Chapter Text
They’re lying on Will’s bed together, something they often did. There’s nothing really different about tonight either, if you discounted the fact that Will seemed to be buzzing with some kind of restlessness. He keeps shifting around and Damon has noticed how he’d gotten quite a bit closer since they first laid down.
He lets their pinky fingers brush when Will moves too much, relishing in the small contact. They don’t talk about it, it’s not something they can do but he knows what Will’s really aiming for so by the time Will has shifted again, ring finger and pinky brushing against his, Damon reaches out. It’s rather a minimalistic gesture, he lets the tip of his fingers brush against Will’s palm and listens for the slight hitch in his breathing that he knows will come and grins when he hears it.
Will doesn’t stop looking at his phone and neither does Damon. Pretense is everything, he supposes, as he brushes his fingers against the palm of Will’s hand, drawing small patterns that he wouldn’t be able to name. Will hesitates, doesn’t move his palm from under Damon’s but then he does, moving perfectly as Damon’s fingers draw closer to the base of his fingers and he slots them together.
Will still isn’t looking at him but Damon’s looking at Will now. Will’s hand is warm and it’s just a bit smaller than his. It’s not much of a difference and it certainly doesn’t feel like a girl’s hand. Not even remotely as soft and it lacks the desperation with which women usually grip his hand. No, this is different. Will’s hand is rougher around the edges, and he holds Damon’s hand like if he acknowledges it, then it will all dissolve.
Will keeps scrolling through his phone, the side of his face that Damon can see dimly lit by the slowly increasing luminosity of his phone. Damon turns his attention back to his phone, noticing the way Will has stopped shifting around, less tense and much more relaxed, the ghost of a smile on his lips.
“If you wanted to hold hands, you could’ve just asked,” Damon imagines himself saying. He’d like to see the way Will would tense up. Would he let go of his hand? The unacknowledged should remain so, he supposes, and he lets it go. Maybe a part of him doesn’t want this to end, this comfortable silence that they’ve settled in.
He also knows what it would mean if he brought it up, called them out for what they were doing. Will would probably retreat and Damon chuckles at the thought. Will’s head lazily turns toward his, a frown tugging down his lips as he squints to see what on Damon’s phone has captured his attention.
He’d kiss him, if he’d wasn’t sure where that would leave them. Do they kiss as couples do now? They’re not that, so Damon leaves it for a moment that would require it, perhaps an emotional one. Instead, he keeps their hands linked and shoves his phone into Will’s face, showing an ugly picture of him that has Will protesting immediately.
He cackles as Will reaches for the phone, outside of his reach. They’re so close now that they could kiss, he watches Will carefully as he suddenly realises that too. Green eyes stare at him before Will pulls back, mumbling something about Damon being an ass, fingers still intertwined as he goes back to scrolling through his phone, a smile hanging on his lips.