synopsis: Cú Alter is done being targeted by Medb. You are done being chased around by Kiyohime. Maybe pretending to date each other will keep both away?
pairing: cú chulainn alter x fem!reader
cw; fake dating, au where dr. romani is still alive and well y-y, mutual pinning, slightly suggestive at some point, master (the reader) is more or less oblivious.
w.count: 2k
a.n: million thanks to @nagumoan for helping me out with this beautiful banner and also coming up with a title <3 @cursedmoonchild you were right.. i did enjoy embracing the fluff lol but i hope u like it hehe (i will know if you laughed at his name again) // reblogs are appreciated ૮ ˶´ ᵕˋ ˶ა
m.list
Peaceful days are something rather rare around Chaldea. The multitude of servants you have summoned makes it rather impossible. While there are some very nice and helpful servants, there are some very chaotic ones too.
Being the master, you try to make sure everything is fine and that all your servants are satisfied and happy in there. You know that there are some servants who don’t necessarily like you. Not the same way they like each other at least. You observed the relief that spreads into Medb’s eyes when she’s sent to farm alongside Cú Alter. You’ve seen the way that Achilles and Atalante work together, terminating all the enemies and bringing back whatever materials Dr. Romani asked for. And it’s not that they don’t extend the same faith in you, but there are times when you feel like an intruder. Times when you feel useless. But oftentimes, things aren’t necessarily what they seem on the outside.
The main reason you feel like that is your need to help and protect others, and if you can’t do that, you tend to feel useless. But there are some problems that you can’t really take care of, or so you thought…
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
Getting out of his room, Cú Chulainn Alter lets out a loud groan when he notices Medb at the end of the corridor, already heading his way. Saying that her obsession with him is tiring is not enough, no. It pisses him off more than anything and nothing he does seems to make her understand that he is not interested in her advances and flirt attempts.
He turns around and starts walking in the opposite direction leaving Medb pouting behind when she realizes he’s ignoring her again.
Cú Alter is used to the other servants seeing him as the coldest of the three. But one thing about Cú Alter is that he doesn’t care what others think. That’s why he is not surprised when even his master goes silent when he enters the same room. He notices the way you avert your eyes and bite your lip while Mash keeps on talking, not noticing the subtle change.
Being a fighter, a berserker, he recognizes fear from miles, and that’s not it.
He intimidates you, and he knows it. But how could you not be intimidated by someone like him? He’s imposing, extremely strong, and a killing machine. He grins when he feels you tensing up when passing by. Could it be that his master is that nervous around him?
Cú Alter is not interested in any kind of relationship with anyone. All he wants is to kill and be left alone. But even so, he finds himself getting out of his room and roaming the halls of Chaldea more often than before, silently looking around in the hope of finding you somewhere around the place.
Day after day, he ends up watching over you for a bit before returning to his room or leaving to help in the battles. The one thing that annoys him every single day is that annoying snake that roams around you even though you always reject her advances and godawful questions. Everyone knows about Kiyohime’s obsession with the master, and he never cared much about it, but lately, it has been getting on his nerves.
The more he sees how annoying Kiyohime is, the more he realizes that you are in the same situation he is in with Medb. That’s when an idea crosses his mind.
“Listen, master, we both have someone we want to leave us alone. Why not pretend to be together to get rid of both?”
You blinked in surprise when you heard his question.
Cú Alter caught you when you were alone heading towards the cafeteria, and after placing a hand on the wall, he trapped you in between it and his body. His question took you by surprise but the more you thought about it the more you realized it may actually work. It was worth a try at least.
“Sure, let’s do that, Cú~”
And so you ended up spending most of your time with him outside the farming time. Much to everyone’s surprise, he’d be next to you everywhere around Chaldea, bring your food, accompany you to the training sessions even if he wasn’t participating, and always escort you to your room at the end of each day.
Days and weeks passed and now you are more comfortable around him. His plan actually worked since Kiyohime and Medb didn’t even try approaching again after the first attempts when he scared them away, not before threatening them by saying that you “belong to him” and whoever dares touch what’s his will not make it out in one piece.
You’d be lying if you said that his declaration didn’t make your heart beat faster and cheeks burn, but you knew better. There is no way Cú actually meant that. He was just playing his role, and nothing more. You should be doing the same, but the more you play this role the more you find yourself hoping it was all real.
Even after he's accompanying you back to your room at the end of each day, all you can think about is him. Each thought you have makes your chest tighten and your heart hurt because you know it is all just a big lie. You end up crying yourself to sleep most nights, regretting getting yourself into this, seemingly easy, deal.
What you don’t know is that his very trained ears didn’t miss on hearing your sniffles and sobs. To say that he was utterly confused is not enough. Cú just assumes it is because of something he must have done wrong. He must have fucked up somewhere, somehow.
Every single day he tried to change something in his attitude. He’d bring you a flower he collected from the forests he trained in. Genuinely listen to everything you’re saying, from the simple things that happened throughout your day to your worries and fears. He’d say that he only does it for the appearance, to make it seem real in case Medb or Kiyohime are stalking. And you believe him. But truth to be told, he does it because that’s what he feels like doing.
Cú may have only gotten into this at first to get rid of Medb, but as time passed he found himself falling in love with you. At least that’s what he thinks it is.
Even though he seems like a cold and stoic man, every time you’re close to him he prays you won’t hear his heartbeat that ends up beating like crazy, almost as if it is trying to give his feeling away. He can’t help it. The way your wide, innocent eyes, sparkle in excitement whenever you see him approaching, a smile always present on your face.
You are the sun, while he is all darkness. He’s afraid his actions will end up fading your light.
Even when he is having bad thoughts, you end up dragging him out of them somehow. Sometimes, even a simple sentence completely stuns him.
“I’m really happy to see you, Cú.”
Cú finds it really hard to stay composed when you say stuff like that. Hearing your sweet, lighthearted voice, along with the way you look up at him and slightly jump on your toes - it’s like you’re trying to make him fall for you.
And it is working.
He sighs when he realized how deep he has fallen. Seeing your adorable face, all he wants to do is kiss you. Cup your face and make it official, not just some lie. But you’re his master, and you couldn’t possibly fall for a brute like him. He’s a berserker. You would be more fit with one of his more cheerful versions. Yet here you are, smiling and cheerfully chatting with the other servants, by his side.
You could have refused his offer. You could have said no and just ask somebody else to do it. Maybe you only accepted out of fear, or maybe you didn’t. But one thing he knows for sure, and that is that he doesn’t want it to be a lie anymore.
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
The hallway is silent.
Everyone has already retreated to their rooms and he was planning on doing the same before you took him by surprise with your question.
“Can you stay with me for the night?”
You have been feeling sadder and sadder with each day passing and you wanted to have a talk with him. The thought of him not feeling the same was crushing your heart, but you’d rather ‘break up’ than keep suffering.
Cú hesitates, nearly turning around and heading toward his own room, his mind flooded with hundreds of different scenarios.
Why would you ask him that? Did you have any idea how dangerous it was to ask one of your male servants such a question? Were you out of your mind? But looking back at your nearly teary eyes and saddened face, he steps inside without commenting anything.
After hopping on your bed, you tapped on the empty space next to you, inviting him to join you. And so he did. The bed felt so much smaller now that he was next to you. You quickly felt your cheeks getting hot as you thought of how easily he could turn around and completely tower over you, trapping you underneath his body.
Seeing your flushed face Cú chuckled. What could possibly go on through that little head of yours?
“So, why am I here?”
Cú broke the slightly awkward silence.
Hearing his question, you remain quiet for a moment. Lifting your face to meet his gaze, you mindlessly place your hand on his cheek, your thumb gently touching the red tattoo that was resting beneath his eye.
“I guess i want to know how you feel about me?”
Out of all the questions, this is not the one he was expecting.
“How i feel about you?” he repeats the question as if trying to process it.
You nod your head as you bite your lip and furrow your eyebrows. You’re anxious and he can tell by how cold your usually warm hand is against his face.
“ I... I have feelings for you Cú.. “ he froze. “But if they are onesided... I am afraid I cannot continue with the lie. It hurts more than I thought it would.”
A million thoughts rush through your read as you realize there is absolutely no going back now.
“But if, maybe… you feel the same way… if you also feel something..”
Cú’s slowly blinking in surprise, now realizing that was the reason you asked him to stay.
He would be lying if he said he doesn’t have feelings for you. He respects you as a master, but his feelings have long surpassed the master and servant relationship.
Without saying anything, Cú placed his hand on top of yours, taking it and placing it on his chest, allowing you to feel his heartbeat. Then he leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss on your lips. He smiled into the kiss when you deepened it, realizing that you wanted that just as much as he did.
Getting a bit carried away, he captured both of your wrists and pinned your hands above your head, now truly having you trapped beneath his body. You moaned into the kiss when you felt his other hand rest on one of your hips, keeping you in place. Soon after he moved to your jaw and neck, leaving sloppy kisses and his marks, making sure that everyone will know who you belong to officially now.
You open your eyes when you feel your hands are free again and quickly cup his face admiring his beauty.
“Was this good enough to show you how I feel, master?”
You smile and happily nod your head, pulling him back in for another kiss.
Cú spent the night with you, and every single night after that too.
In which Yori asks finds a way to ask Mash something very important, hiding away in a closet on the Shadow Border.
(A.K.A the first writing I’ve completed since April. Fic is under the cut, but can be read on Ao3 here.)
“...Senpai?”
It was, perhaps, an unusual request. To meet in one of the surprising number of closets housed in the Shadow Border’s halls, rather than in their individual rooms, or the Command Room. But no, Yori had left her a note at dinner to meet her in a closet housed close enough to the engine room that a low hum permeated the air with every passing second. A note that instructed her to visit a closet in the middle of the night...or whatever qualified as the Border’s Day-Night cycle.
A closet that had apparently been emptied of its contents, judging from the mop and bucket, the stray wiring and the stack of technical manuals poorly hidden just around the corner from the closet.
“Mash! You alone?” The door slid open just a crack, enough that Yori’s voice wasn’t muffled completely behind it.
“I-Yes, yes of course. Is something wrong, Yori?” Mash asked, looking back and forth a few times just to double check. The two Lostbelts they’d been through had taken their mental and physical toll on her Master, but even this sort of behavior was bizarre beyond belief. More bizarre than her gacha rolling rituals, which had become a whole production back in Chaldea.
“C’mon, step into the den, then. I want to...I want to, uh, talk to you. Just the two of us.” The door opened all the way, revealing that the Master of Chaldea was sitting on the floor of the closet, which was narrow enough that she needed to bunch up her knees to sit length-ways. Despite the grin on her face, Mash could sense a bit of...nervousness from her girlfriend.
Mash looked back and forth again before stepping inside. She crouched down, sitting against the opposite wall of Yori, bunching up her knees as well. The door closed behind mash, leaving master and Servant in the cramped closet, which was dimly lit. Apparently Yori had dug out a battery-operated lantern, as it was precariously perched on a small shelf, just above their heads. It provided enough light so that Mash could see Yori’s features without issue...though the bandages that covered most of her arms and hands, and the splint keeping her left leg in good shape stood out against the darkness..
“Well this is...cozy.” Mash remarked after a few moments of silence, giving off a soft smile.
“I-yeah, I guess it’s not the most comfortable place to do this. I-I just...I guess I just wanted somewhere private? Somewhere that it could just be the two of us, with nobody listening.” Yori was...really nervous, practically fumbling over her words. But she reached out anyway, waiting until Mash took her hand, and gave it a firm squeeze.
Yori opened and closed her mouth a few times, struggling to find her voice.
“I’m sorry, I thought it’d be easier to ask you this. I’m just...fucking shit. I’m sorry, Mash, I know it’s late, and we’re tired, and we still don’t have any-.” Yori felt Mash’s other hand reach over, and touch her shoulder, as gingerly as she could. It was still healing as well, after all.
“It’s okay, Senpai. If it’s really this important to you, I know you’ll find the right words soon.” Her words brought warmth to Yori, a warmth that filled her body and rested calmly in her gut. After a few deep breaths and a soft chuckle, Yori finally uttered six words that floored her Kouhai.
“Mash Kyrielight, will you marry me?”
It was spoken as casual as if Yori had asked her to pass the salt, or if she wanted an extra sugar in her cream. Perhaps she would’ve been down on one knee, if not for the cramped spaces. A blindside of a question, that managed to get Mash’s hair to float enough that her left eye became momentarily visible.
After that, Mash began to stammer and sputter incoherently, which had Yori giggling under her breath for a good minute. Finally, she grabbed mash’s arm, giving it a gentle squeeze and shake.
'Hey, hey. Stay with me, Mash.”
It took a minute, and a drink of water from a thermos that Yori had smuggled into the closet, but eventually the Servant of the Shield calmed down and was able to put more than a few syllables together at once.
“M-Marry you!? Yori, you want to get m-m-married, right now? Right here!?” Mash was practically shouting, and she only managed to stop rocking in place after Yori leaned in further and put both hands on her Kouhai’s shoulders.
“Mash, I-No. I just want to get engaged, to be married. Okay? Engaged. Besides, the only person aboard who could officiate is Goredolf and he would be…” Yori drifted off, trying to find the right word as Mash simmered down. Eventually, Mash squeaked out the right words.
“Overbearing? Obnoxious? Objectionable?” Mash eventually guessed, getting a nod of assent.
“Among other things. Besides, he’d probably give us a whole lecture on skewed priorities...or have a heart attack right there on deck. And sure, the guy is still fairly insufferable and all, but I-”
“...Why are you asking now?”
Mash’s words got Yori to stop dead, and let the hum of the border’s engine fill the air. It took another minute before Yori replied, brushing her alabaster locks out of her face as she tried to articulate her words again.
“It’s just...it feels like we’ve been doing the Cha-Cha Slide with Death since everything went to hell, again. It-It really feels like we haven’t had a moment to breathe, to stop, to have a minute together, or just…live. Or to have something, anything to ourselves. Just for us. I’m terrified. We could die tomorrow, y’know? And…and if every day is tomorrow…well, then I want to ask today.”
Another Lostbelt, getting sidetracked on the way to whatever they were going, or her own doubts could’ve stopped this. Yori knew if she’d thought twice about this, she wouldn't’ve done this…might’ve never had the chance to do this. She hadn’t wasted a moment since the notion came across her mind…
…But the long silence as she waited for Mash to answer was sending Yori’s stomach towards the center of what was left of the Earth. And as the seconds turned into a full minute, then two, Yori could look down at her collapsed hands, and listen to her heart pounding in her ears as the wait got longer and longer.
“I…I’m sorry, Mash. I’m sorry I sprung this on you, I shouldn't've-”
For the second time in those few minutes, Yori was caught off by her girlfriend. But instead of words, Mash simply closed the distance and shut her up by planting a kiss on her lips…and then another, and another. Finally, she clasped both hands on either side of Yori’s face, and forced her Master to look at her.
“Yes.”
Mash’s voice was a whisper, and she sounded near tears. But the answer brought massive grins to both girls' faces, and if not for the fact that they were barely able to move in the closet, they would’ve been twirling one another around.
“That…that’s a yes to…?”
Mash nodded, now tearing up.
“Yes, Yori. It’s a yes. An infinite amount of times, yes.” The elation felt uncontrollable, and both fiancés found themselves giggling between kisses. And for a few minutes, the cramped closet, the dim lantern, and each other was the entire world to the two of them. Nothing else mattered, and no Crypter, Lostbelt King or Alien God could take that moment away from them.
“...Wait, crap. Mash, hold on a second, I forgot a step in this.”
As they pulled away from one another, Mash could only tilt her head in confusion, and watch as Yori patted herself down. Finally, in the deepest reaches of one of the pouches on her pants, she found what she was looking for.
Out of her pocket came a heart-shaped ruby pendant, hanging from an old silver chain. Even in the dim lighting, it gave off a brilliant glow that cast shades of garnet on the door as it caught the light. Mash handled it gingerly between a few fingers after Yori held it out to her, eyes wide behind her glasses.
“It’s gorgeous, Senpai. What is it?”
"It’s an old family pendant. My mother gave it to me when I was about…seven or eight years old. She told me that it had been passed down my family for generations, gathering magical energy. She also said it brought good luck, and that it reunited her with her long-lost sister.”
Mash paused in a moment of awe, before shaking her head a few times.
“Yori, I can’t take this from you. I just can’t. It has too much sentimental value.”
Mash held the pendant out, only for Yori to close Mash’s hand around it with both of hers. Yori looked down at their clasped hands, then spoke.
“You’re right. I’ve treasured that since the day my mother gave it to me. I look at it every morning, and I put it under my pillow every evening. I don’t think there’s a single servant we’ve met that I’ve even told about it, or a time I’ve gone on a Rayshift without it.”
Yori then looked up, smiling.
“But Mash…I love you. And I want this part of me that I treasure so much to be yours, because I treasure you that much more.”
Mash let off something resembling a squeal as her face turned redder than the pendant in her hands, which in turn was brought in and grasped against her chest. In fact, Mash seemed so flustered, she had no other choice but to curl into a fetal position in order to process it.
"That, and she probably saw those ovals made of copper wire out in the hall that I tried to make into rings.”
After a minute or two, Yori leaned in and rested her forehead against Mash’s, getting a peek of her eyes behind her glasses. As their hands came together, Yori found the pendant in her grip once again.
“May I?” Mash nodded, still unable to speak. Gingerly and gently, Yori looped the chain around Mash’s neck, ensuring the pendant was centered over her chest. After that, Yori resumed the forehead touching, grinning from ear to ear and closing her eyes. Simply enjoying the intimacy of being so close to Mash.
And once again, a few minutes passed like that…
…before Mash turned the tables.
Because as it turned out, Mash was also hiding something on her person, that she’d kept to herself. A large, circular locket with Chaldea’s logo on the outside, looped onto an old leather necklace.
"We’re both supposed to have something like this, from what I’ve read. So here, I want you to have this in return. Please, take it.” Yori didn’t fight Mash on that, and did indeed take it…until she opened the locket and felt her heart sink.
There were two pictures inside of the locket. The first was of Mash, Romani, and the recently-departed Da Vinci, taken (if she had to guess) not long before the Grand Order had kicked off. A formal, almost old school portrait, no doubt at the insistence of the renaissance woman.
The other was as dimly lit as the closet and was equally intimate. It was a snapshot, most likely taken by Saint Georgios in passing, of Mash and the Queen of Sheba, side by side. The latter was leading the former in the lighting of a menorah, guiding Mash with the practiced patience of a royal…and the beaming pride of a parent. And if Yori squinted just right…she could have sworn she saw a certain King in the background, just between the branches of the Menorah.
Yori swallowed heavily, and soon began echoing her fiancé.
“Mash…I-I can’t take this, not this. Anything but this. This is all you have left of your family. Of your home.”
Mash reached forward, placing her hand on Yori’s chest, placing as much pressure as she dared. “
Yori, you’re home to me. Wherever you go, that’s home. And because we met, you’ve given me the chance to meet a family I never would’ve known about otherwise. I love you…and as far as I’m concerned, that locket is just as much yours as it is mine.” Yori was blinking away tears as Mash spoke, but she eventually relented, letting Mash loop the locket onto her neck.
With “rings” exchanged, the two kissed again, resuming resting their foreheads against one another, hands clasped together.
And perhaps that would’ve been the end of it…
…if not for the fact that Yori started to fight back laughter a few minutes later.
“What is it, Senpai?” Mash opened her eyes as she leaned back, clasping her hand over the pendant.
“Nothing, just stupid. I started to imagine what our wedding was going to be like, if we managed to resummon all the servants.” Mash was suddenly thankful that Meunière insisted on locking the Servant briefcase away on the command deck. She had a feeling that if the servants in there witnessed all of this, a certain few would be clawing their way out at this moment.
“It’ll naturally turn into a singularity of it’s own, don’t you think?” Mash guessed, to which Yori nodded.
“Naturally. And that won’t be much of a problem, all in all. Though I’m betting at least one servant couple is going to get married, or renew their vows while we’re there.” “Brynhild and Sigurd, or the Sakamotos are my first two guesses, but I imagine Ozymandias would upstage the whole affair if we ever summon Queen Nefertari.” Yori choked, and almost laughed again as Mash continued the train of thought.
“Spot-on, Mash, exactly what I was thinking. But that’s not what makes me laugh. I get to our wedding parties...and then I imagine Herc stuffed into a tuxedo.” It took a moment, but Mash started to laugh…until it petered out into a sad sigh a few seconds later. Yori didn’t need to guess what Mash was thinking about, and gave Mash’s hand a squeeze.
“And maybe…just maybe, He will be there to walk you down the aisle. If there’s even a slim chance, I swear to you, I’ll move heaven, earth, and everything in between to get him there.” Mash kissed Yori again, and was about to thank Yori in a wavering voice…until, as if on cue, two stomachs rumbling in holy matrimony.
“That reminds me, I did grab something to celebrate the occasion.”
Yori suddenly snapped her fingers, and reached behind the lantern, for a small bag. Out of it came a bowl of some thick, chocolate looking substance, and a few small, golden sponge cakes.
“...What is this, and where did you get it, Senpai?” Mash eventually asked, wiping away a few tears before taking a few of the cakes for herself.
“Twinkies and some chocolate cake frosting to dip it in. And if you must know…I lifted them from the Director’s secret stash.”
Yori received a swift, if gentle, smack on the arm for her answer…but Mash didn’t return the Twinkie either. Apparently she’d gotten a bite before Yori answered, and wasn’t giving it up. Especially considering she was double dipping into the frosting.
“I understand this is a special occasion, but you shouldn’t be stealing from him! Where did you even learn to do something like that?” To that, Yori just shrugged, and began to dig into the little snack.
"Wait…have I never told you about my juvenile school days?”
Mash shook her head, which got a chocolate-stained smirk to come to Yori’s face. Yori sat back as much as she could, cracked her neck twice, and began to speak in a tone reminiscent of a narrator.
“Well then, mi amor, settle in as we feast. And I shall regale you with the tales of El Yoro Bandito, the Chocolate Pudding Vigilante of Fuyuki Elementary…”
