The Halfling - Part 10
Title: The Halfling
Pairing(s): Onkey, side 2min
Rating: PG-13 (overall)
Genre: Romance, sci-fi (?)
Disclaimer: I don't own SHINee, I don't own any of the members. Their souls and bodies belong to SM, I am only a lowly, foreign fanfic writer.
It was a calm afternoon in the library and Onew was sort of sick of sitting still. He’d finished his French tutoring earlier that morning and thrown himself into his work in an effort to forget how he’d woken up that morning with Key pressed to his back.
He often spent time in his home, but he also usually ventured into the capital at least once a week or to the palace to visit his cousin. Jonghyun had been so busy with several ball gowns the Duchess had requested for her return that he had barely been around at all. And, of course, Onew could always venture into the city by himself but he knew Key wouldn’t like to be left alone, and he certainly knew Key couldn’t stand to be surrounded by humans in such a large and crowded city like Hwaegoong.
Onew glanced over to the aforementioned Halfling to see him curled up in the chaise lounge right in front of the window, sketching. He had the pad resting against his raised knees, his tale curled loosely around his ankles. He could only assume he was drawing the scenery outside with gently falling snow.
“Is there snow on your planet?” he questioned idly.
“I heard stories,” Key answered slowly as he pulled his eyes away from his sketchpad, “that in the northern lands there was something called white rain. They said it was very cold when it fell from the sky. I believe it must be the same, but the lands I am from are much warmer.”
“So this is your first time ever seeing snow?” Onew asked almost incredulously but, in reality, it really wasn’t that amazing.
“I saw snow when I was first brought here as well, my lord. But it was not like this,” Key looked back out the window. Onew did as well, seeing the half-foot of snow on the ground and the steadily falling flakes. Thinking back to the day Key had arrived, over three weeks ago now, the snow had been only flurries.
“Would you like to go outside?”
“Out-outside?” Key looked uncertain. “Is it not cold?”
“It is, but we have special clothes for that. It’ll be fun, Key! We can make a snowman,” he said, now suddenly very excited. He couldn’t even recall the last time he had made a snowman.
“A snowman?” the Halfling asked, looking near terrified. “Is this not black magic?”
Onew stared at him for a few seconds before realization hit him and he tried hard not to laugh. “No, we don’t bring anything to life. We just make something that looks like a man out of snow, it doesn’t do anything.” Key still looked disbelieving, but Onew stood and gestured to the other. “Follow me. You’ll love it.”
-----
Twenty minutes later and Onew was dressed in snow pants, a heavy jacket and had a hat sitting on his head. He’d found an old pair of snow pants for Key, which would have to do until he could call Jonghyun to get the Halfling his own pair. For now, he had to deal with low-sitting pants held up by a belt. Luckily he had his own waterproof winter jacket and snow boots.
Onew was in the middle of looking for a hat for the other but couldn’t find anything. Key’s ears couldn’t comfortably be tucked underneath one of his own hats, so he instead gave Key his warmest scarf so that he could wrap it around his head if he so chose.
“Ready?” Onew asked with a full grin on his face as they stood just inside the main doors to the house.
Key glanced down to the heavy outerwear on his body. “I… I believe so, my lord.”
Onew pulled the heavy doors open and stepped out into the cold air. There was no wind and flakes were falling gently but steadily; a perfect first introduction to snow. He crossed over the shoveled walk and rock driveway and walked into a clear spot in the yard where there were no bushes to worry about, only a couple trees nearby.
Key followed his master cautiously, fidgeting with his mittens uncomfortably. His ears kept twitching as if to flick the falling flakes away - to no avail - and his tail matched the jerky movements.
“So, this is snow,” Onew smiled brightly. Key looked around and held his mitten covered hand out, watching the flakes land on the blue material. Then he turned his head up to look at the sky, only to jump when flakes landed on his face. He jerked his head back down and buried his face into the scarf wound high on his neck.
“What is snow?” he asked after a moment, voice muffled by the scarf.
“Frozen water.”
“It is falling ice?” Key exclaimed, clearly alarmed. “This is safe?”
“It’s too small to hurt you, don’t worry,” Onew laughed. He gathered a small pile of snow from the ground with his gloves and held it up in front of him. He then licked a bit of it up and made a show of eating the snow. “See? Try it.”
Key stared at the pile warily but finally leaned forward. His pink tongue poked out and gathered a small amount of the snow, pulling it into his mouth. His lips pursed closed but he didn’t flinch at the temperature. Or swallow, from what Onew could see.
“You’re supposed to eat it, Key,” he prompted. The blonde looked at him suspiciously for a moment before he swallowed. “See that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“No, my lord, it was not. It tasted very… fresh?” Key answered.
Onew smiled happily, “I knew you would like it. Snow is completely clean water so you can eat it if it’s all white like this,” he gestured to the white pile still in his hands before letting it fall to the ground and wiping his gloves off. “And, Key, please don’t hide your reactions from me. If you’re cold, show me. If you’re tired, show me. Alright?” he watched the other knowingly. After a moment, Key nodded, and Onew could swear he barely caught the indent of a dimple peaking over the edge of his scarf. “Good. Now let’s go make that snowman!”
Onew was sure he saw Key’s face pale a bit.
-------
They had built up the base of the snowman well, three balls stacked on top of each other, from biggest to smallest. Onew had instructed Key to go get three sticks from a nearby tree, two sturdy ones and one thin twig. He, on the other hand, was busy picking out five small stones from his driveway. When he returned he was surprised to see that Key had climbed the tree and was carefully selecting the best sticks. After a good five minutes, he finally gathered the sticks and climbed down the branches as easily as if they were stairs. Perhaps Onew shouldn’t have been that surprised. After all, Feline Halflings were known to hunt on their planet primarily while hidden up in trees where their prey couldn’t see them.
When Key rejoined him, he took the two larger sticks and stuck them in the middle ball as arms. He then took the small twig and broke it up into pieces, setting them on the top snowball in a semicircle. Key watched confusedly, but said nothing. Onew then placed two of the stones above the semicircle twig as eyes, and the last three stones down the middle snowball as buttons. The caramel haired boy then removed his own scarf and wrapped it around the snowman’s neck with a grin.
“A snowman!” he declared happily.
Key blinked at the odd object before him for a few seconds before bursting into the most raucous laughter Onew had ever heard. It was like a great shout was released from the Halfling’s chest and he threw his head back, pink tinged nose and cheeks on full display. He let out laughter as though he’d been holding it in forever and it was dying to get out. Key slapped his thigh in amusement and Onew found himself laughing back, unrestrained and clear, in a way he couldn’t remember laughing for a long time. He wasn’t quite so sure what exactly they were laughing at but something about the way Key sounded, not the tinkling of bells he had imagined but rather a hurricane of noisy delight, made him indescribably happy.
“You don’t like our snowman?” Onew finally asked once they’d calmed down.
“I do like him, my lord,” Key answered through chuckles. “It’s just… I have never seen something that looked so ridiculous.”
“He does look a little silly, doesn’t he?” he regarded the snowman once more.
Key hummed in agreement and moved toward the snowman. He stood for a moment, grinning at the thing in front of him, before reaching forward and removing the scarf Onew had placed there. Onew was about to ask why Key was ruining such a wonderful piece of snow art when the Halfling shook out the scarf and approached him.
“You will get sick,” Key chided, almost nagged, with a smile on his face while wrapping the soft material around Onew’s neck.
Onew could do nothing but stare in slight disbelief at the blonde before him. They were so close to each other, closer than they’d ever been (while conscious), and he couldn’t tear his eyes away. Every detail on Key’s face was flawless; from the pink tipped nose to the glittering black eyes to the snowflakes resting in his eyelashes and landing in his hair.
Key stepped back after a moment - thankfully before Onew could do something stupid - but the soft smile playing on his lips remained. With the way he was looking at him, Onew could swear it seemed like Key knew exactly what effect he was having. But, no, the elder couldn’t let himself get swept up in pipe dreams.
“What should we do now, my lord?” Key’s voice broke him from his reverie.
“Let’s make snow angels,” Onew grinned.
“What is an angel?”
“I’ll show you.”
------------------
The two didn’t go inside until they were both shivering and it was growing dark, light starting to shine through the large windows of the stone manor.
Junsil, the head butler, met them in the entryway immediately to take their dripping outerwear. He took the garments with a small frown to his face, probably upset at the impropriety of a Duke’s son playing in the snow with his pleasure slave of all things, but said nothing.
“Thank you, Junsil,” Onew smiled at the middle aged man.
“My lord,” the other bowed back and left without another word.
Key was standing in the entryway much as he had the first time he came to the mansion, though notably less stiff. His hair and tail were covered in small bits of ice where the snow had fallen, melted and then frozen again in the cold air. A small shiver ran through the Halfling and Onew frowned, gesturing for the other to follow him.
“We should both shower and I’ll have dinner sent up when we’re done,” Onew suggested once in his room. He set about gathering clothes to change into but paused when he received no response. Turning, he found Key standing by his doorway looking very confused. “What’s wrong?”
“Forgive me, my lord. But I do not know what a shower is,” the blonde responded unsurely. Onew could almost see the wheels turning in his head, trying to remember the word.
“The enclosed part of your bathroom, where the water comes out of the ceiling,” Onew answered simply enough, assuming perhaps the other never learned the word.
“I have never entered this part of the bathroom, my lord.”
Onew froze and turned back toward Key only to blink at him blankly.
“You haven’t gone into the shower?” he reiterated to which Key only nodded, still looking ashamed. “Well… how do you clean yourself?”
“I wash my body with water from the sink and use the white rectangle that sits on it. It creates small, clear circles on my skin. I was washed with something similar at the Keeper’s.”
“You have been washing yourself with handsoap?” Onew asked incredulously and watched Key droop his ears down.
“Yes, my lord,” came out unsurely. “To be honest, my skin has felt very tight and uncomfortable, and my hair and tail feel very unclean.”
“How were you washed at the Keeper’s?”
“The white rectangle-“
“Soap.”
“-yes, soap. And a bucket, my lord.”
Onew was suddenly filled with a strong sense of anger. Key was never taught how to properly clean himself on this new planet; he was never showered. He hadn’t even learned the word. This didn’t upset Onew so much as the underlying meaning to it; that no Halflings would need to shower, because they weren’t humans and therefore had no reason to be clean except for presentation to their master. It was just so purely inhuman.
“I want you to understand something, Key.”
“Yes, my lord?”
“I’m not at all angry with you, okay? I’m upset because of the way you’ve been treated,” the older explained carefully before taking a deep breath, letting out a huff and stomping to his bathroom.
Five minutes later, Onew and Key were standing in the Halfling’s bathroom. Onew had brought extra shampoo, conditioner and body wash from his own bathroom. He was glad to find that the bathroom was already stocked with towels and washcloths; something he hadn’t even thought to check before Key ever arrived. He explained the toiletries and showed Key the touch screen controls on the shower wall, deciding to only focus on the on/off, hot and cold options. He figured the more specific controls such as scented water, soap suds, music, and water pressure would be too much for Key to take in.
“I believe I understand, my lord,” Key said at the end of Onew’s speech.
“Alright,” the older sighed, still very much frustrated at being confronted with another small reminder of how lowly Halflings were viewed by others. “When you’re dried off and changed come to my room for dinner, please.”
Key bowed in understanding and watched silently as Onew left the room.
-------
Key returned from his shower somewhat glowing. His nose was shiny from the scrubbing his face had just received, Onew presumed, and his hair was still wet but tousled from towel drying. Onew could catch the smell of his own shampoo wafting from the Halfling as he joined him and it made that odd, but now increasingly familiar, warm feeling grow in his stomach.
Dinner was a quiet affair. They only spoke occasionally but when they did Key kept fidgeting and clearing his throat as if he were catching a cold, but was still animated about their experience in the snow that day. He spoke with the excitement of child that had just gone through Christmas. It was sort of adorable, and Onew ignored that warm feeling that just wouldn’t go away.
After dinner Onew requested hot chocolate from the kitchens. Key took to it much better than his past encounter with coffee; blonde ears perked forward in interest and he drank it only slow enough to avoid burning his mouth.
Onew was troubled to see that the fidgeting and throat clearing didn’t stop and, in fact, Key had begun coughing as well. He let out a sigh, upset with himself for being the cause of Key’s illness, but he would call for medicine in the morning.
“Are you ready for bed?” Onew asked later that night, after they had spent some time reading and Key had devoured about three mugs of hot chocolate.
“Yes,” Key nodded and placed his now empty mug on the table.
“Should I call for a spare bed to be brought up?”
“Actually, my lord,” the Halfling began, turning his sparkling black eyes toward his owner and let out a small cough. “I was wondering if we could share your bed again. I feel safe there, my lord. And I enjoy sleeping on a cloud.”
Onew regarded Key carefully. He was sure Key shouldn’t be so willing to share a bed with him, but, then again maybe not. After all, Key had been separated from his family for three years. He was used to living in the same hut with them, even sharing the same bed. Maybe Key just craved affection. At this rate Onew was sure the unsuspecting Halfling would be the death of him.
“Alright, Key. Let’s go to bed.”
Key’s face lit up immediately, “Thank you, my lord.”
The two settled onto the large mattress easily. Onew shut off the lights and fireplace, listening to Key’s soft throat clearing and coughs in the dark. He’d definitely need to call for cold medicine in the morning. Onew made a mental note and then drifted off to sleep without difficulty.
-------------------------
Wow, okay! So, basically this was the second half of part 9, but then i got super into writing and this turned into like 15 pages. so there is more to come but it's currently not finished and needs some editing! this is basically just fluff!! i hope you all like it. i'm sorry it's been such a long wait for something not so awesome lol. let me know what you think regardless? thanks so much for reading <33333
next
Pairing(s): Onkey, side 2min
Rating: PG-13 (overall)
Genre: Romance, sci-fi (?)
Disclaimer: I don't own SHINee, I don't own any of the members. Their souls and bodies belong to SM, I am only a lowly, foreign fanfic writer.
It was a calm afternoon in the library and Onew was sort of sick of sitting still. He’d finished his French tutoring earlier that morning and thrown himself into his work in an effort to forget how he’d woken up that morning with Key pressed to his back.
He often spent time in his home, but he also usually ventured into the capital at least once a week or to the palace to visit his cousin. Jonghyun had been so busy with several ball gowns the Duchess had requested for her return that he had barely been around at all. And, of course, Onew could always venture into the city by himself but he knew Key wouldn’t like to be left alone, and he certainly knew Key couldn’t stand to be surrounded by humans in such a large and crowded city like Hwaegoong.
Onew glanced over to the aforementioned Halfling to see him curled up in the chaise lounge right in front of the window, sketching. He had the pad resting against his raised knees, his tale curled loosely around his ankles. He could only assume he was drawing the scenery outside with gently falling snow.
“Is there snow on your planet?” he questioned idly.
“I heard stories,” Key answered slowly as he pulled his eyes away from his sketchpad, “that in the northern lands there was something called white rain. They said it was very cold when it fell from the sky. I believe it must be the same, but the lands I am from are much warmer.”
“So this is your first time ever seeing snow?” Onew asked almost incredulously but, in reality, it really wasn’t that amazing.
“I saw snow when I was first brought here as well, my lord. But it was not like this,” Key looked back out the window. Onew did as well, seeing the half-foot of snow on the ground and the steadily falling flakes. Thinking back to the day Key had arrived, over three weeks ago now, the snow had been only flurries.
“Would you like to go outside?”
“Out-outside?” Key looked uncertain. “Is it not cold?”
“It is, but we have special clothes for that. It’ll be fun, Key! We can make a snowman,” he said, now suddenly very excited. He couldn’t even recall the last time he had made a snowman.
“A snowman?” the Halfling asked, looking near terrified. “Is this not black magic?”
Onew stared at him for a few seconds before realization hit him and he tried hard not to laugh. “No, we don’t bring anything to life. We just make something that looks like a man out of snow, it doesn’t do anything.” Key still looked disbelieving, but Onew stood and gestured to the other. “Follow me. You’ll love it.”
-----
Twenty minutes later and Onew was dressed in snow pants, a heavy jacket and had a hat sitting on his head. He’d found an old pair of snow pants for Key, which would have to do until he could call Jonghyun to get the Halfling his own pair. For now, he had to deal with low-sitting pants held up by a belt. Luckily he had his own waterproof winter jacket and snow boots.
Onew was in the middle of looking for a hat for the other but couldn’t find anything. Key’s ears couldn’t comfortably be tucked underneath one of his own hats, so he instead gave Key his warmest scarf so that he could wrap it around his head if he so chose.
“Ready?” Onew asked with a full grin on his face as they stood just inside the main doors to the house.
Key glanced down to the heavy outerwear on his body. “I… I believe so, my lord.”
Onew pulled the heavy doors open and stepped out into the cold air. There was no wind and flakes were falling gently but steadily; a perfect first introduction to snow. He crossed over the shoveled walk and rock driveway and walked into a clear spot in the yard where there were no bushes to worry about, only a couple trees nearby.
Key followed his master cautiously, fidgeting with his mittens uncomfortably. His ears kept twitching as if to flick the falling flakes away - to no avail - and his tail matched the jerky movements.
“So, this is snow,” Onew smiled brightly. Key looked around and held his mitten covered hand out, watching the flakes land on the blue material. Then he turned his head up to look at the sky, only to jump when flakes landed on his face. He jerked his head back down and buried his face into the scarf wound high on his neck.
“What is snow?” he asked after a moment, voice muffled by the scarf.
“Frozen water.”
“It is falling ice?” Key exclaimed, clearly alarmed. “This is safe?”
“It’s too small to hurt you, don’t worry,” Onew laughed. He gathered a small pile of snow from the ground with his gloves and held it up in front of him. He then licked a bit of it up and made a show of eating the snow. “See? Try it.”
Key stared at the pile warily but finally leaned forward. His pink tongue poked out and gathered a small amount of the snow, pulling it into his mouth. His lips pursed closed but he didn’t flinch at the temperature. Or swallow, from what Onew could see.
“You’re supposed to eat it, Key,” he prompted. The blonde looked at him suspiciously for a moment before he swallowed. “See that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“No, my lord, it was not. It tasted very… fresh?” Key answered.
Onew smiled happily, “I knew you would like it. Snow is completely clean water so you can eat it if it’s all white like this,” he gestured to the white pile still in his hands before letting it fall to the ground and wiping his gloves off. “And, Key, please don’t hide your reactions from me. If you’re cold, show me. If you’re tired, show me. Alright?” he watched the other knowingly. After a moment, Key nodded, and Onew could swear he barely caught the indent of a dimple peaking over the edge of his scarf. “Good. Now let’s go make that snowman!”
Onew was sure he saw Key’s face pale a bit.
-------
They had built up the base of the snowman well, three balls stacked on top of each other, from biggest to smallest. Onew had instructed Key to go get three sticks from a nearby tree, two sturdy ones and one thin twig. He, on the other hand, was busy picking out five small stones from his driveway. When he returned he was surprised to see that Key had climbed the tree and was carefully selecting the best sticks. After a good five minutes, he finally gathered the sticks and climbed down the branches as easily as if they were stairs. Perhaps Onew shouldn’t have been that surprised. After all, Feline Halflings were known to hunt on their planet primarily while hidden up in trees where their prey couldn’t see them.
When Key rejoined him, he took the two larger sticks and stuck them in the middle ball as arms. He then took the small twig and broke it up into pieces, setting them on the top snowball in a semicircle. Key watched confusedly, but said nothing. Onew then placed two of the stones above the semicircle twig as eyes, and the last three stones down the middle snowball as buttons. The caramel haired boy then removed his own scarf and wrapped it around the snowman’s neck with a grin.
“A snowman!” he declared happily.
Key blinked at the odd object before him for a few seconds before bursting into the most raucous laughter Onew had ever heard. It was like a great shout was released from the Halfling’s chest and he threw his head back, pink tinged nose and cheeks on full display. He let out laughter as though he’d been holding it in forever and it was dying to get out. Key slapped his thigh in amusement and Onew found himself laughing back, unrestrained and clear, in a way he couldn’t remember laughing for a long time. He wasn’t quite so sure what exactly they were laughing at but something about the way Key sounded, not the tinkling of bells he had imagined but rather a hurricane of noisy delight, made him indescribably happy.
“You don’t like our snowman?” Onew finally asked once they’d calmed down.
“I do like him, my lord,” Key answered through chuckles. “It’s just… I have never seen something that looked so ridiculous.”
“He does look a little silly, doesn’t he?” he regarded the snowman once more.
Key hummed in agreement and moved toward the snowman. He stood for a moment, grinning at the thing in front of him, before reaching forward and removing the scarf Onew had placed there. Onew was about to ask why Key was ruining such a wonderful piece of snow art when the Halfling shook out the scarf and approached him.
“You will get sick,” Key chided, almost nagged, with a smile on his face while wrapping the soft material around Onew’s neck.
Onew could do nothing but stare in slight disbelief at the blonde before him. They were so close to each other, closer than they’d ever been (while conscious), and he couldn’t tear his eyes away. Every detail on Key’s face was flawless; from the pink tipped nose to the glittering black eyes to the snowflakes resting in his eyelashes and landing in his hair.
Key stepped back after a moment - thankfully before Onew could do something stupid - but the soft smile playing on his lips remained. With the way he was looking at him, Onew could swear it seemed like Key knew exactly what effect he was having. But, no, the elder couldn’t let himself get swept up in pipe dreams.
“What should we do now, my lord?” Key’s voice broke him from his reverie.
“Let’s make snow angels,” Onew grinned.
“What is an angel?”
“I’ll show you.”
------------------
The two didn’t go inside until they were both shivering and it was growing dark, light starting to shine through the large windows of the stone manor.
Junsil, the head butler, met them in the entryway immediately to take their dripping outerwear. He took the garments with a small frown to his face, probably upset at the impropriety of a Duke’s son playing in the snow with his pleasure slave of all things, but said nothing.
“Thank you, Junsil,” Onew smiled at the middle aged man.
“My lord,” the other bowed back and left without another word.
Key was standing in the entryway much as he had the first time he came to the mansion, though notably less stiff. His hair and tail were covered in small bits of ice where the snow had fallen, melted and then frozen again in the cold air. A small shiver ran through the Halfling and Onew frowned, gesturing for the other to follow him.
“We should both shower and I’ll have dinner sent up when we’re done,” Onew suggested once in his room. He set about gathering clothes to change into but paused when he received no response. Turning, he found Key standing by his doorway looking very confused. “What’s wrong?”
“Forgive me, my lord. But I do not know what a shower is,” the blonde responded unsurely. Onew could almost see the wheels turning in his head, trying to remember the word.
“The enclosed part of your bathroom, where the water comes out of the ceiling,” Onew answered simply enough, assuming perhaps the other never learned the word.
“I have never entered this part of the bathroom, my lord.”
Onew froze and turned back toward Key only to blink at him blankly.
“You haven’t gone into the shower?” he reiterated to which Key only nodded, still looking ashamed. “Well… how do you clean yourself?”
“I wash my body with water from the sink and use the white rectangle that sits on it. It creates small, clear circles on my skin. I was washed with something similar at the Keeper’s.”
“You have been washing yourself with handsoap?” Onew asked incredulously and watched Key droop his ears down.
“Yes, my lord,” came out unsurely. “To be honest, my skin has felt very tight and uncomfortable, and my hair and tail feel very unclean.”
“How were you washed at the Keeper’s?”
“The white rectangle-“
“Soap.”
“-yes, soap. And a bucket, my lord.”
Onew was suddenly filled with a strong sense of anger. Key was never taught how to properly clean himself on this new planet; he was never showered. He hadn’t even learned the word. This didn’t upset Onew so much as the underlying meaning to it; that no Halflings would need to shower, because they weren’t humans and therefore had no reason to be clean except for presentation to their master. It was just so purely inhuman.
“I want you to understand something, Key.”
“Yes, my lord?”
“I’m not at all angry with you, okay? I’m upset because of the way you’ve been treated,” the older explained carefully before taking a deep breath, letting out a huff and stomping to his bathroom.
Five minutes later, Onew and Key were standing in the Halfling’s bathroom. Onew had brought extra shampoo, conditioner and body wash from his own bathroom. He was glad to find that the bathroom was already stocked with towels and washcloths; something he hadn’t even thought to check before Key ever arrived. He explained the toiletries and showed Key the touch screen controls on the shower wall, deciding to only focus on the on/off, hot and cold options. He figured the more specific controls such as scented water, soap suds, music, and water pressure would be too much for Key to take in.
“I believe I understand, my lord,” Key said at the end of Onew’s speech.
“Alright,” the older sighed, still very much frustrated at being confronted with another small reminder of how lowly Halflings were viewed by others. “When you’re dried off and changed come to my room for dinner, please.”
Key bowed in understanding and watched silently as Onew left the room.
-------
Key returned from his shower somewhat glowing. His nose was shiny from the scrubbing his face had just received, Onew presumed, and his hair was still wet but tousled from towel drying. Onew could catch the smell of his own shampoo wafting from the Halfling as he joined him and it made that odd, but now increasingly familiar, warm feeling grow in his stomach.
Dinner was a quiet affair. They only spoke occasionally but when they did Key kept fidgeting and clearing his throat as if he were catching a cold, but was still animated about their experience in the snow that day. He spoke with the excitement of child that had just gone through Christmas. It was sort of adorable, and Onew ignored that warm feeling that just wouldn’t go away.
After dinner Onew requested hot chocolate from the kitchens. Key took to it much better than his past encounter with coffee; blonde ears perked forward in interest and he drank it only slow enough to avoid burning his mouth.
Onew was troubled to see that the fidgeting and throat clearing didn’t stop and, in fact, Key had begun coughing as well. He let out a sigh, upset with himself for being the cause of Key’s illness, but he would call for medicine in the morning.
“Are you ready for bed?” Onew asked later that night, after they had spent some time reading and Key had devoured about three mugs of hot chocolate.
“Yes,” Key nodded and placed his now empty mug on the table.
“Should I call for a spare bed to be brought up?”
“Actually, my lord,” the Halfling began, turning his sparkling black eyes toward his owner and let out a small cough. “I was wondering if we could share your bed again. I feel safe there, my lord. And I enjoy sleeping on a cloud.”
Onew regarded Key carefully. He was sure Key shouldn’t be so willing to share a bed with him, but, then again maybe not. After all, Key had been separated from his family for three years. He was used to living in the same hut with them, even sharing the same bed. Maybe Key just craved affection. At this rate Onew was sure the unsuspecting Halfling would be the death of him.
“Alright, Key. Let’s go to bed.”
Key’s face lit up immediately, “Thank you, my lord.”
The two settled onto the large mattress easily. Onew shut off the lights and fireplace, listening to Key’s soft throat clearing and coughs in the dark. He’d definitely need to call for cold medicine in the morning. Onew made a mental note and then drifted off to sleep without difficulty.
-------------------------
Wow, okay! So, basically this was the second half of part 9, but then i got super into writing and this turned into like 15 pages. so there is more to come but it's currently not finished and needs some editing! this is basically just fluff!! i hope you all like it. i'm sorry it's been such a long wait for something not so awesome lol. let me know what you think regardless? thanks so much for reading <33333
next