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Considering how peaceful Lyney looked in the silvery moon light, Wanderer might have to try sleeping himself at some point. The curtains of the hotel room were swaying with the soft breeze, and the only sound was Lyney’s steady breathing.
As a divine creation, a mere puppet, Wanderer didn't feel exhaustion quite like humans did, and all his resting periods were more like silent meditation than actual slumber. But what could he possibly meditate about that was better than watching his lover dream?
The magician's head was heavy on Wanderer's lap, but he would rather die than disturb him. it wasn't as if his leg would suffer too much from it anyways, his white wood limbs made to endure.
He had endured so much pain and suffering in the half-century of his existence, too much to take the peace now for granted and way too much to not fear for it.
Lyney was shifting a little, getting more comfortable on Wanderer's lap, snuggling against him like a cat. almost instinctively, the puppet's hand reached for him and started stroking the soft blonde hair. The other seemed to have felt it, letting out a soft sigh.
When awake, Lyney would never stay still like this, so Wanderer treasured moments like these when the magician paused and leaned against the puppet to rest, putting his trust in him to keep him safe in a moment this vulnerable.
Wanderer was used to the people of Sumeru who only just regained the ability to dream, but Lyney must have always had it… what would he be dreaming of? Would it be dreams of his siblings and him, spending their days together, or would nightmares about his near certain fate within the Fatui plague him, the responsibility and dread of it looming over his head?
Did he maybe dream of Wanderer? Because for him, Lyney sure was everything he could dream of.
It was still a mystery how he could ever begin to deserve this kind of love. Sure, he had begun to accept the unlikely friendship with Nahida and the Traveller, and through certain circumstances he was getting acquainted with other scholars of the Akademiya as well now, but the concept of romantic love had never crossed his mind before meeting the magician. Especially not an average human like Lyney, though that did not keep Wanderer from holding him dear (though he would never admit that openly).
Watching the young man get his well deserved rest after a busy day, he could not take his eyes off the face that he knew like the back of his hand by now.
Slight wrinkles told of his lover's life, of every single laughter and cry. His freckles and slight blemishes that he usually covered up for his performances told of sun kisses. Every single detail that some might consider flaws were records of the time he had spent in this world, and there were many more souvenirs waiting for him in the future.
Each and every single imperfection was beautiful in its own right, and Wanderer could spend hours tracing the gifts and scars of existence on Lyney's skin.
Touching his own cold porcelain skin, he was reminded that he would not change. He was doomed to stay the same, over millennia.
While Lyney would collect scars and sunburns, his skin regenerating only to a certain extent, Wanderer's skin could be used as evidence making the case for time to have stood still since his creation. No freckles, blemishes - any kind of mark time would leave on faces - he would not receive them. Where the sun kissed him, it left no trace, as if he had never lived in the first place.
He was not made to live, he was made to exist. Where the world touched him, instead of scars that would fade over time, his skin would crack. Nahida had put a lot of effort into sealing these cracks, but they left a mark nonetheless, like a broken teacup glued back together.
It was a miracle to him how Lyney didn’t mind the shattered porcelain.
He wasn't sure whether it was Lyney's pyro vision or the fact that he had a beating heart in his chest, but his touch was always warm against Wanderer's ice cold surface, a testimony and constant reminder that he and Lyney could not be more different.
Though he tried his best not to overthink and just stay in the moment, the thought of Lyney growing old haunted him at night.
His fingers paused for a moment, slightly grazing Lyney’s cheek. The warm touch of the magician’s hand on Wanderer’s wrist made him notice that his lover had woken up from his sleep. Lilac eyes looked up at him and directly into his soul, reading his every expression like an open book.
“Why don’t you try to sleep as well?”
Wanderer scoffed a little at that, his hands running through the blonde silk as he tried to burn the feeling of him into his memory.
“You know I don’t sleep”
“Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try”
With a swift movement and a gentle tug, Lyney pulled him down on the mattress next to him, his arm resting on Wanderer’s waist in a loose embrace.
Purple melting into indigo, Wanderer watched Lyney breathe, his hand gently caressing the magician’s cheek as if he was the one made of fine china, valuable to him and fragile to the terrors of existence - terrors that Wanderer would swear to keep away from him for as long as he existed.
Leaning in ever so closely, Lyney’s soft lips pressed against his forehead like a promise.
"I’ll try."
He didn't need to say more, Lyney understood and pulled him closer, letting Wanderer feel the warmth that meant life.
Forever had always felt like a curse, immortality a shackle dooming him to endless suffering, betrayal after betrayal - and perhaps it was still - but with Lyney in his arms, maybe it wasn’t so bad after all that he had lived long enough to see this day.