DPS (DA PANS SOCIETY)

[notwalking]

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[notwalking]

[ He figured Neil would pull away again, keep talking, keep questioning. All Charlie wants is for them to stay in this perfect moment, shrouded from the rest of the school, kissing until darkness falls around them.

But it's an important question.

Charlie drapes his arms over Neil's bony shoulders, clasps his hands loosely behind him so he's trapped in their loop. Looks at him in the eye for a moment, his own expression unreadable. He wants to remember this: How Neil looked when he was allowing himself to want something, to have something; to want Charlie, to have Charlie. ]

Yeah. Just between you and me.

[ It's serious, significant. This moment and any others like it are for no one but them.

Then he breaks that somber air with grin, eyebrows rising. ]

You really think I wanna deal with the rest of them knowing? They'd never shut up about it. It's hard enough to keep 'em in line.

we can probably move toward a wrap OUGHHH

[diedeliberately]

['Just bewteen you and me,' - a promise, hanging their between them. Neil lets it settle over his heart. He trusts Charlie implicitly - more so than he does anyone else in the world, he thinks. And he knows that that trust is well-founded. No one else has to know, and--

[Neil laughs, bright and sudden, the sound bursting through the air around them. He feels joy - just what he's always chasing, so rarely finds in moments that aren't far too fleeting.]

They'd never. Shut up. [He laughs again, fond to death of his friends, fonder still of Charlie. He wants to kiss him again, but he waits only because he knows he'll be able to--

[He'll be able to...now. And tomorrow. Whenever he wants...

[His heart is in his throat again. When did his arms find their way around Charlie's middle? Just the same way Charlie has his looped around Neil's neck.]

Well, I think they'd be jealous. Personally. [A clear tease - he can't even begin to consider whether or not his friends have the same unconventional feelings that he has toward--

[Yes. Better not to think about it, really.

[He finds himself looking away again, between them, still smiling at the ground as he bites his lip.]

I like it better. This way.

Just between you and me.

godddddddDDDDDDDDD SEE YOU IN JANUARY

[notwalking]

[ He hears the tease in Neil's words, knows they're not sincere at all, but he can't help but scoff. Neil's one of the biggest brains he knows, and he's a real idiot sometime. Some of them really would be jealous, but not of Neil.

It's a fierce satisfaction that runs through his veins. Of all the people who could have gotten Neil Perry, it was him.

It's just between them.

Charlie scrubs an affectionate hand through Neil's hair, messing up that perfect schoolboy cut and grinning at him, wide and wild. ]

We're gonna have to find more hiding places.

[ Some hopefully even more private than this. ]

Come on. It's getting dark.

[ Hager will check on their common room before bed, and Charlie doesn't really give a shit about demerits, but he's got to spend at least a little while convincing Neil that this little affair won't reflect badly on his pristine Welton record.

He stands, a hand extended to haul Neil up too, right into his arms for one last embrace. ]