Summary: Milliz and Earnest don’t always see eye to eye, but the one thing Earnest is determined not to let her mistake is just how much he adores her—all of her.
*Author’s Note*: A commission for my good friend @millizines! I absolutely love getting to write for friends, and the fact that their ships are all my otps just makes it better :D I’m glad I could finally get around to posting this, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!
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The evening was quiet and time was nonexistent, which had become a common occurrence for them. A private rendezvous in a bedroom, just the two of them, the atmosphere coalescing with their very essence. A shared essence, a connection that transcended their comprehension. Sometimes he felt like he understood exactly how he felt, how he’d come to feel this way, why he continued to feel the way he did…and sometimes he felt like his mind was caught in a vortex of overwhelming emotions and cacophonous confusion. The one thing he was never confused about, though, was how much he loved her. She seemed to get tripped up about that from time to time, but he didn’t want her to question it, didn’t want to leave room for such doubts to ever even cross her mind.
The bed creaked in defiance under his weight as he rolled over, tracing the line of her shoulders with feather light kisses. When he was tender like this it made her shiver; not just through her skin, but in her heart. A blush tinted her features, and her mind was flooded with a foreign substance, a cloud of contentment and elation that, to some extent, she felt like she was just making up. Being wistful, too idealistic for her own good. But when she was with him, when he treated her like this, she couldn’t help herself. Her heart became a tyrant, guiding her thoughts and actions in an unrelenting current, sweeping her feelings and cares and worries away without giving her any chance to object.
His hands wandered across her curves, trailing the contours of her body as her muscles tensed under his touch. There, she wasn’t sure she wanted him touching her there. She wasn’t sure she wanted him to look or feel the parts of her that she loathed so dreadfully. The facets of skin that stood out to her as flaws, defects that she would have given anything to be rid of for good. As long as she didn’t have to see them anymore, feel them, know that these parts of her existed…and yet here he was, carefully caressing them as if they were precious to him, as if he found some inkling of value in them. Of course, he valued anything and everything that had to do with her. Anything that existed as a part of her. Just by virtue of belonging to her, of creating and forming the person he loved so dearly. His lover, his soulmate, the center of his universe.
“So beautiful,” his words were little more than the ghost of a whisper, but they still brought tears to her eyes. Tears of resentment, defiance, relief. As long as he continued to love her, she thought she might be alright. But she didn’t want to drag him down, to trap him, to damn him to a horrid, scornful fate by shackling him with her affection. “I mean it, Milliz.”
“There’s no way you can,” she replied, and he heard the unmistakable crack of her delicate glass voice. “There’s no way you mean it.”
“Are you calling me a liar?” He wasn’t angry, but he wasn’t wholly joking either. Coaxing her to face him, he dipped his fingers into her ringlets of butterscotch curls, basking in the sight of the rare gem that glittered in his hand. “I don’t see how you can see it as anything other than the truth.”
“Because I’m not stupid. I know what I’m looking at, what we’re both looking at. And that it’s not worth looking at at all.”
Earnest wiped the tears from her glistening eyes as she sniffled, averting her gaze, trying to rein in the display she wished she’d been strong enough to suppress. He couldn’t stand to see the woman he loved so dearly hurting this much, right before him, with so little he could do to stop it. But he wanted to stop it…wanted to permanently banish these cruel emotions and twisted thoughts from her mind. He wanted to drown her in love, adoration, fondness, all the things he felt for her that filled him to the brim. They spilled over every time he saw her, held her, kissed her. God, he loved her so much, more than he’d ever loved anything in the world, and more than he knew he’d ever love anything else in his life again.
Tucking some hair behind her ear, he cradled the side of her face, running his thumb over her cheek as if her skin was paper thin. If he blew on it, if he pressed too hard, she might drift away or crumple in his grasp. He couldn’t stand to damage the fragile masterpiece before him, the dear treasure he always kept protected in his heart. He leaned closer and molded his lips to hers, soaking in her scent and taste and presence. A soft mouth that aligned perfectly with every angle of his, a body that fit against his own like a puzzle piece. His hands started to roam, fingers sinking into the skin at her shoulder blades, then her lower back. He shimmed down as she lay there, slightly dazed, covering her stomach in firm kisses. He was sure some of them would leave marks; he was actually hoping most of them would. His fingers danced down her thighs, massaging them, revering them.
“You’re just doing this to make me feel better,” she lamented, and his head snapped up. His eyes were sharp, boring into hers like a laser beam, shocking her with lightning that made her veins tingle.
“I’m doing this because I want to,” he corrected before branding her a few more times. “Because it makes me happy. Because I love every part of you. Without a doubt, no matter what.”
She wasn’t sure she believed him, that she bought his sappy, reassuring bullshit. His weak attempts to distract her from her pain, her rage, her contempt. But as much as she fought it, his words and actions didn’t fall on deaf ears. As strong as she wanted to be, she couldn’t seem to guard herself against his resolve. He was the one person that could effortlessly tear down her walls, that could storm the gates of her heart without fail. It was a little reassuring to know that there was someone that could do that, that she had someone that wouldn’t be dissuaded no matter how stubborn and insistent she was. And it was a miracle she happened to feel the same way about him, a lucky break. Two people that were endlessly devoted to one another, that loved each other for both their strengths and their faults. Perhaps one day he’d even prove resourceful enough to teach her how to love herself the way he did; always had, and always would.
