Shimmer (boyxboy/alien)

Chapter 19: What's inside?

"Now they're gonna look at me"

☆

Joe didn't know exactly what possessed him at first. Why did he have the urge to kiss Vinnie? Maybe it was the soft feel of Vinnie's fingers on his cheek, an impulse, which if he thought about it for too long, he would second guess himself. Maybe it was the moment of honesty they had just shared. A moment which allowed them to just simply be. To feel what they wanted. Maybe there was something about Vinnie that attracted him. The person. The morph Vinnie was. Regardless of appearances, maybe Joe felt that connection. 

Whatever it was. They had been kissing now for a while, with heavy breaths filling the sound of the otherwise lifeless room. Joe finds himself leaning over Vinnie a little more as Vinnie lays further back onto the concrete bench. 

Vinnie could feel all kinds of strange sensations occurring inside of him. First it was the heart tickling, then it was the mind fogging and now he could feel something expanding within his joggers. Panic suddenly sets as he knew what it was. He begins to push up at Joe's chest, causing their lips to part. "We should stop now." He blurts out breathlessly, making Joe pull his head back with surprise.

"What? Have I done something wrong?" Joe questions, genuinely worried if he had overstepped the mark, though he was pretty sure they were both on the same page. 

Vinnie now tries to sit up, making Joe pull back. "I uh...I'm hungry!" He replies. Forcing a smile. "Is there any food here?"

"Oh…" Joe gets up to go look in the fridge, allowing Vinnie a moment to try to conceal his excitement, by crossing his legs.

The fridge, though reasonably filled with fizzy drinks, doesn't seem to be fiĺed with much else as he once again closes the fridge and turns to Vinnie, who seemed to be sat like he was waiting to go into the teacher's office. "There's nothing in there." He adds before looking around the near empty space. The only other piece of furniture being some metal shelving, housing a few dusty shoe boxes and tins.

Joe squats down to the bottom shelf to examine one of the tins, with it being evident that it had originally had cookies in them. He pulls it from the shelf, wiping the dusty lid in the process. He didn't really expect to find cookies inside and if he did, they surely would be out of date,  but he still takes the box and places it on the bench between him and Vinnie and proceeds to remove the lid.

Vinnie looks on, half wondering, hoping there would be something edible, but as Joe removes the lid, they are graced with nothing but old photographs. 

Joe takes an image from the top of the tin, chuckling at the face gracing him. "God! These are photos of my grandparents." He says in amusement as he looks at the younger version of the man, possibly in his mid 20s.

"Lemme see!" Vinnie says excitedly as Joe hands over the photo, before reaching for another one from the box. 

Vinnie sees a man who looks similar to Joe, but not quite. "He looks nice." He comments. 

 Yeah he is…well was…is? He is still with us some days, you know, his mind." Joe hums, half focussed on pulling out another image of his grandad with a female. "This is him with my nana." He hands over a photo of two people on a beach in swimwear and sunglasses. 

Vinnie takes in the images. They looked so happy. Joe's Nana had long black hair, it was caught by the camera in mid air like a sail. "She's a beautiful lady!" Vinnie comments. He glances up to see that Joe isn't responding, seemingly busy rummaging in the tin and picking up random pictures. He looks at each one, but Vinnie can sense something isn't quite right with the furrow on his brow. "Joe, what's up?"

"N...nothing." Joe now becomes a little frantic with his actions, as Vinnie picks up an image fallen on the bench, but before he can take a better look, Joe snatches the photo back. He pushes the image into the tin and slams the lid back on, before getting up and pushing the tin back on the shelf. He sits back down, his body now feeling extra tense. 

Vinnie places a hand on Joe's shoulder. "Want to talk about it?" 

Joe looks at Vinnie, who is all wide eyed and innocent. "We need to move on soon, the commander will soon know about this place." Joe gets to standing. He turns to Vinnie who is still sitting, looking up at him, nerves once again settling in about going out into the open and being seen. "Where are we going Joe, what if I'm noticed?" Vinnie asks, his cellulose heart beating a little faster in his chest. 

"Then they'll see me too." Joe replies, pulling at another box on the bottom shelf marked 'halloween'. He removes the lid and proceeds to take out a latex smelling pig's head, pulling it over his head. "Now they're gonna look at me too." He adds. His voice a little muffled by the mask. 

Vinnie beams a smile, as he raises his long fingers to poke at the pig's rubber snout. "Oink oink" Joe vocalises, now making Vinnie laugh. 

"You are funny!" He comments as he holds onto Joe's hand without even a second thought. "But where are we going?" 

Joe subconsciously squeezes Vinnie's hand a little tighter as he speaks. "I need to see my grandad. I don't think he's as insane as he makes out."