A/N: Late update, apologies. School is over for the holiday season, so that's great :) I don't own Darksiders™ nor any of the songs listed. Artists listed have full copyright to their songs. Also, The fic I mentioned in last chapter (Daydreaming Did Not Cover This) is credited to the author Sybariticfanficiton. I respect them so much 3 Have a safe and happy holiday season everyone 3
"So...you like pie."
You state factually, as you see him munch on blueberry pie that you had in the fridge. Down on one knee, he was very poised and rather graceful in how he ate, which was surprising to you for some reason. Perhaps it was due to the violence you associate with him from the game, but even then, he is incredibly elegant and confident with his movements. It's nothing compared to Death in the second Darksiders™ game, but still, you admit it is rather interesting to watch and make note of.
The horseman swallows the small bite he took, the pie tin looking so incredibly tiny as it rested in his massive gauntlet while he ate with his right hand. He glares at you, somewhat defensive.
"Yes." He stated flatly, almost like he didn't want to admit to the fact that caved into the pastry. You smothered the laugh that rose in your throat, taking a long draw at your now cold boozy coffee. You decided to spare him the teasing comments as you drew the focus back to the question to had for the Horseman.
"Horseman," you say, wanting to gaze into his eyes for polite reasons, but your attention was drawn pretty quickly to the crumbs that were practically pooling in his red hood. You inwardly chuckle and continue, trying your best to ignore the messy display. "I am by no means capable of summoning you-"
"Yet it happened." The Horseman interjects, dipping the fork you gave him into the pie to make another bite sized portion. You sigh heavily at his interruption, your gaze narrowing.
"YES, I know it happened. But I want to know why. A mere pen is not nearly enough." You grumble that last bit, your cold boozy coffee warming your belly as the whiskey was kicking in. The Horseman glares at you with a frown, the fork you gave him being held rather delicately and he mulled over your question. The fire was crackling as he thought, filling the void of silence that consumed the room.
As you finished your cup and was putting it in the sink, War began to answer your question.
"It may be your will. There must have been a determination to call me forth, even if it was unintended." His voice was soft, but there was an edge that you definitely did not miss. You were coming back into the living room, picking up paper that were scattered among the floor before stopping and taking a breath, facing away from the rider. Getting sassy won't solve anything, so rationalizing what was said proved to be the better option.
Did you really want a Horseman here? Surely not to be judging you and eating your fridge. The world did not need War and all of his intimidating grandeur, just like his game. You say that you will 'be right back,' and walk to your office to grab scissors and a strong adhesive tape. You silently dissect what he says, thinking of how to respond and what to do as the pen you ordered is delivered to your home.
You come back to the living room, asking the Horseman to give you his feet. He seems to catch on to what you were thinking, because although he scowled something real fierce, he sits on the ground with his legs stretched out. It was an awkward pose (only because you would never picture the Horseman sitting like this) and you promised to work quickly.
You were really lost in thought, thinking and overthinking the act of subconsciously wanting the Horseman in your realm of existence. While you were thinking, War just quietly ate the remaining quarter of the pie in the tin, the steel fork making tapping sounds against the tin as he dove in for each bite.
Rationally, summoning beings from other realms that are not related to your own makes plenty sense. And as much as you admire the Horseman's strength, you quite certainly did not need him here. Entertaining thoughts of interacting with War went through your mind of course, due to being a fan of the franchise. But they were funny and entertaining only because it was thought to be fiction and never a reality. You sigh and sit back after you finish one foot, white paper and tape covering the whole surface of the bottom of his boot.
"I really did not mean to summon you. And I genuinely understand what it's like to have someone call you and not be needed." You say in a soft empathetic tone, continuing onward with covering his second massive foot. As a slight introvert you were losing energy to interact, and with the Horseman's pointed statements jabbing at you, your energy was quickly dropping to non-existent levels. War was as silent as stone, save for his soft, closed-mouthed chewing.
"I want to make this right, so just bear with me please." Your tired eyes look up at the Horseman for a glance at his expression, and not to your surprise was his countenance still. You stick on the last piece of tape and remove yourself from the boots of the Horseman, beginning to pick up the remaining mess of papers that were thrown on the floor for War. After finishing that task you stand and massage the stress out of your back with your free hand, placing the wrinkled and muddied papers on the coffee table with a sour toss.
War shuffles into a standing position, and places the pie tin (now empty) on the coffee table as well, eyeing the outside world. You see that it was clear yet very windy outside
"I guess I can lay down a few ground rules. Outside is fine, just stay within the property line. No one visits out here, so prying eyes aren't a concern. If you have any questions about technology just ask, I'll help. You're welcome to the fridge, just leave enough of a portion for me. Shower is down this hall," you gesture with your hand to the direction of the bathroom. "As for sleeping arrangements, we can determine that after dinner." You're practically speed mumbling at this point, and you really need a nap to charge your social battery.
"Don't burn my house down, don't slice my house down," You emphasize firmly, nervously eyeing the intimidating Chaoseater. Even just leaning against the wall next to your fireplace, you felt the terrific energy from the dangerous sword. No wonder it was an apocalyptic weapon. "and most importantly treat everything as though it was fragile." You rub your eyes and decide that a 2 hour power nap would make you feel rested enough to make dinner.
"Human," War begins, for the first time in nearly 30 minutes. Your exhaustion was starting to press on you, but you look to him and wait for him to continue.
"If anyone knows about my summoning, there will be consequences." Again, that edge was there, and that was the point in which you needed to escape. You wordlessly turn and briskly walk to your room, unintentionally slamming the door, but it was a hope that the solid piece of wood was able to just shut out all of your problems for the next while.
You took off your house slippers, and you effective immediately slid under the covers and just went to sleep, not caring what became of the Horseman for the next 2 hours.
About 2-ish hours ticked by and you woke up to silence. It wasn't blissful like other times, it was nearly choking. Remembering the Horseman that roamed your home set your temper at a moderate level already, and your hunger was not helping either. You shove your feet into your house slippers and you grab your house coat as there was a bite to the air. The fireplace must've either died or was in the process of dying.
You open your door much nicer than when you came to take your nap, and you shuffle to the kitchen, feeling admittedly better than a while ago. While making your journey you decided that a stew with biscuits was the meal for dinner, since it was heartwarming and relatively quick to make. Due to the winter that was prevalent outside, the sun set very early. Although it was about 4 in the afternoon, it was rather dark outside.
You scan the living room, noting that War was not there. You gaze around, seeing no hulking figure in your house. You simply conclude that he was outside. You feed the fire more wood to last the next few hours and walk a little less tensely to the kitchen, washing your hands as you gather ingredients for your stew.
Staples such as carrots, celery, onions, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, seasonings and a pork shoulder (you were going to use for pulled pork later that week, but oh well) was all put on the counter space. You get to work preparing the ingredients, playing some music from a speaker system in the living room. It was loud, and you could clearly hear the songs you queued.
Feelings, so deep in my feelings
No, this ain't really like me
Can't control my anxiety
Feeling, like I'm touching the ceiling
When I'm with you I can't breathe
Boy, you do something to me
You were singing and momentarily forgetting the problems before you and immersing yourself in cooking, swaying and feeling the beat and the words of the song. The bass filled the whole house and you were just having a wonderful time being yourself. As you were putting things together after prior preparation steps, the stew was ready to go into the oven to simmer and bubble away. A small thought in your mind wondered about the Horseman, but you tried to silence it while you prepared to make biscuits.
You never thought cooking was tedious, and if you had the option of making things for yourself then you did. A labor of love was always worth it. Also, it was a great outlet from hours of drawing and putting stress on your wrist.
Eventually too your biscuits are rolled out, cut, and placed on a baking sheet (lined with parchment paper of course) and you place them in the fridge to keep the butter from melting while the stew finished its full cook time.
Cleaning up now, the Horseman was still out and about. Again that thought was focused in your mind, and your brain started jumping to scenarios. You continue cleaning up around the house to kill time and distract yourself from the reality, knowing that once you settle down for the night you're not getting back up unless your house was on fire.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, look
I don't know how to talk to you
I don't know how to ask you if you're okay
My friends always feel the need to tell me things
Seems like they're just happier than us these days
Yeah, these days I don't know how to talk to you
I don't know how to be there when you need me
It feels like the only time you see me
Is when you turn your head to the side and look at me differently
Yeah, and last night I think I lost my patience
Last night I got high as the expectations
Last night, I came to a realization
And I hope you can take it
I hope you can take it
I'm too good to you
I'm way too good to you
You take my love for granted
I just don't understand it
No, I'm too good to you
I'm way too good to you
You take…
You were singing and furiously cleaning, minding the time and your increasing hunger. Drake was telling you everything that you felt. You treated the Horseman in a civil and polite manner to the best of your ability and he gets all snappy. You didn't freak the fuck out when he appeared, you were calm trying to help him get back to where he was, and above all else, you opened your home to him.
"Bastard, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind when he gets his ass back in here," You growl, the fiery flow of Cardi B fueling your fire as you vacuumed the rug underneath the coffee table. When War stood up, you suspected that he brushed off all the crumbs that fell into that dumb hood onto the floor. That seemed to be interpreted as a deliberate act to piss you off, and you felt yourself practically steaming as you continued to clean.
You huff as you finished sweeping and dusting, your skin hot from your sudden energy. You wash your hands again, and turn off the music. You put the biscuits in the oven while taking out the stew, checking to make sure the cook was to your standard (which was perfection by the way). Your mouth was watering like you haven't eaten in a week. Stew was among the many things that you enjoyed cooking and eating.
It was just as you placed the lid on the pot that the main door creaked open. Startled, you jumped a bit as it was something that was unexpected. You made a noise to the alarm you felt, and your rather good mood almost instantly died as the Horseman smugly snickered at you, obviously amused although his face did not show it.
"That's not funny." You growl, furrowing your brow while you decide to set the table in the living room. You decided to not ask where the Horseman has been since really he's a grown ass man who doesn't need you worrying about his every action. You were very certain that someone as old and independent as himself was capable of not doing something really reckless (like start an apocalypse).
"Also, I know you hate this situation, but I'm trying my best, Horseman. Just a little bit of patience would be well appreciated." You say to him from the other room, before coming back to grab a pitcher of water with ice. War looked at you for a tense moment, and you saw him nod slowly. If it weren't for the almost agonizingly slow speed of that nod, you would've said that he was understanding the stress you were feeling.
"I understand." War responded, his voice not yielding any emotion as to what he really thought in regards to what you said. He closed the door behind him with a gentle nudge, almost like he forgot that he was the one who opened it in the first place. Huh, that doesn't seem like typical War-like behavior.
Your living room was one large space, with the couches against the windows with a coffee table in front of them, and the dining table was closer to the entrance of the kitchen. Open, but there was a sense of separation between the two areas. Furthermore, the kitchen directly lead outside to the main area of your house through a small hallway. You felt as though you forgot something in the kitchen, and as you came back you noticed the Horseman was still standing in the entrance to the kitchen.
War closed his eyes and took a deep breath. You saw a small smile crease on his face and you near thought it was a trick of the eyes. Did….did War just smile? You'd be lying if you said that you weren't proud of yourself, because although it was due to the food, it was still an effort that you put in that caused him to smile.
"What is that aroma from?" War inquired with subtle interest, his blue eyes glowing as you saw him glance around, and you revelled in the refreshing softness in his tone. Finally, a break from that harsh edge in his voice.
"I made stew and some biscuits. I set the table. You're welcome to have some if you're hungry." You say checking the biscuits, the golden brown indicating that they were done.
Not wasting a second, you place the hot biscuits carefully into a basket lined with towel, and carry it to the table. Two seats were set up, across from one another. You realize that normal chair were not large enough for the Horseman, so you offered to move to the couch while you watch a show or something while you both ate. He nodded, taking his large bowl of stew and handful of biscuits with him to the couch.
You decide on a history movie, since it's within your interests and also because he would probably be able to relate to it more than some modern movie. War remained silently in awe at the advancement of technology, but you just continued to soak up that good attitude from War like a sponge. It seems that you have found a way to stay in his high spirits, and honestly it's not a true burden to upkeep.
Your meal was rather enjoyable as you both watch the movie while spaced apart from one another (it was Braveheart™ that you chose), and to your surprise he was rather chatty about man and how trivial it all seemed. You rolled your eyes at nearly every one of his comments, but they weren't super judgmental nor aimed at you and for that you were grateful.
You could get used to maybe hanging out with the Horseman, and relishing in the good company he wouldn't admit he was.
Sorry for the weird almost out of context (probably really out of context) description of the house. I just thought it was necessary for perspective of the building. I know it's not the greatest lol.
Songs used: Boo'd Up - Ella Mai
Too Good - Drake - ft. Rihanna
As mentioned before, I don't take any credit for the songs or the game.
Thanks for reading 3 Happy Holidays
-Mrs. Dauntless