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Bad never really had what you would call a ‘good’ sleep schedule. Or really any sleep schedule at all.
Some nights he’d stay up till 2:00 a.m. and pass out before waking up around 1:30 p.m. the next day, sometimes he’d stay up until 6:00 a.m. and take a two hour nap and just go on with his day. Overall, his sleep was just all over the place and never consistent. However, lately things were starting to change, mainly because of Skeppy.
It was always Skeppy, wasn’t it?
Skeppy had begun to try to live a healthy life. He wouldn’t say that was bad , per say. Bad does want Skeppy to be healthy and happy of course, but with Skeppy having a strict eight hours of sleep a night and a nine o’clock bedtime? That was really cutting into his daily Skeppy time a lot. If Bad woke up late as usual that meant much fewer hours a day that he could even talk to Skeppy, and Skeppy was a busy guy so Bad didn’t even get all that time for just the two of them.
It…wasn’t working for Bad, to say the least.
It apparently wasn’t working for Skeppy either as Skeppy had begun to whine and pester Bad to fix his sleep schedule and have a decent one with him. Bad had resisted at first. After all, he loved being awake at night, especially since a lot of his other friends were either also night owls or in other countries and only available at odd hours per his own time zone. However, it didn’t take too long for Bad to finally break and agree to try to fix his sleep schedule. He was simply too Skeppy deficient to say no any longer.
So he tried for a good few weeks to just go to bed at a reasonable time. He’d say goodnight to Skeppy and tell him that he would go to bed within the hour. But things always seemed to come up. Something that needed to be worked on, an issue on Munchy that needed to be resolved, or a friend that needed help or advice or just wanted to chat, and well…Bad wasn’t very good at saying no to those things. So while his nights got a bit earlier, he definitely still wasn’t where Skeppy was.
Then Skeppy had proposed an idea.
“What if we just do sleep calls?” Skeppy said out of the blue one day after a recording.
“Wha-Wait, what?” Bad had stuttered, taken aback by the seemingly random idea.
“You know, since you have such a hard time sticking to a good schedule.” Skeppy teased, and Bad could hear him shuffle stuff around like he was nervous. Why would he be nervous? “If we did sleep calls every night -or, like, most nights- then we could keep each other accountable to a good night's sleep and everything.”
“Oh, like, fall asleep on call?” Bad questions, feeling…odd. Maybe a bit flustered. But why would he feel flustered? They had fallen asleep on call before, more times than Bad could care to count in their three years of friendship, but they had never planned it like this before. It somehow felt more intimate this way. Meaningful in a way Bad couldn’t voice.
“Yeah, like we can just chat and lay in our beds and go to sleep like that. Maybe you can tell me stories too, that should put me to sleep.” Skeppy teased lightheartedly.
Bad scoffed at that. “Oh, my stories are boring Mr. ‘I'm gonna tell Bad about every time I go play tennis even though nothing crazy happens ever’?”
“Okay, for one, there was that time that kid thought I was you, that was funny!” Skeppy countered, “And two, I was gonna compliment you but if you’re gonna be like that maybe I shouldn’t!”
“No! Skeppy, I’m sorry, I was just kidding!” Bad exclaimed, pouting. “You started memeing first anyway.”
“Hm, nope. You’re just being mean, meanboyhalo. No more compliments for you.”
“Skeppy, come on…” Bad whined, before sighing when he got no immediate response. “I promise, I like you telling me about your constant tennis matches that you do like every day. I mean, you do always sound excited about them, so it does make it a bit more exciting to me too, okay?”
There was a pause before Skeppy quietly asked. “You mean that?”
“Yes, I mean it.” Bad told him, rolling his eyes fondly.
“You really like my tennis stories?”
“I love your tennis stories, Skeppy.” Bad reassured him.
“Hmmm…” Skeppy hummed. “Okay, I believe you. I guess I’ll say what I was going to say before you were mean about my stories-”
“Hey! I was just teasing-!”
“What I was going to say is I really like listening to your voice. It’s soothing and like, calming, so I think it might, you know…help me sleep better.”
“Oh.” Bad mumbled, fighting back a grin, and that certainly made him flustered didn’t it? Skeppy had a talent for just coming out with some of the sweetest things Bad had ever heard said about him like it was nothing, like it was just true , and it never failed to fill him with a warm, giddy feeling. “That’s…that’s really nice, Skeppy. Thank you. You have a really nice voice too.”
“You think so?” Skeppy asked softly.
“Yeah, I do.” Bad replied genuinely.
“So do you want to try it? The sleep calls?” Skeppy asked him.
Bad smiled. “Yeah, I think I do.”
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It was half past eleven p.m. and Skeppy was supposed to call soon. Bad had gotten everything ready, gotten into a comfortable hoodie (his signed Skeppy hoodie from forever ago) and some sweatpants, ate a snack, brush his teeth and finally sat on his bed, followed quickly by a curious and confused Rat as she tried to figure out why they were going to bed so early.
It had been odd to be getting ready for bed so early. George and Quackity had invited him to be on stream with them later that night and when he had told them he was going to be going to sleep before then they had started teasing him, calling him an old man. At that point all he could say was he had something to do early the next day because he knew very well from experience that if he even mentioned Skeppy he’d be teased for days on end about being obsessed with him.
So what if he was a little obsessed with Skeppy? Was it so bad to be obsessed with the one person that he clicked with so well? The person that at times seemed to read his mind while others questioned what on earth he was talking about? The person that he never had to put on an act for and yet still never gets bored of him?
To him it just seemed natural to be a little obsessed with someone as perfect as Skeppy.
Finally, his phone rang. Bad answered it immediately, not letting it ring more than once.
“Hi, Skeppy!”
“Hey Bad,” Skeppy greeted, “You don’t sound very sleepy.” He mentioned, laughing.
Bad blushed. “I’m just…I guess I feel a little anxious?…it’s just a different way to go to bed than I’m used to so it’s a little…”
“Weird?” Skeppy offered.
“Not weird.” Bad corrected. “Just different. But not bad different, just different , you know?”
“Yeah, I get you.” Skeppy told him. “It does feel different . Do you still wanna try it or…?”
“Yeah, of course!” Bad told him enthusiastically. “I’m not super sleepy though, so I’ll probably fall asleep after you.”
“That sounds like a challenge.” Skeppy said, voice playful. “How about we tell each other bedtime stories until we fall asleep, and whoever falls asleep first loses?”
Bad perked up at that. “What does the loser have to do? Or are you just gonna give me a thousand dollars when I win?”
“ When you win? You are definitely not gonna win!” Skeppy exclaimed. “But the stakes are…hmmm…” He paused to think. “How about loser has to buy the winner breakfast in the morning?”
“Okay, deal! You’re gonna have to buy me so many muffins, Skeppy.” Bad proclaimed, grinning widely.
“Nope! I’m gonna make you buy me all the chocolate chip muffins I can eat!” Skeppy laughed. “Now get comfy so we can go to bed already!”
Bad made a noise of agreement, getting up to shut off the lights and then made his way back to the bed, pulling back the blanket and gently getting in to lay down, careful not to disturb Rat where she was laying on his pillow.
“Are you laying down yet?” Bad asked once he was settled.
“Yep, I’m nice and comfy and tired,” Skeppy told him. “Oh, wait a minute.” Bad heard some shuffling on the other side for a moment. “Okay, can you still hear me?” Skeppy asked, sounding a little more far away but still loud enough to hear clearly.
“Yeah, you’re good. What’d you do?”
“I put the phone on speaker and set it down on my pillow so I can relax,” Skeppy explained, yawning.
“Oh, that’s a good idea.” Bad moved to put his own phone on speaker before doing the same, laying back further into his pillows. He could just barely hear tiny noises of breathing and moving from Skeppy and it was…oddly comforting. It’s like he could feel Skeppy close to him, even though logically he knew they were a plane ride away from each other.
“Do you wanna start with a story or should I?” Skeppy spoke quietly, like he was trying not to disturb the calm that had settled over them.
“I’ll start.” Bad told him in a soft voice, pulling the blanket up to his neck. “Okay, so once upon a time there were two little duckies and the two little duckies lived near a bridge…”
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Before Bad knew it, it was the next morning. He cracked his eyes open and stretched his muscles out, yawning. He felt more rested than he had in a long time. He smiled as he thought of Skeppy’s stories from the night before, all so nice, like hot cocoa and a warm blanket on a rainy day with how comforting it was. He giggled quietly, thinking of Skeppy’s over dramatic voice he put on during his story last night and how well… cute it was.
“Bad? You still there?” Skeppy’s groggy morning voice came through the phone, interrupting Bad’s thoughts.
“Yeah, I just woke up.” Bad murmured back.
“Hmmm, good.” Skeppy said in that lovely rough sleepy voice he always has when he just wakes up. “You gotta buy me breakfast now.”
“Noooo,” Bad denied, thinking back to if he even remembered who had fallen asleep first but coming up blank.
“Yeah you do,” Skeppy insisted, and Bad could hear the smile in his voice. “You totally fell asleep first. Get me some muffins Badboy.”
Bad groaned, acting much more annoyed than he actually was. “Fine, fine. I’ll order you some muffins, you muffinhead.”
“Good,” Skeppy said, making a happy noise. “I slept pretty well, how about you?”
“I slept great,” Bad told him, smiling and looking over at Rat as she stretched and blinked at him, “I think Lucy did too, didn’t you Lucy?” He asked in a cutesy voice, earning a whine from Rat.
“Aww, Lucy…” Skeppy mumbled sleepily, making his own attempts at barks which only encouraged Lucy to repeat them back.
“Skeppyyy,” Bad whined, “Stop being a bad influence on poor Rat.”
“I’m not being a bad influence, I’m just encouraging her to express herself,” Skeppy retorted easily.
“It’s gonna be awful when you’re here,” Bad declared, “You’re gonna encourage all her bad behavior.”
“No, I’ll be a great influence! She’s gonna love me as much as you do.” Skeppy told him confidently. Bad shook his head, fighting down a blush.
“I-you-whatever, I guess we’ll see when you get here.” Bad deflected, trying to ignore the fluttering in his stomach as he thought about Skeppy, here with him and getting along with Rat like he always hoped.
“Mhmm,” Skeppy murmured, “Soon, right?”
“Yes, soon, you muffinhead.” Bad told him, grabbing his phone and opening a delivery app, “Now, do you want your muffins or not?”
“Of course! Fourteen muffins please, Badboy.”
Bad rolled his eyes fondly at that but got on with ordering, Skeppy’s address already set in the app from previous times he’d taken his turn buying Skeppy food and making the whole process quick and easy.
“There, muffins should be there in about half an hour,” Bad announced, only getting a faint hum of acknowledgment before:
“So, uh, do you wanna do this again tonight?” Skeppy asked, “Or do you think it’s like, not your thing?”
“Oh, I mean…” Did Bad want to continue it? It was nice, obviously, and led Bad to feeling more refreshed and relaxed than he had in a long time but would it be risky? It felt like once again toeing that fine line between what friends do and what couples do and Bad worried that if he toed that line a little too much he would fall over the edge with no one there to catch him.
Skeppy certainly could do this all just fine, not a care in the world, because Skeppy didn’t feel like Bad feels and didn’t have to worry about falling even deeper like Bad did, that much Bad was sure of. Well, pretty sure of.
“Bad?” Skeppy prodded, sounding hopeful and nervous and…God, Bad knew the answer before it fell out of his mouth.
“Yeah, Skeppy. We can keep it going.”
After all, it’s not as if he wouldn’t keep falling deeper for Skeppy anyway.
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From then on, they had begun to do mostly nightly sleep calls, with the only exceptions being the times when Bad wanted to do a later night stream or Skeppy had something he needed to do, but even those times had become rarer and rarer as they both seemed to be eager to spend these nights together. It was nice, Bad thought, and left him more energetic and well rested than perhaps any other time in his life. Even his fans had noticed the change in him and had started to speculate, most thinking that it had to have something to do with Skeppy.
The most interesting thing, perhaps, that had come from it is that Bad began to find it near impossible to sleep on the nights that their schedules didn’t line up.
He would try for hours to drift off, trying every sleep remedy that wasn’t total pseudo-science that he could find on the internet before usually giving up and going to chat with friends and ending up exhausted the next day.
The only thing that had worked was when he, after three hours of fitful sleep, had gotten the idea of putting on a Skeppy video and it had worked . Admittedly, not as well. There was such a distinct difference between how soft Skeppy sounded when it was just them versus his energetic and excited persona. Both are wonderful, but Bad held precious the Skeppy that lacked that persona, that was just himself and that's it. That, like Bad, didn’t need to perform in that moment and could just be .
Bad considered asking Skeppy to record himself telling some stories so he could play them on those nights, just for himself, but he knew while Skeppy would probably do it Bad would never hear the end of it.
Speaking of Skeppy, said muffinhead was finally calling him (‘finally’ being a whole five minutes late) and Bad quickly answered.
“Hiii Skeppy,” Bad greeted happily.
“Hey, Bad! I have a great story for tonight!”
Bad layed back, cuddling up with Rat and getting settled like normal. “Oh yeah? So you want to start?”
“Yes!” Skeppy told him, immediately launching into an overly detailed story about a tennis match from earlier that day, his excited tone making Bad smile. He could feel himself start to drift off pretty quickly, soothed by Skeppy’s voice and Rat’s snores from beside him.
“And then I hit this totally incredible backhand shot and he basically couldn't come back at that point since I’m so much better at tennis than him anyway so…” Skeppy’s voice drifted off as he paused for a moment.
“Bad?” Skeppy murmured quietly. “You awake?” Bad considered answering, but he was so comfortable and warm, and he could feel his mind slipping into sleep, so he just let himself be quiet and breathe. Certainly if Skeppy had something important to say he wouldn’t speak so soothingly.
“Bad?” Skeppy tried again, voice a whisper. After another moment, he went on. “I just wanted to say…I think you’re really cute.” Skeppy breathed. “Like, every day I almost can’t believe how cute you are, both how you look and just everything you do.”
Bad’s eyes snapped open, and he could feel his face heat up with a blush. Was this a test? To see if Bad had fallen asleep? Why would Skeppy feel the need to whisper such nice things about Bad if he thought he was asleep and couldn’t hear him?
“And you’re always so sweet,” Skeppy continued, “Like, I really thought eventually you’d stop being so sweet and great all the time but that’s just how you actually are all the time and it just makes me…” Skeppy let out a laugh, “Dude you make me feel like a fucking middleschooler, blushing over their first crush. Like, I haven't felt like this for someone in…well ever!”
All Bad could do was listen and hold his breath. Was this a dream? Had he somehow fallen asleep without realizing and his mind was creating the scenario he wanted so badly? Was it weird that he kept listening, if this really wasn’t a troll and Skeppy was saying all of this thinking Bad wouldn’t be able to hear him?
“You’re just…really great.” Skeppy said, the tone in his voice going soft and sweet. “I really like you, Bad. And I don’t know if I’ll ever get the guts to tell you that I have feelings for you beyond friendship when you’re actually awake, but some practice can’t hurt, can it?” Skeppy laughed, “Ugh, I really wish you were actually next to me right now. I don’t think I’d ever be sad again if I had you here.”
And dang, did that make Bad want to cry.
“Do you mean all of that?” Bad couldn’t help but ask, voice thick with emotion and he giggled when he heard a loud scream and thud in response. “Are you okay?”
“BAD?!” Skeppy asked, clearly shocked and far from his phone. More shuffling could be heard before Skeppy spoke again, closer now. “You-uh, when did you wake up? You surprised me! Because I-I thought you were sleeping already so…”
“No, I wasn’t sleeping,” Bad admitted to him. “I was listening to your story and then you started to say all these other things and I, well…” Bad trailed off.
“But I-I literally asked if you were awake!” Skeppy mentioned, voice raising in agitation. “I always ask and you didn’t answer so I thought-why didn’t you answer then?”
“‘You always ask’?” Bad repeated breathlessly, locked on that and ignoring the rest. “Have you been saying things like this alot?”
“Oh my God, I’m such an idiot, why did I say that…” Skeppy mumbled to himself and wow, wasn’t it just like Skeppy to accidentally say exactly what Bad had been hoping to hear for years now. Bad couldn’t help the giggle that escaped him.
“You’re laughing?!” Skeppy exclaimed, letting out a laugh of his own when he heard Bad. “You’re here, laughing at my pain?”
“Not your pain,” Bad told him, “Just, how do you accidentally say things like that? Skeppy you’re so…” Bad trailed off.
“‘So’ what?”
“So adorable.” Bad said simply, feeling warm and fluttery. “Even when you mess up you say the sweetest things, how are you real?”
There was a pause on the other end and Bad let the silence go on for a bit, allowing Skeppy to take in his words.
“You-uh, really?” Skeppy questioned, stilted. He clearly wanted reassurance and well, Bad was definitely willing to give him it.
“Yes, really. Did you know I can’t sleep without these calls now?”
“Yeah?” Skeppy asked, voice faint.
“Yeah, like…I got so used to listening to your voice when I’m falling asleep that I can’t even go without it anymore,” Bad explained to him, “You’re just a staple in my life that I can’t live without anymore. You have been for a long while now.”
“I can’t either,” Skeppy admitted, “Sleep, I mean. Without you on call. And I can’t imagine my life without you in it, either. I thought…I thought it was just me.”
“It’s not,” Bad told him, “I feel just like you do…with everything you said. I wish I had just told you earlier but I just assumed that you didn’t…I just, I love you so much, Skeppy.”
“I love you too, Bad,” Skeppy replied, voice delirious and soft and so lovely. It was wonderful, finally being able to tell eachother they love each other and knowing they were on the same page. “You’re only making me want to see you even more, now. Maybe then I can finally kiss you.”
Bad face flushed red at that, “Oh? Heh-um…” He stuttered nervously.
“If you want to, of course…” Skeppy clarified anxiously.
“Yes!” Bad agreed excitedly, before modilating his voice to something a bit more casual. “Uh, I mean, yeah, I’m okay with that.”
Skeppy giggled in response, “You’re such a dork, Bad.” He told him, and with how happy Skeppy sounded it felt like the nicest compliment Bad had ever gotten.
“You are too,” Bad retorted, pausing for a moment and thinking if he really wanted to say the next words but it finally, finally felt like the right time. “Are you free tomorrow?”
“Hmm?” Skeppy murmured, sounding a little confused at the seeming subject change. “Yeah, I should be free. You wanna hang out? Maybe we can do a little Minecraft date.” He proposed, half teasing and half serious.
“How about a real date?” Bad offered, heart pounding. “I know a place in my town, I can take you to dinner if you just…fly over?”
There was silence on the line for a few long moments before Skeppy let out a small yelp of pain.
“Skeppy? How did you hurt yourself again?” Bad asked him in disbelief.
“I pinched myself, just to make sure I didn’t fall asleep and dream all of this.” Skeppy’s breathless and awed tone making Bad laugh. “You’re serious? I can fly to see you tomorrow?”
“Yes, I’m serious. I did promise you that dinner.”
A shout of excitement sounded loudly through the phone before shuffling started on the other line, frantic and excited and after only a few minutes Skeppy made a happy noise. “Okay, done!”
“Done with what?”
“Got my plane ticket!” Skeppy announced, “Couldn’t get one earlier than eight in the morning but that’s okay, it’s a nonstop so it shouldn’t be much longer than six hours and-I just can’t wait to see you, Bad!”
“Oh my goodness, you couldn’t wait a moment could you?” Bad teased softly. It felt so nice, knowing Skeppy was so excited to see him. That Bad was special enough to someone as special as Skeppy that he wasted not a moment to come see Bad. “But first, we really do need to get some sleep or we’ll both be dead on our feet by the time you arrive tomorrow.”
“If we’re tired when I arrive, do I get to cuddle with you and take a nap?” Skeppy asked slyly, “Cause if that’s the case, maybe I don’t want to sleep…”
Bad shook his head fondly, “How about I promise you cuddles tomorrow if you sleep tonight?”
“Deal.” Skeppy agreed instantly, and Bad had the feeling that he fell right into his plan. “But you have to tell the bedtime story now.”
“Hmm, I think I’ve got the perfect story actually,” Bad began knowingly, grinning, “Okay, once upon a time there were two duckies, and these two duckies were in love, but they didn’t know it yet…”
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