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D3rlord’s brain repeats facts to him, ever present, never wavering knowledge and prophesies he cannot control the flow of. Like when he starts running his hands through loose soil below him to make room for a new seed and—Optimal soil for planting is well-draining yet moisture-retentive, with a slightly acidic to neutral pH and high organic matter. Key aspects include—he ends the thought there, brushing it aside in favor of planting the seed gently in the earth and covering it.
D3r’s curls stick to the sweat on his neck, and he regrets not bringing a hair tie to pull it back during his work. His gauntlets and gloves lay off to the side, along with his chest plate and shoulder guards. His black long sleeve undershirt is rolled up to his elbows and dirt is built up under his fingernails—Later he’ll be washing them off with Avery at his side and the sun shining above, giggling as he flicks water at his face and sputtering when he returns the favor—
He’s pulled out of the thought when he hears Avery humming behind him, walking back and forth from the front of the house to the small farm, carrying bags of seeds and mulch on his shoulders. The weight against his form makes the slime curl up at the edges from the pressure, only to spring back into shape once the bag plops onto the ground beside D3r.
Avery leans over and rearranges the bags to lean against the others from past trips, glancing to the side and smiling at D3r softly. D3r smiles back, and despite it being mostly concealed by the shadow his helmet casts over his face, he knows Avery can tell it’s there when his eyes shine a little more and his smile grows in response. As he’s walking back, he stops to pet the few sheep they have fenced off the side of the house.
D3rlord turns back to his work, packing the soil down with his palm and moving to grab a small cup of water nearby—Soil should remain consistently moist for new seedlings, but for established plants—He grabs the cup, tipping it over the soil and letting the water flow slowly, making sure to not let too much spill out.
He presses down gently on the soil again, placing the cup down on the grass. He hears a buzz whip by his left side and return periodically and he sees a small blurry dot of yellow out of his peripheral and—Bees are very common and highly active in spring as they emerge from winter, with populations—he turns his head, watching as the bee circles around in the air before zipping away behind him. He turns back to the farm, reaching to grab a new seed from the small pile next to him and—
Avery is afraid of bees. He’s been afraid ever since he accidentally walked right into a swarm when he was 16 and despite the fact the stings don’t do much, it had been absolute hell to pick the little things out of his body afterwards—
He knows that. But it’s not very important at the moment so he digs firmly into the soil and brushes the thought away.
—Avery will see the bee when he comes back around the house. The bee will try to get to the daisy on his head and Avery—
D3r stops digging. He shifts up more to be sitting on the back of his legs to look behind him and sees Avery rounding the corner, only a single bag on his shoulder. One of the sheep nips at the edge of his tanktop and he stops, saying something D3r can’t hear to the animal with a disgruntled smile on his face, tugging the fabric away and turning back. D3r opens his mouth, but the words die on his tongue as the bee buzzes in front of Avery and around his head, hovering close to the daisy in his hair. Avery screeches, dropping the bag and swatting the air wildly and stumbling back.
“D3R!! Help! It’s going to get stuck!” Avery yells, still swatting but running over to D3rlord. The knight stands and—He’s going to trip—holds out his arms just as the slime stumbles over his own feet and crashes into D3r, who staggers backwards but holds them both upright. He grabs Avery's shoulders and squeezes, holding him still.
Avery screws his eyes shut as D3r gently reaches up and plucks the daisy out of Avery’s hair and tosses it away, the bee trailing after it. Avery slowly blinks open his eyes, seeing the daisy on the ground with the bee happily crawling over it and pouting.
—Avery picked that flower earlier this morning—
“I just got that flower…” D3r huffs a small laugh and steps back, grimacing as he sees the trails of dirt left on Avery’s slime from his hands. He brushes them off on his shirt.
“Sorry about that.” He says, clearing his throat after a slight waver from not speaking much during the last hour. Avery looks up at him confused, then notices him trying to wipe off his hands (with little success) and sees the bit of dirt stuck on his shoulders.
“Oh, it’s fine. It’ll come off,” He brushes his finger on his shoulder and watches as small specks stick to his fingertip when he pulls away. “All the more reason to call it a day, yeah?” He smiles, looking at D3r hopefully.
D3r pauses and looks at the sky. The sun is barely past what would be considered midday.
“There’s still time, I wasn’t done. You can wash off though since there aren't any more bags at the front.” He suggests, turning back to the farm and pushing up his sleeves a little more. He feels his legs stop him without permission and before he can wonder why Avery is draping over his shoulders, sinking his weight over D3r’s back and almost making his knees buckle if he hadn’t stopped. Avery groans dramatically.
“But I’ll be so lonely without youuuu…” D3r can hear the pout in his voice, and he doesn’t need to look to know that the slime is smothering a smile in his shoulder.
“You’ll be lonely…rinsing yourself?” D3r says slowly, turning his head to meet Avery’s mirth with his own. Avery giggles then sighs wistfully.
“The most lonely. I actually may never recover from how lonely I’m gonna be. Ever.” He looks up in faux despair at D3r, who just stares flatly at him as Avery’s eyes flick around his face searching for a reaction. A beat passes.
“...Let me put away the seeds.” The knight says finally, and Avery lifts off of D3r in one quick motion, throwing his arms up in the air and whooping. D3r smiles softly. Avery picks up the cup from the ground and dumps out the remaining water in the grass as D3r scoops up the pile of seeds and funnels them gently into an open bag. The breeze picks up for a second and D3r notices Avery shiver slightly before settling again, moving towards D3r to help him with the seeds.
—Avery left his jacket at the front of the house. He forgot about it once he saw the bee—
D3r makes a note to bring it inside after they clean up. He doesn’t want it to get dirty or blown away. Avery’s shoulder presses against his as he picks in the grass for the last few seeds, dropping them in the other’s open palm. D3r’s cheeks warm, and—Blushing involuntarily forms from the dilation of facial capillaries when adrenaline releases from a sympathetic nervous system response to intense positive emotion or social vulnerability—he pushes the thought away, but the rest, as they always do, quickly follow.
—Signs of love include deep emotional connection, consistent acts of service, and prioritizing a partner's happiness—
D3r picks through the seeds in his palm, flicking away blades of grass. Avery watches, leaning close.
—It may also include feeling safe and harboring a deep feeling of fondness or affection during quality time or conversation about the significant other—
D3r doesn’t notice he’s done picking through the seeds, but Avery does, so he gently grabs the knight’s wrist and pulls it towards the bag, manually turning it over and brushing straggling seeds from D3r’s palm into the bag with a finger. Once he’s done he laces their fingers together and pulls D3r up to stand, leaving them connected and close as they walk towards the house and D3r Knows that—
In the future he’ll be up against Avery nearly every morning and night, sharing soft affections and lingering touches because they’ll be together. Because Avery is in love with him and—
“You okay? You’ve been spacing out for a bit.” D3r is still lost in thought, but the silky touch of cool slime against his face jolts him out of it, eyes focusing enough to see Avery in front of him and holding his face. D3r apparently hadn’t noticed they’d gotten inside. Or that his helmet had been removed and set aside.
“D3r.” His name is spoken softly but firm, and Avery’s expression has shifted from a small smile to a frown, concern shifting in his eyes as he brushes his thumb against D3r’s jaw. “Are you okay? Is it your thoughts?”
D3r’s heart hurts.
—Because D3r is in love with Avery—
He brushes the thought away (He lets the others linger, but eventually brushes them away as well). Out of everything he Knows, the future is the one that makes him the most uncomfortable. The future is not meant to be known. It feels wrong (He feels wrong).
“I’m okay. Just a sudden load of…stuff.” He says slowly, gesturing weakly towards his head and looking down in an attempt to distract himself from Avery’s gaze. He shouldn’t have made him concerned. The other shifts his touch down to D3r’s shoulder and tightens the hold between their still interlocked hands.
“I get it. Well, I don’t—but, y’know.” Avery stumbles over his words, glancing away for a moment but looking back just as quick with a smile. D3r returns it. He knows Avery isn’t quite convinced he’s okay yet, but is willing to drop it for now.
—Avery will ask him about it tomorrow. He will tell him he was thinking of—
“Let’s clean up now.” D3r says, interrupting himself. Avery accepts the distraction and squeezes his hand before pulling him to—Their—his room. He tugs off his tank top once inside and D3r follows suit, looking away. D3r takes an extra second to unclasp his leg gear, having simple black pants and boots underneath while Avery shuffles through his closet and grabs a few small towels, heading out of his room and towards the back of the house where the buckets are.
Once his gear is set aside in his own room he meets Avery at the back where the slime has already filled up a bucket with water, sitting on a wooden bench he had shabbily put together a month ago. He reaches for one of the towels and drops it in the bucket, motioning D3r over. He grabs his wrist gently with one hand, taking the now wet cloth and starting to wipe away the dirt on the knight's forearms.
“I can wash it off myself,” D3r huffs, raising an eyebrow. “I have a lot more on me than you.” Avery doesn’t pause, dipping the cloth in the bucket and bringing it back to D3r’s skin.
“You can do my shoulders in return.” He says simply, still not looking up at the knight. D3r huffs, though his breath stutters when the other slides his hold from his wrist to gently tangle through his fingers. He swallows.
“That’s barely anything. Besides, your slime could start dissolving,” He shifts back, giving the smallest of resistance to Avery’s hold. “I can take care of it—”
“Let me take care of you, D3r.” Avery interrupts smoothly, scooting forward so that the distance between them is back to what it was, their knees bumping against each other. He’s looking up at the knight, still gently holding his hand and looking at him with a kindness and familiarity that just makes D3r’s chest stir all the more.
The knight purses his lips and nods minutely, looking down at his arms as Avery returns to his task. The soil is slowly but thoroughly rinsed from his skin, Avery’s slime leaving small traces after each wipe that he takes care to go back and collect once the area is clean. Eventually all the dirt caught between his fingers is wiped away as well and he’s left to scrape the soil out from underneath his nails while his hands are submerged in the bucket, the specks settling at the bottom of the bucket with the others.
Avery is still sitting patiently in front of him as the sun streams through his body, casting a slight green glow on the space around him. The knight had expected Avery to start rambling about something, anything, as he usually does in moments like these, but he’s weirdly silent this time, watching D3r as he moves with a quiet affection and an ever-present smile. D3r doesn’t know whether the silence is a blessing or a curse.
D3r grabs a new clean washcloth, dipping it in the bucket and sliding it over Avery’s shoulders, grimacing slightly at the awkward position he has leaning towards the other. Avery seems to take notice, shifting closer again and placing his hands on D3r's hips (D3r, notably, does not struggle to hold on to the rag in the slightest), guiding him forward to stand slightly between his legs. D3r shoots a look down at Avery, trying and failing to suppress the blush that is no doubt sneaking onto his face. The slime just smiles and giggles quietly, motioning with his head for him to continue.
D3r reluctantly does so, attempting to focus on cleaning the dirt out and away from the others skin without completely dousing his shoulders in water. They continue to do this in silence, Avery’s hands still resting lightly on D3r’s hips as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. While D3r is leaning over to dip the rag again and wring it, Avery lets one of his hands slide down to the other’s outer thigh, thumb rubbing slowly back and forth. He doesn’t miss how the knight's breath catches and how his arms stutter mid-movement, a victorious smile spreading on his lips.
Nevertheless, the slime keeps his movements confident and steady, and D3r goes back to Avery’s shoulder. Once D3r is done he hesitates for a moment before pulling away, fixating on wringing the towels once more to avoid looking at the other. Avery’s hands trail after him before they fall to his sides, pushing himself up from the bench and taking the bucket to pour it out.
D3r hears a poorly smothered giggled from behind him, and he turns to be met with water being flicked onto his face. He squints as Avery laughs, smiling and wiping his face. He flicks water right back at the slime who screeches in protest, laughing wildly. Avery sets the bucket down by the bench and links his arm with D3r’s, tugging him inside.
Avery lets his touch linger before he pulls away, going to his room to change the rest of his clothes. D3r’s skin buzzes as he watches the other leave, shaking his head to clear his thoughts and move to his own room next to Avery’s. He makes quick work of changing into his usual lightweight underclothes.
D3r goes back outside to grab his armor that he left outside and Avery’s jacket from the front of the house, meeting Avery inside where he’s starting something to eat. Avery smiles brightly in greeting. His eyes catch on D3r’s armor pieces and the knight swears he sees his shoulders sink slightly as he glances at the helmet that’d been set aside on the counter earlier. He looks only for a moment before quickly returning to the food. D3r’s eyebrows crease and he grabs the helmet, walking back to his room. He sits down on the edge of his bed and stares at the helmet in his hands, turning it over and raising it to put it on—
He’s sitting between Avery's legs, his back up against the edge of the bed the other is sitting on. His armor is completely off, still in his room and he finally feels like he can breathe. Fingers are gently parting his curls and taking his hair out from behind his ears, an elastic band securing it in a low ponytail. Avery’s hands slide down his neck to rest on his shoulders, leaning down and guiding his chin up as he softly kisses his temple and—
D3r abruptly tears himself away from the thought, gasping quietly as he looks down at his helmet. His chest constricts. He hesitates only a moment longer before setting the armor aside (He’ll be selfish just this once, he decides), pushing up from the bed and heading to the kitchen.
Avery is still preparing the food, only stopping to look up at D3r when he doesn't hear the usual clatter of armor following his footsteps. The slime pauses, mouth opening and closing before settling in a small smile. D3r smiles back. He starts helping him with the food, relishing each time their arms brush each other as they move seamlessly through the kitchen like a dance they’ve rehearsed.
Avery sets out two plates and moves the food onto them, D3r watching quietly behind him. The silence hangs between them, D3r absently wondering if Avery was waiting for him to speak first. While the slime was known for talking near constantly, he just as often let comfortable silence be a day's guide whenever D3r needed the space to breathe.
Before he can really think it through, his body is moving and wrapping around Avery’s back, his hands resting at the other’s front as he rests his chin lightly on his shoulder. Avery tenses but relaxes just as quickly, his own hands moving to rest over D3r’s. He turns his head slightly to catch a glimpse of the knight, and D3r keeps his gaze drawn away. He waits for the knight to speak first, a patient smile on his face while the concern from earlier starts to show in his eyes again.
D3r’s mouth opens and closes a few times, trying and failing to find the words. He grunts in slight frustration at his own silence and almost pulls away, but Avery shifts just in time to keep him close, turning halfway to get a better look at the knight and encourage D3r to meet his eyes. D3r finally looks up at him, guilt poking through his ribs at the concern in his gaze. Avery just squeezes his hands and rubs his thumb over D3r’s knuckles. Another silent reassurance.
“...Thank you. For helping. And for being concerned,” He starts quietly, and Avery just nods slightly, waiting for him to continue. He takes a breath. “I’m okay now. I wasn’t lying about the…thoughts, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Avery opens his mouth to say something, but shuts it again and looks at D3r in silent question. D3r nods at him to speak.
“First of all; You’re welcome, though I hope you know by now I don’t need any thanks for that.” He starts, shooting him a lighthearted but stern look. D3r huffs a laugh. “Second of all; I worry about you, not whatever else. Unless it’s like—I don’t know, prophecies of the end of the world or something like that.” He rambles, shrugging before looking down at their hands and lacing their fingers together again. A thought begins to form in D3r’s head from that remark but he shoves it away just as quickly, not wanting to risk knowing what it was about.
“You can tell me about it tomorrow, if it’s something you’re worried about.” Avery says. D3r nods, glancing away, though cool slime is quickly on his cheek and returning his gaze to the other again.
“Tomorrow.” He says, and Avery smiles. They stay there for a moment longer, Avery’s half-lidded eyes flicking across the knight’s face and D3r swears they linger on his lips, his breath catching and his heart—
Strong emotions like love trigger a rush of adrenaline, which can create a sensation where the heart’s upper or lower chambers contract early, often felt as a fluttering or skipped beat—
Avery pulls away, taking his plate and sitting around the other side of the counter, looking at D3r expectantly. The knight’s legs stutter before following suit, sitting beside Avery as the slime starts talking about his day, despite most of it being spent together. D3r just smiles and accepts the warmth that creeps onto his cheeks as he talks, the usual tightness in his chest loosening into a comfortable light feeling that settles in his body.
—Love can be defined as an intense feeling of deep affection, often felt towards a person you admire or feel safe around, such as a best friend or person who has been with you from the beginning—
D3r lets the thought linger naturally, only feeling it dissipate in favor of listening to Avery.
—In the future, he and Avery will—
D3r cuts that one off. He doesn’t like knowing about the future. Avery is speaking in-between bites and gesturing with his hands as he speaks, looking at D3r with the same kind and loving eyes he’s had for the whole day and D3r…feels he’s okay not thinking as much about the future between him and Avery. He knows they’ll be okay.