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Philip didn't consider himself needy. Unlike his half-boiled counterpart, he was content to roam the Gaia Library for however long it took for someone to come find him and lecture him on the importance of "self-care" and "a consistent sleep schedule".
That didn't mean he never had his moments, though.
When he closed his book, it had been so long since he started his research (on the history of comic books, as the scrawling on the whiteboards would attest) that Akiko and Shotaro had closed up without him. Not that it was unexpected, but he was momentarily disoriented in the dark until his eyes adjusted.
He glanced toward the couch in the corner. Any other night, that would be a suitable place to sleep- after all, he'd slept there many times before. But tonight, for a reason he couldn't quite put his finger on, he didn't really want that. He just stared for a long moment, thinking over his options. He could just suck it up and sleep on the couch. He probably wouldn’t be asleep for long anyway, so he’d be able to put up with the discomfort for the time being. Or…
He peered out into the office, glancing around to make sure the space was empty. Sure enough, the only light in the space was dim moonlight filtered through the blinds, illuminating the empty desk. He left the safety of the room, careful to take light steps as he approached the curtain that separated Shotaro’s bed from the rest of the space.
He hesitated to pull the curtain aside, hand hesitating in the air. He could hear by the pattern of his breathing that he was certainly asleep, but once he opened the curtain, there would be no turning back. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves before pulling it back, revealing Shotaro dead asleep, tangled up in his blankets. Philip shook his head fondly, reaching down to pull the blanket out of his death grip and lay it over him properly, unable to keep a smile off his face. He’d even fallen asleep with his hat on… He took it and hung it back up on the wall where it belonged.
He glanced back over his shoulder at him. Thin strips of moonlight now lit up his face, making his heart pound in his chest. He looked… Pretty. So pretty like this, all tired out. After he managed to stop staring at him with reverence, he gently took his shoes off and set them aside carefully. He returned to the bedside, carefully kneeling on the mattress before he wormed his way under the blanket, pressed up against Shotaro. To his surprise, an arm suddenly came around his waist, holding him there. He glanced up to see a pair of mischievous eyes looking back at him.
“Shotaro-kun…!” He couldn’t say much else. He could’ve sworn Shotaro should’ve been well asleep by now…
“Hey, aibou. I was starting to wonder when you were gonna come to bed.” He hummed.
“You…! You tricked me?!” He had half a mind to be upset for messing with him, letting him stare with such love in his eyes and not even having the decency to stare back, but then the hand on the small of his back trailed up to gently massage at the back of his neck, and suddenly he couldn’t bring himself to care too much about that.
“I was worried about you, you know that.” He murmured in that stupidly soothing voice, the one that he could feel resonating in his chest from this close. “Besides… Couldn’t sleep with all that marker squeaking in the other room.” Philip just sighed, closing his eyes as he leaned his head against his chest.
“Wear headphones, then.” He mumbled, already feeling the pull of sleep tugging at him.
“Right. Goodnight, Philip.” Shotaro snorted with laughter, brushing a strand of hair out of his face.
“Goodnight, Shotaro-kun. I love you.”
“Yeah. I love you too, aibou.”