#* faeyh .

                     ❝      no , no , see ?    ❞        hellboy quickly placed his lit cigar in the corner of his mouth in order to unfold the small pamphlet that had come attached to the vase . abe had warned him about the princess . her upbringing hadn’t been like theirs ; offering a can of beer to royalty wasn’t something one ought to do . cracking jokes related to pop icons wouldn’t impress the likes of her . abe had given him a lengthy talk about all of this and more .  ━━  nuala hadn’t been impressed by his behavior . so what ? big deal . hellboy had never been particularly worried about getting others to like him ;  one of the few things he knew for sure was WHO HE WAS . he wouldn’t change for any angels or demons , why should she be an exception ? he wouldn’t have liked to be treated any differently . 𝙱𝚄𝚃 𝙷𝙴 𝚆𝙾𝚄𝙻𝙳 𝙷𝙰𝚅𝙴 𝙻𝙸𝙺𝙴𝙳 𝚃𝙾 𝙵𝙴𝙴𝙻 𝚆𝙴𝙻𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙴 . he thought of all the people who had stared at him in fear ; of the cries of children as they pointed at him in horror . how rasputin had called him by his name  (  no , not his name , A NAME  )  : anung un rama . yellow eyes glanced down at the frail looking elf . he ought to address her as she liked to be addressed . should make sure she knew she was accepted . make her feel at home .

                    one red finger pointed at a couple of pictures depicting a cactus with a bunch of bright yellow  flowers in full bloom . he had bought it because the shade had reminded him of nuala ... but he wasn’t sure calling a member of royalty YELLOW would be funny or just plain insulting .      ❝    in the picture you got all these flowers   ━━    ❞        each word he spoke came out as a cloud of smoke . the heavy stench of tobacco loomed above their heads . this was far from being the pure bonding moment hellboy had planned out . 𝙷𝙴 𝙹𝚄𝚂𝚃 𝙷𝙰𝙳𝙽’𝚃 𝚃𝙰𝙺𝙴𝙽 𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙸𝙲𝙴 𝚈𝙴𝚃 .     ❝   little bit of water , little bit of sunshine , should get them going , right ?  ❞        he glanced down at the princess then . when her wide golden eyes met his . hellboy just shrugged .      ❝   no ?   ❞       

               the sound of a fire crackling loomed over his head . hellboy stood still like a big red unavoidable eclipse . his face was a mere shadow , all of the light stood atop his skull in the shape of a burning crown . his horns long and sharp , HE WAS HORROR AND AWE INCARNATED . and still , despite his monstrous stance , his chest rose and fell with the urgency of an ordinary man . the blood splattered over his naked chest and forearms wasn’t evident . he had been living in crimson his whole life , how could hellboy be repulsed with the gore surrounding him ?  he breathed heavily and each exhale came out like a moist filthy thing , meant to be seen only in BEASTS not in MANKIND .   ━━    he had come out victorious from that fight , he had protected the princess and still , HE LOOKED LIKE A VILLAIN .

             between his ragged breaths and the fire , something soft manifested . something shy . an admittance that brought him back to the current moment . princess nuala gazed up at him and the way she looked at hellboy BROKE HIS HEART . he sniffed , any trace of guilt or hurt was breathed in and held captive within his chest . it wouldn’t spill over . he knew who he was . WHAT HE WAS . still , all he could think about was how much he wished his father was there to reassure him : you are a good man .          ❝     sorry ‘bout that .  ❞         hellboy rasped with a bowed head . he tried to sound nonchalant about it , but it pained him to look nuala in the eye . she was immaculate despite her otherness . she never looked as ugly as he did . was it pacifism that ran in her blood ? had she never tasted the same flavor of iron and coal that plagued his tongue ? both hands grabbed onto his overgrown horns , ready to break them . this wasn’t who he was .   ━━    HE WANTED HER TO SEE THIS .