Sleeping Arrangements

Ginji always sleeps on the left-hand side of the bed. Ban isn't sure if this is due to their positioning during nights spent in the Ladybug, or if it's just a routine they appear to have developed over time, but it seems that that is the way it's always been.

Ginji also takes up three-quarters to four-fifths of the bed. Ban is accustomed to fitting his body into whatever space is left for him, around his partner's splayed limbs. His reptilian heritage comes in useful most nights. This is also the way it's always been.

And he also always sleeps in his stupid (too fucking cute) cow pyjamas. Always. Even on sweltering summer nights. Whenever Ban manages to persuade him to wash the godawful (they really are sickeningly adorable) things, Ginji will spend the entire day fretting about whether they'll be dry in time for bedtime. (The way he calls it "bedtime" is not in any way endearing)

This is almost as infuriating as the fact that he will still wear them, even if they're not completely dry. This never has any adverse effects on the blond, but almost always results in a cold for his partner.

And every night (or maybe morning), Ban will be woken up at some point by Ginji's hand curling into his vest over his stomach and Ginji's mouth pressed against his neck and Ginji's body too fucking close, and he'll have to remember how to breathe, while trying to disentangle himself from his partner. More often than not, he fails. But he never tries too hard.

Fortunately for Ban (and it is fortunate, he tells himself), they're usually too broke to afford a room (or indeed a bed), and invasion of personal space (however subconsciously welcome) is not a problem in the car, despite how small it is. Ginji almost always stays in his seat, apart from the odd leg, applied with an almost eerie precision to Ban's groin, stomach, and on one particularly spectacular occasion, his chin.

Occasionally, Ban will feel a hand creep into his, to entangle their fingers across the gap between their seats, but only occasionally, because Ginji definitely learned his lesson that time with the handbrake and the hill and the river.

One thing Ban always tries to do is be there when Ginji wakes up. They were both incredibly light sleepers in the beginning, back when the Get Backers were newly formed. Ginji has gradually become accustomed to sleeping more deeply and for longer than a couple of hours at a time. Ban, for some reason, has been unable to grow out of this habit, and still finds himself waking four or five times a night. This doesn't particularly bother him, because this is the only time he allows himself to look at Ginji for as long as he wants. Also, Ginji is never more adorable than when he's asleep, hair ruffled, cheeks red with sleep, hands tucked under his chin and not talking. Apart from those small, snuffling noises he makes occasionally. It's only when Ban realises that there's a stupid, sleepy grin on his face that he turns over and looks for the nearest solid object to ram his head through. But he's always there when Ginji opens his eyes, and he's always awake.

One night, soon after the purchase of the cow pyjamas, during a particularly wakeful spell, Ban had got out of the car to have a cigarette. He'd sat on the frosted ground, back against the car door, unwilling to leave Ginji looking particularly vulnerable (amongst other things – dammit, this is why he couldn't sleep) in his new nightwear.

Soothed by the stars, and the sight of anything that didn't involved a sleep-tousled-cow-Ginji, he'd stayed seated on the frozen ground, despite (in fact, it may have been because of) the growing numbness in his nether regions, and had eventually managed to drop off into an uneasy (and thankfully, dreamless) sleep.

He'd woken up to a cricked neck, his trousers frosted to the ground, and a frantic cry of "Ban-chan!?" from within the Ladybug.

Scrambling to his feet, devoid of his usual fluidity, he'd almost made it to his feet, when the car door had slammed open (onto his forehead), and Ginji had leapt out (onto…well, him), with another, happier cry of "Ban-chan! There you are! Where did you go? Why are you on the ground? Aren't you cold? Do you want to borrow my pajamas? They're nice and warm!"

Ban had managed an "Uuurngh…." through the pain in his head, and the awareness that the numbness in his lower regions was receding at an almost unhealthy speed and fuck, Ginji had actually taken his top off and was trying to jam it over his head ("You've gone all red, Ban-chan, are you too hot? I told you how warm my pyjamas were!").

He hadn't got any sleep that night.

So, the lesson learnt from that episode is: contrive to be in full view when Ginji wakes up. Failure to do so will result in possible concussion and no sleep for at least one night.

As far as Ban can see, he gains very little from sharing sleeping quarters with his partner. What little sleep he does get is often interrupted by Ginji drooling on him, kicking him, giving him mild brain-damage, pressing up to him in a most distracting manner, or generally radiating a sort of damp adorable-ness from the other side of the mattress. He really ought to just kick the blond, cow-clad moron out of bed and revel in all the extra space and the non-invasion-of-personal-space-ness.

But – here's the catch – he can't sleep at all when Ginji and his nightly shenanigans are more than a meter away. It's pathetic and sickening and slightly sado-masochistic, but there you have it. Some part of Ban needs Ginji's drool on his neck, needs Ginji's knee in his stomach, needs to see Ginji's damp cow pyjamas when he opens his eyes, needs Ginji's body to curl around, needs Ginji's hand in his across the handbrake on the nights it's too hot to be touching anywhere else.

Also, the fact that he's sharing a bed/car/random sidewalk with Ginji every single night happily ensures that no-one else is sharing a bed/car/random sidewalk with Ginji. Ever. Not that Ban would mind if Ginji was. It would just be incredibly inconvenient for him, since, for some strange reason, he can't sleep when Ginji and he's goddamn stupid pyjamas aren't around.

He reaches across the bed and grabs the nearest of Ginji's limbs (his left leg) and pulls. His partner tumbles easily into his arms, warm and pliant from sleep. "Ban-chaaan?" he yawns. Ban doesn't reply, just arranges himself so that Ginji's head is tucked under his chin. Ginji doesn't resist, curling into Ban's lanky body with a sigh.

So…this is nice. Ban probably won't get any sleep for the rest of the night, but at least he knows that Ginji is tucked under the chin of someone who isn't him. In addition, it seems that he now has more room on the bed, what with Ginji curled into a ball in his arms. Experimentally, he extends a leg. And another. Ginji doesn't seem to be displaying any signs of kicking him in a painful place for invasion of territory. In fact, he's making those snuffly noises again and endeavouring somewhat to climb into Ban's vest with him.

Well. He could get used to this.

Ban stretches luxuriously, and buries his nose in Ginji's thick golden hair. The bell on the cow pyjamas tinkles gently. Ginji's breathing is soft against his pulse, and he finds himself strangely, miraculously drifting off to sleep.

Please review, I have the feeling that this is the most incoherent piece of writing I've ever done, but I've read it so many times that I suspect I could have written utter gibberish (that's a wonderful word) and I just wouldn't notice. Bah.