Work Text:
Ningguang wakes up long before the sun even comes up in the sky, with a stinging pain cursing through her abdomen, again. She groans, her sleep irremediably interrupted, and moves to bury her face in the pillow. Her hands quickly slip underneath her body and she tries to apply pressure in hopes of mitigate the pain.
Next to her, she hears some shuffling and the rustling of sheets, but her ovaries decide to attack her with an awful sensation right at that moment. Ningguang sucks her teeth and wills herself to not be so loud. She does not want to wake Beidou up this early, after all.
The pain does not go away, however, and she lets out a groan once again. Not even a second after, she feels a pair of strong, warm hands running up and down her exposed back. She feels horrible all of a sudden, a myriad of feelings gnawing up at her from the inside. She ended up waking her lover.
“What's wrong?” Beidou's raspy voice whispers next to her ear, her hands never stopping her comforting motions.
Ningguang turns around, face red from pressing it intently on the pillow, and wraps herself over Beidou. Ningguang's body slots perfectly against hers, Beidou's neck home to her quivering lips.
“My love, what is it?”
Her voice now has a concerned tilt to it, and she notices how Beidou sobers up immediately when she does not respond quickly enough. One of her hands tangles in her ashen hair, searching for the back of her neck to try and make her separate from her body.
“Hey… talk to me, Ning.”
“...it hurts…,” Ningguang says in a small voice, “it hurts so much…”
Beidou scrunches up her eyebrows in thought, but it does not take her more than a moment to quickly put two and two together. She knows she started her period just yesterday, and that Ningguang usually gets cramps, so it is not too far-fetched to think that what is causing her so much pain is actually her period.
She wraps her arms firmly around the figure of her lover, conveying that she is not leaving her anytime soon. With one of her arms, Beidou pulls over the cover that was misplaced with all the movement from before, making sure to wrap it closely around Ningguang. Said woman feels the freshness of the sheets and snuggles even further into Beidou's neck, a shiver running down her spine.
“It's okay, my light, I'm here.” Beidou keeps her voice low, meanwhile trying to reverse their position. “I'm here.”
She skillfully manoeuvres them so Ningguang's back presses against her front, with one of her hands securely placed on Ningguang's abdomen. Her other arm is currently being used as a pillow, not that she minds.
“Try to sleep some more, my love, I'm right here, okay?”
Beidou's deep voice, still coated with the drowsiness from having just woken up, calms her and grounds her. Ningguang thinks that there is no sound that she loves more than her partner's voice. It has always made her feel secure and at ease, and now is no different. She weakly nods her head, a frown still present on her face.
The warmth from Beidou's hand helps her with the pain, but when she feels it moving and pressing in the right places she is washed by relief. Her small massage is doing wonders to her cramps, and with that partly out of the way Ningguang's eyelids feel heavy with sleep. With tired and lazy movements, Ningguang turns to leave a kiss on Beidou's forearm, the closest part to her face, before grabbing her hand and intertwining their fingers.
Beidou presses further against her back, nuzzling her nose right below Ningguang's earlobe. Her hand never stops massaging and pressing, even when she feels Ningguang's breathing evening out and the hold on her hand becomes too weak to maintain it. She leaves a trail of tiny kisses from below her ear to the crook of Ningguang's neck, where she stays calmly listening and feeling her breathe for a long while.
With the aid of her body heat and soothing motions of her hand, Ningguang is finally asleep again. Beidou hates seeing the love of her life in any kind of pain, but in her opinion this is one of the worst types. It bothers her from the inside, and there is almost nothing that can be done to alleviate it. It is a question of trying to at least make it bearable, instead of making it hurt less from the beginning. She knows this, but her heart still aches when she is not able to do more than offer some warmth and comfort.
Sensing Ningguang is deeply sleeping, she untangles herself from her body and slowly gets out of the bed, carefully wrapping the covers around her sleeping form as soon as she steps out. She heads straight for the kitchen, already making a list in her mind with the necessary ingredients for making a drinkable medicine one of her colleagues taught her a long time ago.
With everything added, all Beidou has to do now is wait for the herbal water to boil. She hopes Ningguang has not woken up yet; knowing she would open her eyes to an empty bed makes her want to drop everything and crawl back to her lover. Luckily time passes fast, and before she knows it she is serving the mixture into a ceramic mug, accompanying it with a few snacks she knows Ningguang will gladly eat.
When she gets back to their room the sun is beginning to shower the streets with its first lights, which means almost an hour has gone by. Beidou sets the tray on the bedside table and slowly sits on the edge of the bed. She pauses to admire the sleeping beauty that occupies the mattress, observing how her hair cascades over her shoulder and frames her delicate face. Soon enough, though, one of her sculpted eyebrows twitches and Ningguang makes a small sound of discomfort. Surely she is hurting again.
“Ningguang… hey…”
Beidou brings her hand to her face and tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. She keeps her hand there, thumb softly caressing Ningguang's cheek.
“Bǎobèi, look at me…”
With a sound resembling closely to a whine, Ningguang slowly blinks her eyes open and focuses her gaze on Beidou, expectant.
“Drink this.” Beidou takes the mug and holds it within her reach. “Come here, sit up.”
Ningguang obligues, albeit almost in slow-motion. Beidou is patient, she understands how painful it can feel and she is sure even moving a bit is a great source of discomfort. She keeps a hold of the mug until Ningguang is ready to take it into her own hands. It feels hot, but she welcomes the sensation. She brings it to her lips and takes the smallest of sips, not because she does not trust Beidou's ability but because she cannot muster the energy to swallow properly.
“It's bitter.”
“I know, but it'll make you feel better.”
She looks at Beidou with tired eyes, a completely unguarded expression on her face. Beidou cups one of her cheeks instinctively, leaning in to press a feather-like kiss to her forehead.
“I promise.” She smiles, letting go of her face.
Ningguang finishes the drink without much protest, as hot and bitter as it was it felt great against her throat, and even better in her stomach. Beidou takes the mug from her and places it on the tray, noticing how Ningguang follows her movements with her eyes and rapidly focuses on the snacks. She takes a packet of biscuits and dangles it in front of Ningguang's face.
“Do you want some?”
She stares at the packet for a long moment, and then moves her gaze to Beidou's grinning face. She feels a tiny smile of her own stretching her lips, but she shakes her head no.
“Not now.” Ningguang unceremoniously falls back on the bed, “I wish to sleep some more.”
“Alright then,” Beidou returns the biscuits back to the tray, and nudges Ningguang to make room for her, “sleep it is.”
Ningguang waits for Beidou to get comfortable in their bed before glueing herself to her side. She tucks her head under Beidou's chin, inhaling the scent that is so distinctly Beidou, and keeps her arms close to her own body, right above the other woman's breasts. Beidou simply sighs affectionately, wrapping one arm around Ningguang's shoulders and using the other to follow an imaginary pattern down her back.
“I'll wake you up, don't worry about that."
Ningguang feels the rumble of her voice resonate in her chest, almost as if she were listening from the inside, and the airy kiss that is pressed on the top of her head before her eyes close completely. Ningguang only manages to let out an unidentifiable noise that she hopes comes off as an agreement. After that, her every sense is filled with Beidou's presence, and she is able to fall asleep without being bothered at all by the havoc going on down below.
Beidou is, for the large part of her time sleeping, unable to move. She does not want to jostle Ningguang awake, it would be great if the woman got some proper rest after the awful night she is sure she had. Instead, she uses this time to run her fingers through her silk hair, carefully untangling some unruly knots from moving so much in bed. The calloused pads of her fingers follow a trail down Ningguang's spine, gently adding some pressure right where her ovaries are from the back. Beidou takes Ningguang's hand on her own, rough fingers making a stark contrast with the slender and smooth ones from her lover while she intertwines and plays with them.
Her other hand leaves her scalp to trace tiny circles on her shoulders, barely touching the skin; a muted giggle leaving her lips when she feels Ningguang letting out a small whine and hiding further into her neck. One of her legs is now covering Beidou's, she can even see the swell of her supple bottom, which she would have immediately grabbed if she were not so intent on not waking her up just yet.
It seems like the medicinal beverage she prepared, along with her loving touches and faint kisses, has helped Ningguang sleep a little while more through the pain. Beidou is glad that she could help her even the tiniest bit before it got worse, since she has seen how bad those cramps of her could get.
However, she is not sure if Ningguang is willing to skip work because of this reason, so she needs to wake the woman up before it gets late. Beidou gently grabs one of her arms and squeezes a bit, trying to make her open her eyes. She brings her hand to her exposed cheek when she receives no answer, thumb caressing right below her eye.
“Ningguang… my star, wake up.”
Said woman furrows her brows, but makes no other movement. Beidou then mischievously takes her thumb and hovers it before her slightly open mouth, and when Ningguang still presents no signs of waking up, she inserts the digit into her mouth, pressing it to her tongue lightly. Ningguang’s eyes fly open in an instant, and as she reels back from the intrusion, she bites down on the finger. Hard. Too damn hard for someone who was supposedly sleeping a few seconds ago.
“Ow! Why did you bite so hard?” Beidou hides her thumb into her own palm as she complains.
“Why did you put it there, to begin with?”
Ningguang sports a frown on her face, clearly not happy at all, but she cannot help but let out a chuckle when she observes her lover making a puppy-like face and cradling her injured thumb.
“I was trying to wake you up.” Beidou’s voice lowers and takes a caring tone, “don’t you need to go to work today, babe?”
“Mmm…”
Beidou feels Ningguang hide her face once again into the crook of her neck, seemingly hiding from the world. She understands, she would not want to face anyone if she were in her position.
“...I don’t want to go today…”
A hand wraps around the back of her neck, playing with the baby hairs at the base. The other one takes in its hold Ningguang’s hand again, and Beidou presses a kiss against the soft skin of the dorsal side.
“Can you take a day off?”
“I will… I’ll inform Keqing later.”
“It’s alright, I’ll do it for you.” Beidou tries to get out from under Ningguang’s body, but she is stopped by the woman draping herself more intently over her.
“Don’t leave yet… call her in a while, I want to stay like this, bǎobèi.”
Soft laughter fills the room as Beidou secures her hold on Ningguang and slides her hands up and down her back, a comforting motion that serves to let Ningguang snuggle up even more into her.
“Okay, Ning, we will.” A kiss to her forehead. “But after this,” a kiss to her temple, “you’ll have to get up.” A kiss to her nose. “You need to eat a proper breakfast.” Another kiss, right on her cheek. “And then we’ll draw a warm bath, hm?”
A final kiss to her lips, Ningguang already expecting it with a little smile adorning them.
“Mmhm, sounds good…”
“And I’ll make you another cup of that tea.”
“Alright, bǎobèi…”
“I have to find that blanket that can be heated up and I’ll warm it up for you.”
“Yes…”
“And—” Ningguang finally interrupts the rambling woman, pressing her lips against hers in a purposeful chaste kiss. She gives her another peck, effectively shutting her up.
“Thank you, Beidou.” She smiles brightly —as brightly as she can with how tired she is—, “I love you.”
Beidou stares dumbly at her, but soon enough a grin stretches across her face too. She lets her body relax against the sheets, the familiar weight of Ningguang on top of her making it even easier. Her voice is but a murmur the next time she speaks, an embarrassing light pink dusting her cheeks.
“I love you too, Ning.”
Having successfully stopped the prattle pouring out of Beidou’s lips, Ningguang returns her head to its rightful place under Beidou’s jaw. She leaves a flutter of feathery kisses on the side of the column of her neck, slowly but steadily falling into slumber again. The other woman listens intently to the grounding sound of Ningguang’s easing breathing against her chest, her own matching its pace not long after. She figures she can sleep with her for a while too, after all, she will have the entirety of the day available for taking care of the love of her life.