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piratefalls · 6 months

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welcome back to the latest edition of biweekly fic recs! as always, mind the tags, if you can't leave a nice comment don't leave one at all, and happy reading!

masterlist.

There's No Problem That San Diego Can't Solve by @historicallysam

Alex doesn’t even bother knocking; he simply twists the knob on the door and shoves it open. His eyes narrow as the door bangs against the wall and he sees Henry on the phone. Maybe (definitely) it’s rude but his blood is fucking boiling so he doesn’t really care.

All the Ocean was Sleeping by @sparklepocalypse

The worst part about being a siren in the modern era, Henry ponders as yet another ship flies past his cove at a speed that he knows will disturb the anemone gardens below, is the yacht bros. Between the sound of their vessels’ motors and the dissonant noise the humans call music, Henry’s singing has no chance of attracting anyone’s attention.

cause you're a classic, and i'm reckless by @firenati0n

“I've, actually, uh. I've never done this before.” At this, Henry stops short, takes a second as his gaze moves up and to the left, trying to recall something. “I've seen your films. You most certainly have done intimate scenes.” Alex clears his throat. He hopes his nerves aren't completely obvious, the slight waver in his voice about to give him away. “Yeah, well. Never with a man, so. Not at this scale, anyway.” “Would it help to, er, practice?" Henry winces a little as he says it, which does not inspire confidence. But Alex is shocked nonetheless. What the fuck?

Over Land and Sea by SatinBirds

Alex and Henry come from very different worlds, and still, they manage to find each other.

Clean Slate by smc_27

“Henry.” Pez comes over, puts both hands on Henry’s cheeks and looks him dead in the eye. “You are not a sad man who’s gotten dumped. You’re in the prime of your life, and I quite desperately need you to act like it.” “The prime of my life,” Henry scoffs, more incredulous than questioning. “I’ve just gotten out of a 15 year relationship, endured a divorce, am suffering an almost impressive case of writer’s block, and your hands are like bloody icicles.” Pez grins, doesn’t take his hands away. “Explain to me how this is my prime. Please.” Pez tilts his head, and sounds entirely serious when he says, “Literally anything can happen from here.”

in bloom by stutteringpeach

Yoo, can u hook me up with some flowers?? It's the busiest day of the year for florists. Alex texts Henry with a last minute request.

here is a map (with your name for a capital) by @alasse9

That day at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Alex comes across the very same Prince Henry who just dismissed him having a panic attack in a bathroom. The choice Alex makes then has ripple effects neither of them could have ever expected. What's the story like, when they actually are friends all along? “So, you’re going back to England tonight, and you’ll spend the next three days pretending you two are the closest and best of friends until we can put this mess behind us.” And there are reasons he hasn’t told anybody this, good reasons, even though he’s sure June and Nora saw through him ages ago. Faced with his mom’s disappointment, though, and with the realization that the entire world apparently thinks he hates Henry and would willingly shove him into a fucking cake, he can’t stay quiet. “But we are friends,” he says, vehement and serious. “We have been for years. He’s—he’s probably my best friend, actually, along with Nora.”

thoughts of you consume by yrsonpurpose

Henry sees Alex appear on the red carpet in a blue suit that screams sex on legs and is ready to throw away all attempts at concealing their secret relationship in the name of dropping to his knees at the first available opportunity.

eyes on me by matherine

Alex’s hips buck back against Henry’s mouth the moment his tongue does more than tease, and Henry squeezes his hip in gentle consternation. But before he can say anything, Alex is already rambling. “Sorry, I’m — I’m sorry, I know you said not to move, and I’m trying, I — I’m trying to be good, I promise,” he blurts, voice shaking ever so slightly from something that certainly doesn’t sound like pleasure, resolutely refusing to turn his head so that he can meet Henry’s gaze from where he’s positioned behind him. Henry’s heart aches. “Alex — love, it’s alright. Where’s your mind?” Or: Sometimes, Alex needs a distraction. Something to take the edge off, to scrub away at the stress of the day. Some days, it works better than others.

the evolution of intimacy by Poutini

There’s no spontaneity anymore. One might think this boring. That the novelty had worn off. The spark snuffed. Absolutely not

Want Me by OrchidScript

Henry had always been weak for a nice smile, but his was impossible to ignore. Blame it on summer heat and a fresh flush in his cheeks. Blame it on sunset painting the outdoor bar sweltering, romantic colors. Blame it on two healthy glasses of albariño thrumming in his bloodstream, or the good music floating on the air. Henry could blame it on anything liked if he thought long and hard about it, but that didn’t change much at the end. The core remained the same: he had been gone from the jump. -- Henry and Alex hook up on a vacation in Spain. Henry falls a bit deeper.

fill my lungs with sweetness by @priincebutt

Henry George Edward James Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor wakes up at 3 AM on his birthday to an empty bed. What could Alex possibly be getting up to at 3 AM the night before his birthday? The possibilities are endless.

got myself in quite a tangle by coffeecatsme

"It seems I've gotten myself in quite a tangle." "Tangle?" Henry's voice is hoarse, eyes darkened as they travel over Alex's body. They stop at his crotch, and Alex can see it even under the dim lights—Henry's growing hard too, a visible bulge pushing at his sweatpants. Alex's cock gives a desperate twitch. "Y'know, I was trying to put them around the tree," he starts, gesturing at the plain tree at the corner. It's clear he didn't even attempt to touch it. "And somehow I've managed to completely trap myself. Can't even move my hands." Henry makes a desperate noise at the back of his throat as his eyes snap up to Alex's face. Alex flashes him a suggestive grin, teeth biting down on his lip. "Seems I'm completely at your mercy."

The Forces of Chance and Coincidences by @stellarm

Bad weather leads to a late flight that leads to no one being where they wanted to be, but maybe everyone was where they needed to be.

I've never felt safer (than when I'm with you) by viciouslyqueer

Alex takes the bag and opens it slowly, careful not to rip it, and gasps quietly as he sees what’s inside. “H, you didn’t…” Strong arms wrap around his waist from behind, Henry’s chest warm against his back. “Do you like it?” Henry asks in a whisper, resting his chin on Alex’s shoulder. Alex doesn’t know what to say. Gingerly, like he might ruin it with even the smallest touch, he takes out the silky fabric and holds it up in front of them. It’s a gorgeous dress, fancy too, in a deep red color with thin straps and an open back. It’s long, almost touching the floor even as Alex holds it up and has a slit on the left side that would probably end a little above Alex’s knee.

An Amateur's Guide to Professional Gift-Giving by anincompletelist

Alex, a former-law-student-taking-some-time-off turned professional part-time gift giver, is tasked with finding a gift for the most high profile client he's ever worked with, both in and out of the world of law. It turns out finding the perfect gift for the Prince of Wales might be easier than he'd anticipated.

Love At First Bark by everwitch

“I still don’t know your name, do I?” Henry watches Alex where he’s crouched down in front of David and gently scratching David below his chin. David absolutely loves Alex. Henry can relate. “It’s David,” Henry supplies. “Cool,” Alex says. “And what’s the dog’s name?” Henry blinks at him. “... David?” “What?” Alex exclaims. He looks from David to Henry and then back at David again. “Wow, okay, that is a choice.” Henry wants to sink through the earth and never come back up again.

don't let me get drunk again by headabovethewater

Alex had never wanted to cancel plans as much as he had while watching Henry pull a pair of light wash, tight jeans over his stockinged legs and bare ass. Christ, he’s getting hard thinking about it now.

The Beginner's Guide to Floristry by clottedcreamfudge

As if there's anything romantic about it; as if it's not the most humiliating death Alex can imagine. This is why he doesn't do relationships. This is why he never will. The risk, as far as he fucking sees it, is too great. -- Hanahaki Disease is a fictional disease where the victim of unrequited or one-sided love begins to vomit or cough up the petals and flowers of a flowering plant growing in their lungs, which will eventually grow large enough to render breathing impossible.

Everything you take, you make it better. So go on, take forever by @hgejfmw-hgejhsf

It's 2024, and nobody knows they're engaged. But they will, just as soon as Alex can decide what to wear to his birthday dinner. Henry has an idea and a special gift to match.

false pretenses by rizcriz

Henry spins around, glaring at Alex. “For christs sake,” He hisses, holding a hand out between them. “Can we just not? I do not have the capacity to pretend to hate you today.” Alex splutters as Henry turns on his heel and starts to walk away. He stares after him helplessly. “Pretend?” After a beat, he starts to follow after him, “What the fuck do you mean pretend?” Three years of breathing down each others necks, fighting every time they come in contact with each other. And if Henry is saying every single thing on his end has been pretend, Alex Claremont-Diaz is going to have a fucking breakdown. Because he has been harboring this stupid fucking crush and burying it beneath false antagonism, meeting Henry where he’s at, for three years, and if Henry is implying that they’re both faking it— -- or, Alex learns better.

turn the desert to glass (you would be the one) by @taste-thewaste

Henry and Alex's domestic bliss has lead to some changes in Henry's body. Henry doesn't really mind being a little chubby, but he wonders if Alex does. Alex, it turns out, does not. Not one bit. He does not mind one bit, and he is more than eager to prove it.

coming on fast like good dreams do by cricketnationrise

When Henry recovers from his unexpected factory reset, he still can’t really breathe properly and somehow Alex is still standing in front of him with a hopeful and excited expression on his face. “Run that by me again?” he asks faintly. “I need your help.” “Right…” “I need you to edge me. Like a lot,” Alex says with a shrug. Nope, it’s not any clearer a second time around.

as always, let me know if you want to be tagged in future lists, whether you're a reader or writer!

tagging @starkfridays @stilesgivesmefeels @midnightsfp @sarahjswift @enablelove

#rwrb #rwrb fic #rwrb fanfiction #firstprince #firstprince fic #firstprince fanfiction #red white and royal blue #alexhenry #alex claremont diaz #henry fox mountchristen windsor

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cryoculus · 2 years

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— imagine being loved by me! ⟢

pairing: xiao | alatus x reader

summary: the one where your best friend gives you ten tattoos over the next ten years. the problem? you fall deeper in love each time the ink stains your skin.

word count: 7.1k words

tags: modern au, tattoo artist!xiao, childhood friends to lovers, angst with a happy ending, relationship study, non-explicit smut

warnings: emotionally stunted xiao but i fink everyone knows that already, mentions of needles, there's smut but it isn't detailed

notes: this blog's been dead for Months but i thought i'd revive it with this fic that my beloved @delvalentine commissioned me to make! i love u to DEATH, v, i hope i did your requests justice :')

header art cr: yuca7302 on twt

01.

“Ow, fuck! Can you be more careful?!”

“I am careful. You just have a shitty pain tolerance.”

“Wow, that’s not something you should say to your first willing client,” you huff, trying not to pull away as Xiao repeatedly punctures the skin of your forearm with pen ink and a not-so-sterile sewing needle. “My family could sue you if I die from a blood infection, you know.”

Xiao rolls his eyes. “Something this small won’t kill anyone. Plus, you came here on your own volition, so stop complaining.”

“Are you saying you’re just going to let me die of sepsis if everything goes to shit?”

“Pretty much.”

You didn’t know what to expect when your best friend of several years asked if you wanted a tattoo of your favorite constellation. It’s been a running joke between the both of you that the two moles on your forearm looked a lot like two-thirds of Orion’s belt, and that maybe, in another life, you would’ve been born with all three of its stars on your skin.

You should’ve known that Xiao likes to blow your expectations out of the water—whether he intends to do so or not.

It’s sundown when he finishes embedding black pen ink beneath your slightly inflamed skin. Xiao doesn’t comment when you repeatedly complain about how much that fucking hurt, and that you’re never agreeing to do it again, but you don’t miss the way his eyes occasionally flit up to the starry sky before shifting to your new ‘tattoo’ as he walks you home.

You don’t think you’ll ever forget that night. How you admired the amateur handiwork in the soft glow of your nightlight while thinking about the boy who gave you a star fashioned with his own fingers where others would’ve given flowers instead.

But then you remember Xiao is nothing but your best friend, and it’s a little…weird to be thinking about him like that.

Must be the sepsis fucking with my head, you muse before flicking off your nightlight, and the room is plunged into pitch black darkness.

02.

You’re eighteen when you realize Xiao is completely serious about this tattooing business.

It comes as a not-so-pleasant surprise to you one day when your high school’s guidance counselor approaches you while you’re hurrying over to your next class—asking if you’ve seen Xiao around these days because apparently, your best friend hasn’t been attending his classes for a better part of the semester.

Of course, you receive the news with a scowl. While you don’t exactly see him all that much at school because of how different your schedules are, you never expected to find out he’s been playing hooky all this time.

You don’t particularly like sticking your nose into other people’s business—especially not Xiao’s, since you know how he likes to keep to himself better than most. But for some reason, you aren’t able to resist, and end up calling him after excusing yourself from your two-hour Biology lecture.

Once your classes are done, you head over to a nearby tattoo parlor whose address Xiao texted to you right after you squeezed his whereabouts out of him during that phone call. It’s located in one of the more run-down parts of town that your parents would’ve detested Xiao for inviting you to. But whatever prejudice you might’ve had about the denizens of this district all go up in smoke once you meet the owner herself.

“You should’a seen Xiao practicing with our machines a few months ago!” Beidou, as Xiao had sheepishly introduced earlier, barks out a laugh before slinging an arm around your best friend’s shoulders. “Said there’s someone he wanted to give permanent tatts to. I’m guessing you’re the guest of honor?”

“Beidou,” Xiao groans. “It’s not a big deal. I already practiced on her before.”

You don’t completely catch it when Beidou makes an inappropriate joke as a response to what Xiao just said—eyes trained on the fading dot on your forearm. It’s been two years since Xiao gave you your first ‘tattoo’, and even if the receding ink makes it look like one of Orion’s stars are starting to die out, it’s still there.

“Okay,” you say in the middle of their bickering, startling both Xiao and Beidou in the process. “I’ll let him ink me if he wants to.”

Xiao stares at you with brows furrowed. “You sure?”

No, you’re not sure because as much as you want to support Xiao in what seems to be a budding passion of his, you’re certain that your father is going to kill you when he sees a full-blown tattoo on any part of your body. You barely got away with the artificial mole that Xiao did for you a few years back.

“Positive.” You back your words up with an indignant huff before sifting through the pre-made designs on Beidou’s catalog. “You just have to put it somewhere not everyone can see, I guess.”

Beidou snorts out another jarring laugh when Xiao clicks his tongue to alleviate the embarrassment that’s painting his face just a touch of red.

Earlier in the day, you intended to scold your best friend for not taking his studies seriously, but ended up going home that day with a new piece inked onto the skin of your left hip: a little spruce twig that you last remember seeing in your old hometown—years before you even met Xiao.

There’s no particular meaning behind it, apart from a hint of sentimentality and rebelliousness. It’s your first actual tattoo, and one of your best friends gave it to you, free of charge. Even if it hurts ten times more than Xiao’s novice needle method from two years ago, you end up loving it more than you thought. One time, you stare at Xiao’s intricate handiwork in the mirror for so long that you nearly run late for your first class of the day.

(Another thing that makes this particular piece memorable is the process itself.

Xiao is a person who’s always been startlingly precise in everything he decides to put his head into. When you learned that he wanted to become a tattoo artist, you instantly felt like there’s no other path more perfect for him than this.

Yet you couldn’t help but notice how his fingers sometimes trembled as he gave you your first piece—with you lying chest-down on Beidou’s tattoo chair in nothing but your shirt and underwear. It shouldn’t have been strange. Xiao has seen you dressed down like this dozens of times before.

But when all’s said and done, he refused to meet your eyes, and you don’t have the slightest clue why.)

03.

You just can’t stop staring when you see Xiao’s half-sleeve for the first time.

It’s meant to be a phoenix, he said, but you can’t really see it because the patterns are too abstract to make sense of. Still, the azure ink sits nicely on top of his built bicep, and you have to tell yourself that you’re just trying to find the stupid phoenix as an excuse to keep ogling him.

Thankfully, your weird fascination lasts for only about a week until you’re back to shitting on him like you always do.

By some miracle, Xiao manages to graduate high school despite being on probation from his excessive absences. He’s actually smart if he makes the effort to hit the books, but you’re not sure if he’s planning on going to college with how comfortable he is with being one of Beidou’s most in-demand tattoo artists.

You ask him about his future plans at a party being thrown by the previous captain of the football team in his parents’ lavish penthouse somewhere uptown. It took a great deal to force Xiao into tagging along with you as your plus one, and you’re going to make good on his acquiescence by interrogating him about things he normally skirts around.

“I told you, I didn’t take any entrance exams,” he grumbles against the rim of his red cup. “I’m managing just fine working for Beidou, so I don’t see any reason to go to college.”

You’re about to argue that Beidou’s tattoo parlor won’t be open forever, and that he needs to think about broadening his career options until a bunch of girls with linked arms shuffle closer to where you and Xiao were lounging on the couch. You don’t talk to them a lot, but everyone in your grade knows the infamous Pyro Trio.

“Hey, Xiaooo,” Hu Tao drawls with a smirk, pushing up her sleeve to reveal the branches of a cherry blossom tattooed on the delicate skin of her arm. Behind her, Xiangling and Xinyan snicker like it’s some sort of inside joke.

You intend to shift your gaze elsewhere. Clearly, you’re not the person these girls want to speak with. But the sight of the ink on Hu Tao’s skin makes the back of your neck prickle with misplaced irritation. Xiao must’ve been the one who did her piece, which shouldn’t be a surprise. Though he’s this year’s most notable absentee, rumors about Xiao’s handiwork haven’t gone unnoticed among the students in your (now) alma mater.

That doesn’t mean you have to like the idea of your best friend inking other people that aren't you, though.

You decide to excuse yourself from Xiao’s company—given that Hu Tao is giving him plenty of attention already as is. Your best friend utters something you don’t quite catch as you walk away, and you don’t bother turning around to ask him to repeat himself.

(As you stuff your face with shot after shot, you force yourself to just keep dancing to the rhythm of whatever song is blaring to the speakers. You didn’t give two shits about the fact that Hu Tao keeps feeling up the stupid phoenix tattoo on Xiao’s arm. Nor did you care about the fact that your best friend—who’s normally evasive when it comes to casual contact—seems like he doesn’t mind at all.)

The night ends with Xiao begrudgingly getting behind the wheel of your car, since you’re obviously in no state to be driving anyone home. When he announces that he’ll bring you back to your apartment, you slur out a drunken protest—asking if he can take you to the tattoo parlor instead.

“What?” he asks incredulously. “Why?”

You huff, curling in on yourself on the passenger seat. “The cherry blossoms you gave Hu Tao were ugly as shit. You can do a better piece on me. Y’know, as practice.”

Both of you know that you’re bluffing. Xiao’s pieces are one of the most intricate you’ve ever seen, even if he is a rookie tattoo artist, and that you don’t have a lot of points of reference to compare to. But instead of taking offense at your mindless jab at his work, Xiao slots the keys into the ignition with a defeated sigh.

“Fine. You mentioned wanting spider lilies a while back,” he says before propping his arm against the car seat as he backed up on the street. It’s the perfect angle to moon over his not-so-phoenix tattoo, and if you were any more intoxicated, you would’ve reached out and squeezed his arm.

“Where do you want it?”

You know he meant to ask where you wanted him to put your prospective tattoo, but the question sends your mind straight into the gutter. Thankfully, you still have some semblance of coherence lingering in your drunk thoughts, and you answer with:

“Right hip. Opposite end of the spruce twig.”

When Xiao heaves another sigh and steps on the gas pedal, you don’t think much of it—still convinced it’s completely normal to expose such intimate parts of yourself to your best friend so he can tattoo a fucking flower just above the swell of your thigh.

04.

“You have been watching way too much anime.”

“Come on! At least I’m not having you tattoo the names of my shitty ex-boyfriends on my ass, right? Just give me my modified Tanjiro hanafuda and Fullmetal Alchemist flamel!”

“...Is this your way of coping with taking up a nursing course? Is it that stressful?”

You whine as you hold your phone closer to your ear, already picturing the look of disbelief in Xiao’s face when you asked when he’s free to give you your next tattoos. You still go to college in the same city, but it’s been weeks since you last saw him.

“You have no idea,” you groan. “It’s like my first year, and I’m already burned out! How is that even possible?”

Your best friend grunts on the other line. “Maybe if you stopped being such a perfectionist, then maybe you’ll learn to be more content. Less stress on your part, too.”

“Ah, no can do. I never do anything that isn’t perfect,” you chuckle. “

“Yeah, I saw you score at the top of your class during your, uh… what was it again? Biochem exam?”

For someone who doesn’t exactly give a damn about anything outside tattooing and other similar forms of artistry, you find it endearing to know Xiao actually remembers all the things you rant about in the wee hours of the morning. You don’t hate biochem, but if you have to draw another chemical configuration, you might just pop a vein.

“Okay, let’s say I agree to tattoo those weird doodles you sent,” Xiao propositions, “do you even have any free days? You usually study on weekends, right? I don’t think you’re free to drop by the shop even if you wanted to.”

Fuck. He’s right. You still have a few major exams coming up in the next two weeks. If you wait that long until you get your silly weeaboo tattoos from Xiao, you would’ve already gotten over your momentary hyperfixation on the TV shows that were salvaging your sanity in the middle of the semester. It wouldn’t feel as thrilling to get them anymore.

“I’m free…” You trail off, eyes darting to the digital clock by your desk then to the course notes you have opened on your laptop. You haven’t studied as much as you wanted to for your upcoming anatomy test, but…

“Right now, actually. Can you pick me up?”

You can hear him frowning. “Don’t you have a car?”

“I do, but I don’t wanna drive when I have plastic wrap all over my body.”

“You’re exaggerating. It’s not all over your—”

“Jesus, get the hint, Xiao. I miss my best friend, and I want to have a quiet evening cruise on his motorcycle before he gets me inked again!”

Xiao falls silent, and this time, you’re having some difficulty picturing what expression he’s wearing on his face. You like to think you’ve startled your un-startle-able best friend, but that’s pushing your influence too much.

“Okay,” he says, more agreeable than you thought he’d be. “I’ll be there in thirty. Don’t you dare fall asleep on me.”

05.

When you introduce your first serious boyfriend in a while to Xiao, you’re a bit annoyed with how prickly he’s being.

Sure, it’s wired into his system to be the snarky asshole everyone knows and loves, but if there’s anyone else who knows about the tragedy that is your love life better than yourself, it’s Xiao. When you finally land a decent guy to settle down with, you at least expect him to be a bit more supportive.

“Actually, we came here ‘cause we planned on getting matching tattoos,” your boyfriend, Yin, explains with a dimpled smile. “Isn’t that right?”

You stifle a soft laugh, a bit embarrassed to agree, but too in love with your boyfriend to protest.

A few years ago, you distinctly remember drunkenly rambling to Xiao about how stupid it is to get couple tattoos especially when relationships these days are built on flimsy foundations.

If you break up, what then? You have a physical reminder of that person on your body for eternity? No fucking thanks!

“Sorry, we’re closed right now, as you can see,” Xiao grunts before jabbing his thumb at the sign he just turned at the door. “You can try some other time, though.”

At the time, you were pissed at Xiao for denying your little request. He always agreed to ink you during ungodly hours of the day, but now he’s playing the ‘shop’s closed’ card just because he doesn’t like your boyfriend?

But then, you end up grateful for his attitude exactly a month later.

“Fucking cheated on me with some bitch from his Physics lecture,” you sniffle on Xiao’s ratty sofa as he makes you some tea in his kitchen. “I can’t believe I nearly tattooed our anniversary on my wrist! I would’ve had to fucking amputate it in the end.”

Xiao sighs before placing a piping hot cup of honey lemon in front of you on his coffee table—crossing his legs together. He doesn’t tell you I told you so, like others probably would if they were in his shoes. Your best friend just stares at you with withering understanding, no matter how stupid the choice that got you here in the first place turned out to be.

That’s one of the many things you loved about him.

“You were supposed to have ‘XV’ inked together, right?” he asks.

You huff before tossing some of the soiled tissues you used into the bin. “Yeah. We made it official on September 15th.”

“Well, if you still want the tattoo, you could just give it a different meaning.”

Scowling, you stare at Xiao as if he just grew a second head. “What the hell are you talking about?” Is he really suggesting for you to get the same tattoo that he denied you and your ex a month ago?

Xiao shrugs noncommittally before taking a sip from the tea he prepared for you. “It’s been fifteen years since we became best friends. That’s worth commemorating, at least. Unless you suddenly don’t give a shit about that, too?”

Your jaw hangs agape at the sudden reminder. October 15th. When you were four, you accidentally spilled orange juice all over Xiao’s teletubbies backpack, and when he forgave you on the spot, you crowned him as your first bestie.

That was fifteen years ago. Holy shit.

He startles when you abruptly shoot back to your feet, earning yourself a perplexed stare from Xiao who just wants you to sit down and drink your damn tea—

“Is Beidou’s shop open?” you ask. “I want her to do our matching tatts.”

Xiao grimaces. “Our?”

You nod brusquely, tugging at his arm. “Yeah, I’m allowed to have matching tattoos with you, ‘cause you’ll never walk out of my life, right, Xiao?”

He’s always been a stubborn little shit, so you don’t really expect Xiao to relent as quickly as he does. You nearly stumble to the carpeted floor when he lets you pull him up—faces hovering so close to each other, you nearly choke on your own breath.

It doesn’t help that Xiao has definitely…put in a few inches of height. Back then, you used to tease him a lot for being taller than him, but now?

“Never,” he whispers so softly, you wouldn’t have heard it if you weren't as close to him as you are. “Now drink your stupid honey lemon tea so we can head to the shop.”

About two and a half hours later, you’re sitting on the vacant seats in the shop’s waiting lounge—a familiar sting still sizzling beneath your ribcage from where you had your first matching piece with Xiao permanently inked. You made him swear to have his own ‘XV’ tattoo made on the same place, and he makes good on his promise when he emerges from the workroom, wearing nothing but his dark-washed jeans.

Unlike yourself, you rarely see Xiao in various states of undress. The most skin you could get out of him on most days is the lean muscle of his tattooed biceps, and sometimes those are enough to have you staring dumbly at him for several minutes.

Now, though?

You learn that he has several tattoos on his torso—spread across his skin like patchwork. It makes you wonder if he did some of them himself, or if he had Beidou work on them for him. Still, despite the plethora of new ink stains to gawk at, his weird phoenix tattoo remains as your personal favorite.

Along with the newest piece he got not five minutes earlier—the tattoo he shares with you.

“Are you happy now?” he grumbles, letting you marvel at the perfect roman numerals just below the jut of his ribs. “It’s a good thing Beidou gave it to us free of charge, you know.”

You giggle. “All of my tatts so far have been free of charge.”

“That’s only because you’re special to me,” Xiao sighs before freezing up in the next moment—like he didn’t mean to let that slip aloud.

You smirk. “Mm? What was that? I didn’t hear you.”

“Fuck off.”

06.

Much to Xiao’s disappointment, your shitty taste in men doesn’t exactly end with Yin.

About three months after getting the tattoo to commemorate your fifteen years of best friendship, you meet Kaeya. He’s an exchange student, and you know better than to form any sort of attachment to someone who isn’t going to be in the same continent as you by next year.

But you let him in anyway.

You allow Kaeya to get to know you in ways that not even Xiao is familiar with. The smooth-talking foreigner likes to kiss every single one of your tattoos—lamenting the fact that they’re all inked in spots hidden from view. You laugh every time he brings it up, saying your parents are going to kill you and Xiao if they saw any of the pieces your best friend did for you over the last six years.

“That best friend of yours…” Kaeya muses once he’s done bringing you to paradise and back, smoking a cigarette that makes you wrinkle your nose with distaste. He would’ve been perfect, if only he wasn’t such a chronic chainsmoker. “He’s in love with you, isn’t he?”

You nearly fall off the bed at his bold declaration.

“W-What the fuck are you talking about?” you stammer. Xiao? In love? With you?

Kaeya shrugs. “I dunno, sweetheart. If I was a tattoo artist, I wouldn’t let anyone freeload my craft as many times as you did—even if you are my best friend. Unless I was down fucking bad for you, of course.”

Xiao doesn’t like Kaeya, but the reasoning behind it is a bit different from why he doesn’t like your ex. He knew Yin wasn’t a good match for you. Kaeya, though? The two of you had inarguable chemistry. The only problem was he was a free spirit that didn’t like to be tied down by commitments—something you clearly struggle with.

When you reassured Xiao that Kaeya is nothing but a way to scratch a passing itch, he merely scoffed and told you to do whatever you wanted.

Could his dismissiveness be because…he’s in love with you?

That can’t be right. You’re the one who knows Xiao best. If he hypothetically does catch feelings for someone—much less, you—you’ll surely be the first to notice, right?

Right?

Kaeya chuckles before tracing the XV tattoo along your ribcage with a cold finger—almost like he’s teasing. You roll your eyes before crawling back on top of your midnight lover, kissing him just to shut him up.

When you drop by Beidou's the next day, Xiao is nowhere to be found.

“Didn’t he tell you?” She gapes. “Our boy’s starting his own shop downtown! He had the soft launch and everything a week ago. I was wondering where you were.”

“Uh…”

You’re not sure how to break the news that Xiao has been giving you the cold shoulder ever since you got together with Kaeya. But finding out that he put up his own tattoo parlor without even telling you?

If Kaeya turns out to be right, and your best friend really was in love with you, he sure as hell wasn’t acting like it.

Deciding to play along with whatever game he’s playing, you make an appointment to get a new piece inked under a fake name. Xiao accepts it right away and schedules you for an early evening slot. You make it a point to arrive twenty minutes late just to get a rise out of him.

When he sees you at the entrance to his shop, you almost let yourself feel smug about the unadulterated surprise on his face. Almost. You’re still pissed off that he didn’t invite you to one of the most important milestones of his life.

He fulfills your request in silence—the French word for green inked unassumingly on the underside of your shoulder blades. Xiao doesn’t say a word about his evasiveness, nor does he address the fact that you, his literal best friend, are standing in the shop he’s kept a secret for god knows how long.

When he still refuses to talk, you slam your payment on top of a nearby table—intent on storming out of the building even if he hasn’t wrapped your newest piece in a protective layer of plastic yet. Xiao barks that he doesn’t want your fucking money, and you end up throwing your hands in the air, asking:

“Then what the hell do you want?”

You expected him to blow up in a fitful of rage. He’s never been good at anger management, you knew this well. But instead, he crosses the distance separating the two of you and crushes your mouths together.

“You,” he whispers hoarsely, desperately against your lips. “I’ve only ever wanted you.”

Kaeya calls you multiple times that night—even leaves a text message asking where you are and if you’re free. You aren’t able to answer any of them though. Not when you’re busy being railed into the next life by your best friend of fifteen—going sixteen—years in the same bed that Kaeya just had his way with you a week ago.

When Xiao’s lips graze each and every tattoo he personally inked onto your pliant body, it’s leagues different from when Kaeya does it. It’s like your best friend is leaving a trail of fire sizzling beneath your skin everywhere his mouth trails along your hypersensitive flesh.

Even the way he makes you fall apart from a blistering orgasm is ten times more intense than every session you had with Kaeya and Yin combined.

There’s no affection nor is there adoration in Xiao’s gaze as he fucks into you—golden eyes fueled by something carnal and zealous, but you knew better than to call that love.

When morning comes, Xiao isn’t here with you, and you don’t know which emotion to feel.

Kaeya, at least, has the decency to leave a note whenever he has to depart early. But all that your best friend leaves you with is a sinking feeling in your stomach, and a glaring realization that you did not want to make when you’re crying all alone in your apartment at the crack of dawn.

Kaeya was wrong. Xiao isn’t in love with you.

You’re in love with Xiao, and you immediately know you’re in deep fucking shit because of it.

07.

It’s two weeks into your mission of complete radio silence when Xiao finally breaks.

You’re in the middle of a pharmacology lecture when your phone buzzes in your pocket. You knew it wasn’t Kaeya because he’d already packed his things last week and headed back to his home country. The bastard even asked you for a quick farewell fuck, but you turned him down right away and gave him a kiss goodbye instead.

When you find out it’s a text message from the same person you’ve been trying to avoid all this time, you’re all too quick to parse through its contents.

Xiao: I'm sorry. Can we talk?

That’s how you wind up standing right outside of his new tattoo parlor.

You haven’t been able to take a good look at it the last time you were here—too frustrated with your best friend to really make sense of your surroundings. But he’s put up his new shop in a pretty good part of town. You wonder how Xiao managed to afford it all.

Then again, he’s been working at Beidou’s shop for years. You knew he had a decent number of regulars, as well as potential clients that are highly interested in his work.

For once, you let yourself be proud of him. Even if he didn’t put your name on the guest list for his soft launch.

Xiao looks a little sheepish when he lets you inside and flips the sign on the front door to give the two of you some privacy. You aren’t faring any better. The last time you saw him, he was balls-deep inside of you—fucking you like you’re the most despicable woman in the world.

“So there’s this…collage piece I wanted to try,” he starts, and you fight the urge to roll your eyes.

Of course when Xiao invites you over to talk, you shouldn’t have expected any actual talking to take place. That’s just not his style. He’d rather make up for whatever mistakes he made by inking another stupid tattoo on your body, but honestly? You’ll take whatever you can get.

When you saw his sketch of a Statue of David peppered with four-leaf clovers, you couldn’t even dream of parsing the meaning behind the piece. The only thing that makes you relent is an old memory of you and Xiao hunting for four-leaf clovers in your mother’s garden—even putting the effort to plant whatever you could find in a pot in hopes that they would grow bigger.

It takes him hours to complete the entire thing. This one is probably the most realistic piece he’s done for you, and you can’t help but watch the intense concentration on his face through the mirror on the wall as he inks it a few inches above the last tattoo he did for you.

You’ve never really realized how…breathtaking he looks like this.

His fringe falling across his pretty gold eyes, the comfortable set of his jaw as he focuses on his work, and the soft slope of his cupid’s bow despite how harsh the words that come out of his mouth can be.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

You really are in love with this guy.

When he’s finally satisfied with his work, Xiao puts down his machine before wiping a sheen of sweat off his brow. He already looks so fucking good while he’s working. How is it fair for him to look even more gorgeous right after the entire process?

“Come on, let’s wrap it up,” he says before stretching his limbs. The action makes the cropped shirt he’s wearing ride up his torso a little, and you’re teased with a glimpse of the tattoo he matches with you.

Your heart nearly leaps to your throat, and if it weren’t for the dull sting of your newest tattoo, you would’ve been entranced by the sight of him entirely.

“Sure,” you say, even if your heart is begging for you to just be honest with him. To let him know how you’ve felt all this time because frankly, you can’t keep carrying the weight of your own feelings for much longer.

But then you remember how…apathetic Xiao looked like the night he dared to tell you he wanted you. There was no love to be found in his animalistic gaze, and you fear that he’ll turn you even further away at the slightest hint of more-than-friendly affection from your end.

You can live with this. His fleeting yet heated touches. His deep, piercing stares.

You’ll do anything to preserve what you have with him now—even if that means sacrificing everything else you could still dream of.

08.

Sometimes, you think Xiao is making you hope on purpose.

Sure, your friendship was more or less salvaged after offering your Statue of David tattoo as a quiet apology. You’re back to teasing him for all the most minuscule things, and Xiao is back to being your voice of reason in no time.

These days, though, you don’t really have much time to hang out with him like you usually do. You’re in the last year of your nursing degree, and your shifts at the hospital on top of your regular academic workload render you much too exhausted to catch up with any of your friends. Xiao included.

But there comes a night when he visits you in your apartment when you’re busy studying for a tricky surgery exam—a bucket full of fried chicken, and a bottle of sparkling water in hand. What kind of fiend would turn away an unannounced blessing like that ?

You munch through the midnight snack Xiao brought for you all while forcing him to do your flashcards with you. He knows the drill, anyways. Though he’s been out of school for years, Xiao is still familiar enough with your study habits to be of substantial help during these trying times.

While you’re in the middle of differentiating the different types of sutures, though, he proposes an idea.

“It’s been a while since I inked you with a sewing needle and pen ink, isn’t it?”

You narrow your eyes, taking a swig of your carbonated drink as your gaze flickers to the pseudo-Orion’s belt on your right forearm. The third star has all but faded from view over the years.

“Yeah, why are you asking?”

Xiao rummages through his knapsack for a few seconds before bringing out what seems to be a small sewing kit, and a jar labeled ‘Indian ink’. You gulp in equal parts dread and anticipation.

“I figured out how to make the tatts stay longer,” he says, a gentle smile settling over his face. “You want me to give you a new one? I can even revive good old Orion, too.”

You sigh. Who are you to turn the love of your life down anyway?

Xiao gets to work while you’re lying sideways on your bed, flinching every now and again because he decided to outline the spitting image of the flower vase sitting on top of your nightstand along the curve of your waist.

Unlike your first experience with manual needling, your pain tolerance is much better. The only reason you’re squirming every time Xiao embeds the ink into your skin is because you’re fucking ticklish. All those years of being intimately acquainted with Beidou’s tattoo machine were all the sensory training you needed, it seems.

When Xiao is done with this piece, he pulls you into an upright position, making you hold out your arm so he could resurrect the first tattoo he ever gave you. You roll your eyes, but let him do as he pleases anyway.

At this point, you’ll let him do anything with you.

It’s nearly three in the morning when you’re putting away the dishes and glasses you and Xiao used for the night. He’s kind enough to throw out the trash while you clean up in the kitchen, and when he meets you back in the living room to exchange farewells, you don’t really want him to go.

“You have morning classes tomorrow, right?” he murmurs as he pulls you into a firm embrace, careful not to press down too hard on your new tattoo. “Take care. Don’t burn yourself out too much. All your hard work will be for nothing if you end up keeling over before graduation.”

You can’t help it. The soft timbre of his voice coupled with the fond look in his eyes tears all your defenses asunder. As you look up to meet Xiao’s uncharacteristically doting gaze, your chest twists more and more as you keep yourself from lunging in for a kiss.

“You’re such a pessimist, it’s almost funny how caring you sound,” you chuckle. “Go on, now. Shoo. It’s late.”

Before you can push him out of the door, however, Xiao catches you by surprise when he leans down to peck your lips. You stay frozen in place even as he pulls away—smiling so prettily, you can hardly believe this guy is your perpetually pissed off best friend.

“Good night.”

Unlike the last time he left you all alone in your apartment, you’re filled to the brim with an emotion you can’t quite name. It’s far from the emptiness that made a home in your heart when you thought you were in love with someone who didn’t love you back. But you’re not about to call it happiness either.

Whatever this strange feeling is, you let it sit in your chest for a while longer, and it lingers even when the memory of Xiao’s lips stops prickling against the skin of your own.

09.

On the day of your graduation, Xiao asks you to drop by his shop after the rites have concluded. You tell him that he’s self-centered as fuck, and that this is your day, so if he wants to use your body as a practice canvas again, he’s going to have to wait tomorrow.

You don’t tell him that you’re sulking because he didn’t even show up to congratulate you for surviving four gruesome years of nursing. But you suppose that someone who never went to college in the first place wouldn’t be the best at sympathizing with this particular milestone in your life.

He shows you his latest sketch when you make it to his shop the next morning—and you can’t contain the look of disbelief that colors your features when you realize what it is.

“A bouquet that’ll never wilt,” he chuckles, one finger expertly pointing out the flowers he’s drawn on the neat page. “Orchids and hydrangeas: your favorite. Violets: you press a bunch of these in books every summertime. Pink baby’s breath ‘cause you wouldn’t stop gushing about them at your sister’s wedding.”

You aren’t able to stifle the flattered giggle that spills from your lips. “Can’t believe you actually remember all that. What’s the lily of the valley doing there though?”

“Oh, this?” Xiao hums with one brow raised. “Your mom had lots of them in her old garden. Those are my favorite.”

“And, pray tell, why is your favorite flower going to be permanently tattooed on my body?”

Xiao doesn’t humor you with a verbal answer right away. Instead, he wheels his revolving seat closer to you so that he’s close enough to press your foreheads together. Your breath hitches when his mouth curves into a loving smile you’re starting to get used to seeing.

“Because you’re mine,” he says simply. “Now, are you going to tell me where you want me to ink your eternal bouquet or not?”

10.

You’re a complete sap when it comes to weddings. Everyone knows this.

It’s for that reason that none of your guests are surprised when you end up crying in the middle of exchanging vows with your fiancé. Xiao sighs before taking out a handkerchief from his front pocket, dabbing at the tears streaming down your face. For someone who comes on so tough to other people, you’re awfully sentimental.

“Sorry, sorry—” you sniffle, thanking every single god out there for the invention of waterproof mascara. “Okay, I’m ready now.”

The rest of the session proceeds swiftly. You get to kiss your best friend of more than two decades and call him your husband in front of some friends and family. The matrimonial rites were held in a private resort at the base of a mountain. Both you and Xiao wanted to preserve the intimacy of your wedding as much as you could. After all, you didn’t need all that flashy and grandiose wedding prep to prove to the world just how much you want to spend the rest of your life with Xiao.

Your thoughts stay the same even as he lays you down in the king-sized bed of the cabin you had to yourselves. He sighs in between kisses as he strips you off your wedding garbs. You’re surprised he’s taking his time with you. Xiao has been eye-fucking you since you started walking down the aisle. It was so bad that even Beidou made a few off-hand remarks about the sexual tension during the reception.

“I was thinking,” you breathe as he grinds his hips against yours, “of getting another tattoo. My last one.”

Xiao lifts his head for a moment, one brow arched. “You’re married to a tattoo artist, and you think the tattoo you’re getting after the wedding is your last one? You’re dreaming, princess.”

“Fine. Point taken.” You roll your eyes. “But anyway, I want a dragon tattoo riiiight…here.”

Your husband watches with rapt attention as you guide his hand to the spot you’re talking about—just below the collection of your favorite flowers inked above your waist is a blank stretch of skin. Xiao’s lips twitch into a fond smile as his calloused fingers graze your flesh.

“Still against having showy tatts?” he asks before pressing a soft kiss on the spot you pointed at.

“Mhmm. You see, my dad doesn’t care if I’m married and have my own life. If he sees that I have tattoos, he’s still going to murder me,” you chuckle. “So yeah, tatts are staying under my clothes until he grows old enough and forgets that he hates seeing ink on other people’s skin.”

“I’ll keep that in mind then.”

When Xiao ravishes you for the first time as your husband, your chest overflows with love for him. Not everyone is lucky enough to have their best friends by their sides for as long as you did, yet you ended up tying the knot with yours. Although the entire process was more than twenty years in the making, you suppose there’s no point in rushing anything.

After all, Xiao is as permanent in your life just as much as the ink stains on your body.

“Look,” you chuckle once Xiao is done cleaning up in the bathroom and settles down right next to you on the bed, “Kaeya sent us a postcard. He says congrats on overcoming the emotional constipation.”

“Throw that thing away,” your husband grumbles, pulling you away from the pile of postcards on the nightstand. “Why are you even keeping touch with him still?”

“So I can use him as an excuse to get you jealous, and have you fuck me rough?”

“Oh, princess. If you wanted it rough…” he starts with a sigh, rolling his neck with a smirk. You gulp, wondering if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew this time around.

“All you had to do was ask.”

⟢ end notes: it's been a while since i wrote for genshin, so i hope you liked it! thank you sm for reading ^^

#genshin impact #genshin fanfic #genshin smut #genshin xiao #xiao fanfic #xiao smut #xiao x reader #genshin x reader #genshin headcanons #cryoculus

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thatdeadaquarius · 1 year

Note

"Oh my gosh do you sound like a sim to them??"

Me trying to place myself in their shoes:

"Why the fuck do I sound like a villager in Animal Crossing-- ARE THEY HEARING ANIMALESE WHEN I SPEAK?!"

(A.k.a I saw the previous ask and thought wait a minute. Two different worlds. Languages so similar but so different....... We're basically speaking animalese in another game/world lmfao)

(Bonus: Creator!Reader knows this and takes full advantage as their payback. Traveller magically understands and speaks back causing further pyschic confusion. Pretty sure soke brains have been melted among linguistic students in Sumeru)

-Vine Boom

VINE BOOM MY BELOVED IM SO LATE TO ATTEND TO YOU!! :'(

It has been a minute and yet, you remain my love!! Thank you for your patience, have a little scenario as my thanks for that and submitting the cool idea <3

Me @ you: ♥ ( ॢᵕ n ᵕ (꒡ᵋ ꒡ღ) mwah! /p

this gif is just really cute thats why its here.

also i have very little to add so its short but only bc im ✨uncreative✨ atm and ur ask alone is funny enough lmao, so once again, a scenario bc vine booms just a genius all on their own ✨️

◇

😭so you mean 😭 as revenge 😭 for this awful deed 😭 done to your speech 😭 you just start EMBRACING IT 😭😭😭PLEAASEEE-

PLEASE the traveler understands it!! 💀

Also if anyone reads this im so sorry ive flooded the sagau tag with language shenanigans LMAO

◇

Ever since you realized that the entirety of Teyvat sounds like Sims to you, (and the subsequent awful reckoning that you sound the same to them 😭)

You have finally mentally recovered enough courage, and desperately shoved any embarrassment deep into your soul, to try and think of what to do about it

♤

You quickly found that people had 3 types of reactions to your speech,

1. They try to understand the nonsense like you trying to understand their Simlish, it really doesnt work, you wish you could tell them to give up and just gesture at you instead:

(ALHAITHAM he keeps trying then giving up then trying again lol, Diluc, ZHONGLI, Sara, Albedo, Candace, Dehya she thinks she’s gonna get it THIS time she swears-, Eula, Gorou, GANYU she feels bad lmao, Jean, AYAKA, keqing, kuki, Nahida, ningguang, AETHER, Thoma, xinyan, XIAO)

◇

2. They act like you when you hear animal crossing characters speak 💀 you can see the “omg so cute” sparkle in their eyes:

(KAZUHA, kokomi, barbara, KAEYA, ZHONGLI again lol he tries to hide it but you can see the tiny smile everytime you walk over and start ranting at him bc ur bored, Faruzan, GOROU, AYATO, YAE MIKO, keqing, LISA, mika, mona, KLEE literally loves you and you can tell shes always trying to get you to say something lol, Ei (archon), Rosaria she always SMIRKS and ur just- 😳, CHILDE the little shit giggles at ur misery, LUMINE AND AETHER U CANT TRUST EITHER OF THEM- , THOMA, SCARAMOUCHE BUT HE’D NEVER ADMIT IT BUT HE ALWAYS IS OBVIOUSLY TRYING TO HIDE A TINY SMILE AND GOES A LITTLE PINK-!! SAME FOR XIAO LMAO)

◇

3. You know that tiktok audio thats like Isabella from Animal Crossing singing, and then someone’s like “uh-huh! YEAH! OKAY!!” yeah like that, but to you LMAO

(ITTO, Bennett, KAVEH, heizou, VENTI, Nilou she like nods after everything you say and makes sure you’re treated well in every conversation aw, qiqi, KLEE, Raiden (puppet) + Ei (archon), SHENHE no explanation needed, CYNO too, LUMINE, YELAN, yoimiya, yunjin)

♧

Alright i got tired sorry not everybody’s there lol^

So no matter the reaction, they all are a little bummed nobody can get you,

…but then of. Fucking. Course.

LUMINE/AETHER as ALWAYS get SPECIAL TREATMENT

(there’s not a single person throughout all the nations, the archons, the allogenes, doesnt matter, who hasn’t felt a LITTLE pang of envy for this- bc as cute as you sound, goddamit they USED to understand you when you weren’t physically here, before you overcame the Universal Barrier AKA the computer screen lol)

AND THEY GET TO UNDERSTAND YOU.

The Sumeru linguistics department is grinding their teeth, Alhaitham straight up glares every time they translate for you lmao, Zhongli’s eye twitches at least once everytime they do so, Kazuha is literally trying to bribe them with cool places he’s seen that the traveler hasn’t so they’ll share the secret of how to understand you, Ningguang gets 10x chillier when they’re helping convos w/ you, Ei looks like she’s fucking pouting-

☆

Aether is just like 🤨?? For what?? I’m helping???

So confused he never gets what’s going on lol

✨

Lumine, on the other hand, is FULLY aware and smirks every time she’s so smug about it LMAO

^ the embodiment of the cat surrounded by knives meme ^

☆

Ahhhh my exhibition is April 6th u guys!

May I finally rest in peace when that day comes 🪦

Cant wait to graduate and just have a regular job and not academia + deadlines 😭😫

Hope you guys have had a nice week or two!

Look out for more posts after the 6th :>

Safe Travels,

💀♒️

♡the beloveds♡

@karmawonders / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylaza / @genshin-impacts-me / @wholesomey-artist

Short one but hope its fun my beloved!! :)

#so cursed #take ur revenge yes vine boom the way u think #everytime i think a little too hard abt ur anon name i giggle bc its from the blunt lang au lmao #my askers big brains>>> anything i post #genshin impact #genshin sagau #sagau #my asks #genshin imagines #gender neutral reader #genshin isekai #genshin sagau ideas #genshin god reader #genshin impact sagau #genshin x reader #genshin reader insert #god i never remember all the tags i need to put dammit

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roy-kents · 5 months

Text

teaser tidbit tuesday

tagged by the beloveds @honestlydarkprincess and @goforkinard thank u!! so i started two different fics today (the demons got me), so here’s a snippet of one:

Buck’s hypnotized as he watches Tommy’s back rise and fall slowly, the early morning sunlight streaking through the window and casting a golden glow across his skin. Buck takes the time to memorize every freckle, every scar, every single inch of his skin he can see. He finds himself struck by the urge to hold on, and to never let go.

It’s too early to say what he’s thinking yet, the word dancing on the edge of his tongue threatening to spill out at any given moment. But seeing Tommy here, tangled up in his bedsheets, soft where he’s usually sharp and hair splayed across Buck’s pillow?

It’s no real surprise Buck’s falling in love with the guy.

not entirely sure who’s done this and who hasn’t but let me tag @buckstommy @bucktommys @canonbibuck @911onabc @bigfootsmom

@queerbuckleys and anyone else who’d like to participate!!

#rebecca writes #bex.wip #bucktommy

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waratah-moon · 2 years

Text

SMAU where y/n plays young Rhaenyra on HOTD and her Instagram interactions with the cast. This is literally just shameless self-indulgent fluff. masterlist, here’s another Matt Smith SMAU

January 2022

tagged theemilycarey

28,461 likes

yourinstagram Coming for the throne

↳ theemilycarey The girlies take Westeros

↳ yourinstagram Margaritas in hand

↳ theemilycarey We’ll make a day of it

username Alicent and Rhaenyra supremacy

username My lesbian senses are tingling

May 2022

deuxmoi via Instagram stories

June 2022

tagged gameofthrones, houseofthedragonHBO

Liked by emilia_clarke and 103,361 others

yourinstagram What’s a Targaryen without a dragon?

theemilycarey It’s about drive it’s about power 💥

emmaziadarcy We have the best childhood photos

↳ yourusername Very royal, amirite?

houseofthedragonHBO Fire and blood will reign 🩸

username August can’t come quick enough

July 2022

75,317 likes

enews More pics from the world premiere of #houseofthedragon online!

username Love a good old family reunion

username How are they all so attractive

username The faith of the seven is in that dress

username Y/n is giving Targaryen realness

Liked by theemilycarey, livkatecooke and 204,537 others

yourinstagram Touristy things and interviews

fabienfrankel Photo credit pls 📸

↳ yourusername Sorry fabienfrankel u a great job at taking the first photo. Really got the angles right.

username I love that the cast is friends outside of set

username MATT SMITH CONTENT

username This cast’s chemistry is insane

September 2022

tagged yourusername

Liked by fabienfrankel and 101,428 others

theemilycarey sneaky lil snap from behind the scenes of episode 3

yourusername besties forevsies

↳ theemilycarey ❤️❤️❤️

username my feed is just Emily and Y/n and I’m not upset

username yesssss bts content

32,461 likes

hotdfans Tonight we say goodbye to the incredible Y/n L/n and Emily Carey.

username I’m really going to miss them

username Rhaenyra’s chemistry with Daemon is off the charts

↳ username Y/n’s chemistry with Matt is off the charts

username They should have done a whole season with Y/n and Emily

tagged theemilycarey, fabienfrankel

Liked by paddy_considine and 780,672 others

yourinstagram I love you all so much

fabienfrankel You’ll be missed kiddo

↳ yourusername I’m still coming to dinner

↳ fabienfrankel Damn thought I got rid of you

↳ yourusername Never

theemilycarey Thnks fr th mmrs ❤️

emmaziadarcy Couldn’t have asked for anyone better

livkatecooke Can’t wait to see you take on the world yourusername

username Living for bts content

username If I just replay the first 5 episodes it means she hasn’t been recast, right?

#house of the dragon #milly alcock #matt smith #fabien frankel #house of the dragon fanfic #matt smith x reader #emily carey #smau #hotd social media au #matt smith smau #social media au #maggie writes #rhaenyra #rhaenyra targaryen

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vincentsleftear · 3 months

Text

Spell out your URL with song titles

thank you @randomfoggytiger for the tag 🤭 I had so much fun with this!! May have had to bend the rules a little with the first one but that song’s been a fav since childhood hahaha

gotas de lluVia by grupo niche

I - i would die 4 u by prince

N - not a lot, just forever by adrienne lenker

C - california by chappel roan

E - everywhere by fleetwood mac

N - no choir by florence + the machine

T - talk by hozier

S - sorry by beyoncé

L - like real people do by hozier

E - el níagara en bicicleta by juan luis guerra

F - fireworks by mitski

T - take me where your heart is by Q

E - electric feel by mgmt

A - ain’t nobody by chaka khan

R - remain nameless by florence + the machine

not sure who has and hasn’t done this yet so here’s some no pressure tags <3 @sunnylovesyouu @skelavender @sixhours @pilotinthestars @throughthewildblue @mytardisisparked @allthngs @unremarkablehouse @calimanc @thursdayinspace and anyone else who’d like to join in!!

#tag game #Iris’s music box

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shitouttabuck · 9 months

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fuck it friday

tagged by @eddiebabygirldiaz @devirnis @alliaskisthepossibilityoflove @spagheddiediaz thanks pals!

xmas fic that u can actually expect to receive whenever christ himself is resurrected. whens easter

Eddie sighs again, loud without an audience. They have had a year, gruelling both physically and emotionally, what with recovery and untangling the attempts of separate love lives to finally, finally tug on each end of the line tying the two of them together. And it’s easy to prod at the bruises of bickering when they’re in an argument right now, discontent only highlighting every difference of opinion in the months since they got together. But the truth is Eddie’s life has never been so doused in sunlight, most squares on his calendar bathed golden just from the stupid banality of everyday life with his two favourite people. He was happy before, sure, but this? He hasn’t done drugs since that one awful trip when the whole station got dosed, but he sometimes fears if Bobby demanded they undergo random substance testing his report would come back positive for something, because surely eating plain toast in their kitchen at six am shouldn’t feel like a Technicolor dream thrice a week just because Buck’s cold bare feet are pressed up against Eddie’s ankles under the table every morning.

tagging @housewifebuck @onward--upward @try-set-me-on-fire @rewritetheending @jeeyuns @eowon @chronicowboy @zahlibeth @transboybuckley @anakinfallen @buckactuallys @athenagranted if anyones got anything <3

#first half of this is Done second half has been like pulling teeth #i sat for hours yesterday and wrote like 300 words. and not good ones. ew!!!!#wip

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onthewaytosomewhere · 1 month

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first line analysis

ok so i got a few tags for this so why not i guess (now that i've posted 2 more lolz) thanks @sparklepocalypse @stellarmeadow & @thighzp for the tags

RULES: post the first lines of your last 10 fics/chapters posted on AO3 (if you have less than 10 fics posted, post the first lines of all your fics) and try to draw some conclusions

First Lines from most to least recent (not including friday ficlet collections)

Alex is nearly bouncing out of his seat on the plane, and Henry can’t quite figure out why. (bringing home silver - FP)

Alex is in the kitchen at Kensington when Shaan walks in. (in the kitchen, at kensington, with those threadbare pajama pants - alex/shaan)

Alex Claremont-Diaz has always considered himself a bit of an enigma, even before he became a werewolf and opened an all-night coffee shop, Moonlight Coffee. (nights at the moonlight coffe shop - FP)

Alex swears there was still a Helados left in the freezer but cannot for the life of him find it. (my slutty royal - FP)

"Henry, you pick them so well," Philip whispered against Alex's neck. (2 is better than 1 - 3 is better than 2 (when we’re back at 2 wanna stay there with u) - henry/alex/pip)

Liam usually does not go out to clubs, at least not by himself, and hasn’t for years. (and fight the break of dawn - southern philanthropy)

Alex is not sure how it got this far; he put it in the document as a joke, knowing Henry or June would catch it, and if they didn’t, it would surely get noticed by all the editors working on the book. (just a bit of fun - FP)

Henry’s a connoisseur of one-night stands, so when he says that last night’s, who is somehow still here in the morning, was amazing, he is saying something, really. (makin' memories i might remember - FP)

Once upon a time, there lived two young princes, Prince Henry Fox of Windsor and Prince Alexander Diaz of Claremont. (baby just say yes - FP)

He’s got a sucker in his mouth again; the way he sucks on it, Alex just knows that if he ever got those lips around his cock it would be heaven. (something in your mouth - FP)

so analysis - in general (other than a couple) i do a wordy first sentence - you can tell from the first sentence on all except maybe 1 whose pov it's in from the first sentence - that other one is clear by the 2nd sentence tho - with the exception of fairytale i drop ya right into whatever is going on - i've been told that line 5 is an amazing opening sentence and funnily enough it came to me in the middle of publix when i was grabbing some groceries lolz

so tag ur it! (if ya haven't already done this and i just missed it or forgot lolz) @typicalopposite @adreamareads @taste-thewaste @eusuntgratie @emmalostinwonderland

@tinyarmedtrex @firenati0n @thinkof-england @priincebutt @captainjunglegym

AND A BIG OPEN TAG FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO DO THIS AS WELL

#tag games #first line analysis #i'm long-winded #and i like to have a definite pov #and holy frak i have 30 rwrb fics posted as of today eep!#counting anything posted as a collection as one fic lolz #omg that's kinda crazy #eeeeep!!!

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rowretro · 8 months

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✧𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓✧

WARNINGS: none i know of

✧tag list✧:@chlorinecake @nikisdubblchococake @enhypensccstarlight @strwberrydinosaur @sunghoonsbeautymark @strawbsj @who-tf-soddhi @addictedtohobi (pls tell me if i'm missing any tags) @lovrqis

✧CHAPTER 18✧

Y/n frowned at Riki “What do you mean street fighting? I get karate or jiu jitsu, but why Street Fighting?!!” the girl asked as Riki sighed “he’s 5, we have enemies lurking, I need him to know how to fight off anyone who goes to attack him!” Riki exclaimed as the girl flicked his forehead “Then let him learn self defense. You have experience in that don’t you?” the girl asked as Riki went silent, thinking for a moment then nodded

“Yeah I guess that makes more sense- I can start teaching him next week-” he said as he pecked y/n’s lips, baby Yeseol, whined as she smacked his nose. “I- mommy’s girl” he pouted at the baby, while the baby just babbled, resting her head on y/n’s chest. Riki then gets a call “one sec babe… it’s the new dealer we appointed.” He said as he answered the call walking off. The girl sighed, rolling her eyes at him.

After what felt like an hour, Riki was done with his phone call, kicking a football with Kyle “who ever scores the next goal gets a hundred million points!” the little boy explained as Riki grinned “you’re on tiny.” he said, playfully narrowing his eyes at him. Before Riki could even kick the ball into the goal, Kyle tackled him, and kicked the ball into the goal himself “HAHA U LOSED!!!!” he screamed as Riki frowned.

The male walked in smiling as he saw y/n gently rock the baby, smiling as she baby talked to the little girl. “Any plans for her first birthday sweetheart?” Riki asked as The girl continued to rock the baby. “I don’t have much in mind, but I say we invite family and friends, no one more.” Y/n said as she looked up at Riki. “Babe-” “Riki. Don’t turn your daughter’s very first birthday into a drug deal meeting.” y/n warned as the male rolled his eyes “Fine… I’ll move the meeting to tonight.” Riki simply said as y/n stared at him in shock.

“Tonight?! Babe you promised to take me out on a date tonight! Heeseung even agreed to look after our kids! You promised you won’t let anything get in the way, especially business.” y/n said, upset as the man groaned. “Fucksake babe, we have 2 kids, we’re married, we see eachother on a daily basis, heck we share the same bed! What more do you want from me?!!!” he asked almost yelling at her.

“I just want you to be here Riki… not just physically, mentally. I don’t want this drug empire and all this money getting to your head” She admitted, looking down at the baby who cooed “don’t you want daddy to be here too?” she asked in a baby voice as Riki just stared at them. It’s true. He hasn’t taken her on a date for almost 2 years now, he was barely there while she was pregnant, heck he wasn’t even there when she gave birth. He’s completely left out his duty as a husband but she still stuck by his side making sure he was happy.

“Babe, stop checking your phone, Heeseung is looking after them? He's looked after Kyle before, I’m sure he’ll be able to look after Yeseol '' Riki reassured as he took your hands in his. The man took her to a nice restaurant, the 2 beautifully dressed as they sat at a pretty table, decorated with roses. It was very romantic, she couldn’t deny it. “I’m so glad we’re having a night out” she said with a smile, as he kissed her hand. “Please… you’ve done so much for me sweetheart, I should be spoiling you like this more often” Riki said with a smile.

Not even 15 minutes later, mid-kiss, a bullet interrupted the two. Now half an hour had passed and they were under the table, y/n’s glare being the first thing to hit him instead of a bullet. “Babe, I didn't think they’d find us here… I have a gun on me just stay down ok? I love you” Riki said, kissing her forehead as he left the table, pulling out his guns and shooting all those attackers in one go. “Now… where were we?” Riki asked as the girl sighed, her hair a mess “we were going home.” she simply said, walking out of the restaurant as Riki sighed.

✧𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓✧

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wereoz · 2 months

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@cnka i wanted to reply to ur question abt my thoughts on the tsn doc on my actual post but the tags were so insanely long i was like. i need to make an actual post

SO IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

first off, wow im just so astounded by the fervent love that went into making tsn. it was a risk and so unlike other projects fincher and anyone else there had done but w/ their commitment to it it turned out SO amazingly. the fact they sat around a table and argued for hours abt how the lines fit and everyone could make their case is just. WOW!!!! they really made sure everyone understood and loved playing their characters.

erica's and christies actresses werent very common appearances like mark but they really went all in too im in AWE!! NOT TO MENTION MARYLINS WOW!! rooney mara really just. god she went so hard into making sure all of ericas kindness and leniency and frustration were so clear, she was so focused in the behind the scenes footage and obviously having so much fun <33 i love that brenda song was able to relate to christie's jealousy and fear eduardo was cheating. the fact all the actors ARE the characters ages and are as chaotic and fierce and dedicated and ambitious makes it soooo<3333 rashida jones describing marilyn as a greek chorus just watching hit SO hard. the second hand experience of this young man going through this epic tale by just hearing it thru testimony is a crazy thing. the act of listening is so simple but becomes so emotional even as everyone wants to keep it professional

on the twins: i find it so wonderful that the actors armie and josh played both twins. it just WORKS bc twins take the 'know u better than u do' that siblings have and take it to absolutely insane levels. the fact these actors have literally got access to both the twins minds takes the performance to a whole new level like those twins know each other inside and out!!!! its a meta thing that goes truly crazy.

you have already seen me say the bts of the erica and mark breakup truly kills me bc. he is being an asshole and not listening and the fact he doesn’t mean to doesn’t change that he is. she has to leave, but it’s so sad that she does bc… fincher calling him 'damaged goods' implies a universe where whatever makes him like this isnt present. where maybe he’s fine. so. GOD :’(( (i think it’s autism + the bad life experiences that come from that & being queer + the bad life experiences that come from that, heightened by the era)

on a more positive note i love that on set picking out the accessories andrew says ‘i’ when hes speaking as eduardo. he’s really dedicated to the role its great. also that he and jesse had conversations in character like these 20 year olds r crazy truly. love them for that !!

during the whole thing, everyone is so suspicious, and condemning to mark: like, noting that he is driven by ego, jesse jokes mark is okay with the cold because he doesn’t feel anything, and also, there’s a part when sorkin, fincher, andrew, and jesse are sitting around and talking about the scene where mark & eduardo argue abt ads. essentially, they make the argument that mark always says ‘i’ when eduardo says ‘we’ because in his mind, eduardo hasn’t contributed much at all. while mark is up coding for hours straight, eduardo is at some phoenix thing so? what gives?

so i was reframing my understanding of mark (which. is very indulgent cus i love him), and trying to get as close to his brain as i could and i was coming up with him generally being pretty… hard on the outside for lack of a better word. he’s not traditionally intimidating (like the script states) but its hard to crack him and you can really see this with jesse’s physicality like he’s so stiff. that’s pretty innocuous but i think this is something he uses to put distance between him and his loved ones- very frustrating. and i think every time i realise how much mark is an asshole i remember so many reasons why they added *trying to be.

when fincher called him damaged goods it’s like. the most in the doc people give him the benefit of the doubt (also sorkin saying he wanted to balance out all of mark’s character). which is pretty good because marks good traits are supposed to be very subtle and hit you when you don’t expect it. that’s very much how i felt when i suddenly remembered ‘sorry. that was mean.’ he truly is just trying to be an asshole. he wants to be nicer than he is but he also wants more power than he does and as someone who felt pretty powerless the rest of his life, that trumps the rest. he really thinks he can have both experiences, power and love, and he just hates that every time he takes a step in one direction it cancels out the other. this actually really fits in well w/ my next point

i also want to say that the fact mark videoing everyone was explained as him wanting to force proof that everything is fine, and they’re happy is making me so :(( MARK!!!! :(( he is so. i mean its two things: its the ‘i won, but did i?’ of it all. mark won the argument but its a hollow victory, being some sillicon valley titan isn’t emotionally fulfilling, it will never be enough. especially not when its costing him a good friend. the way the end is laced throughout the entire movie is so sick to me

re marks bullshit i also love how they mentioned that marks jealousy about the final clubs is more than just wanting to be in eduardo’s position its like - i thought we had some loser solidarity and now its like you’re a whole different person. its less of a horrible feeling when ur at the bottom with someone and mark feels betrayed. ofc mark doesn’t feel safe to express this emotion (bc bullied nerd boy whos probs bi in the 2000s), or doesn’t know that’s what he’s feeling, and decides it’s eduardo’s fault and freezes him out for it.

this is just off the top of my head i certainly have more and will probably talk more abt this lovely doc again :^))

#the social network #tsn #my posts

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gh0stsp1d3r · 2 years

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Tangerines and deer- Part 12

Once again this isn’t the last chapter!!

Taglist: @local-fanfic-addict @slut-f0r-u @wee-little-mouse

Mentions of sex (no actual sex sadly)

After a few months, your now boyfriend did indeed move to America. He lived about 20 minutes away, which was better than hours away.

You and ladybug sat on the couch, eating popcorn while waiting for the directions on a new mission from Maria.

“Jesus Christ, it’s been hours. Is she ever gonna be here?” He sighed, eyelids getting heavier by the minute.

“Probably not..” you muttered, and looked at the clock. It was 4 am.

“I think I’m just gonna go to sleep. I’m tired. Wake me up if she gets here.” He said, walking to your guest bedroom. He knew where it was because he practically lived there. He was always there, and you two were usually together.

“Yeah, good night.” You said, not tired at all unlike him.

“Good night.” He said, and closed the bedroom door.

You always had trouble sleeping, whether it was because your job or maybe even something else. You didn’t exactly know.

A few minutes later, while you still watched the tv screen, someone knocked on your door.

You got up and opened the door without thought.

“Jesus Christ, Maria, finally-“

But it wasn’t Maria.

“I think you got the wrong person, love.”

“Aaron? What are you doing here?” You ushered him in and looked around outside.

(I’m just calling him Aaron because his actor but you can call him whatever you think his name is.)

“Can’t sleep.” He shrugged it off, and took off his shoes.

“Yeah, me neither.” You sighed and laid back down on the couch.

He sat next to you, he hasn’t been to your house too much. You both were sometimes busy. You put your feet in his lap, which he didn’t mind.

He looked at you, and all of a sudden you were knocked out.

He smiled to himself, it was a small smile but he rarely smiled.

He decided to not let you sleep on the couch after a while, and instead he slowly and carefully picked you up. He brought you to your room and put you in your bed.

You mumbled something when he put you underneath the covers.

“Sorry?”

“Stay.” You said quietly, eyes still closed.

He smiled again, and got underneath the covers with you. He put his arm around you, and you adjusted yourself comfortably.

“Good night, I love you.” You mumbled quietly, he wasn’t sure he heard it right. But before he could ask you were sleeping again.

That’s the first time you’ve told him you loved him. It’s the first time he’s heard it from anyone.

He froze, it’s only been months. Was it too soon? Was it a lie?

All these thoughts ran through his head, but then he looked at you sleeping peacefully again.

He loved you too, but he didn’t know when to say it.

So he decided to just go to sleep, which was easier said than done.

❤︎︎❤︎︎❤︎︎❤︎︎❤︎︎

When you woke up, you were slightly confused. Then you remembered that you were waiting for Maria, Aaron knocked on the door, and now you’re sleeping with him.

You groaned as you picked up your phone, reading the texts Maria sent.

“Next time, STAY UP AND WAIT.”

“Hello?! Are you awake? Open the damn door.”

You got up and stood up, looking outside. And there they were. Your father figure and your handler talking on your couch.

“Look who decided to wake up.” Maria said when she saw you.

“How long- How-“

“Well, someone actually woke up and let me in. Unlike you.”

“Dude! This is my house!” You said, looking at ladybug. The name ladybug was funny, and it stuck.

“Sorry.” He shrugged, and you didn’t notice Aaron behind you who also woke up.

“Well, good morning to you guys too.” He muttered and wiped his eyes.

“Oh my god- did you guys-“

“No!” You said, embarrassed.

“Then what’s he doing in your room?” Ladybug asked, taking a sip from his coffee that was in his hand.

“I would really appreciate if you didn’t ask about my love life.”

He crossed his legs as if he was some sort of dad, and just stared at you.

“It’s an important question.” He shrugged, you sat down on the couch.

Aaron just stood in your room, not to sure whether to leave or not.

“Im just gonna… leave. See you later maybe?”

“I’ll text you.” You said, with a smile and he gave you a small smile back.

“Yeah. See you.” He said and left.

“Oh, you two totally fucked-“

“Shut up! We didn’t!”

“Can I please get on with explaining the mission?” Maria said, annoyed of the argument. She pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry.” He said, you both turned to her.

“Finally. Okay, so you both will be heading to Japan-“

“Again?”

“Yes, again. Can I continue?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

She continued on with the mission details, you pretty much ignored it.

“Okay, that’s it. You leave tomorrow.”

“Great.” You mumbled sarcastically.

#bullet train #tangerine x reader #aaron taylor johnson #bullet train x reader #atj #tangerine #tangerine bullet train #aaron taylor johnson x reader #bullet train imagine

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ohgodimafraud · 11 months

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hot//wings - got to begin again

Hawks is “pretty sick” and injured and his ex-bf Touya is the only one who checks up on him.

crossposted here for tags!

i stole the title from b1lly j03l and stole the characters from u know who bc he didnt make them kiss and make up.

au - civilian!touya x hawks but theyre already broken up

The ghost of Touya’s warmth lingers in Keigo’s mind but can’t leave the confines of his memory to give reprieve from the cold and dull pain in his extremities. He shivers. The cool pack on his forehead brings some relief to his forehead but also some of its own unique forms of discomfort. Everything aches, and not just the broken ankle that he’s forced to elevate. He’s supposed to be Wing Hero Hawks, Japan’s Number Two Hero, and here he is lying around with only a few baby feathers left.

He coughs painfully, directing the barrage into his fist. Not like anyone’s coming by anyway. It’s probably for the best. Touya would be pissed at him for letting it get this far. He’d tell him he told him so and scold him for going to work with a fever for not just one, but two days, and then he would—

Keigo’s eyes prick with the threat of tears and he snaps out of his thoughts and gets a hold of himself. He exhales slowly through cracked lips and doesn’t blink until his eyes dry. Nothing is made to last, and his own fault for getting attached in the first place. There are no constants that can keep up with his high speeds and that’s proven time and time again. The news continues buzzing in the background and he waits for a story to air about the area he was supposed to still be patrolling.

The glare his handler had given him as the Commission doctor ordered him to be on bedrest continues to replay in his mind. He’s supposed to be better than this. Stronger than this. More capable of taking decent care of himself than this.

Though it’s been a month since they’ve broken up, Touya’s contact is the third most recent text chain. It’s pathetic. He clicks the chain and stares at the contact photo. It’d most recently been changed to a picture Fuyumi had taken of Touya and him while they were apple picking. A sharp pain stabs at his chest and before he can stop himself, he’s crying. It’s so beyond pathetic. Tears spill down Keigo’s cheeks and roll down to his neck; within minutes his collar is soaked and he’s choking on sobs that make his insides more sore than the cumulation of all of the coughing he’s done. He pulls the filthy fleece of his hero costume up to his cheek to attempt to clean up some of his face. It stings.

Keigo:

>>ll be over in 5 to trade stuff

Touya:

<<K

Keigo:

>>just got back

>>have a good night

Touya liked your message.

Touya has stopped sharing location.

Would he even answer if he was so desperate as to call him given the way they’d left things? Even calling just to hear his voicemail crosses his mind, but he just as quickly dismisses it. Maybe he’s blocked now. It’s better if he doesn’t know: logically, he knows this, but he can’t help but linger on the thought. He should delete that picture. He should delete a lot of their pictures, and yet, he hasn’t had the heart to even change his phone screen. The TV is hurting his head and it’s hard to concentrate on it, and yet this train of thought is hurting his head too and it’s all he can concentrate on right now. He squeezes his eyes shut, sighing as another tear makes its way down his cheek and into the crevices of his neck.

It’s not even three in the afternoon when he falls asleep thinking about giving Touya a call.

A loud ding rouses Keigo from his feverish sleep. The glare from his phone stings and makes his head hurt, and for a moment he’s worried there’s an emergency.

Touya

<<saw the news

It dings again. Keigo squints at his phone.

Touya

<<ru ok?

How long had he slept? Thirty minutes and yet his mouth feels like sand. He coughs and sniffles, wincing from the efforts. He unlocks it to see Touya’s messages in their entirety. The news? Fuck, what did he miss? He moves too abruptly and his ankle smarts leaving him hissing in pain. The TV blurs and he closes his eyes and leans back into the pillow to stop the dizzy feeling from progressing.

He’s focusing on the wrong thing. Touya texted him. Touya texted him. Touya texted him. Touya texted— oh fuck, Hawks’ head hurts. The congestion seems to have gotten even worse overnight and he can’t even breathe from his nose now. A sharp attempt at a sniffle makes his nose burn with a dull itch.

Touya is typing…

Nothing.

Touya is typing…

Keigo’s heart rate spikes and he tries to think of a response. He’d been a fucking moron and left read receipts on. It’d never been an issue because he generally replies fast, and he’d waited too long from hissing in pain. Now they’re typing together.

Touya:

<<looked like a bad fall.

Keigo:

>>im okay thanks 🥲

Keigo swallows hard and sniffles as the tears fall again. He’s an idiot. Touya isn’t the type to reach out just to be polite. He’d been genuinely asking, and is probably the only one who’s ever actually asked Keigo such a question, nevermind care to hear the answer.

Touya is typing…

Nothing.

Touya is typing…

Nothing.

Touya liked your message.

Keigo sneezes three times, and the last of the trio sets off a cough that threatens to tear his chest apart. He glances at Touya’s name and the picture he still hasn’t removed and feels a new level of pain in his chest. He’s pushed Touya away again, and he fucking knows it. What does he have to lose? Definitely not his dignity, he thinks, looking down at his tattered costume, the used tissue mountain range all over the floor accompanied by the cold dish towel head cuddled with that’d fallen next to the cool pack at some point.

Keigo:

>>jk im p sick

>>my ankles broken

I miss you, he doesn’t say. Please come over, he doesn’t add. He silences his phone and stares at the news. There he is. How many times had his failure to do a decent job been played on national television? He grabs a tissue from the box, fingers dipping much deeper into the box than they had this morning before they find a tissue.

“h’kSXChh’yuh!” He manages to get the tissue up belatedly to wipe and blow his nose. The tissue chafes against the raw skin of his nostrils. He’s pretty sure these are lotion infused, too. Oh, no, they’re not. Touya usually bought those. He must’ve run out at some point. The leaking tears turn into a flood as he wishes he could smell the the tissues, as if it were just another one of Touya’s scents, another one of the ghosts he’d left behind when they’d died here in his room, the door slamming shut, the tissues he’d left behind, being used just ten minutes after he’d left.

Damn fever.

His cool pack is on the floor, but he’s sure it can’t be much below room temperature at this point, so it’s not worth picking up. He shuts his eyes and lets the fever bring him to slide back and forth across the spectrum of awake and asleep.

***

If Keigo of all people says he’s pretty sick, then he's at least very sick. Touya frowns at the last messages from him. This is the same man who came home with broken ribs and got confused when Touya didn’t want to fuck him stupid. Or stupider, really.

It’s not like it’s his problem. They’ve been done for at least a month now. Not that he’s counting.

“Stupid fucking bird,” Touya curses him half-heartedly under his breath as he puts various soup cans into the basket to join the other supplies he’d accumulated. He’s appointment-free for the night, but even if he weren’t, he doesn’t think he’d be able to keep them; getting a tattoo or piercing from someone while they’re this agitated is ill-advised.

It’s foolish, creepy, and a major faux pas to drop by without explicit permission—at an ex’s place no less—but Touya’s reputation precedes him anyway and Keigo is not answering his messages anymore. Keigo had once canceled on a date saying he’d been “a little roughed up,” and he’d found out the next day the man had been hospitalized with injuries that led to an infection, so sue him for overreacting.

He’d given up the spare key (threw it back at Keigo’s face as he left) so he has to ring the bell. He’s expecting a feather to answer the door, but instead he’s left staring through the wrong end of the peephole. He rings it again. There’s a distinct sinking feeling in his stomach. Keigo never takes this long to answer the door. Maybe he’s not even home. No, he’d checked his location beforehand. He has to be here.

Touya startles at the sudden click from the other side of the door. When the door opens, Touya’s grip on the bag slackens and he nearly drops as he instinctively grabs the man in front of him to steady him as he wobbles with only one crutch as support. It’s all a blur as he wraps an arm over Keigo’s noticeably bare back. Bare and hot with fever.

“Touya?” he croaks, voice cracking on the final syllable, and Touya’s heart reacting in kind.

“Shit,” Touya swears under his breath, bracing Keigo against him. He shifts to better support his ankle and sets the bag down. He can get that later. The crutch slips out of Keigo’s grip and clatters to the ground and he falls into Touya. “Hey, hey. Let’s get you to bed.”

“Whadt—” Thankfully, Keigo breaks into a coughing fit, sparing them both from an embarrassing interview neither of them want to have.

“You’re sick.”

“‘Mb sorry.” Keigo’s breathing sounds labored and wheezy, like even standing with Touya supporting the bulk of his weight is sapping him of energy. “If you were here for combpa’ddy, uh…I don’t…”

Touya feels a familiar nauseating pit growing in his stomach. He’s so pale. “I gotcha, Kei.” The name slips out before he can think better of it, but it’s too late to take it back. Keigo shakes against him with a silent sob and Touya carefully scoops him into his arms, heart aching with each movement; he’s only seen Keigo cry one other time, and it’d been during a night terror that left his face blotchy with red. They fall into the familiar position and the nostalgia is so sweet it makes his throat burn. There are more pressing matters than the inner turmoil so unexpectedly coming to a head. “You’re burning up, baby bird.” He’s supposed to be the one who gets terrible fevers. He’s supposed to be the one with a weak constitution, and yet, somehow The Number Two Hero of Japan has regularly been worse off than him.

Keigo nods. He’s gone silent just like he had when Touya left. They’d fight from time to time, usually verbally sparring until things would get so heated they’d blow off steam by fucking; this last time, though, Keigo had let him leave. This time, Keigo had been honest with him. He’d finally trusted Touya enough to confide in him, and of course it’d come after they’d broken up.

The man is still in his hero costume. His jacket is filthy from the fight earlier and has a few tears in the sleeve. He’d probably be nursing more wounds were it not for the thickness of the material. Bed first, maybe bath next.

“What the fuck were you doing out there like this?” he murmurs, though his tone is soft and sad rather than accusatory. God he wants to yell at him, finally spit out all of the angry conversations he’s rehearsed in his head and in front of the mirror, scold him for putting himself in this situation, rant about the hero system, but what he needs is to hold him close. If Keigo dies, how will he tell him how angry he is, how will he tell him how carefully and carelessly he lives in all the wrong ways, how will he tell him how thinking of him is more fatiguing than burning himself out? And most of all, how will he tell him he loves him anyway?

“Mby job.”

Touya. tightens his grip. “I was worried about you.”

“Sorry.”

Touya only releases his grip when it’s to help Keigo sit on his bed. “Don’t be, dumbass. Not unless you’re gonna do something about it.”

“You…cambe over.”

“I did.”

“You’re gonnda get sick, y’kndow.” Keigo suddenly looks far too small for his costume between the lack of wings and the oversized bed built to accommodate them. He’s still shaking, though it’s more subtle now. His eyes are red rimmed and puffy, and his whole face is a splotchy mess of pallor and various shades of pink. He wonders how long Keigo’s been sick, how long he’s been crying.

“I’m not worried about that right now. C’mon, how about a bird bath, huh?”

The bird jab earns a slight glare from Keigo. “Asshole.”

“Mm, I think you’re too feverish for that,” Touya says, making a show of feeling his forehead. This he can work with, the steady back and forth verbal sparring is comfortable and safe. He smirks when his hand is swatted away, though the amusement is tainted with concern from just how hot to the touch he is.

“Nice.”

“You think?”

Keigo gives a half hearted laugh, notably muted from congestion.

Touya hums in agreement and fights the urge to cringe as Keigo starts coughing. It sounds painful, like his lungs are banging around in his ribcage. “Let’s take your temperature,” he suggests, gently placing a hand on his shoulder before rising from the bed. He’s sure Keigo hasn’t done that yet, and he mentally confirms it for himself when he finds the thermometer in the bathroom cabinet. The complicated feelings of being back in this apartment will have to wait until after Keigo is feeling better.

Keigo is quiet and compliant—a terrifying combination for him, really—as they listen to the thermometer beep. He’d since wiped his tears and stopped crying, but the sad gleam in his eyes remains.

“Just over 39º,” Touya murmurs, stopping himself from running a hand through Keigo’s hair. He’s not sure that’d be welcome. Keigo shrugs.

“Seriously though. How ‘bout a bath? You’ll feel better after.”

Keigo stares into space for a moment and then nods. Touya helps his jacket off and tries to ignore the guilt at the way he immediately shivers. “Wait…I gotta um,” Hawks says, holding up his hand. His eyes squint and he twists into the crook of his arm to cover his mouth and nose. “ih’hgksh-! KhhxXt! Hhh…ugh, shidt.”

“Bless.”

Keigo squints and scrunches up his nose again and the chapped pink nostrils and philtrum give away how sensitive it’s gotten over the course of however many days he’s been sick. Touya feels a flush of his own creeping up to his cheeks, and decides that for both of their sakes, focusing on the pattern on Keigo’s comforter is the best bet.

“Hehh-!” Keigo sniffles hard, eyes watering. “God, this is- hh…h-hehH…!”

It’d be weird for Touya to say nothing. “Stuck?”

Keigo nods, shooting him an apologetic look through the haze of teetering on the brink of no return. Touya still can’t look directly at him without becoming very aware of his dick, but hearing the way Keigo’s breaths snag as his inhales become more vocal is enough to have the same effect.

“Do you…need help?” he asks after a few stressful minutes of listening to the uneven cadence of his breathing. And he means actual minutes. He was in fact counting all one-hundred-and-twenty-two seconds of this agony.

The flush across Keigo’s cheeks seems to darken. “I, uh…” he sniffles, mouth hanging open. “Sure.”

This might’ve been a mistake. Touya nods, hesitating for only a moment before tracing a few quick lines down the bridge of Keigo’s nose with a finger, willing himself not to be self-indulgent as he does so. By the time he gets to the tip of his nose, it’s scrunching and his nostrils are flaring. He prods at the sides of his nose down to the rims of his nostrils, only pausing when he hears Keigo take a desperate and shaky breath in, only to hold it and sigh.

“Yeah, that’s guh-gonnahh…”

Touya is sure his face is as red as Keigo’s quivering nostrils as he teases the outer rims with his fingernail.

“HhDSCHHh’hiew!”

Keigo crumples into his hastily cupped hands, only barely catching Touya’s hand with a light mist of spray.

“Ihhkkshhu! Hksshhhh! hih’KXSHH’ihyuhh!”

“Bless you,” Touya mumbles.

“Thangks.” Keigo sniffles thickly and winces before giving a sad smile. “You’re really cute.” He nuzzles his cheek against Touya’s shoulder. “Missed you.”

Touya rubs his hand against the fabric of his pants and wills himself to not have a heart attack. Or to have one. He swallows the dry lump in his throat, unable to return the sentiments in the way he knows Keigo wants. He rises and pats Keigo’s shoulder. “Your fever’s really bad, little bird. How about that bath now?”

Keigo nods, and with his consent, Touya lifts him again. Moving is good. Keeps him busy.

“KnxSHhh!” Keigo sneezes again, angling away from Touya’s face. “Sorry,” he says before he even takes in a breath, punctuating the apology with a pathetic sniffle and cough, “Beend like this all day, n’dot tryi’gg to mess with you.”

Touya nearly drops him. The fact that he’s being genuine is what keeps him holding Keigo close as he walks into the bathroom. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. That’s not why I’m here.”

“To get mbe naked?”

Touya glares at him. “I will drop you.”

***

It’s awkward having one foot out of the water. Touya calls him a flamingo and Keigo flicks water at his face. It wasn’t a ploy to see him naked. It wasn’t a ploy to watch him sneeze helplessly. And yet both of these things are happening right in front of him.

“hehh’kSHCch’iu!”

“Bless.”

“IHSHHh’yue! Guhh…Th-Thangk you. ‘Scuse mbe.” Keigo pinches his nose and runs his hand in the water, and Touya counts the tiles on the wall.

“I’ll be outside. Just yell when you’re done.”

Keigo nods. They part ways and Touya scrolls through his phone outside the door that can’t quite muffle the sounds of desperate sneezes that ricochet through the bathroom every few minutes.

It’s too intimate. He’d known it would be, but no amount of preparation would’ve been enough. Maybe he should’ve had Fuyumi check on him instead. Touya continues this train of thought as he helps Keigo back to his bed, into fresh clothes. He pretends to not notice the crumpled up sweatshirt the hero was supposed to return. It’s not like he wore it anyway. He makes him soup and Keigo eats it in bed at the slowest speed he’s ever seen and only eats half of it.

“Thangk you.”

“Here, let’s get your ankle up.” Touya props the pillow under his injury and cleans up. He leaves the crutches at the side of the bed along with tissues and the cold medicine he’d brought over. He hides the other kinds that were not used.

“Touya…are you gonnda…”

“Hm?”

“Stay?”

Touya steels himself. “That’s not a good idea.”

“Guess not.”

“Well. Feel better. Don’t go dying now, Hawks.”

Keigo pulls the blanket to his cheek.

“Fuyumi was worried about you.” Touya stops at the door. He’s supposed to be on the other side of it by now, but he’s opened his mouth. “We might be over but…you don’t have to stop talking to her. And Natsuo.”

“Why did you combe here?” Keigo asks, voice thin. “To be sweet a’dd just leave mbe againd?”

Touya whirls around, the effect lessened by the smooth way his socks move on the wooden floor. “I came because I’m stupid enough to love you.”

“Great, you always—“

“And because you’re shit at taking care of yourself.” He taps his foot, trying to stomp out the rising anger. More evenly he “Hawks. I’m not gonna stay with someone who thinks being the Commission of Public Coverups’ fuckin pet is some kind of altruism and poorly hides his obvious death wish. I’m not gonna stay by your side as you waste away.”

“I didn’t have a choi—“

“But you do! But you did!” Touya hisses, voice low and dangerous. “I—ugh.” He groans. What a fucking waste. It’s not worth it. I’m not fighting with you when you’re like this. Take your damn medicine and go to sleep. I’m not your mom.”

Touya cringes as Keigo’s face immediately darkens. “Kei—”

“Yeah, I kndow, you’re more like your old mban.”

His hand grips his thigh as he tries not to punch a wall. “Goodbye, Hawks.” And when he says “take care of yourself,” it’s bitter on his tongue.

The trees are almost bare as he walks home, the red and gold and brown crunching under his boots. He can’t help but think of how small the trees look now and how small Keigo had looked. They’d looked up at the stars one night in weather like this and talked about how small they were comparatively and the wishes they’d made. He thinks about Keigo telling him he wishes heroes had more time on their hands. He thinks about the way he’d dodge so many personal questions after Touya would pour his heart out. He thinks about the fact that Keigo had cried when he’d seen him and about the hoodie tucked away. He’d always say that was the most comfortable one, even though it was fairly ratty from being overworn.

Touya returns, hoping that Keigo hadn’t gotten up to lock the door—he didn't— and storms inside and hears him sobbing into the lotion tissues he'd bought before he opens the door.

“Keigo.” He opens the bedroom door, shoes still on. “I love you. You care too much about everything and everyone, and if you can’t fucking care about yourself, then I will until you learn.”

#snz #hottestwings #snzblr #i wrote most of this like months ago but forgot and was like o yea #snzfucker #bn//ha

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