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Post by ruu on Dec 22, 2008 21:02:50 GMT 1
It was pretty late. Most students were tucked away in their beds, sleeping.. getting rest for the next day of classes. Not Tobias Steele. The moron had waited until the very last moment to start his potions essay that was due the very next day. So here he sat, sprawled out on the couch in front of the fireplace in the common room. He was clad in his black and red plaid pajama pants and a black wife beater shirt. His feet were completely bare, there was absolutely no jewelry on him except for his labret piercing and his thick rimmed glasses.
Groaning, Toby hoisted his bare feet up onto the arm of the couch, grabbing his guitar and yanking it up onto his lap. There was parchment, quill, and inkpot on the floor in front of the couch, along with an open faced potions books. The items lay untouched, nothing written on the parchment, no ink on the quill. Toby had stared at the book blankly for the better of fourty five minutes, not understanding a damn thing it said to him. His brain had begun to hurt. Immensely.
Closing his eyes, Toby allowed his fingers to loosely trickled across the strings of his acoustic, his left hand moving up to form chords. He tilted his head back against the couch, mind beginning to wander as his fingers instinctively spilled out a beautiful melody without him even having to concentrate on it. He knew the song well. He'd written it three years ago with Josh.
Josh. His mind began to trail back to what happened at the ball the day before. He'd felt a bit bad leaving Josh hanging the way he'd had.. but his own emotions were getting tangled inside of his brain so badly, like a fly caught in a spider web. He knew he'd have to work on that running away thing, but it was so hard.
After he'd given Josh that blowjob in the hallway, Toby had returned to his bedroom and laid there.. staring at the ceiling, thinking about Josh, touching himself.. Before he'd even realized it, Toby had pulled himself into a climax. It had left him feeling empty, hollow, and unsatisfied.. even if he had been thinking about Josh while he did it.
Toby sighed, trying not to think about it anymore.. just letting his fingers do the talking and his potions essay nagging at the back of his mind.
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Post by josh on Dec 22, 2008 21:14:53 GMT 1
Josh had spent most of the night after the ball in his bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about Toby. Even if the younger boy had run away, again, it still felt different. Josh felt hopeful, for the first time in what seemed like a century. Toby had kissed him, had said that he wanted him, and the Gryffindor could only hope that it wasn’t just a sexual thing. He didn’t think he could handle it if Toby tried for something casual with him, something that involved no relationship but hopping into bed together whenever he felt like it. Josh also knew that if it was offered, he would always take it.
He had been in his dorm, writing in his journal, thinking about Toby, when he heard a faint melody coming from the Common Room. Sometimes it was a curse, being in bed and hearing others chat downstairs, but now it stirred something inside of him. It took him a full minute to realize that it was one of their songs. Something that he had written years ago, together with Toby. His feet carried him down the stairs before he was even aware of moving. Dressed in nothing but faded jeans and a red shirt, his curls messy, he wandered over to the couch, blinking at Tobias for a moment.
The music made him remember, made him smile. ”We should write some new stuff” His voice was soft, a little hesitant. If there was anything Josh wanted more than anything, it was to be close to Toby. Friends. It would be enough, even if he had to see his friend go off with others, watch him fall in love...if he had to, Josh would take it. He just wanted Toby back into his life.
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Post by ruu on Dec 22, 2008 21:23:58 GMT 1
Toby had been slipping so far into his own thoughts that he totally didn't notice anyone descending those stairs into the common room. His eyes were still closed, loose blond locks straying across his face here and there. No matter how soft Josh's voice, it still startled him. He gasped, his body jerking in response and his eyes opened suddenly. Toby's fingers faltered, the strings slipping from his hand to make an annoying squeal.
Staring up at Josh for a moment, Toby blinked. "You scared me.." He sat up straight slowly, pulling his feet around to sit on the couch normally so as to make room for Josh to perched next to him. Pulling his feet up, he tucked them underneath his body in an indian style fashion, repositioning his guitar.
He was quiet for a moment. "I like this one though... It's one of my favorites." His voice was soft, a bit awkward.. as if he wasn't entirely comfortable around Josh. Like a girl that was sitting next to some guy she had a crush on and didn't know what to say.
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Post by josh on Dec 22, 2008 21:31:19 GMT 1
Josh sat down next to him gingerly, running fingers through his curls in a failed attempt to not look so geeky. He needed a haircut, the curls were so long that they were dangling in front of his eyes when he bent over a book in class. "I like this one though... It's one of my favorites." The words made him smile, made him relax a little, enough to settle comfortably into the chair.
”Me too. I haven’t heard it in years though. I missed hearing you play.” He had missed everything about Toby. Talking to him, watching him goof off in the Common Room, hearing him giggle as they were joking around. Feeling him close as they were in bed together – or rather -on- the bed, falling asleep after they spent most of the night talking and writing music.
Josh glanced at the open Potions book, picking it up carelessly to see what Toby had been studying. It was an odd thought, Toby studying. Even when they were friends he often had to pull Toby back into focusing on his school work. It had been so long since he’d helped him, so long since he was allowed to see any weakness in the younger Gryffindor. ”Overdue essay?”
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Post by ruu on Dec 22, 2008 21:40:35 GMT 1
As Josh sat next to him, Toby took a small breath. His gaze focused on his guitar, but he wanted so badly to look up at Josh. He respositioned his fingers, strumming a few chords before pausing to look up at the older Gryffindor finally. He felt ridiculously foolish and childish. "I haven't played it in years," He still spoke softly. "Last time I played it was with you listening to it.."
Toby strummed a few more chords, carelessly glancing towards the potions book. He hated that book right about now, and wished he could just set it on fire if only he could remember the incantation to do so. Narrowing his eyebrows, Toby's eyes glittered with hatred for that book from behind his lenses. His voice was completely unconcerned. "It's due tomorrow." Silence, a few strums. "I don't even know how I passed last year." Without Joshua's help, that is.
He missed that. Getting help from Josh.. it made his school life a hell of a lot easier.
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Post by josh on Dec 22, 2008 21:47:26 GMT 1
The words sounded careless in a way, like Toby hadn’t meant to let it be slipped out. Josh glanced up at him, noticing that the other Gryffindor seemed to have trouble looking at him. It made him bite his lip, that age-old worry sparking up again though he tried not to let it show. This was good. They were talking. Talking was good, as long as they managed to steer clear of any argument. One of these days Toby was bound to speak to him for more than two minutes,wasn’t he?
"It's due tomorrow. I don't even know how I passed last year."
Josh nearly sighed at that, rolling his eyes because he remembered all too clearly how these conversations had turned out in the past. He leaned in a little, catching Toby’s glance and smiling that same smile he’d given him every day for years. ”Toby, do you want me to help you?” He didn’t want to make a big thing out of it, even though it was. They hadn’t had a proper conversation like this in ages and Josh tried his best not to fuck things up. If Toby didn’t want his help, that was fine too. He just wanted to be around him for a while.
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Post by ruu on Dec 22, 2008 22:05:18 GMT 1
Toby bit his lip softly as Josh leant forward and practically forced him to look at the other. Then that question spilled from his lips. It was a question that brought back so many memories flooding forward. He'd heard it so many times before, and Toby's response had usually varied depending on his mood. Sometimes it was, dammit yes! Sometimes it was, screw this essay, I don't need it! And other times it was a not so humble, I feel fuckin' stupid, Josh. He had to bite back a laugh at his thoughts, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips. He never had liked accepting help from Josh.
"I guess.." He shrugged, trying to sound disinterested. It was his stubborn side showing through. He still felt a bit odd around Josh because he couldn't quite grasp exactly how he felt. But they were talking.. their first real conversation in years where Toby didn't have the urge to either hit him, spit something hateful towards him, or both. Despite the fact that he'd half-heartedly accepted Josh's proposal, Toby began to strum on his precious guitar once again. He didn't need to look at the strings anymore, he knew his guitar by heart.. and he kind of let his eyes wander over Josh's face.
"You need a hair cut." Grin. "But the curls across your forhead make you look pretty damn handsome."
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Post by josh on Dec 22, 2008 22:12:41 GMT 1
"I guess.."
For a second there, Josh was prepared to back off, to leave him again, until he realized that dammit, this was Toby. This was the way he’d always reacted, it didn’t mean that he wanted him gone. Or perhaps it did, but Josh would pretend to be Toby-ish and play stupid. Until he was asked to leave, he’d stay. Besides, the smile, the grin, it made him feel oddly weightless. He couldn’t stop himself from grinning back, eyes completely open and honest. He almost wondered why it was so easy to be Toby’s Josh after all this time. Why he had no trouble being the boy he used to be.
"You need a hair cut. But the curls across your forhead make you look pretty damn handsome."
Josh had tried to catch Toby’s fingers in a vain attempt to get him to stop playing and start paying attention, but his hands faltered with the comment. A faint blush settled on his cheeks, his free hand running through the mentioned curls. ”Really?” He sounded incredulous and he was. Josh hadn’t thought of himself as handsome for so long now. In the past he’d had Toby to boost his confidence and without him it had sort of gone missing without him noticing.
”Oh I see, you’re trying to distract me from going all Professor on you” He grinned again, playfully grabbing Toby’s glasses and balancing them on his nose. ”You should start paying attention, Mister Steele” He couldn’t see a thing through those glasses and he probably looked like a geek in them, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to see him smile again.
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Post by ruu on Dec 23, 2008 18:38:27 GMT 1
Toby had to admit that he was completely surprised at how civil they were being. Perhaps they were heading in the right direction? On their way to becoming friends again? As much as Toby enjoyed Lovely, Gale, and Ryan's company he knew that there had never been anything quite like being friends with Joshua Callaghan. He smiled slightly as Josh began to prod at him verbally. "Well, I hate paying attention. I think Professor Callaghan needs to fuck off."
Biting down onto his lip, Toby pushed Josh's hands away from his guitar gently.. and then set the guitar down on the floor next to the couch. He ran his hand through his messy platinum blond locks, leaning in towards Josh a bit. Brown eyes reluctantly swayed towards the book. "I gotta figure out twenty uses of his hideous red thing..." Toby barely even knew what his assignment was!
He really didn't want to work on the homework, but Josh had always forced him. In fact, Toby had been toying with the idea of not even returning for seventh year next year. What was the point? He was stupid, and all he wanted to do was play his guitar. School didn't matter to him at all. With a sigh, without even thinking about it, Toby leant over and brushed his body against Josh's arm, reaching his arms across the boy's lap and turning the page. "Can I just light it on fire?" He almost pouted.
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Post by josh on Dec 23, 2008 20:32:32 GMT 1
Josh smiled a little triumphantly when Toby set the guitar down on the floor, beaming at the other. He was definitely enjoying their small banter and had good hopes that maybe they would be able to mend their friendship – if not more. That thought kept slipping in, darkening his eyes as he looked at the blonde. He’d never be able to be ‘just’ a friend to Tobias Steele, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try.
Twenty uses of the hideous red thing. Josh scanned the page, wondering how on earth Toby had managed to scrape together enough grades to pass to Sixth Year. It was hard, the year inbetween OWLs and NEWTs and he didn’t know anyone who was as distractable as Toby used to be. He wondered how on earth he’d manage to get the other boy to study without having to write the damn essay himself.
As Toby leaned in, pouting at him and brushing his body against his arm, Josh inhaled quietly, almost without a sound. It was so odd to be returning to once casual things and he vividly remembered how back then he was feeling these butterflies too. Remembered how hard he had tried to hide it, how difficult it had been to see him with other people, exhibiting the same behavior. He’d wondered so often if he was special to the younger Gryffindor.
”Mmm as good as that sounds, if you flunk out now you’ll be gone next year...” Not that he particularly cared because he would be gone next year as well, but who knows, he might not make it. Things had definitely been distracting lately. ”And knowing me, I’ll flunk if I don’t start doing my own work...School isn’t all it’s cracked up to be without you Tobes.”
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