with you, all in tangles (final)

3 times Yor blows kisses to Twilight and one time Twilight blows a kiss to Yor

It wasn’t the first party they’d hosted, but it was the first one where they’d rented a special space for it. Sharing director duties at WISE during a lasting peace afforded Twilight more time to genuinely relax. But of course, he would never choose genuinely relax doing this. Which was why the party was also a WISE operation. And Yor was aware of his target as they moved through the room.

Yor, on the other hand, still in her same role at City Hall and still in her same role with Garden, had taken on the planning duties for fun. And almost everyone she liked or loved was in attendance. Yor was having a great time! It also just so happened those same people were mostly the same people Twilight liked or loved, and so despite himself, Twilight also did seem to be enjoying himself.

Up until now. Yor had felt his change of mood the moment it happened, and quickly scanned the room. Oh, damnit! She thought Gorey had sent his regrets!

Then again, that man was unpredictable — wanting to curry Dr Loid Forger’s favour one moment and rejecting it the next. Judging by the way he was carrying himself, the retired former Chief Medical Director was intent on an evening for currying favour. Which meant bending Twilight’s ear with the most asinine prattle (Twilight's words) for so long he would end up lying in bed, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand, rubbing his stomach with the other, grumbling to himself, until Yor came to bed, at which point he would move from lying against his pillow to resting his head in her lap as she read until he finally fell asleep.

But Yor — despite Gorey saying he would not be attending — had planned for this! She stole through the room, slipping easily between her guests, intercepting Gorey when he was feet away from Twilight. “Doctor Gorey! How lovely you were able to come in the end,” Yor said, stepping directly into his path. She clasped her hands in front of her, and gave him her biggest smile. “I was so sorry when we received your regrets, as I had actually actually planned to introduce you to someone this evening.”

“Mrs Forger,” Gorey greeted. He’d been trying — very rudely! — to look past her towards Twilight as she spoke, but at the mention of an introduction, he refocused. “I — well, yes my plans changed. And I thought I would see my good friend Loid —” She knew Twilight wasn’t openly listening but she also knew exactly what it felt like to have his focused attention: it had been steady from the moment she had started to move through the room. At Gorey’s casual familiarity, Twilight’s attention sharpened irritably, even as she could still hear him speaking pleasantly. Since he retired, he insists on calling me Loid, Twilight had said testily the last time this happened. At that point, Yor had put her book aside, and set her fingers to her husband’s temples, half listening as he went on and half formulating this exact plan.

“Ahh, Loid will very much want to see you,” Yor said apologetically. Lie, she sing-songed to herself. “But I really do need to introduce you. Oh, and the gentleman in question is just over here! He’s been keen to meet you ever since Loid sung your praises a few weeks ago. If you’ll come with me?”

Gorey made one more attempt to look past her — but Yor tipped her head, letting her hair fall to obscure his view. And it was clear he was very tempted by the prospect of flattery. “Well,” he finally said, puffing up his chest. “If you insist.”

“You’re doing me such a favour, Doctor Gorey,” Yor gushed.

As Gorey turned in the direction she indicated, Yor looked over her shoulder, meeting Twilight’s eyes. He didn’t smile outright, but she knew that slight curve to his lips, the way his eyes shone at her.

Quickly, before Gorey might notice, Yor winked, and blew him a kiss.

Like he had in the beginning — so adorable! — Twilight ducked his head ever so slightly, such that only she would notice, a faint flush touching his cheeks, before he turned his attention back to the people he was speaking with. Yor fell into step beside Gorey, feeling like she might be glowing just a little bit.

After Yor had set Gorey talking to a WISE agent she had roped into the ploy — with apologies! — Yor took a moment to survey the room. And if her eyes lingered on her husband —

“You two are still doing that, huh.”

Yor turned to Sylvia, who had come up beside her, wine glass in hand. “Hm?” Yor asked.

with you, all in tangles (+1)

3 times Yor blows kisses to Twilight and one time Twilight blows a kiss to Yor

Standing anxiously by the dining table, Yor fretted, looking at Yuri through the serving hatch into the kitchen where he was busy with — something. She wasn't even sure what challenge he’d given Twilight this time around, only that it wasn't going as Yuri wanted.

It never did. Always doomed to failure. Twilight had at least a decade’s experience on Yuri, countless undercover missions where he’d learned countless and often quite random skills… Yor sighed. She didn’t blame Yuri, not really. He didn’t know the truth about Twilight. And the circumstances of their marriage were strange. But also it had been months now (!) and would this just be what it was like for the rest of their lives?!

Yuri had turned his back on Twilight to do something, and Twilight took the opportunity to catch her attention. He raised an eyebrow at her, and Yor's eyes widened. She resisted the urge to cover her face with her hands, mouthed desperately, I'm so sorry! 

But Twilight shook his head, mouthed, It's all right, Yor, back to her. She tried to make her face into an expression that would show she believed him, but going by the way the furrow between his brows had appeared, she obviously failed.

As she tried to think of what to do — how could she end this when Yuri tried to keep her out of it? Even though it was apparently about caring (?) for (??) her (???) ?! —

Twilight glanced at Yuri, still facing away, and then Twilight…

Twilight winked at her. Raised his hand to his lips, kissed his fingers, and blew her the kiss.

Pure shining delight bubbled through her. She covered her mouth but still a giggle escaped. She couldn't fight her smile. Oh, but she loved him so dearly. Twilight flashed a grin, his eyes twinkling at her, and he winked again just as Yuri whirled around.

with you, all in tangles (2)

3 times Yor blows kisses to Twilight and one time Twilight blows a kiss to Yor

Yor waved to Anya as the school bus pulled away and jolted a little in surprise when Twilight took her hand as soon as she'd dropped it from her wave. At her jolt, Twilight loosened his hold, murmured, "We don't have —"

"No!" Yor tightened her hand around his, bringing it up to her chest impulsively. "I'm just... I'm not used to this yet.”

Twilight studied her, and Yor held his gaze through her blush and against the urge to shy away. After a moment, he tipped his head, smiled a little. "All right," and he tugged gently, bringing their hands down to hang between them. "Shall we?"

Strictly speaking, the hospital where Loid worked wasn't exactly on Yor's way to to work. But since... since two days ago, they had walked together each morning. Twilight first, yesterday, to city hall, and now Yor, today, to the hospital.

Two days ago was when Twilight had said, Nothing needs to change, but there's something I want to tell you, and Yor had looked at the stiff hold of his neck, the uncertain cast of his eyes, the way his breathing was just a little elevated, all signs he was nervous, except that while Twilight often felt much more than he was comfortable with, he was never nervous and so she had flustered which had set Twilight to withdraw into himself in a way Yor had learned meant he was trying to think quickly to avoid panic, which made her fluster more, until finally Twilight had blurted out his feelings, and

And everything had stopped.

And Yor had breathed out.

And Twilight looked a little stunned when she smiled at him, even though she felt a little tremulous. When she said, Oh, I feel the same, she had told him softly. I have for months.

And everything had changed.

Or, she supposed it would be more accurate to say, everything was in the process of changing.

Twilight tugged her hand again, and Yor took a step forward, and then, just like that, they were walking together. "Will it be a busy day for you?" he asked.

"Mmm, no, I don't think so," Yor said, looking off to the side to consider. "Actually it's a little quiet at the moment." And in case he was asking about her other work, she added, "No reason for overtime."

Twilight made a thoughtful noise. "So you'll be home for dinner?"

"Mhm, should be!"

"I'm glad to hear it," he said, voice warm in a way that sent little shivers all through her body.

"And your day?" she asked, giving a little swing of their hands between them to release some of those shivers. She felt Twilight's eyes slide to her when she did. Knew he'd be tamping down on some amusement if she looked. Yor bit her lip against her own.

"My day should be fairly normal," Twilight finally answered. "I don't anticipate any extra patients."

"I should hope not," Yor said darkly: extra patients really meant side missions. "You have too much to do as it is. She must give you a break."

Twilight was quiet for a moment, then said in an undertone, "I'll let her know to sleep with one eye open. That she's on your list."

Yor gasped — Does he think I meant I'd break Sylvia — ?! Turned to him urgently. "That isn't what I meant! I would never —"

But Twilight was looking back at her with a mild expression, his eyebrows raised over eyes bright with humour.

with you, all in tangles (1)

3 times Yor blows kisses to Twilight and one time Twilight blows a kiss to Yor

It was their third mission together. Something easy, the Shopkeeper had said. For you. We'll see how your Twilight performs.

And Yor was… Yor was seeing.

Their first two missions has been in his world. Tonight's was in hers. Loid-Twilight was backup for her, for Thorn Princess.

He was performing very, very well.

She had always known he was kind and competent and handsome, of course. She'd known that she sort of, kind of, maybe a little bit had something of a crush on him. It's just that it hadn't mattered and hadn't meant anything because everything they were doing was false and anyway, there was nothing about Yor which might draw the attention of Dr Loid Forger in that way. And even if somehow there was, Yor didn't... she didn't like that she had so many lies between him and herself. She struggled enough with that as they were; it made her dizzy, imagining what those lies might do if, if they became — if they became more than —

Then that horrible night happened. Yor learned about Twilight. Twilight learned about Yor. And they both learned about Anya —

Days and days passed with lots of conversation and lots of discussing and lots of disagreeing quietly while pretending in front of Anya that everything was all right (unsuccessfully, because telepath) and being very honest in front of Anya that she had nothing to worry about (successfully, because it was true and also because telepath).

Then WISE contacted Garden and Garden agreed to meet with them, and the conversations became negotiations which included Loid's Handler and her Shopkeeper, and now they were here and doing missions together.

And Yor was being forcibly reminded that she'd never really stopped fancying Loid. Twilight. It had only become more confusing. And it was getting more confusing by the second, because he was incredibly talented. Of course she'd already known that but she hadn't know he was talented like this. And she'd never really thought about men's bodies before except for how to incapacitate or kill them or how to defend against their attacks, but she was thinking about Loid's body now, and how he moved and how he worked and how his hands were very clever and his shoulders a very nice shape and he had excellent foot work and precise muscle control and his waist —

"Thorn Princess?"

Yor bit her lip as her cheeks heated, something fluttery in her chest, in her stomach, and flicked her eyes back to his face. "Mhm?"

Twilight’s expression was mild but she knew that particular light in his eyes: he was frustrated. "I'm not sure how we'll get through,” he said. “WISE's intel must have been outdated; there are more of them than we expected."

"Oh." Yor looked around. They were on some sort of ledge, surrounded by bodies, most she had evidently taken down. She reviewed the assignment. If she wasn't mistaken, the primary client was actually immediately below them, and there ought to be a promenade under the ledge she could use to access his suite. She was confident she could deal with whatever security were physically in with the client, so… "Can you distract these people?"

"Of course," Twilight said. And he often looked unfazed and assured, but how had Yor never noticed how appealing that was before? Something stirred, fluttered, again in her belly. He went on, "But we still need to get two storeys down."

"Is it two floors? I thought his suite was directly below us."

Twilight inclined his head. "The suite has a high ceiling."

"Oh, that's no trouble. If you don't mind distracting these people, I'll finish the assignment."

After a beat where Twilight held her gaze, he asked, "You don't need backup down there?"

"No, but thank you!" Yor said cheerfully. She rolled to the edge of the ledge, and, protected behind a very ugly statue, she stood. There was no railing around the ledge which seemed like a safety risk — what if children ever came up here?! — but was useful for her needs. She stepped back, until her heels were right at the edge. "Don't worry about that!"

"I — if you're sure." He didn't sound doubtful, though Yor couldn't blame him for some hesitation. This wasn't the plan after all and she had long since learned that Loid liked plans! He didn't tend to mind them changing but she suspected he preferred it when he was the one changing them. Still, he was reloading his guns, and then pulling something from his backpack. He looked up at her from his crouch. "Thorn Princess. Yor. Are you sure you don't want backup?"

Butterflies took flight, fluttering sweetly in her in her belly, filling her chest. The way he asked it… As though... as though he cared. About her, about her answer, about what she needed to do her job. She beamed at him, and Twilight looked stunned for just a breath, pink appearing high on his cheeks, and —

And Yor blamed what happened next on the butterflies.

"You don't have to worry about me!" she called. Then she winked, blew him a kiss, and stepped backward off the ledge.

For the whole second it took to drop, her cheeks burning hot enough to heat all of Ostania, her mind was filled with a shriek, What was that?!

Then she landed, and gun shots sounded overhead, and Yor stood. She twirled her stilettos as the guards inside caught sight of her. The work began.

Part 2 (2) ->