You Can Sleep With Me, I Guess
@brxknbxnes
Part of him was having a hard time processing the fact that Sean had said yes- that the eighteen year old was okay with something like this. And he couldn’t bring himself to walk away. It wasn’t that he was scared, exactly- well. He was. He’d been so used to being in Sean’s bed with him, that when he got one of his own, it just felt too big, too empty. He missed being with the older male, even if it got sort of squished at times.
His nightmares had been stopped by the presence of the other male with him, in the small expanse of sheets and mattress, and he didn’t want to risk them coming back by sleeping alone. So he wasn’t about to try. “Thanks,” he said softly, nodding his head as he padded over to the older male’s bed before he climbed in- masked in an ill-fitting t-shirt and too-big sweatpants, because his mother still didn’t want him going by the house to pick up his own clothes. Not with the trial in full swing. It took him a few too many seconds to finally get situated, hyper-aware of how many inches separated their bodies. These weren’t the kinds of things a thirteen year old should be thinking about, but he couldn’t stop doing just that. About closing the distance between them- but he didn’t. “It felt different. Not having you next to me… That sounded weird, didn’t it? I’m sorry.”
“You can’t expect him to sleep on the sofa all summer, Sean,” his mother had told him. “It’s only for a few weeks. Just until your brother finishes moving out. Then it’s all yours again.”
For the first time in weeks, Sean had the room all to himself. It had been his sanctuary, his safe haven, where he could shut out the loud, busy household if it all got to be too much. He thought he would have been thrilled to finally have it back, but something felt off with Gunner gone. The bed was too large, the room too quiet. He’d turned on his stereo, soft music filtering through the speakers as he lay down. He wasn’t all that tired yet, but the noise filled the empty room. At a familiar voice, he’d opened his eyes in the dark to spy the younger male’s silhouette in the doorway. "You're scared?” he’d said. “You can come sleep with me, I guess."
Sean offered him a reassuring smile, invisible in the darkness, and scooted over to his edge of the bed. Really, it was too small for two male teenagers--but they made it work. “Don’t be sorry,” he said. “You’re fine.” He felt Gunner settle beneath the covers, mattress moving under his body. “It must be weird, being in Dean’s room. It’s so empty now.”
