What's Cooking, Good Looking! [ Arven x Reader ]

14 Salty Tears

˖˚⋅𓐐 ˚₊⋅𓌉◯𓇋 ˖˚⊹ 𓎩 ‧₊˚

The horse's hips swayed with every step in a rhythmic fashion, trotting at an unimpressive speed for other creatures, but definetely notable for a Mudsdale of its size and weight.
You rode on her back, eyes protected from the strong sun by your hat, focused on the road ahead. 

The journey had been mostly silent, with very few exchanges between you and your one human companion. It was suffocating, the hot air of that day that your lungs had grown accustmed to, like continuosly drinking venom to the point you became immune. You looked back. Arven was panting, visibly sweating, having moved to the wooden wagon as he couldn't stand to feel the body heat of your pokémon against his already overly clothed self. You sighed, and with a balance that entranced the blonde, stood up on Muddy's back and walked gracefully over to her rear, jumping off and landing in front of him. 

—Wow— he muttered, observing you with eyes as wide as his state would allow, he felt his skin almost melting together.

You stared back in silence for a few seconds before kneeling before him and placing your cap on his head, pulling the visor a little too low to the point his vision was obscured.

—Hey, what the hell!?— he complained, adjusting the hat, the clank of horseshoes hitting the ground and wheels spinning as he was able to see again. You were rummaging around the few bags that held your belongings, and when you turned around to face him again, a distorting image of your face presented itself through the transparent bottle that you shoved a little too close to him. He placed his hand on it and moved it to the side, meeting your gaze with a much clearer view this time. You raised an eyebrow.

—Oh, do you not want it?— you asked, a little bit of sass in your tone— You look like you're burning from the inside out.

His teal irises jumped to the bottle, now aware that it was water, then back to you, and back to the bottle. He took it with desperation and chugged it all down in one go. Drops of liquid sliding down his dry lips when he was done.

—Thank you— he cried— Tho it was kinda lukewarm...

—Well it is pretty hot today and we aren't travelling at the most convenient hour— you struggled to look up at the bright sky, putting your hand on your forhead to cast a shadow. 

The sun was at its highest and most brilliant, it seemed. Twelve sharp. You looked away, bothered by the light. And to think it's just a yellow dwarf. You couldn't imagine having a blue giant as your sun instead. Probably because life would be unsustentable at such high temperatures.

—I can drop you off in the next town and you can go home, take a cold shower or something.

His brows furrowed:— I said I'm comin' with you.

—I know, I know— you sat next to him, scratching the back of your neck— You've repeated it like 20 times already.

—Stop asking if I want to leave then. My answer isn't changing anytime soon.

—Arven— you called, and adjust to lay against the side of the wagon, letting your head rest on it and your arms hang down to the outside, your voice sounding tired and nonchalant— Listen, I know you came because you pity me or something. But I assure you, I'm fine. I've been doing just fine for the past few years so, believe me, I don't need you to-

—To what?— he cut you short— To worry about you? To look out for you? To care about wheather or not you're eating? I'm... I'm your friend now! And guess what, I DO CARE. Because I'm your FRIEND. So you better expect more of my yapping about proper meals if you keep this up, alright!?

You didn't respond. You knew he was looking at you, you could feel his pircing gaze on your face, waiting for it to emote in any way. But you just looked at the road.

—Take the left road up ahead, Muddy.

The pokémon neighed in response. Silence took over again. Heavy, cutting you into pieces. You felt shame.

—...I am a bit hungry...

Arven's muscles relaxed at your confession, his expression much softer, he listened to you carefully, as if secret information was being revealed to him.

—Sometimes I'll go without food if I can't find a berry tree. Mudsdale and my team get most of our saved rations, they are my first priority. If I'm lucky, every couple of days I'll have enogh money to get something decent, or come across some free samples or something. Open food festivals are also nice. Whenever they're free I mean— you closed your eyes, basking in the warm light, and took a deep breath in before continuing. Oh boy, here comes a heavy subject for you— I... actually used to steal from my own clients.

—...

You pressed your lips togheter, guilt kept them shut for so long that it was hard to keep talking. You didn't want to open your eyes. The idea of Arven looking at you with the same expression you made at yourself, it scared you.

—When I first started, the whole delivery thing was just an excuse to have easy access to food and other things. I've even stolen clothing, shoes, stuff that I later sold. But my actions came back to bite me in the ass. I wasn't blamed for most of it, but I was causing a rift in people. 'You didn't send me this thing, you forgot this other thing, you're doing this on purpose, you're robbing me out of my money, you scum'. I got people going at each other's thoats. Shop owners and their providers, clients, sometimes friends or family members. The things I did had consequences on their relationships. No one wanted to believe that the little delivery boy with his harmless little Mudbray was just a little thief.

—_____...

—And like, it was forever ago but, I dunno. Sometimes, when my friend offers to take me out to eat, or when someone wants to gift me something, I feel like I'm that little boy again, taking advantage of innocent people. And I still say yes every, single, fucking, time. Because I'm so, so goddamn hungry, Arven...

A rough pull on your shirt forced you to sit up from your slouching position, your chest collided with the other boy's as he embraced you with his arms. He hugged tight.
Was your breath always this erratic? Or your eyes this itchy? Why did it feel like your lip quivered? You didn't want to know.
So you hid your face on Arven's shoulder, safe from the world, and from yourself. No one would see you.

Except for him.

But you were okay with that.

—Y-You look nice in my hat— you whispered in between hiccups.

—...You...— you felt his chest grow and shrink slowly against your own, his breath trembled for a second, overcoming the insecurity of his words— You look nice when you smile.

˖˚⋅𓐐 ˚₊⋅𓌉◯𓇋 ˖˚⊹ 𓎩 ‧₊˚

Dallas Liu's perfomance in the Avatar live action reignited the deep love for Zuko that I forgot I had, and like, please I can't start another fic I haven't finished a single one yet, I have commitment issues