Work Text:
It was strange how accustomed Rowan had become to Aelin's presence in his life. At first, she was simply an acquaintance in his life as they shared classes until several study sessions led to them simply hanging out together as friends. Eventually, even that had progressed into dates, their barely existing relationship turning to a dedicated, loving one.
It was hard at first, balancing college and internships with their newfound relationship. When they first started dating, they figured the only chance would be the physical touching, but it was more than that. All Rowan wanted to do was spend time with her, but he couldn't.
Being a year older than Aelin, Rowan had graduated first and found a job, one that was thankfully nearby the university, so it was only natural that Aelin moved in with Rowan for her senior year.
It took a bit of adjustment, though. Rowan and Aelin both had to learn how to live around the fact that Rowan now had a set 8-4 schedule of working while Aelin was up at random times studying. They had to get used to sleeping beside each other only to adjust to sleeping without each other, as well.
Tonight, it seemed, was one of those nights where they wouldn't get to sleep beside each other, and normally Rowan didn't really have a problem, except his brain wouldn't shut up. He tossed and turned in bed, trying to find a comfortable position to fall asleep in, but it wasn't working until Aelin walked in close to midnight. He watched as she went straight to the bookshelf and picked out a book without even turning the light on. She must've done this several times while he slept.
"Hey," he whispered into the darkness, causing her to jump.
"Holy shit," she cursed, whirling around to face him. "Why are you awake?!" Aelin walked over to the bed, sitting on her side and turned the bedside lamp on.
"Couldn't sleep," he responded. Aelin sighed before setting the book down and snuggled into bed. "You're sleeping?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her and already feeling calmer.
She nodded into his shoulder, and he sighed, letting himself sink into the bed. As he focused on Aelin's slow breathing in his arms, his mind finally quieted down. He could feel himself slowly falling asleep, and Rowan realized that maybe his problem was just the fact that he was getting used to having her in his arms despite their differing schedules. The last coherent thought he had was of how sweet Aelin’s shampoo smelled.
Rowan must’ve slept for a couple of hours when he twitched and woke up. Blinking a few times, he found himself facing away from Aelin, so when he turned around, he froze upon realizing that she wasn’t there in bed. The en suite bathroom light wasn’t on, which meant she wasn’t in the room. He sat up, his limbs and back aching slightly. He picked up his phone, realizing that he had only slept for about three hours, and that just meant that Aelin hadn’t been asleep for very long either.
Rowan slowly padded out of the bedroom and towards the living room where he now saw a dim light on in the kitchen, and he leaned against the doorway when he found Aelin hunched over the dining table, her laptop in front of her along with a notebook and textbook. Nearby was also an empty glass and plate, and he realized that maybe she’d never fallen asleep at all.
“Hey, babe,” he softly called out, stepping towards her, and she jerked in her seat before turning around to face him with a hand covering her heart.
“Jesus, you need to stop scaring me.” Rowan cracked a smile at that as he sat into the seat next to her.
“What are you doing? It’s 3AM, Aelin.”
“I’m studying,” she replied with a sheepish grin. Her eyes were sunken in, and her hair was carelessly thrown into a bun with strands falling out everywhere. It was clear that she was exhausted, but oftentimes university classes didn’t care for that, and he hated that he was free from that world, and she wasn’t.
“I know, but you’re not going to retain any information if you’re dead tired,” he responded, shifting closer so he could wrap an arm around her shoulder. He felt her melt into him, settling her head on his shoulder.
“But I really need to finish this,” she whispered.
“It can wait till tomorrow. You need to sleep. Did you even go to sleep?” he asked, looking down at her.
She looked away from him, biting her lip before she responded, “No. As soon as you fell asleep, I got up.”
“So you just had a three hour study session?”
“Um, yeah?”
“Then you’re fine. If you’ve been studying this long, you deserve to sleep for at least eight hours. Now come on, I’ll take tomorrow off if that helps.” He stood up, dragging her with him.
“No, Rowan, You can’t take off for me.”
“I can, and I will,” he insisted. “I don’t even care if you call me buzzard all day, but I’m making sure that you’re sleeping.” Rowan took her hand and tangled her fingers with his and started pulling her to their bedroom.
Aelin cracked a smile at that. “You love that nickname.”
He did, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. “No, I don’t, and there’s nothing you can do to make me change my mind. School can wait.”
“Wow, someone should’ve said that to you a year ago,” Aelin teased as
“Someone did,” he laughed. “It was you. Maybe you should take your advice?”
“Pft, who takes their own advice nowadays?” He let go of her to sit down on his side of the bed while she climbed in on her side, and they laid down, settling in to face each other.
“Someone who looks like they’ve seen better days,” he answered, taking a wayward strand of hair and twirling it around his finger.
Aelin scoffed, playfully pushing his hand away from her. “Wow, rude. It’s 3AM!”
“Never stopped you before from teasing me.”
“Because it’s supposed to be me doing the teasing in this relationship,” she grumbled as she snuggled in closer to him.
“Yeah, well if this continues, it’s going to be me, and you can’t say anything about it because I’m feeding you.”
“I can just order in.”
“No, you won’t. You love my food too much.”
“Ugh, fine. Only because of your food, though.”
“Alright,” he laughed, “whatever helps you sleep.”