BUT THEY ALL LEAD BACK TO YOU | S. HEIZOU
he said, “it’s a shame, then, that it’s against my ideals to commit a crime.” you couldn’t think too hard about what he said because he distracted you quickly with a kiss, even forgetting your name for a moment.
tags implied…Ahem yk, getting together, heizou is pining BAD but so are u (carnally now too ig), sweet sweet fluff
a/n 2700 words, holy shit this was longer than i planned T__T
previous part
"why does this shikanoin heizou want to meet me that badly? how does he even know me?"
kazuha smiles lightly, content with watching you make a mess of your temporary room like a cyclone. “i’m not so certain. heizou has a habit of prying into the lives of people he hears mentioned. i was reminiscing about the day i met you while catching up with him, and he insisted i introduce him before i could talk about anyone else.”
seriously, who does that?
kazuha had mentioned shikanoin heizou before, as with his other close friends. you were listening but not paying attention enough to have him as your surprise not-in-a-romantic-way-date like a pop quiz. it was as though you didn’t have enough time to prepare for heizou’s inevitable “what time and date did i meet kaedehara kazuha and what’s the name of my distant cousin?” but that’s not the case right now, which means what else could doushin shikanoin want from you? a good first impression and a far-from-suspicious job, obviously.
“there’s nothing about me—my hair’s a mess, why didn’t you tell me?— that could possibly warrant a tenryou commission detective’s interest in that way.”
you pick an unruly strand of hair off, then belatedly realize that walking outside would lead to more of them, and there is no point in doing so. you’re deeply stressed.
“clearly he disagrees,” your friend says in return, amused. you do not share his delight, back to pacing across and around your room.
“kazuha,” you groan, “he’s your friend, isn’t he? can’t you just ask what he wants from me? get this over with.” you abhor first introductions. can’t kazuha just tell you if you should ship your ass back to liyue right this instant?
“are you truly this nervous?”
“he’s a detective, kazuha. and no one can know what i do for a living—yelan will kick me out!”
“you don’t have to worry too much. he bears no ill intentions towards you. if he did,” kazuha pauses to meet your eyes intently, turning serious, “i wouldn’t have offered to introduce you to him in the first place.”
you throw your hands in the air, exasperated.
that answers absolutely nothing and only brings more questions. what does he want from you if not your occupation? surely a detective with a renowned reputation such as himself taking an interest in you means that he wants you to spill truths you’ve sworn to lie about.
maybe it’s not too late to ask if beidou wants a trip back home at this very moment.
“y/n,” kazuha says, with a hint of a fond smile, “let fate take the lead for today. you’ll find that it’s nothing like you’re agonizing over.”
your first memory of inazuma city is when kazuha was hauled away by a few people and left you stranded in the crowd, the same one who had seen you tailing kazuha like a lost puppy—the same one who treated your friend as something sort of a celebrity because of his famous block.
in the few days you’ve been wandering around here, you’ve learned that people everywhere, no matter the region, are always too curious. and somehow prepared to bargain for information.
you’re breezing through everyone in hopes they can sense you don’t want to talk with any of them at the moment. the last time you were lenient, new rumors sprung in the air the first few hours you arrived at inazuma, saying that you’re their ticket to meeting kaedahara kazuha himself.
you’d been deeply affronted. you’re not a scammer; even you’re incapable of tying kazuha to one place, much less holding a meet-and-greet for his fans.
“sorry, sorry, hey—wait up! you!” someone calls out from behind, sounding oddly familiar.
irritation spikes.
“i don’t know who kaedehara kazuha is, sorry,” you say, speeding past stalls and apologizing in advance for people who swerve out of your way.
but this person is determined, somehow swift enough to seize your wrist. there was a second where you forgot where you were for a moment and jerked your arm back in favor of a very, very violent self-defense— even so, this person’s grip was surprisingly strong.
he smiles when you meet his eyes. “i was looking for you, actually.”
there is no mistaking it. his face had been hard to tell in dim lighting, but even then, you could make out the soft features and the distinct twin moles illuminated by blue.
you couldn’t confuse him for someone else even if you tried. the moment you stared a little too long when he was being dragged away, you set it upon yourself for today—as if he was never unfamiliar.
“i know you,” you say, “you’re the drunk guy.”
and then it hits you harder than yelan’s kick on a good day.
this is the same guy kazuha said is a tenryou commission detective—their best one, people say, renowned for his commendable skills and intuition. you were expecting someone older, taller, who fit that description, and definitely, someone who didn’t look like…this.
“yes, that’s me,” he grins brightly. “hi.”
seeing him up close on a bright, sunny day was not the best idea. only here can you see the startlingly compelling shade of green on his eyes and the softness of his burgundy hair. only here can you realize that this man is exactly your type.
“hello,” you say pleasantly and hope you aren’t gaping.
shikanoin heizou looks around, taking in the number of people passing by. he looks back at you, and leans in close to whisper, “let’s go somewhere else.”
you follow him into a food stall, with only one person on the far edge eating. you take a seat on the two chairs laid out on the far right with him. this is starting to feel less like an interrogation and more like something you’re not willing to get into at the moment.
heizou leans against the wooden counter, announcing his order. he suggests food for you upon seeing the conflict on your face.
“you’re from liyue, right? you live in liyue?” is the first thing heizou asks, his arm still resting on the counter with his chin on his palm.
he looks enticing in the gold glow of the lanterns on both sides of the stall. you let your eyes stray, pretending you’re entranced by the ramen and not his arms. “i’m not here on any official business. i’m just here because kazuha begged me to accompany him to inazuma.”
“from what i heard, you jumped at the boat the moment kazuha offered inazuma for you.”
your brow twitches, caught. “details, details.”
the distinct scents of different foods sold in other stalls along with this fills your senses. your stomach rumbles, a gentle reminder. an embarrassing one, at that.
heizou smiles, and it’s almost sweet if you weren’t so suspicious. “my treat.”
“...shikanoin-san,” you begin, “is there a reason why you were so adamant about meeting me?”
his gaze drifts then, ears darkening. “do you remember that night we met? i dragged myself to work the next day, head pounding, my desk a mess from stumbling around it the night before. my mind was elsewhere. my peers ushered me when they caught me snea—ahem, doing patrols.”
“did they belittle you once again or something?”
“i’m pleased you still remember that.” your face burns, intently staring at the ramen the stall owner is preparing. “they told me all about how i was blabbing their ears off about someone. someone i insisted must be a youkai with how uncharacteristically enamored i was. they told me i kept asking to get myself drunk again to trace myself back to you—and i almost considered it sober.”
“that’s stupid,” you say, pretending you aren’t flustered by this.
“isn’t it?” he doesn’t look embarrassed at all. “but then i saw kazuha. we caught up, and he told me about this friend who is a stranger in inazuma; my intuition honed in on your name the moment he mentioned it.”
“and what do you know—” heizou glances at you, “—my intuition still hasn’t failed me.”
this could’ve been the moment you realized that shikanoin heizou is a dangerous, dangerous man, but really, it was on that night when he had been an ungraceful mess, letting you pin him against the tree with a gleam in his eye.
finally, food is served, and you don’t have to answer that. you can only hope that heizou won’t hone in your face the same way, and you can excuse the steam of the ramen as the culprit of its heat.
“so,” heizou begins, and you dread how it’s going, “you come here often?”
you hide a laugh. “you shouldn’t be so curious about me, for your own sake.”
“why? are you hiding something?”
he is no threat at all, you realize. you’re almost desperate, because whatever is happening right now is far from your expertise. with a glimpse of honesty: “i have no obligation to give you information about myself or my field of work. if i spill anything, the commission will never hear from you again.”
“is that so?” he looks excited.
shikanoin heizou is strange. so why are you fighting off a smile?
is it also so strange you realize his body is completely facing you? he speaks again, “well, i heard from kaedehara about a case here in inazuma that i would’ve been thrilled solving, and you were the one to bring it to a close before anyone else caught wind of it. before i caught wind of it.”
you remember that. it was practically nothing. the bandits were just unfortunate enough to do their crimes in front of your face, trained and armed for these very moments.
but where is he going with this? “i have committed no crimes myself, detective.”
“that’s not what i said,” heizou grins, resting his chin on the center of his palm. “i just want to say i appreciate you for helping in your own way. even if that meant we had to deal with interrogating dazed, thoroughly beaten-up nobushi. i want you to tell me about what went down in excruciating detail some other time.”
“you’re welcome. are you going to arrest me for interfering?”
he hums. “why do you want me to arrest you so much? want my handcuffs on you that badly?”
you’re glad you’ve already swallowed the noodles before he opened his mouth. “that’s not what i mean and you know it.”
heizou giggles, the bastard. “cute,” he murmurs as he sips on his drink, smiling to himself.
are you the one with alcohol in your system this time? because the tension is suffocating and you want him bad. “you’re too forward, shikanoin-san.”
“heizou,” he corrects. “and what’s the point in beating around the bush? we both know what i want at the end of the day. you think i meet you again and i’ll let you slip from my fingers again?”
it’s hard not to want the same. it’s itching under your fingertips, begging to be closer, to feel his laugh against your skin. “let’s pray kazuha doesn’t find out.”
“what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” or makes things extremely awkward for him.
that night is also the same night you last see shikanoin heizou for a while. you told him about how you were leaving the next day, and getting attached would be a bad idea.
he had been hovering over you when he said, “it’s a shame, then, that it’s against my ideals to commit a crime.” you couldn’t think too hard about what he said because he distracted you quickly with a kiss, even forgetting your name for a moment.
with inazuma added to your to-do list for next year (ASAP!!! written beside it), you and the crux sail back to liyue. you were already starting to miss it, but homesickness washed over soon enough at the sight of the familiar wharf. people wave at you, saying they missed you, asking if you enjoyed your vacation.
“hey, you.”
you don’t have to look to know who it is. “yelan.” you crane your neck. “i haven’t seen you since i got back.”
“there wasn’t much you missed out on; i was dead to the world,” yelan says with a cunning smile, slinging an arm over your shoulder. “how was your trip? had fun? bring home anything good?”
you smile to yourself, “i had fun.”
“oh,” yelan smirks. “i see. what did they call it? summer fling.”
“no, nothing like that.”
she flicks your forehead. “you’re still a lousy liar as ever.”
the days pass, and it’s almost easy to forget you even went to inazuma. everything falls back into place, as routine dictated—if it weren’t for the way you keep thinking about bare sides, olive eyes, and unending playful banter.
although you weren’t slacking off, it was easy to tell that your mind was far away when you walked past couples whispering to themselves, tucked into some dark corner.
“hey, y/n! kazuha is calling for you in the wharf.”
“coming! hold on!”
the crux fleet’s grand ship looms over other boats. curiously, you note that the crew has only begun to disembark. beidou waves at you when she spots you, and you wave back with a wide smile.
she gestures at the side. you follow her gaze.
if you didn’t know who he was, you’d think—with the way he walks around and smiles at curious onlookers as if he knows them personally—that he belongs here. but you do, you do know him, madly so. he’s been in your mind for far too much that you convinced yourself he’s just a fragment of your imagination until he catches sight of you and brightens.
“y/n!” he says, enthusiastically making his way towards you.
“heizou…?” you let him tackle you into a hug, too stunned to do anything else. “wait, heizou!?” you pull away, cupping his cheeks in your palms. “what are you doing here… in—in liyue? who…”
heizou sighs, looking away despite all the confidence he’s bragged about. his face is very, very red. “it’s a long story.”
kazuha appears behind him, startling the both of you bad enough to have you freezing in sync. “he jumped at the boat the moment i offered. it was starting to get disheartening seeing the longing looks.”
he definitely knows something between you two went down.
“thanks again, kazuha, i owe you one!”
“two, heizou.”
“two,” heizou amends. “you’re the best.”
kazuha quirks a brow, amused. “flattery won’t make me lessen it, doushin shikanoin.”
“dammit,” heizou curses, smiling when you laugh.
“i’ll leave you two to it,” kazuha says, and despite all this, he looks genuinely happy. maybe because he’s rubbing on your face that he’s right—this was far from what you were agonizing over.
“ah, so you work for…the ministry of civil affairs.” heizou definitely doesn’t believe this, and he doesn’t even bother trying to hide it on his face. “the youngest, too, i heard on the way here. very good with a sword.”
“don’t underestimate me,” you instinctively say. deep inside, you’re pleased with the way your friends are giving him a good impression of you. “i do more than issue bounties on wanted criminals.”
“i knew that. though most of them don’t need to carry around a weapon as sharp as that.” you try not to react too strongly, but based on the way heizou smiles, you know that he can see straight through you. damn intuition or whatever. “and you don’t have to explain to me, i’m not underestimating you. i’m the youngest in the commission, too, you see?”
“oh…” you do remember him repeatedly mentioning how extraordinary and young he is.
“look at that,” he coos, his arms snaking around your waist, “we have so much in common already. what are you gonna do about it? shikanoin heizou, in the flesh, all for you.”
you couldn’t help but laugh. “is that all you think about?”
“you’re all i think about.”
you learn that it’s difficult to keep heizou’s hands away from you.
( “do you like him?”
“huh? who? shikanoin heizou? he’s annoying. the flowers in chinju forest are taller than him.”
kazuha looks thoughtful. “are they?”
“yes. they were taller than me, too, but that’s not the point.”
“and so was the answer to my question,” kazuha says, “you didn’t outright say no.”
your face burns, caught.
kazuha grins. “i’m glad to have someone accompany my every visit to inazuma from now on.” )
a/n thank u for reading!!!!! i feel like i didn't do heizou enough justice </3 but i wasn't expecting the first part to get attention at all so thank u to the people who commented and reblogged <333
474 notes
·
View notes
01/25/2024 OFMD Recap
TLDR; Cast & Crew Sightings; Queerties; How to Help; New Renewal Effort Resources; stats; gifs; petition status; morale boost ; self care pitstop; love notes; Rhys
== Cast & Crew Sightings ==
While not related to OFMD-- Leslie Jones has been nominated for Outstanding Performance Award from @naacp for "After the Cut" on The Daily Show! Just something to celebrate for our crew!
Nathan Foad, Samba Schutte, and Con O'Neill are obviously excited about OFMD coming to the UK! All seen on their instagram stories.
Next, Kristian Nairn answered some fans on the #WeeJohnDays Coming back. You can add to the thread here if you'd like.
== Queerties ==
If you're down, please vote for the Queerties each day!
If you want to just vote for OFMD categories, feel free to visit:
TV Comedy
Best TV Performance
== How To Help ==
How To Help Save OFMD Task List - US
How to Help Save OFMD Task List - Outside US
= New Renewal Campaign Resources =
Found some cool resources today if you're out campaigning on any of the platforms, feel free to use these, they're all tagged with sources. (These have been added to the Daily Recap Task Lists)
== Stats ==
Srcs (in order of appearance LTR): @lucyrosebutler , @bonnypitty @meowzawowza_ on Twitter
== Gif Resources ==
Our lovely @kiwistede made some gorgeous gifs that you can use on social media when you're @ing the networks.
==UK News==
@lamentus1 Gave us a brief update on the happenings in the UK:
Not much to report today, I’ve just been focused on promoting the show off the back of the UK talent, hoping to enlist new fans now that we have a date for season 2 on the BBC.
The Guardian article was great, despite ending on a somewhat pessimistic note. It links to the petition though, which is amazing! The Guardian Article
==Articles==
We made it into the guardian! Holy Crap!
‘Unhinged – in a good way’: Our Flag Means Death was cancelled. Its fans are fighting back"
As @lamentus1 mentioned, yes, the last quote in it is very pessimistic, however I don't think that's the part we should focus on, instead we should focus on the fact the campaign got big enough to warrant getting picked up by The Guardian AND our petition was linked in it. Think of how many new folks will be clicking in?
The 20 best feel-good TV shows
Our Flag Means Death Season 2 Finally Confirms UK Release Date
‘Our Flag Means Death’ Season 2: Fans Petition To Save Beloved HBO Show (this last one has a weird date at the end, which @OFMDBingo42 on Twitter speculates coincides with the end of the Social Media Strike for Palestine, just fyi it was confusing many of us).
==Petition Status ==
Almost at 81K!
== Morale Boosts ==
Feeling low cause things have slowed down? A lot of crew have brought up some excellent points across the platforms as to why things aren't as down as they feel right now. Please check out:
@PehmoKoira's Take on Tumblr
== Self Care Pitstop! ==
If you are feeling overwhelmed-- stop by
@flowelineblog's post! It's quick, and efficient :)
== Love Notes ==
So while looking for cast and crew sightings I found this lovely message on @VicoOrtiz's IG Story, so I'm going to share it instead tonight by @thebehappyproject.
==========================================
Our Rhys picture tonight is courtesy of @rhysdarbinizedarby via a post about "The Jaquie Brown Diaries": Night on the Brown (2009)"
I couldn't get over the look, so now you have to see it. It's literally haunting my dreams and I haven't even fallen asleep yet.
Anyway, night lovelies, hope you all have a great day/night <3 Stay safe, hydrated, and keep being the ever wonderful yous <3
125 notes
·
View notes