Chapter Text
The morning sun split the room, pooling over the length between Ben’s desk and his door. It didn’t quite reach the bed, but the harsh sound of the window opening caused Ricky to flinch as he awoke from a deep sleep.
He squinted drowsily, reaching towards his face to rub his eyes. The spot next to him in the bed was unoccupied, since Ben had already gotten up.
Ricky’s eyesight adjusted to the dawn as he turned over with a mumble of nonsense, checking the clock to see that it was somehow six in the morning. He groaned slightly over the noise of what he assumed was Ben getting ready for the morning. Ricky spread his hand out against the bed, checking to see that Ben hadn’t somehow gotten away from him in his sleep, before propping himself up on his arms and sitting up.
Ben stood at the other end of the room, putting away a selection of books that he had taken out when going over a crisis on what to read next. He only wore a plain undershirt and brown pants, lacking the pair of his button-up and suspenders. Ricky could hardly make out his facial features from where he laid as the sunlight highlighted his face.
“Morning, Brookie,” Ricky said, resting his head back onto his pillow. Ben’s head turned towards him, his expression practically brightening.
He set one last book into his shelf before walking over to the bed. “Good morning, baby,” Ben greeted him with his usual morning-kiss on Ricky’s forehead, standing over him.
“Why do you always have to get up so early? It’s the weekend,” he complained, shifting to the edge of the bed and returning Ben’s gesture by reaching forward to kiss his cheek.
Ben shrugged, leaning into Ricky’s touch. “Habit. You don’t have to get up if you don’t want to.”
Ricky sighed dramatically, sliding his hands down to Ben’s neck with a growing smirk. “But I don’t want to go back to sleep if you’re not here.” He wasn’t lying in the slightest. Since the night he had started sleeping over, it was consistently easier for him to fall asleep, especially being cuddled.
He positioned himself more upwards, leaning in to give Ben a small kiss on the lips. “A little more sleep won’t hurt, will it?” He pleaded. There was only possibly two seconds of silence before Ben’s mouth curved upwards into the knowing smile of his whenever he gave in to Ricky’s antics.
“I probably won’t be able to fall asleep again, but scoot over,” he murmured in defeat. Ricky giggled with success as he moved to make room, letting Ben settle into the spot beside him and wrapping his arms around his waist.
Ben took a second to look into Ricky’s eyes before leaning in, kissing him more deeply that time. He still felt himself ridden with sleep, but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity as he felt the warmth of Ben’s lips weave against his.
Ben’s lips pulled away from his slowly, the aftertaste lingering on Ricky’s mouth. He could feel how his eyes nearly closed in on themselves as Ben kissed the bridge of his nose, suddenly pulling him close. Ricky’s fingers slightly moved up the back of his shirt for the sake of feeling the warmth of the skin, his head resting on Ben’s chest. He had always felt a longing to be as close to him as possible.
“Goodnight, again,” Ben said, kissing him on the forehead once again.
“It’s not night anymore, you can’t say that,” Ricky chuckled lightly into the crook of Ben’s neck.
“Whatever,” Ben mused in response, “sleep well. I’ll wake you up when breakfast’s ready.”
Ben’s closeness always had some special effect that could make Ricky fall asleep impossibly quickly, as long as he was in his arms. He could feel himself dozing back off as soon as Ben finished his sentence.