Paradise Lost
Chapter13, Stay woke
I do not own anything relating to either series. Seriously. What a shocker.
I am STILL getting my ass whooped by this cold. It ain't the flu, but it's pretending it is pretty damn good.
The Test results won't be in this chapter, however, sorry! I had too many scenes planned out for me to fit it into this one, but it's coming next chapter I promise!
Thank you, Soul90 and Milton for picking apart the names! Milton, you nailed it when you mentioned the translation of Buzoku, which is 'The Tribe'. Haruhime Kurusu's original name was Haruhime Buzoku, which is a direct reference to 'Branwen', or as close as I can get considering I have no idea what Branwen even means, if it has a meaning.
I always tie things together in multiple ways, leaving little tidbits and hints for the future in each and every chapter. So far, you two are the best treasure hunters I've got!
Thank you, ThatGuyReturns, for being a loyal reader through and through. God I fucking love you, you glorious mofo you!
That is a good question, JDS62, but I can't really answer that one right now without spoiling things!
To everyone else, I love you all and I am so glad you have stuck around with me as long as you have!
[PL]
Akira was awake the following morning far sooner than he wished to be, having awoken from a nightmare that seemed to repeat itself rather frequently. Too frequently, if he were honest. Rising slowly and untangling his limbs from Futaba's, Akira placed his warm pillow within her grasp upon seeing a slight look of discomfort force her lips downwards. She curled around the down pillow quickly and rolled onto her side, leaving Akira to breathe easier.
Futaba had been just as heavy a sleeper as he was, though he had been forced to break the habit upon opening Leblanc Deux some few months prior. Sighing lightly, Akira stared at her sleeping form for a few minutes to try and calm himself once more. His heartbeat began to steady out once more upon realizing she was indeed real and not under threat of fading, leaving Akira wide awake more than five hours before it was time to open up for the day.
He could never get back to sleep after seeing his friends fade away before his very eyes, especially knowing that he was next and there was nothing he could do to help them. That moment in time would continue to haunt him until he passed away, and honestly, probably beyond.
'Four in the morning, as usual.' Akira groused as he checked the time before moving to his closet. Making sure that he had absolutely everything he needed, he proceeded to pad from the room and make his way to the bathroom.
He glanced to his right and saw that Blake was still awake, leaning over her open book once more, her pen scribbling away while she giggled in a way that even Akira had to admit was rather lurid in nature. There were slight bags under her eyes, just as he knew there were under his own.
"Morning," Akira greeted lowly, causing Blake to glance his way before nodding, "You're having issues sleeping as well?"
"A bit," Blake admitted while shutting her 'journal' gently and putting it away to prevent any prying eyes from perusing her thoughts, " Do you mind if we talk?"
Her voice was a bit smaller than usual, causing Akira a small amount of concern as he nodded and made for her bed. Sitting down at the foot of the large mattress, he patted the spot next to him in a silent gesture for her to come closer. Blake complied quietly, her feet completely silent as she moved across the hardwood floor to sit herself down beside one of the few people Blake could honestly say she trusted.
It didn't help that she was trying, and failing, to convince herself that what she felt for him only extended to friendship.
"What do you want to talk about?" Akira questioned lightly while rubbing his left eye with the back of his hand to help him wake a bit. Blake didn't answer at first, but eventually seemed to gather her courage enough to pose her next question.
"I've been thinking lately, and I feel like I still owe you a strong debt. I was wondering if… maybe I… could help teach you how to use your Aura as a way to pay it off a bit?" Blake seemed almost hopeful, her eyes lighting up slightly.
Placing his open palm against the mattress beneath him palm up, it was obvious what he wanted. Blake laced her fingers with his a moment later, hesitating for only a scintilla of a second.
"Blake, you don't owe me anything. I would, however, be honored to learn under you." Akira gave her hand a light squeeze to reassure her, though she hardly needed it, "What do you have in mind?"
"I... well," She stumbled over her words due to the feeling of warmth suffusing from his hand into hers before she gathered her wits, "Let's start with trying to judge how much Aura you have. Go get a shower first, you look like you need a good wake up."
"You got it, boss," Akira quipped before withdrawing his hand from hers, rising from the edge of the bed and making his way to the bathroom after retrieving his clothing, "I shouldn't be long."
Blake heard the door shut and turned her amber gaze downwards to the hand that previously clasped his own. Clenching her fist and releasing it, the Faunus almost mewled in discontent upon feeling the incredible warmth he brought slowly fading from her body.
Rising from her spot, Blake began to toss her hair and straighten her bed, making sure that the sheathe of Gambol Shroud was in its correct position beneath her pillows. After confirming that her weapon was indeed in the correct position, the female Faunus allowed her attention to travel towards the book she was previously writing in.
It would be really, really bad if Akira were to somehow get his hands on her book, doing her best to hide it at the bottom of her bag as she did whenever he was around. Blake was left with nothing to do but wait for her roommate and confidant to return once more, setting herself down in her previous position while quickly losing herself in her thoughts.
She didn't have to wait long for Akira to finish with his shower, exiting the bathroom garbed in a button down shirt and slacks, his frizzy hair tossed about and damp from his morning shower. Blake watched a droplet of water escape his hairline and trace along his jaw before slowly descending down his throat. It disappeared along the collar of his shirt, bringing her attention back to his face.
The red eyed teenager gave her an amused smile before raising his legs to sit cross-legged in his previous position. "Alright, so how do you want to do this?"
"Let me see your hand again," Blake gestured for him to return his hand to its previous position within hers before continuing, "Whenever you are ready, I want you to pull as much of your Aura to the surface as you can."
Akira laced his fingers with hers once more and closed his eyes before reaching into himself, listening as Blake continued to guide him through hushed whispers as he pulled the second energy source born from his soul to the surface.
Due to the fact that he had his eyes clenched tight, he missed the crimson light that began to shine around him once more, waving and undulating as if it were a flame without heat an inch from his skin.
'He has even more than Adam...' Blake felt her brows raise in surprise upon seeing just how brightly Akira had begun to shine as he pulled as much of his Aura to the surface as he could, "Alright, I think I have a good guess on where you stand as far as reserves go."
"How did I do?" Akira questioned after a moment, taking a deep breath to steady his heart as his secondary energy source settled into the rapid currents hiding beneath his skin once more.
"It was... much larger than I was expecting." Blake stated before her face blanked out, already knowing that if she were to turn to face Akira, he would have a lewd smile upon his face, "Don't, just... don't. You know what I meant."
"Oh, I know," Akira laughed lightly, doing his best to wipe the smirk from his face, "I suppose I should be glad, then."
"Yes, you should," Blake groused as she turned to face him, "I've been working on my reserves since I was twelve and even I don't have that much. This is hardly fair."
The frizzy haired teenager at least had the decency to look sheepish as he brought the hand not being held by Blake upwards to scratch the back of his neck. "Sorry, I suppose?"
"It's nothing to be sorry over, it actually makes things easier," Blake admitted as she laid backwards on her bed, her thumb tracing circles on the back of Akira's hand still held within her grasp absentmindedly, "The next step after learning to call upon it at will is focusing it to one spot anywhere on your body in a seconds notice."
"One second, hm?" Akira questioned lightly, already having an idea on how he could start to train himself on utilizing his Aura better, "I think I can do that. It might take a few weeks of practice, but I'm sure I'll get it."
"I have faith that you will," Blake admitted, her tone slightly heavier than before from the sleep entering her voice, "I... think I'm going to try and pass out. I'll be awake by opening."
Rolling over slightly, Akira allowed his arm to wrap around her shoulder lightly as he rested his head in the crook of her neck. "Thank you for the help, Blake. Sleep well and sweet dreams."
Blake didn't speak, her mouth going dry at the worst moment once more as he rose and made his way for the stairs. Whining under her breath, she brought her arm up to rest over her eyes as she felt his warmth fade once more.
'My dreams will be sweet, alright, so long as you keep invading them.'
[PL]
Ozpin pinched the bridge of his nose as he leaned back in his chair, finally given a moments reprieve from the chaos that was his job as Headmaster and the many different responsibilities he held elsewhere.
Outside of helping Amber recuperate from having a portion of her power as the Fall Maiden forcefully stolen from her, now he found himself drawn into a conspiracy that was years in the making.
Feeling his Scroll begin to vibrate, Ozpin reached into his pocket and retrieved the device before answering the call by sliding the two bars apart, seeing Qrow's name flash across his screen.
"It is far too early for you to be up right now, Qrow." Ozpin didn't bother with a standard greeting, knowing that his corvian partner would hardly be impressed with a hello or a good morning.
"Very funny, Oz. How's she doing?" Came the reply from the other line, Qrow's gruff voice cutting through the sound of paperwork fluttering on the morning wind upon his desk, "Stabilizing, right?"
"Amber is proving to be very resilient, so far. Had any more of her power been drained before you were able to cut the link between her and her assailant..." Ozpin trailed off, spinning in his chair to face the morning sun as the star shining over Remnant began to peak over the horizon once more, "She should be awake within the next forty eight hours, though her recovery will take far longer."
"Good. Good..." Qrow trailed off, his line becoming slightly muted for a moment as he greeted what sounded like his eldest niece before returning to the conversation, "How long did you say that test would take? I can't remember what you said a few hours ago."
"If you weren't nearly blackout drunk when you flew into my office window with a baggy of hair in your beak, you would remember what I said." Ozpin chastised lightly before sighing heavily, "It should be done in twelve hours, at the most. I am rushing it considering he supplied an ample enough amount of hair for multiple tests being run to force the process along."
"Yeah, I think you might be on to something," Qrow didn't sound apologetic or even sheepish in the slightest, "I told him two days, so that gives us time to..."
"Decide if he is friend or foe?" Ozpin didn't seem bothered by the fact that he could potentially order the imprisonment of Akira should he prove to be unwilling to cooperate, "We both know what needs to be done if he is the latter."
"I'm leaning towards the former, Oz," Qrow stated without missing a beat, already knowing what Ozpin was implicating, "He jumped to my defense far too quickly for him to be corrupted by my sister. He also isn't working with Amber's attackers, considering his reaction to seeing me yesterday."
"What do you mean?" Ozpin questioned after a moment, turning his gaze away from the orange and pink horizon and towards the large Scroll propped up on his desk, "You only gave me a brief report last night, so I am still mostly in the dark on how you even got him to agree to give you hair samples so quickly."
"I think it would have taken a lot more time had he not been drinking with Yang last night," Qrow grumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'damned perverts wouldn't quit flirting', "We may or may not have started a brawl in Hei Xiong's place, by the way, dunno if you got that last night or not."
"Are... are you being serious right now, Qrow?" Ozpin couldn't tell, so he felt the need to reaffirm his former student and comrade's words, "Just how much alcohol is still in your system?"
"Not enough, I'm still breathing," Qrow commented idly, "Seriously, we trashed the place. Akira was there before Yang showed up, and you know I keep an eye out on her when she goes out looking for info on her mom..."
"I see." Ozpin laced his fingers before his face, leaning against his desk heavily as he tried to digest the words of Qrow, "What did Akira have to do with you and your nieces little... battle royale?"
"Yang called him into it, he jumped in willingly," Qrow sounded like he shrugged, but Ozpin couldn't be sure considering this was only an audio call, "I think he had a bone to pick with Junior from the way he was talking. He went as far as calling upon his... 'Maiden' powers or whatever, though only just barely. I was actually able to catch a bit of his conversation with Junior and Yang, claimed his mothers name was 'Haruhime', if that means anything to you. The expression on his face when he saw Raven's picture, however, tells a different story."
"This is troubling news, Qrow..." Ozpin trailed off, not feeling the need to elaborate on just why he felt as such. He felt his mouth grow a bit more dry at the implications behind not only his reaction to Raven's picture, but the chosen name he designated to his supposed 'mother'.
Haruhime. Haru. Hime. Spring. Princess. The flames that appeared around his eyes when he called upon his magic were azure blue, the same as the Spring Maiden. Ozpin had already come to a startling conclusion about Raven potentially taking the abilities of the Spring Maiden for herself, but it was nothing more than a ludicrous, passing theory based on circumstances and speculation.
Now, however, Ozpin was having not second, but third thoughts on the subject. It was supposed to be Leonardo's job to track down and protect the Spring Maiden from the clutches of Salem and her ilk, but something told Ozpin that it was time for him to check up on things a bit more... personally.
It was too much of a coincidence to ignore, especially with two people backing his theory about Akira's origins in the form of Qrow and apparently Yang Xiao Long. The long silence on the whereabouts of the Spring Maiden, not to mention the unknown location of either the Winter Maiden or Summer Maiden made for disaster in the near future. If Raven freaking Branwen ended up with the powers of the Spring Maiden, there was no telling what she would do with someone like Akira by her side to supplement her already incredible combat prowess.
Allying himself with Akira before Raven or potentially even Salem could suddenly took a higher priority on Ozpin's steadily growing list of things he needed to accomplish within his current lifetime.
The aged Headmaster was drawn from his thoughts by the voice of Qrow Branwen once more, the gruff, drunken tone of the aging man growing a bit softer than before.
"I still don't think he's as bad as Raven, Oz. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt, at least until he gives us a reason not to," Qrow reasoned once more, doing his best to try and paint Akira in a better light than his words may have implied, "He restrained himself heavily from what I can tell considering he didn't actively seek to harm anyone rather than teach them not to attack him. Even I've done worse, and you still keep me around."
"We both know you are my most loyal helper, it would be foolish for me to let you go over something so trivial." Ozpin replied easily enough, only to pause as he repeated his words in his head, "I suppose I shall give Akira a bit more... leniency in my scrutiny, if you are sure that he isn't going to become an active threat."
"I'll make damn sure of it, Oz. Well, Yang is up and demanding her keys back, so I guess I need to warn a certain frizzy haired cat that he'll have a firecracker heading his way when I lose this game of keep away. Talk to you later." Qrow seemed distracted by the sounds of something impacting his body and the growling of his blond niece, causing Ozpin to laugh lightly at the scene playing out in his ear.
"Goodbye, Qrow, have fun fighting off your tiger of a niece." With that, Ozpin slid his Scroll shut and turned to face the screen of the larger Scroll on his desk.
"Junior's, hmm?" Ozpin drawled lightly as he pulled the hard-light keyboard closer to him before typing in a few commands. Moments later, he came across something he wasn't expecting.
"Who could have deleted the security footage? How peculiar..."
[PL]
"Say, Jeff, you said you would look over a few blueprints if I agreed to give you the recipe for my coffee cakes, right?" Akira grinned as he leaned over the counter, "I might have one you could look at for me..."
Akira had opened up for the day an hour prior, allowing Blake and himself to get straight to work in supplying the Kingdom of Vale with its daily fix of high quality caffeinated beverages. Blake was in a rather chipper mood and had already cracked two sarcastic quips at Akira's expense, something he realized was done only when she was relaxed.
The sounds of customers enjoying themselves filled the cafe, allowing Akira to enjoy the feeling of pride that welled up upon realizing just how much his coffee and curry meant to those around him now.
Jeff, here, was one such person, having been a loyal customer of Akira's since the first week that Leblanc Deux was open. Despite the fact that the man reminded Akira of a walrus, he was a jovial person who loved his coffee and cakes, not to mention the sweet curry that the frizzy haired cafe owner learned to make two months prior.
The man was rather well off and very well connected in the construction industry, holding two meetings in Leblanc previously with businessmen from Vacuo and Atlas looking to purchase their services in renovation and construction. From the way the two business meetings went, Akira was able to come to the conclusion that if he wanted anything done right, he would go to his walrus friend.
"Holy... Are you serious right now?" The large bodied man questioned almost excitedly, his large, handlebar mustache raising along with his brows in excitement, "I gave you my word, I just wasn't expecting you to take me up on the offer!"
"Well, I've recently decided on placing bids on two more buildings, and I got news this morning that I won them both," Akira admitted while placing a large plate of the cakes down next to Jeff and his partner William, "These are on the house. Let me go grab those blueprints, I'll be right back."
"You're the best, Akira!" Jeff grabbed one of the cakes and stuffed it into his mouth without a second thought, having become addicted to the cakes after having been a loyal customer of Leblanc Deux for months. "You hear that, Will? We might have two more jobs after this renovation is done!"
"I'm sitting right here, Jeff," The skinny man answered almost sheepishly as he reached for a cake for himself, "Here he is, that was quick."
"Sorry about that," Akira returned to his spot behind the counter before setting down two rolled up blueprints and what appeared to be another small, rolled up piece of paper with a ribbon around it, "I'm only roughly guessing, but this should end up being eighty to one hundred thousand Lien in all by the time it's finished."
Both Jeff and Will stared at the first blueprint for what appeared to be an apartment building while counting the Lien signs in their mind, a smile on either of their faces.
"I think you are talking to the right people, Akira." Jeff admitted after a moment, thumbing through the two documents attached to the back of the blueprints, "This is pretty reasonable, all things considered. Only the top floor should give us any issues, and even then... I think we can get started next week and have it done before the Vytal Festival even starts."
"I'm glad to hear that, because I need this done soon," Akira tapped the small scroll of paper sitting beside the second, unopened blueprint, "I've not only given you the recipe for the coffee cakes, but the recipe for my caramelized honey curry. Tell the missus I expect her to show me what she can do with it."
"Oh, you shouldn't have!" Jeff once more exclaimed, "No, seriously, you have no idea how big of a deal this is! Maybe she'll finally let me out of the dog house..."
Akira didn't comment, instead listening as the two men began to formulate plans on how many men they would need for the job and where they were going to order their resources from.
[PL]
'Uugh, you are not going to believe the day I've been having.' ~ Received from Yang at 6:38 PM
'Is everything okay?' ~ Sent at 6:40 PM
'Juuuust dandy. Uncle Qrow played keep away with my keys all day, just made it into town. You should feel lucky, I had plans of bothering you all day.' Received from Yang at 6:51 PM
'I have a feeling I should be sending Qrow a thank you text, but I don't have his number.' Sent at 6:52 PM
'Ha-ha, you're so funny. NOT. Hey, you live at Leblanc, right?' Received from Yang at 6:55 PM
'Yes, why?' Sent at 6:56 PM
'It's cold outside, you mind opening up for little ole me? We never got to finish our conversation last night.' Received from Yang at 6:57 PM
Akira glanced up from his Scroll and made his way down stairs, patting Futaba on the head lightly as he passed her. The sound of lo-fi music filled his room, preventing him from hearing anything beyond his hardly decorated walls. Opening the door and stepping out quickly to keep the noise leaving his room to a minimum, Akira once more found himself in the small portion of Leblanc that his other roommate had claimed as her own.
Blake was sprawled out on her bed reading what appeared to be yet another volume of smutty lore, the bags beneath her eyes having lessened from the extra bit of sleep she had gotten. Akira nodded in her direction, leaving her to nod back in greeting as he made his way down the stairs once more.
True to her text, Yang was standing in front of Leblanc Deux with her arms crossed over her ample bosom, her right foot tapping impatiently as she waited for the frizzy haired teenager to open up.
Akira had half a mind to leave her standing there, but the way Yang shivered lightly when the breeze picked up changed his mind instantly. The seasons were changing from Summer to Autumn once more, leaving the trees to shed their leaves and the warmth in the air to fade away. The surprise cold snap that chilled the Southern Kingdom was well fore casted, but it seemed the blond boxer didn't get the memo.
There were dark circles under Yang's lilac colored eyes just like those forming beneath Akira's own, showing that there was yet another person that seemed to be struggling with sleep lately. Despite having only known the blond for a month and having spent less than a days worth of time in her presence, Akira felt the same strong pang of concern that he usually felt when looking over the wounded members of the Phantom Thieves.
Doing his best to squash the protective, mother-hen tendencies that had strongly taken root within him, the frizzy haired Faunus instead schooled his face into a mostly neutral, yet pleasant facade before unlocking the door and holding it open.
Akira allowed the blond boxer to make her way into the cafe, keeping his eyes firmly above her waist, despite just how great of a view her backside was. "Today has frickin' sucked, Akira."
"What's wrong?" Akira questioned moments later, shutting and locking the door before making his way around the counter to grab a bottle of his cold-brew coffee, "Want one?"
"What are they?" Yang tilted her head to the bottle, only for Akira to open it up and slide it her way, "Oh, it's not beer? Awesome, I think I actually would have been sick if it were, now that I think about it."
"I don't think alcohol would make you feel any better right now," Akira smiled as he made his way to the fridge after grabbing a second bottle, "I have some leftovers still cooling down if you'd like some."
"I'm good, I just want this headache to go away, honestly," Yang folded her arms and placed her forehead against them, "I was gonna ask if you wanted to go to the gym, but I honestly just feel like trash today."
"Do you need any medicine?" Tilting his head to the right, the black haired Faunus watched the female who believed him to be her brother, "I've got a little bit of everything."
"No, thank you though," Yang rolled her shoulders and sighed heavily, "I just get stiff after a good fight. Once my back and neck loosens up I should be alright."
"Alright," Akira agreed, shutting the fridge door after grabbing a small tray of vanilla cakes from the second shelf, "So if you don't want to go to the gym, what would you like to do? I'm free the rest of the night."
It was pretty obvious that she wanted to hang out for a while, especially from how quickly she settled into her spot at the counter. Yang slouched a bit further and groaned lowly under her breath upon feeling her back stretch a bit more than before.
"I want to get to know you better, so anything is fine if you don't mind answering my questions again." Yang shrugged lightly, causing her back and shoulders both to pop audibly enough for Akira to pick up. "I wasn't expecting to hurt this bad today, what the hell..."
"Hmm..." Akira hummed under his breath as he made his way around the counter, ignoring the fact that Yang's eyes were following his every move almost like a hawk from the crook of her arms, "Sounds like you need a good massage, honestly. I couldn't sleep after a big fight without one."
The former Joker watched her almost instantly perk up upon hearing his words, the gears turning in her head being obvious to him as she mulled over the thought of asking for help.
If she wouldn't eat food to help with her hangover and she couldn't sleep to help alleviate her headache, there was little that could be done. Without medicine, the only way Akira thought he could help was the same way that Sadayo used to help him after a long night in the Metaverse.
"What, are you offering?" Yang teased with a grin, raising her head from the counter to face him better before her grin devolved into a slight grimace, "That's what it's sounding like to me, hot st-, er... Akira."
The way she awkwardly shifted her gaze away from his caused the Human turned 'Faunus' to snort in amusement despite the fact that it was a bit weird for her to try and speak to him without flirting.
"Well, I suppose I could give you a hand," Akira shrugged his shoulders, not at all bothered by her teasing, "Though I warn you, you might end up falling asleep afterwards."
"Pfft, I doubt that," Yang threw her hair over her shoulder, giving Akira a better view of her back as she leaned a bit further over his counter, "Please, just help, I can't take this anymore."
"If you are sure," Akira placed his right hand upon her back before calling upon the healing abilities of Kaguya, channeling just enough Mana to cast a medium tier healing spell before he began to knead her back through her shirt, "You weren't kidding, I can feel two different places your muscles have bunched up, maybe even three."
Yang couldn't help the low moan that escaped her lips as Akira placed his left hand upon her back as well, beginning to use his thumbs to press upwards and out near her shoulder blades. He continued to massage her back along her spine firmly, yet gently enough to not cause any discomfort of having her shirt pressed so harshly into her skin and drag along its surface.
"Oh my god, Akira," Yang breathed out as his hands traveled further up her back and towards her neck, "Right there, that's the stuff! Where the hell did you learn how to do this?"
"A woman named Sadayo Kawakami," Akira sighed as even speaking her name caused memories to come rushing to the surface, "I had a strange history with her, to say the least."
"Something tells me you don't want to elaborate?" Yang questioned after a moment, doing her best to remain conscious as Akira continued to work his magic upon her back, "That's cool, I'm sure you'll tell me about it eventually."
"Oh, and what makes you so sure?" Akira was not at all bothered by her questioning, but the sureness in her tone was enough to make him pause, "It is rather personal, after all."
"Nothing is too personal for Yang Xiao Long, buster," Yang turned her head to lay it sideways upon her arms resting upon the counter, her lilac gaze turned towards him as best she could, "You know, I was serious last night. If you are my brother, you can best believe that you are going to be putting up with me a hell of a lot."
"And if I'm not?" Akira raised a brow, his tone colored with amusement, "I highly doubt we are related, Yang, please don't get your hopes up."
"That would be just as fine with me, actually," Yang admitted before wiggling her hips slightly to position herself better, ignoring the fact she may have leaned a bit too closely to Akira in the process, "That means that all of our flirting wasn't for nothing and that I can still make you mine. Either way, you're gonna have to put up with me a hell of a lot, really."
Akira was rendered speechless by how bluntly Yang had worded her last statement, though she hardly seemed to notice his silence due to her continuing moments later.
"Seriously, I feel kinda like a creep right now," Yang suppressed a shudder, one of both pleasure and self disgust for enjoying the feeling of Akira's hands upon her back as much as she did, "But damn if you weren't kidding about having some skill! You can cook, clean and send me to paradise with a touch... damn! Here's to hoping you aren't my brother!"
"Well we did do pretty good tag teaming those twins last night, didn't we?"
"Hell yeah we did!"
Akira paused for a moment as he thought he heard someone whisper 'holy shit' under their breath, causing him to turn his crimson gaze towards the stairs before shrugging his shoulders and returning to making sure Yang recovered from the seemingly long night she had previously.
[PL]
Blake placed a hand against her mouth after pressing her body against the wall just outside of Akira's view. She had been minding her own business, reading her smut when she thought she heard moaning. Pausing her reading for a moment and shutting her book, she listened for a moment to discover that someone was moaning and it wasn't her.
Slinking to the stairs to discover the source of the noise, Blake felt her heartbeat skyrocket upon remembering that Akira had made his way downstairs some twenty minutes prior.
The sound of moaning grew louder the closer Blake got towards the base of the stairs, standing just outside of view of the first three steps that turned right before continuing into a second flight.
"Oh my god, Akira! Right there, that's the stuff! Where the hell did you learn how to do this?!"
Blake felt something trickle from her nose and brought her hand to her face, knowing exactly what was happening to her.
'I... but I thought he was single...' Blake felt her ears press closer to her head as she continued to eavesdrop, completely misinterpreting the situation, 'Who is he even...'
Steeling her nerves and glancing around the corner, Blake was gifted with the scene of the blond boxer that Akira had flirted with a few weeks prior leaning over the counter while Akira stood behind her, either of his hands planted firmly on her shoulders. She couldn't see anything, however, due to the large coffee machine that rested on the edge of the counter, blocking most of her view.
'Wow, he really is...'
Blake was forced to reconsider, however, when Akira and Yang started having a casual conversation about another woman all together, leaving the black haired Faunus flabbergasted about how casually they spoke while they were doing what they were doing.
When the blond began to speak about Akira potentially being her brother, though, Blake couldn't stop her mind from blanking out.
'What. The. Fuck?'
Considering that Akira shared his bed with someone he called his little sister, it was obvious that he was very affectionate with those he considered family. This, however, took the cake.
Blake felt her mind shift into overdrive as she fantasized a scene involving a forbidden romance between siblings. Once more, she felt the trickle of blood escaping her nostrils, but she hardly cared. Slinking away from the stairs, Blake grabbed the notebook on the edge of the desk and slowly made her way back down, just in time to hear Akira's proud words.
"Well we did do pretty good tag teaming those twins last night, didn't we?"
"Hell yeah we did!"
Blake couldn't stop herself from harshly whispering her next words.
"Holy shit..."
'These two were bragging about their conquests as if it were nothing! Akira, what the hell?!'
"Thanks for rubbing my back for me, Akira, I honestly feel like a million Lien right now!"
Oh. Oh.
Now Blake just felt silly. Shaking her head in the negative, she made her way back up the stairs to leave Akira and Yang to hang out alone once more, having been both relieved and disappointed at once. She was happy that her roommate wasn't bending a woman over his counter to plow her fields, but at the same time...
'I can still use the scene for my book, either way. I should be happy for the inspiration, I suppose.'