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."
It might seem that someone with his capabilities and all of the shit that he's been through that nothing would scare him. But Levi has his fears just as anyone else, and even if he does have generations of instincts packed into the strange power in his blood, it doesn't mean he automatically knows how to swim.
And frankly, it's fucking terrifying feeling water start to close over your head. Probably then that preternatural instinct would have taken over, and he would have figured out something on the precipice of life and death. It's a shitty way to learn, though.
This is better.
Strong hands clasp at his middle, holding him steady, but his own still rest on Finnick's biceps, fingertips pressing in for stability. Levi stops as instructed, feeling his pulse beat a little too strongly in his throat from that spike of adrenaline. For a few seconds he hangs there, letting the younger man take his weight, feet dangling. It's a little like being suspended in midair by the gear, but even that realization doesn't quite alleviate the anxiety of deep(er) water.
Yet Finnick's calm, firm voice and clear direction are grounding, and as Levi holds that aquamarine gaze, matching their breaths, he visibly settles again.
Push the water downward.
"Right." He takes another breath. "Got it..."
Over the next few minutes, he tries a few different motions - the first are too literal, almost like a stomping motion, too difficult to maintain easily. But eventually he finds a gentler, more fluid motion, a bit like walking. This feels maybe like it's working, more natural...but he doesn't let go of Finnick just yet.
As strange as it is to see Levi scared, Finnick knows no one is immune to fear. Even the most psychopathic victors he knows have a soft squishy spot in them somewhere. A vulnerable moment or two. He holds eye contact with Levi steadily, barely blinking, as though to prove to him that his attention won't waver, that no distraction can make him lose his grip. That this is more important than anything else. He continues to breathe audibly with Levi, nodding slowly as he calms and begins to move.
It's awkward and jerky at first, but he catches on quickly, and soon he's got enough propulsion that the weight starts to come up off of Finnick's arms.
"Good. Just like that. You feel lighter already. Try adding your hands, I've still got you."
A small smirk.
"Just imagine... You're a fish... Shitting all over the pool."
When he feels a little more stable, more confident, his hands finally slide away from Finnick, pulling them back to try mimicking what he had seen him do earlier, little wiping motions with his arms...he might be imagining wiping a window.
Levi snorts at that description, his concentration more on moving his hands back and forth, feet still cycling gently. "Better be glad I don't need to act out my imagination." Otherwise that could end up awkward and gross for both of them.
Once he finds something that works, he definitely seems to figure it out quickly; he's always picked up physical skills quite fast, and this is thankfully no exception. It's still undetermined how he feels about deep water in general, but at least now maybe he won't sink and drown immediately.
"...okay," he says after a few minutes. "Try letting go."
He's not entirely sure of himself yet, but stubbornly wants to see if he can manage on his own.
Still...having Finnick's hands on his waist is...nice...
If only Finnick could have thought of the window-wiping analogy... It's perfect. But Levi seems to figure it out on his own, thankfully, so he doesn't feel too bad for being a shitty teacher.
He laughs softly.
"Yeah, don't actually do that please."
He observes Levi closely, and soon he's swimming enough that Finnick barely needs to hold him.
"That's great. You got it."
Barely touching him anyway, it's hardly even noticeable when he removes his hands, though he watches like a hawk for any sign of sinking, still at the ready to grab him if need be. But Levi stays afloat.
"Look at you. You're swimming. You're a fast learner, I'm impressed." He smiles at him, a satisfied grin.
It's hard to teach something that comes so easily, especially if you can't remember being taught. But seeing as Levi has learned how to tread water for at least a few minutes without sinking like a stone, Finnick should count it as a success.
It might be a little difficult to tell in the dim light and through his look of intense concentration, but the praise and the smile do seem to boost him a little, and there's a little hint of triumph in his eyes. When he manages to stay up on his own without completely submerging, he flicks a pleased look to Finnick, and starts to experiment with different movements with his arms, figuring out how to propel himself forward.
"Yeah, all those shitting fish better watch their backs." Or something.
Eventually, he figures out how to glide forward, and moves in close to Finnick again. Take his waist again, sir.
Finnick laughs again with a grin at Levi's little shift in confidence. At least he doesn't seem scared now.
"There's a new shark at the top of the food chain," he murmurs, his tone suggestive as he gently takes Levi's waist and pulls him in again. He ducks his head to kiss Levi gently, and when it breaks, he lingers there. An invitation, an opening for Levi to deepen things if he likes.
Definitely less worried about immediately drowning in deeper water, although it probably doesn't mean he's going into that ocean or lake anytime soon. Still, it's an improvement.
Finnick's kisses are always so warm, and the lingering makes it seem as though he's really savoring the feeling of being close, and it makes his chest feel light. Levi follows it with a kiss of his own, brief and sweet, though he doesn't deepen it yet.
"Hmm," he hums, curling hands around the younger man's upper arms again. There's just...something about larger hands on his waist.
"Shark..." the word seems a little unfamiliar to him, but Levi's trying to recall something Erwin or Hange probably read in a book once upon a time. He licks his lips thoughtfully. "Big, lots of teeth, right?"
Finnick looks down at Levi, smitten. He is savoring the closeness; he enjoys it with anyone, but especially with Levi, who he knows won't get this close to just anyone.
His unfamiliarity with sharks is adorable, as is his curiosity and thoughtfulness about it. Finnick finds it very endearing. He grips Levi's waist a bit tighter and gently, slowly spins him around in the pool.
"Yep. They're fearsome predators in the ocean. Very cool." He's certainly running the risk of scaring Levi off of ever swimming in the ocean.
Finnick looks at him like that, and Levi realizes he's still never prepared for those sorts of expressions from anyone. Erwin and Hange would sometimes gaze at him with a seeming unbridled fondness, and he'd still wonder what it is about himself that made them stick around. He understands better, with each passing day, how Finnick makes him feel. But even if he could acknowledge that he's given the younger man something in return, it somehow still doesn't quite add up.
Luckily, Levi isn't in the habit of outright questioning people why they find interest in him, or elect to spend their time with him; he's just happy that they do.
As they take a little turn around the heated pool, he can't help but remember dancing with Hange in the kitchen shortly before they'd disappeared. He'd hated dancing at galas, having to suffer nobles who asked too many stupid or inappropriate questions, but did it anyway to bolster chances of more funding for the Survey Corps - a novelty, to dance with Humanity's Strongest, who is surprisingly light on his feet despite his coarse upbringing. But in their own kitchen, with someone he loved...
...did they have those sort of moments before the world fell to shit? When everyone else was gone, and they the sole veteran survivors?
Part of him hopes so. But then, he can hardly imagine wanting to dance when there were so many dead to mourn.
Levi slides his hands up Finnick's arms to his shoulders, following the curve of muscles beneath smooth skin, and winds closer, arms loosely draped around his neck. The cool moonlight and warm glow of the candle-lit lanterns cast conflicting hues in the dim light, the color of those aquamarine eyes seeming to shift depending on the angle. He gazes at him, quiet and contemplative.
Finnick and Levi could probably relate to being obligated to go to fancy parties with a bunch of stupid rich people. Finnick was something of a novelty himself, the handsome victor, and knows how exhausting it can be.
But this is certainly something else entirely. The atmosphere is beautiful, and so is Levi. The way the smaller man gazes at him, the thought in his eyes, his silence, their bodies so close and moving in sync. It all feels so intimate. That's something he loves about Levi; he makes simple moments feel so special. Finnick is always going fast, meeting people, trying new things, and Levi reminds him to slow down, to savour the moment without pushing it forward into something else.
"Me? Hmm..." He almost tells Levi to pick one, then remembers he doesn't know many sea creatures.
"Tough question. Maybe a dolphin? They're pretty, smart, and very social. Or maybe that's just me sucking my own dick," he jokes with a small smirk.
Enjoying the moment has become essential for Levi at this point, because he's still so accustomed to there never being any time. Planning or training or going out beyond the walls, responding to an unimaginable crisis - it was so rare to make time for anything else. You had to take those moments with the people you cared for while you could.
Perhaps he gets too stuck in his own head from time to time, thinking about it. But it's those thoughts and memories that ensure he doesn't take anything like this for granted, and hold onto the little happinesses he can find, like in the careful way Finnick holds him and moves them through the heated pool, his smile in moonlight.
He huffs softly, the sound that seems to pass for a soft laugh or chuckle, a flash of warm amusement in his eyes. "Sounds right to me." It comes out with a bit of a drawl, fingers curling in Finnick's hair at the back of his neck, and Levi thinks about kissing him again.
The little laugh makes Finnick smile wider, warmer. He continues to spin and sway slowly in the pool with Levi in his arms.
"About dolphins? Mm... They swim in groups called... Pods? That's what a group of whales is called, I think dolphins too maybe. They breathe like whales do, through a blowhole in the top of their head that they bring up to the surface periodically to take a breath. They're mammals, so they're warm-blooded unlike most fish, and birth live young rather than eggs. I heard once their frontal cortexes are bigger and more complex than humans' are, which suggests they're smart and also empathetic. I'll show you a picture sometime, they're cool."
It's nice, this - just taking turns around the spring, private and tucked away from everyone else, listening to Finnick tell him about things he's never seen and maybe never will see. Do dolphins and sharks exist in the sea that supposedly exists outside their (apparent) island? Perhaps those are just creatures from the place that Finnick called home.
Levi feels his shoulders unwind and relax a little more, sinking a little closer to him. His feet mostly don't touch the bottom of the pool, so he's just relying on Finnick here. That's nice, too.
He's trying to recall what the dolphins and...whale-things looked like. At some point along the way he'd picked up basic knowledge of animal classification, like mammals and fish and birds and insects, but his knowledge of science beyond that is rather limited, aside from a few random facts lodged into his head during one of Hange's ramblings. When Finnick starts talking about 'frontal cortexes', it's like he'd suddenly started talking in another language.
Levi blinks at him a bit, digesting all of the information. "Dunno what a...cortex is. But you're saying they're intelligent enough to understand feelings, is that it?"
Holding Levi like this makes Finnick feel a little like Levi is his. Of course he's Erwin's first, but... It's still a nice feeling. He realizes he wants that, but he's not going to rush anything.
"Yeah, you got it. The cortex is just the noodly part of your brain, I think. The frontal cortex is here-" Finnick grips a hand to Levi's forehead- "and it's where all the more complicated thought and reasoning happens."
He bursts out in laughter at the blowhole question.
"Yep, that's-- that's what it's called. When they surface, they blow air out of it to clear it before they breathe in."
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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?"
no subject
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.
no subject
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."
no subject
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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And frankly, it's fucking terrifying feeling water start to close over your head. Probably then that preternatural instinct would have taken over, and he would have figured out something on the precipice of life and death. It's a shitty way to learn, though.
This is better.
Strong hands clasp at his middle, holding him steady, but his own still rest on Finnick's biceps, fingertips pressing in for stability. Levi stops as instructed, feeling his pulse beat a little too strongly in his throat from that spike of adrenaline. For a few seconds he hangs there, letting the younger man take his weight, feet dangling. It's a little like being suspended in midair by the gear, but even that realization doesn't quite alleviate the anxiety of deep(er) water.
Yet Finnick's calm, firm voice and clear direction are grounding, and as Levi holds that aquamarine gaze, matching their breaths, he visibly settles again.
Push the water downward.
"Right." He takes another breath. "Got it..."
Over the next few minutes, he tries a few different motions - the first are too literal, almost like a stomping motion, too difficult to maintain easily. But eventually he finds a gentler, more fluid motion, a bit like walking. This feels maybe like it's working, more natural...but he doesn't let go of Finnick just yet.
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It's awkward and jerky at first, but he catches on quickly, and soon he's got enough propulsion that the weight starts to come up off of Finnick's arms.
"Good. Just like that. You feel lighter already. Try adding your hands, I've still got you."
A small smirk.
"Just imagine... You're a fish... Shitting all over the pool."
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Levi snorts at that description, his concentration more on moving his hands back and forth, feet still cycling gently. "Better be glad I don't need to act out my imagination." Otherwise that could end up awkward and gross for both of them.
Once he finds something that works, he definitely seems to figure it out quickly; he's always picked up physical skills quite fast, and this is thankfully no exception. It's still undetermined how he feels about deep water in general, but at least now maybe he won't sink and drown immediately.
"...okay," he says after a few minutes. "Try letting go."
He's not entirely sure of himself yet, but stubbornly wants to see if he can manage on his own.
Still...having Finnick's hands on his waist is...nice...
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He laughs softly.
"Yeah, don't actually do that please."
He observes Levi closely, and soon he's swimming enough that Finnick barely needs to hold him.
"That's great. You got it."
Barely touching him anyway, it's hardly even noticeable when he removes his hands, though he watches like a hawk for any sign of sinking, still at the ready to grab him if need be. But Levi stays afloat.
"Look at you. You're swimming. You're a fast learner, I'm impressed." He smiles at him, a satisfied grin.
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It might be a little difficult to tell in the dim light and through his look of intense concentration, but the praise and the smile do seem to boost him a little, and there's a little hint of triumph in his eyes. When he manages to stay up on his own without completely submerging, he flicks a pleased look to Finnick, and starts to experiment with different movements with his arms, figuring out how to propel himself forward.
"Yeah, all those shitting fish better watch their backs." Or something.
Eventually, he figures out how to glide forward, and moves in close to Finnick again. Take his waist again, sir.
"Thanks...had a good teacher."
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"There's a new shark at the top of the food chain," he murmurs, his tone suggestive as he gently takes Levi's waist and pulls him in again. He ducks his head to kiss Levi gently, and when it breaks, he lingers there. An invitation, an opening for Levi to deepen things if he likes.
"I'm glad we can learn from each other."
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Finnick's kisses are always so warm, and the lingering makes it seem as though he's really savoring the feeling of being close, and it makes his chest feel light. Levi follows it with a kiss of his own, brief and sweet, though he doesn't deepen it yet.
"Hmm," he hums, curling hands around the younger man's upper arms again. There's just...something about larger hands on his waist.
"Shark..." the word seems a little unfamiliar to him, but Levi's trying to recall something Erwin or Hange probably read in a book once upon a time. He licks his lips thoughtfully. "Big, lots of teeth, right?"
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His unfamiliarity with sharks is adorable, as is his curiosity and thoughtfulness about it. Finnick finds it very endearing. He grips Levi's waist a bit tighter and gently, slowly spins him around in the pool.
"Yep. They're fearsome predators in the ocean. Very cool." He's certainly running the risk of scaring Levi off of ever swimming in the ocean.
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Luckily, Levi isn't in the habit of outright questioning people why they find interest in him, or elect to spend their time with him; he's just happy that they do.
As they take a little turn around the heated pool, he can't help but remember dancing with Hange in the kitchen shortly before they'd disappeared. He'd hated dancing at galas, having to suffer nobles who asked too many stupid or inappropriate questions, but did it anyway to bolster chances of more funding for the Survey Corps - a novelty, to dance with Humanity's Strongest, who is surprisingly light on his feet despite his coarse upbringing. But in their own kitchen, with someone he loved...
...did they have those sort of moments before the world fell to shit? When everyone else was gone, and they the sole veteran survivors?
Part of him hopes so. But then, he can hardly imagine wanting to dance when there were so many dead to mourn.
Levi slides his hands up Finnick's arms to his shoulders, following the curve of muscles beneath smooth skin, and winds closer, arms loosely draped around his neck. The cool moonlight and warm glow of the candle-lit lanterns cast conflicting hues in the dim light, the color of those aquamarine eyes seeming to shift depending on the angle. He gazes at him, quiet and contemplative.
"So what would you be?"
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But this is certainly something else entirely. The atmosphere is beautiful, and so is Levi. The way the smaller man gazes at him, the thought in his eyes, his silence, their bodies so close and moving in sync. It all feels so intimate. That's something he loves about Levi; he makes simple moments feel so special. Finnick is always going fast, meeting people, trying new things, and Levi reminds him to slow down, to savour the moment without pushing it forward into something else.
"Me? Hmm..." He almost tells Levi to pick one, then remembers he doesn't know many sea creatures.
"Tough question. Maybe a dolphin? They're pretty, smart, and very social. Or maybe that's just me sucking my own dick," he jokes with a small smirk.
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Perhaps he gets too stuck in his own head from time to time, thinking about it. But it's those thoughts and memories that ensure he doesn't take anything like this for granted, and hold onto the little happinesses he can find, like in the careful way Finnick holds him and moves them through the heated pool, his smile in moonlight.
He huffs softly, the sound that seems to pass for a soft laugh or chuckle, a flash of warm amusement in his eyes. "Sounds right to me." It comes out with a bit of a drawl, fingers curling in Finnick's hair at the back of his neck, and Levi thinks about kissing him again.
"Tell me more."
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"About dolphins? Mm... They swim in groups called... Pods? That's what a group of whales is called, I think dolphins too maybe. They breathe like whales do, through a blowhole in the top of their head that they bring up to the surface periodically to take a breath. They're mammals, so they're warm-blooded unlike most fish, and birth live young rather than eggs. I heard once their frontal cortexes are bigger and more complex than humans' are, which suggests they're smart and also empathetic. I'll show you a picture sometime, they're cool."
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Levi feels his shoulders unwind and relax a little more, sinking a little closer to him. His feet mostly don't touch the bottom of the pool, so he's just relying on Finnick here. That's nice, too.
He's trying to recall what the dolphins and...whale-things looked like. At some point along the way he'd picked up basic knowledge of animal classification, like mammals and fish and birds and insects, but his knowledge of science beyond that is rather limited, aside from a few random facts lodged into his head during one of Hange's ramblings. When Finnick starts talking about 'frontal cortexes', it's like he'd suddenly started talking in another language.
Levi blinks at him a bit, digesting all of the information. "Dunno what a...cortex is. But you're saying they're intelligent enough to understand feelings, is that it?"
Don't all animals have feelings?
And of course:
"Is it really called a blowhole?"
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"Yeah, you got it. The cortex is just the noodly part of your brain, I think. The frontal cortex is here-" Finnick grips a hand to Levi's forehead- "and it's where all the more complicated thought and reasoning happens."
He bursts out in laughter at the blowhole question.
"Yep, that's-- that's what it's called. When they surface, they blow air out of it to clear it before they breathe in."
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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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