Reading the hobbit rn and I just finished Riddles in the Dark, so what about something at Beorn's place? Something cozy (been stressed with classes but everything causes me stress lol) would be nice :)
cozy bear hug ♡
✧ warnings: none, really ♡ just lots of comfort, protective!beorn, cozy domestic fluff, animal companions, and soft found-family feelings, platonic but not so platonic hcs.
✧ wc: 751
beorn x fem!reader
Living at Beorn's house is one of the strangest and safest things that has ever happened to you.
Beorn is not good with people. He knows this.
...you know this.
Everyone knows this.
Which means most of your days are filled with long silences that somehow never feel uncomfortable.
At first, he barely speaks to you.
He'll simply appear beside you like a mountain that learned how to walk. You'll be carrying a basket of eggs and suddenly—
"Careful."
One word...then he's gone again.
He worries about you constantly but has absolutely no idea how to express it.
Instead of asking if you're cold, you'll wake up to an extra blanket folded neatly beside your bed.
Instead of asking if you're hungry, you'll find fresh bread, honey, and warm milk waiting on the table.
Instead of saying he missed you, he'll mutter—
"You were gone longer than usual."
When you first arrive, he seems intimidating.
Huge, gruff and stern.
But after a while, you realize he's secretly watching over you almost every second of the day.
If you wander into the woods alone, somehow he always knows.
If you trip and scrape your knee, he appears before you've even finished standing back up.
If a storm rolls in, every shutter in the house is already secured before you've noticed the clouds.
He's awkward when you're upset.
Absolutely terrible at it.
You'll be sitting quietly after a difficult day.
Beorn notices.
Beorn panics internally.
Cause what does one do with sad humans?
Eventually he sits beside you. Close enough that his shoulder brushes yours yet far enough that you won't feel trapped.
Then he grumbles:
"The bees made too much honey."
You blink.
"What?"
"Too much honey."
He sets an entire jar in your lap.
His version of emotional support.
He secretly likes listening to you talk.
He'd never admit it.
But while he's working, feeding animals, repairing fences, or chopping wood, he's listening.
Every word.
You'll start rambling about something completely random and think he's ignoring you. Then three weeks later he'll mention a tiny detail you thought he'd forgotten.
The animals adore you. Which makes Beorn quietly pleased.
His dogs nap beside you. His horses follow you around. The sheep crowd around your legs whenever you're outside.
Beorn acts like this means nothing.
Inside, however, he's very proud.
During winter evenings, you'll sit near the fire while he works on tools or carves wood.
Sometimes neither of you speak for hours.
The crackling fire fills the room. Snow taps softly against the windows.
His enormous dogs are sprawled across the floor.
And somehow, for the first time in a long time, your mind feels quiet.
If you have nightmares, he notices immediately.
The next morning you'll look tired.
He'll narrow his eyes.
"Didn't sleep."
It's not a question and before you can answer, he's already making breakfast.
A larger breakfast than usual.
His logic is simple.
Bad sleep...more food.
He's protective in a very animal sort of way.
Not possessive, nor controlling.
Just watchful.
When strangers visit the house, he positions himself between them and you without thinking.
His body naturally becomes a shield. He doesn't even realize he's doing it.
Physical affection is rare. Not because he dislikes it but because he's uncertain.
He worries he'll be too rough.
Too large...
So the first time you lean your head against his shoulder, he freezes completely.
Utterly still...like a startled bear.
You think you've made him uncomfortable.
Then, very carefully, he shifts so you're more comfortable.
And stays that way until you fall asleep.
Sometimes, when the world feels too loud and too heavy, you'll find him outside with the animals.
You'll sit beside him and say nothing.
Just exist together.
And Beorn understands that better than most people ever could.
No expectations or explanations.
Just his quiet company.
And though he'd never say it aloud, not in a thousand years, Beorn eventually comes to think of you as something precious.
Like his home, the bees, and the woods he protects.
Something gentle that somehow found its way into his life.
Something worth guarding (in which he puts his life on the line for without even realizing)
So when you smile at him across the kitchen table, warm honey on fresh bread and sunlight pouring through the windows, his expression softens for just a moment.
And in Beorn's world, that's practically an "I care about you." ♡
this had me crying TEARS
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