Work Text:
Melody groaned as she pulled off her headset. The stupid thing had tangled in her hair from how much she’d been fidgeting all night. It didn’t help how much arguing she had to do just to fix the issue someone caused. Production wasn’t even her job this week, but no one else had any idea how to fix it. She leaned as far back in her chair as she could just thinking for a few minutes.
Caprice came in at some point during the night when she’d been yelling. It wasn’t at anyone, just at the code that wouldn’t work. Of course it took hours to find the problem, get the permissions, and push the damn fix. All she wanted was some caffeine and to distract herself. At least her boss gave her the next few days off, a thank you for the emergency help.
With another groan she leaned forward. Her glasses fell off, but she didn’t care. It took all her energy to climb to her feet and make her way out of her office. She was met with bright sun from a nearby window and grimaced. Taking care to shield her eyes she made her way to the kitchen. Anything worth it was going to take too long so she grabbed a mug, filled it with water, and stuck it in the microwave. Bad tea was the best caffeine she could ask for right now.
Melody leaned against the counter, the microwave behind her hummed. She stared ahead, taking much longer than she would have liked to realize something was blocking the sliding door. She grumbled to herself about Caprice doing something stupid before walking towards it. She couldn’t decide if she had to deal with it until she could actually see what he put there.
Halfway to the door and squinting she could make out a solid dark blue. She laughed to herself and smiled. It was probably one of Kyrie’s scales. It wouldn’t be hard to move, she could just deal with it later. She stretched to try and work out the anxiety she’d built up over her night. Then the blue object blinked. She froze with an arm on her head as she realized just what was ahead of her.
“Melody,” Kyrie said. His voice managed to rumble through her chest. Her mind wasn’t able to keep up with the fact it was him. He was staring at her, without her glasses, her hair a mess, and the pajamas she’d put on just before she’d been asked to work. “Are you safe? I heard yelling…”
Her mind was completely blank. That solid blue eye just kept staring, she couldn’t even be sure it was focused on her. The microwave beeped behind her, but she couldn’t make herself move. A few chirps she recognized as worry came from the giant merman ahead of her. Then the eye was gone. She wanted to walk away, get cleaned up, anything besides standing there. When his finger came inside the sliding door she thought was closed her mind went blank again.
As much as the image seemed terrifying in her brain, she couldn’t move. His finger snaked into her home, a reminder of just how big he was next to her. Slowly he curled the digit around her. It was actually kind of comforting. He pulled her forward, gently guiding her outside. Her mind was too slow to try and avoid stepping out and into his shadow.
“Caprice said you were in trouble…,” his whisper was enough to make her shudder. “Need help?”
“I’m fine!” she shouted. The finger around her moved until the pad of his finger rested on her head. He moved his finger just slightly, she smiled a little at the feeling. He loved the feeling of her hair, it was different from merfolk hair. She almost relaxed under his touch, but her mind decided to completely catch up then.
Melody ducked away from the warm skin and backed into her house. She should have known Caprice had left her alone because he wasn’t even home.
“I’m just gonna make some tea and come back out,” she said. The chirps he made echoed around her. She bumped into warm fingers behind her. Another squeak escaped her, but his fingers had her completely surrounded. When she looked ahead, his eye was all she could see again.
“Was it… bad dreams?” he asked. The quiet fear in his voice made her pause. The massive eye ahead of her was shimmering, it wasn’t normal. She had to squint to make sure. Despite the proximity it was hard to see it clearly without her glasses. The fingers around her started to shake.
“How long have you been out here?”
“The moon was still high when Caprice came, so since then.” He somehow managed to make his voice quieter. “...was it the really bad one?” The fingers around her were shaking worse. A tear slipped from his eye.
“Kyrie…” Melody reached for the fingers around her. They froze as soon as she touched them. “It was just work. Someone broke something important and I was the only one who could fix it. I was yelling about that. I actually haven’t slept in over a day.”
She tried to laugh it off. Not sleeping wasn’t unusual for her. It was something she’d grown used to in her life. Kyrie pulled her close to him again. He pressed his nose against her. Hidden between his fingers all she could see or feel was him. It was enough to make the exhaustion she wanted to push away come forward. Each time she blinked it took longer for her to open her eyes again. She gathered her strength to push back the comfort Kyrie offered.
“Sleep,” he said. The quiet fear in his voice was gone. The base of his voice rumbled in her chest. The feeling was strange and comforting, she loved it.
“I should stay up, sleeping now will just make it-” she said. He cut her off with a rumbling noise. It was soothing, easily making it hard to fight him.
The fingers around her tightened and lifted her off her feet. She felt as he pulled her closer to him. If it was anyone else she’d be afraid of being lifted up into the sky, but not Kyrie. The hand she was on never left the ground. The pressure of his nose was gone for only a moment. Kyrie’s deep rumble continued as she was pulled further from her home. Eventually he stopped moving her and set his nose over her like a blanket. It made her start laughing.
“Isn’t this uncomfortable for you?” she asked. The words sounded a bit odd. It was obviously his decision that she should sleep was winning.
“No, just sleep,” he said. The rumbling didn’t die down. If anything it got louder. It took all her energy not to let her eyes stay closed, but even then it was impossible to do anything. Melody let out a heavy sigh accepting this. For once she’d listen when someone told her to sleep.