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They laid under layers of plaid sheets, rain pattering on the window in a gentle shower. It was cold, but not overly so, just enough to make the woolen blanket over them feel like heaven without their feet threatening to fall off from frost bite.
Under Steve’s bed, an old Nike’s shoe box with weathered corners was filled with the accumulation of allowance money and hours upon hours of summer jobs. And in Billy’s car, hidden in the trunk right by his tool box, you could find a similar box. They almost had enough, it was just a matter of time, a count down with steadily trickling numbers soon to hit its end.
“Okay, picture this...” Billy whispered despite there being no one else in the Harrington residence, his words meant solely for the boy next to him, the boy that laid so close that their noses bumped. Billy could count his lashes if he wanted to.
“Okay,” Steve made a rectangle with his thumbs and index fingers like a picture frame, holding it up to his face, “I’m picturing it.”
Dork.
“We get a dog —”
“Cat.”
Billy rolls his eyes.
“Sure. We get a cat, some old bastard from the shelter who probably had a dozen kids scattered across town before getting neutered.”
“And he didn’t help take care of his kids? What a deadbeat.”
“An Asshole,” he played along. “Focus Steve. So we get a cat and name him Kronos—“
“Why Kronos? Where did you even get that name—“
“And, we get an apartment, a decent one, with heated water and working air conditioner.”
“Mmhmm.”
“With a tiny kitchen that I can make those brownies you like.”
“Oh baby, talk dirty to me.” Steve looked at him with hooded eyes and wiggles his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
“Yeah? You like? How about this: imagine a tiny living room just big enough for the two of us...”
“And Kronos.”
“And Kronos. We can let the window open while it’s raining so we can hear it. We can have days just like this, laying in the couch under a blanket, you’re cold ass feet assaulting me.”
“It’s hereditary! It’s a condition, I swear! My mom has the exact same problem—“
“Listen Steve,” Billy attacked Steve’s neck with his teeth, enjoying his huffed laugh, before pulling away and leaning over Steve, supported by an arm holding his head up. “Our apartment will smell like the cinnamon apple tea you make during winter because... you like tea for some reason and I love you despite your flaws.”
“Oh shut up.”
“And there will be a corner in the fridge where you can keep your chocolate bars because you’re also a weirdo who likes to keep chocolate in the refrigerator.”
“I’m just so deeply flawed,” he pouted and sighed dramatically, “I can’t help it.”
“I know baby.” Steve’s eyes fluttered when he planted a kiss on his nose. “Don’t know why I chose to love you.”
“Because I know how to work the washing machine and make sure the whites don’t turn pink.”
Low blow. He thought he was forgiven for that. “I guess I’m just so deeply flawed, too.”
His face was snatched between Steve’s hands, cheeks smooshed together in a way that puckered his lips.
“This is a make or break question, Billy, you ready?” Billy nodded, amused. “What side of the bed will you want?”
“Which side will be next to the wall?”
“Mmm... left.”
“Then I’ll take the right.”
Steve let go of his face, arms falling limply besides his head. He threw his head back and let out a little playful moan.
“Oh, just take me now! Have your way with me, I surrender.”
“Really?” He crawed over him after a bit of shuffling and finding a place between his legs, a shadow cast by his body falling over Steve. “That’s all that it takes? I heard that King Steve was easy, but I didn’t know he was that much of a slut — Ow, what the hell?”
There was a little red mark on his chest where Steve had pinched him.
“Billy?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you really want to do this with me? No backing out? No changing your mind when you I forget to pick up my cups from the table, or hog the blankets at night” Billy could hear the underlying insecurity, the sincerity of his worried under the mask of humor. Steve’s eyes glowed with the orange hue of the lamp light as they searched his face.
“Only if you don’t mind when I snore next to your ear and take up all the hot water.”
“I don’t mind. We can shower together? Save on the water bill...” His smile was something lewd and inviting.
“Then I’m all in, baby.”
Billy couldn’t wait for the day that ‘coming home’ meant sleeping in a queen sized bed instead of a full, walking in and smelling the sweetness of whatever tea was boiling on the stove. He couldn’t wait for the day that kissing Steve goodnight didn’t mean he had to leave. He could kiss him and stay right there, stay under the covers and wake up holding something so precious next to him.
Billy could taste the mint on Steve’s teeth from the tooth paste. He had to leave soon, go home and sneak in through the window, but every night got easier now, knowing that the day ‘coming home’ meant coming home to Steve was soon.