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Hypno doesn’t sleep alone.
There’s no particular reason, per se. Like, he doesn’t have nightmares, or anything. He just… He doesn’t know. Maybe he’s just been spoiled by being on such a friendly server for so long. Ever since season 7, he’s needed someone with him to get to sleep. It’s just a thing.
He’s probably ended up at everyone’s base once or twice, but he did have a main circle. Within that circle was Keralis. Not always his first choice, but never his last. And nearly every time he ended up at Keralis’ in the middle of the night, barring dire circumstances, Keralis would try to put him under.
It was a dirty tactic, one born under the longstanding rivalry they had, but Hypno’s way out of it was to simply go to sleep before he had the chance. He knew it frustrated Keralis. It was the main reason he did it.
Although, as he knocked on Keralis’ door, that wasn’t really on his mind. There wasn’t much at all on his mind, really. He was quite tired. When Keralis opened the door with a smile, the only thing on his mind was comfort.
“Hello, Hypno!” he greeted cheerfully, “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
Hypno chuckled. They both knew that Keralis knew why he was here.
“Think I’ll be taking over your bed,” is what Hypno eventually said. Keralis tilted his head, as if he was confused.
“You’re kicking me out?” he asked, faux-upset.
“You know I’m not,” Hypno answered.
Keralis laughed and took his hand, leading him to his bedroom.
Hypno got suitably comfortable, shoes, coat, and belts landing in a pile somewhere on the ground. Then he fell face first into Keralis’ bed. Had he cared enough to notice, he would’ve heard the clink of Keralis’ glasses on his bedside table. But he did notice Keralis sit beside him and untie his bandana. He begrudgingly pushed himself up on his elbows.
When Hypno turned to look back at him, Keralis was still smiling. Hypno may have had the faintest inkling, somewhere in the back of his mind, to avoid eye contact, but Keralis took his face into his hands and Hypno just kind of melted into it.
“Oh, you’re very tired today,” Keralis noted, “Aren’t you, little thing?”
“Hm,” said Hypno, “I don’t need your judgment.”
“‘Judge? Oh never, never. I was just… noticing.”
“Mhm,” Hypno must have been more tired than he thought, or maybe Keralis’ hands were just particularly warm. Either way, while he had felt close to sleep before, he now felt like he could collapse any second.
“It is so sweet, getting to see you like this,” Keralis hummed. “So tired, you can’t even keep your head upright.”
Now that he mentioned it, yeah. Keralis may well have been the only thing keeping his head up. It was a comforting feeling. Keralis was a comforting feeling. Keralis’ eyes were a comforting feeling. Something about them just sapped all his worries from his mind, all his stress, all his… thoughts.
Something almost occurred to him, he could feel the realization rearing its head– but then Keralis cooed at him, and it slipped away.
“Awww,” he said. “So, so sleepy. Your eyes are barely even open.”
They were. Hypno could hardly see Keralis, the sliver of his eyes that could still see being partially obscured by his own eyelashes. It bugged Hypno that he couldn’t see Keralis’ eyes.
At one point, his head tipped to the side and Keralis had to catch it. Hypno was barely aware of it.
“Look at how tired you are.”
He was so tired.
“And you listen so well.”
He’s so good at listening.
“Sweet little thing, can you do me a favor? Before you go to bed.”
Yes.
He tried to say as much. It came out as more of a “muh.”
“I know you will,” said Keralis’ saccharine voice. “Now, Hypno, when you wake up, I’ll need you to admit that I won tonight. Alright?”
Even in his state, Hypno made a disgruntled sound at that. It made Keralis laugh.
“Oh, fine. I will play nice. You can stop when I say you can,” Keralis adjusted his hold on Hypno. “Come on. Look at me. You can do that for me, right?”
Hypno looked at Keralis as best he could.
Of course he can.
He did something which resembled a nod. Keralis seemed pleased by this.
“Good girl. Okay, Hypno. You may rest now.”
Maybe Keralis followed that by a more specific command. But if Hypno was awake to hear, he didn’t remember.
It was decently into the afternoon when Hypno woke up.
Even before he fully came into consciousness, he knew the person he was tangled up with was Keralis. Something about his build, the way he curled around Hypno with one leg tangled into his. The fact that he wasn’t wearing a shirt was also a clue.
Which is why Hypno was so suspicious when he realized just how deeply he’d been sleeping. He’d been exhausted, sure, but this felt more… Hypno didn’t know. Like getting washed up on the shore of wakefulness.
He pushed himself up. Keralis was awake already, and when Hypno blinked his eyes open, he was smiling smugly.
He remembered then.
“That doesn’t count,” was the first thing he said. His voice croaked a bit.
Keralis faked offense with a hand to his chest.
“Hypno, how dare you!” he gasped, “And where is my ‘good morning?’”
“It doesn’t,” Hypno maintained, “C’mon, I was basically dead asleep already.”
“Just say that I beat you last night,” Keralis said, still with a little pout.
“You won last night,” it tumbled out of Hypno’s mouth, and something pleasant washed over him. He furrowed his brow, “Keralis.”
Keralis giggled.
“Was that really necessary?” Hypno asked. He hadn’t changed anything when he put Keralis under trance.
“Well, I knew you may be a little fussy about it, so I thought I’d just slide that in there, so you couldn’t be all ‘Oh, well, I went to sleep all by myself–’”
“That’s not– first of all, I’m not fussy, and second, even if I was, that’s not why.”
“Hm?” asked Keralis, “Why, then?”
“Because it’s not– I was prone– ”
“Oh, does that matter–?”
“Yes–!”
“Did I win, though?”
“Yes,” Hypno said unwittingly. Then he huffed, “Damn it.”
Keralis giggled again, and finally seemed to be satisfied.
“Alright, you don’t have to say it anymore.”
“You’re too kind,” Hypno said sarcastically.
“Either way, I think this has made us even-steven.”
“Hardly,” Hypno laughed slightly.
“Ah, so you are still challenging me?” Keralis asked.
“What made you think I stopped?”
Keralis smiled, and climbed out of the bed.
“Okay, little thing,” Hypno jumped slightly as, for whatever reason, the nickname seemed to hit differently than before. If Keralis noticed, he said nothing. “I will remember that.”