Tempest Wind (Vash x F!Reader)

Laundry Day

It's been a week since the two of you escaped the town. You hadn't come across any other settlements, but now you have reached a bigger town where everything seems calm. You reach it late in the afternoon and book a guestroom at the local inn. You take a slightly bigger room than last time and agree that since you don't really need sleep, there's not much point in taking two rooms. Vash agrees with sharing a room but still occasionally insists that you should sleep. Over the last week, you gave into his demand once after keeping watch five nights in a row and allowing him to have peaceful rests. He felt so guilty over it, no matter what you had told him, that on the sixth night he couldn't even fall asleep and told you that he would keep watch. You had argued back for a bit, but then gave up, thinking maybe sleep would help you calm down the voices in your head that had surfaced once more and don't seem to be soothed completely even by Vash's presence. You had woken up in the middle of the night to swap with Vash and had to admit that while sleeping felt nice, the voices in your head were just as loud.

The week has gone by quietly, just the two of you and the tomas tracking through the desert; neither of you really revealed much of your lore to the other. Instead, you spent more time talking about No Man's Land. You told Vash what you had seen 100 years ago, and he told you what had become of those places now. He told you about towns that were erected after you went to sleep and his adventures in them. Every time you wonder how he has seen so much and gotten out of it alive, especially since you have seen how he is, but you didn't touch that subject, too afraid to push him away, you were willing to wait forever for him to truly open up as long as he would put up with you, his presence removing the loneliness you had always felt.

The bathroom door opens, and you turn your gaze away from the window as you sit on the wide bed, your legs pulled against your chest. You see Vash exiting the small room, his hair still damp, but he wears a clean change of clothes. You can see a pile of dirty laundry on the floor behind him. He looks a bit more cheered up from the refreshing shower.

"Okay, your turn. I'll deal with my laundry later. I hope you don't mind it being on the floor." He smiles awkwardly.

"Only under one condition... You have to do me a favor." You feel weird for what you're about to ask him.

"Anything," he assures with a neutral expression.

"Uhm. I... I need a change of clothes, and I... I don't... well, you know... I don't want to go speak to people... on my own." You add the last part solely because you don't want to sound like a complete wimp.

"Oh, no problem!" He sounds like a cheerful puppy. "Well, one problem. I saw the place where they trade clothes, and the woman has already closed shop. I was thinking that you might need some extra stuff, so I kept my eyes open."

"Oh well, guess I'll just be nude then while my clothes dry," you say quietly, knowing what reaction this would get out of him. And you are completely right: he turns bright red in the face.

"While I have nothing against it at all, I think I have a spare shirt in my bag that I kept clean for emergencies." He mumbles out. Too much of a goody two shoes to leave you in a situation where your options were to wear dirty and torn clothes or to be naked. He digs through his bag, throwing more dirty clothes into the bathroom, and finally pulls out another black turtleneck. He gives it a sniff and then throws it at you. "No pants, though; not that they would fit you well anyway."

"Thank you." You catch the shirt and smile at him. You know his shirt is big and long enough for you to wear it as a short dress. You keep it against your chest like a treasure when you get up and grab the other stuff the hotel provides for your wash. As you pass Vash, he gives you a gentle smile, and you see it in his eyes too.

You lock the bathroom door and throw off your dirty clothes. The wounds in your stomach and chest are all gone; there are not even any scars pointing at where they used to be. You get into the shower and turn on the water. You try noticing the temperature, but it barely registers with you. Something deep inside you wants to feel the cold, but as you change the temperature, it leaves you unsatisfied; even the lowest setting doesn't give you the sensation you seem to yearn for. You let out a sigh and start to clean off the dirt and dried blood that is left on your skin in one form or another. It feels nice to be clean, and your hair detangled and free of debris. With the towel still around you, you see that the shower pan is quite deep, and you find a plug for it. You throw all the dirty clothes into the pan and fill it with water before drying yourself off completely and pulling Vash's turtleneck on. Everything is too big on you, and it makes you chuckle. Vash doesn't look like a large person under his coat, but he has wide shoulders and a muscular physique, not to mention he is tall with long limbs. You roll up the sleeves to your elbows and pull down the shirt a bit more; this way, it's halfway to your knees. You feel the thick fabric against your skin and smell the collar. It is clean, but it still has a faint scent that you are used to smelling on Vash; it brings you peace and calms the raising voices in your head. It gets harder every day to ignore the screaming and buzzing; the voice is so familiar, and the memory is so close.

Instead of lingering on the discomfort in your brain, you unlock the door and step out. The room is lit by the sunshine coming in from the window; the brightest spot is the table underneath it. Vash is sitting there and has taken apart his gun to give it a clean. His supplies are scattered around the work surface. He turns to look at you when you step into the bedroom and lets out a whistle, starting with a high note and lowering it quickly.

"I'd have offered you my clothes a lot sooner had I realized how well they suit you." Vash's voice is joyous and almost too innocent. He stands up to come closer. You don't move and only look at him with curiosity. As he stands toe to toe with you, he looks at you for a moment longer before taking off his sunglasses and turning them around to place them on the bridge of your nose. "Great, you're only missing my coat, and then you can go off and be Vash the Stampede."

"Funny man," you reply, voice neutral, "I'm missing a few key characteristics... like the desire to get shot."

"Your words sting, woman!" he says with a hurt expression and a condescending tone, but you feel the chuckle behind them.

"Even so, I'm sure "Vash the Stampede spotted running around with no pants on!" would be a catchy headline." You look at him through the orange glasses. He and the whole room appear sunnier, happier, and filled with warmth.

"No, don't think so; it didn't turn many heads last time, but with you, things might be different." He laughs with a genuine smile on his face, and it makes your heart lighter. It feels good to see him like this; every moment he seems happy makes you proud, and you want to squeeze him tight as a sign of it. He hasn't told you much about his past, and he doesn't need to. You know he has suffered a lot and still does; the pain of it is painted on his face when he thinks you can't see it.

"You are a ladies' man, aren't you? A womanizer, a skirt chaser if you will," you say while looking up at him like you blame him for something.

"What makes you say that? Are my charms working on you?" He seems almost too proud of it, and you slowly shake your head with a sigh, a smile lingering on your lips. "What? Are you too embarrassed to admit I have game?"

"You are a tease. Probably the most un-serious person I've ever come across." You look him in the eyes, "And somehow, also the most serious, unshakable soul. You are an intriguing contradiction."

"Is it so hard to admit a simple truth?" He has a very playful expression on his face as he leans closer; you don't think you have seen him like this before.

"I'd rather die than admit something like that." You joke, not shying away from him.

"You were dead when I found you."

"Yeah, that shows how far I'm willing to go." Your arms yearn to reach out to him, to pull him closer, but instead you step around him, one of your arms nudging his as you pass, and go to sit at the table to look at the weapon on it. You haven't seen it this closely before. You pick a piece of it up; you aren't even sure where it would go. Never before have you held a gun in any form; they make you feel uneasy, how they are able to take a life from afar.

"You call me unshakable? You're more stubborn than a tomas." Vash says quietly right behind you, his breath moving your hair and sending a shiver up your back. He lets out a laugh as you turn around, one hand over the spot where his air had tickled.

"You're so annoying," you blurt out, still looking at him through the orange glasses. His face is so close to yours, even though you are leaning back a bit.

"Yet you still stick around," he laughs, a glimmer in him making your heart burst. "I'm not complaining, Sweet Pea."

"Outrageous. Do confined spaces always make you like this? I don't remember you acting up under the open desert sky. You were very civil." You reply calmly, still teasing him.

"It's not the confined space that makes me like this. No, no, it's probably you wearing my shirt that's slowly creeping up."

That comment brings heat to your cheeks. Quickly, you put the piece of the gun back onto the table, and then both your hands pull the shirt down more and keep it on your lap. You were still completely covered, and you realize he only said it to rile you up. Apparently, he is just as good at teasing you as you are at making fun of him. He laughs and takes half a step back.

"Only joking, Sweet Pea, don't worry. Well, maybe part of what I said was true." He shrugs and reaches out over you to pick up pieces of his gun and starts to put it back together. You are blocked in, and he doesn't look like he will let you get away.