Work Text:
You wake up slowly to a hand softly playing with your hair. You grumble a little, not appreciating being woken up. Then you realize you’re laying on your boyfriend's chest and you settle a bit.
“Mm, morning Ed,” you say with a yawn, nuzzling your face into him. His hand stops petting you for a moment so you can adjust, then goes back to playing with your hair.
“Good morning, did I wake you?” he asks.
“A little,” you laugh. You’re interrupted by a wince though.
“Are you okay?” Edward asks.
Being asleep is great because it means you’re blissfully unaware of your back pain. Now that you’re awake, you can feel the soreness of your muscles, cracking and snapping with every movement after hours of being still.
“Back,” you whine, sitting up. Your goal was to stretch and try to ease your back, but pain shoots up your spine and into your shoulders as soon as you’re up. “Fuck!” You slouch over in pain, feeling the bed shift beside you.
“Hey, hey, here, sit up straight.” He rubs your back, paying attention to your shoulders as you sit up with a wince. “I know love, I know. How bad is it?”
You roll your shoulders, assessing the pain. “Ehh…, a five or six. Worse when I move I think.”
You finally look back at Ed, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes. He’s in his white tank top and missing his glasses, meaning he probably hasn’t been up long. His hair’s all messed up from sleep and his eyebrows are drawn together in worry. Edward holds your face gently and you lean into the touch with a sigh.
“What’s the time?” you ask, wondering when the two of you need to get down to the station.
“It was nearly eight when I woke up,” Ed says, leaning in and kissing your cheek softly. “But I’m going to call in sick for us.”
You immediately try to argue with him; you hate missing work and you hate him missing work because of you even more. But he kisses you, at the same time working out a knot in your back and the worries melt away.
He pulls away and smiles at you. “Alright, what do you think about a hot bath and some tea?”
You sigh, a lovesick grin spreading across your face. “You’re too good to me Eddie.”
His face turns red and he smiles wide. Pressing one last kiss to your face, Edward gets out of bed. He slips on his glasses, turning back to you.
“I’ll go start the bath,” he says, leaning down and kissing your forehead softly. “I’ll be back in a minute or you can meet me in there, whichever you prefer.”
With that, he disappears to the bathroom and you can hear the water start. You sigh and roll your shoulders, trying to ease a bit of the pain before you have to get up. Higher pain days always suck, but they’ve been getting easier with Edward around to help.
You slowly maneuver yourself out of bed, standing and stretching with a groan. Your joints pop and your back cracks, still not providing any relief. A laugh comes from the bathroom and Ed pops back into the room.
“I swear I could hear your back crack from in there,” he laughs, leaning down and kissing your head. “Not really, of course, but I could tell that it was bad.”
You chuckle at his antics. “Yeah, you’re not wrong.” He places a hand on your back and leads you to the bathroom. You both know him leading you isn’t necessary but it’s a shared comfort; he feels better knowing he can help in some way and you feel better knowing someone cares about you.
He moves away from you when you get into the room, checking the temperature of the bath. He looks satisfied and turns off the running water.
“A bubble bath?” you ask with a grin. He knows how much you love those.
“Of course, mental comfort is just as important as physical comfort.” He comes over to you and wraps his arms around you. You melt into the taller man, even more so when he rubs your back again.
He pulls away and you whine, missing his touch already. “I know, but you need to get in the bath and I need to make tea.” He presses a kiss to your cheek and heads out of the room, leaving you alone to get undressed.
You strip quickly and slump into the hot bath with a sigh. You can already feel your tense muscles relax and your mind wander off. The smell of lavender and citrus floods your senses, no doubt from the bubble bath solution. It’s so relaxing, you don’t know why you ever thought about passing this up for work.
You have no idea how much time passes before you hear Edward enter the room again. You crack your eyes open with effort, turning to look up at your smiling boyfriend, who’s now holding a cup of tea.
“Do you still want this, or are you going to fall asleep in there?” he asks with a little laugh. You know notice he has a stool in the other hand, which he brings behind the standing tub.
He hands you the cup over your head with a little warning of its temperature. When you take it, his now free hands wander on your shoulders, rubbing them soothingly. He hums a tune you don’t recognize while you sip your tea. It’s your favorite, made just the way you like it.
“Ed, I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you,” you sigh as his hands move down to your back.
“You were you,” he says, words full of love. “You’re amazing and you deserve a life full of this. Hot baths and warm tea, affection and love, you deserve it all.”
You don’t reply, getting choked up at the sentimental words. You just bask in the intimate moment. Ed starts up his humming again and finishes his massage, now getting your hair wet and washing it for you.
After you finish your tea and you’re thoroughly relaxed, he leaves you to shower and wash up. You turn off the water when you’re done, slipping on a robe and heading back to your shared bedroom.
Edward is there arranging the blankets. “There you are. I put these in the dryer so the bed will be warm.” You smile brightly and stride over, tucking yourself into his waiting arms. “How’s your back? I grabbed pain medication if you need it.”
“A lot better,” you sigh, pressing your face into his neck. “Still hurts, but a lot better than it was.” He pulls away gently, holding your hands.
“Good, I’m glad.” He pulls you to the bed, letting you settle in before he lays beside you.
You immediately lean into him with a sigh. He gathers you in his arms, holding you close.
“I hurt the most when lost, yet also when not had at all. I’m sometimes the hardest to express, but the easiest to ignore. I can be given to many, or just one. What am I?” You think for a moment before smiling wide at him.
“Love.”
He smiles and kisses your forehead. He hugs you softly, running his hands comfortingly over anywhere he can reach. You drift back to sleep like that, warm and happy with the one you love.