The best feeling, Rythian decided, was falling into bed after a hard day of being in the desert. After spending nearly two months in the desert; he had come to the conclusion that he hated it there. The sun never ceased to shine, it was always stifling hot, and he always managed to get sand in very uncomfortable places.
He missed Blackrock with its shady trees and soft grassy forest floors. The way the water of their lake lapped against the shore in the night was one of the most surreal sounds he had ever heard and something that never failed to calm him.
Now, however, all he heard was the insistent howl of the wind over the sand and the occasional moo of one of the mooshrooms.
The only thing that made this loss even somewhat bearable was getting into bed at night. While his sheets were generally full of sand and they were nowhere near the quality of sheets he he'd had before, there was one thing that hadn't changed and that was Zoey.
Bedtime at camp usually started with Zoey wandering around to all the different animals, wishing them a good night. After saying the same thing to Tee, she would make herself a warm glass of milk before yawning loudly and joining Rythian, who was usually already tucked away reading, in bed.
She would flop down on her side and yawn once more or tell him something she had seen as she was saying good night to all the creatures, before curling up against his side and muttering good night.
This was probably his favorite part of the nightly ritual. Her head would rest just below the elbow he was using to prop himself up and he could feel her breathing deeply beside him.
He especially liked to watch her face and how sleep rendered it soft and open. When she was awake, she was either running around spouting whatever crazy ideas popped into her head or concentrating on whatever project occupied her that day. Never did her face look as lovely as it did to Rythian, as it did while she was asleep.
After he had finished his reading for the night, he would lean over, careful to not wake her, and put out the light before snuggling down next to her. She always slept with her back to him and he always drew his arms around her the same way; tightly around her waist so that he was curled around her whole body.
He would then bury his face in her crazy mane of hair before giving into the kind of blissful sleep that only came with sleeping next to the only girl he loved in the world.
True, there were some things he missed about Blackrock, but this was one thing that he had vowed to never let change no matter where they lived or roamed.
Author's Notes:
A bit of a short piece of Zoethian fluff that I wrote at midnight whist waiting for my brother at the airport (and then edited after having 6 hours of sleep X3, thanks to Midnight for waking me up that early to do so) so sorry if it seems a bit wonky lol. But yeah, I just really have a lot of feels about them sleeping together ok?! Thanks for reading :3