HeroSteve Short Stories

Counting Sheep

Brine didn't need to sleep. It simply wasn't a functional requirement of his to continue maintaining his corporeal form, and so he usually didn't. Though, sometimes, that alarmed the sweet human of his. Steve was much too worried over his physical form that necessary, always making sure he got some amount of sleep and ate regular food twice a day when he really didn't need to. He'd tried to explain that to him as well, but the human had insisted that he take care of the other, and he honestly didn't mind. It was nice to have someone worrying over his condition, even if his poor love didn't need the extra stress over whether or not he'd eaten and slept a proper amount. To minimize this, Brine had taken to a habit of sleeping with his gentle human for short amounts of time, and eaten whenever the other did the same, that way it was obvious that he was taking care of his perfectly fine body. It seemed to please Steve, so he kept it up as often as he could. Tonight, however, he couldn't seem to force his body into one of those gentle resets that he did at night after his lover had fallen into a deep sleep, and it made him rather uncomfortable that his form would disobey him in such a way.

His arms tightened around Steve, who was sleeping calmly in his arms with his head pressed to the god's collarbone and his arms resting between their chests so they couldn't get in the way of the protective hug that was around his back to keep him close and his neck to keep him still. One of his legs were draped lazily over Herobrine's, while the other had wormed its way between both of the god's limbs, laying in such a way that the loyal Nether ruler couldn't leave him in the middle of the night, not that he would ever do such a thing. It was lovely, and a lot warmer, Brine noted, then it had been recently since the human's exhale was tracking directly down his shirt and condensing on his chest, but he wouldn't have minded this even on a normal day. It was just as comfortable as always, and he wouldn't usually have any trouble closing his eyes and resting for a few hours alongside his precious soulmate, but he just couldn't manage no matter how much effort he put into the task. It was frustrating as hell for him, leading towards an unfortunate frown on his face, and the quiet sound of an irritated grunt leaving his throat.

"Brine?" An exhausted response came from the human in his arms, another rush of warm air falling into his shirt.

He looked down to see one of those brilliant blue eyes squinting at his own bright eyes, which was evidently producing too much light for the weary soul to process.

A pang of guilt hit him flat in the core, like an emotional punch to the gut caused by waking up Steve, who most definitely shouldn't be awake at this time of night and especially not when he had such a busy schedule to work through during the day. His adorable human needed all the rest he could get.
One of the hands that he had on Steve's neck moved up to stroke the male's hair, gently pushing in with his fingers splayed to catch as much of the silk smooth collection as he could, then gently pulling on it to feel it slide over the skin on his hand, all of which had a very obvious calming effect on the human, who suddenly struggled to keep his eyes open, blinking innumerable times as he tried to keep himself up long enough to figure out what was going on, despite Brine's attempts to put him back to sleep.

Steve's hand lifted up to lay on the god's cheek, his thumb gently rubbing back and forth over his cheek as he tiredly asked, "What's the matter?"

As much as he wanted to hold the human's hand in place, to keep his loving touch on his face as long as he could manage, he kept to rubbing the man's back and playing with his short brown hair, messing it up as he thought about how to answer. He began with a sigh that seemed to wake the other up even more before speaking, "I can't sleep." With that admission, Steve seemed to calm down a little bit, which did good things for his guilty psyche.

"That's okay," the sweet male responded, beginning by attempting to get rid of any guilt or frustration associated with the failure to fall asleep. "Sometimes it's difficult. I used to struggle a lot before I met you."

Instinctively, the god's hug around the human tightened as he once again thought of his lover's past, and how miserable his own was, but he didn't hold that for long and loosened his grip after a few moments in his own head. He watched, slightly irritated with himself, as the precious soul scooted up a little so he was eye-level with the taller man. Lucky for him, that hand on his cheek never stopped its nuzzling.

"You help me so much, how about I make you feel better for a change?"

Brine's mouth opened to respond, then closed as he thought over the idea and tried to imagine what sweet things the other would do for him to help him fall into stasis. Unfortunately, his brain was more than a little stuck in the cycle of self-hate, wherein he didn't believe that his loving human could do much more for him, or even that he should. "If you would like to try, I shall not stop you, my lamb."

An adorable smile lit of the face of the precious human in front of him, and that hand now stroked a line down his nose repetitively as he spoke. "Have some confidence in me, won't you? I love you. I'll help you sleep. Now close your eyes." Steve ordered the other to block the visuals from his eyes in a less than gentle tone, especially compared to usual, leading the god to believe that he might have offended the sweet soul by not trusting in him, but when he tried to argue, the other hand held a finger to his lips to shut his mouth. Obedient and slightly reluctant, Brine let his eyelids drift down over his flashlights for eyes and allowed him to focus on everything going on around him. He could feel his tense body begin to relax; he could feel Steve's warm flesh pressed up against himself; he could feel the soft fabric of the human's shirt in his hand and the smooth texture of his hair in the other; and, best of all, he could feel every bump, ridge, and imperfection in his lover's fingers on his face. Repetitively, his soulmate's pointer finger drifting from his forehead down the bridge of his nose, gently running over all of the skin and the bumps and anything else in it's path while the other hand snuck itself between his cheek and the pillow and the only piece that wasn't trapped, his little thumb, rubbed the space just below his eyes over and over in a gentle manner. Damn him to eternal suffering if that wasn't the nicest thing he'd felt in a while, to relax in the arms of the one whom he loved most and receive such gentle, loving contact from the tired male. Indeed, he wasn't conscious much longer, as his mind relaxed further than they had in a long while, and he fell asleep, holding Steve in his arms with no plans of ever letting him go.