I will possess your heart - Rhys Montrose X Reader

───Part 6.

Rhys loved watching the fluorescent illuminate your form as he showed you around, pointing out his favorite exhibits and keeping you close to him at all times. It'd been a long time since he last strolled through the corridors brimming with life, too busy with his book and the public's eye, and he was glad to have taken you with him.

"Isn't it a bit grim to offer seafood at an Aquarium?" The two of you had left the building to grab a quick bite at the bustling restaurant outside, the aroma of cooked food combating the sticky air from inside made your nose scrunch up.

"It is, isn't it?" Rhys nodded his head towards a family passing around a plate with crab cakes, each grabbing a piece. "They don't seem to mind though."

You grimaced at the sight, turning your attention back to the sign, eager to get back out. Luckily, there was no line, and neither of you ordered much, sitting on one of the benches outside rather than in the restaurant. You placed the water bottle you'd gotten in your purse, not wanting to carry it in your hand but not wanting to waste it either, Rhys teasing you at the action.

It was nice, the fresh air (as fresh as it could be when compressed between two buildings with strong scents battling for dominance) and being next to Rhys, who always made sure to keep you close, touching you in some way as if you might disappear if he didn't. He left sparks with each brush of his skin against your own, making you realize how touch-starved you were, in a romantical sense.

Back at your flat you'd be enveloped in a hug or tugged on your hand or something nearly all the time by Amanda and Lucille, both knowing that your love language was physical touch, indulging it gladly. But it was different with them. It wasn't like that with Rhys.

Something about him made you feel intoxicated, all logic and critical thinking you owned running for the hills when he was near. Normally you'd hate it - and you probably would when you'd return home and the effects he had on you faded, too independent to entertain the idea that you might be able to rely on someone for once - but right then and there you'd do anything for him. The rush of adrenaline of being on the edge of the precipice, a field of red perennials ready to soften your fall - all you needed was to take one more step-, clouding your judgment.

Barely five minutes back in the Aquarium, a bashful herd of doe-eyed with cotton candy hearts that they prayed for Rhys to devour interrupted the two of you. Ink and paper and phones were presented to him like little kids staying up past their bedtime on Christmas eve in the hopes of catching Santa deliver the gifts they'd wished for, a rueful look sent your way by Rhys, asking for your permission to entertain their requests. With a smile you nodded, excusing yourself to enjoy a nearby vivarium so he could finish taking pictures with them and write his name for them to marvel over and press against their lips in the dark of the night.

You didn't mind him indulging them, nor the stares and hushed murmurs and jealousy that had surrounded you the entire time from passersby, 'discreetly' snapping pictures of the two of you without permission, angling it so that your face especially was visible so they had someone to research and hate later on.

No, the thing you minded was the painful reminder the innocent interaction brought with it, that he was so far above you, painting constellations in his free time whilst you, covered in soot and grime, slaved away in the dark underground to live another year.