Work Text:
Sitting entangled in his own tail, Alexander looked longingly into the large, overly decorative vanity mirror in front of him, a small smile on his face. He was finally able to relax early from his job for once, and it felt nice. Really nice. Focusing back on the mirror, Alexander let down his disheveled hair, scratching his head with a soft hum of relief.
His hair fell down well below his waist and seemed to get messier when he finally let it down for the day. Shaking away the stray strands hanging in his face, Alexander searched through the vanity drawers for his brushes and combs and grinned widely when he found them.
Turning back to his reflection, Alexander began to work on his nightmare of a mane he called hair. To try to drown out the ear-aching noise of detangling hair, Alexander began to hum to himself as he stared intently his image.
A few minutes had passed before he was pulled out of his trance by the bedroom door opening with a mechanical ‘shh’. Setting his comb in his lap, Alexander turned towards the door as his husband walked in with an exhausted yet relieved look on his face. His shoulders were slumped, and the dark rings under his eyes were almost purple.
Looking up at his husband, Abigor smiled tiredly at despite feeling so drained.
“Hello, my love. You’re here early, hm?” Abigor greeted as he tossed his things into one of the corners of the room. At this point, Alexander had turned back to the mirror to finish his hair, but he kept eye contact through the mirror’s reflection. Abigor walked over and placed a kiss on Alexander’s cheek before walking over to his wardrobe.
“Yep! The recruits only had a paper exam today, so once they were done, they could leave. I’m assuming since they finished so quickly, they either knew it all or absolutely nothing,” Alexander chuckled, scrunching his nose when Abigor rolled his eyes playfully behind him.
A few moments of comfortable silence fell over the duo as they did their own thing until Alexander peeked up at his husband and saw him massaging his temples in between changing clothes and finishing up some paperwork.
Finishing up his hair, Alexander dragged himself over to the bed and plopped down behind his zoned out husband. Alexander frowned and stuck out his tongue in annoyance. Not only was Abigor flipping through papers instead of making conversation but he was also doing it with no regard for the exhaustion clear in his movements.
“Abi,” Alexander said with a hint of annoyance. Abigor let out a distant ‘hm?’ in response as he scribbled some words onto the paper in his lap. Alexander huffed and rested his head on his husband’s shoulder to get a glimpse of what paper work was so important.
“You’re doing it again, Abigor.” Alexander huffed as he snaked his arms around Abigor’s waist. Abigor paused his work at the mention of his full name and looked at his husband on his shoulder.
“Hm? Doing what exactly, Alex?” He prompted. Alexander rested his head in the crook of his husband’s neck, watching intently at Abigor scribbling over some financial documents sleepily.
“Overworking yourself. You haven’t slept properly in days-,” Abigor opened his mouth to protest before getting cut off, “I can tell when you get out of bed in the middle of the night and wander off. I know you’ve been pretending to sleep.” At this point, Alexander had leaned away from his husband’s shoulder and allowed him to face him. Abigor’s face was empty, tired. He glanced away from Alexander’s harsh stare and fiddled with the pen in his hand absentmindedly, hoping to avoid the conversation. Alexander had noticed Abigor become more agitated everyday at small inconveniences and barely eating. He was worried.
Alexander reached over and held his husband’s hand, the other one resting on Abigor’s cheek. He felt the other lean into his hand while he still avoided eye contact.
“Abi, look at me, love.” Finally making eye contact, Alexander saw his eyes watering. He knew it. Something was wrong. All alarm bells in his head were firing off as he saw Abigor holding back tears, but as worried as he was, Alexander tried to stay calm. “Oh Abigor…C’mere,” Alexander said sadly, opening his arms to the other. Abigor leaned into the hug and broke down silently. Alexander wouldn’t have known his husband was even crying had he not felt a wet patch on his shoulder slowly growing.
Rubbing his back, Alexander cooed at Abigor, hoping to at least provide some comfort. He wasn’t good at nurturing or helping Abigor through his worst days, at least he didn’t think so. They were rare and random, but every so often he would see a very vulnerable side of his husband.
Hearing Abigor let out a shaky sigh pulled Alexander away from his thoughts. Alexander pulled away enough to look at Abigor’s face and give him a sad smile, placing his hand back on his husband’s cheek and wiping away the last few tears that slipped out. Closing his eyes, Abigor let out a deep breath and stayed that way for a small moment before opening them again.
“Let’s get you to bed, yeah? I’ll have Aabha help me with the left over documents, alright? C’mon big guy.” Alexander stood up and walked over to the pair’s shared bed, sitting down and stretching out his long tail. He looked up at the other and patted the spot next to him. Reluctantly, Abigor sat his pen down on his paper covered desk and stood up. As he made his way over to his and Alexander’s shared bed, he had kicked off his slippers before plopping himself down onto the semi-made bed laying flat on his back. Alexander propped himself up on his elbows to look over at Abigor’s scrunched up face. Sighing, he pulled Abigor closer to him, not knowing what else he could do other than be as comforting as he can.
“Can…,” Abigor started, grabbing Alexander’s attention. “Can you-.. Can you hold me? Please, I just.. want to be held.” Alexander almost felt his heart break at how pitiful and broken his husband sounded. He was clearly dealing with these feelings all for a while and all on his own. Alexander nodded and wrapped his arms around his husband’s midsection, pressing a kiss to the other’s forehead. He felt Abigor practically melt into his hold and all the tension in his body was gone. He started rubbing circles into Abigor’s back, stopping occasionally to rearrange them both into a better position and starting again.
Both sat in silence for what seemed forever before Abigor spoke up.
“Thank you, Alex. For this, i mean. I know my… emotions can be very stressful on you as well as me. I’m really sorry that I worried you, my love. I’ll do better about communicating. I hope you’re not upset with me.” Alexander’s ears perked up as he looked at Abigor in surprise. Upset? Why would he be?
“Abigor, upset? How could I be? You do the same, if not more, for me on my bad days as well. I was just, concerned. We usually tell each other everything. Always. Even the bad things. You just working yourself to death had me worried, that’s all. Don’t apologize, ok love?” Alexander said, rubbing reassuring circles into Abigor’s back. Abigor hummed in content and buried his face into his husband’s chest, happy to be held and cared for in that moment. He heard a mumble come from his chest and answered with a soft ‘hm?’. Abigor pulled back slightly and stared directly into Alexander’s eyes.
“I love you.” Alexander grinned and pressed another kiss to his husband’s face to return the sweet words with a gesture.
“I love you too. Now go to sleep. I’ll see if Aabha can bring us our dinner to our room instead of getting up, mkay?” Abigor nodded and placed his head back in its original spot.
After a while, Alexander heard a yawn come from Abigor, followed by some slow even breaths. Looking down, Alexander saw Abigor fast asleep curled into his chest, his face soft and eyebrows relaxed. A smile on his face, Alexander gathered the covers behind him and gently tossed them over them both, gently tucking in Abigor. Pressing one last kiss to his husband’s temple, Alexander cuddled up into his pillows and blankets and fell asleep alongside his husband. The paper work could wait until tomorrow.