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The band struggled their instruments onto the bus before slumping down in their seats, exhausted by the previous performance and eager to learn their scoring.
Charlie planned to sit by Kiza for some stupid fucking reason but the bus was packed and only one other seat was left.
"Uh, what's up?" Charlie sat down next to James, hoisting up his baritone case and slamming it onto the seat in front of him.
"Not much" James's voice was casual until he turned to look at Charlie, suddenly realizing the beauty in his face he very quickly just noticed.
"H...How are you doing?" Why was his heart beating faster? It's just Charlie, you see him all the time.
"Good, you?" The boy noticed James's slight of panic, assuming it was caused by the heat trapped in the bus. None the less, Charlie was starting to feel a bit warm as well.
"I'm doing great..." James felt an awkward tension and decided it was best to just look out the window at the unfamiliar schoolyard as the bus started to pull out of the roundabout.
A few moments of silence occurred until Charlie gave James a startling tap on the shoulder.
James winced a bit at the contact, attempting to look over at Charlie casually.
"Um.. You doing alright?" Charlie looked at him with worried eyes, only fueling the warmth building up in James's chest.
He nodded frantically, desperately trying to hide his stature whilst searching for whatever this feeling was.
"It's uhh.. Kinda hot on this bus right?"
"Yeah.." Charlie got an idea of what kind of situation was going on with James, but no, no way. But if it was, was there a chance that feeling was mutual?
He felt a tingling travel down his collarbone and feeding into a pool of warmth deep in his torso at the mere thought.
And there, faster than the speed of light was a tension neither of them could break by themselves.
Charlie was rushing around his own head, looking for solutions for this impossibly hard to fix problem that came up quicker than a note in the first measure of a song.
He peered over at James, who was calmed down, glaring out the window.
Scrutinizing his face for impurities only made it worse. Staring at his eyes only made him want James to look at him even more. Looking at his mouth only led him to needing to kiss him way more than he desired to. Anything he did escalated the problem higher, pushing it more and more out of his comfort zone.
James, on the other hand, could only think about how weird Charlie would think he is if he made a move. Completely oblivious to the trainwreck of a brass player sitting inches next to him. In the heat of the moment, James took a leap and turned his head just barely to steal a glance of Charlie.
His decision was quickly regretted as their eyes met, both of the two boys too distracted to look away.
If thoughts could be heard, even the woodwinds at the very back of the bus would be covering their ears out of pure survival instinct.
James's mind raced with each nanosecond they stared at each other, fearing the act of blinking would end the moment and rip his chances away from him.
Why do I feel so hot? Why is he so pretty? I've never felt like this! Am I overheating? Do I just.. oh.
The second he realized how he felt is also the second he noticed the rising blush on Charlie's face.
Alright, if you wanna make a move, this is the time to do it.
James clenched his fist and sprinted through all the ear-bleeding blaring alarms in his head telling him to look away and never look at Charlie again, forcing his head forward and cutting the distance between their lips to shreds.
Charlie wanted to push him off and think long and hard about this, but there were so many voices inside him saying "STAY THERE STAY THERE DEAR GOD STAY THERE" (so he did lol)
Suddenly, the action made closed a door inside James and flung a million more open, and most of them revealed a version of Charlie he'd probably never forget.
James was shrieking in his thoughts and with shaky hands, grabbed Charlie's shoulders as soft as he could, pulling him closer. To both of their surprise, and after way to little of contemplating, Charlie wrapped his arms around James, pressing his lips harder into James's.
The realization hit James's way harder than he prefered. He was kissing Charlie, and Charlie was kissing him back.
Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck...
Their thoughts were a mix of "Shit do I like this?!!", "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON" and "WHAT DO I DO OH MY GOD AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
James's hands continued to shake as he anxiously slid them down to Charlie's back, his fingers being guided by a curve he only ever saw when Charlie's playing his instrument.
God, his lips were so soft...
A quick shoot of reality punctured through Charlie, making him pull away softly, barely looking up at James before his eyes darted down to his shoes in embarrassment.
He felt James's fingers touch the side of his head, they were comforting but they allowed Charlie the courage to look back up into his boyfri- No, James's eyes. Don't get ahead of yourself, Charlie. He looks as scared as you.
...he looks as scared as you.
Charlie scooted closer to him, pulling James back into the kiss, now well more coordinated. But yeah this is crazy.
James felt much more confident now, moving his hands to gently hold the back of Charlie's head. Feeling his hair in between his fingers made him melt into the kiss, close enough to where he could feel the heat coming off his face.
The two were dazed but as fate would have it, Mrs. Band's voice rang throughout the bus;
"Alright, everyone get your instruments, we're gonna be at the school in a few minutes."
Hearing this, James let go of his hair and ended the kiss for both of their sakes.
Charlie quickly got the message and sat back in his seat, trying and failing to process like literally everything :,)
Nearly spacing out at this point, he was snapped out of it when James spoke with a shaky voice.
"Do.. umm.. Should we hang out later.. maybe..?"
"..Yeah."