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“I did it!” Scott shouts, throwing his fist into the air. Boyd looks up from his book and smiles. He knows that Scott’s been working on this level for the past week to no avail. Scott gives him his goofy smile when he meets Boyd’s eyes. “I finally figured it out.”
Boyd tips his head in a small nod. “Now onto the next one.”
“Yeah,” Scott says. “I gotta catch up! Stiles is already three levels ahead of me.”
“Not for long, I’m sure,” Boyd tells him.
Scott beams as he settles back in to tackle the next level on the newest video game that he’d been obsessed with. It takes Boyd a long a moment before he ducks his head back down to his book. He tries to keep focus, even when he hears Scott shifting around to set up the head set so he can talk trash to Stiles through the Xbox.
Moving in with Scott had been a strange decision. The rest of their group had ended up in schools outside Beacon Hills, and when it’d come down to it, it had been the two of them staying behind. Lydia and Jackson had taken off to England. Allison and Isaac had gone to Paris. Isaac had dropped out after the first week, but he’d stuck around to be Ally’s roommate and slowly woo her (as Isaac put it, anyway). Stiles, Erica, Derek, and Cora had taken off to New York.
Malia and Kira had gone off around the world on a one-way trip. Sometimes they came back to visit. Kira’s mom had funded that trip.
Scott and Boyd were the only ones who didn’t take Derek’s money for school or living expenses. They had been content to stay here. Scott wants to keep an eye out for his mother, and Boyd couldn’t completely leave his sister alone. She still lives with their parents, but she visits with her girlfriend, Tracy, all the time. Scott doesn’t mind.
“Fuck you, Stiles!” Scott shouts into his microphone. “That was one time.”
Boyd looks up and takes a moment to enjoy Scott’s laughter as he protests. This is nice. This is more than he’d expected. It’d taken them a while, but one day, he’d come home to find Scott cooking in the kitchen. He’d burned the dinner to a crisp, of course, so they’d ordered take-out–but it was the thought that counts. And it was the first time they’d really spent any time together alone.
His tummy does a little flip when he hears Scott burst into giggles and call Stiles a “fuckit” as if that’s the biggest insult. Boyd doesn’t pretend to understand their language.
❤ ✿ ❤ ✿ ❤
“It’s kind cold tonight. What do you want to do?” Scott asks a few nights later. Boyd looks up from his cell phone, surprised at Scott’s voice. Usually, he’s the quiet one. He hadn’t heard Scott come out from his room.
“I don’t know. It’s snowing out,” Boyd says, shrugging. “We could go ice skating or–”
“Yes! Okay! I don’t have skates,” Scott shouts, excitement quickly fading into a frown.
“We can rent them,” Boyd reminds him gently.
“Oh. Right. Okay! Let’s go. That sounds like fun and I could use a night off from playing video games anyway,” Scott tells him.
Boyd smiles. “Stiles still three levels ahead of you?”
Scott scoffs. He mumbles, “Four now.”
“You’ll get ‘im in the end. You always do.”
Boyd tries to ignore the warmth that rushes over him when Scott yanks on his hand to tug him out the door fifteen minutes later. He stumbles a little when Scott shuffles closer to him once they’re on the sidewalk together. “Man, it’s pretty cold out tonight.”
He swings an arm around Scott’s shoulders, because that’s what friends do. Right? Boyd isn’t so sure because he thinks the tips of his ears go bright red when Scott beams up at him as though his touch actually warms him. He pulls Scott into him a little more and says, “You ready?”
“I haven’t skated in at least twelve years,” Scott admits. “I’m a little nervous. I was never really the strongest skater to begin with.”
“It’s okay. I’ll catch y–” Boyd stops talking. Okay, that might be a bit far. Even for him. Scott doesn’t press him to continue though, because they get into line and Scott tells him about the last time he’d skated with Stiles.
When they hit the ice, Scott firmly grips Boyd’s hands. Boyd skates backward, pulling Scott with him.
“God, you’re so good at this!” Scott says, smile still bright despite the dim lighting.
“You’re not so bad yourself.”
“Only because you’re holding me up,” Scott tells him. “Thanks.”
“Always,” Boyd murmurs. He’s not sure Scott hears him, but he takes him around the next curve and asks, “Want to get pretzels after?”
“You know me so well,” Scott says.
❤ ✿ ❤ ✿ ❤
Boyd must be home alone for at least twenty-five minutes before he hears a noise. He doesn’t recognize it at first, but then he realizes it must be an animal of some sort. It sounds like something running around in his room.
He sets his drink down on the kitchen counter and opens his bedroom door. Boyd had been in his room earlier, but he hadn’t seen anything. He really hopes it’s not a rat. Ever since Erica called him and begged him to come catch that ridiculously fat rat a few years ago, they had made him a little squeamish.
It takes him a moment before he recognizes the animal sitting on his bed. A cat. There’s a black cat with white paws looking up at him with curiousity. The cat tilts it’s head and Boyd tilts his right back.
“Now where did you come from?” Boyd asks. Almost immediately, as Boyd steps closer to the cat, the cat rushes towards to meet him at the edge of the bed. Boyd smiles and picks them up. “Hi you.”
He spends the entire night with the cat following him around as he goes through his usual routine. It’s not until Scott comes in after his late-night class that he thinks to ask his roommate about the cat.
“We have a cat now?” Boyd asks.
Scott drops his backpack and slaps his head. “Shit! I forgot to tell you! I found us a cat. You said you really wanted one and this guy was so fluffy and friendly and Tracy brought him in.”
Boyd laughs softly. “You got me a cat and forgot to tell me about it?”
“Sorry?” Scott asks. “What do you think? His name was Steve but I’m not sure it suits him.”
“Steve the cat,” Boyd murmurs. He scratches behind Steve’s ear. “I’m okay with Steve.”
Steve lets out a loud meow. Boyd laughs. Scott looks pleased. “Steve it is then.”
❤ ✿ ❤ ✿ ❤
“Is here okay?” Scott asks, glancing back at Boyd. Somehow, Scott had convinced him that they needed to go out instead of studying for their midterms. Boyd found it pretty hard to resist Scott, so it didn’t take much. They’re walking down the back aisle to find a seat for the movie.
“Yeah, sure,” Boyd says, shrugging. “I don’t care where we sit.”
As long as we’re together, Boyd finishes in his mind. He resists sighing. His crush on Scott has been steadily growing at a quick rate since they moved in together. He should’ve known. In fact, Erica and Kira had warned him. He almost growls at the thought. Dammit. He really hates being wrong. It does’t happen often.
“How have you been?” Scott whispers. “I feel like we keep missing each other.”
Boyd shrugs. “Our schedules are the exact opposite. I’ve been okay. Studying. You?”
“I miss you.”
Surprised at the admission, Boyd stretches out his hand on his thigh. He tries to relax himself, but he’s tense. Scott is everyone’s friend. That’s it. That’s all. The theater falls dark.
Just before the movie starts, Boyd murmurs, “I miss you too.”
Scott shifts in his seat but doesn’t say anything.
Half-way through the movie, Scott reaches out and tentatively slips his fingers in between Boyd’s. He’s surprised, and confused, but he squeezes Scott’s hand to let him know he’s okay with it. He catches the way Scott’s shoulders drop in relief out of the corner of his eye.
❤ ✿ ❤ ✿ ❤
They don’t stop holding hands until Scott needs to get his keys out of his pocket back in front of the apartment door. He fumbles a bit and Boyd’s heart pounds quickly.
“Scott?”
“Yeah?” he asks as he finally gets the key into the slot. He pops the door open. “I’m sorry if that was sudden or–it’s just that I’ve been thinking about it for a while and–”
Boyd shuts the door and closes the space between them. He slips one hand around Scott’s waist, and his other on Scott’s cheek, dipping his head down. He presses his lips lightly against Scott’s at first. It’s not until Scott reaches up to wrap his arms around Boyd’s neck that he deepens the kiss.
They don’t talk for a while. Just stumble around the apartment, hands everywhere, lips searching each other, and trying to take clothes off one another.
Scott breaks the silence with a needy, “More. Boyd, I need more.”
“Yes,” Boyd murmurs. He tugs on Scott’s shirt. “Let’s get this off you, yes?”
“Yes.” Scott takes a deep breath when they pull away from one another long enough for Boyd to move Scott’s shirt up. “Our friendship–it’s probably never going to be the same, huh?”
“Eh, we weren’t that close anyway,” Boyd tells him with an amused smile. He takes in Scott’s chest and runs a finger over his skin. “Want to figure out what this means later?”
"Yes. No.” Scott’s working at Boyd’s belt. “I want to be with you, Boyd. I can’t stop thinking about you. Can’t stop–wanting you. Stiles is annoyed with how much I talk about you. I want this. Want you. All of it. I want all of it.”
Boyd swallows. He hadn’t seen it coming, hadn’t thought that Scott could ever feel the same. He presses his lips against Scott’s forehead. “All of it. I’m all in.”
“Should we slow down?” Scott asks, after he finally gets Boyd’s belt undone.
“I think seven months is slow enough, don’t you?” Boyd asks.
“Yeah,” Scott breathes. “Yeah. I do.”
Steve meows loudly from somewhere around them and their laughter mixes together as they stumble towards the bedroom.
❤ ✿ ❤ ✿ ❤
“Breakfast in bed?” Scott asks, surprised. “What did I do to deserve this?”
"By being the best roommate ever,” Boyd tells him with a wink. “After how tired you were last night, I thought you might have worked up an appetite.”
Scott laughs. “I have the best boyfriend ever.”
Boyd ducks his head to hide his happiness, but Scott reaches out to tilt Boyd’s chin up. He nods. “I think you do too.”
There’s a bark of laughter from Scott and then a quick kiss. Boyd almost knocks over the orange juice trying to get closer to him.
“And the best cat,” Boyd adds when Steve jumps up onto the bed to join them.