IGNORANTIA (Dark Academia!Wesper AU)

tien

"Can we please just leave him in your room?" Jesper whispers. "I don't want to wake him up. He's never looked so peaceful sleeping before."

"I don't think you could wake him up even if you wanted to," Nina says. "That tea was pretty strong."

"Tea?" Jesper pauses. Porcelain clinks from somewhere in the room. "Did you use nightlock on him?"

"Maybe."

My mind feels so foggy. I try to open my eyes, but there's not enough energy in me to do it. My body feels heavier than normal; a prisoner to gravity and comfort. There's a soft pillow beneath my head, and a fur blanket over my limbs. Jesper's right -- I haven't slept this well in forever. I know I should be worried, but I'm not. I'm more at peace than anything else, really.

The sofa I'm on creaks as someone sits beside me. I can feel their hip brush my chest, their hands gently brushing hair away from my forehead. I... think I'm paralyzed? No, that couldn't be right; I'm certainly not awake enough for that. I'm just tired. I'm bound to drift off again any minute now.

"I feel bad for him," Jesper says. So he's the one sitting with me, then. Alright. "His father's horrible, he hates school..."

"I know," says Nina. "It must be so difficult to be rich and privileged."

Jesper goes quiet, though his hands don't stop moving through my hair.

"I'm sorry," Nina concedes. "I like him, too. He's just... he's not fit for our world. Imagine if he met Kaz. The poor boy would faint at the mere sight of him."

"I don't know. I think he could handle it," says Jesper. "He's fierce."

"Wylan has the ferocity of a palace cat."

"A feisty palace cat. He burnt down that science building out of spite, remember?"

"Saints, I nearly forgot about that. Felt like forever ago."

Jesper sighs. The bed creaks again as he stands up.

"Come on," he says. "It's way past your bedtime, I'm sure."

His arms slip under me, pulling me up with a grunt. I try to open my eyes or talk or at least move, but it's impossible. Jesper lifts me onto his shoulder — an uncomfortable position seeing how his shoulder's digging into my stomach — but I can't do anything to stop it.

Slowly, Jesper starts moving — walking, I think. It sounds like Nina is following him.

"So, Kuwei," says Jesper. He sounds more breathy than usual. "You two been talking recently?"

"Barely," says Nina. "He doesn't talk to anyone but Wylan for the most part."

"That's a shame."

They continue walking, me still conscious but unable to move. Snow falls onto my bare neck once we reach the outdoors again. Nina and Jesper begin chatting about a person I don't know (a boss perhaps? An enemy?) until Nina tells Jesper to stop walking.

"Wait a second," she says. "Our sleeping princess isn't as asleep as he should be."

Something strange happens then. Maybe too much blood had rushes to my head, or maybe I had been too tired after all, but my head becomes foggy again. It's like less air is going to my lungs or something. It's like my heart is slowing down.

And just like that, I'm out like a light for the second time that night.

—

I wake up in my own bed the next morning wondering if it had all been a dream. Jesper's still asleep quite unsurprisingly since it's only nine in the morning. He could sleep for a full day if he was determined enough. Right now he's sleeping on his stomach on his side of the room, his thin white bedsheets kicked off of him. That man is like a radiator; he gets hot easily in just his shirt.