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You walked through the halls of Shiganshina High with your head down, fearful thoughts running through your head of what he might do to you when you got home. You ran into someone by accident and fell to the floor. Fear gripped your being as your brain thought of the worst possible things the person could do to you, things like he did.
“Oh my god, I'm so sorry!” A panicked, familiar voice said from above you.
You opened your eyes and looked up at the tall, blushing male looking down at you with worried eyes. You smiled lightly at your friend.
“Bertholdt, don’t look so worried.” You said, taking his outstretched hand and letting him pull you up.
“I just ran into you,” he exclaimed, dusting you off, “And knocked you to the floor!”
“In your defense, I wasn’t looking where I was going either.” You said, shrugging lightly.
He shrugged and your phone suddenly began to ring.
“Hang on a minute.” You said, pulling it out and taking a step away from him.
You looked at the caller ID and gulped.
“H-hello…?” You answered nervously.
“When the fuck are you gonna be home tonight?” A venomous voice asked from the other end of line.
You flinched lightly and said, “I-I’m not sure…. School just got out and I ran into a friend….”
“Well then don’t bother coming home tonight. I got some friends coming over and I don’t want you getting in the fucking way.”
You flinched again and mumbled a response before hanging up.
“________?”
You jumped at the sound of Bertholdt’s voice. You forgot he was there. You turned to face him and forced a smile so he wouldn’t know anything was wrong.
He smiled at you knowingly and said, “Need a place to stay tonight?”
Your shoulders dropped and you sighed, nodding your head. He always knew what was going on, no matter what. You hated it, but at the same time it was a good thing. He was the only one who knew what was going on with your brother.
“Come on.” He said, wrapping his arm around your shoulders.
He led you out to his car and you drove to his house. He told his parents that your brother was going out of town for the weekend again and you needed a place to stay, so they were perfectly fine with it. It was the same thing you told them every time you stayed the night. You went up to Bertholdt’s room and lied down on his bed.
“Why don’t you do something about him?” He suddenly asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Because there’s nothing I can do….” You mumbled.
He frowned and said, “Then why don’t you get help?”
“Because,” you sighed, rolling over to face him where he sat, “I’m scared….”
He sighed and said, “________ if you don’t do anything, he’s just going to keep hurting you….”
Gentle fingers pushed your shirt up slightly and ran along the several bruises littered across your (s/c) skin. You sighed yourself and closed your (e/c) eyes and hugged his leg. The male’s long, slender fingers moved from your abdomen to your hair, running through the (h /l), (h/c) strands. He was always so gentle with you.
“My very own gentle giant….” You whispered, nuzzling into him.
“Hm?” He asked, not quite hearing you.
You giggled and said, “You’re my gentle giant.”
He smiled and stroked your hair again.
“Thanks for being here for me Dandelion.” You mumble quietly.
Bertholdt chuckled quietly at the nickname you and your friend Annie had given him when you were younger.
“I’ll always be here for you,” he whispered, “I promise.”
You smiled and closed your eyes again, drifting off to sleep.
As soon as ________ had drifted off to sleep, Bertholdt’s smile melted away. He hated her brother and what he was doing to her. He wanted to do something to stop him but he didn’t know what he could do. He looked down at the girl asleep on his lap and set his mind. He was going to do something for the girl he loved.
You sighed as you sat in your room a few days later, curled up on your bed. You knew your brother was going to be home soon and he seemed to be in an extremely bad mood on phone when he had called. You had texted Bertl about it, but he hadn’t responded, which wasn’t like him. You flinched as you heard the front door slam open, and you pulled your blankets over your head, trying to disappear.
“________, where the fuck are you?!” Your brother’s angry voice rang out.
You flinched again and slowly crawled out of your bed. You reluctantly walked out of your room and down the stairs to where your seething brother stood. As soon as you were within his reach, his fist collided with your face. You fell to the floor, no sound leaving your lips as you hit the wooden boards. Tears clouded your (e/c) eyes and you closed them, waiting for the next hit to come. But before it did, the front door flew open and someone tackled your brother to the floor.
“Get the fuck away from her!”
Your eyes flew open and you scrambled to your feet, not wanting to believe what your ears had just heard. But your eyes were confirming what your ears had told you.
“Bertholdt?!” You exclaimed, staring with wide eyes at the two males throwing punches on the floor.
The fighting males paid you no attention as they both began yelling things at each other.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?!” Your brother yelled, punching Bertholdt in the shoulder.
“Someone who cares about ________ a lot,” Bertholdt retorted, landing a blow on your brother’s jaw, “Who the fuck do you think you are to treat her like that?! What gives you the right?!”
You stood there frozen in shock, watching them roll around on the floor punching each other. You’d never heard Bertholdt use language like this before and you’d defiantly never seen him fight anyone before. Your brother got a good hit in across Bertholdt’s jaw, and it snapped you out of your daze.
“Stop!!” You screamed, rushing forward.
You grabbed onto Bertholdt's arm and pulled him off of your brother. Your brother smirked and Bertholdt was about to object when you kicked your brother in the head, rather hard, effectively knocking him out. You breathed out a heavy breath and turned to a shocked Bertholdt.
“What were you thinking,” you exclaimed, grabbing his shirt in both of your hands, “You know how dangerous he is! You got yourself hurt, and you could have gotten yourself killed!”
Tears were slowly making their way down your cheeks as you yelled at him and your breathing was shaky. Bertholdt stared down at you for a minute before slowly wrapping his arms around your smaller form, bringing you to his body in a gentle, but strong grip.
“Sorry…,” he mumbled into your hair, “But I couldn’t let him hurt you anymore….”
He placed a soft kiss to your forehead and you buried your face in his chest.
“I love you Dandelion….” You whispered, a blush gracing your (s/c) cheeks.
Bertholdt’s arms tightened around you and he said, “I love you too ________.”
He tilted your chin up and placed a chaste kiss to your lips. You smiled against his lips, but curtly pulled away when you heard a groan from the floor.
You frowned and said, “What do we do about him?”
Bertholdt pulled his phone out and said, “Simple.”
He dialed a number and had a short conversation, all with your confused eyes on him. Even when he had hung up he didn’t tell you who he had called. A few minutes later, you heard sirens and realized he had called the police.
“Nice.” You said, smiling up at him.
He smiled back at you and gave you a little kiss.
You smirked a little and looked at him again as you said, “Maybe you aren’t so gentle after all.”
“Now this is the life.” You said, lounging on your shared bed.
It had been a year and a half since you got your brother arrested, and you and Berholdt had since graduated. You now lived with your boyfriend in a small apartment not too far from the community college you were both attending.
Bertholdt snorted and flopped down onto the bed beside you. He was sweating extra, alerting you to the thoughts running through his head. You smirked and rolled over on top of him.
“Ne, Bertl,” you purred in his ear, “I’m in the mood for my not so gentle giant…. Mind complying?”
You pulled back slightly to look him in the eyes, seeing that his brown eyes were clouded with a very familiar (and favorited) emotion: lust. You suddenly found yourself on your back beneath your (not so) gentle giant, your shirt already missing. He was harshly nipping and sucking at your neck and chest while his hands wandered the rest of your expanses. You moaned, and thanked god for your not so gentle giant.