“Angel I’m home!” She announced as she walk through the door only to see Discord sleeping soundly on the couch, papers scattered over the floor, his reading glasses still sitting up top his snout and one of his larger books open over his chest
“Oh, it looks like someone had a busy night.” She said as she walked over to him and watched the book rise and fall with his chest.
She sighed softly “Well, I guess the least I can do is get you a blanket so you don’t get cold in the middle of the night.”
She took the book from his light grasp and placed a small sheet of paper in the crease before closing it. The loss of weight on his chest cause him to slightly stir but he was soon rested again “Oh, sorry” she said as she began picking up the loose papers from off the ground and put them in neat stack under the book. She grabbed the lap blanket that sat in the chair by the couch and carefully tossed it over him. She then went to the kitchen and poured a glass of water before walking back into the living room and placing it on a coaster next to the book and papers, “Just in case…” she whispered.
She walked over to him and reached up to take off his glasses “Here, let me-“ as she removed the glasses from his muzzle he suddenly came to life, angrily, swiftly sitting up, he tightly grabbed her by her shoulders and yanked her upwards, growling audibly.
She spoke as she tried to free herself from his grasp “Okay...you definitely had a bad day, so I’m just gonna move away...Slowly!” She yelped as he tightened his hold and pulled her up again “It’s just me!” She yelled desperately trying to snap him out of his trance “I’m not trying to hurt you! Dissy it’s just me!” Though her efforts seem to have no effect for he still growled at her, his fur bristled and his eyes sharply slitted
Discords ears pinned back and he growled again for all he saw was a disfigured shadow, he didn’t know what exactly it was, just that it was there and it had made an attempt to attack him in his sleep, when his vision was still blurred.
“Dissy!” he had heard it, her soft yell had broken through his haze. His breath was heavy as he squinted at the figure he grasped in his claws, his eyes had begun to focus again and he could vaguely see what he held in front of him “…what…?” His vision had almost fully cleared and he saw her…Fluttershy…his Fluttershy “Oh...it’s...you” he said, his voice hoarse
She sighed with relief when she heard his voice “Yeah... it’s me” she said quietly
He loosened his hold and moved his paw up towards her “Are you...okay?” He asked as he softly brushed her mane out of her face and rested his hand against her cheek
She leaned into his touch and placed her hoof over his shaky paw “…yeah, I’m right as...” she stopped for a moment when he pulled her into a gentle hug “rain...” she finished
Exhausted, he sighed and rested his head in the crook of her neck, “Okay...” he nuzzled her tenderly “Sorry if I scared you, I didn’t mean to, I just…I don’t know what came over me…”
She smiled softly “It’s alright, you didn’t scare me…I was just a bit startled that’s all…” she thought about what had happened and realized that it must have been just as nerve racking for him if not even more “But...you...are you okay?”
He let out a trembling breath “Yes...as long as you’re fine...I’m fine my dear...” he closed his eyes and began to take deep calming breaths
She also closed her eyes as she gently rubbed the back of his neck and slowly ran her hooves through his mane “Okay...”
He soon broke their hug and placed her on the ground in front of him before taking a moment to take in his surroundings, he looked down at the blanket that was sprawled over him, the book and papers stacked in a neat pile next to a fresh glass of water, then at Fluttershy, who had just placed his glasses down on the book, she had done all of this for him. She looked back up at him still smiling
He tried to smile but the he could pull only a half smile at best “Thank you…Fluttershy…” he muttered, his gaze dropping to the floor “…for everything”
Fluttershy sat down and placed her hoof on his paw, causing his gaze to focus back on her “of course…anything for you” she whispered that last part to herself but he still heard it and it gave him a real smile, he flipped his paw to hold her hoof “Thank you…” he repeated, “Thank you…”
She moved up towards him, wrapping her arms around his torso, and resting her head on his chest. She felt him put his arms around her and rest his head on top of hers “Your hearts beating pretty fast…” she said
“I know…I’ve been trying to slow it down but it doesn’t seem to be working, huh”
She shook her head “No…what have you been doing?”
“Just breathing” he replied
She pulled away from him and walked over to the closest to grab a larger blanket for him “That usually works”
She walked back over to him and laid the blanket over him, “but maybe you should try to go back to sleep”
He shook his head “…no…I-I don’t want to go back sleep right now…” he said as he scrunched up the edge of the blanket in his hands, he realized what he was doing and let go of the fabric, smoothing it back down
She saw his discomfort with the idea of sleeping and thought of what else she could suggest “Um…how about tea?” She asked
He pondered her question for a minute before answering “…tea sounds nice”
She smiled again “Okay…” she then made her way to the kitchen again, boiled a pot of water and poured them both a cup before placing the cups on a tray and going back to the living room where Discord laid
She handed a cup to Discord who gratefully and held it with a firm grasp “Thank you…” he said
She she laughed softly to herself “That four.”
He looked up from his cup, “hmm..?” he place his cup back on the tray “what do you mean?”
“The amount of time you said thank you since we’ve started talking…after the third time I figured I should start counting”
He laughed in a sort of compressed manner and laid back on the couch “Yeah, I guess that’s a good idea...”
It had been over an hour since they had started talking and sometime after the clock had struck 11pm Fluttershy had again asked “Do you want to try to sleep now?”
He looked at her, then at the blanket that laid over him, then back at her and nodded “Yeah...I guess I can try and get some sleep” he laid down fully on the couch and pulled the blanket up to his chest and after a few minutes of staring silently at the he moved on to his side and looked over at Fluttershy who had just returned from putting the tea tray back in the kitchen
Fluttershy walked over to him and placed her hoof on his cheek, though he didn’t bother looking up at her but instead sighed softly and closed his eyes, “Goodnight…and thank you…Shy” he mumbled before drifting off to sleep
She kissed him gently on his cheek “That’s five…” she walked over to the stairs and began to climb up to them to her room but stopped half way up and looked over at the sleeping draconequus that laid on her couch “Goodnight Dissy…”