His whole body trembled as he held the small, red box in his hands. He knew it was for the best, but he almost couldn't bring himself to do it. All he wanted was to be with Jake. He wanted the strong, tanned arms of his boyfriend...well, ex-boyfriend now...to hold him close and tell him that everything would be okay. But everything wasn't going to be okay, and Jake never lies.

Suddenly, an idea came into his head and filled him with a sickly sweet mixture of hope and dread. His stomach churned and his head spun. Warm tears rolled from his uncovered eyes, down his cheeks, and finally fell silently to the floor. He was ready. He raised the microwave-sized box above his head. He was ready. He suddenly stopped shaking, and felt the slightest hit of something like nostalgia. He was ready. He was really, really ready.

"Goodbye, Jake."

He silently dropped the box over his head, and here was a bright flash of white, then red as he felt an immensely painful force slice through his flesh and roughly hack through his upper-spine. Crimson blood gushed from his severed neck and white bits of bone flew in all which ways.

One thing he found out through this experience is that there is no such thing as an instant death. Throughout that "instant" that he was dying, he could feel every single nerve in his body disconnecting from his brain, and the rough sawing of his bones and the fine precision of the box cutting through his flesh. He heard every muscle in his neck being sliced through, and every drop of blood splatter against the ground.

But then, suddenly, he was staring into eyes. Green eyes. Jake's eyes. His eyes widened, and he slowly got pulled back from Jake's face. He took this opportunity to take in every feature of him, from the swoosh of black hair, to the defined cheekbones, to the tanned, yet slowly paling cheeks, to the black eyelashes that curved up above the big, jade green eyes. Everything. Even those...smiling lips. Smiling. Now they were moving...Jake was moving...he was laughing. Jake was laughing at him. His face had never been filled with so much light and happiness in all his life...why was he laughing?! Stop laughing! Jake was laughing because he knew Dirk was pathetic!

"...ir..."

Stop it, stop laughing!

"Dir..."

Shut up!

"Dirk? Dirk, wake up." Jake said quietly, shaking his boyfriend's shoulder gently. Finally, Dirk's orange eyes shot open, and he sat up so fast they almost butted heads.

"JAKE!" Dirk screamed, making Jake jump back and almost fall out of bed.

"Dirk, it's okay! I'm here!" Jake said after a moment, taking a few seconds before cautiously moving closer to the blonde boy. Dirk's head jerked to the side, alarmed by the person next to him. He was panting heavily, and cold sweat ran down his forehead. They stared at each other for a few seconds, until Jake finally moved even closer to the other. He scooted closer to Dirk, and wrapped his arms around his broad shoulders. Dirk was stiff for a few seconds, before melting into the adventurer's arms.

His shoulders shook as he sobbed quietly into the other's chest. Jake raised his hand to rub soothing circles on his boyfriend's back, as he shooshed him. It was not a common occurrence that Dirk would show too much emotion, and Jake doubted anyone had ever seen him cry. But here he was, crying into Jake's chest after waking up screaming. It was almost enough to make Jake cry.

After a while, Dirk settled down a bit and leaned back, sniffling. "I... I'm sorry, Jake," he choked out, scrubbing at his nose.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Jake replied, smiling softly at his boyfriend. He reached his hand out to cup Dirk's face, and wipe away his tears with his thumb. He moved his finger to the blonde's chin, and tilted his head up so that watery, orange eyes met comforting, vibrant green ones. "Would you like to tell me what you dreamed about?"

Dirk blinked, then shifted his eyes downward. "It was... a bit graphic..." he admitted. The pictures suddenly flooded his head again, and he gagged.

"Shoooosh..." Jake said, pulling Dirk closer to him again. "It's okay, you don't need to worry. You can tell me later. Don't think about it." He carded his hands through the messy golden hair of his lover, as he whispered reassurances into his ear.

"Here," Jake said, unwrapping his arms from Dirk's body so that he could gently push his shoulders down. Jake then lay down and tugged Dirk closer to him. Dirk turned on his side toward Jake, and snuggled against his side, tangling their legs together and nuzzling his face into the crook of his neck. Jake soothingly ran a hand through Dirk's hair and scratched his scalp a bit to calm him. Dirk hummed quietly and tangled his own fingers into Jake's raven black hair.

"Mmm..." Dirk hummed, "your hair is soft..."

Jake laughed quietly. He set his chin on top of Dirk's head and inhaled the familiar scent. "Sleep well, Dirk."

And with that, Dirk closed his eyes and felt Jake's strong, steady heartbeat against his ear. He slowly drifted into sleep, and Jake stayed up for a while, just smoothing Dirk's hair and rubbing his back. Once he heard quiet little snores escape the other's lips every so often, he felt good. He closed his eyes and went to sleep under the comfortable weight of his lover.

Sweet dreams.