Work Text:
You had noticed a shift in your relationship with March after you helped him with the Shield requested by Baroness Linnet. At first you thought it was his sense of pride lifting his mood, which just so happened to make him a bit nicer to you. Maybe it was because you had finally proven to him that you could make a good team and that you didn't totally suck at blacksmithing. Maybe he was proud he managed to teach you something.
But Celine and Reina had noticed the shift as well. They knew, of course, about the great service you and March did for the Baroness. They clearly thought it was more than just that, though.
When they asked you about it one late night in Celine's cottage, a couple of glasses of wine into the conversation, you shyly decided to tell them about that one moment that left you wondering.
"—So you're telling me March walked behind you, put his arms around you, and guided your hands into place? And then what happened?" Reina cut in suddenly, unable to hold back her shock.
"Well... he basically just explained what he was doing while holding my hands in place. And when I asked if that was right, he said it was perfect... that's all though!" You piped back in, trying to lessen their surprise. You didn't want to get your hopes up.
"You should have kissed him! Your faces were probably so close together!" Celine cried out. You've never seen her this boisterous or excitable before. She took another sip of her wine and her cheeks seemed to glow even brighter.
You covered your face at the mere suggestion. You couldn't bring yourself to share with them the second where your eyes connected with March's as he stood over you, his breath tickling your cheek as he peered over your shoulder at your work. You both looked away a second later, and March withdrew that proximity. Your shoulders felt cold after.
That night in bed, you let your mind wander yet again. There's no way that any of that meant anything. March just wanted to make the Shield perfect. He couldn't risk his reputation in such a high-profile commission. I mean, he'd made it perfectly clear he only called you in because he needed another pair of (semi-)competent hands.
Your mind traitorously reminded you of a moment in the Inn a few weeks after you had first arrived to Mistria. It was early into the night and the drinks were not yet flowing. Ryis had kindly invited you to sit with him, Olric, and March. You remembered that you'd mined a piece of perfect copper ore and gave it to March. The first time you'd ever gifted him something so nice.
March was taken aback by the gesture and choked out a "thank you" while eyeing you curiously. Ryis had ribbed him about the blush on his cheeks, and Olric chimed in to add that he was impressed by how well you had gotten to know March already. You laughed, March scowled. When you innocently told everyone you were glad March liked your gift, Ryis said you two looked good together now that he thought about it.
March was quick to scoff and ask who the hell would ever want to date you.
You spent the rest of the night laughing it up and avoiding eye contact with everyone. You knew your eyes would betray the way your heart was crushed.
Ryis pulled you aside before you left. He had obviously noticed how that comment had made you feel and could have guessed what that meant about your feelings towards March. "Don't pay attention to March. That's just how he gets when he's embarrassed," Ryis whispered, squeezing your arm.
And yet the very next day, March sent you a letter to meet him at the forge and gifted you a fortified iron ring he had made. He said it was because he was sick of watching you hurt yourself like an idiot in the mines every night. God, he was so frustrating!
Months had passed and you were even more confused than before. At the very least, March definitely wasn't up all night fantasizing about you like you were about him. He made that abundantly clear as well. You chastised yourself for where your thoughts roamed to each night. You couldn't get that moment from a few days ago out of your head. How warm and strong his arms felt over yours, and his calloused hands that guided you. His smell, which you had only gotten a bit of in those rare moments he pulled you close when drunk at the Inn. Leather, sweat, even chocolate that you could almost taste on your tongue like a bit of heaven. How your stomach dropped when your eyes connected for that second.
You blushed and buried your face in your pillow. Could you be more pathetic? Longing for a bit of heaven you'll never have.
The next day, you burned yourself at the forge. It was stupid, really. You had never done that, even when you were a total beginner. March was watching you make a sword from the silver ore you had mined a few days prior. You hadn't slept well, and were even more aware of March's movements than you had been before. This is why you didn't need Reina and Celine encouraging these thoughts!
March was talking you through the steps, even though you both knew you could probably do it yourself. But when he touched your arm to steady the blazing hot metal in your hands, you miscalculated your movement and the handle of the blade left a deep red stripe on your bare thigh.
March noticed right away, dropping to your side instantly as you screamed out in pain and squatted down protectively to cover your injury.
"Fuck, Y/N! I told you to cover up when working at the forge!" March yelled, concern apparent as he watched your face scrunched up. You were trying not to cry, and his lack of comfort wasn't helping.
"I'm sorry..." was all you could squeeze out before you covered your face with your arm and hiccupped. You felt weak. God fucking damn it, that hurt. And you wanted March to care.
March had never seen a girl cry in front of him, and was especially freaked out that you of all people were the first. You were strong.
Your tears melted March like sugar. He didn't know what to say but wanted to help you desperately. "No, I'm sorry. You just... scared me. Fuck, Y/N. We need to get you to Valen right away. Can you stand?"
You looked at March, eyes big and watery. Using his hand as leverage, you tried to get up but winced, sucking the air through your teeth at the throbbing burn that seemed to feel more intense by the second. "It hurts so much..." you whimpered.
March's eyes softened. "I know. Put your arm around my neck. I'll carry you." You looked at him with confusion. "Are you sure? I can do it, just... give me a sec." But March didn't want to see you in pain anymore. He reached one arm under your shoulderblades and the other behind your knees and lifted you as easy as air.
He didn't look down at you as he walked quickly with you in his arms. You couldn't stop staring up at him, though. His brows were furrowed with concern, his jaw set and determined. If he felt you rest your head against his chest, he didn't show it.
He set you down gently on the treatment bed in Valen's office and the doctor rushed over right away. March sat down next to you, following Valen's every move with his eyes. "Is it bad, Valen? It seemed like it really hurt," March said, unabashedly worried and clearly feeling a bit guilty.
"She'll be fine, March," Valen said, placing an arm on his bare shoulder. "Y/N helped me with this batch of panacea, which I mixed into this salve." Using gloved hands, Valen carefully applied the salve and wrapped the wound in a bandage. March's furrowed brow loosened as he saw a bit of relief paint your features. "It feels much better already..." you sighed.
"I'm glad. It will take a few days to heal fully, but that should give you some relief," Valen smiled. "You should take it easy tomorrow, though, just so you're not in more pain. Give yourself a well-deserved break."
You watched as March and Valen walked to the counter, and March pulled out some tessarae to pay for the medicine. Without asking, March returned and lifted you again, despite your protestations that you could (probably) walk just fine without his help.
He carried you in silence back to your farm, unlocking the door while still holding you in his arms and setting you down on your bed. Without looking up at you, he untied your shoes one by one. You noticed a pink tinge to the tips of his ears as he worked on the laces, before he set the pair by the entrance.
He continued to busy himself around your apartment, grabbing you a glass of water from the sink and placing it on your nightstand. Without so much as a word, he was readying himself to leave when a pang of loneliness grabbed your heart. He was being so nice to you today, and the thought of him leaving made you really sad. Maybe it's because you were hurt and vulnerable, or maybe it's because the gravity of the situation set in. You loved him.
Before he could turn to leave, you grabbed his hand. It was the first time you'd felt his hand since the day you worked on the Shield, and it felt so warm and secure. He seemed to want to pull away from the contact before remembering the state you were in. "What, do you need something else?"
You didn't know what you needed. Well, you did but you couldn't express it in words. Your eyes searched his, hoping he'd understand that you needed him to stay with you. You needed him. Your eyes stayed locked on each other as he bent down to your level. Keeping your hand in his as he sat down on your bed, you leaned forward and pressed your lips gently to his.
He didn't pull away, at least not at first. There was a moment where he seemed to kiss you back before he caught himself. He pulled away like he had touched fire, a reflex perhaps from his work. One you hadn't learned as well yet.
He lifted himself from his seat on the bed and walked to the doorway to pull his shoes on. You had fucked up. Your heart beat a mile a minute, desperate to fix whatever you had just caused. You'd be fine just staying how you were a moment ago, just friends. As long as he didn't go back to hating you.
"March, wait! I'm so sorry, I don't know why I just did that!" you sputtered, rising to meet him at the door before he ordered you back into bed. You ignored him, fear rising in your gut. "I'm really sorry. I broke your boundary even though I knew you could never like me that way. Let's just pretend it never happened, okay?"
March pulled his hand away from the doorknob to finally reconnect eye contact with you. This time, however, his eyes were full of anger and confusion and had lost that soft, careful look they contained just moments before. "What did you say?"
"...What?" March's reaction had confused you.
"You said you knew I could never like you. Why did you say that?"
You both looked at each other, and the bewilderment continued to mount in between you both. "Um... well first of all, because you said that yourself?"
"When?"
"When I first arrived, at the Inn with Ryis and Olric... you said that no one would ever want to date me... god, March, do you have to make me relive that? I'm humiliated enough as is!" Now you were getting angry, and you could feel those tears of desperation pricking your eyes again. You willed yourself to hold them back. This could not possibly get more embarrassing for you.
"You can't be for real," March said incredulously. "You need to stop taking everything I say so seriously."
"I don't know what to take seriously from you, March. You're the most confusing person I've ever met!" The warm tears painted your cheeks again, a mixture of shame and anger, even defensiveness, bubbled up inside you. "One minute you're the most thoughtful person I know, and the next you hate me!"
At that, March turned back and closed the distance he'd drawn between you a moment earlier. He grabbed your wrists in his hands as you attempted to thrash out of his grip. "You think I hate you? Really?"
"Yes, really!"'
He scoffed, and then laughed. "I'll show you how much I hate you."
Using the grip he had on your wrists, March pulled you forward and captured your lips again. This wasn't the soft, chaste kiss you shared a moment ago, though. He was angry, and he had a lot to prove. He let go of one of your wrists and instead placed the hand behind your head to pull you impossibly closer.
His mouth, warm and wet, invaded all your senses and you did all you could to keep up with his pace. Unpracticed, his teeth brushed against your lips and sent shocks through your body. The same hand pushed your head to the side as his mouth moved down your neck, trailing open-mouthed kisses while his knee slotted itself between your legs. He didn't allow you the pleasure of any pressure yet, though. Just the taste of a possibility, making you more aware of the need.
March paused for a moment to whisper in your ear. "What I hate is that you're the only thing I can think about..." His kisses moved further down, at your bare collarbones and shoulder. He kissed every available spot before he pushed you gently onto the bed to lie down again. You noticed he made sure not to touch the burn on your leg as his knee met your core again. You barely held yourself back from grinding down onto it.
His hands reached the hem of your shirt and pulled it up, leaving you in your bra, panting and desperate. As he trailed kisses down your chest, his voice came again. "I hate how fucking beautiful you are, and how sweet." He slipped the thin bra straps off your shoulders and pulled the cups down to reveal your nipples. They were already hard and begging for attention. You moaned as he took one in his mouth, and he laughed inwardly as if the taste confirmed how sweet you really were.
He sucked on your nipple and groped the other with calloused fingers. You tried to keep quiet, covering your mouth with your hand, which he quickly pulled away from your face as soon as he noticed. After he was satisfied with the marks he left on the first, he moved to the second nipple and spent just as long. You couldn't hold back your gasps and your fingers gained purchase in his red hair. You squeezed your legs together.
March finally undid the clasp of your bra and tossed it thoughtlessly to the floor. He kissed down your stomach and past your navel. Without looking up at you, the thought alone knotting his brows together, March whispered, "I hate that I want to keep you all to myself, and how angry I get when I see you talking to other guys..." Seeing your legs squeezed together, he smirked with a sense of pride. There may be other guys you talk to, ones that may even think about you the same way he thinks about you, but he's the only one making you fall apart like this. You whimpered at the loss of contact when he forced your legs apart. The seam of your jean shorts was helping to relieve some of the tension that continued to swell higher. He seemed to enjoy making you suffer, as if it was retribution for the jealousy you instilled in his heart.
Denying your pleasure further, March kissed the soft inseam of your thighs as you sighed. Gripping the outside of your thighs, March's voice came once again. Soft so it would only reach your ears. "What I hate the most is seeing you at the forge, because all I can think about is bending you over the anvil..."
March finally moved his face back to your center, kissing you over your jeans. "March... please..." you moaned, your fingers again reaching into his hair. A sly smile betrayed him again as he unbuttoned your jeans and slid them down your legs. The thin fabric of your panties, totally soaked and nearly see-through, stayed. March quickly pulled off his shirt and pants, leaving his own boxers on as well.
Hands on the outside of your thighs once again, he parted your legs and placed a kiss over your throbbing clit. You gasped. That small movement made your toes curl. He kissed you again, laughing to himself at your very apparent desperation.
Finally giving in, he licked a stripe up your slit. God, did you even taste sweet here? As soon as he got a taste of your arousal, he couldn't prolong his teasing even if he wanted to. He needed this just as bad as you did now. He continued to flick his tongue over your clit, the fabric still separating you from the full intensity of his warm mouth. He sucked the bud as well as he could before growing frustrated himself and pulling your panties to the side.
You squeezed your eyes shut and moaned his name again as the soft feeling of his tongue and lips around your clit made you lose awareness of everything else around you. You warned him that he would make you cum if he didn't stop, so he switched to lapping up the arousal near your entrance. His saliva mixed with your wetness, which began to pool under you onto the sheets.
You opened your eyes for a moment just to look, and seeing March between your legs almost made you lose it. His eyes were closed, a knot of concentration etched on his face. The same one he got when he was focused at the forge. Cute.
You saw that one of March's hand had moved away from your thigh and was now working on palming his hardening erection, still tenting his boxers. March licked one final stripe up, brushing against your clit, before he brought himself up to your level again.
He licked into your mouth once more, and you tasted your wetness on his lips. You were about to go crazy. Without moving away from your face, March reached his hand down and you felt one finger draw up and down your entrance before he slowly entered. Your cunt throbbed at the new feeling, squeezing his finger and making him moan.
You saw that the tip of his cock was leaking, leaving a small circle of wetness on the front of his boxers. You wanted to lick it up so badly. Your own hand reached down and trailed lightly up his shaft, over the fabric. One finger teased the spot where the wetness formed, surprising March. He groaned deeply, his eyes shutting and squeezing together like he had to hold himself back from thrusting into your willing hand.
You tried to pull his boxers down and move yourself forward to taste him, but he stopped you. "Don't. I'm close and I need to fuck you," he answered, completely serious. He slowly added another finger, fucking you and watching your expression to see if you could take it. You turned your head to the side where his other hand was holding him over you. He lifted it for a moment, cupping your face and bringing it forward so you could watch him open you further.
"March, please... I can't wait anymore..." you gasped. You felt like you were going to end up cumming all over his hand if he waited another minute. March wanted to tease you further but was worried about losing his own control soon. He was literally watching the things he fantasized about while jerking off happen right in front of him. That thought alone made his cock twitch.
He finally moved his hand away from your cunt, licking the wetness off of his fingers before pulling his boxers down. You watched, hypnotized by the line of precum that connected the tip of his cock to the fabric.
March positioned himself over you, one hand holding himself over you while the other held your thigh to the side. Once he had you where he wanted you, he gripped his cock and guided it up and down your slit to catch some of your wetness. Slowly, he lined himself up and pushed himself in.
An inch in, the both of you moaned loudly. How did it already feel this good? He pushed in slowly, waiting a moment for you to adjust to his length before continuing. After he was fully in, he didn't move for a moment as you warmed his cock. He kissed you, licking into your mouth while you felt his length twitch inside of you. He didn't stop kissing you while his hips finally moved back, and he began a slow-paced thrust. You could hear the wetness where your bodies were connected as he moved in and out.
Your arms rested on his back, and you tried not to dig your nails into his skin as he picked up the pace. He pulled out almost fully before slamming back into you, over and over again as each thrust rubbed your inside walls and made you want to scream. You felt his balls, heavy and desperate for relief, slapping against your ass each time he pushed into you.
March went faster and faster, barely giving you time to breath as you cried out his name again and again. He shifted again, moving one of your legs to rest on his shoulder as his thumb moved to your clit. He made circles over your clit as he kept up his brutal pace. The change in position made it feel like his cock reached even further into you. You could swear you felt it in your stomach.
You didn't have time to warn him before you reached your peak and unraveled for him. Your moans and whimpers had been loud before your orgasm, but the intensity of it took your breath away as your back arched up off the bed and your walls squeezed and pulsated around his length. He continued to rub your clit as you rode out your orgasm, toes curling as you entered the realm of overstimulation and had to swat March's hand away from your over-sensitive clit.
March fucked into you for only half a minute longer before he quickly pulled out of you and, gripping his swollen cock, released ropes of warm cum onto your stomach and chest. He couldn't hold back his long, low moan as he rode out the most intense orgasm of his life. Even after he was totally spent, legs shaking as he fell down next to you, he somehow felt like he could go again in a few minutes. The thought of taking you again seemed totally enticing.
He felt the urge to curl himself around your soft, naked form, but wanted to clean his spend off of you first. He came back with a warm rag that he had run under the faucet, and took care to softly wipe up each drop without looking at you. He covered you with the blanket as he went to toss the rag in the hamper.
You watched him busy himself around the apartment once again, grabbing himself a glass of water and picking your clothes off the floor. You were yet again unsure.
You called his name softly, and he finally made his way back to your side. You motioned for him to get into bed and he finally conceded.
"March..." you said again. "Why did you try to leave before, when I kissed you? And why are you trying to do the same thing now?"
March finally looked into your face, and saw that he could be fucking this up again if he didn't push past his fear and claim what he wanted. Yes, fucking you was like living his dream. But that wasn't where his dream ended, and he was finally willing to admit that to himself.
You watched as he tried to form the words carefully— a rarity with March. You knew that this was important to him.
"It's because...ugh, no... I guess I realized that... I really care about you. And that I shouldn't, because you're going to leave..." March finally said. You watched each expression tinge his face. You had never seen him break through his sense of pride before, or look this vulnerable. And afraid.
You wanted to bring him into your arms and tell him that you could never, would never leave him. But you didn't want to placate him either. "Why do you think I'll leave?"
March concentrated on his thoughts. It seemed like he couldn't quite formulate them yet. "Because that's what people do."
"...Not when you love someone." Your gaze shifted down. Saying that was a big leap, but it was the truth and it was the only way you knew to express to March why you would never pull yourself away from him.
March's eyes lifted to your face, and yours lifted to meet his. You studied each other, testing the waters, how deep they ran. In his eyes you found depth, but warmth. Barely above a whisper, a tone so gentle you would have sworn it couldn't come from March just a few hours ago, he spoke. "...You love me?"
You held his gaze, hoping they'd show him the truth. March didn't let himself smile yet, too unsure to believe it was real. He'd never been told this before. Never thought it was even possible. But he wanted, needed to believe you.