do I romance the older witch doctor that despises me (enemies to lovers) or the stubborn carpenter that needs me to help with his work related injuries and refers to my hands as magic????
i've been playing the fuck out of potion permit lately and i'm so mad that runeheart and helene aren't romanceable because i have Gay Thoughts about them. but at least i have reyner <3
Pairing: Reyner x F!MC
Fandom: Potion Permit
Words: 1736
Author's note 1: Yes, I am late again so be prepared to have a lot of these prompts coming very quickly in all one shot!
Author’s note 2 : Hi hello, it's Eli (the og author), decided to change some of my writings to mc x reader so if you see a different version out there, it's also me, just consider it the old version. Enjoy! 😊
Arriving in Moonsburry as a chemist had been… a challenge, if MC had to say it in a polite way. With the way how people didn’t trusted her at all at first, which was understandable due to circumstances, and how she had to gain their trust for weeks before they actually saw her as a part of the village , it had been rough.
But she kept on pushing and pushing, knowing she couldn’t treat people in the best way if they didn’t trust her at least a little. With weeks turning into months, she could now say that she was at least now acquaintances with everyone in the village, getting greetings everywhere she went and being now able to ask for help if needed.
Belonging was hard though. She hadn’t had a place to consider home in years, moving from places to places too often. But perhaps this place would change it all.
She got close to some people in the village, Reyner being one of them. It all started as a patient and chemist relationship, innocently enough.
She walked in the carpenter’s shop on a random Wednesday, after a big storm had hit the village. The realization that the clinic was not made for stormy weather, MC knew something had to be done about it.
"Hi, Reyner! How have you been lately? Your shoulder is still doing good?" She asked as she entered, a smile on her face.
The carpenter turned to her and offered a smile of his own. She had been helping him for a while now with some quests he had asked and he was thankful for that.
"Hi MC, yeah, it’s been fine. A little pain again but it’s not as bad as it used to be." He affirmed, trying to ease her mind from the injury he had.
The answer made MC think for a second.
"Hum… I might have an onguent for that. I’ll try bringing it back here later in the day." She assured before approaching the register.
"There’s really no need to, though, you’ve been pretty busy lately." Tried to dismiss Reyner, not wanting to disturb her. He knew the villagers were already keeping her pretty busy.
"No, no, I can still make time for that! Anyway, I’m here to help for things like that, am I not?" MC replied with a chuckle and it made the carpenter smile again.
She then shook her head before looking at him.
"This is not why I came to you today though. I was hoping you could help me fix something for the clinic." The chemist asked.
"Sure, I can help with that. What do you need?" Reyner replied, interested by what was going to be asked from him.
"I feel like the roof could be reinforced a bit. With all the big winds these days, I’d rather be more on the safe side." She sighed as she said that and Reyner nodded. She was right, the winds had been pretty hard these last past days.
“Sure, I can do that for sure." He assured and MC smiled, satisfied.
"Well then, that’s perfect. How much do I owe you for today?" She replied, getting her purse out.
After settling down the price for the renovations and the payment done, MC prepared herself to leave.
"Whenever you can get to it, just come by the clinic. If I’m not there, just assume that I trust you with the renovations." She said but Reyner replied quickly, as he grabbed his own tools.
"Well, actually, I have time right now if you don’t have anything planned." He proposed and MC stayed surprised, but still nodded in agreement.
"Oh! Well, sure, that’s perfect for me!" She said and Reyner joined her to the other side of the counter.
"Lead the way." He said and they both walked to the clinic.
Reyner went immediately to work as they arrived, which took not much time as he knew exactly what needed to be done.
A few hours after, both of them discussing a bit between him doing renovations and her making round-trip from her house and the clinic, it was finally done.
"There you go. That should fix it all up." Reyner said, putting his tools back in his box.
"Thank you Reyner, I appreciate it so much." She thanked him, yet still being a bit disappointed by the fact they didn’t had time to finish their conversation. Turns out they had more in common than she thought…
"No problem. I’ll be on my way then." He said back, before grabbing his box and turning to walk back to the carpenter’s shop.
"… Wait a second, actually." She stopped him at the last second, hoping it wouldn’t sound weird. The carpenter turned to her, with a confused look on his face.
"I… do have some coffee or tea if you want to stay so we can continue about what we were talking about. I mean, if you want to. You’ve seem so busy lately, maybe a break wouldn’t be so bad, don’t you think?" She offered, with a shy look, even if she did tried to seem confident.
There was a silence, where Reyner seemed to think, still looking a bit confused. Anxiety started to fill up MC, who spoke again.
"… I’m sorry, I know this is out of nowher-" She started but got interrupted by the boy.
"Sure. I wouldn’t say no to coffee." He replied, with a small smile.
So it started as just that. Him staying for a while after renovations were done at MC’s place or at the clinic. Both of them grew closer, spending more and more time together slowly, MC coming more often to "check on Reyner’s shoulder".
"Hi Reyner! Saw you wanted help for another project, got it here!" She said during one of her other visit she made to his shop, dropping the supplies he needed. He smiled at her, satisfied with what he received.
"You’ve been helping me a lot lately actually… Thanks. I appreciate it." Reyner replied as he put the stuff he just had received in the back before coming back to the counter.
"That’s really no trouble! With all the help you’ve offered for the clinic and the house, it’s only fair." She assured him before adding something in a mumble.
"And perhaps… Spending time with you isn’t so bad."
"I’m sorry, what did you just said? I didn’t hear you clearly…" Reyner questioned, not sure if he had hear correctly or the right thing. The question made MC a bit flustered as she quickly moved on.
"Oh, nothing to worry about! I’ll see you later!" She replied before quickly walking away and leaving the store, leaving a confused Reyner behind.
What confirmed it all, what changed their relationship status was the day Runeheart asked MC to come check on Reyner, that he was supposedly sick, which made MC worried, hoping it wasn’t anything too bad.
She had quickly made her way to Reyner’s shop, where they both were waiting for her, Runeheart updating her on Reyner’s condition as soon as she walked in.
"He said that he’s been unable to sleep ever since you last checked on him. " Runeheart said and MC’s mind started working.
Could it be insomnia? But what would cause it? The onguent was not supposed to have any side effects like these…
"He also mentioned that his heartbeat has been particularly fast and that he’d lost his appetite." Runeheart kept going as MC assimilated the information.
Heart problem, maybe? Or stress or anxiety? Maybe the pressure of the job was getting too much? It was also an option.
"And sometimes, he’d felt his chest get kind of warm inside."
That… She wasn’t sure. Cause it didn’t fit the other symptoms. She couldn’t explain this one logically.
"The warmth in my chest is feeling better now…" Reyner said, which angered Runeheart.
"You told me earlier that it was like a burning sensation in your chest!" She protested, which made the carpenter flustered. Runeheart sighed in frustration.
"Spit it out and get to the point!" She said roughly and Reyner hesitated for a second before admitting.
"I guess I’m overthinking. What MC told me back then… about my shoulders and everything… I thought people from the capital were different…" He started explaining and MC tried to decipher what he meant.
What had any of this any link to what he described? If it wasn’t a physical problem or a mental one, what could it b- Wait.
Wait.
Runeheart started laughing loudly as MC’s cheeks got red at the realization.
"That’s not a disease, you donkey! I think you have a crush on MC!" Runeheart teased and Reyner froze, his own cheeks reddening in embarrassment.
"I’ll leave you two together then." Runeheart said with a smirk on her face, walking to the exit.
"R-Runeheart, wait, I- …oh." Tried Reyner but she was already gone, leaving the two alone.
There was a silence between the twos and Reyner couldn’t look at MC in the eyes… Until she started laughing, which made him scowl at her reaction.
"I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at you, I promise! I just… Wow. I did not see that coming." She tried to calm her down but it seemed like the carpenter felt even more embarrassed, not saying a word.
As she finally was able to calm down, she approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder softly.
"Hey, don’t be like that… Especially when I’m feeling the same, Reyner." MC confessed, a bright smile on her face. She noticed Reyner’s eyes widening as he stared at her.
"What? You do?" He asked, full of hope.
"Duh. Why do you think I spent most of my times here?" MC laughed again and Reyner smiled, chuckling a bit at the realization. Like the pieces of the puzzle were finally placing themselves together after a long time.
"So… How about dinner sometimes?" He suggested and MC nodded immediately.
"Yeah, I like that idea. Let’s start there, alright?" She proposed, with an excited smile.
It was the moment she realized he was her +1. The last reason she needed to make her belong here. As she bought the moon brooch, a few weeks later, she knew she had made the right decision to stay. She couldn’t help but being giddy at how Reyner would be when she’ll give it to him.
