Cuddling

A Story One-shot

Written for my HAPPY BIRTHDAY JELSALOVER3 tribute.

Cuddling

Maybe it was a mistake for me to have watched all those horror movies. And maybe it had been a mistake to eat all that popcorn. And maybe, just MAYBE, I shouldn't have had those three cups of coffee.

But I did all those things, and now I was stuck rolling around on the couch trying to get comfortable. Normally I had no problem with sleeping, even if the couch felt like a rock, not a couch, but I guess it was all of this combined that left me wide awake and alert.

"ARGH!" I groaned, indifferent to the fact that I might have woken someone up. If I'm miserable, they deserve to be miserable. So there.

Clearly I did wake someone up with my frustrated groans, because then I heard shuffling feet and a yawn. Stephen came into view, his hair beautifully mussed and glasses askew like he had just shoved them on without caring whether they actually helped him see or not.

"Everything alright?"

I nodded. "I can't sleep. Too much caffeine or something. Could be the couch too. No offense."

"None taken. I've hated that couch since the moment we bought it." He sat down next to me. "Anything I can do to help?"

I shrugged. "Unless you have some magic sleeping potion, I don't think you can. Thanks for the offer, though."

Stephen was quiet a minute. "Would it help if... if you came in and slept with me?"

My eyes widened. Stephen mimicked the action, a look of pure embarrassment and terror on his face. "Not- not like that!" he stuttered. "Like, sleeping next to each other. Fully clothed. Sleeping."

I slowly, very slowly, nodded. "Right. You're sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Lead the way."

Stephen took my hand and pulled me up with him. We went to his room and got under the covers, each on our own side of the bed. The inch or two between us was killing me, so I reached across and took his hand. He looked at me, a small smile on his face.

"Goodnight, Rory," he said as he took his glasses off and placed them on the nightstand. I took this moment as an opportunity to scoot so that I was pressed against him. Stephen reached back and wrapped both arms around me. I used his chest- his nice, warm, muscled chest- as a pillow and closed my eyes.

"Goodnight, Stephen. See you in the morning."

...

The next morning, I woke to find my legs tangled with Stephen's, one hand in his hair and the other wrapped around his waist. His arms were still around me, and I could hear the sound of his heartbeat. I didn't want to open my eyes, I was so comfy and warm. I would have gladly stayed there forever.

"You awake?" Stephen asked. I opened my eyes to see him staring down at me. I nodded, then nestled closer to him.

"Let me go back to sleep..."

Stephen chuckled, just a little bit. "You sleep okay?"

"Like a baby." I reached up and lightly touched his eyelids. "Now sleep with me. You're too comfy for me to waste this."

And then the two of us fell back to sleep in each other's arms.

End

:)