#cassian x oc

Fanart by talia.nobel on Twitter

Request: “Could you do a Cassian x reader that has some tension and some fluff because the reader wants to train and gets hurt?”

Tags:@acourtofbooksandfantasy​

Warnings: mentions of scrapes, reader falls and hurts themselves (nothing serious)

Word Count: 1,700

A/N: We’re back in business, folks. Happy Christmas if you celebrate! Here’s a Cassian fic to help make your holiday season even merrier :) Like and reblog if you enjoy <3

The sun was high in the sky, and you could actually see the heat radiating off the top of the House of Wind. Sweat trickled down your forehead as you sparred with Azriel…well, sparred was a bit of an exaggeration.

Really you’d just been practicing punches on him for an hour or so. The most he’d done was block a few of your poorly aimed strikes that went flying towards his face.

You genuinely sucked at fighting. It wasn’t necessarily your fault, you’d never had a reason to. Your “role” in the Inner Circle was essentially an over-glorified research position, reading up on all the history and threats and legends everyone else was too busy or lazy to do. It was completely unnecessary, but you were one of Mor’s only friends in the Court of Nightmares, and she’d insisted that Rhys give you some sort of job once he became High Lord.

You spent your days reading and interviewing and explaining, and with three Illyrians and Amren around, there’d never been any need to learn how to fight properly yourself. But threats had increased recently, and Rhys had decided you’d gone one decade too many without a real self-defense lesson.

“You’re not following through on any of these strikes,” Azriel stated bluntly. You huffed.

“I’m trying.”

“Well, you’re still not doing it,” he snorted. “Try envisioning yourself continuing the motion of the punch even after you hit me.”

You closed your eyes and did as he said, imagining your fist flying through Azriel’s face.

“Better,” he said.

Rhys and Cassian had been sword fighting on the other side of the roof when you’d come up, and the distant clang of metal let you know they were still here. You felt a twinge of jealousy knowing Mor was probably still asleep.

“Focus,” Azriel growled. You rolled your eyes.

“I am focused.”

A lie, you realized, as you misstepped and your foot slid out from under you. You yelped, noting the look of shock on Az’s face as you fell flat on your back, knocking the wind out of your lungs. Ouch.

“Holy shit, are you ok?” Azriel asked with wide eyes, kneeling down next to you and scanning you over quickly. You nodded slowly and blinked as he helped you sit up, not quite able to form words.

“What the fuck did you do to her, Azriel?”

You glanced over your shoulder, eyes bulging at the sight of Cassian barreling towards you with Rhys hot on his heels yelling for him to slow down. Azriel groaned loudly.

“I didn’t do anything, she slipped-”

“(Y/n) are you okay?” Cassian asked, dropping to his knees on the other side of you. He placed a large hand on your back, supporting you as he inspected you for any hidden injuries.

“I think so,” you replied, voice slightly shaky. “Just a little surprised is all.”

Cassian glared as Azriel accusingly. “You have to be more careful with her.”

“It was an accident,” Azriel replied dryly. “And she’s fine.”

“You were pushing her too hard!”

“Hello, I’m right here,” you interrupted, waving a hand in front of Cassian’s face. He looked down at you, irritation obvious on his face.

“You also need to be more careful,” he practically yelled. “You’re going to get yourself hurt!”

“I fell down, Cass, big deal,” you said defensively. “As if you three haven’t done much worse training before.”

“So? We’re talking about you, not us.”

“What the fuck kind of logic is that!” you retaliated.

“Cass, maybe you’re overreacting,” Rhys started, placing a hand on Cassian’s shoulder. The long-haired Illyrian rolled his eyes.

“Yea, Cass,” you said snarkily, pushing yourself off the ground. Azriel and Cassian stood up with you, arms outstretched slightly around you. You groaned, reaching out and pushing a very confused looking Cassian back a few steps.

“I’m not made of glass, guys!” you shouted as you grabbed Azriel and walked away. Az looked down at you and then back at Rhys and Cassian.

“That was…interesting,” he said finally as you walked down the steps leading back into the House of Wind.

“Cassian’s a prick,” you muttered. Azriel chuckled.

“Your hands are all scraped up, need any help patching them up?” he asked. You shook your head.

“Okay, let me know if you need anything else,” Azriel said as you walked into the nearest bathroom. “I’ll be in my room.”

“We’re still on to train tomorrow?” you asked, looking over your shoulder at him as you opened the medicine cabinet.

“Of course,” he replied.

“Thank you, Az.”

He nodded and gave you a small smile before continuing down the hallway, trails of shadows following after him.

You redirected your attention to the medicine cabinet, grabbing a roll of bandages and wincing slightly as the pain in your hands.

You dropped the bandages on the edge of the sink, brows furrowing as you realized there was no easy way for you to wrap them around your own hands. You sighed and turned to go find Azriel, and walked straight into Cassian’s chest.

You yelped in surprise, jumping a little as two hands grabbed your arms to steady you.

“You alright?” Cassian asked genuinely. You gulped, looking up at him and nodding quickly.

“You just scared me, is all,” you said smally. It was hard not to feel tiny when standing so close to him.

He glanced behind you at the open medicine cabinet. “Need any help?”

You bit your lip, considering your options, and then nodded.

He gave you a small smile and let his arms drop back to his sides. He gestured towards the vanity next to you with a fancy looking stool in front of it.

“Have a seat.” He paused, reconsidering. “Um, if you want to, of course. Or you can stand, up to you.” You chuckled, sitting down tentatively and looking back at him.

He grabbed the bandages in one hand and began rummaging around the medicine cabinet. “You need disinfectant, too, can’t have those scrapes getting all nasty.”

“Won’t that hurt?” you asked a little nervously. He gave you a reassuring glance.

“Not much, I promise.”

He finally found the bottle he’d been looking for, giving you a bright smile before walking over and dropping to his knees in front of you. Your face flushed, thinking of a million other situations you could be in with him in this position.

“What’s on your mind, gorgeous?” Cassian asked with a hint of a drawl. You glared at him, face heating up even more.

“Shut up,” you muttered, glancing down at your hands, the floor- anywhere but him.

He unscrewed the bottle, pouring some of the liquid inside onto a cloth he’d also found. He took one of your hands in his tentatively, his absolutely dwarfing yours.

You bit your lip nervously and let out a shaky breath. The scrapes were pretty big, you knew it would hurt a decent amount.

“Hey,” Cassian said gently, setting the cloth down on his knee and reaching up, resting a finger under your chin and tilting your face up. You met his eyes reluctantly, sucking in a breath at the genuine look in his eyes. “It won’t hurt that much, I promise.”

“Okay,” you practically whispered, watching as he gently grabbed the cloth again and began cleaning your hands.

You winced at the stinging sensation. “Ouch.”

“Sorry,” Cassian said apologetically, giving your hand a slight squeeze as he continued his motions. “You’re doing so good, I promise.”

You could only nod, blinking back tears as he moved to your other hands.

“So, so good for me,” he repeated soothingly. “Such a great job.”

Before you knew it, he was finishing wrapping the bandages around your palms, securing each with a tight knot and then resting your hands in your lap softly.

“All done,” he said with a small smile, sitting back on his heels and looking at you expectantly.

“Thank you,” you said genuinely, raising your hands to inspect them. “This is much better than anything I could’ve done myself.”

“Oh, you’re too kind,” Cassian chuckled.

“Seriously, though, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Consider it reparations for me yelling at you earlier.” He paused and looked down at his lap. “I’m sorry about that, by the way.”

“Well, I yelled, too,” you shrugged. “I’m also sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

“I know,” he said with a small smile. “And I also didn’t mean it. Just got nervous when I looked over and you were flat on the ground.”

“Yea, I can see how that would look precarious,” you laughed softly. Cassian shifted his weight forward and grabbed your hands gingerly, helping you to your feet as you stood up.

“I just get nervous,” he said. “The fact you have to train at all means Az and I might not be enough to keep you safe anymore.”

You shook your head. “It would be burdensome if you had to stay back to protect me every time there was a fight. At least this way I’ll be able to fend for myself, and you and Az might be able to help more people.”

“I’d rather protect you,” Cassian murmured lowly, reaching up to cup your face. You found yourself leaning into his touch, relishing in the warmth of it. “I’d rather keep you safe.”

“You’ll always keep me safe, Cass,” you whispered, looking up at him. “I just want to be able to keep myself safe, too.”

You paused, gazing softly at each other. You could’ve sworn he was leaning closer to you when you heard a dry cough from the doorway.

You screeched, the two of you jumping away from each other to see Azriel leaning against the doorframe with a knowing smirk on his face.

“I was coming back to make sure (Y/n) was alright, but I see she had some help bandaging her wounds.”

“Yea, just here to help, you know,” Cassian said awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. You would’ve laughed at his look of embarrassment if your own face hadn’t been redder than Mor’s lipstick.

“Well, this was great, guys,” you said quickly, clasping your hands together in front of you. “Cassian, thanks for the help. Azriel, see you tomorrow!” And with that you sped past Azriel and down the hallway towards your room, trying not to think about how badly you wanted to kiss Cassian.