#jhu lin: }:) “sit down honey...”

[moonsugar-and-spice]

🔺Ok Lu Da you know we have to ask: are you or have you at any point been in love with Ta Ming?

7/10. You have flustered the Pirate King.

He coughs in an attempt to mask the odd laugh that rises in his throat, dropping a grin to the table that tightens by degrees. 

“I, uh...” It’s a rare picture, the pirate’s usually quick wit abandoning him as the words stumble to arrange themselves into something intelligible. Lu Da runs a hand through his mohawk, disheveling it further, as if the gesture might help him gather his thoughts.

“I care for her a hell of a lot, there’s no denying that,” he begins again, regaining some of his bearings. “Which is a little funny, ‘cause back at the start it’s fair to say neither of us wanted much to do with the other, or knew what to make of ‘em. I mean, oil and water, right? Who’d have thought we’d ever be friends, close friends at that—”

“Real close,” mutters Marik from where he leans cross-armed against the wall. Lu Da shoots him a brotherly look of shutuppery.

“It was well-earned, but we have a connection,” he continues, “mutual trust, we’ve been through a lot together, and I admire her, respect her. Ta Ming’s strong, unwaveringly loyal and disciplined, so fiercely self-sufficient. May take a lot to rile her, but she’s a woman you do not wanna cross—ask me how I know,” he adds.

His mouth crooks up wryly before softening again as he hesitates, brow furrowing.

“Sometimes, I catch myself thinking, what if we’d never met? Winding it all back in my head, all the pieces that had to line up, and if just one thing, one mistake, one choice had been different…”

A tenuous silence settles, punctuated by the drumming of the pirates fingers, his gaze anchored to the table.

“There’ve been moments,” he proceeds, as if stepping out onto ice, cautious, questing, “when it feels like... teetering on the top of a high cliff, when we’re together and I get this lurch and I know I’m looking at her too long, and the only reason I look away is so I don’t do something stupid and send us over the wrong edge. We’ve seen each other at our best, and our worst. She’s been there for me, seen the good and the bad, accepted it all, and never once has made me feel like I...” He pauses again, sighs through his nose. “All I know is she fascinates me, challenges me, and whenever I’m with her, having her at my side, it feels… right, somehow... like coming home.” 

A curtain seems to lift in the parting of his lips, in his drifting gaze, a rawness when his voice emerges again, as if he has found himself holding something startling and precious. “Fuck, is this what it feels like to—”

Marik clears his throat, quick but quiet. "Cheers to your epiphany, I'd say you're the last one to know, but..." He nods his chin to somewhere close behind, where the air shifts, the previously closed door having sighed open to encroaching conversation.

Lu Da’s gaze snaps askance and back, the question low on his breath. “Do not tell me she’s…”

A furtive nod. “Just walked in.”

Amended: 10/10, a kaleidoscope of panic and co-morbidities flickering behind his eyes.

Lu Da almost risks a glimpse over his shoulder. Instead, he rubs his palms down his pants and leans forward, burly arms folding against the table. “She hear any of that?”

Marik shrugs. “Nothing Jhu Lin hasn't probably already implied.”

“Hilarious.”

The small wave of voices and laughter swells as they grow closer. He catches his nickname.

Shifting in his seat, Lu Da makes a discreet slicing motion in front of his throat with a drawn grin and mutters, “Uhh, yeah, next question.”

Send a △ and ask my character(s) a really invasive question.

#i'll take italicized oh for 500 alex #and then ta ming sits down next to him and wonders if he's feeling all right #places a hand to his forehead: “are you ill? you're quite flushed.” #tiny headcanon that after such an epiphany suddenly he's not being flirty with/around her anymore because Oh No #and one day she starts to notice #ta ming: “lu da's been acting weird.” #jhu lin: }:) “sit down honey...” #invasive character asks #oc shenanigans #lu da #ta ming #tada ✨ #oc ask game #for the record it's not that he wouldn't tell her or want her to know if he was #(i mean he might not) #but if he did he'd prefer it be on his terms (even if that might not end up being the most opportune of moments) #heh please lu da don't wait until the last goodbye #thanks for the ask!