A/N - I had this idea for a while now and I finally decided to write it :3 Enjoy!
Antonio had to keep typing.
Keep typing.
Keep typing.
He had to.
… And Emma just posted another video of her cat. Damn his friend for flying out to visit her family. Damn her cute cat. Damn timezones.
Antonio leaned back against his headboard with a groan, the pillows and blankets tempting him to just go to bed.
"If I fall asleep, like, right now, I could get… three hours and thirteen minu-... twelve minutes of sleep. God." he mumbled, moving his hands from his keyboard to his face and rubbing his aching eyes. Besides the flickering frames of some crime show he'd put on his muted TV, the only light was that of his laptop's in his otherwise dark room.
"But… I have to finish this." Antonio whispered. He sat wearily for a few minutes, hands pausing on the keyboard. His chest suddenly ached, and his throat burned, before his vision blurred with tears.
He bit back a hiccup, wiping at his eyes before setting the laptop aside to snatch his phone from the nightstand by his bed. Instantly, he pulled up his and Lovino's messages, the last ones having been hours before when they'd told each other "Good night." His thumbs hovered over the small keys too, hesitating, before he closed it and instead he held the phone to his ear.
Surely his parents couldn't hear the loud ringing on the other end? No, it was just loud and agonizing to Antonio.
Lovino didn't answer and he insisted again, staring tiredly at the third to last page of his damned research paper.
Suddenly the ringing stopped and Antonio was rewarded with Lovino's groggy, little voice. "... Toni? Why are you awake? It's almost four in the morning."
"... Could you come over?" His voice was stuffy when he spoke, quiet. He found a new interest in a loose thread on his blanket than the laptop screen.
Lovino sighed. It wasn't a sigh like he was frustrated or annoyed, but it was feathery and light, the soft sigh Antonio always heard when Lovino was becoming more awake after, well, waking up.
Antonio clenched a fistful of the blanket in his free hand, waiting.
"... I'll be over in a few minutes, okay?"
"Okay."
Antonio was forced to return to his laptop after that. Despite the weariness hanging over him like a rain cloud, like a warm winter sweater, he was comforted by the mere thought of Lovino coming over.
Antonio was too busy typing away on the research paper that he didn't hear the gravel in the driveway shifting under Lovino's car tires, or Lovino quietly opening his bedroom door. Finally he looked up as the hallway night-light disappeared from the doorway.
Lovino's hair was still disheveled from sleeping, his eyes bright in the TV light. He wore a mustard-yellow sweatshirt Antonio had gotten him at a thrift store once and black shorts. The dark letters named some city Antonio didn't know, fading from too many fond washes on Lovino's part. His ratty, snow-stained slippers swished lightly across the wooden floor until Lovino stood at Antonio's bed. He nudged them off and settled on the bed beside Antonio.
"You need to go to bed." he murmured softly, voice raised just above the quick typing.
Antonio faltered. "But I need to finish my paper." he whispered.
"Honey, no you don't."
Antonio forced himself to ignore the warm feeling that erupted in his chest at the endearment, continuing: "But it's due tomorrow."
"You mean three hours from now." Lovino corrected.
"But my-!"
Lovino pushed the laptop from Antonio's lap to the other side of the bed, seating himself on Antonio's lap instead. Antonio twisted to get his laptop, but Lovino pushed him back against the headboard with a firm hand to his shoulder. "Antonio."
Antonio glowered childishly, staring back at Lovino as the other studied him. His dark eyes looked like burnt marshmallows.
Lovino's expression softened after a minute, concerned. He moved his hands to cup Antonio's face. "My love, do you even see yourself?" he whispered. "You look terrible."
Antonio pouted still, before he leaned in slightly. Lovino allowed one kiss, two, and three, before he pulled away with a gasp, a soft, protesting "No!" quick to follow. Again, he pushed Antonio away, and made certain to close the laptop.
"Lovi, please." Antonio said.
Lovino picked up the notebook on the bed, flipping through it with mock-interest, before gently tossing it to the floor. The laptop followed, placed carefully under the bed on Lovino's side. Antonio favored the side closest to the door, and Lovino the other when he would sleep over.
"No buts, no kisses, no Lovi, please. You and I both know why you called me over here." Lovino shot back, fixing the blankets so he could slip under them. Antonio looked down at him, wrapped up in his blankets beside him. Lovino frowned slightly. "Stop fighting it. Could you go to sleep, please? For me?" he continued quietly.
For me?
Antonio settled down stiffly, falling asleep to the sound of the TV's volume being turned from muted to low, gunshots and shouting fading into quick, culinary chopping.
Antonio woke up with the sun shining in his face and coffee making his nose scrunch up. He grumbled and pulled the blankets close around him, peeking at the clock on the nightstand. It obviously wasn't four in the morning. It wasn't seven either. It was noon.
There was a sigh, soft and feathery.
He twisted in the blankets, huddling in the as he settled to face Lovino.
Lovino was propped up in bed, Antonio's laptop in his lap and a dreary-blue mug of dark coffee in his hands he was sipping from. There was a plate on the nightstand, some crumbs, a puddle of sweet syrup with an abandoned fork beside a couple strawberry strands.
"God, Toni, I love your parents."
Antonio couldn't help but grin. Good coffee. Good pancakes.
"They love you too, I know." he murmured. He ran a hand through his unruly hair. "... Why'd you let me miss?"
"You needed sleep. Besides," Lovino said, looking over at Antonio. "I took care of it for now."