Since its the 25th in my timezone, heres my selfship gift exchange gift for @phendrana-dreams
organised by @eritoshis-third ! thanks for organizing this!
Words: 1k
Summary: Madeline and Peyton are tired after a long day at the lab, so they decide to relax and read, but Peyton is more tired than she first said she was.
The door to the house opens as Madeline and Peyton return home after a long and exhausting day at the research centre. They immediately collapse onto their couch, Madeline holding Peyton close. Peyton turns around in Madeline’s arms, where she plants a soft kiss on her lips before yawning.
“Are you tired, Peyton?” Madeline asks. “That experiment took quite a while.”
Peyton buries her face in Madeline’s neck and mumbles into it. “I could stand to relax with you for a bit, but besides that I can stay awake.” She smiles up at her.
Madeline smiles back at her. “Well, why don't we lay in bed and read together? I can make us some tea.”
“I'd like that! I'll pick out the book and you pick out the tea?”
“Sounds perfect.” Madeline replies, already helping her girlfriend get up off the couch and heading to the kitchen.
Peyton goes instead to their bedroom, grabbing a random book she thought she liked on her way there.
She makes sure to fluff up the pillows and pull down the blankets for them to get under later. She changes into comfier clothes, intending to shower and change into her pyjamas later.
As she gets under the covers and lays her head on the pillows she just fluffed up, she closes her eyes for just a split second until she hears Madeline's footsteps coming down the hallway and perks back up, not wanting to miss out on some relaxing time with her darling girlfriend.
As Madeline enters the room, she begins to announce herself, before seeing that her lover is now suddenly trying to seem bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, as they say.
“Peyton, my love, I hope you don't mind that I made my favourite this time.” She says, placing the tray of tea on the bedside table and shuffling under the covers alongside Peyton.
Peyton stifles a yawn as she replies, “Well we can call it even, since I picked out one of my favourite books.”
Madeline chuckles, she can't help but notice that the book Peyton is holding is very much not one of her favourites.
‘Is she really as awake and aware as she says she is?’ She thinks, before shuffling closer to Peyton beneath the blankets and laying her head on her shoulder. “I wouldn't say even. Not just yet.” she teases, before quickly turning her head to kiss Peyton on the cheek. “Now we can call it even.”
Peyton blushes, pushing up her glasses in an attempt to briefly shield her face from Madeline's gaze. “Ah- yeah! We’re even!” She returns nervously.
She opens the book to a random page for a moment without thinking, before she realizes and clumsily flips back to the beginning.
‘Yet another instance of Peyton's consciousness slipping..’ Madeline thinks, deciding not to hand Peyton’s cup of tea to her just yet.
Peyton readjusts her glasses as she begins to read.
As Peyton’s eyes start attempting to scan the words on the pages, Madeline smiles. Rather than looking at the book, she subtly keeps her eyes trained on Peyton's face, observing each of her little microexpressions. She notices the way her eyelids become lidded then go wide in an obvious effort to stay awake despite her exhaustion.
“Peyton, my dear, you've been on that page for quite a while, if you haven't noticed.” She teases lightheartedly.
Peyton turns to face her girlfriend, then blushes and stammers, “Oh! Uh- J-Just lemme know when you finish the page!” She blurts out, obviously embarrassed.
Madeline nods and tilts Peyton's head back to look at the book. “Of course.” She says simply, going right back to ignoring the book in favour of her girlfriend's focused face.
Peyton tries, really tries, to focus on the words written on the pages, but she just can't seem to get her eyes to focus. She barely even notices the way Madeline never once asks her to turn the page so they can continue reading.
She weakly tries to blink the sleep out of her eyes but it's of no use. Her eyes just slowly but surely slip shut as she finally succumbs to the whims of sleep.
Madeline watches Peyton's eyes slip fully shut as she slumps over, her breathing evening out. She waits for a moment, but Peyton doesn't open her eyes back up.
Madeline concludes that she's finally run out of the energy she was using to maintain her consciousness.
Carefully, so as not to wake her, she adjusts Peyton into a more comfortable sleeping position so she doesn't wake up with a sore neck, and pries her fingers off the forgotten book.
‘My, you are simply adorable.’ Madeline thinks to herself. She lightly touches Peyton's face, moving a strand of loose hair behind her ear. ‘Well, I suppose I can drink two cups of tea on my own. I can just make another pot in the morning. Perhaps I’ll make her favourite, this time.’
She sets the book down and gets comfortable, taking great care not to jostle the blankets too much so as to not wake her sleeping beauty.
Then, she very carefully removes Peyton's glasses from her face and quietly puts them on top of the book, ‘She looks so cute when she sleeps’ she briefly thinks before she takes a cup of tea from the tray and holds it in one hand as she begins to run her fingers through her girlfriend's hair.
She sips her tea and simply observes. She watches each and every twitch and movement in Peyton's face. She continues watching as Peyton’s body unconsciously shifts closer and closer, eventually wrapping her arms around Madeline's torso and snuggling into her adorably.
Madeline, after drinking two whole cups of tea, finds that she’s also grown far too tired to maintain consciousness any longer. She finds her eyelids have become heavy. So she puts her empty cup back on the tray and carefully snuggles closer to Peyton under the covers. She kisses her tenderly on the forehead and finally lets her eyes close too.
act II and III spoilers, so i'll put it under the cut just in case.
this poster is in Daniel and Lisa's childhood bedroom, and it has some interesting stuff in it.
(it's so blurry. im so sorry, i was walking as i took the ss XD)
"The Time Heroine"
"Reverses time, beats the villains, and saves the world."
I'd like to think this is foreshadowing for Lisa's storyline if Pollard can make a sequel. 👀
Especially at the end of act III, where Lisa travels back in time with Daniel (just his consciousness, I'm assuming?). I'd like to think she does go back to fix things.
you gotta claw q!pac's entire brain out of his head for him to forget q!mike I DARE YOU TO DO THAT FEDERATION. HE WILL CRAWL BACK FROM THE OTHER SIDE TO GET HIS MIKE BACK.
