hi risu <3 would you maybe like to do aku/roku with 29 for the kiss meme?
I would be delighted because wrist kisses absolutely melt me! And so do these two, so I’m actually just a big puddle of soft right now. I hope you enjoy it.
Once again, I take an overabundance of caution when writing for this ship, so please do not reblog this story (and I will pray it does not show up in the tags). Do feel free to drop me a reply if you like it, though!
29. a kiss on the inside of the wrist + the ship that shall not be named on my blog
Axel hadn’t noticed at first. On the one hand, it made sense: since coming back, they hadn’t had a second to breathe besides that single hug, overcome with a sense of relief and desperation to know they were all really here, all three of them Nobodies who were always someone to each other, that it wasn’t a dream.
But on the other hand, Axel couldn’t stop himself from thinking he should have noticed anyway.
“Axel,” Roxas said, trying to pull his hand back. But he didn’t make eye contact, and that was more than enough for Axel to start putting the pieces together.
“I did this,” he said flatly, thumb running across Roxas’s wrist, just under his palm. There it was, a seam on the skin where the leather of his glove suddenly lost all traction, slipping like ice on skin that was new and stark and empty. A burn. “Didn’t I.”
Roxas shook his head, and for a second, Axel was afraid he was going to lie. “It’s not bad. And besides, it was a lifetime ago.” Axel pulled on his wrist, and Roxas followed this time with a sigh as Axel raised both their hands to look at it more closely. “It’s not even a scar,” Roxas said, almost at the same time Axel realized it. “I think that I got my body back in exactly the same state it was when I…”
Axel traced the edge of the burn again, feeling a little better knowing it would heal, but still feeling like he couldn’t breathe. Inhaling smoke—it happened a lot when he was training with his powers originally, careful enough with the fire not to burn himself but too careless to avoid the fallout.
“Still,” he said, briefly meeting Roxas’s eyes before he had to blink, like staring at the sun. “Sorry.” Even if the mark faded, Axel was sure he wouldn’t forget. He winced.
“Hey,” said Roxas. Axel looked up just in time to see Roxas moving to flick his forehead, but not fast enough to dodge. “No sorries, or I might start thinking you didn’t want me back that bad after all.”
And that was so twisted that for a second, Axel wondered if it was possible for a heart to pop like his joints did. “Roxas,” he whispered. The rest of the words wouldn’t come, trapped somewhere in between his heart and his throat that were now both knotted up.
Instead, he took Roxas’s arm in both hands and lifted it until it was level with his face. Roxas followed the motion, settling his hand on the side of Axel’s face. Encouraging, since it wasn’t like they’d ever really done this before, even if the feelings weren’t new. But rather than indulge in that, Axel turned his face and leaned forward, just enough to brush his lips over the patch of too-smooth skin.
“I always,” he said, feeling Roxas shiver as his skin broke out into goosebumps from that simple touch, “want you here. And I missed you, even when I screwed up.” He kissed the spot again, and a weight lifted from his chest as the words Roxas hadn’t heard before were finally, finally out in the open. Roxas’s eyes were wide, full of wonder as he stared at their hands, before they crinkled into a smile. “Got it?” asked Axel. His smirk slid right back into place on his lips.
“Memorized, yeah,” Roxas said, tangling his free hand in Axel’s shirt to meet that smile with one of his own.
based on your last ask---would you like to talk a little more about the technical aspect of managing the wishing hunt? it sounds interesting! but only if you want to get into it :P
Hey @fuzzpeach! Thanks for asking - I'm happy to talk about this! Sorry I've taken so long to reply - the last two days have been hectic.
For me, The Wishing Hunt is a new writing process. Many fic writers post chapters as they go, but I usually have a full draft complete, even if I edit as I post. This time though, because the votes influence the direction of the story, I can't plan as far in advance. Also, I can't go back and fix plot issues later or delete tangents that derail it.
That's why I'm writing carefully to a structure and mapping it as I go. Because The Wishing Hunt is a fantasy/romance fic, it needs to hit plot beats for both traditional fantasy and romance. To cope technically, I'm keeping an Excel spreadsheet that combines and tracks all those things.
So, my process is:
Update my summary at the end of each chapter;
Check which fantasy and romance beats I'm working towards next;
Write the next chapter outline, including the voting results;
Check it hits those beats, or if I've hit any accidentally (it happens, which can be good);
Adjust my outline if I've missed any;
Actually write the chapter;
Check again on those essential beats;
Make sure we're heading to the major plot points (usually moments of change in their relationship or quests) later on
The spreadsheet also has notes on Gon and Killua's character flaws, needs, and false beliefs in this fic, their past traumas and emotional wounds, and the ways in which they've responded to them. (Both strengths and weaknesses.) That's so their character arcs will stay focussed on those things, and so I don't go off inventing unrelated new ones. (Or their story might never end, lol.)
Lots of writers plan only a couple of chapters ahead. I've drafted a novel before, working that way. Right now, I'm confident I can see to the midpoint of the Wishing Hunt. After that, there are a few ways things could go, and I might have to do more work on the outline.
Sometimes when a story's had a chance to get complex (for me, the second half), it can take a while to figure out a resolution, and sometimes those solutions come when you're not even working on the story. I often have an idea to begin with, but something better comes up. Things honestly do fall into place in a way that sometimes feels serendipitous.
Until then, I'm putting elements in place, and I know they're going to come together towards the end. The way in which they do will probably surprise me, but I have faith that will happen, based on my past experience writing. I'm kind of a cross between a pantser and an outliner, as far as writing goes. I love the inspiration from pantsing it, and the control from the outlining. I don't like to let my outline stifle inspiration, nor to let random inspiration mean I never finish.
I hope this makes sense! Thanks so much for asking, and I'm happy to answer any other questions you or others have about any of these things. I've touched really lightly on a whole range of topics. I'm always interested in the way other writers work!
