Chapter Text
Tord was pacing around his room. Trying to figure out a way to get Paul to sleep. He had been nearly 2 hours after they originally tried to get Paul to sleep. Nothing was helping and Tord was getting very worried. He tried giving him tea, turning on a fan(keep it cold in the room and for white noise), gave him melatonin, got him bundled up so he would be comfortable, and tried to turn on relaxing music. Paul did not like it so as requested Tord turned it off. Then he went to read to him, and then he turned off all the lights.
Nothing was working.
“Red you’re stressing me out with all the movement, could you sit down? Please” Paul asked in a soft tone.
Tord stopped in his tracks and sighed. Paul was more fatigued now, maybe it was working. Then he had to think, sit where? It felt too personal to sit next to him but sitting further away might give Paul the idea that he doesn’t care about him.
“You can sit by me, I don’t mind,” Paul suggested.
“If he says so”
Tord made his way over, sitting at the edge of the bed. Paul frowned, unraveling himself from the blankets he was in. Tord heard the sudden shuffle behind him and looked behind him. Paul’s face directly in his own. He shuffled away, but Paul followed him.
“Can you not directly be in my face?” Tord hissed.
“Sit against the wall”
Paul pointed with his head in the direction. Tord would not tolerate this behavior from anyone else, who was any else to demand him around. However, this wasn’t anyone else, this was Paul. Tord did as he was “asked” and sat against the wall, leaving most of the space for Paul to lay down.
With all that space he left, Paul wasn’t planning on using it. He laid down on top of Tord’s lap, his body crushing Tord a bit. If this is what was making Paul tired then who was he to complain.
“Is this how you are sleeping?” Tord questioned
“No”
“Then why are you doing this?”
Paul rolled over on his back and grabbed Tord’s non robotic hand, placing it on top of his head.
“I want you to play with my hair, gently” Paul asked, looking up at him.
Tord agreed hesitantly. His hand gently stroked Paul’s hair, noticing when he went back to the top his head the man cringed back. Shaking a bit with a painful expression before going back to normal. The pattern repeated 4 times before Tord wanted to know what was happening.
“Can you roll onto your side, back of your head facing me” Tord told Paul.
Paul rolled over as Tord parted his hair and looked at his scalp. He saw the still opened wound on Paul’s head and got curious. Then Tord got nervous, why was it there?
“When did this happen?” Tord asked?
“Oh I banged my head on the brick wall this morning and didn't have time to patch it up before work” Paul answered nonchalantly.
Tord rolled his eyes at Paul’s ignorance and blatant disregard of his health. He moved Paul off him(which was no way feat) and got up.
“Hey don't leave” Paul mumbled, watching Tord walk away.
“I'm grabbing a few things to help bandage that injury,” Tord said, disappearing around the corner.
Paul was annoyed but understood why Tord left. During his time away Paul fixed the bed to its original state. Laying on one of Tord's pillows that rested on the headboard. The door creaked open as Tord snuck his way back into the room. Sitting down in front of Paul, waiting a minute to see if he'd move on his own. In that case he did not.
Tord patted his lap, “Paul, get over here”
Paul slipped up his act when he peeked open what of his eyes to see what was going on. Tord did not look pleased with his game so Paul came over and laid his head on top of Tord's thigh.
“You look..” Tord paused, not sure how to finish off that sentence.
Paul felt his cold robotic hand press against his head and stroke his hair. He did mind but he had been craving some type of physical touch and this was definitely satisfying that hunger.
“Look what?” Paul asked, pushing himself up on his elbows.
“Not sure, dismiss what I started to say” Tord said, grabbing a soft damp towel.
Paul rested his face in Tord's robotic palm as Tord cleaned off the back of his head. Paul relaxed and closed his eyes as the blood was cleaned off his head.
This behavior didn't go unnoticed by Tord, his thumb rubbing Paul’s check. Forcing a smile out of the man. Once he was done basking in Paul’s smile he finished bandaging up his head. Careful when he wrapped it around his head and part of his face.
“People are going to think I have a bad injury and pity me now,” Paul said, touching his head.
“It's because you do,” Tord said.
Paul rolled his eyes, rubbing his head against Tord's hand. Tord looked intrigued, scratching Paul’s head as he went back to sitting still.
“Is this” Tord paused as he thought, “... helping you fall asleep?”
Paul peeped one of his eyes, looking at Tord for a moment before digging his face further into his hand. With a nod Tord had his answer and was thrilled! It didn't matter to him how long he had to do this as long as he got Paul to sleep.
“Are you going to stay sitting there or do you plan on laying down as well?” Paul asked?
“I don't think that would be inappropriate,” Tord said.
He tried to back his hand away but Paul held it there, furrowing his eyebrows.
“I'm already laying in your bed, you're touching me in said bed nothing about this is appropriate” Paul said.
Tord couldn’t deny that but, he shouldn’t be doing this. Why was it all of a sudden when Paul was close, when he needed him the most, Tord wanted to pull away from him. Tord let out a shaky sigh, he was nervous. He hadn’t felt this in a while and he wasn’t sure how to cope with it.
“Calm down Red, no one is going to come in here and see us” Paul whispered.
That didn’t help Tord at all, just served to spike his nerves more. Before the comment he didn’t consider people coming in and now he was. Paul was correct, not many people even knew where this room was and none of them would come in without previous invitation. Against Tord’s better judgement, he laid down. If it helped Paul sleep then why would he object. After all that's the way he was there, to help.
He pulled away his hand at last. Paul allowed him to do so the time, now it was them laying in the dark. Paul crossed his arms under a pillow, digging his head into the direction of them and laying there. Tord laid on his back as stiff as a rock. It was odd, he didn’t know why he was nervous. It’s not like anything weird was happening. They were merely laying in the same bed, that’s it.
“Are you only helping because you want me to work well or is there another reason?” Paul asked, looking back and forth between his pillow and Tord’s silhouette.
“I care about you Paul,” Tord said.
“You’re just saying that”
“No I’m not”
Tord rolled over onto his side to watch Paul. He shuffled over to Paul and got right next to him, rubbing his back. Paul looked over to Tord, staring directly into his eyes. Even in the dark those eyes sparkled to him. He sweetly smiled, his eyes drooping.
“Kiss me Tord”
“What” Red leader said, taking aback.
“He’s going to think I’m insane” Paul thought.
Paul paused, maybe the lack of sleep was getting to his brain. The amount of time he was up could lead to hallucinations. That was it, there was no way Tord wanted to do that. In embarrassment he quickly looked away, acting a bit bashful.
“Sorry, that was a misinterpretation on my part Red… It's the lack of sleep making me act up”
His face began to heat up as he hid further. Tord didn’t stop his motions, still wanting to keep Paul comfortable and calm. Even if that calm part felt harder now. They sat in silence again. It was off, Tord didn’t like it. He wanted to change it back to their original mood but how was he meant to fix it? Well he certainly had an idea but he would have to do something out of the ordinary.
“Hey Paul, can you face me?” Tord whispered.
The man in front of him didn’t seem so keen on moving.
“Please?”
Paul mumbled something under his breath, reconsidering the option. He rolled over, feeling Tord’s hand slip off him.
“What’s up-” Paul began to say before feeling arms around his chest and back. “Red what are you…”
He was stunned. Tord never got physical with him or anyone for that matter. Let alone him be the one engaging it. Paul slowly but carefully laid his arm on Tord and under him
“I am not putting my lips near you so this is my compromise” Tord said.
“Red this-”
“You don’t have to be professional right, call me Tord”
Paul’s face got bright red, even more embarrassed. Of course he didn’t need to be professional, he was quite literally pointing out the fact that they were being inappropriate earlier.
“Force of habit” Paul said with a chuckle. “But truly sir you don’t have to do this”
“You seemed so upset when I said no earlier though, and now you sound like your usual self again” Tord said, nuzzling his head under Paul’s chin.
Resting it in between his shoulder and neck. Paul felt his skin crawl but in a good way. He tried not to get too flustered and keep his breathing steady. Even if it wasn’t working, suppressing those feelings didn’t make Tord all that suspicious.
“You know this is helping,” Paul admitted.
“I know, you're gripping onto me like I belong here” Tord teased.
“Hey! You're the one who initiated this”
Tord couldn't argue with that. He yawned as he closed his eyes. Drifting to sleep. Paul closed his eyes and settled down. His hand snuck up its way to Tord's hair, fiddling his horn in between his fingers. His swirling got slower as he got more tired and at last he got to sleep.