Day 8 : Sharing / Wearing each other’s clothes / Sleeping in / Temptation / The Drowning
Faloi belongs to @corneille-but-not-the-author (might be a tiny little ooc but I had too much fun with the dialogue)
If you asked Faloi Frosilaen, he would say sharing a bed with Ether Nepheli is certainly an experience.
If you asked Ether Nepheli, she would not be this polite and say sharing a bed with that idiot can be a fucking challenge, and not in terms of fucking.
The annoying part came in when they started to sleep together randomly. Ether would fall asleep in his bed while reading and wake up in his arms, Faloi would collapse at 10 and wake up at 3am to her curled up next to him. No other activities involved. They talked, said they shouldn’t make a habit out of it, and proceeded to make a habit out of it. Like they always did.
That soon made some… issues more visible. And Ether and Faloi being Ether and Faloi, they'd talk about it in the most random of moments in the most random of ways.
“Ether, you should sleep in more clothes than just your underwear."
They were both sitting in his office, reviewing papers, and he just blurted that out. Ether blinked, then smirked.
“Why? Don’t like the view?”
“You know that's not what I mean.”
“Yeah. The thing is, I have no fucking idea where you're going with this. Care to elaborate?”
“Well, aren’t you cold at night?”
“Then why do you keep stealing all the covers?”
Silence. Ether blinked again, slowly. She could have argued that this wasn't the time to talk about this. But of course, she didn't.
“... Faloi. Your bed is huge. You’d need truly amazing hogging skills to steal all the covers.”
“You never cease to amaze me, then.”
“I- Why does it matter? You sleep fully clothed most of the time!”
“Just because I'm not cold does not mean I do not get sick.”
“Bullshit. I never saw you get sick, even in the middle of winter. What, are you too old, do your joints get fucked up by the cold?”
That earned her a sideways glance, maybe an irritated twitch of the eyebrow, but Faloi’s face remained almost as calm as usual. He didn’t reply, so Ether kept going.
“That’s very like you, hiring a thief then getting all petty because she’s stealing the sheets.”
“I am not being petty, I am merely stating facts.”
“Yeah, well you should be more worried about the fact that one of your Commissaries is stealing from the treasury. Because that's what we were talking about before you decided to bring up bed matters, remember?”
That was enough to make them both focus on work, until Faloi had to leave for a meeting. It lasted way longer than it should have, and the sky was already dark when he came back to his quarters. Where he was welcomed by Ether, sprawled out on the bed, reading, and wearing…
“Ether? Is that my shirt?”
“Good evening to you too, Faloi. And I don’t know what you're talking about. You have glasses, use them.”
“Judging by your approximative obfuscation and blatant sarcasm, that is most definitely my shirt.”
“Look at you, answering your own question. I’m so proud of you.”
Faloi sighed and took off his coat. Too tired to be annoyed, and very aware that this is what happens when you let someone like Ether into your bedroom.
“Very funny. I don't really mind, either way, but what is this for?”
Ether shrugged, and closed her book with a satisfied thump.
“Well you did say that I should wear more clothes at night. So I picked up the first item I found on the floor.”
Right. They didn't tidy up the room after last night. Again, he should have expected this.
“I’m not petty, I'm just following your advice.”
She smirked at him as she took the pins out of her hair to let it down. Pins she probably stole from his bathroom as well.
“If you don't like it, you’re free to get it off me.”
Turns out he didn’t need to get it off her. At all.
Let's just say the both of them slept well that night… For a few hours, at least.
Around four in the morning, Faloi sat up, and he barely had the time to put his shirt on before a hand grabbed him by the sleeve.
It was usual for him to wake up around four in the morning, get dressed and start working.
It was a bit less common that Ether woke up exactly at the same time.
He glanced back at her. She looked half-asleep still, but he did notice an unusually fast heart rate. A nightmare, maybe.
“Faloi, it's way too early,” she mumbled.
“I need to get to work,” was his only reply.
“You got most of it done yesterday, I know it…”
“I still have unfinished business. Go back to sleep.”
“I’ll go back to sleep if you come back to bed.”
“Do you think blackmailing me into sleep will work?”
“Do you think I'm going to let you go to a meeting on two hours of sleep?”
Are we arguing? Is this an argument?
“Ether, if you try to get me to stay every day, you’re going to ruin your sleep schedule.”
“I’m sleeping in your bed, it's basically our sleep schedule at this point…”
She was interrupted by her own yawn and Faloi sighed deeply.
“You’re exhausted. You should really go back to sleep.”
“That's rich coming from the President of Exhaustion himself.”
He gave her a stern look.
“You’re not going to let go, are you?”
Ether gave the look right back.
“Well, I can't make you stay. But I think if you really wanted to go work, you’d have left already. I’m not that strong.”
“... Or maybe I just have enough delicacy to talk this out with you instead of pushing you away.”
“Well, if you’d have the delicacy to come back to bed, I’d be delighted,” Ether replied with enough sarcasm to fill a lake. “Weren’t you the one worried about me being cold?”
His exhaustion was plastered all over his face. He wasn’t even fed up with her. He rarely was.
Ether had to repress a small triumphant smile. He was tempted to just give in, she could see it, because he was not good at hiding it.
This is a game, and I'm winning.
But he wasn’t fully convinced just yet. Always that sense of duty, something she both loved and hated about him because of how often it was driven by guilt instead of actual duty. If she wanted him to actually rest, she might have to ease his worries first.
“Okay, how about this. Two more hours. Two more hours and at six I'll wake up with you to help with your work so you won’t be late on anything. How does that sound?”
Faloi lowered his gaze, something he always did when he was debating with himself. She waited patiently for him to finish, tried to not tighten her grip around his sleeve.
I can't make you stay. I can't make you take care of yourself. I can't make you do anything. But if it's true that I'm one of the few people you listen to, then please stay.
“That… seems like a fair compromise,” Faloi finally sighed. “I have a condition, however.”
He gave her a tired smile. Well, it was more of a little rise in the corner of his lips.
“Leave me some of the covers?”
She blinked, and chuckled with something like relief.
He slithered back into the bed, looking a bit hesitant still. Ether smiled silently at him.
She knew that this was a rare occurence. She just wished she didn’t have to fight for Faloi to realize he couldn't go on like this for long.
Their hands were not even an inch apart when they fell back asleep.
If you asked Faloi Frosilaen what they were, he wouldn’t be able to answer. Colleagues? Friends? Lovers? None of those words seemed good enough then, they don't seem any better now.
If you asked Ether Nepheli what they were, she’d say she loved him. That she still does. That it was suffocating then. That it still is now. That they were both nothing and everything.
But the fact remains that as he was dying, that when she thought she would die, they thought about each other.
If you asked them both if they regretted it, their answer would be the same.
