Alexis smoothed her hand down Erich’s chest, enjoying the chance to simply relax and cuddle instead of having to immediately separate once more. She was certainly looking forward to the day when they didn’t have responsibilities to separate guilds, which… was going to come soon, one way or another.

Speaking of…

“You know, Benihime approached me with a truly fascinating proposition very early this morning,” Alexis said, not bothering to move from her comfortable spot against Erich’s side.

Erich groaned, his free hand rising to settle across his face. “I feared as much,” he mumbled.

She tipped her head up to nose at his jawline, amused by his dramatics but also a bit worried; was this just Erich being embarrassed by the suggestion of a triad, or was there another reason for his reaction? “Beloved?”

“It’s… no, it’s nothing. He’s right that it’s the cleanest answer—”

“Beloved, if you are uncomfortable with pretending we’re in a triad with Urahara, then we don’t have to do it,” she said, punctuating her words with a sharp, reprimanding nip. Sometimes her beloved was far too self-sacrificing for his own good; she would have to make sure Urahara understood that if he took advantage of things she would have no qualms teaching him his place.

He shivered beneath her, head tipping back to further expose his throat. “I… worry,” he murmured as she pressed a kiss to his neck. “Who would believe such a thing? Quincy taking a Shinigami partner… us taking a Shinigami partner…”

“Love…” she hesitated a moment, then huffed a sigh and forged on before she could change her mind about telling him. “Love, there’s been rumors going around about the two of you for years. Especially recently.”

“I—what?” Erich stilled under her and swallowed, hard. “Lexi, please tell me you’re joking…”

“I’m sorry.” The apology sat sour on her tongue; she’d done her best to counter the rumors whenever she could, but whoever was starting them was both persistent and knew Erich fairly well. The rumors had started off innocently enough, pointing out how comfortable Erich was with the ex-Shinigami Guildmaster, how the man was allowed to touch when so few others were, how Erich stood with his new guild over the guild he was supposed to lead…

Nothing blatant, nothing crude — not until recently, at least — but certainly enough to make people’s thoughts… go places.

(She’d gotten more than one pitying look over the years because of it.)

“Well, I guess that makes things easier,” Erich muttered, voice resigned.

Alexis growled and heaved herself up to glower down at Erich, exasperated by his constant evasions and wanting a straight answer. “Forget them. What do you want to do?”

“If you want to—”

“Erich.”

Erich flushed, red crawling across his cheeks and down his neck, and looked away. “I don’t mind the idea,” he whispered, tongue darting out to wet his lips nervously. “He’s… he’s not bad, just… over-enthusiastic at times. Just… you should keep in mind that he’s been fascinated with what I am for years, and I don’t think that’s changed any.”

“Dangerous?” Alexis asked absently as she brushed her fingers over Erich’s heated cheeks. Who he thought he was fooling she had no idea, because he was clearly interested in Urahara and had likely been for a while; whether or not Urahara reciprocated that interest was something she’d have to find out.

“Probably not? He’s… never really pushed about it, outside of wanting to know how I fight,” Erich admitted, blush beginning to fade as he gathered himself. “But he’s always curious about how Quincy are different from humans, and always trying to needle a bit more information from me even when I don’t have any answers, and nothing I say seems to satisfy…”

“Then I’m fine with this plan,” she decided, adding a small nod for emphasis.

“But you don’t know him—”

“But you trust him,” she cut him off, pressing a finger to his lips. “You trust him, and I trust you, so I’m certain we’ll be able to work something out between us.”

“I don’t… how am I supposed to act? Rumors aside, no one’s going to believe we’re actually together. Not when we have to pretend in front of the entire guild for who knows how long!”

Alexis blinked at him, a sudden, quiet certainty blooming in her heart as she listened to Erich’s worries.

(Himself.)

(He was fooling himself.)

(Her foolish love couldn’t see his own interest in the very man he was agreeing to marry.)

(This was going to be interesting.)

“Lexi…?” Erich asked, jarring her from her thoughts. “You have a look I don’t entirely trust…”

She snorted and leaned down to steal a brief kiss from him, then pulled back enough to say, “You act the way you have been with him, love. Remember, there are already rumors going around that you’re still in this guild because he’s a good lay.” His embarrassed groan made her laugh and steal another kiss. “Joking aside, I am serious about how to act. The two of you have an ease with each other that you share with few others; you let him into your personal space without issue and in combat you almost seem to read each other’s minds. The two of you complement each other very well, and anyone who spends more than five minutes in your presence can see it.”

“How does that translate to us being together?” Erich protested with a scowl.

Alexis shrugged and flashed him a cheeky grin. “Everyone likes a scandal.”

“I hate you,” Erich muttered, flipping her off of him and sitting up with a sigh. “A scandal. Well, we’re certainly going to give them a scandal, aren’t we.”

She laughed and sat up, leaning into his side. “It will be a glorious scandal and you know it.”

Erich grimaced and shook his head, hand running through his hair as he muttered, “‘Glorious scandal’, ugh you almost sound like him, too. I feel like I’m going to regret this…”

“Enough to call it off?” she had to ask, making sure he was just fussing and not second-guessing himself. A plan like this… it could go sour so easily if even one of them grew to resent the pretense.

He frowned down at the floor, giving her question the consideration it deserved, then slowly shook his head. “No… I don’t think so,” he answered softly, glancing up at her. “I trust both of you. I just… worry.”

“It’s warranted. This is… hardly a risk-free plan,” Alexis reminded him. Even if everything went perfectly, the chances that someone would try to kill them for their ‘deviant’ ways — how dare they marry a Shinigami! — was… fairly high. If any of them dropped their guard or became complacent, almost anything could go wrong.

(Leaving out the potential for Seigmar to refuse to acknowledge their claim.)

(Maybe they should just run away…)

(No, no, she refused to allow the Elders to win so easily.)

(At the very least, the chaos of their announcement would be a perfect time to smuggle the young and disaffected from the Guild before everything went to hell.)

Alexis shook her head to banish the clinging thoughts and stood up, hands on her bare hips as she turned to grin down at Erich. “So, now that we’ve decided, let’s go have a chat with our dear third, hmm?”

Erich blinked up at her, then glanced out his window at the night sky and incredulously asked, “Now?”

“Well, what better time to discuss treason that the dark of night?”

He snorted. “You’re having too much fun with this,” he muttered as he rose and stalked across the room to his closet. “Yes, fine, we’ll find Urahara and talk it over with him now.”

She laughed and snatched up her clothing from where it had fallen. “I’m having precisely as much fun with this as I should be,” she said with a grin, already looking forward to the coming conversation.

(It would be interesting to see Erich and Urahara together in private.)

(And very telling as to whether this plan would work or not.)

(Fingers crossed.)