it's just too hard

a house on fire

𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔤𝔤𝔢𝔯 𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰 𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔦𝔫 𝔬𝔭𝔢𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔞𝔲𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔯'𝔰 𝔫𝔬𝔱𝔢

☆

punz can hear people talking. just outside his room, he thinks, but maybe they're downstairs and just speaking very loud.

he's also overly aware of the warmth surrounding him, seeping into his muscles and pulling him down back towards the world of sleep. he feels his chest going heavy, mind emptying as sleep lulls over him once more.

"mmm."

punz jolts awake, eyes shooting open.

his breath begins to slow down once more when he realises it's just sapnap, his initial fear subsiding as he relaxes back against his pillow again - the same pillow he's sharing with his best friend.

the blond sighs heavily, cursing past him for getting himself into this position. he knows that he needs to stop getting into predicaments like this when he quite obnoxiously has feelings for his friend who quite clearly doesn't like him back. it's like he just keeps tricking himself into situations that make it a million times worse.

"alright, i'll be down in a minute."

the voice (which he can tell belongs to his sister) is very clearly right outside the room, and punz sits up just in time to block sapnap from view of the door. the ravenette moves off of him in the process of his quick movement and punz can feel him stirring awake beside him but he hopes sapnap will catch the hint to stay hidden.

the door pushes open and alyssa steps in, smiling up at her brother, "morning."

"morning," he replies, trying to act as though he's just woken up. he fake yawns and then, in the process, tricks himself into a real yawn. "how was your sleepover?"

"good," she replies with a smile, picking up callahan's airpods from his bedside cabinet. "how was yours?"

"huh?"

"i'm not an idiot, punz, i can see sapnap in your bed," alyssa says with a laugh, shaking her head at the blond as she walks back over to the door.

sapnap, unhelpfully, scoffs. "it was good," punz answers her last question, ignoring how they just got caught out. "has mom made breakfast?" he asks, attempting to change the subject.

"yep, eggs, no surprise," the blond answers with an amused smile. she turns back to them from the door, smirking with one hand on the doorknob, and asks, "did you guys fuck?"

"ew, lys, shut the fuck up," punz retorts quickly, picking up an old teddy he has on his bed and throwing it in her direction.

expectedly, the blond shut the bedroom door before the stuffie could hit her. it bounces off the door and to the floor and punz can hear his sister's laughter even as the bedroom door clicks fully shut and she disappears back downstairs.

"sorry about her," punz apologises, turning back to face sapnap. he gets whiplash from how much he suddenly feels when he looks at the ravenette. he still looks half asleep: hair messy and splayed out on the pillow, eyes hardly open, smile adorably dopey, lips dry, brows messed up, shirt low on his collarbones. punz shakes off the thoughts. "she's an idiot."