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Ace arrived back to his and his lovers living place, it was late at night he'll tell you that, he had expected for G'raha to be asleep right now but he wasn't.
Ace walked into his shared room only to see it was dark and G'raha's office had the lights on, which to Ace, only meant one thing.
G'raha was awake.
So as G'raha's boyfriend and the only person who knows his endless list of fears, he decided to take the reasonable approach. Which was scaring him.
The door was open wide enough for Ace to sneak in without any noise, knowing that G'raha has a heightened sense of hearing as all Miqo'te do, so does Viera though.
Ace wrapped his arms around the Miqo'te's neck and put his chin on the Miqo'te's head, he felt the flinch from the one beneath him and chuckled. "Did you not hear me arrive?" G'raha looked up at Ace and sighed. "Not really, but I was ready to equip my bow, you don't usually return until the strike of dawn.." He quietly said, hands on top of Ace's.
"Well it does seem that I can be sneaky unlike what you said a while back my darling." The Viera kissed the top of the Miqo'te's head, the Miqo'te blushed with the sweet action of his. "Seems so.." Ace saw that his love was acting a little off and more quiet as of lately, he wonders why.
And the answer he shall receive.
Ace pulled back his chair, and got in front of the Miqo'te, then he slid his hands beneath G'raha's ass and lifted him up onto his chest. G'raha yelped and wrapped his legs around Ace's torso, the unexpected action scaring him. "A-Ace?" He quietly said, confused as his ears were now pinned against his head as his tail was still up in a frightened position.
"What's going on my love? Your not as rambling and talkative as of lately, it's concerning me." Ace had a concerned expression, which honestly also surprised the Miqo'te a little, he hadn't expected his boyfriend to even notice his odd behaviors.
'He really grabbed my ass for this?' G'raha wanted nothing more than to lecture Ace on what to touch depending on the moment, but now didn't seem to be the time. "What do you mean Ace?" He had wrapped his arms around Ace's neck for extra support just so he wouldn't fall.
"Your not talking as you did 2 weeks ago, you much more involved into your studies, your not sleeping anymore like usual, and your kind of avoiding everyone, everyone, especially Thancred, are worried for you, they even asked that I check up on you!" Ace listed concerns that had disappeared, the Viera himself had once gotten to the point of avoiding people to finish saving the world, but G'raha wasn't the Warrior of Light, he was the best historian Ace ever knew! Even Thancred secretly admit that G'raha was a great historian.
The Miqo'te was silent, his tail drooped, his ears still stay pinned upon his head, he didn't know how to tell his first beloved that he was having nightmares about his past without worrying him, but with a soft sigh, he decided he should probably tell Ace, then maybe Thancred if he felt up to it. "I- I've been having nightmares.." He had paused foe a second. "As stupid as that may sound to you or anyone else, these nightmares are me reliving my childhood, and you, and Thancred don't know of my childhood, but it was horrible.." He exhaled a small breathe as tears quickly welt up in his eyes but he held them back.
"A-And these nightmares have gotten so bad that I refuse to sleep anymore, cause I'm scared to relive what I've fought to escape from, wouldn't you be scared aswell..?" He wanted to cry, he truly did, but deep inside his head, it felt wrong to cry in front of one of the two people who love him. Ace's eyes softened at the sad look on his darlings face, wanting nothing but to replace it with smile or at least a face of peace..
"Of course I would be darling, I fought to help these people and save their loved ones aswell, but you need to tell me or Thancred or even both if these happen! We can comfort you my darling, I promise.." Ace's hands moved to get his love into a more comfortable position in his arms, now G'raha was being held bridal style, sometimes, for some reason, this felt like a form of carrying that gave comfort.
"Promise..?" His words sounded scared and afraid, afraid of being betrayed although knowing he could trust Ace, he often had doubts when it came to others trust. "Of most certainty My Darling." He carried his sad loved one to bedroom, wiggling off his shoes and placing his katana against the bed supports.
"But if your comfortable, I would like for you to tell me of what memories of your past that haunt you with nightmares, that way I know there's more to do to help you.." He spoke softly, afraid that if he spoke to loud, G'raha would shatter. G'raha nodded. "Could you get Thancred first of he's awake..? He has the right to also know.." The Miqo'te quietly requested, not forgetting of the other that loved him and sometimes held him dearly.
"Oh, right, of most certainly I will right now." He carefully placed G'raha onto the bed as if he were an ancient delicate artifact, stopping at the entrance of the room, he turned to G'raha. "And please, get into something comfortable, maybe go fetch a shirt from me or Thancred's closet if that will make you feel better?" He offered but then disappeared to call upon Thancred.
The Miqo'te quietly chuckled at Ace, but his clothes he had on currently weren't comfortable so he got off the bed and made his way to Thancred's closet side, the man wore less tight shirts while Ace was prideful of showing off his pectorals and wore tight shirts.
Slipping off the trousers he had on, now in his smallclothes (boxers/undergarments), he picked a loose shirt from Thancred's side, slipping it on easily. He was deciding between letting his hair or keeping it in a braid.
He decided to keep it in a braid.
♤♧♤♧♤♧♤♧♤♧
(With Thancred and Ace (Acehole))
Ace climbed on the balcony of Thancred's room, sighing with relief that he didn't drop a death drop. Thancred was obviously asleep, being the only one out of the three to sleep like a damn normal person, so Ace did the most reasonable thing he could think of.
*SLAP!*
He slapped Thancred awake.
"Ouch!" Thancred said and sat up quickly, wondering who the fuck slapped him at such a late time at night (3:04am), only to see that it was Motherfucking Ace Wayne.
"Ace." He angerly spoke the Warrior of Lights name, clearly he was tired but G'raha needed his assistance, something Thancred didn't know, until now. "G'raha needs us both right now Thancred! We have no time for you to be asleep!" He whisper-yelled, although there was a heavy matter going on, he did respect next door peoples privacy.
"What's going on with G'raha?! Was he kidnapped? Hurt? KIDNAPPED?!" He yelled but then Ace covered his mouth as to tell him to stop fucking yelling. "No, none of those actually, He requests that you join me and him, so that he can tell you why he's been avoiding us, mostly you and the others, lately, this is some serious shit Thancred!" Thancred linked Ace's hand which made the Viera yelp and rip his hand away from Thancred's mouth. "Why does he need me then?"
"Your his other boyfriend! Now c'mon!" Ace grabbed Thancred's wrist and teleported them close to the house Ace left G'raha in. Dragging Thancred inside.
♧♡♧♡♧
G'raha had climbed into the bed, moving the pillows around so he didn't sit on them, he sat against the headboard and the blanket rested on his legs, his tail thwiped on the comfy bed, unsure where to start when he started to explain to the other two about his odd childhood. He should probably start with the youngest traumatic experience he could remember.
Ace tumbled through the entrance of the bedroom with Thancred behind him, Thancred quickly shoved Ace aside and climbed the bed, grabbing G'raha by the shoulders, shaking him. "What happened?! Why are you suddenly gonna tell us about your 'not getting any sleep' thing? Did Ace force you?!" He gave concerning questions to the poor Miqo'te, Ace quickly got up and pulled Thancred off of the Miqo'te and yelled at him for doing that to their lovely boyfriend.
G'raha's sudden chuckle captured both the men's attention, adoring his laugh. "I'm okay, Ace didn't force anything on me, and I thought it was time you two knew what's bothering me so bad." He smiled as he simply said that, Thancred nerves had calmed, halfly, he was still nervous on what the Miqo'te's past was and mad at Ace for slapping him awake.
Thancred climbed onto the bed, Ace climbed in on the other side, both of them throwing the pillows of the bed and pulling G'raha into a snuggle. G'raha was sadly shorter a few inches or so than the other two so they could easily cuddle him. Thancred softly grabbed G'raha's tail and put it on his(Thancred's) lap, Ace wrapped a head around G'raha's waist, shuffling closer.
"Are you two ready now..?" G'raha asked after a while of the two getting settled. "I am" Thancred said first, he was softly petting G'raha's tail which honestly was pretty calming.
(Headcanon that when you pet a Miqo'te's ears or tail, depending on the mood, they'll have different reactions. Example, A Miqo'te is nervous about something, partner comes along and starts rubbing their ear or possibly playing with their tail, the Miqo'te becomes calm. Yes, no :D?)
"I guess." Ace answered, still wanting to comfort his Miqo'te boyfriend. G'raha thought with a shaky sigh.
"Alright, so I guess, we start at the ripe age of 9 years(?) old."
[Flashback, 3rd POV, 9 years old.]
G'raha sighed, writing his last words on the essay about the great and ancient history of the first Warrior of Light, this may have been the Miqo'te's interest but he doesn't quite like to stay on one subject for so long, so he was glad that he had finally finished this painstakingly long essay.
Getting out of his seat, he approached his teacher, handing him the paper, after a minute of inspection, the teacher nodded in approval, heading it back to G'raha, and shooing him out of the classroom.
G'raha had left and walked down the hallway, towards the library but...
He was stopped.
By some weird guy.
"Hey you." The guy said to G'raha.
"..yes?"
"Your smart right?"
"Of most certainty I am, why is that important?" G'raha's ears tilted down a little, his tail wrapping around his leg. At this time G'raha was still a female, deemed too young to transition.
"I like smart girls, best kind.." He looked G'raha up and down. "Wanna get into my bed?" A basic human invite to have sex. Seriously? "Uhm, no, I'm 9, your like older than me, and that's disgusting." G'raha's ears pinned to his head, wanting to leave immediately, he decided to push the boy to the side, and walk past.
That was a bad idea.
Suddenly the boy was angered and had roughly grabbed G'raha's hand and pulled (her) him, to himself, placing his other hand on his waist and pulling him close. "Hey! What are you doing!?"
Then the boy started kissing him, out of nowhere, then the boy squeezed his ass. Now G'raha was scared of what the boy was going to do to him, but he wasn't scared to fight back.
With a harsh push, he sent the boy back and onto the floor, he himself fell on the floor, but scrambled up quicker than a cheetah and ran to the library.
[First Flashback ended]
"So uhm, I guess I got taken advantage of in the end.." G'raha could hear the anger in both males rising. "Oh that cheeky little piece of sh-" G'raha slammed a hand over the Viera's mouth and shook his head. "I get your both mad but don't curse, and the kid is dead, it's not like anyone will come for me because of my body again.." He reassured the two, although both were surprised to hear he died, they were also relieved, because G'raha and his amazing male body belonged to them, not some random pedophile.
"But uhm, onto the next one I guess.."
[Flashback 2, Age 14.]
G'raha sighed, finally had vacation come for him and other students, the starlight celebration was a week away and the place decided that students should have their peaceful week off before a ruckus of things that filled their mind over the capacity happened.
So G'raha made his way home, enjoyed the wind that blew against his face, opening the door to the his house, he went in and took off his boots, then headed inside. "Mother I'm home!" A Miqo'te Femals Woman popped out of the corner and spotted her son.
"G'raha!" She happily said and hugged G'raha, giving him a tight squeeze before letting go, leaving her hands on his shoulders. "How's my baby boy? Good I hope?" She smiled brightly that it became infectious, G'raha pulling his own smile. "I'm great now that I'm home! But I also got something for you!" He pulled a out a necklace, the gem that held onto soft string was a ruby, glimmering from the kitchen light.
"Oh its beautiful G'raha, how did you afford this?" She took the necklace from her son and slipped it onto her neck, admiring the ruby. "The school gave us some Gil to get things for our loved ones, when I saw this necklace I knew it reminded me of the eyes you passed down to me." She hugged her son again and ushered him into the kitchen.
(Week later)
"Mother?" G'raha walked into his mother's room, holding a paper. "Yes G'raha?" G'raha's mother, Cordelia, was folding clothes of hers and putting them away.
"Can we go to this?" He held the paper to his mother, it was an invite to go to a ancient site before it got taken down, Cordelia took the paper and thought about it. "Sure! When is it?" She handed it back to him.
"Tomorrow!" He happily said, Cordelia giggled quietly at her son's happiness. "Alright hopefully you can wait then." G'raha left the room.
(The next day)
G'raha and Cordelia arrived at the site, seeing other families that raised scholar children and such, the two were led inside as other families followed. About an hour into it, the site had started to collapse.
Roof rocks falling down on families or scholar children, blood was splattered, but Cordelia was determined to escape with her son, dodging the rocks, and pushing her son through. Soon enough, a rock fell upon Cordelia, G'raha quickly noticing and heading back to her. "Mother!" He said, panicking as he tried to lift the rock from his mother.
Cordelia grabbed his hand. "G'raha.." She said with a hourse voice, G'raha quickly was at attention and sat by her. "Yes mother, what is it?" He quickly said, a worried look upon his face.
Cordelia ripped the necklace from her neck and handed it to her son. "Take this and leave my son, i-its not safe for you here, so leave.." She hoarsely said. "What? No! I won't leave you here to die mother!" Tears started to stream down his face, holding onto her hand. "Please, live.."
"For me and your father.." Cordelia looked up and saw a rock about to hit G'raha. With a moment of panick and worry of her sons safety, she summoned her staff and used a spell to push him back, the rock falling on her. Blood splattered.
"MOTHER!" G'raha screamed, tears flew down his face fast, crawling over to his mother's dead body, grabbing her hand. "Mom p-please! Don't leave me here please!" No response.
"Mom!" No response.
"M-Mom.." his voice trailed off, replaced with the sounds of sobbing.
[Back to the Present.]
G'raha was quiet, tears had flown down his cheeks, remembering that day was torture to himself. Feeling a kiss on his head, he looked at Thancred. "I'm so sorry this happened love, you did not truly deserve to lose your mother.." Thancred wrapped his arms around G'raha, the Miqo'te crying harder now.
Ace not wanting to be left out, he joined this hug from behind G'raha. "Shhh my darling..." Ace softly said in G'raha's ear.
(Let's give our time-travelling catboy a moment to cry shall we?)
(..okay)
(A while later)
G'raha sighed. "I'm ready to talk about the rest.." He whispered, Ace and Thancred shared a look, a concerned look. "Are you sure darling? I don't think after the last one, you'd be ready.." Ace expressed the concern that he and Thancred had. "I'm fine for now."
[Flashback 3, Age 18]
G'raha was a peaceful man (sometimes) but he'd only pull out his bow for defense, and one time.
He did.
G'raha was walking back from the market, having brought some foods to feed himself, his bow laid upon his back, just incase y'know?, can never be too careful.
And right he was to carry his bow with him.
Peaceful and causing none any harm, but somebody had a bone to pick with him. A clean nice looking hand grabbed the back collar of G'raha's shirt and pulled him into the alley as he yelped in surprise, being pinned against the wall, he hadn't a choice but to look at who disturbs his walk home. "...Rose." The Au Ra called 'Rose' was a nice few inches taller than G'raha.
"Hey G'raha! When am I gonna get my pay hm?" She said with a seemingly happy voice but there was a hint of frustration hidden beneath. And the pay that Rose was talking about was when G'raha had asked Rose to... help him solve an issue that was a big deal to G'raha. G'raha sighed and looked at Rose with a stern look. "I don't know if you remember our conversation but I told that you'll get your pay when I have enough Gil for it." He hated repeating himself sometimes.
Rose growled and grabbed the hem of G'raha's shirt pulling him close to her face. "I don't care, you said I'd get my pay by the end of the week, it's the end of the week."
"Technically Sunday is bu-" Rose grabbed her dagger and pointed it at G'raha's throat, silencing him quick. "I don't care. I want my pay, now.." She growled deeply, sending shivers down G'raha's spine, his ears pinned against his head as his tail wrapped around his leg. "Look I d-don't have the pay so give me a few more days and I'll give it to you!" He stuttered, Rose wasn't gonna back off and his bow was tossed elsewhere by Rose a while ago (forgot to add that earlier), and he was starting to get scared.
Rose trailed the dagger down to the middle of G'raha's stomach, and she plunged it in, G'raha yelping out of pain and falling to the ground. He clutched at his stomach as blood slid down his hands. "Next time, when I ask, I better get my pay." Rose disappears.
G'raha cried as he pulled out the dagger and threw it somewhere else in the alleyway, and soon enough he passed out from blood loss.
(This next part is what G'raha didn't see.)
A Viera with snow white hair crouched down and inspected the passed out Miqo'te, seeing that he was clearly injured and was bleeding out. The Viera sighed and picked up the Miqo'te bridal style, carrying him to the scholar's healer.
[Present.]
G'raha sighed.
He didn't like talking about that particular experience but the two needed to know about it, if they were gonna help. He felt Ace growl. "Oh I'm gonna kill that 'Rose' son of a bitch when I see her!" He angerly yelled.
G'raha's tail harshly slapped Ace's arm as a warning, earning a whine from the Viera. "Wait." Thancred said, G'raha and Ace looked at him with curiosity. "What do you ask her to do that you needed to pay her for?"
"Oh, uhm..." He tried to think back and remembered what he asked for but sighed when he didn't find the memory. "I don't know, I guess I forgot."
Thancred shrugged as Ace grabbed G'raha's tail earning him a yelp, Thancred shot the Viera a glare and the Viera let go. Ace cuddled up to G'raha's side again, hands back on his waist.
"Anymore?" Thancred asked.
"...No, not that I remember anyway, I usually just block most of my trauma so I don't remember it.." G'raha's ears pinned against his head. "Sorry..."
"It's fine my Darling, you told us what you could and that's all we need of you." Ace said with comfort, taking out the Miqo'te's braid, letting the medium length hair fall out of its braid.
Thancred started petting the Miqo'te's ears, a purr easily making its way out, the comfort he received from the two calmed G'raha's nerves.
(A few minutes later of all this loving)
Eventually Thancred and Ace picked up the soft snores coming from G'raha, telling the two that he was asleep. Thancred silently moved around and fixed the position to where G'raha laid atop of Thancred, Ace getting the pillows and setting them back on the bed, he got on the bed himself, settling the Miqo'te in-between the two taller males, facing Thancred.
Ace sighed, Thancred gave a questioning look. "How do you think we can help him? He's faced alot of stuff over the pass years.." He whispered to Thancred, petting G'raha's ears. Thancred thought about it himself and shook his head. "That is something I haven't an answer to, but for now, all we can do is be there for him." Ace nodded with an unsure look, Thancred upon seeing the look, pressed a kiss on his forehead.
Ace smiled and started to fall asleep himself, Thancred fell asleep not long after.