To those waiting for an update on my forbidden love story there are two fics that should be up soonish.
The leaves were falling down around him and the air was cool and crisp. Will hardly noticed these things though. He found the nearest bench and sat down, resting his face in his hands. It wasn't the end of the world and really it didn't even feel like it, but it still hurt and it would still take time for him to heal, even though he had been the cause of it.
Suddenly he knew he wasn't alone. He didn't know how he knew. There had been no footfalls and no leaves had crunched under the weight of a foot, but he had felt something in the air, some sort of change. It was subtle, but it was there.
"Are you okay?" a quiet voice asked. Will looked up and into the face of a teenage boy.
Will nodded. "Yeah. Just fine. Don't worry about me."
"May I sit down next to you?"
Will shrugged. "I suppose. If you want to."
The kid sat down next to him. He was strange. He felt off to Will. The way the kid talked and moved, it seemed like he wasn't comfortable in his own skin, like he didn't belong there.
"My name is Wesley."
"Will." Neither of them offered their hands to shake. Wesley sat beside him, silently, and amazingly the silence didn't bother Will. He usually hated silence. He was one of those people that was uncomfortable with silence. He would like to say that he just hadn't found the right person yet, but there was no way that the right person was a teenage boy.
It wasn't that Will had anything against guys. He hadn't ever been with a guy before, but it wasn't something he was opposed to. He just hadn't found any guys that he had ever been attracted to, but he always knew that if he had, it wouldn't be something he would freak out about. There was just no way that he liked somebody as young as this kid appeared to be, and he didn't even know anything at all about Wesley.
And apparently it wasn't even that comfortable of a silence because here he was over-thinking about nothing. No, it was still a comfortable silence. He might be over-thinking, but it wasn't as if he felt compelled to talk. He had a feeling he could just sit here all day next to Wesley and not say a word.
"Are you sure that you're okay?" Wesley asked. He seemed genuinely concerned, which was odd. Wesley didn't even know him.
"It's not like it's anything life threatening. Just broke things off with my long term girlfriend. Things just weren't right between us and they hadn't been for a while. I kept hoping things would change but they never did. It's still hard though. We were together for so long."
Will hadn't meant to open up like that to a complete stranger, but he hadn't seemed to be able to stop himself. There was just something about Wesley.
"You were in love with her."
That was an odd statement to make. Of course Will had been in love with her. They wouldn't have been together for as long as they had if he hadn't been.
"I thought I was." Will was surprised by his own answer. What was it about this kid that was throwing him for a loop?
"I have no doubt that you will find love one day, Will."
"And how can you know that? You don't even know me? You just came up to me and asked me what was wrong and that was that."
Wesley tilted his head at Will. "I know more than you think. Just as I know that we will meet again."
Will stood up so he could leave. "Okay. Now this is starting to feel stalkerish. I think I'm going to leave."
Wesley nodded. "Until next time."
Will turned and walked away from Wesley. What a strange kid he had been. Will turned to glance over his shoulder, but the bench they had occupied was now empty, and there was no sign of Wesley anywhere. Will shook his head and continued his walk home. Maybe Wesley had just been a figment of his imagination. It wasn't as if they had touched or anything. If Wesley had just been a figment of his imagination he couldn't help but wonder why his brain would do something like that. He wasn't taking any sort of medications and he didn't drink or do drugs. The whole thing was all very strange and left Will feeling... off.
He wondered if he would meet Wesley again as the kid had predicted. The only explanation he could come up with for that is that Wesley had been stalking him. He wasn't sure what to make of that. It wasn't as if he had been aggressive, and he seemed harmless. He was shorter and skinnier and Will was sure he could take him if it came down to that, though he didn't think it would. More than any of that, he couldn't help but wonder why he was still thinking about Wesley. He would be better off if he just forgot about the whole thing. And if he did see Wesley again, then he saw him again. No big deal. Will could chalk it up to coincidence. Nothing more.
Still, when he got home he made sure to go through the whole house closing the blinds and making sure all of the doors were locked. Better safe than sorry.
When the sunlight pulled him out of a deep sleep in the morning, the first thing he thought of was the encounter with Wesley. It felt like it hadn't really happened at all. It felt like a distant dream. Yet here he was, still thinking about Wesley.
He remembered the way Wesley had talked and acted. It almost felt robotic. Will had a good laugh at himself when he briefly thought that maybe Wesley was a robot from the future. If only his friends could hear what he was thinking. It was probably best that they didn't. They would probably try and lock him away in some sort of mental institute. He certainly sounded crazy enough for that.
Then he couldn't help thinking that he didn't want to tell his friends about Wesley at all. He tried to rationalize this with thinking that it would be too difficult to explain Wesley, but he knew that wasn't true. Will left it at that. He wasn't ready to deal with his reasoning behind wanting to keep this from his friends. Best not to go there.
Will got out of bed to get started with his day, pushing thoughts of Wesley to the back of his mind. There would be time to think on that later. For now, real life was more important.
It was a Friday night and Will was living the exciting life. He dropped a package of cookies into the cart. He hadn't kept them around when he was with Deanna because she was always dieting, even though she hadn't needed to. He looked up after he had dropped the package into the cart and looked right into the eyes of Wesley.
"Are you following me?" Will asked conversationally. He honestly wasn't even surprised to find himself standing in front of Wesley again. His last encounter with Wesley had been almost a month ago. He hadn't been able to keep Wesley out of his thoughts the entire time. Part of him had thought that he would never see Wesley again, but a bigger part of him had known that he would see Wesley again.
"I told you we would meet again."
"So you did." Will sighed. "And the only way I figure that could have happened is that you're following me. So I have to ask again, are you following me?"
"No."
"You don't talk much, do you?"
Wesley tilted his head and just looked at Will. Will didn't have much in his cart because he had only just started shopping. "Want to go get dinner with me?"
Like last time, Will found himself saying things that he had absolutely no intention of saying. He didn't know what it was about Wesley that made him do this.
Wesley nodded. "Okay."
Will left that cart abandoned and led Wesley out to his car. He didn't want to do anything romantic so he figured a burger joint would be best. It would be a no pressure date.
Except it wasn't a date. He was definitely not on a date with Wesley. He did not just ask Wesley on a date. This was just dinner between two friends. Except they weren't even friends. So what was this? This was just dinner. Yes, Will was going to stick with that. This was just dinner.
They sat down and picked up their menus, Wesley looking at his like he had never seen one before. "The bacon cheeseburger is good," Will suggested. Wesley nodded. When the waitress came Will ordered a coke and the bacon cheeseburger and Wesley got the same.
"So, why are you stalking me?"
"I'm not stalking you."
"Fine. Then why am I seeing you again?"
"I find you interesting."
"Wesley, you don't even know me."
"Yes I do."
"Then you're stalking me."
Wesley titled his head and looked at Will. "I am not stalking you, but this is a conversation for a later date."
Will raised his eyebrow. "Okay then. What can you tell me? Let's start with an easy one. How old are you?"
Wesley didn't answer him.
"Wesley, that wasn't supposed to be a stumper?"
Wesley looked confused. "A stumper?"
He wondered if Wesley was from another country and still had trouble with English and with idioms. That would actually make sense if Wesley had an accent, but he didn't. And Will didn't really think that anyway. His brain was just coming up with any reason it could to figure out why Wesley was the way he was. "It means that it was supposed to be an easy question. Please tell me you know how old you are."
"I'm nineteen."
"Really? You look younger than that. If you're younger you can tell me."
"No. I'm nineteen."
"Okay. What about your parents? Any family?"
"No. I'm on my own."
The food came and their conversation was pretty much over with. Or rather Will gave up asking Wesley questions and Wesley didn't bother saying anything. He was too busy looking at his food like it was some sort of foreign object. It didn't seem like Wesley had never had a burger before, it seemed like Wesley had never had food at all before. And when the bill came, Wesley just looked at it.
"I take it you don't have any money."
"Money? Oh, yes. No, sorry. I guess I should have mentioned that."
Will chuckled. "No, it's fine. I was the one who asked you to dinner after all."
"Is that customary? Does the person who asked another person to dinner pay?"
"Not typically with friends, no."
"I see."
Will wasn't sure that Wesley really did see. "Is there somewhere I can take you?"
"No. I can manage on my own."
"Are you sure? It's no problem at all."
"I will be fine. You can go back to the grocery store since I interrupted your shopping."
Will honestly couldn't think of anything better to do and that was just sad. "Well if you're sure."
They walked to the door together. "Is this where you tell me that we'll meet again?"
"Would you like to see me again?"
"Yes." Will hadn't even thought before saying that, yet he knew it was true. "Maybe you should give me your phone number."
Wesley offered him a smile. "Don't worry. I'll find you. Have a good night, Will."
"You too, Wes."
Wesley tilted his head hearing the nickname fall from Will's lips. Will was getting used to that head tilt. Wesley didn't say anything so Will left him and headed to his car. That had been an interesting night. He wondered how long it would be before he would see Wesley again. He really hoped that it wasn't too long. He found that he had actually enjoyed Wesley's company tonight, and if he was honest, he had felt the same about their first encounter too, though he had also been a little freaked out.
He knew he should be freaked out by tonight, by how Wesley had just happened to find him like that, but he just couldn't summon the energy to feel that way. He wanted to see more of Wesley rather than less. He wanted to get to know the kid.
Will was sitting on his couch enjoying a book when there was a knock at the door. With a sigh Will put his book down and got off the couch.
"Wesley," he said, surprised. It had been a couple of weeks since he had last seen Wesley and he wasn't sure if he would ever see him again. That wasn't really true. He had a feeling that he would get to see Wesley again, but he had been worried that he wouldn't. He was afraid that he would never get to see somebody that he didn't even know. "What are you doing here?"
"You said you wanted to see me again. Was that not true?"
"I'm just surprised, that's all. Come on in." Will stepped aside so that Wesley could step into the house. Wesley walked in, his eyes roaming around to take in everything. "Do you approve?"
"Do I approve of what?"
Will held his arm out and moved it across him, indicating the house.
"Oh, you are asking me if I approve of the house. Yes. It's quite nice."
Will shook his head and chuckled to himself. The way Wesley talked sometimes. It felt like Wesley wasn't actually a teenage boy. The way Wesley acted wasn't like a teenage boy either. Wesley was hiding something, this much he knew. He just didn't have any clue as to what Wesley could be hiding.
Will led Wesley to the couch he had been sitting on, moving his book out of the way so that Wesley could sit down next to him.
"Have I interrupted you?"
"It's no big deal. I was just catching up on some reading."
"What are you reading?"
Will blushed a little. "Okay, I know it seems a little silly, but I'm catching up on the Harry Potter series."
Wesley tilted his head. "Harry Potter?"
Will's jaw dropped. "You've never heard of Harry Potter?" Wesley shook his head. "I can't believe that. I thought everyone knew who Harry Potter was."
"Will you tell me?" Wesley asked. He seemed genuinely interested. Wesley always seemed genuinely interested in whatever Will had to say.
"I suppose I could. Well, this is the seventh and last book," Will started. He proceeded to explain the Harry Potter series to Wesley, who gave Will his full attention the entire time. Every once in a while Wesley would stop Will to ask a question or to clarify something, but for the most part, he just listened to Will.
"Would you like to read the books yourself? You can borrow mine."
"I would enjoy that, yes. Thank you." Wesley tilted his head. "Do you enjoy stories like this, with supernatural elements?"
Will nodded. "Yeah. It's fun to pretend that magic exists and there are werewolves and vampires and demons in the world." Will shrugged. "I'm glad those things don't exist though."
"So you don't believe in magic or demons or anything like that?"
Will scrunched up his eyebrows. "No. Of course not."
"So then you don't believe in angels either."
That wasn't a question so Will didn't say anything. Wesley's smile faded and Will suddenly felt like he had said the absolute wrong thing. "What's the matter? What did I say?"
"Nothing. You've done nothing wrong, but I must go now. May I still take the Harry Potter books with me?"
"Okay. Let me go get them." Will had turned his spare bedroom into a library. He went and got the first six books for Wesley to read. "I'll loan you the seventh book as soon as I'm finished with it."
"Thank you," Wesley said, taking the books from Will. "I'll visit you again when I finish reading these books. Is that okay?"
"What if I want to see you before then?"
Wesley smiled. "Don't worry. I'm a fast reader."
"Well I'll see you soon then." He let Wesley out and locked the door behind him, resting his forehead against the closed door. Something was happening that he didn't quite understand. He'd never been attracted to a guy before. He'd dated women his entire life. There was something about Wesley though that appealed to him. Part of it was Wesley's innocence, and that disturbed him a little, especially since Wesley was so much younger than him, because what did that say about Will? It made him feel like a pervert. Will let out a groan. What the hell was happening to him?
Will started his day already exhausted. He had gone to bed after Wesley had left, but he hadn't slept at all. He had spent far too much time worrying about what he was feeling towards Wesley and what it all meant.
Will wasn't any clearer on the subject this morning than he had been last night. He was still worried that he was some kind of pervert for being attracted to somebody who was so young, and who looked even younger than he actually was.
At the same time, Wesley didn't act as young as he was. He acted like a mature adult, albeit a strange adult. That didn't change the fact that Wesley was only nineteen.
The fact that Wesley was a male didn't really bother him at all. He wasn't disgusted when he thought of the things they would do together. And that was another thing that had kept Will up for so long last night. He kept thinking about all the fun things that he and Wesley could do together. He wanted to try it all.
Will didn't have to be at work today and he was so thankful for that. He buried his head underneath his pillow and tried to think of anything but Wesley. He failed miserably.
There was one thing he hadn't tried to do last night and he thought that now might be a good time to do it. He needed sleep. He slid his hand down into his boxers and did what he had been trying to avoid all night. It worked well and he found himself drifting off before he had even pulled his hand back out of his boxers.
Will was walking through an empty meadow. The sky was blue and there wasn't a cloud in sight. The air was crisp with the beginnings of Fall. It was such a beautiful day. The babbling of a stream caught his attention and he went in search of it. There was a young man standing at the edge of the stream. His back was turned to Will so Will didn't know if he knew the man or not.
The man was naked and dripping. He had obviously just been in the stream. Suddenly, wings unfurled from the man's back. Will bit back a gasp. He couldn't make out the color from here, the sun was shining down on the man all wrong, but he knew they were beautiful. He couldn't look away. The man moved his wings, possibly drying them out, and Will found himself walking closer. He wanted to meet this beautiful creature. He wanted to touch this beautiful creature.
He was getting closer. He was almost close enough to touch now, but he stepped on a branch. The crack of the branch seemed unnatural in the silence. The man, or creature, whatever he was, whirled around to face Will, and Will found himself staring into the face of Wesley.
Will woke with a start. That dream had felt so real, like if he had reached out then he would have really been able to touch Wesley. And why had it been Wesley? Even Wesley having wings had felt real. It was like he had been in two places at once. It was like he had been in bed and had also been in the meadow. It had been a beautiful place and he had felt so at peace. He wanted to go back. He wondered if he could go back to that place in his dreams again. He hoped he would. He wondered if the dream meant anything, and if it did, what did it say about Wesley?
Will was too tired to figure any of that out. He decided that he would ask Wesley about it the next time that he saw him. He fell back into sleep easily.