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Karkat yawned. It wasn't his usual yawn, the massive, overdramatic bellow that was as much an expression of frustration as it was one of exhaustion, instead it was the quiet, unnatural sounding grumble of a typically noisy person trying as hard as they could to be quiet. He shifted a bit on the sleep slab, just enough to slightly tighten the covers arond him. It wasn't a recuperacoon by any means, but it was still comfortable, and it wouldn't actively get in the way of his sleeping. But then, he'd always had trouble falling asleep, especially after sgrub. He'd spent so much time forcing himself to be awake that he could only sleep once in a blue moon, and tonight the moon was looking defiantly white. Truth be told, he missed the moons of his homeworld; as nice as Earth was in many ways, he still longed for the pink and green. But then, as he felt an arm drape itself over his torso and pull him in close to the warmth at his side, he thought with a smile that he had found an infinitely better shade of green.
"Morning," she mumbled as she sleepily buried her face into his arm.
"Only technically," he retorted, and shifted onto his side to face her. "It's three. Go back to sleep, Jade." For all of Karkat's trouble sleeping, Jade's were the exact opposite. Even after her Serket-induced narcolepsy had cleared up, she was a focused, albeit easily roused, sleeper. Almost as soon as she hit the sheets she'd be snoozing, and she'd typically be the last one out of bed in the mornings (although Karkat objected to the use of "morning" to describe eleven-thirty).
Her response was a yawn that was even louder than Karkat's as she rubbed some sleep out of her eyes. "Nuh uh. You're up. I heard you." She wiggled her ears, causing Karkat to chuckle- he always thought it was adorable when she did that.
"I'm always up, Harley, you know that. You, on the other hand, need to sleep." She frowned at him, as much as she could when she was still mostly asleep, and stuck her tongue out. Karkat, in turn, merely snuggled a bit closer and kissed the tip of her nose. He was always extra affectionate when she was sleepy- sure there was a risk she'd remember and tease him about it later, but there was just as big of a chance that she'd forget (and secretly, he thought, even if she did tease him for it, it was worth it).
"You need to too," she murmured, but yawned again and closed her eyes. "Don't want you being all tired and grumpy later."
Karkat smiled, and rolled his eyes. "I promise I'll try to sleep if you go back to sleep."
"Good boy," she smiled, and kissed him. "Turn around. I wanna snuggle."
Karkat chuckled softly and obliged, letting Jade wrap her arms around him and press into his back, nuzzling her face into his hair. He knew that it meant he couldn't move without waking her up again, but he didn't mind too much- feeling her warmth was more than worth staying still for a few more hours. "Jade?"
"Mm?"
"I love you."
"Mm." She tightened her grip and kissed the back of his neck before her breathing slowed, and Karkat knew she was out like a light. With a smile, he thought about how even if he wasn't able to sleep, he was pretty damn lucky. He absolutely did not consider the fact that he didn't need to sleep since he was with his dream girl, and mentally kicked his past self for even thinking that he thought that, because that would be dorky and lame and embarrassing. Still, he thought, as silly as it may have been, it wasn't that far from the truth. Even though he doubted he'd actually sleep,so slowly,he had promised, so with his matesprit-slash-girlfriend's breath on his neck, her arms around his chest, and her heartbeat on his back, he closed his own eyes.
Eight hours later, when she woke up and quietly slipped out of bed, Jade didn't have the heart to wake him up. Instead she looked at his sleeping face, memorizing how peaceful he seemed, before kissing him on the nose, whispering "you dork," with a giggle, and quietly wandering off to the kitchen. Karkat, dreaming of a life he was living, smiled in his sleep.