PENUMBRA // Tamaki Amajiki x Reader Royal AU

Chapter 26

Three weeks had passed since Tamaki learned to control the manifestations of his quirk. After some practice he managed to somewhat perform all the abilities he realised he was capable of. He was not very strong and his skill was not refined but he was clearly capable. It was not long before he started practicing with other foods - including bread - and during that time I watched him gain weight and abandon the sickly paleness from his features.

Not only did he look much healthier but after returning to the gardens and participating in daily exercise I forcer him into, he was acting much happier as well. The exercise was mainly to strengthen his muscles so he could control a more powerful version of his quirk one day, so even if he was losing control he at least had the ability to physically restrain himself, the increased mood was just a bonus.

There had been no slip ups in his quirk, not once had he lost control and hurt himself or I, and even better, there had been no more episodes and besides a few comments here and there about how he was no good when he struggled to develop a skill, his self esteem was at an all time high.

At one point, when he was learning to control the strands of wheat from the bread he ate, he was quite anxious from past experiences and I was anxious for him. That seemed like the final hurdle he needed to overcome before he was free to improve his quirk without obstacles. After a full day of practice, we were both eager to continue, I could have let him practice alone but it seemed he did not trust himself to do so, so I promised to return after nightfall when I was supposed to be asleep with the monks.

What I did was dangerous and I warned Tamaki that this would not occur again, but my warning was lighthearted as I simply really wanted to witness his progression. Just as I had hoped, even though we were tired, he managed to control the wheat, something that once caused him only pain and misery now bent to his will. He no longer needed to be afraid anymore.

In celebration, I magicked us a bottle of fine wine - something I only drank a single glass of during celebrations, it was otherwise unheard of for someone high up or powerful not to toast so I was really drinking it against my will but I could not lie, I had a taste for the stuff and this was something to celebrate so I used it as an excuse to steal some from the castle wine cellar.

It was the prince's first time tasting wine and he seemed to find it quite bitter and distasteful but after I explained the tradition surrounding wine and my own appreciation for it, he reluctantly sipped from the bottle we shared. The alcohol caused him to loosen up a bit and spontaneously a cluster of grapes popped out of his skin like some kind of disease, we looked at each other and shared a light giggle before he showed that he still had control and withdrew the grapes back into himself.

Together we sat on the usual stone bench and watched the stars. It was not cold at all due to the summer heat leaving trails of warmth in the atmosphere so there was nothing stopping us staying there all night. "Are you leaving soon?" Tamaki whispered after a beat of comfortable silence passed between us.

His question had caught me by surprise and left me with much to think about so in the moment I just told him, "no of course not, you can not get rid of me that easily." However, it was not a smile of humour that passed over my features when I turned to look at him, but a sympathetic one showing him I felt the same.

"I don't want you to leave." He muttered while resting his head on my shoulder. "I know." I replied as I brought my hand up to play with his hair, gazing at his moonlit features which were becoming more relaxed as he fell into a slumber. 'Just for tonight' I told myself. Just that night while I had alcohol in my system and he had shared an inclination that he might feel the same way, I allowed myself to feel for him, to think only of him, diminishing those thoughts of leaving.

Before the sun started to rise I put the prince in his bed and headed back to my own. I was incredibly lucky to have no one notice my absence or return in the middle of the night and I was grateful that monks were such heavy sleepers.

Then there I was, sat on the same stone bench thinking what my plan was for the near future while Tamaki practiced using wheat like a lasso, throwing the strands through the air and exercising restraint, a display of precise control, when delicately wrapping it around a bird flying through the air, capturing the animal and bringing it down to him before it vanished. They were not real, I had to conjure them since Tamaki was against harming the animals. I insisted that using real animals would help him improve his control but he said he was not ready and I was not going to push him on it.

I was not watching him however, but mindlessly staring his way. Not too long ago I had promised myself more than anything, that I would help him control his quirk so I could prove myself to be useful. Once I did so I was supposed to be on my way because would I be flooded with quests from other kingdoms. Tamaki had learned to control his quirk now and I was still there. It was not time for me to leave just yet because he still was not fully confident in all aspects of his quirk so I was needed for safety but surely it would not be long before he was confident.

With the potential war that I had heard about, surely I would be of use there but if there was a war, surely the king would be too busy to listen to reason even if I had 'fixed' his son like he wanted. Most likely he would send me to death or have me chased out so that was not really an option anymore.

Another plan would be to use Tamaki's status as a prince and take him to a kingdom to brag about my amazing power, but would they even know who he was, he had not been seen in public for years. That plan seemed to have the most potential so I needed to ask Tamaki about it at some point.

The easiest option, but also the most impossible one, was to simply get the prince to go up to the king himself and ask him for my pardon, but there was no way Tamaki would do that, not to mention there was no way I was going to ask him to do something like that.

As the greatest sorceress there was always space for me as a teacher back home but that would mean giving up on my dreams, my future, my life. If I went home I would be no better than Tamaki in a sense, giving up on my existence itself. That would be a last resort, and until the time came to part ways, my goal was to help Tamaki grow.

"Woah!" I was pulled out of my thoughts as something grasped me and yanked me off the bench. Tamaki had roped his wheat-lasso around me and roped me towards him. The wheat withdrew from around my waist and turned into his hand.

We were standing eye-to-eye, only a few centimetres between us, "This is close." I stated, trying to hide my own pleasant surprise. This earned an amusing, flustered reaction out of him as he dropped his hand and covered his face so that only the tips of his ears gave away his blush. "I- I'm so sorry, please forgive me. I don't know what I was thinking."

Giggling at his awkwardness, I realised what he had just managed to do, "hey did you just lift me with your quirk?"

Tamaki peeked out of his fingers, "yeah you looked kinda stressed so I wanted to break you from your thoughts... and I guess I can lift objects that are heavier than birds now."

A smirk formed on my face, "wait so does that mean you could swing me around like a lasso?"

"Um... maybe?"