The Sun vs The Moon

With each step he takes, he hears the old wood floors creak beneath him. His hands feel clammy and his nerves increase.

"Jack?" He whispers in a soft, scared voice.

There's no response. At that, Alex reaches out and nudges Jack's bony shoulder. "Jack," He whispers again, albeit a bit louder. "Jacky."

With no answer, he sighs and gives up, trudging back to his own bed in the next room. Before Alex was out of ear range, Jack spoke up. "If you had another bad dream, you can sleep with me again."

At this, Alex's ears perked up. He stumbled through the dark room to Jack's bed (which happened to be bigger and more comfortable and hello, Jack was in it).

This happened quite often, the whole 'Fine, you can sleep in my bed' ordeal. It was almost a routine. Alex would go to sleep and have a horrid dream. He'd be too afraid to go to sleep so if he spent the night at Jack's or vice versa, he'd make his way to the older boy's room and lay next to him. Tonight was no different.

Alex steps felt lighter as he crawled into the bed, slipping under the covers next to Jack. Whilst he was getting situated and comfortable, the side of his and Jack's hips brushed (which skyrocketed Alex's heart rate, by the way).

To clear the silence in the room, Jack said, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" Alex said with an accidentally obvious sense of feigned ignorance.

"You know what I'm talking about," Jack sighed. "Your fifteen, you should stop having such bad dreams by now."

At the mention of the subject, Alex stiffened. "Nightmares can occur at any age." He said.

"Yea, I know," Jack said, still facing the other way. "I just think that they shouldn't be as frightening as you say yours are. Shouldn't you be able to sleep in your own bed by now?"

Alex thought about Jack's words. He had tried to sleep on his own, but when Jack wasn't by his side protecting him, he didn't feel right. So his natural response came as, "I don't sleep well when I'm alone. I guess I just got used to you beside me? You make me feel safe. I dunno."

Jack sighed softly and lied there in silence. Alex turned around from his original position, so now he faced Jack.

Jack grew uncomfortable because this was a bit too... close for his liking, so he began to turn the other way when Alex's hand reached out and landed on his waist.

"Make me feel safe tonight?" Alex said, almost whimpered, and Jack couldn't help but feel bad for him. With that thought in mind, he faced Alex again.

It was a tad bit weird since their noses were a few inches away, but Alex liked it. He was okay with this.

Jack sighed again (that's kind of like his signature move, by the way), and told Alex to turn around again.

Alex gave up and faced the wall to please Jack but to his surprise, a pair of lanky arms discreetly linked around his waist and pulled them closer together. Jack's chin was buried in Alex's shoulder, and Alex had never felt more safe.

This was new for Jack. He wasn't one to be all cute and kind with his gestures. He was notorious for quite the opposite, in fact. But this, this was new territory.

Jack hadn't been this close to someone in a long time, and for the first time in years, Jack felt safe too.