Taking Hits

Chapter 19: Hold Me?

There was a pressure beside him, and something tickling his skin. "Wake up, sunshine. It's almost noon," a soft voice whispered.

Connor opened his eyes to glimpse Troye's face in front of him. The other boy was laying outside the covers, already showered and dressed, a smile playing at his lips.

Connor smiled seeing him, then lurched to the side, tackling Troye and pinning him to the mattress. The sheets fell off of Connor, revealing his still-naked body, but he could care less.

"Let me goooo," Troye beseeched, laughing.

"Never." Connor swooped down and stole a kiss from the other boy's lips. "You're mine, and there's nothing you can do about it." Connor fell to his side next to Troye, keeping the other boy tangled tightly in the sheets.

"You gonna hold me hostage?" Troye questioned, shifting slightly to look at him.

"If that's what it takes," Connor threatened.

"Mmm, saucy."

Connor chuckled and kissed him again. "How are you this morning?" he asked sweetly.

Troye had given up on disentangling himself from the sheets and just scooted closer to Connor, breathing in his face. "Better than I've been in a very long time," he whispered.

"Close your eyes," Connor requested, and Troye obeyed without questioning him. Connor started to trace the outlines of his face, resting his fingertips on Troye's cheeks, then brushing them up around his eyes, along his temples, to his forehead, then down along the bridge of his nose and finally to his lips and chin.

He ended with his hand resting against Troye's cheek again. "What are you thinking about right now?" he asked.

Troye hardly even paused before answering. "That I never want to be even an inch away from your touch ever again," he mumbled, breathing in deeply and raising a hand to place over Connor's on his cheek.

After several more seconds, Troye opened his eyes and saw Connor smiling warmly at him. "You don't have to be," he murmured.

Troye closed his eyes again. "Ok," he whispered. His body was relaxed. He seemed so content, so at ease. Connor wished he could feel like this all the time. He wished Troye didn't have all these other emotions threatening to overtake him each day. Why couldn't the world just leave him alone?

"Could you promise me one thing though?" Connor asked reluctantly.

Troye opened his eyes and hesitated. "I've broken so many promises to you, Con," he started in a small voice. "I don't know if you should trust me to keep any more."

"Hey, if you can still trust me... then I still trust you... implicitly," Connor said. "It's just this one thing I've been wanting to ask." Troye nodded for him to go on.

"Even if you do need to leave again..."

Troye opened his mouth to cut him off, but Connor continued before he could. "...promise you'll still talk to me, Troye," he said, almost in a begging voice." About anything - about you, about life, about the bird outside your window, I don't even care."

"I just want to know what's going on with you, whether it's good or bad or whatever. Even if you don't want to talk, even if you think it'll hurt, please just still call me and at least breathe into the phone or something." Connor seemed to be on the verge of tears. "I can't stand not knowing what's going on with you, Troye, I can't," he muttered.