guard dog | genshin impact

twelve

CONTENT WARNING: ah, they kind of make out in this one *pops open the champagne*

...

Thoma woke up with a start.

Despite the searing cold, trails of sweat proceeded to bead down his face, and he realized it was because of two reasons. One: the fireplace in Doctor Naoko's home still housed a fervent flame—illuminating the otherwise desolate space inside. And two...

Green eyes flickered to the sleeping figure in his arms.

He watched the rise and fall of your chest in near-silence. Though he's a little hesitant to admit, the sight of you alone was enough to quell the momentary unrest that settled over his heart.

A bereft sigh left his lips as he slumped against the wall, piecing together the dream he had just now. Thoma didn't particularly remember the last time he had a nightmare, but it was no surprise that he'd be tormented by one now—with some nasty curse currently taking up residence in his body.

Those kinds of dreams were the furthest thing from pleasant, and he found himself wondering how you managed to deal with them regularly. Though you put up a snarky front for the most part, he's heard you enough times back in the estate's kitchen when you thought no one was there—barely breathing as you anchored yourself to your own sanity.

He closed his eyes, remembering how Orobashi's hollow eyes seemingly pierced into his soul earlier today. You were amazing, he thought. If he had to live with something that practically oozed malignant energy into the land, Thoma didn't know how he himself would be faring mentally. But here you were, nestled in his arms—trusting him enough to lay yourself vulnerable in your slumber.

Your face was devoid of the discomfort that nightmares would otherwise incite. You looked more at peace than he's ever seen you, and he liked to think it's because of him that those bad dreams had been abated. But the chief retainer wasn't really as self-centered as he liked to be.

He knew it wasn't because of his company that you've slowly unfurled your tightly wrung disposition towards other people. Anyone who knew you could tell that you treated others with open hostility by default, and now that you've spent a chunk of your time around the same people you claimed to despise, he realized it.

You let your guard down. You let them in.

Of course, you weren't the first person his family had tried to save, nor were you the last. But of all the troublesome people that the Kamisato siblings wished to give a second chance at life, you're by far the most stubborn.

Thoma had never seen anyone cling so deeply to their past that they thought they no longer deserved a future. He's only hazarded a few of his own guesses that night he interrogated you in Ritou Harbor, and you're yet to completely come clean about what happened for you to lead the life you'd chosen. But he knew a person who wanted to break free of those chains when he saw them—even if you yourself weren't aware of it yet.

A smile snaked its way onto his lips when you stirred slightly, muttering something under your breath before burrowing deeper into his embrace. His chest stirred.

Slowly, surely, with utmost patience. That's how Ayaka preferred doing things, and Thoma had only recently picked up the habit as well. After all...

If he's going to let himself love you, he's going to need all the patience he could get.

...

"Got anything on your end?"

"Nope. What about you?"