Vikk's P.O.V.
I hummed, kicking my shoes off inside the front door and scrambling up the stairs into my bedroom. I was happy, I had spent the night at my boyfriends house and I was still living off the high from having been around him, his smell still engrained in my sweater.
We didn't see each other often, in person, despite the fact we lived in the same city, because neither of us were out to anyone and didn't particularly want to come out either, so we stayed hidden. And because none of my friends even knew my boyfriend lived in London, we couldn't exactly... tell anyone. They all thought he still lived in Australia.
I threw myself onto my bed tiredly, pulling my phone out of my pocket. The first thing I saw was a text.
Did you make it home safe? I smiled to myself, he always checked up on me to make sure that I was okay.
Yeah, literally just walked through the front door.
Awesome, wanna record later?
I'm down, give me half an hour.
Cool.
I tossed my phone on my bed, heading into the shower to mentally prepare myself for a long day of recording.
-------------------------------------------------
"Yes!" Lachlan crowed. "I win! Take that Simon!"
I grinned to myself, my hands resting in my lap. I had been eliminated from the game a few minutes earlier and had been watching the fight between the two of them, silently cheering Lachlan in my head. Of course I was supporting my boyfriend.
Simon groaned, slamming his hands onto his keyboard.
"God damn you Lachlan! I was gonna kill you!" He let out his famous 'teehee' which I didn't hear very often, and his eyes lit up happily on the other side of the camera.
"You thought you were gonna kill me, but you didn'ttttttt!" He teased, a wide grin plastered on his face. "I won fair and square!"
"Fine!" Simon finally admitted after a few minutes of denial and demanding a rematch, hanging up the call as a sign of protest. I smiled at Lachlan, where he was still celebrating.
"I have to admit that was a pretty good kill Lachy, Simon'll be pissed for the rest of the day." He nodded.
"I know! Man I wish I could see his face! Tell me what happens later, okay?"
"Yeah, I wi-"
"Vikk?" Lachlan interrupted me, staring at the side of my neck. "You do realise you've had a hickey on your neck the whole time we were recording right?" My hand went up to my neck.
"-Shit, you aren't serious!?" I scrambled out of my chair and ran to the mirror in my bathroom, turning my head.
There was a huge bruise like mark on the side of my neck, obviously made by Lachlan the night before. I flushed red and groaned, touching the mark gently and knowing there was no way in hell that I could upload that video with facecam, because it was so obvious.
I sat back down at my computer with my head in my hands.
"I really want to hate you right now Lachy cause I know you knew about that." He grinned cheekily.
"That's not the only one you know, there's definitely some on your collarbones." I rolled my eyes. "But you enjoyed it, so I don't know why you're complaining."
"It's just the fact that it's completely ruined a video and there's no way in hell I'm gonna be able to hide it." He shrugged and raised an eyebrow.
"Say your facecam broke or something, make it up. Also how the hell did Simon not notice it, it looks like you've got a massive spot of purple face paint on your neck."
"I dunno but they're all oblivious, they never notice when I go to yours so I'm not surprised that Si didn't see it." There was a little bit of muffled laughter on the other side of the screen and I pulled down the collar of my shirt, rolling my eyes as I saw, two, then three, then four more hickeys on my collarbones.
Lachlan spluttered, trying to act innocent, his eyes averted from the screen, but he knew that the next time I saw him he would be in for it.
"You are so dead Lachlan." He giggled, running his hands through his hair.
"I know." I sighed and stood up, digging around in my draw for a bottle of concealer that I had for that exact reason. It wasn't my first time coming home from Lachlan's place with hickeys lining my neck, and I didn't know why I didn't notice it because I remembered everything perfectly.
I flushed just thinking about the night before, it had gotten a little.... steamy and the hickeys were a reminder of that.
"I'll see you soon?" Lachlan asked, playing with the cord of his headphones. I smiled to myself, nodding.
"This weekend? I think the boys are all going out for a party." I gagged, acting obviously, hating parties, and Lachlan knew it. All of the boys kept pushing me to get a girlfriend and because I couldn't tell them about Lachlan, I just stopped going to parties with them, making up the excuse that I didn't want to drink alcohol anymore.
"Oh, yeah, come around and I'll get you out of that one." He rolled his eyes, knowing how rowdy the boys got when they went out and how much I struggled to cope with it.
"Thank Lach, record again tomorrow?"
"Yeah, see ya Vikky!"
I hung up the call and stumbled down the stairs, grabbing something to eat.
Simon and Josh were both downstairs, Simon sipping on a cup of coffee and Josh with his head resting on the bench, an empty cup which once held coffee also on the bench. I poured myself a full mug of coffee and a bowl of cereal and sat down beside them, watching carefully if Simon looked at me weirdly.
It took a few minutes, but eventually I noticed that he was glancing at me, or more specifically the side of my neck, with one eyebrow raised. I knew he couldn't see the hickey, it was covered by the foundation, but it also meant that he had definitely noticed it while we were recording.
Once Josh left a few minutes later, Simon spoke up.
"So Vikk... who were you with last night?" He teased, his finger touching my neck and pulling away to reveal the concealer on his fingers. He raised an eyebrow at me. "Looks like you had some fun."
I flushed red and looked away for a few seconds.
"I- I can't-" I stumbled over my words, unsure of what to do. I didn't want to out Lachlan and I, I especially didn't want to out Lachlan without his permission. He was the reason we weren't out, the boys kind of knew I was bi, I had never mentioned it specifically but they seemed to have picked it up.
"Vikk it's okay if you don't wanna say, I don't mind." He smiled. "I was just pointing out that you have a hickey on your neck and there's no way in hell you'll be able to upload that video with your face in it."
"I know, I know. Lachl-" I cut myself off and clapped a hand over my mouth, making my point even more obvious.
"Lachlan hmmmm?" He looked at me pointedly. "You don't think I already know?"
"I- wait, what?" He laughed and the panic in my chest flared.
"I've seen your texts Vikk, on accident by the way, I didn't do it on purpose, and I know he lives in London. You don't think I notice that you disappear a few times a week and you don't sleep here some nights?"
"Oh... I thought you guys didn't notice cause you never mention it to me."
"No, we all know, we just didn't want to push you. We wanted you to make the decision on your own to trust us but I've just gone against everything the others told me cause I don't want you to hide like this."
"Si-" He cut me off again.
"I don't want you to have to worry about hiding from us anymore, I want you to be able to be with Lachlan openly around us without fear because we all accept you. I want you to be happy." He smiled and patted my shoulder.
"Thank you Simon." I whispered, slumping my shoulders.
"I just want you to be able to tell us Vikk, with no fear. You don't have to hide."
---------------------------------------------------
"So-" Simon raised an eyebrow, "this is who you've been hiding from us."
He was joking, obviously, because they all knew Lachlan, and Lachlan grinned shyly from where he was standing beside me. Josh, JJ and the rest of the Sidemen were all there too, sitting around on couches with phones in hand and grins on their faces.
"I guess, yeah." Lachlan smiled, his hand squeezing mine.
The two of us flopped onto a couch, my head resting on Lachlan's chest and his hands coming around my waist. He was a little unnerved, I could tell, but once I tightened my arm around him he relaxed a little, his chin resting on the top of my head.
"You okay?" I whispered.
"Hmmmmmm." He hummed in reply. "It feels good to finally be out." I smiled.
"Yeah. It does." I raised an eyebrow, laughing a little to myself. "I suppose I should thank you for that one actually, if you hadn't done... that," I said suggestively. "Then Simon wouldn't have talked to me."
"True." He said, grinning cheekily. "Maybe I should do it more?"
I slapped him playfully, elbowing his chest for good measure.
"No! I still need to record you know!" He shook his head.
"Nah, I think my option would be better." I rolled my eyes.
"Alright, you can think that all you want, but I still have a job to do and would much appreciate it if you didn't give me hickeys!"