You lay in bed just like every other night. Although this night is different than all the others. You're wide awake, and it's past midnight. You can't remember the last night you were up this late.
You and your boyfriend Damiano would always be tucked in bed quite early as the morning birds you were. But tonight he wasn't even in bed with you. You had gotten into a fight earlier on today. A silly one. However it had made you two go completely silent for hours.
All that could be heard in the small apartment of yours during the silent evening was your cats, Bidet and Legolas. They had been playing around on the climb tree you had bought for them. Damiano had spent the evening sitting in front of it, admiring his cats for their playfulness.
You had shared dinner from last night together, not bothering to order in as you always would on Friday nights. After finishing off your meal, you went to brush your teeth and prepare to go to bed. Damiano was patiently waiting for his turn behind the bathroom door.
It was unusual, being so quiet. But after have gotten yelled at by him because of making fun of him in front of the others band members, and then simply yelling back at him for taking it seriously, the silence was kind of needed.
The bedroom door is halfway open, and only a couple meters away, in the living room, lay Damiano on the couch. You feel bad for him for being there all by himself, and you wouldn't wish your worst enemy a night on that hard couch either.
But you wouldn't be the one to break the silence for once. Damiano was always so stubborn, it was time you gave him a taste of his own medicine.
You get tired of replaying the events of the evening in your head, and decide to put on a mindfulness program to help you fall asleep. You grab your phone that's on the bedside table by the window, and search for a good program.
After scrolling for a few minutes you find a nice program and put your phone beside your ear, on Damiano's pillow. You realize he hasn't taken his pillow, and you share blankets so he hasn't got one for himself out there. You remind yourself again, if he stops being so stubborn he can actually come and sleep in this bed. It's his decision.
You click play, keeping the volume on medium high. The sound won't leave the room, at least that's what you think before you hear a raspy voice coming from the living room.
"Merda, ma che cazzo fai?"
Surprised by hearing his voice, you keep quiet for some seconds.
"Turn that shit down, it's not funny."
You let out a gasp that's combined with a cocky laugh as you say "Yeah, amore, i'm playing this random sound at two in the morning just cause it's so much fun!"
Suddenly you hear legs stomp into the bedroom as your eyes get blinded by the light from the ceiling lamp.
Standing in the doorway is Damiano in only his boxers and messed up hair that keeps getting in his eyes. He stares at you intensely. You know how he gets when he doesn't get to sleep, and it's not good.
"Wow look who decides to finally come in here," you say as you push yourself up into a sitting position, with your back resting on the headboard. You cross your arms and return a stare.
Damiano comes closer to the bed and grabs your phone, you try to take it back but he backs off the bed and heads back to the doorway quickly.
"Hey! Give me back my phone," you say impatiently, reaching for his direction. Standing with his legs crossed and leaning towards the wall, he analyzes the content of your phone.
It takes him a couple of seconds to form a reaction in any way, and when he does he just completely bursts into a laugh.
You pick up a pillow and squeeze it tightly while aiming at him. "It's not funny, give it back or else-"
"What the- what is this?" he says as he holds his stomach that seems to hurt from laughter.
"I can't sleep. Happy?"
He looks at you, giggling and trying to keep his eyes open.
"And why is it that you can't sleep?" he says while he smirks.
You put down the pillow besides you aggressively and murmur a few italian swear words that you've learned from Damiano.
"Because you're not fucking here; besides me. The hell do you think?"
He lets go off his smirk and forms a soft smile instead.
"So, you need me?"
You're tired and not up for games and teasing. But oh does that smile make you forget how pissed you actually are.
"I always do, Damiano. It's weird not having you here, so i tried to listen to something to calm me down."
You notice how his smile turns into yet another smirk which quickly makes you snap back into reality and say something to bring your boyfriend down to earth again.
"And it was going well actually, until you ruined it with your... voice," you say annoyingly.
"Well you wouldn't have needed it in the first place if I was just here beside you."
He was right. Obviously.
Without another word, he switches off the light, throws your phone onto the bed as well as himself.
You feel the warmth of his body spread on the sheets, it feels comfortable and secure.
"I couldn't sleep without you either," he says as he looks into your eyes.
"Yeah, i know. With your deep sleeping it would have been impossible to wake up by that sound," you say.
Damiano let's out a little laugh and so do you, both of you nearing each other.
"I'm sorry. About earlier. I shouldn't have yelled at you," he whispers in your ear as he grabs your hair to pull it away from your face.
"Well, I shouldn't have made that joke of you in front of the others. It was clearly harmful," you say as you trace your fingers on his tatted back.
He looks up at you, bringing your chin up so that your eyes meet.
"You? Harmful towards me? Piccola, you couldn't even hurt a fly if you wanted to. I was just tired and in a bad mood, I love your jokes, all of them," he says as he places a kiss on your cheek.
You love when he says piccola. It makes you feel safe. You're also relieved by the fact that you didn't actually hurt his feelings.
"Then why were you so mad at me when we got home?"
"I didn't want to admit defeat. But that was wrong of me, I shouldn't have let my pride get to me."
"Well, you just did it. Admitted defeat, I mean," you say as you remove a strand of hair from his forehead.
"What can I say, I'm full of surprises," he giggles.
You laugh, and suggest that you spend the night talking about more undiscovered facts about yourselves.
Damiano nods to reassure your idea. You curl up into each other's legs and wrap around each other's arms, and decide this night just wasn't meant for sleeping.
