#I would section off inch/half and inch wide strands

[ghwosty]

man I just remembered how I used to put chalk pastels in my hair where tf did that energy go

#I would section off inch/half and inch wide strands #usually on the like 'under layer' of hair #wet the tip up to about 2-4 inches #and then take the red and purple pastels and rub down (not up) along the wet part #then I'd let it dry #and I'd have random little streaks of red/pink/purple #it would and rub off on everything #it was probably awful for my hair who gives a fuck #but I had fun and I was free #I found a set of chalk pastels in my art supplies.. I should do it again

[teatoptony]

𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐈𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐭𝐬 - p.j

summary; who knew life threatening situations made you reevaluate your love life?

pairing; percy jackson x demigod!fem!reader

word count; 7.5k

warning(s); mild mentions of injury, spoilers for ttc

a/n; i'm guessing you meant the titan's curse? i changed a few things, but i hope this was what you had in mind. if not, feel free to send another request :)

the ending is schist. sorry.

You were on a dark hillside, shrouded in fog. Wisps of haze stuck and clung to your hair and clothes like cat hair, refusing to come off even when you tried to brush it away. Up above, you couldn't see the sky—just a close, heavy darkness, as if you were in a cave. From every direction, the same amount of pressure pushed down on you, like you were hundreds of miles below sea level. The place felt more like a deep-sea cavern than anything.

You felt like you were suffocating.

Thorn was long gone, you could tell. The smell of his disgusting cologne was nowhere to be found. A good thing, you supposed, as it really was rather horrible. On the down side, though, that meant you were completely stranded alone in the middle of nowhere.

"Thorn!" You called. Your own voice made your head pound. Raising a hand up to the back of your head with much more effort than you would like to admit, you felt something warm and sticky matting your hair. You grimaced. "Where are you? Why did you bring me here?"

You waited a minute or two before deciding that you were, in fact, on your own. Standing up only to drop back down, you hissed as you clutched your leg. Looking down at your calf, you gagged. Where one of Thorn's spikes had nicked you, the skin around the cut had turned a greenish-purplish colour, the cut itself scabbing over in a yellow-brown-black mess. He'd said his poison only causes pain; infections were a whole different problem.

You struggled up the hill, trying to reach the top. Maybe you'd be able to see if anything was around here from up high, though you doubted there would be anything for miles around. As you climbed, you vaguely noticed old, broken Greek columns of black marble scattered around, as though something had blasted a huge building to ruins.

Climbing over a section of broken wall, you finally made it to the crest of the hill. What you saw made your heart drop into your shoes.

On the rocky ground lay a boy with messy black hair and a tattered orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. He was crumpled like a soda can, and he seemed to be in pain. The blackness seemed to be thicker around him, the fog swirling hungrily. Squinting your eyes, you could see his eyes screwed shut with the effort of.. well, you couldn't quite tell. Whatever it was, it seemed horrible.

"Percy?" You whispered in shock, making your way toward him. As you walked closer, the air grew thicker and thicker, almost buzzing with electricity and the smell of ozone.

Percy's eyes cracked open when he heard your voice. Then they were wide with panic and relief.

"Y/N!" He called. "Help me! Please!"

You ran forward until you were no more than a few inches away from where he was standing—well, 'standing' is a strong word.. 'trying extremely hard not to be flattened into a Percy pancake' would be more accurate, now that you properly saw the state he was in. His hands were propped up next to his shoulders in an odd manner, like he was trying to hold up something massive and invisible.

Panic jolted into your brain as you registered his words. You reached out to touch his face.. then stopped at the last minute. He looked off; you couldn't tell why. Icy little needles prickled at the back of your neck, sending chills down your spine.

"Please, it's killing me." He said again. You took a step back.

"What happened?" You asked warily. Seeing Percy like this broke your heart, but something just felt wrong.

"They left me here," Percy groaned. You could've sworn his eyes looked almost yellow as he squeezed them shut again. He seemed to be struggling against some invisible curse, as though the fog were squeezing him to death.

Studying him closely again, you shook your head. You were just about to take another couple steps back when Percy's knees buckled. He yelped in surprise and almost toppled, but regained his balance in the last second. His face paled.

In the scarce light, Thalia's pine tree glimmered a soft green hue on one of the beads on his camp necklace. There was no Golden Fleece hanging from its branches.

The darkness above him began to crumble, like a cavern roof in an earthquake. Huge chunks of black rock began falling. You rushed in just as a crack appeared, and the whole ceiling dropped. You held it somehow—tons of rock. You kept it from collapsing on you and Percy just with your own strength. It was impossible. You shouldn't have been able to do that.

Just as the debris stopped falling, Percy rolled free, gasping. "Thanks." He managed. You clenched your jaw to steel yourself.

"Don't just lay there," you groaned.

Percy caught his breath. His face was covered in sweat and grime. He rose unsteadily.

Then, he flickered. Literally. His whole image flickered like the flame of a candle. You would've just brushed it off as something your brain made up from being put in such a stressful situation, but then it happened again. And again. Eventually, Percy flickered away..

..and Luke stood in his place.

"I knew I could count on you." He said, a crooked smirk twisting his face. He reached for his Camp Half-Blood necklace, and you realized there were glowing green runes etched onto every one of the six beads. Magic. Of course.

"Castellan." You spat, almost forgetting about the crushing weight on your shoulders as white-hot anger made your blood boil. "You prick."

"Nice to see you haven't changed," Luke said. He began to walk away as the trembling blackness threatened to pulverize you.

"Help. Me." You gritted your teeth. The words tasted bitter on your tongue. You knew it was no use; you were grasping at straws. But holding up literal tons of rock can make you do weird things.

"Oh, don't worry," Luke said. "Your help is on the way. It's all part of the plan. In the meantime, try not to die."

The ceiling of darkness began to crumble again, pushing you against the ground.

—

It's amazing how one perceives time when holding literal tons of stone.

At first, every second goes by agonizingly slow. Just when you think you're getting used to the weight, the ceiling cracks some more, piling more rocks on top of you until you're nearly squished like a bug. Once that cycle repeats a dozen or so times, you realize that a couple hours have passed, judging by the members of Kronos's army chatting amongst themselves while they stride by. You'd never been more relieved to hear dracanae making dinner plans.

Luke had said your 'help' was coming. You didn't know what poor soul was going to be trapped here next, but you couldn't help but hope they arrived quickly. As much as you didn't want anyone other than Luke to bear this weight, you were certain you'd die if they didn't. Maybe you could take turns once they arrived.

You were tired. Your legs trembled, threatening to give out at any moment. Your bones felt like they were on fire.

In front of you, a throne of black marble had been strategically placed in the shadows so that whoever was sitting on it wasn't really visible unless you got really close. Ugh, villains and their ambiance. It oddly resembled the chair from that one Lincoln statue, albeit a bit smaller in size. Fortunately, you were far enough away from it that you didn't have to look at the ugly face of whoever was on the throne.

Your eyes had been screwed shut for a while when you heard the clanking of chains drawing near. The sound scraped to a stop a couple feet in front of you. You peeled open your eyes to see what was about to go down.

A small girl with auburn hair was shoved forward by a meaty hand. She had chains of celestial bronze binding her hands and feet like some medieval prisoner. Her silvery dress was torn and tattered. Her face and arms were cut in several places, and she was bleeding ichor, the golden blood of the gods.

A goddess?

"How is our mortal guest?" A male voice boomed. Its force made the ground and the boulders on your shoulders vibrate. Your head pounded in protest. You'd compare it to a bass guitar, but that would be offensive to bass guitars.

Luke emerged from the shadows. He ran and knelt beside you, then looked back at the unseen man. "She's fading. We must hurry." You vaguely wished you could bite his hand off.

Hey, he's in range, just under the rocks.

You were tempted to just drop everything and let it crush everyone to death. You decided against it, only because of the goddess in chains. There was no way she'd be able to escape.

"You heard the boy," said the man in the shadows. "Decide!"

Shut up, you thought irritably. The world buzzed with every word he spoke, and you were not a fan of that.

The girl's eyes flashed with anger. You supposed she must have been either a minor goddess or extremely drained, because she didn't seem able to just will the chains to explode or make herself disappear. Maybe the chains prevented her, or some magic about this dark, horrible place.

The goddess looked at you, and her expression changed to concern and outrage. "How dare you torture a maiden like this!"

Maiden? You mused. The ceiling piled more boulders on you, and you almost crumpled, barely regaining your balance in time. Must be Artemis. You decided, groaning weakly. From what you recalled, Artemis was the protector of women. Besides, silver.

"She will die soon," Luke said. "You can save her."

Like you'd care.

"Free my hands," Artemis said.

Don't be stupid, you caught yourself thinking. You thanked the fact that the gods couldn't read minds. Well, most of them, anyway.

Luke strided over to her. He brought out his sword, Backbiter, and broke the goddess's handcuffs in one swift strike. You promised yourself you'd use the damn thing to stick him in the stomach if you ever got the chance.

Artemis ran over to you and took the burden from your shoulders. You collapsed on the ground like a pile of bones. You felt your spine creak as the pressure was taken off of it, and your limbs wouldn't stop trembling. You bit the inside of your cheek to stop the bile from rising, but even that took so much effort.

The man in the shadows chuckled. "You are as predictable as you were easy to beat, Artemis." Oh, hey, you were right.

"You surprised me," Artemis said, straining under her burden. "It will not happen again."

"Indeed it will not," the man said. "Now you are out of the way for good! I knew you could not resist helping a young maiden. That is, after all, your specialty, my dear."

Your breathing grew more and more ragged with each word the man spoke. You felt something hot trickle down the back of your neck, leaving chills in its wake. Recalling your head wound from earlier, you grimaced. Had it not patched itself up? How much blood had you lost? Thinking about it made you dizzy.

Artemis groaned. "You know nothing of mercy, you swine."

"On that," the man said, "we can agree. Luke, you may kill the girl now."

Oh, you complete piece of–

Luke hesitated. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "She–she may yet be useful, sir.. Further bait."

"Bah! You truly believe that?"

"Yes, General. They will come for her. I'm sure."

The man considered. "Then the dracaenae can guard her here. Assuming she does not die from her injuries, you may keep her alive until winter solstice. After that, if our sacrifice goes as planned, her life will be meaningless. The lives of all mortals will be meaningless."

Luke gathered up your listless body and carried you away from the goddess. You would have stabbed him, but you weren't in any state to do much more than breathe, and even that was a bit of a struggle.

"You will never find the monster you seek," Artemis said. "Your plan will fail."

"How little you know, my young goddess," the man in the shadows said. "Even now, your darling attendants begin their quest to find you. They shall play directly into my hands. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a long journey to make. We must greet your Hunters and make sure their quest is… challenging."

A sudden surge of annoyance flooded your brain. It was always like this, wasn't it? The 'bad guy' knew everything while your friends had to wander, dealing with every freakshow that sprung up on the way. It wasn't fair.

The man's laughter echoed in the darkness, shaking the ground until it seemed the whole cavern ceiling would collapse. You suddenly sympathized with how Zeus must have felt when Athena was banging on his skull, demanding to be let out. It felt like you had a goddess trapped up there. You wished someone would take an axe to it. Not like anyone here would have much aversion to that.

Luke took you a little while away from where Artemis was. Among the ruins, there was a semi-intact room with about two or three walls, depending on how tall you considered a wall to be. He placed you with your back against one of them. You glared at him from where you sat.

"Don't look at me like that," he snapped.

"Rot in Tartarus." You replied. Surprisingly, your voice worked. It sounded like metal against metal, but it worked.

Luke rolled his eyes. Then, his expression softened, just a little. "The gods are using you," he said bitterly. You rolled your eyes. Not this again. "Do you honestly think they care what happens to you?"

"I don't give a flying fuck what the gods care about," you said. Luke raised an eyebrow at your choice of words. "I care about my friends. I care about my life. You know, all the things you used to have before you stabbed us in the back and ran away."

With a bit of effort, you turned your head and spat on the ground. "Coward." You muttered, your hand wiping your face to get rid of all the grime. It didn't do much other than smudge it, really. "Couldn't even face us after your little stunt."

You could tell he was just itching to draw his sword from the way his hand twitched. You smirked. He was just too easy to rile up.

"I could kill you, here and now." He threatened. Geez, his villain talk needed some work.

"Go for it." You said, turning your head to look him in the eye again. Seeing the scar under his right, you cursed whatever dragon had caused it for not taking out his entire eyeball. Luke's expression changed from anger to irritation as he took a step back.

"I don't have to deal with you right now.." He muttered, turning away and walking off. Half a dozen dracanae came up from behind you, four of them taking positions on your left, right, and center while the other two continuously slithered in circles around you.

"Turn tail and run," you jeered. It was quiet, but it was enough to make him hear you, from the looks of it. His posture stiffened as the words left your tongue, making him seem rather huffy as he marched out of sight.

When the top of Luke's head disappeared, you felt all the strength leave your body. Your need to poke and prod at him had been the only reason you'd even been able to talk, you were sure. Your eyelids felt heavier than the cave ceiling. It wouldn't hurt to just close them for a moment or two..

You slept like the dead.

—

Surprisingly, it wasn't all that long until Percy came around, simply because the days blended into one. The sun never rose here, which meant your biological clock was the only thing that told you what time it could possibly be. The dracanae assigned to be your guards—three batches of six, from what you could tell by some of their features—weren't really the chattiest of their kind.

Your head wound had turned crusty and gross during the time you were kept here. Your calf wasn't in much better condition. You were shivering most of the time, cold sweat drenching your clothes and making them feel uncomfortable and disgusting to be in. The world spun without any prompts now.

You were messing with your roughly once-a-day rations when Luke came to grab you. It was the first time you'd seen him since he left you here. He looked paler and weaker than the first time you'd seen him here, and that was impressive considering he had just gotten out of getting crushed to death back then. Even in your condition, you had no doubt you could have taken him if the guards weren't here. Maybe if you had your weapon...

Despite that, he had a smug smirk on his face that you would've loved to slap off.

"Get up," he ordered. You pointed at your tray.

"I'm not done with my slop." You replied. In truth, you'd never touch the stuff, maybe taking one or two glops out of it just to keep yourself alive before lobbing the rest at your guards.

Luke snapped his fingers at the dracanae. Two of them slid over to either side of you and harshly lifted you up by each of your arms. You let out a disgruntled groan. The slop you'd just choked down threatened to make a reappearance as everything turned blurry and twisty. You tried not to sway on your feet.

"I said, get. Up." He sneered. You made a face at him in return.

"Fine." You snapped. You pulled your arms out of the snake women's grasp, only for Luke to cuff your hands behind your back. You opened your mouth to complain, but he stuffed a gag in it. You felt like you were about to hurl. The thing tasted like sandpaper and mouldy gym socks.

He dragged you alongside him, walking—well, limping, in your case—downhill and circling the lower points before climbing his way back up. There, he joined half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos and a hulking man in a brown silk suit. You supposed this was the one who'd been sitting on the throne when Artemis was brought in. You waited for your vision to clear a bit before taking note of his appearance.

His skin was light brown, and his dark hair was slicked back in a (in your opinion) rather wet-dog-like fashion. He had a regal expression; a cold, proud look in his grey eyes, like a CEO who ran one of those huge companies that were responsible for the ice caps melting.

"My lady!" Someone cried at the top of the hill. The Hulk-man gestured with his hand for his forces to follow him up the hill. Ugh, villains and their grand entrances, too.

Luke pushed you forward as he unsheathed Backbiter. Once you reached the crest of the hill, he pointed the blade at your neck.

From here, you could see a small group of people who were definitely not a part of Kronos's army. There was Percy, Thalia, and another girl who was kneeling at Artemis's side. You grimaced. None of them looked like they were in much of a shape to fight. Especially the new girl—you could see the dark colour of blood soaking through her silvery clothes. The getup looked somewhat familiar.. where had you seen that before? Her skin, which you assumed under better circumstances would be a coppery brown, was slowly being bleached.

"Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now." Artemis groaned. Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. The ceiling threatened to pile more rocks on her as one or two new cracks appeared.

Despite the goddess's warning, the girl tugged stubbornly at her chains. Of course, they didn't budge. You could see she was trembling, but whether that was from the blood loss or from crying, you weren't too sure. She really needed a medic.

"Ah, how touching." Hulk-man said.

Points for a moderate opening line, I guess.

The three turned around. Percy and Thalia raised their weapons as New Girl opted to position herself between Artemis and Hulk-man. Ah, must be a Hunter. You'd seen the pamphlet Annabeth had.

Your eyes met Percy's as he scanned the crowd. When he took in what was going on, the look of anger that took over his features was like nothing you'd seen before on him. The boy looked just about ready to commit war crimes.

As touching as that was, all you wanted was for him to get the hell out of here. Hulk-man, as much as calling him that made him sound ridiculous, wasn't one to be taken lightly, you could tell.

"Luke," Thalia snarled. "Let her go."

Luke smiled thinly. "That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again." He said. Thalia looked like she was ready to murder him, which she probably was. Honestly, same.

Thalia spat at him. The gag stifled your laugh. Luke rolled his eyes and pressed the blade of his sword harder against your throat. You tried not to wince as it cut shallowly through your skin. You could just see Percy's grip tightening on Riptide.

Hulk-man—'The General', whatever—chuckled. "So much for old friends. And you, Zoë. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you."

New Girl—whom you could only assume was Zoë—clenched her jaw. Her face was pale, and she didn't look like she was in a much better condition than Luke, which was saying something. Huh, she and the General looked kinda similar..

"Do not respond," Artemis groaned. "Do not challenge him."

"Wait a second," Percy said. "You're Atlas?"

Ah. Oh. Wait—what?

The General glanced at him. "So, even the stupidest of heroes can finally figure something out. Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. Congratulations. I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl."

"You're not going to hurt Zoë." Percy said. "I won't let you."

The General sneered. "You have no right to interfere, little hero. This is a family matter."

Percy frowned. "A family matter?"

"Yes," Zoë said bleakly. "Atlas is my father."

Percy's eyes flickered between Zoë and Atlas, taking in the new information. It was easy to see the family resemblance, even if one of them was an evil titan overlord and another was a Hunter of Artemis. His frown deepened as he made the same connections.

"Let Artemis go," Zoë demanded. She struggled to her feet, the look in her eyes so close yet so different from Atlas's.

Atlas walked closer to the chained goddess. "Perhaps you'd like to take the sky for her, then? Be my guest."

No, no, no, no, no. You thought. Look at the state you're in. You'll die.

Zoë opened her mouth to speak, but Artemis said, "No! Do not offer, Zoë! I forbid you."

Atlas smirked. He knelt next to Artemis and tried to touch her face, but the goddess bit at him, almost taking off his fingers. Pity, if only he were slower.

"Hoo-hoo," Atlas chuckled. "You see, daughter? Lady Artemis likes her new job. I think I will have all the Olympians take turns carrying my burden, once Lord Kronos rules again, and this is the center of our palace. It will teach those weaklings some humility."

Percy looked at you. Your eyes flickered between his and Zoë's bow. In situations like these, your philosophy was simple: first move, first kill. Whoever took the first shot was going to result the first casualty, and you hoped your friends were smart enough to know that by now.

Atlas was in a somewhat vulnerable position. If Zoë fired now, he'd have to take a second to stand. You bet it would take Luke by surprise, too. After all, if she was Atlas's daughter, she must be thousands of years old, with that much experience.

Take. A. Shot.

Percy just stood there, staring at you. His eyes lingered on the top of your head. Thalia muttered something to him that you didn't quite catch. Geez, was the wound really that bad? Could he even see it from there?

As if on cue, you stumbled, suddenly feeling like you were standing on a surfing board. You hissed weakly as the movement made Luke's sword slip across your neck. A trickle of blood slowly made its way down to your shirt.

"I don't understand," Percy said. His voice was slightly forced. "Why can't Artemis just let go of the sky?"

Atlas laughed. Ugh, shut up. The sound made your head pound even more than before. "How little you understand, young one. This is the point where the sky and the earth first met, where Ouranos and Gaia first brought forth their mighty children, the Titans. The sky still yearns to embrace the earth. Someone must hold it at bay, or else it would crush down upon this place, instantly flattening the mountain and everything within a hundred leagues. Once you have taken the burden, there is no escape." Atlas smiled. "Unless someone else takes it from you."

He approached Percy and Thalia, studying them. His back was turned to Zoë. Take a shot. "So these are the best heroes of the age, eh? Not much of a challenge."

"Fight us," he said. "And let's see."

"Have the gods taught you nothing? An immortal does not fight a mere mortal directly. It is beneath our dignity. I will have Luke crush you instead."

Luke looks like he'd fall over if you looked at him too hard, you thought. Then you internally groaned at yourself for being held hostage by him in that state. Ugh, being helpless felt gross.

"So you're another coward," Percy said.

Atlas stiffened. You were sure he would've punched Percy straight in the head if he wasn't so prideful. With difficulty, he turned his attention to Thalia.

"As for you, daughter of Zeus, it seems Luke was wrong about you." He said smoothly, although you could hear the clear irritation in his voice.

"I wasn't wrong," Luke managed. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see that he somehow looked even worse than he did just a couple moments ago. Beads of sweat made their way down his forehead (ew), and he spoke every word as if it were painful. You thanked whatever was the reason for his pain. "Thalia, you can still join us. Call the Ophiotaurus. It will come to you. Look!"

He waved his hand, and next to Thalia, a pool of water appeared: a pond ringed in black marble, big enough for a small seal. Percy took one look at it, then stared for a few moments like he was in a trance. He then shook his head a little and looked back at you with a rather stupid, blank look on his face. He looked like he'd broken his brain by thinking too hard, an expression you knew all too well from sitting next to him in English Lit.

"Thalia, call the Ophiotaurus," Luke persisted. "And you will be more powerful than the gods."

"Luke…" Her voice was full of pain. "What happened to you?"

"Don't you remember all those times we talked? All those times we cursed the gods? Our fathers have done nothing for us. They have no right to rule the world!"

Like the Titans were going to be any better. Could he not see that he'd be dead as soon as Kronos rose to the throne?

Thalia shook her head. "Free Y/N. Let her go."

"If you join me," Luke promised, "it can be like old times. Annabeth will see our side eventually. The three of us together. Fighting for a better world. Please, Thalia, if you don't agree…"

His voice faltered. "It's my last chance. He will use the other way if you don't agree. Please."

Okay, so maybe he did realize his life was in danger here. You weren't sure what he meant, but the fear in his voice sounded real enough. For one reason or another, his life depended on Thalia's joining his cause. You, for one, couldn't bring yourself to care about him after everything he'd done. You were afraid Thalia might, though.

"Do not, Thalia," Zoë warned. "We must fight them."

Luke waved his hand again, and a fire appeared. A bronze brazier, just like the one at camp. A sacrificial flame.

"Thalia," Percy said. "No."

You held your breath. Whatever they were talking about, it was clear you were out of the loop. But one thing was for sure—Luke, and by extension Kronos, desperately wanted Thalia to summon this Ophiotaurus thing, which meant you had to hope desperately that she wouldn't.

Behind you, a quiet, high-pitched humming noise grew louder as the air grew warmer. You saw a golden light cast on the boulders, presumably from Kronos's sarcophagus. As it did, you saw images in the mist all around you: black marble walls rising, the ruins becoming whole, a terrible and beautiful palace rising around you, made of fear and shadow.

"We will raise Mount Othrys right here," Luke promised, in a voice so strained it was hardly his. "Once more, it will be stronger and greater than Olympus. Look, Thalia. We are not weak."

Debatable.

He pointed toward the ocean, and Percy's expression turned into one of slight horror. With the whole being held at swordpoint and all, you couldn't look at whatever it was he was so afraid of, but it must have been horrible if it scared Percy like that.

"This is only a taste of what is to come," Luke said. "Soon we will be ready to storm Camp Half-Blood. And after that, Olympus itself. All we need is your help."

For a terrible moment, Thalia hesitated. She gazed at Luke, her eyes full of pain, as if the only thing she wanted in the world was to believe him. Then she leveled her spear. "You aren't Luke. I don't know you anymore."

"Yes, you do, Thalia," he pleaded. "Please. Don't make me… Don't make him destroy you."

Percy looked back at you. You nodded slightly, hoping he'd get the message already. He then looked to Thalia and Zoë, as if he were steeling himself for the fight to come.

"Now," he said.

Together, they charged.

Thalia went straight for Luke. The hideous face of Medusa glared at you as she ran, making you stand frozen in fear. Behind you, you heard panicked hissing and a loud thump as the dracanae ran away.

Despite his sickly appearance, Luke was still quick with his sword. He snarled like a wild animal and counterattacked. When his sword, Backbiter, met Thalia's shield, a ball of lightning erupted between them, frying the air with yellow tendrils of power.

As Backbiter left your throat, you did the least heroic thing you could think of.

You ran.

Tucking yourself behind a large boulder, you tried to wait out the battle. In your current state, you'd be a liability rather than an asset. From this new position, you could see wave after wave of monsters marching from the Princess Andromeda and up the mountain.

You hated that you could do nothing but hope that your friends would make it out alive. Preferably before the army reached the top.

"Die, little hero," Atlas said. You had a feeling he was talking about Percy. Your heart dropped a hundred miles below.

Screw this. You had to do something. Now.

Finding a jagged spot in the boulder you were hiding behind, you maneuvered yourself into a position where you could somehow strike your hands downward and theoretically break your cuffs on the rock. Assuming they weren't made of celestial bronze, that is. After about three tries and one painful miscalculation, the chain finally broke, and you ripped the gag from your mouth, spitting to get rid of the taste.

When you peered around the boulder, the fight was complete mayhem. There was Atlas in full battle armor, jabbing with his javelin, laughing insanely as he fought. And a blur of silver—Artemis?

She had two wicked hunting knives, each as long as her arm, and she slashed wildly at the Titan, dodging and leaping with unbelievable grace. She seemed to change form as she maneuvered. She was a tiger, a gazelle, a bear, a falcon. Or perhaps that was just your fevered brain.

Zoë shot arrows at her father, aiming for the chinks in his armor. He roared in pain each time one found its mark, but they affected him like bee stings. He just got madder and kept fighting.

Wait, if Artemis was out fighting...

Who was holding the sky?

Where was Percy?

Looking over to the dreaded spot, you saw Percy trying not to get crushed under the weight of the sky. His eyes were screwed shut, concentrating on anything and everything but the burden on his shoulders. Right before your eyes, you could've sworn a lock of his hair was turning grey.

Oh, hell no.

Not really thinking, you streaked across the battlefield with surprising speed. Rolling under arrows and narrowly avoiding Atlas's javeline once, you reached Percy, who was about to pass out. You rolled under the boulders—which you now saw were actually dark, heavy clouds—and braced yourself on your good leg, kneeling down. Reaching up with your hands, you took the sky once again.

Every cell in your body screamed in protest. The pounding in your head was worse than what Zeus felt in Athena's origin story; you were sure of it. You felt like the vertebrae in your spine were being welded together by a blowtorch.

Fortunately, though, two people holding the sky was evidently easier than doing it alone.

"What the–" You vaguely heard Percy say. He was cut off by a blood-curdling scream. You managed to open your eyes and saw Zoë leap between her father and Artemis, shooting an arrow straight into the Titan's forehead, where it lodged like a unicorn's horn. Atlas bellowed in rage. He swept aside his daughter with the back of his hand, sending her flying into the black rocks.

"Zoë!" Percy shouted. He looked frantically between you and the direction she flew. As much as he wanted to go help her, he didn't try to move, afraid you wouldn't be able to handle the full burden of the sky.

The cold weight of dread settled in your stomach. Zoë didn't get back up.

Then Atlas turned on Artemis with a look of triumph on his face.

Artemis seemed to be wounded. She didn't get up.

"The first blood in a new war," Atlas gloated. And he stabbed downward.

Just then, a voice spoke in your head. Get ready, Artemis told you. You realized she was leading Atlas closer to where you knelt. With great difficulty, you turned your head to meet Percy's eyes. You could tell Artemis had told him the same thing.

"Go." You said, your voice strained. You tried to tell him the goddess's plan, but your voice wouldn't work anymore, so instead you looked frantically between Atlas and the sky. Percy hesitated for a split second before ducking and rolling out from under the clouds.

As fast as thought, Artemis grabbed Atlas's javelin shaft. It hit the earth right next to her and she pulled backward, using the javelin like a lever, kicking the Titan Lord and sending him flying over her.

You saw him coming down on top of you, and you loosened your grip on the sky. And as Atlas slammed into you, you didn't try to hold on. You let yourself be pushed out of the way and rolled for all you were worth.

The weight of the sky dropped onto Atlas's back, almost smashing him flat until he managed to get to his knees, struggling to get out from under the crushing weight of the sky. But it was too late.

"Noooooo!" He bellowed so hard it shook the mountain. "Not again!"

Atlas was trapped under his old burden.

As for you, you didn't try to stand. Odd as it was, you could feel no part of your body and every single atom at the same time. You felt like you were literally burning up. Your head felt like someone was taking a dull axe to it over, and over, and over. Your leg felt like it was poisoned all over again.

After that, you don't remember much else. Hard to when you're unconscious.

—

Things were kinda hazy after that. You faintly remember waking up on a marble floor, a good-looking guy with a perfect tan and gold curls leaning over you. You thought it was Will, but this guy looked a lot older, and more golden, somehow.

"There you go, kid," he said, smiling widely at someone next to you. His teeth were so white, you were surprised it didn't make your head hurt worse. Wait.. did it even hurt at all? "God of medicine, at your service."

"Thanks." You heard Percy's voice mutter. He sounded relieved, but there was a bit of a point to his tone. Golden Guy—Apollo, you assumed—smirked knowingly and stood up, teleporting out of sight.

"Now for the Ophiotaurus," a voice said. Maybe Artemis. You fell asleep before you could hear much more of the conversation.

—

The next time you woke up, it lasted a lot longer. The familiar scent of the infirmary prompted you to open your eyes. When you did, the sight made you let out a breathless laugh. Sunlight filtered through the blinds, casting warm sunlight in patterns across the white sheets of the bed. On the windowsill, a small collection of potted plants sprouted soft green shoots.

When you tried to move your hand, you found that a slight weight held it down. Someone took a sharp breath, and their fingers tightened around your hand.

"Oh, you're awake." Percy said. You sat up. His face looked a mess. A couple scars here and there and some bruises (all covered in some sort of balm), plus dark circles like he hadn't had a proper sleep in days. His shoulders sagged as he scanned yours. "Thank the gods."

You must have looked confused, because he straightened up and started explaining everything that had happened at the mountain, then at Olympus. Mr. Chase was, surprisingly, not that bad. Something about Artemis's Santa Claus sleigh. Zoë had passed on. Apparently, you were an expert pegasus rider in your sleep. Golden Guy was, in fact, Apollo—though Percy seemed a bit miffed when you called him that—and was the one who had healed you before you came back to Camp. Will had still insisted you stayed in the infirmary for a day or two so that he could check on you to make sure you were alright.

"You really had me scared, you know?" He said, his cheeks growing red. "You were so dumb, taking the sky when you were like that. I had it."

"Yeah, sure you did, Ariel." You snorted. Then you squinted at him. "Your hair's grey," you informed.

"So's yours," Percy rolled his eyes. "Dude, I was scared you were gonna die on me, and the first thing you say is that my hair's grey?"

"Well it is," you simply said. He let out an exasperated sigh, and you put a finger on his forehead to push his head up. "You didn't have anything to worry about. Not gonna get rid of me that easily, Jackson."

He laughed, but then trailed off. He fiddled with your fingers a bit. You felt your ears grow warm as you realized he was still holding your hand.

"Seriously though... I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if you were gone because I let you take all of it. The sky."

"Yeah, well, I'm still here." You said softly. He smiled a little.

He took a breath, then paused, as if deciding whether or not to say what he was thinking out loud. "You know why I was so scared?"

"Because you thought your best friend was about to die?"

"No." He said. Then he quickly backtracked, "well, yeah, but not just that. I was scared that I wouldn't be able to tell you..."

He took another breath.

"I like you. Like, like-like you. A lot, actually."

Your heart skipped a beat. "Wait, what?" You asked, dumbfounded. Your face flushed as his sea green eyes met yours, suddenly very interested in the linen sheets of your cot.

"I've been in love with you since we were kids," Percy chuckled. "I used to make my mom pick out my clothes when we went to your place so that I'd look good."

If your face wasn't red before, it certainly was now. You grabbed Percy's hand in yours a little tighter and laughed. "You know, I used to make you watch all those Disney movies so that you'd kinda get the hint that I liked you," you mused. Percy perked up. "All the girl-gets-the-guy stuff. Now I kinda figure, I should've made you play Barbie and Ken with me instead."

"What, make me Ken?"

"Nah. You'd be Barbie." You laughed at his expression. He huffed as if he found the idea nuts. "I'd be Ken. We'd be married, maybe have a horse."

"A horse?"

"Hey, I lost all the tiny Barbie puppies!"

"Well," he chuckled. You could've sworn his eyes sparkled. "In that case, you'll be happy to know, since we were kids, I planned to marry you someday."

"Oh yeah?" He hummed in confirmation. "What did it look like?"

"I dunno. Like the first thing that pops up when you type 'wedding' on Google."

"Wow. Way to be generic, Perce." You deadpanned. He punched your arm lightly.

"Hey, I was like six!" He said defensively.

A light quiet settled over the two of you as you looked down, avoiding Percy's expectant stare and fiddling with his fingers instead. He had that stupid grin on his face, which you'd come to adore over the years you'd known him.

"So..what now?" You asked, slowly lifting your gaze to meet his. His face flushed, and this time, it was he who turned away. He muttered something under his breath—a prayer?—and looked back at you. He looked like he wanted to run away.

"D'you want to go to the fireworks with me? Like, as a date?" He asked. You giggled.

"That's like, six months away." You laughed. He shrugged.

"Yeah. I need six months to get ready, obviously." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, obviously. My bad." You held back your laughter long enough to accept. "I'd love to go with you."

Percy was just about to say more when Will burst out of the 'doctor's office'. The boy stood up so suddenly that he almost knocked his chair over. Will walked over and shooed Percy away.

"Yeah, yeah, we all like each other. Can you please let me work now?" He said, and Percy's ears burned bright red. He muttered a quick see you later and practically ran out of the infirmary.

"We thought he'd never tell you," Will commented, checking the back of your head.

"We?"

"Uh, probably, what, half the camp? Maybe more," he said absentmindedly. Giving you a once-over, he nodded to himself in satisfaction. "Dad did a good job on you."

He gave you the go-ahead a minute or two later. As you walked out the door, you saw Percy talking animatedly to Annabeth near the volleyball court, his back towards you. The blonde had an amused smile on her face, and when she noticed you, she put her hands on Percy's shoulders and spun him around. Catching your eye, the boy gave you a small wave and a smile. You waved back, a grin of your own on your lips.

With his slight blush and bright eyes, it was hard to believe a doomsday prophecy was in his hands.

The end of the world never felt so far away.

#percy jackson #percy jackson fanfiction #percy jackson imagine #percy jackson fic #pjo fanfic #pjo x reader #percy jackson x reader #percy jackson books #pjo imagine #percy jackson x you #percy jackson x y/n

[jsbsam]

One step beyond!

The fact that you're reading this means that MM and I made it back to Cusco safely. But how did we get on? Did we manage to scale the mountain and achieve MM's long held ambition?

The day started well. Despite MM waking me up at 2.00am to get ready for our pick up at 3.50am our "breakfast box" was ready and our driver turned up bang on time and the guide, Vincenti, was with him. Result! No chance of being left stranded at Km104. We set off to pick up the other members of our group, Sandra, a very fit 49 year old German CFO working out of Singapore and Alexa a very fit 33 year old HR German senior management training executive. They had all the best trekking gear and really looked the part. I suddenly felt my age and slightly intimidated. All 3 women, including MM, walked and trekked regularly as their chosen passtime, I had done an 8 mile practice walk 4 weeks ago. This could only end badly.

After 1.5hrs we reached Ollantaytambo train station and boarded the train to Km104 where we got off at 7.45am and the train pulled off and left us. The point of no return. We crossed the tracks and from that point it was climb, climb, climb! The big mistake I had made was that it's not walking practice you need for this trek it's stepping practice. As I walk 5-6 miles 3-4 times a week playing golf (it would be less if I could hit the ball straight!) I thought that my fitness levels would be okay. The walk would be tough but achievable. I kid you not after 30m I was sweating like a pig and had already removed my fleece and shirt. I was breathing really hard. It was either the altitude or my fitness or both. I knew then that I was in for a battle and a challenge and might have to dig deep.

The difficulty is that much of the climb is steps, not just normal steps but steps of 12-15 inches. There are some non-step phases where you can catch your breath but they are few and far between. Also with the 2 young, fit German women striding on it was difficult to go at your own pace. They were very good, but pride kicks in doesn't it, even when you're older and should know better.

Those of you that know me pretty well know that I sweat like a Barron ie it pours off me without me exerting much effort. Needless to say I was dripping from the start to the end of the day. The 2 women and Vincenti must have thought I was a goner!

After 4hrs of almost non-stop climbing we reached Winaywayna, an Inca ruin, where we stopped for lunch. I was so grateful. I thought, thank God, I can have a half hour break, the worst is done and the next bit should be more manageable with the final bit being downhill. To be fair, it was more manageable, but there were still some tough bursts of climbing culminating in the "monkey climb" up to the Sun Gate. I got to the top before MM, who, until that point had been coping better than me, but didn't go through the gate until she caught up and we could go through together. It's spectacular. It's the first sighting of Machu Picchu and suddenly all the pain and discomfort disappears as you drink in the view. Furthermore, you realise that the final hour will be downhill with no climbs!

Hmmm, wrong again. It is downhill, but there are still uphill sections and the downhill steps are still 12-15 inches deep so not so easy. Plus, we had a shower during the descent which made the stones very slippy indeed. Most people seemed to manage okay by taking it easy but I managed to slip onto my backside on about 4 occasions despite using walking poles (I would recommend) - somewhat embarrassing but also very dangerous. For most of the walk you are walking on a track/steps of maybe 4 to 5 feet wide with a precipitous drop into the abyss to the right hand side. As you know, I suffer from vertigo and don't like heights at all so I concentrated on looking at the ground to place my feet and out into the distance for views. Amazingly, after a while it didn't bother me too much as I was concentrating on catching my breath! If I'd fallen the wrong way on a couple of those slips it could have been very nasty.

At 3.15pm we reached Machu Picchu. We were absolutely knackered but delighted to have made it, particularly as the guide said it was a pretty good time. The view is spectacular as you'll see in the photos.

We took the bus down the mountain to our hotel in Aguas Calientes where we showered before going out for a group meal. I went out like a light that night and slept like a log - it was great.

This morning we woke up with no aches or pains and went back up the mountain to tour the actual site and learn some of the history of the Inca's and Machu Picchu in particular. It was fascinating. The construction methods, the relationship with the Spanish and how Machu Picchu was found and developed by an American academic, Mr Bingham, in 1911. Everything was going well until MM upset the Llama's that are used as lawnmowers to keep the grass short and they attacked her by trying to eat her hat!

It has been an amazing adventure and MM has realised her dream of climbing up to Machu Picchu. I have to admit that my original view that "it's just a load of old stones at the top of a steep hill" may well have slightly undersold this Unesco World Heritage site. If you're in the area it's worth a visit, but I would suggest doing it whilst you're still pretty fit and to practice by walking up and down stairs (2 at a time preferably). Think very carefully and fully understand the difficulty of the 4 day walk instead of the one day walk before being tempted. Overall though, I'd recommend it, a great sense of achievement and some incredible views.

So was it One Step Beyond (Madness)? - Nearly!

[levi-my-beloved]

Birds of a Feather

Chapter 4

Parings: Canon!Levi x F!Reader

Content Warnings: Violence, torture, this one gets a little spicy y’all, descriptions of sexual acts, hints of abuse (please let me know if i’ve missed any)

Word Count: 14.8K

Summary: You were the most notorious criminal in The Underground City. With your organisation of highly skilled professionals, only one man could take you down. He also happened be be Humanity’s Strongest... and your ex.

Previous Chapter

First Chapter

A/N: well, you guys wanted it all in one post! this is by far the longest chapter, yet, and possibly the longest chapter in the entire fic maybe? i’ve caught myself up now with the progress of writing, since i’ve only completed one part of the next chapter so chapter 5 won’t be out within the next three days like these last four have been. i’m thinking i’ll need maybe a week? not sure, but the next part has a little flashback section which i hope you’ll all enjoy!

god these a/n’s are really long aren’t they? asdfghjkl sorry i’ll make the cut off now. hope you enjoy!!!

𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔𖣔

Whether it had been thirty minutes or thirty years, you couldn’t tell. Struggling to stay conscious as the four soldiers brought your limp body back to your cell. Your legs no longer work, gathering dust as they drag across the ground. Your abdomen and back were on fire. You were convinced. They had simply thrown you into hell to cook for a bit before dragging you back out. There was no other explanation. Other than the countless, seemingly endless beatings you had just taken. Whether your legs were tired or if your spine was broken, you couldn’t tell as they tossed you back behind bars, removing the rope around your wrists. You didn’t have the strength to fight back. Didn’t have the strength to even raise your head as they left.

Broken, split ribs sent agonising jolts of pain as you shifted in a lame attempt to curl up into a ball. You hadn’t cracked like they’d wanted you to. You hadn’t screamed, cried, begged them to stop. And you wouldn’t. When they came back for you, you would hold your tongue once again. You had never broken in the past. Whether you’d been compromised during an assault on a rival gang, or whether it was one of your mentor’s training exercises to get you used to torture. You had never broken.

You weren’t about to start now.

Still, the throbbing in your body prevented you from sleeping. You didn’t know what time it was. Time had escaped you during that ordeal. You didn’t even know what time of day it was, pretty sure it was night when they had come for you.

Fuck, your body ached. But you knew comfort was a long way from here. It always seemed so far away from where you were. Did you ever have comfort?

You lay there for god knows how long, seconds turning to minutes, minutes to hours. Hours could have turned to days for all you knew.

When the now familiar echo of footsteps reached your ears, you didn’t move. You didn’t care. Whoever it was could rot in hell for all you cared. Wishing death upon these fucking soldiers was the only thing keeping you from giving up right now.

“The bed not good enough or something?” Levi. Shit. The one person you didn’t want to see you like this.

You didn’t answer, choosing instead to try and count as many marks on the wall as you could. It helped to keep your focus off the dull throbbing coursing through your body.

“Oi, ‘you seriously still asleep? It's almost midday,” the singing of metal caused you to wince slightly as he rapped on the bars in an attempt to wake you from a sleep you weren’t in.

“Get the fuck u—” You had a vague idea what caused him to stop his impending barrage of insults you knew were about to flutter effortlessly from his mouth, and you couldn’t tell if you were thankful or not. On the upside, you didn’t have to hear whatever colourful language he was about to spew. On the downside…

“What happened to you…?” it was the second time he’d asked that question, but from the tone of his voice, you could tell this was less a passing thought and more of a question prompted by horror.

Levi froze. His breath caught in his throat. He had expected you to be awake by now. To be up, with that crooked, cocky smile on your face. In fact, he’d half expected you to be leaning against the wall, the door flung wide open as you twirled the keychain around your finger, simply begging him to ask you how you’d done it.

The last thing he expected to see was you, on the floor, curled into a ball. The shirt on your lower back riding up enough for him to see violent, deep purple bruises, blood steadily streaming from your spine and lower back.

Still you refused to answer, or even move. Filthy fucking soldiers, you fucking hated every last one of them. How fucking dare they? How dare they string you up like a piece of drying meat. They had no idea what you’d been through. What you’d had to do to survive. How dare they assume.

And yet,

And yet there was still that little voice in your head. That little kernel of doubt, convincing you that you deserved this. You had killed so many. So much blood was on your hands.

You deserved this.

You didn’t even notice Levi had entered your cell until a hand rested upon your shoulder.

“(Y/N)—”

“Don’t fucking touch me,” your reaction was instant. Instinctual. Immediately wrenching out of his hand, throwing yourself forward. A yelp escaped your mouth without your permission, fire igniting in your body as you moved so suddenly. It caused you to falter in your movements, landing harshly on your side. “Shit!” your voice broke as you yelped, agony flaring in your entire midsection, hand flying to clutch your side as you backed up against the wall. “Don’t fucking touch me,” there was no conviction in your voice. It was more of a plea than anything. If you had raised your head to look at him, maybe you would have laughed at his expression of twisted shock.

But instead you let your hair fall in front of your face, masking your own expression. Teeth grit in silent pain, eyes screwed shut.

Levi’s worry turned to outright unsettling fear. Over the last two days, he’s witnessed you more broken than he’s ever seen you before. He remembered sitting up with you after you’d woken from one of your nightmares. The two of you sitting on the floor against the wall, sharing a cup of tea to not waste resources. He’d seen you angry. He’d seen you upset. But he’d never seen you shattered.

“(Y/N)...” you’d forgotten how soft his usual bored voice could sound. Even after yesterday, you hadn’t heard that tone from him in years. It was borderline unnatural.

It prompted you to raise your head ever so slightly, glaring at him through thick, matted (H/C) strands. You refused to let your guard down, even though the sight of him squatting before you, eyebrows gently creased with suppressed worry almost made you relax. But you weren’t about to be taken away and tortured again.

Any scrap of trust that may have manifested yesterday during the carriage ride and your conversation had been crushed.

“Get away from me,” you looked feral, bearing your teeth animalistically as you snarled. Though it didn’t seem to deter him. He knew a dog only bared its teeth when it was wounded, fearing to be hurt further.

Levi sighed through his nose as he stood. You flinched at his movement and watched as he made more of a conscious effort not to startle you. Your eyes squinted in suspicious confusion as he took a small cloth from his pocket and started running it under the tap.

It seemed the faucet did work. Good to know.

Returning to squat in front of you, his eyes flickered from your face to your abdomen.

“Show me,” he instructed gently, and you almost obeyed him. Almost.

“Go fuck yourself,” you spat instead, bringing your knees closer to your aching body. If you hadn’t been trained to withstand pain, you would have cried out as your abdomen begged you to stop constricting your muscles.

“I’m trying to help,” your ears caught the slight irritation in his tone, but you didn’t care. He could kick you for all you care.

Actually, you really didn’t want him to do that.

“I don’t want your help,”

“You need it.”

“Burn in hell, Levi,” it was the first time you’d actually used his name since you said it back when they first apprehended you, and Levi couldn’t deny that it cut deep. A sentiment he masked with a frustrated exhale. Clearly he’d expected resistance. Either that or he was just as tenacious as he used to be.

“Well, I'm definitely not going up,” he responded, that same softness in his tone and despite your situation, you couldn’t help the slight huff of amusement. It seemed to put him at ease too, content you weren’t about to lunge for his throat.

Slowly, you uncurled from your position, visibly wincing as your torn, beaten muscles relaxed. Levi took this as permission to inch closer and you felt a small appreciation for his trepidation.

Still, you couldn’t help but flinch every time he moved too fast. A simple reflex stemming from your training. It wasn’t really something you thought about, but it prompted the raven haired man to freeze every time you moved.

You refused to meet his eyes as he gently lifted the fabric of your shirt, hearing his breath hitch slightly.

“Holy shit…” He breathed. You hadn’t seen how bad your body was damaged, but judging by his reaction;

It sure as hell wasn’t good.

Levi felt he could kill someone. Actually, a lot of someones. Shit, when he finds out who was responsible for this he would make sure they wished they were never born. The same rage he felt when seeing you flinch for the first time once again coursed through his veins, and this time, he didn’t think he could just let it simmer.

“Who did this to you?” you blinked, his question caught you off guard. Didn’t he know? How didn’t he know? Surely every soldier in the damn military would revel in the idea of you being tortured all night. You clenched your jaw, refusing to respond. You didn’t know why you were being so stubborn. Maybe it was the sheer principle of not wanting to show any sort of weakness in front of him.

In fact, now you thought about it, it was definitely that. Whether Levi sensed it or not, he chose not to press you for an answer. Perhaps he did already know.

You hissed as the cold, damp cloth gently soothed your inflamed skin, glancing back to his face. You hated the way his focussed expression calmed your heart. Loathed how that crease in his eyebrows eased your whirling thoughts. Despised how, from this angle, you could see just how annoyingly attractive he had become.

“Can you move?” he asked, silver eyes rising up to meet your own. The low torchlight highlighted the heus of deep blue you knew he had hidden away. You pretended you looked away because you couldn’t stand the sight of his face, rather than the reality.

You were far too tempted to lean up and capture his lips.

“Yes,” Levi couldn’t tell if you were lying, shifting slightly to help you move but stopping immediately when you flinched away.

“Lie on the bed,” for the first time in ten years, you were compelled to follow an order. You weren’t even obedient towards Viper most of the time. But nonetheless, you found yourself struggling to your feet, an arm braced on the wall behind you.

Clearly respecting your independence, Levi took a step back, allowing you to find your own way. If you weren’t slightly delirious from the pain, you would have missed a kernel of respect flashing in his expression, before he swiftly turned away, washing the cloth again as you collapsed onto the so-called ‘mattress’ with a hiss.

Levi rung the small cloth out onto the floor, focussing on the way the droplets collided with the stone, rather than the way every movement you made caused you obvious pain. Once again, every fibre of his being was screaming at him to cradle you in his arms and whisper soft nothings into your ear. He wanted you to fall asleep next to him, your face buried in the crook of his neck. He craved to feel your soft hair through his fingertips, gently coercing you into dreams. It hurt so much that he could see you, but he couldn’t have you.

Turning to face away from him, you once again shrivelled into a ball. You didn’t want this. You didn’t want any of this. You just wanted to be left alone. But the dip in the bed behind you told you that wasn’t an option right now, muscles tensing on instinct.

he didn’t ask for permission this time as gentle fingers gripped your shirt, dragging up to reveal your brutalised back. If you could see his expression, you might have even been afraid. Darkness shrouded his face, teeth grit in utter hatred. A muscle in his jaw twitching from the effort of clamping his mouth so tightly.

His first touch felt like you’d been shocked by the static that built up on the bed clothes. The damp cool gliding across the welts and bruises across your back. Balling your hands into fists, you refused to make any sound. Still having the mindset of not wanting to give anyone the satisfaction of hearing you in pain. It was a mindset you didn’t think would leave you for a while.

Levi worked in silence, allowing you to settle and almost relax after a while. You wanted to trust him, but you didn’t. Not really. However, right now, you trusted him not to hurt you further. Simply content to relish in the way he soothed the pain. It didn’t come naturally. Every time he pressed too hard it took all your strength not to lunge for his throat, but he would stop upon hearing your sharp intake of breath, waiting for you to settle before continuing.

After what seemed like an eternity of silence, you finally broke it with a question that had been budding in your mind.

“Why are you doing this?” your voice came out a rasped whisper, almost as if you hadn’t used your vocal chords for weeks. You were sure he wasn’t going to answer, opting instead to simply continue to clean your bruises. Another blanket of quiet had settled over the two of you before he responded.

“I don’t know,” he lied. Levi wasn’t sure why he lied. Honestly, he thought it was obvious enough. He still cared about you. So fucking much. It burned him to see you in so much pain. He’d never felt the mind numbing fury he felt when he saw what they’d done to you.

You weren’t really happy with the answer. If anything, it simply gave you more questions. But you were too tired to press for more. Almost too tired to notice when he’d stopped. Pulling your grimy shirt back down to your waist, you felt the mattress rise as he stood. You didn’t turn. You couldn’t turn. After the night you’d had, the exhaustion from the last 24 hours finally catching up on you.

Noticing how you were almost already asleep, Levi decided to throw caution to the wind.

You felt a soft caress through your dirt ridden hair, the action sending a pleasant buzz through your system. It was an action so familiar to the both of you, you wondered why you kept flinching away from his touch when all it did was gently drain you of energy.

“Sleep.”

You didn’t have time to contemplate his tone before the comforting nothingness claimed you.

꧁ꨄ꧂

Levi hadn’t been this angry in a long, long time. Sure, he’d been annoyed. When a solider made a stupid mistake or when a cadet didn’t know how to clean properly. But he hadn’t been this furious in years.

Maybe since the deaths of Isobel and Farlan.

It was obvious when Levi was in a bad mood. Sweeping through the headquarters like a storm. Cadets could almost feel his presence before they saw him, swiftly making themselves busy as he paid no attention to any of them. He had one goal in mind. One destination. And he didn’t even knock when he got there.

“Out. Now.” it wasn’t an order to disobey. When he opened the door to Erwin’s office, revealing a small meeting, Levi didn’t think twice to dismiss them, even if they were his superiors.

“Levi, what’s—”

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll all leave the room for the next half an hour. Maybe longer depending on how this conversation goes,” his swirling eyes met Erwin’s and he swore he could detect the slightest fear in the man’s gaze.

Good.

He should be afraid.

Without so much as a mutter of goodbyes, the squad leaders and section commanders all dispersed, leaving the Captain alone with the Commander.

Erwin was the first to break the heavy silence.

“I’m assuming this is about Raven?” his voice didn’t waver, seeming to have regained his composure from the initial shock. But Levi wasn’t here for a dainty conversation. The unbridled rage pulsing through his bloodstream clouded his vision, almost seeing red.

“Did you know?”

“Levi—”

“Did. You. Know?” Levi hardly ever raised his voice. Usually it was only out in the field or on a mission, and that was only because it was easier to communicate that way. Keeping his bored, flat tones when slicing open the nape of a titan didn’t seem possible.

Erwin pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a deep, defeated sigh.

“Yes. I knew. But Levi, you have to understand—”

“I don’t have to understand jackshit. Don’t you think she’s been through enough? She’s led a life being treated like an animal and now you’re allowing her to be beaten like one?”

“It’s necessary, Levi.”

“It’s barbaric!” Erwin had never heard such venom in his voice. Not even when he vowed to kill him all those years ago. He’d seen Levi’s rage. Witnessed it from afar. The way he tore through flesh like it was paper.

Never did he think he would be on the receiving end. Leaning forward, the blonde folded his arms against the desk, clearly conflicted.

“I know this is a difficult subject for you. You two grew up in the same environment, it would only be natural for you to care for her,” the conniving bastard. Levi borderline snarled at the statement. He did care for you. Deeply. But Erwin didn’t need to know that.

“But please listen. As I mentioned before, ties between the Military Police and the Survey Corps are taut. Any discord between us would cause them to snap. I already tightened them further by not allowing them to execute her publicly. I thought if she joined the Scouts instead, not only would we gain an asset, but she would also be able to survive. That didn’t sit well with Niles. He wants her to pay for what she’s done. If not by death, then by various other methods. This was the only way to keep both parties happy, Levi. Trust me,” Levi was starting to lose what trust he had in the man.

Whilst yes, his explanation made sense, it still didn’t sweeten the blow. How long would this go on for? Would they take you everyday, or just some days? How badly would they hurt you?

As if able to read his mind through his knife-like glare, Erwin continued.

“It’s only for this week. Whilst she’s in her cell. They don’t have permission to permanently damage her, only—”

“Only break her ribs and crack her sternum. Yeah, I saw,” he responded bitterly, folding his arms as he leant against the door. Fuck this. Fuck him. Fuck them.

Levi had never been so conflicted. Whilst the sight of you, beaten and broken, had shattered him, he also knew it was for your own good. It was this, or death.

He didn’t like the second option much.

But the memory of what they had done had burned into his skull. Running his fingers down your prominent, bruised spine. So fragile, but so goddamn strong. Muscles spread disproportionately about your abdomen and shoulders. Your stomach was concave for fuck sakes. And they were still beating the shit out of you.

It made him wonder. If he wasn’t so lucky…

Would he have received the same treatment?

Would he have been thrown in a cell and tortured for a week?

He doubted it.

Erwin waited for Levi to gather his thoughts. Waited for him to say whatever he was going to say next. He had expected Levi to find out. Had expected the man to have some sort of reaction, but nothing quite to this extent. Maybe there really was something deeper between you and him that Levi was keeping to himself.

“So this will continue for a whole damn week?” Levi asked, almost exasperated, running a hand through his obsidian locks. This was a nightmare. All of it. Nobody deserves this treatment. Not even Kenny, but especially not you.

It was Erwin’s slow nod that had his stomach dropping.

“Yes,” he replied quietly. “This will continue for the whole week.”

That was all Levi needed to hear. Whether it was right or wrong, he was powerless to stop it. Turning on his heel and heading back down the halls to his office, he tried to push the images of your broken body and spirit from his mind. Maybe he was hoping you were the same bright eyed, mischievous woman you were before he lost you ten years ago. How had so much changed since then?

How much had you changed so much since then?

He no longer saw that spark of life in your eyes. No longer able to bask in your genuine smile.

If he hadn’t seen so many young, hopeful souls shattered by the paralysing fear of facing a titan, or the desperate heartache of losing a loved one, he’d be surprised.

But he wasn’t. Not at all. Who knows what you have had to do to survive? Who knows just how much of yourself you’d had to sacrifice to get where you are now. But he wouldn’t accept that you were gone.

He would never accept that.

But from the looks of you, only a small fragment of your true self remained. Levi thought he was over being hurt by the changes in people he somewhat cared about.

Maybe he was wrong.

꧁ꨄ꧂

The week was gruelling. Taken from your cell at night and being subjected to both physical and mental torture was one of the toughest things you’ve faced. It was brutal, having to fortify both your mind and body nightly against the blows from the MPs. Sometimes it would change. Sometimes the original four switched out. Sometimes they had an observer. But every time was horrific.

You were sure you’d be dead by now if Levi didn’t visit daily to soothe your broken and cracked bones. If he didn’t ask his monotonous questions, all of which you either responded to with something sarcastic, or silence.

Very few times you actually gave a real answer.

Unlike this time.

“How did you get that scar?” It was always the question he started with. Always wanting to know what happened to you during the time he was away, and that scar down your right eye.

“Don’t you ever get tired of asking that question?” you huffed, tucking your elbows beneath your head.

“Don’t you ever get tired of not answering it?” since you’d seen him everyday since you arrived, you were beginning to relearn all the tells you knew he had, but had changed over time. For example, this smallest lilt in his voice when he found something amusing. He waited for your body to stop twitching as you laughed silently, before resuming the treatment of the damp cloth.

“Not really, it’s fun listening to you get more and more frustrated.”

“As charming as ever, Raven.”

You didn’t know how you felt about him using your alias rather than your name. You knew you’d asked him to, or rather, harshly told him to, but he’d used your actual name a few times since then. But you didn’t want to ask, not wanting him to feel uncomfortable.

You let the quiet blanket the two of you, debating whether or not to answer. You’d refused him everyday, but as more time passed, the more you remembered just how much you’d loved him.

“There was a rival gang in the neighbourhood next to ours. Always fighting us for territory or supplies. Honestly, I wanted them wiped out, but Prongs insisted that would make us far too many powerful enemies,” Levi had paused as you started the exposition, genuinely surprised you’d actually decided to give him a full answer, rather that the usual “I entered a sword headbutting contest” or something equally as ridiculous.

“We were at each other’s throats for years, never really landing a solid hit on the other’s gang, until the bastard managed to take one of my Shadows, Diablo, alive. I owed those people everything. They took me in when you—” you managed to stop yourself, but not fast enough for Levi to avoid feeling the gut punching guilt he felt whenever you accidentally mentioned him leaving. You really didn’t mean to, you were just used to talking more openly about it.

“Uh, sorry. Yeah, they took me in, so I owed them a lot. Plus, I’d known them for years by now. I trusted them and they trusted me. I wasn’t about to abandon her,” Levi could hear your conviction and resolve in the cadence of your voice, and silently wondered when you’d become so strong. He’d almost forgotten he was supposed to be treating you badly damaged back, until you hissed slightly. Looking down, he realised he’d pressed a little too hard with the cloth against your tender skin.

“Shit, sorry.”

“‘S’fine. Just concentrate, yeah?” despite your condition, you still had it in you to crack cocky jokes. Levi had half the mind to swat the back of your head with his cloth, but he decided to be merciful.

You left it a beat before you continued.

“Anyway, I didn’t have a choice. But it turns out, all the creepy bastard wanted to do was to make sure everyone knew I wasn’t untouchable. Then maybe we’d stop having smaller gangs ally with us. I let him scar my face, and in return he gave us Diablo back, completely unharmed. It was really fucking weird now that I think about it,” Levi pondered this for a moment, before another question popped into his head.

“What happened to him?”

“Who?”

“The creepy guy, idiot.”

“Call me an idiot again, I fucking dare you.”

“What will you do? You can hardly stand.”

“I don’t need to stand to beat your sorry ass.”

Shit, he’d missed this. This playful banter between the two of you. He’d missed it so goddamn much.

“He found one of my blades stuck in his throat pretty soon after,” Levi grunted in approval, a small smile bloomed across his face at the thought.

Good.

Creepy son-of-a-bitch.

The two of you continued in a comfortable silence for a short while, before your slightly mischievous voice cut through it again.

“Okay, my turn,” you sounded far too nonchalant for his liking, Levi narrowing his gaze to the back of your head.

“Your turn?”

“You’ve been asking me questions for the last few days, and I haven’t asked you one once,” if Levi didn’t know better, he’d say you were almost pouting. He was tempted to turn your head to check, but it seemed you still weren’t entirely comfortable with the whole being touched thing.

He hadn’t asked you about that yet.

“Alright, alright. One question.”

“How come you get countless and I only get one?”

“Call it a Captain’s privilege,”

“Pffft, Captain my ass,”

“Just ask your stupid question.”

You laughed at his feigned frustrated tone, knowing he was loving this as much as you were. You allowed yourself to think about how you wanted to phrase this.

“Are they still here with you? Farlan and Isobel?” you had been slightly hesitant to ask this, since he hadn’t mentioned them once. You didn’t know them personally, only seeing them fleetingly when Levi would usher you into his room, or having sparing conversation with them when Viper sold them that ODM. And judging by his pained silence, you now feared his answer.

“Yes and no,” your question had definitely caught him off guard. He didn’t even think you remembered them, so for you to ask after them was a little out of the blue. Hence why he opted to mimic your response from a few days ago.

You had clearly caught on.

“The hell does that mean?”

Levi realised he probably couldn’t tend to your back and tell this story at the same time. He was going to need all his strength to suppress the torrent of emotions he knew he was about to unlock. Sensing his change of tone, you slowly shifted so you were sitting next to him, making sure you didn’t move too quickly or awkwardly so as to not irritate your painful back.

You searched his features in the silence, partially hidden by the bangs you used to love running your hands through. You couldn’t help but wonder whether or not they were as soft as they used to be.

“It was my fault,” he admitted quietly. You hated seeing Levi like this. You’d only seen him like this once before, when Kenny abandoned him. You vowed you would never let him feel like this again as long as you were by his side.

This is what happens when you’re separated.

“What was your fault?” you gently prompted, not wanting to push him, but rather wanting to let him know that you were willing to listen.

“It was our first expedition. I was naive, agreeing to let them come with us, rather than the original plan which was for me to go alone. Raven, the reason I— the reason we left, was because we were recruited for a job, and killing Erwin Smith was part of that. But none of us knew what to expect beyond the walls. We’d trained but, we didn’t know what to expect when facing an actual titan,” you didn’t press further when he took pauses or longer breaths. You were happy he was comfortable enough with you now to even tell you this. “Everything was going smoothly. Too smoothly, and it wasn’t long before it all went to shit. I lost sight of them when the storm hit, losing them in the fog. I was completely powerless to stop an Abnormal. Shit, I didn’t even know it had passed me. I just saw bodies and limbs everywhere and knew I had to turn back. By the time I got there, it was too late. They were both gone,” Levi’s fist clenched into a ball, taking his focus away from the pain in his chest to the one in his palm. He didn’t even realise his eyes were closed until he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. He stiffened under your touch, not quite able to believe how far the two of you had come in such a short amount of time.

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there, Levi,” he didn’t really understand what you were apologising for, or why you felt the need. Afterall, it was him who left you.

“I vowed after that day I wouldn’t have any regrets. Some jackass said that if I did, their deaths wouldn’t mean anything. But I knew I would always have one. I knew I would always regret leaving you behind,” Levi looked to you through his bangs, an expression of guilt etched into his hardened face. You forgave him at that moment. You forgave him for everything.

“I’m here now, aren’t I? And whilst I may not be the same girl you left behind, I still have her memories,” your hand slid from its position on his shoulder to rest over his heart, feeling it flutter within his sturdy ribcage.

Levi faintly wondered if he was dreaming. If you could feel his heart rate increase with every touch.

“That’s why you said yes and no, isn’t it? Because they’re not physically here, but they are here,” Levi could do nothing but nod, his eyes trained on your face like a hawk. He wanted permission. Begged for it through his dark, swirling eyes. Screamed for it in the way his eyes flickered to your lips, your face so close he could smell that scent of freshly baked bread you’d always carried with you, even beneath all the filth. A few centimetres further and you would have what you’d wanted for ten long years. What you both have wanted.

“You sound ridiculous,”

“Your fault,” he could feel the flutter of your breath against his face, wishing nothing more than for you to close the distance.

Levi slowly brought his hand from his lap, his palm rising to cup your cheek.

It didn’t even get close before you flinched, eyes darting to his raised hand.

And just like that, all the tension dissolved. As if you hadn’t been busy getting lost within the storm that were his irises. Levi pulled back, as if he himself had been struck.

“I’m sorry… I wasn’t thinking,” he rose from his position next to you, wanting nothing more than for the ground to swallow him whole.

How could he be so damn selfish? It was obvious you couldn’t do anything like that right now. Maybe not ever. And he was getting way ahead of himself. You had already said the girl who loved him was dead, he couldn’t even think how or why he would assume just because your body was present, your mind was as well. Just because he was willing, why would you be willing as well?

Except you were.

So. Fucking. Willing.

And you cursed yourself for these instinctive reactions. Every sudden movement had your mind flashing back to training. Back to Viper’s brutal learning methods. It wasn’t even that much longer after Levi left you were made the Raven. After Viper’s death, it was almost instantaneous. But that didn’t stop those seven months of brutal punishments to leave a permanent scar on your psyche. You wished you could find your voice to reassure him that you’d get over this.

But you couldn’t.

And Levi was once again the first to speak.

“I should go. I’ll see you tomorrow Raven—”

“(Y/N),” you corrected him. After countless times of him calling you by your alias, you didn’t think you could stand it anymore. Levi raised his brow, seemingly a little confused by your interruption. “I’m not The Raven anymore. Technically that title belongs to Prongs now. So it’s just (Y/N),” despite the awkwardness of your recent encounter, you still felt that familiar warmth blossom in your chest at his softened smile, and quietly wonder if anyone else ever saw him smile this much.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, (Y/N),” you returned his expression, before lying back down on your side. This was your last night in your cell, before you’d be free to join the Scouts. You silently scoffed at the irony of that statement, but nothing could quell your small candle of hope as you listened to Levi’s footsteps get quieter and quieter. Maybe things weren’t so shit up here after all.

꧁ꨄ꧂

“You know, Raven, I’m going to miss our little nighttime meetings,” another harsh blow to your stomach sent you reeling, eyes screwed shut in both pain and defiance. They were trying everything they could to break you tonight. Blood running freely down your abdomen. Fresh bruises now blossoming over the wilted petals of previous nights.

Still you refused to break. Solid walls of spite had erected around your mind, and they wouldn’t be cracked or broken. Not by anything. So you took it. You took your punishment, only opening your mouth to hurl obscene insults or vile curses in their direction. Mocking the way they struck, laughing at their lack of strength. It only resulted in harsher blows, but it was worth seeing the frustration on their faces when you didn’t scream in agony.

“You know who you remind me of like this? I only made the connection a few nights ago. Strung up and beaten like your good-for-nothing father,”

That struck a chord in you. Your eyes flew open, staring at the ground in horror. This is what had happened to him? They had taken him and beaten him? Was he still alive? Was he here somewhere?

The man, who you’d dubbed Dirt, answered all your questions with his next jab.

“A shame he only lasted a few days. You on the other hand… you’re much more fun to play with,” a feral grin sliced through his face as he circled you, drawing back to land three excrutiating blows against your lower back. You grit your teeth, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill from your eyes. You didn’t think you had a heart to shatter. You didn’t think any of it remained for it to be broken again.

The MPs had taken two father figures from you.

That grin still adorned Dirt’s face as he went to swing the metal bat again, only to be interrupted by the door behind you opening. Dirt’s eyes narrowed, before whoever it was seemed to please him. God you couldn’t wait for the day where you tore that venomous smile right off his fucking face.

“Captain Ackerman. To what do we owe the pleasure?” you froze. What the hell was he doing here? Why did he always have to arrive during the moments where you really didn’t want him to see you.

But you weren’t expecting to feel a kernel of hope as he spoke.

You weren’t expecting the small smile that etched into your sweat slickened face.

“I was sent to observe. Since she’ll be joining the Survey Corps, I’m here to ensure you don’t break her,” Levi sounded as bored as ever, and you almost huffed a laugh.

Dirt scoffed, in irritation that he wouldn’t get to sever your spine with brute force.

“Very well. However, I must ask you to stand back. She swings like a stallion’s cock sometimes,” If it weren’t directed at you, you would have laughed at the comment. In any other situation, it would have been rather funny.

Just not this one.

Levi had never felt so sick. As soon as he walked in, seeing you strung up like that, helplessly, he had to force down the instinct to rip every one of these torturous bastards to ribbons. He’d never had to have such a tight hold on his emotions in his life, because if that hold slipped…

This would become a blood bath.

“Anyway Raven, where were we?” he asked, though the question was rhetorical. You knew he remembered. He was just trying to provoke a response out of you. But knowing Levi was here gave you a strength you weren’t expecting.

Looking up through your hair, you shot a glare through the thick, matted strands.

“Choke on your own blood, fuckface,” you spat, kicking weakly towards him. It wasn’t the show of defiance you’d wanted, but it seemed to get the message across. You were prepared for whatever consequences there would be for such a demonstration.

The repercussions came immediately. Roughly digging his fingers into your chin, Dirt forced you head up to look at him, his face a picture of mock amusement.

Levi’s jaw clenched.

“Come now Raven. Not trying to impress Captain Levi now, are you?” your eyes flickered over to Levi, his expression unreadable, grey hues trained on the two of you. A rumble of laughter echoed around the chamber as Dirt took in your spiteful expression. “Now I’m left wondering, how somebody like you could come from somebody like your pathetic father. How somebody so defiant, so fucking strong,” —he harshly jabbed at your stomach with the hilt of his bat— “Could be the daughter of somebody so weak,”

“Shut the fuck up,” you rasp, hot fury surging through your veins. How fucking dare he? How dare he insult your father this way. He was a good man. An honest man. He did nothing wrong. Nothing to warrant his or your mother’s death.

“Hm. No, I think I’ll keep talking. This might finally break you.”

“I’ll fucking KILL YOU,” the hook keeping your arms above your head creaked as you thrashed, trying to free yourself to wrap your hands around his goddamn throat.

“You should have heard his cries. His pathetic whimpers as we carved into his flesh. They were… amusing.” No. This wouldn’t be your downfall. You refused. This wasn’t it. You would not be broken by this.

“At least tell me what he died for. At least tell me why you took him, you shit-eating pig!” you spat viciously, trying once again to get free. It was infuriating more than anything. You had so many questions, never knowing why your parents had been killed. Why you came back to your house in disarray, crimson staining the floorboards as your mother’s blood drained from the gash in her throat. Your father, nowhere to be found.

Though he managed to keep his expression neutral, Levi thought back to your father. For the short time he knew him, he was a kind man. He did what he could for the people around him, always feeding those who looked starving. He was convinced that was where you got your compassion from. Why the hell would they take him and torture him?

“Why? He didn’t tell you? Interesting. Your father knew the location of The Nest long before you became our problem. You thought it was a coincidence Viper just happened to take you in? Please, this job was enjoyable enough, don’t make me laugh with your naivety as well,”

“You’re lying. My father was a baker. He was a good man. He wasn’t involved in our criminal shit!”

“Have you noticed a pattern in your life, Raven? Have you noticed how we tried everything to prevent you from falling down this path?” your jaw flickered at Dirt’s tone, mocking you as if they had done you a service.

“We thought your father would introduce you to a life of crime, so we got rid of him for you. When you fell into the care of Viper; well, we got rid of him for you as well,” his smile was snake-like as flashes from that night plagued your mind. Pressed up against the wall as your mentor was savagely dealt with. Begging at them. Screaming at them to stop. To let him go. Only for them to raise a rifle to his head, and paint the wall with his blood.

Dirt imitated a gun with his fingers, putting them up to your forehead.

“Bang.”

Slowly, you stopped thrashing, though the hatred in your veins didn’t cool. You simmered silently, raising your eyes once again. No tears. No sorrow. Nothing but feigned indifference flickered in the low light.

Dirt looked at you for a moment, eyebrows creasing in irritation as he stepped back, twirling the bad in his hands before repeatedly cracking it against your empty stomach. Levi only just managed to control his breathing as he watched helplessly, flinching subtly as every blow connected with your too-skinny body. Clearly Dirt was taking out some intense frustration. He’d just managed to compose himself when the bastard’s eyes turned to him. That fucking smile poisoned his features as he extended the handle of the weapon.

“Captain Levi. She killed a few of your men, did she not? Why don’t you see if you can break the whore?” You almost scoffed in amusement. Levi wouldn’t do that. Not to you. Not after everything the two of you had been through.

You’d finally found each other again.

You were so sure.

You were so sure of yourself.

You were so sure of him.

You’d rekindled that trust over the last week.

You’d rekindled something you thought was dead.

You were so sure.

Until he took the handle.

And the white hot knife of betrayal twisted into your gut once again.

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck.

What the hell was he supposed to do?

Shit.

The weight of the bat felt ten times heavier than anything he’s ever held in his life. The weight of what he was about to do.

Fuck.

As excruciating as this was to watch, he knew it was ten times worse for you. He knew every blow, every crack, was undoing hours of hard work soothing your aches and bruises. Each thud against your body sent jolts of electricity through him. Nerve ends alight with adrenaline, heart beating as if he was about to fight every single one of these bastards just to get them away from you.

Still you have not broken. He couldn’t pinpoint the slight warmth in his chest, couldn’t comprehend what it was. Was he impressed? Surprised?

Proud…?

Levi wasn’t sure if the look of soul shattering betrayal in your eyes was worth it as his hands gripped the cool metal, slightly slickened with your blood.

He would explain it to you.

He would.

Once you were back in your cell, he would tell you why he did it.

But for now, his glare only darkened as he stepped forward. He couldn’t stand the expression on your face. Confused bewilderment, as if trying to work out what he was thinking.

Levi begged you to stop. Stop looking at him like that. Stop trying to work him out because not even he knew if this was the right thing to do.

It was almost a relief when your wide eyes clouded with heartbreaking realisation and acceptance.

A hiss escaped your lips at the first crack. Somehow, this felt more painful than anything those pitiful soldiers could do. Your eyes screwed shut, jaw clenched so hard you were afraid it would shatter into a million pieces.

Each blow felt so precise. So measured and controlled. It stung your heart more than anything else. You’d been betrayed. Again. For the second time in a week. Betrayed by the two people you’d ever loved. Scarlett, who’d picked you up when you were sure nobody else could. Who nursed your broken bones and your broken soul.

And by the first man who ever held your heart.

And truthfully, still did.

Was that all this last week had been?

A ploy just to fuck with you. To earn your trust only to immediately shatter you once again? To break your spirit? Granted, nobody knew the nature of your relationship between you and Levi, but that didn’t matter. The man you loved had just stabbed you in the back.

Again.

So much had happened in the last week. So much had been brought to the surface. It would take years to unpack it all, not that you had any intention of doing that. You just wanted it all gone. To bury it with your fathers. To never think about it again.

You were dragged from your thoughts by a shock of agony sparking up your spine, stemming from your lower back. It was Dirt’s favourite place to attack. Whenever he thought you were being too feisty, too aggressive. He would land as many blows to your lower back as he saw fit.

Admittedly, you doubted Levi knew you’d been snapping back spitefully all session before he arrived, but that didn’t quell the raging fire of hatred as your lips parted without your permission.

A broken cry of anguished agony wracked from your chest, chilling the air of the humid chamber.

Levi froze, horror flashing across his usually schooled features.

He’d broken you.

Levi had broken you.

And with it, any bond he’d managed to salvage over the last week. Any bridge he’d started to rebuild now came crashing down around him.

That one well placed crack had ripped away at your resolve, exposing the tired, hurt, beaten girl beneath.

The room seemed to have stilled. All falling into quiet awe at what had just happened. A slow clap split the stagnant air as Dirt walked up from where he was leaning against the wall. Levi was tempted to turn the bat on him, but he found himself unable to move.

“Your reputation precedes you, Captain. Striking her lower back like that after leaving it to simmer? Genius! We should have asked you to join us earlier,” Dirt cackled in delight as he produced a knife from his pocket. Reaching up, he easily sliced through the ropes binding your hands.

Stone rose up to greet your body as you fell uselessly to the ground, legs too weak to hold you.

“Oh dear. Are you dead? Maybe you and your father had more in common that I originally thought,”

“Enough.” Dirt’s jeering was interrupted by the no-bullshit tones of Levi, causing the soldier to whirl around. He’d finally managed to find his voice, once again reining himself in.

“But Captain Levi, Sir, she’s The Raven. Don’t you think she deserves some extra time with us tonight?”

“If you don’t leave now I’ll make sure it’s you who won’t be able to walk. Go,” you couldn’t tell if this was a blessing or a curse. If he was an angel or a demon.

Actually no, scratch that.

He was a demon, and this was a curse.

You couldn’t find it in yourself to move as you heard busy footsteps around you, assuming the four horsemen were gathering their effects.

“I do hope you make her crawl back to her cell, Captain. We all know your reputation for cleanliness. It would be a shame to dirty your hands touching this filthy whore,” Dirt drawled one more savage insult, before you heard his echoing steps get further and further away. You hoped the day would never come where you had to see his face again.

The silence in the room now was suffocating. You could both feel the emotions radiating off each other now the MPs were gone. He could feel your loathing, and you could feel his disgust. Or what you thought was disgust. What you assumed was disgust.

How could he not be disgusted? He must be. To do what he just did. You didn’t understand why he would come down everyday and help you if he felt such hatred towards you.

No, that’s a lie.

You did understand.

But that truth hurt so much more than anything else tonight.

It had sowed the seed of doubt in your mind. You knew you weren’t a good person. In fact, to most soldiers and nobles you were a devil. But you’d always clung onto the hope that everything you did was to help people. You stole medicine, you slit the throats of rapists, you provided weapons to those who didn’t have enough to fend for themselves.

There was a small part of you that truly believed you were doing good.

That small part had just been crushed, along with several bones.

Gathering what little strength you had, you extended a limp arm in front of you. Fuck it, you weren’t going to sleep here on a floor soiled by your own sweat, blood and saliva.

You would crawl if you had to.

“(Y/N)...” all he wanted to do was hold you. All he’d wanted to do since he’d found you again was hold you. He’d been so close yesterday, but he’d fucked that up.

Now he was sure you’d never willingly let him hold you again. The bat fell from his hand as if he’d realised it was covered in poison, heart clenching at the way you instinctively threw your arms above your head, terrified of some other attack.

You hated how his voice carried so much comfort. Hated how it soothed your raging mind. God you wanted nothing more than to rip his fucking tongue out and make sure he never spoke to you like that again.

A gentle hand landed on your shoulder, forcing you to stop.

“Get… get the fuck… off me… Get the fuck off me,” you couldn’t fight back as he tucked his arms under your legs and upper back, wincing as he lifted you into his grip. “Don’t… Don’t fucking touch me,” there was no strength left in you to push against him as he carried you back, but that didn’t stop you from weakly hitting the arms that held you.

You didn’t understand. One moment he was savagely beating you, and the next he was cradling you against his chest, holding you close as he took you to your cell.

Laying you down, he hoped you understood why he did what he did. It was a fool’s hope, he knew.

He realised you definitely didn’t understand when you started fighting back.

With a sudden surge of strength, you lunged for him. It was a weak attack, and you didn’t really know what you were trying to achieve as you threw yourself towards him with a cry of anguished rage, but you also didn’t care.

“I fucking trusted you,” you spat in between your flailing limbs. It really didn’t take long for Levi to pin your arms either side of your head, hovering over your body.

“(Y/N), stop,” He tightened his grip on your wrists as you struggled against his hold. It would have been a real test of strength for both of you had you not spent the last week having the life beaten out of you. You were weaker than you’d ever been, and he was taking advantage.

“I was right the first time. You don’t get to call me that. You don’t ever get to call me that. You sick, twisted BASTARD. So that was why you lied to me. That was why you didn’t tell me why you were helping me. You fucking coward, is that all you were doing? Convincing me I was safe with you? Tricking me into thinking you still actually cared about me you filthy fucking LIAR,” you barked a mirthless laugh, baring your teeth in a visceral snarl. “I swear to you Levi, I will not fucking stop until my knife is buried your goddamn THROAT!” you struggled again, twisting as much as you could beneath him, trying to free your arms, your hands, anything that could help you take him down.

He deserved this. He knew he did. Levi looked into the burning betrayal in your eyes and knew he deserved this. He would take every verbal blow you threw at him because he knew he deserved it. But he had to explain. He didn’t care. You could hurl whatever you wanted at him, but he wouldn’t leave until he had the chance to explain himself.

Then he would never see you again.

If that’s what you wanted.

“Just calm down, for a minute, please,” you hadn’t heard him beg like that in a very, very long time. Shit, you fucking hated what it did to you. In this position, your wrists held above your head, his arms caging you in, his legs either side of your hips...

The room suddenly felt far too warm.

“What could you possibly have to say to me? I fucking trusted you. You disgusting son-of-a-bitch. I can’t believe I actually thought—“

Levi finally lost his temper.

“What? You thought what? That just because we found each other again we’d play happy families? Grow the fuck up, Raven,” he spat your alias, finally releasing all the fury he’d pent up. He knew this was a mistake. None of this was your fault. He’d been angry with how you’d been treated. Utterly beside himself at Erwin.

And you were taking the fall for it.

“I didn’t lie to you, I didn’t have a fucking choice. If anyone saw me treat you any differently, they would start to question it. They would question why I was showing pity to a criminal. The Raven, no less. And I can’t—”

“Oh I’m sorry, I would hate to ruin your reputation, Captain,” you struck back with just as much venom. Just as much fury.

“Let me finish. I can’t let them get to you anymore than they already have. It was either them or—”

“Because I’m just so import—” you almost cried out as the grip on your wrists tightened, knowing they would leave yet another bruise on your body.

“Let. Me. Finish.” Levi narrowed his eyes, returning the glare you were holding on him and not continuing until you yielded, finally looking away and clamping your mouth shut. “It was either them or me. I could let them continue to beat the shit out of you mercilessly, or I could do it myself. I could try and make it better. I couldn’t fucking watch that shit anymore. I couldn’t fucking stand it. Those filthy bastards laying their dirty hands on you. Hurting you. Shit, you were half dead when I walked in. I was scared you were for a moment. Terrified they were just beating a corpse. But you’re so much stronger than I ever gave you credit for. They never fucking broke you. And they never will. Because if they touch you again, if they fucking look at you, I will go the the ends of the goddamn earth and tear them apart, because I care about you,” Levi hadn’t noticed he was panting. He hadn’t noticed the tears slipping down your cheeks. He didn’t think his self hatred could sink any deeper, but now he’d made you cry silent tears.

Loosening his grip on your wrists, he looked at you as though he’d been responsible for your murder.

“So, it was mercy? That’s what’s considered merciful up here?” you couldn’t really believe it. Twice in two days Levi had spoken more to you than you thought he ever did back when you belonged to each other. You didn’t think you’d ever sounded so small. So vulnerable. “Let me ask you this, Levi. Was it merciful on me, or merciful on you? Because you sure as hell didn’t make things better for me,” despite the quieter volume, your voice was still harsh.

But you had to know.

You wanted nothing more than to pull him in and thread your hands through his hair. To feel his body against yours. For his heartbeat to lull you to sleep. But you had to know whether he did this for you, or himself.

You understood now. You really did. And put in the same situation, you didn’t think you’d do any differently.

“Honestly…? Merciful to me. I couldn't bear it. I tried. I tried so fucking hard. But I couldn’t let them hurt you anymore,” his voice was no louder than a choked, guilt ridden whisper.

That’s all you needed to hear. Slipping your wrists free of his hands, you reached up. Cupping the sides of his face, you brought him down to you, since you couldn’t exactly sit up and go to him.

As soon as your lips returned home to his, you couldn’t stop the few tears from escaping your closed eyes.

Levi’s own eyes widened, and he was suddenly convinced he was dead. Was this actually happening? After everything he’s just done, everything he’s just said.

You forgave him?

When your tongue gently skirted his bottom lip, he decided contemplating forgiveness was something for later. Terrified of hurting you further, he rested his weight on his elbows, finally closing his eyes. He’d wanted this for so long. Since he laid eyes on you for the first time in ten years, he’d wanted nothing more than to envelop your mouth with his own.

With your eyes closed, you didn’t mind when his hand came up to gently caress the apple of your cheek. You didn’t mind when you opened your lips for his tongue to hesitantly slip in and explore your mouth, that slick muscle moving against yours. You didn’t mind when his hand travelled down to cup the side of your neck, tilting your head up to deepen the kiss.

Neither of you wanted to break away, having waited far too long for this moment. You reveled in the groan he emitted down your throat as your left hand found its way to his undercut, gently scratching and caressing in desperation. You hadn’t heard that sound in so long and you instantly craved more.

Levi’s eyes rolled back into his skull behind his closed lids, feeling your hands in his hair. God, he didn’t want to fuck you in a cell, but your hands and tongue were making it difficult for him to control himself.

He was the first to pull back, instantly missing the warmth of your mouth.

“I don’t understand,” he breathed, looking down into your eyes. You could see the swirling confusion in those sterling orbs as they flickered in the low light. You could see the arousal in his dark pupils. Feel it against your inner thigh. You wanted to take him right here and now, but not only did you acknowledge the fact you were literally in a prison cell…

You weren’t sure you were ready. Not yet. Not after everything.

“Levi… if you had done that for my sake, I would have shattered both your kneecaps,” you earned yourself a gentle laugh, his thumb coming up to smooth down your eyebrow. “But you didn’t. I know you feel selfish, and I know you hate yourself for it, but I also know that it was either that, or you beat them to death with that goddamn bat. I know you, Levi. You haven’t changed much yourself,” your left hand came back, softly carding through those ebony bangs.

Levi felt like he could fly. Felt as though you’d returned the wings he’d lost when he thought he’d never see you again.

(Y/N), I want to apolo—”

“Shut the fuck up.”

With that, you stretched up to capture his mouth again, instantly feeling like you’d come back home. You didn’t care about the surge of pain coursing through your abdomen and back. That’s what he was to you.

He was home.

You felt his length twitch in his constraints as both your hands found purchase in his hair, gently tugging at the black strands.

“Fuck…” he breathed into your mouth, his hips bucking involuntarily as you sucked his lower lip between your teeth.

You kept having to consciously remind yourself that you are in fact in a dank, filthy cell. And enveloping him between you increasingly slick folds was wildly inappropriate.

Levi thought it was entirely unfair how you were managing to drag whines and moans from him with nothing but your fingers and teeth. So he decided it was his turn to give something back.

His hand travelled down your body, almost instinctively finding the crease in your thighs. He swallowed his own groan of ecstasy as his knuckles grazed his arousal, opting instead to focus on the way your hips rose to meet the pads of his fingers, gently rubbing your swollen, clothed clit. His circular motions drawing out those small whimpers he’d craved to hear.

“Mmn, L-Levi... ACK, fuck!” your moan of pleasure turned into a small cry of pain as your abs contracted, sending yet another lightning bolt through your system. Levi withdrew his hand immediately, eyes instantly clearing and recognising your signs of discomfort.

“Shit (Y/N), your back,” you felt your heart swell at his concern, though internally cursed yourself.

“‘S’fine,” you insisted, rising up once again to grasp his lips with yours, only to be met with thin air and you ex(?) lover looking down at you.

“No, it’s not. C’mere,” Levi sighed and lifted himself off you, careful not to cause you any further damage. He looked for permission before gently turning you on your side, as if your tongue hadn’t been down his throat less than thirty seconds ago. He cursed his erection, finding himself a little hindered by it as he walked over to the faucet, allowing himself a few moments reprieve before removing the handkerchief from his pocket and running it under the tap.

Though the mirror was cracked, he could still see his slightly swollen lips, distorted against the spider webbing fractures. Could still see the mark you’d left on his face. Shit, he wished for those marks to be left elsewhere. His mind wandered back to the way you used to settle between his thighs, teasing him until you got him to crack. He loved the way you could coerce broken pleas from his throat. Adored the black-blue bites you left on the inside of his thighs, before your warmth enveloped him. Your flexible muscle flicking up and down his sensitive length, running over that prominent vein he hadn’t felt you caress in too long. He missed feeling the vibrations of your chuckle when he begged for you to let him cum. When he felt his balls tighten with release, and yet you denied him still.

But most of all he missed tasting you. He missed the way your arousal freely leaked onto his tongue. He missed the way your hips rose to meet his fingers, that breathy gasp when he found your hidden spot. The begs and cries you made when you wanted him to let you cum. When you whined for his dick to replace his fingers. Fuck, he missed the way your thighs locked his head between them as he brought you to climax with nothing but his tongue flicking over you little, sensitive button. Over, and over, and over again.

“Having trouble?” you grinned from your position on the sorry excuse for a mattress. You’d managed to turn yourself over to watch him, disregarding any agony you felt. You wouldn’t miss this for the world. You wouldn’t miss seeing Levi all riled up and unable to focus simply because of the administrations with your mouth.

“Shut up,” he grumbled, turning the faucet off and ringing out the cloth in the sink. You chuckled at his tone and his predicament, loving every second of it. Though you couldn’t miss the small glint of amusement in his dark eyes. “Oi, turn back ‘round. ‘Need to get to your back,”

“I bet you do,”

“(Y/N)...” he warned, with no real malice in his tone. If this was any other man, you would have lunged at them for taking that tone with you. But this was Levi. Your Levi. You knew he would never hurt you. Not unless absolutely necessary.

Case and point: hitting you with a bat to avoid a murder charge.

Begrudgingly, you tore your eyes from his face, haphazardly twisting on the mattress to face away from him.

“Hm, good girl,” Levi purred, eyes gleaming at the way your thighs clenched in reaction. But any spark of arousal was swiftly extinguished, when your body twitched away from his as he took his seat behind you.

You clenched your eyes shut, hating yourself for the reaction you couldn’t control. You didn’t blame Viper for your now primal fear. You knew he was just teaching you what you needed to know, but he had no fatherly experience, and possibly caused more harm than good.

“‘M’ sorry, it’s not you, I promise. I just—”

“No. No apologising. It’s not your fault,” you nodded, not trusting your voice not to crack if you spoke up now.

Levi thought hard about how he wanted to do this without causing any more reaction from you. Attempting to keep his mind from wandering too far, he tried to understand what made you comfortable enough to bring him onto your mouth. To gently tug on his lower lip. To thread your hands through his hair and--

“I have an idea… (Y/N), watch what I’m doing,” you did as he asked, turning your neck as much as you could to watch the movements of his hand. You tensed as his palm hovered over your side. But when you didn’t feel anything, you unscrewed one tightly shut eye, peering at him curiously.

“(Y/N), can you raise your body for me, just to reach my hand?” this might actually work. Levi had been wracking his brains for a way for you to feel comfortable again with touch.

Hesitantly, you slowly raised your body to meet his fingers, almost freezing as you felt no reaction. You didn’t tense, you didn’t instantly balk under his touch.

You hadn’t cried in years, and yet throughout the course of this long, long night, you had cried twice, the corners of your lashes growing damp as a tear slipped down the side of your face.

Growing increasingly concerned by your lack of response, Levi was about to move his hand from your side, but was immediately stopped by your own fingers covering his.

“Don’t. Stay. Don’t move away,” his heart burned at your broken plea, his worried expression softening in slight relief.

“I won’t. (Y/N), I’m not going to touch you without your permission. Ever. But, if you’re comfortable with it, we can do this. If you’re happy with this,” Levi gently moved his thumb against the fabric of your shirt, caressing your side. Your choked laugh of happy disbelief caused his small smile to broaden ever so slightly.

“Yes. Yes i’m happy with this,” still having trouble believing this was truly happening, you closed your eyes in bliss, allowing a few more tears to escape.

“Okay, I’m going to move your shirt up, alright?” your heart sung at his sincerity, nodding silently once again as you felt the fabric of your shirt bunch up ever so carefully. You loved how he always made you feel so precious. Nothing was precious in the Underground, but somehow he always made you feel worth diamonds and gold. You’d forgotten what that was like, until the damp cloth once again soothed your aching welts, chasing away the throbs of pain.

Those spears of guilt once again plunged into Levi’s heart as he saw what they had done to you. What he’d done to you. You were always so forgiving when it came to him. You always have been. He could lock himself in his room for days, not speak to you for hours on end and you would always be there to hold him when the pressure finally cracked. Always there to soothe him when he opened up after long weeks of isolation. When those memories of his mother dragged up again. When the day Kenny left forced him to hide away until he couldn’t take it anymore.

You always forgave him.

And could always sense what he was thinking.

He came back to the present when your hand squeezed his, as if you knew where his mind had taken him.

“It’s okay, Levi,” your soft reassurance broke his heart.

“I should be saying that to you,”

“Go on then,” you retorted, not even trying to hide the mischief in your voice

Levi chuckled, moving his hand from under yours to stroke your hair.

“It’s okay, (Y/N),”

“I feel thoroughly reassured,”

“Tch, shut up brat,” god, at this point your heart could have been a choir. Singing once again at the soft amusement gently lacing his tone. But you internally cringed as fingers threaded through your grimy hair, reaching up to move it away.

“Levi, don’t. It’s fucking filthy,”

“So’s your face but I recall sucking on it a few moments ago,”

“Levi!” you couldn’t believe he’d just said that. He was never one to make such jokes. But you couldn’t deny you loved it. Loved his low, breathy laugh at your indignant call of his name.

“What? Am I wrong?” you couldn’t see his slightly cheeky smirk behind you. Or the way one brow raised in feigned curiosity.

“Well no, but—”

“Didn’t think so.”

“God you’re insufferable. Anyone would think you’re— OW!” you turned to look back at him in mock anger. He didn’t actually hurt you, and by looking at your swiftly disintegrating expresion, Levi was able to decipher you were just fucking with him. Rolling his eyes, he continued his administration with the cloth, watching fondly as you settled back down.

You only spoke again when that hand in your hair started moving.

“Levi, seriously, it’s gross. Just focus on my back,” when he didn’t reply, you once again twisted back to look at him, unable to decipher the expression on his face.

“Stay here,”

“Like I’m in any condition to move, asshole,”

“Tch, don’t be difficult. I’ll be back in a minute,” with a final caress of your head, Levi chucked the cloth back into the sink before standing to his feet. You were a bit of a sorry sight, lying on your side, shirt ridden up to reveal your bruised, still bloodied back. He’d managed to gently scrub off most of the crimson staining your skin, but he wanted to provide you with just a little more comfort, if he could.

You didn’t even try to escape when he left the door open. Too tired to move. Your limbs felt like lead everytime you attempted to shift, exhaustion clinging to your bones like shackles. You didn’t know how long you waited, but you felt yourself start to drift in and out of consciousness, unable to help yourself marvel at how easy it would be to slip into a deep sleep. Your mind was far too heavy to sift through the lake of emotions you’d found yourself submerged in. Just as you were about to succumb to the call of rest, your faultless alert system brought you back to consciousness, adrenaline injected into your veins as you shot upright at the sound of footsteps.

“Calm down, it’s just me,” your brittle nerves settled at the sound of his calming voice, heart leaping when you saw what he carried in his arms.

Levi had brought everything he thought he would need. A small metal basin containing a small flannel, a wash-cloth, a small cup, the shower soap and hair conditioner from his own quarters and a large towel to spare the mattress of the water. Kicking the cell door almost closed with his foot, Levi crossed to the sink once again, setting out the contents on the cracked porcelain before filling the basin.

He left the faucet running, turning back to you with the town folded on his arm.

“Gonna need you to move if we want to set this down,” you raised a suggestive eyebrow, mouth pulling into a small smirk. Levi rolled his eyes. “Not like that, brat. Unless you want to sleep on a damp mattress. It’s up to you, really,” the amused spark in his eye betrayed his neutral, blank face as you gently shimmied down the bed, making a space for him to set the towel down.

You watched as he removed his jacket, mouth watering ever so slightly as his shirt clung to his back, unable to tear your eyes away from the movement of his muscles. They had certainly developed well.

“Oi, stop ogling,” he smirked to you over his shoulder, earning a sly grin from you in response.

“Can’t help it,” you chimed, eyes flicking to his forearms as he rolled up his sleeves. Fuck, if only you weren’t in a jail cell. Or utterly filthy. Or just not ready for that yet.

If only you didn’t have a thousand things stopping you from pushing him against the wall and engulfing his cock in down your throat.

But for now, you just had to settle with undressing and fucking him with your eyes. Something that clearly didn’t go unnoticed, if the way he writhed slightly under your pinning gaze was anything to go by.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Levi tried to steer his thoughts away from his length stiffening once again. Fuck, the way you were staring at him, he was starting to feel hot beneath his shirt, despite the naturally cool temperature of the room. Your heated chuckle only fueled the flames.

“Aw, why? Are you hard?” you teased, raking your eyes up and down his figure, lingering on the small tent in his crotch. You shifted slightly, almost groaning as the mattress below you rubbed against your swollen folds.

“Tch, obviously. And I’m not going to deal with it in this filthy prison cell, so don’t make it worse brat,” Levi marvelled at your laugh. A proper, head thrown back laugh. He couldn’t stop the fond smile spreading across his face at the sight.

“Alright alright, I’ll stop eye-fuckinig you,” you managed to say, after regaining some sort of composure.

“You’re filthy,”

“Isn’t that why you’re about to bathe me?” you tilted your head slightly, watching him lift the basin from the sink after turning off the faucet. He didn’t deem your comment worthy of a response, opting instead to look back at you with a blank, deadpan expression. Tucking everything else under his arm, Levi returned back to your side. He thought for a moment about how he wanted to do this before, wedging the water basin between his legs.

“Lie back, place your head on my lap. Gonna’ wash your hair,” he instructed, busying himself with getting the small, brown bottle of hair soap. But he paused upon sensing your hesitation. Looking back to you, he searched your face, before slowly bringing his hand up.

You shied away, closing your eyes instinctively, almost bracing yourself for the contact that never came.

“Hey, not gonna touch you without permission, remember?” you opened your eyes to see his hand hovering next to your cheek. He was waiting for your next move, and you could see the slight hopeful spark in his eye.

So slowly, you tilted your head enough to gently nuzzle into his palm, your own hand coming up to keep him against your face.

Levi smoothed the skin under your eye with his thumb, trying his damndest not to let any tears well up in his eyes.

Unbeknownst to him, you were attempting to do the same. Not wanting him to see you cry for the third goddamn time tonight. But it became impossible when he said something you didn’t know you needed to hear.

“I missed you so much, firefly,” your breath hitched in your throat at the old nickname. He’d only ever use it in the softest moments in the Underground. Stroking your hair whilst lying in his bed. Staying up and keeping you company when you’d shoot awake from a nightmare. He was never one for nicknames, so one day when he, out of the blue, called you his firefly;

you’d almost cried.

Your eyes widened, hand gently squeezing his own to ground yourself. You let out something halfway between a laugh and a sob.

“I missed you too. So, so much,” you hardly had to move forward before your face was nestled in the crook of his neck, his arms slowly tucking you against his body. “I missed you so much,” you whispered again.

Levi didn’t think he’d ever been this happy, at least not for a long, long time. Ecstatic you felt comfortable enough to let him hold you. Though he was usually so good at keeping his feelings to himself, so much had happened over the last week, he felt the walls to his emotional dam cracking ever so slightly, a few tears lining his closed eyes. He could feel the collar of his shirt dampen as you shed silent tears, his thumb rubbing small circles against your back.

Levi held you like this for what felt like hours. Content to just be in each other’s arms once again. In reality, it had only been a few minutes before he gently shifted you so the back of your head rested against his lap.

“Never known you to be such a cry-baby,” he lightly teased, gathering what he could of your hair and soaking it within the basin still wedged between his knees.

“I’m not. I haven’t cried in years. Literally. Probably since Viper’s—” you stopped yourself, not expecting the casual statement to hurt quite as much as it did. “Viper’s death,” you finished quietly, eyes avoiding any direct contact with his own.

Levi took note of your tone change, reaching for the hair soap. He was only vaguely aware of the relationship between you and the old Nest leader. Finding out through those vile MPs.

“Want to talk about it?” The tone of his question matched yours as he lathered the gel into your now cleaner locks to make sure the grime and grease was properly dealt with.

“Honestly? Not yet. Maybe not ever. I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to anyone about it. Not even Prongs, or Wolf, and they were his Shadows before mine,” you fell silent for a moment, before looking back to him. “How did you do it? How did you just… leave everything behind?”

Levi sighed at the innocence of your question. The raw guilt he knew you were feeling. Knowing you were up here, safe, warm, comfortable, whilst so many people down there were still suffering. Still dying from easily preventable illnesses.

“I didn’t. Not really. I still find myself thinking back to those poor sods down there. But I couldn’t think about it for too long, because I would find myself thinking back to you,” his hand stroked the top of your now damp forehead, smoothing down the wet locks of your hair.

The basin sloshed slightly as you nodded, disheartened by the fact that this feeling of suffocating guilt would probably never leave you. Levi saw this in your face. He saw the exact same swirl of emotions he felt when he knew he would never return.

But you’d left behind so much more than he did. You had a trusted group. A family who would only know what happened to you through the words of that young girl.

“They’ll be safe, (Y/N). He may be an asshole sometimes, but I trust Erwin. He wouldn’t break his word,” running his hands through your soaked hair, Levi gently teased the knots out with his fingers, easily gliding through the now freed strands.

His reassurance calmed your worries. Levi hardly trusted anyone, you only ever knew him to trust Isobel, Farlan and yourself. This Erwin guy must have really made an impression.

Reaching back to the small flannel he’d brought down with him, he began drying your hair, setting the basin to one side. You didn’t think you’d ever felt this pampered. This well looked after. You thought you could certainly get used to it. Returning your thoughts to the conversation, you exhaled a sigh.

“Yeah, I know. It’s just… My job was to take care of them. My job was to stop something like this from happening. Our entire operation was compromised because my shitty partner couldn’t get over some grudge she had against a boy she’d never met,” you poked his chest as he rolled his eyes, looking down at you with a brow raised.

“So it’s my fault?”

“I didn’t say that,”

“You implied it,”

“Oh don’t be so sensitive,”

“I wasn’t the one who cheated,”

You almost sat bolt upright at that, if it weren’t for him anticipating the movement. What did he mean ‘cheat’? You didn’t cheat. You would never cheat. Loyalty ran through your veins like blood, and if you weren’t so incredulous you would have spotted the smallest hint of mischief in his steely eyes.

“Wh— Cheat? I didn’t cheat. What makes you think that?” your genuine concern broke his heart, and he almost felt bad for teasing you like this.

Almost.

Taking your face in both his hands, Levi failed to suppress the fugitive smirk on his face.

“We technically never broke up, brat,” you breathed a sigh of relief, before turning back to scowl at him, tempted to lightly smack the back of his head.

“Don’t fucking scare me like that, asshole,” your scowl held no heat, too relieved that he was just being pedantic rather than actually implying you would ever be disloyal. But your glare melted away at the rumble of a chuckle emitting from his chest. You rolled your eyes, trying your best to feign annoyance and failing miserably.  

Removing the small towel from your now damp hair, Levi deemed it dry enough for you to sleep on without catching a cold.

“There. Think you can do the rest yourself? I don’t wanna… make you uncomfortable or anything,” it was your turn for your heart to break, his consideration for your comfort and wellbeing always seemed to be his top priority. You took his hand in yours, gently stroking your thumb over his knuckles.

“You’ve done more than enough,” earnest gratitude swam in your eyes and it was all Levi could do not to stoop down and kiss you.

Instead, he stayed put for a little while longer, stealing all the seconds he could. He’d realised, with you joining the Survey Corps, you two wouldn’t be able to do this anymore. The company you’d both enjoyed for the past week would be ripped away by expeditions, training and paperwork.

So he greedily took as much time as the two of you could spare, before you would inevitably have to part ways.

“I have to go, (Y/N),” Levi whispered, although every part of him was longing to stay, especially when your face slowly fell in realisation.

“I know,” you tried to mask your melancholy with a gentle smile, but your voice betrayed you, breaking slightly as you spoke. Neither of you wanted to be the one to move. Neither of you wanted to be the first to burst the protective bubble of familiarity you both knew you wouldn’t feel again for a long, long time.

But to save him from doing it himself, you were the one to shift, allowing him to rise from the bed.

“I’ll uh, leave all this here and collect it early in the morning,” Levi shifted slightly awkwardly on his feet, running a hand through his hair. You nodded, adjusting yourself carefully. Your midsection didn’t hurt as much, more of an echoing throb, but you were still cautious nonetheless.

“Right, yeah. Probably a good idea, before anyone sees,” you shrugged, avoiding having to look at his face. You knew it would break both of you if you’d asked whether there was any chance of him staying.

Just for a little while longer.

“I’ll see you soon… Raven,” you felt your soul crack as he replaced your name with your alias. You knew it was right. You knew it was for the best. But that wouldn’t stop every fiber of your being shattering.

Levi hated how you said nothing as he turned to leave. He pretended not to notice your heartbreak as he deliberately called you Raven. He suppressed the urge to pick you up and take you with him. To carry you to his bed and cage you in his arms as you both fell asleep in each other’s embrace.

He didn’t know your prolonged silence was because you were gathering your courage. Silently arguing with yourself over what was right and what was wrong until you stopped him by calling his name.

“Levi…” There was no turning back now. You took a breath, finally raising your eyes to meet his now on the other side of the bars. “I—” love you.

You immediately stopped yourself, finding those three words caught in your throat. You couldn’t say them. Shit, you couldn’t say them.

You were a coward.

“Thank you,”

Levi stayed searching your face. He knew. He knew that wasn’t what you wanted to say. Because that wasn’t what he wanted to hear. He let loose a breath he didn’t know he was holding, giving you one last look of badly masked longing, before turning away.

“Training starts tomorrow,” though the words themselves were cold, his tone was laced with mourning as his footsteps echoed out of earshot, leaving you completely and utterly alone.

Levi had managed all but three steps into the hallway before his name was called by an irritatingly familiar voice.

“Ah, Levi. Good. My office. Now, if you’re not busy,” Erwin had a way of saying ‘if you’re not busy’ that sounded like he was really saying ‘there is absolutely no debate in this, you could be bleeding out and missing an arm and I would still expect you in my office within the next five minutes’. Levi knew he didn’t exactly have a choice.

“Sure. Let me make some tea and I’ll be right there,” he knew he’d made a mistake. The look in Erwin’s cerulean eyes told him that the tall blonde had figured something out. Something dangerous that could compromise his relationship with you.

Actually, he’d probably figured out he had a relationship with you.

Shit…

He was in so much trouble.

#levi aot #levi ackerman smut #levi smut #levi x reader #levi #levi attack on titan #captain levi #snk levi #levi x you #levi ackerman x you #levi x y/n #levi ackerman x reader #aot fanfiction #aot x reader #aot x you #aot x y/n #snk x y/n #snk fanfiction #snk x you #snk x reader #levi ackerman x fem!reader

[nahimjustfeelingit-writes]

Life size mannequin.

Erik’s girl uses him as a mannequin but Erik takes it too far and it back fires.

If you were to ask Y/N how she gets everything done she wouldn’t be able to give you a straight forward answer. Juggling school, a full time job, and a side hussle isn’t for the delicate and inadequate. Staying up until 2 AM with flash cards sprawled out on the living room table and a ratty mannequin head between her legs every night, Y/N fights much needed rest to recharge for the next days events. That’s not the only thing her teeming life has to offer. Y/N’s new boyfriend, Erik would be seen as a distraction to some but she can hold her own without slacking on her studies, missing a days work, or forgetting to do a clients hair. He’s handsome, fun, intriguing, smart, and that dick...it needs its own SSN and certificate. It’s own area code even. If she had to admit it, whenever her mind drifted to their bodies tangled in her sheets, moaning and groaning, she lost focus just a little bit.

Y/N is off on a Friday for once and instead of catching up on rest, Y/N decided to use her entire day making a closure wig for a friend and client. It’s a 24 inch body wave natural black lace frontal. No shedding, very soft, bouncy, with overall great quality. If only her lousy mannequin head would keep still!!! Y/N gave up after the mannequin head slipped from her grip. She usually has a wig stand with a mannequin head attached to the end but all of them are covered with other wigs that didn’t need to be ruined. The old fashioned way brought her back to how frustrating it was to practice. And to make things worse, Erik is strolling back and forth in front of her naked after his shower and completely ignoring her closet stocked with plenty of towels. When he stopped in front of her, his strapping thighs and that lethal weapon dangling she felt her face grow warm and her belly grow butterflies.

“You’re not helping, jerk,” Y/N said as she continued sewing. She was almost finished.

“I haven’t seen you in a few days and the one time I have a chance to spend time with you, this is what you do.”

“This wig is past due, Erik. I was supposed to get this to her two days ago. Thank God she had some shit going on herself otherwise I would be losing a client.”

Erik gave up trying to seduce Y/N and grabbed a pair of briefs from his travel bag.

“Whatever, you owe me some after this,” Erik sat down on the bed, leaning on one elbow, “You really into this.”

“And?” Y/N sassed.

“I’m just saying. Why not be a full time hair stylist?”

“Because I don’t want to do this for a living. Why else would I be in school for something that has nothing to do with hair? It’s just money to make on the side.”

The mannequin slipped again and Erik burst out laughing.

“I wanna see you try it since you find my struggle funny.”

“Oh, you don’t want me to do it I’ll fuck that whole wig up.”

Y/N ignored his smart remark.

“I’ll come over there and mess that shit right up and make you start over.”

“Erik, I’m not in the mood right now leave me alone,” Y/N cut her eyes at him, “Try me if you want I will take the end of this needle and dig it in one of them keloids. Make it pop like bubble wrap, think I’m playing.”

“You forget you’re talking to someone with a pain kink. Why you think my pain receptors fucked up?”

“So, you mean to tell me, if I boil some hot water right now and pour it on your leg...you wouldn’t feel pain?”

Erik frowned his face into a mug at Y/N as he cocked his head back. The widening of his eyes is what made her giggle.

“You don’t know how to love me all you wanna do is hurt a nigga. What is wrong with you?”

“I’m only messing with you—”

“No you’re not. If I say some shit you don’t like I get slapped upside my head. If I want to be in a playing mood you threaten me with that little fist of yours. Just admit it, you enjoy tormenting me.”

“You’re so Goddamn dramatic,” Y/N tilted her mannequin head forward, “Can you do me a huge favor?”

“If it involves getting up off this bed the answer is fuck no,” Erik said while lying on his back now with his legs hanging over the edge of the bed.

“I already know you’re about to say no but...I want you to let me use you as my mannequin.”

“Huh?”

The way his voice rose an octave has Y/N laughing.

“Can you let me put this wig on you so I can finish this?”

Erik’s brows shot up as his eyes landed on her, “Why? So you can sneak and take a picture? I’m not falling for that.”

“Erik c’mon now. I just need your head for a second and that’s it.”

“I can think of other ways you can use my head but instead you wanna put some weave on me.”

Erik sat up and swung his legs around to face Y/N. Erik leans forward on his knees, staring at the wig with a steady blink.

“What size is that shit anyway? You know I have locs so...how the hell is that supposed to fit on my head?”

“I’ll just...fit it over that pineapple on top of your head.”

“Jokes,” Erik reached up and took out the elastic band that held his tapered locs. Shaking his head, his locs fell over his eyes, “I’m not putting that on my head.”

“Not even for me?” Y/N pouts, “Not your favorite girl?”

“I know you, Y/N. You’re gonna put that shit on my head, take a picture, and post it. I’m not falling for the shit. I told you that.”

“Whatever. You got a big ass dome anyway and this wig is average size.”

“Now you’re tryna clown me?” Erik said with a half smirk on his full lips flashing a bit of his gold canines.

“It’s like...mad wide from front to back...no wonder you keep your hair long—”

“I know you ain’t talking shit with that ginormous ass forehead, girl.”

“I thought you said all the fine girls got big foreheads?” Y/N bat her lashes at Erik.

“That’s what’s helping you out. First time I saw you I was thinking damn, this bitch got a big ass forehead. And don’t think I forgot about how you played me when you sent that cropped picture.”

“Boy, fuck you!!” Y/N shouted over Erik’s laughter.

“I was—I was looking at the picture like where the rest of her face go?!”

Y/N glared at Erik as he dissolved into laughter.

“It’s really not that funny. Now are you gonna help me or not?!”

“Aight, I’ll do it this one time.” Erik sat up with one hand resting against his abdomen while the other wiped away tears, “Where do you want me?”

“On the floor between my legs, DUH where the fuck else would you be?”

He began dying laughing again from Y/N’s obvious annoyance. Erik took his place on the floor while Y/N climbed behind him onto the bed with each leg dangling on either side of him. Y/N takes the wig from the mannequin and before she placed it on Erik she tilted his head back more for easier access. Grabbing the half-done wig, Y/N fluffed out the ends before arranging it over Erik’s locs. Even at their short length it was a challenge to fit the wig the way she needed it.

“Can you PLEASE keep still?” Y/N prompted.

“I’m not even moving. This wig just don’t fit.”

Y/N applied force and wiggled it over his locs causing Erik’s head to rock back and forth aggressively. He growled before reaching behind him to grab her hands. The wig looked much shorter on him in the back from how prominent his back and shoulders are. Erik turned to face her with his lips tight and face frowned, the wig making him look ridiculous and silly. Y/N folded her lips into her mouth but the urge to laugh caused her cheeks to puff out.

“If only you knew how tight my fucking head feels right now. I can’t even smile without this shit feeling like my scalp is being pulled. This better come off when we’re done or that’s your ass.”

“Erik, turn around. I only have one section to do and then you’re free. Next time, don’t ask me to help you with shit if you’re gonna act like this.”

Erik sucked his teeth and faced forward so Y/N could continue. He lowered his head so she could work on the back area.

“Can I ask you something, babe?” Y/N said.

“What?” Erik replied.

“Do you mind modeling this for me—”

“See, I knew this shit—”

Erik stood up before Y/N could wrap her arms around him. He walked over to the full body mirror in her room to look at himself and that’s when he couldn’t hold back his own laughter.

“Yo, what the fuck do you have on my head!” Erik played with the strands while turning his head from side to side, “I look like James Brown, AYE!!!!”

Y/N was in stitches when he mimicked James Brown in the mirror. She fell back against her bed hollering from the way he looked.

“Nah, I’m not drunk right now I need to be drunk to enjoy this,” Erik leaned into the mirror, “I look better than half the bitches that come in here to get their hair done. Let me find out.”

“You are so STUPID!!!!” Y/N yelled between giggles.

“I’ll be back,” Erik left the room with the wig swaying from side to side since it wasn’t fully secure.

“Where are you going?!” Y/N shouted from the bed.

Erik didn’t respond to her loud voice. When he returned two minutes later he had a cup in one hand and his bottle of Hennessy in the other. Erik sat both the cup and the bottle on Y/N’s cluttered dresser to make himself a drink.

“This was supposed to be a quick thing now you’re drinking.”

Y/N watched Erik from her relaxed spot on the bed. Erik took two sips of his drink before standing in front of her mirror again.

“What are you doing?!”

Y/N couldn’t even finish her words when Erik started shimmying his shoulders and snapping his fingers to a soundless beat. Hooting with laughter Y/N could feel wetness on her cheeks.

“IM DONE!!!”

“This shit give bad bitches super powers.” Erik said

“Let me find out you wanna wear a weave now.” Y/N jokes.

Erik brought his cup to his lips and drank more Hennessy while moving his hips. This was too good not to get a video. With Erik being his usual silly self, Y/N snatched up her phone from the floor before pulling up her Instagram to record him. On her story, Y/N focused the camera on her boyfriend when he started singing the lyrics to Lady Marmalade.

“Gitchi gitchi, ya ya, da da. Gitchi gitchi, ya ya, here!!”

“Oh my God!!” Y/N cried out with a chuckle before ending the video. She uploaded it to her story before quickly tossing her phone towards the end of the bed.

“Creole Lady Marmalade!!!!!!!!”

“You hardly had anything to drink and you’re acting like this? Lord.”

“Aight, I’m done for now,” Erik made his way back over to Y/N with his cup, “put on a movie or something.”

“Ohhhhhh!!! So you’re asking me to pick this time?! I get to make a decision, Erik?! Wowwwwwwwww!!!”

“Girl, shut up.”

Y/N chose a random movie for background noise while she finished. She was surprised at how content he was and it made her consider asking him to help more in the future. It was fun and it made her laugh. That’s one thing about Erik that she adores. He matches her sense of humor. Y/N heard a vibration and when she glanced over to look at her phone the screen is still black. Between her legs she could see Erik staring at a text message from his Lock Screen

“What the fuck is this nigga talking ‘bout.”

“Erik keep still—”

“Nigga who is Miss Man?!”

Y/N paused to peer over Erik’s shoulder.

“This nigga just called me Miss Man from Scary Movie.”

Erik tapped on the microphone on his keyboard to speak.

“Who the fuck randomly texts somebody that at 11 PM? Fucking weirdo ass nigga. Let me find out you want Miss Man for yourself.”

“Who is Miss Man— OH! The PE teacher that was sniffing the underwear?!!! hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!”

“This nigga...he said all you need is the underwear, skirt, nails, and makeup—wait.”

“And some long ass balls!!” Y/N snickered.

Erik whipped his head around and when Y/N met his fiery eyes she swallowed her laugh and it left an uncomfortable lump in her throat.

“Did you post me online wearing this wig, Y/N?”

“No.”

“I’m gonna ask you again. Did you post me online in this wig?

“Mm—mm. I did no such thing.”

“Then let me see your phone.”

Erik reached out for Y/N’s phone but she snatched it away. Erik moved his head to the side to flip some of the wig hair form his face but it fell forward again disobeying him.

“Did I? Uhhhh—OKAY OKAY!!”

It happened so fast. Erik has Y/N by the waist and up in the air.

“Yes, I did!! I’ll delete it.”

“You don’t listen to shit I tell you to do—”

“It was cute! You looked cute with it on—”

“You know what’s about to happen right?! I told you not to do that shit!”

“Erik, it’s all in fun. I’ll get rid of it—”

“That shit is embarrassing! What if I posted you online at your worse?”

“I don’t have a bad moment I always look good.” Y/N sasses.

“Says the girl that always complains about me taking off guard pics.”

“Erik, you’re not even at your worse. You act like I posted you looking bummy!”

Y/N kept her word and went to Instagram to delete. When she got there, she was met with at least ten DMs replying to her story.

Corythemua_: gurllll who is that? 👀 ooooh he is fione!!! Is he into guys?

Jermaine_87: Wtf is he doing?! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 let me text this nigga

Katriceee: how did you convince him to do this?! LOL

Amethyst1993: when he find out about this you are in trouble girl!!!

“did you delete the video yet?! Don’t let me find out it’s still there!”

“It’s gone! Happy?! What happened to being in a playing mood?!!”

“Now all my friends texting me and clowning me! You play too many games. Hurry up and help me take this shit off!”

Erik brushed some strands from his lips with his fingertips and Y/N squealed. Nothing he could say or do would make her listen. He looked absolutely hilarious with the wavy tresses of the wig moving in tandem with his brawny physique.

“Erik, I can’t take you seriously with that wig on.”

“Then take this off!!”

Erik attempts to pull it off but suddenly stops when he realizes he needs help.

“I want this shit off now, Y/N.”

“FINE! Come here.”

Y/N tapped the floor with her foot for Erik to take a seat. When he does, Y/N does the opposite of what he asks and begins to place his hair into two buns. She silently laughed behind him, praying that he wouldn’t hear her falling apart. When she was finished, Erik assumed she was done because he didn’t feel the hair tickling his skin. When he stood up to look in the mirror, Erik groaned loudly at his appearance before flexing his jaw at her threateningly to make her listen. It didn’t work at all for him. She couldn’t stop laughing.

“You look so crazy!!!!!” Y/N hugged her sides and rolled on the bed with laughter, “And that evil look is making it even funnier!!”

“I’m about to beat your ass if you don’t take this shit off!!! It wouldn’t be funny if this shit stuck now would it?!!! I gotta go to work and all that nah take this off—

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

“Aight, are you finished?!” Erik said impatiently.

“Baby...you don’t understand...oh my God.”

“Y/N, for real, take this dumb ass wig off before I cut it off!”

“Okay okay!! Before I do...you gotta do one last thing for me...pretty please? With caramel sauce and a cherry on top? I’ll do whatever you want if you do this last thing for me.”

“.....”

“PLEASE BABY?!!”

“.....”

“Erik, look, it’ll be funny! I just want you to cat walk for me and then I’m done—”

“Ahhhhh HELL no—”

“Please—”

“For what?! So you can keep laughing?!”

“I’ll suck your dick, lick your balls—”

“Girl, that won’t work on me—”

“You sure about that?”

Y/N poked her tongue out and started doing tricks with it to show off her tongue ring. Erik’s eyes squinted at her but she could tell from his breathing that he wouldn’t be able to fight it much longer. He even said so himself that her head game makes him weak and no woman before her has ever made him weak.

“...from here to the bed and that’s it.”

Y/N smiled victoriously.

Erik placed his hands on his tapered waistline before lowering his head. Y/N could hear him silently laughing to himself before he lifted his head displaying an adorable dimpled smile. He started strutting towards Y/N with stiff hips and two left feet. All this from her flicking her tongue. Y/N stared at him with her mouth hanging open and eyes wide. He had a focused look on his face and the wig with its two buns flopped up and down messily like bunny ears. He struck a pose with his hip jutted out before he started to vogue. At that point, Y/N couldn’t take it any longer. She had to grab onto Erik so she could catch her breath. Soon, Erik’s deep laugh could be heard.

“You get on my nerves,” Erik sat beside Y/N, “now, can you take this off of me?!”

“Turn around,” Y/N took down the buns before carefully sliding the wig off from front to back, “You’re off the hook after that I’m gonna go back to using this mannequin head.”

“Yeah, finish up so I can spank that ass for posting me on social media.”

Y/N did a double take, “I’m still in trouble?!”

“Yeah, you’re not off the hook.”

The remaining time Y/N finished her clients wig, she thought up all possible ways he could punish her this time.

“Can I have a kiss?” Y/N asked with a sweet sounding voice.

“Yes,” Erik poked his thick, moist lips out and Y/N pressed her soft lips against them.

“Mmm...still in trouble, ma,” Erik whispered.

#funny #nahimjustfeelingit-writes #killmonger imagine #killmonger fanfiction #erik killmonger

[angstyaches]

Ooooh you have a delicious writing style- it's so descriptive! I'm afraid I'm quite new so don't know your characters much yet, but if this scenario could fit I bet you'd write it amazingly! Perhaps Character A is down on their luck, longterm or short-term wise, and is walking through town, having not eaten since the morning prior. Suddenly a store window catches their eye, displaying all sorts of amazing baked goods or meat cuts, and they can't help but stare while their hunger pains have them wincing openly. Character B notices them staring before Character A even realises what they're doing.

Agh, what a beautiful prompt. I think this is actually the first hunger fic I've written on request, so thank you, anon! I hope it’s okay that I used fancy pizza; I really wanted to use Payton for this and pizza is one of the few foods they would genuinely go weak over.

Pre-Payton and Autumn Getting Together

CW: hunger, hunger pangs, stomach noises, mentions of character unable to afford (decent) food, stress, overwork (it's Payton, what did we expect?), food mention

___

Payton sighed as they felt the drizzle start to fall around them. They stepped under a deserted bus shelter and stared out, wondering if the rain was going to get worse before it cleared up.

It was a fitting end to the day – or rather, the week – they’d been having. They couldn’t wait to get home and take off the stifling shirt they’d worn to a job interview that morning and then worn all the way through their shift at the café. They just wanted soft clothes and their bed and maybe a podcast to fall asleep to.

It all seemed so far away still, their energy sapping by the second and leaving them stranded five minutes away from the tram stop. Their feet stopped moving, rooting them to the pale grey concrete.

A gorgeous smell turned their head. Frantic interview prep, snooty employers, and stuffy clothes all faded from Payton’s mind. They were stopped across the street from the city’s most expensive food store. Built into a complex from the late 1800s, it was the kind of place where a sandwich cost €12. The kind of place that sold imported goods and “foodstuffs”.

An elaborate window was positioned behind the delicatessen section of the shop, where a chef was artfully piecing together a pizza on top of a copper paddle while another sat in a brick oven. The smell of the crisping dough must have been piped out deliberately onto the street, to entice those with money to burn, and to tease those without.

Payton fell into the latter category lately. With all the time they’d been spending on interview prep and assignments, they’d been taking shorter shifts at the café. Rent was going to clean them out this month. Today’s shift hadn’t even been long enough to warrant a full lunch break; they’d only taken fifteen minutes, and had spent thirteen of them taking a nap at the break room table.

Only now did they feel the twists of hunger in their stomach, the shakiness in their legs. Payton didn’t even realise that they had edged closer to the bus stop so they could sit down on the bench, one hand resting on their belly. Their stomach hurt, and it really was no wonder when they thought about it.

The last thing they’d eaten had been a bowl of cereal at seven a.m., the same cereal they were planning to have for dinner when they got home.

Payton’s stomach groaned unhappily at the prospect, and Payton groaned too; I’m right there with you, they thought miserably, rubbing at their stomach and continuing to watch the pizza chef through the window.

They didn’t know how long they grimaced and gazed across the street before they were interrupted.

“Payton? Hi!”

Payton jumped, head snapping up to see who’d said their name, and their heart skipped a beat.

A navy polka-dot umbrella sat over her shoulder. She was wearing tight leggings and an oversized sweater, her shoulder-length hair thrown into a lazy side-bun. She was wearing no makeup and looked a little sweaty, like she was heading home from the gym or dance practice.

She was a sight to behold, as always, even as she fumbled with her umbrella.

“H-hey,” Payton stammered, stumbling to their feet and trying to appear as though they weren’t so light-headed they were seeing stars.

Autumn glanced across the street, her eyes lingering there for a moment. “Uh, you don’t take this bus, do you?”

“I – no,” Payton admitted, glancing at the timetable and list of stops. “I was just sitting. Long day. Spaced out a bit.”

“Yeah, I could see that,” Autumn said, glancing across the street again. She let out a little laugh, though she seemed to consider holding it in for a moment. “I thought you were going to start drooling.”

“What?”

“The fancy pizzas.”

Payton’s heart dropped. Their face was feeling hot under their bangs. “Oh, I, uh, I didn’t even realise I was… staring.”

“Don’t be embarrassed! I watch them all the time when I’m waiting for the bus,” Autumn laughed.

Payton still blushed deeply, since they’d had no reason to sit down at the bus stop except to stare through the shop window. They were suddenly hyper-aware of their hand resting on their belly. They felt their stomach quiver under their palm, a low growl working its way through.

“You doing okay?” Autumn sat down on the bench, nodding for Payton to join her. She didn’t seem to hear the complaint from Payton’s belly. “Feels like forever since we last talked.”

“Y-yeah, sure does,” Payton half-laughed. Their shaky legs and dizzy head were thankful for the relief as they sank back down, leaving what they hoped was a healthy number of inches between the two of them. “I’ve been, um… I’m okay? I think. And – and you?”

“I’m actually… I’m great,” Autumn grinned, tucking some hair behind her ear. “I, um, I just found out today that I’m going to be Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors.”

“Are you serious?” Payton smiled, their mood genuinely lifting a bit at the sight of Autumn’s proud, shy little smile.

They often envied her for her absolute passion for musicals and acting, since they were failing so spectacularly at finding their place in the film world, but right then Payton was happy just knowing she was happy.

“Yeah! I still can’t really believe it.”

“I can.” Payton extended a long arm to pull Autumn towards them. “You’re brilliant.”

“Agh – ew, P, you don’t want to hug me!” she laughed, pulling her shoulders up tightly. “I’m all sweaty and damp!”

“I don’t care!” Payton wrapped their arms around her and pulled her close, so that their cheeks were just inches apart. “Your news deserves a hug.”

Autumn gave a deep, happy sigh as she leaned into the hug, probably unaware of the fact that the contact was setting Payton’s heart racing. It almost felt selfish, holding her like this when they were clearly getting more out of it than she was. They went to remove their arms from her, their chest fluttering as she buried her face deeper in their shoulder and kept her arms firmly around their waist.

It was lovely.

And yet, for the first time in a while, Payton felt a pang of loneliness, their core aching with the knowledge that they couldn’t hold her like this all the time. Deep in their bones, Payton wanted to kiss her hair, tickle her sides, and whisper happy little declarations of affection in her ear.

They didn’t whisper anything to her, though. They didn’t say anything as they held her. But their empty stomach was still twisting itself into shapes, and it clearly didn’t get the memo on holding Autumn quietly. A sharp growl had Payton wincing and trying to clear their throat (to cover up the noise) all in the same breath.

“Whoa, is that your stomach?” Autumn asked, lifting her head from Payton’s shoulder.

Payton’s body stiffened. “It… might be.”

“Are you okay? You must be starving.”

“I’m… Yeah.” Payton swallowed hard, letting a hand rest on their belly again.

Autumn moved back to give them some space. She was staring like she expected an explanation, eyes wide and eyebrows furrowed. Payton’s stomach rumbled under their hand again, bringing a twist of pain, and they didn’t know if they wanted to laugh or to cry.

“I guess I haven’t been taking care of myself too well.” They flinched again at the crack in their own voice.

Lifting her umbrella from where it had been resting against her leg, Autumn got to her feet. “Come on.”

Payton looked up at her, blinking behind their bangs. Exhaustion weighted them to the bench. “Come on where?”

A little hum escaped Autumn’s throat as she jerked her head. Her umbrella popped open and she stepped out of the bus shelter. The rain pattered against the fabric, a little heavier than it had been before.

“We’re gonna go eat pizza. Not – not there,” she clarified, gesturing towards the expensive deli. “I was thinking top floor of the Greene Centre. They sell by the slice and it’s super cheap.”

Payton swallowed again, guilt piling itself on top of the embarrassment. They felt as though they’d somehow coerced Autumn into offering to buy dinner, and the thought made them physically shudder. They got to their feet and moved a little closer to Autumn so she could hear them.

“I probably still can’t afford it,” they mumbled, staring at the ground.

“It’ll be my treat today, okay? You can pay me back by letting me ramble about my show.”

Payton gave her a shaky smile. “Are you sure?”

“Hundred percent.” That shy smile crossed Autumn’s face again. “It’s gonna sound weird, but when I found out I got the part… You were the first person I wanted to tell, Payton.”

“I... Really?” As they chewed their lip, a deep rumble came from Payton’s tummy. They frowned and folded their arms around it, noticing how Autumn's gaze drifted towards it too.

"Come on, I can't listen to your poor belly complain anymore." She lifted her umbrella a little higher with one hand – Payton was a few inches taller than her – and stuck out her elbow for Payton to link their arm through hers. “Shall we go?”

#hunger #hunger fic #OC hunger #stomach ache #stomach ache fic #hunger kink #belly kink #stomach kink #OC fic #stomach noises #Lucyverse #Lucyverse Payton #Lucyverse Autumn #fic #fic length

[carnationcreation]

7 with Luke please

TITLE: Uniform troubles (Luke Patterson x reader) [Marching Band AU]

✌🏻Masterlist Taglist, Requests, and Works in progress!

Please check bio to see if requests are open before sending any in! 

Request: 7 with Luke please (Marching Band au)

Prompt/summary:  Luke really likes to bother the drum major in the marching band.

Word Count: 1,219

Authors note: I KNOW LUKE PLAYS GUITAR NOT DRUMS BUT HE GIVES ME CENTER SNARE PERCUSSION VIBES!!!! Also I didn’t really know where i was going with this so sorry if the plot seems weird, I was writing in between my online classes today

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some people say all drum majors have an ego.

I’d truly like to think I don’t, but I would be lying if I said I was always humble on my podium above the band.

It truly is a rush, having everyone stare at and rely on you to lead them in the right direction. I couldn’t do it all on my own of course, my section leaders are a big help in keeping everything in order. My band director handles things that are too big for me.

I never had any problems with section leaders. Well, except for a few.

Reggie Peters and Luke Patterson. 

Both high brass and percussion section leaders.

AKA dumb and dumber to the rest of the band.

“(Y/n)!”

I ran into the uniform room to see the youngest member of the percussion stuck inside a drum case while Luke and Reggie frantically try to unlatch the case.

“It’s stuck!”

I set to work on the other latches, “What the hell happened?”

“I don’t know!” he says, “He asked to be put in there!”

I rolled my eyes, finally after a few minutes of hitting at the rusted latches on the old drum case the boy finally popped his head out and wriggled the rest of his body to freedom.

“I swear Patterson if someone gets stuck in another case you’re on your own.”

His eyes widened, “Don’t tell Mr. Lockmore.”

“I’m not that cruel, just make sure it doesn’t happen again. You too Peters,” I said.

 Game days brought a different kind of hectic. Everyone running around trying to find uniforms, instruments, and equipment made it to where you couldn’t take more than a few steps without running into someone. 

Color guard always got ready during forth block. They took the most time due to having to curl and style hair as well as apply the show makeup they chose for this years theme.

After they cleared out of their room I would begin my process of getting ready. My hair took the most time so I did that first after putting my uniform on. 

BLAM!

The door burst open causing my to drop my curling iron.

“Fuck!” I shouted as the iron hit my thigh.

“I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

I saw Luke trying to zip up the back of his uniform, “I’m fine. What’s wrong?”

“Everyone’s lining up, can you zip me?”

I sighed before carefully zipping up the back and adjusting the rest of the uniform, “You really need to start actually folding this.”

“I always have to load up the percussion equipment.”

“Ah,” I said, I sighed, “Well hand it to me tonight and I’ll put the uniform up.”

“Really?” he said, his eyes lighting up and i giggled lightly.

“Sure.”

“You’re the best (Y/n)!” he shouted as he ran back to the percussion cabinet to grab his snare.

The schools fight song played loudly over the screaming fans. Everyone wore wide smiles as we filed out of the bleachers and back into the band room. After loading up my podium onto the band trailer for the competition the next day, I slowly walked back to the school. Most students had already left by the time I got there.

I saw Luke struggling to tell his section what to do and fiddle with folding his uniform.

“Give it here.”

He turned with a wide smile and handed me the rest of it, it took me a second to realize he was shirtless and my face started to turn hot.

He slipped a cut band tee over his head and started lifting the drum cases into their storage area.

I folded the suit carefully before placing it in the bang and hanging it up on the rack under his name.

“You really have it bad for him,” I heard from behind me. 

Alex Mercer, the color guard captain, gave me a smirk and patted me on the shoulder, “Don’t worry, half the band has a bet going on when you two will get together.”

“What?” I squeaked, my face growing hot again.

“Don’t worry about it. See you tomorrow!”

I went into the color guard room to get ready to go home. I let my hair down from it’s decorative style with a sigh of relief. 

I reached behind me to unzip the back of my uniform, I fumbled for it with my fingers for a few moments. Sighing, I stood up to try and get a better reach. 

“Need some help?”

I jumped at the sudden sound, “You scared me, and yeah can you get it for me?”

He brushed a few strands out of the way, his fingertips against my neck caused goosebumps to raise on my skin. I felt the cold air against my back and for a second I was worried he saw my bra.

Thank god I always wear a tank top underneath.

“Thanks,” I said, it was almost a whisper.

“I didn’t see your parents, do you have a ride home?” he asked.

“Ugh,” I said, my arms held the uniform up against my chest so it wouldn’t fall down. 

He noticed my discomfort, “Oh I’ll-”

“Yeah can you-”

“Turn around,” we both said at the same time. He gave me a shy smile and I giggled.

He turned so his back was facing me.

I slipped the uniform off and grabbed my comfy clothes to change. The leggings and baggy sweatshirt felt great after a long night in the tight uniform and cold air.

“So, do you need a ride?” Luke asked again.

“I was gonna wait till my mom got off at midnight, but if you’re offering I’ll take it.”

I went to move past him but just as I did he turned causing my to crash into his chest. My hands caught on his arms that had wrapped around me

“Sorry!” he said.

I giggled.

“I always seem to be causing you trouble, don’t I?”

I smiled and pulled back, my hands still lightly on his arms, “Not any more trouble than I can handle.”

“Oh, so miss preppy drum major likes trouble?” he smirked.

“Preppy? Who calls me preppy?” I tried to play off my blush as confidence.

He giggles, “No one except me. But I don’t think preppy is the right word.”

“What is the right word?”

“Pretty-” he says quickly before realizing what he said. His eyes go wide.

“You think I’m pretty?”

“I- I’ve always thought you were pretty. I was glad when you became drum major cause it gave me an excuse to stare at you...”

I smile and duck my head, again to hide the blush forming. 

His hand slowly lifts my chin up and his palm goes to my cheek.

My eyes must’ve been filled with shock or nervousness because his next question confuses me, “Is this okay?”

“More than okay.”

His face got within an inch of mine and I really, really, hoped he couldn’t hear my heart racing.

My phone buzzes.

“Sorry,” I wince but giggle, “Well I guess I really do need that ride, my mom won’t be coming home till late.”

Luke stares at me.

“Luke?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, we should get going.”

I lean forward and place a light kiss on his cheek before rushing out to his car. 

Luke whispers to himself, “I owe Alex twenty bucks...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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[le0watch]

"the moon is beautiful tonight."

it was said so quietly, langa almost thinks he hadn't actually heard it. he glances to his side, where reki is sitting, his knees hugged to his chest. his cheeks are a deep red, spreading over and across his nose. the moon's light shines brightly, highlighting his face just enough for langa to see the curves of his cheeks, the freckles peppering his skin, the honey amber of his eyes. he's not looking at langa, but at the moon instead, its perfect sphere reflected against the soft candlelight of his gaze.

he's beautiful, stars surrounding the moon's reflection, making his eyes look like a bit of the night sky captured in his skull. langa could get lost staring into them, to forever drift through the stars and galaxies in his amber orbs. a few strands of his fiery hair frames his face, bringing ever more of langa's attention to his gorgeous eyes.

langa can't stop the breath from being caught in his chest. at the way reki blushes so adorably. by why is he blushing? he normally only does following a stream of compliments that langa had released, or due to the brushing of their hands. maybe if due to his gorgeous eyes catching langa's watching him, a softness at their edges.

but none of that had happened. they've sat here together, under the night's sky for about an hour now. it had started off with langa pointing out some of the constellations he knew, followed with reki asking for the stories behind each. and because of the interest langa had taken in them when he'd been younger, he happily obliged, retelling each of the stories he knew behind the shapes of the stars.

his favorite is o'rion. langa likes to imagine that instead of the ancient hero, carved into his place among the stars, that it was reki, instead, forever shining like the sun he is.

he hadn't even been looking at the moon. but now, after reki choked out that sentence, his gaze drifts to it, finding it to be large and full, bright against the black backdrop of the sleeping sky.

he has to agree that it is, in fact, beautiful.

but that still doesn't explain the feather light flush covering reki's cheeks and nose.

a cat with a pure coat of silver fur approaches them, tail held high, curved at its tip. its eyes are an unearthly green, watching the two boys curiously.

"it is," he replied, softly, not wanting to break the state of their quiet comfort. the still of the night they had melded into.

somehow, he thinks, he must have answered wrong. because of smiling back at him, reki frowns, his eyes dropping, chin burying itself in the fabric of his sweater's sleeves. langa frowns, too, guilt rising in the pit of his stomach over a mistake he doesn't understand.

"reki, i-"

"tell me more about the stars, langa," reki said, interrupting him. langa stops, mouth still half way open to form his apology, eyes blinking slowly, like a confused owl. reki looks at him, now, with a bright smile that langa knows is forced. what had he done? he'd messed up again, and he doesn't even know how. and now, reki isn't going to explain why, not now, and langa knows he shouldn't press.

so, he tells him more about the stars. he traces the constellations with his fingetip, and he doesn't comment on how he feels reki's gaze on the side of his face the rest of the time theyre there, laying in the grass, skateboards abandoned nearby.

the silver light cat trots away, tail lowered.

langa later tells joe about the confounding experience. the morning sun's fresh rays of light pours in through the windows, gleaming off of the slicked counter and tabletops. joe pauses in the cleaning of the glass he'd been focused on, eyes darting to langa's face.

"he said what to you, word by word?" joe asked, somehow serious of the smallest of a thing. what does it matter what reki had said? langa did something wrong, making those bright honey amber eyes dull to a brown pebble. he just needs to know what he did, so he knows how he can fix it.

"'the moon is beautiful tonight'," langa repeated, recalling each word easily. he remembers anything and everything reki ever says to him, filing each phrase and thing that leaves his lips in sections of his heart. especially the things that matter most- like the time he'd admitted to wanting to skate with langa forever, the day after that and the day after that!

joe's eyes widen, but his lips quirk upwards into a light smile. he chuckles softly, setting the cup he'd been cleaning aside, with the rest of the drinking cups.

"langa, that phrase holds meaning in our language," joe informs him, and langa's heart skips a beat. oh, no, what if it was something important, and langa had just brushed over it like it was no big deal? what if he'd offended reki, and there was no way of returning the honey he loved to those amber orbs he adored?

"what? what does it mean?" langa asks quickly, desperatly. he needs to make it up to reki as soon as possible, so joe needs to hurry up and tell him already!

another chuckle, and joe leans back against the wall across from the counter, large arms crossed over his even larger chest. "i told kaoru that very phrase, before we were together," he said, instead of answering langa straight on. langa's eyebrows furrow with his confusion and impatience, and he wants to demand that joe just tell him already. but joe is hokding a hand up, probably to calm him. "i told him this phrase on the night we got together. so that he would finally know. i couldn't tell him outright, so saying that instead helped me tremoundously. now, as you know, we're together, because he understood."

his eyes had gone soft as he spoke, remembering the night that he and cherry finally became official. it had been a pretty night, with them standing together a tad off from the rest of the ground, joe's jacket draped over cherry's shoulder. the moon hadn't been to remarkable that night- a small sliver, more dark than actual light. langa recalls just hearing the whisper of joe's words brushing through the air, against his ears.

"the moon is beautiful tonight," joe told cherry, his voice low like it had been a secret. langa's head tilted in confusion when cherry's eyes widened with surprise and disbelief, glazing over with something like admiration. reki beside him had gasped, hands coming up to cover his mouth at the scene, a light pink flushing his face. langa's confusion had only grown, furthered by the rolling of miya's eyes and shadow's blanching noise.

cherry had, surprisingly, pressed closer to, even if a tad begrudgingly. "i'm glad that you do," cherry had finally responded, and didn't sound like he was hissing through the cracks of his teeth anymore.

and then, just like that, they'd been official, and everyone cheered for them, leaving langa behind in his utter confusion.

now, it's dawning on him, and his mouth drops open, heart skipping another beat. he could feel his cheeks heating up, like he was outside in the summer's heat instead of inside in joe's a/c cooled restaurant. joe smiled at him as his eyes went back to his face, nodding a little, confirming langa's suspicions.

langa ran from the building as soon as he knows for sure, needing to find reki right then.

he doesn't find reki until later that day, as the sun sets and the moon is peeking over the horizon. reki is at the skatepark, alone, sitting on top of his board and idly scooting himself side to side. the last of the sun's light catches around him like a halo, making him the sole originator of all sunlight for a moment or two, before it fades, leaving him in shadow.

but langa can still reki's beautiful face, honey amber eyes looking at the cracks in the ground, tracing them almost like they are the constellations fallen to earth. he can't stop himself from smiling, at the freckled face, the lightly tanned skin, the fire red hair and amber eyes.

he makes his way to where he sits, and plops down on his own board beside him. reki jumps a little, not noticing his arrival until he's directly beside him, their bent knees brushing in the middle. the moon is slowly rising, a sliver of it sliced off. but it is still large, still bright and beautiful. like the boy he loves sitting beside him.

"hi, reki," he said in greeting, offering a small smile and wave.

reki flushes a little, already, waving back, shy. "hey, langa," he replied, and looks back up at the star dotted sky, capturing some of it in his eyes once more. if reki's eyes were the universe, langa wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. "wanna tell me about more of the constellations?"

langa hums, a light, song like note. he scoots ever closer to reki, the edges of their boards bumping, their thighs meeting. the flush on reki's face darkens, and his gaze flickers at their connected legs. "maybe in a minute," langa said, and brings their shoulders together. reki goes completely still, knees locking him in place. he leans closer, wetting his lips only a tad nervously. he's waited for so long to say this, and now he could communicate it in the way reki would prefer. he tilts his head towards the dark sky, towards the moon, now halfway high. "don't you think the moon is beautiful tonight?"

it must be the way he says it, because reki's honey amber eyes dart to his, and his flush deepens even further at how close their faces are. langa is now completely invading reki's space, their noses inches apart, their breaths mingling in the cool night air.

wide honey amber eyes stare into his own, searching, and he smiles warmly, nodding, a minute thing.

reki's lips part, his gaze drifting to langa's mouth. langa makes sure to lean in closer, slower now, however, to allow reki time to pull away. he doesn't. instead, he leans closer, their noses bumping, brushing against one another intimately.

"me too," reki whispered. his words are nearly stolen by the breeze, but langa catches them, bottles them into a small jar and stores it away to keep forever.

finally, their lips meet, warm and soft and chaste, with only the moon watching.

#OOPS THIS GOT OUT OF HAND LOL #have it i got inspired #sk8 #snowgear #sk8 the infinity #renga #reki kyan #langa hasegawa #drabble #my writing

[queenangst]

Prompt: a fear/distrust quirk that makes them wary or their allies. It could affect multiple people and make them afraid or mistrustful of each other, making them uncoordinated or attack each other, or it affects 1 person and make them afraid or mistrustful of others, or everyone else is afraid or mistrustful of them (for the 1 person affected, aizawa & student(s) being afraid of him, izuku being afraid of others, or shinsou w/ either, would be nice, but any characters are good!)

for my 30 min fic challenge / read more: ‘30 min fics’ tag

hold your heart fast [read on AO3]

When the fight was over, Izuku bounced from rooftop to rooftop, scanning the ruined streets and pushing through the sting of smoke as he searched. He tried not to think about all the worst outcomes, but that was never Izuku’s strong suit.

As he landed on the flat roof of a library, Izuku spotted who he was looking for. The surface under his feet groaned as he leapt down, activating One for All so he could land safely.

He used too much power—under his feet, the ground cracked, but Izuku didn’t care. His gaze was locked on the head of bone-white hair he’d found from above. A little girl, stranded alone in the streets.

“Eri!” he called, and her head jerked. He watched her hair ripple with the movement.

Izuku was next to her in an instant. He couldn’t describe the relief that swept through him, like a breath of fresh air, and pulled down the mouth guard that he’d kept up against the smoke.

“Hey,” he said softly. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

Eri looked at him. For a second, she seemed relieved, and then suddenly her entire expression shifted. She stumbled a step back.

“De- Deku?”

His name sounded strange in her mouth. She didn’t say it like she usually did, the way Izuku treasured; when they were laughing together, she said Deku with the sound of bells in her voice, and when he was the only person who could comfort her after a nightmare, she said Deku like she was looking at a hero. He always kept those moments close to him. Aizawa-sensei had once said Eri felt safe around Izuku, and that was important.

Izuku crouched down and made himself smaller, less threatening. He offered Eri a smile.

“Hey, squirt,” he said. “I’m sorry we got separated earlier. But the villain—the villain’s gone, okay? I’m here to take you—”

He had to pause for a moment, thinking, and then finished, “—home.”

Izuku didn’t move, but Eri took a step back. Her eyes were wide.

“No, you’re not,” she whispered.

His heart began to pound. What did she mean? Maybe the villain attack had scared her too much, or something had happened when Izuku was forced to leave her. Izuku bit his lip.

“It’s alright,” he said. “It’s all over now.”

Izuku held out a gloved hand, hoping she’d take it.

Eri shook her head. “You’re going to take me somewhere dangerous,” she said.

His heart squeezed. Izuku wanted to scoop her up in his arms and just run, until he could find Aizawa-sensei or the police or anyone to help, because he didn’t understand what was wrong. But then he would hurt Eri, and he didn’t want to.

“What’s wrong? Eri?” He inched closer. “ Please come with me.”

When Izuku reached for her, Eri cried out. Izuku drew back.

“Don’t come any closer,” she shouted, and threw out her hand. Izuku glanced at her horn. If she was scared and activated her Quirk by accident, on instinct to protect herself…

He held up his hands. “Okay. Okay.” Think, Izuku. “What- what if I called Aizawa-sensei? You- you’ll listen to Aizawa-sensei, right?”

The response was immediate. She nodded, and Izuku sighed and thanked the heavens.

Aizawa-sensei picked up after the first ring.

“Midoriya?”

“Sensei!”

“Where are you?” Aizawa-sensei demanded. Izuku almost cried, even though Aizawa-sensei sounded kind of upset, because just hearing his voice made Izuku feel better. “Is Eri with you?”

“Eri’s with me. She’s—” he looked over and lowered his voice. “Something’s wrong. She’s… scared of me, or something. I don’t know. Please hurry.”

Izuku gave him a location, and then Aizawa-sensei was there in what seemed like both half a minute and eternity. While waiting, Izuku kept trying to talk to Eri and ask her what was wrong, but eventually Eri went completely silent and refused to speak to him.

In the distance, a figure in black cut through the shapes of the buildings. He was running.

“Sensei,” Izuku whispered, then burst to his feet and into a shout. “Sensei, here!”

“Midoriya!” Aizawa-sensei shouted first. “Eri!”

Eri didn’t look back. She went to Aizawa-sensei, barrelling into his legs and clinging tightly. Aizawa-sensei looked down, murmuring something quietly, and then took her hand.

It kind of hurt, to be honest.

“Sensei,” Izuku said, “sensei, I took down the villain, well, one of them, and then I came looking for Eri—”

Aizawa-sensei’s eyes flashed. For only a split second he activated Erasure, and Izuku felt One for All lash out and then die down as Izuku’s Quirk disappeared. Then Aizawa-sensei frowned, shaking his head, and rubbed his temples.

“You…” he started, but he didn’t say anything else.

“Please,” Izuku said, “not- not you, too.”

Aizawa-sensei looked conflicted. He activated Erasure again like he wasn’t even aware he was using it.

“You’re my teacher,” Izuku tried. “You- all those times, you saved me, I don’t know what’s wrong but I promise—”

Aizawa-sensei pushed Eri behind him. Like he was protecting her, shielding her from a threat.

Not just a threat. Izuku.

The air was knocked out of his lungs. He gasped, trying to get it back, head spinning.

Eri was scared of him. Refused to go with him, and now Aizawa-sensei… Izuku didn’t get it. He didn’t get it at all.

“You know me,” he pressed.

Something seemed to click in Aizawa-sensei’s gaze. He stood straighter, lifting his head and expression smoothing over into something that was more neutral.

“Follow me,” he said, voice clipped, and that was that.

Eri wouldn’t stop peeking at him as Aizawa-sensei carried her to safety. When their eyes met, she would go back to hiding against him, cradled in Aizawa-sensei’s arms.

Aizawa-sensei took them to where there was already a makeshift medic section set up on the sidewalk. There were plenty of civilians there, and a few heroes, too, but Aizawa-sensei walked with confidence.

“Here,” he said, and waved down a medic. “My student. He’s bleeding.”

Izuku didn’t understand the change of tone, but he stepped forward, and the medic flinched.

“I can’t treat him,” the medic blurted. Her eyes flicked to Izuku and then away. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

Aizawa-sensei’s face hardened, but he nodded.

“That’s alright,” he said after a moment, and Izuku looked down at his only injury, a cut on his arm from when he’d been a little careless. It wasn’t deep, though it did hurt. A pit formed in his stomach. He was being turned away, and Aizawa-sensei was allowing it.

“Sensei…”

“Just tell me something,” Aizawa-sensei said. “Are you scared?”

The medic paused. Swallowed.

“Yes,” she said finally, and Aizawa-sensei, who had one hand hanging by his side, clenched his fist. Izuku saw white knuckles.

“I see. Come on, Midoriya. I’ll treat you myself.”

They must have made a strange sight, sitting on the curb as the world moved around them. Aizawa-sensei carefully cleaned and began to bandage Izuku’s arm. His mouth was tight.

Behind him, Eri kept tugging on Aizawa-sensei’s sleeve.

“Let’s go home,” she would whisper. “Aizawa, please, I want to go home.”

And every time, Aizawa-sensei would say, “I know. I’m helping Deku.”

Patient, the way Mom was with Izuku when he was younger, and seemingly endless.

“You shouldn’t,” Eri said, so quietly Izuku almost missed it. But he didn’t.

“I have a theory,” Aizawa-sensei said suddenly, filling the negative space with his voice. “Concerning you, problem child. Something hasn’t made sense to me.”

For some reason that made Izuku laugh. “Nothing’s made sense to me.”

Aizawa-sensei nodded. “I think… the villain you were fighting. Supposedly she could manipulate emotions.” He tied off Izuku’s bandage. “But—it’s not quite that.”

“Wait,” Izuku said, mind whirring. He put his hand out; his fingers were trembling, too, held in the air. “Wait. When you asked—and—you’re scared of me?”

The corner of Aizawa-sensei’s mouth turned up. “I thought it wasn’t very logical,” he mused. He knocked the side of Izuku’s head. “Why am I scared of you?”

“But you’re helping me.”

“I live with fear,” Aizawa-sensei said, and before Izuku could figure out a response to that, he continued. “I’m scared of a lot of things. I’m just good at hiding it.”

“Oh,” Izuku said.

“And I’m more concerned about hurting you than you hurting me,” Aizawa-sensei admitted. “I’m always scared for you—not of you. It’s not your fault, I think. It’s a Quirk.”

Izuku felt his mouth tremble.

“You know you don’t have to be scared of me.” He caught Eri’s eye over Aizawa-sensei’s shoulder. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Aizawa-sensei shuddered, but he nodded. Took Eri’s hand, and pulled her gently closer.

“I’m trying to tell myself that,” Aizawa-sensei responded, and held out his other hand. It was shaking; Izuku’s hand still was, too, but they bridged the distance past their fears. Izuku held his breath as Aizawa-sensei guided Eri’s fingers until they were just touching.

“It’s alright,” Izuku promised. Eri’s face was pale, but she didn’t let go. “Eri. I know you’re scared, but it’s still me. I’m still Deku.”

Holding her, the soft wash of Rewind healing him; her fingers closing around Mirio’s cape; carrying Eri to a brighter world where she would be safe from harm, and safe with Izuku.

“You’re safe with me. Alright?”

“Deku,” Eri repeated in a shaky voice. Izuku promised to save her. Over, and again. This time, she didn’t say Deku like she used to; but she didn’t say Deku quite like she was scared. Almost—hopeful. “Okay, Deku.”

Taglist: If you’d like to be added or removed from this taglist (tagged when a new fic is posted), please let me know. If your blog is unmentionable, I cannot tag you.

@happi-tree @soyoudneverguess @granny-griffin @zannish @liarielle @ashemberss @gwogobo @honeyandsonshine @cinammon-cinner @paralumanleadmehome @ship-toast @gabs-2002 @the-reading-obsessed-stitchbear @weird-skittle @sapphire363 @fr0znmang0 @in-honor-of-you @cheese490 @anakinthetrashking @proheromidoriyashouto @lust-nd-love @firefletch @mamamiamia @frankiealexquin @crossroadofinterests @bornindundee @bleusmainpage @fleurie3am15inspo @scheherahzade

#bnha #bnha fanfic #izuku #eri #aizawa #my fanfic #30 min fics #anonymous

[hanatiny]

[7:53] Notification

pairing: Hongjoong x gender neutral!reader

genre: fluff

word count: 994

warnings: none, only reader and Joong being soft and absolutely whipped for each other~

You huffed as you blew a stray strand of hair out of your face, leaning back in your chair. Not surprising considering how early it was, you had been stuck on this section of your college work for the better part of the last hour, half-heartedly contemplating to just give up on it entirely at this point as you saw your phone’s screen light up with a notification out of the corner of your eye.

You reached for the device and unlocked it, seeing that your idol boyfriend, Kim Hongjoong, had sent you a selfie captioned with “Thank you for always being by my side angel, I miss you~ 🥰”.

Flustered, you threw your phone across the room onto your bed before having an immediate change of heart and leaping after it in a rather comical manner.

You scrambled to pick up your phone again after it landed on your mattress, your fingers then eagerly tapping away when you got ahold of it as you drafted a response.

Y/n: I miss you too baby, but what’s with the sudden sentimentality? Did... anything happen?

Your phone vibrated almost instantaneously with his reply

Joongie💘: Besides me having to wake up and leave you for work so early that I can’t even properly kiss you goodbye because you’re bound to still be asleep, you mean?

Joongie💘: Not really, no.

Your blush deepened considerably at that - how was he able to catch you off-guard so effortlessly all the time? You mused that it must have been the strength of your mutual, deep love for each other.

Y/n: When are you gonna be home?

Joongie💘: Dunno, as late as usual probably.

Y/n: Want me to come to the studio later, then?

Joongie💘: You already know the answer, babe

You smiled warmly at that, indeed aware of what he'd say.

Y/n: I'll be over at 4 :)

Joongie💘: thanks

Joongie💘: I love you ❤

Y/n: Love you too~ ❤

Invigorated by the exchange with your significant other, you crawled out of bed and got back to working again as if you hadn’t just spent almost an hour fussing over an assignment.

You looked over at the clock when you finished, realizing with a frown that your work had taken you longer to complete than you’d expected it to and that it was already nearing 3 pm. You got up and stretched with a groan, your body undeniably stiff from sitting for so long.

Grabbing your keys after taking a quick shower and getting properly dressed, you left your apartment and made your way to the studio, making sure to pick up some food for the two of you nearby.

When you entered the building it was a bit quieter than anticipated, but you didn’t think much of it until you entered the actual studio - because lo and behold, there was Hongjoong, curled up and fast asleep on his chair.

You cooed affectionately at the sight as you set your things down by the door before carefully pushing it closed, slowly tip-toeing over to your boyfriend and wrapping your arms around him from behind.

“Hey Joongie~” The lack of response to your lilting whisper caused you to furrow your brows, eyes lighting up mischievously when a better idea popped into your head.

You leaned forward slightly and gently nipped on his neck and Hongjoong jolted in surprise at the feeling, now suddenly wide awake as he chuckled huskily.

“Well, that’s certainly not the way I expected to be woken up, but I won’t complain~”

His teasing tone made you blush as you playfully smacked his arm with a pout before grabbing said arm and pulling him over to the couch. He sat down willingly, watching you with a raised eyebrow as you begrudgingly stepped away from him again, but not before pulling you down into a quick kiss by means of your sleeve.

You blushed brighter, sitting down in his lap once you retrieved the plastic bag you had previously dropped on the floor and opening it while Hongjoong rested his chin on your shoulder and played with the hem of your shirt affectionately.

You watched him in adoration when a familiar glimmer shone in his eyes while he paused, taking the bag from you as he looked back and forth between it and you for a few seconds before he spoke.

“I- Thank you, but Y/n, sweetheart, how- why-” He struggled to form coherent sentences as he stared into your eyes and noticed your warm smile, a faint blush tinting his cheeks at the realization that his face - and lips, consequently - were only a few inches away from yours.

“You’re so cute when you blush, baby...~ Why I did this? Because you shouldn’t be skipping meals like I know you tend to do when you get absorbed in your work. I know I’m setting a bad example by doing the same today but,” you paused as you chuckled softly and flicked his forehead gently “take care of yourself, especially while I’m not around, okay? As for the ‘how’ of the matter, what kind of partner would I be if I didn’t know your favourite food hm~?”

You ran a hand through his hair, pressing a soft kiss to his lips before you slid of his lap and sat next to him. You nudged him gently, encouraging him to eat and he happily complied, his face lighting up as if he were a child on christmas while you mimicked him and started eating as well.

It was an endearing sight, you had to admit.

“I love you.” You both randomly blurted out at the same time, blinking at each other in surprise for a few brief moments before bursting into vibrant laughter.

You spent the rest of the afternoon and evening cuddled up on the couch with Hongjoong, talking about whatever came to mind and eventually dozing off together, and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

#ateez #ateez scenarios #ateez fluff #ateez hongjoong #hongjoong #hongjoong fluff #y'all don't wanna know how often I changed the pic for this before posting it #like an indecisive 🤡 #i'm kinda proud of this tho uwu #hanatiny writes

[pinkhairedlily]

Chapter 3 - Student Council President Sakura

SCPS AO3 | PREVIOUS CHAPTER

“Good morning, Sensei.”

Long trails of pink hair fell just inches above Kakashi’s face. He opened his eyes from a short morning nap and found Sakura shielding him from the summer sun. The book he was reading was on his stomach, turned down and split on the page he stopped.

“Good morning, Sakura. You let your hair down.”

She grinned at him and took a few steps back as he stood up. “I didn’t have time to dry my hair. I didn’t want to be late on my first day of class.”

“You had time to wake me up though.”

Internal panic coursed through Sakura which intensified more when he yawned and smirked, obviously teasing her, but it emphasized the small mole above his chin – something she was always fascinated about. “It’s bad impression when freshmen students find their teacher littering on campus grounds, Sensei.” I’m so proud of my quick wit. She happily sauntered away from the speechless, heads-over-heels, oblivious student trap.

Kakashi walked with her until the main entrance of the building, easily avoiding Sakura’s inquisitions of his summer break shenanigans and pinning the lack of it on the endless teacher trainings and seminars. Just before he left her to go the faculty room, he took a rubber band from his wrist and gave it to her. “In case you’ll get conscious and want to tie your hair. Have a good day, Sakura.”

She wasn’t conscious at all; she let it down for him, the hair tie in her skirt’s pocket – her pink strands freed at will to demand for his undivided attention, but she opened her palm to receive his offer all the same. She sighed after his fading figure in the gathering crowd.

New class lists were pasted on the bulletin board, and she scanned for names. Two particular people caught her attention. Ironically, they also appeared within her field of sight.

“Oh, Sakura. Good morning!” Naruto’s loud voice was ringing even though he just entered the building. If she would describe him, he was the embodiment of sunshine. He just had that positive energy around him which she liked. Walking close behind him was Sasuke, the stoic genius of their batch, and the opposite of Naruto. “How was your summer, Sakura?”

“Hmm, nothing much.” She glanced ever so quickly at Sasuke and saw him pay no mind. She liked that about him because while he was so unlike his loud, chatty friend, his energy was warm and kind, just hiding behind a tall wall of vulnerability. “I heard you joined the baseball team. Congratulations!”

Naruto shyly scratched his head. “I’m still a rookie though. I’ve got ways to go.”

That wasn’t entirely true. Sakura heard through the vine that he got mad agility skills, and that every sports team wanted him to try out. So much has changed in a year.

“Come on, we’re gonna be late.” Sasuke said.

“I haven’t seen which class I’m in yet!”

He grabbed the blonde by the collar and led the way. “We’re classmates.”

“Yeah, we’re classmates.” Sakura fell in step with Sasuke, Naruto frozen in shock. What an odd trio they must have been.

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

Their seating arrangement was pasted on the board when they came in. Sasuke got the seat beside the window – a good position for daydreams and afternoon naps. Sakura was placed beside him with a nice center view of the room, and Naruto was in front of her.

“Hey, Sakura. I need to tell you something, but it’s quite embarrassing. You see, I tend to fall asleep in the middle of class and since I’m in front of you…..erm….uhhh.”

“What he meant to say is he drools,” Sasuke interrupted. This apparently irked Naruto who full on glared at him.

“Well, yes, I drool. I have short attention span and classes make me so sleepy, but I hope that won’t disturb you. Just please look over my head.”

“How can she when there’s a porcupine sitting on it?”

Sakura chuckled at their weird, friendly banter. “Yeah sure, whatever you say Naruto. I don’t get easily distracted anyway.” She forgot to ask earlier if Kakashi will still be teaching Math for second years or which section his homeroom will be. As if her thoughts conjured him, he walked in their room, his silver hair glinting against the sunlight, and his eyes wandering in search for a face. Hushed gushes of admiration spread through the students, awed by the silent imposition of his presence. Then, his eyes fell on her.

He bridged the gap between them in easy, wide strides. “Ms. Haruno, the student council is looking for you.”

“They really sent you on an errand, Sensei?” No one dared to look beyond their interactions. She was easy-going, casual without being disrespectful, the model cheerful student, and the teachers’ pet. Teasing him with her half-truths hanging in between words was not difficult to cover up.

“Of course, I’m the council’s adviser.” And of course, she was thankful for his obliviousness.

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

“What do you think could it be? Did Sakura get into a scuffle?” Naruto asked after Sakura left with Kakashi. “No, that’s not really possible.”

Sasuke shrugged. He just wanted the day, or rather, the term to end quickly. He purposely avoided visiting the café, going in the mornings rather than late nights, partly because he didn’t want to run into her and partly because he was scared. He was just safely keeping his distance.

Sakura returned just before the next class started with an exuberant expression. The next teacher basically confirmed the news. “Congrats, Ms. Haruno Sakura. Thanks for stepping up to be the next student council president.” The position was left vacant after the initial appointee decided to focus on preparations and review to move abroad for college. The council, with faculty approval, recommended her to take the rein.

Hmm. They trust her abilities to this extent, huh. Sasuke looked outside, uninterested with the unfolding event and the break of congratulations around her. He saw her reflection on the window, smiling widely at her classmates, but her hands told another story, her fingers just solely focused on the rubber tie around her wrist.

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

Naruto had to stay behind for baseball practice which Sasuke was thankful for, but his feet didn’t want to go back home so he hid in their spot, napped for a while, and waited for Naruto’s message. When the blonde finally finished, Sasuke went to the field to fetch him.

“Sasuke, they’ll be joining us for dinner!” Naruto said.

“Sure, invite another team more.” Just his luck, Sasuke hated company, but like all other instances, he kept being dragged within his friend’s orbit. The team waved at him silently, knowing for a fact now that he didn’t respond to anyone other than Naruto.

“Really?” Naruto’s eyes perked up then a moment later realized that Sasuke was being sarcastic. He wrapped an arm around his shoulder and led the way to their usual ramen house.

“Get your hands off me, you vermin.”

“Awww they told me this was probably your love language – friendly banter.”

“Naruto, that didn’t come from us. We don’t want to get killed!” his teammates collectively chimed behind him. “Sorry Sasuke.”

Sasuke released a heavy sigh, quickly glaring at the players, but also letting the remarks slide. At least, this was a better option than being early at home and alone. After dinner, Naruto badgered him for desserts.

“I think I need a sugar rush. All the sugar left my body during practice. I envy Team Captain Haru.”

“The one with the undercut? His hair looked boring.”

“He has a steady supply of sweetness in his life. His girlfriend, Hinata, always visited during summer break. Quiet but supportive of our practice games. She cheers for him on the side and brings us snacks. I want a girlfriend too.”

“That’s normal, considering you’re a hormonal teenager.”

“Aren’t you the same?”

“Nope, I’m just a teenager.” His feet unconsciously led him to the café where Sakura worked. Ah, shit. “Hey, let’s go to another place.”

“This looks okay, grumpy! Besides, my feet hurt. Please have mercy on your dear friend.”

“You’re not my friend.”

“That’s a part of your love language too. Ehe. Come on now.”

Despite internally wishing she wasn’t present this evening, he found himself face to face again with Sakura. She had the usual disguise, but her makeup was on the heavier side – cat-shaped eyeliner just made her eyes stood up more. When she saw them, the first thing she did was look at him, conveying a questioning look, possibly on whether Naruto knew who she was. Sasuke subtly shook his head once.

Ever the simple-minded, Naruto’s focus was on the sweets. “I’ll have strawberry milkshake and a slice of red velvet cheesecake please!” It was going so well until he saw her face. Leaning in to Sasuke, he whispered. “She kinda looks familiar, don’t you think?”

“Your order, Sir?” Unfazed, Sakura continued doing her job. Her eyes looked towards the last plate of cream puffs.

“One slice of tomato cake and a matcha latte.”

“What?” Sakura and Naruto said at the same time.

“Even the lady agrees that that dessert sound unappetizing!” Naruto stuck out his tongue for a more theatrical effect. “Get a brownie or a cream puff.”

“I’m treating you so let me eat my tomatoes in peace.” Sasuke held out his card to Sakura who was still weirded out by his selection. Did he really give off a strong impression of his cream puffs inclination?

“I feel like we have a vibe going on.” Naruto leaned towards the counter, seemingly flirting with Sakura-in-disguise. “Maybe it’s because you have the same eye color?”

Before he could embarrass himself any further and prematurely confess his yet half-hearted feelings, Sasuke dragged Naruto away from the counter and on the farthest table of the café. “You made her uncomfortable. Stop it.”

“She looked like Sakura! But of course, our student council president looks more ethereal. I bet she’s so busy with school and club activities, she won’t have time for this.”

He spent an hour or so listening to Naruto talk about his baseball practice, the expired ramen he accidentally cooked last night, and the difficulty of their classes. It somehow ended on a note, much more like an imposition from Naruto, that Sasuke will give him supplementary lessons in this café and with his allowance.

They were about to leave when Sakura beckoned them over. She had two paper bags in her hands, and Sasuke noticed the absence of cream puffs. Someone must have ordered it already.

“Here’s a treat on the house – one for each of you. We’re giving freebies if you order within this timeframe. Come again!”

“This is so great! Thank you!” Naruto beamed at her but remembered something. “Hey, I’m sorry if I felt like a creep earlier. It wasn’t my intention.”

“Uh, that’s all right. I get that a lot.” She beamed back at him.

“You have the same beautiful eye color with our classmate. She’s cheerful, assertive, and has this positive energy around her. We hope we could be friends with her. Thanks for this again!”

Sasuke was too late to stop Naruto’s ramble, but he guessed it turned out fine. She just continued smiling like a good ole polite employee. “Get going, Naruto. I want to rest.” The two of them stepped out on the street with the fresh evening breeze.

“I feel like I still creeped her out.”

“Maybe you did.” Sasuke smirked at the tortured expression on Naruto’s face.

When he came home, he opened the paper bag to place the contents inside the fridge. It didn’t occur to him to ask why that promo wasn’t offered to him when he came last time, but nonetheless, he was a bit glad that he had something to munch on aside from processed food. His thoughts halted when he saw the cream puffs inside. His hands fetched his phone and he quickly dialed Naruto’s number.

“Grumpy, you missed me already?”

“What did she give you?”

“Who? Oh? You mean the café lady? Brownies! Do you think I can share these with Sakura tomorrow?”

Sasuke hang up on him without answering his question. He just kept on staring at the cream puffs on his kitchen counter.

Yeah, I better keep my distance.

AO3 LINK | NEXT CHAPTER | CHAPTER 4

#SCPS #student council president sakura #pseudolily #haruno sakura #uchiha sasuke #hatake kakashi #uzumaki naruto #sasusaku #kakasaku #narusaku #ugh my heart #i hate writer's block tho

[allhaildaddykeanu]

Keanu Reeves x Reader

Words- 4.7k

Warnings- Strangers to lovers, dominant!Keanu, daddy kink, smut, also fluffy fluff

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was my parents’ annual Fourth of July party, where all of our family and close friends were invited to gather at our house for food, alcohol, and fun explosives. They began this tradition when I was small child, and never failed to make it more extravagant than the last. I grew up in such a patriotic household due to the fact that my father was a retired navy officer, and my mom was one of those people who will celebrate anything when she gets the chance. I was always encouraged to praise my country and heritage, especially on National holidays.

Of course, I loved celebrating with my family, and I loved our parties. The only thing that bothered me was how my parents would act during the parties. They’d drink all day and night and leave their worries behind, while I had to clean up and make sure that nothing bad happened to them or anyone else. I know that it’s good for everyone to just cut back and let loose every now and then, but there was a fine line between the letting loose and being a pain to everyone around you.

The thing about this years party was that I was finally allowed to drink, which meant that I too would be in on the fun, at least that’s what I assumed. It was hard to be surrounded by drunk adults having the time of their lives while I was stuck in the background sulking. Of course there were always some kids to hang out with, but I always ended up being left out.

While greeting everyone and joining different conversations, I spotted my Uncle walking into the yard with an extremely attractive man at his side. Immediately, I left the group of a few people to walk over to him. Our eyes locked and my Uncle smiled and held out his arms for a hug.

“Ah, y/n, it’s been too long since I’ve seen my favorite niece!” He greeted, wrapping his arms around me and squeezing playfully like he did when I was a child.

“Hey Uncle Dave,” I replied, smiling in his embrace. “I’ve missed you too.”

As we broke apart, I looked towards the handsome stranger, content with holding myself back from gawking at him. Something about him felt so familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Oh, this is my good friend Keanu.” He looked toward the man, “This is my niece, y/n. My brothers daughter.”

Keanu smiled and nodded at me, holding out his hand and shaking mine.

“It’s so nice to meet you, y/n. You’re even more beautiful than I’d thought you’d be.” My eyes grew wide as we both realized what he’d said. Keanu suddenly became flustered, putting a hand behind his head. “Uh, I mean, your uncle said you were beautiful, but I never would’ve guessed this much.”

My face grew extremely red while I was trying to hold back a snort. What the hell was going on? Was I really making this grown man stumble on his own words?

Uncle Dave just stared at Keanu, unable to believe what had just happened.

Keanu just sighed and managed a polite smile. “You’re very lovely, is all I meant. And I’m very happy to finally meet you.”

I smiled back and nodded, “Yes, it’s very good to meet you too, Keanu.”

My uncle was about to speak when my dad came over. He dragged his brother away to talk to some other people, leaving Keanu and I alone together.

“So how did you and my uncle meet?” I asked, wanting to know more about him.

“Oh, Dave and I met when we were filming a movie of mine. We ended up spending a lot of time together on set and started spending even more time out of work.”

I nodded and smiled, remembering that my uncle was a writer and producer in Hollywood. Suddenly it clicked in my head, I knew this man. He was THE Keanu Reeves. I first met him on screen as Ted Logan, whom I had a crush on when I was younger.

He must’ve noticed my eyes growing slightly wider and recognized the moment of realization.

“I see that you know who I am now, correct?” He stated, breaking me away from my thoughts.

I looked up at him, feeling a deep blush burn across my face.

“Uh, yeah, you’re Keanu Reeves. I’m uh, I’m a big fan of yours.”

He laughed,

“Well I’m honored to hear you say that. It truly means a lot to me.”

I just nodded and found myself tucking a strand of loose hair behind my ears. Keanu noticed and moved closer to me, careful for block our conversation from everyone else.

“You’re very beautiful, y/n. I’m sorry if I caught you off guard just a second ago. I try my best to be so forward. I have no idea what was going on with me, I guess I kinda got nervous.”

He pulled away and looked around to make sure no one was paying much attention to us. Meanwhile, I was taken aback that someone like him would ever like someone like me. I mean, yeah I was pretty, usually on a good day, but I wasn’t anything like the women I knew he’d been around.

“Oh no, you’re completely fine. I’m just as stunned as you, trust me. I can’t believe that I’m here talking to you, let alone that you find me beautiful.”

“Why is that so heard to believe? You are beautiful.”

I kept blushing even harder, so much that I noticed Keanu face was beginning to grow redder as well.

“God, I sound like such a creep. I’m really sorry, y/n. I shouldn’t have started our conversation like that.”

I shook my head and stopped him, “It’s okay, I understand. I would’ve been the exact same way if I’d realized it was you at first.”

Keanu smiled and nodded in agreement, casually looking around for something to talk about.

Taking a sip of my wine from a plastic cup, I scanned my surroundings. I noticed that my parents and uncle were all preoccupied with the other guests, leaving no room for any unwanted attention. Then I suddenly felt a bit lightheaded, and I stumbled back a few inches. Keanu immediately grabbed my arm to keep me steady, then leaving it there once I locked eyes with him.

“Shit, I don’t know what just happened to me. Maybe I’m more of a lightweight then I thought.” I half-laughed, earning me a smirk from Keanu.

“Don’t worry, you’re still young and you’ve got plenty of time to get used to it.”

After giving him an amused smirk, I took another swing of my drink.

“You’re right, but I’m afraid if I try it all too fast then I might end up in the emergency room, or worse.”

With a sigh, I noticed my cup was finally empty, so I turned myself toward the house to get more. Something deep inside knew that I’d have to have even more alcohol to keep calm around Keanu.

“Hey, I think I’m gonna head inside for another drink, or maybe just sit down for a bit to get out of this heat.”

Keanu have me an understanding look, but I saw the slight disappointment in his eyes. I couldn’t believe that this man actually wanted to be around me.

“I mean, you can join me if you want. I just thought you’d want to meet the rest of my family or something.”

“Oh I don’t know, I don’t want to intrude or anything.”

I rolled my eyes and let out a soft snort.

“Oh don’t be ridiculous, Keanu. You’re the best company I’ve ever had at one of this things.”

He beamed at me and I looked around one last time, hoping everyone else was still preoccupied. I mean, I didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea - wait, why did I suddenly care what everyone thought of me? Was I really that afraid? I shrugged my thoughts off and gave Keanu my hand. He grabbed it without missing a beat, and I lead him to the back door.

Once we entered the house, I walked toward the fridge, opening it and grabbing myself a hard iced tea.

“Would you like anything?”

“Yeah, I’ll have a beer, y/n.”

Hearing him say my name made your insides melt; I had to fight to keep yourself on your feet. I found myself falling so hard for a man who had only met me maybe half and hour ago. Rolling my eyes at myself, I grabbed him a beer and walked over to the sofa.

“Here ya go, Keanu.”

I sat myself right next to him, our thighs touching. It made my nerves go all haywire, and I couldn’t control them anymore.

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

There was a pause after he spoke, his words lingering like fingertips on my chest. I wanted him to call me endearing names like that for the rest of my life.

Keanu broke my train of thought by clearing his throat, trying to ease the awkward tension in the room. So it wasn’t just me who felt this way. I looked up at him, our eyes meeting once again.

“Keanu, pl-please tell me it’s not just me.”

He stops himself from responding by pursing his lips. He looked as though he had all kinds of internal conflict to suddenly deal with. After a few seconds past, he looked towards his hands. Then he moved to grab mine, taking my by surprise. He brings my hands to his lips and feathers his lips against my skin, leaving soft, slight kisses. As much I was wanted this moment to last a lifetime, I couldn’t help but satisfy my eager self. I decided to pull my hand away and replace them with my own lips, crushing them against his at last. I could feel Keanu’s slight shock at first, and then he quickly turned back to his calm demeanor. Eventually we pulled away from each other to catch ourselves. All I could notice was his bright grin, practically radiating our surroundings.

“Woah.” I muttered, my breathing still slightly heavy.

“Yeah.” He replied, running a hand through his dark hair.

It was at that moment that I knew I wanted this man to fuck me into the morning light, and I wanted him to start as soon as possible. Keanu then gave me a quizzical look, practically begging to know what I was thinking. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and unlocked it, going to my contacts section and starting a new one.

“Put your number in my phone.”

He looked down at my phone and back at me, grabbing it and putting his name and number in.

“Okay, so I’ve got a plan to get you in my room without anyone noticing we’re gone for too long.”

Keanu’s eyes widened, his eyebrows raising dramatically. I smiled in response to his unspoken question, blushing once again at him.

“But, only if you want to, of course.”

“And what exactly do we want to do?”

I gulped, my mouth dry as I was suddenly at a loss for words.

“Hm?”

I leaned onto him, my lips hovering over his ear. I bit my lip before confessing my desire to him, for him.

“I want you in me. I want you to fuck me until I can’t walk.”

Keanu was left stunned by my request, but I could see the part of him that wanted me more than anything. He gulped and then let out a long, heavy breath.

“Are you sure this is what you want, y/n?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay, what’s the plan?”

“We go outside together, and then separate. I go find my parents and tell them that I don’t feel good and that I’m going to bed. Then when I’m ready, I’ll text you.”

“What do I say if someone asks where I’m going?”

“Just make something up, like you need to go to the bathroom, or you need to lay down. I don’t know.”

He gave me an unsure look, but I raised my fingers to his cheek and he nodded. We both got up from the couch and made our way to the back door. Once we were outside, I spotted my mom and made a beeline for her.

“Hey mom, I-“

“Oh, y/n! I was starting to worry about you. Now that you’re here we can start the fireworks!”

“Yeah, about that, uh...mom, I think I drank a bit too much and now I don’t feel so hot. I think it’s best if I just head in for the night.”

My mother gave me a slightly disappointed look, knowing how much I enjoyed the fireworks.

“Oh, well, I suppose you should. I’d hate for you to miss everything, though.”

“I’ll be fine mom. I’ve got plenty of years left.”

“Goodnight sweetheart. Don’t forget to take something to help you sleep.”

“I will mom. Love you.”

As soon as I was able to, I walked back to the house. I spotted Keanu with my uncle and dad, and all I could think was how he was gonna get away from them. Would they have any idea what we’d be doing? No, I can’t think like that. I need this. I need Pedro.

I reached my bedroom and saw that I had some clothes and cups scattered around. I quickly cleaned everything up and made sure to spray some air freshener around. I undressed and put on my sexiest pair of undies and bra, then redressing. I put out and lit some candles to soothe the tone of my surroundings, hoping that Keanu would like it. Lastly, I found the box of condoms that I kept in the back of my nightstand for whatever. I then noticed that they weren’t open. Of course. I’ve never been able to bring a guy home and actually sleep with him. Well, there’s a first for everything.

As soon as I was ready, I found Keanu’s contact and texted him.

* Hey, I’m ready for you ;)

I waited for a few minutes until he replied.

* Okay baby girl. I’m on my way now ;)

I let out a quiet shriek of excitement at the fact that he called my baby girl. This is finally happening! Suddenly there was a knock on my door.

“Come in.”

Keanu swiftly opened and shut the door before taking a long look at me. He licked his lips as he walked towards me sitting on the end of my bed. I shot up and wrapped my arms around him, the two of us just looking at each other. I broke his gaze and slammed my lips against his, my tongue immediately slipping into his mouth. He growled as he pushed us onto the bed, the feeling of his clothed dick against my leg driving me crazier. Once he started kissing on my neck, I began lifting his shirt up his torso, begging for him. He helped me remove it, giving me a chance to take in his beautiful body.

“I hope I haven’t disappointed you yet.”

“Oh, I can already tell that you won’t.”

We smiled at each other before I removed my own shirt and bra for him. Keanu smiled bigger and leaned back down to run his lips against my breast. His mouth began teasing at my left nipple while he used his hand to play with my right one. I let out my first moan of the night, attracting Keanu’s immediate attention. His head shot up, and I saw the lust in his dark eyes. I nodded to let him know that I truly wanted this, that I needed this. He grinned in response, returning his attention to my breast. Now taking my right nipple into his mouth, he used his hands to roam my sides. Every inch he touched had lit up like a dull burning flame. The heat was rising and spreading all over, but never enough the painfully burn me. It was a heat that I had only ever dreamt of feeling. I realized that it wasn’t the feeling of Keanu touching me that lit my fire; it was Keanu himself that lit my fire. He lit it and made me burn brighter then I could have ever thought possible. It was at this very moment that I began to understand how much this man truly meant to me.

“Are you alright, sweetheart?”

Keanu asked, pulling me out of my thoughts to notice him looked towards me. I hadn’t noticed that he stopped, or that I was breathing heavily and slightly shaking.

“Oh, yeah, sorry. I just got lost in my head for a bit.”

Damn it, I ruined the mood for him! Now he probably thinks I was so bored that I drifted off. Why am I always getting stuck in my thoughts? I mean, the only ever make things worse for me.

“I-you’re fine, Keanu. I promise.”

“Okay y/n, if you say so.”

He reached up from my torso to place a tender kiss on my forehead, then one on my lips. I could taste the beer from his mouth, further intoxicating me. I let out a soft plea for me and Keanu let out another growl, his teeth now grazing my bottom lip as he pulled away from the kiss to focus his mouth on my neck and collarbone. He started at the corner of my mouth and made his way down my neck. His warm, hot breath sending shivers down my spine. Once he had kissed my skin he began sucking and gently biting, making sure to leave just the slightest of marks. He wanted to make sure that only I could notice them tomorrow morning, after he was long gone. The thought alone made my heart melt with pure joy. Keanu had cared about me enough to leave his mark. He wanted me to know that he wanted me. Not just at this very moment, but even after. He wanted to make the best first impression he possibly could. I softly bucked my hips up against his, begging for some kind of friction from him. He let out a short chuckle, looking back at me and caressing my face in his hands.

“Don’t worry, baby girl. Daddy’s gonna take good care of you.”

My body let out a hum of delight, his words filling my heart and lower abdomen with butterflies. I can’t believe I had made this sweet man so dominant.

“Please daddy. I need you now.”

I begged with all of my heart and soul, wanting to let him know just how much I meant what I said. He needed to understand that I was clay in his hands, waiting to be molded and created.

After what seemed like hours of waiting, Keanu left my upper body and pulled off my shorts. He positioned himself to place kisses on my inner thigh, making sure to leave more marks on me. I knew he could see and feel the warmth pooling at my center, he knew how ready I was. Yet he continued to tease me like this. Asshole.

Just as I was about to say something, he looked up into my eyes as he began using his teeth to remove my panties. The sheer sight alone was almost enough to send me off. This is the kind of shit I thought only happened in romance novels or something. Surely no man was ever this willing to go through all this trouble to further turn a woman on. But here he was, giving his all to please little old me. I felt my mouth pull into a genuine smile, my cheeks burning at my complete vulnerability and nakedness before him.

Once he got to my knees, he used his fingers to remove the fabric. I lifted my legs to help, feeling slightly guilty that he was doing all the work. After my clothing was strewn out on floor, Keanu took another longing look at me, doing his best to remember every inch of me in this moment. I could tell that he never wanted to forget this, and I never wanted to either. He then let out a soft breath.

“You’re so beautiful, baby.”

He spoke as if he were in a trance, like the sight of my body enough to completely hypnotize him.

“I’m all yours, daddy.”

My words snapped Keanu out of his thoughts, his eyes darting to meet mine. He licked his lips and hovered down between my legs. I spread my legs to give him more access. He wasted no time and gingerly places his lips on my folds. The sudden warmth made my shiver, my sex quivering for him. I let out a sigh of relief, but there was still an enormous amount of frustration in my body. His tongue explored my insides while his beard had scratched against my skin, almost tickling me.

“I need you now, Keanu. Please. Please daddy.”

Keanu chuckled, the sound vibrating against me, tingling my bundle of nerves.

“Anything for you, baby girl.”

He then inserted two digits, spreading them apart to help adjust me for his length. He made sure to swirl his fingers around a bit, and then pump them in and out of me. I could hear my wetness through my groans, further turning me on.

Just as I was beginning to get used to his fingers, he pulled them out and put them in his mouth. The sight of him sucking my juices off of his own fingers was an absolute dream. This man kept on amazing me with his dedication to me. He lifted himself off the bed to remove his jeans and briefs. His cock sprung out of its restraints, almost completely erect already. In a swift movement, he grabbed the condom from the side of the bed and tore it open. All I could do was fixate on him rolling it onto himself. I found myself wanted to watch him pump himself, I wanted to see him finish himself.

“God you’re so fucking hot when you look at me like that, baby. It turns me on so fucking much.”

I smiled a shy grin, my cheeks flushing once again. Keanu bent down to give me a hungry kiss, his tongue now exploring my mouth. He pulled away and positioned himself to enter me. He pulled my body towards the end of the bed, my legs leaning of the end. His grip on my thighs tightened, pushing his cock to my entrance. With a rough inhale, he slowly slid into me, making sure I was alright.

“You can tell me if anything hurts, sweetheart. I’m more than willing to take my time.”

I looked up at him, shaking my head.

“No, Keanu, I’m fine. Really. You’re doing perfect, baby. So fucking perfect.”

He nodded and finally pushed himself all the way into me. He quickly pulled out, my slickness aiding him. Then he began to slide in and out, his tempo growing faster with every thrust. Before I could gather myself together, he started swirling his thumb on my clit. He was sending me further than I ever thought I could go. Without missing a beat, my body reacted to his thrusts and rubbing by releasing itself. I felt myself fucking squirting on him. As soon as he noticed, he let out a deep groan of delight.

“Oh fucking yes, baby. That’s it. Squirt all over daddy.”

I noticed my moans growing louder and louder with each movement he made. I was grabbing at my bedsheets, begging for release. The tension was building up in me faster than I could handle. I also began letting out high pitched moans, reminding myself of a porn star or something. It sounded so unrealistic to me, almost overdramatic. But here I was, putting no effort into these noises, all of them purely natural responses.

“Yes, yes, fuck fuck fuck.”

I muttered, almost forgetting how to speak through this euphoria.

“I’m so fucking close daddy!”

My lower abdomen had a feeling of tight coils being bunched together, tighter and tighter with every breath. I knew that I only had seconds before they would release.

“Yes baby girl, that’s it. Come for daddy.”

Keanu sped up his pace on my clit and thrusted harder, hitting my sweet spot. Within a few more thrusts, I felt it hit me. My climax had began and I was now riding off my own high. My eyes had slammed shut and tears were forming in them. I let out a squeal of absolute pleasure, my body almost convulsing from the amount of pure release. I managed to grab Keanu’s arms and began to squeeze, trying to find some sort of stability through my high. I was practically screaming for him at this point, not knowing what else to do. I’d only ever experienced a few climaxes this intense before, and they had all been a long while ago.

Keanu had begun his climax as soon as my walls tightened around him as I started mine. His cock twitched inside me, growing softer by the second. He let out a bundle of english and spanish curses, his grip on my hips tightening as much as mine on him. As soon as he was finished, he pulled out and removed his condom. He tied the end and tossed in it my trash bin by my nightstand. While he did so, I was still left in a daze, stuck staring up at my ceiling. It felt as though my life had been complete, for I had experienced the greatest high known to man. There was nothing else left that could ever compare to that feeling. I had reached the very top.

“You thinking again, honey?”

Keanu had put on his briefs and jeans, then his shirt. He’d gathered my clothes and placed them beside my on the bed.

“Yeah. Just thinking about nothing.”

He simply nodded and sat on my bed. I lifted myself up to put on my panties and went to my dresser to grab a t-shirt to sleep in. I found my oversized Nine Inch Nails shirt and slid it on, turning around to face Keanu. He took a look at my shirt and grinned.

“You’ve got a taste for men and music. You’re my dream girl.”

We both laughed as I laid myself on my bed. I covered myself with the duvet and reached out to touch Keanu’s lap.

“Are you gonna leave now?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so, though. You’re much more entertaining than anything outside, my dear.”

He slid himself under my covers, cuddling me in his arms, kissing me. I felt at home; I felt truly complete. A part of me knew that this is what I want for the rest of my life. Keanu was the key to my happiness. I would never be the same without him, and I needed to keep him forever. I internally shook my head at my own self. I’m turning into a fucking sap for this man. I knew that we would never work out, but my heart still ached for him.

I placed my hand on his cheek, my thumb caressing his face. His slight stubble creating a pleasing friction against my skin.

“So what exactly did you see in me?”

He look almost shocked at my question, completely caught off guard.

“What do you mean?”

“Why did you find me so attractive that you’re currently risking your life to sleep with me?”

He chuckled and shook his head, rubbing his thumb on my face as I did his.

“I just saw something different in you. The way you held yourself, the way you looked me in the eyes as we talked. You were completely sincere in every way, and you have this undeniable charm about you. You’re so intoxicating to me.”

My heart swelled at his words. Was I really like that? I mean, I try my best to be nice to everyone I meet, but I didn’t think I was so full of compassion. I never really thought that I was different in a good way, or that I even stood out to anyone. I felt tears growing in my eyes, slowly sliding down my face. Keanu suddenly looked concerned, worried that he’d said something wrong.

“I’m sorry, was that not what you wanted to hear? I-I mean-“

“No Keanu, it was more than what I could’ve ever expected. No ones ever said anything so kind about me. I don’t think anyone has ever given me much thought before.”

“Well then everyone else is a fucking idiot, sweetheart. You’re everything and then some, and only a fool would miss something as incredible as that.”

We pulled together and kissed once again, our hands wrapped around each other in a longing embrace. I pulled away and smiled at Keanu.

“Now when did you figure out that I had a thing for you? Or for older guys in general?”

I teased him, giving him a toothy grin. He lightly pushed me away while I burst out giggling.

“Sweetheart, I knew you had a thing for older men the minute we met. I saw how you looked at me before you even knew who I was. I saw the thirst in your eyes.”

I blinked at him, slightly embarrassed at my own self for being so easy to read like that.

“Was it really that obvious?”

“Definitely, and you know what?”

“What?”

Keanu paused, reaching towards me to tuck a stray piece of my hair behind my ear. Then he placed a soft kiss on my nose, his thumb gently caressing my cheek.

“I totally fucking loved it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: I took this from my Pedro fic and changed it up a little bit. I realized that I haven’t posted anything in over a YEAR and thought I should treat you all. Sorry it isn’t 100% original, but it IS mine. Hopefully I can get my shit together and continue the ships. I love you all so damn much! Thank you for continuing to like and reblog my posts. It reminds me how much you all enjoy my stuff, and it means a lot.

-M

#keanu reeves #keanu reeves fanfiction #keanu reeves imagines #keanu reeves one shot #keanu reeves imagine #daddy keanu #keanu reeves x reader

[bffsoobin]

Windflower

01|02|03|04|05|06

↳ after a heartbreak you find yourself in a small town looking for purpose. you find employment with Choi Soobin and his impressive ancestral home. when you start to fall in love again, there’s no way for you to predict what you find in the depths of the home and Soobin’s mind.

➤ hanahaki au, fluff, angst

Word Count:3,945

Warnings: swearing, mentions of an injury (nothing serious), I didn’t proof read (surprise!)

A/N: here’s the long awaited (by some) part 4 of Windflower! I’m getting really excited about this as we’re reaching somewhat of a turning point. I cannot wait to see your reactions to the twists in the coming chapters hehe. Anyway I hope you enjoy & leave feedback if you want to!

•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•☾☼☽•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:••:•.•

If you had thought the humidity the day you arrived in town was bad, you definitely were not ready for the sweltering heat that permeated the air today. You had awoken surprisingly early and found that the sun was shining in vibrant rays into your room. In your drowsy state you had enjoyed the heat, even curling deeper under your covers as your body surfaced back into reality. If you listened close enough, you could hear birds chirping outside through the closed windows and you briefly wondered if you should spend the whole day cuddled up with your pillow. The silk sheets could only shield you from the radiating heat for so long, though. Soon enough, the gentle heat that had caressed you awake settled into your skin and made you feel suffocated. Flinging your sheets off only gave you a bit of relief as you realized that there was almost no cool air in your room. Upon peeking outside, you noticed no evidence of the gentle summer breeze you had come to love. Every single plant in the yard stood still as the sun beat down on them. Sweat was beading on your forehead and the back of your neck in uncomfortable patches as you headed for the bathroom. Thankfully, the tiles were cold under your feet, and the small relief washed through your entire body.

You started the water for a cold shower, hoping to drive away the heat that the day had already provided as early as 8am. As small droplets of water splashed onto your skin, you couldn’t help but wonder if this was the kind of weather you should come to expect from the tiny town. You decided you’d have to ask Soobin once he got up. 

After the shower expelled the sweat off of your skin, you dressed and bounded down the steps toward the kitchen. At this point, you had been living and working with Soobin for several weeks. The two of you had a comfortable routine that included a healthy mix of time spent both together and alone. You rose before him almost every morning and took it upon yourself to make him an omelet after watering all of the houseplants littered around the living spaces. Many times he had insisted that there was no reason for you to make him breakfast; and this morning was no exception. Just as you finished watering an impressively sized aloe plant, Soobin had begun his grumbling.

“Y/N! How many times do I have to tell you that you have no obligation to make me breakfast every day?” His voice was still thick with sleep and upon examining him you noticed he still had some gunk in the corner of his eyes. The corners of your mouth twitched upwards at his helplessly soft nature.

“You can tell me every day, Soobin. I don’t care,” you pulled a bottle of orange juice from the fridge and poured both of you a glass, “it’s the least I can do. Plus, I know you love breakfast but you’d burn it all if you tried to do it yourself.” He grumbled at that through a mouthful of food but didn’t protest as he knew you were right. As Soobin sipped at his drink, he hummed thoughtfully as if he suddenly remembered something. 

“I think we need to water the flowers today. We aren’t supposed to get rain for a long time and it’s getting to be really hot. I don’t want any of them to die.” For some reason, the thought of manually caring for Soobin’s beloved garden put fear in your stomach. Of course you had done some work on the garden but nothing more than adding some mulch and chasing away the occasional bunny looking for a place to burrow. But caring for the house and garden was why you were here to begin with, so you nodded in agreement.

Soobin stood to his full height, stretching his arms above his body to work out all of the aches from his sleep. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t bring yourself to look away from the strip of smooth skin that became exposed in the process. You hoped he hadn’t noticed your staring or the light pink dusting on your cheeks as he passed by you to drop his dishes into the sink. With your mind whirling, you desperately tried to steer your thoughts away from the way they were running with the imagine of Soobin’s exposed stomach. 

“I’m going to go,” you coughed awkwardly when Soobin whirled around with his plate still in hand to make eye contact with you, “upstairs to change and then we can go out to work on the garden.” You took his moment of comprehension to haul yourself up the creaking maplewood staircase and into the safety of your room as your palms began to sweat. 

----

As soon as the two of you stepped onto the back porch you felt like you had walked into a brick wall. The heat was so oppressive that you felt physical weight on your shoulders as you groaned. Soobin bounded ahead of you as if he hadn’t even registered the unmovable force of heat encasing your whole being. You audibly gagged, earning a snorted laugh from Soobin as he made his way toward the sea of flowers. Their colors seemed to shine even brighter underneath the intense sunlight and you swore you could almost see some of them sparkling with an otherworldly quality. Upon further inspection you noticed just how dry the soil was and felt concern digging at your heart. Soobin seemed similarly worried as he stooped over a section of jasmine plants, cooing over a weed he had found in the ground alongside them. You shook your head at his antics and caught wind of him apologizing to the plant as you retrieved the hose coiled up alongside the house. 

For a while the two of you worked in a comfortable harmony. Soobin had put himself in charge of weeding while you were responsible for making sure the soil was thoroughly wet to avoid any damage to the coveted flowers. As far as jobs go, this one wasn’t half bad. Despite the massive area of the garden, the hose reached as far as you ever would need it to. After you finished watering a rather large patch of roses you could no longer resist the urge to stick your entire head underneath the hose. With all of the sun beating down you began to understand how Soobin had achieved his impeccable tan so early into the summer. 

“Soobin,” you whined his name to tear his attention away from the pesky weeds that had rooted themselves within his beloved garden. 

“Yeah?” his answer was punctuated by a grunt of exertion that you could only assume was his attempt at yanking out the weed. You grimaced at the knowledge that he wasn’t wearing any gardening gloves and worried for the sensitive skin of his palms.

“I’m too hot. It’s disgusting out here,” you pulled the fabric of your shirt away from your stomach before waving it back and forth to prove just how sweaty the combination of heat and manual labor had made you. Soobin said nothing for a second but you could hear the sound of roots ripping out of the ground before he finally replied. 

“I forget that you’re not from here,” he laughed as if the oppressive heat was something you should have expected the day you rode in on the winding road with your whole life packed in the back seat. “Why don’t you just go inside for a bit? I’ll be fine dealing with this alone for a while. Plus, I can’t afford to take you to the hospital if you pass out. And imagine how much damage you’d do to the flowers!” He gasped as if absolutely scandalized at the idea of your body crashing into the delicate fauna. 

You grumbled under your breath, making sure to turn away so there was no chance he could see the quirking corners of your mouth. “Fine,” you sighed, equally as dramatic as he had just been, “I’ll stay inside and watch you from the living room like a widow.” 

Upon entering the house, you knew something was off. Your eyebrows scrunched in confusion as you stood just inside of the closed doorway. Why the fuck was it just as hot inside as it was outside? Heat still crawled over every inch of your body, making strands of hair stick disgustingly to the back of your neck. You wandered through the living room, kitchen and library in the hope that the heat you felt upon entering was just due to your location. Unfortunately, every section of the grand home was equally as steamy as the direct sunshine outside. The dream of taking a break in the wonderful air conditioning was crushed. 

Stomping like a toddler, you made your way back down to the garden. Soobin had taken over your watering job and he seemed shocked to see you back so early. His shirt showed small hints of sweat building on his lower back and around the collar, but it was nothing compared to the absolute mess you had become. If it wasn’t for how much you liked him, you would have been annoyed at his tolerance. 

“Back already? Did you miss me that much, bub?” Your heart stuttered at the use of your occasional nickname. 

“No. You give yourself too much credit. The AC is broken,” the steady stream of water sprouting from the hose ceased as Soobin loosened his grip on the handle. 

“The house AC?” He asked dumbly, blinking at you in disbelief. His lips were parted wide as you rolled your eyes. 

“No, the AC for the shower. Yes, the house AC!” Knowing you had no easy escape from the heat made your nerves fray even more. 

“Oh. Well,” he turns the hose back on, “I can call the mechanic.” You stared at him blankly for a while before he felt your burning gaze. 

“What?” Rounded eyes opened even wider than you thought were possible as he stared you down. 

“It’s Sunday. What are we going to do until the mechanic gets here tomorrow?” The point makes his eyebrows scrunch together as the hose clicks off again. It hangs loosely in his hand for a few moments before he springs back into action. 

“Okay, you’re right. I’ll go into town and see if I can find one of those portable ones? That way we can at least keep one room cooler.” He nodded to himself as if he were speaking to his reflection and handed you the hose. Cold water dripped from his fingertips onto your arm and you shivered at the feeling. You chose to believe the water was the only reason for your reaction. Soobin ran into the house, lean body disappearing for a few seconds before he reemerged with his car keys. He said his goodbyes and left to find a solution for your personal hell. 

For a bit, you went back to watering the flowers. And then you turned the hose on yourself and let the frigid water run down your back. Although it was a shock to your system, you knew it was the only way you could keep yourself from actually melting into a gummy pile before Soobin got back. The idea of simply staying outside until he came back bounced around your mind until an even better one cropped up. Maybe you could fix the AC on your own! That way you wouldn’t have to deal with the hassle of waiting for a mechanic. You were sure that you could locate the unit and find a tutorial to fix the thing. Maybe a special switch just needed flipped. With renewed vigor you shuffled back into the house, making a strategic pit stop at the kitchen to fill a metal water bottle with ice cold water. Your clothing dripped loudly against the wooden floors but you ignored it. You figured it was so hot that the water would probably evaporate immediately.

Although you had a clear mission in mind you had to admit that you were totally unsure of where the AC unit would be. Soobin had never pointed it out to you and the stately home boasted so many doors that you weren’t sure you would have remembered if he showed you anyway. You wandered into the laundry room, wondering if you had missed something on the walls. When you had no success there, you moved on to opening almost every dark wooded sleek door you could find. By some kind of miracle, your body had finally adjusted to the pressing heat as you searched. Despite that, you could still feel sweat beading on your forehead as you rooted through a storage room in the hopes of finding something that you assumed would be the AC. 

Eventually, you had exhausted the entire first floor. Every heavy door only lead you to disappointment and some mild confusion over why the old home had so many unused rooms. Perhaps the house got much more use in the old days when the large family painted on the canvas just to the left of Soobin’s room was still alive. The thought of the haunting oil painting encouraged you to make the walk up the steps. Your legs felt heavy from the exhaustion that heat and your search had made settle into your bones. 

A heavy sigh left your parted lips as you finally rounded the corner of the staircase and were faced with the familiar upper landing. You skipped past yours and Soobin’s room immediately. The AC unit was obviously not residing in your room, and while you had never fully been inside of Soobin’s room, you doubted that the house was designed that oddly. Three more identical doors stood further down the hallway. Weeks ago when you had taken your initial tour of the home, Soobin had glossed right over them in favor of showing off your new home for the summer. 

Something about his easy dismissal of the rooms unsettled you. You trusted Soobin, but there was no way to ignore the disparity between the way he had so eagerly toured you through the house against the way he barely even acknowledged these doors. You’re being ridiculous, you thought. What could Soobin possibly be hiding behind these three non descript doors? Shaking off the unsettling knot in your stomach you pushed the door closest to your room open. It creaked loudly from disuse and you cringed as you felt along the wall for a lightswitch. When you finally found one, a light crackled on in the center of the room and shone a brilliant vibrance all around. It was so intense that you had to squint your eyes until they no longer hurt. The room was oddly clean compared to the rooms you scoured downstairs. There was no layer of dust that you would have expected and a faint scent of lemon cleaner permeated the air. Innocuous dressers and bookshelves were pushed up against all of the walls. None of them quite matched but you recalled in the back of your mind that Soobin’s cousin was an interior designer; which would explain the disconnection of styles. This must have been the place he stored old projects and pieces he shuffled through the home. 

Feeling a bit more at ease, you continued to look around for any hint of the unit you were hunting for. Circling the round table serving as a centerpiece of the room changed your perspective and you caught a glimpse of something peaking out from behind what seemed to be a bunch of heavy furniture. The edge you could see looked promisingly similar to the AC unit that had been within your home growing up. With renewed vigor you began to push at a small dresser that felt much heavier than it looked. A grunt of exertion slipped from your lips as you finally pushed the furniture over far enough to get to the table located behind it. While it was much easier to move, it was also much louder than the dresser had been. The legs screeched against the floors and you shrieked in concern at the idea of the probably original hardwood being scratched in the midst of your desperation for cool air. As you crouched down to examine the floor, you heard stomping footsteps enter the room behind you. 

Reflexively you jumped back at the sound and subsequently bounced your head off of the underside of the table. 

“Ouch, fuck!” you clutched at the back of your head as you bit into your tongue to try and manage the throbbing pain. Your vision was blurry but you could vaguely make out Soobin’s figure and his distinct scent as he crouched down beside you. Gentle hands grasped at you, one cupping your head and the other resting firmly on your forearm as he ushered you out from under the table. Your head was still spinning; the combination of heat and pain making you feel sick to your stomach as Soobin guided you all the way out of the room. 

“What were you doing?” Soobin’s voice was assertive and laced with a concern you hadn’t quite expected. 

“I was-” you cut yourself off with a whine as a flash of pain shot behind your eyes and felt large hands grab at you once again. The next time you opened your eyes was when you felt the silky texture of your bedsheets underneath your knees. While Soobin rushed away from the bed, you fought to open your eyes as you grasped at the flesh of your knees to ground yourself. Although your vision was less shaky, there was no denying the extreme headache that originated from the back of your head. 

“Here,” you saw Soobin’s form coming your way before he pushed a cold washcloth onto your forehead. Although that wasn’t the origin of your pain, the cool sensation helped the throbbing in your mind calm down. Soobin shuffled nervously between his feet as he waited for some kind of sign that you were alright. Eventually, you were able to actually focus on the way his eyes were crinkled with concern, lips downturned in a serious frown that you hadn’t even seen him wear when he found he was overwatering his ivy plant. The persistent sunlight of the summer day shone in through your windows and casted him in a glow that made him look as if he had just descended from Heaven to check on you. Golden strips of light casted over his t-shirt in such a way that you were almost envious of the way the rays were able to wrap around his body. 

And then you remembered it was the same damn sun that got you into this mess. 

“I was trying to find the AC unit,” your voice was gravely and quiet but Soobin still heard you. 

“What were you thinking? You can’t just wander around the house like that! You could’ve-” he waved his hands toward where you pressed the washcloth to your forehead, “well you did! You got hurt! There’s a reason I didn’t bother to tell you what was in that room. There’s no reason for you to be poking around like that in a house that isn’t yours!” 

The corners of your eyes burned with unshed tears as you registered the raw emotion in his tone. Although some of his words made you feel like a child being berated, you understood where he was coming from. You could easily recognize the genuine concern for your wellbeing. 

“I’m sorry, Soobin,” he plopped down on the bed next to you, “you’re right. This isn’t my house. It’s my fault that I got hurt, really. I was just trying to help with the AC issue and I couldn’t find the unit anywhere else so I started looking in rooms I’d never been in before,” you stole a quick glance his way only to see his intense gaze locked onto your form. “Please don’t feel bad about me getting hurt. And I’m sorry about the room, I can help you move all the furniture back!” Something deep inside of you felt the need to do as much as you can to make up for the hurt you seem to have caused Soobin. He grinned at you softly before reaching up and encircling your wrist with his slender fingers. The feeling of his fingertips grazing the soft skin of your wrist made your insides ignite in a nervous fire. Gently, he coaxed your hand away from your forehead and you instinctively dropped the now room temperature washcloth into your lap. It landed with a wet plop but you didn’t have time to pay it any mind as Soobin slowly laced his fingers right between yours. 

He gave you all the time in the world to pull away from his touch but instead you just stared dumbly at your hand while he finally latched onto you fully. Your breath hitched violently in your throat at the warm contact and you were sure Soobin had heard it. For a second you worried that he would pull away or make fun of you for your reactions but he simply gave your hand a short squeeze. 

“It’s okay, don’t worry about the room,” his voice was so smooth and quiet that you could almost fall asleep right there. An instinct you didn’t know you had caused you to lean closer into his side. “Just don’t go in there again, okay? I mean it. There’s nothing worth looking at in there,” his voice hardened unexpectedly and you couldn’t help but laugh at him a bit. 

“Okay, okay! I’ll stay away, but you do know that I just bumped into the table, right? It didn’t hurt me on purpose.” The teasing seemed to lift a small weight from his shoulders as he visibly brightened. There was no way you could miss the firm weight of his hand pressing further into yours as he leaned into your side the same way you were on him. Using his free hand, he tentatively cupped the back of your head where you had originally hurt yourself. The pain had begun to subside, but a new type of anxiety ran through your body as you noticed just how close your faces had become. You could nearly count every single eyelash framing his rich brown eyes. 

“Please,” his warm breath fanned over your already clammy skin, “don’t ever go in that room again. I’m already beside myself that you got hurt and it’s not even a bad injury. If you do anything for me, at least do this.” 

“Of course, Soobin.” You finally mustered the courage to return one of his reassuring squeezes; causing his dimples pop out from the smooth plains of his cheeks. Your heart stuttered in your chest before a dull, persistent pain permeated through it. You swallowed it down, successfully tricking Soobin into thinking you were fine as he rattled on about the fans and portable AC units he managed to buy at the local hardware store. 

The inside of your mouth went dry. You hoped that you were horribly off base, but you knew that ache. You’d felt it before. A part of you wanted to ignore the obvious and pretend that you were simply overreacting to a pulled muscle. Unfortunately, a larger, more rational part of you knew exactly what the feeling was. You were growing flowers. Again.

#txtwritersnetwork #thesoobinnetwork #soobin #soobin x reader #soobin imagine #soobin imagines #soobin fanfic #soobin fic #soobin reactions #soobin scenario #soobin scenarios #txt #txt fic #txt fanfic #txt x reader #txt imagine #txt imagines #txt scenario #txt scenarios #txt reaction #txt reactions #soobin au #txt au #tomorrow x together #tomorrow x together fic #tomorrow x together fanfic #tomorrow x together imagine #tomorrow x together imagines #tomorrow x together reaction #tomorrow x together reactions

[daiseukiis]

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 ┊ 02 ┊ 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐬 ┊ 04

⠀

⠀⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀"HERE, IT'S FROM YOUR SISTER." mizuki reaches out to gojo who passes by the hallway of the dorms. she was in her normal clothing, her off day. a dark blue sweater engulfs her body along with the black jeans and hair that was tied in a mess with a single clip. she took a few steps to catch up the male that walked pass her room.

"huh? what is it." gojo turns to face her, taking in her homey look before inspecting the white paper bag in her hands. mizuki brings it out for the sorcerer to grab as she straightens up her posture.

"she's doing well, she talked a lot about you when i visited." she explains and exhales softly, catching her breath after having a hectic schedule.

"my giri no ani and nephew?" gojo takes the bag and looks through the contents which his sister had brought him from overseas.

"he's still capable of protecting them and safe delivery to onee-san." she puts her hand on her hip, a defeated smile to see how after all these years there was still that small distrust he felt towards his in-law. 'what an overgrown protective goof.'

"snacks, photos and... a letter?" he grabs out the small white envelope for both of them to see.

"letter?" mizuki repeats after him and watches as he opens up the envelope to read what was written inside. seeing that her job to deliver the presents that his sister had bought for him, her presence there was no longer needed. it's not as if he also would share what was the contents in the letter either, so mizuki went to take her leave.

"alright, your turn." gojo hums.

"what?" mizuki snaps back, turning her head to face him after her hand just reached her doorknob. gojo walks towards the short figure, "where's my souvenir?"

"what?" she asks once again, she had to know that he was messing around because, well, this is gojo we're talking about. her face scrunched up her nose, filling her expression with confusion and mild taste of shock when he didn't respond in the next seconds that he was joking.

"you heard me, mizuki fuyusame." gojo stands tall in front of her figure, to the point mizuki had to stretch her neck more than usual to see his blindfolded face. he let's out a small chuckle as he watches her expression transition into a scowl.

'ugh, i hate being called by my full name.' it wasn't something gojo would do often, but he did have a knack for annoying the other sensei of their school. "what makes you think i bought anything for you?"

"our precious yukihana told me so." he takes a step back, smirking mischievously as he watches mizuki's face start to slowly pale as dust of pink appear on her cheeks. "then again, you never give them to me and just keep them stuffed in your closet."

'that's why all the souvenirs i buy disappear. it was mari's doing.' mizuki's palm lands on her forehead, causing strands of her hair to fall on to her face. she really needed to fix her appearance right now, but dismissed that fact. groaning, she looks straight at gojo with full confidence.

"i didn't buy you anything, now leave me alone." clasping her hand onto her hair clip, she releases her silky brown locks so it would fall down her waist, stuffing the clamp into her hoodie's pocket. mizuki's wrist turns to open her door and leave, that was until gojo catches her attention.

"are you sure about that? what's this then." he holds up a light beige button up shirt in front of her, making her turn to look back at him. eyes went wide the moment it fell on the article, reaching out for the shirt only for him to bring it higher to a point which she couldn't reach.

"that's for me!" mizuki tries to jump up for the shirt, it was still too high for her to reach. 'stupid tall bastard!'

"mens size?" he hums out. mizuki who had given up trying to take back the shirt took a step back, crossing her arms and staring at the blindfolded man, "clothes have no gender. what does it being in the mens section have anything to do with what i wear?"

"how about wearing my shirts next then?" he took a step closer to mizuki as he plants a hand beside her head, trapping her between the suddenly closed door and his body. the smirk on his face was once more teasing the female, one which she quickly mirrored back.

"the same one you're wearing that's going to have a hole in it?" mizuki's hand gently laid atop gojo's chest, above his heart as she inches her face closer to his. her lips even centimeters away from touching his, tension built up.

"my pleasure, but let me kill you first."

"you never cease to give me chills."

⠀⠀⠀⠀"as much as i would love to stay and watch your teamwork flourish, i got some business to attend to." gojo grins and waves his hand to his four students who stare at him.

their mission was around the outskirts of shizuoka prefecture, many said that there were paranoia activity happening in the abandoned school building just right behind them. this was the mission mizuki had mentioned that day before.

"fuck off, you just didn't wanna be here for this mission." kiyara quickly swears at her sensei, eyes and lips flat as she knew this was just some sort of facade for the said man so he could go sugar hunting. if anything, she was confused exactly how he didn't develope diabetes yet with his sweet tooth.

"bingo! but you're all more than capable of clearing a grade two mission." gojo gives them a thumbs up along with his grin to brighten up their gloomy atmosphere.

to say the least the weather was completely terrible. rain clouds were approaching to the point it looked like even a storm was brewing, despite the fact it was morning. they were going to kill off curses in a shady abandoned school, to top it off, their sensei was irresponsible and decided he would leave his students up to the task as he goes to buy souvenirs while they could possibly die.

all was so dandy for him.

"i'm going to seriously punch you." fushiguro declares.

"anyways, i'll be back to pick you four up." turning on his heels he waves out to them.

"we got this. just go do whatever the hell you want and by the time you get back here, we'll already be out eating ramen." kiyara mirrors his actions, walking past her colleagues and towards the building.

"oh? is that some sort of encouragement for your classmates?" gojo glances behind him, looking to see any sort of reaction from her or even the rest of his students.

"no," stopping a few steps from her three classmates, she turns her head back to lock eye contact with her sensei ( or so she hoped she did ) and sends a smile. "just a fact."

'wow, she's either really confident or really stupid.' kugisaki furrows her brows at kiyara, she knew her opinion on her was a questionable one. but then again, maybe this was how all tokyo girls acted. she never really could put a certain thought on her.

"let's go." fushiguro was the first to follow her lead, the two catching up to them as they entered the building.

"this is one creepy school." kiyara states as she inspects the dark halls. her eyes look around to see if there were any curses that were lingering, while fushiguro's divine dogs continue to sniff them out.

"it's abandoned for a reason." fushiguro comments back at kiyara who lets a nervous giggle out.

"so, what was up with this place again?" itadori watches as shivers run down his spine, witnessing kiyara throw a dagger straight into fourth grade curse head without blinking an eye. both him and kugisaki give each other glances, this was different than the kiyara they first met.

"missing teens that would dare each other to come, appearently screams at night and moving shadows. the basics." picking up the cursed dagger on the wall after disposing of the curse, she slid it back by her right thigh.

"there's not a lot of curses here." kugisaki looks throughout the place, she too, threw a nail and slammed it with her hammer to exorcise a low grade curse.

"isn't this is a grade two mission?" itadori ponders and stares through ruined classroom windows, desks were broken and was completely dusted. 'probably been over fifteen years since someone last used this place...'

"it's in the gym." their advances came to a stop, fushiguro's divine dogs growling and barking at the door sealed with chains in front of them. itadori was the first to react, walking forwards and effortlessly kicking the metal door with ease. both doors fly across the gym auditorium causing dust to fly around the dimly lit room.

"what the hell does he eat?!" kiyara's mouth drops, kugisaki standing behind her also adds on, "right?! that isn't normal! it's freakishly weird! to top it off he chomped down sukuna fingers!"

"it was only backed up with aluminum metal and it's just old." itadori turns around and gives them a blank look, blinking as he scratches the nape of his neck.

"like hell that changes anything!" they scream.

"help me! please!" their eyes dart to a high school girl, one that seemed to be older than them. even in the dark, they can see the tint of blue that coloured her hair. a curse was holding her by the neck while their nail was stabbing through her waist.

"it has a hostage!" fushiguro screams out as all four of them run in only to be greeted with multiple lower grade curses.

"the gym's infested!" kugisaki brings out more of her nails, itadori grabbing hold of his slaughter demon as kiyara takes out her daggers.

"yuji, you're with me!" kiyara grabs hold of the pinkett's foresleeve and makes him dash with her towards the hostage.

"wait!ー huh? why are they suddenly fighting each other?" itadori stares at the scenes where a few curses had start to fight and destroy each other, confusing him. "is this your jujutsushiki?"

"faded." kiyara and itadori quickly split when a curse separates them, but suddenly it got confused when they 'disappeared' from it's sight. in complete sync the teenagers cut each arm off from both sides and sliced it in half before continuing.

"it let's me to make illusions and change my presence." she threw her daggers at the head of curse causing it to fly back, as itadori did the finishing touches by slicing it by the fingers and thrusting his weapon right through.

"that's pretty cool!" he grins and catches the hostage that fell into his arms, she instinctively wrapped her limbs around his body as itadori carried her bridal style.

"thank you so much... i was so scared." the girl hugs on to itadori, tears seeping through her deep forest hues as he crouches down on the floor, setting her to the ground. "you'll be fine now, onee-san."

'wait, this seems too easy...' kiyara picks up her daggers which were indented on the floor of the gym, throwing it once more for a curse to fade away. she felt something wrong with the scenery, like something was missing from the big picture.

'something's off.' she wasn't the only one that felt different about this mission, kugisaki and fushiguro were unsettled about the amount of low grade curses which grouped together.

'my shikigamo are still picking up curses, but where?' fushiguro watches as his one dog chewed the remaining corpse of a curse, the other growling in attack mode. he raises his brow, looking towards the direction it was barking at.

his eyes fell on itadori, kiyara and the girl they saved. he saw the tears which fell to the floor which glistened through the gloomy room. but from closer inspection, something moved around them, chains started to move.

"shit! she's a cursed spirit!" fushiguro screams to their direction as his heart starts to pound, no, no. eyes widen when his connected with kiyara's amethyst hues that were only filled with late realization. he tries to run to them, hand out to try and grasp her body.

"smart cookie, aren't ya?"

tags ; @to-move-on-means-to-grow @dearsukuna @sukun4s @inumakiful

notes ; these are probs gonna be all qued bc im lazy

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

DO NOT REPOST 、 MODIFY 、 CLAIM WORK OR LAYOUT AS YOURS.

© MGUQIIS 、 2021

#© mguqiis #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #WINTER FLOWER SERIES #fushiguro megumi #sukuna #itadori yuji #ryoumen sukuna #nobara kugisaki #jjk fushiguro #jjk inumaki #jjk drabble #anime #geto suguru #gojo satoru #jjk maki #mahito #nanami kento #jjk gojo #okkotsu yuuta #jjk oneshot #jujutsu kaisen oneshot #jujutsu kaisen drabble #jujutsu kaisen hcs #nanami #kamo noritoshi #miwa #choso #WINTER FLOWER

[strawberriestyles]

Chapter 8

(Banner made by sweet sunshine @harry-nofookingway-styles​)

Harry X OFC (AU)

Sequel to Brutality: In which Melody and Harry must relearn how to navigate one another among a flurry of changes.

Read previous parts here.

Author’s note: Here is a post containing links to a bunch of petitions. Please take some time out of your day to do some good. Also let me know what you think about the story if you have a chance. ;)

Bea was watching Harry trace the edges of the picture frame in his hand, his eyes unfocused, his jaw set. She leaned against the open door and sighed.

“So,” she said, “we gonna do this or what?”

“Or what.”

“Harry—full offense—you look like a toddler came at you with a pair of safety scissors.”

He set the photo off to the side. “Well, I don’ like my hair short.”

“Trust me, anything would be better than how it currently looks.”

Harry rubbed at his eyes, glanced out the window, where the sun was at its peak, and then finally gave in. “Fine. How d’yeh know what yeh’re doin’?”

“It’s hard to find stylists that can work with black hair. Outside of the city, at least. I’ve been cutting my mom’s since I was eight.”

Somehow, that dulled Harry’s nerves. He nodded. Bea took that as her cue to come and help him up. She stepped through the doorway and squatted down to slip an arm around his waist, supporting him as he attempted to shift onto his feet. They shuffled out into the dining room together and Bea sat him down in one of the chairs that she pulled out from the table.

“Let me just grab my shears.”

Harry was bitter as Bea slipped into her bedroom. Melody, he felt, was trying to push him. She had to be. She was coddling him and she’d stolen his job and she thought that he was going to be supportive of her desire to step into a ring. He remembered the bruise that had painted her cheek after her run-in with those cops last winter. He remembered how tender it had been and the way she had teared up whenever anything pressed against it. And he remembered the way her face had looked all swollen when she’d appeared at his first therapy session with Aiden. This was not a life for her. She was strong and confident and tenacious, but she was not a born fighter, and he would not pretend that he was proud of her for volunteering herself as a punching bag.

And now Melody had left him alone with Bea and a pair of scissors that looked sharp as carving knives when she reentered the room.

“We could do it really short, you know. Buzzcut style. Clean,” Bea suggested as she rounded Harry’s chair and set a tote bag of her things down on the table. “I have an electric razor. Or maybe I could—”

“Just as short as it needs to be, okay? Nothin’ fancy, Bea. Seriously.”

Bea thought that was the very first time he’d ever referred to her by name. Progress. She dug a large spray bottle out of her supplies and began soaking Harry’s hair. He stiffened as water collected along his neck and sat up straighter as she began to drag a brush through the locks. Her hand stilled as she approached the left side of his head.

“Does, uh— Can you feel where the bullet—”

“No,” Harry answered before she could finish. “’S fine.” His voice was gruff.

Bea heard him, but she still only skimmed his scalp as she untangled the shorter curls. Water dripped from the ends and darkened the collar of his t-shirt.

Harry watched as Bea traded the hairbrush for a fine-toothed comb, and when she picked up the scissors with her other hand, they seemed to glint in the sunlight that filtered through the living room window, ominous. An even more frightening snip sounded, and inches of Harry’s hair drifted down his shoulder, settling over his chest. He glanced at the loose strands and then lifted a hand to press his fingers over his eyelids.

Bea laughed. “You’re so dramatic.”

Harry only grunted. She sheared off the rest of the hair that reached his shoulders and then began to comb sections out from his head, sliding them between her fingers and snipping off the ends. Harry’s muscles looked stiff beneath his shirt.

“What are you and Melody arguing about?” she asked after a few minutes of silence, when his hair was falling to the ground in a wide circle around his chair. He looked better with every cut.

“Nothin’.”

“Oh, come on. I have a pair of scissors in my hand and your hair in the other. Tell me.”

It took a substantial amount of control for him not to jerk himself out of the chair. But he remained still. “She wants me to come to her match.”

“And you won’t?”

A few loose strands of hair stuck to the collar of Harry’s shirt and tickled uncomfortably at the back of his neck. “No, I fuckin’ won’.”

“Well, I don’t think that’s it’s very fair for you to just dismiss her without even checking out—”

“‘M not goin’ to her match,” Harry ground out. “Tonight or ever. ‘M not gonna just stand there and watch her take hits from the sideline."

Bea sighed. She dropped the chunk of hair that she’d been holding and began to comb backward from the front of his head, rougher than necessary, he was sure.

“Look, Harry,” Bea began, “it’s not ideal. You think I’m happy about it? I told her to turn and run as soon as I found out about you.” She paused to collect herself, to brace for impact, then snipped off some damaged ends when Harry didn’t react to her words. “Sorry. But she didn’t, and now here we are. She’s just trying to make things work the same way you were. And she’s damn good, too, by the way.”

Harry’s head was feeling lighter by the second, and he didn’t like that feeling one bit. “Just drop it, please.”

“No, I think that you should go and see her fight, even if it’s just one time—”

“I said, drop it,” he snapped.

Bea glared into the back of his head—he could feel it—and cut more viciously than before. That was even worse than the glaring. His shoulders tightened even further, but it was only another few moments before she tossed her scissors onto the dining table with a loud clatter.

“There, I’m done,” she announced.

“A mirror?” Harry asked. He felt jittery.

“In the tote.”

She stood beside him, her arms crossed, as he pulled the bag toward himself and dug out a dirty mirror. A reflection stared back at him, but he didn’t recognize it.

“Tha’s shorter than yeh had to fuckin’ cut it.”

“Yeah, I took some liberty,” Bea agreed. She sounded smug and he’d never felt so much anger toward a single woman. “But it looks better than it would’ve otherwise, I’m telling you. You would’ve ended up with a bowl cut, Harry. Now, you look handsome.”

It was like she’d defused a bomb. His anger dissipated, but he still stared at himself like he was trying to learn his own features. His hair hadn’t been this short since the fourth grade. The sides were tighter, straight and clean, but the top still held some curl. He felt like a boy, like the boy that his mother had pruned him to be before she’d fallen sick. And he sort of hated it, but there was also something cathartic about it. He lifted a hand to run his fingers through his hair; it scratched at his palm toward the back of his head, and his hand was left empty far too soon, and this was all too uncomfortable.

“So.” Bea slid into one of the other chairs and folded her hands together atop the table. “Is it really true that you don’t remember anything from your coma? Or were you just lying so Melody didn’t know you heard all the shit she talked about you?”

Harry narrowed his eyes and was about to open his mouth when Bea laughed. “I’m just kidding, obviously. She’s in love with you."

Harry swallowed back his unspoken words. “Did yeh know yeh talk too much?”

“I’ve been told.” She pulled on one of her tightly wound curls until it bounced back into place. “And I’m not offended, if that’s what you were trying to do.”

“’S not.”

“Good.”

Harry set the mirror down. He didn’t want to look at his strange reflection anymore. Bea stared at him and he shifted uncomfortably.

“You confuse me.”

“What?”

“Well, Melody loves you, and I can’t tell if you love her, which pisses me off. I thought at one point that you just loved yourself but that’s not true, either—”

“I do love myself—”

“No, you don’t.”

Melody chose that moment of relief to stomp up the stairs, when Harry was considering throwing himself onto the floor to escape Bea.

“Woah.”

Harry and Bea watched as Melody froze in the doorway. She had a single paper bag of groceries that seemed only to be about half full and she clutched it loosely against her hip as she stared, lips parted, at Harry. He wanted a hat. He had never wanted a hat so bad. A fucking sombrero, anything.

“You look…woah.”

“Thanks?”

Melody stumbled into the apartment and shut the door with her foot. She dropped her groceries on the countertop as she moved toward Harry, her eyes glued to his hair. Her hands slipped over the top of his head before he had a chance to prepare himself, and he tipped back with the force of her touch.

“You’re welcome,” Bea said. She gathered up her supplies from the table and retreated to her room. “Would you vacuum up that hair?” she called as she left.

“Yeh like it?” Harry felt her hands fall to the sides of his head, where his hair was shorter and rougher, where his scalp felt unfamiliarly cool. Her fingers burned.

“Yes.”

He grunted. “Well, don’ get used to it. ’S not your—”

“No, I miss the length,” she corrected him. “I do like this. It’s different. But it’s not you.”

“Hmm.” Harry let her run her fingers through his curls once more before she stepped away from him and began putting away the few things she'd bought.

“Uh, Josie’s gonna be here,” she said.

“What?”

“Bea’s coming to watch me and I don’t wanna just leave you alone—”

“I don’ need a babysitter, Melody.”

God, did she hate hearing her full name on his lips. It was like a weapon he wielded. She watched him reach to yank on the ends of his hair before realizing those ends were no longer there.

“I know you don’t, Harry. Just if you have to go to—”

“What about Sean? He—”

“Harry,” she pressed. “He’s my cornerman.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, fuck you too.”

Melody glared at Harry and he narrowed his eyes at her. After a moment, she folded up the empty paper bag and tucked it into the recycling. Then she hurried into her bedroom and shut the door behind her.

Harry was beginning to regret his attitude as he sat alone at the dining room table. But Melody reemerged only a few moments later with a sports bag slung over her shoulder and a beanie pulled low over her forehead. She started toward the door, fury evident on her face, but paused halfway through the kitchen.

“Harry,” she began, swiveling around just enough to see him from the corner of her eye, “I love you. Please be nice to Josie.” He didn’t say anything in response. “Bea, I’m leaving!” she called out. She gave Harry one more meaningful look and then left.

“You know,” Bea said, startling Harry, who was still listening to Melody stomp down the stairs to the door of the building, “if you’re not nice to her, I could always smother you with a pillow while you’re sleeping.”

“Josie? Or Melody?”

Bea propped herself against the doorframe and shrugged. “I meant Melody, but let’s say both.”

***

“Sometimes, I could just—” Melody made a vicious gesture with her hands and then smacked her wrapped knuckles together, hard. “He’s fucking infuriating.”

“Yeah, that’s his default,” agreed Sean.

Melody yelled unintelligibly, because the only other thing she could think to do was hit Sean, and Sean didn’t deserve that. Not without a couple layers of padded protection.

“I sympathize completely,” he said with a quick chuckle. “Let’s see that same anger in the ring, okay?”

She grunted.

“Focus, Melody. Harry’s not here right now, but there’s gonna be a girl ready to slip into your blind spots. Don’t let her. Focus.”

Melody closed her eyes. She pictured Stella Klatt, the boxer she’d be fighting, her thick arms and tough core and quick swings, but her slow balance. Sean slipped Melody’s gloves onto her hands as she planned steps and imagined slipping through Klatt’s defenses. Over the past few months, it had become easier and easier to think her way through an entire match, to predict her opponents’ moves. Sometimes, she even dreamed about a fight.

“Wrap it up fast, take as few hits as possible. Then you can show Harry that you know what you’re doing, okay?”

“I could knock her out with one hit and I don’t think he’d care, Sean.”

“Fine. Then fight to make me proud of you.”

Melody opened her eyes and fought to keep a smile at bay. Sean held her with a level gaze and nodded. “I have a lot of faith in you, Melody. You’re one of the best people I’ve ever known. And one of the most determined.”

“Tenacious,” she muttered.

“What?”

Melody shrugged and glanced down at her sneakers. “Nothing.”

Sean made an exasperated sound. “Listen. If Harry doesn’t see how much time and energy you’ve put into boxing, then he’s blind. He doesn’t wanna see it. You never said you were gonna do this for the rest of your life. It doesn’t meant to you what it does to him, but you still have a passion for it, and he needs to accept that.”

He didn’t wait for a reply before striding across the room and opening the door out into the hall, the one which led to the arena and the boxing ring, where Melody could already hear the buzz of spectators.

“In the meantime,” Sean continued, “don’t lose sleep over how he feels about it. Just keep doing what you’re doing, because it’s gotten you this far. Sound fair?”

“Do you hate it?”

“No. And it wouldn’ matter anyway, would it? Doesn’ matter.”

It really didn’t make sense to her, this total apathy Harry seemed to have toward her fighting. How could he be so shrewd when it came to her body and the hardness that had replaced her soft spots, when he couldn’t seem to wrap his head around her boxing? Why was he allowed to judge her for one but not the other? She couldn’t understand how he didn’t see the correlation.

Melody took a long breath and knocked her gloves together again. She gave Sean a tight nod as she passed him and stepped out of the room, beginning the short walk up the hall. “Fair,” she agreed.

Chapter 9

#harry styles #harry styles writing #harry styles blurb #harry styles drabble #harry styles series #harry styles angst #harry styles fluff #harry styles au #boxer!harry #boxer!au #harry styles ferocity

[wardenrainwall]

Day 4 (thwarted by a sledgehammer) 5 Words:  2,055 (9,776 Total) Pairing: Blackwall/Original Character Rating: General Summary: Eloise, a modern girl in Thedas, shares a moment with Blackwall when he returns after weeks away. 

(probably not posting this one over on ao3 - I’m not a fan of the single ‘story’ with multiple chapters that are all one shots. Because the wall of tags always makes me cross-eyed. But I also feel weird posting potentially 30 separate one shots. either way, it’ll probably get the same number of reads) 

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Hair damp and fresh from the bathhouse, Blackwall made his way along the well-worn path to the gathering space where he knew he would find her. He could see the warm glow of the fire, hear the soft chatter of voices and nearby someone plucked at a lute. He scanned the people, those sitting by the fire, and the ones milling about. Then he saw her, head bent to the pile of fabric in her lap, intent on her task. Her hair was pulled back at the nape of her neck, but strands fell forward, brushing against her cheek. 

A small smile played over her lips and he closed the distance to where she sat alone on the wooden bench. She didn’t look up, focused on those tiny stitches that made his eyes cross. “Wife,” he said and Maker’s balls, it felt good to say. He’d regret it, he had no business making the claim. But that day when he’d seen her flanked by a soldier and Leliana’s scout, the threat to her life a very real thing, he had stepped forward and the words had simply spilled from his lips.

“Husband,” she replied, slipping the needle into the fabric and leaving it there as she lifted her head to peer up at him. Warm brown eyes glinted in the firelight and her hair no longer the moss green he remembered, but now a rich shade of blue. 

Blackwall had seen her, half a dozen times for months after he’d joined the Inquisition. Standing at the edge of a rock outlook, tears on her cheeks. Sitting beneath a tree in the Hinterlands, sewing much as she was now. A glimpse of her at the edge of a battlefield. Each time he’d seen her, he’d been drawn to her. An almost tangible pull. As if there were a string connecting them.

And each time he’d seen her, he’d watched her vanish. Not simply run away, or hide. She’d disappeared. One second there, real enough to touch, and then, gone. The only sign she’d been real were the footprints in the snow.

“This woman has been seen multiple times, near several of our camps.” They suspected she was a spy for Corypheus.

Leliana moved closer, a dangerous glint in her eye. “And why is that?”

The woman’s lips parted, no sound came out, but then her eyes flicked beyond Leliana, and the small gathered crowd to meet his. “She was looking for me,” Blackwall stepped forward, felt every head turn to look at him, but he kept his eyes on her as he closed the distance, wondering if she would disappear again.

“She is my wife.” The story, the lie, had been so easy. He felt he’d gotten far too good at lying. But a story of an impulsive elopement, before he’d abandoned her hadn’t even raised any brows. 

Ah, very well then, that explained it. Then Josephine had discreetly asked if his wife would be sharing his quarters and he knew that he should say now. Give the woman her own space, but he hadn’t. “She’ll stay with me,” he confirmed. 

That had been months ago, and while he woke every morning certain she’d disappear again, he always felt a strange relief to see her face. “What are you working on?” he asked, sinking down onto the bench beside her. 

“Oh, it’s a new tunic for Seeker Pentaghast,” she told him. “Do you think she’ll like it?” she held up the article of clothing for him to see. It was a simple tunic, but it was decorated with a pretty bit of trim around collar, cuff, and hem. The jealousy that kindled in his chest was absurd and he knew it.

“I think she will,” he said because he knew he would like the gift. “Where did you find this?” he reached out, a fingertip touching the inch wide trim Eloise had been in the process of sewing on.

Eloise hummed quietly, folding the fabric back into her lap and making sure that the needle was secure before she tucked it away into the little basket she carried everywhere. She produced a scrap of the same trim, though it wasn’t as smooth, and it looked as if the pattern had been warped. “I made it, it was a pain in the ass though. I don’t have my cards, and I had to make it in sections because I couldn’t make a piece long enough without the loom.” 

“You made this?” he asked and she waved a dismissive hand.

“I needed something to do,” Eloise said with a shrug, she held her hand out to take the scrap that had not turned out particularly nice. Blackwall seemed reluctant to give it back, but finally, he laid the piece in her hand and his fingers brushing her palm caused a pleasant shock of sensation to shoot up her arm. “How was Crestwood?” she asked, undeniably grateful that he was back.

She didn’t know why it had happened, couldn’t explain it, and a part of her was aware of the impossibilities of it all, and knew that more than likely, she’d had a complete mental break down from reality or maybe she’d been in an accident and was in a coma in some hospital. Each time before, when she’d found herself in this strange place, she’d told herself it wasn’t real. A hallucination brought on by grief, stress and so little sleep. 

And every time she’d done that, she’d find herself back in the real world. Only, that last time, she hadn’t. She would have, caught between two strong soldiers, with the realization that they might kill her when Blackwall had spoken up. It was him. He was the one she always saw when she ended up in this place. 

“Cold, wet and full of corpses,” he told her and she shuddered, drawing her woolen cloak tighter around her shoulders.

“That sounds… dreadful.” 

He made a quiet sound and looked into the fire. “Want a drink?” he offered.

“Oh,” Eloise reached down, flicking her skirts aside, to reveal the large mug at her feet. “I had just refilled it before you arrived. You’re welcome to it.” She’d already had two mugs of the sweet honey mead. But now that Blackwall was back, she didn’t feel the need to drink a third. 

“You sure?” he asked, reaching down to wrap a hand around the simple wooden cup. Eloise smiled a little, inclined her head and he drank. They sat there for a while longer, Blackwall telling her of the things that had happened in Crestwood.

Wrinkling her nose at his vivid description of the walking, fighting corpses, Eloise couldn’t help the quiet laugh that escaped her. “I think I’ll have nightmares now.” 

“I shouldn’t have told you,” he frowned and she reached out, rested her hand against his arm, and told him it was fine. “It’s going to snow,” Blackwall said a little while later. “We should head back, it’s late.” 

It was, and the fire was starting to die down, other people were retreating to their own homes and quarters. Eloise let Blackwall take her basket while she drew her wrap tighter around her shoulders. When he offered her his arm, she didn’t hesitate. “I’m still undecided how I feel about all this snow,” she said as they walked, her toes had grown cold, along with her fingers. She missed electricity and heaters and electric blankets.

“You didn’t get much snow where you’re from?” he asked and Eloise shook her head.

“No, cold and wet,” she laughed a little. “Maybe a bit like Crestwood? Lots of rain, but not much snow.”

She felt him shudder beside her. “I’ll take snow over never feeling dry any day.” Blackwall pushed open the door to their small one-room cabin. It was dark save for the glow of the banked fire. After setting down her basket he went immediately to build up the fire, while Eloise shook out her cloak and hung it on the peg near the door. She took off her shoes and wiggled her toes. “Come sit by the fire,” he said, and not about to argue, she padded over, her feet sinking into the plush rug that lay in front of the hearth. 

Two chairs sat there, they didn’t match and one was far more padded and comfortable than the other. Blackwall had made it very clear from the beginning which was hers. She sunk down into it and stretched her legs out, desperate for the warmth of the fire. She shivered, unsure how long she’d actually been sitting out there. It was her usual routine. 

Eloise enjoyed the company of the other villagers, and when Blackwall wasn’t there she felt a strange restlessness. A constant worry in the back of her mind that she would wake up from this dream and be back in that quiet empty house, all alone. Staring into the flames, she heard Blackwall moving around the small space and blinked in surprise when he held a glass of amber liquid in front of her face. “Oh,” she blinked again, then reached up at took it. “What’s bothering you?” he asked, with another glass in his other hand. He sunk down on the rug in front of her but angling himself so that his broad shoulders wouldn’t block the heat from the fire. He took a sip, set it on the hearth, and then reached out, one big hand cupping both her feet to draw them up and rest against his thigh before he began rubbing his thumb along the bottom of her foot.

Sipping the whiskey, Eloise let out a soft sigh of pleasure. “Your toes are like ice, we need to get you some thicker stockings.” He scowled and Eloise’s lips curved. “Tell me what’s wrong,” Blackwall said, lifting his head to look up at her while he continued his delightful ministrations. “Are you homesick?”

Eloise took another sip of the whiskey, glad for the warm burn that trailed down her throat. “No, not so much,” she had nothing truly to miss. Her entire world had revolved around her father for the last decade, and his death had left her bereft. “I’m glad you’re back,” she finally said, then after a beat. “I missed you.” 

She’d blame the heat the warmed her cheeks on the whiskey until her dying day as Blackwall looked up at her, his gaze so intense that it caused a fluttering low in her belly. “You dyed your hair,” he said and some of that warmth dissipated. 

Blackwall had never told her why he’d claimed her as his wife that day, and sometimes she wondered if he regretted it. Because surely, he didn’t feel the same undeniable pull that she felt. They had shared one hot, impassioned kiss against the walls of Haven before she had panicked and found herself back in her bedroom in the house she grew up in. 

But in the months she’d been at Skyhold, living in his cabin, he’d barely touched her, and there definitely hadn’t been any more kisses. He went so far as to sleep on the floor while she slept in the bed. That was only when he was there, he was often gone for weeks at a time with the Inquisitor. 

Reaching up to finger a lock of her hair she twisted it. “Black currents,” she said. “It turned out better than I expected and covered that dreadful green that was beginning to look like patches of mold on bread.”

“I like it,” he said and that warmth expanded ten-fold inside her. “Tell me something,” he said, laying her foot back against his thigh and taking up the other to continue the massage that was doing wonders to warm up her toes. 

“About?” she asked.

“The moving pictures,” he said and she smiled. He had believed her when she’d found herself telling him everything. How at first she’d thought it was time-travel, which was impossible, though he’d reassured her it wasn’t, and Dorian and the Inquisitor knew first hand just how real it was. Then she’d explained that she wasn’t from Thedas or any part of their world. That she didn’t know how or why it had happened, but there she was. And Eloise was more than happy to stay.

#dragon age #blackwall #blackwall x oc #modern girl in thedas #meraadwrites