Set Me Free {Dyle}

{Chapter 11}

(Dan's POV)
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Even though the sun is bleeding in through the window and we've been up since yesterday, I'm wide awake. Kyle lays under me and he's rambling on about some movie we should watch together eventually, but I'm not paying attention. Sure, I hear bits and pieces of his statements, but my mind is consumed with the feeling of his finger gently working at my scalp and his other hand resting on the small of my back.

"Dan? Are you listening? I asked if you wanted to go to the new cafe by that new set of shops today," He murmurs against my hair.

"Sorry, I wasn't listening. That sounds great," I respond with a smile. He gives me a concerned look, but I smile to him, a genuine smile, one that hasn't crossed my lips in a long time before last night. His fingers brush hair away from my eyes and I sigh, shivers running up my spine as he affectionately continues to play with my hair.

"Are you alright? You seem distant." I shake my head and begin to explain how its the complete opposite. I tell him how his warmth pressed against my chest is anchoring me into this moment and how his fingers playing with my hair is making me feel more alive than I have in ages. We move on and plan out what else we want to do for the day. I shift on top of him, slipping off of his chest before standing up beside the bed.

"I'll be right back, I'm going to shower and get dressed, then we can head over to your house," I say to his jokingly hurt look. He nods and smiles to me as I lean in and press a gentle kiss to his lips. I quickly shower, change the plasters on my arms, change my clothes and comb through my wet hair with my fingers before stepping out of the bathroom.

"Ready?" He asks with an grin. I can feel a smile playing across my face as I look to him. I walk closer to him and grab his hand, leading the way out of the window. He lets me pull him along the road on the sidewalk in route that leads to his house. Once we get there, we head up to his bedroom so he can shower and change clothes, although I told him he could shower in my bathroom and change over there, he insisted on coming back over here. He steps out of his bathroom 10 minutes later, his hair wet and resting against his head. I remain sitting on his bed as he changes into a clean shirt and jeans. I'm staring out the window when I feel his hands connect with my shoulder. I turn my head and smile to him as he sits down beside me. He leans in close to me and kisses my shoulder before pulling me by the arm to stand up with him.

"Ready to go?" I nod in response, ready to follow him downstairs. He smiles and grips my hand and leads me along through the house, back to the front door. As we walk out, he grabs his set of keys off the table sitting by the door. We quickly leave the house and walk to his car that sits on the side of the street, parked and ready for him when he needs it, and get in. He starts the car and begins to drive off once our seat belts are clicked into place.

He eventually pulls into the lot of a new looking cafe. I smile over to him, seeing the way his face lights up as he looks in through the window sends a feeling of warmth through me. He turns off the car and locks it as we step out, before placing the keys back into his pocket.

"This place opened up a few weeks ago, I was thinking that this could be our first "official" date?" He phrases his statement as a question, leading him to look at me with questioning eyes.

"It's perfect. Thank you Kyle," I respond, much to his relief. I take his hand as he opens the door and pull him in after me. I quickly find us a table and sit down while he goes up to the counter to buy our drinks. I look out the window, staring up at the cloudy sky with a smile. I feel a sense of relaxation wash over me as I look up. Our of the corner of my eye, I see Kyle return with our drinks.

He sits down with a dorky grin, pushing one of the drinks in front of me before holding his hand out to me.

"Hello, my name Kyle, it's nice to meet you." The smile on his face is huge as I look to him, confused by what he's doing

"Ky, what are you-"

"This is our first date! We need to get to know each other!" I nod, catching on to his story as my grin turns up to meet his.

"Sorry," I say, holding out my hand to him as he did to me, "I'm Dan, pleasure to meet you Kyle." He smiles again, shaking my hand before taking a sip of his coffee.

"So Dan, tell me about yourself." He prompts as he looks at me intently. I take a sip of my coffee then nod, smiling as I sigh softly

"Well, there's not really much to know about me. I like to make music and listen to it with my friend. I spend most of my time either in my bedroom, or at my friend's house. I'm really shy and generally uninteresting, so people don't usually hang around me longer than they have to. Sorry, I'm being to pessimistic, aren't I? Sorry about that, please, let's talk about you."

His hand moves to close around mine as he looks to me with a questioning gaze, seeming to ask if I'm alright. I nod in response, placing my other hand on his and squeezing for reassurance.

"Let's see, I love to drive around at night, I like listening to music with my friend, well, I like doing a lot of things with my friend. We're kinda loners, people think we're weird because we've always got an arm around each other or our hands are locked, but that doesn't stop us. Come to think of it, I know more about him than I do myself. He went through a rough patch this summer, and it's only June  15th, but he's doing so much better now." He smiles to me before placing his hand on my cheek.

"Ky,"

"No Danny, you don't have to say anything. All that matters is that you're still here and I get to hold you, that's it. Not what anybody else says, not what the nasty demon in your head tries to tell you, hell, it doesn't matter what our fucking parents think, because all that matters is love." I lean into his hand and smile as he takes another drink from his cup. I bring my hand up and cover his with mine, looking up just as a smile begins to spread across his face. "I love you Danny."

"I love you too Kyle," I respond as I lace our fingers together on the table. His free hand comes up to brush my chin, just shy of the bruise that washes from my left eye to the top of my cheekbone.

"You ready to go Danny?" He asks suddenly. His hand drops as he waits for an answer, but I can tell that something is off.

"Yeah. What's wrong?" I turn around and see a group of 6 boys that are in our class and sigh, not wanting to deal with their shit right now. "Yeah, let's go."

He nods and stands up quickly, before discarding his empty cup in the bin beside the counter. I wince as I stand, but eventually get there, keeping my mostly full cup in my hand as we walk out the door. We get step out into the warm sun that shines down. It's only 10:30, but I can tell it won't get too much warmer today. The tree limbs sway gently in the breeze and the sky is clear, a rare occurrence when it comes to this time of year.

"So, do you want to walk around for a bit, or drive across town to the record store?" He asks as he moves close to me.

"How about we walk around here for a bit, it's been a while since I've been over here," I respond with a nod, urging him to look over at the shops that line the street.

"Sounds like a plan." And with that, we're off. Free from care and worry. As we walk down the path, our hands slowly find each other and I smile softly at how naturally they fit together. We walk fast, but not in a rushed manor, just moving, not stopping until we see a shop we want to look inside of.

**A/N: So, I know I said I would post this a few weeks ago, but it wasn't ready when I wanted to post it. Sorry about the wait**