Alcohol was the worst.

Mycah woke with a groan, using his hand to shield the blinding sunlight streaming in through the large window. Damn, why didn't he have the common sense to close the curtains last night.

Oh yeah. Because he was too busy drinking himself to silliness and spilling his secrets to Arden, he remembered all too clearly. He let out another groan, this time of regret. Oh well, no point in freaking out over something that was already done. It was too late to take anything back, so his best option was just to pretend he had never opened up at all.

Then again, it's not like it was just him who was spilling his guts. He remembered clear as day Arden's own little confession.. or lack thereof. What he wouldn't say had been enough and Mycah was now sure that the boy across the room from him was definitely not straight.

How Mycah felt about that he hadn't yet decided. He was honest enough with himself that he could admit that his physical attraction was still there, strong as ever. But he couldn't choose to act on that now just because Arden was also likely into guys. Because Arden being into guys did not equal Arden being into Mycah. Besides, it wasn't like he himself was into Arden. He found him hot, but that was it. They had the emotional compatibility of two cardboard boxes.

Speaking of Arden, Mycah summed up the energy to turn around and saw that the other boy was awake, sitting up in bed and scrolling through his phone. Arden was shirtless, Mycah noted as he fought to keep his eyes from wandering down Arden's chest. The last thing he needed was to be caught checking out Arden the day after his sexuality was sorta revealed.

"You're awake." Arden remarked, his voice snapping Mycah out of his trance. Dammit, the whole don't-look-at-Arden's-chest thing proved harder than he thought. He snapped his eyes up to meet Arden's who, thankfully, seemed oblivious to his wandering stare.

"Great observation." He noted sarcastically. In his hungover state Arden's soft voice felt like a shout to his sensitive ears and he wanted nothing more then to crawl back under the comfort of his covers and sleep until he was thirty-five.

"Hows the head?" Arden asked. Not because he cared, but because he wanted to annoy Mycah.

"A lot worse then yours, it seems." Mycah replied.

"Drank a pint of water between every drink. Works wonders for hangovers." Arden replied smugly, the Mister Perfect persona that Mycah hated so much making a reappearance.

"Well thanks for sharing your tip." Mycah grumbled in reply. "Though maybe you could've given me a heads up last night."

"You're not my responsibility." Arden shrugged, turning his attention back to the phone in his hand. "I take it you don't remember much of last night?" He questioned without looking up from the device. Though he tried to make the question seem offhand, Mycah could just about hear the hopeful undertone in Arden's voice. It seemed Angel boy here wasn't quite as comfortable with his cards being on the table as he was last night.

It was Mycah's turn to be smug. "Quite the contrary actually," he replied in a sing song voice. 

"Really?" Arden asked with a slightly strained voice, still not looking up from his phone though his scrolling had ceased.

"Oh really." Mycah confirmed. "Anything you'd like to confess?" He asked innocently, causing Arden to finally look up from his phone.

"Anything you'd like to confess?" Arden countered, a knowing look in his eyes telling Mycah that Arden had not forgotten Mycah's confessions last night either.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Mycah played dumb.

"Really Mycah? So much for remembering everything." Arden said sarcastically.

"Back to you. Revealed a sweet little secret you did last night." Mycah countered.

"I'm not the only one." Arden countered.

"Are you gay?" Mycah shot back.

Arden's face dropped to a scowl. Mycah really had not perfected the art of beating around the bush it seemed. He chose to ignore the other boy.

"Are you?" Mycah pressed, his pounding headache all but forgotten as he focused his energy on getting answers from the boy across him.

"None of your business." Arden answered simply. 

"Or bi? Pan?" Mycah tried again.

"Why should I tell you. What on earth has given you the right to know?" Arden replied, annoyed.

"Just tell me. C'mon I won't tell anyone." Mycah pleaded, sounding more and more like a three year old with every word that left his mouth.

Arden snorted. "Yeah right, like I believe that."

"Swear down." Mycah insisted, sitting up straighter.

"Just shut up Mycah. Whether I'm gay or not is nothing to do with you." He answered evenly, resuming his scrolling through his phone.

"Ah-hah! So it is gay." Mycah retorted triumphantly. 

God, he was such a child sometimes. Scratch that, he was such a child all the time.

"Whatever Mycah." Arden answered boredly, neither confirming nor denying.

"How long have you known?" Mycah pressed eagerly, sounding like a kid on Christmas.

"I'm not talking about this with you." Arden said, refusing to give Mycah the time of day.

"You not answering is all the answer I need." Mycah said confidently.

He still go no reply from Arden, but that was only to be expected.

"You know, I hate to say it but color me surprised. I did not see that coming. My gaydar has let me down once again. I always thought you never got with girls at parties because you were just too much of a prude, not because you were secretly a raging gay." Mycah continued, talking more to himself then Arden at this stage.

Still, Arden kept his composure. God how on earth was he so level-headed, Mycah wondered with bewilderment. If the roles were reversed he knew that a physical brawl would have broken out five minutes ago. They were so different it was unreal. Though now it seemed they had a common interest, what with both being members of the whole LGBTQ community and whatnot.

All this thinking was starting to hurt Mycah's hungover head, and he could feel his pounding headache returning. He checked his phone for the time and saw that it was almost noon. 

He had a message from his mother, wishing him a good morning and telling him that both his and Arden's parents were going on some daytrip to an island, and that they'd be back around midnight. this was good news for Mycah, who could now successfully spend the day in bed sleeping off his hangover without his mother chewing him out over a lack of productivity. 

"Adults won't be home til midnight." Mycah said with a yawn, leaning over and pulling the curtains shut before falling back into bed.

"I know." Arden replied, finally looking up from his phone and speaking.

"Got any wild parties in mind?" Mycah joked.

"I think I've had my dill of wild parties for this week." Arden answered.

Wow, was this what a civilized conversation with Arden felt like, Mycah wondered.

"Well I'm off to sleep off this killer hangover. Call me if the house sets on fire or something." Mycah answered, snuggling into his light duvet.

"Can't make any promises." Arden replied.

Oh well, the civilized thing was fun while it lasted.

"Or just let me burn to death. Would surely hurt less than this headache." Mycah said, eyes closing.

"Would be my pleasure." Arden answered, getting out of his bed and pulling on a t-shirt and a loose pair of shorts in preparation of heading downstairs and actually doing something with his day.

He was almost out the door when Mycah spoke again.

"Night Arden." He whispered, sleepily and so quietly that Arden wasn't sure he hadn't imagined it.

He paused, turning to face the almost sleeping boy. 

"Night Mycah." He couldn't help himself from whispering in reply, before leaving the room and closing the door softly behind him.

It was a couple of hours before Mycah woke again, still sore but faring a lot better then he had been before his snooze. At least this time he had remembered to close the curtains.

He turned around and his attention was immediately caught by something on his bedside table. he sat up, taking a better look. 

Someone had left a glass of water, a sandwich and two Tylenol for him. He couldn't help the smile that slipped onto his face. Maybe Arden wasn't such a pain after all.  

+++

So, it's been less than a week and another new chapter already, who's proud? ;)

I'm still so busy you wouldn't even believe it, I've got a load of updated books in my library that I desperately need to catch up on and fast!! I'm off work Thursday so hopefully I'll get to read and write a little then! I also have a tonne of comments I must get around to replying too, so sorry if i haven't got back to you yet!

Anyway hope you all enjoyed. If you have any suggestions or questions feel free to ask, whether they be about my books or anything else.

Also, thank you for 4K !!!!! Xxx 

Love you guys

Xx

-A