Change - (boyxboy)

Chapter 14 - Always and Forever

"Welcome to my humble abode," Will announced with a slightly nervous chuckle. He wasn't too sure why he was feeling nervous, it wasn't like Oliver was going to turn and run just because of the state of his living room. But the truth of the matter was that Will was revealing a big part of himself right about now.

See, the truth was that Will was poor. Like, pretty damn poor. In the grand scheme of things, it shouldn't really have mattered, but to Will, it did. A whole lot. Part of it came from going to the school that he did, which was one of the most expensive in his city, and all the students flaunted their wealth, even if they didn't realise it. The girls did. Oliver did. Ryan did. All of them. While poor little Will kept quiet about being the full-scholarship student who wouldn't have been there if he didn't have that.

Well actually, the girls did know, finding out about his circumstances around the time when Henry had disappeared. When Henry fell off the face of the Earth, so did Will for a few days, causing the girls to worry and go out and find him. It took them a little while, not having much to work on as Will had been so elusive about it the entire time they had all been friends. 

But one day, while Will was wallowing on the couch, the girls knocked on the front door of a dingy looking house, walls peeling and verandah creaking. They'd all looked at each other, worried that they were about to enter a crack den. But once Will opened the door, they agreed that Will's well-being was the most important.

And so, from that day on, none of the girls mentioned the state of Will's finances to him, as they all did their part to help Will out as much as they could, whilst also trying not to make him feel pitied or as if he was getting some sort of charity from them.

Will did notice though, tipped off by the girls' sudden generosity. And he did feel bad, feeling like he was a mooch who was taking advantage of their luxuries. But as time passed, he realised how much love and care these girls had for him, and deciding to settle on not taking all that much and accepting the generosity that they were giving him.

But just because the girls knew, didn't mean that Will wanted others from school to know. And no-one else did, except Ryan, who had dropped Will home after that fateful night at Commodore Point, since Will was too tired and emotionally drained to even pretend he didn't live where he did. Ryan had been accepting of it, didn't even say a word about it, and pretended like Will's home and neighbourhood was like any other, even if he had to constantly check that his car hadn't been vandalised or stolen. 

With Oliver, it was different. Will didn't want to admit it but Oliver's wealth was pretty evident, especially once Will had seen where the blonde lived. With a house that verged on a mansion, it was obvious that Oliver's family had money and a part of Will didn't want Oliver to know about where he came from, worried that that would be a problem with Oliver who might see it as Will trying to take advantage of him and what he had (which was far from the truth) - or even worse, Oliver would look down on him for it, like many of the other rich kids in school would have.

It was silly of Will to think like that, he already knew, but it played on his mind so much that he thought it best to just keep it hidden.

Well, until now that is. 

Oliver's reaction was quite reserved, just a simple nod as he looked around the small room. It was a lot nicer than the outside of the house. Will's mum had tried hard to make the place as presentable as possible, it seemed. The space was actually quite lovely, and Oliver wondered why Will had kept this from him, as he obviously had. It wasn't like Oliver would've judged for it. You come from where you come from and that didn't matter, who you were and how you acted was the most important thing to the blonde, not his boyfriend's postcode.

"Did you want a seat?" Will finally offered, breaking the silence that neither had realised had formed between them, too wrapped up in their own minds.

Oliver nodded, accepting the offer as he made his way over to a couch that had seen better days. As he settled into it, he found that it was a whole lot comfier than it looked, the foam enveloping him in a soft embrace - even if he sank a little lower than he was used too.

"Where's your mum?" the blonde asked, noticing the time. At about 10PM, Oliver was half-expecting Will's mother to appear, asking why there was a random teen sitting in her lounge room - since Oliver was yet to actually meet Will's mum. But no-one had popped their head in or had made their presence known in any way, so Oliver was curious.

"She's working," was all that Will replied with.

"What does she do?" Oliver pressed once it was evident that Will wasn't going to say any more than he had. The blonde wouldn't have been so nosey usually, but his boyfriend was being very elusive about things and he really didn't enjoy the feeling like Will was hiding this whole different world from him - though from the events of tonight, Will obviously was.

"She's a-uh, masseuse over in Groveland Park," Will supplied almost unwillingly. 

Part of what Will said didn't make much sense to the blonde. Mainly, why was his mother working as a masseuse at 10 o'clock at night? That sounded like very odd hours to the teen, especially in Groveland Park, an area which was known to be very sleazy and even dangerous at this time of night especially. But he wasn't going to push, even if Will's words created more questions than it answered. So, Oliver nodded, deciding that it was probably best not to press the matter further since Will was clearly not enjoying the current topic of conversation. Oliver was sure he'd get answers one day and he really didn't need them now. All he needed now was to relax with his boyfriend and pretend that his home life hadn't just fallen apart after his father had rejected him and his relationship.

Damn.

All of that hadn't hit him yet. The emotional toll that that would take on him was unknown to Oliver and he wasn't sure if he would be able to handle it when it did hit. 

Right now, Oliver felt like running away from it. Pretend it never happened and return to that little bubble that he had with Will, where it was all sunshine and rainbows. Where they were happy because they had their own little world between themselves to do whatever they pleased because all that mattered was each other. 

Sighing, the blonde reached out to his boyfriend, who was still standing around awkwardly in the middle of his own lounge room, pulling him in and onto the couch as he enveloped the other in a tight embrace. 

Will sighed as well, accepting the cuddle and releasing any hang-ups he was having over Oliver being here. Because this felt right. And anything else he felt was him just being silly.

"I love you," Oliver mumbled into Will's neck.

"I love you too," Will responded quietly, his eyes drooping as the long, tiring day finally hit him.

"Always?" the blonde asked.

"Forever," his boyfriend muttered before sleep took him.

Oliver sighed, hearing Will's breathing even out as he fell asleep. He could feel himself getting tired as well, his body ready to go to bed and forget that this day ever happened.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day...