Chapter Text
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When Hilary finally latched the balcony doors shut and pulled the curtains to a close, the sky outside was already tinged with light hints of dawn. She turned to give the living room a once over and nodded satisfactorily at the clean sight that greeted her. One would not be able to imagine that just a few hours ago, the room had been hosting a crowd full of drunk college students. Charlie had begged her to leave the cleaning until the morning, but Hilary knew she wouldn’t get a good night’s sleep while knowing that her living room was a mess, so even as the blonde settled herself comfortably onto the couch and fell asleep in no time, Hilary continued with clearing up the mess with only Tyson staying up to help her.
Tyson, her boyfriend, who was currently waiting for her in her room because it was just too late for him to go back to his dorm. Which shouldn’t have made her shudder the way it did, but while the two did spend most of their time together, he was yet to spend a night with her in her new room, and that made her worry about all the things he might expect from her.
Expectations she was not yet ready to meet.
With a shake of her head, she tried to get rid of all her nervous thoughts and instead, Hilary quickly made her way to the couch. Kneeling next to it, she gathered all the energy she had left in her and shook the sleeping figure sprawled across the couch as urgently as she could.
“Charlie! Charlie, wake up! I need to talk to you.” She whispered, rather almost hissed in her friend’s ears and felt her stir slightly under her grasp.
“I will drive a knife straight through your chest if you don’t leave me alone this very moment.” Came Charlie’s muffled reply, her head still covered by her arms with the hope that would shoo Hilary away.
“Please, I need to talk to you,” Hilary begged quietly yet again, shaking her friend once more to try and rile her up, which worked well enough.
“About what?” Charlie finally uncovered her face and raised her head, propping her weight on her elbows as she turned to glare at Hilary.
“Keep your voice down!” Hilary shushed her with a glare of her own, darting her eyes towards the direction of her room to make sure that the door was still closed and that her boyfriend was still on the other side before she hissed quietly, “About Tyson!”
“What about him?”
“He’s in my room right now…”
Hilary couldn’t tell if Charlie had narrowed her eyes at her because she was sleepy or because she didn’t understand what Hilary was trying to convey, knowing her best friend she assumed it was the latter and launched into an explanation without waiting for any other cues.
“He’s never stayed the night before and I’m really nervous. I don’t know what to do, I don’t think I’m ready for…” She paused as she felt a blush creep up on her cheeks, of course she knew Charlie wouldn’t need any help understanding what she was implying but still the thought itself was enough to embarrass Hilary.
“For sex.” Charlie finished the sentence for her without any hesitation.
Hilary nodded and dipped her head slightly, finding it hard to meet her friend’s eyes after admitting to the problem. Although there had never been any secrets between the two and they always talked freely about all personal things, somehow thinking about Tyson still made her whole insides turn into a tight knot, and it was difficult for Hilary to keep a straight face whenever the conversation turned to him or about their relationship.
“Have you talked to him about it?”
“No, not really.”
“Wow, you two seriously need to learn to communicate better.” Charlie scoffed, shaking her head tiredly.
“What?” Hilary shot her a fiercely questioning look, as the blonde’s words seemed to imply that she knew something more than she was letting on.
“Never mind, I’ll tell you about it when I’m fully awake.” Charlie just brushed the matter away casually, and before the brunette could butt in and pester her more about this, she continued confidently with her advice, after all her precious sleep had been disrupted for this purpose, “And I don’t know what you’re so nervous about. Tyson isn’t exactly the type of guy who would pin you down and force you against your will. Just tell him you’re not ready and that’s that.” She leaned back into the cushion she had been using as a headrest, indirectly trying to tell her friend that this conversation was over and she was going to fall back asleep any minute now.
“Don’t you think he will be disappointed?” Hilary asked quietly, she had never been the type to go out of her way to appease other people, but she did enjoy seeing Tyson happy. She noticed him sulking during the party earlier and even though she tried her best to free herself from her friends and check up on him as quickly as possible, by the time she ran into him, he'd already managed to fix his mood. She was obviously relieved to see that, but at the back of her mind, she felt guilty that she hadn’t been able to reach out to him on time.
“I don’t know that, because I’m not Tyson.” Charlie groaned, covering her face with her hands exasperatedly she added, “Seriously Hils, just go and talk to him about this and let me sleep.”
“You know I always give you advice when you need it.” Hilary folded her arms across her chest, a frown settling on her face over how her friend quickly dismissed the problem that had been eating her up inside for a while.
“Yeah, you give me advice even when I don’t need it.” Charlie snorted, turning on the couch to get a good look around the room and looking at Hilary with surprise, “Wait, did you clean up in here?”
“Yes.”
“Did Tyson help you with it?”
“Yeah.”
“Jeez Hils, just marry him already!”
And with that, her friend turned on her stomach so her face was completely hidden from Hilary’s sight, signalling the actual end of this conversation. The brunette rolled her eyes at the ceiling, just slightly grateful that Charlie had turned away at the exact moment that she had felt herself blush. She straightened up and lightly patted her cheeks, hoping to cool herself down before she decided what to do next.
Finally, after a few minutes, she held her breath and began to make her way towards her room. Charlie was right, as much as it pained Hilary to admit it even inside her head, but there was no point in discussing how she was feeling with anyone but Tyson. She wondered if he would be upset with her, as she had sent him off to the room when he'd started treating cleaning up as playtime quite some time ago. When she rested one hand on the doorknob, she placed the other one on her chest in an attempt to calm her nerves. This was not the first time they would be sharing a bed together, she reminded herself, he had spent so much time in her dorm room after all. However, the threat of Charlie or any of her other friends barging in at any time had usually kept them in check at that time.
She shook her head harshly, not caring what it would do to her perfectly set hair that had managed to stay pinned up through the night. Her brain reminded her that she had to stop doodling around, Tyson could have just left with his friends at any point of the night, even when she thought he wasn’t really enjoying himself because she was so busy hosting, but he stayed. He stayed and he helped her move the furniture back, pick up all the plastic cups around the house and made sure all the leftovers were packed into Tupperware boxes and stored safely in the fridge, without her even asking him to do so. He wasn’t the kind of person who collected favours so she was sure that he wasn’t expecting to get rewarded for his actions, but she felt guilty about maybe giving him false hope.
Well, she could spend an eternity overthinking this situation but the only way to find out the truth was to face it.
One deep breath later, Hilary twisted the knob and slowly opened the door to her bedroom, trying her best to keep it from creaking. The sight that awaited her made her breathe a sigh of relief and bite her lip out of guilt at the same time.
It’s not like she had been expecting to see Tyson laying on top of her bed Titanic-style, but she also hadn’t imagined he would instead try to forcefully squeeze himself into the window nook which was clearly not suited for someone of his size. He must have been tired after rearranging the house and cleaning up, and she had purposefully stalled her arrival, so naturally it made sense for him to just stop waiting up for her and give in to the urge to fall asleep. Why he had chosen the nook instead of the bed was something that confused her, but what irked Hilary the most was how uncomfortable he looked, sleeping with his whole body cramped into a small space. She marched up to him and without any hesitation shook him lightly, hoping that that would be enough to wake him since he usually slept like a log.
“Hey,” Tyson answered groggily, lifting himself partially to face her, eyes still droopy from being woken up so suddenly.
“Hi.”
“Is the house back to being good enough to host the Emperor?” He asked, even while being half asleep he managed to live up to his usual cheekiness.
“Charlie’s still here, so.”
Hilary smiled at the way his whole face lit up with a grin and he looked much more awake. He lifted his knees to make some space for her to sit down and she did, surprised that there was still enough of it for her to take a seat despite the size of the nook.
“Sorry, I made you wait for so long. You could’ve just-” She paused, her hand was already gesturing towards the bed but her face was now a deep shade of red as she realised that thanks to the cramped up nook, she had no choice but to look at Tyson directly and there weren’t many directions she could turn her head in to avoid meeting his gaze. Which is something that she would have preferred, especially when she was about to tell him that it was okay for him to sleep on her bed.
“I know, but I didn’t...I thought that-” Tyson seemed to have caught on to what she was trying to imply but was facing the same problem as her where he tried to look at anything but her face and failed miserably at it. His ears turned a bright red when their eyes met, but by now they both knew that attempting to avoid each other’s eyes was futile. Thankfully, he seemed to have more courage in him than her, as he took a deep breath and conveyed clearly what he had been trying to say earlier, “I thought that it would be weird if I did that without your permission.”
She found the anxious expression on his face cute, it wasn’t often that she got to witness Tyson second guessing himself and it made her want to pull at his cheeks until he laughed. Most of all, however, she felt relieved and maybe a little bit ashamed by how she had wasted time worrying over whether Tyson would be able to understand her boundaries. He was somehow the most arrogant and yet most considerate person she had ever met, so she shouldn’t have expected anything less from him.
“I wouldn’t have gotten mad at you for lying down because you’re tired.”
She stood up smiling and stretched both of her hands in front of her, gesturing for Tyson to take them. He looked confused but still obliged, intertwining his fingers with hers and letting out a loud laugh at her attempts to pull him up, watching her struggle for a bit before he finally caved and stood up, surprising her with the sudden lack of distance between them. Up until now, she was too nervous to meet his eye and now she couldn’t bring herself to look away, even as she took a few steps back and her thighs collided with the edge of her bed and she slowly climbed into it, guiding Tyson in doing the same with their hands still locked together tightly.
Her back sunk into the mattress as Tyson loomed over her, pinning her hands down above her head. She could feel the warmth from his body seep into her own, increasing the cosiness of her bed tenfold. When he leaned in closer, his forehead brushing against hers lightly, Hilary wanted to tell him that maybe this wasn’t so bad after all and she wouldn't mind having him in her bed if it meant being able to feel like she was floating on top of a cloud on a pleasant summer day. But when she opened her mouth to speak, what came out instead was a long yawn.
Tyson blinked slowly in surprise before he lifted his head and started laughing loudly as her whole face turned red. She hadn’t felt exhaustion catch up to her at all, and as embarrassing as this was, in her eyes, it was partially Tyson’s fault for making her feel so warm and snug by just being around her. Before Hilary could say anything to redeem herself, however, Tyson leaned down again and planted a kiss on her forehead, finally letting go of her hands and moving next to her. He slipped his arm around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder, a hint of laughter still hanging around his frame.
“Good night, Hils.” He whispered straight into her ears, sending a shiver down her spine.
She mumbled a response, which she could only hope reached his ears as her eyes just refused to cooperate and had practically glued themselves shut. How could she not have noticed how tired she had been feeling until the most crucial moment of the night? Hilary used up the last of her barely awake mind to think about these things and to her surprise, her breathing slowly fell into rhythm with Tyson’s heartbeat, which she could feel pounding against her back, lulling her into one of the deepest sleep she had ever had.
When she awoke the next morning, she saw that neither of them had moved too much during the night and were more or less in the same position they had fallen asleep in. Tyson’s arms were still wrapped around her waist, with the only change being that her own hands were resting on top of his and that her boyfriend’s face was buried snugly into her neck. She could feel his hot breath against the nape of her neck every time he breathed in and out, and was surprised how the tingly feeling on her skin hadn’t jolted her awake earlier, since she had always been a light sleeper. Her eyes eventually landed on the tiny clock on her bedside table and she couldn't believe that it was already well past noon and she was still in bed.
Hilary had always been the type of person who would wake up at the slightest sound of a breeze passing by and whose bodily alarm clock would not allow her to stay in bed after 8 AM, that is until she had decided to share her bed with Tyson.
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