#bcs imo ironwood is really heavy on the pet names with people he's dating

[eumenidaes]

16 for the ficlet :3

The power of oc x canon ship has once again compelled me to make this 1k words lol. It is completely unedited tho, so idk if this is actually good or not, but it has my special little ship so that's enough for me

16. have you ever / you wouldn’t dare

“James?” Chae-Yeong says, drawing his attention away from the book he was reading. 

“Yes, starlight?” he says. 

She rubs her hand along his back in slow circles. “Have you ever thought about changing up your look?”

James blinks. 

The question came out of nowhere. It’s a summer night that’s warm by Atlas’s standards, and they’re curled up together on a couch in Chae-Yeong’s living room. She’s warm against his side, and he holds her close to him with one hand while the other keeps his book open as he reads. Before Chae-Yeong had spoken, they’d been sitting together in a cozy silence, the only noise being the soft hum of the big band, swing, and jazz music that she loves playing from a radio below her television. 

Once James starts to think of a response, doubt settles over him. 

James always has been image conscious. He was even more so after he got his prosthetics, and then even more so when he started to exist more in the public eye as he rose through the military ranks. 

Chae-Yeong’s never been anything but adoring of his body, and for that he’s always been grateful. But as she asks if he’s thought about changing his look, he can’t help but worry that she’s asking because there’s something she doesn’t like. 

“Is there something I should change?” James asks. His voice is tighter than he wanted it to come out, but he supposes there are worse things than being vulnerable around his wife. 

Before James can get too caught in his head, Chae-Yeong’s expression softens and her eyebrows furrow. 

“No, I’m sorry, yeobo, I didn’t mean it like that,” she says. “I’d never ask you to change anything for me. Besides, I’ll think you’re the handsomest man in Remnant no matter what.”

If nothing else, that’s reassuring. James knows he was being ridiculous thinking that she might be trying to tell him she didn’t like the way he looked, but it’s still comforting to hear it. 

“Then why do you ask?” James says. He bookmarks his book before laying it on the coffee table in front of them. 

“I don’t know. I guess I was just curious since you tend to stick to one look for a while,” Chae-Yeong says. 

She’s right. James has never bothered with experimenting much with his physical appearance. He found a look that worked for him, and he stuck as close to it as he could without any major changes beyond shifting to a white, gray, and red color palette instead of a more gray and brown one as he rose through the ranks of the Atlesian military. Before he became General Cloud’s right hand man and then Atlas’s newest general, he sometimes would let his facial hair grow out since he knew that Chae-Yeong liked how he looked like that, but he’s been clean shaven for a decade now except on their rare weekends away from Atlas together.

Every other change to James’s appearance since he became a Huntsman has more or less been beyond his control. His hair started graying at the temples, and he’s started getting some wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. He’s become farsighted too, and he never wears his glasses in public, but he does around Chae-Yeong.

That’s ignoring the biggest change in his appearance over the years, but James tries to do that when he can. The prosthetics that make up the entire right side of his body from the neck down are significantly different from when he was in his early twenties, though. They can mimic the real thing well enough, but they’re nonetheless a sensitive point for James. He hates having to see a reminder of his own failures in the mirror everyday, and he hates even more how he hears people whispering about them behind his back. 

James figures that his prosthetics are a big enough change to his look. There’s no need to change it more than that.

“I’ve never given it much thought,” James says. “Change suits you better anyway.”

In contrast to James, Chae-Yeong has changed countless little things about her look over the years. Some changes are ones that only James gets to see, knowing it’s her, like her shorter hair and fangs and her own prosthetic limbs. Other changes are ones that others get to see too, and every now and then James thinks about how she shifted from wearing her father’s blues and golds to black and their old team’s reds and purples and grays.

It’s good seeing her get to move away from her family’s influence. It’s also flattering to see his colors on her. 

“But if I did change my look,” James says, tone now light enough to be teasing, “I could always try shaving my head. Maybe get a bit thinner.”

Chae-Yeong frowns at him. She pushes herself up with one hand on his chest so they’re looking eye to eye. 

Her annoyed expression is cute. 

“You wouldn’t dare,” she says, gravely serious. 

He wouldn’t, but he’s going to keep teasing her for a little bit longer. “You said that you’ll find me attractive no matter what.”

“I will,” Chae-Yeong says unconvincingly. 

James laughs, pressing a kiss to Chae-Yeong’s temple. 

“I wouldn’t, honey,” he assures. “I know you like my hair.”

“No comment about you losing weight, hmm?” 

“And I won’t lose any weight.”

“Good,” Chae-Yeong says. 

“Maybe I’ll see about getting my ass to be a little smaller, though.”

Chae-Yeong smacks James on the chest. “You’re such a dick.”

James grins at Chae-Yeong, and as much as things have changed, for a moment it feels like they’re in their twenties again and falling in love for the first time. 

Chae-Yeong rolls her eyes. She climbs onto James’s lap, legs straddling him, before letting herself relax onto him. Her chin rests on his right shoulder and her arms wrap around his middle. James holds her close, massaging the space between her shoulders with his metal hand because he knows that she likes the pressure from it. 

“I still would love you even if you did any of that,” Chae-Yeong assures.

“I know, beautiful,” James says. 

Even when he overthinks and starts to panic, he knows in the back of his mind that Chae-Yeong will always adore him. And there are few things in his life that he could be more grateful for than that.