"Can you come over?..."

"Again? Dude buy a stuffed animal or something I can't keep babying you"

The line died

"Angela I need-"

"Brad already said no, didn't he? I don't like being a second choice, plus it's two AM I'm going back to sleep"

The line died

....

"....Are you busy?"

"No, but you just woke me up from a really nice dream"

"....."

".... Never mind then, go back to sleep"

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I'll be fine, go back to your dream"

"If you really insist, but call me if anything is bothering you okay?"

"....."

The line died

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Two months later

All my friends chatted cheerfully as my eyes tried to stay open, it was only lunchtime and my body was ready to shut down, usually, it got to that point at the end of school but on this particular day, I had less sleep the night before.

His eyes kept landing on me, filled with concern and curiosity, what was he trying to figure out? How long it was going to take me until I joined the conversation? I couldn't even hear what they were saying, it was like my head was underwater while the rest of them were on land, their voices severely muffled.

"Jayden" Angela laughed.

"hm?" I paid attention to her.

"you look like a zombie, try to lighten up a little"

I simply nodded and looked back down at the table, trying my best to stop being so tired, or at least look like I was awake, I felt his eyes on me again and closed mine, hoping it'd help me focus.

"Jayden.."

"Hm?"

"Are you okay? you seem a bit out of it"

"Of course he's okay" Angela answered for me, "he's just cranky we won't answer his weird calls anymore"

"Weird calls?" I tensed as he asked.

"Yeah, calls ranging from twelve to three in the morning asking us to come over, never told us why just urged us, it was like he was trying to bond in a creepy way-" I flinched again when she said 'creepy' "-after a while it got too much so we stopped answering them, Brad got the most, but you didn't get any?"

"He only called me once in the middle of the night? and it wasn't about coming over I think"

"you think?"

"He never said why he called, just told me to go back to sleep"

"He probably felt bad after waking the rest of us up" I could feel the eye roll in her tone.

It never went past my mind that I came off as creepy, I knew I was annoying but creepy?

"Hey, where are you going? Jayden?!" He called out as I stood up and walked away into the sea of students.

Everything started to become dizzy as my body really couldn't waste any more energy, my battery was about to hit zero percent but my feet kept walking, dragging against the floor, making that scraping sound that drives all parents insane. Students who finished lunch early stared at me and a few whispered but it didn't matter anymore when the light coming from the front door came into view, just then everything became fuzzy and my legs gave up making me lose my footing and trip.

"Goddamnit, Jayden!" He yelled before everything went black.

I woke up noticeably hours later, a hand on my stomach and a head right next to me, my eyes scanned the room telling me I was in the nurse's office then looked at the thick black hair covered head, shifting a bit so I was on my side facing them, which in turn made them look up at me and gasped, "Daniel...."

He rubbed his eyes and gripped my bicep, gently squeezing it, "good lord when was the last time you slept? You're lucky I was able to catch you before your head hit the floor"

My cheeks heated up and I looked away from him, "s-sorry"

"Don't say sorry, just take care of yourself" he scolded

"I-I'll try"

It was silent for a long time after that, Daniel kept his hand on me while I kept my eyes on the wall behind him, not really knowing what to say and waiting for him to take the lead since it seemed like he had something on his mind, "why didn't you call me?"

"Huh?" I looked at him again.

"forget the others, they're too busy tending to themselves to notice anything else, if you need help you have my number, so why didn't you call?" My eyes trailed over to him.

His brows were knit together and a frown was deeply etched into his features, was he actually upset? "...I didn't want to bother you"

"You calling because you stubbed your toe wouldn't bother me"

"That was one time back in elementary" I pouted.

"And I didn't get upset, just laughed a bit and came over to see if it was serious since your mom was out of town" he smiled a bit but quickly frowned again "you barely call me now..."

"That's not true, I call you all the time"

"Then why couldn't you while you were having night troubles?"

"I don't have night troubles" I stated, Daniel lifted a brow and I sighed "okay I do but they aren't that big, I'd feel like a bother if I called you for something so small"

"Obviously they aren't small if you're risking blacking out at school, don't think I haven't noticed your sleep deprivation for the past two months"

"Tou act like a stern father" I sighed.

"That's because I give a shit about you"

I chuckled and closed my eyes, snaking my hand towards his and grabbing a hold of it, squeezing gently, it was silent again but this time it was more comfortable, we stayed that way until there was shuffling in the attachment room next to the office, "let me stay over"

"I-I can't ask that of you"

"It's not you asking, you can sleep if someone is with you right? So let me stay over your house, I'm your best friend"

I opened my eyes and stared him dead in the face, he was serious and wasn't going to back down until I agreed, "f-fine, just for tonight"

He pressed his forehead on mine and smiled, "let's get out of here then, the nurse has worked enough over time"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Later that night

Daniel groaned as he stretched then pulled me in, wrapping his arms around my middle and unintentionally forcing my face into his chest, I clutched onto his shirt as my face heated up, he's preferred us sleeping that way since his mom first let him stay the night, I never asked him why because it never bothered me, although now that we're older and puberty had hit, it made me blush a bit when he held me so close and tight, within seconds of him shifting us into his favorite position he was snoring and his muscles relaxed. On this particular night, the moon wasn't out making the room pitch black but as my eyes adjusted to the darkness I could see a very soft outline of Daniel's features.

I forgot just how much more calm he looked while sleep, it helped ease my mind, if he can be this off guard and safe in a pitch-black room then so can I, my hands loosened their grip on his shirt and I nuzzled into his collar bone right under his shoulder and closed my eyes trying to fall asleep.

The thoughts that kept me up every night started to creep into my mind, trying to tangle it's roots into the deepest parts until Daniel groaned and shifted, reminding me he was there, albeit he could stop trying to lay on top of me but my mind was quickly put to rest when I noticed my surroundings again. This time when I closed my eyes nothing but dreams came, pulling me into peaceful unconsciousness for the first time in two months.

That morning felt like I was twelve again, Daniel had managed to starfish on the bed with me on top of him snoring louder than when he first passed out, our limbs were tangled and the blanket made for cement making it harder for us to break apart with it wrapped all the way our two bodies, I whined at the sunlight and hid my face into his neck which was like a wake-up button as he instantly stopped snoring and turned his head to lazily look at me, or rather my hair, "mornin', how'd you sleep?"

"Better then the last few days" I mumbled into his skin.

He struggled with the blanket then wrapped his arms around me and squeezed, giving me a bear hug then let his arms flopped onto the bed, "man I'm starving, how about we make some breakfast hm?" He said, his voice still deep but slightly soft from sleep.

I looked at the time then at my calendar and nodded, not making any moves to get off him, "sure but we have to hurry, it's a school day"

He hummed and we stayed there for a few moments before he opened his eyes again and looked at me with a lazy smirk "I can't exactly cook if you're laying on me"

I felt the blood rushing to my face and I fought with the blanket until I was able to scoot off him and Daniel stretched, rolling to the side of the bed then sitting up and yawning, "I don't want to go to school today, we have tests..."

I rubbed his lower back "don't stress too much, we both know you studied enough"

"That's not it, I just don't like tests" he whined, making me chuckle.

I wiggled out of bed and followed him downstairs into the kitchen and went to the cabinet to grab some cereal, a hand covered mine stopping me as the box was in my hand. "what do you think you're doing?"

"Making breakfast? I'd like to have enough time to shower"

"No-no, I'm cooking, as tradition with the morning after our sleepovers" he took the box out my hand and put it back on the shelf, curse him being taller "go take a quick shower I'll be done in less than twenty minutes"

I pouted and got off my tiptoes "fine, but make sure you shower too when I'm done"

"Do you even have clothes big enough for me?"

"Enough to fill two of my dresser drawers, you leave a surprising amount of clothes at my house"

"Then deal, now go shower"

I shuffled from between him and the counter then jogged back upstairs into the bathroom.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Think you can go a few hours without seeing my face?" Daniel teased.

I playfully rolled my eyes and nudged him, "like I need it to survive, go take your tests you doof"

"Ay Jayden!" My blood ran cold at the voice behind me.

I turned around and saw Brad walking up to us, "you seem lively for once, finally stop being pissy?"

I frowned "I never was pissy"

"Sure you weren't" he said sarcastically.

"Dude can you not right now?" Daniel spoke up.

"Oh shit didn't see you there, where the fuck were you last night? You just suddenly bailed on us"

"None of your-"

"Was over at Jayden's doing something more important, got a problem?" Daniel cut me off.

"Ah so that's why he's so cheery, he's found someone else to baby him" Brad glanced at me "meh you'll get tired of him eventually, he likes clinging to people"

"So?" Daniel grit his teeth, obviously getting angry.

"I'm just saying man, don't get too used to sleeping in his bed, he's only using you because he's a pu-"

Before I could react Daniel had Brad pinned to the locker, his forearm less than a millimeter away from being on his neck and by the look on my "friend"'s face he was pressing very hard, "I've known Jayden way longer then you so watch your mouth before I show you what's just a rumor" he barked.

They had a glaring contest for an uncomfortably long time until Daniel narrowed his eyes more and Brad huffed, shoving him off and walking back the way he came, I stood there stunned and honestly a bit shaken, he hadn't burst out like throat in a while and even so, he'd never gone for the throat. Daniel looked at me and his features instantly softened and he grabbed my hand, "don't listen to a word he said, he's just pissy"

I couldn't find my voice so I just nodded and leaned on him, he sighed, "now I really don't want to be here...are those tests really so important?"

I smiled and nodded again, he groaned then looked down at me, "don't let anyone pick on you while I'm gone or else I might have to go to jail"

"Go and take your tests you big oaf" I laughed and nudged him, finding my voice finally.

He started heading towards and playfully winked at me, it was horribly done which earned another laugh from me as I walked off to my own classes.

And that moment, was when I jumped feet first into love with my best friend.