For the first time in the four months since he had met Pyra, Rex had a full day off. No mercenary work, no battles, no journeying to Elysium. Just a day to relax. Both he and his fiery blade had longed for this since the titans joined. Now, most of the needed coordination of merc missions was complete, and for the time being, there wasn't really anything left to do. The boy laid in bed with his blade, with his arms around her. The couple's idea of relaxing was staying in bed all day. During the past few months, Rex had not been able fall asleep as quickly as usual. He was always concerned about something going on in his life. As a consequence, Pyra was worried about him and also found it hard to sleep. But staying here would be nice, they didn't even need to wake up. However, their plans were interrupted when an angry blonde Aegis came bursting through the door.
"What the hell are you doing?!" inquired an incredibly aggravated Aegis. "You know I can't cook myself breakfast! I've been up for two hours!"
Pyra and Rex suddenly woke up to the hostile Blade.
"Mythra," said the younger, yet more mature sister in an annoyed and half asleep tone. "Rex and I want to sleep in."
"You can't just cuddle all day in bed!" scolded Mythra. "If you want to relax, do it downstairs!"
Hesitantly, Rex released his grasp, as his Blade sat up.
"I'll go make us breakfast…" sighed the fiery haired Aegis, unaware of the time.
"You mean lunch!" corrected Mythra.
Once they had gottwn downstairs Pyra had already begun to prepare lunch. Rex had decided to keep her company while she cooked. Even though his culinary abilities were only slightly above Mythra's, he wanted to stay by his the fiery Aegis's side.
"I'm sorry, Rex," said Pyra. "I thought it would work out well for us to stay in bed all day."
"It's ok, Pyra," responded the salvager. "I can still spend the whole day with you."
The girl smiled at her Driver, and with him staying close, continued to make breakfast. Unfortunately for them, they were not able to hold hands as both of Pyra's were busy with the cooking.
After the aegis finished cooking, the three sat down at the table for lunch. A large portion was given to Rex, even though he was the smallest of the three. Pyra and Mythra ate a moderate portion, and the former gave what she didn't want to eat to her driver. Mythra on the other hand was more in the mood to try and take Rex's food.
"Well, thanks for the food," expressed a calmed down Mythra in gratitude. "I'll leave you two alone. Just be safe!"
The blonde quickly left the house, satisfied with what she said, but not wanting to face the consequences. Rex and Pyra immediately blushed, but weren't as affected by her remarks as they used to be. Since they were alone in the house, they decided to venture over to the couch. The redhead hoped that she could help reduce her Driver's stress levels today. The pair arrived at the sofa, and as they sat down, Rex slid his arm around Pyra and she nuzzled in close. Fonsett had been cold as of late, giving Rex more of an excuse to stay quite close to her. Pyra was content with the brunette holding onto her for warmth. After the events at the mountain, the salvager had become more comfortable with expressing his affection towards her. Though he could hold hands with her in public, and make some romantic advances on her prior to the event, the girl preferred this much more. Happy with where she was, she placed a gentle kiss on his cheek, and her head on his shoulder.
"I wish we could do this more often" expressed Rex. "But I'm afraid I'll have to get back to all the merc work soon."
"Don't think about that" advised the girl. "Just try and relax. I just want to have a nice, calm day with you."
"I know, Pyra," responded the salvager. "I do too. I'll just try and enjoy this day. I know I can with you."
Rex released his grip on her and laid down on the sofa. Pyra scooched in between him and the back cushion of the sofa. The Blade rested on her side and placed her head on his shoulder. The salvager slid an arm underneath her and pulled her in close, causing her to release a happy sigh. Both were quite happy with this. They could spend the entire day like this. In fact, they would. Warmth radiated into the boy, and feelings of safety and security flooded through Pyra's mind. The house was calm and tranquil, until...
"Hey Pyra!" greeted a familiar Gormotti figure. "Hey little sis!"
No! Not now! They were just about to finally relax. Why did the healer blade have to come now of all times? Rex immediately began to blush, while Pyra tried to hide the slight amount of laughter that was about to leave her.
"Nice one, NIa!" Congratulated Mythra. "I try that on Pyra all the time, but it doesn't work. I'll just do it on Rex from now on!"
Damnit!
"Hi Nia" greeted Pyra in return. "Glad to see you stopped by."
In truth, both the red-haired aegis and the brunette salvager wished to see their old friends. Three months had passed since they had visited them. Nowadays, Nia and Dromarch spent their time traveling around Elysium. The grey-haired cat girl often sent letters bragging about where she was, while Rex and Pyra stayed at home or were at Garfront. Neither of the invading blades cared that they were disrupting the couple's time together. But the other pair was perturbed. Feeling obligated, the two got up and prepared the table. While it was not yet time for lunch, Pyra always liked to prepare tea for her guests. Mythra and Rex could help with the brewing, as it took little skill. However, the blonde aegis usually pretended to be a guest, so she wouldn't need to help.
Rex and Pyra brought the tea over to the table, treading carefully to not spill it. Mythra drank hers all too fast, resulting in quite the burn in her throat. Mythra's face turned red with anger and pain. Pyra, Nia and Rex chuckled as she struggled to curse. The no swearing rule in the house was hard for Mythra to abide by. Normally, Rex didn't mind, but for Pyra's sake, he liked to keep all curse words away from her.
"Ain't she cute when she's trying so hard to swear? said Nia. "Anyway, thanks for the tea Pyra. Mythra and I were going to head out into the village. Have fun!"
As Mythra and Nia headed out for the village, Rex and Pyra resumed their previous position on the sofa, hoping to find some form of stress relief. The girl placed her arms in a way that would prevent the boy from moving. This was not for selfish reasons, however. She did this because she wanted him to rest. As of late, the salvager had found it harder and harder to relax, even with his blade by his side. Mercenary work, management of the village, and salvaging were always on his mind, clogging up all the space. This stressed him to no end. Rex would've liked to be able to lead a relaxing life after he arrived to Elysium. The fiery blade felt distraught about this, but being sources of comfort for each other was a part of their calling.
"I feel like we shouldn't be relaxing when there is company over" expressed the teenager. "Maybe we should get up?"
"Rex," assured Pyra. "Nia isn't picky. She's just happy to be here. I don't think she would want you working yourself any harder than you already have. Please just try and relax."
The girl gave him a loving stare that could convince him to do anything. Maybe he could relax, just this once. The driver slowly closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. A few minutes passed, and Pyra began to doze off as well. The boy's thoughts drifted back to the sources of his mental tension. He thought about how he had to protect Pyra and Mythra without their assistance, due to the loss of a fair amount of their power. He pondered over the merc group, and how they were faring without him at the HQ. What about the village? What about Corrine? She was growing old after all. Then he thought back to his blades, the twin Aegises. He had been so focused on work that he had hardly set apart time for her. A generous gift had been given to him when he reawakened both personas of the aegis, and it felt wrong to ignore it. He silently hoped that all of his fame would die down. Being the hero of the world, the driver of the Aegis, and the leader of the mercenaries was a strenuous job.
The girl's thoughts drifted to Rex, the one she was trying to comfort. She knew what filled his mind, and it troubled her deeply. Never had she imagined Rex getting worked up over everything that was going on in his life. It was a rather shortsighted observation to think that no further burdens would be placed on her driver in the aftermath of their journey. There was still much to do and there were many conflicts to settle after this.
Rex placed his head in his hands, unable to control his stress levels. You could have sworn he was crying, but he couldn't even manage to shed a single tear. The fiery haired aegis looked down. The man she loved was constantly being bombarded with tasks. She had noticed as of recent, that he had been getting less and less sleep than he should be.
"Rex," requested Pyra. "You should stay here. Mythra and Nia will be back soon, so I'll make dinner. How about we go to bed early tonight?"
"Early to bed?" repeated Rex. "Sounds better than staying up until midnight. Are you sure you don't need help?"
"I'm positive, Rex," answered Pyra. "Now go relax! You've earned at least one day's rest!"
The teenager smiled, and reluctantly released his grip on her. He always kept his eyes focused on her, as her presence provided a certain irreplaceable feeling of comfort for him, even if he wasn't able to talk to her. Thankfully, he was at ease for the next ten minutes. As Pyra prepared for the meal, she thought back to Rex and her journey with him.
"Let's go to Elysium, I'll take you there myself!"
"But that's probably because you made it Pyra"
"And this girl is Pyra. I know, you'd love her"
"With me here, he'll suffer even more, loose even more."
"But the reason why we wanted to go there was to beg our father to let us die!"
"You'll be fine without me now!"
"I love you, Rex!"
This time, instead of crying, she smiled. The girl wanted nothing more than to spend her life with Rex, and she hoped that she wanted the same.
"You do hear of blades and drivers getting married in the old stories."
It then popped into her mind; her plans for their future. But it was too early, they had only been together for 3 months. Despite all of this, she could not help but wonder if he felt the same way. As she told Azurda, she would be patient. But the fiery haired aegis felt that she would grow anxious in waiting. Rex would eventually come around to it, right? Maybe this wasn't the time to think about it.
"Nia and Mythra are pretty late for dinner" said Rex. "Maybe we should go out and get them."
"Let them take their time" advised the girl wanting to prevent him from taking on any tasks, but also not wanting to be apart from him. "We can just eat our dinner now."
The pair sat down with two of four meals the food savvy blade had prepared. It had been a while since Rex had eaten pan fried tartari, and thankfully Pyra had prepared everyone's favorites. The aegis had little to no preference of what she ate, despite her expertise in the culinary arts. Her favorite part of the meal was simply being together with the people she cared about. The girl felt inclined to ask Rex about their plans for the future, but felt that it would be a tiny bit too forward. Yet she felt she had to ask him something of the sort.
"Rex?" asked Pyra.
"What is it?" he responded.
"Well," she began. "You said a while ago that you considered me as part of the family with Gramps, Nia, Zeke, Mórag, Tora and everyone else. Do you consider me part of your Fonsett family?" she finished as quickly as possible.
"Pyra…" responded a bewildered Rex. "Of course you are. Everyone in the village loves you, and you got Corrine's approval, which is what really matters. It doesn't matter which family you're in. You don't need to worry about that at all."
This brought Pyra back to Rex's stress. She was happy that he could relax for a bit today, but she could still sense tension in his mind. The bond between them was strong, strong enough to sense any ailments, be they mental or physical. Yet she did not want to bring up her worries about him. She let her fears reside for the time being. If Rex overworked himself any further, what would happen? She didn't want to think about the possibilities. Now Rex could tell Pyra was in mental distress too. Before they were about to comfort each other, Nia and Mythra arrived at the worst time possible for the second time today.
"What took you guys so long?" playfully inquired the red-haired Aegis. "Your food is almost cold. You're lucky a fire blade prepared it for you."
Mythra and Nia sat down and ate their dinner, as Pyra and Rex left to go upstairs. They had a long day of doing nothing after all.
"What do you think they're doing?" asked the blonde. "We just started dinner."
"Mythra," said the cat girl. "It's been pitch black for over an hour."
The fiery aegis and her driver went up the stairs into their room, put their pajamas on before proceeding to bed. Though no major tasks were accomplished today, they were both quite exhausted, especially Rex. Since the titans joined the land, he had but few days to relax. There was always an interruption from someone. Sadly, he was the most famous man in the world, and little time to himself or with Pyra could be spared. As of recent he had tried to lay low and stay out of the spot light, but he was quite the tourist attraction. It didn't help that the twin Aegises were here too. As of recent, the number of vacationers coming into the village had died down, leaving the village more peaceful. Yet the hero still had so much work to do as the leader of the mercs and essentially the International Representative of Leftheria.
"I'm sorry, Pyra," apologized Rex. "I know you wanted me to relax today, but I can't get everything off my mind."
"No," responded the girl. "I shouldn't be forcing you into this. You're going to get back into this eventually. You've worked hard your entire life, and now you get some time to relax. You'll be able to enjoy yourself."
"I did enjoy myself," declared the boy. "I got to spend a day with you, and y'know what? That doesn't happen very often."
Pyra wrapped her arms around her lover and smiled at him. It was a joyful thought that spending a day with her could bring her driver happiness. Still, she longed to take his mind off of this completely. The two lied down in their bed. Rex wrapped his arms around Pyra, as she moved in closer on her own. The fiery haired aegis let a sigh of happiness as she nuzzled into her driver, providing him warmth. Rex smiled, and fell asleep rather quickly compared to his usual time. Pyra laid awake pondering to herself for a few minutes. Her driver's embrace aided her in falling asleep quickly. Neither of them moved an inch for the entire night.
The next morning Pyra woke up quite a bit before Rex. She was so comfortable and wanted to stay, but she also had to make breakfast for everyone. Reluctantly, she softly, shyly, and slowly removed the boy's grip on her. Before leaving the room, the aegis placed a gentle kiss on her driver's forehead.
"Mornin' Pyra!" greeted the cat like blade. "How d'ya sleep?"
"I slept well," answered Pyra. "I didn't need to worry about Rex's anciety levels nearly as much. What about you?"
"A nice catnap," responded Nia. "How's Rex?"
"He's been very stressed lately." she replied. "He's worried about Mythra and I, the villagers,
and the mercs. He has a lot of responsibility for someone his age, and it worries me. I don't know how to help him."
"Pyra," comforted Nia. "You know him the best. You just gotta comfort him. He loves you. There's a reason why Mythra and I left him to you. We trust you more than anyone in this world and we know you're perfect for each other. You two are gonna be spendin' your entire lives together. Maybe even get married!"
"M-m-married?" asked a blushing Pyra. "I uh. I want t-. I-I don't know if its…"
"Relax" assured Mythra. "She wasn't joking though. Rex is probably gonna prop…"
"Shaddup" demanded Nia as she covered Mythra's mouth. "Don't get her more worked up more than she already is."
Pyra sighed. Maybe she'd think about this later. There wasn't any rush, right?
"You don't need to worry, Pyra," reassured Nia. "Rex is happy with you. Being relaxed will come naturally."
"Thank you guys" said the redheaded Aegis. "I needed that."
Pyra wrapped her arms around Nia, and tried to reach Mythra, but she jumped away quickly. The two collectively moved towards Mythra in hopes to get her join. Reluctantly, the blonde Aegis brought her arms around both of them. Pyra smiled, happy she could rely on these two and Rex for support. The two blades offered great support for Pyra's relationship with Rex, regardless of their past feelings for him.
Around 30 minutes later, Rex awoke, and came downstairs immediately. Pyra suddenly felt a kiss on her lips, and pair of arms around her. Either, the boy had not realized that two of his other Blades were watching, or maybe he didn't care.
"So, Rex," inquired the red-haired girl. "How did you sleep?"
"I slept like a baby!" he responded. "Thanks for helping me with relaxing. I-If it would be okay with you, I would like to relax again, uh, with you of coarse."
"Hehe" the girl giggled. "Be my guest."
The two walked over to the breakfast table, hands in each other's, and didn't let go even during the meal. Both of them were happy. Thanks to Pyra, Rex had finally gotten a well-earned day's rest.
Thanks for reading! Sorry this took so long. I was working on another fic for about a week, which you will see soon. It may be a few weeks until I upload the next chapter, because I have to refine the other Pyrex fic I have. Also, I will be starting a high school au fic some time in October. Special thanks to Architect_N3J, TragicallyBadAtThis, and Duffykinz. The extra cuddles were put in for TheLastGreninja, and the Pyra and Nia bestie hug was put in for Aegis Runestone. Have a good day, my fellow Pyrex cuddlefic enthusiasts!