hush little baby - levi, wes; quest.
Wes wasn’t blushing, he really wasn’t. Wesson didn’t blush, his body wasn’t physically capable of blushing whatsoever. It just happened to be unnaturally hot in Naxis that day, and it just so happened to correspond with Levi’s statement. But getting flustered? Not Wesson. He’d never. Especially not from some generic comment from a neanderthal, no matter how well intentioned.
The worst thing was, Levi was actually trying to be nice, but it just pissed Wesson off. There was a part of Wes, the stubbornly obnoxious part of him that refused to give in, that was probably the only aspect of his personality that single-handedly got him through life. It was hard to think you weren’t a fuck up when everyone and everything in your daily life constantly reminded you that you weren’t worth much, but in what might have deterred other people just made Wesson want to succeed just to spite them. And maybe he wasn’t there yet, but one day, he would. He was sure of it. Fuck up or not.
"You don’t know me enough to make that observation," he replied, his tone uncharacteristically even.
Luckily, or unluckily, the subject was going to be dropped, or at least, forgotten temporarily considering the nature of their situation. The bats came in hoards, wings flapping noisily among their high pitched cries. Run or fight. It wasn’t much option for much else. Running seemed futile, though; there were so many of them, and it would be impossible to outrun them all. And fighting, again, wasn’t an option; between the two of them under level 100 and having a baby with them, they wouldn’t stand a chance against that many.
"Neither," Wes announced. Pushing himself low against the three, Wes looked around. There had to be, there had got to be a place where they could-
"Here," he hissed, the urgency in his tone causing his voice to shake slightly. Not waiting for Levi’s reply, Wes carefully but forcefully dragged the larger man over to a thicker underbrush, almost a canopy with how closely intertwined the trees where. Ducking down, Wes pushed Levi and Rosa against the trunk, pressing himself close as possible.
"We might be able to avoid most of them," he mouthed, barely audible, "but only if we’re really quiet.”
That, of course, was easier said than done when one had a crying infant in their party with them. Wes’ back, tense and warm, felt the cloth of his tunic begin to stick with him due to sweat. They couldn’t avoid the bats, not for long, if Rosa continued to cry. They’d be screwed, with nowhere to run.
"Heyyy, hey baby," Wes cooed, surprising himself with the gentleness of his tone, "Who’s a good baby? Rosa’s a good baby, huh?" Outside, the screeches grew louder. Wes forced himself to keep his composure, and swallowed hard.
"Yeah, it’s been a long day, huh Rosa?" Wes extended a free hand, gently stroking her cheek with a finger, "I know, I’m tired too. But it’s okay. We’re gonna get you back to your parents. Me and Levi, we’re a good team. There’s no reason to cry, Rosa."
Wes never was good with kids. No- he never had an opportunity to be good with kids. Living in a tiny town with just his dad and his coworkers for company didn’t give him much exposure to interacting with children. Not that he ever complained; hanging out with a bunch of babies wasn’t exactly his idea of a good time. So Wes always assumed he’d just be really bad with kids, and they wouldn’t like him by default. But to his surprise, Rosa seemed to calm down considerably. Her cries quieted to heaves and quiet sniffles, and while she was still upset, she was definitely not crying.
Suddenly, Wes was hyper aware of how close he was to Levi. Other than Rosa in between them, the two were essentially pressed up against each other. It was to protect Rosa, obviously. It was definitely about Rosa. Wes took a step backwards, exhaling slowly. While the cries of the hoard died down, Wes knew there was bound to be a few stragglers left, but if his theory was right, it’d only be a handful, and between the two of them, it was far more manageable.
"Stay behind me," Wes instructed to Levi, brandishing his weapon, "I’ll try to get most of them."
"You're right. I don't know you," Levi agreed with Wes' statement. "But I want to, Wesson."
Despite being a video game, Naxis mimicked the real world in more ways than the just the advanced graphics. So many people in the world of Naxis that Levi knew he would be able to see people but at the same time, he would never be able to get to know them. However, the people he came across in this game, he wanted to get to know. Even if those people didn't want to know him, or acted like they didn't the way Wesson did. That only made him want to get to know Wesson even more.
Especially when Wes would blush that way. Levi was now determined to make it happen more often.
But, now wasn't the time for that.
There were so many bats. So fucking many. Levi already knew about all the terrible things about bats - one of his in-game friends, Shutter constantly talked about how he hated bats. Now that there was a swarm of them raging toward them, Levi was starting to understand that dislike. A panic set in as he thought about how all of those angry bats were heading toward them, a high-pitched screech as they drew closer. Levi wondered if they would even be able to get through this; Levi wondered if he would be able to get through this alive ...no, it was too early for him to hit game over. Not yet. Not anytime soon.
Thankfully, Wes had a much quicker reaction time than he did.
"Right," Levi barely managed to say out as he followed Wes. He pulled Rosa closer to him, completely forgetting that she was just an NPC. He held her close to is chest, shielding her away from everything that could possible be headed their way. He ducked down next to Wes, inching closer to the younger boy. Wes' orders were to stay quiet, but the infant in his arms wasn't about to let silence happen between the three of them.
There was an awe-inspiring effect of seeing Wes calm Baby Rosa down. The way his voice fell into a stream of gentleness and kindness in his voice was enough to render a smile on Levi's lips. He knew that despite Wes' humor and brash facade, there was a kind, caring human being under there; he wondered how many people had gotten a chance to see that, if anyone even got to. If not, then he knew he was one of the lucky few. A few moments had passed, but Levi hadn't moved his gaze from the younger boy. Wesson was cute, when he wasn't being extra prickly.
Perhaps it was a good thing that Levi had gotten distracted how cute Wes was being with Rosa. It pulled his attention away from how close he was to Wes and how fair and soft the boy's skin looked or how long his eyelashes were or how ...Levi pressed his lips together, shoving aside those thoughts. There were bats heading toward them and even if Wes' hair looked very soft to the touch, it wouldn't help them against those bats.
"I can help too," Levi said. He wasn't sure of how much help he'd be, but hell, if he wouldn't help out when he can. He pulled Rosa close and pulled his weapon out. He could help out when he could, but since Wes was a higher level than he was, he might not even need it.
"Be careful, Wes," Levi added, "I don't want anything happening to you."
