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“‘M sorry.”
“Hm- oh, bro-“
Parrot jolted upright, glancing at the TV that he hadn’t been paying attention to for the past few hours. He’d been reading. And checking his comm. And a few other things.
But Wifies was climbing onto his lap now, long after he’d claimed he was going to bed, and Parrot dropped his book and comm immediately to help him.
“Don’t call me that. Please.”
“Is something wrong?”
A small head shake. But Wifies was still clinging to him like a lonely puppy, and Parrot could feel his heart beating too fast.
“Are… you sure, Wifies?”
“Sorry. ‘M tired.”
“Why are you out of bed, then?”
“I love you…” Wifies lifted his head, and nuzzled against Parrot’s chest, probably having been aiming for his shoulder. “You- know I didn’t mean any of that, in- in Paragon-“
Parrot softened. Wifies was worried about that. He always did get too in his head about it, switching between roles until they melted together, and he thought he had to apologise for things that weren’t even real.
“Wifies… it’s all- part of the script. It’s okay.”
Parrot combed his hand through Wifies’s hair, scratching at the side of his head soothingly. As his boyfriend kept crying, his lips twitched, a little, and he tried again.
“And you know it’s okay if you did, right? Did you mean it?”
“No…”
It was a weak protest. Even by Wifies’s meagre standards of holding out against Parrot’s direct questions. It was a low bar, with how easily Wifies caved to absolutely anything, if it was Parrot asking.
“Sure. I believe that, bro.”
Parrot laughed, feeling Wifies whine in protest, shifting to bite at his fingers. It was barely intended to hurt, but he did still pull his hand away, smiling fondly.
“You… are awful. God- I- I’m sorry.” Wifies started crying again, dropping his head to Parrot’s hip, his tears soaking through his trousers. “I’m sorry, I- Parrot, please, just- just don’t be mad-“
“When have I ever been mad at you, baby?”
Wifies shook his head. Parrot would have wondered if he was helping, if he didn’t know his boyfriend better than Wifies knew himself. If he was trying to help, he was helping. He could do anything he wanted, and it would make Wifies feel better.
“N- never. Sorry.”
“You’re good.”
“I- I liked it.” Wifies sounded horrified, with himself, and that plaintive note that meant whatever he felt in substitute for guilt. “Just- some of it, you were so-“
“So what? I don’t mind that.” Parrot was grinning, a little, even if Wifies was physically trembling in misery. “Kinda cute.”
“Parrot…”
“Yes?”
“It’s bad.” Wifies was really whining, now, rubbing his head against Parrot’s side like it would bring him round. “You should be… scared.”
“Why?”
“Or angry, I don’t know…”
“Why, though?”
“I don’t know…”
Wifies was crying, again. He seemed a little out of it. Parrot reached down, taking his chin gently, and tilting his head up. There was a glazed look in his eyes, instantly recognisable, alongside the heaviness in his limbs.
“Wifies… how long have you been trying to get to sleep?”
“A while…”
“What did you take?”
“Normal stuff.” Wifies groaned, faintly, his head dropping out of Parrot’s hand. “Didn’t work. I- I’m really sorry.”
Parrot sighed, running his fingers through Wifies’s hair, trying to shake the worry in his throat. Wifies wouldn’t have done anything dangerous to himself.
“How many?”
“Like… maybe three? Its- fine, I’m- an adult…”
“Okay. And you still can’t sleep?”
“No… I- I wanted to… apologise…”
Wifies rolled into him, whining softly. It was cute, really. He was always strange, when his head wasn’t quite working with him. And he was a clingy drunk at the best of times.
“Now you have.” Parrot held him carefully, making sure Wifies wasn’t about to roll onto the floor. “Bed, now.”
“Parrot…”
“Mhm, I can hear you. Don’t make me drop you, bro.”
Wifies made another whiny noise, enough to distract him as Parrot stood up, cradling his boyfriend like an oversized puppy.
That was a thought, actually. Wifies was still resisting, even as Parrot walked carefully down the hall, nudging open their bedroom door. He wasn’t going to go to sleep willingly, especially not when his anxiety kicked in, after he’d calmed down.
Parrot could help with that.
Relatively unceremoniously, he dropped his adored boyfriend onto the bed, prompting another aggrieved whine from Wifies, who managed to struggle up to sitting with an impressive lack of coordination. Parrot tried not to laugh. He just reached out, and adjusted Wifies’s headband, letting his hair fluff around it.
As he pulled his hand back, he noticed tears, sheening over Wifies’s eyes. It made his stomach sink, and Parrot couldn’t quite think of what he could do to make his boyfriend feel better.
“Hey, Wifies. What’s wrong?”
“You… you can go.” Wifies’s lip was shaking, and his voice was slurring worse, even as he shook his head, and moved back. “I’m… okay now. Sorry.”
“Bro. You’ve technically overdosed, do you really think I’m leaving you right now?”
“Sorry.”
Parrot paused. After a moment of thought, he turned, and crouched down on Wifies’s side of the bed, going through his bedside cabinet.
“It’s okay. Can I try something on you?”
“I… guess?”
“Great.” Parrot turned back to Wifies, climbing onto the bed and kneeling just about over where his boyfriend was just sitting on the mattress. “Can you close your eyes?”
“What… what is it?”
Wifies’s eyes were wide, with real fear, his hair messy and glowing slightly from the backlighting in the dim room.
Parrot shifted, and shrugged, trying to maintain confidence. He was confident, that this was a good idea.
“That collar you like. You’re thinking too much.”
As if by magic, Wifies had turned red. Parrot hadn’t even caught him blushing, but his cheeks were flushed, now, and he looked like he was trying to creep away in a direction his body physically couldn’t move.
Parrot wanted to kiss him. Wifies looked so pretty, even now. He wanted to lie down with his boyfriend and kiss every part of him until neither of them could breathe at all and there was nothing to do except fall asleep to the sound of each other’s heartbeats.
But Wifies was out of it. And scared. So Parrot settled for waiting, leather collar in hand, nonjudgemental of anything his vaguely drugged boyfriend chose.
Wifies nodded. It was barely perceptible, and he looked a little like he hated himself for it, but it was a nod.
Parrot didn’t disrespect his boyfriend’s mental faculties by asking if he was sure.
Instead, he just leaned forward, letting Wifies tip his own head back, throat visibly tightening as he held his breath. Parrot laid the leather band against Wifies’s neck, letting him feel the cool leather and cold metal before he went any further.
No complaints. Parrot did the buckle quietly, feeing Wifies practically vibrating under his hands. It wasn’t obvious. To anyone else, he looked perfectly still. But Parrot could feel him.
He could feel, when Wifies relaxed, breath coming out in a small gasp. He seemed sleepy, for the first time.
“Feeling better?”
Parrot got a small nod, and raised his hand, touching Wifies’s cheek. He was unsurprised, when he felt weight press against it, and just curled his fingertips in a little.
“Good dog.” Grinning, Parrot moved, manhandling Wifies with him to lie down on his side of the bed. “God, you’re cute, you know that?”
Finally, it seemed, his sleep meds were kicking in. Wifies was over halfway to incoherent, and Parrot was careful with him, lying him gently on the mattress.
Then, to be safe, he tilted Wifies’s chin up, despite the small whines, and made sure his head was angled so he could breathe. It was an easy thing, moving his boyfriend’s body for him, as Wifies felt completely limp under his hands.
Parrot felt Wifies’s eyes on him, and paused, grinning down at him.
“See? Nothing to be sorry about. You couldn’t hurt me if you tried.”
Wifies sniffed, and nodded, rolling his eyes as he nuzzled against the mattress. It was so easy, to subdue him. Parrot thought it was adorable, really, and even funnier to have other people watch him make Wifies melt under his hand.
The collar rode up his neck, then down again, the leather gathering the bedsheets under Wifies’s head.
Wifies was already wearing his sleep clothes. Parrot took a minute, while Wifies was quietly wiping his face and settling onto the bed in a position he liked, to take off his own. Wifies had an actual top, and shorts to sleep in, while Parrot was perfectly fine to just strip down to his underwear and shut off for the night.
Wato had been horrified, the last time he’d slept over with them. Something about textures, and Wifies having terrible taste in finding someone as weird as them.
Thumbing over Wifies’s fluttering eyes and cheekbone, Parrot wondered what they’d think now. Wifies didn’t get like this often. He wondered how often he’d been trusted with this kind of hysteria, compared to other people.
“Do you… trust me, Wifies?”
Immediately, Parrot regretted asking. Wifies was almost hopelessly out of it, half-asleep and not looking likely to talk until Parrot took his collar off. It wasn’t a good time to be discussing anything, when he should be sleeping anyway.
Still, he got a vigorous nod, insistent through Wifies’s lethargy, and Parrot laughed, then went quiet.
“…okay. Thanks. You should really go to sleep now.”
Wifies reached out, blindly, and Parrot felt that promised trust in the way his boyfriend waited for him to take his hand. Which he did. Of course he did. He kicked his clothes off the bed, lying down beside Wifies and tugging the blanket half-over the both of them.
Wifies was warm against him. Alive, and sleepy, and as happy as he could be, when he’d been incoherent crying a few minutes ago.
With hardly a thought, Parrot reached out, and pulled his boyfriend closer, pressing Wifies’s head against the space between his chin and collarbone. It felt nice, to have familiar, curly hair so close to him. And their heartbeats, winding together, Wifies’s slowing to match his.
It felt nice, to be alone in their dim bedroom, as Parrot looked nowhere but his boyfriend, and Wifies curled safely against him.