The week flew by for Asher, he went to school and came home, spending his nights in front of the television and binge watching his favourite shows. It was lonely, especially on the nights where his father didn’t get back from work until Asher had already fallen asleep on the couch, the remote gripped loosely in his hand and his head resting against the arm of the couch. 

Before Asher knew it he was leaving school on Friday, he and his friends walking to their cars. It was a warm day, the sun was unobscured by clouds and it seemed that everyone was going to take advantage of the warm weather. He could hear the people around him making weekend plans as they skipped happily to their cars, calling out a few text me!’s to their friends.   

Bethany was tucked under Chad’s arm, the two talking amongst themselves. Leon was walking next to Asher, still telling him the crazy stories of the previous night. According to Leon the party was absolutely crazy, and it was confirmed that morning when Asher seemed to be the only person who turned up at school without a hangover.

Some of the teachers had been terrified that some massive virus had escaped into the school, and it took a few mumbled explanations from hung-over teenagers wearing dark shades to convince them otherwise.

Usually Asher would be hanging on every word, well, if he hadn’t actually been there himself. He wondered why now he was suddenly just missing Danny. He couldn’t care less who made out with who and who brought the expensive vodka that had people passing out on the front lawn. Those images of him almost cheating on Danny plagued his mind again, and he had to physically shake his head just to get them away.

‘And of course,’ Leon told Asher, dragging him out of his thoughts, ‘even pissed wasted, Chad still beat every single person at beer pong.’

‘My king,’ Bethany cooed, overhearing them.

‘My reign is still strong,’ Chad joked, throwing his fist in the air victoriously.

‘I can’t say I’m surprised,’ Asher smiled.

‘You should have been there!’ Leon smiled, ‘It was epic.’

Bethany cut in, ‘Don’t worry Asher, there will be many more epic parties, of that I am sure.’

‘She’s right,’ Chad chimed in, ‘Don’t feel too bad buddy,’ he patted Asher on the arm as if to console him.

Asher shrugged, ‘Yeah, I’ll see you guys on Monday,’ he told them casually as he reached his car. The three of them waved, and kept going passed Asher’s car to their own.

He backed out of the parking lot and drove home slowly, obeying every traffic regulation and even going five miles under the speed limit the entire drive home. It was quite uncharacteristic of him, but he had nowhere to be. His television and sofa were the only things waiting for him when he got home, and there wasn’t much excitement to be found in those prospects.

He arrived home to the empty house and he suddenly felt all alone. He was usually spending his Friday afternoons packing for Danny’s or waiting impatiently for Danny to arrive, but this Friday afternoon he was left with absolutely nothing to do. He threw his school bag onto the ground as soon as he walked through the door, and changed into sweatpants and an old, stained t-shirt, something that he never did.

Asher Harris was not a sweatpants wearing type of guy.

The fact that he had to dig through the bottom of his wardrobe for over five minutes to find them should in itself tell you that Asher did not commonly wear these particular pair of pants. Asher wore clothes that were carefully picked out. Clothes that hugged his body just right and matched the rest of his outfit to a tee. Asher did not dress casually very often, and even then, his jeans were designer, or his shoes were brand new and shiny.

Sweatpants did not fall into any category of clothing that Asher wore on a regular basis.

They were saved for days where the rain was pouring outside and everyone was busy and Asher was left to be sad and bored all on his own.

They were saved for the rare occasions that Asher got sick. He would pull them on and sit on the sofa with a box of tissues and medication and moan about his upcoming death by flu to anyone who was around.

Most of all, however, they were pulled out of the back of his wardrobe whenever he missed Danny. He didn’t pull them out every time he thought of the boy, but only when he missed him from that place deep in his heart. It had only happened a few times, the other times when he missed his boyfriend he could just call him up and then he would feel better, but this time was different. This time the guilt from what happened at the party was weighing heavily on his heart and all that he wanted, no, what he needed, was to feel Danny’s skin against his, to wrap his arms around the smaller boy and press his nose into his neck. To feel that reassurance that Danny was there, and that he hadn’t screwed everything up. That Danny still loved him.

Yet, he was unable to leave the house, so on came the sweatpants.

The shirt was another abomination in itself, the dark fabric was ripped in some places and stained in paint in others. It had been the shirt that Asher had used when he painted his room a few years back, and he kept it for some unknown reason. He figured that he should dress the way he felt, and a badly dressed homeless man was pretty much a mirror to what he was feeling.

He plopped himself down in front of the television, and he turned it on, flipping through random channels every few minutes. His mind wasn’t on the television, it was on Danny. It was on the softness of his skin, and the way he smiled that gorgeous smile of his, and the way that he was just, well, Danny.

He didn’t want to call him, knowing that Danny would sense the neediness and the worry in his voice, and it would only stress him out.

He didn’t know how long he had been sitting there, but soon enough the front door opened and a few seconds later his father stepped into the room.

‘Why do you look like your favourite character on game of thrones just got killed?’ his father asked, ‘What is with the sweatpants?’

Asher shrugged, his voice mumbled. ‘Felt like it.’

His father looked at him warily, ‘Are you alright Asher?’

‘I’m fine Dad,’ he told him, but he assumed that his shaky voice tipped his father off to his lie.

He wasn’t fine. He missed Danny, he felt like the two parts of his life were blurring at the edges, like the line that separated them was becoming blurry, hazy and unrecognisable, like one day soon the two would merge suddenly and the entire fabric of his life would break down into utter chaos. Yeah, Asher was most definitely not fine.

His father nodded hesitantly and Asher turned back to look at the television. He heard his father keep walking past the room, but he could feel his father’s gaze pouring into the back of his head.

He stayed in that position for a few more hours, ignoring his phone even though he knew some of the messages would have been from Danny. He just wanted to be with Danny, he didn’t need to hear his voice or read his words, knowing all the while that it would be over a week before he could hold his boyfriend in his arms again.

‘Dinner’s ready,’ His father told him from the doorway into the room.

‘I’m not hungry,’ Asher mumbled out half-heartedly.

 He had expected his father to just accept that, but instead he walked into the room and sat on the edge of the couch.

‘Why are you this mopey?’ his father asked, ‘Danny hasn’t been able to come over before and you haven’t acted like the world was over?’

Asher shrugged, ‘I just miss him,’ he admitted in a rare show of vulnerability.

His father sighed, sounding defeated, ‘Are you going to throw any more parties without my knowledge?’

Asher moaned in annoyance, ‘Dad, we have been over this, no more parties, I get it.’

‘You have learnt your lesson?’

‘Yes I have,’ he assured him, ‘I won’t do it again.’ That wasn’t a lie. Asher was sure that he wasn’t going to let anything like that happen again. The party had been a mistake, one that he didn’t plan on repeating any time soon.

‘Good, now get off your ass and get changed into something presentable.’

Asher’s eyes widened, ‘What?’

‘Well, you don’t want to go see Danny looking like a drug addicted homeless man, now do you?’ his father joked.

Asher skipped over the insult that his father had just thrown at him and jumped straight to the seeing Danny part.

‘I can go to Danny’s?’ he asked, hope and excitement almost tangible in the air around him.

‘Yes, I can’t have you wasting away on the couch all weekend, I’m too nice for that,’ he smiled, ‘Go have fun with Danny.’

‘Thank-you,’ Asher threw his arms around his father for just a few moments before flinging his body off of the couch and practically running to his room. The sweatpants were the first to go, left in a heap on the floor, and then the shirt joined them.

He grabbed one of his nicer t-shirts and skinny jeans and threw them on his body in a hurry. His things were hastily thrown into a small duffle bag and he was out the door in only minutes.

He threw all of his things into the backseat, not really caring when things fell out of his bag and onto the floor, he was too happy. Seeing Danny would fix everything, he could just imagine the way that Danny would hug him and smile and everything would feel alright. This guilt sitting low in his gut would just go away and the two sides of his world would just go right back into place, the sweatpants once again thrown carelessly into the back of his wardrobe.

He drove the distance between he and Danny’s house in just under an hour, but every second of it seemed like an eternity. He checked his phone as he pulled up outside of the house, it was just after nine.

He looked towards the house, seeing that most of the lights were turned on, and he smiled, knowing that Danny was in that house somewhere. The house was an old style Victorian house, but it had been renovated over the years, and it was now a perfect mix between old and new. The porch was large, stretching over the entire front side of the first floor, a porch swing hung to one side and a few chairs on the other.

He walked up the steps and crossed the distance between himself and the door, knocking on it a few times.

The light slab of wood opened quickly, and just inside stood Danny’s father. The man was just a few years younger than Asher’s own and had the same thinning, greying hair. He was a thin man, just like his son, but he stood a little taller than Danny. Mr Clark was looking down, his fingers clasped tightly around the collar of an overly excited golden retriever. The dogs chocolate coloured fur shook with its excited movements.

Mr Clark looked up. He had always been a second father to him, and so when he flashed a big smile at Asher, he knew that he actually meant it. ‘Asher!’ he exclaimed, ‘Your father told me that you were grounded,’ he concluded in that voice that only fathers could use. Yeah, there were a few pitfalls of having your dad best friends with your boyfriends.

‘I was, but I was let off early for good behaviour,’ Asher smiled, hoping that Mr Clark saw the truth in his words. It wasn’t like the man wouldn’t believe him anyway, he was practically a second sun to the man.

‘Well, in that case, Danny is in the living room picking a movie, but I dare say that he won’t be so interested in that once he knows that you are here,’ Mr Clark told Asher, ushering him into the house. Asher crossed the threshold, the duffle bag slung over his left shoulder. Mr Clark closed the door and let go of the dogs collar, the furry animal brushing up against Ashers leg as he looked up at him with big eyes.

‘Hey Buddy,’ Asher pet the dogs head, ruffling up his fur. The happy dog panted lightly and closed his eyes a little as Asher's hand messed up the dark fur on his head. Asher was just about to go to Danny when a voice rang out from around the corner.

‘I can’t decide between these two mov-,’ the voice said, but stopped just as Danny rounded the corner.

Their eyes met and Danny’s entire face filled with that gorgeous grin, and his eyes lit up. It was like someone had lit a fire in his eyes and they opened wide and happiness was almost tangible in the air around him.

‘Ash!’ Danny cried, throwing the movies onto the ground beside his feet in one swift movement, and then he was running.

Asher let the bag drop from his shoulder, and he stumbled backwards slightly with the momentum as Danny propelled himself into Asher’s open arms. Danny’s skinny arms wrapped up around Asher’s neck and his legs wrapped around his waist.

Asher smiled in a way that could only be described as pure happiness. Danny was in his arms, Danny was his.

He pressed his lips to Danny’s and the other boys arms tightened around his neck, pulling them even closer together.

Mr Clark coughed awkwardly as he stood to the side, ‘I’ll uh, I’ll just put these away, shall I?’ he said, mostly to himself, and then proceeded to walk past the two embracing boys to where the movies lay discarded on the hard wood floors. He picked them up and walked out of the hallway, sending the two boys a quick smile as he went. Buddy followed after him, tight on his heels.

Danny, of course, didn’t catch the smile, his entire concentration was on Asher.

Asher set Danny back down on the ground, but kept his arms wrapped around him. ‘Guess who escaped the prison that my house has become?’ Asher smiled, leaning in to give Danny another kiss.

Unexpectedly, Danny pulled away, ‘You snuck out? Asher,’ he shook his head disapprovingly, ‘that’s a bad idea, your dad is not going to be happy with you,’ Danny stressed, looking nervous all of a sudden.

‘Danny!’ Asher laughed, ‘Stop stressing out, I didn’t sneak out, my dad let me leave, I’m not grounded anymore.’

‘Oh,’ Danny breathed a sigh of relief, ‘I’m glad, you had me scared.’

That was Danny, always a stickler for rules.

‘Don’t worry,’ Asher murmured, leaning in for that kiss that he was sadly denied just moments ago. Asher was thankful when Danny complied this time, pressing into him and holding him tight. Their lips met in a passionate dance, and Asher felt complete for the first time since he had seen Danny the last week. It was just how he had thought, the two sides of his world were in sync, he felt at ease.

They pulled away and Danny spoke, ‘Maybe we should move this from the hallway.’

Asher smiled, just remembering that they were standing in the hallway of Danny’s house and hadn’t moved.

‘Yeah, want to go to your room?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, I think I’ll take a shower though, because once we go in there we won’t leave all weekend,’ Danny smiled, ‘want to meet me in there?’   

‘Sure I can’t shower with you?’ Asher asked, but Danny just flicked him lightly on the arm before turning towards the stairs.

Asher sighed, taking that as a no.

They walked up the old staircase together before separating on the final step, Danny turning left towards the bathrooms and Asher turning right towards Danny’s bedroom.

He walked down the lightly painted hallway and stopped at the second door on the left, the white wooden door that he knew lead into a room he had spent hour upon hour in. He opened the door slowly and walked in.

Danny’s room was a complete reflection of his caring and attentive personality. Unlike Asher’s bare and boring room, Danny’s was filled with colour and life. His king bed sat in the middle, colourful sheets and blankets covering it. The window which sat upon the wall was covered by a bright orange curtain which had been pulled back and to the side. Danny’s desk was filled to the brim with random objects and photo frames.

Asher took a few steps towards the desk and picked up the closest frame to him. It was a photo he knew well, it had been taken just under a year ago. Mr Clark had always been one to take his camera around everywhere, and it had annoyed the pair endlessly over the years when the camera would flash in their face at any given time, producing a well timed groan from the two boys. This photo, however, was one that Asher was glad that was taken, it was a moment of perfect happiness between the two of them.

In the large black frame sat a photo of them. Asher and Danny were both sitting on a park bench, it had been just after a picnic that their fathers had taken them on to celebrate Asher’s birthday. The two were sitting close together, Asher’s arm around Danny’s shoulders and Danny was laughing. It wasn’t a pose-for-the-photo laugh, it was real, and Asher had no recollection of what he said that was funny. In the photo Asher was smiling, looking down at Danny with love filled eyes and in that moment all that Asher felt was guilt.

Danny was so open about them, Danny was basically screaming out how much he loved Asher to every person who entered the room. Even Danny’s phone background was a photo of the two of them.

Danny was an open book and Asher was a vault of secrets.

It was back, that feeling, that guilt ridden feeling that had plagued him for the past week. Asher put the photo back on the desk carefully, turning it away from him.

It wasn’t like you are cheating on him, you have just omitted his existence to your entire friend group and pretended to be someone your not, he thought, but you are the real you when you are with him, and that’s what counts, right? He asked himself.

Then one name popped into his head and he shuddered, Maisy.

He almost cheated, he almost did something that he had promised himself that he would never do. He almost destroyed everything, but it was an almost, right?

Asher shook his head, he was being silly again, he needed to just focus on Danny and what was left of the weekend.

At that thought, the door to Danny’s room opened, an in stepped Danny. He shut and locked the door behind him before turning around to meet Asher’s gaze. He was clad in a pale green towel that was wrapped around his waist. All other thoughts were removed from Asher’s mind then, and he took at Danny expectantly, wondering what his next move would be.

Danny just smiled, so Asher spoke, ‘You know, a towels not a great look on you,’ he told him casually.

‘Oh,’ Danny shrugged, walking over towards the bed. He looked back, ‘isn’t it now?’

‘Nah,’ Asher shook his head half heatedly, taking a few slow steps towards his boyfriend, ‘I think it would look better on the floor.’

Danny’s smile turned devious, ‘Well, why don’t you put it there then?’

For someone so shy and proper, Danny never ceased to surprise Asher with the cheekiness he could bring out of him as soon as they were alone.

‘I just might,’ Asher told him. He then lunged towards him suddenly, pushing Danny onto the brightly coloured bed with a laugh and ripped the towel off of him. Danny smiled that love filled, true, gorgeous smile up at Asher.

Asher dropped his head to press his lips to Danny’s, as he leant down he flung his hand in the air and threw the towel carelessly to the floor.