Work Text:
Finals
Pedro knocked on the front door of Balthazar's house, worrying about his boyfriend since he hasn’t been answering his phone all day and he knew how stressed the finals were making him.
Balthazar's mom opened the door and smiled at Pedro. "Hello Pedro."
"Hello Mrs. Jones. Is Balthazar here?" He asked politely.
"He is.” Mrs. Jones nodded, a worried smile on her face, “He's been studying all day. Maybe you can get him to eat something?"
"I can try." He said, ruffling his hair.
Balthazar's mom stepped to the side to let Pedro in. She closed the door behind him, then led him to the kitchen. "Did he eat anything today?" Pedro asked as he followed her inside.
"No, he has barely even left his room, says he needs to study." She started to prepare a sandwich for Pedro to bring to Balthazar.
"Do you need any help?" He asked, feeling bad for just standing there.
"Grab some water for him and yourself, I can handle this." Pedro nodded and got water for himself and Balthazar and thanked Balthazar's mom when she handed him the sandwich. Pedro walked up stairs and to Balth's room, "Balth?" He asked through the door, not able to knock since his hands were full. There was a sound of paper shuffling and sounds of footsteps then a moment later Balthazar opened the door.
"Pedro? What are you doing here?" Balth asked. Pedro could tell that Balth hasn't gotten much sleep lately and is clearly stressed.
"I came to check up on you. You haven't been answering your phone."
"Oh. Sorry, I silenced it last night. I must have forgotten to put the sound back on." He then stepped to the side to let Pedro in his room.
Pedro walked over to Balthazar's desk to put down the water and sandwich. Balth closed the door then was just standing there, so Pedro led Balthazar over to the desk and put the plate in front of him, "Eat." He told him gently.
"But I have to study, Pedro." Balthazar said, looking away from the food.
"Take a break." Pedro told him. He turned to Balth's bed next to his desk and saw that the bed was covered in papers. Pedro stacked some of the papers so that he could sit down.
Pedro noticed that there was a stack of flashcards sitting on Balth's desk next to the plate and reached for them as Balth reluctantly looked at the food. "Are you still studying off these?" He asked, holding the flash cards.
Balth nodded, "Yeah. Why?"
"Why don't you eat while we go over these? That way you can study while you eat."
"I don't know, Pedro..." Balthazar said quietly.
"I'll make you a deal, every time you get an answer right, you have to take a bite of the sandwich."
Balth stared at the sandwich for a moment then agreed. They studied like that until Balth had finished his sandwich then Balth continued studying at his desk as Pedro went downstairs to put the plate away.
"Did you get him to eat?" Balthazar's mum asked from the living room as he was walking back to the stairs.
"Yup." Pedro said with a smile.
"Thank you. I was really starting to get worried."
"No problem." Pedro said with a smile then walked back up the stairs.
Pedro walked back into Balth's room to see the bed cleared off and all the paper scattered on the desk, where Balth sat, studying away. Pedro walked over and plopped himself down on Balthazar's bed and just watched him study for a moment, noticing how stressed his boyfriend looked.
"Why don't you take a break Balth? Maybe take a nap or listen to some music?" He suggested, reaching over to rub Balth's back.
Balthazar closed his eyes and slightly relaxed at the contact, but then shook his head, "I have to continue studying. There's not enough time." He replied stubbornly.
"Balth, from what it sounds like, you've been studying nonstop, you should take a break." Balth shook his head and went back to studying.
Sighing, Pedro let Balth continue to study. Pedro stood up and grabbed a throw blanket from Balthazar's bed and placed it around Balth's shoulders. He then went back to laying on the bed, waiting for any signs of Balthazar looking tired so then he would have to go to bed. But that didn't work out, since he was the one that fell asleep.
Pedro woke up to a slightly darker room and to Balthazar crumbling up a piece of paper and tossing it off of the side, with an annoyed growl. When he had thrown the paper, however, he had thrown it with such a force that it had knocked Balthazar's guitar down. Balthazar, seemingly not noticing the guitar, pushed his chair back into the middle of his bedroom. Pedro watched in slow motion as Balthazar's guitar started to go down, but somehow Pedro had managed to reach a hand out and catch his boyfriend’s most prized possession before it slammed down to the ground.
Carefully, Pedro put the guitar back on its stand and moved it away from Balthazar, so that he couldn't accidently hit it again.
Pedro walked over to Balthy, who was now in the middle of the room, and put his arm around his boyfriend, “Hey, you need to stop studying now, Balth.”
Balth leaned himself back in the chair so that he was resting against Pedro’s chest, “I should.. I just really need to study for this…”
“You know everything. Sleep.”
“But studying.”
“Sleep then study.” Pedro told Balthazar, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend.
Balthazar made weak sounds of protest, Pedro just shook his head and scooped his boyfriend into his arms, “You’re sleepy, Balthy. You need to sleep.”
Balthazar allowed Pedro to lift him into his arms and, as Pedro walked across the room back to the bed, Balthazar quietly said, “Thank you for saving my guitar.”
“No problem.” Pedro replied as he and Balthazar laid down next to each other - Balthazar moving so that he was laying on Pedro’s chest. As Pedro pulled a blanket over the two of them and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, Balthazar murmured a soft “Thank you, love you.”
Pedro kissed the top of Balthazar’s head and murmured, “I love you too. Now stop talking and just sleep” against his hair.