Stars littered the winter night sky, even though you were oblivious to them due to the clouds hiding them from sight. The only light provided in the darkness were that of the street lamps towering all along the side of the street you walked by, pooling you in yellow light that came in puddles across the sidewalk.
Not many people were out in this time of the day - or night, better said - and given the circumstances, it was no surprise. It was late winter, after all, and the evenings and nights were freezing. Most people opted to stay home, in the cozy warmth, with a blanket and a cup of steaming liquid to warm their hands with.
You would be one of those people, normally, had you not had something you needed to take care of that forced you to go out into the icy weather. Now, as you were returning to your flat, you could not help but imagine the sweet bed waiting for you, and the comfort of the four walls of your room enclosing it, already looking forward to it.
Your shoes clacked against the pavement on which spots of ice were present, making it tricky to walk on. You pushed your hands further into the pockets of your coat, trying to keep as much warmth inside as possible. You were the only sound present on the street.
It almost sounded disturbing, violating the silence that froze breaths as you fished your keys, the metal objects jingling between your fingers as you inserted it into the keyhole, entering the building you lived in. The temperature inside was a sharp contrast to the one outside, your cheeks immediately burning too warm, although they were still too cold to the touch.
Entering the flat, you sighed of relief, finding comfort in the familiar hall and rooms it flowed towards. Overall, it was dark in the flat as well, but the light coming from below one of the doors deeper inside the flat told you that your flatmate was home, too. You shivered at the loss of warmth as you took of your coat to hang beside the wall.
Taking off your shoes, you pranced into your own room, shutting the door and switching on the lamp to make the room lighter, but not as bright so as to blind you. Instead, the lamp bathed your simple and small yet cozy room in orange light, casting shadows in the further corners of your room.
You took a shower, changing into something more comfortable to wear for the night, and finally allowed yourself to ease into your bed as you entered your room again after the bathroom visit.
Bundling yourself up in the warm, comforting piece of fabric, a yawn escaped your lips - you had woken up way too early this morning and it was taking its toll on you.
You glanced at the clock.
And decided you were too tired to do anything anyway, and that the bed sounded so alluring, the promise of fine sleep lulling you deeper and deeper into the pillow.
Nestled in the comforter, you let out a content sigh.
And then a knock came on your door, a rapping that disturbed the peaceful quiet that had settled within the four walls of your room.
"Yeah?" you called out, lifting up your head to get a better look.
The door opened meekly, timidly, and a head peeked inside carefully. "Were you sleeping?" your flatmate, C/n, whispered, e/c eyes traveling over your frame hidden in the pile of fabric. He bit his lip.
Shaking your head, you mumbled in a tired voice, sleepily, lazily, "no, do you need something?" You rubbed your eye, forcing yourself to sit up from the comfortable position you had managed to settle into just a few seconds before his arrival.
He was still clutching the doorknob as he took a tentative step inside, not sure how much he was allowed to come in. Locks of h/c hair fell down his forehead messily - he looked as if he had just rolled out of bed himself, although you had to admit the bedhead appearance looked attractive.
"I was just wondering if you'd wanna watch a movie with me. The sequel to my favourite movie just came out and-" he shrugged, rubbing his neck. He felt embarrassed to ask you this, seeing you in bed ready to sleep.
But despite your wearing, you mustered up a smile, agreeing happily. You genuinely wanted to watch the movie with him.
His eyes brightened, a smile of his own reaching his lips. "But if you wanna sleep, that's okay-" he began, but you knew he wanted you to watch it with him, too.
"No, I'm fine," you assured him, and then held up a finger in the air. "But I have one condition. We're gonna watch the movie here in my bed, so that I wouldn't need to move." As if to emphasize the statement, you yawned widely, showing how tired you felt.
But it was a pleasant kind of tired, and it turned even better when you found out C/n wanted to watch a movie together.
The said boy's face first faltered upon hearing you have a condition to make, but the previous smile instantly returned when he heard what it actually was. "Do you want some snacks, too? Water?"
"A glass of water would be nice, thank you very much." You didn't want to eat anymore - just lay down without having to move next to C/n and stare into a screen.
He disappeared for a while, you heard the sound of water being poured into a glass and his socked feet thudded on the floor as he rushed to his own room to retreat his pc from there.
A few minutes later, he came back, handing the glass of water to you. You shuffled backwards, standing the pillow up against the headboard of the bed, let C/n set the pc down at the foot of the bed. When you were done gulping your water, he extended his hand to you, motioning for you to give him the glass back.
There was still a bit of water on the bottom of the glass, so he drank it all up in one sip without thinking and went to set the glass down on your desk at the other side of the room.
He put on the movie.
As he sat down onto the mattress, it dipped with the added weight. He carefully lifted up his legs and settled with his back against the pillow, keeping to the edge.
"You can move closer. I won't bite," you joked, patting the space closer to you. You didn't want him to fall down, having to cramp up near the edge, or feel uncomfortable.
He looked sideways at you, making sure it was really alright. When he saw you nod, he moved closer, until your shoulders bumped. There, he settled down more comfortably.
"Do you want the blanket, too?"
He shook his head. "It's fine. I'm not cold, so you can keep it."
"Nonsense. It's big enough," you said anyway, wriggling the ends of the comforter from underneath you to push it at him. You made sure to tuck it behind his shoulder so that it wouldn't slip.
You felt your eyes on him the whole time you were leaning over him to make sure the blanket was evenly covering the whole of his body, but you refused to meet his gaze. Your own cheeks were probably burning red and you didn't want to imagine the expression he must've been wearing at the sight.
When you both were finally under the fabric, warm and cozy, you lay down next to him, who remained sitting up, leaning against the headboard. You lay down, your head at the bottom of your pillow, positioning yourself on your side so that you were facing him, looking down at the pc.
Your forehead was touching against C/n's thigh.
"You look so cuddly right now," the boy said softly, in a quiet voice sometimes through rhe beginning of the movie. You had almost not caught it - you were halfway to falling asleep already, but his voice brought you back to wake.
You turned your head slightly to get a look at his face, but he was already look back on the movie again. You nudged your head into the side of his thigh and nuzzled closer, bringing your hand to rest against his knee.
You felt his hand circle around your shoulders, resting itself on your arm, although you were not sure whether you had not just imagined it, dreamt of it - because the next time you blinked and opened your eyes, the ending credits were already playing on the pc screen and you no longer felt his touch.
"Did I sleep through the whole movie?" you groaned. He was shuffling around, reaching for the pc to turn it off - that was the movement that made you wake up, you thought.
Laugh emited from his chest. "Yeah."
"Sorry," you apologized, turning your head into the mattress.
"That's okay. It felt good just to have you next to me."
There was silence as he settled back into the bed, with the pc now turned off and on the ground to avoid you kicking it off accidentally.
"Shit, I really don't wanna move."
"Then stay here. You can sleep here," you mumbled, the words rolling off your tongue reluctantly, lazily.
You closed your eyes and felt him move. You felt a forehead touch your own, a breath hitting your cheek.
He pulled the blanket upwards to cover your shoulders that the blanket had previously slipped off from.
You felt his leg near your own. "Goodnight," you heard him whisper.
You wanted to reply, but you were already sleeping by the time the last letters left his mouth.