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“Ze… Ze. Ze. Ze. Ze, Ze, Ze, Ze, Ze—”
“Shut the fuck up!”
“Ze, Ze, Ze, Ze, Ze, Ze—”
“What? What. What do you want?”
“It’s cold. Could I get a blanket?”
“Fuck you.”
Ze didn’t even spare a glance towards the other as he buried his face into his own blanket. He never liked looking at it; the resemblance was too uncanny.
He didn’t even know why he let the guy reside in his room. Granted, its movement was limited by the endless amounts of rope tied to its body. But who knows what it’s capable of?
“Ze. Ze. Ze.”
“Stop. Please, just—just stop.”
“But I’m going to get sick.”
“Wh— Can you even get sick?”
“You’ll find out.”
God damn it.
Ze considered his options; he could give the guy a blanket, or he could ignore it and risk an even bigger annoyance.
The problem was, he didn’t have a spare. And he sure as hell was not giving up his own.
“I don’t have one for you. Go do your—your magical entity shit and leave me alone.”
“You’re using—”
“Yeah, no, I’m not giving this to you. I’m cold too, asshole.”
“Why don’t we share?”
“Hell no.”
“Come on,” the entity dragged out its words, “body warmth does more than a silly blanket.”
Ze didn’t respond as he weighed his new options. He could share with it, or he could let it freeze to death. The latter was more than tempting.
“Don’t let me freeze, Ze,” it whined.
“Shut up. I’m thinking.”
“Oh? You’re considering it?”
“What did I just say?”
“You know you want to. Come on, Ze, untie me.”
“Jesus Christ…” Ze rolled over in his bed, finally taking a look at the entity bound on the floor. Its eyes lit up; it was creepy, seeing his own face smiling back at him.
“...Whatever. Get in. But I’m not untying you.”
“Sure, you’re not.”
The entity shuffled closer, struggling onto the bed as its arms were restrained. Ze didn’t care to help. Once it made it on, he tossed half of the blanket onto it and turned back.
“Ze…”
He could feel it inching closer and closer.
“Ze.”
Somebody save me.
“Ze.”
“Oh my— What? You already got the blanket, so just… I dunno, sleep!”
“Don’t you want to be warmer?” It giggled—is that what I sound like when I laugh?—and laid its head atop Ze’s shoulder. “This isn’t really helping, you know.”
“Yeah, well, fuck you. I’m not untying you, dude.”
“No need.”
“Wha—”
An arm threw itself around Ze’s waist, pulling him in. His back was flush against the entity’s chest; there was a noticeable absence of rope.
“What the— Dude, what the fuck? How—”
“Aren’t you warmer?”
He wiggled around, but the entity’s grip proved too strong. “No, wait, how—”
“Isn’t it comfortable?”
“Wh— If you could do that all along, why’d you even let me tie you up?”
“Shhh…”
“Hey—”
It brought its hand up to Ze’s hair, tracing its fingernails along the roots. That did little to mitigate the flood of questions in his mind, but God, did it feel good.
“Doesn’t that feel nice?”
“...Shut the hell up,” he grumbled, letting his head fall back down onto the pillow in resignation.
“It’s okay. I know it does.” Another hand slid underneath Ze’s hoodie, resting itself on his stomach.
“Dude—”
“Isn’t that warmer?”
The entity giggled again and buried its head into the crook of his neck, planting its lips right behind Ze’s ear. Ze didn’t want to admit it, especially to himself, but nearly all of his defenses were dissolving with each sickeningly sweet move.
The hand continued to scratch his scalp, though it felt more like a massage than the assault he would have expected. The one on his stomach did warm him up, and Ze hated how much he loved it.
“Still not asleep, Ze?”
“Alright, dude, maybe if you stopped bothering me, I would be. Y’know— maybe, if you weren’t here at all, I wouldn’t be having this problem.”
“Awh…” Ze felt its lips forming into a pout. “We both know that’s not true.”
“What the hell are you—”
He was interrupted by the entity grabbing his shoulder and turning him over with ease. It was surprising how much strength it had—Ze felt like a mere feather in its hands—but the way it handled him, like he was a precious flower, dispelled the nagging fear of harm.
“Is this better, Ze?” It smiled—did I always smile like an angel?—and intertwined its hand back into his hair.
“...No.”
“Why not?”
“It’s just— it’s weird, looking at myself. Like—like I’m staring into a mirror while I’m tryna sleep.”
“Oh?” Its other hand came up, replacing the cold pillow with its warm palm. “But aren’t you so pretty?”
“I— I, uh… I… Just— just shut up.”
It was embarrassing how flustered that one line made him, but the entity didn’t seem to care. In fact, it only smiled wider, looking like it had just won the lottery.
“It’s okay, Ze. You’re very pretty, aren’t you?”
“Shut up!” He could feel his face heating up. He wanted to blame it on the entity’s hand on his face, but he knew he’d be lying. “Okay? Yeah, whatever, just… sleep!”
“Sure.” Its hand moved to pull his head to its chest as it threw a leg over his waist. “Goodnight, Ze.”
“Mhm.”
Despite his logic screaming at him to move, get away, don’t fall asleep, the clutches of slumber were infinitely stronger.
Ze didn’t remember when he fell asleep. He only realized he had when he awoke to the sunlight shining in his eyes through the cracks of his curtains.
And to the entity, enveloping him in its warmth.
Jesus Christ. Memories of the previous night came back to his muddled mind, only making his face warmer.
Being able to look at its face without its gaze boring into his eyes didn’t make it any less perplexing. Its features were exactly his. Sure, it wasn’t like it was ugly, but Ze would never say that aloud for fear of sounding self-absorbed. Or, well, creepy.
His hand tentatively reached out to touch its cheek, then his own. They even had the same texture. Its nose had the same curve, its eyebrows the same shape.
So weird.
He traced along its jaw, reaching its lips.
This is so weird.
Its lips were so horribly soft. Ze felt his own; also soft.
What would it feel like…?
What the hell am I thinking?
I’m so fucking weird.
“Goodmorning, Ze.”
“Holy shit!”
The entity didn’t move, only opening its eyes.
“What are you up to?” Its voice came out annoyingly teasing.
“Nothing! Shut up! Fuck you!” It felt extremely hot all of a sudden. “Okay! You can— you can get off now! It’s, uh, it’s really warm in here, so just— just—- move!”
“Come on, Ze. You don’t want me to move, do you?”
“I do, that’s why I said to, jackass.”
“Then why don’t you push me off?”
“Because—” Ze tried desperately to find an answer that wasn’t admitting the truth. “Because— Fuck you, that’s why. ‘Cause— ‘cause you’re stronger than me.”
“I have as much strength as you do, Ze.”
“Fuckin’ liar.”
“No,” its voice lilted up, “really. I’m just like you. I have hair like you, eyes like you, lips like you.”
Just kill me at this point.
“Just— get off—”
“Are you sure? Don’t you wanna know how it feels, Ze?”
“I dunno what you’re talking about.”
“Want me to remind you?”
“Huh?”
At that, he felt its lips—his lips, if he thought about it, but that was too confusing—pressing against his own. It lasted for just a few seconds before the entity pulled backwards, a knowing grin on its face.
“Soft, isn’t it?”
“...Shut up…”
“Wanna—”
The door burst open. “Ze! Holy shit, I just saw—”
Ze fumbled out of the entity’s embrace, shooting up to cover it with the blanket. Unfortunately for him, the blanket had long been discarded onto the floor.
Holy fuck, just kill me.
“...Ze.” Regect stood in stunned silence.
“Uh… Listen… I…” Ze gulped. “...You’re dreaming?”
“...What?”
“...Wake up?”
“Huh?”
“This is all just— a dream. Regect, you need to go back to your bed to wake up. Yeah?”
“...Huh.” Regect’s shoulders slumped. “Guess that’d explain the huge nest of spiders I just found in the kitchen.
“What?”