He Bleeds Flame ✔️

26. magnets

twenty-six
"Sapere aude" - the Age of the Enlightenment

MAGNETS

———

Trouble had a way of finding Henry Clover.

It followed him around for much of his life, and it seemed it wasn't intent to stop any time soon. He was a magnet, and trouble was the metal, the iron. A connection that would never be severed.

Unfortunately, he thought, as he stared at the ever so late Roy. The top button of his shirt was undone, and his dark hair glinted in the library's lamplight. He strode forward, pace quick yet not rushed, and his face held the tiniest smirk Henry might have ever seen.

Trouble.

Henry Clover knew it well enough.

When Roy slid into the seat across from him, pressed his elbows on the table, and leaned forward with a growing smile, he knew there would be no escaping this.

"Lover boy," Roy said as greeting.

Henry eyed him warily. This was a version of Roy he hadn't seen in awhile, if ever. A version of him so... undone? No, so alive.

He ran a hand through his dark hair, messing it up even further. "Henry Clover, what are your thoughts on love?"

Henry balked. "Love?"

"Yes, Henry," he said. "Love."

He narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

Roy really smiled this time—an evil grin, if anything—and glanced at the book resting before him. "Our project," he said. "There's an essay portion, need I remind you?"

"Ah," Henry said dryly. "Yes, I completely understand."

"I thought we'd explore the topic of love in eighteenth century literature and its reflection of society."

"Right," say Henry, almost in a daze. Idiot, he thought to himself. You're an absolute idiot. God, he was so easily distracted these days.

Curse Roy and his stupid unbuttoned collar.

"You alright, lover boy?"

Henry met his gaze, and with a gulp of courage asked, "Do you want to go to the art room?"

Roy only smiled, and he rose from his seat, grabbing Henry's backpack for him. "I've got a better idea."

There was no choice but to follow.

———

Roy didn't know he was falling in love until he was. The idea, in itself, sounded strange, but was so inexplicably true, he didn't know how else to put it into words, how to explain it to himself before it had just happened. Slipped into a slot in his heart without a care in the world.

Henry Clover had a way of causing trouble for Roy.

It had happened so suddenly he didn't know what to do about it. An image flashed through his head: a shy Henry walking up to an even shyer Louis. He'd turned around at the time, faced the other way, but still eavesdropped nonetheless.

Roy hadn't meant to fall, not really. He'd known there was a mess of lunch food on the floor by Henry's profuse apologies, but at the time he hadn't really been focused on keeping his balance. It was a bit embarrassing, really.

Roy had fallen for Henry, quite literally.

So long ago, and yet the time had flown by so quickly. Christmas Break was already approaching, and soon enough the halls of the Oakwood Academy for Boys would dwindle to a low enough number it would feel abandoned. Empty.