Author's note: Enjoy this Everyone Lives! and Soul Mark!AU!
Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.
Dedication: For Bex, happy birthday!
Hogwarts: Assignment #5, Ritual & Ceremonial Magic Task #1 Write about a marriage/union
Warnings: Post-Azkaban PTSD, nightmares
Darling, Only You
Most nights, I am restless and quiet won't come
So I lay there and wait for the sun
There's a trouble that won't show its face
You came out of nowhere and you cut through all the noise
I make sense to the madness when I listen to your voice
Darling, only you can ease my mind
Help me leave these lonely thoughts behind
—Ease My Mind, Ben Platt
When Sirius shot up, Kingsley's hand was already resting on his ribs and he was already shushing him soothingly.
"You're alright," Kingsley said quietly. "You're alright, you're here, we're in bed. We're in bed with the yellow covers and you're wearing the pajamas you stole last time you did laundry…"
Sirius was laying flat on his back, looking at the ceiling of what had to be their bedroom ceiling. The small fire that burned perpetually in a glass jar on Sirius' side table, courtesy of Hermione, was shining. Sirius could make out the room through the dim light and his memory; the armoire and mirror where they got ready in the mornings, the closet door that never shut properly, the hook where Kingsley's work cloak hung, framed pictures of Harry and Teddy and Kingsley's nieces on the wall, the lipstick plant that grew at least an inch a month under Kingsley's green thumb…
Still, being in bed helped but it didn't stop the crazed beating in his heart.
"Hi," Kingsley said quietly. He kissed Sirius' shoulder, far enough from his lips and chest that he wouldn't worsten Sirius' desperate attempts to regulate his breathing. It was one sign amongst many that they had done this before.
"Hi," Sirius said again. Kingsley kissed down his arm.
"Let me know if you need something," Kingsley said quietly.
Sirius nodded, a bit of a useless move in the dark, and continued to stare up at the ceiling.
"Did I wake you?" Sirius asked, when he felt that his breathing was steady enough to maintain a conversation if he started one. "Was I thrashing or—or talking, or screaming, or…"
"You were fine," Kingsley said.
"You were awake before me," Sirius pointed out.
"I know," Kingsley said. He took Sirius' hand and laid it on his bare chest. Under Sirius' cool fingertips, Kingsley's chest was warm and strong, the muscle sturdy and resilient. One spot in particular nearly burned.
"Ouch," Sirius winced. He pulled his hand away from his husband's soulmark—a simple, lopsided amalgam of stars that looked like the constellation Sirius had been named for. Sirius' soulmark had been more difficult to interpret. Remus had told him years ago that Corona Borealis was the name for the mark on his calf, and the connection between the shining crown and his now-husband had only hit him now. Sirius had known long before his first Astronomy class that stars were burning—far, far away. Always burning, always on fire, always consuming themselves, and burning away so that what you saw was never what had always been. He hadn't realised that he would do the same thing or set his soulmate's mark on fire whenever he was in danger—even if the danger was in a nightmare or panic attack. He hated how easily his own problems, of which there was no shortage, could ripple over to Kingsley because of how closely their stars connected.
"Don't worry," Kingsley promised him. His words were accompanied by a kiss in the curve where Kingsley's arm became his shoulder. "I like knowing how you are. I like our arrangement."
"How many nights have you slept decently since we got married?" Sirius asked.
"Better than how I would sleep if I was far from you," Kingsley said, kissing the crook of Sirius' neck. One of Sirius' hands found its way to the back of Kingsley's freshly shaved head, but Sirius couldn't help but worry.
Kingsley propped his chin on Sirius' shoulder.
"Hi," he said again.
"Hi," Sirius repeated.
"Tell me what I can do to help you come back to the good place," Kingsley said. "The one where the war is over, where you're free, where Azkaban no longer uses Dementors, where I'm definitely going to make you pancakes tomorrow morning as a surprise, where I have the most handsome and clever husband in the world…"
"That sounds like a good time," Sirius said.
"It is," Kingsley said. "Did I mention that we have blueberries to put in the pancakes too?"
"Hmm," Sirius said. He reached over and touched Kingsley's soulmark again. Just as Sirius' heartbeat was evening out, Kingsley's mark was cooling.
"Can I say a nice thing now?"
"You know I like it when I do," Kingsley said.
"I love you," Sirius said. He pulled Kingsley towards him. He snaked his arms around Sirius' waist and rested his head against his chest. Kingsley pulled the covers back over them to bundle up some more before settling back down into the pillows and into Sirius.
"What would I do without you?" Sirius asked quietly.
"You would think of something," Kingsley said. "I'm just happy to be here so you don't have to."
Stacked with: Hogwarts; Shipping War; Spring Bingo; Link Maker
Individual Challenge(s): Gryffindor MC; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; Old Shoes; In a Flash
Word Count: 849
Spring Bingo
Space (Prompt): 1C (Union/Covenant)
Shipping Wars
Ship (Team): Sirius Black/Kingsley Shacklebolt
List (Prompt): Spring Micro 1 (Soul Marks AU)