Catboy

15

Julian woke up staring at the ceiling, his mind reeling with the events from the night before.

Was that even real?

He tried to roll onto his side, but found he couldn't; Lloyd's arms were circled around his waist. As if in response to Julian's movement, he sighed in his sleep and tightened his grip. Julian, despite himself, gave a small laugh. "Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," he said, and gently nudged Lloyd in the ribs. He stirred quickly, his one eye blinking sleepily up at Julian.

"What time is it?" he asked, but the words were slurred together and exhausted. There was a moment of silence as he released Julian and checked his watch. "It's eleven thirty."

"Shit, we slept in." Julian poked Lloyd in the side. "Come on, we need to get up." He heard a groan in response.

"Do we have to?"

"Yes," he replied, somewhat forcefully. "Come on, Lawrence will think something's up."

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Lloyd was staring at him now, fingers tracing lines across Julian's skin. Julian swallowed nervously, trying to ignore how hard his heart was pounding. Come on, man. Get it together.

"Well, you know, he'll probably work out that..." Suddenly, everything seemed clear. Lawrence's little smile at the doorway, his silence at dinner, how quickly he had retired to his room and left the two of them alone. He gave a silent thanks to the other boy. "Uh, should we tell him about this?" Lloyd quickly removed his hand.

"That depends," he replied coolly. "What, exactly-" he flicked his fingers between the two of them- "is this?"

Julian was suddenly at a loss for words. What could he say? I love you? Definitely not. I don't know? That would just make him sound stupid. I guess it's nothing? That would be a lie, and it would break his heart.

"I don't know," he admitted, after a moment of reflection. "I guess it's whatever you want it to be."

There was a short silence. Lloyd pushed the sheets off of himself and crossed the room, bending down to grab his shirt off the floor. Julian watched him go, his eyes narrow. Did I say something wrong? Does he hate me?

Lloyd walked back to the bed, leaned over, and gently kissed Julian's forehead.

With a smile, he turned and opened the door. "Come on. We should probably get something to eat." The door closed behind him, and Julian was still staring at it blankly. He could still feel Lloyd's lips on his forehead.

Breaking out of his reverie, he pushed back the covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed, his feet resting on the wooden floor. His head was spinning. He likes me. Does he like me?

He must.

Maybe I'm just a one-night stand.

You didn't even sleep together.

Yeah, but it's the equivalent.

"Stop," he said aloud. "You're just making yourself feel bad."

He stood up, stretching out the last aches of sleep that had settled over him. He walked over to his bag and found a fresh shirt, quickly pulling it over his head. It rubbed against his neck, and he gave a quiet hiss as it pressed up against a bruise.

Wait.

A bruise?

He turned to the wall, where there was a full-length mirror, set in ornate gold gild with immaculately polished glass. Peering into it, he instantly saw the slight discolouration settled on the left side of his neck. "Shit..." His face flushed red as he turned to inspect the mark. "What the fuck, Lloyd? Christ." He didn't remember getting that- everything from last night was a blur, just memories of his hands clutching at grass and Lloyd on top of him. He blushed even more at the thought, and quickly turned away from the mirror.

He found a hoodie in his bag, checked to see that you couldn't see the mark under the hood, and then left the room.

Lloyd and Lawrence were sitting at the breakfast table, a stack of fresh pancakes in between them. "I made them this morning," Lawrence explained, foregoing his usual greeting. "There's maple syrup in the fridge if you want it."

Julian made his way to the fridge and pulled it out. "Thanks, Law. This looks amazing." He sat down, picking one of the pancakes off the pile. "Sorry we didn't get up earlier."

"It's all good," Lawrence nodded. "I went for a run earlier. The forest is nice," he said through a mouthful of pancake. "You guys should go for a walk or something later."

"Yeah, I'll think about it," Lloyd replied before Julian could say anything. "But we might be... otherwise occupied," he added with a wink. Julian almost choked on his pancake.

As if he hadn't noticed, he continued talking. "But yeah, I'll make sure to check it out. Was it cold?" His tone was light, easy, as if Julian wasn't bright red. "It was nice out last night."

Lawrence nodded, taking another bite of his food. "It's kinda cold, so I'd suggest bundling up if you head out. There's a really nice river, so if you're going for nice photos it'd be a good idea to bring your camera. You know, for the memories."

"S-sounds good to me," Julian spluttered, trying and failing to act natural. He was fairly certain that he looked like a tomato. "Uh, we'll check it out later."

"Cool," Lawrence said, then pushed his plate away from himself. "I'm full."

"What, already?" Julian was only on his second pancake. "You're a weakling." Lawrence didn't reply, only laughed. "Well, since you're not having them," he continued, "may I have the pleasure?"

"Yeah, sure," Lawrence grinned. "I'm gonna go shower," he told the two of them, standing up and pushing his chair in. "I'll see you two later." He passed Julian on his way out, just out of Lloyd's field of vision.

Was Julian hallucinating, or had Lawrence just winked at him?

Godammit. He really has worked it out.

Julian turned back to his pancakes, trying to ignore the heat of Lloyd's stare up against the top of his head. After a moment, he finally gave in and glanced up. "What?"

"Nothing," Lloyd said. "Just staring into space, I guess."

"Come sit over here." The words slipped out before he could stop them, and he sat there in guilty silence, afraid that his offer would be rejected.

Lloyd, ever so slowly, got up and moved around to the other side of the table, sitting to the left of Julian. "Did you check your neck?" He grinned, jabbing a thumb through the air. "I thought you might enjoy the surprise."

"When the hell'd you do that? Was I asleep or something?"

"No!" Lloyd exclaimed, taking on an expression of mock horror. "God, Julian, what kind of person do you think I am?"

"Well, I don't know! I don't remember you giving me this thing-" he gestured towards the bruise- "so you should probably just tell me when it happened."

"When we were lying on the grass. You're an idiot. Do you just not remember anything?"

"Of course I do." Their faces were dangerously close now, and Julian had to resist the urge to just forget about the rest of his point. "I just have a very selective memory."

"Mhm." And with that, Lloyd closed the gap between them once again.