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 he wanted than try to explain what he wanted to them, so his current celebration consisted of lying on his bed and scrolling through websites on his laptop. The poor mail carriers were going to hate him in a few days when everything showed up.

[Open!]

Comments

[dollpocalypse]

"The band-aids and food and stuff are from that convenience store in town," Topher explained. "And these patch things, I handwavily bought a bunch of when I went to Ender and Ben's place in Ben's galaxy. They help with healing and stuff."

Beat.

"And the rest of the box I pretty much made."

[selfhelphero]

"Oh." Somehow, that last part hadn't quite occurred to Billy, and he looked even happier. "I don't think I've ever had someone make something for my birthday. I mean, my brothers make me silly cards sometimes, but that doesn't count."

[dollpocalypse]

"Oh, it was... kinda easy," Topher said, ducking his head a little. "Just some welding. You know." Right, Topher, because that was what everyone did for birthday presents. "I didn't know you had brothers."

[selfhelphero]

"Oh, yeah, just a little welding, no big deal." Billy snickered, playing with the buttons on the box some more. "Yeah, they're younger and annoying and I don't miss them at all. Except maybe a tiny bit."

[dollpocalypse]

PLUS A HOT TWIN. Way to not know about the hot twin yet, Billy.

"I think siblings are like that sometimes," Topher offered. "Not that I have any. But in movies they're always really annoying but secretly like each other. You know." Beat. "Though they should totally be making you cooler things than just cards."

[selfhelphero]

NO TWIN FANTASIES YET, TOPHER, SORRY.

"Well, they're not quite as dorky as I am. They're pretty normal." He couldn't help but make that sound like a negative thing. "I think building stuff out of Legos might be their limit at the moment."

[dollpocalypse]

"Oh, lame," Topher pronounced. "Dorkiness or GTFO."

Topher, you giant nerd.

"Not that Legos aren't awesome. I have about a billion Space Battles Lego sets at home. But still."

[selfhelphero]

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me," Billy said, shifting on the bed so there was room for Topher next to where he was sitting. "Those are cool though. And you got to have them all to yourself, and never had to share. Being an only child must be kind of awesome."

[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.

[selfhelphero]

Billy wasn't going to judge Topher's timing, because he was a little busy appreciating how nice it was to be doing this. It wasn't that he'd worried that Topher would never want to kiss him, but, well, considering the flailing from the first time this happened, Billy was going to appreciate it happening again.

[dollpocalypse]

That... wound up being longer than last time.

Which was... good. Definitely really good.

"Happy birthday," Topher managed breathlessly when he drew back.

Look, that had been really nice.

[selfhelphero]

That had been very, very nice, and Billy couldn't think of anything better Topher could have gotten him. "Awesome choice in presents, I have to say."

[dollpocalypse]

"Good to know this was a smarter choice over a robot that can make coffee," Topher decided. Still a little breathlessly. Hush.

...

"Want to do it again?"

[selfhelphero]

"Absolutely," Billy said, not waiting for a response before leaning in to try to kiss Topher again. What could he say, he really liked getting to do this.