Sunsets and Constellations | B X B

• T W E N T Y S E V E N •

Woah, where was all of this coming from?

"Alright, last practice! We'll be done for today." Mr.Newman spoke, clapping his hands together as everyone took their positions. Elijah shot Arius a quick smile and went to sit in the seats for the audience.
Arius somehow made it through the song, much better than last time but fingers still shaking and brain going haywire as he felt Elijah's starstruck eyes on him as he played. He tried not to look at Elijah but his self restraint was non existent today.

He raised his head up, turning slightly to the left and met a fierce, green gaze full of admiration. Elijah was smiling at him, and it took Arius by surprise to see how proud he looked. His own lips quirked up in half a smile as he played the final notes of the piece, fully, completely, utterly distracted by the idiot in the audience, never breaking the gaze they shared.

"You should be at Julliard or something, you're such a talented player, Jesus!" Elijah exclaimed as they strolled by the lake, watching as the sun dipped.

"I know, I killed it today." Arius smirked at the boy which led him to roll his eyes in exasperation.

"A thank-you would suffice. Learn some humility you brat!" Elijah scoffed.

Arius simply shrugged in reply. Considering how paranoid he had been the whole day, he'd definitely performed well under stress.
They were walking by the lake in comfortable silence, with minimal conversation and it baffled Arius as to how he could feel much calmer and at peace with the boy who had stirred up these confusing feelings in the first place.

Seriously, what the fuck was happening?

"I think we should talk Arius." Elijah said slowly, putting out his arm to stop Arius.

Arius wanted to puke. The moment he was dreading and had spent avoiding the whole day had crept up on him at long last. Well fuck me, he thought.

"I- I don't know what the fuck happened to me last night." Arius blurted out, stuffing his hands inside his pockets.

A minute passed by, and then another. Nothing. He was met with silence.

"I wasn't being myself, I really shouldn't have done it. I don't know what came over me, I'm sorry for th-"

"Oh no no no, fuck no. We're not doing this again. I bought it the first time, not happening again. You and I both know you kissed me because you wanted to, and that the both of us felt something. Okay?" Elijah had stepped closer to him and was now gripping his shoulders with both hands, looking him dead in the eyes.

How could Arius deny anything he said when he looked at him like that? Like he was the only one alive?

He took a shaky breath and nodded fervently, not trusting himself to do anything else.

"Arius, what I feel for you, I've never felt for anyone else. Hell, I can't even begin to understand it myself. I'm not asking you for anything, and I don't want to make you feel like I want something to happen.
Although I do, God knows I do! I want you, I really do! But I'm not expecting anything alright? Just being able to spend some time with you everyday is enough, it really is.
Cheesy as fuck I know, but it is what it is. You're not ready and this whole gay thing? I'm new to it. I'm not that selfish so you can stop freaking out." He released Arius's shoulders and stepped back.

"Why do you have to be so wholesome, it just makes everything difficult you fucktard." Arius groaned, running his hands across his face.

"Fuck everything, I'll wait. You're the one thing that's intrigued me in a long time other than Ryder's questionable music choices. I don't understand it, but I'm not fighting it either." Elijah replied.

"That's the thing, no. You can't wait, you shouldn't have to. What if I'm never ready? What if I fall for someone else? That's just stupid! You cannot wait. You-" Arius was starting to breathe heavily, eyes going wide and wild when he was cut off mid sentence by Elijah yet again.

"No pressure, if you fall for somebody else, that's okay. Who knows? I might fall for somebody else too. And if you're never ready? That's okay too, I'll probably get tired of waiting and move on. But we'll be okay, we're going to be okay. With or without each other. It's just what life is." Elijah chuckled gently.

Arius calmed down slowly as Elijah rubbed reassuring circles on his back, fully aware that he might break into a panic attack.

It made sense when Elijah put it like that. It sounded easy, logical, simple.

Arius didn't want anyone expecting anything from him. And when Elijah had said he'd wait, it set him off. It was too much to cope with, and Arius didn't want to bite off more than he could chew.

Elijah had surprised him completely with how he reacted. Arius had never met someone like him. He was so gentle and calm while Arius was losing his shit with everything that Cupid was throwing at them both.

How could he not like him after everything he'd said today?

Elijah Kingston was a fucking angel and it was fucking annoying.

Oh, and Arius wanted to kiss him again.

"No, you don't have to say anything. Let's just go have dinner with the rest of them yeah? We've been here a good while now." Elijah said, pulling up his sleeve to peek at his watch.

"Tirzah is going to kill me, I was supposed to help her plan her date with Kaz, shit!" Elijah muttered.

Arius didn't know what to say, he'd been stunned into diligent silence and listening to Elijah ramble on about Tirzah and Kaz and other random things calmed him down. He loved listening to this boy talk, and could go ages without really interrupting him. He cast him a glance, a proper look for the first time today and noticed that Elijah's hair had grown a little longer, and had curled up at the nape of his neck.
Elijah had slicked his hair backward messily, with a few stray strands falling into his eyes.
He looked good. Really really good.

Soon, they were at the dinner table. Two tables that had merged into a single big one after the dinner at Charlottesville. They took their respective seats across from each other and no one really noticed them arriving late apart from Ryder who wiggled her eyebrows at Elijah.
While they ate, Ryder said something to Elijah after taking a good look at Arius which made him drop his fork and blush like the cherry tomatoes that graced their salads.
Arius just smiled and ate in silence, as everyone else around him faded into the background. Viggo was saying something to him, but he was done for the day. He was exhausted and wanted to sleep, which he did after Elijah had walked Viggo and him back to their dorm room, as promised.

It had been a long day.

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A/N

Alright guys, here goes! This chapter seems really weird to me because I'm writing after ages, I've been caught up with my undergrad and have been really busy lately! I missed my boys, and seeing some comments and votes on this story inspired me to come back and write again! This chapter is shorter in comparison but I'm still getting into the whole groove of it. The coming chapters will revert back to the original lengths and hopefully, I'll be able to get into the flow easily. (Let me know in the comments if this chapter was good, please Jesus!)
That being said, I have missed these two boys so so so much, which is why we don't really see anyone else in this chapter, I wanted it to be just them, after leaving y'all with a "cliffhanger" (kinda, sorta).
Anyway, thank you for reading! Do vote and comment if you like it!
Much love XD. Thank you!