Neville's voice is distinctive. Even on the other side of the house, when he's trying to be quiet, there's this intensity, a solid strength that travels through walls, and wakes TJ up with a gasp. He blinks sleepily and wipes at his face, groaning softly before rolling out of bed, kicking the tangled sheets away from him. He pads to the door and pushes it open, walking quietly down the hall. He stops in the doorway to the living room, blinking slowly. The tree is on, star flashing cheerfully, and Neville is sitting on the couch, voice filling the quiet as he reads aloud from the book held in the crook of one arm.
TJ leans against the wall, listening, when he realizes that Neville isn't alone- Pugsley is propped up against his other arm, snuffling softly as he lays there quietly. A smile crosses TJ's face as he peeks in, taking in his significant other finishing a paragraph and stroking his thumb down Pugsley's snout in soothing, repetitive motions. "Utter bullocks, isn't it, Puggy?" he asks, sighing softly and adjusting his glasses before continuing on, the words flowing with confidence as Pugsley drifts slowly to sleep, still tucked close to Neville's side.
TJ smiles and listens on until Neville gets to the end of another paragraph and yawns just loudly enough to be heard, stretching and pushing away from the wall, padding into the room and squinting against the sharp glow of the tree. "Hey," he says softly, propping against Neville's other side, resting his head on his shoulder. "Can't sleep?"
"Not really," Neville says, resting his cheek against TJ's hair. "Just jetlag, it'll pass. It always does."
TJ hums. "Is that Pug's excuse too?" he teases and Neville snorts, putting a marker in his book and setting it aside, carding his fingers through TJ's dark hair.
"I don't believe so, my coming home seemed to wake him up and excited him," he sighs. "So I brought him over here before he disrupted Cupcake."
"You were reading to him," TJ says quietly and Neville grimaces. "It was cute." He leans up and lightly kisses Neville on the mouth. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."
"You'd better not," Neville grouses, pinching his arm lightly and causing TJ to exhale sharply before he settles back down against Neville. "For whatever reason, he seems to enjoy the cadence of my voice."
"Funny that, so do I," TJ says, already sounding like he's half-asleep.
Neville makes a soft, huffing sound, nearly amused, before adjusting his hold on TJ and curling his arm around Pugsley, working out how to support the book as well, and finding where exactly he'd cut off when TJ had entered the room.
As the tree flashes cheerfully and his family dozes around him, Neville resumes reading softly, still a little too wired to find rest himself, but pleased enough to help them sleep comfortably.