#also if you've read the other posts please ask Rae and or I about Swordsman!Nanami

[northofneverland]

Happy Birthday @kagejima. You're a wonderful human being who deserves everything and I hope you are having a wonderful day. You constantly spoil me by entertaining the little scenarios I flood your ask box with and turning them into works of art. Since it's your birthday, and our chats have inspired me, despite not being a writer, I thought it only fitting to return the favour.

This collection of little drabbles is based on the Bodyguard!Sukuna HC that @kagejima and I have spent too much time thinking about. I highly recommend reading this and this to get the most out of this piece. (Also just read those posts because Rae creates the best tales from the few sentences I give her and I want her talent to be appreciated by all). Editing is not my forte, so if you see a mistake, just skip over it. *edit* to see the collection of works in this AU, please refer to this post. There is a little something for Bodyguard!Sukuna, Swordsman!Nanami and Blacksmith!Osamu.

⚔️⚔️⚔️

Staring down at the assortment of trinkets and charms, Sukuna’s eyes gravitate to the little sword pendant on display behind the glass case. He’s walked past this stall three times in the past hour as part of his patrol route, and each time, he slows down just a bit to glance at it, telling himself that he’ll buy it if it’s still there at the end of the day. It’s nothing special, and he’s certain you have thousands of other, better, pendants to wear, but he pulls out his coin purse anyways and pays the vendor before tucking the charm into his tunic for safekeeping. 

⚔️⚔️⚔️

Sitting outside your door is not a job that he thought he’d enjoy, and, if asked, he’d deny it, but it’s the time of day he looks forward to most. Sukuna is happy that your seamstress is keeping you company because that means he has a few more minutes to finish up your birthday gift before the two of you are left alone for the evening. The palace is abuzz with final preparations for your birthday ball, with the royal household staff tending to the needs of all the dignitaries that have come to celebrate you, and he’s grateful for the quiet at your end of the castle. It’s been a little over a week since it’s been just the two of you. You’ve been busy entertaining guests, and he found every excuse not to be stationed outside your bedroom door lest his jealousy took over. But tonight, you will not have any visitors; instead, you'll have him, ready to listen to you all night, leaning against your door, never crossing into your room, and wishing, like he has the past few months, that he was more than just a knight. His fingers deftly wrap around the leather cord as he threads the pendant and a small bell onto it before trying it off. It is crudely made, to say the least, but it's the best he can do with what he has. The glinting of jewels catches his eye, as racks of dresses and cases of accessories, made specifically for this event, are filed out of your room for overnight alterations. After seeing this abundance of wealth, his gift for you feels like dead weigh in his scarred hands. A pathetic gift from a pathetic knight, he thinks to himself, as he stuffs the necklace deep into his pocket. Perhaps, giving you nothing is better than the two lumps of metal he wasted his money on. 

⚔️⚔️⚔️

He slides the leather cord over your head, the two charms dangling as they settle at the swell of your breasts. Instead of pulling away, like his mind is telling him to do, his hand slowly lifts the two charms to his lips and kisses them. 

“Happy birthday” he mutters, so softly your ears barely catch it. 

Your hands go to clasp his outstretched one and bring it to your mouth, brushing your lips over each of his calloused fingers before looking up at him with a smile that makes his breath waver. Perhaps his mind is still hazy from kissing you, but he swears that, in this moment, you have never looked more stunning. Standing in front of him, with your hair falling out of its updo, your makeup smudged from sloppy first kisses and your neck littered with faint red marks, you look like all his fantasies come to life.  

“You didn’t have to get me anything” you reply, taking a moment to examine the necklace better. Your fingers gingerly trace the edge of the blade, admiring its fine craftsmanship, before flicking the bell hard enough for it to jingle softly.

“I get the sword is supposed to be you, but what's with the bell?” you wonder aloud, toying with the metal ball again. The soft ringing seems to echo loudly in your bedroom chamber as an unusual silence settles between you two.

“It's embarrassing” Sukuna answers with a sigh; his eyes shift quickly away from your face to look at anything but you.

“And it's my birthday, entertain me. Is it... Is it so you can hear me sneaking out for snacks?” you chortle at your own joke, thinking back on all the times you’ve thought you’ve snuck past his detection, only to find him sitting in the kitchen with a stool pulled out for you. Looking up at your knight, you realize that despite the darkness of your moonlit room, you can still see that his cheeks are flushed.

“It’s so I can always find you if you're separated from me”. The words slip out of his mouth easier than expected. 

“As if you'd let that happen,” you chuckle, your palm cupping his face as your thumb rubs over one of the twin scars on his cheek before pulling him down onto your lips. 

And you both know you're right. He's in too deep. He can't give you the world. In fact, he can't give you much. But, his heart is yours to break.