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Some nights were easier than others. These kind of things didn't occur so often but you had grown so used to them you'd wake up before they happened, your instincts taking place as you could hear his heartbeat speed up and smell the sweat clinging to his face. It was something you had told yourself since the start you would be ready to combat yet lately they seemed to grow more frequent, with each night being harder than the last.
This night was no different.
Your eyes opened in the darkness, slowly yet rapidly adjusting so that you could see the faint outlines of the curtain of your window, the desk on the other side, your bedside table and the wardrobe. Soon, a small red light start to filter into the shadows and you just knew what was about to happen.
In a swift movement you were sitting on your shared bed, moving apart the covers to cradle the man's face as his beard scratched the palm of your hands, though you didn't care much about it as you softly brushed your fingers alongside his cheeks.
"Ben, Ben," You repeated his name, moving his face gently to try and get a hold of him as the light on his bare chest began to grow more intensely. At this exact moment in time you weren't looking forward to losing your powers or being pulverized, even less by the man you loved. "Wake up, you're having nightmares again, sweetheart."
After a lot of persistence and you nearly fainting by the fact that his chest was almost exploding, he finally opened his eyes, green gaze meeting yours in a desperate facade as he bolted up, bringing you along with him as sweat made his hair stick to his forehead. He looked terrible, with eyebags underneath his eyelids, painting the scene of someone who couldn't properly get a good night's rest in a long time. You both knew that it was true, though.
His breathing was sharp, quick and heavy and you tried your best to soothe without resorting to other methods, but the more you saw his disheveled state the more inclined you felt to reach for something else as you firmly planted your hands on the side of his face and yours eyes began to glow a supernatural hue.
"Calm down. You're safe, I'm here with you."
Slowly he began to regain his breath and you released your power from his mind, allowing his head to fall on your shoulder as his warms wrapped around your waist in a tight, desperate hug.
"I'm sorry..." You could hear him mumble through your skin, the echo of his voice sending your flesh vibrating underneath him. "I didn't want to wake you up."
You scowled visibly, though he couldn't see the way you frowned at his words. Since the moment you agreed to live with him you knew what you were going to go through. It was also the exact same reason why he was always blowing up the hotels he stayed in and had to camp out in the woods for days at a time, though you knew far too well that if his life depended on you, things would've been a lot easier for him. You knew that if you offered to manipulate his mind into thinking he had no traumas would just damage him even more on the long run.
"Stop apologizing," The scolds coming from you made him tighten his grip around you, balancing you both back and forth. "You've dealt with a lot since... him. You shouldn't have to apologize for having nightmares about it still. I promised you I'd be with you through every step of the way, Ben... I still will."
Him was, in fact, Homelander. The same man who was your boyfriend's laboratory-made son, the same man, had you not been there, who would still be alive and terrorizing the life of civilians everywhere. You were thankful that Butcher had brought you into the picture, but still pissed off by the fact that he needed to call out a favor that he had done for you years back for you to actually accept working for him.
There were a few moments of silence before Ben moved his head back, letting go of your waist only to place his hands on either side of your face, bringing your lips to his in a soft and warm kiss of gratitude. He rested his forehead on yours when he pulled back from the kiss.
"Thank you, my love."
You both spent the next few moments wrapped in each others embrace, rocking back and forth in a lulling manner until you were both so consumed by sleep that you laid back down entangled in each other's embrace. You made sure that he had fallen asleep first, listening to his breathing and heartbeat slow down until you fell asleep, too.
On your next night of sleep, you knew things would be no different. But that fact didn't matter to you much because you were there for Ben, and you would always be no matter how many nights you would have to stop him from blowing you and your apartment to pieces.