Love together be with you never (by tesxdols)

E i g h t e e n

The entire art room is different for the Christmas party. After they'd left, someone had come in and strung up lights all around the room. They cast it in a soft glow, while another set lines each of the display tables to illuminate the showcased pieces. There's also row after row of plastic chairs set up for the auction, just in the middle of the room, enough space between them and the tables to give everyone room to walk around and see what they've created.Ethan is exhausted. After lunch, Lance and Henry had dragged him back to the dorms to get dressed. Ethan had been forcefully put into one of Lance's white button-ups and a pair of his own dress pants, and they'd left him to do his hair with promises to do painful things if he left it messy and down like he always does.And he's a little nervous. As people stream into the room, dressed in red and white and black and green, everyone colour-coordinated with the holidays, Ethan's stomach starts to do flips. People move around the room, regarding all the pieces. Ethan watches people stop and look down at his own, but he can't keep doing that because he's trying to figure out what their faces mean, if they like it or hate it, and it's making him anxious. So he makes a beeline for the door, heading for the refreshments room just across the hall.Of course Grayson is inside. He's in a full suit, unlike Ethan. He looks good."Chocolate-covered strawberries," he says, holding one between his fingers. "Want one?""Sure," Ethan says. He reaches for the plate of them, but Grayson's holding the one in his fingers up to Ethan's mouth. Suddenly they don't seem as appetizing as they had literally seconds ago. But he bites it anyway, cracking through the chocolate shell to get to the juicy berry underneath. "'s good."Grayson's gaze darkens, eyes falling to Ethan's lips. "Yeah." He shakes his head quickly, like he's clearing his mind. "Is everyone in there, then? Have they done the auction yet?""I think they will in a few minutes," Ethan admits. "That's why I'm in here."Grayson nods. "Nervous, too?""A bit.""Come on," Grayson says, nodding towards the door. "Let's just go. Get it over with. Plus, you're going to get the highest bid, you know.""I'm not," Ethan says flatly. "Other people did way better than I did.""Just take the damn compliment," Grayson teases. "But if you don't want to go, I'll let you know how it went."Ethan shakes his head, now. "No, I'm coming." He snags one more chocolate covered-strawberry and follows Grayson to the other room. Lance and Henry are inside now, sitting at the very back, talking to each other. Ethan goes towards them, sinking into a free seat. Grayson sits beside him instantly. "When are they starting?""Five more minutes," Henry answers.Ethan nods and swallows.Five minutes pass awfully fast. Everyone settles into their seats, and Mrs. Kensington goes to the front of the room. And then it begins.The first piece sells for fifty dollars. The second for thirty. The third for one hundred and thirty. Henry's drawing of Lance goes for sixty bucks, to Lance. Lance's ass sculpture goes for a whopping one hundred and twenty.When Ethan's painting comes up, Mrs. Kensington actually bids on it. He didn't even know she was allowed to. And she wins, too, the painting going for one hundred and forty-five dollars. The highest so far. Pride swells inside of him, and Grayson and Lance both elbow him excitedly.Grayson's painting comes up, and Grayson nervously shifts in his seat. So many people bid on it, and the number just keeps rising and rising and rising, until a balding man buys it for a total of two hundred and twenty dollars.Annoyance goes through Ethan. Not at Grayson's painting outbidding his own (and everyone else's), but at the fact that some man is going to take it home. Someone who has no idea how that smudged handprint got there. Someone who has no idea how it was made, what it represents. Ethan wants it. Ethan wants to outbid him, wants to take it home and keep it for himself. But he doesn't have enough money, and Mrs. Kensington says "Sold!" and the painting is gone."Did that just happen?" Grayson asks afterwards, after all of the pieces have been sold. "Did- did someone really pay two hundred fucking dollars for my painting?""Seems that Grayson's been holding out on us," Lance says. "And here I was under the impression that you were worse at art than a first grader."Ethan tries to think of something to say, something to compliment Grayson, but his phone buzzes in his pocket. He pulls it out, reads over the text from Cameron, and nearly splits his face with a grin because finally. "I have to go," he says, already out of his seat."Where?" Grayson calls after him, but Ethan's already at the door.He'd hugged Henry and Lance goodbye earlier, warned them that he'd have to duck out early, so it's not like he needs to linger behind. He heads straight for his room, not looking back once. When he gets there, he quickly packs up everything he needs at home, mostly just a few integral pieces of his wardrobe and a book or two, and then he leaves, shutting off the light and locking the door behind him.