Sleep is Only Scary at Night

Fool Me Once

Tord stares at the ceiling of his tiny bedroom. Well, it wasn't actually tiny, but it felt tiny like this. When the darkness takes up a good 80% of the room it feels like he's suffocating.

His breaths came out forced and slow, like a part of him believed that if he breathed too loud something would "get him"

His eyes were heavy yet his limbs remained tense, Tord had grown used to the feeling, having experienced it almost every night for the past few days or so.

Slowly, as Tord stared foreward at nothing, the sun starts to stream through his window. Great, another sleepless night, as if he's suprised.

He groans as he drags himself out of bed. At the very least, he could as least watch some TV while he waited for the others to wake up.

And that's exactly what he did, first to wake up was Edd, who usually made breakfast for everyone, so he got up early.

"Morning, Tord," Edd smiled, Tord just gestured vaguely in his direction. His roommates had gotten used to Tord "waking up" first, so Edd didn't question anything about Tord's behavior.

Shortly after Edd woke up was Matt, who got up early to do his hair every morning so Tord didn't see him until Edd called everyone for breakfast.

It only took an hour for it to be time though, "Breakfast!" Edd yells, already on his way to Tom's room because Tom never woke up on time, and was too deep a sleeper to wake up to Edd's yelling.

Tord sighed, slowing dragging himself off the group couch and over to the dining table, 4 piles of waffles sat on paper plates, powdered sugar, maple syrup, and a small bowl of berries sat in the middle of the table. 2 plates had cups of coffee, 1 spot had tea, and the final had a can of cola.

Matt emerged first, sitting at the plate with tea, he was already high energy. He always slept well and woke up high energy. Tord sometimes hated him for that.

Tord had already eaten half a waffle when Edd drags Tom out of his room. He somehow looks more exhausted than Tord, but that only lasts until he gets some coffee in him.

"How'd you sleep, Edd?" Matt asks with a smile.

"pretty good," Edd nods, "I'm guessing you got a good sleep?"

"Yep!" Matt smiles. Matt and Edd continue to talk through their full mouthes, Tord is too exhausted to complain about them, but he can tell that Tom on the verge of exploding, and he's excited.

Tom rarely got mad at any of his roommates anymore, but Tord can tell he got a particularly bad sleep last night, not as bad as Tord, but bad.

Tord stares straight ahead at the black-eyed man, watching him become more fidgety, he starts blink quickly, his lips go taut, and Tord takes a moment to think about the fact that, frankly, Tom isnt that unattractive.

Tord usually avoids these kinds of thoughts, but he's sleep deprived enough to not give a shit. Plus, he's got a hot jawline, it's square, yet soft, and he's sitting with his cheek squished into his hand and it's upsettingly adorable, his eyelids droop down sleepily and Tord catches himself almost smiling at that.

Before Tord can admire anymore, he's reminded of why he started staring at the brit in the first place.

"Will you two just shut the fuck up? Jesus christ! I can't get one moment of peace and quiet in this fucking hellhole!" Tom yells, standing up quickly, "I'm going to my room! Don't. fucking. talk to me." and does exactly as he said he was going to.

Matt stared straight foreward with wide eyes, Edd shifts uncomfortably, and Tord finishes his meal in comfortable, awkward silence.

Tord spends a few hours on his computer, his blinks are lasting longer, yet no matter how hard he tries, he isn't falling asleep. It's awful. But what's worse, is the amplified sound through the wall.

"Fucking Tom..." Tord grumbles, of all times to play the god damn bass, now?

Tord tell himself that he's gonna be chill, he's just gonna hang out in his room. Tom is still hot from this morning, it's best to just stay calm and...

Wait. When did he get in front of Tom's bedroom door?

"God, what do you fucking want, Edd? I told you to fucking leave me alone!" Tom shouts from inside.

Tord sighs and decided to commit, "It's not Edd, and I want you to play your stupid bass a little quieter!"

There's a moment of silence, and suddenly Tom's standing in the doorway.

It's totally silent, The two are making some serious eye contact.

Tom's the one to break the silence after what felt like an hour, as if he just realized something, "When was the last time you slept?"

"Um..." Tord pauses, "Last night,"

"Bullshit," Tom laughs, "You um...wanna come hang out? I can't stand the other two right now,"

"I thought you told us all to leave you alone," Tord teases, but takes him up on the offer and shuffles by Tom into the room.

"Shut it, commie," Tom laughs, closing the door behind him.

Tord glances around before taking a seat on Tom's bed, which his bass is sat on, and in a sleepy daze, Tord fingers at the strings messily.

"How do you even play this thing? there's only four strings," Tord mumbles.

"You put your fingers on the frets to get different notes," Tom says, sitting down next to Tord and wrapping the guitar strap around himself.

Tord hums softly, barely listening as he stares at Tom's hands while Tom explained more for a while, any time between 5 and 20 minutes, Tord can't tell.

"Play me something," Tord suddenly blurts in the middle of Tom's sentence.

"Seriously? I thought you came in here telling me to stop," Tom laughs.

"Shut up, if you know so much, and you're so good at this, then prove it to me, Mr. Professional Bassist," Tord waves his hand dismissively.

Tom rolls his eyes, starting to pluck out something vaguely familiar to Tord, it's some song he's heard through the walls a million times.

Tom starts humming some mumbled version of the lyrics. The way Tom's fingers move in a loop is almost hypnotic.

Tord's eyes start dropping again, but he's sure he won't fall asleep, he hasn't so far, what makes this different?

====================

Tord suddenly wakes up in his room, he glances out the window and it's black out, yet he feels good, he feels refreshed, he feels like he got a full nights rest.

Tord slowly sits up to stretch and sees a paper on his bedside table, he unfolds it to see

"You passed out on me in the middle of the song, commie. Guess I was cozy. Hope you rest well!

xoxo Tom"

Tord rolls his eyes, ignoring the smile that threatens at his mouth.

Oh well, at least now he'll be able to sleep.