The Prince And The Frog (AWildCatBug and Melix)

[Melix]

The coat of arms above the doorway to the English classroom gleamed in the sunlight, being freshly washed by a group of down-on-their-luck freshman who had the audacity to glare at Evan as he entered the room. He would have glared back, but that would involve looking directly at the sunlight coming through the window at the top of the hallway, and Evan valued his eyes (and his dignity) enough to disengage where it was necessary. In any case, it wasn’t him that had broken into the school last night and greased the Glass family seal (Glass was the principal, ladies and gents) with red automatic transmission fluid- yeah, he and the principal had had their outs in the past, but Evan just wasn’t that f***ing petty. And even if he were, he had his own signature pranking style…and this wasn’t it.


He would have put a Dirty Hoagie in the principal’s car heater and left the heat running all day long.


In any case, he was the class troublemaker- so probably he would take the fall for this one, no matter how infantile and unlike him it was. This was fine- Evan served detention regularly, but his father was paying for a new wing of the school and Evan happened to be an only child, so he needn’t worry about getting suspended, or worse, expelled.


The life of a rich guy could be pretty great, sometimes…


“Hey, Silus,” he said, sliding in next to his best friend and lightly hitting him in the arm. They shared most of their classes (except the advanced ones Silus was in, which Evan hadn’t signed up for, despite having the intellect to pass) and in every class they shared, they sat next to each other in assigned seating. Some people would call this luck. Evan called it ‘paying a geek to hack the school’s interface and placing us next to each other and away from the teacher’. “Guess what? I get to skip half of English while the principal screams at me for a case of vandalism that, for once, I didn’t commit.” He smiled as if to show that he didn’t care, but he knew this drill already, and he was clearly less than pleased. “When I find out who did this, I will personally make sure they will not live comfortably in any city or suburb in the Tri-State Area.” Funny thing: Evan liked being in the spotlight. Evan liked detention, where he could read quietly and not be bothered. However, Evan absolutely hated being screamed at (which was why he was so well practiced in the art of not getting caught), especially for crimes he hadn’t committed.


“I’ll try to get detention for a day other than today. I wanted to take you to that party tonight.” Evan had been hinting about ‘the party’ all week- but he wouldn’t tell Silus anything about where it was, who was going, or what it was about. The truth was, it was an LGBT+ party, and Evan was dying to take Silus somewhere like that ever since he’d first noticed Silus had some queer tendencies. It wasn’t like he had a crush on Silus or anything (or, he didn’t think he had a crush on Silus, at least not more of a crush than he had on his regular guy friends) but he wanted a boyfriend very badly at this point, and Silus was looking like a great option.


Okay, and yeah, Evan did have a big crush on Silus. It was pretty obvious to everyone except Evan himself, and, well, Silus, thankfully.

 

[cherryicee]

'How on earth am I supposed to get any reading done when these morons won't stop complaining.' Silus rolled his eyes, as one of the freshman spit the word delinquent out. It was taking most of his self control not to grab the little bugger by the collar and toss him to the damn ground where he belonged. However he remained seated, feebly trying to read his novel, like maybe the secrets of the world were written inside. Reading before class had become a permanent habit of Silus when he had started at this boarding school, mostly it was to cope with being so painfully quiet. The morning's before class started were the best time to catch peace and quite if you weren't keen on getting yourself thrown into detention like Silus' best friend Evan was. It was only today that the glorious silence of morning had been shattered.


"Hey" Evan spoke, while Silus nearly jumped out of his skin surprised he hadn't notice the other boy slip into the seat beside him. For as long as Silus could remember, Evan had sat beside him, in every class they seemed to share, there he was with his mischievous smirk.


"Well maybe if you didn't say things like 'never live comfortably' or perhaps you didn't tag the side of the principal's car you wouldn't be so graciously dragged from class." His voice held no judgment, in fact it held an air of amusement that only the boy beside him would have caught on to. "Beside don't claim to hate the attention, friend. Soon enough you'll be a household name without your families hel--p." Perhaps it was the stare that Evan was giving him (because how could you ignore those eyes), or the fact that the freshman were staring directly at him but whatever it was it caused him to choke on his words. His cheeks flushed, and immediately Silus was nose deep in a book again trying to regain some composure. 'Dammit how can you be so embarrassing, Jesus pay attention, what's he saying something about a party... What party?'


"What party? Oh.. Wait, is this the mystery party you're dragging me too? Come on Evan, you know I don't do parties... I'll just stand there like a moron. I-I don't know how to dance, and I never talk to anyone. Besides..." He trailed for a moment. 'You'll just find some hot guy to go behind closed doors with, and I'll stand there twiddling my thumbs... And blushing on the inside, and oh god.' Silus dropped his voice to a whisper, trying to avoid his best friend's gaze.


"Besides, I'll just get in your way. It's not like I'm a great wing man or anything, and I'm such an light weight, you'll be dragging me home after just one drink. You'll have no fun."


Silus had proven his lightweight status, a month after they had met as he was trying to impress bad boy Evan. Before he really got to see the type of person he was. He had pilfered a bottle of expensive Silver Tequila from his Mother's liquor cabinet and after about two swigs was down for the count. Cheeks red, mumbling like a toddler about how tequila was really just rubbing alcohol, and oh god how did he end up on the ground and then the rest of the night bowed down to the porcelain god. After that oh so lovely run in with the dirty mistress, Silus tried to avoid drinking around Evan.


"Fine... But you can't just ditch me okay?"

 

[Melix]

Evan removed the book from Silus’s hand, taking it gently by its binding (he’d accidentally ripped one of Silus’s books before and had felt absolutely awful about it for weeks- he’d ended up buying Silus several new copies out of his own pocket, but Silus’s was a first edition, so the damage was done) and placing it delicately into Silus’s red, school-issued handbag (all juniors had red- sophomores green, freshmen yellow, and seniors ivory) before grabbing Silus’s hand. “Look at me when I’m talking to you, Silus. Didn’t your parents ever teach you manners?” His tone was dark, but his eyes were light- he was just messing around. “And anyway, I already am a household name. And since you’re not and we’re from the exact same background, it’s probably more my behavior than my parents, yeah?” He hadn’t let go of Silus yet and he wasn’t going to unless Silus deliberately asked him to.


“First of all…” muttered Evan, a little uncomfortable with the direction their conversation had turned (though, truth be told, he wasn’t comfortable with most things), “you’ll be fine. Even if you stand there for a little while…you’re really cute, so someone will teach you how to dance.” Evan’s face was on fire and he was clenching his teeth. Fun Fact: Despite being debatably bisexual (debatably only if you asked his parents, who didn’t approve of him dating guys but would “deal with it so long as he promised to end up with a girl”, which, fortunately, he’d only implied and not promised he would do) Evan hated flirting with both sexes. Well, if they came up to him first, that was fine and he could definitely handle that, but if it was someone like Silus, who may not have flirted with anyone ever before…


It was hard to make the first move. “Um, and I…I was hoping…” He blushed and shuddered a little bit, noticing that creepy girl from gym turned around in her seat and staring at them, making it hard to concentrate. She had her hearing aid (spy device?) on, as evidenced by a green light, and Evan felt very uncomfortable. “Girl, turn around,” he ordered. “This is a private conversation, as in, a conversation where you are not invited.” She turned around and he rolled his eyes, glancing back at Silus. “Sorry. Where was I? Oh, right! I was hoping…” That instead of being my wingman you could go with me as my date, or at least end up that way at the end of the night. But for some reason, strong, rebellious bad boy Evan couldn’t bring himself to say that. “…that maybe I could be your wingman tonight. You haven’t dated a girl in a while, so I thought, you know, time to get you back in the game.” As if that was his decision. “Haha.” He let go of Silus to run a hand through his hair, embarrassed. One of the freshmen was sniggering at them (at Evan specifically) leading him to flip the younger guy off.


“F__,” said the younger guy, but Evan just rolled his eyes.


“You’ll think about it, right? Getting back in the dating game?” He tried to resume their conversation, act like everything he’d done was on purpose and he hadn’t just screwed up any chance he might have had ending up with Silus himself at the end of the night. “Sometimes I lay awake at night, worrying about you.” He was dramatic as all heck, but only jokingly. Then, with mock innocence-“Seriously, though. I mean, you’re not gay or even anywhere on the spectrum. You have no excuse for not dating a girl. Right?”

 

[cherryicee]

Silus watched with mock horror as the book was removed from his tender grasp, but it was safely returned to his school bag, and for a moment the distraction was welcome. However soon Evan's hand on his own, the warmth of his skin cut through his expression stunning him. "I have wonderful manners thank you very much, better than yours." He spat with unintentional harshness, this was hard for him. Heart thundering in his chest Silus was almost certain everyone in the room could hear it, he lifted his gaze to meet Evan's trepidation heavy in his eyes. "You're probably right about that one, I don't think I'll ever be a household name unless I take over the Quill empire."


It had never been Silus' dream to run a fashion empire like his Mother but he was hard pressed not too. What else could he do? He was smart enough to do anything in the medical field, and truthfully his dream was to be a great scholar. None of it was possible without his families money, and the only way to obtain that money was to take over the company when the time was right. When his Mother handed over the keys, and said 'it's your turn.' The thought filled him with dread.


Silus watched Evan shift, a certain discomfort that he couldn't quite discern in his body language. The words 'you're cute' were all that really registered in his brain, and yet again he was left bewildered by Evan's actions. It was unusual for their topics of conversation to veer into romantic territory, Silus kept his sexuality guarded and usually speaking about relationships made him uncomfortable. So generally they strayed far from any talk of romance. This was putting Silus on edge, something about this was off, he could't quite pin point what it was in his friend's behavior. Maybe it was the way his skin was flushed, his teeth bared down a thing he did only when he was nervous.


Evan's sharp bark at the neighboring girl pulled him from his thoughts, and there he was back in reality. Where the words 'dating' and 'girl' were being used along with his name, his body shuddered at the thought. He had to mask a grimace, so he threw his line of sight at the floor faining embarrassment. "You...want.. to be... my wingman?" Silus forced the sentence out, covering the obvious malcontent with less than obvious surprise.


Evan's hand slipped away from his the comforting heat now stripped from him. "I honestly don't know about this, Evan... I just.. My parents." He let it go.


What would really be the point of arguing, it wasn't like Evan was ever going to want him as more than a friend. He has plenty of proverbial fish in the sea to choose from. Nothing would change between them, there wasn't a chance. (As far as he was aware)


"You're right. There's no excuse for me not to be out there, dating a nice girl." It felt like drinking poison to say it, but Silus smiled his charming smile. "So what time is the party? I guess I'll have to dress nicely if I want to meet someone, right?" He wanted to scream 'Why am I going along with this, I'm gay dammit, I don't want to meet some girl. I don't want to dress like a wealthy trust fund a__. I just want to impress you.' But it wasn't happening.


"Are you driving or am I? Cause you know if I drive I have to tell my parents I'm taking one of their cars to a party. I'm positive they'll want to know who I'm going with and I'm not quite sure how well that would go over. You know with them hating you and all."


It wasn't a secret in this school that Evan and Silus' friendship was technically forbidden. A year ago Silus' Father had declared that Evan was a bad apple, with toxic seeds and therefor his son was to never speak to him. This was probably due to the sheer volume of Quill merchandise that had been lifted at the hands of Mr. Henri. However it was a rare occurrence for the Quill parents to be home, so the friendship thrived when they were gone.


"You can come over after school to get ready, if you want. My parents are in Brazil, so the house isn't a war zone."

 

[Melix]

No, Silus’s manners were not as impeccable as he would like to think. Evan had seen him at his best and his worst, and Silus’s worse, which was comparative to the regular actions of a middle-classer, were bad. But Evan wasn’t the type for busting bubbles- not Silus’s bubble, at least. (If you could ever count on anyone to be that one guy at the mall on Christmas who pulls on Mall Santa’s beard and informs the children Mr. Claus isn’t real, it was Evan. You could also count on him to detail which children were and were not little terrors, and anyone who ended up on his ‘not’ list was deserving, as far as he was concerned, of Christmas presents, everything they desired. He’d been a brat as a child and gotten what he wanted. He had enough money to buy them presents. Why shouldn’t they be given what their heart desired?)


Evan could read Silus’s face. “I could take over your company for you, if it displeases you that much,” said Evan, a joke in bad taste. “Forgive me for saying this, but your fashion company is much better than mine. That’s why I always steal your clothes.” He tugged on his collar, revealing the Quill family tag on his gray cashmere (non-uniform) shirt- along with his toned, light golden shoulder. “They make me look hot.” An eyebrow raise- waiting to see if Silus would ignore that, or argue. He couldn’t very well explicitly agree.


Evan had completely regained his composure- chitchat did that for him, thankfully. It was something classy people did instead of yoga, he’d always thought. Yes, the shoplifter was very classy indeed. He yawned as if he didn’t care. “Yes, I want to be your wingman.” I’d rather be your date. “Also, screw your parents. Are you going to be in an arranged marriage or something? They shouldn’t be able to control who you date.” God, he kind of hated himself right now. Why was he helping Silus? Oh, right. Because pep talks were a best friend duty he was compelled to uphold, no matter the cost to his dignity. “If you like someone, you should just tell them, because if they can’t see how wonderful and amazing you really are, they are definitely not someone worth fawning over in the first place. Hypocrite. Stop talking. “Besides, you’ll always have me, so…screw girls.”


No, Silus, please do not screw girls. I don’t want this to be weird….


And there was an excuse, really. “We’ll leave at eight and be fashionably late, as per my usual.” This also went for classes- the reason why Silus was already sitting down when Evan first arrived. The second question’s answer came from his mouth before he could censor himself, but Evan almost didn’t notice. “Don’t dress too nicely.” I don’t want to share you. As soon as it was out of Evan’s mouth, he winced. God, he’d just said that out loud, hadn’t he? “I mean, you could get a drink spilled on you, or get puked on, and if you wear too nice of clothes, people will think you’re trying too hard.” Nice save. Or you could have let the damage be done.


But that wasn’t Evan’s type, and he’d already f___ed up, so now he had to live with his mistake and own up.


“I’ll have my friend Andrew pick us up,” he muttered, as the bell rang for class. The teacher rose from her desk and began to review yesterday’s lesson on Latin verbs, a subject that tired Evan possibly even more than math class. Luckily, before he could put himself to sleep, the PA system rescued him. “Evan Henri to the principal’s office; I repeat, Evan Henri to the principal’s office.”


Rolling his eyes, Evan stood up and gathered a jacket, his cell phone, and a few pens. He walked over to the teacher’s front desk and hit the button for her personal announcement system, responding crisply with a “Ten-four.” Yeah, sometimes Evan could be childishly impressive- he was the only student in here with the balls to pull that off.


But he had something to do before he was put in detention (and isolation study). Walking confidently (faux-confidently) up to Silus, he very gently planted a kiss on his best friend’s forehead, right there in front of the whole class. He needed to make his intentions (and attentions) as clear as possible. “I can’t wait to take you to that party tonight.” And with that, he was gone.

 

[cherryicee]

All eyes were on Silus as Evan promptly disappeared from the room leaving his best friend to endure the brunt of their classmates judgment. 'What. The. Hell.' Taking a deep breath he steadied himself, aiming all his attention to the front of the room, where their English teacher cleared her throat loudly. 'I'm going to kill him for that... but, only if he does it again without my permission.'


The rest of class dragged on with no real drama after Evan had made his semi-dramatic exit. Silus noticed the absence more than he really should have, no one was snoring or distracting him with inappropriate notes written in dead languages. It would have been easier to focus if he wasn't obsessing over whether or not his best friend's statement had any real world implications. For all he knew it was some elaborate joke set up to make him look like an ass, but that wasn't Evan's style.


'I'll just wait for the party to talk to him about it... Maybe we could dance, and... Uhg.'


Silus cut out AP Science class, something he very rarely did but with his parents generous contributions to the school he would hear nothing of it. His teachers would probably assume he'd gone home sick, or maybe got lost wandering the library again. He trailed down the hall looking as innocent as possible before darting into an empty class room. He had forty five minutes to read, and collect himself before having to wait outside in the hall for Evan to be released from detention. This wasn't exactly a rare occurrence for Silus, he usually found himself waiting for his best friend to get out of some form of isolation. However time was moving profoundly slower than it usually did, those forty five minutes turning into an eternity. He had read the same damn sentence of his book maybe fifty times before he gave up, tossing the pristine copy into his book bag.


When the final bell rang, a flood of students entered the hall some giving him odd stares the rest ignoring him as they usually did. 'You'd think they'd find something exponentially more interesting than me..' Silus shook his head arriving at the Principals office, which he had only ever seen the outside of but had stood in front of many times in his high school career.


Silus slipped on his uniform issued jacket at slung his bag onto his shoulders. Pressing his back into the brick wall behind him, he closed his eyes waiting for the door to open, for him to unwind from the day, a last moments peace before the night ahead of him.


'What am I getting myself into?'

 

[Melix]

“Hey,” Evan whispered, slipping out of the room with a whisper. His hair was mussed; his belt untucked. There had been a guy in there Evan had kind of had a thing with, and no teacher supervision. The only reason he didn’t feel bad about it was the certainty that he’d already ruined his chances with Silus by offering to set him up with someone else- kiss or no kiss. And the kiss was still something they were going to have to deal with, at some point. That point may as well be now. “If you’re mad at me, I totally understand. I…it was wrong of me to have put you in that position. I’m really sorry.” He wasn’t sorry he kissed Silus- just sorry that Silus hadn’t liked it, judging by the face he was making now. “Friends or too soon?” He was waiting for Silus to say something- to yell at him or degrade him for having done something so embarrassing to poor, repressed (or just straight) Silus.


He kind of wanted to kiss Silus again, but got the distinct impression that this would be unwanted contact.


The day itself had been grueling. Usually he spent his days writing dirty poems to Silus in ancient Latin (why oh why couldn’t they just make school interesting? Evan already knew Latin and was a fluent speaker, as was Silus) or Greek, ate a couple of apples, chased Silus around in the quad during lunch, and practiced flirting with whatever cute girls happened to be available to him at the time. He’d never done that sort of thing to Silus before, however, which was presumably why he was rusty. “Look…” He puffed up his chest, not sure how to phrase what he wanted to say. “If you don’t want to go this party with me, I won’t make you. I’d honestly rather stay in and watch movies and cuddle and do all the normal things with you than take you to an LGBT Plus party where you’ll no doubt be either ostracized for being straight or actually be forced to come to terms with your sexuality. I’d rather do something that doesn’t make you uncomfortable.”


Maybe he was too demanding- maybe he should take a step back and relax, get out of Silus’s face. Having glanced around earlier, he knew there was no one else in the hallway, and he and Silus had better things to fight about than this. All the same…”But you’re not fooling me. I know you like guys, Silus.” He sighed. “Just call me if you decide to come to the party, or if you want me to come over. Until then, I need a break. Today’s been very weird for me.”

 

[cherryicee]

"I uh..." There were no words for the burning in Silus' chest, nothing he could say that could describe what thoughts were searing into his skull. "I'm not mad at you, Evan if I was mad I wouldn't have come to pick you up like I always do. I'm not happy you left me there like an idiot for no reason. But I'm not mad." Obviously Evan hadn't kissed him for more than his own amusement, it was clear from his disheveled appearance that there was no room for Silus as a romantic prospect. "Friends." He muttered defeated, his shoulders slumping as he stared down at the marble floor. The atmosphere felt so thick and heavy, Silus wanted to break, to shatter into a thousand pieces so he wouldn't have to deal with this right now.


But no such luck.


"I want to support you. I thoughts that's what friends did, Evan. So even if I'm uncomfortable at the party, you would be there having fun. So, I could still go... We could still go." He whimpered, voice small as his chest tightened as the rest of Evan's words sunk in. He could tell that his best friend wasn't trying to hurt him, not at first but it didn't matter they hurt anyways. "I just wanted you to be happy... I mean... you were happy this morning what happened?" Why couldn't they just smile, punch each other in the arm, forget about it? This shouldn't have been such a big deal right? They could be back at Silus' place laughing about how they were going to take over the night, with their designer clothes, and wads of their parents money. Neither of them would have acted like that in sincerity, but ironically, mocking every other guy at their school. But no, Evan had to go and say something like that.


'What a time to be alive with a best friend like you...'


Silus felt like he was on fire, face red with anger and embarrassment, fists clenched till his skin turned white. "Oh, I'm sure you can tell. I've never for a second let myself think that you were oblivious Evan! I was just stupid enough to believe that it didn't matter, moronic enough to think that I didn't have to say the words out loud." He was vibrating as he lashed out, thankfully no one was around the hallways void of students. "I had convinced myself that you wouldn't care, that it wouldn't effect our friendship. I thought that you had maybe considered my position, it's not like you didn't lie to your parents about your sexuality, Evan..." Was that a low blow? Silus wasn't sure, words were just spewing from his mouth, somehow he had stopped caring half way through his rant.


He had stopped caring so much that before he could stop himself he had his hand wrapped tight around Evan's wrist. "I just wanted to dance with you. I wanted you to teach me how to dance, I wanted you to take me to the party, and I wanted you to take me home after!"


'Sometimes I forget that you can't read my mind, I just wanted you to know... So I didn't have to say it myself.'

 

[Melix]

(So that started out cute and then it got bad.)


Evan smiled at him. Friends. Oh, good- oh, thank god. But why did Silus look so sad about it? Sometimes the guy was just odd- as far as Evan was concerned, if ‘friends’ was as far as he could go with Silus, then it was probably enough for him. “Thanks.” He smiled, enveloping Silus in a warm and loving hug. Even if Silus weren’t pleased with him right now, Evan was determined to make sure Silus was happy by the end of the night, even if he had to ensure Silus was happy with someone else. It wasn’t that thought, that jealous thought that cued him in to the fact that he was crushing on Silas more than the regular guy friend crush, it was when he buried his face in Silas’s neck and his knees went a little weak. It was the realization that Silus was the only one who made him melt.


So Evan pulled away abruptly. This whole thing was entirely inappropriate- especially when you considered that he and Silus were never supposed to be friends. “I don’t need you to support me. I’m already out of the closet- mostly- and I’m doing fine without your help.” It wasn’t the words themselves that were pissing Evan off; it was the way he said them. Like, fuck, how about a whopping serving of ‘you-need-me-more-than-I-need-you’ on the side of your overdose on heartache and sudden, horrifying realization? (Because Evan did not “like” people. He chose people to date based on their reputation of being good or nice, their physical attractiveness, and whether or not they made him laugh.)


Maybe that’s why he exploded at Silus. He’d never been one for being emotionally charged, and he had no idea how to deal with anything going on, even if it was all one-sided (and one-sided romance was, again, not something he’d ever had before).


“Are you stupid? That’s not a rhetorical question. I would like a detailed answer explaining to me whether or not you think you’re as idiotic as you act.” He was sick and tired of running around in circles with this, so he was just going to explain it in the clearest of terms, once and for all. “I am bisexual. You are…something. Hell, I’ve been trying to get you to admit it forever, like this morning. Listen. Hear that noise? That’s statistics calling you saying that eighty percent of sexually compatible friendships result in one-sided crushes. Look at you. Now look at me. It’s pretty obvious who has the one sided crush, yeah? But thank you so much for never bothering to clarify that ‘hey, I like dudes, but not you’ because you didn’t think it would affect the friendship one way or another, despite admitting that you know I’m not oblivious. I’ve done some stupid stuff in my life, but I try not to be that big of a jerk.”


Silus grabbed his arm but Evan jerked it back while his lips were still moving. “I am not interested in whatever you are saying. You are wasting your breath.” Evan was angry. “Here’s a shirt I stole from your company. I don’t even like it. I was trying to impress you. And here’s a pair of sunglasses. And these pants are from a department store, so they’re mine, but here, you can have my underwear. It’s from your newest line.” Evan was one of those people who could take off his underwear without removing his pants. He dumped the pile of clothes he had previously been wearing into Silus’s arms before handing him his socks and shoes, now aware that he was wearing only jeans. “You’re gonna grow up just like your dad if you don’t learn to play nice.” snapped Evan, leaving.

 

[cherryicee]

(Can you tell I'm totally indecisive, I have no idea where I'm going with this. I just wanted to write about drunk Silus.)





Half an hour passed, Silus had crumpled to the floor while time and the world moved on around him. He had knotted his auburn locks within his fingers, ignoring the fact that Evan's clothes sat wrinkled on the ground. The sun was swallowed, disappearing beneath thick rapidly darkening clouds. Eventually. the sound of rain pounding on the school roof roused Silus. Quietly he folded the clothing at his feet into a neat little stack, resting it in front of Evan's locker. Silus had briefly considered throwing them in the trash never having to see them again, but regardless they were Evan's, he could throw them away if he truly wanted too.


It was a silent drive home.


With his parents in Brazil, no contact with Evan, and no one to witness the repercussion Silus reaped the benefits of rich wasp parents with a taste for fine liquors. Party or no party, friend or no friend he was determined to some how have a good night. Never had red wine tasted this delightful. Drinking alone had always seemed so pathetic before now. However slung across his bed with a warmth in his chest, Silus was beginning to see the upside. The buzz opened a fresh outlook on the future, it was now that he could put his family first. No tip toeing around his father, he could start living his parents dream with no one to shatter the lies. Evan was the anchor that tied him to his own passion, it was never an option to follow his dreams before the charming bad boy walked into his life. It was simultaneously the most relieving and absolutely heart breaking thing to have happened to Silus in his short life time.


Three quarters of a bottle of wine later the boy was sprawled across his bedroom floor, whimpering softly. It was eight o' clock, the time they were supposed to be arriving at the party. Silus was too drunk to stand the ten seconds he would need to grab his phone from the nightstand. He knew he needed to leave the school a message, excusing him from tomorrow's classes. In his mind the mobile device was Schrödinger's cat, in which his relationship could both be alive or dead. There could be a text apologizing, or a blank screen confirming what he already knew, but could only hope to not be true. Silus so deeply wanted Evan to text, to say something, and on the other hand wanted so badly to see a blank screen. No longer town between two worlds in which he could never fully please any one, to no longer have to live a double life.


After what felt like hours of internal debate Silus forced his body to standing, if only long enough to collapse on his bed four seconds later. Phone clutched in hand, cheeks flush with intoxication and anxiety he passed out with only one certainty.


It was never going to be the same after this. Regardless of the outcome it was never going to be a simple friendship, or a simple family relationship.

 

[Melix]

It was great at first- trashing Evan’s room. A photo of him with his arms over Silus, posing for the camera, and another taken candid when he’d gotten excited about his school’s Spirit Week win and kissed Silus on the cheek (never on the lips, because at a conscious level he hadn’t been attracted to Silus at that point), and several more pictures of the like were lying in the corner of the room in a pile, their frames torn or broken into pieces, near the lighters. The pillow Silus always used when he came over (and he had been over a few times- although Evan’s parents did it much less frequently, they still had business trips on occasion) was open, and its soft innards were spilled across the floor. It was a dead pillow, and it still smelled just like Silus.


He was getting kind of into this. His room was trashed- anything Silus owned or had loved was all over the floor in a disgusting pattern- the word ‘HATE’ scrawled across the room. Silus’s clothes and anything he’d borrowed from the company were placed underneath the pictures on the burn pile, and Evan stood with his shoes still on the bed and took a picture from several angles on his camera phone, uploading them to Fossible account, FroggieFender86. Funny how the name- Froggie at least- had been a name given to him by Silus. He wasn’t vindictive enough to send them to Silus on his own, but if he happened to stumble across them…It reminded Evan to change all of his friend settings, excluding Silus from any groups he’d been an honorary (inactive) member of. His insides froze at every further step he took to shut Silus out, but he didn’t have much of a choice. He was a member of the rich society, the old money society (for - it was his great-great-great-great-grandfather’s money that jumpstarted Henri Premiere into a sunglasses company, then an all-clothes and all-accessories company). It already wasn’t acceptable that he was “bisexual” (and let’s be honest, Evan definitely leaned toward guys), but liking someone of new money? Liking someone who was his economic rival? (Maybe even…maybe even loving someone like that? This seemed like a lot of emotion for mere “like”.) No. This would not ever be okay.


Evan grabbed the lighter. He didn’t hesitate to burn the one of his arm around Silus (it was a fake picture anyway- very, very canned.) but when it came time to burn the one of him kissing Silus- it reminded him, that a moment like that could never, would never happen again. How could he burn it, turn a memory (even a bad one) into dust? He felt like he owed Silus something. Before he could back down, he took a picture of the real photo, hand in hand with the lighter, and sent the picture to Silus, a simple, two word caption on it.


He would leave this one up to Silus to decide- it was his picture, too.


So, it was two words with two thousand words in meaning: Should I?

 

[cherryicee]

It couldn't have been longer than an hour since Silus had fallen unconscious through means of too much alcohol. His phone was aglow, his social media notifications kept the phone alive, buzzing with gossip he wasn't aware of yet. It might have been the retina gouging light emanating from his cell phone, or the constant vibration rattling at his chest, or quite possibly the wine induced nightmare but he was awoken abruptly. Eyes fluttering attempting with futility to block out the mobile phones deadly rays, frustrated he mashed his hand on the phone, locking the screen for only a second before it was illuminated once more followed by a custom jingle. A text from Evan.


Silus peeked at the screen with heavy eyes, the room was spinning like a hell spawn tilt-a-whirl but he tried his best to focus on the picture. It took a long moment for recognition to set in, it was the genuine smile on his face in the photo that caught him off guard. Second by second he was a little more aware of his true feelings, one sided crush or not it was still a crush, more than that if he was going to be honest. Silus cared so intensely for Evan, it was clear by the breathless, tightening in his chest and the smile he wore like a badge of honour every time his best friend entered the room. He noticed the question written beneath long after he had stared with agonizing realization at the spirit week photo, his breath catching as the weight of those two little words hit him.


He forced himself upright clutching tightly onto the bedside table, from there he was standing, lunging clumsily across the room catching himself on his destination the dresser. Inside was his only real souvenir of Evan's friendship a soft, cream coloured sweater. It was a Henri Premiere custom design, the only thing that Silus had stolen, and it was a miracle he didn't get caught being a custom order and all. Evan was unaware of this treasure, it had been squirreled away by Silus the first time he had wondered if there could be anything more between them.Originally he was going to boast about his little hist, it was going to be a funny joke between friends, but it just became a part of the secret that was tearing them apart now, it would have been simpler and kinder to have been truthful of course, to laugh about it.


His slender fingers traveled over the plush fabric of the fabric, he held it to his chest. Silus' head was bowed drinking in the soft scent of a Henri store it vaguely reminded him of Evan, sharing something in common but it wasn't the live scent of his best friend. He slipped the sweater on, decidedly stumbled back to his cell phone, the response ringing clearly in his mind. It was always going to be Evan's decision to keep the photo, as it was Silus' to keep the sweater. He held back the tears that had welled up, he prayed that he hadn't taken too long to answer.


Two words, for two words. Two thousand words in meaning, two thosand pleas to stay.





Please don't.

 

[Melix]

Why? That was the question on Evan’s lips, on Evan’s fingers, as he was asked not to destroy the picture of his candid kiss. He remembered- remembered Silus saying that he wasn’t oblivious to Evan’s feelings, that he didn’t like Evan that way. So why did his best friend care if Evan destroyed the evidence that that interaction had ever happened? He let his hair fly down around him, writing out message after message after mean, angry, confused, sad message, that could be broken down into the word: why? And Evan never sent any of them- they stayed in the trash bin on his smart phone texter, away from the dangerous ‘SEND’ key that would tell Silus everything he was feeling right now. No, he’d better just keep it all inside.


He distracted himself. Some friends lingered around on Fossible, but no one he was close to, no one he particularly felt like talking to. Then his Chat Screen blinked, and he wavered over whether or not to accept the new message- from Alex. Alex, his first and only real boyfriend, and the one who was responsible for his one-night-stand only policy. Alex, his first kiss, his first…God, they hadn’t talked in a few years. Not since he’d met Silus. Not since Alex had moved away, taking Evan’s heart with him.


The first message was simple: “Hey.” The second was not: “I’m at that LGBT party- I know you used to love those, but you’re not there. Bad breakup?”


Evan was speechless. How dare he! How dare he, after that entire year of waiting and wishing and wanting Alex to come back- how dare he speak to him now?


“Actually,” Evan wrote back, “I got over our break-up a long time ago. I’m not at that party because I’m busy.”


He hadn’t realized his phone’s microphone was on while he typed- he was panting, angry. But when that familiar laugh broke through, he was immediately embarrassed.


“I think we need to talk,” said Alex, not bothering to type once he knew Evan was listening on the other end. “I don’t know what happened with your latest boyfriend, but I’m about to come over to your house. I already know your parents aren’t home.”


Evan’s blood boiled. “You can’t just invite yourself over.”


“Actually, yes, I can. Because while we were dating, you gave me the key to your house, and, mmm, I still have it. You never asked me to return it, so I have every right to enter your residence. I’d love to meet your new ex-boyfriend, too. You have all the luck picking guys, don’t you? I’ll be there in three minutes.”


Evan wasn’t sure what to do- technically, the laws in this state were on Alex’s side. But he didn’t want to see Alex again- making that the second guy today he wanted absolutely nothing to do with…Unless…


Evan fired off a rapid question to Silus’s phone: Is it okay if I see someone else? Will that fix this? And waited. Using Alex for his nefarious schemes was an awful thing to do, but hadn’t Alex done the same thing to him, just t get into the pants of that fujioshi that time they vacationed in Japan? My ex is coming over and I kind of want to see where this goes. Silus knew all about Alex. Evan had told him everything, especially the very scary end to their relationship. Please?

 

[cherryicee]

(481)


Shit.


Things are already fixed. Do what makes you happy, just be careful.


It was a haphazardly written response as Silus leaped from the bed adrenaline coursing through his veins, he tore through the house, scrambling out the front door before common sense could take over. This was not a clever man's plan, but there was no way in hell Silus was going to let Alex back into Evan's life, not without at least making sure the guy had changed (and he needed to entertain the jealousy.) He bolted towards the iron wrought gates, they opened slowly allowing him to narrowly pass through and off the property. It wasn't safe for him to drive, so he was forced to take to the streets, it was luck that they lived close to each other.


If you want to see where things go with you ex, I can't stop you.


It was brisk the air chilled from the earlier rain, and Silus felt alive for the first time today as he pushed against the frozen night. Five minutes away. Please don't let that psycho get close to you again, I mean... Dammit. Evan was going to be pissed, here they were after sort of reconciling and Silus was about to go crash the proverbial party again. His best friend had chosen to brush Silus' feelings off, and he could live with that, what he could not live with was knowing full well that Alex was going to hurt the person he cared for. Three minutes away. Evan's house was beginning to come into his view, and he came to a halt, panting hard as the world span around him. He's going to murder me for showing up. I really hope I got here before, Alex. I can just say I wanted to apologize in person. He started sprinting again closing in on the Henri family mansion, from here he couldn't tell if there were any foreign cars near the front doors.


The house towered ahead of him, Evan's bedroom lights were on but the rest of the house looked dark. A lump formed in his throat, the thought of Alex slipping inside that room, smirk on his face, made Silus nauseous. For once he was going to be someone's protection, it was never going to be enough to repair what was already damaged. When Silus first met Evan, he could sense the heart break, it wasn't long after that, that he was filled in on the dirty details. At first it had seemed like just being around was enough to soothe the ache, the stronger their friendship grew, the happier Evan seemed to be, but something was always missing.


He quickly sent another message to Evan, praying that this was supposed to be, that it was the right decision to make.


If I showed up at your doorstep would you let me in?

 

[Melix]

Alex didn’t say ‘hello’ or greet Evan in any fashion when he entered his household, just stormed past him through the foyer, the kitchen, and then the large living room and onto the couch. When Evan followed him, he said only, “Baby,” and pointed at his crotch. Evan glanced at that, then at Alex’s face, then back at what he was (still) pointing to, then back to his face. He opened his mouth, but before he could say something choice along the lines of “I’m not really in the mood,” his phone beeped, and for a few moments it was a pleasant distraction, reading that Silus though everything was fixed (it wasn’t), that Silus couldn’t stop him (a wise assumption to make, given their prior history), and that question…Evan couldn’t stop himself from responding, and quickly. ‘Yes, please come in. You know where we keep the spare key.’


All the same, Evan turned back to Alexander de Abandonato- yes, the son of the notorious wine lord- and said simply, “Excuse me. An actual friend of mine is here, and I’m not going to leave him alone.”


“Liar,” laughed Alex, turning around on the pillows to discover a more comfortable position for his back. “You think I didn’t see the way your face lit up when you opened your phone and saw who texted? Or the fact that it’s a custom ringtone, an honor you didn’t even afford me? This guy is either your ex-boyfriend or the reason the two of you broke up.”


At the front door, Evan peaked his head out the door, glancing around the corner of the block. And there was Silus, running toward him full speed ahead, and Evan could just see them colliding into one of those extraordinary hugs Silus was so good at giving, and Evan was smiling, and for just one moment, he had his arms wide open before realizing the reality of their situation. He dropped his arms, and his smile. Wasn’t he still supposed to be angry? He’d been rejected, after all.


“Silus…Hey.” He greeted, turning toward the door with a melancholic face. Getting rejected by Silus just reminded him that he could never have what he thought he had with Alex in the first place, and seeing Silus only reminded him of the rejection. A pained facial expression. “Listen. I don’t know if you wanna come inside right now. Alex is in there, and he’s kind of being…” A jerk? Suggestive? A stalker-ish weirdo? Take your pick of terms. “Do you wanna go somewhere?”


Before that question could be answered, Alex opened the front door, stepping into the cold night, and Evan’s mouth dropped. Shutting his mouth as quickly as it had opened, he turned to Silus and pointed? Was Evan hallucinating? Did Silus see it too? Was Alex standing there in the cold wearing nothing but his boxer shorts? No, wait. Those were Evan’s boxer shorts. Wonderful.


“I don’t know why you’d want to leave,” said Alex. “There’s more than enough of this to go around. Henri, Henri’s ex, why don’t you both come inside?”

 

[cherryicee]

It took little more than three seconds for Silus to haul himself to Evan's front porch, for a brief moment he caught a glimpse of the way they were, arms spread open, faces a light with smiles. It was gone all too soon, as the boy in front of him came back to reality. "Hey." He replied out of breath while using the railing to steady himself.


"Alex is being Alex." Silus stated with a raise of his brow, knowing full well exactly how Evan's ex was acting, it wasn't exactly surprising. What was surprising was the fact that Evan had willingly let Alex into his house, well as far as Silus knew, but there was something uneasy in the way his friend turned back towards the door. He was about to ask if everything was okay, but a question Silus though he would never hear again was asked.


Wanna go somewhere?


"Su--" Silus' pleasant response quickly became nothing but an annoyed huff, his eyes narrowing as Alex stepped through the doorway. He watched as Evan pointed towards the sight, like he was in disbelief, and despite Silus' doubt he wanted to believe that this was all something Alex had cooked up. "Dear lord, it must be colder out than I thought it was." He quipped through gritted teeth as he looked the boxer clad mess up and down, good the alcohol was still providing him with a little bit of courage.


The urge to punch Alex as hard as he possibly could was starting to get louder, along with pushing down the instinct that told him to grab Evan's had, tonight was proving to be a test of will power. He looked to his best friend sympathetically, it was enough that Evan had to put up with this guy when he was dating him. "Look, if you put on pants I won't have to gouge my eyes out with rusted spoons, so yeah whatever lets go inside." Silus' voice was low. "I'm not his ex. I'm his friend." The sentence hurt for a moment, but it felt better to say than actually being one of Evan's ex-conquests.


For a moment his will power caved, his hand reaching out to clasp Evan's, but he only used this to lead him into the house. "Sorry." He mumbled as they crossed the threshold and entered the front foyer. Politely Silus dropped the other boy's hand so that he could take off his shoes before strolling through the rest of the house, when It occurred to him that he had ran the entire way to the house without shoes on. Wow you forgot shoes, way to totally not look like a desperate loser. To his slight horror he also did not remember to take the Henri sweater off. Although, thankfully Alex was distracting enough to draw most of the attention off of himself, which tonight would come in handy. At least until he could figure out a way to get both himself, and Evan out of this living nightmare.

 

[Melix]

Evan made a point of glaring at Silus several times as they came in the door, feeling too emasculated by Alex’s presence to do the same for him. But there was a difference, a pause between Evan’s and Alex’s and Evan’s and Silus’s respected relationships- Alex was the ex-boyfriend; he was expected (and almost entitled) to be an asshole. Meanwhile, Silus was the almost boyfriend- the boy friend, with a space. The best friend; the one Evan counted on when things like his psycho ex-boyfriend who faked his death in order to get away from a stalking case showed up again in his house. Silus was not, however, behaving like a friend. Friends did not check out their chums ex-partner’s abs (no matter how hard said ex-partner tried to get everyone’s attention with said abs) and they did not go out of their way to grab their friends hands after rejecting their friend earlier that day (or that week, or even that month). “Sorry,” said Silus.


“For what, breaking my heart?” Evan grumbled, acutely feeling the absence of Silus’s hand. “Or being stupid in general?” Whatever. He didn’t need Silus anyway- Alex was right here, yeah? And even if he flirted with Silus, he’d come over for Evan. It should be pretty simple to score a one-night stand- had he not done this before, a thousand times? Eventually, Silus would realize he was being punished. He didn’t want Evan? Fine. He wanted to flaunt it in front of Evan’s face? Also fine. Then Evan had no reason not to make him the third wheel.


Stalking over to Alex, he took the older male’s hand and nuzzled up close, surprised immediately when Alex pulled him over, whispering something in Evan’s ear before suddenly and without warning biting him. “Ow,” Evan complained, but Alex wasn’t one for apologizing. He just slung an arm around Evan’s waist and pulled him into the kitchen, facing Evan to him so that he couldn’t see Silus at all, even out of his peripheral vision. Staring at him a moment, the high school senior glanced at something behind him before knocking their foreheads together. “Ow,” Evan grumped again, head knocking backwards before Alex grabbed him by the base of his neck and pulled him in.


“I’m not an idiot,” hissed Alex, “and I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to do. I came here to make friends.” A glance, again, although their faces were so close together that Evan doubted anyone (Silus, or a maid if there were one around tonight) could see or hear what they were saying. “That being said, I am your friend. And I know you like that guy. So I’m going to help you out a little bit, if you don’t mind.”


Evan didn’t bother to deny anything- this wasn’t some test the Principal was giving him to see if he’d slip up (he never did); this was an invitation to make out. “I don’t mind,” said Evan, sliding into peaceful oblivion. It alarmed him how easy it was to detach himself from the kissing- he was thinking about Silus, wondering what Silus thought, the whole time. Knowing full well getting this involved with Alex was dangerous on levels even Silus didn’t know- but this felt worth the risk.

 

[cherryicee]

A familiar wave of rejection crashed into Silus as he stood silently watching Alex's lips meet with Evan's. He hoped that Evan would object, push his ex away look to him for some sort of back up, but there was a soft acceptance in his friends body language. It was at that moment that it dawned on Silus that this was some kind of cruel form of payback, he wasn't here to keep Alex away, he was there because it was his turn to suffer. It hurt that his friend would stoop to such a level, but it truly pissed him off that, that psycho was the one helping Evan to get under his skin.


At first he only felt pained, but as Alex's hands drifted to Evan's waist pulling the boy in closer, jealousy started to kick in. Silus took a step closer to the kitchen, eyes locked on the scene unfolding before him. It was killing him just standing there, watching some asshole caress the person he loved. Get your filthy hands off of him you creep, his mind was screaming, fists clenched baring white knuckles. Silus had been jealous before but it had never been this intense, no one night stand that Evan had mentioned held this much weight behind it. This was a relationship, a history being laid out in front of him, and it was hard for him to swallow.


Another step closer to the kitchen. Lingering in the hallway was supposed to suppress the rage welling in his chest, but the longer he stayed the hotter his blood seemed to run. It was a night full of exasperation, but this moment hands down was the most irritating. Alex was gasoline doused across flames. It was every word Silus could never force himself to say, and every second he let go to waste, it was the way Evan had looked at him every day up until this second.


He left the hallway swiftly, one clear idea that cut through the static, a thought that he would eventually come to regret but knew he needed to fulfill. Silus reached out, grasping Alex's shoulder tearing him away from Evan, if only it was a few inches. Adrenaline had taken control of his actions, mind working at lightening speed. Without hesitation Silus' fist connected with Alex's cheek bone, an audible splintering noise filled the silence followed by a yelp of pain.


Silus reeled back cradling his dominant hand against his chest, a flurry of swear words spewing from his lips. He may have just broke his hand on his maybe boy friends, ex boyfriends face. But it felt good, despite the pain searing up his arm, there was a wide smile splayed across his face. He shouldn't have been proud but he was, but really it was a momentous occasion, he had finally let his feelings dictate his actions. It might not have been the best time or place to, but he'd finally done something without the fear of ruining his reputation.

 

[Melix]

Evan felt it- the want of something more than Silus. The want of something necessary for a human; more necessary than revenge or any form of physical gratification; more necessary than love or light; more necessary than anything Evan had ever wanted before. Alex didn’t know when to stop- and Evan wanted air. Just as he was about to pull away and suck in a mouthful of oxygen, he was pulled away, the force of Alex’s lips leaving only suction behind. And then- the crack of fist hitting jaw as Silus’s hand and Alex’s face made a connection. For a moment Evan was dazed, unsure of what was happening, and then he realized: Silus had just punched Alex, and he needed to be damage control, now. He stepped in between them, determined to block the rage of them both (and he knew how Alex could rage firsthand- Silus secondhand, but wasn’t secondhand enough? Why hadn’t he controlled himself?).


God, what if one of them were hurt? Without more to fuel him than that thought, he turned automatically toward Silus and gently kissed the top of his forehead. “Are you hurt?” Alex had taken worse punches than that before, several from Evan himself, so he had no doubt that Alex was alright. “Your hand is bleeding.” Wrapping an arm around Silus’s waist, he led the smaller male toward the hallway closet where they kept one of the many first-aid kits. After cleaning the infected wound (“Don’t worry; if it hurts too bad you can bite me,” he’d said, offering his hand up as he ran it across Silus’s lips), he wrapped it in gauze, hand still near enough his almost-more-than-a-friend’s face that he could still retaliate against any pain Evan caused him.


When he was done with cleaning Silus up, he looked away briefly, a light red coming to his features. “You need to make up your mind,” Evan grumbled, and then, because that wasn’t assertive enough, he turned back to Silus and forced himself to look Silus dead in the eye. “You need to set yourself straight, for my sake. How do you really feel about me? You rejected me, but now you’re holding my hand and checking out my date… and punching out my date, for that matter.” He tried to make himself seem nonchalant, but it just wasn’t working for him, even as he gave a half-hearted shrug. “For someone who told me they were content to ignore my feelings for you, forever, just this afternoon, you don’t seem content to be ignored.” He looked at Silus for a moment longer, then shook his head in disgust, turning away. “I need to go tend to Alex.”


In the kitchen, he wrapped more gauze around Alex’s face. The senior wasn’t upset, only dazed, and kept commenting loudly on how good Silus’s hook was (probably trying to get on his good side, and hey, maybe it would work). Evan determined that he had a mild concussion, so he propped him up and let him watch a movie in the family room before dialing the non-emergency medical number for further instructions.

 

[cherryicee]

The moment Evan's lips touched Silus' forehead the rage subsided, his smile fading along with it as a strange melancholy set in. "I didn't realize hitting someone ended in pain for the person throwing the punch. Or that it resulted in bleeding hands." He tried to distract himself as his friend led him towards the first aid kit, a flush rising in his cheeks as Evan's hand grazed his lips. The sting of disinfectant was an unfamiliar but welcomed punishment for being so reckless, but he took the opportunity to nuzzle Evan's hand. "I have made up my mind." He sighed. "I did a long time ago, you just misheard my confession... The first part of it anyways, you didn't stick around for the end of it." Silus stood, following Evan as he tended to Alex, nodding an acknowledgement towards the Senior as he complimented Silus.


"I'm going to be very clear with you, which I should have been earlier." He entwined his fingers with Evan's squeezing softly , Silus needed this to be as perfect as it could be. "I wasn't content on ignoring your feelings, because I didn't know you had feelings for me. I was, emphasis on the was content on ignoring my own feelings." He paused, using his bandaged hand to brush Evan's cheek softly, his eyes locked on the boy in front of him. "I have been unsuccessfully been trying to tell you all night how I truly feel about you. You have every right to reject them now after the night I've put you through, but thanks for giving me the chance to tell you." Heart thundering in his chest, this was the moment he'd been so terrified of.


"I want to be your boyfriend. I want some sort of wild and forbidden romance with you, and that petrifies me. It shakes me to the core, because I'm not wild, and I shy away from the forbidden. I swear I didn't reject you, not purposefully. I was not checking out your date, I was trying to compare myself to him, I just wanted to know what I had to do to be your type. Petty I know, which is why I punched him, because I am a complete moron who is rife with jealousy because -..." His voice was wavering hesitant to proceed, but how could he stop now. "I'm forever captured by your lips, by your damn smile, I love the way you kiss my forehead. I don't want to be ignored, not by you, never by you Evan."


Silus pulled the other boy as close as he could with his good hand, draping the injured one around Evan's neck. The space between them now closed, and finally no words were left unsaid, only actions left undone. For a moment he lingered there content in the warmth that surrounded him, he could have stayed there forever, it there wasn't one more thing he had to do.





Timidly Silus kissed his best friend for the very first time.

 

[Melix]

“Well, it does if the person has bird bones,” Evan informed Silus nonchalantly as he went on about his work. “Be more careful with yourself—I’m sure you’ve heard the stories that girls like scars, but no one likes it when their merchandise is completely broken.” He gasped when Silus nuzzled his hand—followed by him removing his hand from the premise of Silus’s face, even though Silus’s affection was much the effect Evan had been hoping to achieve with that display of vulnerability.


“Hmm?” asked Evan. He was now in the other room, tending to Alex. How strange, he reflected, that he’d once thought it a bright idea to let the only two boys who had ever broken his heart into his home at the same time. Funnier still, he reflected, was that that was only earlier tonight. Well, maybe he’d have some alcohol and conveniently forget to care. These thoughts were interrupted by Silus’s voice and Evan slowly tuned in. He appeared to have been giving some sort of speech, for some time now, however, unfortunately, Evan hadn’t heard him. The kid was very quiet and easy to ignore, even if he was trying to speak loudly and clearly. "I wasn't content on ignoring your feelings, because I didn't know you had feelings for me. I was, emphasis on the was, content on ignoring my own feelings."


Perking his head up, Evan felt his emotions pool like a black puddle into the depths of his feet. Why had he pressured Silas into figuring anything out? He didn’t want to have this conversation twice, and he definitely didn’t want to have this conversation humiliate him in front of Alexander de Abandonato. “No. Stop,” he commanded, making the few moves to get closer to Silus, placing a finger over his mouth. “I don’t want to hear this.” He was better off with Alex alone than in this situation here.


But Silus did not stop. He prattled on, an onslaught of verbal diarrhea that was surprisingly enjoyable to listen to, once Evan allowed himself to listen again. "I want to be your boyfriend. I want some sort of wild and forbidden romance with you…” And Evan was back where he’d begun. Not listening. Nothing Silus could have said mattered after Silus said he wanted to be Evan’s boyfriend- Evan was now just waiting for him to shut up so he could kiss the poor boy- and no, he didn’t care that Alex would be watching.


“…I don’t want to be ignored- not by you. Never by you, Evan.”


As he was pulled almost uncomfortably close to his boy friend (maybe after tonight they’d finally drop that horrendous space) he just chuckled. “You know I’m not one for big sappy speeches. You really could have condensed that down to ‘this is all a misunderstanding.’” He grinned and leaned forward. “Don’t even say anything,” he admonished. “I’m not interested.” He allowed their faces to become as close as they could without kissing, before he said it. “Kiss me, you fool.”