Maple Whiskey

The forge crackled with a warm orange glow, metal tools clinking steadily as Werner adjusted the plating on your newly reinforced gauntlets. You stood nearby, pretending to admire the scenery while watching him through the corner of your eye.

He didn’t look up once.

You’d faced down raging leviathans and toxic wyverns without breaking a sweat, but this? Standing here with your heart in your throat, hoping he'd notice the blush on your face or the way your hands fidgeted? This was worse than fighting two Mizutsunes at once in wet armor.

You cleared your throat. “You always work this late?”

“Mmm.” A grunt. A nod. Then: “The alloy on this model’s too brittle. If you take a blunt hit to the forearm, you’ll feel it in your shoulder. Did Gemma make this?—Don't tell her I said that.” He glanced up, finally. “And not that you’d get hit. You’re annoyingly good at dodging.”

You smiled faintly, heart doing a stupid little flip at the praise. “Thanks, Werner.”

He’d already turned back to his work.

Behind you, someone sighed. Loudly.

“Okay,” Olivia muttered under her breath, suddenly appearing at your side like a flash bomb. “I cannot believe I’m about to get involved in this.”

“W-What?” you stammered.

She folded her arms, cocking her head at Werner with a look of exaggerated frustration. “He’s been staring at your armor like it insulted his mother. And you’ve been mooning over him for two expeditions now. If I have to watch this sad little dance for one more week, I’ll lose it.”

“Olivia, please don’t—”

“Werner!” she barked. He didn’t flinch—just blinked and looked up. “When’s the last time you talked to someone about something other than armor physics?”

“...Last week. I asked Erik if he could move that Congalala shroom experiment as far away from my forge as possible.”

You groaned softly.

Olivia pinched the bridge of her nose. “That was rhetorical. Look—Y/N’s been trying to flirt with you all season. They compliment your work, find excuses to drop by the forge, stare at you like you hung the stars... And what do you do? Lecture them about brittle armor.”

Werner turned to you, brow furrowed in what looked like genuine confusion. “You… like me?”

Heat surged into your cheeks, but you forced yourself to nod. “I do.”

He stared.

Then blinked.

Then said slowly, “You’re not joking?”

You stepped closer, biting your lip but keeping your eyes on his. “I thought it was obvious. But I guess I should’ve spelled it out.”

He looked down at your gauntlet. Then at your face. Then, suddenly, he set the gauntlet down like it was too fragile to hold.

“I… don’t know how to respond properly,” he said quietly. “But I think about you. When I work. A lot.”

Your breath caught.

“I’ve never… done this before,” he added. “So, I might need diagrams. Or Olivia.”

“Nope,” Olivia said, walking away with a triumphant smirk. “My work here is done. Go ruin your own moment.”

You laughed, and Werner gave a tiny, uncertain smile.

“Would you like to—” he started, then stopped. Tried again. “Maybe… we could sit by the campfire later. And you could tell me why your eyes always do that sparkle thing. I’ve been trying to figure it out.”

You reached out and gently took his hand, soot-smudged and warm.

Werner hated crowds.

Objectively speaking, they were inefficient. And annoying.

Too much noise. Too much unpredictability. Too many variables packed into one place, all moving in contradictory directions with little regard for structure or personal space. The Grand Hub celebration had somehow multiplied those problems tenfold.

Lanterns swayed overhead in warm golds and blues. Hunters laughed too loudly after one too many drinks, music drifted from every corner, and the smell of grilled food clung stubbornly to the air.

It was overstimulating.

Erik or Olivia would sometimes enrich his mind with tales from the Grand Hub as Werner himself preferred to stay as far away as possible from all the noise. However, with each story they told him, Werner grew more interested in how each festival was so quickly and efficiently prepared. He came to watch and see how it was done due to an ask from you but was starting to regret.

“I knew it.”

Werner startled just enough to be annoyed at himself for startling.

You stood beside him with an expression far too amused for someone who had just snuck up on him.

“You’re people-watching,” you said.

“I am simply observing,” Werner stated while crossing his arms.

“You’ve been standing here for twenty minutes,” you fired back at him.

“There's a reason,” he replied stiffly, gesturing vaguely toward the elaborate stage lighting near the center of the Hub. “The lantern system is moderately impressive.”

Your grin widened, “Mhm.”

“You’re mocking me. I can tell,” Werner frowned at you while recrossing his arms.

“Maybe a little,” you responded with a shrug.

He sighed.

You had developed an unfortunate habit of doing that—smiling at him like he was saying something charming instead of practical. It was deeply distracting.

Worse, you always stood too close.

Not close enough to be inappropriate. Just close enough that he noticed, which was a feat in itself.

The warmth of your shoulder near his arm. The way you leaned in whenever he muttered something under his breath. The faint scent of soap and smoke and trees from earlier hunts.

Annoyingly noticeable things. He disliked how noticeable they were.

“You didn’t have to come, you know,” you said gently. “I’m honestly surprised you agreed.”

“I didn’t agree,” Werner corrected. “You insisted.”

You laughed, “You could’ve said no.”

“I attempted to, but you already took off,” he countered.

“You sighed dramatically and followed me anyway,” you grinned at him.

He frowned and tightened the hold on his arms, his fingers turning white from the pressure.

“…Whatever you say,” he eventually muttered while turning his head away from your gaze.

You laughed harder. An angelic sound that seemed to block out all the other festival noise.

It did something deeply inconvenient to his chest. His heart fluttered wildly like one of Erik's jarred butterflies. Beating so quickly but unable to escape.

He still hadn’t figured out what to do about that.

The celebration stretched on around both of you.

At some point, you dragged him between food stalls despite his insistence that he was perfectly capable of feeding himself. You even tried to convince him to have a drink. Stating something like, "it would loosen him up". He was thankful to have avoided that.

At another point, you somehow convinced him to try one of the festival sweets. He regretted admitting he liked it. You had looked unbearably pleased.

Now the two of you stood near the edge of the Hub overlooking the water, away from the thickest part of the crowd.

The Diva’s voice drifted through the evening air. She had come up to her stage without the two of you noticing.

Her voice soft and powerful. Beautiful enough that even Werner had stopped pretending not to listen.

You leaned against the wooden railing beside him.

“This is nice,” you said quietly.

“Hm.”

“You’re having fun. It's nice to see you enjoy yourself outside of work,” you mentioned, sparing him a glance.

“I never said I was having fun,” he turned to look at you, uncrossing his arms to place his hands on his hips.

“You don’t have to,” you murmured, e/c eyes peering into his own.

Your shoulder bumped his lightly. Werner looked away far too quickly.

An unpleasant warmth crawled up the back of his neck. He was certain that if the lighting were clearer in this area, you could see the red on his face. Werner was grateful for the darkness.

He has dealt with the shenanigans that came with being a part of the Astrum Unit. He's seen a lot of monsters during that time to that would send many people in a panic.

But you were just standing there. Being kind. Looking at him like he mattered. Entirely unreasonable behavior in his eyes.

“…You should be with the others,” he said after a moment.

You blinked, “What?”

“The celebration,” he said, voice awkwardly measured, “You could spend it with… people more entertaining. Like Alma or Olivia. Or even Erik.”

You stared.

Then your expression softened in a way that immediately made him nervous. He started to fidget in place a little.

“Werner,” you said quietly, “I wanted to spend it with you.”

Ah.

There it was again.

That horrible sensation in his chest. The one that made coherent thought increasingly difficult. His heart once again pounding and trying to escape as a heat stronger than any forge crept up his neck.

“…I see,” Werner whispered more to himself than to you.

You huffed out a laugh, “That’s all you’ve got?”

He opened his mouth.

Closed it.

Opened it again.

What exactly was he supposed to say to that?

No blueprint existed for this. No procedure. No predictable outcome. There was a reason that Werner tried to keep his feelings at bay. Feelings were unpredictable and therefore dangerous to deal with.

You looked almost embarrassed now, fiddling absently with your sleeve.

“I just…” you paused. “I like being around you.”.

Oh, that was complicating. Severely complicating.

Because Werner liked being around you too. Far more than was reasonable. He found himself looking for you without meaning to. Saving things he thought you’d find interesting. Remembering details you mentioned offhand.

Allowing interruptions to his work if they came from you, which should have alarmed him far more than it did. He only focused on things that he considered of importance, and apparently—to him—

—you mattered. A dangerous amount.

The Diva’s voice swelled in the distance, the final song reaching its peak.

People nearby began gathering closer in the crowd. You could pick out Erik and Alma, watching in awe just as everyone else was. Hunters paused from their drinking and Palicos paused from their mischief.

Fireworks then began.

Right. He had intended to leave before then to avoid the excess noise.

Instead, somehow, he was still here and standing beside you.

Heart behaving strangely. Mind entirely unhelpful. It was the first time that Werner felt his brain malfunctioning.

You shifted awkwardly.

“Sorry,” you said with a sheepish laugh, “That probably sounded weird.”

“No,” Werner said immediately.

Too quickly. You blinked.

He exhaled slowly, moving to run his hands over his face. Werner attempted organization. Attempted composure.

Failed somewhat.

“…You are,” he started, then frowned, brow furrowed, “inconvenient.”

Your face fell, lips parted, eyes widening at his words. He could practically see tears before they fell.

He internally panicked.

“No,” he said quickly. “That was—incorrect phrasing.”

“Wow,” you muttered, turning away, “You really know how to sweep someone off their feet.”

“This is difficult for me, Y/N.”

That made you pause and slowly turn to look back at him.

Your name.

He just said your name.

Every other time you've had a conversation with this man, he would ask what your name was. Saying how he didn't clutter his mind with things of unimportance and the like. Remember you from the "bird" unit and that was about it.

But he just said your name.

“…Oh?”

The first firework burst overhead.

Gold scattered across the sky.

Light reflected across the entire area.

The Diva reached her final notes.

Werner barely registered any of it. Because somehow, impossibly, this felt more terrifying than anything he's faced.

“You occupy a concerning amount of my attention,” he said carefully.

You stared, heart hammering.

“I think about things I normally would not,” He pulled at his sleeve for the fourth time in a minute. “I notice when you are absent. I… prefer when you are nearby.”

Another firework bloomed overhead.

Blue this time.

You looked completely frozen.

Werner forged onward through sheer determination.

“You are distracting,” he admitted quietly. “But not unpleasantly so.”

A pause, and then he muttered, “…Actually, very pleasantly.”

You made the tiniest strangled sound.

His ears felt hot.

“You said you like being around me,” he continued, voice quieter now. “I find that feeling appears to be…mutual.”

The silence stretched.

“Are you trying to say you...like me?” you asked softly.

“I think so. Did I say something wrong?” Werner worried a little that he said the wrong thing again, but you just smiled.

A laugh burst out of you. Warm and bright.

Fond enough to make his stomach flip unpleasantly.

Pleasantly. Whatever.

“You are such a disaster,” you said, smiling so hard it looked like you might burst.

Werner sighed, annoyed at himself.

“Calling me inconvenient? I thought you were more composed than this,” you giggled, crossing your arms with an amused mirth in your eyes.

“I corrected myself,” he muttered while rubbing the back of his neck.

“Barely!”

“…I am not particularly skilled at this. Feelings and such,” Werner seemed a little ashamed at this. He thought of Erik's bubbly personality. The biologist would've been smoother at this than he was.

Something softened in your expression.

“You’re doing okay,” you told him fondly.

The fireworks continued overhead, brilliant and loud.

Then, quietly—

“I like you too, Werner.”

Everything stopped.

Not literally.

The music still played. The fireworks still crackled overhead. The crowd still cheered.

But for a moment, Werner could only stare at you.

“…You do?”

You laughed softly.

“Yes, genius.”

That strange warmth in his chest expanded into something almost unbearable. He thought a heart attack was in his future due to the fact he could barely count a pulse at this point.

You stepped closer.

Close enough that your shoulder pressed lightly against his.

“You know,” you said, voice teasing, “most people say something romantic during fireworks.”

Werner considered that outcome. He glanced at you to see you looking at him, the fireworks reflecting in the pools of your e/c eyes.

Then awkwardly reached for your hand.

Like he wasn’t entirely sure he was allowed.

When you immediately squeezed back, something inside him quietly unraveled.

“…I dislike crowds,” he then confessed, looking at the mass of people below and trying to distract himself from the warmth of your hand.

You snorted, “I know.”

“But,” he paused, glancing at you, a hint of a smile, “I don't mind it if it means being around you.”

Your face went impossibly soft.

“You really mean that?”

He hesitated. Then slowly nodded.

You beamed.

“Oh my gosh,” you giggled. “Willing to brave a horde of people for me? That’s basically a love confession from you.”

“I already confessed enough,” Werner muttered, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Yeah, but now I get bonus emotional vulnerability from you,” you laughed, squeezing his hand.

“I regret speaking,” he stated firmly.

“No you don’t.”

You were right. Unfortunately.

As another burst of light painted the sky, you leaned against him fully this time. In a feat of bravery, you leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. It lasted literally one second.

But given how frozen in place he became afterwards, you actually thought you stopped his heart. You simply leaned back into him in order to give some life back.

And after only a brief moment of hesitation—