Work Text:
I switch off the ignition with a sigh. Home at last. What a goddamn day, I muse as I let my head thud back against the car seat. I consider having a nap in the car, as I seriously doubt my ability to haul my aching carcass up the steps and into the house.
I had been on my feet all day, and my wonky ankle was certainly reminding me of that fact. Repeatedly, and in no uncertain terms. Work. Work had effectively sucked the ragged soul out of my body, and other than the fact I liked living in a warm, dry house and eating food, I would have walked out today. It also must have been a full moon, from the parade of weirdos that had crossed my path. Nothing had been simple. Everyone wanted to argue. I had almost bitten my tongue off a dozen times, and my face hurt from all the fake smiling I had been forced to do.
I want nothing more than to levitate myself into the house and die. Or at least not move and have no human contact for a good 12 hours.
Staring at the front door, I reach blindly for my bag and dragged it across the front seat. It hooks up in the seat belt as I pick it up and I manage to dump its contents all over the seat and floor. Cursing hotly, I fish my phone out of the mess and pull the keys out of the ignition. Fuck it, I think to myself. If someone wants my collection of receipts, they can fill their boots.
I open the car door and step out. I let my feet drag against the pavement as I slowly walk towards my safe haven. It had been raining all day, so puddles have formed on the driveway, and I am way too tired to avoid stepping in them. I finally reach the front door. I sigh heavily and step inside.
I catch a faint whiff of something fragrant and vaguely familiar as I drop my bag and keys onto the floor on either side of my feet. As I step out of my shoes, I felt a wave of relief coming from my bad ankle, causing me to bend over and gently massage it. I drag my feet across the hardwood floor, towards the bedroom, where he was waiting for me.
I shove the door open and stop dead in my tracks. There sat Aether on his side of our bed. He’s wearing a red velvet smoking jacket with black satin lapels, his reading glasses over his mask. He pushed at the glasses, which could find no out purchase against the mask and kept sliding down. I blink hard and rub my forehead as I see the pipe poking out from underneath his silver mask. But what really caught my interest, and causes me to stand in the doorway with the mother of all confused looks on my face, was the teen magazine he happens to have in his hands. This was just too much.
“Uhhh… Why are you reading Tiger Beat?” I slur, closing my eyes, and furrowing my eyebrows.
He shrugs and turns the magazine to its side, his eyes scan the page. “There was an article about me. Apparently I'm a ‘teen heartthrob’, whatever the fuck that means.” His eyes squint in discontent as he unfolds the poster attached to the magazine. “Aw fuck! They chose probably the worst picture of me.” He closes the magazine and tosses it aside. “My ass looks so fat in that picture.” He takes a puff from his pipe and sets it down, letting the smoke blow out from the nose holes of his mask.
Unsure of what just happened, I drag my feet towards the bed and fall face first beside him onto the mattress. I let out a loud groan against the pillow my face was buried in, and waited for the bed to swallow me whole.
Aether turns towards me, and pokes at my backside. “What's up, buttercup?” he asks as he playfully squeezes one of my cheeks.
I grumble incoherently against the pillow.
He removes his glasses and sets it on the nightstand before laying down next to me, caressing my back.
“Long day, min kärlek?” he asks sweetly as he runs his fingers through my hair.
I turn my head towards him and nod slowly.
“Tired?” He asks, caressing my cheek. I nod again, slowly closing my eyes. He snaps his fingers and stands up for the bed. “Alright, time to pamper!”
The sudden energy in his voice and movements made me groan in protest.
“No no no. I'm having none of that, missy.” Aether says as he walks into the en suite bathroom and turns the faucet on in the bathtub. He walks back out and begins to undress me.
Normally, I would have protested, and not allow this kind of treatment, but I was too exhausted to do anything.
He bends down to remove my pants completely, and sees I'm wearing an ace wrap on my ankle. “Oh no.” He says quietly, leaning in to plant a kiss on the wrap. “Has your ankle been bothering you today?” He gently unwraps my ankle, and stands. He looks over to me and sees tears streaming down my face.
His eyes widen. “NO! No no no no…,” he yells as he runs into the bathroom for a moment, fumbling around with things. “...no no no no no!” He continued as he picks me up, and throws me over his shoulder. I flop against his back and dangle there like a wet and useless noodle.
Aether holds on to my legs tightly as he carries me into the ensuite. I hang limply down his back, mortified at being slung around like a sack of potatoes, but also secretly relieved that I didn't have to adult any more. As much as it normally irritates me to be treated like a helpless child, I feel like my soul had departed my body and I don't have the strength to protest.
I squeak in alarm and grab at his smoking jacket as he swings around suddenly and crouches down. My feet touch the ground once more and I wince as my bad ankle takes my weight again. Aether’s hands find my hips and guide me to sit on the toilet, lid down.
“That ankle,” he says as he runs his hands tenderly down my legs. He lowers himself to the floor in front of me and pulls my foot into his lap. “Sötis, it's all swollen again. What the f…”
I had been quietly sniffling, trying not to further embarrass myself by having a full on meltdown. My ankle hurt like hell. I was dog tired. Most of all, I was still trying to digest the fact that he had actually bought a damn Tiger Beat and I had walked in on him reading it like it was no big deal. I look at him, sitting on the floor in that damn smoking jacket and I start to giggle hysterically. Approximately one nanosecond later, a sob escapes me, and hot, fat tears begin to sneak down my face.
“Oh no. No. No no no.” Aether begins to unspool the toilet paper and wad it up. “No no no. Nope.” He dabs at my cheeks and holds the wad to my nose. “Blow,” he orders.
Snuffing my nose, I screw my eyes shut and try to pull away, moaning in protest. Aether grabs me gently by the back of the head. “Nope. Blow it.”
I snort a laugh, and give in to his request. I take the tissue from him and finish the job, looking down on him with a smirk. I snort again.
“That's better,” he said as he settled back down on the floor. “What's so funny though?” He had begun to gingerly massage my ankle.
“Blow it,” I giggle, “that's not usually what you want me to do when you grab me by the head and say that.”
“You're unbelievable, käraste. Okay, I walked into that.”
I let my eyes slide closed for a moment as his warm hands encircle my throbbing ankle. I put my other foot in his lap and slid it up against his tummy, looking for a warm place to burrow my icy toes in. He paused and wrapped his hand around my other foot.
“No-,” he began again, but I cut him off.
“Seriously? Do you know any other words?” I asked.
“No.”
He pushed my feet off his lap and began to get up off the floor.
“What are you-”
“No.”
Aether unties his smoking jacket and shucks it off his shoulders.
“I'm fine, babe, I don’t-”
“No.”
He wraps the velvety garment around me, pausing to lift his mask and kiss my forehead, and then my cheek. I slump against him with a groan that came from the darkest depths of my soul.
“Shit, no, not again,” he exclaims, panic rising in his voice. He begins to pat my back, and I try to pull away to look at his face, to ask him what he was freaking out about. He grabs me in a bear hug, and I squawk in surprise. I crane my head back to look at him, a question half formed on my lips. Aether’s big mitt wraps around my head again and he pulls my face to his chest with a thud. I had no idea what his malfunction is, but clearly trying to ask him was making it worse. For both of us.
I can feel his mask press against the top of my head as he strokes my hair. “Shhh,” he whispers, “No crying, only bath time now.”
“Aether,” I mumble into his chest. “You're smothering me, and not in a fun way.”
He releases his grip on my head and I push myself back to look him in the eyes, incredulous at what he has just said. “And did you just quote a meme at me?”
“A meme? You know I don't go for all that social media crap,” he says, waving his hand dismissively. He laughs nervously as he gets up. “Now!” he exclaims as he claps his hands. “Candles!” He bustles out of the ensuite, clearly on a mission.
I shake my head in exasperation as he leaves. I wasn't quite sure what had been in that pipe after all. I stick my arms in the sleeves of the jacket and rolled them up. They are a mile too long. Hobbling over to to tub, I sit on the edge and dip my fingers in to check the temperature. Hot, but bearable. Perfect for soaking the taint of this shitty day out of my body. Satisfied, I turn off the faucet.
Aether walks back in, his arms full of candles of all sorts. “I didn't know which one you’d want, so I just brought all of them,” he says as he places the candles all over the bathroom.
I giggle at his awkwardness. He was usually so composed, so graceful in his manners and actions. I find it extremely sweet that the aftermath of my bullshit day has reduced him to the broody, doting spaz before me.
“I’m more worried about the fire hazard,” chuckle as I point to the candle I like the most; a eucalyptus scented candle in a glass jar. He nods and takes all the other candles back.
After lighting the one candle, Aether walks towards me and squats at the edge of the tub, where I was sitting. He takes my hand and sandwiches it between his. “I want to take care of you, min älskling.” He finishes his sentence with a kiss to the back of my hand. He stands up, slips his smoking jacket off me and helps me into the tub, being careful not to have me put any weight on my ankle.
As I lower myself into the bath water, I let out a long sigh of relief. I am so glad I had him to take care of me. I don't think I could've taken care of myself without him, not after that day I just finished. Left to my own devices, I would still be moaning into my pillow. As much as I hated to admit it, I needed this.
The tension built up over the last 8 long hours of work begins to seep out of my muscles. I lounge back in the tub, my hair wicking up the warm water.
I watch Aether continue to fuss around the bathroom. Pushing the door closed, he turns up the thermostat a bit. He hangs up a pair of towels over the heater, folding them neatly first. With a washcloth in hand, he dims the lights and comes to sit on the floor next to the tub, to be at eye level with me.
“I mean it, käraste,” he begins again, “I've never seen you so exhausted and overwhelmed.”
I close my eyes and sigh deeply. He was right. I feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders. I'm surprised I haven't had a mental breakdown yet. I slump deeper in the water, scowling at the thought of reliving the hot mess that was work.
“Come on, missy. None of those faces.” He reached over and tickled the end of my nose. “What must I do to see that beautiful smile of yours?”
I shrug, looking down at the bath bubbles and poking listlessly at them. I sigh again, feeling completely inconsolable. Aether reaches over and squishes my cheeks together, giggling to himself at the fish face he's created.
Any other time, I would have been in tears, laughing my head off. But tonight, I just wanted to soak in this tub, and forget everything.
“Hmmm my giggles didn't even affect you. Drastic times call for drastic measures,” Aether says as he shifts his position to the opposite end of the tub.
He kneels and leans in really close to my face before sucking in his cheeks and crosses his bright blue eyes, making his own fish face. I look at him, and then look away, sighing deeply. I'm not in the mood for laughing, and although it's nice of him to try, I really don't want to.
“Huh. Tough crowd.” Aether slumps back against the wall and throws his arm over the edge of the tub, swishing the water around.
He reaches into the water and gently lifts my leg and rests it on the edge of the tub. He turns around and removes his ring cuffs, something I've never seen him without, and begins gently massaging my swollen ankle again. I finally smile softly, and close my eyes. “There's that smile.” He kisses my ankle and smiles back at me.
“Now tell me, mitt hjärta,” Aether continues, his hands now kneading into my calf. “What happened today at work that got you all upset?” I shrug, as I coyly swish the water around. “I don't want to bother you-” He stops massaging me and removes his mask, staring at me with stern and serious eyes.
“Don't you dare say you're bothering me,” he finally says, caressing my leg. “If I didn't want to know about what's making you upset, I wouldn't have asked, nor would I have gone through the effort of pampering you.” He lets go of my leg and leans back into my face, smiling softly, before kissing my lips gently, and lovingly, caressing my face.
I'm left breathless as Aether breaks our kiss. I couldn't help but smile brightly. “Now tell me, you silly girl,” he chuckles as he resumes his spot against the wall and continues massaging my leg.
I sigh and begin to tell him about the unfortunate events that went down today. I gush about how much I despised the people I encountered today, I rave about how I barely took a break and was on my feet all day, and Aether sits there, listening to every word I say, still massaging my leg, and it’s very comforting. He says nothing, but that was exactly what I need: an ear, a shoulder to lean on, not someone to tell me things they think I want to hear.
“...And to top it all off, my boss kept riding my fucking ass all day.” I conclude, getting visibly angry. “Always fucking picking shit to call me out on.” I crossed my arms and pouted.
“Hm. Well, I might have to go down there and have a scrap with your boss,” he finally says, furrowing his eyebrows and biting the inside of his cheek. “The only one who's allowed to ride my girl’s ass is me.” He points to himself and winks at me. I burst out laughing at his ridiculously corny joke, but I feel much better now that I've gushed.
Aether’s smile grew bigger; one of the only times I've gotten to see this type of smile cross his face. “I'm glad I finally got you to laugh!” He splashes a bit of water at me before standing up and grabbing the shampoo from the window sill above the tub. He squeezes a generous amount into his hand and lathers my hair in the vanilla scented shampoo. I close my eyes and leaned into his touch, giggling as he carefully massaged my scalp. I look up at him with a chuckle.
“You don't have to be so gentle, babe. My hair is filthy. You gotta scratch the shit out of it!” I laugh as I demonstrate my preferred hair-washing method.
“Well, you're going to end up ripping your scalp off, for fucks sake!” he chuckles as he gently scratches at my scalp. It isn't as aggressive as I would like, but it's good enough. As he washes my hair, I begin to remember him almost having his own nervous breakdown.
“Hey, Aether,” I ask, twiddling my thumbs. “I was wondering something.” I gently splash my bath water. “Hm. What is it, sötis?” He grabs a rogue container and fills it up with water to rinse the shampoo out of my hair.
“Why were you freaking out earlier?” I finally ask, almost in a nervous whisper. “You weren't acting like your usual self.”
“And what, pray tell, is my ‘usual self’” Aether smiles as he finishes with my hair and stands, bending over to unplug the drain. He walks over to the heater and turns it off, picking up the warm towel, and throwing it over his shoulder.
“Well,” I reply “You're usually so calm and collected. You were nonchalantly reading a teen magazine for goodness sake!” I giggle at the memory, but my laughter quickly subsided. “But today, you looked so panicked, and quite frankly, you're a spaz when you're panicked.”
Aether walks back towards the now empty tub, where I'm still sitting, and squats beside me, resting a ringless hand on my face. “I was panicked, min söta, because I have never seen you so on the brink of a breakdown, that I just wanted to do everything in my power to keep that from happening.”
His crystal blue eyes are gentle, but still have a hint of sadness. “I was so worried,” he finishes, looking away from my eyes, his face is flushed red. My heart broke into a million pieces. My intention was not to make him feel so upset at my bad day. He's done so much for me, when he didn't have to.
I gently grab his chin and turn his face towards mine. “I thank you for making me feel better, Aether. I appreciate it so much.” I lean in and kiss him sweetly and lovingly, wrapping my wet arms around his neck. After the long embrace, he breaks the kiss and smiles, giving me a final kiss on the tip of my nose.
Aether stands and grabs my hands. “Can you stand on your ankle, or do I have to carry you to the bedroom?” he chuckles as he gently and carefully stands me up.
I apply a bit of weight on my ankle and see it doesn't hurt to stand on. “I can stand on it, but if you'd like to carry me, I wouldn't be opposed to that.” I giggle, holding my arms open.
He laughs as he removes the towel from his shoulder and opens it up, inviting me into a warm, soft, towely embrace.
As he wraps the towel around my body, I finally take notice that his chest is bare. He didn't put his smoking jacket back on, and this whole time I haven't noticed that he's shirtless. I run my finger across his chest, looking up at him mischievously and biting my lower lip.
“You know,” I say teasingly, batting my eyes at him. “I should return the favor. You've been so good to me, and I need to show you my appreciation.” I begin to kneel in front of him, smiling as I keep eye contact with him.
“What are you-” I interrupt him by hooking my thumbs on the waistband of his bottoms. “Well, you've been so good to me, I thought I'd return the favor.” Aether’s smile fades into a faint frown as he grabs my wrists, stopping me from pulling his pants down.
“No.”
“Wha-”
“No.”
“Is that like your word today?”
“No.” He pulls me to my feet and gently grabs my shoulders.
“What's wrong?”
“No.”
He kisses my forehead. “It's okay. You don't have to. Tonight is about you, baby.” He smiles and runs the back of his hand on my cheek.
“Are you sure?” I tilt my head to the side.
“Yes.” He smiles, taking me by the hand and kissing it. “Let's go lay down. I’ll show you the article they wrote about me.”
Suddenly, in one swoop, he hooks his arm behind my knees and carries me back into the bedroom.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“...And see here?” He points to a sentence in the article. My head rests on his bare chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, as I look up at his pointed finger. “Why would they call me a ‘teen heartthrob’? Who do I look like, Justin fucking Bieber?”
I laugh heartily. I'm grateful for him taking the night to selflessly take care of me. Under that stoic persona, Aether is honestly a kindhearted, gentle soul, and that is exactly what I needed.
“I think you're better than ‘Justin fucking Bieber’.” I look up at him and he rolls his eyes.
“I know. That guy is a chump.”
He chuckles and kisses the top of my head. I run my fingers up and down the length of his chest. “Listen,” I say, gently tugging at his chest hair. “I want to thank you for taking the time to take care of me. I really don't know what I would've done if you weren't here to do so.” He was silent. “I really do appreciate your selflessness. You're an amazing person.”
I hear soft snoring above me. I look up and my heart melts. Aether is fast asleep, with the magazine on his face. I giggle softly and kiss his chest. “Good night, mitt hjärta.”
Resting my head back on his chest, I let the soothing sounds of his breathing and steadily beating heart finally lull me to sleep.