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Even after living with Zack for months now, he still isn't used to waking up to somebody in his bed. Or in his arms, apparently.
Because this is new. Zack's arms wrapped around his waist and chin tucked on top of his head with his cheek pressing into Collin's hair. Collin himself is gripping the back of Zack's tanktop, face in the crook of his neck—and god, it's so comfortable— and their legs tangled. It's warm and cozy, he feels sluggish and ready to just fall asleep again.
Collin is many things.
Stubborn,
bold and loud-mouthed.
But in the face of the little comfort he's had in a long, long time? He is a weak man. And the selfish part of him, shockingly, wins out.
So he just nuzzles back into the depth of Zack's fur and pretends like this isn't going beyond their shaky friendship.
Collin dozes like that for a while, not quite waking up but not quite falling asleep. Of course he's aware of any sounds upstairs and the rain hitting the house loudly but it's all… sort of muffled. He's tired but he's scared, so scared.
Scared of some random fucking entity poppimg up any second but he's scared about Zack. About his reaction once he wakes up, because this can't last forever. It won't and Collin wishes so, so badly that it would. Would Zack hate him? Hate him for being vulnerable or overstepping some kind of boundary? He doesn't want him to hate him-
It would kill him, Collin thinks.
Slowly, he feels his grip tightening and tensing up all over. What does he do, if Zack hates him? Is disgusted by his actions? Friends don't do this (But really, what does he know about friends?) He doesn't want to lose Zack, the first solid presence in his life since-
The one thing holding him together-
He wouldn't know what to-
"Prrr…"
Collin is broken out of his spiral by a… rumble? It shocks him temporarily and for a second he thinks it's some weird new monster but… it can't be. The bed isn't shaking or anything but he can feel it.
He holds deathly still, hoping it passes but it gets… stronger? And he realizes, it's not a monster or an entity— it's Zack.
He's purring?
He's shocked— baffled. He didn't know that Creeper-Whatever-Hybrids could purr? Hissing he would've expected, but not purring. Collin slowly turns his head so his ear is directly laying against Zack's chest and, yeah, he hears it. Or feels it, he guesses.
It's soothing, feeling the consistent rumble and hearing his heartbeat. Something settles inside of Collin and he feels his eyelids droop, too tired to fight it.
Somewhere in the last dregs of wakefulness, he feels a rhythmic motion at his hips, like a massage.
He falls asleep.
Once again, the waking world is dragging Collin by his feet but this time he feels more rested. Like he finally caught up on all his lack of sleep in a singular night (which is impossible, really.)
Blearily blinking, he stares across the room and sees Zack against the wall and swaddled up in blankets, a piece of cloth and needle in his hand. He's humming under his breath, bobbing his head to his made up tune. Collin is just stuck staring, struck by how peaceful he looks.
How right he looks inside Collin's house.
Zack's gaze slowly turns to him and flinches upon seeing him awake, accidentally pricking his finger with a hiss. Collin jumps up but before he can really react, he's suckling up the blood with defeated shoulders.
Collin coughs and buries his face in his hands by pretending to rub his eyes. He pointedly ignores the heat on his face.
"Ah— um good morning Collin!" Zack speaks up, moving the various things off his lap and moving over to Collin with a plate. He sets it down next to him and nudges him. "I—uh- saw some uncooked things in your chest and thought I'd cook it and let you sleep longer if- if that's… okay?"
Looking up from his hands, Zack is back to anxiously fidgeting and picking at the fresh wound on his finger. His gaze moves from Zack, to the plate and then back to Zack. Right, he has to answer. "Uh- that's okay. It's your place too kind of now. How long— did I sleep for?" He asks, grabbing the potato on the plate and nibbling at it.
Zack squints at the clock on the opposite end of the wall and does a quick count on his fingers. "Not super long? Like— uhm like two or three hours? It's not even noon yet so…" He nods towards the trap door to emphasize his point where there's barely any light from outside trickling in, but that could just be the rain.
They sit in silence for a few moments, Collin finishing the last of the potato before pushing the other one to Zack, who accepts it without much complaint (he guesses he didn't eat anything himself yet.)
Peering around him, he sees the cloth and needle on the floor and tilts his head a little. "Are you trying to sew?" He questions and Zack chokes for a moment. Jolting, he begins to pat his back.
After coughing out whatever he choked on, a small blush dusts his cheeks as he nods. "Yeah I- Well, you sew your own stuff and I wanted to see if I can make something." Zack mumbles, awkwardly scratching at the back of his neck.
Collin has to mentally slap himself before even thinking of responding.
"I can try and teach you? I'm not really any good but maybe we can- we can figure out how to sew something other than tanktops." He huffs the last part with a small snort, Zack also letting out a small giggle with a nod. "Yeah that'd be- nice."
Finally, Collin scooches out of bed and reaches for his clothes in a pile beside the bed and starts to mechanically pull it all on. Zack scutters back over to his little corner of blankets to continue to attempt to sew. Tugging his hat on, he pushes himself up with cracks and pops in his joints before turning to the ladder.
He stops right before.
"Hey Zack did- did anything weird happen while I was asleep?" He doesn't turn back (in fear).
Zack pauses and hums. "No? Is something wrong?"
So, so many things are wrong. He wishes he could say.
He bites his tongue.
"Nah, probably imagined it."
And he steps outside (to avoid it again.)