Serendipitous (Gawsten)

41. Sweater Weather

Awsten's eyes fluttered open, forcing him into a split-second of panic before he realised that he was still at Geoff's house.

There was pressure around his stomach from where Geoff was still holding him, he found himself immediately relaxing into the older boy's body. He shuffled around in Geoff's grip to face him, smiling up at him when Awsten's vision was met with ice-cold blue. "Morning, baby."

He closed his eyes again and buried his head into Geoff's, unfortunately, clothed chest, the whole room smelled like strawberries and sweat, his candles had burnt out overnight. If Awsten was being completely honest, the mix of Geoff's scent and morning voice was very hot.

Awsten grunted lowly as a reply, he didn't want to talk, he was still waking up. He slid one of his hands underneath Geoff's shirt and traced his fingers across the boy's warm stomach, the other clutching at the material, feeling his chin being lifted up before Geoff gently touched their lips together.

Awsten was the one to pull away, rolling onto his back to stare up at the ceiling, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands to try to rub away the soft haze that coated them. He lulled his head to the side to look at Geoff, who was still staring at him.

He furrowed his eyebrows as he stared back, only being able to hold the gaze for a few seconds before having to break it. His eyes settled back on the plain white ceiling, to the posters on the wall, back to the ceiling. He was suddenly feeling very shy, very exposed to Geoff, who had just seen him completely vulnerable.

He cradled his arms around himself, he was still in the overly-large sweater that Geoff had let him borrow, the sleeves covered his hands and if he stood up, the bottom of the material would rest just above his knees. Maybe Geoff would let him have this one, too. He didn't think that he could live in the other pink hoodie he had been given for the rest of his life.

He dropped one of his hands to his side to help push him up into a sitting position, wincing at the sudden burst of pain that coursed through his lower back, immediately sliding back to how he was before. He waited for some sort of snarky remark from Geoff, it never came.

"Are you sore, baby?" The older boy sounded genuinely worried, pushing Awsten's hair out of his face after he'd nodded and it had all fallen over his eyes. "You feel hot, sweetheart. Do you feel like you have a fever?" He trailed his fingers down the side of the boy's face and across his cheekbones, gently caressing his skin.

Awsten had never told Geoff that pet names turned him on but he must have figured it out at some point, he never said anything without one. "No," Awsten shook his head, "wanna cuddle." He got flustered when he was nervous, he didn't feel sick from a fever, he couldn't help but worry that Geoff wouldn't like him after they'd had sex. Maybe he wasn't good enough? Maybe Chloe was better?

He discarded those thoughts as Geoff pulled Awsten into his chest and wrapped his arms around the boy's small frame, tangling their legs together from under the blankets. Geoff felt warm pressed tightly against him. He wanted to stay here forever.

Awsten got a rush of shivers as Geoff ran his hand under the boy's sweater, drawing small circles on his hips with his thumbs. He honestly wished that Geoff would stop making him feel things, he'd be better off without him. It was starting to get extremely difficult to distinguish the faint line between manipulation and genuine affection.

Either way, whatever Geoff was trying to do was working. Awsten didn't want to move. "Aws, I have to take you home," Geoff was starting to sound more awake by now, Awsten didn't think that the older boy would be the one to suggest that, he thought he'd be the one fighting for Awsten to stay. He was right, anyway.

"Now? It's only-" he glanced over at the clock, it was hard to tell what it read from not only this distance but also the lack of light in the room. "Eleven. That's not that late, it's not even afternoon. Are you trying to get rid of me?" Awsten was only playing around but his mood dropped slightly when he noticed that Geoff wasn't teasing back.

"Yeah, now." It wasn't harsh, Awsten was just expecting Geoff to be a little bit more attached after the events of the previous night. "You're clothes are still clean from last night, you can get changed in the bathroom." Awsten felt Geoff take his hand off of his hip, sitting up slightly.

"Oh-okay," Awsten nodded before trying to pull himself up off of the bed, it hurt but he was more cautious this time, he was half-expecting Geoff to tug him back down onto the bed and say he was just joking. He didn't. He went to get his clothes that were bundled up on top of Geoff's dresser, completely aware of his slight limp. He tried to ignore it though, it was going to be hard to cover up.

He went into the bathroom, first taking off his- Geoff's sweater, leaving him just in boxers. He carefully brushed his fingers over the dark love bite that the older boy had left, mine. Awsten just hoped that Geoff didn't regret it.