Chapter Text
He sighed softly, tilting his head back to feel the sunlight on his skin. It felt comforting to be out in the open without fear. And the breeze was just cold enough to feel comforting, the feeling evening out the warmth of the sun. He rolled up his sleeves, wanting to feel more of the sunlight. If he were on his own, he might have removed his shirt altogether, but he wasn’t.
He was sitting on a pile of firewood he had chopped himself. He had allowed himself a break, taking a bit of time to turn the firewood into an impromptu throne of knobby and splintering bits of log. It wasn’t too uncomfortable for him though, he had gotten used to sleeping on far worse things than this.
Breathing out a content sigh, he heard the door to the house open. He smiled to himself when he heard you step outside. The smile faded when he heard Mary run out after you.
“Mary!” You called. “Mary, stay close!” You sighed and chuckled, shaking your head. If she bit your guest again you’d never forgive yourself.
The guest in question stayed where he was, not opening his eyes just yet. He heard Mary run around his little throne, her sniffing the wood until she spotted him. He could tell because she immediately started growling. He stayed still, listening and bracing himself for another bite in his leg.
“Mary!” You snapped, hurrying over. You leaned down by her side, wrapping your arms around her neck to still her. “You can’t keep threatening Mr. Frankenstein!”
Chuckling, he opened up his eye to see you holding your dog back. “Thank you for keeping me safe from such a vicious beast.”
You laughed, scratching Mary behind her ears. “She’s just protective of me, is all.”
“A good companion to have, then.” He smiled, carefully adjusting in his seat, earning another growl from Mary.
“She is.” You confirmed, smiling at him. “I tried to keep her inside.”
“I understand.” He replied, shifting so that his hair blocked your view of his face. Your smile faltered at that. He often tried to hide his appearance from you if at all possible.
You didn’t understand his persistence in that endeavor, because you had seen what he looks like, it was impossible not to see what he looked like. No amount of turning away or spending time outside could chance the fact that his skin was yellowish green or gray depending on the lighting. It couldn’t hide the scars you’d seen on his body, and it couldn’t hide the strange color of his eyes or the fact he was eight feet in height. However, these things, though unnerving, couldn’t overshadow his gentleness, his eagerness to learn and work, or the softness of his voice.
“Mr. Frankenstein?” You said, tentatively letting Mary go now that her growling had calmed.
“Hmm?” He tilted his head slightly, his blackish lips spreading into a smile.
Rising from the ground, you tentatively walked over to him, earning a new round of growls from Mary. You held out a hand to her, shushing her softly. You turned back to the man, smiling slightly. “Can I try to show her you’re not a threat?”
His eyebrows raised in surprise, shying away from your approach. “How?”
“Just something simple.” You stood by his side, turning to Mary. “Give me your hand.”
He swallowed slightly, carefully holding out his hand to you, wishing he had rolled his sleeves back down to hide more of himself.
Mary gave a soft warning bark, when you took his hand in yours, but you smiled at her, talking to her in a high-pitched voice. “See, Mr. Frankenstein is our friend. See?” You pressed your palm against his, spreading out your fingers until your hands were pressed together. “See Mary, it’s okay.”
While you were busy trying to persuade your dog not to bite your new farmhand, the creature was distracted by the feeling of your palm against his.
His eyes were wide, his ears unhearing as he stared at your hand as if it was something foreign. And it was. The gentle touch of another living soul was something completely foreign to him. Especially touch for the sake of touch.
Your palm was warm, and your fingers so much smaller than his. The two of you didn’t even look like the same species. And your skin was so soft. You had some callouses from working in this home alone for so long, but it was still so much softer than his own leathery palms.
He gasped softly as you laced your fingers into his, still cooing to Mary. He still couldn’t make out your words, so distracted by what your hands were doing. Slowly, he curled his fingers until the two of you were holding hands properly. His hand was shaking, god he hoped that you didn’t notice that.
You knelt down, still holding his hand, holding your other hand out to Mary. “Friends. Friends, Mary. See?”
Mary huffed, trotting over to you and licking your cheek. You laughed, nuzzling your face into her fur, hugging her with your free arm.
“You’re getting it, girl!” You grinned, moving to pull your hand out of Mr. Frankenstein’s grip, to find that your hand was completely stuck in his grasp.
You looked back at him, opening your mouth to tell him that it was okay to let your hand go, but his expression stopped you.
He was staring at your interlocked hands, his brows knit together. He looked as though he was going to cry. His mouth was slightly open, his breath coming out in soft, raggedy gasps. His thumb slowly moved down yours, lightly tickling you.
“Mr. Frankenstein?” You whispered, unsure how to read this situation.
Gasping again, he abruptly dropped your hand, coming back to himself. “I’m so sorry.” He said, looking at you.
“That’s fine.” You continued petting Mary, who was currently the closest she had ever gotten to him and for once not growling. “Thank you, she seems to have stopped violently hating you, at the very least.”
He chuckled, rising from his seat. Mary tensed beside you, but she didn’t growl.
“That’s good.” He looked down at the hand you had just been holding before looking back at you, obviously distracted. “I’m going to draw some water from the well. I’ll be back in a moment.”
“Oh, okay.” You watched as he walked off, raising your eyebrows slightly. Mary wormed out of your hold, going back to sniffing around on the ground, instantly more relaxed now that he was gone. You turned your attention to her, sitting on the seat made of firewood to watch her.
The creature, meanwhile, walked towards the well, unable to tear his eyes away from his hand. He could still feel the ghost of your warmth on his flesh. Every other time the two of you had touched, well, the only other times you two had touched had been for a reason. When you bandaged his leg because Mary bit him, and the handshake the two of you shared when he introduced himself with his creator’s name.
Intimacy. That’s what intimacy felt like.
He touched his palm as he came to the well, his chest welling with a feeling he didn’t want to feel. The urge to love and be loved.
Shaking his head, he focused on drawing water from the well. All you had done was give him a temporary home in exchange for work. He couldn’t push his wants onto you. You were just a kind soul, that had to be it.