I'd Give Up The World For You

Rukelion finished making the soup around the time Daisy woke up. She stretched, groaned, and sunk back onto the pillow before asking in a rather stuffed up voice, "What are you doing?"

"Making you soup," he replied as he ladled some into a bowl. "I thought it might help you feel better."

He brought it to her and she stared at it, at a loss. "You made me soup."

"Yes."

"No one has ever made me homemade soup before. The best I've gotten is heating up a can in the microwave. Why would you do that?"

"I told you, I thought it might help you feel better. Everyone deserves to be taken care of when they don't feel well but especially you. You work yourself too hard," Rukelion scolded as he sat down next to her. 

Daisy sniffled and he thought he saw her surreptitiously wipe her eyes before she picked up the spoon. She ate a spoonful hesitantly after blowing on it then quickly downed the rest of the bowl. She held it out to him without looking up though her ears were red. 

"Can you get me some more?"

He smiled. She was so cute! "You got it."

Rukelion refilled her bowl and she finished that too before he took it back into the kitchen and rinsed it out. Then he sat back down next to her and waited to see if there was anything else she needed. 

Daisy hesitated a moment before resting her head against his shoulder of her own accord. "Thank you, Leo. The soup was really good."

"All I did was follow the recipe."

"No, that isn't what I meant. You didn't have to do that for me but you did it anyway. So thank you. Really."

Rukelion knew he shouldn't since he hadn't been given permission but he couldn't help it. He twisted his head slightly to kiss the side of hers. "No need to thank me. Are you feeling any better?"

"A little. I think I should probably go back to sleep though now that I've eaten. Sorry, I'm in no condition to drive you home."

"Don't worry about it. I can stay here as long as you need me to." Honestly, he would prefer if he stayed here forever. He never wanted to leave his wife's side again now that he had her back in any capacity. 

"I don't want to put you out though," Daisy fretted while yawning. 

"You could never put me out, Daisy." 

She paused a moment before speaking again in the most vulnerable tone he had heard her use with this voice. "Hey, Leo?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember how you said I could do anything with you and it would be fine?"

Rukelion's heart skipped a beat. He remembered that very well but why would she bring it up now if she wasn't planning on doing something? "Yes. What do you need?"

"Do you think you could maybe hold me for a while so I can fall back asleep? I'm tired but I really don't feel well so I'm not sure how easily I'll be able to pull it off. You don't have to if you don't want to. You've already done more than enough," Daisy said tiredly. 

Was she kidding?! Of course he wanted to! He had been waiting for her to reach out first. Even if it was only because she wasn't feeling well he would gladly take it. She wouldn't be the only one benefitting here. 

"Come here. I've got you," Rukelion reassured her as he opened his arms. 

He laid on his side and held her tightly on the couch underneath the blanket. Despite it, he could still feel her shivering and raised the temperature surrounding them slightly. 

"You're really warm," Daisy whispered. 

He let out a small laugh thinking of a conversation they had ages ago when she said something very similar and he cracked up because it was natural he was warm due to his magic. That seemed like a million years ago now. 

"So I've been told," Rukelion said. "So take advantage of the warmth and go to sleep, will you?"

"But what about you?" she asked sleepily. 

"I'll be fine right here."

"Why are you being so good to me?"

He didn't have the time to come up with an answer that wouldn't make her run away before she fell asleep against his chest. He was so good to her because he loved her more than life itself. 

Rukelion wanted—no, needed—to make things up to her after how badly he had failed to take her feelings into account after taking over Mirea. He needed her to know how much he loved her. That she was his first priority and would never be anything less again. 

He ended up falling asleep there too since he was so comfortable but when he woke up and Daisy was still asleep he moved them both to the bed before resuming holding her. He had to take advantage of the opportunity while he could. 

When the alarm went off the following morning she groaned and tried groping for her phone to call in sick but he beat her to it. He knew she was concerned about office gossip so he disguised his voice before doing it. As soon as that was done he did the same thing for himself so he could stay home and take care of her before putting his phone down and gathering her up in his arms again. 

She was dead to the world for quite some time. Long after he had woken up for the second time he lay there holding her and savoring every second of it. He would not be the first to let go. 

When Daisy finally woke up she looked at him with a furrowed brow. "What are you doing here? Don't you need to be at work?"

"I called in sick as well so I could take care of you," Rukelion said matter-of-factly. 

"Why would you waste one of your precious sick days on me?!"

"I can't think of anything better to use them on. I'm used to working under any conditions." There was no such thing as sick days in the Mirean Royal Army. Unless you were on your death bed you were expected to participate in your daily duties as usual. 

"I don't get you," she said quietly after a while. "Why do you care so much about what happens to me? You don't even know me."

But he did know her. He knew everything about her inside and out. He knew her better than anyone else. Unfortunately, he couldn't let her know that. What would be a viable excuse that wouldn't freak her out?

"Why do I need a reason?" Rukelion deflected. 

"Because I don't understand!" Daisy said before bending over and having a coughing fit. He rushed to get her some water and she took it and sipped before frowning at him. "See? You're way too nice considering I'm nothing to you."

"You aren't nothing to me. You're the only thing that matters."

He wished he could suck that last sentence back in through his teeth but he couldn't. It was out and now all he could do was damage control. 

Daisy narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "…the only thing that matters? Why?"

Rukelion sighed. "Because you're the only person in this world that I like. Happy?"

It was the truth but it was also a severely watered down version of it. She WAS the only person in this world that he liked but that wasn't the real reason. She was the only thing that mattered to him because she had been the one to bring him out of his own personal darkness and give him something to keep living for. 

Her love—even if it was a big sisterly kind of love at the time—was what saved him. How could he not love her back for that?

Daisy coughed again. "The only one? Really?"

"Mmhmm. So don't ever feel like you're inconveniencing me or anything. You're not. There is nothing I would rather do with my day than take care of you, Daisy. Promise," Rukelion told her sincerely. 

"I don't like promises."

Daisy had whispered that so quietly he barely caught it. His heart twisted. He knew she didn't like promises but that wasn't going to stop him. One of these days he was going to keep a promise and she would see it and know that he was never going anywhere. 

Rukelion was determined. He would prove to her that some promises were able to be kept even if it took him the rest of their lives. 

He didn't know how to respond to her whispered declaration so rather than saying anything he ended up bending down to kiss the top of her head. "Do you want to go back to sleep or do you want to eat or drink something?"

"I could go for some more soup," she admitted. 

"More soup it is."

Rukelion gave her a bowl and she ate it before going to shower because she claimed she felt gross from all of the sweating. He felt gross too but didn't have the benefit of something to change into. 

Instead he focused on changing her sheets so they would be clean and decided to throw everything into the laundry, his clothes included. He borrowed a pair of her basketball shorts and a t-shirt to wear in the meantime. They were slightly too small on him but that wasn't the end of the world. 

That was one benefit of having a taller wife now. They could share clothes.. He never would have been able to get away with this back in his world.