Work Text:
You didn’t intend to end your night by crying.
You’re laying up in bed, propped against your pillows with Gi-hun already half-dozing off beside you, one of his long arms wrapped around your waist and his head buried into his pillow. He grunts as you shift, tightening his gentle hold around you and you sigh, turning the volume down on your phone so it’s just loud enough to hear. You’re watching Tiktoks, something you like to do basically every night before finally resting your own eyes and you giggle at the dog on your screen, watching as he runs in-between his owners and their cat.
“You should go to sleep soon, sweetheart—” Gi-hun’s voice is deep, rumbling in sleep and muffled slightly from his pillow but you nod anyway, a yawn stretching your jaw so wide it hurts. “It’s getting late.”
“I know.” Reaching out, you run your fingers through your husband’s messy curls, scratching at his scalp and he practically purrs, arching into the touch slightly and you laugh again. “Just one more video, promise.”
“Hm.”
Listening as Gi-hun starts to lightly snore, you shake your head with a fond eye-roll, turning back toward your phone. You squint at the screen, quickly scrolling past an ad before settling on your final video. It’s of a little girl, no more than three or four-years-old, watching what you can just make out to be Inside Out, and your heart sinks as you read the caption:
‘My daughter experiencing one of the top 5 saddest scenes in cinema for the first time’
You debate scrolling again, knowing you can’t handle sad scenes very well, experically when they make children cry. But the little girl looks so sweet and you promised Gi-hun only one more video, so you keep watching, feeling the knot growing in your chest expand.
It’s just as Joy finally makes it to the top of the hill, glancing down at Bing Bong as he slowly disappears that the camera pans back to the little girl, her eyes wide and bottom lip jutted out in a pout.
“Bing Bong?” She whispers, her high voice wobbling. She turns toward her mother and the camera, her tears finally falling. “Where — Where Bing Bong go?”
That’s when you lose it.
“No, no, no—”
Chest hitching, you sob, the sound harsh. Throwing your phone down after you turn it off, cutting the video as it starts to unfortunately loop again, you bury your face in your hands, crying hard, feeling Gi-hun practically shoot up beside you.
“Baby, what—?” Reaching out, your husband gathers you carefully into his arms, cradling you underneath his chin and you sob harder, clutching his nightshirt in your trembling fingers. Spooning you closer, Gi-hun gently shushes you, brushing away your tears with his thumbs. “Hey, hey, what’s wrong, love? Hm, what happened?”
Your voice is wet with tears, your words nearly indistinguishable from your sobs. “There was a sad video and Bing Bong and a-a little girl and—”
“Shh, shh, sweet girl—” Rubbing his free hand up and down your back, Gi-hun hums, his voice a low rumble against your ear and you nuzzle closer, letting out another cry. “I honestly don’t know what you said, baby, but whatever it is, it’s okay, shh, it’s okay—”
“Gi-hun—”
“Shh, it’s alright. You can tell me in a minute, calm down, shh.” Swallowing, your husband’s arms tighten around you, a rumble filling his chest. His teeth are gritted, you can feel the tension in his jaw as he kisses your temple again. “Are you-Are you hurt, sweetheart? Does something hurt—?”
Shaking your head, all you can do is sob, curling up tighter in your husband’s arms as Gi-hun soothes you, rocking the two of you slowly back-and-forth. Kissing at your forehead and across your cheeks, Gi-hun makes low sounds, rambling words of endearment as you slowly start to calm down, your cries turning into wet sniffles. Reaching up after a few seconds, you rub at your eyes, feeling your cheeks heat when your husband coos, replacing your hand with his own.
“Do you feel better now, angel?”
Nodding, you swallow. “A-A little, yeah. Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, baby. What happened, though?” Glancing down at you, his beautiful eyes wide in concern, Gi-hun cradles your cheek in his palm. “You— That scared me.”
Another jab of guilt churns your stomach and you sniffle, clearing your throat. “I didn’t mean to-to scare you, I’m really sorry. There was this video, this little girl was watching a sad movie and she started crying and, I dunno, it set me off, I guess.”
“Oh—” Letting out his own sigh of relief, Gi-hun relaxes, you can feel how his broad shoulders soften above you. Reaching up, you gently brush a stray curl away from his forehead, his lovely doe-eyes reflecting the yellow glow of your small, bedside lamp. “I thought it was something from work that had happened. Fuck, sweetheart— I’m not mad, just — You started sobbing like someone hurt you and it scared me—”
Shaking your head, you trail your own hand down, cupping your husband’s sharp jaw in your palm and he sighs again. “Oh, no, no, honey. It wasn’t from work— I think I just had a long day, I got emotional. I didn’t mean to scare you, I really didn’t, I’m so fucking sorry.”
“It’s okay, it’s—” Catching your hand, Gi-hun brings your fingers to his lips, kissing your knuckles. “I think we should actually go to bed now, darling, before we give each other heart attacks.”
Letting out a watery giggle, you smother another yawn against Gi-hun’s chest, wiggling out of his arms just enough for you to grab your phone. Clicking the screen back on, you quickly close Tiktok before setting your morning alarm, nearly groaning at the sight of 7:30am that pops up on-screen. Plugging it back into your charger, you click the lamp on your side of the bed off, leaving both you and Gi-hun in soothing fuzzy, gray darkness.
Resting your head back underneath your husband’s chin, you kiss at his collarbone above his shirt, feeling him exhale slowly. “I love you.”
“I love you too, baby. Let’s get some sleep.”
Closing your eyes, you barely have a chance to feel him kiss your temple, his arms holding you closer, before you’re finally falling asleep, feeling the most safe and loved as you’ve ever felt. You always feel that way with Gi-hun.