Hey there! I decided to post this chapter a day early, to make up for the late chapter last week...sorry. Anyway, look out for the next chapter, which will be posted next Monday...hopefully.
It was Tuesday. After the horrendous flashback session yesterday, the dark haired boy wasn't sure if he needed another reason to cry over his best friend, but he couldn't pass up the chance to see him. So after school, he headed over to the public library where a certain blond haired boy would be arriving any second now.
Settling himself into his customary red chair, he waited for his blondie to come through the door. From his seat in the library, he had the perfect view of the blue chair that he always occupied. With one eye on the door, and one eye on the magazine he had picked up to remain semi-anonymous, he drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair. He was nervous. Just like he always was on Tuesdays and Thursdays when the thought of seeing his once best friend was too much. He didn't know if this was going to be the day when he was finally discovered for the freak and stalker that he was. He couldn't bear the thought of his friend looking at him with disgust. Others looked at him with disgust, not his blue eyed boy. Others criticized him for his looks and personality, while his blond haired friend comforted him, telling him he was beautiful, telling him you are my sunshine. Even though those times were long gone, the dark haired boy couldn't have those memories be tainted by the looks of scorn he was sure to receive when he was found out.
These trips to the library had always held for him a certain sense of adventure and mystery. When they were younger, the boy from the dark and the boy from the light would play bandits, trying to remain unseen by everyone. They would sneak around, sliding along walls, creeping up the stairs, desperate to not make a sound. They would giggle, and laugh with their hands over their mouths, wanting to be caught, but trying so very hard not to be. Now, more than a decade later, the boy from the dark, who wasn't even a boy any more, found himself playing this same game, but this time, there was only one bandit. That thought made him terribly sad. He no longer had his other bandit by his side, sneaking around together, trying to rescue the maiden, who was usually one of his siblings. So even though the visits to the library were adventurous, they also held a certain degree of sadness with them. Knowing those times were long gone, knowing they would probably never play bandits again, made the trips to the library that much more painful. But everything was worth seeing his blond haired boy through the slits of the shelves, through the hazy screen of reality that the dark haired boy could never really pierce when he was in the library glancing at the boy who had captured his heart.
Caught in his daydreams of bandits and maidens, the pale skinned boy didn't notice when the door to the library opened, and his blond boy walked through until he was right in front of him. With an unmanly squeal, he jumped up from his red chair, hoping against hope that the other boy had been too invested in his book searching to notice him. Thankfully, his prayers had been answered, and the blond boy was wearing headphones. He hadn't even heard the womanly shriek that had escaped the lips of the dark haired boy. Unspeakably relieved that he hadn't been found out, he cursed his stupidity and his lack of attention and alertness. He had almost been seen! That was one of the only rules in bandits. Do not be seen. The simplest rule that had governed his life ever since he moved back had almost been broken because he hadn't been able to escape his own thoughts and see what was around him.
Vowing that he would pay better attention in the future, he slinked back over to where the blond boy was searching for books. He was in his favorite place of the library; the young adult section. Even after many months of seeing his friend in this section, the dark haired boy still smirked at the blonde's preference for books written for teenagers. He supposed they were easier to understand, had a simpler problem than real life, and were just pieces of fluff you would read when you needed to get out of reality for a while. And that's why he himself read books in the young adult part of the library.
Looking at the blond, he thought he saw something shining around his neck. A chain necklace, with what looked like a…ring? Distracted, he realized that he was looking unabashedly at the blond, and probably looked like a creeper. The dark haired boy tried to make it seem like he was looking for a book, rather than be caught looking creepily at another guy. Letting his hands run across the spines of the books, his eyes seemingly looking at the book's titles, but really, he was looking at the forehead of his past best friend. Suddenly embarrassed at how far he was taking this little obsession, he ducked his head to the books at which he was supposed to be looking. Taking a random book from the shelves, he turned on his heels, and walked right past the aisle his friend was down, just to show that little voice in his head that he wasn't scared of being caught, that he could forget about the blond just a couple feet away. But he was scared, and he couldn't forget, so he turned his head the other way as he walked past, relieved when he was beyond the sight of the blond boy.
He walked into the secluded part of the library: the classics. All the books there were coated with a fine layer of dust, revealing that this section of the library had not been visited for many years. The dark haired boy could always find comfort in this old section. He felt he shared a special connection with the classics. They were covered with dust from being unused, just like he was. They were a bit boring at the beginning, but once you got to the main part of the story, they were worth your time. You just had to get past the walls built up to keep people out.
While seated against the shelf of the library, the dark haired boy remembered seeing something glinting around the neck of the blond boy. It had looked like a ring of some kind. Maybe a wedding ring? The thought made him unspeakably sad. But a wedding ring would have been on his finger, not around his neck. Maybe a promise ring that was from his childhood that could no longer fit on his finger? Suddenly the dark haired boy had to know what this ring was. And possibly who it was from. And possibly go beat them up.
Creeping around the library, without being seen by someone, while simultaneously trying to look like a normal person, is no small feat. So when he reached the young adult section, only to find the blond not there was a little disheartening. But, the dark haired boy persevered, and went to go look at the movies section, the blonde's second favorite library haunt.
He found him there, looking at the Lord of the Rings movies. He always was a sucker for Orlando Bloom. Then again, who wasn't? Trying to remain unseen, he scanned the movies, seemingly looking for a specific movie, but really he was trying to get a good look at the ring hanging off the chain around the blonde's neck. If it was a promise ring from some other guy, there was going to be crap to pay-then he felt his heart stop. Etched in the black stone were stars, which surrounded a moon. He knew that ring. Knew it intimately. Knew it better than he knew himself. Time spent spinning that very ring around his finger had made him very familiar with each nick and etched pattern.
The dark haired boy's hand shot up to his own neck, where he had a similar ring hanging from a similar chain necklace. It was much too small for his finger now, but he could remember with vivid detail the day he got it.
Laughing and fooling around, they didn't notice it getting dark until Will pointed out the pretty sunset. Nico thought there had to be some significance in the fact that he liked the sunrise better than the sunset. It could have been the start of the new day, but Nico knew that it was the sight of the sun, bright and blinding that reminded him of a certain blond boy with a smile that brightened the world. With the disappearance of the sun, and the thought that his own personal sun could disappear at any point, Nico was struck with an idea. He wedged his family ring off his finger and shyly held it out for Will.
The ring had a moon on it, surrounded by twinkling stars etched into the black stone. Nico thought it was ironic, giving this dark ring to the boy who was basically the sun itself in person-form.
"What's this?" the blond boy asked. Suddenly Nico was afraid that his friend wouldn't want the gift. It was pretty unlike Nico to show affection, and this was a big step for him. Usually Will took the first step. But this time, Nico wanted to initiate something. Something he hoped would last forever.
"It's uh, my family ring. I want you to have it," the dark haired boy whispered to his lap. He couldn't bear to see the look of revulsion or rejection on his friend's face. He heard a gasp come from the other boy. His head shot up at the sound, worried that he had somehow insulted the other boy, and saw Will's own family ring in the palm of his hand, outstretched for Nico to take. Nico could have sworn his heart skipped a beat at the sight of Will, smiling like the sun, with the ring in his hand, looking at Nico like he was the only thing that mattered in the world.
"Well, then you should have mine if I have yours," Will said. Will's family ring had a sun on it, which Nico thought was fitting for the blond. Grinning and very relieved he hadn't embarrassed himself, Nico plopped his ring in Will's hand and snatched up Will's ring.
"Friends forever?" he asked as he slipped the ring on his finger.
"Friend forever," Will agreed, ring on his own finger.
The ring had been the first thing that had really solidified their friendship, turning them from just friends, to best friends. With such a simple gesture, the dark haired boy never imagined that the feelings from that night would increase and multiply until they had completely taken over his very heart and soul. If he had, that night might have been played out differently.
Because the blond had lied and left. Just like everyone. That was the dark haired boy's first taste of friendship, and being accepted, and being wanted. He should have known it wouldn't last. Nothing ever did. People said they would stay forever, but ended up leaving when things got rough. And that's exactly what happened between the two friends who thought they would stay friends forever. Promises were made to be broken. That was their only use.