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Wyll woke with a start, reaching by reflex for his rapier and instead finding only a fistful of soft bedding, which added fuel to his panic. He tried to get up, but was constricted by the sheets, and he fought them off like he was fighting a bugbear. After a few terrifying moments, he broke free and sat up, and as his feet swung out of bed and hit the floor, his senses finally came to him and he realized that he was at home in the tower in Waterdeep, Gale slumbering peacefully next to him.
Heart still hammering in his chest, he looked toward the balcony doors and wondered why they were closed. Air. He needed air, and his feet propelled him across the room like a moth drawn to flame, heedless of the stacks of books on the floor, at least one of which went tumbling over in his wake.
He reached the balcony and threw the doors open, and as a blast of icy, salty sea air hit him in the face he remembered why they had closed the doors before going to sleep in the first place. A storm was blowing through, and Gale worried about either of them catching a chill. Wyll had pointed out that they were both perfectly capable of being exposed to the elements without getting sick, to which Gale had replied that ok, fine, what he really cared about was his papers not getting blown about. Wyll had chosen not to mention that it was possible to put one’s papers away before going to bed and instead relented, foregoing his usual need for fresh air while sleeping in favor of harmony.
Well, the papers were sure to be a mess now, anyway, and while a corner of his mind told him that he should close the doors again, his feet instead drew him out onto the balcony and his hands gripped the railing as he took ragged breaths, trying to calm his racing heart. The storm had not brought rain, only the relentless, icy wind, and goosebumps formed over his body as he stood there in nothing but his underwear gulping it in.
“My love?” Gale’s groggy voice asked from behind him. “Are you all right?”
Wyll glanced back over his shoulder to see his husband looking as radiant as ever with his hair all disheveled and his sleeping robe hanging open around his body. “I’m fine.”
Gale approached slowly, pausing only to close the balcony doors behind him and wrap his robe tightly around himself before standing at the railing next to Wyll and laying one hand gently on his shoulder. Wyll leaned into the touch, and Gale fully wrapped his arm around him and pulled him shoulder to shoulder. “Nightmare?” he asked softly, his voice barely audible above the howling wind.
Wyll’s heart began to slow, regulating under his lover’s warm embrace. He grunted in affirmation. “I don’t remember the details, only– her–”
Gale delicately guided his hands off the railing and pulled Wyll into a full hug, and Wyll buried his face in the side of Gale’s neck while his body melted into him.
“She’s gone now, remember? We killed her. You’re safe,” Gale said.
Wyll nodded. He did remember the great lengths that Gale and Karlach had gone to in helping him hunt down Mizora and end her in a battle that had been rather anticlimactic, if he was honest. Killing her had been easy, finding her had been the hard part.
All of this should have been a distant memory now, over a year gone, his life turned into one of domestic bliss rather than adventure and danger. “I thought the nightmares would have stopped by now,” he admitted.
“It’s been a while since you’ve had one,” Gale pointed out. “And having one now doesn’t mean anything other than you’re processing everything. Hells, do you worry about me when I have nightmares about Mystra?”
Wyll lifted his head off Gale’s shoulder to look into his eyes, warm and inviting, shining with love for him. “That’s different–”
“It’s the same,” Gale insisted. “And I’m always going to be here for you.”
Wyll smiled and planted a kiss on Gale’s lips, feeling fully back to himself even as the winds of the storm continued to whip around them. “I love you,” he said as he broke the kiss.
Gale smiled. “I love you, too. Now are you going to take me back to bed, or must we stand out here in this tempest all night?”
Wyll laughed softly as he took Gale’s hand and they went back inside, closing the doors behind them and leaving the mess in the room for the morning. They crawled back in bed, and Gale opened his arms and Wyll immediately snuggled up against him. The chill from the wind melted away as they lay wrapped up together, and Wyll hummed in pleasure as his eyelids grew heavy. He still didn’t know how he’d managed to get so lucky, to be loved by this incredible man, but he would thank whichever Gods would listen every single day that he had.