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The world outside was blanketed in pure white, snow continuing to gently fall from the clouds above. The park they had chosen to occupy whilst everyone else was indoors keeping warm, a serene, nearly comforting, place to relax. Simply dusting off the bench and two reapers took their place there, the snow sticking to their black coats, their dark hair; Alan flicking damp bangs from his eyes. William sat with one leg cross over the other, his eyes closed. Just like the park, William himself looked rather serene, perhaps imply pleased to be out of the office. “You enjoy winter, don’t you?” the brunette asked, hands in his lap.
William nodded, opening his eyes to speak with Alan. “I do and always have. Something about it just…allows me peace.”
“Perhaps because there’s hardly anyone around?” Alan joked.
William grinned slightly. “Perhaps.” then allowed his eyes to roam, brow furrowing just slightly. “Now where are they?”
Alan folded his arms, reclining against the back of the bench. “Knowing those two, I’m sure they ended up detoured by something.”
As if to prove Alan wrong, lips were suddenly pressed to his temple and a cardboard coffee cup was handed to him. “‘m a little offended ye ‘ave tha’ little trust in me.”
Alan smiled, turning to greet Eric with a proper kiss. “I just know how you and Ronald get.” Alan replied, wrapping his gloved hands around the cup. “Thank you though.”
“Yer welcome love.”
William felt warmed himself by their little exchange which only made him more curious as to where his own lover had disappeared to. “Slingby, where’s Knox?”
Eric looked at William then fully around. “Ah…good question. Lad wasn’t very far behind m—” Smack dab in the face did a snowball hit, quickly shutting him up. Alan bit hard on his lip to avoid bursting out laughing as William slapping a to his over his hand. “Oh. Oh I see.” Eric muttered, swiping the snow from his face. “Lads gonna get it now.” from afar he could see Ronald making a face at him. “Ye better run ya bastard!” he shouted, bending down to ball up the snow.
The two on the bench watched Eric run after Ronald, a snowball fight quickly commencing. “I’m sure we should have seen this coming.” William mused, watching the two of them.
Alan sighed, smiling. “I suppose it was inevitable.” he sipped from his coffee. “Are you sure you didn’t want anything sir?”
“I’m fine. I’m quite particular when it comes to my coffee.”
Alan looked down at his cup then back at William. “Do you at least want to try mine?”
William looked at him something vaguely relating to scepticism. “Try your coffee?”
Alan rolled his eyes. “We both know my disease isn’t infectious thus you’re going to be fine.”
William looked away, adjusting his glasses. “I had’t meant anything by the sort.” to hopefully absolve the suddenly awkward situation, William took the offered cup. He stared at it a moment then took a sweet. Instantly, his taste buds were assaulted by sugar. It took all his willpower to not make a face as he returned Alan his coffee. “It’s very sweet.”
“Is it?” Alan asked, looking at the cup. “I hadn’t noticed.”
William was quickly reminded of Alan’s sweet tooth that Eric so often found himself baking for. It seemed that sweet tooth didn’t just apply to baked goods or candy. “Ah, that’s right.” Alan said, “you like just plain black coffee, don’t you?”
“Correct. I’m not one to add anything extra to it.”
“Boring.” the brunette muttered then took a drink.
William rolled his eyes this time then turned his head to keep an eye on the other two. From the looks of it, Ronald seemed to be winning. Eric had much more snow on him then Ronald did anyhow. “Are you happy?”
William snapped his head back to Alan. “Pardon?”
“Are you happy?” he repeated.
William blinked once, cocking his head slightly right. “What do you mean? Happy about what?”
Alan sighed. “Just, in general. Forgive me sir, but I’ve noticed you’re far less stuck up since you’ve had Ronald in your life.”
William needed to think about that himself. Truthfully, he never really took notice of all the things that did change once Ronald became his lover. The blonde was there to point out all his bad habits that made him irritable; lack of sleep, lack of food, no breaks etc, and helped him turn things around. He nearly forced William to bed the first few nights before he began having a normal schedule, would make sure he’d eaten breakfast before running off to work as well as taking a mandatory lunch break which bled into taking a few breaks here and there. They were never long ones, his workload was too much for that, but five minutes breaks taken periodically helped. What also helped, were Ronald’s massages. The blonde had magic fingers, William swore he did. Every time he’d kneed them into the sore muscles of his shoulders or back, William felt like jelly. Ronald could do whatever he wanted and William wouldn’t say a word so long as the massage continued. If it had been a particularly hard day, Ronald would order them the healthiest take away he could find then have William recline on the couch where he’d give him a full body massage. From just under his jaw all the way down to his feet until William was nearly asleep where he sat and honestly, it made him more then happy. “I…I’m very much thrilled to have Ronald in my life.” he replied. “He has made things better for me.”
Alan set his hand on William’s arm, rubbing soothingly over it. “I think everyone can see that.”
William felt himself pale. “Is it really that obvious?”
Alan smirked. “Eh, kind of.”
William looked away, staring dead at the ground. “Damn it Knox. I’ve worked so hard for this reputation and you’ve shattered it so quickly.”
Alan chuckled. “It’s not shattered, trust me. Whenever someone is called to your office, I’m pretty sure they’re already asking friends to get their tombstone engraved.”
William shook his head. “Regardless, I will need to reign in my fondness for Kno—” Everything froze when a snowball smacked him in the side of his head, Alan even froze up. Time felt to slow as William reached up to slowly wipe away the snow. With his eyes once again closed, all he needed to hear was, “Shit, sorry Will!” before he spoke. “It seems he’s helping with that.”
Alan burst out laughing this time, trying and failing to hide it behind his hand. It got to the point where he needed to turn his head and cough out the rest of his laughter into the same hand. “Oh Styx,” the brunette wheezed, “I haven’t laughed that hard is so long.” he coughed out the rest of his laughter, facing William again. “Thank you for that.”
William sighed, though it was obvious he wasn’t angry; rather he looked amused himself. “Thank Ronald.”
The crunching of snow caused him to look over, Ronald instantly hugging him from the side, arms flying out to wrap around his torso. “Gah, ‘m sorry Will! Bastard ducked.”
“‘Course I did! Wha’? Was I suppose tae let ye hit me?”
“Yeah!”
William wiggled an arm free, patting Ronald’s back. “It’s fine.” though he wasn’t sure how true that would be in a second or two. Eric still held a snowball and quite quickly, shoved the snow down Ronald’s back. The dance the blonde did to get the snow out was indeed the sight that even William couldn’t help laughing at, well, at least snickering anyway. “Oh, you suck!” Ronald cried. “You suck so much!”
Eric ruffled the blonde’s hair when he was done. “Consider it payback fer the snowball ye surprised me with.”
Ronald punched his arm, “Bastard. So, you two gonna head out now?”
Eric shrugged, going over to Alan, setting his hand on the brunette’s shoulder. “’s up tae Alan. Wha’ do ye think love?”
“Mm, I think we can head home.” Alan stood, keeping his still warm coffee close. “I’m eager for dinner anyway.”
“Dinner tha’ I gotta cook, righ’?”
“I can help, if you don’t mind something burning anyway.”
Eric kissed him. “Na, ‘m kiddin’. Ye sit tha’ pretty ass down an’ I’ll make ye a grand meal.”
Alan flushed then, smacking his arm. “Come on you.” he turned back to William, giving a little wave. “We’ll see the two of you at work tomorrow.”
“Aye, see ye two then.”
Ronald waved. “Hey, we still good for the pub t’morrow?”
Eric nodded. “Aye, wouldn’t miss it!”
“See ya after work then!”
Ronald waved until they were gone, disappearing in the sudden increase of snowfall. He sighed then turned to William, grinning widely at him. “So…I was wonderin’ if I could stay the night?”
William gave him a look. “Knox, I do believe I said only weekends is when I’ll allow you to stay over.”
“Aw, why?”
“You don’t let me sleep.”
Ronald shrugged, looking a little guilty. “Not my fault I got a sexy boyfriend.”
Again William looked away to adjust his glasses. “Honestly.”
Ronald just laughed and took William’s hand, squeezing it. “You, ah, you okay holdin’ hands?”
William looked at their hands. In private, he’d gotten used to Ronald’s affections, to his constant need to touch but generally out in public, William liked to keep any acts of love, even the simple act of holding hands, behind closed doors. He would have said that now, but the look Ronald was giving him made him decide to at least try, for Ronald. “I am.”
Ronald beamed. “Great.”
The walk back to William’s flat didn’t take long, or, it didn’t feel like it took that long. William knew it was because he could simply get lost in anything Ronald talked about. The boy was a natural at being invested in everything he said, weather he hated something, liked something, or was genuinely annoyed, he never sounded like it was just chatter to fill a void. Everything he said came out with some sort of passion that always had William invested.
Even when they did return to his flat, the process of making dinner; finely chopping vegetables, or the tedious peeling felt like it flew by. Before William knew it, they were in his bedroom, just sitting on the edge of his bed. “Man, you can cook.” Ronald complimented, a satisfied look on his face. “Everything you make tastes so good!”
“I’m pleased you enjoy my cooking.”
Ronald sighed. “Yeah. Makes me sad that I gotta get goin’.”
“…you do?”
“Yeah. If I don’t, might get caught in a heavy snowfall and that’s no fun to walk through.”
William peered out the window, the snow indeed coming down harder than it was. “Then, perhaps you can spend the night.”
“Really?”
“If you promise to sleep.”
Ronald scooted closer until their hips touched. “Promise.” William was unsure what to say now, until Ronald gently turned his head, both the younger mans hands resting against his cheeks, his thumb soothing just under his eye. “Knox, I think I said—”
“I know.” Ronald interrupted, his voice soft. “’m just admiring how truly handsome you are.” he leaned close enough to place a gentle kiss to the tip of William’s nose. “Not often ya find a guy with such good looks.”
If his cheeks had been pink before, they flamed red now, but he couldn't bring himself to move away. Instead, he rested one of his hands over one of Ronald’s, leaning into the touch. “You have me, Ronald. There’s no need to continue to flatter me.”
Ronald shook his head. “I’m not flattering you because I want to get you into bed. I’m flattering you because you deserve to hear everything that I love about you. I know you’ve heard the rumours that go around and I know you believe you’re nothin’ special, that you’re plain and boring, but you really aren’t. The Mr. Spears that’s with me, right now, is a handsome, hesitant, gentle man that I love with every bit of my heart.”
William had nothing to say; could say nothing. Instead, he let his arms embrace the blonde and tug him close, keeping him as tight to his chest as possible. Ronald held him back, letting his head rest against William’s shoulder. What little bit of ice that still encased William’s heart, finally melted completely away with Ronald’s love now encasing it in a warm, fiery glow.