How to Make a Sinner Sleep - Chapter 22: Chapter 22

The insomnia came expectedly, dragging out his nights into painful, delirious moments of conscious. The shadows blended together and moved with the sway of his mind, creeping closer in the dark.
His eyes felt heavy, a painful force shutting his eyes that were unable to find rest. Because every time he closed them, all he felt was the weight of blood coating his hands.
The relieved smile of an abuser, freed from his sin of living.
Kaden curled up in his blankets, tugging his knees in to make himself feel smaller, more secure. Arlo had been delivered to Reed for an examination—the man had insisted, and Kaden couldn't disobey.
The child had peered at him fearfully, shying away from the other, tucking his small body behind Kaden's legs. Reed had calmed his malice, stretching out a hand with surprising patience.
"Trust me, little boy. I'll return you to your big brother in a week."
A strange, softer voice that stirred memories in from Kaden's youth, making him feel conflicted. He stood straight and tall in the doorway, coaxing Arlo to go.
He was scared what Reed might do if Arlo kept refusing.
Eventually, Arlo had been successfully pried away from Kaden's legs, the clingy boy tearfully waving goodbye as Kaden smiled, patted his head and left. By the time he returned to his room, carefully opening the door, it was late into the night.
A few hours before sunrise, guessed Kaden as his head throbbed painfully.
Lux had been surprisingly quiet, watching from the outside windows as their shadows moved. He had followed closer after spotting Arlo, gaze unreadable.
He had only said, in a low voice, "You're used to this."
Kaden, holding Arlo's hand, glanced at him coldly. "What did you expect? There's a reason I don't go denying all rumours made of me."
He decided Lux was annoying, and abandoned the mysterious royalty on the dreary streets. Expecting the man to follow behind like a leech, Kaden glanced back once, but Lux was already gone.
He wanted to slip in some sleep, to rest his weary mind, but it refused to come. Blinking in a daze, he buried his head in his knees.
And the more exhausted he felt, the more his sight blurred to form hallucinations, shapes that approached and circled where he sat in the dark. Lying under the bed, peering from the corners.
He also heard whisperings in his ears—were these an effect of his blessing by the Watcher of Delusions? He hadn't put in any effort into mastering control over his abilities, so it was possible that the madness trickled out in his weakness.
For three more nights, he continued to remain awake like this, a dead stare at the wall that blurred with the world surrounding.
The dark circles underneath his eyes were prominent and terrible, making his entire being seem lethargic. His head drooped during lessons, and his mind wandered at random times.
Noah had even stripped his rights of holding a knife, after he slipped and sliced through his finger, only foolishly staring at the bright trickle of red.
He'd been about to tell the dragon, "Don't worry, it's nothing." But his mouth had clamped shut under the vicious gaze of the other, daring him to keep speaking.
Niklas had frowned seeing his sickly pale. "Are you ill? Don't come, go back, go back. Get to bed, lock yourself in—I don't want to see you until you're better!"
Kaden managed to scoff. "I'm fine."
"Clearly, unless you wanted to dress up as a corpse, you're not."
"A charming corpse, aren't I?"
He received a light slap to the back of his head, which made him stumble in surprise, resultantly making Niklas panic even further.
Holly had stopped him in the hallways on one of the days, he couldn't remember which. She paused when walking past, her humming coming to an abrupt halt as she scanned him up and down, pursing her lips.
"God, you look downright awful."
Kaden smiled weakly. "Thank you."
Her cropped blonde hair bounced as she sighed deeply, shaking her head. "Okay, I didn't mean to be that blunt. Although it's true—you look horrible." Worry creased her skin. "Are you okay, Kaden?"
"I don't see why I wouldn't be."
"Do I really need to offer you a mirror again?"
Niklas, roaming around the hallways to look for a target to bother, caught Kaden and Holly, sliding in. He quickly voiced his complaints.
"He does look terrible, right? Look at his skin! His eyes—where has the charming school beauty gone?" exaggerated the man with wide eyes.
Holly glanced at Niklas, slightly surprised with his sudden approach, but not apprehensive. She'd heard a lot about that social man who could adapt to any crowd, fitting in where no others could.
A cheeky smile played on his lips, but the genuine worry in his gaze couldn't escape Holly's gossiping instincts.
Kaden dismissed them both, escaping before they could ask any more questions. It wasn't as if he wanted to appear like this, but sleep didn't come. He counted to a thousand, he drank something warm, meditated and prayed.
Nothing worked.
And it was driving him mad with how sluggish his body felt, how tired his head was, and the constant want for sleep.
Arlo was still with Reed, and Kaden didn't have the mind to wonder what sort of things the man was doing. He still didn't know the reason why Yoser had been paid to inject Arlo with some sort of medicine, or serum.
Yoser. The bleeding red, the fleeting smile.
Kaden stumbled back into his room, black spots flickering over his vision. Getting some rest would help, he reasoned, lying down on his back with his eyes closed.
He fell directly onto the covers, smothered in blankets as he struggled to wake himself up and lie down properly.
The painful ticking of the clock made him focus on the drag of time, how slow every second came, and how after sixty long seconds it became a single minute. And then the cycle of sixty would start all over again, and one more minute would pass.
Another minute, and another. And then it became ten, and then thirty.
And he still couldn't sleep.
The thought of that was so painful and boring that Kaden dozed off for a few minutes, before naturally snapping his eyes open again.
You see, his issue wasn't the 'falling asleep' step, but instead the 'staying asleep'.
His on and off sleeping continued until evening, when he turned to his side as Noah entered the room, settling his eyes on the sleeping figure on the bed.
In fact, Noah had already noticed the disorder in Kaden's movements. For several nights, from the very first moment early in the morning, hours before the sun would rise, Noah woke up.
He'd sleepily cracked his eyes open, startled at the figure across from him, bunched up in blankets and staring blankly ahead.
A dead, distant glaze over the dull green eyes that made him seem lifeless.
Noah ended up staying awake for another two hours, waiting for Kaden to fall asleep. Instead, he saw the man's head sway, bobbing back and forth in short periods of rest before waking with a jolt.
The wide, spreading fear that clouded Kaden's vision every time he woke, as if he'd seen something terrible.
At some point, Niklas had noticed the subtle darkness under Noah's eyes, no where near as awful as Kaden, but still there.
The man had been frustrated and worried. "Is something going on that I don't know about?"
Noah frowned. "Has Chauvet been behaving differently?"
"He's in more of a daze than usual, always zoning out." Niklas narrowed his eyes, leaning in to lower his voice. "Wait... if he's not getting any sleep at night, and you aren't either... it couldn't be...."
The dragon easily lifted his glare in a viscous stare, and Niklas quickly shut up. Niklas had muttered something about looking for some medicine in town.
Now, Noah pushed the door open to his room realizing the lights were already off. It wasn't too late into the evening, though Noah slept at a proper time on a regular basis.
He narrowed his eyes at the lonely back, pressed close to the wall and shallowly breathing. However, it remained completely still as if pretending.
If there were five things to dislike about Kaden Chauvet, one would be his silent way of enduring things, unwilling to rely on any others.
Noah sighed, and walked inside, changing into his sleepwear before swinging his long legs into bed, not bothering to pick up his book for the night. He didn't want to turn on the lights and disrupt Kaden.
Staring in the quiet lull of the night, Noah eventually turned to his side and closed his eyes. Half an hour later, Noah was roused by the shuffling behind him.
Kaden pushed himself up, unable to keep lying down.
He curled his knees in, tucking his head away and trying to at least doze off briefly. The on and off sleep was even more tiring than not sleeping at all.
He heard the rustle of blankets in the bed next to him, and he lifted his head tiredly. Noah's sleepy gaze bore into him, propped up on one elbow.
"Can't sleep?" The dragon's voice was a hoarse murmur, carrying traces of sleepiness from having just woken.
Kaden, utterly exhausted, had no strength to come up with lies.
Instead of muttering some half-baked excuse made of ramblings that didn't make sense, he shook his head stubbornly.
As if he would admit to it, having his weakness spread open.
Noah stared at the figure on the bed, a large man who seemed inexplicably small in his weakness, the blood-shot eyes that slowly blinked in its awareness. There was the strong smell of soap that lingered.
And yet that damned stupid determination to pretend that everything was fine, that he needed nobody but himself in his enclosed world.
Noah resisted the urge to slap some sense into the pale figure.
He stared for a while longer, before lifting his thick blankets, shuffling backwards against the wall. Despite Noah's aloofness, he was not one that shied away from intimacy, though he found no need to show any at most times.
Kaden was so tired he thought he'd dreamed the action, and in confusion, dumbly frowned. "...what?"
"Come here."
Two words that Kaden, on a normal day, would've teased and used against Noah. However, he was really disoriented and he continued to frown, but obediently walked over.
Standing in front of Noah's bed, he stared blankly.
"...what do you want?"
"Lie down."
Kaden squinted, swaying on his feet. The bed did look especially comfortable, but with his vague passing days that blurred together, the floor would seem equally so.
He swallowed back the sickness in his stomach. "Why... would I? I don't want to?"
"Chauvet. Will I offend you if I touch you?"
Kaden was absolutely sent into confusion. "What? I don't... I don't mind? What do you intend to—"
An arm stretched out from under the blankets, wrapping around his waist and pulling him down roughly. Kaden widened his eyes in surprise as his body fell, collapsing onto the bed.
Noah had two layers of blankets, keeping one to separate him and Kaden. He bundled the other up in the thicker layer.
"Is this alright?"
"Ah?"
"I'm asking if you're alright lying this close to me." repeated Noah patiently, yawning as he kept in Kaden's fear of touch in mind.
Noah always followed a strict routine of waking and sleeping. Since it was already late, he blinked his dark eyes slowly with exhaustion.
For 18 years, he rarely broke out of his routine.
It seemed another exception would have to be made, tonight.
"It's fine... It's direct skin contact that I dislike the most." explained Kaden, muffled by the blankets and the heavy weight of an arm that kept him from squirming. "But what are you doing, Bellamy?"
"I have a younger sister. She has a habit of staying up late, but said it's more comfortable to sleep next to somebody."
"Ah?" Kaden laughed vaguely. "You're an older brother?"
"The middle child." said Noah, closing his eyes as he relaxed. "I have a younger sister, and an older brother. I had a little brother as well."
The use of past tense startled Kaden slightly, and he chose not to mention it. Noah's tone showed no signs of fluctuating, still the murmur of low words. Wind whistled out of their windows, the swaying leaves a brush against the glass.
Noah, his blood-line one that was often chilled to the bone, requiring him to wear several layers, held tightly onto the heated bundle in front of him.
He didn't feel uncomfortable in the slightest.
However, he still made a move to sit back up in the bed, determined to return to his own cold blankets. Noah pressed him down with a heavy arm, like a chain forcing him to lie still.
"Bellamy... no matter how you adore me..." Kaden poorly attempted to tease the dragon, only to have the man's eyebrows set deeper in irritation.
"I can't sleep."
"I can't sleep, Chauvet." said Noah, staring darkly at the surprised person in his arms. "So remain still, and help me this once."
Kaden furrowed his eyebrows at the odd situation. But the bed was comfortable, and he felt as if he were melting into the mattress... his mind was drawing blanks, and a glaze settled over his listless eyes.
He supposed he could help Noah out this once...?
Yes, this was to better their relationship. Since it was the dragon asking for a favour, Kaden should oblige.
Why did something feel strange with that thought process?
Kaden had felt strange and surprised in the beginning, but soon adapted his fate to being imprisoned in this blanket jail. He leaned back slightly, listening to the thumping beat of Noah's heart.
A sound of the living.
"Close your eyes, Chauvet."
And Kaden obliged, following the lull of the man's voice. The sleepiness was taking over his body, making every bone limp and pliant as his body sunk into the mattress.
"Sleep." commanded Noah, his voice drifting deeper and deeper.
How infuriating it was, thought Kaden sleepily, to listen to such an arrogant order from that dragon.
But perhaps it was too warmth in the cocoon of soft duvet, or too reassuring to hear the beating heart of the man lying besides. Perhaps the security of the arm that rested over him provided the illusion of a home.
Ah, but Kaden didn't want to think about such things at this moment. He sighed softly, feeling his thoughts drift further and further away.
He vaguely hears Noah's muttered complaints, a low scolding.
The dragon observed the gauntness of Kaden's cheeks, the narrow body that would be made more muscular if that fool had a habit of eating properly. Kaden, always the gourmet, happily enjoying all food he could find.
Simultaneously, a man who forgot to eat without a dedicated time, remembering to eat lunch when he was dragged out to the cafeteria, and forgetting all other times.
Noah couldn't help but scold,
"Have you eaten recently? You need to remember to eat."
"Mn... yes..."
"Breakfast and dinner. If not that, then at least one. You don't eat enough for lunch to depend on it to last you an entire day."
In response, Kaden just buried himself further into the covers.
Noah lifted himself up slightly when he heard the rhythmical breathing from the mound in his arms, pulling down the blanket to reveal a hint of closed eyes. Kaden's eyelashes quivered in his sleep, and displayed a youthfulness that rarely appeared.
The curtain of night made way for a stranger atmosphere, where one became unmistakably aware of every sound in the room, of every movement and every person.
The dragon yawned again, tiring. He'd been woken by the sound rustling of Kaden, and wanted to sleep some more before daybreak.
Warmth fueled his chilled body, and perhaps by instinct, Noah continued to hug the waist of the bundle and closed his eyes, slowly drifting off into a peaceful slumber.
A few hours passed without any movement from the two lazy people.
Lacking sleep, both were very unwilling to wake up and dragged from their peaceful dreams. Sunlight peeked through their curtains, casting a fine glow on the room.
The light targeted Kaden first as he squirmed, furrowing his eyebrows before tucking deeper into the blankets, as if to hide away from the glaring ray.
The person behind moved in response to his actions, the heavy weight on his waist tugging him closer. Noah grumbled, snuggling closer to the escaping warmth, caged in his arms. It was a prison for one prisoner, refusing exit.
"It's early..." muttered the dragon impatiently, with a sullen complaint. "Stop moving. Sleep a little longer."
Kaden was very compliant when half-awake, and obediently closed his eyes.