More Than Friends (boyxboy)

Chapter 36: Finding the words

'I want to touch more that the hair on your head."

☆

“Wakey wakey..."

Bay carefully rolls onto his back in his bed. He slowly opens his eyes, where the silhouette of Archie seems to be visible, as the surrounding light highlights his frame. He rubs his eyes once, then twice before looking again. The figure remains. "Archie?.... what are you doing here?"

"It's Saturday morning." Archie laughs as he sits further back on Bay's bed, allowing Bay to sit up a little more. 

"But my house is far..."

"Stop with the question." Archie interrupts. "My dad needed to come this way for work and I asked for a lift.... plus..." Archie looks down at his own fingers as they begin to fiddle. "Where else would I be?" He looks back at Bay. “Your mum said I could stay for a bit to keep you company whilst she took the others out." 

"My mum?" Bay sits up a little too fast for his aching body, causing him to wince. "You've spoken to my mum?" 

"Yeah, she let me in."

"Did she say anything else?" Bay wonders. All too aware of his unexpected confession to her about his feelings towards the boy sitting next to him and how she, at times, had an issue with keeping certain things to herself. He carefully sits up, resting his back against the headboard. 

"No, just that she was taking Sim and the girls out to the park so you could get some rest and that I'm to keep an eye on you." Archie ruffles Bay's hair as he smiles, half expecting the other to pull his head out of the way or complain as he usually does, but Bay stays as he is and takes it. He looks at Archie and smiles. It causes a warm feeling in Archie's chest, as he is the one to pull away his hands, feeling embarrassed all of a sudden. "You normally complain when I do that." Archie mumbles. "What's changed?" 

"Maybe I missed it." He replies with a grin. 

"Me too." Archie matches with a smile, then his face turns serious. "You heard about Mark, right?"

Bay nods. "Mum told me. The school called her last night. He's been suspended."

"He deserved more." Archie finds a fist ball. "Both him and his stupid friend. He must think more of him than of you to cover for him." 

"Archie, stop." Bay interrupts. "Not everything is as black and white as all that." 

"Why are you defining him?" 

"I'm not! I just..." Bay exhales a sigh. "With Mark and I, I knew things would be complicated. He told me that from day one, we had to keep things secret. The only person to blame is me for not seeing how much he was willing to put himself first. Even covering for Gus was probably about him somewhere along the line. I don't hate him, I just feel sorry for him. He has another side he is too scared to show. A better side, but now he has no one to share it with, but I am lucky.  I have you."  Bay puts a hand on Archie's arm. "It's about time I was here for you like you have been there for me.... I'm sorry about you and Lena. Are you ok?" 

Archie lets out a snort. He looks up at Bay. "I'm ok. In fact, it was bound to end at some point. She was just smarter than me in knowing what she wanted. She wanted Jojo."

"Jojo?" Bay's eyes widened. The notion of Lena and Jojo together making sense all of a sudden. "That would explain a lot." Bay slowly nods, recalling the girl's behaviour every time Archie got close to Lena. "But how does that mean she is smarter than you? You don't know what's going on in her head.” 

"But I know what is going on in mine Bay and I chose to ignore it." He adjusts his position on the bed, taking Bay's hand, which was still placed on his arm. He holds it in his own, their hands, similar in size, with Archie's fingers a shade more slender. 

The interaction washes over him as Bay looks at his hand in Archie's. The touch felt like it was filled with electricity, and it made his nerves bristle. "Why are you holding my hand?" Bay feels too scared to look up. Knowing the boy beside him is already looking back at him, feeling the gaze. 

"I need to say..." Archie feels his own heart begin to pound. Well aware of the risk he was taking. The moment he could lose a friend.  "Life is too short, right? And… we could all die tomorrow with all the world's fighting and climate change off the scale..." He pauses,  knowing he was going off point, the most obvious words feeling too scared to reach his lips. 

"Archie..." Bay looks up. Knowing that he had to do something.  Even if it was to end the rambling words.  Maybe it was time to save Archie from his fall. "I love you."

"You love me?" Archie felt like his heart was going to explode. "No... I love you."

"What?... You mean,  we love each other?" 

"It seems so." Archie laughs. He pulls his lips into his mouth to quash the grin that wants to spread across his face before again regaining some composure. "What does this mean for us now?" 

"What do you want it to mean?" Bay smiles back. 

"I want to touch more than the hair on your head.... ow!" Bay playfully smacks Archie's arm. "I'm kidding. Well... I want to kiss you at least."  He slowly leans in but is stopped when Bay reaches out, holding him back.  Archie sits back up. "Sorry.  Am I going too fast?"

"No, it's not that. I've not brushed my teeth." Bay blushes. "Just wait here and let me do that.'' He pulls back the sheets and gets out of bed, daring to not look at the boy still sitting on it as he calmly as possible, walks to his bedroom door, opens it and heads out of the bedroom. Archie's hands grip the edge of the mattress. He nervously rocks back and forth on the bed, finally letting that grin spread across his face. 

He keeps his composure as soon as the bathroom door closes. Only then when he is out of sight does he exhale. He takes a towel hanging from the hook and holds it to his mouth and from nowhere lets out a squeal of excitement. This couldn't be real. This couldn't be happening. But it was, and this was the best feeling ever.