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The late-evening breeze brushes past Josuke’s face as he shoulders the door to the bedroom open with a steaming mug of chamomile tea cupped in his hands. Outside, he can make out the faint echo of car engines rumbling down the way, golden headlights occasionally darting in past the fluttering curtains to sweep across the room in a broad arc. If he were to stand next to the open window and squint past the hills, Josuke would probably still be able to see the last remnants of the summer sunset over the horizon.
There’s a comfortable darkness that settles across the room, invited by the soft glow of the single lamp on the nightstand. Josuke can’t remember the last time that lamp had ever been turned on without the glaring overhead lights being used instead. It’s a nice change though. Gives the room a nice bit of ambience.
He perks up when the door creaks open, settling down on the bed while Rohan sweeps across the room to start pulling out his pajamas from the dresser.
“Have a nice shower?” Josuke asks. The mattress groans under his weight when he leans over to set the mug down on the nightstand, his palms still warm from the residual heat.
“I did, actually,” Rohan says. He’s only wrapped up in a damp bath towel, hair still slightly damp with a few stray drops of water trailing down his neck and along the long curve of his spine. Josuke would get a little closer to admire them, but Rohan’s already throwing an old t-shirt over his head before he gets the chance. “Why’s it so dark in here? I thought it was only ten.”
“Yeah, usually tends to get a little dark by now. You know, when it’s night and all. Who’d have thought, huh?” Josuke flinches when Rohan whips a pair of flannel pants in his direction, hands jumping up to protect his face even while he laughs. “I’m messing with you! Seriously, I just turned the overheads off, I promise.”
At that, Rohan glances up, eyes narrowed as he takes in the new state of their bedroom. Josuke aside, he seems pretty pleased with this development. “Hm. I didn’t think the lighting could be this drastic.”
“Well I was kinda going for relaxing,” Josuke drawls.
“Good job,” Rohan replies. “Did you want a frame for your honorary degree in interior design? Or should I keep it with your birth certificate?”
"Actually if you could just fax it over to my mom so I can get bragging rights next Christmas, that'd be great."
Rohan snorts at that. “I’ll get right on it.”
His face is still a little flushed from the steam in the bathroom, leaving him glowing under the relaxing and not drastic lamplight. The shirt hanging off of his shoulders is a little too big on him, the worn hem skirting past the edge of his briefs, and it takes Josuke a minute to realize that it’s because Rohan’s decided to steal from his side of the dresser again. He’s certainly not complaining though.
Besides, Rohan still has the rest of his nighttime routine to get through, and Josuke is more than ready to get a front-seat view. He tucks himself under the blankets and flops down against the pillows, rolling around onto his side so he can watch Rohan perch onto the mattress and pull out a small bottle of moisturizer from the nightstand. With one hand propping up his head, Josuke watches with a smile he can’t hide as Rohan carefully starts applying a thin layer of lotion around his face. He takes care to spread it down his neck and rub it in with the pads of his fingers, double-checking to make sure there’s no residue.
Once Rohan’s done though, he swipes another dollop of lotion into his palms and clicks his tongue.
“Come here. I want to know what you think about this one.”
Josuke’s already feeling a little drowsy, but he still obediently worms his way over to Rohan’s hip. He closes his eyes as Rohan carefully rubs it across his forehead and down the bridge of his nose, spreading the rest evenly across his cheeks and down the line of his jaw. It’s hard to concentrate with the soothing rhythm of Rohan’s slender fingers rubbing careful circles down his neck. The lingering notes of Rohan’s rose-infused body wash mix in with the surprisingly sweet aroma of the lotion, leaving Josuke’s head spinning when he tries to scrunch his face up to scrape together an opinion.
“Feels nice,” he murmurs. “Really light too. Does this have sugar in it or something?”
“Apparently this formula uses honey,” Rohan says. He swipes his hand down Josuke’s shoulders to get rid of the excess lotion clinging to his fingers. “It’s supposed to be a good for keeping inflammations down. I didn’t think it’d smell this strong though.”
Josuke shrugs as best he can. “I like it. Kinda reminds me of that pomegranate one you got a while back.”
“If you liked it that much, you can have it. I barely use it anyways.” Rohan tucks the tentatively-approved moisturizer back into the nightstand drawer, which is Josuke’s cue to start squirming back over to his side of the bed.
“More for me then,” Josuke mumbles. He glances up when Rohan rummages around the drawer and pops open the small orange prescription bottle tucked away in the back. “Hey, I made you some tea for that too.”
“Hm?” Rohan scans the nightstand until he takes in the still-steaming mug of tea waiting for him, huffing out a laugh once he finds it. “You know, I’ve been taking these dry just fine.”
“Yeah, but it can’t hurt,” Josuke protests. “It’s chamomile! It’s supposed to make you sleepy! That’ll give you like, a net positive.”
“I don’t think you understand what net positive means,” Rohan says. He doesn’t sound all that biting about it though, looking down at the mug with that half-smile still quirking at his lips. “But thank you.”
Without further ado, Rohan swallows down his trazodone and chases it with a long sip of chamomile tea. Josuke grins at Rohan’s back, preening ever so slightly as Rohan slowly works his way through his drink.
It took a while to figure out what exactly Rohan needed to go to sleep, and even longer to figure out what he needed get enough sleep. Maybe when he was younger and bursting at the seams with inspiration, he could get away with pulling off a three-hour power nap in the place of a proper night’s rest. To his credit, Josuke doesn’t know if anyone else would be able to turn chronic insomnia into strategic business maneuver.
But they’re both getting older now. Rohan can’t keep up with that frankly insane kind of schedule anymore. It was a long time coming, but Josuke is glad that he got to be there for the winding journey Rohan needed to learn how to let himself rest.
The mug makes a dull clink when Rohan sets it down, newly empty. He turns the lamp off, casting the room into a gentle darkness and starts settling down under the blankets.
Naturally, Josuke gravitates to his side, looping an arm around his waist and nestling his nose against the crook of his neck as soon as Rohan’s close enough to grab.
“I’m still going to be awake for a while,” Rohan says. In the hush, his voice is barely more than a whisper. “If you want to sleep now, you’ll be better off staying over there.”
“Yeah, I know,” Josuke says. He still doesn’t move.
When Rohan sighs, Josuke can feel his stomach rise and fall under his palm, the steady pulse of his heart beating strong against his ear. “I mean it. It’s already late enough for you.”
“I think I can manage.” Josuke takes the chance to press a lazy kiss against Rohan’s jaw, then another one on his cheek. He’s more than happy to take his time, but Rohan cuts his exploration short by pulling him down for a proper kiss.
“Whatever you say.”
To be fair, Josuke was already pretty tired by the time Rohan got out of the shower. If he closed his eyes and settled down, it would take maybe a few seconds at most to knock out completely.
But he forces himself to stay awake just so he could feel the way Rohan’s breathing started to slow, how he squirmed in his arms and finally let his head sink into the pillow. Josuke waits patiently when Rohan’s eyes started to glaze over, blanketing him with gentle kisses wherever he could reach. Like Rohan said, it took a while for the medication to kick in, but eventually, Josuke got to see the moment Rohan finally fell asleep.
It wasn’t something he saw all too often before. But hopefully it was something that he’d get to see again tomorrow night.
For tonight, Josuke pulls him a little closer, propping Rohan up securely against his own chest, and plants one last kiss to his cheek.
“Sleep well, baby.”