Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gundham hadn’t been given many hugs in his life. He remembers faint and short hugs from his mother after falling out of trees. Or a hug from a girl in his 8th grade class who seemed to like him. Hugs usually didn’t feel nice to him. They felt suffocating, and sometimes made him nauseous. He tried to stay away from people at all times.

Now he was completely isolated from people, trapped on a deserted island with no one but the others also recovering from despair with him.

“Gundham! Hi!” a light yell sounded from the door.

There she was. Sonia Nevermind. His best friend, his most trusted companion. The being he loved most on this wretched plain. She was a bright ray of light in this bleak reality.

She comes over and sits beside him. She has on a beautiful smile that seems to brighten up the room. Gundham can’t help but feel bewitched by it.

“How have you been, sweetheart?” Sonia asks.

“The overlord of ice has been alright. The energy draining spell has been preventing me from leaving the lair” Gundham answers.

“Oh I'm sorry dear. What about we conduct our spells here today? Away from the draining spells of the mortals on this island” Sonia offers.

“Of course my darling,” Gundham says.

He feels his heart grow warm in his chest. Sonia always knows what he needs. He was almost convinced she had a mind reading spell. Gundham watches her as she moves around the room, grabbing a book they’ve been reading together. Gundham smiles at her when she sits back down beside him.

“Gundham dear, can I hug you?” Sonia asks.

Gundhams eyes widen. The two have been dating for 3 months now, but physical contact has been rare. Holding hands has been the farthest the two have gotten. He’s endlessly thankful for Sonias patience. Maybe, maybe he could try. He trusts her, he knows nothing bad will happen if she hugs him.

“Of course dark queen” Gundham answers.

“Alright. Tell me if you want to pull away, ok”

Gundham nods.

Sonia slowly puts her arms around him, pulling him into her chest. Gundham freezes for a moment. He waits for the horrible suffocating feeling to engulf him, but nothing happens. He just feels the warmth Sonia gives off and the secure feeling of her arms around him. He relaxes in her arms, cuddling close.

Sonia opens the book and pulls him to her side. She doesn’t let go of him as the two read the same book, curled close to each other. Gundham feels safe and loved. His partner seems to be full of spells.

Sonia stops reading, and looks down at her boyfriend

“Is this alright darling?” Sonia smiles.

“Yes, this is enchanting my dark queen” Gundham chuckles, hugging her back.

Sonia hugs him tighter, happy at being hugged back. She looks him in the eyes. He feels hypnotized by the ocean blue of her eyes and the gold color of her hair. He feels light inside, like he’s floating on a river of clouds.

“I love you” Gundham whispers.

Sonia seems to beam, “I love you too Gundham”

The two hug each other tight, feeling happy to just be with each other. One thought enters Gundhams head.

“Maybe, hugs aren’t as unnecessary as I thought”

Chapter Text

Gundham paces back and forth across his dorm room. He tries not to look at his open laptop, waiting patiently for some kind of response or anything. He had been asked to do a section for a research paper on the Ningaloo reef. After weeks of studying and one all expenses paid trip to see the reef, he had finally submitted the piece this very afternoon. Now all he could think about was if it was good enough or not. Like usual, he was the youngest person working on the paper. It always gave him some form of anxiety. He worried his work wasn’t as good as his adult co-workers. He had meticulously worked on this for as long as he could, making draft after draft to make sure it was good enough. Now he just had to wait to see how this turned out. He couldn't help but let the doubt creep into his thoughts, burying rationality under its crippling weight.

Gundham was so lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice anyone had come into his room. Or anything until suddenly he felt two hands on his shoulders. Gundham screams, jumps back and hits his back on his dresser. Gundham looks back up, pupils pinpricks.

“Gundham, I’m so sorry”

Gundhams vision clears, and in front of him is his worried looking boyfriend: Kazuichi. He’s staring at him like he’s looking at a frightened animal. To be fair, Gundham is pretty sure he looks as such.

“Darling?” Gundham whispers, straightening up from the defensive position he had taken.

“Hey babe. I’m so sorry. You weren’t answering me and I got worried. Are you ok?” Kazuichi asks, stepping closer.

Gundham looks down, then to the side. He glances at his laptop, and has to mentally work to tear his head away from the screen.

“Yes. The overlord of ice is completely fine. You do not need to worry my dear” Gundham reassures.

Kazuichi raises an eyebrow, crossing his arms. He steps closer to Gundham, but stops before he can get close enough to overwhelm his boyfriend.

“Honey, Gundham, You were pacing back and forth and didn’t answer me when I called your name 3 times” Kazuichi rebukes, “Don’t lie to me. What’s wrong?”

Gundham stays silent, staring frozen at Kazuichi. He doesn’t like to worry his partner, especially since Kazuichi has problems of his own. He swerves to the side and walks to his bed, sitting down on the mattress. Kazuichi follows. He looks at Gundham with concern, waiting for him to speak.

“The overlord of ice has been invited to write a segment of a scroll. It’s taken my magic weeks to fully materialize. I am the youngest wizard on the team, and i’m worried my words don’t measure up to the other spell casters” Gundham confesses.

Kazuichi smiles softly, holding out his hand for Gundham to take if he so chooses. Gundham slips his hand into his, relaxing at the warmth of his boyfriend's hand.

“Honey, you’ve been doing amazing! The fact you got a part on a research paper is a testament to how good your work is. You’ve been working so hard on this, you even took a whole trip for research! Your work is just as good as everyone else’s. You don’t need to worry about that, ok?” Kazuichi assures.

Gundham smiles. He leans into Kazuichis side, and Kaz wraps an arm around him. Kaz moves them so their leaning against the pillows. Gundham cuddles into his chest and Kazuichi plays with Gundhams hair.

“Thank you beloved. The dark lord is lucky your astral power is high enough to decipher my speech” Gundham says.

Kazuichi chuckles, “I’ve been around you long enough to understand you pretty well Gundham. Your work is amazing, and probably one of the best on the paper. Ok, mr dark lord?”

“Ok my paramour. An overlord should have more confidence in his spells” Gundham agrees.

Kazuichi kisses Gundhams forehead. He takes Gundhams headphones off the bed and puts it on his ears. Gundham looks at him with curiosity.

“You’ve been working so hard honey, I think you deserve a break. I’m gonna put on one of those animal fact podcasts you like so much, and we’ll just relax ok?” Kazuichi explains.

Gundham settles down in his boyfriend's chest, “That sounds wonderful darling.”

Gundam relaxes as the sounds of the podcast seeps into his ears. Kazuichis hands are running through his hair, and he can vaguely hear Kaz on the phone talking to someone about hot chocolate. Kaz looks down and kisses his cheek.

“Tired, Gundham?”

Gundham nods.

“Why don’t you go to sleep? You’ve been working hard. You need rest”

“Hah, overlords do not require rest. We must maintain frequent spell casting to maintain our force fields” Gundham proclaims, yawning at the end.

“Yeah yeah mr dark lord.” Kazuichi laughs, “I promise your force field will stay up while you sleep. It’ll be fine”

Gundham rolls his eyes, but closes his eyes anyway. Kazuichi pulls him closer and kisses his forehead.

“I have hot chocolate on the way. I’ll wake you up when it gets here ok?” Kazuichi whispers.

“Ok darling” Gundham mumbles, half asleep.

“Have a good sleep sweetheart”

Kazuichi pulls a blanket over Gundham and makes sure he’s nice and warm. He looks over at the computer, feeling so proud of what his boyfriend has done. He loves Gundham, even if sometimes Gundham isn’t confident in himself. Kazuichi can love Gundham for them both, and reassure him of his own excellency.