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Eddie woke up cold.
Grunting, he fumbled around for his bed covers, realising he had none over him. He couldn’t find them.
Trying not to wake up too much, desperate to stay in the realm of sleep, Eddie rolled over and reached across the bed. His fingers hit a warm, soft lump.
Buck.
Of course.
Buck always stole the covers, wound up wrapped in them, hugging himself in a cocoon of slumber.
Irritated, Eddie grabbed the edge of the blankets and tugged. He managed to get a foot of the quilt in his fist, but when he pulled, it didn’t budge. Buck made a sleepy murmur and curled tighter into himself.
“Fuck’s sake,” Eddie muttered. He yanked again, and finally got somewhere; Buck gave into the pressure and rolled over, releasing a good amount of blankets—but he sprawled out and gave Eddie a hard kick in the shins as he stretched across the bed. “Unh!” Eddie grunted, and used his leg to push Buck’s back.
It didn’t work. Buck stretched in his sleep and his leg kicked Eddie again, before he bent his knee up and rolled half onto his belly.
Afraid of that knee catching him somewhere sensitive, Eddie jerked backwards and nearly rolled off the bed.
Righting himself, Eddie muttered some unhappy swear words in Spanish, and tucked the blankets around himself, hoping to get back to sleep.
Beside him, face smushed against the pillow, mouth open, Buck began to snore. It wasn’t a loud snore, but soft and just as grating.
Snapping his eyes open, Eddie gaped through the midnight gloom, the soft bleed of light from the streetlamps beyond the drawn curtains cutting Buck’s shape in silhouette. “Are you kidding me?”
Reaching out, Eddie clamped his mouth over Buck’s mouth, and then wrenched it away, cringing—his hand was covered in saliva and Buck was drooling into his pillow.
Screwing his eyes shut, Eddie shook his head into his own pillow and mumbled, “This is beyond a joke.”
Sighing, he tried to ignore the rasping snores, to absorb them as white-noise in the background of his mind, and go back to sleep. It was no good. Buck’s snorting breaths were unevenly paced and just erratic enough to be out-and-out noise.
Eddie pulled his pillow over his head and groaned, but it did nothing to lessen the sound.
Rolling his head against the mattress, Eddie flipped onto his back and tossed the pillow to the floor. Staring up at the ceiling, he wondered what the hell he was doing. It had been so many years since he had shared a bed with someone, before Shannon had left, and even when they were together, he had found it harder to share with her than he found the distance when they were apart.
Maybe he was just someone who couldn’t share a bed. Especially with someone like Buck, who hogged the covers and sprawled across the entire mattress, who snored and drooled like a bulldog.
Wondering if he should get up and go clamber into bed with Christopher—probably not—or crawl onto the couch just so he could get some damn sleep, Eddie was surprised when Buck suddenly gasped and coughed and spluttered awake beside him.
“Eddie?” he whispered, sliding one hand across the bed to reach for him. “Where are you?”
“Here,” Eddie murmured, placing his hand over Buck’s wrist.
“Why’re you so far away?” Buck mumbled, wriggling towards him.
“’Cause you’re taking over the bed again.”
“Hm?” Buck rolled onto his back and Eddie heard the slide of his limbs as he stretched across the bed, looking for the edge of the mattress. “Oh. Sorry, honey.”
Buck scooted across the bed, rolled onto his side to face Eddie and snatched at him again.
Sighing, Eddie crawled back into his space on the bed, and smiled when Buck curled one arm around him, a broad hand pressing between his shoulder blades to pull him closer. He shuffled against Buck’s warmth, their chests touching lightly as Buck hooked his chin over Eddie’s head and snuggled into him.
Eddie could smell his own soap on Buck’s skin from their shared shower that evening, and that warm, homey smell that was pure Buck. He tucked his face against Buck’s neck and pressed his mouth idly against Buck’s collarbone, biting him vaguely, letting his teeth sit against the bone for a moment before kissing Buck gently and relaxing into his hug.
“Don’t drool in my hair,” Eddie murmured.
Buck rubbed his face against the pillow. “Was I drooling, too?”
“Mhm. And snoring. You’re the worst.”
Yawning, Buck cuddled him close, hoisting the blankets and tucking them around Eddie’s shoulders. “Sorry,” he whispered again. “Have you slept?”
“Not enough,” Eddie said, teasingly. But he hooked his arm around Buck, holding him warm and close as they settled against one another.
As sleep finally began to drag at the edges of Eddie’s mind again, he had to admit not everything about sharing a bed was annoying.