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If Hearth were to write a story, it would be a fantasy with lots of monologues and not enough action scenes. But Hearth knew that he probably never would in real life. But in the case that he did, he would create an open main character who was honest with how he felt and let his desires be known.
No, not a playboy.
His main character would be everything he himself wanted to be. And probably have the ability to hear, (Betcha didn’t see that one coming). But sometimes, when desires build up, you do things you don’t mean to do.
“Um, Hearth?” Blitzen looked at Hearthstone, with a face with shock, confusion, embarrassment, and shyness all scrambled together. He even forgot to sign. “What are you doing?”
Now, you might be wondering, what on earth could Hearth do that makes Blitzen shy? He flaunts his beauty with fashionable clothes, though in the daytime you can hardly see any skin because of the way he has to cover himself up to avoid the sun.
That, my unholy friends, was because Hearth, before had realized it, was groping Blitzens chest. You heard me right, groping.
See, elves had this thing, where, out of respect, they touch the chest of another elf. Now, if you lived in Midgard, you would call this sexual assault. If you lived in Alfheim on the other hand, it was like a Japanese person bowing to a senpai or someone influential in their lives. Except with slightly less awkwardness. It’s done to show respect.
Hearth panicked. He had never done something like this to Blitz. While it was commonplace in his world, he knew very well it was not in the other eight. Maybe it was instinct that made him do it, knowing all the amazing things he knew Blitz had done. Maybe it was affection. Or maybe it was something that could not be mentioned to underage beings. Regardless of the reason, internally, he was calling himself stupid over and over, in whatever way deaf people think to themselves.
Though on the outside, he was the picture of calm, and no one could know of the storm raging inside him.
Hearth lowered his hand as naturally as he could. Respecting you. He replied. If he could talk, his voice would’ve been out of pitch.
“Um, respecting me?” Blitz now signed as he talked. “Ah, I see. I feel appreciated?”
Pay me no mind, it was an elf thing. Hearth signed, uncomfortable. Way to make things awkward , he thought to himself.
“Oh, I see. No sweat or anything, I do things that seem weird to others but not to dwarves all the time. Like keeping away from sunlight like it’s the plague, or naming inanimate objects.” Thanks, it makes me feel better that you’re weirder than me. That helped tons. Hearth signed in frustration.
“What’s really weird is not being weird, man. Like a great person once said, ‘flaunt the weird.’”
While Hearth felt Blitzen could be endearingly stupid, he appreciated Blitz for being as accepting as he was. If it were Alex, Hearth would be in a Vahalla style courtroom right about now.
Yeah, I'll do that. Hearth signed, smiling. Or at least he thought he was.
While Hearth would always be a little insecure, he had Blitzen and his friends to talk about why they were a thousand times weirder.
P.S. When Blitzen later recalled these events at the Chase Space, Sam looked at Hearth with comical disproval that said you shouldn’t touch people like that before marriage , Alex laughed, while innocent Magnus was looking at Alex’s chest, looking like a thing he’d heard of but never actually put into practice was going through his head. No, actually, that was definitely it, because his ears grew redder by the second. When Alex noticed, she (it was a female day) proceeded to whack him on the head.