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AFTERMATH.
The sunlight was already high in the sky by the time Chris blinked awake. It filtered through the half-open blinds of his dorm window, sharp and warm, casting golden lines across the floor. He shifted slightly, careful not to jostle the weight of Wesley against him. They had fallen asleep sometime after morning classes, a nap neither of them had planned but both had desperately needed. Chris's arm was draped loosely over Wesley's side, his hand resting lightly on the other boy's hip, a protective instinct he hadn't consciously acknowledged until that moment.
Wesley stirred, blinking sleep from his eyes, hair tousled from leaning against Chris. He looked up at him, silent, and Chris offered no immediate greeting. Neither of them spoke at first words weren't easy to come by, not after the morning they'd shared. Chris's eyes, usually guarded and hard, softened imperceptibly as he studied Wesley, memorizing the curve of his jaw, the way his eyelashes caught the light.
Finally, Wesley broke the silence. "Um... morning?" His voice was tentative, almost shy, but there was a small smile playing at the corner of his lips.
Chris's response was a low, almost inaudible, "Mm," followed by a pause long enough to make Wesley fidget slightly.
"I... I don't know if we should—" Wesley began, glancing away, then back, "I mean... talk about what happened."
Chris's jaw tightened, and he took a slow breath. "Talk... fine," he said, clipped, measured, careful. But it was the first time he'd allowed the door to even crack open on his feelings.
Wesley shifted, careful not to pull away completely, though his hands twisted nervously in his lap. "I... I don't even really know what to say."
"You don't have to," Chris muttered, voice low, nearly lost in the quiet of the dorm room. "I just... needed..." He trailed off, frustrated with himself, and Wesley tilted his head. "Needed what?"
Chris hesitated, eyes darkening slightly, not out of anger but concentration, a struggle to find the right words. "Needed you... to know. That... that I feel it." He almost didn't say the next part, he rarely verbalized this kind of vulnerability, but the tension in his chest pushed him. "Needed this. Needed you."
Wesley's eyebrows knit together slightly, unsure if Chris meant their closeness, the kiss, the nap, or something more, but the warmth in his chest was undeniable. He let out a soft breath. "I... feel it too," he admitted, voice small but steady, and Chris's lips twitched, almost imperceptibly, before he leaned forward to press another brief, careful kiss to Wesley's forehead.
There was a weight in the silence that followed, a quiet intimacy neither of them had expected. Neither moved away, and yet they weren't touching as much as before, just close enough to feel each other's presence. Finally, Wesley let his hands fall to rest on his own thighs, glancing at Chris with a tentative question. "Do... do we have to go back?"
