"Is this a new fetish, darling? Do I need to come and tuck you in like a naughty boy who's been up late reading under the covers?" Cai looked up from his laptop to find Ro lounging in the doorway that connected their two suites, wearing a burgundy robe sashed loosely at the waist to expose his hairy chest. He had a smile on his face, but it barely concealed the expression of tender concern that lurked behind the younger man's deep brown eyes. Cai smiled back, opening his mouth to respond before realizing that Ro's words had already slipped out of his exhausted mind.
That wasn't an entirely unusual occurrence for the couple; Cai had fallen very comfortably into the habit of drifting in and out of trance whenever he and Ro had a chance to spend time together away from anyone who might not know about the particular details of their romance and the unique kinks they indulged in. The intoxicating nearness of his lover often made Cai feel fuzzy and empty and dumb even without a formal instruction to do so, and Ro never passed up an opportunity to enjoy the pleasures of making his submissive plaything that much weaker and more helpless. But this wasn't the fun kind of exhaustion, and it definitely wasn't the fun kind of bleary-eyed forgetfulness.
"I, um, sorry," he muttered, his brain finally catching up with the conversation, "I... I'm headed to bed soon, I promise." Cai rubbed his bloodshot eyes and glanced down at the time--it said '1:47 AM', but given the time difference between Oslo and Tel Aviv, there was still a chance that Dorthea was awake and waiting for his latest research. Not much of a chance, admittedly, and he wasn't sure how much more research he had in him with his brain all gummed up and sticky with the residue of long-denied sleep, but he hated to go to bed with so much more left to do. They weren't even close to a diagnosis in the Espensen case. And he wasn't sure how much longer they could wait.
Ro crossed over to him, his bare feet padding soundlessly on the hotel carpet as he approached. Cai wanted to tell himself that was why he hadn't heard the younger man earlier, but he knew he'd be lying--he was simply too tired to focus on two things at once, and the laptop had drawn his attention completely away from his lover. "Oh, my sweet boy," Ro murmured softly, stroking his fingers down the nape of Cai's neck and eliciting a sensual shiver from Cai despite everything. "I don't often pull rank like this, but I do think this is one of those times when Master knows best. You can't do your best work when you're tired like this, and your best work is exactly what's needed here."
Cai bristled slightly, not so much because Ro was wrong as because he was very, very right--Cai had been pulling all-nighters ever since his very first internship, and he hated to admit that the days when he could power through exhaustion with nothing more than determination and a pot of strong Turkish coffee were almost certainly over. But he'd probably read the last paragraph three times in a row, desperately attempting to cram one more iota of information into his weary brain, and he had to confess he hadn't retained a single word of it. Right now Ro's gently stroking fingers on the back of his neck made more sense to him than an entire library of medical texts, and he couldn't deny it.
"Come on, my silly little boy," Ro purred, his hands moving down to caress the tension out of Cai's tight shoulders. "Let's get you into that soft, warm bed and melt that fuzzy little brain down into a nice deep sleep for Master, so that when tomorrow comes you're all ready to think again." Cai's head drooped, jerking forward as he caught himself slipping away into a trance he hadn't realized he was aching for quite so badly. His eyelids fluttered, the text on the screen blurring into incoherent squiggles that he couldn't bring back into focus no matter how hard he tried, and his whole body slumped in his chair as he finally accepted the need to rest.
"Alright," he mumbled, trying as always to pretend that the decision was at least a tiny bit his own. "Just a... just a little break to rest my eyes, and then I'll--" He broke off as a wave of giddiness hit him, turning his attempt to rise to his feet and stagger over to the bed into a graceless clutch at the back of the chair he'd just gotten out of. Ro held onto him until the room stopped spinning, preventing him from falling all the way to the floor when the plastic mat on the carpet did its job a little too well and made the office chair roll freely for a good few inches rather than supporting his weight.
"And then you'll get a good long night's sleep," Ro commanded, employing the same firm tones he usually used to make Cai doubt his ability to resist his lover's hypnotic charms. "My drowsy little slut can't think right now, and trying only wears him out further. Isn't that right, pretty boy?" Ro had made him feel dumb and dreamy plenty of times before, but never in this loving, nurturing, oddly therapeutic sort of way, and Cai found himself responding to it even more deeply than usual--maybe it was the gentle affection in his voice, maybe it was the way he carefully helped Cai over to the bed before settling him onto the soft mattress, or maybe it was just the deep exhaustion that made Cai want to be taken care of, but it felt wonderful.