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It was two in the morning. Like any sensible person with morning classes the next day, Lovino Vargas was sound asleep. At least, he was until the cellphone on his bedside table began to vibrate. Letting out a sleepy groan, he sent out a hand to go and grab it, only to end up knocking it off the table with a loud clatter. Lovino cursed and sat up, ready to strangle whoever had had the brilliant idea to wake him up at two in the fucking morning. He picked up his phone and winced as the brightness of it momentarily blinded him, but his eyes soon adjusted to the light. Oh, of course. It was none other than Antonio.
‘lovi i cant sleep’ the message read. Lovino rolled his eyes in exasperation. Part of him was tempted to just ignore the message and go back to sleep, but then he ran the risk of having twenty new messages in the morning anyway. It would be easier to just deal with it now.
‘…And so you decided to wake me up too?’ he sent back. The notification that Antonio had read his reply popped up almost immediately, and another response came soon after.
‘sorry.. u can go back to sleep’
Lovino frowned when he read that. A clearly subdued tone, and not a single emoji- something was wrong. He sent off a quick text asking if he needed to call, but Antonio said no, apparently for the sake of his sleeping roommate. Lovino briefly wished he was that roommate, asleep and dead to the world like he should have been, but no- it was clear that Antonio needed him right now, and that was more important.
‘What’s wrong?’
This time, the response was delayed for a moment. Lovino was starting to think that Antonio had fallen asleep after all, but then his phone buzzed again, with a message that made Lovino’s frown deepen with worry.
‘another nightmare’
Fuck. That was the third one this month, assuming that Lovino even knew about all of them. He wanted to ask him what the hell was going on that was messing up his sleep so badly, but there would be time to deal with that while the sun was up. For now, he just needed to be there for Antonio so he could feel better. Of course, the best way to be there for Antonio was by actually being with Antonio, as he had discovered over the three years he had known him.
‘Do you want to come over to the apartment?’ he sent. There was another delay, and Lovino could imagine the hesitation in his friend’s expression as he considered it. Soon enough, though, Antonio said yes, and after assuring him that he would pick him up outside his dorm soon, Lovino quickly got out of bed. He slipped on a loose t-shirt and some sweatpants, along with the first pair of shoes he could find, and then was out the door.
It didn’t take long to get to Antonio’s dormitory. The young man was waiting outside, and as soon as Lovino came to a stop, he made his way over to the car. Once he was in, Lovino frowned. Antonio looked exhausted, with circles under his eyes and a distinct lack of his usual smile.
“Are you okay?” he asked, glancing to him briefly before starting to drive.
“Yeah, I’m just… tired,” Antonio replied, mustering up a small smile that absolutely did not convince Lovino. However, he chose not to argue with him for now.
“If you say so,” he sighed, to which Antonio nodded. Soon enough they were back at Lovino’s apartment complex.
“You’re sure Feli won’t mind?” Antonio asked.
“Of course he won’t,” Lovino answered, “I’d be surprised if he even noticed you were here, to be honest. His room is separate from mine, and he sleeps like a log.” Plus, it wasn’t like this was the first time Antonio had slept over. Once they were inside, Lovino kicked off his shoes and glanced to Antonio curiously. “Bed or couch?” Lovino asked, although he already knew Antonio’s answer.
“Bed.”
With that, the two of them made their way over to Lovino’s room and got into the bed. It was a little small to hold both of them, but it hadn’t failed them yet. Normally, Lovino would have protested when Antonio shifted closer to him and slipped his arms around him, but… nights like this were different. Antonio needed it, and Lovino actually didn’t mind the closeness. They stayed like that for a few moments before Lovino reached up to comb his fingers through Antonio’s hair as gently as he could.
It was something different than usual- normally, Lovino would just let Antonio be close and that was that. So, when Antonio felt Lovino’s fingers playing with his hair, he looked up in mild surprise. Lovino glanced away with a faint blush, and his fingers hesitated in their movements, but Antonio leaned into his touch.
“You don’t have to stop,” he mentioned quietly, his smile more genuine this time, “It feels nice…” Lovino nodded and started back up again, glad to see that Antonio was beginning to relax. Surprisingly, it was relaxing for Lovino as well. It was nice to know that he was helping Antonio feel better, since so often it was the other way around. Before long, the Italian was nodding off, and Antonio smiled softly when he noticed.
“Thank you, Lovi,” he whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek. Lovino blushed again and simply made a sleepy noise of acknowledgement as he held Antonio a little closer. In the morning, he would try to get Antonio to talk about his dreams, but at least for right now, everything was okay, and that was good enough for both of them.