#But I might retire her to pet status after this year | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kasdeyalilith · 3 years

Text

Lorn (II)

Lorn I, Lorn III

The Fatuis are under the rule of the Cryo Archon and are known for their ruthless way of getting what they want. Attempting to save Kuni from the kinds of people he'll be going with, you tried to run after him but it's too late. According to the people in the docks, the boat that the Fatuis used have long gone.

Kneeling in despair, you planned to rent a boat and go after them after reading his letter but no one dared to offer their boats to you. Living off grid for a long time have left you uninformed of what's happening in Inazuma, the Shogun had placed the ban of leaving or entering of anyone unless it's allowed by the Shogun herself or if it's related in business only.

Defeated for the day, I went home to plan something else in hopes to find Kuni. I'm still shaken of what happened, it's not in character of Kunikuzushi to leave me like this. Even if I understand the reason for his departure, I still feel betrayed and abandoned. It's not new since I've experienced that during the war but it hurts more since it came from someone you truly trust and love.

The house you shared seem empty now that it's missing one, I sighed before opening the door. At this time of the day, you should be cooking dinner but here you are, sitting on the side of his bed. You missed him already, if only you're more aware of what's been going with him then he shouldn't have resorted to joining the Fatui. Blaming yourself won't give you both anything now that what's done is done so I decided to wait for his return.

It has been 34 years, 5 months, and 7 days since Kunikuzushi left and he still didn't send any letters or anything for me to know that he's ok. Remaining faithful to the words he said on his letter, you stayed until he comes back to you.

Summer passed when I received news about my friends, it seems that Barbatos went back to his land and Morax decided to retire from his position as Liyue's Archon. I planned to visit them and wrote back that I'll be checking on them soon after your lover goes home. It wasn't long before they responded with excitement to hear more about you and your lover. I later learned at the end of their letters about how the Fatuis have taken their gnosis along with disrupting the peaceful lives of their people. Immediately, I worry for Kuni as he's a part of that organization or was? Maybe the reason for his silence was because he's being held captive by them?

You thought of writing Kuni another letter, maybe this time he'll be able to receive it. It must be the Fatui's fault that he doesn't receive any of your letters so this time you asked your friend to let the winds guide your letter directly to him.

The chores I do everyday are no different from when Kunikuzushi is still living with me. Packing the vegetables I have harvested for the month, I trudged my way down the village.

You noted of how the numbers of the Shogun's army increases and are now flocking every village of Inazuma. It worries you that something terrible is about to happen so you asked one of the villagers of what they know.

"You didn't come down from your hill for months that's why you didn't know of what's happening dear but the Shogun. . . She's taking the visions to put it on her statue"

"Taking the visions? But why?"

"It's her way of eternity, sadly even us old folks are affected"

I thanked the old lady before I went and sell my vegetables to some vendors. On the way home, I was pondering over what that villager told me. If things escalated I might be forced to do something and move but what if Kuni comes back and I'm not home? He might think that I left him. I was thinking of a way to hide myself and our home from the armies when I was stopped by a boy with cute brown cat like ears and tail.

"You're (Y/n) right?" He asked while his ears wiggled

I hold myself from squealing and petting his ears so I just nod.

"Her Excellency is seeking for an audience with you if it's alright"

"Who are you may I ask? And of her Excellency?"

He seemed surprised and his ears twitched, I have to remind myself again to stop from going forward and pet his ears.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. It's rude of me to not introduce myself first. I was just so nervous meeting you. I'm Gorou, General of the Watatsumi Army " he bows

"It's ok! You don't have to bow and all!" I panicked when he quickly bowed

"I have to since you're a goddess after all! I'm so rude to you earlier, please forgive me!"

"Wait how did you know that I'm a goddess?" I clenched the basket I'm holding, preparing if this ends in a fight

"Uhh her Excellency is the one that told me, she only instructed me to take her to you"

"Does this Excellency of yours an immortal as well?"

"No but-"

"Sure, I'll go with you. Only if it'll be brief, I'm waiting for someone and I'm afraid I might miss him if I stay out for too long"

"Of course!" He perked up and motioned for me to follow him

I'm relieved to find that this "Excellency" person is not an immortal or any superficial being but I still have to put my guard up. I don't have anything to do anyways so I'll just entertain them for a bit. The sooner this is over, the sooner I can go back to our house.

As we neared the Watatsumi Island, I can sense the tense atmosphere from the soldiers stationed at the shore. I've been seeing a lot of uniformed men from the past hours and I'm not liking the implications of it. Last time something happened like this, it did not end well.

Everything is in the hue of pink, cute water jellyfish floats, and pearls are scattered everywhere. If I'm not on a strict mission, I could've walked around and swim over the blue waters.

It didn't take us long to cross the wooden bridge to go towards the shrine that's crowned with large pink shells. I'm excited to meet this person that Gorou is talking about, she clearly knows how to decorate her shrine.

"I see, you managed to convince her in meeting me, as expected of General Gorou"

I stared at the person that's talking to the General and she looks young. I'm expecting someone older, maybe with greying hair but not a cute maiden. She even rivals the beauty of those sea goddesses I've met thousands of years ago.

"It's no feat at all my lady, (Y/n) is kind enough to follow me and have an audience with you" the general blushed while scratching the back of his head

"You must be her Excellency, I'm (Y/n), though you must've known me already when you asked for me"

"Ah yes, I'm Sangonomiya Kokomi, Divine Priestess of Watatsumi Island. But please do call me Kokomi"

"Sure uhh Kokomi, can I ask why I'm here? And how did you know I'm one of the divine beings?"

"Well there are books that listed a goddess living with humans near Watatsumi Island. It seems like a myth at first but I talked to an old lady that lives near your village and she told me about a maiden that never ages who lives on a lone hill, hidden by forests"

I might not be good at hiding my identity then, I should take note of this and be more careful whenever I go down from our home. Nodding my head at Kokomi, I urged her to continue.

"It took some time to research about you and in the end we surmised that you're the goddess the books are talking about. I hope we didn't insult you in doing so lady (Y/n), we're just in a tightrope of everything that has been going on"

"Uhm it's ok, I guess? You didn't do me any harm but I prefer if you keep this to yourselves as I would like to live in peace amongst humans"

"Of course! We just hope that we can ask for your help in the resistance against the Shogunate"

"Resistance? You're making war against the Archon herself?"

"Yes, in hopes to take back the peaceful and happy lives of the people that are under the unfair rule of the Archon, many are affected when the ban of leaving or entering Inazuma was issued years ago and now she's taking all the visions that her people have. We formed the Watatsumi Army to battle against the Shogun"

"I see and you want my help against the Shogun?"

"Yes if you're willing lady (Y/n), your help will greatly put our army in advantage as we are forced right now to hide from her army"

"I don't want trouble with either party but-"

"Please! I'm begging you my lady, if she succeeds in taking every vision, Inazuma might fall under her. People whose visions are taken from them have been robbed of their ambitions and a lot of villages are now affected from the battle between her and our army. Villages are poisoned from the Mikage Furnace in Tatarasuna and we suspect the Fatuis to be behind it"

"Wait did you just say the Fatuis?"

"Yes, we're not sure of it yet but my soldiers reported camps of Fatui spread out over the place"

"I see" remembering the letters from the archons of Mondstadt and Liyue, I drew a shuddering breath. If the Fatuis are behind all this then there's a huge possibility that they're here for the Archon's gnosis. "I agree in helping you but I have a question"

"Really? Thank you, lady (Y/n)!" Gorou wagged his tail and beamed at me while Kokomi bowed her head in gratitude

"We're in debt for your kindness my lady"

" Yeah, you can call me (Y/n) only, you can drop the lady part"

"Of course...(Y/n)"

"So my question is if your soldiers ever saw someone short close to my height maybe, have long purple hair and blue eyes in the Fatui's camps?" I held my breath hoping for any news of Kuni from these people

"I'll ask the soldiers lad- I mean (Y/n) to look for the person you've described. If you could tell more details, it'll be easier for us to find him in their ranks"

"You will?? Thank you so much! I'll provide any details you want"

"It's a small price for the help that you're willing to give us, General Gorou will see over your request. I'll have him in the front-line tomorrow, as for now I want to talk to you about our plans for the battle"

"Ok, thank you again and his name by the way is Kunikuzushi"

"Kunikuzushi?"

"Yes, he's my ah special someone"

"Oh" both of them blushed and fidgeted before Kokomi cleared her throat.

"I see well then we'll surely look for him the best we can"

Beaming at the Priestess, I thanked her a dozen times more before she looks dizzy with all the gratitude and Gorou is smiling at the sides.

Scaramouche scolded his men for being incompetent at readying the boat for Inazuma. They're already an hour late from the schedule and these fools are nowhere near from fixing the boat. That b*tch, Signora, is already there running her stupid mouth while he's stranded here and he has to oversee the manufacture of delusions in Inazuma. He sighed through his nose before electrocuting the nearest soldier on his side.

"I expect to find another boat that'll send me to Inazuma in a minute and if you blundering fools ever fail, I'll toast your insides till you're fuming foams from your mouths. Am I clear?!"

"Yes, my Lord"

"We're sorry for our incompetence, we'll ready the boat immediately"

"Tsk"

He walked towards his tent when a paper circled around him before landing on his hands. He was curious of who sent the letter as this was a strange way of sending him one. Opening the letter, his eyes widen at the penmanship. He'll forever remember how you write his name, you're the only one who calls him Kuni. Scaramouche read every word as if his life depends on it, he's disappointed to finish the letter quickly so he slowly reads it again.

The harbinger folds the letter carefully and put it inside his secured pocket where your other letters are. He lets out a long breath, it's been so long since he last saw you. Scaramouche misses you dearly but he can't see, talk, or write to you in fear that the Fatui and his enemies will know about you and use you against him. Only after the Tsaritsa's quest against the Celestia can he go back to you, for now he can only read every letter and treasure every gifts you send him.

Boarding the boat, Kunikuzushi stared at the direction of Inazuma. Excited and dreading to be there as he'll be near and far away from you at the same time.

Part two of the fic Lorn is out, I didn't mean for it to be long but I think this fic will have chapters till 4. Since I always write for angst I don't know if I should end this with angst or fluff? Anyways thank you all for reading stories I made even though it's kinda meh and always an angst ehe.

#scaramouche x reader #scaramouche+x+reader #scaramouche+angst #scaramouche #genshin angst #genshin #genshin impact #kokomi #gorou

146 notes · View notes

tundrainafrica · 3 years

Text

Title: Copycat

Summary:

""Shitty four eyes and clean freak? Would you know what those words mean?" The teacher asked.

Hange and Levi exchanged knowing glances. A parent teacher conference wasn't at all the right place to explain nicknames. Really though, when would it ever be the appropriate time to explain them?"

Levi and Hange learn the hard way that children like to imitate.

Link: AO3

Notes: This has been on my WIPs for a while and I have a few other prompts for domestic verse pieces so will probably focus on them first hehe. Anyway, feedback is very much appreciated!

“Levi Ackerman and Hange Zoe…”

The teacher was looking through what could have been the class list. No, it definitely was a class list. They were in a parent teacher meeting, what else could it be.

With the way she was holding it though, it was difficult for Levi to sneak a peek at its contents. Eventually, he gave up and let his mind wander, his eyes soon followed. He spared a glance at Hange to see she had cocked her head just a little bit to the side. She was definitely as curious if not more curious about the contents of the piles of paper.

The teacher, Ms. Wilde had a smile on her face and it had been that way since Luke had started school. Her expression then wasn't too far from her usual smile but her eyes were too wide, her mouth too flat of a line especially when she bit her lips. And when she ran her eyes over documents, she seemed…. Stiff.

Uncomfortable? DIsturbed maybe? Levi was expecting the worst.

“Commander Hange Zoe and Retired Captain Levi Ackerman…” Ms. Wilde corrected, clearing her throat.

“No need for any formalities. I mean you have been taking care of our son…” Hange held one hand out for a hand shake, obviously trying to ease the tension in the room.

“Yes, he’s a pleasant kid,” Ms. Wilde added, nodding her head. The discomfort on her face still did not waver.

He is a pleasant kid. Levi was with that kid 24/7. He brought the kid to school and back home, he cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner and he taught him all chores possible at the ripe age of two. Levi was almost certain that along with it, he had taught the kid basic manners.

Levi had to admit though, he himself wasn’t the most diplomatic either. The kid though was glaringly much nicer than Levi was and on top of that, he had picked up some of his other quirks from Hange. The boy didn’t have to be exceptional though. At the least, Luke should have been a functioning member of the kindergarten.

Not enough to make a teacher squirm as she spoke about him. Right?

Most days… And as Levi reflected on it, he started to dig deeper into the past few years, the almost negligible cracks in between their routine. Was there anything he failed to teach Luke? Hange could have been asking the same thing, she looked at Levi questioningly.

Ms. Wilde cleared her throat and in her own way, she had broken some of the residual tension. “Apologies… I’ve been stalling.” She turned to Hange. “Commander Zoe…”

“Retired… Commander Zoe,” Hange corrected.

Was Hange stalling? Or just deliberately looking for a way to alleviate whatever tension had blanketed the room. Hange’s own corrections though were only delaying the inevitable, stretching the tension for longer than necessary.

“I wanted to talk to you about your son," Ms. Wilde started.

No shit. “Go on….” Levi said softly, not loud enough for her maybe. He subtly moved his hands in some signal to continue, as if that could have been communication enough.

Ms. Wilde stared for a bit longer and when Levi squinted, focusing on the paper underneath, he could tell it was a drawing, the crayon ink, visible from just behind the paper. She then put that same crayon art on the top of that stack of papers. “Shitty four eyes… and Clean freak?”

The words sounded strange from anybody else’s mouth, particularly a teacher who had attempted to say it with so professional of a tone and with emphasis on syllables and on words which made it sound unintelligible to anyone less familiar.

“Excuse me?” Hange asked. She had said those words a little too fast. With Levi thinking the same thing though, it had sounded clear enough.

Ms. Wilde flipped the paper open and down on the table.

There were two stick drawings, one with glasses and brown hair, definitely Hange and one with an apron and a bandana over his head and an unimpressed look on his face. That second one was definitely Levi.

Just below it, a caption which Levi had to squint twice to read

Shut tea for ice clean freek. It was straight out gibberish.

Ms. Wilde preempted it. “Would you know what this means?” She looked back up at them expectantly. “Your son… he tried to explain it to me and he said, you two would say… Shut tea for ice and clean freek.” She had said it with unexpected emphasis on some syllables and it was starting to sound like a glaringly familiar cluster of phrases.

Enough for Levi to freeze in his seat and start to dig for some sense in his speculations.

“Don’t get me wrong… Your child being able to spell at this age… It’s admirable, remarkable really,” Ms. Wilde continued. Was she consoling them or admiring them? With that soft and gentle of a voice, it was difficult to tell.

If Levi hadn’t been too busy trying to make sense of that last phrase maybe he would have at least attempted to read through her body language. The teacher had already presented a problem though and naturally, he found himself attempting to get to the bottom of that initial issue.

Luke had Hange’s brain. With Levi on top of that child most of the day, he was perfectly aware of what Luke would usually be playing with. He had gifted Luke letter tiles and had played with him multiple times, at Hange's suggestion of 'something more educational.'

He could have sworn the other times Hange had gotten off work and had played with those tiles with him before dinner, she had been teaching him herself. Although, some words were strange and unfamiliar, she never thought him any of those words. Never.

Levi looked back up at the teacher, forcing himself to meet her eyes. What was the best thing to say?

These are our nicknames. Nope. Should they be divulging something so personal in a professional meeting?

Maybe he could break that awkwardness by complimenting Luke’s work. For a three year old, Luke did a good job with the coloring. Or maybe Levi was just hyperaware about his dad status and somehow everything their little human made seemed almost surreal, almost beautiful even if it was just a bunch of stick figures.

Hange held the drawing between her fingers, her eyes wide with what looked to be the same wonder Levi was holding in. “We’ve been teaching him how to read,” Hange said. “Read and write.”

“But, would you know what ‘shut tea for ice’ means?” The teacher asked.

“Levi here… He really likes tea,” Hange said calmly. “And he likes it with ice.”

“What about clean freak?”

“He cleans with me a lot…” Levi said.

The teacher sighed. “Apologies for the misunderstanding but those words…” She leaned over, cupping her mouth, to soften to a whisper just for the three of them. “It sounds pretty vulgar to me. If you could talk to your son about it, so he could stop calling the other kids names… That would be very much appreciated.”

“Wait, our son, he’s calling people names?”

The teacher shrugged. “I heard him talking to one of the kids just recently… He kept calling her ‘shut tea for eyes.’ and just the other day, when we were cleaning up the locker… then he called her a cleen freek.” She sighed. “It might be just my imagination but it sounds to me like bullying if you know what I mean?”

“Bullying? How?” Hange asked. The knowing look in her face betrayed such a question.

“Well you see, Sarah wears glasses and she likes keeping her cubbyhole neat so… I can’t help but think he might actually be saying….”

“Shitty four eyes?” Levi repeated it again, with a familiar manner, all the emphasis on the right tones. He could almost taste the sweet venom that laced it every other time he said it before.

“And clean freak?” Hange repeated.

The teacher put her hands up in defense. “But that might just be my wild imagination. If ‘shut tea for ice’ is really code in your family, maybe you could spend some time explaining to your son what it actually sounds like?”

***

Shut tea for ice.

Levi could have been in denial. The first plan of action as soon as he got home was to open and close the cupboard a few times over and stare at the box of tea bags every single time. He was deep in thought, still trying to come up with any other reason for those words to roll so easily out of his son’s mouth.

“You want me to make dinner?” Hange called out from the living room.

Levi instinctively turned behind him and towards the voice, craning his neck to look past the kitchen counter. Hange was sitting cross legged on the floor, a toddler Luke right next to her.

The letter tiles Hange had scattered on the floor were an eye sore.

An eyesore which Levi tolerated. After all, Hange had done amazingly at making Luke one of the smarter toddlers in his class.

Experiment… Titan… Omnivore...Carnivore… Whether the child needed to know how to spell those words at that young of an age, Levi wasn’t too certain. At least if ever the classes shifted to topics on history or science, Luke would have the upper hand.

Or so, that was what Levi consoled himself with as he looked back at the cupboard, trying to erase that picture of a mess in the living room. His own experiences with playing with those blocks had been teaching Luke words like clean, broom, breakfast, lunch, dinner. For a second, he wondered which Luke enjoyed more.

“I’ll make it,” Levi said. “You’re at work most days. I’d rather you spent your free time bonding with Luke.”

Hange didn’t respond and the next few minutes passed with the clacking of the wooden letter tiles on the floor. And then an exchange which Levi felt almost compelled to insert himself in.

“When the creature eats both vegetables and meat…” Hange started.

“Omnivore,” Luke answered.

“And meat only?”

“Carnivore.” He had learned to repeat those words clearly very quickly. Levi had to note as he tipped the tea, Luke had always learned to pronounce the more complex words within a few repeats.

The inquisitiveness and the natural genius came from Hange for sure. And Hange was only nurturing them. Soon, the conversation shifted to animals, and then to titans and why the fuck was she talking about her goddamn experiments?

Even when half listening, Levi never understood what the hell that one experiment after capturing the titan and burning through its hair actually did but Hange was suddenly talking about follicles, roots and some catalytic reaction.

Would Luke know what a catalytic reaction is? Levi attempted to answer it for himself by first asking, what the hell a catalytic reaction was. Whatever slate that had appeared in his mind remained blank and he asked another question. Should a child really be learning those words?

“And you know what a dinosaur looks like?” Hange asked.

“Dinosaur!”

A rustle of papers. Hange muttered something about a pencil.

Found one! Then the sound of scribbling on paper.

Levi was only starting to boil the soup, when whatever conversation on whether dinosaurs were omnivores or carnivores slipped one ear and out the other.

The padding of socks on the carpeted floor, Hange’s hums and just Luke’s high pitched voice lisping at some words, saying lines which could have started with Rs or Ws were faint and Levi found himself passing the time just listening to them as he stirred the soup.

He bent over, pulling out the tray of baked chicken from the oven. “Hange,” he called out.

Hange took a second longer than necessary to respond. “Hm?”

“Set the table,” Levi said. “It’s almost dinner time.”

No response. No clicking of plates, no slamming of utensils on the table.

“Hange?” Levi asked.

“Wait, just this last page,’ Hange said louder.

Levi closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Hange was murmuring, words Levi couldn’t make sense of. And the lisping words, the mispronounced Rs and Ws and garbled syllables were telling. Luke was reading something out loud.

“That’s right! So, the plants eat through photosynthesis," Hange said.

“Hange, set the table,” Levi said.

Hange sighed in response. There were footsteps then the clack of plates.

Levi soon confirmed for himself that Hange had stood up, tiptoed and pulled a serving plate and a bowl from the upper cupboard. He transferred the roast chicken and the soup onto the plates. While it cooled, he took the bread basket and dropped it on the table, raising one eye at the view in front of him.

“Hange,” Levi said, louder this time.

Hange was back in the living room, cross legged once again, an open picture book in front of her. Luke had shifted to half lying down position, stomach down on the floor, propped up by the elbows.

“Are dinosaurs real?” Lukei asked.

Hange nodded. “They were alive a long time ago,” she said.

“Hey, you two. I said, let’s eat.” Levi found himself looking away as he noticed Luke’s mouth twist into a pout.

Hange sighed in disappointment. “Alright Luke, let’s stand up.” She carefully pulled her son up and guided him back to the table. She moved sluggishly towards the dining room table and it looked very much like Levi had virtually twisted her arm just to get her up.

To make things clear though, he didn’t. There were more pressing things at that moment than making sure the food he worked so hard on was eaten. Levi stared at them then back at the scattered letter tiles on the floor. Then back at Hange again.

The years might have just made it easier for Hange to pick up the silent question just with a few glances. “We’re gonna go back after we eat,” she answered,

“And you’re fine leaving a mess like that there,” Levi said. “What if someone trips on that?”

“Well, we won’t. Luke and I know that it’s there and you can just watch where you’re going right?”

“It’s still a hazard,” Levi argued.

“A negligible hazard.”

“Can’t you just clean it up then bring it out again later?”

“It takes time,” Hange answered nonchalantly as she walked past Levi.

For a retired commander with a full-time job rebuilding Paradis, time felt like a luxury more than disposable income did and Levi had only ever silently acknowledged that. The moment he looked back, he realized there wasn’t much he could have argued about. Hange guided Luke to his chair, and she started to pour the soup into his bowl.

Levi sat next to Hange and served Hange first then himself, a pressing distraction, long enough for Levi to need not look back at the mess on the floor.

“Luke, chickens look a little bit like dinosaurs,” Hange said.

Levi rolled his eyes. Most of their meals usually ended up as a science lesson.

Luke seemed to be enjoying it though. He clapped his hands excitedly. “We’re eating dinosaurs?”

In response to that, Levi shoveled more of the soup into his mouth, enough to give any excuse not to speak up. That wasn’t his conversation. It was Hange’s and Luke’s.

“Technically yes,” Hange said.

What the fuck is she researching this time? Hange did too many jobs at once that Levi never could catch up to her theory or vernacular wise.

“Like the book! The dinosaur looked like the book!” Luke said excitedly.

“Yes! You remember!” Hange mirrored that same excitement.

“Are dinosaurs like titans?”

“Technically no… They can be the same size... “

“Are titans omnivores?”

Hange hummed. She dropped her spoon and put one finger to her chin, a very climactic sequence of motions that could have meant she had something interesting to say. To the disappointment of everyone in the family, she returned the question with one word. “Maybe.”

They don’t eat. Levi added to himself silently.

“Do titans poo?” Luke pressed.

Hange opened her mouth to speak. “They don’t…”

And Levi only had a split second to note the glimmer in her eyes, then the wonder that could have come from reminiscing nights worth of experiments. Then the familiar excitement and passion he had seen so many times before in the barracks over tea.

Oh no. He looked back at the soup, a mixture of beans and tomatoes, the green of the vegetables sticking out at very strategic places.

What the fuck.

And Hange’s tirade only continued, and naturally Levi’s mind made sense of the words having had too many direct experiences with titans to last a lifetime. If he looked at his own soup from the right angle, with the right vegetable bits in the right places and the right lighting from just above them, he realized it looked just like vomit.

He was in a frustrating position, hungry but with no more appetite. He pushed himself up. “You two just keep talking. I’m gonna clean up.”

Hange stood up. “Wait, Levi where you going?”

Everything was just suddenly pissing Levi off at that moment. “I’m cleaning up your fucking mess.”

“That’s not a mess!” Hange retorted, an incredulous look on her face.

“I told you, just bring it out after if you wanna play again!” Levi bent over, and started to mix the blocks amongst one another. Words like carnivore, omnivore, photosynthesis, follicle suddenly mixed among one another. The tiles were suddenly gibberish, letter soup. And the more he mixed, the worse it became.

It became easier to put them into the basket.

“We were planning to go back to it after dinner. You didn’t have to clean it up,” Hange chided.

“Well, you two might step on it,” Levi said.

“Really?” Hange raised one eyebrow. “You can’t watch where you’re going?”

“Listen Hange, I’m the one who cleans this house ninety percent--- hell, a hundred percent of the time. I decide what messes we can leave around.”

“Well, it takes a kid a while to pick up the words, we were supposed to practice reading.”

“Hange a three year old does not need to know what photosynthesis means.”

“Three and a half,” Hange clarified. “A child his age does not need to live in an immaculate environment.” Clean. Hange definitely meant clean. The way she had said the word ‘immaculate,' the fact that she had chosen such a heavenly word, an almost self righteous sounding word felt almost mocking. “Why do you have to be such a clean freak about this?”

“Why do you have to be such a nerd about this. He’ll learn how to read big words at his own fucking time,” Levi said. He noted the way Hange had put one hand to her chest, seeming scandalized at whatever insinuation Levi had brought up.

When he was dealing with the someone who couldn’t bat an eye at hygiene and clutter, who suddenly thought the pursuit of knowledge was a must have for a poor four year old, Levi wasn’t feeling too guilty at offending her, at least not too much. He opened his mouth, only intending to let it out as a release born from quiet anger. And during moments of heightened emotions, sometimes he lost a little control, and sometimes, he’d fall back to very familiar habits.

Shitty four eyes.

Hange could have heard it, but they had said it so many times before, that she didn’t open her mouth to speak. He couldn’t be too sure either that he had said it out loud.

“Daddy? You want tea with ice?”

Levi only realized then, when the silence broke and a young Luke went in between them a mug in hand.

No hot water, no tea bag. A look of confusion on Luke’s face. ‘Daddy, shut tea for ice?” The words were stilted, the syllables garbled against one another.

Levi and Hange had both looked at Luke with the same surprised look, surprised but very very understanding of the current situation.

***

Shitty four eyes.

Luke didn’t have a potty mouth. Or at least, he wasn’t supposed to.

Levi was with Luke the most among everyone. The heavy responsibility of 'main provider' on his back, he found himself thinking back to every single ‘alone time,’ the two of them had since Luke had been old enough to talk. It had been a year at least since Luke had started to seem more like a companion than a responsibility. When Levi looked back at it though, he thought the moments to be countless and consequently, he had found it difficult to point out the exact point in time where Luke had thought it a good idea to blurt out the words ‘shitty four eyes.’

Coming up with no conclusion, he desperately grasped for a glimmer of an explanation. “Luke’s a nice kid, he wouldn’t call people names,”

“I don’t doubt that,” Hange responded, seeming not at all bothered by the chain of events.

“Hey, we’re still gonna have to explain that to Luke?”

“You tried a while ago, right?” Hange asked “What did Luke say?”

“He just kept repeating it… Shut tea for ice. Shut tea for ice.” Levi whispered in response, letting it get softer and softer on his tongue. It had been just an hour before they had put their son to bed. The conference, the incident just a while ago suddenly had self conscious about how loud they were talking and how close the bedroom door was to the living room. He turned to the sofa and sat a few more feet away from the door, as if that could have done anything to make their conversation more private.

“So Levi, what do you think that means?” Hange asked. She had moved next to him, as if she understood Levi’s intention with switching seats.

“He didn’t seem hostile,” Levi said.

“So he doesn’t think what he’s saying is bad right?”

“He called you shitty four eyes too.” Levi turned to Hange.

“And shitty four eyes has never been an insult to me. You’ve been calling him that since before,” Hange said.

“So what do you suggest?” Levi asked.

Hange was in deep thought for a second, one hand to her chin. She turned to the phone on the kitchen counter. “Calling someone more experienced maybe.”

***

Historia had a child, a good few years past the terrible twos and threes. Naturally, she seemed almost nonchalant about that problem.

“Imitation,” Hange said so confidently, yet so abruptly that morning as she sipped her coffee. She turned to Levi and grinned in the same exact way she would have dropped a research-backed theory many years ago when she was still a titan researcher.

“Titans used to imitate right?” Levi said. Mentioning the magic word ‘titans’ could be enough to pull any good ideas out of her.

“Yes, I know,” Hange said matter-of-factly. “And titans and humans are a little different… It would be easier to have a peaceful conversation with titans. Luke understands me almost perfectly. And you too. I think we can talk to him first about why using nicknames is bad.”

“You think a three year old can understand a convoluted explanation by Hange Zoe?”

“Three and a half,” Hange clarified again. If he can tell omnivores and carnivores apart, I’m sure he can tell the difference between calling people names and respecting people right?” She propped her mug on the dining room table and looked expectantly at Levi.

Levi averted his gaze. “Hange, do you think a three and a half year old will get it?” He dropped the tea bag into the mug and watched as the darker liquid consumed the water, touching the rims of the mug. He walked back to the dining table, settling himself on the chair right in front of Hange.

Hange chuckled. “Worth a try right?”

“Daddy! Shoes!” Luke was painfully demanding. And of all moments, it had been then that Levi noticed that Luke had picked up some of their attitude.

Right. Although Luke could easily get ready for school himself, tying shoes was still something Levi had been in the process of teaching him. “I’ll just help him tie his shoes first.”

“I’ll go ahead.” Hange gulped the last few drops of coffee. “Gonna be late for work. You think you can handle this?”

“Talk to Luke right?” Levi asked. “About the importance of respect?” He had put emphasis on those last three words, as if to hint to Hange that introducing such an abstract idea to a three year old seemed like not so good of an idea.

“Worth a try right?” Hange responded as she stood up and slung her back over her shoulder.

“And if it doesn’t work?” Levi pressed.

By then, Hange was already closer to the door than the dining table, far from hearing range of Levi’s naturally soft voice. Levi felt it pointless to say it louder, especially since by then, Hange had already slammed the door behind her.

And he had bigger fish to deal with, like a frustrated son, who had knotted the laces of his shoes enough times that Levi struggled to find the tips. “Luke… Why… Did you do it like this?” Levi had to resist the sweet temptation of inserting a ‘fuck’ somewhere on that question. After all, it wasn’t Luke’s fault he was just a three year old who was still learning the ropes.

The process of unknotting a very tight knot though was painful, frustrating enough for Levi to sit down crosslegged in front of his son. It was taking longer than a few seconds, enough to have a conversation.

“Luke… The school told me about ‘shut tea for ice’”Levi started and when he started to pull at the top most knot, he felt some sort of release with it, some extra reserves of patience he could easily tap at.

“Shitty four eyes! Clean Freak!” Luke responded happily.

When Levi looked up and met his son’s eyes, he couldn’t help but be somewhat bothered by the knowing and confident look. “You shouldn’t call people names Luke.” He put one finger right in front of Luke’s face.

Was that how to tell a kid off? Levi had been working with Luke long enough though to know, Luke didn’t understand what he was saying. Or maybe he didn’t understand what Levi meant.

What would Hange say? When Levi reflected on that though, the only thing he could salvage were her rants on photosynthesis and titan experiments. If their son understood those, he should understand a lecture on respect right?

“No.” One word Levi had learned as a parent. “No calling people names,” he added, his voice softer that time.

Luke pouted.

Levi had a soft spot for his son’s pout and consequently, he did what any sane parent would have done in that situation. He stared at the clock. Fifteen minutes before class starts. He stood up and took his son by the hand. “Come on Luke, let’s go to school.”

On the way to school, he allowed himself another session for self reflection. Imitation huh? Levi thought to himself. He had to admit, he may have called Hange ‘shitty four eyes’ more often than not and in return, he may have brushed off a few ‘clean freaks’ from Hange as well.

They could try to wean Luke out of it right or at least find out why Luke had been using it at school? He could leave that to Hange though, and maybe consult a bit with their teacher.

Levi took a deep breath, a loud one, particularly when they passed through one of the less saturated parts of town on the way to school. He was sure he had enough reserves at his already scarce social battery to deal with asking advice from teachers.

***

Same advice as Historia.

Children were master imitators. And whether a three year old (or a three and a half year old according to Hange) would understand such an abstract concept as respect, that was one thing they weren’t sure of.

So when dealing with a toddler, play with their imitator side, not this belief that they might actually understand an abstract concept.

Levi had repeated those same words to Hange. By that evening though, he had forgotten half of it, and he had hoped that was the message she got.

“So, we should change how we talk to each other then…” Hange leaned back on the sofa. “But when do you think Luke heard us say it?”

Levi shrugged. “When do you say it?”

In return, Hange shrugged and let out a short laugh. “To be honest, I don’t remember calling you a clean freak either.”

“When we fight?” Levi suggested.

“Or when we don’t?” Hange put her hands up. “Anyway, the important thing is, he hears us say it. That kid won’t get shitty four eyes or clean freak out of anywhere. So we watch ourselves okay? No using bad words in front of our son.”

“That’s easy.” Levi narrowed his eyes at Hange and sat back on the sofa. “I’ve been doing that ever since Luke was born.”

***

With a little more self-introspection and blatant awareness of his surroundings, Levi started to realize it wasn’t as easy as he had expected it to be. He had stopped himself enough times that his throat had been sore from the many times he concealed his own penchant for vulgarity with a dry cough.

“Luke, make sure to put your bag back in the room,” Levi said from the kitchen as he pulled an apple from the fruit basket. It was just like every other day before, pick Luke up, prepare an afternoon snack. Very routine, very predictable and the only thing that made it a challenge had been the heavy awareness that Levi did curse on a regular basis.

Or maybe just the fact that he had to watch himself, had him very very heavy, as if every move had to be cold and calculated.H e was a little more careful than usual with cutting the apple. And he was terribly terribly slow. By the time, he turned back to the kitchen counter, sliced apples arranged neatly on the plate, Luke had already settled on the seat in front of him, looking expectantly at the plate on Levi’s hands.

How long he had been there? Levi didn’t want to ask. “Are you hungry?” he asked instead.

Luke nodded. It was a stupid question, but at least his son was too young to judge his ineloquence.

He dropped the pile of apples in front of him and made himself comfortable on the seat next to his son. “After this, you wanna play with the tiles?” Levi offered.

But never freak. Levi told himself as even the prospect of teaching his kid was starting to weigh on him.

“Let’s play with the tiles!” Luke clapped one hand on the table, and he shoved one of the apples into his mouth.

“Okay, I’ll bring it out later,” Levi said. He took one apple from the plate and started to munch on it, only interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing a few seconds later.

Most days, the phone ringing was a nuisance, peppered with conversations with salesmen, customer service. Having grown up with a place with no phone, but too many scams, it was only natural that Levi would detect the opportunity for scams in that new fangled piece of technology.

There was one voice which always made the process of using the phone though, bearable, if not pleasurable.

“Levi! What’s for dinner tonight?”

“Four eyes, you’re out from work early.”

There was a pause, a pregnant and awkward pause. Then Hange spoke up. “Is Luke with you?”

The silence and that one question spoke for him. Levi spun around to see Luke, staring right at him. “Four eyes… Shitty...Four eyes?” The young boy repeated. It sounded rehearsed the first time around, then confident the second time.

There was a lot he had to teach the kid.

“Just take out food for dinner. Luke and I will have a long talk,” Levi said.

***

Levi’s mind was a blank slate. That wasn’t necessarily a good thing though.

Whatever he was supposed to say to lecture Luke on proper respect lasted at the most, a few seconds in his muddled brain. It went into one ear and quickly out the other.

Somewhere along the way, Levi had given up. He had mentioned words like ‘respect,’ ‘not nice.’ When he didn’t even believe half of what he had spewing out of his mouth, he ended up unable to blame Luke for wearing such a blank expression.

Would Hange have done a better job at teaching Luke? Maybe.

Levi had never been the most diplomatic person, having sat at the sidelines every time Hange had been negotiating trade contracts and war treaties. Besides, he didn’t believe it completely necessary either to teach children not to curse.

There were bigger fish to fry, like rebuilding a war torn country, eradicating poverty and starvation, income inequality and terrorism.

Having lived like a soldier his whole life, dealing with something so mundane as a teacher’s request to teach his child not to curse, seemed almost mundanely unnecessary.

When his son was insulting other children, when a teacher was telling his son off for it, Levi didn’t necessarily find it horrifying. School rules were school rules though and their new society made compliance for three year olds a big issue. Maybe he could leave that educating to Hange though, and just focus maybe on teaching the young boy how to read.

He rearranged the letters and a few times, he gave free rein to his son to form words himself.

There were easy words like ‘dog,’ ‘cat,’ and ‘cow.’ Although Levi had been surprised that Luke had independently put together more complex words like ‘broom’ and ‘clean,’ he started to accept anyway, that it was only natural that the young boy would know them. After all, Hange had been teaching him more complex words like ‘photosynthesis,’ ‘omnivore’ and ‘carnivore.’

Luke had been spelling all those words on his own while Levi watched silently. And when Levi started to scramble the pieces again, just to watch what his son would create, he started to notice some pattern.

Shut

“Shut!” Luke screamed. He didn’t completely open his mouth though, and it started to sound more like another cursed word. Levi wasn’t going to mention that though.

“Shut…” Levi explained. Like ‘Shut up.’ ‘Shut up’ wasn’t the most diplomatic expression and it was probably better not to teach his son that at such a young age. “Like shut the door,” Levi added a second later. He mimed the act of slamming a door closed, suddenly self conscious of how rude it probably would be to slam a door. Was Luke going to start slamming doors if he made his movements too forceful?

Ice

“Ice!” Luke read aloud.

“Ice…” Levi paused for a second, racking his brain for the best way to explain it without having to go for the refrigerator and risk making a mess on their matted living room floor. “The cold thing…”

Four

“Four!”

“The number,” Technically there were two words ‘four’ and ‘for.’ What do you call those filler words? How do you define the word for? Levi realized then, there were only too many ways he could explain what words like ‘for,’ ‘to,’ were used for. He could just leave that to the school to explain.

Tea

“Tea!”

“Te---”

“Daddy likes tea!” Luke started. His face fell. “Right?”

In shock, Levi didn’t even notice he had frozen still, his hand dropping the tile. He nodded. “Yeah I like tea.” He allowed himself a tight lipped grin as he adjusted the letters just to make his son’s final product a little neater. “I really like tea.”

“Shitty four eyes?” His son said again, his excitable tone from a while ago unwavering.

That’s a bad word. Levi wanted to say. That’s disrespectful. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything else though. After all, his son was a bundle of innocence, a bundle of excitement. Did Luke even know what the hell he had been saying?

Levi was pathetic. He was weakshit. And he couldn’t even bring himself to disciplining his child on something he personally didn’t even believe in. He continued to reflect on it as he rearranged the letters again. Then he further wallowed in whatever guilt settled in him as he stood up and walked towards the kitchen. As he prepared dinner, then washed the dishes.

When Hange came home, he at least had been ready enough to speak. “I think he’s too young to understand,” Levi said.

“Well a three and a half year old would have a hard time understanding abstract ideas right?”

“Says the parent who’s teaching a three year old science.”

Hange pouted. “Science is not an abstract concept.”

“That’s not the point,” Levi said firmly. He knew if he didn’t interrupt Hange there, she probably would have gone on another tirade. “Do you have any ideas? On how to deal with this?”

“I have one,” Hange said. “I was talking to Historia just today, and some other parents…” She propped her chin on the palm of her hand. “Have you considered… Aside from just laying off, the shitty four eyes first? And I’ll lay off the clean freak? I mean, the kids apparently, at this age, they like to imitate and if we just be more careful about what we’re saying and try to say something nicer, more positive as nicknames. He should stop right?”

“We’ve been calling each other for years,” Levi commented.

“But, not in public right?” Hange said. “You never really said it during meetings.”

“Well those were meetings.”

“Think of this as a meeting, except this time, our son is probably listening to us every single time.” She frowned, wrinkled her nose and looked behind her. Just on the other side of the wall was Luke’s bedroom. It was late at night and he probably was asleep.

But with their conversations and Luke's tendency to pick things up, it only proved that the walls may have been too thin and their son may have been very observant.

Levi raised his eyebrows. “So you’re saying…”

Hange nodded. No clean freak. No shitty four eyes. AT ALL. She spelled out those nicknames slowly and carefully, just so their son wouldn't’ pick the words up, taking in the small possibility that he was awake.

Levi sighed. “Fine.” He wasn’t fine. Their home was supposed to be their private space. Luke would be a sponge for information but a stranger to logic and abstract concepts for the next two years.

Letting go of such an intimate habit born through years in the survey corps just to please the teachers and to make it easier for their son fit in, seemed almost unfair. He sought solace at least in Hange’s forced grin. She didn’t want to do it either.

We suffer together. Levi thought to himself. With a quick glance at her, Levi was sure Hange understood. Making it an issue of pride and misery made it all together a more bearable challenge.

***

It was bearable at least. And it took a little more careful introspection to pick up those few moments he had called Hange 'shitty four eyes' or ‘four eyes’ and he started to realize, it had been more difficult to point out than his own abrasive choice of words and his own vulgarity.

Shitty four eyes after all, never seemed like a string of curse words or insults. It was a pet name, so invisibly embedded in conversations that Levi felt strangely incomplete not peppering his dialogue with it.

Hange seemed to struggle as well. Clean freak. She used to say. She had started to replace it with something more diplomatic. “You really like cleaning huh?” A few syllables longer but it felt terribly, terribly unnatural. And Hange always accompanied it with the widest and most cringe inducing grin.

Every single time, Levi would look away, to stop himself from laughing or grimacing, one of those. Hange must have been doing the same though.

Shitty four eyes.

He had replaced ‘shitty four eyes’ with the closest thing he could come up with. It had taken some strict observation from other couples to pick up the best one. “Yes honey, I really love cleaning,” Levi admitted. He put enough emphasis on the pet name, hoping that would at least teach their child about proper pet naming conventions, the importance of ‘not cursing’ and just conventional diplomacy.

Hange was only making it harder to take the challenge seriously, a sardonic grin constantly plastered on her face. Every single time, he had called her honey, she looked away and cleared her throat, or let out a wracked cough, a good disguise for what he guessed had been a laugh.

A shoddy disguise but somehow, it seemed to work. Luke would watch them every time, his stare far from blank. He had on the same face he made every single time he would form those words with the blocks. Luke was deep in thought. “Shitty four eyes! Clean freak!” He said a second later.

Luke would then repeat that many few times over dinner or breakfast.

Imitation. Levi would tell himself, will himself to ignore Luke’s words. As painfully uncharacteristic as it was. Levi would trod on with his mission. “Honey, you want more bread?” Levi tried to make that one word seem as sweet as it sounded. He never got the practice though, so he wondered if he ever had the innate ability to make any words sound sweet.

“Thank you honey,” Hange responded, her grin much wider. A split second later, she looked away, seeming ashamed with herself.

Levi couldn’t blame Hange. It was a painful rendition, her tone seemed very much rehearsed. And when it was common knowledge between them that she was naturally more eloquent than he was, Levi found himself wondering how bad he sounded.

As long as Luke learns. Levi willed himself to swallow whatever embarrassment and stifling sensation came with the slow and excruciating weaning process from very intimate habits.

Luke eventually picked it up. “Ho...ney?” he repeated as his eyes darted between his two parents.

Yes. Honey. Levi nodded.

Luke’s face fell, his expression shifted from something curious, then something confused. Ending with something that could have been a hint of crestfallenness.

Levi couldn’t be too sure though. The boy looked down at his food and Levi couldn’t bring himself to crane his neck and sneak a glance to confirm it. The drooping shoulders of his son was enough to get his stomach turning though.

How long would it take for him to get used to it? Three weeks? Months? Eventually Luke should get used to it… Right?

It was one of those rare days where Hange had decided to work from home. Her piles of paperwork took up more than half their dining table and food would seem more like a hazard than a necessity.

When Hange was only present during weekends, Levi at the least, tolerated it.

On one condition, he was allowed to straighten out the almost two foot tall pile everytime he passed by the dining room in between household chores. When Hange was deep into hundreds of pages worth of reports though, she didn’t look like she minded Levi’s silent interruptions.

“What time are you picking Luke up from school?” Hange asked.

Levi looked at the clock. “He gets out of school at two today,” he answered. It was eleven, and half his mind was already looking into planning lunch.

“Okay,” Hange said, her focus fell back to the paperwork.

It wasn’t anything new, even on weekends or any other day Hange was home, Levi did most of the cooking and cleaning. Hange’s presence did manage to take some of the load off household management off of his shoulders.

Answering the phone was no exception.

Most days, Levi was capable of doing it on his own. When the vegetables were boiling on a pot, the pasta heating in the oven just below it, Hange offered to answer the phone.

“Zoe residence… Speaking…” Hange had always been better at answering the phone anyway. “Luke?”

Levi’s ears perked up at that. He lowered the heat of the stove, as if that would have done anything to make the conversation clear.

“What? Why? No… We’re not.” Hange’s voice was racked with surprise. “....You’re right. We’ll get there soon… We can leave now… We’re not too busy….”

Hange? Not busy? Levi had turned off the stove. Lunch never was the most urgent thing. “You’re going to school?”

“It’s about Luke.”

No shit. “I can tell that much from the conversation,” Levi said. “What happened?”

“He just started crying apparently…” Hange said.

Levi sensed the urgency in the speed at which she pulled her coat over her and retied her hair. “Crying over?” Levi pressed. Luke rarely cried and just that thought had Levi’s heart pounding.

“When the teachers were explaining… Luke was crying about… his parents… About us?”

“Your son said, you two ‘’didn’t love each other anymore’” the headmaster explained. It had been just them in the office but with the way the headmaster had explained it, it looked like she could have been quoting Luke word per word.

Levi surreptitiously flashed Hange a look of confusion, a glance just to see if she knew anything.

She seemed as lost as he was. “Can we talk to our son?” Hange asked.

“Before that, I just wanted to discuss the family situation first… See if we could do anything to support Luke through this?”

“Through what?”

“Through your ‘separation?’”

Levi turned to Hange, his eyes wide. We’re separating?

Hange furrowed her brows at him, an incredulous look. She turned abruptly back at the principal. “Who told you we’re separating?”

“Your son said you two have been fighting a lot. And he seemed very affected...”

“Fighting?” Levi asked. Are we?

No we aren’t. Hange’s expression said it all. “If there’s any misunderstanding, we can explain it to Luke ourselves.”

“You have to understand. We have our students welfare in mind. If we believe that your son is being raised in an unsuitable environment…”

“Excuse me?” Hange put one hand to her chest. Her tone was slipping to something with more emotion than any attempt at compromise.

“Just let us talk to our son,” Levi said. The echo of his own voice sounded unfamiliar in that small voice, especially since Hange had done the talking the whole time.

“We’ve been hearing as well about the vulgarities your son has been spouting...” the headmaster said.

“Yes, we’ve been working on it,” Levi said firmly, with every intention to interrupt the old lady.

“I’d like first some verbal commitment from both of you at least to work on this? We treat every child here like part of the family. With the case on Luke’s word usage and his suddenly bursting into tears in school… It looks like his home environment might not be ideal.”

“Can you let us talk to our son please?” Levi said. He turned to Hange. The brunette had fallen silent yet she seemed very much deep in thought.

“Could you please explain though from your end the debacle about the ‘shitty four eyes’ and the ‘clean freak?”

“We’re working on it,” Levi repeated. Somehow, it was getting harder and harder to sit still.

The condescending look in the woman’s face, the accusing glare wasn’t making it any easier. “But have you been working hard on it? Can I ask what is causing you to employ such vulgarity in your own home, in an environment for children?”

Since when did schools in Paradis get this vigilant about children’s home lives? It was a welcome change at least but Levi was in no mood to ponder the benefits of such an arrangement. “With all due respect ma’am, that’s none of your goddamn business.”

Levi could have just made it worse. And Hange said so herself, in between a stifled grin and a stifled chuckle.

If his own treatment of the very snobby principal could have done anything to convince the whole school that they were shitty parents. He was confident at least, Luke would defend them.

I mean a three year old should be capable of defending their parents right?

A three and a half year old. Hange’s words echoed in his head. If the ‘half year’ of living did anything to make Luke anymore aware of what exactly was going on, he prayed it did work.

Whether it was because he was three and a half or he was merely three, he seemed to have understood. A flash of recognition as they locked eyes along the hallways, Luke still let go of the Ms. Wilde's hand and ran towards them.

By some instinctive need to prove something maybe, Levi clutched Hange’s hand. She gripped back.

Luke seemed to have noticed it. “No fighting?”

“Fighting? Who said we’re fighting?” Hange bent down and patted her son on the head with her free hand.

A wide grin on his face, Luke turned to Hange. “Shitty four eyes.” Then to Levi. “Clean freak.”

Levi bent down, right next to Hange. “Yes, this is my shitty four eyes,” Levi said as he put one hand on Hange’s head, pulling her close.

“And this is my clean freak,” Hange pointed a finger to her left, towards Levi.

Something felt natural and intimate and something tasted sweeter than honey when he was saying those words again, words he had kept nill for months.

The grin in Luke’s face only made the release all the sweeter. “Shitty four eyes and clean freak!” Soon, he was running back to the teacher that had called out to him. He still had a few more hours of school.

“I guess we’ve been pretty careless about the nicknames huh?” Hange whispered wryly. “He’s probably just too young to understand what ‘shitty’ or what ‘freak�� could imply in any other situation.”

Levi stared ahead, at the young boy who was talking to the teacher in whatever childish babble the three year old could manage. “You know, the nicknames never felt like an insult to me.”

“I mean, we have been using them since we’ve met right? It just slips off our tongue every now and then,” Hange said as she let out a soft chuckle.

Every now and then. No a lot more often, than every now and then. To the point that Levi never felt it when it happened. Yet the absence of such words were painfully glaring.

“What are we going to do now about Luke’s language?” Levi averted his gaze, perfectly aware that if Luke had learned anything, it had probably been from his father.

“Have you ever taught him what the words ‘shitty’ or ‘freak’ meant?”

“Never,” Levi said.

“Then maybe we don’t have to think too much about it?” Hange suggested.

But it continued to nag. After all, the teachers continued to stare, probably whispering. Levi and Hange spent the last few hours before school ended just sitting by the courtyard of the school and they had more than enough evidence by then to be sure, teachers were talking.

When the bell rang, they found themselves attempting to brush away whispers and glares from the teacher, instead focusing on the hallways which were starting to fill with toddlers and kids.

And eventually, they found Luke, next to him a young girl in pig tails, with glasses. She wore a blouse and a skirt without a single crease on them. “This is my shitty four eyes… And my Clean freak!” Luke said. The girl next to him waved her hand, a wide grin on her face, not at all fazed by the words ‘shitty’ or ‘freak.’

Levi exchanged a knowing glance with Hange. No other words were shared between them but somehow they both understood. Maybe adults were just overthinking that very simple thing called language.

#levihan #levihan fanfiction #fanfic

72 notes · View notes

kisses-for-cas · 3 years

Photo

Summary: When a witch hunt forces the Winchesters to go undercover in a suburban neighborhood, Dean finds himself fighting with his upcoming feelings for a certain angel. To be more precise: the angel, who currently pretends to be married to his brother Sam.

Ships: Dean/Castiel

Word Count: 8,200

Read on AO3

Tammy has lived in this neighborhood for almost 30 years – she raised her kids around here and now is enjoying her well-deserved retirement with her husband Harold. And if she knows one thing for certain, then it’s this: there’s something wrong with the new neighbors. It’s not because they are gay, Tammy tells herself. She believes herself to be quite open-minded, one of her nieces is actually a lesbian. It’s something else, but she can’t quite put her finger on it yet.

The men moved in today, only a few days after the last tenants died in a horrible and tragic accident involving the lawnmower and a malfunctioning electric wire. Tammy doesn’t like to admit it, but she always knew those two didn’t fit the neighborhood. Sarah brought it up several times at Sunday Brunch, and as it turned out, the entire neighborhood held a grudge against the deceased couple. At least the house still looked well enough to get sold almost immediately again.

It’s hard to catch glimpses of the movers, but she catches a few sights as she stretches out of her bedroom window. One of them has dark hair and is wearing a tan trenchcoat, the other one seems to be taller and is coated in a flannel shirt. Not really the type to be moving into this street, but they might turn out to be nice. She tries to keep an open mind, she tells herself, even though she doesn’t understand how somebody could possibly move while wearing a trenchcoat.

Shortly after dinner, the doorbell rings, and Tammy almost jumps forward to get it. Sarah told her she’d call once she had a proper talk with the new neighbors, but the phone’s been quiet so far. But to her surprise, it’s not her friend in front of the door, but two handsome men holding a basket with muffins.

“Hello, you must be Mrs. Philipps. We’re the Winchesters,” the taller of both says, as he holds his hand out. Tammy shakes them politely, as she smiles at them.

“Tammy is fine, and my husband Harold is probably already asleep in his lounge seat,” she jokes as she shakes their hands. The man in the trenchcoat seems a bit more reserved, but he still gives her a small smile when she looks at him.

“Nice to meet you, Tammy,” the other man says again. “I’m Sam, and this is my husband Cas.”

5 days earlier

“Lawnmower accident?” Dean laughs, as he re-reads the headline again. “Well, if this isn’t our kind of thing, I really don’t know what is.”

“Exactly what I thought,” Sam replies, turning his laptop back to himself. “Apparently there were several deaths within the last 10 years in this neighborhood, and all of them were classified as accidents.”

“All over the area? So less likely a spirit, and more like –“

“Witches?” Sam finishes his brother’s sentence. “Probably, the victims weren’t exactly popular in the area. One of them had a kid, but the couple wasn’t married. Another person wanted to move in with her wife, but she died before she could. Seems like they are most likely targeting people, who don’t fit the community.”

Witches and conservative suburbs sure aren’t Dean’s favorite things in the world, that much is sure. But if people are in danger, there’s no way he’d let them down. Especially, if he might get to kill some fundamentalist witch.

“Huh, so what we’re thinking? I’d say go undercover, but brothers usually don’t go buying some white picket fence house in a conservative neighborhood,” the older Winchester proposes, while settling back in his seat. He remembers how they tried to infiltrate that neighborhood so many years ago and how the salespeople kept mistaking them for a couple.

“I thought Eileen and I could maybe do it, but her leg isn’t healing as we hoped,” Sam thinks out loud, wincing at the thought of his injured girlfriend. The recent werewolf hunt was tougher than expected and left Eileen’s leg badly hurt. Cas tried his best to heal her, but she was still struggling.

“Maybe one of us could team up with Mom?” Dean suggests but cringes once the words leave his mouth. “Urgh, never mind. I’m not very strong on the Oedipus thing.”

“What about me?” Cas chimes in, all eyes turning to him. Dean didn’t even realize the angel entered the room. “Since we are not related, it might be less awkward to pretend a relationship.”

Dean is left more or less speechless, as he babbles incoherent words. He likes Cas very much; they are best friends for a reason. But pretending to be in a relationship? Heaven and Hell have been teasing them for years about their “profound bond”, so they might even get away with it. But Dean’s stomach twists uncomfortably at the mere thought of calling Cas a pet name or holding his hand in public.

“Uh-Uh, no way I’m getting fake-married to Cas!” Dean protests once he finds the ability to speak again. His reaction was apparently a bit harsh, judging by the looks both Cas and Sam give him.

“Okay…,” Sam sighs, drawing the word out in a long breath. It sounds like he wants to say more but instead turns to face the angel. “Castiel, would you like to pretend-marry me?”

Dean can feel a blush creep up his neck, as he stares at his brother. It’s the reasonable thing to do, but it just feels wrong. Nobody ever questioned their status as friends, and Dean can’t even picture the both of them acting in love. When he thought his stomach felt bad before, he’s now actually feeling sick.

He’s close to suggesting a fake relationship with their mom again when Cas simply nods to answer Sam’s question. “Of course, Sam. I mean, I do.”

The two share a hinted smile as if they are both part of a joke Dean doesn’t get. The sick feeling still doesn’t leave him, as he stands up from his seat. He must have eaten something wrong today, that’s the only logical explanation.

“Well, Mazel Tov to you guys then,” Dean mutters, more to himself than to the other men. They don’t even look at him when he leaves the room behind.

———————————————————————————————–

“I still think this is a stupid idea,” Dean protests, as he puts the meatloaf in the oven. Somewhere behind him, he knows Cas is preparing the salad and Sam is busy fluffing some pillows on the couch.

“We need to connect with all the neighbors, and a housewarming party is the easiest way to do so,” Sam replies annoyed. He and Cas introduced themselves to everyone in the neighborhood, but nobody seemed guilty so far. Cas tried his best to “sniff the witch out” but only found some kitchen herbs in the local gardens and a loud laugh from Dean, when he explained his plan to search for witch-like smells. So far, they had no clue who the responsible party could be.

“Dearest, could you make space in the hallway closet for the coats?” Sam calls out to Cas, and Dean almost burns his hand at the stove. He had a few days to adjust to the idea of Sam and Cas pretending a relationship, but the term of endearment still surprises the hunter.

“What’s next? You’re gonna kiss goodbye on the porch when Cas drives to work?” Dean snaps at his brother, who seems confused by the sudden anger.

“If the situation needs it, sure…,” Sam replies, but Dean interrupts him before he can continue.

“What the hell, Sammy? Dearest? What kind of weird pet name is that even supposed to be?”

“The one Sam and I agreed to,” Cas replies drily. The look in his blue eyes leaves no space for any further discussion. “This act is completely planned out, and we can’t risk our standing because you are having trouble adjusting, Dean.”

Just as Dean wants to argue again, they are interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. They can only hope nobody heard their yelling, the last thing they need is unnecessary gossip from the neighbors. Cas and Sam waltz towards the front door, while Dean stays a few steps behind them.

“Hello Tammy, Harold. Welcome to our humble home,” Sam greets the guests, as the couple enters their hallway. Cas takes their jackets from them, hanging them in the biggest coat closet Dean’s ever seen. Well, at least the house got some perks. Before he can think more about the architectural features of the house, his brother calls for him.

“This is my brother Dean,” Sam introduces him, and Dean tries his best to give a fake smile and nod politely at the boring stories the neighbors tell him. This is going to be a long evening…

—————————————————————————————-

“Well Ladies, let’s begin Sunday Brunch,” Irene happily pronounces, as she raises her mimosa in the air. The other women do the same, cheering each other. It’s the first Sunday Brunch after the Winchesters moved to the area, leaving more than enough gossip material for the group.

“They seem nice enough, but I heard Sam is unemployed. He just sits around all day at home and waits for his Cassiel to come back home!” Jennifer complains with a deep sigh. It’s no secret she isn’t the biggest fan of the new couple, but even she can’t deny the quality of the served meatloaf at the housewarming.

“His name is Cassiel, dear,” Beth replies, eying the salmon pieces hungrily. “They said Sam’s working in IT and can do it from home. Clearly, an excuse, if you ask me.”

The gossip continues happily: Tammy found out they only have one toothbrush. Irene asked about Cas’s job, and apparently, he’s working in a nearby library. And all of them agree, their marriage is weird. Whenever Sam touched his husband, it felt unnatural, and they didn’t kiss once the whole evening.

“We need to address the elephant in the room,” Sarah sighs, and the group’s attention draws over to her. She’s been quiet so far, which means her news are far bigger than everyone else’s: “The brother.”

“If I were only twenty years younger…,” Beth starts, earning a peal of laughter from the women around her. “He’s very handsome, that’s true.”

“Yes, and I think Castiel would agree with you there,” Sarah speaks, before taking a long sip from her teacup. The reaction is immediate, as all the women start talking at once. The Winchester barely lived a week in the neighborhood, but they already produced the best gossip they had in a while.

“Do you think they are having an affair?” Tammy asks shocked. Of course, she had felt the tension between the family members, but she blamed it on the stress of moving. But now that Sarah suggested it, it seems like a possible explanation.

“We can’t be sure yet, but I bet something is going on. Dean surely looked rather unhappy every time he saw Sam touching his hubby. And Cas got some serious heart-eyes for his brother-in-law.”

“Besides,” Irene steps in “their marriage just seems – off? There’s more sex happening in the way Cas looks at Dean than in his marriage bed with Sam”

“Irene!” The shocked gasp from the elder women makes the other guests laugh, as they refill their mimosas.

“Oh, poor Sam,” Tammy sighs, fiddling with her wedding ring. Being cheated on must be awful on its own, but having your husband fool around with your own brother? That’s a new level of tastelessness.“

“Anyways, have you seen Mrs. Ericson’s new haircut? Just awful…”

——————————————————————————————

Dean excuses himself early from the housewarming party, not knowing how much more of the charade he could have handled. He expected to get some blackmailing material for his brother, it was supposed to be a funny sight after all. What he didn’t expect was the burning sensation on his inside, as he regarded the play right in front of him.

He’s still mad about the whole thing, and how caught up both of them were. It’s one thing to hold hands and present in the couple in front of others. But Sam calling Cas by a pet name in private? That’s just unprofessional, even Dean knows that. And then Sam told him, he would even kiss Cas if the situation needs it…What the hell was that even supposed to mean? Nobody is going to force them to kiss, the party guests are all far too old to play “spin the bottle” anymore.

Would Cas even kiss back, if Sam initiated a kiss? The angel doesn’t seem the type for physical affection; hell, he only lost his virginity a few years ago! The image of Cas pressing Meg against the wall, kissing her passionately, popped back up in Dean’s mind. And then the image changed to Cas and Sam in the same manner…God, Dean’s gonna have to swallow some holy water to get rid of that mental image.

Carefully, he watched the way his brother and his friend interacted, and the sight made him feel uneasy. He thought it was a stupid idea for them to fake a relationship because it would just be weird. But now that he was watching the way Cas’s hand rested on Sam’s lower back, Dean realized it’s something entirely else: he’s jealous. It’s not a feeling he knows very well; after all, none of his relationships ever lasted long. But as he watched Cas laugh at one of Sam’s stories, their sides pressed together – it’s setting something inside of Dean loose.

If he hadn’t acted like a child, he might have been the one standing beside Cas at that moment. He would have been the one holding his hand, laughing at his jokes, and maybe even pressing soft kisses on Castiel’s cheek. Nobody would even question their act, he’s sure of that. And then his mind kept wandering, back to the memory of Cas showing off his kissing skills. Except now it wasn’t Meg, but himself getting pinned against the wall.

Dean’s not stupid; he knows he likes men the same way he likes women. It’s been a long journey to finally find self-acceptance, but he’s finally contempt with it. That doesn’t mean he’s going to buy pride stickers and tell everyone around him he’s bi. No, it’s his secret and he’s the only one who needs to know about it.

He also knows Cas’s vessel is very attractive. But those two things – his attraction to men and his profound bond with Cas – were never something he considered might be related. But thinking about Cas kissing him – it’s something Dean never knew he wanted that much. When the sight of the happy couple got too much for him to bear, Dean excused himself to get a drink. Only then he remembered they are actually on a job, and he’s supposed to be on the watch out for possible bad guys.

And he’s totally going to do that.

Once he had a proper drink.

——————————————————————————————

“Please tell me your stupid charade is at least getting you somewhere,” Dean groans, once Cas is settled in his seat across from him. They decided to meet up in a close diner to discuss their next steps, while Sam is hacking the public security cameras from their house. Dean refuses to call it their “home”, hating the implication it’s setting.

“There are a few people we can surely rule out,” Cas replies, stirring some sugar into the coffee mug Dean pressed into his hands. “On my drive yesterday, the energetic waves were much stronger at the end of the street.”

“Great, so what’s next? You and Sammy going to play house for some more weeks, until we finally got our suspect?”

Dean can only hope the hunt will be over rather sooner than later. He barely slept the night after the housewarming party, his mind racing with thoughts. Not even liquor helped to drown them out and the night left him feeling not only exhausted but more upset than ever.

Castiel releases an annoyed groan. “Can you just…you’re undermining this plan at every given opportunity, and Sam and I are getting worried you might risk the entire thing.”

“I just want,” Dean starts, the words twisting in his throat. He knows exactly what he wants, ever since seeing Cas and Sam casually holding hands and snuggling on the couch. But at the same time, he knows it’s something he can’t have. Angels aren’t supposed to have emotions, he knows that. But when he catches Castiel’s blue eyes carefully watching him, Dean can’t help but feel a spark of hope.

“Do you ever think things could be, you know, different between you and me? Maybe we could be…more…or…”

“Dean,” Cas replies, his name sounding almost like a prayer from his lips. “Are you saying…”

“Well, hello you handsome fellas,” a sudden voice snaps them back to reality and when they look at its owner, Beth is smiling at them. “I thought it was you, so I just had to pop in and say hello.”

“Hello then,” Dean grumpily answers, his eyes focused on the table before him. Of all possible times, Beth had to disrupt them just now. He remembers the way those nosy neighbors had eyed him at the housewarming party, and how it made him uneasy. But then again, he only had eyes for Cas that evening.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at work, Cas?” Beth asks, an obnoxious tone hidden under her sweetly sick smile. Right, Dean remembers, they told everyone Cas works at the library. Good enough of an excuse to spend their time there.

“Uhhh – Lunch break,” Castiel answers stiffly, his eyes shortly glancing over to Dean. The hunter seems to have grown smaller by the second, as he fiddles with the menu.

“Well, tell Sam I said hi,” she comments cheerfully, as she finally leaves them alone again. Silence falls over the table, only disturbed by the noise of the diner around them. Dean can feel Castiel’s watchful eyes on him, but he’s not ready to face them yet. He might not believe in fate or destiny, but the disturbance came just at the right time. A few seconds more and he might have destroyed the best friendship he had his entire life.

“Dean…,” Cas finally breaks the silence, but Dean interrupts him before he can speak more.

“Just forget it, Cas…Let’s focus back on the case.”

They don’t pay any attention to Beth, who silently snaps a picture of them from the outside. It feels like the ultimate proof those two are actually having an affair; why else would they meet up in a diner during Castiel’s work hours? She can’t help but grin, as she sends the picture to her friends.

TO: BRUNCH LADIES

“Look who’s having dinner instead of working….”

——————————————————————————————

“It’s Jennifer,” Cas says, once the image of Dean flashes over the laptop screen. After several neighbors pointed out how attached Dean seems to be to his brother, they decided to stick to virtual conversations for the moment.

“You sure?” Dean asks as he watches his brother and his best friend sit on their couch. He should be glad to once have an entire motel room for himself, but for some strange reason, he misses his family. Okay, he knows exactly why: he hates not knowing what’s happening between his brother and Cas. Sammy isn’t interested in Cas that way, he knows that. But the thought of them holding hands is enough to get Dean bothered.

“Absolutely,” Sam replies. “She was already one of our suspects due to some lucky incidents in the last few years, but when I was at her house, I clearly saw some witch supplies.”

“Her magic doesn’t seem too powerful, destroying her supplies and her altar should be enough to stop her,” Cas adds up, and Dean nods along.

“She’s working from home, right?” Dean asks while trying to remember everything about the suspect. Jennifer didn’t talk to him a lot; she was more of a loner. Apparently, her husband died a few years ago and left her enough money to start her own jewelry company. “How are we going to get her out of the house long enough to take care of the situation?”

“We could throw another party. Maybe celebrate a birthday or a wedding anniversary. And you and Mom could handle the house in the meantime,” Sam suggests.

“She didn’t stay long at the housewarming,” Cas throws in. “We need some more time, there might be warding at her house – maybe we could try a distraction, so she stays longer?”

“You could fake-break-up your fake marriage,” Dean huffs under his breath, knowing already they won’t agree to it. If their plan fails, the entire cover-up story would be blown up. There’s a bottle of beer in Dean’s hands and he takes a deep gulp from it. It may not be noon yet, but he stopped caring about that years ago.

Cas answers once Dean finished drinking. “No, that’s hardly enough to draw her attention.”

“We could call Jack, maybe he can help out. He could be your unknown son from a secret affair,” Dean jokes next. It sounds almost like a cheap plotline from Dr. Sexy – except Dr. Sexy’s secret son actually appeared in season 3 and needed an organ transplant, which could only be donated by his father. While Dean tries to remember how the episode ended, Sam and Cas nod in agreement.

“I’ll call Jack right away,” Cas speaks, his phone already halfway pressed to his ear. A second later, the angel disappears from the couch, leaving only Sam in his view. The younger Winchester seems to wait for Castiel to leave the room before he addresses his brother again.

“Dean, promise me you won’t act up,” Sam tries to reason. “We can’t risk the entire thing because you are getting jealous.”

“Jealous? Don’t be ridiculous, Sammy,” the older Winchester mumbles, trying his best to not sound petty. “Scout’s honor, I’ll be on my best behavior.”

——————————————————————————————-

Dean’s promise lasts around 20 minutes, which is already longer than he honestly would have expected. He and Mary will enter Jennifer’s house at 1800 sharp, leaving them with just enough time to trash her little altar and the supplies. Jack is going to start with his distraction around 10 minutes earlier, giving Dean enough time to slip out quietly. It’s all planned to the minute, which of course means, it’s destined to fall apart.

They invited their neighbors under the premise of Castiel’s birthday, even though the angel technically doesn’t even have a birthday. It doesn’t matter anyway, since Sam promised some BBQ and apparently that’s enough to motivate everyone to show up. Dean watches the spectacle from a distance, occasionally sipping his cold beer. He planned to handle the grill, but some bored husband hushed him away to deal with it instead.

Cas looks beautiful, Dean notices as he watches his best friend talking to his guests. He’s wearing a light blue dress shirt and a pair of dark jeans, and Dean makes a mental note to thank his brother for finally getting Cas out of his usual outfit. Then he remembers it means Sam took Cas shopping at some point, and Dean’s gratitude turns sour in his mouth.

“How long have you two been married?” one of the ladies asks Cas, and Dean tries his best to hide a snickering laugh.

“Too damn long,” Dean jokes under his breath, but loud enough for several heads to turn in his direction. Maybe he had a beer too much, but watching Sam and Cas acting in love isn’t a thing he can handle sober.

“Two years,” Cas replies shortly, shooting angry glances at Dean. A second later, he mumbles to his guests again. “May you excuse me for a moment?”

Dean steps back, ready to hide from Castiel’s anger, but it doesn’t work. Barely a moment later, Cas is already in front of him. His hand closes tightly around Dean’s arm, keeping him from turning away.

“What’s the matter with you, Dean? You’re acting like a child,” Cas hisses when he catches him in the hallway. It’s enough to make Dean angry again, as he pulls his arm away from Castiel’s tight grip.

“The matter with me?” he shoots back. “This is honestly so ridiculous, you’re acting so…”

A middle-aged man bumps into them, and Dean stops talking immediately. There are far too many people around and if he says anything about the case, it could ruin their entire plan. The guests are spread all over the house, leaving no place to talk in private. Well, almost no place…

“We need to talk,” Dean whispers, before dragging the angel into the coat closet. Some curious eyes seem to follow them, but Dean shuts the door before anyone else can spot them. The closet is surprisingly spacious, but the walls seem to suffocate him. There’s a bit of light coming in through the shutters, and he can see the concern written all over Cas’s face.

“What’s going on? Ever since Sam and I began working this case, you’ve been acting weird,” Cas presses on and Dean knows it’s finally time to come clean about his feelings. He doesn’t want to lose Castiel’s friendship, but he can’t keep lying anymore.

“I wish it were me,” Dean rushes before he can chicken out again. “Instead of Sam. I wish it were me you’re married to. And I know it’s all fake, and you’re just pretending, but it’s driving me insane. Watching him hold you and call you those cheesy pet names. Because - because it’s something I want to do with you…not pretending, but for real.”

Once Dean starts speaking, the words don’t seem to stop rushing from his mouth. Cas just regards him with those hauntingly blue eyes, his head tilted in a way that always makes Dean’s heart melt. When all is said, Dean feels like the air was punched out of his lungs, as he awaits his friend’s answer.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“Because I was too stupid to realize it for the longest time. And then I just didn’t know how to say it,” Dean admits. He came close to confessing in the diner, but Beth interrupted them and afterward, Dean felt ashamed and stupid.

“Dean,” Cas whispers. “I want those things too.”

There’s the beginning of a bright smile on Castiel’s face, and Dean swears his heart skips a beat when the words finally dawn on him. Before Dean can overthink the situation, he presses closer to the angel and is relieved when Cas is doing the same. And then their faces meet in the middle. Kissing Cas is the easiest thing in the world, it turns out. Whatever Dean was so afraid of, is right forgotten once their lips slot together.

It starts out innocent and gentle, just like the way relationships start. But then Cas opens his mouth a little bit, letting Dean lick inside and, oh – now things are getting heated. Dean presses even closer to Cas, their chests flushing together and their arms holding each other close. Somewhere, Cas’s back hits a wall and Dean pins him against it. The moan that falls from Cas’s lips is almost obscene while motivating Dean only further.

It’s perfect, and amazing, and breathtaking – until the closet door opens and they stumble onto the floor. Tammy’s surprised gasp draws everyone’s attention over to the couple, still entangled on top of each other on the floor. Everyone’s, even Sam’s.

“What the hell do you two think you are doing?” he yells loud enough to attract the entire house to the hallway, where they are watching them closely. Dean and Cas are still on the floor, slowly stumbling back to their feet.

“Sammy, I can explain…,” Dean starts, but now Sam turns his attention to Cas. He steps closer to them, his pointed finger slapping against Castiel’s chest.

“You’ve been screwing my brother?!” he yells, before locking eyes with Dean. “And you! Is this why Fernando broke up with me?”

Dean is taken aback for a second. Who the hell is Fernando? It’s only then when Dean remembers their lesser-used codewords. He can still recall how he wrote it down in his own leatherbound journal: Fernando – just play along.

“This got nothing to do with Fernando, this is about me and Cas!” Dean replies with an angry voice, before taking Castiel’s palm into his own hands. Cas gives him a quick squeeze, and Dean decides to have at least a little fun with the situation.

“I finally understand now, why I was so against your marriage. Because you two don’t belong together! Your whole marriage is a scam! You act all perfectly happy when in reality, you’re not even sleeping in the same bed anymore.”

Dean can hear the people around them gasp a little. He wouldn’t be surprised if one of the elder people would end up with a heart attack due to all the fake drama being uncovered right now. Besides him, Cas draws in a deep breath, before speaking to his (fake) husband.

“It’s true, Sam. I’ve been having feelings for your brother for a while now, but I never knew how to address them.”

Sam just looks at them with the biggest puppy eyes Dean’s ever seen. His time in drama club surely played out. “Are you two in love?”

Dean takes a deep breath, looking over to the familiar blue eyes, and the truth slips easily over his tongue.

“I think I love Cas more than I’ve ever loved myself.”

The look on Castiel’s face is everything and without even words, Dean knows he feels the exact same about him. The room is quiet around them, and from the corner of his eye, Dean spots Jennifer amongst the watchers. At least their little distraction worked well enough for her to stay.

“As your brother, I wish you all the happiness in the world,” Sam speaks, his eyes fixed in the distance. When Dean turns his head, he spots their mother coming in through the entrance door, breathing heavily but otherwise seems okay. She gives them both a small nod, signaling them she took care of the altar.

The crowd seems satisfied for the moment, and Dean is about to lead Cas out of the house when a voice stops them midway. It’s Jack, who is shouting loud enough for everyone to hear: “Sam, I am your secret son!”

The drama is enough to make at least one elder lady faint.

——————————————————————————————-

Dean and Cas depart soon enough, leaving Sam to deal with the rest of the concerned neighbors. Everybody seems to be too caught up in the drama to notice their quiet leave. They end up back in the diner, this time holding hands on the table. Surprisingly, everything feels the same and yet, completely different than before. Dean can’t put it in words, but for the first time in years, he knows he’s truly happy.

It takes a bit of time for Sam to finally text him, saying his guests finally left them alone and they can come back to talk about their next steps. When the Impala roars down the road, Dean can feel the eyes of every household staring at them. They are probably wondering why he would be back so soon enough, but Dean doesn’t care. He just holds Cas’ hand on the way to the house, fully knowing he won the grand prize.

Jack and Mary greet them happily, and even Sam can’t hide his grin as he approaches his brother. “Well, if it isn’t the homewrecker himself.”

“Come on, I bet several of your neighbors would have consoled you all night long, if you had asked them,” Dean shoots back, throwing a wink at Sam. He remembers the way one of the ladies had clung to Sam’s arm, trying her best to cheer him up about his failed marriage.

They all settle in the living room: Cas and Dean on the couch, Mary and Sam seated in each of the armchairs, and Jack sitting cross-legged on the floor. It may not be much, but it’s their own little screwed-up family. While Sam gets them beers from the fridge, Dean considers putting his arm around Cas. They haven’t had time to label their relationship yet, but they’re both too old to play games. So, Dean decides to go with his gut and wraps his arm around Castiel’s shoulder. The returned smile lets him know it was a good decision.

“Sorry for the way I acted earlier, it was just for show,” Sam says when he passes the beer over to the couple. “I’m actually glad you two finally figured things out.”

“Me too,” Mary chimes in with a laugh. “Even though I was patiently waiting for your back-up at the house.”

“Bet you still did an amazing job without me,” Dean returns, an honest smile on his lips. He holds his beer towards her, and she clinks it with her own.

Sam fills them in with the details of the last hours, and how he watched Jennifer leave her home in a panicked state. She packed a few bags, before driving away with screeching tires. Well, another case successfully solved. They talk for hours while laughing about stories and eating the leftovers from the party.

“Damn, I could really use some sleep now,” Dean yawns, stretching his arms. A short glance at the clock lets him know it’s almost 2 am and they gotta hit the road early the next day.

“How about you two head to the motel, and Jack and Mom stay here?” Sam proposes. When Dean checks on Jack, the kid is curled up in his seat, snoring quietly. No way they’re going to move him somewhere else, so this plan might be for the best.

“You just want me to stay, so your neighbors see this pretty lady leave your house tomorrow,” Mary jokes, earning some quiet hollering from her elder son and a laugh from Castiel.

“Guess we’re heading back to the motel,” Dean finally decides, before clumsily standing up from the couch. If it weren’t for the awful neighbors, this place might actually be nice. The furniture for one thing is comfortable enough. And the closet sure gave him a few ideas what to do with Cas in the future. He takes a few steps towards the door until he notices something is missing. “Cas, you coming?”

“You want me to come along?” Cas asks, and Dean just nods.

“Of course, would be weird to stay with your husband now that you scored the hotter brother,” Dean replies, pressing a gentle kiss on Castiel’s cheek. He never knew angels could blush, but it’s a sight he will never get enough of.

“We’ll pick you up tomorrow at nine, better be dressed!” Sam shouts after them when Dean is already halfway out of the door.

“You’re such a buzzkill, Sammy. No wonder your husband left you”

“I’m just glad you’re finally out of the closet,” Sam shoots back with a grin. Dean already knows it’s a joke he’ll hear a thousand times in the upcoming years, but when he looks over at Cas, it sure is a price worth paying.

The drive to the motel is rather short, and soon enough, Dean unlocks the door to his room. Luckily, he had booked a room with a king-size bed. He rarely had a room for himself during hunts, so he had decided to enjoy that. Cas closes the door behind them, while Dean strips out of his flannel and his jeans. He’s still wearing a shirt and his boxers, but compared to a fully dressed Castiel, he almost looks naked.

When Dean comes near him, the angel wraps his arms around his torso and pulls him even closer. Once again, their lips meet in a kiss, growing more heated by the second. It’s with a sigh that Dean slowly pulls away again.

“Maybe we should take it slow, honey. How about we just cuddle tonight?” Dean murmurs, pressing gentle kisses along his jaw. The exhaustion of the day lies heavily on Dean’s bones, and all he wants to do is cuddle into bed, his lover beside him.

“Honey?” Cas asks with a raised eyebrow, and Dean feels himself blushing yet again.

“It’s just – every time I see a bee or something, I have to think about you,” he admits. “Remember how you collected honey yourself? Or when you showed up covered in bees?”

Cas smiles at the memory. “Of course, I remember, but why would you bring that up now?”

“It’s just a term of endearment, a pet name. I can stop if you want”

Dean was never a big fan of pet names. He usually called his partners by their names, not some silly phrase. But then again, he was the one who turned Castiel to Cas, so maybe the angel has always been the exception for him.

“No, I like it,” Cas decides, before pressing another quick peck onto Dean’s lips. “And I am fully contempt with cuddling you.”

After some discussion about clothing choices, Cas also strips down to his underwear. Cuddling in jeans and a dress shirt would have been awful, and Dean luckily managed to convince the angel of it. The bed is more than big enough for the both of them, as they lie facing each other in the dark.

“We should make you a proper Winchester someday,” Dean mutters, gently kissing Cas’s knuckles. He isn’t thinking about marriage, not yet at least. Most marriages he’s seen over the years ended in death: his parents, Bobby and his wife Karen, Ellen and her husband…The list goes on and on, including those couples they couldn’t save during their hunts. When he saw his own father stricken with grief for his lost wife, part of Dean swore he’d never marry. But then again, Dean never would have believed he’d ever live past the age of 30. It’s with a smile upon his lips that he finally falls asleep.

All his life, he expected monsters in every dark corner, and more than enough times Dean was proven right. He’s been long enough in the business to smell danger from miles away, Dean believes. Which is why he’s surprised to wake up to the sound of Castiel shouting his name.

When he opens his eyes, all he sees is purple. The room seems to be painted in the color, reflecting on every surface possible. And in the middle of it all stands Jessica, glaring at them with violet and angry eyes.

“You! You really thought destroying my altar was enough to stop me?”

Dean’s hand finds its way under his pillow but returns empty-handed. He must have forgotten to place it there, too caught up with his lover. And when he looks around, he can spot his faithful gun sitting on top of a dresser, which is inconveniently placed behind the wrathful witch in the room. Cas is already standing beside the bed, and the sight of a half-dressed angel ready to fight would be hilarious if it weren’t for the mortal danger they’re in.

“You’re an abomination,” Jessica yells again. “Dirty and sinful, and…”

The angel blade hits her right in the chest. Her purple eyes glance downwards, where the blood comes rushing out of her body. Apparently, she was so caught up in looking dangerous, she actually forgot to ward herself. And with Castiel’s heavenly aim, that could only end deadly for her. Jessica sinks to her knees; the purple flashes of lightning slowly disappearing from the room. It’s only then when Dean decides to approach her. Blood is running down her mouth, but she’s still alive, watching the hunter carefully as he kneels down in front of her.

“I’ve had a voice like you in my head my entire life, whispering awful things about myself,” Dean tells her, keeping eye contact as he pulls the angel blade out of her bleeding chest. “But now, that I’m finally happy, do you know what happens to this voice?”

Jessica doesn’t answer, and he doesn’t need her to.

He would have slit her throat either way.

———————————————————————————————

“Welcome to Sunday Brunch, Agnes,” Sarah announces, as the women settle down at her dinner table. It’s been a while since they had another brunch, but it was long-awaited. Today, a new face sits at the table with them.

“So sad Jennifer decided to move away, but we are glad we got you in the neighborhood now.”

“Thanks for having me,” Agnes replies with a shy smile, as she glances around at the other women. “It’s wonderful to have such nice and caring neighbors, my old neighborhood was so scandalous…”

“Scandalous?” Irene laughs, shaking her head in disbelief. “Oh dear, you ain’t seen nothing yet!”

“Are you referring to the Winchester?” Tammy replies while stirring her tea. It’s been weeks since those men came and went, but it’s still everyone’s favorite topic of discussion.

“Don’t be silly, of course I mean the Winchesters!”

Beth releases a deep sigh. “I’ve heard they did it right in Dean’s fancy car after the party.”

“No, they threw Sam out of the house and then had sex in the bed Sam used to sleep in. How tasteless of them,” Sarah corrects her immediately.

“That can’t be.” It’s Tammy’s turn to speak now. “I saw him the next day with a blonde woman in front of the house”

“Guess he got over it quickly then,” some other woman giggles. “Have you seen the kid too? Sam can’t have been older than maybe 25 when he was born”

Agnes just smiles quietly, as she listens to the stories. She may not know the Winchesters, but they sure are entertaining as heck.

———————————————————————————————

Castiel becomes a Winchester on a sunny day in July.

It’s been months since the case that started their relationship, and they never spared another thought to those nosy neighbors. Dean suspects the rumors they started that night, but he couldn’t care less. Once the town disappeared from the Impala’s rearview mirror, none of them ever spared another thought to the neighborhood. Dean and Castiel couldn’t be happier, and that’s all that matters to them.

Jody invited all of them to her cabin at Lake Alvin, just outside of Sioux Falls. They are celebrating Claire’s graduation from college, and Dean couldn’t be prouder of the kid. He talks Cas into buying her the cheesiest greeting card they can find, paired with the most beautiful gun in the entire bunker. It’s got engravings all over and Dean even finds somebody who puts “C.N.” onto the side of it. He would rather have Claire live a normal life, but he knows it’s not going to happen.

It appears like everybody in the hunter community got the invitation: Sam and Eileen, Mary, Donna, the Banes twins, even Garth and Bess together with their kids. It’s not often hunters get to celebrate something, so everybody immediately jumped the opportunity. It’s a beautiful day, and at some point, Dean finds himself standing next to Claire.

“So, when you gonna put a ring on it?” she asks, nodding over to Castiel, who is chasing his little namesake all over the lawn in a playful game. Dean’s heart swells at the thought of this man being his husband. They hunt less and less these days, especially since Sam decided to move in with Eileen. It’s still a secret, but he and Cas recently bought a house in the same street as them. It might finally be time to leave the hunting life behind.

“There’s no rush,” Dean simply answers, trying his best not to settle on the thought. If he’d ever marry someone, it probably would be Cas. His eyes are still fixed on the laughing figure when Claire continues speaking.

“Whatever, old man. But if you ever want to tie the knot, just call me,” she says, shrugging with her shoulder. When Dean looks at her with a raised eyebrow, she continues. “I’m actually a licensed officiant, not that it would matter for you two anyways. Could marry you just like that –“

She snaps her fingers, before taking a gulp of her soda. Dean looks over to Cas again, his thoughts running in his head. What if…? The idea seems insane to him, but Claire seems to catch his thoughts. A smile breaks over her face: “Go ahead, dude. Just ask him.”

“Don’t want to steal your thunder, kid.”

“There would be no thunder without you,” she confesses, and Dean can’t help but pull her into a tight hug. He never expected to have kids, but he loves Claire just like his own blood. Her first weeks in college were rough, he remembers. But every time she came close to quitting, she’d call Dean. At this point, she’s just as much his kid as Jack, and he couldn’t be prouder of the people they’ve become.

When they step apart, Claire pulls a necklace from her neck. Two golden rings are connected on it, and Dean immediately knows who they belonged to.

“Here, this one should fit,” she says and presses the larger ring into his shaking hands. Dean mutters an honest thanks, smacking a gentle kiss on her forehead, before sprinting over the lawn.

“Hey Cas, can we talk for a moment?”

“You’re not dragging me into a closet again, are you?” Castiel laughs, but willingly follows his boyfriend a few feet away from the crowd.

“If I remember correctly, you rather enjoyed that…,” Dean counters with a grin, before kissing the angel gently. Cas is still smiling against his lips, and Dean pulls away with a deep breath.

“I have an idea…well, actually Claire had the idea, but I think it’s kinda awesome. And since everyone we love is already here, it would just be such a good opportunity and…”

“Dean,” Cas simply says, putting a stop to Dean’s blabbering.

“Will you marry me? Tonight? I know, you actually deserve a much better proposal and a wedding that doesn’t take place in flannel, but I love you so very very much”

Dean’s stammered words are silenced by a loving kiss. When they pull apart, Cas is smiling brighter than the sun.

“I’ve adored you ever since the moment I touched your soul in hell, of course, I’ll marry you”

The biggest smile flashes over Dean’s face, and Cas returns it just as much. A moment later, a loud shout draws their attention over to the cabin, where Claire is cheering in a way, that reminds them far too much of Dean. And when they tell everyone else, the mood just keeps going up.

It’s not a traditional wedding, but then again, their whole lives aren’t exactly normal. Jack insists on being the flower girl, even though Dean and Sam try their best to correct it to “flower-boy”. The music comes from a beaten-up boombox, which plays “November Rain” on repeat and the couple agrees not to exchange vows, deciding to wait with them until they can talk privately.

Dean’s hands shake when he slips the ring onto Castiel’s finger. It’s only now that he realizes they only got one ring, but before Dean can freak out, the angel pulls another golden band from his pocket.

“Where did you get that ring from?” Dean asks, and Cas casts a glance over to Jody, who is currently trying to stop crying. They barely knew her husband, and sometimes Dean still feels a pinch of guilt they couldn’t save him. The ring, he knows, is not only a final peace offering but an official invitation to the family. Dean shoots her a thankful smile, and she just nods in return.

“Speak now, or forever hold your peace,” Claire announces from the front, but the crowd remains luckily silent.

“We’ve been waiting for ages, no way we’re going to object now,” Sam shoots from the side, making everybody laugh. If Dean wasn’t close to bawling his eyes out, he’d probably throw a witty remark at his brother.

“Well then,” Claire says, clearly holding tears back herself. “I shall pronounce you officially hitched!”

Everyone cheers when Cas pulls Dean in a kiss, marking the beginning of a new chapter. The rest of the evening passes in a blur: they dance, they sing, Sam proposes to Eileen, Claire and Kaia finally get together, and Dean and Cas once again find themselves fooling around in a closet. But it’s perfect in every way.

Not every family contains of two parents and a bunch of kids. For them, family contains of two washed-up hunters, their time-traveling mom, a badass Irish huntress, a fallen angel, the devil’s son, and dozens of other people they got to know over the years. Bobby once told Dean, family don’t end in blood, but it doesn’t start there either.

And as Dean watches his happy and fucked-up family, his hand tightly holding onto his husband, he just knows truer words were never spoken.

#destiel fanfic #destiel fic #deancas fanfic #spn fanfic #spn fic

41 notes · View notes

meixdoll · 3 years

Text

The way back home.

Kaelumi Drabble. More of a character study about Kaeya.

Comfort / Stablished relationship

—————————————————————-

In the big scheme of things, it all sometimes ends up being quite different from what you originally grasped on a smaller onlook. This was a piece of valuable information he had come to learn recently, and since then, tried to tackle smaller issues with this perspective in mind, whether they’d be snippets of chatter the wind carried to his ears, clearing a misplaced hilichurl campsite or tackle down pesky deskjob, like today.

He couldn’t get his mind around how Jean managed to do a job this tiresome and yet, at the same time, this incredibly boring. Just sorting out the reports about incidents implied reading facts through the eyes and handwriting of soldiers that sometimes gave as much importance to the details that truly mattered as one would give to the gravel beneath one’s boots. Not to be unfair to his men or anything but a lot of them had absolutely no imagination or skill to be making an incident report worth reading, and he had to at least skim trough them all. This was exactly the sort of duty he had been continuously avoiding since he was given the option of becoming Acting Grand Master. But now, in an odd twist of fate, Varka had to go through early retirement, leaving now Grand Master Jean on charge, relying as always in her right arm Kaeya Alberich, now Grand Commander of the Knights of Favonius, to alleviate some of the job involving the surprisingly heavy duty of protecting Mondstadt. One would think that a land of peace such as this one required no nonsense involving chivalry or anything of the sorts, but alas, he was there at a late hour doing some overtime reading (or trying, poor him) through some of the world’s most boring incident reports.

The bell from the cathedral broke the stream of his rambling thoughts, making him painfully aware of his body. He rubbed his good eye and let the piece of paper fall softly on the desk. No matter how much overtime he did, there was no way he would finish sorting out all of that before tomorrow, so it was probably best to leave it as was. “Heh~” he scoffed. He definitely could see the bigger picture now, after all. He had changed. And still he was no less upset with having to admit he did felt tired. Today, in particular.

The street was dark and wet when he finally left headquarters. A chill ran through his skin, making him take a sharp breath, tasting cold air and wet grass, and he stared back at the building looming over. To be frank, there was a time when it had felt like home, until it didn’t. Then again, with Master Crepus dead and Diluc not talking to him, “home” was somewhat of a really foreign thought to him, no matter where he slept. He tried to keep calling the Order’s premises “home”, and when he couldn’t, tried to get something he might call “home” to himself by buying a place to absolutely no avail. It was comfortable, but not really anything he would give a status over simply just a house. Until it wasn’t.

Kaeya disguised a little smirk behind a gloved hand, pretending to warm it with his breath, even though there was no one around. Maybe he wasn’t that different after all. He set up foot down the city stairs to the lower levels, thinking again over the recent past happenings. Being nostalgic wasn’t something very common when it came to him, and the gloomy atmosphere of late night Mondstadt after an autumn shower was perfect for lingering about sweet nothings from the past. He made it all the way to a bannister where he could see the roof of Angel’s Share tavern.

He sighed when he thought about just around two years ago, when he would stop by and get face planked on the taverns table, if his estranged brother wasn’t around. If he was, he would be happy to pester him for a bit before Diluc decided he had enough and asking Charles to replace him at the counter. Some time had passed since he was living that reality everyday, before the incident that changed everything.

Now, he was at least partially confident that he would be amicably greeted by his brother, who would try to annoy him with insisting on serving him a soft drink until he’d finally pour him a glass of wine and slip some finger food that Kaeya absolutely hadn’t ordered right below his nose.

Reconciling many years of antagonizing with each other on the heat of the battle had been the most uninteresting and corny way of giving closure to an awful chapter in their lives, and yet reminding the “don’t get yourself killed, you ass” Diluc yelled, swinging his claymore, still made the corners of his mouth twinge upwards. He then reached another flight of stairs. To the left he would be on his way to the tavern. The younger version of him would undoubtedly be on his way there already. But his younger himself was desperately trying to get back some sense of normalcy out of his brother’s cold gaze. The present himself however was sore from desk hours and so tired that he would probably fall face first on the counter with simply smelling the wine. Tonight he needed something different.

“As you did yesterday... and the day before, no?” he thought, messing with himself, just to mess with someone, really. He hadn’t changed that much. He turned to the right. Mondstadt’s night life could miss him for another day.

His house was one of the tiniest ones, but for himself and his need for privacy and away from his job was just the right fit. Privacy, specially, was something he wouldn’t have back at the headquarters bedrooms. His affairs and misdeeds outside service hours were best kept secret and hidden away. More than a place to crash it indeed had been, but not exactly of the cozy variety. Coziness was yet again a foreign concept that he heavily associated with Master Crepus´s care, small Diluc and Jean running around saying nonsense about pet turtles and the strange yet comfortable clothes he had been given after being taken in as a Ragnvindr. He hadn’t felt coziness and comfort since father’s death, hadn’t felt the homely warmth, the yearning for your own safe place being embraced by someone dear close to the fireplace after getting inside all muddy and with a scraped knee. Things change over time. But then again maybe they don’t. A clear display of that was the joy and relief he felt when he noticed the familiar glow of the lit fireplace in the living room shining through the window. Things had changed because his place was now a proper home, and hadn’t changed because no matter how short he made his absence be, he was on a constant edge, fearing coming back to an empty house, to darkness and the hard crumbles of breakfast bread he had left over the kitchen counter that morning. And every time he came back, there were signs, all over the place, that he had nothing to fear, that there was someone patiently waiting to see him closing the door behind him.

He was truly a foolish man, he sighed, and pulled the heavy auburn door open.

A jingle broke the heavy silence laced with lumber crackles, and he almost regretted allowing the idea of hanging a handful of tiny bells over the door frame, that right now, by contrast, made an awfully sharp noise. The living room opened up to his right hand, and his eye shot straight to the bundle of cushions and blankets plopped on the couch beside the window. A pair of intense gold eyes glistened, blinking a pair of times and once again after two tiny and delicate hands rubbed the sleepiness away from them. Lean legs shifted, and a book fell to the carpet.

“I wasn’t sleeping!” She said, groggily. Kaeya chuckled.

“I think I’m gonna have to scold you then, since it’s about past midnight, miss Lumine”.

Still wrapped in blankets, the girl made a little pout and raised an eyebrow at him, as a reproach for his use of the honorific, which made him laugh softly.

“That’s a very accurate impression of Master Diluc, you’re incredibly talented”

“I may not be in the need of throwing an attitude towards Sir Kaeya”, she said, emphasizing the honorific, “if he wasn’t treating me like a kid”.

Still smiling, Kaeya got rid of the heavy blue jacket and the fur collar, propping them in the couch arm rest. He sat down near her bundled feet and undid the buckle around his neck, and then took his gloves off.

“I would never do that, ace.”

Still feeling the dizziness of sleep, Lumine couldn’t get a sharp retort fast enough, and limited to a little smile, bashfully removing the blankets off her. She liked the nickname way more than she would admit, even before the familiarity with the knight grew at an alarming speed.

“Where is Paimon?”, he asked. The little bug was usually the first one at the door, sharing a thorough summary of everything she had eaten today. Her absence was pretty telling about just how late he had come home today.

Home.

Lumine suddenly jolted and stopped moving, grimacing. “Ah... about that.” Kaeya playfully tilted his head towards her. “I kinda wanted to make dinner tonight since you’ve been very tired lately so...” she only stopped talking for an instant while he scooted just a little closer to her. How ridiculous it was, she thought, that he could still get on her nerves with so little. “So I did. But...” Kaeya brushed off her face a misplaced lock of hair, and urged her to go on. “But you were taking so long she just didn’t listen and ate your share as well.” Kaeya pursed his lips, holding back a laugh. “She obviously started feeling ill, so she went upstairs, and hasn’t been back since”.

Kaeya swiftly picked the book from the floor. “So no dinner for this poor knight”, he reproached out loud in a truly pathetic voice.

Even though Lumine knew he was half-joking, she made a move to stand up, “I can fix you something quick now if you want... I’m...”

Unexpectedly, she felt the light plop of a book down on the top of her head. She swiftly threw a cushion to his chest on revenge, laughing. He was also laughing, sincerely, not the curated and affected one; truly laughing. He did that a lot, lately.

Still laughing, he softly wrapped his arms around her waist and let his weight take them both down to the couch. Lumine’s face went as red as an apple in zero seconds, but what he was really interested in, was the drumming of her heart beating faster and faster into his left ear.

It came with no surprise to her, she knew now that he was not in the least the cold, charming and cunning person he usually made everyone believe. Still, some displays of affection startled her greatly simply because of their spontaneous nature, leaving her hot faced and unsure of what she should do for a few moments. This time, however, she cradled his head softly, burying her fingers in his hair. “Was your day this big of a nightmare?” She whispered. Looking down she could only see his blue locks and his good eye closed, face buried deep into her chest.

“Nah. I got to finish like this. It’s really not bad”. He muttered, enjoying the caresses she was giving him.

The warm embrace of someone loved, by the fireplace. Somehow different but still.

It was home.

“Ah, says the handsome Mr. Kaeya” she said, jokingly, reliving one of the first conversations they had.

“Ah, so you DO have feelings for me.” , he started. She waited for the next bit, but then felt the slow and regular pace of his shoulders moving up and down, and chuckled.

This change of pace in her life was indeed pretty different to what she was expecting. But it wasn’t bad at all.

To her too, it was home.

————————

Thank you all for reading! This was supposed to be a Drabble to get my writing muscles stretched but it ended up being kinda lengthy. I’m sorry. I hope you like my awful writing.

#genshin impact #kaeya #genshin kaeya #kaeya alberich #diluc ragnvindr #jean gunnhildr #genshin traveler #genshin lumine #lumine #kaelumi #lumikae #Genshin impact fanfic #Kaelumi fanfic

37 notes · View notes

disneychannie · 3 years

Text

sing for you | d.kyungsoo

pairings: kyungsoo x female!reader

genre: fluff, nonidol!au, slice of life!au, established relationship, shy!kyungsoo, baker!kyungsoo

warnings: mild swearing but nothing intense

word count: 3.09k words

you’ve dated quite a handful of men before kyungsoo and you’ve got to say that kyungsoo was really none like the rest.

he was more preserved and preferred to keep his social status lower. yes, he was a baker which means he constantly see strangers coming in out of his bakery but he has never made it a big of a deal. even though he barely promotes his bakery, there seemed to be quite a good amount of customers daily. don’t exactly know if it was because of the cute owner with the big eyes or that his goods are actually tasty. he prefers to think the latter.

then when you met him, you weren’t that surprised when he wasn’t that touch-y or affectionate with you. to say that you were shocked was an understatement. when you first became friends, (through jongin, his best friend and one of your good friends), you could tell how he wasn’t the type to always initiate the conversation but he does like to say his input on some things once in a while. for some reason that made you attracted to him though you were kinda the total opposite.

but hey, opposites attract right?

when you first started dating it wasn’t that awkward to your dismay. surprisingly, he was the first one to ask you out. not just you, who were surprised but jongin too. he always thought that you were the one who was gonna do all the work. he didn’t mind you being affectionate towards him, if you’ve ever decided to kiss his cheek, or a random back hug, he would accept it.

just, he’s not use to being out of his bubble but he hopes that you know he loves you too.

it was 12am and an hour after closing time so kyungsoo was busy tidying up the bakery. though he refuses to accept it he acknowledges why people calls him a neat freak. it takes him at least 2 hours to make sure his small bakery is clean and spotless. he does this every single day and he doesn’t seem to get tired of it.

he was moping the floor when he heard the bell of the main entrance ringing, which signals that someone has entered his bakery. he doesn’t bother to stop what he was doing tho, cause he knows that it was you. usually, after a shift at the hospital, which was conveniently the same time where kyungsoo normally finishes cleaning, you would stop by at the bakery so that you could walk with him back to your shared apartment.

“kyungsoooooo” you exclaimed skipping happily towards him with the biggest smile on your face. kyungsoo rested the mop against one of the tables to come and greet you. you engulfed him in a big hug immediately and out of instinct he would hug you back. “how was the shift?” he asked, going back to moping.

you sighed dramatically as you sat down on the nearest chair. “it was sooo tiring soo, i might as well stop being a nurse and come work here with you,” you said with a smirk on your face. kyungsoo just laughed and shook his head. “the last thing i would do is let you even stand 10 cm away from a chopping board, love,” kyungsoo joked. you fake gasped but laugh a long with him.

“i’m seriously so hungry, the hospital cafeteria served pork cutlets which i thought would taste good but ended up tasting like utter shit” you sighed plopping your head on the table which caused the sound of the impact to resonate throughout the small bakery.

“i know you would say that, i have two sausage rolls and a red velvet cake for you on the counter,” he said simply, nodding his head towards the counter as he continued to mop the floor. you squealed excitedly and made your way towards the counter to claim your goods from the countertop. “thank you so much my baby honey bunch i love youuuu,” you said dramatically making kissing sounds as you head back to your chair before to start eating the pastries. kyungsoo blushed at your pet names for him and only replied with a small welcome. he wished he was able to call you by cute pet names too but he was too shy to do so.

you took a bite of the sausage roll and made a sound to indicate how good it was. “this is so good man,” your voice mumbled as your mouth was full of the pastry. “eat with your mouth closed y/n, you’re gonna choke on your food,” he warned before heading to the back room to put the mop away after finally getting all the corners of the bakery clean. you only made a face to him and continued on eating your food.

it was the little things that kyungsoo does to show you that he loves you when he has a hard time showing it. like this for example. he knew how bad the food at your hospital was and reminds himself to make some extras for you a half an hour before you arrived so it would still be nice and warm when you make your arrival. he immensely knows how much you prefer his food than anyone else’s, well, your mom’s cooking comes first but kyungsoo has a 89.8% chance on taking that spot from your mom.

it was a week before your 4 year anniversary with kyungsoo and you couldn’t be more ecstatic about it. you already bought and even made some homemade gifts you knew kyungsoo would love.

while you were anticipating for the day to come by, kyungsoo was shitting himself.

he had no clue what to get you for your anniversary this year. he was the worst at giving you gifts and always opted on cooking something extravagant or making top tier cakes or pastries just for you but he was scared that you would grow tired at his way of giving gifts and would eventually get tired of him too. you’ve always reassured that him cooking was already enough (which you genuinely meant) but he obviously had doubts.

he has thought about getting you jewellery before but he knew you weren’t the type to enjoy wearing jewellery much but you wouldn’t push away the thought of having a nice necklace, right?

so here he was, at jongin’s house currently dying inside as he complains to his dearest friend about what to get you for your anniversary.

“i’m about to go bonkers jongin, i’ve gotten her the same thing each year and i feel like if i do it again this year she’s going to break with me on our anniversary,” he said all in one breath, and may haps on the brink of tears. “wow you truly are a simp for her huh,” jongin mumbled before continuing. “i have a quite decent suggestion but i just don’t think you would like the idea of it,”

kyungsoo shot his head up and grabbed jongin by the shoulder shaking him with determination in his eyes. “i’ll take anything you have, i mean it,”. startled by his action, jongin stuttered before talking. “well first of all, let go of me,” he said taking his friend’s hands off his shoulders. “you could try writing a song for y/n and sing it for her” jongin said shrugging.

you never knew that kyungsoo could sing but jongin knows. back in high school, kyungsoo use to join the choir and school band and was always chosen as the lead singer for each of them. but as uni came, he became a bit shy to show his voice off and only opted on not telling anyone about it, including you. it’s not that he didn’t want you to know but he thought that you wouldn’t like his singing and think that he was a full of himself.

“i don’t know about that man, what do i even sing about plus, would she even like my singing voice?” kyungsoo said suddenly going glum. jongin hated seeing his best friend at this state but he undeniably believe that this was a great idea.

“don’t even start soo, you know that i know that your voice is one of the finest out there, still think that you could’ve joined an entertainment company and become a singer instead,” kyungsoo nudged his friend upon what he said and jongin just laughed. “i’m serious though man, you could write about how much you love her but is too shy to show it to her,” he suggested. “you could even ask jongdae to help you with the lyrics and chanyeol to help you with the composing,” jongin continued.

“that’s actually not a bad idea,” kyungsoo mumbled. “thanks jongin, i don’t know why i’ve never came up with the idea,” he said gratefully to his friend. “no problem dude, the only way you’ll pay back to me is by giving me a niece,” he joked, which earned a hard slap on the head by kyungsoo.

kyungsoo spent the whole week with jongdae and chanyeol trying to come up with something good in just a week. he didn’t tell you what he was doing obviously and faked that chanyeol had just gone through a massive break up and he kyungsoo had to check up on him making sure that he didn’t do anything stupid. you were gullible and actually believed him to the point you went to the flower store to buy flowers for chanyeol and had kyungsoo to pass it to him. he felt bad about lying to you but in order to give you a special anniversary gift, he had to take one for the team.

he couldn’t thank jongdae and chanyeol enough for helping him to compose and write the song that he promised to give them free pastries from his bakery for free for 2 months. his business was shaking at the thought of that but anything for you.

the day finally came and he was nervous as fuck. he still opted on buying you the new necklace though as he thought that it would at least be something you would carry around for a long time. he kept practicing at the bakery as he was making the pastries and since he was to engrossed in practicing he forgot that there were customers in his shop but thank god he got positive feedback and some of the older customers even told him to sing at retirement homes for them which he didn’t know if it was a compliment or not but he counted it as one.

on the day of the anniversary kyungsoo had packed you a nice breakfast and for one lunch as well so that you didn’t have to eat the nasty hospital food on this special day. he even gave you a kiss on the lips and a big hug before you left for work, wishing you a happy anniversary and a good day at work before letting you go.

he decided on having one of his staff to close his store down which he usually doesn’t ask them too but thank god that they were more than happy to see their hardworking boss to give them the responsibility and for once go back home early. before he went back he stopped by chanyeol’s house to burrow his guitar for the night. once he reached home he hid the guitar in the store room and started getting ready for dinner. he thought that he would get the recipe for your favourite dish from your mother since you’ve told him that you were home-sick lately and thought that this was the perfect opportunity to bring a piece of your home to seoul.

as he was finish setting the plates, he heard the front door open which indicated that you were home. “i’m home honeyyyy” you said dragging out the Y. you dropped your bag and jacket down on the sofa and crushed your lovely boyfriend with a big hug. “is this [your favourite food]?” you asked and observed the mouth-watering dishes on the table. “yeah, i even asked your mom for the recipe since you said that you’ve been missing home lately,” he said. you started to tear up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “thank you so much soo, i’m gonna eat this all up till my body explodes,” you said as a tear slip from your eye and kyungsoo laughed.

“come sit down, let’s eat,” he said and the both of you ate the delicious food he made as you talked the night away. you were talking about the patients you had to handle that day and kyungsoo took the time to admire you. you look absolutely stunning to him and he never stops thinking about how lucky he is to have such a beautiful, hard working and driven you are. you were never scared to voice your opinions out and was clearly the epitome of brave. that’s one of the thousand features that he loved about you. the thought of how brave you are was even sexy to him in some ways but we won’t talk about that.

after the meal it was finally time for the gift exchanging. you got him a new watch with his name engraved on the strap as well as new pairs of airpods with his name engraved on the casing thought you didn’t know that kyungsoo could sing, you knew how much he loves music. “y/n, this must be super expensive, thank you baby but now i feel bad,” he said, grateful that you would spend so much money on him. “don’t worry about it love, you mean the world to me i don’t care that i spend extra money if it was for you,” kyungsoo couldn’t help but when ahead and give you a chaste kiss on your lips and hugging you. “thank you y/n,” you smiled in return.

it was now kyungsoo’s turn to give you his gift and he was beyond nervous. “i actually got you something as well,” he said. he went over to the kitchen where he hid the necklace behind the sugar jar and went over to hand it to you. “you didn’t have to soo, you worked hard cooking for us,” you pouted but he still passed te box to you. you opened the box to see a beautiful necklace with a small delicate star pendant on it. you gasped upon the beauty of the necklace and turned to your boyfriend. “soo, this is literally perfect,” you said. “i’m glad you liked it, i took almost an hour trying to find the perfect one,” he said. you laughed at that and he took the necklace from you to place it around your neck. “thank you baby,”. shit this was it. “i uh, actually have one more thing to give to you,” he said

“what is it?” you asked curiously. kyungsoo then went to the store room to retrieve the guitar and brought it to the table. your eyes were as wide as your mouth was when you saw what he pulled out from the room. “where did you get that?” you asked. “i burrowed it from chanyeol, actually i wrote a song for you. well, jongdae and chanyeol helped me with it but i did most of the lyric writing,” he said and you kept quiet as you still didn’t know what to say, till realisation hits you.

“you can sing?” you asked, shocked. kyungsoo suddenly got shy and placed the guitar on his lap and had his fingers ready to strum and throat ready to sing.

With my old guitar I’ll take all the confessions I couldn’t say All the things I swallowed inside And tell you right now as if I made it into a song Just listen, I’ll sing for you

kyungsoo started off with a shaky voice cause this was the first time you have ever heard him sing but as he continued on he became more engrossed in the song.

I love you so much but I don’t tell you that I love you It’s awkward, my pride won’t allow me I’ll take courage and tell you today But just listen without much thought, I’ll sing for you

It’s kind of funny, I only have you But sometimes, I’m worse than a stranger to you When in truth, I just wanna put my head in your arms And be held by you

you were about to cry halfway through the song because one, he had such a nice voice and two, it was because you knew that kyungsoo had trouble trying to express himself to you though you could tell by his actions that he loves you, you didn’t know it was to the point that he would make a song just to tell you how much he loves you.

When today passes, I might get awkward again But I wanna tell you today, so listen

The way you cry, the way you smile Do you know how much you mean to me? Words I wanna say, words I lost I’ll confess to you though it might sound awkward Just listen, I’ll sing for you, sing for you Just listen, I’ll sing for you

just as he finished you started to clap enthusiastically. “soo, this is absolutely beautiful,” you said, hand over your mouth still trying to wrap his head around the fact that your boyfriend had such a wonderful voice.

“do you like it?” he asked, hands already sweating. “like it? babe i LOVE it, please sing more for me in the future” you said emphasising the love. he then set the guitar down and took your hands in his and made you stand up with him.

“i know i may not be the best at being vocal about how much i appreciate you but i hope through the song you would understand how i actually fell and how much you mean to me and that i love you,” he said.

you laughed through the tears and kissed your boyfriend. he kissed back with just as much passion. the both of you pulled away and rested your foreheads together.

“i love you kyungsoo,” you said. “and i love you more,” he replied placing another kiss on your forehead.

“so all this while chanyeol didn’t go through a breakup? he was just helping you with the song? you questioned.

“that man doesn’t even have a girlfriend,”

#exo #exo imagines #exo scenarios #kyungsoo imagines #kyungsoo scenarios #d.o #d.o scenarios #d.o imagines #do kyungsoo #do kyungsoo imagines #do kyungsoo scenarios

52 notes · View notes

serwynterwulf · 3 years

Text

LFRP Braxis Wynterwulf

“The Savage Knight”

The Basics

Age: Late 30′s

Birthday: Unknown

Race: Highlander

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Marital Status: Single

Server: Balmung

Physical Appearance

Hair: Light Brown

Eyes: Icy blue

Height: 6′8

Build: Muscular

Distinguishing Marks: Three scars on his face, prosthetic magitek left hand, various cuts, bite, burn and claw marks are scattered across his body. Tattoo’s on his shoulders/arms.

Common Accessories: Wolf and Dragon Claws/Fangs, Family Ring, Various rune marked bracers and charms.

Personal

Profession: Dragoon / Mercenary

Hobbies: Fighting, Feasting, Hunting, Training, Fighting, Drinking, Fighting

Languages: Common

Residence: The Pillars

Birthplace: Limsa

Religion: Ancestral Worship + The Twelve.

Patron Deity: Halone & Rhalgr

Fears: Failure, Being too weak, Being the one his family and clan dies with.

Relationships

Spouse: N/A

Children: Io Saarwulf (Adopted)

Parents: Ragnar Direwulf (Deceased) Beatrice Beatsong (Deceased)

Siblings: Quill Sureshot, Roric Eldar, Venoiux Grinningwulf, Asmaria Soulmender and about 4 more he doesn’t list off often.

Distance Relatives: Asher Rukoth (Cousin), Aelin Stormwulf (Cousin), Kilaani Bloodwulf (Cousin, Deceased), Alexander Greywolf (Uncle, Deceased) Delvaani Songwulf (Aunt, Deceased), Astrid Redwulf (Cousin, MIA), Hunter Ironwulf (Cousin, MIA), Connor Wulf (Nephew, MIA) Siv Wulf (Niece, MIA) Jorgen Frostwulf (Grandfather….Frozen?) Sigrid Bloodwulf (Grandmother, also frozen.) Hugo Boulderfist (Uncle, Father like figure from mother’s side.)

Pets: Snow, a Coerthas bred Ghost Wolf. A silent, grumpy canine. Along with Pup a Natalan War Wolf and Coerthas Ghost Wolf mutt. A more friendly, slightly smaller version of Snow

Additional Notes:

Bastard: Born out of wedlock to a traveling Ishgardian Knight and a daughter of an Ala Mhigan merchant. With his fathers early death it left him and his newly disowned mother in Limsa for many years.

Prosthetic Hand: Losing his left hand near the end of the Dragonsong War was a blow to the highlander both in mind and body. But after four prototype hands and thanks to Asher. The man now boasts a well made and “Braxis Proof” Prosthetic magitek hand. Allowing him to control his aether more efficiently, even recently covered in various runic markings.

Card: https://braxis.carrd.co

ART: https://imgur.com/a/YOGOS

Traits

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between / Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal

RP Hooks

Including but not limited to..

Hooligan Years: Despite acting as if he has lived in Ishgard all his years. This Ishgardian bastard born spent his childhood in the streets and waters of Limsa Lominsa. You might recognize this hooligan street rat if you stared at him long enough.

Former Dragoon: Serving in the Order of the Dragoon for six ~ eight years, being retired from the order shortly before the end of the Dragonsong War. Although temporarily brought back in when the battles climax rose to the heavens at the very gates of The Holy See. It would be easy for a fellow Dragoon to spot this war tested veteran.

Ishgardian Noble: A fact about himself he begrudgingly accepts. With the previous Lord of Wulves, Alexander Greywulf’s passing at the end of the Dragonsong War. Leadership of the Houses Warbands and the House Itself have fallen onto the shoulders of this Highlander. Any of Ishgards noble would have an easy time spotting this Savage Knight amongst a crowd of nobles.

White Wolf of Coerthas: Was a title earned in his years as a Dragoon. Leading small hunting parties or pairs with ruthless efficiency like a wolf hunting its prey. His most common partner was another dragoon of renown, Claude Duval the Bronze Dragoon. The two were well known for constantly one upping one another.

Mercenary Warband: Either it be earning coin and glory to keep their household a float. Dispatching The Holy See and her allies enemies, or plundering and raiding Garlean assets. It would not be uncommon to hear of his company’s boasting in local taverns or similar venues. ((FC Card: https://wm-rp.carrd.co/ )

Contact Information

Tumblr: @serwynterwulf or @braxis-ooc

Twitter: @BraxisRp

Discord: Braxis#1996

OOC information

I work from 8am - 4pm EST and I am normally not on till roughly and hour or two after that pending on what is going on IRL.

I am over the age of 21 and do enjoy Dark/Mature Rp, etc, even more so if it serves a greater story arc. Although I do find casual RP even more so with this character highly enjoyable. I am looking for all sorts of connections for this character. Ships and the such I am more then happy to discuss.

#FF14 #LFRP #Balmung #Braxis Wynterwulf

5 notes · View notes

kervinredfire · 3 years

Text

My Other Fanfics in the Future

Well, I made announcements about my 2 Loonatics fanfics-related stories coming soon. So here are my other fanfics that I am making. But before I am going to show you my other fanfics, I like to share what most of them are like. Kervinverse related. If you checked my Tumblr header it's pretty obvious.

As you may wonder what is the Kervinverse is all about? The Kervinverse is like the multiverse but with all different kinds of Kervin. Inspired by Spiderman Into the Spiderverse all the versions of Kervin contained different personalities, stories, almost the same appearance, fighting styles, and special abilities. One of the most signature outfits is the black and red formal suit.

I already made a folder in toyhouse. However, most of it are unfinished and still ongoing.

https://toyhou.se/Kervin619/characters/folder:812137

People think that those stories a self-insert but it is actually not. Me and my other Kervins are the same but they are different the appearance, abilities, and personalities. An example is Denk Ops’s Chris Danger from the WWE games. And note that this is another long announcement for the other fanfics

So anyway, here are my Kervinverse stories that I would really like to share about Wattpad in the future. So are book covers later

KERVINVERSE STORIES (Including crossovers):

Grand Theft Auto Origins: Kervin Made Liberty – Set in the GTA HD Universe. Before Kervin (GTA Online) came to the place called San Andreas, he was just a very young boy who was born in the place called Liberty with his parents. His father Claude who became rich and retired to a life crime and his wife Misty who used to be a prostitute. It was normal and happy life for him and his parents. But when years passed when he is getting older, he slowly starts to realize what kind of broken world he is living in.

Now for those who played the HD Universe of the GTA Games you know every protagonist in the HD universe like Niko, Johnny, Luis, Michael Franklin, and Trevor. As much as they have different stories and perspectives but this story about GTA OC that he was living with full of offensiveness, disrespectfulness, brutal honesty, and others. An example in GTA IV a radio commercial of Babies Overnight that said that someone was not satisfied with the baby it can be disposed of. Although it would be interesting to have that backstory for my next OC for GTA. So, this story may contain a lot of murder and crimes on what led to him going to San Andreas. So, watch out. And for those who have not played GTA Online why his parents are both Claude and Misty is because it was part of the premium edition for free in Epic Games.

Def Jam X Kung Fu Panda: Book 1 Fight for A New Fight (maybe a working title) - After the events of Def Jam Vendetta, Fight For New York, and The Kung Fu Panda Trilogy including Legends of Awesomeness. Set during Paws of Destiny Season 2 in the Kung Fu Panda universe while in Def Jam 2 years later in the year 2005 after Crow's death (Fight for NY still takes place in 2003) Kervin (Def Jam Fight For NY) the new leader D-Mob's crew but also officially known as the Def Jam Crew after Blaze appointed him to take his place. Kervin has to manage every venue, club, and arenas in New York including places that Crow took over. But in Chinese New Year there was something strange that Kervin and his crew got transported to a different universe. Including former members, fighters, and circuit fighters.

Now, this fanfiction sounded really odd. As you may know why I am making crossover fanfic of Kung Fu Panda X Def Jam? Easy. The first one is because this is what would have been my PS2 games if I ever have a PS2. I was thinking of Mortal Kombat or Yakuza for Def Jam but Kung Fu Panda is the only thing I know when I was 7 years old. The second is because back in the days Hip Hop mixed with Kung Fu was very popular. Although Def jam may be a wrestling game martial arts stole my heart in Def Jam Fight For NY. I heard about things like the Wu-Tang Clan for example but the biggest problem for me is that I am not a true fan of Def Jam because I don’t know about hip hop artists. Just only the games so I will be focusing on their video game counterparts in their fictitious manner meaning pretending real-life characters with their real name are fictional characters. So, if there and fun facts in those real-life counterparts I may add them to it like easter eggs. The third is that there are Kung Fu Panda characters that did not get enough love and mostly art. So many recognizable characters like Po, Tigress, Tai Lung, and many more have become the most recognizable characters in the movies. But what about the tv shows like Legends of Awesomeness and Paws of Destiny? One of my favorite characters of Legends of Awesomeness is Peng, in short, he is the nephew of Tai Lung and he is such an interesting character that he deserves a lot more love. While for Paws of Destiny is Xiao because she is such a cute character, so is her personality and the best character to have hugs with. So, what I am trying to say is that I need to start off with the character that is unrecognizable then bring it recognizably. I may also add characters from shorts like student Mei Ling in the future book and it would be funny and to see rogue Mei Ling. 2 Mei Lings in one. Even Su and Master Snow Leopard because are both female leopards with the same appearance and outfit. I may also include some characters from the flash game Tales of Po and may possibly rewrite them in different stories because I love the character designs thanks to Blue Maxima’s FlashPoint. And the fourth and final part is that to make the Def jam games more recognizable. Def Jam in music is not absolutely enough but video games are. The Def Jam games did not bring a sequel after Fight For NY so I might as well make a sequel with interesting and experimental crossover fanfic just like The Loonatics Road.

The Red Fox (Kingdom Force Spinoff and maybe a working title) - The Kingdom Force has 5 members defending the 5 Kingdoms. Luka the wolf who leads in red, Jabari who runs in yellow, TJ who drills in green, Delilah who swings in orange, and Norvyn who strengthens in blue. Each of the 5 drives Kingdom Riders and turns them into Alpha Mech to fight against evil in the 5 Kingdoms. But even if they save the day multiple times the 5 Kingdoms are still filled with more crime and every antagonist came back doing other crimes and evil deeds because they were not arrested or eliminated. That's is when a red fox came along...

I have seen popular fandoms in cartoons that were supposed to aim at younger kids like Lion Guard, MLP, Paw Patrol, and even Bluey. But Kingdom Force is the cartoon that did get enough love. It's like Power Rangers and Voltron but with anthropomorphic animals like Zootopia. However, the stories and episodes in the show is very confusing and give me almost a lot of questions. But I do like the character designs in the show. My favorite hero is Luka who is a leader with and cute cuddly character personality and my favorite villain Envie Fernadez which she has a pretty hot design, name and voice and so is her personality. Reminds me of Sly Cooper but I have not played the game yet. But for the red fox also OC Kervin (Kindom Force) It’s still at work.

APB Reloaded X Zootopia: Anyone Can Be All You Can’t Be: - In Zootopia “Anyone Can Be Anything” But in San Paro “Be All You Can’t Be” Zootopia is a place where vicious predators and meek prey live in harmony. This means that people in Zootopia live together without the prey getting eaten by predators and predators not getting feared by the prey. They almost eat like us, they sleep like us, they speak like us, they walk like us, they run like us, they bathe like us (well almost), and most importantly they use technology like us. While San Paro maybe has a good look to sightsee but this city has a lot of crime. Robberies, bombings, thefts, drug dealing, murders and causalities, vandalism, and much more that we can think of. But that does not mean there is no justice in this world. When the Criminals like the Blood Roses and the G-Kings try to take over San Paro? The Enforcers Prentiss Tigers and Praetorians from come and save the day. What would happen when a human Enforcer meets a police fox and a police bunny? And how did it happen? Only one way to find out.

Now this one is also a Kervinverse crossover story. It focuses on Kervin (APB Reloaded) meeting Judy and Nick. I am trying to find a way on how will they meet each other. But the only thing ideas I know is that it can be a delivery gone wrong, an invention gone haywire or maybe a criminal stole something magical that is transported to a different universe. But I have a lot of strange things in the game like the Christmas events and Halloween events. I like to see any volunteers who play APB Reloaded. And for those Zootopia fans who have not played APB Reloaded you check it here. https://store.steampowered.com/app/113400/APB_Reloaded/

Well, that is it for the Kervinverse stories. Now it’s time for the other stories that I also planned in the future.

OTHER FANFICS:

Alza Flare (Road Rovers Fan Spinoff)- Alza is a black cat born in the place in New York City, USA. He was born inside a pet shop without cat parents since he was born. His parents' status is unknown. Although he did make friends with other cats and non-cats in the shop. But it was a short while until a human customer named Drayson Flare and adopted him as Alza Flare. Alza has been Drayson's pet for 3 years and they instantly became best friends but when during the time when they are about to go home from the park. A terrible accident happened.

A long time ago I watched Road Rovers on my phone just to try something nostalgic and the show is pretty good though although there are some parts that don’t use their powers all the time. One part that caught my eye is how brutal car accident in the episode “Dawn of The Groomer” which gave me an idea of my new anti-villain OC character named Alza Flare. Sadly, he does have an image of him yet. But I will tell you that I will give you an interesting revenge story for him.

The Best Surfer In The World (Surf’s Up Spinoff. Maybe a working a title and synopsis change) - After the events of Surf's Up and Surf's Up 2: Wavemania. There was once a wolf who lives in the place of Chicago Illinois. He quit his own career due to being a rejected member of Hang 5 for being too unstable and after beating J.C. in a tournament years ago and after his early retirement, he spends his normal life as an ice cream man in his own ice-cream motorcycle with one of his own freshest ingredients and swears to himself that he would never in the waters again. Until he met a young Toyger.

Surf’s Up is my first favorite mockumentaries since I was young. It’s like you are watching animals andromorphic animals absolutely existed in the world we live in. It had an interesting story and writing so are the interesting characters. But when I watched Surf’s Up Wavemania. Well, I honestly love the WWE Superstars and Diva came into the movie but the story did not actually surprise me a lot. Even if the movie has a lot of beautiful locations it still did not surprise me enough because it is more like an adventure than a tournament. That is why I am planning to start my fanfiction in a new different approach with a real story and a real rivalry. Starting with wolf inspired and based on CM Punk during the part when he won the WWE belt against Cena in Money in the Bank when I watched it since intermediate school with a little rename change so it won’t be obvious. And of course, my Toyger OC because he would be trained by his own surfing master. Also, I added a Slam City easter egg

Fire Pro Wrestling World Origins: Story of 2 Angels – There is no synopsis of them yet. But I will tell you they are brother and sister with the last name “Angel” The brother who is a pop artist while the sister who joined a motorcycle club. What they both have in common is they both can fight. Their stories about my 2 new Fire Pro OCs will be coming soon. But they are not part of the fighting roads.

Well, that is all for all the future stories with some summaries that I really want to share coming soon. Thanks for following including Wattpad

For those who are new here follow me on both Tumblr and Wattpad with the orange word link

Feel free to donate to me in PayPal

Also making fanfic is really long to make just like making an announcement. So again. I only post all chapters in 1 book.

8 notes · View notes

a-collection-of-villainous-aus · 3 years

Text

COFFEE SHOP AU

Part four

Segment four

(continued on straight from segment three as this was too long to fit into one post)

Back in the present day of this Au now, Cruentus was in the kitchens, listening out for when Black Hat would finally leave the mourning museum, ears twitching as he heard the weight shift off the bed and shoes clacking up the wooden stair case that wound round in secret to his office, hmm he’d not sat at his desk, then no doubt he was sat on the windows ledge, the soft sound of a duvet being shifted and cushions being patted as he adjusted himself.

The old hellhound butler let out a relieved sigh, it was never good when Hat slept down there, he would be in a terrible mood for days when he did that, usually due to the reoccurring nightmare of Acylius….passing away in his arms like that.

Setting Hat’s tea on the tray along with a very late dinner, Cruentus was not about to complain he’d been grateful to have something to momentarily distract him, both of them were left shaken after seeing their loved one…to see him so full of life when the last image they’d seen bloodied and broken.

Cruentus wiped at his eyes, desperate to hold back his tears, not now he could cry later…not now…not now , he was on duty…he couldn’t think about how badly they’d hurt his son…about the little boy he’d adopted and rescued from that abusive monster.

Or how that little boy would panic if you tried to touch his face, that little boy who expected punishment if he was too loud or laughed, who forced himself to be quiet when he cried…

It was months before the bed wetting stopped he’d only found out because Acylius had tripped on the sheets one night accidently knocking something over when he was trying to put them in to wash, those large blue eyes looked so scared…it was that moment though when he’d held him and told Acylius it’s alright…that he wasn’t angry for the first time his son had cried…really cried and desperately held onto him.

How it was one winter’s day when Acylius had taken his hand, he recalled how small it was in his own as he looked up at him, shifting on his feet asking nervously

“Cru Cru…can I call you Papa?”

Yes he remembered it like it was yesterday.

From the moment Cruentus had adopted him, this baby had always been his pup, but to hear Acylius call him that, to have gained his trust after everything he’d been through…he knew that if anyone gained Lulu’s trust…made you a very special person to him.

A servant entered, working as assistant to Cruentus started humming a tune usually sung round this time of year only to be silenced as his masters bright yellow eyes glared at him, they appeared completely golden yellow, orbs of sunlight shining brightly.

The hellhound knight scrubbed his hands down is face, fuck, the hound inside of him was howling, it was hard to miss the light when it reflected off Jonathan’s glass surface.

Handing him the tray he growled

“Take this up to Lord Black Hat, apologize to him that I could not bring it, I need to rest.”

“But sir- I – I”

“Did I stutter Jonathan, now do your job!”

Cruentus barked before storming off.

UP IN THE HAT OFFICE

Amadeus was leaning against the office window, cheek pressed to the cool glass, I know there isn’t exactly a windowsill you can sit on in hats office in cannon but this story isn’t exactly cannon now is it?

Large comfy red velvet cushions were tucked behind his back, blanket now situated over his lap, Mew Mew loaf was no longer that tiny kitten he’d gifted him on their first Christmas, no now she was a grown Norwegian Forest, fluffy as anything and still demanded that she had a crimson bow at the back of her neck.

Mew was currently sleeping curled up beside him, small squeaks coming from her as she snored lightly.

He looked out over the darkness of his domain, where only a few lights pricked the buildings below as silver moonlight washed over shadows, his gaze focused on that sweet little coffee shop…

The park across the street from it…Acylius had never wanted statues or plaques, his tree was happy to be a foot note in history, but the Elderichts and older Legions, they remembered him, he’d helped to save them from being sewer rats and pets, he gave them back their name and the Legion’s freedom to decide to be free…

It was the Elderichts and the Legions who helped Amadeus to build it.

Cobblestone paths, trees that always blossoms frilly pink flowers in spring to rain down a flurry of petals in the gentle breeze, just as Acylius had always loved, a small coffee stand selling only the best (well second best now compared to Flugs) so the aroma would waft delicately amongst the scents of each season and in the middle, surrounded in a small black iron fence, it’s length at six ft seven exactly a patch of cornflowers and daffodils would grow when the season was right…that exact spot where Acylius had died in his arms.

For his Doctor to set up shop so close by was peculiar to say the least…but perhaps there was another reason…he wasn’t sure but he wondered if Acylius could see him looking down from his window.

Hat could see him clear as anything, blanket over his shoulders and just looking up at his mansion high upon the hill much like in Edward Scissor hands, ears wiggling and the cold weather turning his cheeks pink.

Hat smiled fondly, was his tree thinking of him affectionately even if he didn’t him in this life, he’d been about to wave meekly when Jonathan knocked, he turned his head telling them to enter, of course he was disappointed it wasn’t Cruentus, but if Cruentus had retired for the night it was usually for good reason…and considering today, that was more than enough.

The tray was set on the table that had now materialised beside Black Hat, clearly the servant was nervous around him, no matter how he tried to steady his hands, the items had still rattled lightly.

“Do you require anything else sir?”

Jonathan asked bowing his head.

“No, that will be all, you may leave.”

Hat answered plainly, waving his hand.

Acylius might have been sweet to all his workers, but he himself was more guarded than that, his softness was kept for those he loved and cared for.

Turning back he was disappointed to find Acylius was no longer at the window, kissing his finger tips he touched the glass where it covered over the sight of Flug’s room and whispered

“Goodnight my Tree, may you rest well.”

Unbeknownst to Hat, Acylius was already in bed, covers over his shoulder and quickly falling asleep, eyes heavy, the Legion demon swore he could feel the tender touch and hear those loving words, perhaps he was dreaming who knew but still he smiled and answered

“Pleasant dreams, my little Gremlin.”

End of pt four

#villainous #black hat #paperhat #villainous au #acylius flug #doctor flug #Coffee shop au #Present day #Ooc #Stuff

20 notes · View notes

valiantly-onward · 3 years

Text

The Serpentine War Ch. 4

A Garmadon chapter, finally! I had a blast writing this, mostly because I love Garmadon (heads up, it’s a little longer than the last few).

Chapter 4: What It Takes To Win

Garmadon dodged another strike from the side. Clouse was getting sneaky about his attacks - feinting with one dagger while driving the other up toward his enemy’s ribcage. As his enemy was usually Garmadon, it was in Garmadon’s best interest to keep dodging.

For months, they’d sparred with wooden weapons, then dulled blades, and now real ones. As if Garmadon needed to start small. But centuries with Wu and their father had taught Garmadon to recognize lessons when they were present. Chen was testing them. He was always testing them.

Garmadon let his katana spin for a millisecond, a little fun, and slammed it down to catch Clouse’s rising knife. He caught Clouse’s other arm by the wrist. They grappled. Clouse’s lipless mouth curled in a snarl.

Garmadon smiled in return, to mask how hard he was truly fighting. Clouse was slimy, but he was a worthy combatant. Worthy enough to battle a son of the First Spinjitzu Master.

Something in Garmadon’s chest hummed, but he pushed it down. Spinjitzu was forbidden from these spars. Just good old fashioned butt-kicking.

Clouse dropped the knife from his trapped hand. Garmadon looked down to avoid the clattering blade; Clouse used the opportunity to pull his second knife back and slice at Garmadon’s exposed forearm. Silver slashed through the black sleeve, grazing skin.

Just one cut, but Garmadon felt livid. How dare this creature draw his blood? Garmadon leapt up and spun - one kick, to disarm, another a millisecond behind, to break Clouse’s nose.

Garmadon landed low to the ground with one knee extended behind him, his side to Clouse. Be ready for anything, said the warrior in him.

But Clouse was on his back, his lip barely split.

Garmadon straightened. “No broken nose. A pity. It might’ve saved your looks yet.”

Clouse scowled as he felt for the blood on his lip.

“Ah, right,” Garmadon continued. “Nothing could save your looks. Thanks for reminding me.”

Clouse growled, lifting a glowing purple hand. Just as the dagger flew back into his palm, a voice called over the yard, “None of that, Clouse. Today, the victory goes to Garmadon.”

Both men turned to the approaching speaker. Master Chen was a pale man with a head of auburn hair that seemed to wilt in the sun. He’d taken to wearing strange robes now, black with red underwraps. The belt buckle engraved with snake heads seemed to be in poor taste, especially nowadays, but what did Chen have to fear? He was the most powerful man in this small bubble he’d created.

Well, the second most powerful man. He would not achieve that status again until Garmadon was gone. Chen knew this of course, but somehow Garmadon thought he still might be Chen’s favorite. He understood so little of this man, and yet so much.

Chen rubbed his chin as Clouse scrambled to his feet. “Clouse.”

“Master,” said Clouse, squaring his shoulders.

“Go check on your little pet.”

Clouse bowed and turned away. Garmadon felt his deadly glare boring into the back of Garmadon’s head.

Once Clouse was gone, Chen raised an eyebrow. “You must do what it takes to win, Garmadon.”

“I did win,” Garmadon protested.

“That? That was much too close.” Chen took his shoulder and guided him back through the courtyard. “Oh, Garmadon. Clouse has his talents. Useful talents. But a man of your skill should never come so close to being bested in combat. You are too powerful for that.”

Garmadon frowned. It was nothing Garmadon didn’t know himself. But coming from Chen, it felt strangely worrisome. Garmadon had won, and won honorably, but it seemed Chen didn’t just want him to win. He wanted him to win utterly, not barely.

There was no need for Garmadon to reorient himself to this concept. It made perfect sense. More sense than holding back for the sake of honor.

“I understand,” he said.

“Good.” Chen patted his shoulder before releasing him. “Greater things await you, Garmadon, if you choose them. Now go. I want you to meditate. Tomorrow may be an important day for you.”

He strode off to the gardens, leaving Garmadon alone on the patio.

~~~

Garmadon lay in his bed, hands folded over his chest, and tried to decide what he wanted.

He often wondered that, even hundreds of years old and having seen things that Chen could never dream of, Garmadon was still here, deferring to the man as a master.

But Chen opened the doorway into the part of Garmadon he had always been forbidden to go - by Wu, and by their father before them.

Greater things await you.

There was no battle technique Chen could teach that Garmadon didn’t know. Garmadon was already the most powerful person in the room, in any room, any place in the world.

So what did he want?

Garmadon sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the cot. It was this: he couldn’t bear to spend years cooped up in a monastery like Wu, only revealing his power between centuries. He saw the potential of power when no one else did. And he wanted more of it. In this, Chen seemed to know something Garmadon didn’t.

Maybe this way, he’d find some peace.

He’d tried everything else. Maybe, even with staunch darkness pulsing in his blood, this was the way. Enough peace to offer Misako a whole, unblemished heart.

Misako. It was harder every day to remember the real Garmadon, not the blackened one that seemed to be slowly eating him from the inside out. Misako, his lifeline. He would fight it, for her. He had to.

He pushed himself off the bed, suddenly angry. He couldn’t meditate when he felt this way.

Garmadon pulled his screen door open. It was dark already; stars peppered the night sky above the courtyard. Garmadon tightened the belt of his gi and wandered out. Usually when he felt like hitting something, the night air helped, but not tonight.

He was considering blasting apart one of the training spinners to cool his nerves when he heard voices. Only then did he notice the light spilling from the nearest window, shadows moving behind the screen.

Garmadon cocked his head. Hm. He moved closer and his gut twisted upon recognizing Clouse’s silky tone.

“...never thought I would have to face him,” Clouse was saying.

“I have told you before, Clouse.” This was Chen. “Garmadon came to me. It is not my fault you cannot beat him. The strong survive in this world.”

Clouse made an annoyed sound. “Master - I am not weak.”

“Only a weak man would say that.” Chen’s silhouette moved across the screen. “Prove it to me, Clouse. Prove you deserve a place at my side in the world to come.”

The world to come. Garmadon frowned.

“I thought I already proved that. That’s why you have shown me this and not Garmadon.”

“Garmadon clings to his brother’s moral code,” Chen replied smoothly. “I am trying to show him the way I taught you. Yes, Clouse, you do not have his weakness. Yours is that you understand what you must do, but you do not do it.”

“I would -”

Chen’s silhouette raised a hand and Clouse fell silent.

“Prove it to me,” Chen repeated. “That is all for tonight, Clouse. You may retire.”

Garmadon heard footsteps across the floor inside as Clouse left to his room, deeper within the house. Garmadon waited for a moment, but Chen was alone. So Garmadon silently traced his steps back to his room and slid the door shut. He leaned his back against it for a moment, thinking.

It was like the old days, right after Father’s death, back when he and Wu faced threat after threat. Garmadon had learned to recognize something in the way those threats spoke - and tonight, not for the first time, he had heard it in Chen’s voice.

He knew what Wu would do.

But what did Garmadon want?

He fell asleep before he found the answer.

~~~

Clouse was in the training yard the next morning. Garmadon looked like he’d slept in his gi, which he had, and on his floor, which he also had. The bed had seemed too troublesome in the late hours of the morning.

Clouse, strangely, had no weapons with him today, but the wooden swords of months past lay on the stone before him.

Garmadon stopped by the first training spinner. His hatred for Clouse simmered for a moment. “I accept your surrender.”

“Pick up the stick, Garmadon,” Clouse sneered.

What was he playing at? No better way to find out than to play along. Garmadon strode up to him and scooped up the wooden sword. He swung it a few times with a smirk. “Too scared to face me with a real blade?”

Clouse’s smile was as unfriendly as a smile could get. He extended his sword.

They circled each other. It occurred to Garmadon that the yard was completely empty. Even while they trained, there were always a few servants hovering around. Not today.

Garmadon struck first, but Clouse was fast. They held for a moment, caught in each other’s crossguards. There was something different about Clouse this morning. An intensity anew in his expression.

Clouse yelled as he threw his weight forward, forcing Garmadon back. Garmadon leapt out of the way to dodge the strike, and he was up on the nearest spinner, light on his feet. Clouse rushed him. Garmadon parried; the wood splintered a little. He copied Clouse’s move, forcing him back - and adding a little power behind the push that Clouse couldn’t hope to counter.

Without warning, the spinner began to move. Garmadon went with it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Clouse coming for him again. He ducked under the now-spinning axe and turned, running against the machine’s momentum. Leap over a low mace. Another axe. But he wasn’t getting very far - the spinner was speeding up.

A thump behind him. That would be Clouse joining the party.

Garmadon made the mistake of glancing over his shoulder to defend himself. Instead, he got a faceful of mace.

The world went bright for moment and Garmadon wasn’t quite sure how he ended up back on the stones, Clouse groaning beside him. Garmadon shook the pain out of his head and sprang up just as Clouse raised his head. He forced Clouse down with a fist against the man’s chest. Clouse growled like a beast. His fist collided with the sore spot on Garmadon’s cheekbone. Garmadon’s falter allowed the tables to turn, quite literally, and Clouse was above him now, his eyes waning purple...

“Good Garmadon,” said Chen’s voice nearby. Garmadon gained the advantage again. “Good Clouse. But you're both holding back. Might I add he who wins this fight shall become my right hand and be granted lordship?”

Both their faces snapped toward Chen. Lordship! And his right hand? Did he mean it?

Something hit Garmadon hard in the gut. Clouse had kicked him, and now he was scrambling up, all restraint gone. That new intensity burned in his face. Before Garmadon could get to his feet, Clouse raised his hands and let them fill with that strange magic of his. Purple light cast itself at the wooden spinners. They sprung up as if they had legs and launched themselves in Garmadon’s direction.

Garmadon had a split second to make a decision.

You must do what it takes to win.

Garmadon knew how to win.

It had been so long, but Spinjitzu wasn’t something that could be forgotten. Not for Garmadon. It was his father’s greatest legacy.

The world rushed violet and when Garmadon emerged, the remains of the training equipment were scattered around the yard. Clouse was on his back, splinters of wood lying across his chest.

Clouse furiously shoved away the broken poles. “He cheated, Master! You told us Spinjitzu was forbidden!”

Chen smiled coldly down at Clouse. “He did what he had to do to win.”

Clouse looked stricken. But Chen turned to Garmadon, his expression sly and proud. “Congratulations...Lord Garmadon.”

@greenygreenland

#ninjago #ninjago fic #the serpentine war #garmadon

24 notes · View notes