#thinking about my first impressions too when mike still understood and i was like | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

genuine-wrestleboy · 8 months

Text

the attraction (3/4)

words: 4,609

((here on ao3))

It’s a twenty minute drive from the hospital to Mike’s apartment, and you clutch your cup of sludgy cooling coffee like a lifeline the entire time. Maybe you’re an idiot to have agreed to this, but the two of you desperately need to talk, and Mike had seemed insistent that it would be better if you did it somewhere private.

“I’ll probably need to show you something,” he’d sighed. “It’s…complicated.”

So here you are, anxious and exhausted in Mike’s cramped kitchen, palms sweating against your slowly disintegrating paper cup. You’re too nauseous to actually drink it—a feat which would probably involve a distressing amount of chewing at this point—but Mike doesn’t offer to take it, and you don’t ask to throw it away.

“You want anything?” asks Mike, hovering by the cupboards, clearly unused to playing host. “I have, uh, not a lot, honestly.”

“I don’t think I could keep anything down right now anyway,” you tell him.

He looks at the cup in your hands.

“Right,” he says, and drops into the seat opposite you. He spreads his bandaged hands along the tabletop, yellowing laminate that curls at the edges where it’s peeled away from the plywood beneath. Your fingers itch with the urge to pick at it.

“First off,” says Mike, “I want to tell you that I’m sorry.”

You hadn’t expected that. “What for?”

“That you got involved in this,” he replies, waving a hand, all this shit. “I should’ve known he’d try to make it someone else’s problem.”

You lean forward. “Why?”

“Because he’s a miserable old bastard,” seethes Mike, as close to angry as you’ve heard him. “And misery loves company.”

A miserable old bastard? That doesn’t sound like the man you met at all. Your Springtrap had been self-assured and a little smug, but he'd been fun, and—well, a lot of things you feel sort of dirty even thinking about in front of Mike now. His father. What a fucked-up position you’ve managed to get yourself into.

“Maybe he’s changed,” you suggest weakly.

Mike’s hands clench into fists against the table. “He hasn’t. I—gimme a second, I’m trying to figure out where to start, here.”

He leans back and yanks off his hat to scrub a hand across his head. His hair, where he has it, is choppily cut, like he does it himself more on memory than in a mirror. It hangs in his eyes and down the back of his neck in patches, coppery brown streaked with grey. Big, haphazard chunks of it are thin enough to see down to his scalp or missing entirely, exposing skin that’s the same sallow purple as the rest of him. It’s a frankly baffling amount of attention to detail for an operation like Fazbear’s Fright.

Mike meets your eyes, and you realize with a guilty start that you've been openly staring.

“Maybe that’s as good a place as any.” He sets his elbows on the table, his hat dangling from one hand. He doesn't quite look at you when he speaks. “Here goes. My father is a brilliant man, but he—he’s ambition without empathy, he runs on, on fear, and ego.”

“Fear?” you ask.

“The idea of death terrifies him, I think,” Mike tells you. “And it…annoys him. ‘Someone like me should never have to do something as pedestrian as dying,’ that sort of thing.” His accent gets stronger for the impression, and you nearly slosh coffee all over yourself. It makes him sound almost exactly like Springrap.

Thankfully, Mike doesn’t seem to notice your reaction. “I was just a kid,” he continues, “I didn’t understand it back then, but for years he was doing these experiments, trying to figure out how to make himself live forever. He wanted—I think he was trying to locate the soul, I’m not sure. I have all his old research, but I can still only understand so much of it.”

Every hair on your body is on end, your skin clammy and prickling with electricity. “Did he do it?”

Mike levels a sobering look at you. “Yes. But it wasn’t what he wanted. And I don't think he fully understood it all, either. He started experimenting on himself at some point, but in the end what happened to him was an accident. What happened to me wasn't."

His eyes keep you pinned in place as he reaches up and pulls the surgical mask aside.

Time softens, treacle-slow, a long, precious pull of a moment where nothing has changed. It's not a surprise that Mike is painted under the mask, he's painted everywhere. The prosthetics are unexpected, sure, but only because they were hidden, which is a shame more than it's a shock. They’re stunning work.

"Did you do this yourself?" you ask in the second before impact.

Seeing Mike's full expression is a novelty you have no time to appreciate, because his mouth opens with a stretch of visible tendon, and when he says your name, you can see his tongue move through his cheek, and the moment snaps with the force of a speeding car.

He isn't painted anywhere.

"I know it's a lot, just try to breathe." His voice is soft with a terrible care, and something that shares a border with regret.

Your mouth moves wordlessly. You feel like you’re staring at a window made of thick, frosted glass, and on the other side of the glass is something pacing, growling, waiting, your world about to be changed irrevocably. But on your side of the window is emptiness. Silence. Such utter, endless silence that the sound of shattering would be a relief.

"You should see the rest of me," Mike jokes thinly.

If the sound you make in response is a laugh, it's a very wet laugh. Still, the tension shatters, and relief floods you like waking from a nightmare.

"Does it hurt?" you ask.

Mike gives you a wan smile. "You recover fast—no, I appreciate it, I was worried there would be screaming. Yes, it does, but I've gotten used to it. You can get used to just about anything."

"Can I ask what happened?"

"I think it would be good for you to know." He crosses both arms across his chest, almost protectively. "For a while, my father was keeping prisoners for his experiments. One of them was my younger sister."

"God," you breathe.

"Naturally, they wanted out, and the way that they came up with went through me. Literally," he adds with a wry laugh.

"Your sister did this to you? Mike, that's horrible."

His attempt at a smile is a tight-lipped thing, closer to a grimace, or a wince. "It was and wasn't her. Death changes you. What my father discovered can capture consciousness, but only a shadow of it, and shadows are easily warped. Besides," he adds, shrugging, "I can't blame her. She thought I was him."

It's a lot to take in. "Your sister…was that, did your father—?"

"In his defense I think he regretted it," says Mike, bitterness thick in his voice. "At least until it served his purpose."

Blood starts to seep through your teeth from where anxiety is gnawing a hole in your lip. Through him, you think, does that mean—?

"You don't seem like a shadow," you venture.

"Do I not? I feel like one sometimes." Sighing, he loosens the bandages around his neck like a weary business man loosening a tie. "Remnant captures the dead, but it preserves the living. I got a dose of it before I died, and now I can't." He bites out the last few words with an ire that catches you off guard.

"Do you want to die?" It's too personal a question, you know that the second it leaves your mouth, but Mike just frowns thoughtfully.

"It doesn't matter what I want. If he's still alive, then I have to be here to stop him."

He lifts his eyes to yours, the piercing white pupils anchored in inky blackness, lays his arm out across the table. With precise, practiced motions, he strips the bandages from it, layer by layer revealing a taut stretch of desiccated, purpled skin. It clings tightly to the bones beneath, highlighting the shape of them with alarming apparency. Down by the bony wrist the skin parts here and there to dry, stringy muscle, fused to the scar-silk of the skin above.

Mike looks down at his arm almost like it’s unfamiliar to him. “My body keeps trying to heal itself, but it doesn’t remember how. Nothing really connects where it’s supposed to, but everything still works, more or less. I don’t need to eat or sleep, I breathe out of habit more than anything else . I used to hope the Remnant would wear off eventually, but it’s been…a long time. I think maybe I could go on like this forever.”

Something nudges at your mind. “You used that word before, Remnant. What does it mean?”

It takes a beat; Mike seems to come to, as if out of a dream. He blinks, rolls down his sleeve. “Remnant is what my father called his discovery. It’s…the essence of life, in a way, the energy a person creates and leaves behind. He found a way to distill it, to move it around in its purest form. He was injecting himself with it towards the end. That’s why I’m showing you this, so that you understand what I mean when I tell you that he shouldn’t be alive, and that what’s in that suit is never going to leave it.”

“Never going to leave it?” It’s a very good thing that you’re sitting down, because all the feeling has gone out of your legs.

“The Remnant in his system has been trying to heal my father for thirty years. If I had to guess, I’d say that that suit is a part of him now, or he’s a part of it.” Mike taps the tabletop for emphasis, then spreads his hands. “That line’s always been thin for him, anyway.”

Part of the suit. You can’t even begin to wrap your head around that. The thought puts a hard, panicked lump in your throat that you laugh out nervously before it can turn into tears.

"You make him sound like some kind of monster.”

"He is a monster," says Mike instantly. "But he was a monster long before he got himself springlocked."

You remember your friends using that word, springlocked , but you don’t remember what it means. You’re starting to feel stupid asking Mike to explain every other thing he says, though, and if the mystery of it distracts you from the rest of his assertion, well, that’s nobody’s business but your own.

Mike starts to reach across the table, but stops just before he touches you, his hand shrinking back on itself.

“I don’t want to scare you, for what it’s worth, but—listen, I can’t tell you that you shouldn’t be scared. Whatever reason my father has for wanting to find you, knowing him, he’s not going to stop until he does.”

You hope the thrill that goes up your spine at that looks enough like fear to pass any possible scrutiny.

“What am I supposed to do?” you ask.

“I don’t know,” Mike admits. “I’m sorry I don’t have a better answer for you. I promise I’ll figure something out, though, and you’re welcome to stay here until I do. I know it’s not much, but it might be safer for you not to be alone.”

You stare down into your coffee; you’re tired enough that drinking it is almost starting to sound like a good idea. “This has been the weirdest night of my life.”

Mike hides his laugh behind a hand. “For what it’s worth, you’re handling it surprisingly well.”

“I’m freaking out on the inside, I promise.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” says Mike indulgently.

Thin, watery light has begun to seep its way around the edges of Mike’s curtains, along with faint, warbled bird calls and the sinking sensation of a sunrise you hadn’t meant to see. None of it feels real, but then again neither do you, right now.

“Could I—?” You press your fingers against your forehead, kneading back a lurking headache. “Do you think that maybe step one of whatever we do could involve me taking a nap?”

“Oh, yeah, of course, I, uh—” Mike stuffs his hat back onto his head and slips the mask back over his face, pushing himself away from the table. “The couch is pretty comfortable, but honestly I’ve barely used the bed, you’re more than welcome to sleep there if you want.”

“The couch is fine.” You’re not sure you could make it much farther, anyway. Moving stiffly, you pour out the dregs of your coffee into the sink and drop the crushed cup into the trash.

Sleep drags you onto the couch with a firm hand and pulls you under before you can even think to kick off your shoes.

The room is bright with midday sun when you pull yourself back into consciousness. You sit up, rubbing the sleep from your eyes, and almost immediately regret it. Your head spins, and you slump back against the cushions, swallowing audibly with a throat that feels swollen and raw. Most of your body feels achey and bruised, including a warm, guilty soreness between your legs. At some point while you were passed out, Mike must’ve brought you a blanket, and you gather it around your shoulders as you lever yourself to your feet. It’s a thin, tatty flannel, pilled and faded with age, and the only sign of life in the otherwise spartan room. For all the warm gold light, it’s a pretty bleak space, the bare bones of somewhere to live in the strictest of terms and not much more. Particleboard furniture and bare white walls, a tiny tv that reflects your face back to you in warped duplicate in its curved screen. How long has he been living here? How long was he planning to stay?

You cross the room back into the kitchen, fumble through the cupboards for a glass. It’s where Mike finds you, sipping lukewarm tap water from a chipped Chipper and Sons mug. He’s changed out of his uniform into an equally shapeless sweater and slacks and a new baseball cap with an insignia that might be for a sports team. His face is covered again, too, and you want to tell him that it doesn’t have to be, but a little voice at the back of your mind stops you before the words fully form.

“Good morning,” he says amiably.

“Morning,” you return. “What time is it?”

He checks the watch hanging loosely on his thin wrist. “A little after one.”

You pause for the mental math and wince. “Got my full eight hours, I guess. Sorry for making you wait.”

Mike shrugs. “I kept myself busy. Seemed like you needed the rest.”

“Yeah.” You honestly wouldn’t have been all that surprised to learn that you’d slept for longer, you‘d been all but dead on your feet after the long night, and Mike’s marathon of nasty revelations certainly hadn’t helped matters. Not that you blame him for any of it, or begrudge him the telling, but in the light of day, with a clear head on your shoulders—clear er, at least—your aimless distress has started to solidify into the sure shape of a plan. “Could I bother you for one more favor?”

“It’s not a bother.” Mike leans against the counter opposite you and tucks his fingers into his pockets.

“If I’m gonna be staying here a while, do you think I could get a few things from my place? Maybe my car too if there’s somewhere to park it around here."

"I don't see why not." Mike scratches his chin idly under the mask. “The lot’s technically only for residents, but a lot of the units around here are empty, and they don’t monitor it too closely. Did you want to go now?”

“If you’re not busy—”

“I'm not—just let me find my keys. You can leave that in the sink, I forgot I even had that old thing.”

Mike drops you off in front of your building with his blanket still wrapped around your shoulders. You watch him punch your number into an absolute brick of a flip phone with a sort of baffled fondness, then a guilt you have to clear out of your throat like phlegm before you can speak.

"I, uh, think I'm gonna stop by the hospital on my way back," you tell him, hoisting your tone desperately upwards and hoping it sounds light.

Mike looks up from his phone. He's wearing a big pair of black plastic sunglasses on top of everything else, so even the slim chance you might've had at reading his expression is gone.

"You're not responsible for what happened to them, you know."

"What? Yeah, I—I know, that's not why I'm going." Should you feel responsible? The thought hadn't even occurred to you.

"Okay." He doesn't sound entirely convinced. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No," you say a little too quickly. "No, you don't have to do that. It must be, like, one of the safest places I could be, right? Besides, I kinda got the vibe that you don't really love hospitals."

Mike huffs a dry laugh. "Your vibes aren't far off. Just…be careful. Keep in touch."

"I will," you assert. "Thanks, thank you, for the ride. I'll see you later."

He waits until you're inside to pull away, and the thoughtful gesture sits in your stomach like lead.

Home sweet home.

You start stripping down as soon as you're through the door, set Mike's sweatshirt to soak in the sink with a lot of hydrogen peroxide, and take the hottest shower of your life. Moving on automatic, you dig your suitcase out of the back of your closet and stuff some clothes and random essentials into it. Then, remembering Mike’s cupboards, you toss in all the food that you think might survive the journey back.

Step by step, one thing and then another without stopping, because right now it feels like maybe momentum is all you have. At some point, you redress. At some point, you slam the car door shut. At some point, you pass the exit to the hospital and you don't slow down.

At some point, you come back to yourself standing in the front lot of the burned-out shell of Fazbear's Fright. The smell of ash is still thick on the air.

Glass crunches under your shoes as you approach. If a building could look hungry, then this one does, the gutted windows like gaping toothless mouths strung with fluttering yellow ribbons of police tape. Big chunks of the roof have collapsed inwards, jagged slats of concrete sending their reaching rebar fingers skyward. You pick your way around, searching for a viable point of entry. It’s eerily silent, no birds or bugs or traffic sounds, no other signs of life. You’d half expected to be turned away halfway down the road, but whoever left all this tape seems to want no more to do with this place than the wildlife.

The main exit door gives after three firm shoves with a horrible screech. You clear a neat semicircle free of debris as you fight it open, raising a cloud of black dust that tickles the back of your throat. You press a sleeve over your nose and mouth and step inside, wait for things to settle. Maybe you should’ve asked Mike to borrow a mask.

The silence presses in again, and you want to call out, but something stops the process in your throat, and no sound comes. The bruisey swelling. The black dust. The tiny, wailing part of you that knows that there’s no going back from the choice once it’s made.

Inside, Fazbear’s Fright is a maze of free-standing walls. Late afternoon sun slants through in mote-thick shafts of light, throwing the sad remnants into stark clarity. Most of the building is obviously inaccessible, crushed by its own roof or dropping away into blackness where the floor has given way, but you make it far enough in to make out the charred shape of the employees only door, blocked by a barrier of fallen beams.

You walk on a little further, turning the corner into the hallway that had been so painstakingly papered with adverts just hours ago. The fire fed well here. High black stalagmites of ash cling to the walls, their peaks lapping at a ceiling somehow miraculously still intact. You sweep your phone’s flashlight over the damage, perhaps quixotically–what can you actually expect to have survived?

Down along the scorched baseboards, something glints gold in your beam. You sweep by a second time and catch it again, the corner of something reaching out from under the twisted black debris. Crouching, you edge closer, testing out the floor in front of you by inches as it starts to groan beneath you. A little closer, a little closer—

The wood cracks under your foot, wedging your boot between two saw-toothed slats, and you cry out in panicked surprise. You fall back, scrambling to free yourself and nearly losing your boot in the process. More of the floor gives way as you pry yourself free and propel yourself back towards the wall.

You sit there for a moment, sucking in shaky breaths, letting your racing heart return to its normal resting rhythm. There's a new, deep gouge in the leather of your boot, and a sluggishly bleeding slash along the skin of your leg. Is that going to be a tetanus thing? Is tetanus lockjaw, or is that something else?

The glint of gold winks in the corner of your eye. You turn towards it, then back down to your leg, then back again. Well, you didn't come all this way for nothing, and if—if what you came for isn't here, then what the hell. You scoot yourself along the wall, spreading your weight as far out as you can, stretching an arm out in front of you. The tip of your longest finger brushes something that, somewhat to your surprise, feels cold. You risk another inch and manage to hook the edge of it, but when you start to pull, you realize that whatever you’re trying to grab is much bigger and heavier than you’d anticipated.

“Oh, come on.” You lay yourself out as far as you dare, hugging the wall tightly, and manage to get three fingers over the lip of the object. You tug, once, twice, and it starts to loose from the junk piled on top of it and slide towards you. Your momentary celebration is halted as a low groaning sound rises from the shifting rubble, your meddling threatening whatever delicate balance the building has settled into. You freeze, waiting, still as stone. Then you readjust your grip and yank, ripping the object from its spot and rolling yourself up and backwards as the ceiling collapses with a screech and huge cloud of ash.

You lay on your back just outside of the radius, your prize on your chest, laughter rising wheezily from your throat.

Your prize turns out to be a frame, still somehow mostly intact. Inside is the stained purple bow tie you remember from your tour, half-unpinned, mounted next to the photo of someone wearing a yellow rabbit costume, waving to the camera. You touch the glass with delicate fingertips, a wonder, a recognition, rising in your chest.

It’s not a big frame, but it’s heavy, and lugging it out to your car is a sweatier endeavor than you’d have liked. Honestly this has all been so much messier than anticipated, you’ll probably need to shower again, not to mention what you’re about to do to the inside of your car. Then again, your parking spot is pretty well hidden—you’d chosen somewhere in a well-shrouded patch of trees a little up the road, where any lingering cops would be less likely to spot you. Maybe it won’t be such a big deal if you just change here really quickly.

First things first, you fumble through your glove box for some hand sanitizer and squeeze a glob onto your leg; it stings like a bitch, but that has to be better than an infection. You clean your hands a little that way too, before digging out a tshirt you can use as a rag to give yourself a cursory wipedown everywhere else. The smell of smoke sticks to you thick as if you were still in the building, and maybe it’s because you have all the fresh air and greenery contrasting with it, now, but it’s taken on a sweet rot smell, like burnt roadkill. It grows in strength as you start peeling off your soiled clothes, until you’re almost gagging on it. God, you’re just going to throw all these away, there’s no way that smell is ever coming out.

Behind you, a heavy footfall in the fallen leaves. Ice roots down your spine, fizzling out across your skin, gooseflesh and foolish hope.

“Well, well—” a wet, ragged breath “—what a welcome.”

Before you can react, a huge hand, more metal than mitt, seizes the back of your neck, forcing your face down against the upholstery of your backseat.

“Running Michael’s errands for him now, are you?” His voice is like an old recording of a purr, scratched and warped almost beyond recognition. Springtrap drags a claw against your hipbone, teasing at the band of your panties, and you feel the skin split at his touch.

“No, no, that’s not—I came looking for you.” Your neck is at an angle that makes it hard to catch your breath. “He doesn’t know I’m here, I didn’t want—please, I didn’t tell him. I don’t think he’d—it’s none of his business, right? I don’t, I wouldn’t —”

Springtrap chuckles lowly. “You’re babbling. Are you afraid?”

You let out a little, gasping breath. "No."

A long-eared shadow falls over you; Springtrap nuzzles against your cheek, your ear, that slow, struggling inhale, shallow and guttering. “Liar. I can smell it on you. And that isn’t all I can smell.”

Blood spills over and trickles along your thigh, and you shudder. “Please—”

“There, there, darling. You’ll get what’s coming to you.” He trails a hand along your back, up under your t-shirt, all those long, sharp fingers twitching like a spider in its web. Your skin burns in his wake, with need, with the long, bright scratches that he leaves behind. Up between your shoulderblades, a neat snkt that cleaves your bra in halves.

“You know who I am now, don’t you?”

You squirm in his hold, but he’s iron, immovable. “Yes.”

“Why did you come back?” His voice is as sharp as his claws, tight against the curve of your waist. Here and there you feel him break skin, feel the sting where he bites into you. Your blood beads up at his fingertips, your blood rushes downwards, your blood sings through your veins and throbs in your heart until you can taste your pulse on your tongue.

“I had to," you say.

“Had to?” asks Springtrap. Sly curiosity creeps into his voice, and you arch your back, desperate for contact. "You're playing the fool, my dear, and you should know that I don't suffer fools."

You let out a cry of pained surprise as one of his fingers swipes a sharp path from waist to thigh, shredding any clothing in its path.

Hot, foul breath on your cheek like a caress, Springtrap's tone indulgent and fond, "You came back because you know who you belong to, isn't that right?"

"Oh," you breathe. Just like that you're something helpless and needy again, eagerly molding yourself into whatever shape fits best in his hands. "Yes."

Springtrap urges your hips back with a growl. "Yes?"

"Yes, sir," you comply immediately, want burning in you with the same bruising familiarity as the the fingers on your neck. Like an anchoring star behind your breastbone, storm-wild and wailing to drown out the last lingering whisper of logic languishing at the back of your mind.

Your breath is a solid knot in the hollow of your throat, and your hair catches and pulls in the pinching joints of Springtrap’s hand, and you want, and you want, and it’s a terrible, clutching thing. It’s the stench of rot and smoke, the dark, angry promise of his voice.

"Say it," he hisses. There's an open hunger in his voice, a knife's edge balance between his cool facade and the inferno underneath.

"I'm yours." You wish you could see him, but you'd be lying if you said this position wasn't doing something for you. "Please, please, I—god, make me yours."

Cool air rushes against you as Springtrap peels your panties to one side, and you're already so on edge that it's enough to make you cry out. You're dizzy with your desire and helpless under his hands, and Springtrap drags a knuckle through your wetness and chuckles.

"You really did come here with this in mind, didn't you? My needy little slut."

"I—ah!—you were looking for me." How can you explain that it's not up to you, anymore, that you'll come back again and again, always, for as long as he wants you?

"And now I've found you." Springtrap hums thoughtfully. "Tell me, darling, what do you think happens next?"

#springtrap x reader #springtrap #springtrap fnaf #william afton x reader #my fic #little bit of a lore dump in this one sorryyyy

36 notes · View notes

sgt-paul · 2 years

Text

Not everyone approved of their friendship. John's Aunt Mimi disapproved because she thought Paul was a working-class lad who was encouraging her nephew to devote time to his guitar which should have been spent studying. According to Mike McCartney, Paul's father didn't take kindly to John at all: after one meeting he told Paul, 'He'll get you into trouble, son.' He was right, of course, but mostly it was just playing truant and harmless games. One of their games involved the telephone, a rarity in working-class homes, which had been installed for Mary's work as a midwife.

PAUL: I remember the great excitement at 20 Forthlin Road when we had the phone put in. I still remember the phone number: Garston 6922. George still remembers it. It's ingrained. John and I used to play pranks with our tape recorder: record stuff, then ring up people and play the tape recorder to them and record their answers on another tape. We were supposed to be making demos. We made one for Mr Popjoy, who was one of John's teachers from Quarry Bank. We had a message that said, 'That Mr Popjoy?' then there was a wait for some reaction. I’m calling about the bananas.' Then there was another pause. We'd put that to the speaker, call his number, and the minute we heard him answer we'd switch our recorder on and it would talk to him. We had a mike at the hearing end and we would record that, so we didn't know quite what he'd said until it was all finished but we could hear something going on. Then we'd just cut him off and listen back to it. It was great 'Popjoy here. Yes? Can I help? Bananas? What bananas? I haven't ordered any bananas!'

[...]

Paul would go around the left side of the house to the back door, where Aunt Mimi would let him into a small conservatory which opened on to the kitchen and call, 'John, your little friend's here.'

PAUL: She would always refer to me as 'Your little friend'. I'd look at her, she'd smile. I'd know what she'd done. She'd know what she'd done. I would ignore it. It was very patronising, but she secretly quite liked me, she sort of twinkled, but she was very aware that John's friends were lower-class. John mixed with the lower classes, I'm afraid, you see. She was the kind of woman who would put you down with a glint in her eye, with a smile. But she'd put you down all the same. But she'd talk to John later and I remember him telling me, 'She thinks you're a better guitar player than I am,' which slightly miffed John. Did I say slightly?

A lounge led off of the kitchen and there was a front parlour containing Winston Churchill's collected works, bound in blue cloth, which John claimed to have read. John's middle name was Winston, given him by his mother in a fit of wartime patriotism. John and Mimi lived mostly in the lounge and kitchen.

PAUL: John had done a little poem that Mimi had framed in the kitchen. It was nice: 'A house where there is love ...' John had writing aspirations. At first he was writing what turned out later to be In His Own Write. He would show me what he'd been typing. I would sometimes help him with it. We would sit around giggling, just saying puns really, that's basically what it was; 'In the early owls of the Morecambe,' I remember, 'a cup o-teeth' was one section that was in the typewriter when I was around there. But I would like all that and I was very impressed. He was a big Lewis Carroll fan, which I was too. In my view two of John's great songs, 'Strawberry Fields' and 'I Am the Walrus', both come from 'Jabberwocky'. 'I am he as you are he ...' It's thanks to 'Jabberwocky' that he could do that. I had a teacher at school, a swotty guy called Dodd, who could recite 'Jabberwocky' in Latin. One of the less useful things in life... I think John saw himself as 'Our correspondent from Alexandria'. It was a romantic dream that I understood and shared. 'I'll write about it as I see it and tell them all what's really happening.' It's a lot of people's dream.

— paul mccartney: many years from now, by barry miles (1997)

#myfn #*m #q #jp #early

185 notes · View notes

writertitan · 3 years

Text

Grandfather Clock (III)

pairing: levi x f!reader

word count: 7068 (oops)

themes: adult f!reader, arranged marriage, multi-part fic, levi is a stubborn asshole at first, no love at first sight here folks

a/n: the final part!! enjoy!!!

Read Part 1 Here

Read Part 2 Here

On the 20th day of Levi’s engagement to you, he found himself tense, frowning, and sitting across a less than pleased Erwin, right in the commander’s office.

Erwin sat at his desk, deep discontent written all over his face, with his arms folded tightly across his broad chest.

Levi knew the scolding was coming and cursed himself in his head for being so careless. He hadn’t really meant too much by it. Mike had just been asking him how things were going as they walked down the hall together and the words had just tumbled out. Levi didn’t like talking about his personal life in general, mostly because he had hardly had one prior to getting engaged, but now he was extra wary.

“Not much to tell. Just thankful she agreed not to have an actual wedding and to prolong it as long as possible.”

That was all he’d said and he’d said it with a tone of finality that Mike understood well. It was the tone that warned not to push it any farther.

It was just Levi’s luck that Erwin had rounded the corner as the words left him. The commander had bristled as he processed what Levi had said and then blurted out that he needed to see the shorter man immediately, in his office.

Levi had never seen Mike hurry off so quickly before.

And now here he was, tense and waiting for Erwin to lash out at him.

The words came moments later, but Levi didn’t get yelled at, which made him feel worse. Erwin was quiet, stern, and very open with his disappointment.

“Is it true? You really asked that of her?”

“Yes,” Levi sighed, running a hand over his tired face. “I did.”

“You didn’t even consult me about it. Levi, I hope you know I’m trying to grant you as much freedom as I can in this situation, but this was out of line. I’m sorry, but you don’t have that kind of say.”

Erwin’s words made Levi wince a little, but he tried to keep a stoic face. He could see that the commander was waiting for him to say something, but Levi didn’t quite know what to say.

He thought of you for a moment, and thought about how confused he’d been lately, and then looked at Erwin with a hint of a frown.

“You’ve hardly given us any freedom,” he blurted out, and then cursed himself yet again. He’d used the word “us” instead of “me” and he knew that Erwin would catch wind of that.

He did, and he even seemed to soften up a bit, raising a brow curiously.

And then Erwin used you as ammunition.

“You’ve stripped away any semblance of choice left for her by making her agree to your terms. She has even less freedom than you. Is that what you wanted?” Erwin asked, but the question was more rhetorical than anything.

Levi’s frown grew deeper. His mind went back to you, how broken you’d looked when he’d said he didn’t want a wedding day, and how he wanted to wait as long as possible to actually be married. And then his mind took him to that day you were feeling unwell, and how that same broken expression appeared when he’d gotten upset with you.

His chest grew heavy when he realized he had helped in breaking you.

And even worse, he hadn’t gone back to visit you after that day, when you had fainted. It had spurred too many mixed emotions in him and he had wanted the space to clear his head. And you had confirmed you were still unwell in your most recent letter to him from yesterday.

But maybe you were lying. Maybe Levi had broken you so much that you wanted to start keeping your distance from him.

That’s what he wanted, right?

Is that what you wanted?

Erwin’s unanswered question echoed in his mind.

If that was what he’d wanted, why did he feel this way, so horrible, after being called out by Erwin?

“I just don’t know what to do,” Levi finally said, unable to meet Erwin’s gaze.

Erwin hummed and sat back in his chair, arms now unfolded as he looked at Levi. The conversation had gone way beyond Levi’s little mistake. As much as he wanted to help his friend, there was a reason Erwin had been wandering the halls. He had, in fact, been searching for Levi. And he had, in fact, been wanting to discuss the topic of you. It had been mere coincidence that Erwin had caught Levi’s confession.

“Talk to her,” Erwin said, eyes on Levi, who was still looking anywhere but at him. “And I’d suggest going today. There was a reason I’ve been looking for you.”

At that, Levi flickered his eyes to Erwin, a hint of curiosity in them. And, dare Erwin say, even a little bit of worry hid behind the silver.

“Well, spit it out,” Levi said, already making to stand up. “What happened? Is something wrong?”

Erwin also stood up, slowly and deliberately, and didn’t know how to answer that.

“There’s been some...civil unrest recently. Some of the working class citizens have been getting riled up because of some recent unfortunate events with the upper class,” Erwin explained, watching carefully for Levi’s reaction. “Some of my intel has told me there’s talk of a few riots being planned.”

“What kind of ‘unfortunate events’ are you talking about?” Levi pressed, arms at his side with hands clenched into fists. This didn’t sound good.

“Seems like your fiancee’s father has been in some bad business deals that affected a lot of his workforce. And he’s got quite the workforce, if you remember,” Erwin murmured, looking a little thoughtful as he tried to gage Levi’s reaction. “I was looking for you to tell you that I’d like for you to go and check on things. I’m not sure how extreme the situation is.”

Levi was already halfway out of the office and didn’t bother to answer. He was, without a doubt, upset.

Upset that Erwin didn’t let him know about this immediately.

Upset that it would take a while to get to you.

And, curiously, he was upset that he was upset. What the hell was going on with him?

In your parlor room, you were curled up on the sofa and reading your favorite book. It took all your willpower to try not to think about how, just a few days ago, Levi had touched those very same pages.

He’d kept his distance since then, though you had certainly had some part in that by sending him a note to say you were still sick. It wasn’t true at all and you’d felt almost back to normal the next day, but you couldn’t really face Levi yet. Despite forgiving him and allowing yourself to have a little bit of hope that things would turn out okay for the two of you, it was obvious that Levi was still on the fence with you, and had a very specific opinion about who you were despite not getting to know you.

You were using this time away from him to think of ways to show him that you weren’t that way at all, and that his impression of you was, truthfully, completely off the mark.

As the grandfather clock sounded off at noon, it brought you back to reality. You set your book down, not that you’d actually been reading much of it, and sighed when your stomach grumbled. Definitely lunchtime.

You stood up and stretched, about to walk to the kitchen and bother Chef Erlo when you realized something seemed...off.

The clock struck noon for a final time and you realized that that was the only sound you could really hear from all over the house. Silence engulfed you when the grandfather clock stopped, and you peered out into the hallway, baffled when you saw absolutely nobody in sight.

Feeling like you couldn’t break the silence, you stayed quiet as a mouse as you made your way to the kitchen, hoping to hear the usual bustle of noise there for lunch. Maybe that’s where everyone was. It was lunchtime, after all. Had you forgotten it was somebody’s birthday? Sometimes you’d sneak the staff into the servant’s quarters for a bit of a break and have a little birthday celebration during lunch, but you were sure nobody’s big day was today.

But you didn’t make it to the kitchen. As you got closer to the foyer, you could hear the commotion outside, interrupting the eerie silence in your home. Instead of going to check on things, curiosity got the best of you and you ended up peering out the window to see what was going on. A little gasp left your lips when you saw what was outside.

Hoards of people were at the gates of your home, screaming and shouting profanities as they tried to make their way inside. Your heart sped up at the sight, absolutely terrified at the pure hatred they all wore on their faces. You couldn’t really make out what they were all saying, but you heard the profanities, and you heard your father’s name enough times to know that this was personal.

The guards situated outside at the gate were pushing back as much as they could, and you even see that some of the Garrison soldiers had come to help out, but the crowd seemed to be growing bigger and bigger by the second. At any moment, it would bubble over and spill past the gates of your home.

Right to you.

Once again, after a lifetime of avoiding your father and his business to try and escape it, you were being dragged right into the middle of it instead.

You had to run. The anger outside was something that was almost tangible; you could feel it weighing heavily in the air even from where you stood inside your home. No doubt that someone would try to hurt you just in the belief that it would hurt your father to know they’d gotten to you.

For a brief moment, Levi flashed through your mind, and you sincerely regretted lying to him about still feeling unwell when his face popped to the front of your head. Maybe he would have helped you. Maybe not. The anger you could feel from the crowd outside was unfortunately similar to the anger Levi had bestowed upon you just a few days ago.

As you backed away from the window, you thought of all the different places you could go to hide. So lost in your thoughts, you didn’t register the footsteps sneaking up behind you and gasped when a hand clamped against your mouth to keep you quiet.

Before you could try and scream, a familiar voice whispered in your ear, “Shh, it’s only me. Let’s go.”

You whirled around, tears of relief springing to your eyes as you hugged Greta tightly.

“Greta,” you breathed out shakily, pulling away to look at her with wide eyes. “What’s going on?”

“Let’s not talk here, come on,” she whispered, tugging you towards the servant’s quarters, where you knew the wine cellar was situated. As soon as the door was closed and locked behind the two of you, Greta practically dragged you down the stairs. It was cooler down there and you shivered involuntarily.

There was dim candlelight at the end of the steps that lit up a narrow hallway, one that led towards a heavy wooden door. Chef Erlo was there holding a candelabra with one hand, a silver key in the other.

Your tears of relief spilled over at the sight of him.

“Erlo,” you whimpered, moving to hug him as well. He was just as quick about it as Greta was, gently stepping away from you with a small and sympathetic smile.

“We’ll get you out of here safely, miss,” he promised you.

A pang of fear hit you and you looked between Erlo and Greta, hand at your chest as you thought of the worst.

“And everyone else? Is everyone okay?” you asked them.

From above, you heard glass shattering and heavy thumps. Your heart pounded so hard against your chest that you worried your ribs would crack from the force. The fear you felt in that moment was unparalleled, unmatched by any other situation in your life. You’d never been this scared in your entire life.

“Everyone is safe. Except for you,” Greta said, and she nodded for Erlo to open the door. He unlocked it and hurried you both inside, but you stopped in your tracks when you saw Erlo wasn’t following.

“I’m going to lock the door behind me and slip the key under the crack. That should buy you some time,” he said to Greta, avoiding your gaze.

“What are you talking about? You’re coming with us, it’s not safe here! Something’s happening outside, people are angry and I don’t know why,” you rambled, tearing up again. Greta reached over to squeeze your hand, but everything about it was rushed, too hurried to really be a comfort to you.

Erlo flashed you another small smile, and then gave you a wink, his crow’s feet prominent as he finally flashed his goofy smile.

“I’ll be fine, miss. Don’t worry about me. It’s not me they’re after,” he assured you, but it didn’t make you feel any better.

Chef Erlo was like the father you’d never had. It was impossible to allow him to do this, but Greta held you back as he shut the door and locked it once again, with the key slipping underneath moments later.

Greta let go of you to swipe it off the ground, and then began to push you forward, nearly in the dark save for cracks of light at the door opposite the room.

The faint smell of wine permeated the air and you found yourself wishing for a glass to calm your nerves. Greta led you to the door in just a few moments flat, using the same key to unlock it and hurry through with you in tow.

It was the bulkhead entrance to the wine cellar, where the merchants would come deliver or take some wine. Part of your father’s business. It was where a lot of things were delivered. On the few steps there beneath the wooden doors, there was a maid’s dress and some worn shoes. One look at Greta told you that the new outfit was for you, so you wasted no time in nearly tearing off your dress and kicking off your shoes to put on the much simpler garments and better blend in outside without striking too much attention to yourself. Your current outfit would have been a dead giveaway to your status.

Greta lifted one of the doors up just enough to peer out cautiously as you changed, making sure it was safe to leave. Once she was sure it was, she nodded to you and lifted the door up quietly, keeping it lifted for you to hop up the short steps and out into the spring afternoon.

It was cloudy outside, threatening to rain. As if on cue, a crack of thunder sounded and you felt it was remarkably similar to a cliche in your favorite novel; it always rained whenever your favorite character was feeling upset.

You didn’t have much time to dwell on that. Greta gripped you by the elbow and tugged you away from the house in a pace that was rushed but not too much that it looked suspicious. Now that you were wearing new clothes, you looked like everyone else outside. There was no real need to rush and risk getting caught.

Nobody paid the two of you any mind. The real focus was on your house that was currently getting ransacked.

The sight made your heart sink to your stomach, but your tears had already dried.

It was true that these people were destroying the only home you’d ever known. It was true that in that moment, you were sure you’d never go back to it. But you just couldn’t find it in you to cry about this. Your tears were reserved for your staff and worrying about their wellbeing.

Whatever your father had done, it probably deserved this level of outrage.

Although you were filled to the brim with fear and adrenaline, above all, you felt a peculiar sense of freedom as more and more people pushed their way past the gates of your home to run inside.

Greta gave you a moment to watch the scene before steering you away with promises to explain everything as soon as she got you to safety.

The only time tears actually did threaten your eyes again was when Captain Levi’s face pushed its way into your mind once more.

Maybe you would never see him again. And maybe he’d like that.

Levi was all too familiar with feeling dread settle in his stomach and harden like a rock. He’d experienced it all his life, countless times as he watched comrades die, often such a big part of his nightmares and the reason for his insomnia.

He didn’t expect to feel that rock in his stomach as he approached your home. Rather, what was left of it.

But he felt it settle in his stomach, a dread so heavy that he almost had to hunch over, and he looked on in horror as people continued to run in and out of your home. Many people were running out with valuables in their arms. Others were running inside just to destroy everything in sight.

He was far too late, by the look of things.

His eyes darted around, a futile attempt to locate you, but of course he didn’t see you anywhere.

Soldiers and guards were doing what they could, and Levi could see reinforcements marching in, but it was too late.

It was too late.

Levi hopped off his horse and pushed past people and soldiers alike as he ran into your home, taking in the sight of broken glass and ruined furniture and banged up walls.

It was disgusting.

He went to your room first and only found it ravaged and empty with no signs of life.

Levi knew he was being crazy. Of course he wasn’t going to just find you there. In fact, the thought of seeing you in the middle of all this would have actually been worse. But not knowing where you were had his stomach in knots.

As a last resort, he checked the parlor room, where you’d shared an afternoon that had left Levi questioning himself and questioning you. Mostly himself.

He got there as the grandfather clock chimed at the top of the hour. It was just as ravaged as your room, but curiously enough, he noticed your favorite novel on the ground by where the side table used to be.

He picked it up and clutched it tightly, and then made a promise.

He would find you and he would get your book back to you. It was the only possession you had left in the world, he realized, looking around.

He’d find you.

He wouldn’t rest until he’d found you.

A cup of tea warmed your hands as silence filled the room of Greta’s mother’s kitchen.

The two women stared at you with so much sympathy, and so much worry, that it made you feel loved and yet also a little small at the same time.

Greta had just finished explaining everything to you.

Your father had been atrocious, and had taken advantage of his employees. He was in protective custody because he’d anticipated this riot to happen. Nobody knew where your mother was. It was a miracle that Greta and Erlo had managed to help you and everyone else out before you’d gotten hurt. Or killed.

And now you didn’t know what would happen next.

Your spirits, already low, dimmed even more at the thought of Chef Erlo. You desperately hoped he was okay, and hopefully he was. After all, he’d been correct: nobody was trying to hurt him. Only you and your family.

“Are you sure everybody made it out safely?” you whispered to Greta, who immediately nodded.

“Everyone’s been aware of some of the...tensions around town,” she explained. “We all had an exit plan in the works, just didn’t realize we’d have to implement it so soon.”

You flashed a brief and sad smile, nodding once as you took a sip of your tea.

“Thank you for getting everyone out safely first. It means the world to me.”

In your mind, you were just as responsible for your father’s sins as he was. To think you didn’t even have a clue of what was going on. It was embarrassing.

As if reading your mind, Greta’s mother, May, reached forward to squeeze your arm reassuringly.

“It’s not your fault, darling,” she murmured. “It wasn’t your place to know.”

You sighed softly and kept your eyes on your tea, frowning to yourself. It was true that you had basically been forced to be cooped up in the house, and now you were thinking there was a clear reason behind it now. You hardly had much say in your day to day schedule, especially after getting engaged to Captain Levi. Still, it didn’t feel good to be so in the dark.

And the thought of Captain Levi sent your heart aflutter. Did he know? Had he been aware of this the whole time? Was this part of the reason for your arrangement?

Slowly, you picked up your gaze from your tea to settle on Greta, biting the inside of your cheek before asking the question you were dreading to ask.

“What happens now?”

She didn’t look too sure either as she pondered your question, finally settling for shrugging her shoulders.

“I don’t know, miss,” she answered honestly. “I hate to say it, but it depends on your father. He and your mother will start looking for you once they realize you’re missing.”

The thought made you nauseous. Despite such a horrible outcome of your day, that peculiar feeling of freedom had been what kept you going. There was some sort of thrill attached to it.

You realized it was achingly similar to the hope you felt for your arrangement for Levi. The chance of things looking up, turning around.

All this hope and nothing to show for it.

Now you were hopeless.

News had gotten to Erwin quickly. Levi saw the commander ride in with other squad leaders as he helped beat down and arrest some of the rowdier citizens at your home. He hated to be there and wanted to go off and find you more than anything, but someone there had to have seen you, or seen what happened to you.

So far, nobody seemed to remember seeing you. In fact, some people had sworn to him that the house had been empty of people the entire time. Not a soul in the home at all.

When Erwin stepped past the gates, Levi had never wanted to pummel him so badly. Instead, he shoved a badly beaten merchant towards his commander with a growl, eyes nearly feral as he found the calm blue ones that he hated more than anything at the moment.

“You said there was civil unrest. You didn’t say there was an entire fucking mob,” he snapped.

Erwin remained calm, casually stepping over the merchant to get closer to Levi.

“Seems I was deceived,” he admitted, looking around. “Her father kept me in the dark. I had no idea about any of this. But I suppose you’ll be pleased to hear that I’m calling off the deal. We can’t tarnish the Scouts’ reputation even more by doing business with this family.”

Levi’s body went cold at the news.

Just a couple of weeks ago, he would have felt nothing but pure relief. Now, he felt nothing but pure dread.

“What about…?”

Levi couldn’t even say your name. It caught at the back of his throat and he struggled to breathe. He tried his best to remain as stoic as always, but Erwin knew him so well, and could see the concern at the edges of Levi’s gaze.

“There’s not much protection we can offer her, being her father’s daughter. She’s under his control,” Erwin reminded him. “Do you know where she is? I heard she’s declared missing.”

Levi nodded once to confirm, his worry amplifying at Erwin’s words.

He couldn’t protect you. Not while you were still affiliated with your father.

“People are saying that nobody was in the house,” Levi said, giving the commander a rundown of events. “I did a quick search, didn’t find any of the staff. No one was around.”

Erwin hummed a little, hands behind his back as he took in the sight of the damaged house in front of him.

“No surprise there. Our man of the hour is already in protective custody, having predicted this well before anyone else, and his wife was visiting with a friend, and now they’re all in protective custody as well. It’s just your ex-fiancee that we’re having trouble locating. Perhaps she’s with her staff.”

How stupid of him. Levi hadn’t really thought of that possibility yet. He’d been so focused on finding you, assuming the worst, that he hadn't taken the time to really think it through enough to realize that you were missing along with the staff.

Erwin was already five steps ahead of them.

“Some of the scouts are off to find the staff members that don’t live here in-house. One of them is bound to know where she is.”

Levi couldn’t help the small sigh of relief that left him, but he still felt useless if he wasn’t doing more to help. Without another word to Erwin, he marched off to do another quick search around the entire perimeter.

Some medics had come onto the scene as well and he was surprised to see a couple of them towards the back of the house, dragging someone out of the cellar. Levi had admittedly not really looked down there, knowing all there was, was food storage and wine cellar that someone had told him was all cleared out by now.

A familiar old man was getting dragged out and treated. He was badly beaten, bruised from head to toe, and his breathing was raspy and uneven.

Levi knew him to be a staff member and his heart skipped a beat.

Before he knew what he was doing, he was kneeling beside the old man, shaking him to get his attention despite the angry protests of a medic.

The old man opened his eyes and grimaced, but his face grew soft at the sight of Levi.

“Captain Levi,” he greeted him in a hoarse voice. “You’re a little late, don’t you think?”

“Where is she?” Levi asked, voice soft. “Do you know?”

“I know,” the man confirmed, nodding slowly as his eyes closed. “Greta...Greta took her. She’s...with Greta’s mother. But don’t know where...she lives.”

Greta. Levi knew that name. It was the name of one of the maids. You looked to be friends with her.

“Thank you,” he said, very sincere, before standing back up. More determined than ever, he made a beeline for his horse, a plan of action already formulating in his mind. He could make do with the information given to him. It was all he needed.

He was going to find you.

The sun hung low in the sky as May and Greta made up Greta’s old bed for you.

You had insisted on sleeping anywhere else, even the floor, but Greta had already set her mind on sharing a bed with her mother.

“I shared a bed with one of the other maids all the time, whenever we felt like it,” she told you. “I actually like it. It’s nice having another person there with you.”

You still felt a little guilty but stayed silent, and opted instead to watch the sun lower through the window of Greta’s childhood bedroom after being shooed off.

Greta and her mother chattered amongst themselves and you didn’t have the heart to join in just yet. You felt so drained after the day’s events that you couldn’t muster up the energy they had.

What kept you so anxious was also the thought of having to stay under your father’s thumb.

It was maddening to know that after everything, he still had your life in his hands. To be a highborn lady was to be in shackles.

A plan was starting to formulate in your mind, one where you could fake your death and run away and find work as a maid or maybe even a governess. Greta could help and confirm that you’d been taken, never to be seen again. You could grab your clothes that you’d discarded, if they were still around, and maybe douse them in animal blood or something, to really sell it.

But your plan was cut short with a pounding at the front door downstairs. The knocking was so intense that all three of you froze and looked between each other, fear prickling your spines.

When the door clearly sounded like it was trying to be opened, May sprang into action and ran downstairs, which kickstarted your adrenaline. You ran after her, afraid for her possibly getting hurt, reaching out for her to try and stop her from going any farther.

“May, no!” you hissed, eyes on the front door that was now in view. Someone was slamming into it, the lock jiggling unsteadily, until it finally gave in.

You were paralyzed in fear as the door flew open, but fear gave way to shock at the sight of Captain Levi at the entrance, looking frazzled. You would have never predicted you’d ever see him as anything other than composed or angry.

As soon as your eyes locked, you ran to him.

“Captain Levi!”

He stopped you before you could throw your arms around him and, at first, you felt embarrassed by it, taking it as a rejection.

It wasn’t until he started examining you, hands lifting and twisting your arms and turning your face this way and that, that you felt your heart warm up.

“Are you hurt?” he asked. He was cupping your face, holding your jaw familiar as his eyes scanned your face for any signs of injury, and that frazzled look he held only softened when his eyes finally met yours.

You shook your head slowly, keeping his gaze, hands shyly reaching up to cover his over your jaw.

“I’m not hurt,” you whispered. “Just scared.”

Levi frowned and reluctantly let go of your face, but his hands didn’t travel far. He rested them on your shoulders while your hands gently gripped his forearms, the two of you in your own little bubble.

“You don’t have to be scared anymore,” he promised you, sounding so earnest. “Nobody can hurt you while I’m here.”

Your bottom lip quivered, emotional at the thought of him willingly protecting you, but also emotional at the more sinister situation at hand.

“My father can,” you told him, squeezing his forearms as the words left your mouth. “Greta says he’ll be looking for me soon. I can’t escape him.”

Levi’s eyes hardened at that, grip also tightening on your shoulders, before he groaned and stepped away from you to run a hand over his face.

“Erwin said the same thing to me,” he admitted, pacing back and forth. He briefly looked towards Greta and her mother, then to the now broken front door, and blankly stared at them before muttering, “I’ll fix that.”

He turned back to you, arms crossed, as he took on a look of deep concentration. It was only there for a few moments before he snapped out of it, holding your gaze as he seemed to come to a conclusion.

“You can’t be under your father’s control once you’re married,” he pointed out.

At first, you didn’t understand. You raised a brow, a little peeved he was bringing it up, and nodded once.

“I suppose so…,” you agreed, a hint of a frown on your face. “But I’m assuming we won’t be getting married after this, so I’m kind of shit out of luck.” It was the first time you’d really sworn like that in front of Levi. In front of anyone. It was nice.

Levi tensed up a little and broke his eye contact with you to look away, and you could have sworn he looked a little flustered. There was a hint of pink at the tips of his ears, which shocked you.

“What?” you pressed, also feeling a bit of heat creep into your face.

This wasn’t happening. No way this was happening.

Levi hadn’t wanted to marry you even when it was basically required of him.

Your hopeless romantic little heart was just playing tricks on you. He wasn’t possibly going to suggest…

“I gave my word and I don’t intend on going back on it,” he said, still not looking at you, ears still pink. “Got any better ideas?”

“Captain Levi…,” you began, but then trailed off, not knowing what to say, until finally you managed out, “You don’t have to do this.”

He scoffed a little, eyes finally flickering back to you. Tentatively, he stepped forward until he was right in front of you again. You stayed perfectly still as he lifted a hand to place it on top of your head, giving you a small pat before ruffling up your hair.

“I have something for you,” he said suddenly, taking his hand away to reach into the pocket of his coat.

And then your favorite novel was in your hands, a little more crumpled up than usual but basically intact.

Tears sprang to your eyes and you hugged the book to your chest gratefully, looking to Levi with nothing but adoration.

At that moment, it was all you owned in the world. You didn’t even own the clothes on your back.

“That was really nice,” you choked out, gazing down at the book again with a small smile.

Levi stepped forward again, closing the distance between you as he rested a hand on your shoulder again.

“Let me protect you,” he said, tone filled with an air of finality that you couldn’t argue with. “I know I don’t have to.”

He didn’t have to say the actual words; you understood what he meant.

I want to.

Marriage was all about compromise.

In the end, Levi didn’t get to prolong his nuptials, since marrying you had to be done quickly. However, it also had to be done in secret. So, at the very least, you figured he at least got half of his wishes respected.

The moment the ink was dry on the certificate, you felt a weight lift off your shoulders. You shed your maiden name to gain a new surname, fully protected from your father now and fully backed by the Survey Corps. It was your 30th day of knowing Levi. Your 1st day of being married.

You took in a deep breath as Erwin took the document from you to sign as a witness, and you turned to Levi with a small and timid smile, which he actually tried to return. It was brief, but it was appreciated. And when he lifted his hand to pat your head affectionately, you melted a little.

“I’m sorry you didn’t have a big wedding like you wanted,” he murmured, eyes staring at you with a hint of remorse. “I should have never made you agree to that before.”

A half-smile tugged at one corner of your mouth and you shook your head, nudging your shoulder to his playfully.

“I never really wanted to have a big wedding,” you admitted to him. “I just wanted to have a special day for myself. And for my husband, of course. Didn’t have to be a big thing. It just needed to be special.”

Levi seemed to lighten up at that, giving another brief smile before murmuring, “That’s a relief.”

“What do you mean?” you asked, but he didn’t respond, choosing instead to stand up and offer a hand to help you on your feet as well.

You smoothed down the cream dress Greta had so kindly let you borrow and followed Levi out the door, head held a little higher now that you were an official Ackerman and nothing else. Instead of going to Commander Erwin’s office to go over a few next steps like originally planned, you found yourself following Levi outside.

“Where are we going?” you asked, puzzled, but Levi scoffed a little and turned to look at you from over his shoulder.

“If you could just be a little patient, I promise you’ll find out soon enough,” he said.

It was a beautiful day, you had to admit. The spring temperature was perfect and you basked in the sunlight, feeling freer than you’d ever felt before.

You stepped onto the grass in the courtyard, eyes towards the sky, and it wasn’t until you heard several people clear their throat that you tilted your head down to take a look.

Your heart nearly stopped as you saw Erlo, Greta, May, and Charlie, and some of Levi’s friends, sitting on the grass, a spread of what looked like a marvelous lunch in front of them.

Shouts of congratulations were passed around and you lit up at the sight, heart feeling full as you stumbled over while dragging Levi along.

You turned to him, eyes bright and excited, still not quite understanding.

“What is this?” you asked, looking between your bubble of friends and your brand new spouse.

Levi looked a little uncomfortable, but in that cute way, and Greta beat him to the punch with the answer.

“It’s your wedding day, so we’re celebrating, of course!” she laughed, then nodded towards Levi with a cunning grin. “It was your husband’s idea.”

Levi’s entire face flushed at the term but he also looked murderous at being found out.

You grinned at him, feeling warmed at his gesture, and you made a mental note to pull him aside later for a real thank you.

At that moment, you made do by sneaking a kiss to his cheek, fully appreciating the way he got flustered.

Erwin had made up a new room for you at base and, after a full day’s worth of celebrating your wedding day, you were ready to fall into bed.

The room was right next to Levi’s, which you appreciated. It seemed funny, almost, since of course spouses typically shared a room, but under these circumstances, that wasn’t very likely.

You cared for Levi and you could see that he at least cared for you in some ways, but those feelings would need to be nurtured with time.

The two of you were in front of your bedroom door, with you yawning up a storm, and Levi grumbling about getting you to bed.

You burst into your room and made a beeline for your bed, not bothering to really look around at your new room or even change out of your clothes. As soon as you were on the bed, you felt your drowsiness start to overtake you.

Before you passed out, you peeked over at Levi, who was getting situated at a desk.

“Aren’t you gonna sleep?” you asked, yawning again, and Levi turned to look at you briefly.

“Not for a while,” he answered finally.

You frowned at that but didn’t argue with him, your heart bubbling over with so many questions and feelings that you just couldn’t hold in anymore.

“Do you still dislike me?” you blurted out, face heating up at your lack of filter.

Levi raised a brow, pointedly looking towards the new ring on your finger. Then, his gaze softened, and he leaned back in the chair he sat in.

“No,” he answered. “And I was wrong for judging you before. I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance sooner.”

You stayed quiet for a moment, but kept your eyes on Levi, no matter how hard it was.

“Do you think you’ll fall in love with me one day, now that we’re married?”

You couldn't stop that question from tumbling out either, but you were too curious to feel embarrassed.

Levi’s ears flushed pink, a cute new trait you were catching onto. He looked away from you briefly, clearly trying to find the right words, and he took so long to respond that you felt your heart start to sink.

But then he stood from his seat and moved to kneel beside the bed, a hand reaching up to smooth some hair out of your face.

“Let me focus on protecting you first,” he said.

His eyes were the softest they’d ever been. They gave you another answer.

“I’m going to love you,” you promised him. You still couldn’t admit that you were actively falling in love. Not to him, not right now. But another time.

“I don’t deserve that, after how I acted,” he whispered.

“I’ll always forgive you,” you whispered back. “And I’m going to love you.”

Levi moved his hand from your head to tuck you into the sheets a little better, avoiding your gaze. Neither one of you said anything for a minute, a comfortable silence falling between you like that afternoon in the parlor room.

As you began to drift off, Levi’s soft voice filled your ears with one final promise. One that was meant more for him than for you.

“I’ll figure out how to love.”

You were too tired to notice how the sheets smelled like Levi. You were too tired to realize that the room was clearly already lived in and had typical possessions of a squad captain, from ODM gear to a desk clearly stacked up with documents.

You’d been too tired to remember that your bedroom door was the right one and not the left one. You’d been too tired to notice that you’d opened the left door.

Levi was too besotted by you to correct your mistake.

Somewhere, a grandfather clock chimed as midnight struck.

#levi x reader #levi ackerman oneshot #levi ackerman x you #levi ackerman x reader #levi x you #levi x y/n #levi attack on titan #levi ackerman #levi fic #levi fanfiction #levi ackerman fic #levi ackerman fanfiction #levi one shot #levi #aot fanfiction #aot oneshots #aot #snk fanfiction #snk

273 notes · View notes

thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 3 years

Note

There's this sort of trope I've noticed in a lot of Twilight fanfiction where the Cullens do not return as quickly as they did in canon during New Moon and somehow inexplicably run into Bella years later, when she's in her early-to-mid twenties and I was wondering how you think this would go? In my head the Cullens would skedaddle the second they got a whiff of Bella, but suspending disbelief there I always have a hard time buying it whenever older Bella ends up back together with Edward.

I think it depends on the Cullen in question, or, if it’s all the Cullens together.

The Yoko Ono Effect

To be honest, if the Cullens had stayed away in New Moon, I don’t think they would have made it as a singular unit to five-ten years down the road. The cracks were already to show even a few months in.

This isn’t to say Bella is responsible for the collapse of the Cullens, I believe they’re doomed anyway, but she serves as a catalyst.

After leaving Forks in New Moon the Cullens immediately begin drifting apart.

Edward is despondent and depressed, within a few weeks leaves the coven, and travels down the continent until he reaches Rio where he stays for months. Note, Edward knew by the time he hit Rio that he had long since lost Victoria’s trail (for the record, he lost her in Mexico) but I think it’s very telling he does not return to the coven.

I don’t think Edward was ever coming back.

This puts a significant strain on Emse, as Edward is far and away her favorite child, and she’s noted as being anxious and severely unhappy with Edward’s disappearance. In time, I believe this would lead to the collapse of Esme and Carlisle’s dumpster fire marriage (which at this point only survives on denial and miscommunication).

Alice and Jasper leave the group to both a) get out of dodge b) investigate Alice’s past. While they do later return things are... awkward.

Rosalie desperately tries to keep the family together, tells Edward the bad news to a) be the only one with the balls to tell him and b) hopefully get him to come back to the family. This, obviously, doesn’t work.

I think without Bella’s suicide attempt the coven would have broken apart probably within the year. Rosalie desperately would have tried to keep them together, but Esme would crack and go to be with Edward, Carlisle would let her go, Alice and Jasper would probably keep their heads down and go on extended honeymoons, and eventually they all realize there’s just nothing to go back to.

They go their separate ways.

The Cullens Are Still Cullening

But lets pretend that things work out.

Edward gets tired of being depressed in Rio and comes back to... be depressed with the family. To be honest, I don’t think he’d get over this. Edward was severely depressed before Bella.

He was very contemptuous not only of his own family but of humanity in general. Yes, he has this very strange idolation of humanity but he also views them as inherently beneath him and lesser. High school is his purgatory where he listens to the mundane thoughts of mundane mayfly humans.

He outright despises Jasper and Rosalie and even Carlisle, who he adores, he often views as something of a fool in great need of Edward’s personal protection.

Edward has lost all passion in life, even in his hobbies like music, and is slowly but surely spiraling down into a place where he can never recover. His obsession with Bella, while far from a good thing, brings light back into his life.

This is an Edward who gave that all up and willingly returns back to what he used to be. And I think that would destroy something in him. Frankly, I think it’d leave him in an even worse place than canon.

So, if the Cullens run into a now adult Bella...

Well, it’d be a clusterfuck.

Edward will be very conflicted as he tried to leave for Bella’s own good but now she’s done exactly what he wanted. She grew up and got over him, Edward presumably means nothing to her now.

Worse, there is now such a gap between them. Edward is physically much younger than she is now, he poses as a high school student while she’s an adult. Bella’s fears were warranted, she’s too old for him now, and in many ways has outgrown him.

If Bella’s in any sort of relationship with anyone, I think Edward would flip his lid, and murder her significant other. As he often fantasized murdering Mike as well as her nameless future husband. If she’s single...

I think with enough time, distance, and therapy Bella would be able to make significant strides towards a healthier mindset. She’d get over her depression and in turn over Edward. She might be angry at him for a while but in time would likely decide that he had left her for what were immature but noble reasons.

What they had was nice, but the relationship was never going to last. Even when she was a teenager, she knew this, which was why she so desperately wanted to be a vampire.

She likely might talk to him to find closure, but I imagine a more mature Bella realizes they know nothing about each other. She’s had so much time in her life now without him and he’s so different from what she remembered, younger. There’s no way to start a relationship, more, Edward himself realized it was never going to work.

I imagine Edward doesn’t take this well either. For all that Edward says he wants certain things, really, he does an impressive job making sure Bella never ran from him. Bella legitimately not being interested in him would destroy him and... likely lead to him devouring Bella eventually.

After all, Alice had predicted that Edward would not be able to stay away and that, ultimately, there are only two futures for Bella: death or vampire.

Edward Comes Back Alone

Alice had predicted that Edward would not be able to keep his distance from Bella. He tries twice. Once, in Twilight, when Alice first announces that Edward is in love with Bella and she will become a vampire. The second time is New Moon.

The first, he cracks in a week. It just doesn’t work out and Edward has a minature crisis over it and tells himself it’s fine because he has to protect her from spiders therefore he has to be in her life AND THIS IS FINE.

The second, he notes that he’s dangerously close to cracking and Alice predicted he couldn’t do it. He makes it six months, but does confess to Bella he often considered finding her again and watching her life from the shadows in Rio.

So, I highly doubt that Edward would make it to five or ten years or that he’d make it with the Cullens. He probably comes back alone by the time Bella’s senior year starts, and intends to watch her from the shadows.

Now, given the plot of Twilight, he realizes that nothing’s working out. Bella’s not free from the supernatural, as her best friend/potential new love interest is a werewolf who might maul her any second now. She’s being hunted by Victoria and everything’s spiralling out of control.

So, Edward probably gives up the charade fast and comes back to get Jake out of the picture and be very upset with Bella for ruining his plan. Bella’s just glad Edward is back. Given Edward probably calls the entire family back, who likely have nothing to say to this nonsense, things proceed pretty much as in canon.

Jasper Runs Across Bella

Considering the last time he saw her, Jasper would run like the hounds of hell are on his heels. This is a world in which he never sees much of Bella after the birthday incident and, as a result, is still mired in guilt. He can’t imagine Bella’s reaction upon seeing him in the wild nor does he want to.

Rosalie Runs Across Bella

Rosalie likely makes no contact. She probably views Bella with bitterness, sees her as the reason for the collapse of her family, and never understood Bella’s appeal in the first place. However, for all Rosalie’s bitterness, she wouldn’t take it out on Bella mostly because there’s nothing to say.

She’d just choose to be distantly happy for Bella that she got to live her human life and glad she adjusted well.

Emmett Runs Across Bella

Emmett and Bella don’t actually know each other that well, Emmett certainly has no personal connection with her. He wouldn’t make contact because it’d be awkward and would piss off Rose.

Alice Runs Across Bella

Alice doesn’t agree with Edward, but she’s also proving a point to him and ultimately values Edward far more than she does Bella. She’ll abide by his rules and not speak to Bella. Also, she sees that if she tries, there’s no way the conversation goes well as Alice would have to explain why she never answered any emails.

Best to avoid that.

Esme Runs Across Bella

Esme values Edward over everything, and while she perhaps thinks that Bella could fix Edward’s desperate unhappiness I think she’d acknowledge that Edward also doesn’t want to see her. She’d snoop from afar but ultimately, I don’t think she’d make contact.

If she did, it’d be with the sole purpose of matchmaking the adult Bella with Edward, which would lead to disaster.

Carlisle Runs Across Bella

Carlisle I think actually would talk to her, to offer up some explanation of what happened and how they got where they are. He and Bella would likely talk about vampires, the Cullen way of life, etc. and ultimately go their separate ways.

He’d try to give closure if she wants it but nothing more than that.

Though if he thinks Bella doesn’t want to talk/see him or any Cullen, he’d likely also make himself scarce.

Some Thoughts On Fanfiction

But that’s not why people are writing these types of stories, and, really while I can give my depressing takes on Twilight I think it’s fair to note that people write these fics for significantly different reasons.

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #edward cullen #anti edward cullen #bella swan #edward/bella #anti edward/bella #jasper whitlock #alice cullen #rosalie hale #emmett cullen #carlisle cullen #esme cullen #the cullens #meta #headcanon #opinion

291 notes · View notes

emilysshortstories · 3 years

Text

Steven Meeks Part 2

Still haven’t thought of a title but I’m liking this story so lets just roll with it. Also if someone could teach me how to put in a continue reading thing I would love you.

Words: 1607

Warnings: a bit of a love triangle? clique plot points?

My alarm clock blaring through my ears abruptly woke me up. 6:oo AM it read for I had to get ready early and stop by all my teachers' classrooms before classes actually started. They had to give me my course work for the week and I had to complete daily assignments and turn them in at the end of the day. I had the same deadlines as anyone else, just got my course work early. My old highschool was a similar format so I was used to this, just not used to waking up so goddamn early. At least this is only on Monday’s. I had United States History, Earth Science, Trigonometry, and Latin to get to before 8 o’clock. My uncle said he will explain everything to me in his classroom at 2, so I didn’t have to worry about english at least.

Now I see why everyone that gets through this school is a fucking genuious. I have not one but two history textbooks, I have to read a chapter a day in one of them and the other I have to read and complete all the questions for a chapter every other day. I have to do a chapter, with questions, everyday in Earth science. For Trig I read a chapter Monday and Wednesday, complete a sheet of 25 questions Tuesday and Thursday, and then have a test every Friday. I was given 30 words to memorize by Friday for Latin. Yes, I’ll have a test in latin every Friday as well. At least I know my uncle isn’t a sadist and won’t give me or his students an excessive amount of work.

I carried all four of my textbooks and school work outside with a large towel. I figured if I don’t have to be stuck in a classroom and can complete my course work on my own time, might as well make the most of it and do it in the sun away from everyone. I have 4 hours before I have to be at my uncle's classroom, so let's see how much of this crap I can get done.

I was done with history and just started the questions for Earth Science when I heard the school bell, signaling the 15 minute passing period. Not thinking anything of it I continued my work, that is until the sun was suddenly hidden from me. “Hey Charlie, what’s going on?” I asked, looking around to see 6 other boys behind him, including ‘Steven the red head’. My smile grew as we made eye contact. “I was about to ask the same thing, what you working on?” Charlie asked me, crouching down to sit next to me with the rest of his pose following suit. “Earth science, I got all my coursework for the week this morning so I’m just going through what’s due at the end of the day”. “Sounds boring to me, but if you ever need help, meeks is the genius of this school”. Charlie said as he pointed to Steven. “I thought your name was Steven?” I asked, turning to face him.

“What?” he said, sounding surprised at something.

“I thought your name was Steven, at least that’s what your father called you when we first met”

“You remember that?”

“Of course I do, so why Meeks?”

“It’s his last name” - “It’s my last name” both Charlie and Meeks said at the same time, which made me laugh a bit.

“What do you personally prefer though?” I asked.

“Meeks.” He said very abruptly compared to his previous tone.

“Okay, Meeks it is then, although I don’t make any promises to not call you Stevie when I’m teasing you.” I say trying to lighten the mood, everyone was just too quiet. “So you going to introduce me to the rest of your boy band Charlie?”

“Sure. This is Knox Overstreet, Todd Anderson, Neil Perry, Gerald Pitts, and Richard Cameron.” This made me burst out in laughter, “Your name is Dick Cam??” I asked, this being the funniest thing I’ve heard all week, but the question made everyone start to giggle as well. Everyone but Cameron of course, who just turned as red as his hair and walked away. “Oh I’m just teasing!” I yelled as he walked, “Sorry!!” I yelled louder, hoping he heard me. “I didn’t mean to offend, I'm sorry” I say to Charlie, actually feeling quite bad. “No! That was the best thing I’ve heard in my life, how did we not notice that?” Charlie asked the boys, but no one replied, they just kept laughing. Everyone but Meeks, who was looking down at the ground and playing with a corner of my towel.

“Is my towel more interesting than my joke there Stevie?” I ask and shuffle a little closer to him while the other boys separate into their own conversation. Good.

“N-no, I was laughing I promise-”

“I’m just messing with you- Stevie”

“Right” said with a sigh and a long pause. “Charlie was right though, you can always ask for help if you need it, even if I can’t help you I’ll point you to someone who can.” he said so fast I barely understood.

“Thank you , I really appreciate that.” I smiled at him, hoping that would calm his nerves. “You guys don’t really see a lot of girls going to a school like this do you?”

“No, not at all.”

“Well I come in peace I promise. Even if my jokes can seem a bit pointed at times.”

We both looked up at each other and held eye contact, much like the moment we first met. Yet this time it was deeper, like we understood what we were trying to say to another without having to come out and say it. I hoped he could see how much I liked him and would do something about it, but our moment was rudely interrupted by the school bell.

“Alright, time to go back to prison.” Charlie said, standing up, the boys following suit once again. Every boy but Meeks. “I-I-I’ll see you around Y/N” he said. “What time do you have English?” I asked a little too suddenly. “We all have it at 2” Charlie answered for him, ‘goddamnit let him answer his own questions man.’ “Great, my uncle told me to stop by his classroom at that time, so I’ll see you then” I said with a smile, only looking at Meeks, hoping to not only make eye contact again but also get Charlie to get the hint. “Bye” Meeks said to me. “Bye”.

It’s hard to focus on Earth Science after that, but I tried my best and actually finished all my questions and my trig chapter by the time 1:45 rolled around. Getting up, gathering up all my stuff, and heading to his class. I had my paperwork in my hands underneath the textbooks, with the towel draped on top, slightly obstructing my vision. “Fuck” I said as I reached the english building doors. Going outside was easy when all I had to do to open the doors was lean against them, but now that I was faced with a handle bar I had to pull. This was proving to be a lot more difficult than I had initially anticipated. Trying to balance everything into my left arm, I reached out my fingers to grasp the door, too scared to move my whole arm, and moving my towel into my chest with my chin so I can see what I’m doing. Even that didn’t work unfortunately as my towel fell to the ground. Closing my eyes and heaving a deep sigh, only to open them and see Meeks picking up my towel. “Thank you” I said thinking he was going to put the towel back on the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but started to blush when he draped it over his own shoulders and opened the door for me. I walked through the door- “Here” Meeks said from my left before taking two of my three textbooks out of my hands. “Thank you, that’s really sweet of you” I said, impressed with how kind he was. “No problem, I can help you take these to your room before two is you need?” he asked, now being able to look me in my face without books in the way. “Thanks, yeah it's just right in here through Mike’s office.” I said, leading the way, hearing Meeks chuckle behind me. “What?” I asked, turning around. “Nothing, just I’ve never heard anyone call Mr. Keating ‘Mike’ before”. “Oh, sorry about that, to me he will always be uncle Mike”. “That’s okay, I liked it”.

We walked in silence to my room where Meeks set my books down on my desk. “We should get to class, I have no idea what my uncle has planned” I said. “Okay”. ‘Not a man of many words, endearing.’

“All of you know my niece, Y/N. Mr. Nolan said that she wouldn’t be attending any classes but seeming that I plan to listen to opinions and presentations, so giving her a bunch of paperwork really wouldn’t be the best idea. So she will be joining this class, any questions? No, okay good now let's go.” My uncle preached before just waltzing out of the classroom. I knew he wanted me to follow him but the others who didn’t know how my uncle can be just seemed confused. So I said “That means he wants us to follow him” and I walked out of the classroom on the same path as my, sometimes strange, uncle Mike.

#DPS #DPS fandom #dps fanfiction #steven meeks #steven meeks x reader #knox overstreet #charlie dalton #charlie dalton x reader #Richard Cameron #dick cam #Neil Perry #todd anderson #gerald pitts #mr keating

55 notes · View notes

infernwetrust · 3 years

Text

In His Office [Michael Langdon x Fem Reader]

Summary: A recent change in your shift allows for you to have lunch with Michael at his brand new dealership.

Warnings: SMUT, SMUT, SMUT. Swearing. I think that’s about it.

WC: 2.5k

A/N: This idea came to me recently today lol. We all know Michael Langdon isn’t a stranger to a little office sex. I imagined this one with F&R Michael. Thank you for reading! -Juno

Michael walked around his dealership, hands clasped behind his back as he silently studied his employees at work. Not wanting Michael to always stress over his job as the anti-Christ, you convinced him to pursue something else that he was interested in. Why not start a business, he had thought. He decided that he would own a decent sized car lot, divided into 3 sections; luxury, middle-class, and pre-owned vehicles. The business took off well as he constantly won awards throughout the year whether it be for most sales or outstanding customer service.

He could feel the eyes burning into him as he walked passed, from employees and customers alike. He knew he was attractive. He knew that some of his workers wanted to screw him, but he paid their nasty thoughts no mind. He dressed in all black as usual. A black button up shirt that hugged his figure perfectly, tight black jeans, sporting the Michael Kors belt you had gotten him for his birthday, and his favorite pair of black dress shoes to go with it. He never went anywhere without wearing the platinum chain, which proudly displayed his last name, around his neck. That was also a gift from you.

His hands shifted behind his back and his thumb brushed against his wedding band, causing him smile a little bit as he finished walking the floor, returning to his office and taking a seat at his desk. He looked down at the wedding band, reminding himself of the passionate encounter that the two of you had shared a few nights ago.

"Michael..." you whispered against his lips as he lay comfortably between your legs.

"Hmm, my love?" he questioned, his blue eyes meeting yours, his lips not moving an inch away from yours.

"I want you to wear your ring while you make love to me. I want to see it. I want to be reminded of your commitment to me." He smiled against your lips because funny enough, it was something he always thought of too. Normally he would take it off to avoid it flying off his finger due to any sudden hand movements while the two of you got lost in each other.

"You don't have to tell me twice."

"I have your weekly sales report, Mr. Langdon." his lovely Ms. Mead said, walking into his office and gently placing the folder on his desk. He smiled warmly at her, taking a bite of his now cold bagel before moving the folder closer to him. It was only right that he made her head of the financials. She was so good with numbers and always had Michael's files correctly placed together.

"Now you know you don't have to call me that." he said to her. "Michael, Mike, even son, works just fine for me."

"I know." she said. "But we're in your place of business, my dear. I will always address you with respect."

"You're too good to me, you know that?" All she could do was smile. "Took care of me when no one else would, never left my side, always provided for me. I won't ever be able to thank you enough." She was going to say something else when Michael's front desk receptionist walked into his office, his shirt drenched in coffee.

"Jeremy what the fuck happened to you?"Michael questioned, furrowing his eyebrows as one of his first impression's of his establishment was now completely a mess. "You can't fucking greet people like that. What type of business do you think I'm running here?"

"There's a woman, in the lobby." he began, out of breath. "She keeps demanding that I direct you to her office and that she's your wife. I think she's crazy, but I tried letting her know that you're a very busy man and that she'd have to call in advance to meet with you, but she wouldn't take no for an answer." A smile crept its way across Michael's face as he snapped his fingers, restoring Jeremy's outfit back to its original state. Yup. That was you.

"Yeah, that sounds like my wife." Michael said, grinning alongside Ms. Mead. "Perhaps you should of listened to her the first time."

"But sir, I was just trying to-,"

"Ah ah. I've heard enough. Walk her back here and make sure you get nothing else thrown on you for the rest of the day or your fired. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir." Jeremy said lowly, turning to exit Michael's office and get you.

"These fucking new hires, huh?" Michael questioned, looking at Ms. Mead.

"You let Jeff and Mutt do the hiring when you really should pass that job along to Gallant. He would make sure the right people were working here."

"That he would. That he would..." Michael agreed, rubbing underneath his chin. And then you walked into the room. With a recent shift change, you now got off at 2PM, which means you were able to meet Michael for his lunches that he took at 2:30. He stared at you, smiling devilishly, running his fingers across his bottom lip.

"You're lucky I don't fire you my fucking self." you said to Jeremy as he escorted you in.

"My apologies, Mrs. Langdon." he said, with his head low.

"Yeah, whatever. You can get out now." He wasted no time, quickly leaving the room, accidentally bumping into the side of the door, causing the 3 of you to giggle. "Ugh, Michael, don't tell me you're still chewing on that bagel I sent you to work with." You walked over to his desk, engulfing Ms. Mead into a tight hug, which she gladly returned before planting a kiss on your cheek.

"I'll leave you two, to it." she said, giving Michael a nod before leaving the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Why so bossy today?" Michael questioned, sitting up in his chair and resting his hands on his desk, admiring your unique figure.

"Between work today and your stupid front desk agent, I'm just ready to eat lunch with you and for you to come home."

"It was that bad today?"

"If I could throw my computer out of the window with no consequences, I would." Michael chuckled, grabbing his bag of Panera Bread. You knew his favorite. Turkey Bacon Bravo, with avocado, extra, extra, avocado. Cheddar Broccoli soup and a Coke.

"You and me both, my Queen." Michael grabbed a remote, the one that control the shades in his office. He lowered them, half way, just so that no one walking by would be able to peak in at the two of you. "Staying with me until I get off at 5 or do you just want to take my car and go home and then come back for me?”

"You know I am. I've missed you terribly today."

"Is that why my front desk boy ended up covered in coffee?" The two of you looked at each other with a grin. "A temper just like mine. Mrs. Langdon, I love it, just as much as I love you."

"I love you too." you responded. "My temper is how I keep things in order."

"Mmmm." Michael hummed. "Tell me about it."

After lunch, Michael returned to his duties, going over his sales reports, moving things where they needed to go, and sending out emails and reminders. You loved watching him work. You loved how fast his fingers moved a crossed the keys and how his gaze never broke away from the task at hand. You were mainly focused on his outfit choice for today. You had no idea he would be leaving the house in an outfit that pointed out ALL of his features. Though he was soft, you could still see the full outline of his length through his jeans when he sat down. His chest, outlined against his shirt perfectly, you could just make out his nipples. The size of Michael's thighs drove you insane, that you couldn't help but come over in the chair you were sitting in and start rubbing them.

His focus still didn't break and while you knew he preferred to stay focused on his work, today it didn't seem like he cared. He allowed you to rub his thigh, his breathing slightly increasing as he typed up a inventory report. When he paused for a moment, wanting to crack his knuckles, you took the opportunity to spin his chair around so that it was facing you. The both of you immediately made eye contact, but no words were spoken. You could read his face and he could read yours. You were both on on the same page. He grabbed another remote, this time the stereo remote, turning it on, leaving the music at a reasonable volume.

Your hands were already fumbling with his belt as you got it unclasped. You quickly unbuttoned his jeans, Michael kicking off his shoes and moving them to the side. You pulled them down, bringing his boxers down with his, revealing his semi-hard cock. And all you did was touch him. You knew how much Michael craved you, both intimately and non-intimately. He was weak underneath your touch most of the time. You got on your knees in front of him, hands on his thighs as you slowly took him into your mouth. He let out a Godly sigh, leaning his head back as you got to work on him.

"Ssssh." you said, popping him out of your mouth. "It seems to be a busy day for you. You don't want your customers to know what's going on behind your office doors do you?"

"And what if I do?" Michael questioned, his cock twitching from missing your mouth.

"Well let's pretend you don't. No noises. Can you do that for me, daddy?" Michael's jaw clenched at the name and he bit his lip slightly. Silent Michael was sight to see. While extremely audible Michael was one of your favorites, nothing beat looking up at him and watching as he expressed his pleasure with his face and body.

You took him back into your mouth, slowly bobbing your head up and down on his length. Michael's jaw dropped. He desperately wanted to moan. He wanted you to know how good you were making him feel, but he kept it quiet. He slowly unbuttoned his shirt, never taking his eyes off you. He didn't bother to take it off, his chest and torso for the most part exposed, his chain landing perfectly in the middle of chest. You licked up and down the sides of his shaft, using your hand to stroke circles around his spit glazed tip. The sound of the wetness drove the both of you crazy. Your own arousal soaked through your panties.

Putting him back in your mouth, you sucked on just his tip, using both of your hands to stroke the rest of his length. Looking up at him, he looked so beautiful. He was breathing heavily as he peered back down at you, running his hand through his hair, his hips starting to thrust upwards in your hand to try and match your pace. His foot found its way between your legs and using his big toe, he slowly rubbed it across your clit, causing you to moan lowly around him, the vibrations ripping through him.

You were sucking faster now, moving your hands faster. He gripped both sides of his office chair, before deciding to let them go, wanting his hands wrapped up in your hair instead. You moved your hands, knowing what he was wanting to do. Welcoming it. And you loved watching him do it too. His thrusts in your mouth started off slow and gently, before they became rough and fast. You looked up at Michael again, who was now breathing so rapidly you thought that maybe he could be hyperventilating. You could see him mouthing the word fuck over and over and over.

He stood up abruptly, pulling you up with him before smashing his lips onto yours, immediately sliding his tongue into your mouth, the two of you fighting for dominance. He was quick to rid you of your clothes before pulling his shirt all the way off. With a quick wave of his hand, everything that was now on his desk, was on his office sofa, neatly stacked so that he could return to it lately. He picked you up, setting you down on his desk.

"Now can you do the same for me?" he asked, quickly sliding into you, catching you off guard. Sensing your impending loud moan he quickly put a hand over your mouth. "No noises yes? Or I'll stop and we'll have to finish this at home." You nodded against his hand and he slowly moved in and out of you at a rhythmic pace. You pulled him by the back of his neck, closer to you, putting your lips directly against his ear. His hands roamed all over you, squeezing your breasts, playing with your nipples as he gradually increased the pace at which he fucked you. Your hands travelled up and down his back when suddenly he grabbed them, pinning them above your head.

You swore the desk was inching farther and farther away from the area it resided in as he now pounded into you relentlessly and you could help but let out a cry of pleasure, or at least you tried to, but Michael knew you all to well. He used his powers to keep you quiet, your mouth wanting to make noise, but nothing but breaths and pants coming out.

"Poor, girl." Michael said between breaths. "Dishing out challenges you can't even do yourself. Now look, I have to use my powers to keep your mouth shut. Pathetic. You enjoy being my little office toy?" You nodded vigorously. Not only had your shift change allowed you to have lunch with Michael, but it was just the fact that you were now able to spend the rest of his work filled day with him, sex or no sex.

"That's what I thought." he continued, his pounding becoming sloppier and sloppier as he neared his climax, you not following too far behind. When he let your hands go, they immediately found their way to his hair, giving it a sharp tug to which he inhaled sharply to stop himself from cursing. You grabbed him by his throat, pulling him back down towards you as you neared your orgasm, foreheads pressed against each other with nothing but pure love and lust in the both of your eyes.

You let go first, squirming violently against Michael, who sloppily kissed you following his own release shortly after, breathing and panting loudly in each other's mouths. You both rode out your orgasms until the pleasure was completely gone.

"This shift change is going to be so much fun." Michael said as he rested his face in your neck.

"So much fun, Mr. Langdon. So much fun." you said back.

Taglist: @jimmason @angelicmichael @whatcodysaid @theneverendinghunger

#cody fern #american horror story #cody fern imagine #ahs #ahs apocalypse #michael langdon #michael langdon imagine #michael langdon smut #michael langdon x reader

240 notes · View notes

qvid-pro-qvo · 3 years

Text

under the cover of night (part i)

mike dodds x gender neutral reader. reader is a detective with the special victims unit. mike dodds is alive and sergeant of svu. special thanks to @writefasttalkevenfaster for the suggestions she gave, and @crazyshannonigans for the beta.

part one. part two. part three.

word count: 4749

rating: mature, for the pain of having to hide what’s already hidden (canon-typical violence and themes here, with mentions of alcohol, rape, murder, etc. also, mike is reader’s superior)

Undercover operations are always a little bit complicated.

The case itself is straightforward, if not incredibly heartbreaking. A trafficking ring targeted towards couples, with an online storefront for access. The squad has been on them for a month now, and each step closer seems to bring you all two steps back.

But that doesn’t matter, when in the moment, you’re so damn close.

“Hey,” Mike murmurs, catching your attention with a squeeze of his hand. “You all right?”

“Yeah,” you reply, mouth quirking up as you squeeze his hand back. “I’m good. Just thinking.”

“About?” he asks, and you just squeeze his hand again, shaking your head with a little laugh as you feel him pull you just a little closer. His hand leaves yours, and when his arm wraps around you, falling into his side feels like the most natural thing in the world.

Maybe because it is. It is easy to follow his lead, to lean close, push up to whisper into his ear. It’s also easy to muffle the mic against your shirt, pressing against Mike’s side so that the sound goes fuzzy. “Nothing for the peanut gallery,” you murmur, and his answering huff hits your hair.

“Understood, detective,” he whispers back, and dares a kiss against your temple, hiding his movements behind your head so the van can’t see.

A straightforward case. A simple undercover. What could possibly make it complicated?

Well.

For a few incredible, secret months, you and Mike Dodds have actually been dating. Secret because he’s your superior officer, secret because of his father, and secret because the thought of waiting for the necessary channels, for when it would be proper, makes your skin itch when you know you aren’t gonna let this guy go.

At first, you’d thought it was a joke, getting that text from Liv. Getting that text from Liv while your feet hit against Mike’s under the table. Getting that text from Liv while having dinner with Mike Dodds, a date to finish up the end of the week, on the other side of town where other SVU detectives or nosy A.D.A.s couldn’t stumble upon the two of you. You’d chuckled when you’d gotten it, barely reading the message to the squad.

“Someone’s gonna be having fun,” you’d chuckled, shaking your head before putting your phone down. The word undercover had been the only thing that’d stuck out, and it was easy to know that you were not usually first pick.

Mike’s lack of response probably should’ve been your first clue. But it wasn’t. You’d just started chatting about something that’d happened at your gym when you realized that Mike had… had actually opened the text.

“Mike,” you’d laughed, reaching for your glass. “Come on. They’ll be fine without us.”

And when he’d cleared his throat, reached to smooth down the front of his shirt and raise a brow at you, well.

That was the hint.

“No,” you’d blurted out.

“Oh, yeah,” he’d responded, and you’d watched him try a small smile as he lifted his hand for the check.

The problem was that you were just the type that was needed – it was hard to ignore when the victims looked a lot like you, and a lot like him. When the targets were professional couples looking for a little bit of fun to “spice up” their sex life, you and Mike, side by side, could’ve been the blueprint.

“The perfect ploy,” Liv had told the two of you as you stood in front of her. Fresh off of trying to look like the two of you weren’t on a date together, smiling together for a photo she could upload onto the page that Amanda was meticulously crafting. “Thanks for doing this, guys. If we set up the profile tonight, we could have a hit as early as tomorrow morning. Find out who’s giving up these couples to the wolves.”

“It’s no problem,” Mike told her, then, hand still around your waist as she lowered her phone camera.

“Our job, isn’t it?” you said with a smile, not thinking about how you hadn’t pulled away.

And then Liv had glanced up to the both of you. A hint of a smile had played across her lips, especially as the two of you almost jumped apart at her raised brow. “We’re done with pictures now. Go look over Rollins’ work, see if it needs any personal touches.”

All of that led up to now. Running your hand up Mike’s bicep in full view of the crew. Your hands interlocking as you lean back with the sound of Liv’s voice in your ear, telling you that the mic was getting caught on his jacket. The feeling of your bodies flush against each other, glancing toward the door while waiting for your contact to arrive.

“Copy that, Lieutenant,” you say, trying to stifle your little grin so the rest of the squad can’t hear the delight in your features. “Any sign?”

“Nothing,” is Carisi’s tired response, and you can hear every inch his jaw stretches with the yawn he manages. “Dead out here.”

“Nothing from this side,” Rollins reports, her voice a little more like a tin can thanks to the distance.

“Think we can call it an early night, then?” Fin asks. “I don’t see any of you standing out in the cold.”

You can’t help your chuckle, but then there’s a sharp intake of breath from Carisi. “Looks like you just jinxed it. Look. Coming from our right, just passing the awnings.”

“That’s him.” Liv’s voice has a tone to it that makes your back straighten subconsciously, a warning that lifts Mike’s arm to wrap around your waist. “All right, guys. You’re on. Remember. We need him to tell us who he sends addresses to.”

“Copy that,” you reply, and Mike’s grip is firm. You look down at your boyfriend - well. Fake boyfriend, you suppose. “Showtime, sergeant.”

His name is Will. He’s a handsome guy, with a brilliant smile and a laugh that’s contagious. You and Mike stand to greet him, and when he shakes his grip is firm, just enough.

“Well. The picture doesn’t do the two of you justice,” he says with a grin, taking Mike in with an unsubtle up and down that makes you smile despite the situation. “I’m loving the no-tie look and show-stopping smiles.”

The answer you each give is a sheepish laugh, and you feel Mike’s hand squeeze on your waist. “Isn’t he a charmer?” you say to Mike lightly, and Will shrugs, faux-humility oozing.

“I do my damnedest. Why don’t we get a couple of drinks? Get to know one another.”

“Sounds fine by me,” Mike says in a low rumble, all warmth. It makes your hand on his back move up to his neck, playing with the baby hairs there.

“Me, too,” you agree. “What’s your order, Will? We’ll cover.”

There’s about half an hour of small talk. The conversation moves… easily enough. Verbal flirting, gentle pushes, but nothing that tells you he’s willing to come along to the hotel room you have the key to.

It’s at forty-five minutes you decide to make a move. You’re standing in between the two of them, Mike and Will, and you find yourself mimicking what you’re doing on Mike’s end with Will. Little leans closer, as much as you can manage, fingers on his arm, on his shoulder. It’s blatant, more than a little, and you try to play up the drinks as much as you can when they’re notably virgin on your end. But Mike…

God, but Mike.

It’s like a bungee cord. Pushing in to Will gets you a pull back into Mike’s side. No matter how much you try, you’re urged back close to him. It gets to the point where Will is getting visibly turned off by Mike’s movements, at the way he’s pulling you back from him.

You know, in your brain, he’s just trying to protect you. Every time Will touches you, you feel the tension from him. You both know what he does with his little team, what the body count has been.

But it’s the operation. It’s undercover.

Will’s hand reaches for yours, the one that’s settled on his knee. He covers your fingers, interlocks your hands, and you don’t hide your little laugh, ducking your head.

You feel that tug again. The bungee cord yanking you back to reality, Mike’s arm on your waist pulling you against him. It makes Will clench his jaw, makes you wince as you press against him and close your eyes tight.

“Mike,” you say, sharp, stern. His fingers release suddenly, and you almost stumble at the lack of pressure against your side.

“Sorry,” he mutters, not sorry in the slightest. You can see it in the tension of his shoulders, the feeling of his hand on your back in smooth circles. “Just…”

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Will’s eyeing the both of you now, and you can see the suspicion start to close him off. His arm lifts from the bar, his finger on the back of your hand pulling away. He’s assessing Mike, and there’s a squint that makes you nervous. Makes you scramble.

“Mike, honey,” you say. “Why don’t you get the next round?” Your eyes don’t leave Will, who’s now facing you completely. It’s as if Mike doesn’t exist, and in that moment, you’re very much okay with that.

You know he wants to argue. Wants to keep himself glued to your side. But another look from you keeps his mouth shut, and when he nods, it’s with a small smile. Polite. Banal. He can’t help himself completely – a kiss to your temple that makes Will’s lips twitch – but you don’t look up when he does so, a dismissal in and of itself.

It’s only when Mike is out of supposed earshot that you start talking, glancing over your shoulder for the show of it. After all, Mike can hear every word.

“Sorry about that,” you sigh out. “This is our first time, and… he wants everything to be perfect. Still trying to figure out what he wants.”

“I know that feeling. And I don’t blame your beau.” Will’s voice is sympathetic, and he lifts his hand again to trace along your knuckles. “Hard not to feel that way with two pretty people to impress.”

In your head is a mantra to yourself. Flirt. Flirt like your life depends on it.

“If you’re worried about being impressive, trust me, you don’t have to,” you laugh out, leaning forward with a conspiratorial glance around the bar. “I would venture to say that’s what makes Mike a little nervous.”

“You think?” his voice goes similarly low. “A man like that? Nervous about me?”

You watch his eyes glance towards where Mike is – yours follows easily. In that moment, you see what he sees. Strong, tall, broad-shouldered, great ass. You have to fight your grin, the little rush of possessiveness that you get when he glances back and sees you. He smiles, bright and easy, like every smile he gives you, and you force yourself to look back at the man you’re trying to seduce.

“Look,” you murmur, and push forward so your mouth is by his ear, your fingers reaching up to run down his chest, play with a button. “We saw your photo, and he couldn’t… control himself.”

Not true. Mike had given a little fist pump at the sight of Will because of his connection to the case, had grinned at you with the victory. But that didn’t matter, because Will was looking, too, and turned to look at you once he’d gotten his fill. “Give him another chance,” you push. Push without being pushy, urge him without seeming urgent. Let your fingers slide down his chest to rest over his hand. “He’ll play nice. I’ll make sure of it.”

There seemed to be a beat. Will’s eyes scanning yours. And then he smirks.

“You have a room?” he asks.

Got him. “Upstairs. Why don’t you come up?”

“That’s it,” Liv’s voice sings in your ear. You fight the urge to turn your head to it. “Get him up there, then figure out what he knows.” She sounds proud, and you try not to preen at it either. Letting all your pleasure show in your smile that you hope looks a little wicked.

“Should we bring the drinks?” you ask. Knowing that the drink you’re getting is as virgin as Mike’s is.

“No,” Will replies, and he presses a kiss to your cheek. “Get your handsome man.”

You turn over your shoulder. Smile at Mike, who smiles back again when he catches your gaze. You tilt your head with a nod, and he gets the picture, waving off the bartender, offering over a bill before taking a few steps towards you.

Will’s hand settles on your back. You try not to flinch away from it, try to lean into it, even, and smile as you both turn towards where the bar leads up into the hotel. “Lead the way,” you tell him, and he smirks.

You hear Liv’s voice in your ear. “They’re heading upstairs.”

The walk is easy. You know Mike is only a few steps behind, you can hear his light footfalls, but soon he’s right beside the both of you.

“313,” You say against his ear, loud enough that Mike can hear. You hand your boyfriend the key card, and Will presses a kiss against your temple right where Mike did earlier. You try not to squirm with it, just let out a light chuckle as Mike takes the card.

“Perfect,” the bastard responds, and when you smile at him it’s real enough. “I’ve got a surprise for you, once we’re inside.”

“Oh, yeah?” you say, keeping your voice low and breathy. You watch Mike push the door open, moving forward with Will to follow him. His hand drops from touching you, and you can’t help your sigh of relief. Almost there.

That’s when you feel the gun against your back.

You can’t help the way your breath hitches. Mike turns around once he’s in the room, and you swallow tightly. There’s a digging, and you’re urged forward, stumbling as you feel Will’s hand grip your side.

“Keep walking,” he snaps. “That’s it. Let your boyfriend get a good look at you.”

“Sweetheart?” Mike’s voice is concerned, and you can tell it’s not something faked for the squad. “What’s going on?”

“Drop the act, officers,” Will snarls. “And get in the damn room.”

“Dodds?” Liv’s voice is in your ear and Mike’s at the same time, and you both wince with it, the sudden sharpness. “What’s going on?”

You’re pushed forward again, the only thing touching you now the barrel against your back. Your mind is racing, and you close your eyes, take a deep breath. “Will, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you whisper, hands lifting slowly. “There’s no need for… for a gun.”

Carisi’s voice is next, sharp. “Did I just hear ‘gun’? Lieutenant –”

“Dodds, report!”

Mike’s voice is hard. “Will, what’s going on? Come on, let my –”

“Oh, shut up.” The gun moves to your side, and Will’s grip on you returns, this time grabbing your bicep to yank you close. “Any wrong moves and I blow a hole into your partner’s side, here. Now, sit.”

Mike’s ass hits the bed quick, and you can see the way his whole body tenses when he’s down. He’s not rigid, no – you know that any wrong move from Will and he’ll leap up, rush the other man, have him down in three seconds flat. It’s only his jaw that clenches, and you watch him roll it slowly as Will shuts the door with a well-placed kick of his foot.

“This is how we’re gonna do this,” Will says. His voice is right by your ear, and you can’t see him, can’t see what Mike sees that makes him push a slow breath through his nose. “You, Mike, walk out of here. I keep your partner for insurance, and I wait for my ride. When they get here, the two of us take a little trip, and I drop your partner off at a payphone.”

A couple of slow breaths from Mike. You do your best to match them, to think. “What’s the catch?” you ask, and you just know the bastard is smirking.

“Anyone follows, I make sure that there’s nothing about this pretty face you can recognize.”

There’s a pause. There’s a lot of reasons you love Mike. He’s one of the bravest cops you’ve ever known. But that bravery makes him tilt his chin up, makes him look Will dead in the eye.

“No.”

Will growls, jabs the gun deeper into your side. You can feel it pressing into your ribs, right against the bone that a bullet would surely shatter.

“You’re a petty burglar, Will,” he continues, and lets his hands push off of his knees as he rises to his full height. He takes a step towards the both of you, and you feel Will drag you back, lift the gun to point at him.

“Fuck off and get back on the bed. I will shoot –”

But he doesn’t. Of course he doesn’t. It makes your breath hitch, the way that Will’s arm is now lifted to push against your neck. “We’re Special Victims Unit,” Mike urges him. “You’re not for us. We want the people who rape and kill right after you. You understand?”

“Mike, just go,” you snap, your anger, frustration, fear getting the better of you. But Mike, stubborn asshole that he is, stays firmly planted. He’s not even armed, and yet he stays, arms raising up, eyes steady as he looks at Will. “I’ll be fine.”

“I’m not leaving you,” Mike says to you, watches as the gun presses more firmly against your side. Anyone else would think he was unfazed, but you see the way his jaw twitches at the sight of you so vulnerable. “Let’s talk about this, Will.”

“Talk about what? All your friends surrounding the building as we speak?” he snaps, and you feel the barrel against your skin as your shirt rides up. It makes you wince, the feeling, and Mike’s slow blink is measured.

“They’re not. Let’s talk about what I can do for you.”

You can hear Liv talking in your ear. Of course, they are. In ten this whole block will be cut off. But Mike just smiles, a little small one. “We just need information,” he says. “We don’t need you; we don’t want you. All we want is who you tell about the couples. Who’s the one who hurts them?”

Will’s voice is short. “I don’t know. Now get out.”

Mike doesn’t. “How do you tell them? That these people are vulnerable? That they’re sleeping?”

“Mike –” you try, but Will is talking over you before you can get much more out.

“Get out!”

“Will, you and I both know you do.” Another step, and you can see the gun shaking as Will points it, the tremor in his voice overtaking his attempt to assert any authority. “You know who comes in. Who slashes their throats. Who makes sure they can’t scream while they –”

“Stop!” Will screams, a half-sob.

Everyone goes silent. Mike, Liv, Carisi. Any chatter dies, and your breath stops.

You wait for the shot that doesn’t come.

“Stop.” The gun is back against your side, but it’s held loosely, and it’s not pointed to you. Mike tracks it with his eyes, meets yours, before taking another step. “Stop, I don’t – I don’t know them, okay? They pay me, okay? I send a text, they send me money, and – and I don’t have to do anything –”

Mike’s voice is so, so gentle. “I know. I know, Will. You steal. You take what you need, don’t you? What you can sell. They kill. They murder. You got caught up in the wrong crowd. Let us help you.”

Will’s sobs are hiccupping now, and you can feel the way the gun is trembling against you. He’s nothing like the confident man he plays, now, the façade cracking under the right kind of pressure.

Fear.

“Let us help you. All you have to do is give the gun to me, Will.”

Your eyes are closed now. You can’t watch Mike take those steady steps forward, closer and closer to a loaded pistol. All you can do is take a deep breath in, and out, and in, holding, holding, holding –

The gun drops. You hear its clunk on the carpeted floor, feel the way Mike’s hands grab at your wrist and yank you aside. You’re barely registering Mike’s voice as you gasp for air, hands trembling as they grip your knees and you bend over, trying not to retch.

Fuck.

There’s a commotion. Up the steps. You can hear Liv shouting orders in your ear, and you lift a hand to the comm piece carefully, still heaving a little. “Suspect – suspect detained. Stand down, suspect detained.”

“Are you both all right?” Liv shouts, and you hear the sirens outside. “Tell me you’re both all right. Sergeant, report!”

You’re still trying to catch your breath. “We’re fine, lieutenant. Just. We’ll be down soon.”

When you’re able to stand upright, you turn to see Mike. He’s got Will’s hands behind his back, and when the door flies open Sonny tosses him a pair of handcuffs.

“Sergeant,” he acknowledges, and then his eyes fall on you. “You all right?”

“Fine,” you say. “I’m fine.”

“You need to get checked out,” Mike says immediately, and you feel your brow furrow at him, a glare. He’s looking at you intently, and you feel your jaw clench as you rub your hand over your forehead.

“I’m fine –” you try, feeling your hackles raise at the overprotectiveness for the second time that night. He might be your boss, but you know that this isn’t coming from a sergeant to his detective, and it makes your stomach churn.

But your words are dismissed with his turn back to Sonny. “You’re getting checked out. Are there paramedics down there?”

“There’s an ambulance,” Sonny confirms, but his voice is a little hesitant, looking between the two of you.

“Head down. I’ll handle Will and get him to Liv and Rollins.”

It’s an order, or at the very least sounds like one. You glance at Sonny with a small shake of your head before moving towards him. His hand goes to your shoulder, squeezes it, but you just shake your head again before moving through the halls of the hotel, jogging down the flights you need to before emerging into crisp night air.

They check you out, the paramedics. There’s nothing really wrong, besides the way that your heart rate hasn’t seemed to calm down. So you lean there, on the ambulance, trying some deep breathing to ignore the cool metal you swear is still on your skin.

And then Mike emerges.

He walks Will to the squad car. Loads him up, handcuffed, mournful. He talks with Liv, easy, solemn, and then immediately makes a beeline towards you. You don’t know what to say to him. There’s so much in your head, none of it particularly pleasant. All you see is his eyes widening, his hands up, the way he walks closer after you beg him not to, so clearly ready to risk it all to save you –

Yeah. Great feeling to have that on your conscience.

“What the hell, Mike?” you mutter. The back of the ambulance is cold against your body, and you shiver and wrap the shock blanket around you a little tighter. You’re fine, and you’ll stand by that. “What the hell were you thinking in there?”

You’re just exhausted now. Your bones are weary, and you can still feel the place where the gun was digging into you – it’s not bruised, you’re certain, but that ghost of a gun will linger the rest of the day.

“I was thinking that I needed to get us out of there alive,” he says, and you glance up at him before shaking your head, pulling the blanket tighter. “Are you all right?”

You nod, but it’s small. “Look, you should’ve left me in there. You were guaranteed an out –”

“Neither of us were guaranteed anything. I saw I could talk him down, so I did.”

“And if it’d gone wrong? Mike, you can’t keep throwing yourself into danger, and especially not for –”

“I can make that decision for myself,” he interrupts. Again. And you feel yourself tensing, pushing off of the ambulance to narrow your eyes at him.

“Can I speak, please?” you say. It’s sharp, and it gets his attention. Makes him stand still, lift his chin at you. “You can’t keep doing that. Your life is not expendable. Not for me. Not ever for me.”

“My life isn’t worth much at all if I have to step aside when you’re in danger. It wasn’t about whether or not we’re together, and I wasn’t solely motivated by the fact that I’m your boyfriend.”

“Okay, yes, you’re my – my boyfriend,” you shoot back, and it’s a hiss coming out of your mouth. “But today, in those moments, we’re not dating. You shouldn’t be motivated by that at all. We were undercover – we were cops. You were my sergeant. You have to realize –”

“You surely can’t expect me to just sit back and turn off the fact that I care about you,” Mike scoffs, and you find yourself inching towards the edge of a breaking point.

You throw your hands in the air. The paramedic inside the ambulance almost gets hit in the face as he steps out before you’re pinching your nose, taking a breath in and out. “No, but do you think I could finish a damn sentence?”

His jaw ticks before he relents. “Okay. Fine. Say what you want to say. I’m all ears.”

The two of you are nose to nose, now. Bristling with the exhaustion, the fear, the energy that’s built up and pent up.

“What I wanna say? Fine. You know what I wanna say? It’s that your attitude almost blew this whole thing!” you shout back, and you see Mike’s shoulders tense, the way his breath goes low and slow through his nose. “What the hell were you thinking, going at his throat like that?”

“I was thinking that he was putting his hands on you,” Mike mutters. “What, I can’t look out for you now?”

“Are you kidding?” you retort. You’re incredulous, and you have to force your voice low before speaking again. “It’s an undercover operation. Not the time to suddenly be aware of us. And not exactly a great look for a couple of undercover swingers to be so damn stingy, Dodds.”

His brow is furrowed deep as he looks at you, breath coming in short huffs, and when he rolls his eyes, it stings. “All right. Well, since it’s so easy for you to forget you have a boyfriend, I’ll stop acting like one. How about that?”

The silence is heavy. It seems to push down on you, from all sides, and you find yourself falling back against the ambulance. His words seem to crash on him once they settle on you, and his whole body slumps.

“I didn’t mean –” he sighs out. He sounds so… defeated, but you just rub your hands over your face as he takes a step closer to you. “You know I –”

“I know what you meant, Mike,” you say, and there’s nothing but exhaustion that bleeds into your tone. “Just. Go see Liv. I’m fine.”

He starts to reach out to you. “Baby…”

“Baby? Nice try.” It’s said with a scoff, and you just pull away, standing tall again and brushing him off. When you move, it’s to walk towards one of the squad cars. “I’ll see you at the precinct, sergeant.”

“Wait – don’t –“

But your steps are quick and focused, to where Liv and Amanda stand. You tell your lieutenant you’ve been cleared, and then you’re free to go. Precinct for paperwork, home for the night, and knowing that Mike won’t dare to be right behind you.

tag list: @crazyshannonigans // @hurricanejjareau // @writefasttalkevenfaster // @altsvu // @ssaic-jareau // @encounterthepast // @mijop // @1234-angelika // @wanniiieeee // @averyhotchner // @barbasbodaciousbeard // @xxlovingfandomsxx

want to be tagged for my fics in the future? here’s the form!

#my fic #mike dodds x reader #mike dodds #gender neutral reader #canon-typical violence #tw alcohol mention #tw rape mention #law and order: svu #olivia benson #sonny carisi #amanda rollins #odafin tutuola

61 notes · View notes

shadow-assassin-blix · 3 years

Text

Parent Trap AU

Part 4

Marcus Moreno x Reader

A/N: The dreaded Ex appears. But lots of Family time and Protective!Dad Marcus. Hm. There may only be 2 more parts after this. There will be lots of headcanons about them though.

Everything tag: @mikeisthricedeceased

Pedro Tag: @m-1234 @fioccodineveautunnale @artsymaddie @blo0dangel @mcrmarvelloki

It had been a several months since that first date; things have gone much better. The two of them had gone on several dates, both together and with their kids. The four of them had become their own makeshift family.

Currently Shade and Artemis were spending their Saturday together, baking brownies and cookies while watching some Netflix. Artemis really enjoyed The Vampire Diaries, so an episode was on in the background. As they were mixing the batters, there was a knock on the front door. Shade left Artemis to finish mixing the brownies, to answer it.

She opened the door and immediately frowned at who she saw standing there. It was Mike, her ex, Artemis’ father.

“What are you doing here?” She asked in a whisper, angrily.

“What? I can’t come see my daughter?” He asked in a disinterested voice.

“No. Not when you compare her to your other kids and make her feel less than. Get off my property,” She demanded, moving to shut the door.

He grabbed hold of the door, stopping it from slamming in his face.

“I have a right to see her,” He said loudly, trying to push the door pack open.

“No. No you do not. You didn’t want her when I was pregnant with her. You didn’t want her for the first 7 years of her life. I gave you the courtesy of being in her life, and you have made her feel worthless every time she’s seen you. You don’t get to waltz in when you feel like it and mess up her life the way you did mine. Now, I’m goin’ to say this one more time: Get. Off. My. Property,” She stated firmly, putting her weight into closing the door.

The door reluctantly closed, and she locked it as quickly as she could. She could hear him yell at her through the door, before stomping off.

She slid down to the floor, her back against the door. She sighed heavily, wrapping her arms around her knees, bowing her head down.

“Momma? Are you okay?” She heard Artemis ask.

She lifted her head up, looking at Artemis who was standing in the entryway of the living room.

“Yeah. Yeah baby, I’m okay. C’mere,” She waved her over, opening her arms up for her, straightening her legs out.

Artemis rushed over to her, crawling into her lap. Once Artemis was comfortable, Shade held her to her close, rocking her slightly.

“I don’t want to see him anymore,” She hears Artemis whisper to her.

Shade nodded softly, murmuring she understood.

At that point, her phone rang, and as she answered it, she sighed with relief as she heard Marcus’s voice speak.

“How are my girls doing? We still on for tonight?” Marcus chipper voice asked.

“Yeah. Um. Actually… do you mind if we come over to you? I’ll… I’ll explain when we get there,” Shade wondered as she tried to think quickly.

“Sure! Come over whenever you are ready, we will be here!” Marcus replied still trying to sound happy, but she could hear the concern.

Shade hung up, and the two of them got up. Shade quickly cleaned up the kitchen, tossing the abandoned batters. Shade packed an overnight bag for the both of them, wanting to get away from the house for the evening. Once their bags were ready, the two of them got in the car and drove off. They arrived at Marcus’ home in less than 20 minutes and made their way inside.

Marcus looked at the two of them, worry furrowing his brow.

Artemis dropped her bag, and immediately hugged Marcus. Marcus picked her up, hugging her tightly. Artemis buried her face into his chest, and Marcus spoke to her softly, carrying her to the guest bedroom.

Missy came downstairs and gave Shade a hug in greeting, and looked around confused.

“It’s a long story, kiddo. So, what do we wanna do for dinner?” Shade asked, trying to distract herself.

“I was thinking takeout? Not pizza, but maybe some Chinese?” Missy offered as the two of them walked into the kitchen.

The Hero

Marcus carried Artemis into the guest bedroom, so they could talk. Artemis had quietly said she wanted to talk to him when he had picked her.

The two of them sat down onto the bed, and Marcus waited for her to speak.

“…my dad came by today. He wanted to see me. Mom wouldn’t let him. I don’t want to see him anymore,” Artemis rambled quietly.

Marcus felt a slight swell of anger build within him; Shade had told him in great detail many of the things he had done in the past. He had constantly allowed his kids to bully her and made her feel like she was a burden.

Marcus pressed a kiss to her head, before looking her in the eyes, “Hey, you are perfectly allowed to choose that. If you don’t want to see him, you don’t have to. Besides, you are mine. Just like Missy. You two are both my kids. Nothing will change that.”

Artemis looked at him, tears building up her in eyes, “Really?”

“Really, really. You’re mine. You are my daughter too,” He said firmly.

He hears her sniffle and pulled her into a hug; he allowed her to cry and let it out. It took several minutes, but soon the tears subsided. She pulled away, rubbing her eyes.

“Do you want to go eat dinner, or do you want to relax in here for a bit, and eat later?” Marcus wanted her to have the option to rest if need be.

“Not really hungry. Wouldn’t mind just taking a nap if that’s okay?” She requested, her voice a little hoarse.

“That’s perfectly fine. It’s the summer anyway, sleep schedules are allowed to be off from time to time,” He said with a smile, tucking her into bed after she slipped off her shoes.

Artemis smiled back a little, curling into a ball under the covers. Marcus stayed with her until she fell asleep, turning the light off and leaving the door propped open.

Marcus stepped back out to the kitchen, smiling as Missy told Shade about her day as they wrote down the takeout order to call in. Missy looked up as she heard him stepped in and smiled brightly.

“Hey dad. Where’s Artie?” Missy looked past him as she asked.

“She’s not quite hungry right now, so she’s going to take a nap. You can join her if you want, I’m sure she would like your company,” Marcus proposed as he leaned the kitchen island.

Missy was down the hall in seconds.

It was quiet as the two of them stood there, the air felt slightly tense in some way.

Marcus slowly walked around to Shade, tugging her gently into his arms. She all but collapsed into his embrace. He felt her take a deep breath, releasing it shakily. Marcus simply held her, knowing she simply needed someone to be there for her.

“I can’t believe he just… showed up. Like. Like he hadn’t ignored her for the past year. I hate him. I’m so glad I never put his name on her birth certificate,” She muttered the last piece.

Marcus gently pulled back a bit and looked at her confused.

“Every time….” She began but stopped, taking another shaky breath. “Every time he pops back up, I worry that he’s going to try and take her. Try and… fight for custody of her.”

Marcus sighed sadly, feeling her pain.

“Well. Guess it’s a good thing you have me. He’d have to pry her from my cold dead hands to take her from us. I know… I know this is sudden but… I know two things. One, I want to marry you soon. Two, I want to adopt Artie. You two are my girls, just as much as Missy is. I’m not letting either of you go,” Marcus declared looking her in the eye.

The Artist

Shade blinked rapidly at that declaration. Of all the things she expected him to say, that was not one of them.

“You… you what?” She whispered not quite believing him.

“I don’t mean to unload this all on you suddenly. But I wanted you to know that I want and love both of you. I wanted to talk about this to you in a more romantic setting, but-” His statement was cut off by her kissing him.

Shade couldn’t help herself. It was probably the sweetest thing she had ever heard, and she was overcome with the urge to kiss him. She felt him smile as he kissed back, one of his hands resting at the base of her neck. Shade’s arm found a home around his neck, keeping him close.

When they finally parted, they were panting slightly, trying to catch their breaths.

“I love you,” She said softly to him.

“I love you too honey,” Marcus replied kissing her nose.

They spent the rest of the evening constantly near each other, and the girls when they both got up to eat.

The Hero

The next morning, Marcus slipped quietly out of the bed, kissing Shade on the cheek as he left her. He got dressed and drove back to Shade’s house. The two of them had talked last night about her and Artemis staying a couple more days. So, he was going to drive to their place, to get more clothes for them.

He had a spare key on him, so when he parked, he simply let himself in. It didn’t take him long to pack up a suitcase for both of them, with clothes and some toys/stuffed animals for Artemis. He had just placed the bags in the trunk when another vehicle pulled up.

A tall man with dirty blonde hair, and a scowl on his face stepped out.

“Who the hell are you?” The man asked as he stepped up to him.

“Marcus Moreno. You must be Mike,” Marcus wasn’t impressed by him.

“Yeah. I am. Where is Shade and Artemis?” He demanded to know.

“None of your business. So how about you leave?” Marcus refused to answer.

“How about you to tell me where my brat is and her whore of a mother?” Mike got directly in his face.

Marcus was done. He wasn’t going to allow this cretin bad mouth his family. He couldn’t stop himself. He threw a punch, knocking Mike down.

“I’m going to say this once. You will leave my fiancé and OUR daughter alone. You will not harass them. You will not show up out of the blue like this. You got it? As a Heroic, I have dealt with villains of all shapes and sizes. But men like you? Men who treat their children as disposable? You are the worst,” Marcus said with disgust.

Mike looked up at him with slight fear and realization, “Wait. You’re THAT Marcus Moreno?”

Marcus raised an eyebrow at him, nodding once, daring him to say something else.

Mike scrambled to get up on his feet and ran to his car.

Marcus stared harshly as he watched him drive off. He was then suddenly aware… that he had an audience.

He awkwardly smiled, rubbing the back of his neck as some fans had stopped and recorded the whole scene.

“How long have y’all been there?” He asked somewhat embarrassed.

“The entire time sir. Are you really engaged?” A teenaged girl asked staring at him in awe.

“Yeah. I am,” He answered with a nod.

He heard her go ‘awww.’

The boys of the group asked for an autograph, which he happily did. One of the boys, started to leave but turned back.

“That was really cool… defending your family like that. Wish my dad was like that,” He said to him, before walking away.

He didn’t quite know what to say to that, and once the coast was clear, he got into his car and drove off.

When he returned home, and brought the bags inside, he checked on all 3 of his girls. Missy and Artemis were still passed out. Shade was slowly waking up when he stepped into his bedroom.

“Hi. Where did you go?” She asked sleepily.

“Went to go get you some stuff from your house. Ran into Mike,” Marcus said with a wince thinking back to the situation.

She shot up and stared at him concerned.

“Umm. I might’ve punched him… and referred to you as my fiancé. And called Artemis “our daughter.” It was…. Not my best moment,” Marcus confessed.

She stared at him incredulous… before several snickers escaped.

Her giggles continued for several minutes, which caused Marcus to chuckle a bit as well. Marcus told her everything in detail, especially the part about the audience.

She still giggled but sobered up finally to tell him, “I’m just glad he didn’t try to hurt you.”

“Hurt me? Never,” Marcus played it off, with a wave of his hand.

She was about to say something else but there was a powerful knock at the door.

Marcus made his way back downstairs, answering it quickly.

“Miracle Guy? What are you doing here?” He questioned looking at his best friend.

“You haven’t been answering your phone calls or texts,” Miracle said making his way inside.

Marcus pulled out his phone to see he had several missed calls and texts from… everyone.

“HQ has been losing their mind, apparently one of those kids was livestreaming the entire incident. Everyone wants to meet this fiancé of yours. Every news outlet wants an interview about your new love interest and everything,” Miracle explained with a shake of his head.

“Okay. Well. Then they are just going to have to continue wondering. Not that I’m not happy to see you and all MG, but why are you telling me this and not someone from admin?” Marcus asked him curiously.

“Oh. I am here to call a best friend foul. Why haven’t I heard about this fiancé of yours?” MG teased him.

“Marcus? Everything okay?” Came Shade’s voice as she stepped downstairs, dressed.

MG looked at him surprised as he looked between Marcus and Shade.

“Shade? No way. S’that you? Wow. You look great!” MG exclaimed giving her a hug as she stood next to Marcus.

“Hi. Yeah. It’s me. I hear you finally settled down, wife and kid and all,” Shade said with a smile.

He smiled proudly, nodding.

“I’m guessing his little performance caused some problems,” Shade noted hesitantly.

“A little bit, but nothing that can’t be handled,” MG said with a shrug.

“Yeah. If any damage control needs to happen, please let me know what I can do to help,” Shade offered with a half shrug.

“Alright. Good to know,” MG said as he made his way to the front door.

Shade moved to check on the girls, allowing Marcus and MG some privacy again.

“Damn. You have so much to explain man,” MG said lowly.

“I’ll tell ya everything when I come in later today. Suspect I am going to have to give a statement and such,” Marcus promised with a smile.

“You better,” MG said as he took off.

Marcus closed the door, staring at his left hand as he did so. He had taken off his ring a month after he had started dating Shade, feeling it was time. He looked at his leather jacket, specifically the lump that could be seen in one of the pockets.

He hears Shade leading the girls into the kitchen promising pancakes for breakfast. As she did that, he made his way upstairs, closing the door, so he could make some phone calls.

One of which was to his mom. It took only two rings before she picked up.

“Hello my sweet boy. What’s happening?” Came her cheerful voice.

“Hi ma. Um. Some things have happened, and I needed your advice,” He began, before explaining everything that happened this morning.

“I… I want to marry her. Even… I even have the ring… but…” He didn’t know how to explain his feelings.

“The closer you get to Shade, the farther you get away from Isabelle?” His mother supplied.

“… Yes. Guess… part of me never thought I would wind up here again. Deeply in love with a woman that I want to make mine forever,” Marcus whispered looking down at his lap.

“But that doesn’t mean you are forgetting Isabelle. You still have the memories you shared with her. If you feel in your heart that she makes you happy, and that you want to take that step with her, then do it. Isabelle wouldn’t want you to put your life on hold,” His mother tells him softly.

He hummed softly, “You’re right. Guess… I guess I’m just scared.”

“Just because you’re a Heroic doesn’t mean you are fearless, my dearest. Now, go take care of work and tonight talk things out with Shade,” His mother ordered.

Marcus hung after thanking her and made several more calls to work. An hour later he had to make his way into work and make official statements.

The Artist

Shade took care of the kids while Marcus did what he needed to do. As the girls played outside, she suddenly got inspired to draw. She pulled out her sketchbook from her things and began to draw. She sat outside with the girls as she drew, smiling at the giggles she heard occasionally.

Eventually, she felt the girls hover over her shoulders to watch her work. She was quietly drawing Marcus in his superhero outfit, with a hand on his hip and the other hovering over his sword handle.

It was the first time she had drawn him in a very long time and for the first time she had so many ideas floating in her mind. She stopped when the girls wanted to hang out and sat her sketchbook on a table inside the house. The three of them watched some movies. Marcus didn’t come home for dinner, and the girls went to bed at about 10pm.

Shade waited for him in the living room, returning to her sketches. It was close to 11pm before the front door open and Marcus walked in and collapsed onto the couch next to her.

“Tired?” She asked setting her book and pencil down.

He turned his head to look at her and nodded tiredly. He pulled his arms out of his jacket, just letting it sit there.

“Today was a mess but everything is settled for now,” Marcus said with a sigh.

He was quiet for a moment, reaching into one of his pockets. He pulled out a small velvet box.

“Not… not quite how I wanted to do this but,” He said as he handed it to her.

She took it from him, slowly opening it. Inside was an engagement ring that had a rainbow of gems lining the band.

“Not going to lie… I’ve… I’ve carried that since college. I kept it in a lockbox when we broke up. I was going to say some cheesy line of ‘my world was black and white, and you brought color to it.’ When we started to date, I took off my old wedding band, thinking it was time. The past 10 months just made me remember how much I loved you when we were younger and that love has just grown exponentially,” He began to explain.

She listened to him closely, her eyes flicking between him and the ring.

“It took me a long time to get over most of the guilt I felt with moving on with my life. It still creeps up every now and again, like… this morning. But I want you to stay in my life. You make me so happy. You and Artemis both have are so wonderful. I can even see Missy changing for the better. She’s so much happier with Artemis in her life. You… don’t have to decide now, if you are overwhelmed, but I was serious when I said I wanted to marry you,” Marcus concluded taking a deep breath.

Shade stared at him in shock. It took a minute for it to fully process what he said. She blinked rapidly as she stared at the ring, and felt tears welling up in her eyes.

She slowly pulled the ring from its box. She examined it with a smile that slowly grew. She slipped it onto her left ring finger, noting that it fit perfectly.

“No time needed. I love you and Missy too. Artemis… was so shy before she met her. I never would’ve thought she’d hit a boy to defend someone being bullied,” Shade joked thinking back.

Marcus chuckled, nodding his head.

Marcus leaned over to kiss her. Shade kissed him back enthusiastically, the two of them smiling at each other. The two of them heard giggles around the corner followed by a shushing.

The two of them shook their heads, and Marcus called out, “Ladies. What are two doing up at this hour?”

The two of them waited for a moment before they heard two sets of feet rushing to them. The girls ran to them, jumping into their laps, excitedly talking, and asking questions at rapid fire.

The two of them laughed at their excitement and waited for them to settle to answer questions.

Missy was sitting in Shade’s lap, while Artemis was in Marcus’.

“Well. The two of you are bright and intelligent. I guess we should talk this out with you two,” Shade said looking at the girls. “Are the both of you okay with us getting married?”

The two of them looked at each other and smiled, nodding happily.

“Does that mean we will be sisters?” Artemis asked somewhat shyly.

“Yes. It does. Are you okay with me being your dad?” He asked her directly.

“… kinda thought you were already,” Artemis said quietly, looking down.

Marcus nodded his head, and Shade could see some tears forming in his eyes, as he hugged her.

“Yeah. I am sweet girl,” He told her.

“Missy. What about you? Are you… are you okay with me being your mom?” Shade asked her hesitantly.

Missy was quiet for a moment, before answering, “Yeah. There’s lots of room for you and Artie in my heart.”

Shade thought back to one of their first conversations and realized what she was referring to.

“Yeah? That’s good to know. Do you remember what else I said that day?” She asked her.

“That you don’t want to replace my mom. Though… like Artie… I kinda thought of you as my mom already,” Missy admitted.

Shade smiled at her sweetly, hugging her.

“So. We are all okay with making this family legit in the eyes of the law? Say aye,” Shade said jokingly.

There were three ‘ayes’ in response followed by several giggles.

The four of them spent some time talking further, before heading to bed.

Marcus and Shade spoke more about details, like, wanting to make the engagement long while they found a home that was big enough for all four of them. The two of them didn’t want to rush anything and wanted to make sure they got everything ready. The wedding wasn’t going to be large grand affair; something small for them and their friends and family.

They didn’t have anything set in stone yet, but they knew one thing for sure. They had each other, and their girls were happy.

#marcus moreno x reader #marcus moreno #parent trap au

28 notes · View notes

violetwolfraven · 4 years

Note

Javid with 20 and 21? Like from friends, teaching each other their foreign language, to dating, both fully able to speak to one another.

One of us speaks a different language and teaches the other some stuff.

and

We both speak a different language and everyone thinks we’re dirty talking but we are literally just messing with them.

Fun! I’m gonna do Hispanic!Jack here because that’s a pretty popular headcanon. And I’m writing Mike and Ike as the same because I think they are??? In real life??? Even if they’re not they are in this. Also Modern AU because that seems simpler.

((I am so sorry that this kind of sucks. I could not come up with anything good for the life of me.))

...

“So, what’s your bet?” Jack asked.

Ike shrugged, “I’m 90% sure Jojo’s got the hots for my brother, but you know, they’re both stupid and probably won’t see it, so who knows?”

This was a yearly tradition Jack had with this certain friend of his. Every year on the first day of school since 6th grade, he and Ike would place bets who would come out in the coming school year. They decided who won simply by going by whoever was closest. As this was their freshman year of high school, they’d been doing it for 3 years, and while both were pretty sure that all of their friends were gay, bi, or pan, there was always the matter of when someone would feel safe enough to admit it.

Jack was proud to say, he usually won, but so far, one of them always managed to guess correctly who was coming out this year, usually within a month of when they actually did.

“So, you think Jojo’ll come out this year?”

“It’s hard to say. He’s got issues at home. If you really wanna know my bet, I think Elmer”

“Oh, yeah. He’s got the massive hots for Buttons. I’ll take that one. I bet he comes out by the end of first semester.”

Ike snorted, “Oh, I’m betting by the end of the month.”

“The usual amount of $20?”

“Obviously. Anyone else?”

“Hmm... Sniper,” Jack decided, “By Christmas.”

“Oh, yeah. She’s a solid bet,” Ike mused, “I’m guessing by Halloween.”

“You have an unreasonable amount of faith in our friends’ self-confidence,” Jack observed.

Ike laughed, “How about the new guy? He seems like a classic closet case.”

“I’m not sure.”

“With how you’ve been looking at him, I’d place bets on you hoping he’s gay.”

Jack figured the look on his face was probably pretty good with how Ike burst out laughing.

Suddenly, Race leaned over to Jack and said something in Italian, a language they both knew damn well Jack didn’t speak.

“Racer, ya know I don’t understand ya when you talk like that.”

“Well, that,” Race flicked Jack’s forehead, “Is just how it feels, big brother!”

“What were you talking about?” Davey asked.

Davey was Jack’s new best friend (adoptive younger brothers; Crutchie, Race, and Romeo not included) who he’d met literally this morning and would already die for. Though Davey was new to the friend group, it already felt, to Jack at least, like he had been there forever.

That did not mean he felt like telling him what Ike and him had just been talking about.

Ike was laughing awkwardly.

“I heard Jojo’s name,” Davey said, seeming to be thinking out loud, “And Elmer, Buttons, and Sniper. Still, talking about your friends doesn’t narrow the possible subjects down much.”

“Hey, Ike!” Mike hollered from the other end of the group, “Get over here! Kath brought her tarot cards!”

“Oh, rad! Sorry, Jack, you’s on your own!”

Ike was all to happy to leave. Race had already started having the argument of the day with Albert. Jack was alone on this one.

“Kath does tarot readings?” Davey asked skeptically.

Jack shrugged, “She don’t really believe in that stuff. She does it cause pretendin’ she does pisses off her dad. He doesn’t need to know it ain’t even her readin’ ‘em. Elmer’s the psychic one.”

“Elmer’s psychic?”

Jack laughed. He hadn’t thought Davey’s face could hold any more skepticism, but he’d been wrong.

“Who knows? Most of his predictions do come true, though.”

“What?”

Jack laughed again, “Let him read you if ya want. You’ll see.”

“Okay. Can he tell me what you and Ike were talking about?”

Crap. Jack had hoped talking about Kath and Elmer’s psychic thing would distract him.

Long story short, Jack panicked and said something sarcastic and mildly flirty.

“Learn Spanish and I’ll tell ya everything.”

Davey chuckled, “That’s cold, Kelly.”

“Maybe.”

“Well, I am signed up for Spanish. Maybe you’ll just have to teach me what you know.”

Jack was honestly quite surprised by that.

Did Davey just flirt with him?

Before he could be sure, Davey gave him one last smile and headed over towards where Elmer was shuffling Kath’s tarot cards.

...

Spoiler alert: Davey was flirting with him. Jack quite honestly couldn’t believe his luck, because after a few months of Spanish tutoring and dancing around their feelings, they finally went on an actual date, and if you hit the fast forward button to junior year, they were still going strong.

And Jack had always been somewhat of a... dad friend for pretty much everyone else in his group, but he hadn’t even realized how hard that could be until suddenly, he was getting help from a boyfriend who many of the friend group had jokingly started referring to as ‘mom.’

Also, Davey was damn near fluent in Spanish, now, thanks to the class at school combined with being close with more than a few kids who’d grown up speaking it.

Oh, yeah. And Ike won the bet about Elmer coming out within the month. Jack won the one about Sniper coming out around Christmas time. In short, they were even.

Well, Jack felt like the lucky one, having gotten a boyfriend, but Ike got one about a year later, so... yeah, actually, they were still even.

“What are you thinking about?” Davey asked in Spanish. His accent was still not great, but it was definitely better than it was freshman year.

“Nothing,” Jack said before getting an idea, “But you know what we should do?”

“What?”

“We should pretend to flirt in Spanish.”

“What?” Davey looked super confused, “Why?”

“Because it’ll be funny.”

Mike, being in earshot, sniggered, seeming to agree. Jojo looked a little confused, but he was smiling, too.

Davey rolled his eyes, then lowered his voice to what could be considered a flirty tone, “Like this?”

“Just like that. Fantastic. Let’s mess with them and see how long it takes for someone to tell us to get a room.”

“I don’t really understand why you find that funny, but sure, if you want to. What should we actually talk about?”

“How about flowers? I need to get a certain friend something for her birthday. She said she likes flowers, so do you know what ‘you-know-who’s’ favorite flower is?”

“Why can’t you just say my sister’s name?”

“Because then they’ll suspect something. What’s her favorite flower?”

“I don’t know. I think she likes tulips. And I like lilies, by the way. It’s my birthday, too.”

“Oh, noted, love.”

Mike and Jojo seemed to be helping them, using body language that said they were super uncomfortable. As the only other two at the table who spoke or understood Spanish, Jack could only hope this would work.

Mike tilted his phone so they could see the screen. It was running a timer for how long it would take for someone to tell them to get a room.

Davey smirked cheekily, “You know what she really likes? Yarn crafts. She makes scarves and sweaters. You know this.”

“Oh, yeah,” Jack put his hand on Davey’s knee, “I forgot about that. What’s her favorite color again?”

“Yellow. Well... it changes every week. Just get her whatever color. She’ll be happy.”

They kept talking like that, acting like they were flirting but talking about mundane topics, until, sure enough, Specs told them to get a room.

Impressive. Mike’s clock read that it took their friends seven minutes to notice.

Jack was definitely glad that Davey learned Spanish.

#newsies #javid #javey #jack kelly #davey jacobs #jack x davey #violet’s writing

59 notes · View notes

commander-hanji-zoe · 4 years

Text

Seven is the magic number

As an FYI, this whole piece is a train wreck. I was having a little fantasy about what it would be like to be in a polyamorous relationship with Erwin, Levi, Mike, Hange, Nanaba & Moblit - look in my head I’m greedy & wild lol. This is just one chapter, but I’m tempted if people enjoy it to make it a collection of works, have a proper chapter for the first part & then a chapter for the first time with each & a final chapter which is a 7 person orgy so we’ll see.

The reader in this is a cis-gendered female reader, but I do plan on writing more stuff that isn’t reader based as well as a lot of reader based material that is gender neutral so it’s as inclusive as possible. Also as an fyi I usually write Hanj/Hange as Gender fluid, but in this fic I have written them as female.

Pairing: Reader x Erwin x Levi x Mike x Hanji x Moblit x Nanaba

Word Count: 6,008 Warnings: Smut/unprotected sex

Summary: The reader is invited by Erwin to join in with a polyamorous relationship, there’s several dates without sexual contact but when y/n confirms she is happy with the set-up, they are visited by each member of the relationship individually for their first time together and to get better acquainted. At the end of the night (and after much smut) there’s a more fluffy bit where they all fall peacefully asleep together - which is a cuddle pile I’d love to be in.

The offer had been unexpected but not at all unpleasant. The time you’d spent with the scouts suggested there was something going on behind closed doors between some of the older veterans. But when Commander Erwin called you into his office and explained the situation you were left more than a little red faced.

They’d all noticed you and talked about adding another to their relationship for some time, they were just waiting for the right person and it turned out that was you. Beforehand you hadn’t really ever thought about being in a polyamorous relationship, you weren’t even really sure how you felt about them or how they worked. But now Erwin was inviting you to be a part of his family alongside Levi, Hanji, Nanaba, Mike and Moblit.

You accepted, surprising yourself with how quickly you agreed to be a part of it. The agreement was that you would have several trial evenings with them, each of a different nature and at the end Erwin would ask whether you wanted to join.

The first date had a hard rule about no sexual contact, Erwin was adamant about that. He wanted to make sure you were comfortable with all of them and that you got a feeling of what it would be like to be a part of their group.

The third date was when you cuddled with them and kissed for the first time.

The fourth was much of the same but you got to watch as the others slept together, Erwin meanwhile holding you in his arms and stroking your hair.

It was only after these first four dates that the Commander called you back to his office to discuss the next stages. It was strange in the sense that it felt overly formal, like going for a job interview, but Erwin had to be sure you were a right fit for them and that you too were comfortable.

“Well y/n what do you think?”

You gulped and nodded, yes, you wanted to be a part of it.

The Commander didn’t look up from his papers and left you shuffling awkwardly from foot to foot wondering if you were excused or if the commander would ask more questions. When he finally looked up, the candle on his desk reflected in his eye, the corners of his lips turned upwards to form the smallest smile.

“Very well,” he reached out his arms for you and pulled you into him so you slid onto his lap.

You went in to kiss him, rocking your hips as you did so but Erwin put his hands on your shoulders to stop you, “Ahhh ah patience my dear, patience.”

You all but let out a soft whine, you’d been so close to him and why on earth would he pull you into his lap like that if he wanted nothing? Perhaps it was as simple as him teasing you or to assert his dominance as the head of the group.

You let out a small gasp as he cupped your chin in his large hands, his fingers just pulling your lower lip down a little. His piercing blue eyes just watched you as if monitoring your expression as he snaked his other hand up your neck and into your hair. It might have been one of the most intense moments of your life and knowing that it most certainly wasn’t going to go anywhere, at least in that moment, only served to heighten your curiosity.

You could feel him growing hard underneath you so why didn’t he want to take you now, but then that was part of the game, like he said patience. How much sweeter would this be when it came to having your first evening with them all.

“Good things come to those who wait isn’t that right my precious?” He stroked your cheek with such delicate grace, his eyes staring at you in earnest.

You nodded and immediately shuddered when the hand that had been in your hair moved down and gripped your thigh, he squeezed tightly for a moment and then removed all touch from you.

“Y/N you are dismissed. We will see you here tomorrow night.”

You gulped and nodded weakly, “Yes Sir,” you knew your cheeks were blushing a furious shade of scarlet but you couldn’t have cared less.

As you left the Commander’s office you found yourself unable to breathe and your legs were shaking so much you felt like a newborn foal walking for the first time. It was only when Erwin’s door closed behind you that you were able to breathe and leant back against the wall, your knees still feeling weak.

“Y/N are you alright?”

You jumped in response, you weren’t expecting anyone to be right outside. You looked up to Rico looking at you.

You nodded, “Yes i’m fine.”

“You look a little flustered.”

Oh no, you could feel the colour darkening once again, “Oh it was just some paperwork that got me all confused, the commander was helping me with it,” you replied rather pathetically.

Rico smiled and nodded, “Right, see you around.”

As you walked away you let out a long sigh of relief as you head back to your duties feeling thoroughly frustrated but more excited for your first official date as part of this wonderful group. Erwin had explained to you what would happen and your mind raced in equal parts nerves and excitement as you thought about it. You would get a chance to be intimate with each member of the group and then would spend the night with Erwin.

First you were visited by Mike. He was rough but loving and in his arms there was a brief moment with him where you felt like you finally understood what true love felt like. His hands were so large he was able to grab handfuls of you and he left no part of your body untouched or ignored. When he first entered the room, he took his time undressing you, taking you apart piece by piece, just a small taste of how soon he would make you come undone. While some of the others were happy with you already naked on the couch, Mike wanted to underdress you and worship you. He continually praised you and stroked your hair, when you made him feel good he wanted you to know just how good. Although the kissing and sex itself was rough, he never made you feel like you had to do anything. When he pushed you back onto the couch and dove between your legs, his hands gripping your thighs and kissing them, swirling his tongue on your smooth skin and sucking. Leaving a trail of perfect little marks into your inner thigh. When he started to work his tongue on you, kissing you and licking, these were the moments you thought he must have been sent from the gods to make you feel that good.

He constantly checked you were okay, especially when he undressed and you saw the size of his cock for the first time. The audible gulp that came from you made him concerned for a moment, but those kisses that made you melt, the way his hands were in your hair as you went to suck his cock, you knew Mike was the gentlest of giants. He fucked you against the wall, your legs wrapped round his waist and hands in his hair. Mike was loud during sex but it wasn’t just grunts and groans, no, he was full of sweet nothings and delicious promises of tomorrow. Mike continually made sure you were comfortable and he refused to cum until he had made you reach climax first. You came with him inside you, having moved from the wall to the couch, his fingers working between your legs tipping you over the edge.

Your nails scratched down his back as he fucked you into the couch and with a loud grunt came inside you, his body shuddering repeatedly as he said your name. His forehead, sweaty and hair matted pressed against your own. “Damnit, I wish I had you all to myself tonight.” Those were the last words he said to you before he left the room.

Levi later would complain that you’d been too loud, Erwin had a smirk on his face, he knew the reason behind the agitation. It wasn’t that he hated hearing you fuck, quite the opposite, it drove him crazy till he was rutting against Erwin’s leg, desperate for release. Jealous that Mike was getting you first before he, jealous that Mike was getting anything before him.

Levi was next, he left you shaking and white-knuckled. He wasn’t as strict as you’d imagined him to be or quite as dominant. Yes, he took control, they practically all did but it was more than that, he wanted you to explore him as much as you liked and feel every second. With his sharp tongue he was incredible when he went down on you, doing things in a way no one had ever done to you, his tongue slipped inside you, you could hear him moan at your taste and then he went lower flicking his tongue over your anus. You gave a surprised cry but when his tongue dipped in you couldn’t help but hold onto his hair with a tighter grip. He wore such a satisfied smile when he looked up from between your legs, in truth it was more of a smirk.

It surprised you how long it took for him to get undressed or show any need for his own pleasure, the stamina and control was impressive. When he climbed back up your body he was excruciatingly slow, leaving a trail of kisses from between your legs up over your stomach and over the dip between your breasts and flicking his tongue over your nipples. He sucked at your neck hard enough you knew he’d have left a love bite. When he instructed you to ride his face, you were nervous but his hands guided you and honestly being commanded by the Captain in that strict tone made you start to believe it was possible to orgasm from words alone.

Sex with Levi didn’t last too long with him, he was so pent up from before that you’d guessed he wouldn’t last too long. But it was good. Really, really good. Every minute he would turn you into a new position to see what felt good for you. His kisses were full of teeth and his hands in your hair. He was the only one to ask you if you minded anal, it wasn’t something you’d tried before but with him you were willing to give it a go. He hesitated before settling on saving it for another day but not without leaving you first with a parting gift. He inserted a silver butt plug, fox tail attached inside you before he left the room leaving you gasping and wishing all your holes were filled.

Hanje and Moblit shared the bed with you at the same time, that was part of their deal, they rarely left one another’s side both inside and outside of the bedroom. They were incredibly cute together, Hanji was as excitable as she was in the research room, curious to explore every part of you, Moblit would do anything she told him to. Hanji marvelled over the butt plug Levi had given you, she was full of praises and telling you how cute you looked, occasionally tugging on the fox tail so you could feel the pull between your cheeks. She then push it in a little making you moan, Moblit all the while gently stroking himself, lazy and slow strokes up and down his cock. Hanji nuzzled into your breasts and for a moment you wished you could just curl up with her and fall asleep. She kissed you slowly, sucking your lower lip and sliding her tongue in your mouth, on top of you, you raised your hips to meet hers, the two of you slowly moved as one.

You didn’t mean to do it but when she grabbed your breasts with one hand for leverage as the other went between your legs giving you feather strokes and looked at you with such a commanding stare you called her daddy… and god did that feel good. After you came, Hanji rolled over to allow Moblit to be with you, he was sweet, full of small tender kisses, checking you were okay, slowly and lazily making love to you as Hanji stroked both of your heads, taking it in turns to kiss you then him. She continued to praise you both telling you what a great job you were both doing making Moblit blush furiously. He came on your belly, there was no need to clean up however as he bent down and licked his own mess from your body, Hanji joined him so the two of them licked you clean, kissing one another as they went.

Going down on Hanji was one of the easiest decisions you made, though she was controlling she was incredibly sweet and all you wanted was to make her feel as good as she had made you feel. Moblit helped to guide you and show you exactly where she liked it. Once you were between her legs, Moblit sat on you and massaged your back and shoulders with oil as you brought Hanji to orgasm.

Nanaba made the sweetest love, you spent most of your time alone with her just talking and kissing. She took it slow and wanted to really get to know you before she got acquainted with your body. Her kisses tasted like honey, she took control but made you feel safe throughout. She tied your wrists up with soft scarfs and loose knots, it was as if she were inside your mind, she knew exactly how to touch you, where, how much pressure and when to move on. Her fingers moved so gently against you but with such precision your toes were curling. She fucked you with a glass dildo as she went down on you, ensuring you felt the best you possibly could. The way she worked was slow and teasing for a bit and then she’d go much faster before slowing again, making your back arch and chest rise and fall heavily. Nanaba wanted nothing in return, telling you that getting to bring you such pleasure was all the joy she needed for now. Instead she masturbated in front of you, getting herself off with the same toy that had been inside you a moment earlier, you watched the colour in her cheeks, the way her small breasts bounced when she threw her head back.

You wished you’d grown up with her, she was like a big sister in many ways, so knowledgeable and reassuring. But also god did she have the softest thighs and cutest breasts along with a neck begging to be kissed. When Nanaba’s time came to leave you felt sad, you could have stayed with her all even sharing secrets and curled up under the covers, you wanted to read her palms and do tarot readings with her before cuddling naked and seeing what happened.

For you’d been so close to telling her you loved her when you came.

You were surprised when Mike came back for more, “I wanna try something different with you, will you let me if I look after you?” He asked. You had no idea what he had planned but there was no decision to be made, you already knew. You trusted Mike and would do anything he asked of you, you knew he would look after you no matter what. He opened a door to what you assumed was a cupboard but instead there was a small room, what appeared to be a sex swing already assembled from the ceiling hung in the middle. “Well?” He asked with a wicked grin. Your knees trembled as you begun to walk towards the room, letting out a small yelp when Mike picked you up and carried you across. Afterwards when reflecting on your time in that swing, you couldn’t quite remember everything that happened, in fact, you could barely remember the details, what you could recall however was the feeling and the emotions that were invoked by being so submissive and bending to his will but people so completely loved and filled at the same time.

Levi also came back from second, he was pleased to see that the butt plug was still inside you and tugged the tail like Hanji had before giving you a spank on your behind. When you moaned he grabbed your jaw, his face inches from yours, “Did you like that sweetheart?” Now you were sure he’d wanted to use the word brat instead of sweetheart, but considering this was your first time with them you guessed he wanted to keep it a little less intimidating.

Despite what he’d said earlier about leaving it to a later date, he asked if it would be okay to try anal. As nervous as you were you knew Levi would take great care to ensure you were well prepared so you agreed. You had been right, there was a lot of massaging and him using several fingers, gently scissoring and occasionally using his tongue on you. When he fucked your ass he was slow at first, kissing you as he went, but soon he got lost in the rhythm and pleasure of it as he increased his speed and let out more animalistic moans. It hurt, you couldn’t deny it, but it also felt good. People often said there could be a fine line between pain and pleasure didn’t they. When Levi finished and pulled out he was rather red faced. He pressed a kiss to one of your cheeks, “I’m sorry I think I hurt you,” his voice sounded so despondent like he was truly disappointed in himself, “It won’t happen again,” he said. You grabbed hold of his face and kissed him hungrily, “I don’t give a shit Levi, you felt so good, you feel so good, I…” God you wanted to cum again, you were writhing on the bed and rutting against his thigh.

Levi pulled at the collar, “Come ride my thigh,” he instructed.

Wet as you were you were easily able to slide up and down his thick thighs. They were far larger than you’d expected and so well toned.

“I want you to ride yourself to orgasm,” he instructed. Your lips were trembling, you really weren’t sure you’d be able to but what you knew is that you’d give it everything you had to try and do it for him.

A while later you lay comfortably numb, perfectly exhausted and in a dream-like haze. Everything in the past few hours had blurred into one, all you knew for certain was that you were safe and that the pleasure you’d experienced was nothing like anyone had shown you before.

But now as you lay on the couch a shiver ran up your spine, without the warmth of hands on you or bodies pressed against you, with no kisses, it didn’t take long for the night air to make your nipples to become erect and goosebumps to appear on your arms.

You shuddered and huddled into yourself, bringing your knees up into your chest. You knew you should get up to clean yourself up, but Captain Levi had instructed you not to move and besides you had no doubt that the others would take delight in cleaning you and taking care of you.

You heard the door open but closed your eyes so that whoever entered, it would be a surprise.

A soft hand cupped your chin, “Y/N look at you, so tired out, you’ve done so well.”

You recognised Erwin’s voice immediately and opened your eyes, “Did I make you proud?” You asked feebly.

Erwin hummed in response, “Yes you were a very good girl weren’t you?”

You nodded, “Yes, anything for you.”

“How many times did they make you cum?” He asked as he stroked your hair.

“I….” you tried to think about it but your mind was a blank, could you really not recall how many times you’d reached orgasm? “7 I think….”

Erwin pressed a soft kiss to your lips, “Hmm good, but I don’t doubt you could handle more?” He asked as he pulled away. You nodded limply.

You expected him to take you there and add to the mixture of cum that was trickling between your thighs, but you were surprised when he bent down and picked you up in a fireman’s lift and threw you over his shoulder.

Your cheeks burnt with humiliation but you knew Erwin wasn’t capable of hurting you, even though you felt embarrassed, the anticipation of what he’d do to you caused tremendous excitement.

He placed you down in the bathroom, “Toilet,” he stated matter of factly.

“W’what?” you stammered.

“Use it,” he commanded.

You blushed furiously as Commander Erwin stood over you, arms folded as you looked back at the toilet and then back at him. He couldn’t be serious right?

“You must be so full of cum now, practically full, look how it’s dripping down your thighs. You really are a mess. Do you expect me to fuck you when you’re so full of the ecstasy of others? Go and sit down.”

This time you didn’t argue, there was something absurdly hot about this situation you mused as you walked to the toilet and sat down. Thought you would never admit that to Erwin or anyone else for that matter. Were they all treated this way when they joined? From what you heard it started with Erwin and Mike dating back when they were cadets, two friends fooling around with one another then slowly realising they were in love.

Regardless of how you felt about the situation, your cheeks still burnt with shame and you closed your eyes trying to think of something else to overcome the embarrassment of having to pee in front of him. You cursed under your breath, truth be told you had needed the bathroom for a while but now you were being instructed to go your body was refusing.

“Look at me,” Erwin said.

Horror as your eyes opened and you stared at him, it felt as if you had stage fright. You were pretty desperate to pee but with him watching you, you really weren’t sure you’d be able to go.

“Come on, you can do it for daddy can’t you? Or do I have to turn on a tap?”

“N-noo..” you stammered. Maybe it was the fear of letting him down, but hearing the disappointment in his voice was all you needed to finally release. You let out a soft moan as you did so and as the water splashed in the basin you saw Erwin smile ever so slightly. Was he getting off on this? Every part of you wanted to say, “Pervert,” out loud, but you didn’t know him well enough, it was the kind of think Levi would say without a second thought but you would have to earn your place.

When you’d finished peeing and went to wipe, Erwin interjected and insisted on cleaning you himself. He inspected the tissue, cum and a little bit of blood that must have been from when Levi fucked your ass.

You turned away horrified wishing the ground would swallow you up to put an end to the inspection.

“Poor thing,” Erwin said as he kissed you.

“Come,” you followed him without a sound and entered his bedroom. There was a steel bathtub, steam rose from the hot water within, it looked incredibly inviting.

“This is for you,” he said.

You looked back at him wondering if it was a trick, “Go on,” he said, “I want you to relax and freshen up, no point having such a dirty girl in my clean bed.”

You nodded, and he helped you into the bathtub. As you sunk in and the water rose to your breasts you let out a contended hum.

“Tell me y/n, what if I were to say that I would scrub you all over, wash and brush your hair and treat you like the darling you are, but first you have to put on a little show for me?”

You gulped, “My favourite pet is the other side of the door, what if I were to invite him in for a little fun, what would you say?”

You nodded keenly, “Yes,” the thought of putting on a show for Erwin made you wet instantly.

“Yes what?”

“Daddy…”

Levi stepped into the room, he was still naked, though he’d had a chance to clean up.

He walked in silently and climbed into the bathtub opposite you, he pulled you gently into his arms and cradled you. His kisses were completely different to before, they were soft and tender without a trace of desperation, rather, they seemed tinted with love.

His hands gently scratched at your back as you wound your hands through his hair and entwined them. He peppered your cheek and collarbone with kisses, “You’re beautiful.”

You heard the unfastening of a belt and turned to see Erwin sat on a chair, legs spread as he pulled his cock from his trousers and slowly started to rub himself. His face was the picture of innocence and bliss. The blonde could have been an angel and in that moment you saw something you hadn’t seen in him before, desire and passion outside of work, you saw human emotion and feeling.

“Now,” Erwin said as he stared at the two of you. What you’d expected him to say was to fuck, you’d expected his tone to be harsh and vulgar, what you weren’t expecting was what happened.

“Make love like no one else is here, make love to her Levi like there’s no one else in the world.”

And Levi did just that, the water sloshed over the tub onto the wooden floor as he pulled you onto his lap and slowly lowered you onto his hard member. You moved slowly, Levi’s hands on your hips helping you to raised and lower yourself onto him, his own body craning to meet yours, kissing into your neck, your shoulders, collarbones, muttering words of love and adoration. The two of you remained embraced and kissing tenderly as you slowly built up to orgasm.

As he pulled out of you you looked down and watched small trails of cum spill into the water. Pearls of ivory, a vision of ecstasy. He kissed you once more and slowly you got off his lap and sat back down at the opposite side of the bed, admiring the heat in Levi’s cheeks.

Erwin helped Levi to climb out of the bath, wrapping him in a fluffy white robe.

“Good boy Levi, you may leave us now. Return with the others in an hour.”

Levi bowed, “Yes Sir,” and left the two of you alone once again.

Erwin then turned his attention to you, he had a fluffy towel ready for you and when you stepped out of the bathtub he took care to dry every part of you from your arms down to your feet. He took the towel away and returned with body lotion which he applied liberally to your body and limbs, it smelt of vanilla and oats. He lay you on his bed with such care, the sheets were clean and made of fresh cotton. The room smelt of linen and fresh spring flowers. He blew out most of the candles so there was only one lit by the side of his bed.

“Is this what you wanted?” He asked as he climbed into bed beside you.

You bit your lip in reply and nodded, “Yes Commander.” The bed was massive, larger than any bed you’d ever seen, you guessed Erwin had to get it especially made for him. You had been wondering until that moment whether the 6 of them ever spent the night together and if so how that would work, now you knew.

“This kinda set up doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for us and if you think it could work for you too then you are most welcome.”

You nodded eagerly, no one had ever made you feel so loved and welcomed, you no longer dreaded waking up in the morning if you had this to look forward to. You realised that you could be happy.

As Erwin slid into you your eyes screwed shut, his length barely fit inside you. He literally took your breath away and for a moment you forgot how to breathe as your eyes remained closed you tried to adjust yourself a little to accommodate for his large member.

“Y/N,” Erwin’s voice was soft as he spoke to you now.

Your eyes opened, you knew they were glistening now with tears.

“Breathe for me,” Erwin said, he stroked your cheek.

You bit your lip and nodded, after everything you’d already been through that evening you could do this, you managed to take Mike for goodness sake and he was the largest, so why was this so difficult? Perhaps you were tired or it was the anticipation of pleasing the Commander which made you less able to relax in the same way you had around the others.

You tried to follow Erwin’s instructions and breathe for him, looking into his eyes for reassuring. He moved slowly into you at first so you could feel every centimetre, he continued to check you were okay, his words worked as you felt yourself relax. The less tense you became the easier it was for him to slide himself into you, though you had the feeling there was more of him to come. His hands were more gently with you than you thought they would be, fondling your breasts and gently pinching your nipples, when his hand went between your legs he stroked so gently you could barely feel it but when it did it was like small sparks of electricity that went up your spine.

Your legs wrapped round his waist, arms clinging tightly to him as he increased his speed and pounded you into the mattress.

Erwin moved you, bent your limbs to access a deeper part of you. He pounded deeper into you, you were sure you’d pass out. While Mike had the biggest dick, it was the way Erwin fucked you that was making you lose your mind.

When he came deep inside you it was with a low guttural moan, his forehead pressed against yours, his chest heavy and breathing fast. When he pulled out for a moment you thought that was it the sex may have been great but he wasn’t going to make you cum. He kissed down your body and then dove into you kissing and licking your thighs, his tongue probing into you, unperturbed by his own semen or it’s salty taste.

His grip on your thighs was like a vice, holding you in place and stopping you from squirming as he continued to pleasure you and bring you to a delicious orgasm. Though you felt at this point you may die from overstimulation, every part of your body was shaking, between your legs now almost numb from contact from others.

When he kissed you you could taste a salty sweet mixture of your fluids mixed together, his teeth nibbled at your lips and he whispered such soft praises, you were glad to know you’d done a good job on your first night.

For a while it was just the two of you cuddling in bed, Erwin stroked your hair and slowly you begun to talk about everyday mundane things. The kind of things people in a relationship talk about when no one is listening, he made you laugh, you told small, silly stories from childhood and he seemed to appreciate how relaxed you were with him.

You cuddled into Erwin’s chest for a while before you felt him stir underneath you, “The others will be here soon.”

“Do you all sleep together in this bed every night?”

You were sure you heard Erwin sigh a little, “No, we try to at least once a week but sometimes it isn’t easy. There are nights where we are all on our own, there are nights I spend just with Levi or just with Mike, nights where Mike and Nanaba are together and Hanji, Moblit and I stay in and have dinner together. It just works…there’s no schedule or timetable we just do what feels right at the time.”

You gave a contended sigh and nuzzled further into his chest, “That sounds so wonderful, like a Utopia of sorts.”

“It is, it works for us and I hope soon enough you will see how it works for you too,” he kissed your forehead.

You heard the door open, Levi ran in like an excited child first, followed by Hanji and Moblit. Nanaba and Mike entered last and shut the door behind them.

You lay on Erwin’s bed surrounded by the others, entwined and slow sleepy kisses passing from one to another. You got to sleep by Erwin’s side, behind you Mike spooned you, Nanaba slept at the bottom of the bed curled up on her side like a puppy. Levi clung to Erwin as if his life depended on it and maybe in a strange way it did.

Though this type of relationship wasn’t for everyone, you could already see how it worked and understood the deep and inner connection of each and every one. They were happy alone and more than capable of looking after themselves but maybe they wanted more and together they found this peaceful and trusting life. A life which you were more than happy to be a part of.

You woke up several times during the night, not accustomed to being so close to others when sleeping. You heard Mike’s gentle snore, his nose was buried in your hair and neck, it tickled but soft kind of tickles that sent warm trickles down your spine rather than shivers. Erwin looked like an angel when he was asleep, it was the only time you recalled seeing him appear peaceful.

Levi’s legs twitched as if he were a puppy having excitable dreams.

Hanji muttered in her sleep, something about titans and wanting to be their friends. Moblit was a fidgeter even in his sleep, Hanji you deduced, must be a very heavy sleeper not to be woken up by him constantly moving behind her. Nanaba didn’t snore but made small cute noises when she breathed out, almost like melodic hums.

You could do this forever and never want for anything. The titans, the fear you knew you all felt even if you seldom chose to share it, it was worth it for this.

“Hey y/n, okay you?” You heard Mike ask as he shifted and lifted his head.

“Hmmmm,” you replied sleepily. You turned over so you were facing Mike, your heads on the same pillow.

Mike stroked your hair, “I’m fine, just thinking how lucky I am.”

In the moonlight you could just make out his smile, “You’ll always be safe with us,” he said and pressed a soft kiss to your lips. When you parted you nuzzled into him, his large arms wrapping round you and pulling you close so you could hear his heartbeat. Behind you Erwin turned and now spooned you.

Nanaba too woke up, she crawled up the bed so she was laying half on top of you and half on top of Mike, “Can I join?” She asked innocently.

Oh yes, this was one of the best decisions you’d ever made.

106 notes · View notes

duhragonball · 3 years

Text

‘21

Amidst all the popular hype for seeing the end of 2020, it didn’t hit me until about lunchtime what the real highlight is that I’ve been waiting for: For the first time since 1999, the year finally ends in “numberty-number” again. It low-key irritated me that we had to call it “two thousand three” and I was relieved when “twenty-thirteen” caught on, but it still wasn’t right because it was too short, and now we’re back in the sweet spot, and I should be safely dead by 2100, so that’s one less thing I gotta deal with.

Really, even “numberty hundred” rings true to me. “Nineteen hundred” sounds like a year. “Twenty-one-oh-six” sounds like a futur-y year, which is even cooler. So did “Two thousand five”, until I was actually living in it, and it sounds even worse now that it was a long time ago and adults will talk about their childhood happening in that year. Daniel Witwicky would be old enough to get married and grow a fancier beard than me. That’s nuts. My point is that, honestly, it’s the year 3000-3019 that I have to worry about, so if I ever decide to go vampire, those will be the years I hide in the ocean or force society to reset the calendar, whichever’s easier.

I spent New Year’s Eve finishing Superliminal, which I bought on Steam after I watched Vegeta play it on YouTube. It has a similar look and feel to the Stanley Parable, so if you liked one you’d probably enjoy the other, although Superliminal has a different theme. I kept hoping I’d find some secret passage that I wasn’t supposed to take, and a narrator would scold me for finding the “Chickenbutt Ending”, but it doesn’t work that way. Superliminal’s all about puzzles and awesome visuals, but it does have the same soothing design aesthetics as TSP. Honestly, I enjoyed just wandering around in Stanley’s office, and Superliminal does the same thing with a hotel and several other settings. It’s nice.

This got me thinking about how I kind of did everything there was to do in The Stanley Parable, and I sort of wished they would add new stuff to the game, but I’m not sure there would be much point to that. I could play the older version, but it presents the same message, just with different assets. The Boss’s Office would look different, but it’d be the same game. And this got me thinking about various “secret chapters” in pop culture. Secrets behind the cut.

I first heard about this idea in the 2000′s, when fans invented this notion that there was a secret chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I read a website that tried to explain the concept, and of course it lauded J.K. Rowling with all this gushing praise for working an Easter egg into the book, a literary work of “well, magic.”

That pretty well sums up my distaste for Harry Potter, by the way. These days, JKR has thoroughly crapped all over her reputation and legacy, but in the 2000′s it felt like half the planet was in a mad rush to canonize her as a writing goddess, to the point where fans were congratulating her for writing secret chapters that didn’t actually exist. The idea was based on lore from the books about Neville Longbottom’s parents. They were patients in a mental hospital, and he’d go to visit them, and they would give him bubble gum wrappers, intended to demonstrate how far remove they’ve become from reality. The secret chapter lies in those wrappers, which all read “Droobles Best Blowing Gum” or some such. What if Neville’s parents were only pretending to be mentally ill, so as to throw off their enemies? Naturally, they would want to stay in contact with their son, so the bubble gum wrappers would have to contain coded messages. Said code involves unscrambling the letters on the wrappers to make new words, like “goblin” or “sword” or “Muggle” or “Dumbledore”. The problem is that you can also use it to make other words like “booger” or “drool” or “booobbiess.” Play with it enough, and you can make the code say anything you want it to say, which means it’s no code at all.

But the idea was that the not-yet-published sixth HP book would reveal all of this gum wrapper nonsense, and Neville would decode the messages and discover all of his parents’ super-cool adventures. I’m not sure why we needed a secret chapter if Book 6 was going to explain all of this anyway in several not-secret chapters, but that was the whole point. Fans didn’t have Book 6 yet, and they were so desperate to read it that they started trying to extrapolate what would happen next based on “clues” from the previous five. That’s like trying to figure out what Majin Buu looks like by watching the Androids Saga. I guess some wiseguy would have guessed that he’d resemble #19, but that’d just be blind luck.

And when you get down to it, this whole secret chapter business is really just a conspiracy. This is literally how Qanon works. Some anonymous jackass posted vague “hints” on an imageboard, and people went goofy trying to interpret them and figure out what would happen in the future. They call it “research” because they spend a ton of time on this, but there’s no basis to any of it. It took me a few minutes to figure out that you can spell “Muggle” with the words in “Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum”, but that’s not research and it doesn’t prove anything. But all these guys keep looking for “Hilary Clinton goes to jail next week” and lo and behold that’s all they ever find.

In the same vein, the gum wrapper thing was really a complaint disguised as a conspiracy, disguised as a “magical secret chapter”. At least a few fans wanted to see more Neville in their Harry Potter books, they wanted Neville’s parents, or someone like them, to have cool spy adventures or whatever else. The point is, they clearly weren’t getting what they wanted out of the printed works, but they didn’t want to turn against their Dear Beloved Author, so they started casting about for an alternative reality, one where J.K. Rowling wrote a cooler story and hid it in the pages of the one that actually went to press. So instead of just saying “Hey, Order of the Phoenix was kind of a letdown, I hope there’s more ninjas in the next book,” they said “Rowling is a genius because I wanted ninjas and she’s definitely going to give them to me, I have the gum wrappers to prove it.”

The same thing happened all over again when the BBC Sherlock show took a turn for the nonsensical. I don’t know from BBC Sherlock, but I watched the fascinating video critique by Hbomberguy, and it sounds like the show did tons of plot twists until it stopped making sense altogether in the fourth season. If you skip to 1:09:00 in the video, you’ll hear about fan theories that suggested that season four was supposed to be crappy, as part of a secret meta-narrative plan that would be paid off in a secret, unannounced episode that would not only explain everything, but retroactively justify the crappy episodes that came before. But it’s been a few years and it never came to pass, so I think we can call this myth busted.

Most recently, I think we’ve all seen a lot of talk about the final season of Supernatural, where I guess Destiel sort of became canon but only one guy does the love confession and the other doesn’t respond. But I guess he does say “I love you too” in the Spanish dub, which means the English language version was edited for whatever reason. It’s not exactly a secret episode, but the implication is that there’s more to this than what made it to the screen. So the questions turn to what the screenplay said, what the writers and actors wanted to do, etc. etc. My general impression is that SPN fans are a bit more used to crushing disappointment, so they’re not quite as delusional about this show being unquestionable genius, like Sherlock and Harry Potter. Maybe this is an Anglophile thing? Like, if you suck at something with a British accent, people will accept it more unconditionally?

I had seen something on Twitter about how there should have been a secret Seinfeld episode in the 90′s. Someone suggested it at the time, they tape a whole episode, then wait until 2020 to air it, because by then it would be worth a fortune. But they didn’t do it, because it costs a lot of money to make a TV episode, and if you don’t air the show right away, you aren’t making that money back any time soon. Yeah, you might recoup a fortune someday, but Seinfeld was making a ton of money then. It exposes the fannish nature of the idea. A fan would love to discover a cool secret chapter, but a content creator isn’t necessarily keen on making a cool thing and then hiding it where few people would find it.

I thought about doing this myself recently. Maybe Supernatural gave me the bug, but I thought “I’m writing this big-ass story, so what if I wrote me a secret chapter for it? Wouldn’t that be cool?” But no, it wouldn’t be cool, because it’d be the same work as writing a regular chapter, and the same stress I feel when I hold off on publishing it. Except I’d just never publish it, I’d put it in some secret hole on the internet and hope that some superfan who might not even exist can decode whatever clues I leave.

I mean, it’d be awesome if it got discovered and everyone loved it. “Hey, I found this hidden chapter! Mike’s done it again!” And I could bask in the glory. But what if no one finds it? Then I just wasted my time, right? I want people to read my work. My monkey brain needs the sweet, sweet validation of those kudos and comments, folks. Once I realized that, I understood why no one else would want to do a secret chapter either. Easter eggs are one thing, but the bigger bonus features they put on DVDs were pretty easy to find, and with good reason.

I think that’s what made the Stanley Parable so appealing to play, because it teases you with the idea that you can “break” the game and find some extra content that you weren’t supposed to see, but as you go exploring all those hidden areas, it gradually becomes clear that this is just part of the game; you were meant to find all these things, and that’s why they were put here. It’s hidden, but he secret aspect of it is just pretend.

I suppose that what I like about games like TSP and Superliminal is the illusion of secrets more than the secrets themselves. I like roaming through the hallways, having no idea what I might find ahead. I kind of wish I could open all the doors, and not just the ones the game designers put stuff behind, but the reality is that there’s nothing on the other side. I used a cheat code once to explore the unused doors in TSP and it’s just a bright white field on the other side. Interesting to look at, but not much of a reveal. Honestly, the doors themselves are more appealing than anything that could lay behind them.

And that’s probably what makes secrets so fun. They could be almost anything, but once you open the present, the number of possibilities drops to one. If they had ever made that Secret BBC Sherlock Episode, I doubt it would have lived up to expectations, but fans could amuse themselves by imagining what could have been in it. In the end, though, things usually don’t justify the hype. For every Undertaker debut at Survivor Series 1990, there’s a Gobbledygooker debut at Survivor Series 1990. It’s impossible to manufacture a secret with a guaranteed payoff.

8 notes · View notes

justanotherlifeff · 3 years

Text

Levi Ackerman × reader

Genre: Angst, Hurt/comfort, Fluff, matured themes, slowburn

Warning: There's mentions and descriptions of underage rape and suicidal themes and self harm and other triggering stuff.

(Y/N) POV

The wind made my hair fly vigorously. It has gotten longer and I probably will have to cut it. I'll ask Levi if he prefers it long or not. I could see the wall in the distance as we galloped towards it. Wall Rose, our home. The winter was almost over, the snow will melt by the next month. As soon as we give the news of our success in eradicating all titans in Wall Maria, the refugees would start preparing to go back. That would take about a month and everyone would start moving out by spring.

A month will also be required for the Garrison to start cleaning the bodies out. They would do it as soon as we bring the news of success. The two teams that were surveying the inner walls reached near Trost in formation as soon as we were near the door. "You all wait a second. I'll take a briefing from them." I told my squad before going towards the survey corps squad. Being the squad leader of one of the four commanding squads gave me a certain amount of power in the scout regiment.

[Author's note: The ranking of the survey corps is pretty vague, so I made my own version. Before Erwin's death, Levi was the captain, Hanji was the section commander, Mike Zacharias and Dita ness were two high rank squad leaders. The four of them made the commanding squads, the squads that held a certain amount of power over all other squads. Levi and Hanji's ranking held a similar amount of power, only, Hanji was Erwin's successor to commander and Erwin's right hand. Levi held the same amount of power on other squads as Hanji but he wasn't Erwin's successor. Mike Zacharias and Dita ness held equal power on other squads as eachother but less than Hanji and Levi. Now, Hanji is commander but Levi is still captain. Hanji didn't choose a section commander yet, so there are three remaining high rank squad leaders including (Y/N).]

"Oi! How are things here? Any deaths or titans spotted?" I asked the squad leader. "No Squad leader (Y/N). No titans were spotted and no one died. It seems like all of them were killed in the last expedition." The squad leader replied. "Good. I'll be off then." I told him before returning to my squad. The lifts were already lowered. I led my horse to the horse lift and stepped in the other one with my squad. We will be going back to Wall Maria and beyond the walls soon. Maybe we would get to see the ocean that Armin talked about. There were so many possibilities even if the entire world was our enemy.

The people of Trost welcomed us in. I was happy to give them the news that I just got from the squad outside the wall. I gave my squad the permission to do whatever they wanted for now before travelling towards the Capital Mitras to give the supreme commander the news of no enemy being spotted in Shiganshina. It was highly unlikely that the others would spot any enemy either. I reached Mitras at night to find that Levi, Hanji and Mikasa were there too. We all reached at the same time. As I got down from my horse at the stable, Levi approached me. "(Y/N), I need to talk to you in private." he told me, giving a brief look towards Mikasa and Hanji, who were also at the stable.

"Well, we will go report to the supreme commander. I'll tell him you two will be there shortly." Hanji briefly told Levi after I nodded at him. Levi took me behind the stable in an empty corridor and before I could say anything, he kissed me. I didn't hesitate kissing back either because I missed him. I wish I didn't have to face Uncle Erwin alone. After a somewhat long and passionate kiss, Levi broke it and touched his forehead on mine, our eyes still closed. "I was worried." he muttered. I understood how he felt. He wasn't too good with words but I knew how he felt.

"I'm here. I'll always be here" I whispered to him. To that, he pulled me in a tight hug. The warmth of his hug made me struggle to keep myself from falling asleep while standing because I was exhausted. I didn't get any sleep on the wall as I was constantly worried about getting ambushed. After all, I made a promise. "Levi, I'll tall asleep if you hug me any longer. I'm really tired." I muttered to him and he pulled away. "Well, let's report to Zackly." Levi answered to that and we headed towards the building.

The supreme commander seemed happy with our reports and even offered us wine which we politely declined. We had to get back to Farlan and just go home to take some rest. Levi offered that we could take a wagon in case if I felt too tired but I avoided it as I had no intention to sleep on a hard piece of wood and every intention to pass out on a comfy bed with Levi's arms around me. By the time we reached Trost with Farlan, it was dawn. We knew that we would get a day off and I ordered my squad to look after Farlan for a while so that Levi and I could get our well deserved rest. The month passed quicker than expected. The survey corps and Garrison declared Wall Maria to be titan free.

The Garrison was in charge of cleaning up the mess of Shiganshina and repairing all housing. Whatever remains left of the fallen soldiers in Shiganshina were collected and given a mass burial back in the army burials of Capital Mitras. Everyone got a combined headstone. Uncle Erwin's body was also recovered and as the 13th commander of the survey corps, he received a separate grave. I finally had the chance to give Uncle Erwin a proper funeral.

Many civilians showed up at the funeral, a rather modest one without much arrangements for food or refreshments. They didn't care though. He was that one person that made many notable achievements for humanity...or just our kingdom of Paradis. We wouldn't have known that we weren't alone, the extent of how strong our enemies are without his help. The entire survey corps were there, along with many from the Garrison and some from the military police, all in their uniform. Only civilians dressed in black. The funeral went through the standard army procedure, we all saluted to the great man who attained the respect of all his comrades.

After the army procedure was done, everyone was allowed to come forward and speak a few words about Uncle Erwin. Historia was the first to go as queen. She mentioned how Uncle Erwin allowed her to land the final blow on Rod Reiss, her father. How he was concerned but believed in her. The Supreme commander went next and told of his experience on dealing with the cunning commander. How Uncle Erwin never failed to impress him and how he thought Uncle Erwin was a very interesting man. Pixis was called after that and he did something that I never expected.

"Erwin Smith was a man who I knew I could trust as we saw eye to eye on most matters. He helped me out in various occasions and I don't think I have quiet paid the debt back. You see, many years back, I found out that I had a daughter. A man needs some release at times and I made the mistake of going underground for it. I didn't know about her till it was too late. She was found at an underground brothel, almost sold off, during a survey corps raid. I think all of you have a fair idea about who I am talking about at this point.

Yes, (Y/N), also known as the strongest woman in humanity, though that title brings serious doubts now given that there are people living in the world besides us, she is my daughter. I could've taken her back then but seeing how much of a terrible father I have been, I decided she would be better off in a family. I was wrong and everyone knows the rest. I never intended for her to find out about me but she did and I decided I should face reality instead of trying to hide behind the walls I made for myself. As the commander of the Garrison, I do have the tendency of not crossing the walls. Erwin took really good care of (Y/N) when I wasn't present. The (L/N) couple were a good fit for her but as much as I know, (Y/N) spent more time with Erwin, training, reading... Erwin helped her grow as a person, something that I should have done. I'm always going to be thankful towards Erwin for taking care of my daughter and there was no way to pay him back. That's all." he said.

Levi POV

I personally was surprised by the fact that Pixis came clean about (Y/N) in front of the public. Did he drink too much? He must have drank too much. (Y/N) looked equally as surprised as I did. The reporters from the newspapers had a new glint to their eyes. We would have to deal with their shit after the programme is over. Thankfully, Hanji, who was in charge of arranging the programme, got the situation under control and gave Nile Dok a chance on the stage. No one really cared about his cadet corps days with Erwin after what Pixis mentioned. It was Hanji's turn after him and then it was my turn. I got up, went to the stage and started talking.

"Erwin Smith found me when I was in a very shitty position in life. He took me in the military, helped me get a better life. I can't be thankful enough for that. He was a man who never thought a second time before throwing away lives for humanity as we knew back then, but perhaps, if he didn't become a demon among the normal people, we wouldn't have known the truth of the world now. I personally decided that it was time for him to rest that day in Shiganshina because we pushed the man into becoming a ruthless soldier, someone who wasn't allowed to have feelings. I knew how hard that was after I met my wife. He didn't deserve it, no, we didn't deserve a man like him." I ended my speech before returning to my seat next to (Y/N). It was her turn now. I gave her a reassuring look as she headed towards the stage. The crowd, as well as the reporters seemed much more eager about listening to her speech.

"Well, I had a speech written down but seems like I won't be using that. Commander Pixis stated how my childhood was already and I wouldn't comment much on that but I would definitely say that Erwin Smith, the man who was like a father figure to me, made me see hope in this cruel world countless times. He trained me to defend myself, he introduced me to my love towards reading, he was the reason I kept on living after everything was taken from me. He might not be alive today but his memories live on. The day I saw his dead body for the first time, I realized that the body was only a proof that he lived. What mattered most was his contribution towards all of our lives, specially mine." (Y/N) stated, her face etched into a light frown but stoic nonetheless.

The other speeches were dull and uninteresting. That was until a civilian mentioned that his brother, someone who died on the mission to retake wall Maria, had felt how Erwin felt during the 57th expedition. I remembered that one, I gave him Petra's batch after he lost his friend trying to recover another friend's body.

"Levi, you couldn't have had his friend's batch." (Y/N) mentioned in a low tone beside me. "Yes I know." I answered, curious about why she seemed angry. "I saw you take Petra's batch. Was that her's?" (Y/N) asked, her tone sounding more sad than angry. "Yes. It was her's. Are you okay?" I asked (Y/N), concerned about her. "Why did you take her batch? You told me you didn't have feelings for her..." (Y/N) muttered, looking down at her hands. "(Y/N), I didn't have feelings for her. I never did and never will do. I felt guilty that the last conversation I had with her was the one where I rejected her. I felt like I should have changed her squad instead of giving her a chance. I thought about changing her squad too. I felt like she died because of me and I needed to give her father something that belonged to her. Something other than her dead body. That's all there was to it." I explained. "Oh" she answered, with a hint of smile on her face. She still didn't regret her death did she?

One Month later

The refugees returned to their newly repaired and cleaned homes in Wall Maria. Farlan was three months old now and if we thought his crying was bad enough before, it was like living in hell now. I was always used to 3 hours of sleep a day but now, even I get sleep deprived. I'm never having children again. (Y/N) always manages to calm him down but the woman needs some sleep too. I feel bad for her sometimes and try to take care of Farlan but he keeps shrieking like a banshee. God knows what the fuck I do wrong. The expedition outside wall Maria was coming soon enough and my table was filled with stacks of paperwork.

Hanji was kind enough to give (Y/N) a comparatively less amount after she got baby sitting duty when (Y/N) and I had to go and talk to the nobles about expedition budget. Apparantly being the strongest soldiers among Eldians gave us some benefits. Other than that, we recently found out that (Y/N) had a talent of managing people. She probably got that from Pixis. This was discovered when (Y/N) was being interviewed by the newspaper reporters about the revelation by Pixis. (Y/N) answered their questions on point and as short and informatively as possible, without letting out too much or making it seem too mysterious thus getting rid of all the sudden public attention.

Hanji decided that she should go talk to those filthy nobles after that and I, of course, volunteered to go with her as I didn't want anyone else hitting on what's mine. We still lived at Trost, making an hour long travel to Shiganshina everyday, with (Y/N) strapping Farlan to her while going to work. She hated leaving Farlan out of sight except when we are in bed, which isn't happening too often as he seems to start shrieking every time (Y/N) leaves him alone. I understood why she did that though. She just wanted to make sure Farlan has the best childhood and is always cared for. That woman is the perfect mother. I'm not too sure about myself. The new headquarters were at Shiganshina, making it easier to travel out. The expedition was to take place next week.

One week Later

(Y/N) POV

We were standing on top of the wall, the lifts lowering our horses. Only the two special operations squads and Hanji were going on this expedition as no titans were spotted outside of the wall. Both Hanji and I had a theory that all the titans were already inside Wall Maria and we took care of them. Everyone except Levi and Hanji seemed excited to finally leave Wall Maria, and that included me even if I didn't show it off. Uncle Erwin's formation technique would be used so that we could avoid any titan, if any came into view. The plan for now was to go to the end of the island to ensure Eren's father's information were right or not. There must be the so called ocean at the end of the land. The plan after that was eradicating any remaining titan that were on this island and creating a base near the ocean so that Marleyans couldn't throw more titans in here.

Hanji was right. We didn't encounter any titan on our way. Just one which wasn't able to move. "That's one of our compatriots. Someone who'd been sent to 'heaven'. We're close. I'm sure of it." Eren stated before following Levi and galloping forward. After travelling a small distance, we came across a wall. A man made wall. "This is where the Eldians were turned into Titans." Eren stated again. We trotted past it and saw something that was utterly unbelievable. A huge blue wherever my eyes went. Water everywhere. As if it didn't have an end. This was the ocean.

Everyone was already in the ocean. My squad, Sasha, Connie and Jean were playing in the water. Armin stood in the water, looking at something near his feet while Eren was looking at the horizon. Mikasa was struggling to take her shoes off. Hanji was already experimenting and I was tempted to join her. However, it could be dangerous... "Woahhhh! Is this really all salt water?! Huh?! I see something!" she exclaimed and that was enough to catch my attention. I swiftly got my shoes off and went towards her. "What is it?" I asked her, curiosity clear on my face.

"Watch out, both of you. Don't touch it. It could be poisonous." Levi voiced my concerns. I wasn't going to touch it anyway. While Hanji fiddled with some black weird things, I looked over at Eren and the others. Mikasa and Armin were smiling but Eren had a melancholic expression. "I'll be back." I told Hanji and Levi and walked towards the trio. Mikasa and Eren were good friends, specially Mikasa. Armin was more of an intellectual competition to me but he had my respect too after everything that happened.

"And on the other side of the ocean is freedom. That's what I always believed. But I was wrong. It's enemies that are on the other side of the ocean. This is exactly as I saw in my old man's memories. Right? Those enemies on the other side of here, if we kill them all, does that mean we'll be free?" I overheard Eren. "They took everything from me too. I'd kill them at the first chance I get. We will have freedom and justice." I spoke from behind Eren. Eren chuckled at that and said, "You're the last person I expected to hear that from.". " Why is that?" I asked him, confused. "Well, I thought you didn't care about things like freedom or people." he answered.

"Well, seems like you were wrong. I would kill anyone who tries to harm my child. I would try my best to protect Levi. I do care. I cared about Uncle Erwin and I will help Levi keep his promise to kill that ape." I answered, my eyes murderous. "Uh.. I thought we were having fun?" Armin meeked in, looking slightly intimidated. So much for the colossal titan. "Yes, I'll leave you to that, I answered before going back to Levi. He didn't get into the water. Clean freak... I held his hand as I looked into the horizon. When he looked at me and raised an eyebrow, I gave him a smile and squeezed his arm. He awarded me with a smirk before looking at the horizon himself. We looked at our squads having fun. This was only a calm before the storm but I, (Y/N) Ackerman, can tell you that I have never been happier.

To be continued in your imagination....

Taglist: @reality-is-often-disappointing, @kingtamakimurder

#levi x reader #levi attack on titan #levi aot #shingeki no kyoujin levi #levi x fem!reader #levi×reader #captain levi #levi ackerman

12 notes · View notes

embalmerandphotographer · 4 years

Note

Do you have any hcs on Fiona Gilman and her interactions with the other survivors?

Ghost here! Oh I absolutely do. Fiona is the survivor I play most often after Aesop and I love her! Not just her skill, I also find her backstory very intriguing and have spent a lot of time talking to Greed about it, as is our way.

Okay so... First a warning or two:

1. This contains some spoilers for her deduction lines and birthday letter, so skip this one if you don't want to see that.

2. I'll freely admit that I love to push everything in a horror direction and this does of course also apply to the mega-evolved kiter herself.

Getting that out of the way...

I think it's clear that Fiona knew about and implied to have been drawn to Lakeside Village, where there was a cult religion worshiping a lake deity that was probably Hasur. We know the villagers sacrificed "livestock" to the their god by throwing them into the lake in exchange for their prayers being answered. We know Fiona was drawn to seek out occult mysteries, and that she has a philosophy of following where her gods lead her, taking the actions she believes they call on her to take. We also know the village is now abandoned, and letters later sent to villagers (see the Dancer's recent birthday letter) weren't answered. We also know that Fiona gained some pretty impressive magical powers at some point, ones she didn't have growing up.

So, Fiona went to the village, either believing herself drawn there or because of what she'd heard about the lake cult, or both. I think she, a very attractive and definitely driven if not also somewhat cunning young woman, was able to join the cult and become close to or even join its secretive inner circle, the one in charge of the actual summoning and sacrifices.

And Ms. Fiona Gilman had a very big wish she wanted granted, a deep prayer she had no doubt been holding close most of her life.

I think Fiona wanted to be special. Powerful. Part of the magical world. And she wanted to be follow the call of her gods, to be able to pass through the solid reality of this world into the spiritual one she always wanted but never had access to as a child.

And I think she that she got her wish. And that she sacrificed the entire population of Lakeside Village to the lake and to Hasur to get it. Consider that the villagers were asking for small things, and paying in blood sacrifice and the slaughter of livestock for even that. And who and what Fiona became is very much not the anxious, unhappy, and apparently seeming unexceptional person she was implied to have been before breaking away from her mother.

If you consider the survivor's abilities separate from how they're balanced by the game mechanics, Fiona is one of the most powerful of the survivors, if not the most powerful. Along with Patricia and Eli, she had actual magical abilities before coming to the manor*. And because of my take on her, I think that like Aesop, she'd killed enough people that she could have been (and might still one day be) a hunter instead of a survivor... but that’s a post for another day.

So! That's my HC for her backstory. You also asked about her interactions with the others.

First off, while I obviously think she's a sort of amoral-evil person on a grand scale, I think Fiona is probably perfectly nice and even quite charismatic on an individual basis. Kind of weird still, because she's the priestess of a cult, but charming and easy to get along with in spite of this. And while I do think Fiona is capable of being manipulative to get what she wants, I also think she doesn't think of her actions as evil or intentionally do harm. Even her drowning a whole village of people in a lake could have been framed, for her, as following her god's commands. Maybe she thought that after so many sacrifices, Hastur wouldn't be bound to the lake anymore, and she might even have been right about that.

(Btw this, in my mind, is one of the most dangerous types of person when they're amoral. Someone so very likable is also so much harder to criticize, to question, or even to think ill of.)

So, I think the survivors get along with her fine for the most part. I don't think any of them know about what she did (with maybe one exception), and that they take her at face value as another member of their strange, unwilling team.

Now... She's casually friendly with pretty much all the survivors, with a few exceptions, but that she might not have any very close connections at the manor. I think she has a mean-girls style friendship with Vera, and that’s her closest friend. Also she and Patricia have long, technical conversations about magic from time to time, but Patricia is deeply uninterested in getting cursed more/again and steers clear of whatever it is the Priestess is up to spiritually. Any of the survivors who are attracted to pretty ladies and susceptible to getting crushes probably do have mild to moderate crushes on her (Kevin, Vera, Freddy, Martha, Emily, William, Emma, and certainly others although I haven't thought through it too much). Also, for some reason I headcanon that Luca specifically Just Thinks She's Neat, because she has a fascinating ability that challenges his view of a scientific reality, and because they're both feral and he can vibe with that.

Aesop is completely, almost hilariously immune to her charisma and views her neutrally- a competent coworker with a hang up on one of the hunters that's really not his place to comment on.

On the other hand, I think Emily and Martha don't think much of her intelligence due to her spirituality/gods, and Emma just quietly doesn't get closely involved with Fiona outside of matches because she while she may be unhinged she has good instincts. Poor Andrew is absolutely terrified of her like the good Catholic boy he is. And she does unnerve a few of the other survivors but not in a way that they can quite put their finger on, so they dismiss it.

And then there's Eli. I've understood Eli's backstory to imply that he's from the Roman Empire, so way further back in the timeline than most of the others, who were take from eras closer to the World Wars. And Eli is linked to Fiona, but we don't know how. They have similar eye themes (Fiona's keys/portals have eyes on them and Eli's blindfold/owl are related to sight), but they can't have know each other when they were alive, and we don't hear anything about the lake cult being involved in Eli’s life or his future seeing. Fiona is implied to have served and still be following Hastur, but the same can't be said for Eli as far as I know.

I don't think Eli dislikes Fiona. They might even be friends in a way, or sort of colleagues. Certainly there aren't many other people they can talk to about magic, and they do share some kind of connection from outside the manor. But I think Eli has very mixed feeling about her, partly because he knows that mystical powers come with costs.

And I have a specific, wildly extrapolated headcanon about them. I don't think Eli was part of a cult dedicated to Hastur that existed long before Fiona was ever born. I think his own powers were given to him, in part, to stop things like what Fiona did in Lakeside Village from ever happening. To contain gods of chaos and protect the balance of the world. He might even have had visions of what happened, either with the Lakeside cult or with the manor games or both, and if so he just wasn't able to stop it, being too far away in time until he was pulled into the timeless pocket dimension the manor apparently exists in. (How interesting then for him to become trapped with living proof that what he saw and would have tired to prevent had already come to pass?)

Anyway! Those are my headcanons for Fiona, or what I have time to write down tonight.

Closing thoughts:

-I did also find another little bit of interesting trivia: part of Eli's Chinese name originally translated to Gilman. We also know reincarnation is a theme for him. Who knows what the manor game is about, after all?

-I also think it's EXTREMELY funny that Fiona claims to have not come to the manor after being called by a letter, but instead to have followed "a spirit" or one of her gods to the manor. Because if it's at all true, Ms. Gilman *broke into the manor*, either at the behest of her god (Hastur) or because she was following him. She broke in. Can she get out out? Does she just not want to? I have questions!!! Ms. Gilman what is your deal!!)

*(Servais, honey, I appreciate you, but we don't know if you had real magic or just excellent illusionism skills before the manor; I also think it's safe to say that Mike's juggling wasn't magical until the manor got ahold of him either, and so on with Vera, Aesop, etc.)

#identity v #fiona gilman #identity v headcanon #long post #coffin #sorry this took a few days to answer #hope you enjoy my ramblings about my murderous crystal hippie headcanons for fiona #Anonymous

15 notes · View notes

jackdawyt · 4 years

Video

youtube

Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of my favourite games of all time. I love everything about this game, from the compelling hero’s journey, to the roster of lovable characters, to making the Inquisitor my very own unique protagonist. Few games compare to the experiences and tremendous moments that Inquisition provides, not to mention the Trespasser DLC which revealed the true intention of the game’s villain, and paved the story forward for future titles.

I think it’s rather telling how good this game is, considering we’re still talking about it nearly 6 years later after launch, discovering new theories and mysterious hidden deep within the lore. Heck, if Dragon Age: Inquisition was a mediocre experience, I don’t think I’d have a YouTube channel today with thousands of recurring views weekly talking about the game, and where the story is going to go since the events of Inquisition.

However, there is something critical that I feel is necessary to discuss regarding Dragon Age Inquisition’s original marketing demos and the expectations they set for the finished game.

Following up to the launch of Dragon Age: Inquisition, I used to obsessively re-watch the first original gameplay demo shown at Pax Prime 2013. At the time the game was in its pre-alpha build, however, there were many impressive features and dynamics showing just a glimpse of what we’d come to expect once we got our hands on the game.

In retrospect, these promises were scrapped before the finished project released.

This post is not meant to be a negative outlook, poking holes at BioWare’s effort, but an investigation and critique into BioWare’s game design, more specifically, the cuts the developers made tackling Inquisition’s complicated release, and how they’ve learned since.

For the uninitiated, Dragon Age: Inquisition released in November, 2014, a month after the next generation of consoles launched. As the game was jammed in-between two gaming generations, it was designed to ship on both the previous generation of consoles (Xbox 360/PS3) and the current generation (XB1/PS4).

In order for the game to predominantly run on the lower spec consoles, many gameplay cuts, downgrades and setbacks were made to the final project.

I’m not talking about conceptual ideas in pre-production that were drafted for the game, like The Architect making a cameo appearance in a “Here Lies The Abyss” alternative twist, or the Hero of Ferelden, Hawke and The Inquisitor meeting up in a potential drafted prologue. Of course, there were plenty of ideas, concepts and story threads that were canned and reworked because the developers had better, and frankly more relevant plans for the game.

I’m talking about actual features and mechanics that were incorporated and designed into the vertical slice demo that was shown off to the fans at Pax Prime 2013, and then were removed later on just before launch.

I would like to point out that the gameplay I’m going to show was alpha footage, and the developers made sure we all understood that it could easily change, nobody lied to us. If anything, BioWare were so eager to show off the next Dragon Age game, that perhaps this was the biggest detriment to the project.

I’ll have the full Pax gameplay demo linked for those who want to watch it fully. But without further ado, I’m going to be revealing the Dragon Age: Inquisition we almost got.

Cut Content:

The demo starts with a significant cut, originally Dragon Age: Inquisition would’ve featured stunning party member cutscenes when entering new areas for the first time. We see Varric, Cassandra and Vivienne discussing how prepared they are since the Inquisition formed. Varric banters that he’s outnumbered by the ladies once again.

We can assume that these dynamic banter cutscenes based on your party members were replaced with Scout Harding’s area report.

The models and textures for the characters and armours look very different too. Cassandra has a more angled facial structure, like her original concept art. And, the Inquisitor’s armour and textures don’t even exist in the final game, I remember attempting to recreate this look, a thousand times over, however, no fabrics in the game have this orange texture.

Helmets also appear in conversations, which is a huge pet peeve of mine, I’m still upset to this day that we can’t see helmets in conversations and there’s no mod to fix it. However, they added this feature in Mass Effect: Andromeda, so maybe we’ll see it in the future.

In general, this demo showed that there was going to be a lot more cutscenes when entering new areas, in party banter, and for minor conversations with smaller characters.

Upon inspecting the gameplay, we can see the camera’s placement was significantly adjusted. The demo had a third-person feel, whereas the game ended up with a pulled back camera, probably to suite the tactical camera for combat. Fortunately, there are mods that actually fix this issue.

The UI has evolved since the demo, there used to be a Skyrim-esqe navigation compass that was replaced with a radar. And the party member icons are different, but that’s just nit-picking.

The combat is more or less the same, however, it does seem more reactive and heftier in the demo. Most likely because the camera is more zoomed into the action. There are some tweaks though, the enemies react more to the Inquisitor’s attacks, the stumble, flail and even run away, as opposed to just taking the damage and then attacking you back.

However, minor these cuts may seem to you; they did change the game a fair amount adding more immersion to the overall experience.

Even so, the most obvious and upsetting cut when watching this demo regards the entirety of Crestwood, the area has been dramatically reduced in the final game.

In this demo, the Inquisitor is given a conflict. One of the Inquisition’s soldiers asks the player how does the Inquisitor want to handle their armies' movements throughout the area.

The Inquisitor could send the Inquisition army to save the town of Crestwood.

They could lead the soldiers to tend to the nearby wounded.

Or they could bolster every solider to the Keep, leaving both the wounded and the town of Crestwood.

Each choice had a consequence, and both Mike Laidlaw and Mark Darrah spoke on having multiple ways to approach the situation. For instance, in the demo’s scenario the Inquisitor decides to leave the town while it’s under siege, instead, they find a secret entrance towards the Keep. Using Antivan Fire, they burn the invaders’ boats which would prevent them from escaping after their attack. The Inquisition take the Keep, and head back to the ransacked town filled with newly fresh corpses. A dynamic cutscene of Varric mourning the dead plays out, adding emotional impact and weight to the decision the Inquisitor just made.

And this was just a side questline...

The demo ends with the developers reiterated the tactical and dynamic approaches when showing the Inquisition taking over the Keep at The Western Approach.

According to Mark Darrah, you could weaken enemy defences by doing things like drawing out the troops or poisoning their wells.

Then, once you claimed the keep for yourself, you’d get a quest called ‘This Water Tastes Funny’, in which your Keep's well was poisoned and you’d have to go find fresh water.

The Keep’s themselves were originally designed to have a lot more influence and reactivity throughout the world. Once captured, the Inquisitor could choose a dynamic choice for the Keep’s overall goal, if you had enough Inquisition agents.

The Keep could be specialised based on the Inquisition’s advisors. You could choose to run your Keep as a Military outpost, boosting fortifications. It could be a Keep of espionage and secrets, for information gathering, or you could make it a Keep of connections and merchants for diplomatic purposes. Each different speciality had a different advantage and aesthetic to suit its purpose.

Adding more choices and roleplaying values for making the Inquisition your own army, having a say in what aspects it should grow in.

That sums up the majority of the cuts made since this demo. I will say it’s unfortunate seeing these unfinished features that shaped the game in a completely different direction, that inevitably couldn’t make it into the finished project.

But I think it’s wrong to pin the blame of this cut content on anyone because the developers were tackling a console generation shift, and they wanted everyone to have the opportunity to play the game without having to get a new console. Can you really blame them for that?

Perhaps many of these features may be designed into a future title since the developers wanted them so much in Inquisition? And speaking of the future title, at least the next Dragon Age game won’t be coming out in between a console generation, it is being designed strictly for next-gen, so there shouldn't be any console setbacks and limitations.

Even still, when Dragon Age 4 does eventually get a gameplay reveal, don’t set your expectations in stone based on that reveal. The finished project will look very different. These days gameplay previews aren’t always accurate, and that’s just a dilemma of the entire games industry, not just EA and BioWare.

Wrapping up on a positive note, BioWare have learned from this experience, and they’re approaching Dragon Age 4 with a “show, don’t tell” strategy. They will be proceeding with caution when marketing and revealing the next Dragon Age game, and that may play a part in why we haven't and won't see anything official for a while.

I don’t think I could end on a better note then the Narrative Director, John Epler’s message about Inquisition’s development. John said: “A good 90% of 'bad' decisions are, in fact, the best decision at the time. Game dev is all about making the best decision you can at the time, with the resources you have. A lot of stuff you thought was weird or awkward came down to a gut call of 'this is the best I can make this and I trust it's good enough'. Sometimes we're right, sometimes not.”

BioWare decided to make these cuts to Inquisition because they realised it was the right thing to do for the entire project, perhaps they felt they couldn’t deliver these features to their full capacity, or they wanted a change of direction. They believe these decisions were made for the greater good of the game, and I commend them for that.

Dragon Age Inquisition is an incredible RPG with tons of personality, that not many games can even mimic. Although the game had some minor setbacks with the fair amount of content that was cut, the game is just as amazing without those initial features.

Like I said, perhaps we’ll see these mechanics in the next game, if not, then at least it has been a learning experience for BioWare, that they can utilise for the development of Dragon Age 4.

In any regard, let me know your thoughts down below on this gameplay demo relating to the finished game, and don’t forget to check out my latest news update!

28 notes · View notes

purplesurveys · 3 years

Text

1096

survey by doedear

When you get an account for something, what's the first username you try? It depends on what I’m signing up for. For social media and informal sites I use the same username I’ve been using for like a decade now just because it makes it easier for me to remember; for more professional websites I use my first name, my middle initial, and my surname.

What do you think might be someone else's first impression of you? The most common impression is quiet and aloof, which I’m honestly fine with.

Is texting having a negative or a positive effect for social relationships? I appreciate that it makes staying connected with my loved ones a lot easier, but I disagree with how it’ll sometimes be used to deal with situations that are ideally handled by person, like breakups or serious arguments. In other words it can definitely have both; it depends on how it’s used.

Would you be okay with a friend wanting to date one of your exes? I might have a personal problem with it, but it’s not like I would do anything to prevent it from happening. I would not be in the place to do so. I will probably distance myself from that friend though, just so that I don’t have to get updated on what’s going on between them.

Have you ever been addicted to something other than a drug? No.

Have you ever been addicted to a drug? Nope.

Do you like macadamia nut cookies? Sure, though I really ever only eat one kind; Starbucks has a dark chocolate macadamia cookie that I like to get from time to time.

What kind of accent do people typically have where you're from? Philippine English, which I’d say sounds a bit similar to American English, excep for the small differences here and there of our differences in pronunciation.

Bruno Mars - fail or win? He’s a win for me. When it comes to Top 40/pop music, he has always been one of my honest favorites. Have kind of a crush on him too lol, so there’s that.

Can you sleep without a fan on? During this time of the year, yes. It doesn’t last that long since Philippines was never meant to be a cold country, though.

Does history interest you at all? It really does; I can watch, read, and go to museums about it all day if I could. It was also my favorite class and it was the subject I could rely on to have good grades in and pull my average up, hahaha.

What's something you wish you could do-over? As much as possible I don’t really think of this as I don’t see the point in focusing on situations that are already done and over with. But if I had no choice, I’d pick the time I was a college freshman and make myself less-breakdown-y and less-depression-y.

How many times a day do you apply deoderant? Once, at the start of the day.

Have you ever tried any drugs? Other than caffeine, no.

What caused the most intense physical pain you've ever felt? The time I accidentally ripped my earring off and permanently disfigured my piercing. Also, when I touched a plugged-in clothing iron thinking it wouldn’t be hot enough.

Do you like those Sperry Top-Sider shoes? They’re actually pleasant to look at, yes. I’d buy a pair for myself.

Can you wear shoes like that without getting blisters on your ankles? When I’ve worn them like 5 times already, yeah. I always get blisters with newly-bought pairs, though.

Would you agree that dark chocolate tastes like rotten chocolate? Uh, no? That’s some poorly-made dark chocolate you have.

Do you touch your lips when you're nervous? I have other habits.

Do you think you can read other people's body language well? Yeah. This is on surveys a lot...

Are you a good driver? I’mmmmmm honestly a little reckless because my temper is shortest when on the road lol. But since I’ve driven the longest out of all my friends and have grown used to parking in tricky spots, changing lanes, overtaking, etc., they all still prefer to ride with me.

Did you pass your driver's test the first time you took it? Yes. I think he passed me out of sympathy though (because I did terrible and we both knew it), because failing me would’ve taken so much more time on my end and theirs. And in the Philippines, getting things over with matters more than quality control haha.

Would you rather be involved in a watergun or a paintball gun war? At this point maybe a paintball gun war, since I’ve been to many water gun fights before.

Is your hair in layers or is it all the same length? It’s the same length. I haven’t had it layered since the 5th grade.

Is there anyone who you're afraid to be in a car with, if they're driving? A friend who’s new to driving, like Jo or Angela.

What's a quick fix for a bad hair day? I just dab my hair with some water at the sink; it’s usually able to do the trick and make me look prepared when I’m unable to take a full shower.

Do you enjoy flying or do you get scared? The idea of accidents and crashes scare me, of course, but I try not to let it ruin my experience of flying and traveling.

Be honest. Do you like making other people feel jealous? Sometimes but it has waned more as I’ve gotten older. It has just started to mean less and less through the years and as my priorities change.

Have you ever purposely made someone of the opposite sex jealous? No. When it came to Mike, I didn’t really flaunt my relationship since I felt bad for him.

Are you addicted to shopping? Nope, but I can definitely see myself being if I ever decide to make it a weekly habit.

Do you always wear mascara and eyeliner? I never wear either.

Do you have any huge hoodies lined with snuggly fur on the inside? No, and I can tell you that is uncommon to see here because that sounds insanely warm to wear.

Is there anything you do, kind of habitually, that's completely mindless but helps you think? I don’t think so. I’m not sure I understood the question, either...

Do you like headphones or ear-buds more? Earbuds. Headphones undeniably have better quality, but they’re bulky.

What's your favorite winter sport? I don’t watch or play any.

What's something you're very good at? Meeting deadlines. I never miss one.

Where do you spend the majority of your summer? At home? ...Where else am I supposed to spend it in? Haha.

Who do you usually spend the most of your summer with? My family. I don’t have any yearly practices set every summer.

How old were you and where did you go on your first real date? I was 16; it was a quaint, Italian-American restaurant in Greenbelt.

Have you ever had a bonfire on the beach at night? I don’t think so. I would love that experience.

Do you like sour gummy worms? Yeah. I like the more gelatinous kind than the gummy candies with sour powder on them, though.

Have you ever helped a complete stranger with anything? I’m sure I have, but nothing super specific is coming to mind at the moment...just little things like holding the door open for someone carrying a heavy bag, cleaning up the plates and utensils on my table so that the server won’t have to do much work, teaching a stranger the COVID safety protocols before entering an establishment if they look confused, etc.

Would you pick up a hitchhiker if they seemed harmless? Probably not.

When playing a sport, are you more focused on winning or having fun? Winning, which I know doesn’t make me the best person to play with so I prefer to watch by the sidelines anyway. I do have fun playing table tennis though :)

Who's the last person who gave you a piggy back ride? Gabie.

Who's the last person that you gave a piggy back ride? I’m lighter than everyone else I know so I’ve never given one.

Rock, paper, or scissors? I switch it up every time.

Would you be bothered if your boyfriend liked to bite you? No. I liked lightly biting my ex as a show of affection and just to get her attention whenever I wanted to be playful.

Are you any good at dancing? No. I’m good at memorizing routines, but could never do them on my own.

Even if you aren't, do you like to dance? Only by myself.

What makes you feel the most 'alive'? New places and new experiences.

Whose conversations do you appreciate the most? Angela and Hans.

Is there anyone's advice you value enough to take against your own judgment? Gabie. At least in the past.

How often do you get the opportunity to be completely alone? Very seldom, which is why I try to give it to myself every weekend as a reward.

Do you like being alone or does it drive you crazy? I appreciate if I’ve been around people for too long, but I also shouldn’t have too much of it.

Do you have a trampoline? No.

Do you get nervous when driving in convertibles, knowing that if you flipped, you'd be screwed? I’ve never had this concern because I’ve never driven in one.

What's your favorite Pixar movie? Toy Story, of course.

Are you capable of successfully lying to someone you love? I guess, but I’ll hate doing it.

Who do you adore? Angela’s mom.

#survey #surveys

2 notes · View notes