where the lights drift | r. sukuna
You've spent your whole life locked away in a tower. lonely, aching, and staring at the floating lights from afar. enter: Sukuna.
content: non-graphic violence, physical restraint/captivity, threats/coersion, home invasion?? LMFAO, implied criminal activities, manipulation ig, power imbalance in a way? enemies to allies, themes of isolation/sheltered upbringing. not proofread sorry for any mistakes scratches head! as always likes, comments, and reblogs are very much appreciated <3
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You didn't mean to knock him out.
It just sort of happened.
What else were you meant to do? Some intruder just climbed into your tower carefully hidden in the forest, far from civilization.
Panic rushed through your veins as soon as he turned, his eyes sharp and analyzing, already one step ahead of you. In a moment of poor timing and even worse judgment, the frying pan striked the back of his head.
You're not exactly great at making good decisions, clearly. But you panicked! And this is self defense, right?
The pink-haired intruder drops, hard.
The sound of it echoes against the tower walls.
You're frozen as you stare at his unmoving figure sprawled across your floor. Your heart is slamming so violently you're sure it might rouse him.
"Oh god." You whisper to yourself. Your grip on the frying pan in your hand tightens. Is he breathing?
It's perfect timing that mother's just left for a long trip, you think. She'd have an aneurysm if she witnessed this.
A soft frown settles on your lips as you think about her. The argument about the lights you'd had just before she left.
You push that to the side. There are currently way bigger problems at hand.
Like what the hell you're gonna do with this stranger's unconscious body.
You tilt your head, taking him in. A quick inspection to help you actually decide what you'll do with him. Mother's warned you insistently to be cautious of the outside world.
"This world can be so cruel, my flower." She'd crooned to you, tone dripping in candy-like sweetness. "Full of ruffians. Men who will lie to you, hurt you."
You swallow the nerves building in your throat and focus.
You brace yourself for the worst.
But his features are...human. Too human to match the grandiose descriptions mother always gave you on men. He does look a little intimidating. Broad, brutish shoulders and a scowl that looks permanently settled on his lips.
But you suppose you'd look the same too if you were hit clean in the head with a heavy kitchen utensil.
You take a small, careful step forward. "Not a ruffian." You murmur to yourself, almost amazed. So mother was wrong, in some sense. The outside world wasn't entirely dangerous.
A small, snow-white chameleon with piercing blue eyes perched on your shoulder clicks his tongue. Like he's saying Are you sure about that?
"I'm sure." Your shaky voice replies as you glance back at your lizard friend. You're unsure who it is you're trying to convince. "Just..for now."
Gojo makes a noise like a snort. Your eyes return to the body, heart racing when you realize just how limp his limbs look. "Oh, no." you panic, dropping to your knees and pressing two fingers to his neck.
You could cry as you find a pulse, steady. A long sigh of relief escapes you and you have to sit back on your feet. "Okay. You're okay." You assure like he can even fucking hear you.
Your eyes catch, then, on the satchel slung at his side. It's a brown and worn thing, but it calls for your attention immediately. The strap is twisted to his side, having taken the fall with him.
Curiosity eats at you. Caution argues back.
For a moment, you hesitate.
Satoru is like the little devil on your shoulder, hopping off and crawling over to nudge at the flap of the bag.
So, you reach for it. "...Just checking."
There's something cold and solid inside, hidden under a folded cloth. As you pull it free, your breath catches.
Gems set deep and softly glittering in the sunlight that filters through the tower's singular entrance.
It looks valuable, irreplaceable .
You glance back at him, still unconscious.
A stupid, careless idea sparks in your mind the longer you hold it.
This could very well be irreplaceable. Something dear to this man.
You could use it as leverage.
You clutch it closer to your chest. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why he risked climbing your tower for this. Why he looked so determined as he panted when he made it in.
The rational part of you tells you maybe you should turn him in. But how would you manage that? You've never left the safe confines of this tower.
You can't wait for mother to get back. What if he awakens? What if he's angry beyond belief and tries to hurt you?
You realize that even now that is still a very real possibility, on either path you decide to take.
You sigh heavily as you come to terms with today's events.
How the fuck did I get here?
The thought runs through Sukuna's mind, slumped in a chair with literal hair wrapped around his limbs like chains.
Just a couple of hours ago he'd been running.
Sprinting through narrow alleyways and rooftops, the loud sound of royal horses hooves hitting the ground as the guard chased behind him.
and now he's here. tied to a chair.
He doesn't struggle, but he very well could. He simply stares at your figure in the corner, pacing back and forth and whispering to someone...yourself?
He squints and furrows his eyebrows. You're hands are cupped together like you've got something in them, ranting. His eyes catch a flash of white. Is that a fucking lizard?
He thinks maybe he'd prefer it if the guards had captured him instead. You still haven't realized he's woken up, and Sukuna doesn't have patience.
"Sit still, would you?" He barks.
You startle, jumping hard and nearly throwing the animal in the air. Said animal squeaks too, and Sukuna swears it glares at him when it settles again.
You quickly place Toru down and whip your frying pan back out again, inching closer and circling around Sukuna like you're hunting him. He might've snorted if he wasn't so annoyed.
"How did you find this place?" You try for demanding, but it falls short and sounds entirely too shaky. The deadpan expression on his face doesn't change.
He only looks to grow increasingly agitated the longer he's tied up.
You fight off the impulse to tuck tail and run, standing your ground as you thrust the pan closer to his face. "Answer me."
He lets out a sharp, impatient breath.
"and why should I answer any of your demands, brat?" He snarls, tugging on the restrains that are your hair. He had gotten over the initial shock of that a couple of minutes ago. It's actually quite sturdy, much to his dismay. "How the fuck do you carry around this shit?"
You opt to ignore his comment. His attitude was starting to tick you off, too. He's tied up, completely out of control of this situation, and still managing to be snarky. "You broke into my home!"
"It was on the way?" The corner of his lips twitches just a touch.
Your jaw sets firmly, grip on the handle of your weapon tightening. "I'm sorry, is this funny to you?"
Sukuna shrugs. "It's a little unserious."
"There are many places to seek refuge around here. Caves." you're bluffing, trying to sound like you know what you're talking about. You've only ever seen the outside world just outside your windowsill.
"I figured here'd be empty." He deadpans. "You know. Because no sane person lives this far from the kingdom lest they're in trouble."
You bristle at his implication. "I am perfectly sane."
"Hm." Red eyes flicker from you over to the chameleon you were chatting it up to earlier, also glaring at him very similarly. "Debatable."
You turn away from him with a huff rather than dignify his taunt. He doesn't ask where you're going as you walk some ways away. He doesn't really care.
With a roll of his eyes he tries again to, uselessly, tug himself free.
"You won't be able to free yourself, y'know." You call without turning back to look at him. Your hands brush the velvet of the curtain you've hidden your desires personified behind. You go to pull them back when you hear a clutter.
You're head whips around.
Sukuna looks beyond pissed, still tied to the chair and now uselessly thrown against the floor. You hum, pleased, but don't make a witty remark like you know he'd do if the roles were reversed.
You sharply tug at the trail of your hair behind you, swiftly setting the chair back up onto its legs. "Alright, Mr. Intruder." You begin, turning back to your masterpiece just behind the curtain.
Despite his frustration, Sukuna finds his brows jutting. "You don't know who I am?"
It isn't out of a place of cockiness.
okay, maybe just a little. I mean, come on. He's one of the most notorious criminals around the kingdom. He's on wanted posters throughout.
"Should I?" You quip back, furrowing your own brows.
"Sukuna." He drawls, zeroing in on you. "Doesn't ring any bells?"
You stare at him like he's grown two heads.
He's never found a single soul capable of making him so humiliated. "Forget it." he snaps.
"As I was saying." Your glare isn't meek anymore. It's truly annoyed. "Sukuna. I'm prepared to offer you a deal."
Sukuna's fingers tap rather impatiently against the arm of the chair his hand is strapped to. "Has anyone ever told you how much nerve you have?"
You finally pull back the drapes. Behind it lies a mural, from the ceiling nearly to the floor. The night sky is painted wide and deep, stretching rich blues and purples over the walls. It's dotted with almost hundreds of orbs, yellow and nearly glowing as they drift upwards. They're imperfect, hand-painted.
But admittedly beautiful nonetheless.
You finally turn back to him, nervously playing with your hands but still trying to keep your confidence. "Do you know what these are?"
He looks back to the painting and finds it does look familiar. "You mean the lantern thing they do for the princess?" He grumbles, resigned.
He found that whole ceremony quite foolish. The princess has been missing for twenty years and counting. The King and Queen couldn't seriously still be hoping she'd reappear?
She was probably dead, and that's the best case scenario.
Lanterns. Your heart soars. So that's what they are. Mother always insisted you were being silly. Told you over and over again that they're merely stars. You nod once at his words.
"Well." You continue, chewing the inside of your cheek nearly raw. "I have a favor to ask."
"No." came Sukuna's reply, blunt and straight to the point.
If you were a worse person, you would have already swung your frying pan back into his skull. Your eye nearly twitches. "I haven't even told you what it is yet."
"I'm preemptively declining."
You blink, a breath of air escaping your nose. "Is everyone out there this rude?"
You won't let yourself be shaken, though. Not when this is all you've ever wanted. You study him for a long moment. Then, wordlessly, you spin him away from you with another tug of your locks so he can't see your actions.
You turn and walk towards the stairs leading up to your room, lifting the loose wood from one, and pulling out the satchel he came in with.
You stalk towards him, determination glinting in your eyes. You step in front of him, dangling the object from one finger in front of his face.
His hands instinctively try to shoot out and snatch it, but the chair beneath him only rattles with his effort. You can nearly see the vein in his forehead.
"Where did you get that?"
You keep your victorious smirk restrained. "This old thing? Well, i found it alongside you."
Sukuna's jaw tightens. "Put that down."
You hug the satchel closer to your chest. "Take me to see the floating lights."
"That's what you're fucking doing all this for?" He grunts. "Answer's still no."
Your head tilts. "You don't sound as confident as you did before."
"I'm doing you a favor by not taking that by force." A lie. He's very heavily restricted by your hair. Is it some sort of damn magic?
You seem to know it too, unshaken and growing even more sure of yourself by the second. He despises it.
"Listen." He says, slowly, like a parent explaining to an overeager child why they can't have a toy. "You release me. You give me that satchel, and I leave. Peacefully. It's not something I do often, but I'm extending you that grace. Best favor you're gonna get."
You shake your head, just feeling his hardened resolve slowly crumbling. "The lights." You demand.
Sukuna will not lose it in front of you. Never has a woman tested his patience like this before. Usually, they scoff and turn away or he has them in his bed at whatever inn he managed to frighten his way into.
But you're unlike other women. You're strange. Immune to his charms and unafraid of him. He doesn't let his anger reach a breaking point.
He doesn't understand why you don't just get up on out of here yourself. But then again, you had hair that probably extended from this tall tower all the way to the ground below and you talked to that stupid chameleon like he could understand you.
He doubts you've ever gone outside.
He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and counts to three.
When his crimson eyes open again, his expression is flat and deeply annoyed.
The unseen tenseness in your body loosens, an exhilarating and thrilling feeling bursting through your being.
"But let me be clear." He goes on, glaring still. "We are not friends. I am not your damn guardian. This isn't a tour. I'm accompanying you as a courtesy to get my satchel back and be done with this."
Your eyes are practically lit up, and you're bouncing on your toes. "But you'll take me?"
"Yes." Sukuna snaps. "Only to the lights. Then back. Then I leave."
You make quick work of scrambling back over to the hiding spot you originally placed his satchel in. You peek over your shoulder to make sure he isn't watching before putting it away.
He'll get it back once he completes his quest.
Sukuna's booted foot taps against the planks rather impatiently as you begin unravelling your hair from around him.
You honestly start to feel a touch bad for him. Maybe you were being a little bit crazy. But wasn't he the one who broke in here?
"For what it's worth," You break the silence, softly, like you're afraid to speak after making literal demands of him. "Thank you."
Sukuna merely scoffs in return. "Don't thank me yet. You're gonna learn soon why I'm terrible company."
You smile at his seriousness. "I think you'll be fun."
Sukuna ignores the ache in his chest at your expression. He snorts instead. "You're wrong already."
a/n: yes this IS a tangled au. i was rewatching it and my mind seems to be plagued by sukuna these days so. y'know, this is the result. I WAS NOT INTENDING FOR THIS TO BE OVER LIKE 5OO WORDS. idkkk should i make this a series..?? would u guys wanna be tagged if i do? lmk! it was gonna be a oneshot but honestly im kind of attached now. anyway hope u guys enjoy this one!! one of my favs by far.
