Waiting for the Night [Dalan]

Chapter 27

"There you go." Dave took out the thermometer from Alan's mouth, grinning when he saw the reading. "See? 36 degrees Celsius is a perfectly normal human temperature."

Alan looked relieved. "Thank God. I was tired of beginning to feel like a human radiator."

Wiping the thermometer with an alcohol wipe, Dave set it aside before going to join Alan on the sofa. "Yeah mate, it was pretty bad the first week. Good thing your fever came down."

Alan arched an eyebrow at him. "What was the highest temperature?"

Dave blinked down at his hands, trying not to remember how crazy he had been with worry. "That's not important, Al--"

"How high?" 

Sighing, Dave leaned back against the sofa. He and Alan were sitting closely together, their thighs and shoulders pressing again each other's. In fact, the two of them had been in similarly close quarters ever since Alan had fallen sick, and Dave had been secretly worried that they would lose this close proximity once Alan got well again. Thankfully, Alan still seemed to want to sit as close to him as humanly possible.

However, Dave would have happily given it all up if it had meant that Alan would have not fallen ill in the first place. The past two weeks - starting from Dave coming over to find Alan passed out in his house - had been a really difficult time for Dave. He had barely be able to bear seeing Alan in such pain, and thankfully the doctor had pronounced it a normal fever coupled with the flu, and not something serious like meningitis.

Dave had looked after Alan as best as he could, of course. But that didn't mean the worry hadn't eaten at him like a particularly insidious parasite.

"Your highest was 40.6," Dave said quietly, as Alan's breath hitched in surprise. "I had wanted to bring you to the emergency room, but your doctor said it would go down."

"Oh." Alan seemed lost in thought. "I didn't realise it had gotten that bad."

"Mate, you were delirious," Dave said, shaking his head. "And I was so close to telling your poor doctor to fuck off and calling for an ambulance myself. But he promised to sit with you until the fever went down to 39, at least. So the two of us did."

"That sounds really bad."

"I was out of my mind with worry," Dave went on, barely aware that Alan had now turned to study his face closely. "You should have seen yourself, Al. You were white as a sheet, muttering nonsense-- we didn't let Paris see you because she would have gotten scared."

Dave didn't realise his hands were shaking until he felt Alan's warm one resting on top of his. "I'm okay now," Alan said quietly. "And it's because you took such good care of me. And you took care of Paris too."

Taking a deep breath for courage, Dave finally looked up at Alan, who was leaning in so close that their faces were only inches apart. Alan's eyes were unreal, a remarkable shade hovering between grey and blue, and they were flitting between Dave's eyes and his mouth now. 

"Charlie--" Dave whispered, his gaze hopelessly snagged on Alan's full, plush lips. "I--"

Then Alan closed the short distance between them and kissed him. 

Dave let out a gasp at the soft press of Alan's lips against his own, their mouths moving together in a gentle, somewhat clumsy dance. Dave's pulse was thumping at full speed, his skin alight with desire and a desperate, desperate want for Alan. He'd been dreaming of this for months, and now that Alan was finally kissing him, he was too stunned to move.

Alan's hand settled on his face, cupping it as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss. Dave moaned softly, parting his lips to let Alan in. Alan tasted so good, so sweet like the caramel dessert they'd shared earlier for lunch. Dave's hand came to rest in Alan's hair, tugging on it gently to make Alan sigh into his mouth.

When they pulled apart for breath, Alan's face looked drugged with desire and affection. "Dave," he whispered, resting their foreheads together.

"Charlie." Dave licked his lips, aching to continue that very promising kiss.

(Next chapter will be rated 'Explicit')