#EiRin: Peerless AU

[justaramblingromantic]

home

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi/EiRin

Type: Canon compliant, Post-series, Canon-divergent AU, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 606

A/N: Ever listened to a song that randomly gave you so much feels you’re scrambling to write something for the OTP before it goes away again? Yeah, that was how this drabble came to be. 

xXxXxXxXxX

She was happily digging into her yogurt when he came home that night. She made a rather comical sight, balancing the large, low fat, family sized tub on her protruding middle as she sat on the couch in the living room.

“Welcome back,” she chirped, apparently in a good mood. She was always in a good mood when she had something to eat. He dropped his keys on the end table by the hallway and wandered towards her. He looked tired and just a tad frazzled, so she petted the cushion beside her and invited him to sit.

He slogged over and plopped down on the sofa unceremoniously. He usually possessed more grace and decorum than that, so his actions spoke for his level of exhaustion. Rindou reached out and tousled his hair. Without a word, he turned his face into the side of her neck and breathed her in. She craned her head and let him rest against her.

“Long day?” Her fingertips lazily scraped against his scalp, and he sighed, exhaling at the contact. His arm snaked around the back of her expanded waist, palm splayed flat against the side of her swollen belly, quietly caressing her. She snuggled happily into his touch.

“Mm,” he mumbled against her skin, just content to hold her. She was soft and warm and smelled so subtly sweet. It was nice to come home to her like this.

She let him do as he pleased, and continued to tuck into her tub of yogurt and watch her show. He’d perk up and start becoming more coherent once he was good and ready.

Sure enough, he stirred after a while, nose twitching as he raised his head a bit to investigate what she was eating.

“What are you having?” he asked. “You didn’t put strange things in there again, did you?”

He really was such a worrywart. In response, she scooped a spoonful of her yogurt and fed him. “Taste for yourself; I’ve been good! It’s all the boring stuff that you’ve been nagging me to eat more of.”

Sure enough, it was a fairly regular mix of muesli, granola, nuts, chia seeds and frozen berries. This time, it was his turn to lift his hand and pet her on the top of her head. “Good girl.”

She mock scowled at him. “Are you patronizing me, mister?”

“I’m not. Give me more. I’m hungry too.”

“Eh? Why must I? Why are you stealing food from a pregnant woman?” She sounded rather offended as she hugged the tub of yogurt possessively to her chest, and he looked equally offended by her unwillingness to share.

“I’ve been working hard to support this family, haven’t I?”

“I’ve been working really hard too! I’ve been 3D printing a baby for more than half a year; it’s a lot of effort!”

Despite all that protesting, she did deign to share her snack with him even as she muttered. They sat there and took turns with the spoon. Eishi seemed in danger of nodding off again.

“Everything okay?” she asked. He nodded sleepily against her.

“Mm.” Then he groaned. “I don’t want to open another restaurant ever again.”

She snorted at his remark. “It’s tough being a perfectionist, huh.”

He squeezed her in retaliation. “Are you going to nag me now, woman.”

She tugged lightly at his snowy white hair, amused by his disgruntlement. “Who are you calling a nag, you grumpy old man?”

“I’m not old; my hair is just naturally white,” he muttered in protest. It wasn’t anything that she hadn’t heard before. She cackled.

“That excuse’s not gonna hold forever, you know.”

xXxXxXxXxX

[justaramblingromantic]

promise

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi/EiRin

Type: Canon compliant, Post-series, Canon-divergent AU, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 1657

A/N #01: Been dreaming of Sicily again, and this was what came out of it. 

This is also a continuation of ‘mine’ and ‘favorite wild thing.’ Reckon there will be another three or four more loosely connected drabbles in this mini-series before I’m done. This couple just won’t leave me be, I swear.  

xXxXxXxXxX

That morning, she was all disgruntled and grumpy as they set off from Palermo. Wearing an oversized pair of shades and hunkered down on the passenger seat in an oversized hoodie, dark red hair tumbling down her back that was still not completely dry from her shower earlier, she looked rather miserable for someone who was on vacation.

Beside her, taking the wheel of the SUV that they had rented, Eishi briefly took his gaze off the road to glance at the miserable lump that was his girlfriend.

“Still hungover?”

She responded with an unintelligible mumble, hunching even further into her seat like an upset turtle.

“This is why you shouldn’t have drunk so much last night,” he scolded lightly, not entirely sympathetic with her misery since it wasn’t as if she was dying or anything of that sort. She turned towards him and sent him what was probably a gimlet stare from behind the darkened lens of her shades, but his response to her crankiness was to grab a baseball cap sitting on the dashboard of the car and place it on the top of her head, further shading her sensitive eyes from the bright morning sun.

“Rest. I’ll wake you at a pit stop.”

She was feeling a lot more like herself a couple of hours later, though still a bit quieter than usual. He had made sure that she was properly watered down and also had some food in her, so she was a lot less irritable, and was even beginning to gaze at their surroundings with renewed interest. Soon, they would arrive at the sprawling olive grove and vineyard where they would be spending the majority of this trip, nestled in the charming, rustic countryside of southeastern Sicily. As they got closer and closer to their destination, so grew Rindou’s interest and anticipation, and by the time they pulled into the massive, eighty-hectare farm of Pianogrillo, the redhead was already vibrating uncontrollably, beside herself with excitement.

“Tsukasa, look!” She turned to him with sparkling eyes and a giddy smile stretched across her face. “Isn’t this awesome? I can just smell all the adventures to be had here, already!!” She wound down the side window and stuck her head out of the car, taking deep lungfuls of the crisp country air as they drove past neat lines of olive groves and fruit orchards on a graveled road, an irrepressible grin growing.

A friend of a friend had recommended this place for a farmstay when Rindou had been researching for things to do in this region, and she was glad that she had taken up that suggestion and made a booking – the farm was even more gorgeous than what she had seen in the photos, with its sprawling vineyards that stretched out as far as the eye could see and that beautiful view of the majestic Sicilian mountain range in the distance. She could not wait to get out of the car and start exploring the grounds.

Eishi was bemused by her rousing enthusiasm. Undoubtedly she had been to even more exotic places than this for her work, but no matter where they went, she was always excited and happily marveling at the sights and, of course, exclaiming over the food. No wonder she was so well suited for her role on screen; she was so infectiously bubbly, he wanted to smile.

“Are you really that excited about this trip?” he asked.

She turned to him and peered at him incredulously, as if surprised that he even had to ask. “Of course, duh! I’m here and you’re here and we’re both at this very same place looking at the same views and sharing the same experiences! Don’t you think that’s special? I wonder what fun we’re gonna have here; we should go on more trips together, Tsukasa!”

He glanced briefly at her, lips twitching at her palpable exuberance as she chattered away a mile a minute. Her mood was definitely fully revived now, and it made him happy too, knowing that she wanted to visit all these faraway and foreign places with him and share her pleasure and delight with him.

“Yeah. Let’s travel together more from now on.”

They pulled into the front yard of the guesthouse and Rindou wasted no time climbing out of the car, grinning from ear to ear as she turned in a circle and gazed all around her. The actual working farmstead was a fair distance away and she thought that she could also see the stables just partially hidden up ahead along the road. There was even an infinity pool nestled right beside the guesthouse, and the 17th century architecture of all the holdings on the property had been painstakingly preserved and restored to exactly how they used to look in the past.

Eishi got out of the driver’s seat as well, pulling his shades up to rest on the top of his head as he looked curiously around too. There was farmland stretched out all the way to the horizon no matter which direction he turned; endless plots of orchards and vineyards cultivated upon gently undulating hills and rolling knolls, and it was almost disconcerting, all this amount of vast wide space that were utterly devoid of crowds and people, nothing but nature, flora and fauna all abound. It would take a bit of getting used to, but the white-haired man thought that it was already starting to feel like a peaceful, stress-free kind of vacation. Hopefully.

He turned to head to the back of the car to unload their bags when Rindou loped back to him and grabbed his hand, pulling him along in an entirely random direction.

“C’mon minion number two, let’s venture upon these virgin lands and go explore!”

“But our stuff-”

“Do that later, let’s go, let’s gooo! Ah! That’s the pig pasture over there, isn’t it! I’m pretty sure they are rearing free range Sicilian Black Pigs here; don’t you wanna go see-”

She was already salivating at the thought of those delicious, organic pork chops rooting about the woodlands, happy and plump. Eishi’s wilted determination was no match for that sort of motivation fueling her, and so he was promptly dragged along. They didn’t get too far though, for a horse with a rider approached them at leisurely canter from the farm, waving them to a stop as he neared. The steed was a tall, handsome equine with a sleek chestnut coat though Eishi was not familiar enough with horses to determine its breed, and its rider was a dark haired, goateed, middle aged man dressed casually in jeans, a plaid shirt and dusty riding boots.

“Bon vinutu! Welcome to Pianogrillo!” he called out in a heavily accented English as he drew to a halt in front of them. Flashing a smile, his gleaming white teeth stood out against his tanned, olive complexion.  

“Ciau~!” Rindou greeted back cheerfully, her ears perking at the familiar voice. “Are you signore Lorenzo?”

The man dismounted from his horse and turned to them. “Se, I most certainly am! And you must be the newlyweds! Congratulations, my dears. How was your drive here? I hope it was nice and uneventful.” Lorenzo unhooked a ring of keys from his belt loop and jingled them merrily. “Come; let us go first to the guest house and then I’ll show you around. We’ve prepared the most beautiful honeymoon suite for you lovebirds, I promise you’ll fall in love here all over again! Then we shall open a nice bottle of sweet wine to toast to your happiness!”

Eishi did a small, gaping double take as Lorenzo herded them back towards the guesthouse. Then he stared at Rindou, bewildered.

…Newlyweds…?

To his wonder, Rindou happily, gamely, accepted the offer. “Thanks for the hospitality, Lorenzo-san! We’re in your care!”

“So. We’re…married now?” Eishi asked his beaming ‘wife’ drolly while they were waiting for their gregarious host to tether his horse to a nearby hitching post.

The redhead grinned. “Why not? You don’t wanna?”

“I did not say that,” he was quick to refute. “Though it’d be nice if you can give me some warning next time since apparently I’ve missed my own wedding.”

She petted his arm consolingly, amused that he was playing along. “S’okay! Your beautiful, patient and considerate bride understands that you were busy with work. But feel free to make it up to me during our honeymoon…or I may just run off with some handsome Italian stallion when you aren’t looking~”

He gave her a deadpan stare…and then he glanced pointedly at their surroundings, where there was nothing but farmland all around.

“…Where in this countryside, pray tell, are you planning to wrangle a ‘handsome Italian stallion,’ my wayward, runaway bride?” he asked politely.

She coughed to mask a laugh at his deceptively mild question. She widened her eyes earnestly. “When there’s a will, there’s a way. And I’m a very determined woman, as you know!”

“I’ll paddle your backside,” he muttered in response, and she snickered.

“Is that a bribe~?” she asked innocuously, gold slit gaze sparkling with mirth and anticipation, and he groaned.

“You’re terribly unruly,” he chided.

“But you married me anyway,” she reminded him cheekily. “S’too late for returns now~!”  

He grabbed her hand and tugged her close before she could skip off in her excitement like she tended to do sometimes. “Who says I’m returning you?” he retorted. “You may be a handful but I know how to handle you.”

His bossiness was intriguing to her, and so she obediently stayed close, also partially pleased by his confidence when it came to being with her. She sidled over, tiptoed, and pecked his cheek, pleased to enjoy the thrilling luxury of his undivided attention, especially since they had both been so busy with work lately.

“Is that a threat?”

His lavender gaze settled on her, quietly darkening at her happy affection.  

“It’s a promise.”

xXxXxXxXxX

A/N #02: Pianogrillo Organic Winery and Olive Groves is a legit farmstay in Sicily and you can check their listing out on Airbnb. Yah, sometimes when I have nothing to do I like to go and look at listings on Airbnb in different countries, haha.

[justaramblingromantic]

cross my heart

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi/EiRin

Type: Canon compliant, Pre-series, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 1903

A/N: Been wanting to write something like this since elementary-school!Eishi made his debut in the manga. This is obviously a ‘what-if’ fic, featuring erherm budding-artist!Eishi and bug-catcher-entomologist!Rindou. 

xXxXxXxXxX

He met her for the very first time under an impossibly blue, summer sky.

There was a meadow, lush and verdant, there was a tree, and then there was her.

“What are you doin’?”

Seven-year-old Eishi jumped slightly, startled by the inquisitive chirp that had rang out beside him. He had been so engrossed in his artwork, he hadn’t even noticed that someone had wandered over and had been peeking curiously over his shoulder for quite a while now.  

The white-haired boy anxiously eyed his canvas, meticulously making sure that he hadn’t accidentally streaked paint over the painting that he had painstakingly labored on for the last hour or so thanks to the scare.

“Hey, hey! What are you doin’?”

The kid who had popped out of nowhere nudged him this time to get his attention, much to his alarm. He quickly pulled away, very careful to keep his paintbrush from his painting. There was no way he was going to mess up and undo all of his hard work.  

“What are you doing?” he retorted back with ruffled agitation, frowning a little. Eishi turned his head to find the source of his problem, only to pause in hesitant bewilderment when he abruptly realized that the other was not anyone he had seen before from class. A stranger.

“That’s my question!” the other child mirthfully informed him. “I asked first!”

Eishi had never seen hair that color ever. So vivid, so red. It was cropped short to the other boy’s nape and barely covered his ears in a pixie cut, and it was very fluffy. He stared. The other boy’s eyes were sharp and bright and gold, and the shape reminded him of a cat’s. He had never seen anyone like that before, with those weird pretty eyes. The redhead looked like he was also a second grader, dressed plainly in shirt and shorts and flipflops, and he was also staring at him with such friendly, eager inquisitiveness, Eishi was a bit bowled over by all that positive attention.

Most of the kids their age tended to avoid him once they got to know him, so…

The white-haired boy slowly, bewilderedly, replied.

“I’m…painting…?”

The other boy’s face lit up with interest.

“Cool! Izzit fun? ‘Coz you look like you’re havin’ loads of fun! What are you painting? Do you paint a lot? What d’ya like painting the most-” Eishi was promptly overwhelmed by a barrage of enthusiastic questions, and the other kid crowded over once again to look at his progress so far. This time, Eishi didn’t seem to mind as much, though he still made sure to put his brush down and his palette away from his random, strangely boisterous companion just in case the latter knocked the paints onto his canvas.

He pointed slowly at the large tree just a bit in front of them, at the same time, feeling a bit flustered and pleased that someone his age was paying so much attention to his work. “…I’m painting that.”

The kid squatting beside him followed the line of his finger and squinted at the tree just a short distance away. His fascinated expression grew animated with excitement once he noticed the likeness of the painting and the subject.

“Oooh! I see it, I see it!!” the boy exclaimed and whipped his head around to gaze at him with awe. “You really did that all on your own? How wicked is that? It looks just like the real thing! D’ya have more? What else have you drawn? I wanna see, I wanna see! Show me!”

Eishi blushed at the effusive barrage of praise that his new companion was piling on him. It was impossible not to feel flustered.

“I-I didn’t bring my sketchbook,” he stammered, suddenly a bit shy.

“Aww…!” the child beside him wilted a bit with disappointment, but then he picked himself up again quickly enough. “Hey, show me your artworks next time, ‘kay! Show me your favorite! I bet it’s gonna be a super fun, super cool one!” he suggested, and Eishi hesitated briefly, a confused look briefly crossing his features. …Super fun…super cool?

“I’ll try…” he agreed dubiously, and the bubbly redhead beamed at him so delightedly, the white-haired child could not help but feel his cheeks flush pink.

“Do you…do you paint too?” he asked.

The chirpy boy shook his head. “Nope~! I’m not allowed to ‘nymore! Rai-nii’s still mad at me for fillin’ up water balloons using his school paints last week, so I’m not allowed to touch paints anymore. Mama scolded me soooo much!” He was pouting something fierce at the ban, and Eishi had the strangest look on his face.

“…Why…would you do that?”

The other boy shot him an incredulous stare. “For water balloon fights, of course! Haven’t you had water balloon fights with your brothers before? It’s super fun!!”

He shook his head slowly, reluctantly intrigued. Water balloon fights…? That actually sounded like kind of fun. “I don’t have brothers…or sisters. Only me.”

“…Oh.” The other second grader looked at him like he was trying really hard not to feel sorry for him. “What ‘bout your friends? Those kids painting over there are your friends, aren’t they? Why don’t you play with them?”

He pointed curiously at the cluster of students at the edge of the meadow all working on their own artworks as well. Sensei was there overseeing the class, and every once in a while, she came over to make sure that Eishi was alright, too. Nobody else in class had wanted to work on their paintings near him once he had decided to wander a bit further from the main group to paint his tree. Sensei had tried to convince him to paint something closer to the rest of the group but Eishi had quietly insisted otherwise, so there was that.

“…They’re my classmates,” Eishi shared quietly. “I don’t think they like me very much.”

Golden eyes watched him with interest. “Why not? You draw so good, and you’re kinda funny, too! You’d make a great sidekick- I mean, friend!”

Eishi shot him a mystified stare. He also hesitated, wondering if he told the truth, this boy would go away, too.  

“…They say that I’m selfish.”

The boy’s head tipped to the side inquisitively. His gaze was open, unhesitating, transparent. There was no wariness whatsoever, no doubt. And he did not look like he was going to go away.

“Huh. Are you?”

Eishi shrugged slowly, a strange look crossing his face at the question. No one had asked him that, before. “I guess…I am.”

The other boy started to snicker, shoulders quivering with mirth. “You guess? So are you or are you not?!”

And so the story of how he had ‘borrowed’ the paint of another classmate just because he decided that color would look good on his own painting sheepishly spilled out.

“Wow, you really are kinda a handful!” the smaller redhead declared when he finished, lips still tipped up with irrepressible amusement. He also laughed rather obnoxiously. “No wonder your classmates don’t like you!”

Before Eishi could slump at the insensitive but truthful declaration and go right into a depressed huddle, his companion reached behind and slapped him on the back of his shoulders in encouragement. It was sort of painful, but he was too distracted by the other’s cheerful demeanor to be upset anymore.

“Hey, I got an idea! Next time, why don’t you try asking first before taking people’s things?” Those golden eyes squinted at him up and down consideringly. “And you’re really cute, too! So if you ask nicely and politely, I bet your classmates will help you out for sure!”

Eishi blushed, again. He had never met someone his age who was so friendly and nice and warm. “You really think so?”

“Uh-huh!” the redhead nodded, resolute and confident. “I know so!”

“T-Then,” he stammered as he gathered his courage. “Will you be my f-friend?”

The other boy stared at him. And then he broke out into a large smile, bright as the sun. “What are you talkin’ ‘bout? We’re already friends, aren’t we!”

A warm glow grew in his chest. His first friend.

“Yes.”

His new friend beamed at him. “And I’ve got just the thing for ya!! It’s my most precious thing at the moment but I’ll give it to you-”

He watched curiously at the boy rooted about in the small sling bag that he wore slung over one shoulder. The redhead’s face brightened as his hand closed around whatever it was he had been searching for. He beckoned excitedly to Eishi- “Your hand, gimme your hand!!” -and grabbed the white-haired boy’s hand and pulled it nearer to him.

“Don’t let go, ‘kay? I worked really hard to find it! Promise!!”

Eishi was very bewildered. But his new friend was trusting him with something that was very important to him and so Eishi nodded his head. “Okay. I promise.”

The other second grader was peering at him a bit suspiciously, still. “Promise, promise? Cross your heart and hope to die, promise?”

He nodded again. “Cross my heart and hope to die.” He even did that thing and solemnly drew a cross over his heart with his finger, just to show that he was completely serious. His new friend beamed.

“’Kay, I believe ya!” And without hesitation, he pulled his hand out from within the confines of the bag and plopped the thing that he had been holding right on the palm of Eishi’s hand. “Hold it properly, don’t let go!”

The thing on his hand felt a bit prickly and ticklish against the flat of his palm, but hard and smooth against his fingertips. It was also moving. Eishi gaped down at his hand in shock when the other boy moved his hand away and revealed the mystery thing that he had been given.

It was a bug. It was a very huge bug.

Black shelled and shiny and possessing an enormous rack of ominously looking horns, it was the biggest bug he had ever seen in all seven years of his life.

And he was holding it in his hand.  

Eishi turned white.

His companion glowed with happy pride.

“He’s a beauty, isn’t he? It took me days just to find and catch him!”

“…It’s a bug.” He sounded like he was going to faint. He started to tremble. “You gave me a bug.” Was he being bullied?

“Oi! S’not just a bug; it’s a Rhinoceros beetle! D’ya know how rare they are?”

“B-But what am I supposed to do with it?” Eishi was stiff, everything was screaming at him to pitch the insect as far away as possible and then run away screaming down the meadow, but it was in the spirit of his promise to his friend that he was currently frozen solid as the enormous beetle slowly crawled on his hand.

“You can keep it as a pet!! You can make it your new friend, too!”

“…I d-don’t want t-to…”  

“Oh, c’mon! You really don’t hav’ta be such a girly girl, ya know! Insects are cool!”

Eishi turned his head mechanically to the redhead, brow furrowed in confusion. Something was not right…

“…But I’m not a girl. I’m a boy…like you.” And insects were not cool…

His companion frowned back at him, equally baffled.

“Hahh? But I’m not a boy! I’mma girl, like you!”

…Eh…?

xXxXxXxXxX

[justaramblingromantic]

fail better

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi/EiRin

Type: Canon-divergent AU, Post-series, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 2277

A/N #01: Ever read something so stupid that at the end of it all, you can almost literally feel the double negative ‘dislike’ interaction sign from The Sims forming right over your head? That was exactly my feeling after I read the nonsense that was chapter 296. Actually, my feeling was so strong it singlehandedly fueled my motivation to write this piece in one sitting, haha. What the effing heck, Tsukuda. 

A/N #02: Title derived by Samuel Beckett’s quote: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

xXxXxXxXxX

Hours after the conclusion of his round of the tournament, he was back in the still quiet of his hotel room, staring down at the empty text screen of his phone, wondering what to write to properly convey his conflicted feelings at the moment. He found himself stuck for the longest time, because the other person who had all but wrung a promise out of him for consistent updates of his progress would not appreciate it in the least if he was insincere or dishonest with her and, most importantly, himself.

And she would know intrinsically too, much to his chagrin.

He did not have to struggle futilely for the whole night, because as if aware of his mounting difficulties…or perhaps just plain exasperated with his indecisive dithering, the smart device in his hand vibrated impatiently with an incoming call, and the name that popped up on his Caller ID was both a comforting and sobering sight at the same time.

He picked up, of course. After a brief, hesitating pause. Mentally steeling himself, because it was…difficult not to be swept away by that surge of self-critical disappointment all over again.  

“…Hello.”

“Yo.”

In hindsight, he did not know what he was even feeling so anxious about. Just hearing that one word, just hearing that familiar voice filtered through the speaker from the other end, already possessed the miraculous effect of easing the stiff tension that had grown unbidden between his shoulders, bearing down on him like a heavy weight that entire day. He sighed her name.

“Rindou.”

There was some crinkling to be heard in ambient surroundings, as if she was snacking on something while on the phone with him at the same time. That casual familiarity soothed his nerves, because it was just like her to be so relaxed and comfortable around him. Before the conversation could lull and grow tense and awkward, she nonchalantly continued.

“I heard you got your ass handed to you today, Tsukasa~” his impish best friend all but singsonged.

Instead of feeling sorry and regretful over his loss, the woman actually sounded indecently gleeful instead. Even if he wanted to, it was hard to remain down in the doldrums when she was like this. He grew exasperated, remembering that sometimes she was the kind who liked to poke at people’s bruises, just to hear them yell.

“…You don’t beat around the bush, do you?” he deadpanned.

“Why should I?” she retorted between munches. “D’ya know how many texts I got this afternoon alone reporting your defeat to that Saiha dude? I practically received multiple blow-by-blow accounts, and they sent videos too; at least five different viewing angles of you getting your ass handed to you-”

Now, he was just plain mortified, never mind feeling sorry for himself.  

“What. Who texted you?” he demanded to know, flustered that she had to learn about it from other people instead of straight from him. His cheeks warmed in pique. “Why are people texting you anyway to tell you those things.”

“Yeah, I wonder why,” she replied in a tone that implied she didn’t even have to wonder at all. Their closeness wasn’t exactly a big secret to those who knew them in Tootsuki.

“Where are you now, anyway?” she changed the subject blithely. “Moping about in your room?”

“I’m not moping,” he spluttered in denial. Sure, he was feeling a bit morose and out of sorts, but that was because there was nothing to do since he no longer had to prepare for the next stage of the competition! Furthermore and strangely enough, his defeat today had not felt as crushingly overwhelming as that time in the aftermath of the Regiment Shokugeki. And more importantly- “Next time, wait patiently for my texts instead of listening to the gossips of other people.”

“Then text me quicker next time-”

A knock on the door had him distracted, and he got up to answer it, phone still cradled to his ear.

“-I thought you got so depressed you decided to commit seppuku with that long-assed nail file of yours. Hola~!”

He opened the door…and there she was, standing at the entrance, her digitally modulated reply abruptly becoming clear and distinct in real time. She was bright eyed and smirking at him,  just so irrepressibly buoyant it was as if she was a ray of sunshine herself.

Eishi blinked owlishly in surprise. “You are…here.” He quickly snapped out of his brief stupor. “Wait. What are you doing here?”

She brushed past him to get into his room. “Ta-da~ I came to offer my bosom for you to cry on, of course!”

He shut the door and turned to her, a funny look crossing his face, still half in disbelief…because she was supposed to be in Barcelona right now.

She looked like she had just stepped off a flight, and she had come bearing consolation gifts, too. “Look what I bought on the way here!” She swiveled to him and raised the plastic bags that she was holding. “Fried chicken and cheap beer are the best things to fix a broken heart!”

“My heart is not broken,” he retorted, nonplussed by her shining enthusiasm to bring light to his dark and tortured soul. “And will you put those drinks away; we’re still underaged.”

“Boo; you’re so straitlaced! What’s a bit of underaged drinking gonna do? We’d be twenty in a year or so, anyway! Live a little!”

And then she promptly proceeded to make a mess in his otherwise previously tidy accommodation. Her sneakers were kicked haphazardly aside, she dumped her bag unceremoniously on the floor in the middle of the room, and with whirlwind efficacy, she soon had the food and drinks laid out on the dressing table. Popping a crispy piece of chicken, deep fried to golden brown perfection, into her mouth, she pulled out a chilled can of beer from the six pack, bought right off a nearby conbini, cracked it open, brought it right to her lips and drank deep. She exhaled gustily with happiness, eyes squeezed shut with contentment, a look of comical satisfaction flitting across her rosy face.  

“Hell yeah, this is the best~!”

The redhead popped open another can of beer, and she pushed it to him. “Don’t just stand there! Come join me, dummy.”

Eishi was reluctant at first, but as she handed him the choicest bits of chicken on a paper plate and then started to dig into her own share with zeal, he realized belatedly that he was hungry, too. How she miraculously knew that he hadn’t had dinner yet was a mystery; he had been preoccupied and had somehow forgotten all about eating in the process. He took refreshing sips of ice-cold beer in between succulent bites of crisp, precisely battered chicken; she was right, there was a certain epicurean pleasure to be had from this combination. His mind was already automatically deconstructing the dish, gauging the type of ingredients and their exact quantity, speculating on the various steps of preparation, how hot the temperature of the frying oil had to be-

She snorted at his distracted demeanor as they dawdled over the meal. “You’re such a nerd, I swear.”  

He snapped out of his thoughts to stare at her. She snickered.

“Feel better now?”

He continued to stare.

“Wanna walk me through how your bout went?” Her golden eyes gleamed. “Or maybe I should tell you how I think it went as related to me by my secret sources?”

“No, thank you-”

He obligingly spilled, not wanting to hear of the embarrassing accounts as witnessed by whoever had spied on him for her. Besides, she was someone who actually appreciated the finer nuances of his cooking style and methodology, even when others would have been bored to tears by all that incredibly dry, technical talk. She paid rapt attention, her eyes trained unwaveringly on him as he spoke about the dish he came up with, and objectively as well of the one that had eventually defeated him.

Rindou was intrigued.

“Huh. Sounds like you had quite a bit of fun out there.”

International competitions like The Blue were really on another level altogether. She also wondered how they were able to dredge up so much crazy every year just to stuff into one event.  

“I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘fun,’” Eishi muttered under his breath.

There was an annoying soreness just lying under the skin and muscles of his chest, growing more and more aggravating as time passed after that battle with Saiba Asahi, and downright impossible to ignore however he tried. It was a gripping feeling that he had not experienced in quite a long time. It felt like a muted rage, a festering, humiliating wound in his heart that had been dealt by the hand of his opponent.

“He claimed my knife in light of my loss,” he finally admitted his shame.

It was now or never, and he refused to lie. Not to her. Never, to her.

For one moment, the air around her stilled.

And then her eyes glowed bright with fury.

For all that some people always said of his selfishness and arrogance, even he had never stooped so low as to steal the precious knives of another chef, their livelihood, the very source of their pride. Everything that he had, he had painstakingly squeezed out of his own talents, refusing to rely or even lean on the abilities of others, because there was simply no honor or pride to be had for that kind of tainted victory. But such distasteful practice was not entirely unheard of, nor was it illegal or wrong. Life in the kitchen could be cutthroat and fast paced where all sorts of characters lurked; those who could not take the heat simply had no place there, regardless of how good or skilled they were.

Then again, Tsukasa had never been the kind to break easily.

“What an unpleasant punk,” Rindou uttered flatly, stiffly.

He said nothing to that, but somehow, he felt lighter, because here she was, absolutely furious on his behalf.

“Which blade did he take?”

He knew she was going to laugh. “…The one…you nicknamed ‘the long-assed nail file,’” he responded slowly, after a reluctant pause.

He was absolutely right; she snort-giggled into her beer. That heavy tension in the atmosphere promptly dissolved, and miraculously along with it, his paralyzing sense of disgrace. “Pffft. Of all the- That one?? Eh, I s’pose there’s really no accounting for taste, is there?”

Eishi sent her a disgruntled look, visibly put out by her reaction. “Enough, you. I actually liked that blade.”  

She relaxed at his mild censure. He was calmer now, less tense, less brittle. In turn, that pleased her, too. She took another sip of her beer, already on her second can.

“So make an even better one, then. In the first place, you haven’t even fully developed that technique yet with how recently you came up with it,” she pointed out.

He drank to that, too. “I intend to.” There was a firmness in his quiet reply, an unshakable resolve that hardened his usually distant, lavender gaze, as he retreated to a place within himself that would not allow him to give up until he had achieved what he sought to.

She eyed him silently over the rim of her drink. That look of relentless, dogged determination was something that she hadn’t seen on him for a long time.

“…You really are having fun with this,” she observed once more with insistence, her lips twitching up in a delighted smile.

“It’s not fun,” he promptly corrected her. “It’s…frustrating.”

“But at least it’s not boring anymore, right?” She nudged him knowingly. He sighed and looked down at her plainly amused expression. She wasn’t going to give up until he admitted it, was she? He really did not know how she did it; there was not one word of consolation offered over his defeat, but still she made him feel so much better, all the same.

“…No. It’s not boring anymore,” he acknowledged. He was simmering, seething quietly beneath that deceptively calm, tranquil façade of his. “I actually feel…quite displeased,” he admitted, frowning slightly and looking quite out of sorts with himself.

She snorted, once again, at the understatement. He was really terrible at expressing anger. She reached up and petted his head for trying his best, all the same. “There, there. Let it all out. You want Rindou onee-chan to give you a hug too? Not to blow my own trumpet, but my hugs are seriously the best.”

He stared at her shamelessly bragging. Or maybe not, since he knew from experience that her hugs were seriously the best indeed, as advertised.

“Okay,” he agreed readily to her half joking offer. Perhaps it was the beer that relaxed his inhibitions, for he briefly studied her where she was sitting beside him, and then, without hesitation, he reached out, grabbed her around her middle, and half tugged, half lifted her onto his lap. She paused in surprise at his spontaneity, but before anything else could be said, he folded his arms around her and gently nested her against himself. He pressed his face into crimson fragrance of her hair and inhaled, sighing at her warmth and softness.

“…I’m glad you came,” he told her truthfully. It made him feel sleepy too, tension dissipating, and weariness rushing to the forefront in the face of this simple, reassuring contentment that was Rindou.  

Her gaze softened. Her arms curled lazily around him in return, and she snuggled up to her best friend.

“Mm. You worked hard today, Tsukasa. Well done-”

xXxXxXxXxX

[justaramblingromantic]

~ send me a ship and i’ll tell you who ~

@snigz17

Thanks for the request~! (posting one ship first, the other two will follow shortly!)

SouEri here

IshiNene here

RyoAli here

EiRin

curses like a sailor

Rindou. There aren’t many occasions that merit swearing as far as she’s concerned, but the multi-lingo cursing flows out like an angry swear song when she’s dashing around the apartment in a hurry (she’s late again) and accidentally rams her toes into furniture. Also comes with dancing accompaniment in the form of comical hopping about and red-faced flailing. Eishi just stands aside, watches the unraveling chaos, and calmly sips his coffee - after the fifth time of ‘I told you sos,’ he has learned to rest his case and pick his battles wisely. 

does the chores voluntarily

Eishi. It’s not that Rindou never does her chores. She just prefers to do them later. Eishi does whatever needs to be done right away and when he’s completed his chores, he simply goes on and picks up after whatever she hasn’t done yet, too. Rindou has no complaints, naturally. 

wants to marry their bed

Rindou. They go bed shopping and of course she insists on testing each and every available mattress, because (according to Rindou Logic) buying a bed is akin to a lifetime commitment, and can last even longer past marriage sometimes. Eishi is not too sure what she is trying to say, but they spend hours just rolling around in the mattress shop until they can finally agree on the one they both like. In hindsight, it might have been a bad idea to get the one she deemed her favorite - it becomes even harder prying her out of bed in the mornings.

gets awkward about romantic gestures

Rindou. For someone who is prone to spontaneous bursts of affection, she gets so adorably flustered when Eishi returns her sentiment with thoughtful gestures of his own. He finds that side of her endearingly amusing...especially when she cannot take it anymore and sputters for him to ‘stop,’ all red-faced and blushy.

stays in the shower for what seems like hours

Rindou. Whenever they travel, she stays in the shower until all the hot water has been used up, or until she has turned all pruney. Hence, it’s generally agreed upon that Eishi uses the bathing facilities first...though that does not stop Rindou from trying to invite herself into the stall sometimes, much to his exasperation. Save water; shower with your girlfriend? More like freeze to death in one corner while said girlfriend is soaking up all the hot water. 

would adopt a million cats if given the chance

Neither. Rindou is traveling too often to consider adopting anything responsibly, and as far as Eishi is concerned, caring for Rindou is already akin to keeping an unruly, human-sized feline well fed and happy as it is. 

fixes stuff around the house / apartment

Rindou. She is surprisingly handy around the apartment, and what she doesn’t know to fix, a quick search online is usually enough to guide her on what to do, and she does a pretty good job of it, too. Eishi is more prone to simply calling in the professionals to fix whatever needs to be fixed, no matter how much she clicks her tongue at him and disdainfully tells him he’s probably gonna be the worst person to be stuck with during an apocalypse. 

watches too many Disney movies

Rindou. That only happens sometimes when there’s nothing to watch in the middle of the night, when she’s unable to fall asleep due to jetlag while recovering from crossing multiple timezones due to her work. There’s a perfectly decent and functional flat screen TV in the living room, but she chooses to plug her earpiece into her phone, snuggle in bed beneath the duvet beside a sleeping Eishi and watch her show from the tiny screen while cuddled loosely in his embrace.  

gets drunk off of champagne

Rindou. Too much bubbly makes her giggly. And snuggly. And touchy-feely. Eishi has lost count of the number of times she returned to him all happy tipsy and very gropey. 

cries when the ASPCA commercials come on

Rindou. She gets a bit teary eyed sometimes at the more touching stories. They donate regularly to rescue foundations so the commercials did what they were supposed to, in the end.

[justaramblingromantic]

mine

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi/EiRin

Type: Canon-divergent AU, Post-series, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 991

A/N: Apparently I’m onboard the fluff train these days and I CANNOT BE STOPPED. 

It took a while, but they were finally able to clear their respective schedules and go on a trip together. It was their first vacation as a couple (that time in Paris did not count) and Rindou had been excitedly looking forward to it for months.

Eishi had promised up, down and sideways that he would be able to take leave for sure this time - this was after he had cancelled on their plans a couple of times prior with how swamped he had been with his duties in Tootsuki and Rindou had threatened to revolt in protest if he backed out of this trip again.

The white-haired executive chef of the Tootsuki French Division had been spearheading an aggressive expansion of the chain of restaurants under his management, and that was after he had ordered a revamp and complete overhaul of the entire inner workings of said division. To say he had a lot on his plate at the moment would not be an understatement…but that only made Rindou all the more determined to drag him away from his all-consuming work for a well-deserved break.

Easy for her to make that choice, since the nature of her work could more or less be summarized as one continuous, never ending vacation.

Not that it wasn’t hard work, per se – just that Rindou’s buoyant, affable and enthusiastic nature as well as her zest for life and traveling made her extremely suited for her role as a food and travel lifestyle host. It was also incredible hard to say ‘no’ to her (he had never quite mastered that skill despite all the years of having known her), which was why he had flown in to Italy to meet her after attending the World Food Summit that had been held in Germany this year.

Rindou, too, had flown in straight from work. She had been filming in Greece for the last week or so and had island hopped over the moment her shoot was complete. She was already in full vacation mode even before she stepped off the plane, and was all tipsy happy by the time she stepped into his arms at the arrival hall.

She smiled goofily at him, her beautiful features sweetly flushed.

“’Ello, lover,” she drawled huskily, and he bemusedly stared down at the top of her head as she cuddled into his chest.

Eishi was hardly unhappy to have an armful of warm, affectionate Rindou – indeed he was very happy to have an extremely loving girlfriend especially since he hadn’t seen hide or hair of said girlfriend for the last few weeks due to their busy, conflicting schedules – but there was something a bit unusual about her behavior at the moment, and coupled by that whiff of her scent…

His nose twitched at the vaguely sharp, stinging smell that mingled with the familiar perfume of her shampoo, and just like that, his suspicions were confirmed.

“Rindou…are you drunk?”

Her response was to nuzzle even more against him. She did not deny his remark, and admitted to it, even.

“Mm. M’drunk,” she mumbled, rubbing her nose against the front of his shirt. She inhaled his scent happily, relaxing even more as he tentatively brushed his hand down her back. “Drunk on you, baby~”

…Right. She definitely was very tipsy if she was giving him pet names.

“Oh dear. How much did you drink?”

Her response was a kittenish churr and a sleepy snicker. “M’not drunk-drunk,” she insisted, lifting her head and peering up at him with one bright, golden eye. “M’just happy-drunk!”

He looked dubiously skeptical of her claim.

“Are you sure about tha-”

He broke off from the rest of what he had been about to say with a startled twitch when she proceeded to wrap her arms around him and gleefully grope his backside.

“Mm! Haaappyyy~” she declared with a wide, silly grin.

He wanted to groan at her spontaneity.

She squeezed his rump some more and then petted it lovingly. “This’a nice butt. Bestest butt I’ve ever laid my hands on,” she continued to declare loudly without a care of all the other people milling around the airport around them. Thankfully enough, they were surrounded by bustling foreigners so Eishi didn’t think anyone actually understood Japanese.

“How many other butts have you been fondling in my absence, may I know?” he asked as he slowly maneuvered the suddenly snuggly woman so that they could leave the airport. She let him tuck her into his side so long as they still had physical contact with each other, and he grabbed her bag with one hand and girlfriend with the other and headed for the exit.

“No other butts,” she rebutted cheerily. “Just yours. I’mma proud one-butt woman, Sir Booty.” She reached back and petted his rear again, feeling close to bursting with all the delighted, overwhelming fondness she reserved solely for him. “I’m stickin’ wit’ this butt for the rest of my life, hear.”

Her semi-inebriated declaration pleased him very much to hear. He coughed, the tips of his ears reddening.

“Then I suppose I don’t mind taking responsibility and being molested by you every once in a while.”

“Whaddya mean, only ‘every once in a while?’” she demanded to know, abruptly lifting her head and glowering a bit at him in ruffled indignation. “S’my butt and I’mma molest it all I want, anytime I want!!”

He jumped when she dug her nails possessively into his glutes.

“Rindou! Sheathe your claws.”

“No. S’my butt!” she barked back fiercely, cat slit eyes squinty, grouchily cantankerous, flashing her pointy white fangs in petulant disagreement. “Mine!”

“Okay, okay,” he placated, a bit flustered by her drunken possessiveness. Gods, she was so ridiculously cute. Redness crept across his cheekbones.

“Mine,” she repeated mulishly.

He could not help himself anymore, and lowered his head to kiss her nose. She wrinkled it at him. Cute.

“Yours,” he whispered. “Of course I’m all yours.”

[justaramblingromantic]

late night supper

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou, Tsukasa Eishi, Tsukasa Hi’en (OC)/EiRin

Type: Canon-divergent AU, Post-series, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 833

A/N (random blurb): So today, I started my morning in an operating theater, watching a newborn who shares my birth day and month be delivered into this crazy world. I think my job is pretty awesome sometimes! 

(I feel ya, grumpy little birthday buddy! Being born sucks and you didn’t even asked to be in any part of it! But good job making it all the way out here all the same! I hope you’ve many amazing and interesting years ahead of you. :)) 

Rambling aside, this quick little drabble was partially inspired by my hangry little birthday buddy, haha. 

The baby was crying again.

The incessant wailing of the young infant filtered through the speakers of the baby monitor sitting on the nightstand, and carried on for a while as the inhabitants sleeping on the bed stirred awake.

Rindou sighed and peeled opened one heavy eyelid, blearily staring at the glowing LED lights of the clock. It was two-fifteen in the morning; Hi’en was always very prompt when it came time to eat. The eight-week-old possessed a healthy appetite, and demanded to be nursed at least nine times a day.

Rindou was dog tired as a result of the irregular sleeping pattern and constantly having to be up at least three times in the middle of the night to satisfy the hungry stomach of a fussing newborn. The poor redhead looked very much like a disgruntled panda these days, what with the dark rings circling her eyes, harried and exhausted from struggling to fulfill her maternal responsibilities. In the past, she could sleep through an apocalypse. Now, even though she was so fatigued, the cry of her baby had her lurching up like a milk dispensing zombie even as every sore, aching muscle in her body was screaming at her not to move, and to just fall straight into a coma for at least a week.  

“…I’ll go get him,” Eishi muttered huskily beside her, rolling over and crawling out of their warm bed, stumbling out of the darkened master bedroom to the nursery across the hall. By now, it was also automatic for the new father to adjust to the irregular sleeping schedule. Rindou had felt bad for him because unlike her who was on maternity leave, he still had to get up in the morning and go to work. She had offered to just bunk down with Hi’en for the meantime so as not to disrupt his sleep but he wouldn’t hear of it.

Rindou sat up and leaned against the headboard of the bed, eyes slipping shut, catching a few seconds of rest before she would have to tend to the baby again.

Her white-haired husband came padding back shortly with their wailing son in tow, the former bare chested and only wearing a pajama bottom. It was summer and the weather was slowly starting to get warmer. His hair was sticking up at the back and he was talking softly to Hi’en, trying to get the upset child to calm. Unfortunately, Hi’en wasn’t about to stop until he had a teat in his mouth and milk flowing down his throat. Quite an expert at holding hungry, flailing babies by now, his father shifted the little one to rest against his shoulder, rocking gently from side to side as he waited for Rindou to unbutton her top before passing the squirmy, disgruntled infant to her.

Paternal responsibility fulfilled, he fell asleep again the moment his face hit the pillow. There was no such thing as insomnia or being a fussy sleeper after the baby came. It was like wartime. One never knew when the air raid siren would go off next and one was going to be activated for duty again.

Hi’en’s ragged little cries also quickly tapered off once he was brought into his mother’s embrace, and he hungrily rooted against her breast until he found and latched onto her nipple, nursing voraciously. He was growing at a rapid rate as was his only job at this age, much to his parents’ delight. He ate a lot, he slept a lot, and he pooped and peed a lot. Other than for feeding times, he was generally a quiet and amiable baby once all of his needs were met.

Rindou had a lot of time to stare at her little son with his little woolen beanie and his little onesie and his little knitted mittens and socks, and she had long since come to the conclusion that he was. So. Cute.

She stroked his soft, velvety cheek and hummed softly, nursing him for ten minutes. Then she burped him, switched him over to the other breast, and continued to nurse him again, until he drank his fill. Rindou burped him once more, redressed, and then she got out of bed and walked over to the nursery to settle her now content, sleeping child back into his cot.

She leaned over the infant bed, brushed a kiss onto her son’s brow, before quietly retreating.

“Sleep well, En-chan.”

The redhead cleaned herself, before slipping back into the warm nest of bed. She had barely settled onto the welcoming softness of the mattress when her mate rolled over, arm snaking over her waist, tugging her in until her back rested against the front of his chest. His face pressed into her hair, breathing the comforting scent of her in, and she leaned into his loose embrace, sighing at his sleepy touch.

“Everything okay?” he mumbled against her nape, more asleep than actually awake.

She closed her eyes, relaxing. Exhausted but content.  

“Mm.”

[justaramblingromantic]

favorite wild thing

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi/EiRin

Type: Canon-divergent AU, Post-series, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 1373

A/N: This is a follow-up from ‘mine.�� 

Palermo was a beautifully kaleidoscopic, amazing city, steeped deeply in the eclectic history and intertwined cultures of so many different civilizations, and so very lively. The old streets bustled noisily with both locals and tourists alike going about with their agendas for the day, and the ancient food markets interspersed throughout town were filled with all sorts of culinary delights and native ingredients lining their stands, just waiting to be explored one after the other.

Needless to say, they easily spent an entire day immersed in the endless stalls that lined the narrow medieval side streets, awash in a veritable sea of people of all sorts of nationalities and ethnicities, sampling and investigating the varied, vibrant merchandise that this breathtaking, exciting food capital had to offer.

The produce that had come straight from the local farmsteads were some of the freshest Eishi had ever encountered, from deep red blood oranges to tasty Sicilian lemons and juicy cantaloupes and crunchy courgettes, to brightly colored, tart, ripe tomatoes and glossy, sweet and sour peppers, the abundant seasonal harvests so plump and ripe and lush, lavish, ample gifts of this rich, fertile land. He could not help but buy some of everything to cook and experiment with, his mind and palate working fervently to memorize and store all the different and new flavor profiles that danced merrily across his delighted and intrigued tastebuds, and it would not be an understatement to say that he was in a chef’s heaven, or at least a version as close to it as possible on this earthly plane.

With how Palermo faced the Tyrrhenian Sea, there were also no lack of seafood for sale coming straight from the nearby coastal settlements and the major fishing ports of Sciacca, rows upon rows of fishmonger’s stalls overflowing and creaking under the staggering weight of fat swordfishes, glistening squids, tender shrimps and succulent shellfishes all but cascading down the shelves of crushed ice which they had been so generously laid on display, all the freshest and best catches of the day. The smell of brine and sea salt permeated the air, intermingled with the familiar pungency of piscean blood and guts, and Rindou was perfectly happy browsing the raucous, busy stalls beside her boyfriend, just as easily as she would have been in the middle of a sweet-smelling field of blooming tulips in Amsterdam or a lavender farm in Provence.  

Her favorites most definitely had to be the street food stalls, and they made sure to visit them all, from the outdoor markets of Vucciria to Ballaro to Capo, across all the four historic quarters of Palermo. They snaked up and down the intricate mazes of little lanes and alleyways filled to the brim with of all sorts of commodities and stallholders loudly selling their wares and haggling with their customers. Some places were crammed full of all kinds of delicious cheese that could not be found anywhere else in the world, others were filled with rows and rows of cleanly carved meat carcasses hanging on hefty hooks and preserved meats like salamis and sausages, infused with all sorts of fragrant spices and herbs, sun-kissed, flavorful, and exuding the most mouthwatering aromas and scents.

They shared handmade peach gelato bought from a local gelaterie as they wandered the warm, crowded streets congested with people, marveling over huge tubs of olives and homemade relishes in specialty stalls and the colorful spreads of vegetables and fruits in others. Roasted chestnuts were also on sale in little kiosks tucked away in the corners of almost every block (so of course they ended up buying a bag as well!) and the tantalizing smell of barbequed meats drifted through the air.  

They sampled sticks of stigghiola – veal and lamb intestines washed out with water and salt then seasoned with parsley, onion and other herbs, before being wrapped around a leek and grilled directly over open flame. They had pane con le milza, a sandwich stuffed generously with the spleen of veal, along with lung and trachea, the viscera first boiled then fried in lard over low heat to bring out its strong, hearty flavor before being served with freshly baked soft bread and fragrant ricotta. Arancina reminded Rindou of the onigiri that they had back home, only that these indulgent, saffron-scented rice balls were stuffed to the brim with ragu and mozzarella, then coated with bread crumbs and deep fried to golden brown, finger licking perfection. Sfincione was Sicilian pizza; thick crust and spongy like focaccia, drenched with generous drizzles of olive oil and herbs, then topped with tomato sauce, onion and caciocavallo cheese and baked in a wood-fired oven. So. Yummy.

Rindou enjoyed travelling with Eishi. He was always game to try everything and it was so fun to explore foreign places and foods with him, especially since he got very interested and excited too over the same things she did. They stuffed themselves silly, not just with the delicious foods, but also the sights and sounds and very essence of this mesmerizing, pulsing city, and truly, there was no one she would rather experience all of these with than him.

That evening, back at their lodgings with all the loot that they had hauled home from their day long shopping adventure and sharing a delicious bottle of chilled wine between the two of them, Rindou was perched on the kitchen counter watching Eishi prepare dinner for them. The latter was still entirely energized and light on his feet despite a full day’s worth of nonstop activity, already eagerly playing and experimenting with the different ingredients and fresh produce that they had bought earlier on, much to her amusement.

She silently admired his air of focused concentration, that slight furrow of intensity that creased his brow, intelligent lavender gaze sharp with motivation and that burning, all consuming passion for his craft…and she could not help but conclude as always that he was the most beguiling like this; happy and doing the thing that he loved the most.

Rindou took an idle sip of her drink, relaxed and blissfully content. Life was as sweet as this wine dancing lightly on her tongue right now, surrounded by all the things she loved.

“Tsukasa?”

“…Hm?” He lifted his gaze distractedly from the work station to look briefly at her. She beamed at him.

“As I thought, you’re the most attractive in the kitchen.”

“That sounds really sexist…and why am I only attractive whenever you’re hungry?” he retorted with faint chagrin.

“’Coz relationships are all about setting and managing expectations,” she concluded cheerily…whatever that was supposed to mean. She must have noticed his openly nonplussed stare, for she further elaborated. “A great many, many years ago, you, Tsukasa Eishi, established this precedent when you started feeding the ‘lil hungry me. So ya see, you only got yourself to blame ‘coz you were the one who forged this bond and conditioned me to be like this!”

He was vaguely flabbergasted by her glib ability to nonchalantly flip the blame back on him; no wonder she was in the entertainment industry.

“…Pretty sure you were already like this even before I entered the picture,” he pointed out. “And why does it sound like I’ve been feeding a wild animal all this time.”

“Maybe! But you’ve successfully domesticated this wild animal so now you cannot leave me in a lurch and hungry,” she reasoned, not even bothering to refute his observation.

“Have I ever left you hungry?” he asked seriously.

She sent him a sly grin. “Literally? Or are we talking about a different kind of hunger now?”

He sent her an exasperated look.

“Don’t you start. I’m confident of my ability to sate your appetites-” he stressed subtly. “-even though you’re such a demanding wild thing.”

She grinned broadly at his response.

“Excuse you, I’m your favorite wild thing! So feed me somethin’ delicious soon, ‘kay, o’ yummy lord of the kitchen, peerless white knight of the table, supreme master of the dinner plate! If you’re a Greek god, you’d be the cute, sexy one in a white toga with sword in one hand and a plucked pheasant in the other-”

“…Stop. Stop. I’ll feed you right away so for the love of-”

[justaramblingromantic]

Thriller Night

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou, Tsukasa Eishi, Tsukasa Hi’en (OC), Tsukasa Chouko (OC)/EiRin

Type: Canon-divergent AU, Post-series, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 4022

A/N #01: Tsukasa!Family shenanigans: Halloween Special! It’s the spookiest time of the year and the whole family gets ready for a frightful night out! 

“Rindou, I need help-”

The redhead lifted her head by the dresser where she had been putting on the final touches for her makeup, just in time to see Eishi wander into their bedroom, fussing over the rather unusual design of his bowtie. Like her, he had already changed into his costume for the evening, and in his case, he was dressed smartly in a black pinstriped suit with a snowy white dress shirt, that which subtly emphasized his long, graceful limbs, his masculine, whipcord lean build.

He was fiddling distractedly with the black, bat shaped cravat with the long, elaborate, spindly wings as he wandered over to her, bewilderedly trying to figure out how to wear the elaborate accessory, hopefully without poking someone’s eye out in the process. Rindou set down her makeup brush after filling in the last of the details on her face…her blue face. Eishi paused briefly and did a double take once he glimpsed of her amused, impish features…that beloved, familiar expression presented in a way he had never seen before.

She stood up and did a quick, prancing pirouette for him, preening mischievously and showing off the full effect of her cheery patchwork dress and the intricate detail of her costume makeup.

“How do I look~?”

He gazed at the black needlepoint ‘stitches’ that she had penciled and shaded in along the seams of her rose tinted lips across half her cheeks as well as down one side of her face, from forehead to jaw. There were even lines of the faux amateur sutures circling the circumference of her slender neck and stretching across her slender clavicles, before disappearing down the modest neckline of her charmingly simple ragdoll dress. Dramatic black eyeshadow smudged her twinkling gold eyes and made them glow in a mesmerizing, near preternatural shade, and a coat of dark mascara over her dense lashes further accentuated that dramatic doll-like effect. Her long crimson hair fell in lustrous waves down her back. She was also powder blue from head to toe, in the spirit of keeping as true to the character that she had chosen to portray this year. More haphazard lines of needlework drawn over her arms and legs with black body paint completed the rest of her appearance, further adding to the illusion of a true ragdoll.

“…Very spooky,” he solemnly gave his verdict at last.

She grinned at his stamp of approval.

“Good! ‘Coz I’m done, so now’s your turn. Ah, don’t bother with the bow tie yet, Tsukasa! I gotta put on your face paint first~”

He mentally resigned himself for what was to come ahead. But Halloween was a once a year event, so they usually went all out and in the process he was always roped into joining the festivities. Nobody actually asked him if he wanted to be in it or not; he was just automatically included, for a very obvious, redheaded reason. He didn’t dislike all the fuss, though. Rindou always made it fun or at the very least quite entertaining. There was always something different to look forward to every year…and this time was no different.

She pulled him to sit down on the edge of the bed, and then she turned briefly back to the dresser to prepare her concoction of paints from all her little colorful pots and palettes that a visual makeup artist friend had recommended, and he got ready to become her living canvas. His only consolation was that he wasn’t the only one. The other two had turned out decently enough…though they probably wouldn’t mind too much even if she doodled prolifically all over their little faces.

“I leave myself in your capable hands.”

She snickered with a maniacal glee that wasn’t really very confidence inspiring. “Yes, please do~” She turned back to him brandishing a small tub of white paint and a clean brush.

“Now, close your eyes and be still!”

Fifteen minutes later, she finally set down her brush, took a step back, and surveyed her handiwork with satisfaction. She sighed happily.

“I’ve got the most handsome husband in the world.”

He opened his eyes cautiously and gazed upon her pleased expression. Even now, after all these years together, her easygoing, random praises still had the ability to make his heart beat a little faster.  

“Why are you saying that after you painted all over my face, though.”

She smirked at his mildly exasperated query.

“’Coz you’re still the most handsome even after I’ve drawn a giant wiener on your forehead~! I’ll gladly look at this gorgeous mug for the rest of my life even if the ink never rubs away-”

“…What.”

Dawning horror quickly replaced vague bemusement, and then he moved so quickly to the mirror to verify the authenticity of her statement, he practically teleported. She burst into laughter at that priceless expression on his face. She also hadn’t seen him move that fast ever since that time Chouko suddenly professed the urge to potty when they were at the beach and the nearest restroom was a good half a kilometer away.

There were no wieners to be found, however.

She peeped over from his shoulder, appearing in the mirror innocuously beside his reflection, mirth reflected in her bright gaze. “Trick or treat!” she chirped, laughter still evident in the lilt of her voice. He met her eyes through the mirror with chagrin.

“Rindou…”

There were no penile-shaped anything drawn on his bone white face… No, literally – his lean, angular face was now bone white. Eishi blinked. He paused again to study himself. His new eerily alabaster complexion extended all the way down past the neckline of his equally white shirt. The only other contrasting color on his pallid appearance were the black face paint that were carefully smudged over the hollows of his lavender eyes. A grotesque, jagged line of black also ran across the seam of his pale lips and over half the length of his cheeks, painting a faint, ghostly smile on his face.

He looked grimly…dashing…in a ghoulish, macabre sort of way. Even his hair seemed to compliment his entire appearance.

She poked his shoulder with one finger to regain his attention, grinning faintly. “Now we fix your bow tie and then we’re ready to get this party started.”

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

“Adorable offspring, time to go~!”

Rindou stood with her arms akimbo and hollered cheerily down the hallway. It didn’t take long before she heard the muffled response from the two youngest ones in the family.

“Coming!!”

“‘Kay-”

She turned back to the living room where Eishi was just tugging on a pair of gloves to complete his costume. The articles in question made his graceful, adroit hands look downright skeletal – the back of the black gloves were embedded with pieces of faux finger bones for a creepily authentic 3D effect.

Pitter pattering footsteps thumped down the hallway not too long after.

“Chou, please don’t run,” the little girl’s father rebuked absently just as she popped into view. Chouko skidded comically to a stop when she saw her male parent, her lavender eyes wide, her mouth falling open with amazement at his cool, debonair appearance.

“Papa…?”

The seven year old still looked visibly surprised by her stunning discovery, as if she had just learned something new and bewilderingly unexpected. “…Papa is…handsome?”

Rindou snickered at her daughter’s innocent proclamation, whereas Eishi was trying not to sigh. Next time anyone remarked upon his ‘astonishingly modest and down-to-earth’ character, he would be sure to give due credit to his family, namely his wife and daughter in particular for their exceptional ego-deflating ability.

His only other ally in this family plodded into view then, as usual looking like he had just been disturbed from a nap, even when Eishi knew that was not the case. Like his sister, he, too, paused briefly when he saw his father. Slit pupiled gold eyes gleamed with interest and appreciation.

“Awesome costume, tou-chan,” the younger redhead remarked. The nine year old was at the age where things like the undead, zombies and skeletons were extremely exciting subjects to explore and think about.

Meanwhile, Chouko had wandered up to him and was tugging at his pants. When Eishi looked down, she raised her arms expectantly, wanting to be picked up. She was starting to become a bit too big to be carried around, but no one seemed to have shared that memo with her doting papa, who unhesitatingly lifted her and held her in his arms readily enough. If anything, Eishi was acutely aware that it would not be too long now before Chouko herself would no longer want to be coddled like that ever again, so he might as well make the most of it until that time inevitable crept upon them.

Small hands patted his cheeks affectionately, and lavender eyes the exact shade as his own peered at him. “Papa is sooo cool,” Chouko declared with a firm nod after a solemn inspection of his newly upgraded features. It was amazing what a bit of (costume) makeup could do, isn’t it. Eishi could not help but feel his chest puff up a little at his mini lookalike’s heartfelt praise. In a few years’ time, Chouko might likely revise her opinion when it came to her parent’s level of ‘coolness,’ but for now her father was more than happy to take that compliment.

“Thank you, Chou.”

“Is Chou-chan not afraid of papa when he looks like this?” Rindou asked, grinning. Chouko shook her head loyally.

“Papa is papa! Chouko’s not scared at all! Papa’s only scary at work; Izumi-nii says so!”  

…What was his sous chef telling his daughter now, Eishi wondered exasperatedly. Rindou was less reserved; she burst into laughter again.

“That Kenjiru always was a funny one, huh,” she chortled merrily. “No wonder you like him so much, Tsukasa.”

“…I never said that.”

“No, of course you didn’t~” But she could tell all the same, when he found people he genuinely enjoyed working with. He was more reserved now when it came to letting people in too close, compared to back when they were still in Tootsuki, in the sobering aftermath of all that went down with Central and Nakiri Azami. There was a distinct line between professional respect and friendship, and Eishi was careful never to mistake one for the other again.

As such, anyone in the same field who could exasperate Eishi to the point of breaking that glass wall by sheer personality alone was perfectly alright in her books. Heaven knew that Eishi certainly needed more interesting characters to spice up his daily life.

Hi’en pressed into Rindou’s side, content to be silent and let his family’s conversation flow over him like a warm, fuzzy blanket. Sometimes, it seemed like he wasn’t paying attention to anything at all, but his gaze was clear and alert as he eyed his parents and sister, and he observed all of their interactions with an astuteness and a level of comprehension that was uncannily mature for his age. Rindou rested her hand on the top of her son’s crimson hair and affectionately combed through the tousled strands. Predictably, he leaned into her touch more, and she gently ruffled his hair some more.

“Don’t fall asleep yet, puppy,” she remarked fondly. “We still need your cute face to go trick or treatin’.”

Chouko gasped loudly at the highly likely possibility of her nii-chan drooping off. She swiveled in Eishi’s arms to frown down at the older boy.

“Nii-chan, you promised no nappy until we finished trick or treatin’!” she reminded him with as much fierceness as her current gaptoothed appearance could let her. Her front center teeth had recently fallen out, making way for the adult set to grow in. She was a bit self-conscious after being teased about her missing two front teeth in class, but it was her parents’ completely unbiased opinion that her shy, lopsided smile was cute as all heck. “We’re goin’ home wit’a mountain of candy this time!”

Rindou cheered at Chouko’s ambitious agenda. “Yep, we’re gonna conquer the neighborhood and come back with the largest bounty ever!! Awesome House of Tsukasa, let’s do our best!”

“Yeahh!!!” Chouko rallied enthusiastically, wiggling to be let back down now. Her amused papa obliged. His youngest child scooched off to her brother’s side and bounced antsily on the back of her heels, eager to start.

“Let’s do the roll call before we head off!” Rindou declared. “Tsukasa family, who are we this year?”

Chouko’s hand shot up. “Me, me!! I wanna go first!” the white haired girl was more than eager to introduce her character and show off her costume.

Like her papa, her cherubic face was painted to look like a skull. Unlike Eishi, her design was less austerely gothic and more sweet and colorful, like a sugar skull. The bone white background were interspersed with bursts of flowery lavenders and dark pinks that complemented her big eyes. Cheerful, stylistic lines and curves bordered her forehead and danced across the bridge of her button nose in graceful inked outlines that randomly bloomed into florets and ferns, and tiny little black butterflies fluttered across her cheeks whimsically. A pretty ring of flowers sat upon the crown of her fluffy white hair, and she wore black tights with prints of a skeleton’s legs underneath her pastel lavender tulle princess dress with a poofy chiffon skirt.

Despite that cute cotton candy appearance, she made a comically aggressive pose. It was coincidentally the same pose that their sensei in Aikido class had taught her for throwing people.

“I’m the Pumpkin Princess, defender of Halloween! Hyahh! I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!! Whoever tries to take Halloween away, I, the Pumpkin Princess, will beat up with no mercy!”

Rindou had whipped out her phone and was happily snapping photos every which way. Chouko was also more than willing to oblige her mama, gleefully making various poses to show off her costume, pleased that her attire was being thoroughly appreciated.

“Way to go, Pumpkin Princess!!” she cheered. “Beat ‘em all up!”

Eishi gazed at his beaming wife and daughter. Usually, ‘beat ‘em all up’ was the last thing he wanted to hear when it came to his daughter’s upbringing, but in this case, it seemed appropriate. Questionably appropriate.

“Do your best tonight, Pumpkin Princess,” he added, and Chouko was so happy she was practically glowing.

“Haiii, Chouko will~!”

“You’re up next, favorite firstborn!” Rindou called.

“I’m your only firstborn, kaa-chan,” Hi’en pointed out.

“Yeah, but you’re also my most favorite firstborn~” Rindou insisted with cheeky smile.

Hi’en wanted to sigh at his mother’s noisy boisterousness, but his lips was twitching upwards on their own somehow. As per the Halloween tradition of the Tsukasa family, he started to introduce his character.

“I’m the Pumpkin Prince. I like candy and people with common sense. I dislike trouble. If you give me a treat, I’ll let you keep your brains,” he uttered calmly.  

“Nii-chan, you’re so boring. You gotta be more exciting than that!” Chouko rebuked, poking her sibling in the side. Hi’en poked her back immediately, eliciting an indignant squeal of laughter from the younger girl as she danced away out of his reach.

“I’m a zombie. Have you seen energetic zombies?” he retorted. His sister stuck her tongue out at him.

The nine year old wore a black leather jacket unzipped over a tattered white shirt that had been stained with fake blood. His blue jeans were ripped and dusted with chalk at some places to give it a dirtier look. His face was pale from the white face paint and there were even darkening purplish blue bruises on there to emulate stages of decomposition. Red were smudged liberally on his chin and pallid lips to imitate blood, and there were even bits of material that had been soaked in dark crimson dye stuck to his cheek and around his mouth that looked startlingly like flecks of raw human flesh.

Hi’en had made all the costume modifications himself after searching for all the related information online, and had even insisted on carefully applying the visual makeup on his own. He was rather pleased with the overall grisly effect. Next year, he would like to try an even more challenging style.

Kaa-chan was always very encouraging and enthusiastic when it came to helping him with his exploratory projects. He had been interested in the topic of death and decomposition lately so his cool kaa-chan had brought home an actual flying fox skeleton when she came back from one of her travels the other day, and they had learned to identify the anatomy of all the parts together. That skeleton was currently mounted on his wall inside a special frame, and it was his most treasured possession at the moment. All the boys in his class were envious of his luck – they would never be allowed to bring this sort of macabre things into their houses.

When he mentioned to his parents in passing that he thought that it was interesting to study dead things, tou-chan had taken him and Chou to the natural history museum to view all the amazing exhibits and fossils displayed there one day after school. Kaa-chan had wanted to go too but she had work, and besides, random strangers sometimes liked to stop them to talk to kaa-chan and take photos with her when they all went out together, so maybe it was just as well she wasn’t able to tag along. The three of them had spent the entire afternoon wandering through the halls of the museum until closing time, exploring all the treasures and secret knowledge that the building guarded, telling of stories and factoids derived from the remains of beings that had once lived a very long, long time ago. Even Chouko who tended not to find old, dead things fascinating (unless she could eat them), had been captivated and had made tou-chan read every exhibit signage they came across aloud and explain what each meant.

His friends were wrong. He wasn’t just lucky. He also had the best parents in the world.

“I’m so proud; my ‘lil brain muncher is growing up so fast,” Rindou was saying. “I remember just not too long ago when you wouldn’t go to bed without your favorite stinky pillow and cried up a storm when your tou-chan could not take it anymore and snuck it away to wash-”

“Kaa-chan. Stop.”

Chouko was giggling so hard at her nii-chan’s quietly aghast expression that she was snorting like a little piglet. Nii-chan was usually always so laidback so it was funny to see mama ruffling his feathers so easily.

“Kaa-chan, are you recording?”

“But of course! I’ve got all the videos of you and Chou-chan in your Halloween costumes from the years you were born till present,” Rindou chirped, beaming from behind her phone and looking very proud of herself for this achievement, considering how busy both Eishi and her work schedules were. “Do you know; you were ‘bout six months old when you attended your first Halloween party? We swaddled you up real nice and snug and placed the cutest little sunflower beanie on your little head. Your tou-chan carried you around against his chest in a baby carrier. You were such a huge hit at the party – most popular baby ever…and you slept through the whole thing!”

Hi’en silently eyed his father with weary accusation at the embarrassing recollection which he had absolutely no memory of, but Eishi only shrugged. “Your mother’s idea.”

“It’s ‘coz you’re our precious little sun, En-chan!”

Hi’en could not help but feel his cheeks flushing at his mother’s happy words. He had never met anyone more openly loving than kaa-chan, and could only admit defeat before her boundless affection.

“…”

Eishi rested his hand on Hi’en’s shoulder, and squeezed subtly. He recognized that flustered expression – it showed on his own face often enough, after all.

“Mama, what ‘bout Chouko?” the seven year old demanded to know next, not to be outdone when it came to being loved by their parents. “If nii-chan is the sun, then is Chouko mama and papa’s precious little moon?”

“Yes, Chou-chan. You’re our sweet little moon~ The cutest one!”

Hi’en took his mother’s phone from her and directed the camera right back at her. It was a little embarrassing to be fussed over so much by their parents. “It’s tou-chan and your turn to do the introductions.”

His parents glanced at each other. Rindou’s lips lifted. Eishi’s head tipped to the side. It was as if the two of them were having an entire conversation even without having to speak.

Then, Eishi moved first. He sketched a slow, elegant bow before the beautiful ragdoll.

“Good evening. Jack Skellington, at your service.”

Rindou was trying not to smile at his solemnness. She lifted the skirt of her patchwork dress to her knees and returned his greeting with a proper curtsey.

“Good evening to you too, Pumpkin King.”

He straighten from his bow and met her eyes. He lifted one gloved hand towards her, quietly seeking her favor.

“…My dearest friend… my dearest Sally, if you don't mind... I'd like to join you by your side. Where we can gaze into the stars...”

A delighted grin grew on her face at his recital of a very familiar quote. She stepped towards him and took his hand, allowing him to draw her close. Their fingers entwined, and he cradled her palm against his chest. Eyes shining, she joined him to finish the rest of those words.

“…And sit together, now and forever. For it is plain, as anyone can see. We're simply meant to be.”

Chouko clapped her hands to her mouth, her shoulders quivering as she tried to contain her giggles at her parents’ acting.

“Whaddya think, kiddos? Think we can win the ‘Papa and Mama Best Couple Costume’ competition like that?” Rindou asked, still grinning, cuddled up happily against their father. The siblings exchanged a glance.  

“Papa should also princess dip mama at the end!”

Eishi broke character and looked briefly dubious. “…Dip your mother? Did that happen in the movie?”

Rindou concurred. “No, I don’t think so. ‘Sides, I’m not too sure ‘bout your papa’s dipping skills…”

Eishi was vaguely offended by that. “My dipping skills are not that bad…”

“The only thing you’ve been dippin’ a lot all this time is meat in marinate, I reckon,” Rindou teased back, which of course naturally incited his competitive nature. His arm tightened around her waist.

“I’ll show you a great dip-” Without warning, he tipped her right over, as low as he could go, much to her startled shriek of laughter. She of course ended up grabbing at him for dear life, and she pulled at him so hard they ended up overcompensating-

Eishi’s eyes widened. “Rindou, stop-”

They went down in a messy tangle of limbs; Eishi barely had time to cup his palm over the back of Rindou’s head before they hit the ground. Not that she seemed to have registered his efforts to save her from a concussion; she was so amused by his spontaneity that she was still cackling her head off.

“You really suck at this dipping thing,” she was telling him in between chortles. “You need to dip me more often.”

Chouko’s cherubic face popped up on the corner of the phone screen amidst the chaos. “Nii-chan, still filming?”

“Yes…”

The graphics on the phone blurred briefly as Hi’en shifted and turned the camera around until the entire family could be seen; he and Chouko in the foreground, their parents still halfheartedly untangling themselves at the back. The youngest Tsukasa immediately made peace signs and grinned a friendly gaptoothed grin at the camera while her brother was a picture of bland placidness.

“Tou-chan, kaa-chan look over here-”

Eishi and Rindou lifted their heads just in time for Chouko to start off the countdown, their startled expressions plain as day once they realized what was going on.

“What-”

“Wait, wait-”

“One, two, three!”

“Happy Halloween!!”

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

A/N #02: Soooo hard to think up another canon otp with EiRin’s coloring, but I settled on Jack and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas in the end because if you think about it, their story is very similar to EiRin’s! The Pumpkin King who’s weary of doing the same thing over and over again and wants to experience a ‘new world,’ as well as the sweet, brave ragdoll who’s worried about her dear friend and wants to save him from his unhappiness - he recognizes her efforts and her feelings in the end, and they grow even closer together...it’s a perfect choice!! <33 

Hi’en and Chouko are growing up so fast too - I feel like a nostalgic grandma all over again, lol. 

[justaramblingromantic]

sмαcк тнαт

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi/EiRin

Type: Canon-divergent AU, Post-series, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 4781

A/N: Kink prompt. Rating for sexy tiemz. Why is my smut always so obnoxiously long...

He stared at her in disbelief, once she finally put out her request.

She stared back at him, utterly shameless and unrepentant, as always. Was there even the word ‘shame’ in her dictionary? At any rate, she was all bright eyed and bushy tailed and waiting expectantly for his agreement.

“You want me to what-” he uttered slowly, just in case he had heard wrongly the first time around. He seriously doubted it, though. Why was his girlfriend like this, he could not help but think dourly, and not for the first time. Other girlfriends expected romantic dinners and thoughtful, sentimental gifts from their significant others, but not her. No, she-

“Oh, c’mon! You said that you’d do whatever I want!” she reminded him, as if he could forget. If he had known that she would be demanding this sort of impossible things, he would have just cooked her a romantic dinner guaranteed to rock all the clothes right off of her and gotten her an expensive jeweled necklace or something equivalent.

That would have been less problematic than what she expected out of him.

He barely resisted the urge to rub his temples.

“…You want to be spanked. By me.”

He still had trouble figuring out her logic, mainly because there were none. She was completely incomprehensible.

“You make it sound so unreasonable,” she huffed, and he shot her an incredulous look.

“It is unreasonable. Why do I have to hit you?”

“Because I’ll enjoy it?” She tried to cajole him, which only served to earn another exasperated look from him. “…Probably?”

“…No.”

“Tsukasaaaaa,” the redhead dragged out his name, plopping down on the bed beside him and nudging him insistently as he was trying to ignore her. “Let’s just do it – maybe it’d be fun and you’d like it too!”

His response to her ridiculous pep talk was to grab her hand so that she would stop poking him and drop his arm over her shoulders, pinning her against his side and limiting the scope of her movements so that she could quit being so distracting. She wasn’t so easily quelled, much to his chagrin.

“Seriously, what does a girl have to do to get a good spanking around here,” she complained, immediately trying to wiggle out from under his grip. No such luck. Over the years, he had gotten pretty good at getting a firm hold on her because she could be really sneaky when she wanted to be. “I wanna know what it feels like! You’re the only one I can explore my sexual curiosities with! You don’t want me to get some other guy to do it to me, right?”

His temple twitched. He turned his head to this brazen minx.

“Are you trying to make me mad?”

Her cat slit eyes sparkled. She wasn’t even sorry. “Am I succeeding?” she asked him eagerly. “Do you feel like doing it now? You should do it properly, or it doesn’t count. Be forceful and beat me like you mean it!”

What was she even-

“Why are we always having this sort of conversations,” he asked to no one in particular. The urge to massage his head grew. She started poking him with her other hand.

“How angry do I have to make you to get you to turn me over your knee,” she demanded to know.

“Are you threatening me?” he enquired with dangerous calm.

“Yes~” she lilted. “What are you going to do ‘bout it? Punish me?”

His eyes narrowed at her smug, vulpine grin. She was just going to keep hassling him until she got her way, wasn’t she?  

“You aren’t going to stop, are you?” he asked.

She pressed sweetly into his side, batting her eyes at him with exaggerated guilelessness that he was not buying at all. Her pink lips molded her request in a deliberately seductive drawl. “Please discipline me good, Eishi~”

So be it, then.

Before she could prepare herself, he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her decisively across his lap. She gasped in surprise, and then grunted as she landed on her belly, stretched out over his thighs.

“Oomph-”

His hand splayed against the small of her back, pushing her down. The other flipped her skirt up to bunch around her waist, exposing her pert rear end. Her lace trimmed panties hugged and accentuated the smooth, round curves of her bottom, enticing his touch. His palm slid down from the base of her spine to her rump, cupping one firm cheek, long, lean digits curling slightly, possessively squeezing the soft flesh. She squirmed and pushed against his hand, delighted by his dominating demeanor.

“I cannot believe I’m enabling this,” he muttered under his breath.

“Less complaining, more doing,” she instructed bossily. Even bent over his lap, she was still trying to tell him what to do. He pinched her rump, a bit irritated. She yelped and then snickered, her shoulders trembling with her mirth. It was impossible to be too mad when the girlfriend was spread dorsal before him. And she had such an attractive rear too, shaped perfectly like a full, ripened peach, voluptuous and plump. It was a backside perfect for running his hands all over, fondling, rubbing…spanking.

“Be quiet,” he scolded. Everything about this troublesome woman drove him up the wall. His fingers slipped beneath the waistband of her skimpy underwear, and he slowly dragged the material past her hips and worked the scrap of silk and lace down her upper thighs, baring her cheeks fully. She wiggled her bottom playfully, mooning him with mischievous sensuality, only stilling when his hand skimmed over those lush globes, masculine, adroit digits drifting along the lower curves of her flanks, slightly callused tips tracing her sensitive flesh to where they joined at the shadowed apex of her softly rounded thighs. She bit her lip when he brushed his index and second finger lightly against the silken petals of her womanhood, concentrating on his touch.

With his other hand, he gently nudged her legs slightly apart, and she instinctively braced her feet against the footboard of the bedframe.  

“You want this,” he reminded her again. “You can’t complain if you’re too sore to sit properly tomorrow.”

She turned her head to the side to meet his gaze. There was not an ounce of apprehension in her fearless regard. Only amused anticipation…

And trust.

“If it hurts too much, I’ll just have you kiss it better~” she teased. There was a low, languid purr in the quality of her voice, and he recognized it for what it was. She was starting to get excited. His lavender eyes darkened. He continued to finger her from behind, drawing lines along her labia, slowly growing slick with arousal.

She was ceding control, wholly giving in to him.

“…I understand. Count my strokes.”

She nodded.

“Mn.”

He caressed her rear, and then without warning, he raised his hand high and let it fly. The sharp crack of palm meeting bottom cheek reverberated across the quiet of her bedroom. She jerked slightly at the stinging sensation, drawing a surprised intake of breath. Predictably, it hurt, but at the same time, the fact that it was him administering this sweet punishment only made her lust spike.  

“…One,” she uttered faintly, already starting to grow lightheaded with exhilaration.

He scrutinized her intently.

She was tense…not with trepidation…but anticipation. Slowly, he lifted his hand once more and slapped her soundly across her other cheek. Her breath hitched. A languid wave of delicious warmth started to spread in the pit of her belly, sinful and thrilling.

“…T-Two.”

Still silent, he repeated his deliberate action all over again. His attention was raptly focused on her, this breathtaking redhead draped over his lap with her bottom scandalously bared and wantonly begging for his abuse.

Smack.

She shifted restlessly, a breathy exhalation. Her features started to flush, out of his sight. There was no sign of her asking him to stop, however.

“T-Three.”

By the time the count reached eighteen, her rear was throbbing and there were matching bright red handprints seared onto her flesh, one on each cheek. Her bum felt like it was on fire; she felt unbearably hot and sensitive all over, squirming and breathing hard.

It was a challenge not to whimper.

On the other hand, Eishi was learning new things about himself that he never expected to find out.

There was something about spanking her that was incredibly…erotic. He did not like the thought of hurting her, but this was something quite different from physical cruelty. For one, she was blatantly enjoying it…and her thrilled little mews and gasps were incredibly sexy to experience. For another, he was extremely fascinated by the way her rounded flesh jiggled with every spank he administered. Her fair skin took on the rouge of his touch so readily too, blushing an enticing rose pink, and his handprints marked her bottom like twin brands of possession. He paused and quietly admired the view, his heated palm brushing against her warm skin, made so tender thanks to the diligent application of his hand against her rear.

She shuddered when his fingers caressed the curve of her rump, as if attempting to soothe the sharp bite of his blows earlier. Ooh, he was driving her crazy.

“Have you had enough?” he asked softly, his voice low and mellow.

She opened her mouth to reply, only to moan when he slipped his hand between her legs, long digits sliding seamlessly into her slick heat. She was thoroughly soaked with arousal, and could only writhe and arch into his touch. Her head dropped forward, forehead pressing against the cushion, her body trembling with barely pent desire. She shook her head wordlessly, her hands clenching into fists.  

“No?” he enquired, the rich timbre of his deep tenor making her head go fuzzy. He stroked her needy flesh slowly, deliberately. She squirmed.

“M-More,” she breathed jaggedly, almost panting. “Eishi-”

He did not respond right away. No, he was intently exploring her silken passage, taut muscles slippery and clenching all around his fingers even as he continued the maddening pace of his languorous thrusts.

Her breathing quickened even more, the pulsing pressure that was slowly expanding inside of her made her feel like she was going to melt and explode at the same time. He curled his fingers, his thumb rubbing against the pearl of her clitoris, slow, gradual circles that steadily drove her to complete distraction. She bit the insides of her cheek, but was still unable to completely muffle the lingering moan that slipped from between her lips.

He stopped. She groaned unhappily, only to jerk when he pulled out of her abruptly and swatted her rump.

“Mmph!”

She grunted, but grew frustrated when he stopped again. Ooh, he was such a tease!!

“You’re supposed to count,” he reminded her softly, and she would be deaf not to hear the faint amusement in his voice. She wiggled against his lap, face scrunching into a scowl as she struggled to remember where they had stopped. He wasn’t helping her fraying concentration any, with how he was softly caressing her tender, sensitive rear, fingers once again drawing closer and closer to the slick petals between her trembling legs, so hungry for his attention.

“E-Eishi-” she stuttered, unable to prevent the full body shiver that wracked her entirety at his intimate touch. Her face suffused with color, her lips parted in a soft gasp. She had unknowingly unleashed a monster in her lover, but how was she to know that he would take to this role so easily? This side of him was incredibly exciting, though, and so sexy and erotic. Pinned down on her belly before him, she could not see what he was doing to her, but she could sense him acutely, which made it all the more thrilling. Another moan slipped from her mouth, and she pushed her hips against his probing fingers, impatient for more.  

“Rindou,” he chided in a gentle tone, but he indulged in her unspoken demand and gave into her desires. She quivered and sighed, her mind growing even fuzzier with stark lust. His fingers were barely enough to satiate her raging need, and he seemed deliberate to keep her on tenterhooks, not satisfying her entirely and just ramping her up even more. He leaned over and brought his mouth close to her ear. “Should I stop?”

“No!” she protested, rearing her head. She started to scramble on her hands and knees, only to squawk when he pressed the flat of his palm against the small of her back and pushed her back down.

“Did I say that you’re allowed to move?” he pointed out. “You’re still being punished.”

Much to his surprise, she stilled, all meek and obedient once more, vibrating with sheer anticipation. She was having a lot of fun playing the role of the recalcitrant maiden, it seemed.

“How many times has it been now?” he asked again. It was surprisingly, deliciously, enjoyable, having her at his mercy. She was always so exasperating and unruly, so this was a rather tantalizing change. …She was still as distracting and provocative even when she was being all faux docile and submissive, he realized.

“…N-Nineteen!!” she blurted out at last, relieved to finally remember her count. She yipped when he spanked her again, another muffled moan slipping from her lips. She was all but wriggling on his lap, panting with excitement. The stinging bite on her butt cheek was doing interesting things to her hypersensitive senses, this exquisite blend of pain and pleasure.

“Twenty-” she breathed hazily, her glowing gaze fogging up. He placed his hand on her rear and softly squeezed. Her pert bottom blushed so enticingly…and she wasn’t the only one who was steadily becoming excited. Her pleasure was headily, enthrallingly, contagious. Her warmth, her scent, the arousing little sounds she made, he took them all in, his lavender gaze darkening more and more as he watched her struggle to control herself and hold still beneath his heated palm. She was such a bossy bag of goods, but again and again, she never failed to find ways to show him that she was his. This sweet surrender, this unhesitating trust and giddy delight that she took in all of his touch, she was intoxicating and her actions kept him completely captivated with her.

He had never been able to look away.  

His voice was soft, but an octave lower than usual, husky, an indication of his rising want for her.

“…It’s my turn to take my reward, now.”

His hand moved from her butt to her wrist, and he pulled her upright. He released her forearm and reached for her face, cupping her cheeks and reeling her in, settling her over his lap. He leaned in and met her halfway, sealing his mouth over hers, kissing her urgently. His tongue dipped between her parted lips, drinking her in, his slick appendage finding and stroking hers erotically. She moaned into the kiss, clumsily kicking off her panties and then straddling him firmly. Undulating her bare hips against his, she utterly delighted in the decadent friction, as well as the firm hardness growing between his legs, all for her.

He dragged his mouth down her throat, nipping at her skin and drawing a shaky little mew from her. He latched onto the side of her neck, just right where her collarbone met her shoulder, and he suckled fiercely.

She pressed into him, frantic for his caresses and kisses, already trembling from the sheer need to be with him. Her fingers tangled and clenched briefly into the front of his shirt, and then she very restlessly, haphazardly started to tug at the fabric, trying to get him out of it. He released his possession of her, separating just long enough for her to get her way, and then he helped her pull off her blouse, too. She purred happily as she ran her palms all over his bared torso, lolling her head to the side so that he could get in close and run his lips over the upper slopes of her bra-clad breasts. She sighed, her dark gold eyes slipping shut, delighted to have his entire attention wholly centered on her. Her arms slid around his neck, and she arched languidly into him, a slow, feline smile spreading across her face.

And then he was kissing her again, his lips clinging tenderly to hers, even as his hands gripped her hips, tugging her flush against him, until they were connected from chest to loin. Those long, adroit fingers trailed lower to the sides of her thighs, then deftly slipped beneath the hem of her skirt, his palms cupping her bare bottom, a muffled groan rumbling from his throat as she wiggled against him wantonly. He shifted and eased her onto her back, kneeling between her parted thighs and stretching over her briefly to reach for the bed stand drawer, quickly pulling out a piece of square foil from the box of condoms that had been stored there.

The gorgeous redhead that he had caught beneath him pushed herself up to rest on her elbows and reached for him, fingers fumbling but quickly undoing the fly of his pants, determined to help him out of the rest of his clothes quickly. He was just as eager as her, and swiftly kicked off his pants and boxer briefs, wanting to be with her as fast as possible. She stole the piece of square foil from him and held it between her teeth, freeing her hands to fondle him, her striking, cat slit eyes glowing with lust as her warm palms lovingly cradled his erection. Her fingers curled around his pulsing length, stroking him with her knowing, possessive touch. Her thumb slid over the sensitive head of his phallus, catching the transparent drops of precum that were beaded at the mushroomed tip, and then she unhesitatingly brought her hand to her lips, tongue sliding out and happily, lasciviously, tasting him.

She hummed with sensual delight, her grip tightening ever so slightly around him, caressing his velvety length with her nimble fingers. His pupils dilated as their gazes briefly met, and he watched as she tore the wrapper between her teeth and pulled out the condom. He held still and let her apply the prophylactic on him, her deft fingers pinching the tip, then rolling the rest of the rubber down his heavy cock. She licked her lips, then stretched up and kissed her beautiful lover.

He kissed her back with hungry, voracious passion, and she smirked against his mouth, pulling away just a bit slightly, her voice breathy and low with desire, and irresistibly mischievous.

“Punish me more~”

He was on her even before she could complete her sentence. Pushing her back on the bed, he stretched over her and settled between the pillowy softness of her thighs. She automatically wrapped her limbs around him, sighing with welcome when he guided himself towards that dewy, slippery entrance nestled at the junction of her legs. He eased his way in, coaxing her taut walls to relax and take him inch by inch, until he was fully buried within her wet, snug form. She arched subtly at his delicious invasion, her toes curling, a soft grunt slipping from her throat. Hnngh.

She locked her ankles around his narrow waist, pressing her heels against the base of his back, instinctively trying to keep him inside of her for as long as possible. He kissed her face, her nose, her eyelids, and started to move. Rolling his hips against hers deliberately, he kept her utterly distracted by the pleasurable sensations he wrought on her body. She could not stop quivering, her fingers digging into the back of his shoulders, red lips parting in a soundless gasp when his rocking motions hit that sweet, aching spot in her that made her whimper and her knees go completely weak.

Her cheeks rouged, her eyelids growing heavy and half lidded, and she clung to him, the insides of her bare thighs rubbing up sweetly, erotically, against his angular flanks, fitting so perfectly against him that he could not help but wrap one arm around her waist and pull her even closer, so close that their bodies were sinuously entwined, and neither had any intention of being apart anytime soon.

He teased her with unhurried, shallow thrusts, ensuring that she felt each and every stroke as he sheathed himself in her tantalizing heat repeatedly, slowly but surely driving her up the wall with his thorough, immaculate lovemaking.

“Bad girl,” he chided huskily by her ear, his lips brushing against the sensitive lobe. She shuddered at his low, silken rasp, tingling everywhere at that stern, sexy tenor of his voice. “…Seducing and beguiling me the way you do.”

She could only moan as he stealthily slipped one hand between her legs, just where they were intimately joined, seeking and finding that slick pearl of her clitoris. He gently rolled and simulated that hypersensitive mass of nerve endings between his thumb and forefinger, in tandem with his quickening strokes. She keened restlessly beneath him, all but bucking her hips and straining hard against him, her body tightening with rising tension, the molten, liquid heat growing more and more in the pit of her belly, and she was helpless to resist the onslaught of his fierce desire for her.

“Haahh- Ei…shi…!” Rindou writhed beneath him, lips parted, the pale glint of her pointed incisors gleaming as she panted his name, her foggy golden eyes focused on nothing else but him. His long, whipcord lean body was wrapped possessively around hers; she could not think of anything beyond his drugging warmth, his clean, masculine scent, the feel of his perspiration slicked skin pressed up against hers. The strands of his pale hair tickled her cheeks, his wet, erotic kisses trailing her neck, marking her shoulders, her heaving breasts - she was wholly inundated by him. It was almost overwhelming, if not for the fact that she was luxuriating in every moment of his attention, purring and lapping up every drop like a hungry feline.

His mouth found hers again, licking, nibbling, suckling. She mewled into his kiss, very much on edge and already incredibly close to the precipice of her impending release. She was struggling to hold him in her, her sleek walls constricting and pulsating around him like a satin vice, and he growled quietly at the sensual sensation. Instead of acquiescing to her unspoken demand, his movements quickened, and he ground into her harder, faster, until they were both breathless and giddy from the mutually pleasurable exertions. She pulled away from his kiss and clenched her eyes shut, biting her lips and lolling her head back against the bedspread, as she felt each driving, emphatic stroke of his hips merging into hers, and the erotic sounds and scents of their mating filled the air. His hands slid up to settle over her waist, fingers curling into her flesh and clutching her tight. He was getting near too, she could tell by the taut tension in his body, how he was needing to be with her as much as possible. He made her so dizzy at times like this, she could not help but think. So selfishly and unapologetically possessing her body, her mind, her soul, he made sure that she could never want anyone else, not in this lifetime.

Her nails dug into the back of his shoulders, the almost animalistic sounds of pleasure escaping her throat becoming louder and more frantic until she felt like she was going to explode from the sexual excitement he was stoking in her.

“Rindou,” he breathed softly, tenderly against the side of her ear. “Come undone for me, love.”

Her catlike pupils dilated. The low, rich timbre of his voice was enough to send her teetering right over the edge. Her mouth parted in a gasp, her features contorting into a mask of carnal rapture as she held onto him for dear life. She pressed her face into the side of his throat, and overcome by passion, she sank her sharp fangs into his shoulder, muffling her howl of release as her body went haywire all around him. He growled at the arousing sting, his muscles twitching at the exquisite stimuli. Her slick, taut form clenched and contracted rhythmically around him, and he was enraptured by how snugly she gripped him, her hot, wet heat seeming to draw him more and more into her, making him so wild for her.

He drove his loins hard into hers, and then, with a few more quick, emphatic thrusts, he let himself spiral into the sweet oblivion of release with her. The tingling tension at the base of his spine overflowed into stark, blinding euphoria. His hips jerked as the tide of his climax seized him, and he moaned her name like a prayer. Holding her tightly to him, entirely buried inside her pulsing, convulsing body, he gave completely into her.

They were an exhausted tangle of bare limbs and half clothed, sweat slicked bodies on the bed, breathing hard and thoroughly spent. He collapsed on top of her, his heart pounding in his chest like he had just ran an entire half marathon. His erection was slow to subside, still throbbing in her in the throes of his lingering orgasm. His head was lowered, forehead pressed on the mattress just by her head, just struggling to regain some semblance of composure and regulate his breathing. Rindou recovered a bit quicker. After a few shaky beats, the redhead came to herself, stirring languidly, momentarily sated and content, her features flushed with that joyous post coital glow. Her arms and legs were still curled around her lover, and she did not mind bearing his dead weight. In fact, she swiveled her head and nuzzled him happily, flooded with affection for him.

“You’re amazing,” she burst out with unabashed praise, pressing warm kisses onto the side of his neck, his jaw. If she had a tail, it would be wagging back and forth with glee. Eishi returned her affection readily enough, once he regathered the energy to do so. Capturing her mouth with his in a slow, sensual kiss, his tongue stroked hers erotically and deliberately, until she was moaning and starting to arch and squirm against him all over again.

They finally broke apart for air, and she could not stop grinning even if her life depended on it. He took advantage of her distraction to slip away momentarily from her embrace, peeling off the condom and disposing of it properly before returning to her side. She made grabby hands at him but before she could tug him to her, he was the one who pulled her into his embrace first, tucking her up against him and just holding her in his arms. His spontaneous affection pleased her, a lot.

“You’re very sexy when you’re being forceful,” she commented huskily. She poked his chest playfully with the tip of her index finger. “I like it.”

His brow furrowed at her comment. “…I’m not sexy when I’m not forceful?”

“I did not say that~” She planted a happy kiss on his nose, and petted his cheek fondly, beaming goofily. “…You also said love, just now.”

The tips of his ears tinted slightly, but he did not deny what she had heard.

“…Do you think I go around beating up women just because they ask me to? This is a special service,” he retorted, as boldly as his mild temperament could manage it. “Being this sexy is a labor of love.”

She snickered.

“But you love bad girls, right?” she teased.

He sighed with consternation at her words. “What can I do? The girl I love is especially bad. It’s been very problematic for me.”

Her shoulders quivered with mirth at his playing along.

“Bad enough to be spanked again in the near future?” she fished cheekily, her eyes twinkling like stars. “Or too problematic for you?”

He swatted her bare rump.

She jumped and whined a little, her bottom still tender from having received his exquisite attention earlier. Then a snort-giggle escaped her. He thought that it was very cute.

“Don’t get any ideas,” he admonished. “This troublesome backside, of course I’ll take full responsibility. So…”

He squeezed her rear, and his fondness for it, as well as for the owner of said rear, was unmistakable. She hummed happily and kissed the side of his throat.

“M’kay. Please take good care of me, always~”

[justaramblingromantic]

nii-chan has an ow

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou, Tsukasa Eishi, Tsukasa Hi’en (OC), Tsukasa Chouko (OC)/EiRin

Type: Canon-divergent AU, Post-series, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 2996

A/N: Tsukasa!Family shenanigans. Four year old Hi’en is sick, and two year old Chouko has no idea what to feel about it. 

“Nii-chan, play…?”

Rindou lifted her head from where she was half reclining on her son’s bed, her gaze landing on the tiny form of her daughter. Curled up beside her, snoozing fitfully in an exhausted heap was Hi’en. The younger redhead was finally out like a light after coughing and raggedly struggling to breathe through a clogged nose for the last few hours. There had been a flu outbreak at the preschool, and her poor baby had caught the particularly persistent virus from his peers.

His little sister had thankfully not been affected, but they had brought her home from the preschool yesterday all the same, as a precaution. Rindou had taken leave from work to take care of her children, though her greatest challenge so far was in keeping the siblings apart. Young as she was, Chouko could not understand why her nii-chan was not playing with her…and she kept wanting to go into nii-chan’s room and climb onto nii-chan’s bed and cuddle with nii-chan and mama but for obvious reasons she had been barred.

That did not stop her from trying to sneak in all the same. The tiny white haired toddler was hovering at the doorway, and she sidled in to cross the threshold. Her mama’s eyes narrowed, and she started to straighten, though her hand was still slowly stroking Hi’en’s hair, soothing her boy as he napped restlessly.

“Baby, don’t come in-”

But her child had obviously inherited her parents’ stubbornness. She had been trying all morning to get into the room and she wasn’t about to stop now. Before Chouko could flat out sprint towards her goal in one last victorious burst, her papa came swooping in from behind to the rescue. He picked up his daughter and neatly stopped her valiant break-in attempts.

“Chou, you can’t go in,” he told the unhappily squirming little bundle in his arms. “Your nii-chan needs rest; he’s not well. He’ll play with you when he gets better.”

Chouko stilled at her papa’s explanation. She stared at him wide eyed. Eishi gazed thoughtfully at her stunned, deer-in-the-headlights expression.

“…Ow?” she asked softly, almost mumbling to herself, and both parents looked quizzically at each other, and then back at her, not sure what she was trying to say. But they also quickly recognized that wobbly expression on her face, her big lavender eyes slowly filling with tears. “Nii-chan has ow?”

She was whimpering, lower lip trembling, finally figuring out that something was wrong with her older brother.

Rindou quickly realized what was upsetting the little one so much. She sat up fully, careful not to displace Hi’en at the same time.

“Oh baby, no. Nii-chan’s gonna be okay! It’s just a little ow. Nii-chan just needs to sleep and rest for a bit and he will be fine!”

Unfortunately, the tears could not be stopped. The little two year old was crying softly as she strained towards her brother and mother in Eishi’s arms, pitiful little sounds of ‘ows’ escaping from her as she tried futilely to reach them.

Eishi was at a loss. He cradled his youngest to his chest and petted her back, but she was inconsolable. Her tiny howls of heartrending distress woke her brother, who stirred uneasily and instinctively turned his head towards the sound. His eyes opened in a drowsy, bleary squint, and he mumbled hoarsely. “…Chou, don’t cry...”

Hi’en’s voice had an immediate effect on his heartbroken sister. The smallest Tsukasa paused mid-wail, little cherubic face red from her tragic exertions and streaked wet.

“…N-Nii-chan…?”

The boy raised his hand briefly before letting it flop on the duvet again. He was so tired.

“Don’t cry,” he repeated, voice still faint, clearly more asleep than awake. The medicine that his mother had made him take was supposed to knock him out so that he would recover faster. “…Play later, ‘kay?”

Now that she had seen and heard her brother’s assurance, the little girl’s anxiety slowly calmed. She sniffled. Her chest hurt still because nii-chan was still having ow, but nii-chan said ‘play later’…so maybe nii-chan’s ow will go away?

“’Kay, nii-chan…” she murmured meekly, subsiding some more.

Hi’en did not reply; the sick, fatigued boy had nodded off again, curling into his mother’s warmth. Chouko got teary once again but she did not cry anymore, trying her hardest to be brave. Her papa made a quiet, sympathetic sound in the back of his throat and pulled her into his embrace in consolation, long, adroit fingers reaching up to wipe away the wetness that stained her cheeks.

“…Papa, down,” Chouko muttered after being coddled and comforted for a while. When Eishi took too long to respond, she repeated her request, all but starting to squirm and wiggle in his arms. “Down, down, down, down.”

Eishi exchanged another look with Rindou, and she shrugged. At last, he conceded to his slippery child’s demand and set her back down on the floor. He was prepared to stop her from dashing right for her nii-chan, but much to her parents’ surprise, she turned and toddled out of the room instead, as quickly as her short little legs could carry her. Before Eishi and Rindou’s bemusement could grow too much, the child came waddling back short moments later, dragging with her a very familiar plushie. It was a fluffy white rabbit, almost as big as her tiny self. Chouko came to a stop before her male parent and performed a ritual that the entire family knew very well by now.

“Ow, go ‘way. Ow ow, go ‘way, ow ow go ‘way,” she petted the bunny’s head as she chanted determinedly, before she finally presented the soft toy to her papa, tugging at his pant leg, expression earnest and hopeful. “Nii-chan, give?”

“…You want to give Bunney to your nii-chan?” he asked, just to make sure. It was her precious, most favorite possession, and one which she always demanded to have with her during naps and bedtimes.

She nodded eagerly. “Give, Chouko give!”

Eishi’s gaze was soft as he took her beloved bedtime companion from her. He petted the top of her head. “I understand. Stay here.”

Chouko obediently hovered by the doorway and watched solemnly as Eishi entered the room and towards his wife and son. Rindou’s eyes were fond and warm too, as she accepted the offering from him and made a big show out of tucking her daughter’s beloved toy beside Hi’en. The doll would watch over nii-chan in her place.

“I’ll take Chou to work with me today, so you can take care of En,” Eishi spoke quietly to his mate.

Rindou lifted her brow. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “We’re only doing stock inventory today – I’ll keep her safely entertained. We should be home before dinner.”

“M’kay, then.”

He leaned down and brushed a kiss over her cheek, his hand briefly drifting over his son’s tousled red hair at the same time. “Text if you need anything,” he murmured before pulling away.

“Will do~”

“Papa, we go?”

Chouko stared at her father with huge, curious eyes as he carried her from the nursery to the living room.

The little toddler had just been changed from her indoor clothes to her going out clothes, plus another two extra layers over her leggings and long sleeved shirt to keep her snug and warm. It was in the middle of winter and the last thing they needed was for her to catch a cold, too. Her hair had also been neatly combed and a pretty butterfly bow clipped neatly at the back of her head, keeping her fluffy white locks from getting in her face.

Eishi continued into the kitchen and set her down on the island counter, and she thumped the back of her heels idly against the vertical surface as she swung her stockinged legs, a pastel lavender creation with cute little black kittens crawling all over it.

Chouko watched her papa as he moved purposefully around the kitchen, pulling out her milk formula from the cupboard and setting aside a portion for lunch later. He also took out an apple from the fridge, washed it thoroughly and proceeded to cut it up quickly for her snack. He handed one slice to her and packed the rest away into a small Tupperware.

Chouko took the offering and chomped at the crunchy fruit with gusto.

“Yes. You’re coming with papa today, okay?”

“Nii-chan?” she asked between bites, concerned. She was still a bit forlorn, and her papa reached over and rubbed the top of her head comfortingly.

“Mommy will look after nii-chan,” he told her softly. “Nii-chan will be fine. Don’t worry.”

The bag was quickly filled with the other essentials; her sippy cup, extra diapers, wet wipes, baby powder, some toys, plus a few more odds and ends. She was already eating solid foods, starting to wean off of milk these days, and they were also just starting to potty train her, but she wasn’t fully there yet. Eishi reached over to lift Chouko into his arms, transferring her from the tabletop to the ground. He helped her into her winter wear, a puffy white monstrosity that turned her into a living marshmallow, before shrugging into his own coat. Then he slung the bag over his shoulder, picked Chouko up again, and they stopped briefly by Hi’en’s bedroom on their way out.

“Say goodbye to mommy and nii-chan,” he coaxed her.

“Mommy, bai bai,” the toddler obediently recited. Her voice was quiet as she thoughtfully waved to her mother and brother, the latter still asleep. “Nii-chan, bai bai.”

Rindou looked up from the bed, where she had a laptop perched on her lap, in the middle of replying to some fanmail while keeping her sleeping son company. Thanks to the medication and the rest, he was already starting to breathe better, and his coloring was slowly returning to normal. She smiled and waved, wiggling her fingers at her littlest baby.

“Bye bye, kawaii~! Have lotsa fun for mama and nii-chan, ‘kay?”

The baby nodded, and Eishi locked eyes with his wife.

“Then, we’re going now.”

Grinning, Rindou waggled her fingers at him too, her babies’ daddy.

“Itterasshai, drive safe~”

Bringing Chouko along with him turned out to be the right decision to make. The moment Eishi strapped his daughter into the child’s car seat and started to drive, her mood improved. It had always been that way ever since when she had only been a little baby. Car rides soothed her, and there were times when she was crying nonstop as a very young infant and they were at their wits’ end until they accidentally discovered that she would quiet down and nod off quickly whenever they put her in a moving vehicle. At the beginning, there were even some evenings where the whole family would just climb into the car and drive aimlessly around the neighborhood in circles until the kids fell asleep.

As such, Eishi wasn’t too surprised when Chouko was soon thoroughly distracted and back to her happy, curious self again, babbling to her papa beside her in a language that only she could understand and gazing out the window with wonder as they meandered through the streets of downtown Tokyo. It was nearing Christmas, and some of the main roads along the major shopping districts were decorated by enchanting and colorful fairy lights strung just about everywhere, much to the laughing delight of his little butterfly child.  

By the time they arrived at the restaurant and parked, Chouko was all bright eyed and in a good mood. She had always been a happy–go-lucky baby, so her father was glad to see that she was cheerful again.

“Papa, where go?” the white haired toddler asked her male parent as he released her from the child seat and lifted her out of the car. She automatically hooked an arm around his neck to steady herself, and he propped her against his hip, sitting her bottom on his forearm so that she would not end up sliding down. He was already shouldering the bag with all the things for her, and he nudged the car door close before locking the vehicle.

“We’re going to the restaurant today,” he told her patiently, as they started to walk down the street and towards the building at the end. She gazed at him curiously, at least until a stiff, icy head wind kicked up, blowing hard enough that she made a startled sound and hid her stinging face in her father’s neck, shivering at the chill. The snow had not arrived in Tokyo yet this year and it was never a certainty if it ever would, but it was still really cold and wet around this time in December. Eishi reached up and flipped Chouko’s hood up over her head, his large, lean hand curling over the back of her skull, keeping the hood in place to protect his child from the elements. This one wasn’t as averse to winter as her mother was, but she did not enjoy being uncomfortably cold, either.

He walked them quickly to the restaurant, and it was only after they had ducked into the cozy warmth of the establishment that he finally let Chouko down. His little marshmallow daughter still had her hood up and she tottered in an unsteady circle trying to figure out where she was. Eishi’s lips twitched as he watched her orientate herself.

“Come, Chou.” He stretched out a hand towards her and she took it trustingly. He walked slowly with her deeper into the restaurant. They were closed today to deal with housekeeping matters, which was why it was possible to bring Chouko along. Otherwise, the intense heat of the kitchen and the incredibly fast paced environment during crunch time was hardly the safest and most conducive place for a very young child to be in, and her father tended to get so immersed when he was working to come up with the exquisite culinary creations that he was so well known for that he would have been hard-pressed to keep track of his offspring at the same time.

The doors to the kitchen swung open, and out ambled his assistant who had obviously just heard them enter the building. The younger man did a quick double take when he saw Eishi’s little companion. The hint of fluffy white hair and the bright lavender eyes were dead giveaways as to the little cotton puff’s parentage.

“Oh, hey Boss. I didn’t know that it was Bring-Your-Child-To-Work-Day today,” he drawled, rocking up closer to study his head chef’s youngest child. He squatted down before the tiny little thing, who was staring back at him with open curiosity. The fact that her papa was beside her probably contributed to her lack of fear before a complete stranger.

“Hello, hello,” he greeted in a sing songy kansai-ben. “So yer my Boss’s precious ‘lil princess, huh? What’s yer name, hime-chan?”

The child tilted her head, and her hood fell off at the movement, revealing a really adorable little squirt hidden underneath. She also lifted her head to look at her papa, a bit uncertain.

“Tell him your name,” her father encouraged her gently, nothing at all like the utter demon that he was in the kitchen, continuously demanding perfection out of his staff, selfishly squeezing out every drop of their talent for the sake of accentuating his cooking.

“…Chouko is Chouko…” she blurted out, shyly. Cute. It was hard to believe that his uptight ice king of a boss could physically produce such a precocious offspring.

“Hi there, Chouko-hime. I’m yer pop’s head lackey, Izumi-kun. D’ya think I’m handsome?” He lazily struck a pose, complete with peace sign.

Eishi wanted to sigh in consternation at Izumi’s antics. Why were good assistants so hard to find?

His previous sous chef had tendered his resignation a few months ago to migrate to another country to start up a restaurant as had always been his dream, and Eishi had let him go with his blessings. The problem thereafter was finding a replacement that was on par or at least not too far off in skillset, but much to his dismay, that sort of talent had been as hard to find as trying to locate a needle in a haystack, especially when taking his demanding expectations into consideration.

A few weeks ago, Kenjiru Izumi sauntered into Chateau seeking a job interview. The man had been utterly ridiculous too, citing his only prior job experience as a takoyaki chef and that he had quit his position because he wanted a change of pace and that he had lost respect for his ex-boss because ‘his balls were even smaller than the ones I’m used to flipping.’

Eishi had been very much ready to write the punk off as a joke entry…only that it quickly turned out that he was not…and so here they were now. Not a day went by without Eishi questioning himself if he had made a mistake signing the mouthy and opinionated guy on as his sous chef, but truth to be told, as outrageously eccentric as Izumi was at times, his ability in the kitchen was top-notched and even more refined than his predecessor…which left Eishi trying to figure out exactly what sort of takoyaki restaurant it was that the other man had honed his skills in.

Chouko continued to stare at this strange golden haired man with the squinty eyes and the wide fox smile, visibly bewildered.

“Please don’t harass my two year old daughter,” Eishi muttered with exasperation. “If you make her cry, you’ll be responsible for getting her to stop as well, Izumi.”

The younger man huffed with amusement. “Hime-chan, you won’t cry, right? We’re gonna be good friends. I’ll carve you a carrot butterfly if you say ‘Izumi-kun is very handsome.’”

“…And don’t teach my two year old daughter to say nonsense, thank you very much.”

[justaramblingromantic]

ʙʟᴏᴏᴍ ғᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴏɴ

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi/EiRin

Type: Canon-divergent AU, Post-series, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 3255

A/N: Eishi earns his red wings. Rating for sexy tiemz. Don’t read if you’re easily squicked out. 

Her stomach was killing her.

Or rather, it was the cramps that was doing her in so badly at the moment.

She usually did not suffer from such intense bellyaches during her time of the month, but every once in a while, it was known to happen.

And that was why she was stuck in bed that late afternoon, shivering and curled up under a heavy pile of blankets in a miserable ball, just hoping for this torture to finally end. It felt like there was a claw gripping her womb and trying to peel her inside out; the pain was that obnoxiously unbearable at times. The redhead could only pop a few painkillers in and pray for death to quickly take her. It was a good thing that it had been a short day at work for her, allowing her to crawl home and suffer in peace once those engagements were fulfilled.  

When Eishi came by her apartment late that evening after a considerably long commute from Tootsuki Resort, he found his girlfriend still in bed, half curled onto her side, dozing fitfully with the duvets all tossed haphazardly around her. He had been understandably concerned- she hadn’t replied any of his texts since a few hours ago. She did not even stir when he approached, switching on the dim bedside lamps as he entered the bedroom for better vision.  Sinking down onto the mattress, he sat beside her in bed and placed his hand against her forehead. No fever.

She finally showed some signs of life at his touch, mumbling drowsily, her eyes groggily blinking open, squinting at him. She was briefly disoriented, but sighed quietly when she registered his presence. Her hand came up to grasp his wrist, and then she drew his entire arm into a loose embrace against her front, sleepily rubbing her cheek against his forearm. The position was awkward for him to maintain to say the least, but she was still more asleep than awake at the moment, and when he tried to extricate his limb from the embrace, she growled cantankerously and refused to relinquish her prize.

Fondly exasperated, he leaned over and pressed his forehead against her temple, lips brushing against the lobe of her ear. He could not help but breathe her in. The familiar, pleasing aroma of her shampoo, the subtle fragrance that was uniquely her; he had always been subtly drawn to her scent. Inhaling once more, he filled his lungs with her, his nose digging into those crimson strands.

“How are you feeling?” he asked by way of greeting.

She finally let go of his trapped arm to drape her limbs loosely around his neck instead. She turned her head and buried her face in the side of his throat.

“…achy everywhere,” she mumbled into his skin, voice faintly raspy from sleep, a faint grimace crossing her features.

“Do you want me to make you something to eat?” His voice was quiet in deference to how close she was to his proximity, but she shook her head.

“Not hungry,” she muttered, her arms tightening around his neck instead with a different sort of demand. “Hold me.”

She tugged him the rest of the way into bed, and then tucked herself into the hollows and crevices of his body once he laid down beside her. She adhered herself to him as they laid facing each other, legs tangling, bodies coming together so naturally, just greedily absorbing his heat and presence with undisguised contentment. His arms came around her unhesitatingly, drawing her close, those large, adroit hands first tracing her torso, as if ascertaining for himself that she was physically well…and then he started to run them down her back.

“Here?”

“Mm,” she sighed softly when the heels of his palms pressed firmly upon the sore spots on her lower back, going limp in his arms as he continued his measured, thorough ministrations. “Don’t stop.” She tucked her head against the crook of his shoulder, eyes closing once more, slipping back into a drowsy, comfortable repose. The faint, unhappy frown that had been sitting on her face all night started to ease away, her entirety soothed and cosseted by her lover.

He slowly tugged the hem of her nightshirt higher past her hips, slipping his warm hands beneath the hem to continue administering the massage directly over her bare flesh. He absently nudged her head to the side, exposing the column of her throat, lips brushing against the side of her neck. He pressed lazy, small butterfly kisses there. They were more affectionate than sexual in nature, but they were also impossible for her to ignore, and after a while, she was starting to feel all flushed and fidgety thanks to his calm, soothing attention. It wasn’t an unfamiliar sensation.

“You’re making me horny,” she complained halfheartedly. She wanted to be grumpy, but her hands clutched the front of his shirt, holding him close.

He paused at her disgruntled mutter, but then, just as wordlessly, he continued his kisses, and this time, they lingered more on her skin, just as his touch grew more deliberate, sensual.

She started to hum, barely refraining from the urge to arch into his addictive back rubs. Her eyelids fluttered, a little moan escaped her. That restless feeling only grew, just as luscious heat pooled and spread in the pit of her belly, slowly replacing the dull, cramping soreness there with a different kind of ache.

She pressed up against him, her thighs parting, straddling his leg instinctively and starting to squirm against him. Her hips writhed, her breathing puffing warm against his neck, even as his hands slipped over to her front, those wonderfully warm hands sliding over her breasts, and he nipped her tenderly, wringing a gasp out of her.

“Eishi,” she whispered his name. “You’re making my body go haywire-”

And he was. She felt unbearably sensitive everywhere, and intensely acutely aware of him. His caresses, his kisses, the heady press of his thigh pushed up between her own, alleviating some of the pressure rapidly accumulating at the apex of her legs…but still not enough.

He continued to gently tease her until she was so flustered, cheeks flushed, her breathing growing unsteady, starting to quiver even as she rubbed herself amorously up against him. He nuzzled her cheek, lips brushing against her jawline. Her excitement was exciting him too, and she purred happily when she felt the physical manifestation of his growing need press against her stomach.

His voice was very quiet, and just a bit rougher than usual, another indication of his mounting arousal.

“...Do you want to do it?”

A sharp, jerky nod was her reply.

He sat up in bed, and he nudged her upright as well. They rose from the mattress and he pulled her into the bathroom. She followed, haphazardly tugging her nightshirt over her head and quickly stepping out of her panties. The stained sanitary napkin was disposed of, and while waiting for her, he removed his clothes too, and prepared the shower. Then he tugged her into the stall and beneath the steamy running water, kissing her with urgent hunger and pushing her up against the glass wall. The cold surface against her back made her shiver, but it made a striking contrast with the warmth of his body as he pressed into her, his hands as they ran possessively over her body, wordlessly admiring the womanly curves and dips of her lush figure. His leg slipped between her thighs, nudging them apart. One of his palms eventually found its way over her full, pert breast, kneading the enticingly soft mound, long, narrow fingers rolling one erect nipple between the pads of his thumb and index, his tongue sweeping into her mouth when she moaned, her sensitized body overwhelmed by his intent stimulation.

He slanted his mouth against hers, his tongue stroking hers erotically, then tracing her teeth, her gums, tasting every inch of her oral cavity until she was weak from his heavy, drugging kisses. She squirmed and bucked against him- she was already slick and really did not require any more foreplay from him, and his hardness had her so flustered she was growling with impatience to have him in her.

They were both completely drenched by then, the water from the shower sluicing down their bodies, their hair a shade darker from being soaked. He pulled away from the kiss to attack her neck, tongue darting out and drawing drops of the water that had collected in that distractingly sexy hollow of her clavicle, even as she dug her nails into the back of his shoulders in growing frustration.

“Eishi-” she burst out, only to stop just as abruptly when she felt him nudge and align himself against her mons pubis. His mouth suckled persuasively at that delightful juncture where her neck met her jaw, even as his erection pushed between that gap of her upper thighs, slowly sliding along her nether lips, and she twitched at the decadent sensation.

“Squeeze your legs together,” he ordered huskily, his lips moving against the shell of her ear, before his tongue snaked out and traced her lobe. She quivered, and utterly on edge, she obliged, sandwiching his cock between the silken softness of her water-slick thighs. He grunted softly as her hips pushed up impatiently against him, his hands coming down from her breasts to rest on her waist, holding her close as he started to move, deliberately not penetrating her yet, just languidly rocking his turgid length back and forth against the luscious, arousal flushed surface of her vulva, until she was whimpering at the maddeningly pleasurable friction, desperate to relieve that ache growing in her.

She was all but humping him furiously by then, that rod he had shoved between her legs and was tantalizing her with was driving her utterly crazy. He was so horrible, she could not help but think disgruntledly. Teasing her so mercilessly like that but not giving it to her like she wanted. Her patience could only last so long before she snapped, and she bit him hard on the shoulder in displeased reprimand.

“Ooh, just fuck me already,” she burst out crossly, only to squeak breathlessly when he reached down between their bodies to roughly tweak and finger her clitoris in retaliation. Oh dammit. Her knees threatened to buckle; she was utterly distracted when his flanks jerked suddenly and he surged hard into her.

She hissed, arching like a cat, the heat in her womb spreading, her spine tingling. She was so incredibly sensitive and tender at this time of the month, and her inner muscles spasmed and fluttered all around his girth as they struggled to accommodate his forceful invasion. She ached, but in a divinely gratifying way. He did not give her time to adjust, pulling out of her easily and then assertively sliding back home again, sheathing himself so completely in her lubricated, pulsating passage that she could feel the tip of his heavy length hit against the narrow opening of her cervix. He was possessing her so utterly, she could feel every indulgent inch of him, like steel wrapped in soft velvet, subtly throbbing with masculine vitality.

Her taut, snug walls clenched around him, she started to shiver, the stimulation already enough to push her over the edge. A breathless cry escaped her lips, just as he sealed his mouth over hers. She started to climax, unsteadily at first, and then coming faster with uncontrollable abandon, her hips rolling helplessly against him even as he continued to pin her to the wall, riding out her orgasm with quick, shallow thrusts that had her hiccupping and going wild.

Eishi groaned as her sleek muscles clutched frenetically at him like a satin vice, trying their best to keep him in her. She was so heady, intoxicating. The way she easily welcomed him into her arms, how enthralling it was that they fit together so perfectly. The way she moved so intuitively with him. Her heat, her desirous moans, her flushed, glittering expression when lost in the throes of passion; she was the most exquisite thing he had ever loved and he just could not get enough of her. And she was so incredibly snug and slippery at the moment, slick with her own arousal as well as her monthly bleed, and the push and pull of their bodies entwined in carnal copulation ensured that he could think of nothing else but her.

Moments later, the aftershocks of her sexual release was still making her twitch and pulse erratically all around him, and she was dizzy and high from the dopamine and oxytocin rush. Somehow, she was straining against him on her tiptoes, trying to match the pace of his lovemaking but sex in the shower was always a slippery affair and it was hard to find enough purchase get a good rhythm going for long. Judging by the way he was gripping her hips, he was starting to get frustrated, at least until she lifted one lithe, slender leg and hooked it around his waist, her heel pressing against his backside, sighing into his mouth when the position opened her up further for him and wiggling against him a little frantically when his thrusts felt even more intense, hitting that sweet spot inside of her with every emphatic flex of his gluteus maximus.  

“Ooh, yesss. Nnngh…Eishi-” she whined, breaking off to press her face into the side of his throat, running her rosy mouth restlessly down his neck, kissing him profusely, licking and nibbling and sucking with tongue and teeth and lips, her hands running up and down his sleek, whipcord lean torso, first the front, and then the back, fingers caressing him with amorous affection, then raking her nails down his flesh, leaving faint red welts of possession along his ivory skin. She dragged her lips along his chiseled jawline, tongue darting out to taste his earlobe, then nipping and drawing him into her mouth, sucking sensually on the sensitive flesh and driving him to a complete distraction.

He pulled away from her and caught that troublemaking mouth of hers, kissing her pout away deep and slow, and then, even the drive of his loins against hers matched that pace as well, becoming more emphatic and deliberate in execution. She started to tremble all over anew when every slow, thorough push into her filled her so fully that she could barely tell where he ended and she began. Her arm came up, looped around his neck, holding him close because she was craving this intimacy so much, and he was giving it to her so freely and unreservedly, she understood intrinsically that there would be no one else who could love her so wholly the way this man did.

Her breathing started to quicken, her slender ribcage rising and falling in tandem, her eyelids fluttering shut as she started to reach her peak once more. She was shuddering, muscles growing taut, her leg locking tighter around his lean hips, as the ball of spiraling tension inside of her coiled and grew so unbearably tight. Her hips undulated sinuously against his, instinctively begging for release, and he moaned roughly against her mouth when those rippling, serpentine motions did things to him that he could not adequately describe. His mind went blank, and he moved on pure instinct. His motions were becoming less smooth and effortless; more jerky, speeding up as well as the heightened gratification of their joining grew to intense proportions.

She came apart first, wailing with eyes clenched shut as her orgasm crashed upon her. She unraveled quickly, her slick inner walls constricting uncontrollably all around him, and this time around, he did not resist the entrancing, siren call of her body. There was a familiar pressure rapidly building at the base of his spine, and he moved to accentuate that blinding, heady pleasure. His fingers dug into her waist; a few more hard, fast thrusts into her convulsing, quaking core, and he began to climax, too. He bit his lip and started to pull out, but she stopped him.  

“No-” she panted in protest, gold slit eyes opening to meet his darkened lavender ones, mumbling. Her hand reached down, splayed against his rear, refusing to let him withdraw. “-Come inside of me. I want-”

There wasn’t any time to argue her spontaneous decision. He pressed his face into the side of her neck, shivering as his orgasm gripped him and held him in thrall. He spilled himself within her snug form with a deep, heavy groan, thick spurts of pearlescent seed coating her womb even as her body continued to greedily milk him, contracting and squeezing rhythmically along his rigid length until he could see stars bursting behind his closed eyelids, determinedly dragging out everything that he had to give, buried so deeply in her. She crooned at his fluid warmth, arching a bit with languid, feline pleasure, her fingers running lazily, lovingly through his hair, his nape, his shoulders.

She was filled with so much demonstrative affection for him then, she could not stop nuzzling and kissing him, her own features glowing and beautifully flushed in the aftermath of their lovemaking. He was still struggling to regain his breath, and she held him in her embrace, so soft and tender for him, in the way where she would only ever show this side of her to him. He kissed her neck, reciprocating her affection, his own hands stroking up and down her sides with unhurried passion, and she hummed in happy contentment. A few more minutes of this mutual, post coital propinquity, and they separated reluctantly. She beamed at him and bumped her shoulder against him fondly, even as he pulled her beneath the shower spray.

“I’m turning into a prune,” she laughed, showing him her wrinkly fingertips. She was quite waterlogged by then, but so was he. They started to clean up together; she shampooed their hair, he soaped her down, and then himself. He washed her thoroughly, so thoroughly that they ended up fooling around some more and he got her off one more time with those wonderfully dexterous fingers of his. His seed leaked out of her erotically, tainted faintly pink from her monthly bleed, and he washed the traces away.

“Next time, we are using protection,” he muttered.

“Why? I like it when you come in me,” she remarked matter of factly, letting him touch her so intimately because he was the only one allowed to. The chances of her becoming pregnant were incredibly low, anyway.  “Maybe this is my body’s way of punishing me for not getting properly knocked up – by making me crave you even more,” she teased.

He looked at her as he shut off the showerhead and they emerged from the stall, drying off with towels.

“Please don’t even joke about that.” The idea of her getting with child sent him mixed feelings that he wasn’t sure how to deal with. They were still young. They weren’t married. But the thought of creating a family with her was more attractive than it should be, and that gave him pause.

She pulled off the towel that he had been using to dry her hair. “Who says that I’m kidding?” She smirked and flounced out of the bathroom to get changed, leaving him gaping after her in disbelief.

“Tsukasa, hurry~! Let’s go get pancakes after this – I’m starving!”

[justaramblingromantic]

ɪ'ʟʟ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ғᴏʀɢᴇᴛ

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi/EiRin

Type: Canon-divergent AU, Post-series, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 1158

A/N: I’ll search the universe, until I can find you again. 

One day, out of nowhere, she asked, “Would you rather die first, or would you prefer to be the one left behind?”

He paused and peered over the edge of the book which he had been reading. Her curious catlike gaze met his, expectant and waiting for his response.

“…What brought this up?”

Also, what kind of question was that?

She shrugged, rolling onto her belly on the bed, her legs raised, bare feet kicking idly in the air behind her. She had propped herself up on her elbows, hands stacked together, her pointed chin resting on the back of her palms. They were in the bedroom, just settling in for the night.

“Just wondering, I guess.” Her gaze sharpened. “So?”

He set his book face down on the mattress beside him where he had been sitting against the headboard, giving her his full attention.

“I think it’s not anything to worry about at all, since we don’t actually get to choose when we die.”

Her brow furrowed at his dull, logical comment.

“But what if we can choose?” she insisted. “What if we grew old together, hypothetically, and we’re reaching the end of the road?”

He looked at her. “Hypothetically?” he enquired with polite blandness. “Is there anyone else you’re planning to grow old with?”

Her lips twitched.

“You’re entirely missing the point here, bud. Fine.”

“Let’s say that we’re both shrunken and doddery and seriously getting on in years. You’re the gnarly old coot to my wizened old hag. I’m sagging everywhere and you’re missing all of your hair. There are liver spots in places where there should not ever have liver spots and we take turns misplacing our dentures. You need to bellow at the top of your lungs whenever you speak to me because I can’t hear too well and I need to hold on to you when we go for our daily walks about town because your vision is not too good anymore. We hobble about everywhere on walking sticks at the max speed of a lost sloth and between us we have more replacement parts than an angry Roomba. Everything hurts and we creak like unoiled hinges whenever we so much as breathe. If given a choice, wouldn’t you wanna kick the bucket first?”

He winced wearily at her colorfully imaginative portrayal of their…future. “Must you really be so descriptive.”

Just how long had she been hatching this idea?

She grinned at him, unrepentant.

“You asked for it. ‘Sides, aging and growing old is part and parcel of life. Don’t be scared of it.”

“I’m not scared,” he muttered. “I just don’t feel the need to think about it until I absolutely have to.”

She slyly wormed closer to him and then flopped her upper torso over his lap, displacing his book in the process. “Well, you may start thinking now. Indulge my insatiable curiosity, old man!”

He twitched at her demand, especially when she poked him demandingly in the stomach as well. His hand reached down to catch her offending digit, and then he laced their fingers together.

“I’m not that old yet, old woman,” he retorted, still stalling. Mainly because he really had no idea what he was supposed to say. Who wanted to think about dying? She was such an oddball, as always. “…Which would you prefer?”

“Hey, I asked you first! You can’t answer my question with the same question!”

“You obviously have spent some time contemplating this already, so if I’m going to guess, then it’d be that you’d want to go first,” he continued.

She sent him an arched look.

“Is that your final opinion? If it is, then you’re wrong~!” she sang. “I’d pick to be left behind. Are you surprised?”

His brow silently lifted. He actually was faintly surprised.

“…Why would you choose that?”

“Hm, it’d be a relief to go first and not be old and achy everywhere anymore…but…you’re going to be really pitiful if I left you behind, right?” She petted his thigh, and then she laid her head on his leg, curling up beside him. “I can’t do that to you- what ever will you do without me? You’d be completely lost.”

Her candid, matter of fact reply both amused him and tugged at something in him, at the same time. His other hand reached for her, resting over the crown of her head, fingers slowly sifting through her hair.

“But then you’d be the one left alone,” he pointed out quietly. And he wondered if he could bear that, parting when that time to separate came. What a morbid subject they were discussing, but now that she had drawn him into it, he was curious to hear her thoughts too.

“Yeah. It’s gonna suck either way,” she acknowledged, her gaze growing distant in thought. “But you know what? It’d suck even more to have to leave you behind…so I’d rather take this one for the team,” she concluded plainly. She rolled onto her back and caught his eyes. “You’ll wait for me, right? No matter how long I take?”

His gaze softened. His fingers lingered along her jaw.

“Do you even have to ask?”

They both knew that he had always been the more patient one out of the two of them.

She smiled at him, softly nuzzling her face into his hand, brushing her lips affectionately against the heart of his palm.

“See; that’s why I’ll be fine.”

“I’m gonna do so many awesome things when you’re gone,” she suddenly blurted out in glee, half an hour or so later, when they had both settled in bed for the night. Eishi was promptly jolted awake; he had been about to doze off, but an excitable Rindou was simply irrepressible. “I’ll be the ultra-fashionable old lady in Roppongi rocking haute couture OOTDs by day and by night I’ll hit up host clubs in Kabukicho and patronize handsome young men and be a sugar granny-”

“Can you please not be so excited to see me dead and buried so fast,” he groaned, rolling over and hauling her into his arms before she could spring up and go off onto wild tangents. He would never get her quiet and settled back down for bedtime again by then.

He pushed her face onto the crook of his shoulder, presumably to make her shut up. She nipped him in indignant reprimand, and he retaliated by pinching her rump. Her shoulders quivered with mirth. He was so grumpy. She freed one hand and petted his arm fondly.

“Don’t worry, I’ll have your name tattooed somewhere so even if dementia gets me and I don’t remember you, I’ll still remember you,” she puffed out against his neck. He grumbled.

“Okay, grandma, can you save your rebellion without a cause for tomorrow? The rest of us still not at retirement age yet need our sleep in order to be functional and responsible working adults in the morning.”

[justaramblingromantic]

кιѕѕ αи∂ мαкє υρ

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi/EiRin

Type: Canon-divergent AU, Post-series, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 1133

A/N: Kiss-prompts practice. First of four. 

They had been having a cold war for a while now, and both were equally miserable in the aftermath of an argument that in hindsight had been over something really insignificant and small, not that they would ever admit it to each other. Pride stood in the way of making up, and both felt entitled to their opinions, firm in the belief that they were in the right, and the other party was at fault.

He had always been the one who would usually give in during a disagreement, but this time, he was determined to stand firmly by his decision. It was the principle of the matter, he sternly reminded himself not for the first time even as his heart wavered and yearned for its mate…and maybe there was also a part of him that was disgruntled because why was it always him who had to initiate the making up? Did she even care about his feelings at all? He had always put her needs above his own, so would it kill her to do the same every now and then? Was there even mutual respect in their relationship? Sometimes he really wondered.

And so the days of non-communication dragged out into a week, then two, and began to stretch towards a third.

Pride was a cold bed partner and an even lousier companion, as both quickly learned. Even during times when they were physically apart for much, much longer spells, this was one of those rare instances where there actually existed complete radio silence between the two. There was a jarring, disconcerting gap in their lives, now that they weren’t speaking. While in the grand scheme of things they still remained high functioning adults who were each more than capable of carrying on with their lives and carrying out their day-to-day obligations, both felt an irritating soreness that could not be soothed by any means, a little ragged tear in the vicinity of their chests that presented very much like a papercut wound.

Small and seemingly so inconsequentially paltry, but still painful to bear all the same.

She had been very peeved at him for blowing up what had seemed like such a tiny matter, and as the days passed right after their spat and there were no attempts whatsoever from him to talk to her, her annoyance had only grown, until it was nothing less than full out, draconic displeasure. What was his problem, anyway. This was all his fault. They had been quite happy and everything was going so well until he had to kick up a fuss and make a mountain out of a molehill. They both knew that she was right, so why wouldn’t he just admit it already and apologize so that they could get over this stupid cold war and get back to coexisting blissfully together?

But the days passed and that prediction had not happened at all. There was no amicable resolution or making up. He made no efforts whatsoever to reach out to her and her phone was completely silent without all the messages that she had grown so accustomed to receiving from him. Her boiling temper grew further and further until she was stewing in it for days on end plotting increasingly inventive methods of vengeance…and then it all abruptly fizzled out…just leaving her emotionally exhausted and…sad.

She missed him more than she was mad at him, she was beginning to realize.

And she just wanted her best friend back.

So, she dragged herself over to his place, arguing her decision in her head the entire while, but she still went, all the same. The other alternative was even longer of this situation that they had both entrenched themselves in, and she was already at her limit.

Arriving at his door, she pounded on the surface until it opened, and then there he was. He actually looked surprised to see her, which made her wonder indignantly if he had even expected to see her at all.

“I am very angry at you,” she snapped without even waiting for him to speak, and then she stepped straight into his arms and kissed him.

But her kiss was not rage-fueled and furiously aggressive. It was tender and needy and aching.

It said I missed you, I’m sorry, please please please love me again.

His arms locked around her like steel bands and he all but hauled her back into his suite. The door shut behind them and then he was the one pinning her against the wall. Kissing her back with all the fierce, ravenous passion and hard, demanding possessiveness that had accumulated over the past few weeks, now all unleashed upon her until her knees were going weak in the face of all his intense yearning, until she was squeaking and writhing and arching against him, begging for more.

She wasn’t allowed to take it back anymore, he wouldn’t allow her to take it back now that she was here. He couldn’t even seem to let her go.  

He devoured her lips thoroughly and greedily stole all the breath right from her lungs, but even so, she pressed closer, willingly giving up everything he wished to take, and he proceeded to claim her so thoroughly, much to the fierce, dizzy elation unfurling in her heart. She could finally breathe freely once more, after all these past weeks of going without her air.

She never wanted to go through that experience again.

“…Forgive me?” she asked quietly, after the initial tide of all that overpowering mutual longing had been temporarily assuaged, after they had some moments to catch their breaths, mouths kiss-swollen, foreheads pressed together, their gazes locked intently on each other. There was nothing else that mattered in this world.

“What took you so long?” he uttered hoarsely, and then he was kissing her all over again, showering her upturned face with so many fervent kisses until she was moaning and squirming with delight. He could not seem to stop kissing her. Her hands clutched onto the front of his shirt, as if reluctant to let him go, but she did not have to worry. He had pressed unto her so tightly they were practically adjoined from chest to thigh, craving all that reassuring physical connection between them just as much as she did. It was a long time later before either of them could muster enough faculties to attempt speech, simply reveling in this marvelous, blissful state of harmony that was just together.

“I want us to last a very, long time,” he told her quietly, seriously. “Okay?”

She nodded desperately, eyes squeezed shut, understanding all that he did not say. Finally understanding why he had been so upset in the first place.

This is how much I love you.

“Okay. Okay.”

[justaramblingromantic]

And this too, shall pass.

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi/EiRin

Type: Canon-divergent AU, Post-series, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 1860

A/N: Erm. My muse is disrespecting the hell out of me. I am so angry, this was supposed to be a happy fic, gdi.

In the aftermath of it all, he was…confused.

Yes, losing had been an incredibly upsetting blow, and maybe he was still reeling in shock at the moment because it had been so long since he had last lost a match on the field…yet somehow, the dull ache of this defeat had only felt passingly insignificant in light of the other bigger thing that had been callously wrenched from him as a result.

His belief.

Everything that he had so firmly believed in, all that unwavering conviction that he once possessed in choosing this path to walk had crumbled and dissolved like wet, shifting sand in the face of the relentless tide that was the opposition, sweeping him so far out into the faithless depths of the unknown, leaving him aimless and without compass to ever find his way back again.

He did not understand it at all; were they wrong, after all? Was he so wrong, for believing in and fighting for the ideal that he had honestly, wholeheartedly, thought was right?

He had always been one to be straightforward and unhesitating when it came to his goals. Everything that he had done in the course of his life had been for the sake of achieving his dreams, and he went after them with relentless, hounding tenacity and focus. Discipline, dedication, drive. They were all he knew to be. Some people called him ‘selfish’, but such was the only way he knew to stay true to himself.

Even then, the road was never easy, but the goal had always been ever clear. All he had to do was keep his head up and keep heading unerringly towards the light, no matter how many times he stumbled, no matter how many times he fell. Making Tootsuki, making the Elite Ten, making First Seat…they were all stepping stones and milestones that would eventually lead him to his purpose in life.

But this time, for the very first time, the guiding light that beckoned at the far horizon had winked out abruptly, the ground beneath his feet that he was always so certain of had vanished, and he could not see, and he could not regain his balance. Blind and disoriented, there was no more path to follow. What to do. What to do now?

He was so lost.

They called him knight, but what use was there for a knight with no clear cause to champion, no proper purpose to pledge loyalty to? It had felt like a sharp stab of betrayal, to realize that Azami was wrong, to understand that he himself had only been made used of and deployed about like a pawn in an elaborate game of chess by the man he had so deeply respected and regarded as a close friend and mentor, and it left such a dark, bitter taste in his mouth, because with this undeniable confirmation, all the victories that he had gained on the man’s behalf and had been so proud of now felt pervaded by taint and wrongness.

His confidence was badly shaken. He did not know what to think anymore. And now, there was also disturbing unease and uncertainty roiling turbulently in his heart, because if the ideology he had always supported so staunchly was corrupted, then what should he do now? Should he carry on obstinately even while knowing that his beliefs were riddled with flaws, or should he abandon his ideals, these same ideals that he had known and embraced for as long as he remembered?

Both possibilities pained him equally, for different reasons.

If he abandoned his ideals, did that mean all that effort and passion that he poured into achieving his goals over the years…were they all for nothing? Was he going to have to let go of all that staggering amount of work and sacrifice and start building from ground zero all over again?

The thought was enough to make him flinch.

…But if he stubbornly persisted with what he had now, still insisted on going down this path for the sake of self-preservation, because cooking for the sake of himself was the only thing he had ever known…what would become of him eventually?

There was a vague idea that he had once entertained, when he was still very much in awe and admiration of his mentor, the latter so cynical yet so incredibly worldly and sophisticated. The man had been dazzling and charismatic with his visionary ideals and grandiose philosophies, and there was something intrinsic about him that really appealed to Eishi too, like a nod of recognition from one prodigy to another. They were the same type. It was so comforting to know that there existed someone in this world who was so much like him, who faced the same challenges and frustrations that he faced and it had given him so much hope when it seemed like Azami had actually found a solution to this existential issue that he had been circling round and round and struggling so hard to deal with but to no avail.

So of course he had jumped at the chance to offer his services when his mentor had requested for it. To make a difference, to see to fruition this grand new world that they had always talked about. He wanted so much to make that difference, and was willing to throw himself tirelessly into supporting a resonating cause where his thoughts and inputs and ideas were actually valued and appreciated for their weight and worth, and not just simply because he was a genius and thus automatically commanded respect regardless of what he did and said.

…As if that one simple word was all it took to define everything he entailed, easily glossing over all the complications and challenges that he has had to surmount just to bring life to his masterpieces, the intricate dishes that he had slaved and struggled so hard over to produce.

Towards the end, the term genius had felt more like a grievous insult than praise…and the culinary paradise that Azami had always talked about had sounded more and more like an ultimate utopian dream…

Unfortunately, a dream, ultimately, was just a dream. Something unsustainable.

Eventually, it was time to wake up.

It was very quiet now.

The deafening roar and cheers from the spectators of the Regiment Shokugeki were no more, and the stands were all empty, the humongous competition hall echoing, filled only by the ghosts of past battles. The long steel counters and state-of-the-art, industrial-grade kitchen appliances on the arena were pristine and gleamed silently beneath the powerful stage lights, all the utensils immaculately washed, dried and kept neatly in their places, silently waiting to be used again by fiery cooks who would put everything they had on the line to achieve their dreams, fighting tooth and nail for their prides and ideals.

Somehow…he had become jaded too, it seemed.

Still in his chef uniform, he had aimlessly wandered back out to the hall after all the others had left. He was one of the last ones still here…but he was not alone.

She had wordlessly followed him, keeping him company even when he was hardly in the most sociable mood right now…but then again, she wasn’t making any attempts at conversation, either.

She was just there. Giving him all the space he desired, but an undeniable presence at the edge of his senses all the same, a silent sentinel.

He sighed, lifted his face and looked up, and was promptly blinded by the stage lights.

Blinded by the brightness, how ironic.

But it was true, wasn’t it. The light from high above him was so all-encompassing, he could barely see anything else.  

He closed his eyes, just stood there and let all the stillness and quiet wash over him. It was almost peaceful.

…But then, eventually, the lights started to go out, silently, one row after another, until they were doused in semi-darkness. It was late; the technicians backstage were leaving. He slowly reopened his eyes. He could not help but think it symbolic, a curtain call.

He turned his head to gaze at his quiet shadow. It took a while for his vision to focus, gradually adjusting to the dimness. She was standing at the edge of the stage, hovering by the side entrance. Even as their eyes met and held, she made no move to approach him. Like him, she too was in uniform still.

He wondered what she was thinking.

She had never wanted to be a tool to be used to further Azami’s ambitions, and he also knew how much she quietly disliked the older man. Still, she had joined all the same, for him.

But doing that had changed her a little, too. She was quieter, more restless and fidgety, sometimes a bit distant, as if distracted and lost in thought. And other times, she just watched him, her expression inscrutable…like now.

“Are you still afraid?” he asked quietly, his voice hollow, finally breaking the silence. The rest of the question hung unsaid between them.

Of me?

The question was almost ridiculous. Her, afraid? She had always been fearless.

But even so, after all these years, he would be blind not to correctly read her demeanor…and he was never clueless when it came to her. She was wary. Guarded. Reticent.

He wondered to himself which was worse; for her to learn to fear him, or for her to be utterly disappointed in him.

She slowly started forward, treading almost soundlessly until she was before him. She tilted her head back a bit, looked at him unflinchingly.

“Should I be?” she responded evenly, her gaze holding his, her expression uncharacteristically somber.

He was silent.

“…I’m sorry.”

She huffed, a glossy sheen growing brighter in her eyes, and stumbled closer.

“Stupid; what are you apologizing for,” she muttered. And then she reached over, grabbed her best friend by his scarf, and pulled him into her arms. He was taller so he ended bending over a little to accommodate her forcefulness, but her embrace was firm, unhesitating. And so unreservedly warm.

She held onto him so tightly, as if anxious that he would disappear.

He stiffened, not sure what he was supposed to do.

“I was never afraid of you,” she mumbled after a long pause, her voice cracking.  “I was afraid for you. Stupid.”

Oh. Oh.

His hands clenched with silent relief by his sides. It was awhile before he could convince his fingers to uncurl. He hesitantly reached up…and wrapped his arms gingerly around her. She did not protest his action. All the tension in his entire being leeched away, and without it, he slumped wearily into her, his face turning, buried into her hair, eyes squeezing shut, drained.

There was no one more disappointed in him than himself.

He trembled, shoulders shaking.  

She seemed to understand his grief, even without him having to say a thing. Her hand came up, fingers sliding haphazardly through his hair, blunt nails scratching at his scalp. Blindly, instinctively offering comfort.

He tightened his arms around her, struggling to breathe.

There was nothing else to hold on to anymore.

[justaramblingromantic]

ωαкє υρ кιѕѕєѕ

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi/EiRin

Type: Canon-divergent AU, Post-series, Peerless-verse, Freestyle

Word Count: 1177

A/N: Kiss-prompts practice. Second of four. 

It was still completely dark outside when the phone alarm started to play, first with initial, unobtrusive softness, then gradually increasing in volume, refusing to be ignored.

There was a faint shift in the air as the occupants of the bedroom started to stir awake. A quiet exhalation, a disturbed twitch beneath the covers, unconsciously disoriented frowns creasing previously smooth, peacefully sleeping brows. An arm emerged from the depths of the duvets and reached over to the nightstand, its owner groggily, haphazardly attempting to locate the source of all that noise to silence it. There was a brief moment of blind fumbling in the dark before the increasingly loud, obnoxious beeping abruptly cut off, and then there was blessed quiet once again.

Eishi cracked open an eye and squinted blearily at the bright backlight of the phone. It was three thirty in the morning, and on his other side, his girlfriend was curled up against his back, buried snugly under a cozy pile of blankets, dead to the world. He let go of the phone and closed his eye again, fighting the temptation to drift off, just for a while. It was just too ridiculously early, even for a habitual early riser like himself.

His self-discipline came unerringly to the rescue, strictly reminding him of the challenging task that he had ahead of him. He sighed and scrubbed his face with one hand, becoming more awake, then slowly eased around on the mattress until he was facing the sleeping visage of his lover.

Rindou was half buried beneath her nest of blankets – she had hogged them all, as usual – and he could barely see her shadowed features, partially concealed by the covers and her pillow. It didn’t take her long at all to protest the loss of his body heat, nose wrinkling with displeasure, scooching determinedly after him even in sleep to leech off his warmth once more, not stopping until she was in his arms, face buried against his throat, instinctively relaxing once more in the reassuring presence of his familiar scent and heat. Her mouth lingered against his skin in a flitting, sleepy caress, a happy little demonstration of pleasure at being in her favorite place in the world.

Eishi brushed his lips softly against her temple.

“…Rindou,” he mumbled by her ear, voice still rough from sleep. He was reluctant to rouse her when she was so content, but work called…and so did her manager. Hayashi had specifically requested his assistance the evening before to ensure his charge’s compliance, knowing how hard it was to get her up at this time of the day. In Rindou’s defense, no sane being would appreciate having to wake up at three in the morning.  

“You need to get up. Your crew is coming to pick you up in an hour’s time.”

She had a shoot scheduled for early that morning, and it was not as uncommon as one would think. Funny; most people never considered this aspect of a celebrity’s life when they could only see all the fame and the prestige.

“Rindou,” he drew out her name patiently again, waiting for her to acknowledge him. He knew that she was rousing, but fighting the inevitable the entire way. His hand squeezed her hip, even as he lightly nosed the shell of her ear, making it incredibly difficult for her to ignore his ministrations. She groaned, growling unintelligibly like a disgruntled bear, trying to shy away from his touches. He pressed another kiss upon her temple, petted her rump, and then prodded her awake. He started to sit up too, at the same time reaching over to the nightstand to switch on the lights, so it was no longer possible for her to burrow into his arms.

“C’mon. Up.”

She lurched upright at last, hassled, lips turned down in a petulant scowl of frustration. Her hair was a ruffled nest on top of her head, her nightshirt slipping down one side and exposing her shoulder as she gave him a squinty look of displeasure.

“You need to marry me,” she declared grumpily the moment she was lucid enough to muster speech, and he was so surprised by her random proposal coming out of nowhere he nearly fell off the bed.

“Excuse me?”

She scratched her head absently, unconsciously fluffing her hair even more in the process, still half asleep. “I said. Marry me-” she paused to accommodate a massive, feline yawn, flashing pearly fangs and a curling, pink tongue. “-so that I can legally bum off you for the rest of my life and never have to wake up so early again.”

Then, the moment was gone, because even as he was still gawking stupidly at her, she was already tossing the duvets aside and crawling out of bed, getting ready to start her day. It was as if she had never said anything at all. Turning to see why he had suddenly gone speechless, her brow lifted at his expression.

“Why are you so red in the face, Tsukasa?”

He spluttered.

“Can you please not say misleading things like that? Especially when you don’t mean them!”

“Who says I don’t mean ‘em? I love my job and all but it sure will be great not havin’ to get up before the ass crack of dawn…” And then she disappeared into the adjoining bathroom to wash up, carelessly unbuttoning her shirt as she went. The sound of flowing water reached his ears as she turned on the tap to perform her morning ablutions.

He groaned in disbelief. His pulse was racing, the adrenaline from the shock slow to abate even with the sobering splash of disappointment that had followed in its wake. That was one hell of a wake-up call.

She stepped out of the bathroom briefly a few minutes later, waving a wet toothbrush in her hand. She was also very much naked; buxom, long, lithe legs, all milk and honey perfection. He could not help but stare at her, his heartbeat picking up speed once again for an altogether different other reason. The ambient temperature was obviously too cold for her to be prancing about in her birthday suit, and her dusky pink nipples puckered enticingly, as if begging for the warmth of his mouth.

“I know it’s kinda early still, but wanna join me in the shower? I can help you relieve some of that frustration~”

This wench; she knew exactly what she was doing to him.

He sent her a slow, pointed look.

“Your people are coming soon.”

She looked like she was trying her hardest to keep a straight face, then. Her lips twitched up, betraying her mirth.

“Then I guess you’re just going to have to make sure I come even faster~”

She waggled the toothbrush at him in a faux considering manner. “Or too challenging for you?”

His eyelid twitched. He slowly started to stand up. His voice became very serious.

“When I get my hands on you…”

She chortled and disappeared behind the door just as he stalked forwards.