This Means Trouble And Make It Double

This means trouble and make it double 😂

They dynamic between the Gieve and Farangis is really the best

Gieve’s been waiting for this.

Get you a man who can do both

Arslan Senki Chapter 118 is out! Raw here and Japanese text summary here. This chapter is one for the Gieve fans… and there’s another departure from the novels at the end.

I am glad that I could help you (didn’t even know what I did but yeah good 🤣)

And I am glad you finished this and shared it with us

I love it really. This is so soft and I can totally imagen Kazais soft smile when he looks down on a sleeping Shapur. Why didn’t we get a sleeping Shapur in the manga/anime, I feel betrayed

You can definitely sense the love Kazai had for Shapur through out those lines and I like the little tradition/ habit they both have. Makes their relationship somehow more sweet and the bond deeper that they both share.

And i would have loved to see their faces when they wake up the first time side by side. This must have been very hilarious 😆

The eastern sky turns a pale rose as dawn breaks over the horizon— quite the lovely shade if he says so himself.

Kazai has been awake for a while, ways before the world turned from black to indigo to pink with the rising sun and receding night. He's an early riser, always has been— even with the activities that he and Shapur were up to through the night, his body would not allow him sleep beyond dawn.

Well, it's not like he minds, anyhow.

Soft golden light streams through the high windows, all the while his beloved lays asleep and Kazai watches in gentle silence. He looks innocent, Kazai notes somewhat absently. Gone are any traces of harshness or strain on his face, as if they never were. Like he was some physical manifestation of peace, tranquility given mortal body.

If only he could extend the dawn, halt the time, for day to never come and for this contentedness to never flee Shapur's face, he would.

Oh, he would.

His beloved glows in the gentle light, and Kazai's heart leaps in this breathless sort of wonder— one that feels like it might break if he moved a single muscle... And he wonders if Shapur would look this lovely on the morn of their wedding, clothed in green and bathed in dawnlight as they both kneel before a great old tree to speak their vows.

He would look even better, he decides. The snow will have melted away, making way for them to be surrounded by the bright young blooms of early spring. Sweetness would fill the air, not only from the flowers but from their hearts as well. They'd be smiling, and oh wouldn't that be a sight to behold?

Kazai has dreamt and fantasized about getting married one day, even though in his dreams his husband-to-be was ever faceless...

But it changed one day— after they saw each other again, after... after everything, after the first time they ever slept together, after they became lovers.

And then Shapur himself proposed that they wed.

He swears he felt like he could've soared into the endless sky then.

Logically, his body ought to be too heavy to fly, he knows, but it feels too light to stay aground regardless— to have it be concrete, be tangible. To know that it's only an autumn and a winter away. To know that it will be real, though to the rest of the world he is merely Shapur's paramour. His steward and subordinate.

It doesn't matter, never will. Their children know. The Marda know. The woods and the spirits know.

And that?

That's more than enough.

Their love is strong. It will prevail.

He leans forward to press his lips on Shapur's temple, and the love of his life stirs beneath him with a soft noise.

Laughter blooms in his chest like unfurling petals, warms him from within. This is what bliss is, he thinks. And he'd like it to never end.

He still remembers the first time he stayed until Shapur woke, the restless stir of anxiety in his gut, his heart a fluttering frantic bird trapped in his ribcage.

He remembers the surprise that came from his lover, so much surprise that it knocked the sleep right out of his head in an instant.

He also remembers the first time he himself had fallen asleep in Shapur's bed in the first place, he teased Shapur for his shocked face but it wasn't like his own was any better when he woke up that morning.

It feels like something from forever ago.

Shapur has fallen back into tranquility, his breaths even and soft again. Good. It's not like Kazai wants him up at the ass-crack of dawn— he knows he can be... unusual, in this regard. Besides which, Shapur stayed up late last night. They both did. He'd much rather Shapur get some good sleep.

Kazai plants another kiss on Shapur's face before placing his ribbon and bells down on the pillow where his head previously rested. A little token, a small tradition of theirs. It too started out as an accident, but well...

Doesn't matter.

He knows Shapur will come find him later.

He always does.

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Special thanks to @marchdancer for giving me the motivation to finally finish this.

Y'all ever wonder what Hilmes would look like with his hair down (aka not slicked back)?

Because I sure as hell do and am wondering right now.