Work Text:
Xavier groans, pushing himself up using his arms. He looked around. Where am I?
He hears soft snoring next to him. He looks to the side. His pal Leonard was there, sleeping without a care in the world. Where are they? Why are they there? What happened?
His eyes landed at a pile of papers, with calligraphy pens holding them down. One of the sheets were attempting to fly away.
Oh. Right. Leonard was teaching him calligraphy.
He reaches out and takes all the papers in his hands, almost crumbling them, and shoving them into his pockets. He sighed and leaned back onto the wall of the wooden shed, until he felt something blowing at his hair.
He looked up and his eyes met with his pal's.
"Hi, Leo."
"Mornin'." Leonard backed away and yawned, getting up. Xavier took a second to admire Leonard's legs. I am so tired why did i write this god help me-
"What are you looking at?" Leonard says, turning to his friend with a hint of laughter. "It's not even morning," Xavier replied. Leonard still opened the door and looked at the house. There was a dim light from Rose's window, she must be reading a book. Hopefully those kid friendly ones and not the gory ones that belonged to Grandpa James. I mean, she's only four. Then he looked at the tree that Grandpa James had planted when he first moved here to the Lake. The lantern hanging off on one of the branches was on, that meant Albert was still down there. Rose was fine, she got a nap in the afternoon so that was a reason she was awake. Albert, though, was a whole different story.
"Your family still awake?" asked Xavier. "Yeah. I'm living with the weirdo branch of the family so of course they are." Leonard sat back down next to Xavier. "What happened to the normal branch and the flower branch?" Xavier asked playfully. Leonard had already told him his whole family history by now. And he's gotta say, it's pretty fucked up.
"Got killed," Leonard shrugged, avoiding his friend's gaze. Xavier snickered and scooted closer to him. Leonard didn't noticed, but turned when Xavier nudged him at the shoulder.
"Hey. We both know half of your family is dead. But at least be grateful someone actually pays attention to you and you have a buddy to play with. Being an only child without any siblings, or cousins in your case, is pretty boring. And we both know that my father's a drug dealer and my mom's a... a man pleaser. But your uncle actually bandages your booboos and your cousin is like your little sister."
"My uncle just puts some ointment and bandages my scars up and just walks away like nothing happened, like I didn't almost cut my arms off by trying to cut a tree down by myself. But at least you didn't grow up in a big house in the middle of nowhere."
"At least you don't have a whore mom."
"I don't have a mom at all."
They both laughed. But then quieted down.
They sat there. Quiet. The sound of crickets filled their ears.
Xavier's eyes landed on a glowing white butterfly, sitting on a shovel handle. It fluttered it wings, and sat there.
"Can I kiss you?"
Xavier looked up at Leonard, wide eyed. What did he just ask?
"What?"
"Can I kiss you. On the lips."
"B-But..."
"What, your Church teachers? Fuck them."
"Yeah.. but that's not-"
"Fuck society as well."
Xavier thought, until, "I've never kissed someone before."
"Just... Just follow my lead."
"Okay..."
Leonard leaned in, and Xavier closed his eyes. Leonard closed his as well when their lips brushed against each other.
Xavier abruptly backed away, "This feels wrong. I always liked you but this feels very wrong."
Leonard sighs and lets his desires take over him. He grabs Xavier's collar and kisses him roughly. Xavier squirmed a bit until deciding to just let himself go putty in the other boy's grasp. Leonard loosened his grip on the collar, but still held him there.
Xavier put a hand on his stomach.
Butterflies.
In his stomach.
Damn those mushy romance novels his aunt always reads.
They finally part for air. Xavier breath in until kind of laughing. "What?" asked Leonard, amused. " I just kissed a guy. And my teachers kept cramming into my head, 'You can't have any romantic or sexual relations with a person of the same sex.' But I just disobeyed what they said! Ahaha!"
Leonard smiled, Xavier was always the perfect child, despite who his parents were. He always followed rules. He always got good grades. He always asked for his parents' permission. Yes, his parents let him stay at his friend's house. "Just come back at ten sharp." That type of deal.
This. This was the only rule he'd ever break. And... he felt good about that. He felt independent."
"Earth to Xavs." Leonard snapped his fingers, making Xavier snap back to reality. They both stared at each other until Leonard said, "I like you."
"As in, like-like? That way like?"
"I guess."
"Well... I like you too."
They shared another short and sweet kiss until a small creak made them jump.
Rose was there.
At the door.
Watching them.
Leonard tensed, "Rosalyn."
The five year old in all black nodded, "Leonardo."
They glared at each other for a solid twenty seconds, with Xavier asking, "What's happening?"
Rose called out, "DAD!! LEONARD IS GAY AND HE JUST KISSED THAT FRIEND OF HIS IN THE SHED!!" She ran off to the back door.
"GET BACK HERE!!" Leonard jumped to his feet and chased his little cousin in the garden.
Xavier laughed and snickered, then saw the same white butterfly from earlier. It sat on his finger.
"El amor es amor, ¿verdad?" he asked the butterfly. Its wings flapped.
"Estoy de acuerdo, amiguito."