Seven Minutes [BxB] ONE SHOT

Seven Minutes

Charlie felt sick. The tie wrapped around his eyes scuffed his cheeks. He had protested the blindfold, but the others insisted the game would be more entertaining if they knew Charlie wouldn't see who came in the closet.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't scared. Junior year just started and he wasn't friends with anyone. Charlie was talkative enough, so people invited him to parties. But there was a group of loud, drunk teenagers outside the closet and he trusted none of them.

They were discussing who to send in the closet with him. Seven minutes in heaven. He hoped they sent Lauren. Charlie liked her more than most. Knowing his friends, though, they would send someone to embarrass him. Maybe Alina, who annoyed the crap out of him. Or Sasha, a kind, sweet girl, but so simple minded sometimes that Charlie got bored listening to her.

He should not have agreed to this. Even at night, the late August heat lingered in the house. The close walls of the closet seemed to suffocate him, even though he couldn't see. His breath came out short and his skin felt hot. If they didn't send someone in soon, Charlie decided, he would leave.

A minute later, they did.

Charlie knew the door opened when the voices and laughter outside briefly raised, before the door clicked shut and the world outside became muffled again. The presence of another living, breathing person in the room made Charlie's skin prickle. He heard their breath, the slight movement of their limbs, the natural heat off their skin.

A hand touched his arm. Nothing more than a brush.

His mind flicked through a million guesses and thoughts and questions before settling on a blank. There was no way to know who it was until after. Should he speak? Ask their name? And if they didn't answer?

All questions disappeared the moment fingers brushed his neck, and a hand cupped his jaw. His heart drummed in his chest, his ears, his lips. When their soft breath ghosted his cheek, white static drowned out any sounds.

Soft lips found his. For a moment the world went very still, and only this moment existed.

Then everything happened in a whirlwind, and Charlie's thoughts struggled to catch up as his body took over.

It was good. Too good. They knew what they were doing, each movement sure and steady and deliberate. A tilt of the head. Dip of the chin. Fingertips pressing into the sensitive skin of his neck.

Charlie brought his hands up to their waist. Oh. Oh.

He must have froze because they stopped kissing him, pulling back. Charlie brought his hands up to their face, feeling the stubble on their jaw. His hands trembled as he worked his way down to their chest, which was flat and muscular. Oh.

Everything jumbled inside his chest. There were no words to fix this. Had he really not known? Had he not known from the moment the other boy walked in?

The closet crashed and burned around him. His lungs had stopped working a long time ago. Then his name, spoken low and calm.

"Charlie."

Jackson. He went to Northview, an all boys school. Soccer star. Openly gay. All at once air rushed back into his lungs. His hands were clenched on Jackson's arms.

Distantly, the sound of people counting down reached Charlie's ears. Their time was almost up. His whole body was both numb and the most alive it has ever felt.

He kissed a boy.

Fingertips brushed back his curls, and Jackson's voice whispered into his ears.

"Find me upstairs by the end of the night. First door to the left."

Then his presence was gone. The door opened and Jackson walked out.