#royalbee

His blurry vision made it nearly impossible to climb the stairs of the apartment building, hood pulled over his head as low as it would hang to hide the marks and swelling from curious neighbors, and his steps were clumsy as he reached his landing; to the point that his knee buckled when he stepped on it wrong, making him stagger and very nearly ram his face into one of the thick metal doors.

Instead, his hands slapped onto the surface flat, to catch himself, and Pero very nearly screamed a curse to any God that might be listening when he realized it wasn’t even his door. It took every bit of grace to not fall on his ass when he reeled back a step, then two, before he hurried to try and get into his own space before she came seeking the source of the noise.

His keys slipped right out of his shaking hands though, landing with a thud on the hideous dark green carpet, and the door behind him slid open.

“Hello- oh! Pero, you’re back very early tonight.” His jaw tightened, teeth clenched to avoid making her face the brunt of his self-inflicted anger, and he used his door as a balance to bend down and get his keys off the ground. He just knew that if he looked at her it would be over, she’d see the hideous discoloration on his skin and the swelling indicative of his job.

His very illegal job, at that.

He had some regrets for not taking Oberyn up on his offer for a ride to the man’s private physician to sleep off his injuries where he’d be asked less questions. But Pero didn’t trust strangers easy, he had been hurt more for less, and wanted to recover somewhere he felt safe. She made a noise of concern when he nearly buckled getting back up and Pero’s heart lurched at the sight of something, someone’s hand, in his peripheral.

Instinct won over self-control, snatching her hand before she could touch him and immediately letting go before he did something he would regret for the rest of his life, and instead of backing off she pressed on like he hadn’t just proven that he could do serious damage to her based on his reaction time alone.

Pero flinched at the softness in her voice as she whispered his name, trying -and failing- to get his key into the damn door from how badly blurred his vision was.

When he finally turned his head to look at her the sympathy in her expression left him unable to fight it, the way she held her hand out to his, she looked so damn pretty in her flour covered apron with a smudge of it sitting high on her cheekbone and on her nose, and he slipped his keys into her hand and watched her open the door to his place with ease.

“Can I- do you have a first aid kit? Pero?”

He didn’t deserve her kindness, her care, he was only good at breaking things like her. Something soft and delicate, gentle in a way he could never hope to be, was destined for destruction and ruin in his hands.

“Sí.”

But God did he want to just be around her for a little bit longer.

She followed him inside and Pero wondered what she thought of his sparse apartment, the couch was a ratty old thing he’d gotten off the curb and instead of a dining table he had his gym equipment in that space for when he wanted to weight train at home. He had two barstools that didn’t match at the counter between the kitchen and living room, both of which came from places he’d gotten kicked out of, and the best thing in his whole place was the lumpy full-size bed tucked away in the bedroom.

But she didn’t say anything about it, sitting him on the couch and returning with the white box; it needed to be restocked soon, he had less gauze and antiseptic than he thought, and his head hung a little in shame at the fact that she could see just how often he had to resort to using this kit of his.

Pero wondered if she was starting to finally wise up and have some fear of him or his life.

He would never forget his first day in this place, taking out his trash from the few boxes he had with him, when he’d found her being hassled by two men from another building that happened to share the dumpster. They hadn’t been so brave at his arrival, when he’d tossed his things into the recycling bin and put himself between her and the bastards with a threatening silence, and finding out she lived right next to him had been a happy coincidence on her part since he could escort her to her door without having to go too far out of his way.

Even now he insisted she let him be the one to take her trash out to the dumpster, regardless of how “uptown” this place was, and in return she would give him pastries and savory breads. The experiments, she’d confessed almost conspiratorially when she’d made a chorizo cheese braid, and he wasn’t going to tell her that he struggled not to just eat everything in one sitting.

“You should really restock this thing, if you’re going to keep coming back all beat up.”

His eyes lifted to her face, the almost sheepish look she wore was so fucking pretty, and Pero’s brain finally caught up with what she’d said.

“You have seen me like this before?”

He watched her bite her lower lip in a guilty fashion, wanting to stop her and press his thumb into that plush skin instead.

“Mhm, I had a loaf of bread for you and heard you come in so I planned to give it to you before you went to bed but- you were in pretty bad shape when I looked through the peephole and you seemed… dangerous. I was worried but also, well-“ she stopped herself before sighing and Pero had a feeling he knew what she would say next. “I was scared. What if whoever hurt you ended up coming into the building after you? I thought you were attacked, or mugged, until the second or third time I saw you all bruised up. At that time, I hadn’t wanted to keep you in the open, just in case you were followed.”

“You haven’t told anyone, have you?”

He watched her head shoot up, eyes round in shock, hands immediately raising as she shook her head rapidly; as if the more rapid and wild her motions were, the more sincere she could come across. Pero was ignoring the fact that she’d worried about him that first incident, that she had wanted to protect him, he just couldn’t handle that right now.

“Of course I didn’t, Pero, I wouldn’t- I don’t know what you do and I wasn’t going to make any assumptions of you when you’ve been so kind to me.”

His heart ached at her confession, at her belief that his pride was kindness, but he couldn’t find it in him to correct her. Pero wanted her to think good of him, he wanted to try not to ruin her the way he did everything else that was soft and gentle, and he captured her hands in his as lightly as he could.

“Gracias, I will re-stock when the bruising isn’t as noticeable.”

“I could- I could go and get what you need, that way you have it on hand.”

Pero was about to argue, to fight her on this choice, but stopped himself from doing so at the determination in her expression. He didn’t get it at all, she should be fucking scared of him or worried he would hurt her.

“Why do you want to help me?”

“You’re kind to me, Pero, you protected me when nobody else did. I appreciate you and I want- I don’t like seeing you hurt and now knowing how much of this stuff you go through? I don’t know what you do and it’s not really my business but you don’t have to deal with it alone, okay?”

Those earnest eyes, wide and sweet, lips pulled down in a slight pout… he was lost to her gentle care as he nodded once and leaned his forehead down to rest against hers. He could let himself be her friend, her protector, and that would be enough. The soft press of her fingers smearing antiseptic on the very slight cuts, the ones that wouldn’t need bandages, was featherlight and so different to what he was used to.

All while she chattered about her day, about the customers at the bakery who insisted on leaving tips or the man that came in once a day and would ask her on a date each time despite her refusing constantly, and Pero hoped she didn’t notice the way his jaw clenched so he didn’t say something stupid.

His resolve about being her friend was shattering as quickly as he decided it, wanting to go to her work like an overprotective boyfriend to assess the competition. He couldn’t no matter how much he fucking wanted to.

When the last cut was cleaned, after she used one of his spare washcloths to get the blood and sweat from his face, Pero finally looked at her only to feel exposed and vulnerable at the open kindness in her eyes. He reached up and brushed away the flour smear from her nose, to distract himself, and her confusion turned into a giggle that made his heart clench.

He wanted to know if her lips were as soft as they looked, to find out if the smell of vanilla that lingered around her was a result of her baking or if she always smelled that way, but he couldn’t allow himself to find out. She deserved better than a man that could hardly read and earned his money in an illegal fighting circuit.

“Pero?” He felt his chest squeeze again, he’d been leaning up closer to her mouth as he stared at her this whole time, and he intended to back off until her breath was so close that it puffed against his lips. “Are you going to stare at me or kiss me?” His brain hadn’t quite caught up with the question but his body had, lips slanting to seal against hers, and he was right that they were so soft and sweet like the treats she made at home.

It was the first breath of air after being underwater too long, it was the spring sunshine breaking through winter’s lingering chill, it was water after walking through a desert for days. It was too much but not enough and Pero continued to ignore all the things telling him this was a bad idea, ignored all his worries and doubts, because he was right to believe that he couldn’t stop.

Now that she’d opened that door he was all but plowing through the threshold, pulling her against him to straddle his lap -she tried to fight him on that but he didn’t give her the chance because he wanted her to be as close to him as possible- as he tilted his head to slide his tongue past the seam of her lips; she yielded to him, a breathy little sound escaping her as her lips parted willingly and her tongue brushed against his.

He pulled back like he’d been struck to look at her, take in the expression of affection on her face, and even though it was a bad idea he was a greedy man.

“You want this? You want me?”

“I’ve been trying to flirt with you for weeks now, I don’t just give away things to everyone.”

The petulant look on her face made him smirk before his head tilted.

“I thought those were experiments?”

Watching her cheeks puff up as she was caught in her little white lie made him chuckle, until it really dawned on him that she’d made all those delicious little breads and pastries for him, and Pero cupped her face in his hands as if she were something fragile. He was trembling with restraint and the ache in his muscles, in the swelling on his face, began to truly set in with each little bit of time that passed.

“Thank you, I am sorry for not noticing sooner.”

“You can make it up to me by coming to mine whenever you’re coming home like this, I’ll keep my first aid kit more than stocked up.”

He wanted to argue but Pero was feeling too exposed and needed reprieve from the overwhelming softness she was practically pushing on him right now.

“Are you going to dress up like a nurse too?”

The lewd suggestion made her fluster and Pero was about to apologize, not wanting to push too far too soon, but she interrupted him with a tug on his stretched shirt collar.

“Maybe I will, if it means you’ll actually sit still and let me take care of you. If you- if you like that sort of thing I mean.”

It was his turn to fluster, his mind creating the image of her in the skintight mini-dress costume, and Pero captured her mouth in another kiss to silence the conversation before he could lose all semblance of self-control. His brain stopped him though, cutting through the desire with the blaring sirens of the implication of her words, the way she was trying to get off his lap.

He grabbed her waist, the skin and curves yielding to his hold, settling her back and bringing one hand back to hold her chin in place.

“You are beautiful, I know it’s hard for you to believe that with how many people try to tell you otherwise but it is true.” Pero could hardly care where her skin overlapped, where her clothes bunched or hung loose or even hugged tightly, none of that mattered to him and watching her eyes well up made him determined to prove to her that she was gorgeous and perfect and the one he wanted.

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