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Valentino loves bedtime.
He loves his big bed. He can splay out starfish style and his long legs still won't dip off the edges. It's the perfect amount of squish and firm he needs.
He loves his blankets. Soft ones that slide against his skin and keep him perfectly toasty, but not too hot.
He loves his pillows. Silk cases that stay cool when his cheek rests against them.
But what Val loves most about bedtime is when Vox is already asleep.
Vox can run for days or weeks sometimes before he crashes into bed, but when he does he sleeps hard. His screen will dim immediately, turn off within minutes of touching a pillow.
And sometimes, very, very rarely, Val will catch one of Vox's dreams displayed on his screen.
It's not often- once in a blue moon sort of situation, really. 98% of the time that screen stays dark until Vox wakes up in the morning.
But that 2%...
Val can't see them all, of course. Sometimes they don't sleep together, or Vox falls asleep at his desk or they're asleep at the same time. Val is certain he's missed a few dreams over the decades they've been together.
But he treasures the ones he has seen.
One time when he stumbled into Vox's room after a night out with Velvette he saw a dream of Vox riding Shock.wav through the Wackdonald’s drive thru. Val giggled so much Vox had woken up.
Another time Vox was asleep on the couch, arms folded over his chest and his screen displayed a dream of Velvette flying over Vee tower using her pigtails as wings. Val had gestured Vel over to take a picture.
And while he loved all the silly dreams Vox had, he loved the ones with himself in them the most.
He's seen some funny ones with him in them. Vox with a 10 foot tall dick that dream Val was hellbent on climbing. Val turning into a mushroom after eating a magic mushroom.
But Vox also has normal dreams about him, and Val loves to watch those when he sees them.
He has gone to the bathroom and come back to find Vox's screen displaying their dining room, Val and Vox at the table. Val in a 50’s housewife dress and Vox in a boxier head. There's a home cooked meal and a lit candle between them. Val was inspired and bought himself a dress like that later that day. Vox had plowed him into the mattress until he felt boneless.
He's also seen a dream about them on the couch, Val asleep against Vox's shoulder while they're watching a movie. Vox traces patterns on his arm with gentle claws, sneaks glances at him while he continues to watch the glow of the TV.
Tonight Val wakes up for no reason. Maybe a sound outside woke him up, or maybe Vox accidentally nudged him, but whatever it is that woke him is gone or silent now.
He blinks his eyes open slowly.
Vox's screen is on, a blue glow lighting up the otherwise dark room.
Val adjusts, inches closer to watch his favorite show.
In the dream Vox straightens his bowtie in a mirror before turning on the stereo. Val can't hear what's playing or what's said in Vox's dreams, but he's certain it's something slow, flowy.
Dream Val comes into view, a long pair of cream colored slacks and a silky black top on. Dream Val extends a hand and Dream Vox takes it, presses a kiss to Val's knuckles.
Vox leads him into a dance, forward, right, back, left. Occasionally he'll spin Val out and back to him, sometimes he'll dip him low.
Vox dreams about dancing with Val a lot. This isn't the first time Val has caught a dream like this playing on Vox's screen, and it won't be the last.
Dream Val laughs at something Vox murmurs between them. Vox dips him low again before Val pulls him in for a kiss.
Val loves these dreams.
He loves them because it's their real life. Vox's care for him knows no barriers, not even the barriers of sleep.
He loves that these dreams are attainable. They will watch movies together. They will roleplay. They will dance together.
Val loves these dreams because Vox craves him romantically, craves him domestically. Vox cherishes him in real life and Vox cherishes him in dreamland.
And they're dreams Val can deliver to him. Val can give him movie nights together, can give him kisses and dances in the living room. Vox is the planner who makes it all happen, but Val can say yes, can visit him at work and let him know how much he misses spending time with his Voxxy.
They're not good at words, not good at spelling out what they mean to each other. But Vox's dreams let Val know how he's seen, and while sometimes he turns into a veggie or sucks Vox's cock in dreams, he's more often than not being cradled in Vox's arms, being given soft looks by Vox, being kissed deeply by Vox. Vox's love displayed unknowingly across that screen Val likes so much.
And Val's want, for Vox's company and his body and his stupid jokes, reminds Vox of Val's love in turn.
Val snuggles in closer, feels his eyelids grow heavy. He continues to watch Vox dream, watches as their dream selves trade kisses and whispers between them.
He can read an “I love you” on both of their lips. They don't say it a lot, in fact Val can count on one hand the amount of times they've said it. Vox still struggles with being allowed to love, Val still struggles with being actually, really loved.
They both know it, though. Every time Vox sends food up because Val hadn't eaten lunch. Every time Val giggles at a terrible joke Vox says, while Velvette rolls her eyes because it wasn't that funny. Every time Vox stares at Val when he opens the door to his room for an event, flowers in his hand and awestruck expression at Val's body encased in silks and sparkles. Every time Val goes down to Vox's office to drag him upstairs to spend time with him.
A million different ways they say those three words.
Val's eyes blur as sleep comes to claim him again, but not before he catches one more kiss between his dream self and Vox.
He nuzzles his head against Vox's chest.
“I love you too.”