Bunny

The first thing he’s aware of is the horrible,burning pain that slowly flows through his whole body. It feels like the bloodin his veins has been replaced with acid, and he wonders if that’s how you feelafter every drug, why do people still willingly pay hundreds of dollars for it.He can’t yet find the strength to get up from the cold stone ground, but thesigh of relief as his hand comes in touch with his phone in the front pocketechoes through the whole alley. His battery is almost dead, but he has a signalat least. He quickly dials 911, waiting anxiously for someone to pick up,trying to prepare a rational explanation for his current situation. However, asthe lady on the other end of the line asks kindly what’s happened, he can’tbring himself to answer. He ends the phone call without a single word, typingin a familiar number instead.

“Oh my God, Matt,where are you?!”Ryan’s panicked voice fills his hearings after the first ring. Matt can hearhim moving frantically around the flat, looking presumably for his jacket and acar keys.“I don’t- I don’t know” His voice feels wrongcoming from his mouth, and he fights with a sudden nausea as he tries to standup. He doesn’t succeed, though he’s able to sit up and lean against the brickwall. There, at the very far end of the alley he sees a well-known place justacross the street.“Do you remember that Danny’s where we used togo with Mark? I’m near there”Ryan tells him he’s coming, urging Matt to staywith him on the line. He rambles incoherent sentences for most of the time, andMatt feels a guilt wash over him as he listens to Ryan thank everybody he can thinkof for finding him.

Matt’s pretty sure Ryan has broken the speed limit with how quickly he got frombeing in the flat to sprinting to where he’s still on the ground. Before hismind can catch up with what’s happening, he’s being pulled into a tight embraceso hard he hears his back pop a little.“Matt, oh my God, I can’t- I was so worried,Jesus, I couldn’t- I didn’t know where you were, I thought-I thought somethinghappened to you and-” The rest of Ryan’s sentence is cut off by a heart-wrenchingsob that’s vaguely muffed by Matt’s t-shirt, the sleeve already soaked with warmtears. Ryan is usually the calmer one of the two, expressing his despair inother ways than crying, which is something Matt’s always envied. He could countthe times he’s ever witnessed Ryan shed tears on the fingers of one hand, so hefeels completely lost in this situation. It seems like they switched roles; thesadness he also feels over worrying the one he loves is heavy, too, but stillthere are no tears falling, as much as he would like them to.

Eventually Ryan calms down enough to startthinking straight, the protective side of his getting in charge once again.“How are you feeling? Are you hurt?” Ryan’s hands are warmer than he remembersthem being as they scan the uncovered parts of his body. He hisses in pain ashis boyfriend’s fingers gently brush against the wound on his neck, right wherehe supposes the attacker has stung the needle. Ryan immediately backs away, buttries to peek at what has caused Matt’s pain. It’s hard to see anything in thedarkness of the alley, and neither of them is comfortable with staying theremore than it’s necessary anyway, so Matt is relieved when Ryan starts helpinghim up to his feet.

In the end, he has to practically drag Matt tothe car, his muscles too sore to move on their own, and although Matt feelslike an infant as Ryan’s fastening his seatbelt, it’s nice to know there issomeone who cares about him that he can count on.Ryan does follow the traffic rules this time,despite being maybe a little bit more irritated every time they have to stop attraffic lights, and Matt tries to ignore the worried glances he keeps sendinghis way every once in a while. He starts to doze off the same time Ryan takesan unexpected turn left at the crossroad, which instantly wakes his every braincell, and he shifts into panic mode. “Where are you going?!” The question iscompletely useless as he knows perfectly well where Ryan is headed, and for abrief moment he nearly considers jumping out of the car or turning the steeringwheel himself.“Matt, I have no idea what was with you thepast two days, I won’t be satisfied until I hold a medical record that confirmsyou are fine.” The words two days keeps repeating in his head, buthe’s still stubbornly refusing to go. “I am fine, I feel a bit worn off butthat’s kind of expected, isn’t it? I am not going to hospital; I don’t want toseem like some fucking drug addict.”

Ryan knows there is nothing he can do to changeMatt’s mind, and even when he wants to argue with saying no one would take himas a drug addict when he was assaulted, he rather admits his defeat. The lasttwo days were hell, and he doesn’t want to start fighting as soon as he gotMatt back.

Xxx

By the time they make it back home, Matt’stiredness and pain have completely worn off besides for a minor back ache,which he supposes was to be expected. He knows his boyfriend doesn’t believehim, claiming he’s faking it so he would stop Ryan from being overly carefularound him, but as he’s leaning against the counter in their tiny kitchen preparinga meal for his cat, everything seems like it did the afternoon he went missing.The only physical reminder of his accident is the oddly big band-aid coveringright side of his neck, hiding a two small reddish spots. He feels stupid nowfor cracking a joke about being bitten by a vampire as he had the wound treatedby Ryan, who definitely was not amused, just a mere minute after the older manconfessed of contacting the police about a presumed kidnapping, and about howhe would have to call them later. He tried to lighten up the mood a bit, but heknows that doesn’t make him less of a dick.

“Called them. They still want to speak with you,though.” Ryan informs him as he walks into the room, sinking to the nearestchair with a tired sigh. Matt knows they’re going to solve nothing; he doesn’tremember how he got into that alley, or by whom for that matter. All he recallsis how he screamed when something sharp pierced his neck, but nothing else. Notto mention if they wanted to be helpful they would have tracked his phone assoon as Ryan filled in the report.Still, he nods in agreement.

Xxx

While Ryan is out as soon as his head hits thepillow, for Matt sleep doesn’t come at all. He becomes frustrated to the pointwhere he can’t stand being in the bed at all, and finds himself sitting in thedarkness of their living room, browsing a website he would never have imaginedvisiting even in his wildest dreams. Just the bold headline saying ‘How to knowif you’re a real vampire’ makes him cringe, and the badly edited picture of ateenage vampire girl attached to it doesn’t make it more serious in a littlebit. He keeps telling himself it’s not his fault WebMD couldn’t find anythingfor unusual teeth grow and throwing up after eating and drinking water, andthat the only articles Google pulled out were about vampires.

He blames being it four in the morning formaking a quick trip to the nearest store. Of course he’s the only customer, andthe poor brigadier at the register doesn’t know how to react when Matt throws aboutten packaged beef steaks at the counter. According to numerous websites, theeasiest way for vampires to get blood without killing anything is to chew onraw beef, and although only the thought of it makes Matt shiver in disgust,he’s seriously willing to try anything at this point.The kid’s eyebrows meet his hairline after Matt gives him a thankful smilebefore leaving, and he stares shamelessly at Matt’s whites. Matt instantlycloses his mouth, running a tongue over his teeth. Oh, it’s visible then.

Xxx

“How do you know it’s not a side effect ofwhatever drug they gave you?” Ryan asks the following morning after he wasrudely awoken by Matt at seven o’clock. The younger man rolls his eyes andbacks away from his boyfriend’s touch on his fangs. He’s left with a bittertaste of soap in his mouth, and he has to swallow it down in detestation beforeanswering glumly “Because a drug that could cause this doesn’t exist.”“Look, Matt” Ryan starts. He takes hisboyfriend’s hands in his own, running a thumb over the cold skin. He acceptsMatt is right in one thing; these changes in his appearance and tastes couldnot have been provoked by any chemical. He absolutely refuses to admit his boycould lack a heartbeat, and believes the reason he couldn’t hear it when Mattliterally forced Ryan’s head against his chest earlier has other, morereasonable explanation.“The signs are clear, Ryan! I don’t know why ithappened or how is it even possible, but it’s obviously true. I’m not walkingout to burn to death to prove my point!”.” Matt angrily pulls his arms back andplaces them against his torso in defensive manner. They fall into uncomfortablesilence as Ryan seems to think things over. He occasionally glares at Matt andsighs, then goes back to staring at the ground.

“Okay, fine.” Ryan says after what feels like forever.“You said you found some good websites, yeah? I wanna see.” He winces as Mattflashes him a smile. That will take a lot to get used to.

Xxx

“So, I was thinking,” Ryan takes a seat acrossfrom Matt after he gets home from a lunch out with some of their friends. Mattcouldn’t go, obviously, seeing his current body didn’t do well with sunlight orfood, and even though he’s been lying to himself every time Ryan went somewherewithout him and saying he was fine with being left behind, he couldn’t help butfeel unwanted. He never realized how much of a social person he actually wasuntil he died, and now it was too late. No one around him wanted to hang out attheir apartment or go out late all the time. It’s not like he can blame them.“What do you think about like…making me a vampire, too?”He doesn’t expect to get a slap from Matt, whostares at him like he’s gone mad. “No,” his boyfriend states, loud, and clear.“This is the worst thing that could ever happen to you and I will not beresponsible for it. No.” He was kind of expecting Matt to refuse if he wasbeing honest, and although he’s not entirely comfortable with the younger manstorming out of their flat to go God knows where, he doesn’t try to follow him. That’s why he stopped at a magic shop ofsome sorts he found on Google before coming home. He’s made his decision longtime ago, and he’s going to do it, with Matt’s help or not.

The words in the book he bought don’t make anysense, and he struggles to read them, yet pronounce properly. He’s also prettysure he fucked up at least three times already, and he mentally punches himselffor not letting the old woman from the shop to cast the spell, because he’sdefinitely going to end up with two heads if he continues like that. He’s tooafraid to end it mid-process, as the book’s first page clearly said ‘alwaysfinish the spell’, so he keeps going.

He doesn’t notice he blacked out until he’sbeing shaken violently by a terrified Matt, who starts screaming as soon asRyan’s eyes open. “You are a fucking idiot Ryan, do you know that?! What thehell were you thinking?”He pulls himself up into a sitting position,looking over at the half-burned candles and messy drawings he’s created earlier.  Matt is holding the book so hard his knucklesturn an unnatural shade of white, staring at the page Ryan got the spell from.“Lycanthropus means werewolf in latin, not vampire!” Matt says desperately,referring to the spell’s title. He throws the thing across the room and Ryancalmly watches as it stops against the wall.

He supposes he should be more petrified than heis, but perhaps the spell included reconciliation with one’s destiny,because he’s taking it better than he imagined.

“I didn’t-” he stops to cup Matt’s cheeks,forcing the younger man to stop freaking out and look at him. “I didn’t want youto suffer through this alone. And who cares I am a fucking dog now? Definitelynot me.” Matt attempts to stay mad and frown at him, but soon gives in. His smileis warmer than a morning sun, and it’s the first honest smile he had in a longtime.

“This is the most romantic thing you’ve everdone. And also the weirdest” Matt’s soft laugh fills the apartment, and as muchas Ryan loves its sound, he silences him by pulling him into a quick kiss.

The firsttime it happens, Ryan’s just put his phone down for the night, eyesstruggling to stay open long enough for him to find a good sleeping position. Thereis a distant sound of a door closing, and even in his tired mind he wonders whereon Earth is Matt going at this hour, and makes a mental note to kill him if hecauses Lego to do as much as a bark. He secretly hopes Matt’s only making it tothe kitchen to get himself a midnight snack and not to bother him with whatevermeme he just found on Twitter, because despite how much Ryan likes his friendand internet humour, he’s not in the mood for either one.

His intentions to pretend to be asleep are forgotten the moment he canclearly make out Matt’s silhouette, his chest suddenly tight with worry.“Heyman, you okay?” His brows furrow at Matt’s slightly slumped posture and thefact he’s still standing in the doorway, looking close to a confused puppy ratherthan a functional human being. Ryan’sabout to stand up and walk over to him to look for injuries when Matt finallymakes a move forward and slips into bed, or more precisely flops onto it. 

Ryan’s quick to put two and two together and realise what exactly is going on,and he can’t help but laugh out loud when he notices that yes, Matt’s eyes arein fact closed and he definitely has no idea about any of this. The younger manrolls over so mysteriously he somehow only wraps the blanket around his leftleg, but still makes it close enough to comfortably rest his head on Ryan’sbare chest and pin him down with half of his body.Ryan faintly remembers somedude on Discovery advising people not to wake up the sleepwalkers, and althoughhe doesn’t exactly recall why, he rather lets Matt use him as a giant teddybear than test it out. The extra heat isn’t half bad either.

When the morning comes, he wakes up to being pushed nearly all the way off the mattress, withMatt still soundly asleep and sprawled on the bed like he owns it. It’s not thebest morning he’s ever had, but Matt’s flushed cheeks and messy hair undoubtedlymake up for any neck ache and other discomfort he might have suffered duringthe night. He could get used to it, he thinks.

Maybe it’sthe way the sunlight makes Matt’s face look almost too innocent, angelic even, thatmakes Ryan stop himself from waking the younger man up and letting him face theembarrassment. Instead, he carefully picks Matt up into his arms, ignoring howhis face heats up the moment Matt snuggles closer to him, and casually takeshim back to his own room. He’s taking extra care in tucking Matt in, thanking allGods for his friend being such a heavy sleeper. He even dares to press a quickkiss on Matt’s forehead, then quickly leaves the room.

Xxx

He doesn’texpect Matt to show up two times in a row, but isn’t all too surprised when hedoes. This time, Matt is a lot quicker to invade his bed, but he must have losthis clingy bug on the way, because instead of instantly seeking Ryan’s embrace,he stays on the right side of the bed, facing the wall.  Ryan is left staring into the darkness for agood minute, before Matt’s light snoring tells him there is no cuddlinghappening. He makes it as long as thirty seconds until he’s spooning Mattfrom behind, finally drifting off to sleep.

In the morning, he almost wakes the sleeping man by bumping his legs against the door handleas he’s avoiding stepping on Banana, and nearly gives himself a concussion inthe process. It’s almost comical how Matt continues to sleep peacefully afterRyan practically tore his skin off, and he’s curious to find out how much itwould take for Matt to wake. Maybe he could even record it, one day.

Xxx

Matt knowshe sleepwalks ever since he was five, when he accidentally left the house and foundhimself on the front yard with his sister standing above him, entertainingherself by drenching him completely with a hosepipe. He’s pretty sure itstopped once he grew up, the only time he remembers it happening during hissemi-adult life was the first time he visited Ryan and Daniel in LA, back when hedid not live here just yet. Ryan was surprised to find him lying in the tub thefollowing morning, and to this day it’s still a mystery how the hell he managedto lie himself out of it, but that’s about it. So when he wakes up hearing asteady heartbeat where his pillow should be, it’s no wonder he shoots up as ifhe was burned.

“Shit.” he swears as he fights with the blanket and only tangles himself more,amusing Lego who is standing by the end of the bed, his eyes following Matt’severy movement. He would probably go for a less panicky way of getting up if heknew Lego would take his escape as a game, and would prevent the dog fromjumping after him, landing on all four right on Ryan’s belly. The moment hehears a hiss of pain is also the moment he comes flying off the bed, landing onthe hard wooden floor with a thud.“Fuck, you alright?” Ryan’s sleepy voice barely passes through the ringing inMatt’s ears caused by the collision, but he still pushes himself upright andsighs. “Yeah, I, uh, sorry.”

“For what?”Ryan offers Matt a hand to help him back onto his own feet, but doesn’t forget togive him a smug smile while doing so. “For presumably waking up the lady fromthe flat below, or stealing my bed every night in the last week?” Thehorrified expression Matt gives him should be captured, and the man immediately hides his face in his palms. “Why didn’t you say anything?”he mumbles againstthe flesh.“Well, youdidn’t bother me” Ryan sits down next to Lego, looking up at Matt, who gatheredenough courage to face him. Matt knows this isn’t the end of the world, but he can’thelp but feel like an idiot. “I’m stillsorry, I’ve been told I’m not exactly friendly while sleepwalking.” headmitted.“It’s fine, you weren’t violent or anything ifthat’s what you mean. You just slept here.” Ryan assured him. The smile on hisfriend’s face doesn’t stop him from feeling uneasy, and he feels like there issomething more to this whole thing that Ryan isn’t telling him. He won’tpush it, though, he’s not entirely sure he wants to know.

“Ah, okay,then. Thanks for letting me stay?”

“Any time,man.”

Xxx

That night, when Matt unsurely reaches for the door handle, he is very much awake.

——-

When Matt woke up, it was to an unfamiliar heat pressing against his back and a hand being thrown lazily over him, warm fingers softly touching his skin where the shirt has rolled up. There was a moment of blind panic when he nearly slipped off the bed in alert, which was quickly pushed back and replaced with second thoughts the moment he realized how exactly he got himself into such position. Ryan was still asleep, if his even breathing was anything to go by, and although it was him who suggested cuddling in the first place, Matt wasn’t sure how he would react if he woke up to having an armful of his bed-provider. Because despite how much it pained him to admit it, that’s what he was, the only one in the house who could offer a place to sleep and wasn’t going to put numerous bruises on him in return. He wondered if he should pull away to his side of the bed, or even get up, merely to avoid the awkwardness that was sure to come. Before he could come to a decision, there was a sharp intake of breath and Ryan speaking directly in his ear. “G’mornin’”

Matt tried to ignore the shiver that ran down his spine at the voice, taking a chance to roll over and peek at his friend when Ryan withdrew the arm that was keeping him in place to rub at his eyes. Ryan’s hair was messy and slightly damp with sweat, eyes red and puffy from obviously not getting enough sleep, yet Matt’s could swear he’s never seen a cuter sight. “Morning, you look tired. I take it I’m not that good sleep companion after all?” he joked after Ryan yawned three times in a row, staring unconsciously at the ceiling. “No, you are the best, Matty. It’s the weather, I felt like my skin was melting off. Why the fuck did we think moving to LA was a good idea?” He turned to grin at his friend, expecting to hear a witty response, but the smile froze on his face as he came face to face with angry looking Matt. “Why didn’t you turn the air conditioning on?” he scolded Ryan, pulling himself up into sitting position to make the view of his frowning face clearer. The older man nervously scratched below his beard as he uttered a response, avoiding Matt’s gaze completely. “Well, you know, you felt kinda cold and I didn’t want to make it worse, I guess” Matt’s chest seized up and an uncommon warm feeling flooded his stomach as his look dropped, and he sighed softly. “You didn’t have to do that” “I wanted to” he explained.

Matt flopped back down on his side, wrapping himself up in a blanket that became his own once again, closing his eyes at the sharp sunlight that was streaming through the curtains and warming his cheeks. They fell into comfortable silence after that, the only sound in the room being their soft breathing and a distant clattering of the dishes. Mark was already up, meaning it was just a matter of minutes before they had to get up as well and prepare for the busy day at Matthias’ they’ve had planned. Ryan was watching him with great concentration, like he was the most beautiful sight on earth. To him, he was, but the younger man had no idea, couldn’t see the adoration in Ryan’s eyes as his gaze occasionally flickered to his lips, wishing for nothing but to close the short distance between them.

“Matt?” the whisper of his name sounded a lot louder than it actually was in the noiseless room, and he hummed in acknowledgement, trying to keep himself from dozing off. “You are s-”

They both jumped when a piercing beeping filled the room, their annoyed groans following shortly after. It was only eight o’clock, a time when they rarely slept anyway, but the image of having to leave for a whole day was enough to make one huffy “Come on, we’ve got places to be” the older man stated, pulling himself up with a little effort and heading to the door. “If I actually get to my clothes through that plastic crap they are buried under” he added with a smile.

 ***

“Hey Matt, have you seen my- whoa, are you okay?” Ryan appeared at the door, swinging between being worried and erupting in laughter. Matt looked ridiculously, his shoulders were slouched as he stared heedlessly out of the window from across his desk, headphones nearly falling off his head. A half edited video was left unnoticed on the computer screen, successfully making Matt’s aspiration to finish it drop to zero. They’ve arrived home few hours ago and Matt got immediately into editing, pleased with himself at first with how well he was doing. Then the tiredness kicked in and he couldn’t even add a single text and not fuck up the whole video.

His reply was in a form of heavy exhale, and Ryan decided that it was not the right moment to laugh. He chose the worry then instead, walking up to his friend and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Leave it for now, I was about to hop into bed anyways, come and keep me company” Ryan offered. The warming feeling returned to Matt’s belly at his words, and he would happily ditch everything right at the moment just to snuggle with his friend for another night, but the thought of how much he still had to do for the next day crushed all his desires. “This should go up tomorrow” he gestured at his computer screen where Mark’s face grimaced over something happening in the game he was playing, which Matt failed to remove repeatedly in the past half an hour. “Mark will get mad”

“No he won’t”

Matt knew it was true, the exact same scenario has happened in the past, and Mark never pressed him, and actually waited patiently until he was done and uploaded the video later with an apology to his fans. That was one of the reasons he preferred there was more time between the videos being recorded and posted, but with the busy schedule they all had, it was nearly impossible.

“But-” he tried once more to defeat himself, but Ryan was having none of that. “Go to bed” he commanded, giving Matt no change to protest as he disappeared once again.

 **

Fifteen minutes later, Matt was sitting on his bed, waiting for Ryan to finish his bathroom routine so he could turn the light off. Banana was scratching at the blanket at the edge of the bed, ignoring all Matt’s attempts to make him stop and only moved a bit farther when the man’s hand came too close. It felt like eternity before Ryan finally made it to the bedroom, apologizing for taking so long and nestling quickly next to Matt. “I turned the AC on” the younger man mumbled into the pillow, watching with heavy eyes as Ryan gave him a huge smile. “Aw, how sacrifacial of you. If you like me just say it, dude” he mocked his friend with a chuckle.

“Yeah, of course I do” That was a risky move, Matt realized as soon as the words left his mouth. It was evident in his tone what exactly he meant by that, and he knew Ryan wasn’t stupid enough to miss it. The silence which followed his statement wasn’t as comfortable as it was in the morning, not at all actually, and he would punch himself in the face if he had any energy to do so.

“Are you serious?” Ryan finally cut the silence, a hint of hope slipping through. Matt wished the light was still on. “Well, yeah” he admitted, deciding against lying. He wouldn’t brush it off as a joke, so there was literally no point in him not giving Ryan the genuine answer he deserved.

More silence followed, and before Matt had the change to say more to stop Ryan from being mad at him, something warm and soft pressed against his lips, catching him off guard. He drew in a deep breath, his tired brain slowly catching up with the situation. As soon as he understood what was happening, he relaxed and kissed back as enthusiastically. Ryan’s hand ran through Matt’s short hair, pulling him closer, while he shifted so he was half-lying on top of him. Matt used this new position to wrap his arms around the other man’s neck, occasionally running a hand up and down his back.

“If I knew kissing you was this good, I would have confessed sooner” Matt laughed after they parted, melting under Ryan’s touches that caressed every part of his skin that was exposed. “Yeah” Ryan giggled in agreement, pulling him into another kiss.

Jack watches Mark as he passes him on the way to the kitchen for the fifth time that afternoon, desperately looking for his beloved four-legged friend that suddenly disappeared earlier that day. Ever since Mark noticed Chica’s absence, he’s been searching the house from the roof to the basement in hopes of finding the pup hiding from him somewhere, presumably destroying yet another of his belongings.

Jack was eager to help at first; at least back when they were both sure there was no way she could have left the house, which was unfortunately proven wrong the moment Matt noticed the front door was open.

"Mark, this is useless," Jack stands up from where he was sitting on the couch and follows after the fussing man. He understands Mark’s refusing to accept the current situation, but wasting time when Chica is probably on the run at the moment isn’t going to help anything. Mark doesn't answer, partly because he is determined to find his dearest puppy, but mainly because he might be a little mad at Jack for not taking the situation seriously enough. Of course he understands Jack imagined his stay in LA a bit differently, and so did he, but it’s not like he let Chica disappear on purpose, and he is not ditching her either.

“Mark, I know she is an energetic and adventurous dog, still I doubt she managed to jump that high,” he laughs when Marks starts to open upper cabinets. His boyfriend shots him a nasty glare in return, yet he stops to lean against a counter, his crossed arms challenging Jack to come up with a better idea.

“Look,” Jack starts while walking over to Mark and pulling him into a tight embrace “You have no idea how many times this happened with Gizmo. He always came back, and Chica will too, something probably caught her eye and she followed it, you know dogs do that”

Mark’s the one to break the hug, rubbing at his tired eyes and sighing in frustration. “I know, I’m being stupid,” he admits “Yet I can’t help but worry. LA is big, what if she gets lost and wouldn’t find a way back?”

“Don't underestimate her, Mark. Want to look around the neighborhood? Maybe she’s still in the area, and if she isn't, we can make some posters to hang around later, okay?” Jack proposes.

---

They make is as far as the gate when they both hear a very familiar barking, coming from closer than they both expected. Mark immediately starts running, screaming Chica’s name on top of his lungs and heading to where he assumes the barking comes from.

He comes to a halt in front of a residence of a kind middle-aged lady that lives two houses from him, whose kids often cuddle with Chica on their daily walk to the local park. When Jack finally catches up, Mark looks like he might start crying from relief of seeing his puppy safe and okay, happily running around and fetching the ball kids are throwing her.

“See, I told you she’s fine,” Jack says with a smile, and Mark can only nod.

The bright red numbers on Matt’s alarm clock signalled it was barely half past midnight, about twenty minutes from when he finally got to bed after a day full of working, this time not only on editing Mark’s videos and recording for the new channel, but also on repainting Ryan’s bedroom. What he previously imagined to be a simple task turned out to be a complete disaster, thanks to Ryan, who found it absolutely hilarious to paint Matt instead of his walls, or create an obscene artwork of what he imagined was himself. It has taken both Matt and Mark to convince their friend that leaving it there would not be a wise idea.

In the end, it was no wonder he was glad to finally let his body rest, and welcomed the opportunity to be unconscious for several hours with open arms. Until, much to his luck, the slight creaking of the door ruined it all. He barely raised his head, expecting to see one of the dogs or Banana sneaking in to hide under the covers like they often did. What he did not expect was for it to be Ryan, who was obviously trying to be as quiet as possible as to not wake Matt up.

“What are you doing?”Matt finally broke the silence when the older man slid into the unoccupied side of the bed, stealing half of the blanket in process.

“I thought you were sleeping,” Ryan replied casually as he wiggled around to get into more comfortable position. Matt shivered when Ryan’s cold leg accidentally brushed against his, then immediately blushed at the realization that Ryan was pretty much only in a pair of boxers. Sure, that has never been a problem, he saw him clothless numerous times in past, but in that moment it seemed almost too intimate.

“I was. That doesn’t answer my question, though,” Ryan finally stopped fidgeting, leaving them so close to each other Matt could feel his warm breath dance on his cheek as he whispered back: “I can’t sleep in my room, can I? And there is no way I’m crashing at Mark’s. He snores. And kicks,”

“We have a couch, you know,” Matt stated as if Ryan didn’t know that. He was still attempting to keep as much distance between them as he could, avoiding any sort of contact and dangerously nearing the end of the bed.

“Dude, I’m not sleeping on leather” Matt couldn’t help but smile at the image of what the morning would have been like, when they would have to literally tear him off the surface. That was enough for him to partly numb the thoughts of worry that were running through his head. Like what if he talks during sleep and accidentally reveals his affection towards Ryan? What if they wake up in some confronting position, like with his hand against Ryan’s private parts? What if he gets too clingy?

Ryan must have sensed how tense he’s gotten, because he let out an annoyed huff, threw a hand over Matt and showed him firmly against his chest in one swift motion. Before Matt could find words of protest, the older man placed a possessive hand on his thigh, massaging the soft skin.