This is a Lydia x Male!Dragonborn one shot. Hopefully it is to your liking.
I still haven't seen a single request... I wonder why...
Also, I have nothing against Muiri.
•••••••
She watched from across the table as his eyes roamed over the book. His brow was pinched, his shoulders were hunched, and he'd been reading that damn journal for hours. She could tell he was worried. Again.
"Why don't you rest for a while, my thane." Lydia suggested. He merely grunted in response. "You need to sleep."
A few minutes pass before he opens his mouth to yawn. He tensed up tighter than before and buried his head in the book as if to show just how much he disliked the constant nagging.
"I'll sleep when I figure out where they're keeping her." His voice betrayed him, showing just how tired he was. He gripped his quill tighter. Lydia felt jealousy creep into her thoughts when he mentioned the damsel in distress, but she kept her feelings to herself.
"We'll get her back, but you need to take care of yourself... You've been at that journal for two days now. You've hardly slept, you barely ate more than an apple--" but the man didn't let her finish.
"For the love of Talos... Shut up." As she heard him dismiss her, she rolled her eyes and reached out her hand.
"Give me. The. Book." For the first time in hours, his eyes left the daedric symbols and up to Lydia. They were droopy and red, but they gave a clear warning to back off.
"Do not test me, Lydia."
"You are going to collapse if you don't sleep! At least let me take at look at it." He sat back in his chair and kept on reading.
"You can't read daedric. There isn't anything you can do. Leave me alone." He was growing impatient.
"Try me." She challenged.
"Lydia, drop it." He growled lowly.
"Or what?" He felt his attempts to stay calm fly out the window as he stood up abruptly and slammed the book down, sending his chair flying backwards behind him.
"Lydia! You are my housecarl, and I didn't ask you for any help. Not stop pestering me you incompetent wench!" As soon as the last word left his lips, he felt guilt lay heavily in his gut. Lydia stood up so fast that she nearly knocked over her chair too. She bowed her head and left to her room.
The dragon blood pulsed in the mans veins, and he could feel fire tingling in his fingertips. But his heart crumpled at the sight of Lydia's crushed expression. He remembered how her fists were clenched and her eyes were cast to the floor. She almost looked like a broken servant. He didn't want her to feel like a lesser human being. He wanted her to feel like his equal. Great job he was doing at that. He quickly grabbed at the wretched journal and swung his arm, letting the book sail the through the room. It crashed against the far wall with a thud and knocked over a few tankards.
A few minutes passed until he was overcome with guilt, his anger completely gone, and he walked up to her room. At first, he didn't dare knock on her door because he knew how she got when she was upset. But his knuckles rasped lightly on the wood before he chickened out.
Lydia was lying down on her straw bed, looking up at the wood ceiling. She knew that he didn't mean what he said, he was just too tired to think properly, but he ordered her to stop being so damn annoying and she disobeyed. Knowing this didn't help ease the pain of being yelled at either. Her job was to follow his directions and protect him. She was just a housecarl and that was all she'd ever be to him. When she was assigned to be his housecarl she knew from the beginning that it was going to be difficult to not fall for him, and that it was a bad idea to pursue the all mighty dragonborn. He'd probably find another woman better than her, or he would turn her down in a not so nice way... He might even dismiss her. What was a housecarl with no thane to protect? But even with all this against the idea, she let her heart win. And look where that got her.
When his knuckles knocked, it scared her out of her daydream. She stood up at attention and made sure her expression didn't show any bit of emotion. She was good at that, but he knew how to see past her mask.
"Lydia? Can I come in?" She could tell his voice was timid and it confused her because he was never nervous. She donned her professional persona and let out a huge sigh. She was going to be fired.
"Yes sir."
He slowly opened the door and stepped in to see her emotionless and stoic once again. His heart fell. It had taken him weeks to get past her shell, and to see her so defensive, yet blank, told him just how hurt she was.
"Lydia... I'm sorry." She was taken aback at his apology. She was sure he would kick her out because of her outburst.
"What?"
"I'm sorry I was so rude to you. It was uncalled for."
"No, I'm sorry, my thane. I disrespected an order. You have every right to say the things you said."
"No I didn't." He pulled out a chair from her desk and shut the door behind him. He sat down and hid his face in his hand as if to hide from embarrassment. "Just because I'm thane, doesn't mean you aren't important. Your opinion is important to me, and I know you always have the best intentions at heart. If it wasn't for you, I'd probably be sleeping and eating a lot less than I normally do." He chuckled and sat back up into a slouching position. Lydia felt herself smile just enough that he saw. He didn't say anything about it though.
"Yeah. Yeah you would be." Lydia let her sarcastic, annoyed tone of voice back into her speech.
"Now don't be getting sassy with me, miss." He folded his arms against his chest and stared right at her. She tensed up and lost the smirk. "Why do you care so much about me?"
"I beg your pardon, sir?"
"I've had housecarls before, Lyd. But they've never been so forward to me or demanding of me. You confuse me."
"I'm just doing--"
"No you aren't. You job isn't to sacrifice yourself for me, it isn't to boss me around to make sure I eat right and take care of myself, and it sure as hell isn't anything more than a job. I think you've forgotten that. You take care of me, you done so much for me that no one else has. The others followed the rules and only acted as a servant, but you... You don't care much for rules, do you?"
Lydia was pretty sure her face was bright red. She was speechless. She wasn't sure what to say to any of this.
"I have never met someone so loyal, caring, and downright demanding. And to be honest, I like it. I'm sorry I've acted to horribly to you when you've done so much for me."
"You know I forgive you, sir. I guess I just enjoy having you as my thane and I want to keep it that way. I just want to have someone to protect."
"So you mean--"
"I want to keep it this way. You are my employer and I'm fine with that." Lydia inwardly cursed at how convincing she could be. It was a ginormous, ugly lie.
"I... Okay. I get it. I...." He paused, and his shoulders fell. Even though she didn't want anything else of the relationship, he did. "I understand, Lydia". His eyes were downcast, and Lydia noticed he was less enthusiastic than normal. With a little bit of sadness, he stuck out his hand.
"I'm sorry?"
Lydia stared at his hand for a few seconds before reluctantly shaking it.
"Apology accepted, my Thane." He wrinkled his nose at the name and nodded before backing out of the room. "Goodnight, sir. Get some rest."
"Goodnight."
As soon as the door clicked shut, Lydia and the man both cringed at how the situation ended up. This wasn't going to work, but neither of them knew that they both were thinking the same thing.
A few minutes later, the dragonborn found himself downstairs, cleaning up the small mess he made. The book was forgotten on the floor and he barely glanced at it before making sure the room was clean. It wasn't worth losing sleep over. His eyes were droopy and his skin was pale. He wouldn't be surprised if a child would mistake him for a vampire. The floor needed sweeping though, so he wasn't going to bed just yet. He wiped down the table, picked up the tankards, put away the food, and organized the cabinet before sitting down in one of the chairs in the main room. After a short while of staring at the fire and wallowing in his thoughts about the infuriating, yet enticing Lydia, he climbed back up the stairs to his room. It didn't even take two minutes to fall asleep.
Lydia paced back and forth. She could hear her Thane downstairs, hopefully doing something other than reading that book, making all sorts of noise. She hoped he couldn't hear her muttering to herself. 'Why didn't he fire me? Why is he so.... Annoying? Why is he so goddamn attractive? Does he like me?' She tripped over a loose board and nearly fell on her face after she stopped paying attention to what she was doing. Curses flew from her mouth as her hands grabbed at the bedside table. Splinters dug into her skin and she realized she was bleeding. She groaned and fell onto the bed in a pile. Her hands resting above her head.
"Get your head straight, Lydia! Just tell him you like him." Her stomach jumped at the thought of the two of them... Together. "That will never happen."
•••
After a week, the two were still not on good terms, it was strained and uncomfortable. Neither of them admitted that they wanted to be more. Their fighting style was off because they couldn't loosen up around each other. But what went well was that they found the damsel in distress. The beautiful Muiri from Markarth. As the three walked back from the forsworn camp, Muiri could sense the tension between her two rescuers. Well.... She couldn't walk. (The forsworn are known to be malicious and blood-hungry. It's almost normal for their captives to be tortured, and her leg wasn't going to be able to support any weight for a while.) This only meant one thing... The dragonborn was carrying her, and Lydia was jealous that she was getting all his attention. But, Muiri isn't just a cute, innocent girl. She is a woman with opinions and wants. And she's smart. She naturally wanted the dragonborn for herself, just like half the population of Skyrim. So, sensing that jealousy, she decided to use it to her advantage.
Lydia was careful to not let anyone see how much it bothered her that Muiri was hanging onto her thane like she owned him, her hands in his soft hair, touching his face... Acting all 'cutesy'. She giggled at his jokes a little too hard, she made sure to act like an injured baby bunny whenever she moved her leg (which Lydia admitted was somewhat understandable), and she was flirting. The entire walk back. But that wasn't all. No. Mr. I'm-So-Awesome-I-Save-Everyone-And-I-Get-The-Ladies was flirting back. Lydia's blood was boiling and her cheeks were turning red. But she didn't realize how upset she was over it until a tear escaped her eye.
"Hey, can we stop for a while? I need to take a break." Lydia asked.
"I guess so. Are you sure you need one already? We just got back on the road not too long ago." Lydia wiped the tear away before anyone saw it.
"Yeah. I'm not feeling very well." Lydia replied with a quiet voice. Her cheeks were red from jealousy and embarrassment. After that response, the dragonborn looked at her to find she looked really red. He quickly found a rock to set Muiri down and he immediately turned to Lydia. Muiri frowned and pouted as she wasn't being handled by him any longer. The housecarl was surprised by his actions and took a step back.
"Hey, hey. You okay?" He put a hand to her forehead. "You feel warm, and you look pink. Maybe you need some water. Dehydration can be bad." He grabbed his pack and took out a waterskin.
"No, I'm fine. I just need to rest." He still pushed the waterskin towards her and she took it gently. A few sips later and she gave it back. "There. Happy?" He nodded.
"I just want to make sure you're alright. You haven't been yourself lately. And you always make sure I'm healthy and happy." Lydia turned away as she felt another tear squeeze out.
"Well, I'm just going to go sit under one of those trees over there. How about you tend to Muiri. She needs you more than I do." Lydia then stood up and walked away without waiting for him to reply.
The dragonborn stood up and watched as she walked away, a weird feeling in his gut. It was confusing to him how much Lydia didn't make sense. He then glanced over at Muiri who was smiling a little to excitedly. A small sigh escaped him.
"You okay?"
"My leg hurts a little, but I'm kinda lonely. Come sit by me." She said in her sickly sweet voice. The dragonborn glanced back over to Lydia before joining Muiri on the ground. He didn't even glance at the beautiful Breton. She poked his side. "Hey big guy. You okay?"
"Yeah." He glanced back up at the housecarl who was far enough away that she couldn't hear anything hey said. Muiri followed his gaze and rolled her eyes.
"Don't worry about Lydia. She's just jealous she couldn't be the hero like you are. She's jealous of you."
"What? Lydia isn't like that." The dragonborn wrinkled his nose at the thought.
"No, she is. She doesn't like you very much. She only follows and bosses you around because she wants to be like you. The hero, the celebrity... She'll try to steal the attention for herself. I'd stay away from her if you can."
"I don't believe you."
"Well, it's true. Trust me, I'm a girl." She placed her hand on his. "But I like you. And I don't care about the whole 'dragonborn' thing. Your very sweet and polite, and you're a wonderful healer." The dragonborn shifted away from her and removed his hand from his.
"You know, you're a very nice girl and everything but--" Muiri put her finger on his lips.
"Shhh, I know. I'm a bit young. But I don't care. I only care about you." Muiri grabbed his chin and pulled him down gently to meet her lips. It surprised him and he kissed back without thinking it through properly. In the heat of the moment, he placed his hand on her cheek.
It was at that precise moment that Lydia happened looked over to see her Thane locking lips with the scheming 'princess'. She knew it. He liked her, and not Lydia. She watched as they parted and her thane rested his forehead against the woman's. Muiri glanced over to Lydia and met her eyes. Her expression read "That's right, bitch. He's mine." Lydia felt herself break even more.
When the dragonborn snapped out of it he pulled away from the woman and stood up so fast, he nearly fell over.
"What are you doing?!"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm kissing you." She was starting to get worried. He looked like he was going to bolt.
"Don't you ever touch me again."
"But--"
"No, Muiri. I don't want to hear it. Besides, I'm in love with someone else."
"The housecarl? Don't tell me you're in love with that tall, ugly, brutish freak!"
"As a matter of fact, I am. She's ten times more of a woman than you will ever be." The dragonborn looked over to Lydia who still hadn't heard a word the other two had said before he took off down the path to the north for a few minutes. Muiri gave a rather sharp cry of exasperation which caught Lydia's attention. Both women looked at each other before Muiri crossed her arms and gave the housecarl a death glare. Lydia raised her eyebrows and shrugged.
It was a few minutes later when the handsome dragonborn came back with a confused carriage driver and a khajiit passenger following closely behind. He was talking to be two of them.
"If you head down the path to the right, you'll get to Markarth. Take her to someone called Bothela in the Hag's Cure. You'll be rewarded heavily, I suspect. And watch out for her silver tongue. She can get you to think or do anything."
With that Muiri was scooped up by the khajiit and the dragonborn who then proceeded to plop her down unceremoniously into the cart. She wasn't happy, but because of her leg, she couldn't leave the cart on her own. The dragonborn smiled sweetly at the cursing bitch and waved at the retreating carriage. "Bye!"
After they had gone, the man turned around to see Lydia staring at him questioningly. Her arms were crossed and her eyes all squinty and skeptical. "What did you just do? We were supposed to bring her back."
"I know, I'm sorry. They'll take care of it. I was sick of her and her stupid games. Besides, she called you ugly."
Lydia uncrossed her arms and stared at him for a minute, her skeptical gaze unwavering.
"Listen, Lydia, I care about you, okay?" Lydia averted her eyes, a light blush settling on her cheeks. "And I want you to be more than just my housecarl." He was growing soft, his eyes were gentle and his tone was calming.
"What about Muiri?"
"What about her?"
"I saw you kiss her."
"I was caught off guard. I'd rather be kissing you..."
Lydia could see the sincerity in his eyes and she nodded her head slowly. She kept her eyes on the ground. Leaves crunched under her feet and she swear she could hear his heartbeat. She stopped moving when she noticed his boots were nearly touching hers. She then looked straight into his eyes and smiled.
"And I... I want to be more than just your housecarl." She whispered. She looked afraid of saying that, but he didn't care as he closed the space in between them.
His hands found her hair and the base of her neck as their lips met. She didn't know what to do with her hands, but it didn't matter. He guided her untrained lips slowly until she began to gain confidence. It wasn't until he gently nipped at her bottom lip that she realized just how far gone she was. Yes, she had fallen hard for him.
He pulled back a little to let her regain her footing, and she let a few breathless laughs loose. Their fingers intertwined and they began walking back home, the cold evening air causing goosebumps to rise on their uncovered arms. She laid her head on his shoulder and he pulled back sharply, whining.
"What?" A sheepish smile graced his face. Lydia groaned. "Oh no... What is it?"
"I uh, well... Remember when we had found Muiri with those forsworn?"
"Yes?"
"Well, I kinda didn't realize it, but there was a shrine of something in one of the towers. At first I thought it was just some random statue surrounded by a whole ton of different items." By this time, they had stopped walking. "And as I was walking around there was this staff and I was playing with it..."
"What? What did you do?" Lydia's eyes were wide and she was shaking him.
"Um. I think I sorta, maybe pissed off an ancient Nordic God..."
"Are you kidding me!? By the nine divines!! I cannot believe you."
"What? I was trying to find Muiri!" His left hand lifted up and peeled back a few layers of armor. "Also, that staff backfired, literally, and my shoulder is burnt to a crisp..." He whispered, still sporting the sheepish grin.
Lydia looked at him with disbelief before grabbing his hand, ready to drag him back to Whiterun. "You are so lucky I like you."