Melly x reader || fluff

(I'll come back and edit this later, i promise! I'm going to go through and edit a few older ones too^^)

You spent another night alone. You desperately wanted to bring your girlfriend to bed with you, just to cuddle, but you thought there was no way she would like that. When you met Melly, you understood why every man you met mentioned not wanting to date an independent girl. But you, you don't regret a second you've spent with her. Sure, you've already been dating for three months and have yet to say "I love you" to each other, and she doesn't give you many kisses, or much affection for that matter, but you knew that she had her own way of showing you love. The first time you saw her without her mask you realized how much you meant to her, and how much she meant to you. You end up falling asleep to the thoughts of how wonderful the woman you've come to love is, your thoughts carrying you through the night in a restful slumber.

You almost regretted waking up. You were late to breakfast and Emily was nagging on you for getting up late. You promised her that you would help her restock the infirmary in the morning, meaning that you would have to skip your breakfast for the time being. Walking from the manor's basement to the infirmary countless times really took a lot out of you. By the time lunch rolled around, you were ready for a break. You continued to follow Emily around, helping her prepare a sustainable lunch for the other survivors and greeting the others as they returned from the set of morning matches. The last to arrive, Melly, greeted you with a few pats on your head, then the two of you set off to the table, discussing her battle against the hunter. Half-way through lunch, Naib announced that he was going to implement a new game strategy and he needed a few people to help him train, and he automatically picked you. Well, you really couldn't say no, and even if you were tired, it would be fun to learn something new, so you went along, wishing Melly a good rest.

It seemed, to you, like everyone was working together to tucker you out. You bought your team a great deal of decoding time as you dodged a foggy blade from the relentless Ripper, silently congratulating yourself for not taking a single hit so far. The new trick Naib had you try was more than effective when it came to the former artist's sadistic attacks thrown at you from every direction. However, as your mind crossed to what the Mercenary said, you began to concentrate on what you were doing rather than the behavior of the hunter pursuing you. Snapping your attention back to The Ripper in the nick of time, you noticed your positioning and the tell-tale sign of the imminent use of what you've come to learn is his favorite ability: Blink. Once again, you managed a flawless dodge from honed edges of the claws attached to the hunters hands. You were on your game today! Three ciphers down and only Naib had been hit once, who was promptly healed back up by Demi's "healing potions." You were sure Naib wasn't complaining. Despite having already contained the hunter for 180 seconds, a surge of energy burst through you each time you dodged, vaulted, or pallet slammed the hunter. Your moment of happy victory was cut short as your face violently connected with a sturdy, flat object, and before you knew it, you were being dragged to a rocket chair. You struggled harder than you ever had to get away from the hunters grasp. Normally, you would be fine with hanging out on a chair while you waited for the last cipher to be primed, but the sinking feeling in your stomach and the unliftable weight in your eyelids told you that if you were to stop moving, you would no longer be awake. Your rocket chair's timer hadn't even reached half-way when a unanimous shout cleared the map, notifying you of the perfectly primed final cipher. Once you were free from your confines, the lasting effect of tide turner not yet provoked, you did what you would consider nothing short of something stupid, and attempted to stun the hunter with a pallet. As his blades grazed your side, the cipher popped, and both exit gates were being opened simultaneously. Instead of changing targets, the now-angry, detention bound Ripper continued his pursuit. A ray of hope flashed before your eyes as you approached the nearest exit gate, the previous survivors already leaving to secure their victory. You were careful to miss the foggy blade directed at you as you threw down the pallet placed just in front of the gate, but he didn't take your bait. Instead, he chased you around the kiting area in front of the gate. You gained enough distance to where you could run into the gate with no problem, though you still weren't sure of the likeliness of you actually making it out. With ease, you transitioned your pattern from running around the large, conveniently placed objects to heading straight for the sight of victory. Your not-so-subtle shift did not go unnoticed. Well, your back hurt like hell, but you were free! The final attack shoved you into the gate with every ounce of brute force The Ripper could throw into his final foggy blade. You groaned as you got up, brushed yourself off, and, from the safety of the invisible barrier between freedom and the playing field, civilly wished the hunter a good game and good luck on any other matches he might play for the rest of the day.

You weren't greeted by your love when you arrived back to the manor, but you were not bothered by this, as you hoped she was resting from her earlier matches. You were, however, met with a sparkly-eyed Perfumer who had her mind set on using you specifically.

"You said yesterday, since it was your day off from matches, that you would be happy to help me, remember?" As she reminded you of the previous day's promises, at this point, you felt you had made too many, you sighed and smiled up at her, taking her arm and letting her drag you to her newest creation. For a brief moment, your fatigue shut your whole body down to the response of the delighted Vera, but you kept yourself awake to please your friend. Besides, you told yourself as the strength of her fragrance pushed you enough for you to become unbalanced, the more tired you are, the better you'll sleep! You regretted having the words even cross your brain as her final perfume, after a sufficient break to keep you from suffocating, clouded your eyes, brain, and even seemed to reach its way to your thoughts. You giggled once as your girlfriend came into view. Where did she come from? You wondered to yourself as the pretty lady in her bee mask dragged you from the room that had caused you sudden inability to stand up without making you dizzy. Only when you breathed the familiar scent of Melly's bee garden did you break from your stupor. You remembered her telling you about the particular flower you were sitting in front of and the significance of this plant that no one but you and her knew.

It was only mere weeks after the new survivors arrival, and it seemed to everyone that she had already adapted to the strange conditions and requirements of the Manor. In fact, the Entomologist had already established relationships with a select few others and was perfectly capable of getting along with everyone else, even those that no one particularly liked. You had gotten to know her, and you thought she considered you a friend, as you considered her to be your friend. You could tell, one morning, that her behavior was off, not as if she were hiding something but as if she needed to ask someone a question and did not want to look like a fool. You approached her after breakfast, offering your assistance to her first, ensuring her comfort without her having to ask anyone to do something for her. You soon realized that even what you did together was out of her comfort zone.

After some time digging around in the greenhouse, you produced a miniscule package from the back of an overloaded shelf. You silently reminded yourself to organize the seeds before showing off your find to the masked survivor. She asked you to read out the name to her, as she couldn't see such small letters from behind the mask. You readied yourself with a deep breath to give her the information she required; your breath stuck in your throat as you realized you had no clue how to pronounce whatever plant was in your hand, and the package did not provide you with it's more common name. Sheepishly, you handed the envelope to her, turning around and shielding your eyes to respect the privacy requested from her constant use of the beekeeping mask. Two of the greatest things in your life happened at that very moment. One: You heard Melly giggle for the first time, and two: she grabbed your hand and pulled you gently to face her, her features clear as the dew drops on the surrounding plants. She looked into your eyes as the two of you burst into uncontrollable smiles.

"This is the one!" She confirms with a happy chirp, pulling you to the back of the greenhouse to the exit where you would spend the next few hours learning more about her, whilst helping her plant the Lysimachia the two of you discovered. You learned that it was more commonly known as Yellow Loosestrifes, and it was the gateway for her newest discovery.

You shook yourself out of the memory, face to face with the overwhelming concern on your girlfriend's face. Her hand rested on your cheek, rubbing repetitive circles into your soft skin as you awoke from whatever trance Vera's perfume left on you. You reminded yourself to tell her about the effects later, but for now, you wanted to focus all your attention to the lovely woman in front of you.

"You've been overworking yourself, bumblebee, you need a break." She kept her continuous motion on your cheek, but tilted your head upwards for you to meet her eyes.

"I will, but I promised people I'd help them out today, and you know they're counting on me to help." She started to retract her longing touch from your face, but the look in your eyes told her to stay. "But, can we stay like this for a bit?" You brought your hand to caress the wrist holding her hand to the side of your face. She leaned in closer to you, resting her chin on the top of your head, the soft pressure a welcome comfort. Your eyes closed as you focused on her light breathing, synced to yours. As you started to drift off into a warm, summer breeze induced nap, you caught the voice of the one you loved indirectly addressing you.

"Maybe I should call you my worker-bee instead." You fully dozed off before you could feel the gentle brush of her lips against your forehead.