fly | madderton

THREE

Richard had acquired a pinboard for his room. Well, it had been the only thing in the creepy cubby hole in the corner of his room, so he'd given it a dust off and leant it against his wall. Putting it up was an issue he'd resolve at a later date, but whilst they were out shopping for the day he'd bought some pins and was starting to arrange his photographs, with Charlie's help.

"We'll take my camera and get the pictures printed tomorrow. Or, we could do it Monday morning, if we're efficient," Charlie said, leaning in front of Richard to pick one of the pictures up. His lips curled into a smile at the sight, it was one of the few pictures he'd been dragged into with the other three. "We'll have to make sure we take loads whilst we're here."

"We will. And no stage fright. I need pictures of all of us. There's too many of just me and T." Richard picked up one of said photos, of him and Taron stood in front of Marble Arch, both grinning like they'd won the lottery. And Taron still had that winning feeling.

He was the next room over, stretched out on one side of his bed whilst Jamie stood at the window. It was big, big enough for Taron to be able to see out from his position on the bed.

"So, city life is really what you want?" Jamie posed, lifting a hand to rest on the frame.

"Yep. Don't you just think it's so exciting? Think of the possibilities!" Taron sat up to emphasise his point, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

"It's not for me. Too busy, too much noise. Too many people."

"So, what do you think you'll do then? You know, what are your plans for the future? You must have something."

Jamie leant closer to the window to watch a bird hopping along on a nearby roof, bringing a small smile to his face. "Oh, I've decided where my future lies. On the farm. Dad's going to be needing more and more help until he retires, and then it'll all be mine."

Taron smiled at this, standing to join his friend at the window. "That's sweet. I wish I could've stayed at home forever, stayed with my mum. I'm already missing home, but I know this is what I have to do."

"I believe in you. You can do whatever you put your mind to, T. Look at this, you've already got yourself a decent flat and an alright flatmate."

"Decent is one way to put it." Taron laughed, pointing at a tower block across the road. "I bet those ones are nice."

"Don't put yourself down, T. If there's any students in there, it's spoiled toffs living off of daddy's money. All 'ooh, look at me, I've got a manor,' yet criminally little personality. You'll get by, and it'll be so much sweeter when you've worked yourself to live somewhere nice." Jamie gently put his hand over Taron's, smiling. "Honest. You're the most determined person I've met. If anyone can make it, you can. Now, whilst we're on the topic of you achieving your dreams..."

Taron laughed, going to lay back on the bed. "Nothing's happened," he said, "We haven't spoken about it. I don't want to say anything, don't want to make it awkward, you know? If he wanted to bring it up, he would." Whilst Taron didn't like lying to his friend, and was bursting to tell him all about the new developments, he'd vowed not to tell him any more. Telling him about the kiss was pushing it enough, especially without Richard's knowledge. Richard hadn't explicitly asked him not to say anything, but with how reluctant he was to explore his sexuality, Taron assumed he wouldn't be too pleased if he was outed to everyone, before he'd even figured things out himself. He'd made Jamie swear not to breathe a word, and he was lucky that at least one of them could keep their gob shut.

"He wouldn't kiss you if he didn't like you, T."

"That's the problem. I kissed him. Just because he didn't run doesn't mean he would have initiated it. Still, shh. He doesn't know you know." Taron pressed a finger to his lips, glancing over at his bedroom door.

"Don't knock yourself down, T. You really need to talk about it, or it'll-"

A knock at Taron's door made them both jump, and Taron could feel himself paling at the thought of what was to come. The door slowly swung open, as if it was in slow motion.

"We're off out to get food. Come on, get your shoes on." It was Charlie, poking his head around the door and glancing between the two boys. "You okay, Taron?"

"Perfect." Taron sat up, flashing Charlie the biggest smile he could muster. "Just hungry. Where are we off?"

"Wherever we find first that we fancy," Charlie said. He stepped back away from the door as Taron and Jamie approached, giving them room to pass.

Richard was already stood by the door, trying and failing to pull his shoes on. It was moments like those in which Taron wished he could take pictures with his eyes, to capture every little cute moment he witnessed. Saying that, he'd still have a brain bursting at the seams, because he seemed to find cute in everything Richard did.

"Earth to Taron? Come on, mate." Taron was snapped out of his daydream with both Charlie and Jamie laughing at him, and a hand waving far too close to his face.

"Sorry..." Taron smiled, moving to slip on his trainers. "Rich, do you know where my jacket is?"

"I think you left it in my room. Come on, I'll grab it."

Richard stepped past the others to get back into his room, Taron following close behind. The others were distracted with their own coats and shoes, too distracted to notice the door shut behind them. As soon as they were in the privacy of Richard's bedroom, Taron's back was pressed against the wall and his lips against Richard's.

"God, are they leaving yet?" Richard whispered when they broke apart, a grin on his lips.

"Shh," Taron giggled, lifting his hand to cup Richard's chin, and gently stroke his cheek with a thumb. "You love them, really. They only got here today, and we don't know when they'll be back. Also, you need a shave."

"Do you not like the scruff?" Richard asked, still grinning as he lent closer to rub his cheek against Taron's. Taron had to suppress a squeal, using all of his might to push Richard away from him before any sudden sound caught the attention of their friends, stood a mere few feet away.

"No, I don't. Get it shaved. And find me a jacket, since you've decided I left one in here."

hello all.
sorry I've been gone for a while. if you haven't been seeing my sparse updates on my message board I've been having a bit of a rough time. my whole family has  been forced into self isolation after getting ill and it's been worrying, and being stuck inside and alone has been a huge downer on my mood. hopefully i'm back now, sorry if that's another empty promise :/
anyway, hope you're all staying safe and staying inside x