⬅️ ⬇️ Funkin' the Pain Away on a Friday Night ⬆️ ➡️

[R] Sleepless Nights (Pico x Male!Reader)

A/N: Heya, Mystery here! It's 11 pm over here and I'm tired and frustrated as hell. Just some personal life stuff happening that's all, I'm just mad that I didn't get to write or draw much the past few months, especially during Pride Month. Fortunately, I found something in my drafts that I could post this month.

For context, I wrote this oneshot back in September of last year, but I didn't post it because there were 2 more oneshots that were supposed to go with this. The quote at the bottom of the header is a prompt I found on Tumblr which is the central plot of this oneshot, and the other 2 oneshots were also based on Tumblr prompts. This was a bit of writing practice for Pico and just writing x reader stuff in general, so don't be surprised that it's short. I chose to make it an x male reader because lord knows we need more of them with Pico.

Sidenote: All of my x reader writings (platonic, romantic, and ambiguous/unspecified/etc.) are, by default, gender neutral. I may switch it up from time to time and do a [Character] x Female reader or a [Character] x Male reader. :)

Y/N in this oneshot can be interpreted as a cis or trans guy, however you wish because you're the reader!

Anyways, enough of me talking, enjoy the (short) oneshot!

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"Are you tired? Rest your head in my lap."

It was 9:30 pm on a Friday night and you were sitting on your couch, watching your favorite show. There was currently a commercial break playing, which was annoying, but it gave you some time to do other things.

Such as, making sure your boyfriend was alright.

You pulled out your phone and went to your messages app to text him. You sent the message and set your phone to the side, waiting for his response.

🧡Gingersnap🧡

Hi honey, are you okay? Did you get lost out there?
Are you with someone rn?
I miss you... ;(
9:30 pm

He had been out for quite some time, about 3 hours to be exact. You knew he was probably getting stuff from the convenience store, or meeting up with friends, or...doing his job. Still though, you couldn't help but worry, especially since it was getting late and, although you were concerned about the dangers he could face out there, nothing could compare to the lack of sleep he received almost every night.

His sleep cycle has somewhat improved since you've been helping him get some sleep with tea, medication, and comforting him when he had nightmares. Almost every night from when you two first started dating, he would text or call you about his nightmares and you would either stay on the phone with him or drive to his apartment and stay with him there. You didn't think much of it at the time, only thinking how sweet of him it was to call you and ask for your help.

It wasn't until he moved in with you that you began to realize how bad the nightmares were. He would be violently shaking, screaming in anger, crying, and...would even pull out his gun in fear. It scared the shit out of you the first few times. You became less scared over time and more disheartened over the fact that your boyfriend had these nightmares frequently for god knows how long. You stayed up with him for minutes. And those minutes became an hour. And an hour became 2 hours. And 2 hours became 3 hours, before he was fully calm and tried to go back to sleep (keyword: tried).

About 10 minutes had passed when suddenly, you heard your phone vibrate and you quickly picked up your phone to see who it was.

🧡Gingersnap🧡

Hi honey, are you okay? Did you get lost out there?
Are you with someone rn?
I miss you... ;(
9:30 pm

Sorry babe. I ran into BF and GF earlier today.
Got dragged into their shenanigans once again. -_-
And then the line at the grocery store checkout was long as hell.
Don't worry, I'm only a minute away right now.
Ya won't be missing me for very long ;)
9:40 pm

You smiled at his response. Thank goodness he wasn't lost or hurt.

A minute had passed and you heard the sound of keys jingling followed by the door opening from the entrance/exit area of your apartment. You turned around to see a familiar red head with green clothing, walking in with grocery bags and closing the door behind him. He looked tired as hell considering he did so much in the span of 2 hours. Then again, he did kinda have a resting bitch face most of the time. You got up off of the couch to help him put away the groceries, not before hugging him of course.

"So glad you're back gingersnap. Please try to text or call me beforehand before you get sidetracked or delayed, Pico."

Pico grinned upon hearing your voice as he returned the hug.

"Heh. 'M sorry about that handsome," Pico spoke as he lightly kissed your lips. "Didn't mean to scare ya."

"It's alright," you replied, blushing at the affection. "Here, let me take these off your hands. You just relax for now." You patted his back lightly and started taking the bags from his hands and arms. Pico nodded and walked over to the couch you were sitting on. Once you put everything away, you walked over to the couch as well and sat next to Pico, rubbing his shoulder to soothe him.

You noticed the dazed expression on his face as you sat with him. This was very noticeable for the past few months since he's been taking sleeping pills, as he would become slightly drowsy earlier in the evening hours. You gently shook Pico to get his attention.

"Hey, Pico."

"...Hm?"

"Are you tired?"

"........yeah."

You moved over a bit a few inches away from Pico so that he could lay down. He looked over at you as you patted your lap and smiled. "Come here. Rest your head in my lap. You deserve it after being so busy all evening."

Pico silently obliged as he moved into a resting position with his head in your lap. He made soft grunts while adjusting and relaxing into his new pose.

You knew the medicine was working well, but you also liked to make sure Pico was 100% okay before he drifted to sleep. You grabbed a blanket that you used earlier on the side of the couch and put it over Pico's body. You then began roaming your fingers through his orange locks and gently stroking his cheek. Pico leaned into your touch and closed his eyes, smiling at the affecting you were giving him.

He gradually began to doze off, and the last words he heard from you were:

"Sleep well, Pico. I'll be here with you when you wake up."

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A/N: Well there you have it, my first Pico x reader oneshot! I'm a little nervous posting this as I have never written Pico before prior to this. Also I'm not an expert on sleep medication or anything so take everything sleep-disorder related in this oneshot with a grain of salt.

Thank you for reading and have a nice day/afternoon/evening!❤️