Will woke up with a bad taste in his mouth. He stretched out with a sigh, and blinked several times at the other side of the bed. It was empty. Light peeked in from between the curtains illuminating a room that wasn’t Gabriel’s. He looked around bleary-eyed and recognised that he was in Dune’s room.

“Ah.” Will sat up, feeling exceptionally stiff. He must have fallen asleep. “Crap.” He dug out his phone and wiped his eyes to clear his vision. “Crap, crap.” Will wound his fingers through his hair and looked anxiously over all the messages and missed calls from Gabriel. He’d meant to go home. He’d decided last night after leaving the house that he’d talk to Gabriel after calming down.

Will skipped the messages for now and called him, catching a glimpse of the time—one pm.

“Will.” Gabriel’s voice was a relieved sigh.

“I’m so, so sorry. I fell asleep.” Will said immediately. “I didn’t meant to stay the night.”

“It’s okay. As long as your fine?”

Will drew his knees up, bringing the sheets with him. He mulled over the stale taste in his mouth. “I’m okay, I just slept in. And I ate.” He added, quietly. He rested his chin on his knee. “Are you at work?”

“It’s Saturday so I’m not working.”

Right. “Are you home?”

“Yeah,” Gabriel spoke hesitantly. “Can we meet up?”

“I can drive over to yours.”

The door opened slowly, and Dune peeked in. His gaze darted over Will quickly. Will lifted his hand in greeting.

“I can meet you somewhere if you don’t feel like driving?”

“No that’s okay, I’ll meet you there.” Will told him. “See you soon.”

“Drive safe, okay? And take it easy.”

Will hung up and Dune sat on the bed next to him. He touched his leg tentatively, seeking out eye-contact. “How are you feeling?” Dune asked gently.

Will wondered at the concern in his voice. “I’m good, I was just wrecked, sorry for falling asleep like that. What did you two end up watching?”

Dune frowned. “Will… do you remember what happened last night?”

“What do you mean?” Will knew that something had happened. Mainly, because of how wrecked he was even after sleeping in this late. But his body was sore as well. Usually, this lethargic feeling would accompany him after throwing up. But there was no burning on the back of his throat. He hadn’t gotten sick, and to Will, that was the most important thing. That’s how he knew he was still holding it together.

Dune looked away and rubbed his mouth. He seemed to resolve himself before facing Will again, he kept his voice level. “You woke up in the middle of the night upset, and starving.” Dune explained. “And you were really out of it. You finished a pizza and went back to sleep, but I was close to bringing you to the hospital.”

Will faltered. “Are you being serious?” But even if Dune didn’t look so serious, Will knew he wouldn’t joke about something like this.

“I was scared.” Dune covered his hand with his, squeezing. “You weren’t coherent, and I wasn’t able to get through to you.”

Will tried to remember it. But there wasn’t nothing familiar in what he said. He could taste food he didn’t remember eating, but he couldn’t remember being upset. It was a blank space, and it left an unpleasant feeling in his gut. “I don’t remember.” He admitted. “But I ended up not eating dinner yesterday, so it makes sense that I was hungry.”

Dune’s expression and voice was calm. “You were not in that state because of one missed meal.”

Will jolted. “I’m eating, Dune. I am, I’m meeting the calorie count I should ever day. Yesterday was literally the only day I’ve missed it.”

“You exercise more than ten times the amount I do in a week, and you eat less than me.” Dune said. He squeezed Will’s hands. “I don’t think you’re taking into account the amount of work your body is doing—and I know you know more than me about calories and nutrition, but if you were eating enough one missed meal wouldn’t leave you unable to even stand.”

Will pulled away, his mind whirling, his body aching to change the topic. Dune let go of his hands, and placed them onto the bed. But he wouldn’t let Will escape his gaze. Will felt himself reddening, and felt strangely guilty. He turned away. “I’m eating.”

“Will—”

Will got off the bed. Inside he was curling up, and he felt it physically through his stiff body. He was steady though, and he took in a deep breath to ground himself further.

“I know you don’t like talking about it, but I’m worried.”

“Dune, it wasn’t on purpose.” Will told him.

“Of course it wasn’t on purpose, but—”

“No, I mean that what happened last night isn’t like what happened before.” Will sat next to Dune on the bed, meeting his worried gaze. He did his best to reassure him. “I’m not dying of stress, I’m not throwing up, I’m not staving myself—I got the calorie count wrong.”

Dune looked troubled. “Do you not feel it when you don’t eat enough?”

“I must have felt it last night.” Will shrugged. “I’m good though.”

Dune stared at him for a long few seconds before letting out a sigh. “If you want to talk, you’ve got me.”

“Thank you.” Will checked the time. “I’m going to head though, Gabriel was expecting me.”

“Will you eat first?” Dune asked him. “Mom made you a lot of food.”

Will stared at him. “You made your mom come all the way here to feed me?”

Dune bit his lip and glanced at the doorway. “I called her last night when you were… when I wasn’t sure about whether to bring you to the hospital or not. They decided to come up on their own.”

Will uncomfortably rubbed the back of his neck as he processed that. Joyce was an absolute Joy. Dune’s dad was sort of strict… he wouldn’t have minded it as much if it was just her. But there wasn’t anything he could do about it now. “Okay,” He forced himself to be calm. “I’ll stay and eat, but then I’m going to go.” He text Gabriel that he was getting a bit to eat first.

Dune looked uneasy.

Will was at a loss at how to make either of them feel more relaxed. If he could at least remember what happened last night, he might know what to say. “Thanks for being there for me, and I’m sorry for scaring you.”

Dune caught his hand. “Do you want to stay here a few days? Until you get back on track?”

“I’m good.” Will told him.

Will went downstairs ready for pitying looks and an awkward breakfast. Joyce hugged him tightly. When she pulled back she smiled warmly up at him. “You’ve gotten taller.”

“Have I?” Will measured them with his hand, she came to his chin. “I think you just got shorter.”

Joyce chuckled.

“Coffee?” Dune’s dad offered, holding up a coffee pot.

“Yes please.” Will said. Joyce ushered him into the seat at the top of the table, and food started coming out left and right. There was a mixed bowl of salad in the middle of the table, and then french toast, pancakes, and a fry up started to appear around it. Dune helped Joyce get everything onto plates, and the conversation moved from Joyce’s gardening friends, to his dad’s work antics, to Dune’s college stories.

“Pay attention to accounting,” Dune’s dad was saying, “It’ll serve you well once you’re working for me.”

“Yes dad,” Dune said in the tone of a child who’d received the same instruction several times.

“Will,” Joyce faced him as he pulled another pancake onto his plate. “How is Volleyball going?”

“Good,” Will reported. “There’s a cup competition next week, and then we have a tournament over in Greece just before Christmas.”

“Greece?” Dune raised his eyebrows.

“Oh that’ll be wonderful.” Joyce said brightly. “Maybe we can go see you play?” She looked inquiringly to Richard. “We can make a little holiday of it?”

“What are the dates?” Richard questioned.

“Weekend of the eighteenth in December.” Will reported.

“I have nothing on then.” Joyce nodded, as if the matter was settled.

“Sounds fun.” Dune agreed.

Richard sighed, and made no comment. Will took that to mean the matter was settled.

After devouring enough food to fill the black pit in his stomach, Will was eager to get going. “It was good seeing you.” He hugged Joyce goodbye. She refused to let go of him.

“Sweetie, if you ever want to take a break from the city my home is always open to you. We have a spare room in the house, and you don’t even need Dune to be around to use it, okay?”

Will’s heart squeezed. He sighed into her hair. “Thank you Joyce.” She was a tiny woman, even shorter than his mom, and the hug felt so grounding he was remiss to pull away. Eventually, he managed it.

Joyce placed a warm kiss on his cheek. “Call me too, it’s lonely without Dune around.”

Richard clapped him on the shoulder, and in a less affectionate manner repeated Joyce’s offer of a room if he needed it. Will walked to the front door with Dune. “You’re parents are so nice.” Will said. He wasn’t sure if it was envy or longing that surged inside his chest. Or maybe it was a sense of loss? He wondered if he could call his mom? Or maybe he could ask Leah if she was stable enough for that?

“Look, I’m sorry if I haven’t been around enough for you.” Dune said as Will got into the car. Dune rested his arm on the hood. “I’ll be available more, I promise.”

Will didn’t like the sound of that. It was the type of thing Laragh would say; ‘I’m available whenever you need me’. “You’re my friend, not my babysitter. I’d rather keep it that way, okay?”

Dune was frowning again. “Friends can be there for each other.”

“Right.” Will agreed. He didn’t doubt for a second that Dune would always have his back when he needed it. But he didn’t like their relationship being so… unbalanced. It felt wrong being the one taken care of and fawned over, and it wasn’t fair on Dune to be make him do that either. “I want to be able to rely on myself, too.”

“I get that.” Dune said, with an expression that said he didn’t.

“I need to work on actually being a bit more reliable, I know.”

“You’re reliable when it comes to everyone but yourself.” Dune pointed out. He glanced back toward the house, and then to Will. “Take it easy for the rest of the day. Call if you need me, and please consider staying here for a few days.”

“I will, thanks.”

Will stopped at the shopping centre on the way to Gabriel’s and picked out dinner ingredients, a book, and a movie. He stopped at the set up of bouquets at the exit, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Were either of them flower kind of people? Would Gabriel even like flowers? Will bit his lip. He felt himself going red just standing there looking at the selection. Eventually he picked up a bouquet of the blue ones and went back to the cashier. It was coming up to lunch time when he finally got to Gabriel’s flat.