beetle x hunter!reader | gender neutral reader
Beetle watched in silence. Their golden eyes, veiled behind a mask of deep indigo and stitched velvet, followed every movement they made. The way the hunter moved through the forest — fluid, deliberate, quiet — was mesmerizing. They weren’t walking in the forest. They belonged to it.
“Is... this how it’s done?” Beetle asked, voice muffled and strange, as though shaped more by memory than sound. Their head tilted slightly, antennae twitching with curiosity.
They glanced back at him, a knowing glint in their eye. “You’re holding the bow upside down.”
Beetle blinked slowly. “Am I?”
They approached him quietly, the earth barely crunching under their boots. Gentle hands reached for his, guiding his grip — not correcting with impatience, but with a kind of reverence, like showing someone how to hold a heartbeat. Their fingers lingered just a moment too long. He noticed. And said nothing.
“This is where you draw,” they murmured, guiding his arms upward, “and here, you wait. You breathe with the trees. You don’t force the moment. It comes to you.”
Beetle tried to mimic the posture, though it looked awkward on his elongated form. “I’ve never understood this... human practice,” he muttered. “Taking something’s life. It feels...”
They didn’t respond right away. Instead, they lowered their own bow, eyes scanning the canopy above them. “It’s not about the killing,” they finally said. “It’s about understanding what it means to live.”
That silence fell again — thick, ancient, and green. A rustle to the left. Beetle tensed.
“Let it pass,” they whispered near his shoulder. Their voice, warm and steady, anchored him. “This isn’t about domination. It's about balance. If you’re going to learn, you have to feel that.”
He nodded slowly. For someone who seemed stitched from myth and dream, Beetle looked oddly human in that moment — vulnerable, open. His hand brushed theirs, intentionally this time.
They didn’t pull away.
“I’d like to keep learning,” he said, almost too softly.
Their smile was small, almost invisible. But it was there.
“Then stay close.”
note: idk shit about the media where he comes from but i tried my best to make the least ooc possible 💔💔 ALSO, this is my first post on here, i hope it doesnt look THAT bad 🥀