Painting Flowers

"Jack?"

A voice sounded from somewhere beside me, and I felt myself being dragged out of my sleep, my mind slowly becoming aware that, ah, I was awake now. (Alex and I had watched Jurassic Park after The Fifth Element, then gone to bed.) My eyes still stayed closed, and my head was thumping from suddenly being woken up at god knows what time in the morning.

"Jack," the voice said again, but it didn't sound like a question this time; more like a kind of frightened whisper, and I just sighed, forcing my eyes closed tighter and shoving my head further into the pillow. My mind was thudding and I managed to mumble out some sort of 'hujinabiwah' in response.

I heard Alex sigh, and I was surprised to hear a shuddery cough accompany it, giving me the sinking realisation that he'd been... crying? I felt my stomach swoop with guilt, and I managed to pry my eyelids apart and turn my face over to look down at the carpet beside my bed, seeing Alex laying on the mattress that he always slept on when he stayed at mine. A quick glance at his face told me that, oh, he'd definitely been crying. Tear tracks that fell down his cheeks, dripping off his chin as he sat up and looked at me said that I really shouldn't be muttering into my pillow when my best friend was in the middle of what looked like some total mental breakdown.

"'Lex?" I questioned, my voice croaky and groggy sounding, but I really didn't care. "What's up?"

He gulped loudly and scratched at his jaw, eyes darting around the room and tongue swiping over his lower lip. "I had a nightmare," he told me. He sounded so innocent as his gaze dropped down to his hands, fiddling with the duvet pooling around the lower half of his body.

"What about?" I asked, feeling my eyelids drooping, but forcing them to stay open. I was a shitty person, but falling asleep whilst my best friend was telling me about why he was crying would be totally crossing a line.

Alex took a few deep breaths before saying, "It's, like, recurring. I've had it a few times before. But, it's... my brother comes back and he tells me I'm a pussy and he's so disappointed in me and I'm such a disgrace- and I know it's really unlikely and stuff, but I can't help it, y'know?"

"I remember you had a dream about that the first time I slept over at yours," I said, lifting my hand a little to rub at my eyes and keep them from shutting again. Alex nodded.

"Mhm. That was the last time I had that dream," Alex explained, and I went 'hmm', whilst nuzzling my nose into the pillow and shuffling around under the covers in an attempt to get comfy. I had no idea what to say to try and comfort Alex, and the fact that it was probably the middle of the night right now and my brain was all fuzzy and not really working all that well didn't help the situation that much.

"Jack?" Alex questioned again, and his voice was small, kind of like a scolded child.

"What?" I asked in reply, my voice muffled by the fabric of the pillow.

There was silence for a few moments, before I heard Alex say, "can I sleep with you?"

That caused me to open up my eyes again, and I saw that Alex was already staring at me, teeth tugging on his bottom lip and fingers tightened around the duvet cover on top of himself. It was a bit of a weird request, but I guessed Alex was just feeling scared and alone right now, so I just shrugged, "okay."

Alex flashed a smile and pushed himself up from the mattress, stumbling awkwardly over to my bed and waiting as I rolled over and pulled the covers back so he could lean down and slip in beside me. The springs of the bed frame creaked 'cause they weren't used to having two people squished together on one mattress, and I bit my lip and shuffled around a little bit whilst Alex grabbed my duvet covers and brought them up towards his chin.

"Hi there," I laughed, and he turned to face me, grinning. "Stop taking all the covers, though."

"Mmph, sorry," Alex murmured, and he moved around so that he was lying on his side, body curled up next to mine. "Thanks," he said, and it felt kind of weird sharing a bed with someone, but his body was warm and I was cold so I couldn't really complain.

"'S fine," I said. He smiled at me again, and I laughed a little. "'Kay, Alex, no need to make this any more gay than it is already. I'm letting you sleep in my bed. 'S kinda weird."

He just stared at me. "D'you want me out?"

"Nah, 's cool, but... just don't wake me up in the middle of the night again and start making out with me or some shit. I mean, I care about you and all, but there's some points where you've just gotta go, '...no'."

Alex laughed and shook his head. "No worries. But really, Jack, thanks for just... y'know, letting me stay with you and everything. And I know having nightmares is dumb and stuff, but..." he shrugged and frowned the slightest but, eyes falling to gaze at the mattress underneath us. He sniffed a little, and it sounded like he had a blocked nose.

"You couldn't help it," I said. I was about to continue, but I was interrupted by a yawn which spilt from between my lips, and I closed my eyes again, scratching the mess I called my hair and smacking my lips together. "'M tired."

"Go back to sleep," Alex told me, and he shuffled forwards slightly so that our legs were touching. It did feel weird, doing this, but my brain was so close to just knocking out again that I couldn't really tell between the rights and wrongs.

"'Kay," I sighed, relaxing into the pillow beneath my head and feeling myself drift into unconsciousness. "Night, dude." I felt a hand snake across my stomach and hold my waist, but I was already far too drowsy to even realise as Alex pulled himself up to sleep against me.