Nightmares and comfort

Thancred wasn't sure what had woken him at first, there wasn't any additional light other than the moon shining in the room, and for once Miyhu and G'raha's tails weren't flicking across his face from where the two miqo'te had gotten themselves positioned oddly in their sleep.

He stared up at the dark ceiling, listening to the soft snoring of his partners that were cuddled up to his sides, slowly drifting back to sleep. 

Then he heard whispering, close to the bedroom door, and he was fully alert in seconds, straining to hear who was out there.

“N- no…” Thancred relaxed, not realising how stiff he'd been laying, as the quiet voice of his five year old son, Ren, drifted through the closed door, “don't wanna… wake them…”

Thancred slowly and carefully extricated himself from his partner's grips, moving them so they were cuddling each other instead, all while trying not to wake them.

“They won't care!” Came the slightly louder whisper of his nine year old daughter, Leanne, and Thancred couldn't help his small smile at her bad attempt of keeping her voice down, despite the fact the children were up well past their bedtime.

He made his way to the bedroom door, opening it quietly to reveal the shocked, and slightly guilty faces of his children, giving them what he hoped was an unimpressed look.

And then he stopped and dropped to his knees, holding Ren's face gently as he noticed the tear tracks running down them.

“What happened?” He murmured, wiping below the boy's eyes with his thumbs.

“‘m sorry,” Ren whispered, his pale miqo'te ears flat against his head, fresh tears falling again.

Leanne gave him an annoyed look that was ruined by the fact she was clutching his hand tightly, and explained, “Renford had a nightmare.”

“Oh, darling,” Thancred muttered, scooping the small boy up into his arms, “it's okay now, I'm here.”

Ren only started to cry harder, soaking the front of Thancred's sleep shirt as he buried his head into his chest, and Leanne gave him a worried look.

Thancred gave her a soft smile, then asked Ren, “do you want to come cuddle with daddy and Rara?”

Ren shook his head, clutching Thancred tightly, and hiccuped out, “don't want- wake up-”

Thancred sighed silently then stood slowly, wincing as his knees popped, “then let's go to the kitchen and get you cleaned up, hm?”

Leanne scowls at her papa as she's forced to let go of Ren’s hand, and instead grabbed Thancred's trouser leg, letting him know that she was also coming with them, regardless of what he thought.

In the kitchen, Thancred placed Ren on the counter, letting the boy slowly release his grip before grabbing a cloth and wetting it, gently dabbing at his face.

Leanne grabbed a chair, pulling it across the stone floor with a horrendous squeaking noise that made Thancred want to tear his ears off, and then used it to climb onto the counter by herself, sitting next to her brother.

When he'd finished wiping Ren's face, Thancred flicked the wet cloth at Leanne, causing the young elezen to squeak indignantly and pulling a watery giggle from Ren.

Leanne pouted at Thancred as he turned away, putting a pan on the stove and pouring some milk in. He also pulled a small pot of honey from a high shelf, where he put it to try and stop Miyhu and his sweet tooth from eating it all, pouring some in the pan to make a sweet treat for his kids.

“Now,” he said, turning back to them, “while that heats up, do you want to talk about it?”

Ren tilted his head, his big watery eyes staring up at Thancred in confusion.

Leanne elbowed him and whispered, “papa means your nightmare.’

Ren's ears flicked back and he looked down, his face contorting as he tried not to cry again.

Thancred moved the chair Leanne had dragged over, sitting backwards in it and placing his hands on Ren's knees, speaking softly, “you don't have to, it's okay.”

Ren sniffled and Thancred reached over to grab the cloth again, this time putting it to the child's face to encourage him to blow his nose. He then folded and dropped the soiled cloth on the side, making a mental note to deal with it later.

“It just…” Ren spoke haltingly, “daddy got hurt, an’... An’ he didn't get up…”

Thancred felt his heart sink. He didn't really know how to comfort his son about this, he'd had the same sort of nightmare many times before, especially after the lightwarden incident in the First.

“Ren…” he started, trying to seem comforting, “your daddy is far too strong for that to happen, trust me, I've seen it,” he brushed Ren's silver hair out of his face and gave the boy a smile, hoping it would help.

Ren still looked upset, and moved a small hand onto Thancred's arm, “but…” he ran a finger over one of Thancred's multiple scars, his face scrunching back up, “you all get hurt…”

Thancred thought of the scars covering himself and Miyhu, and the slightly fewer amount that G'raha had, and pulled the boy into another hug, squeezing him tightly, “we're not going to leave you, none of us are,” he pulled back to look him in the eyes, “and these scars are proof that we always come back, so you don't need to worry about us, I promise.”

Ren gave a watery smile and nodded. Thancred ruffled his hair before hearing the sound of the milk boiling behind him, and he jumped up to deal with that, pouring the sweet milk into two mugs.

He passed one to Ren, warning him of the heat, and tried to give the other to Leanne but she was staring at the floor, wearing an expression of anger.

“Lee?” He asked, setting the mug next to her instead, “what's wrong?”

It took a moment, but eventually she spoke up, her voice accusing even as she didn't look at him, “daddy says my father was strong.”

Again, Thancred's heart sank. 

“Lee,” he started, “your father- he, he was strong but…” 

Leanne looked at him, her bottom lip stuck out as she tried to keep the tears in her eyes from falling. Ren stared up at him as well, and Thancred suddenly wished that if this conversation had to happen, it was happening alone rather than with Ren present.

Thancred hesitated, G'raha was usually the one to comfort Leanne when she was upset about Haurchefant, telling her the stories that he'd read when he was back in his old future, as Miyhu couldn't talk about him without crying themself.

“Your father, he… he didn't know about you,” Thancred said, “if he'd known then…” he sighed, “your father was strong, Lee, he was very strong and he loved your dad very much-”

“But-” Leanne interrupted him, but Thancred just shook his head.

“Your father loved your dad so much that he was happy to give his life for him, happy to know that your dad wasn't getting hurt, and I know it doesn't make it better,” he added on quickly as she opened her mouth to argue, “but sometimes we make mistakes in love, the twelve know I've made plenty,” he sighed again, then looked between the two children, “but your dad, Rara, and I all have something very important to come home to every day, and there's nothing in this realm or beyond that will stop us from coming back to you two.”

Leanne still had tears in her eyes, but she finally picked up the mug of milk, taking delicate sips in contrast to her little brother's loud slurping.

Thancred ruffled her blue and pink hair, gaining another scowl from her.

“We love you guys too much to leave you,” Thancred tried to assure them softly, “and if your father had known you were coming, it'd be impossible to get him to leave, from what I've heard he's even more stubborn than your dad.”

Leanne gave a quiet snort of laughter, and Thancred took it as a win.

After a few more moments of quiet, the sounds of drinking excluded, Thancred stood.

“Well, it's late enough, you two should be getting to bed now before your Rara takes my hide for letting you stay up so late,” he put the empty mugs in the sink, then asked them, “want me to carry you to your rooms?”

Ren nodded and held his hands out to be picked up, but Leanne gave Thancred one of those snooty looks she'd learnt in Ishgard, and said, “no, you're too old, you'll hurt yourself.”

Thancred made a noise he would later vehemently deny, and pointed at his smug daughter, “you,” he started, once more at a loss for words, though this time for a different reason, “I- I'm only just over forty!”

“Old man!”

Thancred knew that this was her attempt to squash down her emotional reaction from talking about her father, he's done similar things enough times himself not to recognise it, but he still allowed her it, knowing that he's not the best person to talk to her about it; is what he told himself as he lunged forward to throw her over his shoulder, forgetting that he should be making sure the children were quiet as she shrieked in laughter from where she was halfway down his back, ineffectively kicking in his grasp.

“And you,” he pointed at Ren, who had both hands over his mouth, completely failing to hide his giggles, “you come here too.”

Thancred picked Ren up easily, the small boy still giggling as he's held in a more normal manner.

Leanne continued to laugh and kick out as Thancred strides quickly to Ren’s room, finally managing to slide out of his grasp when he was lowering Ren into his bed.

Thancred pointed at her dramatically, “you better get into bed before I catch you again, little miss,” he threatened playfully.

Leanne stuck her tongue out at him, then darted onto Ren's bed as quickly as she could, “in bed!” She chimed, foiling her papa on a technicality.

Thancred tried not to smile at her, he really shouldn't encourage her further. But he did anyway.

“Fine,” he says, and grabs the blanket to tuck her in next to her brother, “you win this time.”

Now, with both children safely tucked into bed, Thancred smiles warmly at them, and kisses both of their foreheads one at a time.

“Story?” Ren whispered before he could leave, and despite the fact they'd had a story from G'raha before bed earlier, Thancred still sat by their feet, looking at them as Ren grabbed the tatty old chocobo toy that had once been Leanne's, and Miyhu's before that.

It took him a moment to think of a tale he could tell them that was more age appropriate, but eventually he asked, “have I ever told you about the time your daddy's Gobby got loose in the kitchen at Revenant's Toll?”

---

The next morning, Miyhu woke to G'raha shaking him lightly, an incredibly fond look on his face, “Yhuyhu, you've got to come look,” he whispered, despite the daylight making itself known throughout the room.

Miyhu gave a sleepy noise instead of an answer, but still stood, letting G'raha lead him out of the room by the hand.

“I went to wake Ren for breakfast,” G'raha explained, “and this is what I found.”

Ren's door was open, and G'raha motioned for Miyhu to look through it. Miyhu had to cover his own mouth to stop themself from making a noise at the sight, and waking the occupants.

There, on Ren's small bed was Thancred, lying on his back, snoring gently, with both Ren and Leanne tucked under an arm each. 

G'raha wrapped his arms around Miyhu's waist, holding him from behind and resting his chin on their shoulder, “can you believe how soft he is?” He whispered, staring fondly at his little family.

Miyhu giggled quietly, “Than's always been a softie, even when he pretends he's not.”

G'raha snorted, then tugged Miyhu from the doorway, “c’mon love, let's leave them to sleep for a bit longer, we haven't got anything pressing today anyway.”

“Back to bed?” Miyhu asked, hopefully.

G'raha laughed again, “no, none of us would be up before lunch if we did that!”

Miyhu pouted at him, “you're no fun.”

G'raha kissed the tip of Miyhu's nose, “I know,” he said happily, “let's either go read on the sofa, or you can go find my binder and we can read outside.”