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It’s late into the night. Later than usual that you're awake.
You don’t have to get up early tomorrow, but you haven’t been sleeping well for a few days now. It’s starting to affect you. Fatigued when you aren’t even moving that much all day, your eyes blacking out when you get up. It’s not pleasant.
Lalo lies awake next to you every night, but this time you’ve joined him in it. His dark eyes are staring up at the ceiling in thought.
“What are you thinking about?”
He looks over at you.
“None of your business. You focus on sleeping now,”
Meaning, he might tell you tomorrow, but now he wants you to get your rest.
“But I can’t fall asleep.”
He turns around to completely face you.
“Just close your eyes and rest.”
“Is that what you do?”
“No.”
You put your hand under your cheek on the pillow.
“What do you do then?”
“I think about what to do. I get better ideas when it’s quiet like this.”
“Pfft. Ideas like what?”
He looks at you with a reluctant smirk on his face, not wanting to say any of them to not make your sleep problems worse. Although he knows nothing he says would affect your sleep, nor your undying love for him.
He asks. “Why can’t you sleep? Did something happen?”
“No…” you immediately object. “I just slept late a few days ago and I can’t close the gap now…”
…
“Why can’t you sleep?”
“I told you, I think better at night.”
You know that it’s bullshit, that it’s Lalo’s paranoia keeping him up because his parents were assassinated at night.
But you don’t mention it, never. He’s not yet, probably not ever, capable of accepting that as the reason for his insomnia.
You don’t force him.
Truth be told, you don’t know your own reason either, and you probably wouldn’t accept it if it was presented to you.
You’re like two peas in a pod.
He offers to put his tattooed arm under your head as a pillow. It’s this sweet, nonverbal thing that he does when you’re sleeping together. You take it, putting both your hands over it like it’s your treasure.
You pull yourself closer towards him and push your head up against his chest.
His resting heartbeats drum in your ears and ring throughout your whole body. It calms your caffeine-driven senses immediately, provides a stable noise to fall asleep to.
Almost like sitting in your grandma’s lap on the rocking chair, swinging back and forth with the TV buzzing in the background.
The cricket sounds from the open window of your shared room with Lalo get quieter and the lights from the outside dim slowly as only his presence fills your consciousness.
He puts his arm on your back and sweetly runs his fingers up and down. The repeating motion and his breathing make you melt in his arms.
“Does that help?”
He’s lowered his voice to not startle you. Mhm, you manage to nod.
Both his arms envelop you under the blankets and the heat slowly puts you to sleep.
As you fall asleep, he too yawns and lets go, lets himself rest just for a little while in the comfort of your arms.