-”

But you were already gone.

As you squirmed your way through the complicated working of the dropship you spotted the brunette. Your lungs filled with air and the knot in your chest eased. She was okay.

“Raven ..”

She jumped at your sudden appearance and something within the circuit she was working on sparked. She let out a slight scream as the sparks burnt the tips of her fingers.

You both looked up as the noises from above ceased

And then came the gunshots.

After the first one, you dived over her without a second thought, knocking you both to the ground. You heard her head hit the ground with a loud thunk as the air left her lungs. You covered her body with yours tucking your head into her neck as you covered her face with your hands. You breathed in her scent as bullets rained down on you. You could feel her heart's erratic beating against your chest. It felt like forever until they finally stopped.

When they did Raven wasted no time moving you off of her and getting back to the control panel, finishing what she started.

You however couldn’t move.  

Damn adrenaline.

You took a few deep breaths and calmed your heart as much as you possibly could. You tightened your muscles in an attempt to sit up, the same way you've sat up your entire life. Except for this time, your muscles wouldn’t tighten. It was as if they had stopped working entirely.

“Raven “ you called out to her. You were terrified, your heartbeat so loudly you could feel it in your eardrums. She was too focused on finishing the control panel to hear you. Finally, she got it, shooting you one of those proud smiles you always loved. It quickly dissolved when she saw the fear on your face as tears streamed down from your eyes.

“I can’t move. Oh god. Oh my god. “ Your tears turned to sobs as your body shook. She was by your side in a second as she quickly took to examining your body.

“I can’t find a wound.”

“Please, please, please Raven.” She had no idea what to do but couldn’t bear to watch you break to pieces in her arms.

Slowly she moved you so you were sitting up, and although it took a while she was able to get you up and onto her back.

A bang sounded from above and the whole room shook. Her hand slipped from its grip on your thigh but she quickly managed to catch it.

She held your legs as you wrapped your arms around her neck. Although your cries were no longer audible she felt you shake against her back as warm tears splashed her shoulder.

Before she even got into the camp she was yelling.

“WHERE'S CLARKE. SOMEBODY GET CLARKE.” the blonde rushed to her side, a sharp intake escaping when she saw you.

“She says she can’t move. Murphy shot her. I couldn’t find the wound but I don’t know.” She tried desperately not to cry.

Not now.  Raven thought.  Not when she's breaking.

She carried you into the dropship, laying you carefully down on the table. It took a while but Clarke finally made it in to help.

After sanitizing her hands with what was left of the alcohol she looked at Raven. They both knew this wasn’t going to be good.

“I need to get the bullet out. Can you distract her?”

Raven nodded and held your hand tighter. You could feel her warm palm against hers, the only thing keeping you from falling apart in a fit of hysterics. That was about the only thing you could feel. Everything below your chest was dead weight.

“Remember how you thought I wasn’t showing you public affection because I still had feelings for Finn?” Clarke risked a quick glance at the girls before resuming her work.

You felt her fingers enter the wound in your back and let out a scream.

“Is now really the best time to talk about this” you tried to say between screams and grunts. She nodded, a determined look on her face.

“That’s not why.”

“Okay..” you urged her to go on so you could focus on her voice instead of the fingers probing around underneath your skin.

“No one knows that I am ya know,” although she didn't make a show of it you knew Clarke was listening.

“And I guess I was just- am just, afraid of the way people might look at me.” the raw emotion on her face almost made you forget what was happening.  Almost.

You screamed again as Clarke’s fingers exited the wound.

“Got it. Now comes the painful part” You looked at her in horror.

She turned your head away so that you were once again looking at Raven. The brunette couldn't hide the horror that flashed across her face at whatever Clarke was doing behind you.

“Trust me, it’s best not to watch this part.”

Raven almost couldn’t handle the look of fear on your face. She wanted to wrap you up in her arms and keep you safe and away from this cruel world. She laced her finger between yours, light kisses against the back of your hand in an attempt to calm your pounding heart and shaky breaths.

Clarke handed her a cloth for you to bite on. It would stop you from breaking your own teeth is what she had said.

Raven squeezed your hand in reassurance and placed a gentle kiss on your head as you let out a ground trembling scream. She felt her heart fall to pieces at the sound. The world around you disappeared as you tried desperately to focus on Raven instead of the hot metal searing your flesh.

And then-

It was over.

You just lay there, studying Raven. Her lower lip was redder than the top one due to her gnawing on it anxiously. Her eyelashes were long and cast delicate shadows across her high cheekbones. Her jawline was sharp and unmoving. Skin pulled tight in a frown of worry. The whole thing had taken a toll on you. But you refused to let yourself fall asleep.

“Raven, I’m so sorry.”

She let out a sad laugh as tears started forming in her eyes

“Never do that again.”  She wanted to scream at you. She wanted to hit you and yell at you for being so stupid. For putting her life above yours and trying to be the hero. But she knew you wouldn’t be able to handle that. Not today at least.

Your eyelids were so heavy. You decided you would just close them, not sleep.

As your eyes fluttered closed Raven turned to Clarke.

Is she going to be okay?

“Yes, but…”

“But what”

“She suffered a slight spinal cord injury. I don’t know how bad it is. She might be able to walk again in six months or a year or possibly never.”

As you heard these words your mind drifted as the welcoming arms of sleep embraced you.

As longs as Raven is okay,

I can handle it.

Pt.2

[lovlydovlyjaycie]

Ævi - Frontlines

Hey again! This will be a continued series. The first Ævi series is in my masterlist and is only four parts. This is going to be a ongoing series, so there is going to be a lot more of Ævi to come. :)

Summary: Y/n or also known as Ævi has lived through varies of world events. Now it is 1941, she has excepted that some things cannot be changed so Loki has convinced Y/n to go to New York and live a normal life, a life Y/n always wanted. Or as normal it can be, because new introductions lead to events that didn’t go down in the history books.

Warnings: Fluff

Characters: Y/n, Loki and more to come. Wink, wink

Main masterlist

Series masterlist

Part one

1941

Loki had thought it was a good idea to go to a party in New York. But that was a total bust. What he and I think of as a party couldn’t be more opposite. “You enjoyed that?” I asked Loki a little disappointed. This has been a area I have been waiting for the 40s. All the dancing. And in a couple of years celebrating freedom. “It was very civil. Something I thought I would never say of humans. Sometimes people on Asgard can be barbaric.. Especially Thor.” He muttered that last part under his breath. “Yes.. It was civil, but it was boring. They have these amazing places where people go out to dance and just.. have fun. Something I think the majority have never heard off in there.” I told Loki. We were walking the streets of New York. A few cars passed by every now and then. I was looking for a place where we could go dance. “Ok we’re not gonna find anything here.” I said looking around. “Find what?” Loki asked ready to go to the hotel room we had rented. “A party! To dance! Not one of those where people like to talk about money and stocks, cause lets be honest we both are not interested in that.” Loki gave me a small nod and smile at that. “Alright, but I am not going dancing. And besides there is no place here to go dancing anyway. So lets be on our way back to the hotel.” He tried to dismiss me. Keyword tried. I’m not giving up that easily. “Let’s go to Brooklyn! They have good places there. Here I’ll get us a cab!” I was putting my hand up waving at the cabs passing by. Non had stopped as if yet. “No stop that. We went to a party, now we are going back.” He told me. But then a cab stopped and I got in. “You know any places to go dancing in Brooklyn?” I asked the cab driver and he nodded his head. “Well.. You coming or what, cause otherwise I’ll just go without you. You decide Loki.” Loki sighed at that. “Fine but no longer than fifteen minutes.” He said as he climbed in the cad. “An hour.” He shook his head. “Twenty minutes.” He retorted. “An hour.” I told him again. The cab started moving at this point. “Thirty minutes.” He was getting annoyed, but I wasn’t about to give in. “One hour.” I told him again. He sighed. “Fine, but I’m not dancing, so you’ll have to find somebody.” I just shrugged at that. “You’re not a good dancer anyway. You’d just embarrass me.” And Loki rolled his eyes. I was ecstatic, I was so excited to go dancing. Just don’t know these kind of moves yet.

-

After about thirty minutes the driver dropped us off at a dance hall. You could hear the music booming outside and I couldn’t wait to get in. “Be careful! You are not exactly dressed like you belong here.” The cab driver said. We did kind of looked out of place here. Loki and I were very dressed up, Loki was wearing a very expensive looking suit and me, I was wearing a light almost steel colored dress my hair done half up half down and my lips were red. This place certainly wasn’t on the richer part of town. But those people don’t know how to really live up a party anyway.

We walked in and there was jazz music playing. “Come on lets dance!” I cheered. “No.” He was standing still in place and not budging. “Come on Loki! It’ll be fun! Besides, you owe me.” He put his hand on his chest like he was surprised. “What do I owe you.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “You were the one to convince me to go to America in a time like this. Saying, and I quote, ‘You have tried to change history and it didn’t work, so this time won’t be different, go show me around America please.” I crossed my arms and gave him a pointed look. “Yes to the first part and no to the second. Never said I wanted to go here.” I rolled my eyes. “Come on! we will just dance for an hour and then we’re out.” “I told you I’m not dancing.” He retorted. “Fine I’ll find somebody else to dance with than.” I looked around the dance floor and saw everybody have a partner to dance with. Some were just hanging around by tables and others were by bars. I decided to try it there. I saw a man standing alone by the bar. Perfect, doesn’t seem like he has a date. I have got to say who ever the is, he looks handsome even from the back. Broad shoulders, tall and dark hair. Hopefully he likes to dance and isn’t just here for the drinks. 

As I walked over I got a lot of looks from almost everybody. I did look like I was very out of place. But I’m here to have a good time just like everybody else. My eyes were se ton whoever this man was. I noticed that some men had tried to come up and start a conversation with me, but I ignored them. This would be very embarrassing if that man does not want to dance. Anyway the man that was by the bar was leaning against it, so I did the same as I got there. “What are the recommended drinks?” I asked the tall man. He was taking a gulp of his beer and slightly choked when he looked at me. I’ll take that as a compliment. “They don’t have the fancy stuff here if that is what you are looking for. Mostly just beer.” He answered. His eyes were piercing. A steel blue and slightly hooded. “Guess I’ll have that than.” I said waving the waiter over and I ordered.

“So what is a dame like you doing in a place like this?” He asked, fully intrigued. “I came because I wanted to dance, but my friend over there is not so convinced.” I told him pointing with my finger over to Loki. He looked very uncomfortable. That made me slightly laugh. “Is he your husba-” “Oh God no! He’s a friend. He is just doesn’t like to have fun.” He looked a little relieved. “And now you’re here.” I nodded. “Now I’m here, living my life like my days are numbered.” He laughed at that. “Good way to see things.” He noted. The waiter came over with my beer and I nodded a thank you. “So what’s your name doll?” The nickname made me smile. The way it rolled off his tongue so easily. “I’m y/n Ironside.” I told him. Long ago I had taken Bjorn’s name and I still used it after almost a thousand years. I put my hand forward for him to shake. “James Barnes, but friends call me Bucky.” He took my hand and shook it slightly. It felt like electricity running through me. “Bucky?” I asked. “Yeah it comes from my second name, Buchanan.” He explained. “That’s cute.” And I slightly smiled. ”Well Bucky, would you like to dance with me?” I asked him and he smirked. “I thought you were never going to ask.” And he pulled me with him to the dancefloor. I now noticed that we were holding hands the entire time. It made me blush. It felt strange getting these feelings. But I pushed it down and thought nothing of it.

As we were standing in the middle of the dance floor something upbeat started playing. “I don’t know how to dance to this.” Bucky gave me another smirk at that. “Follow my lead!” He answered. He started twirling me around on the beat. It was hard to keep up. I was looking at the people around me what they were doing when I stepped on Bucky’s toe. “Oh sorry!” I grimaced. “It’s alright doll. Don’t get distracted by the people around you. Focus on me.” So I did. I followed his every move and tried to keep up. Still sometimes I stepped on his toes, but it was definitely a lot easier if I wasn’t looking at what everyone around me was doing. After the first song ended I didn’t even notice that there were other people around. Bucky and I were having fun, laughing at the mistakes I was making. It felt very nice for a moment not to think about what was happening in Europe. Then a slow song came on. I stepped closer to him and guided his hand around my my lower back. Then I put my left hand on his shoulder and grabbed his free hand with my right. “So, you do know how to slow dance?” He noted. “I do.” I mean I have sort of slowed danced for about a thousand years, so you could say I am well trained. Obviously couldn’t tell him that. “But you have been a good teacher for teaching me the fast pace parts.” I smiled at him. It was a lot of fun. Fun I haven’t had in a while. “You’re welcome. They don’t do that where you’re from?” Bucky asked. I smiled. They definitely do not dance like that on Asgard and also those type of dances change a lot over the years. “No they do not.” I told him smiling. “So.. You didn’t have a date tonight or.. Did you just come here by yourself?” I wondered out loud. “Oh no. I was with a friend of mine. Steve. But he left earlier. I was just gonna grab a bier before leaving, but then I met this beautiful dame that wanted to dance. And I would be a damned fool to say no to that.” He laughed. “Well I’m glad that I saw you by the bar then.” I stated smiling at him. I looked at our hand that were intertwined and so did he. I had a ring on my middle finger that Loki had gifted me a long time ago. It had the Yggdrasil tree on it. He said it was my symbol and that we are one, I was the protector of life, therefore the protector of the tree of life. It had a magic ability to snap me in to my fighting suit whenever needed. It was a great gift and it made it a lot easier to not have to change every time. “That looks like a old ring.” Bucky noted. “Uhm, yes it has been with me for as long as I can remember.” “Family heirloom?” He asked. “Hmm-hmm.” I nodded my head yes. “It’s a beautiful ring.” I smiled at that. I really loved it as well. “Thank you.”

“Time is up y/n. We’re leaving.” Loki came up behind me. I sighed. I was having so much fun with Bucky and I didn’t want this night to end yet. “After the song has ended.” I told Loki not even looking at him and still dancing with Bucky. He looked slightly uncomfortable, maybe intimidated by Loki. “You said one hour. It has been one hour. We’re leaving this awful place.” He was clearly getting annoyed, but Loki was always annoyed, so it didn’t bother me and he had a habit of giving in anyway. “I’ll leave after this dance. You can either wait here in the middle of the dancefloor or wait outside of it.” He sighed. Giving in and saying; “Fine.” Very annoyed. 

“Very strong willed woman.” Bucky stated impressed. Now it was my turn to smirk. “He doesn’t know how to live in the moment some times.” I stated looking over my shoulder at Loki who was looking very impatient. And annoyed. That gave me an idea. “How do you feel about living in the moment?” I asked Bucky. “No better way to live.” He said smiling. I looked around quickly. “Alright. When the music ends you wanna go for that exit behind you?” He looked around quickly and gave me a shocked face. “You sure you wanna do that doll?” Bucky asked a bit unsure of it all. “It will be hilarious! Are you in?” He dropped his face in a smile. “Where ever you go.” He answered back. Loki is going to be so annoyed. It’s a bit childish of me, but I’m gonna love seeing his face after. 

Bucky and I danced for a bit until the next song started playing. I quickly looked back and saw that Loki was coming up to us again. “Now run!” I yelled at Bucky. I pulled him with me towards the exit as fast as I could not looking back. I pushed the people who were in front of me aside in a fit of laughter. I heard Bucky was laughing too. Then we got outside and ran as fast as we could this time Bucky was pulling me with him. “How far?” He asked laughing. “Far enough!” I yelled back. People that were walking on the street looked at us slightly disturbed which only made this ten times more funnier.

We ran maybe two blocks away from the dancing place. We both slowed down still laughing at the situation. “You sure he is not going to be mad about this?” Bucky asked still laughing. “Don’t worry he’s not going to be mad at you, but with me, it’s fine.” I reassured him. “Alright.” Bucky said spinning me around. All this time still holding hands. “One more dance?” He asked me this time. “There is no music.” I stated smiling. “Let me think.” Bucky told me. “Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there’s a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby.” I started singing. Bucky smiled at me and took my other hand an guided me on the street. I continued singing as we were dancing. This song always made me thing of Asgard funnily enough. I always thought of the rainbow as the Bifrost, because when I didn’t understand any of this I thought it was a actual rainbow. And now, in this time, Asgard and it’s stories are lullabies. “I like this song.” He told me. I smiled an continued singing again. I started resting my head against his shoulder. This moment felt very peaceful in all the hectic-ness that was going around earth.

After the song it was time for me to go back to Loki. Enough messing with him for today. “I need to go back.” I told Bucky. He nodded his head in understanding. “Let me walk you back.” And so we walked back and it would end our time. I usually never saw the people I met on earth twice. It raised a lot of questions if there was a little more time in between, seeing I don’t age. Also if I hung out with the same people for too long it started raising questions as to why I was not aging. In the past people have thought I was a witch because of that. So I decided to just not have any relations with humans at all anymore. Which made me sad. Asguardians are great and all, but human.. I was one of them once or I still am, it’s just not the same. As we came closer to the dancehall I felt sad. “I had a really good time.” I told Bucky sincere. He was kind, funny and such a gentleman. “Me too. Uhm I have an extra ticket for the cinema tomorrow, would you like to come with me?” Bucky asked me. I wanted to see him again, but it wouldn’t be wise of me to do so. “I-” “there you are! I have been looking everywhere like a fool. It is time to go home now! I got us a taxi.” Loki said as he started pulling me with him. Now was the first time I let go of Bucky’s hand since I had met him. It felt empty now, cold. “Wait!” I got out of Loki’s grip and ran back to Bucky. “Thank you for tonight.” I told him holding his hands one last time and a gave him a quick kiss on his left cheek before I let go and ran back towards a irritated Loki. I just shrugged at him as I followed him to a taxi.

As we sat in the taxi I looked if I could still see Bucky and I did. I wish I had answered his question for the cinema, but it would only make it more difficult if I did. The car started moving and Loki and I were off to our hotel. I gave him a final wave before I couldn’t see him anymore and looked down. “Oh please, you get attached too easily. You met him not two hours ago.” Loki stated. “He was different.” Is all I had to say, and he was, he was different. “You shouldn’t fall for these humans.. their lives are short and meaningless. Asguardians have a much longer lifespan.” I just rolled my eyes at that. “Their lives being short gives a lot more meaning to them.” I said under my breath.

-

Two weeks later

Bucky POV

“How about Dottie?” Steve asked. He was asking me if I went on any other dates with her. But truth be told. After I had met Y/n I couldn’t think of anybody else. I sighed and took a sip of my coke, we were sitting at a diner. “No? Buck you still got your mind on this girl? It’s been two weeks.” He tried to reason. He was right, but a girl like y/n I have never met before. “She was somethin’ else Steve.” Was all I has to say. “How was she so special?” Steve asked. “She was beautiful, you had to see her. She had this beautiful smile and this glistening in her y/e/c eyes. She carried herself in a way that was just so graceful. And she was so kind. and her laugh, Steve, you had to hear her laugh.” I sounded crazy, but that one encounter with her was what that did to me. “Well if it is meant to be you’ll see her again.” He tried to cheer me up. I looked out of the window at all the people that were walking around going places, work, home. “Maybe it wasn’t.” I said quietly. I wanted to look for her, but she would definitely think I’m crazy if I succeeded in that and I wouldn’t want to scare her away. In the corner of my eye I saw a woman walking the same walk as y/n did. I tried to get a better look, as much as I could with the window being in the way and the people on the street. I could only see her back. She had a yellow dress on with the same hairdo as y/n had that night. “It’s her.” I couldn’t believe it. I immediately stood up and walked out of the diner as fast as I could. I kept a quick pace to keep up with her. “Y/n!”

...

..

.

Let me know what you think!

Yes the dancing part of the street is totally an idea of the Notebook, it is one of my favorite movies and I always thought it was so romantic :)

[ilovefandoms102]

Love me Harder-Part 4

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x Pogue!Reader

Summary: Falling in love with your sisters sworn enemy probably wasn’t the best idea…

Note: Tik Tok challenge requests are still open for whoever wants to submit one! I will be doing them throughout the day! I hope you guys enjoy this! Let me know what you think!

Part 3 Part 5

=========================================

Rafe and I became exclusive after that night on the beach…

It was weird at first being so open despite the odd looks from people. I tried not to think about it too much despite the comments and stares. I was going to enjoy my time with Rafe. 

This led to one of my rare days off, my legs perched on the dash of Rafe’s golf cart. My eyes trained on his muscles working as he played on the Figure Eight golf course. I squirmed in my seat a little from the way his muscles flexed, his hat perched on his head backwards adding to the desire pooling in my belly. We hadn’t moved past the heavy make outs with occasional groping, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t ready for more. 

My experience with men wasn’t bad but it also wasn’t great. I’ve had my few shares of casual hook ups, boyfriends that didn’t last longer than a few months before the feelings died out, but Rafe was different. Maybe it was the fact that we had both wanted each other for so long, the tension bursting between us now that we could freely be seen with the other. 

“What are you thinking about so hard over there beautiful?” Rafe asked, startling me from my thoughts. 

“How good your ass looks in those shorts.” I smirked, earning a deep blush from my boyfriend. 

He sauntered over to me, swinging his club around to hold it behind his neck. Rafe leaned his head down to touch his nose to mine, sweetly pecking my lips before he pulled away. I moved my hands to feel the slight stubble forming on his cheeks, he let go of the golf club, and let it fall to the ground. In the next instance, he had my legs around his waist. Rafe leaned in to crush his lips to mine, leaning me back at an angle. I forgot where we were, and that people were literally all around us. My only focus was how good his soft lips felt against mine. I bit his bottom lip, gently tugging it back. He groaned, his fingers digging into my hips. 

“Come on guys, this is a family golf course.” Someone called, my head snapping to see Topper making his way over. Rafe flipped him off as my cheeks burned with embarrassment. 

=========================================

I very quickly became uninterested in being at Figure Eight now that Topper decided to interrupt mine and Rafe’s hot make out. He stayed with Rafe to play a round between them which annoyed me even more. I didn’t get a lot of days off, so my mood was pretty much ruined. I saw Pope walking by, carrying some groceries for someone. I was going to jump up and help when Topper decided to make his way to him. 

“Well, well look who we have here.” Topper hollered, my feet instantly taking off towards Pope. Rafe had yet to notice either of us were gone. 

“Can we please give it a rest today, unless you want to deliver your own groceries.” Pope spat, dodging Topper’s reaches for the beer he was carrying. 

“Knock it off Topper, your tea time isn’t up yet.” I growled, stepping in front of Pope. 

“Leave this to the men y/n,” Topper hissed, shoving me to the side as he attacked Pope. 

I went into flight or fight mode, jumping on Topper’s back as he railed his fists down on Pope. I punched Topper’s nose, giving Pope enough time to wiggle his way out from under Topper. He reached back and pulled my hair, a scream leaving my lips from the burn. I tumbled down, scraping my arms and legs against the gravel. Topper grabbed his club, and swung at Pope. I was horrified as blood spewed from Pope’s lips. 

“RAFE!” I screeched, hoping to grab his attention. 

I didn’t look to see if he had heard me, jumping to my feet to run towards Pope and Topper. In a split second decision, I jumped in front of Pope, and took Topper’s swing. Agonizing pain tore through my body, a sickening crack heard as the head of the club connected to my ribs. Topper’s eyes widened, dropping his club immediately. I whimpered on the ground, keeping my eyes closed as I sobbed in pain. 

“Y/n!” Pope shouted, crouching down to me. 

“Go, run.” I whispered, giving him a reassuring nod as he took off. 

“What the fuck just happened?!” Rafe boomed, but I couldn’t focus on his words. White noise rang in my ears, my heart still thudding in my chest from the adrenaline. I snapped out of it when I felt a hand, Rafe’s hand, pushing some hair from my face. 

“Sweetheart, can you hear me?” he asked.

“Hurts,” was all I was able to gurgle out. 

“Tell me where baby,” Rafe spoke softly. 

“Ribs,” I choked.

“She just jumped in front of me man!” Topper exclaimed.

“Because you were beating a fucking kid Topper!” I snapped, flinching in pain.

“Can I lift you up, get you to the ER?” Rafe asked gently, his hands shaking as they stayed near my face.

“I think I can get up,” I huffed, having help from Rafe to stand. My ribs were aching, the pain feeling like a stabbing sensation. 

“I’ll deal with you later.” Rafe hissed as Topper, following behind me as I walked back towards the golf cart.

=========================================

A cracked rib that would take a while to heal, the doctor was surprised that it wasn’t crushed with the severity of the bruise forming on my ribcage. I was told to not go back to work for at least a week, yeah, we’ll see how that goes over with my dad...

“So, you want me to cancel dinner tonight?” Rafe asked, holding my hand tight in his as we exited the ER. 

“No, I still want to go.” I insisted, nerves creeping in as I remembered I was having dinner with Rafe and his family tonight.

This would be the first time I would be there as Rafe’s girlfriend, and I was scared shitless. I knew my parents, or I should say my mother and my biological father, grew up with Ward and Rose. The tension was there at the Kook gatherings they made me attend since my mother had me when she was still in High School. 

“I don’t want you to go if you feel like you have to...you don’t need to suffer in pain all night.” Rafe sighed, assisting me while I climbed into the passenger seat of his truck.

“Rafe this is important, I want to make a good impression, and how is it going to look if I bail.” I scoffed. He had one arm leaning on the open door while the other was by my head, his blue eyes filled with worry.

“They aren’t going to give a shit if you’re hurt. Baby, please just think about this.” he murmured.

“I have thought about it, I’m going, and that’s final.” I growled, swinging my legs in the door. 

=========================================

I spent the next three hours making sure every detail about my outfit, hair, and makeup were perfect. Rafe laid on my bed, scrolling through his phone while he waited for me to get ready. His constant complaints about how long I was taking was really starting to irritate me however…

“Babe, this isn’t a fancy ass dinner. It’s just my dad and Rose, and I think my sisters might be there.” Rafe mumbled, throwing his phone down beside him.

“I swear to god Rafe, if you complain one more fucking time…” I laughed humorlessly.

Rafe got up from his spot, leaning down behind me. His eyes met mine in the mirror, staying connected as he leaned down towards my neck. He placed gentle, wet kisses down the side, my eyes widening when I felt his teeth nick a spot just below my ear.

“Rafe!” I gasped, pulling away from him immediately. His shit eating grin earned a playful shove from me, his laughter booming through my room.

“I’m gonna kill you,” I gritted through my teeth, trying to cover up the bite to the best of my abilities. Once I was fully dressed, Rafe’s eyes surely would have popped out of his head if they had gotten any wider. 

“Oh Jesus,” he muttered, taking his eyes away from you.

“What?” I panicked.

“How am I supposed to sit through a family dinner with you lookin’ like that.” he blurted, a giggle slipping through my lips.

“Sorry baby,” I smiled, leaning up on my toes to kiss him.

“You look stunning, and I’m so happy you’re all mine.” Rafe whispered, butterflies racing in my stomach at his compliment. 

“Thank you Rafe, I’m happy too.” I spoke softly, giving him another sweet kiss.

=========================================

I wanted to puke from how nervous I was, wishing I had taken Rafe’s idea to cancel. I was about to high tail it back to the truck, but before I knew it, we were entering the Cameron household. Rose smiled wickedly sweet at Rafe and I, Ward didn’t even glance towards us, and Sarah and Wheezie were the only ones to actually greet us. I felt awkward around Sarah with the beef she still had with Kie, and I knew she was also talking to John B. Rafe didn’t seem to notice my discomfort, dragging me to the dining room. 

“So Rafe, how long is this one gonna last?” Ward rumbled from his seat.

“Seriously dad?” Rafe questioned, his grip on my hand almost hurting. 

“I’m just saying...none of your other, um, exploits, really had staying power. You think this is gonna last more than a week?” Ward chuckled, ice flowing through my veins as my gaze went back and forth between the two men. 

“We’ve been together almost three months, I really care about her dad. Can we please have just a normal dinner?” Rafe exasperated, running a hand through his hair. 

“I mean Rafe...you know about her parents.” Rose spoke up, my head snapping in her direction.

“What are you talking about?” Rafe asked, irritation clear in his voice.

“Her mother’s track record isn’t exactly...well let’s just say she sure knows how to pick ‘em.” Rose chuckled, my shoulders straightening.

“I’d thank you kindly to keep my mother’s business out of your mouth Mrs. Cameron.” I spoke harshly.

“Honey...your real dad didn’t want your mother, he didn’t want you, so what makes you think our Rafe will have anything to do with you? Your mother was a slut, and you know what they say...like mother like daughter.” she pointed out, my blood boiling at this point. 

“That’s enough!” Rafe shouted, standing up so fast his chair raked against the tile. 

I shot out of my seat, tears pricking my eyes as I made my way out the front door. I could hear them all arguing, but I didn’t care to listen. My ribs protested as I let out a sob, my hand holding on to them as a rush of pain surged through me. I was prepared to walk home at this point, my feet carrying me on instinct. 

“Y/n, wait baby please!” I heard Rafe call.

“Can you please just take me home Rafe, I want to go.” I sniffled, backing away when he tried to reach out for me. 

=========================================

“I’m so sorry,” Rafe whispered when he parked his truck in front of my house.

“Not your fault, I just...I definitely was not expecting that.” I mumbled, wringing my hands out anxiously. I looked from my house and back to Rafe, biting down gently on my lip.

“Do you...do you want to stay with me?” I asked quietly, looking down at my hands.

“Only if you want me to,” he smiled, my head nodding immediately. 

I did my nightly routine, checking the locks on everything before heading back to my room. I put a scrunchie on the door which signaled the kids that I didn’t want to be bothered. I left my fairy lights on, sliding in next to Rafe who was already cozied up under my covers. I buried my face into his neck, completely entangling myself with him. His hand traveled up my thigh that was laying across him, stopping at my hip to rub the skin that was showing from my shirt riding up. The rings on his fingers left goosebumps behind, the cold metal contrasting with the warmth that had spread from him to me. 

“For the record, I plan on keeping you.” Rafe smirked, pinching my skin playfully.

“Lucky me then, I get to put up with your dumbassery for a little while longer.” I teased, the both of us sent into a fit of laughter. Once that died down, Rafe tilted my chin up, kissing me tenderly.

“Sweet dreams beautiful,” he whispered.

“Sleep tight slick,” I yawned, snuggling up closer as I let my eyes close.

=========================================

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[haikyuu-scenarios-drabbles]

Right Next Door (Oikawa Tooru x F!reader)

You somehow end up roommates with Oikawa, sharing a bathroom, and let the unavoidable question of whether or not you’re soulmates hang in the air for far too long.

genre: fluff, slight angst (unintentional), college, roommate, soulmate!au  words: 3k+

~ 

Nearly dropping the box you’re holding, you stare at the annoyingly perfect boy standing across the doorway from you. He’s beaming and introducing himself to your parents who are looking just as confused as you are. Spotting you behind them, his smile only brightens, striding forward to greet you. “Hey roomie!”

It’s an effort to keep your jaw from dropping to the floor. “Room…roommate?” You blink, unable to tell if he’s joking or not. Shouldn’t you have a—you don’t know—a girl roommate?

Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly he says, “Yeah…looks like they had an uneven number and we got stuck together. Shouldn’t be a problem though right? We just share a bathroom.”

You swallow nervously. While he’s right, both of you have your own single rooms and share the bathroom, you don’t think your parents are going to be too keen on the idea of a boy being in such close living quarters with you. Particularly when said boy looks like a male model.

“Oikawa Tooru.” He sticks his hand out, then realizes you’re preoccupied with the box you’re holding. “Ah, sorry, let me help you! I’m all moved in already.” You’re still too much in shock to protest when he takes the box from your hands and asks you for your name.

Walking back out to the car to grab more of your things, your mother murmurs, “I’m not sure about this…”

Not wanting to go through the hassle of moving, finding a new roommate, and probably being unable to look Oikawa in the eye for the remainder of your college career, you assure her, “It’s really just a bathroom. Nothing to worry about.” She looks unconvinced, but lets it go.

Little do you know that sharing a bathroom is more difficult that you anticipate. Especially on the first day of classes when you both have an 8am and need to be in the bathroom at the same time. Or when you find out that the two of you both like to shower in the morning and open your respective doors at the same time to take one.

You got quite the view of his perfectly sculpted chest that morning and have switched to afternoon showers just to avoid him.

The most annoying aspect about being his roommate is the unspoken question in the room. Whether or not the two of you are soulmates. It would be easy enough to figure it out. Let him stub his toe and see if you feel it too. But there’s never a good way to bring the subject up. Not when you only see him for brief moments and most of those moments, he’s been half clothed. Not really the time to blurt out wanting to find out if the two of you are connected by the universe.

Though, you can’t help that when you do see him, your attention drifts to his knee. Throughout elementary school, you didn’t notice much pain besides the occasional rug burn or cut. But as middle school rolled around, the pain in your knee began to grow. It was constant and nagged you with each step, to the point where you couldn’t tell if it was your pain or theirs.

And as high school hit, the pain only increased. Enough that you consulted a doctor about it and discovered it wasn’t your pain at all. Your knee is perfectly fine, and whatever your soulmate is doing is completely wrecking their knee. While you feel the pain of it, you won’t bear any of the consequences like they will if they keep going the way they do.

Whoever they are, you’re reminded daily of them through your shared pain. And whenever you find them, you’re going to slap them upside the head and demand just what exactly they’re doing that’s destroying their knee as the years have passed.

But Oikawa’s knee seems fine. At least to your knowledge. So, you never bring it up. No point in making this situation any more awkward than it already is.

Nearing the end of the semester, doing the study guide for your physics exam, you’re stumped on the same question for 20 minutes and no amount of googling has gotten you any closer to the answer. Groaning angrily, you lean back in your chair and tangle your fingers into your hair. You don’t understand half the problems you’ve completed already, but even after skipping this one and returning to it; and spending more time on google than on the actual problem you’ve hit a dead end. And it doesn’t help that your knee is acting up, whatever your soulmate is doing right now is not what you need at the moment.

Glancing warily at the bathroom door, you mull over the idea of asking Oikawa to help you. You know he’s home, you heard him return about an hour ago and haven’t heard his door open since. And you know enough about him that he’s pretty damn good at schoolwork on top of being ridiculously good-looking. Truly—it isn’t fair.

You go back and forth on it for a bit longer before the prospect of extra credit outweighs any anxiety you have approaching him of your own accord. Your chair groans as you push out from your desk and pad quietly to the bathroom. It takes you a few minutes to garner the courage to knock on his door to the bathroom opposite from yours.

There’s no answer. Not even a sound of acknowledgement. You pause a moment before leaning it to listen through the door. It’s quiet.

That’s odd. You were so sure he was home.

You knock again, this time accompanying it with, “Anyone home?”

Again, you’re met with silence. You frown. Either he’s ignoring you spectacularly or he’s not home—you decide to go with the latter. Knocking again you say loudly, “I’m coming in!”

When you open the door, Oikawa jerks from the stretch he was in the middle of and falls into a heap on the floor. He’s wearing nothing but impressively short shorts, sweat glistening on his golden skin, and your immediate reaction is to close your eyes, turn tail, and get the fuck out of there. However, your body moves a lot quicker than your brain and you end up closing your eyes, turning, and smacking straight into the doorframe.

You hear him laugh as you join him on the floor burying your forehead in your hands. “Am I that terrible to look at?”

Despite that your eyes are still screwed shut, that image of him will be burned into your memory forever. Just like you can’t forget the sight of him ready to shower, his towel draped low around his waist, chest on display for you to ogle at. A sight you’re sure half the girls on campus would kill for.

“What? No—I mean—,” you splutter, reaching for any object to help you up and get out of his room.

Your arm is grasped by a warm and sturdy one that lifts you to your feet, and Oikawa teases, “Oh, so you’re saying I’m nice to look at?”

“That’s not—ugh, just put some damn clothes on, will you?”  

He laughs again but his hand leaves your arm and you hear some rustling before he says, “Alright you’re safe now.” Peeking one eye open, you’re relieved to see that he has indeed clothed himself but is now sitting quite smugly on his bed looking at you. He knows he flusters you and it makes heat crawl up your neck. “So, what did you need that warranted barging into my room like that?”

You cross your arms. “I knocked! Three times!”

He grimaces, then nods to his desk where his phone connected to some headphones have been discarded. “Couldn’t hear you, sorry.”

“It’s fine. I shouldn’t have come in without permission anyways. You’re clearly busy and what I needed wasn’t that important.”

He cocks his head. “I’m pretty much done! What did you need?”

Biting the inside of your cheek, you realize the hardest part is swallowing your pride and asking him outright for help. “I’m stuck on a stupid physics problem.” You frown at the smile that lights up his features, knowing he’s going to lay on the teasing real thick.

“And you need my help?” He grins, theatrically clutching his chest. “The great brain of Oikawa Tooru?” You roll your eyes as he continues, “The physics master? I will humbly provide my knowledge—”

“Are you going to help me or not?” You say, already retreating to the safety of your own room. Oikawa shuts up and scrambles to follow you, dragging his own desk chair through the bathroom and into your room.

He plops down on it backwards and rests his chin on the backrest, peering at your desk. “Which problem is it?” Taking a seat next to him, you slide your textbook to him and point out the source of your stress. Watching him carefully, you realize it’s fascinating to watch him shift to this completely foreign expression he has while reading the question. Up until this point, you haven’t seen anything besides his playful teasing demeanor—not this serious, thoughtful one he’s currently sporting.

After a minute, he reaches across the desk to grab your pencil and notebook and starts explaining the problem to you. Subconsciously, you scoot closer to him to get a better view of the paper as it feels like the physics knowledge gates are finally opening to you. The way he explains it is clear and concise and makes way more sense than your textbook ever did.

When he’s finished, you turn the page and point out another problem. “I may have googled this one,” you admit, pressing your lips into a firm line, unable to look at him.

He just smirks, peering at you from the corner of his eye. “How many have you googled?”

Slumping in your chair, you cover your face with your hands. God—it’s embarrassing admitting to him how dumb you feel in this class when it seems so obviously easy to him. “A lot.”

He doesn’t tease you though. All he says is, “You’ve been living next to me all this time!”

Finally realizing just how royally fucked you are for this class, you bow your head and mutter, “Please help me.” He makes a small surprised choking noise that you immediately shove him for. “Stuff it.”

“I was right though.”

“About what?”

He gives you a mischievous grin. “You do need the physics master.”

That gets him shoved off his chair completely.

~

Oikawa tutors you for the next couple of days whenever he has the time between his own classes, studying, and volleyball practice. Most of the time that means he’s tutoring you over lunch and dinner, and sometimes late into the evening. You learn a lot more about him in a week than you have the entire semester. He loves volleyball and plays for the university, is probably one of the smartest people you know, and your newest discovery—is alarmingly obsessed with milk bread.

Enough that he deems it proper payment when you pass your physics exam, demanding that if he’s to continue tutoring you that you keep the supply of milk bread coming. You don’t tell him, but you purposefully bought the most expensive kind you could find to thank him. And if he notices, he doesn’t comment on it. Instead, he tears through the packaging like a little kid and shoves an enormous piece into his mouth.

In the midst of chewing he says, “I have a game tonight, but afterwards we’re going to karaoke if you want to come and celebrate passing!” He watches you hesitate, knowing you would. You’ve slowly been opening yourself up to him, and while he’s persistent—so are you. “It’s just a few people, it’ll be fun! And I’ll be there~”

That earns him an eye roll. “All the more reason not to go.”

“Mean!” He says, giving you his signature pout. One that he’s learned you’re not impervious to. “How about you don’t have to buy me any more milk bread if you come? Hmm? Enticing, isn’t it?”

“You really want to cut off your milk bread supply?”

He frowns. “Well—no, but I want you to come.” He stares at you so earnestly that you can feel color rising to your cheeks.

In order to relieve yourself from his attention you concede. “Fine. I’ll come.”

“Yay!” He wraps you up into a hug, gathers his volleyball bag and stuffs the remaining milk break into his mouth. “I’ll text you!” He shouts through a mouthful of milk bread as he hurries out the door.

Sighing, you sink onto your bed and try to distract yourself with a TV show. Yet your thoughts keep drifting to Oikawa and his volleyball match. After being his roommate all semester, you’ve never seen him play. And he must be good if he actually plays for the university and doesn’t just sit on the bench. Glancing at your watch, your curiosity gets the better of you.

You buy your ticket at the door and once you find a seat in the stands you immediately begin searching for a familiar head of perfect brown hair. Spotting him down on the court setting for his teammates, you realize that he didn’t invite you to watch his game. What if he doesn’t want you here? You shrink into your seat further, hoping he doesn’t scan the crowd and notice you. Luckily, he’s far too occupied with warming up and when the team approaches the stands to extend their thanks his attention is taken by his slew of fangirls who are waving at him from the front row.

When the team bows before returning to the court, you sit straighter in your chair and lean forward to get a better glimpse at him. He’s wearing knee pads like the other players, but what caught your attention are that his are different colors. One black, the other white. If you were to guess, it looks like some kind of knee brace to you.

But that’s…that’s a coincidence isn’t it? It has to be. No matter if it’s the same knee as yours.

Throughout the game, you can’t help but be highly aware of the pain panging through your knee. You try and chalk it up to your imagination, but the pain seems to be aligning with Oikawa’s movements. Yet he shows no sign that it’s bothering him at all. It must be your imagination. You can’t fathom that if he’s feeling the same pain you are that he’d be able to hide it so well.

You can’t stop thinking about it. What if it is him? What will you do then? And by the time the game ends, you’re drowning in your own thoughts, barely noticing that the team is lining up to bow to the crowd again. This time doing a poorer job of hiding and he notices you. First, he looks shocked, then a smile lights up his features and he fucking winks at you which makes all the girls in the front row swoon thinking it was for them.

Did he bait you into coming here? You frown, returning his gesture by sticking your tongue out at him.

You purposefully avoid him after the game, though end up stumbling upon him placating his fan club just outside the gym. He sees you, but for your sake, he doesn’t acknowledge you; saving you from the wrath of the Oikawa fan club. You hide around the corner, knowing you’re going to have to face him eventually and come through on your agreement to go to karaoke night.

He finds you a few minutes later, already grinning devilishly and wiggling his eyebrows. “Trying to sneak out?”

“Maybe.”

“Too late!” He links his arm through yours and drags you out from your hiding place. “Well? Did you like it? Volleyball, I mean.”

You try very hard not to fixate on his proximity, not wanting to give anything away. If you’ve learned anything about Oikawa at all since you started spending more time with him is that he is far more observant than he looks. And he certainly showed that down on the court today. “It was fun to watch. And you’re really good.”

He beams, though this time it feels half-assed. “You think so?”

“Yeah. I have a question though.”

“Shoot!”

“Why are your knee pads different colors?”

Oikawa almost stops in his tracks. Why of all things is that the thing you noticed? But he composes himself and says smoothly, “I couldn’t find my other black one. Coach nearly ripped me a new one.” You don’t believe him. To his relief, he catches sight of his teammates and picks up his pace dragging you behind him. “It’s karaoke time!”

~

He introduces you to his teammates, and they’re all extremely nice and welcoming. It helps that they’ve invited people of their own too, so you don’t feel like you’re intruding on anything. Oikawa grills you about the game while people take turns on the karaoke machine. It’s fun talking to him about it, as he clearly loves the sport, and you don’t mind indulging him.

Though what you won’t indulge him in is getting up on the stage and singing. You’re enjoying watching others do it, particularly Oikawa belt his heart out and make a complete fool of himself. Even though every time he gets up there, he does his very best to coax you to join him. He even goes so far as to dance off the stage and come over to where you’re sitting, giving you his signature pout that he thinks you can’t resist.

On about his third go, he’s eyeing you up and you just know he’s planning something ridiculous. His final and most outrageous scheme to get you up on stage yet—you’re sure of it. To thwart him, you get up to refill your glass of water; to which he panics and leaps off the stage dramatically to stop you.

When his feet hit the floor, he isn’t expecting his bad knee to buckle beneath him, making him feel like the air has just been knocked out of him as he stumbles to the floor. He’s at least used to hiding his pain, so he’s able to swallow the shout that almost escapes him.

Though a few steps away, his head jerks up at the sound of your voice barking out in pain. Without warning, blazing pain laces up your thigh and you crumple to the floor. The room has gone utterly silent, only the sound of the music playing fills the air, and Oikawa feels like his heart is about to bust out of his chest.

He isn’t prepared for you to whip around, still on your hands and knees, and hiss, “You liar!” He pales under the weight of your stare. You struggle to your feet and storm out of the building, doing your best not to limp, and he thinks he’d very much like to dissolve into the floor now. His teammates are staring at him in disbelief and one of them says, “Guess we should tell your fan club to cancel their weekly soulmate meetings.”  

“You guys are awful,” he sighs and grips the nearest table to hoist himself to his feet. He tests his weight on his knee and finds that it isn’t as bad as it could have been, just landed wrong. Despite teasing him, his team shoos him out the door to find you.

This definitely wasn’t not what he was expecting when he found his soulmate.

No surprise that he finds you in your room, and when he walks in you just huff and pull your knees closer to your chest. “So, you’re the damn idiot destroying his knee.” Leaning on the doorframe, he’s aware that he should keep his distance for now. “Why did you lie?”

“It’s a touchy subject.”

You groan, flopping back onto your bed, knowing it’s best to not press the issue. Not until he’s ready to explain it to you. “Oikawa Tooru,” you muse. “My soulmate.”

He steps a little farther into the room and peers down at you on your bed. “How come you gotta say it like that? I’d say you’re the luckiest girl in the world,” he teases.

“Oh god.”

“Now you’re just making me sad,” he pouts, going so far as to sit on your bed with you.

Lifting your head up to look at him, the tightness in his chest loosens at the small smile on your lips. “Your fan club’s going to kill me.”

He just stares at you for a moment before bursting out into full blown laughter. You’re taken aback, never having heard Oikawa laugh so unabashedly before, but find that your own smile grows on your face.  “I’ll handle them,” he says, then opens his arms up to you. “Now can we have a real ‘soulmate’ moment please?”

You can’t help but throw yourself into his arms and melt into his embrace. He wraps his arms around you and pets your head softly, kissing the top of it, letting himself enjoy this moment. He’s…glad it’s you. He enjoys being around you, able to be himself and not put on the façade he’s perfected for his fan club. “I’ll tell you about the knee sometime, I promise,” he says into your hair.

He feels you chuckle and against his chest reply, “You better, seeing as I have to deal with it too.” You squeeze him gently and comfortingly. “But for now, let’s focus on me not getting murdered in my sleep by a gaggle of fan girls, okay?”

He lets his laugh come out unrestrained again, a beautiful sound you hope to never stop hearing, and holds you even tighter against his chest, like if he lets go, you’ll slip right through his fingers. Good thing you live right next door.

~

The way Oikawa breaks it to his fan club is by no means gentle. He’s watched you be nervous about it for the past couple days, always peering around corners, and being generally on edge when you’re out in public with him. So, when he does spot them across campus, he pulls you into his arms and although you whisper angrily, “What are you doing? They’re right there!” He presses his lips to yours and kisses you for all the world to see.

And while you normally love how unfairly good kisser he is, you also really hate it because it makes all your thoughts disappear. You like to tease him it’s his secret talent, which he takes far too much pride in. He’s notorious for striding into your room and making you forget all about whatever homework you were doing.

But do you really mind?

[aelin-queen-of-terrasen]

Fake dating/marriage + "Maybe, just maybe, if I get a free drink I might consider talking to you." for Rowaelin PLEASEE

note: thank you for the prompt, love! I'm so sorry this took so long. I'm a little proud of the way it turned out tho. if you'd like to check out my other fics, here's the Masterlist!

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

Rowan is exhausted by the time he reaches his apartment—the sleepless nights catching up to him. He has had a bad week and he is looking forward to spending his weekend locked up in his bedroom when the sound of a text makes him groan to himself. Rowan only knows one person who still texts him, aware of his dislike for texting. He pulls his phone out to see a message from Aelin: I need a favour. Rowan is tempted to ignore the message but given her hatred for him, it has to be something important if she asked.

He replies: What have you done now? She is a little hellion after all. Rowan regrets the day he agreed to go on a blind date with her.

Lysandra insisted they go on a date together and he had always thought she was beautiful and he'd agreed. The date had gone horrible as could be. Rowan showed up late because of traffic, the food was cold and tasteless and Rowan managed to forget his wallet home. In hopes of redeeming himself, he proposed a romantic walk around the beach and get ice cream except the ice cream shop was closed and it rained, drenching them both in cold water. As if it wasn't bad enough, his car broke down in the middle of nowhere when he tried to drop her off. Ever since, Aelin texts him after every date to give tips on how to not be a total disaster.

And gods, the woman can get under his skin like no one else ever has.

His phone rings, Aelin's name flashing on his screen before he picks up, grateful that for once she decided not to text. She says by way of greeting, "Look, I ran into my ex and mentioned I have a boyfriend. He thinks I'm shitting him and I need you to come "pick me up" so I can shove our relationship in his face. Pleaseeee?" Rowan isn't sure if he's more annoyed or amused.

He settles on amused. "And why do you need me for this? Why only me?"

Aelin huffs in annoyance and there's complete silence on the other line before she admits, "I bragged a little too much about how hot he is and now, no one fits the bill but you." Yep, definitely amused.

"You think I'm hot?"

"You know you're hot. You shouldn't need me to tell you that." Another huff from her side. "So will you help or not?"

Rowan considers it. The idea of hanging up is tempting but she's desperate. He doesn't need her hating him more. "Maybe, just maybe, if I get a free drink, I might consider talking to you." He sits up, still dressed well enough to pick up his girlfriend. "I'll charge extra for pretending to be a perfect boyfriend."

"Name your price."

Rowan only smiles. "I'll let you know when I get there."

The nightclub Aelin's at is close enough to his apartment that it takes less than fifteen minutes to get there. It's an expensive place for people with lavish tastes—the kind Rowan would never be caught dead at. Everything from drinks to decorations screams Aelin. He's not surprised this is the club she hangs out at. It's as ridiculous and fancy and over-the-top as her. He spots her leaning against a wall, her face turned towards someone.

She wears an off-shouldered black dress with a dangerously high slit in it. Her blonde hair tied in an elegant side bun, she looks prettier than he remembered.

She looks in the middle of a tense, unwanted conversation when Rowan arrived. "Aelin! There you are." He hopes his smile is convincing enough.

Rowan doesn't like the way she looks with her arms crossed over her chest in a defensive manner, her lips pressed into a thin line and eyes trained on the floor. She has shrunk into herself, made herself small and fragile and timid. She looks unlike the fiery spirit who sends him tips on how to plan a good date every so often just out of spite because he fucked up one evening of her life months ago. He decides immediately that he hates whoever makes her feel like this person in front of him because this is certainly not the Aelin he knows.

To his pleasure, Aelin relaxes the moment she notices him. "Rowan! Just the guy I wanted to see." Then she rises on her toes, kissing him on the cheek.

Rowan hoped he looked better than he felt, his insides in a turmoil even once Aelin pulled back. "Sorry I'm late, love. Traffic was insane."

She placed a comforting hand on his arm, jerking her chin towards her companion. "Ro, that's Chaol Westfall. Chaol, this is Rowan. My boyfriend." As if to back her words up, she puts an arm around his waist and pulls him closer. Rowan lets her do as she pleases.

Chaol extends a hand. "Nice to meet you, Rowan. Aelin talks about you a lot."

"Yeah? She didn't mention you much and that's saying something considering we've been dating for almost ten months now." That was around the time the two of them went on that damned date. Chaol couldn't have dated her after the whole thing because thanks to Aelin's insulting little tips, he knows about all the guys she's gone on a date with and if he's as bad as he seems, he'd have remembered Aelin talking about him.

One look at her confirms his suspicions. Aelin quirks an eyebrow when he brings her a drink. You're having too much fun with this whole thing.

Yeah, well, Rowan shrugs, I might as well enjoy this. The guy's an asshole.

Aelin nods, taking another sip of her drink as the three of them decided to sit down for drinks. Rowan is feeling underdressed in this place, especially with Aelin looking like a literal goddess by his side.

Chaol beats around the bush with easy questions about his job and all until: "No offense, Rowan, but you don't seem like Aelin's usual type."

"None taken. People's tastes do tend to improve over time." Aelin chokes on her drink and Rowan feels a little bad for being mean to a man he barely knows but then he remembers the way Aelin looked when he entered and the flushed look on Chaol's face makes his forget about all the shit he's had to deal with this week. He probably shouldn't be having as much fun with this as he is.

Aelin loops an arm around Rowan's. "I think we should go home now." She downs the rest of her shot in one big gulp before rising from her seat.

She turns towards Rowan, eyes shining under the dim lights of the private booth. She smells of alcohol and something sweet and floral—jasmine, maybe?—eyes shining alight with a question he can read in her eyes, a small smile playing on her lips. Can I kiss you?Rowan can feel Chaol's eyes fixed on his back but when he nods, he finds that it has little to do with pissing a stranger off and a lot to do with Aelin.

Aelin kisses him and his whole world erupts into fireworks. From the second their lips touch, there's only her and her lips and her hands roving his back and that gods damned scent driving him insane. He doesn't know why she's kissing him but Rowan is not kissing her to piss someone off or to prove a point. He wonders how this evening would've played out if that night hadn't gone to shit—if this kiss would have been real instead of pretend, if they would have lasted ten months. He's terrified of finding out.

Rowan almost groans when he pulls back. The grin on her face strikes him stupid. She whispers in his ear, "How's that for payment?" Aelin grabs his hand, leading him out of the club.

He doesn't spare a look at Chaol, doesn't miss a single beat as he replies: "Hmm, I need more for all the insults I pulled." They are almost outside when Rowan continues, "How about a chance? I want a chance to change your mind. You, me, another date. I'm sorry the last one went as bad as it did and you probably hate me and you're gonna say no, of course—"

"I don't hate you."

He's not sure he heard her right. "Huh?"

"I don't hate you," Aelin repeats. "None of that was your fault. It was a bad day is all. I waited two weeks for you to ask me out again to make up for it though. When you didn't, I took matters into my own hands to text you about the only thing I could think of."

Rowan gapes. "Pardon? You're telling me the whole tips ploy was what? A ruse?" His mouth hangs open.

"To keep us talking, yes. Besides, it was fun pissing you off," Aelin says.

He did always think it was strange how for someone who claimed to be so mad about having wasted one evening on a bad date, she sure spent a lot of time sending him tips and bantering with him over texts afterwards. He had apologized to her numerous times afterwards but he'd never considered that she might still want another date. To think of all the months he'd wasted.

He shakes his head but he's smiling. "Will you go on a date with me, Aelin?"

She chuckles, face brightening. "I can honestly say there's nothing I want more." As the two of them part ways, Aelin kisses him on the cheek. Rowan watches her leave silently, a big smile on his face. No more wasting time, he promises himself.

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

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[glimmerglanger]

Whumptober 2020 - Day 1

It’s Whumptober time! I’m so excited! Starting things off with the Oof!au (or at least part one of it). This interconnected Vader-captures-Obi-Wan story is gonna take me most of the first two weeks. (A good time will not be had by Obi-Wan. Or Cody. But there IS a happy ending at the end of the road.) I’m going to include warnings for each section as I post. Some of them will be extensive. This one is mostly just hurt and injuries.

The fic as a whole is both past and eventual Codywan. There is one-sided Vaderwan. Again, I’ll definitely have a lot of warnings for some later chapters.

LET’S HANG OUT SOMETIME

Waking Up Restrained | Shackled | Hanging

Pain, Obi-Wan’s oldest and most familiar friend, woke him up. He resisted the urge to groan, swallowing back the sound in his throat. He couldn’t quite… remember what had happened last, before he lost consciousness. There’d been blaster fire, bounty hunters hunting him through the canyons north of his home. He’d deflected a bolt and heard a rumble from above…

He stopped trying to push for the memories. He could dig into the past later, after assessing his current situation. 

He hurt. It was an all-encompassing kind of pain, ringing through his body from his scalp to his feet. The agony was not helped by his current position. He gritted his teeth as the burning pain in his shoulders shot to the forefront of his thoughts.

Someone had… hung him up, it seemed, by the wrists. He couldn’t touch the ground, not even if he pointed his toes, though the effort did set him to swinging, slightly. The movement made his stomach lurch, nausea swimming up through his gut as his head throbbed, sudden and sharp.

Concussion, he decided. He knew well enough what that kind of brain trauma felt like; he’d had plenty of experience getting hit over the head. He couldn’t recall the impact, but, then… short-term memory loss was hardly an uncommon side effect.

He noted the other injuries across his body as best he could, through his swimming thoughts. His hands and arms were nothing but pain, but he couldn’t tell how much of that was from his position. He had no idea how long he’d been swinging, slowly, from his wrists, bonds cutting into his skin, crushing bone together.

His right side hurt and felt wet, from his shoulder down past his hip. His feet were the only thing that didn’t hurt, but only because they’d gone numb. That was, he knew, not a good sign. He kept breathing, as carefully as he could, willing the nausea and dizziness away, trying to focus enough to stretch out his senses.

Obi-Wan could feel things… vaguely. It felt like someone had stuffed cotton into his head. He knew that there were other people around him, but couldn’t sense much beyond that. The Force evaded him, dancing away the more he tried to grab it. He gave up with a gasp, after a moment, swallowing bile.

For a moment he just swung. But that was, honestly, getting him nowhere. He needed more information, and so he cracked his eyes open. It took effort. His left eye felt almost sealed shut, lashes clumped together with filth. His right opened, but everything was blurry through it, distorted. 

Not that there was much to see. He was in some kind of metal room. The walls were all gray. The entire space was poorly lit with a greenish glow. There were some crates around him; in fact, there wasn’t much room. He’d been packed in, like a piece of freight, and something about that made a chill run down his spine.

It was cool, in the little room, but not as cold as a night on Tatooine. Even still, he felt himself shivering, perhaps because someone had taken most of his clothes. They’d left him in his underwear, which felt unpleasant against his skin, soaked with clotting blood.

He thought, disjointedly, that it was fortunate for whoever had captured him that they had a drain under his feet. Based on the reddish smears on the floor, he’d bled quite heavily at some point. He could have made a tremendous mess, a thought that made him wheeze a weak laugh.

The blood drying across his back and chest itched. He wished, dearly, that he could scratch, could do anything but spin, gently, in the cold, cramped room, his thoughts tangled and clumsy.

He tried, eventually, to pull himself up, just a little, to take some of the strain off of his shoulders, but his back exploded into sharp-edged agony during the attempt and he gagged, for a moment unable even to breathe. He listened to a splatter of liquid across the floor. Blood, he realized. He must have reopened a wound.

The sound of the blood hitting metal and the feel of warmth running down his back and thigh filled the entire world for a long time. He lost track of time. Hours could have passed or days or perhaps only seconds when a change in the light of the room drew his attention.

Obi-Wan blinked, lifting his head with a hiss and blinking his stinging eyes. The brighter light came from a door that had opened. A figure stood in the door, tall and hulking, green skinned. Scaled, perhaps. 

Obi-Wan recognized him as one of the bounty hunters from back on Tatooine, which… explained some things, anyway. He couldn’t recall exactly how they’d captured him, but had a fleeting recollection of rocks coming down, of a mountain falling on him….

“Hello,” Obi-Wan rasped, his voice, at least, steady. “I don’t suppose you could let me down?”

The bounty hunter jerked, looking up at him with surprise written across his features. “You can’t be awake,” he growled, a hiss shaping the consonants. He reached for something on his belt. 

Obi-Wan tried to make his mouth quirk into a smile. It hurt. He said, “I think you’ll find--”

“Shut up!” The bounty hunter snarled, delivering a blow to his stomach that left him spinning wildly and finally caused him to lose the battle with the nausea in his gut. He retched, taking some small pleasure in knowing that most of it splattered across his tormentor.

The bounty hunter jerked back, making a disgusted, clicking sound in his throat, snarling, “We are not to listen to a word you say. Lord Vader was very specific.”

And the retort Obi-Wan had planned died on his tongue. He forgot how to breathe, for a moment, ribs pinching in on his lungs and hurt, awful dread crawling up his spine and making a home in his head.

Vader. Anakin. No--

But it was not, really, a surprise. He knew perfectly well Anakin had been hunting for him. He’d just not expected he’d be caught, he’d thought it would take longer for Anakin to look on Tatooine; he’d hoped, vaguely, that no one ever would, but, after he’d hazarded a few communications with Bail, perhaps he should have expected--

“What the kriff are you doing?” another voice demanded, sharp and higher pitched. He heard a scuffle, but couldn’t focus on it, not through the pain and all the memories, images from Mustafar swimming up into his thoughts, choking him.

“Lord Vader said--”

“He said we were to bring in this kriffer alive, idiot.” And, oh, didn’t that just make the cold spreading through Obi-Wan’s veins a dozen degrees chillier. He couldn’t think of a single pleasant reason for Anakin to want him alive. “Knock him out and see to these wounds, before he bleeds out.”

“Yes, ma’am. Time for you to go back to sleep,” the first bounty hunter said, something bitter in his tone, derailing his thoughts. Obi-Wan flinched when the man grabbed him - he’d spun around and could not see his captor - and then there was a cold, sharp bite of metal against his stomach.

Obi-Wan looked down, shocked by the burn that raced beneath his skin, in time to watch the bounty hunter pull a long, thin syringe out of his gut. He opened his mouth, intending to ask what was in the syringe, what they’d done to him, what--

The world got blurry, quickly. And then it got dark, the black closing in from the edges of his vision, all at once. He shook his head, trying to stay awake. He needed to get out, needed to get away, he could not fall into Anakin’s hands, he knew too much about Luke and Leia, about Bail and Yoda, he couldn’t--

The dark swallowed him, utterly and completely.

[purplejeon]

warmth is the promise of affection yesterday, today, and tomorrow

— taehyung x female reader — vampire hunters!au — anathema: a drabble series | PG-13 — there are 1443 words because i love love you — fluff because taehyung is a certified sweetheart; a bit of brooding so i guess that’s angst

When the sun rose today, Taehyung had plans. Several dozens of them. It's been a few weeks since the two of you decided not to be in the constant presence of the other, not when his musty wet-earth scent has been sticking to your skin.

How that came to be was quite an affair and is a different story altogether.

Right. So. About that game plan.

Taehyung had been and is still very much against it, but he knows it's for the better. It may be difficult for them to capture Taehyung, a vampire-Hunter, but you're just a human, albeit a Hunter, and regular weapons work on you.

He isn't sure if it's a good thing he's unaware of the fate of Traitors.

Huffing the thought away, Taehyung buries himself under a thousand layers of clothing. It's still freezing outside and it will not do well to call people's attention unnecessarily. That, and he also needs to bury his telltale vampire scent beneath laundry soap and musky perfume.

He also has plans to take you out to the movies—a plan he knows you won't agree to easily. At least not when the sun's still up. Taehyung needs to be inconspicuous if he wanted you to agree at all. He hopes you’d agree.

Taehyung misses the toe-curling anticipation you only get when you're in the movies, the too wide and too tall screen that overwhelms your senses, the cheap Popcorn Smell™ that makes your mouth water, and the collective gasps at the shocking events.

But more than that, he misses you and everything he had always been doing with you. Taehyung knows that you're risking your life being with him and he's resolute in making today normal.

Like nothing big has changed.

Like he isn't a vampire.

Taehyung just wants to focus on making you happy, as he had always done. Fiancée or not, you're his partner-in-crime, and for everything you've done for him, you deserve to be happy.

As it turns out, the day has other plans.

At first, he had been too caught up in his thoughts to realize what it was, but when he finally does—well. It is impossible to ignore it now. He becomes stiller than a statue, eyes sharp and breath paused.

You sniffle, loud and clear.

It doesn't matter how you're several kilometers away from him. Your voice is something he has always been attuned to—something that got more intense after he turned.

Sniff.

There it is again.

It doesn't require experience to understand that no, that isn't a cold and yes, you're actually crying.

Taehyung does not hesitate even for a millisecond. Immediately, he is out his door and in front of yours, humans and Hunters be damned. He himself be damned.

All that matters to him right now is how to make you stop crying. It breaks his heart when you're crying.

"What's wrong, Chip?"

His voice startles you; you whip your head towards him mid-sob. You pale a little and Taehyung understands. You probably didn't expect him to come over today, especially not at this hour, but here he is.

You blink once, twice, then you shudder.

Taehyung's heart breaks at how swollen and how flushed your face is. He wonders how long you've been crying and how long he hadn't noticed.

Whoever did this is irrelevant. Whoever it is will pay, Taehyung will make sure of it. But for now, those tears need to stop.

"Come on," he remains outside your door, his arms wide open. "Let me in so I can give you a hug."

"Taehyung?" You manage to choke out, disbelief still on your face. You stare at him and he stares at you right back.

He shifts on the balls of his feet, arms still raised awkwardly. It doesn't seem like you'll be coming to hug him anytime soon, so he pushes just a bit more.

You usually liked his hugs.

"Let me in," he repeats, warmth swirling within his body as a ghost of a smile finds its way to your lips. "You look like you need a hug."

That's, uhhh, mostly a lie. While you do need a hug, Taehyung needs it more than you do. He hates when he sees you like this, folded over and lost. It feels so wrong.

You are strong and you take pride in that.

Taehyung takes pride in supporting you when you need it.

An angry flame of hatred burns within Taehyung, easily overpowering the quiet flicker of happiness that had been present a few minutes ago. Taehyung hates what he's become because he can't rush to you in the ways he usually would. Because he can't do what he usually could.

It gets frustrating sometimes.

"Taehyung, it's 9 AM. What're you doing out and about?"

The flame quiets and Taehyung smiles. Of course, his safety is your first concern. You don't mind how you're cold or how you're tired. Or how a full-fledged vampire is standing at your door and that there might be a Hunter around and—Taehyung harshly cuts that train of thought off. The point is you should really be more concerned about your safety.

You're a Traitor now.

You should also be more concerned about how dry your throat is. Taehyung makes a quick note to get you to drink as much water as he can. Later.

"Uh, I really kind of need you to let me in now, Chip, because most people would be freezing here, outside, right now. I am not. You're freezing right now. We can't have you frostbitten, can we?"

It seems that was the moment you realized that yes, you're actually shivering and slightly numb from the cold.

"Oh, shit. Come in, Taehyung."

"There we go. So who're we going to punch in the gut?"

You smile bitterly.

"It's nothing, Tae. I'm just having a little crisis."

You don't want to expound, but the things left unsaid hang heavily in the air. Taehyung braves the waters and asks the question you probably hoped he wouldn't.

"Because of me, yeah?"

Pain and guilt flicker on your face, but you cover them all up. A wrinkle appears on your forehead, and Taehyung reaches out to touch it.

"If it is, you do know I will willingly surrender to you, right? There won't even be a fight whatsoever."

"That makes it even worse," you look at your hands as you whisper. "I don't know how to fix this."

"Then don't. We'll find a way somehow. It's just been a few months, Chip. We'll be fine for a few more. There's no rush at all."

"But if they find us—"

Gloom settles on Taehyung's shoulders, but he tries to smile anyway. You look at his fangs, and it makes Taehyung feel a certain type of way.

"If they do, I'll fight them and take you away. As hostage."

You smile dimly.

"A willing hostage."

Taehyung chuckles at that. He feels a little guilty because he's feeling a tad bit too excited at the idea of you running away with him, in exchange for you practically gambling for your life against him and against the Hunters. It's a no-win situation for you, but an us-against-the-world situation for Taehyung.

Us.

Horrible it may be, Taehyung likes the sound of that.

"A hostage who will never get hurt as long as I'm alive. I'm your knight in ripped jeans and baseball caps."

"And a mullet, it appears." You reach out to touch his nape, but you pull back, a little wary.

Taehyung can't deny his disappointment, but then he realizes you pulled back because he froze. Deathly still.

He wants to kick himself on the head.

"Hey, I look good in it. Bet I can make you swoon."

You make a face and Taehyung feels accomplished. If you're making those expressions now, then you're surely feeling better. Your smile is adorable and Taehyung would like to keep seeing it for as long as he lives, so he decides, right there and then, that he'll never let any harm befall you again. There won't be any do-overs, unlike last time.

This is the last chance.

"You know, you're disgusting half of the time, annoying the other half. Oh, and you got a dumb brain up there, but my life sucks less with you around. Thanks, Taehyung."

"You do realize there's a lot more sucking when I'm involved, right?"

Taehyung wiggles his eyebrows at you.

"Will you stop talking? Oh my God, I'm trying to be sentimental here."

"I didn't say anything wrong though?"

"Taehyung!"

Taehyung decides this is a great way to spend today too. His plans will have to wait.

[do-androids-dream-ao3acc]

Following a prompt by @frances-the-red here, who said she required “whump, a sexy bath scene and a sword fight”. All in one, you say? Why, yes. 

Have “And the scars don’t write a song for me at all” (not a line from a Blind Guardian song, surprise!). It was quite easy because I already had an unused bath scene from an abandoned fic, that I just polished a bit and removed the smut. The rest is just the usual nonsense. 

4300 words, mild Violence warning. Read it under the cut or on AO3.

   Geralt awoke to find the bed was empty next to him. The room was dark, curtains still drawn. It was not unusual for Emhyr to rise with the sun's first rays, the early birdsong being his wake-up call. It was certainly very early; still, Geralt sensed it was not dawn yet. He got up, wrapping the blanket around his body. He'd made it a habit of sleeping naked in the palace – where not only the fireplace but also his husband regularly warmed him. Yet it was still winter, and the mornings were chilly. A quick tug on the curtains confirmed that there was time yet before dawn. The blackness of the night only slowly faded into a softer gray, illuminated at this hour only by a few lights from the city below.

Slowly he crossed the room, the coolness of the stone floor a sharp contrast to his body, still warm from sleep. The adjoining chamber door was open, and there he found Emhyr's silk robe hanging over a paravent. Behind it, unusually for the early hour, a bathtub was steaming with hot water. Emhyr's eyes were closed, but he seemed anything but relaxed: his arms were leaning on the edges of the tub, the fingers of his right hand playing an impatient little concert on the wood.

"You overdo it with cleanliness," Geralt remarked.

Emhyr opened his eyes, and Geralt was greeted by an amber glow so similar to his own. There were moments when Emyhr's eyes took on the color of ripe hazelnuts, but not now, not at this hour.

"I didn't want to wake you," he returned. "It helps me think."

"Contemplating before the sun rises? What's bothering you so much?"

"Come here," Emhyr said instead of an answer, and his hand underlined his words with a restless gesture.

That was a demand quickly obeyed. Geralt soon found himself pulled down, a firm hand on his neck and persuading lips on his own. After this passionate morning greeting, Geralt's voice sounded a bit rough.

"I'm not going to complain, but..."

"You know what I'm thinking about."

Geralt actually knew. The latest intelligence reports had led Emhyr to tighten security around Vizima. They seemed to be mere rumors for the time being, but their prolonged absence for the wedding in Nilfgaard seemed to make some local factions believe the emperor had developed a weakness. Not merely a weakness for a certain witcher, but perhaps a waning interest in strategy and political calculation, at least in the short term. In this, they were wrong, and Emhyr by no means took the flashing little skirmishes here and there lightly.

"Join me," Emhyr said, holding out his hand. "Make sure I don't think about it, if that's what you want."

The invitation sounded almost like an order, not to the witcher, but the husband. If it was, it was easy to follow, and Geralt stripped off the blanket. He bent over Emhyr in search of another kiss, and the firm grip on his neck resumed. Lips as hot as the rising steam met his, and for a while, the world shut down.

The steam seemed to cloud Geralt's senses – their lips parted, but Emhyr's face appeared to him as if he would look through a fog. He still felt his hand on his neck, and the grip seemed to get stronger. Then, he did not understand how it happened, the pressure became even harder, pushing his head under water. It was much less warm than expected, and the sudden immersion was a shock. Only reflexes and an immediate instinct prevented him from swallowing water. It was impenetrable to his eyes, far too dark, far too unreal. Some part of him refused to comprehend what was happening. His arm shot up, his hand searching for a hold but finding none.

It's a dream, he thought, a dream, a nightmare, and I will wake up soon.

But if this was a dream, why did he feel the air escaping from his lungs? Suddenly, the water dissolved into murky darkness. Now, he wasn't sure of anything anymore. Was he floating or lying on the ground? Part of this felt like a memory that was slightly off.  Slowly the darkness gave way to an unreal gray, and Geralt realized that his eyes were still (or again?) open. Sounds kicked in as if all of his senses suddenly remembered how to work. There were unfamiliar voices, smells, and feelings. No, not all of this was unfamiliar. There was something his mind needed a moment to recognize... a sensation, sharp and hot and throbbing.

    Pain. A feeling he knew – and an excellent instrument to come back to reality. Then, light. Now his eyes were able to focus: there was a wooden ceiling above him, small golden reflections of sunlight dancing on it. A house, a hut, maybe. He focused on the pain. The cause was not hard to find: an arrow sticking out of his right thigh. Moreover, his gaze fell on shackles on his wrists. Handcuffs, not a simple rope. Someone wanted to make absolutely sure that he would not free himself so quickly. In two ways, because his quick inventory told him something else: the arrowhead had been soaked in poison, and that was still inside him. Poisoning a witcher wasn't easy, but apparently, whoever had done it knew what to do.

His accelerated heartbeat and temporarily decreased breathing – a feeling that had manifested itself in a dream or hallucination – were clear evidence. The memory had been buried under the poisoning effects, but now he remembered this morning clearly. The actual events had been much more pleasant. They had made love impetuously on the damp floor next to that tub. Later, the breakfast had been interrupted by a messenger, asking for the witcher's urgent help. Should that have made him suspicious? The forests around Vizima were usually spared from any monsters. According to the vague description, it could have been anything from wraiths to a lost troll. He had not become wary, had followed his damned sense of duty, and walked right into a trap.

That part was still a bit blurry, but a surprising noise, a handful of guys looking like vagabonds, and a sudden arrow in his thigh definitely had something to do with it. Here he was, once again, a tied-up package somewhere in the wilderness, a victim to his own good-naturedness. Or dumbness, he thought, observing the handcuffs closely. At that moment, a crooked door opened, letting in more light than was comfortable for Geralt's eyes.

"Oh well, look at that, our princess is no longer slumbering."

A sleazy guy entered, a whole head shorter than Geralt, from head to toe the type of obnoxious order-taker that Geralt was pretty sure lacked the intelligence to come up with such a bold plan. He was right. Pushing past the guy was a taller man, beefy and bald, with a rather ugly scar from his right ear to his shoulder. Did someone ever try to chop your head off? thought Geralt incoherently. Dark eyes under bushy eyebrows regarded the witcher with due suspicion. Far more conspicuous, however, was the sword scabbard at the man's hip. For Geralt would have recognized the weapon's handle in it anywhere - it was his own, the silver sword. Of the two they had taken from him, it was by far the more valuable, and Baldy must have decided to keep it.

"Faster than I thought," he said.

His companion appeared slightly nervous.

"We still have a bit of that stuff, shall we..."

"We don't want to kill him," the other cut him off. "I already thought he'd suffocate; that's too risky on me."

"If it somehow matters that I survive, it would be quite useful to remove this poisoned arrow," Geralt replied nonchalantly, if a bit hoarsely.

He noticed a sour taste in his mouth. Somewhere, sometime, he must have vomited up some of the poison, but it had not helped much. Apparently, they had made sure that he did not choke on it, which also indicated that they wanted him alive, at least for the moment. From then on, it was easy to put two and two together. Ridiculous that he had fallen for it, but not the first attempt of this kind.

"Let that linger as long as possible," Baldy said, deadpan. "If you ever get back to your pretty palace, someone can cut that thing out for you."

The "if" was striking.

"You've already calculated that there might be no ransom, but you still came up with the insane idea of kidnapping a witcher," Geralt said calmly. It wasn't even a question.

"But one that seems to mean quite a bit to our new ruler," the bald one returned. "And look, all it took was a well-aimed arrow and some poison."

In other words, an element of surprise that didn't come to many. Geralt knew how amazed people like this were when they found out that witchers also ended up bleeding like ordinary people. Maybe not as long and not as persistent, but the bastard was right: an arrow and a bit of poison had been enough. Of course, it wasn't always quite that simple, but chance and luck had played into these guys' hands.

"Well, we'll see if we can capitalize on our catch, won't we? The swords, the dagger, and what we found in your pockets are probably compensation enough, should that not be the case. And if I don't need you in the end, I'll pull that pretty ring off your finger and have it melted down in Mahakam."

With these words, Baldy turned back to the door, pushed his accomplice out, and both disappeared. Gotta give him credit for having guts, Geralt thought. A bit of a megalomaniac, perhaps, but what did he have to lose? For scum like him, peacetime had little to offer. So why not stack up a little? Quite possible that they weren't even looking for a ransom now that they had valuable witcher weapons, which would fetch quite a bit in shady auction houses. Perhaps they had also concluded that the matter was too big in the end. They certainly didn't want to risk the army getting on their trail. Even Baldy could not be so shrewd as to believe that he was slipping through the fingers of the emperor's expected wrath. Whatever they were up to, they made a typical mistake: underestimating a witcher was never a good idea. And firing an arrow in his leg and tying his hands was not nearly enough. Neither was Geralt the princess they took him for, nor did he need rescuing.

Trying to sit up, he felt a bit dizzy. There was still poison inside his system; there would be until the arrow was removed. It was tempting to do it right now, and he could have done it even with cuffed hands. But without any knife, it was a gruesome business, and a painful one. As he could get a closer look now, he noticed the tip stuck quite deep in his thigh. He would do too much damage if he just ripped it out, so he focused on the shackles first. Solid steel with a short chain. No big deal, Geralt had learned such things as a boy. Lambert, Eskel, and he had always tried to outdo each other in their numerous attempts to escape from handcuffs. Vesemir had had to rescue one of them time and again, chained to all sorts of objects. Lambert once almost strangled himself when he was desperate to prove that he could free himself by hanging one-handed from the stair railing in Kaer Morhen.

Geralt shook his head. Not the right moment for merry (or rather not) reminiscences. If they had tied his arms behind his back, things wouldn't have been quite so simple, but they hadn't bothered. So Geralt only had to patiently twist the chain's individual links into each other until they locked. When that happened, he braced himself against the inevitable pain and pulled his hands apart with all his might. As expected, the metal broke after a few seconds, and his hands were free. He had no way to remove the remains from his wrists, and Geralt could already vividly imagine Emhyr's comments on this. This only spurred him on, so he looked for a hold on the wall behind him to carefully prop himself up.

Finally, he stood, painful as it was, but now he was able to assess the little window. He peered out cautiously from the side. Outside, he saw a handful of horses, their reins thrown loosely over the rickety remains of a fence. Roach was not among them. Smart girl, he thought. Didn't let yourself get caught. The guys outside had no idea that the soldiers were probably already closer to them than they thought – Roach knew her way back, as any horse in danger would seek refuge in its home stable. Slowly, Geralt limped to the door and listened, letting his senses wander. Most likely, one of them was standing right next to the door. One last time, he glanced at the arrow in his leg. The wound was bleeding again, but there was nothing he could do about it now. All he could do was take advantage of the element of surprise, as they had done with him. Oh, they would be in for a surprise.

With a jerk, he wrenched open the door, gaining a split-second overview. There were only five. Four sleazebags with Baldy as their leader. To the right of the door stood the little guy who had come in first – apparently Baldy's right-hand man. He was carelessly playing around with a sword, weighing it in his hands, observing it. It was part of the loot, Geralt's steel sword. In an instant, it was back in his possession: he rammed his elbow into the guy's face, whereupon the jaw cracked. Completely surprised, the man was not even capable of a scream, and in one fluid motion, Geralt grabbed the sword before it went to the ground like the bandit.

A little commotion broke out among the remaining members of the small band of robbers, and already the bravest among them pounced on Geralt. He attacked with a dagger. Geralt felt a series of small nerve jolts, a tingling sensation that rose up inside him, hardening his muscles. It was anger, he realized. For this was his dagger, not just any weapon; a particularly beautiful piece, pure silver, decorated with a wolf's head on the handle. It was a gift from Emhyr, and the thought that this was the second time somebody tried to steal it from him only fueled his rage. To take this away from him, like they wanted to do with the ring, his fucking wedding ring... It made him forget how tedious and painful it was to move with the arrow still stuck in him. He dodged the attack with a single side step, and the sword drove through the flesh of the assailant as if he were flaying a rabbit.

The bald one still held back, staying in the background, Geralt's sword loosely in his hand. He would not make it easy for him, but he let his comrades run to their doom without hesitation. In the end, they were all the same. Their idea of witchers was vague, almost mystical, but they were all eager to find out if there were any human traits beneath the legends. But then, when they lay in their blood, they whimpered for their pitiful lives, as if to conjure up any humanity they had denied the witcher. 

If they wanted animal instincts, they could have just that. As far as some things were concerned, Geralt had all too human traits, and he didn't hesitate to take his anger out on them, even if it was basically ridiculous, almost childish. He could nearly hear Emhyr's voice in his head, "Those are just objects," he would say. But they weren't, not for him. And he didn't kill the men, he wasn't vengeful and not half the monster they probably took him for.

Number three had his own (well, probably stolen) short sword, but Geralt made short work of him. Soon after, the fourth one also lay in the dust with his eyes wide open, clutching his shoulder with one hand, as if he still couldn't believe where the guy with the arrow in his thigh had gotten the speed and agility from. Geralt was running on pure adrenaline now, and while it would have been a waste to use any potions on these blokes – if he still had them – it wouldn't have hurt to have some now, as his movements seemed to ram the arrow only deeper into his flesh. The remnants of the poison still made him a bit dizzy, and every step was a sharp knife into his leg.  

But now only Baldy was left, and he would soon realize, just like the others, what it meant to mess with a witcher. The guy was either stupid or pretty confident of himself because his nasty face showed no fear. He swung the sword loosely in his hand, a boastful swagger; however, it did not catch. Geralt just stood there, perfectly still, his body balanced so that he put as little weight as possible on his right leg, but ready to do so should it be necessary. They always underestimated one thing: that he was willing to fight through anything, even pain.

"It would be better just to leave now. There's still time," he said against his better judgment. "There's nothing more to gain here."

"But I don't have anything left to lose either, do I?"

A swift, deft advance followed the words. But Baldy tried a blow from above – powerful but predictable, even more so for an experienced swordsman. Geralt ignored the stinging pain in his leg as he took a small step to the right, parrying the blow with his sword held to the side. His quick counterattack was textbook, but in that case, Baldy was trained from it as well – he rolled off the inevitable blow and was back on his feet in no time.

The arrow still secreted a little poison; Geralt felt his body reacting to it. He was slower than usual, his reactions stiffer than necessary, but he doubted his opponent suspected that. He still seemed to think that his injury should stop the witcher. That he would have an easy time of it. But he was wrong. Lunge, feint, and thrust came in quick succession, forcing his opponent to dodge. Despite his rather massive stature, the man was not unskilled, and at some point in his miserable life, he must have learned not only how to hold a sword correctly but how to use it. He did not make the mistake of permanently hitting Geralt's sword, as many untrained fighters did. That only cost strength and brought a somewhat acceptable result only with equal opponents anyway.

Baldy searched for gaps in Geralt's defense (he found none), and when that proved fruitless, he began to try to disrupt his balance with powerful blows. Aiming for the legs seemed to be a reasonable tactic since it was clear that Geralt was dragging his leg. So he aimed at the left one to force him to put more weight on the injured right. It would have worked for anyone else, but not with a witcher. Instead, Geralt turned the tables and permanently shortened the distance between them. He parried the attacks with quick counterattacks, pushing Baldy back, coming closer and closer to him. And the latter reacted precisely like a stressed student who had mouthed off and dared to challenge the master.

The only thing left for him to do was to back away, yet all around the shabby old hut was nothing but forest. So if he didn't want to trip or run backwards into a tree, Baldy was forced to turn an attack into a counterattack. But he lacked the time and skill to do so, and that was his downfall. For a second, he frantically looked behind him to scan the surroundings. That was enough for Geralt to advance. Once again, a tremendous pain shot through his leg as he, both hands on the handle, performed an arcing motion. Once again, he ignored it, and what his attack lacked in apparent elegance, experience and instinct made up for. Strength alone was not the key. Baldy learned that like hundreds before him. Geralt's sword struck him just below the right shoulder, piercing the leather jerkin, causing the overzealous bandit to stumble. Even as he pulled out the blade, Geralt kicked him hard in the stomach. With a surprised gasp, the wannabe abductor went down.

Geralt grabbed the sword in Baldy's hand – his sword – and wrestled it out of his wrist after a brief struggle. He resisted the impulse to give the guy another kick and turned, shifting his weight back onto his left leg. The desire to get rid of the damned arrow became overwhelming. He looked at the horses - decent animals; he could just take one of them. Somehow he would get through the ride back. It occurred to him that he had no idea where he was. He glanced up to at least approximate the direction. The sky was clear, but thunder could be heard in the distance. Geralt blinked, almost disoriented for a moment. The adrenaline in his body stopped working. The last remnants of the poison had not yet disappeared, dizziness set in, and his leg almost gave way.

It was not thunder. Something, still far away, but on a direct course in their direction, was approaching. For a moment, he was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice that Baldy – amazingly still conscious, though losing copious amounts of blood – grabbed his ankle. Pure instinct ensured that he did not instantly go down and that he noticed the slender knife in the other's hand in time. A quick movement of his sword, which was still in his hand, was enough, and Baldy's pathetic little attack went into the dust with his knife.

He cursed, rage in his hate-filled eyes, and Geralt finally had enough. He turned his sword, the hilt pointing down, and took a short swing. But Baldy's hand was still on his ankle, and in a last desperate moment, he pulled hard. Weakened by everything that lay behind him, Geralt now actually began to falter. Bad luck for Baldy, because as he fell, his sword hilt hit the latter right at the wound Geralt had caused him, and he howled and rolled his eyes.

Then Geralt went down on his knees, and that in turn was his bad luck. The pain was so overwhelming that he nearly fainted on the spot. No longer able to keep his balance, he fell forward. Although he reflexively stretched out a hand, he could not prevent the new impact. The arrow bored deeper into his thigh than before. There wasn't even enough breath for a scream. The world turned into fire. But the red flames before his eyes changed to black almost instantly, and he went limp.

    This time, he didn't open his eyes right away when the world returned – or rather, when he returned into it. His senses kicked in one by one, gently, as if he had been asleep for just a moment. He heard the soft crackling of a fireplace from somewhere, and beneath him, he perceived the familiar feeling of smooth sheets. The gentle smell that hit his nose – tart, a little juniper, a little oakwood – made it finally clear where he was. Still, his eyes remained closed just a little longer. There were cool fingers on his much too warm forehead. Something moist stroked over his brow and cheeks, and that felt nice.

"You drowned me in the bathtub, you know," he said, and he felt as if he could almost hear Emhyr's frown.

Now he opened his eyes, but if he had thought the dark eyes above him would look puzzled, he was disappointed.

"You're feverish, Geralt. Be still."

Now that was typical of Emhyr, to tell him off like that although he had almost killed him. Geralt frowned and tried to focus.

"No, that was before. This morning or whatever. You drowned me in the bathtub. Why would you do that?"

Emhyr looked worried for a moment, not sure how to respond. It was not too serious an injury, and the court sorceress had assured him that there was no residue left of the poison. Emhyr had experience with an injured, unconscious, and disoriented Geralt, but little with one who accused him of attempted murder in a fever. He set aside the cloth he had been using to cool Geralt's forehead, brushed a sweaty strand from his face, and gently replied, "I assure you, I have not and will never drown you."

Geralt grinned broadly.

"I thought you were going to say, at most, you'll drown me in your..."

"Don't you dare."

"... love?"

If that was possible, his grin only widened. Emhyr shook his head, let out a small sigh, and maybe the corners of his mouth turned up a very tiny bit.

"You won't remember it in a few hours anyway, but fine, on my account, I'll drown you in love. You're an idiot, you know."

"Yours?"

Emhyr sighed once again. Then he leaned forward, breathed a kiss on Geralt's hot forehead, and replied firmly, "Mine."

And that, Geralt thought before a much more restful sleep overcame him, is probably the most pleasant way to drown.

[loveafterthefact]

Love After the Fact Chapter 76: Going Home? Question Mark?

Lance, Keith, and their ‘associates’ give their farewells and prepare to leave.

Sorry for my perpetual lateness :’(

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Keith sits across from his mother, sipping some tea. Krolia watches him. He’s very still, waiting patiently for her to speak. He's put his circlet back on, though not his Altean clothes, as they no longer fit. A part of her wonders if he has what it takes to be a leader. He always seems so gentle outside of combat.

Perhaps a little too gentle.

“Are you going to tell me, or are you two keeping it to yourselves for now?”

“Putting it like that sort of backs me into a corner,” Keith observes. He worries his lip. “We’re very excited, but I don’t feel ready to celebrate yet.”

“Because you don’t want to feel sad if you miscarry,” Krolia concludes.

Keith nods. Guilt stings at his hearts. “Lance is so happy. I don’t know what I’ll do if-”

“You’re allowed to be happy, kitten.” Krolia pushes some hair out of her son’s face. “Thace’s equipment only goes so far. A few movements ago, we weren’t certain you could get pregnant. Now, you know you can, and you will have every possible chance of bringing this kit into the world.”

"Right..." Gazing around his freshly cleaned den, Keith’s visibly saddened. The windchimes are gone from outside; BleepBloop’s climbing towers missing; the fireplace has been cleaned and scrubbed of soot. The den is empty, like it’s never been lived in. It feels wrong.

“Keith? What-”

“I don’t want to go,” he whispers, throat tight and ready to choke him. “I want to stay here with all of you. I want to see Lance be happy and feel like himself.” “Feel like himself?” Krolai’s ear cocks, trying to understand.

“When we return, Lance will become busy again, with no more excuses to delegate so much of his work. He’ll sort through it, and give me the easy tasks so that he finds time to eat and sleep, and we’ll be together, but apart all over again. He’ll be distant, and coy, and never touch me unless we’re alone and I’ll hate it!” The young man sighs, tugs on a lock of his hair. "I know he's trying, but I don't know how to help him break out of these habits. I don't think he can do it alone, either. I don't want him to."

Krolia fixates on her son, watching his frustration over the rim of her cup. “This is my fault. No one ever told you what being a bearer means on Altea, did they.”

“Obviously I know what it means-”

“No, you don’t.” Krolia’s stare is searing. “Pregnancy is power, Keith. A good man or not, the crown prince is no different than any other Altean sire. You carry his progeny, and he will worship at your feet. He will give you anything you ask for. If you want to be his fawned-over, spoiled pet, tell him. If you want power, tell him. If you want luxury, tell him. If you want to share in his duties, tell him. If you want him to hold you, keep you close all the days of his life, tell him. Whatever you want, he will give it to you.”

“Momma. That’s…”

“That’s survival, kitten. You have power over him. He’s desperate for heirs. After your first kit, hold out on him. You’ll have whatever you want.”

“Momma, what I want is my mate. By my side. Sharing my life.” Keith sips his tea. “I understand what you’re saying. And I understand that you still have concerns about me mated to an Altean, and living on Altea. But I promise, Momma. I promise I don’t have to manipulate Lance into giving me things that I need. I can just ask.”

He waits until his mother meets his gaze. When she does, her eyes are so very sad. Sad for everything they’re still struggling to build between them. He taps his fingers against the clay of his cup, tries to find a way to explain why he’s not worried about having to ask for things.

“You know, when I first arrived, I spent the first movement avoiding everyone, including Lance. I didn’t realize it at the time, but he was watching me. Asking the guards about me. He must have asked the gardeners, or was approached, because it’s the only way he found out about this flower I stole from a greenhouse.” Keith laughs. “The next thing I know this garden he built for me is full of orchids. I kept finding new blankets and pillows, uh. Puzzles. Random trinkets. Raw crystals. Snacks.

“We’re addressing his control issues, obviously, but… He was so desperate to make me comfortable, to make it easier. He cared about me even then. I don’t need to manipulate or use him to get what I need or want. Chances are he’ll give it to me before I even ask.”

“I hope you’re right. I do think better of him. But he wears the face of the species that slaughtered your father. My mate.”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t be blaming my uncle for that?” Keith asks, steady, completely serious.

“An excellent question, kitten. One I ask more every quintant.” The soldier woman gets to her feet. “We should go and meet your mate and your friends. It’s about time for you to leave and we need to stop by my den on our way to the Compound.”

Keith nods, reluctantly following his mother to her own den. BleepBloop is already on their ship, ready for Altea. It’s on the edge of the community. No one owns dens, or even has an ancestral den anymore. Too many people have left, or died. A den becomes empty, and whoever’s lived on the fringes the longest gets to move inward if they like.

“I have something for you,” Krolia tells him. “I suppose, in a way, you have your mate to thank for this. Perhaps you can educate him about it.”

“Okay?”

“Wait here.” Krolia ducks inside her den, coming back out seconds later with a very small wolf cub. “So your mate decided to save an orphaned wolf cub, which was incredibly honorable and respectful of him, but his mother’s companion could not find a surrogate for him, and now he needs a home. The hunter decided that since your mate saved him, you two might like to have him.”

“I-” Keith gulps. Being offered a cub is an extreme honor, especially as an outsider. And the cub is cute. He takes the animal from his mother, rubbing his ears, looking him over. “I love him already. So much.”

Not that he could turn down a wolf cub even if he wanted to. Especially not this one, the one that carries not only a piece of his mother's life force, but Lance's as well. He strokes the wolf’s midnight fur, working a tangle out of the pale blue ruff circling around the animal’s neck and down his back. The cub stares up at him with brilliant, golden eyes.

“I knew you two didn’t have the time for him, so I told Lance I’d keep him here. It was his idea to give him to you today. I guess he thought it might make going home easier.”

“It doesn’t,” Keith whispers. “But it’s still something. Stupid idiot, he’s really toeing that line between secret and surprise.” He holds the cub up to his face, smiling. “You had a rough start, huh?” The cub licks his nose. “Me too. Don’t worry. It gets so much better.” Keith smirks. “Finally someone to take BleepBloop down a peg. He’s gonna be so jealous-”

Keith’s comms unit buzzes in his pocket, a message from Adam: It’s time to go. He takes a deep breath. “Well, little one. Wanna come with me to Altea?”

The animal licks at his face again, tail wagging. Keith grins, cuddles the cub close. Yeah, he’s keeping this little guy.

Keith stalls on his way to the compound, stopping to talk to people, ask a few carefully worded questions about the political climate and what the villagers think of Lance, ask if those thoughts have spread. It’s good news. It means their kit will be a little safer.

“So… Lunch last quintant was a thing, huh?” Lance nibbles at his breakfast. He’s in Allura’s sitting room, one of the few rooms she and Lotor have deemed safe from prying eyes and ears. Meaning Lotor and Pidge searched the room from top to bottom.

Allura nods, eating as quickly and as much as her manners will allow. “It really was quite something.”

“What do you think?”

“I think…” Allura wipes her mouth with her napkin. “I think I should stay closer to Lotor and keep a closer eye on Romelle. I think you should keep an eye on yourself and keep closer to Keith.” She gives her brother a meaningful look.

“Was it that obvious?”

“No. The others wouldn’t have caught it. But I know you, and I know Keith. I could tell… Are you trying to keep it quiet?”

“For now. Keith may very well miscarry and feels too uncertain to make an announcement.” Lance sips his tea.

“And?” Allura gives her brother a pointed look. Lance sighs.

“And the longer we can hide this, the longer our child will be safe. The moment Alfor and Zarkon know, our baby’s future will be dictated to us.” Lance leans forward in his seat, expression tense. “Remember our cousin, Griffin? His son is four years old and rumor is Alfor’s already made an arrangement. Keeping it quiet means I have time to come up with something myself, or pass some legislation under the table to protect the rights of our children. We only have a few movements until the thaw, and I’ve just got ideas, nothing written.”

“Do you plan on including Nibling in that?” Allura asks, gesturing to her belly with her spoon. “Because frankly I don’t like the way Honerva’s been looking at me lately. Lotor doesn’t like it either.”

“Of course. Anyone possessing Altean blood, or under Altean rule.” Lance frowns. “How long do you have?”

It’s a more difficult question than it seems. Galra gestation is only five phoebs, their children born small-bodied, vulnerable and useless with eyes and ears still shut. Altean infants gestate for a decaphoeb and a half- three times as long. They’re born hearing and seeing, ready to learn how to walk and talk.

“Well, I’m about six phoebs along… We’re guessing six more, judging by their development.”

Lance nods. “I don’t know how long we have. I just- I want us to be safe and happy.”

“Lance…” Allura taps her finger on the table. “You don’t remember what Mother was like. She wasn’t at all how she’s described. I mean, she was kind and all that, but she was also wild and very strong. A powerful leader and presence. She didn’t die by accident, Lance. Her death was on purpose. When she was assassinated, they chose her for a reason.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Safe and happy are not available to us. Be respected instead. Be the type of leader that people will kill on purpose, because of who you are, not what you are. That’s how you can best protect our children. Be feared and respected.”

Lance nods, licks his lips. “I should visit Romelle before I go.”

Allura sighs. “I’d appreciate it if you would… I know father was lying about looking for more possible solutions. It was unusually kind of him.”

“I… had a screaming fit with him before we left Altea. I think I got through to him. Somewhat. He’s still Alfor, but he’s a slightly less frustrating Alfor.”

Allura laughs through her nose. “We must take what we can get.” She meets her brother’s gaze. “I am going to miss you, brother.”

“I’ll miss you, too.” Lance rises to his feet, giving his sister a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll come visit again when I can.”

“So… When I make you an uncle?”

Lance grimaces. “Or when Keith makes you an aunt.”

The princess nods, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. They stay like that for a long moment, Lance standing, Allura sitting, missing each other, still in the same room. This woman, his sister, raised him, loved him, supported every one of his choices, even if she disagreed.

Sometimes, he still feels lost without her.

“I love you, Lance.”

“Love you too, ‘Lura.” Lance kisses her cheek again, slips his hand from hers as he heads for the door. “I’ll see you again soon.”

Across the hall, in another room, Lance finds an even sadder affair. Romelle is sitting by a sunny window in yet another red stone room, eyes staring into some unfathomable distance. Despite her vacant expression, she’s visibly well cared for. Her hair is groomed and braided how she always wore it before and she’s clean. Her clothes are fresh, fingernails files short and round so she can’t hurt herself.

He wonders if she still knows how loved she is.

“Hey, Romelle. I just thought I’d come say goodbye. We’re leaving today, so…”

Lance sits in the chair opposite the frail woman, disrupting his sister’s imprinted shadow. Before he knows it, Lance’s eyes are stinging, welling with tears. He grew up playing with this woman, watching her and Allura fall in love. She was so, so young when she went on that final voyage with Alfor, and she won’t ever get better. Not hoping for conversation, Lance elects to sit quietly and keep his friend company for a while-

“Are you afraid of the water?”

“I-” Lance blinks, unsure of the proper response. He takes a chance on the truth. “No, I’m not afraid of the water. I love the water.”

Romelle hums, skeptical, quizzical. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t be. You would not even be aware.”

“Beg pardon?”

“What has come to pass will pass again... the love story theirs and yours are so very fond of. Only neither of you knows it.”

“Romelle-”

“Generations of flesh give way to the rebirth of souls… The guardian waits for the descendants.”

“...I understand,” Lance lies. It’s easy, like lying to a small child, promising that there are no monsters outside their door. He stands, having had as much as he can bear. He gently squeezes the woman’s hand.

“Do not fear the water,” Romelle whispers. “Even submerged, you will still burn.”

“Good, uh.” Lance clears his throat. “Good to know.”

As Lance leaves to gather Pidge and Adam and say goodbye to Lotor, Shiro, Thace, Ulaz, and a few other Blades, he can’t quite shake the anxiety. He struggles to convince himself that Romelle is unwell, just spouting random nonsense from her collapsing mind.

He doesn’t quite succeed.

Sooner or later, Keith finds himself in the courtyard where they arrived, the ship open, revealing a number of packages- gifts and other items they’ve accumulated since their arrival. Lance is talking with Thace and Kolivan, hands animated, eyes shining. Whatever they’re discussing, Lance is excited for it.

“Keith.” Krolia turns him to face her, grips his shoulder tight. “Listen to me carefully. Are you listening?”

Keith turns to his mother, nods, holds the wolf cub closer between them, petting his head.

“You train this animal well. You keep him close. Do not trust anyone except the crown prince… There is something in the stars. I have seen it. All we can do is brace ourselves and wait.”

“What do you mean?” Keith whispers, fear trickling like ice down his spine.

“I mean that the sociopolitical strain on Daibazaal is reaching a breaking point, and none of us are prepared. There are enemies in every corner, and fools behind and beside them. You are carrying the hopes and dreams of an entire civilization in your womb. Know your place, even if it is to run.”

“I-” Keith gulps, nods. “I will… I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, kitten.” Krolia embraces her son, kisses his temple. “You tell that Altean of yours I’m allowed to visit, because I can and will.”

“Okay. Just let us know you’re coming. There’s an entry medical procedure.”

“Noted. I see your mate-”

“Ready to go, beloved?” Lance slips an arm around his waist.

“Not really,” Keith whispers.

The Altean’s smile is so, so sad and so very gentle. “Me neither. But we’ll come back soon; I promise.”

“I know.” Keith doesn’t want to ask for one more trip before their kit is born, but he imagines Lance is already trying to set up the same thing. Lifting his gaze, he spies Adam, holding both of Shiro’s hands. They’re talking quietly.

He’s not the only one breaking his heart today. As he watches, Pidge trots up to the Altean, tugs on his vest, gently whispers that it’s time to go. The look on Adam’s face is inscrutable as he nods, leans up, whispers something in Shiro’s ear before he slips away and onto the ship. The conflicted expression on Shiro's face tells Keith it was a tender confession. His heart breaks for his littermate and for Adam, who finally found each other only for them to be kept apart by duty and honor.

As the ship lifts off the ground, Lance catches Keith sniffling into his new pet’s fur, trying to hide it. The crown prince doesn’t question the cub’s presence, having known about it the whole time. Instead he just holds his husband close, lets him cry.

There’s not a whole lot else he can do. Pidge’s feelers creep over his hands, investigating them both. They hum, soft enough to barely register, sitting quiet for a moment before going to watch Altea loom larger and larger before them. They whisper quietly to Adam, who only shakes his head.

Leaving here is far harder than leaving Altea.

[butterbeeryuta]

chapter 3: first fights and an omelette

A perfect world doesn’t exist, and what’s a better way to express it than our afterlife being filled with things that is terrible for our own eyes? Clearly, Hell 127, or whoever the fuck runs this place, knows that themselves. We were all in our pyjamas, or clothes I guess since Yuna was wearing a Balenciaga shirt. Maybe she died from finding out one of her Nike shoes was fake. If I have to be honest, that’s one impressive way to die. All of us were sitting in silence, obviously unsure of how to deal with the ongoing situation of our rooms. Donghyuck was biting his nails, while Ryujin still maintained to keep her aura as earlier, almost as if nothing scared her. If there was anyone who was clearly traumatised, it was Mark. The poor guy had to be carried out by Johnny cause he just could not deal with the pictures of bugs.

‘So… the rooms are clearly everything we hate’ I quietly said, breaking the ice in the room. Everyone turned their heads towards me, processing the obvious words I just spoke. Taeil, the man who laughed at his own death, just nodded at me. My eyes scanned the room, trying to see if anyone had anything to say, because my people-reading skills are just that good. And just like how any teacher would see their students after asking a question, everyone was avoiding eye contact with you. Sighing, I decided to do the most embarrassing thing so far since nothing can beat choking on a goddamn muffin.

‘Okay kids! Let’s all put our thinking caps on and hold our brush— actually don’t hold anything. Instead of just sitting in silence, let’s all work together as a group to find different solutions to our problem—‘

‘What the fuck are you doing?’ Yuta interrupted, visibly disliking my approach to get shit solved from the his tone and raise of his eyebrows.

‘Okay redhead, you died from running into a wall cause you were a criminal so you don’t have any say in this.’ I retorted, refusing to take any sort of crap from this man who is just sitting idly.

‘As if you’re any better babe, we’re both in this place for eternity and you’ve got to get used to me hun. Perhaps I can shows you a few skills of mine that I’ve picked up over the years, and trust me, you’ll surely like me the moment I—‘

‘Oh my god ew, why are men like this?’ Rosé disgustingly, and thankfully, interferes. Although she has been one of the quieter people in this group, I already love her.

‘Hey! Not all of us are like him. He just hasn’t been laid for a bit and get the suck of his afterlife’ Jaemin answers with his sneaky yet attractive smirk of his. Mark was already turning red from all the sexual references, and it was cute and funny. He was probably the only valid person in this friend group. And Rosé. Maybe I have a crush on Rosé. More and more people began to comment on each other’s opinion, and well, our first fight begun.

‘You’re such a child! You’ve been doing nothing but cowering yourself, and now that I talk about why watermelons suck you put your big boy pants on?’ Momo questioned Mark.

‘Well of course I will! Watermelons are light and tasty and refreshing, how can you not like it? It’s one of god’s best creations.’ He responds nonchalantly, keeping his chin up to prove to the woman that he is confident in his words.

‘Sweetie, there’s no god we’re all in hell.’ She comments rather quickly, having Mark to doubt himself. She did have a good point though.

‘We’re going out of hand here, we need to talk about solutions to the rooms—‘

‘WELL FUCK YOU RYUJIN, I AT LEAST HAD AMAZING FOLLOWERS AND GOT FREE STUFF!’ Hello?

‘And I am 99% sure that more than half of your followers are creepy old men, and that is nothing to brag about babe’ the other girl spat back, which did not help at all cause more begin to fight with another.

‘ENOUGH! SIT YOUR ASSES DOWN AND GET OVER YOURSELF. You opinion isn’t better than anyone else’s, so deal with it and be a whole fucking adult’ I shouted, which effectively led to the group shutting up for once, and they slowly took a seat on the couch. Maybe I should’ve been a teacher for teenagers and young adults. I cleared my throat once more, and began to speak.

‘So… rooms? I don’t know how we all began to fight, but we need to get it sorted tonight so that we can sleep in peace and have a better morning tomorrow’ you said, hoping all of them were listening to your every word.

‘I remember how we fought…’ Yuta whispered, but it was loud enough for me to hear. I gave him a sour smile, not wanting to spark another fight between all of us. Before I could pitch out more ideas and thoughts to hopefully encourage the others to speak up, sweet baby watermelon-protector Mark cleared his throat.

‘How ‘bout if we switch rooms? You know, rooms where none of us will be freaked out in our sleep?’ He suggested. Oh. Oh wow. Why didn’t I think of that?

‘I’m sleeping in my own room’ Ryujin said without hesitation. I wanted to ask her if she was okay with it, but she probably didn’t want anyone to know her fear. Or perhaps there’s a deeper reason behind everything she does that forms this mysterious atmosphere around her, or that could probably just be me.

‘So we going ahead with Mark’s idea?’

So, we didn’t go ahead with Mark’s idea because well… we ended up arguing with who gets which room. People were fighting for mine since it was the ‘least disturbing,’ but I personally found Yuna’s the easiest to live in; it was just a lot of dots and circles. If you were smart enough, you can just connect the dots with a marker and create another form of art. She was probably trypophobic. Instead, we ended up bringing our mattresses downstairs and spreading all 13 from the living room to the kitchen. Love that for us.

‘OH MY GOD JAEMIN OUT ON SOME PANTS’ Rosé screams covering her eyes immediately with her blanket. And like an idiot, I turned towards him and… he was just in his boxers. Huh.

‘Looking good Jaems’ Yuta said, which was soon followed by a loud smack on the butt. Ouch. Ignoring everything, I tucked myself under the sheets, not wanting to be bothered.

‘Hey _________?’ Well I was wrong. Thanks Mark. Removing myself from the sheets, my eyes met with Mark’s pretty eyes, causing me to startle for a second. He looked lost. Almost in need of help if I may add. ‘Sorry for disturbing you but, can you help me c-cook something? I’m in the mood for an omelette but I just don’t know how to make one’ Mark quietly requests as he looked down at his socks-covered toes. So, Mark Lee decides to get me to move out of my bed because he doesn’t know how to make an omelette. What am I going to do with this kid? And because I’m a weak bitch, of course I chose to help him.

a/n: IM SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY!!!! i lost so much motivation, and i was honestly considering of scrapping this fic cause i felt like i couldn’t execute what i wanted to write properly. i think i tried to write this chapter a good 6 times(?) but it just wasn’t good enough for me. i also don’t think what i wrote not is great either, but it definitely helps me to write a better upcoming chapter for a better development between the reader and mark. i’m thinking just 4 more parts and this short fic will come to an end hehe. so yes, IM SO SO SO SO SORRY HUHUHUHUHU. i’ll try my best to write better and post more quicker. i completely understand if you are unhappy w my progress.

taglist: @lelenoir @murasakillmepls @neolights @anothermessedupbitch @miyayassy​ @lavellanfriendliness​

[a-n-conrad]

Fighting and Flirting (Bakugo x Reader)

Chapter 21- ...

[Summary: Can you die from a broken heart?]

Masterlist

The next day we started off with quirk training. It seemed as though Aizawa had thought through what each of you would be doing. They were all tailored pretty well to each of your quirks, and they really seemed to be pushing the limits of them.

Apparently you had to earn your provisional hero licenses as soon as possible. You couldn’t say you blamed Aizawa for rushing you along, you needed to be able to defend yourself if the League of Villains really wasn’t going to leave you alone. Though you also had to admit that you were definitely feeling the pressure of being wrapped up in everything. That wasn’t going to stop you from working as hard as you possibly could.

The last two Pussycats, Ragdoll and Tiger, join you for the training camp. Tiger is in charge of all of the students with quirks that just make them stronger, like Deku. Momo and Sato are sat at a table, eating the entire time, and using their quirks until they can’t. Tokoyami is locked in a dark cave, trying to learn to control Dark Shadow in the dark.

Pixie-Bob was in charge of monitoring your task. Apparently Aizawa had briefed her on your quirk, so they had decided on your task. You were supposed to maintain multiple detailed illusions for as long as possible. Pixie-Bob said that you should make some illusions of the Pussycats. Apparently, since there were only the four of them, she figured having a couple of duplicates wondering around would help keep everybody on their toes. She told your classmates to try to let you know if they noticed any duplicates, and tell you what mistake you made.

Katsuki was the expert on pointing out the flaws in your illusions. You were sure Mina would be good at it, but the kids that failed the finals were too busy to notice your mistakes. First, he called you on accidentally swapping Mandalay and Ragdoll’s facepaint. Then you made Tiger about two inches too short. Lastly, just before you had to go for dinner, he let you know the Pixie-Bob’s outfit was a slightly different shade of blue. You were honestly impressed at his ability to notice things like that, and you were happy for the excuse to talk to him for a little.

By the time you had to go to dinner your vision was blurry, your ears were ringing, and your head hurt from having to focus on four different illusions at once. You really weren’t all that excited to have to do more work, but when you were presented with all of the supplies and ingredients needed to make curry, you figured out pretty quickly that you’d have to work for your dinner, too.

You pretty quickly went over to where Katsuki and his friends were gathered when you were dismissed by the Pussycats to start cooking. He and Kaminari were bickering about who would cut vegetables, and you couldn’t help but laugh a little at their fighting.

“Kaminari, I’d just listen to Katsuki, but I’ll help you cut vegetables, if you want,” You say as you reach the group.

“Hm. I guess I can agree to that if I’ve got a cute girl helping out,” He winks up you. You weren’t quite used to Kaminari’s flirting yet, but at least you didn’t blush that time.

“Don’t get any dumb ideas, idiot,” Katsuki snaps, weirdly annoyed all of a sudden, “She’s probably just worried you’ll accidentally kill yourself or something.”

“Ah, come on, Bakugo,” Kaminari whines.

“No, it’s just that I want to get this done a little faster,” You say, “Two people can cut the vegetables a lot faster than one.”

- - - - -

“So, I gotta ask,” Kaminari starts as the two of you cut the vegetables for the curry. You were far enough away from the rest of the group that you were pretty sure they couldn’t hear him, considering how quietly he was speaking and how loud the fire was next to them, “You have a thing for Bakugo, right?”

You choke on your own breathe a little, surprised at the bluntness of the question, “Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

“Come one, this is the only time we’ve gotten to talk by ourselves. And even now I’m pretty sure Bakugo’s going to murder me,” He sighed, “I just have to ask. I mean, Mina’s pretty convinced.”

You sigh, “Promise you won’t tell him? I really don’t want to ruin any chance at friendship I have.”

“I really don’t think you have to worry about that,” he laughs, “If looks could kill, Bakugo’s glare would kill me every time I flirt with you.”

“Doesn’t he just get annoyed when you flirt with girls in general?”

“Yeah, but he usually just rolls his eyes. But when it comes to you, he looks like he wants me dead.”

“Hey,” Bakugo shouts over to you, “Hurry up and get those vegetables over here. I want to finish this before the end of camp.”

- - - - -

Later that night, you were all given another task. A test of courage. There were people assigned to a path through the forest who would attempt to scare you and your classmates as you walked through in pairs. You had to try your best not to get spooked.

It honestly sounded pretty fun, though you weren’t sure exactly what it had to do with your hero training. You were a little disappointed when your classmates that had failed the finals were dragged off to take remedial classes instead. Aizawa really wasn’t going to give them a break the entire time you were there, was he?

You were watching the forest and waiting for your turn when you noticed the smoke. You really didn’t know a ton about everyone in class 1-B, but you were pretty sure that wasn’t any of their quirks.

“Hey, what’s going on in there?” You ask, turning to Pixie-Bob.

She tilts her head, and looks down at the forest as well. It takes her a little bit to notice the smoke, but you can tell there’s something wrong from the look on her face. She’s about to respond when you’re interrupted.

A pair of villains appear almost out of nowhere, and before you knew it, Pixie-Bob was unconscious. Deku pulled you away before you even processed what happened. You couldn’t think. You could hardly breathe. 

Fuck! You had no idea what to do. You were here with a man referring to himself as Spinner, and a very tall woman referred to as Magne. The two of them seemed to have some sort of idol view of Stain, which Spinner revealed as he threatened Pixie-Bob’s life. And it seems that means that the three who attacked Stain and brought him down were in a bit more trouble, as Spinner redirects his attention to Iida. 

Was Shoto in danger too? What was happening in the forest? Was Katsuki ok? Of course he was. He always is, right? And your classmates in remedial classes had the teachers to protect them. So everyone was going to be ok, right? Wait. Where’s Kota?

It seems like Deku has the same thought as he runs away, suddenly, muttering the boy’s name under his breath. It seemed like maybe Deku knew where he was more than anyone, so you hoped he’d be able to keep the boy safe. Deku had definitely improved with his quirk, lately, you just hoped it was enough.

You can’t do much for the next few minutes. Mandalay and Tiger are fighting the villains, and you and a handful of your classmates have moved Pixie-Bob to somewhere a bit safer. You were all huddled in one area, unable to do anything without getting in the way of the Pussycats that were fighting to protect you. Plus, Aizawa had told you that you were unable to fight without permission. It would get you in trouble with the law since you didn’t have any licenses.

Somewhere up the mountain, though, in the direction that Deku ran was an explosion. It could only have something to do with Deku, to be honest, all you were hoping is that he won whatever fight he had gotten himself into.

The forest is on fire, Deku was fighting a villain, Kota is still unaccounted for, and Katsuki and Shoto were still in the forest. You needed to do something. You needed someone to give you permission to do something. Anything.

Before you know it, though, Deku appears out of nowhere, destroying Spinner’s weapon, which he was using to give Mandalay quite a hard time. He relays a message quickly. Aizawa had given you all permission to fight back, though it was more directed at the students in the forest, that wasn’t going to stop you. Kota was safe. And the villains were targeting Katsuki. 

You had to help him, and before you can even think about it, you notice Deku is moving to run again and you shout “Deku! Take me with!”

You’re surprised that he does, though you have to wonder if it has something to the adrenaline that was making him move before he thought. Or maybe he just thought you’d help him get Katuski to cooperate. Either way, he picked you up and ran, hoping to catch up with Katsuki and Shoto before the villains did, as Mandalay relayed Aizawa’s message to the rest of your classmates.

- - - - -

A giant shadowy claw coming out of nowhere wasn’t something you expected, though you supposed that maybe you should have been expecting everything. Deku puts you down and moves to fight back, only to collapse as his adrenaline starts to give out.

You try to drag him away, but Deku is a lot heavier than you expected. You guessed he had a lot more muscle than you thought. You’re surprised when someone comes from behind you to help you carry him away. You had forgotten that Shoji was in the forest, and when you see him, you figure out who’s behind the shadow.

“Fuck, that’s Tokoyami, isn’t it?” You ask as the three of you hide away.

Shoji confirms your theory, before explaining what happened. The two of them were attacked by one of the villains. Shoji lost an arm, though he explained that it would be alright. However, it seems as though seeing his friend injured set off Tokoyami and Dark Shadow in a pretty uncontrollable way.

“Where’s the villain?” You ask, trying to think up a plan.

“He’s back there a little,” He says, motioning in the direction they had come. Meaning that whoever was behind them was likely to have stumbled upon the villain. And when you ask who it was, your heart starts to beat a bit harder. Katsuki and Shoto.

You had to focus. How could you help everyone? You could get Dark Shadow under control, but you’d draw attention to yourself and you’d be pretty useless after that. And you wanted to save Katsuki and Shoto, too. Oh! You had an idea!

You explained your plan quickly, and the boys agreed to it, a bit to your surprise. It was a dangerous plan, but if everything went how you wanted it to, you’d be able to help everyone.

You drew Dark Shadow’s attention to the three of you. Shoji was the best runner right now, so you and Deku were riding on his back. Once you had his attention, Shoji ran in the direction they had left the villain. And just as you had hoped, Dark Shadow followed behind.

He left absolute destruction behind him as you ran. And you knew that if you got to close to him, he’d kill you without hesitation. That wasn’t Tokoyami who was moving, so you couldn’t blame him, but it was terrifying.

You were right to think that Katsuki and Shoto were fighting the villain, too. You found them fighting some weird guy with blade-like teeth when you eventually reached them. Deku went to yell for one of them to use some light to calm Dark Shadow down, but you stopped him. You needed Dark Shadow for just a little longer.

You made it to a place with Shoto and Katsuki, and you waited. In a few minutes, your plan took effect. It took Dark Shadow a portion of a second to crush the villain against a tree. It was like he was a fly. It made you shiver a little at the thought of what would’ve happened if your plan had gone wrong.

“Help me out here,” You shouted to Katsuki and Shoto as you held your hand up, creating a little beam of light. Not enough to hurt your vision long term, but enough to make a dent in Dark Shadow. Katsuki and Shoto joined in, and before you knew it, Tokoyami was free.

- - - - -

You could tell the smoke from the other areas in the forest was dissipating because the air around you felt lighter. Normally, you’d think that was because your anxiety was going down, but you had never been more anxious in your life. And that was including at the USJ.

You had created an escort chain to protect Katsuki. He was in the back with Tokoyami. You wanted to be in the back, too, but he had insisted you stay in the front, near Shoto. You were reluctant to agree, but eventually you had to give in. Maybe you’d be able to help more from there anyway.

You arrive in a clearing pretty soon after you start walking, only to find Uraraka and Tsu, face to face with a blond girl. She had Uraraka pinned and had some sort of needle stuck in her. You were about to run forward and intervene, only for the girl to get up and leave on her own at your arrival, commenting that there were too many people for her. Though she does give Deku a strange look on the way out.

Uraraka goes to follow her, though you run in and stop her, explaining that you had bigger priorities right now. Like getting everyone to safety. You explain your mission of protecting Katsuki to her and Tsu, only to freeze when Tsu remarks about Katsuki’s absence.

It wasn’t until that moment that you noticed that Katsuki and Tokoyami were both missing. How did you miss that? Why weren’t you paying better attention? Why’d you let him convince you to stay in the front? Where was he?

One of your questions was answered when another villain appeared. A man in a costume that screamed Vegas magician, appearing in the branches above you, a taunt in his tone as he reveals himself. He holds up a pair of little marbles, claiming that they contain Katsuki and Tokoyami. Given that you didn’t know his quirk, you were inclined to believe him.

“Give him back!” Deku shouts, despite not even being able to stand on his own, “He’s never going to work with you.”

“You see,” the man shouts, jumping to a different tree as Shoto attempts to freeze him. His acrobatics were on point and you hated everything about it, “We’re attacking this training camp to prove something. There’s more than one perspective, and I’m sure young Bakugo here will see it as soon as he realizes how much brighter he’ll shine on the villain’s side. Oh, and of course I couldn’t leave your bird-shaped companion after seeing what he did to Moonfish.”

“He’s not going to give in to you,” You say, though your voice breaks. Were you really failing to save him? What was going to happen when he refused to join their side? Would they hurt him? 

Shoto attempts to freeze the man, only for him to flee. He seems to send some sort of message as he does and makes his way to what seems like a pre-determined point. You don’t even hear when Deku explains his plan, only recognizing what was going on when Uraraka starts to make you float.

- - - - -

You’re the one to grab the magician before you crash to the ground. The boys just help you pin him down. You start to feel a little hope until you notice the black boots standing just a bit away from you.

“Twice, aren’t two of these kids on the kill list?” The black-haired man in front of you asks, looking at Shoto and Deku. His eyes seem familiar, but you can’t quite place them. Maybe the hatred in them is the aspect making them unrecognizable. Or maybe you’re delusional.

The other man seems to argue with himself, both agreeing and disagreeing, before, much to your relief, deciding that they are not on the “Kill List”. The switch in his voice is interesting. You wondered if it was quirk-based of personal. But you didn’t have time to think about it too long.

The black-haired man, who had been referred to as Dabi, sighs, before looking at the magician, whose arm you were pinning to his back, and instructing, “Dodge.”

The flames that shot out at you seemed familiar, too. They matched his eyes. You didn’t have time to think about who he was though since you barely had time to get out of the way. You and Shoto were the only ones able to dodge, though, as Shoji and Deku both ended up with a burned arm. The magician apparently named Mr.Compress, turns himself into a marble to avoid the flames.

The masked man with the switching voice attacks Shoto, while the blond girl from earlier lounges at Deku and is engaged in a fight by Shoji, who’s trying to protect him. You take it upon your self to run at Dabi, who seems to be in charge, only to be thrown back by a wall of flame.

Your hair is half-burned, and you there’s a burn on your cheek that is incomparable to anything you had ever felt before by the time Compress reveals himself again. You land on your ass, your hands hitting the ground, revealing they’re both burnt as well. You’d probably be crying if it wasn’t for the adrenaline.

Compress moves towards Dabi, taking a spot next to him and searching his pockets to hand over Katsuki and Tokoyami. You can feel the last bit of hope in your heart as he reveals that he can’t find the marbles. And you almost cry in relief when Shoji reveals that he swiped them when you landed. Why didn’t you think of that? Were you really that out of it?

But if you could just get those marbles away, Katsuki would be safe, right? Right? Why was Compress laughing? No. No no no no no.

You felt like your heart was breaking when the marbles turned into ice. You had been tricked. FUCK. You couldn’t tell if you wanted to cry or scream or both and the feeling only amplified as Compress took off his mask, retrieving the real marbles. You wanted to break his arm with your bare hands. 

“You know, I can tell I gave you all some false hope by the look on her face,” Compress says smugly as he points to you, “She looks like she wants to kill me.” You did. 

Out of nowhere, a light appears. A laser that you know well enough. Aoyama. It hit Compress head-on, launching the marbles into the air. Shoji lunged for the one that you were pretty sure had Tokoyami in it, and you jumped for the other, back on your feet. Your hands were bleeding, but they weren’t in as bad of shape as your face.

Shoji grabs one, and you watch as Dabi grabs the other, inches away from your hands. It slips right through your fingers, and your knees give out under you. 

“Let’s confirm that we have the right one, Compress,” He commands, not even looking at you. The quirk deactivates. 

You see Katsuki in front of you. You meet his eyes, though you don’t think you have the right. They look so concerned. Was he scared? Why was he looking at you like you were dying? How badly were you hurt? 

Dabi was holding on to him. You wondered if he’d kill Katsuki before letting him go. You tried to reach out to Katsuki one last tie. You couldn’t let him go. You hadn’t even told him how you felt. Who was going to help you study? And make you dinner when you don’t have anything to eat in the house? Who was going to calm you down after this like he did after the USJ? No, you needed Katsuki. 

“ ‘Suki,” Your voice is way weaker than you expected. Were you crying? Why did you sound like you were crying?

The same black smoke from the USJ started surrounding him. You knew who was behind this already, but as you watched Katsuki be consumed by the black smoke, it solidified in your head. If you ever met Tomura Shigaraki, you didn’t know if you could stop yourself from killing him. Could you make that promise to yourself?

It wasn’t until Shoto touched your shoulder that you really realized he was gone. You failed. He was gone and you hadn’t protected him. You had watched him be kidnapped and you couldn’t be anything. 

You wanted to cry and scream and break something and hurt someone and you didn’t know who. There were tears running down your face faster than you could even process. How long had you been crying?

Where was that screaming coming from? Who was that? Where was Shoto?

Trees were being knocked down, Shoto and the others were thrown across the clearing. Aoyama was looking at you like you were a monster. Was that you? What was going on?

You ran out of air in your lungs. They felt like they were on fire. Did you really knock down the trees at the edge of the clearing? It was like a circle had been cleared around you. Your chest stung, and all of your injuries were starting to catch up with you. Your heart felt like it was physically breaking. Was that possible? 

The edges of your vision were getting blurry. And the pain was fading again. Before you knew it, the whole world went black.

Taglist: @thatpersonwithissues @ohnosiren

[A/N: There’s no good chapter title or summary for this one, guys. Also, I refuse to misgender Magne.]

[rosierocks30]

Hidden: CH.8

Chapter 8: Homecoming

Levi stared at the stairs that led to his hometown, the Underground City. It’s been many years since he considered going down to see how different the shitty place looks. He knew one thing was the smell hadn't gotten better. It still smells like feces and death. 

The Captain of the Survey Corps walked down the dark stairs to enter the tunnel. 

“What’s that awful smell?” An American accent echoes the dark dingy tunnel. 

“Oi old man, quiet down. We don’t want to attract unwanted attention.” Levi glanced at his grandfather. 

Both grandson and grandfather kept walking. Levi took Bill with him on a small trip to find any artifact that the late Jacob Miles left Kuchel Ackerman to hide  it from Templars. This wasn’t his idea. Levi would have not come here if it wasn’t necessary. Bill insisted Levi to accompany him on this family duo mission. 

The captain may not be part of the Brotherhood yet, but for a few months Bill had been training him of the creed. His squad are also going through the training too. Levi knew how to fight and kill human beings. For Walls’ sake, he was raised by Kenny the Ripper. He remembered the heated conversation between Bill and him. 

(Flashback)

“Levi, don’t be stubborn. This is your heritage. Why don’t you want to be an assassin?” The Mentor sighed in frustration. 

“Because the Survey Corps needs their captain. I will not abandon my comrades especially if we're close at war. My people need their Humanity’s Strongest. I won’t let them down. So no. Out of the question.” Levi explained. 

“No one is asking you to leave the Survey Corps or not be part of the upcoming war. I think you should do it. Learning new skills can add your advantage of fighting against our enemies.” Commander Hange was leaning on the wall staring at the assassin and the captain arguing. 

The room was dim from the candle lights. The meeting room was full of soldiers and assassins. Of course the queen was sitting at the head center of the table. The news of Premier Zackely’s death was what lead this emergency meeting to happen. 

An old maid who cleaned Zackely’s Office, found him dead. Blood was covered from the desk to the floor. That was what the old lady witnessed when she reported to the MPs. The whole Paradis’ military were shocked and alerted.  

With his death, a new Premier must be elected soon as possible. Whoever murdered Darius Zackely, it was a declaration of war. Darius was known to be a few steps ahead from everyone which got him to be Premier in the first place. 

“Fine, but on one condition, my squad will be part of the Brotherhood. They’re the best soldiers I can rely on.” He said. 

“Alright, you got a deal, son.” Bill nodded and agreed to the terms.

(Flashback)

They finally see the light of the end of the tunnel. Luckily, no one was there to keep an eye out of the entrance. Levi took a step back to let all the nostalgic memories he had as a child to an infamous thug. 

“The only place I can think of is the brothel where my mother and I used to live there.” Levi pulled his hood more to cover half of his face. His grandfather already had his hood covering his eyes. They kept walking on the muddy road. There were people doing their daily activities. In the corner, some prostitutes try to allure them with their terrible flirting skills in Levi’s option. 

Thank the Walls, Historia didn’t join them. Her mood had been changing as her womb got bigger. Only a couple of months left for the baby to pop out. She would glare at them and maybe cause a scene. His wife usually wasn’t like this. It’s probably the hormones’ fault. Hopefully, after the baby is born, he won’t be walking on eggshells around her. 

These past few months had changed at a fast pace for Levi. First is the assassination of Darius Zackely then choosing his new successor which it was the Garrison commander Pixis. He’s a brilliant man but a drunkard also. Oh yeah, most of the higher ups officers know Historia is pregnant and married to him. The public doesn’t know yet, but they’re half way there. 

(Flashback)

Before Darius Zackely’s death, the three commanders of the Survey Corps, Garrison, and Military Police, were summoned by the Premier along Captain Levi, Mentor William Miles, and Queen Historia for this sudden late evening meeting.

As Levi and Historia entered the room and sat in their places. The Premier made a sound to get everyone’s attention. “Alright, everyone and your majesty. I have summoned this private meeting because one of my spies in Marley sent me a letter that General Magath will soon plan to invade this island than we hope for a little longer we anticipate.” Most of the group were not happy about this news. 

“Before we discuss defending our home, Captain Levi and Your Majesty is there anything you both should share with us?” Darius glanced at the married couples. 

Historia was confused while Levi glared at his superior officer. He had a hunch what the Premier meant when he asked them. 

“I’m sorry, Premier Zackely. I don’t follow what you’re saying.” The queen said while posing as the authoritative figure. She is the queen of Paradis Isle, not the little soldier she once was. 

“You know what exactly I mean, You’re Majesty. Your relationship with Captain Levi. I admit both of you kept this secret for so long. I applaud both of you, but you both know that the nobles will cause a riot for this scandal.” Commander Dok was speechless when the secret relationship of Levi and Historia was exposed. Commander Pixis was intrigued at this revelation.

“How the fucking hell did you know about us?” Levi still glared at Darius. This isn’t happening. The Premier will throw Levi to jail and she won’t be able to see him. Historia was scared for her husband. 

William was observing the way his grandson was ready to attack to protect Historia. “Levi, please calm down.” Then Levi’s glare shifted towards him. 

“Captain Levi relaxes. I’m not planning to lock you up or execute you. I just want you two be aware that I know for a long time about your relationship, even your marriage. Commander Hange, I’m not surprised you knew about them and witnessed their marriage. I’m disappointed that I needed a spy to know about the lovebirds.” Darius Zackely glances at the finger where the ring is located from Historia’s hand. The queen blushed embarrassingly. 

“You have someone spied on me?!” Something in Historia made her snapped. She has been tired of being too cautious just to have some privacy. Ever since Historia became queen, it has been suffocating. Her ladies were around her most of the time that she needed to give them an excuse to be alone. The nobles come for an audience with her for planning some extravagant party or trying to ask for her hand in marriage for themselves or their sons. She never wanted to be queen, but some midget decided to choke her into agreeing. Historia never told Levi or her friends that sometimes she gets breakdowns. 

“Your grace, calm down for the sake of you and your heir.” The Premier noticed the queen got up and glared angrily. 

“Did one of my doctors tell you?” She said. 

“No, like I said one of my spies who’s name will remain anonymous.” The older man trying to make the queen understand. 

“Alright, so now you know about us. What do you plan to do with us then?” Levi intervened. He grabs Historia’s wrist to gesture her to sit down and try to remain calm.

“I’m not planning anything. This would have been avoidable if you both told me personally so I can make sure this stays a secret. A baby right now is not the right time at the moment since war will come soon.” He lectured on the married couple like misbehaved kids. 

“It wasn’t planned, sir. It just happens.” Levi felt uncomfortable about getting to that topic. 

“I see, so now that’s settled. We can now plan properly for both the queen’s safety and the future crowned prince or princess. Who knows what the Marleyans will do if they knew your pregnancy. “ Zackely shuffled the papers. 

“Your majesty, once you reach six months, we’ll escort you to the Farm from the orphanage to be bed rest and prepare you for a safe delivery away from the possible battleground.” He continues. On the other hand, Historia was concerned for the residents’ safety. “What about the people? We need a plan to have an evacuation if they make it into the Walls.” 

Commander Pixis speaks out. “Your grace, my soldiers and I will make sure the enemies won’t get through the Walls. Not under my watch.” His tone was filled with passion and promise. 

The queen nodded in gratitude for the Garrison Commander. Commander Nile Dok joined in the conversation. “I’ll increase soldiers to patrol for the safety of the citizens.” 

“Thank you, Commander Pixis and Commander Dok. I don’t want fatality to increase to the mass when the war starts.” She leans against her chair to breathe in relief. 

“Premier Zackely, if I may intrude; Levi and I had talked about sending the queen to the location where my fellow assassins are based.” William speaks out.  

“Hmm that would be safer, but the Marleyans would track us down and shoot the ship.” He pointed out. 

“Yes, but I know someone with a cargo plane to take the queen along with some bodyguards to New York City.” Bill suggested his plan to the Premier.

“Very well, I’ll consider it. As allies, we need to be on our toes since you mention these Templars could be involved with the Marleyans?” 

“Also, if anything does happen to me, I named Pixis as my successor. Since the day, the late Commander Erwin led his Scouts to Grisha Jeager’s basement; this kingdom had been transitating the changes from not being the only last humans on Earth.” Zackely said. 

Commander Pixis salutes his higher up officer. “I’ll be honored to accept you as your successor.”

“Good, I’m pleased you accepted it, you’ve earned it, Pixis.” Zackley nodded. 

(Flashback end)

Levi shook his head to focus on why they were here as his eyes glanced at the old familiar building. It still looks the same since he left with Kenny. His grandfather stared at him in concern. “Are you alright, Levi?” 

The raven haired soldier nods his head to assure the elder man that he’s fine. “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s get this over it. I have a date with my heavily pregnant wife after this.” 

They enter the brothel slash hotel. The place is full of people. The smell of the air is full of perfume and smoke. Levi hated the smell. It had suffocated him when he used to live here as a child. 

“Let’s see if Mr. Douglas is still alive.” Levi mumbled and walked to the bar section. Bill followed him then both sat on the stools right beside each other. 

A bartender was cleaning a glass shot when he noticed Levi and Bill sat on the stools. “What can I get you gentlemen? I see you both are not from around here.” The man started the small conversation. 

Both the soldier and assassin had their hoods hiding most of their face. “We’ll have whiskey on the rocks.” Bill said. Levi wasn’t a fan of drinking since he always needed to be alert 24/7 in order to survive this world. 

The bartender nodded and began to grab a bottle of whiskey. He grabbed two glasses then put two ices in each glasses. The amber liquor was poured into the glasses half full then slides one by one to Bill then to Levi. 

The captain stared down at the whiskey. Don’t get him wrong. He has high tolerance in alcohol, but that doesn’t mean he enjoyed it. Tea is his preference. As some of the Americans say to him one time. Tea is love, tea is life. That he agreed. 

Levi lifts the small glass the way he holds his tea and has the rim of the glass press on to his lips. His lips open a bit to let the strong scent of alcohol run down to his lips as he drinks into a small sip. 

“He is not, but I am.” Levi finally answered one of the questions from the bartender. “I used to be born and raised here. I’m Levi, Kuchel’s son. Is Mr. Douglas still working here?” 

The young bartender gasped from Levi revealing who he was. “You mean, you’re the Captain Levi that my gramps told me about when he used to run this place?” 

“Ah you must be related to him?” Bill said. 

“He died long ago. Now, this hotel belongs to my ma and me. My grandpa used to tell me stories of a small kid who liked cleaning too much that he learned many tips from you.” The bartender smiles from thinking old memories of his grandfather. 

“I’m sorry to hear that. He was a good man from what I remember.” Levi sympathized with the young man. 

“Thank you, but it was long ago so it’s alright. So, can I ask why are you here? Ever since you moved up the surface, you made a name for yourself as Humanity’s Strongest. I would never have thought I'd meet you. You’re a hero to the people down here. Most of us were overjoyed to have one of our own protecting good people like us. Well, some since this underworld city is full of cruel bastards ruling over good honest people like my gramps and my neighbors.” The bartender frowned at the thought of the criminals ruining the poor people who just want to be left in peace.  

Great another fanboy. Levi hated to encounter anyone who admired him as a hero because in his reality, he doesn’t feel like a hero. He’s just a soldier who fights for humanity to repay his sins. He’s a monster. Monsters are not heroes. 

“I came back to finally face my past. I’m ready. Will you lent me the key of #7? I want to look at the room where my mother died in it, before I go to war. Who knows I might not ever get the chance to tell my mother’s soul goodbye.” Levi lowered his head as tears tried to threaten to come out. 

His mother was a warm and compassionate woman. She reminded him of Historia. His beautiful sweet Historia. Every night his mom always sang lullabies during bedtimes. Some songs were in another language but he knew them from the heart. 

(Flashback)

“Levi, come to mama. It’s bedtime.” A beautiful raven haired woman called her toddler son. 

“Yes mama.” A little Levi runs to his mother’s arms. Kuchel picked him up and smiled warmly. “Oh my, you’re growing bigger and stronger.” She chuckles while holding him up in the air like a plane. 

“Look mama, I can fly! I’m a birdie.” Levi flaps his arms like a bird flying with its wings. 

“Yes, my little eagle.” She threw him up into the air and caught him. The little boy giggled and hugged his mother. Her smell was pinecones and wild flowers. He doesn’t know why since they have never been to the surface. But she somehow smells like it. 

She began to gently rock him. Her hum turned into a tune. Then she sang away a lullaby that Levi’s father taught her. 

Close your eyes

Let the sound of the night sing away

Feel the breeze to drift you a far this place

So spread your wings

Rise high, my little eagle 

Fly away into the clear sky

You’ll be free

You’re meant to be free

Don’t stop and keep flying

To freedom, my baby eagle

So my baby eagle, fly away

(End of Flashback)

(Another flashback)

Historia was reading a children’s fairytale book to the unborn baby she’s carrying in her womb. Levi was on the desk doing paperwork for Hange which irritated him since papaerworks is not his best skill. He lifts his tea cup to sip it and stops his work to turn around and listen to his wife reading a book to the unborn. 

“Tch, our kid isn’t even born yet, and you’re already reading to her or him.” Levi scoffed. 

Historia stopped and rolled her eyes at her grouchy husband. “The pregnancy book said by now our child already developed ears to listen to our voice. I want the baby to be nurtured with our love now.” She placed her hand on her now swollen belly then rubbed it. She’s now heavily three months away from birthing their baby. 

They still don’t know the gender of the baby. It’s best to be surprised whether it’s a girl or boy. Either way, they don’t care what gender it is. The soon to be parents will love their baby no matter what. Ever since the late Premier Zackely’s death, Pixis became the new Premier. The plan resumed what the late Premier Zackely wanted. Once the queen started to show, the MPs and Levi escorted Historia to the Farm where an Orphanage was resided. The Orphanage was funded by the government when Historia and Levi advocated. 

 Levi pushed the wooden chair to leave space for him to get up. He walked to the large bed and flopped on the mattress next to his wife. 

“If you say so.” He said and glanced at the huge belly. Levi hoped the kid wouldn't be taller than him, but he felt the unborn will grow tall in the future. He pressed his forehead on Historia’s belly and began to hum into a similar tune that his late mother used to sing to him. 

 Close your eyes, little one

Let the sound of the night sing away

Feel the breeze to drift you afar this place 

So spread your wings

Rise high, my little eagle

Fly away into clear sky

You’ll be free

Don’t stop and keep flying

To freedom, my baby eagle 

So my baby eagle, fly away

After Levi stopped singing, a sniffle sound was heard from Historia. He glimpsed at his wife as she cried silently. 

“Why are you crying. Are you in pain?” The soldier gets up to check if she was in serious pain. Historia shook her head to respond to his concerning questions. 

“No, I’m fine. It’s just...that was so beautiful. Who taught you?” The queen still has tears falling. 

“My mother. She used to sing this song to me every night before I go to bed.” He whispered. 

He felt her hands cup his cheeks to guide his face to hers. His lips press against hers to feel those soft warm lips he comes to cherish. This kiss was not their usual passionate hunger, it was soft and tender. 

“You’re full of surprises, Levi Ackerman.” She whispered while kissing him. 

“It won’t be surprising if I gave it away all at once.” He smirked playfully. 

She giggled and cuddled him on the bed. Levi grabbed the book to place it on the nightstand table to be comfortably close to his wife. 

“Tomorrow, I’m going back to the Underground City. I haven’t gone there in many years.” He said in a quiet tone. This caught Historia’s attention. 

“Why are you? You’re ready to face your past?” She was concerned for him. Historia knew she couldn’t go accompany him underground.

“Yeah, I’m ready. It’s time to have that closure for us and the baby. I don’t want to have that regret if I lose my chances to have my peace. Also I want to check if I find anything that my father gave something to my mom to hide it from templars or any one with terrible intentions.” He said. 

She nodded in understanding. “Go, if you must do this. But come back home to me safely. At least, take someone with you. I would feel less worried if you go alone.” She buried her face on his chest just feeling scared again being so far away from her husband. 

“I will, and don’t worry; I’ll come home as soon as possible.” He made a promise. His nose buried on her hair to inhale her scent. Damn, she always smelled so pure and divine. 

“Good, I’ll hold on to that.” The queen smiled. 

“Let’s sleep, I need to wake up early anyways.” He began to undo his just the shirt to take it off and place it on the chair where his desk was. Historia already wore her nightgown but it was maternity style. He could feel her eyes staring at him. His head turned to glance at her which she was blushing. 

“Can’t get enough?” He chuckled deeply then went to his side of the bed and lift the covers to lay on the bed then covered half way. 

Historia coughed. “No matter how many times I see you naked or half naked in this case, I am still blushing like a virgin.” She chuckled along. 

He wrapped around his arms on her body to snuggle under the covers. Both husband and wife laid on the bed peacefully as their eyes drowned away to sleep. 

“You are too adored, my goddess. Goodnight, my love.” He gave her a goodnight kiss. 

“Goodnight, my soft warrior.” She whispered and kissed him back. 

(End Flashback)

The bartender decide to give the key to Room # 7 to Levi. So now, Levi and Bill walk through the empty halls where it still haunts the captain for many years. So many bad and good memories, he had within these halls as a brat. 

Finally, they reached to the door of room #7. Levi stands in front of the door as so many flood of memories of his mother and him barely surviving off the money his mother earned by prostituting herself with men like Ethan and Raymond. He doesn’t know if Ethan is alive. He so badly want to crave the now old man’s body as he torture him slow and painful. The pain he caused with Destinia, Jessie, and his mother… 

“Are you sure you're alright, my boy?” Bill places his hand on Levi’s shoulder to comfort him. Levi snapped out of his trance of emotional pain. He turned his head to look at his grandfather to nod in reassuring him. 

He inserts the key into the door knob then twists it as the door unlocks it. His hand opened the door slowly. Inside the room was dark and empty. 

Levi steps into the room. After all these years, he has returned home. 

“Ok, this place may be empty, but we’ll try to find anything.” Levi said. Both of them begin to look through the empty furniture. Yet, nothing. Levi glances at the mattress and pulls out his hidden blade to cut the mattress. He ripped open the old mattress. “You could have used the Eagle vision if it is an artifact of the First Civilization.” Bill pointed it out. 

Levi made an annoyed expression. “Fine.” He had been practicing to use his Eagle vision. It was cool when he accessed it. 

The captain closed his eyes then opened it as his vision is grey with some faded blue lines. He scans the mattress to see once again, nothing. “Damn it. It’s not even here either.” Levi sighs in frustration. Bill frowned in disappointment of not finding anything. “Probably someone already took it and we’re too late.” Mentor assassin said. 

Levi looked up to scan all over the room. On the left, he views a golden-reddish sphere inside the wall. Bingo. They have found it. “Or my mother was good at hiding things.” 

“You found something?” Bill was excited. Levi gets off the ripped mattress to walk toward the wall where the sphere is located. 

“Yeah, it’s inside this wall.” Levi places his hands then presses his ear. He knocked on the wall which made an echo bang. “It’s hollow. I’m going to have to make a hole.” He steps back to have space to punch into the wall. A hole was formed then the raven haired man saw a glimpse of a sphere object glowing. 

“I don’t believe it. Another Apple of Eden.” Bill wonders is this the same object that Jacob had found long ago on his mission to the ruins of the Aztecs, where he found this sphere object? 

Levi rips some pieces of the wall to make a bigger hole then grabs the object carefully. He observed the Apple of Eden. This thing is so peculiar but intriguing. So many wars between the templars and assassins were fought over to gain controlled over this. 

“So, what now?” The captain looks at his grandfather in guidance. 

Before Bill says anything, the sphere glows brighter. Levi stuck out his hand away from him but didn’t drop the Isu’s object. 

The piece of Eden created an illusion image of a man who looks like sitting on a wooden chair. When the image of the man appears, Bill gasps in shock that it was his first-born son, Jacob Miles. 

“Hello Levi, my little boy. It’s me, your dad.” The projected image of Jake chuckled lightly. 

“Listen son, if you found this piece of Eden then you probably know about your heritage. We come from a long ass line of warriors called the assassins. Hopefully, dad already began training you. But this thing is the only way for me to send a message since by then I would probably be dead by then. I just want to say...I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry for leaving you and your mother in this shitty place. Both of you deserve a life. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to watch you grow up into a fine man. Heck, I bet you got my good looks. I had the same vision of you all grown up slaying some giant-like monster. I don’t know it was, but you were looking badass. Your mother didn;t believe me at first. I convinced her, we got to give you a badass name.” Again, he chuckled. 

Levi’s hand was trembling. He can’t believe it. He finally met his dad. All those years of denial of wanting to know about who he was? Bill was trying not to cry when the image of his son was in front of him. This was his last days before he died. 

“Levi, I understand you probably might hate me for leaving you and your mother alone on this island. I could have taken your mother away from here, but with you being so close to be born; we don’t want to risk pregnancy complications. The plan was to take you both after your birth, but it’s like faith didn’t allow it. I am being called on to go on this dangerous trip. I might not survive, but if I did, I will promise you both that we’ll go to America where you won’t live in hunger, worry about being prosecuted because you're an Eldian and Ackerman. I love you so much Levi. No matter what you’re capable of, I will always love you. Don’t let your guilt consume you. You’re a survivor. You’re a descendant of both warrior’s bloodlines. I may be long gone from this world, but I will always be there within you to guide you just like our ancestors are within you to guide you. We’re all in one. Protect your mother for me, kiddo. She is my world. That spunk woman is one of the kind. One day, when you become a man, you’ll find someone who will make you feel their worth of risk of getting that happy life. So, this is it. Goodbye son, live for yourself. Live for the right of the happiness you deserve. It’s never too late to chase that dream. I love you, son. Kuchel, if you’re listening. I love you so fucking much baby. I’ll try to go home to you, ok.” 

The image of Jacob had disappeared. The apple of Eden had stopped glowing. Levi dropped the artifact as his knees hit the ground. His head bow low as tears are trying to escape. His body trembles from hold in so much emotion. William encouraged his grandson to not hold it in. “Levi, it’s ok. You don’t have to bury them anymore. Let them out.” 

The captain presses his hands on the cold floor then makes a fist of both of them. A sound of choked sob was heard from the former thug. For years, Levi learned to bottle up his pain, grief, and any emotion to be a numb human. Now, he finally shattered every wall he built. The tears dripped on the floor and a scream of years bottle up was let out. This is how Eren Jaeger felt when something in him spark of anger and determination was let out. Levi continues letting out  his emotions until he finishes. WIth his strength, the Eldian soldier gets up slowly. 

“How are you feeling now, grandson?” the whisper of his grandfather said. Levi Ackerman wasn’t the type to hug. The only exception is Historia and few people in the past that are long gone. He wraps his arm around his grandfather to hug him. For the first time since he was a boy, his inner child is awake from a long hibernation. His inner child craves comforts and affection from a blood relative since his parents are long gone. His grandfather is the closest parent he will ever get now. Tch, his dead uncle, Kenny Ackerman was never a parent material. 

Bill gladly accepts his grandson’s hug. His grandfatherly gesture comforts Levi. Bill held him tight not wanting to let go. For a few months since both of them met face to face, it was nothing bitter and distant well at least from Levi’s part. Bill had tried to reach out to his only family member. He too lost so much. His sons, wife, his parents, and his friends from the Brotherhood. Both Miles men sacrifice so much for what price? To have their loved ones died either way? 

“Is it too late to ask you to be accepted as a Miles? I’m ready to be an assassin. To be your grandson, grandfather. I want to protect my friends, comrades, the people of Pardis Isle, family: you, Historia and our unborn. I want to win this war so my descendants can live in peace. I promise I’ll listen to you whenever you’ll mentor me in the way of an assassin.” Levi vowed. 

“Of course, my boy. You have always been a Miles. My blood runs in your veins, but we can legalize it if that’s what you mean.” The old man chuckles. 

“I will still have Ackerman as part of my last name. I want to honor my mother’s heritage also as an Eldian. My children will have those two proud names when they come to this world.” He continues. 

“Also, I want to find my mother’s remains. She deserved to be buried in a better place then in this shitty ass underground.” Levi said. Already, the raven haired man let go of his hugs from his grandfather. 

“Yes, we can do that too. I think we can have her buried alongside with your father in South Dakota where his remains lay to rest.” This made Levi give his rare smile at his grandpa. 

“Yeah, I would appreciate that, gramps.” He nods. 

After their heartwarming moment, Levi and William go back to the bartender and hand him the key. Before leaving, Levi asked one vital question. 

“Did your grandfather say anything of where he buried the remains of Kuchel Ackerman?” He asked. 

The bartender was thinking carefully trying to remember. “What my old pa used to mention, Kenny the Ripper guy, he dragged that body and asked us to be buried  anywhere we see fit. So my grandpa is buried in our family’s little graveyard. I can show you where she was buried.” 

“Thanks, I apprenticed for it. One more time. You got a shovel?” Levi asked. 

(The Orphanage Farm) 

Historia Reiss-Ackerman was helping some of the caretakers to make supper for the children. She sniffed the aroma of the chicken and potatoes stew. Oh the queen can’t wait to save some for Levi when he returns from his mission. Her belly is big and round already. Now she’s almost seven months until the baby is ready to come out. Most of the time, Historia takes many naps or just reads a nice book under the shade of a tree during a sunny day. Summer is almost over, and most likely this child will be born by October. 

How time passed by when it seemed just like yesterday, Levi and Historia were fooling around to fill their void with lusts. Her sparkle blue eyes glances down at her wedding band on her ring finger. This was never her plan to fall in love, become queen, get pregnant, get married, now preparing for war and for the birth of her child. This was too much for her if she was back then pretending to be Christa. That girl, Christa, was too soft, kind, and afraid to be herself. Historia despised that part of her. 

If it wasn’t for her being Christa, she wouldn't have met her friends, gaining valuable life tips from Ymir. Ymir was more than a dear friend to her. The tough Ymir was her guardian angel. She was always there to protect and cherish her. This is something Historia will keep in her heart. Beside her sweet older sister, Frieda, Ymir had loved her and reminded her how worthy she is. 

The queen touches her cheek when tears roll down from her eyes. Ugh, it would be great if she would stop shedding tears every time Historia thinks about Ymir. The blonde woman wipes them away. Once the stew simmer, she turns off the stove then lightly stir the stew before covering the huge pot with a lid. The main dining table was already set up for the children and caretakers to eat dinner. 

Historia turns to call for one of the staff. “Emily, would you let everyone know that dinner is ready, please?” The woman nods with a smile. “Of course, Your- I mean Historia.” The light haired woman blush from feeling embarrassed forgetting the first rule in this Orphanage. The young queen made it clear to everyone in this establishment that to call her by her name. So, there;s no your grace, your majesty, or my queen. Just Historia. She wants to feel normal for once in a while. The royal life can be drainful. How did her late sister or any members of her estranged family had dealt with it?

The woman Emily already walked away to announce dinner is ready. Meanwhile Historia places her hand on her watermelon size belly to bend down to open the lower cabinet and takes out a medium size pot to pour some stew into it. The one thing her husband loves when he comes back from his missions is her cooking. Historia makes his favorite dishes like stews, pot pies, and anything related to bacon. 

She placed the other pot on the countertop next to the stove. A strong kick was felt in her belly. Historia smiles from feeling the baby being activated. “You’re hungry as well?” her hand rubs on her stomach. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’ll eat soon.” 

The queen uses a wooden spoon to scoop out the stew and pour into the other pot until it's full. She left the other pot on the countertop to cool off a bit while serving a bowl of stew to everyone. Of course, the staff woman, Emily, has come back to help her serve the kids their meals. 

The dining table is full of kids and the staff who work here. They are like one big family. There are chattering conversations from left and right. Some kids play with their food and others bite down to rip the bread rolls that were freshly baked earlier. 

Historia ate the stew quietly while listening to certain conversations. She took a glimpse at the window to see if Levi had come back yet. The view was getting dark as the sun’s rays disappeared slowly from the horizon. 

The blonde haired beauty got up then said goodnight to everyone, but the children ran to her to give her a hug. Historia smiles from embracing these innocent kids. When she and Levi started to build this orphanage with the special squad help of course, Historia vowed to give love affection to these kids whenever she comes here to stay for temporary. Some of the caretakers jokingly tell her; both Levi and Historia are like the mother and father with the kids. 

At first Historia panicked they knew about their relationship and they might or had spread their secret to anyone. Fortunately, the queen had an informal staff meeting to clear the air if they knew something’s going on between her and the captain. She was ready to deny any claims until the same woman, Emily, spoke out that they did figure out their relationship, but they will respect it by keeping it to themselves in this household. This made the queen sigh in relief.  

Some of the staff who are close to Historia’s age, asked questions on how they met, and oh how romance and forbidden their love is. Their love is forbidden and romance but it’s not all glamorous as fairytale books like to mislead you. All the heartbreak, arguments, and happinesses are worth enduring. In the end, their bond grew stronger and tougher to break. 

(Flashback)

A year ago…

The aftermath of their unexpected one night stand in Levi’s quarter, Christa Lenez aka Historia Reiss was washing the dishes. She volunteered doing cleaning kitchen duty for the morning while most of her friends and comrades did their assigned chores from Captain Levi’s orders. 

She can’t believed Captain Levi and her had sex a month ago. These past weeks, all the small female soldiers could think of her captain in a very erotic imagination. 

Her cheeks became warm and reddish from thinking in such profanity to her higher up officer. The biggest question Christa wanted to know was what are they now? She remembered what he said to her before proceeding in taking her virginity. Once he takes her, he will not share her with anyone. So what the hell does he mean? Since the day after, he avoids her like she’s some deadly plague. It had hurt her because maybe she had hoped she was not the only one who felt something like they had become one with each other. 

The meekly soldier shook her head in trying to forget these thoughts. It won’t matter anyways because Levi made it clear in his action that whatever had happened between them was nothing. Christa was used to not being loved especially how she was raised by her estranged mother until her death when she was a little girl by some man named Kenny Ackerman. Her father just stood there to let it happen. After the incident, she was sent away to some random family in Wall Rose in a town of District Trost. 

The family who took her in were one of her father’s connections. The Dinkles were worshipers of The Three Walls. Every morning the household must pray to the Walls or get punished. Christa used to worship in order to gain her foster family’s affection, but they were distant and cold to her. In their eyes, she’s a product of sin and lust; a bartard as Mr. Dinkles had spewed her constantly. No matter what she does to try to please them, they somehow punished her. That’s when the girl began to realize how worthless and a burden she was to this cruel world. There were times she attempted to end her life. Of course, Mr. Dinkles lectured and punished her more that she would go to hell if she succeeded. So Christa had tried to not do it. When she got older, her foster parents sent her to join the military since that was the deal her father made with the Dinkles. Good riddance that she did because it was hell being with the Dinkles. 

Christa frowned from the memories of her childhood after watching her own mother being killed in front of her. The adolescent soldier was not aware when a fellow soldier from the Scouts leaned against the countertop in a cocky attitude. “Hey there dollface, maybe after you finished, wanna take a stroll in town with me?” 

The blonde haired girl stopped washing to turn at the male soldier. “No, thank you. I must finish other chores that Captain Levi ordered me to do before the end of the day.” She politely declined him. 

“Ah come on, cutie. I’m sure the Captain will not notice. Let me treat you to dinner and maybe we can have some fun afterward.” The male soldier roamed his fingers on one of her sides. Goosebumps form on her skin from male human contact. 

“I said, no, thank you.” She frowned at what this guy's real intentions were. She may have slept with the captain but that doesn’t mean she’ll give herself easily to anyone. Christa had learned her lesson.

“Don’t be stubborn. You will miss out on having a cock giving you pleasure. Since Ymir girl is not here to cockblock some of the guys here that wanted you, you are like an angel waiting to be tainted by one of us.” He smirked. 

Christa had enough listening to this asshole. She is tired of being the too nice girl, Christa. Only her friends and Section Commander Hange, Commander Erwin, and Captain Levi knew who she really is. The petite soldier finished her chores then walked away from the creep. 

The guy grinned down his teeth angrily. Who does this bitch think she is? Every girl the guy talked to, they either blushed or flirts back. He never was rejected. His arm wrapped around her waist before Christa was out of his reach. Christa or Historia panic a bit from his bold advances on her. She wiggled from trying to escape from his grasp. No, she will not be weak. She can’t be weak anymore. She will be strong. She must be strong. Goodbye Christa Lenez, no more the sweet naivete girl. From now on Historia Reiss will rise. 

Something in her snapped and jabbed hard his rib then butthead his stomach. The guy fell on his knees while clenching his stomach from pain. “What the fuck, you bitch?! You will pay for that.” He glared at her.  Her eyes widened from being astonished at her strength. 

The guy grabbed her ankle to make her fall on the hard floor. The blue eyed girl kicked her legs to be away from him. He pounced on her which she was trapped under the male soldier. Shit, what can she do to escape now? Her heart beats in fear from what he will do to her if she doesn’t find a way to run away. “Let go of me.” She yelled at him. 

The creep smirked in victory. “Why should I? This wouldn’t happen if you agreed to go out with me, dollface. Now, you will know the consequence for rejecting me.” His hand already traveled on her body. Historia felt his touch replusing. Only Levi’s touch was warm and rough but also gently. This creep’s touch was uncomfortable and just terrible. The female soldier cried in distress. She, still trying to fight him off then glared hatefully at her soon to be rapist. Historia spit on his face. 

“Yuck, you little whore. Now, I will make you feel pain.” He slapped her face. Her cheek sting from his attack. Historia closed her eyes to imagine the night with Captain Levi to get through this nightmare. 

“Tch, looks like you should be the one to feel pain.” A deep baritone voice appeared in the kitchen. 

Historia felt the heavy weight of the guy was off of her. She opened her eyes to see her captain pinning the creep on the wall. The same guy was scared to death from seeing an enraged Captain Levi. The raven haired man usually doesn’t have that expression unless killing Titans. 

The tiny soldier gets up  to walk towards Levi. “C-captain please, don’t do something regretful. 

Levi had a knife pressed on the guy’s neck. Historia saw it as she got closer. She needed to stop her captain before he got in trouble instead of the true culprit. 

On the other hand, Levi sees red and already thought of thousands ways to use this knife on this pig. How fucking dare this brat touched and harmed Historia? He heard a soft familiar voice trying to talk him out. 

“Trust me, I won’t regret it.” His tone became chillingly dark. 

“Please....sir. He will get the punishment he deserves by Commander Erwin.” She pleaded with Levi which he glanced at her to see her beautiful blue eyes�� begging him to stop. The captain growled as he put the guy down but still grip his shirt. 

“You should be thankful that she showed you mercy otherwise you would have been in pieces. We will go to the Commander and you will fucking explain to him what you were about to do to Historia, a fellow soldier who’s part of my squad. Is that clear, you shithead cunt?” He said in a cold tone. The other soldier nodded in fear. “Tch. Come soldier, we’ll need your testimony to Commander Erwin.” He glanced at the petite beauty. He can see the hand mark on her soft creamy skin tone cheek. 

Levi prayed to the Walls for Erwin to let him tortured this pussy brat. He dragged the whimpering boy to Erwin’s office. Historia follows the captain silently. Once Levi reported what had happened in the kitchen and made the creepy brat explain what he did and almost planned to do to Historia, Commander Erwin had the cunt arrested for assaulting sexually and physically on a fellow soldier. This was unacceptable in a time like this. So Erwin had the MPs take away the soldier. 

After the drama, Historia and Levi were in his room. The captain was attending to her injury as it formed a bruise within hours. His hands were soft and delicate on her skin. This is right. His touch was the only thing that brought her comfort from the traumatic experience. 

“H-how are you feeling?” Levi was concerned for his subordinate. 

Historia was quiet but she looked into his steel grey eyes as tears fell from hers. This was all too much for her. It was not just almost being raped but how hot and cold Levi had treated her after that night. She was so confused. Deep down what they had done was wrong, but she can’t help feeling the fire that ignited her spirit. Levi had awoken her willingness to keep on living. She doesn’t want to let go of that fiery feeling. 

“I-I don’t know, Captain.” The blonde beauty whispered. 

“Historia, call me Levi.” He said. 

This made her snapped. “Why are you doing this?” She tried to contain her emotions. 

“What are you talking about?” The older man was confused. 

“You have been treating me like I’m some disease but there were rare times you treat me like we have been lovers for a long time. So what is it that you want from me. Levi? You can’t keep giving me misleads and expect me to be ok about it. Because I know what I want. What do you want?” She looked into his eyes while standing her ground. 

Levi was astonished that this meek girl had the balls to confront him. To be honest, the captain doesn’t know how to respond to her attacks. Ever since that night, he can’t stop thinking of her. He wants her, but there were many reasons Levi shouldn't have tried to pursue this girl. Most of the women he was with, they had met their doom. From Jessie to Petra, what makes Historia any different from the others? The blonde soldier deserved to be with someone who will give her comfort, stability, and love. 

Levi can’t offer any of it. He only can give his leadership to survive the missions. Somewhere deep in him, had been controlling his decisions when it’s involved Historia. 

That stupid Iapteus suddenly decided to show up and makes it difficult to detach himself from Historia. 

Iapetus rarely gets involved with Levi’s personal life since he let his host have free will. That free will had diminished when he met the cute female soldier on her graduation from being cadets. His head was giving awful headaches. Then he heard a deep monstrous like voice in his head screaming “mine, mine, mine” 

Tch, his titan is like a greedy kid that can’t shut the fuck up. He noticed Historia was waiting for his reply. 

“I…” That's all he can say. This disappointed her. She gets up from the bed to start walking towards the door. Historia just wanted him to be honest, but it seems he couldn’t answer her questions. The blue eyed girl felt tears falling again. 

Levi shook his head in disbelief of himself. This petite woman somehow has power over him. He should have let her leave and ended whatever that had in a very short period of time. This is for the best for both of them. But no Levi doesn’t want her to walk away from him. His soul yearned for this goddess-like girl. 

“Hold on.” He finally spoke as his hand snatched her wrist to stop her. 

“I’m sorry...I didn’t want to cause you pain.” He whispered. 

“I just want to know what does that make us? I felt something between us, perhaps I’m being silly and imagining you also feel that too.” She tried to wipe her tears from her eyes. 

Levi was too quiet again, but he used actions to speak loudly. So, the raven haired man pulled her towards him. Historia felt his solid tone chest when her body pressed against his. The older man wrapped his arms around her to hold on to her. 

“I want you, but I’m scared if I get closer to you; something terrible will happen to you. I can’t lose another person who matters to me again.” Levi finally said what he wanted to say. 

“I understand. I am also scared too, but what’s the point of living and be happy if we let fear consume us. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow or in 5 years or 20 years if fate granted us that privilege. Levi, would it be better to give it a shot at us?” She glanced at the man.  

Levi stared into those pretty blue eyes and moved her golden blonde hair away from her face to see it better. 

“I-if we do this, just promise me you won’t leave me too soon.” His hand caresses her soft cheek. 

“As long you don’t leave me as well.” Historia smiled with joy. She leaned to kiss his lips. 

(End Flashback)

Historia had already left the dining room in the main Orphanage building. She had the porcelain container of the stew she had made for supper. The queen walked on the stone pathways that led her to a cottage house behind the property she now owns being the last member of the Reiss family. 

The sun had set down for the day. The sky was clear and dark, only the stars and the full moon shined to give some light. The August breeze passed by her which her dress lightly flowed. When she became the owner of her late father’s property, both Levi and Historia not only built the orphanage but also a cottage to have some privacy for them. 

The cottage they built looked like one of those fairytale stories she used to read them as a child. At first, Levi teased her in his usual jerk way about having her dream home. He was a practical man, but with convincing she made a design plan so he can see what she visualized. 

The pregnant queen unlocked the door to enter the house then closed it. Since lights weren’t installed yet, Historia used a candlestick to light up once the container of stew was placed on the table in the kitchen. 

She looked at the time to see it’s late and sighed. Guess, Levi might not get home tonight. Historia decided to make tea before she headed to bed. This baby had been too active with kickings and movings around. Was Levi active too when he was in his mother’s womb? That’s something she won’t have the luxury to know. 

“Aren’t you exhausted, sweetheart?” The woman blonde whispered to her unborn child. In response, she felt a kick. 

“So a no.” She chuckled then heard the kettle whistling as the water was ready to be used. 

While she was preparing the tea, the sound of horses from outside was heard. The queen stopped what she was doing to speed walk outside of the cottage. By the time the petite woman reached the front of the building of the orphanage, a figure on his horse galloping towards the entrance of the estate. 

Historia smiled to see it was Levi. As he got closer to her, Levi spotted his wife waiting for him outside. 

“Oi woman, why are you up late? Should you be in bed? It’s past your bedtime.” Finally her husband arrived. He got off his horse. Historia didn’t bother to answer him as she hugged him to welcome him home. 

“Levi! I’m happy you’re home safe and sound.” She nuzzled his chest. 

“Of course, I did promise you, I’ll come back tonight. Didn’t I?” He gave a warm smile to her then embraced her hugs. 

“How hungry are you? Because I made your favorite stew.” She grinned. 

“Chicken and potatoes stew?” His stomach growled all of the sudden. Levi hasn’t eaten since breakfast. Today was emotional for him. He lost his appetite when His grandfather offered to buy him supper earlier. He declined politely which Bill was understanding. 

“Mhm with bacon bites.” She added. Levi was a sucker when it comes to bacon. 

His expression shifted to a child-like. “Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go eat. I’ll meet you in the cottage once I put Beauty in her stall.” He said. 

Historia nodded and gave him a peck on his cheek. Both went in opposite directions. Levi went into the horse stable. Just when he was about to enter, the stable man came out in a rush to help out Levi. 

“Welcome back Captain Levi. I hope you had a good day, sir.” He said with a smile. 

“Tch thanks. Could you give Beauty her carrots, she had earned it.” Levi stroked the horse nose gently to show affection. 

“Yes, sir. I will.” He saluted to show the veteran with respect. The captain nodded to acknowledge. “Alright, good. Well, goodnight. Sam.” He started to head out. 

“Goodnight, sir.” The stable man, Sam said. 

The raven haired man walked back the same direction to get the cottage. As he opened the door to the front of the cottage, he spotted the candlelights from the kitchen. Once he reached there, Historia was setting up for Levi to eat on the table. She poured two cups of tea then placed one for her husband and the other for herself. Levi sat down on the chair to see a bowl of stew in front of him. On the left, a roll of bread was placed close to the bowl. On the right, his cup of tea and a spoon ready for the stew. 

“You’re not gonna eat?” He noticed his wife only had a cup of tea in front of her. 

“I already had supper, but don’t worry. I’m still here to company you while you eat.” Historia reassured him. 

“Hm, ok.” As long as she had food in her belly, he doesn’t need to be concerned at the moment. 

While Levi began eating his stew, Historia started the conversation. “How was the mission with Bill?” 

The captain stopped eating to find the words of what he went through. “It was shit hell.” 

Historia frowned then placed her tea cup on the saucer to reach out his hand. “What had happened? A-are you ok?” She was worried. 

“I found out that my dad wasn’t a shithead who left my mom when she was pregnant. He went on his mission that got him killed. I can show you better than to explain it.” He gets up to go to the living room and open his carrier bag to pull out the Apple of Eden sphere. Historia looked at the object with curiosity and was amazed. 

Levi held it as it activated then a hologram of his father appeared. The queen gasped in surprise at how advanced this technology was. She was listening to what the man in the hologram said. Carefully, the queen observed some traits between Levi and his father shared. They both have similar posture when they sit. He inherited his father’s jawline. Most of it Levi got from his mother, but still the young woman can’t believe this man was his father. 

After the hologram of Jacob Miles finished talking, the image disappeared. She glanced at Levi then went to hug him tightly. “Oh Levi, your father has always loved you.” 

She was glad for her husband to have loving parents who went great lengths for Levi to be protected and born with love even if it was a very short amount of time. A part of her envy him. At least, her husband will have closure that his father did want him. 

“I told grandfather that I’m ready to take it seriously on being an assassin.” He said. 

“That’s great news, my love. We’ll kick ass together.” She said jokingly.

“We? You’re still pregnant. I’m not gonna let you kick anyone ass when you’re in that condition.” Levi scoffed. 

“I’m aware that I’m still pregnant, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be pregnant all the time. Eventually, I’ll participate in missions.” Historia pouted. 

“Like I’ll allow you to do any missions. You're a queen. You should be focusing on running a nation.” He mumbled. 

“You know damn well, I’m capable of doing both. If I must join the Brotherhood to protect and rule our people, then I will do it without your permission.” She glared at her husband. 

“Historia, I preferred you not get involved.” He growled low. Historia placed her hand on her hip to gesture in not giving in. 

“What do you mean not to get involved? Levi, I’ve been involved the moment you decided to go great length into convincing me to be queen by choking me. So, it’s too damn late for me not to get involved.” Her tone was firm. 

The captain glared with his steel grey eyes at his wife. He was silent from her comment. She does have a point, but why can’t she understand that he wants to protect her to make sure she lives longer. 

“You’re one stubborn woman.” That’s all he could say as his eyes looked away from her. 

“Of course I am. You married one. My love, I understand your intention. You want to protect me, and I’m grateful for that; but I am not a damsel in distress or I don’t want to be one. I am tired of being weak and staying on the side lines. It kills me to see that soon our soldiers are going to have to fight in the war while I stay locked in some safe house. I feel I will have blood in my hands for not doing anything! I should be going to war with all of you to fight or at least motivate our soldiers that we are going to survive and thrive to have our freedom to live as human beings.” 

Levi sigh then reached out to grab her hand to pull her towards him. Historia let’s him and sits on his lap. 

“Baby, you don’t have to feel a burden of not doing anything. You are already contributing so many things to give up hope to fight the war. I know the Scouts are motivated because they have a queen who is compassionate, honorable, and makes changes for the people. They called you the queen’s people. You know the noblemen feel threatened because you inspire the common people in Paradis to have the power to make their destiny. Besides they will fight for their lives, families, and friends; they will fight for their queen. I will fight for my queen. You’re so special to all of us, my love.” His words were encouraging. Historia couldn’t help to smile. She leans to kiss him sweetly. 

“Oh Walls Levi, I love you so much.” She whispered between their kisses. 

“I love you so much too, Historia. I promise you. Everything will be ok. I will make it alive so we can be together to raise our child when she or he is born.” His forehead pressed on to hers. 

“Please do. I need my other half to be complete., baby.” She stroked his hair softly.

“As you wish...”  he said. 

Both couples stayed in the same position to embrace this beautiful moment. Who knows what could be in stores for them. 

A/N: You think the last chapter was the longest I wrote, but nope this one is definitely the longest. So my lovely readers, enjoy this chapter. There will be more to come. I’ll see you all until the next chapter. Peace and love everyone.