Nickname【Novels】
Palder🎨🌷(Pallet×Radier )
Post-relationship Palder 💙
Pallet is having a crisis over what nickname he should call Radier, and Radier is having the time of his life watching him struggle.
Former enemies → lovers.
I don't have a fixed dynamic for them, but some scenes may read as one-sided depending on interpretation. Please keep that in mind!
(This work is not open to criticism. Please move on if it's not your thing.)
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“…That’s not fair.”
Pallet muttered the words under his breath as they lay together, wrapped in a pleasant sense of exhaustion.
“Hm?”
Seeing an expression that he showed no one else but me stirred something mischievous inside me. Still, the meaning behind his words caught my attention, so I simply smiled.
“It’s not fair that you’re the only one with a nickname.”
I almost replied, “You call me by a nickname too, don’t you?” but that clearly wasn’t what he meant.
My real name isn’t Radier.
It’s Radierer.
Yet almost everyone calls me by my nickname, Radier. Pallet does too. In front of others, and when we’re alone together.
Still…
“Not fair,” he says.
Most people would probably feel annoyed if they were suddenly accused of something they didn’t remember doing.
Unfortunately for me—
I knew exactly what he meant.
The bed creaked softly beneath us.
“Hey, Pal.”
“…!”
His shoulders twitched.
The reaction made my smile widen as I leaned closer.
“Pal, what exactly do you mean by ‘not fair’?”
“What do you mean, what do I—”
I deliberately let the sweet-sounding nickname roll off my tongue.
A name I only ever used when we were alone.
Judging by his reaction, it hit its mark.
Tilting my head slightly, I moved even closer.
Because—
He didn’t have one.
A special nickname for me.
One that belonged only to him.
Pallet was good with people. He knew how to close the distance between himself and others with ease. Normally, nicknames came naturally to him whenever he grew close to someone.
But for some reason, I was the exception.
He never tried to shorten the distance himself.
Being the earnest person he was, he probably felt guilty about being the only one who didn’t have a special name for me.
Even so, he likely wanted me to be the one to suggest it first, so he could reluctantly agree afterward.
Of course, I had no intention of making things easy for him.
I planned to wait until he finally gave in.
Perhaps realizing I wasn’t going to help, Pallet slowly retreated toward the edge of the bed.
“Pal.”
Using a tentacle, I caught his leg and pulled him back beneath me.
“I don’t mind continuing like this.”
“……”
Almost there.
Pinned beneath me, he kept looking away, opening his mouth only to close it again.
I lowered my head.
Waiting.
Patiently.
Just a little longer.
Finally—
“...Ray.”
The name slipped out in a rough, helpless whisper.
As though he couldn’t hold it back any longer.
“Is that my nickname?”
“…Yeah.”
“And only you get to call me that?”
“…Yeah.”
In my mind, I repeated it.
Ray.
Ray.
The nickname Pallet had chosen for me.
The one that belonged only to him.
Before I realized it, warmth had crept into my face.
“Happy now?”
“Yes.”
I smiled.
“I like it.”
When I leaned closer, he didn’t pull away this time.
Instead, he met me halfway.
For a while, neither of us said anything.
Truthfully, I never needed a special nickname.
I would have been fine without one.
And yet—
“Ray…”
Now I found myself wanting to hear it.
Just hearing that single name from him made my chest ache in a way I couldn’t explain.
Really.
Truly.
“You’re unfair.”
Because now—
there’s no way I can go back to being someone who’s never heard you call me that.
