#u could see this as being a direct continuation of i feel the warmth btw

[straymackerel]

Hello! Can I request #12 from the event prompt with Akutagawa? Congrats btw! 😊

akutagawa + zhaghzhagh || ژاقژاق (persian, n.) the uncontrollable chattering of teeth, due to rage or cold. 

➽─{yayayay more akutagawa! i had an ✨awakening✨ after my last event ask for him teehee}─❥

Upon your assignment to the guerilla attack force, your friends in the Port Mafia gave you their solemn condolences. “Good luck,” they told you, smiles dropping as they heard the news. Their voices danced the line between nervous and sympathetic, too afraid to fully commit to either. Neither cautionary tales nor measures of advice were offered up; each and every one of you were already familiar with many a horror story of Akutagawa’s brutality. And for a mere rookie to join the fray? People ranked as low as yourselves had much to fear about the upper echelons. Your very promotion itself was counterintuitive, alarm-raising.

Naturally, your friends were quick to write you─the only one of the group who dared to rise the ranks─off and out of mind. Rumor has it they placed bets the same day you were put under the direct command of Akutagawa Ryunosuke. Rumor has it they were betting on how long you’d stay alive.

You were skeptical, as anyone who aspired to climb that high should be. You dismissed your colleagues’ concerns with a wave of a hand and a shake of the head, certain your fate was not a gruesome nor sealed one. More harrowing than the rumors of the Silent Rabid Dog were those concerning the very apex of the Mafia, the ringleader himself; surely, a man as merciless as Mori Ogai would never let such fabled recklessness run a command unit. 

You were half right... and half wrong.

Akutagawa really was a loose cannon, as you soon found out. Though his fervent goal was to advance the Mafia, he often acted of his own accord, taking drastic measures to achieve his ends. His actions were fueled by both anger and irrational jealousy to boot, a most precarious combination in practice. You often felt as if you walked a tightrope around him, as if one wrong move might send you plummeting to the ground head first. 

Akutagawa's homicidal tendencies were apparent as ever as he loomed over the lifeless corpse of a double agent one frosty morning. On the very outskirts of Yokohama, you stood in silence as he kicked the motionless figure, pushing it over with his foot. A frozen face of horror came to face the sky, vacant eyes staring into the gray bleakness of winter. Akutagawa’s disappointment was nearly tangible as the both of you confirmed what you hoped was not the case: this person is not our main target.

Shivering, you turned away from the body as it leaked the crimson essence of life, tainting the brilliant blanket of snow that dusted the ground. The crystals of ice bloomed a deadly hue at your feet, shades of red sweeping the floor. Akutagawa scoffed when his communicator went off, adjusting his cravat as the operator asked for a report.

“The target is heading north. The sole accomplice we stopped has nothing of value on them,” he replied, tone cold and detached. But you knew better than most that the look on his face was one of barely contained rage; you could feel his eyes boring holes into you, even with your back turned to him. 

“Yes. No. I see,” he continued. Shifting under your thin jacket, you braced yourself for nearly certain chastisement. You tuned out the conversation, unable to keep listening. Your stance only wavered in its chill-induced tremble.

This job was supposed to be a short one, hence the appointment of only two Mafia members; you planned to be in and out instead of wandering the cold for hours. The enemy turned the tables on you, leading both you and Akutagawa on a wild goose chase, one you were unable to keep up with. You most definitely slowed down your commander like a dead weight chained to his legs, and you were undoubtedly certain he despised you for it. You knotted your fingers, tips icy cold and red. Worse than punishing you immediately, he seethed in undirected annoyance.

“Tch, they put us on standby,” Akutagawa said, shoving the communications device into his pocket. “After all the trouble we went through today.” You stiffened at the prospect of the two of you alone and without witness; if he really wanted to, he could have laid you to waste right then and there. Against your better judgment, not a single word of apology slipped through your lips. The stillness was deafening. It absolutely irked him.

“Hey, did you even hear me?” he asked incredulously, the crunching of snow behind you growing closer and closer. You flinched when he placed a heavy hand on your shoulder, whipping you around. “What’s the matter with you?”

Hands clenched, you withered under Akutagawa’s gaze, squeezing your eyes shut. You may have even prayed for an instant death. Your teeth chattered, clattering against themselves with each gust of wind that flew into you, quaking under pressure and frigidity. Even without your sight you felt the formless shroud of Rashomon surround you, poised to slice through your arms and legs. Its menacing presence grazed your sides as if eager to take a bite.

“I can’t have you blanking out on me first thing in the morning,” he said, voice ragged and husky. “Seriously, what’s your deal?” You felt the monster he called an overcoat rest atop of you, no longer scraping the surface. Only after a beat and a half did you dare to open your eyes a crack, curious of the way in which you might lose your life. When your eyes fluttered open, you went into shock.

Rashomon had itself wrapped around you, tightening around your torso as it was fashioned into the vague suggestion of another coat. You tried to blink it off, wondering if it was just your imagination. But the fabric laid against you like a blanket, and it was softer than you’d ever imagined the beast-like ability. You blinked at Akutagawa’s question, unsure of exactly how to answer.

“I–didn’t I mess everything up?” Your superior sighed at your response, easing back. Swaddling you in warmth, Rashomon finally settled in place on your shaking form.

“You really weren’t paying attention, were you?” he asked, frown deepening. You nodded slowly, tugging at the black fabric. “Jeez, what a piece of work,” he said. “Listen closely this time, okay? The guys over at headquarters ordered us to follow a group of decoys. Our real target was going the opposite way the entire time,” he explained, pausing to suppress a cough. “We were duped. And so was HQ.” The words took a moment to process in your mind. When they did, you nearly keeled over.

“Oh, thank god,” you breathed, having held your breath for much too long. You sighed your relief, your three words holding still in the air. Slackening, your body almost collapsed from how tensely you held yourself.

“Well, don’t sound so relieved about it,” he said, breaking the quietude. “Might I remind you of your performance today?” You clung to Rashomon even tighter, shame returning to mind. Having chosen the wrong time to celebrate, you knocked your feet together, straightening your posture once more.

“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.” The two of you listened to the birds awaken from their slumber, chirping away as they celebrated the highly anticipated sunrise. As Akutagawa’s ability returned to you every last bit of heat that you lost, you thought to add one more thing. 

“Thank you, sir.”

“Our enemies were well prepared this time,” Akutagawa said, pretending not to hear the last part you threw in. “The information we were fed led to severe understaffing, so even if our fugitive was among that group, nothing that happened was your fault alone.” Akutagawa turned to you, nodding his approval. “But if I see you running out of breath like that again─”

You nodded fervently, embarrassed. For a moment you felt Rashomon flicker, as if it was uncomfortable with being used in this way. Its startle even came close to tickling you. Akutagawa bristled at this realization, restraining himself from returning Rashomon to its proper place. You thought you heard his voice waver as he said:

“Also, do me a favor and wear more next time.”

[falloutmelody]

“She’s the prettiest girl at the party, and she can prove it with a solid right hook”- Natasha Romanoff x reader

(GIF IS NOT MINE, FULL CREDIT TO THE PERSON WHO MADE IT!)

WARNINGS: None! This is meant to be set just after the events of the first Avengers but before Winter Soldier bc I felt like it fitted in best then! Also, the reader is supposed to be a sibling of Bruce Banner, as the requester asked for the reader to be a sibling of an Avenger, and I felt like Bruce worked best! This isn’t meant to attack those who ship Nat x Bruce, btw! I had a female reader in mind whilst writing this, but it’s gender neutral, so anyone can enjoy!

REQUESTED BY: anonymous! Thank you for being my second request, I hope you like it! Natasha is my favourite MCU character and has been for years, so I’m very hyped to write for her! Also, repeat it with me, NATASHA DESERVED BETTER THAN WHAT HAPPENED IN ENDGAME.

WORD COUNT: 2005! Again, I had a lot of ideas for this, so I managed to write a lot!

Requests are still 100% open! You can find my fandom list and rules here, and you can request here! Feel free to send me any requests you desire!

It was a cold Tuesday morning. The view out the window before you seem to reflect that fact, as you watched distant, unfamiliar people dashing quickly back and forth several miles below you. You’d observed that SHIELD personnel seemed to always have a strange way of walking with purpose, regardless of what the actual task was, and you weren’t entirely sure if you admired that ability or if it made you uncomfortable. Perhaps it was somewhere in the middle.

What were you doing here? The summoning letter and the person that had driven you over here hadn’t been the most forthcoming with information. Nor had the countless people that had vetted you before you’d been allowed to even set foot inside SHIELD HQ. You supposed you understood the need for security, given what this building was home to, but given how secretive everything was, you didn’t understand why they’d taken the risk in reaching out to you in the first place.

Yes, you missed your brother. Of course you did. Honestly, you couldn’t even remember the last time you saw him, it had been years ago, before everything had gone… wrong. The idea of reuniting with him was the sole reason you’d agreed to go through the solid, stressful months of SHIELD analysis and observation. You just… ugh, you didn’t know. The stress of that moment, and all the emotions you were experiencing in that moment were messing with your brain.

And then, in a single moment, all of your rambling, messy thoughts were silenced.

“Y/N?”

Your head quickly turned in the direction of the voice, your whole body soon following suit. There he was. Slightly dishevelled and tired looking, but still your brother. A warm smile immediately spread across your lips as you met his gaze, however, you fought the urge to run to him as you didn’t want to startle him.

“Hi, Bruce.” You finally responded to his greeting. For a few moments, neither of you seemed to know what to do, as you both stood completely still, awkwardly looking at each other. Eventually, however, you caved in, and made the first move, slowly making your way over to him. Your movements were intentionally slow. You’d lost count of the amount of times that you’d been warned not to emotionally overwhelm your brother, given what often happened when that occurred, you just… you supposed in that moment, you just couldn’t help yourself.

Upon reaching him, you very, very gently embraced him, an action which seemed to catch Bruce off-guard as he didn’t immediately return or reject the gesture. “It’s really good to see you again,” you spoke quietly, not wanting your sibling’s awkward personality to ruin the moment. However, you only allowed the hug to linger for a few moments, soon beginning to slowly pull away. You went to talk as you did so, realising that there was so much that you needed to catch up on.  

“So, I’m guessing this is the infamous Y/N?” A female voice caused you to quickly close your mouth and silence yourself, glancing over your shoulder in the direction of the voice. Stood there, a short distance away was a redhaired woman that it took you a few moments to mentally place.

Stood before you was the Black Widow.

You’d watched so many hours of news footage of the battle of New York since it had happened that you were genuinely surprised that it had taken you so long to recognise her. But, being stood there before her in real life, your brain couldn’t help but register just how beautiful she was. You were sure you were far from the first person to have that thought cross your mind, but still, she rendered you momentarily speechless as Natasha slowly made her way closer to both you and Bruce.

You finally regained the ability to snap yourself out of your appreciative thoughts when she got closer to you, forcing yourself to swallow down the nervous lump that had formed in your throat. Thankfully though, Natasha didn’t seem terribly phased by your response, because there was no way that she hadn’t picked up on it. If anything, it was the opposite, as a slightly coy, amused smile momentarily formed on her expression as she soon finally came to a stop, just in front of you. A couple of seconds passed, wherein you frantically tried to find your voice, finally managing to speak up. “U-Uh, yep. That’s me. It’s nice to meet you,” you stumbled over your words somewhat as anxiety once again got the better of you, something that only made the amused smile on Natasha’s expression grow somewhat.

Thankfully, Bruce took this moment to interject, something which caused a soft rush of gratitude to rush through you. “Y/N, this is Natasha. One of my…” Bruce began to talk, but soon trailed off, which you presumed was due to him not knowing what exact label to give the woman. You supposed they were technically colleagues, given that they both worked on the same team, but perhaps your brother was too hesitant to use that label. You had no idea, you weren’t actually in the Avengers, so how were you to know what the dynamic was actually like?

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ve seen her on the news,” you softly took over from your sibling. Should you have said that? Would you now come across as creepy? You hadn’t intended it to, you’d just wanted to save your brother from floundering for his words for ages as you had just done.

“Nice to finally put a face to the stories,” Natasha continued, her attention still seemingly being solely on you. Her words took you aback somewhat. Presumably that meant that Bruce had mentioned you at some point in time, but you hadn’t been expecting that. But that was a nice thought, the idea that your brother had continued to mention and think of you, despite how separate you’d become in recent years due to everything that had happened with him. The confusion that had momentarily crossed over your expression at her words earned a small scoff of amusement from Natasha, before she once again continued to speak. “So, let me guess, you’re the knowledgeable type too, huh?” You weren’t entirely sure from her tone if her words were a question or a statement of what her impression of you was from what Bruce had told her, and so, you momentarily stayed silent as you tried to scramble up an answer that wouldn’t make you come across as being either cocky or an idiot.

“Um. Maybe. Kinda depends on your definition of knowledgeable. I know some things. Definitely don’t have seven PhDs though,” you spoke in your best attempt at a playful tone, giving a quick glance back in your brother’s direction to make it clear that was who you were referencing.

Natasha gave a small nod at your response. “I’m sure you’re more intelligent than you make yourself out to be. Fury doesn’t just request for people to be brought in for no reason.” Her oddly motivational words earned a genuine smile from you, as you soon gave a small shrug of your shoulders.

“Well, hopefully, I’ll get a chance to prove you right.” There you go. There was the confidence that you’d been badly looking for throughout this whole conversation. Nice of it to return once you’d gotten towards the end of the conversation, huh?

Once again, a look of amusement formed on the redhead’s expression, that coy smile appearing on her lips for a second time. “Well, I look forward to getting a chance to see that. Now, if you don’t mind, I have places to be.” Of course, you didn’t object to this, even though you did want to continue talking to her. Given what her job was, she probably had something important to be getting on with, something dangerous. Thus, you stayed quiet for a few moments, allowing her to walk around you and make it a few steps down the corridor before you mustered up the courage to call a goodbye after her.

“It was really nice to meet you, Natasha.” Your simple goodbye caused the redhead to briefly stop in her tracks once more, with her soon turning back to look at you. For a brief moment, you could have sworn that a genuine smile with a hint of real warmth formed on Natasha’s expression as she met your gaze.

“You too, Y/N. I’ll see you around,” she returned the farewell, giving a small nod before she turned back around once more and continued to walk off in the direction that she’d been heading in. Then, just as suddenly as she had arrived, she was gone from sight. However, despite her not being physically there, her effect on you didn’t immediately fade. The sound of your heart, which was racing at an absurdly fast rate, continued to echo up into your ears, and you soon anxiously pushed your slightly sweat-dampened hands into your pockets.

“Y/N? Are you alright?” And, just like that, you were once again snapped back into reality by your brother’s voice. Hoping that you hadn’t been staring at the end of the corridor for a creepy amount of time, you soon turned back to face Bruce, giving him a small nod in response to his question.

“Ye…“ You soon cut yourself off, needing a quick moment to clear your throat. “Yeah, yeah! I’m okay. Just a little starstruck, I wasn’t expecting to run into another Avenger today. Am I gonna run into Captain America today too?” Your words were playful, obviously intended to make your attraction to the female not seem obvious. Not that your brother was the type to playfully tease you for having a crush, or at least, he hadn’t been when you’d last seen him, but still. You didn’t want to make things awkward for him by making it clear that you found one of his co-workers attractive. You were supposed to be here to see him after all, that was why you’d agreed to be dragged here.

Bruce’s expression seemed to suggest that he didn’t entirely buy this explanation, as his face briefly scrunched up in confusion, but unsurprisingly, he chose not to question it. Instead, he merely nodded, allowing his expression to somewhat relax. “Okay,” he replied simply, softly smiling at you for a moment. “Um, I’m not busy at the moment, so do you wanna go find a place for us to talk? It’s been a while.” A soft but brief laugh momentarily escaped your lips at that understatement, before you soon nodded in agreement with his idea. You stayed still for a moment, allowing your brother to start walking and thereby lead the way to wherever he wanted to take you. Before you did so, however, you just couldn’t help yourself. You took a quick moment to once again glance back in the direction that Natasha had disappeared into, before quickly turning on your heel and walking quickly in order to catch up with your brother, the SHIELD agent that had been assigned to watch over you that had, until now been stood a short distance away, soon following after the pair of you. That didn’t bother you too much though, you knew they were just doing their job.  

As you walked with your sibling, you found yourself hoping that Natasha’s parting words to you would turn out to be accurate. Whilst, of course, you were hoping that this event gave you a chance to properly reconnect with your brother, you couldn’t deny that more than a small part of you was looking forward to possibly getting a chance to see a certain redhaired agent once again, and getting another chance to have a longer conversation with her.

And perhaps, just perhaps, although you didn’t want to get your hopes up, you could possibly one day be friends. Or maybe, if you were extremely lucky, maybe a little bit more than that. 

Only time would tell.

AN: And I’m gonna end it there! Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! As mentioned above, my requests are still 100% open, so feel free to send me any requests if you have them! 

Hope you’re all having a good day, and I’ll see you all next time!

[gilly-jilly]

JackScriptedEye Day 5

Just two dudes trying to understand each other. Some Fluff. Not a lot, but a healthy dose of it.

Btw, you might want to read Day 4 in case you want some background info on some Anti HCs. You don’t need to read it to understand the story, but some parts might make more sense :)

Day 5: Write an adventure with Jack and a companion of your choice. It could be another youtuber, Sam, or an ego from anyone.

Jack raised his eyebrows as he returned to the living room.

Anti was crouched in front of the sofa where a sleeping Signe currently lied, the palms of his hands resting firmly on the tops of his knees to steady himself. Wearing an unreadable expression, his face hovered merely a few inches away from her own, silently watching the way her chest rhythmically rose and fell as she slept.

It was then that Jack noticed the thin, beige blanket that had been draped loosely over Signe’s figure. It was done rather sloppily and didn’t quite reach her shoulders, but the intention was clear. He smiled to himself. It definitely hadn’t been there when he’d left the room.

Throwing the now damp hand towel over his shoulder, he sauntered over to where Anti had positioned himself to stand wordlessly next to him.

Jack gazed fondly as he studied Signe’s peaceful features alongside Anti. The way her lips just barely parted while she breathed. The flutter of her eyes every few moments or so. Her hair was a complete mess and her arms were positioned in an uncomfortable way, a sight he couldn’t help but mentally chuckle at, but even in that moment she was the most beautiful woman in the world to him.

Tearing his eyes away from her, Jack shifted his head to glance at Anti from out of the corner of his eye, taking in his blank expression. He frowned in contemplation. 

He and Anti had been together for quite some time, almost eight months now. Whether or not that decision was by choice is still up for debate, but he couldn’t deny the connection they shared with each other. He’d seen what Anti could do, felt what he could do, and despite how close the two of them were, both on physical and psychological terms, he knew that nothing was guaranteed with Anti around. Especially safety.

Still…while he didn’t fully understand what went on in Anti’s head sometimes, in moments like these he liked to think that deep down, buried beneath all of the malice and resentment he felt towards the world, there was a bit of a soft spot that he let show every once in awhile.

Almost as if having read his mind, Anti suddenly commented, “I’m not completely heartless, you know.” Jack now faced Anti fully, taken aback by his statement. Nonetheless, the corners of his mouth quirked.

“Could’ve fooled me,” he said jokingly. 

Anti let a smirk slip from that remark, but it was gone before the gesture could be registered. He removed his palms from his knees and opted to crossing his arms over them instead, letting his chin rest on top of both. His eyes never left Signe’s face. Jack turned away from Anti and looked over at Signe once more, letting a semi-comfortable silence fall between the two of them. The moment only lasted briefly before Jack decided to speak up about. Something was bothering him.

Looking over at Anti hesitantly, he mustered up the courage to interrogate him a bit. “Hey, I don’t mean to pry…” Jack started, sticking his thumbs inside his pajama pants, “but, what are you doing here?” Jack knew that it took a lot of effort for Anti to exist separately from his body for too long, so him being there definitely raised a few questions. Anti gave him a weak glare from the corner of his eyes. 

“Sounds a lot like prying to me,” he said accusingly. Jack averted his gaze and rubbed his toes uncomfortably against his ankle. He wasn’t sure where to go with this, or even if he should, but the question was already out. There was no point in backing down now.

“Look, I know my girlfriend is pretty and all,” he exclaimed, rolling his eyes to glance back at Anti, “but you’ve never really been one to fancy humans, or much of anything for that matter.” He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “A guy can’t help but wonder.”

Anti stared hardly at him and frowned, obviously annoyed with being questioned. Jack didn’t blame him. Because the two of them shared a body it was hard to keep certain things to themselves. An unwanted thought or feeling would sometimes slip into the other’s mind without their consent, more often than both would like to admit, so it came as no surprise that they both wanted to have at least some sense of control of their privacy. But even Anti couldn’t deny that his sudden interest in Signe was peculiar. 

Sighing to himself, Anti shifted his gaze to the floor.“There’s no real reason behind it,” he confessed. “I’m just…” he went silent for a while, squinting his eyes and clamping his teeth shut to try and find the right word to use. A few moments passed before he finally grumbled out a quiet, “learning,” in response. Jack quirked an eyebrow at this.

“Learning,” he said blankly, unsure of what to say to that. He didn’t know what kind of answer he was expecting, but ‘learning’ certainly wasn’t it. Blinking in confusion, he continued, “…for what?” 

Suddenly, Jack felt a faint rush of frustration from his chest, no doubt from Anti, accompanied by the flickering of the ceiling lights. Anti rose from his crouch and turned to face Jack, the edge of his form beginning to glitch out and the sound of tv static filling the room. He was very annoyed. 

Raising his voice, he bellowed, “F O R  L E A R N I N G  S T U F F ,  O K ?  J U S T  D R O P  I T!” 

Signe began to shift in her sleep, letting out a small groan and shifting her tangled limbs into a less compromising position. Her legs kicked the blanket even further down her body until it rested just below her armpits. 

Anti froze in his tracks and Jack felt the wave of frustration disappear, along with the tv static and flickering lights. Unsure of whether or not this sudden change was caused by his outburst or just perfect timing, Anti made an attempt to cool himself down.

He took a sharp breath through his mouth and released it slowly, keeping his eyes tightly shut to better control himself. Before long the glitching stopped and he regained his composure. “Sorry,” he said a little quieter than necessary, “didn’t mean to snap like that.”

Jack, slightly reeling from the sudden frustration that Anti flooded his system with, massaged his temple with a single hand and tiredly waved him off. “It’s fine,” he said tiredly, “ it was partially my fault.” 

The two stood in an awkward silence, Anti slowly but surely reverting back to his crouched position while Jack did his best to keep his distance from Anti. Seeing how he reacted to Signe’s response he was almost positive that Anti wouldn’t let himself have another outburst, but he couldn’t help but be wary. This wasn’t the first time he’d lashed out.

Then again, he was kind of the one to blame for imposing on his personal business, so he’d let this one slide.

Suddenly, he heard Anti audibly sigh from next to him, the sound being slightly muffled by what he could only assume was his hands. Before he could turn his head to see his expression, Anti mumbled quietly, “I’m learning to see what you see.”

Jack’s brain went blank, not fully registering what Anti said. Turning his head to him, he let out an airy, “What?”

Anti closed his eyes and let out another audible sigh, this one sounding more tired. He repeated himself more slowly. “I’m trying to learn what you see. Not just in Signe, but in…everything.” On the last word he outstretched his palms to gesture to the space around him.

Jack was struck into silence, unable to formulate a proper response. Here was Anti, an apathetic, otherworldly entity with a lust for murder and destruction, trying to learn how to feel. He didn’t know how to react. He wondered if Anti could feel his astonishment.

Anti frowned, his eyes shifting to his lifeless hands lingering in the space in front of him. He stared fervently at his blindingly pale skin, taking in every bump and crevice with a hard stare. After a few moments, he let them fall casually to his side.

“I’m not human, Jack,” he said lowly, turning his head to look at him. “I’m not meant to understand things like this. Human life. Human emotions. I shouldn’t be able to feel anything." 

He gave Jack a piercing stare, all sorts of emotions swimming in his golden eyes. Anger. Confusion. Frustration. None of it directed towards Jack in particular. However, his expression turned soft as he turned to look over at Signe again. He reached out to give her a gentle pat on the arm, almost making contact with the top of her wrist, but he decided against it and instead placed his hand on the edge of the sofa. He lowered his head and sighed.

“But I do feel things, whether I want to or not.” He paused for a moment, mulling over his next few words. “So then…if I am feeling things, human things, then the least I can do is try to understand them, right?”

Lowering his gaze to the floor, he quietly muttered, “I’m trying to, Jack. I really am.” 

Jack stared in awe at Anti, watching him shift his head to silently stare at Signe once more. He then glanced at the beige blanket that lay messily draped over her body, the edge now even farther away from her shoulders. He saw the way Anti looked at her while she slept, still no real expression on his face, but no look of desire to harm her either. He noticed the way his body was tensed and the restraint he showed to keep some distance between them, almost as if protecting her from himself.

He didn’t see a human, but he saw something, someone, trying his damned hardest to understand what it meant to be one.

Looking over to Signe once more, Jack smiled softly and hoped that Anti could feel the the warmth that swelled in his chest.

"I know you are.”