Chapter Text
Eredin sat on the corner of his bed, still armored; though his helmet was set aside. He was in the comfort of his own castle, though still burdened with the stress of being ruler. His expression was stoic, yet worn out. He would never acknowledge the fact that he looked so worn out, though. You know how the man is like.
The officalverse, the land of the fantasy, where everything and anything is possible. Created by Satan herself, It's a universe that sits in between the gaps of the multiverse, filling the empty spots, and claiming many residents. It's a land of freedom, of chaos, of evil, of joy, of peace, of love, of hate, and all in the same time. It's inhabitants are quite diverse, and quite magical; ranging from a small infant to Gods that had fallen, to angels, to demons, to regular humans, to the concept of time, to copies of existing people across the multiverse, and so on; all with “offical" in their names, solidifying their presence in the Officalverse. And Eredin rules over them with an iron fist, with the power of a king. He has fought many battles, killed millions, bathed his hands in the blood of his enemies and innocents. He has no remorse; taking the lives of anyone that come in his way. But some still see him as glory incarnate, as the great King, as the best ruler there could ever was. Even though they were likely wrong, Eredin still took pride it them. Being King is the best, right? Though, being King also poses some challenges… one of them being exhaustion.
It has been days since Eredin properly slept, the bags under his eyes tell you so. He had only fought, and thought, and those things wear people off. He has never been one to be vulnerable to the disease that is exhaustion, but right now, it seems like he's not quite himself. He clearly needs sleep, or just rest in general. Yet he deprives himself of it like he doesn't deserve it; knowing damn well that he does. He sits on his bed, before sighing. There's a knock heard from the door.
“Eredin?" A male voice rung out from outside his door, carrying an air of concern. “Eredin, are you still awake?" The voice asked once more, giving Eredin a small sense of annoyance. “Yes. Get inside, what do you want?" Eredin finally budged, though not moving from his spot on the bed.
The doors creaked open, revealing a concerned Morsel. Morsel’s relationship with Eredin was quite complicated, being his heir and a close ally of his. Its unclear wether Eredin does like him or not, but he does trust them enough to give him the role of ‘successor’. Morsel walked inside the room, closing the door behind them. “I just wanted to check up on you, that's all." They added, letting his words marinate in the air before speaking once more. “Eredin, are you alright? You don't look quite healthy." They asked. Eredin scoffed, before replying, "What does it look like, Breadcrumb? I'm exhausted.” His words were laced with a fair bit of sarcasm, one that makes Morsel a little annoyed. "Well? Won't you go to sleep? Its 11 PM already, isn't it?” Morsel argued, though still concerned. “No. Not yet. I still have to plan.." Eredin argued back firmly. He was now contemplating his heir’s words. Maybe he does deserve sleep? “Come on, Eredin. If you keep being like this, you'll get sick." Morsel slowly inched towards Eredin, sitting beside him on the bed. “You should probably take off your armor when asleep too." Morsel adds. "I'm not an idiot, Morsel. I don't want to sleep yet.” Eredin barked, an air of annoyance now surrounding his words. "Eredin.” Morsel glared at Eredin like an angry mother trying to scold their son. Eredin just sighed, before admitting, "Fine. I guess I do need sleep”
Eredin got up from his spot on the bed, taking off his armor, before looking at Morsel. “Don't look, I'm changing.." He says. Morsel just shrugged, looking away as Eredin changed into more comfortable clothing. After that, he sat back down beside Morsel and threw himself on the bed. Morsel, who was quite startled, just watched. “Aren’t you going to tell me to leave?" Morsel asked, before being met with a silent soft groan. “No, I actually would like for you to stay here." Eredin answered rather smugly, before reaching to grab Morsel by the shoulders and throwing him on the spot beside his. This made Morsel a little bit thrown off, and when they finally managed to compose themselves, they blinked. “Don't ever do that again.." They begged as Eredin slowly climbed his way up back to his side of the bed, ignoring their plea. He then proceeded to turn to Morsel and wrap his arms around them, taking in the warmness. "It's pretty cold this time of night.. it would be ideal for me to have a warmer.” Eredin added, before freeing Morsel of one of his arms to pull a blanket up to the two. “So, I'm just gonna be a pillow you're going to cuddle?" Morsel asked. "Exactly. Now shut up and let me sleep, since you're so hellbent on it.” Eredin answered, tightening his grip on the Gluten being, not letting them escape his grasp. “Fine.." Morsel conceded, just letting the Aen Elle hold them close to him. If Morsel had blood, it would've all rushed to Morsel's face.
Eredin fell asleep practically immediately, still holding Breadcrumb in his arms. The Aen Elle looked vulnerable at this time, maybe that's why he doesn't sleep so much. Maybe he just didn't want to look vulnerable. Morsel didn't mind all of this at all, letting him just use them as a pillow to cuddle. Morsel even toned down the light that emits from his eyes so to not wake Eredin up.
In the morning, Eredin slept in. It was quite understandable, as the man was very very tired. Morsel, however, woke up at 5 AM. He got up and carefully replaced himself with a pillow so that Eredin won't notice that he is missing (at least before he wakes up) and he went to go make himself coffee. After that? He went straight back to bed so that Eredin won't get mad at him for not staying.