7.
When Wilhelm woke again, it was morning.
Something felt good and at first he couldn't quite put his finger on what it actually was.
Then, as his mind unravelled from sleep, he became aware of a warm body, snuggled up against his back.
Memory flooded back, realization dawned and with a little yelp, Will jerked forward, breaking the body contact.
Careful, so as not to wake his brother, he turned around and helplessly looked at the sleeping form. He swallowed, and slowly, as if hypnotized, extended a hand towards Jacob's face. Barely breathing, he softly ran tender fingers over the younger one's cheek, down the neck, along the arm and back to the chest.
Reaching the waistline he suddenly drew the hand back in an abrupt movement, as if he had touched a hot oven-plate.
Waking from his daze, Will literally jumped out of the bed, got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast.
After having eaten, Wilhelm decided to take a tray with food upstairs for Jacob.
He would probably not feel like running about any time soon and the food would help his body to deal with the toxic still running through its veins.
Upon opening the door, Will felt nearly punched in the face by the cloud of alcohol, that emerged from the room.
He put the foodtray down on the table and hurried over to the window to let in some fresh air.
As soon as he had opened the shutters, there was a soft moan from the bed.
"Ah, get thee away, evil daylight." Jake mumbled feebly and drew the blanket over his head.
Although his brother seemed really miserable, Wilhelm couldn't help chuckling at that remark.
"Sorry, but you would have suffocated in here. The alcohol was probably going from the air into your body through the pores." he stated.
And as he received no answer from the heap under the blanket he went on:
"Guess you're not going to be up in a while. So I brought you some breakfast. You might not feel like eating, but you know it'll make you feel better."
More groaning from the bed could with some goodwill be taken as approval.
Will gave the pile of blankets another smile: "Ok, I'll be going out for a while. Food's on the table. Get well soon."
He made his way to the door, when his gaze fell on a black box, lying on the floor amidst Jake's strewn clothes. "What's that?" he wondered curiously, picking it up and slipping the lid open.
"Jake, do you know where that watch comes from?" he demanded a second later, all tenderness drained from his voice.
There was a commotion among the blankets and then Jacob's head appeared, pale from the hangover and bearing a frightened and nervous expression.
"Oh, it's, um, your Christmas present …" he hazarded meekly.
"My Christmas present?" Will looked at his brother in disbelief.
"Yes, I, … I meant to give it to you yesterday, if we had a moment, but somehow you were always busy and …"Jake's voice trailed off and he looked down at the blanket, biting his lip.
Wilhelm stared at him for a moment, pictures springing up in his mind's eye:
He, dancing and joking with Hilda and other townspeople all evening and Jacob, all alone, hunching up smaller and smaller in his corner of the room. And all the while he had been carrying the present. And Will hadn't even talked to him once …
Wilhelm winced, as he felt the guilt well up and with it, as always, the anger, overtaking the former on it's race for the throat and looking desperately for someone else to blame.
The perfect target.
"You bought me a present? I don't believe it! We talked about this a hundred times, didn't we? I thought it was settled that we don't buy gifts for one another! How much money did you spend on that? Argh, where did you get it? Maybe we can take it back …"
Jack flinched at his older brother's angry yelling. And his voice was barely audible when he ventured: "It's engraved …"
Will let out a deep breath and threw his hands up in exasperation: "Yeah, great! Of course. If you do something stupid you do it to the full, don't you? God, Jake, you're such an idiot."
Straining to fight the tears that were climbing up again, the younger one weakly attempted to defend himself: "I thought it was useful …"
Rational thought conquering his rage for a moment, Will had to admit that a watch actually was useful. That thought brought up more guilt, and more angry need tom pass it on.
"You thought, eh?" he growled at his cowering sibling. "Not exactly your strength, thinking. You should know what comes of it. If we needed a watch, we'd get a cheap one. Not fancy stuff like this. You ought to check with me before you make such a purchase."
Wilhelm paused, red-faced, and saw that Jacob's eyes were wet again and his lip was trembling.
That sight made Will's chest go tight and he felt he couldn't breathe any more.
"I've had enough. I'm out of here." He finished rather lamely.
And slamming the box with the watch on the table, he stormed out of the door.
As the door slammed shut, Jacob finally allowed the tears to fall.