Letting Him In

Chapter-27

"Life was a willow, and it bent right to your wind
Head on the pillow, I can feel you sneaking in
As if you were a mythical thing
Like you were a trophy or a champion ring
But there was one prize I'd cheat to win"

-Taylor Swift, Willow
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Elijah

Elijah woke up to someone gently pressing their lips against his neck. He opened his eyes, hating the way they felt dry and crusted up because of crying. Turning over to face Dean, he gave him a small smile.

"That's one way to wake me up," he mumbled through a yawn, cracking a sleepy smile.

"Well... my other options were pulling off your blanket or pouring cold water over your head," he said, giving Elijah an innocent look.

"You sound like Lily," Elijah said, but after thinking a little, added, "you ever do that to me and I'll throw you out of the window."

"You would never," Dean chuckled. After a few moments, his playful eyes softened as he lifed a hand to Elijah's hair, pushing back a few stray strands. "How're you feeling?"

Elijah rolled his eyes to cover up the sudden sadness that surged through him at the question. It felt like a blow, though part of him knew he was overreacting. But a bigger part of him had wandered into a corner of darkness where all he could focus on was those words he had heard way too many times in his life to count: how are you feeling? The words that always seemed to remind him that people asked him the question because he wasn't okay.

Why was it so hard to just have a normal life, to wake up next to the boy he liked not because he pitied him, but because he liked him. And even though after last night he was almost sure Dean did like him, he couldn't help but think Dean wouldn't still be here in the morning if it hadn't been for the cancer.

"Hey, stop that," Dean said, looking at him with worried eyes. When Elijah raised a questioning eyebrow, Dean shot him a deadpanned look. "You're overthinking something. Stop. It's your birthday, you don't get to be sad," he said, getting up and tugging on Elijah's arms to pull him up too.

Elijah yelped in surprise, causing Dean to chuckle lightly.

"I'm not going to school, if that's why you decided to wake me up," Elijah warned. He was exhausted, physically and mentally, everything from the past month having finally caught up to him last night.

Dean only smiled. "It's already way past school time, Li. But its your birthday, so we're doing something. You're not gonna sleep all day."

"But I want to," Elijah complained.

Dean looked at him for a moment, before a smirk overtook his face. Elijah did not like that look; it was the one his friends had whenever they were planning another stupid prank on their teacher.

Dean pulled Elijah closer until their noses were brushing, and Elijah remained as still as he could. This was still uncharted territory for him; the last two nights had been him running on adrenaline, but now that everything was off his chest, it felt much more real; surreal, even.

Dean's lips moved to Elijah's cheek, pressing a soft kiss there, slowly moving to his jaw as he- he licked him.

Elijah jumped in surprise when Dean's tongue poked out, brushing his skin. Dean pulled back, a small, satisfied smile taking over his lips as Elijah's face went pink; he shot Dean a glare, wiping his face, but that just made him shoot Elijah an innocent look. His wide eyes and goofy smile made Elijah shake his head; what was this boy doing to him?