a/n: i've noticed there's a clear lack of Clarence/Belson content in the world and since i always need more because my heart has been stolen by these two adorable dorks... I'm contributing?
also let's just pretend the nurse's office in Aberdale's elementary school is an infirmary for the sake of this fic lol
The early afternoon is a canvas of warming daylight greeting a spotless sky, the blue tint of it brimming with the gentle fluttering of butterfly wings and offsetting the fragrant blooming of silk petals, spring in full swing and blossoming open.
Also blossoming open, and in full swing, happens to be none other than…
...the allergy season.
Of course it's the dang allergies.
And of course the season has Clarence bed ridden with a case of hay fever.
"...ugh...dang pollen…"
It had started clemently enough too, the scratchy sting to the inner corners of his eyes, a stuffy nose and a light tickle in his throat, all quite manageable. Then he is somehow taking a tumble into the floor's cafeteria, surroundings spinning and vision twisting and doubling.
And now here he is, lying in the school's infirmary bed, blinking at the waving ceiling as he waits for his mom to come pick him up.
He tries, almost desperately, filling his lungs to fullness with a fresh intake of sweet, sweet oxygen. But all that's coming in is a garbled, chesty cough uncomfortably tightening his ribcage and the uneasiness of a suppressed sneeze setting his nostrils on fire.
"Stop that, idiot." A pause, a quieter sigh and eyes settling on him for a drawn out second. "...just try to breathe normally."
Clarence can't help the sizeable smile that pulls so insistently at the corners of his mouth, his head lolls on the edge of the pillow and his attention centers on his only companion inside this vacant room.
And maybe the room is spinning in circles around him for another reason altogether now.
The moment after, Belson is back to ignoring his presence in favor of his game, despite sitting a few feet short of distance and them being the only occupants of the infirmary.
Finding the droning of the lesson more irksome than usual, somehow, and quickly getting fed up, Belson had evaded Miss Baker's monotonous reading with the excuse of having to use the bathroom. Only once he was outside the classroom did he decide to sneak into here, Clarence's face-plant still dully resounding throughout his head for some strange reason that had nothing to do with mocking him, for once.
Muttering about 'useless adults' when he found the space empty and no one to watch over the sick boy, he just… acted on instinct.
That instinct telling him to occupy the chair placed next to the bed of the supposed 'patient', much to the surprise of said patient. Clarence's eyes lit up with sparkly wonder upon seeing him, while Belson dismissed his visit with a casually shrugged off, "What, class is so boring." , immersing himself into the colorful display of his console immediately after.
Although he's made sure to set the volume on low, actually mindful of Clarence's rest.
Or, well, the rest Clarence is supposed to be taking advantage of, instead his eyes are wide and open, and every few seconds he's sneaking glances his way.
But Belson is too busy playing to pay him any attention- except, no, no he is not. Because Belson isn't spending his now 'free' period trying to beat his own highest score for the fun of it. This is just… a preferable option to holding the end of an awkward conversation.
While the other boy isn't sparing the inkling of a thought to such pondering.
"Have I told you about this kid named Jeremy?" Clarence begins as if narrating a story, again, bouts of one sided convos have been filling the space for a good few minutes now. "Okay, so, there's this kid named Jeremy, right, and he's, like, smart 'cause he has glasses, oh, and a mug, and-and a scarf-" He continues with stuttered, excited breaths in between. "-and-and he lives in alllll the dreaaaams… in aaaall my dreams, I mean." Clarence releases a strained but enthusiastic giggle as he splays his hands on the sheets, like he's starfishing.
Belson spares him a cursory glance, then deadpans to himself. "...Yeah, you're delirious."
And the prickling feeling of newfound awkwardness Belson is only recently getting acquainted with is swiftly swept away with Clarence's ramblings, that one way or another somehow always manage to put the people around him at ease.
Except, he's failed to also take into account Clarence's reckless unpredictability striking right out of the blue.
"Hey, hey, Belson." Clarence breaks once more the stuttering hush of strained breaths and pressed buttons with his adorable lisp before the hand of the clock can tick to a full, silent minute.
Belson grunts quietly to show he is listening, eyes glued to the screen and his rising score.
"You know what you give icky people to make 'em feel all better?"
"What?" Belson asks back, mumbling in distracted fashion as he's nearing the finish line.
But even with his head cast low and attention elsewhere, the quirk of the gapingly toothed grin is unmistakable, the mischievous lilt to Clarence's wheezing giggle is unmissable.
"...A kiss."
Belson almost drops the console, then.
A faint, melodramatically deep voice sings 'game over!' but Belson's head has already snapped up, slack-jawed and staring with eyes wide as saucers he can't even find the reason to get mad at his lost match because- oh, hello there awkwardness, so good to see you again this soon.
Clarence is holding the stare with his farcical grin still stuck to his full face, only his fists are grasping the sheets and he's hidden up to his nose, seemingly bashful.
Even with the fever and blotchy blush, Belson can still see his angel eyes shining right through.
Panic mode: activated.
"-w-w-what-" He clenches his jaw shut, head emptying out except for the two little words ringing around in a loop, abruptly finding himself at a loss for words.
That's when the other boy's elated grin slowly takes a 180 turn. "You… you don't wanna?" A downhearted frown replacing the blissful euphoria, bit by bit.
...Hah, that is the issue.
It isn't like Belson does not want to…
...it's the fact that he wanted to as soon as the words flew out of Clarence's mouth.
"Umm…" Clarence suddenly sits up, hunching over himself until he's resembling a little ball, restless, as he stretches his legs then folds his knees right up, pulling at the hem of his shirt beneath the sheets in that telltale nervous habit of his, sucking his pudgy cheeks into his mouth and anxiously averting his swollen, red rimmed eyes. "...umm," He mumbles something to himself, then hesitantly lisps out, "Jus'... jus' this once?
When Belson draws back from the gut punching shock in somewhat of a delayed reaction, doing so unconsciously- due to the surprise of Clarence apparently wanting to, too- the other boy takes it as outright rejection.
"Pleaseee?" He propels himself forward, half crawling toward him while his croaky voice cracks around the plea. "Please, please, pleeeease?" Clarence whines even more pitifully, puppy dog eyes so huge and pleading and desperate, and all for him.
Belson tries to chop down the unwelcome tendrils of guilt swirling wildly around his tummy, like he's somehow blameworthy of having taken away the sweet relief of water from a poor and thirsty soul in the middle of the arid desert.
"Puh-lease-" Clarence keeps huffing in misery, simultaneously trying to disentangle himself from the sheets- an unsuccessful attempt. "-I-" But his palm catches on the edge of the bed, before slipping right off, and then he is diving into another tumble head-first. "I- woah-"
Belson's reflexes kick in right on time and he's swift to catch him before the boy can splatter himself and possibly crack open his head on the floor. Hurting yourself in an infirmary of all places should be some kind of cosmic joke or something.
"Careful-" Belson lets out, and it sounds a little too concerned as he heaves Clarence up by the shoulders, sitting him back down. He becomes widely and instantly aware of it, so he quickly lets go, watching as Clarence wobbles a little forward before finally finding his balance, and adds a, "loser" with a scoffing turn of the head for good measure.
Clarence first looks up at him as if he is the ultimate hero descended upon earth to protect every damsel and damoiseau in distress.
Then his features pinch, twisting with something other than the hay fever and desperation.
Unsurely, he is slow to lift a hand and grip Belson's shirt, pulling once, childishly so, his plump cheeks filling with a cherry blush.
"...I-I want-just-'cause-" He shuts his eyes real tight, tears shining at the edges, and he's blinking them wide and teary. "-because you're-you're my favorite person Belson!" He blurts out in a shout, his clenched fingers pulling at the fabric a bit harder. "-you're my favorite-my-" He hiccups once, stuck between whining and crying, fat teardrops are hanging threateningly from his eyelids and he sniffles noisily.
Belson is still mostly frozen, his brain whirring twice as fast to try and piece together the scraps and the clenched palm practically against his tummy, radiating warmth even through the fabric.
And Clarence pouting up at him with those angel eyes it's sort of impossible saying no to, that doll face twisting in despair and hope and-
-and he's cute.
...God, he's adorable.
A large part of Belson wants to be mean, to lash out as a coping mechanism because he is utterly unable to cope with this… thing he's feeling right now, but can't find in himself an ounce of willpower to refuse him when he is looking up at him so… so adorably.
Just for the record-it's not fair.
"...Ugh. Fine." Belson's the one to avert his eyes this time, grunting his go-to answer when he's constrained in doing something against his will- only this time putting on a show to keep up the farce. "But then you're going to-to-" The panic refuses to dissolve and wipes out his mind. "-you're going to sleep and leave me alone!"
…No- wait! He could have asked for a Clarence-free week or something! Why did he waste such a golden opportunity!?
(...even if Clarence's presence filling his days is turning out to be not quite as much a hassle as it used to.)
But before Belson can tweak the conditions, Clarence's features are already undergoing another another 180° morphosis and he, very enthusiastically, nods his agreement. "Anythin' you want!" Evidently nodding too fast, since not even three seconds later he's clutching his aching head with a pouty scowl. "Ow ow owww…" He wails quietly, shutting his eyes to try and block out the throbbing wave of dizziness.
Belson ends up taking pity on him, not acquainted with the woes of allergy himself, but familiar with the gratuitous misery a bedridding fever can bring.
Thus, giving himself a mental pep talk about how this'll be over lightning quick, like ripping off a band-aid, he sighs to himself, "...let's just get this over with." and then he's snaking a hand up Clarence's nape, threading his fingers through his- surprisingly- soft blond strands, and shutting his eyes to give himself a courage boost as he…
...quickly brushes his thinly pressed lips over the boy's hot forehead.
Belson tears himself away the same way he would break out of the ocean's surface, breathing in excessive gulps of air.
Clarence, instead, is moon-eyed, pupils dramatically dilated as he silently gapes up at him in reverence and unrestrained heaps of awe.
"...thanks." The blond boy mumbles, word stretching over the s, hasty to gaze down and away, suddenly shy as he is back to fiddling with the hem of his shirt.
His cheeks redden even more, blotches of color taking on the shades of roses.
It's quiet, too quiet, perhaps, but both boys can't do much else other than listening as their hammering heartbeats swallow the hush of the room.
They're so close still, standing a handful of inches away from each other, with Clarence sitting and Belson up on his feet, and Clarence steals a glance. As if looking for a way out of the flusteredness, as if asking for permission, and acting on his impulses the way he is known to do, he's tipping forward next. This time not falling, thanks to the soft collision with Belson, but landing safely onto him, and hiding his hot, hot face in the inviting crook of his neck as if it were his favorite hiding spot out of this whole wide world, breathing there in relief.
Belson stands immobile in the face of another new and unprecedented development.
To be quite fair, he doesn't recall the last time he was this close to someone else. Has turned it into an actual habit, keeping people at arm's length. And now, being locked in this… foreign situation, feeling the warmth radiating from Clarence- this being Clarence out of everyone else- it feels…
...strange.
(...and nice? How is it that this feels nice?)
But he can't admit any more past that, so he doesn't. What he can do, though, is lean into this unfamiliar warmth, so he does.
... Except- panic mode: reactivated.
Belson swiftly peels himself away, grabbing Clarence from his small shoulders and driving them apart, keeping him at arm's length, watching the boy hazily blinking up at him, the confused furrow of his brows making him look smaller than usual and sleepy.
Belson looks away, letting out a silent scoff. "T-There. Now go to sleep and just- don't bother me anymore." He mutters a little too quickly, finally letting go and distancing himself.
"Okay." Clarence mumbles drowsily.
...eeeexcept, he's curling his fingers around his palm, and pulling.
"You too."
Belson gapes like a fish out of water. "B-But-you-you said-!"
"Sleepover!" Clarence exclaims delighted, 'making room' on the bed and trying to adjust the covers as best as he can with his free hand to make it a welcome stay, and Belson has to wonder how much damage is the hay fever really wrecking, or if this is just the usual nonsensical frequency Clarence's brain is syntonized to.
Ignoring any and whatever protest, Clarence seemingly forgets about everything else other than the sweet calling of slumber, and Belson's hand grasped in his.
"G'night Belsy..." Clarence finally whispers in a yawn, blinking a few times to distinguish the unfocused image in front of him, before giving up and splaying himself on one side of the bed to leave enough room for his favorite person, sleepily adding, "...love you…" as he always tends to do, either at the end of a phone call or at times a conversation in person.
Belson refuses to look his way, his teeth gritted together in something akin to self-consciousness, and forget a simple wave, there's an ocean climbing up his neck and settling far too hot into his face.
He promptly turns the other way, quietly huffing to himself. "...whatever."
...their hands are still linked.
The door creaks open and two different shapes pop in, quick to announce themselves.
"Clarence, hey buddy, you still here?" The first boy asks out loud, admonished by the second since this is a supposed 'peaceful place for the ill to rest', and ignoring that, he pulls open on the only drawn curtain. "We brought you the rest of your nugs-"
But Sumo is abruptly cutting off once met with a display he couldn't have come up even with the aid of his wild imagination.
Jeff comes to stand beside him to see what the reason for the lack of sound is due to, only to blink owlish eyes at the same display.
Assuming more of a dull, deadpan expression, Sumo stands still, a long line of flat staring and shock following. "...Uuuuh-"
"Let's just go." Jeff murmurs, blinking himself out of the surprising sight, fingers reaching for the boy next to him, clasping his thin wrist in hand and dragging him away. "We'll-we'll come back later, yes." He continues, nodding to himself. Quietly, he closes the door behind them, so as not to disturb the occupants on its other side.
Unaware of anything occurring outside the realm of his dreams, Clarence snuggles closer to the closest source of warmth in his sleep.
That being a sleeping Belson lying right next to him.
Unconsciously, Clarence squishes a cheek against Belson's shoulder, who in turn has an arm settled around his.
Their fingers are still loosely grasped together as the afternoon hours slowly drift away from them.
a/n: ...thinkin' bout adding more to this...
thoughts? opinions? great chocolicious cookie recipes?
comments are a soothing balm for the soul :)