#is nate recognizable in this? not a clue it's been forever and a day since I've written him whoops | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

chroniclesinlacuna · 2 years

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WIP Whenever!! I’m still not here, but! I was tagged by the wonderful @ejunkiet (thank you!), and I don’t know where this came from, but it’s the first thing I’ve written in. A while. So we’re going with it.

This would be mid-to-late Amaryllis, for the few people who understand that context (aka, no one’s human because I say so). Also, longer than normal because I have no realistic timeline for Amaryllis, and by the time we get to this point this will probably change quite a bit but! I’m liking it so far!

The apartment is silent, in the early morning. Night? …It was past midnight, regardless - the bar downstairs was long closed, and the ever present smell of smoke and sweat was at its lowest. Never gone, but a quiet neighbor in the twilight hours. Dex hadn’t been able to go back to sleep, instead deciding to enjoy the quiet hours with coffee and a mild delusion of napping later that morning.

The arms that bracket him in at the kitchen counter are no surprise. Nor is the heavy weight of the other man leaning against his back a moment later.

The soft huff of…disappointment? No, too strong…confusion? Maybe. Either way, the sound is unexpected enough for Dex to hum softly, rolling his shoulders back and twisting in Nate’s grasp once there’s room, leaning back against the counter so he can watch the man over the rim of his coffee mug.

He doesn’t ask - Nate’s face is scrunched up faintly, eyes focused somewhere shy of Dex’s chin. He was working up to something, with or without Dex’s input at this point.

“Why did you let me catch you?” Ah, there it was. And, to Nate’s credit, Dex had been tempted to step aside, briefly, when he’d caught the faintest whiff of his shampoo. But…

“Who says I let you catch me?” He asks, more into his mug than anything. Nate’s eyes finally meet his, and the look in them is rather too verbose this early in the morning. Dex shrugs, wrapping one arm loosely around his stomach to bench his other elbow.

It was a game, they played…or, had played, Dex supposed. Nate was fantastic at stealth when he wanted to be - seemed to take delight in trying to catch Dex off guard - to delight in the fact that he was allowed to try. Ever since Dex had let him upstairs into his apartment, into his…territory (though he shuddered to think of it like that, as sad as it was, it was certainly true), Nate seemed to enjoy nothing more than figuring out exactly what he could do.

Dex wasn’t sure of the appeal - he’d let the man up, what else was there?

But, he’d had fun, sidestepping silent grabs and tossing pillows at otherwise silent footsteps. It wasn’t often he dealt with other supernaturals anymore in his space - for good reason - let alone ones powerful and trained. Once he’d tamped down the natural instincts to push, and claw, and run, it was interesting to see what new tricks Nate could come up with. It had gotten to the point where he didn’t even have to…to try to ignore the instinct anymore. There was no growl in his chest, no fangs cutting his tongue.

This is the first time he hadn’t side-stepped. Hadn’t reached back to swat wandering hands away.

Had just…let the man catch him.

Nate’s still puzzling this out - sharp brown eyes refusing to look away now that they’ve caught his. But that’s fine. Dex has been this patient - he can wait a little longer.

“A new game then?” A question - with a lilt of uncertainty. The first Dex has seen from him. He can be ridiculous, sure. Stubborn in his pursuits, regardless of where they lead. Even soft-spoken and hesitant in the way one is with a wounded animal, but never unsure.

“Are we playing a game?” Confusion darkens those eyes he adores, and he gives the man a moment, returning to his coffee.

The answer he gets is barely more than a whisper, “No, I don’t believe we are.”

#the wayhaven chronicles #n sewell #twc #twc detective #my detectives #dex dibella #declanxnate #amaryllis au #my writing #wip wednesday #is nate recognizable in this? not a clue it's been forever and a day since I've written him whoops

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