Rafayel is pretending to sleep to get out of an exhibition. MC usually uses prankish methods to "wake him up" when he does (burying him in plushies, sticking him on an inflatable raft and pushing him out to sea, tying him up like he is Harry Houdini and eating his cheesesticks right next to him, and other things to get her escape artist fishie to admit he is awake).
He expects more of the same that morning, but she catches him off-guard. Instead, she chooses to shower his face with dozens of little kisses. Tiny ones dancing across his face but never quiet touching his lips until the passionate grand finale that he can't resist taking part in, thereby exposing the fact that he is awake.
She does drag him to the exhibition, but he is a noticeably better sport about it than usual.
THIS IS SO CUTE I LOVE IT!! the inflatable raft is so funny I always think of the parent trap movies lmao.
I just had to write this, it's so silly and warm alksjdf
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As a dedicated and trained hunter, one is taught to plan ahead for a mission. Consider the directive and multiple paths on how to best accomplish it, and then choose and execute as effectively as possible with minimum casualties.
Today's mission? Get Rafayel to the exhibition of a new colleague also under management of Flux Art, and make him play nice to boost the success of their career launch. Thomas had asked her personally a few days ago to get this done, came with a box of donuts and a spiel ready about the life and struggles of this artist, and it didn't take long to convince Miss Hunter that it was really important to get Rafayel there. She liked when people succeeded in life.
The issue was all those reasons were technical and business oriented. More people would come if Rafayel showed up, the artist would feel pride to have an idol like him grace their debut with his presence, and Flux Art would be able to tuck another example of their good connections and management skills into their portfolio to show the next new artist.
Thomas already knew Rafayel wouldn't care to do anything like that, which is why, as a good business man, he turned to the expert.
If anyone could get Rafayel to do anything, it was Miss Hunter. Her record for getting him to exhibitions was almost flawless, and at least half of those were on time no less! But even she knew this would be her toughest mission yet, and so the entire train ride to Whitesand Bay she pondered her options.
There was a multitude of ways Rafayel would try and get out of work, and though every time it was something new they always fell under the same umbrella of five things: Sick, Inspiration, Rest, Enemies, or Nature. A rare, sixth option was Seduce, which thankfully he didn't pull out that often because it was his most effective counter measure to her own strategies.
In her head, she calls these his S.I.R.E.N excuses, and depending on which path he chooses to go down usually alters her course of action, but a unique situation like this called for unprecedented procedure.
She had an idea that would work no matter what excuse he had.
Unlocking the gate that was undoubtedly only closed because she was the last visitor and never left it open (she'd convince Rafayel to do the same one day), Miss Hunter walked into Mo Art Studio with full confidence that she was going to add today as a success to her record.
It wasn't long before she found out which of the S.I.R.E.N's he was using, because she found him laid out on the couch of the studio with one foot off the side and an impressively staged scene before her.
He had done such a good job staging everything to make it convincing that he'd collapsed from exhaustion after days of not sleeping that if anyone else saw it they'd believe it for sure. However, as good of an actor as Rafayel is, he's never had to sleep next to himself, and Miss Hunter can always tell when he's faking it because he doesn't twitch or mumble nearly often enough.
She had no plans on telling him that anytime soon.
"Rafayell," She sighed in exasperation, dumping her purse onto the coffee table and kneeling next to his face. A finger poking his cheek. "You knew this exhibit was today, why would you not sleep??"
He didn't move, and she took that as a challenge to see how far she could go before he finally broke. It was always a game of chicken when he tried to sleep as an excuse, one she GLADLY participated in.
"You told me you were resting fine, you liar." She nudged again, and he didn't respond. "Ugh, what am I supposed to tell Thomas now! I was really looking forward to that dinner reservation he offered..."
When that also didn't "wake" him up, she stood with another sigh, and she knew Rafayel was expecting her to walk off and go gather all the plushies in the house to balance on top of him, or grab the herbs from the fridge and pretend to be preparing to cook him again- but instead she laid down right on top of him.
Chin resting on his shoulder, looking up at his well maintained expression from beneath her eyelashes, she revealed her plan to him.
"I know you're awake, Rafayel, and I'm going to start kissing your face, and for every one you accept it's ten minutes you have to spend at the exhibition." Rising onto her elbows, hands balanced on his chest, she planted the first kiss on the beauty mark just beneath his eye. There was a noticeable twitch, but he didn't concede yet, so she went again. Following the pattern and going for the one on the right side of his nose. "And, if you want one on the lips," the last mark on his face couldn't be ignored, so she tilted her head to get to it on the other side of his nose bridge. "that's an hour!"
Just to tempt him, the next kiss landed on the corner of his mouth. She grinned feeling him tense beneath her.
"That'll be your choice though, I'm content to kiss everywhere else on this pretty face allll day~"
One, two, three, four- she didn't have a plan, really, she just planted one wherever she felt like it.
five, six, seven-
By the eighth kiss, she decided she wasn't happy with this angle, and placed her knees on either side of his abdomen so she could lean over him and start showering his forehead and eyes with her affection as well. Hands on either side of his face too so she could angle him however she wanted.
A snort of amusement was only half caught, and Rafayel was fighting back a smile, so she squished his cheeks together and went right for the tip of the nose for the ninth one.
ten, eleven- His hands crept up and found her waist, and she couldn't help smiling herself. Triumphant and overall really proud of this plan. Unlike their other games of chicken, this one felt like a win-win no matter what.
In a good mood and sensing he was close to breaking, she began pressing the next few all around his mouth and chin. Reallllyyy getting close but never touching his lips- dangling that bait right in front of him all flashy and shiny.
twelve, thirteen, fourteen-
With a squeal of laughter, Miss Hunter found herself being flipped onto her side, squished between the back of the couch and Rafayel, barely able to giggle before he was surging forward and claiming her lips with his own.
"You're cruel, you know that?" Rafayel breathed against her in a brief break that quickly ended. "All that effort gone to waste. It's hard to replicate something as natural as depraved artistic fever, ya know."
Her smile in the next breath break was feline and proud.
"I'm effective, I know." One hand ran up his nape into his hairline, carding through the silky strands of air with utmost satisfaction. "Your total is three hours if my math is correct. Which, is very generous by the way." To emphasis, she pulled him into another kiss. "I'm only counting the first one. You'd be there alllll night if I wasn't so benevolent."
She then gently pushed back on Rafayel, and he reluctantly sat up first.
"Beautiful and benevolent, I've always said this about you." He agreed, like he hadn't called her cruel a few seconds ago. He watched her as she stood and straightened her skirt and button up shirt back into something presentable, and she should have suspected he was brewing something in his mind with how quiet he was being, but she was too caught up in thinking about the next steps that she missed it.
One step was all she got away from him before her wrist was caught and she was spun back to into Rafayel's arms.
"Rafayel-!" She said in warning, and he sighed, hands flat against her back and his cheek against her chest.
"I know, I know, I'm going. There's no point trying to get out of it now after such a convincing argument... But," His eyes flicked up to her face beneath his lashes. All searing pink at this angle contrasting with the the slight pout of his lips, and she felt her face warm before he even said anything further. "since you're so benevolent, you'll agree it's only fair that I get an equal number of kisses throughout the night in compensation for you tricking me with something I couldn't refuse, right?"
Her lips twitched into a smile even as she sighed.
"My benevolence is truly on your side today... but only if we get there in thirty minutes."
Not only were they at Flux Art on time, but half way through the event Thomas pulled Miss Hunter aside and commended her for whatever she did, because Rafayel was on best behavior like he had never seen.
Another Exhibition down, another check in the win column, and another instance of no one having job security quite like Miss Hunter.
Something I did as a kid that would be on-brand for a child of Rafayel, is pretending that I couldn't crawl well past the age I should have started because I was clingy and didn't want to stop being carried.
Imagine Rafayel and MC taking their daughter to a Lemurian doctor because she "can't swim yet" only to wake up later that night and catch her swimming happily through the waves until she sees them watching her and starts flailing around and screaming for help.
THATS SO THEIR CHILD WKSJS I can just picture them stressed and worried bc its their oldest and they don't know if they're doing something wrong as new parents, but no it was just their daughter taking after them and being clingy 🤣
It probably doesn't help that to try and help her learn how to swim, they just give her more attention, so she has even less incentive to swim by herself LOL
Reading your fics reminded me of much I love abysswalker but honestly mc is way better than me because if the guy I loved erased my memories despite me crying and begging then threw me back into my cage after giving me hope he’d help me escape it would be my villain origin story lmfaoo
People say mc is too mean but I think she should be angrier tbh but that might just be my love of seeing men grovel 💜 💜
HONESTLY I'M WITH YOU A LIL the entire situation sucks so much, but if MC hadn't remembered when she did she would be in such a miserable place. She was so dissociative and not like herself after the memory wipe 😭
This angst potential is why I have a longfic I'm working on that's a whole drama of them reuniting four years later in an au where MC didn't remember till after the Lemurians had left 👀 MC is distrustful and angry at Rafayel for leaving her bc she was forced into a marriage and even has a baby, bc i really wanna explore the potential of what might have happened to her in a "bad end" of golden sands and the conflict and resolution that can happen from it... bc at the end of the day I DO want her and Raf happy, even if it does take some groveling akdjs
Hi! I'm a little obsessed with your Raf/MC vision (it's flawless). Do you have an ao3 so that I can read all you have in there too?
Oh my goshhh you're too kind, I'm glad other people like my rambling haha!
I do have an AO3!! The only thing I haven't cross posted to Tumblr tho is a Regency AU that I'm thinking about reformatting but I'm VERY attached to it lmao. Also, bc of AI scalping you do need an account to see certain works!
( I changed the dialogue to fit the tone more but the premise is the same! Also this got longer then I meant OOPS hope you still like it!)
40: Did I enter an alternate universe or did you just smile at me?
The ruling God-kings of the Guili Assembly oft set aside time in the spring months to stroll through the mountains and admire the land they ruled, not caring for guards since only fools thought to provoke the martial god so they walked where they pleased without worry.
Morax often wondered, watching Guizhong, if she was this carefree on walks she takes with guards.
She was beside him most of the time, filling the air with conversation about the current project occupying her thoughts, but occasionally a flower or peculiar rock would catch her attention and she'd whisk away from his side in a slight scattering of dust.
This time changed nothing as her blue sleeves billowed once in his vision before they were gone, and looking left he saw the rock that had caught her attention as dust spiraled into her form.
"Aren't you interesting?" He heard her say to it as he stood by the path, her frame blocking most of it from view so he let her study and turned his own focus on the environment around them.
It wasn't long however till she turned, still kneeling, to wave him over.
"Morax, would you come here please? I don't know what this is."
Finding that hard to believe, Morax obliged and joined her, finally seeing what caught her sharp eyes.
It was a rock with a small fissure on its surface, revealing dark blue stone inside with gold colored veins through out.
"Gold Lazulite." He said at once as he kneeled beside her, recognizing it before he even had to touch it. "A common sight underground."
"Lazulite..." She mused, leaning closer to him to see better and instinctually he reached a hand to help steady her balance. "I have never heard of it before, is it truly common?"
"Not on the surface, but below. It forms far down so not many mines of it exist. I assume this chunk got dislodged during a recent battle, and that's how it ended up here." Morax explained, and Guizhong nodded in agreement.
There was lots of thought (as always) behind her slightly glowing silver eyes as one finger glided down a side of the cracked rock, and in the trail of her skin the rough surface crumbled away in chunks till it hit the ground in a pile of dust, revealing more of the Lazulite beneath.
"Fascinating... your knowledge always impresses me Morax!" Guizhong praised with a glistening smile at him as he stood back up, dusting off the dirt.
"Not really knowledge. Just rocks." Morax dismissed, turning on his heel to head back to the trail. "Are you going to be long?"
He didn't get an answer nor did he get far, as Guizhong grabbed his hand and pulled him back down.
"It will be long if I can't pick your brain for information and have to figure it out myself!" She said as he caught his balance, attention already back on the rock so she missed the look he gave her. "Tell me more, what type of notable properties does it have?"
Obliging since she still held his wrist in a securing grip, Morax spent the next fifteen or so minutes satisfying her curiosity and answering as much as he could. If it had been anyone else it might have taken longer, but Guizhong was always organized in her thoughts and only asked what she wanted to know.
She was currently muttering quietly to herself about possible ways she could use Lazulite as she crouched over it. His hand finally free but this time he chose to stay in place.
It was not uncommon for this to happen on their walks; What with how carefully Guizhong worked to suppress her curious tendencies in favor of focusing on whatever task was at hand that day, time away from relying eyes were the only moments she had to let the creative side of her mind fully turn.
(The sun was casting afternoon light behind Guizhong, reflecting off the ash blonde strands of her hair glowing around her. The ombre shift into black around her face especially highlighted her divine features as her brow furrowed.)
It was... endearing, how seriously she took her responsibilities yet still retained her own identity throughout the years when he had seen countless gods unable to balance both. Yet it seemed natural for her to slip into the noble airs needed when their people sought her wisdom, and just as simple to slide into her more playful and spontaneous side.
It was another thing on the long list of ways he admired her.
During his musing, Guizhong had shifted around the rock to the other side, ducking out of sight as she did something near the ground. She soon came back up however, planting her hands on top of the stone.
"Morax, how deep do you think-" Abruptly her question ended as she stared at him, and the corners of his mouth fell from the unknowing smile they had risen to a questioning line as her mouth fell open slightly.
But not for long, as soon the surprise was overtaken by a wave of jubilee as she leaned over the rock, face cracking into a wide smile.
"Were you smiling?"
Morax's first response was to blink with confusion at her, but as he realized her enthusiasm had caused him to smile it formed into a sour frown.
Usually, he didn't think much about smiling, but the big deal Guizhong was making of it caused some indignation to stir in the young lord off the principle he didn't like feeling as if someone had won over him.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He said at once, eyes closing as he slightly turned away from her.
"I think you do know. Unless I momentarily switched between realities I'm pretty sure you were smiling~" He could hear the pleased lith to her voice even without looking at her, and when he did finally he found she had seated herself on the Lazulite.
"So, what was it?" She asked expectantly, shoulders high as her palms pressed against the stone. "Was the scenary so particularly beautiful that it drew a smile from you? Or did you recall a fond memory? Or maybe was it... me?" She joked, fluttering her lashes a little in a way that mimicked Madame Ping's go to attempt at getting what she wants.
Years of working with her made it easy to tell that Guizhong was just teasing, not believing she had been the source of the smile, but the fact that she still hit the nail on the head caused a knee-jerk reaction from him as he stood up once again, arms folded.
"Maybe it was. But I wouldn't be so pleased with yourself." Morax spoke with a hint of defiance as he turned his head away, making it seem like he was scanning the horizon instead of hiding his indignation. "Perhaps you are just easy to smile at."
Curiously, his words that had meant to brush off her accusation seemed to take Guizhong aback, her jaunty smile faltering as her cheeks bloomed a peculiar shade of pink that he could see even from the corner of his eye.
"O-oh. Well, I- um." She seemed unable to decide on what to say, getting off the rock and creating a pause as she made a moment out of fixing her hanfu. Smoothing it down and adjusting it back into place.
Finally, she took a breath, and re-met his gaze.
"You don't get enough credit for how charming you can be my friend."
"I don't know what you mean." He said with complete honesty, lost in how the conversation got here, but Guizhong did not explain, she merely laughed and walked past him. Calling over her shoulder:
"It's about time we head back to the city. I need to arrange for that stone to be transferred to my workshop and the Adepti will have a cow if you're away for too long."
Dutifully, Morax followed, falling into step beside her again as they retraced their steps back to the Assembly.
Still utterly confused about what had just happened.
Xiao, bc I have gotten too invested in Zhongli being Xiao’s dad akdj Lumine too for a similar reason lol
My BROTP
Venti n Zhongli!! Just two old men who throw hands and annoy each other!!
My OTP
Guili 🥺 They hit a lot of tropes I love... kind soul showing a cold heart how to love, brain and brawn duo, friends to lovers OR unrequited love depending on how you view the little info we have on them lmao
My 2nd pairing for them
Oh gosh idk... I don’t mind most of them? But I don’t really ship him romantically with anyone else akdj
My angst pairing
Guizhong literally died in his arms in canon, so.... Guili 😂
My favorite poly ship for them
I haven’t really thought about this akdjsk maybe Guili + Havria?? Or Osial?? Those could be interesting to explore
SEND ME AN AU AND A SHIP AND I'LL GIVE YOU 5 HEADCANONS ABOUT IT
Byleth is an undercover spy, sent to work in this coffee shop to gather long term intel on a suspected lead, and Claude is a regular who quickly notices something about her but isn't sure what it is
He lives like, down the street so he's there often and has witnessed some of her most comical moments like investigating the cafe's cats to find out who broke the coffee grinder, the time she tracked Balthus down (with Claude's help) bc he didn't pay, and her impeccable disguise plan to help in Constance's wild plot against the chain coffee shop that opened across the street that included him dressing up as the company's CEO Edelgard at one point (but he quickly veto'd that ajdj)
It's a Romantic comedy with lots of Byleth just trying to act casual when she is NOT and Claude thinking its really endearing aksjs
Byleth finds herself unexpectedly enjoying this new fake life, and has to keep reminding herself to not lose track of the goal and real reason she's here in the first place, tho Claude seems to always find ways to slither around her resolve and distract her
He becomes so distracting that she has to ask him to come at a different time than the suspect so she can actually focus on her mission 😂
