#(he can't talk about it with dan heng for obvious reasons. i think he will eventually though... nameless yingxing works through his issues)

[descendinginto-madness]

you're safe now.

word count: 878

content warnings: mentions & descriptions of injury

summary: the aftermath of a mission gone... not so right.

author's notes: taking a small break from ocs. just for a little through don't get used to it 😋 alsoooo obv i can't control how peope interpret my work but just keep in mind i didn't write this with a romantic ship in mind 🫶

contains mild spoilers for dan heng's lore

“You should be more careful,” Dan Heng says, sitting next to Stelle on the edge of her bed with a first aid kit. She rolls her eyes, and he lets out a heavy sigh. “You know I'm right.”

“I'm always careful,” she replies, almost annoyed, and he raises his eyebrows but doesn't say anything to that. Instead he simply moves a bit closer. Stelle has already taken off her hoodie, making it easier for him to access a fairly big cut on her arm; it's unfortunately not the only injury she came back with from the mission, but the most serious one - from what Dan Heng could see - and it makes him a bit relieved that there's nothing more serious or harder to treat. 

“Show me,” he asks, and she pulls away the now bloodied piece of cloth she was pressing against the wound. The Vidyadhara takes a moment to look at the cut, before he proceeds to clean it; he doesn't hesitate with his movements, but he's also gentle, careful not to cause Stelle more pain. 

He finishes cleaning the excess blood and bits of dirt that got into the cut, and turns away for a moment to grab the disinfectant.

“It might sting a little,” he warns, but when the only reaction he gets from Stelle is a nod, he realizes that something is not quite right.

There's no snarky or slightly unhinged remark, just silence; she has been awfully quiet for the past few minutes, and if that wasn't enough Dan Heng also notices her face looks pale, and his eyebrows furrow slightly.

“Are you alright?” he asks.

“Yeah?” She looks back at him, seemingly slightly surprised by the question.

“Not feeling faint or anything like that? You look pale.” He doesn't let it show in his voice, but there's concern starting to grow inside him. What if her injuries are worse than what he initially thought? What if there is some more serious wound that she has been hiding from him up until now? Or what if the Stellaron decided to sabotage her body again and she’s feeling sick? 

He goes on to disinfect the wound carefully, trying to make it seem like everything's fine. It's better not to freak Stelle out… Or give her a reason to tease him again.

She does neither of that, though.

“Do I?” she just asks, and then shakes her head. “No, I'm fine. Don't worry about it.”

There's a “but”, he can sense it, but it doesn't seem like she's going to continue, and Dan Heng isn't sure how to make her talk. It's painfully obvious to him that there is something weighing on her mind, but he doesn't know how to approach it. He sighs quietly; sometimes, just sometimes, he wishes the Vidyadhara powers included mind reading - that way, maybe he could make some use of them.

As he reaches for the bandages, though, he suddenly realizes something.

He remembers how he found Stelle - in a dead end, backed into a wall, bloodied and dirty and clearly exhausted, trying to ward off three monsters at once. He remembers the look on her face; it was determination, but also fear, and it turned into relief only after she finally spotted him.

When he begins wrapping the bandage around her arm he asks yet another question, but this time his voice is softer.

“Still thinking about what happened?” 

He has to wait a few seconds for a response; once again, it's a nod.

“Yeah,” she admits, her voice similarly quiet. She's silent for a bit more, as if she was thinking about whether she really should say anything more. “...Sorry,” she finally adds. “You're right. I should be more careful, if I was then—”

“Stelle,” he interrupts her. She looks up at him, and their eyes meet. “Do you think I'm angry at you?”

“Maybe?” she laughs, but he notices her eyes are a bit more glossy than usual. 

“Then you should know that I'm not,” he says. He finishes bandaging her arm and gently takes her hands to examine them; thankfully, there seem to be no injuries there. “I might get annoyed, but I'm not actually angry, okay?” he asks.

“But… I don't know,” she says. “It’s just… It was scary? I don't know.” Her eyes wander back down, to the ground, and the look on Dan Heng's face softens. “If you didn't show up…”

“I know,” he replies. It's… Oddly painful to see Stelle like this, so unlike herself. This entire thing seems to have affected her more than he initially thought, and it makes him feel guilty for not noticing it sooner. At the same time, he feels odd being the one to comfort her right now - March is definitely way better at this than him - but… He supposes that this one time, he won't mind. But that obviously means he can't leave her with only two words, so he speaks again. 

“I can imagine this was quite scary, but it's done now, right?” he adds. “You're here, and you're safe, and that's the most important thing.”

She's quiet for a moment, but, eventually, she nods.

“...Right,” she says, and he's glad to see than when she smiles this time, it doesn't look forced anymore. 

[ticklystuff]

Hi dear!!

Since I'm heads over hills him, can I ask for F, P and V for Caelus?

Love u

tickly alphabet!

hiiii nim! thank you for requesting bby boy i love him so much

F: Fight | What is their behavior in a tickle fight like?

I love when my MCs are slightly unhinged, like little gremlins that bite your ankles in the middle of the night and I like projecting this kind of energy onto Caelus. Anyway, I can't imagine him being the type that would take losing well because he's the ✨protagonist✨ after all and sometimes violence is the answer to winning (can't tickle back when your arms are snapped in three after all) so when he's being tickled, he will throw punches and kick his legs just to free himself because he can just apologize for any injuries later

When he has the upper hand, he'll like laugh along with the lee, which might sound kind of maniacal, but it's actually kinda cute because it means he's having a fun time demolishing the competition

P: Partner In Crime | If they were to go after a lee and accept the aid of a tickle partner, who do they prefer to join hands with and why?

The rest of this ask is just gonna be all about dancae hoohooheee~

But ahem, the obvious answer here is March because the two of them are besties. The day that Caelus stepped onto the train, March pulled him into her room to start gossiping about Dan Heng and she spilled everything she knows about Dan Heng, even the fact that he's ticklish, which Caelus took great interest in. Obviously, they have to do something with this info, so the first thing they do is seek out Dan Heng mwehehehe

And then when they find out Dan Heng has a dragon form, naturally the first thing Caelus thinks of is to test whether Dan Heng is still sensitive in the same areas, to which he enlists help from March~

V: Victim | As a ler, who is their favorite lee and what makes this person their ultimate victim?

idk why you'd send this one because y'know the answer jk any reason to talk about them

I am legally obligated to say Dan Heng because:

Caelus is madly in love

Dan Heng is the typical stoic lee with a pretty smile, but hardly uses it, so Caelus has taken it upon himself to fix that issue

Caelus loves teasing Dan Heng because Dan Heng always has a perfect response/answer to everything, but all Caelus needs to do is wiggle his fingers in Dan Heng's direction to turn him into a stuttering mess

Caelus also loves praising Dan Heng while tickling him by telling him stuff like that he has the prettiest laugh and smile because not only does it fluster Dan Heng to the highest degree, Dan Heng will try to cover his face to hide the blush creeping on his face, which means his arms aren't able to stop Caelus from tickling him even more and Caelus won't stop till Dan Heng admits those things himself (a simple "yes" or "I agree" wont suffice; Dan Heng needs to say "I have the prettiest laugh" word-for-word if he wants Caelus to stop)