Work Text:
- Genre: Fluff
- Prompt: Keeping someone safe (@Flufftober)
- Word Count: 2,983
- Pairing: Reader x Renato
- World: Dead by Daylight
───── ⋆⋅🍂⋅⋆ ─────
You rolled your neck, breathing heavily as you stared at Ghostface from across the dropped pallet. You were the last survivor alive and he had been toying with you for about ten minutes. Despite chasing you while covered from head to toe, his breathing was completely normal.
He tilted his head to the side, expression hidden behind the mask, though you knew he was smirking as he flipped his knife a few times. “How much longer can you last?”
You wiped the sweat from your brow, glaring at him. “As long as I need to.”
He didn’t know it, but you had been lucky enough to pull Bill’s hatch perk before the match began. You could see it glowing yellow in the distance, so close yet so very far. You were already injured and exhausted. Did you have enough energy within you to reach it?
As soon as doubt started to cloud your mind, you clenched your fists and told those thoughts to fuck off. You’ve been forced into this damn cat-and-mouse game for years. You were a veteran by this point and there was no way in hell you were going to give up. At the very least, you wouldn’t give this smug bastard the satisfaction.
“What are you waiting for?” you taunted, holding out your arms. “I’m already injured, Ghostie. Come and get me… if you can.”
Ghostface chuckled, gripping his knife tightly. He did love the thrill of the hunt. “I’m gonna get you, little lamb.”
You scoffed, faking right before running left. He fell for it but corrected himself quickly and you switched directions as soon as he did. You looped him for a solid minute before he got tired of it, kicking the pallet hard so that it broke in half. The second his boot hit the wood, you darted toward the hatch, clutching your stomach.
The shirt you wore was soaked with blood from the wound, pain shooting through your body with every step. You didn’t have to glance over your shoulder to know that he was on your ass. The hatch was nearly within reach now.
A cry left your lips when his blade sliced across your back, knocking you down to the ground. Unfortunately for him, you fell right next to the hatch and, before he could grab you, you slipped into the inky blackness, successfully escaping the trial.
You exhaled as you felt your wounds healing on their own, the darkness surrounding you completely. The first thing you heard was Renato calling out your name before his tall body fell against your own, his arms around you. You blinked a few times, the survivor’s camp coming into focus.
“Welcome back, meu coração,” he breathed out, his thick accent bringing a smile to your face. You honestly had no clue what ‘meu coração’ meant because neither he nor his sister would tell you, but you adored the way he said it.
“Thank you,” you replied tiredly, patting his back.
Nea scowled at you before slapping a candy bar against David’s palm. He was grinning widely, clearly proud of himself. Currently, you were on a winning streak and the two were constantly betting on you, offering up snacks or med kits. Since Nea didn’t like you, she kept betting for you to lose and always tried to sabotage you when you were in trials together.
It didn’t take you long to realize what she was up to and you certainly weren’t going to let her be your downfall.
Renato pulled back, a smile on his lips. “That’s your twentieth win, meu coração! Ten more and you’ll beat Bill’s record.”
You glanced at the old man sitting in front of the fire, a cigarette between his lips. He didn’t seem worried or bothered by this because, to him, it wasn’t a competition. He was here to fight and survive, nothing more, nothing less. You felt much the same, though you had found another reason to survive.
Your eyes fell on Renato and he offered you a shy smile, hand finding the back of his neck. It was what he did when he was nervous, you had learned, and he did it a lot when he was with you.
“Are you hungry?” he asked
“Not really, no.” Your nose wrinkled at the thought of food, making him frown.
“Do you feel unwell?” His hand found your forehead. “You don’t feel warm.”
“I’m fine, just tired.”
He nodded in understanding, giving you a soft smile. “Go get some rest, meu coração. Sleep well.”
“Thanks, Ren.”
He bit his lip, butterflies fluttering in his stomach at the nickname. His dark eyes followed you until you disappeared into your tent. He wished he could make you feel better, but there was nothing that could heal against the entity’s grip. Whether you win or lose a trial, it’s always tough on the survivors.
You were a lot like Bill, pretending as if it didn’t bother you but he knew it did. It affected everyone, though he had noticed that it wasn’t the same for everyone. Some of the survivors were weaker to the entity’s influence, taking days to fully recover after a trial. Others were ready to go after just a couple of hours. You were part of the latter category, though he still worried for you.
Thalita nudged his shoulder, a smirk on her lips. “Daydreaming about them again, hm?”
His cheeks dusted with pink and he sent his older sister a scowl. “I was not.”
“Uh-huh, sure,” she snickered. “Honestly, I don’t know why you don’t just confess.”
“No way!” he replied quickly, shaking his head. “I could never.”
“Why not? It’s not like we’re going anywhere. Though,” her eyes flickered to Leon who was roasting marshmallows on the fire. “If you don’t confess soon, someone else might.”
Renato followed his sister’s gaze and frowned, feeling several negative emotions settling in his gut. He hadn’t failed to notice how close you and Leon were, though he couldn’t tell how you felt. He was confident that Leon liked you and the thought of him confessing to you scared him.
Leon was kind, friendly and selfless. He’s sacrificed himself many times just to give his team a chance at surviving and he never complained. Not to mention he was strong and attractive.
On the other hand, Renato was more reserved, struggling to properly interact with the others. He wasn’t willing to rush in and sacrifice himself for others, unless it was you or his sister, and he didn’t believe himself to be attractive at all. He was also self-conscious about his English, though you had reassured him numerous times that his English was fluent.
He had pictured himself confessing to you many times since the two of you first met, but he could never quite get up the nerve to do so. He was afraid of losing you. Not that you could go anywhere, you were all stuck in the entity’s realm, but he was afraid you wouldn’t want to be near him again.
It was honestly a tale as old as time itself, but he was okay with being a cliché so long as he had you by his side.
───── ⋆⋅🍂⋅⋆ ─────
A sharp sting against your wrist pulled you roughly from sleep and you scowled at the survivor mark etched into your skin. It was the entity’s way of keeping track of everyone and alerting them when it was their turn to enter the trial. It couldn’t have been more than five hours since your face-off with Ghostie and you still felt exhausted.
There was no getting out of it, though, not unless you wanted to spend time in the void, stuck to a hook for days on end. With a sigh, you pulled yourself out of the sleeping bag, stuffing your feet into your boots before stepping outside.
Most of the survivors had gone to bed, the campfire dwindling. The moon was full above, thin clouds floating around it like a blanket. It was hard to tell the seasons in this realm but the air was nippy, reminding you of autumn. The thought brought a smile to your face.
Your wrist burned again, smile twisting into a scowl. “Yeah, yeah. I’m going.”
You approached the shed that sat at the edge of the camp, stepping inside. Leon was standing at the locker closest to the door and he glanced at you, smiling warmly. You greeted him with a nod, approaching the locker beside him and holding up your wrist. The blue orb on the door scanned it before the lock clicked.
The locker opened up, the inside bigger than the ones in trials. The items you owned sat on a table while the walls displayed the blood web and the items you could buy. The timer had begun to tick down, indicating that everyone had arrived.
You didn’t bother looking to see who else had been chosen, you just focused on choosing your items. You decided on taking a toolbox with a brand new part, but something stopped you. Your gut was telling you to choose the med kit and you grabbed it seconds before the dark fog filled the room, encasing everything.
Cold drops of rain pelted your body and you knew what realm you had landed in before your eyes even opened – Mother’s Dwelling. It was your favorite realm because it was peaceful, easy to hide in, and because it always rained. You could only hope the killer wasn’t too annoying.
“I swear if it’s Ghostface again,” you muttered under your breath, beginning to walk through the forest, sticks snapping beneath your feet.
There was a generator in front of you but you didn’t touch it. The beginning of the match was important because you had no idea who the killer was. They always listened for the annoying grating of metal as the generators started up and that would determine who got caught first.
Your heart rate increased, the beating in your ears steadily getting louder as the killer approached. You darted behind a thick tree, squatting down so you could peer over a thick bush. The forest was dark, thick black mist covering the floor. Your eyes narrowed as the killer came around the corner, heading straight toward the gen.
It was the hillbilly.
You bit your lip to hold back your groan, fingers curling around your pant leg. Of all the killers, why him? Granted, he’s not as difficult as the cannibal, but he was still a pain in the ass because that chainsaw was painful as hell.
‘Looks like I’m going stealth this game,’ you thought, watching as he sauntered away to check the other gens. Once your heart rate returned to normal, you approached the gen and got to work connecting wires and tightening screws.
You heard hurried footsteps behind you and you glanced over your shoulder, eyes widening. Renato smiled at you when your eyes met his, but it was a weary one.
“Meu coração,” he breathed out, coming to a stop beside you. “You’re back in a trial already… are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” you assured him only to connect the wrong wires and cause the Gen to blow up in your face. “Shit.”
His slender fingers curled around your wrist, tugging you up and away from the gen just as your heart rate increased again. You could hear the chainsaw revving in the distance, the hair on the back of your neck standing on end. You shoved Renato to the side and he cried out, losing his balance and hitting the ground with you on top of him.
The hillbilly darted through the spot you had just been standing, the chainsaw cutting through the air. He let out a frustrated cry and you scrambled to your feet, only one thing on your mind – protect Renato at all costs. You would do anything to keep him safe, even if it meant sacrificing yourself to do so.
“Oi, shit stain,” you taunted, stepping away from Renato who was still on the ground, watching you with wide eyes.
The hillbilly slowly turned toward you, glowing eyes narrowed.
You smirked at him. “Your aim still sucks. You should consider asking that leather-faced bastard for some tips. He’s way better than you.”
A loud, angry cry left him as he lifted the chainsaw above his head, revving it repeatedly. You turned on your heel, darting away with him right behind you. He tried to rush at you with the chainsaw but you darted to the left at the last second, just barely managing to dodge it.
You ran through a pallet, thinking you had enough time to drop it and gain some distance but you misjudged it. He struck you hard with his hammer and you cried out, clutching your shoulder as you ran.
You were about to vault into the killer shack when Nea appeared on the other side of the window, a smirk on her lips. She shoved you backward as hard as she could and you stumbled back. The hillbilly grabbed your injured shoulder, bringing the hammer down again. Your body crumbled, pain filling you.
He grabbed you by the back of your shirt, throwing you over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. You struggled to free yourself but he had been lucky enough to get iron grasp, making it much harder to break free. You glanced over your shoulder, realizing he was bringing you toward the shack, intent on putting you in the basement.
Was he going to camp the hook?
As he stepped into the doorway, the pallet was thrown down, stunning him. You fell from his shoulder, stumbling forward. Renato grabbed your hand and ran toward the other side of the shack, keeping you in front of him since you were already injured.
“This way, meu coração,” he whispered, lightly pushing you toward the corner of the map.
You could hear the chainsaw revving and the hillbilly yelling. Renato bit his lip, acting quickly. Just before the killer came through the door, he shoved you hard against the log wall that surrounded the map. You winced as it dug into your back, aggravating the wound but that was quickly forgotten when the tall male pressed his body against your own, shielding you from view.
His fingers found the nap of your neck, warm breath on your ear as he whispered, “Please try to be quiet, meu coração.”
You buried your face in his tank top to muffle your groans of pain, fingers curling around the black material. You could hear his heart racing within his chest, the sound interlacing with your own until they became one.
You could hear the hillbilly’s heavy breathing as he searched behind trees and in bushes, trying to find you but his eyesight had never been the greatest and he certainly wasn’t the smartest.
“I’ll protect you,” breathed Renato, his hand coming to the back of your head, his other arm slipping around your waist. His voice was trembling and he was obviously scared, but you knew he meant every word. “I swear I’ll protect you, meu coração.”
You chuckled softly, finally feeling as if you could breathe when the hillbilly gave up the search to check the gens. You pulled back just enough to look up at him, adoring the way his tanned cheeks had turned pink. “Isn’t that the same thing I said to you in our first trial together?”
“You remember,” he smiled, offering you a nod. “You’ve saved me so many times since I arrived here. Now, it’s my turn.”
“You can start by healing me,” you joked, giving him a half-smirk when he sent you an embarrassed look.
“Sorry!”
You kneeled down, allowing him to lean over you, his hands hovering above the wound on the back of your shoulder. With the entity’s magic, you felt the wound begin to close, wincing at the strange sensation. You’ve been healed thousands of times, but you didn’t think you would ever get used to the feeling. Rather than the wound healing, it felt more like…
Well, it felt as if time was reversing itself, as if someone had pressed rewind on just the wound. It wasn’t painful, perse, but it was a strange and uncomfortable feeling. It was unnatural like everything else in this damn realm.
“There,” he spoke softly, stepping back so you could stand again.
“Thanks, love.”
The words slipped out on their own accord but both of you tensed up because of them. It just felt so natural to say it to him that you hadn’t given it any thought. He knew that it was a common thing in some parts of the world to say to people that you had no romantic interest in.
He knew that, yet his heart raced within his chest, face burning. If it hadn’t been for the lack of ear-piercing pounding in his ears, he would have thought the hillbilly had returned.
You frowned as you took in his tense posture. “Sorry, it just slipped out. If it makes you uncomfortable -“
“No!” He replied quickly, holding out his hand. “I-I like it… a lot.”
You hummed, amusement dancing in your eyes. “I’ll make you a deal.”
“A deal? What do you mean?”
“I’ll start calling you love if you tell me what meu coração means.”
Renato bit his lip as he considered this. “If… if we both survive this trial, I promise I’ll tell you.”
You hummed in thought, ignoring Nea’s scream as she was taken out by the chainsaw. It was just deserts, in your opinion. You smiled, slipping your hand into his. “You better stay close to me, Ren, so I can keep you safe.”
His eyes sparkled as he nodded, giving your hand a squeeze. “I won’t ever leave your side, meu coração.”
───── ⋆⋅🍂⋅⋆ ─────