Latest Posts by chr1sk0 - Page 4

Yall ever think about the league members’ reactions to seeing Tomura without his father’s hand on his face for the first time? Because I’m sure he didn’t warn them any time he took it off, and im sure at least a few of them got a glimpse before he started doing it regularly.

Like, imagine Compress walking into a room at the same time Tomura took the hand off to itch his forehead or something, and Compress immediately throwing himself back out the doorway in shock and having to take a couple deep breaths in the hallway because no, they’re not being infiltrated, it’s their loser boss.

Spinner getting a glass of water in the middle of the night and screaming when some corpse-like guy with red eyes also comes in for a glass of water.

Tomura going to wake Dabi because he slept too far into the evening, the doorway comically flashing blue, then him walking back out without his hoodie and bearing soot stains on his face. He thinks Dabi is just being a prick. Dabi, on the other hand, had not felt that fearful where the fuck did I just wake up and who the fuck are you feeling in years, but of course his creepy boss was the one to make it happen, fuck the whole league.

Even Toga pausing and looking extremely disgusted at the unidentified man sitting in the bar, before her brain processes that she’s staring at her friend and she goes to tease him about the cute little beauty mark under his lip. Tomura is wildly confused and doesn’t know if he should take that whiplash reaction as a threat. He doesn’t sleep that night.

Do you accept his gift? 😊

Two birds on a wire

i was so scared for him

Au where Tomura gets to heal and nothing happened to mon :) Something cozy to make me happy~

Hiiiiii

called myself indoodled but didn’t post any doodles. smh.

our dream

You can't tell me that wasn't Tomura visiting Spinner's dreams

My delirious headcanon is that Shigaraki is mostly just a spirit for Deku than an actual vestige given that Deku is once again quirkless. Given the nature of how insanely powerful Toga and Uraraka are though, quirk singularity, sheer amount of blood shared, all of that? Toga is effectively Uraraka’s vestige.

That out of the way, you know Toga and Shigaraki would get hours of entertainment.

#THEYHAVEMATCHINGSHOESILOVE

this game is good

This gives me Barbie vibes

Kill me. I’m begging you. My heart can’t take this.

a moment of peace, after the end

I like the idea of a canon compelling fanfic where Tomura keeps sacrificing things for the LOV and none of them notices at first how those things are getting bigger and more meaningful with time.

Until they all survive the final war and Deku tells them Tomura is dead— he did all he could do to destroy AFO in Tomura's own body, so the man that ruined his life can't ruin his friends anymore.

The idea of them looking back and seeing all the signs... How obvious it is now that Tomura is gone and be has become the villains' hero. How much it means to them and how bad they want to reject it because they want him alive, but they'd never spit on his biggest show of love.

The irony of All Might thinking that he was the doomed-by-the-narrative hero, but Tomura has always been the sacrificial lamb. The only choice he made is to whom he wanted to be a hero for.

Omegaverse AU

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ tomura icons

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀(all made to be transparent, feel ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ free to edit them yourself if they ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ don't save that way)

you CANNOT tell me shigaraki isn’t shameless enough to put spinner in a maid dress. i wish i could show his hemipenis but tumblr guidelines…. i had to nerf him by giving him panties (might start my posting on Bluesky/Twitter or smth)… i wanted to draw more than just this suggestive stuff but i was too lazy. plus the sketch itself is a little lazy too.

full thing under the cut

i have spinner brainrot

...Let Shigaraki R.I.P. Dead but not forgotten.

i have spinner brainrot

thank you horikoshi sensei.

𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙩'𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚.

late night snack runs with your boss, shigaraki!

a/n ☾ ⋆*･ ahhh this is one of my fav shiggy pieces!! also i may or may not have forgotten to capitalize like i usually do :O enjoy!

shigaraki was surprised to hear a knock on his bedroom door so late at night - he lifted his head off his palm and groggily pushed his sore elbows off the table they were propped up against. he had fallen asleep at his desk. again.

his eyes caught onto the bright red lights of the clock that red 1:32 am, before he twisted his door open with a grumble

out of all the things that could have been on the other side of his door, the last person he expected was you at this hour.

"uh oh. were you sleeping shiggy?" you question with a quiet laugh as he glares at you silently, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand as he huffs

"no- i was just about to though. did you need something?" he questions, suddenly aware of the fact that his hair was definitely all over the place - tousled with sleep and exhaustion. embarrassed, he peers down at you with a grimace

"i'm hungry for gas station udon."

the sigh he lets out is so dramatic that you can't help but laugh. he glances back at the clock on his desk before back at you, his lips set in a thin line as he closes the door. you blink at the wood in front of your face for about five seconds before he opens it again - a black coat thrown over his frame

"let's go." he sneers, waving at your pajamas with a scowl "you better get changed qui-"

he's cut off by your squeals, flinching when you wrap your arms around him in a grateful hug

"thank you boss man! you're the best-" you grin, even as he stands as stiff as a board while you hug him. he grumbles something under his breath as you pull away and show him your palm, all fingers up - "five minutes shiggy! be right back!"

you've disappeared before he could even respond, a tinge of pink coating his pale cheeks as he huffs

you're out within a few minutes wearing gloves and a hat pulled over your hair. one of shigaraki's winter jackets - which was little too big for you as you practically drowned in the fabric, hung over your frame as you stepped out of your room with a grin.

you're both out of the hideout soon enough. shigaraki notices how the tip of your nose is pink from the freezing temperature, and how cold frost expelled from your mouth every time you cracked one of your ridiculous jokes that had him struggling to suppress his laughter, because he'd be damned if he laughed at one of your corny pick up lines.

"you're lucky they're open twenty four hours a day." he points out, opening the door of the gas station as the bell above the door jingles to life - indicating there were customers to the old man who sat behind the counter as he read something. he sent a polite smile in greeting before his eyes averted back to whatever it was he was reading

"yeah- ooo they restocked my flavors!" you exclaim, recognizing the familiar colorful packaging stacked neatly near the back of the store as you tug shigaraki along - he follows begrudgingly, and surprisingly doesn't tug his hand out of yours

he watches you ogle the colorful packaging and has to physically restrain himself from scoffing. what's so interesting about it anyway - you're acting like you've stepped into some sort of a gourmet restaurant with the way your tongue pokes out to lick your frost coated lips!

"i want that one-" you finally say, pointing to the top shelf where 'shrimp tempura' was displayed on the label of the cup in italics. with a sigh, your boss reaches up above you and picks two off the shelf and hands them to you. "happy?" he grumbles

your enthusiastic nod has him grunting in response, but when he turns to head to the cash register, you tug on his sleeve - "shiggy, you need to pick one too!"

he turns around with furrowed brows. "i'm not hungry-"

but he's cut off by you shoving your cup into his arms as you turn back to the wall, observing and humming thoughtfully as you try and find a flavor shigaraki would like - maybe something light, and a bit spicy.

picking up another container that seemed more like his taste, you grab onto shigaraki's sleeve with a final nod - tugging him to the cash register with the goods in hand.

it was almost comical how you were dragging him around, like a dog on a leash. but shigaraki wasn't protesting. especially not if you were the one dragging him around. a part of him loathed the fact he would follow you to the ends of the world if the time came - but for now, snack runs would do too.

while you make small talk with the old man behind the register and pay for everything, shigaraki is quiet behind you.

he's unsure how to act after you insisted on him getting some food too. why did he care so much? you seemed to have already forgotten your simply gesture, laughing at something the elderly man said as shigaraki looms behind you.

you turn around to ask shigaraki something, but the thought slips your mind when you find him already burning a hole into the back of your head - staring blankly. his back straightens quickly when you catch him staring and you snort - making a mental note to tease him later about his staring habit.

the moment the cashier hands you the plastic bag, shigaraki is tugging you out of the store and onto the cold streets

"someone's hungry." you giggle, watching the way his brows pull together - his usual scowl faltering when you laugh even harder

"you're the one who dragged me all the way out here-"

but he's cut off with an overly dramatic gasp as you stop walking. he turns back in confusion, before he follows the trail of your gaze

oh no.

"absolutely not."

about a dozen yards from the two of you, stood a playground.

"shiggy it's covered in snow! imagine it - you're sliding down the slide and fall right on your ass! hah! we are so going!" you squeal.

tomura thought your enthusiasm for gas station udon would go unmatched - yet here you were, climbing onto the swings and asking him to push you.

sure, he would push extra hard and let out a raspy cackle when you yelped - demanding he slow down. your legs kicked through the air as you helplessly threaten him, but your laughter sounded through the air regardless, and tomura can't remember a moment where he'd felt quite as happy as he does now.

he's crammed into the little house attached to the swings and slide now - god forbid someone sees the leader of the league sitting in a little wooden cottage with little rainbows and hearts painted all over its surface. you gently tuck the little plastic bag containing your packaged food onto the ground beside you.

"shiggy - this could make an excellent hide out if we ever need a place to crash." you whisper with a bashful smile

"sure." he whispers back, even though there's no one else around to hear either of you. he watches your eyes drift out the little window in the playhouse. the snow falls softly outside, coating the grass in a thick blanket. you see a few specks in your boss's light blue hair - a smile curling on your lips at the sight

he rolls his eyes, but makes no further comment. it's quiet now - the only sound being gentle whoosh of the falling snow. your hand shifts forward and lays flat on shigaraki's thigh - palm up. his eyes quickly move to your face when you do - and he's met with a cheeky grin

"i forgot to bring gloves. think you can warm up my hands?" you question, an amused smile on your face as you quickly tuck your glove into the pocket of your coat and out of sight. not very sneaky- but who cares?

he's still. watching you quietly. he blames the way his fingers curl and intertwine with yours on the cold weather freezing the gears in his mind needed to function properly.

it's so nice. that's all you can think as he brushes a tentative thumb over your knuckles, turning to look at the falling snow out the window with you.

Expiation - a Shigaraki x f!Reader fic

Even after slaying the High Kingdom's greatest enemy and sparing its people from a terrible fate, Shigaraki Tomura's past crimes make him an outcast in the castle. Still, someone has to attend to him, and that someone is you -- and unlike the maids who came before you, you're not afraid to ask a question. (cross-posted to Ao3)

This is a birthday gift for @sophsiaaa based on a suggestion of a fantasy AU Shigaraki x reader. Happy birthday (although it's definitely a bit late)!

Chapters: 1 2 3 4

Chapter 1

You hear the rumors long before you see him, but the story of his arrival is told to you so many times that it’s etched into your head. It was a beautiful spring day, the fields surrounding the castle bright with wildflowers, the air humming with butterflies and bees – the kind of day on which nothing bad is allowed to happen. And then the world went still. The sun seemed to dim. The air fell silent, empty of insects and birds, and even the flowers cringed away as he led his horse past, walking so slowly that it seemed he knew his presence poisoned the world, and reveled in it. The dark knight, the one they call the White Death. Shigaraki Tomura.

The rumors are terrible, and most of them are true, but no one finds the High Kingdom unless they were meant to be here. You remember the day you stumbled out of the Forest Perilous, last of a party of dozens who had all set out together, the only one to reach the castle. The castle chose you, the same as it chose everyone born outside the walls who now resides within. The same is true of Shigaraki Tomura – Sir Tomura, or Lord Tomura, anything but the dread title he’s earned on the battlefield. There is some purpose to his presence here, although neither you nor anyone else can imagine what it is.

Most knights come to the High Kingdom with squires and servants, hauling supplies and gifts and finery to please the king. The White Death comes alone, and bears no gift – no gift other than the one he’s rumored to have tossed at King Izuku’s feet. That rumor is terrible, too. But it it’s true, it means that Shigaraki Tomura crossed a line no one else had dared to touch – in taking on the King’s fated enemy, the man prophesied to destroy the High Kingdom, and slaying him himself. Tearing down his armies himself. Singlehandedly wrecking a prophecy that has hung over the Kingdom’s head since it was first spoken, a prophecy of death and destruction that would bring a mighty kingdom to its knees.

And you suppose it did. After all, the prophecy, never said it would be your kingdom that fell.

King Izuku offers Shigaraki Tomura a seat on his council, over the objections of the rest of the council. Shigaraki Tomura accepts. And then the question turns to where he should be house, and what level of opulence is appropriate for his room, and because the gods hate you or because you’re just unlucky, you’re assigned from all the servants to help him decorate it. To create a dwelling space fit for a hero, meant to house someone who cannot be called anything but a villain.

You knock hesitantly at the door, struggling to balance the heavy wooden chest you’re carrying at the same time. When that fails to produce a response, you call out, your voice thin as it echoes through the deserted wing of the palace. “Lord Tomura?”

The door unlocks with a sharp click, then swings open, and you suck in a breath. You heard he had magic – most in the High Kingdom do, you included – but it’s considered crass to flaunt it for things that could otherwise be done by hand. You step through the door into a large, empty room. The only features in it are a window without a single pane of glass, an armoire with doors gaping open, and a canopy bed bare of both canopy and sheets. The infamous white armor is piled in the corner of the room, along with the white sword his enemies call Decay. The White Death himself sits on the edge of the bed.

He doesn’t look away from the spot on the wall where he’s fixed his eyes. “What do you want?”

“My Lord.” You bow, or curtsy, or do some awkward mix of both at once. It doesn’t matter. He’s not looking at you. “I was sent to help you put your room in order.”

“This is fine.” Shigaraki Tomura’s voice is flat and icy, devoid of anything but apathy. “The window is a nice touch.”

You can’t tell if he’s being sarcastic or not. You would be, if you were a knight and not a maid. “The window will be fixed, my Lord. In the meantime, I was sent to arrange the rest of your room. I’ve brought many things for you to choose from.”

“Many things.” He looks up at last, and you catch your breath at the sight of his crimson eyes. It’s all too easy to imagine his enemies freezing in terror, those eyes the last thing they saw before the darkness closed in. “That chest is too small for many things.”

“It’s larger on the inside,” you say. He raises an eyebrow – or he would, if he had them. “Do I have your leave to show you?”

“If it’s the case that you won’t leave me be until you do.” The White Death looks away, and you come a few steps closer. A few steps, and then a few more, until you can set the chest down within his eyeline and kneel down to open it. “What is that?”

“No one could tell me what you preferred, so I brought some of everything.” You were hoping to avoid being berated. You’re starting to think that’s unlikely. “There are sheets for the bed – and choices for the canopy, also. These are for the walls – most knights have tapestries made of your great deeds, but you’ve only just arrived. They won’t be ready for a little while.”

“Great deeds,” Shigaraki – Sir Tomura – sneers. Your ears burn. “Yes, I’m sure the weavers are lining up to chronicle mine.”

“If you say so, my Lord.” You lift out a set of curtains – curtains, for a broken window. Whoever left this for you to deal with, you hope they catch the plague. “Er, the window –”

“I didn’t say so,” Sir Tomura interrupts. You look up at him. “I have done no great deeds. It is no honor to be on your knees at my feet.”

“Pardon me, my Lord. I never said it was.”

You shouldn’t have spoken. You bow your head hastily, but not before you see a flash of interest in the White Death’s eyes. “A punishment, then. Tell me, who did you displease?”

“Nor did I say it was a punishment.” You’ve already gotten yourself in trouble. You may as well explain. “It is my duty to serve the nobles of the High Kingdom. You are one of them. And you’ve done the kingdom a great service.”

“I didn’t do it for you. Or for your wretched kingdom.” Sir Tomura is looking at you, still. You can feel the heat of his gaze on your shoulders, the exposed curve of your neck. “I might have destroyed your kingdom just as easily.”

You know that. It’s why everyone fears him, why a man with a lean, slender build casts such a long shadow. “Then why did you choose his?”

“You both wronged me. He wronged me worse.” Sir Tomura goes silent for a moment, and you dare a glance up at him. His face is still, the sneer long-gone. “And because you wronged me, too, you must suffer my presence. In honor of the great deed I have done.”

Now he sounds bitter, mocking – but not of you. He’s looking at you again. “And what terrible deed have you done, that you do not fear to raise your eyes to me?”

“Is that a requirement for meeting your eyes, my Lord?” It strikes you as an odd thing to say, when any other knight would remark on your temerity at gazing upon any noble’s face. “I did not come here to pass judgment on your deeds. I came to make your room a fitting place for a person to live.”

“Indeed,” Sir Tomura says. “But unlike the five maids who preceded you, you have not fled from the sight of me. Why?”

You would answer him if you knew, but you don’t. The rumors of him terrified you, the same as everyone else. You were frightened as you knocked at the door, frightened when you stepped into the room, and even though he’s weaponless, you have no doubt that he knows dozens of spells that will kill you where you stand. There is no doubt that the man in front of you is the White Death, the terror of battlefields across the known world, the ruination of a kingdom most thought would stand forever and the slayer of a king most thought could not be killed and the destruction of a prophecy that went unchallenged for a hundred years. You should be terrified, just as you were before, and you’re certainly wary. But you aren’t frightened any longer.

The White Death is waiting for an answer. “If I had an answer, I would give it, my Lord,” you say. You look away and begin to unpack from the chest. “Does my Lord have a preference as to colors?”

“No.” Sir Tomura’s voice carries an odd rasp, whether he’s scornful or not. “Do what you want.”

So he’ll allow you to complete your task. You wonder if the five maids who apparently preceded you tried to hold a conversation, or if they simply ran away the instant he opened the door. Some part of you wants to decorate his room in bright colors, something cheerful, but you don’t have the sense that he’ll appreciate it. You’d be better off giving him something to look at, since he spends so long staring off into space. You choose fabrics in muted colors, woven with small illusions here and there, patterns that move and change in response to the human eye. It’s likely that Sir Tomura will spend a lot of time here. He doesn’t seem to like people very much. His room should at least be a pleasant place to be.

When you’ve covered key portions of the walls, leaving space for the inevitable tapestries, you move on to laying out rugs. The stone floors in the castle are cool in the summer, cold in the winter, and Sir Tomura’s feet are bare, his boots kicked into the same pile as his sword and armor. You don’t have as many choices with the rugs. They are nothing but bright colors, woven together from scraps of fabric, and you lay them out hastily, hoping he continues to prefer staring at walls to staring at floors. Then you turn your attention to the armor. It needs to be stored properly, and there isn’t a stand in the room.

You turn to face Sir Tomura and find that he’s already watching you. “If you give me leave, my Lord, I’ll retrieve a stand for your armor.”

“It can stay where it is.”

Most knights pride themselves on their armor. Most pride themselves too much. “Won’t it rust?”

“Until it crumbles away. I don’t care.”

You don’t understand. “Sir –”

“It’s no use to me any longer.” Sir Tomura rises from the bed for the first time and crosses the room, moving with catlike grace. He lifts the breastplate from the pile one-handed and holds it out for you to inspect. You can’t miss the problem – it’s been cleaved almost in two by a single strike, torn apart as only cursed steel can do. “It can’t be fixed.”

“The best smiths in the world work here,” you venture. Sir Tomura scoffs. “They reforged One For All, and that sword was broken into nine pieces.”

“Yes, we’ve all heard the story. Good King Izuku gathered the nine pieces of One For All and proved he was the rightful king.” The disdain in the White Death’s voice is withering. “The rightful king, but not a good one. The king before him was worthless, and the queen before him, too – they let their greatest enemy grow and prosper, throughout their entire reigns.”

“They fought back,” you protest. “Queen Nana was killed fighting him – King Toshinori was badly wounded –”

“And King Izuku never tried,” Sir Tomura sneers. “In spite of their goodness, they turned away. They were too good to do what had to be done, so it fell to me to slay the monster and tear down his throne.”

Sir Tomura wasn’t mentioned in the prophecy. Why would it fall to him? “And look what I’ve done,” he continues. A harsh laugh tears free from his throat. “Spared a kingdom of cowards and fools from destruction they deserve only slightly less.”

The questions bursts out of you. “If you despise us so much, why did you come here?”

“This kingdom owes me a debt,” Sir Tomura says. “I have nowhere else to go.”

You have nothing to say in response to that. You expect Sir Tomura to look pleased at silencing you, but he doesn’t. “Receive a stand for my armor if you wish it,” he says, and you depart, feeling sick to your stomach.

The White Death’s words cling to you as you search for a spare armor stand. What had to be done. What could he mean by that? What would the White Death do that the good kings and queens of your kingdom wouldn’t try? The answer occurs to you at once. Dark magic. Magic that corrupts the mind and soul, magic that leaves cursed wounds and blighted lands in its wake. Of course the kings and queens of the High Kingdom would never do such a thing. But if that was what it would take to end the Enemy’s reign of terror, then maybe –

It’s not your place to decide such things. You find a spare stand in the armory and cart it back to the deserted wing of the palace, only to be accosted on the way by the tailor Hakamada. “You’re attending him? Good. These are for the feast tonight.”

He thrusts a package into your arms, even though your hands are already full. “Ensure he wears them. His presence is an affront, but he’ll be properly dressed if it’s the last thing I do.”

Given that Hakamada isn’t the one forcing the new clothes on Sir Tomura, it’s more likely to be the last thing you do. You set off again, struggling under the weight of both the package and the stand at once.

Sir Tomura seems surprised that you’ve returned, but he doesn’t mock you over it – yet. He allows you to set up the stand, and to begin to store his armor properly, although he refuses to allow you anywhere near the sword. “It’s cursed,” he says, even though you didn’t ask. “Once it tastes a victim’s blood, that person is doomed to wither and rot. Did you know that?”

“I heard rumors,” you say carefully. “There are many rumors about you.”

“They aren’t rumors if they’re true,” Sir Tomura says. “Almost all of them are.”

It doesn’t surprise you that the White Death knows his own legends. “Which ones aren’t?”

Sir Tomura doesn’t answer. He’s investigating the package from Hakamada, which you set down on the end of the still-unmade bed. You, meanwhile, find yourself transfixed by the tear in the breastplate of his armor. It’s been split nearly in half. You lean closer, paper and fabric rustling behind you, in order to peer at the edges of the breastplate, the padding inside, and a needle of shock and fear drives itself through you. All of it is stained with blood. “My Lord –”

You turn to find yourself facing Sir Tomura half-dressed, in clean breeches and bare feet, having just removed his shirt. His bare skin is laced with scars, some old and some newer, but none so terrible as the enormous wound in his chest, so fresh it can barely be called healed. It matches the tear in the breastplate exactly. Sir Tomura glances at the breastplate, then at you. Then he turns away.

“My Lord,” you start, “if you need a healer –”

“It’s a cursed wound,” Sir Tomura says. “It will never heal.”

That was in the prophecy, too – something about a blow from which the victor will never recover. You know it’s half the reason King Izuku held off. He has no heir, nor an obvious successor among his advisors, and everyone assumed the blow described in the prophecy would be fatal. You mind feels frozen, caught between horror and sadness and trapped in confusion. If what everyone says is true, and it is, Shigaraki Tomura is a monster. If what everyone says is true, and it is, King Izuku is a good king. If both of those things are true, then why did the monster fulfill the prophecy? Why has the good king offered him so meager a welcome? You don’t know what to do with the White Death, who saved your kingdom, whose infamous fury has yet to make an appearance since he arrived at the castle.  Neither does anyone else.

Sir Tomura is fumbling with his new shirt, cursing. You abandon the armor and come forward. “May I help, my Lord?”

He doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t refuse, and you take the risk of helping anyway, straightening the useless ruffles, doing up the pearl buttons, staying well clear of the terrible wound. “It takes a monster to slay a monster,” the White Death says, as you smooth out the lines of his shirt. “And now you all must live with the monster that survived.”

He looks down at you, the ghost of the sneer from before distorting his features. “Is that pity I see on your face? Save your pity. It’s useless to me.”

“I don’t pity you,” you say. You can’t – not when he’s done such terrible things, not when you can’t begin to calculate whether what he did in fulfilling the prophecy cancels any of them out. But you do feel something. You can be honest about that. “I was thinking that it was a brave thing to do, my Lord. To face the Enemy when you weren’t the chosen one, and knowing that the consequences were severe even if you should win. That is all.”

A hint of surprise crosses Shigaraki Tomura’s face. “Do the words monster and villain mean nothing to you?”

“They do,” you say. “But I have never seen it written that a monster cannot be brave. Or that a villain must always be a villain.”

The White Death scoffs. “Are you waiting for me to become a true knight?”

“Only as long as you would wait for me to become a fair lady,” you say. “That is to say, a very long time.”

“A long time to become a lady, perhaps.” Sir Tomura extends one hand towards you, slowly, as though he’s expecting you to flinch or bolt. “You were fair before you knelt at my feet.”

You’re not sure what he means to do with his hand, but you reach out and capture it anyway. There’s only one thing you can think of to do, and you do it – bow low over it to kiss his knuckles, just as you’ve seen lords do for their ladies a thousand times. And you speak, words you’re certain no one has uttered since he arrived. “Thank you for what you did. Even if it was not done for us,” you say. “And thank you, too, for saying I was fair. You did not need to say that.”

“I didn’t lie.” Sir Tomura has yet to take his hand back. You don’t know what to do but keep holding it. “It seems that you are in my debt now.”

Just like that, you’re nervous again. You know what knights often ask, or demand, from the women who cross their paths. “How shall I repay it?”

“This feast,” the White Death says. You look up, startled. “You will accompany me.”

“My Lord –”

“Since I have arrived here, no one has met my eyes, nor spoken to me as you have.” He’s averting his eyes from yours now. “I would like to spend one evening in the company of someone who does not find my company torturous.”

“I would, my Lord, but it is simply not done.” You’re surprised at how upsetting it is to be unable to grant such a simple wish. You let go of his hand and drop into a curtsy, replacing the distance that should exist between you, rather than the odd intimacy of the last few moments. “No true knight would bring a servant as his companion to a royal feast.”

“I see,” Sir Tomura says. His hand slips beneath your chin, tilting your face upwards, and you see that same flash of interest in his red eyes. This time it has staying power, as his callused hand molds to the shape of your jaw and his lips curve into the first smile you’ve seen from him. “It’s fortunate, then, that I am no true knight.”