The Eye of the Beholder [boyxboy]

Chapter XXI

"Wes, I'm not planning on staying too much longer, will you stop worrying so much?" River tried to keep his voice at a low volume, not wanting to disturb the near-silence in the library or draw too much attention to himself either. River used to enjoy the spotlight, recently he hadn't felt the same about the notion. He preferred to blend into the shadows and not worry about everyone staring at him.

It had gotten old far too quickly when he had first stepped into school with his newly dyed brunette hair. That wasn't the only thing he had changed about himself. He had taken out his septum piercing, along with the barbell he tended to keep through his tongue, and had actually worn a thin denim jacket to conceal the tattoos littered up his arms. It had been a spur of the moment decision, usually, he would just flaunt the ink that covered him, but he just didn't feel like it that day. Sadly. That only meant that he drew more eyes to himself with the action.

"Do you want me to walk down and meet you?" River rolled his eyes playfully, the beginnings of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Wesley had been on his case since the whole hair dying incident, well, actually, ever since he had broken up with Gray. River knew the boy was just trying to be a good friend, the only issue was it felt as though he was suffocating. Everywhere he turned, Wesley was there. And, if not physically, he would be texting or calling River.

"No, I'm perfectly capable of walking back home by myself," River had opted to stay in the school library for an hour or two after the final bell since he had recently let his studies slip pretty badly. Not enough for his parents to be informed, but he had been pulled aside a few times in class to discuss the down turn his grades seemed to be taking.

River didn't want to blame Gray for everything, however, his distracted mind really was due to the man. He thought it would have lessened as the two spent some time apart, but it didn't turn out that way. It was the complete opposite, in fact. Every day, River seemed to be getting worse and worse at staying focused in class. His mind would wander, first to something irrelevant and mundane, which wasn't too bad. It was worse when Gray would creep into his thoughts, consuming everything, forcing the boy to physically shake himself from his daydreams and, inevitably, drawing attention to himself with that action. At least the detentions hadn't been so bad, he had gotten a lot of homework done.

"I really don't mind, we could pick something up for dinner along the way? Maybe for your brother too? Have a guys night with him?" River really was appreciative of Wesley's caring nature, the boy was even staying over at his house because Alice and Jensen were away on business. No matter how annoying Wesley could be, no matter how much he pestered and whined, River couldn't ever imagine asking him to stop. He was River's rock at the moment, the boy wasn't sure if he could have coped so long with the loss of Gray if Wesley hadn't been there for him. He really was a good friend, albeit a bit much at times, but perfect nonetheless.

"Wes, I'll be home in like half an hour and we can just order something. Don't bother walking down, honestly, I'll be fine. It's not like it's gonna get dark soon or anything," Wesley worried too much, sadly there was nothing that River could do about that. That was just who he was. Somehow, River wasn't sure he would even want to change him, he was pretty sure he liked Wesley that way.

"I don't mind meeting-"

"Wes, give it up," River laughed suddenly, followed by a deep blush and the flash of an apologetic smile toward the librarian who glowered in his direction, "I'll be alright, OK? If you want, you can run me a bath, I'm gonna set off now anyway."

"OK, do you want like bubble bath in it or anything?" River had only been joking, he hadn't expected Wesley to actually take him seriously. Not that he was going to pass up the opportunity if the boy was willing to do such a thing for him. Was it taking advantage of Wesley? River hoped not, he didn't want to be that kind of friend, he had already dealt with the brunt end of a friendship like that.