THE SMELL OF HOME & COMFORT
*.✧ SYNOPSIS : Valko's day is ruined when the bitter history professor gives him a C+ instead of the A+ he deserved. Hurt and sad, Valko seeks comfort in his favourite girl's arms.
*.✧ WARNING & TAGS : Fluff, comfort, hurt/comfort, university life, academic stress, gentle giant!valko, cuddling, established relationship, nerd!valko, pecks.
*.✧— NAVIGATION // LOVE & DEEPSPACE MASTERLIST
➥ WHAT HAPPENED AFTER VALKO FELL ASLEEP
➥ Dividers is by @/cafekitsune
DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE. IF YOU DO THEN IT'S YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY.・₊﹆ɞ‧₊
Valko's life circled around the same three things — uni, tech, and his beloved girlfriend. That was his tiny happy world and he was very content with it. But university has the special gift of ruining even the happiest days.
For reasons beyond his understanding, his history professor seemed to have a personal vendetta against Valko. This sem-end assignment was proof enough. The assignment was based on the history of the ancient civilization of Lemuria. Technology may have been Valko's interest in subjects, but he also had straight As in all his other subjects. He just loved studying and learning new things.
Valko poured all his blood and sweat into this assignment till he was satisfied with the result. Up until the results were published, Valko was sure he would be getting another A+ but to his utter shock the professor had given him a C+. And if that was not bad enough, his self-proclaimed academic rival just had to run salt in his wound with his own A+.
All these chains of events had drained Valko to his core. All he wanted was to melt down in his sweet girl's arms and cry to his heart's content. And that is exactly why he found himself standing in front of your apartment door at almost midnight.
You were probably sleeping — all cozy in your bed. The last message you sent him was two hours ago a pic of your dinner spread on the coffee table with half your face peeking from the corner of the photo. So adorable Valko wanted to melt.
His thumb pressed the code onto the door lock making the door open with a click. Valko pushed the door and silently tiptoed inside the dim room. He could hear the faint murmur of the TV playing in the living room. He sneaked inside and there you were — cuddled up in the pink blanket on the couch while the TV was still playing in the background. The blue light of whatever movie playing illuminated the room just enough.
Valko strolled up to your sleeping form. You looked so in peace, he didn't want to ruin that by waking you up or ruining your mood with his problems. But he needed you more than anything at the moment before he fell apart.
Valko softly dropped his tired body on the couch, draping himself over you. He buried his head into the crook of your shoulder, taking a sniff of your cocoa body wash. He nuzzled deeper into your neck, rubbing his nose on your warm skin in the process.
The lingering heaviness on you and the sudden movement stirred you up from sleep. You yawned once, blinking down to get rid of the drowsiness and looked down on the gentle giant that was cuddling up to you.
Your hand naturally found its way to his hair as you whispered, “Hey baby.”
The only response was a hum in the form of a whine and an incoherent phrase that suspiciously sounded like a hello.
Your other hand rubbed his back up and down in a rhythm, "Tough day?”
“Very!” Came his muffled reply, his breath fanning against your neck and sending goosebumps racing across your skin.
You placed a soft kiss at the top of his head, “Tell me about your day.”
“They are so mean.” Came another muffled whine.
And this is when you realised he was sniffling tears. Your face pulled into a frown. Both your hands stopped whatever they were doing and shot up to cup his face. You lifted his face that was slowly turning red and his teary eyes looked back at you. Lips pulled into a pout as he tried to stop sniffles one after another.
“What happened baby? Who was mean to you?” You asked with a voice filled with worry.
His arms tightened around you more as he nuzzled his face back into your neck.
“Professor Blake.” He murmured shakily, “ He gave me a C+ on the assignment. Said it was too basic and lacked originality. But I spent so much on it, I even included all the references with details that he mentioned in the class. I deserved that A+.”
Professor Blake! That fuck!
For some reason he's always out for Valko's head. Valko was the textbook definition of the perfect student. Always topped all his classes, aced sports, did voluntary community services at least twice a month. There could not be any possible reason to hate him unless it's jealousy. But then again — why would a grown ass man in his late fourties be jealous of a university student?
“And to make things worse, Mikhail got an A+. He was rubbing it in my face.”
You could feel the pout in his voice. You almost forgot about Mikhail. He liked to believe he was so much better than Valko. Mikhail always had some kind of one sided beef going on with Valko and surprise! Surprise! A little birdy told you recently that Mikhail also happens to be Blake's nephew. Now it all makes sense.
Your arms wrapped around his broad shoulders, pulling him as close as humanly possible. Running your thumb over him back and forth, trying to soothe his hurt.
“Valko?” You called out like one would call an injured animal — careful and concerned, “Your professor is fucking blind if he gave C+ to your assignment. I read it myself and it was way better than any of the uni students — specially that Mikhail.”
“Prof didn't think it was good enough. "Too basic" he said.”
You suppressed a frustrated sigh, "That old fuck needs to get his brain checked. Clearly the old age is doing numbers to him.”
You felt the slight rumble of a wet chuckle against your collarbone.
"You shouldn't call him that." Valko mumbled, though there was no real heat behind it. He nuzzled closer, his nose brushing against your neck, completely seeking comfort in your scent, "But......thank you."
"I know right! I should be calling him worse things." You countered easily, your fingers threading into his soft hair, gently massaging his scalp, "Because he deserves it. And honestly? His opinion means absolute jack shit, baby. Do you know why?"
He hummed, a questioning sound, still too exhausted to think.
"Because he's wrong. Even the other professors would agree with me.” You stated with pride in your voice and placed a soft kiss into his fluffy locks.
It seemed Valko's vocab had been reduced to just hums and two-three word replies for the night as he hummed again. Your eyes traveled to the coffee table where your half eaten dinner was still scattered because you felt too lazy to actually clean up.
Beside the mess was an unopened bar of chocolate — Valko's favourite — that you had bought earlier that day thinking about him. Your boyfriend had a horrendous sweet tooth and chocolate was his absolute favourite.
You shifted a little underneath the giant — trying to stretch your hand out to the defenceless bar on the table — making him groan. You finally managed to grab it and tore up the plastic wrapping while doing a victory dance in your head. The sound of plastic foil made Valko's ear perked up.
You broke off a decent square and nudged his shoulder, “Here, open up.”
Valko turned his head sideways just enough for one of his eyes to peek up. You could see his eyes instantly start sparkling and a grin stretched on his lips like a cheshire cat. Without a second of delay, you popped the piece into his awaiting month.
The second the piece of nothing but sweetness hit his tongue, his face formed into the look of pure joy. He melted back in your arms — this time his head resting on your heart instead. The chocolate slowly dissolved in his mouth. And his feet did that little dance he does every time something makes him happy. You were sure if he had a tail, it would have been wagging left and right right now.
“It's so good. I love you.” He mumbled around the dissolving chocolate and placed a quick kiss on your lips.
You couldn't help but chuckle, the vibration radiating through your chest where his head rested. The heavy, suffocating gloom that he had brought into the apartment just minutes ago was finally beginning to lift, replaced by the quiet comfort of the dim living room and the sweet taste of chocolate.
"I love you too, my big baby." You murmured, popping another piece into his mouth before your fingers resumed their lazy, soothing tracks through his thick hair, "Better now?"
Valko let out a long, shuddering sigh, the last remnants of his tension leaving his broad shoulders. He swallowed the last remnants of the chocolate and pressed closer, if that was even possible, anchoring himself to you.
"A lot better. You're the best part of my day. Always."
"Well someone needs to look after this gentle giant.” You whispered, the warmth of his breath against your skin making your own eyelids feel heavy.
The frantic energy that had fueled your protective rant moments ago began to dissipate, melting into the quiet rhythm of the apartment. Valko’s movements grew slower, his heavy frames shifting until he was completely dead weight against you. His breathing deepened, shifting from the ragged, stressed pants of earlier into a slow, rhythmic rise and fall.
Your hand didn't stop moving, gently parting the soft strands of his hair, occasionally scratching his scalp in the exact way that usually turned his brain to mush.
"Baby?" You murmured into the quiet room, your voice barely above a breath, "Are you falling asleep on me?"
A faint, muffled sound came from your neck — a low, protesting grunt that lacked any real conviction. He tried to nuzzle a fraction closer, but his muscles were completely unspooling. His long legs, which had been restlessly twitching just minutes ago, were now completely still, draped over the edge of the couch.
"Valko." You tried again, a soft smile tugging at your lips, "Come on, let’s get you into the actual bed. Your neck is going to be wrecked tomorrow if you sleep like this."
Instead of moving, his arms tightened around your waist in a slow, subconscious grip, anchored to you like a security blanket.
"Mmm... no," He mumbled, the words slurring together as sleep aggressively pulled him under, "Warm. Stay here."
"You're too big for this couch, baby." You reasoned softly, though you weren't making any real effort to push him off.
The weight of him was comforting, a solid reminder that he was safe, away from the unfairness of the university and his miserable professor.
He didn't reply this time. Instead, he just let out another long, contented sigh, his forehead resting heavily against your collarbone. The absolute peace on his face was a stark contrast to the heartbroken boy who had tiptoed through your door half an hour ago.
Giving up on the bed for the night, you reached blindly over the back of the couch, grabbing the edge of the pink blanket that had pooled around your waist. With a bit of careful maneuvering so as not to disturb him, you managed to pull the soft fabric up and over both of your shoulders, sealing out the cool draft of the air conditioner.
"Fine, we're staying here." You whispered, pressing one final, lingering kiss to his temple, “But just for tonight.”
Valko let out a faint, happy hum in his sleep, his fingers loosely gripping the fabric of your shirt as he finally let go of the day completely. You reached for the TV remote on the side table and clicked the power button, plunging the room into absolute, peaceful darkness, save for the city lights filtering through the window. Holding him close, you let your own eyes close, letting his steady heartbeat lull you to sleep.
© LUMINARY-LOTUS, 2026, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED — all content rights belongs to LUMINARY-LOTUS. Do not plagiarise any works and do not repost or translate onto any other sites. ・₊﹆ɞ‧₊
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