LANCASTER AND MAXWELL ( ✔ )

chapter twenty-nine.

Chapter Twenty-Nine.

THE boys decide that it's best for all parties involved if they keep their newfound relationship as low-key as they possibly can. 

No one can say that they're hiding due to embarrassment, however; they've recently past the point of letting shame harvest their bodies for love, something that is as natural to them as breathing. They just know that where love lingers, hatred does as well, and they would rather not be the victims of burning stakes and pitchforks and all horrid things involved. Sully and Artie know that people will talk — people will be cruel — and it's not like they have a lot of time until they are able to leave and escape the fixed and merciless grasps of the people surrounding them before they can begin moving towards a more accepting fate. Until then, they make a pact that what they have will only remain between them. 

Which is very hard to do when you also decide that it's date night. 

"Artie, get off of me!" He yells, shirtless and powerless to the assault that is going on to his abdomen. Him and Arthur have been wrestling in Sully's bedroom for over thirty minutes in what was supposed to be Sullivan figuring out where on God's green earth Arthur is taking him for their date. He twists and turns underneath Artie's hold, a tickle to his abdomen allotting a loud howl that can shake the whole house down. "Agh, you're gonna make me piss myself," he exclaims through chuckles and laughs. 

"My boyfriend needs a diaper?" Arthur gives out his own heavenly laugh and finally declares a ceasefire, lifting himself off of Sully and straddling his waist with both of his thighs. 

Sully listens to him as he speaks, eyebrows perking up at the token word. "You just call me your boyfriend?" He attempts to keep his enthusiasm subtle and hidden, but there's no hiding the way both sides of his mouth curl up into a wide smile while he looks up at Arthur. 

Faking a nonchalant shrug, Arthur rolls his eyes playfully and leans down so that the tips of their noses are touching. "Isn't that what you are, wiseguy?" 

"I dunno, am I?" 

The blonde laughs and flaunts a wide, dazzling smile, and Sully's heart stops. "Playing dumb has never been your thing, Sully." He pecks him once, then twice, and sits back up. "Now put on a shirt. We're going out." 

"Where you takin' me?" It's the question he's been asking Artie for the past thirty minutes, and to no avail, he hasn't gotten an answer. He scrambles up and rummages through a dresser to tug on a brand new black shirt. "I already skipped school because someone couldn't keep their hands off of me."  

"And I didn't hear a damn complaint, either. " Arthur says teasingly as he buttons his favorite blue aloha shirt up, ruffling his growing blonde hair in his hands before setting his hands on Sully's hips. He has one of those mischievous schoolboy smiles on his face, the kind where only one side of his mouth tilts up and the wheels in that little mind of his gets going. Sully knows what he's doing: he's building up his anticipation on purpose. "What have I told you about needing to trust me?" 

Wrapping an arm around his neck to pull him closer, Sully chuckles. "And I do trust you, baby. From the womb to the tomb." He punctuates the end of his sentence with a kiss, and Arthur gently returns it, as if one harsh movement later and Sullivan will break underneath his touch. 

Before Sully has the chance to get broken, however, the door swings open. "Hey, Sully, have you seen my—Oh for all that is holy, can you two stop actin' like band kids for ten fucking minutes?" Sadie has never been one for subtlety. 

Whereas Arthur only laughs and pulls away, Sullivan lets something combined of a whimper and a groan escape his lips. "Do you ever fuckin' knock, Sadie?" He snips at her, but she's far too used to his snippy behavior to even pretend to be affected by his snarl.