Dating Linus Baker | Linus Baker x Male! Reader
Author's Note: I have completely and utterly fallen in love with this character and this story so I'm out here writing self indulgent fanfiction hoping it interests someone else (and yes this very specific version of Will Poulter is who I envisioned for Linus and no I don't care that doesn't make sense and yes I know that would have to make Arthur about 7 foot for their proportions to make sense but I also do not care.)
(I BEGGGGGGG can I be sent Linus requests)
The reader is basically just Arthur Trigger Warnings: There's a brief NSFW section marked at the beginning and end with a ----- line.
Linus Baker! x Male! Reader!
He denies his feelings for you for a long time, telling himself to be professional and not to let himself get tied up in fantasies.
He does get tied up in fantasies, very easily though. He finds himself imagining what it might be like to feel you beside him as he drifts off at night or over thinking if ever your hand brushes against his throughout the day
There was nothing that prepared him for how hard he fell for you, there was nothing in RULES AND REGULATIONS that told him how to navigate his first crush in a long time. He'd officially given up on love. There was a point in his twenties and perhaps into his early thirties that he thought it might have been possible for him to have a happy ending, for him to bump into Mr. Right on the bus one day or share desk rows with a handsome new hire at DICOMY but he quickly learned that all those hopes did was break his heart every time so he gave up.
He doesn't seem the type to sit you down to tell you he has feelings for you, it definitely seems like something that would develop naturally with the two of you growing closer and closer until you were just unspokenly deeply connected
A 'what are we?' conversation did have to come about eventually but it was more of a confirmation that an actual question
He's fiercely protective of you it doesn't matter if you're bigger, smaller, older, younger or a massive mighty phoenix he'll still put himself in between you and a threat. He's not the type to throw hands (other than possibly a swift, sharp slap) but he'll absolutely use every threat under the sun and kick up the worlds biggest fuss.
He's incredibly insecure even if he doesn't admit it or even realise it, he finds himself wondering if he's good enough for you or why someone like you would want to be with a former office worker like himself. You have to reassure him a lot that you love him and that he's a good boyfriend/husband. He hates asking for reassurance about his appearance but it is secretly something that he needs whether that's letting him know that you think he's handsome or as serious as making sure he knows he doesn't have to eat salad with no dressing for you to find him gorgeous
Speaking of, I think he'd prefer the term 'partner' rather than boyfriend because it seems a little bit more mature. "boyfriend?! at our age! honestly!"
He's a very big cuddler actually though mostly when he's asleep, he'll go to sleep on the other side of the bed from you rather than in your arms, 'it's far too hot for all of that' and you'll wake up with his face inches away from yours, foot tangled in your legs, his arms around your neck and when asked he has absolutely no recollection of how he got there at all (yet makes no move to untangle himself)
He's incredibly observant and very in tune with you. He'll notice everything. If you're quite than usual at breakfast he'll notice, if you're struggling more than usual on your adventures with the children he'll notice, if you seem to be lost in thought he'll notice and he probably has a hundred possibilities of what it could be that you were thinking about. This also means he tries to help you out wherever he can whether that's occupying Chauncey so you can finally hear yourself think or sitting in the back of the children lessons just so you have someone to give you an encouraging thumbs up every so often, whatever it is he thinks you need at that moment, he's on it.
He gets more physically affectionate the closer he gets to you but it doesn't make him any less giddy. When your hands touch to dance or your head rests on his shoulder or your hand brushes against his back, his heart constricts even if just for a second.
His love languages are 100% acts of service and quality time since, for a long time, he didn't have anyone to be with him at all. Like I said before, he notices everything so if your favourite pen is running out? Expect a new one to appear on your desk. Your favourite shirt has a hole in it? Well he'd always wanted to take up sewing anyway.
It's not just you, he does it for the children too. Lucy's records scratching too much? A trip to the record shop. Talia's spades a bit rusted? He's calling in Helen. Chauncey's hat is a bit worn from salt water? New one acquired. He's very in tune with the needs of his new found family.
Domestic bliss. He's never had anyone to do incredibly mundane things with until he met you so he relishes being able to rest his head on your shoulder when washing up, your legs resting on his when you're sitting on the sofa, the two of you reading together in bed
He loves spending time with you, whether that's something as simple as your adventures with the children or sometimes if you managed to get some time alone to go down to the beach (Linus will never not be in awe of the waves.) The two of you try to take advantage of the natural beauty (and sometimes Phee and Zoe's created beauty) when you take walks together, Linus talking constantly about how he never felt this peace or saw this beauty in the city. (You once told him he was all the beauty that the city needed and he got very frazzled.)
He loves watching you go about your day, he finds you fascinating whether you're a magical being or not. He loves watching you sleep with your hair spilling across your face, watching you read to the children, watching you calm Lucy from a nightmare with such empathy, watching you look out over the waves, watching you help Zoe in the kitchen or simply watching you watching him just before you're about to lean in for a kiss
He can actually get very clingy at times, often seen following you around under the guise of 'helping you with something' or telling you something 'desperately important' but he'll never admit to being clingy. You often have to ask him, "would you like to join me?" so he doesn't feel as clingy and you see his eyes light up as he quickly packs up whatever he was doing to follow you wherever you were going
-----------------------------------------------------------
He's very British about sex and intimacy, not in a 'awww he's so baby and innocent' way but in a 'good lord, ah okay...we're having sex now?' He's incredibly awkward about it and it takes a while for the two of you to find what's right for the two of you. Once you do though, sex is fantastic, it's gentle and loving and just fun because the two of you are so deeply in love. He finds you stunning and will make sure that you know it whether that's by spending time looking into your eyes or by letting your shirt drop to the floor and tracing every mark or freckle he finds along your chest.
It stays gentle though, he's not a rough sex person at all, he could never hurt you or insult you and nor would he want you to do anything like that to him. (I imagine he's rather adamant that anyone who thinks anything to the contrary 'must be mad!' but he does eventually learn that different people like different things and he grumbly accepts that)
Even though he's awkward about it at first, he's very emotional about sex. Going from only ever being touched by accidentally brushing past someones desk or hitting against someone on the bus to having you touch or kiss every inch of his body is incredibly overwhelming so I imagine there's a lot of aftercare and talking through it or stopping and starting but you never mind as long as he's comfortable
------------------------------------------------------------
Old habits die hard and bad memories do haunt him whether that's as simple as him wincing when he remembers something biting Mrs. Klapper once said to him or you having to hold him and comfort him as the feeling of crippling loneliness he's had his whole life won't leave him.
As much as he cherishes finally having someone to care about him, having someone for him to care about is also a novelty for him. He'll happily give you back massages if you're tense, help you fall asleep if you're tired, stress out the whole house trying to make you soup if you're sick or even something as simple as holding your shoulders/giving you a hug if its a particularly stressful day
I have a feeling you'd be together forever, he doesn't seem the kind of person that would let you go easily especially if he's used to you being around and he loves you dearly. Plus he doesn't seem the kind of person to entertain the notion of divorce.
If you die first, I don't think he lasts very long after you as depressing as that is. He has 'stress induced heart attack' written all over him with the stress and grief of losing you
Your life with Linus is gentle, not without its issues of course and not without the drama that running your little family comes with but you feel loved by him and he finally has someone cuddle up with that truly cares about him, that will listen to his records with him and read his books with him. Though he can't actually remember where he put his copy of RULES AND REGULATIONS but oh well, he never liked it very much anyway
REQUESTS