@fatedruin said: ' i'm sorry i woke you. ' from chad
he’s blinking the sleep back, looking over chad’s face in a dim living room. aftermath of party surrounds them—empty bottles and remnants of the only ways they could stand to cope with this town. elbows and palms bring him upright on the couch, legs coming to cross under him so he can face the other boy. a pause, and he frowns a little. “don’t be,” he answers, low and drowsy. and eyebrows furrow down in quiet concern. “...bad dream?”
sleepless nights are not new; nights when there was something in his head that wanted to take him to the bottom of a lake, through shattered glass and rainwater grave. years pass and don’t make the twisting bones of psychosis easier to swallow. since he was twelve, these were things he had made boxes for. but to chad, wound is new, a broken window and a glass house—he wishes he knew what to say. he’s not sure he ever will. you're sorry this happened. you're just sorry.
tommy looks at him carefully. there’s still hesitation here, hand that hovers like it wants to brush chad’s cheek but can’t quite do it. even cut only in the soft light from the kitchen, the boy with the impossibly soft eyes is hard to look away from. and this is part of it, why you hesitate. you know exactly what your hands do, and have done. there’s a pause, where instead he slowly adjusts position on the couch to make room. he brings blanket around chad’s shoulders, tugs it in close as though it were his jacket. “...we can stay up, if you want. i can stay right here.” you can listen, you can be here, if he wants you to be. used to being guardian, used to holding a line that existed only in his mind. he would do the same for this boy, without a thought. he thinks maybe there's little he wouldn't do.
