Bill waited for Ralph outside of Ralph's last class. Bill's last class was taught by a teacher who really didn't care and, as a result, they were usually let out five or so minutes early.
Ralph eventually showed up, trailing the rest of the pack of students that had rushed out the door as soon as they were dismissed. Ralph's eyes lit up as soon as he saw Bill, and Bill grinned, adjusting his sunglasses. Some of the more strict teachers had made him take off the sunglasses during classes, but for the most part, he'd kept up his cool kid façade.
Well, it wasn't really a façade. He was cool.
"What do you wanna do today?" Bill asked. Ralph shrugged.
"I don't care."
"We're running out of food… but we could always go buy more groceries tomorrow," Bill said. He thought for a little bit, and then remembered that his parents had wanted them to come over for dinner. "Oh, wait. We've gotta go to my house for dinner tonight. I promised my parents."
"Okay," Ralph said. "When's that?"
"Probably around six, six-thirty. Maybe seven. We can go over at six, spend a little time talking about school and other things that don't really matter," Bill said, shrugging. Ralph nodded and glanced at his watch. Bill followed his gaze. Three-thirty. "We've still got time. We can go home and…"
Ralph colored, grabbing the sleeve of Bill's jacket and pulling him away from the school. "Let's not talk about that here," he said. Bill smirked, but shut up. He didn't really want everyone around them to know that they liked each other, either. He wasn't really ashamed of the fact that he liked Ralph, but people's views of him would change if they knew. They would change drastically.
Once they got back to the house, Bill took off his sunglasses – Ralph hadn't wanted to kiss him with them on before, he probably wouldn't now – shoes, and dropped his bag on the floor, wincing at the loud thud. Damn, he had a lot of homework to do. He should probably get that done sometime… eh, after the dinner.
"Are you sure-"
"We've got time before we have to go," Bill said, grinning. Ralph looked a little nervous, glancing out the window at all the kids walking home from school. Bill grabbed Ralph's hand and pulled him out of view of the window, kissing him quickly and feeling the almost unbearable lust rising up inside him again. Ralph, back to the refrigerator, stared up at him, lips parted slightly, eyes wide. "C'mon. Only a little. We won't go that far – hell, we can even keep our shirts on if you want."
"Okay," Ralph said. "It's just weird. I mean, before you, I haven't really kissed anyone but the people before the island. After the island… I was just too fucked up for anyone to like me. You seem to have adjusted well, though."
Bill shrugged. "Yeah, well, nothing really happened to me," he said. He didn't really want to be talking about this right now; what if Ralph remembered that he'd been a savage? That wouldn't end well. It wouldn't end well at all. Ralph would freak out and probably move away, and Bill would go back to his boring life of school, home, school, home, school, home, maybe some girls in there. "I'm just Bill."
"Just Bill…" Ralph trailed off. "You know what's funny? I don't really remember what you did on the island, or where you came from. I mean, the savages were choirboys-"
"I was like Samneric," Bill blurted out, inwardly wincing at the lie. Damn, damn, damn, now when Ralph figured it out he'd realized that Bill had lied, not just not told the truth. "I… I came from the same place as them, too."
Ralph nodded. "That makes sense."
Bill managed a grin. "So," he said. "Enough talking about that."
Ralph nodded and the two headed to the bedroom. Bill honestly wasn't picky where they did this, but Ralph didn't want anyone to accidentally peek through the window and see them, so the second-floor bedroom was a good idea.
As soon as the door shut behind them, Bill kissed Ralph. All of the lustful feelings from earlier and the night before came back in full force, and Bill had to force himself to calm down. He's not comfortable with doing much more, not comfortable, not comfortable doing more god damn it Bill control yourself… played at the back of his mind the entire time. Bill slipped his hands to Ralph's waist, keeping his new mantra in mind and kissing him a little deeper before breaking the kiss.
Ralph looked up at him. They were both breathing hard, and somehow they'd become extremely close. "You're a really good kisser," Ralph said. Bill grinned.
"I know."
…
"Are you sure I should come?" Ralph asked. Bill rolled his eyes and nodded.
"They like you," he said. "And what're you gonna do here all alone?"
"True," Ralph said. Bill tossed him his jacket, and then the two walked to the next house over. Bill had actually sort of missed his room, his bed – he'd fallen off of Ralph's about five times already – and, as he'd just recently realized, he'd forgotten his guitar at home. He'd been too busy to run over and grab it, but now that he was going over anyway, he might as well. He wasn't fantastic at playing guitar, but he was okay.
And maybe if he practiced enough, he could serenade Ralph and then they could go back to the level that they'd gone the night before.
Or further.
But Bill could just hope for last night.
Cecelia answered the door, squealing when she saw Bill. She hugged him, then Ralph. "Are you gonna get married," she asked both of them, a very serious look in her eyes. Bill laughed and shook his head, ruffling her hair.
"Guys don't get married."
"But you kissed each other, that means you have-"
"You haven't told them, have you?" Bill asked, crouching down so that he could look her in the eye. She shook her head. "Good. Because it's a secret. Our secret. Keep it for an entire month and I'll buy you some candy. Every month you keep the secret, I'll buy you candy."
Cecelia's eyes lit up. "Okay!"
She ran off, probably to tell his parents that they were there. Bill rolled his eyes and took off his coat. "Give me your coat. I'll put 'em in my room. I've gotta go get my guitar, anyway."
Ralph complied, and then Bill was walking up to his room. His house seemed alien, even though he'd only been away for about a week. He adjusted quickly, however, and made it to his room. He threw both his and Ralph's coats on the bed, then headed back down.
"Where's the guitar?" Ralph asked.
"Decided to wait to grab it until we go home," Bill said, shrugging. Ralph nodded.
"That makes sense. I didn't know you could play guitar," Ralph said.
"Yeah. I've always liked music," he said. He'd given up choir after the island, of course, he didn't think he'd ever be able to be in a choir again, but guitar and solo singing was harmless enough. "Let's go see what we're going to have for dinner."
By the way, this story will be going on for quite a long time. I'm working on an outline, and it's currently at twenty-four chapters.
But it's going to be a lot more than twenty-four chapters long.
So.
You've got a lot of this fic to look forward to.
