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There's a kind of exhaustion that can only truly be born of too many nights of sleep that isn't really sleep, or at least isn't restful, days that drag on well past their termination point and a mind full to bursting with thoughts.
They've both been known to find themselves in such a state. With him, it shows up simply:
Keeping at least a hand in hers, if not both arms around her waist and his face nestled between the sharp ridges of her shoulder blades while she cooks dinner, shuffling his feet carefully to avoid stepping on her heels.
Contact unwillingly relinquished for him to wash the dishes and then secured once more when he's finished.
A silent request to shower together followed by another if he could wash her hair, following direction as to just the right way to condition it to prevent tangling, and even though he's done it a hundred times before and knows by then how to do it, he loves the sound of her voice too much to say a word about it.
Leaning into her chest while she dries her hair, ear pressed over her heart to hear the strong, steady rhythm of it and hands tucked up under his chin like he's a child once more despite being well over twenty years of age.
Spine cracking and popping as he arches up into her soft touch on the back of his neck, scratching lightly at his scalp just to make sure he's awake before leading him to bed, eyes staying half-closed against the light even as he fumbles his glasses off his face and onto the nightstand and then crawls under the sheets after her.
This is where he yawns, they exchange goodnights and toothpaste-flavored kisses, and he slips into a dreamless oblivion.
Usually.
But the feral animal of his heart is desperate to be closer, and since he can't crawl inside her chest to curl up next to her heart, he asks for the next best thing through halting hesitations, a mixture of embarrassment and a too-heavy tongue leaving his words clumsy as he asks, "Can I- can I have you? Not- I don't want sex, I just want to feel you. I want you close. If- if that's okay?"
She blinked, surprised a little, then smiled. "Of course, mi amor."
"Thank you," he mumbled, cheeks heating slightly. "How should we-?"
"Like this is fine." She guides his leg over her hip from where they're laying face-to-face, tugging him a bit closer. "Can I kiss you, love?"
He nods, closing his eyes and leaning in.
She meets him in the middle with a sweet-soft kiss, cupping his jaw and rocking her hips forward against him, hardening slowly from the light friction and the quiet sounds he made against her mouth.
He sighs happily, tracing lightly over her shaft and swallowing the low moan she lets out, guiding her tip to his hole and sinking onto the length of it carefully, sighing once more at the heat and fullness and warmth sparked in his chest.
"Just stay like this?" she asks, stroking through his hair.
He hums. "I don't mind if you move, don't want to give you blue balls. Just want to feel you in me, is all."
She bites her lip before asking, "What if we stay like this until you fall asleep, and then I'll move? I don't want to get in the way of you sleeping, you look exhausted."
"Darling, I don't think a tornado could stop me from sleeping at the present moment," he assures her, only half joking. "But if you'd rather that, then-" he broke off in a yawn before finishing, "-then I'm alright with that."
She rocks forward lightly, breath stuttering against his lips. "Well, if you say you'll be able to sleep anyways."
He smiles, burrowing further into her sternum. "I've got two very nice pillows here to help me, I'll be alright."
Her chest shakes just a bit with her laugh, and then the motion evens out into the gentle back-and-forth rocking motion her thrusts encourage.
"Love you," he murmurs, the fog of sleep pulled like gauze over his eyes.
"Love you same," she breathes in reply, lips pressed to the top of his head.
A faint smiled touches his lips before he's drifting off, slumping further into her chest, against her hip, but for the near-unnoticeable twitches of his thigh each time she bottoms out, the slight breath forced out of him even as he falls deeper into sleep.
He wakes in the morning to her still inside him, hard again even in her sleep, and he kisses her to bleary awareness before returning the favor.