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Naib had always been an early riser. It became a habit. The people in his home country always had a habit of waking early, heading to work the moment the sun rose on the horizon. The habit was embedded into him during those years as a soldier, waking up a few minutes past midnight to move camps, ready for invasions.
Plus, it wasn’t as if the nightmares would let him sleep for very long.
Things have been changing lately though. Nowadays, he finds himself sleeping in a bit, sometimes even past noon. And the nightmares hadn’t been appearing as often now, only waking him up in the middle of the night every few days or so.
And it all changed after a certain someone stepped into his life.
The mercenary sighed quietly, squinting against the darkness of the room. It was about 8:20 in the morning, the sun rays gently shining behind the curtains. So still early, to the other’s standards.
If his memory was recalled, he had to meet Martha later to help her with her kiting.
He found that his plans of going downstairs were cancelled though, or at least postponed for a few hours.
Shifting into a sitting position, Naib smiled down fondly at the man hugging his waist, who groaned as the mercenary sat up.
“It’s too early…” Eli mumbled, tightening his arms around his lover’s waist. The seer had always been more of a night owl (a/n : get it? i know, i’m a genius), opting to stay up later than most of the manor’s inhabitants, and waking up hours after they had all gone down for breakfast.
It had affected Naib in a way, the man always making himself shown at the breakfast table much later compared to when he first arrived at the manor. Not that he minded though.
Running his fingers through the seer’s brown locks, Naib hummed quietly, his fingers brushing gently along his hairline and running down to the nape of his neck.
Eli furrowed his brows a little, shifting his face closer to the mercenary’s waist as he let out an annoyed whine. Naib’s fingers were cold. Annoyingly so, making him shiver from the sudden touch.
“Too early..” He repeated. Naib only chuckled a little at his reaction, adjusting his position so that he was propped on one arm, his other one wrapped around his lover’s waist.
“Good morning to you too, Eli.” The smaller man murmured, leaning down to brush a kiss on top of the other’s head. Good lord, Eli was absolutely adorable.
Receiving only a grumble in reply, the seer turned his head a little, blearily forcing his eyes open to peer at Naib through heavy lidded blue orbs.
“Good morning… dear.” He yawned in response, struggling to sit himself up. “What time is it?”
Naib turned to the clock on the bedside, reading the time. “Almost 8:25. Go back to bed, my love. It’s still early.”
The mercenary was used to Eli’s sleeping habits by now, the two having been together for a few months.
It all started off when they first met, the two exchanging polite nods and small conversations whilst they were waiting for matches.
They became friends quite quickly, and it took Naib another two months for him to realise his feelings for the seer, after the tall, blue-eyed man went back for him at the end of the match one day. No one had ever done that before.
He confessed his feelings after a month of pining, urged to do so by Emma, who had noticed his lingering stares.
“You should tell him, Mr Subedar! He’s very handsome, and there’s lots of girls in the manor! If you don’t hurry, he’ll be snatched up by someone else!” She had said, giggling to him as he helped her move her flower pots.
And now, here they were, meeting up with each other whenever they didn’t have a match, curling up against the other’s bodies and exchanging little kisses whenever they thought no one was watching.
The others were watching of course, but that’s a different story for another time.
But in other words. They were absolutely smitten with each other, going on dates whenever possible and being so disgustingly in love that the other survivors hurriedly removed themselves whenever the two were in the same room.
“No, no. I’m up.” Eli murmured, grunting quietly as he forced himself up, swaying unsteadily for a good five seconds before opting to lean against his lover’s chest instead, wrapping his arms back around the other’s chest as his eyes fluttered close again.
“It’s cold.” He mumbled.
“It is a little.” Naib agreed as he pulled the blankets up over the two again. Was it raining outside? He could hear a quiet patter on the roof over their heads. So it was raining then.
That was good. Matches would be cancelled then, and he’d get to cuddle Eli for a little longer.
The two stayed in that position for a little longer, Eli on the verge of drifting back to sleep as Naib gazed at him with affection, leaning down to brush his lips onto the seer’s face every now and then.
It was a nice morning, Naib thought. Beautiful in fact.
Eli stirred again almost an one and a half hour later, blinking slowly as he slowly pulled himself up. Naib, who had been by his side the entire time, helped the seer up, greeting him a second time that morning with a kiss on his lips.
“Good morning, Naib!” The seer beamed, leaning into his lover. All traces of sleepiness on his face had disappeared, his blue eyes clear as he gazed at the mercenary.
“Yeah, mornin’ darling.” Naib hummed in response, stretching his arms.
Despite being awake, Eli made no move to get out of bed, wrapping his arms around Naib’s waist to tug the smaller man onto his lap, the blanket bundled around them. Naib simply arched an eyebrow, twisting his torso a little to meet the seer’s steady gaze.
“It’s warm like this.” Eli pointed out, laughing quietly as the mercenary raised an eyebrow at him.
“I guess it is, yeah.” The brunette responded drily, snuggling into his lover’s hold.
Yeah.. mornings like these were the best.