Saving Grace (707XReader)

Pillow Fights

    _____ walked opened the door to her apartment, carrying Seven's duffel bag while he had the box of chips, the soda, and his computer. She wanted to help him somehow so he wouldn't have to make more than one trip, but he didn't trust anyone with his laptop and he said that the boxes of junk food were too heavy and he couldn't make her carry those, so that left her with his bag of clothes, which was surprisingly heavy. It made her wonder how long he was planning to stay.   
    Once they were inside, she set the duffel bag next to the couch. "You can set up your computer things on the dining room table, if you need," she offered. "I'll set up the couch bed."
    Seven looked at the time. "It's only 5PM," he said. "Why set up the bed now?"
    "So you don't have to do it when you're tired? There are no sheets on it or pillows." She shrugged and walked over to her linens closet. "I'll make dinner afterwards, too."
    Seven frowned a bit but shrugged. He knew what she was trying to do. She was trying to make herself busy so she didn't have time to think. It was smart but if she took care of everything all at once then she would only be left with down time. He put his computer bag on the table and started to set everything up so he could take care of his work when he would need. When _____ returned with the sheets and started pulling off couch cushions, he spoke up.
    "When you start cooking, I'll help you. What do you plan on making?" he asked and walked over to help her with the couch.
    "I was thinking something my dad taught me to make," she said. "Nachos. They're my favorite and I can't not eat them, so I thought it would be a good idea."
    Seven smiled a bit. At least she was taking care to try to eat at least. When all of the cushions were off the couch, he helped her pull out the bed. "Just tell me what you need me to do and I'll help," he offered.
    She looked at him and smiled a bit, handing him a corner of the sheet. "Thank you," she said. "You can grate the cheese then."
    Seven nodded and as he put the ends of the sheet over the corners of the mattress a weird feeling settled over him. Everything they were talking about, what they were doing, it was so... domestic. And, honestly, he really liked it. The idea of making dinner together, talking about simple things, made him feel warm. But it was also rather awkward. He didn't want to bring up _____'s ex unnecessarily and cause her to have a panic attack, but at the same time he could feel that there were still things that she wanted to say about it. He didn't want to push her to talk to him. Not that she wasn't already, but...
    It was like taking Xanax or something. She was talking to him when she started to panic to calm down, but not talking until it all became too much. It wasn't good, but it also wasn't bad either. He didn't mind being used as an antidepressant for now. He just hoped that he would find a way to help her heal and be okay in the long term. He hoped that he could find a way to get her to start talking and get everything out before she shattered more than she already has. He sighed before he could stop himself and _____ looked up at him.
    "Is everything okay?" she asked and tilted her head to the side.
    "Huh?" he looked at her. "Yeah, I'm fine," he smiled. "You don't need to worry about me. You should worry more about yoursel—" he was interrupted when he got a face full of pillow.
    "Stop right there, Luciel," she said. "I can worry about who I want to wor—"
    The pillow bounced off her face and landed harmlessly on the bed. _____ stood there silent for a moment before her shocked face turned into one of challenge. She grabbed a pillow just as Seven lunged for the one that landed on the pullout couch.
    "Oh you are so on!" she shouted and jumped up on the bed.
    Seven smirked and stayed on the ground. "I'm so going to kick your ass," he said and lifted up his pillow to block the whack from _____.
    She laughed and lifted the pillow to try to hit him again. Seven took the opportunity to take a swing at her legs, causing her to jump back. He did as well and took a moment to take off his glasses so that they wouldn't accidentally break them. _____ jumped off the bed and landed on the floor before walking up to him, her pillow primed for an attack. Seven circled around away from his glasses and computer and _____ lunged at him. There was a wide grin on her face and Seven was glad that she was enjoying herself.
    Their pillow fight encompassed the entire apartment. Seven would flee from her and she would chase after him and then when Seven would get the upper hand, he would chase her. They were laughing so much and so loud that he was sure that her neighbors both upstairs and down would probably call a noise complaint soon, but neither of them could find the ability to care about that. Neither of them could breathe well because they were laughing. They were having too much fun.
    Finally Seven cornered _____ in her bedroom, blocking the door so she had nowhere to go. He panted, bursts of laughter escaping as he breathed.
    "It's all over now. I have you cornered!" he said. "You, dastardly villain, will have to atone for your crimes!"
    _____ mock gasped. "Me? Villain?" she said, trying to sound innocent, but smirking the whole time. "What would these crimes be?"
    "The list goes on, but the main crime," he said and held his pillow in front of him like he was about to throw it, "is scaring the living daylights out of me. Do you confess?"
    "You'll have to catch me before I confess," she smirked, a laugh bubbling up.
    "I think I've got you pretty captured," he said. "You have nowhere else to go."
    _____ tsked. "Cornered and captured are two different things. Before I confess to my crimes, you first have to have me in custody, Defender of Justice!"
    Heat rushed to Seven's face and he bit his cheeks. Custody, huh? "Be careful what you say, _____," he said. "You might not get what you expect."
    _____ backed up until her the back of her legs were against her bed. "If you don't capture me, I'm not going to confess," she challenged again.
    He chuckled. "You asked for it," he said before he threw his pillow at her.
    He lunged along with the pillow and when she was stunned from getting a pillow to the face, he tackled her back onto the bed. He grabbed her arms and pinned them over her head and his legs were on either side of her hips, successfully pinning her down. The pillows were on the ground by her feet. _____ looked up at him and felt heat rise to her face as she looked at Seven.
    He looked pretty attractive without his glasses. He looked better with them on, but she could certainly get used to the sight of him not wearing them. His eyes were like pools of liquid gold. Spots of red stained his cheeks and his hair fell into his face. He was grinning down at her, but she could hear his breathing pick up. Her own breathing wasn't exactly normal either. This was the closest she's ever been to Seven. A small part of her felt comfortable regardless of the fact that they were alone in her apartment, in her room, him on top of her, holding her down... and there was another part of her that was afraid, scared of the implications.
    "Confess," he said, still keeping up the act. She was thankful for that. Some of the pressure was lifted from her and she smirked up at him.
    "I confess," she said in a soft voice. "I'm really sorry for scaring you so bad. Can you forgive me, oh Defender of Justice and let me go?"
    "Hmmm... on one condition," he said.
    "Anything to be set free~"
    "Talk to me about whatever you're feeling whenever you're feeling it," he said. "Not in the middle of a panic attack or just before you start hyperventilating. I want to help prevent those things."
    _____ was silent for a moment, letting her breathing even out a bit more. "All right. I'll try," she said. "It's just... hard finding a good way to bring it up."
    "You don't have to worry about that," he said. "You won't scare me away if you randomly start talking about your feelings. I told you I'm going to help you. So will you let me?"
    _____ nodded slowly. "I'll let you."
    Seven grinned and bent down to kiss her forehead before getting up off of her. "Good. So dinner?" he said, his back to her as he straightened out his clothes and picked up the pillows.
    The heat in her face worsened as she sat up. She coughed a bit and stood up. "Um. Yeah. Dinner." She walked out of the room.
    Seven watched as she left and when she was gone, he smacked his forehead. He shouldn't have done that. He shouldn't have tackled her like that and held her down on the bed. But she basically asked for him to do it, too! She knew him and she knew that he would do something like that if challenged. What he really shouldn't have done, though, was kiss her like that. It was mean to be a simple affectionate gesture of thanks, but he wasn't sure that's how she took it. The way she was looking at him though when he had her under him... argh! He needed a cold shower.
    He found himself hating her ex for hurting someone so wonderful the way that he did. But still, for now he would remain neutral for her sake and once she started feeling better again and chose whether or not she wanted to be with him again. If she chose to go back to him, he would support her. If she chose to give up on him and move on, well then he would help her do that. He sighed as he found himself hoping that if she did choose to move on, she would choose to move onto him, regardless of...
    He cut off the thought and shook his head. He walked out of her room and walked into the kitchen. He grabbed his glasses quickly from the dining room and put them back on. She was already there starting the nachos. He walked up behind her and leaned against the island in the kitchen.
    "So what do you need me to do?" he asked and looked over her shoulder.
    She had an opened bag of Tostito's Scoops chips and a mushed up can of El Paso refried beans in a bowl. She was putting some of the beans in the scoops before arranging them on a baking sheet. The oven was already preheating.
    "Grate a block of mild cheddar cheese and when you're done, you can help me with the beans," she said.
    Seven nodded. "Aye, aye, Captain _____," he said and saluted.
    He opened the fridge and pulled out the cheese. The cheese grater and a paper plate were laid out on the island and he set to work. Once all the cheese was grated and the chips were beaned, _____ instructed Seven to put some cheese on each of the chips while she grabbed a jar of jalapeños. As he put the cheese down, she would put a single sliced jalapeño on top of it. It wasn't long before they were done and _____ put the tray of nachos in the oven.
    "So how did your dad get the idea for something like that?" Seven asked, trying to start up a conversation.
    "I honestly have no idea," she said. "But I'll be damned if they aren't good."
    Seven chuckled and hopped up to sit on the counter. She leaned across from him on the island. "I'll have to wait and see to be the judge of that," he said and snickered at her.
    She smiled back at him. "Well, I hope you like them. They aren't Honey Buddha Chips, but they're pretty awesome."
    "If it's put in front of me and it's food, I'll eat it," he said and chuckled a bit.
    "All right, cool," she said and gave him a small smile.
    An awkward silence settled between the both of them. Seven found himself looking everywhere except at her. He drummed his fingers on his leg as his feet kicked a bit. _____ had her head tilted towards the ground, but she was looking at him from the corner of her eye. Seven couldn't keep looking everywhere but her for very long and the second their eyes met, they both spoke at the same time.
    "Seven—"
    "_____—"
    They stared at each other for a moment and then tried again.
    "Go ahead—"
    "You first—"
    Seven coughed and looked to the side, signaling _____ to start talking with a wave of his hand.
    "You first, Seven," she said.
    He looked at her from the corner of his eye before turning his head to look at her properly. He cleared his throat and sighed.
    "About before. In your room. I'm um... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone that far," he said. "I also didn't mean to kiss you like that either. I just got a little carried away."
    _____ looked at him for a moment, completely silent and Seven started to squirm under her gaze. Not moments later, a grin spread apart her face. "Aw, are you embarrassed?" she said. "God Seven, Defender of Justice, is embarrassed?"
    "A little, yeah?"
    _____ giggled a bit. "You don't need to apologize. I had fun. And honestly, you did exactly what I was expecting you to do," she smiled at him and reached up to ruffle his hair. "You distracted me. So thank you."
    Seven blinked at her but smiled a bit. "I'm here so that I can help you. So if I'm not working, we can do pretty much whatever you want."
    She smiled and nodded her head towards the living room. "Come on. Let's watch some TV while we're waiting on the food."
    "Sounds good to me," Seven said and hopped down from the counter and followed _____ out of the kitchen.