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Why did it have to be so hot?
Zack was lying in an uncomfortable bed in a room he shared with his bandmates in some cheap shitty place that was marketed as a hotel but was most definitely a hostel, and not even a sort of nice one. Like two stars at most. Zack wouldn't give it more than one star. It was the middle of the summer, he was in a small room with three other guys and it went without saying that the place didn't have any kind of air conditioning. Didn't even have a fan. He was sweating like a pig, he barely had one corner of his sheet covering his hip and a small part of his left foot and it was still unbearably hot. But it's not like any sensible human could sleep without a blanket, no matter how hot it was, so he lay awake. At half past four in the morning.
Not that he'd ever admit it, but the heat might not have been the only thing keeping him awake. It might have been at first, but when he couldn't sleep he started thinking and when he started thinking he knew he was never going to get any sleep.
It wasn't good. He knew it was made worse by the fact that he didn't really voice his thoughts much. Even the smallest things turn into huge problems when you keep them in your head, like everyone always told him. Surely he would've noticed even without anyone telling him though.
If he did ever open up to someone, it was always to Jack. That boy was always talking, but somehow he could also be a good listener when Zack needed it. It wasn't often though. He'd always try his best to give some kind of advice as well, and it didn't matter that it was never really all that useful. Zack was just thankful Jack would listen, and then when he was done talking Jack would break the silence in whatever way he could think of before it could get awkward, and then they'd move on with their day like nothing happened. Exept for Zack feeling a million pounds lighter, and exept for Jack always making more glances Zack's way than usual, and touching his shoulder more and little things like that. It was like he always felt the need to check up on Zack after he confessed his worries to him.
It had been a while since Zack had last opened up to Jack, but for some reason recently Jack seemed to be glancing his way and touching his shoulder more than usual anyway. He never shook Jack's hands off though, even when Jack would wrap his arm around Zack's bicep, or wrap both of his arms around his shoulders, or even grab his hand and hold it in his for just a few seconds. And of course he only noticed the glances because he was glancing at him too. He had gotten so used to Jack's increased cuddliness he sometimes found himself wanting to rest his own hand on Jack's shoulder too, or wrap his arm around him when sitting next to him on a couch, or something. He couldn't bring himself to actually do it that often though, at least not when completely sober. But when he did Jack didn't seem to mind, he'd turn his face towards Zack and smile, and maybe even lean into his touch just a little bit.
But then again Jack was like that with everyone. The little touches that had grown to mean so much to Zack probably didn't mean anything at all to Jack, he probably didn't even notice he was doing it. Not that they should mean anything. They shouldn't mean anything to Zack either. In fact Jack probably wasn't actually touching him any more than usual, Zack was just seeing what he wanted to see. If he could talk to Jack about this he'd probably say that Zack just needed to get laid or something. That would be his advice this time. But it's not like he was going to talk to him about this, obviously.
There was barely any light coming to the room through the curtains – that most likely had mold on them or something – but Zack could still see when Jack who was sleeping in the bed next to his moved suddenly. He rolled over and was now facing Zack, and opened his eyes. For a fraction of a second some weird instinct told Zack to close his eyes and pretend to be asleep, but it's not like Jack didn't already know he was awake so why bother. So instead he looked right into Jack's dark eyes that just looked black in the dark room.
”Hey,” Jack whispered faintly.
”Hey,” Zack replied. Jack grabbed on to his blanket and sat up on his bed.
”Why aren't you asleep?” he asked, touching his feet on the floor and leaning forward, closer to Zack, so he could whisper even quieter. Zack shrugged.
”The bed's uncomfortable,” he said. It wasn't untrue, but it also wasn't really the reason why he wasn't sleeping. Jack stood up, brought his blanket with him and took the couple of steps he needed to to reach Zack's bed.
”I can't sleep without the sound of you snoring. Scoot over,” Jack motioned with his hand.
”Why?” Zack asked, even though he was already moving back on his bed to make space for Jack who crawled in next to him.
”For warmth,” Jack smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. If there was any more light in the room his eyes would've probably sparkled.
Zack didn't say a word about the heat that had been keeping him awake all night. He wasn't sure why. He just didn't want to make a single wrong move that could possibly make Jack have second thoughts and move back to his own bed.
”Come on, cuddle me,” Jack said, throwing some of his blanket over Zack and wrapping his arm around his waist. Zack's body stiffened for a second, but then he placed his hand on Jack's back and let Jack bury his face in his chest, Zack's chin resting on top of Jack's head.
”This is a sleepover now,” Jack whispered against him. Zack didn't think it made much sense, but he could hear the smile in Jack's voice even though he was whispering so quietly he could only hear him because they were so close.
”Okay,” was all Zack could think of to say.
Jack fell asleep in his arms in seemingly no time at all. Zack didn't know how long did he lay awake next to him, but he must have dozed off eventually because at some point he woke up to the sun shining in through the window, the other courtain partly drawn, to the voices of his bandmates and to the warm laugh of Jack next to him. Jack had turned to lay on his back, Zack using his shoulder as his pillow, and when Jack noticed Zack had woken up he lifted his hand to move a strand of hair out of Zack's face, even though it was so short that it wasn't even anywhere near his eyes. Zack didn't protest it though.
”Hey,” Jack mumbled happily. Zack hummed something in response, and Jack pulled the blanket higher over Zack's bare back. It was still hot, but Zack's eyes were burning after not getting more than a couple of hours of sleep, so he just moved his arm into a more comfortable position over Jack's stomach and fell right back to sleep.