Room 524, Monday Afternoon

[selfhelphero]

Billy had always been a fan of low-key birthdays - a little cake, some presents, and that was about it. He'd only had one class today, so now he had all afternoon to do whatever he wanted to celebrate being sixteen. His parents had come through with a bunch of different gift cards, since it was easier for him to pick out what kind of geeky things

Comments

[dollpocalypse]

Well. After Billy had come by to celebrate Topher's own birthday last month, Topher could hardly have let Billy's go by without acknowledging it. Especially since now they were in kissing territory, and that seemed to entail some degree of birthday-celebration. Just going by what he'd seen in movies, of course.

So here he was, holding what looked like a metal box of sorts to his chest when he came to knock on the door.

"Hey! Happy birthday."

[dollpocalypse]

"Kind of, yeah," Topher admitted as he took a seat next to Billy. "Or maybe not, I don't know. With siblings you can probably get away with having your parents nag one of the other ones every once in a while, right?"

[selfhelphero]

"Maybe, but...well, I work very hard at not needing to be nagged. I don't know if you've noticed this, but I'm kind of a goody two shoes," Billy said quietly, like he was sharing a secret with Topher.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher feigned an emormous gasp. "What? You? Really?"

You asked for that one, Billy.

"That makes sense, though. I'm kinda jealous. Whenever I'm home, my parents are all, 'Topher, why can't you go outside?' and stuff at me."

[selfhelphero]

"Oooh. Well, yeah, my parents nag me about going outside sometimes, but I spend enough time running errands for them and stuff that I figure that counts as being outside," Billy said. "One of the downsides to everything being within walking distance."

[dollpocalypse]

"Upside too, though, 'cause you don't have to go to parks," Topher reasoned. "Parks suck."

Okay then.

[selfhelphero]

"Is there a reason you don't like parks? Or is this just generalized hatred?" Billy asked.

[dollpocalypse]

"Oh, just that they're outside," Topher clarified. "And sunny. And rarely have free WiFi. And all the open space is kind of weird. Being inside is way better."

[selfhelphero]

"Lots of outdoor places in New York have WiFi. So you can get your Vitamin D and argue with people on the internet at the same time," Billy teased. "Not all of the outdoors are bad."

[dollpocalypse]

Topher laughed. "Okay, if you say so," he conceded, because nothing could win a nerd over like a promise of free WiFi. "Maybe I'll try it sometime. With, you know, sunscreen and everything."

Whatever worked, Topher.

"We could maybe go to a park or something sometime?"

[selfhelphero]

"We totally could, with sunscreen and everything, and I'd make sure you stayed connected the whole time," Billy promised.

[dollpocalypse]

"Deal," Topher said decisively. "That was really good bargaining. By the way."

Well. That seemed as good an opening as any not dirty. Topher paused in order to gather his nerves pause, then tried, "Um. I could, you know, give you the other part of your gift now. If you want."

Oh gosh, whatever could it be?

[selfhelphero]

The sad thing was, Billy wasn't entirely sure what Topher was getting at. "There's another part? What is it?"

[dollpocalypse]

Topher grinned, then realized Billy was actually being serious. "Oh. I was gonna kiss you again," he explained. "If, you know, that works for you."

[selfhelphero]

Billy grinned and scooted closer to Topher. "That totally works for me. In fact, I think it's safe to say that always works for me, and you don't need to ask."

[dollpocalypse]

"Oh, good," Topher said, relieved. "'Cause me too."

Or at least, that was what he'd been planning on saying, except his timing wasn't spectacular, because he wound up cutting himself off by kissing Billy.

You win some, you lose some.