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It was late when Joel and Jimmy finally entered the dorm room for the first time in two weeks. Jimmy was sitting on Joel’s shoulder, the college dorms quiet enough that once they entered the building, Joel deemed it safe enough to have Jimmy out of the pocket. And even if someone had passed by, the hood of Joel’s hoodie was enough to hide Jimmy from any prying eyes.
Immediately, once they entered their dorm, they both saw Grian already waiting for them. Grian stood up from his bed as soon as the door opened and walked over to Joel with his hand out, eyes determined. “I get Jimmy for the rest of the night.”
“Wow, not even a greeting? What am I? Chopped liver?” Joel said but he was already reaching up and grabbing Jimmy off of his shoulder.
Grian rolled his eyes. “Oh Joel, how was your break?” He asked in a monotone voice. “Good? That’s good. Mine was good too. So nice that we both had good breaks.”
Joel heard Jimmy chuckling at that. He ignored the borrower though, in favor of staring at Grian, frowning. “You’re terrible.” Joel said, matching Grian’s tone.
Grian’s lips curled up a bit. “I know. Now, Jimmy please.” He waved his fingers in anticipation and Joel sighed.
“Yeah, yeah.” He brought the hand holding Jimmy over Grian’s hand before opening it and dropping Jimmy onto Grian’s awaiting palm. He honestly couldn’t blame Grian for wanting to see Jimmy though. Joel figured he’d be acting a similar way once he was the one who had to spend two weeks away from Jimmy.
He turned around and decided to just focus on unpacking.
As soon as Jimmy was in Grian’s hand, Grian brought him close to his chest, to the point that Jimmy was feeling a bit smushed. But not by much, never by too much. Grian was still gentle despite their time apart. Not that Jimmy expected anything to change in that regard.
Jimmy just briefly saw Joel put on some headphones before Grian fell back into his bed, Jimmy still held close and protected from the brunt of it. A small sense of vertigo still washed over him briefly, but it was gone as quickly as it came. Again, Jimmy was used to being moved every which way so he quickly got over the dizziness that came with that.
Grian moved Jimmy away from his chest and turned his body so he was laying on his side. Jimmy was moved so that he was sitting on the bed, cupped from behind by Grian’s hand. Jimmy used this as a backrest, leaning against the fingers to make himself more comfortable.
“So, how was your break? For real this time?” Jimmy asked with a slight laugh, deciding to be the one to break the silence between them. Grian shrugged, at least, as best as he could while laying down.
“It was fine. The river rafting was fun and I got to see my sister since she also came home for break.” Grian said.
Jimmy smiled. “That sounds fun! Glad you got to hang out with your whole family.”
“Yeah…” Grian said but he sounded like he didn’t quite agree with Jimmy. The borrower looked up at him quizzically and Grian sighed. “I had fun, yeah, but I couldn’t help but think about…you know, how you were doing and stuff.” Grian’s cheeks held a hint of red and Jimmy’s eyes widened.
“Wait…” Jimmy grinned. “Are you saying you were worried about me? Aww, Grian!” Jimmy teased, only to receive a gentle but sudden nudge from one of Grian’s fingers.
“Oh shut up,” Grian said with a huff. “I was just worried Joel was going to lose you or something. Nothing else.”
Jimmy’s teasing smile turned softer. It wasn’t everyday Grian showed the softer side of himself. Even if he was trying to cover it up with jokes and a bit of teasing. “Well, I appreciate being thought about either way.”
Grian’s blush deepened. “Yeah, yeah.” Grian sighed again, eyes turning softer. “I…I did miss you though. It was weird not having you around.”
“I missed you too. It was weird only having one human hovering over me.” Jimmy joked but was touched by Grian missing him. He figured he would be missed but he hadn’t been expecting Grian to be like this over not seeing Jimmy for two weeks. It was kind of nice, knowing he was that big a part of Grian’s life. That he was that big a part in anyone’s life.
Grian snorted. “I bet. Well, it’s back to normal now.” Grian said and then brought Jimmy just a little closer. “And next break we get, it’s my turn.”
Jimmy nodded, smiling, though his smile soon turned into a yawn. He opened his eyes back up just in time to see Grian rolling his eyes. “You’re tired already?”
“Hey! It’s been a busy day. We got up early to have breakfast and then Joel had to pack, which took a lot longer than it should have, honestly. And then, right before we were about to leave Joel’s parents dragged him, and me, to go shopping. And then after all of that, we still had to drive 3 hours back here!” Jimmy said, trying to explain his tiredness.
“Yeah…but you weren’t the one driving.” Grian retorted back and well, that was a fair point.
“Well, Joel and I were either talking or Joel was blasting the music so I didn’t exactly have any time to rest.” Jimmy said with a huff and a cross of his arms.
“Right, of course, talking to Joel is tiring.” Grian joked and Jimmy couldn’t help but laugh.
“That’s mean.” He said, despite his laughter.
As Grian himself chuckled, Jimmy couldn’t help but lean further into Grian’s palm. Talking about how tired he was was honestly just making him even more tired. And Grian’s hand was so warm. It would be all too easy for Jimmy to fall asleep just like this.
“You’re really that tired already?” Grian asked, this time the question was more serious.
Jimmy hummed, head turning to the side. “Hmm, yeah…”
Grian frowned as he realized Jimmy really was about to fall asleep. “Come on Tim, you haven’t even told me about what you and Joel got up to yet.”
Jimmy looked up at Grian with a soft smile. “Grian, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll tell you all about it in the morning.” He would love to talk to Grian more but he was tired and he could see that Grian was too. “I think we could both use some sleep though.”
Grian was quiet for a moment. “Fine.” Grian’s fingers curled in a little more. “Are you okay sleeping here?”
Jimmy nodded. He trusted Grian and it wasn’t like this was his first time sleeping on the same bed as one of his humans. “Yeah, besides I don’t think I could move even if I wanted to.” He made his point by further leaning against Grian’s hand, going limp in a comfortable position. He heard Grian chuckle.
“Alright. I’ll…I’ll see you in the morning then.” Grian said tentatively. Jimmy nodded and smiled.
“See you in the morning.” And with that, surrounded by the warmth of Grian’s hand, Jimmy fell asleep.