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"You have to tell him,” Alex says, eyeing George, who’s watching Lewis across the bar.
They are at their usual Thursday hang, most of the patrons are other college students plus the odd working professional who settled down in their college town. Alex thinks about the pile of coursework he needs to review sitting on his desk in his and George’s shared dorm room and washes it away with a sip of his beer. He hadn’t wanted to come out, but Lewis had texted George that he was going, which meant George was going, which meant Alex had to go, for moral support.
But George isn’t the only person that Lewis invited to the bar, apparently. Charles is also there, hanging onto Lewis’ every word, and causing the frown on George’s beautiful face.
“If you don’t tell him soon,” Alex trails off as George turns to give him a pained look.
“It’s probably already too late,” George sighs.
“You don’t know that-”
George gives him a sad smile, “You’re too kind, Alex. But I've missed my chance.”
Alex opens his mouth to argue but Charles and Lewis are making their way toward them. Charles is… well Charles is probably the most beautiful person Alex has ever seen.
He and George and Alex are all sophomores, and Alex has had a couple of classes with Charles before. Charles studies art history, which means that he and Alex have overlapping history prerequisites. Alex is pretty sure he barely passed American History 1000, too distracted by the way that Charles spoke and moved and smiled a small, soft smile at Alex.
“Hi, George,” Lewis beams in their direction, “Alex.”
Alex nods but Lewis isn’t looking, he’s got his eyes set on George. There’s a twitch of concern in his jaw at the look on George’s face.
“This is Charles,” Lewis gestures to the younger man beside him, “He’s my little.”
Alex raises his eyebrows, “I didn’t know you were in a frat.”
“Oh yeah,” Charles fixes his eyes on the ground, kicking his feet slightly, “The phi-philanthropy is good for my resume.”
He stumbles over the word philanthropy, accent catching and Alex loves the flush that covers his cheeks. He aches to figure out how far that flush goes.
Alex nods, sipping from his beer to stop his train of thought.
George still hasn’t said anything, and Alex can tell that Lewis is on edge, curious.
“Oh good, you two know each other?” Lewis smiles in Alex’s direction again. And yeah, Alex gets why George likes him. That smile is deadly.
“We have had a few classes together,” Charles explains, and Alex just feels pleased to be remembered.
“Good,” Lewis nudges Charles in Alex’s direction, “You two should catch up.”
Charles stumbles slightly into Alex’s side and Alex steadies him, taking the chance to wrap an arm around Charles’s side.
“Oh, I am sorry!” Charles squeaks but settles at Alex’s side as Alex gives him a reassuring smile.
“George,” Lewis seems satisfied with leaving Charles in Alex’s hands, “Can we talk?”
“Uh,” George responds intelligently, “I was just, going to go?”
Alex can hear the crack in George’s voice and he’s about to switch into best-friend mode, about to put everything aside with Charles and wrap George up in a million blankets on their couch with ice cream and funny movies.
But Lewis notices too and his entire face softens. He reaches for George’s arm, “I’d really rather you stay here, with me.”
George’s eyes widen and he reluctantly takes Lewis’s hand, letting himself be pulled away.
If it was anyone else, Alex would follow from a distance to make sure that George is okay. But he likes Lewis. He’s older than them, in his last year, but it’s his second degree. Alex can’t remember what Lewis is studying but it’s something related to fashion, he thinks. And he’s really nice to George, so he can let this one go. And, he’s got Charles looking up at him, biting his lip and yeah, he doesn’t really want to think about George anymore.
Lewis is still holding George’s hand as they climb the stairs behind the bar. George hasn’t been back here before, he didn’t even know that non-employees could even be back here.
As if reading his mind, Lewis calls back to him, “My friend Seb owns the bar and he lets me come back here sometimes.”
George nods, at least one of the questions flicking through his mind has been answered.
They reach the door at the top of the stairs and Lewis pushes it open. They step out onto the roof. Lewis shuts the door behind George and the noise from the bar disappears, only the fuzzy remainder of loud music in George’s ears. The outside air is cool, the sun having set hours ago and George stuffs his shaking hands into his pockets. He glues his eyes to his shoes and waits.
“Hey- look at me,” Lewis’ soft voice makes George look up, watery blue eyes meeting Lewis’s solid, unflinching brown ones. “Why are you all upset?”
“It’s stupid,” George mumbles, tearing his gaze from Lewis’s and walking towards the edge of the roof. He leans on the brick wall, watching the cars below.
“I doubt it,” Lewis joins him, his presence steadying.
George shakes his head.
“Okay, can I say something then?” Lewis asks, leaning into George’s space slightly.
“Go for it.”
“Charles is just a friend,” Lewis nudges his shoulder against George’s, “Does that make anything better?”
George frowns at him, “What do you mean?”
“Charles actually asked me if he could come because I said you were coming, which meant that Alex was coming for moral support,” Lewis shrugs, “And Charles has had a crush on Alex from like day 1.”
“Wait,” George’s brain is playing catch up, too much information coming all at once, “So you didn’t bring Charles as a date?”
“Correct. I brought him as a date for your roommate.”
George blinks.
“Do I have to spell it out for you?” Lewis laughs, one hand coming up to cup George’s cheek.
“Apparently yes,” George says dumbly, and Lewis shakes his head.
“I like you,” Lewis smirks, “And I’d really like to kiss you.”
“I’d really like you to kiss me,” George’s eyes flick from Lewis’ lips to his eyes and then back again.
And Lewis does. He leans in, with all of the confidence that George does not feel, and presses their lips together, soft and sure. George moans embarrassingly, but Lewis just urges him on, wrapping his arms around George’s waist to haul him closer.
George breaks away first, shivering from want and cold. He tucks his head against Lewis’ chest, the older man rubbing his hip slightly.
“Would you want to get coffee tomorrow? Or dinner?” Lewis asks, pressing kisses to George’s hair.
George kisses him in answer and Lewis smiles against his lips.
“I think-” Lewis pulls back, “that we should maybe go and check on our friends?”
“If Alex has made a move, I’ll buy dinner,” George laughs.
“Deal.”
They make their way back down behind the bar, Lewis pushing him against the wall on each landing to press teasing kisses to his lips. By the time they make it back to the main floor, George feels thoroughly warmed up and he really doesn’t want to go back to his dorm.
“Well, looks like you’re buying dinner,” Lewis muses, pulling George from his thoughts.
He follows Lewis’ gaze to where they’d left Charles and Alex and George grins when he sees that Alex has Charles pressed up against the bar, head ducked down to press kisses to Charles’ lips and neck and anywhere else he can reach.
“Fine, but you’re buying the next one.”
“A second date already? How forward of you, Russell.” Lewis smirks, pulling him into his side as he heads towards the younger couple, ready to disrupt their fun.