#kawashiki

[the-marvelous-geek]

Borushiki vs. Kawashiki and Boruto's death - Boruto: Naruto Next Generations - ep. 292

We got a glimpse of how an actual fight between Momoshiki and Isshiki might ensue.

[narutosidebitch]

High five

[ashxtodd]

SemiShira Week Day 1 (First kiss/Confessions)

Title: Falling

Main Pairing: Semi Eita/Shirabu Kenjirou

Side Pairing: Kawanishi Taichi/Goshiki Tsutomu (Mentioned) 

Rating: T

Word Count: 7,995

Status: Complete

Links: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26677750

https://www.wattpad.com/story/244199475-%F0%9D%99%81%F0%9D%98%BC%F0%9D%99%87%F0%9D%99%87%F0%9D%99%84%F0%9D%99%89%F0%9D%99%82-%F0%9D%99%A8%F0%9D%99%9A%F0%9D%99%A2%F0%9D%99%9E%F0%9D%99%A8%F0%9D%99%9D%F0%9D%99%9E%F0%9D%99%A7%F0%9D%99%96

          What he didn't expect was an ash blond with frosted tips to rush into the gym panting, smiling in their direction. "Hey, I'm Sem-" He tried to say, only to be cut off by him tripping on his own shoelaces causing him to get knocked off balance and inevitably falling. "-mi." He finished. Idiot , Shirabu thought, only for him to add, but an overly attractive and hot one , a second later, causing his brain to short circuit for a moment.

5 times Shirabu thought Semi wasn't as bad as he thought. The one time he did something about the tension between them (kinda).

OR: Shirabu realizing what love is through the course of three years.

(Ft. best friend in the world Kawanishi)

SemiShira Week Day 1: First kiss/Confessions

[sunkissedcrow]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

a study of sorts

Pairing: Kawanishi Taichi/Goshiki Tsutomu 

Word Count: 9,650

Rating: T

Summary: In which Goshiki stares at Taichi, and Taichi tries to do nothing about it.

Excerpt

Beside him, Kenjirou spoke with feigned nonchalance, "Goshiki's staring at you again."

Tachi glanced at the first year from his peripheral vision, and indeed, Goshiki was staring at him. He looked back down at the water bottle in his hand.

It was a reoccurring phenomenon lately, that was, Goshiki's staring. Ever since the starting order for Inter-High was announced last week—Tachi made the cut with Kenjirou this year—he'd feel the weight of eager brown eyes trying to dissect him. Whenever they were on the same team for practice matches, Goshiki would glance over at him every ten seconds. He had significantly less subtlety than when Taichi tried to get out of cleaning the gym floor. No, when Goshiki stared, he stared.

He wore the same expression every time Taichi caught him: an intense frown slash pout, with his lips pressed together to a side, his eyebrows furrowed, eyes squinted like he was trying to activate heat vision and melt Taichi's body. He always looked somewhat ridiculous, just as he did now, standing in a circle across the gym with the second-years he trained with, despite only being a first-year himself.

"Still staring," Kenjirou commented, before raising his water bottle to his mouth. Taichi could see that, so he just hummed in response. Kenjirou scoffed at his noncommittal response with a mouthful of water. He swallowed. "Well, have you figured out why he's doing it?" he asked quietly with just a hint of annoyance. Taichi knew from experience that if Kenjirou could control his infliction of annoyance, it meant he wasn't actually that annoyed at anything.

So Taichi answered honestly. "Not really." Goshiki was still staring. Taichi could feel it even if he wasn't looking.

Kenjirou gave him an unimpressed look. "Did you even try?"

Taichi got as far as shrugging when another voice rang out.

"Oh, Kenjirou-kun, what are you whispering about?" Tendou draped himself over Kenjirou with a teasing grin, turning the shorter boy positively red from the weight of his body and their proximity.

"Nothing of your concern, senpai," Kenjirou muttered, looking away.

"Aw, don't be like that. I have endless amounts of care and love for my kouhai."

"Is that so?"

Their exchange held the attention of the entire gym, bantering and flirting blatantly just like they had been for the past three months. Sure, it acted sort of like entertainment during breaks, but it should have led to somewhere by now. Taichi should do something about it. But getting Kenjirou and Tendou together would either be as simple as the English test he had yesterday (it was his best subject) or as laboring as the serving practice Coach made them do.

He wasn't at all tempted to find out which of those would prove to be true.

Taichi should do something about Goshiki's newfound fascination with him too.

[musicprincess655]

Knight and Bishop, Ch. 17

Pairing: Semishira, Kawashiki

Rating: T

Tags: a/b/o, royalty au

read on ao3

“Adequate compensation for a sacrifice is having a sound combination leading to a winning position.” – Bruce A. Moon

Taichi only had so much room in his head, and it was all being used up. He could only try to keep so many people safe, and he was being overwhelmed.

So he pulled Goshiki away from where the younger boy was trying to go after Semi, stalking towards Kenjirou. Taichi didn’t have time to worry about his best friend right now. Kenjirou would be fine, and Taichi wanted to get both him and Goshiki to the infirmary.

Goshiki was too quiet as they went. Not for the first time, Taichi remembered that he was only sixteen. That had been his first battle.

It had also been Taichi’s. He’d been trained, of course, in defending Ushijima no matter what. He’d practiced fending off multiple attackers at once, but it was nothing like the real thing. Practice swords couldn’t teach him about people dying.

He and Goshiki weren’t really that badly hurt, just a few cuts and things to patch up, but Taichi wasn’t sure what else to do. He could do this much, at least.

Goshiki followed him pliantly, sitting when told and letting Taichi turn his face this way and that, bandaging any open wounds he could see. Finally, there was no more fussing he could do, and his own wounds were taken care of as well. He sat heavily beside Goshiki on the bed. They were tucked in a corner away from the activity around the more injured soldiers.

“Are you okay?” he asked, though he already knew the answer. Goshiki just huffed a breath, not really an answer.

“I didn’t know it would be like that.”

I didn’t either.

Somehow, though, it felt cheap to tell Goshiki that. He was supposed to be Goshiki’s beloved senpai. He was supposed to protect him.

He is surrounded by soldiers, and spears, and blood. None can touch his prince. He will not allow it.

He is mounted on his horse, his longer sword the perfect thing for reaching the people running around below him. They all die at his hand, and none may touch Ushijima.

And then his horse is stumbling over one of the many bodies he littered on the ground. He jumps before he can be thrown, and he is no longer above the men who would harm his prince.

Suddenly his sword seems too long. Everything is chaos, and everything is death.

He doesn’t see the man running for him until it is too late.

A blur of black and maroon, and the man is dead. He sees dark eyes and straight bangs. He doesn’t understand what is shouted at him, but he remounts his horse all the same.

“You saved my life,” Taichi said instead.

“You would’ve done the same for me,” Goshiki replied.

“That doesn’t make it matter less to me.”

“How many do you think are dead?”

Taichi wasn’t entirely sure how to answer that, so instead, he wrapped his arm around Goshiki’s shoulders and pulled him in close. Goshiki let his head rest on Taichi’s shoulder.

“More of them than of us,” Taichi finally decided on.

“I didn’t expect them to be like that.”

“Like what?”

“They were just people.”

That was the worst part. Realizing that your enemy was human, the same as you. Realizing that you were killing people who were only different from you because of which side of the Wall they lived on.

“I know,” Taichi said, because there was no use arguing that. “But they attacked us first. They were going to kill our king. If we don’t fight back, they’ll kill us first. We have to fight them like this to convince them to leave us alone.”

Goshiki curled up tighter into his side. He was still quiet, but that silence didn’t feel like shame anymore. He would be alright soon enough.

He wasn’t sure he could say the same thing about Kenjirou walking up to him. He’d never seen that look on his best friend’s face before, but it definitely wasn’t anything good.

“Kenjirou?” Tentative, reaching. Trying to approach gently, like he would if he was trying not to scare off a wounded animal.

“I fucked up.”

He sounded so much worse than Goshiki had. Goshiki was in shock, but Kenjirou was…something else.

“What do you mean?” Taichi asked carefully. In answer, Kenjirou reached into his pocket to draw out wooden tags, some splattered with blood. He held them out in front of Taichi.

“They’re dead because of me.”

Final. His voice was so final. There was no argument in his tone because he didn’t see it any other way. In his eyes, he might as well have killed those soldiers himself.

“Don’t say that,” Taichi said firmly. “They’re not dead because of you.”

“I sent them into that pass,” Kenjirou said. Monotone. He still held the tags out. “I planned the shield wall. Everyone who’s dead is dead because I made that plan. Semi was right.”

“Stop.”

Even Taichi was surprised by how hard his voice was, but it was enough to make Kenjirou close his mouth. Taichi reached up to take the tags from Kenjirou’s hands, having to work harder than he expected to break his white-knuckled grip.

He didn’t think Kenjirou even knew how hard he was gripping them.

Taichi set the tags on a table. He turned back to Kenjirou, using a hand on his wrist to guide him into sitting on the open side that Goshiki didn’t occupy. He’d seen his best friend sad before, and angry, and frustrated, but he’d never seen this.

He’d never seen Kenjirou look so small.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he said, and Kenjirou looked like he wanted to argue. “Sh. Let me finish. It’s not your fault those soldiers are dead.”

“Who else could it be?” Kenjirou asked. He wouldn’t look away from his hands folded in his lap.

“No one,” Taichi said. “It’s no one’s fault. Maybe it’s the fault of Itachiyama for trying to attack us, or maybe it’s our fault for building the Wall in the first place, or maybe it’s the gods’ fault for making humans fight each other. We can go around in circles all day trying to assign blame, and all we’ll do is make ourselves dizzy. They died because this is war. War doesn’t have to make sense because it’s not sensible to kill and be killed, but we do it anyway. So no, it wasn’t your fault, or anybody else’s.”

“Less would have died if I’d listened to Semi,” Kenjirou said.

“Maybe,” Taichi conceded. “Maybe not. Maybe a plan that didn’t involve stopping them dead at the pass would have let Itachiyama break through our lines and kill a lot more of us than what we lost here. We’ll never know, and it’ll only hurt to keep trying to guess what would have happened if we’d done it differently.”

“Why are you being nice to me?” Kenjirou asked. The desperation was heartbreaking. “We’re not nice to each other.”

Taichi unwrapped his arm from around Goshiki’s shoulders to pull Kenjirou into a hug. Kenjirou only startled back for a minute.

“We’re not nice to each other,” he said again. “You’re not nice to me. We don’t hug. That’s not how this works.”

“I’m not going to pile on when you’re already beating yourself up,” Taichi said into Kenjirou’s shoulder. “I know you’re just here because you think I’ll hit you while you’re down. You don’t deserve that.”

“Yes I do!” It would be so much better if he would just cry and get it out, but Kenjirou was too proud for that. “They’re dead because of me!”

“That’s not true,” Taichi said. “And saying it over and over won’t make it true. If you have regrets, do it better next time, but you didn’t do it wrong this time. And you won’t make me say anyone died because of you.”

“Fuck you!”

He still wasn’t crying, just shaking in Taichi’s arms. Goshiki reached across Taichi’s chest to grab a hold of Kenjirou’s wrist.

“Shirabu-san,” he said quietly. “We lost one hundred seventy-two men.”

Taichi heard Kenjirou’s sharp intake of breath.

“When I was training for the castle guard, we learned about some famous battles in history,” Goshiki went on. “Almost every time a smaller force tries to hold a bigger force at a mountain pass, they get wiped out completely. We only have to mourn one hundred seventy-two out of a few thousand. I think that counts as a success.”

“I know this isn’t news to you,” Taichi said softly, tightening his grip on Kenjirou. “I know you’ve studied all those old battles more than Goshiki has. I know you know that we lost way fewer than we could have.”

“They’re not numbers. They’re people,” Kenjirou whispered.

“Glad to know you’re finally listening to Semi-san,” Taichi said. “He knows what he’s talking about. But so do you. You’re smart, and this battle you’re so upset about? It was a win for us. Remember the names of the dead if you need to, but stop carrying around those tags to punish yourself.”

“I told the king I didn’t think I was cut out for this.”

“And what did he say?”

“He said he would have made the same choice in my place, and that he needed a strategist.”

“We need you here,” Goshiki said. “I was only able to protect Ushijima-sama because the shield line didn’t let through enough soldiers to overwhelm us. Kawanishi-senpai and I were able to fight them off because of your plan.”

“He’s right,” Taichi agreed. “If the king agrees you were right, and we agree you were right, it’s kind of hard to keep saying you made the wrong choice.”

“Semi thinks I made the wrong choice.”

“Semi lost a lot and needs someone to blame,” Taichi said. “Work with him next time if that’s what you regret so much. But stop expecting someone else to yell at you because you think you deserve it.”

Kenjirou still hadn’t pulled out of the hug, nor had he shaken Goshiki’s hand off his wrist. It wasn’t much like him, but then again, he was still an omega. Even with his prickly personality, he would be comforted by touch. And right now, it felt like he needed to be held.

Taichi wasn’t sure how long they sat there. He only knew it was long enough for Goshiki to fall asleep, leaning into his back and his grip on Kenjirou’s wrist going slack. It was long enough for Kenjirou to stop trembling. And it was long enough for Taichi to stop feeling so helpless.

When Kenjirou finally pulled back, his eyes were still wide with shock and horror.

“What do I do now?” he asked. Taichi didn’t miss the way his eyes flickered to the tags.

“Apologize to anyone you think needs it,” Taichi said, though they both knew who he meant. “Try to do it better next time. That’s all you can do.”

He leaned forward to press his forehead to Kenjirou’s in a gesture that was reserved for close friends. Unusual between the two of them, reserved only for comfort, it was still to be expected from friends as close as they were. Kenjirou took in a deep breath through his nose, and Taichi did the same, trying to calm each other with their scents.

Kenjirou’s vanilla scent was the sweetest thing about him. He’d never be a submissive omega, and that was why they were best friends. It was no fun if it wasn’t a challenge.

“How bad did I fuck up if you’re being this nice to me?” Kenjirou asked.

“You keep expecting me to beat you up, but I won’t,” Taichi replied. He felt Goshiki stirring on his back, probably roused by the movement of his lungs. “You should get some sleep.”

“I don’t think I can.”

“I’ll ask them to drug you,” Taichi threatened. “You need to sleep. You won’t be any use to us dead on your feet. You have to let yourself rest.”

Kenjirou looked like he didn’t have it in him to fight anymore. Taichi carefully arranged a groggy Goshiki in a horizontal position. Then he laid down himself, pulling Kenjirou with him. He felt Goshiki’s breath against the back of his neck, already asleep. It was cramped, the three of them on a single bed, but Taichi wouldn’t leave Kenjirou alone now.

And they slept, and forgot, at least for a little while.

[musicprincess655]

Ship meme: Goshiki and Kawanishi since you have them paired up in royalty au

*rubs my greedy hands together*

General:

Rate the Ship -  Awful | Ew | No pics pls | I’m not comfortable | Alright | I like it! | Got Pics? | Let’s do it! | Why is this not getting more attention?! | The OTP to rule all other OTPs

How long will they last? - A pretty damn long time. They fit well together

How quickly did/will they fall in love? - Kawanishi fell first by like. Months. It was a slow process. Goshiki fell all at once and within a week of that they were dating.

How was their first kiss? - Kawanishi had to teach the duckling how to kiss and it was before they were even dating

Wedding:

Who proposed? - Goshiki

Who is the best man/men? - Shirabu for Kawanishi, Ushijima for Goshiki

Who is the braid’s maid(s)? -

Who did the most planning? - Goshiki. He’s the one who wanted it to be a whole big event. Kawanishi is just happy with whatever happens

Who stressed the most? - Semi

How fancy was the ceremony? - Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big.

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding? - Kawanishi jokingly uninvited Shirabu 

Sex:

Who is on top? - Mostly Goshiki because Kawanishi is lazy as hell but they’re cool with just about anything

Who is the one to instigate things? - Goshiki again. Kawanishi is cool with just about anything if Goshiki does most of the work

How healthy is their sex life? - Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

How kinky are they? - Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

How long do they normally last? - Honestly depends on their mood but can be pretty long because Goshiki has Stamina

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms? - unless they’re playin with orgasm denial, yes

How rough are they in bed? - Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it.

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do? - No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory.

Children:

How many children will they have naturally? - None

How many children will they adopt? - I can’t really see them having human children? They get a cat that’s just as lazy as Kawanishi

Who gets stuck with the most diapers? -

Who is the stricter parent? -

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school? -

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)? -

Who is the more loved parent? -

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings?

Who cried the most at graduation? -

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law? -

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking? - They split it pretty evenly

Who is the most picky in their food choice? - Goshiki

Who does the grocery shopping? - They go together if they can and whoever is free does it if they can’t

How often do they bake desserts? - not too often because they always have stress baked desserts courtesy of Semi

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater? - Meat

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner? - Kawanishi. He doesn’t often put in the effort so when he does it has to be special

Who is more likely to suggest going out? - Goshiki, because he’s a sunny extrovert

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidently while cooking? - Kawanishi gets distracted easily by naps

Chores:

Who cleans the room? - Both

Who is really against chores? - Kawanishi because he’s super lazy and he will make sure everyone around knows he’s displeased at having to do them

Who cleans up after the pets? - both

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug? - Goshiki. The only thing Kawanishi hates more than chores is having to do them again because they weren’t done right the first time

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over? - neither really. Goshiki loves people and Kawanishi doesn’t stress much

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning? - Kawanishi because he actually cleans between the cusions

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths? - Kawanishi because no one makes him move around if he’s sitting in the bath

Who takes the dog out for a walk? - they don’t have a dog but it would be Goshiki if they did

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays? - Goshiki gets really excited about holidays and he loves decorating so pretty much all the major ones

What are their goals for the relationship? - financial stability and maybe another cat

Who is most likely to sleep till noon? - Kawanishi

Who plays the most pranks? - Goshiki

Ultimate Ship Meme

[musicprincess655]

Knight and Bishop, Ch. 25

Pairing: Semishira, Kawashiki

Rating: T

Tags: a/b/o, royalty au

read on ao3

“You have to have the fighting spirit. You have to force moves and take chances” - Bobby Fischer

So Eita was honest enough with himself that he could admit it.

He had a crush.

A big crush on Shirabu, and he wasn’t completely sure how to approach it. On the one hand, Shirabu’s age shouldn’t be too much of a barrier. He was hardly a child, and if he was interested in a relationship, there was no reason not to pursue one.

On the other hand, he could get burned so easily. They’d already proven how badly things could go if they didn’t communicate. And Shirabu may not be that much younger than him, but he did have a kind of impenetrable feeling around him. Eita wasn’t keen on the idea of rejection.

So for now, he was playing it safe. He didn’t have to do anything about his crush immediately. Instead, he would continue spending time with Shirabu as they had been doing, and in the meantime, he would try to adjust to life in the castle.

Which meant he would have to start making friends here. He was already most of the way there with Taichi and Ushijima, but the new guard Goshiki was probably worth another look, and it was better to get to know all of them better, anyway. He’d probably be working closely with them in the future.

They were busy most of the time – there was still fallout from the war to deal with, and as it moved into October and the first snowfall of the year threatened, they were busy making sure there would be enough to last the citadel through the winter.

Still, Eita did find some of their free time to spend with them. Taichi was just as sarcastic and biting as he’d always been – Eita could see why he and Shirabu were best friends. Goshiki was a sweet kid with a surprising amount of insight, and it wasn’t long before Eita had switched to calling him Tsutomu. He rarely called anybody by their surname once he got to know them, with Ushijima and Shirabu as glaring exceptions.

It was almost surprising to learn that Tsutomu was the same age as Shirabu, now that his birthday had come and gone. In a lot of ways, he seemed much younger, but that was only on the surface. Tsutomu had a kind of wisdom that couldn’t come from anything but experience, and he carried himself with pride, even if he forgot himself a lot in his excitement. He was young at heart, and probably always would be, but that didn’t mean he was a child.

And Ushijima…Eita had a lot more respect for him after everything that had happened up north. Granted, he’d thought Ushijima was as cold as his mother when they’d first met, but if knowing each other for a few years hadn’t changed his opinion, the way Ushijima treated him after the battle had convinced him. Ushijima, in his own way, cared deeply about his people, and could often see to the heart of their issues by observation alone. He would make a good king someday.

All in all, Eita was pleased with the people he was closest to in the castle. They were a good group.

He’d noticed that Shirabu seemed to be withdrawing in on himself, though. He came looking for Eita to play a game or just to talk less, and when Eita did go looking for him, he usually found him tucked in a far corner in the library, isolated from everyone.

Eita could understand the compulsion to push people away, but in the long run, that wasn’t going to help Shirabu. Luckily, Eita had an idea.

“You should come down to the village with me tomorrow,” he said, once again finding Shirabu with his nose buried in a book. Shirabu looked up, only his eyes showing over the top.

Eita had always liked brown eyes. Blue or green or any other color would be distorted to him, but brown was always clear.

“I’d rather stay here,” Shirabu said.

“Come on, it’ll be fun,” Eita insisted – gently, because he didn’t like what had happened last time he pushed too hard, even if it was probably better for both of them. “They’re celebrating the harvest festival starting tomorrow. Haven’t you ever been to that?”

Shirabu shook his head.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Eita promised. “There’s always a lot of games and food and dancing at night. Ushijima-sama is going with Taichi and Tsutomu.”

Something in Shirabu’s face relaxed at the promise of people he knew that would be there.

“Fine,” he said slowly. “But I’m leaving if it’s too much.”

It almost turned out to be too much. Shirabu had given the crowd gathered in the village square a look like a deer seeing a hunter. Someone had knocked him into Eita’s side, and he almost looked ready to turn tail and run until Eita caught him and held his hand.

“Stay close,” Eita said. “Don’t wanna lose each other in the crowd.”

He couldn’t help falling back into his usually accent down here in the village, but he wasn’t trying that hard to keep up the noble accent, either. This was a day to have fun.

Shirabu, despite the death threat he’d thrown at Eita for that, squeezed his hand every time the crowd pulled at them. It wasn’t as bad when they drifted closer to Ushijima and Taichi and Tsutomu. People naturally parted for the crown prince.

Eita pulled Shirabu all over the place, looking at all the games and grabbing bites of food they could carry around with them. Shirabu actually looked like he was having fun, smiling as he followed Eita around. It was a good look on him.

Finally, though, Eita could sense that Shirabu was starting to get overwhelmed by the people surrounding them, so he took them both to a familiar door.

“Hey Ma!” he called, stepping into the smell of freshly baked bread like a warm bath.

“Eita!” she yelled back, a smile in her voice. “Grab the cookies from the oven, would ya? We’re near out.”

Eita stepped into the kitchen, covering his hands with a towel to go into the oven for the baking cookies. He turned around to see Shirabu staring around with something like awe.

“Here,” he said, passing one of the cookies to Shirabu. “Careful, it’s hot.”

Shirabu ignored him and bit into the cookie instantly, making a face when he burned his tongue. Then it smoothed out into something undeniably happy when he actually tasted it.

Eita didn’t have long to hang around, instead hurrying the cookies up to his mother at the front of the bakery. She kissed him on the cheek, setting them out in a hurry. This was always one of their busiest days of the year, and the bakery was packed with people.

“We’re also runnin’ low on rolls, dear, if you’ll put more on,” she said. “Did I hear someone else come in?”

“Yeah,” Eita told her. “I have a friend. He needs a breather from the festival.”

“Put ‘im to work if he’s up for it.”

“Will do.”

Eita headed back to the kitchen. Shirabu was still standing awkwardly, avoiding anyone who walked around him.

“C’mere,” Eita said. “Help me out.”

Shirabu wrinkled his nose, but he looked grateful for some direction.

He was absolute shit at anything to do with baking, and Eita spent more time fixing his mistakes than he did actually following his mother’s instructions, called back to them every so often, but it was fun anyway.

After a particularly vicious critique of Shirabu’s nonexistent kneading skills, Eita got flour thrown in his face for his troubles. He opened his eyes to the strangest look he’d ever seen on Shirabu’s face, before Shirabu burst out laughing.

It was the ugliest thing Eita had ever heard in his life. Shirabu gasped and squeaked in his inhales, snorted and gurgled on the exhales. It was adorable.

Finally, though, night started to fall, and they shut down the kitchen. Umi – home from wherever she’d been adventuring, promising stories later – took whatever was leftover out in a cart. She would sell things for a reduced price around the bonfire they were setting up.

Eita’s mother came back into the kitchen, collapsing at the table in the corner where the family ate together. She looked exhausted, but happy. The harvest festival was their last big day before the winter, and they had to make enough money for supplies. It seemed like this year had been a good year for them.

“Sit with me,” she told both of them. “Your brother’s makin’ tea.”

Eita sat easily, but Shirabu followed much more slowly.

“Ma, this is Shirabu Kenjirou,” Eita introduced him as he sat carefully, back straight and on the edge of his chair. “He’s a friend o’ mine up at the castle.”

“He’s pretty,” a small voice answered. Tomoko walked in to sit herself down as well. It was easy to chat with his family, and even Shirabu relaxed enough to join in. His mother liked Shirabu, he could tell.

Eita kept an eye on the fading light for when the bonfire would go up. When he judged it dark enough, he stood, pulling Shirabu with him.

“We’re goin’ to the dance,” he told his family.

“Have fun, dear,” his mom said, in a voice that told him she knew.

They ran into Ushijima, Tsutomu, and Taichi on their way to the bonfire. Eita could feel his heartrate starting to pick up from the sound of the fiddles. People were already dancing by the time they got there.

“Dance with me,” Eita said, holding out his hand to Shirabu.

“What?”

“It’ll be fun,” he insisted.

“I don’t know how to dance like that,” Shirabu said, nodding at the fast, jig-like steps.

“That’s the fun thing about dances like this,” Eita said, close enough that he could now take Shirabu’s hand. “If you don’t do what you planned to do, you just made up a new dance move.”

And before Shirabu could protest more, Eita dragged him out into the dance. Shirabu looked terrified for a split second before Eita put a hand on his hip and started to guide him.

Eventually, Shirabu stopped trying to fight it and followed Eita’s lead. His eyes were starting to shine, and he was smiling again.

Then the musicians started to play a song that was especially for couples. Eita kind of wanted to stay, even if it wouldn’t mean anything to Shirabu, but he could see Tsutomu and Taichi standing on the sidelines, watching over Ushijima.

They deserved this more than he did.

“You two go have a dance,” he told them. “I can watch Ushijima-sama for a while.”

They both shot him grateful looks before going out to dance. Eita settled in.

“This dance is for couples, is it not?” Ushijima asked.

“Yeah,” Eita said, watching Tsutomu sneak a kiss before they started dancing. “They deserve it.”

“I am glad they get along so well,” Ushijima said. “They make each other happy.”

“Mmm.”

Eita looked over at Shirabu, eyes shining in the firelight. He was drooping with exhaustion, but he looked happier than Eita had seen him away from a book. Eita felt his chest squeeze. Great. On top of his crush, he wanted to take care of Shirabu and make him happy.

But if this was the result, it was worth it.

[musicprincess655]

Knight and Bishop, Ch. 21

Pairing: Semishira, Kawashiki

Rating: T

Tags: a/b/o, royalty au, kawashiki get together this chapter

read on ao3

“Chess is ruthless: you’ve got to be prepared to kill people” - Nigel Short

Tsutomu was glad to be getting back to Shiratorizawa. They’d gone back to the main fort for a few weeks to give everyone who’d been injured time to heal, but he hadn’t been hurt badly, and he’d been so bored just sitting there waiting to leave.

Finally, though, everyone was a healed as they were going to get, and Datekou was starting to tire of sharing space with them. They’d mounted up for the week long ride back to the citadel. Without the rush of trying to get to the north to save the king, they wouldn’t be pushing the horses to the breaking point like they did on the way up. By the time they got there, it would be August, nearly time for his birthday. Maybe he should mention to Ushijima that he would like the day off to celebrate with his parents, but then, he wasn’t sure if he would stay on as a guard to Ushijima once they got back.

Tsutomu was at Ushijima’s right side, as he usually was, and trying to talk to Kawanishi across the prince. The ride got really boring really fast, and the best way to pass the time was to chat.

However, Kawanishi was distracted. His senpai was focusing most of his attention on Shirabu.

And for good reason, Tsutomu had to admit. Even he’d noticed that Shirabu was quieter and more withdrawn than usual, and he didn’t know the older omega that well. Something was wrong, or else Kawanishi wouldn’t be watching Shirabu so carefully.

So Tsutomu passed his time talking to Ushijima, and Semi when he rode closer to them. Tsutomu liked both of them. They took his mind off everything that had happened up north, and they had good stories to tell. Ushijima had learned a lot in the castle, and Semi had learned a lot travelling all over the kingdom, so it was easy to ride between them and let them talk.

Tsutomu thought he would be okay, though. He hadn’t had a nightmare about the battles in days, and he thought about a lot of other things now, too.

Like how soft Kawanishi looked when Shirabu’s back was turned and his shoulders were hunched. Tsutomu had never seen his senpai look soft like that, but then, Kawanishi and Shirabu had a special relationship. Tsutomu couldn’t claim to understand it fully, but he did know it was purely platonic. He’d asked whether the two were together purely out of curiosity, and all he’d gotten in return was a disgusted look from Shirabu.

Kawanishi had explained later that they were close friends, but any kind of romantic connection was never going to happen between the two of them. It was less an issue of them being like brothers and more of an issue of them being highly compatible platonically and completely incompatible romantically.

Kawanishi looked good when he was being soft. His eyes lost the tension they carried at the edges at all times, even before they’d left the citadel to go north. Maybe always being tense was part of being the only guard to the prince. He was constantly on the lookout for threats.

But his look of concern for Shirabu was nice. He was a little more relaxed in his shoulders, too, and Tsutomu noticed for not the first time, with a little flutter in his chest, that those shoulder were broad. Kawanishi was taller than him, but also slimmer than him, and Tsutomu hadn’t thought of him as broad before now.

He hadn’t thought about how strong Kawanishi was before now.

Oh.

That flutter in his chest was attraction.

It made sense. He’d admitted from the beginning that he thought Kawanishi was pretty, and with all the time they’d been spending together it was no surprise some attraction had formed.

Oh.

That look Kawanishi gave him sometimes was attraction too. The soft look that was different from what he gave to Shirabu, with the little blush in his cheeks…

Oh.

He must have been an idiot not to notice before now. Kawanishi had been giving him that look for at least a month now, maybe longer. It had been right in front of him.

Still, it was probably a good idea to wait to act on this until they got back to the citadel. They both had their duties watching over Ushijima, and Kawanishi was distracted by whatever was going on with Shirabu, anyway.

“Is something going on with those two?” Semi asked him after a couple days of riding. Tsutomu shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

“I think something is wrong, and Kawanishi-senpai knows what, but I don’t know what’s happening,” he admitted. Semi looked concerned. “I thought you didn’t like Shirabu-san?”

“It’s not that I don’t like him,” Semi said slowly. “He’s not always easy to get along with, and we had a lot of disagreements. I’m still not completely past everything that happened between us, but that doesn’t mean I hate him.”

“So you’re trying to like him?” Tsutomu asked.

“I guess you could say that,” Semi said. “More like I’m trying to understand him better so I can move past what happened.”

“Then you have to communicate clearly,” Tsutomu told him, because it was the obvious answer. “You’ll never understand each other if you don’t tell each other clearly how you feel.”

Semi gave him a strange look for a moment.

“You’re a smarter kid than they give you credit for,” he finally said, reaching out to ruffle Tsutomu’s hair. It was a habit Kawanishi had fallen into as well, though much more than Semi – he really was an idiot for not noticing this attraction sooner.

“I’m not that smart,” Tsutomu argued. “It’s not wisdom to say what’s clearly in front of you.”

“That’s why I say you’re smart.”

Before Tsutomu could question that further, Semi got pulled into a conversation with Ushijima.

It was a relief when they were finally back at the citadel. They’d met a lot of people on the road, all ecstatic to see their king and prince returning. Tsutomu and Kawanishi had been practically glued to Ushijima and by extent, to each other. It was somehow harder because he’d noticed his attraction, but also better, because he wanted to be by Kawanishi’s side.

But they were finally back, and Tsutomu couldn’t be happier to be off his horse. He’d never liked riding them much.

“Can I talk to you?” he asked, because Ushijima had retreated to his room and told both of them to take a few hours to rest, as he would be doing the same. Kawanishi nodded and let Tsutomu pull him by the wrist to a quiet corner. He knew Kawanishi lived somewhere in the castle, but he didn’t know where, and Tsutomu had been living with his parents right up until they left for the north.

“What’s wrong?” Kawanishi asked. Tsutomu was suddenly out of words. He knew he liked Kawanishi, and he knew Kawanishi liked him, but he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to talk his way past that.

So instead, he leaned up on his toes so he was level with Kawanishi’s face, but remembered at the last second that it was probably rude to kiss someone out of the blue without permission.

“Can I…?” he breathed, close enough that he could feel Kawanishi’s sharp breath on his lips. In answer, Kawanishi leaned the rest of the distance to press their lips together.

He pressed Kawanishi into the wall behind him. Kawanishi let him maneuver them, let Tsutomu do as he pleased. Tsutomu licked across the seam of his lips, and Kawanishi opened under him, letting him take the lead, and Tsutomu was happy to deliver. He’d kissed before but never someone who had been as pliant and eager as Kawanishi.

“I…” Kawanishi gasped, pulling back for breath. Tsutomu stayed close, leaning into his chest. “I have a room, you know.”

“Lead the way,” Tsutomu said, hearing how his voice had gone low and dark and commanding. Kawanishi shivered hard enough at that for Tsutomu to feel it.

Instead of taking his wrist, Tsutomu held Kawanishi’s hand and interlaced their fingers, letting Kawanishi pull him through the castle. His room was close to Ushijima’s, a bit on the small side, but cozy. Tsutomu could see little traces of Kawanishi everywhere. He must have lived here for a while.

“What exactly are you looking for here?” Kawanishi asked. His cheeks were still flushed, but he sounded more like his usual self.

“I’d like to court you properly,” Tsutomu said. Kawanishi blushed redder. “What would you like? Attention, obviously, but do you like gifts? Flattery? Maybe poetry, although I’m not good at words? What kind of courtship would you like?”

“Fuck,” Kawanishi swore softly. “You’d do all that for me?”

“Of course.”

And Kawanishi was kissing him again, hard enough that Tsutomu was sitting on the closest chair and letting Kawanishi straddle his lap.

“Kawanishi-senpai…”

“You should…” Kawanishi gasped as Tsutomu moved to kiss down his neck. “You should probably call me Taichi.”

“Taichi.”

“Fuck.”

So now they were courting. That was easier than Tsutomu had expected.