Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

That was all that filled his head and days recently. He had extra time, now that he had been “promoted” to Frater Imperator, vacating his former position as Papa. For that reason, he had extra time off, and ended up spending most of that time in his chambers. It wasn’t for lack of motivation—he was still writing music, making drum beats against his desk whenever he felt like sitting down and looking at the mountains of paperwork. He wasn’t supposed to be writing songs anymore, but he couldn’t seem to help it. He felt like a Cardinal again; sitting around and doing nothing but other people’s paperwork.

He sighed loudly as he laid on his bed, fidgeting with a handful of knitted blanket as he stared up at the ceiling. It was just barely past the afternoon, entering evening, and he had had one of the most unproductive days of his life… not including yesterday, or the day before, or the day before the day before, or—

He closed his eyes, wishing he could just hibernate through the rest of his professional life. He didn’t think he fell asleep, but he must have lost track of time, because when he woke up, there was another presence in the room.

It was easy to guess who it was. His wife, pressing soft kisses to his face to stir him gently. He fought a smile, doing his best to remain a petulant toddler, which quickly proved impossible. He reached up and slipped his hand into her hair. “Hello, dolce.”