Ivar - Masterlist

Can't sleep either?

Paring: Ivar x Reader
Words: 1110
A/N: This is part of the 2k drabbles of my Tumblr account, the prompt was "Can't sleep either?"
Warnings: None (/ Open end? Though I'm up for making a part two if you are interested in how their story continues)

Night laid above Kattegat as if the waves carried it there from the other side of the horizon. It wasn't one of those pulsating nights, not filled with light and laughter, but with quiet thoughts and memories.

Looking outside her window, Y/N couldn't see a single soul wandering the barely lit roads. Only the crying of the waves crashing against stone cut through the darkness, while to her it was a luring melody into the depths of night.

A smile spread over her face when she made her way to the door. When she was younger, her father would lecture her about how she would be taken by an Alp if she would dare to leave the house in a quiet night. How she shivered under her thick blanket at those thoughts back then.

When a cold breeze of air ran its fingers through her hair, Y/N asked herself how she was ever able to resist a night like this.
Her feet found the way to the shore on their own, giving her the time to listen to everything the darkness was telling her.

Owls were howling with the dancing tree branches, with the writhing grasses. None of them were calling Y/N though, like the Sea did. The crawling waves were mere whispers, as if trying to get her attention, were they sure Y/N was listening though, they sang their songs of long forgotten times, sent their cries through the night as they melted into the sand, laughed, when they would rise up again, louder, more powerful. Y/N closed her eyes for a second, yes, any Alp could take her if she could just give herself to this night for another moment.

"Can't sleep either?", Y/N heard a hoarse voice behind her. She knew it was familiar, but she couldn't quite connect it to a face until she spun around, seeing the young prince sitting in the sand just a few meters from where she was standing.

It took her a moment to find her words, not being used to see him like this. She had always been very cautious to not get too close to him. Y/N had never witnessed one of Ivar's tempers, but the people talked, so she preferred to be on the safe side. Now though? She didn't seem to have much of a choice, so she just hoped he would send her away again, wishing to be left alone.

"Are you planning to stare at me a like a fish or will you sit?", Ivar tilted his head.
"Forgive me, I was caught up in a thought, I did not notice you were here. If you wish to be left alone..", Y/N didn't end her sentence. He looked at her with something like interest in his eyes, though, the kind of interest a cat would give a tiny mouse.

"I asked you to sit, did I not?", Ivar moved his hand a few inches, as if to make his words even clearer. Clenching her jaw a bit, Y/N walked over to him, slowly letting herself down in the sand next to the prince. A weird tension spread through her body, which Ivar luckily didn't seem to notice, or, if he did, played down very well.

His head fell in his neck, looking at the stars while a deep breath left his lips.
Y/N started to relax, she was concentrating on the ocean, how the waves would crawl towards them before decaying into white sea-foam, so much, that she didn't notice the pair of blue eyes that were fixed on her now.

"Should a young woman be walking around alone?", his voice had a mocking tone to it at first, though, when listening closer, one could think to hear a sincere interest in his words.

Calmed down a bit, Y/N gathered herself enough to look in his eyes, it was the first time that she had looked at him this close. His jawline was sharp, basically directing her eyes to his slightly parted lips, well... if there weren't those eyes that were shimmering clear and blue, even in this little light.

"What would a woman have to fear, if she actually was alone?".
Ivar's lips twitched upwards the slightest bit, as if he seemed pleased with her answer.
"You prefer to be alone, don't you?", he suddenly asked.
His question startled Y/N, was it that obvious or did he just take a bluff to play with her?

She could feel his breath in her neck as Ivar tilted his head towards her. The warm air made goosebumps crawl down her entire back.
"I've seen you. You keep to yourself, quiet and inconspicuous, don't you? But your eyes are always open, keeping track of everything"

At this point Y/N's breath was flat and fast, what was this supposed to mean?
"Prince Ivar, if you mean to say I have seen things I wasn't supposed to, I can assure that I am... I am not spying on anyone or-", she stuttered, unsure of his intentions.

She felt a sudden weight on her shoulder, warm and relaxing for a reason.
"You should calm", he said before taking his hand off her again.
"I do the same thing. I like to know what is happening around me. The difference is, I do prefer to stay in the center of the events to do so...", he looked at her with a questioning expression as he finished his sentence, as if he'd search for a certain reaction in her eyes. A sigh left his lips as he let his head sink a bit, only to slightly shake it. "And I can assure you that I bite rather rarely".

It took Y/N a second, she was still thinking about his previous words before she understood that he actually made a joke, having noticed her nervousness apparently. A short smile spread about both their faces.

She took a deep breath, maybe, and she might be as wrong as one could be here, Ivar was not at all times that cold warrior, not all that cruel and frightening.
"I rarely am in the middle of any event. So why would you waste your time on me?", she forgot about the promise to herself to be cautious. He sparked her interest.

How he was sitting next to her, switching between being simply intimidating and looking almost playful. She was interested in those blue eyes and what was lurking behind them. Though, the answer she got was far from what she would have suspected there.

"I am just a man, even our kind has a liking for the one or other pretty thing"