trinkets
pairing vasco x gender neutral reader
summary vasco is a simple man. he sees a pretty item, he brings it to his prettier partner
word count ~900
warnings/tags fluff, established relationship, j high arc (no crews) written partially in vasco's pov
there's not much in vasco's mind these days. there's his marriage to the burn knuckes, and his affair with you.
jace has been on his ass about it recently.
it should feel like cheating (but it's not his fault!) because these days it feels like the burn knuckles are put on the back burner with how much he thinks of you — all jace's words.
it doesn't matter to vasco, you are much prettier and cooler and awesomer than anyone else. his own y/n, all his!!! how cool is that? of course he'll put the burn knuckles aside for you.
but that's not to say vasco is ignoring his burn knuckles duties, he's still doing all of them! so what if he's just constantly blabbering about you to his members?
anyways, that's not the point. the point is: vasco can't stop thinking of you.
you're in his head when he wakes up ("i wonder what y/n is eating for breakfast?")
you're in his head when he's riding his bike ("does y/n like riding these?" vasco mutters outloud.
"i'm sure they like riding something else," a cheeky member jokes)
and you're especially in his head when he sees something that reminds him of you. it ranges from a very shiny rock, to a stupid looking hair clip he sees in a store. anything that's cute, he stuffs it into his y/n pocket. he's saved his left pocket solely for items to give to you.
(sometimes there's so many items stuffed in there that it bulges out, and jace can't help but think it looks like he has a very oddly shaped boner.)
it's all just little items he finds throughout the day, but there's so much you don't know what to do with it sometimes.
there's a bit of a routine now. vasco saves everything in his pockets—just lugging it around incase he sees you a little earlier than expected—and does a debrief of everything he found during lunch.
the first time it happens, it's a little jarring.
the moment vasco spots you during lunch break, his face is so bright it's nearly blinding.
"y/n! y/n-ah, come look what i found today," vasco excitedly says, shoving zack out the way and sitting down next to you.
"the fuck–" zack grumbles, but pauses when he sees the amount of rocks that vasco is pulling out of his pockets. it seems never ending, and zack is just more confused how the fuck vasco fit all of that in there.
there's over a dozen rocks, all ranging from small to the size of your fist.
"vasco..? what's this?" you ask, confused.
vasco lays it all out in an orderly manner, arranging the rocks by size.
"this one is shiny, so i brought it to you. same with this one and this one. for this rock, the color was really nice and i liked it." vasco points to each rock, listing out his reasons for bringing them.
"that's nice, what about these then?"
and the cycle continues. vasco comes everyday with more and more items. crumpled candy wrappers with cute designs, keychains, plushies, three stickers he peeled off a vending machine, just about anything he can find.
you have to start bringing another small bag to fit them all—which makes you wonder, how is vasco rawdogging it all in his pocket? is every day leg day for him?
still, vasco never fails to show up. it's reminiscent of a penguin mating ritual, especially with how vasco puffs up with each "aww!" and "thank you!"
daniel says it's cute, zack thinks vasco has a hoarder problem, jay doesn't say anything but daniel claims he meant to say "vasco is doing a good job of being y/n's boyfriend".
mira thinks it's a little obnoxious but still cute, and zoe is starting to copy vasco's techniques to use on daniel—which makes jay start to one-up her. suddenly daniel's desk looks like yours every lunch now.
and you? you love it. it's endearing how excited vasco is to present his findings to you. the sparkle in his eyes rivals the newest rock he brings you (does he polish them in his spare time?) and he waits like a puppy for your compliments.
one day, curiosity gets the better of you.
you're eyeing a neon frog keychain he brought you, with googly eyes and and a pullable tongue, while vasco is yapping away.
when vasco finishes you finally ask him, "why do you actually bring me these?"
vasco quiets down, and you can see him staring at his feet. he's scratching his neck, slightly embarrassed as he starts mumbling.
"well, it makes you smile so.."
you blink at him.
"that's it?"
he nods, and his ears are pink. "yeah."
you let out a small laugh, "you've been stuffing yourself full on junk just to see me smile?"
"it's not junk!" vasco frowns, feeling a little offended.
"sure, vasco." you have to bite your lip to stop the giggle threatening to bubble out your mouth. vasco looks like a kicked puppy from you telling him that. his shoulders droop a little, and you can see his imaginary puppy ears wilting.
"mission accomplished, then." you wrap your arm around his, interlocking your fingers.
vasco perks up again, a smile gracing his face. "really? you like them?"
"i love them."
just seeing how happy he gets makes you already anticipate what he's going to bring tomorrow.
fin
a/n i actually don't remember if vasco rides a bike/motorcycle but we ignore that little bit near the beginning LOL i could've sworn he did when he's training fat daniel but that was too many chapters ago 😓 i think he's a Little ooc but i just love this version of vasco🤞
