Vivaldi in the Dark Box Set

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Monday afternoon, Jayden took the time to ask in the middle of a lesson. Want to come over after school?

K x

He dawdled long enough in the dance studio, talking to Charley before her club started, and used enough of the back corridors to visit his locker and the toilets to check his hair, that by the time he moved through reception and out to the gate, the usual suspects had gotten bored and left, and a familiar blazer was just visible in the trees. Darren had been away for a whole week—Mr. Weber had taken the orchestra on a trip to Vienna, apparently—and Jayden hadn’t seen him since Darren had reeled him in by the hand after Saturday night’s bowling and kissed him like Jayden had the only oxygen left on the entire planet. It had taken until Wednesday to start thinking again.

And now here he was, and Jayden was nervous all over again, as if something had changed.

“Hey,” he said, grinning like an i***t, and Darren smirked back, that half-smile that twisted at the edges. Jayden wanted to kiss it, but he wasn’t mad.

“Hey yourself,” Darren returned easily. “Any reason for the summons?”

Jayden shrugged. “Just…Mum’ll go to The Brightside after work, and Dad just watches the sports news when he gets home, so…”

“So effectively, a house to ourselves,” Darren said and grinned. “Nice thinking.”

Jayden flushed at how it sounded, but nodded anyway, clutching his bag strap with both hands and wishing things were different so he could hold Darren’s hand instead. Wishing he could kiss him outside school. Wishing it would make him normal and right, like all the other guys who had girlfriends in his year.

But it wasn’t, and he clutched his bag and listened to Darren’s idle tirade about a group project they’d been given in his geography class, and didn’t dare to reach out, even in the quiet confines of his street, once he saw Dad’s car in the driveway.

“Dad’s home,” he said warningly, rummaging for his keys, and Darren nodded.

“Nice dandelions,” he said, indicating the three-foot square patch of grass that Mum called a lawn, and Jayden flushed. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Darren went St. John’s and had an expensive violin and a leather jacket and paid for everything all the time. Jayden lived in a terraced council house. There was no way Darren lived in a house like this, he probably lived in a four-storey mansion. Jayden had never even been to Beauchamp, but he could imagine it. All mile-long driveways and automated gates and bay windows and…

“Dad, it’s me!” he yelled, hiding his anxiety by rattling the door as loudly as possible and banging it off the wall. Suddenly, the hall looked tiny. It was barely five feet wide by the stairs, and the carpet had once been blue but was now grey, and Dad had just left his boots in the middle of the mat…

Darren toed off his shoes and unceremoniously kicked the door shut behind him.

“Um,” Jayden said. “Want a Coke or something?”

Darren shrugged. “Sure.”

The kitchen was worse. Dad had left the bread out and crumbs all over the counter. The table was plastic badly masquerading as wood, and the tiles were linoleum, not the expensive slate stuff Jayden was sure Darren must have at home. They didn’t even have a dishwasher, and last night’s dishes were piled high in the sink. And to top the entire embarrassing moment off, Dad was sitting at the table with The Sun, work shirt undone and scratching at his three-day-old stubble.

“Hey, kiddo,” he said, nodding at Jayden and ignoring Darren entirely. “How was school?”

“Fine,” Jayden said shortly, raiding the fridge. “C’mon, Darren, let’s…”

“Oh, my God,” Darren interrupted, and held up a packet of the oatmeal shortbread Mum always bought from the supermarket. “Can I steal one?”

“Steal the lot, kid,” Dad grunted. “Livvy’s trying to get me to like ‘em. Healthy eating or some such bollocks.”

Darren grinned. “Mother does that,” he said. “She thinks celery’s a snack.”

Dad stared. “Jesus. You poor brat,” he said and squinted. “You’re not vegan, are you?”

Darren wrinkled his nose. Jayden laughed, torn between embarrassment and relief at Darren not sneering at his father, and shoved a can of Coke into Darren’s free hand. “Of course he’s not, Dad, that’s retarded,” he offered and hauled Darren back into the hall by the sleeve. “Sorry about him. He does shifts at work, so he’s not always here in the afternoons, but I couldn’t remember when he left this morning, and…”

“I get free food, I’m happy,” Darren deadpanned and followed him up the stairs. “I like your house,” he said, poking the potted plant Mum had abandoned on the landing last week and hadn’t rehomed yet.

“It’s tiny and a mess.”

“It’s lived in,” Darren said. “It’s nice. Except for maybe this wallpaper.”

“Yeah, Mum’s choice.” Jayden grimaced and ushered Darren into his room. “I have more taste,” he added unnecessarily.

At least he had been ready up here. Jayden always kept his room tidy. Dad called him a neat freak. Mum called him responsible. Jayden called it not liking his room looking like a bombsite. Okay, he’d left his sock drawer open, and Mum had been in to get his laundry and had knocked over his stack of magazines, but he toed them out the way and slammed the drawer and presto, his room was ready for visitors. And Darren didn’t seem to be the type to mind the bed having been vaguely restored rather than properly made anyway.

Sure enough, he dropped his bag on the floor and bounced down onto the bed, one of the shortbread fingers already in his mouth. He made a noise that was obscene. “God, I love these.”

“Really?”

“Uh, yes?” Darren gave him a look. “Mrs. Smith—Paul’s mum—she makes amazing homemade ones, but I’m not picky.”

Jayden sat gingerly beside him, uncertain of what to do, still fumbling with his bag. “I, um,” he began, and Darren cracked open the Coke. “I was kind of hoping you could help me with my maths revision,” he blurted out.

Darren raised an eyebrow and swallowing an unhealthily large amount of Coke. “Really?”

“Um…well…” Jayden flushed as Darren set the drink and biscuits on the side table, having to lean right over his legs to do it. “Maybe…that would be a nice…side-effect.”

“I don’t think I can kiss mathematical ability into you,” Darren murmured, pushing Jayden down into the duvet and settling himself on Jayden’s chest. His weight was both pleasant and scary.

“You could try,” Jayden suggested lowly, watching Darren’s mouth rather than his face as a whole. It was only a couple of inches away. If he stretched…

“How about we have a bit of fun, and then study when your mum gets home?” Darren bargained in a whisper, dropping his head to kiss the spot under Jayden’s ear, his lips damp. The second kiss landed on Jayden’s pulse, and the flicker of his tongue had Jayden’s heart picking up. “Pretty sure she’s suspicious.”

“She…what?” Jayden struggled to grasp the meaning of that, with Darren’s weight on his chest and his mouth on his neck. Darren hummed, and Jayden shivered.

“She pretty much asked if I was gay,” he said.

Jayden laughed, breathless and too quick. “Well.” He pushed his hands up Darren’s sides, under the blazer. Through the thin cotton of his school shirt, Darren was really, really warm. “She’s not wrong.”

“Mm,” Darren murmured, shifting to attack the other side of Jayden’s neck. “She asked if my boyfriend had come to watch. I kind of lied. I said no.”

Jayden squeezed Darren’s sides, his heart jumping at the word. Darren thought of them as…

“We just won’t tell her you lied to her,” he managed, and tangled a hand into that wild hair, twisting to the side until they lay tangled up and kissing properly, the last traces of the Coke still cold at the edges of Darren’s teeth.

It was new and it was nice and Jayden’s brain veered between dissolving into a purring, messy puddle and panicking that Darren’s hands were under his jumper and Darren was in his bed and Darren was sitting up to take off his blazer and Darren’s biceps felt three times as good when he braced himself on his elbows like that…

They both lost their blazers. Jayden lost his jumper, right before he decided that Darren’s weight on his chest was nice after all and pulled them back into their original position. Only this time it wasn’t just Darren’s chest on his, but his whole body, his oversized feet tangling up with Jayden’s and his knees bracketing one thigh, and one of those amazing hands pressing against his side, up under his arm, like he was counting beats, or…

Darren dropped his weight a little farther, and Jayden gasped, breaking off the kissing with a sudden flash of fear. “I…”

“Mm?” Darren smoothly transferred his mouth back to Jayden’s neck, and Jayden shook his head, pushing his hands up into Darren’s chest and levering him up. “What?”

“I’m not…I don’t…”

Darren’s languid ease sharpened into focus, and he sat up, still astride Jayden’s hips, but…the weight of him was pulled away, the pressure…Jayden risked a glance and knew he’d been right.

“I’m not ready for that,” he said, and felt his face flush hotly, for once justified. Darren was his boyfriend. He’d said it himself! And yet…when Jayden had felt…felt that…

“For what?” Darren asked blankly.

“For…” Jayden bit his lip, suddenly feeling close to tears, he was so embarrassed, and gestured awkwardly at Darren’s crotch.

And Darren laughed. “Oh, Jesus, Jayden, ignore that,” he said, sliding off him to stretch out on the sheets beside him. “You turn me on, I can’t help it, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to try anything.”

Jayden bit down harder on his lip and closed his eyes.

“Hey.” Darren’s voice softened and he rubbed a hand up and down Jayden’s bare arm. “Relax. It’s fine.”

“Sorry,” Jayden mumbled, turning into him and tucking himself under the arm that Darren held out. “I just…I panicked.”

“Fair enough,” Darren said. “But there’s no need.”

“It’s stupid. You’re my…I should…”

“Doesn’t matter what I am,” Darren said flatly. “You’re not ready. So what? Honestly, I don’t think I am either. I’m not the romantic that you are, but even I don’t go around jumping into bed with guys.”

“Or girls?”

“Or girls,” Darren said and grinned when Jayden offered him a smile. “It happens, Jayden. I’m reactive. It’ll happen again, I guarantee it, but it’ll never mean we have to do anything about it.”

Jayden took a deep breath and pushed the anxiety away. “Okay,” he said.

“Okay?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, reaching out to toy with the top button of Darren’s shirt. Somehow, although the tie had vanished, the shirt had remained completely buttoned. “It’s just…you know, you’re heavy, and I suddenly felt kind of…trapped. And you…you had…”

“Gee, thanks,” Darren interrupted dryly, and Jayden laughed unexpectedly. “Why am I here? If you’re just going to call me fat…”

“I didn’t, don’t twist it!”

“You did,” Darren said and twisted his fingers into Jayden’s ribs. Jayden screamed and shoved, trying to push him away, but it was too late. Darren’s eyes gleamed, and then he pounced, tickling mercilessly. Jayden gasped for air over helpless laughter, and finally got rid of his tormentor by pushing him off the bed entirely. Okay, so Darren clung on and took Jayden with him, but Jayden ended up on top and with a pillow in hand, so he shoved it over Darren’s face and pinned him down.

“Who’s reactive now?” he demanded.

The bedroom door opened. “What the—oh God,” Dad said and groaned. “Jayden, stop murdering him.”

“He tickled me,” Jayden said, easing up only enough to let Darren actually breathe.

“Good for him,” Dad said dryly. “Your mother’s home, wants to know if your mate’s staying for dinner.”

Jayden removed the pillow and eyed Darren expectantly. He was a funny shade of pink. “Okay,” Darren croaked and shoved Jayden off and onto the carpet. “Jesus. I might be fat, drama queen, but you’re not exactly fun to take to the chest either.”

Dad shut the door with a mutter that distinctly sounded like ‘bloody kids’, and Jayden shoved his bag behind it to stop any more unexpected entrances.

“Good thing he didn’t come in ten minutes ago,” Darren remarked, still sprawled out on the floor.

“Mm.” Jayden crawled back over him, folding his arms on Darren’s chest to prop himself up and stare down at him. He was flushed and ruffled and wild and absolutely gorgeous, and Jayden couldn’t help but lean down for a kiss. “Well. Mum’s back,” he murmured lowly, examining the swirls of green and blue in Darren’s eyes. “Are you going to help me with my maths?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Darren said and obnoxiously ran both hands through Jayden’s hair. “Now get off me. I have to go purge that shortbread because my boyfriend thinks I’m too fat.”

Jayden groaned, pushed him back down, and kissed the notion away.

* * * *