Chapter Text
“One more chapter?” Will asked.
“I can’t handle one more chapter,” Jem said.
“Come on, this is the best part,” Will wheedled.
Jem rolled his eyes and flopped back down beside Will. He had gotten up to leave because he’d thought Will’s poetry hour was finally finished but no, apparently not. Will was stretched out on his stomach with the book propped up against the pillows and Jem lay back on his back.
He positioned himself, entirely accidentally, with his shoulder pressed against Will’s arm. Will leaned into him. They did this and they didn’t speak of it. Jem never asked for the touches but Will never refused him. Will probably wouldn’t refuse him if he rolled into him and pressed their bodies together.
With that thought, Jem looked over at Will who was focused on his reading. Jem hadn’t a clue what the story was about, he tuned out everything but the rhythm and the cadence of Will’s voice. He told himself it was an experiment and he slid in a little closer so his knee touched Will’s as well. Nothing. Not so much as a twitch of recognition that it had happened.
Jem yawned and stretched, shifting again so that he came to rest against Will, knee and thigh and hip and Jem’s head almost resting on his forearm. Will looked down at him and he thought that this was finally it, this was the point where Will would mention it, ask him to stop.
“Am I boring you?” he asked all smug superiority but not mention of Jem’s increasingly ridiculous behaviour.
“No,” Jem said pressing into the points of contact and that got a little flicker of something on Will’s face but it vanished as quickly as it had come. He swallowed hard and went back to reading. Jem sighed as quietly as he could and went back to listening without hearing a word but neither of them pulled away.