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Disoriented, Chase tugs himself closer to what he thinks is his Alastair body pillow.
Instead, he's blissfully greeted to the warm weight of Buddy's back pressing against his side.
Gingerly, he pushes Buddy off him, the weight a little suffocating like it's going to wheeze the breath out of his lungs. Sunlight peers in through the windows and entraps them both in the thick blanket of Chase's bed.
All the efforts of Mr. Ralph to get Buddy to sleep in his new bedroom had gone to waste. Turns out, Buddy giving a heartbreaking speech about how he only felt safe sleeping next to Chase did wonders to the soft spot in Mr. Ralph's heart. Not like…it wasn't true, but putting on an over-the-top performance didn't leave him with much option but to agree.
Anyways, they usually fell asleep in Chase's bedroom most days, but he doesn't remember falling asleep here—last thing he remembered, he'd been downstairs with Buddy, curled up against the couch.
Chase stares fondly at Buddy asleep in the sheets. His mouth is half parted open, dark lashes fanning against his cheekbones, light shadows forming where they fall past his eyelids.
Buddy's hair is a mess, pressed into the pillow. There's a strand lingering over one eye. He looks funny right now, hair looking a little too much like it's defying the laws of physics.
The thought alone makes Chase chuckle, the thought is all too arbitrary and distracts from Nox's face, Nox's body next to his.
Nox is here. Right here.
Nox sleeps like he's on high alert when Chase isn't curled up against him—his face stoic, even with his hair in all directions. Chase's voice comes out susurrous yet fond, mouth pressed close to Nox's ear. "Sweetie. Are you having the best sleep of your life?"
No response. His mouth still hangs half-open, eyebrows furrowing together like he's alert of something in his sleep—namely, Chase's voice. Chase laughs, Buddy's demeanor softening a little like he can feel him nearby, like the thought alone relaxes him.
Watching the faint flush grow in Buddy's skin, hair curling behind his ears makes Chase even more fond of the sight before him.
He gently shakes Buddy awake, hand finding his cheek and lightly tapping him. When Chase gets no response, his hand traces and catches Buddy's cheek. "God, you're such a boy," Chase giggles, dizzy with himself, his brain muddling affection with truth. Buddy's mouth curls into a different expression, eyes moving behind their eyelids. "I love you."
Buddy's eyelids that were squeezed shut moments ago slowly blink, fanning away the bright blur in his eyes only to see more stars. He really tries not to let his mouth split into an easy, stupid grin, but it does. It's the type of grin that washes over his face when he realizes he's both slept and woken up to Chase.
"I love you too," Nox breathes.
Chase tries not to make his embarrassment visual, but it shows with the self-conscious smirk, the deflection. "Look who's awake. Hey, my moon."
"Hello to you too, pesky little star. Thanks for waking me up and ruining my morning," Nox snaps back, deadpan and teasing.
"Hey," Chase falls into the teasing. "Take that back, asshole."
"Asshole?! You don't love me anymore?" Nox gasps, hand pressed to his heart. Chase's eyes widen even as he knows Nox is teasing—because he definitely doesn't mean that.
Chase brushes a piece of Nox's hair aside as he lies closer to him. "What? No, I love you! More than you love me, actually."
"Oh, so it's a competition now?" Nox snaps back.
"Yeah. I love you the mostest." Nox laughs, blue eyes softening to look at him, fueled with new fire. "It's not funny!"
Nox's hands find Chase's waist from where he's leaned up next to him. He pulls Chase down close to him. Everything else seems to fade away. "What if I told you I loved you more?" Nox breathes, eyes darkening with the premise of competition.
"You'd be wrong. 'cause I love you more," Chase retorts.
"No, I love you more. I'm serious."
"No, I love you more."
"No, I love you more." Buddy leans closer as similar grins fall onto their expressions. They have absolutely no idea what they're talking about anymore as they play their game of back and forth, of win and lose.
Chase isn't one to accept defeat. He grabs a pillow behind Buddy's head, hitting it at him like it's going to temporarily erase his memory. "Oooooh, Chase Hollow loves Nox…Buddy—more! Right, Buddy? Isn't that what your brain is saying now?"
"If you're trying to hypnotize me, at least hit me harder," Buddy laughs, and it's a melodic, pretty sound that ricochets through the warm light of the room. "Little idiot."
Chase hits him back again, frustrated when Buddy just keeps laughing, a melody of I love you's filling the room and leaving them in place.
A pillow goes flying, and Buddy is up, hair in all directions, breath sour with the new day, and blue eyes glittering at the sight of stars in Chase's eyes. "I—" Buddy wheezes, doubled over, shoving Chase, "love you more."
"No, I love you more." Chase pushes back, hits him with another pillow. He tugs off the sheets to throw himself at Buddy easier. "GUHHHH." He groans, like he's a soldier fighting a long, hard battle. It's hard for him to back away, even as exhaustion falls into his tone.
He tries flattery next. "You're so cute. How do you live with being this adorable?"
Nox's cheeks flush red, going hot all over. Regardless, he musters another truth, anything to stop whatever their early morning had turned into. "Little sap. How do you live with being so sappy?" He pulls Chase into his chest, grabbing at his hair. "I love you."
"No, you. Shut up. How do you live with being so loved?" Chase murmurs, reaching for the curve of Buddy's waist from one side of him. "—'cause you gotta know that I love you more."
Buddy tries to reach for a pillow to hit him, to rile him up, but he goes blank as he pulls Chase close, unable to resist his magnetic force field.
He inhales through his nose, breathing like soft whistling as Chase captures his lips back with the same hunger.
Oh. So we're—
Chase breaks the kiss briefly to nuzzle against his nose and breathe against his mouth, "I hope you still know I love you m—"
Buddy shuts him up once more, tilting and cupping Chase's jaw to the side, pulling him half onto his lap. The sunlight fades away, caught in strands between his fingertips as his eyes shut.
He pulls Chase close like he's been waiting, hunger making its course through his body. Buddy sighs into the kiss, tongue slipping its way past his lips. Chase's grip on his shoulders tightens, and he gasps, sound lost as a stutter of words between them.
Their kiss breaks for a moment as Buddy tugs eagerly at Chase's hair and waist, and with the same motion, flipping them around.
Chase catches his breath for a split second, choosing to ignore that mischievous glint in Buddy's eyes for a second. "Good morning to you t- mm—" Chase gasps, eyelids fluttering shut as Buddy's mouth falls back onto him a moment later.
His stomach flips, his heart jumping at least twenty feet in the air, lost up to the blood vessels that lead up in his brain—though even that seems to be empty. Their breaths intertwine as their hands roam—Buddy's hand finds the bare skin of his waist, and Chase tilts his hips up to welcome the now-warm hand.
His own hands grab at Buddy's shoulders, giggling as Buddy tugs into his hair, mouth coming up for breath again— "You taste disgusting," Chase breathes, noses touching.
"You're not any better." Buddy retorts, and in the very same instant, he presses a lighter kiss to Chase's cheek. A kiss finds its way onto Chase's nose, and then his forehead, and then he's being peppered with kisses, featherlight and soft.
Chase's eyes go distant and dreamy, grasping into Buddy's hair as Buddy's own hands roam to hold Chase in place, Buddy becoming his personal anchor. Buddy laughs a kiss into his jaw, trailing up his chin, his flushed cheeks, up the corner of his nose, wherever he can reach. "Buddy," Chase giggles. "I love you."
Buddy's eyes sparkle between a kiss, a void of stars swallowed up. "I know, star. But I love you too."
"Not as much as I do," Chase snaps back yet again, and this whole talk is exhausting in the best, adorable way possible.
"Should we kiss on it?" Nox suggests, like he wasn't going to do that anyways.
Chase laughs, eyes falling on him once more. "Mm. I'd like that." And then either side of Buddy's legs are straddling him, pushing him down, kissing him with featherlight touches before he falls back into his mouth.
"I love you," Chase breathes between the instant of their kiss starting and deepening.
This time, it's lost in a deeper kiss and a warm grin against his mouth, and Chase doesn't complain any longer.