Work Text:
Just was a word that occupied Jose’s vocabulary for all the best and worst reasons.
Just a little more seasoning.
Let’s just see what happens.
This time, Jose’s ‘just’ was a guilty one. “I just need to finish this last sleeping potion for my customer. I’ll go to bed afterward, honest.”
This response was to his beloved wife, Mari, who stared down at him with disapproval. They both knew Jose had a bad habit of staying up late to finish orders. Whether or not this current order was his last for the night depended entirely on his energy, of which he still had some tonight. He struggled not to squirm despite the weight of his responsibilities and the fatigue of the day sitting on his shoulders.
Jose knew she wouldn’t be so insistent without a reason, which made him wonder: how long has it been since he’s left his workspace for the day?
“It’s been eight hours since you’ve moved from this spot, hun,” Mari answered his unspoken question. “And you’ve gone for longer this whole week. Come to bed.”
Her command was stern, yet gentle and caring, akin to a balm that always soothed his frayed nerves. Jose looked back at his desk, illuminated solely by moonlight, a key indicator that he spent too much time in the same place. It was a cluttered mess, littered with paperwork, ingredients and potion bottles.
His favorite mug, full of now-cold coffee, sat staining the cover of one of his reference books. It was the kind of chaos that only its creator could navigate. He sighed deeply, knowing he would need to reorganize the piles soon despite having done so earlier that week. His attention shifted to the recipe he had recently written; it was for a client who kept waking up in the middle of the night.
Despite having taken multiple different potions and changed sleep habits multiple times, they still struggled to reach consistent slumber. Jose had agonized over a combination of common and unconventional sleeping components that would ideally relax the body and mind enough to allow some decent rest.
Hopefully, this would work.
“My sun, the recipe’s already written. Just let me see if this’ll work, please.” He held out his hand, a subtle ask for approval.
Mari let out an exhale of resignation, briefly grasping Jose’s hand in hers in reluctant acceptance before releasing it to let him be. As she turned to leave the room, a quiet promise was made.
“I’ll check back on you later.”
The door closed, and it was just him again. Jose cracked his knuckles, reasserting his attention to getting the sleeping potion just right. His wife was waiting for him, after all.
Herbs were mashed, flora were mixed, and more curious items were crushed as he went to work. Each familiar movement made time pass smoothly as he embedded his magic into each step of the process. Potion-making was intricate and fickle with one’s emotions, which easily effected the outcome, intentional or not. It was partly why he stayed up late so often; being tired made it more likely for the sleeping potions to work. As Jose poured his brew into the cauldron and began to stir, he wearily considered the reason he was given the nickname, “Mr. Sleep.”
Mari was his first customer. When she slept, it was for too long, and it was affecting her daily life. Eating regularly, venturing outside, social connections, all of it slipping away with each day. Fourteen hours of rest if not more was the usual, and she was tired of life passing by while she lay in bed. These were the reasons she gave Jose when he had first started up his potion-making business. A sadness surrounded her then, an unvoiced yet deep-seated frustration at herself for not being able to just do more. Even then, he was more than enthused to do whatever it took to bring a smile to her face.
For her recipe, he needed it to be not only well-rested, but highly caffeinated as well. Frequent check-ups on how her potion was coming along gradually became coffee dates every morning. With each visit, she brought lovingly-ground coffee from her home, strong and slightly sweet with milk swirling throughout the way he liked it. The caffeine never worked for Mari despite taking it black, but he always felt energized even without it. They were younger then, and even at that time, he knew she was enough for him.
The memory of her first referring to him as “Mr. Sleep” woke him up just slightly as he brought the spoon up to his face. The smell, tint and feel of the potion would determine if this could work. Newbies normally needed to test each potion on themselves to ascertain if it could work for their clients. Yet, with how long Jose’s been doing this, he had a decent intuition about this one.
Beautifully midnight blue in color with starry flecks throughout the fluid, he knew it was just right. A waft of lavender from the solution almost had him shuttering his eyes to sleep right there. Jose allowed himself a small, triumphant smile at this success, and hoped that this would be what his customer needed to rest through the night peacefully.
“Looks like it works.” A tired yet beloved voice rang throughout the small space.
Mari leaned against the doorframe, already in her pajama dress with his mug in her hand. Jose turned fully around and squinted first at Mari, then his eyes glanced at the mug, then to his desk. When had she come in to take it?
He really needed to catch up on sleep…
Shuffling over to join his wife, he simply nodded and gently pushed his forehead against hers, slowly feeling the effects of his efforts. He closed his eyes and just let their breaths align.
Inhale, exhale,
Subtle signs of life that he couldn’t ever be too grateful for and were consistently music to his ears. He could fall asleep to this.
A heat against his chest prompted his attention, and upon looking down, was greeted with a mug full of freshly made coffee. The brown brew made his mouth water, yet he questioningly looked at Mari. Didn’t she want him to sleep?
She simply smiled, her own exhaustion prevalent. A twinge of guilt flickered through him with the knowledge she wouldn’t go to bed without him. “It’s decaf.”
Perking up, he took the mug from her hand and linked his hooves with hers. Jose allowed Mari to direct him to their room as he sipped on his coffee all the while. His heart warmed both from the drink and his wife’s love, and he couldn’t help but think: this is just right.