behave, it's bedtime baby (Patreon)

it is late and you should already be in bed but of course, you’ve been avoiding it, stretching out the night like maybe if you just don’t stop moving, sleep won’t catch up to you. i don’t let you. i pull you into bed, wrapping you up against me, i can feel the way you soften even as you try to resist, like you want to fight it but your body already knows better. i take my glasses off first then yours, setting them aside without thinking, my fingers brushing against the clasp of your collar, waiting, offering, but you shake your head. you want it on tonight. i nod, pulling the blankets over you, letting you sink into the warmth, but you are still testing, shifting against me, pushing just enough to see if i will let you. i don’t. i make sure you behave, the way i always do, steady, patient, until you stop squirming and just let go. and then, finally, when the fight has faded, when you are small and quiet and just here, you let something slip, something uncertain, something i won’t let sit in your mind for too long. i remind you how much i love you, how much i see you, want you, need you, until there’s nothing left to question, to doubt, til all that’s left is the slow rhythm of your breathing against my chest. then and only then does your body relax, your fingers curl against my skin, and you finally drift off, safe where you belong.