First Time Destiny | Fire Emblem Awakening (Oneshots)

Nights with You

Original prompt: Exhaustion

Even when I used big candles in the evening, I was often still awake when the flames had consumed the entirety of the wick and the light went out. At that time, tomorrow had usually become today, and it would have been sensible to go to bed. But my paperwork was never ending, especially just after a war. And that went two-fold if there had been a dragon it in.

So, one particular evening not long after Grima's demise, I scrabbled around in my drawer for a new candle instead of going to bed. It didn't take long, because I only really used my study for boring paperwork – and, with the exception of the first few weeks after my reincarnation, I often put that off until the night. As such, I had an exceedingly large and well-organised collection of big candles to work by.

This meant that Chrom knew exactly where to find me once it was dark, and he would always come and see how I was doing once he'd finished his daily work. At times like this, when he had been working equally as hard and equally as late, he would insist that I should come to bed. Like he was no doubt going to do right now.

I heard him approaching my study, his footfalls softer than they usually were in the day as if he was trying his hardest to be quiet. He wasn't making a very good job of it, but I doubted that he would wake anyone up. We were all used to the guards strolling around outside our rooms anyway.

I sighed, the candle in my hand still unlit. There wasn't much point in lighting it now. Chrom always managed to wear me down when he begged me to come to bed, whether it was through a guilt trip, through lust, or just by picking me up and taking me to our room himself.

He'd actually done the latter once, and the guards hadn't even looked at us. I wondered if they had been trained to turn a blind eye when the ruler carried his wife around. It wouldn't have surprised me. Chrom and I were probably a little more affectionate in public than we were supposed to be.

I heard the footsteps stop outside my door, and it slowly swung open. A small candle appeared in the opening, allowing me to see my surroundings again. Not that I wanted to. Chrom was here.

His blue-grey eyes were full of confusion as he stepped over the threshold. "Robin – why are you sitting in the dark?"

I held up my own candle so that he could see it. "I was going to light this, but then I heard you coming."

He stopped on the other side of my desk and took the candle from my hand. "Does that mean you'll come to bed without protest?"

I glanced down at my work. "Chrom, I still have so much –"

"It's not going to run away in the night, is it? If you don't come to bed now, I'm not sure you'll be able to get any sleep at all before we're required to be up again. Come, please." He put his candle on my desk and pressed his lips against my forehead. "Please."

I leaned into him and yawned.

He chuckled. "My point exactly."

Too exhausted to argue my case, I took his hand when he offered it to me and let him pull me up. We paused so that he could raise his candle again, and then, hand in hand, we trailed down the corridor to our room.

Some nights we produced passion like no other, but these nights, when we both crawled into bed and curled up together in a ball of exhaustion, were what really made our bonds strong. These were the nights that made us things besides lovers. These where what made us friends, family, and carers. And that was what had allowed us to overcome Grima. It had given us our second chance together.

So on those nights, I never wished for anything different. I just snuggled into Chrom and allowed myself to drift off to sleep, ready to spend another day with him.