Myth!AU - In The Shadows

[sword_breaker]

[Second Part to the Myth AU!~]

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[sword_breaker]

He glances over before settling to wrap an arm around Liam's shoulders albeit lightly so. There was a strangeness to the man's behavior which caused him to not want to crowd him but at the same time he wanted to be here for him. To act as a stabilizing focus against all of the frenetic energy that plagued the dullahan.

"Liam, it's fine. We could go round and round with apologies but that's not going to fix this," he reassures. Carefully James leans over to press a gentle kiss to his shoulder.

He listens carefully before giving a small smile. "You do realize who you're talking to, right? My job is basically carrying out death so no I'm not going to freak out. We're both kind of weird in the scheme of things anyway. You're my dullahan let alone my love though. Never going to judge you for all this. Promise."

[rocketsout]

For a moment it feels like the world stops, and Liam is entirely certain that he's just made things worse. Damn the disjointed energy coursing through him and damn his inability to properly express what he's feeling. But then James' arm is around his shoulders and the relief that flows through him is almost instantaneous.

"Yeah, but." His reaper makes a very good point, and he's a bit embarrassed that the thought didn't occur to him before, "but like. I just...I'm just worried that it'd be too weird, and I don't want to wig you out or something because I really, really love you and don't want to push you away."

[sword_breaker]

He leans in to press a kiss to Liam's shoulder, humming softly under his breath. His dullahan sure knew how to worry fiercer than anyone he's ever known. "Liam, I'm being serious."

"There's no buts in this. I've seen you without all this," he makes a gesture at the man in reference to his glamour. "If I thought it was weird, I wouldn't have done what I did and you'd be roaming the city alone. You're not going to harm this by being yourself. Please trust me in this."

[rocketsout]

Words fail him, and so his response is to steal a soft kiss from his reaper as one hand moves to cup his cheek. The freneticness is still there, there are still sparks under his skin, but with a few simple points James has managed to banish most of the nerves and self-doubt that had been lingering in the back of his mind.

When he finally breaks away he stays close, pressing his forehead against the man's and letting his eyes slip shut. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. I trust you. I trust you with everything, always."

There's a quiet laugh and he moves to momentarily kiss James again, "come with me?"

[sword_breaker]

He's so worried over the dullahan but the kiss helps. Maybe he could have paid more attention the past couple of days and there might have been a chance for an earlier conversation. In the end all the what ifs didn't matter. They were able to talk which means the reaper wasn't left wondering let alone the dullahan forced to suffer further.

"Whenever this kind of stuff comes up, you grab me ok?" James tugs Liam into a hug, wrapping his arms around him. "But I'm glad to hear that and just...same."

He pulls away some. "I'll need to put a word in at work but yea. I'd follow you anywhere."

[rocketsout]

"I will." The words are out before he's even aware of them, and he reddens slightly with a shy sort of grin, "you'll be the first to know, okay? I promise."

This is such an intimate part of him, of who he is, and it's...actually pretty freeing to be able to share it with someone else. And there was no one else in the earthly or unearthly world that he trusts more than his reaper.

They still have to work out how things will go, but it's happening. It's happening and Liam all but beams, "you could probably swing it that you're doing a field mission, yeah? There'll, uh, probably be a little work."

[sword_breaker]

A gentle kiss pressed to Liam’s temple while he keeps him close. His arms shifting to drop lower around the dullahan. “It works both ways, ok? We can talk to each other about this kind of stuff.”

There’s a momentary brow raise and frown. Why would there...oh. No that makes sense really. “I ugh suppose that could help, yea.” James offers a reassuring smile. “I’ll figure something. Not going to leave you hanging.”

[rocketsout]

"I trust you," and it's the truth. No need to hide anything away now, no need to be nervous about seeming repulsive to the one that he loves the most. It's such a weight off of his shoulders, and there's a lightness in his chest that pierces through the restless energy and gives him some bit of peace.

"Promise it won't all be work," he grins almost shyly, "I uh, I think it'd be kind of cool to show you some of the old routes too. See the area outside the city, if that's okay?"

[sword_breaker]

“I’d hope my services won’t be needed the whole time.” The reaper part of him knew that too much caused by one blacklister can cause increased scrutiny. The boyfriend side wanted to keep Liam safe as much as possible. “I’ll keep in mind though.”

He pushes himself up, looking around for his phone. A brow raised at the comment. “That’s fine. I’ve been out of the city. Been out around many of them.”

[rocketsout]

"Definitely not," he gives a small, impish smile, "all work and no play, isn't that how it goes?"

Because he does have a job to do, he's always had a job to do, but he's not so naive enough as to think that he can just run wild. There have always been rules and regulations, but beyond that...beyond that he doesn't want to make more stress for James. "You don't have to worry about a thing."

But James is moving now, and Liam lets him, watching curiously. "Yeah, but...but like it's different. I don't know a good way to explain it, but there's just something about being out and feeling the wind and everything and just-"

He trails off, looking a little embarrassed, "I just um, I guess I just want to kind of...share that part of me and my life with you."

[sword_breaker]

He gives him look after starting to scroll through his contacts. "That makes it sound like there's going to be more than 'some' work. Might need to pick a different idiom, just saying."

The reaper gives a simple grunt in retort. Usually the worry only stuck around fiercer when someone told him not to bother with it. Especially now that he was having to mix work affairs with his boyfriend. Not exactly a winning combination.

"I can get it," James peruses through the names until selecting, "and why it's different from all this. Used to travel a lot for...well you know. Before all this too even."

A text is in the works but he pauses to smile at Liam. "I appreciate the chance."

[rocketsout]

Despite the smile that crosses James' lips there's a growing sense of...Liam can't quite parse through what exactly he's feeling. Guilt, maybe? Shame, a little, for not being able to keep himself under better control. And worry, because while he'd wanted to open up and share this part of his life with his boyfriend it seems like it might have caused the reaper more trouble.

"Sorry-" He trips over the word, looking over towards the wall to try to gather his words, "if, um, if it's going to get you in trouble don't worry about it, okay? I don't wanna cause a bunch of stress..."

[sword_breaker]

“What? No. Liam, hey.” The phone is forgotten for the sake of taking a knee in front of the dullahan. He reaches over to take his hand and give it a squeeze. “Trouble be damned if it means I can help you with this sort of stuff.”

He brings his hand up, pressing a kiss to the back of it. “Yea things are going to be tough to figure out but that’s how it always is. You don’t need to worry over it. It’ll be fine.”

[rocketsout]

There's a moment where James calls his name and Liam isn't sure that he's made the right decision. Maybe this really was a bad idea, and maybe trying to fix things was the wrong thing to do. There's a clench in his gut as he prepares for the worst, but then his reaper is taking his hand and it helps to pull him out of the spiral that he'd been starting to flow down.

"I just," he starts, chancing a look up to meet James' gaze, "I wanna show you, but I don't wanna get you in trouble. You're more important to me, more important than anything."

[sword_breaker]

Never has he seen the dullahan so defeated at the simple call of his name. There's no questions when he moves in to hug him close with one hand going up to hold the back of his neck. His thumb gently stroking over the scar.

"You will get the chance to," he assures. "Might not be this time for sure but definitely the next. If you have to go and I can't, I'll always keep my eye on the road for you to return. That doesn't mean I'm not going to try my damnedest to go with you."

[rocketsout]

There's an implicit trust between the both of them and it shows ever so much at the way James' hand comes up to trace over the seam of his neck. It helps calm Liam's nerves just the tinest bit, knowing that his reaper is there and things are fine for the time being. A seed of concern still worms its way deep in his gut, but it's easier to ignore when he can focus on the warmth of his boyfriend pressed against him.

"Yeah. Yeah okay." He's not entirely convinced, but he trusts James implicitly. "Promise it won't be long, won't be a lot of trouble for you and your work."

[sword_breaker]

He press a kiss to the dullahan’s forehead before pushing back onto his feet. His thumb giving one last stroke. “I’m going to go take of things, ok? If you need anything, I’ll be in the office.”

There’s a nagging feeling that there should be more he should be doing. He simply doesn’t know what. So he’ll do what he knows he can and give Liam breathing room.

[rocketsout]

Take care of things. James is going to take care of things. Liam draws a shaky breath, calming his nerves and reassuring himself that this is a good thing. James always makes everything better, this would be no exception.

Still, it's so strange to feel such anxiety about this; he's been around for centuries, but this is the first time he's ever tried to share this part of himself with anyone else. The last thing he wants is for it to be a bother or trouble for his reaper.

But he breathes deep, slow, works on focusing himself despite the itching just under his skin and...yeah, yeah he can do this. Things are going to be okay.

Time passes, and he finds himself padding through the halls of the apartment until he's knocking gently at the office door before sticking his head a few seconds later. "Hey."

[sword_breaker]

He buries himself into files, combing through every paragraph and iteration to find some way to follow through on his promise to Liam. There had to be a way. He didn’t trust any other reaper to understand Liam and what he had to do. Plenty of reports pointed to that with the rare dullahans being chased out into the unknown.

A glimmer of hope turns up. It’s a stretch but he’s filling all of the pieces and sending it off to the office. Hopefully a response would be back soon since Liam didn’t look good out there.

A poor pen is getting chewed over when Liam pokes in as the reaper stares at his computer. He glances up with a faint smile, “Hey. Everything ok?”

[rocketsout]

There, he's taken the first step and while there's still the dull buzz of anxiety that's flooding through his system just seeing James' smile helps steady him. His reaper looks good like that, engrossed in work and idly worrying at the poor pen; Liam can't help the soft grin that tugs at the corners of his mouth. "Yeah. Yeah, it is. Sorry, am I interrupting?"

Hopefully not, that's not his intention at all, but he doesn't quite know exactly how reapers work.

[sword_breaker]

"No, no you're not. I'd just finished some stuff up and only reading really. Nothing important at the moment," he answers, dropping the abused pen back onto the desk. He shuffles the papers back into a folder before hiding them away into his desk once more. It was only supplemental to what was on his screen anyway.

"So what's up?"

[rocketsout]

Liam finds that his words stick in his throat, any semblance of eloquence abandoning him with each of James' passing words until he's left standing a bit awkwardly, grinning shyly as he tries to recover. "I uh."

That certainly doesn't help, and so instead he exhales slowly and shoots his reaper a slightly apologetic look before slipping into the office and making his way over. The buzzing under his skin alleviates some when he's here, with James, and with a quiet exhale he manages to finally find his voice. "I, yeah. I think- I think I can hold out for a while, if your work will let you come. Could...could that be a thing?"

[sword_breaker]

“Are you sure?” Far be it for him to not worry over the man especially with the admissions early. He wasn’t going to force his dullahan to do something that he wasn’t really built to do: stay in one place and for long extended periods no less. “I could always meet you out on the road. I just...”

He rubs the back of his neck. “I want to go but I can’t gurantee this. So I don’t want you to wait for something that might take ages to approve. That’d be cruel.”

[rocketsout]

"Yeah." The answer comes naturally, and he finds himself nodding, "I am. I- I want this to be a thing that...a thing that I get to show you."

He's certain of that, even with the uncomfortable buzzing beneath his skin; he's never allowed anyone this close into his personal life, and he wants James to be the first. If that means having to wait, then so be it. He'll find a way to deal with all the extra anxious energy, it'll- it'll work out.

[sword_breaker]

James glances over the papers, chewing his bottom lip as he thinks. Glancing back up at the dullahan comes after he decides on his next words carefully. “Can...May I see you without your head here then? So I can show you what I was meaning before. You obviously don’t have to. I know it’s bold of me to ask and I’m sorry for doing so.”