#kid!sleep

He hated this restlessness. It made it hard to settle down. To not want to uproot everything and move to a different state whenever the weather changed. Deceit closed his eyes, one hand reaching up out of habit to the left side of his face, brushing smooth unmarked skin where scales used to reside.

“Coffee for your thoughts?” A young voice asked as the soft scrape of the kitchen chair sounded behind him.

Despite himself, the corner of his mouth twitched up in a smile. He should have known. “Not until you’re in high school, Remy.” 

He turned in time to see the young Sleep, now seven years old, drop his head to the table with a thunk and a groan. “That’s ages away, Dad. Please. I’m dying here.” 

“You’ve survived the past five years without it, you can last ten more. Orange Juice?” Deceit asked without a hint of sympathy as he moved to the fridge.

There was a reason why he always grabbed his coffee from the cafe down the street. He’d learned early on that even though he’d been brought into the real world with Deceit as a two year old, the popular Shorts Character could and would find and down any coffee hidden at home within the hour. 

If they had still been in Thomas’s mind he wouldn’t have cared.

But out here? In the real world? With real consequences? Yah no. Sleep would have to satisfy himself with coffee flavored candy instead. And even then, this early in the morning, he wasn’t about to hype the boy up. Especially when their resident night owl should be sleeping. 

“Wha’ ‘bout Hot Chocolate?” A different voice asked sleepily. 

Deceit raised an eyebrow, hand hovering over the orange juice as he looked over to eight year old Emile standing in the doorway, one hand clutching his favorite Steven Universe blanket while the other rubbed at his eye. “Shouldn’t you still be asleep, Em?” 

He knew full well that despite his namesake, Remy was the lightest sleeper. It was easy for him to wake up to the smallest of sounds. But Emile? Most of the time he couldn’t get the kid out of bed before ten unless one of his favorite cartoons was on.

Emile yawned, wandering over to the kitchen table and pulling himself onto a chair. “It’s snowing.” He said like that explained everything, resting his head in his arms.

It didn’t. Normally Deceit was the only one to be sensitive to changes in the weather. 

Remy let out a long suffering sigh before twisting in his seat, going onto his knees in order to see over the back of the chair. “Can we have marshmallows in it?” He asked hopefully, amber colored eyes going wide and watery as Deceit glanced to him. “Tis the season.” He gestured to the snow falling outside. 

Deceit snorted, shaking his head as he grabbed the milk from the fridge and three mugs from the drying rack. “Tis the season indeed.” Considering it was Christmas Eve. Definitely the season. 

“Is that why you’re awake?” Emile asked, pulling the blanket tighter around him. “The storm?” 

What else would it be? The kids were well aware of his quirks after the five years they’d spent together. He made a noncommittal sound as he placed the three mugs of milk into the microwave before turning to the cabinet to grab the cocoa mix. 

“They say it’s only gonna get worse.” Remy added, pulling out Deceit’s phone, small fingers darting across the screen. 

Great. Just what he needed to hear. “Oh?” He asked, frowning at his phone.

So that’s where it had ended up. He should have known. If it wasn’t Emile stealing it to watch cartoons, it was Remy taking it to scroll through the various social media sites he’d made Deceit get so the kid could stay up to date on the latest trends. 

At least that particular issue should end tomorrow morning when he finally gave both boys their own phones to use now that he’d finally landed a gig here in New York where he could afford two more lines on his plan.

Remy smirked, amber eyes glittering in the screenlight. “The airports are already talking about canceling flights. Stranding hundreds of people.” 

Emile gasped, bottom lip trembling. “Nooo. All those families not together for Christmas?!” 

Tender hearts. Unfortunately not everyone could get their happy ending. Deceit shook his head, grabbing the marshmallows as the microwave beeped. “You want me to go play rescuer again?” Sure, he’d gone on similar forays when his restlessness became too much to bear staying indoors a second longer, helping stranded motorists or picking up passengers through MyRide, but this was Christmas Eve. He should be with his kids. With his family. Not wandering around the city like a restless knight on a quest to save the princess from the Dragonwitch. 

Sleep didn’t even bother to hide his smile this time as he rested his chin on one small hand. “You are Self Preservation aren’t you? You protect people.”

He protected Thomas. There was a difference. And considering Thomas had wanted nothing to do with him even before he’d shown up in the real world far far away from his host’s home--

“And--” Remy gestured to the thickening snow. “You’re obviously not gonna go back to bed anytime soon.” 

Sleep would know. He may not be a part of Thomas anymore, but now that he was getting older some of his...talents still came through on occasion. 

Deceit placed the three mugs on the table before taking his own seat. “I highly doubt the two of you want to spend all day in the car on Christmas Eve.” He said, unable to stop his leg from bouncing in place as he watched the snow falling from the corner of his eye. Gah. It was bad this time. The idea of driving around the city sounded far too appealing to be normal. And technically he didn’t have to take the boys with him. They could spend the day here while he--No. He shook his head, running a hand through his hair. It was Christmas Eve. He couldn’t just leave them.

“All day?” Emile frowned, standing up in his chair, the blanket falling off his shoulders “It’s that bad?”

Deceit tsked as Emile clambered over the table, easily avoiding the mugs, and into his lap. “It’s...I’ll be fine.” He said, wrapping his arms around him, resting his chin on the boy’s head as he gently rocked him. He didn’t want it to be that bad. But if the snow kept up---it probably would be an all day restlessness. “We were going to have a lazy day, remember?” He said, smirking as Remy rolled his eyes. “Watch movies? Build pillow forts. Bake cookies.” And finish wrapping all the presents he’d bought for them. All the homey stuff he was sure Patton would have loved to do instead if he’d been present. 

Regardless, if he could keep busy maybe he could distract himself from this restlessness from the storm. 

It hadn’t ever worked before. But there was always a first time.

“That was before it snowed though.” Remy said patiently, setting Deceit’s phone face up on the table, his MyRide app open and showing a dozen requests for Rides even at this early hour. “It’s not like we haven’t spent hours on end in the car before, Dad.” 

That was true. Though Deceit had been trying to decrease their car time as the boys got older and could be trusted to be left home alone.

He exhaled, pressing his nose into Emile’s sleep tousled hair, briefly closing his eyes. “We’ll give it a couple of hours, alright? Until the sun comes up at least.” He looked up in time to see Remy making a face at him over his mug. 

“Will you even live that long?”

Deceit rolled his eyes, resolutely ignoring the falling snow outside. “I’ll survive.” He said, adjusting his grip on Emile as the boy wiggled around to rest his head against Deceit’s chest, snuggling in close to him with a contented sigh.