❝ hm, you wish to be rewarded. ❞ // break...hes flirting does os want a kissy ~
house of the dragon / no longer accepting / @chapeliier
the heavy velvet curtains in the baskerville mansion’s east wing were drawn tight against the chill of the night. candles flickered low, casting long, wavering shadows across the antique furniture. the air smelled of old wood, ink, and the faint tang of liliac's bloom that slithered in through the open window. xerxes lay sprawled across the wide settee, one arm hanging limply over the edge, his usual flamboyant coat discarded in a careless heap on the floor. his white hair clung damply to his forehead, and his single visible eye was half-lidded. his condition was a curious thing indeed; a man with no abyss's mark yet wielding a chain and daring to outrun the clock on his chest that has already finished it's full turn. but try as he may, abyss is not something to play with —— and this was the consequence. the mad hatter’s power was eating away at his body from the inside, unusually slow.
try as he may, any with red eyes of misfortune is destined for the maw full of golden light.
oswald stood at the side of the settee. he had brought fresh water, clean cloths, and one of the milder pain-dulling mixtures the baskerville physicians sometimes prepared for their own, had wiped the cold sweat from break’s brow without a word, and remained there, watching. break might have been weak now, but his voice still carried that theatrical lilt. oswald wouldn't mind being teased —— whatever helped to keep morale —— if only the words didn't point out just how much effort he was putting into this. oswald’s hand stilled where it had been adjusting the blanket over break’s chest. there was a faint tension in the line of his lips, a subtle tightening of gloved fingers. he had been worried. the realization sat heavy and uncomfortable in his chest. or maybe the discomfort wasn't from that: the baskerville had long since accepted that break has wormed his way past his defenses with shared silences and sharp wit could draw the faintest ghost of a smile from him when no one else was looking. maybe seeing him like this, pale from the mad hatter’s toll has stirred something he wasn’t allowed to feel. maybe he did look too long at those lips. ridiculous.
he straightened to his full height a bit too fast, his expression a bit too composed —— not enough to betray much, but his face —— his face is warm. he can feel it, annoyingly so. the heat settled across his nosebridge first, then further and deeper to his cheekbones, something less superficial, less easily dismissed. it is not visible in the way xerxes might have preferred, not flushed brightly, not obvious, but it is there and oswald is aware of it. acutely.
“ nonsense, ” he huffs, “ i don’t want —— ” he begins, and halts, because finishing that sentence would require specifying what, exactly, he believes xerxes is offering, and that is a line he refuses to cross aloud. his gaze shifts, just for a moment, not away entirely, but downward —— catching on the line of xerxes’ mouth, the suggestion of that infuriating half-smile —— “ —— anything from you. ”
the space between them remains uncomfortably intentional. oswald exhales, slow, measured, as if resetting something that has slipped out of alignment. his fingers shift at his side, a small, contained movement —— tension seeking an outlet. oswald exhaled through his nose, almost a sigh, and did something surprising himself: sat down on the edge of the settee, careful not to jostle the injured man, hand came up, brushing a stray lock of white hair from break’s forehead.
“ just… be more careful so you don't collapse. that's all. ”
outside, the ravens cried softly far away. inside the room, the distance between the two became narrower and narrower.