Hand to Hold / Vigil
Three in the morning was not an uncommon time for Jean to find himself awake. He didn't particularly mind, because night was everything he hated about day. In fact, he found himself enjoying his 3am jaunts most nights. The complete silence was extraordinarily peaceful, as there were no bird calls and no echoes of car noises from neighbouring streets – most people were asleep by that time of night. Jean found the darkness comforting in a way he couldn't quite fathom. Even the blackest shadows couldn't hide anything from his eyes, but he could hide away from the prying gaze of the rest of the world.
But this night was even better than usual, because he wasn't alone in his bedroom. Instead, Marco's warm body was wrapped around his own, limbs relaxed and limp from his position draped across Jean's torso. The sound of steady breathing calmed Jean's nerves, which were sitting on a knife point during the normal hours of the day. Marco's chest rose and fell in a steady wave.
Jean smiled softly. He'd found him, so young this time. Barely 18, Marco was strong and confident and comforting, and had enclosed Jean in a bear hug that crushed the air from his lungs the minute he had lain eyes on him. Jean closed his own eyes, remembering the smell of Marco's aftershave ingrained into the fabric of his shirt as he had buried his nose into Marco's broad chest. They had both been crying, loud, splashy tears, and when they had pulled away just to look at one another's face, both had started bawling harder.
It had been a single week since they had met again. Jean firmly believed that it was the best week of his current life time.
A sleepy sigh emanated from beside Jean and he turned back to face Marco, who had shuffled onto his side. His dark eyes were still closed, but were twitching subtly beneath his eyelids. His mouth curved into a frown.
"You're awake? Are you okay?" Marco murmured, his voice only just loud enough for Jean to hear. The silence was barely broken. Jean laid his palm against a freckled cheek, the flat of his thumb rubbing a gentle caress into the faint stubble on the underside of Marco's lower jaw. He could look at Marco for hours. He would watch him like a benevolent hawk to protect him from any harm. He would not lose him again for a long time.
"Just woke up, is all. Go to sleep." Jean pressed a light kiss to Marco's forehead and his eyes cracked open. The hand previously resting across Jean's waist lifted to grasp at the hand Jean had cradling Marco's cheek, and their fingers laced together in an easy, familiar manner. He then shifted their clasped palms under the sheets, turning lay on his other side, so that Jean's torso was flush against Marco's back. Their arms intertwined across Marco's hip.
"Go to sleep with me, Jean. I'll always be here, okay, and I'll never leave you now I've got you again. Not without saying goodbye."
Jean believed him. He just hoped that he would have Marco's larger hand to hold for a long while yet.
AN - Day 3 is... a bit shorter. Day 4 will probably be shorter still. Oops! This can be read as a prequel to Day 1's entry, but set about 2 weeks before, or just read stand-alone, or just as a whole 'nother lifetime in which they live happy forever in the reincarnation cycle.