WALKING HOME
medieval fantasy au ✧ ft. kunize (kunigami rensuke + zebra)
"you don't have to walk me home every day, rensuke. i know you must have other things–"
"i don't."
"o-oh! thank you, then."
"it's dangerous to walk in the forest alone."
"i was doing it for years before we met, you know? but it is nice to have a big bad wolf who will protect me, hehe."
he frowns a little at the phrase. but as her laughter carries brightly through the trees, he huffs lightly and shakes his head, fondness shining in his ember-orange gaze.
art drawn by the most amazing nick (@/scarameownya) as part of our art/fic exchange!
kunigami giving me a massage after a hard day of work…. his hands so big yet gentle, nearly overwhelming with their heat as he kneads at my shoulders, working his way down my back. he’s so good at it too, having learned tricks from his physical therapists, so he knows which places to work at longer, which places need a softer touch. he draws out little sighs and soft moans and quiet whines of pain and relief from me, which only serves to make some of his muscles tighter from the tension it takes to hold back. by the end of it, as I’m melting into the mattress, half-asleep, he can’t help but coax my head up from the pillow to steal my lips with a kiss that surprises me with its intensity…
one kunigami thought before bed… if it’s raining heavily when I’m about to leave work, he’ll call me and stay on the phone with me the entire drive home. his deep voice is just so comforting. although he usually isn’t as much of a talker, he’ll tell me about his day or whatever else comes to mind so I can feel him with me and any thunder or heavy winds and rain won’t frighten me. if the rain gets super heavy and I’m freaking out a little, he’ll keep me calm and the rumble of his voice will drown out anything else. when I get home, he’s already outside with an umbrella and will open my door and keep my dry, one arm around my waist as I hug him all the way into our home c:
I keep thinking about you and kunigami together post wild card. mayhaps perhaps <3 he’s still a gentleman at heart, still pays for all your dates and opens your doors and walks you home. but he’s maybe a little quieter now, a little jagged around the edges, takes a little longer to open up to you than he used to. he’s also a little more protective of you, holding you tighter, closer, like you might disappear if he doesn’t. but I do really truly believe you still are his safe space, the closest he gets to being who he used to be — or maybe, it would be better to say who he is now but with more consideration, careful to make sure he doesn’t take anything for granted. your love grounds him. you, who he can still return to, the softest smile that he reveals at a joke you made. you, the person he keeps tucked away from the prying eyes of his teammates. mayhaps perhaps!!!!!! I would love to know your thoughts and pov as well of course, and no pressure to agree in any way, i love and want to learn more about your selfships always — @saetiate
CORAAAA!! first of all :c i got emotional reading this augh, the way you wrote about me and kunigami???? it is so very lovely and i am honored you think about us in this way.
i will share the details about kunize lore soon but! a quick version is: we become friends in middle school, i move out of japan in high school, he enters blue lock and i don't hear from him for months. (due to blue lock's phone ban during the first selection, then he goes through wild card and idt he gets to go back home the way the others did for a week.) so there is quite a bit of time after where we're slowly rebuilding our relationship, which is made harder by the changes he went through in wild card.
ultimately though, when we're dating, i think a lot of it is as you said! he was always chivalrous and caring when we were in school together (waiting for me if band practice runs late so we can take the metro together), but now that he's older, he's even more so. it makes me a bit fluttery, the way he holds doors open, rests his hand on my lower back, keeps me close if the train is crowded—keeping himself between me and the mass of people behind him.
our dynamic is different from when we were younger though. we were both more open then, bright-eyed and expressive, dreamers in our own ways. after wild card, i talk a lot, but it's mostly lighter, unserious things because i'm afraid of opening up and him realizing he doesn't like what he sees. he's a little quieter but it's because he's weighing his words—he fears hurting me with a thoughtless comment—so when he speaks it's always with purpose. but i pull soft expressions from him as i talk and make jokes, brightening his day and being a place of comfort to him. he coaxes me to express my more negative emotions, becoming someone i can confide in. it takes a while for us to get to the point where we have quiet, serious conversations where we lay our hearts down for the other to hold, but i think he reaches there first because he doesn't want to lose me. he trusts that i will treasure the heart he has bared for me. i do, and i bare mine in turn.
wahhhh um!! that's it for now, thank you for stopping by and sharing such lovely thoughts about me and him •///• and thank you for letting me ramble about it!! i love you cora, i hope you'll have a good weekend <3
kunize medieval fantasy au im curled up at ur doorstep zebie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!;;$(!!n!!!!!!! do u have any crumbs 🥺🥺 to spare 🥺🥺 a lowly little fawn 🥺 abt this au 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺
WAHHHH hi my beloved cocofawn!!! <3 i hope you are having a lovely sunday!
um!!!!! yes... i have been thinking more about this au lately and i have more of it figured out c: so! i am taking advantage of your ask and am sharing the overall story of kunize in the medieval fantasy au!
(it is a lot so please do not feel obligated to read it!!!)
i run a bakery in town! i work with local inns and taverns and supply them with bread. often i'll receive visitors from out of town who stop by to stock up before continuing their travels
kunigami is one such visitor, arriving with isagi, bachira, and chigiri. they wander from place to place, taking commissions that usually have to do with protecting a town or getting rid of a problem—often of the magical creature variety. (something like the witcher i guess?)
we see each other for the first time when i'm delivering bread at the tavern they're eating at. of course their unfamiliar voices draw my attention and i see him
they've just arrived into town so he's still in full gear; leathers and armor, his broadsword leaning against the table. his orange eyes glow in the light of the fire and they're arresting—and then i realize he's looking at me, so i give him an embarrassed smile and hurry to finish my delivery and leave
i don't expect to see him the next day, entering my bakery with chigiri. they buy some bread and ask me questions; they're hunting a creature that seems to be in the woods surrounding the town and has been killing livestock
i let it slip that my home is in the woods, and kunigami ends up offering to walk me home. i turn him down bc i know i'll be working late to prep bread for the next day, but when i leave my bakery i find him waiting for me to walk me home anyway •///•
he and the others end up dealing with the creature over the course of a few days, and each day he walks me home and also ends up walking me from my home into town???!
by the time it's over and they're ready to leave town, we definitely have grown to like each other lksjdfkjasdfj but i think he's going to keep traveling and i'll never see him again, so we just say an awkward and bittersweet goodbye
but then! a few weeks later! he comes back into my bakery, this time alone. over the next year or two he consistently stops by my town in between his jobs. sometimes the others come with him, other times he comes alone. he tells me i have become his home
i hear about a huge werewolf attack on a city in the south, and the heroes who save them sound like kunigami and his friends. i'm excited the rest of the month, expecting him to drop in, and one day isagi, bachira, and chigiri visit me
they look so much worse for the wear. all battered and bruised, with more scars and a weight on their shoulders that didn't used to be there. i greet them with a smile on my face, but then it quickly falls, because isagi is telling me that kunigami didn't make it and surely he's lying because how could my brave and strong and noble hero not make it????
i grieve and it feels like the world has come to an end and yet life still goes on. i still run my bakery but there's nothing to look forward to anymore—not even when the others are still kind and visit me. i put on a smile and make dinner for them and send them on their way with plenty of food because kunigami loved them and i want to make sure they're taken care of, even though he's not with them anymore
word travels to town about some werewolf who has been running rampant. it has been killing people—murderers and corrupt nobles and the worst of humanity—so people in town generally aren't too frightened but of course the nobles want it to be killed
the murders spread further and further north, closer to town, so more hunters and knights and people after the werewolf's bounty start passing through
one of those hunters becomes interested in me and pesters me a lot to the point of following me halfway home. i notice him and try to get him to leave, but he gets offended and angry and i struggle to free myself from his grip
but a snarl tears through the night and something slams into the man, knocking him off me. i scramble backward and catch sight of a wolf—but not quite; it's huge with tawny fur and intense orange eyes
the hunter runs, injured, and i expect the wolf to chase him or to lunge for me, but it calmly walks closer until it nudges me and i get to my feet. though my heart nearly pounds out of my chest, it simply follows me all the way home
the next day, i decide to not go in to the bakery. the hunter might come after me there, seeking retribution (for something i had no control over!) and i need time to recover
at dusk, i hear a knock at my door. i grab a small knife kunigami gifted me a long time ago and swing open the door, and see him
his eyes blaze like the sun, and i know. he's a werewolf now—he's the wolf i saw last night. he saved me, and i've missed him so dearly, and he's home <3
