Melone sat on his bed sifting through files on his laptop. He wasn't very organized and this extended to his computer. His desktop had been cluttered by icons and downloads to the point that the background was nearly unrecognizable. It was getting so ridiculous that the time had come to do something about it. He made folders to sort the work from the pleasure, and from the "pleasure" (of which there was an immense amount.)

He heard a knock at the door to which he responded with a "come in" and Ghiaccio walked inside, flopping down onto the bed behind him.

"Hey babe," Melone said as he continued dragging icons around on his screen. There was movement behind him and then a head rested heavily between his shoulder blades in his back and Ghiaccio sighed. "You tired?" Melone asked.

"Yeah, long day." Arms wrapped around his waist and the head moved to nuzzle into his shoulder.

Melone ruffled the soft curls. "What's up?"

"You're comfortable," Ghiaccio said.

"I do my best," Melone replied. He continued organizing while Ghiaccio hugged him silently. The arms around his waist got tighter. Melone was well versed in this silent communication. Ghiaccio was ready to snuggle despite whether or not Melone was still engaged in a task. He could be very persistent about this too, much like a cat. Ghiaccio moved his head to rest against Melone's and watched over his shoulder. "What are you doing?" The question was asked in a flat tone, one that held mild impatience.

"Cleaning up my computer," Melone replied. He liked to push Ghiaccio as long as he could until he started to beg to be cuddled.

"'Bout time."

"Yeah, I know. Figured it would get you to stop complaining every time you use it." Melone chuckled and Ghiaccio grunted in response.

"Sooooo when are you going to be done?" Ghiaccio said in the same flat, leading tone.

"I don't know, might take hours." Melone tried to hide the smirk playing on his face. Ghiaccio sighed. "Did you want something?"

Ghiaccio grunted.

"Baby… you're being nonverbal again…"

"Do you have to do it tonight?"

"I don't have to if you wanted to do something else?" Melone turned his head to look at Ghiaccio who continued staring at the screen.

"No…" He always did this. Ghiaccio didn't say what he wanted straight out, and he'd remain silent but frustrated until Melone finally pulled it out of him. He wasn't sure why he did this but Melone refused to just ask him straight out. Ghiaccio needed to vocalize what he wanted for himself.

"Okay," Melone said and continued to sift his files. Ghiaccio continued to shift about, sighing every now and then. Melone wished he would just ask, he'd be more than happy to snuggle with him. It was almost ten minutes before Ghiaccio spoke again.

"Do you have to be sitting up to do this?"

"Do you want me to lay down?" Melone asked in a leading tone.

"I'm just tired, alright?" Ghiaccio sighed. Still didn't answer the question.

"So go to bed," Melone suggested. Ghiaccio tsked and pushed away from Melone in a huff. He was going to leave.

"Fine," he grumbled. Melone caught him around the waist with his arm before he got too far out of range. He looked him in the eyes.

"Why don't you just ask me when you wanna snuggle?" Melone asked sternly. Ghiaccio squirmed in his grasp. "That's what you want, isn't it? I'm not a mind reader, Ghi. You gotta say something."

"Well, you seemed to already know," he huffed.

"Because you moped for the last ten minutes about it. I'm surprised you didn't just crawl into my lap." Melone finally broke his serious expression with a exasperated smirk. "Are you too tough to ask for cuddling?"

"Yes. Now can you just lay the fuck down already?" Ghiaccio huffed awkwardly.

"You really gotta learn to just say something." Melone laid down and Ghiaccio removed his glasses and set them on the nightstand. He crawled into Melone's open arm and snuggled against his body laying on his chest, his face resting in the crook of Melone's neck. He took a deep breath and let out a long contented sigh. Melone ruffled his hair and then slowly stroked his fingers through it. "See, was that so hard?"

"Aw, shut up," Ghiaccio muttered.

"Fine, next time I'll just let you storm off to your room then…" Melone murmured. Ghiaccio tilted his head and kissed Melone's neck.

"Thanks…" Ghiaccio said. "I don't mean to be a dick… I'm just tired…"

"I know, baby."

"It's just… I relax better with you." Ghiaccio ran his hand over the side of Melone's face and traced his ear then, threading his fingers into his hair, left his hand to rest.

"Good, I want you to be relaxed, but I also want you to tell me what you want sometimes."

"I'm not great at that. Makes me feel weird. Kinda got used to not telling people what I wanted. Dad always used to say I was being ungrateful when I said something. So I just learned to shut the fuck up if I didn't want to get smacked."

He turned towards him and wrapped a leg around him as he hugged Ghiaccio closer. "Well, we both know where he can stick it," Melone said in soft tone and Ghiaccio chuckled. "You can always tell me what you want. If I can give it to you, it's yours, Ghi. All I want to do is make you smile. It's a challenge actually."

"What, me smiling?" Ghiaccio giggled nervously.

"Yeah, you're always so grumpy, so I take it as a personal challenge to make you happy." Melone kissed his head. "Besides, you're way too cute to be frowning so much." He continued to ruffle his hair while he pressed his lips into his hair and inhaled.

"Melone?" Ghiaccio spoke in such a soft voice he almost missed it.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"Love you too, Ghi." Melone continued to pet Ghiaccio's hair while he messed around on his computer with the other hand. It wasn't very long until he felt that telling twitch of Ghiaccio's body indicating that he was descending into sleep. He really must have been tired. He pulled the blankets up to cover Ghiaccio while trying not to disturb him. His strong sturdy body weighing him down was a comfort and he traced the muscle in Ghiaccio's bicep as he slept. Melone stayed up longer than he should have but Ghiaccio shifted and snuggled deeper into Melone's neck until the breathing against his skin almost tickled, and he smiled.

This is why Melone loved his life and wouldn't change all the shit he'd endured for anything. Ghiaccio made each day better and made sleep possible each night. He eased the demons from his mind allowing Melone a peaceful slumber. Just having Ghiaccio there made his nightmares hold less sway over him, reminding him that the past was in the past and everything would be okay.

Melone closed his laptop, pulled off his mask and turned out the light.