An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Twain leans in closer. “Why not? Ain’t it your birthday tomorrow, wouldn’t celebrating be nice?”
Nathaniel pushes him off. “And why do you know that?” Twain’s always been strange about birthdays. Always incessant that they need to be celebrated, and that it should be a special day every year. He doesn’t get it.
“Lousia told me!” Twain’s unbothered by the shove, his grin only getting wider. “So, c’mon! I’ll pay for whatever you want, consider it my treat.”
-
on nathaniel and annoyances
(or: five times others bothered nathaniel, and one time they couldn't)
oneshot, 2153 words, nathaniel centric, jumps around in the timeline a bit but not tooo majorly it's easy to follow
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
stain them, i don't care.
Somewhere in the deepest pits of his heart, Nathaniel must admit that he has broken a commandment in the way he covets Mushitarou’s ability. Not for what it does, but for the fact that he will never soak himself in blood like Nathaniel must. He does not have to cut himself open for the sake of the Lord. He does not have to sacrifice his life source in order to save those he loves.
He does not have to spend hours scrubbing himself clean.
And yet, here he is, washing the blood from Nathaniel’s face with care so reverent it feels almost holy.
nathaniel has spent his life scrubbing the blood from his hands. mushitarou has never had to lift a finger in order to clean such messes. they meet somewhere in the middle of sin and worship.
🩸 2.3k words || mushithaniel / scarlet crime
🩸 inspired by this post by @littencloud9 and also @justadino-ig for coming up with the dynamic
we should all consider mushithaniel (or scarlet crime, courtesy of @just-a-dinosaur-i-guess for that bomb ass ship name and also the brainworms)
they meet while both working under fyodor. nathaniel whose ability is about atoning for your sins—making you face the consequences of your own misdeeds, vs mushi whose ability erases crime. mushi never has to be held accountable, and he meets nathaniel who does exactly that. so obviously they fucking hate each other hehe
imagine nathaniel busy washing the blood off his clothes due to his ability and mushi, who has never had to do that, watches him. and nathaniel says to screw off because what does mushi know about a chore as mundane as this? when he has never had to feel guilt for his actions? and mushi who indeed has never had actual blood on his hands, but still feels stained and suffocated with guilt from killing his best friend
(also the parallel of mushi who killed out of love and nathaniel who is trying to save maragret out of love)
anyway i think they should hold hands and get a little bloody about it and maybe mushi can wash the blood off nathaniel’s face and maybe nathaniel can show him what it means to atone—
Cafe Uzumaki is rarely calm, but this is new.
Lucy stares at Ranpo, sitting across from Nikolai, and sighs. Perhaps she should be more concerned about a terrorist being in here, but it's not as if he's the first, so she isn't really compelled to give a shit, considering he won't be the last.
However.
"Don't choke," Nikolai cooes, smearing cake across Ranpo's cheek before actually feeding it to them. Lucy grimaces. Nikolai's gloves look ruined already, not to mention-
She storms over, slamming a hand down on the table, "Can you not?"
Nikolai gives her an innocent look and replies, as Ranpo grins, "I have no clue what you mean!"
scarlet crime + nightmare
Mushitaro is no stranger to nightmares, but it's different this time. He's properly alone this time. No Ivan, no Pushkin, no annoying priests. (And Poe is busy elsewhere, not that he'd like his company now anyway.)
Because that priest has had his mind broken, and Mushitaro didn't even know it was going to happen.
It leaves a bitter taste in his mind to think about. Knowing that Nathaniel didn't even tell him before it all went down.
He drags himself out of bed, throat itchy as he drags himself to the kitchen.
The water is cold, and he lets it run over his hands for a while. The chill is unpleasant, but grounding, and he swears if he stares too long he can see scarlet blood draining into the sink too.
Not that he ever has to actually wash his hands like he did.
lemon futon + explosions
Kajii's hair is ash-stained, his face the same, and Katai just huffs at him as he wipes it off with a rag. "You're so careless, Kajii."
Kajii leans into the touch, "I'm not! I just don't have to be as careful as other people!"
Katai eyes the cuts and scrapes from debris on Kajii's hands, his legs, but.. doesn't push it.
"Sure, sure.." He sighs, slumping against him, "But could you be a bit more careful?"
Kajii's about to protest, but Katai kisses some of the ash off his cheek and adds, "For me, if nothing else.."
Kajii blinks, then leans in and gives him a peck in return, grin a little softer, "Sure!"
“You just can’t stay away from me for too long, huh?” + scarlet crime
“Just when I think you couldn’t make me go even weaker in the knees, you go and say stuff like that. Do you want me to collapse? Maybe melt into a puddle too while I’m at it?” + kunichuu
“Why do you have to make keeping a distance from you so damn difficult? I’m trying my hardest and you just…” + ur choice !!
scarlet crime… takes unlimited psychic damage and dies
“You just can’t stay away from me for too long, huh?” Mushitarou scoffs when Nathaniel walks into the room.
There’s blood splattered on his clothes, from the shoulders down to the sleeves. As Mushitarou’s eyes trail the streak, it ends at Nathaniel’s palm, where a fresh cut remains.
Nathaniel closes his hand into a fist, stalking over to him. “I did not come here for you. Where’s Dostoevsky?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care,” Mushitarou grumbles. He shrieks when Nathaniel hits him at the back of his head. “You’re going to get blood in my hair!”
Nathaniel’s face remains impassive. He huffs, turning away and beginning to walk out of the room. As he walks, a drop of blood falls onto the carpet.
That’s going to be a bitch to clean up.
“Oi,” he calls. Nathaniel stops, but he doesn’t turn around, refusing to make eye contact. “You’re staining this place with your dirt, Priest.”
“The only stain between us is the weight of your sins,” he snaps back. “You ought to atone.”
Mushitarou stands up, stomping over. “With what, huh? Your dirty blood? No thank you.”
Predictably, Nathaniel whips around, an ugly snarl on his face. He raises his hand, blood from the cut already sizzling. Mushitarou grabs his wrist, bringing his palm to his lips and licking the wound straight.
Nathaniel’s glare falters. Success.
—
Chuuya is going to do this.
Seriously. He can do it. He’s not going to use his ability. That’s admitting defeat, and he needs to prove to this empty kitchen that he’s perfectly capable of getting that one specific cup that Kunikida has placed on the highest shelf for some reason without a stool. He just needs to—
“You okay, Chuuya? You’re— oh.” Chuuya freezes, still on his tiptoes when he hears Kunikida shuffle closer.
He falls back onto the heels of his feet when Kunikida comes up behind them, reaching over his head. The action pushes Chuuya forward slightly, trapping him between the counter and Kunikida’s chest. His cheeks flush red.
Kunikida grabs the cup easily, bringing it down and stepping back. Chuuya swallows thickly as he turns around, refusing to meet his boyfriend’s eye.
“Thanks,” he mutters, mentally slapping himself when he hears how meek he sounds. He’s a Mafia Executive. There’s no way he feels like he’s going to fall over from such a simple action like that.
“No problem. You look nice, by the way,” Kunikida says, oblivious to Chuuya’s crisis. “But you need to stop stealing my clothes.”
Chuuya glances down at the oversized sweater he’s wearing. He looks back up with a grin, but his breath hitches when he realises how close they still are.
Kunikida towers over him. Most people would feel intimidated or defensive, but Chuuya simply feels protected. And he doesn’t necessarily need that, but it’s still, well, comforting.
“I don’t hear you complaining,” Chuuya says.Kunikida smiles, bending down to kiss the top of his head. Chuuya is going to explode. “Maybe not. I like when you do something to indicate that I’m yours.”
Not you’re mine, but I’m yours.
Chuuya’s heart threatens to crawl its way out of his chest. He shoves Kunikida away weakly.
“Just when I think you couldn’t make me go any weaker in the knees, you go and say stuff like that,” he mutters accusingly.
“Huh?”
“Do you want me to collapse?!” Chuuya whines. “Maybe melt into a puddle too while I’m at it?!”
“…What did I do?”
“Oh my God.” Chuuya grabs Kunikida’s collar, crashing their lips together. His stomach flutters when Kunikida wraps his hands around his waist, pulling him closer.
Damn it. This isn’t making him feel any calmer.
—
i thought long and hard about it and lo and behold. lucygin
“Why do you have to make keeping a distance from you so damn difficult?!” Lucy cries. “I’m trying my hardest and you just…”
Gin doesn’t know if they should step forwards or backwards. Lucy looks like she would explode either way.
She’s put them in Anne’s room. The irony of it all.
Gin knows its their fault. They’re the one who keep coming into Lucy’s café just to catch a glimpse of her, the one who sends her the locations of alleyways to meet up at, the one who pulled back first when it felt like things were getting too serious.
Lucy says she’s left her old life behind. Gin was meant to be a part of her new life. Something special.
But Gin is a criminal, so all they do is reflect the past that Lucy is so desperately trying to escape. And now that they’ve accidentally sunk their claws into her skin, they get the urge to run.
Lucy’s not the only one struggling to stay away. She’s got teeth too.
It’s just a game of how much they can hurt each other with the weight of their desire. And Gin is really good at this game.
mushithaniel + "do your chores" "i have chores??" <3
mushithaniel + "do your chores" "i have chores??" (dragon rider au)
(under the cut cause it got a bit long)
"Do your chores," Nathaniel waves Atlas's saddle at Mushitaro in disdain.
Mushitaro, in the middle of petting his own dragon Kindaichi, huffs in return, "I have chores?"
"Yes!" Nathaniel sets the saddle down, and Atlas huffs, standing up straighter and trying to pick up the saddle in his maw. Nathaniel gives the dragon an equally unimpressed look, before continuing, "Really, why wouldn't you have those? None of us are about to do them for you."
Mushitaro glances at Kindaichi. The dragon is a pretty one, with shiny scales that need polishing and a mane that needs brushing. If Mushitaro were to use it in the races, it'd surely be impressive. But.. most days he doesn't even take Kindaichi out flying.
Usually he'll drag someone like Ivan or Pushkin down to the stables with him when he checks on the dragon.
Nathaniel, internally, pauses as something clicks. "Mushitaro."
"If you're going to yell at me mor-"
"Put Kindaichi's saddle on him."
The dragon perks up; Atlas does too at the other's noticable excitement. Mushitaro blinks, "I thought you said I had chores-"
"Now." Nathaniel crosses his arms, stern even as Atlas is licking his cheek in an attempt for attention.
"Wh- you're so demanding," Mushitaro scowls and fidgets with his hands, obviously hating being put on the spot, but grabs Kindaichi's saddle. Nathaniel watches him fumble, then makes his way over.
"You do it like this," He demonstrates, and he does mean to undo it so Mushitaro can do it for himself, but Kindaichi jumps away hyperly, doing zoomies in the stable for a brief moment, "Have you really never learned?"
Kindaichi is far too familiar and affectionate with Mushitaro for him to have gotten the dragon recently, but Mushitaro's incompetence in contrast raises some alarms.
Mushitaro half glares at him, but there's embarrassment and shame in his tone as he admits quietly, "Kindaichi isn't mine- he was my friend's."
Oh.
HIII . i kind of got derailed but it's okay
fyonikonathan + "i know you don't care about me."
Nikolai cradles Nathaniel's head in his lap, staring down at him. He's unresponsive, barely even seeming to care; it feels like an eternity ago the same movement would have gotten Nikolai yelled at as Nathaniel stormed off indignantly.
But today, Nathaniel is more like a doll then a man, and so Nikolai has no reason to tease him, to try to draw out any reactions.
It wouldn't work.
Words slip from his tongue anyway as he presses his forehead to Nathaniel's, "I know you don't care about me."
But you could have. But it didn't need to end like this. We could have run away we could have made it we could have ran-
Nikolai's never been one to pray. He doesn't like the chains worshipping divinity gives, or the suffocation having your entire fate planned out for you by some god which never shows himself entails.
But he is almost tempted now. Because all the times Nathaniel went on about god, Nikolai listened.
And maybe he's wrong, maybe he doesn't know anything about him; but would he really want someone who was so stupidly faithful broken?
nikoran + "i dare you"
Love, Ranpo determines, is full of dangerous games. Full of risks and teeth and bloodshed and blades. They've seen it themself, they've experienced it themself.
Nikolai is a thing of teeth and claws. A shifting mass of features, of plays. A collection of stories with truth unknown.
Ranpo likes that a lot; running a hand down Nikolai's face could either get them bit, or draw them into a kiss. Either will involve blood.
"I dare you," Nikolai whispers in their ear, one day, "I dare you to keep loving me like this." And his tone is one all used to watching others walk away, to be the one to chase after before realizing that even with his ability, he can't follow them that far.
Ranpo grins, all fangs and all claws, and whispers back, "That's easy, Микола."*
scarlet crime + sharing a drink (spy au <3)
It's a miserably hot day out when Mushitaro and Nathaniel are sent out together to sneak into a complex for information together.
There's no air conditioning, and their heavy suits do them no assistance, and Mushitaro frankly cannot bear it.
"Alright," Mushitaro hisses, grasping Nathaniel's wrist, because he's sure Nathaniel's palms are too sweaty right now and he would never stoop so low, "We're going and getting a drink."
Nathaniel scoffs, "We're in the middle of-"
"And I don't give a shit, we're not on a time limit, and they have a cafeteria in here. Come on."
Nathaniel glares daggers at his back as Mushitaro leads, but he ignores it. Nathaniel is pushy and distracting when they order, and so..
"Mushitaro, this is one drink."
"I'm aware." Mushitaro scowls, "This is your fault."
"My fault? As if it's my fault that the man who prattles on so much was unintelligible to someone who doesn't give a damn." Nathaniel hisses, leaning across the table.
"You know what, I'll just drink it all myself then." Mushitaro grabs the drink, sipping it while glaring at Nathaniel. Nathaniel glares back.
And then he snatches it when Mushitaro puts it down, "Don't ever tell another soul about this."
"As if I was planning to tell anyone about the humilation you put me through."
