Jake touched constantly, always touched them, and they accepted it as they teased him, giggled as they loved it. Jake's fingers carded through Avery's hair in the morning, and smoothed down Jack's side at night.

But now Jake was asleep. It wasn't that Jack didn't like to touch. But no one could touch for as long as Jake, or as constantly, or as well. But with Jake asleep, Jack is free to touch in his own way. He spends thirty seconds tugging lightly on Jake's hair, and when Jake doesn't wake up, he pets Jake's hair. It's getting long. Jake sighs in his sleep, which means he's happy, but Jack presses a finger to Jake's lips like he's quieting him. He isn't, really. He just wants to feel Jake's breath and the soft press of his lips that he isn't conscious of. Jack is laying on top of Jake, tilting sideways and naked. He'll curl up against Jake's side later, but now he wants to feel the other boy's breath, from his chest to his lips.

Jack touches differently than Jake does. He loses interest for moments at a time, or maybe Jake's smell just distracts him. But it would drive Jake crazy if he was awake, the way that Jack trails fingers over his face before pressing his face against Jake's neck and not moving for a long time before touching his hair only briefly. It's not Jack's fault, he just wants to feel everything all of Jake. But it's not until Jack finally falls asleep, fingers curled into his palms and body curled into Jake that he feels what he really wants to--Jake wraps his arms around Jack, more awake than the smaller boy now. Jake likes to touch. But he likes to be touched too.