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sabraeal · 5 months ago

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to all the ghosts, Chapter 4

[Read on AO3]

Written for @kirayaykimura, who gets to receive all of my post-manga chapter soowon/lili ramblings. I am MANY DAYS late on this birthday fic, but thankfully I managed to squeeze it out before the crush of obiyukiweek!

As king, Soowon had been the conqueror. His armies served as Kouka’s sword and shield both, bringing kingdoms and despots to their knees, and yet—

Yet in the end it had been him prostrate on cold stone, his weakened body aching, nauseated from the effort of existing under the oppressive weight of the consort’s killing intent. He had been too proud to tremble, too stubborn to retch, but with every passing second his skin prickled with anticipation, certain that he could feel the sting of the guandao’s keen edge on the bared flesh of his neck. That even as he crouched there, ragged breaths painting the pavilion, the blade slipped between the segments of his spine, severing the tangled thread that kept him tied to this failing body.

It felt like mercy.

There was no room for warmongers in the world Yona meant to build, least of all broken men. Or so it had seemed, until the blade failed to fall. Until Soowon stood, facing the stiflingly silent crowd, and began to understand just what shape his punishment was meant to take.

Still, it comes as cold comfort that this is not the most desperate reunion he has attended on his knees.

Ice snakes down Soowon’s spine; an insidious chill, settling deep in his bones and seeping into every pale corner of his too-human flesh. His breath could mist in the air if enough of it could escape to make a difference. The queen might stand eye to eye with most men of Kouka, but she falls short of Hak’s looming inches, the strong set of her even armored shoulders lacking the imposing breadth of his. They aren’t armored now— at least, not that Soowon can see, swallowed up beneath the generous swath of her cloak— but she doesn’t need bronze or bone to protect her when her bearing is as implacable as any army he has ever met on the field.

Her reputation may be as bloody as his, her ruthless pragmatism memorialized in just as many poems, but there is no sword in her hand, no arrow’s point grazing the vulnerable column of his throat. The men in her shadow may be considered armed even without steel, but like him, the queen’s hands are harmless bare. Clean.

The same cannot be said for their conscience. He sees it in the tremble at the corner of her mouth, in the way her fingers stiffen instead of clench. She will not kill him, not today, but— only just.

“Your Majesty,” he manages, so even, more stall than statecraft. Manufactured space to think, to decide just how he would navigate this meeting on his knees and still maintain a modicum of Kouka’s authority. “To what do we—?”

“Princess Kouren!” Every trained hand races to touch its blade, but not a one of them manages to lap Lili. “Oh wait, no— Your Majesty! You’re a queen now, aren’t you? Or is that only after all this coronation stuff is over?”

The room is strung tight, blades quivering like struck strings in their sheathes, ready to fly at the barest strum— and all because of a slip of a girl, a mere streak of black and blue painting herself across the three steps it takes to throw her arms around Xing’s queen. It would be amusing, if the situation weren’t so deadly serious.

“Are you all right?” A ridiculous question when she’s the one with a half dozen blades pointed at her back— but Lili’s never once bothered to notice the danger she’s in, and Soowon can hardly expect her to start now. “You’ve been doing well, haven’t you? It’s been forever since we’ve seen you, and you never write…”

Those too-clean hands splay in the air, hovering mere inches from Lili’s shoulders; eyes that had seemed so cool mere breaths ago now sat wide and uncertain. Soowon may have first come to Xing as its conqueror, but still, he has never seen its queen so thoroughly routed. She might have anticipated steel and subtlety or iron and treachery, but Xing’s queen had not accounted for the unerring accuracy of Lili’s regard, as ruinous as any loosed arrow.

Were he a more feeling man, Soowon might pity her. Instead, he is only bemused by the Water Tribe’s wayward daughter and her penchant for taking ruthless royals beneath her wing. How fortunate that the war had not lingered on long enough for her to get it in her head to ride out towards Kai. There were few indignities Soowon had not learned to shoulder since he’d been cast down from this throne, but suffering through a simpering Chagol would have taxed even his tolerance.

“Lady Lili.” Fingers tremble as they press against Lili’s back, cutting perilous crests into the blue wave of her robe. Cautious, at first, then clenched, and with no more than a ragged sigh, Xing’s queen does not so much clasp as collapse around Kouka’s most stymieing noblewoman. “Forgive me. There has been so much to say— too much for mere letters. But I have been remiss in not making the attempt.”

“You have,” Lili agrees with her usual petulance, stepping back with a pout far more playful than any she’s ever swung in his direction. “I’ve had a lot going on too, you know! Yona made me her advisor, for one. And now my father’s talking about me taking over the headship, even though I’m definitely not general material.”

Xing’s queen slants her gaze over the thin slip of Lili’s shoulders, lingering significantly upon every gripped hilt. For a moment, Soowon is nearly certain that her mouth curls, but if it does, it is so subtle as to disappear between one blink and the next, more apparition than amusement. “I do recall a letter in which you imparted a similar sentiment.”

“Because it’s true.” Lili does not quite disentangle herself from the queen’s grip, but she does lean back, fixing the unerring arrow of her attention onto the masked man at the royal heels. “You’ve brought Vold with you? Is Tao here too, or—?”

“Princess Tao is in residence at the palace for Her Majesty’s coronation,” the man— this…Vold explains, cloth tugging across his mouth in a way that nearly implies a smile. “She will be glad to know you are in fine health, Lady Lili.”

“But shouldn’t you be with her?” A single glance at the guard to the queen’s other side is enough to convey she doesn’t recognize— or think much of— him. Just like every other man under thirty. “You’re one of her stars, aren’t you? If anyone’s going to follow Kouren around, I would have thought it’d be Yotaka.”

“I did not intend to make this an official, public visit.” The queen’s hands flutter back beneath the dark swath of her cloak, mouth tilting wryly. “And though there is no question of his loyalty, Yotaka is hardly the most…discreet of all my stars.”

To put it mildly. The war may seem like a lifetime ago, a calamity that happened in a different age, to a different man, but a wild storm of gray slumped between his soldiers stays vivid in his mind, a man wounded enough to still be bleeding through the bandages hidden beneath his robe— but still, his chin never dipped, never even trembled as he raised it to meet the gaze of the man certain to be his death. I always thought the son of a demon would have a more grotesque face.

“I had meant to only take Baram to meet you, but when my sister caught wind of my plans...” Another twitch at the corner of her lips, a ripple in the still lake that is Xing’s queen.

“I’m afraid Princess Tao was quite insistent I come along.” The masked man bows his head, humor hidden in every angle. “Part of her eagerness to renew your acquaintance, Lady Lili.”

“I’m excited to see her too! It’s been forever. But, wait” —Lili whips around with absolutely none of the accusation she would have leveled were he the recipient rather than Xing’s queen— “how did you know we were in Kyuu? We weren’t scheduled to arrive until tomorrow.”

“I received reports about a commotion in the market between a known swindler and some foreign woman.” One royal brow lifts, an invitation to fill in the rest of the details herself. “When I sent my men to investigate the issue, I was told that a young woman matching your description had left in the company a tall, soft-spoken man fair of both face and hair. Though we hadn’t known which of the Empress’s advisors would be sent with Lord Soowon, it seemed likely that you had both come ahead of your procession…”

“I…” Soowon would hesitate to call anything about Xing’s queen warm, but there is something like it in her eyes when Lili gapes, mouth opening and closing like the koi Joon-gi kept in his gardens. “But…”

“It seems, Lady Lili,” he says, deceptively bright. “Your confidence in our disguises was quite unfounded.”

If glares could kill, the one Lili whips at him would render his flesh to little more than a royal pile of ash. However it cannot, and he survives, offering her his most mild smile.

There is little that delights him, but Lili’s huff comes close, arms clamping shut over her chest with all the finality of the gates of paradise. “I wasn’t with him. He just showed up!”

The queen’s eyebrow lifts. “As you say.”

Her stare skips over Lili’s shoulder like a stone over still water, but it’s his stomach that sinks when it settles on him. It’s different than the last time they came face to face— him the benevolent conqueror and her a supplicant brought to her knees by little more than circumstance. Loathing and contempt had radiated from her as she knelt in her borrowed robe, both bust and bandages exposed as it hung from the bare bones of her shoulders. But now her eyes meet his, and they are not curious or caustic or conspiring but assessing. Less a sovereign surveying a threat, and more a monger at market, weighting the profit of a purchase against its loss.

It’s a relief when she finally turns it on Judoh instead.

“Forgive me my poor manners. I came here as a guest.” Xing’s queen draws to her full height, and even unhorsed, unarmored, she is every inch the fearful form that had cut across the plains of Kai. “Vold.”

The masked man straightens, eyes drawn to his queen like ore to a lodestone. “Your Majesty.”

“Talk to the proprietor. Have him bring a pot of his best blend. And whatever he considers the best of the inn’s offerings.” One large hand unfurls, benevolent smile never quite reaching her eyes. “There is much to discuss.”

Lili’s barely got her chopsticks around a slice of pork belly when Soowon just slides right out and asks, “To what do we owe the honor of Your Majesty’s attention?”

If she could have reached— which she can’t, not unless there’s some way to pass right through General Judoh and his impenetrable abs without another lecture— she would have put an elbow right into his side. Let the spur of it sink right into his squishy little tofu belly. Maybe then he’d finally learn a set of manners that didn’t end with him smiling over a steel edge.

Thankfully, Kouren is a reasonable person. Instead of telling him to mind his own business— like Lili would, if he tried to take that arch little tone with her— she simply smiles, folding her hands neatly over her lap. “I’m afraid that after her time in Xing, I found myself quite inspired by Yona’s example. When I heard that Lady Lili— and yourself, of course, Lord Soowon— were in Kyuu, I imagined that I might be able to surprise you in town so long as I could pass myself off as one of the townsfolk.”

“How charming.” Soowon’s eyes do that stupid squinch at the corners, the one meant to make him look harmless when all Lili gets is constipated. “My cousin will be honored to hear that you remember her so fondly.”

Kouren’s not silly enough for all this squinting and posturing— she’s a real queen, the kind that cleaves through injustice, that dons armor and commands the respect of her generals, that speaks and is listened to despite being born a daughter instead of a son. So when she answers Soowon, it’s head-on, straightforward and unerring as a spear. “That is her gift, I think. Being remembered fondly.”

Her father may have wanted her to be a wife rather than a general, but even Lili can’t miss the unspoken, unlike you. And Soowon certainly doesn’t, the silk of his spider’s smile stiffening where it’s spun across his face.

“Congratulations are in order, it seems, even if they are much overdue.” There is no twist when Kouren’s attention turns upon her— not even the slightest hint of torsion— but simply an incline of her chin. A nod almost, eliding into a hint of a smile. “I will have to compliment Her Majesty in the wisdom she has shown in the selection of her advisors the next time we speak.”

Lili squirms on her knees, hoping Kouren can’t make out the pleased flush spreading over her cheeks. “It’s really not that big a deal. I think I’m just the only Water Tribe member she knew besides my father.”

It’s the sort of humility that would get Kouka ladies fanning themselves, long sleeves fluttering as they rushed to titter and fawn. They’d be all-too eager to assure her that the empress would surely need a woman’s voice to keep her council comfortable, that somehow Yona might quail beneath the weight of a man’s opinion without another female to shore her up.

Kouren only frowns. “It is no easy matter to weed out tradition by the root, not even with the love and support of your people. To disband the council of generals and replace every voice on it…Her Majesty would not have chosen any one of them lightly. Least of all yours, Lady Lili.”

“Well sure, right, I know that. I was only…” Her teeth snap tight over, being polite. All those months in the palace might have gotten her brushed up on her bowing and blushing and composing poetry-perfect scraps of practiced humility, but no one in this audience will be impressed by it, least of all the woman who would have bled out to save her kingdom.

But it’s too late to protest now, too late to insist she does know her worth— how can she not when there’s a fool like Kan Tae-Jun seated beside her, barely knowing his left from his right let alone the price of rice? Oh, sure, he might have her beat when it comes to logistics, especially when it comes to supplying the remote villages in their most far-flung territories, but common sense—

“It was a necessary change,” Soowon says smoothly, that stupid squint still looming over his smile. “Keeping a council of generals would hardly lend much credence to my cousin’s new era of peace, after all.”

Kouren’s expression shutters with a speed meant to catch fingers on the sill. “You hardly need to tell me. For too long Kouka’s kings have allowed their warhawks to pick the carcass of this peninsula, playing at conquest when all they care for is plunder. Yona has done well to rid her ears of their whispering. If only the rulers before her had been as wise, they would have done it long ago.”

The barb’s so pointed Lili’s surprised it doesn’t actually draw blood. And yet Soowon doesn’t even flinch; no, he just sits there, that too-wide smile of his softening until his eyes lose their squint. Something real haunts the corners of it when he says, “I couldn’t agree more.”

Lili’s never been much for spirits— oh, she might let herself get a chill from a good story, or have her own imagination run wild when she’s strode halfway down a too-dark hall, but that’s for fun, not because she actually believes in that sort of stuff. But as Soowon settles back on his heels, less diplomat and more decoration, she could swear she sees through the edges of him, like a spirit caught in sunlight. That she’s watching him fade the longer she sits here, keeping her mouth shut.

He’d been Yona’s enemy once— and Kouren’s and Tao’s and maybe hers too, if she sat down and thought about it real hard, like she tries not to— but he’s also never expected her to perform for him, to play sweet Lady Lili and pour out tea and flattery while he does her the honor of tolerating her attention. And, well, that might be a weird way to make a friend, but that’s what he is whether she likes it or not, and a friend wouldn’t just let him shit all over himself without saying something.

She just wishes she could come up with something better than, “Ayura will be sad she missed you.”

Both queen and conqueror look up as one, blinking in tandem. It would be eerie, if she wasn’t so busy trying to sound normal, to notice. “I left her back at the castle with Yona. I mean, since we were already taking Judoh, it seemed a little...”

Redundant, that’s what Judoh called it, while Yona’s mouth pursed tight. But Hak had nodded, agreeing with whatever math generals did to decide these sorts of things, and she’d done the same. But it felt strange to say it now, like maybe she thought of her guards as completely interchangeable, not people but pawns she could swap out when it pleased her, no emotion whatsoever.

“Much,” she settles on, lamely.

“A pity,” Kouren says, and to Lili’s surprise, she’s sincere. “I had hoped to give my gratitude to all of you, when we next met. But I promise you, you will be safe here, even without both your retainers.”

Lili blinks. “O-oh, I didn’t mean to say that I…I mean, that you…” Ugh, Yona picked her to come here because she was supposed to be able to word better than her limp sheet of a cousin, and here she is, unable to string a sentence together that won’t cause a diplomatic incident. “Thank you, Your Majesty. It’s an honor for you to take such interest in us.”

She can’t bow over her hands like she should— at least, not without an awkward shimmy or knocking over her whole dinner— so she settles for a sedate bend at her shoulders, palms pressed tight to her thighs. It’s a pretty good compromise, in her opinion, but when she looks back up Soowon’s got his eyebrows all lifted— practically a guffaw when it comes to him— and Kouren’s got one corner of her mouth hitched up, like she’s considering a smile.

“It is the least I can do.” Kouren glances toward where Soowon sits pushing rice around in his bowl, trying to make it look touched, if not eaten. “Xing must have left you with a sour impression during your last visit. I do hope that you will for once get to see it as it is meant to be seen.”

Soowon shakes his head. “I could say the same for Kouka. If Xing had not helped with our efforts to rebuild, my cousin’s reign would not have started with such a stable foundation.”

Kouren waves a hand. “Think nothing of it. It was Xing’s great honor to help Her Majesty in her time of need. I would not have a country if Yona had not reached out her hand to me during mine.”

“You are too kind.” Lili nearly rolls her eyes at how practiced the words are, a reflex rather than any actual feeling on Soowon’s part. “Though I am sure that my cousin and her consort would be happy to receive you again, so you may see Kouka at its best.”

“I would like that. Very much.” Her mouth tilts, wry. “Perhaps we shall see after this coronation.”

“Yes.” Soowon’s fingers tighten on his chopsticks, smile stretched up to a squint. “I suppose we shall.”

#liliwon #soolili #wonlili #akatsuki no yona #yona of the dawn #my fic #future fic #to all the ghosts #any #this marks the first fic i've managed to complete post-covid #and god it took FOREVER. soowon did not want his POV to be written #but finally we're getting to the politics part of this fic #there's only some undercurrents here #but i think next chapter we'll be jumping into the thick of it #SO I THINK NOW. this fic likes to surprise me :/

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softquietsteadylove · 4 days ago

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Can you do another wholesome moment with the contract marriage? Maybe Gil having an extra hard day and Thena finds him very exhausted in his office?

Gil startled at the sound of his office door opening. He had dozed off at his desk, like some old retiree. His body flooded with adrenaline, ready to combat whomever was stupid enough to break into his home office.

But it wasn't an enemy, it was his wife.

Of course it was Thena. He had been in here for hours after telling her it would just be one phone call. Usually, he avoided taking work calls when he was at home in the first place. But it had been urgent. And one phone call had become two, then three.

It was dark in the office. The window behind his chair offered some illumination, spilling in from the garden lighting outside. Thena was walking light as a feline, wearing a white nightdress and a light robe billowing behind her.

Gil closed his eyes again. He didn't need the temptation of his wife's beauty right now. He needed a bed time beer and to lie down on the floor and sleep.

Thena moved closer, inspecting if he was awake or asleep. She had been told to stay out of his office; he had to admit he was surprised she was in here.

But if she was breaking a rule here or there, maybe that was a good thing. So long as nothing got her hurt. She was probably bored, spending all her days in the house or waiting for him to be available to go to a market or a library with her.

"Gil?" she whispered, testing the deepness of his sleep.

He remained still atop his desk (just for fun).

"Gil!" she whispered just a little louder. She came closer, enough to put her hand on his arm. She didn't even really shake him, so much as gently push his arm a little.

He kept his smile directed down at the desk. She was so cute sometimes it was hard to keep it to himself.

"Hm," he heard her make an unhappy little grumble. He did feel bad for probably having made her wait for him to come back out all this time. "I could just wake you."

She could. It wasn't like he would get mad at her for it.

A few of his boys had asked him: "Boss, why do you have her?"

He had everything he needed already, and if he wanted women, he didn't need to have a 'wife' of all things. There were other ways to enjoy the company of a woman, to put it politely, without having one live in his own home.

But he liked having someone at home. He liked indulging Thena, and he liked even more when she refused to indulge him in return. Thena kept him feeling lively and challenged, in a way no one else did.

And, despite him telling her she could leave at any time, she hadn't yet.

"But that seems a little cruel," Thena sighed, leaving him be for the moment. She crossed her arms around herself. She had never struck him as the type to talk to herself; she really did need to get out more. Maybe he should get her a car of her own (confidential plates and tinted windows, of course).

Thena rounded the other side of his chair to continue her snooping. His head was tilted a little more in this direction, but if he kept his eyes mostly closed, she would still believe he was asleep.

"What could have possibly occupied you all night?" she huffed, indeed unhappy she had been made to eat dinner and spend her evening alone. "Your food is in the fridge, in any case."

He bit back a smile again. His wife really was a sweet one. She didn't have to save him any food. She could have just left him to order in for himself at this late hour.

Thena tilted her head at him, her long, blonde locks collecting on the top of the desk. She even reached out, just barely touching some of his hair before snapping her hand back to herself. "Handsome thing--unfortunately."

He would have to remember this for another time. He inhaled, just showing some signs of stirring.

Thena nearly jumped, hurrying to take a massive step away from him and pull her robe around herself.

"Thena?" he groaned, rubbing his eyes. "What are you doing in here?"

She cleared her throat faintly as he ruffled his hair. "I was just heading to bed when I noticed you were still in here."

He just nodded.

"Was it-"

He looked at her. He was admittedly surprised she was asking more. She - rightfully - had no interest in what he did for work. Pulling teeth and cutting off limbs was the last, deeply sardonic guess she had offered on the matter.

"Was it bad?" she managed to squeak out, her brows drawn together in concern. "I never imagined it would exhaust you so much you would sleep in here."

He inhaled. Falling asleep was an unforseen and unfortunate outcome. He was getting too old to fall asleep on the job. "It's okay, hon. Just some sudden changes the guys needed help resolving."

That was a polite enough way to put it, he thought.

Still, Thena hovered. She shifted her weight between her feet, visibly debating turning and leaving and staying with him. "But it's sorted now?"

"Uh," he blinked, curious as to what had her so determined to stand around with him. "Yeah."

She continued, too, rooted to the spot as he patted the rumpled sleeves of his suit. Her robe swayed around her legs until, finally, she stepped closer to him again. "Come on."

His eyebrows shot up as she held her hand out to him. He followed, though, because it was too tempting not to. "Isn't that my line, sweetheart?"

She rolled her eyes at him, assuring him she was indeed still Thena.

But she held his hand gently, leading him out of his office and away from his self-made dungeon/empire. She led him out of his office and towards the stairs.

"Uh, Thena?" he inquired, but she continued leading. She had never come anywhere near his room, either. At least as far as he knew.

Not even his room was off-limits to her; only his office was. But he was pretty sure she had wanted so little to do with him upon first arriving that she didn't even know where in the house his room was.

"Sleeping like that will kill your back. I know damn well," she muttered as she padded up the stair ahead of him.

He averted his eyes from the swaying of her hips, focusing on how softly her hair shifted on her shoulders. "Yeah?"

"I had a job in reception for a time," she confessed. This marked something she had told him of her own volition--that he hadn't learned from research or observation. "Call it keeping an eye on my father, for a time."

Now, that was a surprise. "Didn't stick?"

She snorted, a sound he didn't hear her make often. But the change from her usual reserved elegance was funny. It suited her, in a way. "Long hours, little pay, and I should have known my father wasn't capable of professionalism in the work place."

Gil skipped a step so he could walk more alongside her and not behind her. That was enough about her rat bastard of a dad. "Well, what job would you wanna work instead?"

She eyed him in the low lights installed close to the steps and flush with the ceiling. "I thought I didn't have to work."

"You don't," he grinned, echoing the words he had first told her upon the signing of their contract. "You never have to work a day in your life and you'll want for nothing. But I know you're bored."

Now she was the one surprised.

"You're bored here on your own, right?" he shrugged, giving her hand a squeeze as they continued on at a snail's pace. "Probably want something to do in the day?"

"Hm," she agreed, but kept the details of what and where and how to herself. That was okay with him, so long as she told him what she needed from him eventually.

"Name the time and place," he left it at that, bringing her hand up to his lips. Not that she needed him to gift her a job for the fun of it. He was pretty sure she hadn't even liked any of his other gifts.

Except that dress from their shopping trip; he knew that one was in the back of her closet.

His room was upstairs. He had considered having her room next to his, but he hadn't wanted her to feel like he was listening to her through the walls or anything. Not that he could; the walls were reinforced stone. He hadn't built this big, beautiful house just to cheap out on the architecture.

Thena didn't just drop him off at the top of the stairs and say 'see ya', though. She walked right over to his room and opened the door for herself.

Gil grinned, following her inside. "You gonna make sure I get to bed on time and everything?"

She gave him a withering look over her shoulder, leading and leaving him to the foot of his massive king sized bed. "At least change out of that suit."

It was uncomfortable to sleep in. The heavy fabric of the sleeves was still bent and wrinkled, scratching at the insides of his elbows. He shrugged the jacket off, at least. "You don't have to help me."

"No," she walked out of his closet with a clothes hanger. "I don't. You can manage it yourself like a big boy, I'm sure."

He chuckled; man, his wife was cool. He raised an eyebrow as she tossed it at him. She looked around the room, though, shamelessly examining it for her own purposes. "What do you think?"

"It looks like it does in your office." That was true. The house and even Thena's room he'd let an interior designer handle. Everything was fairly modern in a way that he hoped wouldn't look dated in a year and a half. His room and office, though, had old dark wood fixtures and black accents. "A bit grim, don't you think?"

He laughed at that. "You know what I do for work, right?"

"Doesn't mean you have to-"

She paused, and he looked at her for the reason. She didn't seem to have one, her eyes trailing over him as he unbuttoned his shirt. Their eyes met and, charmingly, she rushed to avert her eyes from him. "I thought you didn't need my help for that."

"Sorry, princess," he puffed, continuing to pull his shirt off anyway. "I thought you didn't care if you got treated like a lady."

"I said you didn't have to treat me like a maiden in a tower," she corrected with a certain bite to it. But still, she rotated herself so he could walk into his closet without her eyes on him.

"Relax, sweetheart," he called out from inside, hanging up his suit that had to be ironed anyway. "I'm not gonna strip naked in front of you."

"That's not-!" a half baked protest warbled out of her.

He shook his head to himself as he retrieved some sweatpants and a t-shirt for himself. Really, he didn't need the shirt, but this was for his wife's sake, he snickered.

Thena just barely dashed her eyes over to him as he emerged. She could play it cool as she liked, he could see how flustered she was. "I trust you can manage from here."

"Hey," he reached out before she could scurry away in horror. He pressed his thumb into her palm. "Thanks for pulling me out."

She had no idea what he meant so deeply in that simple phrase. She wasn't in the business he was in; she didn't know that pulling him out was saving him in more ways than one. So she just nodded.

He grinned, leaning forward to kiss her cheek. "Get some sleep."

"Hm." Her eyes did one last sweep of him, unsure of where exactly to land. She reached for the doorknob blindly, missing a few times before she turned and hurried out of his room and downstairs again.

The sweet scent of her shampoo trailed behind her--not the expensive stuff he'd left her in her attached bathroom, some normal stuff she had bought because she already liked and used it before.

Maybe he would get some of that food from the fridge and bring it up here for himself. Or maybe he would sink into bed already. He could dream of Thena feeding it to him. He laughed at himself.

He was cooked--totally and completely done for. That was okay, though. He didn't think it was a bad thing to have a wife who made sure he didn't put out his back and slept in a proper bed.

#Thenamesh Marriage Contract AU #thank you so much for asking for more!!!!!#I really do like this au #I wanna see more of it #Gil and Thena are figuring each other out #Gil likes having a wife #a man is allowed to feel lonely #in his life as a big scary gang boss #and he really figured Thena would have gone to bed without him #in reality #Thena has been debating breaking the rules and going into his office for hours now #she's ready for bed when she's like ugh just see if he's in there #just ask if he's okay #I hope this is wholesome #but listen #Thena knows her husband is a big beefcake #and she's like uh..........hello?#Gil has made a vow though #nothing will happen between them #I do think Thena will get to a point where she's like #I know we're not really married but come on #she gets a little jealous #and is like I know you have needs but I believe we had a contract deal #the tension grows thick #I really do hope you like it thank you for the ask!

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