Set Me Free {Dyle}

{Chapter 3}

(Kyle's POV)
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Dan has his arms wrapped my torso as he sleeps. His head rests on my shoulder and his breaths come in steady, shallow bursts. I lay awake, my arm around his shoulder as I stare up at the ceiling. After a while, my gaze slowly drifts to his sleeping features that are drowning in the bruises, scratches and scars that litter his pale and fragile skin, yet he's still here. He looks younger when he's asleep and I suppose everyone does because they're not worrying about any of the stress they're under because they're so far away yet still beside you. He shifts, removing his head from my shoulder and arms from my torso to where he now has his legs tangled together with mine. He's always done this in his sleep, when he is deep into oblivion, but before he wakes up, he untangles himself from me and moves to the edge of the bed. I know this because most nights when he lays with me, I don't sleep. Mostly because I can't bring myself to stop worrying about him, if he wakes up in fear I have to be there. I know that it's stupid, but I feel something more for him just, I can't come to my senses to tell him.

I gently stroke his back and hair as he slightly trembles against me. I pull the blanket back over his body to warm him up and smile to myself when he lets out a small sigh of contentment in his sleep. I close my eyes, but don't fall asleep, only think. I think about who I am, who I want to be and who I'm becoming. Do I like what I'm turning into? Can I recognize this person? I also bring myself to wonder, will I know Dan forever? I feel like he's slowly drifting away from me, like he's shutting himself away from me. Does he not like who I'm becoming? Does he feel like he'll hurt me by telling me? I want to know what's going on in his head, but I won't unless he tells me. And I just have to live with it, no matter how much I hate it. I think about how many nights I've stayed up late thinking about these things and how many nights I've held him in my arms after he came to me one night hurting. I'm grateful for him, even though he may be broken and scared, he's still Dan. My Dan. Sure, he's not the Dan I've known since preschool, but that's ok. People change.

Out of a moment of pure instinct, I lean into him and gently press a small kiss to his forehead before laying back down, a furious blush painting my cheeks as I lay there in the silence. The only noise in the room is his breathing, which now comes in an uneven rhythm, telling me that he is partially awake. He presses tighter against me and softly groans then moves his arms back around me. A small laugh slips from my lips as he buries his head in my side and begins to slip deeper again.

"I'm sorry all of this has happened to you Danny," I whisper into the air, "If I could take all of your problems away and make them mine, I would."
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(Dan's POV)
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Kyle's arms hold onto me and I come to realize that my arms are around him as well. He gently stokes my back as his chin rests on my head. He mutters words of compassion and empathy into the silence of the room. I know he's not asleep, he's told me he doesn't sleep much. I hug him, a bit tighter than I mean to, yet he responds. He tightens his grip on me and I softly smile, blushing immensely as I try to contain my excitement and keep quiet.

He timidly laughs, his voice carrying a tone of sadness. I begin to feel guilty, is he carrying an entire load of shit that I don't know about because I only talk about myself? Does he need my help?

'I'll ask him in the morning.' I silently agree with myself. I let his warmth consume me before closing my eyes and fading away again.
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When my eyes open again, the bright morning sunlight is spilling into the window and drowning the outline of Kyle's body. My arms are tangled around him and my head rests on his chest as I listen to his steady heartbeat and deep breathing as he sleeps. Our legs are tangled together and a vicious blush pours over my face.

"Morning Dan." He whispers to me. My head snaps to look up at him and I'm quick to untangle my limbs from him.

"Morning Kyle." I manage out as my face grows warmer. I see, or rather, think I see a soft pink colour flood his face as I scramble to figure out which leg is mine. I end up falling onto the floor, hitting my back on the hardwood flooring of his room, surly sending a noise to the room below. Kyle lets a small laugh slip from his lip as I sit up in the floor and push myself to stand. My heart pounds as he smiles at me, showing me compassion and care that I don't deserve.

"How do you feel? Is it too early to tell?" He asks gently as he stands up from the bed.

"I feel fine." I reply as I look down to the ground, my cheeks burning a furious pink.

"So, what should we do today? Go into town, walk around for a bit?" He lists things that sound fun, yet only one of them appeals to me.

"Could we stay in and do something? I mean, if it's ok with you because we could go out and find something, but I like it here." I ramble on, waiting for him to cut in.

"Yea, we could stay in and watch a film or something, it sounds cool." He smiles to me and claps my shoulder before he heads over to the door. "Hey, I'm gonna get us some tea. You can use the shower if you want to and grab a change of clothes from the closet. I'll be right back."

He heads down the stairs, closing the door on his way out, leaving me alone in his bedroom. I make my way over to the bathroom door after grabbing a t-shirt and some sweatpants from his closet. I let the water heat up and quickly shower. Just as I turn off the water, I hear Kyle walk back into the bedroom. He lightly taps on the door and mumbles something into it. I pull on the clean clothes and open the door to see him looking slightly anxious.

"What's wrong?" I ask, hoping for him to give me an answer, but he just shrugs and repeats what sounds like what he mumbled moments before.

"My mum isn't home right now, so do you want to go downstairs and use the TV for a film?" He asks as he hands me a mug full of hot tea.

"Ok." I smile to him before we're heading down the stairs, pushing each other aside like children. As we chase one another, we forget about all of our pain and worries. Kyle ends up tripping on the last step, causing him to fall and land flat on his face.

"Woah, Kyle, are you alright?" I ask with a laugh as I run down to help him up. He laughs and nods before rubbing his elbow that he fell on, continuing to laugh.

"Just a slight tumble, no worries." We continue on through his house before sitting down on the couch in the living room. He grabs the remote off of the coffee table in front of us and turns on the TV before switching it over to his DVD player.

"Ok, so we have Terminator, Psycho, The Exorcist and some other cheesey movies from 15+ years ago." He says with a laugh. "What will it be?"

"How about The Exorcist. We haven't watched that one in a while." I laugh as he gets up to place the disk into the player. The movie begins playing just as he sits back down on the couch beside me. Just as the movie is picking up,we hear a phone ring somewhere upstairs. Kyle pauses it and I follow him up the stairs to check it out.

"Dan, it's yours. Oh shit, it's your mum." He says as he hands me the phone. I reluctantly answer it and timidly begin to speak.

"Hey mum, what's up?"

"Daniel, where the hell are you!? Where did you run to last night, you scared me and Harry to death! Come home right now!" She shouts to me, sounding genuinely concerned for the first time in a long time. Kyle looks to me with concern as I slowly answer her.

"Don't worry mum, I'll be home in a bit." My voice shakes as I speak quietly. I hear her sigh into the phone before she hangs up.

"Dan, are you going to tell her?" He asks as I slip my phone into my pocket.

"I'm not sure. She won't believe me if I do, she sees him as a saint that saved her from hell." I tell him with a sigh, looking to the ground as I scuff my feet along the ground.

"Do you want me to walk you home? I'll wait outside for you to come back out." He tries, giving me an awkward smile.

"No, it's ok, thanks though. Thanks for everything, Kyle. You're the best." I say before pulling him into a hug. I leave his bedroom with him following me as I open the front door to leave and when I step out into the cool, morning summer air, I begin to wonder what it would be like to be far away from this small neighborhood and have the only familiar person with me be Kyle. I wonder what it would be like to run far away.

****A/N: Thank you so much for reading this story! I know I'm taking forever to update, but I swear I'll be better :)****