Work Text:
A great white expanse laid around him. No. It wasn’t white. Colorless. The absence of color was around him, like a piece of paper that Haruno hasn’t colored on yet. No sound. Lots of light, but nowhere for the light to come from. And it was… cold. It was so cold, too cold. Suddenly they heard humming come from behind them. He snapped his head to look for the source and his eyes quickly caught sight of. Their breath hitched. Long pink dress, golden blonde coils held back in a bun, and a smile that shined brighter and warmer than any sun could dare to dream of.
“Mother-” He called out before he realized, his legs almost taking off without him. Was it her? Was it really her? Has he finally done it? Is this heaven? The woman started to walk away, as if she didn’t notice the vampire running towards her.
“Mother?! Mom!” They sped up but the distance between them only seemed to grow, her humming becoming almost deafening in their ears. Not this, please not again. She can’t leave him again!!
“COME BA-”
Dio suddenly shot up in bed with a gasp, looking around the room he was in. It took a moment for him to come down from the adrenaline high. Fuck. It was just a dream. It was just that dream again. He sighed and put his face in his hands. Of course this happens the one night he attempts to go along with a human sleep schedule.
The same thing happens every single time and yet it feels just as real every single time. They would hear their mother and run after her voice, never able to catch up. Useless. That’s what it was. That’s how they felt as hot tears began to stream down his face.
He felt the bed stir next to him. Oh. Right. He almost forgot he wasn’t alone.
“Love, please quit jumping aroun… ...Got work t’morrow…” He heard Kira very quietly mumble as he turned towards him.
Dio sniffed, “My apologies…” Shit, that came out way more shaky than they intended.
“Huh… Dio??” Kira sat up and fumbled with the light switch on the lamp, illuminating the room in soft shades of gold, “Are you alright?” he rubbed his eyes and yawned.
“I-I’m alright, go back to bed.” He tried to bury his face further into his hands, hoping the false reassurance would put him back to sleep.
“Okay, now look at me and say that,” he attempted to gently tug at one of Dio’s wrists.
“What for? I’m fine.” They said, a waver in their voice. He silently pleaded for the man to leave him be, to let him have his breakdown alone.
“Are you crying?” He could feel Kira staring at him. This was humiliating.
“No? Why would I be cry-”
“Because I can hear-”
“Well I’m not!” Dio snapped, turning their head to glare at him. They realized that their tears were most likely visible in the lamp’s light and sighed.
“...Perhaps I was crying,”
“Still are,” Kira leaned forward and wiped the newly forming tears from Dio’s eyes. Sometimes Dio wasn’t a fan of how observant the man was. “What happened?” his voice softened as he took Dio’s hand in his, rubbing his thumb along the ring on their ring finger.
“Nothing. Just… a dumb dream, really,” he sniffed.
Kira was quiet for a moment, just looking at him before speaking up again, “Would you… like to talk about it or…?”
He couldn’t. No way in hell he could talk about his mommy issues with a man that he’s living domestically with. How would he be able to respect him if he knew that Dio cries for his dead mommy? She’s been dead and forgotten for a century, her body eaten by worms and decay in a cemetery that probably got paved over to make room for an overpriced apartment building, and oh God, he really was never going to see her again except for her appearances in his dreams and-
“Dio-” they heard Kira’s voice and realized that the tears were falling again and they couldn’t stop them. All they could do was let Kira wrap his arms around them and reciprocate, burying their face into the crook of his neck and sobbing. They felt the man run his hands up and down his back and quietly whisper that it was okay, and they felt… slightly less pathetic. This almost felt therapeutic, in fact.
After a few moments, he finally felt more in control and shuddered a deep breath, still holding on to Kira.
“It’s just… I dreamt about my mother,” he finally spoke up.
“Your mother?” Kira asked. Not judgmentally. He didn’t hear judgement in his voice. It sounded more like confusion. Right. He never told him about her.
Dio quietly explained his dream, and how it reoccurs sometimes, and how he misses her, and how foolish she was to stay with his father, how she died of her foolishness, how he misses her, how he misses her, how he misses her; he could feel his words tumble out before he could catch them. He finally did, mainly because he felt like he would run out of air otherwise.
“Ah-” was Kira’s response and Dio couldn’t blame him. They realized that they just dumped 120 years of trauma in the middle of the night to a man who was half awake.
“My apologies…”
“Don’t apologize, Dio,” Kira pushed him away slightly, only to look him in the eyes, his hands moving to wipe the tears on his cheeks before cradling his jaw, “You’ve clearly been through more than I thought…” Dio could almost see his brain trying to pick out the words to say.
“I may not be able to solve… any of that. But if you ever have a nightmare again or just need an ear… Well, I’ve been told by my coworkers that I’m a good listener.”
“I’m inclined to agree with them,” Dio let out a soft chuckle, “Thank you, love,” they leaned forward and pecked his cheek.
“Are you alright now?” Dio nodded in response.
“Good…” Kira forced the word through a yawn. Dio looked behind the man at the clock on the dresser. 3:25am.
“You should get back to sleep.”
Kira just nodded, his eyes already half-closed as he settled back down on the bed, pulling Dio down with him so that they laid face-to-face, noses almost pressed against each other. Kira pulled one of Dio’s hands towards him and planted his lips against the knuckle, falling asleep before he could give it a kiss.
Dio softly smiled and wrapped an arm around the man’s waist, gently closing his eyes.
“...Love y…” Kira mumbled.
“I love you too, my world…”
Perhaps this wasn’t the heaven that appears in his dreams. And perhaps he will only ever see his mother again in them. But as long as he had his husband with him when he was awake, Dio realized that he could learn to live with that.