#thank you for this wonderful treat that is me getting to use Oki-tan in a serious thread

[nobuverse]

@burdenedreverence From here

"I do not have, such a luxury." His words come out calm, his eyes closed. He is currently gripping a metal rail which protects those from following off the top of this particular building. On the horizon the Soul Society is bleeding, flames lick at ruined buildings. Those on the ground look like ants with the way they move about, tending to the wounded or collecting the dead. His shoulders are tensed and raised as he puts his weight onto the metal, it groans beneath his hands. He looks over the ledge, and a part of him wishes to leap. He does not have the luxury to determine when his war might be over, even once the swords enter their sheaths, he knows that his watch does not end. It is immortal, and immaterial, until fate deems his time up. A hundred a years ago, he was just a man. Now he is a monster. Slitting throats in the night, murdering men for peace, and any number of crimes which have stained his soul black. Blacker than midnight, blacker than the robes he wears, light cannot exist within him anymore. And yet as he draws a shaky breath, his eyes sting. Salty tears form on the edge of his vision, his eyes close tightly. His mouth hangs open slightly while his throat clenches. His anger is his grief. And it pours from in, spilling into the world like an overturned paint can. The container, which is body empties itself, in this moment of supreme privacy. His rage is not that of clenched fists and gnashing teeth, it is that of tears and choked words. "God… be damned…" The words slip out as fingers crush metal as if it was nothing more than tissue paper, gripping the torn metal he throws it over the edge of the building. He screams. It rises from his stomach, it bellows from his throat. The metal is flung an impossible distance, a reminder he is more than a man. He has become a monster. She asks him to forgive himself. He cannot. He will not. This world has need for its monsters, it has need for him. He falls to his knees; his palms face upwards with his knuckles pressed against the stone floor. He cannot begin to forgive himself for everything he has done, and everything he will do.

The scene is as horrifying as it is mesmerizing to her, in some strange way. It is a horrifying marvel compared to everything the agent of the counterforce has seen in - months? Years? She'd lost track of time completely in the amount of time she'd spent in the great beyond.

Everything there had been veiled in a bright shade of white. All that existed was light. No concept of space, beginnings or ends. An endless void which only held things that should not exist. Monsters and abominations she was tasked to cut down, one after another.

It was so beautiful to anything else but that. Even if the colors of flames do assault her eyes the first time she looks at them. How wonderful it was to see humans again - looking at them helping each other in these times of great danger. How wonderful that was.

Wielder, don't you think we should see what's happening?

Rengokuken's voice rings clearly in her mind.

"Mm. Can't. Too loud. Need to wait. Very overwhelming." she speaks in simple phrases, mind eroded by the passage of time. It'd take her some to get back to her usual self.

Understood. Take your time.

When she sees a lone person sometime later - she begins to get excited again, thinking of it as the perfect opportunity to help integrate herself among humans again. But something's wrong. She feels a certain - loneliness about him.

"You. You are sad. What is wrong?"

She's not really able to follow what comes next. Maybe because he's speaking too fast, or her thoughts are too slow to keep up. She only seems to understand that he's angry at someone for something.

Ah. She knew the answer to this one: Let your anger out, then let it go. Forgive him.

....Maybe not, though. It really only seems to make things worse.

"....sir?" her fingers girp nervously on her blade's hilt for reassurance, like a child clinging onto a mother's hand. "I see- that was...the wrong answer? Um, please don't be upset...I'll get it right next time...!"

She briefly panics at just how responsible she is for this, her tense body giving a jump back as the railing is torn from the rooftop. That display of strength was rather, shocking to say the least. He's probably not a normal human then...and he's not a monster - since the counterforce wasn't asking her to kill him. So..

Oh! He must be a hero, then! A grieving and heartbroken hero...

"Well, um - if we could find this - 'luxury' would you be able to? I could help you."

She can't remember the details, but she seems to remember that sometime, a long time again, she used to help someone find very important things too. And seeing him like this - it pains her. She wanted to help.

"...Maybe I should find that railing first, though. For safety reasons. I don't want someone to fall off. You threw it over...uh...there right?"

[muwur]

hello can I request tendou, kogane, ushijima, and lev reacting to their s/o who really liked painting on their hands, like some kind of pattern or fruits 👉👈

painted hands

♡ drabbles ♡ for ushijima, tendou, koganegawa & lev

❧ gn reader

��� 1.6k words

a/n: hello lov, ty for the request! sry it took so long to dish it out ;c i made them into short drabbles/scenarios rather than hc’s, ik u didnt specify but hope thats oki!

have a wonderful day! <3

requests: open

ushijima

Ushijima woke up to sunlight peeking through the crack of the blinds. He sat up and stretched his arms upwards, blinking away lingering remnants of sleep from his eyes. The side of your bed was empty; only crumpled sheets and a pillow still marked by the indent of your head remained. Curious, he got up, making his way downstairs and into the kitchen, where he found you sitting at the dining table, paintbrush in hand. His eyes softened as he approached you and placed a palm on your shoulder.

“What are you doing?”

The sound of his deep voice coupled with the warmth of his firm hand made you jump in your seat, jostling you from your thoughts. The brush in your hand painted a streak of red across your fist, overlapping another painted strawberry.

“Ushi, don’t sneak up on me!”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

You turned to face him, a slight pout on your lips. Raising your hand, you showed him the many painted strawberries adorning your skin.

“I felt like painting something and eating strawberries, so here,” you explained as your lips curved upward into a small smile. “Luckily, a little water’s enough to get rid of this streak I made here...”

You snatched a table napkin and dipped a corner into your cup of paintwater. Carefully, you dabbed at the red mark, moving upwards to slowly rub it off your skin. Ushijima focused on the intense care and concentration in your gaze, admiring the way your brows furrowed slightly and eyelashes kissed the tops of your cheeks as you blinked.

“There! I’m done,” you grinned as you revealed your completed work. “What do you think?”

He stared at the painted hand you held before him for several seconds before he brought it closer with his own hand and placed a soft kiss to it.

“I like it. It looks nice, like you.”

Embarrassment started to settle in as he lowered your hand from his face, only to be replaced by amused huffs of laughter. Covering your mouth to stifle your giggles, you pointed at Ushijima’s mouth, now peppered with small, faint, red blobs of wet paint.

“Y-You got a little s-something on your face...!” you managed to blurt out despite your chuckles. You snapped a quick picture of his blotched, confused face then continued to type away on your phone before setting it back down on the table.

His brows furrowed in response. “Aren’t you going to show me?”

“Nah. But Tendou will!”

tendou

“You’re sure taking your sweet time.”

You rolled your eyes playfully at his comment, continuing to stroke the paintbrush along the back of his hand.

“Hey, I’m just making sure it looks nice. You’re the one who asked me to do this,” you reminded him.

He smirked through closed eyes, leaning back against the bed frame slowly. “I thought it’d look cute for the upcoming game and I can show it off to my team~ I didn’t realize how long it took, though.”

The bed creaked as he shifted. “Can I stretch my legs out, though? I’m losing circulation, babe.”

You paused your work to move over, allowing him to uncross his legs and spread them along the mattress. He took the opportunity to hook one over your lap. You had to refrain from rolling your eyes once more.

Dipping the tip of your brush in your palette, you positioned his hand on top of his thigh and resumed painting on his skin. You moved carefully, making sure to form the shapes you wanted. You took another brush, one with a smaller tip, and created several criss-crossing lines. Meawhile, Tendou hummed contentedly.

“You’ve been listening and singing to nothing but that song for the past two weeks,” you groaned. “It was catchy first, but now it’s just too much, bro.”

“How else am I gonna pass the time? I’m likewise getting a tad tired so why don’t you hurry up, hm?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m almost there. Be patient.”

Another 5 minutes of his increasingly loud (and annoying) humming passed by before you set down your brush on the nightstand.

“Done! You can open your eyes now.”

“Finally!” he exclaimed, eyelids fluttering open. His red eyes glittered with excitement when he brought his hand to his face, examining the brown circles and criss-crossed tan triangles that adorned his skin. A upward curl graced his lips as his eyes traveled from his hand to your expectant gaze.

“Chocolate ice cream cones?” he questioned with amusement.

“Your favorite treat!” you retorted.

He chuckled. “Actually,” he said as he leaned forward, using his other hand to guide your head in close for a peck to the forehead.

“You’re my favorite treat.”

koganegawa

“Y/n!” you heard your boyfriend call. He was bounding up the grassy hill towards your spot in the shade, a paper bag in his right hand. When he reached you, he set down the bag and leaned down to give you a quick kiss on your head, taking a seat next to you, cross legged. He leaned into your shoulder, peering down at your hands and the paintbrush in them.

“Ooh, what’re you painting?” he asked, unable to make out where you were going with the few splotches on the back of your hand. He held your hand up closer to his face, squinting. “Yellow circles?”

“Yes, but noo,” you answered, snatching your hand back and hiding it from view. Teasingly, you added, “You’ll see~ It’s a surprise. Don’t look until I’m done.”

“Whaat? Why can’t I know?” Koganegawa complained, leaning closer in an attempt to grab your hand back. In seconds, he managed to topple you both over the picnic blanket. Squirming underneath his weight, you retaliated by pushing his face back and stretching your arm out of reach.

“Because you can’t!” you shouted between laughs. Successfully shoving Koganegawa off, you staggered onto your feet and dashed behind the nearby tree for safety.

“Aw, c’mon, just tell me, pleeasseeee,” he pleaded as he got onto his knees.

“No.”

Silence followed for several seconds before he sighed in defeat. “Fine. But eat with me while the food’s still warm. I’m starving!”

Two rice bowls, a large lemonade, and several sneak attacks from Koganegawa later, you waved a hand over your boyfriend’s eyes. He was laying down on the blanket, arms behind his head as he stared at the sunlight-freckled green leaves overhead.

“Okay, dummy, you can see it now,” you joked.

He sat up and took your outstretched palm, turning it over. His eyes widened at the sight of yellow chicks with familiar, brown tufts on their heads. Unable to resist gawking at their cuteness, he gaped at your work.

“This is so cute, y/n! What are these brown little hair thingies, though?”

You rolled your eyes and raised your hand to play with a strand of his own brown little hair thingy. “I based these baby chicks off you!”

His mouth formed an ���o” as realization sunk in. “Huh. Do I really look like this?” he asked, holding up your hand next to his face for you to compare.

“Hmmm,” you rubbed your chin in fake thought, looking back and forth between your painting and your boyfriend’s curious expression. “Yes. You’re a bit cuter, though.”

“N-No, you...”

lev

You couldn’t help but feel touched when you noticed the childish wonder in Lev’s eyes as he watched you paint small mangoes across your hand. Dipping your brush into the green paint, you finished off your final fruit with two leaves. You spent several seconds blowing on the paint, forcing your piece to dry faster, then offered your hand to your boyfriend.

Before you could ask him what he thought, however, he was already showering you with compliments.

“Woah, y/n, how are you so talented? This looks even better than those pineapples you did last time, and those were really good! I love this, uh, this gradient -- is that what they call it -- you put here with the orange and yellow! You should do avocados next!”

You huffed with amusement. “Thanks, Lev. I didn’t know you were so into fruit. Or art. Or fruit art.”

He shrugged, smiling. “I just like to see you do what you do best. Other than being the best partner, it’s painting these little fruits on your hand!”

A knock was heard on the door and a voice called out, “Lyovochka? I made some snacks and tea for you and y/n.”

The door cracked open to reveal Alisa’s bright eyes and radiant smile. Once her gaze fell upon the paint bottles at your side, it shifted over to your hand, blotched with an array of yellow, orange, and green.

“Oh, y/n, I didn’t know you liked painting! May I see?” she asked excitedly, opening the door slightly wider.

“Of course,” you answered, extending your hand out for her to look.

She stepped inside and gently took your hand to observe the painted fruits. “It’s adorable, I love it!” she swooned. “After snacks, could you paint some for us, too? Or teach us?”

“Having oranges on my hand as I spike the ball does sound kinda cool...” Lev thought aloud.

“Heh, only if you don’t miss,” you said jokingly, pinching one of his cheeks playfully. “But I’d be happy to!”

And thus you found yourselves huddled together in the living room, fruit sandos and paintbrushes in hand as you three attempted to feed and paint on each other. Though it ended up a bit messy in more ways than one, Lev was content with his misshapen, orange oblongs and Alisa in love with her pink-orange peaches. None of you hesitated to show off your matching fruit hands to anybody you came across for the next two days.