Work Text:
Eye of the Beholder
Credence slowly opened his eyes, squinting in the morning light. He could hear Newt lightly snoring on the right side of the bed. On the other side was Percival stretching languidly like a cat, having clearly just awoken. As usual Credence was snuggled in the centre of the bed, where he felt best. Sometimes he joked that he was enjoying being the centre of attention, making up for all the years when no one even looked at him twice.
Credence turned to look at Percival, who was looking right back at him. Even after almost a year in the relationship Credence always felt a thrill in the morning when he looked at his lovers and realised that they were his, and he was theirs. Percival’s usually immaculate hair was ruffled with sleep, and the pillow had left slight indentations on his right cheek, and there was some gunk in his eyes from sleep. Credence loved seeing him like this; raw, all pretence gone, no one would ever see him like this other than Credence and Newt.
“Mornin’,” Percival whispered in an attempt to avoid waking Newt. Not that he had to worry much; Newt could sleep through being used as a doormat by the Niffler and the nifflettes, he could sleep through a bit of idle morning chatter.
“Morning,” Credence whispered back and leaned in to give Percival a kiss on the mouth. Percival made sure to keep his mouth firmly closed while kissing back. “Morning breath,” he explained when Credence complained.
Credence pushed Percival onto his back and straddled him, placing his elbows on either side of Percival’s face, staring at him. Percival squirmed.
“What?” he asked, lightly tracing his fingers on Credence’s ribs in an attempt to make the younger man squirm as well. It worked, much to his delight.
“I just enjoy looking at you,” Credence managed to say when Percival finally stopped tickling him.
“Well, glad to be of service then,” Percival said smirking, sitting half way up and planting a light kiss on Credence’s lips.
They settled back down and Credence lifted a finger and traced one of the silvery scars lining Percival’s face. Percival grabbed his hand and kissed it.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked, Credence had to force himself to maintain eye contact. While he had gotten much better at making eye contact with people it was still difficult when he was trying to open up to them at the same time.
“You and Newt once told me that I was beautiful and attractive even though I have these scars all over,” Credence said, Percival started to say something but Credence stopped him with a finger. “I didn’t really believe you, I thought you guys were just trying to make me feel better, because I was miserable.” Credence paused and traced a couple of scars on Percival’s face. “But when I look at you, and notice how handsome, and, well, beautiful you are, with those scars on your face, they don’t make you ugly, they… well, make you you if that makes sense.” Credence focused his gaze on one of those scars as he traced it back and forth, giving up on maintaining eye contact. “And Newt, he has all of those scars everywhere, but he is still gorgeous,” Credence blushed, still getting used to talking about his feelings, especially his attraction to the other two men.
Percival reached up and stroked Credence’s cheek. “It makes perfect sense to me,” Percival said softly. “Those scars on your hands and on your back show what you have been through, what you had to survive to get here, but without them, and the experiences they represent, you wouldn’t be here, would you? And would you even be the Credence we know? Same goes for me, the experiences leading up to me giving myself those scars changed me more than I thought anything could change someone who believed himself to be fully set in his ways. Someone who had already made himself into the person he thought he wanted to be.
“And Newt couldn’t have rescued and taken care of all those beasts without accumulating some scars on the way, so if he didn’t have those scars then he probably wouldn’t be the Newt we know and love.
“Our experiences and scars don’t define us, but they are a part of us and help shape us into the people we are.”
“This discussion is much too philosophical for such an early morning,” Newt grumbled from the other side of the bed. “Merlin’s bangers and mash, how am I supposed to go back to sleep now?”