Jonathan Sims

John stirs, and Martin immediately averts his eyes, tensing slightly in anticipation of needing to move, whether by direct request or implicit necessity. But instead John just asks after him, peering at him as if this were a perfectly ordinary situation. Martin blinks, feeling caught out by such a simple question, but after a moment he manages to reply, "Yeah, actually."

He hesitates, his eyes flicking elsewhere, to the cat curled up alongside John, around the still unfamiliar room. This feels like a dream, and yet it's so incredibly real, the warmth of John's body against him, the weight of sleep and comfort he hasn't known in a very long time. "Did you?" he asks finally, not sure what else to say.