lifting himself over the ledge separating the two, he first spotted the back of her head— then a journal littered with scribbled notes beside her, the glint of what must be her lyre in hand. she still didn't seem to have noticed him yet, so thancred leaned forward quietly, holding onto the columns beside him to suspend himself behind her.
"a bit early for the songbirds to be out, is it not?" he teased, his voice a low murmur. mona sucked in a gasp the moment he began speaking.
thancred watched with a twinge of humor as her back stiffened. her reflexes acted before her sense, body twisting swiftly to meet her midnight visitor. he knew better than to expect her to come empty-handed, so he was sure to steady himself before the cold press of her dagger flush against his neck, searching to catch her gaze with a hint of guilt behind his smile.
rosy eyes widened as they met with the unexpected sight of her ally. his own began widening in kind as he absorbed the scene before him. he felt his brow furrow as he traced the stain of tears on her cheeks, watching as her line of sight darted about his expression.
mona's blade retreated then, her arm searching instead to hide her face from his line of sight. she played it as if the awkward lift of her arm was her settling back in, and then let out an exasperated sigh of relief.
"what is your problem?" she complained, though her tone was half-hearted. mona turned her back to him as much she could manage, as if trying to trick him into believing he might've been seeing things. he heard her begin grumbling about how it was the middle of the night, and about how lucky he was that she'd caught herself. then, suddenly, she stiffened. "... how long have you been listening?"
well, he knew the right answer to that. "to your song? i caught the tail-end." he lied, stepping up beside her and finding a close seat next to her.
her shoulders seemed to relax a hair at that; as if the thought that he may have missed more pertinent information comforted her. the implications of it caused much to bloom in his head, but he tried to nip the errant thoughts in the bud as quickly as he could. no use getting himself caught in a fantasy.
"you should be asleep." she deflected once more, her gaze averting in a way that made it hard to read her expression, but not impossible. from what he could see reflected of her in the moonlight, her cheeks were flushed, lips pursed. her attempt at distracting him was so blatant that he began to wonder if it was bait.
"you've a lot of nerve." he laughed, averting his gaze toward the moon now. "you're the one who should be asleep, o warrior of darkness. insomnia and heroism aren't very friendly with each other."
"i tried," she complained, though her voice was bereft of the passion of annoyance or anger-honestly, if anything, she simply sounded worn. tired. her hands shuffled about her music sheets, attempting to stuff them haphazardly back into her journal. "i couldn't. i figured i might as well make myself useful. which brings me back around to my point; you should be sleeping."
thancred stared a few moments as he absorbed what she said, and then an incredulous scoff left him. "if i didn't know any better, id think you were trying to get rid of me."
that seemed to give her pause. he watched as mona stilled, the focus fading from her eyes as they lifted to the empty air before her. then she shook her head a few times, her hands resuming their duties. "—no, that's not... i just..."
and she sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat as she abandoned the task altogether, pulling her hands into her lap. her gaze then lifted towards the moon with him— it was easier than meeting his. "come on, thancred... won't you at least try to sleep it off?"
the tone of her voice betrayed her true meaning, echoing in the space between— 'i'm worried about you.' thancred's brow creased, a soft thump of guilt swelling in his chest. that couldn't truly be all this was about, could it?
"i'm alright." he soothed, the words nonchalant and smooth as they left him. if they moved her at all, she didn't show it; when his head turned to meet her, she was massaging her fingertips tensely, bright eyes shimmering with the pale of the moon.
fixing up an old one. this is one of my favs. part of the missyverse shb fic that will never exist #snippets