Sleep

Sleeping was one of those odd things that Max hadn’t quite gotten used to, despite the fact that he had had centuries to do so at this point.

… But it was such a weird thing though! Both the almost dizzying feeling that was tiredness, that threw off your senses and concentration and gave you a headache if you ignored it for too long, as well as the remedy for it. Sleep. Aka laying down, closing your eyes and losing consciousness for several hours straight, completely unaware of your surroundings, making you incredibly vulnerable to just about anything!

Awful!

But after Mother had been banished, the energy she provided that had made it possible for Hell to always be awake, had been banished along with her. Her only reach was in the catacombs. So the only sleepless ones were the demons who lived down there.

This had been annoying as shit before! Max was able to stay awake for far longer than any human, (and most demons), and would often force himself to keep pushing through the tiredness, until he would inevitably run out of steam, and fall asleep, hunched over his latest project, or just collapse on the floor, passing out from exhaustion.

He rarely just went to bed, despite having a perfectly good bedroom. Falling asleep wasn’t easy. He could ration with himself that he was safe all he wanted, but it never felt safe to sleep… Well… There were times when he felt safe falling asleep, but that was never in his own bed… That was when he was with… No! Focus! That was unrelated. He rarely fell asleep in his bed, and usually just passed out while working!

This was, as mentioned previously, annoying, but nobody dared to come to his workshop, so he wouldn’t actually be in danger, even if he was unconscious.

But that really wasn’t the main issue about sleep anymore.

That’d be Jovian.

Standing here in his workshop, Max could feel the headache of exhaustion coming on. He looked at his son, sitting on a table, playing with his hand puppet, and one of the TV-bots. With a slight smirk, Max made the robotic extension of himself dance around a bit, and the child cooed with joy. He was 7 years old, Max was pretty sure. Give or take 1 year perhaps. He couldn’t be completely certain. Jovian had said he was 5 when Max adopted him two years ago, but a toddler misremembering or lying wasn’t exactly unheard of. Not that it would matter too much in the long run. The kid was just as much of a demon as he was. He’d live forever. Being a year or two off with your age had little importance then.

He stifled a yawn and cursed himself under his breath. Why was Jovian the main issue when it came to sleep?

Because he and Max weren’t particularly in sync when it came to sleeping. Jovian was born in the catacombs and had lived there for the first years of his life. He was seeped in Mother’s influence. Her energy. Max could stay awake longer than most demons, but not all of them. Jovian needed less sleep than he did. But he did still need it since he wasn’t in the catacombs anymore.

The result was that 9/10 times, if not more often, whenever Max needed to sleep, Jovian wouldn’t even be close to tired. And if Jovian was beginning to doze off, Max would probably be awake for a day or two more, before he’d have to rest.

Now, the latter option wasn’t that much of an issue. Jovian would spend a day or so asleep, and Max would just have one of the TV-bots stay by him at his bed, so he’d know when he woke up again. Easy. And again: nobody would dare to enter his domain anyway. His son was perfectly safe.

No, it was the first option that was problematic. Whenever Max had to sleep. He could tell Jovian to stay inside all he wanted, he was very aware that this wouldn’t do anything if the child decided he wanted to talk a walk through Hell. He could also decide to wander into his workshop, full of killer robot prototypes, a bunch of choking hazards, power tools and regular tools, and just a shit ton of stuff for a child to get hurt on. When he was asleep, his TV-bots couldn’t see anything, or move, either. He was in the dark, and unable to help if his son suddenly needed it. He had tried locking the doors. When that didn’t work, he had put the most advanced security features he had developed on those doors, only to see on the security footage, that he’d look at when he woke up after a day of being asleep, that Jovian had somehow gotten past it. If that kid wanted to go through a door, he was gonna go through that door, and nothing could stop him. Which was pretty cool! But damn if it wasn’t also a pain in the ass!

He caught himself nodding off. Fuck… He’d have to come up with a solution… Like hell he’d ask another demon to look after the kid… Perhaps he could build something… Hmm… Not fast enough to deal with it this time, but…

He grabbed a pen and some paper and quickly scribbled down “Build shit to deal with sleep problem”, underlining it let his future self know how important this was.

Then he heard a little yawn. And it wasn’t from him. Turning his head towards the sound, he saw Jovian, resting his head against some scrap metal, his eyes struggling to stay open.

Max smiled. This happened so rarely. They were both tired at the same time. He wouldn’t have to worry about what the kid was gonna do while he was asleep!

“Hey, buddy… You think it’s bedtime for you?” He asked, laughing as the child pouted and shook his head.

“… Nooo… I’m not sleepy yet…”

“Oh yeah? I think you’re a little liar.” He grinned, scooping the very obviously sleepy demon up in his arms, and leaving the workshop, making his way towards the bedrooms.

“We wanna stay up… Henrietta says she wants to play with papa…” Jovian lifted the hand puppet a bit, and it nodded in agreement.

“Well, you can tell Henrietta that that’s just too fucking bad because papa here is going to bed too.”

The kid blinked a few times, before hugging Max’ arm, clinging to it tightly. “Can Henrietta and I sleep in your bed?”

“… Sure, buddy.” He said with a nod. He ruffled Jovian’s hair affectionately, and the boy giggled in response, nuzzling against his dad’s chest.

“Hey! Heh. You’re gonna get motor oil and grease all over your face if you do that!”

Jovian just laughed. He didn’t care about his face getting dirty any more than his dad.

“You’re being silly.” Max added, before setting the kid down on the floor. “Go be a big boy and change into PJs.” He got a nod in reply before Jovian sprinted off into his room. Hmm… Hopefully, that was just a temporary burst of energy, and not him deciding he wasn’t gonna be able to sleep for another day or two… He could hear drawers being opened and searched through, as he went down the hallway to his own room.

Slight frown. It wasn’t exactly clean in here. The bed was NOT made, there was a pile of dirty clothes in the corner, coffee mugs and plates were on all the surfaces and AH! There was that 6 millimetre Allen key he had been looking for! … The fuck was that doing in the bedroom? He should really make something that could clean up or something, this was a mess…

With an effortless flick of his wrist, he sent the Allen key flying towards his workshop, before he began to change into some sleepwear. The dirty clothes were flung over in the corner to join the laundry pile, and he quickly scanned the room for something clean-ish to sleep in. (He settled on an old t-shirt).

Before putting the shirt on, he stopped in front of a mirror. Hm. He placed a hand on his hip and eyed himself up and down. He stopped at his midsection. His boxers were giving him the slightest bit of a muffin top. There had been some visible abs there at some point. But those had slowly but surely vanished over the years. A bit faster in the years since he had adopted Jovian. The muscle was still there, just… Hidden.

“It’s Isaiah and his damn pancakes… I think I’m getting soft…” He muttered, prodding his stomach a bit and frowning. Then he laughed, posing slightly. Oh, what the hell? He pulled this off just fine! He looked great! He could’ve stood there like an idiot for a while if a dizziness spreading from the back of his head hadn’t reminded him that he was in the middle of preparing to go to sleep, and he quickly put the t-shirt on and went over to the bed. Max fixed up the blankets just a little to make the bed, before laying down, and fighting off the urge to just close his eyes and sleep right away. Jovian had to get there first.

Speak of the devil… He could suddenly hear the fast pitter-pattering of a child running down the hallway to his room, followed up by said child opening the door, leaping up in the bed and climbing up on Max, and resting his head on his chest. He had put on PJs like he was told, and he was still wearing his hand puppet.

“And what exactly are you doing there, buddy…? You think I look like a pillow…?”

“Papa is soft…” Jovian yawned, smiling as Max ruffled his hair a bit.

“I am not!” He huffed in mock offence. “Who told you that? Iza? I’ll kick his ass for that kind of fucking slander.”

Jovian snickered for a moment and then began to shift a bit, trying to get as comfortable as possible.

“… You’re sure you don’t want to sleep on an actual pillow?”

“Mhmm…”

“You’re staying there…?”

“Mmhmm…”

“Alright then…”

Max nodded a bit, placing a hand on the child’s back, and gently stroking him with his thumb. “… Sleep tight then, buddy…”

The kid yawned again, mumbling a quiet “night night” and closed his eyes. Max could feel his breathing get slower and steadier as he dozed off, and it didn’t take more than a couple of minutes before he was certain that Jovian was fast asleep.

He was tempted to lift him up, carry him back to his own bedroom, and put him in his bed with his little army of plushies, but… He decided against it… This didn’t happen very often… Not just him having to sleep at the same time as Jovian, but… Him holding his son like this…

Max was a workaholic, he was well aware of this. When he was in the zone he didn’t take any breaks and barely noticed the world around him. And Jovian wasn’t one to come and ask for hugs, even if Max was more than happy to give them. He was usually content just being nearby. Sitting on a table in the workshop, playing with his toys like he had been doing earlier, or just watching Max work, occasionally asking what he was doing, and why he was doing it.

“Welding. It’s to get the metal to stick together.”

“I’m cutting a hole, and just adding some coolant. It’s so it won’t get too hot and end up melting to the drill.”

Stuff like that.

Which was fine! Obviously. Jovian didn’t seem to really need or want a lot of hugs and kisses, but… Still… Max kissed his son on his hair and a slight squeeze… This was nice…

He’d have to come up with something to solve the problem of Jovian being unattended while Max slept. That was a necessity at this point, but… Right now…? That didn’t concern him too much… Maybe it was the tiredness talking… Maybe it was the fact that right now he felt certain that his kid was completely safe… Maybe it was some third option. He didn’t know. He didn’t really care either.

Right now it wasn’t important.

Right now wasn’t for worry. Right now was just for him holding his slumbering son close, as sleep slowly crept in to take him too.

And he was fine with that.

“… Maybe I could get used to this…” He slurred under his breath, before drifting off as well.