fly | madderton

EIGHT

fast(er) update because i have written a fair bit tonight and all of your comments on the last chapter made me feel all warm and fuzzy. thank you all for being so lovely ily all <3

The first week had come and gone quicker than anybody had hoped. As did the next few days. In fact, they were around halfway through Richard's visit already, and to Taron it felt like barely five minutes. He was stressing over the thought of Richard leaving again. He knew, realistically, that getting upset about the inevitable would only ruin the short amount of time he had left with his friend, but he couldn't help but fret over it. Not only the fact that Richard would be going back to Scotland, a few hundred miles away, but the fact that Taron was still harbouring a secret. He'd been meaning to tell Richard, truly, but just hadn't found the right moment, or the courage, to do so.

The boys had planned a trip out to the beach for the day. They were all going to bike down and spend a day at the seaside, with the weather turning far warmer that it already had been. Taron was just finishing up packing his bag, making sure he had a jacket, a towel, and some dry clothes folded at the bottom for in case they went swimming and he wanted to change. Other than the lunch that his mum had packed for them downstairs, he was pretty sure everything he needed was in his rucksack.

Once he'd quintuple checked his bag and grabbed his sunglasses, he decided he was finally ready to leave his room and head downstairs. To his surprise, Richard was already in the kitchen, looking in the fridge.

"Morning, Rich," Taron said, placing his bag on the kitchen table and smiling as his friend turned to face him. Richard smiled back, two water bottles in his hands.

"Morning. Here." Richard passed them over to Taron, then turned back to the fridge to get the carton of orange juice. Taron left one beside Richard's bag, and put the other in his own. "Want breakfast?"

"I've got it, I'll just have some cereal. Do you want any?" Taron asked, grabbing the box out of the corner cupboard. Richard shook his head, getting two glasses out and pouring each of them a glass of juice.

"I'm good, thanks. I had some toast already. Have you got everything ready?" Richard moved to put his bottle in his bag and start packing away his half of the lunch that Taron's mum had prepared. Even though both boys were eighteen now, she'd still gotten up ten minutes earlier to pack them each a lunch for the day, and had still used the same little animal stickers she'd always used to seal up the sandwich bags. Taron was more than happy to do it himself, but she'd insisted.

"Yeah, how long have we got?" Richard checked his watch, sitting at the kitchen table as he did so.

"Fifteen, twenty minutes? Long enough for you to eat your cereal," He replied, leaning back in his chair to watch Taron prepare his breakfast. Jamie and Charlie were biking up to Taron's house and the four were setting off together from there. It wasn't long until the boys arrived, and the four were biking off in the blazing sun, heading straight for the beach. Taron had taken his own bike, whilst Richard was borrowing his friend's stepfather's. It was a little heavy compared to what he was used to, but he got accustomed to it pretty quick and took the lead for most of the journey, although he did have to have the others yell directions at him every once in a while. Somehow, they made it to the beach just about on time, and only almost went the wrong way once.

Unsurprisingly, the beach was packed. As the boys locked their bikes up to a stand on the prom, Taron cast his gaze up and down the sand. They were certainly going to struggle to find a spot to sit that wasn't infested with little kids. That struggle would have to wait though, as the first struggle was finding somewhere to sit to change out of their trainers, and into their flip flops. They ended up just standing by the sea wall, awkwardly leaning on it and trying not to wobble over as they swapped their shoes and packed their socks and trainers back in their bags.

Somehow, they did manage to find a spot to sit, and Richard and Jamie wandered off to get them some deck chairs whilst Taron and Charlie protected their area with their life.

"There was only three left," Jamie said, putting his one chair down and starting to open it out. Richard came up behind him, holding a chair in either hand. "Sorry."

Charlie looked at Taron, silently asking who should have the extra chair.

"Don't worry," Taron said, shaking his head, "You have it, I'll sit on the floor. I don't mind."

"Do you want mine?" Richard was quick to ask, unfolding one chair and checking it was locked open before moving to the other.

"No, really, it's alright-"

"We'll just all take in turns. I'll take first shift on the floor."

Richard didn't give Taron a chance to argue, stepping away from the chair and opening his bag to pull out a towel. Taron met Jamie's eyes, and wasn't surprised to be met with an eyebrow raise from the other boy.

Of course he would take Richard's kind gesture the wrong way.

———

"Don't worry about me, I'll sit with the bags."

"Yeah. Me, too. You two go," Jamie said, nodding at Taron. Taron shot him a glare, silently threatening to strangle him if he tried implying any more.

"Sure?" Richard asked, pulling his tee over his head and dropping it on top of his bag. "Well, alright. Your loss. I'll race you, T."

He was off before Taron had finished taking his own top off, sprinting towards the water. Taron hardly had a chance to yell his upset before he was running off after him, dodging families and sandcastles on the way down. Naturally, Richard made it to the waves first and ran straight into the water, turning to face his friend when he was about thigh deep, only to find he'd been left behind. Taron was stood at the edge of the water, squealing when the waves lapped over his toes.

Richard couldn't help but laugh, driving his hand through the water to splash some at Taron. "Come on, it's not that bad! Stop being such a wuss!"

"It's freezing!" Taron whined, stepping back as the waves brushed closer. Richard had to laugh again, taking a few steps towards his friend and splashing him again. "Stop! Rich!"

"It isn't that bad. Come on, come in," Richard said, trying his best to grab handfuls of the cool water and throw them at Taron's chest. Taron squealed again when Richard's plan actually worked, jumping backwards.

"No! That is absolutely freezing, you sadist. Oh my God! Don't you dare-" Richard had charged forwards, ducking down to press his shoulder against Taron's midsection and wrap his arms around his friend. Taron was squealing and hitting Richard's back, but Richard was numb to it as he strode back into the water with Taron over his shoulder. There was not a shred of mercy present in a single fibre of Richard's being as he threw Taron off of his shoulder and into the water, with a final yelp from the older boy. Taron briefly disappeared into the shallow water, sputtering as he sat up and glared at the grinning man stood over him.

"That's it, Madden. You're dead to me."