Almost, Always

Pairing: Lucien Vanserra x Reader

Summary: You and Lucien indulge in an old habit, passing mirthroot and memories between you. Somewhere between the haze and laughter, a truth finally slips free.

Warnings: drug usage ('mirthroot'), smoking, the slight angst of nostalgia, two best friends, a late evening conversation, and a confession centuries too late

Word Count: 1.9k

✹ ✶ 𖧷 ✶✹ 

The first drag hit the back of your throat like a memory—sharp, familiar, just a little bitter. Most memories tasted that way recently, held that bittersweet taste of nostalgia. You coughed, more out of surprise than anything else, blinking against the burn as the smoke curled past your lips.

Lucien just laughed, taking the joint from your fingers with an easy roll of his wrist. "Amateur."

"Fuck off," you muttered, voice raspier than intended. Your throat constricted with another cough.

A Sleeping Guide for Insomniacs

Pairing: Reader x Azriel

Summary: Azriel has spent weeks watching the light from your shop burn long into the night. Tonight, when sleep refuses him once again, he finally follows it.

Warnings: Az's mental state is not the greatest aka self-deprication, envy, loneliness, insomnia… but also a growing cruuuush!!

Word Count: 3.9k

✹ ✶ 𖧷 ✶✹ 

Step One: Find the Light

Every insomniac has a lighthouse — some flickering glow that keeps them tethered through the long, unbroken dark. It might be the streetlamp outside your window. The low burn of coals in the hearth. The lonely glint of a candlelit window across the city. It will not always be the brightest light. But it will be the one you cannot stop looking at.

— (A Sleeping Guide for Insomniacs, 14)

Azriel never slept. 

Not really, not the way the others did.

He’d gotten used to it over the centuries, the way his mind, despite being fraught with exhaustion, never seemed to leave him alone. When he was younger, he used to think it was a blessing —in some weird, twisted way.

His ability to remain constantly thinking, worrying, conjuring up every thought he could, occupied him. Kept him company. That, along with his shadows, made him feel less alone. Even if it made him miserable.

Because at least then, he was miserable with company—of his own making, of course.

But lately, it had been worse.

awww he has a crush :,)

his shadows really are like cats lol

bashful az and his curious companions 🥹

A Sleeping Guide for Insomniacs

Pairing: Azriel x Reader

Summary: Azriel has spent weeks watching the light from your shop burn long into the night. Tonight, when sleep refuses him once again, he finally follows it.

Warnings: Az's mental state is not the greatest aka self-deprication, envy, loneliness, insomnia… but also a growing cruuuush!!

Word Count: 3.9k

✹ ✶ 𖧷 ✶✹ 

Step One: Find the Light

Every insomniac has a lighthouse — some flickering glow that keeps them tethered through the long, unbroken dark. It might be the streetlamp outside your window. The low burn of coals in the hearth. The lonely glint of a candlelit window across the city. It will not always be the brightest light. But it will be the one you cannot stop looking at.

— (A Sleeping Guide for Insomniacs, 14)

Azriel never slept. 

Not really, not the way the others did.

He’d gotten used to it over the centuries, the way his mind, despite being fraught with exhaustion, never seemed to leave him alone. When he was younger, he used to think it was a blessing —in some weird, twisted way.

His ability to remain constantly thinking, worrying, conjuring up every thought he could, occupied him. Kept him company. That, along with his shadows, made him feel less alone. Even if it made him miserable.

Because at least then, he was miserable with company—of his own making, of course.

But lately, it had been worse.