#> this is only a little drabble kinda like my jill one. it does fit into the larger events but i havent written them yet LMAO

[waloeders]

reunions!

prompt: ➼ “Stop smothering me, you dumbass.” “It’s to make up for the lack of hugs in all these years in your life when I wasn’t there!”

summary: sleipnir comes back after a mission and reflects a little on how life has changed because of kosmos

ship: sleipnir harbard/kosmos

setting: the hideaway (seen up above!)

notes: so i slightly adapted this prompt for sleipnir :3 its set a while after the reverie events and a few...other things. but dw abt it, its fine. basically a drabble that technically fits into the whole timeline eventually

words: 704

"stop smothering me, wretched thing." he mumbled out the last part, voice slightly muffled by a mess of black hair. sleipnir sighed, rolling his eyes at the younger mans behaviour, and slipped his arms around their waist, "must you do this whenever we are reunited?"

they hummed, nuzzling into his chest and giving him a soft squeeze. similar to his King, sleipnir was always much warmer than him, as if the aether keeping the egi alive was burning through him at every moment, churning away like a runaway train.

ryder glanced up and found what they often did when giving him affection: despite all the feigned complaining and grumbling, sleipnirs' eyes had slipped close, his head resting on their own. a soft smile had even began to settle.

"of course - it's to make up for the lack of hugs before you met me." he chuckled a little, closing his eyes as he leant back against the egi, and his voice turned to a private whisper, "besides, i missed you... i miss you every time you're away."

the lord commander snorted, quickly placing a kiss on their forehead, and pulled away. one hand remained on their waist, squeezing gently, as the other reached up to cup their cheek, making them face him.

for a moment, he held them there, eyes flickering back and forth over their features, and he smirked as they leant into his palm.

"i suppose i am fortunate then, to be missed so." sleipnir hummed, tapping their nose with his finger, "come, i am sure you have much to tell me - i understand there was some matter otto had to resolve?"

"oh, right!"

the egi resisted the urge to laugh at their chatter, as he lead them back to their shared room, arm still lingering around their waist. since the events at the reverie, being separated from ryder was rare for him - on His Majesty's orders.

and now, returning to them, he was grateful for it; time away from them, even from the hideaways' inane, daily misgivings, bored him more than he cared to admit.

at first, it had been an inconvenience, an annoyance, to be at the young man's side daily. sleipnir was always happy to carry out his Leiges' orders and did so with an efficiency that he was proud of - questioning an order had never occurred to him, but even this had given him pause.

it was only after kosmos' emergence as a separate entity to the man he knew, after that unpleasant business in rosaria and an extended mission away from them (and the hideaway) that it had struck him: he had enjoyed it. he had enjoyed 'babysitting' ryder - as the man himself had put it.

it wasn't often that sleipnir found himself surrounded by non-dominants, in the whims and goings of their everyday lives. even when he was in diplomatic proceedings with the other nations, speaking with those who were neither dominants nor bearers, it was always with men in power.

men with demands, desires, wants - wills run amok. the hideaway and its' people were nothing like them.

ryder was nothing like them.

and with the uncovered knowledge of ultima's deception, of other beings from this supposed superior species, who opposed their once Lord, sleipnir found it hard to deny that perhaps there was more to reality - to humanity, than he once believed.

"sleipnir?" he hummed, glancing down to the man caught up in his thoughts, who was staring up at him behind those familiar glasses, "lost in thought?"

"tormented." the egi joked, fingers rubbing circles into their waist, "you were saying?"

he watched as their eyebrows furrowed, concern drawing their face, but they tutted instead.

"i told cid i'd help maeve - she's that new apprentice in the kitchen - get some ingredients. wanna come hunting?"

"you have been hunting without me?"

"i can ask gav if you'd rather stay here-" ryder began to say, a teasing tone slipping in.

"i shall, of course, accompany you, love."

they laughed, nudging his side, "thought you might."

teehees a little,,, ty for readin!