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Neither Caelus nor Firefly expected for this to happen. Just a few hours ago, she had treated him to a tour around the vast expanse of Penacony's Golden Hour. He'd got the Oak Cake rolls on her recommendation and a little while after, they sipped on some SoulGlad. For whatever reason, this upset his stomach greatly and now, standing beside one of the Dream's Eyes, he throws up into a trashcan.

And it burns, the feeling of acidic and bitter bile mixed with a sweet juice and cake mush erupting from within the deepest pits of him. All the while, his ears hear to Firefly's incessant apologies and little comforts. It's horrifically warm throughout his body but the comforting feeling of her soft hand patting his back as he nearly crushes the rim of the trashcan does mitigate the awfulness of this situation quite a bit.

"I'm sorry, oh.." Firefly sighs as he looks up from his moment of pain to give her a weak smile and a shaky thumbs-up. It catches her off guard with how cute it was but she shakes her head and continues to pat his back as if he were a dog. 

Not that he's complaining. He can't, he's too busy puking his guts but anyone could get what he meant.

As Caelus continues to hurl up everything he had eaten for lunch with her, he starts to feel a little bad that she has to witness him throwing up on their first date. Welt and Himeko may argue that situations like this pick out the good from the bad but regardless, what's awkward and tense will always just be awkward and tense at the end of the day. Maybe by the end of next week or next month, they'd finally recognize that it helped bring them closer but for now..

"Caelus, Caelus," She gently repeats, hand still caressing his back, "I- I'll go get you some medicine to help you feel better, there's a pharmacy just around the corner.."

She tries to move her hand off of him but he tightly holds it in his, looking up at her from the trashcan. He stares up at her all pleading and puppy like, murmuring, "N-no, stay.. please."

Firefly melts at this display, smiling warmly as she rubs the back of his hand with her thumb. It tugs so hard at a chord in her heart, playing her like a fiddle as she sighs and gives in.

"Fine.. but you'll let me support you to that pharmacy once you're done," She laughs softly and stares at him. This moment where their eyes fixed on one another's could have been cute but Caelus starts coughing again and turns his face back to hurl hard. Seeing it makes Firefly feel horrendous but she knows she can't do much about it. A Stellaron person probably has their own set of bodily rules and who knows, Oak Cake rolls and SoulGlad may have been their forbidden combination.

She knows at least, the next time she takes him out, she'll keep that in mind and get him something easier on the stomach. Oh look at her, all buzzed up with happy hormones and fantasizing about the next date.. 

One more cough brings her back to reality. Leave behind the idea of the next date, she thinks to herself, and just make sure he feels better. That's all she tells herself in this moment and soon, that's all that comforts her.

Leave behind the idea of the next date and just make sure he feels better.

Chapter Text

A night sky hangs over the nation of Fontaine, only serving to coddle together stars over the sole fountain. Its reflection was deep and beautiful in the clear water.. Well, until some beings decide to ruin the image as they sit down on the flat part of the fountain's water basin. Now, the water reflects a boy with cream brown hair and a girl with long white hair and sea blue streaks. 

It's almost like their little getaway from it all. Today had been unpleasant, so much responsibility pushed onto these two people who just wanted to have a little fun in their lives. Not that they didn't actively source amusement from their hearts.. after all, the jester and his queen are both quite interesting individuals.

"Beautiful," It slips past his lips as he brings his one free hand to her cheek, the other intertwined with hers, "Have I ever told you that, Furina?"

"Too many times," The lady chuckles playfully and scoots closer, her face leaning into his touch, "I'll tire of hearing it soon, Lyney."

It's not odd for her to do this, to act as if she could ever be bored of him. He has to give it to her, it's a near convincing performance.. if only she weren't still holding onto his hand and wanting for his affection so clearly. His thumb kneads her soft cheek, eliciting a soft huff from her. 

"What a shame," Lyney sighs, shaking his head, "You'll have to deal with it for as long as I live. I'll never tire of calling you what you are."

She could roll her eyes at this but Furina knows better than to give him something else to tease her about. Though, it's not like she didn't want to indulge in that. For here, under the loving watch of the moon, the stars and the thick dark blue sky that blanketed over them comfortingly, she could indulge in him and so could he in her.

It would never be easy for the queen and her jester to continue in their active pursuit of each other in the public eye so they keep it easy and keep it private. Known to only them, the celestial beings surveying their secret rendezvous and maybe a certain Chief Justice and a Magic Assistant.

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For a sweet little thing like her, March was never concerned about whether or not she was intimidating to people. Her blind courageousness, better phrased as her persistent friendliness, also made sure she could befriend those who were far bigger and far scarier than her. She was a snowflake pixie, those who emerge during winter's end to prepare the face of the planet for flowering spring. As a mystical being with a deep connection to nature, she was required to transform back into snow during the start of next winter and hence, she lost her memories of that small lifetime. However, the creatures she would befriend in the last cycle, or even the one before it, would remind her over and over. It rarely got tedious for them, not if it meant having a nice soul like hers around for even a little while. She also started journaling on advice of her fellow snowflake pixie peers.

"And.. who are you?"

Tall, stoic and ever radiant stood a man whose hair flowed like streams of night across the sky. Horns the colour of jeweled blue-green stand proud above his head and he is adorned in decadent layers of clothes she has never seen before. Perhaps she had seen this man prior, in one of her previous cycles of memory. So she smiles brightly and takes his hand in hers.

"March! Nice to meet you, Mister..?" She trails off and gazes up at him. He's a little shocked with how quick she is to grab but nevertheless, he answers.

"Dan Heng."

How curt. She'd met people like this during this cycle, those few owls who spoke in very slow syllables or those Foxian ladies who don't wish to speak with her. She thought it sad that they'd reject her so quickly, she just wanted to make new friends. 

Maybe it was a mistake in her past life? Who knew. She looks into this man's eyes and feels a keen sense of.. unfamiliarity. Those eyes of his, they're the same colour as his horns. She knows she's never seen something like that in her books on rereading either. That must mean.."

A stranger. She feels a little uneasy.

"What a nice name. Are you a.." She tries to guess but nothing comes to mind so she cracks a joke instead, "..a werewolf?"

And maybe in that moment, the dragon king knew that despite the short lifespan of this girl's memory, she'd fulfill his life in someway. He can feel it in the comforting hold of her hand and those mesmerizing pink blue eyes that make him reminisce of cotton candy. 

"Hmm... no. I'd.." He thinks, how can he make her stay.. just for a little longer? 

"..I'd like to show you visually what I am then since your guess is.." Dan Heng smiles a little, just a little, to show his amusement to the most attention paying individuals, "..deeply wrong."

So maybe their afternoons would be more special than a usual dead afternoon of little snow but little warmth. Maybe, just maybe, she could add his name to his journal today. Maybe tomorrow too, a week.. a month.. a year? March adores the idea so deeply that she holds it close to her heart and promises to herself to never let it go.

Summer may dissuade the ice over rivers and seas but she would make sure that this is the one stray piece of ever-cold ice that she'd carry to the soil, to the air, and finally back down to the planet again as a pixie.

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"Hey kid, pick one of those."

The words seem cold and distant to those surrounding them but it's the first time the woman had properly acknowledged Misha in the time that they've known each other for. 

"U- Um.."

His eyes survey the friendly little blackboard of the ice cream truck. The messy white chalk scribbles that detailed the flavours seemed to shake in his vision at first, out of nervousness, and then out of sheer excitement. He would be having a bit of time alone with Acheron of all people. He knows not of why he's so interested in her, she's just seemed like.. this cool older sister he's sometimes wished dearly for. Now she's actually being one- or what he'd think one does, getting their little sibling something in this gruff, I don't care for you, voice. 

Misha's eyes lock back onto hers and he sees that her gaze was already intently set on him, quickly and awkwardly darting away when he catches her. 

"I'd like the uh.." He finds difficulty in saying the name, it's so stupid and sort of embarrassing.. even more so when he's to say it to this lady.

"..The Toothrot Buttercreamy Butterscotch."

A soft noise akin to an extremely short laugh escapes the woman and he knows she had a ball with that moment. He doesn't mind, she looked prettier when she laughed. 

"Well said," She chuckles a little, still riding off of the amusement that gave her, "Then I'll take a.."

Oh? A tinge of red glows in her cheeks. Dull but she glows enough for him in this moment that he sees it.

"..A- A Black Midnight Current Ice."

Now it's his turn to giggle but he doesn't try to properly hide it. She huffs lightly at the sound of his laughter but when she sees him, holding his hands together and bringing them to his mouth, her embarrassment is entirely overridden.

His laughter is soft and airy like the chirps of an Origami Bird that flies around the vast expanse of Penacony. It rings in her head but unlike those terrible nightmares she'd have, this ringing felt gentle and cleansing akin to a cowbell rung in a peaceful little farm. When they get the ice cream, she sees him eat it up happily. What would fit him if he were anything but a mortal thing with a conscience? A puppy, she thinks, or maybe a bunny rabbit?

"Thank you."

It's all she hears after she drops him off with the Trailblazer.

No, thank you. For the wonderful evening, more wonderful than it could've been. Not because it happened in Penacony but because of you. If this is the Land of Dreams, then you are.. a dream. I am happy that I dreamt you.

It is all but unsaid. She watches him skip off with the Trailblazer and she sighs. Atleast for a moment, she'd finally dreamt a dream here that was worth it. 

Chapter Text

To Garam, Crimson Rose was a peculiar woman. 

Among the many he's met on his never-ending path of life that winds around stressful bends and sorrowful turns, it seems his interests have guided him to her. She's not particularly special. He doesn't mean that in an insulting way, it's just that she's one of those mortals who have a great drive and even greater power. Yet no matter how many times he tells himself this, that he's met at least a three dozen people like her, she's somehow personally special. 

He doesn't know why. She's a beautiful girl so maybe that was it? But he knew himself better than that, not even the most beautiful people can keep him around if they weren't.. genuine. So was it her genuine nature? Of being clumsy, sweet, courageous, and friendly?

Whatever it was, it kept him around. Around during all those times she would throw up an entire barrel of ale she'd downed the night prior, during all those times she would get wounded, and during all those times she just wanted to babble on and on about everything and anything. Most of his unpleasant memories seem to be replaced with ones in which he'd spend time with her. 

Though, now he has a new unpleasant memory that does involve her. 

Lately, she's started talking with a woman. Garam wasn't really worried at first, he wasn't the type to get antsy just because she got a new friend. Yet he knows. With the way they spend less time together, talking and doing mundane things, he just knows that she's being entranced by her. He should feel happy, shouldn't he? His longtime friend who's blessed his recent years with lightheartedness has finally found someone to love.

It's not that simple though. He's found out in the worst way that for all this time, he's loved her. To mull over this for the entirety of the time those two could be together seems like hell to him but he could endure keeping shut about it, right?

"Tell me about it, Garam. Tell me about everything."

Those words whispered to him on a rainy night where he'd finally indulged in drinking with her resonate in his head. At the time, he was struggling with the memory of Dallae's death again and it threatened to tumble out of him. The walls he'd built around his spoken words were hard to bypass however. The woman had seen this and offered her invitation to comfort with just nine words. 

He'll take that invitation again. If he gets these feelings off his chest now, he'll be better for it. 

In a rush, he's already standing outside her cottage in Heavenhold, his fist gently tapping on the door. 

"Hmm..?" It opens and his sight is filled with her. Chocolate brown hair and sea blue eyes stare up at him. Why does it seem like he's overly focused on her right now? 

"Rachel," He mumbles and instantly noticed how her eyes widen. For most of the time, he's called her Pirate or Rose if he was feeling very close. It seems to just come out naturally though as if he's dreamt of doing it for a while. "Do you have time?"

"C'mon Garam, you know I do," She smiles and invites him in but he just doesn't move from where he stands before the door.

"I just wanted to say something. I will be quick so I.. won't enter."

She raises a brow but doesn't say anything more. 

"I love you." 

The calming silence of the night air around the two seem to shift into one with more tension. As if the world around them got smaller and cramped, he could suffocate under the immense weight of the wordlessness that increased every second that went by. He just shuts his eyes and lets out a deep breath. He doesn't expect his hands to feel warmth.

"You come on so strong sometimes. I love you too."

Before he can let himself rejoice at the sentence, he knows this could mean something entirely different.

"Like, love-love, if you're thinking up a storm in that handsome head of yours."

And that allows him access to just about every part of his body feeling elated and ecstatic. He feels light, so very light. Lighter than her drinking tolerance even. 

"What.. what of the woman you've been talking to?" 

What of the woman whose stolen you, is what he would've liked to have said but he keeps that one in.

"Aoba? She's just come around to help me with my garden after the whole watering my plants with booze thing. It took a few days so.. wait."

That grin is dangerously playful and he realizes he's given her leverage. Oh well, sometimes the mortals must win, it was only fair.

"Were you jealous?"

For the hundreds of years he's lived, wretched or not, he's sure that somehow, someway, he'll be reminded of this embarrassment. But it doesn't matter how often he got teased, so long as he knew there was care behind it.. Well, he's sold on playing to her tune any time if it meant loving her. That's what he'll have to compromise with anyway, because Rachel sure as hell isn't letting this go.

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"Mffh.. Welt.."

Soft murmurs come from the red-haired woman above him. She moans into the tresses of his gray-streaked brown hair as she brings his head close, nearly muffling him in the plush of her chest. 

"Yes, Himeko?" 

He looks up at her, attentive with a balanced amount of perverted enthusiasm. His one hand massages the back of her neck, his lips playfully rubbing against one of her cloth-covered nipples. It grasps a soft, surprised sigh from her. She stuffs her face into his hair further.

"A.. A little bit harder," She asks in a breathy way. 

His fingers are fitted so well inside her, two of his digits curving just so perfectly to grind against that sweet-spot that made her breath hitch. He presses harder against it, his thumb working around her clit gently to give her a slow build up. 

She's so beautiful like this. Himeko was honestly beautiful in any way, at every time. Yet, gently soaked in the dreaming liquid of the Golden Hour's most wanted amenity, everything about her seems more highlighted. The gentle light blue liquid bubbling around her and filling between the small gaps of the ends of her beautiful red hair. The liquid reflects a soft, dreamish sort of light that illuminates her elegant visage. Oh dear, it just makes him want to kiss her. So that's what he does, stretching up just a little and kissing her cheek gently. 

"Ngh-! Oh Welt, you're.." Himeko has never been this embarrassed in such a cute way, not in public at least but Welt's seen this face numerous times and he'd do anything to keep it all to himself. 

She seemingly finds herself getting close at the gentle and deep pumps of his fingers and in a fit of delirious affection, she leans down to return his kiss. Though unlike his earlier ounce of affection, she blesses him with one on his lips.

"Oh dear, you taste just like your coffee.." He softly chuckles against her desperate kisses that chase for release and as she spasms slightly, he presses his fingers much harder into the spot, dragging a strangled moan out of her.

And it's like they hadn't just been talking about the shady happenings in Penacony. It was just them, a really nice hotel room, and their libidos.

Chapter Text

Topaz has had just about enough of this man.

It's not as if every endeavor of hers is successful. If they were, then she'd sure as hell be higher in the rankings of the IPC. No, this time a negotiation with a client went horribly. Why? Because all that lady had wanted from her.. was power. Very rarely did she get the type of clients that make her ears ring with rage and her head dizzy with irritation. However, that woman was an extreme exception. 

And now to make things worse, Aventurine walks his candy ass into the lounge that she had specifically stated was off-limits to everyone except her at this time. Topaz wasn't unreasonable, she knows that the minimum-wage employee who she'd given that order to was probably swindled with a sugarcoated threat trademark to him and only him. So she wouldn't take out her newly stewing anger with the employee.. she'd just take it out on someone who wouldn't take a shaky "But sir, Miss Topaz is resting here!" as an answer.

"Good afternoon, my lovely colleague," He grins, and it's terrible, she feels like knocking a tooth out of his perfect set of teeth. It's terrible, she recants to herself, because she can't feel anything else in this moment than rage. She wasn't supposed to feel anything else.

It's very clear though that it wasn't working, her insistent struggle against her emotions being futile as she sighs and lets out an irritated response, "And what are you here for?"

To most who know neither of them too well, this seems like her rage showing. However, there's something about him that she's never been able to properly get angry at. Like she's conscious of throwing all her problems onto a man who is quite literally the Avatar of Greed's right-hand man. 

"Oh, you know.. I just heard that the one and only Topaz lost a client after, what, two years of a clean streak?" Aventurine walks his way behind the couch she's sitting at, leaning his elbows against the top of the cushiony back.

But at some capacity, her anger is still irrepressible. There's only so much of his teasing that she's come to find begrudgingly bearable that she could take before she really did lose it.

"I will need you to walk out of this room right now."

"Oh," He murmurs, leaning forward quite a bit. His lips brush against the shell of her right ear and she represses the urge to shudder, "Why is that?"

"I'm pissed off." 

I don't want to take it out on you. The silent thought echoes from the back of her head but she shakes it off and coughs, "Just leave."

"Hmm.." His eyebrows raise a little but quickly, he's back to that snarky smirk. Pulling out that emerald green coin purse of his, embroidered with gold because of course it is, it's his coin purse, his fingers dip in and pull out a single Aideen Token. Topaz realizes this immediately for she's seen him flaunt a few of these after his trip in Penacony.

"How about I give you some.." He pauses to think further before whispering softly, "..Monetary compensation?"

He's baiting her. Telling him that she likes collecting coins and currencies from the worlds that the IPC contract and deal with was a terrible, terrible choice. For once, he has the upper hand, because she's never acquired an Aideen Token before.

Tolerate it, Topaz. 

"I'm listening."

His hand snakes to gently turn her face around. They're now just a few inches apart. And even in her brain, with all those alarms going off like crazy, she doesn't predict what he does.

He places that pretty blue and white token right between his lips and suddenly, it's in between both their lips. It's a bit of a big coin, but as she's entirely overcome with shock, it takes just a nudge from his side and..

Oh, they're kissing. That's what this was. She feels the token slide onto her tongue and something else, warm and wet, explores like it earned a right to do so. Oh screw it, not like they haven't done it before.. is what she thinks as she tries to reciprocate. Keyword being tries because in about seven seconds flat, he's stepped away from her. 

He leaves her panting and breathless, shaken up and shocked. With a twirl of his heeled shoe, he turns away, pushes the purse back into his pocket and gives her a quick wave.

"There's your monetary compensation.." He gives her a wink with those oh so stupidly enchanting eyes of his, "Darling."

Maybe it was a minute or two that passed in silence after he'd left that room with that shit-eating smile. Anger isn't what she'd use to describe this feeling, however, she was so flustered, so.. she just wanted to wipe that smug look off his face. But she just pulls out the Aideen Token, embarrassed at the slight pop it makes as it gets out of the warm confines of her mouth, and cleans it off with her handkerchief.

She hates him, she does. Hates the way he makes her feel, hates the way he goes about things with her in this way. But she tolerates it regardless. That's what it was, tolerance.

The throb in her heart doesn't attest to that claim one bit.

Chapter Text

"So.." 

The sound of a man's smooth and playful voice resonates in the quiet air between two people: the earlier mentioned man and a disgruntled girl, standing right in front of him, her head tilted straight up just to look at him. 

"What did I do to piss you off this time, Zenki?" 

Apollo's been in the same pair with Zenkibo for what felt like forever now. Of course, he can trace his memories back before then, but all the memories with her were the most fun and they were the only ones worth thinking about. The five hundred and one different ways that she could call him Pineapple, that she could pout and huff at him, and that she could tease and poke at him. They never got less endearing each time. However, among those many things, he's never seen her..

..Well, like this before. Her lidded eyes stare daggers into him, her hands balled up into fists and at her sides, and a frown on her cute face. He's seen her angry, sure, but with how close she is to him, this can't just be anger.

"Nothing," She hisses and it's almost funny how easy it is to piece her lies apart, "It's just.."

She takes a breath in and looks aside before mumbling, "How was.. talking to Admin?"

And that was when he pieced it together. She was jealous. Zenkibo Tengu, a girl with an invisible friend, was jealous. He's not sure why that matters but the point is that Zenki never got jealous like that. He's never seen it with anyone or anything before, let alone him!

"It went well. They.." He remembers a certain point in the meeting and he decides it's a more fun choice of conversation right now, "..They told me they wanted to talk to me again. Said I'd be put in a new trio temporarily to help new modifiers settle in.."

And that lights her up like a firework. 

Earlier, there were times that he'd want to show his care for her but she wasn't all that interested in touching someone. So they developed a little habit of their own, simply pressing against the other person's palm with their pointer finger. He's always used it and she never has. 

"..Lean down."

She never will, he realizes. It's actually shocking how straightforward she is now. As he bends down a little, she throws her arms around his shoulders and kisses him. Warmth fills his body, an immediate surge of blood rushing to his cheeks as he really takes in what was happening. His teammate, the one he was convinced he'd never actually develop any feelings for in the beginning, just made the active choice to pursue him. That sets him off and his hands act, securing their place on her hips. She tries biting on his lower lip and it prompts him to try doing it softer on her. Only one of them drags a moan out of the other.

It's odd, he's kissed other people before.. Apollo was a true to heart flirt after all. This one just felt different in the way it made him feel. She's so desperate and it's evident in the way she rushes into it like an amateur who thinks they've gained footing just because they have strong emotions backing up their newfound confidence. As she pulls away, breathless and bright red, he just smirks and walks backward with her in hold, sitting down on a couch. She's a little tense but she follows his lead, trembling a little as she sits on his lap. 

"Wow, this has got to be the first time you've ever been taller than me, Zenki," He kisses at the corner of her lips and she just huffs, trying to lean in for another one of her rushed kisses.

But he stops her before she embarrasses herself too much, though it's not like he doesn't love reveling in it, "Go slower, Zenki. You aren't a bull to be rushing into something so fast."

"Why?" Zenkibo crosses her arms, "I don't have to listen to you if you're just gonna be another group's teammate."

"Aww, come on.." He leans in, a hand of his caressing the back of her neck, as he murmurs, "Don't you want to know if I truly do deserve to be called Pineapple?"

It's corny, he knows it is, she knows it is, but right now, they're nothing but corny.

She takes a good long while to think about this and in those moments of silence and contemplation, he takes her in. Her gray hair tied in those usual braids are more disheveled than normal, those chrome eyes refuse to look at any part of him while she thinks over her decision and her lips are still a little red from her recklessness. Technically, it was his fault for reciprocating with the same energy but how could he take the blame when she, of all people, came on so strong? He didn't mind, it was cute to see her try so hard. 

"..As the last thing I do as your teammate," She whispers, eyes begrudgingly dragging her gaze over to him, "I'll find that out."

And when she leans in, ready to use his help as she navigates through this, he realizes that he's neglecting to remind her that this switch was temporary. Oh well, why ruin a perfectly good misunderstanding she construed herself? It'd be cute to see her realize it on her own.

Chapter Text

Qingque may or may not have gotten curious about what her husband's been writing at night for a while now. Recently, before coming to lie beside her in their bed, Jing Yuan sits at his desk, writing down in a small diary she'd gifted him a long time ago. He looks so good in reading glasses, she would think, before wondering why he even needed to write things before bed. Did he pick up journaling? Whatever it was, it intrigued her, and one night she finally musters up the energy to ask him the question when he finishes his writing and slips into the sheets next to her.

"Hun.." She mumbles softly, her voice a little worn for wear. She'd played in a Celestial Jade semi-finals with her game group earlier that day and there was a lot of cheering and screaming.. which she was apart of.

He takes notice and brings a hand to her hair, gently rubbing the scalp behind her head. He doesn't come close and she can't seem to find more of her energy to ask him to come close. She needs air right now and it's nice he picked up on that. He always does.

"Yes?" He answers simply, waiting patiently for her to continue.

"Why do you write in that journal nowadays..?" It's cracked but she feels no embarrassment for it. She does feel a little ashamed at how shy she comes off when she asks the question.

"Because you gifted it to me," He smiles softly, "I thought I'd finally put it to use."

"..I guess that was the wrong question," She lets out an amused breath, a sappy smirk on her face, "What do you write in it?"

"Hmm.." He stares at her in the eye for a little while, seemingly contemplating telling her in this current moment. Now she really wanted to know and it was clear enough to him that he just chuckled and caved.

"I'm writing poetry in it." 

"Poetry?" She raises her brows, lips parting in surprise, "What kind?"

He's pleased that she doesn't ask why, though he knows she understands who he is enough to piece that he'd be the type to write creatively. It was always something they would talk about, the small proses he'd write from time to time in between work. Yet this was the first time he'd spoken of poetry, partly because it had been a while since he got time to do this sort of thing. With her getting him a journal and seemingly on board with him taking half an hour or so at the desk before he got to sleep, it seemed like a good opportunity.

"About anything I particularly thought of today and the days going forward."

She hums and sits up slowly, looking down at him and pursing her lips, "Couldn't share with the class?"

He grins and gets up as well, leaning on the headboard with her, "You could have just asked. Seems like someone was shy to inquire about it.. trying to project it on me? Oh love, I thought you were better than this." He leans down to kiss the top of her head and she huffs, he's caught her there. Still..

"Then.. can I read them?" 

He gazes down at her fondly and his one hand caresses her shoulder comfortingly, "Of course you can. I'll go get it for you."

After taking the book from the desk, he gets close to her again on their bed, passing the book to her. As she opens it, he turns his attention to the little nightlight on their bedside drawer, switching it on. It was in the shape of a hexanexus, one of those puzzles Qingque had taken an interest in a little while after Jing Yuan and her had first met. He'd gotten it as a gift for her at the time not expecting that it would end up in his own bedroom one day. Those times still fill his heart with mirth at the thought of it.

"Hmm.. let's see.." She flips through the pages and smiles, "You've written quite a few.. I'll just read one tonight, my throat can't take more."

"The little sparrow's lost her voice?" He raises a brow as the tease slips past his lips and she purses her lips. 

"I had a tournament today."

A vague sentence for most but he nods, almost immediately knowing the context and implication of all she says in just those few words. 

"Then take your time. I'd hate to hinder you too much," He says caringly. 

She flips to the very first page and takes in a breath.

"Coloured mud and jade,
Fighting, sailing, wind and wane,
Stands still, tree of life."

"..I forget what type of poem this is," She mumbles to herself, not quietly enough though as she gets an immediate answer.

"It's a haiku."

"Well.." She smiles a little nervously, gazing up at him, "I'm not exactly the biggest expert on poetry so I wouldn't know the value of this poem at first glance."

"Can you piece together what I wrote it off of?" He asks, moving closer and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"The Ambrosial Arbor?"

"Mhm," He kisses her head again and it makes her feel warm, like most things he does, "My smart sparrow."

"Not smart enough to come up with something like this on my own," She sighs with a proud smile directed to him. It had so much love behind it that he practically felt his heart light up. 

"Oh sparrow, don't sell yourself short," He says, "You have the capability to do anything. If you could revive an ancient game from its grave then I'm sure you could write a poem."

His hand holds hers as he takes off the pen that he'd clipped to one of the recent pages, sliding it between her fingers, "In fact, why don't you try now? Something simple."

"..Well," She grins, "I'll try my best!" She coughs hard as soon as she exclaims the last part and he pats her back with a concerned smile, "Don't push yourself."

So, in the silence of the night, the moon and the stars shining from behind their closed curtains, she thinks long and hard. She writes a first phrase and then cuts a few words, then a second phrase which seems to satisfy her. A third phrase, and a fourth with another mistake.. 

"Hey!" She pouts, "Look away, I'm trying to stew something up for my husband."

"Can't he at least see his wonderful wife at work then?" He frowns in that way that Mimi would whenever Qingque refused to cuddle with her. The way that begged for a semblance of pity that opened its way into her heart and grasped at its want. But she's steadfast because her husband isn't the cute lion that they own.

"You can wait, Jing Yuan," She narrows her eyes at him, "You're patient, aren't you?"

"Mmm.. when it comes to you, sometimes everything I am flips on its head."

Oh, this man. She goes silent and just focuses on the poem, leaving him to chuckle with amusement and look aside.

Finally, she taps his chest. 

"I'm ready," She whispers shyly, "I- It follows a rhyming scheme though."

"That doesn't devalue it one bit," He assures her and she sighs with relief, leaning her head on his chest as she starts.

"I once encountered a lion,
Whose fur was white as snow,
Whose eyes were tender golden,
Whose presence frightened foe.

Even if this lion was looking for a bite,
Laid down was me, his dinner for the night."

As soon as she finishes, she notices this rapid breathing like motion in his chest as it lifts her head up and down. She looks up at him and realizes that it's him stifling his laughter. She goes a little red and whips her head aside.

"I- I told you, y'know.." She sounds a little hurt but at the feeling of him taking the book from her hands, she curiously looks back.

"Oh love, I wasn't laughing at you," He looks down at the words she'd written, his finger underlining each phrase as he read it over once more, "It was just too sweet. Your first poem being about me, I mean."

"That.." She starts to grasp for an answer but she can't get a clear answer that would defend her, "..I just wanted to." She did want to make him laugh with her poem, that much was true, but hearing it immediately was somehow unexpected. Nevertheless, after she stews in her shame for a little, she's happy he liked it.

"My sparrow.." He croons and quickly closes the book, clips the pen on that page and sets it aside on the drawer, quickly wrapping her up in his arms. He pulls her further up so that his face rests on her chest this time and she feels a sense of pride at it. She pets his hair and closes her eyes, a gracious smile spreading on her face when she hears him mumble into her neck, "I love you."

"I love you too," She mumbles back.

Chapter Text

"Phos.." 

A voice, so soft it could be mistaken for a hushed whisper, wafts its way into the air. It barely registers in his sleepy head as a noise.

"Phos! Phosphophyllite!"

The next voice was sterner and louder in nature and he recognizes it in his dazed half-awake state. With one quick motion, he's sat up and rubbing his eyes.

"Ngh.. what is it, Antarc, Shinsha.."

Currently, two very awake gems stand in front of Phos. The mercury of the quiet one sinks into the floor and walls, creating small holes.. however she's not intentionally doing it, he knows. The other is standing upright, his hands on his hips as he stares down at Phos with.. what is that emotion on Antarcticite's face, actually?

"You promised to take us to go pick flowers," Antarcticite huffs and suddenly Phos realizes what the ice gem is so pressed about.

"Before Antarc has to go back into hibernation.." Cinnabar quietly adds on, "You never do keep your promises, huh.."

And that sentence almost immediately lit his motivation as he gets up and makes a bolt for the door. He takes the other two gems' hands in his as they rush out of his bedroom. Without even reciprocating one of Dia's hellos or one of Bortz's cold glances, though no one knew how to really combat those, Phos pulls both Antarcticite and Cinnabar out into the open field in front of the School. The crystal green cuts of grass look like shards of Speaker Jade's hair.. or maybe a bit lighter. It doesn't matter, he feels far more awake than he was a few minutes ago, and he takes the world in. However, he notices from the corner of his eye that Antarcticite seems to slow down, evidently leaning on Cinnabar's shoulder.

"What's wrong, Antarc?" Phos croons, concerned, "Is the sun strong already?"

"Yes.. I can only be out for so long," Antarcticite sighs.

"Then.." Phos sits down and pats the soft spots of grass beside him, "Let's get to it!"

For a while, the three forget about the world around them. About the Lunarians and the others and even Master. They just pick flowers from around the grassy cliffs in front of the School, not caring for the time. Phos seems fixed on gathering white and red peonies, Antarcticite comes back with a large bunch of red and blue poppies at around evening and by night, when Antarcticite and Phos are weaving flower crowns on interest of Phos, Cinnabar finally makes an appeareance with white and blue periwinkles in her arms. 

With a gentle bit more help from Euclase, they find out a way to utilize all the flowers they'd gathered. 

The sun watches them intently as they crown each other with their creations, playfully laughing and talking. This would be Antarcticite last winter morning for a long while so they'd make it as memorable as possible for him before they'd eventually just be a team of two again. The moons threaten to send their soldiers at the sight of Phos' sparkling hair, however, the sun beckons it to keep quiet. Well, that may not have been the exact reason why no Lunarians seemed to show up that morning but nonetheless, it's what Phos likes to think had occurred. Cinnabar thought it was a stroke of luck.. and they never did ask Antarcticite about it before he went to hibernate again. They'd hopefully ask him next winter when they'd get to be all together once more.

Chapter Text

"Mhh.."

The yawns of a gem, awoken from a long, long slumber, sound out softly throughout the air. Sitting up from the box-like bed he'd been ever so lovingly gifted by his long-time partner, he looks around. At the swish of his head there, and a sway of his neck here, his beautiful crystalline pinkish red hair sparkles with the light of the moons. 

No sight of them. Oddly, no signs of them around the room either. No lab-coats, none of the crystal reserves they'd keep in case they had enough to form a new crystal, not even their darling tools.

"Rutile?"

Padparadscha's smooth voice slips into the air and dissipates just as quickly like the wake from a dream. He peers toward the moons and his stare fixes on them for a while.

He's lost in thought. How long had it been since he'd woken up last? Every slumber succeeding the next one was longer and the amount of time he'd be awake for would be shorter. He thinks and slowly gets an answer, it was when he'd given a newly bloomed Phos some advice. He remembers how Rutile would fervently make sure Phos' agate legs were well taken care of.. and that was the last thing he remembers.

"Rutile?"

It's quieter now, he's not sure why. He thinks of the doctor again, how they'd furnish him with a desperate amount of dust, ground from a certain type of flower, that would keep him shiny and revitalized whenever he was awake. No matter what though, he sleeps for few centuries and some more, he sleeps and sleeps his life away, with them watching over him. 

"Rutile?"

He thinks of their smirk, their rare smile, their hugs that was desperate for their partner to come back and stay forever. However, that would never happen. Both of them knew that. 

He realizes it's too quiet. 

With one swoop of his hand, he gets up and looks around more. It was like this place was emptied entirely. 

"Rutile?"

When he utters their name once more, he remembers something. He walks over to a certain cabinet and searches through it thoroughly before his knuckles bumped against an odd protrusion in the back of the cabinet. A small sliding noise followed right after and.. ah, there they were.

Pieces of Padparadscha that Rutile had gotten ahold of over these many, many years. Many was just an understatement too.

"Rutile.."

As he takes it out from behind, seeing the pieces sparkle with liveliness. Then, his eyes lit up. Rutile had gotten perfect gem rolls for him. He picks them up and pushes in each piece into his hollow torso. Slowly but surely, he felt his chest fill up.

The tips of his fingers finally push the last one in and a sense of life floods through him. As alive as he could get, anyway.

He focuses in on the moons and that's when he noticed. Whenever Padparadscha awoke, there would be a Lunarian attack because the gems would be pre-occupied with him and concentrated near the open window of the lab. Their chatters and the sparkles their hair would naturally produce motivated many of the people from the moon to come in droves. Yet.. it was too quiet. 

The moons sparkled of many different bejeweled colours. Jade and phosphophyllite and diamond and..

"..Rutile?"

The silence swirls around him like a never-ending storm as he slowly sits with a realization. In the sparkles of one of the moons, he sees a distinct gold-brown twinkle.

I'm so sorry, Rutile. I couldn't be your partner one last time.

Chapter Text

Trailing up her pale figure, on her arms, over her shoulders, spotting her neck and peppering over her face were his soft and gentle kisses. Goosebumps rolled over almost every part of her body as he does this and she tries to think of how this came to be. One second, they were eating dinner at the dining room with Jing Yuan and then the next, Yanqing tells his father that he'd be going to bed soon, runs off with Clara in hand and bundles them up in a blanket. For a while after that rush of events, he just talks to her in whispers, coming out like an excited child's blabbering. Yet the temperature beneath the blankets rise with each minute that passes and soon..

"Clara, you're so pretty," Yanqing croons, kissing her cheeks, alternating like he can't get enough of either side of her plush little face. "Have I told you how pretty you are?"

"You h- have, multiple times now, actually..!" Clara's sputtered words stop in their tracks when he gently rests his thumb on the center of her lips.

"And I'll continue doing so because Aeons, you are so, so pretty," He pecks the corner of her lips and mumbles, "So pretty I could cry. I already have once, haven't I?"

It's a silly memory however she remembers it clear as day, when Yanqing took her as a plus-one to a dinner party that Jing Yuan held. She wanted to look really good so she took the advice of Natasha and Hook.. which may have been the most contradicting choice she had made in her childhood years. That aside, they helped in dressing her, and in turn, they also indirectly made him cry at the sight of her. It's fresh in her head, the way he stuffed his face into his hands and started wailing.

So she nods to his question, tapping at his hand so he would know to let her speak. He slips his thumb back to her cheek and stares at her expectantly.

"You looked prettier than me when you cried," Clara teased gently. Yanqing's not sure how that's possible, how she could look at him with such fondness and that smile that reminds him of a warm hug.. and still tease him like that.

"Can't let you get ahead of me like that, prettiest person ever," He chuckles and kisses her forehead a few times. 

Clara could quite literally melt away right now. Each kiss of his sparks light in her heart, making her feel dizzy and airy, delirious and hot, and oh, she feels so loved. 

"Then you're my prettiest sword enthusiast," She says on a whim, feeling heat bloom in her cheeks when she realizes how forward that was.

"You have other pretty sword enthusiasts?" He pouts playfully.

She just can't take it anymore. Taking his cheeks in her hands, she pulls him toward her, finally closing in that space between them and kissing him. He nearly lets out a pitchy peep but smiles against her lips when he fully takes the moment in.

"I don't. I love you too much to do that," She murmurs hastily when she pulls him away for air.

"I love you too, Clara."

In their own little world, the young couple fails to take note of a small creaking noise from the bedroom door. Jing Yuan sees the moving bundle beneath the sheets and chuckles to himself before closing the door again and making his way to his own bed. He was going to say good night to them, but they'd certainly make their night good on their own without him wishing them.

Chapter Text

Jing Yuan is a rather old man. One who has seen many a world and formidable foe crumble before him like dust, one whose been through three different levels of hell and back, one who oversees a whole flagship of the Xianzhou Alliance. A rather old and somewhat unfortunate man. He's weighed by work everyday and has no room to fail for a vast number of people's lives are resting within his palms.

But at this moment, what lies between his palms is the feeling of soft fabric.

"Oughh.."

Specifically, a blonde baby boy's blue jumper. They said his name was Yanqing. Cooing and grabbing at the air, he was laid in a comfortable little basket in front of the Seat of Foresight. He was a rather young infant, no one who laid eyes on him would even think he was a year old. Half a year at best maybe. 

"Augh.. ouhh.."

He croons in Jing Yuan's hands, grabbing curiously at the man's thumb and then.. just getting straight to work by gnawing on it. This little guy had a bit of spunk to him, huh? Well, he understands that most babies are peculiar in their own ways.. something which clearly backfired on this one. 

A few days later after he had made sure to announce to the Seat of Foresight's staff that a child had been abandoned, Jing Yuan was informed of the mystery behind Yanqing's.. biological caretakers. The two who were to take care of him by birthright disappeared as they had a child on a whim and didn't wish to take responsibility for it.

It pained him to even use the word parents for those people. He looks at this sweet infant, who's busy sucking away on his thumb, and he wonders why anyone would do such a thing. To just abandon a life to people who you've never met before. Jing Yuan holds the child close to his chest and kisses the top of his head, rubbing his back.

"Don't worry, little one. You'll flourish far away from the two who dared to call you son in the past."