Crossposted from my Ao3-MalaikaDream
Inspired by the fic Talk You Through Your Scars by hawkhome348
Inspired by the song Close Your Eyes by Digital Daggers
You lay awake in bed long after you should have been asleep. It's one of those nights that happen every so often where your mind won't leave you alone and let you sleep. It just kept spinning its wheels, running through every reason you aren't good enough, everything you've ever done wrong, and you can just feel the edges of panic beginning to swell behind your eyes. In an attempt to stave off the inevitable you reach for your neck and thumb the smooth fabric of the collar there. You try to remind yourself what he'd say to you, knowing he can feel your distress, but it slips away under the onslaught of negativity your current train of thought brings through. You go for another grab at the collar when you feel the bed dip behind you and his deep baritone cuts through the emotions you've been slowly burying yourself in all night.
"hey kitten," he says tenderly, "you awake?"
You nod, able to breathe a little easier now that he's there to draw your focus.
"one'a those nights eh? need a cuddle?" When you nod again he begins to settle himself on the bed "just a sec sweetheart." He gets himself situated leaning against the headboard and lifts his arm, creating a space for you to curl into. "alright, c'mere kitten, there ya go" he sighs as you roll over and snuggle into his side, pressing your forehead into his clavicle and curling your fingers into the soft cloth of his T-shirt over his sternum. "theeere ya go, yer alright. red's here." He settles the arm he lifted to make room for you along your back, curling the hand at your waist. "i gotcha" he presses his teeth against the top of your head.
You take a few deep breaths, reveling in his scent and grateful for something to focus on other than the narrowly avoided panic attack and how pathetic it makes you that you couldn't even handle one night-
"hey," he interrupts your thoughts with a tap of his index phalange on the tip of your nose, "none'a that now. y'know i'll always come when ya need me kitten." He traces your hairline with the same phalange and you lean into his touch. He presses another skeleton kiss to your forehead. You stay like that for a while, cuddled into his side with his phalanges slowly stroking through your hair. A few minutes with the quiet though, and the thoughts you'd been avoiding begin to creep back in.
"what'cha need sweetheart?'' He asks before your mind has a chance to get too lost in itself. You consider his offer a moment before bringing your fingers up to gently touch his cervical vertebrae, where a voice box would be if he were a human rather than the lovely large skeleton he is. The one you're in love with, who fiercely protects you even when the one you're fighting is yourself. It's a shy kind of request, and you wish you could find the words to make it with your own voice, but he knows you well enough by now to understand your meaning. He gives you an indulgent grin, "alright, if that's what my kitten wants, that's what my kitten gets. C'mon cuddle up, close yer eyes. There ya are." He runs his phalange down your nose and thumbs your lips before trailing down to stroke at the collar. You release a heavy, contented sigh and nuzzle into his ribcage.
You feel the rumble in his chest before you hear the rich notes of his deep baritone as he sings to you. With something so lovely to focus on as you drift off, your traitorous mind doesn't have a chance to misbehave again before you finally fall asleep.