#fluff birb | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

redwayfarers · 7 months

Text

(you) restless son

Fandom: FFXIV Ship: Nika/Artoirel Characters: Nika Perseis (WoL), Artoirel de Fortemps, Minfilia Warde (mentioned) Rating: Mature (direct references to sex, though the scene is fade to black) Words: 1795 Spoilers: Heavensward spoilers read on ao3

Nika’s visits to Ishgard have been few and far between recently, but every time he does go there, he makes sure to go straight to the Fortemps manor. It’s become something of a home, if you can count the presence of the few people he’s bonded with in this whole frozen hellhole. He hasn’t had a home in a long while, least of all in a person. It’s a strange feeling and something entirely too tender for Nika’s harsh hands, but it settled under his skin and it’s not going anywhere.

He can’t complain all that much, really, when it affords him unlimited access to Artoirel. He likes Emmanellain just fine, and Edmont makes for a nice dinner buddy when he isn’t being a horrible parent to his sons. But Artoirel is the heart of that whole oversized house for Nika; it’s his face rising amidst everyone else that makes his shoulders relax and his jaw unclench. When did he clench his jaw so much anyway? And more importantly, why is he noticing that?

No matter. What matters is that time after he settles in his room, after he eats dinner, or lunch, or whenever he happened to burst upon their door like a cannonball, when he and Artoirel go to the grand salon with the big piano, drinks in hand, and find comfortable places on one of the couches. What matters is the way Artoirel loosens his collar, opens his throat up a little, and Nika can’t help but look at the way it bobs ever so slightly under his gaze.

“Do I have something on my… throat?” Artoirel asks, confused, red in the face, and Nika looks at the glass in his hand.

“No,” he says and rubs the side of his neck. “I just think you look better without the cravat.”

“Such are the fashions of Ishgard, Nika.”

“Fuck the fashions of Ishgard, Artoirel.” Nika looks at his own shirt, open at the front, and the length of his white boots. Artoirel follows suit; his eyes linger on the exposed skin of Nika’s chest. “Some of them, anyway.”

“Not all of us can make that shirt look good,” Artoirel comments quietly. “You and Lord Stephanivien, perhaps. As for myself? The cravates are that much presentable.”

“Bah, you’re too prim and proper.” Nika puts a foot down. The heels echo in the otherwise silent room like a battle trumpet. It may be the drink he’s had, but his next words come out offensively shamelessly. “I like the way your collarbones look.”

Artoirel huffs amicably and shakes his head. “You may look at them as you please, then,” he replies, though his voice is colored by something Nika doesn’t dare name.

“Thank you for the permission.” Nika says as he downs the rest of his drink and pours himself another glass. “I will now proceed to indulge myself. At the grand piano, of course. Why would we go in the grand salon if not to play the fucking piano?”

“I did want to show you a composition I have been working on in my leisure time,” Artoirel says. He sounds almost uncertain, half the size he usually is on the battlefield, or in the political arena of Ishgard. “What?”

“You’re afraid I’m gonna hate it or something? Is that why you sound like you’re a kid meeting your idol for the first time?”

Artoirel laughs in disbelief. “Nika, do you realize even an inkling of what weight your opinion carries? You are the Warrior of Light, the slayer of Nidhogg. You rode into Ishgard on a dragon - the first individual to have done so in history. You are one of Eorzea’s best living bards. Compared to you, I am but playing pretend.”

Nika blinks. “Didn’t wanna be that hero you bring up,” he says. “If it was up to me, I’d be playing my little lute and singing about other people. But no, Minfilia had to use my arrow shooting prowess to kill a primal or two and now here I am.” The thought sticks to his skin even though he vehemently tries shaking it away. His heart aches for Minfilia still; the love he’s nursed for her feeds into his bloodstream. His knees will forever ache from kneeling at her feet, and the memories of her soft voice and gentle smiles and kind eyes will nurse them back to health.

But recently, in the midst of all the grief he wears around his neck like a collar, he’s found it in himself to be angry at her. Angry she didn’t stop sending him when he asked her to. Angry she kissed his tears away only to send him off to his potential death afterwards. Angry she never told him, no, stop loving me, not until she fucking died and stayed in the aether, and he had to go see fucking Hydaelyn herself just so he could hear it.

Artoirel does nothing of the sort. If anything, Nika feels like he’s stringing him along, pulling at his heart that wants nothing more than Nika’s presence. Artoirel never asked him to be the hero. Everything since he’s arrived in Ishgard has been Nika’s choice. Any hurt he feels about that shit he can lay at his own feet and use it to cut open his heart again.

Nika drowns the entirety of his glass in one chug. “You give yourself too little credit,” he says. “Too fucking little.” He curls a hand around Artoirel’s slender shoulders to run his fingers over those biteable collarbones.

“Nika,” Artoirel goes to stand up just as Nika’s hand bends around his shoulders, and the height difference makes Nika take a step forward and his hand slides down to Artoirel’s waist. He holds it anyway.

“Let’s go play the piano,” Nika says. His voice is gruff, stuffed to the brim with need and anger and yearning and the drunkenness of the whiskey and the warmth of Artoirel’s skin. “Let’s go play the fucking piano or I’m pinning you down on these overpriced floor covers.”

Artoirel’s mouth opens and the tips of his ears burn bright red. His hand folds in a fist and he tries to look down, avoid Nika’s eyes, but the fact he’s tall as all fuck bites him in the ass so hard that he just ends up looking where he didn’t want to. Or did he want to? He shifts his body closer to Nika’s, hip to waist, and Nika’s fingers play over his shirt.

“There’s a story,” he says. “I know of someone who supposedly had sex with her lovers in her grand salon and over the piano, specifically. That poor piano, I’d thought. Of course, I don’t normally follow that kind of rumor, but I’d overheard it and it stayed with me.”

“Piano sex? What happened to walls, floors, or even good old fashioned beds?” Nika feels his face burn. Must be the drink, he thinks, even if he has to admit that Artoirel’s words are only making whatever need that’s already been here stronger. He doesn’t even know what Artoirel’s lips feel like, but he does know he wants to kiss them, and that Artoirel wants to kiss him too.

It’s just never been this direct! Nika blames the whiskey, the open shirt, those delicious looking collarbones, Minfilia’s memory, Ishgard itself. He knows what it feels like - Estinien’s hands on his skin are a refreshed memory - but this is Artoirel; his Artoirel, the way Minfilia was never his, his to spend time with, his to kiss, his to enjoy, his to listen to him laugh. His to make Nika’s heart beat and warm up faster than any fire would.

“I suppose she has had enough of those options by that point,” Artoirel shrugs, but his cheeks are still red, his hair’s in disarray, his lips are slightly parted, thin and pink, and those fucking collarbones are still taunting Nika like it’s their one job.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” Nika replies, as if that makes any sense to the prior conversation. “And I want to kiss you so, so badly.”

“I would very much like to kiss you too,” Artoirel replies, holding onto the edges of his self-control. Nika can feel his fingers ghost over the skin of his jaw and takes a deep breath not to groan from the way it sends sparks down his spine. The knowledge Artoirel wants him just as badly, right now, makes his belly tighten. “May I?”

“Yes,” Nika breathes and Artoirel’s facing him, tall, relaxed, hair a dark halo around his head. His eyes are impossibly wide, impossibly big, and Nika rises on his tip toes and wraps himself around Artoirel’s body, like he was made to be here. Maybe he was. Maybe he was made to share breath with Artoirel de Fortemps for torturously long moments before their lips meet, maybe he was made to bury his fingers in his hair and pull him down on the couch. His body soars and he’s shaking with need and his heart beats wildly in his chest.

And when their tongues touch, Nika claws at Artoirel’s back. I’m going to fuck this man tonight, he thinks, and it feels brash and crude but he can’t help himself. Artoirel moans into the kiss, and it only serves to make Nika’s skin even tighter.

“I wanna fuck you,” Nika says between kisses, pulls on Artoirel’s hair. “Stop me if you need to, fuck, Artoirel, I want to bite your chest, and I want to make you feel good, I want–”

“Yes,” Artoirel breathes out. His body’s shaking beneath Nika’s touch and Nika peppers his face with small kisses. “I want that too–”

“Glad we agree,” Nika replies and steals the rest of his sentence in a deep kiss. Artoirel’s hand wraps around Nika’s waist but Nika uses the leverage to drag him beneath him and settle on his hips. From this angle, he looks even better. A prim and proper lord, commander of men, count de Fortemps, beneath him, already hard, messy from kisses, and Nika can’t help but groan. It’s not like he’s any better himself. He then leans down and kisses him softly, the way he never got to kiss Minfilia.

But she isn’t here, is she? It’s just him and Artoirel, alive, in the flesh. And it’s an aching flesh, and Nika wants to kiss it senseless, and he wants to keep him close, keep him warm, safe, wants to make him happy and make him laugh.

“Artoirel,” Nika says, because he can’t say anything else. And Artoirel kisses him back, presses his hands against Nika’s back, and somehow, he feels like he got the message just fine.

Just like that, the rest of the world falls away.

#ffxiv #inspo birb has come to town #nika perseis #artoirel de fortemps #wolship #wol x artoirel #wol #warrior of light #hyur wol #ffxiv fic #ffxiv fanfic #now that housekeeping is done:#baby's first non-fluff is out to public pls be kind to me #this isn't smut but it's close #these two have eaten my braincells so this came to be #also not me posting at weird times. sad #heavensward spoilers #nika x artoirel #wolartoirel

21 notes · View notes

birdie-writ3s · 1 year

Text

Hiking with You

Prompt: Fluff Jade x Prefect/Reader - What it feels like to go hiking together with Jade Leech.

Author’s Note: Hi Birb here again! This will be my second work here on Tumblr, this time, it will be a short fluff jade one-shot <3 This is a special gift for my Jade lover friend <3 Have a nice day/night darlings/fledglings~!

CW: None

Word Count: 927

“So are you ready (name)?” Jade asked the reader as they locked the front door of their dorm.

“Ready as I'll ever be! This will be the first time I will get to hike with someone here in Twisted Wonderland! Thank you so much for inviting me here today Jade”, The prefect smiled as they fetched all their belongings and soon they embarked on their journey towards Mount Olympus.

After an hour of traversing the rocky road of Mount Olympus, Jade saw a peculiar mushroom that was growing beside a tree's bark.

"(Name) look! What a marvellous-looking mushroom!" Jade said as he took out his camera to take pictures of the glowing mushroom.

The prefect looked at Jade, wondering how such a man switched from being intimidating to being cute in a split second. Perhaps this is just Jade’s hidden charm. Something that not every NRC student has a chance to know, and the student body never even tried to look deeper past his normally composed and calm self.

In all honesty, the Prefect was still a bit cautious of Jade given the circumstances that they were in just a few months ago when his housewarden, Azul Ashengrotto, overblotted.

This hiking trip definitely helped the prefect understand and get to know Jade a little bit better. He has always been an enigma to them. And now, given this perfect moment, they were surprised to see his jolly and energetic side. It is honestly adorable and refreshing to see such a tall man gush over peculiar mushrooms and plants in the vast terrain of Mount Olympus.

The two spent the whole day in Mount Olympus observing different types of plants and animals that inhabited the mountain. During those eight long hours of hiking, they talked to each other as if they were longtime friends. Having just the two of them helped ease the atmosphere between them. No responsibilities, no siblings, no friends—just the prefect and Jade enjoying hiking together.

It did not take too long before they settled on a clear path to eat snacks and rest for a little bit before continuing their hiking trip.

“How is your first experience of hiking (name)?” , Jade asked as they sat on a tree log to eat their packed snacks.

“It was great! It is definitely my first time having a chance to explore the mountains here in Twisted Wonderland, this is truly a wonderland.” the Prefect replied while munching on their tuna sandwich.

“That was good to hear, you know…I’ve been observing you for a few months (name), I want to invite you to a hiking trip for my club’s monthly activities but I was too … how do I put this..ugh..-!!” Jade suddenly stopped talking as he became flustered.

"Hahahaha! Come on, Jade-san, why did you hesitate? You know that I don’t bite, right? It is the first time I saw you this flustered!", the Prefect winked as they softly put their hands on their lips to stop them from chuckling. Jade is definitely more than meets the eye.

"(Name)..." Jade could not bring himself to say anything as he continued to look at their smiling faces, his blush

"(Name)... Do you know that whenever I'm around you, my heart skips a beat? I can't help but smile and feel butterflies in my stomach. I think... that I might be falling in love with you,", Jade thought, as he was not able to compose himself to say it personally to the prefect.

"I swear to the Great Seven that one day... I will finally muster the courage to confess my feelings to them", Jade swore to himself that day. For now, he was perfectly fine staying as friends and a senior to the Prefect.

After eating their snacks, the two started their trek towards the highest peak of Mount Olympus. They exchanged jokes and even told stories from their past. Since this is the first time the Prefect went hiking, they stopped occasionally for little rests. Jade was truly a commendable and dependable young man. He was always ready to help his crush while they struggled to ascend some of the mountain's slopes.

As they reached the highest peak of Mount Olympus, they were just in time for the sunset. It was a truly magnificent sight for both the moray eel and the prefect.

“To witness this stunning sunset from the mountain’s peak with you (Name) is such an unforgettable memory.”, Jade uttered as he looked at their surroundings.

"It's a moment of pure natural beauty as the sun sets behind the faraway hills and illuminates the scene.”, Jade remarked as he looked at the Prefect.

"Wow Jade-san! I never knew you were poetic and really liked sunsets, huh? Well, I totally agree that this is such a magnificent view", the Prefect replied, not knowing that Jade was referring to the unadulterated beauty that comes with the view. Perfectly capturing the natural beauty of the prefect, she gave Jade a perfect view of their luscious hair and genuine smile.

The prefect did not hesitate to bring out their ghost camera to capture this special moment.

“Jade-san! Come let’s take a picture together to commemorate this special moment!”, the Prefect said as they took Jade’s hand to make them closer as they tried to take a good angle of their faces and the sunset.

Jade softly looked towards their hand as he softly whispered,

“Hopefully soon we can continue adventuring in love forevermore, together we'll climb our life's peaks and valleys, just like the mushrooms that are boundless”

28 notes · View notes