Weak (Canute x Femreader x Thorfinn)

Love You

Waking up, I pushed the blanket off of me and sat up stretching. Canute had already stood up and opened the door. I quickly got up and moved behind him, rubbing my eyes.
It was Askeladd, his face white and his sword bloody. Five  of his men stood behind him, Thorfinn included.
"What do you mean there's been an accident?" Canute asked in a serious voice.
"The battle that just took place seemed to be a bit more serious than we thought at first. We underestimated their ability-"
"I do not care. Where is Ragnar?" Canute asked
Askeladd took a deep breath before speaking again
"Your highness you have my deepest condolences. He fought valiantly against a group of five English soldiers but in the end he caught a spear to the back."
"No this can't be. This is a joke." Canute said bringing his hand to cover his mouth.
"Come see." Askeladd said motioning forward. Canute walked out of the house. Ragnar laid on a table. A sword in his hands covering his wound in his abdomen.
"No-" Canute said stammering
"Again your highness, he fought a hard battle. I am so sorry for your loss." Askeladd said calmly
"We were- we were just eating rabbit soup.. he just jumped up and left me.  (Y/N) you were there. You saw him. This can't be true can it?" He said turning to me with eyes wide pointing at Ragnars body. Reality hadn't sunk in yet for him.
"Canute I'm so sorry." I said looking at him with sad eyes.
"No-"  He fell to the floor in shock.
"He- he was just here and he- he took off and left without a word-I-" he said stumbling over his words.
"We leave tomorrow. The English have found out where we are and we can waste no time. Two got away, Bjorn is tracking them down now but we have no idea how large their forces are. That is a chance we cannot take." Askeladd said standing over him
"No! We cannot leave before giving Ragnar a proper funeral." Canute cried out.
"There is no time."  Askeladd said
"I won't leave without him. Give him a proper funeral and that is an order!" Canute stood up, his face red in anger.
"We cannot. There is only three sleds and no room for a body. Please say your goodbyes tonight."
"No I will not! We must pay honor to him he" Canute screamed.
*slap*
I moved back in shock. Askeladd had leaned down and hit Canute across the face.
"Ragnar is dead. He is never coming back. It is time for you to grow up. It is time to be a king." Askeladd said in a stern voice before standing up turning to me.
"(Y/N) you are to stay with him tonight. Make sure he is alright." I nodded in response, looking at Thorfinn who was looking right at me.
"And to my men," Askeladd continued, "We leave at dawn. Get rest tonight, for tomorrow blood will be shed."
Askeladd turned and walked away towards camp. His men followed him, except Thorfinn who stayed back with me. Canute sat on the ground crying and still holding his face where Askeladd had hit him. I walked over to him and bent down.
"Hey let's go inside. You'll freeze you you don't have any coat on." I said softly
"No. Leave me you'll catch a fever. I'm staying here."
"Canute please. This isn't what Ragnar would've wanted." I pleaded
"How dare you say that! You know nothing about him! What he would've wanted was a proper funeral. If you are going to do anything to help, I implore you be useful for once and make your uncle give him a funeral!" He shouted at me.
I walked a step back from in shock. I knew he was grieving but still.
"Don't speak to her like that. All she's trying to do is help." Thorfinn said walking over and stepping in front of me.
"AS IF YOU HAVENT SAID WORSE TO HER. AS IF YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED LOSS." Canute said looking up erratically, losing his temper.
"You don't know the first thing about me do you?" Thorfinn said walking towards him bawling his fists
"My uncle killed his father." I said in a soft tone while throwing my arm out to prevent Thorfinn from moving any closer to Canute. Canutes eyes grew wide before narrowing again.
"Oh." He said softly
"Yeah." I said quietly looking away from him.
"Let's go." Thorfinn said while pulling on my sleeve.
"I can't Askeladd ordered me to watch him." I said back in a whisper.
"Screw him. You don't need to be a damn baby sitter."
"At least let me get him in bed first. He's cried so much he's sure to fall asleep quickly. I'll meet up with you after." I said trying not to let Canute hear.
"I'll be close. Come find me after."
"I will." I said watching Thorfinn walk off.
Turning to Canute, I moved closer to him, taking a seat on the ground.
"I'm sorry I shouldn't have told you to get up." I said taking a breath and turning to look at him. He was sitting covering his face with his hands.
"I-I'm sorry." He said in between heaving breaths.
"Don't be." I said looking at him. I put my hand on his back.
"You should go inside you'll get sick." He said in through tears
"I'll be fine. I'm not going inside until you do too." I said rubbing his shoulder.
"Please go." He whined
"I can't if I wanted to. Askeladds orders."
"So you're just with me because of that huh?" He asked aggressively
"No. Believe it or not I care about you quite deeply." I said moving my hand off of him and crossing my arms. The snow was starting to pick up. I had to get him inside soon.
"There is no one left in this world who loves me. I don't know how to carry on." He said sobbing again. I paused for a moment before speaking.
"You know I thought the same thing when I lost my family. But life has a funny way of wrecking you to pieces and putting you back together again whether you want to accept it or not. Call it Jesus's will  or Thors plan or whatever you want but the point is life goes on and you will be happy again." I said softly looking up at the stars above and the snow falling down around us before turning to him and continuing,
"Oh and that first parts not true either I love you-"
I stopped realizing what I had just said. It came out so easy I didn't even realize I had said it. I had never said that to someone that wasn't family.
"I love you too." He said softly turning to look at me.
His face was red. His eyes were blood shot from crying for so long. His long hair was  disheveled.
He was the most beautiful human I've ever seen.
"Do you mean that?" He said softly asking
"Yeah. I think I do." He was looking back at me with teary eyes.
"Are you just saying that because you're cold and want to go inside?"
"No dumbass." I said laughing under my breath. I stood up in front of him and looked down.
"It's time to go on now isn't it?" Canute said sadly looking up at me. One last tear rolled down his face. I let my hand down to help him stand up.
"Yeah I think it is."
~
After walking into the house I took his cape from around my shoulders and draped it across the couch to let the snow dry.
"Come here let's get into bed." I said wrapping my arm around his waist. The strength in his legs hadn't came back yet.
"T-thank you." He said softly as we walked through the hall to the bedroom. A soft blush lined his face.
When we got to the bedroom he sat down on the bed  and looked at me as I lit a candle on his bedside table.
"Do you need anything?" I asked taking a seat next to him
"No." He said back
"This is my first time sleeping without Ragnars protection. I don't know what to do." He said turning away from me
"I'm staying with you. Don't worry." I said putting my hand on his and rubbing his palm with my thumb.
He looked down at our hands for a moment before turning reaching up and touching my face.
"You're the most beautiful person I've ever met (Y/N.) You're what my world spins around." He said caressing my face while whispering before moving in to kiss me.
It was something I've never felt before. There was no lust behind it, nothing rough, just pure adoration.
"I love you." I said softly breaking the kiss. I felt as if I didn't say it in that moment my heart would burst out of my chest and land on the floor.
"I love you more."

IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE PLZ READ
I'm thinking of turning this into just a Canute x Reader story from the next couple of chapters forward. I'm so sorry if that disappoints people but I just love writing for Canutes character, it comes so easy. If more people want Thorfinn to still be in the love triangle, I will, I just feel after the love confession YN might need to stop being a hoe lol 🫢 (as well as we're about 2/3s of the way into the season one manga and I don't want to continue this story into the season 2 time line) so let me know what you think about this and if Thorfinn should still be in the running. (And if I do end up making this just Canute should I write a Thorfinnx Reader fic?) I'll probably wait a bit before writing the next chapter just to decide what I want to do and get reader's opinion. Thanks 💙