"Dedede..."

"Yeah, Meta?"

"Have you ever thought about how terrifying sleeping is?"

"..." Dedede's eyes shot open and he tilted his head to stare at his partner with a subtly dumbfounded expression. The man was still laying pressed up against him in the king's large bed, with his eyes peacefully closed as if he hadn't said anything ridiculous. "Uhm... can't say I have... or really that I know what ya talkin' 'bout."

Meta elaborated in his his usual cool voice, "For the duration of sleep, during the most dangerous hours of the day, the body completely shuts its senses to the outside world. Anyone or anything could pass beside your person as your rest, and you would never know if they did anything to you if it was not enough to rouse you. Every night it is necessary we take this risk to survive. It is a bit of a terrifying concept, is it not?"

It took quite a bit to leave the great King Dedede speechless, but Meta sure seemed to have a knack for it. "... ...Guess so..." He relaxed again and they both laid there, in the dark of midnight, in awkward silence.

It took an agonizingly long amount of time for the silence to be broken by the sound of Meta Knight shifting under the covers to more closely cuddle his larger partner. "I do not know why I said that." He commented with a monotone that betrayed his embarrassment. "I apologize for being so morbid."

Luckily his partner was very used to his little quirks by now and got the picture. "Heh, don't worry about it. Everyone gets weird thoughts in their head before goin' to bed." He moved his arm to wrap around Meta and pull him even closer.

For a while longer they lay in a more comfortable silence, one that was supposed to lead into slumber but of course didn't. "That an anxiety o' yours?" Dedede asked gently.

The smaller man in his arms, still resting with an expression of utter calm, gave a small hum of thought before answering. "Not exactly. It is off-putting to me in a nebulous way how such a vital function of people makes them so vulnerable, but I have never been scared of what dwells in the dark."

"Yeah, cause it's usually you in it!" Dedede teased, earning a small huff of amusement from the unwaveringly gothic little knight.

"True I suppose... It was just an interesting idea on my mind rather than an active fear."

"I see..." He gladly soaked in the peak into the machinations of his odd boyfriend's mind. Something Dedede learned from getting closer to Meta was that it seemed the reason why he was quiet so often was cause his thoughts were always in some weird philosophical cloud. If the man did just say whatever was on his mind like other people did, he'd probably be seen as crazy. And to Dedede he was either way, but in a way he loved and found thoroughly amusing.

But no matter how serious his partner was, he was never above being teased for his bad habits. "I bet that part about being vulnerable is why you despise a good night's rest so much, Mr. Warrior!"

Meta Knight let out a snort of annoyance that the king couldn't help but chuckle at. "You got any clue how often you brush off sleep saying something bout needing to 'train'" -Dedede comically deepened his voice to mimic Meta's- "or 'be on guard'. You got some sort of complex 'bout sleepin'!"

"Is it not enough I concede to your efforts to make me work less?" Meta groaned in light-hearted annoyance. I would not have if I knew it were to come with armchair psychiatry."

The king laughed, "I'm just sayin'!" He wasn't one to pretend he knew a damn thing about psychology, but the writing was on the wall. "Well no matter what's wrong with that pretty lil' head of yours, all I know is some good ole sleep's in order!" Dedede moved to completely smother his silly knight in an even deeper cuddle, and placed a quick smooch on his forehead. "Now go to sleep."

He could almost feel Meta's face getting warm from the affection (and from being pressed against his partners chest), and he smiled at the chance to fluster the so often guarded man.

"Fine..." the knight conceded. "But before I do, you need to answer the question I first posed: does that concept of sleeping unsettle you?"

Dedede thought for a second, "Nah not really! Like ya said, nothin' 'bout the dark scares me. If something wants to watch my pretty mug sleep and leaves me alone I got no problem." He added with a smirk, "I ain't scared when you do it."

Meta replied with a silence that wasn't unnatural for him when speaking casually, but in this context it was clear to Dedede that he flustered the man again and he could almost hear the cogs in his brain churning.

"When did you learn that I did that?" He squeaked. Well, as much as his voice could.

"Oh don't worry 'bout it!" The king patted his him as he fought a chuckle. "Figured back when you left all those gifts in the middle of the night. Your definitely the type to do something weird but cute like that."

"Ah..." Meta left another silence for his brain to process and produce a reply. "...Uhm... I am happy you do not mind... ...Th-that was not why I brought up the question earlier-"

Dedede couldn't help but wheeze in laughter a bit, "It's fine I believe you, Meta! Boy are you a gem..."

The two men fell into silence once again, ready to put the comedy routine behind them and actually go the hell to sleep.

It was just as Dedede was on the edge of consciousness that the sleepy voice of his partner rose one more time.

"Dedede..."

"Yeah..."

"..." the drowsy knight struggled to find his words. "You are... a wonderful sleeping partner..."

The king smiled. "Yeah... you too..." Even with his weird middle of the night thoughts, he wouldn't trade a night with him for nothin'.