thus with a kiss i die

4- adoration

None of them spoke about the strange, too close encounter they experienced. It was much easier to pretend it had never happened, and although the butterflies in George's stomach were slightly harder to ignore, they both managed to do so.

The comfortable mood eventually settled over the two again, and once Will finally finished his godforsaken essay, they turned to each other and began to talk. Will, who had a tendency to not concentrate lest he had something in his hands, was throwing a tennis ball he had found on his desk up and down with one hand as he spoke.

"What do you think of Mrs Wright, the English teacher?" Will asked.

"Oh, she isn't bad," George shrugged. "I've heard Mr Smith is worse, though."

Will hummed. "I think I had him in like year nine. He is a proper dick."

George laughed, but was slightly cut short by his phone vibrating in his hands. He swiped left on the message, opening it to his dad's contact.

dad

george where are you? you said you would be back almost an hour ago

wherever you are get home now

"Oh shit!" George sprang out of his chair, startling Will so much that he missed the catch of his tennis ball and it clattered to the floor.

"What?" he asked.

"I completely lost track of the time! I need to get home!" he laughed awkwardly, hoisting his bag over his shoulder and flinging Will's bedroom door open.

"Wait!" Will scrambled to follow him.

George hurried down the stairs, with Will close behind him, and he pulled on the handle of the front door. He stepped outside and instantly froze. From under the shelter of Will's doorway, George surveyed the torrential rain that cascaded down to the pavement, leaving massive puddles on the uneven ground. The sky was as dark as it would be at night and the rain would be inescapable.

"Are you kidding me?" George turned to Will, incredulous. "I don't even have a jacket!"

Will laughed for a moment at George's expense, then reached behind him and pulled his dark blue hoodie over his head. George failed to miss how the bottom of his stomach was exposed for a moment, but he averted his eyes when Will pushed the jacket into his hands.

"No, Will, I'm fine-" he tried to protest, but Will was having none of it.

"Shut up and take it, you're gonna be late! I don't care about your selflessness!"

Turning from the thunderstorm outside, to Will's determined stare, George eventually caved. He cast him an exasperated look as he tugged the hoodie over himself, and he instantly found it at least two sizes too big for him. Sparks ignited in the pit of Will's stomach at the sight of George drowned in his hoodie, looking down at his floppy sleeves. But they were gone as quickly as they had come. He giggled at George, who quickly flipped him off.

"I'll give it back to you on Monday!" he promised, hopping up the stone steps two at a time, clutching his hood. "Bye Will!"

"See you Georgie!" Will smirked as he watched him leave, feeling light and airy. But the elated feeling dissipated as soon as he closed his front door, leaving him with a melancholy sense about him. And he couldn't put his finger on why.

-

Will hadn't noticed how dark his room was when he re-entered it, thanks to the dim, colourless sky outside, and privately wondered if it had felt so light before because George was there. Then he waved away the stupid thought and clicked on his fairy lights, which bathed the room in a comfortable orange glow. As if not to risk having to sit with his thoughts, which always somehow traced back to George, Will busied himself in packing away his books and pens from his desk, carefully stowing them away in his drawers.

He stopped short just as he was about to put away his copy of Romeo and Juliet, when he caught sight of the palm of his hand again. "Adoration" was still printed on his hand, the writing barely legible to Will because it was cursive and slanted, but it was there all the same. Morosely, he found himself staring at the word, tracing the movements George's pen had made, remembering how it felt to look into his blue eyes.

And he dropped his hand and suppressed a physical shudder as he pushed the thoughts away. God he needed to stop thinking so much about George. In another attempt to distract himself, Will switched on his old, battered CD player, and skimmed his collection of similarly battered CDs. Most were burnt by Will himself, but some were also bought from charity shops or music stalls- albums that he specifically loved. His fingers paused over one specific CD, one that was not bought from a charity shop and that Will had not burnt. Pulling it away from the others, Will took it out of its plastic folder and brought it over to his CD player. Written in sharpie on the back, were the words: 'For Will, stay cool kid- James x'. It was the one his older brother had given him.

The first song that played as Will flopped onto his back on his bed, was The Stone Roses- I Wanna be Adored. The word 'adoration' flashed before Will's eyes and he scoffed to himself at the irony of it, but he made no movement to skip the song. He lay, staring at his ceiling, properly listening to the lyrics of the song for probably the first time ever.

I don't have to sell my soul

He's already in me

Will closed his eyes as thoughts of George flooded back to him all at once. He remembered him hopping away in the rain, clutching his hood over his face, his hands buried in the sleeves.

I don't need to sell my soul

He's already in me

The sparks that had instantly ignited as he watched him pull the hoodie over himself were back again, only they were more like small, flickering flames.

I wanna be adored

George's hands were so warm when he took Will's in his. His eyelashes had fluttered delicately as he wrote the word on his palm with flourish.

I wanna be adored

Despite trying to forget all of this a few moments before, Will lifted his palm before his face and again stared at the word. Adoration. The feeling that had once been a few, stupid sparks in the very pit of his stomach were rapidly gaining power, tumbling into a ball of roaring flames. They engulfed Will, being all that he could think about. All he could think about was how he adored George.

Will sprang out of bed and switched the music over.