The night was a success in that Q is a little more open the next day. It seems that while the saying is absence makes the heart grow fonder, sometimes it's quite the opposite. In Noah's case, whenever James isn't around, it makes it easier for the younger man to build up his walls, to hide behind all of the reasons and things that say this won't work. Once James realizes this, he tries to get Noah out of his room and spend a little more time with him out in the open so that the younger man won't start thinking that he's ashamed of him or something like that.
Over the next two months, they take a walks around the grounds, and are often seen in eachother's company even though they are in different classes. They spend time in Noah's dorm room as well, sometimes just sitting in the same space together, with James on the bed reading or doing homework or watching TV while Noah sits at the desk on his computer or working on some other gadget that he's got into his head.
There's still some bullying of course, someone like Noah can't escape it, but there are no gangs after him anymore after James fought them off the one time, especially when the young boy keeps spending more time with his savior. Unfortunately that cannot be disguised well, and the bullies have some more ammunition to throw at Noah by using some derogatory and unfriendly terms in regard to his sexuality. But he doesn't let those bother him. Mostly because yes, he is in a homosexual relationship and yes, he does prefer boy. And no, he doesn't care one whit about what the other boys think of him. If he did, he would have tried to fit in sooner.
Soon enough though, Christmas is approaching, and James smiles a little one day as he watches the younger man from his place on the bed, then he looks out the window where it's begun to snow. "What are your plans for Christmas, Noah?" he asks curiously as he continues to stare out the window, waiting for an answer.
A little surprised at the question, especially since he was concentrating a little at the board he was soldering together, Noah looks up and over at the older boy, considering. "I usually go home for Christmas. I bloody well hate it. My two older brothers generally make it a rather unpleasant time, and my mother is just as bad. I hate the holidays. I wish I could stay at school, but they frown upon that and my family wouldn't allow it." he says with a small frown. "Do you go home for Christmas?" He asks curiously.
"Yeah. Usually it's just my mum and I.. dad is away for work a lot." James says as he looks over at Noah with a little smile for a moment, then he gets an idea, and the smile turns into a full blown grin. "I've got an idea that could make both of our Christmas' much better.." He says as he gets up smoothly in a way that Noah could never hope to emulate, before James moves over to stand behind the brunette, resting his hands on his shoulders to start to give him a gentle massage, knowing how tight his shoulders get when he's working on his gadgets. "Why don't you come to my house for Christmas? You'd get away from your family, my mum would love to have you, I'm sure.. and we could spend some time together outside of school." He offers, leaning down to place a soft kiss on the younger boy's lips.
Tilting his head back for the kiss, Noah continues to stare at James for a moment. "You're serious?" he asks, sounding a little hopeful before he nods. "I'd love to." he says hopefully as he looks at him for a few moments. Almost immediately he sits forward and puts his tools aside, dragging over his laptop to start it up and get his mail program open. He does not plan to let the older boy change his mind about this.
"Of course I'm serious. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it." James points out and he chuckles a little. "You're going to email them this news? You do understand you are going to get a great many calls." He says with a little smile as he looks at Noah, continuing his massage before leaning over to kiss the top of his head, pausing before he moves back to the bed to stretch out, and flip the channels on the tellie.
Noah shrugs a little. "I know they'll want to call me, but I'm at school, they probably won't. There's no reliable way to get a hold of me here except through email. Lucky for me." he says with a slight smirk before he pauses in his typing to turn and look at James. "Thank you, James. I was not looking forward to Christmas." He says as he finishes his email before he gets up to sit beside his boyfriend, leaning against his side and nestling his head against the older boy's shoulder in what is now a familiar position. "Do you have any special traditions that I should know about?" He asks, tilting his head back a little to look at the blonde's profile.
With a smile, James puts his arm around Noah and gives him a little squeeze, turning his head to kiss the top of Noah's head softly as he considers it, stroking a lazy line up and down the younger man's arm. "Nothing special. We open one present Christmas Eve, and usually spend the night watching movies, then Christmas morning my mother is usually cooking early. After I get up, have breakfast and my mum finishes what she needs to, then we go and open the presents, watch the Queen's speech and then I help her finish up dinner and we eat. That's about it. New Year's Eve we stay up all night playing games or watching movies, until Midnight." He says with a little soft smile as he remembers everything.
Nodding slowly, Q closes his eyes for a moment. "Sounds nice. In my house, Christmas Eve means a big party with a lot of my parent's friends and relatives that I have to attend. It's a large ball, with dinner and dancing and talking. I always hated it. My eldest brother never seemed to mind it, but Sherlock and I, my next oldest brother, always managed to sneak off." He says with a little chuckle and a small smile. "Mummy let us because Sherlock has the unfortunate talent of being able to tell everything about you with a glance and he has no reservations about telling you your life story, no matter how embarrassing." He says with a small shake of his head. "And then in the morning after breakfast, we open presents with some of my relatives who have decided to stay overnight. It's a rather formal affair. We politely thank everyone for our presents and then after that, eat and go our separate ways." He says quietly as he thinks about it. "I usually went back to my room to do something rather than continue to spend time in the suffocating environment that no doubt happens downstairs." He says as he watches whatever inane program is on the tellie, speaking about it in a rather detached manner, without any hatred or sadness about it. To him it's just a fact of life.
"Sounds like a lonely house. I guess I can't say mine was much better. But my mother was always there. She's the type to make sure I had home cooked meals and made cookies and such. She sings, and I suppose if we had a smaller house she would have done all the cooking and cleaning. But.." James trails off. "Well, you'll understand when you see it." he says before he looks out the window again at the snow falling down. "It's a little desolate, but I used to play on the moor when I was little.. go out to the chapel, the lake.." he trails off, considering something as he stares out at the snow, then looks down at the mop of brunette hair.
"Do you ice skate?"
Well, finally a little update for this story. I haven't updated in a while, but this is my one story that I just update 'whenever'. I got stuck on it for a while so you'll have to excuse my time skip at the beginning here. :) Hope some of you are still sticking with me. :)
Reviews/comments welcome!
