Show me the stars that live in your eyes (A Maycury Story)

Chapter 14: Satin Swans

"Freddie, can you come here?"

Brian's tense voice interrupts the previous silence of the living room Freddie has been sitting in, going through pages and pages of magazines mindlessly. The morning had been lovely, waking up in Brian's arms—like each and every day—with his back uncovered by the covers but warmed up by the sun. He thought of getting up and preparing something special for Brian, but decided against it and let himself believe that him in Brian's arms was a good enough surprise.

He stands up from the couch, pushing aside books scattered across the floor, careful not to knock over the teacups and plates. Brian and him had stayed for a while on the couch, enjoying each other's company, cuddling and not bothering to clean anything. Thank god Roger isn't there, Freddie's sure he wouldn't have liked seeing him walking around the flat solely in his underwear.

Freddie walks all the way to the bathroom, observing Brian with his back to him, the way his shoulders move up and down with each breath, the gentle curve of his spine. He tiptoes quietly on the cold tiles, reaching forward and wrapping his arms tightly around his lover. "Yes, darling?" He whispers, his voice honey sweet. He snuggles his face against Brian's back, content with the warmth of his naked skin.

"What's this?" Brian asks, but the tone of his voice isn't lovely like it was minutes ago. He nearly sounds annoyed.

Freddie gets up on the edge of his toes, trying to look over Brian's shoulders and sees him holding pills, safely placed in an aluminium packaging, in one hand and cardboard with writing on it in the other. Some have already been taken. He pulls away slowly, feeling bile rising in his throat with dread.

"Well, they're contraceptive pills, as it's written just there," he replies, letting out a humourless laugh when he feels slight nervousness at the pit of his stomach.

"And why would we have those?"

For a moment, Freddie freezes, unable to find something to say. When he turns to face him, Brian's eyes are cold, freezing, as if he's a complete stranger, as if Brian despises him. It takes what feels like an eternity before he can bring himself to say something, previously too stunned by the way his boyfriend acts.

"W— I don't know... Why are you asking me? Why would I even know that? They're probably Jo's or something," he explains, rambling, but can hear how false he sounds, the panic rising in him isn't helping.

"I've never seen them here before, Freddie. And Jo has a flat, she doesn't leave her stuff here," Brian retorts and Freddie wishes he wasn't so fucking smart.

"And what are you trying to say, darling?"

When he feels backed into a corner, he becomes defensive, desperately trying not to break under the pressure and blurt out everything like he usually does. This could ruin everything. He feels guilty lying, but he has to, at least for some more time.

"You sure you've got no idea where they come from?" Brian asks again, but it's very clear he knows something is up and that he has his own idea about it. But he couldn't have guessed it, could he? He thought he'd been discreet enough about it.

"I don't know!" Freddie exclaims, trying to come up with something else to say, something that Brian will believe. Because Brian clearly doesn't trust anything he's saying at this point.

"I've seen them before at your flat, Freddie. Who's pills are they?" Brian repeats; his whole body is tense and Freddie can feel too well the distance he's putting between them. He hates feeling so detached from Brian's feelings and the only way he can think to remedy that is anger.