Title: Cracking the Shell
For @aquablossom1 for @terra-haven ‘s Secret Spring! Sorry I’m late with this, but I hope you like it!
Pairing: M!Grima x reader
“Argh! Forget this!” You heard a loud growl and what you assumed to be something breaking from outside the hall. Surprised, you ran to the origin of the sound, only to find Grima pouting childishly while paint and egg yolk were splattered across the table and floor.
“What happened? What did you do?” You cried, tears prickling your eyes at the thought of trying to clean the stains on the royal Askran carpet. Of all the things he could’ve thrown, it just had to be those.
“Mr. Grima got upset he couldn’t paint the egg.” Fae winced slightly as she looked at the mess before continuing to paint with her paintbrush.
“Of course I can paint an egg! A blind fool could!” Grima retorted, a red blush bursting on his cheeks.
“Summoner, he was struggling. This is the fifth egg he cracked.” Veronica added, dryly gazing at you before she went back to her work.
“Fifth? Oh my god, the mess...” You shook your head and sighed, looking at Grima with slight disappointment. “Just...Grima, please clean this up.”
He huffed and murmured some choice words under his breath before he looked for any cleaning supplies. In the mean time, you looked at the children gathered in a circle, their eggs still in the process of drying or being decorated.
“How pretty! These are wonderful!” You cooed, and the children smiled widely and thanked you.
“Summoner! Summoner! Can we go hide the eggs now?” Fae jumped.
“Of course! I’ll take the eggs and hide them, so just wait here until I come back. No peeking, Veronica, if anyone tries to peak, they’re out.” You pointed at the Emblian princess, and she nodded. You wanted to hug her, especially with her cute bunny attire on.
You picked up the basket of eggs and ran out of the room, quickly trying to find suitable hiding spaces.
One inside the flower pot near the hall, one on top of a statue of a knight, and even one next to a portrait of Gustav. You turned around and fell backwards, the force of whatever you pumped into sending some of the eggs toppling over.
“Damn it, I’m not cleaning up that one.”
“Grima?” You asked, looking up to see the white-haired male glaring down at you with ruby red eyes.
“Who else would it be?” He growled, and handed you the mop he just finished using. “Heh, you might need this.”
The smirk on his face did not go unnoticed by you, and you shook your head as you grabbed it.
“Oh man, now the kids are gonna be so upset. The eggs are all ruined.” You sighed.
“And? Who cares? Just replace them.” Grima shrugged.
“Yes it is, in fact, I can do it right now. Not that I would.”
“No, those eggs were painted by them. They worked so hard on them and now they’re all ruined.” You sadly mopped up the cracked eggshells and yolk, and Grima rolled his eyes.
“Give me a break. There’s no use shrieking like a banshee over eggs. They would just break them anyway.” Grima exclaimed.
“But it’s important for now. The eggs are an important part of Easter.”
“Why? They don’t anything.”
“They make people happy.”
“Please. How does an egg make people happy?” He guffawed.
“Like this.” You rummaged through your basket and pulled out one that you had painted earlier today, and he stared at in confusion.
“I’ll hide it, and you can try to look for it.” You offered, and he debated it for a moment.
“Fine. Then it’ll teach you that these trivial things mean nothing.” He retorted.
“And if you’re wrong?” You rose an eyebrow and a devilish smile formed on your lips.
“Then I’ll wear that stupid bunny hat you tried to attack me with earlier.”
“Oh, good. I can’t wait to see you in the widdle bunny ears~.” You chuckled, and he growled again.
“Don’t act so haughty mortal, I’ll show you that your stupid traditions mean nothing.”
“Okay then, go wait with the children, and I’ll hide it.” You pointed to the direction of the room and he slumped his shoulders in annoyance.
Oh, this was going to be too good.
The kids had slowly started to find more of the eggs, and Grima was angrily huffing and cursing you trying to find that one egg.
One darn egg. It wasn’t supposed to be this hard.
“You! Gimme your basket!” Grima ordered, before he snatched Fae’s basket and looked at her eggs. “By Naga where the hell is it?”
“Mr. Grima, what are you doing-” Fae began before Grima stomped away from her.
“Summoner! I’ll have your head for this! How dare you make a fool of me?” His angered voice echoed in the hallway.
“I didn’t do anything, Grima. Do you give up?” You smirked.
“Grima...you’ve been at this all day. Just give up!” You yelled.
“Never! I will not! I will find your damn egg!” He threw a bunch of books of the shelf and you hurriedly try to pick them up. It seemed both of you had forgotten the original goal of the egg hunt.
“Grima.” You whined. “I want to go to bed, please, just give surrender.”
“Who cares about the egg now, you ruined the whole game!” You exclaimed.
“Me? I’m just doing what you said!”
“No, egg hunts aren’t supposed to be wars, Grima! You’ve made such a big mess everywhere, and you’ve been too damn prideful to admit you don’t know what you’re doing! God, I wanted to teach you a lesson, but I didn’t think you’d be this stubborn!” You lectured.
“What? Maybe if you didn’t-”
“You want the egg?” You cut him off. “Take it.” You grabbed it from your pocket and handed it to him, turning around and preparing to walk out. “Goodnight Grima, happy Easter.” You bitterly waved.
He looked at the egg, and then back to your retreating form. Before, he didn’t notice the design too much, too caught up in the adrenaline and need to prove himself. But now, as it rested gently in his hand, he noticed that you had painted a symbol on it.
He gazed at it before he looked again back at you. You were thinking of him the whole time, even during the game.
“Wait.” He commanded, and you stopped. “Why did you paint this?”
“Stop. No more mind games, (Y/n). I want answers.” You gasped. He used your name. It was a rarity for him to do that, despite you having known each other for a few years now.
“Heh. I think you already know why, Grima.” You blushed, smiling at him.
“I...I want to hear you say it.” You could’ve sworn his cheeks turned slightly pink as he avoided your gaze and stared at the egg once more.
“Grima, I love you. I love you a lot. Even when you act like you know everything, even when you destroy everything in your path, and even when you pretend to not care for anyone. I love everything about you.” You admitted.
This time, he was the one who got flustered and cupped the egg close to his chest.
“You...what the heck are you doing to me? Why must you overtake my thoughts every time?” He grumbled.
“Yes and...” He sighed loudly before sinking to the floor. “I...don’t hate this feeling.” You sat next to him and lightly wrapped your arms around him.
“So, then what do you think we should do?” You asked him.
“We should remain as one. That is what lovers do, correct?”
“Yes. I can’t believe it took you this long to see that I liked you.” You teased, and he mumbled how you were bugging him.
“I love you, Grima.” you snuggled into his embrace and he rested his chin on top of your head.
“Remember this day, (Y/n). This is the day I made you mine.” Grima responded. You laughed and shook your head and he gulped.
“I love you too, (Y/n).” He whispered, a sentence meant for your ears only.
To think, it all started because of an egg.
