Chapter Text
The second the door opens, Milo knows something is wrong. His mate is too still, wound up tight with their form flickering at the edges.
“Woah, Sweetheart.” He sees them start to shake and he feels his heart jump into his throat, hurrying over to them. “Hey, what's wrong?”
They fall into his arms, clinging to him tightly, not speaking. He's seen this before but it never gets any easier to see his mate in such distress.
“It's okay I gotchu. I got you Sweetheart. You're okay, you're safe here.” He soothes, rubbing their back gently.
They burrow their face into his chest, unable to force the words to come out for a while. But he's patient with them, he always is.
Breathing slowly and deliberately, he lets them take their time to settle into the same pace he's set. Eventually, their shoulders relax a little and they force themselves to speak.
“M’sorry.” They mumble shamefully. “It wasn't that bad today, nothing happened I just…”
“...Couldn't handle it all?” He supplements softly, rubbing circles on their back, still breathing calmly alongside them.
They nod, far more settled now, allowing him to guide them to the sofa. “I'm not normally affected by people being snappy, but between the taskforce and trying to do my regular job on top… I'm- I'm reaching my limit.” They try to choke back the shame, the horrible way those words settle in their chest. Honesty about when they were pushing themselves was something they were trying to work on, but it didn't make it any less uncomfortable.
Milo swallows down the fiery remarks he has for their job, they don't need his anger on top of everything else. They know his thoughts on the Department, the stupid piece of shit institut- nope, Sweetheart is his priority. “Do you want to talk things through? Advice? Or for me to just listen and be here? You know Aggro and I are here for whatever you need.”
“Just be with me for now.” They loop their fingers through his. “I only want to remember that I spendt time with you today, nothing else.”
“I can do that Sweetheart.” He kisses the top of their head and squeezes their hand three times. I love you.
They squeeze back immediately. I love you. And smile as Milo stretches to grab their favourite blanket and drapes it over them.
As if on cue that his humans were being too sappy, there's a very disgruntled mewl from the kitchen as Aggro stomps in ready to protest the lack of dinner. Upon entering he senses the tension in Sweetheart and the half dried tear tracks on their face, and he decides to focus on checking they’re okay first. He lets out a small huff and leaps onto Sweetheart’s chest, circling to get comfortable and purring loudly, one eye half open to check his foolproof comfort method is working.
They let out a damp laugh, sniffling and running their hands over his soft ginger fur. “My two best boys.” And Milo kisses the top of their head, feeling his heart swell at the sight of his little family.