When Hands Touch

27. victorian era

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

VICTORIAN ERA

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The morning was weird.

Everything felt surreal, the whole thing that took place the night before feeling more like a dream, and to be honest, Milo genuinely would have assumed it was a dream if he didn't feel Xen's nose buried into his neck, soft puffs of air tickling it.

Xen was knocked out, even breaths escaping his lips as he slept, body unmoving. Even though he looked like a wreck, Milo was just glad that Xen had slept through the night.

He knew that Xen needed to sleep, the previous night must have exhausted his brain. But he also knew that Xen would be pissed if he didn't wake him up. I'll wake him up later. Let him sleep.

Slowly lifting Xen's arm off his torso, Milo pushed the comforter off himself so that he could get out of bed. But apparently, Xen had other plans.

He didn't exactly say anything, but his actions were enough to let Milo know that he didn't want him to leave just yet. A groan under his breath, and his fingers curling around Milo's arm was all it took for Milo to cave. I'm so whipped. Fuck.

"It's nearly six," Milo whispered to Xen, who just hummed, eyes still shut and breathing still regular. "Should I wake you up a little later?"

Slowly blinking his eyes open, Xen looked at Milo, a tired smile gracing his lips. Man, he's so out of it. "I'm fucking exhausted," he mumbled, rolling over such that he was laying on his stomach now. "It's fine, I'll be more awake in a bit. Just need to gauge my surroundings," he whispered, cheek pressed into the pillow.

Then, he added, "I'm sorry about last night- well, this morning. Whatever. Didn't mean to keep you up. Are you tired?"

Definitely not as tired as you are. "You have clothes and everything?" Milo asked, ignoring his question as he grabbed a pair of jeans from his closet.

"Yeah," Xen muttered, covering his eyes with his forearm. He looked more tired than he did when he went to sleep, if that was even possible, deep bags under exhausted eyes. He repeated the word before sighing, closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

Good.

So, Milo carefully got out of bed so as to not disturb Xen, and locked himself in the bathroom, closing the toilet lid as he sat down. He was way too tired to hold himself upright, so he just sat there for a bit, before building up the motivation to brush his teeth.

I can do it. Just stand up. Brush your teeth. Fuck, I'm so tired.

There was still a slight flaw in Milo's plan of letting Xen stay in his house, hopefully until high school ended. He still had to talk to his dad, explain the whole situation to him. Obviously, his dad wouldn't object, it wasn't going to be difficult to feed one more person, but it was still a lot to adjust to. For everyone in the house, Milo included.

Once Milo had built up the energy to get off the toilet seat, he finished his business in the bathroom and got out, casting a look at Xen, who was still sleeping, and going downstairs to find his dad making breakfast.

"Xen is still sleeping?" he questioned, smacking Milo's hand away when he reached for the cereal. "No eating cereal. I'm making toast."

Milo pouted, but sat down at the table anyway. "Yeah. About Xen," he began, raising his head up from the table. When his dad hummed, he continued, "I think we- uh. He's staying, right? His parents are abusive, he isn't a bad person, I promise. He was an asshole at first, but he's such a good person, Dad, he's my friend, and-"