Trope Tuesdays - NB tiefling x reader (v. light nsfw): 'enemies (to friends) to lovers' (Patreon)

Here's our first Trope Tuesdays story! You voted for 'enemies (to friends) to lovers', and here it is. Now, these were supposed to be SHORT stories. This one comes in at just shy of 5k words!! The 'v. light nsfw' is for a kiss, and this feels like a Part One, so if there's enough interest, I might work up another section to this for a future story after I've finished the other lot I've got to do first! 

The setting is the same magical academy/university as for my orc mage Orrakh's story, but you don't need to have read that one to understand this one at all. 

“But if the spirit was bound after death in the first place, then it’s technically not the spirit’s fault that it was used by the necromancer. Why should it always be the case that we seek to destroy the spirit instead of releasing it? Isn’t that the whole point of ethical debate?” you argued while the rest of the lecture theatre rolled their eyes and waited for your debate on the ethics of necromancy in an entirely different class to be over. 

“I was merely using the example,” the magister of runic theory began, clearly trying to keep his temper while you stared him down, “To show how one might use a spell to break a spirit’s hold on a body, not,” he went on, eyes flashing, “To start a debate with you. Again.”

“Fine, but my point still -”

“Will you be quiet?” the magister snarled through clenched teeth. “Now is not the time for this debate, and if you continue to argue with me on a topic which is not the subject of this class, I will send you to the library to copy out the Thousand Tenets of Necromancy in full, twice.”

You glared at him, but just managed to contain yourself. The man was infuriating. Why bring up a contentious issue like that and not expect someone to take issue with it? Glancing to your left you saw the tiefling who was sat in the row in front of you glaring daggers at you, their completely golden eyes blazing at your brashness. You curled your lip at them and Ahelin simply turned around again. 

Gods, but they were insufferable. A complete smart Alec; always doing the homework that the professors set to the fullest, submitting it way ahead of time, and coming out top of the class after every test and pop quiz. Not that that was something to scoff at, as such, but the way they held themselves to haughtily, and rarely deigned to engage with anyone just rubbed you up the wrong way. Their magic was powerful but they controlled it deftly, while you were like a spark in a wheat field when it came to your innate magic. You had it, for sure, but you had far less skill in containing it. 

Ahelin’s dusky purple skin was flawless, their cheekbones sharp and high, their eyebrows dark and immaculate, their lips permanently locked in a tight pout, and their backwards-curving horns were like blue-black aventurine glass, glittering with tiny, reflective particles and tipped in pure gold, rounded caps to make them a little less dangerous. With long, straight hair that was either tightly plaited or spilling loose down their back in a waterfall of black silk, and standing at an imposing six foot, they were an intimidatingly beautiful presence as well as unfathomably intelligent, but they were not well liked. Admired, yes; idolised, certainly; but not necessarily liked. 

Plenty of people had tried to befriend them, and while they were constantly, painstakingly polite, there was a cold aura that slid off them and made people want to leave the moment they found themselves in conversation with the tiefling. They were also an insufferable goody-two-shoes. Well, two-hooves, technically. 

So it was, to your (combined) horror, that you were partnered with Ahelin for a project that was to account for a significant percentage of your final results. Runic Theory and Ancient Spellcasting was a subject that had made sense to you since your very first year at the ancient academy, but you didn’t always arrange the runes in the ‘traditional’ order to get the resulting magical reaction. The calligraphy also had to be precise, otherwise who knew what disasters an unwitting caster could unleash, and while your writing wasn’t exactly… pretty, it was legible at least. You just enjoyed finding new paths to reach the desired outcome; it was like a game to you. Ahelin, of course, found this characteristic infuriating in their new partner. 

And, of course, Ahelin had probably been educated since the age of three in the ancient art of brush painting and calligraphy because their brushwork was exquisitely beautiful. It really wasn’t your fault that you’d knocked over an entire bottle of ink when you’d seen their work up close. Anyone would have been astonished to see it, but your clumsiness and subsequent curse-filled outburst had earned you both detention in the library, and two hours of extra calligraphy homework. 

“Just my luck,” you muttered as you sat down amid a sea of first and second year students. You and Ahelin were the oldest ones there, only a few months or so away from attaining your diplomas, and with one withering glance, Ahelin made you feel like a naughty first year as well. This was probably their first time in detention ever. It would be good for them to slum it with the rest of the universe for a couple of hours, you supposed smugly. 

“Sorry I blotted your pristine record,” you sniped sarcastically at them as you took your seat at one of the large wooden tables. 

In answer, you were met with a hollow, golden stare, mouth turned down as always, face expressionless and apparently unfeeling as a temple statue. 

Copying out the first few paragraphs of ancient runes wasn’t too bad, but you started to fidget after a while. Glancing over at Ahelin, you found yourself watching their face for a good five minutes. Their expression never wavered from that habitual kind of holy devotion as they studied the book in front of them. Even their hands as they held it were elegant. They, unlike you, were not tasked with copying lines, but had simply been asked to catch up on any work or reading for the duration of the detention.

You began to occupy yourself by doodling instead of copying characters onto the page.  

After perhaps an hour and a half, a first year crept up to the desk beside Ahelin and politely waited for them to notice her. When they did, Ahelin inclined their head and blinked. “Yes?”

“May I ask you for some help with this question?” she asked with wide eyes and a slight stammer. “I don’t understand what it’s asking of me.”

“Of course,” they murmured and the first year beamed gratefully. 

You watched as Ahelin gently teased the answer out of the tangle of confusion in the girl’s mind, helping her to reach it on her own. Maybe they weren’t such a stick-in-the-mud after all? Then they looked up and saw you staring, and their expression hardened, barriers crashing back into place, and they dismissed the younger student to return to her seat and finish off her work. 

“Why are you like that with me?” you blurted in a hoarse whisper, leaning across the table. “Why do you hate me so much?”

Ahelin didn’t look up, but continued to stare at the page in front of them. It was impossible to see if they were actually reading it because their eyes were all one, homogeneous blend of speckled gold, with no iris or pupil. 

“Seriously, what could I possibly have done to make you hate me so much?” you asked again. “Is it the ink thing? Or the detention? Or something else?”

This time, Ahelin lowered their book and looked at you. “Why do you think I hate you?” they asked in a soft, effortless murmur. 

You snorted so hard at their question that a corner of the paper in front of you lifted up and two of the first years looked over at the sound. 

Ahelin rolled their eyes and looked away, apparently either disgusted or bored, or both. 

“That!” you hissed, jabbing a finger in their direction. “That right there. You do hate me.”

“You’re childish, immature, and you take nothing seriously,” they whispered through clenched teeth, trying to keep from disturbing the calm of the library any further. “You have no respect for the sanctity of this place, and I don’t understand you at all.”

That brought you up short. “What?” Of course you’d heard the childish and immature stuff before, but was being playful such a crime? 

“You can’t seriously be surprised to hear that,” they said. “You do everything you can to fly in the face of tradition.”

“I do not,” you countered hotly, still just about trying to keep your voice down. “I just… I think this place is too stuffy sometimes. It’s too rigid. What’s wrong with looking at new ways of doing things? With questioning how things have always been done?”

“Because…” they began and then faltered, blinking. “Because,” Ahelin continued in a more measured tone, “The tenets of this place are sacred. The magic that is taught here has been taught this way for thousands of years. Those who disagree with its teachings have become dangerous mages and some even a threat to society.”

“Why are you so loyal to this place?” you asked, glancing at the clock and seeing that your two hours were up. 

Ahelin didn’t answer. The bell chimed softly to signal that detention was over, and they packed up their books into a neat stack and left without a word. 

You headed to your best friend’s room after that. While it wasn’t explicitly against the rules for those of drinking age to have their own alcohol, it was definitely seen as inappropriate behaviour for the temple of learning that had been founded by monks nearly six thousand years earlier. 

Lilea answered and let you in, the elf’s footsteps silent on the bare stone floor of her chambers. “Hey!” she laughed when you held up the bottle. “Perfect. I heard you got detention. Again. Aren’t we a little old for that now?”

“Apparently not,” you snorted. “And it wasn’t even my fault this time!”

“It never is!” she giggled. “Gimme that.”

The pair of you settled down on her bed and she listened while you grumped about Ahelin. 

“Oh, they’re so handsome,” she crooned. “And the perfect scholar…” 

You rolled your eyes. “Not you as well! They’re rude and stuck up and stuffy and don’t know the meaning of the word fun. Plus, they hate me.”

“Why? What’d you do?”

“I have no idea! Maybe because I ruined their perfect reputation by getting them detention too? Or maybe because I spilled ink all over their spell book in class because holy shit their calligraphy is gorgeous! But of course it is. They’re perfect.” You took another swig from the bottle and groaned. “You want to go for a walk?”

“At this time of night?”

“Just to the gardens. I’m sick of being indoors.”

“Alright,” she laughed. “Let me grab a jacket.”

“You’ll put on a jacket but you’ll skip the shoes?” you grinned and the elf swiped playfully at your head with a fist. You ducked back, not that she would have hit you anyway, and your playful shenanigans continued as the pair of you headed out into the water gardens at the rear of the former temple, now magical institution. 

Lilia suddenly grabbed your arm as you walked along a colonnade at the back of the main building, the soft reflections of the stonework behind you rippling gently in the dark waters of the pools, and yanked you back a pace. 

“What is it? We’re allowed to be out here, you know? We’re not first years anymore!”

“Look,” she said and gestured across the garden to a long, low boardwalk on the far side of the water garden where Ahelin and their older brother, Landen, were walking side by side in perfect grace, both with their arms folded behind their backs in a formal style.

You rolled your eyes when you spotted them. “Gods, that’s just too much perfection in one setting, you know? Look at them!”

She laughed and said, “How about we go round to the cherry tree at the far end of that walk and surprise them?”

“Now who’s acting childish,” you said and set off with her in the opposite direction, laughing as you weaved and bounded across the stepping stones and boulders that created a more organic, ornamental path across the water garden. 

Waiting on the bench for the two tieflings to appear, you and Lilea chatted about this and that, mainly about her worries about the looming final exams, until Ahelin and Landen came into view. Landen wore the traditional, full length robes of a magister of the institution, while Ahelin wore their usual outfit of loose-fitting pants with a tight cuff around their slender hocks and a broad, form-fitting sash around the waist. Their dark blue top was sleeveless, showing sculpted, slender arms, with a deep v-neck which revealed a tight band of dark fabric underneath, wrapping around their chest. 

The siblings’ words drifted towards you as they approached, and you and Lilea fell silent, straining to catch whatever could be so serious as to make the pair of them look so miserable. 

“Sometimes I worry for you, ‘Lin,” Landon murmured. The two of them paused on the bridge that connected the small islet with the cherry tree to a slightly larger island nearby. Landon leaned forwards, resting his dark forearms on the masonry and taking the weight off one hock like a waiting horse, while Ahelin remained ramrod straight beside him, the gold tips of their horns glinting softly in the moonlight. 

“Why?” they asked, clearly baffled. “I am performing well in all my studies. Is it because I received punishment earlier today?”

“You did?” Landon asked with a soft laugh. “I don’t believe it!”

Ahelin looked devastated and scowled at the gravel between their onyx hooves. “I was punished for the antics of my partner in runic theory and given detention.”

Landon snorted and then tipped his head back into a full, deep-bellied laugh that made you and Lilea stare at each other. Landon was known for being a fairly serious research professor, the youngest to attain the title in centuries, but he didn’t have the same reputation as his younger sibling for being completely devoid of humour. 

“Why is that funny?” Ahelin asked. “It was pathetic. I’m constantly frustrated by someone who doesn’t care about what this place represents.”

“Really?” Landon said, still chuckling. “I’m glad you’ve got into a bit of trouble. I think you’re too serious, ‘Lin. I think you’ve forgotten how to laugh, and it scares me.”

“It scares you that I’m dedicated?”

“No, it scares me that you don’t allow yourself time to relax. I think this research partner will be good for you.”

You waggled your eyebrows goofily at Lilea and she stifled a giggle behind her small, tattooed hand. 

Landon sighed and laid a hand on Ahelin’s shoulder. “You don’t owe everything to this place, ‘Lin.”

Still wearing a scowl, Ahelin’s head jerked up, golden eyes almost glowing in the night. “They took us in, Landon. When we had nothing, they took us in and raised us. Everything I am, I owe to this place.”

Again, the elder of the two sighed. “Not everything, kiddo.” 

Something changed in your perception of Ahelin after that. You and Lilea kept quiet as Landon headed back the way he’d come, leaving Ahelin alone on the bridge, staring out at the water, and you both reached the silent decision not to jump out and scare them the way you’d planned. It did seem truly childish now. 

Turning to Lilea, you whispered, “I didn’t know they’d been raised here.”

“Me neither,” she shrugged. 

As your conversation drifted away from Ahelin and their brother, the volume naturally rose a little, and as you passed the bottle between the two of you, letting the gentle buzz of alcohol warm your bellies, you saw that Ahelin had turned to watch you. 

You smiled at them but they didn’t return it. They cast one final, stony gaze and stalked back down the boardwalk, their hooves making quiet, measured clopping noises as they left. 

When, just over a fortnight later, you presented Ahelin with a new, blank spell book in payment for the one you’d ruined with your impromptu flood of ink, they looked at you with that habitual frown on their dark brows. 

“Did you bind this yourself?” they asked, staring at the spine of the thick tome. 

“Yeah?” you said. “Don’t tell me it’s not high enough quality for you or I’ll take it back and use it myself. That’s the best work I’ve ever done.”

Ahelin took the spell book from you and turned it over in their hands. It had taken you a week to stitch all the gatherings together and then attach it to the back boards, not to mention the tooling on the leather. Plus you’d done a little surprise drawing on the first page and hoped it wouldn’t be a complete flop when Ahelin saw it. 

You almost missed what they said as you stared at their long, elegant fingers. “Huh?” you chirruped when you realised that they’d spoken. 

“It’s beautiful work,” they repeated. When they opened the cover and saw the drawing, you could have sworn that you saw the faintest, briefest flicker of a smile at the corner of their lips. “Thank you,” they said. 

The drawing was a portrait of them that you’d initially doodled during that detention you’d shared, and had later worked up into a bit more of a proper, coherent composition. 

After three weeks of your joint research project, you were finally done. You’d fallen out more times than you could count about how best to create the spell - over how efficient you could make it and how you could mitigate as many of the side effects as possible - but finally you had something that you were prepared to present to the magister. You wouldn’t find out the results until you’d completed the rest of your final exams, however, and Ahelin was clearly worried that your ‘artistic input’ was going to scupper their chances of a perfect grade. 

“You’ll be fine,” you said, nudging your hip against theirs as you left the magister’s office together. 

They shot you a derisive look and continued down the corridor. 

“That’s it?” you asked, disappointment cloying in your chest suddenly. “After weeks of work together, all you have for me is one withering glance? Jeez, you really are heartless, aren’t you?”

You regretted the words the instant they left your lips, and Ahelin stopped and half turned, as if on the point of saying something, but then you saw how their eyes sparkled with tears and their sharp upper teeth sank into their lip before they turned and stalked away and rounded the corner in silence. 

“Shit,” you cursed, hurrying after them, but when you followed them around the corner, you discovered that the passageway was empty. They must have used some spell or other to disappear and you stood there and murmured, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it,” and hung your head in shame. They really did bring out the worst in you sometimes. It was probably for the best that the project was over.

Unable to settle that evening, you wandered out into the water garden again. A handsome orcish magister passed you on your way out and offered you a warm smile, but you were so distracted that you barely noticed. Your footsteps took you to the cherry tree, now just beginning to flower, and beneath it, you found Ahelin sitting on the bench, staring off into the nearby water with wide, glassy eyes. 

“Ahelin?” you breathed as you approached, halting on the bridge. 

Their face told you that you were not welcome, but you wanted to give it one more try. 

“Ahelin, I’m sorry about earlier. You’re not heartless at all. I know that. You care a lot… maybe… maybe too much, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I just… I didn’t realise it and I spoke without thinking. As usual. And I’m sorry I hurt you.”

To your shock, a single tear rolled down their perfectly smooth cheek and they didn’t wipe it away. 

“Can I come over?”

Ahelin shrugged. 

“Can I sit?” you asked once you’d drawn level with the hard, stone bench. 

Ahelin bowed their head. 

Taking a deep breath, you said, “I didn’t know you were raised here…”

“Mmm.”

“How old were you?” you ventured. 

“Five. Landen was ten.” They took a deep breath and you watched their lean torso heave with the weight of it. Eventually they rasped, “You’re right.”

You grinned playfully, “I am? What day is it? Quick, write it down for posterity!”

To your surprise, Ahelin managed a weak smile, their morose expression shattering into pure delight for just a fraction of a second. 

“I was wrong about you,” you said. “Everyone is wrong about you.”

They turned their head to glare once more at the gravel path ahead of them. 

“You’re a real softie under all that cold exterior, aren’t you?”

“I’m not sure what you mean, but you’re right about one thing. I do care about more than just academia and doing well enough to graduate from here.”

Taking another risk you reached out and took their hand gently in yours. They flinched a little, but didn’t yank their hand away in disgust, so you gripped their fingers for a moment and then relaxed. Ahelin’s eyes shifted to the point where you touched, and they very slowly intertwined their fingers with yours. 

Speaking quietly, you said, “It’s alright to relax. The world isn’t going to fall apart if you let yourself smile.”

At your words, tears spilled freely down their cheeks and they stared at you. “I was wrong about you,” they said in a shaking, hoarse voice. “I thought you were childish and flippant. You just don’t see the world the way I do, and there’s nothing wrong with that. And you do care about this place. We’d never progress if it weren’t for people like you who constantly push and ask questions. You… You’ve made me think about things differently.”

You grinned and squeezed their fingers again. “I’m glad. I know I can be a bit of an idiot at times though…”

With their other hand, they smeared the tears off their cheeks and turned away, clearly embarrassed. 

“Listen,” you said, “Why don’t you come down into the town with us next week. Lilea and a few of us are going to the tavern on River Street to celebrate finishing… It might be fun?”

Ahelin looked like they were going to refuse, as if it were a cruel joke somehow, but when they saw the expression on your face, they relaxed a little and nodded. “Alright.”

When you told Lilea about it, she goggled at you, but accepted it readily enough. Ahelin did show up that night, and at first an awkward tension clung to the group, but Lilea soon got things moving and Ahelin’s shoulders relaxed a little. They didn’t speak more than a few words for the whole night, but they did laugh quietly a few times, and they let you tangle your fingers in theirs again too, which was nice. 

Finally, when everyone seemed more than a bit buzzed, Ahelin leaned close to your ear and whispered, “I think I’m going to head back now.”

“Alright,” you said as they stepped elegantly from the bench. “You want some company?”

Standing beside you, they shook their head. “You keep enjoying your evening.”

“What’s to say I wouldn’t enjoy it with you?” you asked playfully. 

Seeming a little defeated, Ahelin just shrugged. “If you wish to come with me, I won’t stop you.”

Exasperated, you rolled your eyes and stood, excusing yourself from the group and congratulating everyone again on finishing. When you turned back, you found that Ahelin had already left. Scuttling after them, you joined them on the road going up to the university and grabbed their hand as you overtook them, turning to trot backwards in front of them, facing them. 

“Tell me you had fun?” you asked. 

“I did.”

“But…?”

“I’m not used to groups of people like that.”

“I get it,” you smiled. “Thanks for putting up with them. I know Lilea can be a bit much sometimes…”

“She means well,” they said. 

“Are you going to head back to your room?”

Ahelin paused, and although they still held your hand, they no longer held your gaze. Staring at their hooves, they didn’t speak. You sensed there was so much going on inside them that they had no idea how to start expressing it. 

So you waited. 

Eventually, they swallowed thickly and blinked. “I think I will go to the garden.”

“Would you like me to come with you?” you asked carefully. 

Their golden eyes met yours. “Yes.”

“Great,” you beamed.

Your process up the steep hill was slow and silent, but you continued to hold hands all the way, and you couldn’t help but notice the slight glances that they shot sidelong at you from time to time, as if trying to work out how you were feeling about everything.

The bench in the water garden was empty as usual, but Ahelin didn’t stop there, moving instead to the bridge and staring out at the water as it slipped by in near total silence beneath the mossy stones of the arch. “This was always my favourite place as a child.”

You followed their eyes. “I can’t imagine growing up in a place like this,” you said. “The… pressure of it all, you know?”

“It wasn’t so bad,” they smiled wistfully, leaning their weight on their forearms and letting their head loll forwards a little. The movement brought their long hair - currently woven into a soft plait - falling forwards onto the stones beside their hands. As you stared at them, you were struck again by their perfect beauty and almost forgot how to breathe. Sensing your eyes on them, they looked up at you and scowled. “What?”

“You’re very beautiful,” you admitted.

They didn’t seem to like that, but you couldn’t put your finger on why not. “Did I say something wrong?” you finally asked. 

“No,” Ahelin sighed. 

“But…?” 

“I don’t know what to do with a compliment about something over which I have had no input.”

You blinked. “Oh.” With a laugh, you added, “What I wouldn’t give to wake up that perfect!” 

“I’m not perfect,” they scowled. “You’ve proven that time and time again.”

“Time and time again? Gee, you make it sound like I’ve worn you down or something. I haven’t, have I?”

They looked askance at you and said, “It has been a trial at times.”

“Right.”

“I… I didn’t mean for that to come out like that,” they faltered. They sucked their teeth for a moment and then said, “You remember that time in the library when you asked me why I hated you?”

“Oh yeah,” you snorted. “You know, I never did figure out why you were so angry with me all the time…”

“I was angry because I misunderstood you. I’ve never hated you though. I thought you were ridiculing everything that I hold dear when you mocked this place and its teachings. And I didn’t know how to feel about that except to dislike you for it. But, as I’ve said, I was wrong. You can love a thing and still question it. I see that now.”

With a smile, you said, “So… That night when you and your brother were standing right about where we are now…”

“You heard that then,” Ahelin stated heavily.

“Yes. Was he right?” you asked, heart beginning to pound as you worked up to the real question to which you wanted the answer. 

“About what? He usually is…” they asked dryly. 

“About me being good for you?”

Ahelin’s frown returned, but it soon softened and they smiled shyly. It was quite possibly the most beautiful expression you’d ever seen on their face, and that was saying something. “Yes.”

Inhaling deeply, you asked, “Ahelin, I know I’m always going a step too far with everything, but… can… can I kiss you?” 

They turned their head, gold-tipped horns glinting, and blinked their soft, golden eyes at you before nodding just once. 

You grinned up at them and took their hands in yours, forcing them to turn and stand upright again. You brought your hands to their cut-glass jawline and brushed your fingers over their cheeks, feeling them shudder and watching their long-lashed eyes flutter closed. Their dark, purple lips parted and their breath hissed softly. 

As you brought your lips to theirs, their hands found your hips and they tentatively drew you closer. Your body lit up like a thousand sparks as you kissed them, and Ahelin, to your surprise, was remarkably vocal. They moaned behind the kiss, the vibrations making your lips tingle, and when you parted, Ahelin was breathless. 

“Was that alright?” you asked hesitantly. 

“Yes,” they smiled. “May I kiss you again?”

With a grin that was almost instantly smothered by their lips, Ahelin returned the gesture, hands wandering over your body, exploring you until you raked your fingers through their thick hair, just above their pointed, dusky ears, and they broke it off with a gasp, cloven-hoofed legs staggering a little wider as if they were about to give way at the knees, head tilting back to expose their throat to you. 

“You want to go inside?” you croaked, and Ahelin nodded, allowing you to lead them across the stepping stones and back towards the privacy of your room. 

 ___ 

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