"Artificial Stars" Ejen Ali x Reader

"Looking Forward to the Weekend."

Welcome, to yet another Zass x reader! Anyway, today's One-shot was requested by Liz_Hopes.

Okay, in all honesty, this is my first time writing angst to fluff. So because of that, this has a pinch of more fluff than I expected. But despite that, Enjoy!

(Zass x Fem! Reader)

┌─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───┐

Your loving relationship was always filled with smiles and joys. Despite your lover's lack of words, his honey-sweet intimacy is better than any words.

Though despite your intertwined bond, You have to be miles and miles away from your dearest. Hesitatingly, both of you agreed to this temporary separation as you both exchanged stories, not in person - instead through typed words every day, and calls at weekends.

Coincidentally, a nasty storm occurred before one of your calls.

🌧

'Thank Goodness I went home early.'

Right after your inward statement, yet another instantaneous light has beamed from afar. You sink deeper into the comfort that was your blankets, as your wet hair drapes at the pillow resting near your head.

Your vision was clouded with darkness, with only the dimly lit lantern resting upon the nightstand, the light flickering with the rain drumming outside.

Despite the warm wraps of your sheets, the prickling cold somehow seeped in. You let out a chilly shiver, and with an outstretched arm you pat down for any more additions to your multiple-layered 'heater'.

Yet your exposed hand didn't feel the usual fluffy blankets - Instead, being met with the icy surface that is your bedsheet. Guess even with all windows sealed, the temperature seems to remain freezing.

A look of surprise crosses your face. Stunned, you jerk back the outstretched hand back to your warm fort.

"Is this even usually this..."

Drums of downpour knocked harder on your windows, with faint snippets of the howling wind following.

"-cold?" the remaining self-inquiry drifts off to a mumble, as your face was slowly buried in the bundle of softness.

As your eyelids droop, your figure shifts once again. Though this time, your head rests upon one of your usual pillows as your arms wrap the former into an embrace.

With the chilly temperature, along with a fortress of pillows and blankets, the tugging on your eyes only got stronger.

The best you can do is leave them squinted, avoiding letting it fully close into your 10-hour slumber. Instead, you blind yourself with your phone's artificial light.

Scrolling through some read messages from earlier today, your attention landed on a particular contact. With a click, barrages of call notifications filled your screen with a pinch of texts and badly taken pictures.

You snickered as your fingers glided to the handset button, turning the screen darker, With Zass' name displayed above the 'Connecting...' text. Chimes rang out, as you continued to wait for him to eventually accept the call.

You heard a final ring, as you were greeted by your waving lover.

"Good evening Zass!" You spoke, the volume higher than normal for him to hear you amidst the pounding storm.

"So... Anything to share love?" Zass nods, his hands grabbing ahold of his trusty notepad. In your weekly meetups like this, you always find your lover writing down his statements rather than texting them. It was adorable.

With a final flip on his pencil, he flips the notepad:

'Not much. Are you doing fine in that storm?' Your lover's handwriting never ceases to leave you in awe.

"Somehow. Though it's quite cold here..." you mumble, "I wish for your warm hugs."

A close-eyed look crossed his face, with his slender hands already holding his thoughts. 'That's a way to say you miss me.' Flipping the notepad facing him, he rushingly writes the following statement:

'On the bright side, you will be back soon.'

Letting out a giggle, "Yep, and the first thing we'll do is to hug for hours." you explained, grinning at your lover's confusion. "It's for all of the days I spent without you!" you giddily explained, using both your arms to make a rainbow.

Zass' miniature smile grew at your actions, the camera showing your sappy happiness - despite the previously mentioned weather and temperature...

"AH! Forgot it was coLD-"

Or not.

Because of you fawning over your boyfriend, you somehow forgot the temperature outside your burrito blankets. Hastily returning to surrounding yourself with stray sheets, as you chatted away with your lover.

Though, noticing that you can't keep your eyes open for another second, Zass bids you a tender goodbye.

Placing your phone on the nightstand, you went ahead to take hours' worth of sleep, with a familiar fluttering twist remaining from the video call.

🌧

A few more months.

Your thinly-stringed patience is questioning waiting that long- This lengthy mission has been quite a pain, but it will be worth it to see his smile back home,

...to finally feel his worthwhile embrace.

Till then, our weekend calls are more than enough.

└─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───┘

You seem to like Zass quite a lot. So here is another one of these babies!

If you'd notice my writing is written in the 2nd person, It's because I've been reading a lot of characters x reader on Tumblr.

So somehow, it's more like a gender-neutral reader since I didn't use the usual she/her and I/me as I didn't use the third person nor first/[Name]'s POV.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little short one-shot! See you all soon in the next update!