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You were having one of those really bad days. The kind of bad day where everything that happened seemed to be going wrong, in one way or another, draining you of both energy and sanity to only leave you feeling like a shell of a person at the end of the day. The exasperated sigh that pushed past the plump seam of your lips wasn’t enough to exert all the negative feelings stirring inside of you. You regretted crawling out of bed this morning and going to work.
You were exhausted when you finally arrived back to your apartment, barely clinging onto the door handle when it shut behind you with a soft click. You stood there for a long moment, knees threatening to give out beneath you as you stared blankly at the ceiling, back braced against the door to give you support as you started to process the day's events. You were so tired, your eyes straining as memories came flooding back, all the conversations and disastrous things that had occurred replaying like an old record spinning around your head. You shuddered at the memories and the long, overdue overstimulation that crept up on you. You were barely holding it together as unshed tears pricked the corners of your eyes.
It really had been an awful day for you.
Your attention was quick to focus when you heard approaching footsteps, your frazzled mind briefly forgetting that your boyfriend was visiting today. The click of Ashveil’s boots along your floorboards announced his presence long before he rounded the corner to find you in the entryway still hanging onto the door by a thread.
“Hey, I thought I heard you coming in” he greeted with a bright and cheery voice. “Welcome bac-”
Ashveil paused when his gaze finally landed on you. His eyes widened briefly, his bright smile fading and lips pressing together in a tight, thin line as he took notice of your disheveled form. Your hair was askew and windswept, there were heavy bags lingering under your tired eyes and your complexion was pallid, like life had been completely sucked out of you to leave you bone dry. His lips softly pursed in concern as he slowly approached, your sullen mood palpable and leaving a bitter taste lingering at the back of his throat.
“Are you feeling okay?” he asked, voice dropping off into a softer, more calm tone. “What’s the matter?”
Your heart panged inside your chest at the concern lacing Ashveil’s tone. It made your stomach twist itself into a nervous knot that made you feel nauseous and you swear you can taste bile in the back of your throat when you swallowed thickly. Your tongue wet your dry lips, the tip of your tongue scraping across the dry desert of the flaking skin clinging to the corners of your mouth. The hand gripping the door handle was starting to tremble, your curled fingers aching as you held on with the last remaining bits of your strength.
“Ash.”
The fond nickname passed your lips with a dry croak, tears threatening to spill down the swell of your chubby cheeks. Where did you even begin with your dreadful day? All it took was one little crack to show and it felt like you were ripping apart at the seams. Tears made your vision blurry, track marks streaming down your flushed cheeks as a sob got stuck in your throat. You were shaking like a wet leaf blown about in a violent storm and no matter how hard you pressed the heels of your palms under your eyes, it did not stem the flow of tears. Ashveil couldn’t help himself and took a bold step forward, arms raised and poised to catch you if you suddenly tipped off balance.
“Hey now, don’t cry” he said, voice still soft and full of patience as he spoke. “Do you want a hug?”
He opened his arms wider for you, beckoning you to come forward and be swept in his embrace with the curl of his pointer finger. You looked up at him with big, wet eyes and it took all of his strength to hold back from folding you into his arms immediately and coddling you like you were some poor, lost puppy. He hated seeing you cry and would do anything in his power to stop your tears, thus he did something that usually quelled your tears. He offered you a hug. You started to nod your head furiously, using the last of your waning strength to push yourself off the door and launch straight into his arms.
Ashveil braced for impact as you crashed into him, a loud rush of air breezing past his lips at the unexpected force. It knocked the wind out of his lungs as you latched onto him, head buried in his chest and arms wrapped tight around his waist as you pressed your trembling hands into his back. You squeezed him tight as you sobbed into his chest, your salty tears soaking into his shirt as you sniffled loudly.
“Wow, you must really need this hug” Ashveil commented.
A soft and sad whimper crawled out of the back of your throat and he thinks you’re crying harder than you were before. Ashveil wrapped his strong arms around your soft waist, squeezing you firmly as he held you to his chest. He rested his chin on top of your head, nose pressed into your soft looks of hair as he gently soothed you.
“It’s okay” he murmured, rubbing his hands along your back in a soothing motion. “Just let it all out.”
And that’s what you did. You sobbed and you wailed, letting the torrent of tears pour out of your eyes to flow freely down your face. You cried so hard that your ribs ached and your head hurt. But the tension weighing down your shoulders eased bit by bit. It was comforting to be hugged by Ashveil. He was warm when he wrapped his arms around your plump waist, hands digging into your pudgy sides as he held on tight. The earth could start shaking right now and he would not budge, holding on like he would never let go. He was always so attentive to your moods, always able to adjust and go at your pace, something that you greatly appreciated of your ashen detective. He was able to read your moods as fast as he burned through those crime novels he liked to read.
A soft hum stirred in Ashveil’s chest as he continued to hold you, noting that your tears weren’t coming as fast anymore as he gently pat your back, trying to softly encourage you to dislodge that awful lump in your throat.
“It’s okay” he murmured softly into your hair. “You’re doing your best.”
And you were. He knew you were. You were plagued with a lot of complications but you were trying, even on days where he knew it was difficult for you and it felt like you were dragging yourself just to get over the finish line at the end of the day. He knew you tired easily, he knew you got overwhelmed easily, he knew that it was easy for you to crash and burn out to a fizzle when you were exhausted. It wasn’t pretty and most days it felt like you could crumble and vanish into dust from it. But Ashveil wasn’t going anywhere. He would hold onto you like this, no matter how long it took.
Your sobs tapered off into soft sniffles, your tears drying up as you clung to the back of Ashveil’s jacket. You had managed to snag long strands of his hair between the gaps of your fingers, long wisps of silk curled around your fingertips that tickled your soft skin. You slowly moved your head out of the expanse of Ashveil’s chest to take a deep and unsteady breath, murmuring an apology for soaking his clothes in all of your tears. Ashveil unwound one of his arms from your waist, raising his hand and rubbing his thumb beneath your tired eyes to wipe away the constellation of tears that clung to your heavy lashes.
“Don’t worry about it” he replied with a soft smile. “Are you feeling a little better?”
You nodded slowly, not wishing to rattle your head too much from how hard your temples were still throbbing. It always happened when you cried too hard. It was relieving but also left a little bit of lingering pain in your body. Ashveil slowly drew his thumb over the swell of your cheek, the soft leather of his glove cool to the touch as he pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead. You preened a little from his attention, squeezing him around his waist as your face was shadowed by the rim of his hat. His arm moved from your waist to your shoulders, fingers curling into your skin and gripping gently as he cast his gaze down at you.
“I got an idea, how about you go change into something a little more comfortable and we just relax for the rest of the evening, yeah?”
A soft noise tickled the back of your throat, indicating your intrigue and softly urging him to continue. He squeezed your shoulder, his thumb brushing over the exposed skin as you rested your chin on his chest to stare up at him.
“We could order some food in and maybe watch a movie or two? Or we could go play a few video games?” He chuckled. “Well, you’d be the one playing. I'll just sit and watch. We can get all cosy under the blankets and snuggle up. What do you say? Sounds like a plan?”
A soft hum bubbled up your throat as you nodded. “I’d like that.”
Ashveil smiled as he pressed another kiss to your forehead. “Great! I’ll let Mr. N know. Maybe he can pick up some of your favourite snacks on the way over.”
He gently tapped the edge of your nose with his finger, the action causing your eyes to cross briefly before a soft giggle tumbled from your plush lips. You squeezed Ashveil around the waist one more time. He was such a caring and doting boyfriend to you.