chronicmusicnerd

Heres a short excerpt for anyone interested!

***

“Tonight was fun.” Todd said at last, after their laughter died out. He sat up and looked at nothing in particular. “I had a lot of fun with you.”

Neil sat up, too, facing Todd. “I’m glad. Y’know, I think you’d make a great Hermia if you really tried.”

The final daylight was fading fast, hardly brushing Todd’s hair now. It was dark enough that nobody from the school would see. 

“Oh, ha-ha. I meant it. I had fun.”

Neil reached out to touch Todd’s hair. The ends were still golden with sunlight and they felt like silk.

“Yeah, I know. I’m just teasing.”

Neil felt a hand on his thigh. 

“We should head back soon. Hager’s gonna make his rounds, and even if you can afford to be late, we aren’t all doing evening rehearsals.”

Neil stared at Todd’s lips. He wondered what they’d taste like.

“Probably, yeah. We have time, though. A few minutes.”

He watched his hand reach out to cup Todd’s face. Todd smiled into it, moving closer. 

“Y’know, Neil, there’s still light out…”

He pulled Todd closer.

“Nobody’s watching.”

***

Terrible awful cliffhanger, I know >.<

If that's cute or interesting or epic, please hop on ao3 and give it a read! It's always nice to know when people go out and read your work :)

The fic name is 11 Minutes After Death by chronicmusicnerd on ao3, and here's a little excerpt from the chapter :0 (Without spoilers ofc)

***

As he and Todd sat there, Neil eating his dinner and Todd reading a book, the moon began to rise and it lit their dorm through the open window. Neil began to feel a tangible tension in the room, with the moonlight casting a blue glow over his skin. He was sure it lit Todd the same way. He was willing to bet that the light would make Todd’s hair glow a silvery-golden colour, like some princess from a fairytale. 

He refrained from turning around, because he knew if he saw Todd in the moonlight, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from staring. Minutes continued to pass, and as the amount of food on his plate began to diminish, Neil began to think. About Todd, of course. 

He hadn’t ever really been interested in romance. The idea of settling down forever with some woman never appealed to him. He didn’t know what kind of person he would even want to date, anyway. Looks weren’t the matter to him, but he had also never found anyone ‘attractive,’ either. 

I guess, until now. Neil turned around in his chair and looked at Todd, really looked at Todd. He was nose-deep into his book, his moonlit hair swept out of his eyes, and he just looked so soft. He got so caught up in looking at him that he didn’t process when Todd said, still in his book,

“I can feel you staring, Neil.”

***

After 3 months of theatre and 10 shows, I finally got back to 11 Minutes After Death, and ch. 5 is longer (and cuter imo) and it's finallyyy on ao3.

I'll be putting in my personal favourite excerpt from the end of the chapter, so if you aren't a fan of 'spoilers' (it doesn't spoil much but) than I encourage you to go read the whole thing hehehe

Anywho, here's the excerpt from Ch. 5 - Poetry

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“You know what my dad called me when I was little?”

Todd’s voice shook Neil out of his stupor, and Neil shook his head no.

“‘Five ninety-eight.’ That’s what all the chemicals in the human body would be worth if you bottled them up raw and sold them. He said that was all I’d ever be worth unless I worked everyday to be worth more. ‘Five ninety-eight.’”

“Todd, that’s-”

“When I was little, I thought all parents automatically loved their kids. That’s what my teachers told me. That’s what I read in the books they gave me. That’s what I believed. My parents might’ve loved my brother, but they didn’t love me.”

Neil grappled for something, anything to say, but came up with nothing. He stared helplessly at Todd, who just sighed. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I said that.”

“Todd, don’t be sorry, none of it was your fault. That’s on your dad.”

“I know, but sometimes the rational part of me doesn’t win against the irrational part of me.”

“You’re worth a lot more than you think. And even if no one else says it, you matter.”

Todd smiled. “Thanks, Neil.”

Finally, the silence between them was comfortable. Neil scootched in closer to Todd, who had started to blow hot air into his hands. Todd gratefully nestled into Neil’s shoulder and Neil took his hands into his own to warm them up. 

“You matter a lot.”

He started tracing the letters into Todd’s palm.

“You’ll always matter, no matter what.”

Todd began to giggle. “As you’ve said.”

“No, I’m serious. You matter. To a lot of people. I want you to understand that.”

“Well, go on, tell me. To whom do I matter?” Todd asked playfully.

Neil blushed and turned away, glad the darkness concealed the pink in his cheeks. He kept Todd’s hands in his own.

“To me.”

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Thank u for your patience, 3 readers, and let me know your thoughts :)

I'm going to be taking a hiatus from writing for a bit to focus further on my extracurriculars (more info in end notes of fic) but I will return because this fic WILL be finished.

I'll try and post updates here, and I'm considering uploading the fic here on tumblr, so do let me know if that interests u!!

HOWEVER this time the delay is super great news and that super great news is I was cast as the lead in my school’s musical!!

Unfortunately this will take a major hit on my already unproductive productivity so uh… sorry 💔💔

New deadline is pre-2026 for ch4 guys trusttt me I’ll be super locked in over my Christmas break (dont trust me this chapter is rlly wringing me like a wet towel)