Chapter Text
“A gift of lovely perfume? Oh... I'm blushing, but you probably can't notice...”
The sewers had never been a place of beauty for anyone in Pelican Town, but for you, the sound of the iron gate clanging shut was the signal that the pressure of the farm and the expectations of the village had been left behind. In the dark, where the light of the sun could not judge you, Krobus waited.
He did not have the structure of an ordinary man, but when he looked at you with those large and bright eyes, you felt more seen and cared for. Between the damp brick walls covered in phosphorescent moss and the rhythmic sound of dripping echoing through the tunnel, a new friendship began to develop.
You used to wear your most practical work clothes: a heavy flannel shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, revealing some soft sun marks from Pelican Town, and sturdy canvas pants, still stained with the black earth of the farm. It was a stark contrast: the solar and vibrant farmer before the silent shadow.
With every visit, the desire to see the glow in his eyes grew. You began to bring him treats you knew he would appreciate: a bar of purified Iridium or a Void Egg collected in the dead of night. Upon extending the gift, Krobus’s reaction was always of a touching modesty. He would hesitate, his shadowy hands hovering over the item as if he feared it might vanish. "A gift for me? You are very kind... for a creature that walks under the sun," he would mutter, his voice sounding like the rustle of dry leaves. That closeness, built on silence and subtle exchanges, generated a strange warmth in your chest; an intimacy that did not need light to flourish.
The invitation had not been planned, but it seemed the only logical conclusion. When you held out the dark pendant to him, Krobus's hands trembled, the shadows that composed his body flickering like a flame about to go out. He accepted living on the surface not for the love of the sun, but because your invitation was, for the first time in a long time, the first place where he truly felt he belonged beyond the sewers. And now, in the silent corridors of the farm after midnight, you discovered that having a shadow inside the house meant never truly being alone again and that being observed by him was the most different way of being loved that you had experienced.
The transition of Krobus to the farmhouse was a process of shared silences and adjustments of gloom. He did not occupy the space like an ordinary guest; he integrated himself into the corners, the feet of the bed, and the corners where the candlelight did not reach. At first, you saw him only as a static figure, but over time, you learned to read the density of his shadow. When he was happy, his form seemed to expand softly, like smoke in a windless environment; when he was insecure, he retracted into a sharp and small silhouette.
He transformed the spare room into a sanctuary of absolute darkness, but it was rare to find him there. Krobus preferred your presence. He became the silent spectator of your domestic life. While you prepared dinner or organized the seeds for the next day's planting, you felt his eyes, two milky and curious spheres, following your every move. There was no malice in that gaze, only a platonic and deeply devoted fascination for the way you moved, how your skin reacted to the night chill, or how your muscles relaxed after a long day of work.
The routine of undressing for a bath or changing clothes before bed gained a new layer of consciousness. At first, you hesitated, but soon realized that, for Krobus, your nakedness was just another facet of that solar creature he so admired. He did not look away, nor did he approach without being called. He only remained there, fused to the darkness of the door, witnessing the transition from the strong and unstoppable farmer to the vulnerable and tired woman, wrapped only in the soft light of the moon that filtered through the window. It was an intimacy that did not pass through words, but through the mutual recognition that, in that house, no secret needed to be hidden under the sun.
The breaking point of this passive observation happened on a night of heavy rain, the kind that makes the wood of the old farmhouse creak and the world outside seem to disappear in a gray blur. The steam from the hot bath filled the bathroom, creating a thick mist that fogged the mirror and softened the contours of things. You stepped out of the wooden tub, your soft skin bathed in heat and glowing with the water droplets that ran lazily down your back and fell from your nape. As you reached for the towel, your eyes met his. Krobus was there, a blot of absolute darkness against the light tile, almost fused to the shadow of the medicine cabinet. For the first time, he did not retreat to the hallway. He seemed paralyzed, his form slightly trembling, observing the way the steam danced around your warm body.
"It is fascinating..." his voice emerged as a whisper coming from under the earth, laden with a hesitation. "How can you carry so much heat without coming undone?".
You did not cover yourself. Instead, you let the towel rest on the wooden rack, allowing the bathroom air to continue to caress your naked skin. There was an intoxicating freedom in exhibiting yourself like this to him, a confidence you would never have with any other resident of the village. With a slow smile and a glint of amusement in your gaze, you began to cross the short space that separated you. At every step, the scent of lavender soap and the warm steam of your body seemed to push back the natural cold that Krobus emanated.
You knew exactly the effect you were causing, feeling the silent power of just being there with him. While you approached, you let out a low laugh, almost a whisper, seeing how his shadows seemed to agitate in a hypnotic confusion.
"Ah, well, I don't know," you murmured, stopping a few centimeters from him, feeling the contrast of the cold that came from the shadow against the heat that pulsed in your chest. "But I am only flesh and blood. Want to feel?".
You shortened the final distance, allowing the curve of your hip to rub softly against his ethereal substance. The sensation was electric: the humidity of your skin meeting the icy density of the shadow. You did not know how to explain that his silent observation filled a void you didn't even know existed: the desire to be admired without being consumed. There, in that gloom, you were the mistress of that silent game, guiding a creature of the shadows to the mysteries of the light.
The air between you was a thermal shock now: the humid heat that emanated from you against the cold and static aura that surrounded the creature. You extended your hand, not to the void, but to the center of that shadowy silhouette, allowing the tip of your fingers to find what should be his shoulder.
The contact was something your mind took seconds to process. It was not solid like bone, but it had a certain resistance, a texture that reminded you of chilled suede dipped in mist. Krobus let out a low sound, a vibrating sigh that you felt not in your ears, but in the palm of your hand. He tilted his head slightly, allowing the touch to settle, and you saw his eyes close for an instant, an almost human gesture. He did not know what that desire was, but he knew that, for the first time in centuries of existence in the depths, he did not want to just observe the light. He wanted to feel what it was like to be enveloped by it.
The hesitation dissolved when you took his shadowy hand, which seemed to weigh less than air but possessed a vibrating density, and guided it to your ribs, just below the breast, where the heat of the bath was still most intense. Krobus let out a sharp and muffled sound, a chirp of surprise that reverberated against your skin. His fingers, long and without defined joints, began to move with an agonizing slowness.
He explored the texture of your skin with a curiosity that was almost innocent to you, making a heat rise between your legs involuntarily. The sensation for you was as if an ice cube wrapped in silk was sliding through your body, leaving a trail of goosebumps that contrasted with the steam of the environment.
"It is so... firm. And so warm," he whispered, his form oscillating and expanding until the shadows of his arms enveloped your waist, without really applying pressure, just creating a cold cocoon around your heat. It had been some time since someone touched you like this. And you were not going to complain if your roommate was giving an exploration, even if innocent, in your body thirsty for attention. Krobus was smaller than you, his stature stopping from your chest down.
By tilting his head and approaching his face, round with fixed and bright eyes, he almost found your neck. You felt his "breath" softer than a breeze brushing your jugular through the creature's half-open mouth. He seemed to inhale your scent, etching into memory the mixture of soap, clean sweat, and life.
Encouraged by your permissive silence, he moved his hand up to your shoulder, the shadowy fingers tracing the line of your collarbone with a growing curiosity. At every touch, his shadow seemed to become a little more solid, as if the contact with your flesh gave him an anchor in the physical reality he had never experienced before. You felt a soft laugh vibrate in your throat when the tips of his fingers found the small scar on your shoulder, the result of your many renovations on the farm. Gradually, the hesitation of both gave way to a silent and intimate comfort.
The curiosity of Krobus blossomed into something more instinctive, a dynamic that neither you nor he knew. He did not have the map of human lust engraved in his essence, but he had the map of heat, and he could feel where your body temperature rose, where your heart beat stronger against your ribs and between your legs.
With a precision that bordered on hypnotic, his shadows began to seek the points where your life pulsed with the most force. He felt the temperature rise in your cheeks, the frantic rhythm of your heart beating against your ribs like a caged bird and, in a more subtle and devastating way, the concentration of heat that accumulated between your legs. What began as an accidental touch became an intoxicating search. He tilted his shadowy form, deepening the contact with a new intentionality.
Now, the creature did not just seek to understand what you were, but to discover how far that heat could take him. His shadow, previously light as mist, became heavier and more insistent, pressing against your warm skin with a silent will making you sigh and hold your breath in a light and excited way.
His hand, which before was limited to your shoulders, began to descend in a slow and exploratory trail. With a sweet ingenuity, the shadowy fingers slid through the valley between your breasts, stopping for an instant to feel the vibration of your breath. Soon after, the shadow continued to descend through the curve of your abdomen, moving with naturalness, until his fingers brushed the line of your hip and began to snake to the internal part of your thigh. Krobus tilted his head, his milky eyes fixed on the point where his shadow met your naked skin, fascinated by the way your muscles contracted and shivered under his icy touch. He did not know that this was a territory of intimacy for you. For him, it was just where life seemed most pulsing and hidden. Where he himself would like to touch and discover.
"Here... it is softer. The heat emanates more strongly, higher," he murmured, his voice vibrating in a way that made your knees weaken for a brief second. "Why is it hidden?".
When his hand rose a little more, seeking the center of that heat, a shock of reality pierced through your trance. The shame rose up your neck in a wave of heat and you moved away quickly, dissipating the shadow from your thigh and interrupting the advance. "Krobus..." you started, your voice a little more tremulous now. "For today... that's enough".
He faced you instantly. There was no frustration or insistence, only a silent confusion. He looked at your naked body, at the heat his vision saw between your legs and then at your face, seeing the same fiery force in your cheeks. "Did I cause pain?" he asked, his form retracting slightly, returning to being a smaller and shyer silhouette. "Your skin changed color. I did not want to... cause strangeness".
That innocence disarmed any remnant of discomfort you felt. You let out a soft sigh and gave a reassuring smile, though slightly embarrassed by letting him go so far, and you had even guided him to it, oh Yoba, what had you done?. "No, Krobus. You did nothing wrong. It's just that... some parts of us are a little more sensitive to touch". You took a deep breath and went back to grab the towel, wrapping yourself in it with quick movements, re-establishing the barrier that the nudity had knocked down. "But it's okay, dear. Don't worry," you said with a gentle voice, giving a smirk that sought to reassure him. "We humans just need a little space sometimes, even if suddenly".
He nodded slowly, the shadows around his eyes shining with a new silent understanding. He retreated to the darkest corner of the bathroom, returning to being the observing shadow you had learned to love. "I will wait in my room, then," he said, his voice sounding small and kind. Krobus retreated to the hallway with his habitual modesty. You left the bathroom feeling the weight of his devoted gaze on your back, knowing that, although today's moment had ended there, the invitation for him to unravel the rest of your world remained open, waiting for the next rainy night. And you secretly longed for that more than you should.
After Krobus withdrew to the gloom of the bedroom, the silence of the house seemed to grow heavier, charged with the electricity that his touch had awakened. You lay down, but the heat between your legs cooled as the hours passed. It was still midnight and despite the sleep, you found yourself chasing another sensation that was not rest. On the contrary, the abrupt interruption left a persistent pulsation that demanded a conclusion. On the other side of the half-open door, the room was plunged into the pitch black that Krobus so loved. You knew he was there, or thought he would be, a static silhouette in the corner, listening and seeing you with that supernatural attention of his.
With a low sigh, your hands returned to where his had stopped. This time, without hesitation. You found your warm and wet core, exactly as you imagined. The sound of the cotton sheet rubbing against the skin mixed with your breath which became short and ragged. To your surprise, you imagined poor Krobus exploring your body again, now, concluding his exploration. You imagined his cold mouth on you, the sensation it would be to have him between your legs.
Every little noise was amplified by the silence of the farm. You allowed yourself to be a little more noisy, a little more surrendered, feeling a hint of exhibitionism when imagining the confusion in the mind of the creature of shadows. Your fingers explored that hot spot until you lost your breath and then slid inside in smooth back-and-forth movements.
In the dark of the room, Krobus was motionless. To him, the sounds coming from the bed were a rhythmic enigma. He heard the soft slap of skin meeting skin, the deep arched breath that seemed almost a lament, but laden with a satisfaction he could not understand. It didn't sound like your animated hum when talking to the animals in the morning. Nor like your usual happiness and joy when talking to him and giving him a gift. It was something beyond, deeply rooted in the search for a relief that was almost painful, as if you were looking for medicine for your fever.
He did not dare approach, but his shadowy form oscillated in sync with your low moans, expanding and contracting like a black heart beating outside the chest. The rhythm amused him, but above all, it kept him attentive. Anxious. As if he himself sought the relief you so much seemed to seek as well. "Is she... suffering?", he wondered for a split second, but the scent of happiness and the heat that emanated from you said otherwise. It was a celebration of the flesh he could not participate in, but that he intimately appreciated.
When the peak finally reached you making you let out a single hoarse and muffled moan, you finally relaxed against the pillows and the silence reigned once more, broken only by your heavy breath returning to normal.
"Goodnight, Krobus..." you whispered to the darkness, with a hoarse voice and your body finally at peace.
"Goodnight... dear," his voice came from the corner, repeating the affectionate word you used earlier, as an echo of comfort. He still did not understand what had just happened, but he knew that, after that, your glow seemed even stronger in the dark.