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Xiao wasn’t able to stop a cold shiver running down his spine when he opened his eyes, feeling all alone for a moment. When he felt Zhongli’s hot breath against the bare skin of his neck, he knew there was nothing to fear or to hide from, no judgement coming.
“Xiao,” Zhongli whispered with a drowsy voice against his skin and goosebumps spread all over Xiao’s skin.
Followed by another shiver, Xiao held onto Zhongli’s arms wrapped around him and snuggled up closer against the warm body keeping him safe from the nightmares hunting him this night. “I’m sorry,” he whispered into the darkness, merely lit up by the dim moonlight coming through the window. “I didn’t want to wake you up.”
Zhongli ran his hand up Xiao’s side and tightened the grip around him a little bit more. “What was your nightmare about?” The question he asked almost every night, never expecting an answer but always here to get through them.
For a long time, Xiao stayed silent while Zhongli gently squeezed him, showing him with soft strokes against his belly skin that he was awake. “It was from the time before we met,” Xiao said then. Nothing new, his past was hunting him in his dreams, and they both knew it wouldn’t leave him alone for a very long time. “But this time my old master demanded to kill you.”
Having the words hanging between them sent another wave of silence out.
“I didn’t hesitate to follow the order they gave me but when we met, something stopped me and then you reached out with your spear, pressing it right into my chest.”
Zhongli intertwined their fingers with each other and kissed Xiao’s nape. “You’re shaking. Can you still feel the nightmare?”
Xiao nodded. There was no chance for him to deny it that close to him. “It’s not the pain of the spear,” he then confessed and a heavy feeling caged his heart. “The words you said were what still lingers on my heart.”
“Hmm,” Zhongli pulled him back closer and reassured him with gentle strokes. “It pains me to see you suffering from your past and not being able to help you more,” he whispered against Xiao’s bare skin and another shiver ran down his spine. “If I could, I would kiss away all of your scars.”
Hearing Zhongli speak, calm and tranquil, gave Xiao peace. Then he loosened his arms and shifted his position to hide his face against Zhongli’s chest. He wasn’t able to withstand the urge anymore.
They both knew his mental scars wouldn’t heal the same way, never fading away the way his physical ones did. And that all of Zhongli’s gentleness and love wasn’t enough to keep the nightmares away for long.
“Knowing you’re going to stay by my side forever is enough.”
After hearing that from Xiao, Zhongli shifted the blanket around them and caged Xiao, curled up, on his chest and only stopped with his comforting rubs on Xiao’s back when his body relaxed and his breath evened out.
Granting him a dreamless sleep before the next day would greet them.