Ivor was sitting in the pile of blankets on the floor. Jesse was in the center of the makeshift nest, curled up slightly. Ivor was sitting next to her and petting her gently, while Petra's head gently conked against the spider hybrid's from where she was lying, her glow fading and brightening with each inhale and exhale. The wolf and ocelot hybrid were curled up next to Jesse, Jace's head lying on Jesse's stomach and Lukas curled up at Jesse's and Petra's middle. Cassie was lying next to Ivor, Winslow sitting on her head and purring as he snoozed.
Ivor missed his robe. He didn't feel nearly so... exposed, no matter how much he crabbed about his outfit. And at least he didn't feel every little tiny breeze that blew over him.
The door creaked open, and Ivor looked up to see a pinprick of light slip into the room, a gray eye appearing at the doorway.
"Harper?" Ivor asked, softly, once the initial surprise wore off.
The door eked open more as Harper jumped a bit, looking startled. "Oh- I didn't expect anyone to be up," she whispered back, one hand over her heart as she edged into the room, backlit from the ambient gold light and making a long shadow fall over the floor.
Ivor shrugged. "Can't sleep." And this was with a small calming potion to boot.
"Ah." Harper lingered in the doorway, halfway in the room and halfway out.
"...You can come in, you know."
Harper's cheeks seemed to turn faintly pink as she crept in, but it was too dim to see for sure. "Ah. Okay."
Ivor smirked slightly, feeling his cheeks heat up a bit and hoping the dimness was concealing it. "You can come near us, you know- none of us bite. Unless provoked."
Harper chuckled softly, edging further into the room as she shut the door and coming over to where Ivor was sitting, sitting at the edge of the nest of blankets. "I know, I know." She was quiet for a moment, before adding, quietly, "You and Jesse are very close, aren't you." It was not a question, even though it seemed to be phrased a bit like one.
Ivor looked down at the spider hybrid, whose expression was oddly peaceful. She usually looked cheerful... or determined, or angry, or a whole myriad of emotions, but right now she looked oddly blank and peaceful, like all people who were sleeping and not having a nightmare. "Very," he agreed softly, moving his hand and touching his adoptive daughter's hair.
Harper was quiet, before saying softly, "You said earlier... that you were a bad guy?"
"Ah," and Ivor's eyes shut as he thought back. "The- the whole story's very long, but... the short version is, my friends and I had had... quite the falling out. They- they lied, and, well... I didn't want to. I did quite a stupid thing to get revenge... I guess in hindsight I could've used a truth potion or something. Instead I created an unstoppable monster that stopped at nothing to consume the whole world. If Jesse hadn't been able to stop it..." He trailed off. He actually didn't want to think about it, now that he thought about it.
Harper was quiet for a couple of moments. "Back in the tunnels... to get to the lab. You said you could empathize with my creation getting out of hand... is that what you meant?"
Ivor didn't open his eyes. "Yes," he said softly.
Another silence. "Well I don't think you're that bad."
Ivor opened his eyes and looked at Harper, who was sitting a little closer to him in the nest, almost sitting on top of the nest. "You're with Jesse. Comparing what you and Cassie did... well, I'm not surprised that Jesse'd forgive the both of you. I think she can just tell... that you're not that bad. I guess deep down inside there's a part of you the two of you showed even at your worst... that you weren't that bad..." Harper huffed a bit, making Ivor look over at her. "Well one thing I'm not good at is trying to be motivational."
Ivor snickered a bit at that, making the Old Builder blush and playfully glare at him, before registering something. "Oh, you know about Cassie?" he asked, a bit surprised.
Harper shrugged. "She told me on our way here," she responded casually.
"Oh." Ivor hesitated, one hand on Jesse's back, the other in his lap. "I'm glad you think so."
"I know so. I don't know Jesse that well, but if she forgave you, you can't be that bad." Another short silence from Harper, before she said, in a smaller voice, "I don't think you're bad."
Ivor let out a soft sigh and moved one hand that covered his eyes, which shut- both from tiredness, and partially to hide the gratitude glowing in his eyes. "... thank you," he said quietly.
"Not at all." And then something warm pressed against his cheek, making his eyes widen before he removed his hand to see Harper leaning back, her cheeks rather red- this was evident even in the dim light. Judging by how his face suddenly felt like it was on fire, the redness in his face was obvious now too, as Ivor stared wordlessly at the former Old Builder, dark blue eyes wide.
"... well, good night Ivor," Harper said, in a tiny little voice, and then she lay down, turning away from him.
Ivor lay down as well, hands resting on Jesse's back as he stared at nothing, eyes wide in surprise still. Even though only minutes before he'd been feeling rather sleepy, his heart was now racing at a hundred miles an hour.
A faint smile curved on his mouth.
Good thing Cassie wasn't awake right about now.
A/N: HARVOR FLUFF x3 AAAAAAHHHH
I'm really excited for the next part :) I must say, I honestly never expected I was going to get this far with this story 0-0
angelwings: Oh woah 0-0
x.X. A.L. X.x.
