Kyle "Gaz" Garrick x M!Reader

Thirty-Five

Every morning had a different feeling. Some were light and welcoming while others hit you in the face like a truck.

This one was neither. It was something entirely new, whole and rewarding for surviving all these years of shitty people and even worse situations.

Warm skin pressed against your chest as you opened your eyes a crack wide to be blinded by soft sunlight that made its way through the blinds.

Curly hair nestled against your cheek. Your arm was stiff and a prickly sensation raged below your skin. It felt like your fingers were about to fall off.

Probably because Kyle was lying on it with his full weight. Curled up next to you he had his face buried in the soft flesh of your chest.

Small snorts made his nose curl whenever he took a breath. Smiling softly, you tickled the tip of his nose. Irritated, he frowned, shook his head and turned around.

His back nestled into the curve of your torso. Warmth made its way under your skin, made goosebumps grow and something between your legs flinch.

Struck by surprise, you sucked in a sharp breath and tried to take your mind off the fact that his backside pressed into the side of your pelvis.

"Kyle...", your voice softly tickled the back of his neck as you leaned over him. "It's time to get up."

Curling his lips, he pushed his face deeper into the pillows and exhaled deeply. A soft grunt made his nose crunch.

"Go away...", he muttered, eyebrows knitted together.

With a soft chuckle you placed a kiss to his neck. He shivered, his pelvis moved, brushed against your crotch. Out of reflex your hands lay on his hips to hold him in place.

He stopped, popped one eye open and gifted you a crooked smirk.

"Tempted?", he asked in a rough, sleepy voice.

Letting out a gush of air, you chuckled.

"You should get up.", you just said and playfully pinched his backside.

"Don't tease me, daddy~!", he purred in response.

Both of you stopped, frowning. Then a soft gag escaped your throat.

"Don't be weird.", you just said. "Please."

He huffed, pushed you to your back and placed himself between your legs while supporting his torso with his arms against the mattress. The tones muscles of his stomach pressed into your crotch.

His entire body felt so warm, comforting. Like one gigantic teddy bear to hug in the darkest of nights.

Smiling softly, your hands found the back of his head to play with the short curls that started to grow out. With a gently exhale, his eyes fell shut and he leaned into the touch.

"Prude.", he smirked.

You frowned and rolled your eyes.

"I've got kids. And I'm really not into being called daddy when they could call me that too. Besides, didn't we grow out of that word anyways?"

"Nothin' wrong with a cute pet name.", one of his eyes opened to catch your gaze. "Love?"

A smirk grew on your lips.

"How incredibly creative you are, sweetheart.", you teased.

One of his eyebrows lifted.

"I don't have the sound of that."

"Do you love it tho?"

His lips curled as he pretended to think about it.

"Still some room to improve. Honey?"

"Got a bit of a US ring to it, innit, my dear?"

He laughed.

"We're not eighty.", Kyle buried his face on your stomach.

The warmth of his breath caressed your skin, made goosebumps grow and disappear again as the pleasant tingle chased through every inch of your limbs.

"Not yet.", you yawned.

Being with him was soothing. As if the world could be the worst version of itself and yet you'd be fine. Everything would be fine.

As long as he laughed the way he did.

Taking a deep breath, you let your head fall back and your eyes shut. Soft pillows greeted you. The bedding smelled of laundry detergent, clean yet pleasantly perfumed.

For a moment the two of you just lay there, Kyle with his head rested on your chest, his arms wrapped around your torso while the rest of his body was between your legs.

His curls tickled the palm of your hand while your fingers played with their flow, the way they were curved and bounced back whenever you gently pulled them straight.

His calm and relaxed breathing filled your ears. The beating of your heart pounced against his cheek every few seconds.

The golden rays of sunlight bathed the two of you in a veil of perfection, soft yet beaming with the warmth of thousand crowns.

The glass of the window crushed some of these rays into thousands of shards, each a colour of their own. Rainbows crawled across your face, kissed every inch of your being and made Kyle look like a painting come to life in your arms.

You took these shards of light, wrapped your fingers carefully around them and locked everything away in your chest to keep for eternity.

"Kyle...", a whisper slipped off your lips as your head sunk deeper into the pillow.

His weight on you was so calming, forced you to lay down and be still until every inch of your being relaxed and the pressure of life faded.

Sighing, you let your fingers run through the short hair in the back of his head, twisted the curls between your fingers.

Soft breaths seeped from his lips.

Even though Kyle was a solider by profession, a man of war and death, he couldn't have been more fragile in this moment. More soft. Like the first gush of warm spring air that made apple blossoms shiver.

"DAAAAAAAD!"

Swallowing a soft curse, you frowned.

"Of course...", you muttered and tried to rub the sleep out of your eyes.

Kyle smiled.

"Looks like someone is in demand of your presence. More than me.", he purred with a smirk. "Papa bear."

Something in the back of your mind flinched. And you couldn't help but curl your lips into a smirk.

"I... might like that one...", with a grin, you pushed him off you to crawl out of bed. "I'm on my way, darling!"