Work Text:
Their fight had been stupid.
David knew it was stupid the very minute he went off on Neil, but he couldn’t stop himself. His day had been awful: the twins were cranky, he was stuck in damned LA traffic for more than an hour, and being followed around by paparazzi the whole afternoon didn’t help to improve his mood, either. Neither did the fact that when they wanted to drive to the party (well, not so much wanting from David’s side, actually he just wanted to curl up in front of the TV and sulk, but they had promised to show their faces weeks ago), the nanny was late.
He can’t even remember what Neil was saying that made him go off like he had. Honestly, Neil had been his usual charming, hilarious self – but David couldn’t stand it when they were in the car. Maybe he just needed to vent. And for whatever reason, he had taken it out on Neil. Needless to say that they were both in a bad mood when they finally reached the venue (after being stuck in traffic again, no less). They smiled for the cameras as best as they could at the entrance before they ignored each other for the rest of the night. They didn’t even go home together: When Neil wanted to leave, David wasn’t ready to stop sulking and ignoring his fiancé yet. He had taken a cap two hours after Neil’s departure.
Now he was in bed, lying next to Neil, and couldn’t sleep. Because he knew their fight was stupid and today’s annoyances weren’t the other man’s fault at all, because he knew that gossip about his public sulking would be in every single bitchy tabloid tomorrow (accompanied by outrageous theories about break-ups and custody fights, he was sure of it) and lastly, but oddly primarily, because he just couldn’t stand going to sleep with Neil being mad at him. Communication was one of the cornerstones of their relationship, trying to talk things out and not going to bad mad at each other a principle, and frankly: He just wasn’t used to fights that last longer than five minutes anymore. But here he was, trying to go to sleep and listening to Neil’s steady breathing. He was half-sure that his fiancé was sleeping (when he finally came home and crept into their bedroom and bed, David asked if he was awake and cautiously put a hand on Neil’s shoulder, but got no reaction at all), but the guy was an actor and able to fake sleep, and probably talented enough to even fool him, for god’s sake.
David had no idea how long he was lying on his back, listening to Neil’s breathing and staring in the dark, not daring to just cuddle up to the warm body beside him like he usually did, with his thoughts getting more and more gloomy every minute (What if he had pushed it too far? What if Neil was too angry to accept his apology in the morning? What if they wouldn’t make up this time? What if..?), when the tears came. David knew he was being stupid – despite tonight’s spat, their relationship was still going strong – but he couldn’t help it. He felt lonely and frustrated and the tears just came. For a minute he contemplated leaving the room in order not to wake Neil, but couldn’t bring himself to leave their bed (it usually was his safety place, after all), so he just turned to his side, pulled his cushion over his head and tried to sob as quiet as possible.
He had almost cried himself to sleep when suddenly strong arms wrapped around him and he was pulled into a warm embrace and soft kisses were pressed against his neck, and there was Neil’s voice, rough from sleep and worried:
“How long have you been home, Davie? Should have woken me up... I hate going to sleep without kissing you goodnight.”