｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

“Why are you handling so many matters?” Cale groaned loudly as he collapsed into the seat next to yours, eyes closing as his head lolled back against the back of his seat. 

After running around all morning, there was finally time to catch a break - and it only happened because he insisted on resting. 

He shouldn’t have cancelled his meetings. Had he gritted his teeth and stuck to his duties, sacrificing a few brain cells to boredom would be much better than this full body ache he’s experiencing now. 

“These are well within the range of duties I’m expected to handle as the future head of the household.” You sipped your tea delicately even as he gave you his most unimpressed look.

“You’re overworked.” He frowned, running his free hand over his face.

From reviewing mountains of documents, solving taxation disputes, organising merchant lists and supervising guard drills, you even had time to fit in a house visit in between all of that!

“It’s just work that’s been piled up because I haven’t been back for a while.” Not when you’ve been too busy following Cale around, foiling terrorist plans and saving the kingdom.

“It’s not that bad,” you defended as you set your teacup down. “I quite enjoy it.”

The look he gave you was like you’d cursed out his whole family.

“These are also things you’d be doing in the future as the successor to the Duke-“

“What nonsense.” He interrupted sharply as he sat up, placing a cookie he grabbed from the table into your mouth to halt your words. “Basen’s more suited to be the successor of the household, I’m just trash who’d very much like to retire to the countryside and enjoy a slacker life.” 

He didn’t like the look you gave him. It was that same pitying look where it was clear you understood every word that came from his lips but believed none of it. Thankfully you chose to nibble on your snack quietly instead of jinxing him.

Cale sighed, “At least it’s over.”

He caught the guilty shift of your eyes and suddenly felt, much, much worse.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

The crickets have started singing their second verses by the time he returned to your shared room, him finding the bed immediately to collapse face first into the soft material as his relieved sigh was muffled by the blankets. 

“Thank you, Cale.” He heard you approach from behind, the magic spell having worn off just moments before. 

Exhaustion couldn’t even begin to describe the weariness that weighed his body. Still he turned his head to the side to watch as you began shedding off your uniform and followed along when you beckoned him closer to help him as well.

There were many complaints resting at the back of his throat as your fingers worked the coat from his shoulders- you being severely overworked being one of the more pressing one, but when you pressed a grateful kiss against the corner of his lips and he noted the same fatigue reflected in your eyes, he decided the rant could come later.

An hour later found Cale staring balefully at the ceiling to the sound of your soft breathing. Despite the exhaustion he felt after running around all day, sleep continued to elude him, the growing sense of dissatisfaction curling in his chest. 

That’s it.

He sat up abruptly with a frown and got out of bed, threw on a coat and grabbed a candle.

He flinched away from the cold of the doorknob and he glanced down at his open palm with some confusion. How weird, he glanced back towards the bed where you slept peacefully. To think he’d begin to miss the warmth of your hand in his already. 

Cale flexed his fingers experimentally before quietly sliding out of the room.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

-THE NEXT DAY-

“..What did you say?”

“Y-your meetings, there aren’t any today...”

“That can’t be possible,” you spluttered, perplexed as you stood at the door to your office.

Your secretary looked pale, “But the Young Master came last night to tell us that you wish to cancel all meetings for the next three days and that the vassal lords will handle the res-“

I'll explain the background because I think it's the best example :)

So there are 3 main parts for this effect. The effect, the color, and the base layer. Here I put them in a folder (background). The effect layer (comic book texture) goes on the very top and has the same settings as above (hard mix photoshop). The color layers (paint layers) are the individual colors for the art. Each color should have it’s own layer, and each layer should be set to “multiply”. All of the layers above the base layer should be set to alpha-inheritance (the symbol on the right that looks cross between an "a" and "x") so the comic book overlay doesn't show up where there is no color. The base layer is set to "normal" and determines where the above layers are able to be seen.

After that, you can move around the individual paint layers a bit to get the poor registration look like below. Because the layers are set to multiply, it will show where they overlap!

To make the black look gritty like above I do something similar over the lineart. I put the pattern "default paper effect" over the inks/lineart and set it to "grain merge" or "grain extract" (doesn't make much of a difference). Set it to alpha-inheritance so it only shows up on the lineart.

To get the paper effect, I put the following texture over the whole piece and set it to multiply.