The Ruby Empire

Iomhair the Centaur

Male Monster x Female Reader

Your family owns and operates a massive orchard. So, every year come harvest, your father often hires help. He usually hires the same crew every year, so you've gotten to know them over time. One of them you've known since you were both children, a centaur named Iomhair. Back when his parents had started working in the orchard, his mother would make him stay at the edge of the orchard and play so he didn't get in the way. Your mom would invite him inside during hot days and the two of you started to play together.

He was mottled black and white. The tips of his hand and around his nose and mouth were soft, baby pink. The rest of him was mottled black and white. His hair was long and billowy like one of your mother's scarves. It started black and dripped down to white. Even his hooves were covered with silky white hair. You enjoyed playing with his hair more than anything. At the end of work days, his mother would come to collect him and find his hair done up in braids or curls, decorated with ribbons and bows from your collection.

Iomhair was always skinny and squirrelly, he scared quite easily. Loud noises made him jump and sprint like a madman away. One day, you had to go out and find him after thunder began roaring in the distance. You had been playing in the yard, helping your mother collect sticks for the bonfire planned for the evening. The first sign of thunder and he bolted. You waddled out towards the willow tree by the pond. He was cowered under the cover of draping limbs. He laid in the cradle of the roots, sniffling.

"Iomhair," you coax him. "You need to come out."

"No," he mutters.

"Why not?" You plop down across from him.

He lifts his wide, dark eyes to you. "Aren't you scared?"

You turn towards the horizon, seeing the dark clouds gathering overhead. "It's just rain. Rain is good for the orchard."

"But storms are scary," he whimpers. "They can hurt people."

"Well that may be true," you frown. "But you're somewhere safe. There is the house and the barn and you have my family and your family."

He sniffles, rubbing his eyes.

"Come on out," you hold your hands out to him. "You have me too."

He stretches his hands out, taking yours and squeezing tight. "You promise?" He asks, standing with you.

"Of course!" You exclaim. "You'll always have me."

His smile is crooked but sweet and his tail swishes behind him. "Thank you," he says. He walks behind you back to the house.

When it starts to get dark and rain, his family comes to collect him and head back home early before the storm set in. He runs up to his mother and hugs her.

"Mama! She's going to be my bride!" He says excitedly.

His mother laughs. "Oh is that right?" She glances up at you and your face begins to burn bright.

"She told me so! So that I won't be afraid of the storm." He clutches his mother's hand.

"That's very sweet of her," she winks at you. "Come along, we need to head home before the storm comes."

Through the rest of the harvest, he talked non-stop about what your future would be like. You played house often and he talked about what the house would be like, how many children you would have, and so on and so on. After the harvest was over, he and his family moved on. Over the next few years, Iomhair began to change. He began growing bigger and stronger. He started working out in the orchard rather than sitting aside. He was something of a show-off too. He competed with the others in the crew often, seeing who could pick the most or haul the heaviest bushel. He wasn't the same timid little fowl you grew up playing with.