He'll Always Be My Man — MOTM
Summary: In a small, oil-scented garage tucked away from a harsh and uncaring world, love grows in quiet ways. While Boris works with the same care he gives everything fragile, the reader sees what he cannot — a good man carrying too much weight alone.
As danger echoes outside and doubt lingers between them, a simple truth is spoken: he doesn’t have to face the world by himself anymore. A soft, grounding moment of devotion unfolds — not loud, not dramatic, but deeply certain.
Pairing: Myth Boris x Reader
Genre: Romance, Hurt / Comfort and Slice of Life
Trope: “He’s My Person” / Claimed Love, Gentle Giant, Quiet Devotion, Emotional Reassurance, Love as Anchor, Soft Touch Healing, “You Don’t Have to Carry It Alone”, Moral Man in a Harsh World and Pre-Tragedy Warmth
The garage always smelled like oil, metal, and something warm underneath it all — like worn fabric, engine heat, and the faintest trace of soap that never quite beat the grease.
The low hum of a radio played somewhere in the back, half static, half music, the signal fading in and out like the world itself couldn’t decide if it wanted to stay. Some old love song drifted through the interference, the singer’s voice distant and scratchy, like it had traveled a long way just to reach this little pocket of quiet.
You leaned against the doorway, shoulder to the frame, watching him from across the room.
Boris didn’t notice you at first.
He was hunched over an engine block, sleeves rolled up, dark fur smudged with grease, broad back curved like he was trying to make himself smaller than he actually was. His tail lay heavy and still behind him, the tip twitching every now and then when a bolt resisted him. Big hands moved with slow, careful precision — not the hurried, frustrated movements of someone trying to get a job done, but the patient touch of someone who believed things deserved the chance to work right.
He worked like everything mattered.
Like every bolt he tightened was a promise he didn’t say out loud.
Quiet. Focused. Gentle with machines the way some people were with animals.
You’d learned that about him fast.
He treated everything fragile like it deserved protection.
Even if he didn’t think he did.
“You’re staring,” he muttered without looking up.
You smiled. “You like it.”
A pause. A tiny ear twitch.
But his voice had already softened, rough edges worn down just from knowing you were there.
You pushed off the doorway and walked in fully, footsteps echoing faintly on the concrete. The world outside the garage was loud, sharp, cruel in that dull, constant way — people cutting corners, stepping on others to survive, pretending not to see when things went bad.
That’s what made him different. That’s what made him dangerous. A good man in a place that didn’t reward goodness.
You came up beside him, hip brushing his arm. He stilled for just a second, like your touch rewired something inside him — like his whole nervous system had to pause and recalibrate around you.
“You been at this all day?” you asked, peering into the engine.
“Mm.” Tightening a bolt. “Car won’t run right if I rush it.”
“You say that about everything.”
“That’s ‘cause it’s true.”
You tilted your head, watching his profile — the permanent tiredness in his eyes, the faint crease between his brows that never fully left, like he was always bracing for something. For the world to take one more thing from him. For someone to need help he wouldn’t be able to give in time.
“You don’t rush people either,” you said quietly.
That made him look at you.
And there it was — that look. Like he didn’t understand why you were here. Like he was waiting for the punchline, for you to realize you could’ve picked someone easier. Someone lighter.
“I’m not good with people,” he said.
His ears lowered slightly, shy. Defensive. Vulnerable in that way he hated being.
“You just don’t know better.”
You snorted. “I know exactly what I’m choosing.”
His jaw tightened. His gaze dropped back to the engine, but he wasn’t seeing it anymore.
Boris didn’t like when you said things like that. Not because he didn’t feel it back — but because he did. Deep. Heavy. Permanent. And permanence scared him more than bullets ever could.
Outside, someone shouted. A crash echoed down the street — metal hitting metal, then voices rising, sharp and panicked. The kind of noise that usually made people pretend they didn’t hear.
You felt it — the shift. His whole body went alert, shoulders tense, ears angled toward the sound. Instinct pulling him toward the door before thought could catch up.
“Don’t,” you said softly, touching his wrist.
His eyes flicked to you. Torn. Guilt already forming for something he hadn’t even done yet.
“I know,” you said. “And I know you. You’ll help if it’s needed. But you don’t have to throw yourself into every fire alone.”
His ears dipped. He hated that you saw through him. Hated that you knew he carried the weight of a broken world like it was his personal failure.
“…Can’t just stand by,” he muttered.
“I’m not asking you to stop being you.” Your thumb brushed over his knuckles, wiping away a smear of grease. “I’m asking you to remember you’re not by yourself anymore.”
That hit him harder than anything.
You saw it in the way his breath caught. In the way his hand turned, slowly, carefully, until his fingers curled around yours instead.
Big hand. Careful grip. Like you were something he was scared to break.
“You shouldn’t stick with someone like me,” he said, voice low and rough, like the words had scraped on the way out. “I got too much baggage. Too many… things.”
You stepped closer, until your chest brushed his arm.
“Too bad,” you said, soft but certain. “He’s my man.”
The words landed between you, simple and steady.
Boris stared at you like you’d just handed him something priceless he didn’t know how to hold. His ears went red at the tips, tail giving a small, betrayed flick behind him.
“…You’re stubborn,” he muttered.
He huffed — almost a laugh. It rumbled low in his chest, warm and surprised, like he hadn’t meant to let it out.
Then, after a second, he leaned forward.
Like approaching something sacred.
His forehead rested against yours, eyes closing. His hands came up to your arms, big and warm and steady, thumbs rubbing slow, absent lines like he was grounding himself through you.
“I don’t know how to be… what you deserve,” he said.
You tilted your head slightly, brushing your nose against his.
Silence filled the garage, but it wasn’t empty. It was thick, safe, shared. The radio crackled. A car drove past outside. Somewhere, a dog barked.
The world kept being loud, unfair, messy.
It was just oil-stained hands, quiet breathing, and a man who refused to lose his morals even when the world lost its own.
A man who thought he wasn’t worth choosing.
You reached up, brushing your fingers through the fur at the back of his neck. He stiffened for half a second — still not used to being touched gently — then melted, shoulders dropping, a quiet breath leaving him that sounded almost like relief.
“I mean it,” you whispered. “I’m not going anywhere.”
His grip tightened just a little.
“…Stay a while?” he asked, voice softer than the radio static. Like he was afraid the question itself might be too much.
You smiled, pressing a small kiss to the corner of his mouth — warm, lingering, real.
And for once, Boris let himself believe it.
He didn’t rush back to the engine.
He didn’t go running toward the noise outside.
He just stood there, holding you in the middle of a grease-stained garage, while an old love song fought through the static — and for the first time in a long time, he let the world be someone else’s problem for a minute.
Just enough to feel what it was like to be chosen — and stay.
Author's note: In January, while I was still traveling, I asked the server which character they would like me to write a fanfic about inspired by the song "He's My Man," and everyone chose Boris.
So, here it is, after so long.
I hope you guys enjoyed it <3