allegory of the blade.

Blade loves the feel of you. In any sense. Just small reassurances that you’re here with him, a tangible companion, someone who’ll stay with him and won’t disappear the moment he offers himself the chance to feel a tad too happy.

If not an arm draped over your shoulder while you two take a walk together, then a hand curled round your waist or simply holding your own hand, gentle squeezes punctuating every few moments while you tell him about your day.

And when you’re showing him something on your phone, Blade’s shoulder presses against yours as he hunches over to take a look. Even if you shift away, his body trails after you like a flower to the sun, that bit of contact almost mandatory if you want to get him to pay attention to the meme you’re showing him.

Some gentle pats to your head; should he feel like it, he might ruffle your hair as well (and no, it doesn’t matter if you protest—your good hair days aren’t safe from him). And then his hand would slowly travel down, caressing your cheek, thumb rubbing circles against your skin. Maybe a playful pinch if he’s feeling like it, because your reactions are too adorable to resist.

When he’s driving, he likes to simply splay his hand on your thigh, the touch sending shockwaves of warmth through you and perhaps a soft gasp—but the man remains oblivious to the effect his long, slender fingers have on you, eyes fixed firmly on the road and expression betraying nothing.

Blade isn’t very verbally outward in his affection for you, but he more than makes up for it with his actions.

“Have you eaten?”

…even if you did eat something beforehand, Blade would shake his head stubbornly. “That’s not good enough,” he would say archly, and insist on making you something more fulfilling. Never mind that you tell him you’re already full — perhaps the food he cooks can be eaten later at least, but do let him make you something. It’s not a request.

“Are you taking care of yourself?”

If there are things you’re struggling with getting done, he’ll make sure he keeps you company to help you out. Be it upkeep in your hygiene, getting little chores done, or simply getting some fresh air together. He knows what it’s like to neglect himself, and now that he’s reached the end of his own tunnel, he’s more than determined to walk you out of it as well.

“Did you sleep well?”

You might tell him you were up late last night and couldn’t sleep all that well, to which Blade would fix you with a frown. “Why were you up so late?”

That won’t do. He has his ingenia to help you with that, providing you soothing music. But he won’t just stop there; he’ll ensure he gets you a warm cup of chamomile or turmeric milk for the next night.

Let’s not forget how blunt Blade can be most of the time, even when he’s making a joke.

Bladie loves to eat, just as much as he likes to cook. Give him second and third helpings of anything and there’s no way he’ll say no.

So, seized by a bout of playfulness, you ask him, “Bladie, if there were no food at home, and no ingredients to cook with either, what would you do?”

He doesn’t even hesitate with his deadpan. “I would eat you instead.”

You can’t help the warmth that seeps into your face. “M-me? No way. I’d taste like crap and you know it—”

“Quite the opposite, I would say.” Blade shakes his head, still as stone-faced as ever, though you can glean the faintest twinkle of cockiness in his eye. “With the correct amount of salt and seasonings, your tender flesh would be the perfect way to satiate my appetite. Not to mention the many times I have savoured you in other ways and enjoyed myself.”

You stare at him, jaw slack and at a loss for words, mouth opening and closing like a fish until you finally squeak out, “Well…that would never happen though, because you like me too much…right?”

He doesn’t even blink, as blunt as ever. “Dwindle our home’s food supply and you shall see.”

After minimally using his phone for the longest time, Blade has finally started making more use of it, which in turn means you can text him and expect the reply to come from him and not, say, Silver Wolf who decides it would be apt to send you one of her memes in response.

But with the way Blade texts sometimes…maybe you’ll take the memes instead.

One time you cook an amazing meal for yourself. Happily, you snap a picture and send it to him with a proud, “My masterful creation! Bet you wanna scarf it down through the screen!”

He responds with a thumbs-up emoji and a, “That looks good.”

Complete with the full stop and everything. And just ‘good?’ Not amazing, or delicious, or scrum-diddly-umptious? Boooo.

Blade’s not terribly receptive to cutesy pictures you send him either, but trust he’s getting used to it! But when you first started sending him pictures of two puppies, or snuggly bunnies, or kissy deer and say, “Look! It’s us!” Blade would respond in one of several ways.

Either with a simple question mark, a confused sticker, or a, “Really? They don’t look like us. New Fluffy Across the Blue characters?”

Then there’s the time Bladie’s off on a particularly long mission, and you’re feeling the absence dearly. So of course you shoot him a text filled to the brim with love and affection, rife with exclamation points and heart emotes and stickers of Sesame Cake you know he’ll enjoy. Stuff along the lines of, “I miss you so much!!! Every hour that passes without you I go crazy!! Come home soon Bladieeee or I’ll gnaw my way out of these walls and into wherever you are by magic!!”

And all he has to say in reply is…

“I miss you too. Please do not eat the walls.”

With recent developments, your dear Blade can summon a ghostly version of himself to keep an eye on you when he’s not around. At first you think it rather sweet, but you quickly come to find that his incorporeal self has his own ways of making trouble…

You nestle into a cozy little nook in your room, nose buried in a book, letting it absorb you into its pages—

Until a face materialises in the wall beside you. “Would you like something to eat?”

“Eek!” You chuck the book without thinking at this ghost version of Blade, but it goes clean through him and bounces off the wall with a thud. Your lover merely blinks at you innocuously.

“I might make pancakes for you.” He speaks as though nothing’s happened; like he hasn’t just given you a heart attack.

After a nice, fulfilling shower, you’re sifting through your closet, humming to yourself as you ponder over what to wear. Towel wrapped securely around yourself, you go through all the options, ultimately deciding you have absolutely nothing to-

“How about this one, my sweet?”

Blade’s ghostly form appears from the shadows in the back of your wardrobe, an outstretched arm offering you an outfit you haven’t worn in a long time. But the suddenness of his appearance makes you yelp, and your towel slides clean off you in your fright.

You swipe at the clothes in an attempt to grab them from him, but ghost Blade seems a little distracted just now.

Some TV before bed will do you some good. It’s a little unfortunate you picked a horror film to watch, but you sure do enjoy living life on the edge these days. As the main character makes their way through a dark and narrow passageway, you lean forward in your seat, the music building up to a terrifying crescendo—

And then a face emerges straight out of the screen, ashen grey skin and blank, all-white eyes glowing in the darkness.

You scream at the top of your lungs as ghost Blade crawls out of the TV, the faintest of smirks playing on his lips. His smirk does not waver even once as you collect yourself, curled against the couch and panting like a startled mouse.