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The Smitten gawked awkwardly at the lump of blankets enfolding The Cold as it slept. The Smitten couldn't believe that that villain was sleeping. It was common knowledge by now that The Cold never slept because sleeping was ‘dull’ and yet… there he was. The Smitten was almost mesmerised by the sight, how The Cold breathed calmly under the pile, the way his feathers looked so soft—nearly down-like—in his sleep, his curled up form making him look so vulnerable and snug in juxtaposition to his usual self, the—
“Is he sleeping?”
—The Smitten was waved out of his thoughts by The Hero, dumbfoundedly looking at The Cold. The Skeptic spoke up in reply, removing his journal away from the stack it had sat in with his sketchbook and clutching it in his hand,
“Yes, he is, isn't he? I suppose the warm sun, the blankets, the chamomile I gave him and the lavender I put in his clothes was enough to finally make him clock out…”
The Hero eyed The Skeptic, starting to wonder if he did that to other Voices when The Skeptic brought his pen to one of the journal’s pages and began scribbling wildly,
“I’ll document this for further analysis later, if we can find out what makes him the most drowsy then we can give him a healthy sleep schedule.”
The Hero sighed, relieved in the knowledge that things were finally improving. Even though they had left The Construct a full two months ago, no Voice had seemed to recover from the impacts it had on them… The Skeptic was nervous around water, The Paranoid only recently started to be able to sleep at all—and that was only when The Hero or The Hunted was watching out for him—in fact, The Hunted wouldn’t eat in the same area as everyone else, nor would The Smitten say the word ‘happy’ anymore… the list just went on. The Cold finally resting meant that some development was occurring, lighting some hope in The Hero's heart.
He turned his head forward facing again, he probably shouldn't have taken his eyes off the dirt road as he was the one coaching the prairie schooner they travelled in, but it was fine. The path was empty and they were close to home anyways, so there'd be help from the other seven if anything happened.
The Smitten still laid his eyes on the dozing villain beside him, a temptation rising within him to try and pose some of the blankets beneath him instead of The Cold just lying on the wooden carriage floor, but he resisted. Him? Helping the murderer of his love to sleep better? His belovéd's tormenter? The one who hurt the lady who had loved him so much she even expressed Her love through violence? Never! He would not be seen or known showing such grace to a detestable one like The Cold.
…
He began shifting a few blankets under The Cold. He felt… embarrassed to do so, at least that's probably why he felt his cheeks flush. He carefully maneuvered The Cold over the blankets he’d set down, praying that The Cold did not wake up. He managed to finish successfully without any issue, and began to tenderly pat the blankets that remained above—
—A murmur of complaint, disturbance unappreciated—
—The Smitten practically jumped backwards at a hum of distaste from The Cold as he amended his position. The blush The Smitten felt increased tenfold as his feathers rose and he moved speedily to the other side of the carriage.
He exhaled in relief upon accepting that The Cold was still perfectly asleep. He would not dare go near again after that incident, as much as he’d want to.
...
The Smitten could've choked on the realisation, freezing in place and diverting his eyes from The Cold. This was too much, it didn't even make sense to him—Why the villain? Why him? He's supposed to love Her and only Her! He couldn't even dare to consider this, he had to halt his thoughts at once by getting out, leaving, going. Unfortunately, jumping out of a moving carriage is an insanely bad idea, and fleeing from love completely went against his entire, well, everything! Not even The Paranoid would jump out of a moving vehicle to save face… but he had to go somewhere, staying in the carriage was simply too overwhelming now—
“You alright?”
—The Skeptic's query made The Smitten jump out of his skin as he stammered to respond, desperately patting his flustered feathers down in futility,
“Wh–Why, of course, my dear friend! I, I am quite alright! Why do you ask?”
The Skeptic's eyes only narrowed in suspicion of the response, it clearly being too fastly spoken for it to be believable. The Smitten's breath stuck in his throat as The Skeptic espied the blankets now cushioning The Cold and studied the frantic state of The Smitten in contemplation as to his change in behaviour towards The Cold.
The Smitten could feel himself break into a cold sweat as The Skeptic began to ask his various questions,
“Why are you being nice to him now? And why are you acting so scared? And why—”
—The Hero intercepted quietly,
”Mate, just leave him alone.”
The Smitten let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding as The Skeptic began to quarrel with The Hero over why his questioning was an issue when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye; The Cold, raising himself up out of the pile drowsily, and languidly turning his head towards The Smitten in mild irritation,
“...Can you get them to stop fighting…? It's rather dull…”
The Smitten wanted to cry out of embarrassment as the words lazed out of The Cold. This was awful, if he was as unlucky as The Cheated he might've believed it could get worse, but he wasn't, or, rather, he thought he was until The Cold began to comment tonelessly,
“You look worried, why?”
The Smitten always hated the way The Cold said that word, dragging it out and making it too soft, not asking because he cared but because he just wanted to get a rise out of others—The Smitten almost felt his soul leave his body at the anagnorisis of how much detail he took in about The Cold, he'd been subconsciously showering the Voice in attention… he felt sick, his stomach twisting inside of him. This was the worst day of his entire existence.
The Cold placed his hands delicately in his lap and moved his head away, irked by the lack of answer when The Skeptic and The Hero's argument finally settled to an agreement. Whilst The Cold began to idly chatter to The Hero, The Smitten decided he would retire the second they got home as this had been an absolute shitshow.
Of all the ones it could've been, why was it that villain?