#mentioned!!

Your world was not one he entirely understood. Yes, in theory, they were much the same. Cushioned and easy. But where you felt warm and loving hands, dressing you, clapping for your dance, all he could see was obligation.

He saw heads bowed for far too long, felt the wind of hands as they pulled away to protect themselves. He first began to understand this fact, and one other when he saw you and your brother, the eldest Al Asim son.

He pulled you in close to him, grinning ear to ear as he got to see you again, his little sister. Even if only by a year, he acted almost as if it was far more vast.

The way his hand cradled the back of your head by instinct, Malleus could soon understand—he wanted to feel the warmth of love so bountiful it spills through your pores.

It burns, it overwhelms and brings a tear to your eye, but it is so, so warm. Even when you weren’t touching, there was such merriment no matter what the two of you did.

It had him stumped the whole time. If not because of the subject matter, then what was it that caused you to behave this way?

“As long we’re together, I don’t care!”

He had said it in a moment of rest, when you were considering a parade merely for your arrival. It was simple, so very easy.

It was when he understood one more thing.

He wanted your love. Yes, it began to make sense. It wouldn’t do with just any person with a human and beating heart, but with yours so porous so as to be able to spread your joy.

What he did not understand, was when you had included him in all this. He saw your brother’s light uneasiness very soon fade into joy and contentment. You had included him as fully as you could.

“Can you handle spicy food?”

“Have you ever had كبسة? Kabsa? I guess not, huh? I always love having some at parties, it reminds me of Jamil and his cooking.”

“I hope you’re having fun, Malleus!”

When your brother got wrapped up on the festivities, suddenly you were beside him. Scarabia was warm, and it felt like sunbeams raining down on every individual scale and pore. It was…pleasant.

It made him feel very relaxed. He knew it was overwhelming for some, but with his cold blooded nature, the excessive warmth made him feel safe and secure, like all was well.

Your shoulder brushed with his, a soft jingle resounding as your jewelry moved along with it. For someone as high in status and reason to fear, you felt so…normal. And for a moment, he could almost feel normal too.

You didn’t dramatically declare your love to him,

Nor your devotion,

Or your loyalty.

And yet, it was all he had ever wanted, without knowing. Just to be a part of something. It had been so far from him, he didn’t realize just how easy it was to grant.

It almost made him blush. And it did. His cheeks heated up and he relaxed. And when you turned to him, right when he had thought it couldn’t get better, you leaned in, and…

Clicked a dangling piece of jewelry over his horns. He saw you smile, satisfied.

“Your horns are so amazing, I just wanted to give it a try. Here, I have a mirror…”

You dug in your pockets to find a pocket mirror, reflecting the back of his head before putting your phones camera in front of his face.

You had managed to fashion a dangling face jewelry set to work as a sort of veil behind him, glittering whenever he moved his head.

“You really ought to wear more jewelry,” You said as you took it down to place back in your bag. It made sense you had a bag that had just about the entire world inside it, busy as you were.

He didn’t know what to say, or what to think. How could he?

And when you had to go, you promised him you would return. It wasn’t a hefty promise, you had done so many times before, but never did it matter so very much to him.

And with your promise, he wanted to believe you. So he made his own promise, to himself, to do so. He would not enforce his own protectiveness on you. He could never ruin what made you so human.

Your freedom. That freedom to live without fear or restraint, and without exclusion.

So he would wait, and for now his dreams would be painted in red and infected with the scent of your hair.