Just some quick fluff heavily inspired by chp 10.5 :)

The Ancient Magus Bride belongs to Kore Yamazaki


They had every intention of spending the day deemed to be Elias' birthday celebrating with questions and stories and sweets. But…

"Does it really bother you this badly?" Elias asked the quivering ball of blanket that was Chise.

She tried to answer through gritted teeth but another resounding boom broke her words into a piercing shriek. Once her adrenaline lowered enough for intelligent thought, she sighed and nodded as she tried to calm the tremors assaulting her frame.

The brief respite in storms had ended and invited grey clouds to return on double time to make up for two days of absence. A late dreary breakfast had fooled them into believing that the puffy invaders were benevolent, desiring only to blanket the sky in monotonous gray. But the moment Chise's hand had curled around the phone for a birthday late-lunch-early-dinner the clouds' true colors arrived with a blaring crack.

Elias looked to her, then out to the sheet of rain assaulting the outside pavement, then back to her. He cocked his head in his signature tell of confusion. "The storm and the lighting are dangerous, but our shelter seems more than sufficient. I must admit I am unsure what it is that you are afraid of."

Chise barked a hard scoff, "Just because the lightning can't hurt me doesn't mean it doesn't scare me!" She sighed and apologized for the harsh tone. If Elias was upset he said nothing. Instead. he leaned down until he was crouched down at her eye level, much like how they first met. His eyes wavered in a curious plea, asking the questions his voice did not know how to ask.

She sighed again relenting, "Besides...it's not really the thunder I'm afraid of." At this, his eyes flickered in an action akin to a blink. "Then what is it that you are afraid of?"

His position couldn't help but remind her of the day they met, a stormy evening that was mere seconds from becoming irreversible. Though she supposed in some ways it became so regardless. Thunder was not what she knew would harm her if given the chance. Thunder was a warning of things to come. The herald of lightning and the destruction it brings. How unfair it was that harmless sound bore the brunt of her fear.

"Remember when you met me in the clearing? When that monster was chasing me?" He nodded curiously. "Well, that really wasn't unusual for me at all. Anytime there's a storm I can almost guarantee that something bigger and nastier than usual is close behind." Her nose pointed to the floor in thought. "Maybe it's the weather that makes them stronger than normal or just they know I'm more vulnerable. But either way, when I hear thunder, I know that I'm in danger." She frowned in a huff. "Before, even if I had shelter it didn't mean something small couldn't squeeze in and try to bite me."

Elias' red eyes narrowed in thought. "I see, so you have come to associate thunder with attacks from predatory fae." He muttered as much to himself as to her. His head shifted from side to side as he gingerly rose to his haunches. Something was playing out in his mind, but she just couldn't figure what. He regarded Chise for a moment longer before unceremoniously plucking her loose of her blanket and swooping her into his arms. Before she could blink she was seated sidelong in his lap with his lithe arms tucked around her snugly.

Stammering and blushing furiously she finally managed, after hastily remembered to speak English, squeaking out, "Wh-what are y-you doing?!" He craned his head to meet her gaze, a difficult maneuver considering his height. Even when modified for the apartment, he was still larger than her. His eyes were somehow both confused and confident.

"You are afraid of neighbors attacking you, but if I am nearby they will leave you alone and you have nothing to fear." He stated in equal parts self-evidence and confidence, like a child proudly explaining their solution to the newspaper's brain teaser. His smile could not have been more apparent had it been drawn along his teeth.

Chise's mouth parted like a gaping fish as she tried to calm her racing heart. Sure he had draped his arm over her twice thus far, but this close she could practically hear his… his heart.

Her chagrin was momentarily forgotten as her attention became drawn to his left breast which happened to sit adjacent to her right ear. The shell of her ear gradually rested against his torso followed shortly after by her fingers. Sure enough, she could hear and feel his pulse surging under his skin. The gentle *ba-dmp, ba-dmp* thrumming neath her ear was oddly hypnotic.

Before this moment she hadn't been sure he had a heart. Absently, she wondered when she had last been close enough, vulnerable enough, to another person to have felt a heartbeat. This small reassurance that there was, in fact, another living being with her in the storm, surprisingly calmed her more than she could fathom.

Breath whistled through her lips in a calm sigh as she sank into his embrace. Distantly, she registering his arms shifting to accommodate her and a soft rumbling hum. "Is it helping?" Elias asked with some trepidation.

Before she could answer another crash echoed through the walls. Her eyes screwed shut and her fingers clenched Elias' robe. Simultaneously, Elias both pulled her closer to his chest and shifted his palm over her ear like a strange clawed muffler. The noise dulled, she could instead focus on his heartbeat. And sure enough, her own heart calmed in turn. When the rumbling finally died they both relaxed their respective chokeholds and resettled comfortably.

Chise decided she would just have to get used to blushing around this absurdly forward but kind creature. "Yeah, it helps a lot." Elias sighed contentedly as his hand took to gently stroking her back up and down.

She wasn't sure how long they stayed that way. They had a few scattered attempts at conversation but the thunderclaps seemed to take joy from of interrupting them. They soon decided to sit comfortably and quietly in their embrace, occasionally assuming a defensive position against the thunder. The warmth of his arms was so comforting that Chise could almost fall asleep again. They both did just that at one point when she groggily opened her eyes to feel Elias draped over her like a snoring ragdoll.

Eventually, the rain slowed from a roaring assault to a sleepy drizzle. Chise would have to move sooner or later if they were to have anything for dinner. A nagging prickle in the back of head reminded her that today Elias had wanted to celebrate his birthday. And that the day had all but been spent with no celebration toward it as she had promised.

Guilt settled in her chest at her selfish weakness as she fought the hot tears that were just on the edge of spilling. In her efforts to choke down tears a cracked sob escapes her throat. Elias tilted his head, humming in question. "What is it now? I thought the thunder leaving would make you feel better?"

Chise cleared her throat again in an effort to hide her stupid outbreak and control the damage done. "I'm sorry, it's just, today was supposed to be for your birthday and I didn't do anything for you. And you had to help me…" She just doesn't know how not to be selfish when it comes right down to it.

Elias considered her for a moment before slipping his hands under her shoulders and positioning her along his lap to better face him. "Admittedly, I'm not sure why you are upset that I chose to help you. But I can say that there is little I would have enjoyed more on my 'birthday', or any other day, than sitting quietly here. I can not say why, but I quite like holding you close like this." As if to illustrate his point he rose a hand from the floor and delicately palmed her cheek.

Her face was already as red as could be but she cannot meet his eyes. Thin pale fingers met the claws held against her cheek in the only assurance she could think to give. She didn't know what to make of this, bizarre positive attention, but she resounded to accept it at least for now.

She was still too selfish to keep him away from the poison that is her curse.

"Frankly," he started as his unoccupied arm came to wrap itself back around her waist, tugging her close. "the thought of you alone where anything could come and harm you makes me uneasy...so," He held her closer lowering his maw to lightly nuzzle her temple, "I'll just have to be near you all the time."

Her lips parted in a small squeak and her heart somehow found a way to beat even faster. Some part of her was unnerved by the idea of her solitude shrunken, the number of people that could hurt her or she could hurt increased by one. But now having had an addicting taste of companionship she believed herself incapable of giving it up. She took a calming breath and leaned back against his chest. She will need to get up eventually, but if Elias truly did not mind, then Chise would quite gratefully soak up the warmth of his arms a while longer.

Reluctantly, she allowed herself a smile. "...Alright."