APRICITY // technoblade x reader DISCONTINUED

2 - Studies and Secrets

The sunlight flowing through the library windows alights on the dust motes all around, making the air dance and shimmer as you duck in between bookshelves with Niki in tow. Wiggling a tome, you grin with satisfaction as a hidden corridor hisses open.

"How does that always work for you?" Niki asks as she follows you into the dark space. You shrug as you pull out a candle, lighting the wick and quickly distinguishing your match.

"I dunno. I mean, I've had thirteen years of experience that you didn't get. Maybe that's it," you suggest, and Niki only returns your shrug as the two of you continue down the hallway.

As you walk, you quiet your steps gradually until you're both tiptoeing. Up ahead, you can see a sliver of light peeking out of the bottom of another hidden door, and you lean over to whisper to Niki.

"I heard the director say that this is the waiting room where they're going to keep the Magister until they can meet in the vault," you murmur. Niki nods along, her wide blue eyes reflecting the dancing candlelight. "We can sneak in now and hide in the bookshelves, and then we can see what the Magister looks like once they get in here."

Niki flashes you a thumbs up before whispering her assent in her lovely, lilting tone, and leans forward to help you open the door.

You push open the passage door and blink quickly as your eyes adjust to the bright light once more. Clambering out, you reach a hand back for Niki, pulling her up and towards you as you tumble out of the hidden corridor and against the back of the bookshelves. You giggle as you slide the door only halfway closed, prepared for a hasty retreat if need be. You shuffle behind the bookshelves, Niki curled up on the floor in between your legs, and you standing to peer between the books.

You two stifle your giggling just in time as you hear the Director's voice carrying down the hallway, clear and carrying.

"....in this room while we prepare the vault, Magister Technoblade. Thank you for your patience." The door creaked open and you watch through the gaps in the shelving as a deep, wine-red cloak trimmed with thick white fur sweeps past you. The door slams shut as the Magister continues in, stepping towards a chair placed next to a hearth on the opposite side of the room. His boots barely make a sound as he steps across the room, the air thick with how practically predatory he feels until he reaches the armchair.

Finally, he turns around, revealing something other than his cloak to you as he slumps into the plush armchair. He's wearing a black and gold masquerade mask fastened over three-quarters of his face, and a long pink plait is draped over his shoulder. His pointed ears poke out from his hair, and you can see small gold piercings scattered throughout, particularly the single dangling emerald pendant on the left side. His hand moved to run through his smooth hair, and your eyes tracked the movement of his long fingers.

All in all, he's devastatingly handsome, despite the mask hiding his face.

Nothing like you expected a sorcerer to be, especially not after what you'd read in the grimoires around the library. And where was his demon, the key to all sorcerers' magic?

You take a breath in to whisper this question to Niki when the sorcerer's roaming eyes catch yours. You freeze, breath caught in your throat, as his fiery red eyes narrow at you and he begins to stand. You practically shove Niki back into the passageway with your foot, helped by her compliant scrambling to get back in. Just because he's seen you doesn't mean Niki has to be seen too, and you plant your feet firmly back on the ground just as the sorcerer- Magister, really, the title emphasizing just how powerful of a sorcerer he is- reaches the bookshelf. In your haste to straighten again, lest you reveal Niki's hiding spot, you fall out from behind the bookshelves, knocking the one in front of you over in the process.