Chapter 4
With so many blankets on a king-size bed, they should be safe. Warm. Ready to sleep and survive the night.
Tomorrow they’d come up with a plan to get help.
Their clothes were still in a wet heap wherever they’d left them, but Corey couldn’t be bothered to go deal with them right now.
He was suddenly and completely exhausted.
Had draining his balls drained all the adrenaline out of him? It felt like he was running on fumes and luck.
“Tomorrow’s problems are for future me to deal with,” Brooks practically slurred, also exhausted.
Dead phones. No heat or power. If neither was fixed by tomorrow, they’d start a fire and figure out the rest from there.
“Yeah, tomorrow,” Corey said.
Neither of them had any energy right now. Sleep was the best choice. Brooks was warm. Everything was good. Just ignore that they were both naked in bed together.
Corey had saved the day, even if Brooks wouldn’t admit it.
“This is all my fault. Sorry,” Brooks said. “Thanks for doing such a great job, even if it wasn’t ideal for treating someone with hypothermia.”
Or maybe not. Being warm and snug in bed together had loosened Brooks’s lips.
“You’re a good bro,” Brooks said, without also adding ‘no homo’ as a qualifier, for once.
“You too. I wouldn’t have known what to do when- you know.” Corey couldn’t bring himself to say the word ‘avalanche.’ “You saved me bro, bro. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“That’s so-” Brooks yawned and then mumbled, “gay.”
Corey chuckled, eyes heavy. Next thing he knew, Brooks’s breathing evened out and he was sound asleep.
Bro could sleep anywhere at the drop of a hat. Napping during their all-nighter study session at the library was normal in comparison. He also napped during class, on the winding drive up the mountain when Corey was driving, and on the bus!
Normally, Corey was the opposite. His head would spin for ages, replaying what had happened throughout the day.
After something as traumatic as almost getting caught in an avalanche had been, he should be wide awake. And after the two of them had shared that moment in the shower, he should be crashing out.
Why did it feel like his brain was moving through molasses?
So… sleepy …
***
Corey woke some time later to movement next to him. The bed dipped. For a second, he thought he was back in the dorms, sharing a bed with a date that had stayed over.
Except the air had never been so freezing cold in the dorm.
Corey opened his eyes to almost perfect darkness. Just enough to see that Brooks was curled up next to him. Shivering.
Shit.
Without thinking, Corey slid over. He passed the no homo line.
It wasn’t right to leave Brooks shivering. Not when Corey could use his body to warm Brooks up. Brooks had just called him a good bro. Brooks would understand.
Cuddling a naked man was… weird.
