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This is n. 49 from "general"
Reid was startled awake by a faint but sudden noise, one akin to a crowd cheering. Which, didn't make any sense, he realized after having pulled out of the dreamworld completely.
He rubbed his eyes and reached for the clock on his nightstand - 3:42 am.
He turned around to check if his boyfriend was awake and, IF he was awake, whether he'd heard the noise or not.
What pushed him to stand up from the bed with little to no effort was that Derek was nowhere to be seen; not in his side of the bed nor anywhere else in the room.
He padded toward the living room; his eyes caught by the light coming from the TV - a taped baseball game playing - and the figure of Derek casting a shadow outside the perimeter of the couch.
Spencer made his way toward the man and stood a few feet from him.
"Oh- hey, baby, 'm sorry I woke you..." Morgan murmured hoarsely, shifting in his seat.
Reid shrugged. "No big deal." he countered, sitting down beside him.
Derek leaned forward, forearms on his knees, as if the lull in their brief conversation had pressured him to at least move.
"Everything alright?" Spencer asked softly, eyes glued on his tired face.
The other sighed deeply, nodding his head in the most unconvincing way a person could nod their head.
Spencer inched closer, his gaze never left the man sitting by his side as he took his hand and brought it to his face, nuzzling his nose in Derek's warm palm and occasionally printing kisses to it. He knew for sure that'd catch his attention.
It did, in fact. Derek averted his focus from the TV, muting it before turning his head toward the boy.
"...does it happen often lately?"
Morgan feigned confusion.
"Der..." the genius started, apprehension in his tone as he settled the other's hand on the side of his face, never cutting contact with his own. "have you been sleeping?"
Derek caved in, exhaling deeply while tracing the expanse of the man's cheek with the pad of his thumb.
"Not really, kid, no." he shook his head.
Reid hesitated before prying further.
"...nightmares?" he prompted warily.
The older man dropped the hand cradling Spencer's face to rest his elbows on his thighs once again; his pupils getting back to boring holes in the hardwood floor like the foundations of the building could provide better answers than Reid's eyes could.
"Sometimes. Not always though." he confessed.
The breach in Spencer's heart widened at the words. "But...why don't you call me when it happens?"
Morgan snorted wryly. "Cause I don't wanna wake you in the middle of the night probably crying?"
That cracked open the genius' chest for good. One of the many reasons he wished they lived together was so he could be by his man's side through each sleepless night; preventing Derek from curling up on himself in a corner of his head to escape the storm of thoughts wrecking his mind and soul, from stacking all his vulnerability in a spot tucked away from Reid's visual field.
"...that's what I do when I have nightmares. I call you. You told me to do that." Spencer reminded him.
Derek glanced at him, shooting him a silent 'I know' that didn't need further elaborating.
It was Reid's turn to lower his gaze. "What...what can I do to help, then?"
Morgan smiled sheepishly, cocking his head. "There's really not a lot you can do, sugar."
The genius weighed his options for a minute. What worked like magic for him was crawling in Derek's arms. His own arms though, weren't exactly what you'd call "strong" and "warm". It was worth the shot, though, wasn't it?
"Alright." Reid murmured to himself while rising to his feet.
Morgan's curious eyes followed him as he settled in some sort of half-lying position on the couch, with his back partly leaning against one of the armrests.
"Come here." he ordered bashfully, patting a hand on his belly.
Derek looked at him with a mix of confusion, amusement and sheer love. He hoped none of those could be seen in the dim, faltering flashes of light the game playing on the TV kept shedding around the otherwise black-dipped room.
Amusement and confusion left the stage once Spencer gave him puppy eyes. He complied and stretched supine in between his legs, resting his cheek on his boyfriend's stomach covered in one of his own old sweaters that now only Reid used when he got cold at night.
Derek tightened his arms around Spencer's slim waist when he felt his hand caressing the side of his face, releasing a content huff at the softness.
"This should help you sleep." the genius kindly broke the quiet.
Morgan snorted. "Says who?" he teased.
"...says me? I read a bunch of books about...you know, cuddling and sleeping positions and such." Spencer replied, his usually eloquent vocabulary warped by the sleepiness looming over him.
"I would recite you the full list, but I'm too tired."
Derek giggled in response. "THAT would probably put me to sleep for real."
The following silence made him wary. He tilted up his chin and spotted a slight frown on his boyfriend's face.
"Aw, no baby c'mon, you know I'm joking." he reassured, propping up on his hands to reach Spencer's face and lay a couple of soft kisses on his lips and chin.
"You know I love to hear you talk, but you are tired, so I'm gonna settle for cuddles." he added in whisper, succeeding in turning Reid's frown into one of his sweet smiles.
Morgan shuffled down in his previous position, lifting up his boyfriend's sweater just enough to kiss his stomach and rest his head onto his bare tummy.
Normally Spencer would've complained about the cold, but his man's skin was keeping him warmer than any sweater he'd ever worn would.
And normally he would've also complained about not being able to fall asleep in such position, or at least about the probability of waking up with a sore neck, but that night he was undoubtedly willing to lend a few hours of his sleep to Derek.
Deep down, however, the genius knew he most likely would manage to drift to sleep, eventually. As long as the man stayed snuggled in his arms like that.