Chapter Text
The world was a cold, hard place from where X was laying, desperately trying to take in air like he could suffocate. His fingers twitched desperately, trying to reach for the retreating back of his beloved partner - and his entire system surged with effort.
"Ze... ro...!" X desperately tried to call, but the Reploid in red only briefly stopped to look over his shoulder with a rue smile.
"It's okay, X. I'm gonna take care of this, and then I'll be right back," he said with an air of nonchalance, but X had loved him longer than anyone and knew that gaze.
So many pieces of their relationship were unspoken. Their love was a labyrinth of intricate rituals, ones only they could map perfectly. More than ever, though, he wished they'd been more outspoken about it so he didn't NEED to know what that look meant.
The gaze Zero was fitting him with was one of a man resigned to death, ready to meet it with saber lit. It was the same look he gave X before he went to take on Sigma, the same familiar look he traced when Eurasia was threatening to fall.
That look meant Zero knew he wasn't coming back. And no amount of reaching X did would fix that, nothing was going to stop Zero from sacrificing himself again and X could only watch--
--and scream, as he sat bolt upright from a nightmare. Panting desperately to get cold air back in his system, he could feel his whole body shaking and rattling and-- where was his armor?
The sudden realization he could feel synthskin under his fingers instead of metal jolted him back to clarity and he realized he was in his bedroom back at base-- in a proper bed, at that. Looking around the room rapidly enough that his bangs slapped his cheeks, X realized he was alone but he was definitely home. And awake from what had clearly been an awful nightmare...
...A nightmare that was at least partially reality, he sighed. After all... Zero really wasn't coming back. He was gone. He was gone, and there was nothing X could do about that. Numbly, he left his hand drift to the sidetable to look for the saber he still held onto and jolted when it instead found the bottom of its drawer.
It was gone? But he'd never--
"Hey, buddy. You okay?"
X's eyes snapped to the doorway at the familiar nickname. There was only ONE person who could call him that, and that person was gone, and if he was gone he should not have been standing in the doorway looking so concerned for him.
Oh, good. He'd finally cracked. Alia told him this would happen if he kept pushing himself. And now he was hallucinating Zero walking into the room like he had before, brushing the hair away from X's face as he spoke. "You screamed pretty loud - scared the hell out of me. Thought we agreed you weren't gonna overwork yourself that bad ever again?"
"Zero," X whispered, feeling his body lock up at the feeling of a hand in his hair. "You-- you're here. You were... you..."
"Yeah? I'm here." Zero paused, frowning softly. "I have got to talk to the Commander tomorrow. I know he thinks you can handle this kinda workload but it's killing you. What happened? Bad dream?"
"I-I don't know," X stammered, letting himself lean into Zero's palm. It was so warm. It'd been months since he'd felt those hands... "I thought-- I... when did I get in here, Zero?"
"Around twenty-three hundred thirty hours or so. Thought you were gonna collapse at your desk until the Commander threatened to carry you to bed if you didn't catch some charge." Zero's frown deepened, softly stroking X's cheek as he sat on the bed next to him. "It's about zero-two-hundred hours now, so no way did you get a full rest. Lifesaver's gonna be on you if you keep this up."
X couldn't hardly think. Zero was dead, wasn't he? And yet, here was this hallucination speaking so sweetly to him... like he was still alive and still there to comfort him.
He let himself indulge and leaned into the familiar palm, soaking in its warmth. "I'll apologize to Signas tomorrow, I suppose... forgive me for being a bit clingy, I just-- I had one hell of a nightmare." And now I'm dreaming, and I don't want to wake up, he thought as Zero raised an eyebrow, chuckling.
"Signas?"
"You said the Commander threatened to carry me up here," X commented, opening one eye.
"Well, yeah, but he's only in training still. You must be out of it if you're trying to make Commander Sigma retire this early--"
"Sigma?!" That name caught X's audial circuits like a fire and he sat upright, wide-eyed, ready to switch his armor on in an instant. "Zero, he's--"
"Our commander. Guy who leads the Maverick Hunters, you know, that guy? Good grief, that nightmare really did do a doozy on you." Zero folded his arms, eying X up and down like he was looking for injuries. "What was it about? Seems like it knocked you for a loop."
"I-- you were dead, I watched him kill you! Again!"
"Again? You mean your dreams make a habit outta' killing me off?!"
The mock offense on Zero's face was disorienting enough that X lowered his guard to stare at him. "You... you don't remember? He went Maverick, and you-- you blew yourself up to save me from Vile. Then there was the whole incident with Eurasia..."
"...And you really don't remember that?" X looked up, meeting Zero's eyes - the darkness had given them an unmistakably eerie green glow for all of a moment, making him blink and shiver. "How is that...?"
"I think that nightmare jiggled a few capacitors loose in your head, X. I'm right here. Sigma's still our commander. Vile's still an asshole - and also breathing, but we can always change that."
"ZERO!"
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding-- look, how about this. You clearly aren't sleeping right alone. As your partner - and your boyfriend - making sure you sleep is part of my duties. So," Zero paused, slipping under the blanket next to X. "I'll just sleep next to you. Should help."
"You... you're sure? You really mean...?"
"I'm serious. Lay your head on my chest, the core hum should sync with yours and it'll probably help make those nightmares go away for now." Zero patted his chest, grinning. "I'll take my armor off, even. Then tomorrow morning we'll talk to the commander about you going on leave until these stress dreams screw off. Sound fair?"
"...fair enough," X said warily after a moment, watching as Zero sent his armor back to storage. "You promise me we'll talk tomorrow? I-- this dream, it-- it was so real."
"Promise," Zero laughed softly, pulling X against his chest. "Just get some sleep for now, okay? We'll get a full recharge in, go talk to Sigma, he'll freak out and have you put on leave and we'll go somewhere nice to relax for a while. Maybe the beach? I know you liked walking on the seafloor..."
Admittedly, that did sound nice. X huffed and let himself lean into the embrace, practically luxuriating in the feel of Zero's arms around him again. It still felt like months, years-- had all of it really been a bad dream? It couldn't have been. It was so real. Was he still drea--
"Sleep well, X," Zero's voice echoed in his ears, and before X could think he'd drifted back into a dreamless sleep.
All the more well then that he couldn't catch the way Zero's golden hair briefly flickered to a pale lavender as he leaned down to kiss the top of X's head, nuzzling a little closer.