Solangelo One Shots

Cuddles

Seven | Will

I hugged myself as I stared at the wood grain roof of the bunk, eyes held open by some freak of nature. Of course this would all come back to me in the morning. Like any Apollo kid worth his salt, the sun was my daily rooster. How long until sunrise? Four hours; tops? Fuck. My body said sleep you fucking idiot, my brain said, what if you accidentally roll on top of Nico while you're in la-la land and he wakes up? Huh? Then what?

Shut up, I told my brain. It didn't listen. But the more exhausted I got, the less I wanted to think about him and the more I just wanted to see him. So I turned my lazy head and strained my eyes, searching for his pale skin amongst the shadows. I was lost for a few seconds, barely making anything out through the dark we were wrapped in. Only the soft rasp of his breathing made me believe he was there. But then his head shifted, and I realized that what I thought was a fold in the blankets was actually the gentle curve of his jawline, and the scruff in front of it was his hair. He was facing away from me.

Oh, gods, I wanted to touch him. Just pet his hair and whisper sweet nothings into his ear. But this was the first time we had decided to sleep together. I wasn't sure how lightly he dreamed. No matter how tempting his sleeping form was, I didn't dare disturb it. Not even when I noticed how surreal he seemed; the way his body so clearly demonstrated the peaceful nature that had taken over him. I never thought it might take so much willpower not to look at someone's face. But if you were there, I think you'd understand. Even the tiniest bit that I could see was so gently placid; so perfectly beautiful I almost felt angry. But at the same time, a sense of calm washed over me, and I shivered. Who knows though, maybe it was just the chill of the cabin's air.

I knew he wouldn't like it if he woke up or found out, but he was sleeping deeper than death, and I could hardly stand it anymore. My hand carefully slid to his jaw, pulling back the strands of hair obscuring his face. Or most of it, anyways, the rest was burried in a pillow. I tried so desperately hard not to leave more than a whisper trail of touches, but even so Nico's face twitched into a sleepy grin. I froze, fingers still interlocked with the arciform of his messy hair. Did I wake him? For several long moments I didn't dare even guess.

Yet he remained untroubled. Inertly tramquil. I allowed myself a breath, quietly removing my hand. But his angelic face followed it, making my eyes temporarily take form of saucers. Half surprised, half confused, I kept pulling my hand back. He kept pressing his cheek against it.

It wasn't until my hand got out of the reach of his neck that he stopped, just a few inches from me. But to my surprise his body followed, changing position so that he could put a small hand on my chest. I moved my hand out of the way, raising my arm above the both of us. I think my grin snuck up on me and plastered itself to my face, because it wasn't going away any time soon. Again, I couldn't move, afraid to agitate his harmony. So I waited like that for two minutes, my arm growing tired as I admired him. He was so small and pure, honestly. Just a total cinnamon role. Then he moved again. If possible, I became even further paralyzed. But once again, Nico surprised me, using his newfound grip on my shirt to pull him into my warmth. I nearly squealed. I'm not kidding. His head nuzzled into my chest, and his arm was bent across my abdomen now. I could feel a little heat in my cheeks. Tentatively, I lay my arm back down, just hugging him lightly.

At first I was just stuck in the thought that this moment was amazing, in the way that it somehow felt beautiful. Where I was uncomfortable before, now I felt more at ease than I remember being for the longest time. Then as I smiled down at him I realized something. We were going to wake up like this tomorrow. I wondered if he would just be his usual hazy morning self, or if he would burst awake and try to apologize. More than anything, I couldn't wait for him to make some sarcastic remark when I called him cute.