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Shane woke to bright sunlight filtering in between the blinds of the window, immediately blinding him. He groaned at it softly as he raised an arm to cover his eyes. Or, well, he tried to. His immediate reaction was stalled by the weight laid over his side and curled loosely around his bicep. He frowned at the restriction, and nearly yanked himself away in a panic before he remembered where he was.
Oh. Right. Jeff’s.
He was at Jeff’s apartment. Not his room at Asagao. Everything was fine.
He relaxed back into the warmth behind him at the thought, closing his eyes against the bright light instead. Jeff shifted a bit at the slight movement, but thankfully didn’t wake up. Shane was pretty sure it was way too early for either of them to be awake, but the sun wasn’t going to let him rest now. For the moment, he’d just relax here.
With Jeff, it was almost terrifyingly easy to relax. Just the two of them, legs tangled under the sheets and Jeff’s hand wrapped practically possessively around Shane’s arm. It was endearing, really, how clingy Jeff could be, especially when he was asleep. As much as Shane liked to grumble about their sleeping arrangement, he didn’t mind all that much. Not that he’d tell Jeff that, he had a reputation to keep up. But it felt.. safe. It was safe, to be wrapped up in Jeff. And safety was something Shane had learned to value in the past few years.
Really, Jeff himself was something Shane had learned to value, particularly over the past year during their unexpected jump into romanticism.
Trust was hard to come by in Shane’s life, especially when it came to him giving it. The rest of the Normal Boots club of course had this trust, but the Hidden Block boys had needed to work a lot harder for it. Shane had taken for granted, he thought, how hard they had been willing to work. Especially Jeff. Who had worked tirelessly over the course of a year to become his friend, and another two to get to where they were now.
It was hard to comprehend that Jeff cared enough to work so hard for him. God knows Shane hadn’t made it easy on him. They’d stumbled multiple times because of Shane’s inability to open up and trust people, but Jeff was incredibly stubborn – he’d always pulled them to their feet and kept marching on.
A smile had found its way to his face at the thought of how far they’d come. Yeah, they’d earned this sleepy moment in the sun.
Shane was still in the middle of musing over their relationship when he felt Jeff stir behind him, grip around his arm squeezing for a quick moment in wakefulness. Honestly, Shane couldn’t help the smile on his face at it. He was a tad disappointed that he was missing watching his boyfriend wake fully, but he’d had plenty of chances for that before this, so it wasn’t like all was lost.
He could feel more than hear Jeff’s sleepy mumbling against his hair, and rolled his eyes. “Can’t hear you, love,” he said softly, unwilling to break the hush settled over the room.
Jeff whined, but shifted his head a bit to try his luck at talking against the shell of Shane’s ear instead. “Morning.” The feeling sent goosebumps down his spine, and he fought against the urge to roll over and kiss Jeff right there. That wouldn’t be a good time, as much as it sounded like a good idea in the moment. They’d learned through experience that morning breath between the two of them could be killer.
He didn’t bother revealing any of those thoughts though, head still a little sleep addled from his early wakeup call from the sun. “Too early.” The wording might have been grumpy, but Shane’s tone was anything but. It was soft and fond, full of a million different things that he could have said out loud, but was usually too reserved to say.
You’re cute, enjoying the morning. I admire that you can enjoy the sun this early. I love that you want to share it with me. I love you.
Yeah. Way too reserved for that.
But Jeff knew what he meant. Jeff had always been special like that, seeing straight through Shane’s bullshit moods and intentionally cryptic replies. It had to be some sort of magic, he was convinced. So Shane could trust him to know what he meant.
“Oh my god, you big baby.” The huff of laughter from Jeff tickled Shane’s ear, and he scowled, ducking his head away. Fucking rude, honestly. It was clearly way too early for either of them to be awake. He couldn’t keep the smile off his face though, because it was so Jeff. And having Jeff around had been something to treasure lately. With the distance between his apartment and Asagao, plus both of them being busy with schoolwork, their times together had been few and far between. Weekends were their safe haven, and even then, only when they both had the free time.
So these moments were important to take in and appreciate. Right now, moments like this were Shane’s motivation to get through the rest of the year. He didn’t mind Asagao, of course. It had become his home since moving from England, and his friends were all here. At least, most of them were, those that hadn’t already graduated like Jeff.
It wasn’t the same as having all of them there though. It certainly wasn’t the same as seeing Jeff every day and having him right there.
He felt Jeff yawn against the back of his head, and Shane made a face as he yawned barely seconds later. Oh yeah. It was early. The yawning only made him remember how tired he felt. It had been a long week, and again, it was way too early to be awake.
Jeff chuckled quietly, shifting around a bit to get more comfortable. “Okay, yeah, you were right. It’s too early. The weekend is the best time to sleep ‘til noon anyway. Back to bed we go?”
If Shane slept until noon, he was going to give his friends full permission to kick his ass.
He nodded anyway though, leaning his head back against Jeff. Not his best move, considering Jeff was blowing even Shane’s short hair out of his mouth seconds later, but whatever. Jeff was used to it by now. He could handle it if he wanted to keep being the big spoon.
“Yeah, yeah.. Back to bed.”
Practically like magic, Jeff was asleep in what seemed like seconds. Shane envied him, and closed his eyes against the light again stubbornly.The warmth of Jeff at his back did help relax him, and he could feel himself drifting off.
He fought the feeling for a moment though, trying to memorize the feel of the moment. It was perfect. Even though it would certainly only be one of many more, he never wanted to forget it. Shane never wanted to forget anything that happened with Jeff.
Both boys’ breath evened out into the slow, deep breaths of sleep, and the sun played across their skin as it rose higher in the sky. Anyone looking in would have only found the peace of two people in love practically melting into each other.
What they wouldn’t have seen would be the miles behind them of struggle to get to that point of well deserved peace, and the struggle they’d continue to go through as they got older. That was fine though. For Shane and Jeff, the peace in the moment was the ultimate goal, and they had found a small patch of it there in that tiny apartment bed.