This Is Make-Believe, Dear!

Title: How I Met You, Part Twenty-two
Author: moodwriter
Beta: aislinntlc
Genre: angst, romance, high school AU
Pairing: Adam/Tommy
Word Count: 1650 words (this part)
Rating: R (this part)
Warnings: language, sexual scenes
Summary: Adam has done something stupid, and the whole school laughs at him. Tommy has just moved to San Diego with his parents, and he chooses the outcast over popularity because that's just his way.
Disclaimer: AU liberates me from my responsibility to tell you that this is not real. :D Mwahahahaaaaa. Anyway, this is fiction.
Prompt: College and HS AUs are my fav! But that's all I got lol So that was vegas1024's prompt for me way back when. I've been slowly writing all these prompts, and this one gets its chance now. Hopefully you'll like it. :)

How I Met You, Part Twenty-two


Three days went by before he saw Adam again. The only connection Tommy had to him was e-mail because Adam refused to chat or speak on the phone, and all he got from the e-mails was that Adam was furious, nothing more. Adam didn't even come to school, and then finally on the night of the third day, Leila called him.

"Hello, Tommy." She sounded tired.

"Um... Hi."

"Could you come over?"

He was quiet for a moment, too shocked to speak. "Yeah, sure."

"If you need supper I can fix you something... Just, please come quickly."

Tommy wanted to ask if something was wrong, but he knew it already. Leila wouldn't have called otherwise. "Okay."

He told his mom that he'd go to the Lamberts, and then he was running down the street faster than ever before. Adam had sent him a short message that day, but it had been about the covers he wanted to play at the school festival. He hadn't said a word why he wasn't at school or what was wrong.

Tommy ran to the door, knocking right away, and Leila opened it. She looked like she hadn't been sleeping at all.

"What can I do?" he asked, staring at her with wide eyes.

"He hasn't come out of his room, except to use the bathroom, and he hasn't eaten anything. We're at our wits' end with him. I don't know what to do. He's never been like this. We've never had... We've always been close. He's been so good."

Tommy looked at the stairs that led to Adam's room, to where he had barricaded himself. "Has he said anything?"

"He said, 'Go away.' when I tried to talk to him." Leila paused, looking at Tommy. "I didn't ground him for having sex. I grounded him because he was screaming at me. I didn't mean for this to happen. He's saying things I don't even understand. He keeps saying he wants to move out, that I'm suffocating him... And I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Just... Please, talk to him."

Tommy took a step closer to the stairs, then turned one more time to give a reassuring smile to Leila. "It's going to be alright."

He walked slowly towards Adam's room, not thinking at all, just feeling, just getting ready for anything he might have to face. He didn't know why Adam was acting this way, but he had some ideas. He knocked on Adam's door, then said, "It's me."

At first he didn't hear anything, but then something heavy got pushed out of the way, and Adam opened the door just a little bit. When he saw Tommy was alone he pulled Tommy in and then pushed the wardrobe in front of the door again.

Adam didn't say anything. He looked awful, like he hadn't slept for days. There were water bottles everywhere, and his room was a mess, a clear sign Adam wasn't feeling well.

Tommy pulled him into a hug, ignoring the fact that he smelled bad. He hadn't even showered. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Come on. Tell me." Adam hadn't hugged him back, and he was just standing there, apathetic.

"I'm sick of this."

"What? You said you'd blow me at school, that you'd write, that when we'd see each other again it would be exciting. What changed?"

"I don't want to go to school. Everyone will hate me."

Tommy tried to put two and two together, but he hadn't yet found the separate parts. "You were planning the covers you wanted to play there."

"They'll know, just like mom did, and they'll hate me for it. They always do. I can't do this. They'll know, too."

"Nobody knows anything. And what if they did? I don't care. I want to be with you."

"I don't want to be out. I don't want to have to be out. I don't want it to be an issue. I don't want any of this. I want out. I want it to stop. Please, make it stop."

He wrapped his arms around Adam's neck, holding him harder. "I'm sorry."

"I love you, and it's never going to be easy. I just love you. I love you. And it's an issue even to my mom. Even she doesn't trust me."

Tommy tried to hold back, tried not to let it get to him, but he couldn't stop it. He bit his lip, feeling Adam's arms around his waist, feeling his wet cheek against his neck.

"I'm trying so hard to just get through the day. Whenever I'm not with you... I don't know. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be like this. But they've been so awful, and Mom... And I just don't want to take it at home, too. I can't. I wanted her to be on my side. And she's not, and I have to justify myself to her too, and I don't want to. I don't want to."

"She didn't ground you for having sex."

"I know that." Adam didn't sound so sure even though he tried to.

"She's not your enemy. She loves you."

Adam hiccuped. "I know that too."

"You don't sound like it," he said softly. "You sound like you've created an idea in your head. That idea is not your life. She called me here the moment she admitted she didn't know what to do with you. I'm a part of your life, a part of your family."

Adam laughed, still sobbing, too. "How come you know exactly what to say?"

He kissed Adam's neck and ear. "I don't."

"You take a piece of me that's rattled free, and you put it to its rightful place with a few words. Yeah, you do." Adam pulled back and looked at him for a long while. "No wonder I love you."

"You need a shower," he whispered.

Adam giggled. "That's not the right thing to say."

"Told you." He touched Adam's lips with his fingertips. "You need to apologize to her. She's worried sick. She didn't mean for this to happen. She didn't want to hurt you."

Adam put his chin on top of Tommy's head. "I'm still mad at her."

"Choose the right reasons, then. She wasn't acting this way because you're gay but because you're her baby and she doesn't want you to grow up just yet. Please."

"I guess. Yeah. Maybe."

"Be mad at her for snooping around. Take the grounding like a man. But don't think she hates you for being gay."

Adam relaxed in his arms, so much actually that it was hard for Tommy to keep them upright. He pushed at Adam until his calves hit the bed and Adam sat down, and then Tommy climbed into his lap.

He kissed Adam because he could. He'd missed Adam, more than he cared to admit. Adam had been like a missing limb, a part of him he couldn't live without.

Adam kissed him back, trying to push Tommy down on the mattress, but he wouldn't let him. Instead, Tommy pushed Adam on his back, licking into his mouth, greedy. He wanted closer, and he pulled at Adam's shirt, grabbed the hem of it, and pushed it over his head, but left it around Adam's arms, twisting it a little. Adam's eyes flashed, but he let Tommy have it, let him trap him.

Then Tommy pulled his nails over Adam's chest and stomach, teasing him, scratching him a little too hard.

"Oh my god... You."

He smiled at Adam, licking his lips. "Yeah."

Adam was hard under him, and he put his hand behind himself, stroking Adam's balls through his pants, and Adam spread his legs to give him more access. Adam moved under him, almost making him lose his balance, but he put a hand on Adam's stomach, and continued to stroke him. "You like it?" he asked, moving his hips with Adam, rubbing himself against him.

Adam nodded, biting his lower lip, his chest rising, his body moving without meaning to.

"I love you like this."

Adam laughed. "At your mercy?"

"Wanting me."

Adam moaned, tilting his head back, revealing his throat, and Tommy leaned down to kiss-lick-bite it. He didn't stop moving his hips, didn't stop the slow burning of their cocks rubbing against each other, and he wanted to come like this, and then take Adam to the shower.

It seemed Adam was on board with the plan, and they moved together, kissing, licking each other, Tommy's hands everywhere, whisper-light touches driving Adam over the edge.

He loved watching it, loved how completely open Adam was with him, not hiding anything, just letting go.

He licked a trail from Adam's chest to his lips afterwards, loving the way Adam still moved, still couldn't hold still, and he bit Adam's lip, pulled at it a little before letting go. "I love you," he whispered close to Adam's lips, watching him.

"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me," Adam said, soft and quiet, like he was afraid of those words. "The best."

"Good. I want that. I want to continue to be that. I want us to be that together. We'll have each other's backs."

Adam smiled. "Yeah."

"I'll protect you from the world."

"Damsel in distress, huh?"

"I won't carry you down from the tower, though. You have to walk on your own." He kissed Adam again, freeing him of the shirt.

Adam looked serious all of a sudden. "Is she going to be alright?"

"Your mom?"

Adam nodded.

"Be nice to her for a few days, and she'll be good as new."

Adam giggled. "You're impossible."

Yes, he was, but nowhere near as impossible as Adam was.


TBC...


A/N: Hurtful little chapter this was. <3 I want to thank red_adam for betaing this one. She kindly came to my aid when I needed it. Thank you, bb. *hugs*