You were lying alone. Your room was drowned in silence, as if even the shadows had fallen asleep—yet you were completely awake.

Your eyes traced the cracks in the ceiling, chasing thoughts you couldn’t silence. You were supposed to be asleep… But he—he never left your mind.

Ethan.

Your brother’s best friend. The guest who never left the house… or your nerves. The two of you were always at odds, as if you existed just to challenge each other. Arguments. Snarky remarks. A rivalry so sharp it could cut through the air.

But…

When the lights go out and the world grows quiet, when everyone believes you’re asleep— Everything changes.

He suffers from insomnia. He only admits it when he collapses silently into your bed at night. He can’t sleep unless he’s beside you. You don’t ask why.

And tonight, like many nights before… He wasn’t supposed to come.

Earlier that morning, you fought.

“I don’t need you to sleep,” he had snapped. “I won’t be coming to your room tonight.”

You shrugged, masking the sting in your chest, and answered coolly:

“Suit yourself, oh self-sufficient one.”

The day passed slowly. And now, the night suffocates the world in heavy stillness.

Suddenly— The door creaks open. Quiet. Careful. His footsteps are ghosts across the floor. You stay still. Then feel it—the bed dips under his weight. He slides beneath the sheets, and a strong arm wraps around your waist. Then another. And then—his chest pressing against your back, as if trying to melt into you.

You inhale deeply.

Then your voice escapes, soft but laced with sarcasm:

“Didn’t you say you could sleep without me?”

Silence.

Then his voice—deep, low, frayed with exhaustion:

“Shut up… just let me hold you.”

His head rests over your chest, searching for your heartbeat like it’s his only anchor.

Your hand hesitates… then finds its way into his soft brown hair, stroking gently.

His breathing slows.

But your heart doesn’t.

He clings to you like a man drowning, like he’s breathing you in, like you’re the first safety he’s ever known.

You remember his whisper from another night—one no one else ever heard:

“I hate you… because you’re the only one I need.”

And now… He sleeps in your arms. Your sworn enemy in daylight, the lost boy in your embrace by midnight.