Evelyn catches Arapaima and Alex kissing in his room, and things spiraled from there.
Alex curled further into the couch, slumped against the arm and wrapped tightly in one of Arapaima's weighted blankets. The heaviness of it was slightly comforting, but the quiet of the house meant his thoughts were running rampant, and he had no distraction. Dusty whined and nudged Alex's leg again, having jumped the fence of his pen and followed Alex and Arapaima home. When Alex tried getting him to head back, to go home, Arapaima said he could come in. Silently Alex had been grateful, even if Dusty wasn't too much of a comfort right now. Sareng meowed from the back of the couch, peering down at Alex with her bright green eyes, and any other day Alex would have loved that she was choosing to hang around so close to him.
He heaved a sigh and tucked his head against his arm. Arapaima's phone had finally stopped ringing. Alex's had been left on silent, far out of his sight so he didn't have to see his grandparents try calling him.
They'd found out about him and Arapaima dating.
He'd left his door unlocked, which he normally didn't do when Arapaima visited. Mostly because his grandparents had a bad habit of not knocking before coming in unless it was locked, and he'd worried about catching the two of them together, especially when he started to finally feel comfortable giving back the affection Arapaima so easily gave.
They weren't doing anything scandalous, but they were on Alex's bed, book Alex was trying to get through abandoned as Arapaima peppered gentle kisses across his face and neck, leaving Alex a mess of stifled laughs. Arapaima's hand was getting a little adventurous, hitching up Alex's shirt slightly to trail against his abs, but not going much further. Alex had made it clear they wouldn't be doing anything beyond kissing in his house, and Arapaima would never dare try to push against those boundaries. Alex tilted his head and cupped Arapaima's jaw in his hands, so he could hold the man still long enough for a proper kiss, humming quietly as Arapaima pressed impossibly closer and squeezed at his waist.
They hadn't heard the door open, but they did hear his grandmother's surprised and very loud "Oh!"
Alex shoved away from Arapaima, but they were so close together and arms tangled between each other that Arapaima didn't have anywhere to go that didn't drag Alex with him, and then they were scrambling apart as Evelyn stared at them, Alex stammering but not knowing what to say, because what was there to say?
His grandpa had rolled up behind his wife upon hearing the commotion, confused at the flustered look on his wife's face and then taking in the red faces of his grandson and his —what George had thought — grandson's best friend besides Haley. The rumpled state of their clothes, the slightly swollen lips, and inability to make eye contact hadn't helped.
George… hadn't taken it well.
The couch dipped and there was pressure against Alex's foot, a hand squeezing his ankle through the blanket. Alex shifted to look at Arapaima, who was watching him with… Alex wasn't too sure what he could describe it as. It wasn't pity, but that's the first thing he thought of. Whatever it was, it bordered on apologetic and sad and Alex hated to see it but if that's what Arapaima looked like, he'd hate to see how he himself looked.
Arapaima glanced at Sareng, made an aborted attempt to sign to Alex before shaking his head and taking a deep breath, looking to the floor then back to Alex. His hands were shaking slightly when he tried signing again — Alex had never seen Arapaima's hands shake when signing, not until that fight.
"What do you need?" he signed eventually.
"I…" Alex shuddered, his voice sounded so weak and he couldn't stand it. He also had no idea what he needed. What do you do after a fight where your very homophobic grandfather found out you had a boyfriend? And had very clearly been intimate with said boyfriend — that's what his grandpa claimed, anyways.
Hesitantly, Arapaima signed, "Hug?" Alex gave a jerky nod, letting go of a blanket edge so Arapaima could crawl into the blanket with him.
Sareng meowed again, more of a soft mewl as Arapaima wrapped Alex up in his arms. He tilted his head up at his little black cat and beckoned her closer. She climbed from the back of the couch slowly onto Arapaima's shoulders, before moving to Alex's a bit awkwardly. She settled, curling her tail around his neck and flicking it at his face, earning a hollow huff of a laugh. Still, she nuzzled his cheek and began purring. Dusty, having moved so Arapaima could cuddle Alex, now nipped at Alex's dangling hand lightly and butted his head against it, encouraging Alex to pet him.
Alex shuddered again as he lightly scratched at Dusty's head, burying his face into Arapaima's neck. Arapaima squeezed him gently, before dragging his hand slowly up and down Alex's back, slightly digging his fingers in to be sure Alex felt it. Alex melted against him, and tried to let his brain shut off.
He'd have to talk to his grandparents again at some point, but it didn't have to be now.
-
Alex groaned at the sound of voices, muffled but far too loud for how early it was. There was a small weight on his side, and a wet nose pressing into his chin, so he didn't move much at first as he cracked his eyes open. He hissed at the stinging irritation from crying, and carefully brought a hand up to not dislodge Sareng.
A bit more bearable, and Alex looked around, frowning when he didn't see Arapaima. Dusty whined from where he was pressed up against Alex, and Alex wasn't sure when he'd climbed onto the couch with him. Sareng was the one on his side, curled into a ball but watching the door with a decidedly very annoyed expression for what was the sweetest cat Alex had ever met. When he shifted, Sareng glanced at him before making a little huff and settling in deeper atop his blanket, making it clear what she meant: you're not going anywhere.
Following her gaze to the front door, Alex saw it was slightly ajar. Slowly and carefully, even with Sareng's protesting meow as he moved her and Dusty trying in vain to keep him from getting off the couch by curling closer into him, Alex climbed out and around the animals. His body was stiff and he swayed slightly, dehydration hitting him hard, and he steadied himself with a hand on the couch. The voices outside were still droning on, so Alex shuffled to the sink to at least get some water before he joined whoever was outside.
He had an idea, and he didn't really want to go outside, but he couldn't hide forever.
When he got to the door, he was surprised to discover Arapaima was just outside it, blocking the front even if he had left the door ajar. He was standing almost defensively in front of it, arms drawn to his chest as he just stared a little ways down the path that led to the rest of the farm.
Arapaima glanced back when the door creaked as Alex opened it further, and the annoyance on his face dissipated, being replaced by worry. Still, Alex stepped outside before Arapaima could try shuffling him back inside, and turned to look at where the arguing had been.
"Alex!" His grandmother's voice was full of relief, but Alex still cringed slightly, copying Arapaima and crossing his arms. He didn't look directly at his grandmother — even if she hadn't contributed to the fight yesterday, hadn't said anything against him and Arapaima, she also didn't say anything to support them. Instead he focused on the other farmers — Aster was closest, and clearly had been the one who was doing the most talking. They were the only one truly in front of his grandmother. Kali and Sour Patch were further away, but were keeping their eyes on the situation.
Aster took one look at Alex before shifting to block Evelyn's view of him. "There, you've seen him. He's fine, he's safe. You can go home now."
Evelyn sidestepped them. "I would like to hear it from my grandson if he wants me gone." Aster looked like they were going to try again.
"It's fine," Alex said before they could. Aster and Arapaima turned to stare at Alex, who cleared his throat. He and Arapaima caught each other's eye and Arapaima dropped his arms, wrapping one around Alex's shoulders and pulling him into his side while the other signed to Aster to listen. Aster clearly didn't want to, but nodded and slowly walked over to Arapaima's fish ponds, settling at one and very obviously joining the other two in keeping an eye on them all.
When his grandmother started to walk closer, Alex nudged Arapaima back slightly, so they were at the railing. "We'll stay on the porch," he told her, and she nodded as she carefully climbed the steps.
Arapaima didn't say anything, keeping one arm wrapped tightly around Alex's shoulders and the other stayed back to grip the wooden railing. Alex glanced briefly at his boyfriend before looking back to his grandmother. He swallowed thickly. "Why are you here?"
"You weren't picking up my calls, Alex. I wanted to make sure you were okay after yesterday."
Alex couldn't help the huff. "How would I have been okay?"
She faltered slightly, but her expression turned sad and she shook her head. "You're right, I— if it had been me, I wouldn't have been okay either. It… I'm sorry, for what it's worth, that it happened at all. I should have knocked before going into your room."
Alex frowned, leaning further into Arapaima. Arapaima squeezed his shoulder and Alex tried to force himself to relax, even just a little. "That's not—" he huffed and shook his head. "That's not the problem. Or, well— it's not all of it." Alex looked at the ground and hugged himself tighter. "Grandpa, I knew would react poorly. That… I wasn't ready for that confrontation, even if I knew it'd probably come eventually."
"I'll be talking with him," Evelyn cut in. "I tried last night, but his temper was too high and I couldn't get through to him. But I'm sure with time, I can get him to see sense, to apologize."
Alex shook his head. "That's still not the issue, though," he said. "It— last night, you said nothing while we were there."
"What could I have said?" Evelyn questioned, her brows drawing in as she stood a little taller in her own frustration. "You two were arguing I wouldn't have been able to get a word in otherwise!"
"You just said you tried talking with him last night — but you couldn't try at all while we were there? I don't… I never worried about you accepting me— accepting us." Alex glanced up at her. "But I always thought that if it did come down to a confrontation like that, you'd at least try to help me. In the moment."
It was silent for a second as Evelyn processed what he said, and Alex watched the frustration simmer back into sadness and realization. She looked at Arapaima, then back to Alex, and took a slow, deep breath. She hesitated before speaking, clearly choosing her words carefully.
"I… I see. I… didn't even realize, that being quiet then would have been the wrong thing to do. I'm used to being able to put aside arguments for another time, if at all, no matter what they're about." She met Alex's gaze. "I'm sorry, Alex."
Alex swallowed but nodded, tilting his head to rest on Arapaima's. It felt weird, a little, to do this with his grandmother right in front of him. But he was tired, and still stressed, and even with her apology it still stung to think about it all. When he clearly had nothing else to say, Evelyn deflated a little but looked to the path from which she came.
"You'll stay here for the time being?" She asked, turning back to them. For the first time this morning, Arapaima signed to her.
"He's always been welcome here. He can stay as long as he likes."
She watched his hands before nodding slowly, focusing back on Alex. "Would you like me to bring some stuff from your room? Or… George has his doctor's appointment in a couple hours. You can come get anything you'd like then. I, I wish I could say it'd be alright but I don't think it'd be a good idea for him to see you quite yet."
And that hurt a lot more, that his grandpa wouldn't want to see him, even with some hours between the two incidents. Alex swallowed, then realized what she was asking, and his mouth went dry at the realization that he was being sort of kicked out, even if very gently and reluctantly.
Arapaima rubbed down his arm slowly and methodically, drawing Alex's attention. He was tilting his head down at Alex, and with his other hand he signed: "What do you want to do?"
Alex took a deep breath. "I'll swing by later. You can text me when you guys leave."
Evelyn nodded and started towards the porch steps. She looked at Alex one last time for that day. "I'll see you later, Alex?"
Chapter 2 || Masterpost || AO3 Link || FF.net Link
Fandom / Genre: Nanatsu no Taizai (Seven Deadly Sins) / Canon-Divergent and Hurt/Comfort
Pairings: Meliodas/Elizabeth, Zeldris/Gelda, Meliodas & Zeldris & Elizabeth & Gelda
Overall Story Warnings: Angst with a happy ending, Canon-typical violence, Canonical character death, Canon temporary character death, Cursed characters, lmk if I need to add anything else!
Story Summary:
Eternal…
life.
reincarnation.
silence.
and chains.
For 3,000 long and painful years, these four have been doing all they can to lift their curses. They have failed, again and again and again. With only a sliver of hope left, they try once more.
-
Or, what if Zeldris accepted Meliodas’ offer to go with him 3,000 years ago?
It’s a busy day for the trio.
Zeldris is in the kitchen, cooking away because there was no way he was going to let Meliodas poison their customers again. Gelda glided around tables easily, bringing drinks to the bar to be refilled and smiling at the drunk guests as they laughed amongst themselves. And Meliodas is at the bar, refilling the drinks and chatting with a few lone customers who had wandered over to him.
Zeldris was starting to feel a little too hot in the kitchen, cursing his eldest brother under his breath for not making it any bigger or putting in at least one window. Gelda’s feet were beginning to hurt after a few hours, and she was considering just ditching the shoes – or the outfit entirely, the tavern’s uniform drawing some unwanted comments her way despite her brother-in-law’s threats to the patrons staring. And Meliodas was itching to move out of the bar area, beginning to feel trapped behind the wooden counter he put there.
Dealing with it all was made just a little easier, just a little bit, with the help of one talking pig.
Hawk gladly ate the scraps thrown at whoever tried to hit on Gelda as she worked and helped her serve some of the tables once the tavern really started to fill up. Meliodas and Hawk exchanged the occasional friendly insult or threat, which may have been the only reason Meliodas hadn’t booked it away from the bar by now. And Zeldris was just glad that he didn’t have to worry too much about his wife’s wellbeing as he cooked – though if Hawk purposely dropped food onto one of the customers for making certain comments, Zeldris said nothing and just passed him some extra scraps.
-
It was just past noon when things started to get interesting.
Or rather, it should have been interesting.
It was interesting for the customers and terrifying for Hawk.
And as for Zeldris, Gelda, and Meliodas? It was boring as hell.
The door slammed open, a young man gasping for breath with wide eyes, trembling as he stumbled into the tavern. He drew in everyone’s interest immediately.
Gelda was the first to approach him, listening to his mutterings about some ‘rust knight’ he had seen. She put a hand on his shoulder, startling him out of his shaken daze, and guided him to a table that had some room left. She squeezed his shoulder lightly before making a gesture to Meliodas, who instantly fixed up a drink for the man.
Most drunk, other customers went back to their own conversations as the people at the table questioned the young man, reassuring him that the Rust Knight wasn’t real, just a tale told to scare kids to bed.
It would’ve worked to calm the man, who began chuckling along and sipping his own alcohol, but then someone decided to mention the sins.
The Seven Deadly Sins.
“There’s rumor that that’s who the Rust Knight is, one of ‘em traitors.”
“I thought all the sins were dead, though? There’s no way people like them could just go about living their lives after all they’ve done.”
“Some believe that. That’s probably the case, but can we really be sure?”
“W… What do you mean?”
“Well, those posters over there are updated every year!”
“Yeah, they wouldn’t be redone if the kingdom knew if any of them were dead.”
“They still could be dead, though!”
“If one of them is the Rust Knight, which one do you think it’d be?”
The trio began to tune out the table theorizing about the sins. It wasn’t any useful information, nothing new and just ideas of people who really didn’t know much of what they were talking about. Besides, they had looked into the Rust Knight theory. There weren’t even confirmations it existed.
Hawk, however, was enraptured, listening despite growing more worried as the table considered all the different sins and their terrifying capabilities, debating which one would best fit the description of the Rust Knight.
When it started to die down, finally, and Hawk had a moment to relax and return to helping Gelda, there was a long and very loud creak. Gelda paused, closest to the door and her heightened hearing making the sound much louder than it probably was. The scrape of metal on metal filled the air, heavy thumps as whoever approached. The tavern had gone relatively quiet now, everyone inside watching the door carefully.
Zeldris slipped out of the kitchen for a moment, hand on his sword. Gelda glanced to her own weapon, hung on the nearby wall at the moment, and considered retrieving it. Meliodas remained relaxed, or as relaxed as he had been five minutes ago, but he was frowning as everyone just… waited.
Soon, a massive figure loomed in the doorway, the grating sound of the rusted armor halting. It was filled with the echoed groans from whoever was inside, words too muffled for even Gelda to make out anything clearly.
Then, it moved forward once more, pushing past the door and into the tavern.
Shrieks overrode the noise coming from the giant, armor-clad figure. People screaming at the top of their lungs about the Rust Knight, about the Seven Deadly Sins, about how it was going to kill them all as they scrambled for the exit.
It would have been silent, if Hawk wasn’t whimpering behind the counter with Meliodas and Zeldris and if the armor wasn’t trembling with each heavy step.
Meliodas hopped over the counter, crossing his arms and a light glare on his face. It was more of a pout, actually, at having pretty much all his customers ditch without paying.
He opened his mouth to say something, but he never got the chance to.
The armor swayed, stumbled slightly as though dizzy, and collapsed.
The helmet rolled off, and the three people froze at the sight.
Hawk bounded out from behind the counter in confusion, staring at the person in the armor. He didn’t seem to notice the looks exchanged between the other three, tilting his head. “It’s a girl!”
-
Meliodas took a deep breath, leaning against the wall and refusing to look away from the floor. Eventually Zeldris took up the spot beside him, not daring to touch his brother just yet. Zeldris wasn’t sure if Meliodas would want to be touched, what with who was now lying in the bed of the tavern’s spare room upstairs. Instead, he merely watched as Gelda looked after the girl, making sure she wasn’t suffering from anything life threatening.
Hawk was watching as well, confused as to why Meliodas wasn’t getting involved and why they were all silent as Gelda worked. Well, he was used to Gelda’s silence. But silence from the other two was rare, so rare in fact that Hawk couldn’t remember a time it had ever actually been silent with the two around.
Gelda finally stepped away from the girl, nodding to the brothers as she left, probably to go clean up downstairs. She motioned for Hawk to follow her, let the other two be for now. Hawk followed with just a little hesitation.
Zeldris waited until he could barely hear Gelda and Hawk, then he turned to his brother, concerned frown adoring his face.
“Meliodas?”
There was silence for a moment, and Zeldris moved so he was in front of Meliodas instead of beside him. He stood between Meliodas and the girl, shielding her from view if Meliodas decided to look up.
“Meliodas.”
Meliodas took a deep, shaky breath. “Maybe… Maybe it’s just a coincidence.”
Zeldris’ frown deepened. “… What?”
“Maybe- Maybe it’s just- maybe it isn’t her. Just looks like her. There are plenty of people with long, straight, silver hair. Plenty of girls with that kind of hair. And pale skin. And. And looking just like that. A coincidence.”
Zeldris finally noticed Meliodas trembling, and he reached out slowly, as to not startle his brother. Meliodas instantly grabbed his hands, squeezing tight before letting go when Zeldris drew him into a hug.
“We both know it has never been a coincidence.”
Meliodas whimpered, burying his face in Zeldris’ shoulder. He didn’t cry, not right now. But he shook in Zeldris’ arms, clinging to the brother who was stuck with him for who knows how long like Zeldris was a lifeline. Zeldris squeezed him tight, only letting go when he felt Meliodas start to withdraw.
Meliodas took another deep breath, and another, and another. He didn’t stop until he had his breathing under control and his hands were steady.
He moved around Zeldris, and sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at the girl with a frown of his own.
“She’s a long way from the castle…” he mumbled.
“And with no guards,” Zeldris pointed out. “Maybe she snuck away?”
Meliodas hummed. “Maybe. But why would she do that? And in that kind of armor, too, I haven’t seen something like it in ages.”
“Well, we can ask once she wakes up.” Zeldris approached him and squeezed Meliodas’ shoulder, offering the best reassuring smile he could. It was more pained than anything, though, as his eyes flickered back to the girl. “And…”
“And hope that she’s not here because it started.”
Zeldris nodded. “Yeah.” He inhaled slowly. “I’m going to check on Gelda and Hawk. Just call if you need anything.”
He closed the door quietly after leaving, slumping against it for a moment. He could hear Meliodas moving around in the room, the sound of a chair dragging against wood filling the silence. Zeldris sighed and pushed himself away from the door, travelling downstairs to find his wife and the trio’s talking animal companion.
It was meant to be a simple, easy battle. It had just been Serranidae, no other soldiers to worry about as they attacked her, to get her to leave. Fighting just Serranidae had always been so simple, especially for the trio, as they trained day and night with little rest.
But out of nowhere she had unleashed a strange attack, and of course Dani and Taylor had both thrown themselves in the way and taken direct hits along with several others. Jeremiah cursed their recklessness, and Serranidae had left not long after the attack, a smirk on her face. She was testing their limits and it infuriated Jeremiah but he had to push his anger aside to care for his partners. The healers were too busy and drained to heal them right now.
"You're both idiots," Jeremiah grits out, his hands trembling as he unwraps the bandages. Dani sits with his back turned in front of him - it was a miracle the young king can even still sit up - with Taylor's head cradled in his lap. Jeremiah had already patched her up as best he could, bandages having quickly turned crimson but there had been little Jeremiah could actually do.
Taylor hums. "That's not nice."
Her voice is a mumble, and Dani winces as Jeremiah starts wrapping the bandages around his torso, the wound on his stomach a dull ache as his legs felt numb. He takes a shaky breath as Jeremiah hastily finishes, securing the bandages. Once he was done, Jeremiah leans forward and gently rests his head between Dani's shoulder blades.
"It's true," Jeremiah says, his voice growing quiet as none of them move. "You should have dodged, not taken the hit. You both knew how strong that attack was going to be."
Taylor closed her eyes, leaning just barely into the hand resting on her forehead. Dani rubs small circles into her hairline, staring forward at the wall in his room. One of Jeremiah's hands settles on Dani's hips and he resists the urge to pull the king closer, and his other finds Taylor's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze when their fingers intertwine.
"You both had me worried."
Dani felt the tears against his back, and he squeezed his own eyes shut as they began to burn. He knew what it must have felt like, looking at himself and Taylor with those nasty wounds. They weren't physically the worst they had suffered from, but it still wasn't a pretty sight.
And Serranidae's attack had felt weird. Like his nerves had been on fire despite there being only one wound. Dani had wanted to scream as his insides felt like they had been burning. He thought they had been. Taylor hadn't been too different.
They all stayed quiet for the rest of the night, only moving carefully to lie down and sleep, arms wrapped tightly around one another.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 28 | Chapter 30 || Masterpost | AO3 Link | FF.net Link
Fandom / Genre: Nanatsu no Taizai (Seven Deadly Sins) / Canon-Divergent and Hurt/Comfort
Pairings: Meliodas/Elizabeth, Zeldris/Gelda, Meliodas & Zeldris & Elizabeth & Gelda
Overall Story Warnings: Angst with a happy ending, Canon-typical violence, Canonical character death, Canon temporary character death, Cursed characters, Lmk if I need to add anything else!
Chapter Warnings: N/A!
Story Summary:
Eternal…
life.
reincarnation.
silence.
and chains.
For 3,000 long and painful years, these four have been doing all they can to lift their curses. They have failed, again and again and again. With only a sliver of hope left, they try once more.
-
Or, what if Zeldris accepted Meliodas’ offer to go with him 3,000 years ago?
Diane felt their presence long before she saw them, and that in itself was a feat. But they had taken ages to start coming back, and the others had hung around the porch in tense silence – the princess refused to look at King, and anytime King looked at Ban he scowled like he did ten years ago except now it was even more intense and Ban didn’t return the scowl with taunts, just accepted it and stared back towards the Necropolis almost in a daze, and Hawk… well, she wasn’t sure what could be going through his head as he settled next to the princess.
Diane was almost eager for the return of the captain and his family, and when she felt the unmistakable power they all carried, she perked up. But there was something wrong, she caught it a moment later after the first nudge of their power entering her senses.
King sat up on Chastiefol as well, the scowl dissipating in favor of alarm. Ban’s brows furrowed.
A fourth person was with them.
A fourth power pulsing weakly, as though on the brink of death.
Surely they’re not…
Her thoughts were confirmed as they crested the hill. Gelda was walking ahead of the brothers, the Captain carrying a still unconscious Guila over his shoulder with Zeldris keeping a close eye on the Holy knight. The silence between everyone at the Boars Hat grew even more tense as they stared at the approaching family and their… tag-along.
No one said a word until they finally reached the porch, while Meliodas lowered Guila to the ground. The power – the life – from Guila was pulsing even fainter now, and Diane noticed the red-stained yellow tie around Guila’s leg. Blood still covered most of her lower calf, and some new blood was beginning to trail out of the open wound, much slower now than before.
It was Hawk who broke the silence. “What is she doing here?!”
Gelda at least looked annoyed, albeit not nearly as much as King was looking, as the fairy looked between their captain and the Holy Knight. “I thought you weren’t gonna let her live.” Ban didn’t phrase it as a question.
Meliodas grinned, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “We aren’t letting her live, we’re gonna force her to!” Diane blinked, furrowing her brows.
“Force her to live? Why? All she’s gonna do is cause trouble for us!”
“Why not just let her die back at the Necropolis?!” King demanded as Diane spoke.
Zeldris sighed heavily, walking to sit on the steps beside where Gelda was leaning. “It’s… a difficult situation all around. We couldn’t just leave her to die, if she was sent to hunt you all down, someone would be keeping track of where she is. And if they went looking for her after she failed to report back, and found her dead… that would do nothing to put you all in the good graces of the kingdom. It’d just be more fodder for the Holy Knights to use against you.”
“But we also couldn’t just patch her up and leave her, because she is incredibly strong and got that way under suspicious circumstances. If she’s like this, there’s probably others like her. We need to figure out how,” Meliodas chimed in.
“And,” Gelda signed, “We need all the information we can get on the Holy Knights’ powers. You,” she pointed to King then Elizabeth, “and Elizabeth only know so much. We can’t walk in blind.”
Frustrated silence reigned over them all as they took in what the trio reasoned. Diane stared at the injured Holy Knight, and pressed her lips together tightly. She could understand why the Captain would want to keep her around. But how long would they be able to keep her in check? How were they going to get any information out of her?
Diane wasn’t too squeamish, unless it dealt with bugs, but she had boundaries. She wouldn’t torture Guila for information, no matter how useful it may be. (She doesn’t think the Captain or his family would either, but then… how else would they get the information?)
“What’s going to happen when she wakes up?” Elizabeth eventually asks. And Diane hadn’t even considered that entire issue.
King perked up from Chastiefol, skepticism written all over his face. “Princess Elizabeth is right – Captain, she can create explosions. Without Merlin, how are we going to contain that?”
“Carefully,” Meliodas nodded. “Her explosions are going to be an issue. But, Zeldris, Gelda and I can take turns watching her. With Zel and I’s Full Counter, and Gelda’s control over flames we can keep that damage to a minimum and as a deterrent. And…” he looked up at Diane. “We were hoping we could get some help with your abilities. She seems to need a conduit for her explosions, but I also don’t want to take chances with that. Do you think you can make some hand covers out of rocks, to keep her from using her hands?”
Diane tilted her head, trying to envision what the Captain was describing. “Like, handcuffs?”
“More like mittens made out of stone,” Zeldris simplified.
“It should, in theory, deter her from using her abilities. She’d be risking her own hands if we have them on her.”
Diane hummed, looking at Guila’s hands. It could work. But… “It might take a few attempts to get right. And if I do make those, how is she going to eat, or bathe?”
“I’ll handle her hygiene," Gelda signed while Zeldris said, “The three of us will take care of keeping her healthy enough.”
“It was, after all, us who decided to drag her here. It wouldn’t be right to force you all to look after her.” Meliodas wore a sympathetic smile.
The tension reluctantly bled out of everyone. Ban gave a quiet assent while King huffed and nestled deep into Chastiefol, floating to the top of the Boar Hat. Hawk and Elizabeth approached Meliodas while Gelda and Zeldris headed inside.
Diane settled more comfortably beside the tavern, opting to tune out everyone as she considered the best way to make cuffs for their… hostage? Prisoner? She sighed. This was going to be a headache.
At least she didn't have to be too involved.
-
She didn't expect to wake up when the Sins escaped the Necropolis, but she was still stuck there. The way they had entered was far safer, and well… she'd tried, but for some reason she couldn't enter the same way, despite envisioning her father. She had to push the thoughts which arose with that realization back and focus on her mission. She didn't expect to fail, with the new power flowing through her veins feeling so much stronger than what she had vaguely sensed with the Sins.
A quiet apology to Zeal for breaking her promise, and she had acted swiftly with the alternative entry.
Waking up… Guila squinted. It was dark wherever she was, a single window letting in faint moonlight, casting shadows onto the wooden ceiling. She noticed the itchiness in her leg first, but refused to move until she knew where she was. But when she went to flex her fingers, something stopped her.
Scrunching her brows slightly, she tried to move her fingers again. But she could barely twitch them, encased in some sort of stone. She discarded any plans of just waiting to see where she was and darted up, looking down at her hands.
Sure enough, there were some sort of stone gloves encasing her fingers, the stone creeping up her wrists and clamped tight just below where her elbows reached, not enough to break skin but where she knew if she tried to scrape them off, it would definitely tear flesh. She got a glimpse of her leg next, wrapped tightly in clean bandages, but she couldn't quite feel the wound she would have there.
The accelerated healing of the demon blood Hendrickson had told her about, then.
First she had to deal with the restraints.
Just as she was about to blast them off— "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
She snapped her head to the right, and came face to face with the captain of the Seven Deadly Sins himself. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he just grinned. "I mean, you can, but it won't be pretty. You healed fast, but I doubt whatever healing you've got would do you any good if you blast off your own hands. We tested it." She wondered briefly how they could have tested the strength of the stone, how they knew it would explode her own hands off, but then she remembered the blonde woman who had fire abilities like her. Maybe their powers were more similar than she originally thought.
She forced her face to become impassive, and instead tilted her head. "Where have you brought me." She did recede some of her power, for now. She wouldn't test it with him right there, keeping a close eye on her. She wouldn't have time to attack him and rid herself of her stone gloves before he could send a Full Counter her way.
He hummed, leaning back in the chair propped against the wall. The dragon hilt of his sword gleamed against the moonlight, an unsaid promise cementing her choice in not trying to use her abilities. "Not that important right now. You'll find out soon enough."
"So you're keeping me prisoner?"
"I'm offering you a trade, actually."
She raised a brow and held up one of her hands. Meliodas shrugged. "Well, you can't begrudge us a bit of caution. I mean, you can explode things."
Guila pressed her lips into a thin line, shifting to sit upright on her own better and face him. "A trade then."
The Sins' captain nodded. "A trade. You give us some information, and we'll let you go."
She narrowed her eyes further at him. If it's information they wanted, that was a dangerous game for her. There was a lot of information they could want. But Zeal… She swallowed. "What information do you want?"
"How did you get stronger?" There wasn't any change in his expression, but when he asked, Guila couldn't help but feel like his gaze darkened at her. There was the slightest bit of bite to his voice, barely perceptible, but it had her hackles rising. Something in her blood made her want to cower. She shoved the urge down and smiled.
"By training, of course. I've been working for years at getting stronger, to become a Holy Knight." But he was shaking his head.
"King said you are unnaturally strong compared to where you were less than a week ago. We want to know how."
"Your Sin of Sloth must be mistaken. My strength is nothing unnatural, just… a reward for all of my effort."
Meliodas stared at her before nodding. "Alright. Keep lying." There was a knock on the door, and he stood up. "We can wait until you're ready to tell the truth."
She watched him open the door, and he moved his hands as he greeted the blonde woman. The woman frowned but nodded and stepped into the room, taking post in the chair Meliodas had just left without a word. Guila was eyeing her as she sat, and Meliodas must have still been watching her because he called back, "Gelda's not much of a talker, but I think you'll remember not to try anything with her either." As he said it, she recalled the fire-user, the way she was able to grip onto her armor and start burning through it even though it was made specifically to withstand great heats. Hendrickson himself said it was made to withstand the fires of hell.
He was gone then, closing the door behind him and Guila heard the notch of a lock being pushed into place.
She looked over the woman—Gelda—again. She could maybe take her in a fight.
Gelda met her eyes and smiled, revealing a sharp fang as she glared at Guila, daring her. Her hands were folded in her lap, perfectly relaxed, but she didn't take her eyes off Guila.
Guila thought of Zeal.
She frowned and settled back against the wall, looking away from Gelda but keeping her in her periphery. She wouldn't fight just yet. She wasn't dead yet.
She has demon blood coursing through her veins. She was stronger than them all. She just had to play her cards right.
To start, she can figure out a lie that Meliodas would believe.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 29 | Chapter 31 || Masterpost | AO3 Link | FF.net Link
Fandom / Genre: Nanatsu no Taizai (Seven Deadly Sins) / Canon-Divergent and Hurt/Comfort
Pairings: Meliodas/Elizabeth, Zeldris/Gelda, Meliodas & Zeldris & Elizabeth & Gelda
Overall Story Warnings: Angst with a happy ending, Canon-typical violence, Canonical character death, Canon temporary character death, Cursed characters, Lmk if I need to add anything else!
Chapter Warnings: N/A!
Story Summary:
Eternal…
life.
reincarnation.
silence.
and chains.
For 3,000 long and painful years, these four have been doing all they can to lift their curses. They have failed, again and again and again. With only a sliver of hope left, they try once more.
-
Or, what if Zeldris accepted Meliodas’ offer to go with him 3,000 years ago?
"Well, she's intent on lying for now, so I guess you, me, and Gelda are on guard duty until further notice," Meliodas declared as he trudged down the stairs into the main floor. "It doesn't seem like she's too keen on using her explosions, even if she could blast off those cuffs easily. So we should be good for a while."
"You're certain Lady Gelda will be alright watching over Guila alone?" Elizabeth asked as Meliodas joined her and Zeldris at the bar, where Elizabeth had been practicing sign with Zeldris.
Zeldris hummed. "She should be fine. But, I'll probably join her soon. I doubt Guila knows sign, and I think it'd be a good way to annoy her."
She tilted her head. "Annoy her?"
"There's a lot of ways to get information out of people," Meliodas started, hopping over the bar to pour himself a drink. "Torture is the one most people imagine first, but I've never been a fan of that one, really." He grew quiet for a moment before shaking his head. "Interrogation is close behind, but it doesn't work as well unless you have blackmail, or use torture with it. And neither of those are actually efficient ways of getting information—you're more likely to get false facts, because they're just trying to get the pain to stop or keep a secret safe. The moment they get a chance, while you're verifying the information, they're slipping away.
"But, taking more passive methods yields better results. We can't just pamper her, that's too obvious and bribery only works if we know what she wants. We don't. But, we can wear down her walls. I doubt we can get her to trust us, but, if we can get her to the point where she's high strung on emotions, desperate to just leave because there's no other end in sight to being constantly annoyed… we can get the information we need."
"One of the ways we can do so is by utilizing sign," Zeldris took over. "She won't know what we're saying, because as far as I'm aware, while people can learn it in Liones, it's not often taught."
Elizabeth blinked slowly before nodding. "I… you're right, I had the opportunity but didn't learn it, I doubt Guila would have had the same opportunity. She wouldn't have been from any higher class families, I didn't recognize her name."
Meliodas snapped his fingers and pointed at her with a grin. "Right!" He tapped off a mug and settled at the bar. "It's just really, really annoying that this will be a much longer endeavor. We're gonna have to be even more careful, not just with making sure other Holy Knights don't come after us, but with keeping her in line."
"We'll need to get creative with it, that's for sure," Zeldris agrees. "But that's a problem we'll tackle as we go." He huffs and gives Meliodas an exasperated look. "King had a point about the Sacred Treasures, this would be so much easier if you still had yours."
"It would have?" Elizabeth asks, leaning back slightly as she glances between the brothers. Meliodas' expression shifts into a slight grimace. She's been having her doubts about King's words—Guila's accusation of his disloyalty and his own hesitancy to help them all fight her has left a bitter taste in her mouth. "I know Sir King made them sound incredibly powerful. And his certainly is, but would they really help with keeping Guila in line?"
"Mine likely would have," Meliodas admits. "Not necessarily because of the scale in power, though it would be useful… I wouldn't…" He looks away and Elizabeth furrows her brows when he falls silent for almost half a minute. Just when she's about to ask, Zeldris raps the wooden counter and Meliodas shakes his head, clearing his throat. "Lostvayne's core power was duplication, so you can see how it would make things with Guila a bit easier," Meliodas finishes with a wry smile.
"And you just had to go and sell it," Zeldris reminds with an eye-roll, which has Meliodas huffing.
"I didn't hear you objecting back then."
"That's because you did it when only Gelda was with you and ignored her signing you to stop the deal."
"Lies and slander," Meliodas waves as he looks back to Elizabeth. "See what I've had to deal with all these years? As if I'd ignore his wife, I'm not that stupid."
"The amount of times I've had to dodge fire aimed at you because you ignored Gelda begs to differ," Hawk pipes up from the stairs, the words following the gentle clop of Hawk's feet.
"Gelda just agrees with me that you'd make a really nice roast, that's all."
"She does not!" Hawk's voice squeaks in the middle as he trots up to the bar, glaring up at the blonde. "And anyway, don't you have burn scars proving my point?" Zeldris snickers as Meliodas blinks at Hawk.
"How do you know about those?" A moment beats by before he's whirling on Zeldris. "You did not."
"He would have found out at some point."
"He didn't tell me where," Hawk says at the same time. Elizabeth glances between the three as Meliodas accuses of Zeldris being a traitor, and Hawk counters the roasting jokes with more facts that apparently Meliodas didn't know he knew. She giggles along with them as their words fade more to the background, realizing this might be where Meliodas and Zeldris got their perspective on interrogations from.
She's not sure if she can use annoyance… but she does have some questions she wants answered, so maybe she can be a little bit of a pest until they decide to leave. Looking once more between the brothers and Hawk, their voices louder and Meliodas and Hawk more animated in their arguments, she slips away from the bar to the door.
-
King's still outside, hovering at the overhang staring up at the stars in silence. Elizabeth had heard from Hawk that apparently King was adamant on not sharing a room with Ban, the only other room really available, and had escaped to stay outside with Diane.
Elizabeth has no doubt he hears her coming outside, the light tap-tap tap-tap of her feet deafening in the quiet night. He doesn't say anything as she walks along the porch, coming to a stop and leaning on the railing just a few feet away from him. She starts by looking out across the ghostly hills surrounding Tala village, then up at the sky as well, tracking the few constellations Margaret loved to show her.
She felt her heart spike at the thought of her eldest sister, almost feeling how her thoughts began to stray into wonderings of how she was, where she was, before forcibly stomping down that path. Elizabeth swallowed and continued to stare up at the sky, glancing at the Sloth Sin to find him still in the air beside her. She let the seconds tick by and form into minutes, refusing to verbally get his attention. As the minutes drew on though, she made her scrutinizing more obvious, looking away less and less until she was outright staring.
Margaret would chide me for staring, she almost laughs to herself at the thought, biting her tongue to distract herself from the pang. Later, when she writes in her journal she can stew in those thoughts.
It's effective though, her quiet presence. She watches as King grows more tense, though whether it's stubbornness or an actual discomfort that keeps him from simply floating away or acknowledging her she doesn't know.
He breaks before she does, huffing and flipping over on Chastiefol, knuckles white as he grips the green fabric and stares her down. "Yes, Princess?"
Elizabeth pushes her luck, staying quiet for a few more heartbeats before answering. "I was curious about something, from earlier."
He takes a deep breath, and the way his hands relax looks forced, even to her. "About?" he prompts, cocking his head slightly.
"It was what Guila said, while we were in the Necropolis." Elizabeth looks away from him to stare down at the railing, tracing the wooden grooves. "You were working with the Holy Knights?"
"A mutual agreement…." King starts immediately, and glancing at him proves the frown his voice was already conveying. "They had information I needed, and I had what they needed."
"… Which was?" Elizabeth hedges after he lapses into another silence. King looks away from her, and it takes Elizabeth a moment to realize it's in the direction of Liones.
"Knowledge," he admits after another moment, turning his gaze back onto her. "Of the other Sins. The Holy Knights spent ten years trying to hunt most of them down, only to come up with nothing. When I showed up after— after… I guess they saw it as a perfect opportunity."
"You actually gave them information?"
King scoffs. "I mean, I had to, to ensure they kept up their end of the deal."
"You would betray your comrades like that—"
"I didn't betray anyone," King hisses, eyes narrowing and drifting closer to the ground. "Not anyone who didn't deserve it, anyways. And there was only one of us who did." His expression pinches and he looks away again. "At least, I was pretty sure he did."
Elizabeth crosses her arms, scratching at a healing cut on her bicep. What information did he give away? Who did he think was a traitor? Why would he change his mind?
"When you hesitated in the Necropolis… that's when you doubted yourself, isn't it?"
She watches the hostility slide off the fairy king's face, the way he curls around Chastiefol. "Why are you so curious all of a sudden?"
"None of it makes sense to me, is all. My father spoke so highly of all of you, how well you all worked as a team. I never thought that you'd ever— that any of you would hesitate to help one another, if what he said was true. Does it— did it have to do with how you became a Sin?"
King laughs. It's a sharp and short sound, almost startled, and such a contrast to his young boyish appearance. He follows the laugh with a huff. "You certainly insinuated it earlier."
"Was I right?"
His lips thin into a frown, and he gives Chastiefol a squeeze, twisting the fabric in his fingers. "You're persistent."
"I just want to trust you all." Silence falls around them again, and Elizabeth sighs, squeezing her own arms even tighter.
When King doesn't answer any of her questions, she tries a different tactic. "If you were communicating with the Holy Knights, then you know about what they've done to my family. Lady Gelda has assured me that none of you will hurt me, but I can't help but take the information that you were working with them and not lose faith in that promise. Not unless I get some clarification."
King slowly exhales and drifts even closer to the ground. "… And I don't know you well enough to trust you with the answers to your questions." He looks to the Boar Hat's door and tilts his head. "Even the Captain doesn't know. I…" he huffs, glaring at the ground.
Elizabeth bites her lip. "Do none of you know each other's… the crimes, that made you become Sins?"
"It's not that none of us know. We just… don't talk about them. I guess neither Zeldris or Gelda gave you the warning."
"He mentioned not asking Ban about what was wrong, this morning. But I wasn't aware of any taboo around asking about the crimes directly."
He tilts his head again, eyes flickering over her face as he considers her words. After another minute of silence, King relaxes his grip around Chastiefol. "If it's any assurance… I won't betray any of them now. I… I have a lot to think over, reexamine what I thought I knew. My 'hesitation' today originated from what I believed wholeheartedly before."
Elizabeth takes a deep breath, and offers King a small smile. "Then I'm sorry for what I said before, Sir King."
King returns her tiny smile with one of his own, and bows his head. "Already forgiven, Princess."
Marnie loses track of time while with Gil and Marlon, and ends up staying the night!
Marnie hadn’t exactly planned to stay the night.
Marlon had invited her for a dinner in the Guild, and then she got roped into playing a game of cards. One game turned to three, then five, then fifteen, and by then she started to lose track of the number and time, pulled into the trance that was their laughter and stories of previous adventures.
When she realized how late it was, she had fretted about having to make the trip all the way down to her ranch, especially in the dark. Marlon offered to walk her, but his knee had been acting up - despite the fact he would deny it if she brought up this fact, that he would insist despite her and Gil’s protests to pushing himself when he had been wincing with each step earlier this evening - and she would be even more worried about him having to walk back up alone. It was Gil who offered her their bed - offered to share it.
Marlon had flushed a deep crimson, and Marnie could feel her own cheeks warm at his offer, but Gil was so nonplussed, so casual with the offer, that Marnie was agreeing before she knew what she was saying.
A phone call to Shane, who had stayed home tonight to watch Jas, to make sure he didn’t continue waiting up for her. He’d made a teasing remark about being safe and she promptly wished him a good night and hung up to his chuckling, her cheeks burning once again that evening. A loose shirt and pants that Marlon and Gil offered when the three realized Marnie didn’t have any night clothes with her later, and now they had to find a way to settle into bed.
The bed wasn’t small, not when Gil and Marlon already needed to share it often, but it was small when considering trying to find a way to fit three adults in it. There were multiple adjustments, figuring out who needed to lay in the center or closest to the edge of the bed, who had muscles or limbs which needed definite accommodating.
Eventually though, they settled. Marlon closest to the wall, his aching leg resting atop Marnie’s and the other curling underneath hers. He had an arm tucked under her head and another thrown over her waist, reaching across to Gil, who lay on Marnie’s other side, pulling him into Marnie’s side further when he grumbled half-heartedly about being squished -- no real fight in his voice. Marnie was facing Marlon, more comfortable on her side, but when Gil slung one of his own arms over her stomach, curling up to her chest, she moved to entwine their fingers and bring their hands to her heart. He sighed into her hair, and despite the awkward feeling of limbs poking into her from all sides and being squished between the two men, Marnie felt herself melting into them.
Gil was the first to fall asleep, his breaths not quite a snore but somewhere between that and a wheeze, and each breath tickled Marnie’s ear as Gil nuzzled into her hair more unconsciously. A frown was etched onto his face even if she couldn’t see it; she could feel it pressing into her. She felt more than she heard the chuckle from Marlon, feeling his hand drift up to trace across Gil’s face above her, and she felt the tension bleed from the body behind her, before moving to caress her own cheek.
She let out a slow sigh and blinked at Marlon’s chest, tilting her face ever so slightly to press a soft kiss to his collarbone. Marlon tilted his own head to brush a kiss to her temple, the smile almost soothing her to sleep. Before she drifted off, she heard Marlon’s low voice whisper, to which she offered a hum in the same tune before succumbing to her exhaustion.
Fandom / Genre: Stardew Valley / Fluff & Mild Smut
Pairing: Alex/Male Farmer
Warnings/Content: Very mild smut, Clothed sex, Grinding, First time
Summary:
Arapaima asks Alex if he wants to help move some of his fish from the ponds into aquariums, and even if they weren't dating Alex would have agreed out of sheer boredom. Once it's done though, what was initially going to be some couch cuddling turned into a first for their relationship.
Alex was bored. Which was strange, because it was summer, and normally he loved summer and had plenty to do. From playing gridball on the beach to running the ice-cream stand. But the stand was closed today and while he loved hanging out with Haley, he didn't feel like hearing much gossip today. And while he had sworn her to absolute secrecy, she was taking every opportunity when they were alone to tease him about his feelings for Arapaima. She wasn't mean about it, never, but he could only get embarrassed so much before he felt like he would melt into the floor.
His phone lit up and Alex hummed to himself as he grabbed it, his face splitting into a grin to see Arapaima's name pop up. He immediately checked to see what his boyfriend — and that was still very weird to think about, he had a boyfriend — had sent him.
The beauties are getting moved today! Wanna come help?
And with it was a handful of pictures of all of Arapaima's most prized fish. Alex remembered the fish tanks Arapaima had commissioned from Willy, he must have finally gotten them set up.
Well it's not like Alex had anything else to do, and hanging out with Arapaima was always a good time.
He sent a quick text to let Arapaima know he'd come over now, and quickly threw on a semi-clean tank (he'd learned to never wear a clean shirt if he agreed to help out with any of the fish a few weeks into just being friends with the guy) and his runners, leaving with a quick good-bye to his grandparents. Evelyn pushed a bag of cookies into his hands and George even a note, saying he'd been meaning to "send it to that boy but we don't have the envelopes yet."
Alex took the longer route to the South farm entrance as he jogged to the farm. Turning left at the first opening, he felt his face flush deeply at the first sight of his boyfriend.
Arapaima was shirtless, standing in one of his many fish ponds, leaning down to wrangle the fish inside into a decently large bag. Alex just stared as Arapaima's back flexed and arm muscles twisted as he caught the fish, admiring the strength but also just how good he looked, tattoos shifting with each movement. And the water sliding down his back…
When his brain finally decided to rejoin the game, Arapaima was scooping the bag closed and gingerly climbing out of the pool with it. That's when he caught sight of Alex, and Alex's face flushed for a whole other reason when Arapaima's face split into a wide grin and he waved him over. Smiling just as hard and with his chest fluttering slightly, Alex walked over, glancing at the bag to see which fish was in it.
It was Arapaima's Crimson Fish, who he'd named Summer — Vincent had named her actually, because that's the season she was caught in and it was "a pretty name to fit a pretty fish!"
Soon as he was in reach, Arapaima was winding an arm around Alex's shoulders, pulling him in close and pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. The weight of Arapaima's arm around him was familiar enough — Alex learned early on, and had even been warned by Sour Patch when he and Arapaima had started becoming friends, that Arapaima was a very touchy person even with friends. The kissing Alex was still getting used to, but he was leaning in anyway to press another very quickly to Arapaima's lips too.
"How long have you been out here?" Alex asked, pulling back just enough to see Arapaima sign. Arapaima unwound his arm from Alex and turned to a bucket next to Summer's pool, carefully opening the bag again and letting her go down into the bucket. A lid was very quickly put over it just as some water splashed up when she tried to jump out.
"Around… 6 hours? I'm almost done getting them all into buckets. It's good to see you."
Alex's smile softened slightly before he cleared his throat and looked around. "Alright, what do you want me to do?"
-
Alex had been tasked with bringing the fish inside for now, while Arapaima took out the last few he was moving. Half an hour later they began putting the fish into the tanks, Alex following every careful handling instruction Arapaima gave him. He wasn't handling the three Legendary fish Arapaima had, not even Alex would have trusted himself with that, but the other fish like his octopus Octavia and albacore Alfur. Arapaima also showed him how to handle and pet his stingray Steven.
By then end they toweled off any water and Arapaima had chucked on a very loose tank top, and they collapsed onto the couch Arapaima had put in the aquarium room. Arapaima was grinning ear to ear, looking at all his fish swimming in the large tanks. Alex was already looking at him when Arapaima glanced his way.
"Thanks for coming to help," he signed. Alex shook his head.
"Thanks for asking me to help, I had a lot of fun. And any near-drowning by your fish—" because Octavia had attempted it when Alex was putting her in her tank, "—was worth it to see you smiling like this." As he spoke Alex reached over to cup Arapaima's jaw, pressing his thumb slightly into the corner of Arapaima's lips.
Alex could feel his own face heat while he spoke, he was used to being confident but saying these things to a guy still left him feeling unsure even if it felt right, but he got to see the rare instance of Arapaima's cheeks tinging red as well.
Arapaima tilted his head to press a kiss to Alex's palm, reaching up to cup Alex's hand before bringing his other to Alex's face, shifting so they were facing each other fully and pulling Alex closer. He waited a second when their faces were just breaths apart, head tilted just slightly and staring into Alex's eyes, waiting. Alex exhaled slowly and gave the slightest of nods, and Arapaima was connecting their lips with the quietest of hums.
The kiss started slow and chaste, with Arapaima's hand a gentle guide on Alex's face still no matter how many times they had done this, while Alex's own arms slowly curled around Arapaima's neck. Arapaima's hands drifted down eventually to Alex's waist, pressing his fingers in at the shoulders then his sides as he passed. Alex leaned more into Arapaima, creeping his fingers into Arapaima's hair as they broke briefly for breath.
Alex pressed in first this time, and pushed at Arapaima's lips lightly with his tongue. His boyfriend was all too happy to open his mouth slightly, fingers tightening at his waist and pulling Alex practically into his lap. The kiss grew slick fast as Alex explored Arapaima's mouth, tasting the sea on his tongue, and Alex knew his face had to be on fire at the sounds but he kept going back for more.
He's not sure how long they were making out, hands traversing slowly and easily. At some point Arapaima's hands had crept under his shirt and Alex was unconsciously pressing into the touches he left along his sides and chest, while Alex had made a mess of Arapaima's hair and was holding some of the strands so tightly Alex wondered briefly if it hurt. But none of that is what had taken Alex out of the moment — what had was the audible exhale and shudder that ran underneath him, the puff of breath against his mouth and the unintentional shaky tilt up from underneath him. It made Alex far more aware of what they were doing.
He swallowed as he tucked his face into Arapaima's neck and shifted slightly, only to freeze when Arapaima's hands spasmed against his sides and Alex felt another minute jerk, becoming very aware of the bulge he hadn't realized he was pressing against. When Alex stilled so did Arapaima, just for a moment before he tilted his head and pressed a kiss to Alex's temple, then his cheek, before gently pushing Alex back by the chest without moving Alex from atop him.
He did take his hands off of Alex to sign.
"Sorry, I— You just feel really good. Do you want to stop?"
Alex blinked, watching him sign. His mouth felt dry and his heart was pounding, but Arapaima didn't move another inch while he waited for Alex to respond. They'd talked about it — about sex, pretty early on in their relationship. Arapaima had been very open about it and wanted to make sure Alex knew they could talk about anything he wanted — or didn't want — to do. And Alex… hadn't not wanted to try anything, at the time, but he hadn't felt ready then and didn't feel like he could go there yet.
That was months ago now, though, and Alex could feel his own hard on that he wasn't sure when it started, and his boyfriend was laying underneath him, taking deep breaths to calm down and looking gorgeous, slightly sweaty with ruffled hair spread against the arm of the couch. Alex still didn't think he was ready to delve further into sex but maybe…
Alex took in a shaky breath and hesitantly ground down against Arapaima. His own dick twitched in his pants as a moan caught in Arapaima's throat.
"I… I don't want to stop."
Alex watched Arapaima swallowed, then nodded. "What do you want to do? Anything you want."
"I… What we were doing? I… no more than this, right now," Alex said, shifting again to be a bit more comfortable rolling down on Arapaima. "And… take this off?" Alex tugged at Arapaima's tank, and he easily sat up slightly to pull it over his head and let it fall to the floor. Alex's mouth watered again at the sight, bringing his hands to caress over Arapaima's chest and stomach, tracing the muscles and enjoying feeling the shiver it sent through Arapaima. His muscles were softer than Alex's, less sculpted for the physique but still there, belying the strength just underneath his skin.
While Alex touched all he desired Arapaima still hadn't moved to touch Alex again, watching him with half-lidded eyes. Alex traced the muscles of Arapaima's arms, down to his hands before slipping his fingers over Arapaima's and bringing his hands to Alex's thighs. Alex swallowed nervously, having been careful not to move too much himself quite yet, unsure of how he was supposed to do it.
He debated how to ask before slowly leaning down, releasing Arapaima's hands to cup his face again. Arapaima's fingers flexed against his thighs, and part of Alex wished he'd taken off their pants too but also knew that would be way too quick still for him. He traced his thumbs under Arapaima's eyes. "Help me?"
Alex felt Arapaima breathe in as he tilted his head up to capture Alex's lips in another kiss, and as he did it Alex's own breath shuddered out as Arapaima rolled his hips up and pulled Alex's down at the same time, his hands shifting to just over Alex's butt. The friction sent a jolt of pleasure through Alex, and when Arapaima did it again he moaned into Arapaima's mouth, fingers once again clenching in his hair.
Arapaima kept it slow, and eventually Alex started moving with the rhythm set. A particularly stronger roll of their hips sometime later, when Alex had thoroughly lost track of the time, lost in the tight grip of Arapaima's hands and the friction and the taste of his mouth and the sounds of his cut-off moans, and Alex was caught off-guard by the sudden spike of pleasure that overwhelmed him. His muscles locked up and he pushed to keep the friction against Arapaima even as he pulled away from panting into Arapaima's mouth to instead do it in his neck, pushing his face into the flushed skin.
He was shaking slightly when his senses started to slowly bleed back into focus. His head was still tucked into Arapaima's neck, and Arapaima was pressing soft, gentle kisses into his temple while one hand held Alex steady and the other traced comfortingly across his back. Alex took a deep breath then another, going lax against Arapaima as he tilted his head out of his neck.
Arapaima looked down at him and smiled, bringing the hand not tracing Alex's back up to push his sweaty bangs from his eyes. Alex hummed and placed a chaste kiss to Arapaima's jaw before slowly trying to sit up slightly.
He grimaced at the wet, sticky feeling in his shorts, but tried to ignore it for the most part to look down at his boyfriend. "What can I do for you?" Alex asked softly, and frowned when Arapaima shook his head. "C'mon, I want to. You got me off." But Arapaima shook his head again.
Before Alex could try more, because he wanted to make Arapaima feel just as good, even if what they could do was limited, Arapaima took one of Alex's hands and let it rest near his own thigh, hovering just over his crotch without touching. He nudged Alex's hand down slightly to prompt him to touch if he wanted, and Alex hesitantly did, eyes widening slightly when greeted with wet fabric. His face felt way too hot now, but as he withdrew his hand he realized Arapaima's own cheeks were red and the blush was seeping down to his chest.
"You felt way too good," Arapaima signed as explanation with a bashful smile on his face, and Alex could feel his heart want to try beating out of his chest. Instead he laughed slightly, mostly to break the nerves because he really didn't know what to do now that they were done, and leaned in to press a quick kiss to Arapaima's lips because that felt right enough. "Want to clean up and change, and maybe watch a movie?"
Alex thought about it for a moment, before nodding. "I'd like that, yeah."
-
Cuddled into Arapaima's bed in an extra pair of pajamas while his clothes were in the wash, and having called his grandparents to let them know he would be home later tonight than expected, Alex relaxed into Arapaima's chest and breathed deeply the salty ocean smell that clung to Arapaima. Arapaima's arms tightened slightly around Alex as the movie they'd picked droned on in the background — it was a random action movie playing on one of the TV channels, and Alex had felt too tired by then to even bother seeing the name Arapaima signed him.
If he had to pick, he'd probably say this was his favorite part of his time with Arapaima, cuddled under his mountain of blankets, fingers lazily tracing his back lulling him to sleep.
Warnings/Content: Lack of communication, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Non-sexual intimacy, Minor injuries
Summary:
Waking up for yet another busy day, Arapaima gets caught off-guard with Alex seeming annoyed with him, even if he says he's fine. He drops it for the morning but, unable to stop thinking about it, heads back to the farm early in search of his husband to figure out what's wrong.
It helps when you talk about things, they both come to realize.
Arapaima had grown used to rising with the sun — he'd been doing it before even coming to Pelican Town, a habit built with taking up odd jobs around the beach that needed to be found early in the morning, or fishing trips that relied on using every bit of daylight to the fullest. Since coming to the valley, it certainly became harder, with how exhausting farm work was in comparison, but he liked to think he took the change a bit better than the others.
He was still growing used to sharing a bed with someone again, waking up curled around Alex or with Alex wrapped around him, and having to make sure he didn't disturb him too much. It rarely happened, as Alex was also an early riser and sometimes beat even Arapaima out of bed. He was surprised every time, but happy to see Alex up and about anyways, and they'd usually share breakfast before Arapaima had to go deal with his section of the farm and work on some of his and the other farmers' goals for the week. They'd recently discovered what Willy called Ginger Island and how in disrepair some of it was, and that had been eating at all of their time. So every moment with Alex, Arapaima cherished.
Today was one of the days Arapaima woke up with his arms circling a waist, face buried in soft brown hair. Taking a deep breath, Arapaima reveled in the warmth of his husband, not quite wanting to rise just yet. He was half tempted to go back to sleep, or pretend to just so he could stay cuddled against Alex for another hour or two. A crowing from outside, loud and shrill, made him flinch and he stifled a groan into the back of Alex's neck. A glance at the clock on their wall, and Arapaima sighed quietly, blinking the sleep from his eyes. He needed to get up.
He shifted carefully, slowly pulling his arm from under Alex, sitting up reluctantly and scrubbing at his face. He looked down at Alex and smiled slightly, watching as the light of the sunrise slowly filtered in and crept up Alex's face, painting him a golden hue.
Gently, Arapaima leaned down, brushing Alex's bangs away from Alex's face to press a kiss to his forehead.
He must not have been as gentle as he intended, because Alex's face scrunches up and he turns his head into the pillow, a low groan ripping from his throat. "Nnnghh… what is it?" he asks, turning back to look at Arapaima over his shoulder.
Arapaima smiles sheepishly. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you. Gonna head out now, go back to sleep," he signed, carding a hand gently through Alex's hair.
Alex blinks at him before sighing heavily, eyes closing tight and turning back into the pillow. "Mmmmf… fine, see you…"
The tone is one Arapaima hasn't heard before — and he frowns, brow creasing as he stares down at Alex. Alex sounded almost… petulant. He wracks his brain, trying to figure out why Alex may sound like that but drawing up blank. Arapaima worries at his lip, staring at the back of Alex's head before slipping off the bed and rounding to Alex's side, wide awake himself now and crouching to get a better look at his husband.
He taps Alex's shoulder lightly, three times, and he watches Alex's face twist into one of mild annoyance — and okay, Arapaima did feel bad about not letting him sleep more but he would be thinking about the tone all day — before opening his eyes again.
"Yeah?"
"Something up?" Arapaima signed, eyes locked with Alex's, concern meeting a tired frustration.
Alex swallowed slightly and his eyes flicked away. When he returned them to Arapaima, the frustration had disappeared and he feigned a smile — Arapaima's concern only grew, seeing how the smile didn't reach Alex's eyes. "'m fine," he said quietly, the smile dropping as he seemed to realize Arapaima wasn't buying it. "Just… go get your breakfast and get to your work, I know you're busy today. I'll see you tonight."
"Are you sure? I can stay home, we can—"
"Just go, Paima. Promise, I am fine," Alex huffed, offering a more convincing smile and reaching out to pull Arapaima close, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. Arapaima let him, closing his eyes and melting into the kiss, and when Alex let him go he watched as Alex resettled into the pillows to supposedly go back to sleep.
Arapaima lingered anyway, but Alex didn't stir or say anything else, and reluctantly Arapaima got to his feet to get ready for the day. It felt more like going through the motions, and he grabbed a pack of field snacks and goat cheese instead of breakfast, too distracted for an appetite. He glanced in on Alex one last time, but Alex was still curled up in bed and breathing evenly, so Arapaima finally left to go meet the others.
-
They were skipping the island today, but Kali and Sour Patch had begged Aster and him to join them in the mines because they'd had the bright idea of accepting a challenge from Mr. Qi in that weird room the guy had on the island, and it had messed with the mines. Arapaima had wanted nothing to do with it, but when Kali and Sour Patch were both certain they'd need the help, he knew it was bad. They worked through their most pressing chores of the day before setting out to make the most of their time in the mines. Arriving revealed a blue hue to the caverns, and Aster borrowed a shield and rapier from Kali while Sour Patch gave Arapaima a slingshot armed with explosive ammo and a dagger just in case anything did get too close. And down into the depths they went — the elevator out of commission once again as they slowly worked their way down.
Arapaima was struggling to focus, even as he tried to keep the thought of Alex's words and tone this morning from his mind. He'd taken hits he usually wouldn't and not just because of whatever Mr. Qi had done to these creatures that made them stupidly strong and fast. It was enough for the others to notice, his work even sloppier than it usually was.
He flinched as he blasted a slime back a little too close to where Kali stood, and she jumped back to avoid the explosive, stumbling over a rock and just barely catching herself on the wall. Aster cursed under their breath just as the explosive truly went off, bracing their shield in front of Kali and themself.
"Think we can take a break," Sour Patch called, wiping sweat from its brow but only succeeding in smearing blue slime across its forehead. "You definitely need one," it said pointedly, head tilting to Arapaima. He rubbed his face before dragging his hand to the back of his neck, sighing heavily and nodding.
The climb back up was swift as they dodged whatever creatures they had missed on their first go-around, just aiming to get lower and collect resources. Breaching the surface once more was a relief, and Arapaima collapsed against one of the chests, sinking to the ground and hanging his head. He listened as the others climbed up, the silence palpable and he could feel the weight of their eyes on him.
Eventually, he heard Aster sigh heavily and plop down next to him. "Aight, spill, what's going on?"
Arapaima looked up, resting his head on his knees for a moment as he glanced to Aster, then the other two. Sour Patch was leaning against a furnace as Kali began loading it, arms crossed and looking at him expectantly.
"You're not usually this distracted, even in the mines," Kali added as she stood back up, dusting the coal off her hands. "Like, I know you usually hate it, but damn was that rough." Aster shot her a glare.
"Kali…" they huffed.
"No, no, she's right," he signed, stopping Aster from telling Kali off — he was well-used to now how blunt she could be, appreciated it most of the time. "I was screwing up a lot. Sorry. I just… this morning was weird, and I can't stop thinking about Alex."
Sour Patch's face scrunched up slightly — not quite in annoyance, but something more like confusion and reflexive disgust (which he was used to seeing on its face anytime he or Aster talked about their partners, and knew it wasn't personal). "Okay, I know when you guys first started… dating… and then got married, you were more distracted and, I dunno, that's understandable because you were in that honeymoon phase, but what's got you so messed up now?" Sour Patch asked.
Arapaima threw his hands up, frustration finally breaking across his face. "I don't even know! He just seemed… really annoyed this morning? He said he was fine but he didn't sound fine."
"I mean, you do get up early. Could be he didn't wanna get up just yet? I know Elliott can get pretty grumpy if I wake him up early on accident, and he doesn't really mean to be grumpy," Aster offered as explanation, but Arapaima was shaking his head before they could even finish.
"No, he… he's more of a morning person, but that… Even if it was just that, he would have said something. I don't…" his hands trailed off and he curled his arms around his knees, frowning at the ground and trying to think.
"And this change in attitude is coming out of nowhere?" Kali asked and Arapaima looked up at her as she leaned forward on one of the furnaces not currently lit, curling her arms over it. "Hard to think he'd suddenly act upset over nothing and not tell you. Obviously you know him better, but I never got petty energy from Alex. Haley maybe, but not him."
Arapaima's instinct was to say yes, this was coming out of nowhere, but he paused just before signing, dropping his hands and sitting up straighter as he thought. Had this come out of nowhere, or had he been missing something?
He looked back on their recent conversations — fewer than they were before they'd started visiting Ginger Island, and the four of them had needed to pick up various grinds to fix up that second farm and abandoned resort. Not to mention Mr. Qi giving them even more tasks, along with the sudden uptick in what some of the other townsfolk were asking for, or the new special orders being posted on the board. It wasn't strange now for Arapaima to come home once Alex was already in bed, and they'd have a quiet greeting and wake up together before Arapaima's day started all over.
Alex had mentioned recently on a rainy day that he'd spent his time carrying around the gridball, that "a guy can pretend." The sheepish laugh he had said it with had made Arapaima falter even then, but before he could really dwell on it and ask what Alex meant, Alex was already changing the subject and pulling Arapaima into bed.
His chest felt tight as he realized just how little time he had been spending with Alex lately and — more important to him — how often in that time, Alex was clearly unhappy with something but was doing his best to hide it, switching the subject quickly or insisting that he was fine when Arapaima did catch on.
"I…" he blinked, focusing on his friends again. Even Sour Patch was looking more concerned, standing straighter and its arms dropping, while Aster rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, and Kali tilted her head, an understanding dawning on her face.
"I say we call it quits today," she said, looking over to Sour Patch. "We made some progress and we still have four more days."
It looked conflicted, and Aster piped up. "I can stay if you guys want to keep going, should be fine with just us three."
"You guys are sure?"
Sour Patch was still frowning, glancing longingly at the ladder before sighing heavily and its face softening when it looked back to Arapaima. "Yeah, whatever's up with Alex and whatever you just realized, that's more important than this. Besides, I think you're just gonna be an even worse shot now until you can deal with everything." It tilted its head. "Would you be up for another mining trip Saturday?"
"… tentative yes," Arapaima signed, pushing himself up to his feet. He passed Kali the slingshot and Sour Patch the dagger, hauling his usual bag onto his shoulder. "Really okay I head out early?"
"We'll catch back up with you tomorrow morning," Kali said with a smile, hooking the belt of ammo around her waist.
"Maybe stop by Harvey's on your way," Aster piped up, also getting to their feet. "You did get a little banged up."
Arapaima knew they were right — he could feel his body aching, bruises already forming and cuts and bites from rock crabs and duggies littering his legs where they tore through his jeans. Much as he should probably visit Harvey, already he was planning on cutting through the mountain and patching himself up at home. He could stop by Harvey's tomorrow morning to make sure nothing was infected, he just—
"Maybe, see you guys later," he waved before turning out of the mines, breaking into a jog with energy he didn't think he'd have after a dip into the caverns.
-
Arapaima was bemoaning the lack of totems as soon as the farm came into sight, it felt like it took ages for the silos and fields almost ready for harvest to come into sight, and he slowed his pace if only so he wasn't completely dead to the world soon as he sat down anywhere with how his body was truly starting to feel the pain that came with multiple fucked explosions and taking hits from monsters.
He was greeted by Charlie and Jack first — the dogs perking up from the shade of the peach trees near a pond, where they loved watching Aster's ducks swim — and stumbled to catch them when they jumped, chuckling. He scratched their necks and ears a few times before easing them off. "Sorry boys, I'm busy right now," he signed, even if he knew they wouldn't understand fully. They did understand 'sorry' and took Arapaima trying to return home in stride, Jack giving one last lick to Arapaima's palm before his ears perked up and he was off, Charlie chasing after him.
Arapaima trekked across the cobblestone path to the center of the farm, rounding to where his house was pressed against the cliffside. He dropped his bag at the steps and looked around, not seeing Alex quite yet and wondering if he was inside.
Before he could take that first step up he heard a grunt from around the side of the house, a familiar sound that was followed by barely-audible and strained counts. Arapaima swerved around to the side of the house, where Alex had set up a workout area when he first moved in, and smiled slightly when he saw Alex, his eyes closed as he focused on his workout.
He watched Alex awhile, both because he didn't want to disturb his workout and because his husband just looked good, and Arapaima was not above checking him out and appreciating how his muscles bulged and shined with sweat. He looked enticing — and Arapaima had to shake any of those thoughts away, because now was time for a serious discussion, not sex.
Alex's counting eventually came to a stop and he set down the weights with a sigh, settling back onto the bench and rolling his shoulders. He didn't notice Arapaima at first as he grabbed his water, taking steady sips as he finally looked up and his eyes swept over the farm, passing by Arapaima at first before widening. Alex choked as his gaze returned to Arapaima and Arapaima panicked, rushing over as he hacked up water.
"Paima—! What— What are you—ack, fuck— doing here?" Alex coughed out, wiping at his mouth as Arapaima rubbed his back, slowly sitting up and taking deep breaths. Arapaima looked over him once more, no longer in appreciation but concern, making sure he wasn't gonna choke again. "Thought you were—" and now Alex bolted upright, twisting to get a better look at Arapaima. "What in the name of Yoba happened to you?!" he asked, getting to his feet and pulling Arapaima right along with him. "I— You— you should go see Harvey—"
"I'm fine," Arapaima signed as Alex began pulling him away from his workout station. "We have stuff here, I can patch up inside, I'll explain later. But— Alex, Alex look at me—" but Alex was still focusing on his injuries, which yeah, Arapaima knew they didn't look great, but they weren't that bad (that, or he was getting too used to getting hurt spelunking with the others, and he decided he could deal with that possibility and the anxiety that was undoubtedly gonna spark later), and Arapaima needed him to process what he was actually saying.
He twisted his arm that Alex was holding and tapped thrice at Alex's forearm, digging his heels in until Alex inhaled sharply and looked up, finally meeting his eyes. "I'll explain, promise. But I think we need to talk."
Alex hesitated. "Talk…? There's—" he cut himself off with a half-hearted laugh. "There's nothing we need to talk about."
Arapaima shook his head. "Yes, and I think you're trying to avoid it." Arapaima glanced away, biting his lip before sighing. When he looked back at Alex, he managed to tug his arm free and loop both around Alex's neck, pulling the man close and pressing their foreheads together. He heard Alex gasp slightly and he leaned in to press a gentle kiss to Alex's lips, pulling back before it could really go anywhere. "Please, Alex?" he signed with one hand, bringing the other from around Alex's head to the front so he could cup Alex's cheek. "Please, can we talk?"
Alex swallowed, glancing between Arapaima's hand and his face before he deflated, his own arms wrapping around Arapaima. He nodded as he tucked his head into Arapaima's shoulder. "Fine, yeah… we can talk. But after we get you patched up."
"During," Arapaima nudged Alex away to sign, and Alex was about to protest, but— "Please, I don't— I don't want us to lose the subject this time."
Alex's lips thinned before he sighed, nodding once before using his arm around Arapaima's waist to steer them back to the house.
-
"So, what's so important you just have to talk about it before we patch you up?" Alex asked as he collected the first aid kit from under the sink, turning to Arapaima as he stripped off his pants and shirt so they could better clean and bandage the injuries. He frowned at Alex as he stepped into the bathtub.
"The first— that. I've started to notice, you sound… sometimes, it sounds bitter. Sometimes sad. Sometimes disappointed, or annoyed. And I want to know why. I have a guess, but I don't like assuming."
Alex blinked at him, hesitating before settling on the floor just outside the tub and beginning to run the water. "I'm not upset," he said almost automatically, before cringing at the look Arapaima gave him. "I— fine, yeah, I'm upset sometimes. But it's stupid, I— I shouldn't be taking it out on you."
"It can't be stupid if it's bothering you this much," Arapaima signed, reaching to tilt Alex's face his way. "What's wrong?"
Alex pulled Arapaima's hand away, taking a washcloth from their little stack and wetting it to begin wiping away the blood on Arapaima's arms and legs. Arapaima frowned but didn't try signing anything until Alex decided he was ready to answer. Alex focused on cleaning away the grime that always stuck after visiting the mines as he considered how to voice his thoughts.
"I do think it's stupid," he finally settled on, saying it quietly. "I just— I know you're busy, I knew you'd be even when we were married, I got a taste of it living here while we were still dating. But I… I don't know, it— recently, it's been harder to deal with. We used to spend a lot of time together, even when you got busy. And now…" He glanced up just once from his work, looking up at Arapaima through his bangs, and normally the look would make Arapaima melt, but all it did right now was make his heart squeeze. "And now I barely see you."
He took a shuddering breath, sitting up to turn off the water and discard the wet cloth to instead grab a dry one, dabbing off any excess water before he could apply disinfectant and salves. "I don't— I like living on the farm, and helping out around here. I do. But… it's not what I envisioned for myself, and it's not quite as fulfilling as before— as I expected it to be when I said yes."
His words hung in the air and Arapaima let them soak in, not wanting to get defensive — which was his first instinct, but that wouldn't be fair to Alex. Alex took in another deep breath, dipping fingers into one of the many salves each farmer kept on hand and began to spread it across Arapaima's skin, relief oozing into his agitated and scraped skin. Arapaima didn't feel it much, still considering Alex's words, both more painful than the wounds and ringing with a vulnerability that Arapaima didn't want to crush.
"You wanted to go pro," Arapaima signed eventually, deciding that was a good place to start.
"I mean, yeah…"
"Why did you stop trying?" he asked, tilting his head. "I— we," Arapaima amended, because Alex helped not just him but the others, too. "We all appreciate your help, but I didn't… I don't know why you stopped trying to achieve your dreams."
Alex looked down with a frown. "… I don't know." He put the medicine away and grabbed the bandages, hauling himself up to the edge of the tub and pulling Arapaima up to sit next to him. "I guess I figured it wasn't as realistic, and it's not— I don't regret marrying you, please don't think that," Alex rushed to say, setting the bandages on his lap to cup Arapaima's face in his hands. Arapaima wasn't sure what his face looked like, but that Alex caught on— his heart was still aching with every word and the thought had crossed Arapaima's mind. "I don't regret it," he repeated, quieter, leaning closer.
"Going pro… I… I'd love to do it, but— it— I'd feel awful, knowing that instead I could be here helping you and the others with the farm. And I— when we were dating, I realized I didn't mind settling down on the farm, doing this kind of work is harder than I expected some days but it's rewarding in its own ways. And, doing this, I— we can still see each other. If I try going pro now, we'd really have no time together at all."
Alex's hands lingered on Arapaima's cheeks a second more before he dropped them with a sigh, picking the bandages back up and starting on Arapaima's arm. Once again Arapaima absorbed his words, watching as Alex wrapped his arm before shifting back so he could begin on his legs. Alex worked in silence and Arapaima wanted to wait until they were finished, so he could sign without Alex needing to divide his focus further. It gave him time to also figure out how he wanted to continue.
He sighed heavily as he finished wrapping the last of Arapaima's injuries, putting the remaining bandages away and getting to his feet. Arapaima followed suite, but before Alex could go far he spun Alex around, backing him into the bathroom counter, drawing his attention away from the first aid kit. He nudged Alex to sit on top of the counter, tapping at his thighs before resting his hands on the counter and looking down at Alex expectantly. Alex hesitated before complying, lifting himself up.
"I'm sorry, Alex," Arapaima began, settling between Alex's thighs. "I— You saying you knew I'd be busy… I… this isn't the life I promised you, and it's not your fault it doesn't reach your expectations. It's mine. We— We've been focusing a lot, on different projects, way more than we have before. A lot of the farm has been automated, with sprinklers and feeders, so we have more time for other things and have taken on a lot." He paused in his signing to cup Alex's cheek in one hand, caressing underneath Alex's eye gently, feeling the roughness of his callouses catch on smooth skin, but Alex was leaning into the touch and tilting his face to press his lips to Arapaima's palm, eyes not leaving Arapaima's.
"What I should have done, was use more of that time to spend with you. It's not fair to you."
"That's not—"
"It isn't fair," Arapaima repeated firmly. "You're worried about not being able to spend much time with me if you go pro, but what am I doing with spending all my time doing all these other things?" he asked. Arapaima took a deep breath, feeling it tremble slightly, and realized he himself was shaking a little. He shook his head. "I— we don't need to rush these projects. We shouldn't be rushing them like this."
"…" Alex's hands lifted from the counter to wrap around Arapaima's shoulders, settling in a clasp around Arapaima's neck, fingers tracing gentle, small circles into Arapaima's nape. "I don't understand," he admitted quietly.
"I want to spend more time with you, like I should have already been doing. I should have been making time for you, and I'm sorry I wasn't," Arapaima explained, leaning in to press a kiss to Alex's cheek, then the corner of his mouth, innocent and lingering before he pulled away slightly. "As for you going pro… do you still want to do it?"
Alex blinked down at him, brows furrowing. "I mean, yes…"
Arapaima smiled up at Alex. "Then why don't you try?" he asked. "Putting aside the worry we won't have time together, is there anything else stopping you?"
He watched as the athlete considered his words, worrying at his lip in thought. Then Alex was shaking his head, slowly at first before he paused, then more resolutely shook it. "No, I don't— nothing else would stop me…"
"Will you try? For me?" Arapaima asked, tilting his head and softening his smile. "We can work around our schedules, and— well, Sour Patch takes online classes still, I'm sure if we need, we can do video calls anytime you can't stay at home. I have a more flexible schedule than you do, I can work around your schedule."
"I can't— the others, your guys' routines? The— you guys have been rushing for a reason."
"Can adapt," Arapaima signed while sighing. "And we have, but I can go tell that reason to fuck off." Alex startled at the words, and Arapaima leaned closer to press his face against Alex's chest, deflating under the weight of Alex's arms. He tilted so Alex could continue seeing his signs. "The deadlines don't actually exist, they're just self-imposed timelines one blue asshole has encouraged. The only deadlines are his little tasks, which I am barely interested in. I can pull back a bit, and see about getting the others on board."
"You don't… you don't have to do that for me," Alex mumbled, leaning his head on Arapaima's, searing the words into Arapaima's temple.
"Alex, I want more time with you. I want you to be happy with your life. And… I think it'd be good for everyone." He pressed a small kiss to Alex's jaw.
Alex was quiet for a minute, arms curling tighter around Arapaima and hands shifting to his hair, stroking through the strands slowly. "… Then… Yeah, I want to try going pro. If we can still spend more time together, I'd love to try."
"I promise," Arapaima signed as he pulled away, "I'll make more time for you. And, I'll always be here, cheering you on." He grinned, a mix of cheeky and fond that got a quiet laugh from Alex. "I'm proud of you."
Alex's cheeks dusted red and he ducked his head before reeling Arapaima in for a proper hug, wrapping his legs around Arapaima along with his arms, and Arapaima was happy to curl into the embrace, his own arms wrapping around Alex and squeezing him tight. Alex hummed as he buried his face in Arapaima's hair, cuddling closer.
Arapaima closed his eyes, nuzzling into Alex's throat and breathing him in, the familiar scent his heart recognized as purely Alex washing over him. He felt lighter, in a way he hadn't realized he had been missing in days, chest easing as a weight melted away. Arapaima drew back slightly, bringing his hands up to cup Alex's face between them, stroking his cheeks once more, watching Alex's eyes blink open and feeling a warmth envelop him as they settled on him, content and excited and adoring all swirling in those green eyes he loved. Arapaima smiled gently when Alex leaned down to press their foreheads together, watching his eyes flutter shut before slowly opening again, as if he also didn't want to look away — didn't want to break the quiet comfort that was blanketing them.
He drew one hand away to sign, "I love you, Alex."
Alex breathed in shakily, pulling Arapaima closer once again to tuck his head into Alex's shoulder, lips pressing to Arapaima's temple. He felt more than he heard the words Alex mumbled in return. "I love you, Arapaima."
