A Blanket of Bear
Read on AO3
Word count: 1,098 one shot
Tags: Halsin x reader, fluff, fluff without plot, ear nibbles, soft Halsin
Summary: Halsin refuses to take a break since the two of you returned to Thaniel's Realm. Luckily for him, you always know what he wants without him needing to ask.
A/N: Just some more Halsin fluff that nobody asked for but you all definitely need. A quick one shot from a prompt in a discord server. Enjoy some tooth-rotting marshmallow fluff and ear nibbles.
Bedtime must have been an ordeal tonight.
You sit in your bed, book in hand, waiting for Halsin to finish his nightly rounds with the children. Normally, you’d be there helping but he insisted you get the evening off. The past week or so had been a long one. Two of the old buildings in Reithwin were crumbling beyond repair, causing a significant delay in rebuilding. On top of that, a couple of the children dared each other to eat spoiled mushrooms, causing a fever to spread through many of them. Then today, you found out that the new berry patch you had started a few weeks ago had been infected with a blight and had to be burned away.
You’d really hoped to have fresh berries to top the honey cake you planned to make for Halsin’s birthday.
Over the sound of the fire crackling in front of you, you hear the soft clack of your cottage’s door opening and closing. The familiar sound of his footsteps causes you to mark the page you were reading before setting it to the side. Not a moment later, Halsin is standing in the doorway.
“My heart.” He has a tired smile on his face, his eyes look heavy, and his shoulders are drooping.
“What is it, love?” You hold your hand out, inviting him closer.
“Just the fatigue of an old druid trying to keep up with eighty-some children.” He takes a deep breath before coming to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Then you should have let me help you.” You reach out and gently stroke his back. “You know, I could always give you an evening off as well. I’d say you more than deserve it.”
“Oh no, that’s not necessary. Besides, I shudder to think what chaos the children will cause should I fail to deliver a bedtime story.” His affectionate chuckle makes you feel warm from head to toe. He would never admit it, but he was tired. As much as he adored the children in their care and how much he believed in their cause of building this community, he just wouldn’t admit that the past months had also exhausted him to the bone.
“I can tell stories! I’ve told many, you may remember.” You cross your arms, a playful scowl clouding your face.
“Yes, usually with my help if I’m not mistaken.” He smiles that perfect smile at you, the one that makes your heart flutter, and your cheeks redden.
“Well, you do have the best voices for the monsters, my love.”
He leans over and presses his forehead to yours before placing a light kiss on your lips.
“You’re so sweet to worry about me, my heart. But this task was one I decided for myself, for us. I owe it to you and everyone else here to see it through.”
“Halsin,” you reach up to tuck a runaway hair behind his ear, “you don’t have to be everything for everyone every second of the day. You’ve spent more than enough time feeling responsible for others. Let someone take care of you for once.”
“Well, that’s what I have you for, is it not? The only person in a century to give me the chance to sit and enjoy nature once again.” He kisses the back of your hand before staring back into your eyes. Those gorgeous, hazel eyes have seen every part of you, loved every part of you.
“Of course.” You smile back at him, knowing exactly what he wants right now, although he’s never willing to ask it of you.
You scoot back in the bed to lean against the headboard, a pillow propped behind your back for comfort. A knowing grin tugs at his lips from the movement. You hold your arms out, inviting him to come lay against you. He turns his back to you, snuggling himself between your legs, laying his head on your chest.
You wrap your arms around his shoulders, letting your hands rest on his chest. He takes a few deep breaths as he relaxes into your embrace. With every stroke of your hand across his torso, he melts further into you. You slowly trace your fingers around his shoulders, the lines and grooves memorized from your nights together. He mirrors the light touches on your thighs, sending shivers throughout your body.
Halsin nestles himself further in between your legs, his warm body a comforting weight pinning you down. You know that if you can get him to relax just a little further, he’ll easily drift into a trance in your arms.
You continue your gentle massaging, easing the tension in his muscled shoulders and earning you soft, content sighs. When you run your hands through his hair he leans further into your touch.
“My heart?” He asks with the tired tone of a child fighting a nap.
“Yes, my bear?”
“Would you…” He trails off, still not willing to ask for anything for himself. You smile to yourself, thankful that you know what he wants without him needing to ask.
You pull him closer to you, once again wrapping your arms around his broad shoulders. Despite his size, he always feels so much smaller when you hold him like this. Like he shrinks himself down to fit into your embrace better. You lean forward a little so you can press a kiss into the skin where his hair meets his neck, just behind his ear. Slowly, you move your lips to his ear, grazing them up and down the edge, every now and then pausing to nip in the spots he liked – the pointed tip, the lobe. Your gentle nibbles cause little bumps to rise up all over his skin. You let your lips wander up and down his neck before coming back to his ears, those perfect kissable ears. Alternating between kissing and nipping his earlobes and nuzzling your face into his hair and neck, you hear his breathing slow down and you notice his eyelids have stopped fluttering.
“I love you, Halsin.” You lean forward just a little more to whisper the words to him.
A small murmur escapes his lips, cutting through his trance to make sure you know he feels the same. “I love you, my heart.”
He may not be willing to take an evening off yet, but you can sleep soundly next to him knowing how relaxed he is in your arms. Knowing that at least for tonight, he’ll rest.
And how lucky for you to fall asleep with your loving bear as a blanket.
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I once again want to point out that Halsin is the only romanceable companion who will NEVER break up with you, just the other way around.
By comparison:
Making certain choices that violate Astarion's agency cause him to break up with you. Astarion has more triggers to break up than the rest combined.
Moving forward with having sex with someone else while in a relationship with a monogamy-only (Lae'zel, Wyll, Minthara, Gale) character will always lead to them breaking up with you. In some cases spawn Astarion or Karlach could break up with you over it (if it's Mizora).
Going squid will cause some characters to break up with you (though I'm aware this isn't always the case for Lae'zel anymore).
Causing ANY other romanceable companion's opinion of you to dip so low that they issue a warning (I can't remember if this is the first or only second warning) will cause them to break up with you as well.
But Halsin? He stays with you until the moment he leaves entirely (if his approval is sunk) or until you break up with him.
I just find that really interesting. I know the Doylist explanation is that they didn't think any of these situations would make Halsin want to leave, but the Watsonian perspective leaves a lot of interesting implications about Halsin's hero worship for the player.
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