Rising Dawn (Willy Wonka X OC)

Forever and Always

I sit on Will's bed wearing one of his dark magenta suit coats. It comes down to my thighs, I'm swimming in it, but it's warm and soft. My har is still very wet and hangs in strings around my face as I watch Will exit the bathroom. He's only wearing trousers, drying his hair off with a towel as he paces towards me.

His eyes rove my bare legs and the way the only thing retaining my modesty is my hand holding the jacket closed. He smiles. "As much as I love this look, I think you'll need something better to sleep in."

Will leans down and kisses me softly before going to find me a suitable shirt. Trousers aren't necessary because all of his shirts are like dresses on me. He tosses a black short sleeve shirt to me and goes to turn all the lights off as I change. He comes back, and I hand him the dark magenta suit coat. He glances at the shirt's sharp contrast to my pale skin and nods once. "Much better."

He hangs up the suit coat and sits down beside me. I smirk and put a hand on his chest pushing him down gently. He willingly falls back, but winces and brings a hand to his head. I lean over him, holding myself up on only one arm, the other back in its sling. Will tugs me down gently for a kiss as his fingers tangle themselves in my hair. My tongue grazes the cut on his lip at the same moment his fingers find and trace the risen line of a gash on the back of my head.

I sit back, and Will releases his hold on me, letting his hands fall to the bed above him. I look down and run a finger along the outline of a nasty bruise on Will's ribs.

Will lets out an unamused laugh and shakes his head. "Aren't we a pair? It doesn't seem as if we can go one day without getting hurt. Two head injuries, a broken arm, some broken ribs, a plethora of cuts and bruises, and a number of emotional issues between the two of us. Look at us. We're broken."

I see something shift in Will's eyes, a look so brief that I might think I imagined it, but it was definitely there. Doubt. I've felt it course through me enough to recognise when it courses through someone else. He doubts our stability. His life was boring and constant before Charlie and I came along. Now, everything is changing, and that change is hurting us. I've felt the same doubt before, but I'm able to dismiss it because I know we'll both come out stronger for it. His doubt is understandable...but that doesn't mean I can't allay it.

I put my hand on his chest and lean over to kiss him. "But broken can be beautiful."

He smiles, and I lay down beside him. Will rolls away for a moment to retrieve some sort of remote from his bedside table. He holds it up and presses a button that triggers a light to turn on. No, not a light. A projector. A projector whirs to life and paints a picture of stars across the ceiling.

"I never stopped looking at the stars. Even after we were separated...I couldn't give them up." He puts his arm around me and pulls me close. "I figured it might be a little odd for a grown man to go and sit on the roof of his factory every night, so I made this. It's a live feed too, directly from the real night sky outside."

I feel like a child again, lying here beside Will looking up at the night sky. It reminds me of the simpler days when I could play with my best friend and didn't have to worry about work. I don't have to worry about work now either! It's so hard to accept because that was my life for so long, and now...I have a new life.

I cuddle into Will's side, letting my left hand stray to his shoulder and rest there possessively. What is this new life? Will and I are still best friends, but what more? Are we really in love? And where will this go? Will it stop here? I do like where we've gone, I could live like this forever. But do I want more?

"Dove, you're spiralling again. I thought we weren't doing this anymore." His tone is light, but I can barely hear him over the cacophony of my own thoughts. He lifts his head to look at me. When I don't respond, he gets more serious and his voice turns urgent. "Hey, what's wrong? Did I do something?"