#Like he'd know she'd be plenty capable in combat

[moongothic]

What do you think with Hancock Interaction with Crocodile If crocodad canon? Is she will pestering Croco for his gratitude to marrying Luffy or their will fight because Hancock need provide her value like. Croco : "I will not let you marry my son UNLESS you can beat me!"

LMAO Okay so. My gut instinct would be that, like. Crocodile would probably think it's none of his business, like he wasn't there to parent the dumbass for the past 19 years so it ain't his place to try to pick up that mantle now, he has no say in it and that's fine with him. He'd probably just want Luffy to have whatever Luffy wants

And so if Hancock did want for his blessings, like. If Luffy wanted to marry her too then?? Sure?? His son and the Kuja Pirate Empress?? Why not, could be worse??? Like she's competent enough, surely??

But that's where it gets fucking funny, because Luffy doesn't care. He doesn't want to marry Hancock and he has made that explicitly clear.

And so if Hancock admitted that to Crocodile, that Luffy had rejected her proposals before and that she hadn't given up, like. I could imagine Crocodile being like "...if he said 'no' then give up and leave him alone". But I can't imagine him actually saying that to Hancock, right, like only because it'd definitely make it sound like he cares about Luffy and he can't have that now can he. But what I could imagine Crocodile telling Hancock would be more like, something about it being disgraceful and shameful of her to keep on pursuing someone after being told no, and that if she really loves him then she should respect his feelings and accept that either she will have to love him from afar without those feelings being returned, or she has to move on. 'Cause, mean and cold as saying that would be, there would be a hint of truth to it. And Crocodile does seem to understand people's feelings enough to manipulate them (see: how he played Vivi like a fiddle). If he could manipulate Hancock to leave Luffy alone it could be in everyone's best interest (including Hancock's if we're being real). And I think hearing something like that could be what Hancock herself needs, like those could be the words she could take to heart. Maybe. MAYBE. IDK it's Hancock, she can be unpredictable

Sidenotes:

I think Crocodile would find it hilarious Hancock has fallen for Luffy of all fucking people on the planet

I think he would be confused by it because. Luffy is a dumbass and absolutely unhinged, what the fuck does she see in him

But also Hancock behaves ridiculous at times too and you need to be at least a little stupid and/or deranged to fall in love with Luffy so, guess that would make them perfect for each other

Hero of the Marines, the leader of the Revolutionary Army, one Shichibukai, Gold Roger's son. You didn't think this family could get any more insane, and now the fellow Shichibukai Kuja Pirate Empress aka The Most Beautiful Woman in the World wants to join. What is up with this family

[ouiouimochi]

Imagine he discovers you write about him

pairing/s : soshiro hoshina x reader

genre: romance, secret adoration until it wasn't, mutual pining, a little crack

wc: approx 3k

warning: VERY long imagine/drabble (got carried away pls this has been in drafts and been written on for weeks ), swearing, suggestive content, unedited and grammatical mistakes, uhmn interchanged usage hoshina and soshiro

✧๑❥๑✧๑❥๑✧๑❥๑✧๑❥๑✧๑❥๑✧๑❥๑✧๑❥๑✧๑

just imagine— IMAGINE you were the average tumblr hoshina writer (ahem ahem) but working under operations manager okonogi as her assistant.

imagine hoshina discovering Tumblr and searching members of the defense force. he gets curious and searches himself. he discovers fancams and amusing edits of himself. he also finds it entertaining with how feral his fans are.

then he randomly stumbles upon the soshiro hoshina x reader tag and curiously taps on it. the first thing that greeted him was a story written by you— but he didn't know it was even you. he reads in interest actually, finding that it resonated as to how he would've acted— like the writer understood what he was like. he also liked how well-structured the story was, being a fan of reading himself.

before he knows it, he finishes the story. he goes to the comment section and sees fans wildly saying their thoughts. some even arguing that he was ooc in the story.

with plenty of time to spare, he scrolls through the tag and finds plenty of other stories, even coming across multiple ones made by you. he notices how he related most to the fictional him in your stories than in other ones.

so he goes to your blog, finding that you had published a lot of stories about him, and reblogged multiple posts about him as well.

so with all the time he had to burn, he reads through each and every one. (yes even the mature ones lmao-). he actually flushes and gets embarrassed at how this writer was capable of grasping his character and also flustering him with the descriptively beautiful words they describe him with— like damn they're so creative and even poetic sometimes. heck, he found some references to other works of literature he'd read already. it was also scary with how accurate this writer was able to depict him when he read all of their posts.

he concluded the writer to be quite knowledgeable in the arts of literature, psychology, technology, weaponry, and combat with how it reflected well into the paragraphs. he theorizes that maybe that person was just a diehard fan, a staff member that leaked info(quite a problem when he thought about it), or an actual member of the defense force. he waves it off for now, noticing that he read everything in the blog during the entire night.

so he awaits their next post, and it arrives. he immediately removes the theory of the writer just being a diehard fan. his eyes would scan the work again and again, finding similarities and a parallelism to what happened a few days ago in the base. he gets very interested in hunting down this person now. but nonetheless he enjoys this unknown writer's works.

the second time around, he got alarmed at how the next fic was VERY accurate despite being hidden behind flowery words and phrases. he NEEDED to hunt down who this was. admittedly, you got too carried away with your recent work— so you put in some red herrings here and there to deter suspicions since you were too lazy to actually edit now. but chile, hoshina saw through that and wholly believes the writer is someone in the defense force— in the third division.

so at the operations room, doing normal monitoring— it was quite a slow day indeed. hoshina thinks deeply to himself. you, being the sweet and observant person you are, noticed how he'd been donning a serious expression as of recently. okonogi asks what got him thinking deep, and you pay attention.

"do you know Tumblr?" you freeze, but it went unnoticed.

okonogi would say she's heard of it but doesn't have an account with how busy she already was. she'd ask what about it.

"got curious and searched how people viewed people of the force before searching my name" —he remembers all the narumi love and slander and mentally chuckles before getting back to topic.

you were crossing your fingers, hoping he didn't come across a certain... tag— knowing well some of your works gained popularity and had a high chance of being the first thing that popped up when you searched the tag .

"... and I must say I found some... interestin' things..." you start sweating a bit, stomach twisting, feeling your heart drop. 'f u c k'

okonogi notices and asked if you were okay. you smiled a bit wobbly— obviously straining. you were stiff and unconsciously gripping the desk.

"... my stomach hurts, ma'am..." you'd manage to lie through your teeth, convincingly enough too— you weren't exactly lying since your stomach felt like a bowling ball had sunken into it.

"ya should have it checked out" hoshina says, a bit concerned since you were quite the sweet person. he didn't wanna see you suffering.

"yes sir, thank you." you quickly bow and leave the room, completely sweating bullets.

'i shouldn't have gotten too carried away, s h i t' you knew very well how sharp your vice captain was — having observed him beside okonogi. basically a vip seat to witness all of his glory.

you thought about how you should really lay low for a while. you head to the medbay to not further raise suspicions. you've been careful all these years with how much information you added into your stories, derailing some details to not allow speculations about your identity.

hoshina awaits for an update but there was none, so he resorts to rereading your works. that was how he was able to actually confirm that the writer was someone from the force. his mannerisms at work— the way he sometimes speaks in a Kansai dialect or how he calls his subordinates with endearments like dear or lil fledglings. even though those were no secret, it was an unusual knowledge for just a fan to know.

so narrows it down to someone knowing about the ins and outs of the defense force. he crossed out the possibility of those people in his platoons. so he narrowed it down to someone in the operations room— his mind immediately thought of you but he dismisses it since he can't imagine it being you.

'it can't be her'

you're treading on hella thin ice LMAO

now you're in the library, finishing up some reports. you were exhausted and got careless in believing that it was okay for you to scroll through your some of your socials.

so you opened THE tumblr acc(tbf it was ur only one)— mindlessly scrolling, liking, commenting, and reblogging. you disregarded your overloaded notif bell… also completely disregarding the fact that someone can sneak up on you

‘its way too late into the night anyways’

“oh ya’ got tumblr too, m’dear?”

his eyes quickly scanned your screen where you had a post of mina posing for an advertisement— hearted and reblogged. his eyes then get magnetized to the distracting notif bell that had 99+ pings. then it trailed to your profile picture— the whole world stops. (actually dunno how desktop tumblr looks like oop)

you were too slow to react as you watched the gears turned in his head just from a quick glance on the screen.

there are multiple ways this can go to... : the fleshed out, fanfic route… or the… nsfw route lmao

Long route

you hurriedly closed your laptop and excused yourself before bolting away to lock yourself up in your room. you screamed into a pillow, overthinking. you tried to convince yourself that he definitely doesn't know— no way he does. however, the negative thoughts consume you that you ended up crying.

you absolutely done fucked up

you filed for a sick leave the next day, okonogi approving but having a slight suspicion that something was wrong. even though it was normal for you to do so after an all-nighter of finishing reports.

you were just in your room sulking. ashamed to face the world. too ashamed to face hoshina.

you were not prepared to be punished in the not so kinky way.

on the other hand, hoshina was also in denial. there was no way someone as sweet, demure, and mindful as you would write things so....

he gets flustered at the thought. he really did enjoy your writing— but GOD, how was he supposed to react now that he learned that YOU wrote him in that way.

he wonders if you saw him the way you wrote him— the words you described him with, the words you portrayed him as... the way the "reader" feels in your works.

but the more he denied and wondered, the more his rational thoughts pushed itself through his mind. making sense of all the content you wrote so far— the parallels, the facts, the knowledge, and each detail— they all made sense. it also figures how he was able to relate to the fictional him. he felt more shy than violated— the way you wrote him, the way you took time to understand his whole character... made him feel so seen.

so hoshina goes to the operations room to hopefully talk to you. he asked okonogi of your whereabouts to which she answered that you took a sick leave . her suspicions raising that you taking a break had something to do with their vice captain.

so he goes to your room and knocks on it(can branch out further into fluff or nsfw routes— I'll stick with fluff for now)

he waits a while but he eventually hears shuffling from the other end of the door. he gets greeted with the sight of you wrapped in a blanket like a burrito with bloodshot eyes.

he's unsure if you cried or were actually sick or something... he has suspicions that it was the former but who was to say that it wasn't both (fun fact when one's feeling depressi mode, their immune system also gets brought down, making them more susceptible to illness).

you don't recognize him at first since you had your eyes squinted from the light. but you immediately knew it was him due to his easily distinguishable silhouette even if your eyes barely adjusted to the harsh light.

you gasp and immediately go to close the door. he quickly stops it, quite easily too. but you stay stubborn and put your whole weight onto the door, pleading for him to leave you alone.

"we need to talk"

your illness riddled brain immediately dreads that you're definitely gonna get fired— so you responded by pushing your door even more vigorously with a "no!"

soshiro would relent and let you close the door on him as you leaned on the other side, heaving. another knock on the door as he calls your name.

a bit of silence before a response from you.

"what?"

"'yer not in trouble"

silence passes again before the door clicks, slowly opening. you stare up at him like a puppy

"really?" you hopefully asked

his heart jumps and twinges. it m e l t s at the sight of you.

"yes, dearest"

although you've never noticed, he had always been calling you by a pet name different from the rest.

you let him in your room, trudging over your bed to entrust him in closing the door behind him. you were convinced to do so because of the rather soft expression he was directing at you— heck you were sure you were one of the few to notice his changes in expression. maybe that's one of the reasons why you were able to write him so scarily accurate.

you sat yourself on your bed as soshiro follows by seating himself beside you.

"I'm sick...." you try to convince him to sit on a chair but he doesn't move. you look away, feeling awkward as you start fiddling with your blanket

he was considerate enough to start the conversation at least. he calls you by name and endearment, causing you to flush. you thought how unfair it was that it has so much of an effect on you than you'd rather admit. but it also calmed you down

just as he was about to speak, you interrupted him with apologies, strings of words whizzed past explaining how it even happened... with apologies woven in-between sentences .

"...I understand you're mad—" he interrupted you this time

"'m not" that shuts you up

it was his turn to be embarrassed , hearing about it on your side— directly from you. he's also reminded of how he likes your stories.

"I like them... your stories" he starts

"they leave me not with feelings of being objectified... but rather flattery with the amount of adoration in your work..." he admits

"it was so scarily accurate that it made it easy for me to relate to the 'other' me"

silence, you think how that must've been creepy behavior on your part.

soshiro had a question to ask but hesitated when he saw how you looked at him like he wasn't real. as if your fictional character just popped out of your screen.

you were doing things to his heart

he asked if the way you wrote him was how you actually viewed him. not influenced by your readers.

just you and your thoughts alone.

"yes" of fucking course it was

it might've been the sickness getting to you, causing you to be honest. but God. you praised him, adored him, admired him— all of the sort

unabashedly telling those things straight to his face causing him to feel hot in the face.

"...but I knew how I had no chance with you, that's why I resorted to writing it all out— letting my imagination run wild just to satiate my feelings for you"

he gapes

"you like me?"

you widen your eyes, realizing you basically confessed to him. you completely flush and turn your head away from him after a stare down.

he laughs.

what the fuck

you flush redder thinking he was laughing at you and your feelings but you can't help but think your writing couldn't do his laugh justice— it was just... just so nice(?)

you simp— you actually crumpled at his laugh as he stops himself. he gently turns your body to face him, his hands settling on where your shoulders were under the blanket

you were actually pouting for some reason (you were slightly hurt he laughed at you, but u misunderstood)

as if you can't get any cuter in his eyes. his gaze locks itself with yours.

"'yer so adorable, (y/n)"

he explained how his heart feels so light when around you. that his heart constricts at your innocent gaze— really makes him wanna protect you and shield you away from anything.

even from a fortitude 10 kaiju if it so happens.

sure he was friendly around a lot of people, but he gets inexplicably softer in his treatment with you. he may call others dear and such, but he also calls you differently if you haven't noticed.

he admits how discovering you were the author of the fics he liked reading made him want to protect you even more. how he wanted to stop you from running away from that night he discovered and regretted not doing so.

a tear fell before becoming streams dripping down your cheeks.

soshiro hugged you, caressed your head and hair so carefully.

heck you didn't even know why you were crying— but to be fair you were physically and emotionally vulnerable due to your sickness.

hearing him say all these sweet things gave you relief, the floodgates basically opening on their own.

and here you are now, crying in soshiro's embrace as if it was a dream. as how you have always fantasized to be held by him.

"I like you too, dearest"

and so you laugh at yourself for the predicaments you've placed yourself in— you could've avoided it if you had the courage to say it straight to his face. you would've wanted to avoid the embarrassment brought by him discovering you were writing about him.

but ig this is fine too, you liked this. so you hugged him back so tight as if he'd disappear like smoke.

as if he wasn't real, as if this wasn't real.

you were glad when your worst thought did not come true as hoshina gently held your face in both of his hands while staring so lovingly in your eyes.

the end for fluff route

WARNING: suggestive content, you've been warned don't come after my ass

now for the nsfw route

I actually need to separate that (if I ever even write it lmao)

I cannot write smut to save my life... but butttt

nsfw route 1 where he managed to corner you before you got away the night of the discovery.

basically just like "oh? so ya' ve been imagining me doing all those things to ya? how bout a taste of the real thing~"

nsfw route 2 is sometime after you two start dating. he basically takes inspiration in how you wrote his smuts— with consent ofc, didn't want to hurt you. he's overall sweet about it but teases you if the real thing was better than you'd imagine.

if someone can take over the smut/nsfw part, pls PLEASE I give permission to continue on with the prompt. I'm looking at ahem ahem @justwinginglife, but ik how busy she is currently— absolutely no pressure. anyone's free to take over ^^

[galaxytastes]

Okay, but consider... Mystic Messenger main 7, except in Genshin's universe. What visions do you think each of them would have? Or who wouldn't have one, if you believe so 🤔

Ohohohoho, thank you for asking me this! My friends and I have talked about this plenty of times and have come up with vision/weapon headcanons for all of them (including Rika and Vanderwood, of course.) If you think otherwise or want to share your headcanons, please let me know. I love talking about Genshin and Mystic Messenger 🤓

Here they are listed in the order of how I first played the routes <3

Jaehee: Geo bow! She'd be very polite and defensive in her combat style; maybe an off-field support? Her signature drink would obviously be a little latte. Maybe her passive has to do with buffing certain albino actors.

Zen: Hydro polearm. This one was tough and I had to talk to my friend about it a little bit, but I think hydro polearm would suit him best. Graceful, allowing him to use his whole body in combat. He'd be a hypercarry DPS and he'd have a tiny sneeze voice line for when you walk near kitties.

Yoosung: Anemo catalyst. I had an idea that he could have a "game controller" as a weapon, using it to control his attacks from a step back. As much as I know he would love to be a huge claymore wielding knight in shining armor, I'm just being realistic.

Jumin: Cryo sword. Jumin can be confrontational at times and maybe a bit rude, but I think he would be a very meta off-field DPS. He'd have a very princely fighting style, sort of like Albedo's auto attacks. You guys are so lucky I can't draw, you don't know how bad I want to see Genshin Jumin now... I had to pause to daydream for a minute.

Saeyoung: Electro polearm. This one I was a little biased on, because electro is my favorite element and I project onto this loser so much, BUT I genuinely think it would fit him. He could make little gadgets to help him fight or maybe a cat robot... It's hard for me to decide if he'd be more defensive or offensive, because I could definitely see both.

V: Anemo bow. V would not want to get up close and personal when it comes to a fight. As my friend perfectly worded it, "anemo would be great because of how much he blows everyone off." He is flighty, sneaky, dare I say cowardly at times (cough, most the time). He would love a bow; something he could use from far away and behind an enemies back. I think he would definitely have some sort of martyr style ability, like a loss in his HP would boost his own attack or something.

Saeran: Dendro catalyst. Similarly to how Childe switches weapons in his skill, Saeran could switch (Ray and Saeran). He could have a catalyst style flowery attack mode, where the dendro "poison" leeches from the enemy, but also he could switch to a polearm! In this mode, its more offensive and thorny. While I completely agree with this headcanon, it is not at all my own! My dear friend Breezy came up with this idea and I loved it so much, it became canon to me.

Rika: Cryo catalyst. Rika, like Saeyoung, could absolutely be both offensive and defensive in combat, but I enjoy the idea of her being a dependable support unit. Maybe with a shield of some kind? She'd have the prettiest move set, really angelic.

Vanderwood: I almost forgot Vandy oh my goodness, forgive me. Pyro claymore! I think he’d have some kind of sexy combat style using smoke and he’d work perfectly with Saeyoung, of course. Overload VanderSeven. Something off-field and “undercover”, but he’d hit really hard. Maybe a burst DPS with support capabilities! He’d have like four voice lines about Saeyoung and they’d get progressively more exhausted yet charmed… Love you Vandy

Again, these are all just my (and my good friend's) opinions and fun headcanons. If you would be interested in full summaries of their kits I have headcanoned, I would love to share in more detail :D Thank you for reading!

[cadrenebula]

Song 9!

Hell Or High Water by The Rescues

We are running out of time Meet me at the water line No one here is safe We are running out of time Don't forget your promises

(A little long overdue idea from back in Nov that I ended up not having the drive to write out. This is after the twins' nameday on the 17th. But the song managed to spark enough to give the general idea from then? But I think I'm skip writing out the combat today though. XD Thank you @sasslett )

Every day Destiney worried about him. Especially when he'd stop by now and then with bruises or minor cuts. None of it was ever serious enough to ask him if he wanted medical attention when he stopped at her clinic to deliver medicines for her supplies. He was keeping secrets but she never pried. All of his soft edges were gone. He was lean and definitely showing more muscle than she ever remembered her bookish brother having.

Sighing as she looked over her spells on the weapons. Maybe this wasn't the best idea. Asking him to show her what he was capable of. With spell blunted weapons of course. Especially since he'd shown up with a scythe of all things.

Not like she could change his mind anyways. At least he had Ely, Aryn, and Sahji. Plus the company. Surely the lot of them could keep her brother from getting himself killed in whatever chaos he was getting into. She loved that he had as much support as he did. To think only a few years ago he had next to none. He had the friends he'd never had growing up.

Destiney offered Stefan his scythe. "Shall we dance?"

"I'll show you that I'm plenty capable, Destiney." Stefan smirked as he took the offered weapon.

Destiney nodded as she moved away from him to put space between them. Dropping into a ready stance with her blade in one hand and it's crystal focus in the other. "Alright, brother dear. Show me you can handle yourself in a real fight."

In the end of the fight, she'd still bested him. She had the advantage of experience and the more nimble fighting style. But she could tell he'd been taking it serious, learning to make the most of his weapon. He'd even scored a couple blows even if she'd outmaneuvered him time and again. He wasn't that little boy anymore than needed her to protect him. Something had changed to make her scared brother who refused to touch real weapons into someone who could stand on his own.

"Come on. Let's go in for some tea and tarts. Talk a little bit." Destiney held her hand out to help her brother up off the ground. Heading inside with him to shed their weapons and armor to relax for a bit. Recover a little while they talked. Mostly Destiney had been curious to know how his nameday with Ely and Sahji had gone while she was out with Syluss having a little privacy for her own.

[rashenditrash]

Had a not great day today, so here's some sad Kadolin which I wrote to help me feel stuff.

So I've done something like this before when I wrote "An Expert in Just About Everything" - that is reworking a scene from the books with different characters.  ROW SPOILERS AHEAD.

This time around, as soon as I read Chapter 12 of of Rhythm of War, I knew I wanted to do a rewrite of the scene with the roles reversed.  While I love Kadolin's dynamic, I'm personally not a huge fan of writing Shallan off because I also love her individually, and her and Adolin's relationship.  With that in mind, the premise of the following scene is that Shallan is deep undercover, and Adolin believes (incorrectly) that she is dead.  I think this could make for some very interesting conversations down the road.  In my mind, it would be less about the typical drama, and more about "okay, how do we make this work".  Maybe if writing this inspires me I'll continue the narrative.

For maximum effect, I'd recommend reading Chapter 12 of Rhythm of War first (and maybe Chapter 21), and hopefully you can pick up on the parallels.  

Anyways, here it goes ROW SPOILERS AHEAD:

She's gone.  Adolin felt dim, unreal, like he was hovering between realms.  Is this how you feel? he wondered to Maya.  Unfortunately, Maya could not answer for him, and Adolin just felt lost.  Adolin stiffly moved towards his rooms, the rooms he used to share with his wife, and turned and closed the door with a firm push.  

Only then did he break.  He didn't make it to the chair or the bed.  He sank down with his back to the wall beside the door.  He tried to unbutton his well tailored jacket - storms why did he always need clothing that fit so snug?  His fingers fumbled at the ornate buttons, but found no purchase.  He tried to gasp, his chest and abdomen straining against his suddenly restrictive clothing.  His entire body seemed to tremble as agonyspren twisted in an out, twisted faces carved from stone, mocking him in his loneliness.  

Come on.  You've known loss before.  You got through losing your mother.  You can do this.  Adolin sobbed, and grabbed a scarf to muffle the sound.  Why couldn't he pull himself together, like he had back then?  The answer was obvious.  When his mother had died, and his father had abandoned them for drink.  There was no choice but to keep things together for Renarin's sake.  He had been the only one looking out for his brilliant little brother.  Now, Renarin was well and living his own life, and Adolin was just . . .

Alone.

He'd always hated that word.  All his life Adolin strove to surround himself in people - it didn't matter of they were common soldiers, lordly courtiers, or girlfriends, so long as they were there, with him, taking up space beside him.  But to seek the comfort of company now felt wrong, like a betrayal to the person whose absence he wanted to fill more than anything.   

A knock came at his door.  Adolin bit down hard on his scarf.  Please just go away.  The knock became more insistent.  Adolin tried to catch his breath, and glanced at a nearby mirror.  Come on, he told himself, Present yourself.  He sniffed three times and fanned his face, banishing the tears from his eyes.  He ran his hand through his hair a couple of times, until it settled into its familiar pattern of calculated dishevelment.  As he stood, he straightened his shirt and jacket, each motion of tidying his appearance soothing him a little more.  You can get through this.

The knocking continued.  "Coming," Adolin said, unable to keep his unsteadiness from his voice.  

Kaladin pushed his way in, Syl at his shoulder.  He wore civilian's garb, plain and unassuming, which only made his hardened bearing and physique stand out more.  Kaladin was like a constant, and unmovable anchor in the chaos of a high storm.    

They stood in silence, for a moment, taking each other in.  Adolin flashed a hesitant smile.  You know this is going to be hard for him too.  You can't let your dark moments undo his progress.  

"Maya... I wasn't quite sure what she wanted, but she seemed to want us to come here... um..." Syl appeared uncharacteristically bashful, and Adolin got the impression she'd be blushing if she wasn't monochromatic.  "And we're here now... so... bye!  I'll let you two talk"

As Syl departed, Kaladin cocked his head to the side.  "I... I heard.  I'm sorry Adolin."

"I'll... I'll be all right Bridgeboy.  Really.  I just need some time.  No need to fret."

Kaladin nodded, solemn.  "Right."  He closed the door behind him, and slid down to the floor.  Patting the ground beside him, he motioned for Adolin to sit down.  "No reason for you to take your time alone though right?"

"I..."

"If you need to be alone that's fine, just tell me.  It's not a big deal.  But for now I'll just sit here okay?  Until you tell me otherwise."  

Storms, when had Kaladin of all people become emotionally intelligent?   Adolin hesitated, then loosened his jacket and sunk down to the ground beside Kaladin.  As he leaned back, his arm brushed up against Kaladin's.  He felt he could almost absorb some strength from the man's frame, like a Radiant consuming Stormlight.  

He was in mourning - he should be taking time alone to work through his emotions.  To pay respects to... to her...  But of course, alone was the last thing Adolin wanted to be.  

Adolin grimaced as he caught sight of himself in the mirror again.  Granted, he was at a terrible angle, but he hadn't done nearly as good a job of clearing the redness from his eyes as he thought he had.  "Storms, I look awful.  What a mess."  

Kaladin grunted, making his disagreement immediately evident in a way only he could.  "As an expert in the subject,  I can confirm looking awful isn't half has bad as it's made out to be, not that you would know."

"Come now, you know you're a catch.  You have that whole aloof, stoic, hero thing going for you."

  "You're the expert."  Kaladin's eyes darted up and down Adolin's figure with a surgeon's precision.  "Here, let's get you changed into something more comfortable.  You need to be able to breath easy, and that ridiculous outfit isn't helping you at the moment.  I'll get you some water."  Kaladin stood slowly, and helped Adolin up.  "Don't worry about how it looks, just throw on whatever will make you feel the best.

Adolin extracted his hand from Kaladin's grip, and moved over to his armoire behind the dressing screen and started shifting out of his formal attire.  Normally, Adolin was able to quickly choose an outfit by instinct, but this time he found himself hesitating.  Eventually, he settled on a pair of comfortable training trousers, meant to facilitate movement, and one of the men's shirts that Veil used to wear.  The garment, tailored to Shallan's proportions, wouldn't quite close properly, so Adolin just pulled it around himself, smelling the shirt, and imagining his wife was wrapping her arms around him again.  

He let out a sob as he sank to the ground.  Kaladin was there in an instant, placing a hand against Adolin's chest, then his neck, and leaning in to support him as they sat down.  After the sobs died down a bit, Kaladin held up a glass of water, forcing Adolin to drink.  Adolin drank, and breathed in the smell of Kaladin.  He smelt... clean, but practical?  Like freshly laundered kitchen linens.  Slowly, the sobs subsided as Adolin took comfort in the strong frame of his friend.  

"I'm sorry," he whispered.  "I shouldn't put this on you.  How are you doing, Kaladin?  Storms, she was your friend too, I..."

"Sush, stop doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Trying to 'help' me to avoid thinking about how you are doing.  You can't be a light to everyone if your own sphere is going dim, Adolin.  It's okay to lean on me.  My father always said, in an emergency a surgeon has to look after himself first - its only after your own person is secure that you can ensure you are capable of competently helping others.  We'll have plenty of time to talk about me later.  For now, what do you need Adolin?"

I need you.  The thought, unbidden, seemed to escape from a locked chest in Adolin's mind.  Stop it, you are just scared of being alone.  Yes, he found Kaladin's presence comforting, and he certainly needed support in the moment.  That was all he was responding too, nothing more.  What kind of man would be thinking of someone else, like that, so soon after losing the person he was supposed to turn to?  He wanted to tell himself it was just a thing of a moment, a figment of his loneliness and need for comfort.  

You know that's not true.  This isn't new, and you know it.  Listen to who you are ignoring, even when its yourself.

"It's okay, just breathe.  Drink some water and breathe okay.  We don't have to talk."  Kaladin's hand traced along Adolin's spine, brushing each vertebrae.  Adolin focused on the rhythm of Kaladin's touch, and on his breathing.  Up and down, in and out.  He felt himself slipping into the trance-like state of mind Zahel had taught him to utilize when preparing for combat.  Slowly he began to feel the emotions start to subside.  They didn't leave, but the wave passed.  He entered a calm in the storm.

"You're one hell of a surgeon, Bridgeboy."

Kaladin's hand stopped.  "I do what I can," he said carefully, "But Adolin, you're the one who heals people.  I'm just returning a favor, long overdue."

Adolin smiled, feeling a moment of genuine warmth in his chest.  "Thank-you."