Chapter Text
Being met with his face slamming into the coffee table at ass o'clock in the morning was hardly where Giovanni thought he'd wind up that night, but then again, these last several weeks had been anything but to his expectations. One minute he was recruiting Bear Trap for a super secret mission, and then next he's in a totally rad 'dream bubble' with his minion's sister. All of that had been beyond awesome: the gargoyle thing, the cookies, that epic final battle; even getting to hit Bear Trap's shit dad with a baseball had been way more fun than it should have been! The only thing he had really planned that day was showing up at the toy store...and stealing Molly, and even that was more a concept than a fully fledged plan...up until he took her, that is.
Oh well, it all had worked out for the best; no cops had come after him, Trixie didn't tattle on him, and neither did little miss goody two shoes. Crusher's parents had been nice enough to let them stay in the treehouse for a while (he had no idea just what Crusher had told them to get them to agree, but he wasn't about to question it), and in the meantime Gio had not so secretly been looking for an actual apartment for him and Molly to live in. Almost a month in had led to nothing, everything either too shitty or too expensive for the two of them. It was something he had been lamenting about to Rick when over at his apartment for dinner with Molly that very evening, (it had been cute watching him acclimate to land life and the 'weird customs' they had, though Gio was unsure just how much of it was weird and how much was Rick being too busy growing up in shithole to learn about) his 'bitch sess' being had while they actually cooked the dinner Rick didn't know was part of the whole 'inviting friends over for dinner' Thing, which somehow ended up with Gio now curled up on the guy's living room couch while Molly was hopefully sleeping in the spare bedroom.
It didn't take a genius to figure out how they got here, now that he could think back on it though; Gio and Molly needed a place to live, and it had become very clear very quickly that Rick didn't like being alone. At all. Gio didn't know how long he'd kept it to himself, but after that one dinner, every facade Rick had put up, willingly or not, had fallen apart, ending with a panicked phone call in the middle of the night just a few hours after they had left, Gio scooping a sleeping Molly up yet again before practically running back to the apartment in his damn pajamas, and finally Rick breaking down on the very couch he lay upon now. He'd gotten him to calm down after a while, Giovanni not ashamed to say he had also begun crying at one point, hearing what sort of things Rick had gone through. Even then, he knew he wasn't getting the whole story, only knowinn what he'd been able to make out between sobs as well as things he'd heard while in Lorelai's bubble: Rick had been 'harvested' as a child and forced to fight so their ruler could become stronger. Rick had gotten scared he'd 'ran out his use' and, with the help of a few friends he'd made of the fellow 'harvestees', he'd managed to escape, which eventually led to the Neo Trio finding him on the beach. It was no wonder the guy didn't want to be alone, and Giovanni wasn't about to let him be alone. So, him and Molly had 'moved in' right then and there (not that Molly was awake enough to know yet), it being a promise that even if Rick was alone in the apartment at times, at least one of them would be back before he even knew it.
The only problem? There were only two bedrooms, and Gio wasn't about to make Molly sleep on the couch, nor did he want to invade Rick's space by making him share the bed if he didn't want to. So, the couch it was, and Gio had been more than okay with that, this was everything he'd wanted for him and Molly and then some, with the bonus of Rick's mind getting put to ease as well.
Though as it turns out, Gio needn't have worried about invading Rick's space, seeing as it led to where they were now; on the living room floor after Giovanni had tripped over Rick when getting up for a glass of water sometime in the night.
"Quit fussin' shades, it's just a little cut! I'm more worried about your coffee table." A joke, but also not (he didn't bleed on it, did he? That was so unsanitary!). "It's not the first time I've cut my lip on my teeth, and it won-mph-" Words were silenced by a band aid being pressed over said cut, Gio left to blink in confusion for a moment or two as he stared at Rick's smiling face.
"There! I have secured your life essence with the power of: Band-aids!" The box was held up triumphantly for Gio to see...there were little cat motifs decorating near every inch of it. "Pheonica informed me all about these wonderous things after I suffered a paper cut, a wound most horrible! I've certainly suffered worse, but my how that tiny affliction stung!" A pause, his hands being brought down to his lap where uncertain eyes stayed trained on the box while an idle finger (with a band aid similar to Gio's own) toyed with one of the flaps. "Is...it helping?"
Not wanting to disrupt Rick's hard work so soon, Gio simply gave a thumbs up in response, which earned him a bright, if not still a bit shaky, grin.
"Good!" Loud with a sudden stop, it was clear Rick wanted to say more, the words still trying to come forth where he stared a bit longer than what might be considered normal at Giovanni. "I...suppose you're wondering why I was-" Stopping in response to Gio's raised hand, he watched a bit perplexed as the other man shook his head and made to stand.
"No need to explain Shades!" Maybe later when they both weren't half asleep and Gio's words weren't muffled where the band aid held his lips closed. "Let's get you back to bed." They only made it as far as Rick standing before he'd locked up like a statue, a look of pure fear being painfully recognizable, even in the low light.
Gio didn't give it the chance to dwell long.
"You want me to stay with you for a bit?" Asked in a gentle voice, judgment far from being a part of it as the band aid was removed, it instead being slapped uselessly onto the back of his hand. He didn't want to waste it, it was too freaking cute! "I will, as long as you want." He was happy to find that was met with a smile, though one that wobbled around the edges, like Rick was unsure of it all. Like he thought he was a burden, being unable to sleep on his own.
"What if...I do not wish for you to leave? At all?" Quiet, hopeful, it was an indirect offer, but one Gio picked up on without missing a beat.
"Then I hope you like being the little spoon! I'm a sleep cuddler." His grin was so joyful, so accepting Rick couldn't help but reflect it back as he was led towards his their room.
"What...is this 'little spoon'?" A question that earned a dramatic gasp from Gio.
"Only the best cuddling position ever! Only thing better is laying on someone's chest, so you can hear their heart 'n stuff! We'll get to all that, don't you worry. For now we better get back to bed. It's very important to get at least eight hours of sleep!"
Yeah, none of this was planned, but Giovanni had a feeling this would be good for all of them.