messer zwischen den zähnen

There is no clock in Sete's guest bedroom, but the silver spill of moonlight through the window tells Valentino it's very late.

Rationally Valentino knows Sete is only a few rooms over, but the guest bedroom is sparse; the empty expanse of bed a ghostly white and cold to the touch, netting the moonlight in at odd angles that cast spindly shadows out towards Valentino's body. And every time Valentino turns over to try and get comfortable the sheets slip against each other with a hollow rustle.

He tosses up not sleeping at all instead of embarrassing himself to Sete, but the ache of exhaustion is enough to blur every reason to keep his distance into an animal need for closeness.

Down Sete's end of the hallway, it takes two tries to get him to open the door. Sete comes out blinking, hand fumbling with the door handle, still mostly asleep when he asks Valentino if he's alright. The easy, sleazy joke is just behind Valentino's teeth, but over his shoulder Valentino can see the inviting, sleep-rumpled sheets of Sete's bed and Valentino wants that more than a laugh.

"Can I sleep here?"

"I thought you already were?"

"No. I mean. Can I sleep with you?"

Sete blinks again but more discerningly this time. Valentino squirms a little under the attention. There has been something taking root between them, something that Valentino doesn't quite understand the shape of yet. But whatever that something is that's not why Vale is here.

Sete seems to understand this. He moves aside and lets Valentino into his room with a quiet of course. Valentino waits until Sete has climbed into his side of the bed before tucking himself into the other. Keeping a friendly distance between them, Valentino curls onto his side and counts Sete's breaths like sheep until his mind is gauzy with sleep.

Then Sete speaks: "Do you need?" The sentence tapers off leaving Valentino to struggle to parse what he means until he feels a hand curl over his hip

"Sete?"

"Do you?"

The hand doesn't move from Valention's hip, warm and calloused it seeps into Valentino like a deep-heat rub and makes his skin prickle with anticipation.

"Yes" if Valentino regrets this in the morning he can blame it on the exhaustion.

Sete's hand moves purposefully, reaching around to grasp the far side of Valentino's ribcage and pull him back into Sete's chest. Aligning himself with the contours of Valentino's body, Sete's forearm is an anchor across Valentino's abdomen and his body a steady berth at Valentino's back. Valentino shifts until he feels Sete's knees tuck into his and then settles

"Okay?"

"Okay"

Valentino thinks he maybe feels Sete smile against the nape of his neck, but his mind has gone gauzy again as he unspools into warm-dark sleep