#knuckle x reader

You drag your feet across the ground, looking down tiredly. How long have you been walking now? Maybe a few hours, but at least you knew safety and a comfortable bed were up ahead when you saw the first trees that made up a path into your hometown.

Your car ride must have dropped you miles away from home and after a terrible fight you had not even had the time to properly tend to your wounds if you wanted to get home before Christmas of next year.

This will all be worth it later, home is not far away. Just a small bit more. That’s what you kept telling yourself with every aching step. The next will be one closer to the last.

“Oh yes pup you’re the best, who’s the best puppy?”

You smile to yourself as you recognise a loud voice in the distance and immediately pick up your pace. Your sore feet try to protest but you don’t give a damn, you need to see this familiar face you have missed so dearly. You come to halt and silently watch Knuckle pat and cuddle the puppy he brought home a few days before your departure.

Now you are back from a few weeks of hunter duties off on the other side of the world and apparently the puppy still has no name. Its fur looks much softer and cleaner now and obviously it has been eating well, no ribs are sticking out anymore.

The two of them are oblivious to your presence, you standing and simply watching the idyllic scene. One of your best friends and secret crush standing on his knees in your garden, a clean looking house that’s still in one piece behind him and one of the puppies he has given a chance for a new and better life. You almost seem to be bad news to the scene, not daring to interrupt their peaceful and happy moment.

“You’re really a good puppy. But you know who’s the best?” Knuckle points a finger at the house and the puppy curiously looks at it, wagging its tail.

“The owner of this place is the sweetest and most gorgeous person you’ll ever meet. Once the mission is over you better get ready for some more love, little buddy. I just hope everything is going well, I miss that sweet laughter…”

You slightly blush at that and clear your throat to make yourself audible, pushing the little garden gate open that you’ve been standing in front of.

“Little buddy? Is that what you named him?”

Almost falling to the ground in surprise, Knuckle somehow manages to catch his footing and stares at you with big eyes. A bright blush begins to spread on his cheeks and a smile takes place on his lips once again. He stands up and approaches you slowly. You take slow and careful steps towards him as well, trying your best not to let your limping show. You just want to see his smile a bit longer. And gladly, it doesn’t seem like he has noticed it yet.

Knuckle embraces you tightly and you wrap your arms around him as well, breathing in his clean and familiar scent.

“I missed you”, you hear him mumble and his hand reaches up to pat the top of your hair in a comforting way. You allow yourself to relax against him and bury your face in his neck.

“I missed you too.”

You both stay like that for a moment before sort of awkwardly pulling away from each other. He pulls out your house keys from his pocket and walks towards the entrance of your place.

“Back there, how much did you hear?” He pushes the door open with his back to you so you can’t see his face, but his bright red ears are enough to give away how flustered he actually is.

You chuckle and follow him, slightly gritting your teeth from the pain that comes with each step you take.

“Not nearly enough, please continue your little speech about me. Or did you let Shoot live here while I was away so now he is the owner?”

“No no no, I did mean you”, he hastily assures you and you smile softly at his back as your follow him in, taking a curious quick look around. It seems like Knuckle and Shoot weren’t joking when you gave them the keys for safekeeping and they said they’d also keep the house clean.

You turn around only for a moment to make sure the puppy follows the two of you inside and close the door behind it, when you suddenly hear silence behind you. Knuckle is holding his breath and stopped dead in his tracks. And you know why.

You turn slowly to face him with a sigh and watch him stare at your leg in shock.

“That’s a… that’s a lot of blood on your trouser leg.” His own blunt statement seems to make his brain work properly again and he’s off to fetch the medical supplies from the cupboard in the bathroom.

With quick and big steps he returns, putting a hand on your back and guiding you to sit down on the sofa carefully. He lifts your leg onto his knee, ignoring the fact that he’s smearing his own white pants with a bit of blood. You didn’t even realise how much there was.

Carefully he pulls up the fabric and inspects the area underneath your knee. You wince in pain, there’s a deep cut right across your leg. That will definitely leave a scar. Immediately he begins cleaning the wound and trying to get a look close enough to tell whether you need stitches, but soon realising you luckily don’t.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

You don’t reply, what would you even say to that. You didn’t want to be a bother and now, despite your efforts, you still are. Maybe you even made it worse by not saying anything earlier, but there just never seemed to be a right moment for it. Is there even right moment for things like that?

You avoid his gaze and look down at your hands, fidgeting with the hem of your shirt.

“Don’t you value your own health at all? Why didn’t you do anything about this cut earlier, goddammit look how deep it is. Why are you always so reckless when it comes to yourself?”

Unlike usually, you don’t even try to argue. You know all of it is true.

You sit silently and watch him work while he continues rambling on and on about how you should have been more careful, more caring towards yourself and more thoughtful.

You don’t say anything and just listen to him. Yes you had not thought much about the wound and its potential danger. And yes you had forgotten to care for yourself when all that was on your mind was him and what would be the fastest way yo get back home and see him again.

But that would be foolish to say. So it’s easier not to say anything in the first place. If there are no reasons for your arguments that you can tell him, what’s the point?

Only when he’s finished wrapping up your leg neatly in the white bandage, he finally quiets down and looks up at your face again.

His furrowed eyebrows and angry expression momentarily get replaced with concern as he cups your face in his warm hands.

You didn’t even realise you started crying until now. He gently wipes the tears away and you see the puppy finally make its victorious jump onto the sofa and lay its head on your lap.

You sniff and pat the puppy, tears still flowing down your face silently.

“I’m sorry, I was way too harsh on you. You don’t deserve that. I just…”

Knuckle embraces you and you allow yourself to let it all out, your hands tightly wrapped around him as if you’re holding onto him for dear life. You bury your face in his chest and let the tears spill. But you aren’t the only one crying, you feel thick wet tears land on top of your head.

“I was just mad at myself for not noticing. I should have noticed. I should have checked for injures right at first when I saw you, you come from a dangerous mission. I was so worried about you and feared every day that something bad happened to you and- and I forgot everything when I saw you again. I was just so relieved you’re safe and here again.”

Despite everything, his words warm your heart. You can’t help but smile, especially when he runs his big gentle hand through your hair.

Despite the pain on your leg and and the tight knot in your throat from crying silently, you feel the warm butterflies fluttering around in your stomach.

He gently caresses your back and the puppy is comfortably cuddled between the two of you, contributing greatly to your breathing slowly beginning to calm and the tears to cease coming. The world is alright again.

But then you feel Knuckle pull away from you with hesitation, slowly. He’s taking a deep breath and you look up to look at his face, his facial expression is hard to read but there’s definitely one thing you recognise: determination. Have you done something wrong?

A couple of times he opens his mouth to say something, but closes it again. You give him time and don’t push it, but give him an encouraging nod so he may find the right words for whatever he’s struggling to say.

“I like you”

A blunt statement from him, but it’s like music to your ears. His firm hands on your shoulders quiver slightly and grow warmer with each second, the heat from them rising all the way to your cheeks.

You expect so much more and at first you even forget to reply, but he’s sitting there and waiting as patiently as you had waited for his words.

“I like you too”, you say and almost laugh at how simple these words are, yet how much is behind them. There’s no way these words that escaped your lips so lightly after his confession, took so long for you to say.

He lets go of you and covers his face with his hands, leaning back on the sofa with his face to the ceiling.

“What’s wro-“

“You can’t just say something like that just… like that.”

You give him a confused look and try to suppress another laugh. “Why not? Didn’t you say it first?”

“It’s different! I didn’t expect you to say it back. Give me some time.”

Now you really laugh, mainly out of relief. After his reaction you feared you might have misunderstood something, but it was just him acting like he usually does. He’s too emotional for his own good, but that’s one of the countless things you like about him. To think he would have made such a fuss about confessing to you, even preparing and bracing himself for rejection without even an ounce of the thought that you might feel the same.

You let him take some time and watch him as he puts his hands away from his face, but remains looking at the ceiling. His cheeks are flushed and he’s wearing the biggest smile you’ve ever seen on him.

“You like me”

He sits up and looks at you, taking your hands in his.

“You like me”

“I really like you”, you confirm.

He kisses the back of each of your hands and presses them against his forehead, closing his eyes. Seeing him this happy makes your heart bump loudly and go faster, like it’s almost threatening to jump out of your chest.

“Does that mean I can be your boyfriend?”

Once again he manages to catch you off guard, but not in a bad way. Never in a bad way.

“Of course”, you quietly say, embarrassed to say it but not wanting to leave his question unanswered either. You must be having the dumbest smile plastered on your own face as well.

Knuckle hugs you again and buries his face in your hair. You sit there and hold him tightly, it’s like having a big cuddly baby in your arms.

“Are you crying?”

“Why would I cry now?”, he replies and sniffs, tightening his embrace. He’s definitely crying.

You chuckle and caress his back. You haven’t calmed down from the high of finding out your long time crush likes you back either. The moment feels surreal and you are glad he’s so touchy and shows his emotions so easily, especially now. There’s no time to doubt whether he likes you in the very same way or not, it’s obvious he does. Maybe even more than you like him.

You think back to those nights on your tiring journey, when you would lay awake with nothing but the thought of him in your mind. Slapping yourself mentally because you had to focus and hey, during the day you were busy enough to only think about the task at hand. But the nights were worse. You felt cold despite the blanket and your clothing being warm enough, wishing to feel his warmth as close as you feel it now.

But his actions must mean that he missed you at least as much. And maybe, just maybe, he had laid awake at night as well with similar imaginations. And so you join him in his tear spilling. You feel so overjoyed to be here right now.

You will definitely be keeping him here in conversation or something similar until it’s dark and late outside so you’ll have an excuse to ask him whether he wants to stay over.

Knuckle must have noticed you starting to sniff as well since he lifted your face and put his hands on your cheeks like he always does when he wants to wipe them away in a loving way.

But this time you do the same, as to tears are staining his own cheeks as well. He’s clearly taken aback by the gesture but completely unbothered by it in a negative way. If anything, his smile only grows wider.

And there goes the perfect first kiss, you know it’s coming now. His face is slowly coming closer to yours, Knuckle gazing into your eyes to see right at once if you are uncomfortable by his actions. But you just stare back into his and come closer to his face as well until your lips meet in the middle.

The kiss is warm and soft and all in all completely perfect. It leaves all your fantasies completely ignored, they could never compare to this sweet reality. His thumb gently caresses your cheek and you sigh contently.

You have no idea how long it lasts, but it can’t have been long. When you pull away the feeling of perfection lasts though, there is no way you’d have a kiss better than that one ever.

But you are proven wrong when his soft lips capture yours. You completely melt at the feeling and lay your head back on his chest when it’s over again, smiling to yourself.

“So… uh, wanna tell me me about your journey?”, he asks after a while and it sounds a bit awkward. Yet you still clearly hear the smile he has on his face. He’s so adorable.

And so you spend the rest of the day telling him details and further information about your adventures, later laying your head down on his lap to watch his reactions to your storytelling. He gets so obviously mad or shocked when you tell him about your opponents or the troubles you had, but you always make sure to put even more detail into your glorious victories and how you solved literally any problem with ease.

As you you are finishing up, your eyelids slowly close. It must have been hours that you’ve talked, mainly you being the one to tell him things but he always commented on it or asked questions. You smile at how wonderful your boyfriend is. Usually when telling someone anything, at some point you would stop because you thought you were getting annoying. But with him, these horrible thoughts didn’t stand a chance to come to your mind in the first place. And now you become so wonderfully aware of how great he makes you feel.

“I’m so proud of you” is the last thing you hear before drifting into a peaceful sleep. You later notice him carrying you to bed and you almost awake in fear he might leave, but he luckily doesn’t and you feel a strong arm wrap around you and pull you closer to your warm source of happiness.

And perhaps you will forever stay oblivious to the fact that he holds your hand all night and the puppy comes to sleep at your feet, because the next morning are the last to wake up. And breakfast is ready, messily prepared by none other than your awesome boyfriend Knuckle Bine, with a little bit of help from a fluffy little creature that still has no name.

“I’m not wrong. Shoot is an essential part of your team because he’s calm and collected while you’re a hard headed fool!” You laughed. “Someone has to be the voice of reason.”

Shoot snorted while you laughed loudly, Knuckle’s brow twitching with irritation. 

“Oi! That’s rude as hell!” Knuckle yelled out at you. 

“I mean, I think she makes a pretty good point.” Shoot agreed, still snickering.

Knuckle began to holler at the both of you, recognizing the backhanded compliment and going off. You and Shoot couldn’t stop yourselves from laughing harder though as he proved your point on his hard headedness. 

“Now you’ve done it ______. He’s mad~” Shoot laughed. 

“Oopsies!” You giggled, definitely not ashamed at all. 

“I’D LIKE TO INFORM BOTH OF YOU THAT I CAN IN FACT BE CALM AND LEVEL HEADED TOO!” Knuckle screeched in defense, demonstrating how he was in fact not calm, nor level headed. 

“Oh shut up you knucklehead. You’re gonna blow out your vocal cords!” You shushed, still amused by how explosively passionate he was. 

“Oi! You don’t get to tell me to shut up!” He yelled back, stomping up to you and pressing his forehead to yours challengingly. 

“Yes I do. So shut up, loser.” You smirked playfully. 

Before he could come up with some smart remark to retaliate with, you pressed your lips against his and successfully shut him up. The poor man’s cheeks exploded with a scarlet blush as you kept him close by gripping the collar of his jacket, leaving him frozen in shock from your actions. His entire face and neck had gone red by the time you finally pulled back and let him go, that little victorious smirk you wore really losing him as he stared dumbfounded at you. 

“You’re so damn loud, you know that right? You’re lucky that you’re cute.” You commented while maintaining eye contact with him. 

Knuckle couldn’t properly respond. Air leaked from his mouth as he fumbled for words, looking back and forth between you and Shoot, desperate to get a grip on his thoughts.

“Shoot, do you think you can decipher his wheezing fit for me?” You chuckled, looking over at him. 

“If I were to guess, he’s trying to ask you if you like him or if that was a sick joke.” Shoot told you, already fully knowing Knuckle’s answer. 

The tea pot sounding wheeze that came from Knuckle confirmed what Shoot said. You of course laughed, and looked back at Knuckle with a grin. 

“Like him? Heavens no. I’m more in love with him I think.” Loud mouthed himbos who don’t know when to shut up are my type~” You hummed. 

“Perhaps I should leave you two be. He might talk more if I’m gone, so I’ll let you sort these feelings out, m’kay bud?” Shoot chuckled, slowly backing away from the two of you to let Knuckle have a chance at speaking his mind without interruption. 

Once Shoot had disappeared into the crowd up the street and your gaze had officially bored into his soul, Knuckle finally gained control of his tongue. That didn’t necessarily mean he had any idea what to say though. You were still standing quite close to him after all.

“Ah, I-I… You…” He stammered. 

“Aw, you were so talkative before. What happened?” You giggled.

Knuckle groaned in defeat at your teasing, putting a hand across his face to try and cover the deepening shade of red his cheeks had taken on. 

“To answer your question that I’m sure you keep trying to ask: yes, everything I said was true. I do actually like you quite a bit. I just like to tease you is all~! You are pretty loud, so I like to have my turn where I can.”

“G-gee, and here I thought you were kidding.” Knuckle finally managed, glancing off to the side. 

“Hey, I know I mess with you a lot but I’m definitely not kidding about this.” You grinned. “I can assure you that I am very much in love with your loud ass.”

“So… What you’re saying is, if I’m loud enough… I can get kisses from you?” He then asked dumbly, starting to smile like a fool once you confirmed you weren’t kidding. 

“You can have them even if you aren’t screaming your head off. All you have to do is ask.” You hummed. 

“Cool. Can we uh, do that again?” He carried on. 

“Now that’s something I can do.”