So this is inspired by: Ryoura on Tumblr, she was talking about how she got an idea of Gilbert petting Oz's head and whenever he stopped the boy would complain after she watched this happen to a spoiled rabbit :D So... I really liked the idea and asked for permission to use it! This is what came out of it ^^I actually first wanted to go with; Oz is drunk/tipsy, though Oz is good at holding his liquor and he seems like the kind of guy that stops when he starts to feel the alcohol is working... So I just went with 'Tired Oz' and after everything that happened I wouldn't be surprised if the boy indeed would do such a thing, ^^
I do not own Pandora Hearts and the idea is also not mine.
A pat on the head,
GilXOz, (could be some friendship though)
Things had changed, so much was obvious. And at times like these it was only normal to seek for comfort at night, -even at day actually. It wasn't anything unusual then that you rather wanted to share a room with your friends even though you usually hated doing that.
That was kind of what was happening right now, the sun had gone down and the rain was ticking against the window glass, lighting once in a while lit up the already poorly lit room up and thunder broke the silence once in a while. It made the boy sitting nearby the fire smile sadly because of the irony, after all whenever something bad happened to him the sun always seemed to shine brightly the next day as if it tried to tell him, 'Cheer up, there's a new day'. But this time even the sun seemed to have given up the thought of trying to cheer the boy up, so it shyly hid behind the dark clouds for the whole day and the moon had simply followed its example. Because this time thing might not be better, there still might be another day after this but it felt like time had stopped in some odd way, only if he defeated Glen then time would go on the way it should.
These were the dark thoughts running through the small boy's mind as he gazed back into the warm fire, behind him sat his servant, reading a book, holding it up with one single hand since he no longer had the other. Alice was sleeping peacefully on the boy's bed and it seemed that she wouldn't wake up very soon either, it was late after all and they should probably all just go to bed... yet, they didn't.
"You're thinking too much," Gilbert finally interrupted the silence,
The boy slowly turned his head and watched how the raven's whole body got lit up by the lightning, the boy then smiled sadly and looked away, his body still turned to face him. "Yeah…" he didn't even deny it, it was the truth and he no longer found any reason to hide his true emotions, if people would leave him for who he really was then he would simply accept it, he had lost too many people so he didn't care anymore, that's what he told himself, but he would probably have another breakdown if something to the small amount of people that were still left happened.
"Care to share?" Gilbert asked curiously,
"Just… the things that happened," the boy admitted,
This made Gilbert close the book he had been reading, he sighed and then moved aside so that the boy could sit down next to him, the sofa wasn't that big, but the boy still accepted the invitation and stood up from the cold floor to sit next to his servant, letting his head rest on his friend's shoulder.
He nodded, "I am…" he sighed and as if his body wanted to prove his point he yawned, "But I can't sleep…"
"You should just relax, it's not good for you. Your body has already been put under a lot of stress."
"I know…" he felt how Gilbert gently ruffled his hair and leaned into the touch, sighing, liking it when Gilbert did that and of course Gilbert easily noticed this so he kept caressing the boy's hair, though it was kind of hard in the position they were in.
"How long has it been since we last had such a quiet moment?" the boy then asked, gazing up to meet Gilbert's eyes, these beautiful green orbs has lost their usual shine and even though Oz kept himself strong, you could see there were still a lot of things troubling him and that wasn't going to change soon. He heard the boy yawn once again as he kept gazing into the fire, yet it didn't matter how long they sat there Oz still wasn't falling asleep, he just kept gazing at the fire as well and once in a while he tried to start a conversation but thanks to his tiredness he had trouble with keeping their small talk going.
"You stopped," the boy then said when Gilbert's hand was simply resting on the crown of his head
"Ah sorry, you want me… to continue?" he asked curiously, he didn't know Oz liked this kind of affection, the boy furrowed his brows and seemed to think about it before he shook his head, "No," he then said, "Besides it must be tiresome for you…" he glanced at the empty sleeve and Gilbert didn't even need to know the boy glanced at his arm to know what the boy meant with that, "Not really… it's a bit hard in this position though," he then petted his leg, a gesture the boy could sit on his lap if he wanted.
It took some time before the boy understood what he meant by that, thanks to his eyes that were slowly starting to lose their focus, if it wasn't because of him being so tired he probably wouldn't have given in, his mind was just too drowsy to figure out that such a thing usually is very improper, not only because of their whole status thing, but after all he was still a chain that didn't have any rights to seek affection like this.
But he was tired. He honestly didn't care about that all for the time being. So he sat down on Gilbert's lap so that he was facing him and let his head rest on the young man's shoulder as he wrapped his arms lazily around his neck, eyes narrowing slightly as he gazed into the darkness instead, he felt how Gilbert gently started caressing his hair again, stroking the bangs behind his ear, it seemed to calm the boy down though, he started to relax a bit more.
It was actually a bit tiring, that still did not stop the Nightray, he actually felt a bit happy to see Oz was slowly drifting into sleep, knowing well enough that lately Oz kept up until very late thanks to his insomnia, causing him to wake up very late the next morning.
"…on't… stop," the boy muttered when Gilbert let his arm rest for a bit, causing the Nightray's eyes to widen a bit before he slowly shook his head and chuckled softly, "Honestly,"
"Hm," the boy pouted, eyes closed as he tried to hide his face a bit more, knowing well enough that he was acting like a spoiled brat right now, thought it actually felt nice, he liked the way Gilbert's soft hands gently caressed his hair now, once in a while accidently touching his earlobe, making the small boy shudder in delight. His eyes felt heavy and he actually felt like he could fall asleep any moment now.
Eyes fluttered open a bit when he felt Gilbert lower his hand a bit so that it now was caressing his cheek, making him simply lean into the touch and close his eyes again, breathing in the man's scent.
Another yawn left his mouth and he simply smiled when hearing Gilbert chuckle just slightly, his warm breath caressed his skin as he said Oz had to try and fall asleep, when the boy simply nodded, well he thought he nodded Gilbert stopped, he must have thought Oz had fallen asleep, though he easily noticed that Oz was still up because right then the boy let out an annoyed sound, clearly not happy that Gilbert had stopped once again.
"You're acting differently," the Nightray finally spoke,
"Sorry…" the boy sighed, thinking about removing himself from Gilbert's lap, perhaps he was being a bother though he honestly just wanted to sit down, lean a bit closer into Gil's touch, no one had ever treated him like this, no one had ever shown him this kind of affection so just for now, let him act like a spoiled brat.
"It's fine," Gilbert smiled and to prove himself and also so that Oz wouldn't run away he stopped petting him so that he could pull him closer,
"…You stopped," the boy finally said, you could hear he was having trouble with staying up by now,
"Just for a while…" the Nightray smiled tiredly and let his head rest on the boy's head, feeling how his blond hair gently caressed his pale skin as he gazed at what was once a fire, for now they could just sit like this, both slowly drifting into sleep while enjoying each others presence.
The storm had finally stopped, and perhaps tomorrow the sun might shine... Telling them once again another day would come.
Fanfiction link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8254959/8/Like-A-Dream-Within-A-Dream
