A/N: ACVAS is a year old this week! Which is kind of mad. This contains an extended retelling of the last scene of Chapter 10 "Worthy" (no rehashed dialogue) with original content and features the same naïve Reader Gibby – there will be light references to the main fic but nothing that will impede the experience for a newcomer. Please be aware of light spoilers, however.
Thank you so much for reading my work – I really wouldn't be here without you all. Leave a comment, enjoy <3
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Despite his disinterest, Ominis Gaunt always knew it was his sacred duty to have children.
It wasn't a matter of wanting, nor even needing. It was a given, fate, written into the bylaws of his bloodline – all members of the House of Gaunt were required to sire heirs so that the family could continue to flourish for generations, and not even being the runt could disentangle Ominis from these expectations.
He never quite understood what the fuss was about. He would do it, naturally. It was a requirement. Adults had children; it was the cycle of life. It wasn't until later that he understood why the matter was not harked upon lightly.
Precisely when he started to fall in love with you.
It wouldn't be unfair to call Ominis a late bloomer. He had no sight, and thus no visual from which to develop an interest in intimacy – but what that failed to acknowledge was how he developed it in different ways: sound, smell, touch. When he first met you, he found your voice high-pitched and squalling, like a baby, grating and only tolerable in small bites. But as the years past, that disdain transformed into fondness. He liked to hear you speak. He liked your touch too – the press of your fingers to remind him you were there, or a tender brush that grounded him in times of turmoil. Most of all, he liked the smell of your soap.
He wasn't sure when this fondness transformed. He didn't crave Sebastian's laughter like he did yours, didn't care for Anne touching his arm in the way he wished you would hold him and never let go. His body responded differently; his heart raced, his mouth parched, there were times he couldn't think what to say, and it took all his willpower not to pull you close, tangle his fingers through your silken hair, breathe in that scent that he'd quickly grown to—
Taking a deep breath, Ominis fixed his robe and slid to the Undercroft floor, opening a textbook. It was worse now. He'd admitted long ago to missing you keenly, and just when he thought he couldn't feel anything more embarrassing, his body and brain matured. They told him he wanted other things. Kisses in the night, tangled legs in tangled sheets, heated moments, your lips on his skin, his on yours. Between you both, you were always the much more curious one, but for the first time ever... Ominis wanted to explore you.
Of course, what he wanted, he could not have. He'd called you Mudblood to spare you the wrath of his family, and you hated him right now.
He hated himself, too.
"Thought I'd find you brooding down here!"
Ominis inclined his head to the closing lift bars. If Sebastian's voice wasn't a giveaway as to his unwanted presence, his footsteps were, each like the bang of firework.
"Quite peacefully, I might add," Ominis grumbled. "I would like to continue that."
"Sounds dull. I have something way more fun."
"Like a child with a shiny toy."
Sebastian collapsed next to him and drew an old, weathered tome from his bag. "It's reading material, Ominis. Don't say you don't like to read."
YOU ARE READING
Incandescent || Ominis Gaunt
Fanfiction"If he was shadow, you were light, the breadth of which he could not comprehend - yet he would rather bask and burn away, than retreat and feel nothing at all." In which, Ominis Gaunt reads a banned book on intimacy, and uses his research on you. - ...
