112 Esteemed Messenger (1/2)

In the middle of the day, before the sun set, Nine had extracted herself from the comfort of their bed. She took the time to stare at her wife, who was still sleeping soundly. It spoke volumes to her when she saw this. How tired must he have been, to still be this deeply asleep even after she was out of bed? Usually, he seemed to have some sort of sensor that woke him whenever she so much as moved, so the sight before her was rather rare.

She hesitated slightly on whether or not to wake him up but decided to do so anyway. He would be most upset with her should he be, in his own words, 'useless' whilst everyone else was toiling away. Though she thought that a single day did not matter should he decide to take the day off to recuperate, she did respect his will, and as long as he came back *properly* to rest, it would not be harmful to him.

Nine shook his shoulder gently, and her Nox stirred slightly, rubbing his eyes, sleepy. He instinctively reached for her hand, which she allowed, looking at him with fond eyes. She huffed and curled her index finger, pulling it away from his face, but he only moved forward and rubbed against her hand like a cat.

Nine looked down on his sleepy visage and felt the fondness within her bubble up. Nine leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss on his cheek, causing him to crack open an eye and stare at her blearily. Then, a slow smile spread across his face, like the sun coming out from behind the clouds after a thunderstorm.

Nine expressionlessly reached down and picked him up before he could react, cradling him in her arms. She ignored the squeak she received from him, squeezing him tightly before setting him down on the bed.

Nocturne stared at Nine with a dazed look, feeling like his husband looked magnificent in the watery light of their room. Even though they had 'fought' the night previous, their interactions had remained unchanged, and Nocturne felt it was possible for a human to melt as much as this.

If anyone ever compared him now with his person ten years ago, they would not have ever imagined that these two people were one and the same.

By the time both of them were ready, thankfully, the sun had not yet set. As the undead happened upon them, everyone in the city had to adjust their schedule to effectively combat the unending swarms of undead that tried to wreak havoc on their city.

As they were about to part ways, Nine abruptly stopped, causing Nocturne to follow and halt his movements as well. He stared at Nine in puzzlement.

Nine turned to Nocturne and tilted his chin up, looking him dead in the eyes. ”You're not allowed to flirt with any girls!” she said in the end.

Nocturne stared at his husband, stunned. ”Ah?” he said unintentionally. ”I thought you said you weren't mad about that?”