DESCRIPTION:
Everything about Cypher is dangerous. He loves you so much, but he wants to keep you safe. That's why he has to convince himself that you don't feel the same, and even if you did that he can't act on it.
GENRE: Fluff and Angst
WORD COUNT: 1649
WARNINGS: Angst
----
Cypher knew you would be trouble for him the moment he met you, hell, even before then when he was scouting you for the Protocol.
You were nice. A bright spark in the so often dark world that he dealt with. He wanted to protect you, but he also didn't want to get too close. He was a dangerous man, and everything that he did was to distance himself from others. He never even showed his face, how was he supposed to expect to get close to you anyway.
The more he spoke to you and the more time he spent with you though, the more he couldn't keep himself away.
It was everything about you. Your smile was like a lighthouse that could guide even the most doomed man home, and oh how much he wished he could be that man. Your laugh was a song that he could never grow tired of. Every word you spoke had him in a trance. Everything about you was perfect. But he couldn't bring himself to tell you any of this. He couldn't. Because even if you did feel the same, he didn't want to put the danger of knowing him on you. So he would keep it all bottled up forever. He had to. To keep you safe.
He would have thought that his secrecy would drive you away, but you didn't seem to share the same reservations about him that the rest of the Protocol did when it came to transparency. He didn't know if he hoped you were just naive or if you shared the feelings for him that he did for you.
"Cypher, can you help me with something?" You ask, and he tries to ignore the way his heart flutters at your presence like it so often does.
"Of course, what do you need?"
You start explaining something about a piece of tech you're working on. He's only half-listening. Too distracted by how close you are to him and how much he wishes he could just reach out and hold you.
"Phoenix said it was a really good idea, but I honestly think he might have just been trying to flatter me."
He hears that. It isn't jealousy that fills his stomach. He tells himself it isn't. At least, it isn't the kind of angry jealousy. It's the kind of jealousy that gnaws at him because he wants to be the one who you speak so fondly of, and it's his own fault that he isn't.
"Cypher? Are you okay?" You ask, concerned.
"Ah, lost in thought for a moment, do not worry. What were you saying?" He attempts to reassure you, waving his hand dismissively. Your smile returns as you continue to explain.
When you leave his workshop, he's left alone again. It feels colder without you beside him. He convinces himself he doesn't care.
He tries not to imagine you together with Phoenix. Both of your smiles are bright and vibrant. The two of you would be a good match for each other. You didn't even imply in any way that you liked him, it's just his own mind getting the better of him. He's choosing to create this problem for himself.
--
"If you were to tell someone you liked them, how would you do it?" You ask it so casually that it catches him off-guard and he coughs. The two of you were sitting in the commons area. He was sitting at one of the stools at a table, and you were laying across a nearby couch.

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Valorant x Reader Oneshots
FanfictionAll of the agent x reader requests from my Tumblr in one place because it's far easier than uploading them as individual fics. Any requests that are smut will be labled as NSFW in the title. If you have a request of your own, send it in to my inbox...