plagued with thoughts of oliver with aromantic reader once again, i think they'd be so good together. there's no expectation, no pressure to take this step or that, to act a certain way over the other, i think it'd leave oliver unmoored but moreso by the surprise of it β by how easy and comfortable it is, how he doesn't feel that itch to run away rise up under his skin. there's nothing there but unfiltered love, and he feels, for once, free with it.
he knows you love him. he sees it in the way your eyes soften when you look at him, the gentle concern your cradle his face with, the way you take his every word seriously and show him every care and consideration. it's how you're there. how you show up for him. you don't care about soccer but you go to his every home-game. you text him before and after practice... you're just there.
he falls in love with you, because of course he does. and he feels weightless with it, a free fall that for once he isn't afraid of, there are no alarm bells going off to get out before he's in too deep. because... there's no expectation, not really. there's no right or wrong way to love you. he's allowed to, he can, in whatever form he's most comfortable with, and you accept him as he is β embrace him as he is. and existing with you is so easy. loving you is so easy. he can just be. all he has to do is breathe and let himself feel his love for you, let it fill his chest with every inhale.
he thinks back to all the people talking about how it hurts, when you have feelings for someone that they don't return. he doesn't understand. this love is the most at ease he's ever felt, the least hurt he's ever been, it feels... pure and good and β it's like liquid gold at the centre of his chest where his blood ought to be, like light coalescing in his heart, like sunlight in his veins, spread out from the center of him. then he understands, he's in love with you and he fell for you by how you loved him. it doesn't hurt because his love isn't unrequited. the shape of it might be different, but what does it matter what shape love takes, only that it is love? and it's clear as day to him, that you love him, that his love is reciprocated.
he can see it in your every action and word and gesture, the care and consideration underlining all of it. he can see it in the way you've created space for him in your life: there's a tub of protein in your kitchen cabinet that he knows is his, because you've complained about the chalky taste of his drinks far too many times for it to be yours. it's the gentle way you've invited him into your life... and then, let him burrow further into it and stay.
he thinks your love is the most precious thing you've ever given him.
