This Counts as a Present, Right? (SNEAK PEAK)
FULL FIC: https://www.tumblr.com/foxyannon/809282656201326592/this-counts-as-a-present-right?source=share
my very late mandatory vere birthday post is coming soon 🤫 @todayis-snowy
it’s not my best fic but it’ll be better in the final draft
NOT MY ART!! SNOWY MADE IT!!!
Vere plucked another cherry from the bowl beside him and held it out between his fingers. “Say ah.”
“No.”
“Ah.”
They stared him down. He stared back, ears twitching with the slow-building smugness of a man who lived off being inconvenient.
Ugh. Fine.
They leaned forward, intending to just bite the damn cherry and be done with it, but Vere pulled it back at the last second, just out of reach.
They nearly face-planted into his chest.
He clicked his tongue. “Careful, sweetheart. If you wanted to be in my arms, you could have simply asked.”
“I hope you choke on a cherry pit.”
“Mm.” He slid the cherry to your lips again, this time holding it steady. “Then who would make your life interesting?”
They rolled your eyes and bit the cherry, a bit harder than necessary. He watched you eat it with the satisfied look of someone who believed he’d won something.
You swallowed. “You’re insufferable.”
“And yet,” he said for the second time that afternoon, “you’re here.”
They opened their mouth to argue, because they did have protests, several in fact, but then he shifted closer, pressing his shoulder to theirs. Vere is quite warm, even though he’s still damp from the lake.
“I don’t… disappear because I want to worry you,” he said suddenly, “It’s just… habit. You’re being too patient with me.”
They blinked. “What do you mean Vere?”
“Don’t use that voice,” he warned, ears flattening. “I dislike it.”
“The one where I show that I care?”
“Yes. It’s personally offensive.”
They bumped their shoulder against his. “Too bad.”