[ it's taken a little bit for yin yu to make his appropriate rounds. he wanted to try and clear the air on some things, and speak to a few others, but by the end of the night, when a quiet settles over the camp, he's coming back to try and awkwardly change out of the more modern clothes he'd snagged from the campsco and back into his normal robes. it's not going super well - the plan was originally to get changed and then immediately go find flayn, but these wings are entirely too immense, and his shirt's sort of half hanging off of them when there's a knock.
he pauses, wriggles enough to pull the turtleneck with the awkwardly cut holes for his wings mostly back down, and goes for the door with a quiet, ] ...Sorry, Akira, I didn't mean to lock you out -
[ and when he opens it, it's the exact person he was hoping to go see once he finished.
yin yu blinks, a little surprised --he's still sort of half trapped in the turtleneck, one arm sticking out of it, the fabric pulled up past his bellybutton--and then, his cheeks flush, and there are those butterflies that, despite how embarrassing they can be, he's really, really missed. ] ...hello.
[she just. looks down, her cheeks flushing faintly, because he was clearly not expecting her to be here now and - well, she's not actually used to seeing that much of his skin? it's just his bellybutton, but like, wow. that's unexpected.]
Um - is this a bad time...? I could... come back later.
No--of course not. I was coming to find you, anyway, but...
[ well, it kind of.
.... his shirt is stuck.
there's a beat, and then, yin yu just sighs; the wings behind him droop a little. ] ...I... may need to ask for your assistance, first, if you would be so kind.
[ he seems a little embarrassed. yin yu ends up having to basically kneel down so she can reach properly, but it looks like the stretchy material of the turtleneck caught on one of the less soft feathers and gnarled some of the fabric at the edges, so it's hanging half awkwardly off of his back. ]
They're. [ ... he just. sighs trying to think of a way to put this nicely. ] ...very much in the way.
[ oh. that probably shouldn't make him flush - these aren't actually his, and they certainly don't feel like his - but it does, anyway. maybe it's just the tone of flayn's voice. maybe it's just the fact that she's here in this room with him, for the first time since before his death. ]
...They don't suit me so much. [ he certainly does not think so. of all of the creatures.... ] Such things are best kept to paintings, I think. [ mm. the feathers rustle gently underneath her hands where they rest, involuntary, as he remembers his manners and mumbles: ] ...but, thank you.
...your wings are from a painting, then? Not from a real creature?
[She doesn't recognize them, but - she'd sort of figured it was because she just wasn't that familiar with his world. She keeps her focus on his wings as she works, through, very gently smoothing the feathers down and into place.
[ oh that feels kind of nice, actually. they're supposed to really be functionally useless, but yin yu can still feel the feathers, and flayn's fingers carding through them is awfully soothing. she'll notice they're a little roughed up in a few spots, from a week of not really paying attention to them, and from trying not to bang them into literally everything in the costco. ]
...no. I've never seen one, but they are real. These are the wings of a fenghuang--I believe it's called a phoenix.
[ the more she fusses over them, the more some of the tension from holding them up seems to come out of his shoulders. yin yu doesn't have fantastic control over his auxiliary body parts here, and he will be quite glad when they're gone, which means if one presses up into her hands, he's not great at repressing it. ] A very colorful creature, to say the least.
[i'm way too tired to google it and figure out if they have phoenixes in fodlan so i'm just going to assume flayn has read about one in a book from the library if they don't exist there.]
...a phoenix - that being the case, I believe it does suit you, then.
[ yin yu tilts his head back to look at her, a bit curious. he can't see all that well over his shoulder, but -- even just seeing her right there behind him makes his heart do a backflip. he's always treasured their conversations, and flayn's presence, but perhaps never more than right now, when they've finally been reunited, properly.
besides, the fenghuang is the 'king of the birds', at least at home - a title certainly not befitting yin yu. ]
[she smiles at him, continuing to sort out and smooth down his feathers. it doesn't look like they've seen much grooming in the weeks that he's had them. luckily, she's used to tending to the pegasi at the monastery, so feathers aren't all that strange for her.]
According to the stories, when they feel as though their life is at an end, they rise from the ashes, stronger and more beautiful than before. Have you not done the same?
that gets him to blush pretty spectacularly, giving her a surprised look before he has to tear his gaze away again, feeling the heat of embarrassment flood his face. ] I - in a literal sense, I did come back to life, but...
[ JEEZ DONT JUST SAY STUFF LIKE THAT FLAYN HE'LL DIE AGAIN. this time of being flustered. ] I think perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration, isn't it...?
[ he's fairly sure he is not stronger, and beautiful is a wildly inaccurate description of anything, including these feathers, which he at this point would mostly just call "obnoxious". ]
[...it looks like the wings are mostly settled. smiling, flayn steps away from his back, then comes around in front of him to reach for his hands, if he'll let her take them.
(assuming he's not so flustered he can't see that she's going for it.)]
[ has he ever rejected these hands? even in what arguably was his worst moment, crouched by the side of a cabin and trying not to have a panic attack over flayn finding out the worst secret of his life, he still took them, when they were offered.
this is a much warmer moment, and he's missed this. yin yu missed her. he meets her halfway, taking her hands gently in his, in the familiar way they fit together, a comfort he's come to know since the beginning of his time in the camp. almost naturally, his thumb strokes the top of her knuckle, just once, the gesture unconscious. ]
As ever, you are very kind. [ cheeks still red, yin yu gives her a little, almost bashful smile. ] ...I should be the one saying such things to you.
[ after all, her features are lovely; that of a dragon. in an embarrassing way, they match. ]
[they might match, but flayn doesn't know the lore, so she doesn't realize that.
she does know that his smile draws out her own, though. it's impossible not to smile when she sees that look on his face - she gives his hands a gentle squeeze as she shakes her head. he doesn't need to tell her those things.
he's always made sure she knows he thinks them, even without words.]
he probably couldn't tell you the last time someone told him that, outside of this place.
it squeezes his heart tight. after a few weeks, it's like falling all over again, pushing that rusty, achy thing he calls his heart back into place. ] ...I missed you too.
[ he'd been watching, trying to keep track on the screens. yin yu had seen flayn suffer, seen her in misery that no one else seemed to recognize, tried to find ways to reach out to her the best he could, but it wasn't the same. ultimately, he'd failed in protecting her by dying, something he regrets more than his actual death, and the fact that they've been reunited has been part of what drove him forward to this point. every action he had taken in that store was with the clearheaded goal in mind of coming back. for the first time in centuries, he had a goal that wasn't his work, that wasn't just drifting from day to day in a fog.
yin yu had someone who missed him, and that means more than the world. it wasn't the same. watching, writing--it could never be the same. he missed flayn more than he could really possibly say. ]
two weeks. just two weeks apart - the same length of time they had known each other on the island. but it had been excruciating. part of it had been not knowing if she would be able to see him again - not knowing if they would succeed.
part of it, though, had just been the small, simple parts of every day: finding something and thinking I want to show this to Yin Yu, but not being able to find him. wanting to see his face, or hear his voice, and knowing that it couldn't happen.
going to the kitchen to cook meals had been painful, remembering what they'd planned to do together.
and soon - if they're not all killed tomorrow in a fit of the snake's pique - will they be separated for even longer? on the island, they'd promised to see each other again. will they manage that? when he returns to his world, and she to hers, will they ever...?
her grip tightens on his hand, and she steps forward to hug him so that he can't see the look on her face.
(that's a problem for tomorrow. right now, she just wants to be happy he's here again. she wants to live fully in the present moment.)]
[ as flayn steps in to hug him, yin yu welcomes it immediately, gently unlacing their fingers so he can wrap his arms around her, instead. this sort of closeness is usually a lot for him, but in the quiet private of maybe, a victory, it doesn’t feel that way. I like it when you hold me, she had said, weeks ago. and for someone like yin yu, who hasn’t had that sort of affection in his life since he was a child, it’s easy to like it, too. to have missed it. to have missed her, and the way she brightens every room just by being in it, how a world that felt so dark and gray could be thrown into focus again when she called his name.
now that they’re alone, he’s had a little bit of time to sort some of his own thoughts. his worries and anxieties over flayn are not unfamiliar, at this point (her misery in her role, his terror she would find a way to sacrifice herself earlier today from her guilt, and of course, the ever present undercurrent that tomorrow may be the last time they see each other), but there’s something else, too.
as flayn settles close, yin yu tips his head forward to bow over her, forehead to the top of her head, and centers himself with a quiet inhale and exhale. ] ...Flayn. [ to be sure he has her attention, even if a part of him wants to shy away — it’s not like she’ll be able to move to look at his face like this right away like this at least. ] I... didn’t get to say it back.
[ well, he did, but not while she was awake.
yin yu always speaks softly, and this is no exception. just loud enough, vulnerable enough for her to hear, he says - ] ....I love you.
[ even if threatens to get caught in the rush of butterflies. yin yu has had a lot of time to think, lately, and that hasn’t changed. ] I...wanted to say it, plainly, instead of writing it in a letter.
[...it's amazing, how something as simple as three words, spoken in the right order, from the right person, can mean everything.
hearing yin yu say it makes her heart feel so full it might burst, and makes her feel light enough to walk on air. it makes her smile so widely that it actually sort of makes her face hurt (and undoubtedly just makes her look silly, so she's sort of glad her face is buried in his chest so he can't see her expression). it makes her feel strong enough to take on anything, no matter what the following day might bring.]
I love you, too.
[she says it back, because this can't be like the last time. it can't. this time, they're both here, and awake, and they have the option to say it, if they want to.
gods, does she ever want to. she wants to make sure he knows, and that there isn't any room for doubt whatsoever. she wants him to know exactly how beloved he is.]
[ this time, there's no share of emotions to make things as transparent as possible, and the part of yin yu that is a shy, embarrassed coward is glad for it. it's mostly because hearing flayn say that, for the second time - he was the lucky one, who was still awake when she did - feels so overwhelming that he almost can't take it. it's happiness that floods him, strong enough to nearly knock him off of his feet.
he'd missed flayn so much. not being able to help her, watching her suffer during dimitri's trial had affected him down to his bones. he'd wanted to leap through the screens and shout how obvious her pain was, to every person that was protecting her when clearly that was the last thing she wanted. how few people seemed to know flayn had horrified him, and to know she had been suffering all of that time without him knowing is his greatest regret of this entire camp.
trying wasn't the same as doing. i know you helped her greatly, while she was suffering, shinobu had said. it wasn't enough.
at least for tonight, he can try to start to make up for it. if it's the last night that they can spend together - a thought that he's had more than once - then, at least they can make it a good one. yin yu exhales, turning his head so he can rest his cheek on top of hers, and closes his eyes. ]
...I was going to find you anyway. Would you... [ mmn... okay, some newly gained confidence or not, yin yu's cheeks redden. ] ...would you like to stay?
[...if he hadn't, she'd been planning to invite him back to her cabin. or, perhaps, to one of the other cabins, if stephanie or 45 or guy had been there. not that she wouldn't relish the time spent with more people, but -
if this is the last night they'll have together, she wants to spend it with yin yu.]
[ flayn can probably feel the way he was almost holding his breath waiting for her to answer, like she was going to say no or something. (she wasn't, you stupid boy.) he releases it when she does, the exhale a little closer to relieved than it probably should be, and ends up hiding a smile in her hair. ]
...me too. [ he'd would like that very much. it's been a while; the last night before his death, curled up on the entertainment cabin floor in a heap, had been a restful evening. he's not sure how well he'll sleep tonight - a part of him wants to stay awake as long as he can, just to soak up this little ray of light, just in case it's snuffed out again, tomorrow, but that can come later.
right. okay. there are like, logistics and stuff to this that aren't just holding flayn for the next twelve hours, focus. ] ...Do you need to fetch anything from your cabin? I'll walk you there, if you'd like...
...I probably ought to get something to sleep in, yes.
[alas, she can't ask to borrow his robes. she wouldn't want to cut them up just to put her wings through them - not when she's already cut wingholes into some pajamas from the camp clothing store. it would be a waste.
(even if she does vastly prefer wearing his robes. they're comfortable, so sue her.)
if they're going to walk back to go fetch that, she's going to have to stop hugging him long enough for them to make the trek. still, she doesn't seem at all inclined to step out of his arms, or even to stop holding onto him.
it's like the entertainment all over again, where he'd had to remind her to let go so he could fetch the book.]
[ there's a long moment of silence, where his arms are still around her, a wing still half caging them in. where flayn is still tucked against his chest, holding onto him, too. this is deja vu.
...and what a nice thing, to be able to have deja vu for.
as yin yu waits, he finds himself having to bite back a smile, until he can't really hold it anymore, and yin yu's shoulders start shaking in silent mirth at how utterly ridiculous this is. that they are.
i think we're both idiots, he'd said to yasusada. perhaps that's true. ]
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fishingforcompliments) wrote2020-06-06 12:53 pm
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he pauses, wriggles enough to pull the turtleneck with the awkwardly cut holes for his wings mostly back down, and goes for the door with a quiet, ] ...Sorry, Akira, I didn't mean to lock you out -
[ and when he opens it, it's the exact person he was hoping to go see once he finished.
yin yu blinks, a little surprised --he's still sort of half trapped in the turtleneck, one arm sticking out of it, the fabric pulled up past his bellybutton--and then, his cheeks flush, and there are those butterflies that, despite how embarrassing they can be, he's really, really missed. ] ...hello.
[ ...embarrassing. ]
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Hello!
[she just. looks down, her cheeks flushing faintly, because he was clearly not expecting her to be here now and - well, she's not actually used to seeing that much of his skin? it's just his bellybutton, but like, wow. that's unexpected.]
Um - is this a bad time...? I could... come back later.
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[ well, it kind of.
.... his shirt is stuck.
there's a beat, and then, yin yu just sighs; the wings behind him droop a little. ] ...I... may need to ask for your assistance, first, if you would be so kind.
Phone tags u from the taco bell drive thru
[she'll step inside, then!]
...are you having trouble with your wings?
think outside the dw comment box,
[ he seems a little embarrassed. yin yu ends up having to basically kneel down so she can reach properly, but it looks like the stretchy material of the turtleneck caught on one of the less soft feathers and gnarled some of the fabric at the edges, so it's hanging half awkwardly off of his back. ]
They're. [ ... he just. sighs trying to think of a way to put this nicely. ] ...very much in the way.
[ He Hates Being Seen.png ]
ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
...they are beautiful, though.
[Her voice is soft as she works at it.]
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...They don't suit me so much. [ he certainly does not think so. of all of the creatures.... ] Such things are best kept to paintings, I think. [ mm. the feathers rustle gently underneath her hands where they rest, involuntary, as he remembers his manners and mumbles: ] ...but, thank you.
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[She doesn't recognize them, but - she'd sort of figured it was because she just wasn't that familiar with his world. She keeps her focus on his wings as she works, through, very gently smoothing the feathers down and into place.
...they're softer than she expected.]
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...no. I've never seen one, but they are real. These are the wings of a fenghuang--I believe it's called a phoenix.
[ the more she fusses over them, the more some of the tension from holding them up seems to come out of his shoulders. yin yu doesn't have fantastic control over his auxiliary body parts here, and he will be quite glad when they're gone, which means if one presses up into her hands, he's not great at repressing it. ] A very colorful creature, to say the least.
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...a phoenix - that being the case, I believe it does suit you, then.
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[ yin yu tilts his head back to look at her, a bit curious. he can't see all that well over his shoulder, but -- even just seeing her right there behind him makes his heart do a backflip. he's always treasured their conversations, and flayn's presence, but perhaps never more than right now, when they've finally been reunited, properly.
besides, the fenghuang is the 'king of the birds', at least at home - a title certainly not befitting yin yu. ]
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[she smiles at him, continuing to sort out and smooth down his feathers. it doesn't look like they've seen much grooming in the weeks that he's had them. luckily, she's used to tending to the pegasi at the monastery, so feathers aren't all that strange for her.]
According to the stories, when they feel as though their life is at an end, they rise from the ashes, stronger and more beautiful than before. Have you not done the same?
[in his life before coming here, and -
here, honestly. he'd died, and now he was back.]
wow i love not getting notifs
that gets him to blush pretty spectacularly, giving her a surprised look before he has to tear his gaze away again, feeling the heat of embarrassment flood his face. ] I - in a literal sense, I did come back to life, but...
[ JEEZ DONT JUST SAY STUFF LIKE THAT FLAYN HE'LL DIE AGAIN. this time of being flustered. ] I think perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration, isn't it...?
[ he's fairly sure he is not stronger, and beautiful is a wildly inaccurate description of anything, including these feathers, which he at this point would mostly just call "obnoxious". ]
punches dw
[...it looks like the wings are mostly settled. smiling, flayn steps away from his back, then comes around in front of him to reach for his hands, if he'll let her take them.
(assuming he's not so flustered he can't see that she's going for it.)]
rude of it tbh
this is a much warmer moment, and he's missed this. yin yu missed her. he meets her halfway, taking her hands gently in his, in the familiar way they fit together, a comfort he's come to know since the beginning of his time in the camp. almost naturally, his thumb strokes the top of her knuckle, just once, the gesture unconscious. ]
As ever, you are very kind. [ cheeks still red, yin yu gives her a little, almost bashful smile. ] ...I should be the one saying such things to you.
[ after all, her features are lovely; that of a dragon. in an embarrassing way, they match. ]
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she does know that his smile draws out her own, though. it's impossible not to smile when she sees that look on his face - she gives his hands a gentle squeeze as she shakes her head. he doesn't need to tell her those things.
he's always made sure she knows he thinks them, even without words.]
...I really missed you, Yin Yu.
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he probably couldn't tell you the last time someone told him that, outside of this place.
it squeezes his heart tight. after a few weeks, it's like falling all over again, pushing that rusty, achy thing he calls his heart back into place. ] ...I missed you too.
[ he'd been watching, trying to keep track on the screens. yin yu had seen flayn suffer, seen her in misery that no one else seemed to recognize, tried to find ways to reach out to her the best he could, but it wasn't the same. ultimately, he'd failed in protecting her by dying, something he regrets more than his actual death, and the fact that they've been reunited has been part of what drove him forward to this point. every action he had taken in that store was with the clearheaded goal in mind of coming back. for the first time in centuries, he had a goal that wasn't his work, that wasn't just drifting from day to day in a fog.
yin yu had someone who missed him, and that means more than the world. it wasn't the same. watching, writing--it could never be the same. he missed flayn more than he could really possibly say. ]
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two weeks. just two weeks apart - the same length of time they had known each other on the island. but it had been excruciating. part of it had been not knowing if she would be able to see him again - not knowing if they would succeed.
part of it, though, had just been the small, simple parts of every day: finding something and thinking I want to show this to Yin Yu, but not being able to find him. wanting to see his face, or hear his voice, and knowing that it couldn't happen.
going to the kitchen to cook meals had been painful, remembering what they'd planned to do together.
and soon - if they're not all killed tomorrow in a fit of the snake's pique - will they be separated for even longer? on the island, they'd promised to see each other again. will they manage that? when he returns to his world, and she to hers, will they ever...?
her grip tightens on his hand, and she steps forward to hug him so that he can't see the look on her face.
(that's a problem for tomorrow. right now, she just wants to be happy he's here again. she wants to live fully in the present moment.)]
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now that they’re alone, he’s had a little bit of time to sort some of his own thoughts. his worries and anxieties over flayn are not unfamiliar, at this point (her misery in her role, his terror she would find a way to sacrifice herself earlier today from her guilt, and of course, the ever present undercurrent that tomorrow may be the last time they see each other), but there’s something else, too.
as flayn settles close, yin yu tips his head forward to bow over her, forehead to the top of her head, and centers himself with a quiet inhale and exhale. ] ...Flayn. [ to be sure he has her attention, even if a part of him wants to shy away — it’s not like she’ll be able to move to look at his face like this right away like this at least. ] I... didn’t get to say it back.
[ well, he did, but not while she was awake.
yin yu always speaks softly, and this is no exception. just loud enough, vulnerable enough for her to hear, he says - ] ....I love you.
[ even if threatens to get caught in the rush of butterflies. yin yu has had a lot of time to think, lately, and that hasn’t changed. ] I...wanted to say it, plainly, instead of writing it in a letter.
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hearing yin yu say it makes her heart feel so full it might burst, and makes her feel light enough to walk on air. it makes her smile so widely that it actually sort of makes her face hurt (and undoubtedly just makes her look silly, so she's sort of glad her face is buried in his chest so he can't see her expression). it makes her feel strong enough to take on anything, no matter what the following day might bring.]
I love you, too.
[she says it back, because this can't be like the last time. it can't. this time, they're both here, and awake, and they have the option to say it, if they want to.
gods, does she ever want to. she wants to make sure he knows, and that there isn't any room for doubt whatsoever. she wants him to know exactly how beloved he is.]
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he'd missed flayn so much. not being able to help her, watching her suffer during dimitri's trial had affected him down to his bones. he'd wanted to leap through the screens and shout how obvious her pain was, to every person that was protecting her when clearly that was the last thing she wanted. how few people seemed to know flayn had horrified him, and to know she had been suffering all of that time without him knowing is his greatest regret of this entire camp.
trying wasn't the same as doing. i know you helped her greatly, while she was suffering, shinobu had said. it wasn't enough.
at least for tonight, he can try to start to make up for it. if it's the last night that they can spend together - a thought that he's had more than once - then, at least they can make it a good one. yin yu exhales, turning his head so he can rest his cheek on top of hers, and closes his eyes. ]
...I was going to find you anyway. Would you... [ mmn... okay, some newly gained confidence or not, yin yu's cheeks redden. ] ...would you like to stay?
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[...if he hadn't, she'd been planning to invite him back to her cabin. or, perhaps, to one of the other cabins, if stephanie or 45 or guy had been there. not that she wouldn't relish the time spent with more people, but -
if this is the last night they'll have together, she wants to spend it with yin yu.]
...I would like that. Very much.
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...me too. [ he'd would like that very much. it's been a while; the last night before his death, curled up on the entertainment cabin floor in a heap, had been a restful evening. he's not sure how well he'll sleep tonight - a part of him wants to stay awake as long as he can, just to soak up this little ray of light, just in case it's snuffed out again, tomorrow, but that can come later.
right. okay. there are like, logistics and stuff to this that aren't just holding flayn for the next twelve hours, focus. ] ...Do you need to fetch anything from your cabin? I'll walk you there, if you'd like...
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[alas, she can't ask to borrow his robes. she wouldn't want to cut them up just to put her wings through them - not when she's already cut wingholes into some pajamas from the camp clothing store. it would be a waste.
(even if she does vastly prefer wearing his robes. they're comfortable, so sue her.)
if they're going to walk back to go fetch that, she's going to have to stop hugging him long enough for them to make the trek. still, she doesn't seem at all inclined to step out of his arms, or even to stop holding onto him.
it's like the entertainment all over again, where he'd had to remind her to let go so he could fetch the book.]
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...and what a nice thing, to be able to have deja vu for.
as yin yu waits, he finds himself having to bite back a smile, until he can't really hold it anymore, and yin yu's shoulders start shaking in silent mirth at how utterly ridiculous this is. that they are.
i think we're both idiots, he'd said to yasusada. perhaps that's true. ]
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DW? MY NOTIFS?
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