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It was a Saturday morning, the birds were singing, and Damon woke up after the best sleep he ever had.
Just barely teetering on the edge of consciousness, he spared a weary glance towards the window. Judging by the copious amounts of sunlight seeping through the blinds, it was past eight — in other words, way past the typical time he woke up.
Although there was nothing he would’ve preferred than to allow himself to lull back into the warm embrace of sleep, he couldn’t afford to waste more time than he already had decaying away in bed. He grunted, preparing to roll closer to the edge of the mattress —
— when he became acutely aware of the pair of arms anchoring him in place.
His brain stuttered, and suddenly, he was more awake than ever.
Sharing a bed with Kai was far from ideal, but it was better than being subjected to the couch every day. He had grown begrudgingly used to it, even, despite the other’s thrashing and snoring. It had been several nights since Damon had first convinced him to share, but not once had he woken up to a predicament like this.
It was no surprise that Kai was a clingy person. Damon had gathered that from their initial meetings alone; even back when the obnoxious influencer had ceaselessly insisted he didn’t want Damon as his roommate, he trailed behind him like a neglected puppy. By now, he was well acquainted with Kai’s habits, most notably, when he’d lean closer than necessary while asking a question or leave his arm linked in his for too long. However, no amount of brief touches could prepare Damon for something as intimate as him spooning him from behind. The melody of Kai’s heartbeat thrummed low against his skin, and for a moment, he felt lightheaded.
He refused to dwell on the way his pulse quickened, and instead evaluated the plausible courses of action he could take to get free. For obvious reasons, waking Kai up was immediately ruled out. That situation would be beyond awkward, and Damon could assuredly go without listening to whatever his reaction would be. That left only one option, which was to slither inconspicuously out of his grasp without startling him awake.
It was a more awkward feat than anticipated. Damon hadn’t quite realized just how tightly Kai was clinging onto him, and there was no way he could just slide out. Damon strained lightly against Kai’s arms, awaiting the moment his grasp would slacken against the pressure, but his hold remained as rigid as ever. He continued to struggle harder and harder, and only when he was using all of his strength did he deem it futile.
He has to move eventually, Damon thought, reassuring himself repeatedly as if the mantra would make it come true. Because being enveloped within Kai’s arms — the same irritating, nagging Kai — was the most nonsensical and horrific way to start off his day.
What was even more horrific was the fact that Damon liked it.
Kai was achingly warm, warm enough that the discarded blankets were hardly an issue. Even the sound of his breathing was oddly soothing, and if the debater’s brain wasn’t functioning at the speed of light, he might’ve dozed off from the noise alone.
God, he thought, feeling the blood rush to his cheeks. Of all people, why did it have to be fucking Kai Monteago?
It wasn’t long ago when Damon figured it out. He was certainly no expert on romance, but it didn’t take a genius to realize that the disgusting, unabashed fondness that festered within his gut breached the bounds of friendship. Kai was so pretty it was nearly unbearable, and beneath his whiney, stuck up exterior, he was shockingly insightful. A good listener, too — Damon couldn’t count the amount of times the influencer reinstated some random tidbit he barely recalled bringing up.
He couldn’t stand it.
It was as if the universe was plotting against him, sending some beautiful, annoyingly funny guy his way, who had absolutely zero chances of reciprocating his affections. He had hoped that his feelings would dissipate in time, that they’d go away just as suddenly as they’d come. Hell, maybe his hopes could’ve come true if it weren’t for the fact he now knew how it felt to cuddle him.
Suddenly, Kai shifted against him. Damon’s thoughts came to an abrupt standstill, tensing up against the movement. Finally, he would be able to get out, and he could proceed with his day as if this had never happened —
— but Kai pulled him closer.
Damon had thought touching more than they already were was impossible, but his roommate proved him wrong in an instant. His hands rode further along his sides, so tightly it was almost uncomfortable, but the pressure wasn’t what brought Damon on the edge of suffocation.
Kai nuzzled his head in the crook of his neck, mumbling nonsense against his skin. The ends of his hair brushed against his nape, and Damon swore he could faintly catch the lingering scent of strawberry. That absolute demon — of course Kai of all people had fancy shampoo that somehow retained its smell overnight. How the hell did that even work?!
Just wake him up, he thought, barely comprehensible over the sound of his pounding heart. Logically, it’d be the best choice. Getting up on his own wasn’t working, but as much as he hated to admit it, he didn’t really want to. He’d never seen Kai sleep so peacefully. He was always moving around, grunting something unintelligible and waking up at the slightest disturbance. The fact that he had faltered only once was beyond shocking, and Damon couldn’t bring himself to bother him, even when he was being held hostage.
He bit his lip. It was only a Saturday, and he supposed burning a little more time in bed wouldn’t deter his plans to study. Thirty more minutes would suffice, then he would most definitely wake the other up.
Thirty more minutes, he reminded himself, allowing his eyes to flutter shut.
“What the shit?!”
After what had definitely been more than half an hour, Damon was startled awake by an ear splitting shriek. Kai yelled out in horror, as if he were cradling a corpse rather than a living person, and he clearly didn’t have the same concerns Damon had about waking the other up.
Damon grunted, ready to roll out of bed and leave Kai to contemplate in peace, but he still felt that familiar strain. A rush of annoyance flared within him — how the hell was Kai, entirely conscious, gonna continue holding him in place? Especially when he was hollering bloody murder?
Just how loud Kai was finally struck. Damon recalled how their lock was broken, and a wave of panic washed over him. For the umpteenth time, he cursed just how shoddy the dorms were. Rooming with Kai was supposed to be a temporary arrangement, just to keep each other safe from possible intruders until the school replaced the locks, but it had already been weeks without a single update. Everyone should’ve been awake by now, and if they weren’t, Kai’s scream must’ve done the trick. Someone would hear, burst into the room, thinking that they were about to bear witness to a crime scene, only to see —
Damon’s face flushed impossibly red, and he knew there was no way he could let that happen. He wrangled around desperately in Kai’s grip, awkwardly craning his torso so he could clamp a hand over his roommate’s mouth. Kai gaped at him, honeycomb eyes blown wide.
“Are you gonna keep screaming or are you actually gonna let me go?” Damon hissed, the vibrations of Kai’s voice thrumming against his palm. His lips shut abruptly, and with a moment’s hesitation, he slid his arms off. Damon grunted, rolling over so he was facing Kai. It was a senseless decision, considering that Kai exhaled as if he had been holding his breath for ages.
Damon grimaced. “Your breath stinks.”
Kai gawked at him, incredulity settling in his features. “You — It’s the first thing in the fucking morning! Yours doesn’t exactly smell like sunshine and rainbows either!”
“That’s not a smell.” He ground out, his eyebrows knitting together. As Kai opened his mouth to rebuke, it suddenly processed that they were nearly nose to nose. Damon jolted upward instantaneously, colliding with the headboard in the process.
Kai sat up swiftly, albeit without making the same mistake. “Dude! Are you okay?!”
Damon ignored the searing pain in his head, groggily pushing himself off of the mattress. The world wasn’t standing straight. “Yes. Perfectly fine.”
He tuned out whatever his roommate had to say in response, raising his arms over his head as he listened to his back crack with a satisfying pop. When he turned around, Kai’s focus suddenly shifted to the sheets.
He chose not to think much of it, instead reaching for his phone on the nightstand. The moment it lit up, he barely suppressed a sigh.
Somehow, Kai had sensed his disdain, and he had now clambered off the bed to stand behind him. “What? What is it?”
Damon didn’t even begin to formulate a response before Kai took it upon himself to leer over his shoulder. The phone read 11:18 AM.
“Uhh… so, like, what’s the problem?” Kai asked, and the blonde didn’t need to see him to know exactly what sort of expression he was making. He likely had his lips set in a tight line, with his brows slightly furrowed —
Damon cut that train of thought off immediately. He really was spending too much time with this guy.
“Is eleven not late to you?” He grumbled, letting the screen go dark and setting it back down.
Even on weekends, Damon liked to stick to the same schedule. Saturday and Sundays were just an opportunity for him to dedicate more time to studying what mattered to him, rather than work for his required classes. Waking up so late disrupted his plans catastrophically. He’d also have to wait an hour or two and start the day with lunch, since he found no point in eating breakfast past ten.
“I mean, I guess! But it’s Saturday!” Kai swerved around him, beelining for his closet and analyzing outfit choices for the day.
Damon didn’t want to hear it, feeling incredibly irritable as he pulled open his designated dresser drawer. “This is all your fault.”
Kai turned around immediately, his voice rising defensively. “H-hey! Okay, I’m sorry I started hugging you in my sleep, or whatever, but you were knocked out until I woke up! That’s not my fault!”
Damon’s face hardly even tensed, but Kai somehow noticed anyway. Damn him and his uncanny levels of observation. He blinked rapidly, his intolerance replaced by total bewilderment.
“You were already awake?! Why the hell didn’t you wake me up, then?!” Kai startled, crimson blooming on his cheeks. “Fuck, you— you just let me cuddle you?!”
“W- why the hell are you saying it like that?!” Damon snapped, and he hated how ridiculously flustered he was. He inhaled sharply, trying to compose himself, before he spoke again.
“I was only up for a little bit. Besides, you weren’t waking up.” It was only a white lie. Kai really didn’t need to know how long he’d spent lying awake agonizing over the predicament. He also didn’t need to know that he’d made absolutely zero effort to bring him back to consciousness.
Kai considered that for a moment, before he turned back around to face his clothing with a huff. Damon almost felt guilty for embarrassing him so thoroughly, especially when he wasn’t nearly as levelheaded as he seemed, but Kai had brought it onto himself when he clung onto him like a koala.
Damon should’ve been eager to let the topic drop, but he couldn’t bite back one last remark. “And, for the record, you should really invest in a teddy bear.”
“Hey!”