Fic: Queen's Thief & KHR
For the fic meme where people request a ship and a location for them to kiss.
ojuzu: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! - Chrome/Xanxus, Kokuyo Land
PG; TYL, post-Millefiore arc.
Heavy footsteps sounded up the stairs - familiar ones, too close to head off.
Chrome scrambled to her feet and away from the niche in the wall. She was as suddenly, acutely awkward as she'd been when she first moved to this place as a near-nothing scrap of girl. It came back easily. She nearly dropped the bag she held, and as last resort went very still.
Xanxus cast a shadow as he stepped into the doorway, shifted as he took a look around, and said with a scoff, "How long is this going to take?"
He wasn't supposed to be here.
The wide-open room, empty of furniture; crumbling, mildewed walls; corners kitted out with old, torn clothes and bedding; stolen and broken scraps everywhere. Chrome had it mapped in her mind as her first home, and knew exactly what visitors saw of Kokuyo Land.
She wasn't ashamed of it. This was hers, Ken's, Chikusa's, Mukuro's. And every friend she'd ever brought here had looked around and made her squirm with that hot, bone-deep, familiar feeling that said they did not belong here, and perhaps she belonged nowhere else. She'd told the others she was coming here - Gokudera still behaved as if he expected her to disappear for another few years - but she hadn't wanted it to be an invitation.
The panic was enough to let her forget for a second how Xanxus was.
"Chrome. How long are you going to be?" he said, impatient in the most ordinary way. He didn't sound shocked by anything - someone would have researched Kokuyo Land for him, Mammon or Squalo - and when she had the courage to look into his face again, he didn't care. Of course.
Of course. She took a deep breath and smiled at him (and then she smiled a little wider at his vague suspicion, as always). If Xanxus stood in the Varia castle he would look the same as he did now. He wasn't immune to what Kokuyo Land lacked, but what mattered was that he was here: everything became backdrop to that. He glared at her in demand of an answer, and that meant he thought of the surroundings as backdrop to her as well.
"I need to check a few more things," Chrome said.
He made a snarling sound but stayed amenable, striding into the room to the couch. He stamped a foot on the seat of the couch and eyed it. "There aren't any bugs here," Chrome called over to him. "Mukuro-sama scared them away."
Xanxus stared back at her as if he didn't care, entirely obvious about wondering how the hell Mukuro could have done that. Chrome turned away with a sigh and a quirk at the corner of her mouth; Chikusa always was the only one to realise she had a sense of humour.
She worked with care, settling into the surprising peace in the atmosphere as she worked her way through the top floor rooms. She couldn't thank Xanxus, not for a look - he'd be so dismissive he wouldn't notice any sincerity. MM always said that Chrome didn't know what to do with a man but tell him thank you.
The building had changed little in the absence of their gang. Not much new graffiti, no signs homeless people moving in. The reputation they'd left behind had held up these past four years when they'd mostly been away - and it probably helped that the building was collapsing.
Most of the stashes that she remembered were in place. Under loose floorboards and behind stacks of old furniture, Chrome dug up money in various denominations, two switchblades and packets of normal bullets, sewing utensils and gum (she put those back), and what she really wanted: the extras left over from the Estraneo experiments. The device that drove away bugs (or called them - Mukuro said that option was surprisingly useful) was one of a handful that the others had grabbed from the labs.
Then and now they'd tended to stick to the weapons they had been made to suit - eye, yoyos, animal channels - but Chrome was more willing to use the other devices. They were usually willing to look the other way, despite the old memories. There were any number of useful little things to employ against the remnants of the Millefiore army. She left canned and dried food in return, a small, loaded pistol, and topped up the money in yen.
Chrome came back to the room where Xanxus was reclining on the couch. His eyes went to her half-filled bag, the flicker of curiosity difficult to see behind the certainty that nothing in there could hurt him. He'd want to take a look at the loot, but he wouldn't ask. "That's it?"
"One more thing."
She fit into him and he fit back into the couch, kicking one leg onto the seat to give her the space to push closer, kiss deeper. More than only gratefulness, it was good to have him in her first home, and to have him. Pleased with the realisation, Chrome relaxed when Xanxus pulled away.
"Squalo made a dinner reservation," he said, because he always did have his priorities. Also, Lussuria complained a lot when Chrome skipped meals. "Last chance for something halfway decent before we work."
He would have stayed with her if she said she'd like to, there in her first home, and he would have treated it the same as a castle. So she was happy to take him by the hand and coax him up and leave together.
thelovemafia: Queen's Thief - Gen/Costis, unspecified location
PG; sort of miscellaneously set after Queen of Attolia.
"Another option is the conspiracy room. You know, that little one with no obvious place to overhear people." The king waved a hand in a general direction, not really appearing to care whether Costis knew where doom would descend.
"But others might have discovered that it has less obvious places to listen from. We could try that broad beam across the great hall. People so rarely look up, and your balance is much improved."
On the contrary, Costis's balance currently told him that he and the room were swaying in opposite directions, though in fact he sat on a sturdy chair and was dedicating himself to staying immobile, so that the king might forget he existed.
"There are quiet corners in the stables," the king said, rather mournfully. "The downside is that there are horses."
Costis should have known to expect the worst as soon as the king had described his intention of having 'a quiet lunch'. Eugenides didn't believe in quiet, generally, and these days he liked to keep it at bay with a new favourite game: Discussing frankly the places where he and Costis could kiss.
"Why do things by halves? I am king. We could stand before a company of guards, and I could say it was a symbol of my devotion to my loyal subjects. Surely it would invigorate them. Probably to run away from me."
"Is that a threat?" Costis knew that he'd gone pale but felt no shame. The king would do that. He would kiss Costis in front of an entire company. Costis would not survive it, quite apart from how the guards would react, or all the gods of all the peoples forbid, what his queen would do.
At least the king did not look pleased, though he didn't look nearly disturbed enough. "It's not that bad, Costis." It was, of course, and a smile flickered across his face. "Not in all possible ways."
There was no protocol for this, and Costis did not bother thinking of any. He did think about the fact that the king had insisted on quiet and that they were alone in his chamber - about the very pointed ways that the queen looked at him and then very particularly ignored him - and prior to sitting, the king had checked the hideaways and passages in the room, disappearing behind corners and wall hangings with a sense of the ostentatious. Here and now they were as alone as they could hope to be.
"It's a promise, then," Costis said. His mouth was dry enough to mumble away any trace of hope.
Eugenides shook his head, the motion over sharp. His voice was easy, though, when he said, "Call it a declaration of intent."
The act of leaning over the table was awkward; the king half-stood and balanced on his hand, the hook not lending much support and tick-ticking resoundingly on the wood. It was unreal and awful, the worst part being the idea that after all this talking the king would not quite reach and they would not quite kiss. If he hovered there and teased-- So Costis leaned forwards in his chair and stopped breathing for a few warm seconds.
Eugenides moved away as if trying very hard to give the appearance that nothing had happened.
"After all," he said. "If I made a promise, you would expect it to be kept. I have to be more circumspect."
Costis knew he should laugh, probably - it was like one of those court jokes that weren't funny and ought to get a light and quick response. "I can," was what he said. "I can make promises."
"You would," Eugenides said in a wavering groan, as dizzy-looking as Costis no longer felt.
The world was quietly undisturbed by whatever might have come to pass in the king's private chambers. He stood and stooped over the table, watching from the corner of his vision as relief flooded the king's face, and then he was too close. He amended that: Close enough.
ojuzu: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! - Chrome/Xanxus, Kokuyo Land
PG; TYL, post-Millefiore arc.
Heavy footsteps sounded up the stairs - familiar ones, too close to head off.
Chrome scrambled to her feet and away from the niche in the wall. She was as suddenly, acutely awkward as she'd been when she first moved to this place as a near-nothing scrap of girl. It came back easily. She nearly dropped the bag she held, and as last resort went very still.
Xanxus cast a shadow as he stepped into the doorway, shifted as he took a look around, and said with a scoff, "How long is this going to take?"
He wasn't supposed to be here.
The wide-open room, empty of furniture; crumbling, mildewed walls; corners kitted out with old, torn clothes and bedding; stolen and broken scraps everywhere. Chrome had it mapped in her mind as her first home, and knew exactly what visitors saw of Kokuyo Land.
She wasn't ashamed of it. This was hers, Ken's, Chikusa's, Mukuro's. And every friend she'd ever brought here had looked around and made her squirm with that hot, bone-deep, familiar feeling that said they did not belong here, and perhaps she belonged nowhere else. She'd told the others she was coming here - Gokudera still behaved as if he expected her to disappear for another few years - but she hadn't wanted it to be an invitation.
The panic was enough to let her forget for a second how Xanxus was.
"Chrome. How long are you going to be?" he said, impatient in the most ordinary way. He didn't sound shocked by anything - someone would have researched Kokuyo Land for him, Mammon or Squalo - and when she had the courage to look into his face again, he didn't care. Of course.
Of course. She took a deep breath and smiled at him (and then she smiled a little wider at his vague suspicion, as always). If Xanxus stood in the Varia castle he would look the same as he did now. He wasn't immune to what Kokuyo Land lacked, but what mattered was that he was here: everything became backdrop to that. He glared at her in demand of an answer, and that meant he thought of the surroundings as backdrop to her as well.
"I need to check a few more things," Chrome said.
He made a snarling sound but stayed amenable, striding into the room to the couch. He stamped a foot on the seat of the couch and eyed it. "There aren't any bugs here," Chrome called over to him. "Mukuro-sama scared them away."
Xanxus stared back at her as if he didn't care, entirely obvious about wondering how the hell Mukuro could have done that. Chrome turned away with a sigh and a quirk at the corner of her mouth; Chikusa always was the only one to realise she had a sense of humour.
She worked with care, settling into the surprising peace in the atmosphere as she worked her way through the top floor rooms. She couldn't thank Xanxus, not for a look - he'd be so dismissive he wouldn't notice any sincerity. MM always said that Chrome didn't know what to do with a man but tell him thank you.
The building had changed little in the absence of their gang. Not much new graffiti, no signs homeless people moving in. The reputation they'd left behind had held up these past four years when they'd mostly been away - and it probably helped that the building was collapsing.
Most of the stashes that she remembered were in place. Under loose floorboards and behind stacks of old furniture, Chrome dug up money in various denominations, two switchblades and packets of normal bullets, sewing utensils and gum (she put those back), and what she really wanted: the extras left over from the Estraneo experiments. The device that drove away bugs (or called them - Mukuro said that option was surprisingly useful) was one of a handful that the others had grabbed from the labs.
Then and now they'd tended to stick to the weapons they had been made to suit - eye, yoyos, animal channels - but Chrome was more willing to use the other devices. They were usually willing to look the other way, despite the old memories. There were any number of useful little things to employ against the remnants of the Millefiore army. She left canned and dried food in return, a small, loaded pistol, and topped up the money in yen.
Chrome came back to the room where Xanxus was reclining on the couch. His eyes went to her half-filled bag, the flicker of curiosity difficult to see behind the certainty that nothing in there could hurt him. He'd want to take a look at the loot, but he wouldn't ask. "That's it?"
"One more thing."
She fit into him and he fit back into the couch, kicking one leg onto the seat to give her the space to push closer, kiss deeper. More than only gratefulness, it was good to have him in her first home, and to have him. Pleased with the realisation, Chrome relaxed when Xanxus pulled away.
"Squalo made a dinner reservation," he said, because he always did have his priorities. Also, Lussuria complained a lot when Chrome skipped meals. "Last chance for something halfway decent before we work."
He would have stayed with her if she said she'd like to, there in her first home, and he would have treated it the same as a castle. So she was happy to take him by the hand and coax him up and leave together.
thelovemafia: Queen's Thief - Gen/Costis, unspecified location
PG; sort of miscellaneously set after Queen of Attolia.
"Another option is the conspiracy room. You know, that little one with no obvious place to overhear people." The king waved a hand in a general direction, not really appearing to care whether Costis knew where doom would descend.
"But others might have discovered that it has less obvious places to listen from. We could try that broad beam across the great hall. People so rarely look up, and your balance is much improved."
On the contrary, Costis's balance currently told him that he and the room were swaying in opposite directions, though in fact he sat on a sturdy chair and was dedicating himself to staying immobile, so that the king might forget he existed.
"There are quiet corners in the stables," the king said, rather mournfully. "The downside is that there are horses."
Costis should have known to expect the worst as soon as the king had described his intention of having 'a quiet lunch'. Eugenides didn't believe in quiet, generally, and these days he liked to keep it at bay with a new favourite game: Discussing frankly the places where he and Costis could kiss.
"Why do things by halves? I am king. We could stand before a company of guards, and I could say it was a symbol of my devotion to my loyal subjects. Surely it would invigorate them. Probably to run away from me."
"Is that a threat?" Costis knew that he'd gone pale but felt no shame. The king would do that. He would kiss Costis in front of an entire company. Costis would not survive it, quite apart from how the guards would react, or all the gods of all the peoples forbid, what his queen would do.
At least the king did not look pleased, though he didn't look nearly disturbed enough. "It's not that bad, Costis." It was, of course, and a smile flickered across his face. "Not in all possible ways."
There was no protocol for this, and Costis did not bother thinking of any. He did think about the fact that the king had insisted on quiet and that they were alone in his chamber - about the very pointed ways that the queen looked at him and then very particularly ignored him - and prior to sitting, the king had checked the hideaways and passages in the room, disappearing behind corners and wall hangings with a sense of the ostentatious. Here and now they were as alone as they could hope to be.
"It's a promise, then," Costis said. His mouth was dry enough to mumble away any trace of hope.
Eugenides shook his head, the motion over sharp. His voice was easy, though, when he said, "Call it a declaration of intent."
The act of leaning over the table was awkward; the king half-stood and balanced on his hand, the hook not lending much support and tick-ticking resoundingly on the wood. It was unreal and awful, the worst part being the idea that after all this talking the king would not quite reach and they would not quite kiss. If he hovered there and teased-- So Costis leaned forwards in his chair and stopped breathing for a few warm seconds.
Eugenides moved away as if trying very hard to give the appearance that nothing had happened.
"After all," he said. "If I made a promise, you would expect it to be kept. I have to be more circumspect."
Costis knew he should laugh, probably - it was like one of those court jokes that weren't funny and ought to get a light and quick response. "I can," was what he said. "I can make promises."
"You would," Eugenides said in a wavering groan, as dizzy-looking as Costis no longer felt.
The world was quietly undisturbed by whatever might have come to pass in the king's private chambers. He stood and stooped over the table, watching from the corner of his vision as relief flooded the king's face, and then he was too close. He amended that: Close enough.