I chose kiss prompt 48: One person has to bend down in order to kiss their partner, who is standing on their tip-toes to reach their partner's.

Warnings: mentions of OI and disability, mentions of insecurity, mentions of verbal abuse, cursing

When you had first met Ivar you had known that things would be difficult.

And it wasn't the fact that Ivar used crutches and braces to move around, but he had an air of broody anger, a uniqueness that took your breath away.

That had been the first thing you had noticed about him as well as you had first met him.

You were an author, a rather small one, not too many people knew your work but your part-time job as a columnist helped stabilize your income to make a living out of it.

You lived on a strict schedule you had set to ensure that you were indeed working everyday, and that schedule had contributed to you meeting Ivar, it had ensured that you had met the person you wanted to spend the rest of your life with.

You were sat in your favorite café when you had met him, he was coming in to order a black coffee.

You were sat at your usual table, the atmosphere and the people you could observe inspiring you while writing you book of short stories.

The first time you had seen Ivar he looked even grumpier than usual, standing at the cashier to pay for his coffee.

You were watching him making his order, not noticing that you were staring until minutes later he finally turned to look on you, the movement practiced well on his crutches.

He was forced to drink his coffee in the shop since he didn't have a free hand to hold the coffee because of his crutches.

There were more than enough tables empty, but he made his way to yours, sitting down in front of you.

"What are you staring at?", he asked you, his tone not entirely hostile, but certainly having an unpleasant undertone.

"I'm sorry, I was... I was looking at you", you answered him, awkward because of the fact that he had caught you staring.

"I noticed", he answered unkindly, his eyes roaming your body and face until he was sure you too were feeling uncomfortable because someone was staring at you.

"Why were you staring? I've got OI, if that's what you were wondering", he said harshly, and he didn't even look at the waitress once that brought his coffee.

"I... wasn't", you answered softly, making him look at you again with surprise.

"I just think that you're beautiful", you added, you couldn't help yourself.

He was about to say something but when what you had said seeped through his thoughts he shut his mouth, looking at you in confusion.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, but I just thought you're really beautiful", you told him softly, smiling at him as you studied his face.

"You're not messing with me", he said after a short while of silence as he tried to understand your way of thinking.

When your wandering eyes finally reached his you were mesmerized by how blue they were.

It was something that took you aback, but you couldn't stop staring.

They had an iciness to them that nearly seemed unnatural.

When he realized you were captivated by him he stared straight back into your eyes shamelessly.

Shutting your laptop you continued the small staring contest until the stranger began to grin.

"I'm Ivar. Ivar Lothbrok. It's a pleasure to meet you", he told you, reaching for his coffee and taking a sip from it.

You had talked for hours, totally ignoring your work until you finally decided to exchange numbers, with the promise to call each other.

The offensive and ignorant stranger you had met had turned into an interested, direct young man who was still rather rude, but you didn't mind at all, you liked the harshness he had to him.

It made him so very special, the way he behaved so straight-forward, but you knew there was much more to him than he let you see.

You texted a lot, until you finally decided to call him and ask him out, which had been answered by a low chuckle and an 'I'll pick you up at 7'.

He had picked you up, or rather his driver had with him in the backseat, and you went to a lovely italian restaurant, the night ending with a determined kiss that left you breathless.

Ivar had issues, you were aware of that.

His illness played a big role in it, damaging him by undermining his pride and taking his belief in himself in the progress.

What remained was a man that tried by all means to appear headstrong and prideful, but you knew there was much more to him.

Your relationship developed, and over the months became more and more serious.

His mother was happy about it, his father couldn't care less, and his brothers loved to tease him about you being too good for him.

You always spoke up at that, telling them that while you behaved a tad bit kinder than Ivar that didn't mean you were too good for him, and that you were entirely happy to have him in your life.

It usually led to gagging from at least one of the brothers, but they seemed content about their brother's happiness nevertheless.

You moved in with Ivar after just over a year of your relationship, making life easier for the two of you.

You loved to help Ivar with whatever he needed if he let you, and the fact that you lived with him led you to spend more time with each other, which you were happy about since the schedule you had set yourself was tight.

Ivar admired your work ethic, but he tried to distract you quite often, to have your attention focused on him.

Nevertheless you finished your book, and you were proud when your editor announced to publish it, sending you dates on which you were to read from your book, in small coffee shops or libraries around the city to try and sell it better.

You were proud of your achievement and while Ivar was too he wasn't keen on accompanying you to your very first author's reading, mostly because he hated public places, and the public in general.

You knew why, or at least you could understand why he could feel that way, especially since you had also had disastrous run ins with strangers who had felt the need to emphasize Ivar's disability by trying to humiliate him.

You had tried to keep back and let Ivar handle the situation, since he was more than just capable of doing so, but over time you saw how much those comments tore at him, making you fight the ignorant asshole after the first few negative comments.

Yes, Ivar had a disability, but that made him no lesser person, you admired him for his strength and willpower, and you hated how the public turned a blind eye to the injustice some stupid privilege-seeking men and women brought on.

You cherished Ivar for his strength and directness, and for the fact that he did indeed love you.

That was why he had agreed to accompany you to your very first author's reading to a small book shop across the city.

You were ecstatic that he was coming with you, and he seemed happy that you were.

When the day came Ivar even put on a dress shirt, and you were as excited as you were nervous, which Ivar tried to soothe with gentle talks and kisses.

The reading went beautifully, you were happy about your achievements and packing up your equipment to leave and go home with Ivar until you heard a raised voice in the room next door, where the audience had been and where Ivar was still sitting.

Packing up quickly you moved to meet Ivar with a smile on your face until it faltered as you saw the old shop owner shouting at your boyfriend.

"Get out of my shop, cripple!", he shouted and you saw Ivar's face redden in anger and hurt and his knuckles become white as he clutched his crutches.

"Fucking disgrace, people like you shouldn't even be allowed to live", he growled and your breath caught in your throat.

"Don't you dare talk to him like that", you said as you moved to stand beside Ivar, your heavy bag of books slung over your shoulder, but you didn't even notice the weight.

"Your miserable excuse of a boyfriend was rude to me! Saying I should piss off when I asked him to leave my shop!", the angry man shouted at you, and you heard Ivar answer.

"I just said I wanted to wait for you", he told you and you looked at him, the pain the man's careless words were causing visible under the anger.

You shook your head angrily as you faced the man again, but you heard Ivar from your side speaking your name.

"It's alright, let's just go", he said but his tone alone said everything that he didn't want to say.

"No, it's not alright", you answered Ivar as he stood up to leave, making him halt and turn back towards you.

"How dare you speak to him that way", you begun, your anger prominent in your voice, making the old man flinch visibly.

"In contrast to what you might think it's not a privilege to live around people like you, who have achieved so little in life and need to humiliate people that are visibly different from the masses just to get a rush and make yourselves feel better, you lowlife", you hissed at him , and the anger in his eyes turned to shock.

"I would wish that you think about what I was saying in the future but I'm not sure you understood. So I'm going to say it again", you growled as you made a step towards him.

"People who feel the need to look down on others only do so because they know how low their worth is, and try to make themselves feel better", you growled at him before you stepped back.

Ivar and the man were both staring at you in shock, but Ivar's eyes had admiration mixed in as well.

"I hope the short rest of your life is as miserable as the majority of it seems to have been", you stepped to Ivar's side and put a soothing hand on his back.

"Have a good day", you said to the man, your voice laced with venom before you turned and left with Ivar, not once looking back to where you had come from.

"I... that was incredible", Ivar told you as you stopped a few meters from the shop.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that", you said softly as you studied his face to see how he was dealing with it.

"It's... the usual, don't worry about it", he told you but that didn't make it any better.

Shaking your head vehemently you put your hand on his face.

"It shouldn't be like that all the time", you said and by the way you were saying it you knew that he knew you were incredibly hurt as well.

"Don't you dare think about what that man said to you. I know you will but... I love you, and I promise to do everything I can to make sure that you see how much you mean to me. How valuable you are", you said as you let your fingers run from his face through his hair to reach the back of his head.

You moved up onto the balls of your feet at the same time as Ivar moved his head down to meet your lips with his, the both of you closing your eyes to cherish the love and care you had for each other.

No matter what happened you knew that you had each other, and that fact alone made your life a thousand times better than the one of the bitter man who had tried, and failed, to spread his bitterness to you as well.