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3RD POV
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.

.

Alright, she did say she wanted to see where this would lead them, right?

She lied.

The mood between them slightly grew awkward for the past two months.

Although Colith managed not to show how aware she was of his...more than questionable thoughts, his shift in behavior and overall lack of hostility in her regard altogether vanished, giving way to unreadable stares whenever she was with the child and... and the sultry stares! She was no stranger to being stared at. After all, being the only black person within the walls in AOT would do that to anybody— bullshit, she definitely was freaking the fuck out.

Having a man such as Toji constantly eying her the way he did agitated her, and in her panic, she did the dumbest move anyone could ever think of in this situation, that is to say avoiding him like the plague while making the most outlandish excuses known to man every time he approached her.

Obviously, that wasn't slick, yet for a certified coward in the love department, she tended to pull the oblivious card every time men tried to flirt with her. And it surprisingly worked. On normal people that is. Toji was another matter and quite difficult to trick and it didn't help that she was beginning to feel...something for him.

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"Ah I have a convention this afternoon, see ya later!"

—She would say then quickly warp away before he could speak—

"Oh, I gotta go shopping, see ya!"

—or zoom out of the apartment—

"Megumi must be hungry! Needta fix his formula real quick!"

—or skedaddle toward the kitchen, of her house—

"Shouldn’t you be busy killing people out there? What's the use of having a nanny if you're always home anyway, huh?"

—Or slam her door in his face whenever he knocked—

"Oop! My boss's calling me!"

And start making ringing noise before snatching a random object and proceed to 'speak' with said 'boss'. Toji would simply watch her speedwalk away, speechless.

This all went on until one night.

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Colith put Megumi in his cradle and tucked him in. She turned the night light on with a snap then left a soft kiss on his forehead. He hummed, passed out from food coma and will probably sleep til the next morning. Colith smiled, stroking his hair before leaning back. She made her smartphone appear, intent on snapping pictures of the boy.

She had created an album dedicated to him named: [Best boi Megumi who I love with all my heart-] ever since her arrival because, first of all, this child was absolutely adorable and she would die for him any day, and subsequently took A LOT of pictures. If her new status made her more motherly, it didn't bother her since she wanted to become one. She loves babies, especially Gumi.

Colith quietly walked to the door while eyeing the almost toddler with fondness before closing it. She was about to take a step back when her back met something hard. She paused, confused before her eyebrows creased.

'I don't recall the wall being this close to the door...?' she thought, using her hand to feel the 'wall' and quickly realized that walls don't usually breathe. She gulped, slowly turning her head only to be met with a pair of green eyes.

"EH-"

A calloused hand quickly shot to her mouth, stopping her from shrieking like a chicken on LSD. Toji clicked his tongue, brows furrowed.

"Keep it down, you're going to wake the brat" He said, slowly retracting his hand when she nodded.

"Ya Allah, you scared the shit outta me!", she whisper yelled. Toji quirked an eyebrow, watching as she tried to put some distance between them.

Keyword : Tried.

He caught her arm before she could flee once more.

"We need to talk."

She shuddered.

"Talk? About what? There's nothing to talk about! Did you eat? I should probably go buy groceries-"

"It's 12 PM."

"...Convenience stores are still open." she tried.

"You have powers, use them." he retorted, clearly unfazed by her excuses.

She laughed nervously, trying to tug her arm out of his hold. The bastard was hella strong despite the fact she was using a bit of her super-strength to free herself which says a lot about his natural strength. Freeing herself wasn't out of reach to be honest, however that would require her to get serious, which would probably make noise and frighten the sleeping child. Her agitated mind might cause her to misjudge her strength and inadvertently harm Toji, hence why she was simply tugging, and he wasn't even budging!

His face scrunched up at the display.

"You're avoiding me."

OK IT'S TIME TO PANIC.

With a nervous chuckle, Colith averted her gaze.

"Me? Avoiding you? Noooo you must be trippin' man.."

The tugs turned desperate and fleeing didn't seem to be an option anymore but she'll be damned if she didn't try! Toji's grip tightened, causing her to sweat even more.

She wanted to get the hell outta here and quick!

"Ayo, can you release me? This is low-key creepy!" she was considering sending him flying now. She'll apologize to Megumi.

Her laugh died down in her throat when he leaned forward, staring her down with an unreadable look. She leaned back, almost hitting the door behind which would've been bad. She didn't want to disturb Megumi but she wanted to get the hell out of here!

(art by me!)

Those are part of the reasons she wanted to scream about her height! Something—probably the HU— was keeping her from changing her size and return to her mighty 1m82! Unfortunately, to her dismay she couldn't, forcing her to retain her original height, 1m61, a real pipsqueak compared to Toji's 1m88. Truly devastating. She wanted to slam her head on the wall. But Megumi.

Toji scowled.

'Oh sugar honey iced tea.'

"You think I'm dumb?" his eyes narrowed, causing her lips to twitch. "it wouldn't take an idiot to guess what you've been doing. So tell me... Why are you avoiding me?" he tried to meet her eyes but she was dead set on avoiding him, internally turning into a Zenitsu minus the screaming.

"Listen, man, I-I didn't mean to upset ya...I thought that maybe you needed some space since I'm only supposed to take care of Gumi, which I'm doing, no worries..."

Her face turned crimson and it didn't help that they were five centimeters away from a kiss! The guy was literally doing a Kabedon to her. How cliché was that? AND HOW ON EARTH WAS IT AFFECTING HER THIS MUCH, TO BEGIN WITH?! Nevertheless, she never expected anyone to do that to her, ESPECIALLY NOT TOJI DAMMIT!!

'Ohgodohgodohgodohgod'

She tried to reason, "I don't think you're dumb! It's just that I know you can't stand my presence so I was making things easier—don't look at me like that! You literally beheaded me 'cause I was annoying, remember?"

She chuckled awkwardly, still trying to pry off his hand from her arm, without success.

"Ayo...don't you know about social distancing? I know covid ain't a thing yet but please back aw—" she was suddenly interrupted by a pair of scarred lips.

"...

...?"

Completely caught off guard, she froze while feeling Toji gently cup her face.

"????"

That was...so sudden that she could do nothing but blink like a complete moron.

The kiss was sweet but also passionate, conveying the full extent of Toji’s strange affection for her over the past few months, and, well she felt it.

Instinctively, she put her hands on his chest, clenching his shirt with shaking fingers and ended up closing her eyes, effectively melting into the kiss. She could even smell the shampoo he usually used for his hair as she shakingly inhaled the faint fragrance of peppermint.

Something Toji mirrored as well as he took the time to inhale her perfume. The sweet scent of vanilla and cocoa butter was so endearing to him that it was enough to make him lose his mind. How many times has he thought of finally tasting her luscious lips, to finally touch and feel her warm skin to the point of yearning for something a bit...more. Although he held back before he could indulge himself in it.

Reluctantly, he parted lips with her and eyed her. Her golden hues were blinking haphazardly as though she were in a daze. He licked his lips.

"Does it still look like I can't stand you now, Colith?"

It was the first time ever since she came here that he called her by her name and not by 'pest' or 'parasite' or other derogatory nicknames he had for her. In any case, he liked how it rolled off his tongue and will probably start calling her by it from now on, just to see her flustered face.

"Thought I wouldn't notice the way you keep looking at me? so obvious..."

He intensely watched her with half-lidded eyes, their breathing being the only thing heard in the silent corridor while they stood close to each other.

She was still processing what just happened and hearing him utter her name so suddenly startled her enough to blink back into focus and stammer like a fool.

"I..Wha-You..why..-eeh?!"

She almost shrieked before remembering that Megumi was asleep and quickly closed her mouth shut. She still whisper yelled.

"Wh-what?!"

Her brain was still processing and her face grew redder the more she realized what just occurred. She gawked, face still cupped by his hands as his thumb lingered a bit on her bottom lip.

Her heart couldn't take it, man! How on earth was she even blushing?! She was black for fuck sake!

Before he could say anything, she managed to push him away and ran to her door before disappearing behind it, probably for a long while. Aware that he couldn't follow after her, Toji just watched the door as he stood in the dimly lit corridor. His fingers retraced his lips as a satisfied smirk graced them.

At first, he was solely planning on confronting her. Her weird behavior was starting to truthfully annoy the heck out of him for some reason. Why was she avoiding him? Had he done something wrong? Why did she keep panicking and making dumb excuses whenever he tried to speak to her?

Honestly, it had been his sole motive...until he saw her in front of him after two months of constant avoidance about to give him another excuse and that's when he couldn't hold back anymore.

He kissed her.

He had to.

Hoping to finally taste those delicious lips he had been staring at whenever she spoke to him, he wanted to see her flustered face and show her that he was past his distaste for her. Was it her first kiss? He could tell just by her reaction. Did he feel content stealing it? Definitely.

How could he not? She had unknowingly been doing everything to make him fall for her, and he'd be a liar if he said it wasn't working. Toji had no idea things would turn out this way, but yet he did not regret it one bit. Even when she said otherwise, feigning indifference and pretending to be oblivious to his stares, he easily saw through it all. He wasn't fooled in the slightest by her act, especially considering the looks she would give him in return when she thought he wasn't paying attention.

"You call yourself a Goddess but you can't even stand a kiss..."

He chuckled as he walked to his room after checking over Megumi, eyes softening at the sight. Their birthdays were fast approaching, not that he valued his own, to begin with. Megumi's, on the other hand, being the 22nd, yeah, he might try and do something. Not that he knew much about birthdays, never celebrating his own since he didn't see the point in doing so and was too busy fighting to survive back then to care. He honestly had no clue what to get for the brat though.

He shrugged.

'just gonna buy some toys or some shit I guess...'

Whether it was a coincidence or not, he kind of liked the fact that their birthdays were around the same month. This made him a bit curious about Colith's since he hadn't bothered to actually try and learn anything about her since he wanted her gone and out of his sight. But now that he felt those weird feelings, this attraction, he wanted to know more.

Dumbass didn't even know her actual age and full name, though he knew for a fact that she's been sent here by some unknown forces to save him, and couldn't repress the growing smirk from appearing. He had a feeling that there was more to it than meets the eye and he'll find out soon enough.

"Suppose I'll make a move then." he yawned, heading to his room after turning off the lights.

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