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Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow's getting a little optimistic cx

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As Penelope began to tell him about her efforts to end the war, Crow listened quietly. He continued to rub her back, moving his hand in a small circle as he tried to help distract her from the storm. Luckily, it seemed to be working. She didn’t sound as distraught as she spoke about the letters she had sent or the results of her talk with the other lieutenants. He was glad to see that she appeared to be feeling better and that she was already making so much progress in her plans to convince his father to negotiate with the Younisian king.

He lifted his hand to run his fingers through her hair when she rested her head against his shoulder. “Good so far, I think,” he answered her softly. He opened his mouth to continue, but then paused when he heard the sound of footsteps outside the storage closet. Tensing slightly, he glanced back over his shoulder as a shadow passed by their hiding place. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be a servant, because the footsteps receeded into the distance almost as quickly as they had appeared. He let out his breath in relief.

“I met with three men at breakfast,” Crow went on in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. “I gave them the impression that I was just looking to start making friends around here, and they seemed to buy it. They invited me to eat with them again tomorrow morning.” He casted her a mischievous grin. “I know they’re all just trying to use me to increase their families’ statuses in the castle, but since they all have connections here, I’ll have some influential support if that baron you met with tries anything funny.”

He leaned his head against hers and sighed contentedly. “You know, there could be another benefit to getting to know more people here,” he mused. “If I can improve my reputation faster, then maybe everyone will stop hating me as much and we can stop hiding.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Of course lol
Crow's trying his best to help Penelope calm down

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow stood up a little straighter at Penelope’s praise for his idea. Whenever she complimented him, it made him feel good, even if he hadn’t done very much. Beside that, he was pleased that they wouldn’t have to worry about being walked in on anymore. It seemed that aside from the king’s treasury vaults, there weren’t very many locks on any of the doors in the castle, so it was difficult to hide anywhere without getting caught. He winced as he remembered the incident with her father once again. There wasn’t space in the storage closet to get away with anything more than kissing, but he was relieved they wouldn’t have to go through the discomfort of that situation again.

Suddenly, another deep rumble of thunder resonated through the small room, drawing Crow from his thoughts. Reminded of the reason why they had come here in the first place, he frowned and moved back to where she was standing, wrapping his arms around her as she buried her face against his neck. He gently rubbed his hand over her back and rested his cheek against her head. “I know,” he murmured, touching a kiss to her temple. “Hopefully it won’t be a long storm.”

Despite his words, he had a feeling the weather wouldn’t be clearing up anytime soon. He glanced back at the door, holding the knight close to his chest as an especially loud clap of thunder made the supply shelves around them tremble. The intensity of it even made him flinch. It was barely afternoon, and the rain outside sounded like it was still coming down hard. From past experience, he guessed this storm was going to drag on for quite a while.

He turned back to Penelope, tracing his hand over her shoulders in thought. Since the weather wasn’t clearing up anytime soon, he wanted to distract her from it. “Have you been getting a lot of support to end the war?” he asked in a gentle voice, hoping that by starting a conversation with her, he would be able to take her mind off the foul storm. “And those lieutenants I told you about—were you able to speak with them about it before they left?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow found a way to use the mop to his advantage cx

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow frowned as Penelope brought up the point that a servant could come by and open the door to get supplies. He supposed he hadn’t thought about that when he’d led her inside the closet. Even though he knew what the storage room was for, he’d had yet to see any of the castle servants open one, so he had just assumed that the supplies weren’t used very often. Knowing how quickly gossip spread in the inner kingdom, it wouldn’t take long for everyone to find out about them if someone walked in on them now. Just the thought of it made him cringe.

At her following comment, he blushed, suddenly grateful for the darkness that concealed the color in his cheeks. “Yes, well that’s sort of hard to do when I barely have room to stand up straight,” he snorted, glancing over the small closet. If he leaned up slightly on the balls of his feet, he could feel his hair brush against the ceiling, and there were supplies piled on shelves on either side of him. The room certainly hadn’t been made for someone of his stature. In fact, the only reason he hadn’t knocked anything else over was because he had trained himself to be aware of his surroundings. He’d snuck through tighter spaces on raids before. If he wasn’t spatially consicous, he would have gotten caught by a knight long ago and probably run through with a sword.

His eyes wandered back to the mop. It was lucky that no one had been walking by when he’d bumped into that. All it would take would be one curious passerby to pull open the door and—

Pull open the door.

Suddenly, Crow blinked as he was struck with an idea. He reached for the mop and pulled it down from where it had been fixed to the shelf. Then, moving carefully, he turned and stepped over to the door, searching with his fingers to locate the handle. He smiled to himself and gently eased the mop’s long pole through it, hitching the bottom against the corner of the room, so it stuck in place when he let go. Taking a step back, he looked over his handiwork, pleased to see that the mop was now securely lodged diagonally across the door.

“There,” he nodded, turning back to Penelope with a proud grin. “Now, if a servant tries to open it, the door will jamb, and we’ll have time to get out when they go to get help unsticking it.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow may have gotten cock blocked by a mop xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow closed his eyes as he pressed his lips to Penelope’s jawline. It was pitch dark in the closet, so there was no point in trying to see anything anyway. That, and he was quick to lose himself in her touch after being unable to even hold her hand for nearly a week. He trailed his hands over her back, shivering slightly with excitement at the feeling of being so close to her again. With all the busyness that had kept him distracted since he’d become a viceroy, he hadn’t realized just how much he had missed her touch. Now that he had it again, he wished they could stay like this forever, hidden and alone in their own world.

When the knight brought her hand to his cheek, he leaned into her palm and opened his eyes again. His vision had adjusted a bit to the darkness, so he could make out her vague silhouette standing in front of him. He smiled fondly and wasted no time in meeting her halfway as she moved in to kiss him. The feeling of her soft lips against his left him breathless, and he pulled her in as close to himself as he could. His hands moved slowly over her body, and he tangled his fingers in her hair, panting softly when she pulled back from the kiss.

“Mhm,” Crow murmured in agreement when Penelope said the storm was a blessing. He held her tightly, feeling her grow tense as another round of thunder sounded from outside. Even though he was glad that the storm had given them this opportunity, he still felt a little sorry for her, since she seemed a bit frightened by it. However, he didn’t dwell on it for long. As the knight began to kiss his neck, he closed his eyes again, letting out his breath in a quiet sigh.

“I’ve missed you too,” he whispered, turning his head to meet her lips once more. Leaning forward slightly, he pressed her back against the wall. His hands moved to her hips, and he shifted to kiss her a little lower along her neck and collar. His heart raced as he grew more zealous in his touches, and he sank into her a little more. However, just as he was about to kiss her again, he flinched as he bumped into what felt like a mop, the handle of which fell and hit him lightly on the head.

“Ow,” Crow winced. He pushed the pole aside and turned back to Penelope with a sheepish look. “This storm may be a blessing, but I wish we could have found a bigger place to hide.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow just realized this is probably the only chance they'll have for a while to be alone lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow smirked a little to himself when Penelope brought up his lesson. “I was actually supposed to be there a while ago,” he admitted with a shrug. “I’m honestly not sure if my tutor is still there.” Somehow, he doubted Udolf was the kind of man to wait for a student for this long. He had probably left by now to make better use of his time. For a moment, the viceroy wondered if he would go to his father as he had been threatening, but thinking over the results of his last few lessons, he didn’t think it was likely. He’d already proven to the old man that he was taking his lessons seriously. Surely one slip up wouldn’t be enough to undo that impression, right?

Confident that the consequences wouldn’t be that bad, Crow took one more furtive look around the hallway before he slipped inside the supply closet. He had to duck slightly to keep from hitting his head on the short lintel. The light faded from the tiny room as he closed the door behind him, enveloping both of them in darkness but also protecting them from unwanted eyes.

“It’s just one day,” he assured Penelope with a smile that he knew she couldn’t see. Moving carefully to avoid bumping into any of the supplies in the closet, he took a couple steps forward and reached out blindly to locate the knight in the dark. His fingers brushed her arm, and he gently traced it up to her shoulder and then to her face, softly caressing her cheek. In the next moment, his heartbeat quickened as he realized this was the first time in nearly a week that they had been able to slip away together, and he wrapped his arms around her in a sudden embrace.

“Gods, it’s been too long,” he breathed, pressing affectionate kisses to her cheek and jaw.