#its giving ukai calling asahi “manbun” ukno like that kinda thing

[revasserium]

stargazing

malleus; 818 words; fluff... btwn ch5 and 6 bc i can't stop thinking about malleus turning up to vdc cause mc invited him during one of his midnight walks

“hey! horns!”

“hm? are you still referring to me by that name, child of man?”

the night is dark and thick around you as you flash malleus a smile, leaning on your opened windowsill. at the lilt of your head, malleus pauses, going still as he watches you — so young, so naïve, so… unrelenting.

“what, you don’t like it?”

the prince is a thing of thorn and edge and cool, flickering green flame. still, something like amusement warms his chest as he turns, slow and then slower, his curiosity blossoming inside him like hunger, sharp and sweet. he wets his lips, whets his indelible curiosity against his better judgement and lets the curiosity win. briefly, he wonders if the sayings are true — that it might be a thing of murder, that it might hold so much power.

he takes three long steps towards your window. like this, he almost has to look up to meet your eyes.

almost.

“i don’t mind it.”

you laugh, the sound soft and feather-light in the velveteen night. it reminds him of the firefly lights — tiny and effervescent as they are, glittering still against the ever-encroaching darkness, mindless of their own futility.

“so… were you ever gonna tell me you were — what, the crown prince of briar valley?” and here, he finds you laughing again, as if this were some joking matter, as if his position weren’t pressed into the brittle of his bones, sewn into the rigid line of his shoulders, laced into the poison of his smile.

you slump down, resting your cheek against one of your folded arms.

“where is that, even?”

malleus allows himself something akin to laughter as well, letting the sound bubble through him. before he met you, he would’ve thought it felt like poison — roiling in the cauldron of his stomach, bitter and dangerous. but now, he thinks it might feel something like singing, the sound pouring from him, spilling out of him sweet tea or song.

“nowhere of consequence to you, child of man.”

“hm… so, it’s a secret, then?”

he finds himself oddly entranced by the teasing sweep of your lips, by the way your eyes are just a shade too bright. in them, he finds the crescent moon — he finds himself too, but not as he’s always pictured himself. to you, he’s just another student, tall and imposing and strange, but up until now, you’ve had no reason to think otherwise of him. and still, and still…

“not in the slightest.”

“so, show me.”

“would you like to see it, one day? i suppose it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.”

you brighten, impossibly. and malleus, not for the first time, finds himself held still by your excitement, by your unwavering trust. by your unassuming nature. has anyone ever looked upon him with such pure, wonderous hope? with not a hint of expectation or hesitation, not a thread of fear or trepidation?

no. he doesn’t think they have.

and yet, here you are, plain as the swinging, silver moon, cut across the star-strewn sky.

“i’d love to!”

“then i suppose you have to stay here long enough.”

“hm?” you cock your head at him and he find himself smiling.

“well, if you were to find your way back to that other world of yours… i might never get to show you briar valley.”

but to his surprise, you simply shrug, waving a hand through the air as if shooing off butterflies.

“oh, i’m not too worried about that. aren’t you like, the most powerful mage ever?”

malleus chuckles, fighting the urge to press a finger to his own lips, to swallow back the sound.

“one of, yes.”

you shrug again, propping your chin on the heel of your hand as your eyes travel up the length of his horns, and then back down again.

“then i’m sure you’ll find a way to bring me back for a tour of your hometown. it’ll be easy!”

malleus nods thoughtfully, watching as you cast your eyes up towards the cloudless sky. you point at the stars, exclaiming about some constellation or other, and he follows your gaze, leaning back against the cool brick of of the wall next to your opened window, letting your voice wash over him like water from a babbling brook.

yes, he thinks, he really would like to show you briar valley one day — be it tomorrow, or the day after. or, perhaps, years from now. still, it’s an invitation extended, and he’s not one to go back on his word.

and yes, he muses, if you were one day to find your way back home, he would find a way to bring you back, even if it took him the rest of his life to do it.