I was staying over at Dan's, my bestest friend in the whole world, the llama obsessed goof that was basically my world. Literally, my world.
We'd been sitting on his bed for hours, pouring over the glowing laptop screen. At around 1 I saw his mouth open wide in a huge yawn, his big brown eyes screwed shut as he threw his head back. His hair flopped out of his eyes.
"Tired, Dan?"
"Mm," he moaned as he stretched, his broad chest sticking out, emphising his muscle. For once he actually stuck to his blow-off new year's resolution and started going to the gym twice a week and let's just say it was really working out for him.
"You wanna go to sleep?"
"Badly," he said. "But tumblr...what'll it do without me for eight hours, Phillie?"
"I'm sure it'll cope," I tapped him on the nose. I loved it when he called me that, especially in his adorable little tired voice. Everytime he did, it felt like my stomach had done about four summersaults and just now was no different.
"Okay then, night night baby," he muttered to his laptop and he shut it over. For one fleeting second I thought he had been talking to me and was crushed with disapointment when I saw he wasn't.
Dan reached down to take off his llama-patterned socks, then reached up for his t-shirt. I couldn't take my eyes off of Dan's slender back as it looked so smooth in the light on his bedside...it took me a while to process Dan was staring right back at me and heat flushed into my face.
"Uh, Dan, I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to- I mean- I'll just go to bed. Yeah, sleep, need sleep. We've got a video to film tomorrow. Well, today, even. Night Dan!" I said all in a rush. I undressed too, finally climbing onto the matress next to Dan's bed in just my boxers.
"Ready for me to turn out the light?"
"Yep," I replied, snuggling into the duvet. "Night Dan."
"N'night Phillie," he yawned.
Half on hour later and Dan's breathing had slowed, but I didn't think he was asleep. I'd been trying not to look up at him, but the light streaming in through the window fell on his perfect face, glimmered on his hair...feeling like a stalkerish gay freak, I turned over and looked out at the stars above me, but they were a poor subsitute.
I tried to ignore the chill creeping into me by pulling my knees up to my chest and pulling the duvet tighter around me, right up to my chin- I never usually do that.
"Phil?" Dan asked. I had no choice but to turn over again.
"Yeah?"
"You okay? You're shivering." I opened my mouth to argue. "Don't deny it."
I needn't have bothered wasting my breath; I'm a terrible liar anyway. Even little white ones, I act like I'm going to be arrested.
"C'mere," he said gently.
"What?" I sat up, the cold stabbing at my bare chest.
"C'mon up, it's warmer in here."
Was he-? No, I must've misunderstood, he couldn't be...no...but what else could he have meant-?
"You coming or do you want to be a penguin?"
"W-would that be awkward?"
"Corse not. C'mon Phillie, I don't wanna make videos with a penguin. If you were a llama, then the circumstances would be different, of corse."
I chuckled as I walked round the bottom of his bed and climbed in the other side. This side was cold since he was lying on the other side, but it was five times as warm as the laminate floor. I buried myself in this duvet as I had the last one, facing Dan, who was also lying on his side staring right back at me; inches from me. "Better?" he smiled.
"Much," I flashed a grateful smile back.
"Here it'll be cold over that side, turn around.."
I did so without questions and a second later I felt Dan behind me, his legs fitting perfectly behind mine, his arm over my waist. My brain was ice, even if my body wasn't. WHAT?
Shutting my brain off and losing myself in Dan's arm was a blisfully easy task and I felt myself get warmer with every second as I slipped off to sleep.
I didn't know how to put what I felt into words, so I groped around for his hand and squeezed it as a thank you. He queezed back, but didn't let go. With Dan breathing into my neck making me warmer, I drifted off into the most peaceful nights sleep I'd had in years.