The bright sunlight hit Kiran's eyelids, and he groaned. He shifted slightly, his body registering a weight from his chest down.
A very warm weight.
Kiran's eyes opened a crack, and he opened his eyes to a sea of blonde.
That's… odd.
Kiran glanced from side to side, and noted that he was in the castle halls. He looked back down at the blonde… something that was obscuring his vision.
Wait. Is this… hair?
Following the rest of his senses waking up, he could feel one of his arms wrapped around a warm object, his other hand pressed against something even softer and warmer. He could feel two, thinner warmths wrapping around his back, and a slight compressing and decompressing near his torso area. His brain went into overdrive, trying to figure out what this was.
He thought back to the previous night. He was going through the Sicilian, then what…? Oh, yes, Sharena had joined him and they'd had some awkward but rather fulfilling conversations, then…
Kiran sucked in a breath so quickly that Sharena's head rose with it, and she stirred with a start. Kiran could only watch Sharena slowly open her eyes, paralyzed with fear. Sharena pressed her hand over Kiran's, which was, as he realised, cupping one of her cheeks. She looked up at him, and Kiran's breath caught in his throat. She smiled at him dreamily, pressing his hand against her cheek. Everything else in Kiran's field of view faded away, leaving only Sharena in his sight.
"Kiran…" she whispered softly, holding Kiran's hand.
"H- hi," Kiran squeaked out, his voice higher pitched from embarrassment.
"You're amazing, Kiran…" Sharena sighed. "But I've always wondered what you look like under that hood. Can you… take it off for me?"
"U- um…" Kiran stammered. He himself wasn't even sure why he didn't show his face, he just, upon arriving in Askr, kept his face covered. "I…"
"I'll take that as a yes," Sharena whispered, reaching up towards Kiran's face. Kiran flushed but didn't move, waiting for Sharena to pull down his hood. As Sharena gripped the edge of the fabric with both hands, Kiran held his breath, waiting for the tug that would pull it down…
"Uhh… Just what are you two doing?"
A voice cut through the magical moment, causing the pair to turn to the newcomer. The red-haired Commander stood there, hands on her hips. She tilted her head, and Sharena glanced around them, seemingly taking in their surroundings for the first time.
"Where… are we?" Sharena asked. "We're in the castle. Wait, so that means I wasn't… This isn't a…"
"Yes," Anna replied. "This is indeed the castle. What were you two doing exactly?"
Sharena stole a panicked glance at Kiran, only to find him doubling the local crime rate by stealing one right back at her. Both of them were aware of what they were doing would look like to an outside party, and they both immediately broke into panicked explanations describing what- or what they weren't- doing.
"He was teaching me how to play a game from his world, it's called chess!"
"We were reviewing the basics of chess!"
"We weren't doing anything weird, promise!"
"We were just talking to each other!"
"Yeah!"
At this point, both Kiran and Sharena were bypassing red and turning crimson, their words unclear and incomprehensible. Anna raised an eyebrow, and crossed her arms.
"C'mon, you guys don't have to hide anything from me, you know. I'll ask again: What were you doing?"
"N- nothing! Just Kiran teaching me about this chess that you should learn about too!" Sharena squeaked.
Anna sighed. "Well, if you guys insist on not telling me, how about I ask the tome over there?"
Sharena and Kiran both stiffened, and followed the aim of her finger. There sat a tome, its pages ruffling and flipping through itself silently, aimed directly at where they used to be sitting and… cuddling.
Kiran panicked and made a wild leap towards the tome, but Anna was already much closer to it than he was, and picked it up. She snapped it shut and waved it in front of herself tauntingly.
"Tell me what you guys were doing, and you can take and keep this tome safe, without any prying eyes. Or, you could choose to stay silent, then I get to leaf through this to my pleasure, and maybe a bunch of others if this manages to sell…"
"W- we weren't doing anything weird, honestly!" Kiran shouted. "We swear!"
Sharena nodded frantically along with Kiran.
Anna smirked, and flipped the tome open. Kiran's head jerked towards Sharena, who had a similarly panicked expression on her face. They met each other's gazes, and with a mutual sinking feeling, Anna started humming as she started seeing pictures.
The pair could only watch, transfixed, as Anna raised an eyebrow. She glanced up at Kiran, then at the chessboard, then returned her gaze towards the tome. Her other eyebrow then raised itself, making her look surprised. She glanced up at the two of them who were standing together, huddled together.
"What were the two of you doing on the balcony?" she asked slyly.
"We were just talking with each other," Sharena said. That much was true, although a lot of the content was hidden.
When thinking back to their conversation, Sharena's mind blanked and focused on certain parts of Kiran's speech to her. Recalling them already brought a faint blush to her cheeks out of embarrassment.
You're an amazing person… I really admire that about you…
"Sharena?"
You stand out among thousands of others…
"Sharena? Hello? Askr to Sharena?"
You're really important to me.
"SHARENA!"
"Y- yes?"
Anna was closely scrutinising her, and Sharena cringed slightly.
"I asked if you were sure if 'talking' was all you did, but seeing as you started turning red and staring off into space, I'm led to believe that isn't the case…"
"It's true! We were just sharing a conversation about the stars and we stargazed a bit! Honest!" Kiran defended.
"Were you two making out?" Anna teased.
"No!" Sharena squealed, her cheeks flaring red. "We didn't! We absolutely did not!"
Kiran had pulled his hood even further over his head, hiding his entire face, although traces of red could still be seen through the cracks of the fabric.
"Tell me, Sharena," Anna smirked. She lowered her voice to a dramatic whisper. "Are Kiran's lips soft? Be honest."
"WE DIDN'T K- KISS! WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT!" Sharena shrieked. "WE DIDN'T!"
"Alright, fine," Anna grumbled. "Keep your secrets."
She continued leafing through the pages, and she glanced at the chessboard again.
"Seems like an interesting game, Summoner. You'll have to teach me how to play. Sharena looked like she was having a blast."
Kiran didn't answer, likely because his hood was still completely pulled over his face. Anna turned her attention back to the book, her eyes flicking back and forth between pages. Kiran and Sharena both cowered in fear of what the book may have recorded, and their fears were confirmed when Anna's eyes grew wide, and she let out an audible gasp. She slowly turned her eyes towards the pair, who were both looking at anywhere BUT her. Kiran was banging his head against the pillar, facing away from her, and Sharena was suddenly very interested in the red carpet underneath her feet.
"I can't believe you two," Anna gasped, a slight red dusting across her cheeks. "Sharena, you fell asleep on him? And Kiran, you didn't even protest all that much! Did you really want to cuddle her that badly? And Sharena, did you want to get cuddled by Kiran?"
Kiran let out a small squeak of embarrassment, and Sharena buried her face in her hands.
"Who wanted to cuddle who?" a deeper voice rang out.
"A- Alfonse!" Sharena squeaked. "It's nothing!"
"Are you okay, Sharena? Is your face alright? It looks rather red…"
"It's nothing, I'm fine!" Sharena proclaimed. "I- I'm going to go back to my room now!"
"Ah-ah-ah," Anna shook her finger. "You're staying here."
"What's going on here, Summ- Summoner?!" Alfonse exclaimed upon seeing Kiran constantly banging his head against the pillar. "Are you alright?"
"He's doing just fine," Anna smirked. "In the meantime, why don't I show you this cool tome I set up? I set it up to see if I could get any good shots of heroes doing some nightly routines, and I stumbled into quite the jackpot last night, it seems.
"Whatever they do at that time is private, Anna," Alfonse chided. "You should not be profiting off of those photos."
"Oh, but it's not just any random summoned hero," Anna smiled. "Why, it's-"
"THAT'S ENOUGH, ANNA!" Sharena shrieked. "HE DOESN'T NEED TO KNOW!"
"Oh, so will you tell him yourselves?" Anna asked smugly. Alfonse watched the scene unfolding with an increasing sense of confusion.
"Can someone please explain to me what exactly is going on?"
"Suuuure," Anna sang. She skipped over and flipped the tome open, showing Alfonse the shot of Kiran and Sharena cuddling while they slept. Unbeknownst to the pair, while they were both asleep, Sharena had actually buried her face into Kiran's chest and snuggled into it, very clearly comfortable. Alfonse cleared his throat and glanced up at Kiran, who had since stopped banging his head on the pillar and was looking down at his chessboard.
Alfonse sighed and began, "Coming from a royal point of view, Sharena, you shouldn't, well, be doing such things with Kiran, as it wouldn't help Askr improve its standing with other neighbouring kingdoms."
Sharena opened her mouth to protest, but Alfonse smiled and held up his hand. "However, as your brother, I value your happiness above all else. My one wish is for everyone to get along, and that includes you, Sharena. All I'll say is follow your heart. It rarely does you wrong."
Alfonse turned to leave, and began stalking away, before pausing.
"By the way, Summoner," Alfonse called, tossing a glance over his shoulder. "Her favourite flowers are peonies."
"Alfonse!" Sharena cried out.
Alfonse merely smirked and turned away, with a wave over his shoulder. "Enjoy yourselves, you two."
"He took that a lot better than I expected him to. Then again, you are pretty invaluable to all of us," Anna conceded with a shrug. "Although I'm sure Sharena would use a much stronger term than invaluable for you…"
"Anna!" Sharena shouted.
"Am I wrong?" Anna said with a shark-like grin. "It's so obvious the two of you like each other. But you two keep dancing around your feelings, and always getting flustered around each other."
"Wh- what?" Kiran responded, his voice slightly muffled by his hood. "I- I have no clue what you're talking about!"
"Can't hear you!" Anna trilled. "Maybe you could remove your hood?"
Kiran let go of his hood, letting it fall back to its original position of just covering the top half of his face.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Kiran repeated.
"You willingly pulled Sharena into a hug then cuddled her the whole night," Anna rebutted. Kiran opened his mouth, then closed it, defeated.
Anna let out a small chuckle, then waved her hand. "I've had my fun. You two can continue cuddling or making out or whatever. I'm off to sell this thing. See ya!"
Anna skipped away happily, her ears full of the tinkling sound of gold and none of Kiran and Sharena's protests. Kiran and Sharena looked at each other and sighed, a lot of awkward tension in the air from the rigorous teasing they'd received from the red-haired Commander.
"W- well, would you teach me some strategies for chess…?"
"Sharena," Kiran said. He held his breath and closed his eyes, bracing himself for what he was going to say.
"Y- yeah, Kiran?" Sharena asked, a tinge of pink appearing on her cheeks. "What's up?"
"I…" Kiran began, a bead of sweat trickling down his face. "I've liked you for a long time. You know that?"
"N- no," Sharena whispered, her blush only growing in intensity. "I- I thought that I was the only one-"
"It's not just you," Kiran whispered. He looked away, cheeks aflame from embarrassment. Surtr would have been proud of the pure heat emanating from the boy's face. "You're like my image of a perfect person. You're so kind, so selfless, so friendly. You can bring a smile to anyone's face when you talk to them, and you just- you just radiate perfection to me. I just wanted to say now, since I might not get another chance to, I love you. It's- it's okay if you don't feel the same way, please don't feel pressured to do anything. I'm not even from this world, so it'd be okay if you chose to be with someone else- mmf!"
Kiran was cut off rather abruptly by Sharena grabbing his collar and pulling him downwards to press her lips to his. Kiran closed his eyes and melted into the kiss, relishing in the sheer warmth that Sharena brought in the embrace. They both held the kiss for a good minute before separating for air, Kiran in particular looking like a fish out of water.
"Kiran," Sharena began. "Ever since the beginning, when you were summoned with Breidablik, you gave off this quiet but strong aura. You were always cool-headed in battle, confidently commanding us to victory each and every time. When I brought you around to all the different festivals, you came along without complaint. When you first didn't say anything, I was a bit worried that you wouldn't like it. But when you said that you enjoyed it, I was so happy. You've always supported me and made me feel like a part of a family. For that, I love you too, Kiran."
Kiran's eyes lit up, and he pulled her into another deep kiss, exhilarated. Sharena eagerly returned it, leaning into Kiran's embrace this time and sighing happily. When they separated again, their faces were both dusted pink, but both were smiling like they were in heaven.
"Hey, the next Day of Devotion's coming soon," Sharena started shyly. "Would- would you go with me?"
Kiran smiled happily, and met her eyes.
"Of course."
"Took 'em long enough," Anna scoffed.
"They really did have a hard time talking to each other about it," Alfonse muttered. "I've always wanted to help, but I never knew how to."
"When did you realise?" Anna asked, intrigued.
"Since that one Day of Devotion festival, where she wanted the bouquet for her friend. You teased her about wanting it for herself and Kiran… When she turned bright red and stammered so much, I had a feeling."
"How ironic. That was the same time I'd realised too."
Anna and Alfonse sighed, shaking their heads silently.
"We'll see how the Day of Devotion goes, I suppose," Alfonse muttered.
"Yes… We shall see."
Hope you enjoyed! The Day of Devotion fic will arrive later.
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