Exhaustion
Joey winced as the door slammed shut and turned toward it quickly, making a shushing motion. "God, do ya want Seto t' wake up and get angry at me?!" He knew it was outrageous, yelling at an inanimate object, but it was nearly three in the morning! Seto would be pissed if he knew Joey had been gone to a club with his friends until it closed at two!
…The lights were still on downstairs.
Joey looked around in confusion, brows furrowing together. Seto always turned the lights off when he came home—except for a trail of nightlights leading to the bedroom. He gasped quietly as he saw Seto lying across the stairs and rushed over to him, thinking the worst; he had always told Seto he was going to trip and fall and break his neck one of these days-!
The brunet was hugging his briefcase under his head like a pillow, and he was breathing slowly and softly. He didn't look like he was in pain at all. And he hadn't woken when the younger boy had finally turned him onto his back.
'…He fell asleep on the stairs,' Joey realized, lifting his gaze to the top of the staircase. There had been nights like this that he'd felt too tired to go up the stairs, but Seto had always carried him to bed and tucked him in. …Seto didn't have that.
Joey was usually in bed before Seto got home, or came home with him. Seto didn't have someone to carry him to bed, or even help him sometimes.
He felt his stomach clench guiltily. He was strong, but he didn't think he could lug Seto's deadweight all the way upstairs. He didn't want to chance accidentally dropping him.
He was at a loss.
Joey looked around, nibbling his bottom lip anxiously, before scurrying to the living room, making sure to stay as quiet as possible. Coming back with a blanket, he spread it over the floor at the foot of the stairs, then wrapped his arms gently around the brunet's waist and tried to drag him back down the stairs as gently as possible. He placed the older boy gently on the blanket, then ran up the stairs to gather the other necessary items. Once he made it back to the base of the stairs, he turned off all of the lights; the sun would be rising soon anyway.
Once he'd tucked a pillow under Seto's head and had curled up against him, Joey carefully folded the quilt from their bed around them. Then, he laid his head on the older boy's chest and sighed, nuzzling it lightly before he found a comfortable position and drifted off to sleep as well. Seto hadn't stirred once.
