A Promise Fulfilled [WattyAwards#2012]

Chapter XIII: Sheltered Hearts

Chapter XIII: Sheltered Hearts

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"She wasn't exactly sure when it happened. Or even when it started. All she knew for sure was that right here and now, she was falling hard and she could only pray that he was feeling the same way."

― Nicholas Sparks, Safe Haven.

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Dex woke up with Timmy lying on top of him. It took him a moment to realize, sated with sleep and warm from Timmy's body, but eventually the realization trickled in, the fact that for the first time in years he was waking up with someone in his arms.

Timmy's face was buried in his neck, his arm and leg slung out over Dex and tying them together. Dex could feel the press of Timmy's nose against his skin, the flutter of his breath, slow and steady as he slept, the weight of him pushing against Dex's chest, the cool tips of his fingers sliding down his sides as he stirred and then settled. Dex could feel the soft velvet of Timmy's skin against his, so warm and overwhelming, and he couldn't believe that this was actually happening, so sudden, right when everything got so confusing. Timmy was so soft, so quiet and unaware, and completely vulnerable in a way that was both incredibly sexy and overwhelmingly terrifying. Dex almost doesn't dare to breath.

Suddenly, the little glass bird was whole in his hands, a breakable thing, and he didn't know what to do next, besides hold tight and feel Timmy against him while he could, because the breakable things didn't last very long.

Timmy stirred again, mumbling to himself and nuzzling his face deeper into Dex's neck. His arm tightened around Dex's stomach and pulled them tighter together, and Dex couldn't even be sure where he ended and Timmy began, all wrapped up and tangled.

For now, this was what he got. For now, this was perfect.

He was not sure how long he laid there, hands stroking up and down Timmy's back, and breathing in the heady scent of his skin. Timmy was his cover, molded to Dex's body as he slept on, completely unaware. Heat radiated from his bare skin, and Dex thought that he could just feel Timmy's heartbeat faint against his chest, more intimate and precious than any sex he'd had in his life.

There was a sudden beeping from his night side table, and Dex flung one hand out to turn off his phone before it could wake Timmy.

The alarm bought him back down, reminded him of the time, reminded him that the rest of the world had continued on. Reality existed, ugly as it was. Small trivial things still controlled his life. He couldn't just stay here in bed all day, holding Timmy to him and whispering small devotions into his ear until he woke up, no matter how much he wanted to.

He couldn't miss work.

And more than that. It wouldn't be fair to Timmy.

He doubted Timmy remembered clearly what happened last night, and Dex had a feeling that if Timmy woke up in a strange bed with a half-naked man, Dex might lose a ball or two before Timmy realized who it was.

And even through his haze of skin and warmth and touch, Dex was able to admit that this wasn't fair to him either.

He and Timmy had shared a hug. Now, they laid here together as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The two realities attempted to overlap, entwine, but crash together and shatter instead. They didn't belong together, they couldn't fit.

If this was to happen, if this was truly to happen, then Dex needed to know. He might not be completely sure what it was he needed to know, but the gaps of his understanding were too great to be able to gloss over with a mere three words, no matter how pretty those words might be.