A Particular Day in Autumn

He grumbled, "...fine. We can watch Singing In The Rain..."

He crossed his arms to show he was still grumpy, though. Because he had to be grumpy, still. He was still angry.

He kissed Mars on the cheek, patting him on the butt as he ushered him toward the living room.

"Pop in the DVD, I'll grab some of the deviled eggs I made as an appetizer for us to snack on." Scooping some of the eggs onto a plate, he placed them on the coffee table in the living room. He sat down and spread his legs. His eyebrows suggested that Mars should get into his lap.

Mars put the DVD in, and instead of kneeling to do so, he just bent over. The stupid thing refused to work for a few minutes, though, so he had to stay in said position until he finally got it to play.

Sighing a breath of relief, he sad down next to Priestly and took an egg to nibble on. "Thank you." He said out of habit and not actually because he was grateful.

Priestly gazed at Mars like a wolf appraising prey. Without warning, he wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close.

"You're so cute, know that?~ Come on, you said we'd cuddle, so let's cuddle. I'll even sing along to the songs with you."

He fidgeted. "B-but I don't want to cuddle!" He protested weakly. He did want to cuddle, of course. Though I really don't I even needed to explain that.

He nibbled more on his deviled egg, pouting angrily. He didn't want to cuddle, he told himself.

He grinned, holding one of Mars's hands.

"Come one--would you deprive me the privilege of cuddling with the birthday boy? Especially after I went to all this trouble...I blew an entire month's paycheck on the occasion, because I love him so much."

Mars frowned. A whole month? Really? He turned red, unable to hide his smile. Priestly was so thoughtful~

"...really really?" He asked, trying to hide his red face. "...did you get me a present?"

He nodded, grinning knowingly. He reached over Mars and popped an egg into his mouth. Damn, his cooking had gotten good since he had someone else to cook for.

"Of course I got you a present," he cooed, toying with Mars's hair. "What other birthdays do I have to look forward to? We're good friends, you and I. I got you multiple presents."

He glowed with happiness. He could forget about all the bad things, now. His favorite person in the world had called him a good friend and gotten him presents. He felt positively exhilarated.

He pulled Priestly into an actual hug, nuzzling his chest. He sighed happily. Suddenly, everything in the world was sparkles and cupcakes.

Priestly rubbed Mars's back affectionately, kissing his forehead. Tonight was the night. He loved the boy in his arms more than he'd ever loved anyone else, and he wanted him to know it.

"Hey, Marsy," he cooed quietly as the movie's opening credits began, "Want to watch my favorite movie on my birthday? We can cuddle just like this."

He smiled happily.

"...I'd like that." He whispered back, looking up at Priestly with those cute, naive eyes of his. "I'd like that a lot...~"

Yes, cuddling with Priestly was the best. No matter how angry he got, this always made him feel better. He sighed happily. Yes. If things stayed like this forever, he would be happy.

Priestly wanted so badly to kiss that cute face. He wanted to pull Mars closer and tell him how much he meant right then and there; he'd only kiss him a little, nothing as far as second base. He was a little more scrupulous than that.

But, of course, he merely cuddled Mars without groping, nuzzling him or touching his hand once every few minutes. It was only a few more hours. He had waited months; he would survive waiting now.

Soon, the movie was over. Mars had dozed off, however, in the middle of it. This was not an unusual occurrence, though. Mars tended to doze off during movies a lot.

He never meant to, but he always felt so safe in Priestly's arms...So warm and safe. He usually dozed off whenever he was allowed a comfortable position in Priestly's arms.

Priestly gently nudged Mars awake, smoothing his hair.

"Mars...Marsy. Wake up. The movie's over...you're sixteen, now. Come on, I have something important to tell you and we can have eggs and cake and presents. Wake up."

He fidgeted and then stretched. Yawning, he blinked.

"Issit over?" He asked drowsily, rubbing his eyes again. "Did you say cake?"

He nodded, cupping Mars's adorable cheek in his hand.

"Yes, Marsy. Cake and good things~ Come on, it's all waiting for you in the kitchen."

He stood up slowly and stretched out. He was in such a good mood, now. He hummed to himself as he made his way into the kitchen again.

"What kind of cake?" He asked. He hoped it included caramel somewhere. Damn did he love caramel.

"It's an iceream cake coated in caramel," he said, grinning. "Is that okay? Of course, I have surprise that's far better than cake...it's your biggest present, I suppose you could say."

"Nothing can be better than that!" He exclaimed. "That's, like, the best present ever!"

He smiled at Priestly shyly. "...Thank you."

"No, thank you," he said, and with that he planted a kiss squarely on Mars's unsuspecting lips, holding him as tenderly as possible.

Mars didn't respond. He just sort of stood there, completely shocked. Priestly was...he was kissing him. As in, on the lips. Nothing platonic at all.

No, this wasn't platonic. It was the completely opposite of platonic. It was homosexual.

Horrified, Mars realized he had made a terrible mistake. He had been living with a homosexual for two months. Two months. He had been idolizing a homosexual.

Finally he shoved Priestly away, moving to attempt to scrub the disgusting memory off of his lips.

Priestly blinked, looking surprised at his reaction.

"...Mars, what's gotten into you? We were getting along famously only two seconds ago. Was it something I said?"

"You're a..." He muttered. "You're a homosexual."

He looked as horrified as he felt. He felt nauseous and sick to his stomach. He couldn't believe it. Everything he knew felt like such a lie.

"...You're disgusting."

He blinked, frowning.

"...I'm the same person you know two seconds ago. I'm a man of God, and I'm not a homosexual--I'm just one of God's children, just like you."

"How can you say that?!" He exclaimed. "You're not a man of God! You're just a stupid faker; how dare you say you're a man of God!?"

He was seething with rage at this point. He had gone from terrified to angered in about two seconds.

"I can't believe I trusted you." He hissed, turning his back so he could march upstairs and pack his things. He couldn't live there anymore.