ALMOST To Link !

❰❰ ALMOST ❱❱ to link !

❰❰ ALMOST ❱❱ our muses almost kiss but don’t or are interrupted before they do

Something in him cannot think, cannot stop thinking, cannot stop at all, and he thinks ━ he's convinced it's going to kill him.

Or maybe she is. Or maybe this is just what it's like, you know, to love something ━ someone, and to be able to get so close, and the world doesn't end when you do. Maybe its association, living for months in the wake of each-other, ripples on ponds that don't move and never stay still, living in the same space; in the wake of disaster, a hundred years back, a hundred years catching up to them.

Maybe it's because she didn't have to learn it like they did, how he didn't have to learn it like they did, either. One day they woke him up so he could be the apocalypse stopping the apocalypse, calamity on calamity where blood under enough pressure becomes black, black under enough pressure becomes light, light under enough pressure becomes something bigger than it could ever hope to contain, the way the cosmic dark is larger than anything, the way what's being asked of him is too. Like its a foreign concept to be given something, given something and told━ no, asked to take it, asked if he wants it, given and given graciously and given because she wants to be here, given companionship in the wake of movement; endless movement, given voice to thoughts he didn't have the language for; couldn't have the language for, and now, given touch, hand to arm to hands that don't know what to do ━ he's deerlike, funny how doe scares buck, and he can't breathe.

Please, something in him begs in the only voice he can muster, watching her. Please, a language unto itself hoping it can be understood by the negative space left in it's wake, in the way he's not thinking ━ not begging at all, but if he could, he would be. if he could, he'd move to meet her. if he could, he'd meet hers first.

Something in him cannot think, cannot stop thinking, cannot stop at all, and he's convinced it's going to kill him. Because she loves him, he's pretty sure she loves him, and he loves her, and he's pretty sure he does, and love has never been something that comes without the blood, without the black, without the light━━

And the light returns in the form of a Goddess, and the light returns in the form of a princess, and the light returns in the form of a statue. He is too acquainted with tombs, Link decides all at once like something in his chest becoming a golden bird and flying off, like a silver wire breaking and animation returns to the living stillness, he is too acquainted with tombs.

But this doesn't stop Zelda from coming, a network of parchments in her callousing hands that are learning how to work the way she's wanted to but never could before, and they almost don't catch what they've interrupted at all until they notice how close the two are together, and you can see the realization on their blue-grey eyes, in the brightened tip of their sharp ears. Link imagines with a humor he can't help that he must look the same, all tense muscle in anticipation, all soft features wide but unable to articulate that he wants her to kiss him, needs her to kiss him. He figures Zelda's expression is a little different, but close enough to draw comparisons to.

" Oh-! I'm━ " a still hazed mind gets confused on why she's introducing herself again as Zelda struggles for the words, mind too fast for her, a funny contrast to Link, who finds himself too blind in surprise for the mind to move at all ( almost gawking ) " I'm so sorry, I-I'm interrupting something, here- I'll bring these━ I-I'll go- "

Link says something reassuring he forgets the moment it's out of his mouth, beckoning them back but he's smiling and it's honest, as he shifts his hand from its aimless hovering to rest on Gaia's arm, cradling the elbow. She staggers as though struck, poise awkward as she holds the scrolls ━ construction plans, he's sure, that's what most of them have been lately ━ and glances between Link and Gaia like a mouse caught in a trap, almost asking permission to flee, but mostly just the attitude of you're serious? you're seriously asking me to stay-???

After a moment she relents, and step carefully forwards as though navigating a cave which may or may not but probably has traps in it, before gaping like a fish looking for words, and eventually settling on; " … I hope I don't make a habit out of this… " ( They most certainly will, much to their chagrin )

🔥 // Throwing this back at you, for Akechi's opinion of Yusuke. :) Or even, Ralsei's opinion of Kris!

send me a 🔥 and i'll tell you one thing my muse finds attractive about yours // always accepting!

" Oh! " ━ the brief flicker of being caught off guard, charitable; good natured, as though it was an unexpected but not disliked surprise. spinning the wheel in a teenage game & watching the tinted bottle land on you, abruptly asking just how well they could do; trivia, kissing, something else; always something else; it didn't matter. ( it masks a brief, insufferable bolt of panic that glimmers like lightning from his heart down to his stomach. it's just a game, but still, a tv-ready feeling takes over, the polish of someone who must live off of how well they can dance around the unexpected, and dance well. )

" You're asking me? Well, I'm sure there'd be plenty of girls quite interested in Yusuke-san's features, but alright! hmm... " a laugh, shifting into pondering, think on it, act as though you haven't thought about it before, an invasive thought curled around the brainstem far more descriptive than what is being asked. run the list in your mind again, ignore the fact you have a list at all, again, again. check the time. 30 seconds is appropriate. get it right. get it right.

" Ah, his eyes perhaps? he's very attentive to other people in his own way, which as a detective, I have to appreciate! " ━ as a detective, of course, only that. nothing more. nothing further. something shivers inside him and keels over in the cold apathy to his inner self as a trained dog jumps through hoops. poodle; greyhound; akita. ( 'his hands,' offers a different, quiet part of him that could never be shared, never be heard. 'dexterity along the length of fingers, brutality along the backs of knuckles : the way he uses both to make something beautiful.' )

The Cow, Ariana Reines

oh fuck yes little dark treats for me

// @leuvspell dyn. tag!

━ ♔ Girls like you; they dont come with guarantees / so if you've gotta spend your time; wont you spend it with me? ━ RYUJI&AKARI: leuvspell

When her expression changes to one of surprise, smile vanishing, Ryuji can't help the pang of worry in his stomach that he did something wrong.

Maybe he did, a part of him murmured, you did just make a scene then proceed to ask if she wanted clothing coupons in public, you know? Maybe that'd be embarrassing for her, both in the ways of her disliking such attentions; her efforts to keep her head down royally dashed by sheer virtue of her befriending of him, not to mention the metaverse as a whole; and in the ways of what thoughts it might inspire. ( while Ryuji hadn't first known, hadn't first realized, the concept passed right by him entire until pointed out with pen and paper like an assignment he missed the date for; how many others shared that first unawareness? how many other people would judge her for it? their peers so often tore her apart as it is, a feeling Ryuji was so familiar with. was this feeding the vultures? was it baiting them in? if not appearance in one way, then they would always find another. they would always find something different, they would always find something. )

for a split second, his center of gravity shuddered just enough to make his nerves feel shaken, and he tries not to look too worried. it was just surprise, and if she did turn it down, really turned it down, he could give them to someone else; the sentiment, hopefully, not a bad one. not a lost one. ━ but he hoped she'd take them. he couldn't know what it was like to be who she is trying to outlive who she used to be known by, but he wanted to help, even if he couldn't. wanted her happy, even if it was fleeting. he knew that always, always, she'd deserve that much. ( so he hoped she'd take them. he really hoped she'd take them... )

but Ryuji almost gets blindsided by his own momentary past self as he straightens out properly with his breath regained, not expecting to be caught red-handed in his half-step falter of language; he should've, Akari was quick, quicker than anything, and he finds himself kind of glad for it, but also a little embarrassed at being called out

" Oh! Uh.. " the bleached-blonde falters, not untruthfully, and scratches at the back of his head, openly unexpecting of it, as the other arm he holds the coupons with bends & lowers only slightly in his thought, the offer still blatantly on the table despite the motion " Reason I asked is 'cause, well… I wanted to know if you'd wanna go together! "

might as well be honest! ( double down! )

" I don't really know how to style an outfit like you or the others, a-and I don't know nothin' 'bout girl clothes, " Ryuji bounces his leg by the tip of his shoe, scraping it against the ground, bluntness overpowering the anxiety beneath it " but I like hanging out with you anyways, no matter what we do, and you deserve something nice! "

Ryuji's conviction of the statement is honest, heartfelt, unhesitating. he doesn't even need to think about it to believe it, like it's just a fact to him, like simple truth. he waggles the coupons like it's proving a point, flimsy paper slips shivering in the wind " and if I gave 'em to Ann, I'm pretty damn sure her closet would explode at this point… "

[Plotted Asks!]

@quillheel wrote in… »» " Hey, Akari-! " brazen as ever, like a bull in a china shop, you can hear the blonde before you see him. Ryuji manuevers, almost dance-like ( if not for how ungraceful he is ), around the groups of students departing from the academy. To his benefit, at the very least he's not toppled anyone over… this time. ducking, weaving, before hopping haphazardly on one leg, a backpack of supplies hooked on his arm wild with momentum, to part through a gap of people and at last make it to Akari. He's as bright as ever, though red in the face from the strain & speed of himself, frame shaking with heavy breathing. he hunches, hands on knees, to catch his breath. He seems not to care as people stare, just a little, at the commotion. " H-hey━ sorry about that, I uh- I wanted to ask if you were free today-? Real last second, I-I know, but━ " Well, that explains the seeming bid for attention: it was. like Akari's time would be snatched up if he wasn't fast enough. ( some days, that was true… ). he digs out two slips of paper from his bag, and waves them like evidence, reason to his social crime. " ━ wound up getting coupons for that one clothes place down the way, in Shibuya, and they expire in a couple of days so I-I wanted to ask if- " come on, spit it out! " if you wanted em-! " ━ damn! he meant to ask to go together, even if Ryuji didn't know his head from his feet in fashion, but… ah well, it's the heart that counts, right? as long as Akari had the chance to get something she liked, it was worth it either way.

The moment Akari heard the all-familiar, less-than-inside voice beckon to her, the moment she dared to turn around--she half-expected to witness some poor soul get trampled over by the incoming stampede headed in her immediate direction. However, she would be humbled in her assumption--surprisingly so, don't get her wrong--as she instead caught a showing of Ryuji attempting to hop, skip, and jump his way over to her, somehow avoiding the outcome she'd predicted.

"Ryuji, you know that you could have just said my name and I would have waited for you... right?" There's a shake of her head, but she did have to stiff a small huff of laughter. There was no reason to make such a showing, but in a twisted way, she was glad he did.

Embarrassing? Oh, yes--everyone within the vicinity was now staring into their very souls. Weirdly amusing and worth watching? Also yes.

However, when he'd expressed his intentions further, Akari's little grin had faded for an immediate reaction of surprise. She blinked a few times under her glasses, both at the invitation, and, of course, at the two tiny sheets within the blonde's grip. Coupons... for a clothing store? And, judging by his own language, he acquired these at his own leisure, and not by any sort of random chance.

Yes, extremely unlike Ryuji. To the point where she's still wearing that expression by the time she spoke again. Her thumb and index slowly trailed downward over the strap of her bag; Morgana must have jumped out at some point, maybe when he heard Ryuji coming...? He definitely would have said something less-than-ideal by now if he were present.

"A... are you sure you wouldn't want to give these to Ann?" Ann was the actual fashionista of the group, after all--surely she was the better candidate. And yet... here he was, offering them to her instead.

She... wasn't quite sure if she should be the one accepting these, out of all people... and not merely due to her lack of fashion. So, she would not extend her hand to accept them just yet.

"...You asked if I was free?" Surely it wasn't related to this, right? Ryuji didn't quite strike her as the type to enjoy that kind of shopping.