TO BE ALONE: a series of måneskin oneshots

midnight (e.t.)

Your name is Erika, for Daviddobradupa

Rain and thunder crackled outside the window as the familiar sound of the air conditioning kicking on forced you to realize just how much time had passed. You turned your eyes up from your notes and glanced behind you towards the digital clock on the bedside table. You strained your tired eyes to read the red digital numbers as your exhausted brain began to blur the light and lines together. 11:54 P.M.
   
“Cazzo.” You muttered, closing your textbook without marking the page you were on. As you tried to stand, you had come to realize that the arches of your feet as well as your calf muscles had long fallen asleep. The pins-and-needles feeling was not welcome. Nevertheless, you rose onto your unstable legs and patted your way through the home. 
  
You and the band had been rehearsing and working on your latest album for the majority of the past month. Sometime earlier that evening, everyone had retired back to their own apartments, leaving you and Ethan at the studio. Ethan stayed, claiming that he wanted to rehearse a little longer, and you took over the spare bedroom in the home to turn into a small study room of sorts. Little did the band know, you were each other’s rides, and Ethan simply wasn’t going to go home without his girlfriend. 

You had gotten so wrapped up in your schoolwork that time had escaped you, considering now it was almost midnight. You couldn’t quite recall when you last had heard Ethan playing his drums, but you figured he thought you must have fallen asleep studying in the room.
 
"Ethan?” You called softly as you managed to tiptoe through the home. You froze completely in your spot as you saw Ethan completely asleep. His drumsticks were limply hanging out of one hand, getting dangerously close to falling and hitting the cymbal below. His body was leaned against his bass drum as he propped his head and hands onto a music stand. The poor boy was nearly falling out of his chair. 

“Ethan, baby, wake up…” You coaxed, rubbing his back softly. A few gentle kisses to his scalp pulled him completely awake. 

“Shit.” He groaned as his drumsticks indeed fell from his hand and crashed onto the cymbal.

The disgusting metallic noise echoed throughout the quiet studio. Ethan quickly grabbed at the cymbal to silence it. "Christ, what time is it?"

"Nearly midnight." You stated.

"Were you rehearsing this whole time?"

"I guess." Ethan snickered. His tired smile fell when he thought through the current events. "Wait, bambina, were you studying this whole time?" 

A gentle blush crept onto your cheeks. "Time got away from me, that's all." 

Ethan's face contorted in concern. "Erika, we gotta get you something to eat. You've got to be exhausted."

You shook your head. “I just want to get some sleep.” Your voice cracked unintentionally. 

Ethan pouted. “You, uh, you sure you don’t want anything?” 

“I’m sure. I just want to get some rest. If I look at one more statistics problem, I might claw my eyes out.” You giggled softly.

“Well, we wouldn’t want that.” Ethan mimicked your snicker after a yawn.

You yawned after watching Ethan do the same; those things really are contagious. “Can we just crash here? I really don’t want either of us driving in that storm. And we’re gonna all be here in like seven hours, anyways.”

“Sounds good to me.” Ethan smiled, starting to strip of his shirt. He threw the hoodie haphazardly to the ground, barely caring where it ended up. 

He pulled you against his bare chest for a hug before you took him back to the spare room. Upon seeing the partially unmade bed, you both basically passed out onto it, the weight and exhaustion of it all finally hitting you both.