#softest boy

“Who’s not your anything?” A deep voice rumbled gently from next to you, a large, familiar shadow falling across the table.  

Oh perfect.  

Khureg heard that.

“Oh-, um, nothing! Just a joke?” You forced a smile, trying to ignore the way your voice wavered. Ren clearly did notice by the patronising face they were giving you.  

“Oookay...,” Khureg trailed off, sliding into the seat next to you despite how much more room was on Ren's side, he just must prefer this seat you told yourself, “So how was your day at work? I hope it wasn’t too cold on the walk over here for you.” The Orc asked with a sweet smile.

“Hi Khureg, nice to see you.” Ren interjected, a sly smile curling their mouth, turning to look at you with one sharp eyebrow raised.  

Blush on green skin was so beautiful, you thought, paying no mind to your friend’s interactions. “Oh, yeah, hi Ren. How are you doing?”  

As the pair were talking about their respective days you started to become incredibly distracted. Honestly a war party could have been raging through the bar and you wouldn’t have noticed as you were so transfixed on the dark freckles over Khureg’s nose and neck. At this point you could probably tell him how many freckles the Orc had and what different constellations they formed.

Gods, you had it bad.

A clicking in front of your face brought you back down to earth, shaking your head out of reverie you turned to the impatient Naga, seemingly they’d just asked you a question.

“Sorry, I wasn’t here for a minute, what did you say?” You replied apologetically, missing the way that Khureg’s eyes darted to your pinkening cheeks before staring at his hands, as if worried that he’d be caught.  

“I have asked you thrice now, what would you like to drink? I’m going to the bar.” Ren snarked at you, but you didn’t take it to heart. While the Naga was impatient, they were also your best friend, snarking was just who they were. You could ask them anything and while they might gently roast you, they’d sort it for you.  

“Umm, can I just have a glass of wine? I need to be up early tomorrow to work on my portfolio.” Ren nodded, his slit eyes darting back and forth between you and Khureg.

Slithering out of their seat, Ren made his way to the bar but not before quipping over his shoulder. “Not a problem, but talking about hair stuff, don’t you have a question for big and handsome there?”  

Ren’s smirk was so big you could practically feel it melting your face off.  

Maybe you needed a new damn best friend.  

“A question for me?” Khureg rumbled, turning to face you. Well, more like looking down to face you considering the remarkable height differences. When standing you only came up to his chest, which just distracted you further as all you could think about was if you ever shared a bed with him, you could literally sleep on top of his chest.  

Gods, Ren really was simultaneously the best and the worst.

“Well, yeah, you’re always so helpful and good and generous with your time and I just wanted to ask you if you could help me with one more thing? Ren told me about a brand that I haven’t tried yet for Naga’s and Ren can’t help because of shedding, you know Naga’s and their sensitive skin! And I know that braids are a delicate thing to do for Orcs but well it’s not an Orcish braid and I would really appreciate if I could practice on you and-,”  

Khureg stopped you before you started going blue in the face from your never ending ramble by putting one of his massive and surprisingly soft hands on your shoulder.  

Finally, you remembered to take a breath, smiling nervously up at the Orc.

Why were you even nervous!?  

It’s not the first time you’ve asked for help!  

But it felt different now, maybe because he was sat so much closer to you than usual.

Maybe it was the way his golden eyes almost sparkled in the low light of the bar.

Chuckling, Khureg squeezed your shoulder gently. “That’s absolutely fine, you know I don’t mind you playing with-, styling my hair. For your job, of course.” The Orc corrected himself quickly.

Gods, Khureg was amazing, you thought, your face lighting up and you did something unexpected. You launched forward, wrapping your arms around the Orcs considerable chest, your hands couldn’t even touch, you thought gleefully.  

A small oomph left his chest but he rumbled quietly, the sound vibrating all the way through to your spine and further down...  

Large, strong arms encompassed you back, pressing you right into his shirt.

Oh, he even smelled amazing.  

It wasn’t like this was the first time you’d hugged Khureg! You’d known the Orc for a year now, you were close friends.  

But this time felt different.

It made your heart flutter just like every other time you’d been close to him but this felt like comfort.  

Like being under a blanket on a rainy day.  

Like the first hot drink on a winter morning.

It felt like home.

Maybe it was the way he held you just a little tighter than normal, maybe it was the dark lighting and the privacy of the booth. You didn’t know, but you weren’t complaining.

Soon Ren returned with your drinks and you detangled yourself from Khureg’s warm embrace. The rest of the night went well, drinks flowed in moderation and before you knew it your thigh was pressed against the Orc’s. You’d arranged a night in the week for Khureg to come over, you also invited Ren but unfortunately, they were busy. With what, they didn’t say but you weren’t about to pry and lose any alone time with Khureg.  

It seemed, however, that both you and Khureg, had missed the sly looks that the devious Naga had been shooting you both all night.  

Ren did sometimes wonder how either of you managed to get through this life being this damn oblivious.

The following week stretched on, going both far too quickly and all at once way too slowly. It was a painful week just because of that. Work and study went on as usual, nothing at all exciting or even disastrous that may distract you from daydreaming about Khureg spending some quality time with you.  

Ren had sent you the picture of the braid they’d described however, it was a little strange. Not the braid of course! That was utterly beautiful, and you couldn’t wait to practice it. Just, in the images that Ren usually sent you got multiple references which included different views of the style so that you knew whether your version was sitting right or not.

Whereas this single picture looked cropped, it was only the braid and nothing more. You had no idea who it was on, or even if it was actually a Naga?

Oh well, you wouldn’t complain, Ren had been such a help with everything that you really didn’t mind too much.  

And, this was another opportunity to be close to Khureg.

Gosh, you missed playing with-, styling his hair.

It had been well over a month since you’d last used him as a hair model for pictures and practice.  

Suddenly, Wednesday night was upon you, and you’d spent all day tidying your flat irregardless of that fact that not only had Khureg already been there before but it was also already spotless. You’d stocked your fridge with his favourite beer and had placed the usual order with your mutually favourite pizza parlour when the door rang.

Jumping up off your worn sofa, you wrenched the stiff door open to reveal Khureg wearing a tight henley shirt, the first three buttons undone, sleeves pushed up to the elbows revealing strong, thick forearms and a pair of grey sweat pants that lined his legs indecently.  

“Hi!” You managed to squeak out, “Please, come on in.” Stepping back from the door, you let him stoop through the entrance and you fanned your face behind his hulking figure.  

“How’s your day been?” You asked, plopping yourself on the sofa next to him.

Khureg sighed, stretching his arms. “Not so bad, but where it’s coming up to Yuletide the practice is getting ready for the pets that will be given as presents just being dumped because families can't handle them. It’s just stressful really as we’re doing so much work for something that we know is going to happen but it’s completely preventable! It just makes me so mad; you know?” The Orc vented to you as you nodded in agreement.

Being this passionate about animal welfare was just another thing you loved about him, as if he couldn't get any more perfect. You could just listen to him all day, and to be fair you nearly have before, when he had excitedly rambled about a new vaccination clinic that the practice had implemented under his leadership around three months ago. When Khureg had realised that he had been talking without interruption for a long time he faltered and apologised profusely.

At that moment you could’ve screamed, you were on cloud nine just listening to him.  

Conversation was flowing, most likely due to the beer you’d bought and nothing at all to do with that fact that you're similar people with similar interests, one of which being each other but no, it wouldn’t be that of course.  

When the doorbell rang to announce the pizza, Khureg was up and across the room before you’d even registered the sound of the door, his soft movement just another thing that you admired. After paying and tipping the delivery guy, you both got to work devouring the pizza.  

“Oh, let you give you my half of the bill-,” Khureg waved you off. “Don’t worry about it, my treat.” That smile he gave you melted your heart.  

“By the way, your door is sticking, I can fix that for you?” He offered as he ate half a slice in one go.

“That’s okay, you don’t need to do that for me.” You shrugged it off, you were fine with your door despite how annoying it could be.  

“I know I don’t have to, but I want to,” Khureg smiled, his eyes drifting down to your lips, “you’ve got a little something there.” The Orc gestured to the corner of your mouth and when you went the wrong way to wipe it off, Khureg smiled and took a napkin, gently cleaning the sauce from your face. Thick thumb tracing your full, bottom lip for the briefest moment that you thought you imagined it.  

Your faces were closer than you realised, your tongue darting out to ghost over where he had touched.  

The tension was broken however when your phone slipped from your pocket, the thump bringing you both back to reality and you sprung apart from one another.  

Khureg and you shared a nervous laugh, him rubbing the back of his neck as you quickly fetched your phone from the floor.

“Well, should we get started before I get too tired to focus?” You asked and when he agreed, you stood and grabbed your case of hair tools and products while he made himself comfortable at your dining table.  

Standing behind him, you carefully removed the tie that kept his hair folded in a messy bun and his long, glossy hair cascaded over his broad back and over your fingers. You started as you always did, running your fingers through his locks from the top of his head, to the nape of his neck all the way down to the ends.  

Music was playing softly in the background, just loud enough that you missed his sigh of euphoria as you caressed his skin and hair.  

Neither of you spoke during the process, just enjoying the proximity of each other and the simple joy of touching another and being touched.

Humming gently, you propped up your phone with the reference picture displayed and began studiously copying the image, twisting, pining and plaiting his hair until it represented the desired style perfectly.  

Moments like this really did make everything feel better, just you and Khureg in this space with no one else and no other issues to be thinking of.

Just the peace of being happy, safe and cared for.

After an hour or so you were happy with the result and ushered Khureg into the bathroom to look in the mirror as you held a smaller mirror behind him so he could see all of it.

“So what do you think? I did a pretty good job, huh?” You grinned, really rather proud of this braid. Hopefully Khureg would acquiesce to you taking a picture for your portfolio.  

Khureg was silent.

The Orcs cheeks burning a deep green, Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat as he swallowed, unable to get any words out.

“Is everything okay?” You enquired, your smile slipping slightly. Did he not like it?  

“No-, I mean yes! Of course, I’d love to start courting you!” Khureg exclaimed, wrapping you in an embrace so tight that your feet left the ground, your face pressed into his shirt before you could ask him what was going on!?