#tsukimyo

@tsukimyo​:    silver comes running to sebek as fast as his seven year old legs can take him but his need for speed is his downfall & he trips over a rock he didn’t see prior. the child falls straight onto his face, laying there for a few seconds before standing upright and continuing to run to where sebek is standing with lilia. “look, sebek. i caught a fairy.” he murmurs, holding up his cupped hands to reveal a beetle instead. tsk, tsk, lilia. pranking the kids isn’t so nice, you know.

      UPON HEARING THE SOFT THUD of silver falling face first into the grass, sebek’s eyes widen, greatly concerned by the tumble especially when the other boy doesn’t get up right away. the six year old closes his book, brows furrowing as he takes a few steps closer to silver. however silver appears to be alright, having risen to his feet just after sebek started nearing him. 

      ❛    SILVER!    ❜  the boy cries out, his usually soft spoken voice rising in his own worry. ❛   you must be more careful. you’ll really hurt yourself if you’re reckless like that.    ❜  sebek’s voice is slightly higher in his own worry, a little more harsh to the ears but the soft concern in his youthful eyes makes up for it. he cares. he’s just not the best at expressing verbally.

whatever trance she is caught in snapped. the sound of his voice seeming to reach her. her head hurts , and her face is wet. she doesn't address him yet, reaching to touch her cheek and then her eyes. wet.

why is she crying? why is leona here? where is here? her head spins and she feels nauseous. she hasn't adjusted, she hasn't responded, only asking her self questions. when her vision focused she was looking at him, at the emerald of his eyes. she finds them beautiful, annoyingly so. leona was distractingly handsome. it was a shame he was insufferable.

graves almost puts up some type of resistance — almost, with his shoulders tensing and eyes remaining averted from faye’s expression in favor of remaining locked on his book. he doesn’t know what to do with this proximity or this sort of tenderness; he doesn’t even know when it started or if he likes it.

@tsukimyo​ asked a question:    silver lays on the stone ground with his breathing ragged, almost as if any second now he would draw in his very last. a hand, soiled by mortal blood rests on his chest whilst the other reaches out, shakily; the glove is lost and his hand is clean, cleaner than the rest of his body, and he reaches -- oh, how he reaches with his hand to grasp his father's own. "don't cry," silver whispers. but even so, his own voice trembles with the threat of a sob.

no. no, no no no!!

there is so much that wells up within lilia all at once upon seeing silver like this — upon seeing his son ( so young, so wonderful, so full of potential ) like this. red eyes widen in horror and fear, hands trembling as he carefully cradles silver’s head in his lap with one arm, his other hand finding the boy’s searching one. he smooths down his hair. he gently grips his hand.

there’s so much blood —

“ how could i not?? ” lilia asks, the words coming out choked through a sob. his mind races, breathing ragged; silver doesn’t die here. silver can’t die here. he’s too young. he has too much ahead of him.

lilia isn’t ready to say goodbye. not now. not like this. not when he’s in so much pain. ( it’s supposed to be bittersweet when he finally goes. it’s supposed to be painless, with a life well - lived behind him. he’s supposed to be able to smile peacefully in old age. he’s supposed to have seen the world first. )

protectively, the ancient fae curls over the too - young human, face burying in his chest as he cries out with a ragged, pained sound. as he cries, the magic gem in the pen cast onto the ground beside himself begins to steadily glow with the use of ancient magic.

i’m sorry. i’m sorry.

this is so far from how things were supposed to go. there’s so much he won’t experience. there’s so much he won’t be able to participate in. there’s so much he’ll miss out on.

there’s so much embedded in this desperate attempt at healing the boy’s wounds and saving his life, his hand moving from silver’s palm to his wrist to feel for his weakening pulse. it feels like an exhausting eternity, lilia’s sobs weakening with fatigue, and the glow of the gem and its forbidden magic weakens even as silver’s pulse strengthens.

— but you have a life to live, and i’ve already had so many.

They don’t have nightmares when he sleeps with them.

Sure, sometimes they still wake, and sometimes they even wake with tears pressing at their eyes and a gasp on their lips, but that’s not the same — they never wake up screaming, body sure it’s a half - step from death or worse.  Sometimes the dreams are unsettling, but his body, close to theirs, keeps the worst of the bad ones away.  They’re always grateful, and they’re getting better sleep now, ever since he’s started staying over, than they have in a long while.  They’re always grateful, and they love him so much.  They don’t think they could love him more, and yet every morning when they wake with him here, they fall a little deeper.

Which is probably why, even half asleep, Yuu whines softly when they feel him shift in their arms, gently untangling himself to get up.  They huff, eyes cracking open, but even then they’re smiling — never able to do anything else when he’s around.  They know that early mornings are routine for Heartslabyul, and so they resist the urge to drag him back to bed...they don’t particularly want to be the reason he gets collared, even if they’d rather cuddle a while longer.  So they just smile to themself and watch him move about the room, groggily getting ready for the day while Yuu watches from beneath the covers.

Yet, even as sleepy as they still are, they notice that he’s moving a little slower than he should be, and they notice the long glances he shoots them.  They’re too tired to put together just WHY until he groans — Yuu can picture his pout even before he turns back to face them — and says, “Don’t just watch me go, you fool.”

Yuu’s eyes widen, and then glitter with mirth — they reach for him with a laugh and, when he takes a few step closer, grasp his hand.  For a few heartbeats, they merely hold it, feeling his pulse when their thumb presses to the inside of his wrist.  Then, their grin widens, and Yuu pulls him hard until he stumbles and then falls back into the bed.  Yuu’s arms wrap snugly around his waist, holding tight, and not intending to let go this time around.  When Ace giggles, the sound makes them feel like singing.

“Riddle’s gonna be mad at you,” they mutter as he turns in their arms to face them.  They snuggle into his chest, face nuzzling into the juncture of his neck and shoulder.  He laughs softly, relaxing into their arms.  All they seem to do is laugh together.  Yuu’s eyes flutter closed, and they mutter against his collarbone as they drift off again, “But I don’t care.  You gave me permission to be selfish, okay?  So you can’t be mad at me when you get in trouble for this.”

❝ to think id ever get to meet his highness in person . . . what an honour. ❞ of course , while cove wasn't exactly lying , the octopus mer isn't one with the best intentions. his words were often only spoken for his own gain , a reality that had created a distance between himself and his dear brother — they were similar in that regard — cove had learned young that being a flatterer made laugh slightly easily , and being a flatterer who was smart , talented and fiercely attractive also helped.

truth is , cove has seen crown prince before. of course he had , he was the eventual king of his home. he'd laid eyes on him first during the annual festival their opposing schools held , the sighting had been brief , cove was one year his younger and had other duties as a dorm head to attend to at the time. so he couldn't waste the day fawnimg over princes.

not that this was fawning in the typical sense. cove is a natural actor , all sickeningly sweet words and devilishly practiced smiles. his face was beloved after all , he was an influencer and if his large following on magicam said anything , he was popular. still , he wasn't so arrogant not to mind his manners in front of a destined king.

❝ i hear many a tale of your beauty , but seeing you up close puts all those tales to shame... there's not a pearl in the ocean as radiant as you , no magical treasure as illustrious. no words ive heard can compare to seeing with my own two eyes , your highness. ❞

his voice smooth , song-like , and the flutter of his eyelashes too practiced to even appear fake. the fondness in his smile is well , fake , but only he knows that. the idle curl of cove's hair around his finger is like that of a lovesick girl. but cove doesn't hold such feelings for anyone. he laughs , loose and pretty and dips into a bow to respect his superior. the word is wretched. oh well. flirting with a crown prince is a story worth setting aside his pride for.

❝ please excuse my forwardness , im simply in awe. ❞

“Hey, hey, ouch!”  The whining is playful and clearly not meant — Raphael wouldn’t ever actually hurt him, and the yanking doesn’t hurt.  It does hurt, just a little, when he ruffles his hair and sits beside him — Russel feels the smile on his mouth want to fade and forces it to remain.  It’s getting easier.  There’s nothing underneath the masks anymore / maybe there never was, even before Dad died and things got bad, and he just never had any reason to notice it.  But no matter its genesis, the masks are easy now.  Raphael is playing big brother / golden boy / sometimes he fucking hates the golden boy / so Russel will play playful little brother opposite him.

Always like this.  Just molding himself into whatever role somebody else expects or wants.  With Raphael at least, it’s out of loyalty, not love - seeking.  there’s no point in trying for love with his family, after all.  like chasing bubbles.

“When’s Mom ever impressed with any of us?”  When she can bother to remember that any of them except he and Rielle even exist.  She forgets Russel the easiest, like everyone else.  He never really thought about being adopted when they were young — always felt as much Raphael’s brother as Rielle was, and vice versa.  But now...Mom never even looks at him when he isn’t chasing away suitors.  Why would she?  She’s got the crown prince to pay attention to, or squeaky wheel Rielle.  Not that their Mother is why he’s doing it — he cares even less about getting his mother’s love at this point than he does about gaining Raphael’s.  He grins, elbows his brother playfully, and says none of this.  “Maybe if you were better looking, they could be convinced to stick around, huh?”

To be honest, Russel doesn’t know why he’s doing it.  He’s always been strict in his belief that, no matter what relationships his flirting might ruin, he wouldn’t flirt with anyone that his brothers were seeing or anybody that they loved.  He still loves his family, for all he doesn’t know them.  But it feels different with Raphael.  He tells himself it’s just because Raph doesn’t care, because he doesn’t like the stupid suitor thing either — tells himself this is another way to be loyal to him, to be useful, saving him from having to reject anyone himself and earn their mother’s ire for it.  

“I mean, c’mon.  It’s not like you wanna be dating them, anyway.”  Russel leans back, arms raising so his hands can rest behind his head, against his head.

Russel tells himself it’s another way to be loyal to him, but he knows it isn’t.  He just doesn’t know what it is.  He’s spent so long convincing himself he doesn’t care that Raphael barely sees him, always focusing on Rielle first — blood is thicker than love, it feels like most days — and then on their other brothers second, so long assuring himself that he doesn’t need to be seen or loved that the true answer doesn’t even occur to him.

(  he barely sees me now / he barely cares about me now / what’s a suitor except one more person for him to love more? / what’s a suitor except one more person for me to lose him to? / i miss my brother.  )

“I’m pretty much doing you a favor.”