May I Stand Unshaken
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Summary
This blossoming warmth in his chest did not start with Burdock Root. No, it started with a smile. It was handing it off to the boy, rough and dirty fingers brushing for just a breath. It was the wide-eyed shock, the openness in Kieran’s expressions, uncaring who saw what he felt. It was the uncertain crinkle around his eyes as they turned up toward him, despite that he would stand taller, if he were to stand tall at all.
It was the soft smile blooming across Kieran’s face, warm as the sun and shining just as bright, if crookedly, like the sun winking through shy clouds. It transformed him, turned boy to man, and suddenly that beard and those kind eyes fit his face. Became more charming, the patchwork nature of his facial hair, that one spot on his chin that wouldn’t take to stubble.
Arthur tipped his hat down and turned his back, just in case his face betrayed whatever this was stirring in his traitor’s chest. A warmth that spread to his cheeks.
He would call it butterflies if it weren’t so ridiculous.
Series
- Part 1 of May I Stand Unshaken
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Summary
Arthur leaned heavily against Kieran and hummed contentedly. His eyes slipped shut of their own accord. Slowly, as though scared he might spook, Kieran’s arm snaked around Arthur’s back, and his hand rested on Arthur’s far hip. Wherever they touched, Arthur’s skin tingled pleasantly, as though it had been waiting for this all his life.
Was this what it had been like, before all his relationships had grown too complicated? Had he ever had something as soft as this? Loving Mary had never been easy, and God rest her soul, he hadn’t stuck around Eliza long enough to feel anything as easy as this.
Because it was easy, somehow, leaning against another man—this particular man—and let himself be soft, just this once. Every now and then.
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Kieran and Arthur spend some downtime bonding in between missions with a slow living, ephemeral vibe. Eventually, this will be canon divergent. Ongoing.
Series
- Part 2 of May I Stand Unshaken