#if you didn't read the original fic she got drunk after realizing she's probably been tempered this whole time

[akirakirxaa]

14. Rubbing your partner's back until they fall asleep

Slams hand down on the WoL x Emet button

This is a continuation drabble based on my fic Unwound because now I have the brainworms. The fic can be found here. More info in the tags.

Akira lay on her stomach, face pressed into her pillow as if trying to hide from the decision she had made with full faculties, with no drink to blame. She could hear the voices of everyone she cared about asking her what was she thinking? And yet, she didn't want to take it back. She just more wished the situation was different. That she wasn't who she was and he wasn't who he was.

"A bit late for second thoughts don't you think, Hero?" Emet-Selch's hand ran up and down her back, fingers lightly tracing along each obsidian scale. If she could just get rid of this guilt, it would probably lull her to sleep. She lifted one arm and pressed her index finger over his mouth, still not looking up.

"Stop talking," she grumbled into her pillow, and she felt him pull away from her.

"Well, if you want me to go-" Her hand snapped to his wrist without her full permission, as if now that she'd admitted to herself that she wanted him she was going to keep him right where she wanted him. He resumed his ministrations with a small huff of laughter, so quiet she almost missed it.

"I'm getting mixed signals, Hero."

"So am I." The noise he made was louder this time, a scoff of protest.

"I have been very clear-"

"Not from you." He was quiet for several moments and she sighed, knowing he was waiting for her to explain. Even though she knew he knew. He had to know, right? She pointed at her still hidden face as her explanation.

"Ah. You're still not sure what it is you want." She could hear the smirk in his voice.

"No. Just not sure I should want it." Akira curled her arms under the pillow, the soft material giving under her horns. She could feel some threads catching but she'd long since gotten past feeling bad over every pillow her horns ruined. He gave a long suffering sigh and, before she could protest, hauled her by arm and leg over him until she draped across his torso, her head nestled into the crook between his neck and shoulder. The tip of one horn was not even an ilm from his throat, but if it bothered him he didn't show it.

"What're you doing?" she asked cautiously, still tense at the sudden movement.

"You don't want me to leave, so I was planning on getting some sleep if you don't mind," the words sounded irritated, but his hand had resumed its gentle rubbing of her back, not put off in the least by the body she still regarded at times as strange and unfamiliar. She wondered if he was trying to lull her into a false sense of security. As if he could read her mind, he let out another sigh.

"I'm not going to kill you in the night," he insisted. "I said I wanted cooperation and I meant it."

"Somehow I don't think this is what you originally meant."

"Besides," he continued, as if he didn't hear her. "You deserve to know when your death is coming for you." Akira was quiet for several long moments. What a strange compliment, but it did feel like one. Still uncertain, she leaned on her Echo senses. They were never wrong, and while in the midst of battle she might miss their signs, when it was quiet and she was still, she could hear them clearly.

Nothing. No looming danger. He was telling the truth. She was still loath to sleep while someone she knew for a fact would prefer her dead or at least gone was still in her bed, but asking him to leave felt even worse. She swallowed hard, then tried to relax, finding it somehow far too easy now that she'd established even with her preternatural danger senses that she was safe.

"Emet-Selch?"

"Hm?"

"Goodnight," she mumbled quietly, feeling her face heat just slightly as she adjusted just a little, just enough to assure herself she wasn't going to accidentally stab him with her horn in the night.

"Sweet dreams, Hero," he replied, and she could hear the slight smile in his voice, the softness that crept in occasionally when his guard fell ever so slightly.

Akira closed her eyes, letting her lose herself in the small circles he was now rubbing into her back, and as she was drifting off she could hear him humming something. It was just this side of familiar, like something she'd heard long ago, something she'd forgotten. But she was too far gone now.

Sleep claimed her, dragging her under to gentle touches and quiet songs sung by her enemy.

#oc: akira kirxaa #my fanfiction #if you didn't read the original fic she got drunk after realizing she's probably been tempered this whole time #and while she was drunk she asked emet-selch to stay the night #he refused because she was drunk but brought it back up later #i skipped that part here because i didn't want it to get too long since it's an ask prompt #i may expand this into a full second chapter i haven't decided #originally i didn't canonically have them actually get together in shb but you know what why not #it's my headcanon if i want her to bang the bangable villain then that's what i'm having her do #obv the song he's humming is neath dark waters #just in case there was doubt #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv #wol x emet selch #wolemet #shadowbringers #ask response #ship: the bitter truth #emetwol

[heich0e]

BACKGROUNDER - the one that got away!kuroo

note: hello!! if you're seeing this post, you probably clicked through from this fic, and if not... well that's ur own journey <3 this is a collection of posts from my #the one that got away!kuroo universe, which offer context to the main story but aren't strictly necessary—like... further readings, i guess. i contemplated how best to direct people here, and in order for you to most easily access this info, i settled for this post!! under the cut are all of the asks/text posts that ultimately culminated in the full fic, arranged in chronological order for your viewing convenience:

original text post: not to kill the vibe but kuroo tetsuro does give me big 'guy who isn't ready for marriage but then gets married to the first girlfriend he has after the two of you break up' energy for reasons i cannot quite put my finger on

> n to rub salt into the wound, you thought for sure you and kuroo would marry

you didn't think the breakup would stick. you always thought—or hoped, maybe—that the two of you would find your way back to each other when the time was right. but not even two years later (which feels so SOON, even though it isn't really) you see that he's engaged to a girl—a perfectly nice, normal girl, that you can't even bring yourself to hate because you know all too well what it's like to be in love with tetsuro. know what it's like to want a future with him. and you can't blame her for it, even if you resent her for being the one who gets it.

> after the wedding who do you go with? are you drunk out of your mind

you aren't invited. that stings. but you think it might have been worse if you did end up getting one of those beautiful, unnecessarily elaborate invitations in the mail. 

you run into kuroo a few months before the ceremony at a mutual friend's birthday party. end up talking. the wedding comes up accidentally more than anything—maybe someone else mentions it, maybe you ask, maybe he tells you like he's repenting for a sin he didn't commit—and he stumbles through an unbearably awkward explanation (that he doesn't even owe you) as to why you weren't invited. but you know even if he says it in nicer, easier to swallow words, gilded with white lies: it would be weird. it would be wrong. it wouldn't be fair to anyone. not to him, or to you, or to her.

you get drunk the night of the wedding and hook up with the guy you've been fucking for the past few months, who you're pretty sure doesn't even know what you do for work even though you've told him multiple times. all your friends are dressed up and celebrating, and you're throwing up in the hotel bathroom by 2am while the guy sleeps in the bed a room away—completely, blissfully unaware of what's happening on the other side of the wall, let alone at a glittering venue across town.

you envy him for it.

> does kuroo still love reader? does he love her?

he does still love reader AND love his fiance too. maybe in different ways. maybe his love for reader is like guilt. maybe his love for his soon-to-be wife is more like atonement. i don't think it took kuroo very long to realize what he did to you was, well, sort of cruel. i think he regrets it deeply and thinks about it often. in a fucked up sort of way it makes him better to his new partner, because he doesn't want to hurt someone like that again because of his own immaturity. it's unfortunate, but it's like she gets to reap all the benefits of the growth he experiences at your expense.

> Will it ever get better for you after kuroos wedding

of course it will. that's the really weird thing about heartbreak: life just keeps going. you feel like your heart has been cleaved out of your chest, but then you just... go to work. you do your laundry. you read a new book that becomes an all time favourite. you spend time with your friends and family. you go on dates. you learn all the lyrics to new songs. you celebrate holidays and birthdays. and one day you realize it's been years and you're in a totally different part of your life now, and the boy you thought would one day be holding your hand on your deathbed doesn't even know what the inside of your new apartment looks like. and you don't know what his looks like, either. and it's still sad, and hard sometimes, but all you can do is keep going. keep trying to find new happiness even if it's not the one you wanted. and hope that somewhere out there he has a new favourite book too. 

> think of Kai who was secretly pining for you during your relationship with Kuroo. Yet, he still doesn't have it in him to confess his feelings. So, he does the next best thing: he becomes your booty call. But when you slip during one of your hook-ups--when you moan Kuroo's name--he realizes it would never work out between the two of you. Your heart is so full of Kuroo that there's no room for him.

kuroo is so beloved by the people around him that i don't think there's a friend in his life who would EVER betray him like that—even if they did have feelings for you. even more than that, a lot of the friends that he introduced you to during your relationship (who you got close to) seem to grow distant after the breakup. even though it was his fault, really. even though you were their friend too. they just seem to naturally gravitate back to him, like belongings that are divvied up after a divorce. and there's no hard feelings. they don't dislike you, or even do it consciously, it just... happens.

you do definitely call out tetsuro's name when you're hooking up with other people though. it never ends well.

> sorry if u’ve already answered this but how long did kuroo and reader date?

they met in high school, and always had little crushes on each other but it never went anywhere. kuroo FINALLY confessed at graduation (he tried to be rly smooth like the shoujo protag he isn't and almost botched it) and they started dating at 18. they dated for a little over 5 years. broke up at 23. kuroo stayed single for a while before he started dating his (eventual) wife, and they got married at around 26. reader moved away from Tokyo when she was 28-29. and reader and kuroo are both in their mid-to-late 30s when the fic opens!!

#totga!kuroo #btw if you're seeing this rn the fic is not posted yet LMAO