Will You Let Darkness Fall?

[Josh's Point of View]

He was in the middle of a sentence when I took the chance.
I could feel the desperation trembling in my fingers and the need firing beneath my lips, all wanting the same thing.
A kiss.
Vic wasn’t in the room, and I couldn’t let this moment pass by.
I couldn’t live with another regret.
To my surprise, he started to kiss back. His lips were moving against mine, dancing to a silent song.
After a solid ten seconds, we broke apart.
Not knowing where to look, I closed my eyes before shyly peeking through narrow slits for Oli’s reaction.
He was staring at his lap, thoughtfully chewing on his lower lip. A faint blush dusted his cheek, his eyes covered by strands of hair.
“What was that?” he finally asked, creating a yarn-less Cat’s Cradle with his fingers as a distraction.
“I think it was a kiss.” I giggled, trying to lighten the mood.
“But, why?”
“I don’t know.” I admitted, letting him lean his head against my chest. “It just seemed right, at the moment.”
“It really did…” he whispered, in a tone that meant I wasn’t supposed to hear his soft-spoken words.
Vic chose that moment to return, with Mike at his side.
They could notice the difference in the air, but they didn’t ask about it. At least, not right away.
“Are things alright?” Vic asked, hesitantly.
“Perfect.” Oli smiled slightly, catching eyes with me. “As perfect as things could be right now, given the situation.”
“That’s good.”
There was underlying emotion in Vic’s tone, but I couldn’t figure out the feeling. It was almost hurt or jealousy, but over what?
Oli took that moment to yawn.
“Do you want to go to sleep?” I asked, standing up. It was almost four in the morning, and we were all tired.
“I’m fine.” he yawned again, eyes fluttering.
“Come on, you need to sleep.” I insisted, laying his head against the pillow and pulling the paper-thin sheet over him.
“Lay with me.” Oli pouted, scooting to one side and patting the vacant space beside him with wide eyes.
“Alright.” I agreed, easily.
“Well, I think I’m going to head back to the bus.” Mike announced, pulling out his phone and sending someone a text.
“Kay.”
“Are you coming with me?” he asked his older brother.
“I think I’ll stay here.”
“You sure?”
“You should go with him, Vicky.” Oli mumbled, pulling the blanket to his chin. It was fucking adorable.
“I mean, if you don’t want me here…” Vic trailed off, hurt evident in his eyes. “I can go, if you want.”
“No!” Oli murmured. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable or anything.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Alright.”
Mike left, closing the door and flipping off the lights behind him.
Curling next to Oli, I wrapped an arm around his waist and relaxed as he rested his head against my chest again.
His body was cold, and I held him tighter to keep him warm.
The last thing I remember was Vic leaning against the wall and staring out the window, lost in thought.

--

“Are you awake?”
“No.” I mumbled, turning on my side and attempting to pull the sheets over my head. It was incredibly bright.
As I shuffled around, I could feel a warm body next to me and an arm draped over my torso.
The sensation shocked me awake, as I sat up and looked around in confusion. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I caught sight of Oli cuddled against me. His hair fell over closed eyes and a slight smile graced his lips.
“Well, you are now.” a voice chuckled.
Looking in the direction of the half-hearted laugh, I watched as Vic wrapped a pair of headphones around his iPod.
“Morning.” I mumbled, running fingers through my hair.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked, standing up and walking towards the metal-framed bed we were laying on.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged, catching the exhaustion clear on his face. “Did you even sleep at all?”
This time, he shrugged.
Sighing, I untangled myself from Oli’s grasp and stood up. Momentarily forgetting that he probably didn’t like me anymore, I placed my hands on his shoulders.
“Vic.” I spoke. “You need to sleep. You need to eat. You need to take care of yourself. You need to be an example for him.”
He nodded.
“He’s going to be okay, and we’re going to make sure of it.”
Sitting down, Vic was staring off with a thoughtful expression. He kept glancing at me, almost as if he wanted to speak.
“Whatever’s on your mind, say it now.” I sighed.
“I thought you didn’t like him?” Vic asked, unsure of how he felt about it. “You were so mean to each other and all of a sudden…”
“I don’t think we hated each other.” I mumbled. “We just misunderstood each other and it branched from that. I feel terrible for everything I’ve said and done. I’m just hoping he’ll fully forgive me.”
“Oh…”
Vic was silent after that, staring off the screen on his phone.
Nodding to myself, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and glanced at the time: 7:46 AM.
Just as I was going to click on my unopened message, the battery icon flashed and it promptly turned off.
“Fuck.” I mumbled to myself.
“There’s a charger over there, if it fits.” Vic signaled to the opposite wall. “Mike brought it for me this morning.”
“Thanks.” I smiled appreciatively.
Plugging my phone in, I faced the room in silence.
Glancing at Oli, I could feel my lips start to burn with the memory of last night. I still wasn’t sure if it had been a good idea.
For some reason, I had decided to seize the chance and steal a kiss I didn’t deserve from him.
I was a fucking asshole.
I’ve said so many things to his face and behind his back. I’ve dragged him on stage and tore him down.
I’ve mentioned to a fan before that I wouldn’t care if he ended up dead, which was the worst mistake of my life.
It had traveled through the grapevine, transforming into a push towards suicide when that hadn’t been my attention.
Fuck, I had lied to his face and promised I would never say something remotely along the lines of that.
Fuck, I was a shitty person.
Honestly, he was fucking beautiful and innocent. I liked him from the start, and I’m not going to lie.
When I laid eyes on him, my first thought had been, “I’m gonna fuck him before the tour is over.”
It didn’t slide well with me, when he basically rejected me.
That’s when I had vowed to make his life fucking miserable, because nobody tells Josh fucking Franceschi “no”.
Last night though, had opened a window and let in some new light. It had let in a new idea and concept.
He didn’t hate me or brush me off; he was literally just shy.
It made me feel terrible, but fuck I was going to fix things between us and eventually fuck that beautiful body.
Did that make me a bad person, for thinking that?
I really did like him…
“What are you thinking about?” Vic broke through my thoughts.
“What?”
“You’re blushing over something.” Vic pointed out.
At this point, I didn’t know what I could possibly tell him. Did it even matter if I told the truth or not?
“Oli.” I stated, staring at his sleeping face.
“Wait, what?”
“I’m thinking about Oli.” I repeated, sitting on the edge of the bed and brushing hair away from his face. “This beautiful soul doesn’t deserve this.”
Lifting the sleeve of his shirt up, I exposed the angry scars. “He doesn’t deserve to hurt like this.”
“I know.” Vic whispered, sadly.
“We need to make him happy.” I decided. “One way or another, we’re going to bring him as close to happiness as we can manage.”
“Definitely.”