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William let out a slow breath, miserably sinking deeper into Dakota’s arms as he let out a small whine. Dakota held him tighter, his hands curling around the back of his shirt as he gave a hum from the back of his throat, the sound reverberating deep in his chest. Deep enough that William was able to hear the rumble from where his ear was placed against Dakota’s heart, listening to his rapid heartbeat fluttering against his ribcage, the sound practically traveling through every inch of his body.
Dakota absently traced patterns into William’s shoulder blades, dragging the pads of his fingers over the fabric of his shirt and fidgeting with the garment. William sighed again and squeezed his eyes shut, fully pressing his face against Dakota’s shirt to try and block out what little light spilled in from underneath the doorway of his bedroom door. He was so tired.
He was so exhausted, the feeling coating his limbs and making his movements sticky and sluggish. It practically sunk bone-deep, preventing William from even trying to get out of Dakota’s arms (not that he wanted to do that anytime soon) to leave or do other things.
Dakota was warm, practically radiating a concerning amount of heat that William soaked up like a man in a desert drinking water for the first time. He burrowed himself deeper, shivering despite the comfort that surrounded him and the way that Dakota seemed to warm up the blankets, even more, making it all the more pleasant.
Dakota had William’s head tucked under his chin, pulling him as close as physically possible and wrapping his arms tightly around him. He hummed and breathed softly, each breath rustling William’s hair and tickling his skin enough to make William shiver. He trembled beneath Dakota’s grasp, trying his hardest to chase away the cold but still unfortunately frigid. He almost felt a little bad at the cold hands that he had wrapped around the exposed and sensitive skin of Dakota’s stomach.
But Dakota was so warm and he didn’t seem to mind that William would slide his hands underneath the hem of his shirt to hold onto his waist for some semblance of warmth. He would flinch any time William moved his fingers, or choke back a giggle if William brushed over his sides or belly. But besides that, he didn’t protest or try and move away, or try and shove William away so that he could leave and not have to deal with how clingy William was being.
He couldn’t help it. Not when he just wanted to sob at the exhaustion that weighed him down (but refused to let him sleep). Not when he was so cold that his muscles literally hurt from how hard he was shaking. Not when Dakota never actually tried to push him away, even leaning into it whenever William would cling to him and rest against his side. Not when this was the warmest he had felt for a long time. Not when his bed actually was comfortable for once with Dakota holding him tightly.
Even if his body vehemently refused to allow him to sleep, despite the fact that he seemed a few moments from passing out at all times, William could relish in the comfort, and take whatever rest that he could get. It was one of those rare moments when there wasn’t something to do or something that actually needed his attention and time. Sure, they both had homework due tomorrow. But that could wait. He was comfortable.
The sound of Dakota’s heartbeat against his ear thudded against William’s head, soothing his own nerves and allowing him to relax further into the mattress. Dakota was right there, he was alive, he was real and he was very, very warm. And William could sit there and listen to the steady thumping (albeit a little faster than it was probably healthy, but Dakota said that was normal). Well… any heartbeat would be healthier than William’s. But he shook those thoughts out of his head, his fingers twitching against Dakota’s lower back as he smoothed his palms over the texture of his skin.
Dakota shifted slightly, his breath hitching as William’s arm tightened against his side, he choked out a cough to muffle his giggles. He squeezed William tighter, foot twitching as he pressed it against the back of William’s ankle, doing his best to curl closer.
Forcing himself to take small but steady breaths, William buried his face against Dakota’s chest, breathing in the smell of shampoo that curled against his collar. He took a shower earlier as he usually did after they got home from school, and the scent of soap still clung to his clothes, a familiar scent.
Dakota brought one hand up to absently curl around the strands of hair at the nape of William’s neck, twisting the dark black coils around his finger and tugging gently. Not in a way that hurt, but in the way that Dakota could then feel the curls bounce back against his palm when he let go. William let out a shaky breath and melted underneath the touch, a heavy fog shrouding his thoughts and making it harder and harder to think coherently. Not with how comfortable he was.
William had almost forgotten how nice it was to curl up in someone’s arms and stay there for however long they would let him or how nice it was to have someone run their fingers through his hair, messing with his curls or fidgeting with the back of his shirt. Dakota did both, one hand tightly curled around the fabric of his shirt while the other tugged on his curls to watch them bounce back up. And William was practically putty to it all.
He was so exhausted and all it took was one tight hug from Dakota to get him to absolutely melt. Not to mention how tightly William clung back, holding onto Dakota desperately like if he let go the other boy would disappear. He didn’t want to get up, even though he knew that dinner was probably soon and they would be dragged out to go eat. William would stay here as long as he could, not wanting to go out and face the rest of the world (the very, very cold world).
It was bright in the other rooms, especially with all the lights on, and it was cold when William didn’t have some other way to produce heat (since he didn’t produce his own body heat) and William really didn’t have the energy to talk with anyone else. He just wanted to stay in Dakota’s arms where it was warm and safe.
But if Dakota wasn’t asleep, he would be getting restless soon. And William always felt bad when Dakota would get fidgety and uncomfortable from sitting still for so long. (But yet whenever he let Dakota leave, the aching cold of his absence seemed to physically hurt).
William sniffled and hid his face in Dakota’s chest. He didn’t want to think about that. Not when he was so comfortable he was practically on the brink of falling asleep.
Dakota smoothed his bangs away from his face, tucking his curls out of his eyes and tracing patterns against the patch of skin behind his ears. William’s eyelids fluttered closed and he curled his legs up closer to himself, tangling them around Dakota’s even more. Dakota’s foot pressed against his calf, the texture of his socks rubbing against William’s pants.
He tightened his grip and yawned. Dakota chuckled softly, a breathy sound spilling from his lips, unusually quiet for the younger boy. Maybe he, too, was affected by the warm silence of William’s bedroom, or the darkness that seemed to make the air thick with comfort and sleep. Maybe he felt the warmth just as tangibly as William did as it tried to desperately drag him into sleep (something that William wasn’t sure if he was entirely fighting off or not).
“Dinner is soon,” Dakota muttered, voice rattling in his throat as he didn’t even try and clear his voice, “I’m hungry.”
William made a noise of protest, completely muffled by the way that he buried himself against Dakota’s chest. He didn’t bother trying to say anything coherent, instead hoping that what he meant would come across well enough. Moving seemed like too much work, especially when he could barely lift his head from the warmth and comfort of the front of Dakota’s shirt.
He would rather lay here for the rest of the night than have to go out and face the chill of the outside air or the exhaustion of having to talk with Tide or Vyncent. William didn’t want to talk. He wanted to lay cuddled up with Dakota and try and get some sort of restless sleep.
At this point, he didn’t even care if he woke up at the same time the next day, he could sleep for the next week for all William cared. He just needed some sleep, any sort of rest to quell the deep ache in his bones that made it hard for him to pull himself out of bed in the morning after laying awake all night.
The sleepless nights that he had been dealing with the past week seemed like entire months without sleep, causing deep bags to form underneath his eyes, weighing down his movements, and making it hard for William to think. But as much as he tried to get some rest and as exhausted as he was, sleep just never came. It refused to allow him even the simplest form of comfort.
But with Dakota holding him so tightly to his chest, William was sure that he was about to fall asleep. The way that Dakota was running his fingers through William’s hair certainly didn’t help either. It just made him even more lethargic, a warm feeling igniting from deep within his chest and spreading outwards until he could relax his limbs without feeling the frantic tremors wracking his form.
A rare moment of warmth, one that William didn’t think he wanted to let go of any time soon. It had been so long since he had felt this comfortable. Even if he knew that Dakota would eventually have to get up. He needed to eat after all, and it was getting super close to dinner time. William was sure that Dakota had been wanting to help make dinner earlier but William had gotten clingy instead.
William could do with feeling guilty for later, not when he could barely think through the pleasant fog in his mind, and the sleep that threatened to whisk him away. His chest rattled with each shaky exhale that puffed past his lips, and he instead focused on Dakota’s heartbeat to distract himself. It was nice. It made him feel alive and William was relishing in the comfort of the entire situation.
He was unsure if he could even bring himself to pull away if he tried, it would be an incredible test of wills if he could manage the grueling task when the time came for them to get up to go to dinner. William yawned again and felt Dakota give a steady sigh that ruffled his hair.
William’s eyelids fluttered shut and he practically melted like butter left out in the sun and William focused on the feeling of Dakota’s hands against his back or the nape of his neck, trying his hardest to use that to ground him to keep him awake.
It didn’t work very well and William was sure that he must have drifted off in Dakota’s arm, time passing around him like slow molasses as he faded in and out of consciousness whenever the other boy moved. It was as if he were traveling underwater, all the sounds and senses muffled, only the feeling of Dakota’s arms wrapped around him registering to the haze of William’s mind.
He was sure that Tide or Vyncent were making noise from the kitchen, and William could very, very faintly hear the sounds of thudding coming from outside his door. But they didn’t register deep enough in his mind for William to actually be concerned. He was unaware of the rest of the world, too tired to lift his head from Dakota’s chest, and too exhausted to think about what might be going on.
All he wanted to do was sleep and Dakota’s warmth was making it really easy to keep drifting in and out. At least it was better than the rest of the sleep that William had been getting the last few nights, even a few minutes here and there would have given him more rest.
Later Dakota would have to get up, and William would be alone and cold once more. But that didn’t matter. Not when the passage of time was limited to the ticking of his clock (one that didn’t even show the correct hour) and any sort of consciousness was limited to the fuzzy haze that William was steadily swimming through.
He yawned again, relaxing fully against Dakota as he found himself once again drifting off with the comfort of warmth around him.