“Rise and shine.”
A strong hand grips his shoulder, jostling him, nothing much gentle about it. He rolls away from it, sprawling on his back, covering his eyes with his hand.
“This is wake-up call number two. Third one involves a jug of water.”
Henry rubs his face with both hands and blinks against the sunlight that’s filling the room.
“Jesus, you really weren’t joking, were you?” Sean laughs. The mattress lifts as he stands up. “It’s like you’re in a coma.”
“What time is it?” Henry says groggily, reaching for his phone on the nightstand.
“Half past. You can still shower if you’re quick.” Sean goes and leans against the desk, picks up a piece of toast wrapped in a paper napkin. He’s dressed and sharp, he’s already been down to the canteen.
Henry throws off the covers and heads for the en suite.
“Thanks,” he calls back as he closes the door.
“We had a whole conversation,” Sean says, later, when Henry's out the shower and getting dressed. “You really don’t remember?”
“No, sorry.” Henry steps into a clean pair of briefs, lets the damp towel fall down. He keeps his back to the older boy as he puts on his uniform shirt, doing up the buttons quickly, standing stiff-backed and a little self-conscious.
“I turned off your alarm? We talked about how you had to change said alarm because it’s fucking horrible? I asked you if you wanted the first shower?”
Henry pulls on his uniform trousers, tucking his shirt in carefully before doing up the button and fly.
“You seriously don’t remember any of that?”
Henry turns to face the other boy, smiling sheepishly.
Sean Kingsford is three years older than Henry and he’d had the double room to himself before Henry had showed up in the middle of term.
“So you can wake up and have a whole conversation” Sean taps two fingers against his kneecap for emphasis, “and then just fall asleep again and forget it ever happened?”
“It drives my mom insane,” Henry says, shaking his head. He folds his shirt collar up and starts knotting his tie, keeping his eyes on his hands as he does it, trying to seem nonchalant about it at the same time. He hasn’t been at Stallworth long. He’s still getting used to the tie. He’s still getting used to sharing a bedroom with someone.
“I, uh,” Henry settles the knot of the tie at his throat. “I’m sorry. That alarm usually works.”
“It’s loud enough,” Sean snorts.
Henry looks up quickly. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. At least there’s no way I’ll oversleep.” Sean pushes himself up out of the chair and slings his bag over his shoulder. “See you later.”
***
Henry's body is heavy. Sleep holds him suspended like there’s the weight of an ocean on all sides. His body is a diving suit with nothing inside, just heavy and boneless.
It seems to happen slowly, but he can feel himself coming up, up, up, like he’s being reeled in.
He’s lying on his stomach, his legs are spread open. There’s something wedged snug between his ass cheeks, warm – someone’s touching him? Rubbing dry and slow, touching him right there, stroking around his asshole.
