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It was a truly ungodly hour when he finally dragged himself through the door. He could have booked a better ticket, but he’d been too impatient to get home: to get back to his girl. As a result he was now dragging himself through the door feeling half-dead with exhaustion and yet just awake enough to really try and keep it quiet so he didn’t wake Jinx up.
It was a shame that Jinx hadn’t been able to travel with him this time; Ekko always preferred having her along and most of her work could be done from wherever as long as she had her computer with her. Sometimes, however, there were things she actually had to meet with other people, in person, for and that just fucked everyting up. Or she had something to do that she needed the monster of a stationary computer for because as awesome and high.tech as her laptop was, it just couldn’t quite handle it.
Her reason for having to stay home this time was a bit of both. It sucked: it always sucked.
Ekko closed the front door behind him as quietly as he could and locked it just as carefully. He then remembered his phone and quickly put it in sleep mode, which would bar any non-emergency calls or texts until it was deactivated. It was the best feature of any modern phone; a feature that was sometimes the only reason he was allowed any sleep.
He loved his bandmates, really, but sometimes they were a bit too chatty at the worst possible hours. That in turn meant that they were blowing up the group text chat with messages that kept him from sleeping. Part of it was, admittedly, that Akali lived in a different time zone when she wasn’t actively on tour or recording songs or music videos with them. The other big part was that Qiyana didn’t seem to exist on a normal 24-hour day cycle and insead was awake or asleep when she felt like it and didn't give a damn if it didn’t match up to anyone else’s sleep cycle. She could also be a bit insistent about getting answers when she was feeling social.
Unfortunately for her, there wasn’t much of anything she could want (that he could help her with) that couldn’t wait until he woke up. Thus, she would just have to deal.
Ekko left his jacket, shoes and bag in the front hall, so that he could move around more quietly. Jinx wasn’t a light sleeper, per se, but the less risk of messing up the better. She needed all her hours of sleep or else she’d be in an extremely foul mood all day. Since Ekko didn’t know who would be bearing the brunt of that, he figured it was best no to risk it. He didn’t want to have it directed at him ad he didn’t want her to accidentlly fuck up some job because she was in a bad mood. That just wouldn’t be right.
When he carefully inched the bedroom door open and finally caught a glimpse of his sleeping girlfriend, illuminated by the pale moonlight, Ekko couldn’t help but smile. There was something about seeing her sprawled out starfish-style in their shared bed that was just far more endearing than it probably should be. The only better sleeping position to come home to was when she had her face buried in his pillow while holding it in a death grip. That one only happened when he hadn’t been gone for very long, though, as she only did that when there was still some of his scent left on that pillow.
It took some work to get his blatantly uncooperative girlfriend to make enough room for him to slip into bed with her. If they hadn’t been through this so many times before, he might have been surprised that she didn’t wake up. She never did, though, and tonight was no different.
Ekko barely got to make himself comfortable before Jinx sprawled all over him. It had bothered him when they first got together and started sharing a bed, but now it was more like a comfort. It was yet another sign that he was finally home.
He smiled and let himself be lulled into sleep. It was good to be home, especially after so long away.
The shrill sound of the alarm clock pulled him suddenly from his sleep after what felt like only seconds. It yanked him suddenly from his sleep, and it was more by muscle-memory than anything else that he managed to put a swift end to the infernal, incessant beeping. It was a shame that Jinx needed this kind of discordant noise to wake her up, but it was what it was.
Speaking of Jinx, she was curling up in the way she did when she didn’t want to wake up (which was just about every morning). It was cute and let him wrap himself around her instead of enduring whatever sprawling or clinging Jinx got up to during the night.
Ekko kissed her shoulder. “Good morning, gorgeous.”
He then had to lean back so as to not get hit in the face by that same shoulder as Jinx twisted around so she was facing him. She was grinning widely and immediately ducked in for a quick peck on the lips.
“You’re back.” She sounded like she almost didn’t quite believe it yet. It disappeared in a flash and was replaced with pure joy. “When did you get back?”
“A couple of hours ago?” Ekko guesstimated.
“Did you get any sleep?” Jinx gripped his chin with her slender fingers, turning his face this way and that in some kind of inspection. She looked entirely too serious about it, but that wasn’t anything surprising. “You need to get more sleep.”
Ekko chuckled a little. He really loved this crazy girl of his.
“I’m sure I could do with a couple of more hours,” he admitted. “And you? Anywhere you need to be?”
“Nope!” Despite her reply, Jinx slipped out of his arms like liquid. She only went over to the windows, though; checking to make sure that no light would get in through the blinds and curtains. Then she threw herself back onto the bed.
“So, what’s the plan?” he asked, brushing Jinx’s bangs from her face. He would be up for whatever she had in mind, he was sure. He wasn’t sure he’d be up for anything more afterwards, however, because he really was exhausted.
“Well,” Jinx said, drawing out the word. “I’m going to brush my teeth again, because I’m pretty sure my breath stinks, and grab my laptop so I can get at least something done while you sleep.”
“Sounds nice.” It was a bit of a relief to hear that she wasn’t actually skipping out on a full day’s work. Sure, Jinx didn’t exactly keep a normal, even schedule. She took random days off and other times worked through the night because she was in the zone. It probably wouldn't have been all that dertemental if she did skip today, but there were better days for that: days when they could actually do something with the extra free time.
“Yup! I can stay in bed with you all day !” Jinx chirped. She pressed another quick peck to his lips and she was gone again.
Ekko chuckled as he let himself sink fully into the bed. He’d missed her. He’d really missed her with all her quirks and chaotic energy.
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Ekko was asleep by the time Jinx got back to the room. It was adorable, really. Not that she’d tell him; boys had too fragile egos for that. He really was cute when he was asleep, though.
She’d missed him. She’d missed him so much.
It wasn’t that she begrudged him his success. Far from it; she loved that he was finally getting appropriate recognition for the talent she’d always known was there, even if it was through the side project of some ridiculously popular singer from a completely different group.
It was just when his tours with his band overlapped with stuff she couldn’t just re-schedule. It was just the times when she couldn’t come along. Those times were difficult, if she was honest.
It wasn’t for some stupid reason, either. She didn’t think he would cheat on her or anything (he would totally call her and ask for permission if he found someone he wanted to sleep with; no way he'd do anyting if she wasn't okay with it). No, it was nothing like that.
She just missed him when she couldn’t see him every day. She missed him when she couldn’t fall asleep and wake up with him. She missed him; it was that simple.
For a moment, she still debated settling in a different room, just so she wouldn’t risk waking him, but she couldn’t stand the thought. She just couldn’t.
Jinx slowly crept into the bedroom. She put the things she’d brought with her down on her nightstand, trying to make it as quiet as possible. She couldn’t avoid it making a soft thunk, however, and in the silence of the bedroom it sounded way too loud.
She stared studiously at Ekko for several seconds after she’d fully placed down her stuff before breathing a sigh of relief. It was silent enough, then. That was good. She was off to a good start.
Ekko didn’t really stir when she climbed into bed. No surprise there; she moved a lot in her sleep and he put up with that without waking. Of course he wouldn’t wake up because of something like this.
It took a little bit of work to set everything up the way she wanted. She’d brought her headphones so that she could watch that interview she hadn’t gotten around to yet and she wanted to be cuddled up with her sleeping boyfriend while she did it.
She had meant to watch the interview long before now but somehow she had just never gotten around to it. It was a shame, really; Vi said that there was some pure gold stuff in there. Jinx didn’t even know why she hadn’t gotten around to it. There wasn’t a reason she could pinpoint, good or bad.
Well, now was the perfect time to do it. She had time to kill and the coziest spot in the world. It was perfect.
It also meant that she didn’t have to do any work stuff just yet. That was definitely a bonus. She’d get it done eventually and any time she could avoid having to do work this close to waking was good.
Later, she’d actually do her work. Later, she would order them something to eat through one of those food delivery services. Later, she was going to bug Ekko for some kind of preview of the next album.
For now, everything was perfect.