[3:12 AM] The bed feels more spacious than it ought to.
You crack open an eye and glance at the other side of the bed. Empty. Your mostly-asleep gaze wanders to the clock on the far nightstand; after 3 in the morning. You let your eye close again, drifting comfortably for a while in the fog of half-consciousness. And then you roll over and sit up, stumbling slowly to your feet.
A faint bluish glow emanates from the other end of the hall. When you pad into the living room, you see Chris exactly where you’d left him hours ago. Hunched at his desk, headphones on, clicking every now and then, staring at Cubase and several instrument mixers.
He startles momentarily when you drape your arms over his shoulders. He relaxes and pulls the headphones down, tapping the spacebar to pause the music.
You kiss the top of his head. “How’s it looking?”
“Better,” Chris hums, lifting his free hand and rubbing your arm. “Fixed that annoying buzzing sound.”
You hum, resting your cheek against his hair, looking at the dual monitors. “Can I hear?”
“’Course,” he says, and you can hear the pleased grin in his voice. That’s his favorite request you can make of him.
He unplugs the headphones and fiddles with the knobs on his volume box, clicks around and then taps the spacebar again.
He’s right; the buzzing noise that had hovered persistently in the corners of the track is gone. He’s nuanced the vocal effects, as well, softened the pitch corrector, and you smile, fond of how sincere his voice sounds.
“’S pretty,” you murmur, humming at a new instrument that hadn’t been there before.
“It’s closer,” he admits, not fully accepting the compliment.
You’re too sleepy to push back, make him accept the praise, so you merely bury your face in his hair.
“You should get some sleep, like I said,” Chris tells you, voice tinged with concern.
He had told you to do that…four hours ago.
You snort. “Love. Check the time.”
“Hm?” You feel his head tilt, watch his mouse slide to the bottom corner of the screen to the clock. “…Oh.”
“Was sleeping,” you say, watching his mouse trail back up over Cubase, deliberating. “’N then I woke up with too much space ‘n not enough warm.”
He hums in acknowledgment, the noise tinged with guilt.
You kiss the top of his head again. “…Please?”
He sighs, leaning his head back against your shoulder.
“You at a good stopping point?” You ask, knowing too well what his next argument will be.
He sighs again quietly, a sound of concession. “I never am…but this will do.”
You grin and give him an encouraging squeeze as he presses save three times on each software.
“Bet you’ll knock it out of the park once your brain is fresh,” you tell him as he shuts the computer down.
“And once the headache passes,” he says, pressing the heel of one hand to his eye and rubbing as he rolls the chair back.
You frown, leaning back to let him stand and stretch. “You’ve been working with a headache?”
“Just hints of one,” he insists, waving it away as he relaxes out of the stretch. “Probably eye strain.”
You give him a look. “You know, that might not happen if you’d just wear your glasses.”
It’s a lost cause and you both know it. He snorts, then gets a better look at you and smiles.
“Your hair’s cute,” he says, lifting a hand to your head and ruffling.
You scrunch your face up in protest. “’S bedhead, Chris.”
“And it’s cute,” he insists, leaning in and pressing a kiss to your forehead. “Bedtime?”
“Past bedtime,” you say, giving him a stern look when he leans back. “Long, long past.”
“Hmm,” he says, studying your face and smiling in that goopy-eyed way that you know means he’s barely listening. You roll your eyes.
He lets you take his hand and guide him back down the hall, lets you procure pajamas for him while he talks through what else he wants to do in the song, lets you help him change as he explains.
“Just want the feeling of the song to be right when you hear it, even without lyrics,” he says as you help pull on the pajama shirt.
“People will know,” you tell him, patting his shoulder and taking his hand again, guiding him to bed. “I can feel it when I hear it.”
“But what if that’s just you?” He frets, lying back and getting comfortable, drawing up the covers. “What if you just know me?”
You burrow under the covers and lay your head on his chest, wrapping an arm around him. “I do know you. But that’s not why I felt it.”
“But how do you know for sure?” He asks, his hand back in your hair, stroking softly.
You prop your chin up on his chest and look at him. “Babe. You’re not capable of making dishonest or disingenuous music. Your heart’s all the way out there in every little detail.”
He looks at you for a long moment, fingers slow and gentle in your hair. Eventually he lifts his hand and rests the pad of his forefinger on the tip of your nose.
“I like you so much,” he murmurs.
An embarrassed grin sweeps over your face. You nestle your face into his chest vigorously, and he laughs.
“Like you too,” you hum, sandwiching one of his legs between yours and snuggling in. “I’m also right.”
“Hope so,” he murmurs, and then his arm curls comfortably around you. “Go back to sleep.”
“You sleep, you need it more,” you mumble, and he chuckles.
“I’ll sleep well with my weighted blanket,” he teases you, hand squeezing your side reassuringly.
You grin and press a kiss to his chest. “Not as well as I’ll sleep with my body pillow.”
“You’re on,” he whispers, and you’re out like a light before a full minute passes.
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titan army shit bc it's the only thing keeping my life together
Billie: Lou Ellen… Why did you draw a pentagram on the floor?
Lou Ellen: Your text told me to satanize the house before you returned.
Billie:
Billie: I wrote sanitize, Lou Ellen.
Valentina, wearing shades: Rule one of destroying the world.
Valentina: does finger guns You gotta look good while doing it.
Ellis: Where did you get that tomato soup?
Clovis: It’s actually a bowl of ketchup I just microwaved.
Luke: Clownery. Tomfoolery. Absolute fuckery, I am going to revoke your life privileges.
Valentina: I never said I was gonna get back together with them. But I was thinking, they're in town, would it be the worst thing in the world if I gave them a call?
Silena: No. No, Valentina, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. It would be the fourth worst thing. Number one: a super volcano. Number two: an asteroid hits the Earth. Number three: All the Evel Knievel movies are lost. Number four: Valentina calls Ellis. Number five: Billie gets eaten by a shark.
Billie: I’m Billie, and I approve the order of that list.
Alabaster: Why am I the bad guy?
Ethan: I don't know, why am I the pretty one? We all have our thing.
While the Squad is in a battle
Luke, trying to warn about the location of an enemy: To the left!
Chris: Take it back now y'all!
Billie: I never tell people off the bat that I'm gay. I wait. I wait until they say some homophobic shit and then I laugh and am like "you know I'm gay right?" and watch the look of terror on their face.
Valentina:
Valentina: I like you.
Luke: We've got to find a way to cut down our expenses. What can we live without?
Ethan: Ellis, probably.
Ethan: You're pathetic!
Lou Ellen: You're pathetic-er!
Alabaster: You're both losers.
Silena after Chris went insane: Chris, can I ask you a question?
Chris: Sure, anything.
Silena: Why don't you go back to your own house and leave us alone?
Ethan: I typed "bitch" into my GPS and guess what? I'm in your driveway.
Luke:
Ethan: Vroom vroom, come out already.
Billie: Goddamn it, the printer broke while printing out Alabaster's birthday invitations.
Lou Ellen: Well, what are they supposed to say?
Billie: "Alabaster's birthday".
Lou Ellen: So, what do they say instead?
Billie: "Alabaster’s bi".
Lou Ellen:
Lou Ellen: Works out either way.
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