Loud And Clear (boyxboy)

Unintentional Tease

Lucas skipped up the hall, excited. For way too long now, he had been staying in his apartment at night, huddled under the covers, blasting youtube vids and pretending that the dark didn't bother him. And tonight, for the first time in ages; it didn't. Because William was here.

"We can do the whole slumber party thing," Lucas was saying. "Like the whole deal. We can play monopoly. I have a flashlight on my phone. Oh! We can cook marshmallows on a candle or something. I bet there's one in a drawer somewhere. Or, or!" he said, flapping his hands around,"we could tell scary stories! Actually, wait, no. That's a stupid idea."

He mumbled the last part with a furtive glance at William, hoping that the blond wasn't too excited by the scary story idea. William raised his brows at Lucas.

"You're scared of scary stories aren't you?" he asked, a smile tugging at his lips.

"No! it's just--" Lucas flushed because he actually hated scary stories and had no idea why the hell he'd suggested that. "It's late and stuff and we should probably just go to sleep."

The door next to Lucas' creaked open and an elderly woman poked her head out, eyes fixing on Lucas.

"Oh," she said. "It's you again. Dear, do you mind keeping it down in the hallway?"

Lucas flushed and nodded.

"Sure, sorry Mrs. Walsh," he muttered.

Avoiding making eye contact with William, Lucas unlocked his door and went in. William entered, shutting the door behind him and sealing them both in the darkness that was Lucas' home.

He felt his friend come up close to him, his heat touching Lucas' back, warm breath tickling his neck.

"Lucas?" William asked lowly and he was so close that the timbre of his voice vibrated through Lucas. A hand closed around his shoulder and William let out a breathy laugh. "I did not expect it to be this dark."

Lucas laughed but the humor was lacking even to his own ears and he dropped it, finished the sound with a sigh.

"Yeah," he admitted. "It takes some getting use to."

In fact, Lucas still wasn't use to it. To be honest, his heart was pounding and only the warmth of his friend's presence gave him a modicum of comfort.

He swallowed.

"Hang on."

Feeling particularly brave, Lucas walked forward.

And immediately stubbed his toe.

"Shit!"

"What? What's wrong? What happened?" William's worried voice followed him and Lucas laughed, flexing his toe until it stopped tingling.

"I forgot I usually use my phone for this," Lucas said.

He pulled it out and used it to light his way to the large, living room curtains and then pulled them open, revealing the the streetlight outside and just enough brightness to see their way around.

"Once your eyes adjust its not that bad," Lucas assured. William was standing in the middle of the living room, hands tucked into his pockets watching Lucas with a twisted expression that he couldn't quite read. He didn't respond and Lucas shifted uneasily.

"Are you hungry?" he asked hesitantly. "We could order Chinese or something."

"I'm good," William said.

He was still watching him. Still in his weirdly perfect model pose. William bit his lip like he wanted to say something.

The silence stretched on.