He shouldn’t love it this much.

He told himself that the first time you tugged the fabric over his shoulders, laughing softly as the collar slipped wide and the sleeves hung well past his wrists. The second time, when you pressed the hem to his waist and told him to stop fidgeting—that it looked cute—he told himself again: this is not for him.

And yet…

Here he was.

In your chambers. In your clothing.

And he never wanted to take it off.

The tunic was loose, soft from wear, and carried your scent like it had been steeped in you. Jasmine and tonka, rich and warm, like moonlight over flowers and something sweeter—something human.

He sat on the edge of your bed, bare feet tucked beneath him, sleeves swallowing his hands as he folded them in his lap. He hadn’t said anything for a long while. But he kept pressing the fabric closer to his face, just slightly, like he needed another breath of it to stay grounded.

He had known your scent, of course—how could he not? You left traces of it everywhere you walked. On the gifts you gave him. On your pillow when you napped in the sunlight. On his hands when you hugged him too long. But this was different.

This was your second skin. And now it clung to him.

“You always smell like—” he started, then stopped, embarrassed by how dream-soft his own voice sounded.

He cleared his throat. Tried again.

“Like warmth. And summer. And… things I cannot name.”

His face flushed instantly. His ears too. He ducked his head, hair falling forward like a curtain, trying to pretend that the sleeves weren’t drooping over his fingers like a child playing dress-up.

You hadn’t mocked him. You never did.

You looked at him like the way the shirt bunched around his collarbones was the most charming thing in the world. Like his smaller frame inside your clothes was something to treasure.

And he—Meludir, who had never been called handsome, who had never worn anything not regulation or brown—felt precious.

“I do not think I will return this,” he added quietly, glancing up beneath his lashes. “You have given me too many gifts already. Let me… keep this one.”