My Dear Melancholy (Daveed Diggs x reader)

The Bookshelf

"yeah mom, everything is fine. we met when quarantine started and moved in together during it, we were just around each other too often and... y'know... every couple takes breaks."

"y'know, your father and i took a three year long break, basically a break up."

"what?" you leaned forward, "i never knew that... damn..." you sighed, "that's a story for another time, i have to go." you looked up to see daveed walking back inside the house, covered in sweat. clyde was on his leash, he had went for a run with daveed.

getting back into a normal routine was hard for the first week but into got better, there was a lot of apologies and a lot of daveed randomly walking up to you to ask if you were still upset. you had to sit him down and make sure it was drilled in his mind that you weren't mad anymore and that it was in the past. you had a couple more tears from the both of you but today, waking up to daveed giving you a 'MC hammer morning' with pancakes made everything reset. you ended up cuddling for most of the morning on the couch, the dogs sitting on your laps as you cuddled under daveed's arm. it seemed like this morning was a breath of fresh air.

you hung up and daveed smiled through ragged breathes, "hey," was all he managed to get out.

"you were out for a while, where'd you go?" you walked up and took clydes harness off.

"i went around my normal route, but then i saw some pop up shop. i wanted to take a look, so-jesus christ," daveed held up his hand, "i'm sorry out of breath..." you laughed and rubbed his sweaty back, he stood up again. "ok, so, running. stopped running. saw a store. entered store. black owned business. i had to. bought some books. maybe a skateboard." he sheepishly smiled and then went back to putting his hands on his knees.

"skateboard? what- how- where is it?" you followed daveed's thumb as he pointed out to the yard. "it's a long board." you looked back.

"does that make you less likely to make me give it away?" he laughed.

"i'm not saying give it away, i never knew you were into that thing..." you flipped it over to see a cool design.

"i'm not, it looked cool." he embarrassedly shrugged, "we can learn together!" he flashed his teeth.

"what books did you- daveed! why so many books?!" you pointed to the bag.

"this guy was obviously going under because everything was shutting down, i had to help him out." daveed opened the bag, "i was thinking we could do a little project together before we start teaching?" he looked down at you, "y'know, bonding time."

you couldn't help but notice the hope in his eyes, he was smiling wide. you couldn't say no to that face, he was just so convincing.

"bonding time." you whispered, "now, go shower, you smell." you waved him off.

daveed pumped his fists and you were pretty sure you weren't supposed to hear him but daveed turned to clyde and whispered, "told you she'd like it." you only laughed and shook your head, the whole 'talking to dogs thing' is rubbing off on him.

you brought in the board and the books, the bag was heavy, not crazy heavy but, heavy. you plopped it on the couch and started sifting through them.

one like was for books you were interested in, another was for more coffee table books, and the final one was books that were very much only bought for display. you scanned the room, was the project a book talk club? or building a book shelf? or making a fire out these books? you kept the piles where they were and took a look at the skate board.

it seemed to be second hand, a few knicks and a few scratches. overall, a decent board. you googled videos on how to skate, apparently long boards are easier. the water stopped and daveed came out with a towel around his waist.

"so, what do we think?" he body was damp but his hair looked dry.

"lots of books, some of them are interesting." you paused the video.

"good, i wanted to build a book shelf in the office, make it look really cool." daveed tucked his thumbs in the towel, his face lit up when you nodded. "you'd want to do that?"

"i mean, if it's from ikea, we're gonna need two people." you laughed, daveed's eyes slightly widened a bit. "you already bought a shelf?" you could tell.

"maaaaaybe..." he shifted his weight from one foot to the other like a child, "i wanted a little surprise but also, like, a surprise that would workout. because it would be super awkward if the bookshelf showed up and you didn't want one on our shared space."

you noticed he was starting to backtrack, soften the blow for himself if you said you didn't want to. he started doing it more, almost as if he walked on eggshells around you. it hurt to see him second guess himself all the time, especially if the only reason he did it was to keep a fallout from happening.

"i'd love to make a shelf, i'd love to read all these books, and learn to skateboard." you smirked up at him, he let out a deep breath that he was holding and you walked up to give a sweet kiss, reminding him it's all right.

"you know how much i love you, right?" he whispered.

"i'd never doubt it's beyond words to describe," you placed your hands on his damp skin and kissed him again.

his hands made his way to your waist and he pulled you in, hip to hip. your hands left his face and your arms wrapped around his neck as you both pushed against one another. you felt a little nip at your bottom lip, and then again. you smirked and nipped back before pressing your tongue to daveed's bottom lip. at once your lips parted and you both began to migrate to the bedroom, daveed pulled you along and ended up braking the kiss to make sure he wouldn't run into a wall.

"words maybe can't describe how much i love you, but i think actions can give a better..." he thought, "representation." he muttered as his lips went to your neck.

~time skip~

you both laid panting, a thin layer of sweat was over your body. daveed and you were laying beside one another with a sloppy smile on your faces. he reached her swiped away a bead on your forehead.

you only let out a deep breath before rolling over and cuddling closer to him, he welcomed you in his arms and pressed a couple kissed to your forehead. you felt like you could fall asleep right then and there, his warm arms made you feel safe.

"i think that went pretty well," daveed whispered.

you looked up and laughed, "five hours," you smirked.

"what?" daveed knew the answer, "sorry i read the instructions wrong."

"you read it all wrong and we had to rebuild that stupid bookshelf three times, daveed." you moved up and kissed his stubble, "we're both covered in sweat because it so fucking hot out, and i'm pretty sure we scraped the floor."

he placed a finger to your lips, "shh, no one needs to know."

you fell back on your back and looked at the warm brown book shelf, there wasn't any doors so you could see the books that filled the entire thing. there was older books and newer ones from daveed's spending spree. at the bottom was all the journals you received from your dad, originally you wanted them to just go in a closet somewhere but daveed managed to convince you to put them up.

"i think it looks great," daveed was watching you look at the shelf, "do you?"

you studied it for a second, your eyes fluttered close as you slacked your neck to let your head touch the hardwood floor. "i love it, because we did it together."