You were, but only by technicality. The rise and fall of Hobie's chest where your head rests while he combs fingers through your hair had soothed you into a trance. Pretending to be asleep would be as possible as it was tempting.
"Love?" He gives you a gentle shake. This time you can hear a hint of unease in his voice.
"Can we talk about something?"
Your heart skips a beat, thoughts coming back online as you try to track what's wrong. Had you done something? You'd never known Hobie to hold onto something he hadn't addressed in the moment, but maybe you'd done something awful without even realizing.
Your muscles ache and your body is far from ready to move, but you push yourself up to sit. He rests a hand on your cheek and leans in until your foreheads touch. It puts air back in your lungs to know that nothing between the two of you could be too ruined. Still, his eyes are lit up with some flavor of worry. The only times you'd seen similar faces from him were when one or both of you was in active, obvious danger. But now you're in bed together; you're hardly awake, he hasn't pulled you up to make a run for it, the rest of the house is silent and there's no sign of any harm outside of Hobie's mind.
"I'll tell you in a moment," he whispers, finger pressing against the hinge of your jaw until he has you in a kiss. Your mouth still feels dry from your half-sleep. You're hardly awake enough to appreciate the kiss for what it is. Either way, you appreciate his hands on you and the way his leg brushes yours as he pulls your body closer.
"'Bie," you say when he breaks the kiss, "I know you did not wake me up to--"
"I think we should get married."
"What?" You pull against his hand on your face. It takes a long, hard blink and a deep breath of air to confirm that you heard what you thought you did.
"We don't have to if you don't want to," he says, "I just think it would be a good idea."
You rub at your eyes with the heel of your hand, "What?"
"It's..." he pauses, "If something happens to me, I want you to be able to be there. If you want to be. And like, make decisions for me and shit."
"I mean it. I love you. 'nd I don't need a fucking piece of paper to prove that or make it real, but there're dipshits that do, and..."
His eyes look even more wild than they did before. Candlelight reflects off them in a way that makes you wonder if they're filling with tears. The hand that gently cupped your face a moment ago squeezes your shoulder now. You tilt your face back closer to his in hopes of calming him.
"...and there's a lot I'm willing to do or risk to make it clear that the system is bullshit, but you aren't one of those things." He finishes.
"Do you think something's going to happen to you?"
He shrugs, "Nothin' specific. But it could, y'know?"
You nod, "I'm glad there's nothing to worry about right now."
His hand loosens around your shoulder, "Also, you have health insurance."
A laugh escapes you before you can stop it, "Yeah, okay. Fair enough."
"I didn't exactly expect a Hobie Brown marriage proposal, if I'm being honest."
"Do you think we should sleep on it?"
He presses out his lips in a pout, "'re you planning on loving me less in the morning?"
"Guess it can't hurt, then."
a/n: planning on writing a few of these over the next few days... we shall see...
