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Gorgug hadn’t slept well in weeks.
Well, none of them had. Not really. Despite the Night Yorb keeping things constantly dark, none of the bad kids had been getting any proper rest. Sleeping in the van probably didn’t help, nor did the constant stress any of them were under.
Fig was having trouble seeing in the low-lighting, even with her darkvision. Kristen was exhausting herself to pieces in between battles if only to distract herself from her breakup. Fabian was having similar issues, finding himself yearning as they were on the road, heart aching and missing something that even Aelwyn Abernant couldn’t heal. Adaine found herself stressed and anxious more often than not: deaf accessible lodgings and storefronts were far and few between aside from what she crafted for herself. And Riz was there trying to keep as much in control as he could, summer coming closer and closer to its end and a new school year on the non-existent horizon.
Which left Gorgug tired and trying to hold it together. His friends had enough going on. He could let his stressors out through rage, a release he knew his friends didn’t have. A little bit of tiredness didn’t need to hold him back. He would be alright.
At least until he woke up with Adaine pounding on his chest, begging him to wake up in as many ways as she could muster.
“ Adaine? What wrong?” he signed, trying to wake up quickly. If there was a threat, they needed to move now. Adaine was on watch after all.
Adaine shook her head and thumped on his chest again with her palm “You! Breathing! Stopped!” she whisper-yelled in rhythm with her thumps, her accent thick with worry. “You okay?”
Gorgug allowed his breathing to settle- they weren’t in immediate danger. Well as a collective at least. He hadn’t even noticed his breathing stopped- he just kept taking deep relaxed breaths. “ Feel okay. Not sick. I breathing stopped?” he signed, opening his arms up for Adaine to relax into.
Adaine obliged, letting herself rest against his chest. He knew she was more than likely self-soothing and reminding herself that he was still breathing and okay. “ For a minute,” she said, opening a Message channel for them. “ You were snoring like normal and then you just stopped.”
“Should have taken that as a break then to get some rest,” he teased, brushing his fingers through her hair. It wasn’t a secret that Gorgug snored loudly. Fabian and Riz had earplugs to keep the loud sound out, while Fig and Kristen had found it relaxing- a reminder of Jawbone and home at Mordred Manor. Even Adaine could feel his chest vibrate through the van on a normal night.
“It’s not funny!” Adaine swatted at his chest again. “ Are you sure you feel okay? We should have Kristen look you over in the morning.”
Gorgug nodded. Even if he felt fine, it probably wouldn’t hurt to get a once-over from Kristen. “ I’ll ask her in the morning. Promise.”
Adaine huffed and nodded, taking her position back at watch. She still wasn’t relaxed, but at least content enough with his answer. She pulled his hood back over his head. “ Get some sleep. Wake you up when it’s time.”
And that was that.
Gorgug hadn’t thought much of it since returning. Over their summer quest, there had been several more late night wake-ups from Adaine and once from Riz, strung out on caffeine and adrenaline. But then school had started. Three years of artificing classes and one year of barbarian and owlbears practice and the mystery of Cassandra and the unnamed God kept him plenty busy.
Of course he was tired. There wasn’t anything to be but tired after all that needed to be done. Gorgug just needed everything to stop. Even in the three or four hours of sleep he was getting per night, his sleep was interrupted with dreams of drowning. His brain felt as though it were in slow perpetual motion, never resting long enough to actually restore himself.
In the days following the Frosty Fair, it seemed to feel even worse. Three mornings in a row, he had fallen asleep at the breakfast table and woken up to the uncomfortable sensation of oatmeal in his hair.
“Oh, bud. You’re still not sleeping good are you?” His mom brushed some of the food away, trying to help.
“I’m fine,” he said, shoving an arm away on the table. “Just up late working on artificer homework again.”
“I think it might be a little bit more than that, bud,” his dad said, coming around on the other side of the table and helping his son sit up. “Come on. We need to have a talk.”
Gorgug swatted again, trying to get some breathing room. “I already know, use consent, communication, and condoms and everything else will fall into place. I need to get ready for school. I’ll just grab a protein bar on the way. I’m fine-”
“Not every talk is sexually oriented around here, kiddo. But I’m glad you remember the triple C’s rule.” His dad gently pulled back at his arm, keeping him at the table. “I think your sleep problems might be more than just a crazy courseload. Don’t get us wrong, we know you’re busy and keeping up pretty gosh-darn good.”
“And we’re so proud of you, sweetie,” his mom reassured rubbing on his hand.
“The most proud! I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder in my life-”
“Dad...” Gorgug rubbed at his eyes, getting rid of the leftover breakfast and sleep.
“Alright, I know, I know. Can never pass up an opportunity to remind you how proud I am of all the work you’re doing.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a pamphlet. At least it wasn’t a binder this time.
Orcs, Half-Orcs, and Sleep Apnea: The Tusky Truths to Good Sleep.
“Sleep apnea? What even is that? Is that why I’m not sleeping?” He had to admit, while Gogrug had heard Gorbag mention it in passing once, he still wasn’t exactly sure what it was.
“Well it might be,” his mom said, continuing to rub on his hand. “I woke up the other night, heard you snoring like you’re one to do.” Gorgug flushed, a light pink overtaking his green cheeks. “Nothing bad, sweetie. Most of us do it. And well, I was listening, just making sure you were okay and then you just stopped.”
Gorgug raised an eyebrow. “Okay... I stopped snoring? Isn’t that a good thing.”
“More than that. You stopped breathing entirely there for a minute. Couldn’t tell if you were holding your breath or couldn’t breathe, but then you started again and you were all okay, but I couldn’t leave you after that though. You did it a few more times before I fell back asleep myself.”
At least his mom let him sleep instead of waking him up like Adaine would. “Oh yeah. Some of the bad kids had mentioned that happened a few times while we were out on the road.”
“I’d say it probably happened more than a few times, bud. It happened a few times last night. And according to this pamphlet I got us, it’s probably happening a lot of times every night.” His dad pointed at a few lines in the brochure. “And the more it happens at night, the more tired you are in the daytime.”
“How does the breathing mean I’m not getting enough sleep? I mean I am still sleeping after all.”
“Well, that’s the thing. You wake up every time, at least your brain does, even if it’s just a little bit and you don’t realize it. “
“Your dad and I made you an appointment for this afternoon. Your pediatrician had an opening, and we wanna make sure that this gets taken care of before you get in an accident or something.”
Gorgug groaned. He didn’t have time to go to his doctor. He had classes and owlbears and he wanted to see his friends and-
“We’ll get you a note for school, bud. Your teachers won’t care. They’ll want you in your best adventuring shape!” His dad patted his back. “And besides, you could use a day off.”
Gorgug rubbed at his forehead, accepting his fate. If he didn’t give into this now, it would only get longer and more drawn out. A day away from school didn’t sound too bad either. Maybe he could just catch up and breathe for a day.
Maybe he could sleep.
Five weeks, four doctors appointments, and three mask fittings later, Gorgug was beginning to settle into a new routine. Every night after he brushed his teeth and put on his pajamas, he settled in with his mask. It only needed to go over his nose and was held in place by two straps on his tusks.
Apparently, it was pretty common for most half-orcs and orcs to develop some kind of sleep apnea. He thought about asking Lydia or Ragh about it, but was comforted enough in knowing Gorbag also had it. Gorbag showed him how to arrange the tubing so he could sleep comfortably while Digby helped to build an apparatus to make it even more adaptive.
He hadn’t shared with his friends what was going on though. They had been busy enough worrying about Fig’s curse and Kristen’s presidential campaign and the Rat Grinders to be worried about anything else. They were already worried about his unfairly large class load- they didn’t need to be worried about this too. In the meantime, he had just carefully avoided any true sleepovers- and those he did attend, he made sure to be awake all night.
But soon enough he’d have no choice but to share.
They would be going to Fallinel in a week and a half, and he would need to bring his device with him. He had already tinkered with it enough to give him an extended battery life while he was in the woodlands of Kei Lumenura. But even with that tinkering, he couldn’t turn the thing invisible, make it seem like nothing was wrong whatsoever while he was sleeping.
He thought about leaving it at home, but ultimately he valued the new found wakefulness brought on by the device. It made it easier for him to manage things during the day. He even found himself picking up his drumsticks again, overjoyed to do something outside an obligation or mystery. It was too great a benefit to forgo over the possibility of scaring his friends
Ragh was back from college for winter break, turning Mordred into a daily sleepover for those who were interested. And today, Gorgug would go over there, spend time with his friends, and stay the night like he would before. He’d just have his CPAP with him. That was all that would be different.
“Is that my lobster prince I hear out there?” he heard Ragh shouting as Gorgug pulled into the driveway. “Crustacean nation!”
Gorgug let himself smile. It would be alright.
“Hoot growl!”
Several pizzas and many movies later, his friends were finally wearing out enough to get ready for bed. Fabian was already in the bathroom going through his 13-step moisturizing routine and making Riz follow along. Kristen and Ragh were pulling out blankets and pillows for everyone to fall asleep on while Fig held a halfway trancing Adaine on the couch.
Gorgug took advantage of the moment of distraction and found a small corner to set up his device. His snoring had already sequestered him onto the edges of whatever cuddle pile would commence. The device was never loud as he fell asleep at night, but he couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t be as he slept. At least Adaine wouldn’t be able to hear it.
He set up his water and put together his tubing. Maybe his friends wouldn’t even bring it up-
“Woah, dude! Is that new? When did you start using a CPAP like Mom?”
Gorgug felt the heat rise in his face. He should have figured Ragh would say something first, but he was shocked to know Lydia used one too. “Your mom uses one?”
“Yeah! She has since I was real little. Still does. How are you liking it? Mom says she can always tell when she doesn’t use it.”
He also should have figured that Ragh would be very relaxed and normal about it, especially if Lydia was using one. “It’s taking some time to get used to,” he answered honestly. “But I feel a lot better most days. I started drumming again.”
“Shit yeah, brother, that’s great to hear!”
“You’re drumming? You haven’t done that in ages,” Fig said looking over in their general direction. It seemed even as her vision was fading, her hearing was sharper than ever. “Figures as soon as I stop writing you start playing again,” she teased.
“It’s not that!” he defended. “It’s just easier when I can sleep.”
Fig laughed and kicked in his direction. “Just teasing you, don’t worry about it.”
“Hey we should be able to sleep easy tonight too,” Ragh said, getting up and ribbing Fig slightly. “Gorgug got him a CPAP. So no more snoring.” Gorgug felt his cheeks get even redder.
“Oh hell yeah!” Fig jostled, slightly waking Adaine. “ Addy! Gorgug no snore anymore,” she signed. Adaine gave a half hearted silent shake of her hands that made him smile before slipping back into a trance. Adaine wouldn’t care anyways about his snoring. Just that he was breathing easier and sleeping better.
“Let’s get you set up proper then,” Ragh said, finding a small table. “It’s always a bit easier when the CPAP is above your head. At least that’s what Ma always says.”
Gorgug let Ragh lead him through finding the perfect place for him to set up his device. In hindsight, he didn’t know what he was so worried about. They all were receptive and adaptive to using sign language for Adaine. They had all helped Fig pick out new shades and made sure the spaces around them were clear for her to navigate. Why would his condition be any different?
Gorgug had sleep apnea, that was true. But he was still their friend, still a bad kid. And nothing was going to change that.