Notes: This takes place when Jounouchi and Yuugi are about 21/22, and are living in their own apartment near Yuugi's university (as seen in other fics I've written, such as in the fic collection The Space Between Our Hands). I actually wrote this quite a while ago and posted it up on Tumblr, but I figured now is as good a time as any to get it up on FF.N.

Sleep Routine

As Jounouchi dragged himself up to the door of the apartment and fumbled for the keys in his jacket pocket, two thoughts kept looping in his mind:

One, overnights are a bitch, and two, thank god tomorrow's not a morning shift.

It wouldn't have been too bad, Jounouchi thought as he yanked his keys free of the string they'd been snagged on in his pocket, if he hadn't had his internship that morning. But a morning spent at the radio station, followed by a ten hour overnight shift stocking shelves at the grocery store meant that he felt like one of Ghost Kozuka's zombies by the time he finally made it home at—he blinked blearily at his watch—5:22 in the morning. Jounouchi ran his fingers through his hair to scratch at his scalp before he shoved his key in the lock. He should probably shower, he thought, but that . . . that could wait. He wanted to sleep first. At least a nap.

As tired as he was, it wasn't until he was inside and had ditched his shoes by the door that he noticed Yuugi on the couch. Jounouchi stared at his best friend for a moment, his sleep deprived brain taking a moment to figure out the situation, but when it clicked, he couldn't help but smile.

Yuugi had, apparently, fallen asleep on the couch at some point between Jounouchi leaving for work the previous evening and now. And as per Yuugi's typical habit of sleeping through freight trains if given the opportunity, no amount of noise Jounouchi made now would wake him up unless there was a fire.

Jounouchi set his keys on the TV stand, double checked to make sure he had locked the front door behind him, and then made his way over to the couch. Yuugi was lying on his stomach, still in yesterday's clothes, his 3DS open but off (from battery death, maybe) on the cushion just in front of his head. Jounouchi choked back a laugh when he noticed that Yuugi's mouth was open in his sleep, a little puddle of drool on the sofa cushion as a result.

"Dude, gross," he said quietly, but of course, Yuugi didn't hear him. It was just as well; Jounouchi didn't mean anything bad by it, anyway.

Jounouchi pulled his jacket off and tossed it onto the living room chair, and after rolling his shoulders a bit to try and crack some feeling into his back, he bent down to gently pull Yuugi into his arms. It took a bit of maneuvering to roll Yuugi from his stomach to his back, but a year and some change of experience in carting Yuugi off to his room after he'd passed out on the couch meant that it only took Jounouchi a second to get one arm hooked under Yuugi's knees, the other looped around Yuugi's shoulders. And still, Yuugi did not stir.

"Dead to the world," Jounouchi muttered, as he looped around the coffee table to head toward Yuugi's room. "I swear, and people complain about my sleep habits. Least I have an excuse."

As Jounouchi nudged Yuugi's bedroom door open with his foot, he figured it might be more fair if he saved the teasing for when Yuugi was actually conscious enough to hear it.

Jounouchi carefully lowered Yuugi onto his bed, and while he wasn't going to mess with Yuugi's blankets, he was at least mindful enough to position Yuugi so that his head was on his pillow. It was only then that Yuugi showed a sign of life beyond breathing; the moment his head hit his pillow, he rolled over on his other side and wrapped his arms around it, burying his face into the pillowcase.

Jounouchi shook his head, but he still smiled fondly before he turned to leave. "G'night, Yuugi," he said, and stifled a yawn with one hand as he reached Yuugi's bedroom door. "See you in . . . a few hours, probably."

Yuugi gave no response behind his quiet, restful breathing, but then, Jounouchi didn't expect him to. He stepped back over the threshold of Yuugi's bedroom, and shut the door quietly behind him.

Yuugi would probably be up in four or five hours, and if this time was like all the others, he'd have absolutely no recollection of this happening. This was fine, Jounouchi thought, as he paused by the couch just long enough to close Yuugi's 3DS before he headed for his own room. He didn't bother to shut the door behind him; instead, he faceplanted on his own bed, one leg still dangling off the side.

Yuugi wouldn't remember a thing, but Jounouchi's last thought before his brain crashed into sleep mode was that he was still going to tease him about the drool on the couch anyway.