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Faust has a habit of carrying you.
At first, it was like a daily pending jumpscare when he would decide to throw you over his shoulder or lift you in his arms like a princess to carry you around wherever he decided he wanted to be with you. And you would squirm and flail, complain about being able to walk on your own without him flexing that untiring vampiric strength of his, until you groaned and let him carry you about his business.
Eventually, you got used to it. Eventually.
One morning, by a miracle of G—well, some sort of higher power… Faust manages to wake up before you. An unusual and very rare occurrence.
You both had spent a long night together, and you had no idea in your peaceful slumber it was well past lunch time. And Faust had taken to locking the door upon your request when you two were going to be intimate, mostly because you didn’t want Charles barging in the room to wake you up and you not be wearing any clothes. That was an easy decision to agree upon, because you think this time you might actually witness Faust fall out if that happened.
He shakes you, calls your name, and all you do is roll over and snuggle further into his blankets, wrapped warmly in the soft fabric and his scent. He reaches out to brush his fingers along your face, taming your wild bed head, until he smooths some of the strands down. He calls your name again, and you refuse to open your eyes.
With a sigh, he leans down, and lifts you up right out of the bed.
The sudden motion makes you kick wildly in surprise, but his grip is sturdy. You look at him with wide, sleep-ridden eyes.
“ Faust .” You say, exasperated. “I was sleeping so good!”
He chuckles, clearly satisfied with your reaction, and then kisses your cheek. “Come eat something and then you can lay back down.”
He carries you into the kitchen, where he sets you down in a seat with a confused Vlad and Charles watching you be carted around like precious cargo.
You wave them off, embarrassed, and eat the lunch Charles had made while Faust makes you some tea. You failed to notice when he hauled you out of bed, you were still wearing his clothes from the night before, when you were too sleepy to get up and put on actual night clothes and he dressed you in his instead.
You try not to let the conversation stray too close to that topic though.
.
One night, Faust notices you rubbing incessantly at the back of your neck and your shoulders. He closes his book and asks if you’re in any pain.
“No, no, just a little sore and stiff is all,” you say, having just gotten back from visiting and helping around the mansion. Sebastian made you work like you never had before, and as a result, your shoulders and neck crunched and ached with every movement.
Faust guides you to tilt forward so he can, as he puts it, “assess the damage”, his fingers gently pressing around your tense muscles. He seemingly took note of where you winced and where you let out shuddered breaths.
“I see…” He says, after what you assume is his adequate amount of examination.
Then, he lifts you over his shoulder.
“ Faust! ” You shriek, surprised at the sudden turn of your world. He carries you to the bed, where he has you lay on your tummy. He straddles your hips from behind, and the position makes you blush like you’ve never done before.
He removes his coat and rolls up his sleeves, and those magic fingers of his are massaging your neck and shoulders like a true professional. Faust in the past would rub your shoulders sometimes, as you would also do for him, but now that you know he’s blessed with the skill of a thoroughly trained masseuse, you were going to use that to your advantage.
The massage relaxes you enough that your eyes flutter closed, drifting in and out of sleep. He leans down abruptly to kiss the top of your head after a while, notably after your muscles feel like they just got polished and reborn.
“Is that better?” He asks. You nod, rubbing your eyes, rolling on your back underneath him to kiss him on the lips.
Suddenly, the placement of the both of you on the bed is very convenient.
.
“Ow…”
You had been helping Vlad out in his garden that day, watering the flowers with him and talking casually. It wasn’t until the blur of white fur zoomed past you that you realized Marshmallow was outside chasing after butterflies… far too late, when he accidentally darted between your legs and you tried to side step out of the way, effectively making you jumble your footing and land painfully awkwardly on your ankle.
All it took was your loud yelp of pain for Faust to be outside in seconds. You could have sworn prior to this, you heard several books and possibly even furniture be thrown aside.
Vlad was trying to help you up, but the pain was pretty intense, and the second Faust stepped outside, for the first time since you’ve met him, you saw a look of genuine concern cross Vlad’s face as he stepped back away from you. Marshmallow looked sad as he nuzzled you apologetically. You stroked his fluffy fur and said it was okay.
Faust made a few less-than-pleasant remarks about leaving you in Vlad’s company unsupervised, before he lifts you into his arms and takes you back to his room. He sits you in the chair at his desk as he pulls your shoe off to look at the injury better.
Thankfully, after some gentle testing and rolling, he was quickly able to determine nothing was broken—for now. He remarked that breakages may actually sometimes take a while to show, so for now it would be best for you to rest. He dresses it appropriately, elevates your foot for you and makes you comfy on his bed.
“Honey, I can go sleep in my old spare room for a while so you don’t have to be uncomfortable with me needing the extra space in bed—“
He presses a finger to your lips, shushing you immediately. You frown.
“Don’t suggest that like you’re a burden,” he scolds. “Plus, the bed would feel far too cold without you.”
You sigh, accepting all of his doting and affection. He nurses your injury like you were on your deathbed (no joke, you had to remind him a sprained ankle wasn’t going to do you in over night and to get some sleep ). There was not a moment he didn’t carry you to anywhere you needed, always being careful of your ankle and providing pain medicine when you needed it.
Maybe you were getting a bit spoiled.
.
Sometimes, helping at the church felt like it took forever. But it was good for your heart to admire how genuine Faust is with the people who came in for confessions and a brief service with him.
When you got back, you collapsed on the sofa near the fireplace in the main area. Faust said something about eating dinner, but you were out within minutes. He sighs and lets you rest your head on his lap, stroking your hair rhythmically as he tilts his head back and closes his eyes himself. For someone who slept so little, he seems entirely unbothered by it. But if you can get him to take a nap, that’s a win for you regardless.
That is, until Charles comes home, bringing a rush of noise with him, followed by Vlad, who was considerably less noisy, but still causing part of the ruckus from Charles. You shift a bit in your sleep, face scrunching as their voices are reaching to you through your dreams, and in seconds Faust is telling them to shut up and quiet down.
Charles winces, and all Vlad does is smile. Seeing as they were just going to bother the both of you, he scoops you up in his arms again and brings you to his room, tucking you into the bed as he goes about reading; the nap was ruined for him anyway.
When you wake up about an hour later, rubbing your eyes, you see him at his desk and you reach out to him with grabby hands.
“Faust… mm, when did I get… in your bed…?”
He closes the book on his thumb and caresses your hair softly. “I brought you here. Those two were being obnoxious.”
You nuzzle into his hand, yawning.
“Dinner time…”
You keep your arms extended, and he raises an eyebrow. “What?” He asks.
You frown. “Carry meeeee… dinner awaits…”
He chuckles, bookmarking the page and closing it entirely, reaching out to lift you into his arms once more.
“Oh? I thought you could walk on your own?” He teases.
You simply smirk back. “Yeah, but a princess doesn’t need to, right?”
And once again, Faust is reminded that sometimes, his teasing backfires on him.
.
You can’t carry him physically, but if you need to, you can do it emotionally.
One thing you’ve learned is that Faust does not like being sick. Who really does, anyway? But for him, you can tell it feels personal. You wonder, distantly, if it makes him think of everything that’s happened in the past. Sickness was a very prevalent thing everywhere he went, after all, before and after he became a vampire.
Still, you can’t have him brooding and let his fever get worse, so you took over without hesitation. You give him the medicine he had available, and he allows you to take care of him with minimal fuss. The definition of minimal being subjective in this situation.
“You need to lay down,” he says, peering at you from under the cold cloth you pressed to his face. “And eat. Have you even eaten today?”
You sigh, brushing your fingers through his hair. Thankfully, the purse you had with you when you came to the past had several reusable face masks you could wash and wear after every day to rotate between them, and a hefty bottle of hand sanitizer you bought as soon as you got off the plane at the airport.
“I’m fine, Johann, I promise. I ate this morning, and I’ve been resting in between your sleeps. I’ll be okay.”
He frowns. “…I miss you in the bed at night.”
You continue playing with his hair. “I know you do, honey. As soon as your fever breaks, I’ll come give you all the cuddles you like, okay? But we can’t have your fever spreading through the castle and possibly further.”
He doesn’t seem appeased with the answer, so you slip your hand down to hold one of his. You press it to the outside of your mask, over your lips.
“I love you,” you whisper. You hesitate, but you quietly add afterward: “It’s going to be okay. I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you.”
He rubs his thumb on the back of your hand.
“I love you, too.”