Morganfield (Ongoing)

Drabble: Highschool 1999

author's babble: I didn't even think I'll go past ten chapters, but in celebration, I think it's time for me to post one of my random drabbles. Maybe I'll post more once I've written ten more chapters. Maybe. :')

If you see this, I just wanted to say thank you for reading this far.

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Artemis Place, Morganfield. 1999.

Aiden.

I graced my thumb on a family photo that usually sat on my nightstand. I remember when Mom insisted on having one in my room and I wasn't really keen about it because it will ruin the Batman theme.

The bruise on my arm was nearly healed and part of me didn't want it to. I didn't want it to fade completely. I wanted to preserve this moment, just freeze it in time. Things have been way too fast and I barely kept up with everything that just happened.

Tears started stinging my eyes again. We were all smiling in this photo. It was when my parents took Ashley and I to the zoo. We were seven years old. I can barely see the elephant standing just behind us.

I never thought I'd get over losing Ash. That's probably the thing with twins. There was always a part of her that lingered inside me. For the longest time, I was dumb enough to believe that we were the same cell split apart (which was a scientific impossibility, I know that now) because it certainly felt that way. But it came to a point where I stopped crying about her, and her face started fading away. Occasionally, I dream about her all grown up. But that's just me fabricating a memory.

And now, I lost all of them. I should deal with grief once again. I had therapy when I lost my sister, and now knowing better, I am aware I'm still sitting on the first stage of grief. I don't think I'm prepared to dive into this process again. I don't think I will be able to accept that all my family were gone. That's already too much taken away from me.

What did I do wrong? I've always been a good boy. I rarely lied, and I knew how to share my graces. Was it because I'm not religious? My mother was and still her daughter was taken away, and this time her own life.

I startled when I heard knocks on the door, and quickly wiped the tears from my face. I wasn't expecting company, but I knew my family's friends would start arranging whatever it was that they wanted to do with me now that I'm a teenage orphan below eighteen.

Liam.

I never knew how to deal with people being sad. I didn't even know what to do with myself when I got sad – or happy, or whatever emotion decided to turn up in my person. Sienna had plenty of those robot jokes under her sleeve that she always threw at me whenever I showed nonchalance on anything she told me. I've been told that I shrugged a lot. I would shrug my way through adulthood if I could.

Which was why I never told Sienna about this thing with Aiden. Maybe I would eventually, preferably when it's all over. And I'm pretty sure for Aiden, it was just a phase. There was no way Aiden was actually gay. He's too perfect that he needed to pass on his genes, marry someone of the same status as his. Golden boy needed to find his golden girl. And they will have all the golden babies to rule the world or something.

It started with him being impressed by my lyrical work, and the way it blended well with his music. And then it became a collaboration of our prowess, creating songs that held promise and eventually we formed Genesis. We were huge Evangelion fans back then. And then it became an appreciation of eyes, lips, hands and voices, paying attention to too much detail until I realized I was always watching him, and he was always watching me. And if Sienna or Jackson got a hint (I doubted it. I always made sure our secrets were airtight), they haven't really said anything about it. They just welcome every piece Aiden and I come up with at the end of our writing sessions, being none the wiser that most of those songs were created with a few drunken kisses and very little groping. Aiden groped. I sometimes let him. And it wasn't because of alcohol. It was because of the music.

In all honesty, I wasn't up for the kissing thing but Aiden seemed to like it. So I indulge him from time to time. When his hands started to wander, I stopped him, distracted him, or just made excuses. Creative as I was, all my excuses worked without effort.

I pushed the door open when I heard the knob twist.

"I didn't think you'd come." He said through a cracked whisper, trying to hide the fact that he's crying to no avail.

"Same here." But here I am, uncertain on what to do next. Aiden widened the door and I walked in, pushing the door behind me.

He was quick to cup my cheeks and press his lips on mine. I could taste the salty tears in my mouth. My chest ached, and I also felt warmth threatening my eyes. Shit.

"Maybe we should go out." I mumbled another excuse when I felt his hand clutching my shirt.

"I look like shit. And everyone else is outside. They'd ask fucking questions and I won't know how to-"

This time, I pressed my lips on his. "Shh. Then we stay here if that's what you like. But I'm only here to talk."

"You don't wanna take advantage of me? I'm vulnerable right now." He let out a humourless, watery laugh.

I rolled my eyes. "You make it sound like we're that kind of pair."

"We're not that kind of pair." He backs down, and sank himself back to his own bed. I pulled his computer chair and rolled it closer to him.

"So what's happening now?" I asked, reaching to dry the tears from his eyes. I liked his mop of dark hair, all wavy and messy, especially the way they curled over the top of his ears.

"Uncle Victor is picking me up. I'm staying there temporarily, I guess."

"Victor Loyola, huh? What a treat. At least you get to live in a mansion."

Aiden wrinkled his nose. "It's not a mansion. It's just a big house. Too big really."

"Big enough for their army of servants."

"They don't have an army of servants. Just three. Then just Uncle Victor and Jessica."

"Jessica." I repeated it with bitter taste in my mouth.

"You're jealous already."

I denied, "I'm not. You just want me to be."

Aiden kicked the chair and it rolled me right across the room. At least, he was smiling now. "She's okay. And besides, it's only temporary."

I made my way back closer to his bed. "She has a crush on you since we were in elementary school."

His smile was wider and smug. "Everyone had a crush on me in elementary school."

I rolled my eyes again.

"Play me something." He said, jerking his head towards his own guitar. He rarely played it these days, especially when we rehearsed because he embraced being the official drummer of the band.

I didn't play the guitar that much either because I took the keyboards when Jackson proved worthy of being our lead guitarist. I was still bitter about that but they all believed my feigned indifference.

So these days, I only played the guitar when I composed. Only with Aiden.

"Any requests?"

"That one you said you were working on. Bus Stop Blues."

I cringed at that working title.

He just sneered. "You told me in the hospital."

At the mention of the hospital, my eyes drifted towards the bruise on his arm. "Is that getting better?"

"Yeah." He answered briefly, like he was determined to stay away from that subject. Which I'm glad for. Because what else is there to say about that? He lost his parents in a fateful accident. Sorry for your loss. And then what? "C'mon. Let's hear it."

"It's still in pieces." Always had been anyway whenever I present something new to him. And then we tie them up together. I picked up his guitar and rested it on my lap. Then I started plucking a few strings.

He closed his eyes and I watched him listen solemnly as I carefully worked through the chords, the lyrics I came up with sang in a soft whisper. Tears rolled down his cheeks again and I stopped, but he squeezed my knee, urging me to continue.

I smiled at him, and I continued to play.

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