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rosielou94 · 4 months

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Long Lonely Nights - Father Rudra Khatri x Reader

Warnings: Mentions of loneliness, injury to reader, discussion around religion, angst, fluff, slight NSFW, the smiling Creatures which should be an entire warning on their own

A/N: I binged watched seasons 1 and 2 of From in three days and never has a TV show terrified and hooked me as much as this one. I can’t find any Father Khatri content and that is criminal because that man is so sweet and underrated and didn’t deserve what happened to him! I’m hoping to make this into a series, so stay tuned.

Word Count: 2,687 (I got very carried away)

You’d been stuck in the Town for exactly 10 months, 3 weeks and 5 days; and you’d been in love with Father Rudra Khatri for exactly 10 months, 2 weeks and 5 days. As you ran through the forest, your blood pounding in your ears and the sound of those things, those monsters, slowly following you, you realised you’d never get to tell him how you felt.

You never should have gone for your run so late in the afternoon. You should have just skipped it and gone the next morning, but you’d been cooped up all day in the diner and you needed a release. You were paying for it now though. Tripping over the root of a tree, you’d fallen, hitting your head on a rock and rendering yourself unconscious. You had no idea how long you’d been out, but when you awoke, the sun was long gone, the forest eerily still and silent, allowing you to clearly hear the quiet laughter of the Creatures as they slowly moved in on you. They never hurried; they knew they’d catch you eventually, tearing you limb from limb until you were nothing but a mass of flesh and bones for your fellow survivors to clear away the next day.

“Come and play,” a soft voice cooed as you stumbled through the woods, your ankle flashing white hot with pain. You could feel dried blood caked to your face and hair, and fear coursed through your veins, spurring you on through the pain. The forest looked so different at night, and by the light of the pale moonlight, you struggled to find the markers you’d carved into the trees to help you find your way back to Town. The chance of anyone even letting you in was slim, so you hoped you made it back with enough of a head start on those things to find a place to hide. You pictured Father Kharti’s face as you ran, his wide smile and kind eyes spurring you on. He’d been your first friend when you arrived, showing you nothing but kindness. He’d held your hands the first few nights, when you were hiding in the underground den, shaking with silent sobs as the Creatures taunted you from above, trying to seek you out. Then Boyd found the talismans and Father Khatri got you set up in a house with a few other survivors. He always stopped by to see you, to make sure you were doing ok, and you’d never forgotten his kindness.

Tears of anger, sadness and pain stung at your eyes and then, by some miracle (or the Grace of God as Khatri would say), you saw the lights of the Town through the treeline. You were so nearly home. “You look tired,” a male voice called you to you, “why don’t you take a rest?” It was the man dressed as an ice cream vendor. You recognised his voice because he liked to stand outside your window at night, tapping on the glass, asking over and over again to be let inside. “Fuck you!” you screamed, picking up the pace as the lights grew nearer. “Hey now,” the man gently scolded, “we’re just trying to be nice.”

You broke through the treeline, the houses only a few hundred yards away. “Help me!” You screamed, “please, somebody let me in!” All the doors to the houses stayed firmly closed. “Please,” you begged, tears streaming down your blood-streaked face. “I fell in the woods, I’m hurt. Someone, just open your fucking door!” No one was coming to help you, you realised. Not that you blamed them, they were all terrified. If one of those things got in, everyone would be dead. “Please,” you sobbed, no longer screaming. You didn’t have the energy for that. You slowly turned, and the Creatures were less than 10 feet away. You didn’t have the energy to run, you were tired, your ankle and head were throbbing. No one made it out this place alive, and you were just the next one to go. You closed your eyes and waited for the inevitable.

“This way!” Father Khatri’s voice boomed out through the darkness and your eyes snapped open. The ice cream vendors hands were almost on you, and you threw yourself backwards, landing on the grass with a thud. You rolled forward, your arm stretched out wide, grabbing for the hand Father Khatri extended to you. “You came for me,” you cried, wrapping your arms around his shoulder as he half-carried, half-dragged you through the Town. “Of course, I came for you,” Father Khatri smiled, breathless. You could see the makeshift church up ahead and you pushed yourself forward. The Creatures were still taunting, still laughing and you refused to give them the satisfaction of being caught. The church was now only a few feet awake and Father Khatri grabbed the door handle, hauling you both inside.

You fell to the floor, every single part of your body screaming in pain. Father Khatri helped you up, sitting you down on one of the makeshift pews. “What happened to you?” he asked, brushing off the leaves and twigs that had clung to your clothes. “We were looking everywhere for you.” “I fell,” you whispered, trying to ignore the voices of the Creatures as they tapped at the windows. They’d be here all night now, trying to get you to come outside. “I went for a run after my shift at the diner and fell and hit my head in the forest. When I woke up it was already dark and those things-.” You broke off as a sob racked your body. You hadn’t been that close to death since your first night here and just like that first night, Father Khatri had saved you. “It’s ok, you’re safe now.” His arms were around you, the feel of his soft woollen cardigan comforting against your skin. His chin rested on your head, rubbing your back as you cried yourself into an exhausted sleep.

You woke a few hours later, in exactly the same position you’d fallen asleep in. Father Khatri’s arms were still around you, his cardigan wrapped around the both of you for warmth. His chin was still resting on your head, his breathing slow as he slept. Your ankle was agony, and your back was cricked lying in this awkward position, but you’d craved this kind of contact with the priest from the moment you set eyes on him. You didn’t dare move in case you woke him and broke the spell. The church was quiet and still, the stone walls and makeshift crosses that adorned them seeming welcoming and terrifying in equal measures. You wondered how Father Khatri managed the nights in here alone. The Creatures were still outside, tapping on the doors and windows, mimicking you with glee in their voices. “Someone help me, please. I fell,” said a female voice outside the door. You buried your head further into Khatri’s chest, willing those things to leave you alone, even just for a moment. You felt his arms wrap more tightly around you and heard Father Khatri sigh as he woke up. “They really are the workings of the devil,” he said, picking a small twig from your hair. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

The warm embrace you’d dreamed of was cut short as he guided you into a sitting position. Grabbing a bowl of water and some clean rags, Father Khatri began to dab at the cut on your head. He used another rag to clean your tear-stained cheeks and then propped your ankle up on another chair. “I’ll take you to Kristi tomorrow to get it checked over,” he smiled, eyeing the angry purple bruise that had already started to form on your ankle. “Are you cold?” You were in nothing but running shorts and a t-shirt, and you nodded, hoping Father Khatri would wrap you up in his arms again. Instead, he pulled the blankets off his bed and wrapped you up in the soft sheets. “You should get some rest,” he smiled, reaching out as if to touch your face, but thinking better of it and the rubbing the palms of his hands against his jeans instead. “Can I ask you something?” you said, shifting your weight on the chair to better support your ankle. “Anything,” Father Khatri said, leaning forward in his seat, his elbows resting on his thighs. His salt and pepper hair and beard reflected off the candlelight around the room and you so badly wanted to reach out touch him, to see how his beard felt against your skin. Instead, you asked, “Do you get lonely at night?”

Khatri smiled. “I have God to keep me company,” he said simply. “I knew you’d say that,” you laughed, pulling the blankets tighter around yourself. “I know you have God, but He isn’t physically here with you. He can’t sit with you through the night when those things are tapping at your windows. He can’t hold you when you get scared. I know He gives you the strength to get through every night, but don’t you ever wish you had someone here with you physically?” You weren’t a religious person, you never had been, but you respected the views of those who were. You knew Father Khatri took his faith very seriously, but surely men of the cloth got lonely too. “Yes,” Father Khatri said, after a period of silence. “Yes, I do get lonely. The nights are long and although God is always with me, I do sometimes wish I had someone here with me in person.” You nodded, chewing the inside of your cheek as you wondered what to say next.

“Do you get lonely?” he asked, his hand coming to rest gently on your knee. You locked eyes, the look of kindness in his soft brown eyes making you melt. “All the time,” you whispered, your voice hoarse from tears you didn’t want to shed. You lived with a couple, Paula and Reggie and they were nice enough, but they got to hold each other at night when they were scared. You clung to your pillow, trying to drown out the noises from the Creatures, desperately wishing you had someone to hold. And on the nights where you could hear Paula and Reggie through the thin walls, their soft moans audible as they made love, you wish you had Father Khatri next to you, holding you and taking the fear and pain away as he kissed you. You imagined his hands on your body, the feel of his beard gently scratching your skin as he kissed his way down your neck and across your chest. But after you’d played out your fantasy, you were pulled back into the harsh reality of being completely alone.

As you and Father Khatri stared at each other in the silence of the church you thought of how close you’d come to death tonight. When you thought you were going to die, he was the person you thought of. You had no idea how long you had left in this Town, how long anyone had left. The only thing you were certain of was that no one got out of here alive. If you’d died tonight, you’d have died regretting not telling him how you felt. You needed to let him know, even if he didn’t feel the same. “Can I tell you something?” You shifted in your seat again, clearing your throat. “Tonight – tonight I really thought I was going to die. I shouldn’t have made it back here, but by some miracle I did. And I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to say that it was the Grace of God, or it was God’s will that I made it back alive, but it wasn’t. The only reason I’m still here is because the whole time I was running, I was thinking of you. I was thinking of those first nights when you held my hand all night and kept me calm. How, even after the talismans were discovered and we could sleep safely at night at the houses, you still checked on me every day. I was thinking of how you make me laugh with your stupid jokes, and how you can be so kind and caring and put the whole Town before yourself. I get so lonely at night, I almost miss being stuck in those tunnels fearing for our lives, because at least I got to be stuck with you.” You sucked in a shaking breath, your heart pounding. Father Khatri was staring intently at you, his expression unreadable. “I guess what I’m trying to say, is that I love you.” You looked down at the floor of the church, the silence crushing. Even the Creatures had stopped tapping at the windows.

Father Khatri was quiet for a long time, and now that the realisation of what you’d said had set in, you were seriously considering opening up the door and heading out into the night to be ripped apart. Why had you said anything? What wasn’t he saying anything? You peeked a glance at the man in front of you. Father Khatri was sat with his hands clasped in his lap, his head bent. You pinched the skin on your thigh, hoping beyond all hope that this was some kind of nightmare and that you’d wake up in your bed, alone but embarrassment free. Finally, Father Khatri cleared his throat. “I was just thinking of the time we were hiding in the bunker. You were having a panic attack and to calm you down, I asked you what your favourtie song was. Do you remember what you said?” “Yes, I said it was Yellow by Coldplay.” That moment was forever etched into your brain. “That’s right.,” He said. “And I started singing to you, and you – you started laughing. And that’s the moment I knew I loved you. Your laugh was the single most beautiful thing I’d heard in my life.”

You laughed then, tears of joy spilling down your cheeks. You pulled each other in close, the embrace a little awkward on the flimsy plastic chairs. “That was when I fell in love with you too,” you smiled, your lips gently brushing against Khatri’s. “I was so scared, and as soon as you started singing, I couldn’t help but laugh.” “Why?” Father Khatri brushed a tear away from your cheek and you smiled. “Because your singing voice was the single worst thing I’d heard in my life. So off-pitch.” You squealed as he pulled you onto his lap, ignoring the pain in your ankle. You held his face in your hands as you bent your head towards his. “I’ve never… been with…” Father Khatri trailed off and laughed nervously. “I’ve never kissed someone before.” His life as a Priest and man of God hadn’t allowed him the pleasures of romantic love. But Father Khatri had been put in this Town for a reason. God had led him here, he was sure of it, and now he was sure God had led him to you. “It’s ok,” you smiled, “we can take our time.” You had at least another 5 hours until the sun came up. Plenty of time to practice.

Your lips met, gently and timid at first, as Father Khatri got used to the sensation. You held each other in the dim candlelight of the church, your soft moans echoing off the walls as your kiss intensified. You weren’t going to rush him; this was all new to Father Khatri and you were well out of practice. “Father Khatri,” you whispered, as his fingers gripped your hips. “You should probably start calling me Rudra,” he smiled, pulling back and looking into your eyes. “The things I’ve thought about doing to you? Very unpriestly.” You laughed as he deepened the kiss, his hands caressing your back, hips and waist. You wrapped your arms around his neck, smiling as he kissed you because for the first time in 10 months 3 weeks and 5 days, you no longer felt alone.

#father khatri #father khatri x reader #rudra khatri #father rudra khatri x reader #from epix #from tv

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