Trash Panda

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

“Yes, and I said ‘no’ nicely at first too,” Crow said flippantly. When she caught hold of his hands, he gave hers a playful squeeze, holding her gaze as she looked up at him. As was often the case when he took in her features, he felt a strong burst of fondness for the knight that made him relax as he leaned over her. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was that she had chosen to be with him—that she had been prepared to give up everything for him before. The adoration he could see in her eyes was something he knew he didn’t deserve, but he was overjoyed that she was willing to give it to him anyway.

When she leaned up to kiss him, the thief leaned down to meet her halfway. He closed his eyes and let go of her hands, wrapping one arm around her lower back and using the other to cradle her head as he held her close to himself. Overwhelmed by the strength of his emotions for her, his heart fluttered in his chest, and he met her gaze with a slightly flushed face as she pulled back to speak to him.

“I know,” Crow sighed at her comment about waiting to wake up next to him every day. He trailed his fingers through her long hair, studying her face as he took in every detail that he found so attractive. “I’d marry you tomorrow if I could, but I think your father still isn’t very fond of me,” he shook his head. “If your mother hadn’t said anything to him, he would probably be trying to keep us apart right now.”

Despite the fact that they had managed to get past every other obstacle between them, there was still the matter of winning John’s approval. Before, Crow hadn’t cared much about what the older knight thought about him, but now that he was putting himself in a position where he would need to conform to at least some of the traditions and customs of nobles, John’s dislike of him carried much more weight. If he wanted to marry Penelope soon, he was going to have to pander to her father’s wishes, whether he liked it or not.

“Come on. Now that you’re up, we should get ready to go.”

“If you insist,” Crow casted her a mock look of disappointment before breaking out in a teasing smirk. He pressed one more kiss to her nose before moving to disentangle himself from the blankets. Once he was free, he got up from the bed, put his clothes back on, and picked up his bag. Slinging the pack over his shoulders, he stood by the door to wait for her, ready to leave whenever she was finished with her armor.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow got her back cx
I already feel bad for Preston, since he's the one who's going to have to make Crow wake up on most days xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

For a moment, Crow thought Penelope was actually going to let him keep sleeping in that morning. As his complaint about getting up was followed by silence, he let out his breath in a sigh of relief and settled down more comfortably beneath the blanket, pressing his cheek against the soft pillow under his head. It didn’t take long for him to start drifting of again, so by the time the knight decided to rouse him, he was already half asleep again and not at all prepared for the attempt.

When her weight suddenly landed on top of him, he gave a rather undignified yelp of surprise. His flight instincts kicked in, and he scrambled to pull the blanket down from his head so he could see what was going on. However, as he realized it was just Penelope, he let out his breath in an irritable huff and rolled his eyes. Well, any hope he had of going back to sleep was gone now. He supposed he might as well get ready for the final leg of their trip back to the castle.

But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t get back at her first.

“Fine, fine,” he relented as she poked him on the cheek. Shifting slightly as if he was getting ready to climb out of the bed, he waited for her to give him the space to sit up. However, in the next moment, he quickly reached out and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back down on the bed and rolling over so that he was on top of her. In the process, he managed to entangle both of them in the blankets.

Holding her down with his weight, he grinned at her mischievously and tickled her stomach. “This is for so rudely waking me up,” he said with a cheeky laugh.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow is not a morning person ^^;

Yeah, I imagine he thinks he'll be able to win Crow over easily because they're related. He has no idea just how strong willed Crow is xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

When Penelope mumbled that she couldn’t stay up much longer, Crow felt a bit relieved. Knowing that she wasn’t expecting him to stay awake to converse with her or anything, he felt much better about giving in to his desire to fall asleep. He yawned again and closed his eyes, his grip on her slackening slightly as his willpower began to fade.

“Night,” he managed to murmur in return to her before he slipped out of consciousness.

--

Although Crow slept soundly, his mind was quite active during the night, filling his slumber with a number of fleeting dreams about his fast-approaching life in the inner kingdom. Some of the dreams that passed through his head were great and exciting—imaginings of marrying Penelope and of finally achieving the life they’d always wanted—but others were disheartening, such as one in which he wound up narrowly escaping a mercenary hired by the nobles who wanted him dead.

So, by the time he woke up the following morning, the thief felt rather dazed and not quite as well-rested as he’d wanted to be. He shifted lethargically as he felt Penelope bury her head against his chest, hoping that she would drift off again so that he could get a little more restful sleep before they got up for the day. Unfortunately, it seemed he wouldn’t be so lucky, because it wasn’t long before he felt her stir again and move away from his arms.

“Not yet,” he groaned when she greeted him, rolling onto his side and pulling the blanket over his head. Though he could tell that it was about mid-morning by the light coming in through the window, he didn’t want to get up yet. After all, it wasn’t that far of a walk to the castle from Sarton, right? He could sleep in a little longer if they just ate lunch without stopping or hitched a ride with a traveling merchant or something. Either way, he didn’t want to leave the warmth of the bed until he absolutely had to.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Probably, haha. He might have to deal with some criticism, but I imagine he'd find ways to prove that Crow was the best fit for the job

I threw it in ^^

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow smiled against Penelope’s skin and pressed one more kiss to her neck as she said she had some energy to spare. Feeling quite tired as well, he probably would have favored sleeping beside her over sleeping with her if it wasn’t for the fact that this was the last night they would have to be alone for an undetermined amount of time. He wanted to make the most of it while it lasted, and if that meant foregoing a little extra sleep to enjoy it, then so be it.

As the knight leaned in to meet him in a deep kiss, he met her with rivaling fervor. His heartbeat quickened in his chest as his weariness from the trip was replaced with a strong desire for her instead. He trailed his hands over her upper body, pressing into her with newfound enthusiasm as he focused on the feeling. He was so caught up in the moment, in fact, that he didn’t realize what she was planning until he felt her use her arm around his middle to pull him down with her onto the bed.

Her spontaneity drew a laugh out of him, and he rolled his eyes playfully when she kissed him on the nose. “I am now,” he said with a grin, closing his eyes as she began to kiss his neck. The feeling of her lips against his skin made him shiver with anticipation, and he shifted on the mattress to let her pull his shirt over his head. When the clothing was removed, he wrapped his arms around her and leaned up to kiss her again, pulling her closer to himself as he did.

After a bit, his demeanor changed slightly as he grew both passionate and tender in his touching. He shifted to push her back on the bed, so that he was the one leaning over her now, and slipped away from her lips to press a series of kisses from her jaw to her collarbone. “Now let’s find out if you’re awake,” he said breathily, casting her a teasing wink as he began to slide off her clothing…

--

Crow rolled off Penelope and flopped onto his back, holding the knight against his chest and panting softly as he caught his breath. “Gods, I thought I was tired before,” he yawned and shook his head, fighting not to let himself pass out. “This is a whole new level of exhaustion.” He looked down at her and smiled absently, tracing his hand over the curve of her back. “But that was so worth it.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Probably xD
Albin was taking a calculated risk by giving the job to Crow
(He thinks he'll be able to control Crow better than another noble, since Crow is his son)

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow let out a quiet groan when Penelope pointed out that they were probably just going to be worn out in new ways when they returned to the castle. He had no doubts about that. The nobles there already hated him enough—he felt quite certain that they were still hoping he would be hanged for his crimes—so they were probably going to be outraged when he suddenly flew past them all in rank and title. He hoped that none of them would be so angry as to lash out at him about it, but he expected that he was going to be sleeping with one eye open for a while after his father announced his new position to the entirety of the inner kingdom.

When they arrived at their room for the night, Crow stepped over to the bed with Penelope, slipping off his bag and sitting down on the edge to take his boots off. As she made a comment about William, he glanced up at her and smirked amusedly. “He might,” he shrugged, leaning back on the palms of his hands and arching his back in a long stretch. “But nobles gossip all the time. As long as we don’t let anyone catch us together, no one can claim it’s anything more than the petty rumors of a bitter man.”

He yawned again, feeling his weariness try to settle over him a bit more, and shifted to rest against the knight’s side. He pressed a few kisses to her jawline, trailing his hand across the length of her thigh. Despite his exhaustion, he didn’t want to sleep right away. “Do you think you’re too tired to stay up just a little longer?” he murmured, kissing her a couple more times on the neck. “When we get back to the castle, there’s no telling how long it’ll be until we can find time to be alone again.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I'm also excited for the reveal that Crow is going to be the next viceroy xD
The nobles are going to hate him