#I saw some modern!AU MCs and thought oh I should do some silly things

[limonnitsa]

welcome to modern!AU kindergarten, we have:

quiet & lovely kids who share their things

and this one

[heyyyharry]

Deep End - Chapter 9: Closer

...in which Ezi has her first kiss.

Word count: 5.4k

AU: famous!harry, siren!mc, adult modern retelling of the little mermaid? lol, fake dating, enemies to lovers.

WARNING: MATURE THEMES

All chapters / Synopsis / Moodboard / Playlist

Wattpad link

A/N: Please tell me what you think about the chapter! Reblog if you could :)

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“Do you know why there’s a true love’s kiss and not a true love’s hug?”

“Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? I was asking you.”

Harry sighed, his hands gripping the steering wheel. He had to keep his eyes on the road, but Ezi would keep distracting him with her shifting in her seat every two seconds and rambling on about silly topics he had no interest in. However, he’d promised to not be a dick whenever she talked to him, so he wouldn’t.

“Can’t you see that I’m driving?”

“So?” Ezi snorted. “Just answer the question.”

Harry sighed again. “I guess that’s because a kiss is more special than a hug...romantically.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

“Why not not? You’re just exchanging saliva.”

“It’s special if you’re exchanging saliva with someone you care about.”

Ezi still wasn’t satisfied with that explanation. “Okay, but what if the person won’t let you kiss them? How will you know if it’s true love?”

“If they don’t want to kiss you, it means they’re not interested, and therefore, it’s not true love,” Harry said. He couldn’t believe he was actually giving this some thought, but oh well, it was a long drive to the manor anyway. “For me at least,” he added, “true love must come from both sides.” Then he stole a glance at her and did a double-take. “Are you taking notes on your phone?”

Ezi flinched and put her phone into her bag right when she made eye contact with him. “No.”

“Liar. You were.”

“I’m learning to be human.”

“Just say you wanna kiss me.” Harry smirked. “We’re the only people here. This is a safe space.”

“It’s never a safe space when you’re in it,” Ezi said.

Harry’s eyebrows went high. “Excuse me? Yesterday you almost attacked a child for cutting the line in the supermarket.”

Ezi gave a firm nod without showing any remorse. “And the child would have deserved it. You, on the other hand, are deadly with your words.”

“How?!” cried Harry. “I’ve been nothing but nice to you ever since we started fake dating.”

Ezi rolled her eyes and checked her watch. “Yeah, your new record of being nice to me is two hours. Congrats.”

Harry exhaled, his shoulders slumped. “Okay, I think we should go over what to do when we see my mum, because if we act like this in front of her--”

“Why are we seeing your mother again?”

“Didn’t Jeff tell you?”

Ezi shook her head. She seemed quite confused, so Harry guessed Jeff had forgotten. To be honest, Harry found it funny and a little concerning that she had no idea why she was in the car after having been in the car for two hours. Someone could just kidnap her one day, and she wouldn’t even realise until they told her it was a kidnap. Or, maybe she just trusted him not to drive her to a government lab and donate her organs to science.

“Well, Jeff wants some new PR content of you hanging out with my family,” he told her.

“Why?” she asked, face scrunched up.

He lifted his shoulders. “To humanise you.”

“Good luck with that,” Ezi scoffed, rested her elbow on the window on her side and twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “It takes a lot to humanise me.”

“Well, not literally. Just in the public eye, because a lot of people suspect that this is a PR relationship. We’ve only been seen together as friends or co-workers.”

“That’s not true. We’re not even friends.”

“Exactly!” Harry exclaimed. “So if we can convince my mother that we’re dating, we can convince the whole world. Trust me.”

Harry didn’t even exaggerate it; his mother could detect a lie from miles away. He could count the number of times he’d got away with a lie to her on one hand. However, he had never lied to her about being in a relationship. So hopefully, she’d be too happy with the thought of him not being a player like his dad to tell the whole thing was fake.

And so for the rest of the drive, he and Ezi tried acting out scenarios for when they met his mother again. They broke out laughing most of the time because Harry would say something too cheesy or Ezi would use some lines she’d learned from those Netflix originals that Harry had rated one star. Now that they were standing on the steps of the manor, they had to keep it together. Because no one would shout ‘cut!’ if they messed up their lines. This was almost like going in for a blind audition, and Harry knew his mother would be the toughest judge to impress.

“Harold!”

“Niall?” Harry’s eyes went wide when his best friend shoved the butler aside and embraced Harry at the door. Mikasa, Niall’s girlfriend, was standing right behind him, wearing a dark green satin dress that fell loosely to her knees. She gave Harry a lopsided smile, her black curls bouncing on her shoulders as she approached.

Harry hadn’t talked to her for weeks, but he assumed she already knew about Ezi. Hopefully just as much as his mother did. Unless Niall had broken the bro code and told Mikasa everything.

“Mimi, long time no see!” Harry said as he went in for a hug.

Mikasa eyed him up and down with her big smokey eyes. He always imagined those eyes having a special power that enabled her to stare right into his soul and read him like an unsealed letter. She was a psychiatrist and always making her friends feel like they were having a regular session in her office.

“So this is your girlfriend?” Mikasa asked, smiling at Ezi.

Harry’s gaze jumped to Niall, who subtly locked his lips with an invisible key and tossed it over his shoulder. Niall knew about the PR relationship, but Harry could always trust Niall not to tell anyone, even Mikasa. Especially Mikasa.

“Darling, you made it!” exclaimed Harry’s mother as she descended the stairs. Harry was just going in for a hug when he saw who were following behind her. And he froze.

Dawson and evil Aunt Beatrice. Dawson was wearing a simple black suit, completely made invisible by his mother in the tackiest neon orange sundress Harry had ever seen. He could hear his stylish crying just from seeing this outfit.

“What are they doing here, Mum?” Harry quietly asked his mother as they hugged.

His mother kissed his cheek and whispered back, “Since you invited Niall and Mikasa, I thought I should invite Dawson and his mother.”

“How is that the same thing?”

“Harry!” Aunt Beatrice said in her glass-breaking voice as she pulled him in for a suffocating bear hug. “Ah, you grew up so fast! I hardly recognise you!”

“It’s only been a couple of weeks, Aunt Beatrice.”

“I know, right? Kids these days.”

“I’m twenty-four.”

“Harry,” Harry’s mother reminded him, so Harry took a deep breath and went to stand beside Ezi. She looked at him like a deer in front of headlights. This couldn’t be good. His family must be overwhelming for her.

“Hey, Ezili!” Dawson waved at her with a smile, and suddenly, her face brightened, and she enthusiastically waved back. Traitorous little fish, Harry thought as he watched the two greet one another.

“Congratulations, you two,” Dawson said.

Ezi opened her mouth to reply when Harry threw his arm around her shoulders and pulled her back to his side. He gave Dawson the best grin he could fake. “Thanks,” was all he said.

“Picture, everyone!” Niall interrupted the awkward interaction and pulled out his phone.

Everyone gathered together, and Niall winked at Harry. “Now, Mother Styles, could you stand closer to Ezili? Closer! Thanks. There we go. Looks like Ezili’s a part of the family.”

Once the picture was taken, he nudged Harry with his shoulder. “You’re welcome, asshole.”

Harry patted him on the back. “Send it to Jeff for me.”

“Boys, are you coming?” asked Mikasa, who was walking ahead, holding Ezi’s hand.

“Coming, lovebug!” Niall shouted at her and told Harry. “See? She likes Ezili.”

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“So what do you do for a living?” was the first question Harry’s mother asked Ezili when they sat down at the lunch table. They were eating in a glass house in the flower garden by the lake. There were people dressed in uniforms serving them tea and appetizers, and Ezili felt like she was Alice having tea with the Queen of Hearts and her courtiers in Wonderland.

“I work at a bookstore,” she said when one of the maids filled her cup with Jasmine tea.

She didn’t understand Harry’s mother’s appalled reaction and why Harry had to add, “Ezi owns a bookstore.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Harry’s mother said, sounding strangely relieved.

Irritated, Ezili leaned in and whispered to Harry, “Why did you lie?”

But he didn’t answer and only shushed her before smiling at his mother again.

“Can’t believe I get to live to see Harry bring home a young lady!” said Aunt Beatrice. Dawson opened his mouth to interject, but she didn’t give him a chance, “I always thought you were gay!”

At that, Niall choked on his tea, and Mikasa had to rub his back as he coughed violently into his fist. Ezili knew what gay meant, but why was it a bad thing?

“What if I were?” Harry asked his aunt. “I don’t see the problem with me being gay, which I’m not.”

“These biscuits are so nice, Aunt Annalise,” Dawson told Harry’s mother, probably trying to save the conversation from turning into a fight. But it seemed like Dawson’s mother was out for blood this morning.

“Harry,” Aunt Beatrice started again, and Ezili saw Mikasa and Niall sink into their chairs. “You’re a celebrity and the heir to this manor and your father's business. It’s so...unexpected of you to be dating some girl who works in a bookstore.”

Ezili wasn’t dumb. She might not understand a lot of things humans said, but she knew sarcasm like her mother tongue. It was her time to say something.

“What’s wrong with working in a bookstore?” she asked, making direct eye contact with Aunt Beatrice, who was shocked by the question. Everyone at the table seemed to be holding their breath.

“How much could you possibly do and make by owning a bookstore these days?” Aunt Beatrice laughed.

Ezili smirked and shook her head. “You could do and make a lot if you knew how to read.”

Harry kicked Ezili’s foot under the table, but she didn’t pay him a single glance. She believed she’d said nothing wrong at all. It was only the truth. Because why look down on people who worked at a bookstore unless you hated books because you couldn’t read?

Seeing his mother’s face turning red, Dawson burst out laughing. “Oh my God, she’s so funny!” Mikasa and Niall started laughing, too, and Harry’s mother awkwardly joined in.

“That’s what they call dark humour, Aunt Beatrice,” Niall told the angry giant lady. “Ezi’s a true Gen Z. She’s all jokes.”

Aunt Beatrice said nothing else. She shot a glare at a smiling Ezili and lifted her cup to take a sip.

“Oh, there’s my new cook!” said Harry’s mother as she waved at the door. “This is Dolores' first day at work. Come say hello, Dolores dear.”

“Good morning. I hope everyone’s having a wonderful time.”

Ezili’s entire body went stiff. Her eyes almost popped out of her head and dropped onto the plate in front of her. She knew that voice. Her heart was slamming against her ribcage as she held her breath. She felt the person’s presence beside her heavy like a weight ready to crush her bones into dust. Out of the corner of her eyes, she looked up.

Her sister Koa was grinning down at her.

“Ezili, are you okay?” Dawson asked, snapping Ezili out of her numbness.

Koa’s devilish grin remained as she circled the table after wishing everyone a pleasant meal, then disappeared out of the entrance.

Why was she here? Why did she have legs? How had she found Ezili?

“Okay, let's get straight to the point,” Aunt Beatrice started again, and everyone groaned at once. “How much did he pay you?”

“Mum!” cried Dawson.

“Excuse me?” Harry arched an eyebrow.

“It’s PR, isn’t it?” Aunt Beatrice said to him. Ezili was having a hard time paying attention to the argument while her heart was still pounding in her head. Her sister was here, either for her, or after her.

“You can’t do that to your mother, Harry,” Dawson’s mother went on. “She might be easily fooled but I’m not.”

“We should’ve gone for mini-golf,” Mikasa muttered to Niall, who exhaled into his hand.

Harry turned to his mother. “You’re just gonna let her disrespect my girlfriend like that?”

His mother opened her mouth to speak, but his aunt was faster. “If she’s your girlfriend then kiss her.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Harry scoffed and threw his hands in the air.

Ezili immediately stood up. All eyes fell on her.

“Excuse me,” she said, her voice trembling. “I must go to the bathroom.”

“I’ll take you--”

“No, Harry, you stay.”

Harry slowly sat back down as Ezili pushed her chair out and headed straight for the door. Thankfully, he didn’t follow her.

She crossed the garden and asked one of the employees where the kitchen was. As it turned out, they had a separate kitchen for when they served food in the glasshouse. Ezili couldn’t see the point of having more than one kitchen, but this was no time to question it.

When she found Koa, no one else was there but them. It seemed as if Koa had known Ezili would follow her here, so she’d asked everyone else to leave.

Ezili stood at the door while her sister stood by the counter with her back turned to Ezili. The first thing Ezili noticed was the knives within Koa’s reach. Ezili must be wise when confronting her sister.

“What are you doing here?” she asked Koa in Séren.

Koa slowly turned and leaned against the counter, arms crossed. “I’m a cook. Can't you see?”

“How did you find me?”

The corner of Koa’s lips curled as she unbuttoned the collar of her white shirt and revealed a gold necklace. Ezili sucked in a breath when she saw the shiny trident-shaped medallion on her sister’s chest.

“Is that--”

“Mother’s trident,” Koa sneered. “Yes, it is.” Then she buttoned up her shirt to cover it. “Now we can see who mother trusts more.”

“Why--”

“Aunt Nerissa came for a visit last week,” Koa said. Ezili knew that name could never be associated with anything good. “Mother doesn’t trust her, so she asked me to go on land to find you, but also to keep the trident away from Nerissa’s clutches.”

Ezili swallowed hard, her fists tightly glued to her sides. “What happened to the cook?”

Koa clicked her tongue. “She’s swimming with fishes now. Like the ones swimming in her pot just then.”

“You drowned her?!”

“In the lake.”

Ezili gripped her head and advanced towards Koa. “How many humans have you killed?”

Koa chuckled and took a few steps forward until she was dangerously close enough to hurt Ezili. She stood with her back straight and arms folded, her silver eyes flickering in the sunlight. “The important question is…” She stared Ezili down. “How many have you killed?” Ezili bit her lip when Koa poked her chest with her long nail. “Or are you too busy dating now? People are talking about it everywhere.” Ezili said nothing, so Koa went on, “It’s a fake relationship, isn’t it?” She leaned in, taunting. “Come on, Sister. Admit that you’ve failed. That you can’t make the human fall in love with you. Why so quiet? Is it because if you admit it, you’re an embarrassment and you lose the trident to me, and if you deny it, then it means you’re becoming way too human to kill him.”

At that, Ezili shoved Koa away and stabbed a finger at her. “Leave me alone. Mother gave me a year for this mission.”

“We won’t have that much time, stupid,” Koa snorted. “Narissa is onto something. The queendom is already in danger as we’re speaking. And you’re here having...brunch?” She clicked her tongue, shaking her head. “Pathetic.”

“Ezi?”

Both of them whipped their heads around and saw Harry, who stiffened in the doorway.

“Ezi?” Koa cackled, hugging her stomach. “Is that your human name? Are you his pet now?”

Though confused, Harry stepped into the kitchen anyway. “Ezi, you’re alright?”

“Harry, watch out!” Ezili shouted, but Koa was already on top of Harry on the floor. She sank her fangs into Harry’s arm with the rolled-up sleeve. Harry yelped in pain as Ezili dragged her sister off of him and slammed Koa’s head against the table. Hissing, Koa grabbed a knife on the counter and aimed it at Ezili, but Ezili was fast enough to kick it out of her sister’s grip and sent one more kick into Koa’s stomach. Koa was stronger than Ezili had thought as she plunged at Ezili again.

“Harry, run!”

But Harry didn’t run. He was back on his feet, grabbed a vase and smashed it onto Koa’s back. “Do not hurt my fake girlfriend!”

Koa rolled off of Ezili. The last thing Ezili could see was her sister’s bloodied face as she stumbled towards the door and ran off into the light.

Ezili lay there until her vision cleared again, and Harry helped her back to her feet.

“What the fuck?!” he yelled. “Who the fuck was she?!”

“My sister,” Ezili said, still holding her aching head.

“The one who tried to drown me? Why is she here?”

“To kill me, I think.”

“Why?”

“Harry--”

But Harry wasn’t listening. He was pacing back and forth like a mad man. “This isn’t good, Ezi. This is bad! Your crazy sister is gonna expose us!”

“Expose us?” Ezili grabbed him by the arm and spun him around. “She almost killed you.”

It seemed as if Harry had forgotten that his arm was bleeding until Ezili had brought it up. He suddenly winced and fell into a chair.

Ezili scanned her eyes around the messy kitchen, panting as she tried to make sure that Koa had escaped. Then, she got down on her knees beside Harry and reached for his wounded arm.

He stared down at her in confusion, then his expression turned horrified when she leaned in.

“What the fuck?!” he hissed and yanked his arm away.

She glared up at him in annoyance. “Let me help!”

“Hell no! You’re not gonna lick my blood.”

“You need to clean the wound!”

“With water! Not by sucking it!”

Ezili huffed and aggressively got up while silently cursing Harry in Séren.

“There’s a--” His voice cut off when she tore off a piece of her dress “--towel over there,” he trailed off. She ignored him and went to the sink to soak the piece of fabric in water. He shook his head and blew up his cheeks. “Nevermind. You do you.”

Still glaring at him when she returned, Ezili got back down on her knees and started cleaning Harry’s arm. The place her sister had sunk her fangs into had turned dark red. It would definitely leave a huge bruise tomorrow.

“Lucky for you Koa was distracted and didn’t aim to bite your whole arm off,” Ezili whispered and glanced up, meeting Harry’s gaze. “You sure you don’t want me to lick your wound?”

“Well, now that you’re already in this position, you could just lick something else,” he chuckled.

Ezili’s eyes narrowed. “Like what?”

To her confusion, Harry covered his face and shook with laughter. “Sorry, that was a dumb joke. I just couldn’t help it.”

“I didn’t get it.”

“Yeah, that’s how a joke loses its funny,” he sighed then snapped his fingers. “Ooh, maybe I should just pretend that I don’t understand whenever someone tells me a joke, so that they gradually lose their funny.”

“That’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard,” Ezili remarked.

“What do you mean?” Harry pouted. “I don’t get it, babe.”

Ezili rolled her eyes at his childishness, still, she couldn’t help but smile a little.

Once she had wrapped the piece of her dress securely around his arm, Harry pulled down the sleeve to cover it as he got to his feet. “That should do. Let’s hope my mother won’t suspect that we just got attacked in her kitchen by her cook, who was your evil siren sister in disguise. Damn, that sounds crazy even for me.”

Ezili stood with her arms crossed. “Do you think your mother can tell we’re not really dating?”

“Nah, my mother totally believes it.” Harry shrugged. “Honestly, I think we’re doing a great job pretending we’re in love when we can’t even have a conversation without insulting each other.”

“I don’t get paid enough to call you babe so many times.”

“Neither do I. This PR relationship is harder than I tho--”

Harry’s sentence got cut off by a sound at the door. When they both turned to it, Dawson was standing there, his eyes wide with shock.

Ezili was hoping that was the reaction to the messy kitchen and not to what she and Harry had said. However, luck wasn’t smiling at her tonight. Dawson’s appalled gaze jumped from Harry to Ezili. “What do you mean by ‘PR relationship’?”

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“I can explain,” Ezi said, reaching for Dawson, but he backed away while staring at both her and Harry in disbelief. Harry believed Dawson wasn’t shocked that Harry could pull something like this, because Harry hadn’t been exactly the good kid growing up. What Dawson hadn’t expected was Ezi being part of this plan. Ezi must be an angel in Dawson’s eyes.

“So my mother was right,” Dawson said, flicking his finger between Harry and Ezi. “You were lying to everyone.”

“Dawson--” Ezi began, but Harry pulled her back by her wrist.

“Please don’t tell my mother,” he told Dawson and received stunned looks from both Dawson and Ezi. They probably hadn’t expected that coming from him. “This means a lot to her, and I don’t want her to be any more let down,” Harry continued. “Also, Ezi needs money, and I’m just trying to help. She’s also writing the next album with me, so it’s all good business.”

Dawson peered at both their faces for a long moment as if he was psychoanalysing each of them. Then, he breathed, “So you two don't have feelings for each other?”

“No.” Ezi shook her head fast and tugged at Harry’s sleeve. “Harry, tell him.”

Harry opened his mouth. Suddenly, he thought about how frightened he’d been when he’d thought Ezi’s sister was going to kill her. He could’ve run off and let her deal with it alone since he hadn’t asked to be part of her family drama, and he wasn’t brave, either. Nevertheless, he’d jumped in to help her.

“No,” he said, only to realise he shouldn’t have taken such a long pause to say only one word.

“See?” Ezi smiled at Dawson, who seemed less sceptical now.

“Okay,” Dawson said, his face relaxed as he put his hands on his hips. “Who else knows? Niall and Mikasa?”

“Mikasa doesn’t know,” Harry said. “Only Niall.”

“Alright.” Dawson nodded and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “But you guys are really bad at pretending to be in love,” he told them after another moment. “I’ll try to tell my mum to stop being rude to you. But just to be safe, you should make it more convincing.”

Ezi heaved a sigh of relief and placed her hand on Dawson’s arm. Harry swore he saw Dawson hold his breath as if Ezi had the Midas touch, and Harry had to fight the urge to roll his eyes.

“Thank you, Dawson,” Ezi said in the softest tone Harry had ever heard.

“Your dress,” Dawson pointed out while eyeing her and then the kitchen. “What...what happened here?”

“There was a rat,” Harry blurted.

Ezi joined in, “Harry tried to kill it then it knocked over the vase, and I fell and pulled him down with me and ripped my dress on the glass.”

Dawson furrowed his brows as he nodded at the piece of Ezi’s dress in her fist. “That’s your blood?”

Ezi shook her head. “It’s the rat’s.” Then, she looked over at Harry, suppressing a grin. He stayed quiet and glared at her.

“Oh, God. That’s disgusting,” Dawson made a face. “Need me to help you clean up?”

“No, I’ll take care of it,” Harry said. “I’ll take Ezi upstairs to clean up. Could you distract everyone for a while?”

“Yeah, sure,” Dawson nodded, gave Ezi a tight-lipped smile and turned to the door. “Now, where the hell is the cook?”

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Harry could hear every single word of the Jonas Brothers song playing downstairs. It seemed like everyone had finished brunch without him and Ezi, and now Niall was turning the manor into a concert. Niall and Mikasa had met at a Jonas Brothers’ concert years ago, and they would not let people forget about it. What they had was cute, but Harry could not imagine being with someone for that long. A PR relationship was tiring enough; he didn’t think he could ever handle a real one.

Back against the wall, he stared at his watch and tapped his foot impatiently before he came to knock on the door to his mother’s walk-in closet. “Ezi, are you done?”

“I don’t know how to put this on!”

Harry tossed his head back and groaned. “Do you need help?”

“Yeah!”

“Goddamn it,” he muttered under his breath. “Cover yourself. I’m coming in.”

Just to be safe, he had his hand over his eyes when he opened the door.

You'll say my name like it's been on your lips

Familiar in ways I can't explain

You got a heart that I know I can miss

Hold me like that and pull me right back again

The music outside became muffled. Harry peeked through the gap between his fingers, and nearly had a heart attack when he saw Ezi standing there topless with only jeans on. “I told you to cover yourself!”

“Oh, please, there’s nothing you haven’t seen.”

“It’s different every time.”

“How? I’ve only got one body.”

“No, seeing you feels different every time. It’s weird.”

Time stands still and it's only us

What we feel started way before we ever touched

Just imagine only us

Yeah, you found me right before I'd given up

Ezi said nothing, and Harry lowered his hand, feeling glad that she was facing away from him now. She looked over her shoulder, frowning. “Help me with this shirt!”

He ruffled his hair and padded over to take the shirt from her hand. “You got the button stuck?! This is my mother’s favourite Chanel shirt!”

“It was like that when I found it.”

“Liar.” Harry shook his head and started examining the stuck button. Ezi turned around, hugging her chest so her breasts weren’t exposed to him. He was trying his best not to look. Maybe he shouldn’t have put her in a dress that didn’t require a bra. He guessed he’d played himself.

“Harry.”

“Damn, maybe I should get you another shirt and buy a new one for my mum. I don't know how to fix this.”

“Harry,” Ezi repeated and tapped Harry on the arm. He looked up, face heating when he saw her.

I just saw the lightning strike

Knew it right then when I looked in your eyes

And I said to myself, "It's no surprise we ain't strangers"

Strangers tonight

Still, he acted indifferent. “What?”

“I think we should kiss,” she said, making him flinch.

“Why?” He was already sweating through his palms. His mother’s shirt could no longer be saved now.

“To make it more convincing,” Ezi said as if them kissing wasn’t a big deal to her. “Maybe if there’s a picture of us kissing--”

“Have you ever kissed anyone before?”

She froze at the question and blinked at him.

I came here looking for another excuse

To run away from something beautiful

It's like it's driving me closer to you

Every step back pulls me right back

At this question, Ezi’s whole life up until that point flashed before her eyes. She had lost count of all the times she’d kissed sailors before drowning them. But she wasn’t going to kiss Harry to kill him. Not yet at least. He would still be there, alive, when she opened her eyes. He would still be aware of her lips against his. And she would, too.

“No,” she lied.

And he believed it. He cleared his throat. Suddenly, her standing there topless wasn’t weird anymore. “Okay, it’s pretty easy.” He put the shirt aside. His fingers were shaking so he opened and closed his fists a few times before beckoning her over. “Come here.”

She took a step forward.

“Closer.”

Another step.

Harry’s face reddened with a small smile. “Ezi, closer.”

He’d never talked to her in that tone before. It was soft and firm at the same time, and she completely forgot having sworn to herself that she would never let him tell her what to do. She came so close she could not tell his breath from her own. His eyelids fluttered, and his pink lips parted, yet no word escaped. Then, he leaned in.

Must be from a different life

Been here before and it just feels right

No, this ain't the first time for you and I, we ain't strangers

Strangers tonight

But it was her who took his face between her hands and kissed him first. He froze for a second, then started kissing her back, his arms circled around her waist, pressing her against him.

Harry’s entire body grew hot. The voice inside his head told him to stop, but it only made him bolder. He liked that she’d taken charge. Her hands were under his shirt as his roamed across her naked back. His eyes went wide when she unconsciously let out a moan.

Strangers

Strangers

Strangers tonight

“Ezi,” he breathed against her lips. But before he could say anything else, there was a knock on the door.

“Harry, are you in there?”

Ezi pulled away as Harry threw his head back and exhaled harshly. “Yes, Niall?”

“Is Ezili there with you?”

“Yes,” Harry answered in a croaked voice and quickly cleared his throat. “Yes,” he repeated, sounding more stable. “Why?”

“You missed all the fun stuff. Your mother scolded your aunt for what she’d said to you and Ezi, and Dawson had to take his mother’s home.”

Harry looked over at Ezi, expecting her to be thrilled by the good news, but she only gave a small smile, her arms still tightly wrapped around herself to cover her breasts. Was she...shy?

Yes, yes she was. Ezi didn’t think she could ever be shy. But here she stood, blushing all over from a stupid kiss.

“Are they in there?” Harry’s mother’s voice outside the door made Harry and Ezi jump.

They looked at each other, scared when Niall told Harry’s mum that they were in the closet together.

“Not in my closet, Harry!”

“I’m just helping Ezi get changed, Mum!”

“You better!”

And then their footsteps faded down the hallway, along with his mother’s laughter.

Ezi and Harry made eye contact with each other and looked away at the same time as silence ensued. Suddenly, Harry started sniffing.

“What is it?” Ezi asked, worried.

Harry leaned in and started sniffing her neck, and she pushed him away. “What the hell?!”

“You smell.”

“Excuse me?!”

“No.” Harry shook his head fast. “You smell good. But..you didn’t have a smell before.”

Ezi quickly lifted her arm to smell herself. “I smell nothing.”

“That’s because it’s your own smell, so you don't recognise it. But--” Harry cut off midsentence and picked up a strand of her hair and brought his nose to it. Then, his lips curled. “Aww, my kiss turned you a little more human.”

“Shut up!” Ezi shoved at his chest. “I’m not turning more human! That’s not true!”

“It is true! Kiss me again. I’ll prove it.”

She said nothing, only glared at him as he burst out laughing and tossed her a t-shirt.

[flatsuke]

half-finished, half-empty

Summary: Saizo spent his days wishing he could sleep without dreams. Reincarnation/Modern!AU  

Genre: Angst, Romance

Pairing: MC/Saizo

a/n: FINALLY, I write a fic for SLBP lmao. This is based on @yoolee‘s prompt list —specifically, the “Reincarnation – they meet again in the modern world“ AU and Saizo’s wedding event story. Now, I know I’ve said this before, but I’m an absolute sucker for happy reunions, so I just had to write this! I hope you guys like it! 

@amigoingbananas i finally wrote for this fandom lmao

He remembered when it all started.

When he was a boy, Saizo dreamt of a lonely village hidden in the trees. He could still remember the caws of the crows that flew all around, and he could almost smell the metallic stench of blood that never seemed to stop filling the air.

“That’s a silly dream, even for you,” Yuki had told him almost exasperatedly, running her fingers through Hotaru’s hair in his sleep. “You’ll get over it when you wake up tomorrow.”

He supposed she was right. Dreams never really made sense anyway. This one shouldn’t have been any different.

(Still, he didn’t miss the slight, almost unnoticeable twitch in her ever-present smile when he mentioned the word “village.”)

After shooting one last glance at his older sister, he went back to sleep that night.

This time he dreamt of a cherry blossom tree in full bloom, with its pink petals cascading all around him. Someone else was there too, and Saizo felt an indescribable urge to reach out for them. Their back was turned to him, and something in Saizo knew that he just had to see that person’s face if he wanted any respite—

But the moment he stretched his hand out, he woke up to the empty ceiling of his bedroom, all the petals from the cherry blossom tree gone, and a surging emptiness in him.

(He never told anyone about his dreams after that night.)

“I won’t deny your novels are fantastic, Mr. Kirigakure,” Saizo’s editor advised, leafing through the pages of his latest manuscript. “I just think they need a more…quixotic touch, you know? I mean, they’re sexy, for sure, but there’s just something so cynical about them.”

“Maybe that’s just my style.”

“True. But I think you should try branching out a bit more—maybe try expanding your genre a bit to something more romantic?”

(Saizo had to bite back the urge to scoff.)

His editor bade him goodbye not long after, leaving Saizo alone with his thoughts. He pored through his manuscript with a sigh.

It wasn’t like he never wrote anything romantic before. In fact, to no one’s knowledge, he had a half-finished manuscript of a tale he’d saved, hidden deep within the recesses of his files. No one would be able to open that story even if they destroyed his computer.

He had written that story before making his big debut as a novelist. In retrospect, it was relatively mushy compared to the risqué writing he did now, but he could never bring himself to finish it, much less publish it.

The story was a pathetic cliché, really—it was about a pair of star-crossed lovers who were destined never to be together, no matter how much they tried. Halfway through writing the damn thing, he couldn’t think of what to write after the climax—the part when the man promises his lady he’d always come back to her. Every scenario he came up with just ended up frustrating him even more. In the end, he never bothered touching the story again.

Despite them being his own creation, he thought the lovers were absolute fools, always trying to fight against the inevitable.

(And yet, he couldn’t shake off the strange, almost sad déjà vu he felt when he first wrote that manuscript.)

Saizo never wrote during rainy days. There was something about the rain he couldn’t bring himself to like.

Maybe it was the way it turned everything dreary and heavy, or maybe the way it tried to wash away everything, both the good and the bad. Either way, Saizo hated it.

He remembered having one of the worst nightmares on a rainy day in his childhood. He had been sleeping in his room, and the storm that raged outside was a particularly terrible one—so much so that the storm found its way into his dreams.

He wore the same black-clad clothing the shadows from the trees wore, and he was covered in blood. Blood that wasn’t his.

His hand held a blade that somehow found itself buried deep into a torso. Saizo tried to get a good look at who his hands had slain, but he was only met with that same, anonymous figure from before.

Slowly, they turned to face him. For the first time in all his dreams, they smiled at him.

The rain poured hard on them both and tried to wash away the blood on his hands, as if trying to erase his sins. But Saizo knew better.

(People’s sins didn’t go away that easily.)

He woke up to his sister shaking him hard. There was an uncharacteristic look of worry on her normally smug face, and he could see little Hotaru beside her, nervously fiddling with his scarf. Apparently, Hotaru had called Yuki because he heard his older brother thrashing violently in his sleep.

“It’s the village dream again, isn’t it?” Yuki asked Saizo, gripping his shoulders tightly.

Saizo said nothing to his older sister, choosing to stare at the wall behind her. Then, as if possessed by a ghost, he spoke.

“…Dango. I want dango.”

Neither Yuki nor Hotaru, for the life of them, could figure out what made their brother request for something so arbitrary and out-of-place at that point in time, but they obliged him anyway. Saizo rarely asked for anything, after all.

Since then, rainy days at the Kirigakure household were spent with dango.

“You look like a dead fish, Saizo,” Yukimura commented, pouring more sake into their glasses.

“Thank you for the appreciated, and very much unsolicited comment, dear.”

Saizo had been dragged—unwillingly, if he might add—by his lifelong friend to go out and take a breather from writing. In true Yukimura fashion, the younger man was getting redder and redder by the moment while Saizo barely took a sip from his glass.

“I’m being serious here! You seem so down in the dumps lately.” If someone normally so slow on the uptake like Yukimura could notice it, then something was definitely wrong.

“My face is always like this,” said Saizo, trying very hard to ignore his friend’s scrutinizing gaze.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on, and I’m sure as hell you don’t wanna talk about it, but at least try to let yourself be a little happy, you know?”

That hit him hard.

Yukimura had backed Saizo into a corner of momentary speechlessness, and the dummy didn’t even realize it.

“What, did you steal that line from one of my books?” Saizo asked his friend teasingly, trying to cover up his sentimentality.

“N—no! Of course not!”

Saizo bit back a chuckle. It was always fun to tease Yukimura, and as strange as it sounded, seeing him so flustered felt so natural—like it ran in Saizo’s blood to mess with the younger man. He’d never admit it to anyone for as long as he lived, but Saizo saw their banter as one of the few things that made him feel at home somehow.

“Well, I’d best be off,” Saizo announced, placing some money on the bar counter.

“You’re leaving early again?”

“Duty calls and all that. By the way, red looks good on you, little lord.” Saizo gestured to his friend’s jacket.

Thankfully for him, Yukimura wasn’t completely sober, so Saizo gave him an expression akin to fondness. Hopefully, he wouldn’t remember any of this by tomorrow.

“Little…lord?”

For a moment, Yukimura was confused, but before Saizo could even see Yukimura’s expression change to recognition, Saizo was already out of the bar, a big smile on his usual poker face.

He sometimes woke up at the middle of the night, the phantom pains of his nightmares still lingering on his skin.

He’d dream of dying by the hands of the black-clad shadows that crept in the trees. Some nights, he saw the moon look down on him in pity as he fell off cliffs and rooftops. Other nights, it’d be poisoned arrows on his back, coming from the bow of a man with an equally poisoned smile.

And yet, every one of them ended with that same, mystery figure from his childhood dreams crying. Crying for him.

No one ever cried for him, and he didn’t think anyone ever would. Half of him wanted to tell them to stop wasting their tears on him—that he wasn’t worthy of their tears and he never would be. The other half, however, wanted to wipe them away and take on all their pain for himself.

“Dear, oh dear,” he’d say. “You’d be silly to waste those on me.” But he felt a wistful sort of happiness nonetheless.

In the mornings, he’d wake up, cheeks wet with the tears he could never shed for himself.

Yukimura had invited him to come all the way to Kyoto to watch one of his one judo competitions. Pretending he had nothing better to do, Saizo accepted the invitation with feigned apathy. The little lord would probably be all smiles if he saw Saizo waving at him from the audience—not that Saizo minded, of course. He needed the change of pace.

Hell, maybe Kyoto would give him the inspiration he needed.

The competition wasn’t going to be till the next day, so Saizo decided to kill time and take in the scenery for a bit. Somehow, he found himself wandering all the way to Maruyama Park. What possessed him to come to such a crowded place at the beginning of spring, he didn’t know. At the very least, the cherry blossoms looked immaculately beautiful.

He made his way through the crowd to the enormous weeping cherry tree that lay at the center of the park. The tree brought back flashes of a nostalgic something at the back of his mind, and all of a sudden, the tree from his dreams and the tree before him didn’t seem so different anymore.

He was so mesmerized by the tree that he almost didn’t notice someone about to trip in front him. Much to his own surprise, he found himself moving to catch them before thinking. He never even realized he could move as quickly as he did, and he could feel a strange muscle memory taking over his senses, screaming at him as if he were made to do this.

The stranger who had nearly fallen—a woman—looked up at her savior.

He was sure he’d never seen her before, but something about her was tugging at the back of his mind. Maybe it was her overall candid demeanor. Or the way she nervously bit her lip, anticipating a retort. Or the way her eyes seemed to shine with a sincerity he could never hope to have. Or maybe it was her sheepish expression (which, for some reason, he felt so tempted to tease).

“Sorry about that. Guess I didn’t notice where I was going.”

“Don’t worry, you’re fine.” His poker face was back on as quickly as it disappeared.

“That’s good,” she sighed. “Well, uh, could you…maybe let me go now?”

It didn’t even occur to him that she was still nestled in his arms, snuggled against his chest. He had to inwardly berate himself because holding her—a stranger he swore he never met—felt…right.

“This tree’s really one-of-a-kind, huh?” she commented, catching one of the falling petals.

“…Is that right?” Small talk wasn’t exactly his forte, but he found himself indulging her anyway.

“Yeah…there’s something about it that seems so nostalgic somehow.”

Saizo turned to look at her. There was an unspeakable sadness in her eyes that seemed to resonate within him.  

“I feel like I’m supposed to be here, but I don’t know why. I just—“

A teardrop fell, then another, until her vision was completely blurred with tears.

“Oh, listen to me,” she chuckled bitterly, “Babbling on to someone I just met, and about some nonsense, too—“

“I feel the same way, little lady.”

The words slipped past his mouth without him even realizing it, but something deep in his blood, in his being, knew it wasn’t the first time he had uttered those words.

She whipped her head to face him, her confusion slowly morphing into teary-eyed enlightenment. The world around them slowed down to a pause, and all he could see was her; he saw the little lady he left behind long ago, and he saw the little lady he would always come back to, no matter what.

“You—you’re here…” she breathed. He gently wiped the tears down her cheeks—tears he knew she must have shed waiting for him over the centuries.

“I’m home, little lady.”

She smiled at him, and for the first time in a long, long time, everything was as it should be. Maybe this time, he’d finally be able to complete the half-finished story he’d kept hidden for so long.

“Welcome home, Saizo.”

[frywen-babbles]

Congratulations on the followers! Your such an amazing blogger 💖 Can I request a cute drabble about Yukimura and Mc at a festival trying different foods?

A/N: This is a modern AU, bc I have no idea what kind of foods people might have eaten at the festivals in the Sengoku era.

*****

You were cursing your friend Yuki under your breath for setting you up for something as silly as a blind date. And in a festival too. It especially irritated you, because your date was running late, leaving you to stand there alone, staring at your phone as the minutes ticked by.

“Hey, little lady. I thought you were here with my sister.”

You were startled by a voice and glanced up to find Yuki’s younger brother standing in front of you.

“Well… err… She sort of set me up on a blind date…” you admitted sheepishly, fidgetting with the phone still in your hand. Saizo snickered and you let out a sigh, “I know it’s stupid. And it looks like my date isn’t arriving anyway…”

“No, no, little lady,” Saizo had the widest grin you had ever seen on his face, “I’m pretty sure that’s the reason why she had me drag him along.” Saizo pointed over his shoulder, where you could see a handsome young man. A somewhat familiar looking young man, you realised and blushed furiously, grasping Saizo’s hand and pulling him closer,

“H-how do you know Sanada Yukimura? He’s the current world champion in judo! A-and why hasn’t Yuki mention anything about this?”

“Who knows?” Saizo asked and shook your hand off, “Hey Yukimura. This is the nice lady my sister set you up with this time.”

For a moment you wished a hole would have opened in the ground and swallowed you whole. You felt your face burning up with embarrassment and you couldn’t even look at Yukimura in the eye when you bowed and introduced yourself.

“Umm… I’m… Sanada Yukimura. Err… nice to meet… you…”

You were surprised when you heard him introduce himself so bashfully and when you looked up, he had averted his eyes and was blushing furiously. The view was somehow very endearing and you couldn’t help the small giggle that escaped before you managed to cover your mouth with your hand.

“H-hey Saizo…” Yukimura tried to ask something from his friend, but he had, at some point, gone with the flow, leaving the two of you to figure things out on your own.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t bring flowers or anything… I didn’t know this was a date…” Yukimura mumbled after a short silence. This time you couldn’t help the laugh.

“It’s okay. I’m pretty sure Yuki had all of this planned out. Come, we’re already here, so we might as well enjoy ourselves.” You led the way into the festival, a lost looking Yukimura following close behind. “What would you like to do first?” you asked.

“Um… It’s been a while since I last went to a festival… Usually, all of my free time is spent training.” He looked at the side, a faint blush still colouring his cheeks.

“It’s okay. Why don’t we try some of the foods first then? And there are some games too we can play!” You led the way and Yukimura followed you like a child in tow.

Occasionally, your hand brushed his and every time it managed to make his cheeks flush. You thought it was cute. Very cute, in fact.

You had been interested in Judo for some time now and had followed Yukimura in magazines. There were quite a few women, who claimed they had dated him, but you began to doubt those accounts. There was no way this sweet innocent man was the playboy some magazines tried to paint him out to be.

After Yukimura won a rabbit plushie for you in the shooting stall, you headed to check the food stalls. You were starting to get quite hungry so for starters, you lead Yukimura to a stall serving yakisoba.

You were just about to pay for your share when Yukimura handed the cashier money over your shoulder. You looked at him surprised, making him blush, but you weren’t going to complain. You were a poor ass student drowning in debt while he was a star athlete coming from a rich family. You thought you should feel bad for letting him treat you, but you were just happy for the extra money it would save you.

“T-this is a date…” Yukimura mumbled when you had stepped aside to eat, “Men should pay when they take a girl out…”

“Thank you,” you mumbled awkwardly and not knowing what else to say you stuffed your mouth full of the soba noodles.

After you had eaten the noodles in a slightly awkward silence, you headed out to look for other treats. The crowd was getting thicker and you reached for Yukimura’s hand so you wouldn’t get separated from him. An instant blush coloured his cheeks, but he didn’t pull his hand away. Instead, he squeezed your hand tightly in his and you could feel your heart flutter.

“Yukimura, are you still hungry? There is a stall serving yakitori and I think I saw one serving okonomiyaki over there…”

“I… I think yakitori sounds good…”

Yukimura seemed to be on a mission to taste every food on the festival and you found yourself enjoying his company more and more as he finally started to relax around you. 

“Aren’t you going to take some too?” Yukimura asked his brows furrowed a bit as he looked at you, a skewer of takoyaki in each hand.

“I couldn’t possibly ask you to treat me on so many things…” you admitted. At that point, you had already let him treat you to some yakitori and taiyaki and had tasted some of several other dishes Yukimura had gotten himself.

Now he looked at you a kind smile on his face.

“Don’t worry about that for today, okay? I just want you to enjoy yourself.”

“Okay,” you found yourself reply with a small smile. How could you say no when he looked at you so kindly and such an earnest smile on his face. “In that case, I’d like some takoyaki too.”

Yukimura gave you the other skewer from his hand a bright broad smile on his face and you couldn’t but return it, the small flutter you had felt earlier returning tenfold.

“Hurry, we’ll miss the fireworks!” You dragged Yukimura by his hand, stuffing the last dango in your mouth. You just made it to a good spot near the riverbank when the first fireworks shot to the sky.

“Wow, they are so pretty…!” you couldn’t help but admire them and you turned towards Yukimura, who was standing next to you. Only he was standing much closer than you had anticipated. And looking straight at you.

A momentary insanity must have struck you since your normal reaction would have been to pull away, but you couldn’t help but lean closer, captivated by his sea blue eyes illuminated by the fireworks. Your lips met his in a sweet kiss that tasted like dango.

*****

“So, how did your date go, you cougar?” Yuki teased you the next day.

“C-cougar? I’ll show you cougar, you! You’re the one who set me up on a date with him!” You tossed your pillow at Yuki, who dodged it laughing. “We’re seeing each other next week. He promised to take me to the amusement park.”

“Cougar~!” Yuki teased you again, hiding behind her bag when you tossed the rabbit plushie Yukimura had won for you.

“He’s only four years younger, damn it!” you cursed her before you slumped down on your bed hiding your face. “Yukiiii… I kissed him and it was super embarrassing!” you continued after a short break, your words partly mumbled by your mattress, “I don’t think I’ve ever blushed so hard from second-hand embarrassment… It was so awkward…” you turned on your back, looking at the ceiling, “But I really like him…I hope he likes me too.”

“Oh, he does.”

You turned to look at Yuki surprised and saw her grinning at you.

“How do you know?” you asked suspiciously.

“Saizo told me.”

“I doubt that. Saizo never tells anything.”

“I bribed him with dango. That you’re going to make~”

“I hate you so much right now…”

“I know you love me~“ Yuki blew you a kiss and you couldn’t but smile at her, your thoughts occupied by the man whose sea blue eyes you found so captivating.