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Regect didn’t always have a rough relationship with sleep.
He remembers the days when he used to be able to close his eyes and fall asleep within seconds, lulled to sleep by the sounds of the world around him.
Meeting Micha hadn’t changed that. It was when Regect lost Micha that he began to hate sleeping. During the first few nights awaiting the kid’s return, Regect could not sleep at all, his mind simply not allowing him any moment of peace. Over time, he learned to push away the thoughts that threatened to overwhelm him during the night, allowing him to fall into a fitful sleep.
After meeting Ze and Moe, sleeping got a little easier. He slept more easily knowing he was no longer alone, knowing there were two other beings in the home, sleeping just a room away from him.
That wasn’t to say that sleeping became easy, however. Regect still spent many nights trying to push his unhelpful thoughts away so he could at least sleep for an hour.
It was during one of these nights that Regect finally huffed, giving up on falling asleep, at least for now. He rolled out of his bed, deciding that if he couldn’t sleep, he would go outside and listen to the forest, as he used to. He was quiet as he opened his door and walked down the stairs, not wanting to wake Ze or Moe.
Regect carefully opened the front door, stepping outside and closing it behind him. A sigh left him as he started to walk into the forest, trying to find a nice clearing to sit down in.
He found a clearing, surrounded by trees and flowers, but it was already occupied. Regect held his breath as he recognized who was lying in the middle of the clearing, the dappled horse body being all too familiar to him.
It was Ze. The centaur he had grown to love.
When they had first met, Regect had found Ze incredibly annoying, yet ultimately fun to mess with. The man was a centaur, with the front half of a human and the bottom half of a horse. It was what Micha had been too, though the kid was only a colt. Ze, however, was different from regular centaurs, as he had a singular horn on his forehead. Regect thought that he looked quite a lot like a unicorn of some sort.
The entity would never admit it, but he found Ze to be incredibly beautiful.
Originally, Ze was short-tempered and quite quick to kick if Regect annoyed him too much. Regect had learned that if he annoyed Ze, he should move quickly when he saw the centaur starting to turn and angle his back legs towards the entity, lest he get hoofprints imprinted into his torso again. Ze was also quite hesitant to allow Regect to pet him, let alone climb onto his back. Recently, however, Ze had been allowing Regect to pet him without much complaint.
Regect takes a breath as he weighs his options: either quietly leaving and finding another clearing or joining Ze.
A moment of silence before the entity makes a decision and slowly steps towards the centaur. Ze has his eyes closed, looking to be asleep, but the twitch of an ear tells Regect that he’s anything but.
“What are you doing?” Ze’s voice sounds incredibly loud in the silence of the night, despite him not raising his voice above normal.
Regect scoffs, but continues moving forward. “What I’m doing is none of your business, asshole.”
Ze’s eyes watch Regect as he approaches, something soft in them that Regect can’t quite identify. If it were anyone else, he would think that was something akin to fondness. Ze, Regect notes, doesn’t move away as Regect sits down on the ground next to the centaur. Usually, the centaur would get up immediately to move away so that Regect couldn’t try to climb on his back for a ride or pet him.
“Why are you out here is a better question.” Regect fires back, an invisible eyebrow raising at Ze.
Ze hums, taking a moment before he responds with a surprising amount of honesty. “Sometimes I find it hard to sleep in confined spaces. I am part horse, after all.”
Regect doesn’t respond; he just watches the centaur silently. Slowly, very slowly, he starts to lean back onto the centaur’s flank.
They’re both silent for a moment, Regect holding his breath, hoping that Ze wouldn’t move and would let him lean on him. So that Regect, if he couldn’t fall asleep, could at least spend his night closest to the one he loves. His hopes are shattered when he feels the centaur move below him, and he’s forced to lean forward again.
“Asshole! I was comfortable.” He growls out, hiding the disappointment he feels behind their usual annoyance.
“You’re lying on me wrong.” That's all Ze says in reply, leaving the entity confused at his words.
Regect has no time to consider the meaning behind the words as the centaur is already moving. He watches as Ze backs up just a little bit before he lies back down on the ground. Now, Ze’s side and stomach are right behind Regect, a much more comfortable place for him to lie back on than back against Ze’s flank.
“Well?” Ze raises a brow expectantly, seeing as Regect was too shocked to move.
That seems to snap the entity out of his stupor, as he quickly lies back against the soft fur of Ze’s stomach. He hears the soft, content hum that leaves Ze’s throat as he lays his arms and head on a nearby rock. A thin tail, akin to that of a unicorn’s, softly flicks to rest in Regect’s lap.
Regect watches the centaur close his eyes, eases as he feels Ze’s breathing slow beneath him, as Ze falls into a peaceful sleep. Regect waits a moment to make sure that the centaur is fully asleep before he raises a clawed hand to gently pet Ze’s side. The feeling of the soft fur beneath his claws easing him further. His thoughts quiet down as he feels the centaur’s peaceful breathing beneath his claws. Regect’s own jagged, ebony tail comes up to curl gently around Ze’s tail in his lap.
He presses a soft kiss to the centaur’s side before he settles back down. It is only then that Regect feels at peace enough to let himself be lulled to sleep. A nice, peaceful sleep.