~Ian's POV~
I woke up the next morning, alone. I stretched an arm out to wrap around Anthony, only to find nothing but empty sheets next to me.
I sat up straight immediately, panic radiating through me. Fuck. Not again.
He left me the morning after, again. I groaned and got up from the bed, panic being overrun by sadness and anger. I slipped on my boxers and grabbed a pair of sweatpants from my drawer, heading out into my hallway with drooping shoulders.
I went to the bathroom and did my business, glancing at myself in the mirror as I was washing my hands. My hair was tussled and, to put it bluntly, it was definitely sex-hair. My chest and neck were dotted with red marks, a large purple hickey inked onto the side of my neck. My lips were red and swollen, obviously from much too harsh kisses.
I sighed and left the bathroom after clicking off the light, a sigh leaving my lips. I should have known it was too good to be true.
"Oh, hey," a sudden voice interrupted my walk of shame back to my room. "I just went out to get some breakfast, so I hoped you'd sleep until I got back."
I stopped him from continuing his words when I darted down the hall to leap into his arms. My legs wrapped around his waist and he tumbled backwards onto the floor with me on top of him, the bag he'd been holding falling out of his hands. "Oh, uh, hi?" He muttered, clearly confused by my enthusiasm.
My body was still sore, even more so now, but I didn't care. He hadn't left me really, just went to get breakfast for us (which was actually really sweet). I buried my head in the crook of his neck, "I thought you left me."
He laughed slightly. "Of course not, you doughnut. I thought breakfast in bed would be good for you and I definitely didn't think you'd be running at me."
I rolled my eyes before getting off of him and hobbling to my feet, "spur of the moment. I'm still in pain, thanks. You dick."
He rolled his eyes back at me, "it's not my fault! You definitely weren't protesting when I was-" I slapped my hand over his mouth, cheeks flushing pink in embarrassment.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. And you can still bring me breakfast in bed you know. Just give me a few minutes." And then I was meandering back down the hall and into my bedroom, Daisy following close behind. I settled back under the sheets and waited patiently for Anthony to bring me food.
His footsteps echoed down the hall as he approached the room, appearing in the doorway a second later with a cheeky smile on his face. He plopped himself onto the bed beside me, opening the bag to pull out two separately wrapped objects and handed one to me. I smiled, vegan tacos. Who would'a guessed it?
As soon as we'd both finished our two tacos each, I threw the wrappers and bags in the garbage can by my bed, settling back onto the pillows with a content smile on my face. "Hey, do you mind if I put some music on?"
I turned to face him on my side, eyebrows raised speculatively. "Depends, what kinda music?"
"Just something quiet and relaxing as background noise." I nodded and he grabbed his phone from the side table by my bed, selecting a quite relaxing musical song with no lyrics.
"What song is this?" I questioned, curious as to where the song came from.
"Not really sure, just have it on my phone in the instrumental section as something I found relaxing."
I huffed and rolled my eyes. "Of course you don't know. It is nice though."
Anthony hummed in agreement and I felt a yawn make it's way from my mouth, causing Anthony to smile affectionately at me. "You tired still?" I nodded. "Not surprised, it's only eight. You should get more sleep, babe."
So I did. I curled up and wrapped my arms around his waist, my head laying on his chest as our feet tangled together. The soft music playing was lulling me to sleep faster than usual, the last thing I heard being, "have a good sleep, Blue Eyes."
~
When I awoke next, the sun was shining through the curtains strongly. I sat up with a stretch, registering the empty sheets beside me, but no longer concerned about it. I got up from the bed with only a little pain, almost tripping over Daisy on my way out the door (she was snoring very loudly as well).
Anthony was waiting in my living room, watching Game of Thrones on my T.V. He turned to face me when I sleepily dropped onto the couch beside him. "Good morning, sleeping beauty."
I groaned and put my head on his shoulder, peeking up at him through my lashes. He pecked me on the lips quickly, causing a grin to show on my face. I gave him a small kiss on the cheek before getting up again. "Where're you going?" Anthony asked curiously.
"To shower. I smell like-"
"-Sex?" Anthony interrupted.
"I was gonna say shit or something, but, yeah, I guess sex too." I shrugged, heading down the hallway to the hall closet and grabbing some towels. "Care to join me, Padilla?" I called, knowing he'd be able to hear me.
"Fuck yeah!" And then he was striding down the hall towards me, mischievous grin on his face.
I glared at him as I stood in the bathroom doorway, "no funny business."
He pouted childishly, "awe! You're no fun."
"Yeah, I'm Mr.Kill-Joy apparently." He gave me a roll of the eyes and walked past me into the bathroom, pulling his shirt over his head while doing so.
I smiled upon seeing the marks on his neck that mirrored the ones he'd given me. Now we'd both be embarrassed if anyone saw them, not just one or the other. I pulled my sweatpants down, waiting as Anthony shuffled out of his skinny jeans. I fiddled with the waistband of my boxers, suddenly feeling shy.
Anthony laughed, moving closer to look me in the eyes. "Are you really feeling shy still? We literally had sex last night and slept naked in the same bed, you have no need to be nervous around me. Okay?"
I nodded and let him slip the underwear down my hips before I took them off completely, him doing the same a moment later. I bent at the waist, turning the water to an appropriate temperature. Then, a sudden smack to my butt.
I spun to see Anthony with his signature smirk, twisted up towel in hand. "That hurt, you dick."
He shrugged and flicked his wrist, the towel smacking against my hip. "Ow!" He went to do it again, but I snatched the end of the towel in mid-air, surprising even myself with the quick reflexes.
"Oh, damn," he said. "That was some Matrix shit right there."
"Thanks. Now put the towel down and get in the stupid shower before I change my mind about letting you shower with me."
He obliged, dropping the towel onto the counter before slipping past me to stand under the stream of warm water. I followed immediately after, enjoying the water relaxing my sore muscles. I lifted the shampoo bottle, putting some on my hand to massage into my scalp before passing it to Anthony and ducking under the water to rinse the suds out.
I grabbed the soap to start washing my body, pausing when a whisper sounded in my ear. "Hey, Ian. Don't drop the soap." I groaned, shoving a hand against his chest out of annoyance, which almost caused him to slip on the floor of the shower.
"Hey, dick-biscuit! I almost fell!"
I put the soap back, turning my head to face him as he stood behind me with shampoo still in his now flat hair. "Well don't whisper weird shit in my ear then and maybe I won't shove you."
He stuck his tongue out before ducking under the stream of water to rid himself of the shampoo in his hair. Immature butt-head.
The conditioner was up next. I squirted it onto my palm and passed it to Anthony as I rubbed into my scalp. Anthony's hair was flat down his face, giving the look of an 'emo' haircut. Anthony with an emo haircut? Sounds cute.
"Have you ever considered getting an emo haircut?" I called over the sounds of the water hitting the tile.
He shook his head, water droplets flying everywhere as he did so. "Been there, done that. Not going back."
I pouted and put my head under the water, "that sucks. I think you'd look pretty hot with that hair."
He gasped dramatically. "Damn! If only you'd known me in High School."
I stepped out of the water, letting Anthony have his turn to rinse out the conditioner as I exited the shower to begin drying off with my towel. He shut the water off and hopped out as well to wrap his towel around himself. "So, in High School you had an emo cut?"
He nodded as he shook his head to flick it out of his eyes, "yeah. I cut it off though, because people made fun of me so much."
I gave him a sad smile as I slipped my underwear back on, "I'm sorry that those people were such dickheads. What High School did you go to anyway?"
"I went to Del Campo High, how about you?"
"That's kinda funny. I was supposed to go to Del Campo but my parents and I moved to another part of town. So I just ended up going to boring old Carmichael High."
He hummed as he slid his own boxers on as I slipped into my sweatpants, "huh. Maybe we would have been friends or something if we'd gone to the same school."
I opened the door, letting the steam out as I walked out into the hallway. "Yeah, I think so. Maybe in another far off universe we were best friends or something."
"Nah, other realities don't exist," he said while waving a hand dismissively.
I ruffled my hair with the towel as an attempt at drying it. "That's what you think."
He threw the towels we'd used into my hamper while I dug through my drawer in search of pajama pants he could borrow for the morning. I tossed him a pair of cookie monster ones, him laughing once he saw the design. "Really? Are you five?"
"I've said it before, I'll say it again. If I'm five then that makes you a pedophile."
"Stop being good at comebacks," he grumbled.
I jumped up on the bed, nearly stumbling due to the stiffness still present in my upper thighs. "No. Because, I'm Ian. IAN THE MASTER OF COMEBACKS!"
"No, you're just a dork. Now get down before you fall and hurt yourself," he said sternly.
"You're not my parent. You can't control me!" I started to jump on the bed, feeling giddy and energetic for no reason at all except for the general joy being around Anthony brought me.
"I can if I want to," he murmured. And then he grabbed me by my stomach, pulling me off the bed with a sound of protest being emitted from me.
He plopped back onto the bed, holding me on his lap by my waist. "Hey, Ian, guess what?"
"What?" I didn't bother trying to guess.
"I know you're..ticklish!" And then his fingers were digging into my sides, laughs being forced from my mouth against my will. He flipped us so we were standing, me still wrapped in his arms as he tickled me. I laughed more, trying to duck from his grip quickly. He snatched me back again, arms tight around me as he pecked his lips against the ticklish spot on my neck several times. Which of course just made me giggle more.
"A-Anthony. Stop!" The laughter kept coming and I squirmed as his kisses continued to tickle my neck with their feather-light touches."Stop! I'm gonna pee my pants!"
He finally stopped when his own infectious laugh made an appearance, still holding me against him as his laughter subsided and I caught my breath. "You're a dick, Padilla."
"You know you love it." He spun me to face him, a sweet smile on his face. My arms wrapped around his neck as his still rested on either side of my waist. "So, what do you wanna do today, Blue Eyes?"
I thought hard for a moment. "We could call up everyone and have a gaming session?"
"Sounds great. Just try not to sit weird or we'll both get interrogated. And hide those hickies." He smiled devilishly.
"It's your fault if I sit weird! And same to you. Wear a turtle neck or something."
He laughed, "maybe we could wear one of those double-headed sweaters that have high necks."
I punched him lightly on the arm, giving him a tentative kiss on the lips right after. "Funny. Now go call some people, I'll choose games. Ask them to bring their own controllers and some snacks. Oh and make sure someone brings vegan friendly ones because I don't want you to be uncomfortable and-" he cut me off with another kiss that lasted a few seconds longer then the last.
He smiled sweetly, "you're adorable. Now go choose games and feed Daisy."
~
I slipped a baggy sweater on with my sweatpants, the hickies on my neck securely covered by cover-up I'd found out Melanie or Mari, either one, had left at my house. It was slightly too pale for Anthony's skin tone, but it was close enough to be pretty much unnoticeable when rubbed in enough. He had borrowed a plain back shirt of mine and changed out of my pants and back into his pair of skinny jeans from earlier.
The first to arrive were Dan and Phil, together as always. Then was Mari, Mel, Josh, and Wes. Followed a minute later by Amra, Matt, and David. And, last but not least, Kalel; who drew a surprised look from Mari and Melanie when she walked through the door.
The three girls stared at each other for a moment before quickly joining in a group hug. "Uh," I started, "am I missing something here?"
"We used to be friends, Ian," Kalel stated calmly as she wrapped one of her slender arms around Mari's shoulders and her other around Melanie.
"Okay, Okay. Enough mushy moments," Anthony said with a roll of his eyes. "Let's play some games!"
It was an issue, fitting us all in my living room. Two couches. Twelve of us. War broke out, fights were brought to the table, my living room was a war zone.
Seriously though, I got headbutted on my way to try and sit on the couch. It ended up being Kalel, Mel, and Mari on one couch, David, Josh, and Matt on the other, and the rest of us on the floor in various places. Anthony and I were discreetly sat next to each other, sides touching and shoulders occasionally brushing as we played round-after-round of Super Smash Brothers, Halo, and others like Mario Party.
Of course we couldn't all play at once, but taking turns was just fine with us. David suggested we called our get-together gaming sessions a "Game Bang" as a joke. I feel like the name could stick, as if it was something you'd see on YouTube or some other video site.
"Hey Ian, can you get a big bowl from the kitchen for chips?" Wes asked, too engrossed in his current round of Halo to get up and get it himself. I nodded and went to stand, pausing when Anthony grabbed my forearm. "You gonna need any help?"
I shook my head and went to the kitchen, bending to grab my biggest bowl from the lower cupboards. I could overhear the conversation that I'm guessing they thought I couldn't hear.
"Dude, you're so whipped." I heard Matt point out to someone as I sorted through my, unorganized, varying sizes of bowls in the cupboards.
"I'm not!" Anthony exclaimed, in a slightly higher pitched tone of voice than usual.
"You so are!" Kalel said through a fit of giggles.
I went to stand up, pretending to bump my head on the edge of the cupboard while doing so. "Ow!"
Anthony was by my side a few seconds later, one arm over my shoulders as he examined my face for further signs of pain. "You alright, Blue Eyes?"
I was acutely aware of the rest of our company watching our exchange and I smiled softly at him, leaning up to whisper in his ear "you're so whipped," before I grabbed the bowl off the counter and walked back to the living room with an added bounce in my step.
He followed after, sitting back down next to me while bumping our shoulders together as a silent signal that he understood what I was doing back there. I smirked, pretending like I hadn't felt the bump at all.
I flopped my head onto his shoulder, really not caring if our friends teased us about it. He rested his head on mine, both of us waiting for our turn to play.
These are the days I will always appreciate and treasure in my memories. And these are friendships I will always carry with me and, hopefully, keep.
~
"Yeah, you have a goodnight Kalel," I murmured as I gave her a quick and friendly hug.
"See ya around Ian."
Anthony was about to leave without so much as a hug in front of our friends, but I grabbed him gently by the shoulder. He turned to face me, completely caught off guard when I kissed him. Our friends cheered and "awed" and I heard Mari call out "yeah, you get some, Hecox!"
That's what I love about the people I surround myself with, they care about me and accept me for me. "Goodbye, Anthony."
"Goodbye, you doughnut. Did you have a good day?"
"It was an amazing day."
And then my friends (and my boyfriend) were off to their separate cars, Anthony receiving a few slaps on the back a long with some teasing comments, all in good humor though.
I leaned against my door as soon as I was shut inside by myself, the biggest possible smile on my face. This really was an amazing day. (Even though my butt still kinda hurts. Screw you, Anthony.)
A.N.: Anddddd that was a very domestic chapter, not too great. Next chapter though..be prepared for shit to get crazy >:) YOU WON'T BE READY FOR THE SURPRISE.