Support: A TFLC Short

Aether and Mathieu’s Apartment

Atlanta, GA

United States of America

January 2017

“Hey,” he whispered.

“Hi to you too, liebe.” Mathieu grinned as Aether pulled her arms around him. She leaned her forehead against his, unable to stop herself from smiling as the male pressed a light kiss to her lips. “That was nice,” she murmured, gently running her fingers through his hair when he pulled away. “Do you feel better?”

“You have no idea.” He shifted; from his position right above her, Mathieu lay next to her and wrapped her in his arms. In response, she leaned her head against his chest, closed her eyes. Allowed herself to breathe as he pressed his lips to the top of her head next. “Spending time with you like this...I missed it.” Mathieu felt her nod and he held her a bit tighter, closing his eyes himself and both of them going quiet.

The two stayed like that for a while, resting comfortably with one another. She remained in his arms and he kept himself around her; he found that he really did miss spending time with just her, curled up on the bed. Saying nothing, doing nothing--but it was enough for them. He knew that well, and so did she. They kept quiet and Mathieu listened to her breathe just as she listened to his heart beat steadily in his chest.

Cuddling, lying in each other’s arms--it was something both of them enjoyed. If anything, both of them found it comforting. Aether tended to be in need of cuddles and affectionate touch after a long day at work, while Mathieu liked the feeling of holding her in general. It was something neither of them could explain well. The closest thing to an explanation was Aether explaining that she was a physically affectionate person to those she was comfortable with.

And Mathieu accepted, told her to cuddle him as much as he wanted. If he had to be honest with himself, then he liked it a lot. Pulling his arms around her and generally holding Aether close gave him the feeling of protection, and protecting was something that Mathieu did well; something he prided himself a lot for. Despite knowing that she could handle herself well (as she had proved multiple times), he couldn’t help but feel the urge to protect her every time the occasion was right; whether it be holding her close when they were in bed together, or lacing their fingers together while they were out in the city. It was a small action, something minuscule compared to the other ways he could protect her (other ways he’d rather not think of), but he knew that it meant a lot to her anyway. Aether accepted and Mathieu kept giving.

“Liebe,” Aether murmured eventually. Half-sleepy, half-lethargic. He knew that voice and knew what she wanted; in response, he untangled himself from her, got out of the bed, and turned off the lights. The front door, at that point, had already been locked as well as the windows. Upon getting back to bed, he pulled the covers over them this time after turning off the lamp to the side. “Liebe, did you…?”

“Everything’s off outside,” he promised. “Made sure of it before we transferred here, remember?” She mumbled something under her breath and pulled him closer, Mathieu unable to hold back a smile as she did.

“Sleepy.”

“Shh, I know.” He watched as she curled up and faced the side; in response, Mathieu pulled an arm around her waist and used his free hand to gently run his fingers through her hair. “Get some sleep, chérie.”

“You…?”

“I’ll fall asleep soon,” he promised. She mumbled something once more under her breath and Mathieu chuckled, squeezing her waist. “Bonne nuit.”

Aether fell asleep in minutes. Mathieu felt it eventually and heard her breathing deepen  then even out; while he was tired as well, he didn’t quite feel the need to sleep just yet. Instead of doing anything else--probably go out to have a smoke--he stayed instead, listening to her breathe.

For once, Aether was calm, content, at peace. He had to admit that the sight of a calmer Aether was one that was rarer, something he (and perhaps others) had unfortunately seen much less as time passed. He couldn’t blame her--working at HQ was already a stressor enough, and the workplace pressured her in more ways than he could imagine. It wasn’t something she brought up to others that often, and when he learned that the pressure tended to get to her, he found himself somehow sympathizing and understanding. It was sort of like how he tended to fee when it came to work with Jin-ho, at times.

So with that, Mathieu kept up his own kind of protection. He opened himself more to her if she needed things like a massage, a back rub, a tight embrace, anything--and he knew she would appreciate it. Whenever he would offer what he could, there would always be this faint smile that would appear on her face, no matter how tired she was upon arriving home and in need of some affection.

With that, he couldn’t help but ponder on Aether as well.

She was strong. That was fact--in one aspect there was her physical strength which helped her endure work, endure training. But that was obvious. Aether was strong and could carr herself easily, could handle herself well, could kick ass without breaking a sweat or smudging whatever makeup she had on that day. He called her feu on occasion; hell, she reminded him of some kind of fire that refused to stop burning.

On another hand, however, there was also her emotional strength.

That part of her often went unnoticed, unfortunately, but Aether was strong. The thought was enough to make him look at her; Mathieu sighed quietly and proceeded to hold her a little more tighter, wrap his arm around her waist and hold her as much as she could.

“You have no idea how strong you are, chérie.” The redhead closed his eyes and buried his face into the crook of her neck, exhaling slowly. “You have no idea.”

As odd as it sounded, he couldn’t let himself break in front of her. He couldn’t do that--as much as possible, Mathieu wanted to hold onto himself as much as he could, wanted to spare her from having to be the support for two people. It wasn’t quite for reasons of masculinity, but instead more on wanting her to be strong, remain strong for her own good.

The last thing he wanted was to ruin her the way he did before. Exhaling, Mathieu found himself speaking to her sleeping form without much restraint in him. “I know you’re strong,” he whispered. Into the air, anything that could hear. “But I don’t want to make you go through this. I don’t want you to…” He squeezed his eyes shut, “I don’t want to let you pay the price again. I can’t let that happen.”

You don’t deserve this.