Forbidden Flame (Mafiatale Grillby x Reader)

Chapter 8- Neutrality

(~Your POV + Time Skip~)

"Y/N, eat something. Please." I've been quietly seated at one of the tables. Grillby places a plate of fries in front of me for the third time tonight. It's really late, almost sunrise even, and I haven't moved from this spot. I don't have the appetite to eat it.

'Grillby is my soulmate. You should be happy, Y/N.'

Still, I'm stuck pondering on this doubt. Doubt that says I'm not good enough. Doubt that says he's lying to me. Doubt that says he doesn't want me. Just this morning, he admitted that he didn't want a soulmate bothering his life. Suddenly, now it turns out that I was the person he was talking about and he wants me to stay? It doesn't make sense.

"I'm just in the way." I mumble. There's a long moment of silence. Grillby pulls a seat beside me, "Why won't you look at me? You haven't eaten or spoken a word to me." Grillby sighs and clasps his hands together. Then, he leans forward and places his forearms on the table. "Are you upset that it was me? Is it not what you wanted?" "I'm asking myself the same questions." I admit to him.

"Look- Y/N, I know the whole soulmate thing can be pretty overwhelming. So... Why don't we just test things out? If you're not ready for that, I completely understand." I ponder over his words. I've been cold and mistrustful ever since I got here and he still treats me with an unconditional amount of respect.

'He's a good man. Well, deep down, I guess my soul already knew that.'

"Nothing too serious for now?" I ask while finally looking into his eyes. My soul has never given me any reason to be afraid of him. Still, I want to be cautious about all of this. It's really sudden.

'I don't even know what soulmates do when they finally meet each other. I didn't think this far ahead... I guess I never really thought I'd actually find mine.'

"We can go at whatever pace you'd like, Y/N." He replies with a chuckle. I smile at him. Even if it's just for a little while, I feel relief. I'm not crushed down by any of the world's problems and expectations. Right now, I'm just his soulmate and that's all he wants from me. I'm not some doll to be controlled at his hand. Grillby accepts me freely. He accepted me as his soulmate even though I'm a human. He didn't curse me out or look the other way when I was troubled. To be honest, being by his side sounds really nice.

Grillby gently wraps an arm over my shoulders. "It's late. If you're not going to eat, you can at least rest and let me take care of things down here." Without warning him I turn my body to him and lean over. My head nuzzles into his chest as I hug onto him in a tight embrace.

'He's so warm...'

His soft warmth is enough to relax all of my muscles. My mind drifts calmly at the sound of his soul beating. Its beat is speeding up. I look up slightly. Grillby's face, specifically his cheeks, have turned a dark blue. At seeing me staring at him, his soul skips a beat and Grillby hurriedly turns his head.

'As if I haven't already noticed. I caught you, ya big softie.'

I find myself giggling. I don't want to let him go. He must be tired too. None of the chores got done after the bar closed because he was so busy attending to me. I feel bad. Maybe I can convince him to go to sleep and worry about this stuff tomorrow.

'Sleeping.. That reminds me-'

"You're not going to sleep on the booth tonight, are you?" I ask with worry in my voice. "I assure you, Y/N, it's not as bad as you make it seem." He shrugs off my concern. "But don't you think it would be better if you slept in bed with me?" I could tell by his soul's pace suddenly going to hyper speed that I said something I wasn't supposed to. Grillby clears his throat, laughing nervously, "Didn't ya just say we were going to take things slow?" I feel as my cheeks warm up quickly. Of course he would take it the wrong way. I have no choice now but to make things clear to him. "Yeah, and I want you to sleep in the bed. As long as you stay on your side of it, I don't care."