Chapter Text
“Alright, alright, calm down now”, Maddie yelled to be heard over the whooping and hollering that was the result of Stella kissing a boy from their year. She started clapping to once again try to calm everybody down, pretty unsuccessfully.
Henry couldn’t stop snickering. The poor boy looked like he was seeing the starts for the first time, while Stella was already back to her place, whispering with Fredrika.
Once the group quieted down, Maddie started again, “Great, thank you,” she said, “Henry, I believe it’s your turn.”
Everybody’s heads turned to him. He tried not to think about the attention he was getting, and the attention he was going to continue getting for the next couple of minutes, as he leaned forward and spun the bottle that was laying in the centre of the circle the group was sitting in.
They were playing spin the bottle at a party, per Maddie’s idea. Well, they were actually all escaping the party, having had one or two drinks, none of them really in the mood to get drunk tonight. They sat on the front porch of the house the party was held in, in the middle of February, bundled up in as many layers as possible. A fire roared in an outdoor fireplace the closed-up porch had, but it didn’t do much to help the cold. Henry and Walter shared a blanket that was draped over their legs. Henry was awfully aware of their knees touching, which he didn’t mind, the feeling warmed him up.
As he spun the bottle he leaned back, his shoulder brushing Walter’s. He knew Walter didn’t want to be at the party, that’s why Henry was up for the idea of being half frozen and playing a stupid game. He knew Walter’s anxiety was spiking up in big crowds. He knew Walter would be happier if the two of them stayed in their room, watching a movie, or playing a game on his Switch instead of being at this party. So would he, but they promised Wille they would come.
Henry thought about which excuse for leaving the party early would be the most believable as he watched the bottle spin. He could say he was drunk, but everyone knew he didn’t drink that much tonight.
The bottle started slowing down.
He could say he wanted to get a good night’s sleep for classes tomorrow, but it was a known fact that he had no problems with sleeping in classes.
The bottle was pointing towards Felice now, barely but still moving.
What if he faked an emergency call from his Mama?
The bottle passed Felice.
What if he actually staged an emergency?
The bottle stopped. It was pointing towards Walter.
Henry’s head whipped to the left to Walter, always by his side, ever since they started rooming in the autumn. The hollering started again.
Walter looked back at him, their faces close even though they didn’t start moving for the kiss yet. They were always close. Henry and Walter had quite a touchy friendship. They were all for leaning on each other, finding comfort in each other’s presence, drawing shapes with fingers on each other while they were bored in class. They were roommates, they saw each other at their worst and at their best. But they never kissed.
Henry raised an eyebrow instead of asking the question. Walter shrugged in response, he was okay with it if Henry was okay with it. Henry questioned if it was weird to be able to read each other so well, to not have to communicate with words as he leaned forward. He could feel Walter shifting a bit, too, and they kissed.
It was just a peck, over as soon as it started, but the whooping erupted from the group, no doubt induced by the alcohol in everyone’s systems.
Henry sat back, shoulders and knees still touching Walter’s own. He couldn’t look anywhere but at his hands, fidgeting in his lap. His cheeks were burning up, he could feel it. But it didn’t feel weird. Was it weird that it didn’t feel weird? Should it have felt weird, kissing his best friend? Kissing his male best friend? He tried not to delve on it too much, it was just Walter. He never felt weird around Walter, and he for sure was not going to start doing it now.
The game continued.
The only thing he did feel weird about is the fact that he wasn’t the only one Walter kissed that night. On his turn at the beginning of the game, Walter had to kiss Fredrika. Henry didn’t like that both him and Fredrika kissed Walter. Or that Fredrika actually gave Walter a real kiss, not just a peck as Henry had. He tried not to think about what that meant.
He couldn’t meet Walter’s eyes. Why couldn’t he meet Walter’s eyes? It’s Walter.
Henry nudged Walter’s knee once. A silent Are you okay? the two of them had. They did it with nudging or touching each other, clicking their pens, even blinking. Once for yes, twice for no, but it’s manageable. Three times and Henry was ready to put himself into danger as an excuse for going back to their dorm. That only happened twice, and both times it ended with the school doctor putting Henry on bedrest for a week for spraining his ankle. Walter made Henry promise never to do that again after the last time. Henry didn’t really mind, he was the only one that knew of Walter’s anxiety and how bad it could be.
Walter nudged his knee back. Once.
He did it once.
Walter was okay. Walter didn’t feel weird for kissing Henry. Well, at least he didn’t feel anxious about it. Henry was so happy for not ruining their friendship he could kiss him. Wait, no. That’s not what friends did. He was so happy he could hug him. And so he did, kind of. He leaned more into Walter and ignored the snickering around them. Walter placed his head on top of Henry’s. Everything was okay. Everything was normal.