Work Text:
As you walked the streets, you could feel your head pounding, your rib cage locking on itself. And the only thing you could think of was: What a shitty day.
Oh yes, it wasn't the shittiest, and anyone could have lived worst today, you knew about that. But maybe it was the heat, your loneliness, or just the fucking horoscope, anyway, you were exhausted, and knowing that the day wasn't over was even more tiring. But, the day -or more precisely the night- was way but over, you had to go to the museum and meet up with your boyfriend.
Why the museum? Strange enough, your boyfriend was the mummy of the pharaoh Ahkmenrah, the fourth king of the fourth king or whatever.
No. You need to calm down, he didn't do anything and didn't deserved your anger. You can't just walk in and start a fight because You had a bad day at work. He was the sweetest man You ever encountered. And unlucky as you are, your perfect man is stuck inside a museum and can only see you at night.
But it’s worth it you thought, that’s why every time you felt angry at anyone, you would think of him to calm down, your discussions, your nights together. You could describe it, but it was like the mere thought of Ahkmenrah was enough to sooth all your problems.
Well, most of the time, when you reached your emotional limit, when you felt like exploding to him, you would just isolate yourself for a few days. Pretending to be sick or to take extra hours at work (it was mostly true, you needed money). I mean, its pretty hard to talk to a 4000 years old dead Pharaoh -who's been murdered by his jealous brother- about your little problems. It was hard talking about it to anyone, but if you told him about your problems, you would feel like whining to him. And you’d never want to annoy him.
But it has already been a week since you last saw him, it would be suspicious if you called in sick again today.
So you went, persuading yourself that you looked good enough to just seems exhausted. But what if he wanted to be physical tonight? Oh god no, You could not even think about it without being stressed already. Physical contact was hard for you, yet you could accept it with Ahkmenrah, his touch didn't repulsed you like anyone else. But when my nerves were on fire like tonight, the simple thought of him brushing next to me made my skin practically crawl.
You loved him. Sometime you needed your space. But from past experiences, you never knew if you could really ask for your partner for it. In your last relations they always found a way to make you guilty for refusing sex or physical contact. In the end you accepted eventually and didn’t even knew why.
Here you were. Right in front of the doors of the museum. The night has set an hour ago and you just new he would likely find you the moment you walked in there. You took a deep breath once again and prepared yourself to smile to the first person showing up.
And that didn't missed. Already 7 people in the hall, some of them turning heads when they heard you push the door. Larry was part of them. You expected to see him tonight, like every night you came here, so you were prepared for the social conversation asking how he was and all.
Kindly enough he left you go straight to Ahkmenrah, even he realized it has been a long time you saw each other. But in a way it made you even more nervous. What if you crumbled right in front of him, crying and sniffing around, making him uncomfortable. Oh what a cringe moment that would be. And you would never hear the end of it later. No you had to suck it up you thought.
Here he was, talking with some of the huns, smiling politely. For a moment you felt air coming back to your lungs. Maybe tonight wouldn't be as hard as you thought? You forgot how peaceful he made you feel. It really has been a long time you two spend apart.
And then his eyes met yours. And your breath got cut again. Please do not ask any questions...
He waved goodbye to Attila and his men before strolling toward you with joy. He's radiating. And you, on the other hand, must look like a pile of dirty sweaty clothes.
"___! Finally you're here! Oh I've been waiting all those seven nights to hear about your days!" Ahkmenrah kept going again and again about how he missed your stories, joyfully welcoming you. And then the moment you worried the most about. You prepared yourself to a hug, or even a light peck on the cheek. But You saw his lips quickly crashing on yours, like usual.
His sweet lips brushing yours with tenderness. Oh he missed you so much, and you couldn't even repay him with the same enthusiasm.
When he detached his lips, he took his time to really analyses your face. And you saw him getting struck by the fact that you weren't feeling well. Were your eyebrows too frowned? Your kiss not warm enough?
As panic started to seize you and your thought clouds your mind, Ahkmenrah took his hands and cradled your burning face with his palms, preventing you for braking eye contact.
"Dear, what's going on?" He asked, his own eyes clouding with concern. That was the worst scenario that could have happened. How could you have believe you could do it? Dupe him. He's always so clever, he's always looking at you, into you like an open book.
You shook your head out of his warm hands and laugh-coughed your way out of tears. "Naaah no no, I'm fine, I'm just extra tired tonight. Work and... Dumbass co-workers."
Ahkmenrah kept looking concerned "Do you... Want to talk about th-" he couldn't even finish that you wanted to avoid all that, him being sad for you.
"No no no no! Promise its stupid. No need to bother you with this at all, it’s passed." You couldn't help but batting your eyes to keep the tears in line, You must really be tired to crack up to him so easily. Ahkmenrah wanted to press it by saying that nothing that ever happen to you is stupid, but you forced another subject to try distracting him. And thankfully he followed. Pfiew no more question. At least that’s what you thought.
Slowly, while talking about stars he drive you toward his room, and even if you were glad he didn't asked more questions, a part of your mind was stressed about the rest of the night. You didn't knew if you could have sex with him while remaining composed and that scared you a little. Not that you perfectly know that he would not force you to anything, you couldn’t but already feeling guilty if you said no.
Each seconds brings you closer to his room and as you passed the Jackal-headed guards he said something to them in his native tongue and they moved up to the entrance of the room. You really are going to do it, you thought. Finally he stopped himself and faced me, his face oh so sweet. Your voice trailed down and you took a deep breath preparing yourself for the next part, scooting closer to him.
But suddenly, you felt his hands on your shoulders, stopping you from coming any closer. You focused of his gaze, the lights of the torches of the room dancing on his soft features, and he whispered.
"Dear.. What's going on." even in this darkened room, you could easily see his concern, and you realized, you couldn't escape the talk this time.
But not without trying, you shook your head and laughed dryly. "Come on, nothing's going on Ahk. I just had a bad-"
"Then how come you do not talk to me about it?" Ahkmenrah cut you mid sentence and it knocked the air out of your lungs, your eyes were scanning left and right as you tried to come up with a back up without looking at his worried gaze. It was unnecessary, it was nothing, its stupid you repeated to yourself with your inside voice.
But before you could answer you felt his hands slide the long of your arms, raising goose bumps on their way, finally reaching your hands and squeezing them tenderly.
"I don't... Mind you not telling me why you feel so bad.” Ahkmenrah started, trying to find the right words.
“Well, I do mind but I won't argue with you if you don’t." He said brushing your fingers with his thumbs, his touch so calming but at the same time wrecking your nerves. He slowly brought his gaze up to yours, trying to capture your eyes to focus just a second.
"I just want you to stop telling me you're fine. Even if you don't tell me anything more." He said calmly, not waiting for a response. But you on the other side, felt your brain loop as it flooded you with information.
You tried to talk, really you wanted to. But his look, his words. Did you disappointed him?
"Sor-ry... I...." Your throat completely shut you off and could only breath out the "can't". Even more hurtful was to see Ahkmenrah's face contort with concern as he bring his hand to wipe tears off your face. Involuntarily, you started to feel all your limbs shake violently as you tried to speak only a few words, repeating to him that you were fine. Or to yourself.
Suddenly, without a word, Ahkmenrah grabbed you into his arms. No question, no sound. Just him crushing you against him. And strangely enough, the contact you tried to avoid felt so comfortable at this instant. Your breathing was still ragged, but you could feel your heart slowing gradually.
He never once let you go, nor asked for anything until my legs and arms stopped shaking. "Are you feeling better?" he asked slowly rubbing his cheek against your hair. You on the other side, liked how he didn't assaulted you with questions or words of recomfort. Just silence and the warmth of his chest against your cheek.
"Stay like this a little more, please..." You murmured, wondering if he could even hear you. But he just tighten his embrace on you a little more, letting you sight against him. After a few minutes, he finally let you go after you asked for a little air with a chuckle. He could feel that it calmed you down and relief came to his face as he heard you make light jokes. Strangely after all that it was like your words could flow out on their own.
You two sat down next to each other and you just started to grumble about your shitty day and how your coworkers had been on you nerves all day. But also how someone made a reflection about how bad mouthed you were.
You were so annoyed by all this, being told how to speak or how to act, plus the fact that you were already really exhausted by your week. Ahkmenrah on his side didn't said a word, let you finish all you wanted to say.
"And yeah I just... I didn't want you to worry about all those stupids things. Now that I say them out loud they're pretty lame and there is definitely worst somewhere... I didn't want you to see me like this." You ended up with this and finally turned to Ahkmenrah, waiting for his conclusion thinking he would brush it off with a laugh, saying something like "oh that’s all?", but he really just looked at you with his tender eyes, a gentle smile waiting for you at the end of your monologue.
"Dear, of course you are exhausted with all this... And frankly it kind of sadden me to hear that you wouldn't talk about all this because I'm supposed to have had a worse life." He said his voice just above a whisper, like he was trying not to scare me.
Damn it, you could already feel your tears come back, but this time you could feel they were tears of relief. Of not being merely judged every time you opened your mouth. Scared, Ahkmenrah's hands fled back to your face, supporting it and swiping the tears rolling down with the tender you never knew you could ever feel.
"I'm in love with all of you ___, even your shitty days. I want you to talk to me about it freely, you could never annoy me..." He assured you, always bringing you closer to him. With the sweetest movements known to man, Ahkmenrah deposited a soft kiss under your right eye. And you couldn't help but nuzzle into his palm and press a kiss into it in return.
And just like that, you felt yourself relax next him while he talked about his nights with the other member of the museum. It was nice and warm, letting your mind wander and only to focus on Ahkmenrah.