#specialc

Watching the rise and fall of his shoulder and the occasional twitch in his (handsome) face gets old quick, and Sundown is left more awake than ever. Tapping his finger against the mattress in thought, a rather silly idea drifts into his mind.

It had been years since he thought about the stories his mother used to tell him when he would complain of being wide awake. He hardly remembered the stories now, unfortunately, but maybe if he tells a story he knows? Mad Dog shifts a little in his sleep, and Sundown smiles. 

Alright, it was worth a shot.

Sundown opens his mouth to talk before quickly closing it in hesitation. If Mad Dog woke up, Sundown would never hear the end of this… then again, Mad Dog’s a notoriously heavy sleeper and he’s been doubly exhausted today. 

Unless Sundown had a better idea— which he still didn’t—he would be telling himself a story until he fell asleep.

Clearing his throat a little, deciding on the opening words he’d let guide his story, Sundown finally starts.

“Did I ever tell you the story about Little Danny and his sister Margaret?” His heart thuds heavy and Sundown waits for any sign that Mad Dog’s waking up. 

Nothing changes, and Sundown breathes easy. “Little Danny was the sweetest kid I ever knew. He’d always wave at me and always knew how to make every adult and kid alike smile. Margaret on the other hand, was a real troublemaker,” Sundown chuckles.

“I remember the time I caught her stuffing the baker’s sweets into her mouth and pretending like I couldn’t see the crumbs all over her dress,” he sighs and falls into the rhythm of his story. “Anyway, you can imagine the kind of arguments they would get into and boy were they something. They may have been little but their shouting matches were not. And one night, Margaret was getting sick of her younger brother always pestering her to do the right thing, telling on her, that sort of thing. So she decides that she’s not going to be the bad kid anymore, he is.”

Mad Dog shifts in his sleep, but Sundown doesn’t notice. He’s picturing the scene she set now clear as day.

“Margaret worked all night to set up her little crime scene. She was dead set on getting him into serious trouble, but what she decided to do was set up some clever trap—Lord knows where she got the idea—to ambush Danny when he woke up. I think her intention was to not only frame him for a crime, but make him accidentally do a crime.” Sundown starts smiling wide now, remembering the petrified look on poor Margaret’s face at her brother Danny’s crocodile tears.

“Their parents came bursting into my station first thing in the morning; I was terrified something awful had happened. Then I saw Margaret’s brilliant idea of tying a string around her brother's wrist and connecting it all the way to their grandmother’s urn. Oh when that poor boy woke up and shattered it he was so distraught, and Margaret too was the most apologetic I’d ever seen her.” A few chuckles escape him as he remembers the worst, yet funniest part of the whole story. “I think the icing on the cake was the fact that their dog had chosen to take a nap right next to that urn. Oh, he was fine, it broke right next to him but he was covered in ashes. I remember having to bite my cheek to keep from laughing in those poor kid’s faces.” Sundown suddenly has to cover his mouth to keep from waking up Mad Dog with his laughter. He had forgotten about that story and those two siblings.

“Kid—” Sundown stops laughing. “Why the hell are you telling me this in the middle of the night?”

Sundown keeps his hand over his mouth. “Oh. I thought you were asleep.”

Mad Dog scoffs, glaring at him. “I was until someone decided to tell me a funny story.” Seeing Sundown’s wide and panicked eyes, Mad Dog’s glare softens. He reaches over to gently pick Sundown’s hand off his embarrassed face. “What were you doing?”

Taking the opportunity to tangle his fingers in Mad Dog’s, Sundown mumbles, “I couldn’t sleep.”

“So you woke me trying to put yourself to sleep, that it?”

Sundown sheepishly avoids Mad Dog’s eyes. “Yeah.”

Still holding his hand, Mad Dog moves closer to Sundown until he can’t resist the pull of those hard eyes on him. God be damned if he didn’t make Mad Dog deadly handsome.

“You old fool,” Mad Dog grins lazily. “Well since you went through the trouble of waking me up, how about a kiss?”

Sundown chuckles, already moving his free hand up to cup Mad Dog’s face. “You single-minded scoundrel,” he murmurs against Mad Dog’s lips before gently pressing them together. 

Something about the lazy kisses they share under the bed covers blissfully, finally makes sleep pull heavy on his eyelids. Mad Dog slowly breaks away, and slides his thumb through Sundown’s beard which causes his eyes to suddenly close dangerously fast.

“Now c’mere, Kid,” Mad Dog murmurs as he wraps his arms around Sundown and pulls him so close his warm breath tickles his ear. “‘n don’t move a muscle.”

Sundown chuckles and Mad Dog’s heavy arm presses down. “Just go to sleep, Kid,” Mad Dog sighs.

Minutes of silence and warmth pass by, and Sundown’s never felt so at peace. Just before his heavy eyes are about to shut and his endearing gratefulness overwhelms his chest, he whispers to the sleeping Mad Dog: “love you.”