Work Text:
Kenny couldn't sleep. Which was weird considering he was a construction worker, and he usually came home exhausted enough to pass out on his busted up La-Z-Boy that he's had since the 80's.
He stared at the ceiling. Uri was sleeping next to him, snoring rhythmically and completely unaware to his husband's suffering. Not that his snoring annoyed him though, and even if it did he'd rather burn himself alive than ever be deprived of that sound.
He was so tired. He watched the ceiling closely, the shadows blended together and danced all about the dark room. It was always entrancing. His eyes would slip closed, but the second they came in contact with each other, a burst of energy would surge through him, forcing him to stay awake.
He turned his head to look at the clock. 11:47 pm glowed red from his alarm clock. Then 11:48 pm, then 11:49 pm, then 11:50pm.
He smacked his forehead and groaned, he was going crazy. Even those god-awful parent teacher conferences were more entertaining than this, and the last time he went to one he got ten new grey hairs.
Kenny never wanted kids, and realizing he was gay was probably the best day of this life, he'd never have to worry about kids. But he found out he had a nephew a few years ago when a kid just showed up on his doorstep. One DNA test later and yup, he was family.
Actually, Kenny was pretty sure there was a white noise machine somewhere in Levi's room. He wasn't about to get it though, God bless toxic masculinity!
Maybe he was thinking too loud because Uri grabbed his sleeve and tugged. "Go to sleep."
"If I could be I would be," He snapped, but still slipped his hand into Uri's. Yeah, he was whipped, and so what?
Uri groggily turned on his side to face his husband, but he never opened his eyes. Kenny liked those weird things he did like that. Uri yawned with tears pricking his eyes, "Anything keeping you up?"
"Hell all, I just can't sleep," Kenny complained. When Uri took his hand back, Kenny died a little inside, but he knew sleeping with any part of their bodies touching was a bad idea on account of Kenny could get really sweaty upon human contact.
"Just close your eyes and think of your happy place" Uri then snuggled further into bed and fell back asleep, like it was nothing. It wasn't fair.
Now, Kenny was a traditional man, aside from the whole gay thing. He grew up in the south to a very conservative family with very toxic masculine tendencies.
So the idea of going to his happy place made him want to vomit, but disobeying his husband was like disobeying the laws of nature. So he closed his eyes and thought of La-Z-Boy downstairs.
It actually worked really well. He thought of the old plaid fabric, the soft cushion that had his figure engraved into it, and a nice T.V. dinner to go along with it all.
Kenny yawned. His husband was always right. He slowly felt himself drift off to sleep, with waves of exhaustion rolling over him and pulling him out to the sea of sleep.
Then the door creaked open.
And just as he was falling asleep too.
"Oh fucking hell," Kenny groaned loudly, sitting up in bed. He covered his eyes because the lights in the hallway were so damn bright, he thought he was seeing the pearly gates for a moment. "I'm gonna fucking kill this kid."
Uri grabbed his sleeve and mumbled sleepily, "Don't do that, you'll go to jail again."
Well, maybe if Uri had to work from the ass crack of dawn to the evening he'd understand Kenny's homicidal intent. Then again, supervised visits in the can sounded like a nightmare and a half.
Levi stood at the door tentatively, shaking like a leaf, looking at him like a kicked puppy. Goddammit now he felt like a dickhead.
"Levi," Kenny called out a little too loudly, making the already terrified 10 year old nearly wet his pants.
"Levi," He repeated, this time tapping a spot on the bed next to him. He shifted to the side as Levi hesitantly dashed for the bed, slamming the door behind him.
Kenny sighed and resigned himself to this moment. He must've done something awful in his past life to deserve this.
Levi squirmed past Kenny and snuck between the two men. Of course he did. Kenny would've rolled his eyes, but honestly he was too tired to even exert that amount of energy.
Kenny laid back down flat on his back, stiff as a board but definitely not light as a feather. Levi seemed to be in an equally uncomfortable position.
The boy rustled around in the sheets every few seconds, constantly readjusting and rolling over.
"Stop squirming," Kenny demanded with a hushed tone.
A beat of silence passed and Levi stilled momentarily. "I can't," He whispered shamefully, "I'm scared."
Kenny froze, not from a pitiful shock, but from ire. This kid woke him up from the verge of sleep because he was scared?
He rolled onto his side and faced Levi. "Don't be scared in my house," He ordered, "There's nothing to be scared of. Can't nothing or nobody scary come into my damn house, I'll kill them. So don't insult me like that again."
Levi stayed quiet, and for a moment, Kenny wondered if he was too harsh.
He pat Levi's forehead, arm heavy from how tired he was, then pulled the blankets back over them, drowning the 10 year old in the sheets, "Now go to sleep, and don't bother me 'til the sun is up," Kenny grumbled and closed his eyes.
The queen sized bed was a little more squished that night. And it stank of children. And they'd definitely all wake up covered in sweat. Despite all that, Kenny found himself asleep in a matter of minutes, in a much better sleep than he'd had for a long, long time.
Levi waited patiently for Kenny's breathing to even out. If anything tried to hurt him, he had his uncles, and they were crazy. He had never felt so safe before. He yawned and closed his eyes. Squished between his uncles, no longer plagued by fear, Levi drifted off to dreamland with a small smile on his face.