Ethan groans as, every time he closes his eyes, his phone lights up anew. With each passing day, Spud's neediness is getting worse. And he understands, on some level. TNA's future is uncertain, Dixie is constantly targetted by Bully Ray, and they're all desperately clinging to anything that they can find. It sucks all around, but the constant Disney tweets about their friendship and who knows what else Spud can think of to send along to him makes him want to yell at the British man more and more.
Which he finally does, in a sense. Ordering him to stop and just go to bed. Which thankfully, he does, the phone remaining dark and motionless after that. Except that now Ethan's conscience is prickling at him and he sighs, finding himself still unable to sleep because of Spud. "Son of a bitch," he mutters, sitting up and running his hands through his hair. When he leaves his room, Spud's bedroom is empty, but the bathroom light is on so he assumes he's getting ready for bed in there. Grunting, Ethan walks into the bedroom and sits in a chair to wait.
Spud always takes forever brushing his teeth, but Ethan has only been there a couple of minutes before the bathroom door opens, then closes, Spud's soft footsteps padding down the hall towards him. He waits patiently, looking up with a small smirk as the British man walks in and fumbles around for his lamp, finally turning it on. They both squint against the light before Spud turns and spots Ethan, jumping back in surprise. "Sir! Uh, uh... what are you doing...?" He falters, staring at the phone in his hands. "I'm sorry about the tweets, sir. I know it bothers you. I'll try to slow down with them-"
Ethan holds a hand up, which quiets Spud immediately. "Look, I know I was kind of rough with my tweet. It's just, it's late and I know I'm exhausted, you have to be too. A lot is going on and there's no point in staying up to all hours just to tweet me these things. You're up earlier than almost anyone to go to the office and help my aunt, or to be at TNA tapings, so that's mainly why. Alright? Yes, they make me uncomfortable sometimes, but there's no point in you using up hours you should be sleeping."
Spud nods slowly, swallowing. "It's fine, though, sir. You don't need to worry about me. I don't need that much sleep."
Ethan rolls his eyes and points to the bed. "Get in. Now." Spud sputters but obliges, scrambling under his sheets and watching Ethan with wide eyes as he approaches. "Phone."
"Sir-"
"Phone." He wiggles his fingers in Spud's face obnoxiously until he hands the device over. Nodding, Ethan walks resolutely over to the other side of the room and drops it in the closest shelf in Spud's dresser before returning to him, unsurprised to see he's already fighting off sleep, blinking desperately. "Now get some sleep. You clearly need it."
Spud pouts at the loss of his phone but soon enough, his eyes slip closed and his face smooths out. "Sir?" he whispers, voice thick with exhaustion.
Ethan sighs, itching to get to bed himself. "What, Spud?"
"Thank you."
His face softens and he reaches out, patting Spud's hands. "Yeah, sure. Good night, Spud."
"G'night, sir."
He stands quietly and watches until he's sure Spud's really asleep and won't go hunting for his phone as soon as Ethan leaves, then returns to his bedroom, where he sleeps peacefully the rest of the night.