quixotic. ↣ d.h.

lvi: cocooned

they wake to the soft patter of rain.

the windows of zoe's bedroom are fogged, and trails of water slip down them before coming to rest against the clean white wood of the shutters. for a moment, everything is still. the whole world is just them, alone in zoe's room, cocooned in blankets and tangled together on the floor.

dan blinks his eyes open slowly. his mind feels lighter than yesterday. his hands are nestled in zoe's hair, her face pressed against his chest; she's still sound asleep. dan decides to take advantage of that, as he's never had such an uninterrupted chance to look at her; he knows how uncomfortable it makes her when he stares, so he's made it a point not to.

she has two little creases right above her eyebrows that make her look as though she's perpetually upset. they're not as evident when she's asleep, dan notices, and it makes her look happier. more at peace. her eyelashes brush the tops of her ever-pink cheeks.

dan jolts when her eyes startle open.

"were you watching me sleep?" her voice is deeper than usual, and softer somehow.

dan chews his lip. "would you believe me if i said no?"

zoe laughs and lifts her head, pulling away from him. dan flinches at how cold the air is when they aren't sharing it.

"definitely not," zoe answers as she stretches her arms over her head. she lets her eyes drift across dan's face, lets them linger there longer than she usually does; long enough to gauge how he's feeling.

"i'm okay," he says, reading her mind. zoe's expression remains unconvinced, and a lazy smile tugs at his lips. "i promise."

she finally looks away and busies herself with unraveling the messy braid that hangs over her shoulder. dan watches her for a moment, the way her fingers twist and twirl the sections of hair apart before gently combing through them.

"i messaged her last night," he blurts. "my aunt. i told her the truth, kind of, and told her about my mom. i asked for her help."

zoe's eyes light up as she lets the hair fall from her hands in surprise. "really? have you heard anything back yet?"

dan quickly sits up and reaches for the computer that he'd shoved underneath zoe's bed before he fell asleep. he flips open the lid and clicks into his inbox.

"really?" zoe scoots closer to him.

dan stomach flips, just as it always has when they're close. he swallows and tries to direct his focus back to scanning the screen in front of him to see if an answer's come through yet. or, probably more likely, he thinks, an angry paragraph of rejection.

but the inbox is empty.

dan curses and slumps back against the wooden pallets zoe's bed is platformed on.

"don't worry," zoe says when she takes the computer from him and glimpses the empty inbox for herself. "i'm sure she'll message back soon. she probably hasn't even woken up to see it yet."

"or she's already seen it, hates me and my mother both now for not keeping in touch, and wants nothing to do with us."

"hey." zoe knocks her elbow against his until he turns to look at her. "i'm supposed to be the negative one." she cracks a smile to show that she's joking, even though deep down she knows her statement to be true.

even as a kid, she was the one no one else wanted to be around. she was too quiet, too sad, too different. the labels were never spoken to her face, but they didn't have to be. she saw it in the eyes of everyone around her. and so she stayed on the wall, in the corner, in worlds of her own creation. it was easier for everyone that way.

dan fought of a smile. he was hurting, so much, but zoe still had that indelible effect on him.

"i know a way we could get your mind off things." zoe grins and interlaces her fingers with his hesitantly.

"yeah?"

"yeah. do you have your camera?"

dan glances at his backpack that rests in the entrance to zoe's room. it's an old navy blue canvas thing that his mother found at some thrift shop the year before, with ripped straps and a couple stains of mysterious origin. his camera, his sole prized possession, is nestled deep inside, wrapped in one of his sweatshirts.

"of course," he answers, already starting to feel better at the remembrance of what zoe had agreed to the day before. god, had it really been only a day ago? so much had happened in the hours between that sky and this one; the whole universe had turned itself inside out since then.

"good. first, breakfast. then," she curls her hand into a fist and rests her chin on it, fixing him with what she imagines to be a dramatic look, "it's photoshoot time."

a/n: hi everyone. i've set up a special writing space in my room recently and am re-committing myself to the art of it all. expect more frequent updates from now on, and maybe even some new projects :)