E L I J A H
"Well, I'm fun to hang out with, what's not to like?" Tirzah exclaimed indignantly as Kaz blushed red from embarassment. She'd been trying to get Kaz to go out on a date with her and he'd refused, flat out no.
"You're the first guy that's refusing to go out with me." She pouted, crossing her arms. Elijah laughed, pulling her into a side hug. He caught Kaz trying not to break into a smile as he shovelled the food into his mouth.
"Okay I'll go out with you. But just as friends, the two of us. If you try to kiss me or something, I'm out. Deal?" Kaz reasoned with her.
"Dude what the fuck? Are you hearing this Elijah?"
"I mean, something's better than nothing right? Y'all gotta get to know each other well." Elijah shrugged.
He had caught Tirzah casting longing glances and passing a flirtatious comment to Kaz every now and then and Kaz would blush, while rolling his eyes. They'd become a nice pair of friends, Tirzah always teasing him. But Elijah could see Tirzah catching feelings for the boy slowly, it was hard not to. He was the most down to earth, sweet and shy kid in their ever growing group of friends. They had a new addition to the group, Kaz's friend Everest.
Everest was the youngest among them all, having skipped classes because he was also fucking smart. So Ryder, Viggo and him got along super well.
Fucking nerds.
Arius had arrived late at the table since he'd been practicing with the choir. Their school was doing an adaptation of Hamilton, and Elijah had suggested that Arius join them, because they'd been looking for someone who could play all the tracks. Surprisingly, Arius had actually gone and spoken to the music teacher who was really impressed.
Who wouldn't be?
Kaz and Tirzah were currently locked in a staring match, making Arius clear his throat loudly, but failing to break their gazes.
He looked at Elijah and shrugged as if to say "what the fuck?" when Elijah all but winked at him. He was getting braver with his advances and Arius was the one left speechless and stuttering these days. They'd gone back to their friendship dynamic again. Except, the fact that they'd kissed and had truly romantic moments with each other lingered at the forefront of their minds whenever they hung out.
But the fun part was that they could laugh about it, somewhat. Well it was confusing, Arius had probably figured out that Elijah had feelings for him. No shit. But hadn't commented on it even once. And for that, Elijah was grateful.
Even the tension was easily diffused by either one of them making sarcastic, snide jokes about the predicament they were in while they laughed about it together. When they were alone of course.
Even in everybody else's company, they'd slip up sometimes but thankfully, no one noticed other than Viggo and Ryder.
Arius had become kind of lost though, the past couple of days. He'd stare off into space and not even respond if someone spoke to him. He'd started napping a whole lot during almost all of his classes and was beginning to look stressed.
The only time he'd look relaxed was when he was in the auditorium, by the piano, playing his heart out as everyone sang along. Elijah had tagged along whenever he didn't have basketball practice, much to Arius's annoyance.
Elijah wanted so much to ask him what was wrong because he was really worried about him. Last time hadn't turned out that well though. And he wasn't willing to risk it again. No way.
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They were all currently having dinner and Arius had skipped yet again. Viggo looked a little stressed too, and had just answered curtly when Tirzah had asked about him. Everyone seemed to be quite tense at the dinner table. Jake was busy typing away on his phone with scrunched up eyebrows and Ryder was eating her food as slowly as possible, stabbing her food ever so often. Koovs and Madilyn were busy talking about something. Everest was missing too. Kaz and Tirzah were the only ones who looked like they were having fun.
"I'm just going to drop by and check on Arius, does anyone want to come?" Elijah said, standing up and wiping his forehead with his sleeve.
A few shakes of the head and incoherently mumbled 'no-s' later, Elijah found himself knocking on Arius's door.
The door quickly swung open, revealing a tired looking Arius in an oversized jumper; the sight of which made Elijah's heart pound just a little faster.
He was so fucking adorable.
"What do you want Kingston?" He mumbled, sighing.
"I was wondering if you want to go play soccer?" Elijah twinkled up at him, putting on his best excited look.
"We'll get caught you fucking idiot. The grounds are off limits."
"Yes, but Jake and Viggo have permission to practice! Hell, Jake has a key." Elijah pressed on.
"Now you're talking, come in." Arius said, sounding a little interested as he opened the door a little wider for Elijah to step inside.
"Yeah so, do you want to go?"
Arius plopped himself down on the bed and groaned loudly before sitting up and looking straight at Elijah. He was a bundle of nerves right now, hands fidgeting, legs shaking, and eyes filled with anticipation and the hunger to play again.
"Yeah, but-"
"No, no buts! Yes or no?" Elijah threw his hands in the air.
Arius narrowed his eyes at Elijah, for a few minutes. Elijah wasn't intimidated in the slightest, he was used to this. Oh and he knew that Arius was a big softie on the inside. They'd come across a bunch of little Jays on one of their walks and Arius had been absolutely delighted to have seen them.
"Cool, I'll come."
"That's what she said." Elijah muttered and burst out laughing only to have a pillow thrown at his face which only made him laugh harder. Arius was pink in the face now, trying to fight back a smile while Elijah cackled like a wild goose.
"Alright, get dressed appropriately. I'm calling Jake and Viggo."
"What the fuck do you mean appropriately? I'm coming like this. It's either this or nothing." Arius scrunched up his face as he shot Elijah a dirty look.
"Calm down. You're such a child."
"You're telling me."
"Shut up." Elijah laughed, shaking his head.
He shot Viggo and Jake a quick text asking them if they were down to play. Jake was happy to be doing this night-time thing again while Viggo was really anxious for Arius to play again. He hadn't played in a long time and it was kind of like a trigger to his angry outbursts. But Elijah was confident he'd be okay, because they'd done it during Christmas and Arius hadn't been anything but happy.
"Okay, so you're not going change your-"
"No I won't. You're so slow, get with the program Kingston." Arius rolled his eyes as he laced up his converse.
"Those phrases are so unnecessary! Anyway, will you come down to my room with me? Gotta make a quick stop."
"Jeez, buy me dinner first Elijah. I'm not that easy." Arius smirked, standing up.
"Wha-what the fuck? Don't say shit like that." It was Elijah's turn to blush furiously.
"Two can play at this game. Now lead the way."
"I could make another joke out of what you just said, but you're in such a weird mood a of a sudden." Elijah said stepping out of the room.
"I know."
"You scare me."
"Shut the fuck up."
"Okay."
"No, keep talking."
Elijah rolled his eyes and shot Arius a quick smile which the other boy returned, while patting his back with his 'metal' arm rather violently.
They met Jake and Viggo by the gate of the field, both dressed somewhat fit for playing unlike a certain someone.
"You take Moses, I think you've got his play down pretty good. That bastard is so fast." Jake was saying, waving his arms around as Viggo chuckled from where he was sitting on the ground.
"Y'all done?" Elijah stepped forward, thumping Jake on the back.
"Let's get on with it! I'm excited, I've heard things about Johnson." Jake said, unlocking the gate after which Viggo ran straight in.
Elijah turned around to smirk at Arius when he noticed the nervous, timid expression on the other boy's face, pulling back slightly.
He tilted his head toward the gate and gestured for Arius to get in but Arius shook his head slightly.
"Hey? What's wrong?" Elijah said, approaching him.
"You guys get the ball, we'll be there in a sec!" He yelled.
"I'm sleepy?"
"Are you asking me or telling me?"
"I don't know?"
"You nervous to play?"
"I-yeah. Kind of. Viggo and I started playing together, I cannot look stupid."
"He's your best friend Johnson, if there's anyone you can bank on, it's him. You'll be fine. It's okay to suck, it's only fair that you suck after not playing for months together! Besides, you don't even suck-suck." Elijah said, all in one breath.
Arius still wasn't saying anything and Elijah was starting to rethink everything. This wasn't going well at all.
"Okay, we'll go back? We can play when you're ready! I'm sorry I didn't thi-"
"No, let's go. I really, really want to play." It was one of those rare times that Arius's face didn't look eternally bored. Quite the opposite infact.
"You interrupt me way too much." Elijah scowled playfully.
"You should hear yourself talk, it never ends." Arius rolled his eyes.
"So, let's go?"
"Let's go." Arius nodded and stepped in after Elijah.
"Aight guys we're playin' two on two right?" Viggo asks, shaking his hair out of his snapback.
"Yeah that sounds good." Elijah said.
"Viggo and I versus you and Johnson." Jake smirked, pointing at Elijah.
"That's just stupid, I'm not a soccer player, and Arius hasn't played in months." Elijah said indignantly.
"No, you're on Blake." Arius smirked back, pulling his jumper off.
Elijah's eyes automatically strayed down to where his shirt rode up a little before he pulled it down again.
He cleared his throat suddenly and clapped his hands, hoping that no one caught him staring.
"You sure Ari?" Viggo asked, looking as nervous as Arius had looked a few minutes ago.
"Hell yes. Elijah's pretty good with his footwork, we should be fine." He said, stretching a little.
And so it began, they played for two hours and obviously Viggo and Jake won, but Elijah and Arius weren't far behind.
The total score was 45-37, which was pretty good. They'd played a one shot match. Everyone was walking on egg shells in the beginning when Arius had gotten sick of it and kicked the ball straight at Viggo's stomach.
"If you continue playing like that, you'd better watch out for your face." He'd smirked.
"Bitch, I was trying to slowly incorporate you into the game. You're an ungrateful brat." Viggo had laughed.
"I'm your captain. Shut up and play well, I can handle it." Arius had shot back.
Elijah was amazed at him. Where was all this coming from? He didn't understand, but he was glad Arius was actually willing to do this.
They had a really good partnership and moved pretty fast, although Arius did get tired a lot more than the rest of them. He made up for it with his killer goals and confusing passes though.
He was a really, really good player.
Right after they'd called it a game, Jake was yawning and mumbling about going to sleep.
"You coming man? I'm going back to catch some sleep."
"I'm coming, I'm so dead right now. Fuck you Ari." Viggo mumbled, smiling dazedly.
"I think I'm just going to take a walk, y'all go on!" Elijah said, yearning for some fresh, cool air.
"Ari? You coming?" Viggo raised his eyebrows.
"I'll uh, I'm going to stay for a while." Arius muttered, scratching his neck.
Jake and Viggo looked at each other, and Elijah could swear they had a conversation silently, while trying not to grin.
"See y'all in the morning."
Right before they left, Viggo went up to Arius and gave him a bear hug, squeezing him real tight and looking ecstatic.
"I'm so happy you decided to play. I'm so proud of you, always." He muttered into his jumper.
Elijah didn't mean to eavesdrop but it happened so suddenly and it was incredibly sweet. Arius looked elated as he gripped Viggo's shirt and said something he couldn't hear.
And then they were off, leaving Elijah and Arius in the dead of the night. It was 1:15 am and neither of them wanted to sleep.
"Have I shown you the place Jake and I would go off to in the night? We sneaked for a solid month before realising that we were hardly sleeping." Elijah said, stepping on the path and walking toward the woods.
"No you haven't." Arius said, following him.
They walked on in silence, the occasional crunching of twigs and leaves breaking the monotony in between them. Arius walked behind Elijah for some goddamn reason and Elijah was confused as fuck.
They climbed the same bark that Ryder, Jake and he had sat on, right at the beginning of term.
"This is it, this is the place."
"Nice clearing, I can see the stars from here." Arius said from beside him, looking up.
"The stars, yeah." Elijah laughed remembering the night they'd spent time under the stars.
"Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" Arius laughed back, still looking up.
"I don't know, maybe." Elijah said, still looking at Arius.
"What's happened to you today anyway?" Elijah muttered under his breath.
His heart felt all fuzzy and mushy when he took his own time to look at Arius's face properly. It was something he couldn't even explain, it felt so confusing and simple at the same time.
He loved times like these, where he could stare unapologetically. There wasn't anyone around and didi Arius didn't care. Infact, Elijah was pretty sure he enjoyed the attention and ego boost.
They sat in tranquility for a long time, just immersed in their own thoughts.
"Ad astra per aspera." Arius whispered under his breath, probably momentarily forgetting that he wasn't alone. His eyes hadn't strayed from the sky.
"Diligitis stellas. Why?" Elijah asked softly, not wanting to startle Arius.
Arius jumped slightly as he quickly snapped his eyes back to Elijah with unadulterated shock and surprise.
"What the fuck?" He exclaimed.
"I went through a phase, where I wanted to learn Latin because it was a dead language." Elijah smiled fondly thinking back to the days when his mum made a chart full of Latin phrases and hung it on his clipboard.
"Classic." Arius rolled his eyes.
"What else do you remember?"
"My favourite was aut insanity homo, aut versus facit." Elijah said, struggling to pronounce aut.
"That's so fucking random." Arius laughed.
"What's your story?"
"I just learnt it cause I was fascinated by the terms they used in biology, math and shit."
"Fucking nerd."
"At least not an empty bimbo brain like you." Arius smirked.
"Helluo liborum." Elijah said.
"In libras, libertas." Arius shot back.
"This is so cool! If we started talking in Latin in front of everyone else, they'd lose their minds." Elijah laughed.
"They would, but hey, it's a beautiful language."
The way he said 'beautiful' simply made Elijah swoon.
"I've noticed you have a slight accent."
"Oh yeah, I'm actually Australian. I work to stay connected to my roots, but I've started sounding too American." Arius pouted and shook his head.
"Dude by now you must've figured out I'm gay, so don't freak out if your hear this. Heath Ledger is my one true love!" He said, dreamily looking off into the distance.
"I'm offended. I was hoping that I'd be your one true love." Arius said, shaking his head.
"Arius wha-what why? Argh" Elijah said, shocked and blushing red as he ran his palms across his face.
"I don't know, it's fun teasing you." Arius smiled softly.
"You are so flirtatious it's making me feel weird things inside." Elijah mumbled, burying his face in his shirt.
"Mission accomplished."
"Shut up dude." Elijah laughed.
"But yeah, Heath Ledger is fucking hot! Everything about him is just perfect and his voice makes me want to kill myself in a good way." Arius said seriously.
"You're not straight if his voice makes you feel like that." Elijah muttered.
Arius looked at him for a good minute before breaking out into peals of muffled laughter as he looked away from him.
"Of course I'm not straight you dumbass fucking bastard. I literally kissed you because I wanted to." He said once he'd calmed down.
Elijah usually loved it when Arius laughed but this time, he was just embarrassed.
"Shut up, I'm new to all of this." Elijah said, shoving him away.
"So, I'm your sexu-"
"Shut the fuck up!" Elijah exclaimed loudly while Arius just laughed at him.
Arius just wrapped an arm around his back and pulled him close, looking at him intensely.
Elijah's breath caught in his throat again, as his eyes went wide at what Arius was doing. He reminded himself to relax and just go with it. Arius's eyes searched his face and landed back on his eyes, as he held them with such confidence and conviction. He smiled, his face looking absolutely gorgeous and making Elijah dizzy.
"What're you smiling at, you fool?" He mumbled under his breath as he looked into those beautiful grey eyes.
"You're so fucking cute when you blush. I want to squish your cheeks." Arius said, bringing his arm from Elijah's shoulder to his cheek. His hand was a little cold but Elijah couldn't care less. Arius stroked Elijah's cheek slowly before pulling away and sitting properly again.
"You're so annoying." Elijah mumbled, still very red.
Arius. Fucking. Johnson. Thought. He. Was. Cute.
"Why are you talking so softly, I can't hear you." Arius grinned.
"Fuck you man."
Arius just laughed, looking back up at the sky as they sat in silence for a few minutes.
"Have you had a girlfriend before?" He asked, looking at Elijah expectantly.
"Nope, I haven't."
"Ah I see, you're the fuckboy type." Arius smirked.
"No! I've only had sex once, you can't say shit like that about me." Elijah said, getting all riled up.
"Ah, an amateur then." Arius said, unfazed by Elijah's mood.
"I'll have you know, the other person ws fully satisfied, if her moans and groans were anything to go by." Elijah scrunched up his face.
"You definitely look like you did get a lot of female attention though." Arius replied.
"So do you like anyone here yet?" Elijah asked, rubbing his hands together nervously. This was the second time he was asking him, and he liked to think that there was in fact a certain someone who had his interest.
Arius looked at him and rolled his eyes.
"I can't believe you're asking me." He said.
"We haven't hung out properly in a long time, how am I supposed to know?" Elijah scowled.
"What about you, do you like someone?" Arius asked, trying to keep a straight face which only annoyed Elijah.
"Yeah, I like someone. You know who, don't act so oblivious arsehole." He rolled his eyes.
"What? I don't know!"
"Let's go back, I'm sleepy Arius." Elijah said, standing up, immediately missing the warmth from the close proximity they were sitting in. Sometime during the night, they'd inched so close to each other that Arius was practically in his lap.
"Alright, let's go!"
They made their way back, and this time Arius did walk next to Elijah. Their shoulders would brush every few seconds and Elijah's heart was beating so fast the whole time. It was like he was having some sort of brain fog.
Absolutely fucking pathetic.
"What're you thinking right about now?" Elijah asked.
"I'm thinking of how I don't want to wake Madilyn and Koovs in the middle of the night."
"You don't, you sleep with Viggo." Elijah looked at him, puzzled.
"Oh, oh yeah. My brain is fucked." Arius laughed.
"How did you even forget that?"
"I've been distracted tonight you moron." Arius wiggled his eyebrows.
They walked on, in silence again as Elijah struggled to get his heartbeat back to normal.
"Is it a good idea to ask you out yet?" Elijah blurted out.
Woah what the fuck just happened?
"Wha-I don't? Elijah!" Arius stopped in his tracks momentarily before walking on.
"If uh-like, I know you don't like anyone yet, and I know that you're not straight. I also know that you're kind of scared to commit right now. I know you've had a terrible year and an even worse relationship with Tamara. But if you ever like, consider you know. Since we've kissed and all. I want you to know that I'd never be ashamed of you because of something you can't even control. And I'd respect you and your decisions, unless it's some weird nonsense like, drowning in a river or something. I adore you and everything you do. I like you a lot, it's so weird. Ew." Elijah said, shivering slightly.
"That was nice and all, but you ruined it with your shit ending." Arius laughed nervously.
"You're so fucking annoying today." Elijah slapped his arm.
"That was really overwhelming to hear. I don't know what to say, but know that I appreciate it, a lot. Thank you Elijah." Arius said softly, touching Elijah's arm.
"Awkward fuck." Elijah mumbled back, breaking into a smile.
"Shut up."
"Come on, I'll walk you to your room." Elijah said, walking up the stairs.
"Is this going to be an everyday thing?" Arius asked.
"Do you want it to be?" Elijah asked back.
"Yes. Yes, definitely." Arius answered.
"What the fuck are we doing? What-what is this, really?" Arius said after a few seconds.
"Fuck if I know." Elijah deadpanned, a serious look taking over his face all of sudden.
They continued walking, shooting furtive glances and timid smiles at each other
"Door's open, you can just slip in." Elijah said.
"Yeah, I will."
"So, uh, sleep well! I'll see you in the morning." Elijah mumbled, putting his hands into his pockets, suddenly feeling conscious about them. They smiled at each other, which just made Elijah blush again.
Arius's face went blank for a second.
And then the next thing he knew, Arius was grabbing him by the neck and pulling him close. He kissed him softly, just a small peck, enough to make Elijah's brain go haywire.
Arius released the stunned boy and stepped back into the room.
"You're fucking dumb. Night Kingston." He smiled, shutting the door.
Elijah walked back to his room on autopilot, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Elijah wasn't dumb, just the fact that Arius hadn't snubbed his advances was enough to tell him what he wanted so badly to be true. Arius most definitely had to have some sort of feelings for Elijah, judging by the fact that he'd gone and fucking kissed him goodnight.
That was something huh?
He fell asleep that night with the biggest smile on his face and a tingly heart.
Well, fuck. Again.
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A/N
I've been gone for way too long. But hi guys, I'm back. No promises, but I'm going to try to upload everyday.
Meanwhile, we've almost hit 2k reads. That is beyond anything I expected. Thank you for reading and voting. And to the ones that leave cute little comments on these chapters.
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Much Love XD Thank You!