Title: The Little Things

Rating: T

Summary: "A life with the two of us, not as enemies.."

Pairing: Vayne/Milletian

Vayne is surprised too, by how much he likes Elodie’s touch.

The first time Vayne becomes truly aware of the sensation is on an evening errand run. Lesser men would complain over being made to run errands due to their wive’s demands, but Vayne doesn’t mind it. He doesn’t mind being an errand boy, because it means he belongs somewhere, means he has somewhere to return to.

Elodie—he doesn’t mind Elodie either.

Their errand runs together remind Vayne of something pulled directly from some dramatic story. Elodie, too, feels like the type of person to only exist in the realm of fiction, with how animated she always is. If this were truly a chapter pulled from one of the many corny romance books his companion enjoyed, Vayne thinks he must be an anomaly. Too quiet, too weird, too expressionless; he’s heard it all. He convinces himself that it doesn’t bother him, but the airy feeling that fills his chest when he’s with Elodie betrays him and reminds him that this is indeed, reality, and not a chapter filler.

Because Elodie doesn’t say any of those things. Because she knows that Vayne is quiet and expressionless but doesn’t see it as a fault. Because no matter how much Elodie glares at him when he teases her, the ends of their days usually look like this, with the two of them standing side by side, whether that be after a night walk on the empty fields or here, in the cramped marketplace of Belfast. It’s as if Elodie has her own field of gravity, but Vayne doesn’t fight its force, doesn’t notice how it grows a little stronger and how he inches a little closer with each setting sun.

Their fingers brush against each other.

Vayne feels his fingers recoil by reflex and then relax again, but Elodie’s hand has already found its way to grasp his hand.

“I got all the drinks,” she states, using her foot to nudge the shopping basket towards Vayne. “Are ya done with the snacks?”

“There aren’t anymore honey butter muffins,” Vayne says, pointing to the empty space on the stalls. He hears her groan beside him and mutter something under her breath about “there’s never any when I need them the most”. Vayne isn’t really thinking of the food though, just how warm his hand feels under Elodie’s palm. He thinks that Elodie being warm makes sense.

Natural.

The feeling in his chest, on the other hand, is far from that.

~

So here they were side by side at night time brushing their teeth and preparing for bed. Him bare chested with low hanging black sweats and her in a cotton nightgown with tiny yellow daisies embroidered on them.

Sometimes it’s easy to spot the obvious contrast between him and her that everyone gleefully points out.

Brushing and flossing done, he’s just got to wash his face and then it’s off to dreamland with Elodie’s softness curled against him.

“What are you doing?”

“Washing my face…”He answers without a second thought rubbing the lavender scented bar of hand soap between his palms.

“With that ?” There’s a judgmental edge to her voice that he’s heard from her what feels like a thousand times, the most memorable being when she’d called him an idiot with a silencer pressed to her forehead and tears just shy of escaping her.

“What else am I supposed to use?” He asks but immediately regrets it as with a wave of her hand as Elodie opens her medicine cabinet to showcase a plethora of containers, dark glass bottles, round plastic tubes, and squeeze bottles. It’s all meticulously placed in neat tidy rows clearly just like she prefers it but means absolutely nothing to him.

“You can’t use hand soap to wash your face! First you have to use an oil based cleanser and then a water based one to make sure your pores are clean and to prevent breakouts.” She demonstrates using a glass pipette to drip some clear looking oil onto her finger tip before rubbing in small counter clockwise motions across her soft unblemished cheeks and forehead.

“…isn’t that a bit too much? Skin will eventually wear away as the years come.” And there goes the cute frown she makes when he argues.

“ Is…is not so much preventing wear, I know that, but that it overall helps your skin feel better” She applies a foamy white substance across his face, making sure to spread it gently on his scarred side, and wipes it away with a damp pink towel.

Vayne sits quietly as he lets her apply a strange but pleasant smelling sheet over his face, the cooling sensation already making its effect. He listens to the heroine as she explains the benefits of a weekly face mask and how they should start off with only certain products to see which worked best for him, but he found himself only focusing on her hands as she took care to apply and massage his face.

As they finish washing his face, Vayne turns to exit the washroom until he hears a very subtle cough, and when he turns Elodie is staring at him with a devious grin on her face.

“Now you have to apply niacinamide and this vitamin c serum for a clear and healthy glowing complexion.” She takes the dropper out of both bottles and rubs the ointments onto his skin.

“One of the ingredients in these is very common in aphrodisiacs, is there something you are scheming here with?” Vayne tries to joke as he watches her arrange more bottles.

“This is science! and it’s something I’ve cultivated over years of trial and error....don’t make me go on about the differences of vitamin c and retinal because oh boy! That is a whole can of worms in and of itself.” She then goes on some sort of tangent mostly muttering to herself about ingredients and vapid beauty standards .

While she rambles on, Vayne envisions their next routine together.

~

Fin