Roommate (Modern!Dunk x Reader)
Author: I would like to apologize in advance for any grammar mistakes. English is not my first language, and I wrote this story in a rush of creativity (which don't happen often), so I didn't review it for any mistakes.
Warnings: Fluff (I guess? I'm not really good at it), they are in love with each other, but dancing around their feelings. I'm thinking maybe writing a part 2 with smut.
Is it good? Probably not, i just really needed to show Dunk some love.
Pairing: Reader X Modern!Dunk; Egg, Lyonel, Raymun, and the Targaryen family either mentioned or appeared.
Gifs and images are not mine!! The separator i grab the images at Pinterest, and assemble it on Canvas, but they aren't mine.
Hope you like it!
The heavy cardboard box hit Dunk’s boot with a dull, bone-jarring thud. The air hissed out of his teeth in a sharp whistle of pain,
"Egg."
"It slipped." Egg’s voice was airy, devoid of any actual guilt, eyes blinking up innocently.
"You were standing still."
Egg looked down at the box, then up at Dunk. "The floor is slippery."
"It's hardwood."
"Slippery hardwood." Egg insisted, gesturing vaguely at the polished oak with his sneaker, making an annoying, squeaking loud and long noise to prove his point.
You stepped over both of them and the box and disappeared down the hallway with your own stack dangling from your arms, completely unbothered, vibing to some random song blasting on your earpod.
You didn't look at them. You didn't have to.
You just breathed out a small, absent-minded hum that vibrated in the narrow hallway, a small act that absolutely destabilized the oaf.
Dunk stopped breathing. He tracked the line of your shoulders until you disappeared into the kitchen, his head pivoting like a sunflower following the sun.
The silence you left behind was heavy. Dunk stayed frozen for a beat, two beats, three, before the heat crawled up his neck, staining his skin a guilty, blotchy red.
When he finally forced his gaze back down, Egg was leaning against the doorframe, wearing a small, terrible smile that reached all the way to his narrowed slit violet eyes.
"Don't." Dunk said.
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"I was actually going to ask if you wanted me to pick up the box." Egg said, his voice dripping with a mock-innocence that made it very clear that was not what he was going to say.
He hoisted the box, tucking it under his arm with a grunt. "You know, you have a very nice place. Very spacious. High ceilings. Lots of room for two people to live together, and develop deeply inconvenient, life-altering feelings—"
"I'll kick you out the window." He took one step forward and his shadow swallowed Egg entirely, which was not difficult, given the size of the shadow in question. His hand twitched. "And before I do, I’m going to slap your ear so hard your Targaryen ancestors feel it. Shut up."
Egg didn't flinch. He adjusted his grip on the box and glanced pleasantly toward the window. "We're on the fourth floor."
"I know." Dunk hissed, his eyes flickering anxiously toward the kitchen, terrified that his threat, or Egg's teasing, had carried through the walls. "I'll aim for the bushes. Move."
Egg let out a sharp, delighted cackle, pivoting on his heel. "Careful, ser! Your face is the same colour as the 'Fragile' tape!"
It took two full hours and four grueling trips to the car to get the last of it in. By Dunk’s count, his new roommate possessed three times more belongings than any reasonable human.
Books, little trinkets, a collection of plushies and ... a strange amount of "Leon Kennedy" figures that he chose not to comment on.
Then, there was the stool, a hard piece of wood, sculpted magnificently, chipped around the corner due to decades of use, but solid as a rock, hard enough to crack the floor.
It required its own dedicated trip since it was so heavy.
"It’s vintage. My grandmother gave it to me, my grandfather build it for her." You vaguely explained, tucked into the backseat of the car, cradling the wood piece like a sacred relic.
"It’s a stool." Egg countered, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
"It’s a vintage stool. There is a structural soul at stake here, Egg. Please, just... be careful, it's very heavy for your tiny arms."
Dunk didn't even wait for the rest of the sentence. He reached past Egg, his large hands dwarfing the base as he took it from your arms. "I've got it."
His large hands dwarfing the wood base entirely as he lifted it from you.
You had to stretch up slightly to pass it to him, and the exchange lasted approximately two seconds, and his brain catalogued the warmth of your fingers against his knuckles like a jolt of eletricity passing through his body.
He turned awkwardly, rushing to climb the stairs to the fourth floor, completely missing your giddy smile and Egg's teasing face.
Dunk brought the stool in and stood in the middle of the living room with it and looked at you, hands clasped, watching him carry it with a cute gummy smile on your face.
"Where do you want it?" He asked, trying not to get flustered from the attention.
You considered. Looked around the room with the eye of someone mentally mapping infrastructure. "Kitchen, I think. For now."
He followed you in and set it down in the kitchen, and you immediately stepped up onto it to reach the top cabinet, the one that made you roll your eyes when you came for the first time.
Of course everything is tall in this house.
The top of your head, standing on the stool, came to approximately his chin.
Dunk was a very tall man, he was reminded of it everytime he entered somewhere, he got used to duck every door he passed through, sometimes his head even reached the ceiling.
Last time Aemon - Egg's brother - measured his height, he was 6,4, almost 6,5.
He forgot how short you were, due to the years you spent apart. He forgot how he used to duck his head every time to talk to you, neck straining. But definetly worth it.
This was still not eye level. This was, however, a significant improvement on the previous arrangement, and you seemed to feel the same way, because you exhaled with the quiet satisfaction of someone whose was finally able to now see the dustied top of the fridge.
A small, but significant victory.
"Perfect." You said, clasping your hands proudly.
Dunk looked at the stool. At you. At the cabinet.
"Your grandmother." He said. "She was very short."
"4'9." You remebered, hearts on your bright eyes just by recalling the stool's origin story. "My grandfather was 6'1. She used to say he built her the stool so she wouldn't have to ask him for everything." A pause, a small one. "And so she could reach him."
Egg, in the doorway, made a squeaking sound, like puking.
Dunk looked at him, mimicking cutting his own neck with his index, Egg gulped at the threat, his expression was that of a ten year old processing information that was slightly above his pay grade.
"So she could reach him." Dunk said.
"He was tall." You said, straightening a mug on the counter, not looking at him. "She wanted to be able to look him in the eye properly. Kiss him properly. Without him having to — you know, break his back every time."
"He made it for her before they were even married. She used it every day of her life." You ran your hand along the edge of the seat, over the chip in the corner. "My father was tall too. Mum used it in their kitchen. And then —" You shrugged, light and easy, in the way you shrugged things that weren't actually light and easy. "It came to me."
The kitchen was very quiet.
Dunk looked at the stool.
The stool was solid and ancient and built with great care by a man who had loved a small woman and had wanted, practically and permanently, to close the distance between them.
It had sat in kitchens for decades, passed from short woman to short woman in a family of tall men, worn smooth in the places where hands and feet had found it every day without thinking.
And now it was in his kitchen.
In their kitchen.
Dunk only wished to one day be that man for you.
He looked at you, who was doing something at the counter with your back to him, and at the top of your head which reached his chest, and at the stool sitting between them on the floor, chipped at the corner, solid as a promise.
He looked away before you turned around.
"It's a good stool." He said, to no one in particular.
"It's the best stool." You corrected, and he could hear the smile in it without seeing it. You glanced at him over your shoulder.
"It's perfect. Thank you Dunkie." Your smile widening as you looked at them, acknowledging Egg's presence.
The tension in his shoulders finally began to drain, replaced by a warm, dangerous glow. "Okay. I'll order us some food. I'm actually starving."
"I'll do it—" Dunk started, already reaching for his pocket.
"Sit down." You said, already pulling out your phone.
You dropped onto the arm of the couch and scrolled without looking up. "You carried everything. The least I can do is order dinner."
"I don't mind—"
"Duncan." You looked up from your cellphone then, eyes narrowing in a playful, 'don't-test-me' look that made his knees feel like jelly.
He sat down. He sat down so fast it was bordering on clinical. Your thigh brushing Dunk's shoulder, pressed comfortably against him.
Neither moved, just basked in each other warmth.
Egg, from across the room, pressed his lips together so hard they turned white.
"What do you want?" You asked, eyes back on the screen. "And don't say 'whatever’s fine.' I know what 'whatever’s fine' means, and I'm not getting you a plain cheese pizza on your own moving day."
"It's your moving day." Dunk corrected weakly.
Dunk opened his mouth. Closed it.
There was something about being asked—being asked directly, being told his answer mattered, by you, in that easy and non-negotiable way—that made him feel like he’d forgotten how to form words correctly.
You made him feel seen, like what he wanted actually mattered.
"The noodles from that place down street" he said finally. "The ones with the peanut sauce. And the... the spicy cucumbers?"
You pointed at him without looking up. "Good. Yes. Correct answer. Getting that." You were tapping the order in, brow slightly furrowed. "Egg, you're getting the kid's meal?"
"Why—"
"Egg."
"...With the toy, please." Egg muttered, defeated.
Dunk looked down at his hands. He was smiling, a wide, goofy thing he couldn't suppress, and he knew he looked ridiculous.
Egg watched the smile happen in real time. He watched you, still focused on the app, reach out in Dunk’s general direction and pat his knee twice, a quick, absent-minded little gesture, the way you’d reassure your doggie without interrupting your phone call.
Dunk, however, looked like he had just been knighted. He went perfectly still, staring at the spot on his jeans where your palm had landed with a dumb smile playing on his lips.
Egg looked at two people who were absolutely, comprehensively, catastrophically in love with each other and had apparently decided, through some unspoken and mutually tragic agreement, to be as weird about it as humanly possible.
"Got it." You said, tucking your phone away. You looked up, eyes landing on Dunk.
Something in your expression went briefly, quietly fond, just for a second, a soft flicker, before you smoothed it back into something normal. "Forty minutes."
"Thanks."
"Don't thank me. You spent your entire sunday helping me moving."
"I'll carry you every time if this is what I get." Dunk said.
It was supposed to be a joke, but it came out a little too sincere, his voice dropping into that low, rumbling register that seemed to come from somewhere around floor level and resonate upward through the whole room.
You flushed, suddenly becoming shy. You grabbed the nearest plushie - a capybara plushie - and chucked it directly at his face lighthearted.
He caught it without moving. One hand.
The plushie disappeared into his grip like it had always lived there, the fabric still smelling faintly of your laundry detergent.
He was laughing, a low, warm sound that seemed disproportionately large for the room, and you were already turning away, heading toward the hallway to keep unpacking.
Egg turned back to Dunk.
Dunk was sitting on the couch with the plushie sat in his lap and an expression on his face that had no business being there, open and warm and slightly dazed, the expression of a nearly-seven-foot man who had just been undone by a something-foot woman throwing soft furnishings at him.
He was looking at the empty hallway. His thumb was moving, absently, over the fabric of the capybara. The plushie that smelled like your laundry detergent.
Egg stared at him for a long moment.
He was small, and bald, and the top of his head came up to Dunk's lower belly on a good day, which should have made the next thing he did feel less impactful.
He leaned in anyway. Got as close as the height differential allowed, and spoke upward with great intention, finger pointed menancingly against his abdomen.
"If you don't marry her." Egg whispered, "I am going to slap both your ears, ser. At the same time. Like a pair of cymbals."
Dunk looked down at him. The distance between their eye levels was significant. It did not seem to bother Egg.
"Shut up, Egg."
"Make me, "Dunkie".'" Egg teased, mimicking your voice and making kissing noises, grinning up at the man, whose face was turning into a tomato.
They ate on the floor. You talked about the new job, the office, everything that was happening in your life, and Dunk was hung on your every word.
The way you gesticulate your hands when were excited about something. The way you got this particular glint in your eyes when you were talking about something you actually cared about.
He'd been watching those hands for twenty-three years. He was going to watch them for twenty-three more and probably never do anything about it.
What he didn't notice, what he never seemed to notice, was that somewhere between the second and third container of noodles, his new roommate had quietly swapped their portions.
You'd done it smoothly, like a cat with the practiced ease of someone who'd been doing small things like this for years without ever being caught.
You'd reached across to grab a napkin, and in the same motion pushed your fuller container toward him and pulled his nearly-empty one back.
Egg saw it.
Egg's eyes moved from the containers to you to Dunk, and something in his expression shifted, just briefly, something almost soft, before the usual glint of amusement reasserted itself.
You didn't even look up, just kept talking something about the new office, voice bright and cheerful while you dipped your dumpling on soy sauce.
Dunk's expression was filled with proud and excitment, hanging on every word you said like it was the most interesting thing he ever because.
Because it was to him.
Under the guise of reaching for the takeout bag, Egg leaned close to Dunk's ear.
"You're staring." He murmured, pleasant as anything.
"I'm listening." Dunk murmured back.
"At her mouth."
"At her face, I'm making eye contact, that's called being a normal person —"
"Mhm."
"Egg, I will end you —"
"What are we whispering about?" You asked, silently approaching them from behind, quiet like an entity.
The voice didn't come from the couch. It came from approximately two inches behind Dunk’s left ear.
Both of them jumped, physically, visibly jolted, as if they’d been hit with a cattle prod.
You were suddenly there, standing over them like a silent, beautiful entity that had materialized out of the shadows and the scent of expensive shampoo.
You hadn't made a sound, no floorboard had creaked, no fabric had rustled. You just materialised there.
"Nothing!" They barked in unison, their voices cracking in a way that was deeply embarrassing for two grown men (or one grown man and a very confident ten-year-old).
You didn't move, just stood there, looking down at them with your arms crossed, head tilted.
The flickering light from the TV casts long, sharp shadows across your face, making you look less like a cute roommate and more like a judge.
You narrowed your eyes between them suspiciously. Then you seemed to decide to brush it off, and reached over and stole the last spring roll directly off Dunk's plate.
Then, as Egg watched with sudden great interest, you picked the spring roll up, bit off half of it, and held the other half towards Dunk, hand stretched below it so no crumbs would fall on the floor.
"Here." You said, full attention now on the giant man. "Open up, Dunkie."
Dunk obeyed it without protest, opening his mouth so you could feed him the spring roll.
Egg looked at the ceiling with the expression of a boy trying very hard not to vibrate out of his skin with delight.
She knows how he eats, he thought. She knows how he eats and she swapped the noodles and she's not even looking at him and she's still taking care of him —
"Egg." Dunk said, without any particular inflection.
"Still not saying anything."
"Good."
"Absolutely nothing. Silent as the grave. A closed book. A —"
"Egg. I will literally bubble-wrap you to the radiator."
You looked between them again, a small, curious pull at the corner of your mouth, you found their mutual panic adorable. You didn't press them. Instead, you leaned over, shyly entering Dunk's personal space, basking in his warmth.
Egg was going to be thinking about this for the rest of his natural life.
"Better?" You asked, voice dropping into that low, soft register that always made Dunk feel like he’d forgotten how to blink.
"Yeah." Dunk managed to speak, staring intensely at a stray piece of bean sprout. "Better. Thanks."
"Don't thank me." You hummed, settling back into your mountain of pillows and picking up your own soda. "Just don't starve to death on our first night. It’s bad luck for the lease."
Eventually, well past the point when any reasonable guest would have left —
"Egg."
"Yeah?"
"It's late."
Egg checked the time on Dunk's phone. "It's 10:42."
"On a Wednesday."
"I don't have school tomorrow." Egg said serenely. "Something about a "Teacher development day"."
"That's —" Dunk stopped. "How do you even know what that means?"
"I know many things."
You, from the couch, watched with amusement swimming in your eyes, holding a suppressed laugh.
"Egg." Dunk said. "Your father is going to wonder where you are."
"I texted Daeron." He produced Dunk's phone again as evidence. "He said it's okay."
"O-Of course he did." Dunk pinched the bridge of his nose, half annoyed, half desperately wanting some alone time with his new roommate. "Egg. Buddy. It's time to go home."
Egg looked at you with bright, shiny violet eyes, like a puppy begging for its owner. Help me please.
You, who had been watching this entire exchange with soft, delighted eyes, seemed to make a decision.
You got up from the couch, collected Egg's jacket from where it had migrated under a throw pillow, and held it out for him to put his arms into, the way you'd help a small kid with a coat.
Egg let you do it with a small humpf.
You zipped it up. Straightened the collar. Then, without any fuss, you pressed a brief kiss to the top of his bald head in a motherly gesture that made Egg melt inside, not that he would ever confess it.
Egg froze.
"Come back soon. Oh, and be safe! Text us when you reach your apartment." You said sweetly, squeezing his plump cheeks gently. "I will bake you some cookies next time."
Egg turned and looked at Dunk with an expression of complete and total overwhelm.
Dunk looked back at him with an expression that said I know. I know. I've known for years. It doesn't get easier.
Egg pulled himself together with visible effort. "Okay." He said, voice suddenly soft and breathless.
Then, at the door, with one hand on the frame, he turned back to Dunk and said — completely seriously, at full volume, with you three feet away.
"You should really just tell her."
He was gone before Dunk could respond.
The door clicked shut.
You were quiet for a moment. You just pretend you didn't hear anything, must've been the wind.
You looked at him for a second, something unreadable and warm moving behind your eyes, and then let it go, turning back to the couch, pulling the warm blanket back over your frame.
"Come sit down." You said, patting the empty place besides you. "It's cold outside."
He sat down.
Your shoulder found his arm, warm and certain, like it belonged there. You lowered your head to his shoulders, snuggling up on Dunk.
I'm in so much trouble, Dunk thought.
The homework session was quieter than usual.
You sat across from Egg with a half can of sprite zero, and helped - more so tried - him work through a reading comprehension worksheet.
But the young boy noticed you were moving carefully, uncomfortably, twitching every 10 seconds like your chair was infested with ants, and twice you pressed your knuckles against your lower belly, thinking no one saw.
But Egg's bright violet eyes documented everything, your every movement.
Egg looked at Dunk and made a very small motion with his head towards you that clearly meant do something you stupid oaf.
Dunk made a face back that meant I don't know what to do.
Egg's return face was deeply unimpressed, a solid poker face, jutting his chin to Dunk's medicine cabinet.
Dunk scrambled to it, almost falling on his knees in the process.
He stood cluelessly in front of it for a moment, taking stock. What was he supposed to do?
You looked uncomfortable, were you sick? It definitely didn't look like the common cold, maybe you pulled a muscle at the gym? No, it couldn't be.
Dunk scrambled through the drawer, finding some old cold medicine, a truly impressive collection of plasters in three different sizes, a half empty box of paracetamol and some bandages ... Wait a minute.
He remembered hearing something about Raymun getting his fiancee some paracetamol during her period during one of their yap sessions a month ago.
He came back rushing to the kitchen with the box of paracetamol with only 4 pills on his hand.
"Do you need anything?" He asked you, unsure how to approach the situation, shifting his massive weight into his feet, suddenly regretting the approach. "Another soda, candy, maybe .... some paracetamol?"
You looked up from Egg's worksheet, exhaustion dripping from your face, your eyes were droopy like she was fighting with your lids to keep them open. "That would actually be great, yeah."
"Okay." He got the paracetamol. He got you a half cold half normal glass of water. He set both in front of you and then stood there, hovering, because Egg was still making the do more face at him. "Do you want — is there something specific that helps? Like, I could —" He stopped. "I don't actually know what helps."
"Heat helps." You said, taking the paracetamol, chewing the pill with the water, wincing at the taste. It was a stupid little habit you had since you were a child, since you couldn't swallow any pills.
"Heat." Dunk repeated. "Okay. I can do heat." He looked around the kitchen, remembering the heating pad he had tucked somewhere in the cabinet for when he pulled a muscle.
He went and got it and put it in the microwave and stood watching it rotate with focused intensity. Dunk was ready to punch to death this period thingy that was making his favorite girl suffer.
From the table, Egg said, very quietly, to you: "He's been staring at the microwave for like a minute. "
"I know." You answered, quite touched with Dunk's attitude.
Egg watched you watching the giant man. He chewed the end of his pencil. "My dad doesn't really know what to do either." He said, after a moment. "When something's wrong. He just kind of —" He made a vague gesture, "— stands near you. Does practical things. Doesn't say much."
You looked at him, eyes softening.
"Uncle Baelor's better at the talking part." Egg continued, not exactly knowing why he was talking about it, but he felt great saying it out loud. "But Dad shows up. Like, he always shows up." He paused. "He made me soup once when I was sick. Didn't say anything. Just put it on the table." Another pause. "It was pretty bad soup actually."
"But he made it."
"Yeah." Egg looked at the microwave, where Dunk was still standing vigil. "He made it."
They were both quiet for a second.
"Is it weird that I told you that?" Egg asked.
"No." You answered, reaching your hand to pet his. "I'm glad you did."
Egg seemed to assess this, decide it was true, and return to his worksheet.
But something in his shoulders had loosened slightly, in the way that kids' shoulders do when they've put something down they've been carrying without realising.
The microwave beeped.
Dunk came back with the heating pad, held it out, and you took it and pressed it to your pained side and exhaled and said "Thank you, Duncan." Quietly, Dunk sat down and said "Yeah" even more quietly, and Egg observed all of this with the eyes of a ten year old who had learned early to pay attention to what people did rather than what they said.
He always shows up, Egg had said about his father.
He looked at Dunk, who had stood in front of a microwave for ninety seconds on her behalf.
Dunk cooked some soup, something nutritious and rich to warm your belly. You were just finishing Egg's tutoring when he set a full steaming hot plate in front of you, filled with veggies and chicken, with some bread and a glass of water.
"You better eat it all up, my lady." He joked, trying to bring one of the bright smiles you usually gave him Later, when the homework was done and dinner had been eaten, you walked Egg to the door, a slight gait on your step.
"Do you feel better?" The kid, worried eyes searching through your figure.
"A little." You answered. "The soup helped."
Egg nodded seriously.
You kissed the top of his bald head. He allowed it with great dignity.
"Tell Dunk he did great." Egg said, at the door.
"I'll tell him."
"Not great. Okay. The soup was good but he hovered a lot."
"He's a hoverer."
"He should work on that."
"I'll make sure to pass it along."
Egg nodded, satisfied, and left.
You stood in the doorway for a moment, smiling at the empty hall, at the small retreating figure of a kid with no mother and a stern father who made bad soup and showed up anyway, who had decided, apparently, that this apartment was somewhere worth showing up to.
You understood it rather well.
You went back inside, to the couch and the heating pad, now cold, and Dunk, who was doing the dishes without being asked, sleeves pushed up, not making a thing of it.
Okay was a significant understatement.
You did steal his blanket, though.
***
It started because he couldn't sleep.
This was not, in itself, unusual.
Dunk had always been a light sleeper, but right now, he'd become acutely aware that there was someone, someone he deeply loved cared about on the other side of his wall who might need something and he'd have no way of knowing.
He lay on his back in the dark and stared at the ceiling and did not think about you, about the gait on your step, about you clutching your lower belly, at your pained expression, how you almost begged him to carry you to your bed.
He would've said yes in an instant.
You'd gone to bed at 09:15. You never went to bed at 09:15.
At 11:40, he got up.
He stood in the hallway outside your door for a moment, listening. Quiet.
He stood there for longer than was strictly necessary, in the manner of a man who was absolutely not hovering outside his flatmate's bedroom door at almost midnight.
Dunk got his jacket and his keys and went out.
The 24-Hour pharmacy on the corner was aggressively lit and almost empty. A bored attendant looked up when Dunk came in and then looked back down at her phone.
Dunk stood in front of the pain relief aisle and stared at it like it had personally wronged him.
There were so many options.
There were options for different kinds of pain, different durations, different formats, tablets and capsules and something that dissolved in water and something else he read twice and still didn't fully understand.
He put four different boxes in his basket.
He put a fifth one in. Extra strength. That had to be good. That was the whole point of extra strength.
He moved to the next aisle. Heat patches, placing two in the basket.
A heating pad with a proper cover, better than the one he had. Something called a comfort compress that claimed to be both hot and cold depending on requirements, he didn't entirely understand the mechanism but the box looked authoritative so he trusted it.
He stood back and looked at his basket.
It looked deranged.
He went to the pad aisle, and a shudder shot through his solid body.
Dunk felt overwhelmed with the amount of pads distributed on the shelfs, different sizes, different colours, some for the day, some for the night, some with wings. They could fucking fly?!
What size was he even supposed to get? How could he even know what size was her pussy????
Shaking those thoughts aggressively out of his head, he grabbed one of each size, hoping it was enough.
He went to the chocolate aisle and felt, for the first time since entering the building, on solid ground.
He knew you and chocolate. He'd known it since they were nine years old sharing a Halloween haul on your front step, you'd always traded away the hard candies, and kept every chocolate.
You'd say dark chocolate, because you were an adult. You'd eat the caramel biscuit one in four minutes flat and feel nothing but peace.
He got the dark chocolate, slipping a few caramel biscuit ones onto the basket.
And he got two pints of Ben and Jerrys ice cream, you'd gone through a full pint during exam season at university, stress-eating them at two in the morning over textbooks.
He stood at the register with an overflowing basket.
The attendant scanned everything without comment for a moment. Then: "Big night?"
"My flatmate isn't feeling well." Dunk said.
She looked at the basket. She looked at him. The corner of her mouth did something brief and knowing. "She's very lucky." She said.
Dunk looked at the counter. "Yeah, well." Ge said, to no one in particular.
The apartment was quiet as expected when he got back. He set the bag on the kitchen table and stood there for a moment, just breathing.
Then he started sorting.
The chocolate went in a bowl, organised, he arranged them with more care than he would ever admit to, the caramel ones accessible at the front because you'd definetly want those. The new heating pad went next to the old one in the cabinet.
The heat patches beside them. The five boxes of pain medication he lined up on the counter and then stepped back and looked at them and thought, for the first time, about how he was going to explain this in the morning.
"Dunk."
He spun around so fast he knocked one of the boxes off the counter.
You were standing in the kitchen doorway in your soft pyjamas, hair loose, one shoulder leaning against the frame, squinting against the light.
You looked tired and warm and slightly confused, his brain did the thing it sometimes did where it just stopped cooperating.
Looking very cute rubbing sleep off your eyes, a soft yawn escaping your lips.
"Sorry." He said, and bent to pick up the box he'd knocked over, and misjudged the distance of the counter and knocked over a second one. He picked up both. Put them back. One fell again. "I was trying not to wake you."
You looked at the counter, then at the bowl, sleepy eyes finding the caramel biscuit bars sitting at the front, the dark chocolates forgotten at the back.
"Dunkie." You said, voice above a whisper.
"I couldn't sleep." He said, talking slightly faster than intended. "And I thought you might — I didn't know which one was right so I got a few options, the woman at the register probably thought I'd lost my mind, which is — I mean, there are a lot of different kinds, did you know that, there's a whole — anyway. The third one might be the right one. Or the fifth. I wasn't sure."
You were not looking at the boxes.
You were looking at him, with a starstruck expression. No one has ever done this for you.
"You got the whole store." You said.
"You like this ice cream."
"I haven't had those since —"
"There's also the caramel biscuit one." He said, because apparently he was going to keep talking, "because you say you like dark chocolate but —"
"I like dark chocolate."
"You like saying you like dark chocolate."
"That is the same —"
"It really isn't."
You opened your mouth. Looked at the bowl. Closed it. "I'm taking the caramel one."
"I know."
You crossed the kitchen in your socked feet, picking up the caramel biscuit bar and leaning your head against his shoulder, just briefly, just the soft weight of it, your hair against his chest, and said, into the fabric of his shirt, very quietly: "Thank you, Dunk."
He stopped breathing for a moment.
"Yeah, no problem." He said, to the wall directly ahead of him, his chest blooming with warmth. "Go back to sleep."
You waddled off down the hallway.
Dunk stood in the kitchen and listened to your door close, soft and careful, and then stood there for another moment in the quiet.
His shoulder was very warm.
He turned off the light. Went back to bed.
Slept, finally, like something had been resolved.
***
He was up before you.
This was intentional.
He'd woken at 7 o'clock, got up quietly, and stood in the kitchen evaluating the contents of the fridge. Eggs, bacon, flour, milk, enough for a full breakfast.
You needed to eat. That was the thing.
He'd read, somewhere in his midnight spiral of internet research, he read that iron was important, that warm things helped, that you were supposed to eat well.
He didn't know exactly what eat well meant in this context so he was going to interpret it broadly and generously and you could argue with him afterwards.
He made eggs. Scrambled, the way you liked them. He made toast. He made a second round of toast because the first round seemed insufficient. He cut up the fruit that had been sitting in the fridge since Tuesday. He made tea.
Dunk stood looking at everything and thought it still seemed like not enough, so he got out the good jam, the expensive one you'd bought at the farmer's market and rationed like it was finite, which it was, but that seemed beside the point right now.
He put the good jam out.
The oaf was rearranging the fruit bowl for the third time when you appeared in the kitchen doorway.
You looked better than last night. Still soft, still slow with sleep, the heating tucked under one arm. You looked at the table.
You looked at the eggs and the toast and the fruit and the tea and the good jam, presented like he was feeding someone important, which he was, which he would never say.
"Dunk." You said.
"Sit down." He answered.
"This is —"
You reluctantly sat down, and he put the eggs in front of you and the toast and poured you tea without asking how you wanted it because he knew, and then stood at the counter with his own significantly smaller plate.
You looked at your own plate, then looked at his plate.
"You gave me twice as much as you gave yourself."
"I gave us the same amount."
"Dunk, I can see both plates."
"Eat your eggs."
You obeyed right away, spreading the good jam on your toast and he felt an unreasonable amount of satisfaction about that.
Dunk was watching you with attentive eyes, like a hawk, making sure you were eating well.
"How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Better." You answered. "The heating pad helped. And the —" You paused. "— the fifth box was right, I think."
"Good."
"You didn't have to go out last night."
"I know."
"It was almost midnight."
"I know. I wanted to."
You looked at him with the expression again and he looked at his plate and moved his eggs around.
"The chocolate was really good, thank you." You said, quietly.
He said nothing.
You opened the fridge on a saturday morning, stood on the last step of the stool to see the back shelf and stared at its contents for a long, silent moment.
Two eggs. A block of cheese of uncertain age. Something in a container that had been there long enough to develop a personality. Half a lemon. A lonely, optimistic stick of butter.
"Dunk." You called out, voice echoing in the tile.
From the living room, where he was doing something with his laptop: "Yeah?"
"What do you eat?"
A pause. "What?"
"For food. What do you eat. When you're here. Alone." You opened the fridge a third time and gestured at it, despite the fact that he couldn't see you.
Another pause. Longer this time.
The silence from the living room was longer this time. Dunk shifted, the couch groaning under his weight.
"I eat .... things." He said quietly, like a child being reprimandend by his mother.
"Name one thing that is currently in this fridge."
Silence.
"There's ... butter." He answered after a lot of thinking, a note of triumph in his voice.
"Half a stick of butter, Dunk."
"That's still butter."
You closed the fridge and appeared in the living room doorway, which meant looking up, because Dunk was on the couch and Dunk on the couch was still at approximately your eye level standing, which was one of the more objectively unreasonable things about him.
You pointed accusatory at him. "Get your shoes."
He looked up from his laptop. "What?"
"Shoes. Jacket. We're going to the supermarket."
"I don't need —"
"There is a container in your fridge that I think has gained consciene, Duncan. Get your shoes."
Dunk stared at you. He looked at the finger pointing at him, then at your face, the way your hair was a messy, halo and the way you were wearing his cardigan.
The piece of clothing exposing one of your naked shoulders, the cardigan was so long and thick that it engulfed your full frame, and made sweater paws at your hands.
He realized, with that familiar, dizzying drop in his stomach, that he would follow you into a burning building if you pointed at it.
It felt ... domestic. Seeing you pointed fake-angrily at him, wearing his cardigan that smelled just like him, hair a mess, he didn't even knew if you were wearing something underneath it.
What if you weren't??? Dunk imagined the soft peaks of your naked breasts touching the soft fabric, your cute slick and fluttering mound exposed to the cold air.
He physically shook those thoughts away before he got hard, earning a strange look from you.
"Fine." He grumbled, though his mouth was already twitching into a traitorous smile. He closed his laptop and stood up, towering over you. "But I’m picking the cereal."
As he reached for his sneakers, Dunk caught a glimpse of himself in the hallway mirror.
"I'm in so much trouble." He whispered to his own reflection.
"I heard that!" You called from the front door. "And yes, you are! Grab the reusable bags!"
***
The supermarket was a 15 minute walk, which in practice meant 15 minutes of you walking at your natural pace and Dunk taking approximately one step for every two of yours and still having to actively not outpace you.
You were somewhere on the second block, mid-conversation, when the pavement narrowed.
It happened because of a scaffolding, one of those half-assembled metal skeletons that appeared overnight on city streets and stayed for months, claiming half the pavement.
Dunk registered it a few steps before they reached it and shifted automatically to the outside, putting himself between you and the road the way he always did without thinking about it, which brought you closer together on the remaining strip of pavement.
Your arms brushed.
This was normal. This had happened before.
You were mid-sentence, something about Egg's rant about school, and you reached out, still talking, and your fingers found his hand.
Your small hand sliding against his much larger one, fingers brushing his knuckles, and then settling, pinky intertwining with his.
You kept talking. He stopped hearing words.
Your hand was warm. It was very soft in his, his fingers were nearly the length of your entire hand, one of his digits was the size of almost two of yours.
He did not move. The air did not reach his lungs right, Dunk felt as he could implode at any given moment.
"You're doing the shepherd thing." You commented, shooting him a amused look.
"I don't know what that means."
"You always drift to the outside when the pavement gets narrow. It's like you're herding me away from traffic."
"I'm just walking."
"You angled yourself."
"The scaffolding —"
"You do it when there's no scaffolding too." You poked, the man besides you starting to turn into a cherry. "You do it on completely normal pavements with acres of room. You've been doing it since we were fifteen."
He had absolutely been doing it since they were fifteen.
"I have long legs." Dunk tried to defend himself. "I go where there's space."
"You're a terrible liar, Dunkie."
"I'm an excellent liar."
"Name one time."
He opened his mouth. Then closed it.
You smiled and kept walking beside him, the scaffolding ended and the pavement widened and he stayed on the outside anyway, because he always did, because some habits were so old they'd become something else entirely.
He looked straight ahead at the middle distance and matched your pace and listened to the sound of your voice saying words that he would later be completely unable to recall. Okay. Alright. Fine. This is happening.
You were still talking.
He carefully, slowly, turned his hand over so his fingers could close around yours, gently, the way you'd hold something you were worried about crushing, and you didn't pause, didn't acknowledge it, just adjusted your grip slightly, and kept going about Egg and philosophy.
You looked at your joined hands.
They started walking again. You did not let go of his hand. He did not let go of yours.
***
The supermarket was warm and bright and smelled like bread.
You kept the list that you make on the back of an envelope earlier that morning. Dunk took your place as the cart carrier.
"Okay." You chimed in. "Let's go get the produce first."
This was, he was discovering, a very specific kind of pleasant, walking behind you through the automatic doors, watching you navigate the entrance, your small figure cutting a purposeful path through the massive aisles while he lumbered in yourwake, ducking a hanging promotional sign that you'd walked under without noticing because it had been installed for people of a normal height.
He was not. Having almost been hit by one of those.
The produce section was loud and colourful and full of people making decisions at varying speeds. You went straight to the tomatoes.
You picked one up. Turned it over. Put it back. Picked up another.
"What do you think?" You said, holding it up toward him. "I wanted to cook some lasagne for tonight. Need some tomatoes for the sauce."
The tomato was at her eye level, which meant he was looking slightly down at it. "It's an okay tomato." Dunk answered, awkwardly scratching his head.
He never were good at grocery shopping. Being used to grab anything in front of him, or just order whatever food looked the most appealing.
You gave him a pointed look. "It's a disappointing tomato. These ones — " You moved sideways along the display, grabbing a much fresher looking tomatoe "— these ones are better."
"They're the same tomatoes."
"They are absolutely not the same tomatoes, Duncan." You held one up in each hand like a scale. "Look at the colour. Look at the firmness. This one —" You pressed the left one gently with your thumb, "— has given up. This one —" the right one, "— has not."
Dunk looked at the tomatoes. He looked at your face, which was entirely serious.
The basket filled slowly and companionably with the things on the envelope and a few additions that weren't on the list.
"Can you reach the good olive oil, please? Top shelf, the tall one at the back."
He reached it in one motion, his arm extending over your head, the bottle materialising from the back of the shelf before you'd finished the sentence.
You were looking up at him with one hand shielding your eyes, as though observing something at considerable altitude. He handed it down.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
You were in the cereal aisle, engaged in a serious and unresolved debate about wether to buy Weetabix or Frosties, when Dunk became aware of being watched, a shiver runned down his spine.
He looked up.
At the end of the aisle: Aerion, his violet eyes watching him with a predatory gaze. Wearing a red jacket that made him look like one of your tomatoes.
And beside him, slightly taller, but looking too drunk for a saturday morning Daeron. Both of them. In the cereal aisle.
"Dunk." Daeron said, already moving towards them, the smile that arrived fast and stayed easy on his face. "Is this who i think it is?"
You looked up from the cereal boxes, curious by the two light-haired man.
Gaze meeting Daeron's, your eyes warm, the way you looked at most people, and then finding Aerion, who was smirking like he just came out of a Joker's comic book, like you were part of a secret you weren't aware of.
"Hi." You greeted them, confused by the sudden thick atmosphere.
"Hi." Daeron greeted as well, and the smile widened, like he just saw something out of his dreams. He looked at Dunk. "You didn't tell me you —"
"This is my flatmate." Dunk said, putting a protective hand on your shoulder, angling his body slightly so he could shield your body from their view.
"His little flatmate." Daeron repeated, in the tone of someone writing something down internally.
"She dragged me out." Dunk said.
Daeron looked at his brother. Something compressed between them, the sibling frequency, fast and wordless. Then his eyes found your frame again, tilting his head slightly to meet your gaze. "You're the one Egg talks about."
You blinked. "Does he?"
"Constantly." Daeron said. "You help him with his homework. You made him the pasta. You gave him a key." He paused, and his voice shifted into something warmer. "He told our dad that you kiss him on the head when he leaves. Our dad didn't say anything. But he looked —" he searched for it. "Relieved."
The aisle went quiet for a moment.
You feel the tip of your ears become warm, cheeks slightly flushed. "He's a good kid."
"He is." Daeron agreed.
Then, you eyes caught something over Daeron's shoulder — a display at the end of the aisle, some kind of promotional thing .
"Sorry —" You excused yourself, already moving past them, . "Is that the good biscuit? The one with the dark chocolate —"
You were gone around the corner before anyone responded, your figure disappearing with such speed of someone that Dunk didn't knew if you really wanted that biscuit, or if you were just trying to escape the Targaryen cousins.
Aerion looked at the space you'd left. Then he looked at Daeron.
Daeron looked at Dunk. Dunk looked at both of them. Almost like the spider-man meme.
"Don't." He warned.
"I had a dream about you." Daeron said.
Dunk stared at him. "What."
"Last week." Daeron said it, like he was tasting the dream. "I had a dream about you." He paused. "Both of you."
"That's —"
"And then I woke up." Daeron continued, "and I thought, hm, that's interesting. And then I thought, I should probably tell him about that. And then I just forgot." He looked at Dunk."And her."
The cereal aisle was very quiet. "It was a dream." Dunk said, at last.
Aerion, who had been leaning against the shelf throughout this exchange with his arms crossed, watching Dunk's face do several things in quick succession, said nothing.
"It doesn't mean —" Dunk started.
Dunk's ears were red. "She's my flatmate." He protested, not fully believing his words.
"In the dream too." Daeron said. "At first." He smiled, slow and warm and deeply, serenely unbothered. "Just so you know."
From around the corner, your voice: "Dunk — do you want the dark chocolate ones or the ones with the caramel? There are two kinds —"
Dunk turned toward your voice before you'd finished the question.
He caught himself. He looked back at Daeron.
Daeron's expression said, very gently: you see what I mean.
"I'm going to —" Dunk started.
"Go on." Daeron said. and the giant man excused himself to reach you.
***
There were six of them.
You reached for three.
"I've got them." Dunk said.
"You've got three, I'll take three —"
"I've got all of them."
"That's not —" You pulled two bags toward yourself with both hands and held them with the stubborn grip. "I'm carrying these."
"Don't give me that look, I'm perfectly capable of carrying two bags of groceries —"
"They're heavy —"
"I carried things before you existed, Duncan, I am fine —"
"The olive oil is in that one." He said, nodding at your left hand. "And the tins."
"I know what I put in it."
"It's probably four kilograms —"
"I have been carrying four kilograms before you were born —"
"You're five feet tall —"
You turned and looked up at him with an expression so flat and so specific that he halted talking immediately, zipping his big mouth in seconds.
"Finish that sentence." You warned. "I fucking dare you."
He did not finish that sentence.
You held his gaze for another second, satisfied that the point had landed, and then turned and started walking with your own two bags, your small figure listing very slightly to the left under the weight of the olive oil and the tins in a way that you were absolutely not going to acknowledge.
He carried the other four bags and walked beside you and said nothing.
He lasted half a block.
"If I take the tin one —"
"I'm fine."
"Just that one —"
"Dunk."
"It's the heaviest —"
"I know it's the heaviest, I packed it, I am carrying it by choice, please stop looking at my arm like that —"
"Like what —"
"Like it's about to fall off —"
"I'm not —"
They heard it just before the corner.
A small sound. Faint, underneath the noise of the street.
You stopped walking first.
"Did you —"
"Yeah." Dunk said.
You both stood still, listening.
It came again. From behind the building on their left , the side alley, the narrow strip between the wall and the row of dumpsters that existed in varying states of dignity on every city block. Small. Insistent. Sad in the specific way of something that hadn't yet given up but was getting close.
You were already moving toward the alley.
"Hey—"
"Something's back there."
"It could be —"
"It could be something that needs help."
And you turned the corner and he followed you because of course he followed you, down the narrow strip between the wall and the dumpsters with their bags banging against their legs.
You found it first.
A box, cardboard, slightly damp from the cold. The top folded shut in the haphazard way of something closed in a hurry.
And from inside it, that sound, closer now, less faint, more urgent, the sound of something small that had been alone for a while and had not stopped hoping someone would come.
You set your bags down without a word, crouching in front of the box.
Dunk mirroed your movements, neck straining down to look at the box's contents.
Inside sat a dirty puppy.
Small, even by puppy standards. Round and dense and built low to the ground, with the short, impractical legs and the enormous, oversized ears of a corgi, still in the fluffy, slightly chaotic stage before the adult coat came in.
It looked up at you with dark, wet eyes and made the sound again — that thin, reedy cry and then, apparently having located humans at last, tried to stand up and failed because its legs were not fully cooperating.
The puppy looked at you.
It tried again with its legs. Got halfway up. Sat back down. Looked up at you with the patient, exhausted dignity, boba eyes blinking with tears.
You reached into the box with both hands, gentle and certain, and picked it up.
It was very small in your hands. Its ears were too big for its head in a way that was almost engineered to be affecting.
It looked up at your face, then sideways at Dunk's face — a much longer journey upward — and made a smaller, quieter sound, the sound of something that had decided, provisionally, that this was probably okay.
"We're taking it home." You commented, without any hesitation in your bones.
"Yeah." Dunk agreed, not taking his eyes off the shivering puppy.
There was no discussion. There was no weighing of options. There was only the puppy, looking up at them from your hands, and the absolute certainty that the dog was going to have the best life it could possibly have.
You stood, still cradling close to your chest, and looked at it properly in the light. It was ginger-gold, the fur a warm, slightly reddish colour, the kind of colour that was somewhere between copper and autumn.
You turned it gently, assessing. It blinked at you with its oversized eyes.
You looked at Dunk.
At his hair, which was the specific shade of ginger-brown it always was, the colour you had known since they were seven years old, the colour that caught the light on days like this and went warm and reddish at the edges.
You looked at the puppy, then your eyes moved at Dunk's awkward frame.
Something moved across your face, something delighted and private and barely contained, like something funny just crossed your mind for a moment.
"What."
"Nothing."
"You have a face."
"I always have a face, I have one face, it's the only one I —"
You looked at the puppy, then at Dunk's hair. You pressed your lips together very hard.
"Little Dunkie."
He stared at you. "No."
"Look at him." You turned the puppy toward him. "Look at the colour."
"That is not —"
"It's the same colour, Dunk."
"It is not the same —"
"The same warm ginger —"
"My hair is not —" He stopped. He looked at the puppy. The puppy looked at him with its enormous eyes.
He looked at the puppy's fur, which was, objectively, now that he was looking at it directly, a fairly specific shade of ginger-brown that was — he was not going to say it. He was absolutely not going to say it.
"Little Dunkie." You tried again, the puppy turning his head at you, like it almost understanding it's new name.
"You cannot name a dog after me —"
"I'm not naming it after you. I'm naming it after the resemblance." You looked at the puppy, who had settled in her hands with the boneless ease of something that had decided it was safe now, its little legs dangling, its ears flopped at their enormous angle.
"Little Dunkie." You said, to it, softer. "Hi."
The puppy's tail, which had until now been still, moved.
Once. Tentatively. And then again, more certainly, the small wag of something that had found its name.
You looked up at Dunk with an expression of absolute, radiant triumph.
"He knows his name."
Dunk looked at the puppy.
The puppy looked at Dunk.
"Fine?"
"Fine."
"Little Dunkie." He said, to the puppy, very quietly, as though if he said it quietly enough it would count less.
The puppy's tail wagged again.
He was on his second cup of tea of the afternoon, trying to focus on the screen, when he became aware that something was slightly wrong.
A heaviness behind his eyes that hadn't been there this morning, a unusual warmth in his face even with the air conditioning being turned on at its lowest temperature. Dunk felt cold sweat and his body shivered slightly.
He ignored it.
He was very, very good at ignoring things.
By three o'clock the heaviness had become a pressure, and the warmth had become a heat, he had sneezed four times in twenty minutes and was decided to ignore this and continuing to look at his screen with great determination to finish his spreadsheet.
"You've sneezed four times." Raymun pointed, without looking up.
"Just allergies." Dunk said.
"You don't have allergies."
"I might be developing one."
"In November."
"It can happen at any —"
He sneezed again.
Lyonel, returning from the kitchen, stopped in the doorway and looked at him. He did a slow, assessing scan — the redness in Dunk's face, the slight glassiness of his eyes, the careful way he was holding himself, slightly hunched over his notebook.
"For fucks sake Dunk, just admit you are sick." Lyonel said.
"I'm fine."
"You look terrible."
"Thank you, Lyonel —"
"No, I mean that in a — you genuinely look unwell, Dunk. Your face is —" He made a vague circular gesture.
"My face is fine."
"It's quite red."
"I'm warm. That's all"
"You're ill."
"I'm going home at five like a normal —"
"Does sge know you're ill?" Lyonel said.
Dunk looked at his screen.
"Dunk."
"I'm going home at five." Dunk said, in the tone of a conversation that was over. "Everything it's gonna be fine, i just have to finish this. Now, would you gentleman leave me alone for 5 minutes?"
Raymun looked at Lyonel.
Lyonel looked at Raymun.
They said nothing, which was its own kind of silent conversation, and went back to their work, and Dunk went back to his screen, and the afternoon passed with the specific slow quality of time moving through someone who isn't feeling well and is trying very hard not to let on.
He miraculously made it to five.
Dunk made it through the bus, which was crowded and loud and had a delay that added twenty minutes, and he stood in the moving train with his head very carefully not touching anything and his hand loose on the rail and his eyes closed.
He made it up the four flights of stairs, which took longer than usual, exhaustion dripping into every step he took.
Finally, Dunk made it to the door of apartment 4B.
He opened the door and stepped inside, Little Dunkie ran to greet him, his tail stopping mid-wagging when he say the state his owner was in.
And you, who were in the kitchen and turned around when you heard the door, took one look at him and said: "Oh no."
"I'm fine." He protested before you could step towards him.
"You are not fine." You marched towards him, craddling his large shivering hands. "Dunk, you're burning up! How long have you been feeling like this - "
"Since this afternoon, it's just —"
"Since this afternoon —" You stood on your tiptoes and reached your hand really high to press it against Dunk's sweaty forehead, your small palms against his flushed cheeks and forehead. "C'mon, you need to lay down."
"It's mild —"
"It is not mild, you're running a temperature, I can feel it —" You stepped back, shooting him a worried look. "Coat off. Shoes off. Couch."
"I was going to make dinner —"
"You were going to make dinner." You repeated.
"I do the cooking on Tuesdays —"
"Don't be stubborn and go lay on the couch." You ordered. "Right now. Don't argue with me, you're ill."
He opened his mouth.
"Dunkie."
He went and sat on the couch as told, taking off his shoes.
Little Dunkie wearily approached the giant, and installed himself directly on Dunk's feet.
This was either solidarity or warmth-seeking behaviour.
Either way, Dunk looked down at the puppy and felt better.
They could hear the sound of you moving through the kitchen, purposeful, opening and closing things, the muffled squeaking sound of you dragging the stool around the room
He leaned his head back against the couch and listened to it and closed his eyes.
You appeared 5 minutes later. Wearing a mask too big for your face, pale blue, with the strings tied twice at the back to make it fit. Carrying a tray with hot tea, tablets of medicine and a bowl of something that Dunk couldn't really describe the smell at this points due to his runny nose.
He looked at the mask.
"Precautionary." You said, setting the tray on the coffee table.
"You're sitting next to me anyway."
"I'm being responsible."
"The mask only works if you maintain —"
"Take your pills." You said, handing him a glass of water.
He took the medicine, the cold water scratching his sore throat.
You fluffied the throw blanket around him and tucked the warm blanket on Dunk's body.
"You should have texted me." You said, sitting beside him, voice coming out muffled due to the mask.
"I didn't want to worry you."
"I'm worried now." You picked up the tea, herbal tea, with a drizzle of honey and propolis, to help his sore throat, placing the mug carefully on Dunk's hand. "How's your head?"
"Heavy."
"Throat?"
"Scratchy."
"Since when, actually. Don't say this afternoon."
He considered lying. But she would see through him, anyway.
"This morning." He said. "A little."
You closed her eyes briefly. Opened them.
"You went to work with a fever and you packed the lunchbox and you —" You stopped mid-speech. Something moved across your face above the mask, something that was trying to be exasperation and had warmth underneath it. "Did you eat everything? In the lunchbox?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good." You scanned his face for a moment. "The brownie had ginger in it. For immunity."
He stared at you, flabbergasted. "You put ginger in the brownie."
"I guess i just had a feeling." You shrugged, being quiet for a moment, averting your gaze from Dunk ... as if you were suddenly shying from him.
"You had shadows under your eyes on Monday morning." You said, eyes fixated on Little Dunkie laying on Dunk's side. "And you were quieter than usual at dinner. And you kept doing that thing where you roll your shoulders when they ache. I know your tells, Dunkie. I've known them since we were eight."
He looked at you, ears pink, because you'd seen noticed something in his face at dinner that he hadn't even registered in himself.
You cared for him.
He drank his tea, the steaming hitting him full in the face.
It was very good tea. It was exactly the right temperature, slightly bitter but good enough to calm his raging throat.
The apartment was quiet. Little Dunkie had migrated from his feet to his lap at some point, a warm, dense, ridiculous weight. His small head was on Dunk's knee. His enormous ears were flopped sideways.
You spent the whole time on his side, a random show turned on the TV, but you weren't paying any attention to it, only looking at Dunk. At some point, discarding the mask completely.
"He missed you." You commented, almost a whisper, reaching over and scratching being Little Dunkie's ear, the puppy's tail thumped once against Dunk's leg. "He went to your room at one point. I found him sitting outside your door looking confused."
Dunk looked down at the puppy, his eyes mirroing Little Dunkie's who was already looking up at him.
"Hi." Dunk said, to the dog.
Little Dunkie's tail thumped again.
You were watching with fond filling your eyes, warmth blooming your chest seeing their interaction, a small smile playing on your lips.
Dunk looked up from the dog and caught it.
You didn't look away.
"How's the tea?"
"G-Good." He stuttered. "Really good."
He was very aware of how warm his face was — the fever, probably, mostly the fever, though sitting this close to her in the quiet of the evening was not helping his temperature in any direction.
You reached over and put your hand on his forehead.
It was cool and light and completely still.
He closed his eyes before he could help it.
It was such a small thing. Your palm against his forehead, checking his temperature the way you'd check a child's, practical and simple.
And he was a grown man, nearly seven feet of him, a grown man with a lunchbox with bear ears and a corgi named after his hair sitting on his lap, and your hand was small and cool against his burning forehead and he could feel each individual finger and he was so completely, quietly, devastatingly in love with you that the fever almost seemed beside the point.
"Still warm." You tsked softly.
"Mm." He said, which was all he trusted himself to say at that moment.
Little Dunkie made a small sound in his sleep on Dunk's lap.
He ate the soup carefully to not wake the sleeping puppy.
All of it. Every last spoonful, because you'd made it with your heart. You sat beside him the whole time, kneeling on the floor, arms propped on the couch, and you stared at his every action, the blue light from the TV staining your frame.
When the bowl was empty you took it without comment and set it on the tray, and he leaned his head back and closed his eyes and let the warmth of the soup and the herbal tea and the tablets settle into his bones.
The television murmured something low and undemanding. Little Dunkie's weight was comfortable on his chest, claiming the territory to himself. His breathing was slow and even and very warm, tiny body rising up every time Dunk breath.
He watched you, from his periphery, in the way he'd been watching you for years without ever quite allowing himself to do it directly.
The lamp in the corner cast everything warm and gold. The plants in the hallway made quiet shadows. The pink bear container was on the counter where you always left it, ready for tomorrow, because you were already thinking about tomorrow, about his lunch, about what he would need —
He yawned.
A full, complete yawn. It took over his whole face. His eyes watered. He pressed his hand over his mouth approximately two seconds too late.
You looked at him.
He looked back at you, eyes still watering, the yawn still working its way through his system.
"Sorry."
"Don't." You said softly.
You looked at him for a moment longer — that quiet, measuring look — and then you looked at the couch. At the narrow space beside him. At the blanket pooled across his lap. At Little Dunkie's solid, sleeping weight.
Something settled in your expression.
A decision, arrived at gently.
"Scoot."
"What?"
"Over." You nodded at the couch. "Make room."
"There isn't —"
"There is if you move."
"I'm six foot eight, I don't exactly —"
"Dunkie."
He scooted.
It was not elegant. It involved significant negotiation between his size and the couch's dimensions, and Little Dunkie had to be relocated with both hands, and the blanket had to be redistributed, and the margin of space he created was narrow enough that optimistic was the kindest word for it.
You settled into it without hesitation, curling into his spapce at his side, back against his ribs, knees drawn up, head finding the space just below his shoulder.
You were small enough that the couch almost worked, warm enough against his body that Dunk stopped thinking entirely.
Little Dunkie turned twice on the cushion beside them, assessed the new arrangement, and draped himself across both their feet.
The couch was not big enough for the three of them.
It worked anyway.
Dunk stayed very still.
He was aware of everything, your body pressed against him, leaving no space for even a single paper sheet. The way your breathing was already beginning to slow and deepen, the smell of your shampoo, the soft curve of your inner thigh against his beefy one, curling against his one.
Dunk short-circuited.
You reached down and pulled the blanket up over both of you.
Your small hand finding the edge. Tugging it. Smoothing it.
Such a small thing.
Such an ordinary, domestic, completely unremarkable thing.
He could not breathe properly.
Dunk carefully brought his arm around you.
His arm curved around you, hand settling gently at your waist.
You were so small against him. The full length of his arm nearly wrapped around you entirely.
He cradle you like you were made of fine china, terrified of breaking this without knowing what this even was yet.
You exhaled, long and slow and complete, and tucked yourself into his side.
Little Dunkie's weight was solid across their feet, warm and absurd and completely devoted. The apartment was dim and quiet and full of the small sounds of an evening winding down, the radiator, the city outside, your breathing against his ribs.
He was nearly asleep, drifting, eyelids warm and heavy. You moved. Just slightly.
You turned toward him, tipping your face up, and in one quiet, deliberate motion you pressed your lips to his forehead.
Soft. Warm. Unhurried.
You lingered for just a moment.
Just long enough for him to feel it settle into him, warmth spreading outward from the his forehead, the place you kissed, going all the way his feet.
"Goodnight, Dunkie." You whispered against his skin.
Dunk couldn't open his eyes, but he felt the hotness spreading through his nape, radiating to his face.
Adrenaline now pumping through his body, the woman he loved pressed against his side, he felt that if he opened his eyes right now, his face would say everything he had been not saying for months.
So he kept his eyes closed.
And he brought his arm a little tighter around you and felt you settle in response, felt your breathing slow completely, felt the last of the tension leave your small frame as you went still against his chest.
Little Dunkie let out a deep sigh.
I'm in so much trouble, he thought.
Your heartbeat was steady against his ribs.
Your warms lips were still painted on his skin, the area where you kissed fluttering, and Dunk was sure it wasn't the fever.
He finally drifted to sleep.
Dunk had been planning it for four months.
It was, he was aware, not a normal amount of planning. Normal people booked a restaurant a week in advance, maybe two.
They did not spend four months making lists, cross-referencing menu options, texting Lyonel at 11 PM about gifts, or lying awake thinking about whether the playlist was right.
He had done all of these things.
He had done them because it was your first birthday away from home, away from your mother's familiar kitchen and your grandmother's soft voice and the smell of everything you ever knew, and he had decided, quietly and without telling anyone except eventually Lyonel and Raymun and Egg - who had spilled it to Aerion and Daeron - that it was going to be the kind of night you would remember.
"Wear something nice." He'd said, that morning, very casually, while making coffee.
You'd looked up from your book. "Nice like — nice nice, or just not my paint clothes?"
"Nice nice."
You squinted your eyes at him. "Why."
"It's your birthday. We're going out."
"Where?"
"Somewhere nice." He said, in this kind of tone that tell you he wasn't going to saw much about it. "And that's all that i'm going to tell you, little lady."
Youd looked at him for a long moment. Then you'd gone back to your book. "Fine." You settled, in the tone that meant she was going to ask Egg.
You had, in fact, asked Egg.
Egg, who had been briefed extensively and threatened affectionately, had said: "A restaurant. Fancy. That's all I know."
That was a lie. Egg knew everything.
You came out of your room around 7 o'clock, all dolled up in Dunk's favorite colour - not that you did it on purpose - , in your best dress, and the small gold earrings your mother gifted you on your ears.
Dunk was standing in the hallway in his good jacket, Little Dunkie at his feet, and he looked at you coming out of your room and his brain short-circuited.
"Well?" You asked, doing a small twirl. "Nice enough?"
".... Yeah." He finally answered, breathless.
Little Dunkie, who was sitting on Dunk's foot, look up at you with his enormous eyes and gave a small woof agreeing with his dad.
"Egg's sisters are coming at 07:15." You crouch down to scratch Little Dunkie's chin, his paw thumping on the ground. "You're gonna be a good boy, yeah? No biting. No eating Dunk's flip flops again."
Little Dunkie licked your hand.
You stood, smoothing down your dress, moving to pick up your small bag when Dunk beat you to it, placing its cord over his shoulder, face slightly flushed.
"Okay. Where are we going?"
"You'll see."
"Dunk —"
He held the door open, holding his trunk of a arm for you to hold onto to. Big, thick muscles twitching under your hand.
***
Dunk chose a bar/restaurant that you'd mentioned a few times you'd like to go to when you had the chance, a place you passed by every time you had to go to work.
From the outside it looked warm, amber light through the windows, the low sound of music, he saw from afar Egg's bald head as he discreetly tried to peek through the window to see if they were nearby.
When Egg realized you guys were nearby, he ran inside, disappearing completely from the window.
"This is —" You looked at the sign, then looked up at Dunk. "Dunk, this is —"
"I know." He said shrugging his shoulders, trying to be nonchalant, but the pinkiness of his ears told you otherwise.
"I mentioned this place like —"
"Six months ago." Dunk's green orbs met yours, warmth swimming in his eyes as he carefully took your hand. "In the car. We were talking about the neighbourhood."
You stared at him.
"You remember that."
"I remember most things. Now c'mon, it's cold outside."
He led you to the door, opening it for you like a true gentleman.
The place was warm and low-lit, amber and golden. There was low music being played, something familiar, like it came straight from your playlist. Not that Dunk got your favorite songs from your spotify.
You were taking in the room, colorful ballons scattered messily on the ceiling, small table decorations, and a large white banner, handwritten (most likely by Egg and her sisters) that read "Happy Birthday!!" filled with hearts and glitter.
Then you saw the table, small handmade sweets, and the most beautiful birthday cake she had ever seen, decorated with icing and candles indicating her new age.
Your favorite flowers in a low arrangement that didn't block anyone's view, and photographs. Small ones, clipped to a little string of lights along the back wall. Photographs you recognised — you and Dunk at various ages, a few of you and Egg, one you didn't know had been taken of you in the kitchen with Little Dunkie under your arm, laughing at something, entirely unaware of the camera.
And around the table:
Lyonel, who stood up immediately and said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" at full volume.
Raymun, who stood up with the quiet dignity of someone who had been looking forward to this.
Egg, in his good jumper, hands clasped, with the formal bearing of a ten year old who had worked very hard and was proud of it.
Aerion, arms crossed, expression unreadable, standing slightly to the side the way he always did, but there, present.
Daeron, who was already smiling the warm, easy smile, who had probably been smiling since he arrived.
And at the table, on the screen of a propped-up phone: your mother and your grandmother, waving, both of them already bright-eyed.
You stopped walking, your hand came up to your mouth, you felt tears prickling on the corner of your eyes.
"Surprise!!" Egg said with a enthusiastic voice.
"Don't." Lyonel said, immediately, pointing at you, very menancingly. "Don't you dare, because I will also and I have a reputation —"
"I'm not —" You protested, voice muffled behind your hand.
"You are."
"I'm not, I'm just —"
You felt Dunk's huge hand settle on your upper back, giving you a side hug. You looked up at him.
He was standing beside you, big and quiet, his hands in his jacket pockets, his expression doing its best to be normal without pouring his eyes out like a baby.
"You did all of this."
"Lyonel helped."
"I helped." Egg intervened.
The oaf looked fondly at you, finger reaching out to tilt your head up, so you could meet his eyes, you melted inside. "Happy birthday."
You made a sound.
It was not crying. It was the thing just before crying, the thing you do when you're determined not to cry and your body has its own opinions, a single, compressed exhale, quick and controlled, and then you straightened, and blinked, and smiled, and it was the widest, most genuine, most completely undone smile he had ever seen on your face.
"I love you all so much." You cried, to the table, to the room, to all of them.
You crossed the bar and hugged Egg first, and the boy allowed it with great dignity, you even heard some sniffles when his small arms tightened around you.
And then Lyonel, who was already emotional, gave you a bear-hug, taking your feet off the ground.
Raymun, who accepted it with quiet warmth, and Daeron, who hugged back easily, and Aerion, who stood sideway, patting your shoulder once but melting in your arms when you hugged him anyway.
You talked with your mother and your grandmother, they were as happy as you were, smiling and waving.
And then you came back to Dunk.
You looked up at him, chin tipped, eyes still very bright, and he looked down at you, and the bar went on around them, warm and loud and full of your favourite people, and he thought about the months of planning and the photograph in the kitchen and the playlist and the flowers.
You put your arms around him. You had to reach up to do it, and your arms went around his middle, and Dunk brought his around you, careful and complete, his chin resting on top of your head, your face squished against his stomach.
"Thank you." You said into his tummy, voice muffled. "For all of it. For remembering the bar, and the photos, and — for all of it."
He held you a little closer.
"Happy birthday." He said quietly again, into your hair, kissing your roots.
You squeezed once, tight, face tilting up 90 degrees until you met his gaze and said: "All right, Lyonel, give me a soda, we're celebrating tonight!"
Lyonel cheered.
It was, by every measure, the best kind of evening.
The food was delicious, tasty, just what you needed after a rough week at work. You stayed by Dunk's side almost all night, feeding him little bites here and there. Trading awkward smiles which absolutely did not go unnoticed by anyone who was there.
Your mother and grandmother stayed on the phone through the first hour, yourr mother crying openly and your grandma pretending not to, and Lyonel introduced himself to both of them with such enthusiasm, that you had to physically intervene.
"He's always like this." You told them, Lyonel behing you.
"I'm a delight." Lyonel said, into the camera, blowing kisses to the older women.
"He's loud." Raymun chimed in, from beside him.
"I'm expressive." Lyonel said.
Your grandma looked at both of them and then looked back at you. "Which one of those cuties does Dunk work with?"
"Both." You answered, rolling your eyes light-hearted.
Egg gifted you a card he had made himself, the one he draw with scented crayons and markers he stolen from his sisters, depicting what appeared to be a very large figure and a very small figure and a small orange dog, all holding hands or paws.
He had written inside it in his most careful handwriting: Happy Birthday. You are my favourite person who is not related to me. — Egg. And then, below that, in smaller writing: Little Dunkie says happy birthday too. I asked him.
You read it twice, pulled it fondly against your chest before carefully store it in your bag.
Daeron sat next to you and immediately fell into conversation with the ease of people who had been friends for longer than they'd actually known each other.
Aerion sat on the other side of the table, next to Egg, and said almost nothing, but ate everything, and once refilled his younger brother's water glass without being asked, and twice caught something Egg said with the fractional softening of his expression that was his equivalent of laughing.
Dunk watched all of it.
He sat at the end of the table with his drink and watched you, laughing at something Lyonel said, leaning over to show your mother something on the phone screen, reaching across to steal something off Daeron's plate without asking, turning to say something to Egg and then kissing the top of his head mid-sentence because you'd felt like it and hadn't thought twice about it.
He watched it proudly, warmth blooming on his chest, and a small smile spreading on his lips.
Dunk spent months organising this and it was worth every second of it and he would do it again immediately.
Under the table, his phone buzzed.
He looked at it.
Raymun: You're staring.
Dunk put his phone face down.
Lyonel, from across the table, met his eye and mouthed something that looked very much like wife.
Dunk looked at the ceiling.
By ten o'clock the candles had burned low and the plates had been cleared and you mother mother had said goodnight from the phone screen. The bar had gone from busy to pleasantly quiet around them.
You were leaning on the table with your chin propped in your hand, warm-cheeked and eyes glazed due to tiredness, a doppy smile on your face.
"She's not drunk." Raymun comments when Lyonel opened his mouth.
"I know that." Lyonel said. "I was going to say she looks —"
"Don't." Dunk said.
"I was going to say she looks happy." Lyonel said. "I was going to say something nice."
A pause.
"Oh." Dunk gasped.
"She does look happy."
"It's the best birthday." You said, to the table, to no one in particular. "It's genuinely the best one." You looked around at all of them — Lyonel and Raymun, Egg, Aerion and Daeron, Dunk at the end of the table — "Thank you for being here. All of you."
"We wouldn't have missed it." Daeron said.
"I was summoned." Aerion chimed in.
"He came immediately." Daeron rolled his eyes.
Aerion looked at the table.
Egg, who had been awake significantly past his usual hour on the strength of birthday exception, was listing slightly to the left in his chair, his eyes blinking slowly.
You looked at him.
"Bubs." You said softly, hand reaching you to put a invisible strand of hair behind his ear.
"I'm awake." Egg said, immediately, with great conviction.
"Of course you are."
"I'm completely —" He blinked, slow, sleepy. "Awake."
"Completely." You agreed.
You glanced at Aerion. Something passed between you and Aerion uncrossed his arms and stood and put his hand briefly on Egg's shoulder.
"Come on." He said. "I'll take you."
Egg mustered with the dignity of a ten year old, while trying to rub sleep off his eyes. "Happy birthday."
"Thank you, Egg." Your chest expanded with warmth. "For everything. The card especially."
His chest expanded slightly. "I made it myself."
"I know. I could tell." You leaned forward and kissed the top of his bald head. "Go sleep."
He nodded once to Dunk, and then he went with Aerion, and Daeron followed, and Lyonel departed with the energy of someone who had given everything he had to this evening and was ready to be dead asleep, and Raymun went quietly, with a brief pat on Dunk's shoulder.
And then it was just the two of you.
The bar had wound down around them, the noise receding by degrees until it was just the two of them and the low candles and the photographs clipped above the table.
Your mother's earrings caught the light every time you moved.
You'd been gazing at the photographs for a while, chin propped in your hand, taking your sweet time analyzing every picture.
Then you reached up, unclipped one of the string, the kitchen one, you and Dunk were mid-laugh at something neither of you could probably name it now.
"Where did you get this one?" You asked, tilting your head.
"Egg." Dunk answered, smilling over your shoulder at the picture.
"He took it?"
"He takes pictures of a lot of things apparently." Dunk looked at the photograph in your hand. "He's got good instincts."
You looked at it for a moment longer. At yourself, unaware, laughing, entirely at home.
"I wanted it to be right." Dunk blurted out, a blush rose to his cheeks, he was slightly drunk after a sneaky shot Lyonel had given him. Only enough to make him feel airy.
His voice was low and unhurried, the register that seemed to start somewhere around the floor and work upward, the kind of voice that meant you never had to strain to hear him, only to the room, which had a habit of going quieter when he spoke.
The candlelight was doing something generous to him right now. It warmed the angles, caught the line of his cheekbone, softened the scar through his brow, you'd been there when he'd gotten that scar, remembering the exact afternoon, you'd been twelve and there had been a bike involved and you'd held the hem of your shirt against it while he insisted he was fine. The scar had healed crooked. You'd always liked it.
You admired the lines, the ones that had appeared in the last few years, faint at the corners of his eyes, the smile ones on his cheeks.
Your warm gaze fell to his mouth, admiring his lips, his sweet, bashed smile. Dunk was shy under your orbs.
You loved that smile.
You straightened, stretching your whole body like a cat.
"I'm tired." You announced.
"We can go." Dunk stood up with a little difficulty, large body slightly swaying sideways, turning his back to you, flexing his knees a bit. "I'll carry you."
You gave him a weird look, Dunk only patted your thigh, making a 'gimmie' hand motion towards your shoes. "Piggyback." He said, like it was the most obvious thing. "Give me your shoes, I'll carry those too."
You stared at him dumbfound for a moment. "...You'll carry me."
"And your shoes."
"Six blocks."
"It's not far."
"You'll carry me six blocks."
"You're almost seven feet tall."
"I'm aware."
"And I'll be on your back."
"That's generally how a piggyback —"
"People will stare."
"Let them."
He held your gaze, steady and unhurried, raising an eyebrow, silently challenging her to contradict him.
"Okay then." Dunk's knees found the floor, whole long architecture of his body folding down until he was at your feet, the top of his head approimately at your hip height.
His hands, large, unhurried and careful, worked the knots like a pro, blue eyes squinting slightly due to the bad lightning.
Dunk slipped the shoes free, then he straightened his body, rising back to his full height, and looked at you, now in your socked feet.
Your arms found his thick neck, chin came to rest on his shoulder. Slowly, carefully, your weight nothing against the size of him. You snicker at the sudden change in altitude.
"Oh." You muttered, a slight shudder passing through your body when his hands found the skin of your shins. "That's — okay. That's quite high up."
"You're usually quite low down, like a little hobbit." He joked, voice slightly slurred.
"I can see everything from here."
"Welcome to my life."
The city at night was cold and bright and entirely indifferent to a very tall man carrying a very small woman on his back through six blocks of Saturday evening foot traffic.
Most people looked.
Several people smiled.
One man did a double-take that nearly walked him into a lamppost.
"People are staring." You muffled in his shoulder, the cold wind biting your skin.
"And yet here we are, my lady."
"Here we are." You agreed, and he could feel you smiling against his jacket.
One block. Half a block. The familiar turn, the familiar streetlight, the awning of their building coming into view.
He carefully set you down at the door.
The descent was slow and careful, your feet finding the ground, his hands steadying your waist for a moment before releasing, and you landed in your socked feet on the cold pavement and looked up at him.
"Thank you." You said, your voice came out quieter than you expected. Looking up at Dunk, you felt bare underneath his gaze, something shifting in this cold night.
Silence hanging between the two of you, Dunk's blue eyes darken.
"Hot chocolate." You decided, hand reaching for his pinky to drag him into the kitchen.
"What?
He followed you up four flights like a puppy. The kitchen was warm and low-lit, the girls dead asleep on your bed, Little Dunkie spread across their legs, snoring with its belly up.
You did your best to get the ingredients from the kitchen quietly, taking every possible care when climbing onto your stool and opening the cupboards to find the cocoa powder. Goddamit, where did you put it?
You made a small, frustrated sound.
He leaned against the doorframe and watched you, and the scene felt quite domestic. Dunk could get used to it.
Dunk watched attentively as you got on top of your toes, stretching your hand dangerously to reach the tin of cocoa he accidentally placed in the last shelf the last time he made a smoothie after the gym.
He crossed the kitchen in swift, silent steps, arm rising towards the tin, his toned front body glueing into your back.
His hand closed around the tin without searching for it, and brought it down and set it gently on the counter beside the stool.
He didn't step back.
The tin sat on the counter.
You stood on the stool, his arm still bracketing you loosely, and did not move.
It was just his arm. He had long arms. This was a fact about him, one of many, nothing new.
You turned your head. Slowly. Just enough to find him over your shoulder.
He was already looking at you.
Up close, from this distance, on the stool, the same stool that put you almost at his eye level, that had always put you almost at his eye level, the one your grandfather had built for your grandmother so she could reach him, look him in the eye properly, his face was very close, and very still, and wearing an expression that had nothing managed about it.
Nothing careful.
Just him, looking at you, the way he must have been looking at you for god knows how long, the look you'd felt on the back of your neck a hundred times and turned around too late to catch.
You had caught it now.
"Dunk." You blurted out. Just his name. The shape of it. Making sure.
"Yeah." He answered. Low. Close. The register that started somewhere around the floor.
You turned.
Fully, this time. On the stool you were nearly eye level with him, nearly, almost, the closest you ever got, and his arm was still there, and when you turned it settled at your waist without either of you making a decision about it, the way water finds the lowest point.
His free hand came up slowly, giving you all the time in the world, and found the piece of hair at your cheek and tucked it back, and then stayed — barely, just barely — at your jaw. His thumb at the edge of it. The lightest possible question, asked without words.
You looked at him.
You thought about his knee on the bar floor, unhurried and certain, his hands finding your ankles in the dark without fumbling.
You thought about six blocks of cold city and his shoulder warm under your cheek and his voice saying let them like it was the easiest thing he'd ever said.
You thought about months of quiet planning, a whole evening built around you like a room he wanted you to feel safe in, never once asking for credit.
You thought about twenty-three years of this man. This specific, impossible, infuriating man, who had been standing next to you for your entire life, close enough to touch, and you had touched — his arm, his shoulder, his hand, a hundred thousand small ordinary contacts — and none of it had ever been enough, none of it had ever been what you actually wanted, and you had been so careful, so endlessly careful—
Not one more day, you thought. Not one more hour.
Your hands found his shirt.
You pulled him in.
He came, willingly, immediately, one hand finding the counter beside you so the full weight of him didn't overwhelm you on the stool, careful even now, careful in the way he was always careful with you, and you kissed him with everything you had been holding back for twenty-three years.
His hands found your face like they already knew it.
Like they had always known it.
Softer than you expected, from a man that size, from someone who took up that much of the world. His mouth was warm and unhurried and gentle in the way of someone who had thought about this — who had, you understood dimly, thought about this quite a lot — and wanted to do it properly.
His lips moved against yours like a question being asked slowly, like he was learning the answer by degrees, and you felt the careful restraint in it, the deliberate tenderness of someone holding something they were afraid to break.
You made a small sound against his mouth.
His breath caught.
He kissed you like he meant it, deep and slow and certain, his hand sliding from your jaw into your hair, cradling the back of your head, tilting you up toward him.
His other hand left the counter and found your waist and you felt the warmth of it through your clothes, the size of it, the way it wrapped around you like you were something he'd been waiting to hold for a very long time and had finally stopped pretending otherwise.
You kissed him back with everything.
Your hands twisted in his shirt and pulled, and he came closer, and you felt him exhale through his nose, long and slow, the breath of a man putting something down that had been very heavy for a very long time.
He kissed the corner of your mouth. The bow of your upper lip. Came back to the center like he was memorizing it, like he was building something he intended to keep.
Your fingers uncurled from his shirt and found his face instead, the jaw, the cheek, the scar through his brow that you knew by touch before you knew it by sight, and he made a quiet sound at that, low and unguarded, the most honest sound you had ever heard from him, and it undid something in you so completely that you had to hold onto him just to stay on the stool.
He noticed. Of course he noticed. His arm tightened around your waist, steady and sure, and he kissed you slower, softer, bringing you back down from the edge of it with the same unhurried patience he brought to everything.
When you finally broke apart it was only barely. By degrees. His forehead came down to rest against yours and his eyes stayed closed and you could feel him breathing, feel the slight unevenness of it, feel his thumb still moving softly at the nape of your neck like he couldn't quite stop.
Your hands were still on his face.
You didn't move them.
The kitchen was very quiet except for the music and your own heartbeat, which had made several unilateral decisions tonight and showed no signs of reversing them.
"Duncan." You whispered against his skin.
"I know." Barely a whisper.
"I wanted this." You pulled back just enough to look at him properly, to make sure it landed. "I've wanted — it's been you. For a really long time, it's been you."
Something in his face changed entirely. That last held thing, that final careful architecture, gone, knees wooble like strips of twizzlers. Just him, looking at you, open and undone and so helplessly, completely fond that your chest ached with it.
"Yeah?" He said. So quiet. Like he needed to hear it again.
"Yeah." You smiled, and felt it tremble at the edges, and didn't try to hide it. "Embarrassingly long, honestly."
He let out a slow breath and turned his face into your palm, rubbing his cheek against it, his eyes closing again, and you felt his lips press briefly, softly against the heel of your hand, barely anything, barely a kiss, just the warm press of his mouth against your skin, quiet and private, meant for no one but you.
It was the most undone you had ever been in your life.
"M'lady." He mumbled into your palm, sweet eyes gazing up at you.
"I know." You shivered. "Me too."
He kissed you again, and this one was sweet and unhurried and tasted like coming home, and you went up onto your toes on the stool to meet him and felt him smile against your mouth, and then you were both smiling too much to do anything properly, foreheads together, noses bumping, his arms all the way around you.
"We're idiots." You said.
"Speak for yourself." He murmured, and you quietly laughed and his arms tightened like the sound of it was something he intended to keep.
Outside the city was cold and bright and indifferent.
The cocoa tin sat forgotten on the shelf.
You were on your grandfather's stool, finally at the right height, held by the right person, and the distance that had existed between you for twenty-three years had closed so completely it was hard to remember it had ever been there at all.
















