Junk Verse, Short Stories and Fanfiction

Here we find Kai's attempt to exercise non-academic writing.

[astormyknightwrites]

A collection of scrap verse written over the course of summer and autumn 2025.

[astormyknightwrites]

Seasonal, Cyclical Doubt

The kind of tired

that takes up residency,

has settled in my bones.

Taken point below my eyes

settled as grey shadows,

and blue-green bruises.

An immigrant based on choices

made in the nativity of my youth,

constant questions

about the validity

of my stay.

What do I have left to offer?

When I'm running on fumes,

with little to no prospect of a refuel.

[astormyknightwrites]

Imposter Syndrome

Gentle imposter,

How can I foster

Your growth

Into practical, actual skill.

Broken and disheartened

When with all that

I have studied

Why do I feel

I've let myself down?

[astormyknightwrites]

Burning Up

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20009992

Wrote a thing for BeauJester week. Been a while huh, 

[astormyknightwrites]

Prompt 5 - Wedding

Prompt; Wedding

Word Count; 879

“Do you think your life would be much different if you hadn’t met him?” Two young women sat under a willow tree overlooking an open field. The field itself was bordered by the local forest and the back fences of several small life style blocks. It was a calm night and the moon was almost full, while the stars shone bright as they do in the country-side.

Leaning against the willows vast trunk, one of the young women contemplated the question put to her. The silence ticked over comfortably until she felt like she could give a well-considered answer.

“Other than getting married tomorrow, I don’t think so.” Twirling a stalk of cattail between her fingers, she grinned. “I might have made something out of my drumming though. At least locally. I was never really much for leaving town. That was you.”

The silence slipped back into their conversation, almost drowning out the chorus of cicadas. Tilting her head to the side, the bride to be regarded her best friend. Sprawled out in the grass, her body barely made a dent on the patch of hill she was laying down on. Her hair was cut a good deal shorter than she’d last seen it, it was also a good deal fairer and finer – it floated around her face, the moonlight made it glow like a choppy halo.

“How do you feel like your life would be different?” She felt bad for asking, but the topic had been opened.

From where she lay, the other woman stared up at the stars, tracing the visible constellations silently before answering.

“I don’t know man.” She sighed. “I might have finished college? Maybe gone and worked overseas? Might have made a move on Raena, not that that would have worked out. But I still regret not trying.” She was quiet for a bit, trying to think of the right way to explain how she was feeling.

“Being sick just really took it out of me.” She grinned, her teeth glinting.

“It literally took you out of you.” The bride-to-be’s voice wobbled a little as she reached down to clasp the thin hand on the ground next to her. It passed right through.

“Well, there’s not much either of us can do about that.” Her friends voice was fainter than it had been before. “But hey, look at you. You’re doing great without me. You and Leon will have cute kids, and I fully expect one of them to be named after me. You better bring them to visit too. When they’re old enough. Maybe they’ll have your gift too.” Sitting up she let herself float a little above the ground before drifting over to where the neatly kept rows of tombstones were. Sitting on her own she beckoned her friend, who by now was trying her best not to cry, forward.

“There’s a spider spinning a web here. Can you get rid of it? I tried to scare it off last night but it can’t see me, or it just doesn’t care.” Keeping her tone light, she did her best to carry the conversation.

“Dude, look how much you’ve achieved in the year since I’ve been gone. You opened that bakery you were always talking about. Peter finally got off of his arse and got an apprenticeship, you’ve put money down on a house, you’re growing up!”

“But you won’t….”

“Well, that was going to be the case, sickness or not. Some of us are just too stupid to ever grow up.” The spectre chuckled. “I’m practically Peter Pan.”

“I just wish you were ali…I just wish you could come to the wedding. I’d even let you wear a tux. Leon said he’d have you as his best woman. He misses you too.”

“I know. He came down last week to lay flowers.”

“….when will you be leaving…town?”

“Not for a while yet. Don’t worry. I wanna watch everyone grow a little more. Then I’ll bounce.” It was a promise of sorts, but it left a bitter taste in the back (or the sensation at least) of their throats. They were both crying a little.

“I have to go back now, or they’ll start to worry.” The bride-to-be shooed away the spider and straightened up the flower vase on the cold marble. She then stood up and made to hug her friend as best as she could, stopping just short of passing through her. They both sighed.

“I’ll drop by the reception tomorrow if you want. I’ll try make it in time for your first dance. I won’t be able to stay long though, it’s a little far from here.” The ghosts voice was barely audible, but like when she had been alive, it was full of mischief.

“Just don’t scare anybody into joining you please.”

“Not on your big day, got it... Just let your Mum know I’ll be around so she doesn’t faint again.” They both cracked a smile at the memory.

By the time her friend had made it back to her car, the ghost was barely a transparent figure seated casually atop her final resting place.  She waved jauntily as the other woman drove away before seeming to blow away in a slight breezing passing through the cemetery.

[astormyknightwrites]

Prompt 4 - Salt

Prompt; Salt.

Word Count; 906

Sniffling, the young woman sat at the shoreline, her knees drawn up into her chest and her face buried in her arms. The ocean lapped at her toes as the tide crept in slowly, making it’s way around the seawall. She could taste salt on her tongue, but she couldn’t tell if it was from her tears or the sea.

Everything had started off perfectly today, she had even thought that maybe she had some long awaited answers to her feelings. But then after a moment of intense joy, her evening had taken a strange and lonely turn. Leaving her here, by the sea watching the sunset with the giant sea louse scuttling around the bay. She felt small and insignificant, she felt incredibly vulnerable.

Choking back a sob she drew her towel around her shoulders more tightly than before, every fibre of her being wishing to be pulled away by the incoming tide. You’re so stupid Liv. There’s no way she would like you back… Her stomach was on fire with uncertainty, embarrassment, anxiety and dash of anger. The sunset bathed everything in beauty, but she felt she was beyond redemption. She refused to look.

This was probably going to be her last visit to the picturesque island, she should have been up by the BBQ pit enjoying the company of her friends and soon to be former workmates, but instead she was here drowning in the grief of losing something and someone that she had for a brief moment thought obtainable.  

She knew she was somewhat bad at reading other people’s intent and emotion, but she had not thought she had been this bad. She had bided her time, waiting for the perfect moment to confess to the person she had admired for near on a year, and when the chance came she had taken it. At first the other woman had seemed to reciprocate the feelings, wrapping her up in a tight hug and planting a warm, soft kiss on her cheek. She had drawn away smiling warmly before being distracted by their friends calling for the two of them to return to the tent site before a verbal confirmation or denial could be given.

The not so distant memory haunted her. Teased her with what could have been the start of something great. But then the other woman had skipped away, dancing out of reach. It had been nearly two hours and here she was seated not too far down the beach from where she had confessed. Alone.

The sound of several pairs of feet reached her ears over the crash of the ocean reached her before the shouting did. Quickly scrubbing her face with her towel she tossed it aside. Realising that her face was probably puffy from crying she tossed the towel aside and dove back into the ocean. She let herself wade out far enough and then plunged under the surface, submerging herself completely. She pulled herself along the seabed until her lungs screamed at her to surface.

Her friends were standing on the sea wall taking pictures of the sunset, posing for selfies and pointing at the big cargo ships driving past the sea-shrine on the next island over. A lone figure had clambered down the rocks to sit on the beach by her towel. Nervously she waded back to shore and snatched the towel from the other’s grip.

“Are you ok?” The other woman’s voice was warm and full of concern. Chancing a glance up at her, the young woman felt her insides melt with fear. The concern in her eyes was so soft and sweet that it almost made her dare to hope again, she could feel her tears threatening to start again.

“Y-yes or no?” was all Liv managed to stutter. She was almost knocked off of her feet by the strong embrace as the other woman realised she had left her hanging.

“Holy-shit. I’m so sorry!” the hug got tighter and Liv started crying again. All the while the wonderful woman holding her comforted her and started to whisper sweet nothings to her. Suddenly all the anxiousness and fear was gone.

“You scared me.” She managed to sniffle into the wonderfully strong shoulder as equally strong hands rubbed her back and held her close.

“I’m so sorry Liv. You know how ditzy I am…do you still want to date me?” she sounded strangely vulnerable. Her hands stopped moving momentarily. This time young woman squeezed her tight.

“Please, Harley... I know I’m leaving soon, but I’ll visit as much as I can. I’m only going to be boat ride away.” Liv’s voice cracked as she wiped her tears on the other woman’s tank top.

This time Harley swooped in titled Liv’s chin and sealed the deal with a kiss. The elation from earlier in the day was back. The salty taste on her lips no longer bothered her, instead it calmed her. As they broke apart, they heard the hooting and hollering from across the waves. Their friends were jumping up and down, money was changing hands and cameras were pointed their way.

“Let’s go for a walk…” Harley took one of Liv’s hands in her own and tugged her up to the foot path. The two of them wandered around the small island, eventually making it back to the BBQ pit and their friends ready to celebrate a relationship a year in the making.

[astormyknightwrites]

Take Your Place in the World - Chapter 3, The Revelation

Word Count; 1557

Pairings; Historia x Ymir, Annie x Mikasa.

Series; Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin.

Warnings; Post sex cuddles. Nothing graphic. 

A/N; Here. Have some major OOC.

Ao3 Link; Click Here

“Hey Armin! Do you know if Annie is home?” Historia was in the process of punching in her front door code as her cousin rolled up on his penny board. He looked unusually pale, which was saying something, as he was the kind of kid who would glow during the day time. He also looked a good deal more frazzled than usual. Historia chose to ignore that, for once in her life she was wanting to put herself first.

“Yeah. She’s home, but don’t….” Historia pushed past him in a hurry before he could get his warning out in full. She was already halfway up the first flight of stairs, making like a mad woman for their cousin’s bedroom. With a sigh the weary boy made his way to the kitchen. Their fellow housemate, Mina Karolina – who had the room below Annie’s, was also taking refuge there.

“Whoever Annie brought home certainly knows which of her buttons to press.” Mina had dark circles under her eyes, the coffee cup beside her was empty, and it looked like she had given up on the pile of readings beside her a long time ago, her laptop was open and a movie was paused on the screen. Armin put his board against the wall and sat down at the kitchen table. With a sigh he propped his head up with one hand and absentmindedly pulled one of Mina’s readings towards him and began to flick through it.

“You have no idea how weird this is for me. My cousin is sleeping with one of my best friends…And I heard nearly everything before I realised what was going on…” Mina gave Armin a very sympathetic look, resting a hand on his shoulder as she moved past him to pour herself another cup of coffee.

“At least one of us in this house is getting some action?” Mina said wryly, not at all bitter about the sorry state of her own love life. Or lack thereof. She, like Armin, was studying towards a degree in medicine. They both were in second year, and both of them studied too hard. Their social life often felt like it was limited to the shared kitchen of their low budget studio apartment.  

“That’s one way to look at it I guess…” Both of them sighed as they heard the door to Annie’s room slam shut and Historia’s muffled surprised squawk. Looking Mina dead in the eye Armin did his best not to implode. “I tried to warn her but…”

“There there…” Mina set a mug of tea before him and settle back in to her seat. “Impromptu study session to weather the imminent shit storm?”

“Sure. Thanks.” Armin sipped on his mug of tea gratefully, and the two of them did their best to forget about the sounds they had heard before Historia had come home.

Historia was going through a revelation. Standing in her cousins room with the door firmly shut behind her, she took in the sight. At first things didn’t process. Then they processed too quickly. Snuggled into the crook of Annie’s neck, a sheet pulled up around her shoulders was one of Annie’s long-time rivals. Annie was absent mindedly running her fingers through Mikasa Ackeman’s hair as the other girl slept. She fixed Historia with her trademark cool stare.

“Where you raised in a tent?” Annie asked dryly. She was rather enjoying seeing her usually bubbly cousin flounder in confusion. Mikasa stirred slightly against, grumbling and opening her eyes. She too regarded Historia with an unperturbed stare. They both looked oddly satisfied. Historia shook her head and tried to recall why she had burst into the room in the first place.

“Just…don’t do your thing in the shower…” was what she managed.

“Whatever…” Annie actually chuckled, her eyebrow raised. “Is there a reason you came flying in here? Or did the twerp put you up to this?”

“Ah. No, um Armin did try to warn me now that I think about it.” Historia resolved to listen to her younger cousin more often. “I have uh…something I wanted to ask your advice on actually. But if you’re busy...”

“Nah. We’re done…”

“I’m really not sure how to feel about that…”

“You really should learn to knock then…”

“Sorry.”

“So what’s your problem?”

“Ah.…do you remember that girl I was pestering Armin about?”

“The tall, freckled, Uniformed goddess from the libraries on campus?”

“Yeah….” Historia felt the heat rise to her cheeks as Annie and Mikasa gave each other a knowing look.

“Go on….”

“Well, I ran into her tonight at the work, and we hung out for a bit when my shift was over…and I bloodied her lip…and got her number…and somehow we’re going out for coffee next Tuesday and I’m not sure if it’s a date??? A-anyway…I’m just kind of confused about this all. I didn’t want to talk to Armin about it because you know how awkward he is with ‘mushy talk’…. ”

“You pretty much talked his ear off the other day about this chick…but do go on…”

“Urgh…why did I even bother coming in here…”

“You would have had time to consider your options if you had stopped to knock…”

“….” Historia slumped down onto Annie’s desk chair. She was well aware that Annie was getting far too much of a kick out of her confused misery. There was no way she was living this down any time soon. In any other family the boot would be on Historia’s foot, but Annie had control here.

“Wait…hold up. How did you bloody her lip?” This time Mikasa spoke, she sounded highly amused. She and Historia had known each other since High School. They got along well enough, they weren’t as close Armin and Mikasa, or by the looks of things Annie and Mikasa, but they shared a few common friends and interests. They knew enough about each other for them to find this situation both awkward and hilarious.    

“I moshed too hard…”

“Wait, you were moshing?” Annie sounded impressed.

“Yes. But that’s not the issue here.”

“No it’s not. You being born in a tent is.”

“Arghhhh!!!!!” In the kitchen Armin and Mina flinched, then resumed their study, pointedly ignoring Historia’s yell of despair.

“Historia. Calm down. Use your words.”

Taking a deep breath, Historia began to order her thoughts. In reality she knew nothing about Ymir besides her name and the fact she worked security on campus. She was attractive enough in her own right, she did seem a bit rough around the edges though. Historia had no idea what the other girl possessed that made her so flustered and that alone was adding a good deal of stress to the situation.

“I just have no idea what to do…like I haven’t been on a proper date since that disaster I went on with Reiner in High School.” Annie snorted as she remembered the mismatch that had been that experience. Historia had lost a bet, and the date was the punishment game. To Historia’s credit she had done her best to deal with Reiner’s creepy-over-eagerness. But, by the end of it all, the poor boy was wearing a hat of ice-cream and a rather nice red cheek after trying to plant one on Historia. Annie’s snort developed into a chortle as Historia continued.  

“I don’t even know if this is a date…”

“Did either of you say the word date?”

“No. At least I don’t think so.”

“Then it’s not a date. Was there anything else you were wanting to talk about?” Annie was carding her fingers absentmindedly through Mikasa’s silky hair. Mikasa was looking like she was going to nod off again, but as she nuzzled somewhat affectionately into Annie’s neck, she opened her eyes and addressed Historia.

“You’re thinking too much. If you like her, go for it. If you don’t, just keep it friendly.”

“….” Historia wrinkled her brow as her chest squeezed. She didn’t like the idea of keeping it friendly. Chewing on her lip she began to weigh out the pros and cons of the whole situation.

“What if I don’t know how to just…go for it?” looking to Mikasa for guidance, she got none when Mikasa shrugged her shoulders beneath the sheet. Annie smirked and gave her cousin a look.

“You use your words Historia…”

“But what words?”

“The right ones.”

“……” With a sigh Histora stood up and went to leave. “Thanks for your help…I guess.” As she reached the door and opened it she fixed her cousin with a steely gaze. “Keep it down up here. I think you’ve scarred Mina and Armin for life…”

Annie flipped the bird at Historia as she shut the door. Historia made her way downstairs to the kitchen where Armin and Mina were busy arguing over the properties of some disease or another. Historia made herself a mug of sleepy time tea and climbed back up to her room pointedly ignoring the murmurs coming through the wall that separated her and Annie’s room.

Getting ready for bed she tried to supress the thoughts swirling around in her brain. It was a long way until Wednesday. She had time to figure things out. Right now she was tired. She was going to go to sleep and hope to goodness that she didn’t have any weird dreams.

[astormyknightwrites]

Take Your Place in the World - Chapter 2, The Concert

Word Count; 2945

Pairing; Historia x Ymir, QPP Connie and Sasha. (Implied Marco x Jean at this point). 

Series; Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan

Warnings; None yet.

A/N; This has been written, but not edited. HAHAHA. If you spot typos please message me. 

Ao3 LINK; Click here

“Two house beers and a Lemon Cruiser.” Ymir leant on the bar top and surveyed the pumped crowd before her. It was nice not to be working for a change.

She had been offered the shift for this gig, but she turned it down as she had already bought tickets. One of her favourite singers had finally made the decision to visit the city, and there was no way Ymir was going to miss out on being here for the full show. Her, Sasha and Connie had come together and lined up for the standing seats to the live house about an hour earlier. For some reason Jean and Marco had declined to join them and had opted for gallery seats which cost an arm and a leg more.

“I’m sorry but I can’t sell more than one drink to a customer at a time unless I can see ID for all those intending to drink.” Ymir froze. She had only heard that voice once before but it had haunted her dreams and day dreams for the last two weeks. She turned away from the crowd, and sure enough there was the tiny blonde angel from the Library. Swallowing she apologised and hollered at her friends before fumbling for her own ID.

“Sash, Connie. Butts over here with ID NOW!” her mates groaned from where they had just secured standing room and made their way over to the bar.

“Oh! Historia! Long-time no see!” Sasha bounced up and down, excited to see this particular bar-tender on duty. “How’s Law going for you?” The bar-tender grimaced and rolled her eyes.

“Same old, same old. Readings are such a pain.”

“That’s why I dropped out and changed to PE in first year.” Sasha made a show of flexing as she handed over her ID. Historia chuckled and hit Sasha with her ID as she handed it back.

“I wish I had done something similar. Too late now though.” Gesturing to Connie, she took their ID and briefly scrutinised it before handing it over. “Next…”

In a daze Ymir handed hers over along with cash for all three drinks. She knew she was probably imagining things, but Historia did seem to take a bit longer with checking her details than she had with the others. Historia handed back Ymir’s ID in slow motion, almost seeming to deliberately brush Ymir’s hand in the process. Ymir shivered before catching herself and turning it into a stretch. Soon the group had their drinks and they moved away from the bar to reclaim their spot as close to the stage as they could manage.

“So Sasha…that Historia chick…. She’s Armin’s cousin right?” Ymir tried her best not to sound thirsty as she took a sip of her cruiser.    

“Gosh, someone’s thirsty.” Connie commented. Ymir’s drink came out her nose as she spluttered in protest.

“She was my classmate in first year, when I thought Law was a good idea.” A wicked glint simultaneously appeared in both Sasha and Connie’s eyes as they seized on where this was going. “You think she’s cute or something ‘Mir?”

Wiping her face clean from the spluttering she had just done, Ymir fixed both of her friends with an icy glare. Before letting it melt and sighing.

“Yeah. So what?”

Connie and Sasha high fived, then chugged their beers like the responsible students they were. Ymir downed hers a good deal slower, letting the sickly sweet taste drown out her uncharacteristic embarrassment.  

“Next rounds on me. Same drinks again Ymir, Sash?” Connie asked before snatching their IDs off of them and leaving the others for the bar once they had confirmed their orders. Ymir finished off her drink in surly silence as Sasha puffed out to make sure nobody stole Connie’s standing space. They had about ten minutes until the gig began.

“She’s Historia Reiss. 3rd Year Law, somewhere near the top of the class I think. She’s older than Armin by six months, younger than Annie by a year. And lucky for you, she’s just as gay as they are.” Sasha had a field day as she watched Ymir process this titbit of information.

“So that means I’m two years older? Annie would skewer me if she’s as protective of her as she is of Armin…” She had forgotten that Annie and Armin were related. The despair in Ymir’s voice was pretty funny from Sasha’s point of view.

“Bruh. Historia’s more mature than you could ever hope to be. She’s not a child either. You’re 22 you dork. That means she’s 20. You wouldn’t exactly be robbing the cradle.” Connie was back, he handed Sasha her beer while resting Ymir’s ice cold drink on the side of her burning face.

“Oh wow. PE Major can do math.” Swiping the drink from Connie’s hand she began to sullenly sip on it. Connie and Sasha made a point of huddling together and using stage whispers to communicate with each other.

“Ohh…this tall ass tree’s fallen hard for the little blonde bar tender.” Connie slurred.

“But she’s too chicken to do anything about it.” Sasha cackled.

“Ten bucks says she won’t ever make a move and will just bitch at us like a love sick puppy for a few months until someone sensible comes along and sweeps blondie off of her feet.”

“A twenty says she and blondie hook up at a random party in the next six months.”  

Both goobers spat on their palms and clasped each other’s hand in a firm shake.

“Deal.”

“Deal.”

“You guys are so disgusting.” Ymir grumbled. The stage lights flicked on and suddenly the crunch of a guitar could be heard. The crowd surged forward with a roar, and the trio began to mosh, drinks in hand, the stupidity of five seconds ago all but forgotten in the crash of music.

The show was well worth the money the students had shelled out for it. They enjoyed themselves, moshing and jumping right up until the intermission when the stage hands came on to re-arrange the set for the second half. One of the perks of this singer was her unique stage show. Her voice was pretty fantastic, but her sets were insane. When they had room to breathe, the trio wandered over towards the bar.

“Guys. Be my wing people.” Ymir said, dead serious.

Connie and Sasha looked at each other.  Ymir immediately regretted her decision.  As they approached the top of Historia’s line, she fixed the three of them with a dazzling smile. Connie and Sasha saw their chance. They darted either side of Ymir, looped an arm around Ymir’s waist and hoisted her into the air while flapping an arm each.

“What are you doing?” Historia asked, perplexed and perhaps a little bit done with drunken patrons.

“Being her wing people.” Sasha informed her. Ymir sighed. Connie cackled.

“What do you want to drink this time?” Historia decided to deal with the clowns with as much professionalism as she could muster.

“Beers!” chorused Connie and Sasha.

“Jaeger-bomb.” Muttered Ymir as they set her down and scurried off after showing ID.  

“So, wing people huh?” Historia commented as she poured the drinks.

“Yeah. Don’t ask…I’m pretty embarrassed to know those two to be honest.” Ymir knew she was pretty much done at this point; her game was over before she could even consider it started.

“How do you say your name by the way. I asked Armin the other day and he wouldn’t tell me. He spouted something about professionalism…and I couldn’t quite figure it out from your ID.” Ymir’s heart leaped into her throat. Ok maybe not. If Historia had been asking about her, then maybe she had a chance.

“Like uh… e-mir. Ymir Llagner-Boldlt. It’s Norse, my Mum’s pretty big on mythology.” Ymir wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

“Ymir. Got it. Nice to meet you. I’m Historia. Historia Reiss.” Historia fixed her with a stunning smile as she slid Connie’s beer over the bar top to Ymir. Ymir nearly missed it, being that she was caught like a deer in headlights. “Speaking of Mythology, do you take Classics 301?”

“Uh yeah, it’s an interest paper for me. I had a spare slot.”

“Me too! I thought I’d seen you outside of the library before.”

“Wait what? You’re in my class? I haven’t seen you before!”

“I usually sit in the middle, towards the wall, out of the lecturer’s line of sight. I’ve yet do the readings for that class…I’ve got too many Law files to get through…I bail as soon as he finishes too.”

“Oh dang. Yeah, that book was pretty heavy the other day.”

“I finished it already, got another one waiting for me over the weekend. Speaking of finishing, my shift ends soon, would you mind if I joined you and the others for a bit? I get to see out the rest of the concert. My boss brought us gig privileges because most of us were wanting tickets and wouldn’t have worked tonight if he hadn’t.”

“Sure!” Ymir squeaked. She could not believe where this was going. How on earth could she get this lucky.

“See you soon then. Be careful with the drinks.” Sliding Sasha’s beer and Ymir’s Jaeger bomb over in a cardboard holder Historia winked at Ymir and moved on to serving the next patron. Ymir jammed Connie’s beer into the cup holder and walked on air towards where her wing people had secured spots. They were grinning like a pack of Hyenas.

“Guys. She talked talked to me.”

“We saw.” Sasha said, grabbing her beer.

“She’s going to come and hang after her shift finishes in a bit.”

“Cool cool.” Connie said taking their own beer.  “We’re fantastic wing people. We should start charging.”

“Connie, you owe Sasha and I ten bucks.” Ymir said, dropping her Jaeger shot into the Red Bull and chugging it back.

“Fuck.” They cursed and then cocked an eyebrow. “Wait, why do owe you ten bucks?”

“Cause I’m adding my own bet to the pot. Fifteen says I can get her number tonight.”

Sasha spat on her hand, Connie did the same, Ymir rolled her eyes and reluctantly completed the ritual.

“You guys are fucking disgusting.”

“We know.” They chorused. They settled into a weird silence as they sipped their drinks. A few minutes passed and Ymir was becoming steadily more worried. It was clear that the two of them were plotting something, but it was not clear what. She was at a disadvantage here as the two before her had developed some kind of weird sign language to communicate with each other at times like this.  

“Oh hey Historia!” Sasha said, breaking the silence suddenly. Ymir spun around and nearly slipped on the wet, sticky venue floor. Historia was not there. Sasha was being a punk. Connie was cracking up.

“Real funny guys.” Ymir muttered darkly. Snatching their now empty plastic cups from them she stomped off over to the nearest rubbish bin. By the time she got back, Historia had made it over. She’d changed from her work uniform into a plain black pair of jeans and a similar tank top to the one she had worn when Ymir first “met” her at the library. This one was a mossy green and had the singer’s logo on the front.

“So you’re a really big fan then?” Ymir asked after greeting the new addition to their trio.

“Yeah. I’m so pumped for this. A little nervous though. I’ve never had standing tickets.”

“The moshing gets pretty crazy in here; you might want to take it easy if you’re not good with crowds.”

“That’s what I’m nervous about…”

“Ah. Well we’ve got your back, right guys?” Ymir turned to Connie and Sasha who were watching with the same Hyena grins on their faces as they’d had before.

“Yeap.”

“Totally. Stand in front of Ymir when things get started, she’s good at keeping creeps off you and pretty good at hauling you up if you stumble.” Sasha gave Ymir the thumbs up.

“Obviously not doing a good enough job of keeping away the creeps if you two are still hanging around.” Ymir muttered darkly, she was rewarded with squawks of protest from the two clowns and delighted laughter from Historia.

The music started back up in again and the crowd once again surged forward with a road. Historia let out a squeak as the sudden movement took her by surprise and she could feel herself falling forward. She was set right by large hands catching her under her arms and pulling her to a standing position in front of someone incredibly tall. She looked over her shoulder and saw Ymir mouth ‘are you ok?’ at her as she withdrew her hands. Nodding Historia took a deep breath. As the frantic drumbeat of the first song of the second set kicked in, the crowd begun to mosh. Ymir protected the tiny blonde in front of her and Connie and Sasha flanked the two of them to make sure they weren’t crushed from the side. The four of them enjoyed themselves in the press of the crowed, jumping and singing along with the singer for the entire set.

During the last song of the encore, Historia misjudged one of her jumps, slamming her head upwards into Ymir’s jaw. The taller woman let out a yelp but grinned down at Historia before continuing to rock out, settling a hands on one of Historia’s shoulders to avoid a repeat. The blonde had the grace to blush. As the final note of the song rang out, and the singer said her thankyous, the crowd began to spread out towards the exit. Ymir’s hand left Historia’s shoulder and their little group wandered off to the side by the bar.

“Ymir…you’re bleeding.” Sasha said, surprised.

“Oh fuck. Am I?” Ymir brought her hand up to her face feeling around for the tell tale signs of wetness.

“On your lip man…dude, that’s a pretty good split lip there…” Connie said in awe.

“Shit, my boss isn’t going to be pleased…” digging around in her pocket for a tissue, Ymir was surprised when Historia awkwardly reached up and pressed down on her lip with a wad of napkins from the bar top.

“Sorry…that was probably my fault…” Historia was bright red, and looked a little worried.

“Ah, no worries dude. Did I bleed on you. Sash, can you see anything?” Gently taking over the pressure on her lip from Historia, Ymir did her best to grin down at the shorter girl.

“Nah you good. Blondie’s blood free.” Sasha said after doing a quick inspection.

“You going to Reiners party ‘mir?” Connie asked.

“Of course ya twit. It’s at my house.”

“Oh yeah. Right. No more beers for me for a bit I think…”

“That would be wise I think…” Ymir said dryly.

“What about you Historia? Wanna join us, it’s down on Union street, open invite, bunch of kids from the PE and English/Ling Departments will be there.” Sasha had sidled up to Historia and was going in for the catch, but the blonde obviously had some experience with this tatic as she side stepped out of the looming side hug.

“I’d love to but I have a ton of readings to do tomorrow. I can’t stay out too late, so I think that I’ll just catch a cab and go home.”

“Ah, that’s too bad. We’ll see you round campus at some point then?” Connie asked.

“Yeah sure. Hey Ymir, would you mind if I got your number?” Historia had turned her big blue eyes on Ymir almost pleadingly, there was a real hint of guilt in her eyes as she peered up at Ymir. “If you get in to any trouble with your boss you can get them to ring me to clear it up for you?”

“Uhhh….” Ymir’s brain chose that exact moment to go on holiday.

“Sure, she’d love to. Here’s her number...” Sasha took over and punched the numbers into Historia’s phone.

“I’ll see you guys later then.” Historia waved as she walked down the stairs. Hailing a cab she jumped in and was gone almost as if the whole thing had never happened.

The Trio followed suit and started walking down the main street towards Ymir’s house together. Ymir could not believe that her luck had turned so quickly. Ha! Take that Armin! She thought with glee.

Ymir’s pocket buzzed with a notification and she pulled out her phone so fast she almost dropped it.

Hey, it’s Historia. Here’s my number. I had fun tonight. Thanks for looking out for me. Sorry about your lip…Let me know if you need anything for it. I’ll cover costs. X(

Texting back lightning fast Ymir hoped she didn’t come off as a total creep.

Hey! We all had a blast with you. Don’t sweat the lip thing. If you’re that worried about it, shout me a coffee after class on Wednesday.

Her phone went off again.

Sure! I’m looking forward to it! Be safe!

“Hey, guys.” Ymir said.

“What?” Connie and Sasha looked at each other, suddenly nervous.

“Pay up.”

“Shit. I don’t have $25 on me. Can I get it to you later this week?” Connie said.

“Just bring me something good to eat when I’m working on Sunday.”

“Deal.”

“I’ll bring you something on Monday night?” Sasha queried.

“I’m not spitting again. But I’m holding you both to it. I know where you live.” Ymir was walking on air. By the time they made it to her flat, her lip had stopped bleeding enough for her to lopsidedly smile.

[astormyknightwrites]

Prompt 3 - Sand

Prompt: Sand

Word Count: 1194

Sheltering from the harsh midday sun inside a scrapped van, the group went over their plan of attack and equipment one last time. The streets were eerily quiet, even the local birdlife was nowhere to be heard. The tension among the small group was almost as palpable as the dry heat radiating off of the nearby metal surfaces. The smallest member of the group of five hands were shaking so violently that the weapon they were clutching shook, rattling to the point it looked like he was going to drop it.

“This is crazy.” Adjusting ropes around her shoulders, the oldest in the group looked towards their expedition leader, a grim set to her mouth. “I know they’re under mourner’s truce and everything right now, but they’re not going to take lightly to us crossing into contested territory and pilfering parts. Especially when we’re packing as much heat as we are.”

The leader, a lithe girl in her mid-teens wiped her hands on a rag attached to her belt, cleaning grease from her hands as she stood and shouldered her tool kit.

“We’ve just got to hope whoever’s near won’t see us, and if they do they won’t scamper back with their buddies.” Adjusting the tool kit’s strap, she surveyed her motley raid crew and sighed. Their faces were as grim as hers. Nobody was thrilled to be here. But they all knew that their survival as a gang depended on it.

“Look. We don’t have much choice. The bases primary generator has been dead for three days and the backup is about to die as well. Not to mention we need to fix the solar panels and air filters in most of the base. That’s not even taking into account the fact we’re running low on ammo for our defences.” There was an edge in the younger woman’s voice that commanded respect, though it waivered slightly. With a sigh she clipped a small ray-gun to a thigh holster.

“All going well they’re too busy collecting and burying their dead. We’re the only team that didn’t get involved with this latest scuffle, we’re the only team without casualties, we’re also by far the smallest. This is pretty much the only way to almost guarantee we stay intact.”

“We’d be better off joining Tobe Saru.” Muttered the kid with shaking hands. “We’re probably going to get ambushed soon. Look at what happened to the Badger Claw.”

“You know we’re in negotiations, Pei. Until we can strike a deal we need to storm proof our home.” The leader was obviously pissed off at the turn of the conversation. “Besides, that’s all been delayed now. Their leader lost his sister this time. We’re probably not going to hear from them for at least a week. There’s three sand storms on the way, and as you pointed out we’re probably next on Kuro Heibi’s hit list.”

“Sorry.” Pei’s hands were shaking more now. The tension inside the van had increased tenfold. The eldest member of the group moved to set a weighty hand on the young-ones shoulders. Their leader nodded in her direction and everyone took a collective deep breath.

“Everyone ready?” Four heads nodded in unison and weapons were switched from safety to ready. “We have about half an hour before the truce is over. Then everyone will be back to their usual patrols of their territories. We go in, raid the three vehicles I marked earlier as quickly as we can and get out with as much as we can carry before we can scamper back to where the B team will cover our retreat if anything goes pear shaped. Micha will let us know if there are any mines or traps on our route, follow her as closely as possible. Let’s go.”

The group spilled out of the wrecked vehicle and moved further into the unclaimed territory. The three most seasoned members kept watch forward and back, while the younger, less experienced members huddled towards the centre. All five of them kept low as they made their way to their first target with relative speed. There were no signs of movement from among the wrecked vehicles and scrap piles that made up the rich picking grounds of the destroyed lower city.

The captain and one other member went to work quickly, picking apart the old space van and throwing the parts they needed into the bag the older member was carrying. The other three stood guard nervously. Nothing moved that shouldn’t. The occasional gust of desert wind knocked chunks of rubble free from it’s perch creating an eerie soundtrack to their stakeout.  

They moved on after five minutes to a bigger bus-sized vehicle, this time their method was less hurried. The two mechanics worked with steady hands, slowly packing the more delicate parts in protective wrapping. By the time they had finished with this vehicle, fifteen minutes had passed.

With more stealth than before, the small group of raiders made their way to the last vehicle. Micha stepped carefully between the piles of wreckage and mountains of rubble. Pei followed closely in her footsteps, the weapon in her hand now a good deal steadier, though the group still carried a great deal of tension with them as they went.

Dismantling and processing the final vehicle went without a hitch, and soon the group was slowly, cautiously making their way back to their own small territory to the south of the wreckage zone. Nothing went wrong until they were almost at the border of their territory. Pei’s boot caught on a stone sticking out of the ground, causing pebbles to roll down a short incline. The gravel triggered something of a small land slide and suddenly the whole group was rocked by the percussion of a small explosion. A mine had been set off. They all turned and glared at Pei before taking cover.

All the while the surrounding area remained deathly silent. Nothing moved that shouldn’t. With a collective sigh of relief, the team crossed their border and made contact with their regular patrol group. It wasn’t long before they made it to their base. Stepping inside Pei and the rest of the team disarmed their bulkier weapons and hung them on the rack. Micha rested a hand on Pei’s shoulder and squeezed before wandering off inside to alert the people who needed to know of their return. The rest of the raid crew did the same, their leader even stopping to give the shaken girl a quick hug.

A harried looking mechanic came back with Micha and took all three bags of parts to the generator room and begun the long task of repairing both the power generator, air filtration units and defensive systems. Another member of their crew came up and whispered something in the captain’s ear and her mouth set in a grim line. Dismissing the retrieval team, she followed the crew member to the main meeting room of the base.  

Pei kicked off her boots and shelved them before slipping on her house shoes and trudging off to the rec room. Collapsing into a bean bag the exhausted child fell asleep.

[astormyknightwrites]

Take Your Place in the World - Chapter 1, The Library

Word Count; 1508

Pairing; Historia x Ymir

Series; Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan

Warnings; None yet.

A/N; Basically this is the Pub Quiz/University AU I’ve been wanting to work on since 2014. I’m not sure how often I’ll be updating this, but hopefully it’ll be more frequently than my last attempt. 

Ao3 LINK; Click here

“You’re being about as subtle as a punch in the face Ymir.” Throwing a wadded up ball of paper at his older sister, Marco Boldt quirked a knowing eyebrow in her direction.

“Shut up Marco…” swatting the ball away irritably before it hit her she turned and glared at her younger brother, tearing her eyes off of the tiny blonde woman talking animatedly to the library assistant at the desk. Spinning on her chair she resumed her watch of the library gate. Marco went back to reading and working on his assignment at the table behind her.

Nothing exciting had happened so far during her shift, and there was an hour left to go before the closing bells rung. It was the start of semester one, so far only the newly minted Health Science freshmen and her brother were taking their courses seriously. The occasional post-graduate student would wander in under a mountain of books looking about as depressed as Ymir felt. All the other students were out enjoying the final days of summer before the weather turned to horse shit and mid-semester exams started to get uncomfortably close. She herself was in her honours year and piled up beside her post was a stack of books and papers on English Literature and Linguistics.

Her job sucked most of the time. The hours were ridiculous for one thing, six-hour evening shifts from 5pm to 11.15pm four days a week, and a massively long 9 hour shift on Sunday afternoon from 3pm to 11.15pm. The actual work she did for the most part was pretty mind numbing, she alternated between sitting or standing in the entrances of one of University Libraries, keeping an eye on things and closing up when the library shut, making sure nobody was locked in for the night.

If anybody acted up or tried to steal one of the books, she was the first responder. This year had started off quieter than last, she’d had no streakers or drunk students stumble their way into the main library during O-week. There had only been two or three incidents where someone’s mates had slipped un-issued books into their bag to set the buzzer off, but other than that everything had been pretty bland.  

Occasionally her younger brother or one of her flat-mates would bring her dinner and then study until closing and walk home with her. Sometimes she’d see a class mate or friend and they’d pass an hour or two procrastinating by talking about whatever came to mind. Sometimes the library staff would be equally bored and they’d bring down a deck of cards and they’d play kids games like go fish or snap. On rarer occasions she’d see her lecturers come in and she could snag them to answer questions she hadn’t had the opportunity to ask in class and had been too lazy to email them about.  

Sometimes there would be events down at the big stadium by the bay or at one of the many small venues in town that she was called in to help with, but those instances were few and far between. She needed the money though, and there was the opportunity to people watch. On the quieter days like today she could catch up on readings for her classes or dissertation. But that was about it. Fairly regularly she was bored out of her mind and would take to pacing between the gates and front desk.

“Excuse me?” Ymir nearly fell off her chair. She’d been so focused on zoning out that she hadn’t heard the blonde girl walk over.  Blushing to the tips of her ears she swallowed and stood up.

“How may I help you?” she asked, her voice sounding very much like one of those automated answer machines.

“The librarian couldn’t desensitise this book and told me to tell you to pass it around the gate so it didn’t set it off.” The girl was a good two heads shorter, if not more, than Ymir was. She looked to be in her late teens, early twenties and carried herself with an air of grace that Ymir could never hope to emulate.

Her blonde hair was cut to just a bit below shoulder length and today it was pulled back into something of a messy bun. Her eyes were a startling shade of blue that were only accented by dark under-eye circles from lack of sleep. She wore no apparent make up and her clothes were plain a pair of loose green cotton pants and a light blue tank top with some logo that Ymir didn’t recognise. Her bra was visible from the arm holes as was the trend these days, and Ymir caught sight of a floral tattoo hiding under the strap, trailing over the girl’s ribs. “Yum” the very predatory thought that creeped into Ymir’s brain before she stomped on it mentally and shook her head to clear it. She really was being as subtle as a punch in the face.

Glancing over to the desk where the librarian sat, he nodded his head and made a shooing motion to give Ymir the ok to do what she had been asked. Taking the book the other girl offered her, Ymir nearly ate dirt again. It was a good deal heavier than she expected. Peering down at the title she saw it was one of the many case study books for third year law students, Ymir winced. Handing it over the glass barrier she looked her in the eye.

“Good luck.” She said with very real sympathy. The girl sighed and nodded once sharply, grimacing wryly.

“I’m going to need it. Thanks.” And then she smiled.  Ymir saw stars and stood mesmerised for a full minute as the girl sauntered away. Snapping out of her daze she spun around and shuffled over to her brother.

“Marco.” Slamming her hands down on the table she made her brother drop his pen and nearly smack himself in the face with his drink bottle. “Holy fuck. I think I’m in love.”

“For crying out Ymir. You say that about every mildly attractive girl that walks through this bloody building.” Irritated he shooed her away as she protested. “Go do you dam job, for crying out loud I’m trying to finish this bloody thing so I can actually enjoy this weekend.”

Grumbling about the lack of family understanding Ymir wandered her way over to the unsuspecting librarian who was tidying up the desk and getting ready to call it a night.

“Yo, Armin.” The boy jumped, “that girl you just served. What was her name?”

“Ymir you know I can’t just give out information like that…”

“Is she your girlfriend? You two looked pretty chummy.”

“Oh HECK no. She’s my cousin.” Ymir’s eyes lit up as Armin realized he’d just had one of his very rare fatal lapses in judgment. “Ah crap. No Ymir. You know I can’t go dishing out student’s private information. And no, I won’t give her your number, stop stealing the office supplies.”

“You suck……”

“Have a nice night Ymir…” taking her cue Ymir put the pen and notepad back in their place and sulked back to her post. As she settled in Armin announced that the library would be closing soon and that the front desk was officially closed. Instead of using the front door like he usually did to leave work, he slipped out the staff exit just to avoid another attempt to mine him for information he could see Ymir working on concocting. Thanking his lucky stars that he didn’t have to work with her for another couple of days he made his way home, waving cheerily to her through the window on his way past.

After another half hour the bells rang and Ymir cleared and locked the library, collecting her brother and their long boards on her way out the door.

“So do you know that girl Armin was talking to? She’s third year like you.” Marco groaned and rolled his eyes.

“You’re really not going to let this one go are you?”

“But do you know her? Armin said she was his cousin. You’re mates with Armin...”

“Dude, she’s third year Law. I’m third year History. I haven’t really talked to Armin about family.”

“How do you know she’s Law? I didn’t say anything about that?”

“Shit…” Dropping his long board onto the pavement Marco pushed off with as much force as he could muster and began to gain speed down the hill. “See you at home Ymir!” he called over his shoulder.

Ymir swore at him and began to follow. She soon caught up.

“What do you know you little punk?”

“I know you’re being fucking creepy.”

“Why you….”

“Dude, if you see her again, be a normal person and introduce yourself.”

Grumbling she kicked past him and rolled up to their run down flat, unlocking the door, walking through it and then being a massive prick and shutting it and relocking it in her brothers face.

[astormyjet]

Beeeeee

Some time during late June-Early June.

It’s cleaning time at my JHS and I’m doing the rounds. I stick my head into the computer lab to see what the second years in there are up too. They’re goofing off as per usual. This area has been assigned to three boys and three girls from my favorite first grade class from last year. The girls see me and make the whole “come here” gesture at me so I wander over.

“Kai-sensei! How do you say beach?”

“Beach?”

“No. No. BEEECH.”

“Beach like 海?”

“No. No. Like….くそう女.”

“…why do you need know that?”

“ はつおんは very…very…important….”

“Use Google-sensei….”

The next morning I’m biking to my ES, and I run into the same group of girls.

“BEEEEEEEECHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII………” they yell as I fly past.

Now every time I see them outside of class at least one of them will start with “buh…” or “bi…” or “be…” and then giggle and greet me properly. It’s gotten to the point where if I see them first I’ll point my finger at them and go NOPE and the giggles will start. 

Now before people start saying “this is a sign of lack of respect” or whatever, these kids are some of the more genki kids, the kids that will give anything a go. That includes trying to understand my instructions for worksheets, activities or games in class when I have free reign. They ask genuinely intelligent and interesting questions when they don’t understand something or need help. Their marks in English aren’t the best, but they’re trying. They’re also the kids that will come and find me at lunch time and ask me how I am and what I am looking forward to. Basically they’re respectful in class, and treat me like a human being outside of it too. They make me laugh. 

[astormyjet]

Impromptu Japanese Test on the Bridge

June 11th, 2016.

Both my Elementary and Junior High had parent teacher interviews so the kids got let out after lunch, but I had to stay for the whole day. 

As I’m biking home from my ES and make it to the bridge that crosses the Ishite-River, a bunch of SHS students come past on their bikes. A couple of them recognize me from last year and say hello and carry on their merry way. Next thing I know I hear my name being screamed at me full volume.

“KAI-SENSE!! KAI-SENSEI!!!” I stop and look over my shoulder. A 3rd grader from ES and her little brother (I think he’s in 2nd grade this year?) are running full tilt at me. Their Mum had pulled over and let them out. She’s now reaching over and shutting the door while laughing and waving at me. As she drives off the kids make it to where I am. I’d spoken to her earlier after she’d had her interview, I’d stepped out of the office for a bit because I was nodding off at my desk and she’d seen me and started talking to me in very easy Japanese, which I had really appreciated. She said she see’s me occasionally when I’m biking home, and a couple of times she’s wound down the window and let the same kids yell out hello. 

As the kids reach me they start jumping up and down and asking questions at full speed. Before I can answer the yelling starts again.

“KAI-SENSEI!!!! KAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!” One of my 2nd year JHS boys (one of the ones who hates English with a passion but is pretty funny outside of class) is scrambling up the bank of the river with a net in his hand waving his arms in the air. He makes to about halfway across the bridge and then stops waves crazily for a few seconds asks how I am and then runs back down to the river where his mates (from another school, because I didn’t recognize any of them) are fishing/swimming.  

The wee ones start asking questions again, in Japanese. 

“Where are you going?” - To my Japanese lesson. 

“Oh, you have school too?” - Yes! 

“But you’re a teacher??” - Yes I am, but I don’t speak Japanese very well. Today I have a test! 

“OH! Lets practice!” And they both ask me to translate random words from Japanese to English. Then they start getting really tricky and throwing out the English to Japanese translations - FISH! (sakana) SHARK! (sa-me?) WHALE! (kujira) PEACH! (momo) RINGO!!…wait… (APPLE!!!) 

After about five minutes of this I do my best to explain that I will be late if I don’t leave now and they say goodbye and run across the road giving me a heart attack because they barely looked to see if traffic was coming. They then make their way down to the other river bank where their family is now setting up a picnic rug. 

The next morning on my way in the gate of my JHS, the same 2nd year scares the crap out of me by running towards me and screaming. Apparently he managed to catch a big fish with his net and one of his friends pushed him in the river.

I didn’t do as well on my test as I had hoped I would. But that whole series of interactions has really made my week. Especially with all the bad news coming out from around the world. It really brightened my day. I am so glad I get to stay at both my schools this year. 

[awellboiledicicle]

A necromancer using their powers to change raisins back into grapes.

[carabas]

#raisin the dead #as it were

[astormyjet]

June 12th - July 15th 2016, Rainy Season, Rock Concerts and Reflections.

In among all the chaos that’s happening both in my life and globally I’ve managed to kick a couple of things off of my bucket list recently. I’m three weeks off graduating from Rabbit to Tanuki and having the responsibility of being ‘sempai’ thrust upon me (as do all the other, more capable ALTs who are re-contracting for another year…). 

I’m also about to hit probably the busiest Summer “Holiday” period of my life thus far. Under the cut is a general life update and a bit of a brief reflection of my time here in Japan so far. I’ll be doing another post later with all the stuff my students have said and done recently that has made me laugh or roll my eyes at a later point, because there is just so much to write about, and this is already going to be quite long. 

Keep reading

[astormyknightwrites]

Prompt 2 - Treat

Prompt; Treat

Word Count; 558

The summer heat and humidity embraced the city like a sweaty inescapable hug from an estranged uncle at a family reunion. The human residents were suffering, but the bugs were out in force. Giant dragonflies and metallic coloured beetles zipped between pedestrians. Cicadas screamed from the trees and school girls joined the chorus occasionally when beetles landed in bike baskets or on their uniforms. The dragonflies collide with innocent bystanders waiting for the lights to change, eliciting more surprised shrieks, from children and adults alike.

Older residents wore sweat towels around their necks and bucket hats to protect themselves from the sun. There footpaths were a sea of black umbrellas as women tried to protect themselves from the harsh UV rays.

The School Children on their way home from club activities were dark shades of brown or red having spent the last two or more hours practicing various sports in the sun. Their drink bottles, now empty bounced around in the baskets of their Mamachari bikes.  All anybody could think about was making it to their air-conditioned and bug-free destinations.

One particular resident of the city was suffering more than the others. She had come from a very different climate. Her home town never made it above 25 degrees Celsius more than twice during summer, but here the last week alone had been temperatures of 34 or above with humidity in the high 90 percent range and it was only set to get warmer in the coming month as summer reached its peak. On her bike she dodged between umbrellas and slow walkers, gunning for home.

By the time she reached her apartment building she was practically swimming in her own sweat. Parking her bike among the mess of the other residents she dug her sweat towel out of the basket and unfastened her helmet. Running her fingers through her hair she caught a glimpse of herself in the glass of the ground floor restaurant. Her face was bright red and her short white-blonde hair stood up on end. No need for gel or wax in this extreme heat she thought wryly to herself.

The lift pinged behind her and the landlord’s young son clambered out with a couple of his friends.

“OH! Sensei da! High Touch!” giggling the boys pushed past her, hands held up for high fives. She was relieved to feel their palms were also as damp as hers, even if it was a little bit disgusting. At least she knew she wasn’t the only one suffering in this heat.

“Sayajin-mitte!” the youngest of the group looked up at her in wonder, unused to the sight of foreigners in his city, despite the fact he had seen this one many times. Laughing as they made their way to the entrance the boys mimed doing the kameha cannon at the woman and she returned the favour causing more delighted smiles and laughter.

Before the lift could take off, she climbed in and punched in the buttons she needed to make it to her floor.   It had been a very long day of teaching, being chased around the playground by third graders and a weird bug and practicing for the sports festival.  All she wanted to do now was to tuck into the cold treat buried in the back of her freezer and hide under the air-con.

[astormyknightwrites]

Prompt 1 - Dance

I’m doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month. My Primary goal is to write at least three times a week, my Secondary goal is to write 20,000 words during this month. If I hit my target I will stretch it by 5000 words each time I hit it.  Lets do this!

Prompt; Dance.

Word count;835

Little feet pattered across the wooden floor. There was no grace. Only haste as he wobbly three-year-old directed his momentum towards the prone figure of his mother’s new girlfriend.

A walking cane lay at her side as she dozed in a patch of sun streaming in through the open porch door, blissfully unaware of the child shaped torpedo locked on to her. Gleeful giggles preceded the stumble that launched him onto her stomach. 

The resulting squawk from the squishy new adult in his life alarmed him. As he shuffled to sit up in a hurry, a reassuring hand reached out and ruffled his curly hair.

“What are you doing little one?” her voice was heavy from sleep and a little wheezy due to the nature of her explosive awakening. Her eyes were kind and warm, even if the rest of her face was sharp and weatherworn.

“Dancing…” his voice was small, there was fear in his big blue eyes as the woman quirked and eyebrow at him. He braced himself for the punishment he was used to receiving from his mother’s previous partners.

“But there’s no music!” noticing the change in the small child’s body language, her voice became soft and reassuring so as not to unsettle the little boy any further. Sniffling and whipping his nose with the back of his sleeve, the toddler looked at her like she was some kind of Alien.

“Yes there is!” his voice was edging back into the normal toddler range, the height of indignation and scorn.

“Where?”

“In my head. So it doesn’t wake Ally up….” Suddenly he looked very guilty.

“But I am awake little one…” the mischief in her voice emboldened the boy.

“Only because the rug tripped me!”

“It’s okay.” She reassured, sensing him pulling away from her and shutting himself off once again. “What does your music sound like?”

“Like this~!” the toddler began to hum and skip around the room and occasionally he would stumble or catch his foot on the corner of the rug at the center of the room. His tune was light and free, albeit a little bit off key.

By the time he had run out of notes, Ally had pulled herself up from sleeping position to sitting. From sitting position, she pulled herself up to be awkwardly leaning on her cane as the explosive bundle of life before her was joined by the fluffiest of cats. The rug was suddenly on the balcony and the shrieks of laughter the child and adult produced delighted the neighbours. Compared to the constant shouting and screaming from a year and a half ago, it was music to their ears.

The cat continued to tear up the room before shooting off out into the garden to harass the local bird life and potentially steal a free meal from the dog down the street. Hobbling around the room, Ally picked up the couch cushions and repositioned the rug with the help of the toddler. By now the boy was grinning from ear to ear. He had relaxed, any trace of anxiety had been eliminated by the sudden arrival and departure of their household pet.

“Can I dance with you?” Ally asked, tapping her cane on the floor with a gentle rhythm.

The boy beamed at her, a gap toothed grin that melted her heart. The toddler then took her free hand and pulled her into the center of the room and they tottered around the room together, her cane clicking on the floor mingling with their giggles and out of tune humming.

The sound of a camera shutter some time later alerted the pair of them to the fact that they were no longer alone. The boy’s mother leaned against the lounge room door, a smartphone in hand, documenting the moment. What looked like the start of happy tears were building and she pursed her lips in a tentative smile.

“I’m sorry, I took my eyes off him for a bit when I was hanging out the washing and he wandered off…” like her son, she had big blue eyes, curly close cropped hair and a soft way of speaking – almost as if she was afraid of being hit. “I know you need your sleep lately…”

“Don’t worry about it. I should probably get up and do something with my day anyway.” Ally gave the woman the warmest smile and begun to hobble over towards the door-frame, the toddler in tow. Ally and the boy looked at each other and simultaneously reached out to capture his mother’s hands and pull her on to the dance floor. Ally’s cane lay discarded as they hobbled and wobbled around the room. Pressing a soft kiss to the other woman’s cheek, Ally whispered reassurances to her overly cautious girlfriend. The woman slowly relaxed and let her son and lover sweep her up in an uncoordinated waltz.

There was no grace, only haste as the three of them danced and giggled, happiness and warmth lighting up the home.  

[astormyknightwrites]

SKIING AU

WORD COUNT: 4912

PAIRINGS: Historia x Ymir

SERIES: Shingeki No Kyojin/Attack on Titan.

WARNINGS: N/A

A/N; Nearly two years in the making, this is finally done. The second chapter is largely un-edited and I feel like everyone is so OOC it’s not funny. But hey. Here you go. (Also this fandom is so dead now. T.T)

AO3 LINK; CLICK HERE

“For the love of God, why do I have to hang out with a bunch of teenagers?” the venom in her voice along with the frustration in her stance was only there for show.

Deep down Ymir was looking forward to this trip, even if she was now in charge of a bunch of graduating High Schoolers. The twenty-year-old had been asked by her former foster parents to take their charges, Armin and Historia, along with a handful of their friends to the mountains for a ski weekend. It had been a while since Ymir had been skiing, and it had been even longer since she’d had a weekend away with Historia – accompanied or otherwise.

Ymir had a fondness for Historia, and if she was going to be honest with herself she knew it was more than a fondness. But she was currently still in denial. The family Historia and Armin were currently fostered too had been the last family Ymir had stayed with before leaving the system at 18. She had stayed on as a part time boarder while she underwent schooling at the local Polytechnic. She had been a foster child with the Heichou-Zoe family for four years, two of which she had spent with Armin and Historia as her foster siblings.

“Hanji wouldn’t let me go with the boys if you weren’t coming…” Historia replied, more than a hint of frustration in her voice. She ignored the rest of Ymir’s half-hearted grumbling while stacking the final few items of luggage into the packed car boot.

Historia had seen through her foster parent’s ploy right from the start. Hanji was incredibly shrewd when it came to her foster children, they’d noticed Historia’s strange attraction to the older woman and did everything within their power to push the two together at a moment’s notice. Hanji needed groceries? Historia and Ymir had to be sent to the store. Levi needed someone to help clean the yard? Ymir and Historia were in charge of leaf piling and carting. Armin needed picking up from his extra tuition or mathlete squad? Ymir and Historia needed go pick him up…

Hanji thought they were being subtle, and for all the obvious giggling and sly winks they threw in Historia’s direction they may as well have been, Ymir was oblivious. The older girl had a lot going on Historia supposed, what with her training to be a graphic designer, being a frontwoman in a local alternative metal band, and working part time in a coffee shop in town to pay the ‘rent’ she felt she owed her former foster parents for the tiny guest house she stayed in. But really it should have struck Ymir as unusual by now that Hanji (and sometimes Levi) made a point of sending the two of them off together at the drop of a hat.

Slamming the car boot down Ymir dusted her hands off. It had taken a bit of organising, but they had managed to get an assortment of sleeping gear and warm things into the boot along with all of their friend’s gear for the weekend. They had an assortment of groceries and a couple of pairs of skis and snow boots packed into Marco’s car. They were going to be staying in the holiday house Jean’s family owned in Queenstown to save on costs. Taking two cars bumped the price up a bit, but the peace of mind that everything and everyone would fit legally, plus the fact that Eren and Jean could travel in separate cars was well worth the few extra dollars of petrol money and the avoidance of prison time.

“Right kiddies, time to go!” The Ymir gestured to the various assortment of graduating teens sprawled out on the lawn in front of her home of six years. Connie and Sasha both leapt to their feet screaming ‘SHOTGUN’ simultaneously before making a mad dash to the front passenger’s seat of Marco’s car, only to be beaten there by Annie who had moved so fast Ymir swore she had teleported. One look from the other tiny blonde had not only Connie and Sasha bowing and scraping to her, but Jean was as well. The three of them piled into the back seat without protest. As the car backed out of the driveway and onto the quiet Dunedin street, ridiculous pop music suddenly started blaring from the speakers audible to even those outside.

Armin, Mikasa and Eren were a lot calmer about things. The three of them slid into the back seat of Ymir’s beat up old Impreza shutting the doors and fastening their seat belts while continuing their discussion about which Marvell movie had been the most faithful comic book representation of their favourite heroes. Ymir rolled her eyes and began to mentally prepare herself for a very nerd-centric car trip. With a lot of Eren yelling. And a lot of Historia yelling. The two were very passionate about all things super-hero, but they were often on opposites sides of the fence when it came to the contentious issues. All Ymir could do was pray, and hope that Historia didn’t piss Eren off too much. Because if that happened Mikasa would step in, and all hell would break loose.

Historia stuck her head in through the front door of the house and called to her foster parents to tell them that they were off and then hopped into the front seat of Ymir’s car. The choice of music for this bunch of kids was a lot different. One thing that Ymir and Historia could agree on was music genre. Pop was a no-go. The three in the back seat were suddenly subjected to the heavy crunch of guitars and an erratic drum beat accompanied by shrill vocals as Ymir’s bands latest EP rocked the tiny car. Squalls of protest that could have mixed in well with the song came from the back seat and the volume was adjusted accordingly and whatever conversation the nerds had been having resumed while Historia muttered darkly about how they couldn’t appreciate good music. Ymir had the grace to blush.

Grinning as she reversed out the driveway, Ymir noticed the shirt Historia was wearing. Her stomach did a roll as she realised it was in fact one of the first gifts she’d been able to afford to give. In her third year of being a foster child in the Heicho-Zoe household, Armin and Historia had arrived. It had taken a bit of time for Ymir to adjust too, but she had quickly grown protective of the two younger foster children. Armin had lost his parents in a car crash, and then his grandfather had passed away leaving no other relatives alive so he had been a late comer into the foster system. He hadn’t had to move from his home city. So he still had his two best friends from Primary school. He was lucky that he wasn’t going to be bounced around like Ymir had been, but still she felt bad for the boy. He had known familial love only to have it taken away from him at the ripe age of sixteen.

Ymir had gotten the boy a boxed set of science DVD’s for that first Christmas. Historia had been a bit more difficult to buy for. The girl was outwardly proper and pretty, but beneath her flowery appearance lurked a metal head. Ymir had searched high and low for the gift that Historia was still wearing three years later, it had cost her a small fortune but the smile and tight hug the tiny blonde had given her in return for her gift was one of the warmest memories the gruff young woman had. The fact Historia was still wearing the thing after three years gave her an unusual surge of hope for…what exactly Ymir didn’t know, but it made her feel warm and strangely girlish - which was an emotion she had rarely, if ever, experienced.

-Three hours, two toilet stops and two people (Eren& Jean) narrowly avoiding carsickness later…-

“URGH!” a thump of car doors echoed in the evening light as Sasha face planted onto the driveway of Jean’s holiday home. Her stomach was rumbling and her legs hurt from being the poor soul sandwiched between Jean and Connie for the long three-hour drive. Marco looked understandably frazzled as he stepped out of the driver’s seat. Jean was sulking and Connie was snoring, drool staining his shirt from where his head lolled against his chest. Annie looked fresh and smug as per usual, her trip being probably the least stressful out of everybody’s aside from Connie. As Jean unlocked the house, Ymir and her carload of teens pulled up alongside the others.

“I swear to GOD…” it took Sasha a few seconds to realise the voice was Historia’s and not Armin or Eren “I will stick your head through the roof of this bloody car if you ask if we’re there yet ONE MORE FRICKEN TIME. You’re the idiot who’s driving. YOU should know the way. You’re fucking 20, not 2. God.”

Ymir’s raucous laughter came through the open window as the car came to a stop. Historia’s door slammed shut almost as soon as the car rolled to a stop. The tiny blonde was already inside the house by the time Ymir clambered out of the driver’s seat tears mirth in her eyes.

Mikasa, Armin and Eren exited in a slightly more sombre manner. Sasha had never seen Eren or Armin look as scared as they did then – and she had seen them at the mercy of Mikasa. As Ymir opened the car boot and began unpacking Connie woke up with a snort and a jump his head hitting the window with a crack. It was Sasha’s turn to laugh raucously and Connie’s turn to curse.

Half an hour, and a lot of complaining from the others later, the cars were unpacked and the group was busy preparing dinner. Historia and Mikasa had been wisely forbidden to touch anything with a sharp edge or point. Connie and Sasha were getting ready to stir fry the meat and vegetables while Jean and Marco were left cutting potatoes up for wedges. Armin, Mikasa, Ymir and Historia had drawn lots for dishes while Annie and Eren were setting the table.

The house was fairly modern, large and warm, which in the middle of winter was a bonus. The group had thrown their gear into various rooms, but had all agreed that tonight, before they were too tired from skiing the next day they were going to have a sleep out in the lounge. All the mattress from the bedrooms had been pulled out and thrown down along with pillows, duvet’s and sleeping bags.

Dinner passed without anything being burnt or anybody being murdered with kitchen utensils. Ymir was surprised to find herself enjoying the company of this younger, livelier bunch of people. It was interesting to see how her former foster siblings interacted with the different members of the group. She would be lying if she said her eyes were not following Historia around the room, watching her giggle at Marco’s jokes and Sasha and Connie annoying the hell out of Jean.

One thing that did surprise her as she observed the group from her vantage point in the kitchen, was how close Annie and Armin seemed to be. The two of them had moved to the end of the table furthest away from the others and were talking very seriously about something, what Ymir had no clue, but she was happy to see the boy getting along with somebody other than Eren or Mikasa.

After the washing up had been taken care of, the group slowly migrated towards the makeshift mattress theatre. Jean flicked through the collection of movies on Marco’s hard drive and the group unanimously settled on Pacific Rim for the first in a night of Kaiju themed action movies. Ymir had settled herself towards the back of the group, conscious that her freakish height would be a pain in the neck for anybody sitting behind her.

Another surprise was forthcoming. Historia settled in beside her. The older girl nearly imploded when the tiny blonde gave huge yawn and transferred her weight so she was snuggled into Ymir’s side. If the lights had been on Ymir was sure her skin would be showing a darker shade of brown than normal. Historia seemed to have forgiven Ymir for being a total child on the drive over, her outburst apparently forgotten in favour of the groups collective atmosphere. In the few jumps and scared during the first movie, Historia didn’t flinch - which Ymir was a little upset about, she could have used any fear generated as an excuse to get closer to the tiny blonde. 

By the time the third movie had been decided on, Ymir had begun to doze off. By the time it ended, everybody else was in a similar state and agreed now was the time for sleeping. Historia was still close by Ymir, while the others were piled haphazardly where they had been watching from. The tiny blonde hesitated before slipping under the duvet and curling up against Ymir. Throwing caution to the wind, she went a step further and let herself rest her head on Ymir’s chest. As the older girl didn’t push her off or make any show of resistance, the tiny blonde fell asleep to Ymir’s arms around her gently and an erratic heartbeat thundering in time to her own.

***

“How did lessons go this morning?”

Ymir grumbled in response. She’d only been skiing a couple of times prior to this trip, so she had opted to take the lessons offered with their gear hire. Connie, Armin and Marco had decided to join her, while the others all took off to explore the new advanced runs that had opened this season. Historia, Eren, Mikasa, Annie and Jean were all semi pro, half of them had even been on the Ski team at High School. Annie and Mikasa had won first place at their regional event this year.

The group had split up soon after arriving. Those with their own gear had gone to catch the first chair of the day to the harder runs, while those without gear had filled out their forms and waited in line to hire what they needed. It took around half an hour, and Historia had spent the majority of the time cuddled up to Ymir. When Ymir had complained about how Historia had made her drape her arms around her shoulders to keep her warm, the tiny blonde only tugged her closer and the two had stood in line with Historia effectively wearing Ymir like a jacket.

Ymir had spent the morning attempting to master the parallel stop. She almost had it too, but she had for sure acquired a decent amount of bruising as penance. She’d nearly taken out a couple of tourists on her way down the intermediate run a little before meeting up with Historia. Now they were seated on the chair lift that was bringing them up for another crack at it.

“You’ve nearly got the hang of your parallel stops. I saw you a couple of times on my way down. You’ve just got to get your hips into it a bit more”

Ymir felt the blush rise all the way to the tips of her ears. Historia had been keeping an eye out for her. The conflicted feelings she was experiencing made her want to slip between the bar and plummet to the ground to escape. How many times had Historia seen her bailout? Had the tiny blonde seen her nearly kill the tourist?

“I feel like my hips are one big bruise at the moment….”

“Poor baby…That tourist you nearly took out looked like they were having a heart attack.” That comment only made the flush on Ymir’s cheeks burn brighter.

“Shut up.” Historia only giggled and scooted over so she could rest her head on Ymir’s shoulder. The two of them could hear Connie and Sasha hooting on the chair behind them and awkwardly sprung apart, causing the chair to rock and Ymir to squeak in mild panic.

“Well that was adorable.” Historia stated drily. She could feel her cheeks burning.

“Shut up….” At this point Ymir was convinced her face would never return to its normal colour ever again.

****

Historia woke before Ymir did. Her face had been gently nestled into the crook of Ymir’s neck while the rest of her was clinging to Ymir like a teddy bear. The rest of the crew were snoring and sprawled out all over each other. She snuggled in closer, brain still foggy with sleep.

She felt herself sigh contently as the warmth of being held spread through her body in a pleasant buzz. Nuzzling her face into Ymir’s shoulder she let herself relax against the taller woman. Grumbling in her sleep, Ymir threw her arm over Historia protectively. Historia stiffened then relaxed as she remembered that everyone including Ymir was still asleep.

She didn’t want to give Armin the satisfaction of seeing them cuddled up together like this – she knew they wouldn’t live it down when they got home if they were caught, the news would proceed them and Hanji would probably be there waiting with a cake and party poppers.

Historia calmed herself listening to Ymir’s steady heartbeat through the thin fabric of the taller girls’ night shirt. She let herself day dream of when this luxury could be guilt free. If only the two of them weren’t so useless when it came to talking about feelings and the like.  She knew there was money riding on when and how they would get together. She knew that neither of them would live it down when and if it finally happened.

An alarm buzzed near Ymir’s head as Historia’s smartphone decided it was time for the dead to rise. Ymir slept through the incessant buzzing as it made the floor next to them rumble, her arms only tightening slightly around Historia as her brain fought to ignore the sound. With a little wiggle Historia freed an arm and snatched the annoying device up, swiping the alarm to snooze. Ymir grumbled again in her sleep.

“Love you blondie.”

Historia stiffened. Surely Ymir was still asleep. Maybe she was dreaming. Maybe she had been imagining things. Snuggled against Ymir’s chest she tried to ignore the thrill that had shot through her body at those sleepily muttered words. The phone went off in her hand again. This time she slid it into the off position before wiggling out of Ymir’s grip as carefully as possible. Once free she steadied herself, glancing at Ymir to see if she’d managed to escape without waking her.

If sleeping was an art form, Ymir would have won prizes. Without Historia curled up in her embrace, the taller woman had sprawled out, claiming the whole mattress they had shared for the night. Her hair was free of its customary pony tail and fanned out like a halo, framing her sharp features. A strand of it trailed across her eyes and nose, dangerously close to Ymir’s lips. It fluttered slightly with her breath.

Historia’s heart jumped into her throat for no apparent reason and she felt a compulsion to gently lift the hair away from Ymir’s mouth and draw close enough to kiss her lips softly.  They connected with barely a whisper of a touch before Historia jolted back and stood in a hurry. An ache had settled in her heart. She wanted this. She wanted Ymir so badly, but her stubbornness was in the way. There was also the quiet whisper of fear in the back of her mind, if she made the move Ymir would hate her and they wouldn’t be able to interact normally with each other ever again.

Cursing herself softly under her breath she began nudging the others who had volunteered for breakfast duty not-so-gently awake. She would think about this later. She didn’t have time to think about it now. She didn’t want to think about it now.

Ymir rolled away from the noise and pulled the blanket they had been using up around her head, hiding how her face now on fire and the stupid goofy smile on her lips.

****

By the final run of the day Ymir had finally got the hang of stopping in a hurry. This had enabled her to terrorise both Connie and Sasha on their way down the mountain. With no regard to her own personal safety she would speed past one or both of them before suddenly slamming on the breaks. This had resulted in Connie slamming into her and the both of them falling over in a pile of cussing and raucous laughter several times. Sasha had managed to escape all attempts to wipe her out by the skin of her teeth, usually resulting in her almost taking Historia out in the process. But somehow the two of them remained unscathed.

Sliding up to the ski lift for the last run of the day, Historia let Connie and Sasha go ahead of them. In the distance she could see Mikasa, Eren, Annie and Armin racing each other down the mountain – Mikasa and Annie were intent on trying to outdo each other while Eren was trying to gun his way down the mountain the most reckless way possible. Armin on the other hand was being his usual tactical self, selecting the route with the least people and the most incline almost on instinct, leaving Eren spluttering in the powder from his turns. Jean and Marco were nowhere to be seen – who the fuck knew what they were up to. (Ymir did, she had seen the two of them making out in the corner of the Ski lodge cafeteria on the way out after lunch).

As the lift scooped them into the seat, Ymir draped her arm around Historia casually. Her face was twisted into a confused frown that was visible even through snow goggles. For the second time today Historia felt her heart jump into her throat, though this time butterflies began to roll around in her stomach too.

“So…” Ymir began, glancing down at the tiny-now-quivering blonde next to her.  “You’ve been unusually sticky today. You ok?”

The concern in her voice made Historia cringe internally. With nowhere to escape, being trapped a good 10 meters in the air on a rickety seat, she couldn’t just dodge the questions. She also couldn’t dodge the fact that she was really enjoying the way she fit so snug against Ymir, and how natural it felt. The silence stretched between them as the lift chugged up the hill with the occasional creaking of cables.

“Y-y-you also k-kissed me this morning. What was that about?” Historia could almost see the gears turning in Ymir’s brain at this point. Her own stomach had dropped to her feet as they dangled in mid-air.

“I uh…um. I’m sorry.” Rather than denying it or providing an adequate excuse for her actions, Historia was now squeaking in embarrassment.  Now it was her turn to panic. The words weren’t forming and falling from her lips like she wanted them to.

“I’m not. I uh...actually kind of liked it….” Ymir had pulled the ski goggles up onto her helmet and was peering at Historia rather intently. Historia felt her cheeks flaming as squeaks continued to come out instead of the well-made excuses she wanted to give.

“Fuck it…” Ymir swore under her breath and then shifted ever so slightly before leaning down. Historia collapsed against Ymir as their lips touched. What started out as slow and tentative soon became somewhat desperate as teeth clashed, noses bumped and ski helmets made things slightly more difficult than most first kisses.

Historia could feel tears trailing gently down her cheek as all the angst and frustration she had felt for the last few months finally melted away. Ymir’s heart thudded in her ears as she set her resolve and let herself enjoy the moment.

As they neared the end of the lift’s run, they broke apart, gently huffing, their breath misting gently in the early evening air. Ymir lifted the bar and they wordlessly slid onto the open area at the top of the ski run.

“So….” Ymir cleared her throat as she adjusted her gloves, slipping them both off and tucking them into her pants pocket. She carefully slid within arms-reach of the now sniffling blonde. Reaching out a hand she gently bushed away the tears rolling down Historia’s cheeks. Nuzzling into Ymir’s palm, Historia took a shaky breath.

“I really like you Ymir. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you while you were sleeping.” with a short sigh, Historia unclipped from her skis and helped Ymir balance and undo hers. Finding a quiet spot near the opening of the run, the two girls stood their skis up in the snow and awkwardly shuffled close to each other, Ymir snaking an arm around Historia’s waist.

“I said before you don’t have to be sorry. I mean I’ve always wanted to be woken up with a kiss from a cute girl. It’s like a fairy tale.” Giving Historia a side hug Ymir carefully contemplated how to word the next question she wanted to ask. She felt Historia’s arms snake around her waist in return and they stood swaying gently in the soft evening light tentatively enjoying each other’s closeness.

As Ymir took a deep breath she heard a sound approaching at speed.

“YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU……” Historia flinched in Ymir’s arms as Sasha came flying up to them, her skis biting into the snow and flicking powder at the pair. “YOU TWO FINALLY GETTING SOME ACTION? CONNIE. YOU OWE ARMIN $50.”

Historia couldn’t help but role her eyes. There was no doubt in her mind that Armin and Marco would have set up a betting ring behind their backs. There was a high chance also that Armin would owe Hanji a decent sum of money.

Turning to glare at the human-foghorn, Ymir cleared her throat and fixed Sasha with the best cold glare she could.

“Would you kindly take a hike? Historia and I have some important business to discuss.”

Sasha and Connie looked at each other and cackled before pushing off to descend the mountain.

“Don’t take too long. The others will be waiting for us down the bottom.” Connie for once in his life was showing signs of responsibility. “And Armin will want confirmation before I pay out…”

“There won’t be anything to confirm if you two don’t bugger off…” With one last synchronised cackle, the two clowns disappeared down the mountain.

“Discussion?” Historia’s voice was small as she pressed herself into Ymir’s side, her fingers gripping her jacket.

“Yeah. I don’t want things to get awkward between us.” Ymir’s heart was in her throat,  “Do you want to, like…date me?”

“….Yes….” Historia squeaked and squeezed her hand on Ymir’s jacket. The last of the tension and uncertainty melted away between them and she felt a rush of happiness unlike anything she had felt before. Twisting to face Ymir she stretched up and pecked the taller woman on the lips. “This means I get tickets to all your shows though right?”

Ymir barked with laughter and squished Historia against her in a proper front hug. She was walking on air right now. Floating free from months, if not a year, of denial.

“Sure thing babe.” Ymir delighted in way Historia’s already read face turned crimson. The pair carefully disentangled and replaced their skis before pushing off down the mountain.

Ymir almost made it down unscathed, but in a strange twist of fate, she had collided with the same tourist she had nearly taken out earlier. Nobody was hurt, but Ymir’s pride suffered a little as Historia stood to the side trying not to die of laughter.

***

After a weekend away, Historia was dreading returning home. Her and Ymir had managed to sneak away from the group after their second day of skiing and go out for dinner together. They’d spent the two other nights much like the first, curled up close together and enjoying each-others warmth, but now there was also the occasional caress, sweet nothing or soft kiss.

Armin had nearly exploded with joy when they had broken the news to the group. He seemed to be the only one who seemed even remotely surprised that things had finally come a head. Other than a little bit of teasing from the others, they took it quietly, congratulating the new couple. But she knew that what was waiting for them back at home was going to be a lot less reserved – Armin would have already made his report.

Pulling into their driveway after dropping off Mikasa and Eren, the girls steeled themselves for the inevitable storm. Armin made his escape almost as soon as the car stopped. He flew through the gate and into the house signalling their arrival.

Leaning over the gearbox, Ymir pecked Historia’s cheek and tilted her chin so she could kiss her girlfriend.

“Come on. Let’s go face the music.” Ymir murmured reluctantly.

“Together.” Historia murmured back, unusually shy.

Hopping out of the car, the two joined hands and stepped through the doorway of the family home.