Prompt: 14. Unguarded touch

Rating: K+

Fandom: World of Darkness

Characters: William, Brian

Word Count: 880

Warnings: N/A (Unless you need to be warned for non-explicit slash)

Author's Note: I notice almost all the fics in this batch are written for a challenge. Anyway, I've noticed how I very, VERY rarely write romantic pairings, and when I do, they're inevitably very screwed up and vaguely abusive. So, I thought it'd be nice to see if I can write a sweet romantic scene that's not fucked up at all, and play it straight. And just to make it more challenging, I chose to use the single most abusive couple I've ever written. Oh, and, you know, make the scene psychologically appropriate and logical.

The end result…well, I guess I can't call this abusive, but I felt it was a little too sappy and cheesy, and the pacing wasn't done that well either. Mostly because I suck at dialogue and am much better at writing internal monologues. But…um…at least I've got these two in a scene that's not incredibly, incredibly fucked up?

When Brian woke up, it was early morning, barely 2:00, as a glance at the clock told him. Another glance at the other side of the bed quickly told him the reason he'd woken up.

William was awake.

He sat with his back to Brian, shoulders hunched, with his elbows resting on his knees and his head hanging low. Dim, silvery moonlight shone through the curtains, casting half of him in sharp relief while throwing the other half into shadow. His breathing was even too, if a little too shallow.

Brian blinked and sat up, shifting the blankets off of him. So, it definitely wasn't a nightmare. Or at least his usual ones, anyway. Those always had him screaming and thrashing, and until he calmed down, the room would always be pitch black. But he definitely wasn't okay either. In fact, it didn't look like he even noticed Brian was awake, and he always knew what everyone in the room was doing even at the most chaotic of times.

'William?' Brian ventured, his voice raspy and hoarse from sleep.

William tensed but made no answer.

Tentatively, Brian edged closer to William's end of the bed. 'Are you okay?'

He could almost see William's throat work a few times before the other man replied in a hushed whisper, 'Yeah, I'm fine.'

He frowned. 'You don't look fine. Are you sure you're okay? Did you have a dream?'

Silence. William's hands, clasped together, tightened, his knuckles turning white.

'Do you…' He floundered, 'Do you want to talk about it?' He was really bad at this offering comfort thing, he reflected.

William glanced sharply at him, his eyes wide and overly-bright in the moonlight. Brian could see the little blots of blood on his lips where he'd been gnawing at. He'd scowled at Brian then and opened his mouth for a sharp retort, and Brian had braced himself, but then he…slumped, a weary, defeated expression upon his face, and he'd answered weakly, 'I…I don't know.'

Something inside Brian twisted and he shuffled across the bed to sit beside William. Quietly, he offered, 'I hear talking about it helps.'

William snorted. 'Nothing ever helps.'

'Some things never completely go away, but everything can get better if you're willing to let it to.' He didn't know how many times they'd had this debate, and yet everything, it incited the same odd sort of passion in him, and even now, with his brain still groggy with sleep, he could feel the indignation and eagerness swelling up in him.

William gave a short snort again and tightened his hands further. 'I- I dreamed…' He began, then swallowed thickly, a light of panic already entering his eyes. 'I dream that this – all of this,' he made a vague, sweeping gesture, 'was- was an illusion. My…keeper had set it up, and all this time, I'd only been in my cell, and I'd never really ran away. And it- it might not have been the first time he did it.' William's hands shifted and his nails dug sharply into the back of his hands and he drew another slow, trembling breath. 'None of it was ever real.'

'You don't believe that, do you?' Brian breathed.

William answered with short, bitter bark of laughter.

'That- That's ridiculous!' He grabbed William's shoulder, ignoring his sharp flinch, and hissed urgently. 'He- This couldn't be an illusion! It had to be real!'

'And how would you know that?' William snapped and easily shook his hands off.

'Because- Because can't you see? He- He couldn't have created this if he wanted to! He…' Brian threw his hands up in frustration, 'Does he know enough about forgiveness and compassion to make Jim save you even though you'd spent nearly two years trying to kill him? Does he know enough about charity and self-sacrifice to create the League at all? Does he know enough about redemption to make a Banished the head of it? Does he know enough about friendship or altruism or…or…or love?'

He grabbed William's shoulder again and pulled him into a tight hug. 'Could he have created this?' He whispered and tightened his hold, feeling William first tense then slowly relax against him.

'Maybe he's just letting me see what I want to see. Maybe he isn't finetuning this himself.' William rallied, but he didn't try to throw Brian off.

'You've always wanted to see yourself in the oh so tender embrace of a Metis?'

'Fine, point.' William conceded. 'And you can take your hands off me now.'

Brian quickly drew back and smiled shyly at William, who rolled his eyes back at him.

'Are you okay now?' he asked.

'I've always been fine. I'd freak out if I stopped having nightmares now.' William answered with a huff. 'Now if you don't mind, I have to go to sleep. Some of us actually have work in the morning.'

Brian smiled shyly at him again and earned himself another eye-roll.

He retreated to his side of the bed and William flopped down and drew the blankets over his head. Brian lied down too, and as he shifted under the blankets, he felt a hand seeking out his own, entangling their fingers together.

'Good night.' He whispered, and the lump beneath the blankets grunted in reply.