#A Prince and His Fool

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

fooltrick replied to your post “He approves of this. Approves of this very much. No, he’s not fiddling...”

flustered hibiki noises

“Come on, Biki, it’s not so bad!” At least your chest is fully covered, you have nothing to complain about. “I think you look fantastic, you’ll fit right in during the festival!”

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

@fooltrick from here

His gut reflex was to explain that Summoning was an inexact science even so far as Coralin, Karina, and any other summoner he had spoken with understood it, but a scientific explanation wasn’t what Biki needed at the moment.

His second gut reflex was to argue that even if he hadn’t pulled the trigger yet, it was entirely likely that Akechi still fully intended to have done so in ten days after his summoning. But if there was a snowball’s chance in Múspell that Biki could... he didn’t know, talk it out? Reconcile with his ex? And eventually heal even a little bit from the trauma he’d gone through... Alfonse didn’t want to be responsible for ruining that.

So instead, he just petted the raven-haired boy’s head and made soothing sounds.

“It’s alright, love. I’ll be with you regardless of what you decide you want to do. If you want me to sit with you while you talk with him, I’ll be there... but if you’d rather not have me there I’d understand, too. I’ll always be there for you when you need me, okay?”

And if you end up deciding you’d rather not have me anymore at all... no, don’t finish that thought and DEFINITELY don’t say it out loud. That would be a trip to the jar.

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

@fooltrick from here

“That’s good.” Alfonse put his head on Hibiki’s shoulder, shutting his eyes and taking a moment to just enjoy their closeness. Then, he seemed to realise that they were in public and people were looking at them. Oops. He loosened his grip a little, but couldn’t bring himself to completely let go.

“You... seemed uncomfortable. It looked like people were bothering you...”

“I can have them removed from this castle before you can say ‘Alfonse that’s not necessary,’ you know.”

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

@fooltrick

“BIKI PLEASE PEOPLE ARE WATCHING!”

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

A Life For a Life

The doomed Askran crown prince groaned softly as his consciousness returned to him for one more day. He could have sworn it was day nine… but maybe Hel had meant that he would die at the end of the ninth day, not at the start of it. That just meant he had one more day to say goodbye to his loved ones. He rolled over, tucking his hand under his head as he watched the other boy in his bed sleep. If there was one good thing this death curse had brought him, it was this: the opportunity to wake up next to Hibiki every morning he had left. In truth, Alfonse hadn’t wanted to rush their relationship, not after they had both come from painful breakups. But neither had he wanted to spend his last nights alone, and he was grateful that the Hero had agreed to share his bed. To cuddle, kiss, and talk with him about anything unrelated to his death until exhaustion became too much for Alfonse and forced him to sleep.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. If he were to apologise for being cursed while his beloved was awake, he would get an earful, so he did it when the other couldn’t hear him. “I wish I could stay with you. You deserve someone who will.” With one hand still under his head, he reached towards Hibiki with the other. He enjoyed the feel of Hibiki’s hand in his. He had such soft hands, just large enough to cover Alfonse’s and make him feel safe. And yet, when they touched, Alfonse jerked his hand back and pushed himself up.

Hibiki was cold.

His room was kept warm so he would be comfortable even as weakness and illness made his body cold and feverish. The blankets were thick. There was no reason for Hibiki to be cold, unless… Oh no. “Biki,” he said, urgently, as he got up and leaned over the other fully. His chest didn’t rise and fall, and his head didn’t turn on the pillow as Alfonse’s own breath agitated his cheek. Now panicking, Alfonse grasped his shoulder and shook him. “Biki! Wake up!” Still, there was no response. Alfonse shook harder, his voice breaking on the other’s name, but to no avail. “No no no… don’t you dare leave me! What did you do?!”

An equivalent exchange. He jerked his head up, in time to see Princess Eir in the doorway to the hall. She strode into the room, unescorted and unbound. His life for yours. While Alfonse froze, she seated herself on the bed, curling the back of her hand against Hibiki’s cheek. Fate cannot be defied. But for now, you have been bought time.

“I don’t want it!” he shouted, voice breaking with his heart. “Not at this price! He had nothing to do with any of this- tell your mother to give him back! I’m the one she wants!”

Once taken, a soul will not be returned. Eir looked pained for a moment, but then stood up to leave the room.

“Hey- get back here!” Alfonse scrambled over the bed to snatch up her long hair and stop her, but grasped only air. Losing his balance in the process, he dipped forward, falling off the bed but never hitting the ground- instead finding himself swallowed by a seemingly endless abyss…

The sensation of falling in his bed woke him up, the sudden motion prompting a coughing fit that lasted for a solid minute and saw him hacking up blood onto his hands. As he coughed, he felt soft, warm hands ease him into a sitting position and rub his shoulders before he was offered a handkerchief. He used it to clean off first his mouth and then his hands before looking to his side. Hibiki forced his gentle smile through the pain of seeing Alfonse in this state, but soon replaced it with confusion when the older grabbed his face in both hands as if to ensure he was real. “You’re alive,” Alfonse said, savouring the warmth of Hibiki’s skin before embracing him tightly. A nightmare, then. A horrible, horrible nightmare born of one of his worst fears, festering in his subconsciousness until ripened enough to torment him.

“Of course I am,” Hibiki assured him, returning the embrace and patting his back. It didn’t bear repeating that he wasn’t the cursed one, least of all when Alfonse was already this emotional. “I’m not going anywhere, not anytime soon.”

“Biki…” Alfonse sniffed. Was he crying? God, he was. “Biki, you have to promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“Even if the opportunity presents itself, promise me that you will never for a second consider trading your life for mine.” Again, Hibiki could only look confused. What was he on about now? But he didn’t get a chance to verbalise his confusion, as Alfonse rambled on. “Don’t think of yourself as more expendable than me- I don’t care if I’m a prince, you’re so important to so many people! And me not least of all… gods, Biki, I don’t want to die but I don’t want to live either if that life has to be bought with your death!” He lowered his head, sobbing into Hibiki’s shoulder. “So please… Promise me…”

“Hey. It’s okay, Al.” Hibiki patted Alfonse’s head reassuringly. He wasn’t sure where this came from, all of a sudden, but the other was serious about it. The least he could do was quiet his fears. “I promise, alright? No exchanges of anyone’s life for yours. And definitely not mine.”

“Good…”

“But you’ve got to promise me something too. No giving up yet, okay?” He straightened Alfonse, using one hand to steady the older boy’s shoulder and the other to wipe away a tear on Alfonse’s face. “It’s only day five. You still have time. There’s still stuff we haven’t looked at or tried yet. No giving up until the bitter end, alright?”

Alfonse placed his hand over the one on his face, unable to meet Hibiki’s gaze until after he swallowed thickly. “Alright. No giving up until the bitter end.”

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

🖤🖤 for both bikifonse and eliceli, i'm too lazy to send two separate asks >:3c

There are so many other, better men Hibiki could choose. That’s disregarding the people in his own world, who understand him so much better than Alfonse could hope to. Just, even compared to most of the Heroes, he’s such a personality-less shell of a man. At a glance, he cannot recognise any attractive traits in himself… what does Hibiki even see in him?

Eliwood doesn’t care that Araceli is fundamentally different from him, but… her expected lifespan is so much longer than his. He’s afraid of passing away too early and leaving her alone in a world that hates her… how long would she have to live by herself, everyone she loves and cares about leaving her like he inevitably would? Was it worth that pain..?

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

@fooltrick from here

Hibiki’s words were reassuring and sensible, but part of Alfonse wasn’t convinced. The hand that didn’t hold on to his boyfriend’s clenched hard enough in his cape that his knuckles turned white. Under there was a scar, a deep one that still troubled him. A scar Zacharias had given him when his attempt to assassinate him had failed. His breath hitched and he realised he was sobbing.

“He’s like a completely different person than the Zacharias I knew...” his mouth started running of its own accord now. “He- he still won’t look me in the eyes. Sharena, Veronica, and I all know what’s under his mask but he still wears it even now... He’s not the Zacharias I knew anymore. I- I thought we were so close...”

Would they even be able to talk things through? Zacharias was a Gatekeeper, same as him. There was a good chance Breidablik would not be able to put him under contract... and without one, what would stop him from trying to kill Alfonse, or worse, Sharena or Odette, again?

He squeezed Biki’s hand a little harder before letting go. “I’m sorry, I... I don’t mean to be a wreck... Or to drag you into this...” But Hibiki’s presence anchored him just a little bit, gave him something to hold on to. Something constant, something that wouldn’t leave him hanging by a thread without support.

“I... if I do decide to try and talk with him, will... will you be there? With me?”

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

"hey, you," alfonse is greeted with a kiss on the cheek before being presented with a white box decorated with a simple red ribbon. inside are homemade brownies, drizzled with caramel sauce. before he can notice a few angry red marks on your hands, you place them behind your back. "back home, today would be kinda like a second day of devotion; we call it white day. i know we're not gonna have time for this soon, but.. i didn't wanna let the day pass without doing something for you. so.. here."

“You have two Days of Devotion?!” One for each gender, Alfonse supposed, but still, that didn’t explain why Biki had gone out of his way twice. This time the sweets he offered looked decidedly less professionally made. So these were the brownies he had spoken of in the past, huh?

“Thank you, they look amazing! …I didn’t know about it, though, so I… didn’t get you anything. Would you like to eat them together? If we don’t, you know who is inevitably going to show up and eat yours for you…” and he normally didn’t mind sharing with his sisters, but this was… not for them. It was for him, and he was declaring it was for him and for Biki.

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

@fooltrick from here

“I’d love that! I have to warn you though, the festivals in Zenith can get a bit intense so it’d probably be best to visit early, before the tournament is in full swing. Maybe one of the stalls will have strawberries with chocolate!” Oh god, you’ve got him looking forward to this.

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

fooltrick replied to your post ““F-father…” Too early. Way too early. The wounds are still too fresh....”

...time to hug the bf.

“Th-thanks, Biki...” Alfonse didn’t just lean into the hug, he clutched the other. Not quite as tightly as he did immediately after his father sacrificed himself, but still, there was a hint of desperation to it.

“Has she... no restraint? She couldn’t have waited until we’d recovered a little?”

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

.. you feel a little guilty for being relieved alfonse is okay- his life shouldn't have come at the expense of his father's. you pull the prince into a hug, running your fingers through soft blue hair. there's a long moment of silence before you speak, voice halting and uncertain. "i'm.. so sorry, alfonse. if there's.. anything i can do for you, no.. no matter how small, please.. i want to be here for you. please tell me what i can do."

Alfonse didn’t waste a second in latching on to Hibiki, holding him far more tightly than the other could possibly be comfortable with, face buried in the crook of his neck. It took the shaking of his shoulders and the strangled sound of his own sobs to realise he was crying. At least it was only Biki around.

“I’m an idiot,” he gasped out when he finally took a moment to breathe in. “A disgrace and an idiot. It’s my fault, it’s all my fault!” He needed a moment to sob into his beloved’s shoulder again before he could continue. “I think I’ve just chewed out almost everyone I care about… God, I think the only reason I haven’t gone off at you yet is because I don’t have the energy left. I can’t… I just want to…”

He shook his head and resumed crying once more, this time not bothering to try and speak again. He just wasn’t in a state for it now…

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

"you said you liked strawberries, right?" god, they really had been hard to track down.. but you'd managed in the end, even if it'd ended up costing most of your pocket money. oh, well. seeing the prince's smile would make your wallet's tears all worth it. you hold out a heart shaped box, the precious fruits inside and dipped in chocolate. "happy valentine's day, al- er. day of devotion. i don't know where i'd be without you, so.. i wanted to show my appreciation. i.. i love you."

“You didn’t seriously-!?” Out of politeness, Alfonse didn’t tear the box open right away. It wasn’t impossible to find the foreign fruits, especially around the Day of Devotion, but it still took considerable effort, not to mention finances, to secure an entire box of them. Leave it to Hibiki to go into the trouble, the absolute madman.

What he had done to deserve a boyfriend like him, Alfonse would never know.

“…I should be saying all of that to you. Thank you, Hibiki- not just for the strawberries, but for being here in general. If not for you, I’d still be stuck in my own head… I love you too, more than I think I can ever properly express.” He took the other’s hand, pulling him close to peck him on the lips. “I’ll put these somewhere safe from Sharena, and we can share them when we get back from the festival in town. You didn’t think I’d forgotten, did you?”

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

Valentine's Application ( for Alfonse! )

Name: Fujiwara Hibiki Age: 17 Do you like to cuddle?: Absolutely. Can we make-out?: … I-If you want, I would be more than okay with that… A night in or dinner out?: I think you could do with a nice night in, really. Ice cream or chocolate covered strawberries?: Why not both? Whichever you prefer is fine by me, though. What makes you a good Valentine?: … I wouldn’t really know, but I want to make you happy. I hope that’s enough. Would you cook for me?: Of course! Please leave it to me. Would you let me cook for you?: … Can you cook, Al? Oh. Sorry. Is that a rude thing to ask? I was just wondering.

“Oh, Biki. You didn’t have to go into this trouble…” He looked the form over, stopping at a given point. “Of course it’s enough. You’re enough. I’d love to spend a nice, quiet night in cuddling with you. Maybe more.”

A second passed, and the implications of his own words hit him, face turning red. “…if you’d be okay with that, of course.”

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

"Alfonse, are you okay?!" The prince is pulled into your arms the moment you catch sight of him; You just hope he won't notice the way your arms are shaking and just how tightly you're holding onto him. "I heard you ran into Hel.." And about what she'd done, but it's difficult to vocalize it. It'd only make it all the more real.

“H-hibiki…” Gods, he’d all but forgotten in the shock and terror of the battle’s aftermath. How was he going to tell Hibiki? At least they were spared that little mortifying talk- but at the same time, Alfonse wished the other wouldn’t have had to hear it from- Coralin, or Sharena- the less people had to talk about it, the better it would be.

“I’m sorry…” two words he had spoken as if stuck on repeat for the past two hours. “I-I thought to cut off the head of the snake and put an end to this war before it could well and truly begin…” But the only thing that was being put to and end was him… He had so much to do. He had to look if there really was no way to groom anyone else to take up Fólkvangr, if nothing else. But right now he didn’t want to think about that, instead hugging his beloved as tightly as he could.

“I… I have nine days… and I- I want to make the most of that time, Biki. I’m sorry, I have no right to ask this of you but…” his voice broke, reducing it to a whisper. “Please… please don’t leave my side…”

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

"Okay, my gift feels kinda lame in comparison to this--" You gesture down at the dagger strapped firmly to your side, but hold out your own box anyways. You can't help but avert your gaze. Under the whites and reds of the wrapping paper waits a high quality stationery set, as well as a beautiful leather bound journal. "But writing helps me when I'm stressed? My guardian got me and my sister into the habit, n' it actually works. I thought maybe having some kinda journal would help you too, so.."

“Y-you didn’t have to get me anything, Biki,” Alfonse protested weakly. “Having you here in general has been a blessing…” without him, Alfonse was pretty sure he’d never gotten out of his own head, always staying afraid to open up to new people. Gods knew where he would be now… but it wouldn’t have been in a good place.

Still, he accepted the package and opened it. His eyes widened a little at the contents; while he had to use his own personal stationery for formal and official communication, this set would be lovely for staying in touch with Zacharias on his quest, or with King Hríd in Nifl, or -dared he hope- with Hibiki after this whole debacle was behind them…

As for the journal? “I… confess I’m not much of a writer if it doesn’t concern communication…” Still, he thought as he turned the leather-bound book over in his hands, it would be a shame to let it go to waste. “But Commander Anna also says writing things off can help get a sense of rest in one’s head.”

“Heh, if that’s true then you’ve probably saved me again just now. I’ll be sure to give it an honest try.” He placed everything neatly back in the box so he could carry it to his room easily and without fear of damaging it, before stepping a little closer to Hibiki and kissing him. There was no mistletoe above them or anything, but they were at a point where they didn’t need that sort of excuse anymore.

Right?

[unwaveriinghearts-a]

❛as long as you’re happy, don’t worry about me.❜ alfonse

Soft Sentence Starters | Accepting

“Funny you should say that.” Alfonse scooted over to sit a little closer to the black-haired young man. “I was going to say the same thing to you.” As it turned out, they both had some difficulties prioritising themselves, their safety, and their feelings in this relationship. They were both so much more interested in keeping the other happy than themselves… they’d both suffered too much, Alfonse supposed.

“It’s fortunate, then, that your happiness and mine aren’t mutually exclusive, isn’t it? I’m happiest when you are, I promise.” He put an arm around Hibiki’s shoulders, heedless of who might be watching or listening. “So if there’s anything you need -now or ever- just tell me. I may be broken compared to the likes of my sister, but I will do everything in my power to provide for you.”