𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 ✧ 𝐣𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬/𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐫

𝟐𝟓✧

Arms envelop his midsection tightly, breaking the vignette haze of colours surrounding his focus. The face that affectionately buries itself in his shoulder is physically unfamiliar, but James is comforted knowing it's the same face he's grown so used to seeing every other evening over the phone.

Perhaps it's a little foolish of him to be borderline infatuated with a man he's only met once, that time being now, but it's impossible to stop once it's put in motion.

"James," Fraser breathes out heavily, sounding slightly winded from the collision. "You're here." He sounds surprised, as if he hand't expected James to show up at all.

"Of course," James grins down at the man, and tries to swallow down the endearment that climbs up his throat at the sight of a shy smile. "I'm not going to miss out on seeing my princess in person, am I?"

Freckled cheeks flush at the term and Fraser mutters out something intended to be biting, but instead comes out softer from the small smile gracing his lips. James thinks he could honestly look at it for hours.

"Ah, is this George?" Fraser asks him when the man in question passes by him to awkwardly greet Alex. "He doesn't think I'm going to be a dick and expose him or whatever?"

"Nah, already had that chat." James reassures him and pulls the man in close with an arm over his shoulders. It's almost surprising how tall Fraser is, even if there's still a good few inches between them. He knew Fraser said he was tall, well into six foot in fact, but he somehow hadn't expected their stature to be so close.

The other man's shoulders slump down slightly in what James assumes to be relief, and a nervous smile makes its way onto his lips.

"Um, it's nice to meet you." Fraser tells him, unable to meet his eyes. "Fuck, sorry. That's awkward as fuck, isn't it?" He laughs to shake off the embarrassment painting his face, failing when his cheeks go a rouge pink.

"You're certainly not wrong though." James agrees, hoping his own smile at Fraser seems comforting despite how he thinks there's a war of explosions occurring inside his chest. "Uh, pink shorts though?"

"Alex's, not mine." Fraser flushes – from his clothing being noticed or the fact he's being looked at, James isn't sure. "Had some real nasty freaks try and grab under my skirts before, so it's better just to wear something like this."

Something that feels similar to bile rises in James' chest, acidic and sharp at the words, and silently despises every single one of those people that have dared do that to the other man.

"Trust me, I'm gonna make sure nobody lays a hand on you, sweetheart." James grins, making an obvious joke about his slightly taller height between the two, but feels himself swallow when the hue of pink on Fraser's cheeks returns.

"Well," He mutters, hands fiddling with the strap of the bag containing the badges, "I wouldn't mind if one person in particular put his hands on me."

James watches when the shorter man struggles to meet his eyes again, and suddenly realises that this day might be tougher than he realises.

✧

The day goes smoother and faster than James had expected. 

Alex is actually a pretty decent bloke, which only comes as a surprise to James because of the lack of details that George cared to share about the man. Even if he somewhat annoyed James with his constant poking jokes, he was fun to hang around with when Fraser was talking to somebody else or giving out a badge.

Fraser is more than he expected.

It's difficult to describe when there's so many people, making his thoughts fill with static and preventing coherent words. But he's entirely sure he's got it bad with this boy, and maybe he can see where George and Alex's teasing came from about him being 'whipped' when he was caught staring at Fraser.

He tries not to stare as much after that, stops himself from taking in every detail that a phone screen fails to capture, but fails when he discovers that Fraser covers his mouth when he laughs loud enough. It's as if when James tries to pull himself back, another detail that would normally go unnoticed if it were anyone else just pulls him back in.

One of Alex and Fraser's friends – Thaf, James thinks he heard – stopped by at some point with a camera for when the giant flag in the parade passed by. It was for a magazine Alex was apparently employed by that month for a Pride piece, and the photos were something that were needed from Thaf.

It took a while to notice on his own, but with Fraser's guidance, they quickly spotted Niall and Will among the tons of people that also volunteered to carry it. Despite the many nights out, countless drinks and jokes and wince-worthy videos they found in the morning, James can't recall a time that either of them looked this happy.

He pretends not to notice when Will bounces up to them slightly teary-eyed once their part of the parade is finished, and instead lets the man envelop himself and George into a hug. Niall follows up quickly, his hand subtly slipping into Will's with a comfortability that James hasn't seen yet. It's always been shaky hands and nervous fingers that he's witnessed, attempting to tangle together before one of them gives up.

Their faces are matching streaks of light pink, blue and white on one cheek, Will's other having the same colours as George and Niall's other cheek going bare. It's smudged, slightly damp like the ends of Will's hair, but they look more elated than any other face there.

Thaf comes and goes after promising to send the photos to Will as well, discussing with Alex about getting some more photos down the street. James loses track of the conversation when Fraser pulls him aside, his focus shifting from the hundreds of people around him to the only one that seems to matter right now.

"Do you want to get some lunch or something?" Fraser asks, parting his lips before wetting them. "Just...to talk a bit without all these other people."

James nods before he can even consider the offer, and is entirely too thankful that his subconscious favours in his best interests. "Just let me go tell George and that, yeah?"

Fraser agrees and holds onto his arm as they push through the small groups of people blocking the way to their friends. George looks a mix of annoyed and relief when James tells him about his plans; it's hard to pinpoint whether he's happy to be left alone with Alex or hesitant for James to leave. It's soon washed away when Will swings an arm over the short men's shoulders and shouts about some place that has drinks down the road.

"You have any place in mind?" James asks, watching George shove off Will's arms with a snort, before turning to face the other man beside him.

Fraser shrugs. "Dunno, think there's a coffee place somewhere around here that might not be too busy." His hand drifts down James' arm, hesitating at his wrist. "Is this okay?" He asks quietly, eyes turning up to meet James'.

"Yeah," James answers breathlessly, nudging his hand upwards until their fingers meet. "Yeah, this is fine. Lead the way, angel."

Fraser grins sheepishly, twining their fingers together as he walks one or two steps ahead. James has no fucking clue how he got so lucky as to have a boy like Fraser hold his hand, as sappy as it feels.

✧

ok Yeah i know i couldve put more details in this but. honestly idc if they stood there waiting for Whatever or not so deal with how nondescript everything is ok, im suffering from the lack of it too

im just tryna do these in bitesized chunks so its not filled with like 3k per part so uh. i promise things gonna happen next part lol srry this is Bad