AN: A little bit of Ash/Musse pre-shipping written for the 2020 Kiseki Gift Exchange on AO3! Luckily I remembered the recipient hasn't played CSIV yet so I managed to avoid tossing any spoilers around...


Beneath the Cover

Thors Military Academy Branch Campus, Literature Clubroom

Normally, Ash found his usual sojourn to the Literature Club to be the highlight of his day. There was always peace and quiet to get some reading in, Schwarzer wasn't around every other corner sticking his nose where it didn't belong and Tatiana was usually good for some interesting discussion once she stopped stammering enough to get her words out.

He always wondered why she seemed so jittery. To be honest, talking with her could be kinda tricky sometimes but all things being equal he'd take that ten times out of ten instead of what he was dealing with now. Tatiana, for all her nervous energy, was at least predictable; Ash knew what he was getting. The person currently sitting across from him, however?

"So," Musse said innocently, breaking the silence and drawing a resigned Ash's gaze upward, the blonde not bothering to disguise his ire at the blatant invasion of his sanctuary. "What are you reading?"

Well, she was about as far from predictable as they came.

"Book," he grunted, deciding to set his usual one-two punch of sarcasm and attitude aside. He'd heard enough about Egret to understand that the less room she had to verbally engage, the better off he'd be.

"I can see that," she replied, brushing past his apathy with disquieting ease. "How are you finding it so far?"

"S'all right."

"Just all right?"

"Read better. Read worse."

"Oh, dear. That's no good. The only thing worse than leaving a bad impression is leaving no impression at all, you know."

"Guess I do now. So," he said, flicking another sideways glance in Musse's direction, her ever-present smile not having faded in the slightest. "Probably shoulda asked this when I got here, but shouldn't you be somewhere else right about now?"

"Ordinarily yes," Musse replied with a slight giggle, absentmindedly twirling a strand of mint hair around her index finger. "But as you know, Tatiana wasn't able to attend today's meeting, so…"

"So…?" Ash repeated, impatiently motioning for her to get on with it.

"So she requested that I come in her place!" she finished with a joyful clap.

He raised an eyebrow, his thumb automatically turning to the next page. "Seriously? You ditched your own club just for that?"

She shook her head, her brow creasing somewhat. "Oh, of course not. Our meeting was actually cancelled today; Kairi was feeling under the weather, you see. I thought it best he head back to the dorms to rest instead of forcing himself to attend."

Ash frowned, an unwelcome jolt of concern making his stomach twist in spite of himself. "So, that's what it was. I thought something was off earlier," he muttered, remembering how pale and shaky his fellow first year had looked as he'd passed by him in the hall. "He gonna be okay? Nothing too serious or anything, right?"

"I don't believe so. In fact, he was trying very hard to convince me to have the club go ahead and that he would simply push through it – "

"Lemme guess. Like a real man," Ash sighed, finishing her sentence as he set his book down, his legs uncrossing from beneath the table. "Ugh. He thinks way too much about that kinda stuff. Wonder if he knows that manhood's not gonna keep a fever from kicking his ass if he doesn't watch himself…"

Musse started to giggle again, trying and failing to stifle the sound beneath a gloved hand. Saying this wasn't lost on Ash would have been a rather large understatement.

"The hell's so funny?"

"Nothing at all, really. It's just… I wouldn't have imagined someone of your colorful reputation being so worried about a fellow student! Why, if it were anyone else I'd be tempted to call it heartwarming~!"

He just barely managed to keep his fingers from clenching into a fist. Shame the same couldn't be said about the sudden twitching in his eyebrow.

"Can it, Egret," Ash growled, snatching his book back up and trying very hard to ignore that he'd just given her the reaction he'd been trying to avoid. "Figured I'd make sure he'd be fine, that's all."

"Oh, of course you did," she replied with a bright smile that was far too indulgent – and patronizing, for that matter – to be genuine. No wonder she made Crawford blow her top so often. "Now, if you don't mind…"

Deciding that it was best for his mood to set aside that she had started the conversation (for lack of a better term) to begin with, Ash warily watched as Musse pulled out her own book from her satchel and flipped to the bookmarked page, settling back into her chair with a pleased hum. Her fingers turned the pages steadily, her deceptively sharp eyes sweeping across the printed words with a focus that Ash could grudgingly recognize and appreciate.

His own eyes narrowed, however, when they found the nondescript cover and briefly traced the name of an author that, try as he might, he simply couldn't place. Given that Ash knew his way around a bookstore about as well as he knew his way around Raquel, that was certainly saying something. Was it a pen-name, maybe? Or one of those one-hit wonder types that Heimdallr's underground scene was so fond of cranking out…?

Much to his annoyance, this didn't go unnoticed.

"Feel free to ask me something if you want to, Ash. I promise not to bite."

Irritation at her sugar-sweet tone found itself in a brief but bloody war with his literary curiosity, and much to Ash's surprise it was the latter that ended up winning out.

Fuck it. Why not.

"Trying to figure out who wrote that," he admitted, looking over the cover again from across the table. "I don't have a damn clue. Never thought I'd see the day, but hey. Here we are."

She shook her head. "I would have been very surprised if you had. She's a relatively new writer, but she's very skilled at her craft and passionate about her subject matter. Oh, the tales she weaves are so bittersweet yet so salacious, I don't know how she manages to strike the balance so well!"

In hindsight, Ash really should've known better.

"Housewife lit, huh?" he snorted. "Can't say it surprises me you're into that kinda thing."

"I suppose it is, in a manner of speaking," she agreed with a casual air, effortlessly sidestepping the underlying jab. "Books of this particular subgenre have been growing more and more popular with that part of the population, but it hasn't quite penetrated the mainstream just yet. Mark my words, though; a writer of her caliber won't stay unknown forever, and I eagerly look forward to the day when more people embrace her work!"

Boy, wasn't that the dream?

"Yeah, I'll bet she does too," he replied wryly. "For one thing, she might be able to move up to a publisher that can afford a half-decent press instead of the crappy setup they're using now."

She blinked, raising a slim eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"Please. Even from over here I can tell that the binding's shoddy and the paper's cheap as hell. It's probably not as bad as the general store specials that people wind up leaving on trains or whatever, but it ain't that far off."

He didn't bother to mention that said general store specials made up most of what Raquel had. It wasn't any of her business and that place had more important things to worry about, anyway.

… And now she was staring at him. Wonderful.

"Why, Ash. I had no idea that you were so well-versed in the world of entry level publishing! You're just full of surprises today, aren't you?" Musse borderline crooned, and if Schwarzer managed to put up with this kind of crap on a regular basis then Ash had to give the man a little credit, however grudging it may have been. "Though you might have a point about the printing, I think you'd agree that the words being printed are far more important. Would you like to take a look and see for yourself?" she asked, pushing it toward him expectantly.

He rolled his eyes at the disappointed noise she made when he immediately pushed it back. "I'll pass. Never been one for gushy romance crap and I doubt that's gonna change my mind."

"That's a pity. Perhaps I should have seen that coming, but I had to make the attempt regardless."

He shrugged wordlessly at that, picking his novel back up and attempting to start again from where he'd left off, but that was proving rather difficult to do considering the weight of Musse's inquisitive gaze intently studying the well-worn pages in his hands.

Fine, whatever. He'd been doing the same thing just minutes earlier, anyway.

"It's a detective story," Ash finally conceded, fixing his companion with an exasperated stare. "Standard stuff. Someone gets killed, a PI with a drinking problem gets put on the case, he asks a buncha pointed questions then nails the killer at the end. Bad guy ends up behind bars, good guy walks out looking cool. It's nothing special, so quit staring already. It's creepin' me out."

"Come now. Any tale can be special if it manages to capture the imagination," she admonished gently, and there was something in her tone that made the blonde think she was being halfway serious for once. "I have to say, though; I'm a little surprised."

The disarming charm gradually faded from her expression, and the look of genuine interest that replaced it caught Ash off guard.

"Surprised at what?"

She didn't answer at first, her eyes as serious as Ash had ever seen them. He fought the overwhelming urge to jerk his head at the clock or tap his wrist.

"The last part you mentioned," Musse said at last, cupping her cheek thoughtfully. "About the bad guy and the good guy. Maybe I'm being just a little presumptuous, but I imagined that someone of your personality would have taken to fiction with a little more… complexity, no?"

He immediately shook his head once, short and sharp, the reaction instinctive more than anything else.

"Swing and a miss," he answered curtly. "You think I come here every day to remind myself that the world doesn't actually give a damn about what's right and what's wrong? C'mon. We've got enough of that as is."

"Ah. So it's escapism you're fond of, then?" she asked, not a trace of judgment to be found.

Ash's shoulders rose and fell in a casual shrug, his eyes locked with hers as he tapped the cover for emphasis. "Sure, why not. Call it what you want, but with all the crap we have going on right now it's kinda nice to be able to read about a place where people get what's coming to 'em, whatever that is. That's all."

(Looking back afterwards, Ash still didn't know how she'd managed to wrangle even that small admission out of him. He ended up deciding some things were best left alone).

After a moment, Musse exhaled and nodded, a look of comprehension passing across her face. "I see. You know, I think I may understand that point of view."

Given her resulting pout, the look on his face apparently told her that he was less than convinced.

"Really."

"Of course." Setting her book down, she carefully smoothed out the wrinkled jacket, her lips curling upwards in a wistful smile. "People are complicated even as individuals, and when relationships enter the mix things only grow even more complicated at the best of times."

Ash remained silent, and if it looked like he was leaning forward just a little bit… well, perhaps one might have been inclined to take that as a sign that he was more engaged than he appeared.

"They don't always end well. Sometimes there's no fairy-tale coda, just hearts that have been broken and a once-powerful connection that might be forever lost. It could be because the people involved were capricious and indecisive, or because the people involved simply grew apart. On exceptionally sad occasions it may very well have nothing to do with the people and everything to do with the circumstances they ended up in through no fault of their own. She's rather good at writing about those scenarios," Musse added.

"Gotta take your word on that one."

"Heehee. I'm sure you can see what I'm getting at, though. In a world where even something as wonderful as love has the potential to go terribly wrong, I greatly enjoy delving into a tale where two people can live happily ever after because everything goes wonderfully right. It might not be true to life, but as you implied yourself..."

Her words trailed off, fading like smoke into the quiet air and Ash sat dead still for a moment, digesting everything that he just heard. Goddess, it almost hurt to admit that he had anything in common with the girl across from him but he could tell - somehow, he could tell - there wasn't the slightest bit of misdirection or deceit to be found in what she'd just said.

Then again, maybe he shouldn't have been surprised. Wouldn't have been the first time he'd managed to get someone to break old habits on his account, intentional or not.

"That's all right, Ash," she declared with theatrical aplomb before he could say a word, her eyes going wide as she drew a hand to her heart. "You don't have to say anything. Your eyes tell me all I need to know. Our shared passion - our clandestine, intimate connection - is safe with me. So long as I draw breath, not a single soul will - "

Dammit, his eyebrow was twitching again. One more time and he'd really have to think about getting that checked out.

"Do you ever listen to yourself when you talk or do you just decide to run your mouth and see where it winds up taking you?" he muttered, drawing forth a burst of warm laughter in reply.

"A little of this, a little of that. Variety is the spice of life, or so the saying goes." Musse shut her book with a flourish and slid it back into her satchel before rising from her chair. "That said, I unfortunately do have to get going. I have a number of errands that need taking care of before dinner."

Ash shrugged. "Hey, don't let me stop you."

Musse smiled at that, nodding politely as she slipped by his chair. "I'll be off, then. You have my gratitude for the stimulating discussion, and I should really thank Tatiana for asking me to stop by as well! This was fun, it truly was."

"Tch. Bet you say that to all the guys."

"Perish the thought! Of course, I would be more than willing to make an exception for Instructor Rean should Aidios ever decide to shine Her fortune upon me~!"

With a quick wink, Musse turned on her heel and headed for the door. For his part, Ash wasn't entirely sure if he was shaking his head in relief or bemusement. Or both.

"Oh, and if you should ever feel so inclined," she said, shooting a final glance over her shoulder, "the Tea Ceremony Club always has its doors open for anyone that wants to come for a visit and broaden their cultural horizons! Or simply join us for a cup of tea and some sweets, whichever."

"... I'll think about it," he answered vaguely, a chill running down his spine as the realization that he'd actually meant what he said sank in far too late to make a difference.

Well, crap.

"Wonderful!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands together in delight. "I look forward to someday returning your hospitality, then. Why, I might even be able to convince you to give this author a chance given another opportunity..."

"Yeah, don't push your luck."

Her eyes twinkled merrily. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Have a good afternoon, Ash."

The sound of the door gently closing signaled Musse's departure, leaving him to sit and stew in the silence that was roaring in his ears; a silence that was only broken when he groaned in exasperation and reached up to start massaging his temples, wondering exactly what kind of mess he'd blundered into.

"Seriously. Forget all the 'hero of the nation' garbage, if Schwarzer deserves a medal for anything it's for not losing his damn mind every time she opens her mouth..."