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Matching keys sat on the bedside table they’d gotten at the thrift store this morning. Six keys had been cut the week before but Wylan and Jesper found the flower-shaped rubber key covers months ago. Twin five petal flowers with small white dots as their centers, one purple and one blue.
They hadn’t gotten around to unpacking much, today’s focus was furnishing the place. Matthias’ truck had seen many trips to the thrift, if he needed a minute to work on his own room then he’d lend Jesper the truck.
They’d been back and forth between three stores, until every desk, chair, and shelf with potential had been bought. The stores all closed for the night before anybody could start shopping for trinkets or clothes.
Now, Wylan stood in the room he shared with Jesper, looking at the second-hand vanity to check they didn’t miss a crack in the mirror. He wore a plush throw blanket around his shoulders, holding it close to his chest as he squinted down at the glass.
Jesper had gone to the kitchen to make them some hot chocolate, they’d been moving in and shopping all day, they deserved to just sit back and relax. Wylan looked at himself in the mirror after a while, before moving out of the dorms Nina had trimmed off all his split ends and thinned it all out a bit for the summer.
It seemed like everyday Wylan liked what he saw, there was a growing appreciation for himself. Lighter and rounder and more peaceful. This was a Wylan who wasn’t hiding or running or afraid. This was a happy, stable, healthy Wylan that had moved in with his best friends and boyfriend.
He felt his cheeks flush before he saw the creeping bright pink colouring his face. His boyfriend. Wylan lived with his boyfriend, in an apartment, with their own room.
Jesper wanted to share a room with him, he wanted to share a room with Jesper. Neither of them wanted their own space, they wanted to live on top of each other, they wanted to slowly meld into one being.
Wylan brought the blanket up over his head, squeezing his eyes shut and quietly squeaking. They lived together. Jesper picked him, again and again. With a few tiny, excited hops, he fell forward onto the end of the bed.
For the first time in his life Wylan didn’t have a twin sized bed, he had a double, and he got to sleep next to his boyfriend every night. It wasn’t the same as staying the night, going back and forth between dorm room beds. This was their bed.
He tightened the blanket around himself, tucking in every inch of himself as he got too giddy to contain himself. Wylan laughed happily into the soft fabric, he’d made it so far, he was so ridiculously content.
With a gentle kick of his feet in his unfiltered joy, he slipped right off the bed onto the floor with a small thump. The blanket cocoon he’d wrapped himself up absorbed most of the blow, but he burst into a fit of giggles. Oh, he was so happy.
He was so happy, in fact, that he didn’t know what to do with it. Small, breathless sniffles filled the blanket within seconds. Wylan was crying, overwhelmed with the warm and fuzzy love he’d found himself in the middle of.
They were sobs of relief, of joy, of exhilaration. Wylan, on the floor underneath a blanket, cried because he couldn’t believe he’d made it so far, that he loved himself as much as his support system did.
“Oh, hmm, uhm, baby?” Jesper awkwardly stopped two steps into their bedroom and looked at the shaky blanket covered lump that was the love of his life. He had two steaming hot mugs in his hands, each with a handful of mini marshmallows bobbing in the chocolate. “Are you laughing or crying?” Wylan could hear the gentle clunk of Jesper putting them on the bedside table.
“B-both.” Wylan struggled to get his hands up to his face so he could wipe some of the tears away, to find he had indeed gotten wrapped up too tight. “I think I’m stuck, too.”
“You’re stuck?” Jesper sank down onto the floor beside Wylan and rested a hand over where he assumed his waist was. And he assumed right, of course he did. He had a degree in grabbing Wylan by the waist. “I leave to get hot choccy and you’re crying on the floor stuck in a blanket, baby.”
“I was on the bed, I just fell off,” Wylan defended himself, sticking a hand out when Jesper softly rolled him to the side and untucked a bit of the blanket for him. “I’m just hanging out in my cocoon.”
“You’re hiding your pretty little face,” Jesper pulled the blanket down around Wylan’s head and smiled at the sight of his flushed, breathless boyfriend. “There you are, you need cocoon supervision.”
“It was an accident…” Wylan pouted, knowing full well it would make Jesper lean in to kiss him until he was smiling. So he didn’t smile until he got enough kisses in, it was hard work, the first one almost broke him. “We live together.” He added, ducking back down into his blanket and leaning forward until he bumped into Jesper’s chest.
“We do, baby, and we share a bed.” Jesper was utterly wistful when he spoke, resting his chin on top of Wylan’s head. “Every night I get to fall asleep with you, and every morning I get to wake up with you.” He wrapped his arms around Wylan, pulling him up and over so he slotted neatly into his lap. Jesper also qualified for a degree in this.
“That makes me feel so…” Wylan wiggled a little, hoping to convey his feelings this way, words were failing him. He popped both his arms out from under his blanket and got them hooked around Jesper’s neck. “Happy, happy, happy. The happiest Wylan yet.”
“Yeah? You’re also the cutest Wylan yet.” Jesper chuckled softly as his boyfriend, in his unraveling blanket cocoon, latched onto him instead and made sure they were touching as much as possible. “I’m so lucky, I’m sitting on the floor, in love with a handsome man, my man.”
“I thought the hot chocolate was so we could calm down.” Wylan said accusingly, fingers finding themselves in Jesper’s hair right at the nape of his neck. “I love being yours, it feels way too good to be true. Can’t believe you still want me after finding me stuck in a blanket after falling off the bed.”
“Of course I still want you, that’s like, Wylanism 101.” Jesper smirked when Wylan narrowed his eyes but blushed red all the way to his ears. “I love being yours too, I think I was made to be yours. Who else is gonna heroically rip you out of an evil blanket?”
“I don’t think you ripped anything…” Wylan could recall being gently rolled and unfolded like he was actually a burrito not a cocoon. “Shush, shhhh, no more talking about you being mine or being made for it. I want hot chocolate, you’re distracting me.”
“You’re the one on my lap, how am I doing any of the distracting?” Jesper murmured, his boyfriend was also the one playing with his hair. He just happened to be sitting underneath him and holding him in a loose hug.
“You put me here.” Wylan pointed between them at Jesper’s lap and they both laughed. He had a fair point. Wylan could be curled in his blanket on the floor but Jesper heroically plopped him in his lap.
“Sue me if wanting you close is some sorta crime,” Jesper turned his head so he was talking into Wylan’s curls, pressing small kisses over his temple and onto the shell of his ear. “I put you here? I’m putting you back.” He said this right into his ear, it was obvious payback, and then slid Wylan off of his lap onto the floor.
“Wait…” Wylan didn’t have any dignity left, he didn’t care how he sounded. “Jeeees, the floor’s so cold and lonely.” He watched, completely mortified, that Jesper had gotten to his feet and abandoned him to find his mug of hot cocoa.
“You should’ve thought about that before you complained about sitting with me, your warm and companionable lover.” Jesper playfully turned his nose up at Wylan and took a small sip of his drink, humming loudly and obnoxiously. “Mmm, soo yummy, I think I’m going to enjoy this over here.” He sat on his side of the bed and leaned against the bed frame comfortably.
“No way you’re drinking hot cocoa without me.” Wylan, appalled and filled with a vengeful purpose, slowly began hauling himself up the corner of the bed. “This is so fucked up! I think I will sue! Negligence!” He climbed onto the end of the bed again, stopping to catch his breath before shimmying up some more.
Jesper had been waiting for him to slip back down onto the floor where he’d found him, and so when Wylan pitifully drooped down the side of the mattress again, Jesper was there to catch his arms. His hands were even warmer from the mug he’d been holding just seconds before, and Wylan huffed indignantly.
Now Jesper wanted to be helpful, now he wanted to pull him up onto the bed, now he wanted to lay down next to him. Wylan was mad for half a second, he found himself curled up into Jesper’s side and kicked his feet again. This was where he belonged, in their shared bed being doted on.
“Thank you Jesper, you’re so generous and very hot, Jesper.” Jesper urged for his boyfriend to thank him with playful prompts and Wylan huffed, holding his hand out for his mug of hot cocoa. Jesper handed it over, it was light green with honeybees painted all over it.
“I love you, Jesper.” Wylan said around the rim of the mug, taking a small sip and moaning in surprise. Maybe he should be taking advantage of Jesper’s hot chocolate making abilities, this was the best cup of it he’d ever had. “You’re sexy as hell for this drink, what’d you put in it?”
“I love you too, Wylan.” Jesper felt kind of shy saying it, of course they were official but it felt so official. His crush on Wylan was never going to calm down, was it? He could be living with him in the same room and he’d get flustered thinking about him loving him back. “What? Vanilla? That’s how Dad makes it.”
“Jes, honey, darling, did you make me hot chocolate from scratch?” Wylan suddenly gasped, he’d been expecting hot water over powder and he liked that just fine but this was not that. This was Jesper offering to literally make him hot chocolate, this was Jesper caring for him and passing on the love that ran in his family.
“I guess so, yeah, I did…” Jesper couldn’t hear over his racing heart, sure, Wylan had called him pet names but not all at once. One after another was enough to give him a heart attack. “I don’t know any other way to make it.” He whispered, suddenly worried, clearing his throat to hide the possibility that he’d been weird.
“Oh, you’re like, perfect, perfect.” Wylan couldn’t believe after two years with someone he was still learning tiny little things about him, things he would have never known if they didn’t live together. Wylan had to know absolutely everything, Jesper’s hot chocolate making proficiency was an excellent place to start. “I use the powder, this is so much tastier, good job, honey.”
“That reminds me, honey in hot cocoa is good too…” Jesper cupped his mug with one hand and had the other splayed comfortably over Wylan’s thigh, he’d been tracing the seam in his jeans as he spoke. He took a long sip as Wylan stared up at him, lips parted in awe that somehow Jesper could get more attractive, and he was finding out now, in bed with him, their bed.
“Jes, when I call you honey, what comes to mind?” Wylan tilted his head to slurp up his hot chocolate, happily letting a marshmallow melt on his tongue before resting on Jesper’s shoulder.
“I thought it’s cause I’m sweet and sticky,” Jesper hadn’t really thought about it, he thinks the first time Wylan had said it, it was in passing and he’d walked into the wall. Maybe Wylan thought he glued to him like honey, maybe he thought he could eat him by the spoonful, he didn’t know.
“You are very sweet,” Wylan giggled into his lovingly prepared hot chocolate and reached over Jesper so he could put it down on the bedside table. He rearranged himself so he was sitting back on his heels, his knees tucked into Jesper’s waist right where he’d been laying a moment before. “Sticky? How’re you sticky?” He nibbled on his bottom lip when Jesper’s hand didn’t leave his thigh as he shifted, instead going with him and sliding to sink into the back pocket of his jeans.
“You don’t think I’m sticky? Clingy? Can’t get rid of me?” Jesper offered a few examples of how he could be just like honey, in its physical form. Surely Wylan had to think a man with the need for so much touch and attention would be the stickiest around.
“I don’t wanna get rid of you.” Wylan shook his head firmly, if he wanted to get rid of Jesper he wouldn’t be leaned back into his hands. “I like clingy, I might be clingier, don’t you think?”
“I dunno, I don’t think being clingy’s an issue,” Jesper had heard people complain about it but he didn’t want space, he didn’t want a life where Wylan was uninvolved. “Maybe you should be honey, then.”
“No, I’m baby.” Wylan poked Jesper right in the chest, to remind him he couldn’t go around stealing pet names, and Jesper laughed softly. He gave a small, apologetic shrug, because how dare he try to share the love with his boyfriend. “Listen, mister, you’ve spent two years calling me your baby. This is your fault.”
“What’s my fault? That you’re threatening me?” Jesper’s eyes flickered up and down Wylan’s very determined face as he took this as an invitation to actually threaten him. Wylan climbed his way on top of Jesper and Jesper barely had the time to put his mug down on the bedside table.
Two mugs and two keys, a shared bedside table living beside a shared bed. Wylan settling down on Jesper’s stomach and Jesper’s hands slipping up the back of his shirt, it was Wylan’s shirt now but it used to be Jesper’s. A shared shirt. Wylan leaned down to kiss him, grinning when Jesper couldn’t wait for him to get all the way down there, curling himself upwards so their lips could meet faster.
Wylan’s hands grabbed onto Jesper’s arms, encouraging. His honey, sweet and sticky, warm and comforting. Jesper dragged his fingers up Wylan’s spine until Wylan shook at the feeling of both his fingertips and the metal of his rings touching him delicately.
There was only so long he could be patient, Wylan would have torn off both his and his boyfriend’s shirts if there wasn’t urgent knocking on the door. They lived together but also four other people. Every day Wylan was being tested, like somebody just wanted him to kill them.
He rolled off of Jesper with a defeated, harrowing sigh, and Jesper kissed him on the forehead lightly. The door swung open without either of them answering it, which made complete sense when Nina’s sweet face popped into view. It was a warning knock, because she knew her best friend would be on top of his boyfriend. She was going to come in regardless.
“Oh, Daddy Jesper,” Nina started and Jesper’s face twisted in concern and disgust. Whatever he did to prompt this greeting, he’d want to undo it. “Your starving children found out you didn’t make hot chocolate for them…”
“I don’t even blame them…” Wylan laid on his back, looking up at the ceiling, at the tiny glow in the dark stars he and Jesper had stuck on the moment they got here. “I’ll be okay, you can make more hot cocoa.” He cooed at a big-eyed, worried Jesper, who wanted to keep being Wylan’s honey and not whatever the hell Nina wanted him to be.
“Am I making three cups?” Jesper got out of bed and picked up his mug, he’d rather drink it now even if he was rushed, he didn’t want to come back to it being cold. It wasn’t the type of drink to chug, too rich and sweet. Inej’s eyes peeked past the door frame, it was quite possible Nina asked on behalf of her. Then Matthias on the other side of the door, and Kaz could be heard grumbling about how the hallway was in no way big enough for all of them to be crowding it.
But they did anyway. The four of them crowded Jesper and Wylan’s bedroom door so that Jesper would get up and make them hot chocolate. Wylan snorted, he couldn’t be mad, could he? His friends were almost as sweet as Jesper was. He rolled over to take a sneaky photo of them, his housemates, all cramped at the door like they were vampires waiting for an invite in.
“Four cups then, that’s a lot of chocolate.” Jesper reached back to sink his fingers into Wylan’s hair, he was mentally calculating the recipe as he scritched at his scalp, this was equal parts something to do with his hands and something that would calm Wylan down. Jesper was very good at the whole two birds one stone thing, resourceful and eager to please.
“I have a stash.” Nina only confessed this because it benefitted her in the moment, it wasn’t like her room was going to be searched, they had enforced a ‘no boys allowed without special invites’ policy. “Do we have enough mugs?”
“I have a stash.” Kaz mumbled, he liked his coffee. Jesper left Wylan with one final stroke of his cheek, making sure he was smiling and not pouting when he walked out of the room. Wylan laughed to himself as the sounds got quieter as they all clumped together in the dining room and not the hallway.
He could join them, but he was tired, he already had his own mug of hot chocolate. Jesper had made it for him first. Wylan turned over so he was on his side, pressing his face into his arm as he went to post the photo of his friends on his story. He might cry again, looking at the closeness that he could feel through the picture, he could feel love radiating from it.
Instead, he scooted to Jesper’s side of the bed, feeling warm at the thought of them having sides. He grabbed for his mug of hot chocolate, took a long sip and drank down the love Jesper stirred into it. He was loved, he was so loved.
Wylan finished his drink to the sounds of bickering in the kitchen, there was a battle between mugs, some were bigger than others and they were deciding who deserved bigger portions. He laughed to himself, reaching for Snuggles and Maple, then tucking them under his chin. Sneakily, he found Jesper’s phone abandoned underneath the pillow.
He changed Jesper’s wallpaper to the best photo of him and their stuffies laying there, waiting for him to come back. It seemed Jesper’s hot chocolate making skills were in high demand, Wylan felt like he could laugh forever. And he would, the same way he’d tell the story of their first day in their apartment forever.
Wylan rested his eyes thinking about how his friends would weave hot chocolate nights into their wedding speeches, he had to hide his face in the stuffed animals to stop himself from making too much noise. Hot chocolate nights were going to be a thing, they’d made their first tradition. Everything was fine, everything was sweet, everything was warm and full of love.