werkin on that ster trak

31 for the drabble thing.

Zach knew it was bad, but he didn’t realize how bad it was until Chris’s shoulders start shaking and the muffled sound of a sob splits the silence. He’s already spooned up behind Chris, but now he hugs him tighter, rubbing his nose back and forth over the back of Chris’s neck, stroking his flank and his side and whispering shushing noises. 

“I’m just so tired,” Chris says in a watery voice. “I haven’t slept in ages.”

Zach reaches up to comb his fingers through Chris’s hair. “You can sleep now, babe.” 

“I don’t know if I can. I don’t know if I remember how.”

If Zach ruled the world, he would have forced Chris to rest months ago. Not just get a good night’s sleep but really rest, clear his mind, stop thinking for a while. Although that last part is easier said than done, he knows. Especially easier said than done for Chris, whose brain works more overtime than can possibly be healthy. 

“Come here,” Zach says, and tugs on Chris’s shoulder until he spins in Zach’s arms, buries his wet face in Zach’s chest. “It’s alright. You don’t have to get out of bed tomorrow for anything. No work. No more interviews. It’s all over, at least for now.”

Chris takes a deep, shuddering breath and burrows deeper into Zach’s chest. “I feel like an idiot,” he says, his voice muffled in a way that would be adorable if it weren’t so heartbreaking. “It’s not like I work in the fucking salt mines or whatever. My life is easy. My life is–”

“Shhh.” Zach rubs his back in slow circles until he settles. “You’re allowed to get burned out. Your problems aren’t invalid just because other people have worse ones.”

“I’m just sleep deprived, that’s all. I just need to–”

“So sleep, Christopher.” He presses his mouth to Chris’s hair. “Sleep, sweetheart. I’m right here.”

He knows Chris is trying, but it still takes half an hour before his breathing sounds more even, less wet. It takes another fifteen minutes after that before Zach judges that he’s well and truly asleep, heavy and limp in Zach’s arms. Still, Zach doesn’t dare move. Doesn’t want to. He’ll hold Chris all night and be here for him in the morning, and if a good night’s rest isn’t enough to fix it, then they’ll figure out the next step together.