A/N: Thank you, MadCatta, for your help, and thanks for your suggestion, I think it's actually better this way. :) To anyone who's confused about why they're all together in Cornwall, its artistic license . . . they can't stay in Peru forever, y'know. Besides, Peru isn't exactly the ideal setting for what my furtile imagination concocted. Enjoy!
The four boys were at a carnival.
It was Richard's idea; he was sad that the teenagers had to be entrusted with adult's problems and had been forced out of their childhood's so early, so he was adamant that they should have fun whenever they could. So here they were, in Cornwall, at a carnival, a place where Richard was sure they would be able to relax, play some games, gorge on bad food and enjoy the fireworks display scheduled for later in the night. Pedro was stunned, he'd never seen such a place before in his life, and so Jamie whisked him away almost immediately, insisting they go on all the rides. Pedro was terrified and the other two simply followed silently.
The first ride they came to was a rollercoaster. Pedro went white. Matt gulped. Scott smirked and Jamie carried on pulling Pedro's arm, completely oblivious. Scott sidled a bit closer to Matt. "Afraid of a little carnival ride, Matt?"
Matt didn't deign to answer, instead pointedly walking quicker behind Jamie and Pedro, hiding the fact that he was cringing inside commendably well. Once they finally got on the wretched thing, it crawled upwards until it was almost vertical, by that time Pedro was almost as green as the neon lights that welcomed them at the carnival entrance. Matt was shivering, Scott smirking beside him. Then they went down. Pedro let out a yell of horror as they flew down the ramp and after the third twist slapped a hand over his eyes. Jamie and Scott laughed aloud as the wind graced their faces, blowing their hair back. Matt remained silent, clutching the iron bar that held him and Scott in their joined seats so hard his knuckles were white.
After the eighth twist in which the machine turned them upside down momentarily, Matt let a small moan escape his clenched teeth. Scott, noticing that Matt was seriously distressed, slid a hand over Matt's and squeezed. Matt looked at him in confusion and Scott gave him a small smile, squeezing his hand again in reassurance. Matt tried to smile, but it came out more of a grimace of pain. Scott got it.
XXXXX
After several more rides that succeeded in delighting the twins and scaring the wits out of Matt and Pedro, the four boys wandered around in search of decent games and/or food, both of which was a little hard to come by in a place like this. Eventually, Jamie spotted a horror house and dragged a reluctant Pedro over to it. Matt glanced sideways at Scott, "Don't you want to go too?"
The elder twin shook his head as he stared at the receding figures of his brother and his captive. "Nah, it's a waste of money and it's too cheesy for me." As his stomach complained, Matt asked, "You want to get some food?"
Scott nodded and they wandered at a leisurely pace through the group to the food area. "If you can call the instant sugar-core crap they sell food."
"Instant sugar-core crap?"
"Why so surprised? You are talking to a chef." Matt laughed.
XXXXX
Matt and Scott were now sitting side-by-side on the gnarled and rather large root of a great tree on the outskirts of the village green the carnival was dominating, close enough so they could see the lights and the rides, but far enough away so they couldn't hear all the racket and were bathed in a serene darkness. The companionable silence was broken by the American's curiosity. "So how come you're frightened of roller coasters?"
Matt looked at him briefly then away again, not wanting to talk. Scott turned his head slightly to stare at him questioningly. "Matt . . . ?"
Matt sighed softly. "It's stupid." Scott continued to look at him expectantly so Matt sat up a little straighter and stared down at his hands, clasped together between his knees. "Well, I went to a carnival with my parents, when I was little."
Scott hummed lightly to signal Matt to carry on. "I had my first precognition vision then. I was up on the roller coaster as it went down and I saw someone getting hurt in my head. A man – he was going to fall from somewhere high – like where I was right then."
Matt paused again and Scott remained silent, to let him finish his tale in his own time. "Two days later, a man identical to the one I saw fell off of a building and died instantly. I don't like roller coasters because it brings up that memory."
The boys stayed silent for several long minutes before Matt said, in an attempt to break the melancholy mood, "You and Jamie seemed to enjoy it though; why's that?"
Scott stood up and walked a few paces forwards, gazing at the carnival in the distance without really seeing it. "We went on one when we were about twelve, in Nevada. Don was looking for a place to hold the circus and he decided the ground it was being held on was a good spot. He gave us some money and told us to go away and occupy ourselves for a few hours."
Scott turned on his heel to face Matt and looked up at the sky, the moonlight bathing his face. "I know it sounds really lame, but when we were up in the air on the highest peak, so far from the ground . . . I felt free, like Don and Marcie and everyone else would never be able to touch us again." Scott's dark eyes glowed in the moonlight as they were riveted to the sky, a wistful expression on his face. Then he seemed to snap back to reality and averted his eyes back to the ground, clearly uncomfortable with baring his feelings.
Unable to think of anything else to do to cheer him up, Matt walked over to Scott and picked up a few pieces of popcorn from the box of it he had bought at a stall, stretching his hand out and asking, "You want some popcorn?"
Scott's eyebrow quirked up as his eyes switched from Matt's blue ones, to the confectionary item in his hand. He then shrugged, still looking at the food. Noting that Scott didn't raise his hand, Matt moved his to Scott's face, his fingertips pressing against his lips. Realising what he was doing, he was about to pull away when the other boy opened his mouth and took the offered morsels between his lips – along with the tips of Matt's fingers, his tongue lightly brushing them as he used it to remove the popcorn from Matt's grasp.
Matt's hand dropped so it was no longer by Scott's face, simply stilled in midair. Nothing could be heard apart from the dulled crunching as Scott chewed on the snack. The English boy deliberately kept his eyes from Scott, suddenly unable to bare his handsome face. Scott, feeling he should break the awkward atmosphere and aware that he was being rude (for once actually caring), murmured, "Cotton candy?" and offered his own purchased food.
Matt dared a glance at Scott's face and assumed Scott had taken a bite before he had presented it to him, as a bit of the pink substance clung to the side of his mouth. Matt nodded, accepting Scott's offer. The American frowned as Matt gently pushed his arm that held the cotton candy away from him and leaned in towards Scott's face. What was he . . . ?
Scott froze as Matt's tongue darted out and licked the excess sweet stuff from his cheek, caressing his skin as he did so. Matt retreated and retracted his tongue back into his mouth, licking his lips appreciatively. Scott said dumbly, "Did you just lick me?"
Matt's face was unreadable as he replied quietly, "Yes, I did."
"Why?"
Matt shrugged in a half-hearted attempt at nonchalance. "To get rid of it. And you did offer."
Scott went red. "That's not what I meant!"
Matt nodded mutely as he continued to watch the other boy. Then he smirked slightly. "You know," he whispered in a voice that was almost a purr as he stepped forwards once more, "I think you've got some more I didn't get."
Scott's breathing got heavier as his heart raced, hot blood rushing rapidly through his veins. After a moment of silence, his voice began to work again, "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, right here." He tapped a finger against Scott's bottom lip gently. "Want me to get it off for you?"
Scott gulped inaudibly as he stared into Matt's sincere blue eyes. Then he nodded. Matt's expression of surprise made him doubt for a moment, but it soon disappeared as the English boy held his shoulders tightly and tasted his bottom lip with his tongue, before grazing his top one, too. Scott shivered as tremors ran down his spine at the sensation. Squeezing his shoulders tighter still, Matt probed in between Scott's lips – trying to slip his tongue into his mouth. Scott hesitated one last time before parting his lips, bringing his hands up to rest on Matt's face as the paler boy pulled him closer. Somehow they started moving backwards and their feet slipped on a thick branch lying near the tree it had formerly been attached to, sending them both tumbling to the soft, grassy ground. It had no effect on their embrace and severed only to press their mouths closer together, encouraging their twining tongues to tangle even further.
They rolled over so they lay on their sides, still clinging to each other, the pale moonlight illuminating their bodies as they pulled apart and panted, trying to fully comprehend what they had just done. Scott sighed quietly as he felt Matt's fingers grazing his throat, groaning as they were quickly replaced by his lips. He slid one of his legs in between Matt's so they were even further entwined than before, making the other boy moan softly, as he tried to get more comfortable on the ground. He had a feeling he was going to be there a while as they clung to one another, oblivious to the sounds and sights of the fireworks exploding above their heads and painting the night every colour imaginable.
XXXXX
Pedro was going to be sick. Not because of the horrendous house of horror Jamie had just forced him into or the multiple accident-waiting-to-happen ridiculous rides he had dragged him on, oh no, this was because of what Jamie called "the nicest, least scary ride we'll go on tonight". It was a boat.
On the opposite side of the carnival to where Matt and Scott had disappeared, there was a wide, deep river and a small harbour where several boats were tied and a man stood beside the ring, who took their money and helped them into the boat he untied from the small fleet, gave them some quick advice about how to use the boat safely and gave them a neat little push to send them on their way.
Pedro held on for dear life as they were gently rocked downstream, jumping a mile in the air when Jamie randomly started laughing. Looking over his shoulder, he stared at the guffawing other boy, before turning around completely. "What is so funny?" he asked, completely bemused.
Jamie got his chuckling under control enough to say, "I was just thinking about the last time I was on a boat; it was in Salt Lake City. Scott and I had really nice foster parents and they took us fishing one day in the summer. Scott caught a fish, but he's the one who ended up being yanked up – or I should say down!"
Jamie laughed even louder as the memory flashed through his mind. "That was a good day. Scott was scowling for ages after that, but it's a nice thing to think about. We were really happy in Salt Lake city; I really enjoyed being on the river, it was so peaceful."
Pedro just stared at him blankly as he held his stomach, shaking with mirth. He then turned around again and looked once more into the murky depths of the river, completely focusing on its swirling course until his musing was interrupted by Jamie again.
"Pedro!" Jamie laughed. "What are you staring over the side like that for? Relax and enjoy the ride."
Pedro's grip on the hull tightened until his knuckles were white. "I can't." He whispered.
Either Jamie heard him or he deduced from his body posture that something was wrong, because he stopped laughing and leaned toward the other boy slightly. "Pedro? What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong." Pedro forced out from between his gritted teeth. Jamie frowned, concerned at his friends behaviour, all trace of his previous good humour evaporated. "Yeah, there is; you've got that look on your face – like that time we were in the market and you were getting upset over all the Peruvian people."
Pedro didn't answer, his shoulders slumping slightly. Jamie added more gently, "You can tell me. I'll try to understand."
A few tense minutes went by before Pedro sighed and turned around in the boat (slowly, even though it still rocked precariously). Keeping his eyes cast down, he began, "This river . . . when I was young, we had a lot of rain one summer. More than you have ever seen in your life, Jamie, it just kept coming, never ending. There was a river a few kilometres from the village I lived in with my family. It flooded . . . and washed everything away. It was horrible."
He shuddered as he finished his tale, flashes of that day running through his mind. "I was in a tree, that's how I survived, despite all the rain beating down on me and all the water below me. The river destroyed everything, took everything away." He was aware of his eyes prickling slightly with unshed tears. "It took my family away."
He jumped when he felt warm arms wrap around him and pull him close to a body and squeezing him tightly. "I'm sorry." Jamie whispered right next to his ear, pressing their chests together so Pedro was almost certain he could feel Jamie's heart beating next to his. "Why didn't you say? I wouldn't have made you come on here."
Pedro hesitantly returned Jamie's embraced, relishing in the heat radiating from him. They held each other in a thoughtful silence until Jamie seemed to realise how close they were. He drew back to the other edge of the little boat and looked away, saying, "Sorry, we kind of can't go back, we have to go the full course of the river before we can stop. Just – do something to take your mind off of it, okay?"
He closed his eyes and leaned back a little further, trying to push the sad thoughts out of his mind. Pedro stared at him, the shimmering glow of the moonlights reflection on the water lighting his face and making him beautiful. Without thinking about what he was doing, Pedro crawled forward the two paces separating the boys and caressed Jamie's lips with his softly. Jamie's eyes shot open and he stared in shock, not even moving.
Pedro pulled back after barely three seconds, staring at the American boy, his eyes unreadable. Jamie stared back, not saying a word. Then he poked his head a little bit forward and kissed Pedro on the mouth, his eyes open, waiting for a reaction. Pedro pressed back and both sets of brown eyes closed as the kiss got more heated. Pedro gripped the hull Jamie was sitting propped against with both hands – and that's where things went wrong. The boat suddenly tipped on its side as Pedro pressed Jamie right up against it with his body, unaccustomed to so much weight on one side and so little on the other at the same time, the boat simply gave way, throwing its passengers out into the water.
Pedro flailed uselessly as he was dragged down by the current, having never learned to swim, terror seizing him and causing his already burning lungs to compress even further. Just as the world started to go black, arms folded around his waist from behind and he was being pulled upwards. Pedro broke the surface gasping, looking over his shoulder at Jamie who held onto the boat with one hand while the other remained around his waist, in no better a state than he himself was in. Eventually they both returned to the boat and lay down on the floor in the centre of the structure, beside each other.
Pedro stared at Jamie in a new light, liking what he was seeing. He pressed his lips to Jamie's once more, but the other boy pulled back. "Let's not continue that 'til we're back on dry land." He said, smiling. "I don't really want to go for another swim, do you?"
Pedro smiled slightly and shook his head. "That sounds like a good idea." They both settled on their backs and held hands tightly but gently, gazing as the sky was set alight by the dozens of fireworks shooting into the air. That is, until Jamie shattered the atmosphere yet again. "Scott is gonna laugh so much when he sees me like this."