V

Curling into the itchy sheets, you resisted the feeling of awareness, desperate to go back to a dream you had already forgotten. The air was stuffy and it clogged your nose, forcing you to get up from the irritation.

Rubbing the sleep from your eyes you noticed Ariel still lying on the loveseat bathed in the soft light of the morning. Gold reflected off his snowy hair and the shining fabric of his outfit. He looked angelic, pun intended, and you almost stood there for longer to admire his beauty, but you felt the grossness of your morning breath laying heavily on your tongue and decided to get ready instead.

Luckily for you, the inn provided basic toiletries so you had no issue brushing your teeth and combing out your horrendously tangled locks. You scrubbed your face with a hand full of suds from the bar soap, getting in the creases of your eyes and close to your ears.

You finished up the rest of your routine and changed into those black shorts and the third, and last, white button up you received. Pulling on your boots you figured Ariel had had enough beauty sleep and you clunker your way over to his black faux bed.

Not wanting to be terribly rude, you were actually in quite a good mood despite having to wake up so early (a first), and simply shook his shoulder to rouse him. However it seemed your angel was a heavy sleeper because Ariel didn't even budge.

Frowning you started to shake him until his eyes fluttered open and his own frown marred his face. “Okay, alright!” He growled.

You released his shoulders, smiling at him. “You better get the hell up. You’re the one that said I had to pick up a bow first thing tomorrow.”

“Oh is it morning?” Ariel ruffled his hair and looked out the window behind him, squinting at the growing light.

Your smile became even more fixed. “Yes.”

He stretched languidly before getting up and making his way straight towards the door. “Alright, let's go.”

Your excitement couldn’t be contained as you chased after him, locking your door behind you and following him down to the center of the city. The sun was shining just as it had the day before, only furthering your good mood.

Even though you bashed bow users, archery had always been something you found rather interesting and it would be cool to learn and then someday (hopefully) master with the help of your handy angel companion. Though you thought it looked rather simple whenever a competition appeared on t.v, you knew it required excellent accuracy and precision, balance, coordination and more. That made you somewhat worried, since you had never picked up a bow before and had no idea what you were doing, but you were learning.

Making your way towards the training area where that one girl was always training to be a knight (what was her name? You could never remember.), a skip in your step made it so you were just ahead of Ariel, who was walking calmly beside you with a small smile.

Finally getting there, you spotted some target equipment and spare bows. You went over to them and grabbed the targets, moving to set them up at respectable distances around the square before taking a worn wooden bow that has definitely seen better days.

“You’re going to use that unsightly thing?” You turned to Ariel and saw his eyebrow raised in question with a face of slight disgust. “It looks like it’s going to break in half! I can’t teach you with something so flimsy!”

You chuckled but only turned the bow in your hands. “I wouldn’t want to ruin a nice bow when I’m such an ammatuer. How bout I just use this one until you deem me well enough to use a better one, then with the mora I’ve collected by that time, I can get a custom bow?”

Ariel sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Alright, fine.” He walked over to you and dragged you to the center of the square so you were equidistant from all the targets you had set up. He grabbed a quiver of arrows from the same place you got your bow and swung it over your shoulder. “Let’s get going then.”

The rest of the day was Ariel instructing you on how to stand, how to nock the arrow, how far back you should be pulling, and the correct positions of your shoulders. You were clumsy, that was inevitable, but you felt you somewhat got the hang of it by the time the sun began to set.

Ariel was a great teacher. You supposed it was because he’s been watching you since you were a baby so he was attuned with your emotions and habits, but he was very patient, never rising to your frustrations when you got something wrong and always making sure to help you in a way that you would understand.

By the end of the day your stance was “a bit weak”, according to Ariel, and your arms were tired from keeping them up for so long (you really should start exercising). All in all, it was a good lesson, and you were prepared to do more tomorrow.

Athleticism has never come easy to you. General disinterest in both sports and just physical activity has deterred you from keeping your body in shape now that you're in a world with dangerous monsters, and you plan to go do dangerous things… you had to get off your ass.

You planned to get into shape and learn archery at the same time, along with Ariel's lessons in martial arts but you figured you'd do that when you were more adept, so you could sign up for the Adventurer's Guild and start making money.

You supposed you could sign up now and take some low rank positions inside or around the city. That would start getting you a steady income and help you learn the land that you had neglected to explore in game. Your only real worry was whatever you'd meet on the road, but if it's some slimes, you're fairly confident you could punch the shit out of them.

"I can't believe you're still out here." A smooth chuckle caused you to spin around.

You had to stop yourself from gaping. In front of you was the infamous Cavalry Captain with no cavalry, Kaeya Alberich, and he was just as handsome in your new real world than he was behind a screen.

His navy hair framed his high cheekbones and complimented his tan skin perfectly. His outfit hugged his body in a way that had to be anything but practical and his heavy boots thumped against the stone as he approached you.

Damn was the only thought going through your head. You shook your head when you realized you had been staring and the Captain had been looking at you with a knowing gaze.

"Yes." You stumbled out. "How uh, how did you know that?"

Kaeya's amusement seemed to grow and a look over at Ariel, whose head was in his palm, was enough to tell you that you sounded like a complete dumbass.

"I have morning and evening patrols." He chuckled. "I saw you in the morning and I'm currently on my evening patrol."

Your cheeks heated. "Well how did you know I didn't leave between those two times?"

He outright laughed. "I heard some Knights talking about 'the clumsy one with a bow who's been at it all day' and I figured that was you. They were right."

"About what?" Your hands were on your hips and though you tried to look challenging, you're pretty sure you looked like a weak, little puppy to him.

"That you were clumsy. You're so obviously an ammatuer that it actually kind of hurts." He placed a hand on his boob-heart- and gave you a fake wounded look.

"Hey! I'm learning! Give me a break man." You busied yourself with taking down the targets and putting them and your bow away so he couldn't see your face flushed with embarrassment. You couldn't believe people were watching you make a fool of yourself.

His hands were in a lazy surrender gesture. "Hey I get it. Learning is hard."

"You ever hit yourself in the face with your own weapon?" You winced recalling during the mid-day when you accidentally snapped the bow string across your cheek. You absentmindedly rubbed the spot as if it was still stinging.

“All the time.” He waved his hand around his forehead. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve smacked the flat of my sword against my face.”

“And so much damage that did.”

“I got a cut once or twice.”

“Clearly nothing that lasts.”

“It almost sounds like you wanted it to scar.”

“Well it would give us average folk more of a chance.”

He laughed, flipping his long hair over his shoulder. “I don’t know why you would say such a thing.” He leaned closer to you, not so close that your breaths mingled but close enough to make that red crept your cheeks once more. “You’re really quite beautiful.”

Your eyes widened and your brain almost stopped functioning. Kaeya only smirked at you, leaning just a little but further before tripping and nearly falling right next to you.

Looking over in shock you saw Ariel with his eye twitching and his hands still outstretched. You gave him a confused look as Kaeya righted himself, his own look of surprise.

Ariel just crossed his arms with a completely unapologetic face. "He was too close."

"Sorry about that, I don't know what happened." Kaeya brushed imaginary dirt from his clothes and stood straight.

"It's no problem." You laughed nervously, silently shooting Ariel a glare.

You and Kaeya stood in silence for a way too long moment, every organ curling and dying inside the more it went on. Eventually you couldn't stand it and mumbled out a goodbye, which Kaeya questioningly returned, and speed walked away, doing your best to look natural.

Oh my God that was so fucking embarrassing. The thought repeated in your mind over and over until you got to the inn.

Miserably you flopped on the bed. Why did your first experience with a character in this world go so wrong? And why did it have to be a hot one?

"I don't know why you're so embarrassed."

You turned on your back to glare at the angel. "You made me into an idiot."

The angel raised his eyebrow. "You're already an idiot."

"Yeah," you huffed. "But it was highlighted."

"I pushed him."

You groaned. "But I was so fucking awkward that I couldn't even make a joke out of the situation and play it off!"

"I don't like him." Ariel's eyes squinted and he pressed his lips together. "He's a schemer, I can tell."

"I know he's a schemer, he was my first main. I read all his character stories." You deadpanned. "Honestly if you hate him you're gonna hate the others I'm into, he's not that bad."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S NOT THAT BAD?!"

You couldn't help but burst out laughing. You were practically wheezing as Ariel's eyes blew wide and he stood in place like a frozen computer screen.

"He's-He's not the worst person-" You trailed off in a trail of giggles. "If you have a problem with Kaeya goddamn you're gonna hate Childe."

"I don't even want to know." Ariel sighed, his face drooping slightly. "I am sorry for humiliating you. I won't do it again, you just looked a little uncomfortable. "

You smiled. "I appreciate your apology and for looking out for me." You held your hand out and he grasped it tightly. "I was just a little flustered. Kaeya has a teasing personality. I just forgot about that and was surprised when he leaned forward."

Ariel walked over and hugged you, you burying your face in his neck. You relaxed in his hold, releasing the tension of the day, preparing to be sore tomorrow.

You were prepared to put all your effort into this weapon and combat training, you had to. You didn't have a vision to rely on, and you were sure you weren't getting one anytime soon. You'd have to go all physical damage for this reincarnation.

You didn't know how long it would take. You did want to travel to all the different countries, fully immerse yourself in the cultures and learn things that haven't been talked about in game yet. Going on adventures and making the most of this life you've been given was your number one priority, and if you had to spend years perfecting everything, then you would.

Releasing Ariel you got ready for bed and he went over to his loveseat by the window. Snuggling into those itchy sheets, you pressed your fingers to your lips, trying in vain to hide the smile of excitement stretching across your lips.