Marcus pulled Liam up onto his feet and into a careful, sweet hug. Feeling frozen, Liam stuttered as the taller man just held him tighter, his slightly shorter frame being pleasantly squeezed.
“Uh, what’s wrong? Did I say something?” Liam asked lamely, feeling Marcus’s small stubble brush against his cheek, his dark hair lightly flutter underneath his chin and his warm breath tickling his ear. Marcus couldn't let go of him, even if he wanted to, feeling Liam's tears lightly dampen his t-shirt. Liam didn't realise that he was already holding Marcus's fragile heart in his beautiful small hands.
Why was he so flustered by him?
“What makes you think that you can just catch me off-guard like that?” Marcus mumbled against his shirt, his hand supporting his friend’s spine.
“Huh?” Liam stumbled.
Unable to take his bursting heart much longer, Marcus lifted his face closer and kissed the younger man’s parted lips. In a moment of surprise, Liam’s cinnamon brown eyes widened, but softened considerably and leaned into the warm contact, unable to believe his first love was kissing him.
The blonde reached up and twirled his Marcus’s charcoal hair in his slender fingers, soft and beautiful, like the man who was so tenderly caressing his lips. Marcus cupped his pink lover’s face delicately, like he was porcelain and Liam relaxed, sighed happily. He leaned into Marcus’s palm as he rubbed his thumb in small circles on his cheeks, kissing him over and over and over again.
The older man opened his eyes a little and saw him gripping his shirt, unsatisfied with the distance between them and desperately trying to keep him as close as he possibly could.
Liam was all Marcus ever loved and ever would love.
But like all good things, their bittersweet moment had to end.
He tried as hard as he could to hold onto their last kiss as he pulled away slowly, opening his eyes again to see a blushing Marcus inches away from his face. Seeing him flustered made his own cheeks and ears go bright red and Marcus laughed softly as he leaned in again and gently pecked his lips again.
“Uhm, n-not to be rude or anything, b-but what was that a-about?” The blonde stammered, looking anywhere but Marcus’s intense gaze, the scent of warm cinnamon him driving him crazy enough.
“I love you, Liam.” Marcus said quietly but still loud enough to reach the other man’s ears.
“What?”
“I love you.” Marcus said again, interlacing his fingers with Liam’s, his forest-green filled with different kind of adoration and the moonlight shining brightly from the window behind both of them. “I’ve been in love with you since I first met you all those years ago.”
“You- you’ve have?” Liam said shaking unsteadily, his lips trembling and his eyes fluttering. Marcus nodded silently, lowering his eyes and his usual rosy, tanned skin a tad pale now.
Hearing that from his best friend’s voice, made his heart stop. For years he tried to forget it, bury it, even deny his own love for Marcus. Convinced that he deserved better than him, Liam tried to distance himself away from him to give Marcus better happiness. But neither would he leave Liam alone, nor would fate stop bringing them together.
And all at once, his heart was stuck in his throat once again, overwhelmed with love and pure joy as his eyes welled up again and then spilled, running like small rivers down his reddened cheeks.
“Hey, hey, did I do something?” The dark-haired man pulled him closer to him, resting his forehead with his own as Liam sobbed. “God, I’m so sorry I told y-”
Liam cut him off with a kiss of his own, catching Marcus by surprise and shock, like he did to him not too long ago. This one was different although they fell into the same rhythms. This kiss was full of adoration and bliss, one that was indescribable. But it was just as sweet, just as safe and comfortable.
“I love you too, idiot.” The blonde wept, the words mumbled and faded but definitely there. And then with no hesitation, Marcus brushed his tears away, wrapped his arms tightly around the younger’s body and lifted him up off the ground, feeling Liam’s legs immediately wrap around his own torso.
“I love you more than you know.” Liam sobbed again, burying his face into the crook of Marcus’s neck and giving him butterfly kisses, his left palm placed against his lover’s heart and feeling it pulse into his own body. “God, Liam, I love you so much.” Marcus groaned in Liam’s ear as tears threatened to fall from his own eyes, planting kisses along his jawline and not even caring to notice that they both fell onto the couch behind them.
"Wait," Marcus paused, looking down at Liam beneath him. "D-Do you want this? Me, I mean," he asked bashfully. Liam smiled happily and his eyes twinkled in the starlight.
"Yes." He answered simply, wrapping his slender arms around the older man's neck. "I've wanted you since we met. I really love you Marcus."
"...Liam," Marcus sighed, leaning down and kissing him all over again, letting himself be pulled into Liam's warm embrace.
The couch creaked loudly with their weight but neither one cared.
Street noises and sirens blared nearby but neither one cared.
They were lost in the moments that were to follow, desperate for the love they thought they could never have with each other. Shorts hastily thrown and t-shirts discarded and forgotten, they knew the world would still be there when the sun would rise tomorrow.
And that was all that mattered in the end.
*
The nightingale chirped melodiously and Liam groaned, shifting in his peaceful slumber. The early morning sunlight streamed in, beautifully illuminating the messy living-room. Brown eyes squinting, he sighed as he pushed himself up into a sitting position as he fumbled around for his phone for the time. Liam shivered as he moved, the cold and spacious air around him hitting his skin sharply as he remembered he was still very naked and blushed furiously red. Thankfully, he and Marcus were still covered from the soft blanket from last night.
“It’s nowhere near time to get up, my love.” a deep lethargic and Liam admitted, sexy voice came from behind him. Remembering the events from the night before, Liam sighed happily. The blonde man closed his eyes again and allowed himself to fall back onto the couch. Liam felt a familiar pair of lips linger on his cheek, his warm and natural scent overtake Liam’s senses as he flipped around to face his love.
“Morning.” Liam giggled, kissing Marcus’s irresistibly pink lips, feeling his chest rise and fall with every breath he took.
“G’morning,” Marcus smiled sleepily, opening his eyes slightly to meet the blonde’s warm brown ones. “You know? That was actually the best sleep I’ve had in a very long time,” Liam nestled into his chest contentedly.
“Yeah? Then maybe we should do this all the time?” Marcus mused, waggling his dark eyebrows suggestively. Liam chuckled and playfully hit his shoulder. “Not like that!” he laughed, unable to stop smiling.
“What? You know you loved it!” Marcus teased him, tickling his slender body. “No! Stop!” The blonde laughed uncontrollably. “Not until you tell me you love me!” Marcus declared, leaning his toned body on his and hovering over Liam, smiling like a fool.
“Oh, wait. Wait!” he begged him. Marcus paused for a minute, allowing him to catch his breath. He looked up with seriousness etched on his face, his lips parted as Marcus watched curiously.
“I love you Marcus.” Liam said quietly, gazing into Marcus’s startling green eyes. “I didn’t think I deserved you all those years ago when we were growing up. You’re so perfect to me and it terrified me in the past to think if we could be together and I couldn’t make it work in the end or if I told you how I felt and you thought I was a disgusting person.”
“But I couldn't help or stop loving you even if I had control of it. I was prepared to stay friends with you if you didn’t feel the same way or fell for someone else. But when you told me you loved me last night, I wasn’t able to take it and I didn’t want to make more calculated decisions anymore. You’re all I ever wanted in my whole life, Marcus.”
A small smile grew bigger and bigger until it reached Marcus’s ears as his tears fell silently. Liam reached up and brushed them delicately away.
“You better say that whole speech on our wedding day, you understand?” Marcus chuckled as he cried, embracing his lover beneath him. “Our wedding day?” Liam repeated, grinning.
"I would love to marry you at some point, if you'd want to, of course." Marcus said, looking down in Liam's eyes and finding the love he was so desperately seeking from the one person he cared about. "I just love you too much to not think about that day. It's cheesy, it's so impractical and I know we're still students and we've still got our lives to live but I can't see me without you." He rested his forehead against his lover's own head
"I'm thousand percent certain that I want you for the rest of my life."
Liam stared at him in a stunned silence, feeling the intensity of Marcus's vivid green eyes. He knew that Marcus could never lie and that he meant every word of what he said. He loved him too much to let him go too and tears began to pour from his own eyes too.
“So you’re going to propose to me at some point?” he chuckled as he wept. Marcus brushed his thumb against the younger man's face, wiping his tears and the warmth sweeping over his cheek.
“Yes, my love.” the older man let his body lean against the blond's, feeling his heart pulse. Liam wrapped his arms around Marcus and cuddled against the taller man’s frame.
“That’s my line, idiot.”
Their hearts were vessels and their love was over-pouring. Unable to say anything more, Marcus kissed Liam as lovingly as last night and just held him quietly as the nightgale’s song started to fade and the sun rose higher and higher into the pale morning sky as the two lovers fell asleep for the second time that night.
Yeah, I could get used to this…
The End.
