Archive of Our Own ^beta

William curled up on his side, pulling his knees up to his chest as he pressed himself deeper into the couch cushions.  It was like he was practically sinking into the furniture, a thick woolen blanket tucked around him tightly.  That wasn’t enough to stop the plague of shivers that ravaged his body, but it was all that was on the couch at the time and he didn’t want to get up to find another one.

His hood was pulled up over his head, the strings tightened so that barely his eyes and nose were poking out from his burrow.  Some frizzy curls poofed up from underneath the hemline, falling over his face and tickling his cheeks.  But William didn’t move them away, groaning quietly as his stomach throbbed with pain.

Some sort of show was playing on the television but it wasn’t like William was paying much attention.  He was too busy trying to wait out the pain and or fall asleep, whichever came first.  Sounds and colors flashed across the screen as the characters talked with one another.  

William shifted, curling one arm around his legs to keep them pressed against his chest while the other rested near his face, the side of his finger absently pressed to his lips.  A sigh spilled from his lips and he continued to slowly deflate against the cushions.

At least the day had been slow, there really wasn’t much for them to do around the base, especially not on the weekends when they didn’t have school.  Vyncent and Dakota were probably in their respective rooms doing whatever it is they did in there.  Tide wasn’t home, he had left a few hours ago on some sort of business that he didn’t disclose.  Normally that would pique William’s interest, but all he had an interest in at the moment was wallowing in his own suffering.

Cramps throbbed in his stomach, spreading to his lower back as he tried to find some position that would be comfortable.  If only he could stop shivering, that would make his situation significantly less agonizing.

He wasn’t even wearing his binder today.  William had woken up, thrown on a clean shirt and then his hoodie, and ended the morning curled up on the couch as his organs seemed like they were waging war on themselves.

Everything hurt.  Life is pain.  William had no current intentions of leaving his spot on the couch anytime soon, not until he could even roll onto his back without the cramps getting worse.  He continued to silently lament to himself, chewing on the inside of his mouth as the TV show continued to play.  

He picked at the sleeve of his hoodie, tugging on a loose thread and sliding the pads of his fingers over a new patch that he had sewn into it a few days ago.  William shivered, digging his face into the worn-down throw pillow tucked into the crook of the armrest.  He didn’t even know how long he had been laying here, his phone digging into his side from where it resided in his pocket.  But he didn’t have the energy to take it out to look at it.

It didn’t help that the clock in the living room displayed the wrong time.  The pitiful thing was exactly two hours and thirteen minutes behind but William wasn’t in the mood to do the math to figure out how long he had been sitting here.

In the back of his mind, he wondered what Dakota and Vyncent had been doing.  It was surprising that William had gone this long without seeing either of them.  Sometimes, he could barely get an hour to himself in the privacy of his own room before someone knocked on the door needing to talk to him.

Maybe one of them had come out of their room in the time that William was laying there but neither of them had noticed each other.  That was probably it.

William squeezed his eyes shut, another groan spilling from his lips.  Out of all the things that could take him out for good, cramps were what was going to do it.  His bangs fell in front of his face once more, obscuring his view from the television that he wasn’t even really paying attention to.  But he blew his hair away from his eyes and squinted through a tired gaze.  He was exhausted and he hadn’t even done anything during the day.

His stomach rumbled and he realized that he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast (which had consisted of a few spoonfuls of peanut butter and an entire apple separately).  He huffed out a heavy sigh, pulling the blanket up over his head and burrowing himself deeper into the fake warmth.  Nothing was going to give him a break today.

In a moment of hubris (his cramps had died down slightly), William pushed himself up to a sitting position, holding the blanket around his shoulders with his hood still shrouding his face in shadow.  He sucked in a deep breath, holding it in his lungs for a few seconds, almost surprised at how easy it felt as he remembered that he was not wearing a binder.

William pushed himself to stand, immediately regretting it as the pain reared its ugly head, stabbing him in the back and almost throwing him off balance.  He grimaced, pressing his hand against the back of the couch to steady himself.  Nausea swirled in his stomach, but he was determined to ignore it.

He figured that he should probably get some sort of medicine for the pain, unsure if it would actually help or not.  So he hesitantly shuffled to the bathroom, shivering the entire way and limping with the pain. 

 He refused to look at himself in the mirror, throwing the cabinet open with way too much force than was necessary, and swallowed two pills from the bottle of pain medicine.  Praying that it would have an effect, he flicked the light off and shuffled away, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

As William rummaged through the kitchen cabinets for something to eat, the sound of footsteps approached behind him, jolting him into awareness almost immediately.  He curled his fingers around the blanket tighter, straining to listen, and tried to figure out who it was.

It couldn’t be Tide coming home, he never entered the base without making some sort of announcement.  Vyncent walked pretty silently, a methodical routine to the way that he would take each step.

So it was probably Dakota, who never cared to be quiet when entering a room or walking down the hall.

William glanced over his shoulder to see Dakota (as predicted), peek his head into the kitchen, eyes alight with something.

“Hey, Will,” he smiled, pulling himself through the doorway and sliding with his socks on the tile, “what’s up?”

William just heaved a sigh and hummed noncommittally, pressing his lips into a thin line.  He hoisted the blanket around his shoulders just a little tighter, fighting back the shivers.  The kitchen was always colder than the other rooms in the house but it made sense in a way.

Dakota raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side, saddling up next to William to glance over at the cabinet he was looking in, “What’re you doing?”

“Looking for something to eat,” William scrubbed at his eyes again, leaning against the counter with an awkward angle.  He was sure that Dakota could notice his different posture or the tired energy spilling from his form in waves.

“Hm,” Dakota chewed on the inside of his mouth, “I was just coming in here to make a sandwich, I could make you one as well.”

William gave a tired thumbs up, “thanks… appreciate it…” He let his forehead drop to the surface of the counter, knees shaking with the effort of standing.  Why couldn’t he have one day where merely existing didn’t cause him to suffer?

He didn’t move from where he had been standing in the kitchen, the sound of Dakota moving around filled the room as he closed his eyes for a few seconds.  He groaned tiredly, curling one arm around his stomach.

“You okay?” Dakota then asked, his voice filtering through the air as he hauled himself up onto the counter to grab something on the taller shelves, “you’re more mopey than usual.”

“Cramps…” William muttered, unsure if his voice even carried far enough for Dakota to hear him.

“Ah…” Dakota clicked his tongue, “I’m sorry about that, man.”

Even if his own body was trying to kill him from the inside out, Dakota’s small bit of reassurance was enough to make William smile.  He huffed out a small breath of laughter, shoulders shaking with the weight of his exhale.  He barely lifted his head to see Dakota grinning to himself as he scooted off the counter and hopped onto the floor, three plates balanced in his hands.

“Why don’t you go lay back down?” Dakota asked, raising an eyebrow at William as he slumped on the kitchen counter.

“Because I’m hungry…” William muttered, knowing how little sense that statement made in comparison to Dakota’s question.  But he didn’t really have the energy in him to care.  Dakota looked at him like he was speaking a completely different language but chose not to comment, just shaking his head and continuing on his task of making some sandwiches.

Dakota clattered around the kitchen for a while, bouncing back and forth between the fridge and the counter that he was working at.  Occasionally he brushed against William who was refusing to move anywhere else at the moment, keeping himself as still as possible to wait out the pain that radiated in his lower back.  William only hummed quietly each time he did so, choosing not to lift his head.

“Lunch is served,” Dakota tapped William on the shoulder, causing him to look up, squinting through tired eyes, “back to the living room.”

William groaned but pushed himself to stand up straight.  Dakota balanced three plates in his hands, each one stacked with a sandwich on top.  He handed one of the plates to William who took it with a shaking grasp, using his other hand to hold the blanket around his shoulders as he shivered.

And as much as William did not want to move at all, he followed Dakota into the living room, flopping down on the couch with little care for what position he ended up in.  There was little care to be had when he was in pain and felt gross and sticky.

Dakota called out to Vyncent, setting the other plate on the coffee table as he plopped down next to William.

“What’re you watching?” Dakota asked, leaning back against the couch cushions as he got himself situated.

“No idea…” William muttered, tugging on the hem of his hood enough that it wasn’t as tightly tucked around his face so that he could eat.  He yawned and shifted uncomfortably, squirming from where he sat.  Dakota either wasn’t bothered by it or felt enough pity to not comment on his fidgeting.

Vyncent appeared out of his room after a minute or two passed, his ear flicked in the direction of the TV to regard the noise, but he didn’t pay it any attention.

“What’s up?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as his tail flicked behind him.

“I made lunch,” Dakota nodded his head toward the other plate on the coffee table.  He smiled warmly through a mouthful of bread and meat, his cheeks full of sandwich.  William picked at his own sandwich, stomach rumbling but appetite running away.

“Oh, thank you,” Vyncent sat down on the couch on the other side of William, resting the plate in his lap.  William squeezed his eyes shut and leaned against Vyncent’s side who didn’t even react more than an ear twitching in his direction.  William could feel his tail brushing against his arm, the end of it curling around his bicep.

The three of them ate mostly in silence (apart from William’s wallowing and the TV playing in the background).  William was unwilling to share the blanket he was currently wrapped in, choosing to use Vyncent as another heat source since both he and Dakota were unfairly warm all the time.  It was unfortunate and just another way that his body wanted to screw with him.

He yawned, finishing off the last few bites of his sandwich as he once again deflated like an inflatable pool with a hole in it.  He pulled his knees up to his chest, moving his empty plate onto the coffee table.

Vyncent held one arm around his shoulder unconsciously pulling William closer to his side with the position.  Neither of them had any complaints about the situation and William definitely wasn’t going to say something.  Not when he was in pain and cramping and Vyncent was comfortable and generous enough to be used as a pillow.

William hummed, the low rumble reverberating in his chest as he let out a heavy sigh, eyes slipping closed.  He didn’t bother opening them again, knowing that if he fell asleep he would absolutely ruin his sleep schedule (not that he was any better at sleeping at night).  But with how exhausted he felt… All William wanted to do was never move again and drift off into sleep.

Dakota shifted so that he was leaning against William’s side as well, his head falling onto William’s shoulder as his warmth seeped into his skin.  William let out a slow exhale, allowing himself to be squished between the two.

If Vyncent didn’t get up anytime soon, there was no way that William was going to move.  His stomach throbbed with pain (although it was beginning to dull as the medicine was starting to kick in) and he continued to shiver despite his two companions' warmth.  

Life was trying to gang up on him and his body was trying to take him out from the inside.  But at least his friends cared about him enough to sit on the couch with him while he suffered and offered some sort of comfort.  William would need to thank them later, not now when he was too tired to even form coherent words, completely unaware of the world around him.