Chapter 2

On Monday, school went on as normal. James was in Year 12, which meant he had been with Michael for around a year and a half. They only shared one subject, which was Geography. James was always more interested in ecology, so he also took Biology and Chemistry, but Michael was only good at essays, so he also took English Literature and History, but he found them very boring and spent most lessons on his laptop playing chess, which he was very good at to be fair. It was right to say that probably because he would get bullied for sitting next to James. Michael didn’t have the nicest friends.

After school James headed into the small clearing in the woods where he would meet Michael every day. It was a beautiful spot. They could hear the chirps of the birds and the strong smell of pines gave the air a beautiful tint. James was always glad that he lived in the peak district. Derby was obviously not nearly as exciting as London, but it was much easier for him to get a bit of peace and quiet. Nobody came through, except for the occasional dog walker, so Michael always felt very comfortable, and could talk carefree. The sun caught this spot perfectly in the afternoon, there were no clouds in the sky today and the air felt fresh on James’ face.

After basking in the sun for 5 minutes or so, James saw Michael coming out from the path. His blond hair, which he normally had forward in a fluffy quiff, had fallen onto his face and was almost covering his tinted with excitement blue eyes. His smooth face had a bit of mud on his right cheek, and all his clothes had a bit of mud on them too.

He ran at James and tackled him to the ground, holding him in warm embrace. James leaned in and they began kissing. Michael’s warm lips on this and his strong hands around his shoulders made James completely relax and feel almost drowsy. His soft, wavy hair fell on to James’ face and they stayed like that, as if all of time had stopped around them.

After a while Michael pulled out and said the exact same thing that he said every time they met. “Alright?” James laughed no matter what day of the year it was, that word seemed to be his only conversation starter. James loved that odd, confused feeling that Michael often had, and found it cute how, even though Michael was very intelligent, still often didn’t quite always pay attention to so many things. He could also tell so much about how Michael was feeling. James often recognised a relaxed tone, like Michael had just put down a massive bag he had been carrying all day, and occasionally he added a dash of melancholy, but today there was an eager touch to his greeting.

“I’m good,” replied James. “You seem to want to tell me something.” Michael laughed, he loved how intuitive James was, and the way he always paid attention to him, it was nice change for Michael. Even though many people thought of him as the leader of the friend group, he often felt he never was really listened to or cared about by his friends, but he couldn’t just go and make new friends, it wasn’t easy.

“Well, you know, how you always have been telling me to make our relationship more, well, known? I thought we could you know, make it public.” Michael explained.

“Really? I mean, I’d be glad too, but I thought that you wanted to wait till university and reinvent ourselves then. Aren’t you scared?” James said this, with the most genuine surprise he had ever had. He honestly wasn’t prepared for this himself, and he began to panic a bit himself. He was so happy though that Michael was able to say this that he was able to put those things aside.

“I remember you telling me James, that we were on a path to stop lying to everybody, and I’m ready to move along it. I think I’m ready to move one. I am scared about what others think, but if they hate me for who I am, there’s no point being around them anyway.” Said Michael.

James didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t thought this would happen so soon and felt like Michael probably knew what to do better than he did. “So… How do we do that?” He asked hoping Michael had some sort of plan.

Fortunately, Michael had spent the last couple of nights staying up and thinking this through repeatedly, it wasn’t till last night he was content with his plan and was able to fall asleep easily. “I think,” he explained, “We could both just post it on snap. Then everyone could see.”

“And what do we post just like a photo of us kissing? Did you get that idea from Heartstopper?” James laughed, but in all honesty, it wasn’t terrible.

Michael had gotten the idea from Heartstopper, though he wouldn’t admit it, but he still thought it was the best option. “Well, we could just be hugging, or maybe you could be kissing my cheek. Whatever you want.”

“Fine. If you’re ready so am I, I guess.” Michael pulled his phone out. James rested his head on Michaels strong shoulders and Michael kissed him, that was the photo they took. And they both put it on their stories with the word Boyfriends and a pride flag.

Both stayed there for a bit, before James asked, “Michael, why’ve you got mud on your clothes and face.”

Michael looked at his clothes for a second and replied, “Oh I tripped on my way here, wait where is it on my face?” He proceeded to rub his clean left cheek.

James laughed. “Other cheek. Here let me do it.” He pulled out some tissues from his pocket and wiped Michael’s cheek. As he was doing that Michael kissed him on the neck.

“I love you.” Michael whispered in James’s ear.

“I love you too.” Replied James, with a soft smile.

They stayed their hugging and laughing away for another half an hour, talking about what movies and shows they had been watching.