It shouldn't have happened in the first place. They never would've even approached the line, if not for one simple statement.
"Adam, me and your father are going to your Aunt Julliene's wedding in Edmonton. Drew asked to stay at Sav's house, and we agreed. You can have Eli over if you want, but we expect you to call every night and there are to be no parties. Are we clear?"
Adam had never been the overly social type, the 'social butterflies' as they were called, not like Drew. He had never been all that adventurous either, so when Audra Torres had told him no parties, he obeyed. That night, he invited Eli over to stay for the week, and it had been joyfully accepted with Eli making promises of all-night movie-fests and video gaming sprees.
The second night of the week-long sleepover, they unknowingly staggered further towards the line, the invisible wall pushing forewords to prevent them from ever returning to where they had once stood.
Eli had triumphantly exclaimed as he won another round of video gaming, his hand pumping through the air in excitement. As the deal was, that meant Adam had to go get the next round of sodas and chips. It was a small, irrelevant bet, but it was one that had been agreed upon by both parties. It was safe. There was no risk to it, no chance of accidentally slipping up and doing something they'd both regret.
Adam sighed, getting up with all the elegance of a sumo wrestler, though it would probably seem as if he were a swan compared to Eli, who had been laying on the couch for close to four hours now. He returned, not even a moment later, his eyes narrowed.
"Eli, where are the chips?" The ebon-haired youth barked out a laugh, stretching his back upwards and fishing the bag of chips out from underneath the pillow he had been leaning on. No doubt that they were probably all crushed. "Great. Your bony ass turned them into powder."
"Hey! It was my elbow, thank you very much, and my ass isn't bony."
"Sure it isn't." Adam rolled his eyes, reclaiming his seat on the other side of the couch and fishing up his controller.
"Like you'd know." A shove forward. Silence overcame them, and Eli pretended not to know just what Adam's response- or lack of one- meant.
The third day, around lunch, Eli perched on the Torres' marble countertop, watching as Adam balanced a block of cheese, chunk of ham, jar of pickles, relish, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, and bread expertly. He blindly staggered over to the counter, setting down the various ingredients and condiments near Eli and grabbing a cutting board from the shelf above him.
"You're gonna give yourself a heart attack from all that food one of these days."
"I'd rather enjoy myself now and pay for it later than be bored eternally."
"Whatever. What I don't understand is where the hell all that food goes. Your metabolism must be the speed of light."
"Or my stomach is a black hole."
"I'm serious. I'd kill to be able to pack away that many calories and not get love handles."
"No doubt you'd kill to get some junk into that trunk of yours." Eli's eyebrows shot up.
"Seriously, it all goes to your ass?"
"Pretty much, far as I can tell." Adam finished constructing his sandwich and raised it to his mouth. He took a large bite out of it, and not a moment later, it was yanked away by Eli. He hopped off the counter, quickly sprinting to the other side of the island in the middle of the kitchen as Adam finished chewing his bite and swallowed. "Hey!"
"Tis my sandwich now, noble prince." Eli raised the monster-wich to his mouth, taking a massive bite out of it and swallowing not half a second later. Adam's gaze narrowed, and he launched himself up onto the counter and over it, grabbing Eli by the back of the collar as he tried to flee. The gothic boy quickly freed himself from Adam's grasp and, still wielding the sandwich, threw himself up the staircase and into the bathroom. Adam was hot on his heels, but instead of trying to get into the bathroom via the door Eli had gone into, threw himself into his room instead, and wrenched open the second door before Eli could lock it. Immediately, he tried to flee from the room, but Adam blocked his path and as a result, pinned him between himself and the bathroom counter. Their breath came heavily, and for just a moment, the sandwich had been forgotten.
Two days after the incident in the bathroom, which both boys had carefully avoided bringing up, they realized their reign of the house would soon come to an end. Drew would be returning tomorrow, and Adam's parents the morning after, so Eli and Adam really only have about twenty waking hours left to do whatever it was they wanted. Surprisingly, even though neither of them had suggested holding the party that Mrs. Torres had made clear they couldn't have, they did end up deciding to throw one.
A few hours later, the invites had been sent, and not long after that, the party had begun.
The music pounding through the house made certain the boys would be busted for the party by the neighbours eventually, but at the moment, they didn't care. While Eli had become drunk of his own accord, someone had sometime during the night, spiked the drinks with vodka. Adam had taken a chug of root beer to quench his thirst, and as a result, had his throat set aflame. Not long after, he began to feel the affect of his accidental consumption of alcohol.
Once, Eli had told Adam that in wine there was truth, and now, he saw that it really was true. It started first with a sloppy grin and telling Eli that he liked the shirt he was wearing, but as Adam sought out more of the vodka, found it, and consumed it, it escalated to inviting him to dance and then, and then, swinging his arm around Eli's waist and declaring to the lamp in the corner of the room that he loved Eli's hair because it was swooshy. Obviously, the lamp was found to be a horrible conversationalist, but it didn't stop either boy from enthusing to it how awesome the other was.
The next day came much too early, and much too bright. Eli awoke first, with pants around his ankles, slumped in a chair in Adam's room. Adam awoke not long after with an odd taste in his mouth. Neither boy ever brought it up, not even to the other in passing, for fear of wavering over the line they were already straddling again. Eventually though, as careful as they both were, they would waver over the line again. And again. And one day, maybe far from the present, or maybe just months later, they would completely cross it. But it was up to them wether they would push against the invisible wall, begging to return to the other side of the line, or continue walking proudly into the distance.
A/N: So, there it is. A short little Adam/Eli drabble. It's left open-ended in case, sometime in the future, I wish to turn this from a one-shot into a chaptered fic. Review? =D