Let's Play Pretend - by seasandsalt

Chapter 4: Day Four

Dream wakes up before him. He knows this because, in his half-asleep state, he can feel his friend's fingers tapping a beat onto his collarbone.

Nick's laying on his back, legs stretched straight out. One of his arms is bent, his hand resting under his head, while the other lay across his stomach. The blanket is bunched up around his hips.

Curled into him is Dream. He's on his side, one arm supporting his own head while the other rests on Nick, hand pressed flat against his chest with his fingers splayed out against his collarbone. Dream's front is right against Nick's side and his right leg is bent at the knee, shoved between Nick's thighs.

It's not like they haven't slept in the same bed before the cruise; it would happen often, actually, with the two of them falling asleep together on the couch or one of their beds while they watched movies or talked, yet they would always wake up on opposite sides of the furniture and facing away from one another. Nick still hasn't gotten used to their closeness, hasn't gotten used to heads on chests and hands over hearts and legs between thighs.

And he definitely hasn't gotten used to waking up with Dream wrapped around him, already awake, seemingly less than ready to move away.

He blinks his eyes open and is greeted with the sight of the ceiling above them, plain and boring. Morning sunlight peeks through their curtains, lighting up the room. Dream's breaths are even and measured.

Nick shifts, tenses and un-tenses his arms, feels the heavy weight of Dream's leg over his own. The tapping on his collarbone stops.

"Hi." Dream's voice is quiet, the word whispered into the early morning air like he's scared someone else will hear.

"Hi," he mumbles, moving the arm behind his head to rub at his eyes. "How long have you been awake?"

Dream hums, resumes tapping along Nick's collarbone. "I'm not sure, actually. I woke up a while ago and just couldn't get back to sleep."

"So you've just been laying here? Doing nothing?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Nick nods. "You could've woken me up or something."

Soft laughter reaches his ears and he can feel the rumble of it through where Dream's chest crowds his body. "I'm not gonna do that." His voice is still quiet, slightly raspy with lack of use. Nick ignores the swirling, twisting feeling in the pit of his stomach that ignites at the sound.

"Why not?"

Dream shifts, lifts himself up on his elbow while keeping his hand flat against Nick's chest. His leg is still between Nick's, their hips touching, and his hair falls in his face as Dream looks down at him. Nick clenches his fist at the urge to reach up and brush it out of his eyes.

"You looked peaceful. And comfy. I didn't wanna make you move," he replies. "Plus, we fell asleep kinda late last night, and I figured you needed as much sleep as you could get after being sick yesterday."

He's right, they did stay up late. After returning to their room after dinner, the two of them had changed into more comfortable clothes and Dream had pulled out his laptop, setting up a video chat with their friends back on land. Quackity and George were hanging out with Karl at his house, and all throughout their dinner, the three of them had been blowing up Nick and Dream's phones with messages pleading for a video call.

Thankfully, the three of them didn't know about Nick and Dream's... predicament, so the call was a good way for Nick to wind down and fall back into the comfortable familiarity of being friends with Dream. For the few hours they were on call, he didn't need to worry about holding hands or acting like a couple. And he didn't need to pay attention to that too-warm feeling that attacks his body like a swarm of bees.