Special

Passions

Daniel woke up first. As usual he woke up facing the wall and he could feel the warm light of the morning sun that came in through the window. Like he had predicted his parents had already been asleep by the time they arrived at the house. Matt had called his parents to let them know where he would be and then the two of them had sneaked inside as if they had been at a party without permission and pretty much immediately went to sleep. He turned to the other side. Matt was lying next to him on his back still fast asleep. His hair was messy from changing positions multiple times during the night and half of his body wasn't covered by the blanket any more.

Daniel hadn't been able to find the spare mattress that Adam had always given to his friends when they slept over. Maybe his parents had thrown it away by now since it hadn't been used since Adam had moved out. Matt had then offered to sleep on he floor but Daniel had refused that. How could he let his friend sleep on the floor? Even though his carpet looked fluffy it certainly wasn't a replacement for a soft mattress. In the end Matt had agreed to simply sleep in Daniel's bed. It was big enough for two people anyway. Most of the space was usually taken up by pillows, extra blankets, and stuffed animals but when Daniel moved those to the floor they had had enough space in the bed to comfortably lie next to each other.

Comfortably in a way. It had taken Daniel a long time to fall asleep somehow. He kept finding himself turning around and staring at Matt's silhouette in the dim light of the moon. Maybe it had been excitement over regaining his friend? Or had it been something else? He just knew that he had felt happy. A kind of happy that he hadn't felt in a long time. Or maybe ever? It had kept him awake until way past four in the morning.

He looked at the clock on the bedside table. It showed that it was just past ten. Barely six hours of sleep. He yawned. Maybe a coffee would help. He chuckled a little. He was already practising for university life, staying up way too late, getting way too little sleep, and running entirely on coffee. Was that the future ahead of him?

"Hm, what are you laughing about so early in the morning," Matt mumbled without moving. His eyes were still closed and if he had noticed the lack of blanket coverage he didn't seem to mind.

"How much I rely on coffee to keep me awake," Daniel said. He propped himself up on one elbow to get a better look at Matt. Maybe he was talking in his sleep? He still looked just as peaceful as he had done during the night and only the outline of his pupils moving underneath his closed eyelids indicated that he was in fact awake.

"Did you sleep well?" Daniel asked.

Matt breathed in deeply before he nodded.

"Only good dreams?"

A smile got added to the indicators of Matt being awake. "No nightmares. Thank you."

"I'm glad."

"What time is it?"

"Time for breakfast, I think," Daniel replied who had noticed the smell of scrambled eggs and toast. It was the typical breakfast his mother made for him when he was sleeping in on the weekend. "My mum is probably going to bring breakfast any minute now."

"Oh."

Matt abruptly opened his eyes and sat up. It startled Daniel and he fell back into his pillow.

"What do you want me to do? Should I pretend that I slept on the floor?" Matt asked and looked at Daniel with wide and slightly concerned eyes.

Suddenly Daniel had to laugh. He didn't know whether it was the reawakening happiness he had felt during the night or if it was Matt's fast and in his eyes slightly exaggerated reaction but something about the situation tickled him and he laughed wholeheartedly.