↠ jschlatt x reader ; fluff ;
After a long day of classes followed by many hours of studying to prepare for the upcoming finals of your senior year at college, you'd expected to find Schlatt asleep or at least in bed when you arrive home at nearly two in the morning. (There are definite advantages to having a campus library open 24/7, but this means there's no one to kick you out when you should be getting home.) But instead, you arrive home to an empty bedroom and head to the other room your boyfriend would be in.
"Knock knock," you call a little post-maturely, already halfway inside Schlatt's office.
He turns only partly, glancing away from his computer briefly, "Hey."
You walk closer to him and he seems to do a double take, looking back at you again.
"Are you only just now getting home?" he asks.
"Yeah. Gotta cram for finals."
Schlatt readily pulls you to stand between his legs, hugging you around your middle, "You shoulda texted me to pick you up."
"You seem busy."
You look at Schlatt's computer screen, editing software open in all its glory with cuts and voiceover and subtitles. Much too complex for your taste.
"I don't like you coming home late at night on your own," he mumbles in his usual begrudging 'I'm admitting to caring about you' kind of way. "The only creepy guy on the subway allowed to stare at you is me."
"I'll make sure to text you next time so you can stare at me on the subway."
"Good."
"Why're you up so late?"
"Editing program crashed when I was nearly done with this video," he sighs into your stomach, still irritated yet having accepted defeat by now. "I had to restart completely."
"Oof."
You card your fingers through his hair and he relaxes against you. It's always amazes you how quickly he melts into your touch despite the persona he's created for himself.
He jerks away from you suddenly, "Hey, don't do that."
You smile innocently, "What?"
"I have to finish this video, don't make me go all soft."
"Aw, I make you soft," you tease lightly.
"Shut up," he grumbles.
You push his hair back out of his face and despite the warning he'd just given you, he yet again closes his eyes, tiredly reacting to your touch.
"I have to finish this."
"No, you don't," you say, knowing his upload schedule, "You can finish tomorrow."
His will is giving way but he's still reluctant to leave his work. You lean down and kiss his forehead.
"It's late; let's go to bed."
"Mm, fine," he says with what seems to be an attempt at begrudging, but he just sounds tired.
He spins in his desk chair to face his computer again, making you fall into his lap. You tuck your face into his shoulder as you wait for him to save his work. You slide to your feet as he stands, walking to your shared bedroom together.
After changing into pajamas and washing up for bed, you're ready to fall asleep the second your had hits the pillow; you've been up for much too long and using too much of your mental capacity today. Schlatt gets into bed beside you, pulling you closer to wrap his arms around you. After a long day (for both of you), you tuck yourself into Schlatt's side comfortably and let the thrumming of his heart lull you to sleep.
