A/N: Ho hum, another kink meme de-anon. The prompt was: "GerPru, brotherly sleeping together."
Germany heaved a sigh as he sank down onto the couch beside Prussia. What a day. He rotated one aching wrist slowly, trying to work the crick out of it that had developed as a result of an entire day spent writing and typing. The other hand rubbed wearily at his dry, stinging eyes. They always dried out when he spent too long staring at the computer screen or at fine print.
Unfortunately, he was nowhere near finished with his immense workload; it looked like he would be busy again all day tomorrow and probably all day the next day. Things simply continued to pop up. He wanted nothing more than to brush the waiting stack of papers off of his desk and into the recycling bin, even though he knew that wasn't an option.
Beside Germany, Prussia was on the other end of the spectrum. Whereas Germany was stressed and tense, Prussia was sprawled languidly on the couch, yawning and swirling the last of his beer in its bottle unconcernedly. Germany could honestly say that he deeply envied his older brother's freedom.
By the looks of things, Prussia would be getting up soon to move to his bed where he would sleep peacefully until midmorning the next day. Germany, meanwhile, would crawl uneasily under his own covers, lie there for a good hour or two worrying about whether he would manage to finish all his work in time, then toss and turn in unpleasant dreams the way he always did when he was under a lot of stress. Then he would have to get up the next morning promptly at six, feeling as though he hadn't slept a wink, and put his nose to the grindstone once more.
"Well, well, look what the dogs dragged in," Prussia smirked lethargically at him. "Where the hell have you been? Getting your soul sucked out through your eyeballs again?"
Germany frowned irritably. "It's called being a responsible adult. You might try it sometime, Brother."
Prussia gave a doubtful snort. "Yeah, let me think about that...No! Ha haaa!"
"Honestly," Germany sighed, knowing that it had been a pointless plea in the first place. "You're supposed to represent Eastern Germany now. The least you could do is take your job seriously instead of shoving everything off onto me."
Prussia didn't appear to be listening. Instead he turned and presented his butt to Germany. "Hey West, scratch my ass."
"Do it yourself!" Germany snapped, shoving Prussia's butt away from his face.
Prussia laughed, righting himself again as Germany fumed silently on his end of the couch. He wasn't generally the type who wallowed in self-pity, but it would be nice to come home every once in a while to a family member who cared that he was stressed and overworked. All he ever got from Prussia was mockery.
Germany had sweetly nostalgic memories of Prussia letting him sleep with him when he was exhausted and upset as a child and how he had found warmth and solace in his older brother's embrace. Part of him wished that Prussia would still allow that sort of closeness, even though he could never bring himself to ask for it and had the sneaking suspicion that even if he did it would be painfully awkward. Still, maybe it would be better to weather the awkwardness than to end up rolling around sleeplessly in his own bed as his overburdened mind churned with anxiety.
Before Germany could reach any definite decisions, Prussia stood up, yawning and stretching. "It's about that time. The awesome me is going to write in my diary and go to bed."
"Ah…" Germany began hesitantly.
Prussia, who had started in the direction of his room paused at the sound of Germany's voice, waiting for the rest of his sentence. Germany opened his mouth but the words wouldn't come out. After a moment, he bowed his head in defeat, his cheeks flushed faintly with embarrassment at the thought of the request he had been so close to making.
"Hn, n…never mind," he mumbled.
Prussia examined him for a moment, one eyebrow quirked curiously, but eventually gave up with a shrug. "Whatever."
Germany watched Prussia retreat to his room and close the door behind him. He scratched the back of his head uneasily as he switched off the TV, though he couldn't force himself to head off to his own room. All that waited for him there were restlessness and unsettling dreams and a whole lot of stress-induced stomach aches.
It wasn't too late to knock on Prussia's door. He wasn't asleep yet; Germany could still ask if Prussia would let him sleep in his bed. Prussia would probably laugh at him for asking such a childish favor, but Prussia was always laughing at him over something. It wasn't as though Germany wasn't used to it by now.
Even as he told himself this, though, something inside Germany was holding him back. Just because he was used to Prussia laughing at him, didn't make it any easier to stomach when he really was doing something laughably embarrassing.
He was a full-grown independent nation; he was too old to run to his big brother when he was upset. Being an adult meant dealing with your own problems quietly and maturely, and without involving someone else if at all possible.
His mind still indecisive, Germany wandered to his bedroom, telling himself he would make his decision after he changed into his sleepwear and brushed his teeth.
Ten minutes later, Germany found himself standing uncomfortably outside of Prussia's door, clutching his pillow self-consciously to his chest. His fist was frozen a few inches from the door, pre-knock, his cheeks tinged with shy pink. What if Prussia was asleep already? What if he sent him away?
Perhaps this was a bad idea after all. He had dealt with many anxiety-ridden, sleepless nights before; it wasn't as though it was completely necessary to make this request of Prussia. He should just man up and go back to his own bed. And yet Germany's feet remained rooted to that spot.
Before he could either force himself to knock or force himself to return to his own room, Prussia's door suddenly swung open. Prussia started slightly, looking a bit surprised to see him standing there with his pillow. Germany's face grew steadily warmer as the mortification over the fact he had just been caught hesitating outside his brother's room sunk in.
"Ah, er… I was… I was just…"
"Ah ha ha…Well, wouldja look at that," Prussia commented with an awkward chuckle, and Germany noted that even Prussia's cheeks looked a bit more flushed than usual. "Perfect timing. I was, uh… just about to head over to your room."
Germany blinked dumbly. "Really?"
"Yep."
Germany waited, expecting his brother to state what his intentions, but Prussia didn't offer any explanation. He was, in fact, waiting for Germany to speak. When the younger man failed to do so, Prussia sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck.
"Look, I'm not good at this kind of shit and neither are you, so why don't you just make it easier on both of us and get in here already."
"Wait, so you were…But I… Huh?" Germany stammered intelligently.
Prussia's cheeks reddened a shade more. "C'mon West, cut the crap already. We both know you hardly sleep when you're all stressed out… That's why you came over here, right?"
"Oh, well…" Germany fidgeted uneasily, looking down at his own feet. "It had uh, ahem… It had crossed my mind."
"Well, what are you waiting for? The awesome me is tired."
Prussia retreated deeper into his room and Germany hesitated for a second more before following him shyly, still keeping his eyes on his feet rather than meeting Prussia's gaze.
"I thought you would laugh at me," Germany mumbled as he shuffled towards the bed.
He still couldn't believe that his brash, self-centered older brother had cared enough about whether he got a good night's sleep that he'd been ready to sacrifice his own dignity to invite him into his bed. Maybe this was all really just a dream that he was having after working himself into a coma at his desk.
"Oh, don't worry; I'm gonna laugh my ass off," Prussia assured him, dragging his pillow to one side of the bed to make room for his brother. "But not until tomorrow, so you can deal with that when it comes."
"Hmph, thanks a lot," Germany grumbled, but he couldn't prevent the tiniest hint of a smile from tugging at his lips.
"Any time," Prussia replied with a smirk.
The silence that fell over them as Germany settled himself into Prussia's bed was a bit uncomfortable, but nowhere near as bad as he had expected. Still, he knew that he couldn't take full advantage of the calming effect of his brother's presence unless Prussia wrapped his arms around him.
Would it be pushing his luck to ask for that? His first impulse would be to say that it was, but then he had thought that asking if he could sleep in Prussia's bed would be too much and yet look how easily Prussia had granted that.
"B-Brother? If… if you don't mind…" Germany began, suddenly glad for the darkness that concealed the depth of his blush, "could I, ah…"
He couldn't quite bring himself to say the final bit, so he tentatively touched Prussia's ribs.
"What, now you need a hug, too?" Prussia sighed in false exasperation. "Everyone wants a piece of the awesome me… Can't ever get a break."
There was a brief rustling noise in the dark, along with a slight creaking of the mattress as the white-haired man shifted closer, and then Prussia's arms curled around Germany's torso and shoulders. Germany found his cheek pressed against Prussia's chest, felt his older brother's nose nuzzle into his hair and his hand rubbing Germany's lower back the way he used to do when Germany had been a child.
The blond released a deep, slow breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding as the pleasant warmth of Prussia's body began to seep into his tense and tired muscles, coaxing them into relaxation. Prussia's heart was beating a bit faster than normal as he tried to adjust to the fact that his now adult sibling was nestled against him like a child, but Germany found even that to be comforting.
The tip of Germany's nose grazed Prussia's chest as he inhaled his soothingly familiar scent. It was slightly musky and spicy with a subtly minty undertone from the mouthwash he had used while brushing his teeth. Germany doubted that anyone would have called it unpleasant, but to him it was the epitome of protection and reassurance. He could already feel himself starting to grow sleepy, the comforting familiarity of his older brother's touch chasing away his stress and leaving room for exhaustion to trickle in.
"You better not ask me to sing to you or I'll inject pond water under your kneecaps," Prussia threatened jokingly as he kneaded at Germany's vertebrae with the heel of his hand.
"This is good enough," Germany breathed, his heavy eyelids drifting shut. "Th-thank you, Brother… I… really appreciate this."
Prussia rolled his eyes, but couldn't bite back a smile. "Only a muscle-headed dork like you could be so freaking formal while hugging someone in your underwear."
The only reply he received was a sleepy mumble. Prussia continued to smile into the darkness and rub Germany's back, reveling in the feeling of being useful again for the first time in what felt like far too long.
"You awake, West?" he asked after a while.
Germany didn't reply. He didn't even move; he was already asleep. Prussia's fair cheeks pinked slightly as he bowed his head to press a light kiss to Germany's temple, then relaxed back onto his pillow and slowly let go of his own consciousness.