Work Text:
‘There's a blue light in my best friend's room
There's a blue light in his eye’
“Todd!” Neil’s voice rings through the hallway a few doors down, followed by heavy crashes of running footsteps on the old, squeaky floorboards.
Todd jumps in his seat at his small desk facing the wall where he is silently studying, startled by the sudden noise of his roommate calling his name. He winces at the loud crashing sound coming from the hallway, only hoping to be later not reprimanded for causing such a disturbance.
When Neil reaches the open door of their shared dorm, his breathing is heavy and his hair is disheveled from running through the hallway. He has a grin on his face of pure happiness and Todd unwillingly matches his smile at the sight of the man standing in front of him, leaning against the open doorway.
“Look what I got.” Neil’s smile grows impossibly brighter as he holds up a radio. Suddenly, he darts from his spot leaning against the doorframe, and places it down on his own desk across from Todd.
Todd lets out a breathless laugh as he stands from his desk to take his spot standing next to Neil to admire the radio on his desk. “How? How on earth did you-?
“I know! I know!” Neil laughs excitedly. If Todd wasn’t staring at the joy radiating off Neil’s face, he could’ve heard the smile in his voice from a mile away. “Pittsy and Meeks finally got it to work. We just have to figure out how to use it before they realize it’s gone.”
“Wait, what?”
Neil shrugs as his lips press into a mischievous grin “I might’ve stolen it. But only for a little bit! It’ll be back on Pitt’s desk by tomorrow morning before he even realizes I took it. I just want it for tonight.”
Todd loves the excitement on Neil’s face, but he can’t help to realize the flaws in Neil’s plan that he has clearly overlooked. “But… what if, I don’t know, they hear the radio? Or they think to realize it’s gone?”
Neil punches Todd in the arm. “I doubt it, they’re not always the brightest.” Neil then closed their door with his foot and stood with his back against the closed door. “Plus, nobody has to hear a thing. This’ll be a little secret- just between you and me.”
Todd blushed at Neil’s words. It didn’t help when Neil tightly grabbed both of Todd’s shoulders and started jumping excitedly while excitedly shrieking “What matters! We got a radio! We got a radio!”
Todd could only laugh along with Neil as he held his shoulders and enthusiastically jumped in return.
‘There's a blue light, yeah
I wanna see it shine’
Neil and Todd were no strangers to sneaking in the dark of night after the rest of the school had gone to sleep, due to their weekly Dead Poets Society meetings. Neil sat at his desk wrapped in his blanket and waited patiently for the footsteps outside to die down and finally turn on the radio. Todd scribbles his last sentence of notes while he sits on his bed, facing outwards towards Neil, where he would occasionally steal glances at his roommate who had his head tucked in his arms on his desk.
Just as Todd had started to drift off into sleep, he was suddenly awoken by a light shove on his shoulder. “Todd.” Neil’s voice was soft, and when Todd’s eyes opened, he was crouching next to Neil’s bed with his arms crossed over his blankets and his eyes level with Todd’s waist.
Todd’s heart skips a beat at the sight, but Neil spoke again before he could react. “It’s working… listen.” He spoke in a whisper.
It took a few seconds for the sleep-caused weariness to leave Todd. When he’d come to his senses, he could hear a faint sound coming from the radio on Neil’s desk.
Neil grabs Todd’s hand and drags him out of his bed and into the center of their small room. He then turns up the radio ever so slightly as an upbeat, fast-paced song played through the static. Todd doesn’t recognize it, but he closes his eyes as he sways to the music anyway.
His eyes snap open when he feels Neil grab his hands. He has the same smile he wore earlier that evening as he laughs “Dance with me.”
Todd wants to snatch his hands away, but he finds himself frozen by the touch and can only hope Neil doesn’t notice how sweaty his hands are. He feels his face get warm as he shakes his head “I can’t dance.”
If Neil notices how flushed Todd is, he doesn’t react. He only continues to laugh “Neither can I.” Not letting go of Todd’s hands, he began to jump to the beat of the song playing.
Just as before, Todd is infected by Neil’s happiness and he feels something lighten in his chest. He too begins to laugh as he jumps in time with Neil. The room was dark, but Todd could see Neil’s eyes on his by the light the pale moon offered.
Neil let go of one of Todd’s hands to spin under his raised arm, before returning his hand to Todd’s waist and raising their connected hand as he lightheartedly guided them to sway side to side to the fast tempo of the song.
‘There's a ship that sails by my window
There's a ship that sails on by
There's a world under it
I think I see it sailing away’
Todd was unsure of how much time had passed since everyone else had gone to sleep or how late it was, but he couldn’t find it in him to care.
He wasn’t sure when, but the atmosphere of the room had shifted entirely. The radio played a new, slower song. Maybe it was because drowsiness was slowly seeping into their eyelids as their movements became slower, or maybe it was because of how the entire room was lit up by the pale, white moon that now hung high in the sky, or maybe it was a feeling of something else entirely Todd wasn’t able to put into words. But Neil’s head was now rested on Todd’s shoulder as he hugged him with one arm- the other was to his side, his hand intertwined with his roommate’s. Todd held onto Neil’s waist, while one arm dropped lazily to his side, still clinging onto Neil’s hand.
They slowly swayed to the slow tune of the music in the middle of their small dancefloor. Todd closed his eyes to the steady sound of Neil’s breath, which was right next to his ear.
‘I think it's sailing
Miles crashing me by
Crashing me by
Crashing me by’
Neil suddenly pulls his head off Todd’s shoulder, taking the warmth with him. He keeps their bodies pressed together and their hands intertwined as he searches Todd’s eyes and lazily whispers “This is what lovers write poems of, I think.”
Todd’s heart rate spikes. Lovers. He feels heat rush back into his face as he looked into Neil’s eyes. “Lovers.” Was all Todd manages to say.
Neil nods after a long pause, and Todd notices a blush creep into his cheeks. “You should write a poem about this. About us.”
Todd can’t fight the smile that found its way onto his face. He only nods, but that was enough. Neil seemed to have found what he was searching Todd’s eyes for. He leans in impossibly closer, his breath fanning across Todd’s face as he saw his eyes flick between his eyes and his lips.
Todd doesn’t know where he found the courage to close the gap and press their lips together, but he knows the last thing he would possibly ever think were the wprds 'carpe diem'. Neil reacted almost immediately. It was a light kiss, but it promised many more to come.
Neil pulled away for only a moment to grasp Todd’s face in his hands. He matched Todd’s lopsided smile and even let out a small laugh before pressing his lips to Todd’s once again.
‘There's a world outside my doorstep
Flames over everyone's heart
Don't you see them shining?
I want to hear them beating for me’
The two would eventually find their way to their own beds that night, but only after a long while. In the morning, Neil would keep his promise, and the radio would be safely returned to Pitt’s desk as if nothing happened that night. Nothing but the moon and the howling sounds of the wind would know what happened that night, or the many nights to follow of just the same.