#apparently the running theme rn is...baskets?

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

Prompt 4 + Genyalina

4. Kissing in the rain and getting soaked before running inside laughing

(AU where Genya leaves with Alina in the first part of S&S, and set somewhere towards the end of that book)

***

“The Sun Summoner requires some time alone,” Genya says grandly. Shooing off all the squabbling Grisha that seem to follow Alina everywhere these days. She’s holding a basket as they walk away from the Little Palace. Alina is a little terrified of what she could possibly be up to.

“I do?” Alina asks her once they’re finally alone. From a distance, Zoya throws them a stormy glance over her shoulder as she walks away. The others hadn’t needed much convincing to leave, but Zoya seemed positively offended.

“Oh yes.” Genya gives her a brilliant smile, her face lighting up with it. She leads them down to the lake, beyond the gravel path, and picks a spot, not exactly secluded but also unlikely for them to run into anyone. “You require lunch and a break from all the nonsense. I swear, they all bicker like old women.”

“It’s incessant.”

It turns out the basket is not terrifying at all. It’s filled with chilled wine, okroshka in a vacuum flask, tea sandwiches, slices of poppy seed cakes, and little pies. Alina immediately goes for a sweet pirozhki. Breakfast at the Little Palace may not include pickled herring anymore, but it’s still too much fish for her taste. This is a very welcome change.

They talk easily as they eat. It is nice to have a break, nicer still not to worry about if she’s playing her part correctly, or what people thought of her. Alina realizes that haven’t really spoken like this since they were aboard the Volkvolny. There simply hasn’t been the time.

Genya groans as they hear a roll of thunder. “I don’t know how, but I’m blaming Zoya for this.”

Alina laughs. “It’s looked like rain all day.”

The expression on Genya’s face when the first drop lands on her cheek is comical. She lowers the lid on picnic basket with a sigh.

Alina thinks she sees a movement from the corner of her eye. A flicker of darkness, maybe just a shadow. It’d most likely nothing, or so she tells herself. But she freezes anyway, heart stuttering. She doesn’t hear Genya’s reply.

“Alina?”

She looks around. There’s no one there. She takes a deep breath and tries to steady herself. But even so, the shadows cast by the silhouette of the woods around them have taken on a menacing air. The initial sprinkling of rain is quickly giving way to an outpour.

Genya reaches for her hand, and for a brief moment Alina realizes she’s expecting the rush of surety when she touches the Darkling, or that jolt she’d felt with Mal. But there is none, and she is startled by a sense of relief so intense she thinks she might cry.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes… No.” She shakes her head. “I’m not sure.”

“You can tell me, you know, whenever you’re ready.” Genya is looking at her intently. Concern written plainly on her beautiful face. There had been some strain between them in the first few days they’d returned to Os Alta. But Alina is so grateful to have her there now, even if her own sanity may or may not be slipping.

“Okay.” She gave Genya’s hand a light squeeze.

“But that goes for you too.”

Genya bites her lip, then looks away for a moment. When she turns back, it’s with her usual smile. “You’re drenched. You should let me do something with about your hair.”

“What if I like looking like a drowned cat?”

“What if I gave you purple spots in your sleep?” she replied sweetly.

Alina surprises them both and kisses her. It’s a brief, breathless thing.

Genya gives a scandalized little laugh. “Alina.”

But before she can blush or really process what she just did, Genya takes her face and kisses her again, longer this time, more certain. There's another crackle of thunder but Alina doesn’t care.

“It took you long enough. I thought you were going to wait until you’re old and grey to admit anything.”

“Not ‘we’?”

“Of course not! I’d never let my hair go grey,” Genya replies with exaggerated haughtiness before dissolving into laughter.

Alina shakes her heard, but she cannot suppress a silly smile. “Let’s go inside.”

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#grishaverse #alina starkov #genya safin #genyalina #shadow and bone #siege and storm #the grisha trilogy #apparently the running theme rn is...baskets? #the kotogil drabble also featured one lmao #ship prompts #prompt games #ask games #i ramble sometimes #all the bendy punctuations #*writer's cap* #a string of words