A gift, a gift... a lovely, hurts-so-good gift.
At some point I'd meant to rec 100demons' futurefic "impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom" (7,589 words; Teen and up; canon-typical violence) on the SnK comm on DW. Jean was the one who had to deliver the terrible news about Marco to the Bodt family. Seven years later, he's a corporal with a drinking problem, Armin is a lieutenant commander…. and Kurt Bodt, Marco's little brother who resembles Marco quite a bit, wants to join the Survey Corps and avenge his family, which was destroyed by his brother's death.
Jean, who can't abide the thought of Kurt dying the same way Marco did, hits upon the solution of being as much of an asshole to him as possible, first to discourage him from joining up, then - after Armin deliberately assigns Kurt to Jean - to protect himself emotionally. Needless to say, things don't go the way Jean plans, but I'm not going to spoil anything for you.
I will add, however, that Armin is as well written as Jean here - more mature, more self-confident, proud of his work, and unwilling to take any shit off Jean whatsoever. Their working relationship, antagonistic on the surface but with great mutual respect at the core, is one of the delights of this story. Also, while 100demons did model Kurt's personality on Eren's, any similarities between future!Jean and canon!Levi are totally unintentional. (Oh, and yeah, there's Sasha, too, and she hasn't changed too much.)
I told 100demons in the comments that, if they ever cared to write it, I would read the shit out of Jean/Kurt, whether or not they wanted to age Kurt up. Well. What should land in my inbox tonight but this AO3 notification:Hello, Island_of_Reil!
A gift work has been posted for you at the Archive of Our Own!
not my cure (2734 words)
by 100demons
It's another five years down the road, Kurt Bodt's made lieutenant, Armin is SC commander, and Jean's a captain who's suffered a career-ending injury. And is still drowning his pain in a bottle.Hey, Jean, the dead Marco says and turns his head, with Kurt’s jaw and Kurt’s crooked smile playing over his lips.
Jean chokes on the whisky and slams the shot glass down on countertop. Captain, Marco salutes, with Kurt’s dark curling hair and freckles trailing down the curve of his milky white throat. Captain, Captain…
Oh, my heart. It's beautiful, it's heartbreaking, and it's hopeful. And 100demons promises to continue the story.
(Cross-posted.)
Jean, who can't abide the thought of Kurt dying the same way Marco did, hits upon the solution of being as much of an asshole to him as possible, first to discourage him from joining up, then - after Armin deliberately assigns Kurt to Jean - to protect himself emotionally. Needless to say, things don't go the way Jean plans, but I'm not going to spoil anything for you.
I will add, however, that Armin is as well written as Jean here - more mature, more self-confident, proud of his work, and unwilling to take any shit off Jean whatsoever. Their working relationship, antagonistic on the surface but with great mutual respect at the core, is one of the delights of this story. Also, while 100demons did model Kurt's personality on Eren's, any similarities between future!Jean and canon!Levi are totally unintentional. (Oh, and yeah, there's Sasha, too, and she hasn't changed too much.)
I told 100demons in the comments that, if they ever cared to write it, I would read the shit out of Jean/Kurt, whether or not they wanted to age Kurt up. Well. What should land in my inbox tonight but this AO3 notification:Hello, Island_of_Reil!
A gift work has been posted for you at the Archive of Our Own!
not my cure (2734 words)
by 100demons
It's another five years down the road, Kurt Bodt's made lieutenant, Armin is SC commander, and Jean's a captain who's suffered a career-ending injury. And is still drowning his pain in a bottle.Hey, Jean, the dead Marco says and turns his head, with Kurt’s jaw and Kurt’s crooked smile playing over his lips.
Jean chokes on the whisky and slams the shot glass down on countertop. Captain, Marco salutes, with Kurt’s dark curling hair and freckles trailing down the curve of his milky white throat. Captain, Captain…
Oh, my heart. It's beautiful, it's heartbreaking, and it's hopeful. And 100demons promises to continue the story.
(Cross-posted.)