Work Text:
Tap.
Toris looked up from his homework, glancing at his window. It was late at night and he wanted more than anything to sleep, but he still had homework to do and he wanted to keep his grades up. There was nothing out in the darkness and the pouring rain, so he returned reluctantly to algebra.
Taptaptap.
Toris looked up again. There was definitely something there. He climbed off of his bed and went to the window. It was dark out, nothing but rain and and the warm glow of his lights as far as Toris could see. Nothing could've hit the window like that in sight, but it might've just been hail.
Tap.
Toris leapt back as a rock the size of a cherry hit his window and bounced off back onto the roof. He looked again, this time seeing a short kid with blond hair soaked by the rain and bright, heavy lidded green eyes waving at him with a wide grin. Toris opened the window, trying not to let the rain in.
"Feliks?"
"Liet! Thank god you heard! I didn't want to throw any larger rocks in case they broke your window." He laughed, and Toris could see him shivering a little.
"Feliks, what are you doing? You know my parents don't like us speaking."
Feliks snorted. "Your parents don't like anything, no offence."
"None taken, but neither do yours. Do they even know you're out here?" Toris leaned farther out the window, his hair beginning to dampen.
"No. They're at some church thing. Probably an anti-homo rally, like always. I'm surprised your parents aren't with them."
"That's not funny."
"But it's true. D'you remember when Ivan came out? You weren't even allowed to say his name anymore."
Toris shook his head, glancing furtively behind him. "Still. Why are you here?"
"I wanna show you something."
"Can't it wait until tomorrow?"
Feliks shook his head. "I mean, I guess it can, but you have fencing practice and I have a church program, not that I want to go. Plus, I wanna show you now."
Toris sighed exasperatedly. "Feliks-"
"Come on, it's just water! Besides, when are we gonna get a chance like this again?" Feliks put his hands on his hips, something he reserved for only those who knew him the best.
Toris glanced back at his homework.
Three seconds later, he muttered "Fine."
Climbing off of a roof was hard enough- not that Toris had ever done it before- without the rain that was hammering down. Toris pulled on his old red sneakers and climbed slowly out of his window onto the slanting roof. As he was trying to get his window closed, he slipped and started to skid toward the edge, amid Feliks's shouting. Managing to get some traction on the wet shingles, he was able to slow himself to a stop so he could hang off the edge of the roof. While doing that, however, his hand slipped and he fell heavily, stumbling into Feliks, rolling them over on the muddy grass.
"Clumsy." Laughed Feliks, getting to his feet.
"Look who's talking." Toris shot back, amused.
"At least I can do the polka." Feliks said, offering his hand.
Toris took it. "Fair point."
Feliks grinned and began to skip off across the lawn, heading for the waterlogged road. That's when it occurred to Toris.
"Feliks, where are we going?"
Feliks smiled devilishly. "You'll see." He seemed to think for a moment. "It's not far, if that's what you're wondering. Maybe a mile or so." He suddenly snorted. "Is it because our parents would kill if they found out their precious catholic children were walking with the gay kid."
"I'm bi, Feliks."
"Yeah, I know that."
Toris smiled, even though it wasn't a joking matter. Their parents probably would kill them if they found out about their sexualities. They already didn't like their kids being as close as they were. A thought suddenly came to him.
"You didn't come out, did you? Did they kick you out?"
Feliks looked at him with an amused smirk. "You know I'm not that stupid." He looked up at the wet sky. "It's stupid, really. We can't go out and get boyfriends because it's in a single passage in the bible. They seem to forget all about that 'Love thy neighbour as thyself' stuff."
"Yeah." Toris sighed. He didn't know what else to say, so he let them lapse into a comfortable silence.
"Oh! I forgot something. I wanted to give you this."
Toris looked up as Feliks fishes around in his wet pockets for whatever he had acquired for his friend. Finally, he seemed get ahold of it and he pulled it out, offering it with two hands.
It was a little pin, about an inch in diameter, that was coloured like the bisexual flag, with a small yellow, green and red heart in the middle- the colours of Lithuania's national flag. Feliks and Toris were both immigrants from that part of Europe, Feliks having been born in Poland.
Feliks was currently staring at the side of Toris's head, seeking some form of approval. Toris just stared at him with a lose smile.
"Did you make this?" Toris questioned, looking back over the pin.
"Yeah," Feliks answered, smiling brightly. "It's glass, so it won't get that wet, and I know you can't really wear it and all, but I thought you'd like it, seeing as-"
Toris grasped Feliks's shoulder and pulled the short kid close to him. "I love it, Feliks."
Feliks stiffened at first, and Toris wondered if he'd overstepped his bounds. He knew Feliks didn't like to be touched, except by those he was really, really close with. But he relaxed and giggled. "I know you too well."
They both let go and looked away, awkward in the pouring rain and the harsh yellow glare of the streetlights. They walked quietly, listening to their feet slapping water aside and the gentle drumming of the falling water.
"Here we are!" Feliks suddenly said, maybe ten minutes later, pointing at an empty patch of woodland at the side of the road. A small creek, overfilled with rainwater, slid noisily over the ground between them and the woodland, and Toris frowned.
"We're gonna cross that?"
"Yeah." Feliks remarked, flashing another wolfish grin. "Are you scared or something?"
"No," Toris replied automatically. "But I don't want to get my feet more wet than they are now."
Feliks glanced at him, eyebrows raised in amusement. "It's four feet wide, Toris."
"Yeah, but what if I slip and fall back? I'm taller than you."
Feliks stuck out his tongue. "Come on, don't be an idiot." Then he ran and leapt clear of the water, landing on the other side easily, only slipping a little.
"I'm the idiot?" Toris raised his eyebrows, but he jumped all the same. He didn't slip as much as Feliks, who remarked on it and earned a punch in the arm.
Feliks began to walk quickly into the woods, taking a small keychain flashlight out of his pocket and turning it on. Toris followed, slightly apprehensively. He'd been in this patch of woodland before- he and Feliks had used to play near the creek- but he hadn't been here since their parents decided they didn't want their sons to be such close friends anymore. The memory hung thick in the air like a black fog, but Feliks didn't seem to be bothered. They walked for a little while longer, Feliks stopping occasionally to flash around in the bushes for signs of something else- but there was nothing, save the dripping of the rain through the trees and their footsteps.
"Aha!" Feliks whispered, shining his tiny flashlight up into the branches of a particularly thick-branched tree. Toris glanced up and saw a series of wooden planks nailed haphazardly into the wood, leading up to a structure nestled with a kind of loving messiness, like an osprey nest.
"Is that... A tree house?" Toris murmured in awe, looking up into the branches. The thing looked ancient- it was hard to believe that they had missed it all of the times they'd played around here.
"Yeah! I found it here when I was out... Well, I got mad at my parents for talking about Ivan, and we had a fight. After they left for the church thing, I came out here- it wasn't really raining all that hard then- and I found it. It must be at least twenty years old."
Toris moved a branch out of the way and looked up, shielding his eyes from the rain with his other hand. "How did we never find it?"
Feliks shrugged. "I dunno. But I've only just looked inside, and it looks pretty stable. I wanted to explore it, but, I mean, this is kind of your forest too."
Toris glanced over at him. "You, as in Feliks Łukasiewicz, waited for me before you explored something?"
"Of course." Feliks clicked the flashlight on and off, casting long shadows on his pale face.
Toris gave him a look. "I want that in writing."
Feliks laughed, a clear, ringing noise. "Try me, Lorinatius. But later, I want to check this out before your parents realise you're gone."
Feliks grabbed the first plank of wood and pulled his skinny body up, climbing the rain soaked tree with the practiced ease of a boy who had climbed trees many years before. Toris knew that to be true- though they never had a tree house of their own, they had climbed trees near the front of the woodland and put planks up during the long summers spent in each other's company. Feliks's small stature only aided him.
Toris, while almost as well versed in tree climbing himself, was significantly taller and much more clumsy, so he took the first plank with caution. Slowly and cautiously, he began to climb the tree, almost slipping once near the top- luckily, Feliks grabbed under his arms and heaved him up onto the platform, and they both climbed over the wet planks into the dark interior of the structure.
It was musty and cramped inside, and there was mud on the floor from their wet clothes, but at least it was dry. Toris took off his wet sneakers, striking them on the outside of the wall. He pulled off his sweater, too, but it didn't do much good as his t-shirt was soaked through as well. He glanced over at Feliks, who quickly looked away and started pulling at his own jacket.
It was comfortable inside the tree house, with the glow of the keychain flashlight illuminating their faces. Toris laid his sweater out on the planks of wood, sighing.
Feliks leaned his head on Toris's shoulder quietly.
"We could run away, you know. Away from our parents, away from church, from everything. We could live on our own and be free from everything, and live in a little house like this." Feliks murmured quietly.
Toris looked at him. "I don't think we'd get very far. And we'd get therapy again."
Feliks looked downcast. "I wasn't thinking right when I stopped eating, alright? I was really depressed, trying to force myself to like girls and all. You're sort of lucky, Liet- you actually like girls sometimes. You can pretend you're straight. I can't. I don't like girls, I never have. And since my parents were still spewing all of that junk about homosexuality, I thought I was a mistake. So I stopped eating. I couldn't do it, couldn't eat my good parents' food while I was what they've always hated. It made me sick."
Toris put a hand on Feliks's wet hair. "I know. You're okay now, that's what matters. You're still here." Feliks looked up at him, his heavy-lidded eyes unreadable. "Though running away is a nice thought."
Feliks sat up and put his fingers in Toris's hair, right above his ears, running his thumbs over Toris's cheekbones. Then he pulled him forward and kissed him.
It all happened very fast.
A gentle touch, so light and soft, but with the feeling that Feliks had wanted to do this for a long time. Feliks pulled back, his face a furious red and his eyes guilty. Toris was shocked for a moment, didn't know how to react, didn't know how to kiss someone because in reality he hadn't ever really kissed anyone- the ones he had were quick, messy, or accidental. This- this had actually felt nice.
So Toris grabbed Feliks and kissed him with twice the vigour and half as much of the grace.
And suddenly that was all it was- two teenage boys kissing in a tree house, soaked through the skin and terribly awkward. When Feliks finally pulled back, he rested his forehead on Toris's, his usually pale cheeks red.
"So," Toris gasped, breathless and smiling. "How long have we been dating without knowing it?"
Feliks visibly relaxed. "I dunno. Since we were kids, probably. Maybe that's why they tried to keep us apart."
"Ah," Toris whispered. He took Feliks's face in one hand and looked into his eyes. "I wonder if anyone else knew."
"Probably." Feliks smiled and wrapped his arms around Toris, shaking a little, but okay. Toris pulled him closer, hugging him tightly like they had always done. The rain drummed on the roof in the same comforting rhythm, and they sat there in each other's arms.
"We're gonna do it one day, Toris. We're gonna run away to where nobody can find us. We'll be together and our parents won't be able to stop us." Feliks murmured, soft and gentle.
"Yeah. Someday."
There was a rumble of thunder and they both sat up, blinking.
"We'd better get back," Feliks muttered. Toris nodded and pulled his wet sweater back on and laced up his soaked sneakers. Feliks zipped up his jacket and smiled again.
"Feliks?" Toris asked quietly.
Feliks looked up. "Yeah?"
"Thanks. For finding this place."
Feliks shook his head "It's nothing, really. I miss hanging out with you."
"Yeah." Toris laughed. He pushed open the door and started to descend the wooden planks, Feliks not far behind. He jumped to the ground after Toris, clicking his little flashlight on and off. He set it on and grinned. "It's probably too late to get back now."
Toris suddenly realised the weight of his decision. "Oh shoot."
He grabbed Feliks's hand and took off running through the rainy forest, jumping over the creek and skidding slightly on the wet concrete of the sidewalk. Feliks followed, stopping abruptly. "My house is right here, but my parents don't look like they're home."
"You wanna stay here? I can get back home fine." Toris said, pushing a strand of hair out of his face. Feliks shook his head. "No, it's fine. At least I'm sort of allowed to leave my house."
They walked quietly, not unlike the silence that had enveloped them on their walk to the tree house, but a lot have stuff had elapsed since then. Toris glanced over at Feliks, and then took his small hand, lacing his fingers through. Feliks glanced at him urgently, his hand freezing up. Then, he relaxed and moved in close to Toris, their sides touching. Toris almost laughed- if only their parents could see them now! But it was nice enough that his angry father and mother didn't seem to matter.
In about twenty minutes, they got to Toris's street and Feliks let go, just in case their neighbours saw. The rain glinted in the orange streetlight glow as they got to Toris's house and walked around to the side, where his window opened up. Toris pulled an old ladder to the side of the roof and began to climb up. He opened the window carefully, sighing when he saw his room as he had left it.
Feliks scaled the ladder after him. "You'll be alright? They won't know you were gone?"
Toris peered around his room, eyes narrowed. "No, I'll be fine." He climbed over the the window sill, slipping into the room. "I have to change and take a shower, though. Pretend that's why I'm soaked."
Feliks nodded, his eyes bright. "That was fun, we should do it again sometime."
"Yeah." Toris glanced at his math homework, suddenly realising how late he was going to be up.
"Hey, Toris?" Feliks was quiet in the pouring rain.
"Hm?" He turned around, and Feliks kissed him lightly. Then, he smiled and slid off the roof, and Toris followed him with his eyes until he had run out of sight.