Fic: Wrinkles Should Merely Indicate Where Smiles Have Been
‘I’m thirty-four!’ Bradley exclaimed. ‘I’m old!’
‘You say that every year. Ever since you turned 30.’ Colin said sleepily as he squinted at the time. 3 a.m. He shouldn’t have to be a good boyfriend at this time of night.
‘But I really am this time!’ Bradley said as he rolled over and got out of bed, dislodging Colin who had been curled into Bradley’s side with his head on his chest. Colin watched in bemusement as Bradley strode over to the mirror and stared at himself intently. ‘What’s that? A wrinkle?’ Bradley said anxiously leaning forward for a better look.
‘It’s just a shadow Bradley’ Colin said wearily. ‘Can’t you put off the mid-life crisis for twenty years? Or at least until the morning?’
Bradley looked at him in the mirror and looked so worried that Colin felt himself soften. He patted the space next to him and Bradley reluctantly climbed back into bed. Colin pulled him close and rested his forehead against Bradley’s.
‘You’re not old and you’re not wrinkly. That’s not to say you won’t be some day...’ Colin kissed away Bradley’s protest. ‘But I will love you just as much then as I do now. A few wrinkles aren’t going to change that okay? Now go to sleep.’
Bradley was silent for so long that Colin thought he really had gone to sleep but then he felt Bradley’s hand in his and Bradley’s mouth against his ear whispering ‘Thanks Col.’