70 Themes Same-sex Romance Challenge: 11-15

11. Bedroom

  Nearly midnight; God, even with two people, it took an age to wash and dry these dishes. But it didn't matter what time it was. It wasn't like I was tired...unlike a certain someone.
  Archie gave a loud yawn, which made me turn and irritably stare at him. Seriously, it wasn't that tiring. He uttered a 'Sorry', and I went back to drying my last dishes. I put my piles of plates and bowls and cutlery away, as well as Archie's already dried plates. Of course, he was still going when I was done. I spent the next five minutes waiting for him. I had to spend these minutes just watching him – and not even the front of him, I had to watch the back. It wasn't much to look at, I had seen better...but even though he was small and skinny, he did have a backside hidden in those trousers. Give him a few muscles, and he could be a decent catch.
  But then the backside turned round, and Archie started moving to put his remaining dishes away. He closed the cupboard and wiped his hands on a clean drying-up cloth.
  "Are you finished?" I asked him.
  "I'm finished," He sighed. "Alright. Let's go back to the bedroom."
  "...The what?" Why did he call it that?
  "The bedroom," He repeated.
  "You mean the cabin?"
  "Yes, it's our bedroom – well, our room."
  "Our room..."
  "Yes."
  I gave him a half-confused, half-indignant look before heading off.
  "Don't look at me like that," He said in that innocent voice of his. I stopped to give him the look again, and carried on walking. He followed me out of the kitchen and down the corridor. "Evan..."
  "What?" I held back my annoyance as much as I could.
  "Do you not want me to call it our 'bedroom'?"
  "...I wouldn't call it that..." I answered.
  "Well, it's our room...and it has our beds in it, so it really is our bedroom –"
  "If it's anyone's bedroom, it's mine," I cut him off.
  "No, it isn't!"
  "It was my room long before you came on this ship," I told him. "You should be grateful I let you share it with me."
  "If we're sharing, does that make it ours?"
  "No. I'm sharing my room with you."
  "But it's ours now."
  "Why do you so desperately want to make it ours?" I demanded, stopping and turning to him. "You're not going to be staying here as long as I will be. It's probably not even up to your standards."
  "What do you mean 'my standards'?" Archie's answer lost its innocence and became a retort.
  "Don't you miss your big bed, with your cushiony duvet and dozens of pillows, in your nice, warm bedroom?"
  Looking at me with a hurt expression, Archie frowned and lowered his head. I opened the door, and showed a hand through to the cabin. "Go on, then. Go to bed, if you're tired."
  I watched his dejected self walk in and begin to take his clothes off. I shut the door and did the same. When he was in his pyjamas, he went past me to go up the ladder on the side of the bed.
  "Goodnight, Evan."
  "Goodnight," I buttoned up my pyjama shirt. I looked over at him. He had the most hurt expression on his face. I hadn't offended him too much, had I? "I'm sorry if I...upset you. I didn't mean it."
  "It's alright," He nodded. "Thank you for letting me share your cabin."
  I grunted before he made his way up the ladder to get into his bed. This kid wasn't used to this life. Maybe I should help him through it, rather than mock him for being from a better lifestyle. While he's on the ship, I should look after him. That's what I did when I offered him a place to sleep in my bedroom.

12. Date

  Oh my God. Why are you being such a coward? You're just asking him to go out with you! If he says yes, he says yes; don't get excited. If he says no, he says no; don't get upset. But who was I kidding: I wanted this to be a date. Yeah, I knew he was with Kash. I could still dream.
  I had to make my own way to the after-party tonight; Kash and Freddie were smooth sailing in their tour bus directly from the dressing room. At least I could get in: just a flash of my VIP pass, and I was entered into the world of celebrity. I was totally lost in the giant room, wandering round until I found someone I knew.
  There he was, standing by himself at the bar. The bright red hair wasn't hard to miss, and neither was his weird pale skin. Yeah, I was used to pale skin in this country, but his was a...different pale, that separated him from the rest. Almost everything about him separated him from the rest. I had almost forgotten how beautiful he was since the first time I met him.
  Oh God, my feet were moving towards the bar. Come on now, get a grip: I had to ask him now when he was alone. I could feel the knot in my gut getting tighter and tighter – I never got all nervous around anyone else!
  I cleared my throat, surprised he didn't notice me coming his way. "Hi," I waved to him, and he turned to look at me. God, Josh, he's only looking at you. Don't lose your head.
  "Hello," He seemed real pleased to see me. His smile made me feel worse but so much better at the same time.
  "Hi..." I said again, not knowing what else to say.
  "It's...Josh, right?"
  "Right! Right..." He remembered my name! Okay, okay, stay cool. Make conversation. "Um, is that your natural hair colour?"
  "Why, yes," He glanced upwards. "It's bizarre, isn't it?"
  "No, I-I think it's great – it makes you stand out."
  "Thank you, Josh."
  His smile made me giggle a little, only because I was so lucky to have him even look my way. I tried to compose myself.
  "Is that your natural hair colour?" He nodded to me.
  "Uh..." I brushed my fringe to the side of my face. "Well, it's dyed a little lighter..."
  "So you're naturally blonde, but not that blonde?"
  "Right! I'm not that blonde!" An embarrassing laugh came out of my mouth; I cleared my throat to stop another one from coming out. "Can I, uh...can I get you a drink?"
  "Oh, no, thank you," He shook a casual hand at me. "I don't drink."
  "Oh...c-can I get you...another drink?"
  "I'm not thirsty, but thank you for offering."
  "Right, okay." Cut to the chase, Josh. "Listen, uh...do you wanna..." I lifted my head up and looked into those eyes. "...Do you wanna go out with me?"
  "Out with you?"
  "J-Just out, for one night," I put my hands in my pockets. "We could...go to dinner, or go see a movie, or...take a walk round the block –" This was sounding suspicious. "Just to go out, y-you know, like as friends..."
  "So it's not a date, then?" Freddie asked.
  "No!" I gasped. "N-No, of course not!"
  "Because you do know that I'm still with Kash," He told me with a strange grin.
  "Right! Of course, Kash..."
  "What about you? Don't you have a lovely lady after you?"
  "No, I'm...I'm single," My eyes drifted away from him.
  "Really!" Freddie raised his eyebrows. "How could someone as handsome as you are be single?"
  "I-I don't know," I said through my near hysterical laughter.
  "But yes; I'll go out with you," He saved me from more embarrassment.
  "Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!"
  "Is Monday alright?"
  "Yeah! Great!" I beamed at him, while he gave me a calm smile back. I was so lost for words, we were left with a silence. Couldn't he say something? Did he not want to talk to me? This silence was a sign I was annoying him, wasn't it. "Uh...should I go now?"
  "No, you can stay here, if you want," Freddie replied. "Are you by yourself?"
  "Yeah," I sighed.
  "Stay here, then. You need company." I returned his smile with a far less charming one, I was sure. Yeah, Freddie could look after me, seems as Kash hadn't bothered to find me yet. Speak of the devil...
  "Hey, you two," Kash arrived with a bottle of beer; he was looking better than he usually did after a concert – maybe it wasn't as hardcore tonight, though that was hard to believe. "Josh!" He grabbed Freddie's waist, pulling him close. "You're not trying to steal my man, are you?"
  "We were j-just talking..."
  "Good," He turned to Freddie, who was already gazing at him with adoring eyes. He then gave Freddie a kiss on the lips...a pretty long kiss on the lips. I stood there, probably embarrassing myself even more. But so what? I got a date with Freddie!

13. Movies

  "So he's going to try and sneak out without her knowing, but heaven knows she'll call him on his phone, at least a hundred times until he answers! He'll have to answer! And he'll have to lie about him and Brian, where he is, what he's doing – and it's all a bit ridiculous, really! Why it can't be simple between them, I'll never know!"
  My mind drifted off, as did my eyes around the street we were walking down. We were coming up to the cinema: I hadn't been to see anything in so long. I wasn't really sure why; maybe because I didn't have as much time, for some reason. Was it because Lucifer was now living with me? No, of course not! I went out to places without him, and he went without me. There hadn't been anything really good out recently...
  As we walked past, I was taken by a poster outside the cinema; it stood out from every other poster for the other films surrounding it. My feet brought me closer to the poster: ooh, a new foreign film, I should have suspected. I hadn't heard much about this one, except that it was foreign – Swedish, I think it was. It looked very dramatic, very serious, very artistic; just the way I like them. I wouldn't mind seeing this film; maybe I could make some time to go and see it – time when he wasn't around.
  "I wondered where you'd gone!" Lucifer had found me. He glanced at the posters for a second. "Do you want to see a film? What do you want to see?"
  "No, no, I was just looking..." I put my hands in my pockets and carried on walking down the street.
  "Oh. Anything interesting?" He ran up to my side.
  "Not really."
  After a brief pause, Lucifer then said: "We should go and see a film together. I haven't been to see anything with you yet!"
  "Good luck finding a film we'll both like," I muttered.
  "What do you mean?"
  "Chances are you won't want to see a film that I want to see, and vice versa."
  "That's not true. I watch anything!"
  "Sure you do," I sarcastically replied.
  "I do! I'm up for any film...whether I'll like it or not, well, I don't know that until I see it."
  "But don't you ever look at a film and know that it's not going to be the type of thing you like?"
  "Sometimes, but I'd still give it a try. I'm easily pleased."
  I stopped to look at him, and I got a mindlessly happy expression back. "...You're too positive."
  "Why, is that what you do?" He asked. "You know which films you like before you see them?"
  "I do, actually. Because I know what I like when I see films."
  "Maybe you could be more open-minded?" I rolled my eyes to the ground and chose not to answer. "What films do you like to see, then? You like your foreign films, don't you?"
  "Yes."
  "Well, I'll go and see a foreign film with you, then!" He cried. "Are there any out? Is that what you were looking at?"
  "No, you wouldn't like it," I shook my head.
  "How do you know?"
  "I just...I know you."
  "Darren," Lucifer put a hand on his hip and waited for me to look at his jokingly stern face. "Did you not just hear me say that I'll watch anything?"
  "You may watch it, but you won't like it."
  "And did you not just hear me say that I'm easily pleased?" He almost laughed. "I will go with you for this foreign film you want to see, and I will find something to like about it."
  I gave him a disgruntled look. His eager eyes and wide smile stayed on his face. "...Alright, then."
  "Great!" He clapped his hands together. "Besides, I can't have you going by yourself."
  "Why not?"
  "You'll be lonely! You need someone to keep you company."
  I don't think Lucifer realised that I'm not a big fan of having company – but if it's with him, I guess I can tolerate it.

14. Lick

  I probably should have put my guitar away, now Freddie was due to come by at any minute. But I had to keep playing: I had been working on this damn song for three hours. Good thing he had his own key.
  The apartment door opened, and in he came, wearing a black-and-white striped shirt and black jeans; his red hair looked even brighter tonight. He greeted me with only his smile.
  "Hey, Tiger," I sat myself up a little on the couch. "Come over here and listen to this lick I just wrote." Freddie sat himself on the remaining part of the couch, while I got my fingers into place. "Check this out." I played the lick, the one I'd memorised for hours now, but before I could get to the end, I messed up. "Shit." I tried again but messed up on the same part. "Shit!"
  "Don't worry," He said. "It's only me."
  "I could play this before..." I tried that part again, but I couldn't play it. I stopped, and started from the beginning, but I now messed up on that. What was going on? "Shit, I can't play it anymore," I took my fingers away.
  "It's alright. What you did play sounded good."
  "And I spent so long trying to get it right." I sighed at the guitar. "Why can't I ever play around you?"
  "Me? Why is it me?"
  "Whenever I play something for you personally, I can never get it right." I should have thought of that before asking him to come and listen to me.
  "You've got to be joking," He shook his head. "How many times have I been to your concerts, and you've been perfect?"
  "Yeah, well, that's different; it was you and a thousand other people. When it's just you...up close and personal...I can't concentrate."
  "I am sorry," He gave a guilty shrug. "Why don't you pretend I'm not here?"
  "That's harder than it sounds," I told him.
  "What about when I'm with you in rehearsals? You can play then."
  "I make mistakes then, you just can't hear them over the other guys."
  "It's alright to make mistakes, you know," He smiled.
  "Yeah, well..." I unplugged the guitar from the amp, and leant to put it on the stand next to me. "Maybe I should just practise more." As I was leaning to turn off the amp, I felt Freddie undoing my jeans. When I turned back, Freddie had pulled my jeans and underwear down to the tops of my legs, revealing my rose tattoo. He then went down and licked it, before coming back up. "What was that for?" I asked.
  "I want to show you what licks I can do."
  "Very funny." Freddie went back down and licked my tattoo again, and then moved around my lower area. Damn it, and this was my most sensitive place. As suspected, my body tensed up as his tongue touched my skin, and the throbbing began. "Jesus, Freddie, do you want me to get hard so early in the evening?"
  "Yes." He kept licking, while I had to lean back, moaning at the sensation. Why did he have to start the games? What if I wanted to start things off for a change? I might want to lick his body too. I shifted myself around on the couch, planning the best way to get on top of him.
  "Would you mind holding still, please?" I heard him speak.
  "I want to lick you," I whined.
  "I'm going first. Wait your turn."
  "Do you want me to make myself sweat? That'll turn you off."
  "Oh, be quiet and let me taste you." I crossed my arms, feeling my body react to his tongue.
  "Can you at least take my trousers off? I'm gonna chafe in a minute."
  Freddie instantly let go of me and slipped my jeans and underwear down my legs. He wouldn't suspect a thing... As soon as they were off me, I shoved him onto his back and pounced down, unbuttoning his shirt.
  Damn, why did there have to be so many buttons? Moving the open shirt to show his bare chest, I placed my tongue at the bottom of his navel, and licked all the way up to his chin. Before he could say anything, I threw my tongue into his mouth. In this kiss, I had control of him; these game rules have changed. Or so I thought.
  Freddie managed to get a hold between my legs, and gave it a quick yank, making me pull away from his mouth with an 'Ow –!" I saw a smug grin on his face.
  "You didn't wait your turn."

15. First

  I had missed this so much. How I've lived without playing on an X-Box for this long was completely mad! I had to think back to when I was still living with my family, and all the free time I had to play games on my X-Box – hours of entertainment! Why didn't I bring my X-Box with me when I moved out? Why didn't I hold onto it for when I was bored? Guess I was too busy with other hobbies like my music and socialising.
  At Jake's house, we were on a racing game; I had played him and Mark dozens of times now, and I wasn't stopping just yet. There were so many different race-tracks and locations and cars to play as – I couldn't get tired of this. So I was a little rusty on my playing skills...but I was working my way up, getting back into shape with game after game after game.
  I took my eyes away from the screen, and saw Jamie come out of the bathroom.
  "Jamie!" I cried. "Why don't we have an X-Box?"
  "I don't know," He shrugged, sitting back down in the armchair. "I'm not the one who plays on video games."
  "We should get one!"
  "You're paying for it, then."
  "So d'you want to do another game?" Jake brought my attention back to the screen.
  "Oh yeah, I've got it sorted now," I leant myself forward, resting my elbows on my knees. "I'll ground you into the dust."
  "Hey, Mark!" Jake called. "We're playing again."
  "You're alright, mate, I'll sit this one out," He shook a hand in dismissal.
  "What's wrong?"
  "I don't feel too good."
  "Oh, alright."
  "Jamie, do you want to play a race?" I asked him.
  "Oh no, I-I'm no good at these games," He answered.
  "Come on, give it a go!" I gestured for him to come over. "I don't want you sitting there just watching us!"
  "I'm fine, I-I'd only lose, anyway..."
  "Who cares if you lose?" I kept my eyes on his hesitant self, waiting for him to give in.
  "Alright, then," He sighed.
  "There we go," I swivelled round to Mark. "Mark, give Jamie your control."
  "He can have mine," Jake put his down before getting up off the couch.
  "What? You don't want to play?"
  "I'm getting another beer; Jamie can take this one."
  "Get me a beer too while you're up, then." I picked up the control and gave it to Jamie. As he took a few steps, I grabbed him and sat him down on the floor in front of me. "Now sit down right here, and let's play." I had played this game long enough, I was able to choose all the options. Once I had sorted my car out, I chose Jamie's for him. "Okay, you're the blue car, number two."
  "Okay..."
  The starting credits came on the screen, and I said along: "On your marks...get set...go!" And off we went.
  "Come on, come on, now –" I watched Jamie's car in his playing rectangle going all over the place. "Jamie, what are you doing!"
  "I told you, I can't play these games!" His eyes were on the control.
  "Oi, you're not getting past me!" I shouted to a game player. "Come on, come on, come on!" I made my audible way through the laps, keeping an eye on Jamie's car at all times. He was going slowly, but wobbling through the track. He then pressed a button and his car flew off the track and over a cliff. "Whoa, where did you go there, Jamie!"
  "I can't control this thing..."
  "Yessssss, come on, now! Last lap!" I stared at the screen, holding down buttons like my life depended on it. Jamie's car was stuck in a wall, that needed to reverse. "Where are you, Jamie?"
  "Oh, I don't even know..."
  "Yes...Yes...Yessss –" I crossed the finish line, in first place, of course. "Yes! Alright!" I threw my arms in the air. "Whooo! The champion reigns on!" I looked down at Jamie, cautiously moving the joystick and pressing buttons. "What happened to you?"
  "I fell off a cliff again, I don't know where I went..." He sounded so sad.
  "Ohhhh, it's just a game, Jamie!" I shook his shoulders. "For someone who doesn't usually play video games, you did alright."
  "Don't try and humour me."
  "Well, don't be so serious, then!" I laughed, ruffling his hair. On second thought, maybe we shouldn't get an X-Box, if Jamie wasn't going to be any fun.