Finnick falls in love fast, easy, and hard. He can tell he's been falling for Levi, although the "oh shit" moment hasn't happened yet, the moment where you realize there's absolutely no going back.
But smelling the salt air and gazing at each other like this, mixing Levi into the environment Finnick loves most... He imagines that moment isn't far off.
He hops out of the boat and hauls it up onto dry land, far enough that the tide won't take it if it comes in, and buries the anchor in the sand just for good measure. He dries his hand and wipes every grain of sand from it before taking Levi's hand.
This island is all but deserted, and the light blue pools of steaming water in the rock are so cool. He approaches one and dips a toe in.
The year he's spent here probably has no small contribution to his becoming so comfortable with a stranger so quickly. In the absence of having to concentrate so fully on survival, on thinking forward to the next plan or expedition, there's more time to just...live. That doesn't mean shitty things won't happen, of course - Vaeros or whatever causes the weird shit in this world doesn't often let them be for long. But while he's never taken precious moments of life for granted, perhaps Levi is coming to believe that there's no reason to let things like this slip by, either.
Not that there's really been anyone who has caught his interest like this before now.
Finnick thoroughly cleaning his hand gets a little squeeze of appreciation, fingers sliding together as they walk. Levi can tolerate dirt (and other, filthier things) when needed, but it's always meaningful when someone takes the extra moment to think about his comfort.
There's little lights and lanterns leading up a path, showing that this place isn't entirely left to its own devices. The moonlight casts a silvery haze on everything, but there is a soft glow deep from the pools themselves.
"Some are hotter than others, so be careful not to lose your toes." They're not that hot, but that's not going to stop him saying it. Levi gives a tug on Finnick's hand, taking a step up the path that leads around the side of a rocky outcropping, toward a more secluded part of the island.
Finnick is also used to having to focus solely on survival- his own, and that of his loved ones. From age 14 onward, he was never free; the President owned him. So when people complain about being here, it's mostly lost on him. Sure, Vaeros is technically in control, but he mostly gets to live freely now, to do whatever he wants, without constant threat of death, of himself or his loved ones. Of course he's going to live it up, do and say whatever he wants, and love whoever he wants.
Finnick laughs lightly, allowing himself to be pulled by Levi to a more private area. It's quiet here; all that can be heard are the crickets and the waves lapping gently at the shoreline. He allows Levi to pick the pool they go into, since he seems to be the expert, and in the meantime takes off his clothing. He's not sure if going completely nude would make Levi uncomfortable, so he waits to see what the other man does before removing his underwear.
Some will rail against being prisoner, about being brought here against their will; Levi will never fault them for that - if anything, part of him worries about being complacent. Their peace is often disturbed here, but sometimes it feels as though he should be fighting for something. There's guilt that sits in him, buried deep, that he's decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth and accept what he's been given: more time with the person he most desperately doesn't want to lose, but will anyway. In that regard, he and Finnick are very much agreed.
Levi's not that much of an expert (he's been to the hot springs at most twice), but even with his limited experience, he has his preferred spot. Around the far side, there's a pool that's conveniently half under an outcropping of rock, and half exposed, hidden from most sides by trees, with a small window of a view out over the water. It's deep enough that even tall people can comfortably sit submerged, but no so deep that the water would go over his own head, covering at most over his shoulders. It's hot enough to stay in for a while without boiling yourself alive.
As for clothing, there's no hesitation or shyness as he fully strips, clothing carefully folded and wrapped in a plain bit of cloth to keep off the rocks and separate from the clean set he'd brought with him in the bag. Nudity in and of itself doesn't seem to be an issue, far too accustomed to the concept of communal bathing, but as a result neither is he showing off. It's easier to see now the dense muscle beneath skin, outlined in plains and dips occasionally interrupted by many scars collected over a lifetime. A handful slice over his arms and chest, more crossing his back and thighs, one grazing just under his ribs on his right side. His limbs are a little thicker than what someone might ordinarily assume for his size, but for those who have really seen what he can do, even this form doesn't quite add up.
Levi does sneak a little glance at Finnick, not quite able to help himself, before carefully easing into the steaming pool. The man tends to go around with much less clothing, especially when there's water nearby, but that doesn't necessarily mean going fully nude into a spring is something he's used to. He deliberately tries not to ogle (although Finnick is now only the second person Levi could ever be accused of ogling at all), just in case...
...but he is nice to look at.
He exhales and sinks down a little more into the water, letting the heat soak into his muscles. Really, he should come here more often. Baths are nice, but this is better.
This spot is absolutely perfect, in Finnick's opinion. Very private, but still with a view of the ocean. As Levi undresses completely, Finnick follows suit, removing his underwear and leaving his clothes in a much less neat pile on a dry part of the rock.
He's quite comfortable with being nude, and this shows in the way he carries himself, casual and confident. Finnick has an athletic build, with the curves of his muscles somewhat accentuated by a healthy layer of fat that suggests he eats as much as he works out, something that's considered a great privilege where he's from. He never takes food for granted.
The tricky part is not ogling Levi too much. He finds uniqueness very attractive in a person, and how small yet dense Levi is intrigues him, as do the scars. Based on Finnick's description of his past, one might expect him to have a lot of scars, but there are oddly only a few littering his bronze, sun-freckled skin, and the ones he does have don't seem to be caused by blades but by some weird type of burn. Finnick is actually a little jealous of Levi's scarring, wishing that the Capitol hadn't erased all of his to make him physically perfect.
Finnick watches Levi enter the pool, and grins widely at the man's reaction, laughing quietly to himself. Levi seems to take on a lot, generally a tense and somewhat neurotic person, so seeing him relax so quickly is a real treat. Only once Finnick has taken the other man in does he follow him into the pool, letting out his own sound of pleasure at the heat.
That is something he's noticed - the stories that Finnick has already told him, children fighting one another to the death doesn't leave some benign marks on your body. Even Levi, with all of his prowess and competency in battle, can't control or dodge everything. Especially in close combat, injuries are that much more likely. But at first glance, aside from those burn marks, Finnick's skin is...remarkably clean.
Perhaps he is staring a bit now, watching that easy confidence in the way he moves as he slips gracefully into the water. It's ever clear that it's really where he's meant to be, perhaps much in the way Levi is meant to soar through the sky. It's good to see, almost as though the water itself is welcoming him in, and Levi drifts closer, drawn in by the smile and that sound, carefully skirting along the edge and away from the deeper part of the pool at first.
"Gonna have to make you bring us out here more often," he mutters, voice low as he settles next to the larger man. "Easier now with that boat."
To Finnick, this already feels very intimate; romantic, even. The silence, the beauty of nature around them, their bodies drifting toward one another in the pool as though drawn by the pull of the moon. Tide creeping up on the shore. Finnick gets close, his hands chancing a light grip on Levi's waist.
"Any time you want. I'm really glad you suggested it."
Finnick has never been to any sort of hot spring, and even the fancy bathhouses in the Capitol have nothing on a place like this.
It is very much those things - especially away from the village, from anywhere that could really chance interruption. Levi especially feels a ripple of something out from his chest as Finnick reaches for him so, so easily, hold light and escapable. It's tempting to just pitch forward and press his face into that broader chest, but for now he manages to resist, instead flicking a look up at Finnick through dark lashes. His hands find places to rest, one lightly on the bicep of his real arm, the other splayed against his chest. Sure, it's warm in the hot spring, but the heat of his skin is warm, like proof of life.
"...me too." It's all he says for now, letting his gaze examine the other man up close. Even in the cool moonlight, Finnick's skin looks softly golden. Levi traces it with his fingertips, meandering slowly, thoughtfully, until he finds a line of that strange burn, skirting the edges. He avoids the missing arm for now...remembering how long it took Erwin to grow comfortable enough with touch anywhere near it.
"What's this?" he asks softly, without any real expectation of an answer; not everyone wishes to share the stories of their scars.
Finnick, too, feels more warmth spread through him at Levi's touch. Levi always touches his neck, his chest, his heart; it feels vulnerable, sweet, special. Like the man wants a connection to the parts of Finnick that keep him alive.
For now, he still wears his prosthetic, since it's waterproof and helps him swim and hold onto Levi. He only takes it off to sleep and bathe.
He watches Levi observing him, studying his form with those curious dark eyes. Finnick admires that curiosity. As Levi looks closer, he'll see the scars are strange irregular splotches, about the shape and size of a large coin, probably unlike any scar he's seen before, but most similar to a burn mark. They're more plentiful on Finnick's hand, his forearm, and his neck.
"It's from poison fog, in the arena. Excruciating blisters, caused on contact. Paralytic, too," Finnick murmurs, his voice a calm hum despite the horrible memory he recounts. He looks down at his own hand, observing one of the scars himself.
It's habit by now, to seek out those places; each touch a little reaffirmation that this person who is so dear to him is alive, real...because he'll outlive all of them. Better to know for sure now, to hold them now, while he can.
Levi listens quietly, leaning in closer almost without really realizing it. His touch lingers at the hollow of Finnick's throat, going a little still at the thought of being paralyzed by fog. It would easily be a death sentence, no matter what, and a fucking terrifying one at that. His stomach clenches a little.
But gray eyes move upward again at those last words. A horrendous way to die for anyone, but especially for someone you love.
For a long moment, he just holds a quiet sorrow with Finnick, that shared ache of loss; familiar, but no less edged. Afterward, Levi slowly leans upward, going up onto his toes and drawing the taller man in a little closer just to gently touch their foreheads together.
"Hopefully he's being stuffed full of his own shit this fucking minute."
In the silence, he's able to feel the weight of the grief Mags deserves. He hopes it was quick. The cannon sounded right away, so he knows it was quick, but how agonizing it must have been, he prefers not to dwell on.
So at the little joke, he laughs softly, pulling Levi in closer, arms around his lower back.
"With any luck, he's in hell and the shit-stuffing will be eternal." He leans down enough to kiss Levi's lips, firm but brief. Then he pulls back slightly to look at Levi's scars again, tracing a finger along one of them.
"I'm envious of all your scars, though. I like how they show where you've been, they tell stories. I should have a lot more, but the Capitol erased all of mine so that I'd be a beautiful perfect fuck-toy for their elite. And look better on camera, of course. These ones are only there because I got them once I was mostly out of their grasp."
Finnick and Erwin really are made of different stuff, to kiss a guy just after he talks about shit.
Levi's not arguing, though.
He'll settle back down on his heels again, the touch of a fingertip raising goosebumps over his skin. At first it sounds a little strange, for someone to envious of the evidence of the shitty and dangerous life he's had, but the reason for it is probably one of the last things he ever would have guessed. It make his blood go cold with an instant, icy rage, and he stares up at Finnick, wide-eyed and incredulous.
"...they fucking what." His voice is low, dangerous.
How fucking dare they.
It takes an inordinate amount of self control to not grip Finnick's arm too tightly, the hand against his chest curling into a hard, white-knuckled fist. All of the tension that had left him earlier is back in an instant, muscles coiled hard and tight.
"So they forced you to fight and kill other brats until you're the only one left, then somehow fix your body like it didn't fucking happen so they could sell you to a bunch of disgusting rich pigs who want to fuck a kid?"
It's not enough to be made to fight for survival against other people, but to then erase the evidence of that struggle so that he could be a pretty child to fuck, too-- it's beyond sickening. Levi's plenty aware that there are monsters who traffic children for sex; he'd almost been one of their victims, if his power hadn't awakened then so he could literally rip their faces from their skulls. But this is an even greater level of control over the body of another person, just for someone else's sick pleasure, and it doesn't change how fucking horrifying it truly is.
Finnick watches as Levi transforms, the muscles in his neck going taut, his gaze hardening, his tone dark and intense. It's actually alarming. Finnick suddenly feels a bit guilty; they came here to relax, and then Finnick said something that made Levi more riled up than he's ever seen him. It was an accident, but part of him feels like he shouldn't have said that, that he should have hidden it like he does with most people, most of the time.
It's also alarming because despite how fucked up it all is, it's just... Something Finnick had to deal with, something that's considered normal in his world. He learned how to survive, how to cope, what parts of himself to harden to prevent it from hurting so much.
However, there's still the very broken part of him that hurts about this every single day. There's still a part of him that feels deep shame, self loathing, and worthlessness, due to being treated like he was only good for someone else's entertainment, being treated not as a full human but rather an object to be played with or watched.
Levi's anger speaks to that part of him, implicitly saying it's not you, it's them. They're the ones who have done something wrong, something completely unforgivable and unjustifiable. It wasn't a deficiency of Finnick's that made them treat him so poorly, it was their own selfishness and greed, their lack of regard for their fellow humans just because they grew up less wealthy. They're the ones who should feel ashamed.
He touches his fingertips gently to Levi's temple and pushes them backward through his hair. His brows are drawn together in concern for Levi's anger, but his gaze is vulnerable. No matter what Finnick does to mask it, there is still a child inside of him that wants to be saved, to be protected from the horrors of the world. Protected by someone like Levi, who would cut down anyone who mistreated him. That child feels present in his mind now, and a glimpse of that young Finnick might even be visible in aquamarine eyes. Levi is angry the way that someone should have been angry for him over a decade ago, and though it's late, it still means something to him.
Edited (Added a sentence {then fixed a typo in the sentence I added F}) 2024-08-18 14:45 (UTC)
There is murder in his eyes. Vicious, visceral anger. Energy coils in his limbs, seeking some sort of release, tight like a spring.
Finnick's soft touch dissipates much of it, though the rage still lingers. It's not so blinding that Levi can't see the look in his eyes, young and hurt, and it just fuels the ferocious surge of protectiveness in his chest. Even more infuriating, there's nothing he can do about it in the moment, even though every passing second comes with ever increasingly cruel ideas of how to make the people who tormented Finnick and every other person like him, who watched children murder one another for sport and then erased the evidence of their hard-won survival just to make their bodies more desirable to be used.
His breathing is hard, heavy, carefully controlled furor as he shifts his hand from Finnick's arm to the back of his neck, fingers sliding into soft curls. He stares fiercely into seeking blue eyes, and speaks quietly, but with fierce and clear hatred.
"If any one of those fucking monsters show up here, I will stuff their mouths with shit and peel their skin from their bodies with my bare hands. I will pull apart their skulls and every bone one by one and grind them into dust and feed their stinking offal to pigs, so there'll be nothing left but shit and mud, and I'll do it to anyone who dares to fucking try to use you like that again."
The rage doesn't scare Finnick; he's been around lots of angry people in his time. Victors are a murderous bunch by definition (except for Peeta, of course), and that's mainly who he was close to in his world. And it's touching, that Levi feels so strongly about the injustices of his world and wants to protect him from it all. His terrifying threat is sweet, in a way. But... Levi is seething. He can't tell anymore if the steam is coming from the warm water or from Levi or both. Finnick tries to think of the best way to de-escalate him without invalidating the sentiment of what he's trying to say. He speaks gently, but with intention.
"Levi... No one is going to use me like that here. No one is coming for me from my world." For better or worse. His loved ones aren't coming, but nor are his enemies.
"But I promise if they do, you can kill them however you want."
He rubs his back soothingly, kisses his forehead. If they were in town, he'd suggest they smash bottles- something he's done with both Eren and Nina to vent off their rage in a harmless way. But there are no bottles here. So, half-jokingly, he mutters:
It's another thing that makes them well matched; so many people don't know what to do about his violence, the anger when it shows. That intensity has always been part of him, ever since that day when he was a child. Ackerman power is triggered necessarily by extreme trauma and self preservation. Levi can be vicious and vengeful, but it's especially reserved for people who cause such wanton suffering.
He doesn't particularly agree with Finnick's claim that no one is coming for him; part of the problem is that they never know who or what could show up. It doesn't negate his promise, because he'd meant every fucking word of it and will never hesitate to follow through, should the opportunity arise. But he lets Finnick's more level-headed response and gentle touch erode more of that anger, following his lead. His shoulders drop a little, fist unclenching. Just beneath his hand is one of the few scars Finnick does have, a mark over his throat, and Levi brushes it thoughtfully with the pad of his thumb.
Erasing scars to make them more desirable.
His teeth clench a little. "I will." Kill them. Slowly. As painfully as possible.
Funnily enough, when Hange told him they were dead, the first thing he did was grab a bottle off the beach and hurl it to shatter against a rock. That would feel good right now, but unfortunately there's little around them to release the last of his anger. It somehow feels unfair to destroy a tree for it, so his target becomes one of the wooden buckets that's been placed around the spring for people to use.
"...one sec." He mumbles, and slips from Finnick's embrace to stalk toward the hot water toward the unsuspecting vessel. The water only comes up to just below his waist here, so he easily hops out up onto the rocks, completely nude and completely uncaring about it. It'd be more satisfying to kick it, but he's not wearing shoes and doesn't feel like breaking his toe.
So instead, he hefts it in one hand. It's not flimsy thing, either. The wood is thick and solid, well put together.
Levi hurls the bucket with a sudden burst of momentum and a wide, powerful swing of his arm. It flies with terrifying, impossible speed through the air and seems to positively explode into dozens of splinters upon impact with a rock face twenty feet away.
He lets out a breath and slides back into the water, already calm again.
Finnick watches curiously as Levi exits the pool and heads for the bucket. He flinches as it explodes, his eyes closing for a moment.
Jesus Christ. Mark him down for another boyfriend with superhuman power. Is Finnick the only regular dude in this fucking place? Aside from Adam? No, don't tell him, Adam can turn invisible or something, right? It's gotta be something, it's always something.
It seems to do the trick though, at least, he hopes so. Finnick opens his arms to Levi as he returns.
"Let's go deeper. I've got you." He coaxes Levi into the deeper water, remembering how it seemed to sap out all the tension from the smaller man's body earlier. He keeps a gentle hold of him as they submerge; although the water doesn't seem deep enough to go over Levi's head, that doesn't mean there's zero risk, especially since the guy can't swim.
So at this point, just hearing about Finnick's trauma has made Night Sky bawl and Levi get so angry he had to break something into a million pieces. Finnick isn't sure how to feel about that. He's always downplayed it, tried to normalize it to himself. It feels like old news, now, but... Of course it still affects him. More than that, it shaped him. It's the reason he's hypersexual, the reason he thinks little of himself and relies on external validation, the reason he's great at getting people to like him, the reason he finds it very hard to say no in any sexual situation. Some of it is positive, some negative, but overall, his experiences made him who he is now. Thank god for the more recent and healing experiences he's had in these new worlds to mellow him out a bit, since he used to be pretty intense and kind of a prick.
He smiles faintly at Levi, hoping that he's okay, fingertips ghosting across his shoulder blades.
"I appreciate you wanting to protect me. It's very sweet. I never really had that." He offers a gentle kiss to Levi's lips. Mags helped him survive, but his parents were absent, and he was always put into the position of protecting someone else. No one was ever ready to kill for him.
All the more reason for Finnick to get to know Erwin - just another regular guy with no particularly special powers to speak of. Erwin is strong, incredibly so, but aside from that and his big brain, he has no special abilities. Same for Jean, really. Levi had gone most of his life not even knowing where all of his power came from or why he even had it to begin with - in the grand scheme of things, that revelation is still fairly recent. But knowing didn't change his perspective on it all that much...except for realizing that persecution was likely the reason why his mother was forced to flee to the underground.
Lately, though, he's been quietly wondering if having that power here is truly a good thing. Jean had been lucky it had only been his ribs.
Finnick opens his arms, and Levi goes to him, lets the younger man gently usher him into deeper water. Once it starts to climb halfway up his chest is when the anxiety kicks in, and he hesitates. But the touch is a nice reassurance, a distraction, the kiss even more so as he leans up into it, putting just a little extra pressure behind it. He is calmer, almost entirely back to the same level he had been before, and a faint flush creeps up the back of his neck.
"...not enough people have," he says quietly, steadying himself on Finnick's arm again. He can feel the firm muscle there, confirming what he already knows: Finnick is strong in his own right. He wouldn't have survived a fucking death match if he wasn't. But even strong people need someone to look out for them, once in a while. Harder, too, when you're stronger than anyone else. Who looks out for you then?
"I know you can take care of yourself, but if you ever need me...just ask. Or use the talking device, or just show up."
Two regular, strong blonde guys with one arm. Levi seems to have a type.
Finnick senses Levi's small, brief hesitation as they move to deeper water, and instinctively he pulls Levi closer, supports him more with his arms.
In Finnick's case, it was indeed that he was stronger than the people he held dear, and wasn't particularly close to anyone powerful enough to protect him, so he had to be strong enough to do it himself, emotionally and physically. But in these new worlds, he's far from being the strongest, in fact might be considered one of the weakest when all the insane powers people have are taken into account. He hates being underestimated, talked down to, or thought weak. It feels like his scars being erased all over again, his accomplishment of surviving in such a hostile world redacted from his history. But he does like the feeling of people looking out for him, keeping him safe. It takes some pressure off of him, pressure that was always there when it was his responsibility to keep Mags and Annie alive. When you sleep in an arena with allies, there's always someone to keep watch, and that's what Somnius feels like.
"Thank you. The same goes for you, Levi. I'm here for you always, and I'll protect you if I can." He continues to wrap his arms further around the smaller man, kissing his cheek, then peppering a few soft kisses down his neck as he hugs into him.
It was probably Farlan who first really made Levi feel safe enough to trust another person. Kenny had picked him up as a scrawny brat at death's door and given him food and shelter for a time, as well as how to survive in the cruel underground. But he'd disappeared as soon as those strange powers had manifested, without even a word or a look of goodbye, and it would be decades before he ever saw him again. Farlan and Isabel helped him learn how to trust others...and eventually was able to find camaraderie with the Survey Corps. It is better, to have someone looking out for you. He feels fortunate, to have that here, too.
Finnick pulls him closer, and Levi's hands find their way to broader shoulders, fingertips pressing in. He makes a little noise of surprise at all of those extra kisses, huffing a bit even as his eyes flutter shut for a few moments, letting a shiver course briefly down his spine when lips brush against a sensitive patch of skin on his throat.
"Yeah-" he breathes, shifting one hand to scrunch into Finnick's curls to distract him from getting too carried away yet. "Great, you're gonna start by making sure I don't drown in this overgrown bathtub."
Levi seems to have a mixed reaction to the kisses, which reminds Finnick to go slower, not to overwhelm him. He forgets sometimes, since Levi operates very differently from the lover he spends the most time with, Night Sky. Those two are constantly fucking. Although he didn't intend the kisses to initiate anything sexual, only to smother Levi in affections... Levi probably doesn't like being smothered.
He pulls back just slightly, but can't resist one more kiss on the cheek.
"Yep, that's definitely step one. Won't be hard, though, and I can multitask." A small mischievous smirk pulls at his lips.
The smothering is definitely a little overwhelming, even though Levi's come to realize that large bursts of physical affection is just part of how Finnick expresses himself. It's sweet and wonderful in its own way, but definitely not something he's accustomed to quite yet. Luckily, it doesn't take much to signal when he's nearing his limit, for which he's grateful; even if it will take time for him to get used to, the last thing he wants to do is completely discourage Finnick from touching him at all.
Because Levi does like to be touched, but only by certain people, and even there, it's always a sliding scale on what he can handle - so many things are still new for him, and he's still figuring out that there are simply some places on his body that are more reactive than others when touched in the right way.
Such as a kiss to a certain spot on the neck.
Finnick leaves one more kiss, and Levi catches his chin between thumb and forefinger to take quick one of his own, but from his lips, this time.
He makes an amused noise and lets him go.
"Good. So get started, Teach."
internet wont tell me if hot springs are salty so im making the exec decision that they are
Finnick is also still learning about physical boundaries; he was never allowed any, which implicitly taught him the untruth that no one else has any either. It took him a while to unlearn that, and it's still ongoing, but he knows now how vitally important it is. After all, he never wants to be like the creeps who took advantage of him, so he never wants to make someone uncomfortable or force his own desires on them. He'll keep trying, keep recalibrating for Levi's comfort, until they know each other well enough to find a compromise, a happy middle.
"Teach...?" A look of puzzlement. "Oh, right, you still wanna learn to swim? Well..."
He purses his lips, scratches the back of his head.
"To be honest, I'm not sure where to start. For me, teaching someone to swim is like you teaching someone to walk. It's automatic by now, y'know? I don't remember how I learned, it feels like I always knew."
He takes a breath, looking into the water and idly swirling his fingers in it to think.
"I guess the first thing to know is that in salt water, you'll float easily. Fresh water, less so. That's because the salt and whatever other minerals make the water more dense. So here, you actually don't have to expend that much energy to keep your head above. At least, I think this is salt water--" he licks his finger. "Yeah."
"So maybe we should start by treading water. Just staying in one place and keeping yourself afloat with little kicks and hand movements." He demonstrates, moving a bit deeper to tread for a few moments, although since it's dark not much can be seen under the water. Levi will mostly have to figure out what works for him by trying it, he guesses. He'll hold onto Levi's waist if he does try it, to make sure his head doesn't dip under.
The important thing is that he backs down when asked; a touch, a shrug of his shoulder, pulling back. It's rare that Finnick doesn't realize that Levi needs space, which feels like a fucking goldmine, somehow. People who are as touchy as Finnick seems to be tend to be annoyingly oblivious to the concept that not everyone is as happy to be pawed at all the time. He never pushes, and he never ridicules.
Truly, some part of him is waiting for the other shoe to drop. But so far there's been no hint of it. Not even a shadow.
Levi can't see what Finnick is doing well enough to mimic it, and the description is a little confusing. Pursing his lips, he tries to move out to a little bit deeper water, throat clenching a little, but Finnick's hands at his waist are a somewhat reassuring safety net.
Which is good, because the first time he tries it he's definitely not doing something right, as he starts to sink almost immediately, sucking in a somewhat panicked breath as the water rises toward his head.
"Fuck-"
they all got mad dissolved minerals so ya, buoyancy bay bee
"Breathe. I have you," Finnick says firmly, immediately, as Levi starts to panic. His hands tighten slightly around Levi's small and dense waist, holding him afloat, his chin above the surface. Due to their height difference, Finnick's feet are still planted, so he can hold Levi mostly still.
"You can stop moving completely. See? You won't go under. Stay still for a sec and get used to it."
He looks into Levi's eyes, his gaze encouraging and steady, and breathes loudly enough for both of them to hear.
"Panicking wastes your energy and increases your risk of drowning. So focus on your breath. Whenever you're ready, start to kick. You want to push the water downward under you with your hands and feet."
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But smelling the salt air and gazing at each other like this, mixing Levi into the environment Finnick loves most... He imagines that moment isn't far off.
He hops out of the boat and hauls it up onto dry land, far enough that the tide won't take it if it comes in, and buries the anchor in the sand just for good measure. He dries his hand and wipes every grain of sand from it before taking Levi's hand.
This island is all but deserted, and the light blue pools of steaming water in the rock are so cool. He approaches one and dips a toe in.
"Whoa. This is awesome."
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Not that there's really been anyone who has caught his interest like this before now.
Finnick thoroughly cleaning his hand gets a little squeeze of appreciation, fingers sliding together as they walk. Levi can tolerate dirt (and other, filthier things) when needed, but it's always meaningful when someone takes the extra moment to think about his comfort.
There's little lights and lanterns leading up a path, showing that this place isn't entirely left to its own devices. The moonlight casts a silvery haze on everything, but there is a soft glow deep from the pools themselves.
"Some are hotter than others, so be careful not to lose your toes." They're not that hot, but that's not going to stop him saying it. Levi gives a tug on Finnick's hand, taking a step up the path that leads around the side of a rocky outcropping, toward a more secluded part of the island.
"C'mon, the better ones are over here."
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Finnick laughs lightly, allowing himself to be pulled by Levi to a more private area. It's quiet here; all that can be heard are the crickets and the waves lapping gently at the shoreline. He allows Levi to pick the pool they go into, since he seems to be the expert, and in the meantime takes off his clothing. He's not sure if going completely nude would make Levi uncomfortable, so he waits to see what the other man does before removing his underwear.
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Levi's not that much of an expert (he's been to the hot springs at most twice), but even with his limited experience, he has his preferred spot. Around the far side, there's a pool that's conveniently half under an outcropping of rock, and half exposed, hidden from most sides by trees, with a small window of a view out over the water. It's deep enough that even tall people can comfortably sit submerged, but no so deep that the water would go over his own head, covering at most over his shoulders. It's hot enough to stay in for a while without boiling yourself alive.
As for clothing, there's no hesitation or shyness as he fully strips, clothing carefully folded and wrapped in a plain bit of cloth to keep off the rocks and separate from the clean set he'd brought with him in the bag. Nudity in and of itself doesn't seem to be an issue, far too accustomed to the concept of communal bathing, but as a result neither is he showing off. It's easier to see now the dense muscle beneath skin, outlined in plains and dips occasionally interrupted by many scars collected over a lifetime. A handful slice over his arms and chest, more crossing his back and thighs, one grazing just under his ribs on his right side. His limbs are a little thicker than what someone might ordinarily assume for his size, but for those who have really seen what he can do, even this form doesn't quite add up.
Levi does sneak a little glance at Finnick, not quite able to help himself, before carefully easing into the steaming pool. The man tends to go around with much less clothing, especially when there's water nearby, but that doesn't necessarily mean going fully nude into a spring is something he's used to. He deliberately tries not to ogle (although Finnick is now only the second person Levi could ever be accused of ogling at all), just in case...
...but he is nice to look at.
He exhales and sinks down a little more into the water, letting the heat soak into his muscles. Really, he should come here more often. Baths are nice, but this is better.
"Fuck..." he sounds very relieved.
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He's quite comfortable with being nude, and this shows in the way he carries himself, casual and confident. Finnick has an athletic build, with the curves of his muscles somewhat accentuated by a healthy layer of fat that suggests he eats as much as he works out, something that's considered a great privilege where he's from. He never takes food for granted.
The tricky part is not ogling Levi too much. He finds uniqueness very attractive in a person, and how small yet dense Levi is intrigues him, as do the scars. Based on Finnick's description of his past, one might expect him to have a lot of scars, but there are oddly only a few littering his bronze, sun-freckled skin, and the ones he does have don't seem to be caused by blades but by some weird type of burn. Finnick is actually a little jealous of Levi's scarring, wishing that the Capitol hadn't erased all of his to make him physically perfect.
Finnick watches Levi enter the pool, and grins widely at the man's reaction, laughing quietly to himself. Levi seems to take on a lot, generally a tense and somewhat neurotic person, so seeing him relax so quickly is a real treat. Only once Finnick has taken the other man in does he follow him into the pool, letting out his own sound of pleasure at the heat.
"Mmmm..."
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Perhaps he is staring a bit now, watching that easy confidence in the way he moves as he slips gracefully into the water. It's ever clear that it's really where he's meant to be, perhaps much in the way Levi is meant to soar through the sky. It's good to see, almost as though the water itself is welcoming him in, and Levi drifts closer, drawn in by the smile and that sound, carefully skirting along the edge and away from the deeper part of the pool at first.
"Gonna have to make you bring us out here more often," he mutters, voice low as he settles next to the larger man. "Easier now with that boat."
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"Any time you want. I'm really glad you suggested it."
Finnick has never been to any sort of hot spring, and even the fancy bathhouses in the Capitol have nothing on a place like this.
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"...me too." It's all he says for now, letting his gaze examine the other man up close. Even in the cool moonlight, Finnick's skin looks softly golden. Levi traces it with his fingertips, meandering slowly, thoughtfully, until he finds a line of that strange burn, skirting the edges. He avoids the missing arm for now...remembering how long it took Erwin to grow comfortable enough with touch anywhere near it.
"What's this?" he asks softly, without any real expectation of an answer; not everyone wishes to share the stories of their scars.
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For now, he still wears his prosthetic, since it's waterproof and helps him swim and hold onto Levi. He only takes it off to sleep and bathe.
He watches Levi observing him, studying his form with those curious dark eyes. Finnick admires that curiosity. As Levi looks closer, he'll see the scars are strange irregular splotches, about the shape and size of a large coin, probably unlike any scar he's seen before, but most similar to a burn mark. They're more plentiful on Finnick's hand, his forearm, and his neck.
"It's from poison fog, in the arena. Excruciating blisters, caused on contact. Paralytic, too," Finnick murmurs, his voice a calm hum despite the horrible memory he recounts. He looks down at his own hand, observing one of the scars himself.
Quieter, he says:
"It's how Mags went."
hashtag romance
Levi listens quietly, leaning in closer almost without really realizing it. His touch lingers at the hollow of Finnick's throat, going a little still at the thought of being paralyzed by fog. It would easily be a death sentence, no matter what, and a fucking terrifying one at that. His stomach clenches a little.
But gray eyes move upward again at those last words. A horrendous way to die for anyone, but especially for someone you love.
For a long moment, he just holds a quiet sorrow with Finnick, that shared ache of loss; familiar, but no less edged. Afterward, Levi slowly leans upward, going up onto his toes and drawing the taller man in a little closer just to gently touch their foreheads together.
"Hopefully he's being stuffed full of his own shit this fucking minute."
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So at the little joke, he laughs softly, pulling Levi in closer, arms around his lower back.
"With any luck, he's in hell and the shit-stuffing will be eternal." He leans down enough to kiss Levi's lips, firm but brief. Then he pulls back slightly to look at Levi's scars again, tracing a finger along one of them.
"I'm envious of all your scars, though. I like how they show where you've been, they tell stories. I should have a lot more, but the Capitol erased all of mine so that I'd be a beautiful perfect fuck-toy for their elite. And look better on camera, of course. These ones are only there because I got them once I was mostly out of their grasp."
CW: CSA, violence
Levi's not arguing, though.
He'll settle back down on his heels again, the touch of a fingertip raising goosebumps over his skin. At first it sounds a little strange, for someone to envious of the evidence of the shitty and dangerous life he's had, but the reason for it is probably one of the last things he ever would have guessed. It make his blood go cold with an instant, icy rage, and he stares up at Finnick, wide-eyed and incredulous.
"...they fucking what." His voice is low, dangerous.
How fucking dare they.
It takes an inordinate amount of self control to not grip Finnick's arm too tightly, the hand against his chest curling into a hard, white-knuckled fist. All of the tension that had left him earlier is back in an instant, muscles coiled hard and tight.
"So they forced you to fight and kill other brats until you're the only one left, then somehow fix your body like it didn't fucking happen so they could sell you to a bunch of disgusting rich pigs who want to fuck a kid?"
It's not enough to be made to fight for survival against other people, but to then erase the evidence of that struggle so that he could be a pretty child to fuck, too-- it's beyond sickening. Levi's plenty aware that there are monsters who traffic children for sex; he'd almost been one of their victims, if his power hadn't awakened then so he could literally rip their faces from their skulls. But this is an even greater level of control over the body of another person, just for someone else's sick pleasure, and it doesn't change how fucking horrifying it truly is.
He needs to fucking kick something.
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Finnick watches as Levi transforms, the muscles in his neck going taut, his gaze hardening, his tone dark and intense. It's actually alarming. Finnick suddenly feels a bit guilty; they came here to relax, and then Finnick said something that made Levi more riled up than he's ever seen him. It was an accident, but part of him feels like he shouldn't have said that, that he should have hidden it like he does with most people, most of the time.
It's also alarming because despite how fucked up it all is, it's just... Something Finnick had to deal with, something that's considered normal in his world. He learned how to survive, how to cope, what parts of himself to harden to prevent it from hurting so much.
However, there's still the very broken part of him that hurts about this every single day. There's still a part of him that feels deep shame, self loathing, and worthlessness, due to being treated like he was only good for someone else's entertainment, being treated not as a full human but rather an object to be played with or watched.
Levi's anger speaks to that part of him, implicitly saying it's not you, it's them. They're the ones who have done something wrong, something completely unforgivable and unjustifiable. It wasn't a deficiency of Finnick's that made them treat him so poorly, it was their own selfishness and greed, their lack of regard for their fellow humans just because they grew up less wealthy. They're the ones who should feel ashamed.
He touches his fingertips gently to Levi's temple and pushes them backward through his hair. His brows are drawn together in concern for Levi's anger, but his gaze is vulnerable. No matter what Finnick does to mask it, there is still a child inside of him that wants to be saved, to be protected from the horrors of the world. Protected by someone like Levi, who would cut down anyone who mistreated him. That child feels present in his mind now, and a glimpse of that young Finnick might even be visible in aquamarine eyes. Levi is angry the way that someone should have been angry for him over a decade ago, and though it's late, it still means something to him.
cw: description of graphic violence
Finnick's soft touch dissipates much of it, though the rage still lingers. It's not so blinding that Levi can't see the look in his eyes, young and hurt, and it just fuels the ferocious surge of protectiveness in his chest. Even more infuriating, there's nothing he can do about it in the moment, even though every passing second comes with ever increasingly cruel ideas of how to make the people who tormented Finnick and every other person like him, who watched children murder one another for sport and then erased the evidence of their hard-won survival just to make their bodies more desirable to be used.
His breathing is hard, heavy, carefully controlled furor as he shifts his hand from Finnick's arm to the back of his neck, fingers sliding into soft curls. He stares fiercely into seeking blue eyes, and speaks quietly, but with fierce and clear hatred.
"If any one of those fucking monsters show up here, I will stuff their mouths with shit and peel their skin from their bodies with my bare hands. I will pull apart their skulls and every bone one by one and grind them into dust and feed their stinking offal to pigs, so there'll be nothing left but shit and mud, and I'll do it to anyone who dares to fucking try to use you like that again."
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"Levi... No one is going to use me like that here. No one is coming for me from my world." For better or worse. His loved ones aren't coming, but nor are his enemies.
"But I promise if they do, you can kill them however you want."
He rubs his back soothingly, kisses his forehead. If they were in town, he'd suggest they smash bottles- something he's done with both Eren and Nina to vent off their rage in a harmless way. But there are no bottles here. So, half-jokingly, he mutters:
"You wanna go punch a tree or something?"
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He doesn't particularly agree with Finnick's claim that no one is coming for him; part of the problem is that they never know who or what could show up. It doesn't negate his promise, because he'd meant every fucking word of it and will never hesitate to follow through, should the opportunity arise. But he lets Finnick's more level-headed response and gentle touch erode more of that anger, following his lead. His shoulders drop a little, fist unclenching. Just beneath his hand is one of the few scars Finnick does have, a mark over his throat, and Levi brushes it thoughtfully with the pad of his thumb.
Erasing scars to make them more desirable.
His teeth clench a little. "I will." Kill them. Slowly. As painfully as possible.
Funnily enough, when Hange told him they were dead, the first thing he did was grab a bottle off the beach and hurl it to shatter against a rock. That would feel good right now, but unfortunately there's little around them to release the last of his anger. It somehow feels unfair to destroy a tree for it, so his target becomes one of the wooden buckets that's been placed around the spring for people to use.
"...one sec." He mumbles, and slips from Finnick's embrace to stalk toward the hot water toward the unsuspecting vessel. The water only comes up to just below his waist here, so he easily hops out up onto the rocks, completely nude and completely uncaring about it. It'd be more satisfying to kick it, but he's not wearing shoes and doesn't feel like breaking his toe.
So instead, he hefts it in one hand. It's not flimsy thing, either. The wood is thick and solid, well put together.
Levi hurls the bucket with a sudden burst of momentum and a wide, powerful swing of his arm. It flies with terrifying, impossible speed through the air and seems to positively explode into dozens of splinters upon impact with a rock face twenty feet away.
He lets out a breath and slides back into the water, already calm again.
cw sexual trauma, dubious consent stuff
Jesus Christ. Mark him down for another boyfriend with superhuman power. Is Finnick the only regular dude in this fucking place? Aside from Adam? No, don't tell him, Adam can turn invisible or something, right? It's gotta be something, it's always something.
It seems to do the trick though, at least, he hopes so. Finnick opens his arms to Levi as he returns.
"Let's go deeper. I've got you." He coaxes Levi into the deeper water, remembering how it seemed to sap out all the tension from the smaller man's body earlier. He keeps a gentle hold of him as they submerge; although the water doesn't seem deep enough to go over Levi's head, that doesn't mean there's zero risk, especially since the guy can't swim.
So at this point, just hearing about Finnick's trauma has made Night Sky bawl and Levi get so angry he had to break something into a million pieces. Finnick isn't sure how to feel about that. He's always downplayed it, tried to normalize it to himself. It feels like old news, now, but... Of course it still affects him. More than that, it shaped him. It's the reason he's hypersexual, the reason he thinks little of himself and relies on external validation, the reason he's great at getting people to like him, the reason he finds it very hard to say no in any sexual situation. Some of it is positive, some negative, but overall, his experiences made him who he is now. Thank god for the more recent and healing experiences he's had in these new worlds to mellow him out a bit, since he used to be pretty intense and kind of a prick.
He smiles faintly at Levi, hoping that he's okay, fingertips ghosting across his shoulder blades.
"I appreciate you wanting to protect me. It's very sweet. I never really had that." He offers a gentle kiss to Levi's lips. Mags helped him survive, but his parents were absent, and he was always put into the position of protecting someone else. No one was ever ready to kill for him.
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Lately, though, he's been quietly wondering if having that power here is truly a good thing. Jean had been lucky it had only been his ribs.
Finnick opens his arms, and Levi goes to him, lets the younger man gently usher him into deeper water. Once it starts to climb halfway up his chest is when the anxiety kicks in, and he hesitates. But the touch is a nice reassurance, a distraction, the kiss even more so as he leans up into it, putting just a little extra pressure behind it. He is calmer, almost entirely back to the same level he had been before, and a faint flush creeps up the back of his neck.
"...not enough people have," he says quietly, steadying himself on Finnick's arm again. He can feel the firm muscle there, confirming what he already knows: Finnick is strong in his own right. He wouldn't have survived a fucking death match if he wasn't. But even strong people need someone to look out for them, once in a while. Harder, too, when you're stronger than anyone else. Who looks out for you then?
"I know you can take care of yourself, but if you ever need me...just ask. Or use the talking device, or just show up."
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Finnick senses Levi's small, brief hesitation as they move to deeper water, and instinctively he pulls Levi closer, supports him more with his arms.
In Finnick's case, it was indeed that he was stronger than the people he held dear, and wasn't particularly close to anyone powerful enough to protect him, so he had to be strong enough to do it himself, emotionally and physically. But in these new worlds, he's far from being the strongest, in fact might be considered one of the weakest when all the insane powers people have are taken into account. He hates being underestimated, talked down to, or thought weak. It feels like his scars being erased all over again, his accomplishment of surviving in such a hostile world redacted from his history. But he does like the feeling of people looking out for him, keeping him safe. It takes some pressure off of him, pressure that was always there when it was his responsibility to keep Mags and Annie alive. When you sleep in an arena with allies, there's always someone to keep watch, and that's what Somnius feels like.
"Thank you. The same goes for you, Levi. I'm here for you always, and I'll protect you if I can." He continues to wrap his arms further around the smaller man, kissing his cheek, then peppering a few soft kisses down his neck as he hugs into him.
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It was probably Farlan who first really made Levi feel safe enough to trust another person. Kenny had picked him up as a scrawny brat at death's door and given him food and shelter for a time, as well as how to survive in the cruel underground. But he'd disappeared as soon as those strange powers had manifested, without even a word or a look of goodbye, and it would be decades before he ever saw him again. Farlan and Isabel helped him learn how to trust others...and eventually was able to find camaraderie with the Survey Corps. It is better, to have someone looking out for you. He feels fortunate, to have that here, too.
Finnick pulls him closer, and Levi's hands find their way to broader shoulders, fingertips pressing in. He makes a little noise of surprise at all of those extra kisses, huffing a bit even as his eyes flutter shut for a few moments, letting a shiver course briefly down his spine when lips brush against a sensitive patch of skin on his throat.
"Yeah-" he breathes, shifting one hand to scrunch into Finnick's curls to distract him from getting too carried away yet. "Great, you're gonna start by making sure I don't drown in this overgrown bathtub."
that icon so CUTE KAGBAIEUVISVN
Levi seems to have a mixed reaction to the kisses, which reminds Finnick to go slower, not to overwhelm him. He forgets sometimes, since Levi operates very differently from the lover he spends the most time with, Night Sky. Those two are constantly fucking. Although he didn't intend the kisses to initiate anything sexual, only to smother Levi in affections... Levi probably doesn't like being smothered.
He pulls back just slightly, but can't resist one more kiss on the cheek.
"Yep, that's definitely step one. Won't be hard, though, and I can multitask." A small mischievous smirk pulls at his lips.
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Because Levi does like to be touched, but only by certain people, and even there, it's always a sliding scale on what he can handle - so many things are still new for him, and he's still figuring out that there are simply some places on his body that are more reactive than others when touched in the right way.
Such as a kiss to a certain spot on the neck.
Finnick leaves one more kiss, and Levi catches his chin between thumb and forefinger to take quick one of his own, but from his lips, this time.
He makes an amused noise and lets him go.
"Good. So get started, Teach."
internet wont tell me if hot springs are salty so im making the exec decision that they are
"Teach...?" A look of puzzlement. "Oh, right, you still wanna learn to swim? Well..."
He purses his lips, scratches the back of his head.
"To be honest, I'm not sure where to start. For me, teaching someone to swim is like you teaching someone to walk. It's automatic by now, y'know? I don't remember how I learned, it feels like I always knew."
He takes a breath, looking into the water and idly swirling his fingers in it to think.
"I guess the first thing to know is that in salt water, you'll float easily. Fresh water, less so. That's because the salt and whatever other minerals make the water more dense. So here, you actually don't have to expend that much energy to keep your head above. At least, I think this is salt water--" he licks his finger. "Yeah."
"So maybe we should start by treading water. Just staying in one place and keeping yourself afloat with little kicks and hand movements." He demonstrates, moving a bit deeper to tread for a few moments, although since it's dark not much can be seen under the water. Levi will mostly have to figure out what works for him by trying it, he guesses. He'll hold onto Levi's waist if he does try it, to make sure his head doesn't dip under.
some are!
Truly, some part of him is waiting for the other shoe to drop. But so far there's been no hint of it. Not even a shadow.
Levi can't see what Finnick is doing well enough to mimic it, and the description is a little confusing. Pursing his lips, he tries to move out to a little bit deeper water, throat clenching a little, but Finnick's hands at his waist are a somewhat reassuring safety net.
Which is good, because the first time he tries it he's definitely not doing something right, as he starts to sink almost immediately, sucking in a somewhat panicked breath as the water rises toward his head.
"Fuck-"
they all got mad dissolved minerals so ya, buoyancy bay bee
"You can stop moving completely. See? You won't go under. Stay still for a sec and get used to it."
He looks into Levi's eyes, his gaze encouraging and steady, and breathes loudly enough for both of them to hear.
"Panicking wastes your energy and increases your risk of drowning. So focus on your breath. Whenever you're ready, start to kick. You want to push the water downward under you with your hands and feet."
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so so sorry it's been forever ;;
no worries bb <3
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cw reference to past dubcon/noncon
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