WARNING: CONTAINS STRONG VIOLENCE AND SOME SWEARS
An impulsive act of helping became a mission to retrieve a personal item, which then became a close friendship.
Maybe, it will become something more.
(Herobrine X Reader /\ no gender-specific pronoun...
"Then quit looking," he said rather firmly. Perhaps he didn't mean to say it with as much weight as he did; he flinched as though he caught himself and flashed me a casual smirk.
"I'm serious, Herobrine," I said softly, taking a step closer. He still didn't look at me, almost as if he couldn't bear to. "I'm worried about you - about the way you're acting. If we were in a mineshaft or outside at night I'd say fair enough, but we're in my garden. In broad daylight."
Herobrine said nothing.
His stubble tickled my palm as I gently cupped his cheek and turned his head to face me. For the first time since he came here yesterday evening, he let his eyes close. Fatigue radiated from him in a heavy blanket and he leaned into my touch, raising his hand to hold mine against his cheek. Herobrine shifted his head and placed a small peck on my palm.
I couldn't help but blush a little as my heart fluttered in my chest.
"I'm fine," he whispered at last.
"No. No, you are not. You're exhausted, you're anxious beyond anything I've ever seen from you - hell, you won't even look me in the eye."
Now he opened his eyes and gazed into mine. There was a grey tiredness in those white eyes of his, and something else, too. Something I couldn't pinpoint.
"Come on." I took my hand away from his cheek and held his, leading him inside. "You need rest."
Herobrine followed behind me, stumbling slightly over the threshold of the back door. I led him upstairs to my room, where we sat down on the bed before I pulled him close and leaned back with his head on my chest. He tensed up at first, but after a moment he let out a content sigh and snaked his arms around my midsection. I started humming quietly as I let my fingers tangle in Herobrine's hair.
"What're you singing?" He murmured.
"Nothing in particular. Just improvising."
"Just improvising? Funny name for a song."
"Oh, ha ha ha." I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes as a small smile rose on my lips. "You're a real comedic genius, you know that?"
We lay there silence again for a while before Herobrine spoke up, barely a whisper.
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" I asked, confused. "For what?"
"For -" Herobrine paused, and his voice cracked. "- for making you worry."
I knew him well enough to know that he wasn't telling me the whole truth, but I decided not to push it.
"Shhhh..." I rested my lips on the crown of his head. He shivered slightly and tightened his arms around me. "It's alright."
I'm not sure when (D/N) clambered onto the bed, but he lay down next to us, snuffling at Herobrine's messy brown hair. Herobrine chuckled and reached up to scratch (D/N)'s ears. Once satisfied with the attention he received, (D/N) sprawled himself on top of me and Herobrine.
We remained there like that for a while: (D/N) asleep on top of Herobrine, who was on top of me. I hummed some more until I eventually drifted off.
<•••>
Herobrine had spent a few days at my house with me, helping out with the day-to-day chores, and generally relaxing and taking it easy. While he certainly recovered from his exhaustion significantly, he still seemed on edge. He was even worse than "usual" as we headed to the local village.
"I still don't get why you want to go there," Herobrine said.
"Why not? It's a lovely day and I've got extra resources that I want to trade. You didn't have to come with me if you didn't want to."
"Well I sure as hell don't want to leave you alone! Not with -" Herobrine cut himself off, looking away. "Nevermind."
"No, tell me. Not with what exactly?"
"I...I can't explain it."
"Can't?" I asked irritatedly. "Or won't?"
"Can we please just drop it?"
"Why? You haven't been yourself in weeks! I'm worried sick about you, and I'm trying to help but you won't let me." I bit back the lump forming in my throat as tears stung the backs of my eyes.
"Because I want to keep you safe, and I don't know what'll happen if I tell you!" Herobrine ran a hand through his hair.
A disgruntled "Hrm" caught our attention. We turned to face the villager who (like the half-a-dozen-or-so others around him) stared back in confused fear.
I took a small step forward, and they all took two or more back.
Glancing back at Herobrine, I saw that his eyes were wider than I've ever seen and face had paled a few shades and his hands were shaking violently. He swayed before collapsing to his knees, holding his stomach as if he were about to vomit. I knelt down beside him, not knowing what to do.
Voice shaking worse than his hands, I barely caught the words he breathed.
"I'm sorry."
Some part of me understood, and my stomach dropped all the way to bedrock as my blood turned to ice.
A low horn sounded in the near distance.
"I'm so, so sorry, (Y/N)."
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A/N
I was on a roll with this chapter cuz I (for once) had a plan after I finished the last chapter. And since I'm feeling generous, I'll publish this one early! Next chapter should be closer to the normal two-week schedule (or maybe I'll change it to one week? Idk) but for now I fell like giving y'all a sneak peak for what I'm planning to write:
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