Public Displays
Vash the Stampede x Reader
Words: 1520
Rating: G
Summary: when evading bounty hunters, sometimes it's best to get creative.
A/N: remember that scene in... which marvel movie was it, winter soldier? where natasha tells steve to kiss her because "pda makes people uncomfortable" and the guys chasing them won't look too closely? yeah. that. (as usual, i primarily had 98 vash in mind while writing.)
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“I heard that Vash the Stampede was headed toward town.”
Your eyes meet his across the table; yours nervous, his resigned. You’ve been lucky lately, passing through several towns with little incident, so you suppose you’re due for some… excitement. Still, maybe that group of rugged-looking men across the bar doesn’t have any frame of reference for what he looks like.
“Heard he wears a red coat,” one says.
“And he’s got spiked-up hair,” another chimes in.
…Yeah, it’s time to take your leave.
You place a few double dollars on the table and nod in a way you hope is surreptitious, and thankfully, Vash takes your cue. You’ll leave first, and he’ll follow.
You grab your bag and slink toward the entrance, watching the group of men in your peripheral vision. They look like rough characters, and they clearly just rolled into town, still covered in desert sand and sweat and grime, guns strapped to their hips. You grimace as you make your way outside into the cool night, crossing your fingers as you wait near the door for Vash.
You breathe for a moment, then two.
“Hey!” you hear from inside the bar, and your heart skips a beat. “Hey! That’s Vash the Stampede!”
Time to go.
You get a head start, knowing Vash will be right behind you, and, true to form, he’s beside you in an instant, a sigh on his lips as he steers you down a dark alleyway, caging you against the wall like a shield as he peeks around the corner behind you. Your pursuers haven’t figured out which way you went, but it’s only a matter of time.
“Anyone there?” you ask, made slightly breathless by both exertion and proximity; the instinctive way Vash protects you with everything he has, his chest nearly pressed to yours.
“Not yet,” he says, blue eyes glinting in the darkness. “Come on, let’s go—”
“Wait,” you interrupt, taking hold of his wrist.
He looks at you with furrowed brows; questioning.
“The coat. That’s what they know you by. Did they get a good look at you in the bar?”
“Good enough,” he says.
“We have a better chance if you lose it. And the glasses. Just put them in my bag. I’ll mess up your hair and we’ll walk off like nothing happened.”
He frowns, clearly unconvinced.
“Oh, c’mon,” you say. “It’s better than nothing.”
That, he concedes to. “Alright,” he says, undoing the buttons of his coat. You know that his underclothes make him stick out—that strange, skintight material with so many straps and cut-outs, a large scar visible on his exposed shoulder—but it’s dark anyway, and no one would connect it with Vash the Stampede. He folds his coat and offers it to you, and you stuff it into your bag, then take his glasses, too.
“C’mere,” you say, and pretend to feel nothing as he leans down to let you muss his hair—your heart races as you try not to linger; try not to focus on the way it feels beneath your fingers, the way you wish so badly to be able to touch him like this.
Now isn’t the time.
“There.” He looks... different, like this; with his hair down and his coat missing. It feels vulnerable; intimate in a way that makes your cheeks warm. You swallow, looking away. “Let’s go. Act casual.”
He nods, looking out around the corner again, turning his head both ways before slipping out into the street and giving you a nod.
You’re going to have to get back to the hotel and grab your stuff; you’ll probably have to leave town to avoid a confrontation. You suppose you’ll be sleeping under the stars tonight.
Better than the alternative.
You set off down the road, and it isn’t long until you get to an area that’s slightly busier, one with people still walking around despite the chill and danger of the desert night. You draw closer to Vash’s side, taking a deep breath as you reach for his hand.
He stiffens slightly, and you notice the way his eyes dart over to you, though only in his peripherals.
“They didn’t see me with you,” you say quietly. “They expect Vash the Stampede to be alone.”
Vash nods, but... there seems to be a slight nervousness in the way he moves.
Maybe you’re just imagining things.
A clamor ahead of you draws your attention, and both of you freeze as several rather familiar-looking men come marching down the street. Right toward you.
“We’re looking for the Humanoid Typhoon,” you hear one say to a man walking by, loud and slightly slurred. “You seen anybody suspicious ‘round here?”
You don’t hear the townsperson’s reply, but you do tuck yourself against the porch to a closing shop. This is bad. Even if they’re looking for a red coat, you don’t know if you’ll be able to escape their notice, not out in the open like this; maybe this was a terrible idea, things are probably going to devolve into a gunfight—
Unless...
Heart pounding, you turn to him. “Kiss me.”
Immediately, Vash’s face goes a bright vivid red, and you can feel yours warming to match. He makes an unintelligible questioning noise, something like, “buh?”
“They won’t look at us,” you whisper harshly. “PDA makes people uncomfortable.” You wouldn’t be doing this if you could think of any other way out—of course you’ve been dying for even an ounce of his affection, but not in such dire circumstances. Not if he doesn’t also want it as badly as you do.
And you want it badly.
But… Vash agrees easily, blue eyes so bright as he nods shakily, leans into you. “You sure?” he asks, hardly more than a whisper, and his warm breath tickles your lips in a way that sends a shiver up your spine. Oh god, he’s going to kiss you—
“Yes,” you say, and that’s all it takes for him to close the gap.
He only presses his lips to yours chastely, angling his nose and wrapping his arm around you to shield you from the view of your oncoming pursuers, but it’s enough to make sparks burst behind your eyelids, to send you reeling, dizzy and euphoric in the thrill of finally. The only thing you can think of is how warm he is.
Your heart pounds in your chest, hammering away in your ribcage, and distantly, you fear that he can feel it—that he’ll immediately know that this is something you’ve wanted. You don’t want to take advantage of a situation like this, don’t want to take advantage of him… but his breath comes quicker, his lips trembling, and for a moment, you think that maybe this is something he wants, too. You truly can’t help bringing your hand to his face, cradling his cheek in your palm the way you’ve dreamed of for so long now, can’t help rubbing your thumb over the cute little mole beneath his eye, can’t help parting your lips, ever so slightly.
And you feel something break in Vash—his restraint, perhaps—as he responds in kind, pulling you closer like he has no choice but to do so, opening up into the kiss with a tiny whimper that sends heat coursing through you like a tidal wave.
This… this can’t be pretend. Not anymore.
Tossing inhibition to the wind, you allow your tongue to brush his bottom lip, and Vash shudders—you can feel the way it rushes up his spine, settles at the base of his neck as he invites you in, pressing harder into you. He steals the breath from your lungs but you wouldn’t have it any other way, losing yourself in his embrace, in the noise it makes when he separates from you briefly, only to return eagerly for more—and then again, and again, and again until you’re dizzy and reeling.
You’re in heaven. He is heaven.
Suddenly, he stops, and so do you, stomach turning pleasantly until you realize what you’re doing, the butterflies quickly turning anxious.
“Um,” he says quietly, muffled against your lips. “I think they’re gone…” his voice is pitched high and reedy, a kind of desperation you’ve been dying to hear.
You separate, face flushing. “Oh,” is all you can think to say.
He laughs nervously, eyes not meeting yours. “We should—we should go get our stuff.”
He’s right. You need to skip town, pronto. But as you make your way back toward the inn, you can’t keep from dwelling on his kiss; the way he held you. You had thought your feelings to be unrequited, but... you can’t have misread that.
You’re going to have to talk to him about this. There’s no way you can pretend it didn’t happen—no way you can go back to the way things were—and despite the danger, the adrenaline singing through your veins, despite the nervousness you feel at his own anxiety, a smile finds its way to your lips as you steal out of town under the cover of darkness, your pursuers none the wiser.
Vash kissed you. And there’s no going back.
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