Work Text:
Why was his head hurting so much?
Doc put the tool he was using down and backed up until his back was touching the wall behind him. He leaned against it for a moment. His heart was pounding hard in his chest. What was going on? How long has it been since the last time he had an actual good night sleep? Too long probably...
He had been trying to fix the Goat for hours now but the machine seemed unfixable. His calculations had been perfect today, and he smiled remembering that his plan went just like he imagined it would. He had had to destroy the Goat with one of the butterflies he built and had to act as if it wasn't planed just to give the buttercups the impression of a win. Now that the trio was convinced that they won, it will be peaceful. Long enough for him to find a plan at least. But for now he was trying to fix his own machine. Doc took large breaths just to cool his system down, it seemed to work.
Good enough, I'll just ignore the headache for now. Lets go back to work. He told himself.
As he picked up his tools again, memories from today flew back to his mind. A lot of things happened- a lot. From the robots to Scar's poisoned cookies (Of course, Scar didn't put enough buttercups in the biscuits for it to be actually bad for Doc, but they were still poisoned, how could he do such things?). Nothing ever escaped his calculations, and today's event wasn't an exception.
It was hard to be precise with the lack of sleep, but he just knew he couldn't go to bed and rest if he hadn't made any progress. That would be worse.
Doc might have misplaced something while he was in his thoughts because a TNT triggered itself and blew a large piece of the machine off. Fireworks could be heard in the distance, but Doc was so frustrated he didn't even heard it. The engineer punched into the metal with such force that the strong material bent under his fist. He stayed in the position for a brief moment. Brows furthered, bitting his own lips and clenchings his fists.
"Doc."
The soft voice almost made Doc jump out of his skin, not expecting anyone to be up that late. He turned to face the person who was standing in the door way of the structure he had been in for the last hours. The frustration seemed to magically vanish when his eyes met the ocean blue ones in the other side of the room.
Ren walked closer to him with a concerned look on his face. "What are you doing, my dude? It's three in the morning you should be resting." he said softly.
Ren took Doc's tight fists in his hands and the engineer immediately relaxed his fingers. Ren slowly ran his fingers over Doc's."What about you? You never stay up that late."
"Uhm sorry mister I asked first, you shall be answering me." Doc laughed quietly. Ren let go of his hands and brought his own up to grab Doc's face. The tension left his shoulders suddenly. He could give any project down if it was for Ren. And god was he glad to see him.
"Oh hi." Doc greeted. Ren sighed trying to sound annoyed but the smile on his face betrayed it. The dog hybrid bumped their heads together softly. "Ow."
"That didn't even hurt!" Ren complained amused. "Now answer me."
"You just made my day better" Ren looked at him desperate for an answer, Doc sighed and let his arms fell around the other's waist, pulling him closer. "I've been trying to fix the Goat, man. But I only broke it more. It's frustrating."
Ren wrapped his arms around the taller's neck as Doc rested his head on his shoulder. Ren passed a hand in the scientist's hair listening carefully to his satisfied sigh. "Come spend the night with me, just to drag you away from that place my dude."
Doc looked back at him "Ren I have to work and-"
Ren kissed him to shut him up. It was a soft and comforting kiss. "You worked enough already. You're gonna get crazy in here. Geez."
"But-"
"Shh!" This time he covered Doc's mouth with one of his fingers, the silence turned into giggles quicky "Come on, it will help change your mind." They locked eyes for a second before Doc finally nodded.
Ren's face lightened up and his ears perked up. "Let's go!" He's adorable.
"Lead the way."
Ren headed outside, and Doc looked back at the Goat. He felt his partner tug on his organic wrist. "What was I saying? You're matrixed by it."
He rolled his eyes playfully at that comment. He waited for Ren to turn around before poking at his side, right under the ribs. The shorter jumped and yelped at the action. Doc laughed and flew off as fast as he could, hearing Ren chasing after him. Looking at the ground below while flying in the air, he could swear he saw someone but he didn't pay attention to it. They raced until Ren's place.
When he landed, Ren almost instantly jumped on him. Doc caught him and realising his partner's feet were not touching the ground he started turning on himself. Ren was clenching on his shoulders but both of them were laughing. Doc finally let him down after a few seconds. Ren's smile was so bright, showing all of his teeth, his eyes sparkling and his tail flapping behind him. They were in love, and no one knew about it.
They didn't necessarily wanted to keep it a secret, they just hadn't have the time to tell anyone yet. They hadn't been dating for long. But they'd spent most of their time together since they became lovers. Neither of them had thought of telling others, they were both too focus on the little war going on against Grian, Scar and Mumbo. At first they were doing shifts in the spy hole under the buttercup's camp, one would stay in case a meeting occurred while the other could go do something else. But they ended up staying together under the camp anyway.
They headed inside, and they took a shower together. Ren had insisted on washing Doc's hair. And it felt so good, even helping relaxing him (not that he would ever admit that).
Doc sat on the bed while Ren was putting some of his stuff away. "You sure you don't mind me in your bed with you?" he asked, a little concerned.
Ren turned toward him. "No? Why would I? I wouldn't have come to get you otherwise."
Doc extended his arms and Ren got the hint. He happily took place in between his open legs. The taller's arms snaked around Ren's waist while the other let one of his hand rest on Doc's shoulder and the other in his hair, in-between his horns.
"Are you okay?" Ren asked hesitantly.
"You're here, I can't feel unwell."
Ren faced away, letting a soft pink invade his cheeks. "I mean, you know, are you sure you're okay?"
"Why are you asking?"
"I saw Etho this morning, he asked me if I knew why you weren't answering his messages." He sighed and continued, "And I answered that I didn't and he looked concerned so- what's so funny? " He stopped hearing Doc laughing at himself. He forgot Etho.
"I forgot to answer him." he starter after a few moments "He is the one who convinced me to confess and he told me to text him. He must have thought it went badly."
"Oh yeah, it went so bad you're my boyfriend now." Ren joked. "By the way, you're a terrible actor."
"You said you'd help me relax why are you so mean?" He was looking at him with amused eyes, and Doc sighed "I did my best. It worked for the buttercups. But it seems that no one can ever trick you like that."
"Especially not you."
Ren brushed Doc's still wet hair with his fingers. The scientist rested his head against his lover's chest.
"I calculated everything." he smiled.
"When do you not?" Ren's chest vibrated with his giggles. "You should text Etho."
"Later. I'm not letting you go."
"I'm not going anywhere."
And Doc didn't respond, he didn't know what to respond. He knew those simple words were far deeper than anyone else could think. For the first time someone was promising him to stay and that meant more than he could ever articulate.
"How did you know I was still awake?"
Ren laughed. The hand on his shoulder made its way to his face, leading his head up, so he could face him properly. He brushed some hair out of Doc's face.
"The eyes, they never lie." He whispered it like it was a secret.
"Ah, it betrayed me." he answered, lowering his head again. There was nothing he could do about it.
"It's hard to read in yours."
"How so?"
"You're hiding everything you can behind a facade." Doc listened carefully to him, despite not facing him. "Your robotic eye never told anyone about you. And others would say your organic one is just the same. But when you feel something strong, I can see it."
His arms tightened just a little bit more around him when he continued: "It wasn't all acting, you were still annoyed to destroy your own work. And you're the type of guy that won't sleep until you fix whatever you've broken." And he was right.
"I can't hide you anything, can I?" They locked eyes again.
"I don't think I can either." Ren lowered his ears and perked them again to prove his point. "There is no need to know me especially well to understand what I'm feeling."
Ren chuckled and smiled at him. He could stare at him until the end of times. Doc noticed his headache had faded "You soft painkiller."
"See? It's helping."
He moved away from him and ran out of the room. Doc had no idea what he was doing, but his absence was heavy and his arms empty. He didn't like that. When Ren entered the room a few minutes later, Doc hadn't move a bit. Ren handed a large bottle of water to him. "Drink."
Doc gave him a look before leading the container to his lips. He gulped most of it down, realising he had been thirsty for a while. Doc put the bottle on the side table and breathed a low "Thank you" and before he knew it, he couldn't see anything. Ren had placed one of his hands on top of his eyes, blocking his view. And when Doc tried to ask for his intentions, he felt a weird cold feeling on his lips.
"Ew, what are you doing?" Was he putting lipstick on him?
"Stop moving. It's lip balm, your lips were dry. It won't kill you." Ren giggled again. Doc was about to complain...
And he kissed him. Okay fine.
Ren removed his hand, and Doc was met with a beautiful satisfied smile. "Come to bed with me, no hidden meanings." He spoked, Doc smiled and rolled his eyes when Ren winked at him.
The light was shut off, and they moved into the large bed. Doc was lying on his back, a hand behind his head and this other resting on his stomach. He turned his head to look at his partner. Ren was laying on his side facing toward him, eyes closed and looking peaceful. He had untied his hair, and he looked really good when he did so. He's truly stunning. Sometimes he couldn't help but think what did someone like him could find in someone like me?
He looked back at the ceiling, and he lost himself in his thoughts. He started to think about the Goat and the way he could fix it. His mind was doing multiple things at the same times. He was like that. He could do multiple things at the same time. It's in his nature, he's an engineer. He was also thinking about his new project. He wanted to build a new board to replace Grian's "live laugh love" that he hated with everything he owned and everything he didn't.
He thought about the redstone he had to get done. The way he could connect the redstone of the board to--
"Stop thinking for a moment, will you?"
and he did.
Doc turned his head toward the source of the voice. Ren was looking at him with a soft smile. "You're not sleeping?" he asked, still a bit surprised to see him awake.
"You're not either."
Doc looked for words "I.. Sorry. " he didn't know what else to say.
Ren shuffled closer and Doc turned to face him. The taller leaned in for a kiss, and his lover quickly returned it before melting into it. He moved an arm to scratch behind Ren's ear, earing him sigh, pleased. Ren was so damn weak to physical touch it was crazy (and kind of adorable too). Ren took place against his chest. Doc let his arms wrapped themselves around him, and he held him close. The scientist couldn't resist brushing one of his hands in the other's hair. He noticed that they were still a little wet and totally untangled, a little more wavy than usual from the humitidy captured in them.
His mind was quiet. For the first time in a long time, his thoughts had been completely silenced. The only thing he could think about was the hybrid in his arms. Doc gently ran his fingers up and down Ren's back as a secret thank you. He listened to his partner's slow breath until his eyelids gave up and he fell straight into the abyss of sleep.
-
Doc woke up in a weird panic from a too realistic dream. He had forgotten were he was until he felt Ren move a little bit in his sleep. He smiled and took a look at his communicator, grabbing it from the side table. 6:31. In normal time he would probably have gotten out of bed but today he didn't. He sighed, burying his nose in Ren's hair, inhaling the mix of vanilla and wood scent. Doc squeezed him a little more, bringing him even closer.
He never fell asleep as easily.
-
When he woke up again, it was worth it. The curtains blocked most of the light, but the room was bright enough to let him see Ren's soft face. He was playing with Doc's hair, and Doc guessed he had been doing that while he waited for him to wake up. They stared at each other for a while before both smiling stupidly. Doc realised he felt rested. He slept and he had needed it for too long. He leaned onto his partner and kissed his forehead, then his cheek, then his nose then his other cheek, then his neck. He usually wasn't the tactile one, but he was so grateful and he didn't know how else to show it. Ren's laughter was bright and it lightened up the room a little more.
He could spend the rest of eternity in here as long as he had Ren by his side.
Doc reached for his communicator but Ren smacked his hand away.
"Stay." Ren knew deep down that Doc would probably head back if he was aware of how late it was. But he needed to rest more and in all honesty, Ren was happy where he was too.
"What time is it?" The scientist asked.
"Late. I'm not letting you go."
Doc smiled.
"I'm not going anywhere."