I've had this rattling around in my brain for so long, now I finally get to make it everyone else's problem!
There is an uncensored version of this one, I've slapped it up on my Bluesky (pokee.bsky.social) for anyone who cares.
Accompanying short story under the cut as well. Please forgive my writing, I havent written anything prose-y in years, and have never written fanfiction before in my life. It's all very new and scary!
Heinrix didn’t argue as Cerci gently pushed him towards her bathroom. After the nights events his legs felt far too heavy to make the trip on their own. The breach had withdrawn over an hour ago, but the bone-aching cold had persisted. Following the advice of her chirurgeon, Cerci had insisted he at least try to warm up with a bath.
“We’re here.” Cerci’s voice came softly from behind him. “The water shouldn’t be too hot so you’ll be ok to just go straight in.”
She turns away from him and towards the vanity at the back of the room. He recalled her once mentioning it as far too large to be practical. He could see now what she meant.
“What about you?”
She flapped her hands at him as she knelt into the cupboard. “Don’t wait for me. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Heinrix looks towards the bath, the water bubbling cheerfully even at this hour. What time even was it? How did he even end up here? The officer he killed, the panic that followed, the breach, the regicide pieces covered in ice, Cerci’s tear-stained face looking up at him as he renounced the Inquisition, as he dedicated himself to her… Nothing about this night felt real and yet here he stood and real it was.
A sudden chill brings Heinrix back to the present as a shiver runs down his spine. He casts a glance back at Cerci, hunched under her vanity and still very much distracted by her task. Suppressing another shiver, his need for warmth and the temptation of the bath were now far too distracting to ignore and he begins to disrobe.
The rosette is the first thing to go. Heinrix considers for a moment how heavy it, and his duty, had felt before flicking it away. He certainly won’t need it now. His coat is next, then undershirt, belt, boots, slacks and smallclothes until at last he is completely undressed.
Heinrix crosses the room quickly and slips into the bath, breathing a sigh of almost relief as the warm water immediately begins to work its magic. Slowly the feeling returns to his limbs and he can finally breathe again.
“You’re looking better.” Cerci looks down at him, her face illuminated by nearby candles. No longer wearing her nightgown, Heinrix feels his face grow hot before he forces himself to look away. She sits along the edge of the bath just next to him, carefully placing two glass bottles down beside her with a soft clink.
“How do you feel?”
“Better… Much better.”
“Good.” Cerci leans back into the flats of her palms. She looks exhausted, the flickering light of the candles making the shadows under her eyes appear even larger. Guilt builds in the pit of Heinrix’s stomach, surely she would have been getting ready for bed before he arrived in her study, and now he’s interrupted her rest even further.
“Stop it.”
He jerks as Cerci gently nudges him with her leg.
“W-what?”
“You’re beating yourself up. Stop it.”
“I’m not I- You shouldn’t have to do this.” He finally admits. He looks up at her, trying to gage her expression through the dim. “You need sleep, I can recover in my own quarters.”
“Absolutely not.” He can see her now, her brows knitted in irritation. “I already told you this is non-negotiable, and the last thing I want is to find out tomorrow that you froze to death during the night!”
She continues. “Just- let me worry about you.”
He chuckles, pressing soft kisses into the side of her thigh. “Is that an order, Lord Captain?”
“Do I have to make it one?”
He pauses for a moment, taking the time to breathe her in as he continued to focus on her skin. “I suppose not.”
“Good. Plenty of time for actual orders later, now come here.” Cerci repositions herself to be directly behind him, draping her legs over his shoulders.
“What are you doing?” He cranes his neck to look at her as Cerci examines the contents of one of the bottles beside her, not missing the deep shade of red that has settled in her cheeks.
“We’re in a bath, we’re bathing- now quit moving your head.”
Cerci makes him look forward and then leans him further back into her, until he’s cradled between her thighs. He feels something cool on his scalp and Cerci begins to lather his hair, the familiar scent of the sea filling the air.
Nothing in the whole of the expanse could have prepared him for this moment. Cerci hummed softly to herself as she cleaned his hair and Heinrix sank deeper into the warmth surrounding him, pressing his lips this time, into the skin just above her knee. The warmth, the love was almost overwhelming. He’d never felt more content than in this moment. And that was all he needed.
