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His heart feels like it's trying to escape his chest as he sits straighter, gasping for air for an agonizing moment while his hands clutch at his shirt.
Angelo doesn't even remember the dream, as he often doesn't, but fragments of it still cling to the edges of his consciousness.
Twisting and distorting the shapes of his furniture into sharp teeth and massive wings and claws, tearing at the skin on his arms as someone asks him to not let go—please don’t let go—
He hugs his knees with a shaky breath and supports his forehead onto his crossed arms, shutting his eyes and rocking back and forth slightly while trying to calm his frantic heartbeat. It takes a long while until he starts feeling more real again, but even when his mind decides to cooperate a little, his body still thinks that his sheets are wrong, tangling and rubbing offensively against his sensitive skin.
With a groan, he clambers out of bed and fishes for the comfiest, biggest hoodie he can find amongst the random stuff he's brought to the warehouse. He also puts on a pair of old socks and black sweatpants, and things finally start to feel right again.
He inhales deeply, running his hands through his hair and then exhaling slowly. He does it a few more times until he's feeling less misaligned, then curses at himself with a scoff.
Here goes another wasted night.
It's no use trying to go back to sleep, seeing as his nerves are too stubborn to let him shake off the nightmare entirely, so Angi decides to leave his room and maybe look for something to do, to distract himself.
He considers the music room, but the late (or early?) hour dissuades him. Even though the vampires aren't likely sleeping, he wouldn't feel comfortable with it – so he just paces around aimlessly for a while.
It takes longer than usual for him to realize where his legs seem to be taking him – and even longer to notice he'd been biting his nails all along. But it's too late to change directions, so he just rolls his eyes and turns into the next corridor.
The door to Mason's room is closed, as he thought it would be, but still a tinge of disappointment makes his brows furrow for a second.
Angelo stays there, though, chewing on his nails and considering whether he should just knock on the door or go somewhere else, until a small noise to his left almost makes him jump. He manages to somewhat stifle his reaction (and his fear, remnants of the forgotten dream making his heart jump), feeling a small smile spread through his lips as he finally recognizes the figure standing at the end of the hallway.
"Didn't know you even existed at this hour, handsome." The very familiar voice has the same gruff tone as usual, though he thinks he hears surprise more than suggestion.
"It's this new superpower I'm testing," he answers without thinking as Mason approaches him. "It's called insomnia. You should try it."
The vampire scoffs, coming to rest beside him. The low light peeking through the window makes his gray irises shine. "Try being a vampire. You can't have insomnia when you don't need to sleep." He steps closer, and Angi thinks he sees a side smile on his lips. "And it comes with some other cool superpowers too."
"Well now you're just showing off." Angi rolls his eyes and chuckles. "I'll consider it. I'll let you know when I make up my mind."
Mason mirrors his laughter. It's very difficult to see through the darkness and his bad eye, but Angi watches as his expression softens a little as he looks over at him.
He hopes Mason can't notice how his mere presence is able to calm down his frayed nerves, but at the same time he knows they're way past that anyway.
It's not a surprise, then, when Mason frowns and asks, "You alright?" He likely could feel something was off, Angi's not at all usual sleeping attire being a great evidence of it.
"Eh," Angi shrugs. He looks to the side for a moment, then pokes his own temple with a finger. "Brain being weird."
"More than usual?"
"Yeah, " he snorts a laugh. It was meant to match Mason's teasing tone but it comes out shaky, almost angry, and Angi needs to bite on his nails again to try to push back all the emotions this brings about. "These past few weeks have been very fucking weird huh"
"Hey." Mason's fingers wrap around his before he can chew on his fingertips even more. He doesn't let go. "It's over now. You did a great job."
Angi just scoffs and shakes his head, but whatever he tries to say is muffled by his own groan as he hides his face between his hands. He does not cry because that would be so goddamn embarrassing, but leans his head on Mason's shoulder and presses his hands to his eyes.
"What is it?" He hears Mason's voice against his ears, his arms wrapping around him.
"Nothing."
"Don't lie to me," Mason admonishes, though he doesn't let go of Angi (in fact, he holds him tighter, a hand tangling on his hair to keep him close).
There's a tinge of genuine worry on the vampire's voice that makes his breath catch in his throat and shuts up any protest he could have. There really is no point in lying to a vampire who can read him like a book, and even though he's getting used to it, it's still difficult to word his concerns. But he's trying, he really is.
Angi lets go of his own face and buries it on Mason’s chest, his hands wrapping loosely around his waist. He takes a steadying breath, closing his eyes and taking a moment to just feel. This doesn't help pushing back the knot of emotions clogging his throat, but helps understanding it. Molding it into something a little more malleable.
"Ugh—I'm just—" He chokes on his words. Why is this so goddamn difficult? He takes another deep breath, nuzzling against Mason's shirt, and tries again. "I need—to sleep. But everytime I try there's—I can still hear that woman screaming. Begging me to not let go. And I couldn't—couldn't do that and now I'm—”
The sentence hangs unfinished in the air, because if he continues he will cry and that cannot happen, it’s way too fucking embarrassing. Angi does a pretty good job of swallowing down the tears by burying his face further into Mason’s shoulder, though, at least until the vampire prompts him to look up with a soft tug on the nape of his neck and he can’t hide anymore.
“Hey, no.” His voice is so much softer than usual; it makes Angi choke back a sob and grumble a complaint. “Breathe. Keep breathing.”
It’s hard to do so but he tries, even though he hadn’t even noticed how ragged his breathing had become. He shuts his eyes and tries not to embarrass himself even more, feeling how each breath unknots something inside him.
“Those people are all safe because of you, Angelo.” Mason’s voice is stern, but still carries that same softness from before. The soothing effect it's even more pronounced when he cups Angi’s cheeks and rubs a thumb gently under his scarred eye. “You saved them. No one could have done a better job.”
“They still got hurt…” he mumbles, because he needs to be stubborn about this and the guilt still twists his insides.
“But they’re alive and well now,” he answers without missing a beat. “Which is what you should be focusing on doing, so I can kick your ass again in training.”
This tears a sharp laugh from Angi, if only because the teasing is a little unexpected - but it does lift some of the weight off his chest. “I’m so not looking forward to it, damn.”
“Don’t worry, handsome,” he quips, a low chuckle making his chest rumble. “I’ll let you hit me with one of those books of yours, as a treat.”
“Now we’re talking.” There’s an actual smile on Angi’s face now - even though it’s still weak - not only because he’s happy to change the subject, but because just being close to Mason and hearing his voice makes him forget a little about everything else.
It still takes a few moments until he’s feeling more like himself, though, and all the while Mason caresses his face in silence, his thumb brushing along his jaw. Angi keeps his eyes closed, breathing softly and feeling his own heartbeat calm down, the urge to hide his face not so strong now.
“Thanks,” he mumbles, opening his lids but unable to look into Mason’s eyes. He raises his hand to fiddle with the chords of Mason’s shirt, just to distract himself. “I guess I really needed this…”
“Anytime, handsome.” With a soft smile tugging at the corners of his lips, Mason hooks a finger under Angi’s chin to gently tip it up. “If there’s anything else I can do to help lift your spirits, let me know.”
Despite his voice being so heavy with suggestion that even Angi picks it up, there’s a glint in his eyes that’s almost playful, and the gentleness of it tears another chuckle from the human. Angelo nearly has to tiptoe in order to steal a kiss, placing his hand on the back of Mason’s neck to bring him down a little.
It’s soft, even when he tilts his head to deepen it. He breaks it after a moment, keeping their mouths close, a slow smirk blooming on his lips.
“There’s one thing, actually,” he teases, his smirk growing a little feral as anticipation rolls out of the vampire in waves - right before it softens to a playful, ear-splitting grin that’s pure innocence, “I really need to sleep.”
It’s actually very fun to witness all the stages of grief that cross the vampire’s eyes as he tries not to show how much he deflates at the suggestion. It’s also impossible to hold back his laughter, his head rolling backwards and chest bubbling (and because of that he doesn’t notice how the vampire’s expression eases into a smile, a tender look in his gray eyes).
“So, I was thinking,” Angi continues, the smile still on his lips, “That maybe you could put me to— ack! What!”
His sentence goes unfinished yet again, but this time because it takes him a few seconds to acknowledge that Mason has picked him up and thrown him over his shoulder as if he weighs absolutely nothing.
“You were saying?” Angi doesn’t need to see his face to know he’s smirking — even more when he shuffles him a little, as if he was just adjusting a sack of flour to carry it more comfortably.
“Ugh ,” it’s what comes out of him, a mix of sigh and chuckle, his head hanging low with defeat. “I was saying , you could put me to bed, maybe?”
His only response is a deep chuckle while Mason opens the door to his bedroom and walks towards the large bed. He half throws, half places him gently on the mattress, the smirk planted firmly on his lips.
“Oof ,” Angi complains, although he’s laughing. “You’re such a charmer.”
“Did you just notice that?” Mason quips, and Angi gets momentarily distracted by both his grin and the wink he throws him.
“I can get used to this...”
His smile falters a little as Mason makes to get up. His hand shoots up to grab at his sleeve before he even notices what he’s doing, to which the vampire only raises a brow.
“Can you, uh. Can you stay.” The weird lump in his chest threatens to come back, so he looks away and clears his throat. “Just until I’m asleep. The bed is too large, heh.”
Mason doesn’t say anything for a while. The moment seems to drag for hours before he shifts and clambers out of bed and nearly takes a piece of Angi’s resolve with him — until he merely shrugs off his shoes and silently crawls onto the mattress again, settling beside the human without taking his eyes off him. Angi follows his movements, feeling a lot lighter than just a second ago, his own eyes unable to leave Mason’s. He settles against him, their faces a mere inch away, and Mason shifts even closer, cupping his cheek with his hand.
“Thanks,” Angi breathes, afraid that anything else he might say will crush the comfortable moment.
Mason only nods, blinking slowly. “Get some rest, Angi. I’ll stay here.”
He doesn’t move, apart from his fingers caressing Angi’s cheek, then places the softest kiss on his human’s forehead.
Angi closes his eyes with a sigh.
I’ll stay here.
He lets the words linger in the air, filling up the silence and wrapping him like a warm blanket, until his eyes are too heavy and he’s lulled into a dreamless, calm sleep for the first time in weeks.