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colderdrafts · 3 months

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12 - Tomorrow

Underground visitor, gn reader x monster (male drider). Sfw. First Previous Next

It should be around here, shouldn't it?

You stretch your back with a sigh, sore from standing bent forward for a bit too long. You've been wandering around the forest outside Dren’s home for a while now, scanning the ground for your lost device. It’s a hazzle pushing past bushes and leaf litter, remnants of the storm’s destruction not helping matters.

"A little black square with a dark 'skreen'," Dren repeats to himself for the third time, voice balancing uncertainty like he believes this is an elaborate prank. Still, he’s adamant to assist your pursuit, moving through his own forest space. He blows some of his unruly black locks out of his face when leaning down. "And it allows you to talk to someone at once, despite not being in their vicinity?"

"Yep," you call over your shoulder, jumping over some heavy fallen branches. "Very handy, if I do say so myself."

Dren hums in agreement.

There's a loud crash from his direction, and you spin on your heel at the sudden sound.

You find Dren casually hurling timber of a fallen tree further into the woods to get a better look at the bushes crushed underneath it. He picks up another large log with his front legs, seemingly unaware of his startling you, gets his arms under it, and simply throws it aside with a low grunt of effort.

You can’t resist admiring his casual strength for a moment. The perfect sync between the two halves of his body, despite them being put together in such a strange way, are like two separate creatures working together as a unit.

Dren looks up from the lumber he’s been toiling with, catching your eye. There’s a certain knowing warmth in his expression, and it makes you briefly wonder if he was showing off on purpose.

You distract yourself by looking back to your own bushes.

"Damn, give me a heart attack, would you?" you laugh, busying yourself by moving away branches. "What did those poor trees do to you?"

"I would prefer not to," Dren replies simply, grabbing and throwing aside another fallen log. "And they got in my wa – ah, oops. Apologies, critter."

There’s a frantic rustling and movement from something low on the forest floor. Seems his lumbering startled a brown ground-dwelling bird from it's hide in the underbrush. It flaps it's wings from the scare with a shriek, darting left, then right, then settling for the nearest exit being between Dren’s legs, under his abdomen, and then out on the open path.

Dren patiently stands very still while the bird figures out how to ‘escape’ him. It quickly seeks shelter in the deeper forest.

"Careful over there, 'Scary'," you tease him, watching the poor creature go. "We’re not out here to disturb the wildlife."

"I did apologize," Dren chuckles, re-starting his previous task.

You smile fondly, and return to your own patch.

The area you’re in should be around the place where you first appeared when the Darkness yanked you, if your ability to estimate distance is still functional. You had a palm on a tree, and from there you spotted the rocky entrance to the cave – it should be around here somewhere. You grin as another loud crash follows Dren’s part of the objective. He’s as destructive as the storm at this point.

It takes a while, combing the forest floor with shared effort. You cover as many bases as you can, desperation pushing you past the boundaries of your initial estimations. No dice. Perhaps it’s ambitious to think you’d be able to locate a small phone in an entire forest.

Perhaps it’s ambitious to think it’ll allow you to leave, something inside your mind purrs.

You stubbornly ignore both the thought, and the aching in your heart that comes along with it. The annoying pressure, however, remains.

The path you followed when you were walking home that fateful night isn’t exactly as you remember, but again, this is not where you used to be. You suppress a humored snort when yet another soft thud comes from the forest – yet halt, when you realize the sound didn’t come from Dren’s direction.

Careful.

Right after, you hear the unmistakable sound of footsteps approaching. And judging from the sound of the gait, it’s someone walking on two legs.

You look around, and true enough, further down the path you spot a sole individual calmly walking towards you. Anxiety spikes in you at the sight. There’s no way the stranger haven’t heard you rustling about, and now, they’ve seen you too. From this distance you spot canine features of the stranger’s face, and a furry body clad in protective leather.

You quietly look her in the eye at her approach, hesitant to call for Dren to put him and his young in a dangerous spot. And for all you know, your paranoia is completely unneeded.

The wolf-person approaches, eyeing you. Her face is relaxed, and no teeth bares when she speaks.

“Why are you out here on your own, sentry?” the wolf asks in a clear voice, stopping a generous few meters from you. You note a sharp spear attached to her back, the point glinting slightly in the dwindling sunlight.

“I’m not,” you inform the wolf.

“They’re not,” Dren reaffirms, appearing from between the trees. He swiftly steps to your side, not taking his eyes off the wolf you’re talking to. He chitters lowly. “Isn’t it a little early for you to be out and about?”

The wolf immediately focuses on him, subtly taking a wary step back. “Isn’t it a little late for you?” she counters.

Dren hisses. “Not quite yet.”

The adversary attitude is slightly concerning. As much as Dren is solitary, he usually at least maintains a polite demeanor when talking to other common-folk. That he deliberately has cast it away in favor of beefing himself up a bit tells you this is not just any common-folk.

You’d probably do well to get out of this interaction as soon as possible.

“You should leave,” you tell the wolf, trying your best to sound disarming. “We don’t want any trouble.”

“Neither do I,” the wolf replies, looking at you. “I was just out for a walk when I heard you scurrying about. Not often we see your kind around here.”

“I get that a lot,” you grumble. You nod toward the road. “Now you’ve seen me. You can go now.”

“That I have,” she agrees. She eyes Dren. “Lucky one, eh? Are you-”

“Leave,” Dren cuts her off with a snarl, not so subtly letting the wolf know his patience is running thin.

You pause to look at him and find his eyes hardened, subtly brandishing his fangs. You’ve not seen him like this since the clash with Morgan. You can almost feel the vibrations in the air from his lower body searching for any indication of an attack.

You slowly step closer to him – you know he can feel you coming – and place your palm against the side of his waist. His warmth is there immediately, but it doesn’t travel through you as usual. Dren doesn’t remove his eyes from the wolf.

“-looking for something?” the wolf continues regardless, watching your attempt to calm her adversary. She plants her feet slightly apart, like preparing to bolt.

“What’s it to you?” you ask, trying to sound calm. Better keep things smooth while the wolf is still here.

“Nothing. Just curious,” the wolf replies cautiously. “And I’ve found this thing. It smells like you, so I put two and two together.”

The wolf carefully reaches into a pocket with her other palm out, a placating gesture. And, of course, she pull back out your black ‘skreen’, holding it with two clawed fingers like it could burn her if she's not careful.

Drat.

“This is what you’re looking for, isn’t it?” the wolf asks, sounding almost like a statement. She could probably spot the way your eyes widened at the sight of it.

There’s no point lying. That is, indeed, a thing you very much need.

“It is,” you reply as casually as you can. “I lost it a while ago.”

“Give it back,” Dren demands. “It doesn't belong to you.”

“Well, it doesn't belong to you either, by the looks of it,” the wolf growls back at him. She focuses on you. “It belongs to the sentry. So. I’ll make you a deal. I’ll give it back no trouble, and you make sure your custodian lets me leave this forest alive?”

Alive? What? Does she honestly think that – well. A look at your companion, and supposedly it’d make sense for her to think that she maybe won’t. It still surprises you just how easily violent this world can get. But why even approach you then?

He’s not my- is in the front of your mind for a reply, but perhaps it’s better shut off for now. The wolf assumes you have any inkling of control over Dren’s actions, and that might work to your advantage here. As far as you know him, Dren doesn't want to fight either, he’s just determined to show he’s well prepared in case things were to escalate. Perhaps you can utilize that advantage so they don’t.

“Alright. Give me my device, and you can go,” you state, gently squeezing Dren’s side. You’re not sure if you’re apologizing for, or asking for permission to speak on his behalf. “I promise.”

The wolf observes you for a second, assessing your words. Supposedly deciding to trust them, she casually throws the phone to you. You manage to catch it.

“I’ll be on my way, then,” the wolf says. “Done deal.”

She casts one last glance back at you, before swiftly retreating into the deeper woods.

You can feel Dren’s leg pressing against your back. You lean against his side and put your hand on it, feeling the rough hairs there underneath your palm.

“You alright?” you ask lowly.

Dren is quiet a moment, staring at the hastily retreating back of the wolf. He huffs. “No. I do not like their kind, and I especially do not like them this close to my home.”

“That was a hunter, wasn’t it?” you say. You hesitate a moment. “What do you think she was doing here?”

“Scouting,” Dren growls. “Common-folk like her don’t go far from their homes for pleasantries.”

You could choose to hope that a pleasant walk to take in the brown and red hues of fall in this forest would be motivation enough for the wolf. But even you know that's probably naive.

“I have a guess as to what they’re scouting for,” you mutter, looking up at your companion.

Dren gives a short nod, still looking dead ahead. “You’d be correct.”

And curse your correctness, because here you are, having just let a new potential threat to Dren’s existence go on its merry way.

Should you have let him take care of it instead?

Dren keeps staring in the direction to wolf left, waiting a minute until she's completely out of view. He takes a deep breath, and leans down to gently press his face against your cheek momentarily. You lean back into him, reveling in his comforting warmth in the cool air around you.

“I’m sorry. Should I not have – should you just have -” you ask, without finishing the sentence.

“No,” Dren replies quickly. “There’s no need to fight today if it can be avoided. I will deal with this at another time.” He sighs, and gently nudges you to change the tone a bit. “But we got your skreen, did we not?”

“My ‘skreen’,” you echo him, smiling while holding it up for display. “Yeah. We did.”

You press the power button momentarily. Nothing happens. Either it’s out of power, or the rain and laying in the cold, wet dirt for who knows how long has simply done enough damage to break it.

Dren zeroes in on the strange device in your hands, squinting and blinking in succession. It’s as if he's trying to get it to tell him its secrets.

"What an odd little thing," he muses. Then he looks at you and smiles. "The ‘skreen’ as well, I suppose."

You snort, and playfully push at his furred shoulder. "Very funny. But this is awesome! Maybe now I actually have a better shot at getting this whole Darkness business attracted to this place again."

"And how will this work?” Dren asks, intrigued. “Will you be able to catch the Darkness with this object of yours?"

His question makes you pause. Truthfully, you hadn’t thought too far ahead on that aspect of your plan. You’d mainly focused on getting a starting point. Yet now the device rests easily in your palm, and so far nothing has happened.

"I'm not really sure," you admit. "My idea was like - waving it around and hope something happens. ‘Darkness grows in the spaces between us’, so maybe if I create one point for magic and one without..? You know, me and the phone on one end, this whole shabbang of a world on the other?” you continue, feeling the weight of your words crumbling the already paper-thin plan.

You take a second to adjust to the feeling. Dren patiently watches you think things through.

“In hindsight, probably not? Then maybe it would have happened by now," you ponder, turning the phone over in your hands. "So what am I missing?"

Perhaps you got too caught up in a potential easy fix to think it the whole way through. Why should this work any differently than you just being here, without any magic in you?

Dren thinks for a beat, frowning. He gets the same expression when he tries to remember something he’s read. "I’m still not well-versed in this – but the harpy also said magic is quite simple. Perhaps it’s just as you said. Maybe we need to cultivate a space where it can grow. Between us," Dren thinks out loud. “Magic and non-magic. Like you and me.”

"What you mean like - the two of us?” you ask. “You want to help me?"

"If I can," Dren nods. “She said your skreen is completely non-magic? And it’s in a place it’s not supposed to be in. It’s an outlier in this world. Something that’s bound to attract attention.”

“So if we try and generate a space, and have the pho-screen as, what, some sort of a lure?”

“Maybe?” Dren says. “We could give it a try.”

“I thought you said magic’s dangerous,” you argue. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Well, I will not do anything beyond my natural abilities,” Dren reassures you. “I’m not the strongest, but perhaps I can – nudge, a reaction a bit.”

“How?”

“I’ll do what I would normally do,” Dren says. “But I will not tie anything together. I promised I would never deliberately use my ability with you, and this is not my intend here.”

No strings attached. Do you trust it’ll stay that way?

“Alright,” you say assuredly, showing the thought down. “If you think it’ll work.”

“Truthfully, I have no idea. But working or not, you will feel it,” Dren warns. He’s wringing his hands again. “It will only affect you.”

“I know,” you say, remembering the harpy’s words. You’re not sure you understand exactly what Dren aims to do, considering the natural limits to his abilities. But you do understand he wouldn’t do anything if he didn’t feel both of you could handle it. He's had odd ideas before. Might as well indulge him in this one. “Well. It’s worth a shot.”

Later you’re back outside the entrance to the cave – away from prying eyes – and Dren has directed you to stand a few paces away from him. The phone is placed in the middle. Seem the idea is to take it very literally, and using it to symbolize the space between you.

It almost feels a little silly, standing around to do this sort of odd improvised ritual. But worst case, nothing happens, and you're back to square one. Might as well check all bases. The cool air gently blows through the trees, and you glance at the place where you planted your flowers. A thought of how they might be doing down there in the dirt passes.

“Ready?” Dren asks, perhaps noting your momentary distraction.

“Yeah,” you reply. “Go ahead.”

Dren closes his eyes, and you can hear him chittering, claws working on the ground, sensing the air all around him. He steps in place for a bit, like trying to find a proper spot to hold on to. You stand to attention, suddenly feeling a little anxious as you wait in silence.

Dren opens his eyes suddenly, settling on something, and juts forward, completely locking his focus on you.

He catches your eye with a vivid stare that drills into you, so intense you simply can't tear your eyes away from it. His eyes are like four black holes, eager to swallow you in your entirety.

You feel a shift in the temperature as something warm slowly, slowly creeps up over your arms and gently flows through your skin, comforting and familiar. It’s Dren’s influence, you realize, the extend of what he can do. It makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end, a tingling sensation all over. It’s very much unlike the unpleasant experience you had with a certain other person who did something similar.

“Dren-” you breathe softly, feeling the warmth traveling through your bones, and you find you mostly just want it to keep going.

He purrs in response, and you stare into his eyes and find nothing there but pure contentment, enjoying being able to feel you so intimately. Then you can feel a want to go further, get closer, get inside, and a pain, a struggle, trying to hold himself back. You’re reaching for him as much as he is you, and the space between you is almost maddening, churning with need from forced separation.

“Don’t,” Dren hisses suddenly, and you realize you’ve taken a few steps toward him. You didn't even notice when you started moving. “Don’t come any closer.”

Your vision gets blurry as you suddenly get woozy, just feeling the sensation of Dren’s whole being intertwining with yours.

Dren says something again, and you can’t make it out. His voice seems fuzzy and obstructed, like listening through heavy glass. It takes another second to realize that you didn’t see his mouth moving. Dren wasn’t the one trying to speak.

Something wraps around you limbs, and there’s a scurrying of movement all around you, almost like a noise of rapid steps through water. Suddenly it’s hard to breathe, a dizzying and suffocating cloud surrounding you. There’s a stranger there, an outlier, something that doesn’t fit, and I want to get to it, tie it down, I want to understand it, I want to have it, see it, hear it, feel it, love it, make it mine -

It’s quiet.

And it’s dark. You don’t remember closing your eyes, but you do dare open them again.

There, in the space between you and Dren, on top of the phone, is a small, black void. It gently flows and sways, independent of the wind.

It’s like a hole in the air itself. The complete opposite of taking up space.

The sight makes your brain hurt and you gasp in surprise. In an instant it’s gone, as is Dren’s warmth, and you find yourself shivering from the sudden cold that claws its way through you, gripping tight.

No, no, no, no, something inside you squeals like in a panic. No!

Dren’s breathing heavily, closing and opening his fists, his legs stepping in place, agitated. “No,” he mutters to himself, gritting his teeth. He rubs his face with his hands in distress. “No.”

“Dren-?” you call out warily, still staring at the spot where the thing vanished. Your legs feel wobbly, and you support yourself with a hand on a tree. The tightness in your chest increases tenfold and you hiss in pain. “Are you okay?”

Dren looks up at you through his fingers, focusing on calming his breath. “Yes,” he whispers.

You keep your eyes on the spot the void vanished. “Whatever you did - I- I think it worked.”

“Yes,” Dren says again. He swallows hard. “I think it did, too.”

“But – what the hell was that other thing?” you voice feels hoarse. “That wasn’t you, was it?”

“I-” Dren begins. “I don’t think so? It didn’t feel like it.”

Is that just what interacting with darkness feels like? It didn’t exactly feel like Morgan, either. But you most certainly feel them now. You put your hand over your chest and breathe deeply, waiting for it to settle.

“Why did you stop?” you ask once you’ve calmed a bit.

“I – I wasn’t ready, yet,” Dren replies. “It was a test, and now we know we can do it. But I felt like – like I was throwing you away. I want to plan when we do it for real.” He fidgets with his hands, settling down to your eye level with a huff. “This is not going to be easy.”

You cautiously approach the phone lying in the grass, staring at the innocent looking thing. Nothing about it suggests right now it has just acted like some sort of artifact of the human world, helping you gain access to darkness. Still, you carefully step around it like it’s firework that hasn’t gone off as it should.

“Seems you can do that kind of magic, after all,” you tease him gently, settling down next to him and leaning against his side.

Dren breathes out in relief, wrapping a pedipalp around your middle and pulling you to him. He hesitates. “I don’t know what I did. I thought I just connected with you without – tying, anything.”

“Whatever it was, it worked. We created the space we needed,” you reassure him, idly running your hand over the appendage around your stomach.

“We did,” he agrees quietly.

"Dren?” you say.

“Yes?”

You look up at him. “Do you have any idea what an actual fucking genius you are?"

His face slightly flushes from the sudden compliment. He waves you off. "Come now, I just-"

"Nope,” you state, reaching for him. He obliges and leans down, and you cup his face, staring him in the eye. “Actual genius, right there. Doing magic on the fly like that. You figured this whole thing out. And, you read non-fiction for fun."

Dren laughs softly, carefully putting his palms over your hands on his face. "I am a nerd.”

You grin, leaning your forehead against his. "Damn right you're a nerd."

You can feel his mandibles brushing across your cheek as he leans in further, settling with his arms over your shoulders. There’s an odd pull in your face then, heat in your cheeks of anticipation at the subtle movement, like you were expecting a kiss.

"Now we know it works – when will we do this?" Dren asks calmly. It doesn’t seem he’s noticed. “When will we try this out?”

"Well - whenever we can, I guess?" you ponder, absentmindedly running a thumb over his cheek. "I mean -"

That would be it, wouldn’t it? You still for a moment, indulging in his warmth like a reassurance.

"Tomorrow?" Dren suggests helpfully, gently squeezing you. "I will not stop you if you wish to go at once, but if you'll indulge me for one last evening, I would love to keep you for a bit. Even though I know it selfish," he chuckles. "But it's up to you."

"Tomorrow," you repeat, holding him a little tighter. In some way, ‘tomorrow’ doesn't sound very pleasant either. "Yeah. Sounds good."

Back at the cave you take a seat in front of the fireplace in the now-finished woven chair. Dren settles on your right.

"I'm sorry you went through all this trouble to craft this and now I won’t even be able to use it much," you sigh, gesturing at the item. It’s very comfortable. "But I'm grateful none the less."

Dren smiles at you, but it doesn’t really reach his eyes. "It's alright. Maybe I can trade it come spring."

"Or maybe you'll find someone else who can make use of it," you joke suggestively, elbowing his side in an attempt to lighten the mood. It’s your joke, but even you feel it doesn’t really alleviate anything.

Dren politely let’s it pass without acknowledging it. He focuses on the fireplace, and you watch as the light dances in his black eyes. "Maybe."

A silence settles over the living room for a moment. Usually conversation flows so naturally in his company, but seemingly you both find yourselves at a loss for words.

"You look tired all the time," you tell him eventually, just to say something. “I’m worried about you, you know.”

"Well, you needn’t worry, but I am tired," he replies, humored. "My body is merely preparing for the next coming time. It��s completely normal."

He sounds reassuring, but a lingering thought remains with you. Mainly having to do with who you encountered in the woods today. Supposedly your plan will work, but you’re leaving Dren behind in a state more risky than when he first found you. A gnawing guilt forces you to address it.

You grab his hand and squeeze it. “Dren what are you going to do – about the hunter and-”

“Do not concern yourself with this,” Dren says immediately, almost startling you. He looks at you intently. “This is not your issue. I’ve dealt with this before, and I can do so again.”

You pause and look into him for a moment. He’s being very genuine – he truly doesn’t believe you should fight his battles.

But there’s something else there, a subtle fear that rings so deeply into his very being, something you know he’s been fighting his entire life. And it’s about to happen again. And he doesn’t have any assurance, again, to what the outcome of all of this will be.

Still, he’s adamant that you should go. It’s almost infuriating.

You sigh. “But-”

“No. I am too fond of you to force you into any more danger of my world,” he says seriously. “Tomorrow, we will summon darkness again. You will interact with it, and you will go back home.”

“Dren,” you say patiently, equally serious. “I brought this hunter here. If they try to get to you-”

He smiles then, a fondness over your protectiveness. It stops you dead in your tracks.

“They will always try to get to me,” he says, a little softer. “They would have found me sooner or later, no matter where I went. This particular individual would have come all the same, had you been here or not. Do not take this guilt when it’s not yours to carry. Me and mine will be fine.”

He sounds so certain. But you’re not sure who he’s trying to convince.

You glance down and find one of his hands is now on your waist. You don’t know what else to do, so you simply let yourself fall into him, reaching your arms around the space where his torso meets the abdomen, your face leaning against his chest.

Dren envelops you at once. “Sweetness-” he sighs.

You share a moment of calm, listening to his gentle chittering, feeling his arms around you, breathing in his reassuring earthy scent. Then, you feel him take a deep breath before he reaches down, grabs onto your legs with his pedipalps and promptly lifts you off the ground.

“Woah, hey!” you laugh, shifting your grip and adjust your arms around his shoulders instead, when suddenly he starts walking. “Where are we going?”

“We’re going for a walk,” Dren mutters. His voice is warm on your neck, and he gently squeezes you. “Or, well. I’ll be walking. You’ll just - be here.”

“My favorite place to be,” you joke. He hums in response.

Dren brings you to the blue cave once again, the twinkling lights on the side of the cave shining like small stars.

“Hold on,” he warns, before he grabs hold of the side of the wall and starts climbing.

You let out a startled noise at the sudden movement, and hang onto Dren a little tighter.

“Almost there,” Dren reassures you with a chuckle. You get the feeling he’s enjoying this.

He doesn't stop there, bringing you up the far wall and stretches again, reaching for the roof. There’s a sudden pull in your body as your world’s is turned around. You’re upside down.

“Dren,” you protest, feeling the blood rush to you head. “Hey-!”

He turns you around and settles you over his chest, him hanging upside down, using the strings around him like a makeshift hammock. You’re lying flat against his chest, your legs dangling freely over the space where his torso and abdomen meet.

“Is this alright?” Dren teases once you’ve settled a little better. His hands are on your thighs, a reminder he’s not going to let you fall.

“A little warning might’ve been appreciated,” you grunt, eyeing the very hard rock of the cave floor below. Then you stare at the annoying arachnid looking up at you with bemused wonder in his eyes, and you unfortunately can’t find it in yourself to be mad at him. Just like he probably planned.

You give in easily, and lean down to rest against him again, and his hands travel up over your back, securing you there.

“But yeah. This is very much okay,” you sigh, feeling his warmth once again.

“I’ve always wanted to do this,” Dren admits quietly, almost embarrassed. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, no,” you placate quickly. You reach your arms up to reach the back of his head, running your fingers through the unruly mess that is his hair. “No. It’s nice.”

He hums in delight at the attention.

You don’t know how long you lie there in the silence, just enjoying the quiet moment. A lot has happened, hasn't it? You've been her for a little over a week, and barely graced the surface of everything in this world. If anyone is looking for you back home, what will you tell them when you get back?

How could you ever explain what's brought you here? But if Darkness got you here in the first place, who's to say it won't get you back again someday?

Maybe you'd want it to. Then there's a churning inside you, and it turns to 'maybe not'.

“Hey, Dren?” you call out softly after a while.

His response is a chitter and a very deep breath. It would seem he’s fast asleep.

You suppress a laugh, leaving him to his rest. Your brainstorming can wait. “Sleep tight.”

You close your eyes to give in to the moment you’re sharing with him. But you don’t sleep right away. Partially, maybe, it’s because you want to remain here, awake to experience this fully. Another part, unwelcome and annoyingly clawing at the back of your mind, says it wouldn’t be wise to drift off just yet.

And why not? It’s late, you probably should get some sleep. Stubbornly, you lean your face into the crook of Dren’s neck. Still, try as you might to cling to the comforting heat radiating off of him, it’s not quite enough. Something demands your attention, and you once again find your peace broken.

Maybe it’s the disturbance from earlier that’s been amplifying the pain in your heart. Maybe it’s the way you’ve been trying to ignore it. Maybe it’s just getting stronger.

Or maybe it just knows you're going away soon. You can almost smell them.

"I'm going," you whisper to no one through gritted teeth, taking refuge in the warmth of the body you’re resting on. "And you can't stop me."

Don't, something inside you says. Don't. Please don't.

From the arms around your back to the chest rising and falling under your chin and to the faint pull on your heart, you can't tell who's asking this of you.

There’s a disturbance in your body, and you try to focus on shutting it down, anything to alleviate the maddening pressure inside of you. You feel clammy and cold, like a fever is coming on, anxious and restless. Like your body is anticipating something will go terribly wrong, despite you being tucked away in Dren’s arms, as safe as you can possibly get.

You look at the face next to you, sleeping peacefully, and lean in, pressing your forehead against his and enjoying the low purr that escapes him as you do so.

Fuck, tomorrow is going to be the roughest day of your life, isn't it? The fact that you wouldn't wake up to hearing his voice or being able to indulge in his warmth anymore? The thought makes your heart ache, the dull pull of your parasite alongside the pain of losing someone who’s grown so close to you. You brush a strand of his unruly black hair out of his face, staring at the four closed eyelids. Almost like you want him to wake up so you can talk for a little more, just bask in his presence while you still can.

How selfish. He’s nearing hibernation and needs his rest. He’s going to miss you as much as you’ll miss him, and you shouldn’t make it harder than it needs to be.

You carefully unravel yourself from his arms, silently apologizing as he stirs slightly.

Move, you think. I need to move. Get a clear head again before you’ll be able to fully rest.

“Dren?” you say, leaning back to look at his sleeping face. “Could you let me down?”

He doesn’t respond, so you gently cup his face, watching his mandibles click together as you do.

“Could you let me down?” you ask again, nudging him.

One of his eyes finally cracks open to take you in. Then, the three others follow. He blinks in succession, bleary. “Hmm?”

“I’m getting a little restless. I think I’ll go get some water,” you elaborate. “But you’ll need to let me down.”

Dren closes his eyes again and, with a groan, grips around your stomach with his front legs. He gingerly lifts you off of him, rolls over, stretches toward the ground, and places you on the floor.

He retreats back under the ceiling. “Let me know when you’re done,” he yawns.

A second later, his breathing evens out.

Slowing down, huh? The guy is close to a full stop. Good thing he’s still able to recognize you.

You get going. If anything, a brisk walk should help clear your head.

You reach the lake shortly after, letting the sights of the glinting lanterns sparkling in the dark water, the sounds of gentle droplets and flow wash over you. You sigh, and lean down to wash up a bit.

The cool water brings some clarity. The gnawing anxiety seems a little lesser now that you’ve given your flight-response something to work with, but it’s still there. Why didn’t Dren’s presence calm it this time? You were literally right on top of him.

Something’s wrong.

“Yeah, no shit,” you grumble, splashing some more water on your face.

It’s not enough. I need to move.

And go where? It’s in the middle of the night.

Still, walking feels right, right now. Perhaps you should take the last opportunity you have to do some exploration. You've somewhat learned the back and forth between the places you mostly frequent, but this system is huge - you're honestly curious to see what else Dren hides in these walls.

You huff, picking back up a lantern to continue. Yeah, that’s better. Just gotta keep moving.

#colderwriting #drider x you #monster x reader #drider #drider x reader #uv #terato #exophilia #monster boyfriend #monster x human

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