TW: Domestic Fluff

Title: ~Just Another Hour~

In his mind he strained to extract sluggish thoughts, his exhaustion hitting him harder with each lingering minute. The screen burned at his skin and eyes, the surrounding darkness giving no soothing properties as he rubbed at his drooping brow for the umpteenth time within the single hour. Letters on the blinding monitor melded together, words shuffled tricking his hazed vision and created nonsensical phrases.

The creak from his office chair screamed in the back of his mind, a cut in the silence of the room and breaking the metronome of the clicking keys as such crude sound derailed Xephos' train of thoughts. He gave more life to his solitary moment as he leaned back farther, his arms sliding away from the desk to swing lifelessly at his sides.

Counting the seconds as he released his humid breath Xephos tried to keep his eyes from closing. Even a single moment to give into the sleep that cradled itself in the bags under his vision would seal him for the night. He didn't want to keep counting the words or the spacing, he had even begun to despise the blinking insertion point that practically taunted, serving as a reminder that he still had unfinished documents to shift through. Checking the time was out of the question, Xephos couldn't handle any more stress than he already had.

Buzzing his lips and pulling back his hair only to have to fall back into place Xephos welcomed the dull breeze from the vent in his computer modem. The smudges on his lenses seemed to perfectly frame around the center of the computer screen, making Xephos realize exactly how hard he had been rubbing at his eyes. He tried cracking his knuckles but soon remembered he had already acted out such a time killer only second before, edging him to give his attention to his tight neck. Massaging at the tendons and trailing his fingers down the top of spine he could feel himself reach for his nails, enjoying the feeling of scratching at his skin more than he thought he would.

At first Xephos greeted the cool extra digits like a desert animal that was offered an oasis, but his habitual repeated counting gave him a strange answer. One, two, one too many fingers than were possible and more palm presses than he remembered dispensing.

"Why aren't you in bed?" Xephos' voice cracked as he could feel sleep drench his throat. Hands affirmed their kneading, pushing deep into the tense muscles, the cooler fingers alighting Xephos' mind.

"Because you're not in bed," The mouth spewing gentle whispers was closer than Xephos thought, the drowsy words hitting his ear. "I can't sleep when I have nothing to hold."

Titling his neck to encourage the tautness to dissipate Xephos could almost bring himself to laugh, "That is exactly the reason why we bought body pillows Ridge." Catching the messaging hands he let his fingers run up to the soft forearms, savouring the tickle from the light arm hair. "You can't always have me there."

The arms relaxed under his warmed touch, "Funny, because I'm pretty sure that I can." The defined chin dug into the top of Xephos' head, breathing a heavy sign to fall down past his face. "Come to bed Xeph, you've been working too much this past week."

Energy depleted quicker than Xephos expected as his grip slacked, the height drawing away his toiling blood flow. "That's because I've been busy this week." The whine lost in his hair dampened unprepared strands, "You can pout all you want Ridge but I'm staying up so I get this done."

The sudden jerk of his seat stole a breath from Xephos' throat, as his hand instinctively flew to the plastic armrests of his office chair. He planted his heels too late into the floor as the movement ceased suddenly, as quickly as it had begun. Xephos taxed himself to not let his wide eyes stare at the man in front of him, but finding the skittish gesture they made to locate something else of interest was just as humiliating.

"Come to bed." The command strengthened as Ridge's hands cemented to sit on his hips. Xephos tried to concentrate on the glare Ridge directed down his nose and not how the bright screen made the edges of Ridge's body glow. He could almost count the times Ridge's fingers drummed on the snug boxer briefs, the only thing adorning his body besides his practically permanent poorly contained grin. "Come to bed or I'll switch around the letters on your keyboard."

Xephos popped a constricted laugh, "I'll still know the position of them on the keyboard. It won't stop me." He watched as Ridge's finger started to drum harder. "I need to get this done, and with you distracting me like this it's only going to take me longer to finish." Ridge's arms crossed along his chest as he slowly built up a dense breath, but the new stance did not even remotely phase Xephos' decision.

Soon catching on that his intimidation tactics had failed him Ridge let his posture drop as he whined again, higher in pitch with squeaky breaths as he dropped his head. "Xeph..." Ridge swayed his shoulders, blocking sections of the glare from the screen as his body moved. "Xephers..."

"Don't you pet name me!" Xephos took a sharp tilt of his head to create a hastily thought out warning, "Out of the way Ridge. I'm finishing this tonight."

The low grumble that exited Ridge's chest was expected, but his temperate hands that drifted to Xephos' head were entirely a surprise. "You know," Ridge's fingers caught under the bend of Xephos' glasses, jostling them lightly to bounce above the bridge of the tired man's nose, "You probably wouldn't need to wear these if you didn't sit in the dark in front of a computer screen every night."

With a weak sigh Xephos blearily watched as Ridge removed his glasses, carelessly letting them fall onto the desk behind him. He wanted to voice more anger at the man but couldn't summon even a dull roar as he let his eyes blink longer than they should. A wave of delirium crashed into his mind, each thought falling away as everything began to grow heavy. Every dream that called him to sleep found a crack to slither into his head, hitting him all at once.

As a psychical weight was applied to Xephos' lap one last struggle was allowed in his mind to keep him awake. His slowly unbolting eyes swam in the warm auburn colours as sparks traced his collarbone. The demanding pressure on his stomach from the two flat hands pushed him along with the creaking office chair. His gradually changing angle lifted his chin, unintentionally allowing the heated lips other area to blaze.

The complaint Xephos tried to bubble out only kept its groan as the curled legs in his lap moved to encase around his thighs. He almost didn't comprehend that his own hands had moved from the hard armrests to draw around the lax skin until they found the thin fabric. Xephos argued to himself about the need to keep Ridge from falling but as his hands gripped tighter he knew the action was purely self-indulgent.

Ridge nipped at the pale neck as Xephos molded the skin under his fingers, "A little too friendly aren't we?" His heated breath spilled into Xephos' ear as his paced deliberate chuckle bounced in his chest. "I thought you were purely business tonight, but please, help yourself as much as you like."

Xephos grunted as he tried to readjust, hoping to keep himself from slipping out of the chair. "Ridge," As the man heard his name his mouth tweaked to smile broadly, the dull glow from the computer catching on his bright white teeth, "Shut up will you?"

The wild laugh from Ridge was the beginning of his nonsensical coos as he nibbled at the lobe of Xephos' ear. Only few words were given diction but they were enough to understand Ridge's need to speak them faster; each sweet murmur was an enticing thought to coax him to bed. "Ridge," Xephos hardly contained the jump in his voice as the keen teeth made their way across his shoulder, "No Ridge, I need to work." Though his words were firm, the grip he had on fervent man was stronger.

"You need to sleep Xeph..." His halting sigh almost missed Xephos skin as he tried to sit up, "You're just going to end up typing nonsense if you work when you're this tired." Ridge drew a tender thumb under Xephos' eye, as if to erase the dark circles. "And you know I can't sleep without you. Do you want me to go without sleep too?"

Fingernails scrapped up the middle of Ridge's spine, triggering a shiver to build at the base of his skull, dissipating with a full body twitch. He could hardly catch his breath as the nails slid back down to circle around his tailbone. "Don't taunt me Xeph," Ridge moaned sensitively while hands slipped back to support his ass, gripping greedily once again, "You can be so cruel sometimes."

Xephos almost laughed but decided to direct such spritely energy to his legs; using any grip he could get on the floor to drag himself back to his desk. "If you can't sleep without me Ridge, then sleep here while I work." The movement was boorish as his arms managed to stretch and reach his keyboard again, "Or is compromise not even in your vocabulary?" Xephos strained to lift his head higher, finally finding the word document again.

"But the bed is so much nicer..." Unbelievably, Ridge curled in tighter to Xephos while his hands hung lifelessly from the tense shoulders, "Xeph... bed..." His whine sprouted against the underside of Xephos' chin as he was pushed to accommodate the working man.

"Yes the bed is comfy, and you had your chance to sleep there." Guiding Ridge's bent legs Xephos easily got them through the gap of the armrests and the chair cushion, giving the man room to stretch. "Get comfortable, I'll be here for a while."

Ridge tried to protest as he swung his legs in the air but could only mumble as he accepted the unconventional sleeping position. "Don't be too rowdy then. I know how exciting paper work can be..." The yawn Ridge puffed into the smooth shoulder trickled down their compressed bodies, "Just promise to carry me to bed when you're done."

The click from the keyboard resumed its regular speed as Xephos remembered his place in the document, "That's quite the hefty promise Ridge." Xephos' laugh was more air than sound, "Get it? I know you're not that heavy Ridge but I don't think I could ever carry you unless I start hitting the gym everyday like I used to. Now there was a time I'd be able to do that, but an office job combined with age and I think I'd break my back if I even tried."

With the lack of back talk from his conversational partner Xephos shook his shoulders, "Ridge? Did you hear me?" Even with his acute sense of hearing the only prevalent sound buzzed from the computer's fan. A kind drifting hand to Ridge's back and Xephos could feel the gentle lift and fall his lungs stirred. "And you're asleep. Great..." The pat on the warm skin was rough but caring as Xephos slipped his fingers into the silk soft hair, "Guess you really were tired..."

The computer screen glared back, incomplete and unrefined wording blurrier than before with his glasses out of reach. Xephos wanted to crack neck but could feel the slumbering man shift with his taut skin. Another hand fell from the keyboard to rub at the curved back as the tiny snores began to grow, the hot air creeping along his neck. "Well, it looks like you won again Ridge. I can't do work in such comfortable conditions." Air filtered through Xephos' nose as he squeezed a new hold on the man's body, "Too bad you're not awake to gloat."

Brushing at the small hairs on the back of Ridge's neck Xephos tried to expanding his chest to breathe deeply, finding the increasing in volume snores reminding him of the plump cushions and fluffed blankets on their bed. "Only if I could get us..." Shaking his head with a heated sigh Xephos rested his cheek against Ridge's, "Nah, I couldn't even begin to carry you..." His legs stung as he stretched them, feeling the solidity of the body on top of him numb his limbs. Ridge felt similar to their winter duvet, such dense warmth he seeped into Xephos' frame.

Even as he wanted to wake Ridge, admit his defeat and be allowed a real pillow, he couldn't bring himself to do it as arms pulled him closer. "Sleep well Ridge." Xephos released his own yawn into the full bodied curls, watching his screen saver flicker to life, "I better not wake up with a neck ache from this..."