Lily Of The Valley (Aris x Reader)

10) Comforting

We had spent the morning looking through crates of stuff. While we found the usual survival things like first aid kits, knives, food, whistles, bug spray, and more, there were also just random things with no theme.

"You think I would look good in a tutu?"He asked, holding one up.

"Only if you added wings,"I answered, holding a clear pair with pink glitter up.

"Now all I would need is a tiara."

"Yeah. You would make a beautiful fairy princess."

"Oh definitely,"He nodded.

"Do you think I would be a pretty fairy princess?"

"You'd be the prettiest in the whole world,"He grinned, obnoxiously poking my shoulder. Rolling my eyes, I slapped his hand away. "Oh, come on. You know you love me."

"No."

"Don't act like you wouldn't marry me on the spot."

"I wouldn't,"I repeated.

"Hey, candy,"He said, picking up a random bag.

"It's definitely stale,"I pointed out.

"Yes, but it's also very colorful,"He shrugged. Rolling my eyes, I dug through a box of unorganized junk.

"This seems interesting,"I mumbled to myself, looking at a journal.

"I wanna see,"He said quickly, resting his head on my shoulder to look at the item in my hand.

"It's a notebook,"I told him, opening the first page to see that it was written in. Slightly turning my head, I met his eyes to ask.

"You should absolutely read it,"He answered.

Keeping it open, I made it flat as I held it up.

"Read it out loud."

"You have eyes,"I sighed.

"But I like hearing you talk."

"Aris-"
"Just for a little bit. Please?"

"Aris-"
"I'll read a page to you after?"

"Fine,"I gave in. Leaning my body against him, I put it on my lap as he buried his face a little more in my neck.

"I don't know where to start so I'll just write. I don't think anyone will find this so I'm just gonna say whatever. Hey, I'm Esme. My entire family is dead so now it's just me, the obnoxious neighbor boy who doesn't leave me alone, and his cat. We're trying to get to safety. Said neighbor boy is named Xavier. He's also my best friend, my only friend. Well, him, and the cat, Cat. He's not very good at names so if we get an animal somehow I'm picking that. Anyways, Xavier is all kinds of weird. He likes doing things on a whim and drags me with him. He lives for adventure and new things. He likes to flirt with me for fun. He'll probably get us in trouble one day and is the only good thing in my life."

Stopping for a moment, I adjusted the book in my hands before continuing.

"I'm way different from him. Cautious, planning ahead, making sure the coast is always clear. I don't mind though. I know that if it ever went wrong, he would put himself in the way of fire for me. He would always put me first, and I'll do the same for him. All we have is each other. If we lost the other, we'd be alone. Just like that, the world would have no meaning. There would be no goodness. There would be no hope. Everything would be dark,"I trailed off, whispering a little as I got to the end of the page. Sitting there with nothing but his music, we stared at the window, still pressed against each other.

"That's really bittersweet,"I whispered.

"A lot of things in life are,"He mumbled, his voice giving away exactly what he was talking about.

"It gets more sweet as life goes on. Sometimes,"I pointed out.

We stayed there and simply listened to both our thoughts and his playlist. It was another love song. The lyrics were soft, something that left goosebumps on my skin. Even the words 'no shirt, no blouse' were sung in a way that felt poetic. The words before and after that put it together, almost as if to say that physical love, while nice, will never, ever be all there is.

"You know what this song reminds me of?"

"What?"

"The first few months in the bunker."

× ~ × ~ × ~ ×

The heaters weren't exactly up and running. We didn't quite know how to make them yet. We would soon though. We didn't have a choice.

The Double T's had their space. Aris and I had ours. It was nothing really. Items for leisure were put in a small section, survival items were separated into boxes, and that was basically it.

We didn't really have a choice. It was either body warmth or freeze. The choice was obvious. Besides, this wasn't our first time falling asleep together. We used to lay next to each other, reading our books until we couldn't even keep our eyes open.

With his arms wrapped around my stomach, he held me close as we kept the blankets over us. My head rested on his chest as I tried not to shiver. His breath was cold on the back of my neck, showing that he was trying to do the same.

"It won't be forever,"He whispered, his voice shaky.

"I know,"I nodded, mine just as off.

"It's going to be okay, sweet girl. It's going to be okay,"He repeated.

Knowing that he was saying the words just as much for him as he was for me, I let him say them as much as he wanted. Taking them in as well, I held him back while tracing circles on his hands to silently promise the same.

× ~ × ~ × ~ ×

"Yeah. We'd have to sleep in the same bed just to keep warm,"I nodded.

"Yeah. Now look. We finally got our own beds only to be sharing a space all over again."

"Yeah. I guess so."

"Bet you're disappointed about that, huh?"He asked a little quieter than normal.

"Not at all,"I admitted.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Why would I mind? It's nothing new. We've done that since we were kids."

"Oh."

"Do you mind it?"I questioned, turning away and leaning against the seat to face him.

"No. It's nice to know that you're still here. It's kind of . . ."He trailed off.

"Comforting?"I guessed.

Meeting my eyes, a small smile spread across his face.

"Yeah. Comforting."