ʚ o͏p͏e͏r͏a͏t͏i͏o͏n͏ a͏c͏h͏e͏ ɞ | aot x levi's daughter

chapter seven : dayflower

cw: violence, explicit child abuse, underage drinking, also, mention of someone's passing in end notes

                                            ＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　 　˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

kuchel didn't know if she was allowed to look at her like that.

the girl was running her mouth to the other kids near the pit, just chatting out of her arse loudly, trying to make conversation.

her hair had somewhat grown back by that point. it was still short, short enough that if you ran your fingers through it, you'd still see them, and to be honest, it looked an absolute mess, but kuchel felt something disgustingly endearing about it.

she didn't enjoy talking to the other kids, not because they were 'competition' in her view, but because she was a little bashful at times, and trusting other people didn't come readily to her, so she eventually settled with never talking.

juniper though, she thrived in big groups, loving having all the attention on her. she beamed whenever people surrounded her and praised her.

as the group of other kids surrounded the girl, kuchel felt something ugly bubbling in her stomach, and she didn't know what to call it

they had known each other for about six months now, and kuchel hated herself for becoming so dependant on juniper. she became her safe space, someone she could turn to at all times, and she hated it.

whenever kuchel returned to the underground for her fights, juniper was always waiting by the staircase, annoying the military police and putting herself in bother constantly, but kuchel couldn't find it in herself to care, mostly just overcome with happiness from seeing the girl.

after their fights, the girls would wander. sometimes they would steal from bars, stalls and fuck around with the military police, simply for the fun of it. other days, the two would return to juniper's house and lay in the girls broken bed, that sometimes broke if you jumped on it, and sit in silence.

kuchel didn't mind just being around the girl as much as she thought she would.

"also, a new family 'as moved in next door to me,"

the conversation change perked kuchel's interest, and she found herself subtly inserting herself next to juniper.

the blonde girl smiled at the sight of her before turning back to the group of other kids.

"they're fuckin' mental, i swear," she sighed, "yesterday, i caught the dad runnin' around his house, chasin' the kids with a knife,"

the other kids faces blanched at the words, "he was tryin' to kill them?"

"no, thats the thing. the kids were laughin', like full on gigglin', it was so fuckin' weird,"

"oh," kuchel perked up, gaining the attention of the other kids, "theyre jus' playin' knife tag,"

juniper turned to her and blinked a few times, "pard'n?"

"you know," kuchel paused, gaging the faces of the kids around her, "where you get chased around with a knife an' they try to stab you,"

a short boy opposite the two girls furrowed his brows, "is tha' not jus' murder?"

kuchel cocked her head to the side, thinning her lips, taking in the concerned and mildly judgemental faces of the kids surrounding her.