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Dakota cackled as he and his best friends walked back into their base. He noticed William flinch at the sound, so Dakota quieted the laugh as best he could. They’d just finished a very long mission that’d had them out and using their powers all day. Dakota had already taken a nap after the mission was over when the three of them sat down in a local park for a moment of rest. It kept the others out a bit longer than they may have wanted to be. What could he say? He was a sleepy little guy.
As they all made their way into the living room, William plopped face down on the couch with no concern for leaving space for the others. Ashe just sat in the armchair and pressed play on his music while Vyncent opted to sit on the floor for some odd reason. With nowhere comfortable left to sit, Dakota stood in front of the couch with his hands on his hips.
William didn’t make any moves, but seemed to be aware of Dakota’s presence when he said, “Can I help you, Kota?”
“Yes you can! Thanks for asking!” Dakota answered with the largest amount of sarcasm he could muster, “Scooch so I can sit.”
William just groaned in reply. Seeing that William wasn’t planning on moving any time soon, Dakota decided to take it into his own hands. He could have just picked William up and moved him, it wasn’t like he was too heavy. But no, Dakota had a much better, and funnier plan.
“What are you doing?” William seemed to be worried by Dakota’s lack of speaking, which was warranted, seeing as his lack of words meant he had a plan.
“Nothing,” Dakota lilted, then pounced on top of William.
“Jesus- DAKOTA!” William protested with a giggle in his strained voice, “You’re fucking crushing me !”
Dakota scoffed as he wrapped his arms around the boy under him to hold him in place, “You’re being over dramatic! You’re just facing the consequences of your actions!”
William wiggled, trying to get out of Dakota’s grasp before suddenly going completely still. Dakota tilted his head and started a sentence, but before he could get a word out, William turned intangible and fell through Dakota’s arms and the couch. It was a great plan. Dakota could admit that, but when he heard William’s muffled laughs from under the couch, Dakota knew he’d won.
“Can you-” William was cut off by his own laugh, “Can you help me out of here, please?”
“Do you promise to share the couch?” Dakota returned the laugh with a light one of his own.
William let out a muffled sigh, “Fine. I’ll share, but you’re going to be my pillow.”
A smile spread on Dakota’s lips at the mention of being that close to William in a more… calm sense, “Deal!”
Dakota reached down and lifted the couch enough for William to be able to crawl out from under it, still laughing at himself. There was a moment where the two made eye contact and the world seemed to stop as they stared at each other with smiles on their faces, but Dakota tried to move on from it and ignore his face being nearly as red as his hair. Instead, he sat on the end of the couch and gestured for William to take the spot he had previously claimed as his.
Wasting no time, William laid down and let his head fall onto Dakota’s lap. It wasn’t uncommon for the two of them to do things like this. Most often it was unplanned. They would both be exhausted from a mission, or just life, and fall asleep on the couch together, leaned up against each other. One time, when William was dragging a sleeping Dakota back to his bed, Dakota woke from a nightmare. He was so shaken, and every fiber of his being was screaming that he didn’t want to be alone. So, Dakota asked Willaim to stay with him in his sleepy state and William said yes . That was a night Dakota would never forget.
For now, Dakota forced himself to focus on the moment he was in. He smiled down at William who had closed his eyes at this point. Dakota brought his hand to William’s hair and began carding through it carefully. It was always so soft. William never did anything to take care of it. He had made that point clear to Dakota many times before, but it always seemed to remain so healthy and soft. The way it glided through his fingers calmed Dakota just as much as the act calmed William.
Vyncent and Ashe eventually left the room with quiet goodbyes, being conscious of William trying to rest, which left Dakota alone with his thoughts. As he stared down at the beautiful boy on his lap he couldn’t help but let a fond smile grow on his face. There was nothing that could keep Dakota Cole from taking care of William Wisp. Dakota had promised himself that one day a long time ago when he and William were just acquaintances.
It wasn’t that Dakota thought William was weak. That couldn’t be further from the truth. No, Dakota wanted to take care of William. He wanted to make the other feel loved and cared for and comfortable and every other descriptor similar. Dakota never wanted William to have another bad day, but he could only do so much, so this was a good start.
William took in a sharp breath and his eyes blinked open. He and Dakota made eye contact and William matched the other’s smile.
“Sorry,” William let out a breathy laugh, “I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”
“I don’t mind,” Dakota kept his hand carding through William’s hair, “I would’ve brought you to your room if I did.”
A laugh escaped William as he shook his head, “Yeah, I forget you can just- do that . Super strength and stuff.”
Dakota nodded and titled his head, keeping that same, fond smile, “And stuff.”
Dakota could have sworn that he saw William’s face flush, but he brushed it off thinking it was something else.
“I should get up,” William announced after a moment of silence.
“You don’t have to,” Dakota tried to keep the disappointment in his voice to a minimum, but it didn’t work very well.
Another moment passed between the two as William’s brow furrowed and his smile flattened into a line. For a second, Dakota thought he may have done something wrong, or upset the other in some way. Although, he didn’t have much time to sit with that thought before William sat up, leaving Dakota longing for the feeling of the other close to him.
William took in a deep breath before speaking, “Okay, I need to tell you something- and it’s not anything bad! Just want to clarify that. Everything is okay, I just- y’know.”
Nodding, Dakota sat up a bit straighter, noticing the serious tone in William’s voice, “Go ahead. I’m all ears.”
“Cool, cool-cool-cool,” William repeated before taking one last deep breath and saying, “I like you, Kota.”
Dakota blinked for a moment, “You like me? In like- not a friend way?”
“Yes.” William’s entire body was tense, “I have for a bit and it’s been eating away at me because we’re always so affectionate and I didn’t know if it would make you uncomfortable if you knew I liked you like that so I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want it to stop but then I can’t get the feeling of guilt to go away and now we’re alone and I can actually say something so I took the chance and- um, yeah. That’s uh- pretty much it.”
Taking a moment to process the other’s words, Dakota reached out a hand to hold William’s. Dakota’s brain may move a bit slow, but he wasn’t going to let his crush sit in anxiety while he processed. When he felt a bit of the tension leave William’s hand, Dakota smiled to himself.
“Okay, so, you like me? Like- like like me?” Dakota asked once more for clarity.
“Yes.” William replied simply.
“Fuck- I am so oblivious aren’t I?” Dakota giggled and squeezed William’s hand.
William giggled along with him, “A little, yeah. I thought I was pretty obvious. Vyncent figured it out before you did.”
“Not Vyncent!” Dakota tried to keep his laughs down, but he was struggling with William laughing alongside him now, “Man, if he can figure it out you must have been dropping hints left and right!”
“I was !” William brought a hand up to mime choking Dakota for just a second, “You’re just an oblivious little guy, apparently!”
Taking another moment to pause, Dakota realized something, “Wait- shit I didn’t- I forgot to tell you I like you back.”
“What?!” William let out a cackle this time, “ Lead with that, Kota!”
“I’m sorry! I’m bad at this.” Dakota cackled right alongside William, paying no mind to the rest of the house.
Shaking his head, William sighed, “You’re not bad at this. You’re just- a goofy guy.”
“What does that even mean, Will?” Dakota asked in exasperation, still trying to catch his breath from his laughing fit.
“I don’t know,” William admitted with a tilt of his head.
Another moment passed between them. It held no weight, no expectation. Well- that was before Dakota’s eyes wondered, as they do. But this time, they wondered to William’s lips. It totally wasn’t on purpose. No, absolutely not. Totally wasn’t trying to send any kind of signals to the handsome boy in front of him. Either way, signals were received.
“Do you want to kiss me?” William asked bluntly with a small smile on his face.
“I mean-” Dakota’s laughs started up again, but he once again tried to stifle them. They were becoming a problem at this point, “I wouldn’t say no .”
“Is that your way of saying yes?” William giggled along with him.
“Maybe,” They were both giggling again.
“Are we even going to be able to stop laughing long enough to be able to kiss each other or-” William cut himself off with a louder laugh.
“We sure can try!” Dakota sighed in an attempt to stave off the laughter, but it didn’t work.
William sighed, shook his head, then said, “Fuck it- c’mere pretty boy.”
He reached forward and took Dakota’s shirt in his hand and pulled the redhead forward, connecting their lips. Neither of them were able to fully stop their giggles, so the kiss was awkward and their teeth clashed several times, but would it be right any other way?
When they pulled back they were both still laughing as they exchanged goofy grins between one another. They took that moment to just stare at each other, laughing at seemingly nothing. Only filled with the joy that they created together.
That was until Vyncent’s door opened to reveal a very disheveled and annoyed Vyncent, “Can you two stop being so fucking loud ? Some of us are trying to sleep while you have love confessions out here.”
“Sorry Vynce,” William answered with a pitying look, a few giggle’s still slipping through.
“Yeah, sorry Vynce,” Dakota did a much worse job at hiding his giggles.
Vyncent looked between the two, smiled, rolled his eyes, then sighed, “It’s fine, just don’t fall asleep on the couch again, it makes for awkward mornings.”
“Yes, sir!” Dakota answered, turning his attention back to William once Vyncent’s door closed.
“We should go to bed,” William whispered, his giggles finally dissipating as his previous exhaustion came back to haunt him.
“Yeah, we should,” Dakota matched William’s whisper, or the closest Dakota could get to a whisper.
Rolling his eyes, William asked, “Your room or mine?”
Dakota blinked, surprised by the question, “Uh- mine? I guess?”
“Alright,” William hopped up, pulling Dakota with him by his hand.
They made their way to Dakota’s room, a few giggles escaping them before they both shushed each other, then shut the door behind them.
– Bonus
That morning, William and Dakota sat close to each other on the couch, munching away at some bagels they had decided on for breakfast. Vyncent was standing close to Ashe’s door with a bowl of cereal in his hand. When Ashe made his way out of his room, he stared at Dakota and William for just a moment before turning to Vyncent in a flash.
“Who confessed first?” Ashe asked excitedly.
This caught William and Dakota’s attention, both looking at Vyncent and Ashe with confusion.
Vyncent gave Dakota a dirty side eye, “Will did.”
“YES!” Ashe laughed at Vyncent’s disappointment, “I told you Dakota would never.”
Vyncent just rolled his eyes, pulled a $20 bill from his back pocket and handed it over to Ashe, then turned to Dakota, “You let me down man.”
“You had a bet going?!” Dakota asked exasperatedly, not entirely surprised. More impressed, if anything.
“And I just won,” Ashe and William shared a nod of solidarity.
“I hate it here,” Dakota joked, earning him a chaste kiss on his cheek from William.
“You love us.”
“I love you.”
Ashe’s gag was loud enough to interrupt the moment and send all of them into a laughing fit.