Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Lockpicking.”

“Pickpocketing.”

They were arguing again. For the millionth time.

“Lockpicking’s better.” Vex threw her arms up in anger, a mad expression on her face.

“Pickpocketing is easier,” Vipir told her furiously, pointing a finger at her.

The Dragonborn, Ra Kir an argonian, sat there watching the two. His scaley hands folded together in front of him, sarcastic smile as always. He was also slouched at an odd angle, allowing his nightingale cape to hover over th floor. Brynjolf was standing next to him with a blank expression, arms folded.

“Should we stop them? I mean, they won’t stop on their own any time soon.” Brynjolf asked, putting one of his hands up, not too high up and stopping at his elbow.

Ra Kir turned his head towards Brynjolf, taking his attention off of Vex and Vipir for a minute.

“Nah, they’ll be fine, besides,” He turned his head back to the two thieves, “I want to see who’ll win.”

“Pickpocketing only has a slight chance of being successful!” Vex yelled at Vipir.

“Well, at least it doesn’t require anything, unlike lockpicking!” He yelled back at her.

Brynjolf sighed and rubbed his eyes, his nights had been filled mostly with dealing with the economics behind the guild, “Who are you rooting for?”

The Dragonborn didn’t avert his gaze “Honestly, they’re both right.”

“Fair point”

Ra Kir replied a simple ‘mmhm’ before focusing 100% of his awareness to Vex and Vipir who were now disrupting the flagons’ occupants. He let out a short and quiet laugh when Vekel ducked under the bar. The thieves were now practically screaming at each other. It was something you’d only see at the flagon, or every day depending on whether or not you lived near the flagon. Everyone got used to it at some point in time. Tonilia stood by the door to the ratway, out of Vipir’s throwing range.

“Im’a hit it,” Brynjolf told him, retreating towards the cistern, his boots clonking on the stone floor.

“K, night!” Ra Kir called after him.

“Night!”

Vex ended up winning their petty argument long after our hero dozed off thinking about Brynjolf and himself. Niruin dragged him to bed, laying him down carefully on the bed. Niruin quickly learned that ‘Kir was lightweight and had no trouble picking him up and setting him down.

Ra Kir awoke to a door opening, Rune was back from a job obviously, his hair was ruffled and he had a very pretty silver and emerald necklace in his hand. The argonian groaned and tipped his head back, the sunlight blocked by his gloved hand.

“Alduin be damned, what time is it?” He asked, rubbing his mercilessly tired eyes.

“Ten in the morning” Rune sweetly whispered as he passed the hero, he was heading for the flagon. His long hair shined in the sunlight that creeped out from the well. Rune was like that, sweet to everyone.

Ra Kir closed his eyes, took a jagged deep breath in, and sighed through his nose, “Well,” he started opening his eyes, “time to face the horrid wrath of Vex and Delvin.”

‘Kir shuffled up, his elbows supporting his weight as he went to get off the bed entirely. His Nightingale boots were by his dresser along with a note rolled up inside the  one. It read,

Have a good sleep?

-Love Brynjolf.

‘Kir wasn’t pissed or uncomfortable, he was actually paying attention to the ‘ Love Brynjolf’ part. Soon, ‘Kir just shrugged it off, Brynjolf could be like that sometimes. Instead of worrying he tugged his boots on, and headed for the flagon, unsure but very afraid of what’s to come.

“Where the HELL have you been? It’s ten already!” Vex scolded ‘Kir, pointing a slender finger at his armoured chest. ‘Kir raised his hands up and leaned back in fear.

“Ten thirty-ish.” Delvin corrected her, he was sitting at a table, reading a note from a buyer of theirs. He was more concentrated on its contents then trying to help Vex scold ‘Kir until he learned his lesson. Honestly, ‘Kir was thankful, Delvin could be a real pain in the ass when it came to telling someone off. He took a swig of Black-Briar mead and continued to read the note.

Vex turned her head towards the man and told him that it’s still ten either way. Delvin agreeingly shrugged, finally fishined reading his letter.

“Well you see, no one woke me up and I-”

“No excuses this time,” Delvin called from behind Vex, his voice was harsh, “you have a lot to make up for, so best you get to it before noon.”

“Uh okay, Vex y-you got any sweep jobs?” ‘Kir stammered, he was still fazed by Vex’s furious rage.

Vex glared at him before answering, “Amern’s house in Whiterun, I suggest you hurry too, gramps over here’s getting a little cranky.”

Ra Kir nodded dumbfoundedly and headed for the door, on his way to said door leading to the Ratway when he heard a very pissed Delvin. ‘Kir chuckled to himself.

-Whiterun, 11:03 A.M-

‘Kir hid behind a bush in Carlotta’s yard, which was located just across from the house he needed to rob. He was waiting for Amren’s wife to exit the house. Whilst waiting, he read Chance’s Folly and The Woodcutter’s Wife, two horror fiction books, Ra Kir’s favorite genre.

He was just beginning the book Troll Hunting when Amren’s house door creaked open. Saffir walked out, humming to herself happily and carrying a basket of flowers, luckily she didn’t notice ‘Kir sitting behind the bush. He silently watched her walk by, then got up and darted across the road.

‘Kir kneeled down and began to pick the lock, easy peasy. A few tries and he successfully unlocked the door, no witnesses or evidence to be found. Perfect. Ra Kir slowly pushed the door open, still kneeling. He searched for any life forms, none to be found.

‘Kir pushed off of his knee and quickly grabbed the things he had on his list.

• Golden Goblet

• Silver Plated Lantern

• Diamond Ring

He was scattering around to find the golden goblet, it just wasn’t there. He looked on the first and second levels, he just couldn’t find it. According to ‘Kir though, however, it was actually under the stairs to the left. He soon found it and stuffed it in his bag and made his way out of the house.

No problems or mishaps at all, it was clearly going to be a well-paid job indeed, despite the fact he had to cut half of what he got. But he wasn’t complaining.

“Lucky me” ‘Kir told himself as he walked out of the house, a spring in his step.

The hero stopped dead in his tracks, looked around and saw no one that could have seen him. He carried on and hopped over the cold stone walls of Whiterun and quickly made his way back to the Thieves Guild in Riften.

-Flagon, 11:49 A.M-

“Good, you’re back,” Dirge greeted the Dragonborn, “Vex was about to blow her top if you didn’t get back soon.

‘Kir nodded quietly and passed him, the bag of stolen goods slung over his right shoulder clattering loudly with each step he took. He continued to walk and saw Vex who, Dirge had explained perfectly, looked as if she was going to murder someone Dark Brotherhood style.

“Uh . . . I’m back” ‘Kir smartly responded.

Vex shot him her signature glare which nearly made the Dragonborn jump out of his dry and scaled skin.

“Good,” She told him in a sharp and angered tone.

Vex swiped the bag from ‘Kir as he handed it to her. She looked inside of it and rummaged around, looking for the things that were on the list. Vex held each one up before putting them back in the bag.

“Good job, you didn’t muck it up, surprisingly. Here’s your payment” The thief handed ‘Kir a bag of 250 coins.

‘Kir greatly and fearfully took the bag from her, he wasn’t exhausted but instead, glad she didn’t murder someone or worse, him.

In the end he got 150 gold coins instead of 250. The other 150 coins went to the guilds savings since Mercer took all of what they had. ‘Kir dumped the coins into a half-filled barrel before adding that amount of gold with their current amount of gold. 20,356 coins are what the guild had saved up so far, yeah they were doing pretty good.

At around noon ‘Kir helped Brnjolf with business management and the total cost of money for the month and blah blah blah. Brynjolf liked it, he liked ‘Kir and everything about him, his smile and the way he would make sarcastic remarks to everyone who made a shitty joke.

“So you see this is why Arnleif and Sons Trading Co. should be removed from our protection” ‘Kir announced to Brynjolf.

“Or we could you know, send them a message to them saying ‘pay us’ and if that doesn’t work we could always send you in you” Brynjolf told him, eager not to blush.

The both of them were hovering over the guild’s business ledger, figuring out who to resign from the guild’s protection. They were inches away from each other, a slight accidental turn of the head and one might end up kissing another. Oh, did Brynjolf wish no one was in the cistern but Ra Kir and himself. Brynjolf mumbled something about peace and quiet around the two of them.

The Dragonborn caught wind of this and looked up “Hmm?”

Brynjolf looked up from his notes on the ledger “What?”

“You said something?”

“Oh . . . I was just calculating a few of the shops' income.”

Ra Kir raised a horned eyebrow “Is that so? I thought we already did that.”

Brynjolf was quick to answer “Well,” he started, “If we take the amount we take away from each shop, add it, then subtract it with all of the shops total income, then add that with our current amount of gold, we should be able to broaden our horizons.”

“Unnecessary calculations, by the time collecting rolls around, we’ll have made more gold.” ‘Kir told him.

Brynjolf whispered a quick and very quiet ‘fuck’ in between breaths, just quiet enough so that ‘Kir couldn’t hear him.

“Fair enough.” Brynjolf pushed off of the table and went back to reviewing his notes with ‘Kir.

By the end of the day, Brynjolf and ‘Kir were exhausted, ‘Kir from pulling three night jobs and Brynjolf. Well, he had to try to stop himself from gazing at ‘Kir the whole time they had a reassessment on leaving no trace when stealing. But Alduin be dammed, did ‘Kir have a nice ass. Brynjolf had glanced at it more than twenty times during the session. Which were enough times for Niruin to catch wind and pull him aside after the talk.

“Hey.”

Bryjolf looked up, Niruin was standing in front of him, looking pretty serious.

“Uh, hey Niruin.”

“You like him” the archer said in a pretty serious tone, very serious in fact.

Brynjolf groaned before replying “Is it that obvious?”

“Well, you make it that way by looking at his ass every damn second.”

“Why did you even want to talk to me about this anyway” Brynjolf breathed.

“Because he’s sweet and nice and deserves someone good like you, now yes I could give you an ‘ If you hurt him’ speech but I don’t really know him all that well.” Niruin explained.

Brynjolf gave him a sarcastic look “Since when did you give ‘ If you hurt him’ speeches?”

Niruin scoffed dramatically “Since today, as of right now.”

“Yeah alright, whatev- wait you think I actually have a chance with him?”

Niruin sighed, rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers, and walked away without answering. Brynjolf took that as a yes and went to sleep happily, thinking of the Dovahkiin’s beautiful smile. Truly a sight to behold.

Chapter Text

The next few weeks went by slow for Brynjolf, more attempts at flirting with the Dovahkiin. By around month number one the whole guild knew who Brynjolf was trying to get with. Some usual conversations would go like this:

“Hey Brynjolf, have any luck with the Dragonborn?” They’d chuckle.

“Shut it, or you’ll regret it” He’d reply darkly.

Or

“You should just plain tell him, I’m sure, no, absolutely sure he’ll understand!”  The more positive would tell him, although it was mostly just Rune. Such a sweet lad. However, this particular morning had taken a strange turn, very strange turn, now let me explain. For one, the Dragonborn was acting suspiciously kinder to Brynjolf and smiles were pointed in his direction. This could only mean one thing. He sighed, did he know or did he guess? Maybe he didn’t know or guess at all and instead just liked him and was also trying to send hints. Fuck, it was confusing. Love was confusing, and it hurt like a bitch. He was so deep in his thoughts he didn’t even notice ‘Kir

“Hey,” Brynjolf was snapped out of his moment of pondering and looked up to see ‘Kir, “whatcha thinkin’ ‘bout?”

Brynjolf first reaction was to have an answer in mind that related to the guild’s business, a usual excuse.

However a blank “Uh.” was the only thing he could process at the moment.

“Well?”

“Well, what?”

‘Kir sighed, “I asked you a question, smartass.” He was now sitting beside Brynjolf.

“Oh.” Brynjolf just said, his eyes were pinned on the floor, hands folded together creating an arch.

“Nothing much, just . . .” He sighed, maybe it was time for him to come clean, “Y-I can’t do this, not here not now.”

Brynjolf had spotted Rune out of the corner of his eye, the lad had a grin plastered on his face that said ‘Delvin you won’t believe this’. He got up and went to the flagon to ask Vex for something to do, leaving the Dragonborn questioning what the hell just happened. He glanced over to where Brynjolf had looked, hearing a door slam behind him, Rune stood there looking mortified.

“Uh, excuse me but what the fuck.” ‘Kir asked sharply.

Rune just whispered something and left, heading towards the flagon.

“Well okay then, hazelfucks.” Sapphire had been watching the whole thing go down, she had her ways of going unnoticed.

‘Kir sighed, this stuff had been going down for at least a few months now, Brynjolf being sincere then before he could get to the point, he up and left. He wished and hoped he would say ‘ you, I’ve been thinking about you.’ it was that simple, but life hadn’t made it so. ‘Kir held his head in his hands for a minute before getting up off of Brynjolf’s bed and marching to the flagon. He opened the door and heard Rune and Brynjolf arguing.

“I was about to fucking confess Rune!”

“Well gee, you didn’t have to up and leave like that!”

Wait confess?

‘Kir continued to hide in the little room between the cistern and the flagon, eavesdropping.

“Dammit, I was nearly, nearly about to tell him I like him, okay?! But you had to look all smug over there and . . .” Brynjolf yelled.

It all broke, like glass shattering and falling to the floor, he liked him. He really did. A smile turned to ‘Kir’s mouth, as he silently fist pumped. A victory, a win, a love earned. He kicked the fake wardrobe open, he didn’t really give a shit about it at the moment. Everyone heard it, everyone went silent, all heads turned towards the entrance way.

“I heard all of it!” ‘Kir called out.

Rune turned his head form the wardrobe to Brynjolf, who looked like a ghost.

“Well, maybe most of it but nonetheless, I heard it.” The hero said stepping out of the small room, a smile on his face.

He looked happy and gleeful instead of smug or an ass, Brynjolf found a sort of relief in ‘Kir’s expression. Maybe even joy. Who cared? Oh right, everyone in the room.