Kurt's nightmares had decreased in frequency and intensity since that first night when Blaine had woken him, but they still happened occasionally.
And so his roommate had come up with a new approach – truth be told, Blaine had liked waking up with his arm around Kurt a little more than he thought he probably should. So now whenever either of them woke the other in the middle of the night, for whatever reason, they'd pile their blankets on the floor of their room, between their two beds, and have a kind of sleepover. Not that they didn't technically have a sleepover every night, but both of them had been limited in their sleepover activities (at least with boys) when they were children, so they indulged themselves. It was a lot easier to pretend they were just good friends when they didn't open their eyes to feel the warmth of each other's bodies pressed together comfortably – or at least, they told themselves it was. And if the space on the floor was small, well, that couldn't be helped. Slight contact was inevitable. And if occasionally one of them would end up waking with an arm over the other, or resting his head on the other's shoulder, well, that wasn't a big deal.
Waking up in the same bed had been kind of a big deal. It was... intimate. Which is why the two confused boys had jumped at the new plan.
Early on the morning after Blaine had stayed in Kurt's bed, he'd opened his eyes to discover that both his arms had sneaked their way across to his friend, one under Kurt's head, the other crossed protectively over his chest. Blaine was not an early riser by nature, so it was the proximity that had roused him from sleep (and was unfortunately starting to have an effect on other parts of him too), and he smiled despite himself when he realized that Kurt's body was angled in towards his, and his friend's head was settled in the crook of his arm, leaning in near enough to almost touch his neck. He pulled away slightly to check to see if Kurt was still asleep (he was) and looked at the clock. 6:29. Alarm. Aaah.
Sure enough, within ten seconds of this thought, Kurt's ipod (it was his turn to pick the music this week) blared out the introduction to 4 Minutes (yesterday had been Disney Tuesday, today it was Countdown Wednesday) and Kurt's eyes flew open. He seemed confused for a moment, and Blaine stayed very still as panic flooded his brain.
This was going to be a difficult morning. What had just happened? They'd slept together. Well, okay, just slept together, but it was still a big deal. And now those blue eyes were looking at him and it would be so easy to – no. Friend. Conversation. Comfort. He had a nightmare. Focus.
"Hey." Did that sound casual? Hopefully that sounded casual.
Kurt smiled. That was a good sign. "Good morning."
"Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah, better after..." Kurt shifted slightly to sit up. "Thanks for... you didn't have to..."
"It isn't about 'have to'. I want you to be happy here – to feel safe."
"I do. Thank you."
There was an awkward moment as both of them thought about the logistics of this. What was the etiquette for this situation? Was there any? Finally, Blaine figured the silence was worse than any hypothetical.
"We should probably... um... get ready for class." He grabbed his blanket and made to get out of the bed, taking care that Kurt would stay warm. Kurt reached out his hand automatically to touch his friend's shoulder. His face was flushed, but it looked like he needed to speak.
"Really, I... I haven't been able to sleep that well in...I don't know...I just... it means a lot."
Blaine shrugged, knowing that there was nothing nonchalant about this conversation. "Anytime. I'm here. Both literally and figuratively." He grinned suddenly. "Just like a teddy bear."
And just like that, the tension was gone. Kurt rolled his eyes.
"Lucky me."
"Oh, yes, very. Now, did you see where I put my shoes last night?"
"Perhaps if you ever put them in the same place twice..."
Life went on. And though both of them held the intimacy of that night close to them, neither knew if they could feel it again without letting words slip out that one or both of them might later regret.
Hence the sleepovers. Less intimacy, more Disney movies and giggling. It was casual, and fun, and contact was normal. They were normal friends, and it wasn't a big deal.
At least, it wasn't until the morning when David came by uncharacteristically early to steal Blaine's copy of Julius Ceasar, and burst in without knocking to find his two very asleep friends lying on the floor, with their hands millimeters from each other.
Oh, for fuck's sake. They're holding hands in their sleep now? And they 'don't have feelings for each other'? This is ridiculous.
David left quietly to go tell Wes that the levels of denial down the hall were reaching critical level.