( Do ya'll prefer longer or shorter paragraphs? Genuine question.)

He carried me all the way back to the main training grounds. Even when we got within walking distance, he didn't bother stopping to put me down. A lot of heads turned in our direction, watching as he carried me. 'Yup this is definitely not professional.' I felt my face heat up and on instinct I turned my head; trying to hide my face that was flustered with both shame and something else that I couldn't put a name to. Without thinking, I shoved my face into one of his pecs; the flashbangs and sparklers that littered his chest scratched me in the process. Yes, it hurt.

Did I care? Nah, my embarrassment was far greater. I felt his breathing stall a bit before resuming its normal up and down pattern. The cloth from his mask drooped down onto my face; he was looking down at me. "Sorry." I mumbled into his chest. The grip he had on my legs tightened for a spilt second before going back to normal. He didn't say anything.

I could hear that we were nearing the metal doors that lead back inside to the main building. I was about to roll out of his arms when he stopped moving. He must've noticed what I was doing because he pulled me closer to him if that was even possible. "Excuse me, do you know where the nurse's department is?" His voice was surprisingly deep. When he spoke, it created a loud rumble in his chest.

It was oddly satisfying if I should say so. 'Wait a minute, nurse's department? The hell, I'm not handicap. Whoever he had asked, recognized me. "What's wrong with BB?" It was a woman's voice. I knew that voice, and it wasn't one that I would've wanted to hear either, especially not in this type of situation. It was Stephen.

I felt my stomach tighten and turn. 'Please, please, please move König. Ask someone else...anyone but her.' I felt König's mask shift to the side, suggesting he was doing that head tilt thing. He always did it whenever he was lost or confused. "BB...?" He asked. His voice was laced with genuine, utter confusion. "Yeah, it's my nickname for her." She paused and I heard her shift her feet on the gravel.

"You know, we used to be best friends at one point." I felt my body involuntarily tense. The hairs on my neck began standing up. I tightened my grip on König's gun and she noticed. "Oh, she is awake! Hey girl!" Stephen said, with the world's most fakest tone. I didn't answer, and before I knew it my whole body began shaky uncontrollably. 'I guess her presence alone, is still too much for me.'

König's mask drooped over my face again, suggesting he was looking down at me. He shifted his hold on me and spoke, "I am sorry to interrupt your reunion Lieutenant Stephen, but Ms. Belle needs to seek the nurse." It was quite clear that his entire demeanor had changed. He spat her name out like it was a type of poison. Silence filled the air for what felt like eternity. "Alright, okay. I won't hold you."

She must've heard it too as her voice seemed to lose a bit of its confidence. I felt him lean over. 'Probably bowing.' With that, he started to walk away. Once we got a considerable distance away from her, my shaking stopped completely. He seemed to take notice, but he didn't question it. After a while he stopped walking.

"Verdammt, die verdammte Schlampe {Dammit, the fucking bitch} didn't even give me directions." He growled and sucked his teeth. His mask swept over my face multiple times, suggesting that his head was pivoting around. I chuckled a bit at his sudden frustration. I couldn't understand the first part of what he said but it seemed like a mouthful of profanity. He heard me and his head shot down. "Ha-ha.... sorry bärchen, I did not mean for you to hear that." His voice was soft and light, a complete opposite of how it was just seconds ago.

I couldn't lie, the way that he could switch his German on and off that easily was quite cool. "It's fine. You know, you don't have to take me to the nurse's office, I'm not that injured. At most I'll probably be sore." I raised my head off his chest and started to sit upright in his arms. "But the nurse-" I cut him off. "Will probably send me home. König, I told you I'm fine." I looked up at him and met his worry-filled eyes.

"Maybe you can take a day off- or maybe- no, you'll still be in pain-" Panic was evident in his voice. 'Why's he making such a big deal out of this? It's just a shoulder ache from the recoil. At most all it'll do is leave a small bruise.' After a good few minutes of his endless stammering, I finally got him to shut up. "König. I'm not going to die. It's not the end of the world."

He stared at me with wide eyes. I sighed, turning my body to start to crawl out of his arms, resulting in him holding me tighter. I rolled my eyes and turned back to look up at him. He looked down at me, defiance lining his sunken eyes. 'He's like a stubborn child....' I sighed, "What is it now?" His eyes darted to the side for a spilt second before he focused fully on me. "Where are you going to go?" I looked at him, my annoyance becoming more and more prevalent as seconds ticked by. "Back to my office." I glanced at the shiny floor before looking at him again. "Are you gonna let me down?" I asked.

He looked up towards the ceiling, taking in a deep breath before looking back down at me. "Can....can I carry you there libeling?" His voice was shaky as he looked at me with those eyes. 'Damn him and those weirdly affective puppy eyes.' I took in a sharp breath, not hindering my gaze from his for even a millisecond. He waited patiently for my answer, seemingly pleading at me with those eyes ".... fine." I looked away from his him and to the surrounding tile floor.

I heard him audibly gasp in excitement. 'Well, someone really likes to carry me...' I smiled to myself, wondering how a person could get so much enjoyment from carrying me around. He was so happy that he began almost skipping all the way to the elevator. When we did make it to the elevator, I reached over to push the button, but he backed away. I scoffed at him, but he ignored me. Instead, he swiveled himself around so that he could push the 'Up' button with his elbow.

I didn't bother to say or do anything more. I relaxed my body against his chest again and I felt him shiver. After a while, the elevator arrived. I watched him as he ducked under the frame to avoid hitting his head. He shifted over to the number pad, bending down and jamming his elbow into the number 2. 'Is it that hard to ask for my help...?' He straightened himself once he saw the backlight of the number illuminate.

We stayed in a comfortable silence as neither of us said anything. Eventually the elevator arrived at the second floor. The doors whirred open, and he ducked his head again to get out. He walked all the way across the hall to my office door, stopped and looked down at me. He lowered himself, slowly sliding his arm from under my legs. When my feet did touch the floor, I found myself almost faceplanting right then and there. "See, I knew you needed to be taken to the nurse's department!"

He raised his voice a bit as he held me steady by my shoulders. "Oh please, my legs went to sleep. Calm down." I rolled my eyes at him, snickering in the process. I pulled my keys from my pocket and unlocked my door. I let myself in and turned to thank him for his efforts at helping me, but my forehead hit one of the flashbangs on his chest and I keeled over. I heard a loud 'thump' and a low groan come from him. He pushed his way inside my office and cradled his head in his hands.

"Jeez dude, you need to take some of that stuff off." I looked up to see him without his helmet on, rubbing the top of his head. Unintentionally, I gawked at the sight. 'I've never seen him take off any piece of his gear at any given time.' He caught me staring and quickly shoved his helmet back on. Feeling like I may have invaded his personal space I wasted no time and apologized. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make that expression." He looked at me again, "No bärchen, you're fine. I hit my head coming in ha-ha, that's all."

His eyes seemed to smile at me. 'Well, I guess I didn't offend him. I mean all he did was take off his helmet, so I guess that makes sense?' "Right." I blurted out, turning around to march over to my desk. I sat down in my chair, and my gaze shifted over to him. He looked a lot bigger, in a way. He took up most of the space in my office just by him standing there. His helmet was literally scraping the top of my ceiling.

He turned his body to fully face me, and I took the chance to ask him what the hell he was still doing here. "So, is there anything else you need König?" I enter-twined my fingers and rested my chin on them. His eyes shot up to mine. He stood there, almost pondering. After a while he finally responded. "No." I nodded, "Okay, well you're dismissed. There's nothing more for you to do today. So go enjoy your day."

I paused, looking down and collecting paperwork. "Thank you for your efforts today, König." He perked up a bit at my sudden praise, and a small smile poked at the ends of my lips. After what seemed like forever, he finally spoke. "Is it okay if I stay here...? I won't cause any trouble and I'll be quiet." I looked up from my pile of paperwork, he was fiddling with his fingers and looking at me expectantly.

'He's been really bold lately. Wasn't it just a day ago where he couldn't even look me in my eye?' I guess I had zoned out for too long as I heard him call out to me.

"Bärchen?" His voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I went back to organizing the pile of papers in front of me. I released a loud sigh, "You can stay, make yourself comfortable. Don't make too much noise please." I didn't bother to look at him as I was too busy focusing on how the hell, I was going to get all this work in front of me done. Since almost everyone had left; upon Laswell's request of course, all the left-over work was getting passed down to the lieutenants who hadn't left. 'Gosh how I would kill to be in my bed right about now...'

I was so immersed in my thoughts that I had forgot König was even here. When he spoke, I felt myself jump a bit. "Thank you liebling, don't hesitate to ask me if you need help." His voice was low and smooth. Shivers ran down my spine as he spoke. 'Da fuck? Is this the same person.'

At this, my head shot up and I watched him as he picked out a book from my vast collection and sat himself in the far corner of my office. I sighed. 'Alrighty then.' I glanced back down and started to get to work.

'It's going to be a long night...'

(2041 Words)

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// Know what else is going to be long? König's d- ANYWAYS LOL| Don't forget to like the chapter, ily <3//