Forever Boys - Fletcher/Jones - Standalone
Title: Forever Boys
Author: russsel
Part: 1/1
Rating: PG
Pairing: Fletcher/Jones
Genre: AU, Fluff, Romance
Summary: Tom recounts the things that made him fall in love with Danny on a day out.
A/N: I found this idea while rifling through the notebook containing outlines and ideas for Let Me Know He Cares (which was from a million years ago), and I remembered how much I loved it. It was inspired by the video for Aerosmith’s Crazy. Been a while since I’ve written fluff, though I’m still quite proud of this one, and I hope you guys’ll enjoy! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own McFly in any way.
Tom Fletcher huffed silently in boredom and propped his chin on his palm, eyes drifting all around the room as Mr. Bartlett droned on about variables and velocity and something else that he never bothered to follow.
It was a Tuesday, and it was his most hated day of the week. He didn’t find the appeal of the day; it wasn’t halfway through the week yet, and there was never anything to look forward to. Sometimes, he just wished he could tear Tuesday out of the calendar.
After David, a gangly, acne-ridden boy in the far side of the room, tried his best to answer the question with predictable disinterest after being the lucky student called on, Tom blinked lazily and sat back in his seat, crossing his legs underneath his desk and tapping his shoes against each other. He folded his hands over his stomach, and with his attention span dwindling like a running faucet, he tried to focus on the unreadable scrawl all over the blackboard.
School had barely started and he was already aching to go home. Too bad he never had the proper incentive to at least attempt to skip school during the times he felt like dozing off, because then he’d have something to do rather than use Mr. Bartlett’s monotonous blathering as a makeshift record player to lull him to sleep.
As Mr. Bartlett jumped to another subject, a scattered collection of groans sounded from all corners of the room, and Tom rolled his eyes for the fifth time since entering the building. Even if he did try to pay attention, there was no guarantee that his mind wouldn’t wander off to somewhere else entirely different. So he didn’t bother to try; there’s bound to be something else in the room more interesting than scientific notations.
Scanning the walls for anything to pass the time, he settled his gaze finally on a poster, and was about to read the caption underneath the picture of a cat hanging from a tree branch when he heard something tap the window to his left.
He snapped his head to the sound and looked quizzically outside. To his disappointment, there was nothing there-just the same-old boring, deserted courtyard. He angled his head discreetly to peer on the side of the window his immediate line of vision didn’t provide, determined that he hadn’t imagined the sound, and flicked his eyes to Mr. Bartlett for a second to see if he had noticed. Relieved to see him trying to engage a half-sleeping Jennifer to the lesson, he went back to the side of the window, and he smiled widely at the sight of Danny Jones with his back pressed on the wall, a forefinger pushed against his lips.
Tom bit his bottom lip to prevent his smile from getting wider, and he turned back to the blackboard to avoid suspicion. Danny was his best friend and clandestine lover, as he was always fearful of the public’s opinion on the prospect of two young men holding hands and kissing. Danny didn’t mind their hidden relationship, however; he always found an opportunity to take Tom with him and get out of town away from judging eyes, even for just a little while.
When Mr. Bartlett spun slowly around to squeeze another equation on the otherwise filled-up board, Tom took this time to turn his head completely to look at Danny more properly, and he mouthed, “What?” with a grin.
Danny grinned back and did a few unrecognizable, silly gestures with his hands, and Tom couldn’t hold back the giggle of amusement that bubbled out of his throat.
“Mr. Fletcher?” asked Mr. Bartlett, abandoning his half-written problem and looking at Tom with eyes narrowed in impatience. Tom swallowed the rest of his laugh and looked back. “Did you want to add something?”
“Er, yes…” Tom replied, dragging out the last letter as he formulated an excuse in his head. It was obvious that Danny wanted to tell him something, and Tom was curious to know what.
Keeping his eyes locked with Mr. Bartlett’s, the image of a bottle of pills popped in his mind, and with an embarrassed smile, he continued, “I need to take my… erm… medications. Right now.”
Either Mr. Bartlett was terrible at pointing out lies (Tom was a horrible liar) or he just didn’t care, Tom didn’t know, but he was glad when he was permitted his leave without further questioning to elaborate.
Nodding his gratitude, Tom scooped up his knapsack, slung it over one shoulder, and strode out of the room without another word. Closing the door behind him, Mr. Bartlett resumed his lessons almost immediately, and pushing his other arm through the remaining strap, he began to run down the empty hallway and out the double doors at the end.
Tom spotted Danny sitting on one of the benches in the courtyard, twirling his keys around a finger with his lips puckered, whistling to himself. His brown hair was swaying in the light winds, and even from the distance, Tom could see the freckles marking his pale arms like sprinkles of cinnamon on milk. Tom adored those freckles, just as much as Danny adored his singular dimple and not-so-perfect teeth.
As Tom moved closer, Danny turned his head to face him, and that one-million-megawatt smile began to spread across his face, making Tom’s heart flutter just a little bit.
“What were those hand movements for?” Tom asked amusedly when he came upon Danny, trying his best to emulate the other’s silly, nonsensical gestures. Danny shrugged, stood up, and pecked Tom on the cheek. The area burned almost instantaneously, and Tom smiled.
“Just something to get your attention,” Danny replied, getting behind Tom and pulling the knapsack off his shoulders. “But at least it worked.” Tom laughed heartily.
“Yeah, great,” said Tom with a grin, his cheek still hot from the kiss, and as Danny threw the bag around his shoulder, he added, “What were you trying to tell me anyway?”
“Wanted to get out of school, of course,” Danny elaborated, and he turned around and began walking. Tom tottered lightly behind him.
“Well, what do you need me for?”
Danny turned his head halfway to Tom and smiled with a raised brow, and Tom scratched his head in confusion.
“Don’t you want to get out of school, too?” he asked, and Tom couldn’t argue with that. He’d take Danny over Physics class any day.
“Well, yeah, but-”
“Then what’s the problem?” Danny interjected, and Tom only shrugged, widening his smile.
Silence ensued, save for their uncoordinated footsteps echoing around the courtyard built like an amphitheater, and it took Tom a moment to realize that they were heading for the school parking lot.
“So, where off to first?” asked Danny when Tom slipped in the passenger’s seat, and Tom took the time to slide the seatbelt across his chest before obliging to answer.
“I don’t know,” he said undecidedly, and turning his head to look at Danny, he asked back, “Where do you want to go?”
“I’m sort of hungry,” Danny said, rubbing his stomach with a slight grimace, and Tom chuckled brightly.
“Me too,” Tom agreed, though he had only eaten an hour ago. He liked putting Danny’s needs before his-not that he needed to; it was only something he felt like he should do, and since it was his choice, he had no complaints whatsoever.
“Off to Fast-Food City then!” Danny announced animatedly, and before Tom could get his few final bursts of laughter out, Danny had already sped off out of the parking lot and into the empty street.
“Finally,” Danny declared, rubbing his hands together as their order arrived by way of a tall young woman with blazing red hair. Tom grinned and allotted their respective foods on the table while Danny laced a square napkin around the edge of his collar. Sure, Danny was boisterous most of the time, not to mention his eating habits were like feeding time at the zoo, but that didn’t mean that he liked being dirty, and it was one of Danny’s quirky qualities that Tom loved the most.
“Lean in close,” Danny said, motioning with one finger to Tom as his other hand picked up another napkin, and Tom chuckled. He didn’t like Tom being dirty either.
“Thanks… Carla,” said Tom after doing what Danny told him to do, scanning the redhead’s nametag with a smile. Carla smiled back with a nod and folded her arms around the black metal tray, pressing it to her chest.
“No problem,” she said with a wink, and when she turned to leave, Tom saw that Danny had already secured the napkin on his collar.
“Thanks,” Tom whispered, and Danny rubbed his hands together once again, his eyes poring over the feast that did a very good job at obscuring the table underneath.
“I’m starving,” Danny said, and not waiting for Tom to acknowledge his share, he reached out a long arm and grabbed a handful of Tom’s French fries.
“Hey!” Tom squeaked, and he laughed loudly when Danny stuffed the pilfered fries in his gaping mouth all at once.
“Wha’?” Danny managed to ask as he tried to chew, and Tom battled to keep his calm. It was times like these that he loved being with Danny, just being themselves and not caring about what other people around them thought. With Danny, he wasn’t afraid to break out of his pristine shell and just be silly and fun and all of those good things that Danny was.
“You’re making a mess,” Tom said through his fit of giggles, and he wiped the portion of the table where a few pieces of Danny’s fries had landed while he chewed. Danny shrugged and took a long sip of his soda to help swallow the fries more easily.
“You love it,” Danny said, placing the cup back on the table and picking up his burger. Tom smiled and watched with enthusiasm as Danny took one large bite after another.
“I know,” Tom admitted, grabbing his soda and taking a slow sip.
“Here, try this,” Danny offered after swallowing a particularly large chunk, reaching the last quarter of the burger up to Tom’s lips. Usually, Tom had second thoughts about eating something that looked greasy and dripping with salmon-colored sauce, but the glimmer in Danny’s eyes told him it was fine. Danny would never offer him anything he knew he wouldn’t like.
“Alright,” Tom said with a chuckle, and he leaned his head closer to the hovering burger with his teeth bared. Before he could close them on the piece, however, Danny moved it slightly to the left, making it hit Tom’s cheek instead of his mouth.
“Dan!” Tom exclaimed as Danny burst out in laughter, and he groped for a piece of napkin to wipe the cold sauce hugging his skin.
“Ah, sorry! I had to do it!” Danny giggled, and wiping his teary eyes with the back of his hand, he snatched the napkin out of Tom’s with his other. “Here, let me.”
Tom grinned as Danny wiped his cheek, the concentration in his eyes clouded by the wide smile on his face, and Tom’s heart began to swell. Something in Danny’s smile always made him feel like he was the only thing that mattered in the whole world, and he hoped that his own smile made the other boy feel that way, too.
“Oh, it’s nice out here,” Tom said in wonder as they walked through the grassy park with Danny’s arm around his shoulders. The sun was shining brightly, but it wasn’t too hot to evaporate the cold air wafting around them, and Tom preferred his days this way.
The park was deserted, but it didn’t surprise him one bit. It was a schoolday after all, and all the children that generally occupied the area were stuck in school. The emptiness around them made Tom feel like they were the only two people in the world, and he reached up to grab Danny’s large hand and pulled him closer.
“Want to ride in the swings?” Danny asked Tom, his lips delicately brushing Tom’s ears, which began to burn at the stimulation.
“Yeah, I’d love to,” Tom replied coyly, turning his head and placing a soft kiss on Danny’s jaw. Danny smiled brightly and uncoiled his arm, trailing it down to hold Tom’s hand to lead him to the swing set a few feet from them.
“I’ll push,” Danny said after he sat Tom down on the curved seat, and he let go of his hand to walk behind him. But Tom turned around and retrieved Danny’s hand almost immediately, and he shook his head with a smile.
“No, I want you to ride it with me.”
Danny’s eyes sparkled and Tom’s heart jumped. He didn’t want to be pushed; he wanted to be held, and in Danny’s hands, large enough to hold the entire world if he wanted, he knew there was always more than enough room.
Tom stood up and Danny stretched his legs over the seat between the gleaming chains. Holding Tom’s slender waist, he positioned himself comfortably in the swing, and he pulled Tom down to sit on his lap. Taking a few steps backward, Danny wrapped his arms around Tom’s waist, and with a soft, “Here we go,” he released his foot’s hold on the waving grass.
Both boys laughed as they swung back and forth, the force of the wind playing with their hair and kissing their faces, and Danny held Tom ever so closer with each swing. If only every moment of their lives were like this, letting the wind take them so they could always have a reason to hold on to each other, but Tom didn’t mind knowing reality was different. Right now, he just enjoyed the feeling of Danny’s arms, and he knew Danny enjoyed having him in them.
“We haven’t done that in ages,” Danny said, snuggling closer to Tom. They retired after a while at the bottom of the slide, Danny laying on the cold metal and Tom lying on his chest. It was true; the last time they played and hung out like this seemed forever ago, but Danny’s words from back then flowed through his mind, replaying over and over again like a film projector in the back of his head.
“I’m your what?” asked Tom after Danny had jumped into the swing. Tom’s thirteenth birthday party had just ended hours ago, and the two boys decided to sneak out into the closed park to spend the rest of his birthday together.
“You’re my forever boy,” Danny repeated, his hands coiled around the jangling chains that held his weight, and Tom smiled widely to himself when he heard it again, his heart fluttering like the pages of a book caught in the wind.
“And what exactly does that mean?” asked Tom with playful inquisition, circling around Danny so he could push him. But before he could place his hands on Danny’s back, Danny twisted around and delicately grabbed his wrist, and Tom’s breath was caught in his throat, his heart beginning to beat faster.
“Means you’ll always be mine,” Danny elaborated with a smile as he led Tom around to face him again. “That no matter how messed up life turns out to be, you’re always going to be there to make everything better, even if just a tiny bit.”
“Really?” Tom asked, walking closer to Danny, and the other boy placed his hands on Tom’s waist to turn him around. When Tom was close enough, Danny pulled him down ever so gently, and Tom sat comfortably on his lap. The freckled hands traveled slowly across his stomach, each finger entwining with each other the moment they touched, and he felt Danny’s chin pressing affectionately on his shoulder the next moment.
“Yeah.”
Tom smiled and closed his hands on Danny’s wrists, enjoying the warmth that bounced off the other’s body like a personal heater, and with a giggle, he said, “Well, then you’re mine too.”
“Forever?” Danny asked, lifting his head up and watching Tom with crystalline blue eyes swimming in emotions far too many to count, and Tom turned his head and placed a kiss on his nose.
“Forever.”
A shiver ran down his spine at the image of their young selves in the swing, and he felt Danny’s vibrating laughter shaking his back.
“I felt that,” Danny said after calming down, and Tom exhaled a short chuckle. “Thinking about something?” Tom shrugged in reply, watching birds flying through the soothing blue sky, their echoing cries audible even in the distance.
“Just my birthday four years go,” Tom said, taking his eyes off the flock and planting it on a cloud that looked like a large hand-like Danny’s hand. He lifted his hand up, trailed his willowy fingers across Danny’s smooth skin, and squeezed the real thing. “You remember?”
“’Course,” Danny said, and he began to rub Tom’s stomach through his shirt with his free hand. “I remember you slammed that piece of cake on my face.”
Danny chuckled and Tom laughed, the memory still vivid in his mind like the rest of that day.
“Anything else?” Tom asked, and though he was confident that Danny remembered what he had said, he still wanted to hear it one more time. A soft laugh escaped Danny’s lips, and the sound added more to the comfort Tom felt in his arms. But then he stopped, and Tom raised an eyebrow at the sudden silence. For one heart-wrenching moment, he thought that Danny had already forgotten.
“I remember telling you something that I haven’t said in a while. Something that I should’ve every time I’d see you,” Danny finally replied, and something in the way he said it made Tom’s heart begin racing. Tom turned his head to look at Danny, and their breaths intermingled at their closeness.
“You can say it now.”
Danny smiled, and the butterflies in his stomach emerged into existence once again, beating their magical wings and filling Tom’s body with exhilaration that he could scarcely hold back. Tom smiled.
“You’re my forever boy.”
The words strung Tom’s heart like an orchestra, producing the greatest melody he had ever heard in his entire life, a melody that only Danny and Danny alone can sing.
“Forever?”
Danny leaned in and pressed his lips against Tom’s, and Tom, a bit surprised by the suddenness of the action, returned it with a smile. Pulling back, both looked at each other for a while, and at that moment, Tom felt like he could sleep on Danny and not worry about the things tomorrow might bring, because the only things that mattered to him right now were the feeling of Danny’s heartbeat on his back, Danny’s arms around his waist, and Danny’s love in his heart.
“Forever.”
And Tom snuggled closer and Danny held him tighter, the winds pushing the swings and creating a symphony of intimate melodies with the clinking of the chains, and for the first time, Tom thought that maybe Tuesday wasn’t all that bad after all.
Author: russsel
Part: 1/1
Rating: PG
Pairing: Fletcher/Jones
Genre: AU, Fluff, Romance
Summary: Tom recounts the things that made him fall in love with Danny on a day out.
A/N: I found this idea while rifling through the notebook containing outlines and ideas for Let Me Know He Cares (which was from a million years ago), and I remembered how much I loved it. It was inspired by the video for Aerosmith’s Crazy. Been a while since I’ve written fluff, though I’m still quite proud of this one, and I hope you guys’ll enjoy! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own McFly in any way.
Tom Fletcher huffed silently in boredom and propped his chin on his palm, eyes drifting all around the room as Mr. Bartlett droned on about variables and velocity and something else that he never bothered to follow.
It was a Tuesday, and it was his most hated day of the week. He didn’t find the appeal of the day; it wasn’t halfway through the week yet, and there was never anything to look forward to. Sometimes, he just wished he could tear Tuesday out of the calendar.
After David, a gangly, acne-ridden boy in the far side of the room, tried his best to answer the question with predictable disinterest after being the lucky student called on, Tom blinked lazily and sat back in his seat, crossing his legs underneath his desk and tapping his shoes against each other. He folded his hands over his stomach, and with his attention span dwindling like a running faucet, he tried to focus on the unreadable scrawl all over the blackboard.
School had barely started and he was already aching to go home. Too bad he never had the proper incentive to at least attempt to skip school during the times he felt like dozing off, because then he’d have something to do rather than use Mr. Bartlett’s monotonous blathering as a makeshift record player to lull him to sleep.
As Mr. Bartlett jumped to another subject, a scattered collection of groans sounded from all corners of the room, and Tom rolled his eyes for the fifth time since entering the building. Even if he did try to pay attention, there was no guarantee that his mind wouldn’t wander off to somewhere else entirely different. So he didn’t bother to try; there’s bound to be something else in the room more interesting than scientific notations.
Scanning the walls for anything to pass the time, he settled his gaze finally on a poster, and was about to read the caption underneath the picture of a cat hanging from a tree branch when he heard something tap the window to his left.
He snapped his head to the sound and looked quizzically outside. To his disappointment, there was nothing there-just the same-old boring, deserted courtyard. He angled his head discreetly to peer on the side of the window his immediate line of vision didn’t provide, determined that he hadn’t imagined the sound, and flicked his eyes to Mr. Bartlett for a second to see if he had noticed. Relieved to see him trying to engage a half-sleeping Jennifer to the lesson, he went back to the side of the window, and he smiled widely at the sight of Danny Jones with his back pressed on the wall, a forefinger pushed against his lips.
Tom bit his bottom lip to prevent his smile from getting wider, and he turned back to the blackboard to avoid suspicion. Danny was his best friend and clandestine lover, as he was always fearful of the public’s opinion on the prospect of two young men holding hands and kissing. Danny didn’t mind their hidden relationship, however; he always found an opportunity to take Tom with him and get out of town away from judging eyes, even for just a little while.
When Mr. Bartlett spun slowly around to squeeze another equation on the otherwise filled-up board, Tom took this time to turn his head completely to look at Danny more properly, and he mouthed, “What?” with a grin.
Danny grinned back and did a few unrecognizable, silly gestures with his hands, and Tom couldn’t hold back the giggle of amusement that bubbled out of his throat.
“Mr. Fletcher?” asked Mr. Bartlett, abandoning his half-written problem and looking at Tom with eyes narrowed in impatience. Tom swallowed the rest of his laugh and looked back. “Did you want to add something?”
“Er, yes…” Tom replied, dragging out the last letter as he formulated an excuse in his head. It was obvious that Danny wanted to tell him something, and Tom was curious to know what.
Keeping his eyes locked with Mr. Bartlett’s, the image of a bottle of pills popped in his mind, and with an embarrassed smile, he continued, “I need to take my… erm… medications. Right now.”
Either Mr. Bartlett was terrible at pointing out lies (Tom was a horrible liar) or he just didn’t care, Tom didn’t know, but he was glad when he was permitted his leave without further questioning to elaborate.
Nodding his gratitude, Tom scooped up his knapsack, slung it over one shoulder, and strode out of the room without another word. Closing the door behind him, Mr. Bartlett resumed his lessons almost immediately, and pushing his other arm through the remaining strap, he began to run down the empty hallway and out the double doors at the end.
Tom spotted Danny sitting on one of the benches in the courtyard, twirling his keys around a finger with his lips puckered, whistling to himself. His brown hair was swaying in the light winds, and even from the distance, Tom could see the freckles marking his pale arms like sprinkles of cinnamon on milk. Tom adored those freckles, just as much as Danny adored his singular dimple and not-so-perfect teeth.
As Tom moved closer, Danny turned his head to face him, and that one-million-megawatt smile began to spread across his face, making Tom’s heart flutter just a little bit.
“What were those hand movements for?” Tom asked amusedly when he came upon Danny, trying his best to emulate the other’s silly, nonsensical gestures. Danny shrugged, stood up, and pecked Tom on the cheek. The area burned almost instantaneously, and Tom smiled.
“Just something to get your attention,” Danny replied, getting behind Tom and pulling the knapsack off his shoulders. “But at least it worked.” Tom laughed heartily.
“Yeah, great,” said Tom with a grin, his cheek still hot from the kiss, and as Danny threw the bag around his shoulder, he added, “What were you trying to tell me anyway?”
“Wanted to get out of school, of course,” Danny elaborated, and he turned around and began walking. Tom tottered lightly behind him.
“Well, what do you need me for?”
Danny turned his head halfway to Tom and smiled with a raised brow, and Tom scratched his head in confusion.
“Don’t you want to get out of school, too?” he asked, and Tom couldn’t argue with that. He’d take Danny over Physics class any day.
“Well, yeah, but-”
“Then what’s the problem?” Danny interjected, and Tom only shrugged, widening his smile.
Silence ensued, save for their uncoordinated footsteps echoing around the courtyard built like an amphitheater, and it took Tom a moment to realize that they were heading for the school parking lot.
“So, where off to first?” asked Danny when Tom slipped in the passenger’s seat, and Tom took the time to slide the seatbelt across his chest before obliging to answer.
“I don’t know,” he said undecidedly, and turning his head to look at Danny, he asked back, “Where do you want to go?”
“I’m sort of hungry,” Danny said, rubbing his stomach with a slight grimace, and Tom chuckled brightly.
“Me too,” Tom agreed, though he had only eaten an hour ago. He liked putting Danny’s needs before his-not that he needed to; it was only something he felt like he should do, and since it was his choice, he had no complaints whatsoever.
“Off to Fast-Food City then!” Danny announced animatedly, and before Tom could get his few final bursts of laughter out, Danny had already sped off out of the parking lot and into the empty street.
“Finally,” Danny declared, rubbing his hands together as their order arrived by way of a tall young woman with blazing red hair. Tom grinned and allotted their respective foods on the table while Danny laced a square napkin around the edge of his collar. Sure, Danny was boisterous most of the time, not to mention his eating habits were like feeding time at the zoo, but that didn’t mean that he liked being dirty, and it was one of Danny’s quirky qualities that Tom loved the most.
“Lean in close,” Danny said, motioning with one finger to Tom as his other hand picked up another napkin, and Tom chuckled. He didn’t like Tom being dirty either.
“Thanks… Carla,” said Tom after doing what Danny told him to do, scanning the redhead’s nametag with a smile. Carla smiled back with a nod and folded her arms around the black metal tray, pressing it to her chest.
“No problem,” she said with a wink, and when she turned to leave, Tom saw that Danny had already secured the napkin on his collar.
“Thanks,” Tom whispered, and Danny rubbed his hands together once again, his eyes poring over the feast that did a very good job at obscuring the table underneath.
“I’m starving,” Danny said, and not waiting for Tom to acknowledge his share, he reached out a long arm and grabbed a handful of Tom’s French fries.
“Hey!” Tom squeaked, and he laughed loudly when Danny stuffed the pilfered fries in his gaping mouth all at once.
“Wha’?” Danny managed to ask as he tried to chew, and Tom battled to keep his calm. It was times like these that he loved being with Danny, just being themselves and not caring about what other people around them thought. With Danny, he wasn’t afraid to break out of his pristine shell and just be silly and fun and all of those good things that Danny was.
“You’re making a mess,” Tom said through his fit of giggles, and he wiped the portion of the table where a few pieces of Danny’s fries had landed while he chewed. Danny shrugged and took a long sip of his soda to help swallow the fries more easily.
“You love it,” Danny said, placing the cup back on the table and picking up his burger. Tom smiled and watched with enthusiasm as Danny took one large bite after another.
“I know,” Tom admitted, grabbing his soda and taking a slow sip.
“Here, try this,” Danny offered after swallowing a particularly large chunk, reaching the last quarter of the burger up to Tom’s lips. Usually, Tom had second thoughts about eating something that looked greasy and dripping with salmon-colored sauce, but the glimmer in Danny’s eyes told him it was fine. Danny would never offer him anything he knew he wouldn’t like.
“Alright,” Tom said with a chuckle, and he leaned his head closer to the hovering burger with his teeth bared. Before he could close them on the piece, however, Danny moved it slightly to the left, making it hit Tom’s cheek instead of his mouth.
“Dan!” Tom exclaimed as Danny burst out in laughter, and he groped for a piece of napkin to wipe the cold sauce hugging his skin.
“Ah, sorry! I had to do it!” Danny giggled, and wiping his teary eyes with the back of his hand, he snatched the napkin out of Tom’s with his other. “Here, let me.”
Tom grinned as Danny wiped his cheek, the concentration in his eyes clouded by the wide smile on his face, and Tom’s heart began to swell. Something in Danny’s smile always made him feel like he was the only thing that mattered in the whole world, and he hoped that his own smile made the other boy feel that way, too.
“Oh, it’s nice out here,” Tom said in wonder as they walked through the grassy park with Danny’s arm around his shoulders. The sun was shining brightly, but it wasn’t too hot to evaporate the cold air wafting around them, and Tom preferred his days this way.
The park was deserted, but it didn’t surprise him one bit. It was a schoolday after all, and all the children that generally occupied the area were stuck in school. The emptiness around them made Tom feel like they were the only two people in the world, and he reached up to grab Danny’s large hand and pulled him closer.
“Want to ride in the swings?” Danny asked Tom, his lips delicately brushing Tom’s ears, which began to burn at the stimulation.
“Yeah, I’d love to,” Tom replied coyly, turning his head and placing a soft kiss on Danny’s jaw. Danny smiled brightly and uncoiled his arm, trailing it down to hold Tom’s hand to lead him to the swing set a few feet from them.
“I’ll push,” Danny said after he sat Tom down on the curved seat, and he let go of his hand to walk behind him. But Tom turned around and retrieved Danny’s hand almost immediately, and he shook his head with a smile.
“No, I want you to ride it with me.”
Danny’s eyes sparkled and Tom’s heart jumped. He didn’t want to be pushed; he wanted to be held, and in Danny’s hands, large enough to hold the entire world if he wanted, he knew there was always more than enough room.
Tom stood up and Danny stretched his legs over the seat between the gleaming chains. Holding Tom’s slender waist, he positioned himself comfortably in the swing, and he pulled Tom down to sit on his lap. Taking a few steps backward, Danny wrapped his arms around Tom’s waist, and with a soft, “Here we go,” he released his foot’s hold on the waving grass.
Both boys laughed as they swung back and forth, the force of the wind playing with their hair and kissing their faces, and Danny held Tom ever so closer with each swing. If only every moment of their lives were like this, letting the wind take them so they could always have a reason to hold on to each other, but Tom didn’t mind knowing reality was different. Right now, he just enjoyed the feeling of Danny’s arms, and he knew Danny enjoyed having him in them.
“We haven’t done that in ages,” Danny said, snuggling closer to Tom. They retired after a while at the bottom of the slide, Danny laying on the cold metal and Tom lying on his chest. It was true; the last time they played and hung out like this seemed forever ago, but Danny’s words from back then flowed through his mind, replaying over and over again like a film projector in the back of his head.
“I’m your what?” asked Tom after Danny had jumped into the swing. Tom’s thirteenth birthday party had just ended hours ago, and the two boys decided to sneak out into the closed park to spend the rest of his birthday together.
“You’re my forever boy,” Danny repeated, his hands coiled around the jangling chains that held his weight, and Tom smiled widely to himself when he heard it again, his heart fluttering like the pages of a book caught in the wind.
“And what exactly does that mean?” asked Tom with playful inquisition, circling around Danny so he could push him. But before he could place his hands on Danny’s back, Danny twisted around and delicately grabbed his wrist, and Tom’s breath was caught in his throat, his heart beginning to beat faster.
“Means you’ll always be mine,” Danny elaborated with a smile as he led Tom around to face him again. “That no matter how messed up life turns out to be, you’re always going to be there to make everything better, even if just a tiny bit.”
“Really?” Tom asked, walking closer to Danny, and the other boy placed his hands on Tom’s waist to turn him around. When Tom was close enough, Danny pulled him down ever so gently, and Tom sat comfortably on his lap. The freckled hands traveled slowly across his stomach, each finger entwining with each other the moment they touched, and he felt Danny’s chin pressing affectionately on his shoulder the next moment.
“Yeah.”
Tom smiled and closed his hands on Danny’s wrists, enjoying the warmth that bounced off the other’s body like a personal heater, and with a giggle, he said, “Well, then you’re mine too.”
“Forever?” Danny asked, lifting his head up and watching Tom with crystalline blue eyes swimming in emotions far too many to count, and Tom turned his head and placed a kiss on his nose.
“Forever.”
A shiver ran down his spine at the image of their young selves in the swing, and he felt Danny’s vibrating laughter shaking his back.
“I felt that,” Danny said after calming down, and Tom exhaled a short chuckle. “Thinking about something?” Tom shrugged in reply, watching birds flying through the soothing blue sky, their echoing cries audible even in the distance.
“Just my birthday four years go,” Tom said, taking his eyes off the flock and planting it on a cloud that looked like a large hand-like Danny’s hand. He lifted his hand up, trailed his willowy fingers across Danny’s smooth skin, and squeezed the real thing. “You remember?”
“’Course,” Danny said, and he began to rub Tom’s stomach through his shirt with his free hand. “I remember you slammed that piece of cake on my face.”
Danny chuckled and Tom laughed, the memory still vivid in his mind like the rest of that day.
“Anything else?” Tom asked, and though he was confident that Danny remembered what he had said, he still wanted to hear it one more time. A soft laugh escaped Danny’s lips, and the sound added more to the comfort Tom felt in his arms. But then he stopped, and Tom raised an eyebrow at the sudden silence. For one heart-wrenching moment, he thought that Danny had already forgotten.
“I remember telling you something that I haven’t said in a while. Something that I should’ve every time I’d see you,” Danny finally replied, and something in the way he said it made Tom’s heart begin racing. Tom turned his head to look at Danny, and their breaths intermingled at their closeness.
“You can say it now.”
Danny smiled, and the butterflies in his stomach emerged into existence once again, beating their magical wings and filling Tom’s body with exhilaration that he could scarcely hold back. Tom smiled.
“You’re my forever boy.”
The words strung Tom’s heart like an orchestra, producing the greatest melody he had ever heard in his entire life, a melody that only Danny and Danny alone can sing.
“Forever?”
Danny leaned in and pressed his lips against Tom’s, and Tom, a bit surprised by the suddenness of the action, returned it with a smile. Pulling back, both looked at each other for a while, and at that moment, Tom felt like he could sleep on Danny and not worry about the things tomorrow might bring, because the only things that mattered to him right now were the feeling of Danny’s heartbeat on his back, Danny’s arms around his waist, and Danny’s love in his heart.
“Forever.”
And Tom snuggled closer and Danny held him tighter, the winds pushing the swings and creating a symphony of intimate melodies with the clinking of the chains, and for the first time, Tom thought that maybe Tuesday wasn’t all that bad after all.