Title: Childhood Dreams
Pairing/Characters: Adam/Tommy
Rating (Word Count): G (7 X 100)
Warning(s): None
Author's notes: Many thanks to leela_cat for the beta.

The ‘house’ in the woods is just as Tommy remembers it. There’s dust everywhere, but otherwise, nothing has changed. The child-sized furniture, the handful of pillows in a corner, the ‘stage’ with its fake instruments, everything looks like the kids Tommy and Adam once were just ran out and the house is waiting for them to come back.

Tommy sits on a small chair, trailing his fingers across the table. He’s getting ready to move out tomorrow, but since everything is packed, he’s hiding here instead of spending the evening with his family.

Just like he did before Adam moved.

***

They were half-way through their teenage years but thinking themselves grown-up. The little house in the woods was already just a memory. They were now playing music for real, in badly soundproofed garages and basements, while dreaming of so much more.

Then the dreams of making it together came crashing down when Adam’s father got a contract in California and his family moved there.

There was a party, because when Adam was involved, there always needed to be a party. Tommy went, trying to be a good friend until the end. The last evening, he hid in their wood house.

***

“I had a feeling I’d find you here.”

He was sitting with his guitar in his lap, not even trying to turn the sound he was pulling out of it into music when Adam’s voice had made him look up.

“Shouldn’t you be packing or something?”

“I’m all done.” Adam shrugged and joined Tommy on the floor. “Mom would have killed me if I’d waited too long.”

Tommy laughed at that. He had no doubt it was true. For a person her size, Adam’s mom could be very scary when she wanted to.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

***

“I wanted to see you before we left. And since you’ve been so good at avoiding me, I had a feeling you wouldn’t come to my house before we left tomorrow.”

“I’m sorry.” Tommy was looking right over Adam’s shoulder. He felt like a shitty friend, but having to fake being happy while watching his best friend move to another state would have hurt too much.

“Stop that. I agree with you. It sucks.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Don’t try to make me feel better. What about all the opportunities you’ll have? You’ve wanted to move there your whole life.”

***

“You’re right,” Adam admitted, “But I was good with waiting for us to go to college. I wanted us to have all those opportunities together. You know that.”

Tommy’s heart did a ridiculous little flip in his chest at Adam’s words. As if us could have meant more than just them being best friends.

But he didn’t say anything about it. There was no point, not with Adam’s family moving the next day.

“Well, since it won’t happen, you’ll just have to become a superstar and live the dream for me.”

Adam frowned and grabbed Tommy’s hand. “It will happen.”

***

Tommy shook his head and tried to take his hand away, but Adam didn’t let go.

“It will happen,” Adam said again. “Maybe ten years, fifteen years from now? We’ll be on a stage together, and everyone will know our names. I promise you.”

And, just because Adam so obviously believed it would come true, Tommy had to believe him too.

Of course, they lost contact over the years. If Adam is living his dreams, Tommy doesn’t even know. All he knows is news that Leila gives his mother over the phone, maybe once every six months and that’s it.

***

All he has left are those memories, locked away, kept safe in a childhood house in the woods.

Tomorrow, Tommy will move out to follow his own dreams, and no one will ever know about the crazy promise Adam made.

Tommy’s sure Adam doesn’t even remember. Their lives have taken such different paths that Tommy doesn’t believe they’ll ever cross again.

He’s made his peace with that. If sometimes he wonders about what could have been, he’ll never let his regrets stop him.

Because he’s admitted that the idea of making music with Adam was nothing but a childhood dream.