Chapter Text
The clock is bright, 1:28 AM shining brightly in a dark room. The only other source of light in the room is a small desk lamp on the other side of the desk. But neither of these lights help to stop the headache Ranbob is getting. The words of his study book blur and merge together, making it hard to read. And his tired mind doesn't help, making it harder to understand what he's reading. And he's sure his research paper isn't in any better shape than his study book. If anything it may be worse with messy lines and misspelled words. Oh well, he'll just wake up early tomorrow to rewrite it. Ranbob sighs and pushes away from the desk he's been slouched over for the past several hours and leans back in his chair, rubbing his tired eyes, and taking deep breaths. The deep breaths somehow only manage to make the ache in his bones more noticeable, and the ache makes the tiredness weighing him down more noticeable. He can't remember how long he's been working on this one report. He sighs again and goes back to leaning over his desk, attempting to make sense of the words on the page. But knowing no matter what he does it won't make sense to his sleep-deprived brain.
He isn't sure how long he stays like that, how long he spends leaned over his book trying to stay awake until a door creaking open gains his attention. Light starts to stream into the room through a small crack in the door. He turns around, blearily staring at the door as his eyes adjust to the sudden light. There's a pair of neon green eyes staring at him from the door, half-hidden behind the door, almost as if they didn't mean to disturb him. The light from behind the door leaves everything else about the figure nothing more than a shadow, casting an elongated shadow into the room. Normally the eyes and the situation would startle or scare anyone else, but Ranbob knows these eyes, of course he does, after all, they belong to his baby brother, Ran.
Ranbob smiles at his brother, "Hey, what's up buddy? Did you have a nightmare?"
Ran shakes his head as he speaks softly and quietly, "No.. I heard a noise coming from your study room and was concerned you were still awake… you said you'd go to sleep earlier…"
Ranbob cringes, feeling bad about him lying to his brother and waking him up. "I know buddy. I'm sorry I just need to get this done. I'll go to sleep soon ok? I promise."
Ran doesn't respond and instead continues to stare at him. Ranbob takes this opportunity to look Ran over. His hair is a mess, sticking up every which way, looking like a nest. And while his eyes are as bright as ever, his body language screams tiredness. His ears and shoulders are hanging down slightly, showing his tiredness,' and he holds himself loosely. His tail hangs limply as it barely passes his ankles, if he was even a little bit taller his tail would be dragging on the ground, but it doesn't yet. He's only 4 after all, he still has to grow more. He's wearing his favorite pajamas, pure black pajamas, making him blend even more into the shadows than he normally does, with a pattern of green, red, and purple spots all around it. He's also carrying his favorite stuffed animal, Steve, his stuffed polar bear. He named it that after he heard about how the Idol Technoblade had a pet polar bear named Steve, and immediately fell in love with the idea of having a pet polar bear. Ranbob smiles slightly as he fondly remembers when Ran got the bear for his 3rd birthday and he was so happy and excited. Ever since he got it he carried it everywhere with him, refusing to leave it anywhere.
The sound of soft footsteps knocks Ranbob out of his thoughts. He refocuses to see Ran coming further into the room and walking to Ranbob. Ranbob doesn't move an inch as Ran arrives and crawls onto him. Ran gives his older brother a toothy smile as he plops down on his lap, "Then you won't mind if I stay with you until you go to bed!" He happily announces, believing he just came up with a fool-proof plan.
Ranbob smiles, "Of course I don't mind. But get comfortable first ok? Don't want you waking up sore."
Ran nods and starts to move around, eventually stopping when he's against Ranbob's chest, gently holding onto his brother's sleepwear and hugging Steve tightly.
Ranbob runs a hand through Ran's hair, trying to help him relax, and watches as Ran's eyes start to slowly close. He smiles as he goes back to work. Now mindful of his little brother slowly falling asleep on him.
~~Time skip cause Idk how else to get to the needed spot~~
The clock is still bright, but now 3:34 shines. Ranbob sighs as he closes his study book, finally finished with his report. He leans over to turn off the lamp, as he cleans up one of his hands is gently rubbing Rans back. Ran fell asleep on him over an hour ago and has been peacefully sleeping since. Once Ranbob finishes cleaning up, he gently slips his hands under his brother and picks him up. Gently adjusting him in his arms so instead of him curled up against his chest, he's instead resting his head on his older brother's shoulders and holding Ran against his shoulder, but he's also holding Steve, just so Ran doesn't accidentally drop it and get it more dirty. Still gently rubbing his back in small up and down movements, which now serve to calm and relax Ranbob than his brother. Normally he would put Ran back in his room, but he knows if Ran wakes up without his brother he'll spend all of tomorrow whining about how Ranbob wasn't with him. And while Ranbob deeply loves and adores his brother, he doesn't want to have a whiny Ran following him all day...again. So instead he carries his brother to his room. He quietly passes through the halls, passing by his parent's room and other sibling's rooms. He briefly wonders if they're all sleeping well, and considers stopping in on his other sibling's rooms to check if they're sleeping well. But Ran then grumbles and shuffles around on his shoulder before settling down again. And he decides at the moment taking care of Ran is more important.
Once he gets to his room he manages to open and close the door quietly while balancing Ran in his arms. He then places his brother on his bed, gently unhooking his hand from his shirt. Ranbob then gets in next to him, pulling the covers over the both of them before he goes to set his alarm for 7, he then internally cries as he realizes he has less than 4 hours to sleep, adding even more into his sleep deprivation. But he swallows the sorrow and lays down, getting comfortable and closing his eyes. But before he can fully slip into the bliss of sleep he feels Ran moving in the bed, more specifically, moving towards him. Ran worms his way into his brother's lose hold, and curls up against his chest, still hugging Steve tight. Ranbob blearily moves to hug him back, pulling him close and protectively curling around him. With his little brother safe and warm in his hold, Ranbob falls asleep, the soft happy purring of his brother slowly fading away.