Chapter Text
Silk cloth slipping off the shoulder. Angelic glory enhanced by the beams of Suns rays. Soft wings comfortably resting against wool blankets and cotton-filled pillows… so many of them. Scars on the face that go down to the chest and around the back. They go down, and down, and down…
A small metal stud underneath plush lips. Gorgeous, long, blonde lashes. Two-toned eyes of peach and blue. Long, blonde hair, with dark navy laying underneath, contrasting it well.
A lacy set of lingerie fitting nice and tight around a skinny, slightly curvy, yet strong body. Its a cute color of a light, dusty pink. A suggestive pose… head tilted down, eyes dark and hooded lazily, staring so seductively.
Mouth open. Tongue so slightly visible, so appealing, yes, this certainly seems to be a suggestive situation. Back arched, just a little bit, legs pressed against each other, arms sticking out from… the bed.
The eyes look straight into him. The lips finally move, forming words of an alluring voice.
"Come on over. I don't bite." The metal stud moves along satisfyingly, up and down with each syllable.
He finds himself moving forward.
"Don't be afraid to indulge."
Indulge? This can't be good.
What a headache. Arkha Corvus wakes with an absolute migraine, the worst one he's had in a while. As the leader of the cleaners, you would expect frequent irritations, but this is unlike anything he has had for the entire time he's been leading this little club. He woke up way too hot, skin clinging onto his bedsheets with an annoying amount of sweat. He doesn't overheat much, either. He's probably caught a cold.
Nothing that Eishia can't fix! A nice, hot cup of black tea with lemon, honey, and ginger will do the trick. Temporarily. Just long enough that the volume from his employees (August… Delmon… Rudo… lots of shouting down here!) doesn't throw him off.
Arkha slowly rises from his bed with a soft groan, and goes along with getting himself ready. He stretches his arms and back, puts on all his clothes, puts his hair up, and checks himself in the mirror. Nothing out of the ordinary for him. It would be odd for him to do anything new with himself, especially at boring average times like this. He fixes a crease in his coat, puts on his shoes, and leaves his room.
He walks confidently through the halls, greeting Gris as he walks, and makes his way to Semius desk. A bang of pain hits him on the side of his head.
Wow, this headache is really bothersome. I'll head to Eishia after my talk with Semiu.
As Arkha approaches her desk, he notices that Tamsy is also there, handing her a few new magazines. Semiu is looking at them with a noticeably delighted look on her face. She grabs them a little too quickly, and she thanks Tamsy with a big grin and a handshake. He smiles at her back with a polite look on his face, but Arkha can tell something is off. The smile is too… not unusual, Tamsy often smiles like this. Arkha can't quite put his finger on what bugs him so much, but it's definitely something.
Arkha heads over to them, and Tamsy looks up at him with that same polite smile.
"Morning, Boss."
This time, It's a little different from the one he showed to Semiu. He looks more wary. Does he fear Arkha? For what?
He realizes he's been staring at Tamsy for too long, and looks over to Semiu. She has a curious expression on her face. The same expression when she wants to dig into something real badly, with her eyes scrunched up and her brows furrowed. Yeah, he shouldn't be staring at someone that long… it's gonna attract some whispers. Especially since he's the boss. He really needs to take that into consideration when around Tamsy.
Tamsy looks away from Arkha. "I'll be heading off. Don't want to take up too much of your time, Semiu! See ya."
As he walks away, Arkha can feel Tamsy give a quick glance back at him- and then the feeling disappears.
Semiu waves goodbye to Tamsy, then looks back to Arkha.
"So, Boss… Tamsy, huh?"
Arkha looks back at her with a puzzled look. "What about him?"
Semiu sits back into her chair and gives a quick sigh. "Well, I see the way you're looking at him. I don't wanna make any assumptions, and I feel like it would be better if I just asked you straight on- what'cha think about him?"
"He is a fellow cleaner, and I appreciate the hard work he puts into the missions he is sent to. Nothing less, nothing more."
Wrong. There is so much about Tamsy Caines that just… bothers Arkha. Not necessarily in a bad way, but Tamsy might just be the only Cleaner that he is genuinely curious about. Arkha knows almost everything about everyone that works for the cleaners, with help from Semiu of course. He knows everybody's background, backstory, motivation, likes, dislikes, and personality.
When he tries to think of what he knows about Tamsy- his head is completely empty.
Usually, you can tell a lot about a person from mediocre tasks- small things such as eating, talking, how they walk, so and so. When it comes to Tamsy, it all feels so fake. That smile, especially the one he just gave to Semiu, felt like it was just a cover, like everything that Tamsy shows about himself is just part of an alter ego. Perhaps that's the case, but Arkha will worry about that later.
He can't tell Semiu the whole truth. Too many questions would arise.
Semiu carefully sets her magazines aside and crosses her arms. "Sorry if the question seemed a little invasive. There was a report earlier, just an hour ago, to which I believed it was fit to send team Akuta along with two supporters- Gris and Tomme. There was some pretty big trash beasts seen at the edge of a No Mans Land, too close to a town. A person walking by was lucky to notice them and quickly hide. They should be almost done by now, or at least heading back."
Arkha nods his head. "Thank you for filling me in. I believe Team Akuta would be best for that as well."
Semiu huffs a laugh. "Glad to know I do my job well. Does that cover it all up?"
"That does. Thank you, Semiu. I'll see you later."
They wave their goodbyes, and Arkha heads to Eishias office for a remedy. Entering the hallways, he takes in the wholesome familiarity of the cleaner HQ. It reminds him that this place, this community, the trust that is built here, simply cannot be broken. This should especially be taken in consideration with Rudo as a newcomer here. A spherite surviving the fall to the ground is something extremely rare, and the protection of Rudo is absolutely important. As he passes a corner, he accidentally bumps into none other than Tamsy Caines.
The shorter cleaner has his hair down and an unusually red face, the shade getting brighter.
"Oh! Boss, hah, fancy seein' you here, don't mind me passing through."
Tamsys eyes are frantic, a drop of sweat hanging on the side of his face. The man is very expressive, but what happened to him in the small time of Arkhas and Semius conversation?
Also, his hair is down. That's new for sure. It frames his face nicely.
"Don't worry about it at all, Tamsy. I like the new hairdo."
It looks strangely familiar is what Arkha doesn't say. This is the first time he has seen Tamsy with his hair down, yet it doesn't feel like it.
It wasn't until Tamsy tucked his hair behind his ear and combed through the dark navy strands with his fingers, that Arkha remembers where he's seen (more accurately, imagined) the sight in front of him. The realization worsens his headache.
Oh god, I dreamt about him in lingerie.
"Tee hee. How nice of you, Boss. My scalp hurts from my usual style sometimes, and letting it free helps ease the pain."
I dreamt about his lips.