Work Text:
The bright light of the sun shone through the windows of manjus quarters. The slight shift of the boat due to the waves of the waters made the room have a very nice atmosphere to wake up in.
Manju shifted in his bed, his kimono and bandages were on the floor, messy, beside him. When he felt movement from his side, he quickly rolled over and flung his arms around their waist, stopping it from moving, his eyes still closed. He heard an annoyed huff coming from it.
“I wasn’t going to leave.” They said, and Manju scoffed.
“Doesn’t matter..” he muttered, pulling them closer to him, burying his face into their neck.
The one beside him lowly hummed in response, turning their body to face him. Their hands found their way to his hair, stroking it gently.
“We have to get up you know.”
“Can’t we stay like this for a bit longer..?” His breath tickled their neck.
“Itll be weird if one of your crewmembers needs you and I walk out too.” They sighed and Manju huffed.
“They probably already know everything, we aren exactly discrete, not to mention how loud you were last night.”
“Stupid fox, that was your fault..!” Annoyed, they pushed him away, getting up.
Manju finally opened his eyes, watching them. Their back was faced to him, but he already knew exactly what they looked like, head to toe. Their long messy dark hair nearly reached the floor, and Manju genuinely debated getting up and brushing it out for her.
“Jagae.” He said, and she turned to face him.
Her body, still exposed, practically glowed in the suns bask.
She was gorgeous.
He got up and went in front of her, brushing aside a bit of her hair from her neck before kissing the marks he had left on her beforehand. His hands found their way to her waist and hips once more, gently holding it.
She fit so well in his hands.
“Hey now, we can’t—“ she suddenly stopped, breath hitching as his hands travelled up her bare back.
He stopped for a moment, chuckling at her reaction. “And why not?” He kissed her neck again as his tail swayed. “We’re the leaders of our guilds no? If we say we want a bit more time together, I’m sure they’d understand.”
“And our clients? What would they think?”
Manju sighed, his tail dropping in disappointment. She was right unfortunately.
“Can’t we just combine our guilds?” He pulled his face away from the crevice of her neck and looked at her, her face slightly red.
“Not yet. Im not interested in getting rid of our rivalry right now.” She crouched down to recover her clothes, escaping Manju’s grasp.
He raised an eyebrow at her. “How kinky.”
“Shut up before I throw you overboard.”
Manju pouted jokingly before turning, going to get his own clothes. “Is that any way to talk to the love of your life?”
“Arrogant much-“ she stopped, and manju felt her eyes on his back.
“Hm?” He turns to face her again. “Like what you see?” He smirks and Jagae blushes before rolling her eyes.
“No, not that.. it’s just..” she averts her eyes.
Manju cocks his head at her, waiting for her continuation.
She looks back at him, her face full of shame. “…never mind.”
He laughs before walking up to her again. He brushes his fingers against her neck again, looking at the small bruises and bite marks. He puffed up his chest slightly, proud of what he did.
At the sudden touch, Jagae’s body slightly jolted.
“Are you going to cover them up?” He asks, and her shakes her head.
“My collar is high enough that it wont be a problem. You on the other hand..” she looks at his chest and he follows her eyes. Obvious marks and red spots cover it. He sighs.
“You clearly did a lot last night. I assume my neck is no better than yours?”
“Youre acting like a saint. My neck and chest is also full of marks.” She scoffed, and Manju took it as a chance to look for himself. He tail began to softly move from side to side.
“Pervert.” She muttered, turning her face away from him, blushing.
“Well at least you can cover them. What exactly am I supposed to do?” He looked down at his own body, his fingers tracing her bite marks on his shoulder.
She shrugged and pointed at his kimono. “Wear it correctly.”
He looked at her like she just told him to kill himself.
“Absolutely not.”
“You’re acting like a child. Just wear it over your shoulders.”
“No.” He deadpanned.
Jagae sighed. She walked over to his bedside table and opened the drawer. She rummaged around before taking something out.
“Then use your bandages.” She tossed it to him, Manju catching it. She went back to where her clothes were and started to put them on.
Manju watched her, noting every little detail on how her hips moved and how her arms gracefully did what she wanted. He quickly tossed the roll of fiber on the bed, put his pants on, before walking up behind her. He pulled her to him, hugging her from behind and burying his face in her once more.
“Spoiled much?” She asked, continuing to dress herself with the obstacle on her.
He hummed. “You’re the one who made me like this.” He smiled, feeling Jagae’s arm reach above her shoulder to cup his cheek.
She finished dressing herself, turning to him who was still lacking a top. Then again, he’s always lacking a top, so why did it matter?
It mattered because he looked hot, but whether Jagae was gonna admit that or not is a completely different matter.
“You should get ready.” She told him and Manju looked at her unsatisfied.
“Our mornings together are always so short. Don’t you ever wish to just stay together for longer?” He asked her, and Jagae looked at him with a softened expression, one that she lets Manju see a lot nowadays; lucky fox.
“Great power comes great responsibilities. As long as we are working, our time together will be limited.” She told him, and he sighed, as if he’d heard this before.
It was true, he was pretty spoiled, but only for her. It was because of her he wanted more, more time with her especially.
“If that’s so, then when’s your next day off?” He asks, brushing out her hair with his fingers.
Jagae, fully obliging, turns and sits on a chair meant for Manju’s desk. “When I finish all my appointments with clients, you know that.”
“Just give me an idea so I can clear that time for a chance to be with you for longer.” He muttered, tying her hair up in the usual hairstyle. He’s gotten quite good at taking care of Jagae if he does say so himself.
“Hmm.. maybe in a week or two. We’re nearing the end of the month and I want to give my crew a break.” She hummed, handing her hairpin to him.
He takes it and skillfully puts it in her hair. Then he moves on to the bottom of her hairstyle. “In that case, I’ll come visit your hometown when I can.”
“Will your crew mind?”
“No, if anything they’ll enjoy the hot springs there.” He told her, finishing up her hair. She stands up, not worrying about checking herself in the mirror, as she already has a feeling it looks good. As a trade back, she takes the bandages he had originally thrown onto the bed, and looks at him expectingly. He understands, lifting up his arms just enough so she could wrap it around his upper torso. This was habit at this point, as the two had gotten used to taking care of the other. If they weren’t dating, they’d probably be married.
Jagae’s hands manipulated the bandage swiftly and gently, finishing it up with a bow at the side, something she’d been doing to tease him, but it has grown on him. (He used to just tuck the bandage in the layers, not tying it, but ever since they’ve started dating and Jagae has helped him get ready, he’s grown accustomed to it, to the point he does it himself sometimes). Afterwards, Jagae took his kimono and held it up, Manju putting it on accordingly before tying his kumihimo cord around his waist, right above his tail.
“There we go! As for your neck..” she started, glancing over at it. She reaches a hand to touch it, her fingers rubbing the red and purple marks.
“I can wear them out. It’ll be a symbol I’m taken by the Jagae Guildmaster.” He says in his usual playful tone, jokingly winking at her, and Jagae huffs in annoyance.
“No shame as always..” she trails off, raising an eyebrow at him. He laughs before leaning down towards her face.
“I’ll just put a bandage on it, don’t worry my dearest rival. But you should be happy to know I want to show off the trophies I’ve received during last night’s date.” He giggles, watching her face slowly turn into red mess. Witches, he loved teasing her. He opened his mouth again.
“Perhaps I should leave you with a visible mark so you can do the same?” He laughed again, feeling himself start to blush as well as Jagae’s reaction was priceless. He assumed she was biting the inside of her mouth right now to stay calm.
“Witches, just shut up!” Jagae scolded, and Manju backed off, feeling she was about to get physical. He couldn’t stop himself from giggling though.
“Turn around.” She ordered, and Manju followed, sitting down. She tied up his hair with a purple ribbon, careful not to tie it too loose that it would fall easily. Truth be told, Manju had noticed her staring at his hair, which was down because of the past events at night. She always remembered to tell him to tie it up, her doing it herself sometimes. He assumed it was because of the “only I can see you like this” attitude that she had towards him. Then again, he has it for her too, so he welcomed it.
She finished tying it up, and rested her hands on Manju’s shoulders. “There. You wanted a symbol? You got one now.” She told him, voice timid. He turned, stood up from his seat, and looked at her, curious to see her face. He noticed that the hair he had so carefully styled on her was undone at the bottom, and that she was holding her butterfly hairclip.
“You took the ribbon off?” He asked her, tone much more serious but soft. His eyes watched hers as she got more restless and flustered because of his reaction.
“I have more. Just take it as a gift.” She averted her eyes, her ears turning red. Manju smiled before pushing one side of her bangs behind her ear.
“Thank you.”
“..anytime.”
She put her hands on his cheeks, pulling him down closer to her. She looked at his eyes for a moment before closing hers and kissed his lips. He welcomed it, kissing her back. He pulled her closer, a hand on her lower back, the other on the top of her neck.
Fuck, they really couldn’t get enough of each other.
As the kiss deepened, Manju opened his eyes slightly to watch her. He smiled at the sight of her blushing like a tomato before closing his eyes again.
Unfortunately for them, the moment was interrupted by a knock at the door.
“Captain? Uhh I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but we need to get going soon..” a voice rang out from the other side.
Jagae immediately pulled back, trying to push herself off of Manju, but was unable to, as Manju was holding her waist tightly, him looking over at the still closed door in annoyance.
“Understood, just give me a moment, will you?” He told them, his tone of voice coming out as passive aggressive.
“Gotcha.”
Light scurrying from the wood filled the room, but Manju paid no mind to that. He turned back to Jagae, leaning in again.
“I think that’s enough for today. We gotta go.” She told him, but when she saw that he wasn’t listening to her and kept advancing, she used her hand on his face to push him away.
Manju grumbled in irritation. “We don’t see each other for weeks, and this is how you treat me?” He pouted. She removed her hand from his face, now using both to hold his cheeks again.
“It’s been 2 weeks. We both stayed at this particular port for 3 days and two nights, seeing each other everyday and slept together both nights; I think that’s more than enough time.” She sighed, but she didn’t feel his grip on her loosen.
“Witches forbid I love to spend time with you.” He rolled his eyes.
“Do you even have a brain, Captain Manju?” She deadpanned, moving her hands to behind her waist, prying his hold on her open.
She walked past him, moving towards the door when the sky fox decided that he’d get one last thing from her before they parted.
Jagae began to open the handle of the door, opening it just slightly, before a hand came crashing down on hers, slamming the door shut with an audible bang. Before she could react, a singular finger and thumb turned her face towards his, his lips catching hers in a brief but gentle motion. By the time she realized what was happening, it was over, the door was opened, and Manju was no longer in his room.
“You..!!” She started to argue, her hand clenched into a fist, covering her mouth. Her felt her face heating up as she slowly realized they weren’t exactly in a private area anymore.
Manju only turned his head to face her, his back still towards her. He gave her a smug smile before continuing to walk on the deck, further away from her.
She huffed at him in annoyance before turning towards the gangway and walking off his ship.
His crew, on the other hand, both crews, in fact, —since the ships were parked side by side— they both had witnessed the interaction.
Of course, when they found out about the captains relationship (on their own means, not their respective captains telling them), they weren’t surprised.
They have seen how they teased and bickered in broad daylight with no regard to their surroundings whatsoever, so it was expected even.
No one could hold it against them either, even with their intense rivalry still active between the guilds, because their dynamic and chemistry was so obvious. Even if one member absolutely hated the idea, even they couldn’t admit that the two seemed so much happier now. The crews ended up just ignored seeing either come out from the other’s room, or seeing them together at restaurants, since they weren’t officially told that they were dating, even though it was so obvious.
Though there were a few who liked to tease the two guild masters.
“Captain Manju! It seems you’ve been having a lot of fun lately hm?” An older member of the guild laughed as he walked closer to his leader. “Some are even comparing you two to kumiko.”
(Kumiko is the traditional Japanese technique of woodworking without nails)
“Ah, Sekihan Cookie. Apologies if we made any of you uncomfortable.” He told him, quite flustered he was caught despite literally doing that in broad daylight.
“No no, you only live once after all.” He nodded at him with a mischievous glint in his smile, eyeing the marks on his captain’s neck and shoulder. When Manju realized what he was staring at, he quickly placed a panicked hand to cover it. He had forgotten to hide it.
“W-well, you are quite right there. Now if you’ll excuse me..” he stammered, turning on his heel, and quickly returning to his quarters. Behind him, he heard a gasp.
At the sound, he turned and looked at him in confusion. Sekihan cookie looked quite awkward looking at his guildmaster.
“Is something the matter?”
“Well..” he stammered, looking as if he was desperately trying to connect words to form his thoughts. “Captain.. you might want to check your back in the mirror as well..” the cookie averted his eyes, a sheepish smile on his face.
Manju looked at him in sudden understanding, and quickened his pace to the privacy of his room. He quickly grabbed the bandages before taking off his kimono. He placed one on his neck according to where the visible marks were, before turning his back to the mirror that was leaning against his wall. He looked over his shoulder, his eyes only to be met with red crosshatches on his back.
He froze in surprise, bringing one of his fingers to hover over the newly discovered marks. His mind instantly flashed to the night before. It seems they were more into it than he perceived, as he didn’t remember being bothered by something like pain during the act.
Quite telling, as Manju didn’t feel anything but pleasure last night, even as Jagae drew blood with her fingernails.
“Just how much did she enjoy it..?” He found himself muttering, not knowing whether to feel offended because she hadn’t told him, or absolutely victorious because clearly, he did something right to her.
He bit his lower lip, grinning to himself. He didn’t care if it gave him some scars, as those type of scars would be quite the story to tell.
Of course, he did go through the trouble of covering it up with bandages, since if Jagae were to find out that he willingly kept it out in the open, he’d be charred fox. But crumbs, he couldn’t stop smiling.
He could not stop fantasizing about how’d he’d tease her about it and how their next meeting would go, since now he knows that like foxes, rabbits have claws too.