Waking Hours
Youcef Haddad x GN!Reader
For @the-slumberparty's May Monthly Challenge. Prompts: "Why are you looking at me like that?" & "Did you know you talk in your sleep?"
Warnings: 18+, fluff, so much fluff
Word Count: 1.2k
A/N: I have been meaning to write something for Youcef for so long and here we finally are! I have something else in the works for him as well that I'm hoping to post sooner rather than later. Hope you enjoy!
Emily the Criminal Taglist: @narcolini @cositapreciosa @justreblogginfics (I feel like maybe 5 people in total on tumblr have seen this movie lmao howeverrrr if you wanna be added to the taglist please let me know!)
(also i will pay someone in fic and undying love to make more gifs of this man from this movie because lorddddd)
Your arms were stretching above your head before you even tried opening your eyes. They reached up, fingertips brushing against the smooth, cold wood of your headboard before you stuck them out from your sides. One arm dangled off the edge of the mattress, the other got caught up in the blanket that was draped not just over you but over Youcef as well. Reaching just a little farther, you could feel the planes of his chest even through the puffy comforter wrapped around both of you.
Eyes still closed, you could hear the soft chuckle that he let out. You might’ve been clinging to the idea of dozing back off, but you could tell just from his quiet laugh that he was up, that he had been for a while.
Prying one eye open, you turned your head just slightly so that you could look at him. And, sure enough, there he was. He was lying on his side and already looking at you. He had his elbow against his pillow, head rested in his palm. His curls were unruly from the night before, from tossing and turning and everything else. There was still a smile stitched across his face, the hand that wasn’t holding his head up reaching out for you.
Once you felt his arm come to rest across your stomach, you managed to get both of your eyes open. He laughed again, forever amused by the way you always had to drag yourself out of sleep and into your waking hours.
“Do you ever get bored of watching me sleep?” you mumbled with something that sounded like a laugh underneath the yawn that was trying to fight its way out.
His smile broadened as he shook his head. “Not even a good morning, hm?” He joked softly. When you just smiled and shook your head in response, he finally answered your question. “No, I don’t get bored.”
There were a few beats of silence between you, but the longer you watched him, the more you could see the way his shoulders were starting to shake with laughter that he was trying to hold in. Blinking hard a couple times, you finally rubbed the sleep from your eyes and focused in on him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?” he asked, with a tone that let you know he knew exactly like what.
You chuckled, rolling onto your side so that you were facing him completely. “Like you’ve got something funny to tell me.”
“Like a joke?”
You laughed, slowly starting to feel more and more awake the more that you talked to him. “Yea, like a joke.”
He hummed in amusement, allowing your statement to hang in the air between you before finally shaking his head. “No jokes.”
“Then what?”
He moved his hand, slipping it underneath the covers with the rest of his arm so that he could put his hand on your side. His palm felt cold for a moment compared to your skin that had been kept warm beneath the covers all night. Despite the goosebumps that rose over your skin, you didn’t flinch or pull away. Instead, you let his hand grip onto you just a little tighter so that he could pull you just a little closer.
“Did you know you talk in your sleep?” he asked, dazed grin still on his face.
You laughed, eyebrows lifting slightly. “What?”
He nodded. “You do. You talk in your sleep.”
You rolled your eyes, pretending to pull away from him just so he could stop you and pull you closer as you argued. “I do not.”
“And how would you know, hm?” he asked, his nose just barely brushing against yours with how closely he had pulled you in. “You’re asleep when it happens.”
You laughed, placing your palms to his chest. “How do I know you’re not lying to me?”
The look on his face softened, and you could feel his breath against your skin as he huffed out a small laugh through his nose. “When do I ever lie to you?”
The thudding in your chest picked up for a few beats at that. He never did lie to you, and he had every reason to feel like he should with the life that he lived. That wasn’t something that you ever let yourself take for granted. For all the things he’d ever done, everything that he was involved in, he somehow managed to stay genuine through it all. He somehow kept that air of softness around him, especially with you.
“What do I say then, hm?” you finally asked when your heart had slowed back down to normal.
“What do you say?”
You laughed, nodding as you slid your hands up from his chest and into the curls at the nape of his neck. “When I’m talking in my sleep, what do I say?”
His eyes drifted shut for the briefest second as your fingers started to tangle themselves in his hair. “You mumble a lot,” he said before finally opening his eyes again. “Sometimes you say nice things to me.”
Your smile widened enough to make your cheeks hurt. “Do I? Do you coax it out of me?”
He chuckled. “I don’t have to.”
“Oh, you don’t, huh?” you joked with a shake of your head.
“Sleeping you is always saying how much you love me.”
Heat rushed to your face at that. Everything with Youcef had happened so fast, instantly diving headfirst into the deep end of the pool without pausing to check the temperature of the water first. There was something about him that made it so easy to be like that. It was how you ended up here. But still, even with how quickly the two of you had taken off with each other, neither of you had said I love you yet. At least, not in those words exactly.
“Do you say it back?” you asked.
He hummed, nodding with no hesitation. “Of course I do.”
If it had been physically possible to do, you would’ve melted completely into him right then and there. You settled for the next best thing, pulling his lips to yours in a kiss as you tangled your legs together. His arms wrapped tighter around you, one hand finding its way to the center of your back, the other drifting down to your thigh so that he could grip onto you, keep your leg hooked over his.
You could feel the smirk that was curling his lips as he slowly pulled out of the kiss. He didn’t let you go, though, just pulling away enough so that he could rest his forehead against yours. You allowed your hands to wander, trailing down over the sparse facial hair that lined his jaw before bringing them back down to his chest again. It was his turn to have his heart skipping a couple beats.
He could feel the way that your body was relaxing against his, your breathing starting to slow back down. “Are you going back to sleep?”
You laughed quietly, the tiredness in your voice making you unable to even try to lie about it. “Maybe. Are you going to keep watching me if I do?”
He laughed as he kissed you again. “Maybe.”
