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Black. The world is black, a lifeless and stifling black. Zagreus has difficulty to breathe and at night envelops him, prevents him from breathing. His eyes always closes, he tries to look for the Hypnos' body, asleep at his side.
But where Hypnos should be, is empty. Zagreus stands up, breathing jerky, fear tying his throat unpleasantly.
They are not here. I'm alone.
And the rain resounds against the walls, slide over the window, deafening. Zagreus knows that he is panicking, his body is trembling and tears are wetting his eyes. But in the dark and with his fingertips, he retrieves a blanket. It's not Hypnos' one ; and now that he thinks about it, it reassures him. Hypnos never leaves their blanket, so they can't be far away; maybe their insomnia has returned and they are making themself a hot chocolate. A little reassured but the shadows of his nightmares still dancing in front of his eyes, he leaves the room.
In the night, trying not to hit the table or walls, he finally gets to the kitchen. The house, plunged into darkness, is making no noise. He can hear the wood cracking with the wind, but no sign of Hypnos. The blood that lived in his dreams finally leaves. When he opens the door from the outside, the cold wakes him up a little more. The wind, strong, powerful, makes the trees around him creak in a sublime dance in the rain.
And there is the body of Hypnos. Wrapped in a blanket, they look straight ahead, pensively, as if they are somewhere else, in another world that Zagreus cannot reach. The hot chocolate in their hands seems cold and almost intact; but it is often like that. Sometimes Hypnos gets lost in daydreams and often Zagreus has to calm their crying. Zagreus, after many years of loving them, knows that Hypnos have demons they do not want to talk about, scars hidden in their heart that have cracked it but that kisses can lighten. And when they cries, when they shouts out to the world all the demons that break them, when they finally dares to put words to the nightmares, Zagreus tells them that it's okay not to be okay. And Hypnos always smiles at him when this happens. A sweet and tired smile, a little broken by the time, but they smiles; and it warms Zagreus' heart.
Zagreus, after long minutes without moving, lost in his memories, finally sits down near Hypnos. He listens to the rain singing and watches the clouds dance. Hypnos finally notices his presence, and he smiles at him in the night, softly. Zagreus responds to the smile, wrapping himself a little more in his blanket. Going out wearing just a T-shirt was not a good idea, but whatever.
“Are you okay, love ?”
In the night, he cannot see Hypnos blush. But he knows it happens all the time; when Zagreus speaks to them with cute nicknames, the affectionate ones he gives only to them, Hypnos always blushes. It always amuses Zagreus ( except when Hypnos does the same thing and even after several years, he does not get used to it and hides against Hypnos' chest, embarrassed. )
Hypnos tilts his head a little to the side, letting the light from the floor lamp illuminate his face a little more, despite the rain.
“Yeah… Sorry for leaving you alone.
- Nah. Don't apologize.”
Hypnos puts his head on Zagreus' shoulder, gently, still watching the rain fall.
“Sometimes… Sometimes I'm just thinking about how lucky I am to have you with me.”
Zagreus mentally thanks the night to hide his redness. Hypnos is not that kind of person to make heartful love speeches. Sometimes they writes letters they puts on the table, when they leaves earlier than Zagreus or writes them cute messages when they knows that they will come home late. But nothing more than I love you with awkwardly drawn little hearts; then these words almost surprises Zagreus. But he's not going to complain about it, on the contrary.
After long minutes of silence, where he plays with Hypnos' hair, letting the silence cover all the noise, he gives them slight kisses on their forehead.
“You really like the rain, don't you?”
A laugh, light and pleasant, fills the atmosphere with soft color. Pale blue and orange slides over their bodies and Zagreus smiles a little more.
“Yeah. It's ... nice. Restful. It makes me want to sleep.
- Absolutely everything makes you wanna sleep, love.”
Gently, Hypnos nudges him in the stomach, which makes Zagreus laugh. He steals a kiss from them, a soft kiss from the tip of the lips, one as light as a feather.
“I'm so happy to have you in my life, Hypnos. So... thank you for being alive.”
And, under the singing rain, under the dancing wind and under the weeping clouds, there are two souls who love each other, despite demons and nightmares. Maybe one day they will love each other without thinking about the wounds in their hearts, happy forever.