Mᴇʀʀʏ || Hᴇ's ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ ᴘᴇʀᴠᴇʀᴛ, ʜᴇ sᴡᴇᴀʀs! ̊˖𓍢ִ໋🐑

The room was quiet, wrapped in the soft hush of nighttime. Dim light spilled gently across the bed, just enough to make out the calm shapes of the room, the slope of the dresser, the curve of the lamp, the slow rise and fall of the blankets. The world outside felt distant, like it had already fallen asleep and left the two of you behind in some pocket of stillness that belonged only to the dark.

You laid there, not quite asleep yet, your thoughts drifting, restless. They circled without landing, the way tired minds do, half-finished sentences, faces you'd seen that day, worries you'd meant to set down but hadn't quite managed to.

The mattress dipped beside you, so subtly at first you almost missed it. Then, without a sound, you noticed Merry settling beside you on your shared bed, a gentle smile on him.

He nuzzled close, his presence light, so light in fact it almost felt like a dream you were slipping into. His soft, pale chestnut hair fell gently around his face messily, strands catching the dim light like threads of spun sugar, his eyes resting on you with a quiet comforting warmth. Up close like this, his brown orbs seemed to hold their own faint glow, soft as a lantern's light through fog.

"Trouble sleeping...?" He murmured, his voice barely above a whisper, as though speaking any louder might crack the fragile quiet. There was no hostility in his tone, only understanding, the kind that came from someone who'd laid awake beside you enough nights to recognize the shape of your restlessness. He leaned a little closer, being careful and unhurried, the way you'd approach a bird that might get startled. "It's okay, you don't have to force yourself to sleep."

The air felt warmer now, calmer, as though his presence had somehow softened the edges of the room. "Just listen to my voice. Let everything else fade away." His hand hovered near yours, not quite touching, but close enough that you could feel the faintest sense of reassurance, the warmth radiating off his palm, the promise of contact held in suspension, the way his gentle gaze stayed on you.

"You've done enough today, you deserve a nice massage, you're too stiff. You don't need to force yourself to agree, but please... it's what you need." He mumbled as he came a little bit closer, his pink orbs making you relax somehow, it was like you were staring at a beautiful dream in front of you. The lines of his shoulders softened as he shifted his weight, folding one arm beneath him, making his hair slip forward again, framing his face in a way that made him look almost vulnerable.

"Maybe I should massage your shoulders? Your back? Your... butt?" He let his words hang in the air as his face suddenly flushed, a bloom of pink that started at his cheeks and crept toward his ears, visible even in the low light. "N-not in a weird way of course! Don't get the wrong idea. It's just that the human body gets stiff very easily and it needs... help." The words tumbled out a little faster now, losing their earlier whisper, tripping over each other in their rush to explain.

He grabbed a pillow nearby as he buried himself in it, trying to hide from embarrassment. He pressed his face into the soft fabric until only the tips of his ears and a tuft of his hair were visible. "I swear I'm not a pervert. I just want to care for you after your long busy day."

His fingers, still half-buried in the pillowcase, twitched slightly. Waiting and hoping for you to reach over and pull the pillow away and touch him, reassure him.