130 Nines Return To Cosmos City (1/2)

Nocturne wasn't fidgety – he wasn't. Okay, fine, maybe he was – just a little bit. But you know what? That was perfectly fine. When one hasn't seen their significant other for two whole weeks, they were entitled to a bit of nervousness mixed with excitement.

So, yes, he was fine. Perfectly fine. There was no way that he was meeting Nine out at the city gates, because Nocturne knew himself, and he knew that there was absolutely no way that he was going to see Nine and *not* pounce. Even if he wanted to show

Sure, they had been chatting as regularly as they could through the necklace Nine prepared for the both of them, but it was in no way the same. He missed Nine's warmth, Nine's smile, Nine's eyes. He missed cuddling with Nine in bed in a way that he never realized he missed before Nine was gone.

There were so many of the little things that he had missed and hadn't noticed before. He never realized how it was Nine who switched out his coffee cup whenever it went cold. It was only when he was deep within his research one day that he took a sip of his coffee and nearly spat it back out. It had been cold and utterly disgusting.

In hindsight, Nine had been the one who changed it, and he never once realized until Nine went off by herself. Well, you know what they said. Hindsight was 20/20.

He never once realized that as he kicked off the covers in the middle of the night, Nine was the one who drew him in and covered them under the blankets together so he didn't get cold in the morning.

He never once realized as he revolved around Nine, Nine similarly revolved around him. It made him feel both gratified and terrified. How far had they gravitated to one another that it made him feel he would never be the same should Nine ever leave him. He would never be 'okay' again.

So, when the door clicked open, lost as he was in his thoughts, Nocturne's head immediately snapped up, eyes instinctually searching for his husband.

Blue eyes met violet, and before Nocturne was aware of it, he was already across the room, sweeping Nine into a hug. He buried his head on Nine's chest, something pricking his eyes for an unknown reason.

The scent of Nine's rain and clearwater that so defined her made him feel like his world was back to rotating on a proper axis. And when Nine's hand came up in his hair, ever so softly, as if afraid he would break at the lightest touch, he knew Nine felt the same way.

”Nine,” he murmured, muffled.

Nine's laugh, gentle, but a bit rough at the edges, made him feel warm in a way he adored down to his very bones. He wanted to just squeeze Nine and never let go. He wanted to demand that she take him everywhere, to never leave him again, but he didn't.

Because he knew what happened when someone was too possessive in a relationship. He had seen it first-hand with his parents. His father, the Emperor, had clung so tightly to his mother.

There was never a day he saw his mother that he never saw his father at her side. Nocturne realized that as the years passed, his mother's gaze dimmed by the day, whilst his father remained as fervent as ever.

While he knew that wasn't how his and Nine's relationship worked, he couldn't help but fear for the worst. He had his father's blood running through his body. He felt it with every flash of possessiveness, with every excess jealousy that he felt stab his heart.

He saw what it did to his mother, and what it did to his father in turn. He didn't want them to turn out like that.