Chris blamed it all on Tom. He was the one who was more into the world of the internet. He was the one with the nicknames and fangirls and ‘hiddlestoners’. This was all his fault. It had to be. Because Chris needed someone to blame for it, and right now Tom was sitting next to him on the couch, holding his sides in laughter. Chris had half a mind to smack him.
“Tom, seriously, stop laughing. Right now. Because—because—oh my god, this is not funny! I’m—just—what IS this!?” Chris blurted out, gesturing towards to computer screen in front of him, trying to figure out exactly what he was looking at—what he was reading.
It took Tom another minute or so to get himself under control before he was able to reply. “It—oh god that was good—it’s apparently called ‘Hiddlesworth’. A clever combination of our names.” Tom was still smiling too widely about it all, biting at his bottom lip to try and hold back the hilarity.
“Jesus, it’s not funny! I mean—these are stories about…about me FUCKING you! A lot of them! And shit man, you told me there was artwork too?”
Tom snickered, though Chris could see the light pink that appeared on Tom’s cheeks at the mention of the artwork. “Yes, though I will say if you can’t handle this, you don’t want to see the art. It is…uh…fairly graphic.”
Chris groaned, covering his face with his hands to hide his own flush and shame. “How are you taking this so well?” He asked between his fingers, only glancing up at Tom. “I mean…you’re reading about me taking total advantage of you!”
At this, Tom punched him lightly in the arm, rolling his eyes. “Oh, lighten up! Sure it’s a bit disturbing, but it’s not like it’ll ever happen! I mean, you don’t really want to…” He looked down at the computer, squinting slightly to read the small text on the screen. “’Pin me to the wall and fuck me so hard I won’t be able to walk in the morning’, right?”
He looked back just in time to see Chris’s face turn bright red, right before he buried it once more in his hands.
“What? Turning into a prude on me, are you?”
“No, shut up. Turn the computer off!” Chris mumbled through his fingers.
“What is it then? You do realize it’s all fiction, right? I mean, it’s not like you really want to—“
Tom watched at Chris’s entire body went ridged and tense. His words died on his tongue just as it hit him, making his eyes go wide. All the humor of the situation left in that moment, right when it dawned on Tom.
“Oh…Oh, Chris—God, I had no idea! I’m sorry! I should have realized and—and—damnit, I must have sounded like such a prick. But— I mean—I swear I had no idea and…uh…” He stopped when he realized nothing he said was making sense and everything was just rambling off his tongue. Slowly, Tom settled down, taking a seat next to Chris and, hesitantly, placed a hand on his knee.
“Chris…I’m just…I didn’t know…”
Thankfully enough, Chris lifted his head from his hands, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He chuckled softly, covering Tom’s hand with his own. “That was kind of the point.”
For a while, silence fell on them, something that was both comforting and awkward. Neither wanted to be the first to move or speak and break it. Chris wasn’t meeting Tom’s eyes as fear clouded his mind, afraid of how exactly Tom was going to react to this, after knowing each other for so long and being so close. It was one of the reasons he never said anything to him, because he didn’t want whatever this was to end.
Tom, however, was a bolder man then he and finally grew tired of Chris avoiding his eyes. Very firmly, he took his free hand and cupped the other’s cheek, forcing him to face him. When their eyes met, silence still remained as they looked straight at each other, searching for some sort of answer or solution or way out.
Tom rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Idiot.” He muttered right before he leaned in quickly, kissing Chris fully on the lips. When he pulled away, Chris was speechless still, but Tom was okay with that now as the hand covering his tightened.
“So…uh…where do we go from here?” He smiled softly as the air about them was still unsure.
It took another minute to get an answer. A full minute of Tom biting his lip and worrying and thinking of how to take rejection. The answer he got defiantly wasn’t what he expected.
“Well, why don’t we read a few more of these ‘hiddlesworth’ stories to find out?”
