Hustle and Heart (Cross_Rhodes and Melix)
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							<h1 class="p-title-value">Hustle and Heart (Cross_Rhodes and Melix)
	
	

	

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					<div class="bbWrapper">"Noah!" The principal shouted down the hallway. Seeing a random student crawling by in an attempt to go unnoticed,  he proceeded to shout obscenities at him. "You! Go get Noah Roarkes and tell him to get his a** in here." It was pretty clear from his tone of voice and disheveled toupee (hanging halfway off his shiny, sticky bald head) that he was in no mood for anyone else's shenanigans. In his wheelchair in the hallway, Finn was attempting to stretch his aching left leg without killing his ankle any more than was necessary. Just a few, uncomfortable minutes before, he was in the principal's office, with the coach, explaining why the star soccer player and benchwarmer McCarthy were going to be switching out for the next six weeks. The principal, in a calm fury, had simply said, "We'll get you all taken care of; don't worry" and moved on to the next thing.<br>
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The next thing was Noah Roarkes. The <i>other </i>star soccer player.<br>
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That boy never quit, did he? Finn vaguely wondered what he'd done this time: killed someone's grandmother? Traumatized a kitten? Could be anything with that boy.</div>
				
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				Last edited by a moderator: <time class="u-dt" dir="auto" datetime="2014-11-25T01:42:42-0500" data-time="1416897762" data-date-string="Nov 25, 2014" data-time-string="1:42 AM" title="Nov 25, 2014 at 1:42 AM" itemprop="dateModified">Nov 25, 2014</time>
			
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah twisted in his locker number. He was peering at it, dark eyes hazy from sleep deprivation, when  a horse voice shouted his name. Noah paused, glanced over his shoulder, and blinked slowly. There might be other students sharing the same name, but he had a suspicion the principal meant him. A boy from gym class dashed down the hall a moment later. He looked at Noah and then pointedly away from him on the way to class. That proved it then. Noah pulled his locker grabbed his notebook. It sat next to his tennis shoes for practice.<br>
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Swinging his locker closed, Noah went in the direction of the principal's office. He hovered by the door, unsure if he really wanted to go in or not, until after the bell rang. Noah would have retreated to his first period English class if the principal hadn't charged out of the office at that moment.<br>
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Noah stared at him--and then tried not to. The man's hairpiece was dangling dangerously close to the side. "Roark, I want you in my office now." He said in a voice without inflection. Somehow it made him sound intimidating despite the fashion emergency. It made Noah wonder what he'd done recently, but he couldn't think of anything. Noah stalled on the way into his office. He'd done nothing recently except argue with the coach yesterday about drills.<br>
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Suddenly nervous, Noah stepped inside. The principal followed after him. He froze. Finn. Finn with crutches? Noah's gaze went straight for his ankle. "Your foot," He said bluntly. Even with the principal there he couldn't help but ask. "Did you have an accident?"</div>
				
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				Last edited by a moderator: <time class="u-dt" dir="auto" datetime="2014-11-25T02:20:04-0500" data-time="1416900004" data-date-string="Nov 25, 2014" data-time-string="2:20 AM" title="Nov 25, 2014 at 2:20 AM" itemprop="dateModified">Nov 25, 2014</time>
			
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn gave him a look completely devoid of emotion. "Like <i>you</i> care." He leaned back against the green plaster wall and struggled to right himself as his crutches slipped. He was not going to fall in front of Noah Roarkes. "What did you do, anyway? I guess it doesn't matter; you'll get away with it." He snorted. #5 on his list of things that he found completely repulsive about Noah Roarkes: he'd never seen the kid get in trouble for anything. Ever. Meanwhile, Finn shoplifted <i>one</i> time... "Actually, I broke my ankle on purpose." he said. It was hard to tell if he was being serious or sarcastic. He glared at Noah just as the door to the principal's office opened and the coach screamed "ROARKES. NOW."<br>
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The schadenfreude Finn was feeling toward him skipped for a moment. Was coach mad at both of them for something? Considering the lecture he'd gotten for breaking his ankle, he could guess that Noah was in for it. Then he remembered who he was dealing with and settled back into a comfortable smirk. "Good luck," he offered, not meaning it.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah's impassive expression turned into a twitch. He stared at Finn with a prominent scowl. "Huh, and they say bad things only happen to good people." He said matter-of-factly. The coach hollered his name and Noah winced. Like on most days, he ignored Finn and headed forward. The coach lounged in a computer chair in the principal's office. His stomach bumped against the desk. Noah's gaze traveled to the family photo to the inspirational quotes on the wall. <i>Everyday is a second chance. </i>Noah glanced upward, the closet thing he could get to an eyeroll in front of Coach Black.<br>
<br>
<br>
The man crossed his arms. They were bulky and diamond shaped. He stared at Noah silently for a long time. The Principal cleared his throat several times in the doorway. "When I came in here today--you can't imagine how I felt to not only have one player injured," he raised his voice to a booming volume, "but another player on my team accused of beating him up?"<br>
<br>
<br>
A furrow appeared in Noah's forehead. He glanced at the principal, but the man looked at him with the same stony expression as the coach. "Beating who up?" Noah asked finally when it seemed up to him to speak. Coach Black's face bloomed in a red shade. Noah's neutral expression slipped further. But he wasn't sure what they wanted him to say. "Who are we talking about?"<br>
<br>
<br>
"Where's Finn?" The coach demanded. He stood, his hands fists on the desk. "QUESHIRE!" Coach Black looked at the principal. "Get him in here."</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn couldn't hear the words, but <i>oh, boy, </i>he could hear that the coach was mad. Interesting. Noah finally getting in trouble? He certainly deserved it. Finn pushed forward, ever so quietly, on his crutches, sidling crab wise up to the door and slowly bent down, grimacing in pain. But he needed to balance on both feet, or he'd fall. So he dealt with it.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Beating who up?" Noah asked, and Finn audibly gasped-- not that anyone not pressed against the door could have heard it. Noah had beat someone up? He'd always thought Noah was the type to start trouble, but he'd had a little faith in his team member. "Who are we talking about?" asked Noah, and Finn slowly pulled away from the door. He knew what he needed to know. Noah had clearly beat up so many people, that he didn't know who was who anymore. Finn was just in standing position with his crutches, not yet out of the way of the smoky window, when he heard the scream. "QUESHIRE!" Oh, it figured Noah would say something to get him in trouble. He swung backward on his crutches, a wide arc away from the door, just as the door opened. He'd narrowly avoided being hit.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Come in," said the Coach. His face was <i>twitching</i>.<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn swung in, Coach holding the door open, and stood next to Noah. Too close. His bare, bruised arm (Finn was a definite proponent of short-sleeves on his T-shirts) brushed against Noah's jacket. There wasn't enough room elsewhere for him and his crutches. One crutch stretched across Noah, like a shield. Or a barrier. "Whatever Noah accused me of, I have an alibi for this entire weekend and Friday," he stated calmly, and the coach sighed.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Enough is enough," he said. "You two need to start getting along. I think the best course of action right now would be for you to spend more time together. You have a lot in common."<br>
<br>
<br>
"No, we don't," said Finn. "I assure you- <i>I </i>am not like <i>him</i>."<br>
<br>
<br>
"Boys." said the Principal. "I've already made my decision. Noah, you're going to be walking Finn from class to class and taking care of any needs he may have in regards to his ankle until it heals in six to eight weeks."<br>
<br>
<br>
"But-"<br>
<br>
<br>
"No buts, Finn. Learn to get along."<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn turned his head and glared. "This is all your fault!"</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah gritted his teeth at Finn. Everything he did sparked the rivalry between them. Noah tried to ignore him but the boy never stopped. The principal watched the exchange with a growing protectiveness of Finn. Noah scoffed under his breath and turned away from the other soccer player. "I didn't do anything to him." He said without looking at anyone. Noah kept his gaze fixated on the principal's lamp. His posture was taut.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Be that as it may--" The principal began in a condescending tone,<br>
<br>
<br>
"I've had enough of your attitude Roark." Coach Black pressed forward against the desk. He reluctantly met his gaze. Noah's eyes gleamed bright behind a mask of impassivity. "Soccer isn't a single person sport. Cooperate with Queshire on and off the field or you'll be on the bench right beside him." The coach swayed backward in the computer chair and its entire center of balance shifted.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah stared at Finn. His dark eyes, naturally narrow, intensified. Despite his attitude, Finn looked clumsy on his crutches. And obviously incapable of bringing textbooks to class. Or of handling any kind of weight really. "I'll help him." Noah said after a moment. If it meant he could keep playing soccer. He didn't immediately swerve his gaze from Finn to the principal, but when he did the man was nodding.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Excellent." The principal glanced at the clock. "Pick up an excuse from Cathy so you're not counted tardy on the way out."</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn, noticing the talk between them, suddenly realized what was going on. His eyes got very big very fast. "Whoa. Wait. No. Look, we don't need to cooperate off-field; he didn't beat me up; and I don't need that much help. I can just ask one of my friends. Look, I bet we both agree this is a nuisance. Don't we both agree?" <i>And I shouldn't have to be punished because I broke my ankle. </i>He could see it was too late; Coach was getting mad at him, shifting in his chair.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Queshire," the Principal warned.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Fine," snapped Finn. "If that's the way it's going to be." He glared at each adult in the room in turn and then looked at Noah, not with a glare or malice, but with the tired, impatient look of one who has given up. "I don't have much room to turn, but if you can get between me and the door I can crabwalk without worrying about falling over on anything hard."<br>
<br>
<br>
"That's the spirit!" said the coach.<br>
<br>
<br>
"I hate my life. Let's go."</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah stared at Finn blankly for a moment--which overturned into a quizzical expression. He couldn't understand Finn at all sometimes. Noah slid in between him and the door as ordered. He glanced at the red-head as he passed him, careful not to brush too close. Finn's athletic build made Noah resentful as he looked him over--he was the other great player on the team. Outside the office, Noah pushed against the door to widen it more for Finn to get out.<br>
<br>
<br>
He glanced from the coach, who's hearty mood was restored, to the principal, looking less hearty, to Finn. Noah planted his hands into his pockets. He openly glared at him when the door shut behind them. On Noah, the intensity was all behind his eyes. He kept a moody silence and walked past Finn to get two passes from the secretary. They crumpled in his fist.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Where's your first period?" Noah asked and he looked at the side of the secretary's computer monitor instead of Finn. "Do you need help getting there?' As soon as he said it, Noah foresaw it was a stupid question. As if Finn would admit to needing his help even if he did.<br>
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Noah gritted his teeth. "Show me where you locker is, okay?" He glanced over to meet Finn's gaze and forced himself to hold it.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn didn't say a single word-- not even a thank you-- until he reached his locker, propelling himself forward using the crutches. It was 38C. All the other students in their grade had lockers 1-37, A and B, and shared in groups of 3. Finn did not. Finn had persuaded the Principal into letting him have the abandoned "ghost locker" right by the boiler room. Supposedly, some kid had gotten shoved in there by a senior a few years ago and suffocated, but Finn had never had any problems here. He didn't even have to share his locker with anyone-- unless you bought into the ghost idea. Which he didn't. Really, this locker was ideal because the camera had a blind spot encompassing the whole locker, meaning as long as he stood in front of it, they couldn't see him. And the boiler took care of the audio.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Ground rules," said Finn, looking at Noah and holding his gaze. "You carry my stuff and don't bother me and I'll pretend I get along with you. Don't touch me. Don't talk to me, or about me. And just know, if you embarrass me or my friends, I have already thought of a thousand ways to make your life a living hell. Don't make me use them." There was a calm fire behind his words. He turned around and flipped open his locker, pulling out all the books he'd need before lunch. He had to balance on his good foot, but he didn't mind. "Take these." There was no 'please' or 'thank you' involved. Their relationship was hatred, and that was all. And Finn, for one, preferred to keep it that way.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah's eyebrow triggered. He held out his hands for the books on reflex of being offered them. Noah glanced from the ridiculously obscure locker to the boiler room with lips pressed into a line. Despite his wondering gaze, he heard Finn's every word. Noah tried not to grit his teeth. "You talk too much." He said in a flat voice. "It's just a sprained ankle. How much touching do you think's involved? And maybe you should have thought of that before you hurt yourself. Idiot." Noah got more aggravated as he went on. It made him scowl to realize Finn got him to say so much when he so recently resolved to ignore him as much as possible.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Why is your locker out here? It's ridiculously out of the way." Noah continued his tirade. He balanced Finn's books on top of his notebook and carried them underhanded. Noah glanced at the clock with a growing weariness. First period began twenty minutes ago. It made him anxious but not in a way he would share with Finn. "Come on. You're making me late for class." Noah said. He took stock of Finn's books and noticed they were heavier than his.<br>
<br>
<br>
The teachers claimed Finn was some type of genius. But Noah failed to see it. He blinked at the text books, unimpressed. "So, how did you hurt yourself anyway? Was it an upperclassmen? Or maybe you fell during practice?" Noah asked. The concept of Finn trying to kick a ball and falling on his face made Noah smile momentarily.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn gave him a look. "Privacy." He said simply. "So I don't have to deal with nosy, unwanted questions from boys I don't like." He grinned cheekily. Point made. "And it's broken. Not sprained. But, since you are carrying my books to class like a good little slave, I'll tell you: I was pushed off some playground equipment by my ex." He glanced up again; he'd caught a glimpse of Noah's grin earlier, and he wanted to see if it was back. <i>Sadist. </i>He rolled his eyes. "I had a choice between landing on my head or my feet, and so I chose to land on my feet. I'm sure you would have preferred it if I'd hit my head and died, but I didn't." They approached Noah's English class, and Finn realized he didn't want an answer to that statement. He didn't want to continue the conversation.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Hand me my books and my hall pass. I'll wait for the hall monitor and she'll help me to my next class." He rolled his eyes. "I mean, unless you're skipping."</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">"No," Noah said simply. He wasn't just ignoring Finn's orders out of spite, helping him was Noah's responsibility now. Sending a brief glance toward his classroom, he turned toward Finn. Noah wouldn't give him his books back and it wasn't like Finn could take them."The coach wanted me to help you. So I'm going too. I know how you would love it if I was kicked off the team, but it's not happening."  Noah frowned momentarily at the thought. He passed Finn in the hall and walked a ways to get the point across.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah's gaze grew introspective as he processed Finn's explanation. It didn't make him pity him, but at the same time, Noah wouldn't insult him either. "That's rough." Noah said but he couldn't say from experience. He wasn't sure if Finn would believe any display of sincerity from him, but he didn't care what Finn thought, so he could be honest. Noah had a hard time imaging the type of person who would date Finn, but he kept that bit to himself.<br>
<br>
<br>
After a moment, Noah froze. "Wait! Why the hell didn't you tell coach that?" Noah whirled on Finn and stared him down. "Or the principal! Why am I babysitting you?"</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">"It wasn't their business," said Finn simply. "And I did tell them you didn't beat me up; they just didn't believe me. You look scary; it's your own fault." He glared back until his face got all hot and weird, when he had to look away. That in itself was infuriating-- it probably looked like he was blushing. Finn could imagine what Noah was thinking. Oh, my. "You look like a grim reaper." He looked down at his watch. It was a little busted (a combination of years of use and having been with him during the fall on Sunday) but it was a one-of-a-kind, uniquely created, Danny Phantom timepeice and his only reminder (outside of his bedroom) that he was ever a nerd. Luckily, Noah didn't know that. No one knew that. Finley was gone.<br>
<br>
<br>
It was late. "It's almost nine. We may as well walk to second period and wait outside. What do you think?" Without waiting for a response, he launched forward, using his crutches as a means to pole vault. "Also, why do you think Coach thinks we're alike? The only similarity I can see is that we're both boys, and frankly, I think that's debatable on your end."<br>
<br>
<br>
((Sorry for bad reply-- I'm on someone else's phone.))</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">The passive-aggressive silence that had Noah pressing his lips together faltered. "We both play soccer." He said in a voice of waning patience. Of everyone on the team, why was he always singled out for mouthing off and not Finn? Noah stared at him with narrow eyes that wavered after a moment. "Your aim's always off. With the ball. And you're slow when someone passes to you." Noah remembered wanting to tell him this before. After their last game. But the other guys in their team pretended not to hear him when he critiqued their playing style. Noah knew by now to keep it to himself. He got flustered by how easily Finn could worm under his skin.<br>
<br>
<br>
The evident struggle taking place on Noah's face subsided. He watched Finn warily--the way he maneuvered in his crutches made him want to say something. But at the same time, Noah didn't want to give him the impression that he cared. "If you fall and hurt yourself, I'll leave you."  Noah said, giving him a needle point look. He didn't wait for the inevitable comeback to roll his eyes upward.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Are you coming to practice?" Noah asked as it occurred to him. He glanced from Finn to his foot. As much as he wanted him to refuse, the idea of any of his teammates missing practice irked Noah. "The game's this weekend. You are coming to that aren't you?"<br>
<br>
<br>
(No way, your last post was funny. So, Noah saying Finn was slow and stuff at soccer was him being offended and overly critical. I don't mean to imply that Finn is really either of those things.)</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn stared at him. "Yes. We both play soccer and we're male. That's two things." He pursed his lips at the accusation and waited for the anger to ebb before realizing that if Noah was talking about his last game, it was true. He'd been slow when Wesley kicked him the ball last game, and although it had come nowhere close to costing them the game (seven goals to four), he'd gotten some glares from his normally cordial teammates and a talking-to from Coach. Thing was, it was kind of Coach's fault for hiring a new assistant coach right before the big game. The guy was weird. First of all, who wears tight neon pink skinny jeans to a soccer game? And then <i>stares </i>at the boys in the locker room (not that anyone else seemed to have noticed)? And then continually cheered for one boy in particular on the field when he was supposed to be cheering on the whole team? Poor Noah. Finn had had that kind of singular attention on him before, and it wasn't fun. Or even comfortable. Needless to say, he had a <i>talk </i>with the assistant, and that guy was <i>not </i>coming back.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah must never know that Finn had stuck up for him.<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn wasn't even sure he knew that that guy was into him. He was either very oblivious or a good actor.<br>
<br>
<br>
"I was distracted at the last game. I explained my reasons why to Coach; the issue has been taken care of." Finn actually hadn't said anything to Coach, but he didn't feel like explaining that he kicked some guy's butt for staring at his teammate wrong. Let Coach take the blame for that guy's hospital bills. Bottom line: Adults should not be going after children.<br>
<br>
<br>
As he was lost in thought, he heard Noah say something else. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Here's my second period." The door here was three doors closer to them than his first period, and Finn just didn't see the point of continuing. "I don't get hurt that easy. Just if you push me off playground equipment..." He smiled weakly at his lame joke, but he knew he wasn't impervious to pain or injury. Clearly he wasn't.<br>
<br>
<br>
"I never a miss a game, bro. I could catch a dangerous, contagious disease and I'd still be there."<br>
<br>
<br>
A few seconds passed. "You are going to hand me my books, right?"</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah took Finn on his word that he would win more points next game. He didn't like acknowledging that they had anything in common, but Finn probably cared about soccer as much as he did. He worked as hard. Noah glanced at the class room briefly. The students inside were gathering their stuff for the period change. Noah turned toward Finn when he confirmed coming to the game--and was grudgingly satisfied with the answer.  "Even if you had a dangerous, contagious disease, huh?" Noah repeated dubiously but then he nodded. "Well, whatever. If the coach sees us together he might calm down some."<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah scowled as he remembered Coach's threat to bench him earlier. If he refused to work with Finn. As if he thought their bitter rivalry on the field wouldn't translate to real life. Although Finn seemed less annoying now than usual--Noah wondered if he was becoming desensitized to him.<br>
<br>
<br>
The bell rang for second period. Noah separated his stuff from Finn's and tried to figure out how to pass the books to him without them potentially falling from his grip.<br>
<br>
<br>
He peered in the classroom and decided he should probably carry the books to Finn's  desk when Wesley and Jansen came out of the room together, Jansen's hyena laugh gave them away before Noah noticed them. The other members of the soccer team stared openly at Finn and Noah. Jansen looked smug as he deduced Finn's broken ankle. Wesley kept his expression blank. "Hey, guys." Jansen said after the moment it took to recover from the surprise. He sounded perpetually upbeat. "What happened Finn?" Jansen eyed his crutches and his eyebrows shot up, "Did you and Noah brawl to decide who's the best on the team?"<br>
<br>
<br>
Jansen glanced at Wesley. "Finn's in crutches, but Noah's carrying his stuff, so I think he won."<br>
<br>
<br>
"That sucks man. You'll probably miss practice for a while, huh?" Wesley's gaze skirted from the hall to Finn's briefly. "How long do you have on those things?"</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">"Oh, I, uh..." Finn turned a bright red and decided that honesty was not the best policy when it came to Jansen. Besides, out of all people, Jansen knew exactly what had happened to Finn. Which probably meant he was the one who told the Principal that Noah beat him up. Still, Finn didn't glare at him like he would have if, say, Noah had pulled something like this. If he lived in a house like Jansen lived in, he'd make some pretty bad choices too. "I had an accident. It had nothing to do with Noah at all. I'll be at practice, though." He smiled lightly, trying to keep a friendly atmosphere. It wasn't working-- Jansen had one of <i>those </i>auras. "I have about six weeks, according to my doctor," said Finn, "but I've broken bones before, and I heal up pretty fast, so it might not be that long."<br>
<br>
<br>
Jansen laughed. "Bull. You're too scrawny to heal up very fast. Besides, how are you supposed to heal when you keep having accidents?" His tone was light and sugar sweet, but it had a palpable threat behind it. Finn paled, to Jansen's clear delight. "Seriously. A piece of advice: you should be more careful about who you get involved with. I mean, what. You could get seriously hurt."<br>
<br>
<br>
"Right," said Finn quickly, looking away.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Well, I gotta go," said Jansen. "Sorry about your leg." He sounded remarkably sincere. "Come on, Wesley. Bye, Noah. Finn, I'll see you later." He began walking down the hallway, but Wesley didn't follow.<br>
<br>
<br>
"I'm sorry..." muttered Wesley. "He's acting weird lately. I don't know what has gotten into him! He used to be so nice."<br>
<br>
<br>
"Cut him some slack," said Finn without thinking. "His mom just got remarried and his new stepsiblings are awful-- trust me." He rolled his eyes, but couldn't help but remember Tyler shoving him off the top of the playground playhouse. He shuddered. "He'll go back to normal soon enough. Noah, we need to get to class."</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah watched the exchange with an air of someone removed from the whole thing. Jansen rarely spoke to him outside of practice and it went both ways. There was a define separation between life and soccer for him that Finn didn't seem to subscribe to. Noah looked at him as he defended Jansen, spouting off information about the other player's home life Noah didn't know but clung to. He felt a quite appreciation for Finn's know-how on the issue. Wesley passed them on his own way to class, the boy slumming his backpack against his shoulder. He went to his girlfriend's side and ducked his head almost shyly.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah peered at Finn without even the energy for impatience. As if he had missed the bell ringing. It wasn't like Finn would be the one late for class. Noah stepped into the class room, taking note of the academic posters on the wall. He settled Finn's textbooks on the desk closest to the door. Noah's fingers scaled the side of the stack to even it out before he stepped back.<br>
<br>
<br>
He glanced at Finn for a moment. A sharp-eyed assessment of him left Noah willing to abide by a temporary truce. As long a Finn didn't try to bait him. He pressed his lips into a line and struggled with how to voice that sentiment. "I guess I'll catch you later." Noah said instead, a little put out with himself. "Whatever you do, don't leave until I get here." Noah added, more lightheartedly than he was used to with Finn.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah tucked his notebook under his arm and stepped out from the classroom. He spent a moment marking it in his memory so he could swing by after his own second period. They had the same third period class for gym. Even if Finn couldn't participate, the more the coach saw them together the better.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn watched Wesley leave, feeling gratified that at least he wasn't the only one who'd noticed that Jansen was off-color. He was surprised, frankly, that Noah hadn't called him out on it-- it had been going on for months and was affecting his soccer playing. He frowned. It was probably because the captain liked Jansen, while he hated Finn. Any time Finn did something wrong, Noah would be sure to inform him. And common courtesy dictated that Finn do the same thing for him-- almost as if they could stand each other. It was for the good of the team.<br>
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<br>
He crutched as fast as possible and sat on the desk with his books.<br>
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"Well, I can't carry my books, so..." He looked at Noah with a quiet resentment. He was uncomfortable. He didn't like this arrangement. A moment later, his students (who were always late) hurried in, some of them his former classmates. Before he could turn around, Finn glanced Noah over quickly. "Thank you. Also, your fly is unzipped."</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">(Hey there...I'm not getting notifications for RPs right now so if you could tag me whenever you reply? Thanks.)</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah directed his scathing dislike at Finn until he realized it really was unzipped. He strode down the hallway, his expression betraying none of the red hot embarrassment he felt. Noah headed into the boys bathroom a moment to fix the problem and then headed to class. Second period was Chemistry. The room smelled perpetually like fumage. Possibly from too many lab experiment done via teenagers with a bare understanding of how to follow instructions. The teacher had hulled up at her computer desk even though class had started a few minutes ago. Of the thirty or so other students in her class, which was a capacity against state regulations but the school couldn't afford to hire anyone else, the person in the desk next to Noah's assigned one was Jansen.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah settled into his seat and glanced at him. The goalie reared back as if wary that Noah would speak to him. "You and Finn seem close." Noah said. The other students around them paused mid conversation to peer their way. Like talking was a spectator sport all of a sudden. Noah's jaw twitched in irritation but he fought through it. The reserve Jansen had wore off and he made a vague head gesture that was probably a nod.<br>
<br>
<br>
"You told the coach I was dipping in the gym." Jansen said as fact. Even though he had no proof Noah said anything. But the dark haired boy nodded. He wondered what tied Finn and Jansen together but the two of them seemed to lack. Noah had always been on the receiving end of his narrowed gaze.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah turned in his desk. "Yeah," he said softly, "sorry," The admission took effort to voice. A one word bridge to cover the gap between them--and all Noah would ever offer. He did regret telling Coach. If only because it had nothing to do with soccer and therefore none of his concern.<br>
<br>
<br>
Some of the wariness from Jansen had dissipated. He nodded. "Your parents ditched you last year, didn't they?" Noah blinked at how inaccurate a summary of his life that was. And Jansen said it like that absolved Noah of something rather than made him lesser in his eyes. Noah's mother and father divorced. They moved to separate states. Nether pretended they could raise a son better than his grandparents could and left it at that. "So, you asked about Finn?" Jansen said, a little more receptive this time. He rolled his cracked lips. "Can I ask you something weird?"<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah quirked an eyebrow. He nodded after a moment though. Most conversation with Jansen would have ended before now. Noah sort of wanted to keep it going. And the goalie hadn't dished on Finn yet.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Are you gay?" The words brutally uncensored.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah jarred back in his seat, conscious of all the students listening into their conversation from before. He walled off from Jansen and directed his attention to the smart bored. Jansen didn't ask again.<br>
<br>
<br>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah went to pick Finn up after the bell rang. He parted past the other students into the familiar upstairs classroom.<br>
<br>
<br>
<a href="https://www.rpnation.com/profile/1829-melix/" class="link link--internal" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rpnation.com%2Fprofile%2F1829-melix%2F&amp;hash=9746acb625be124df8f83978bfbf454a">@Melix</a> (Sorry this is crazy long.)</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn was teaching the class. It was his personal opinion that a student only needed two (sometimes three) free periods a day; however, unfortunately, Finn had completed his last math course required to get a Lorcan University degree in Specialized Mathematics last summer, as well as this year's history, and had what he felt was way too much time on his hands for a self-proclaimed evil genius. Especially since no new sports had been invented that he found even remotely interesting.<br>
<br>
<br>
Then it turned out that the Remedial Maths teacher was completely incompetent. Although the work was somewhat beneath him, Finn took kids from study hall everyday who needed extra help and tutored them under the promise that they would never speak a word about the soccer star being a math geek...<br>
<br>
<br>
The class that Finn was teaching was a class of one. All his other students had went and got late passes to study hall, satisfied that they now knew their stuff. Red, a transfer student from sunny southern California, had not left. "And then you carry the one..." He showed Red the rest of the steps until Red got it, gleaming. Finn vaguely wondered when they'd ended up lying on their stomachs on the classroom, but it didn't hurt at all that Red's arm was brushing against his or that their heads were so close that he could feel Red's every breath...Yup. This one was definitely his favorite student.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Is it 17.2?" How cute. Of course it was. Finn nodded, smiling yup.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Yes!" Red cheered, his blond-with-brown-streaks hair flying all about and slapping Finn in the face.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Hey, be careful with those...hair weapons of mass destruction!" He was too worked up over this senior cutie in front of him to think up anything clever to say.<br>
<br>
<br>
"I will not. I will annihilate you with my hair follicles...of doom! And my fingers!" And then Red pounced on him, tickling him until Finn was blue in the face, he was laughing so hard. Pinning him down, Red waited until Finn had caught his breath before going, "Hey, teach."<br>
<br>
<br>
"Ya?" asked Finn, running a hand through his hair.<br>
<br>
<br>
"I have a seven digit equation I want you to help me solve. It's super important." He winked at Finn, who winked back, having a good idea of where this was going. And where he wanted it to go. Red was totally about to ask for his phone number! He was completely willing to give him it, too. Out or not, the chance to date a cutie of this caliber were once in a lifetime, so of course he'd give him his phone number. And then the door opened.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Ah, crap, it's your boyfriend," hissed Red.<br>
<br>
<br>
And Finn looked up to see Noah.<br>
<br>
<br>
Wait, Noah? Boyfriend? What on Earth gave Red that impression?<br>
<br>
<br>
(Not a problem-- I love long! Thanks!)<br>
<br>
<br>
&nbsp;<br>(Oh, and in case that was confusing...whenever Noah walks in, Finn, who was flirting with a senior, appears to be in a compromising position {although, considering, it was really pretty innocent} AND the senior thinks Finn and Noah are dating. So Finn's, like, dying right now... It's his own stupid fault, he should have locked the door.)</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">"Ah, crap, it's your boyfriend," hissed Red.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah pressed the door open and hesitated. His grip on the door handle was the only thing grounding him. Noah looked at Finn and Red--a senior in his art class--for the two seconds it took to process the situation and then directed his gaze toward the wall. It didn't work. The image of Finn leaning in toward Red wouldn't go away. It took all of his strength of will to glance back. Jansen's question from before made sense now. "I didn't know you would be the only guys in here." He said. They had gym next. Noah wondered if he should let Red take Finn's stuff to their third period. He obviously interrupted something. But at the same time, he needed the Coach to know he tried with helping Finn. Noah took too long deciding.<br>
<br>
<br>
Red stood and tugged down his t-shirt, tousled from lying in the floor. He grabbed his bag and slug it over his shoulder. "I should get going then." Noah noticed his two-toned hair before anything else. And it took effort to concentrate on what Red said. Especially when the blond slid a hand through his hair. "Look, Noah," Noah blinked. Red apparently knew his name too. They hadn't spoken before now, but a lot of people at school did follow the sports teams.<br>
<br>
<br>
"I don't want to mess with whatever you two got going on. Don't worry." Red turned his head and smiled at Finn. "Later, teach."<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah stepped away from the door to let him pass. He scowled after Red. Some people instinct Noah didn't know he had said Red was all smooth talk and swagger, no substance. He looked at Finn again and then at his stack of books. Noah leaned against the desk. "Do people. . . think we're dating?" Noah swept his fingers though his hair. They argued about everything. And insulted each other in public. It made no sense. Noah's gaze widened as another thought occurred to him. "Do our teammates think we're dating?" He remembered what Jensen said and then tried not to.<br>
<br>
<br>
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br>
<br>
<br>
(Sorry this is late-ish. I had a minor case of writer's block. <a href="https://www.rpnation.com/profile/1829-melix/" class="link link--internal" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rpnation.com%2Fprofile%2F1829-melix%2F&amp;hash=9746acb625be124df8f83978bfbf454a">@Melix</a>)</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">(It's fine! I like it. Not late at all...)<br>
<br>
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"But he's not my boyfriend..." Finn protested, when it was just a little too late. The door closed just as he'd said it, and Red glanced back, but made no effort to turn all the way around for him, so Finn had to roll himself over to his crutches and awkwardly get up. It took more time than it should have, and by the time he'd got to the door, pushing past Noah, Red had disappeared down the hallway. "He's not my anything," he shouted down the hallway, but Red didn't come back. If Noah's gaze hadn't paralyzed him, he could have made it. He could feel the heat of anger...<br>
<br>
<br>
"You scared away my student!" He whirled around on Noah, glaring. Only one crutch balanced him, so the other hit the air next to Noah. "What part of 'don't embarrass me in front of my friends' did you not understand? If you'd been only a few seconds later, I could have given him my number, but <i>no</i>. You had to ruin the affections of the only guy who's liked me other than the guy who <i>shoved me off the playground top. </i>And that was your fault, too! Why do you ruin everything, huh? Do you enjoy making sure I don't have everything you do? Athletic ability? A date? Maybe a social life I don't have to put <i>all</i> my effort into?" He'd never told anyone this (though now, maybe it was more apparent) but Noah was a threat to Finn. He beat Finn in athletics (sometimes); he was a point of contention between Finn's ex-girlfriend <i>and </i>ex-boyfriend (why?); and he pointed out every single tiny mistake Finn made. No one wanted to be friends with a guy who had the sheer quantity of mistakes Noah thought he made. Especially when it was Noah, who was easily the most popular guy at school, whether he knew it or not. Finn really had to work at making friends. "Why do you hate me? What have I ever done to you to warrant you consistently ruining my life?"<br>
<br>
<br>
He stared at Noah and licked his lips. Yelling had made them parched. He stood there shaking. "No. I don't have any idea why our teammates would think we're dating." He shrugged. "I've been dating one of Jansen's stepbrothers for two years. I just broke up with him yesterday. If our teammates think we're dating, it's his fault for not setting them straight." Finn sighed and the shaking got worse. His crutches were wobbling furiously; he looked straight into Noah's face and gulped. "It won't help, but I'm sorry. I'm sorry I yelled at you. Are you going to kick me off the soccer team, now that you have proof I'm gay?" He swallowed saliva that wasn't there. His voice dropped to a whisper. <i>"The only reason I've stayed in the closet so long was so I could play soccer. Please don't kick me off."</i></div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah narrowed his gaze at first. The longer Finn shouted at him, the more he wanted to shout back. But then he just didn't anymore. "You can't leave the team." Noah said finally, an order and declaration of shock. His sternness faltered as he held Finn's gaze. The other player's total write off of him hurt more than it should have. Fans packed the stadium for their games. Even the practice matches--maybe specifically those--to watch Noah and Finn compete head to head. They never liked each other. But Noah thought of them as a duo. Without Finn there, their soccer team would lose its uniqueness. One half wasn't enough, to keep winning, the team needed to be whole. "You're," Noah's voice cracked, unused to giving praise, "a great player."<br>
<br>
<br>
"Who do I play against if you leave?" Noah asked and it wasn't a rhetorical question. Wesley and Jansen put in half the hours they did and played one forth as well. He glanced at the posters on the wall to have something to focus on besides Finn. His fists tightened, curled into his sides. Third period had probably already started. "We're undefeated right now. I can't carry the team by myself." Noah muttered, awkward and halting as he spoke. He wasn't sure if Finn caught the subtext in what he said.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah stared at the floor. It bothered him that someone with Finn's coordination sucked so hard on crutches. Noah pressed his lips into a line. "I'll tell Red. . . " Noah trailed off and he scowled, not in dislike for the task, but for the person. "I'll tell everyone who's confused, that I'm not your boyfriend." The last word was so mumbled it took him a second to identify it. Noah knew that he went beat red in situations like these.<br>
<br>
<br>
"But Jansen's step-brother sounds like an asshole, and I think you have terrible taste in guys." Noah said, perhaps out of some impulsive need to have the last word. "Wesley seems nice." He added as an afterthought. But then Wesley had a girlfriend. Noah went quiet as he thought of any sports types more compatible with Finn. No one came to mind. Finn did have a terrible personality.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah glanced at Finn. He talked too much and complained and had outbursts. But Noah doubted it was hard for him to find someone. Unless Finn was picky. Which he probably was. "You're okay." It would have sounded bizarre to anyone else. Noah called Finn many things, but never something so close to a compliment.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn looked down, expecting a full-on tirade of hate. He'd known that Noah was homophobic since the ninth grade, when the...health class incident had occurred. It was way before Finn knew what an a**hole Noah was, back when he was determined to make friends with the whole soccer team, basketball team, and even the football team, who were surprisingly unpopular. He'd only met Noah enough times for them to say "hi" in the hallway and have that be socially acceptable...but he'd never said hi to Noah in the hallway. Something about Noah had put him off...he should have listened to his instincts.<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn realized with a burning face that now was not the time to reminisce about days gone by. He needed to wait for Noah's verdict...harsh as it may be. "You can't leave the team," said Noah. Finn glanced up quickly, confused. That wasn't at all what he'd been expecting out of Noah...did he have some kind of ulterior motive? "You're...a great player." Finn looked at him, completely baffled by his praise before he realized Noah was being serious. Also, how hard it must be for Noah to compliment him, given his cracked voice...Finn smiled, and for once it was not a smirk. That was nice. Noah must be trying really hard to be civil. Maybe he had grown since that day. He knew what the proper response was, but what came rolling off his tongue was a kind of strangled sound a baby animal makes when being caught in a hunter's trap.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah seemed to pay no notice. "Who do I play against if you leave?" There. That was it-- the ulterior motive. Finn had been buttered up. "I..." Finn began. Noah seemed kind of upset. "I'm not leaving," he protested. "I'd never leave. I love soccer more than...more than life itself. I just...want to stay on the team."<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah continued. "I'll tell Red..." He mumbled something else and blushed. Never before had he felt such sympathy for someone like Noah. Without thinking about it he reached out and touched Noah's hand.<br>
<br>
<br>
"You don't have to," Finn informed him. God, he was quiet... "If he's stupid enough to think you would date me, then clearly he's not of an intelligence I find attractive in a mate." That was better-- but Noah's next words halted him. He didn't know how to respond to the compliment, so he responded to the insult. He pulled his hand back. "I do not like Wesley," he informed Noah, "nor any member of our soccer team. And I'm perfectly aware I have bad taste," he said, not taking his eyes off of Noah's face. "It's not on purpose. Trust me; if I <i>were</i> into getting hurt in a relationship, I'd date you." As soon as it came out of his mouth, Finn realized how awful it sounded. How mean it was-- and how out of context. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Here, you can smack me in the face. It'll make you feel better." He bared his cheek toward the young man, waiting for the sting.<br>
<br>
<br>
(So it's pretty apparent that Finn has no idea how to take a compliment and also is pretty awful at flirting...sarcasm has become his enemy here.)</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah stared at Finn without expression. For a moment it seemed like Finn complimented him. But then-- Noah glanced over the cheek Finn stuck out toward him. His dark gaze rolled over Finn's hair and jawline before settling on the wall somewhere. "What's that supposed to mean?" Noah asked, clinging to the insult--t<i>rust me</i>;<i> if I were into getting hurt in a relationship, I'd date you--</i>despite Finn's apology. Noah invented a thousand possible meanings for that statement but couldn't twist it in a way that worked with his self-image.<br>
<br>
<br>
He knew he bothered his teammates with his persistent perfectionism and standoffish attitude--but he never hurt any of them on a personal level. That Noah knew of. The team didn't talk much with him off field enough to argue. He stared at Finn, gaze burning as if looking at him would yield answers. Or Finn would call him out on what a terrible person he really was. Noah took a step toward him, paused. "At least I haven't pushed anyone off a swing set." Noah said, his neediness, his instinct to lash out and even the score, only sounded ugly to Noah in hindsight. He scowled.<br>
<br>
<br>
If Finn were involved, it always made him more reactive and passionate than normal. Noah took a deep breath and let it go. The other player brought out the competitiveness he felt on the soccer field.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah shrugged his backpack further onto his shoulder. "Let's just go." He said, moodiness apparent. Go before they fell into an awkward silence. Escape wasn't an option considering they were practically ball and chained to each other. Noah looked at Finn again--he sneaked glances. Because even though Noah resented his presence, being near Finn also energized him.<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn always had something to say. Even if Noah preferred he kept his mouth shut. Of all the traits he liked/disliked/liked? about Finn, his openness ranked near the top. Next to soccer ability. "And I'm glad about Red. He seems terrible." Noah muttered and he hoped it needled him. He grabbed Finn's stuff. "Also, for the record," Noah paused to scowl, "I wouldn't hurt anyone that I dated." He held Finn's gaze until he felt the point went across. Then he glanced away, lugging Finn's stuff closer to his chest.<br>
<br>
<br>
-<br>
<br>
<br>
(The denial is strong in this kid. Noah is starting to crush on Finn. Lol<img src="https://www.rpnation.com/media/emoticon2-sleepzzzz.23703/full?d=1488656403" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt="zzzz" title="sleeping zzz    zzzz" data-shortname="zzzz"> he's fighting it though  xD  )</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">"I'm sorry..." said Finn again. "I just- ugh. I was thinking about the health class incident and it kind of made me mad at you and then you said something that sort of mildly set me off and my mouth decided to run away without my brain being fully on board." And then he bit his tongue,  because he'd done it again. Let his mouth run away without his brain. No, this time he hadn't insulted Noah. But he had just let Noah know that he still got mad about something that happened years ago, or, if Noah didn't remember (which he probably didn't, Finn reflected), that he was still upset over something that <i>Noah couldn't remember</i>. To let someone have that kind of power over you, especially an enemy,  was bad. To let them know about it was worse. But Finn already knew if he tried to back up, he would only make the situation worse. So he forced himself to, just this once, close his mouth.<br>
<br>
<br>
"At least I haven't pushed anyone off a swing set."<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn concentrated on his breathing. <i>Ten...nine...</i>When he felt calm, what he said was: "The only reason I told you that is because you're indifferent to me, so you're the only person who wouldn't care how I got hurt. My parents think I'm klutzy. My friend Sayuri thinks I'm emo. Don't you dare laugh, I will smack that smile off your face," he growled. "Since I'm already in the sort of messed-up situation where the only person I can trust to keep a secret is my worst enemy, I'd appreciate if you didn't take that so lightly as to tease me about it." He felt like he was giving a P.S.A. "Thank you."<br>
<br>
<br>
He crutched along more quickly, getting slightly ahead of his teammate, until he could cross the threshold of the gymnasium, and waited for him there. He couldn't open the door and keep hold of his crutches-- and even if he could, it would look better if he and Noah arrived together. Although having Noah around was beneficial to him, he was secretly (not so secretly) hoping for a better model-- if not a cuter model, a nicer model, with a gay option-- to carry his stuff. And he knew that Noah wasn't exactly enjoying this either. "By the way, if it makes you feel better about carrying my stuff, my mini-camcorder is tucked into my pocket. Since the freshman and sophomore girls are doing the volleyball unit, and I'll be sitting out, I'll record them for you." There. Maybe now Noah would be friendly. What straight guy could turn down girls' volleyball? None that he knew of.<br>
<br>
<br>
(Yay, you replied~ Sorry it took me so long. I was grounded. Oh, by the way, you don't have to tag me anymore! The notifications are working! Yay!)</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah frowned as he strode toward the gymnasium. Since Finn asked point-blank, he probably wouldn't bring up the swing-set incident again. Noah wondered who the guy Finn dated was. At the same time he didn't want to know either. Jansen's stepbrother needed punched for benching the second best player on the team a week before game day. Noah glanced at Finn, who had somehow gotten ahead of him on crutches. There were nuances to Finn he never knew existed. It sort of bothered him that his biggest competition focused on more in his life than soccer but still played well.<br>
<br>
<br>
 Noah's soft steps lulled to a halt. He reached around to pull the gym door open for Finn. Everyone had already finished warm-up exercises. Coach Black blew the whistle at the girl's volleyball team and the switched positions in their formation. The boys jogged on the upper level until it was time to switch, up there was where Noah should have been. He made a B-line toward the benches. Noah settled Finn's stuff and balanced everything so it wouldn't fall. "You own a mini-camcorder?" That impressed Noah for two seconds until Finn went on to offer to tape their classmates for him. Some of those girls he'd gone to preschool with. A few were on the girl's soccer team.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah bristled. "If that's supposed to be funny, it's not." He scowled for a moment. "I'll be right back."<br>
<br>
<br>
The coach noticed him, or at least nodded in his general direction. Mr. Black had a dubious short term memory so he didn't know if that meant he would leave their attendance absent or not. Noah went to the supply room. A giant bin of sports gear on the side housed most of the school's cheep supplies. Noah reached in for a soccer ball. He tucked it under his arm and to went back to Finn. Noah rotated it in his hands. "Toss it to me and I'll kick it back." He passed the ball toward Finn.<br>
<br>
<br>
"So, the health class incident." Noah barely remembered taking that course. It was required freshmen year. Noah glanced at Finn to get a read off him. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"<br>
<br>
<br>
-<br>
<br>
<br>
<span style="font-size: 12px">*(There was a serious typo in my last post! At the end, Noah held Finn's gaze not his face!!! I corrected it after the fact, but it really changed the context of the scene in a way I didn't like.)</span><br>
<br>
<span style="font-size: 12px"><br>
(The part about Finn changing Noah in for a newer, nicer, gayer model was gold! </span> xD <span style="font-size: 12px">)</span></div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">(Uch. In the next post, can I godmod you a little so we don't have to wait for the next person to pass the ball? I'd allow you the same.)<br>
<br>
<br>
"Great," muttered Finn. It appeared that his girls volleyball idea was not so great an idea after all. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to offend you. I'm trying to get you to like me, and I'm just making a complete ass of myself." He frowned as Noah walked away from him, clearly upset at him. But, soon enough, the boy came back, carrying a soccer ball. "Fine." He looked at the Coach until the Coach looked back at them for a moment, forcing him to take notice of them hanging out. Just then, Noah kicked him the ball. He sat down and tossed the ball back, but he wasn't putting much feeling into it. A second later, and he would have.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Oh, that," said Finn, sighing. "Well." Noah didn't remember after all. He should have figured he was the only one who cared. Should he lie? That would be better, but he couldn't think of anything. "I was trying to get the whole soccer team to like me- all the sports teams. If I was going to be better than everyone else at try-outs, I didn't want to be seen as stuck-up about it. So, I got all the soccer girls friendly, and all the soccer guys except you and, um...this other guy. Jay. I think you were friends or something?" He was kind of hoping that was the case, because otherwise Jay crossed the line into really creepy, really fast. "Well, Miss Hall let everyone pick their partners, and I was absent. So when we were the leftovers, I was happy, because I figured it would be an easy opportunity to make friends with you. So I'd always write you notes and never got anything back...I stopped trying until the very end of the project. I wrote you 'Wanna hang out?' on a ripped piece of binder paper. Two weeks later, I get a note from you in my locker. All it says is 'I don't hang out with 'gay people.' Except you said the cigarette version." He sighed again. "Then a couple of your friends tried to beat me up in the parking lot. All I have to say about that is thank god for switchblades and cheerleaders with Ferraris, or I would not have escaped with my pretty face intact." He smiled wryly. "Well...? Nothing?"</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah went from invested in the narrative to totally incredulous. His fingers roamed over the surface of the soccer ball. Noah held it close as he leveled Finn with a stare. "There's no way that actually happened." Noah shook his head as he thought back to taking health ed. The name Jay did drudge up some memories though. Of an intrusive, socially dysfunctional, freshman who clung to anyone willing to speak to him. "I was never friends with that guy. He just followed me around for a while." Noah felt detachedly guilty for roundaboutly criticizing someone, but he meant it. He twisted the ball in his hands as he processed the other part of Finn's story. The other player tried to be friends with him? The first significant memory Noah had of him was during tryouts not health class.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Okay, first of all," Noah tossed the soccer ball at Finn with more force than he intended. "I never got any notes.  I don't check my binder and it still has assignments from three years ago so maybe that part is true." He swayed where he stood to counter the next toss. Noah bent his knees, his grim focus only intensified. "Two, I definitely didn't write anything back. Definitely nothing like that. How many times do I have to tell you that I don't have a problem with--" Noah fumbled for the politically correct word but quickly became flustered. "Guys who make out with other guys." Noah wanted slap himself for being so terrible with words.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Roark," A slightly baffled, but still authoritative Coach Black bellowed. Noah glanced over his shoulder to find him there. The man glanced between them for a moment and Noah saw him making inferences in his head. Coach Black wavered a step backward. "Well, I see you two are working together. Good. That's good." He pressed a whistle to his lips and paced in the other direction. Noah had never seen the man so flustered before. He wasn't the type of coach interested in his player's personal lives. That probably went double for the gay ones.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah went to sit beside Finn. He placed a hand on either side of the bleachers. Noah glanced sideways to peer at him. "So, hypothetically," Noah quieted himself for a moment, unsure if he wanted to venture into this territory. " Hypothetically, If I received any of those notes and wrote back, would we be friends now?" He slid his hand back and forth in his dark hair. Noah wondered if they irritated each other now based on a misunderstanding--or a series of misunderstandings--he was only finding out about now. Noah furrowed his eyebrows and waited but the sour feeling in his stomach persisted. "Hell." Noah said with softness.<br>
<br>
<br>
(How do you feel about Noah inviting Finn to his house after school--for  movie night or something? Is it too soon for voluntarily hanging out with each other? I feel like Noah's grandparents would know exactly who Finn is without being introduced, just from Noah's rants.)</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn ran his fingers through his hair, feeling a little scared of where this was going to head. Defensiveness, yes. He'd probably get an excuse for Noah's past behavior, an excuse that would be subpar. He'd probably get a lecture on stalking (didn't repeatedly bothering someone with notes count these days? Even if it were innocent?), or maybe even the old "you should make friends because you want friends, not because you don't want a reputation" talk. (It was awkward, because sociopaths had practically the same brain as ninth-graders.) That wasn't what he got, though- he got a complete denial that it had ever happened. "Just because my story contains a Ferrari does not make it untrue," he said, before realizing that that wasn't what Noah was protesting about.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Then who left me that note, and why did it look like your handwriting?" Finn recognized it, even without the name, because it was the same handwriting of the person he'd sat next to so long- Noah. He'd waited until the coach- he with the creepy eyes and the weird thoughts you could practically read through said creepy eyes- passed by him before continuing. Finn could tell that Noah was telling the truth, which bothered him, but what bothered him more was that <i>someone had indeed read at least one of those notes</i>, which was creepy enough without the infiltrated handwriting and response, and someone had gone out of their way to hurt Finn and make it look like Noah. And from the looks of things, it was his non-friend Jay. Because other than that one guy, they tended to run in the same circles-- and those friends of Noah's, who he hadn't seen before? Oh, why had he assumed anything? They weren't familiar because they weren't friends of Noah, and he'd been an idiot. "Do you think it was Jay?" It would make a lot of sense. It seemed like Jay had been crushing on him. Had Finn got in the way of...something?<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn eyed the boy as he sat down next to him, but not in an I'm-checking-you-out kind of way. In a maybe-I've-misunderstood-you-the-last-three-years kind of way.  Briefly, he wondered what Noah had his hands like that for. Girls did that in movie theaters to let boys know it was okay to hold their hand. (Finn did it, too.) That probably wasn't what Noah was going for, though, he reflected.<br>
<br>
<br>
And then Noah spoke. Finn sat there and thought for a moment or two, but it felt like forever. "Statistically, the answer is most likely 'no'. Let's say you did receive the notes- there's a 50/50 chance you say 'no, I don't want to hang out with you', right off the bat. The other fifty-percent, well, let's say we became friends then. Don't take this part the wrong way." He cleared his throat. "I tend to get a crush on my friends." Geez, that part was embarrassing. He was pretty sure his whole face was an unattractive bright red. "So I get a crush on you. That's the given. If I don't tell you, I struggle under the weight of a friendship I have to hold up. I like you, so the responsibility's on me. I flounder and stop talking to you. We're no longer friends by junior year. That's another half, so seventy-five percent 'no' so far. If I do tell you, one of three things happens: either you ditch me because knowing I like you is awkward- so make it eighty-three percent no-- or you stay with me because you feel bad for me-- or you ask me out. I say yes, and we're no longer friends. Ninety-one point seven percent 'no'." He felt like he'd just given Noah a how-to-guide to dating Finn, and he didn't particularly like that.<br>
<br>
<br>
He decided to lighten the mood. "Wanna eat with me at lunch?" he joked, knowing that Noah still didn't particularly like him.<br>
<br>
<br>
((That might be funny. Finn kind of just admitted he would say yes to Noah if Noah asked him out, so he might be apprehensive about even non-dates now.))</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">"You're really honest." Noah came to realize as Finn pelted him with percentages. Still a faint smile passed his lips. Noah leaned forward on his knees, forearms folded inward. It was bizarre how someone he barely knew--Jay from Health Ed--sabotaged his social life without him knowing. A flicker of dread went through him as he wondered what else the guy had done. Or what other misconceptions of him there were. Noah reached around Finn for the soccer ball. He bounced it on his knee and then on the sleek gym floor when that got old. "I'm not an expert or anything," Noah prefaced, fully aware that his social skills sucked as hard as anyone's, "but your system for managing relationships seems kind of flawed." He said.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah caught the soccer ball mid rebound. He only meant to glance at Finn but stared. Hanging out with Finn at lunch was too bizarre to visualize. Noah furrowed his eyebrows in a moment of indecision. His gaze skirted over the gymnasium floor. It wasn't the idea of spending time with Finn that bugged him, not at the moment, for perhaps the first time since they met, so much as inserting himself into Finn's group. Wesley was okay, but Jensen drained him, and Noah didn't want to be anywhere Red might show up. Or Jansen's stepbrother. "Okay, sure." Noah found himself saying in a rush when  he realized he'd been quite for too long. "I've been meaning to ask you about the game last week anyway." Noah added as an afterthought. It only became true as he said it.<br>
<br>
<br>
He glanced at his binder and notebooks. Displaying a neutral expression, Noah maneuvered his navy colored binder onto his lap. He passed the soccer ball off to Finn for safe keeping. Noah unzipped it all the way around. He glanced at Finn for a moment, feeling too obvious to even hide what he was looking for. Noah dumped all his old assignments and work sheets on the bleachers to his right. Colored pencils he never got a chance to use bounced on the floor. Noah ignored them. He hunched over the pile of paper and shifted through it. "They're probably in here or in my room if I still have them." Noah said, inadvertently admitting to the junk pile that was his bedroom. He scanned one notebook page after another, with his dark gaze, finally settling on a tightly folded square.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah glanced at Finn for a moment. "I guess it really was there. Or one of them. Jay probably took the rest." He said, slowly unwinding the piece of paper.<br>
<br>
<br>
The bell for forth period rang immediately afterword.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah reached to gather his stuff. He planted the note in his pocket. "This actually sounds like the plot of a movie." He said once the ringing stopped. Their classmates filtered out of the gymnasium in a rush. Noah went to add Finn's stuff on top of his own. "I'd make a good movie night. Do you ever do that kind of thing?"</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn huffed, his breath forming a hot cloud around his face. “Thank you…?” he said about the honesty comment, not sure how to take it. His mother said that when in doubt, you should always take something as a compliment, because while there was a chance you were wrong in either scenario, at least taking it as a compliment made you a <i>happy </i>dumbass. Finn’s face heated up at the unexpected criticism, but decided to laugh it off. “You’re telling me,” he said. “I’d rather be single than have stitches, but, eh, I guess that’s life.” He shrugged, then shuddered violently. “Ugh. I can feel Jansen staring…” He rolled his eyes and waved at the soccer player across the way, who was giving them a look that can best be described in words as, “You lazy little turds.”<br>
<br>
<br>
Noticing Noah staring at him, he looked back over at his classmate, utterly confused. <i>What? Why are you staring at me? </i>He felt like yelling at Noah, but he was also drained, and pretty sure that Noah wasn’t meaning anything by it, anyway. So he let the gaze continue for a few minutes before getting up, bored and not sure where to look, to get the other soccer ball. God, why hadn’t he picked a wheelchair? Bending down was practically an Olympic sport, and the knowledge of where his butt was in relation to Noah’s face was not helping as he tried desperately trying to be considerate about surmounting gas. Eventually, he made his way back to the bench, surprised to hear Noah agreeing to have lunch with him. “Oh, cool,” he said, relaxing against the wall and sliding down. Noah’s next comment made Finn freeze, his blood running cold. “Oh,” he said, noticing his voice went very high very suddenly. “Ya, sure. We can talk about the game.” Did Noah know something?<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn suddenly found himself in possession of both balls. Noah began to go through the binder (but wait, hadn’t he claimed he hadn’t checked there in years?), throwing out easily clumsy-making things like colored pencils onto the floor. Finn felt trapped. Who threw that sort of thing around when their (new) (maybe) friend was on crutches? So inconsiderate. Finn knew that Noah was all alone in his head up there, off in his own little world, but either Noah was <i>really involved </i>or had spent enough time in there to become an evil genius. Noah began to unfold a note and Finn felt gratified to know that it was his, and more gratified to know that Sophie (a girl who’d had a slight crush on Noah at the time, from what Finn gathered) hadn’t left him any. Notes, that is. Unless she happened to fold hers the same way…come to think of it, PB and J was a rather common way to fold notes. “That, uh, might have been from that girl who liked you. Sophie. If it’s all lovey-dovey, it’s not from me.” He clarified.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Um,” said Finn. “My mom is really poor. We don’t really have television…or a DVD player. So, no. I, um…I got my camcorder from the Salvation Army Christmas Drive or something like that.” He looked away. No point talking about his dad. “So, no…not really. Um, if I could watch a movie, I would.” He’d answered to the best of his ability, but he wasn’t very confident. “So there.”<br>
<br>
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(<a href="https://www.rpnation.com/profile/3645-cross_rhodes/" class="link link--internal" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rpnation.com%2Fprofile%2F3645-cross_rhodes%2F&amp;hash=5abbbf3ac8fe666c463d4f5b5eda5667">@Cross_Rhodes</a> Because alerts don't work sometimes and JIC)</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah paused and his trainer's squeaked on the waxed gym floor. "Sophie?" He repeated, already doubting her existence. First Jay, now Sophie, according to Finn, everyone liked him. Noah would beg to differ. He waited for Finn to catch up on his crutches. "Wait, Sophie Whitaker? The Sophie who's Wesley's girlfriend?" Noah scoffed. It was the same scoff that convinced his teammates he was a smug elitist on the first day of practice. Those two had been dating since freshman year. Noah shifted his weight to even out the distribution of school books he carried. They weren't so much heavy as bulky. "I don't believe you." Noah said stubbornly, refusing to give it more thought. "That never happened." Even if it did, it didn't.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah stood out of the way of people putting their stuff on the bleachers for next period. He held the door open with his elbow and backed it against the wall to give Finn room to pass. The hallway was already clearing of students, but Noah had lunch immediately after gym. He didn't have to worry about being late. What Finn said about watching movies hit him strangely hard. Noah spent more time then he liked to admit in the make shift home theater in his basement. He rented stock piles of films from the library at a time. From the latest superhero flicks to Indie film festival stuff.<br>
<br>
<br>
"You can make your own movies." Noah said. He remembered the glimpse he got of Finn's camcorder. Noah shrugged a shoulder. "I'm going to the movies after school. You could come." He said. It felt like an extension of the conversation to offer, Noah only wondered afterwards if they were still rivals or not. Hadn't Finn told him they couldn't be friends? Although Noah had spent the last several years ignoring what Finn said and it still came naturally. "Mrs. Grey gives out free movies passes for doing well on chemistry tests. I've got an extra one." Noah shifted the books against his torso and he could free one arm to loot through his pants pocket. He made sure he brought the second movie pass.<br>
<br>
<br>
Wesley was leaned into Sophie on the wall opposite the cafeteria. It didn't seem like he noticed Noah but the guy rushed to pull the pressure pully knob open for him. A feat that would have been impossible to accomplish toting Finn's stuff on top of his own. "Hey guys." Wesley said. He glanced from Noah to Finn. "Wheat bread rolls and yesterday's pizza leftovers for lunch." For some reason Wesley smiled at he said it. "Jansen was talking crap about you guys." Wesley grinned to show he it was all in good taste. "He said you guys are lazy SOBs."</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn made sure to maneuver carefully around the spilled pens, sliding carefully over to the other side of the bench before using his crutches to get up and follow Noah. “Sophie?” Noah asked dubiously, and Finn could hear it in his voice- that Noah was doubting the story (which was true, by the way) and, by extension, believed that Finn had written him a sappy love letter-which probably explained why Noah was making a point of not opening it.  “Wait, Sophie Whitaker? The Sophie who's Wesley's girlfriend?” Noah scoffed.<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn winced. “Yes, that Sophie. I believe you scared her off- you’re so abrasive and aloof- so she asked Wes out, instead.” He shook his head, trying to remember the exact thing that had happened, but that vague descriptor was as far as his memory got. “It’s a real shame. You could have any girl you wanted with a body like that, if you could just keep your mouth shut.” Finn wasn’t meaning to tease, but his words didn’t come out as seriously as he’d meant them.<br>
<br>
<br>
“I don’t believe you,” said Noah, obviously in reference to Sophie, who was absolutely gorgeous, having a crush on him. “That didn’t happen.”<br>
<br>
<br>
“It did!” squeaked Finn. “I may be a gossip, but I don’t lie about stuff like that. Not intentionally, anyway. And besides, it’s natural for people to have a crush on you. I read a study that says that on average, a highschooler will have at least two people crushing on them per year. The researchers were from Yale.” He grinned, triumphant. You couldn’t trump Ivy League research.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Ya, I could,” Finn agreed, when their talk changed to that of movies. “But I’d already know exactly what happened, so what would be the point? It would be a lot of work for nothing.” He sighed. “I guess if I had someone to screen it for, then that would be okay. But I don’t. Because I broke up with Tyler, and my chances with Red are gone, so I’m done with my two.” He frowned, looking like a sad puppy. “I hate being single…not as much as I hate going to the emergency room, but…” He sighed. “You’re right. My taste in guys is awful…”<br>
<br>
<br>
He perked up again when Noah asked him to the movies. “Ya, sure,” agreed Finn, turning a little red. His embarrassing secret? Since Chemistry was basically a math class, Finn was good at it. He had a few of those passes, too. He usually ended up giving them away, however, not because he was particularly generous, but because he couldn’t afford the popcorn, much less the other snacks. However, because of the ‘asker pays’ rule, he was happy enough to go with Noah, who he knew for a fact was well-off, or at least well-off enough to not share a room with his grandparents. “Thanks, Noah. That’s sweet of you.” He smiled at him before entering the cafeteria to be immediately word-assaulted by an over-eager Wes.<br>
<br>
<br>
They <i>were</i> serving bread and pizza today. Finn glanced over to the corner where, sure enough, the gluten free kids were pouting. He laughed for a moment before realizing how rude that was. Huh. Maybe Noah was rubbing off on him. “Well, tell Jansen that at least Noah and I aren’t gay for our siblings.” Wes blushed and heel turned to do just that, not knowing what Finn was talking about it. But Jansen would.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah froze when Finn used the word sweet. He grimaced to a degree that was almost comical. "It's just a free pass. I'm not asking you to marry me or anything." Which would still be illegal where they lived anyway. Noah glanced at Finn after that comment about Jansen. It seemed like his teammates had more baggage than he would have guessed. Or wanted to know. Sophie initiated eye contact with Noah a second before Wesley made it to her.  They never exchanged more than a few words, but she looked at him with one sided familiarity. Noah turned and sat his and Finn's stuff at an empty table. He skewed his lips to the side and then neared Finn.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah went as close as he was able with the other boy on crutches. "Okay, so, maybe you were right about Sophie." He said as loud as he dared with Wesley still visible in the hallway. Noah smirked but it had nothing to do with girl drama. "Don't take it too seriously that I said you were right." He regarded Finn and then the backup of students trying to get through the cafeteria line. "It's less about you being right then it is about me being wrong." He folded his arms and looked for familiar faces in the cafeteria. Red hung out at a table with a bunch of upperclassmen. Aaron, another boy on the soccer team with long greasy hair, sat reading a book.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Wait, does that mean you do make videos?" Noah turned his head. He glanced at where Finn kept his camcorder. And then remembered not to because those thing weren't allowed in school. "I mean if you had someone to screen them for, like. . . Tyler?" The name come out awkward as Noah tried to sound neutral on the subject of the boy who put his teammate in crutches. And who apparently had a thing for Jansen too or vise versa. "Does Jansen really like his step brother?" A part of Noah was resistant to gossip. He usually wanted to know the bare minimum but with Tyler, the boy he'd never met but already chose to dislike, he needed information.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah frowned. He waded a hand through his hair only to realize he actually styled it that morning. "Is this Tyler guy trying to make his way though the whole soccer team?" Noah wanted one last comment in before the window of opportunity closed to nit-pick Finn's mysterious, possibly abusive, ex-boyfriend.<br>
<br>
<br>
 The lunch line diminished a few centimeters at a time. Noah drew two trays when they reached the front. He didn't know if Finn could manage with crutches or if he could, without making picking food a far too complicated task. "Is it okay if I help?" Noah asked at the risk of being annoying. The lunch ladies cooed at him for making the offer which probably did more harm than good.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn, not noticing Noah's obvious discomfort, glanced up from his crutches to look at Noah’s face when he spoke. “Of course not,” said Finn, his face turning a light red. “You can be sweet to another guy without being gay, you know. I’m nice to Wesley <i>and</i> Jansen, both of which are clearly not my type.” Although if Wesley were swinging Finn’s way…maybe. It wasn’t going to be something he told Noah. He looked around, not wanting to see Noah’s reaction to that earlier comment. Here he was, embarrassing both of them completely on accident. “Bottom line- I already know it’s not a date.” He wasn’t cautious enough to whisper. A few kids looked at them, but he gave them his best innocent look, and most of them looked away, assuming he was talking about something else.<br>
<br>
<br>
As he looked around, he noticed Sophie giving Noah a <i>look</i> and immediately tried to stifle his laughter, looking up to see if Noah had noticed. Judging by the look on his face, he had. "Okay, so, maybe you were right about Sophie." Finn smiled lightly, but not in a gloating way. Honestly, he was relieved- it proved beyond a reasonable doubt that if that note wasn’t Finn’s, then it <i>wasn’t Finn’s</i>. Noah proceeded to go on and on, and Finn just grinned more, knocking into his arm lightly. “Hey, guess what?” he whispered. “We’re not on the field, so I don’t care.” And as far as that went…”I’m gonna kick your ass at soccer as soon as I’m back on my feet.”<br>
<br>
<br>
“I’ve made a video or two,” said Finn. “For Tyler, yeah. But he usually doesn’t like videos unless he’s in them…and the kind of video he wanted to do made me pretty uncomfortable, so we didn’t.” His face was all red again. “My mom saved up for months to buy me a camcorder, and every few weeks she manages to save enough to get me batteries. I’m pretty safe at school, but I leave it on when I walk home and to school so if Tyler and company decide to try something, at least I have proof.” He looked up at Noah. “I feel like I should mention that I’m not completely defenseless, though. I carry a knife on me at all times, and it <i>is </i>sharp. I’d just rather get my butt kicked than accidentally kill someone. I’ve only used it a couple of times.”<br>
<br>
<br>
He sighed at the Jansen question. “I really don’t know. They’re super close, and whenever I’m over at Tyler’s, Jansen is always super finicky. No matter what we do, he always interrupts and wants to join. He’s followed us to date night before, several times. And when they’re in public together, even if Tyler is on a date with me, they’ll hold hands and kiss each other’s face. But Jansen also holds my hand and freaks out if I try to leave, and he’s kissed my face before, too, so maybe he’s just like that. Also, other than that, I’ve never seen him take interest in another guy.” Finn shrugged. “So its pretty much an ongoing joke that we’re all in love with each other or something. Even his parents joke…”<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn laughed wryly. “Please. He hasn’t even gone through me yet.” He shrugged. “I’m not that type.”<br>
<br>
<br>
As the lunch ladies cooed at them, Finn turned an ungodly shade of red. This had happened more than enough times today, and honestly, Finn was done with all of this. “No, I’m fine,” he said. “I’m not even going to eat today.” He slid out of line, crutching back to their table.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah sat across from Finn at the table. He positioned his two chocolate milks to the side. "You have this way of making everything I say sound like I'm an asshole." Noah reflected as he picked at his watery corn. Although, according to popular opinion he already was. One of the prongs on his plastic fork was missing. Noah scowled at it. "I didn't mean it like that, about you and Tyler." He thought'd he'd clarify even if it didn't really matter either way. Noah slid his elbows on the table. He felt weird about eating when Finn hadn't gotten lunch. Noah apprised his teammate with focused dark eyes. Did he skip meals often? Athletes should have consistency in their diets.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Now I know what happened to you." Noah said with a flat stare. He pushed his tray aside. "You don't drink milk at lunch so your bones are brittle." He glanced to Finn's crutches. "Didn't coach give you the nutrients talk?" Noah asked, the edge of a smirk was on his features. He crossed his arms and leaned into the table. "I guess that's why I'm taller than you."<br>
<br>
<br>
He found himself wishing Finn responded with physical bodily harm when Tyler pushed him off the swing. Not having him on their team for the game already meant changes to their strategy. At least then there would have been somebody else on crutches to be frustrated at. Noah frowned absentmindedly for a moment. It was a habit his classmates found discouraging. "Ethan's probably going to replace you in the game coming up." Noah said. He grabbed a milk carton and caged it between his hands. Noah pursed his lips. "He's doesn't notice anything until its already happened. But he's good at blocking." Adding something positive was what turned criticism constructive. Or at least, that's what Noah was going for.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah shifted only to bump Finn's knees under the table. He cringed in case he jarred his bum foot.<br>
<br>
<br>
Shooting Finn a look of apology, Noah grabbed the note from earlier out of his pocket. He unfolded it and laid it on the table between them. "I should clean out my binder more." Noah soothed out the crinkles in the notebook paper. It struck him as bizarre that it'd been in there the entire time. Noah slouched his chin against his palm. It was Finn's note. The olive branch Noah had accidentally refused freshman year. Anyone could claim the aftermath of that, all the arguing and dislike, was his fault and be right.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah frowned to himself. He pursed his lips. "I guess it wouldn't kill me to buy you popcorn, considering." He said. Noah pushed the note toward Finn for him to get a better view. "What movie do you want to see?"</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn laughed wholeheartedly. “Ya? Well, it’s not like you didn’t give me just cause.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I misunderstood you, and I’m sorry. That one was really on me.” Mildly embarrassed, he leaned away, looking at the floor tiles, thinking about the clarification. It didn’t really make much of a difference. “I hope Tyler and Jansen date,” he admitted, responding to Noah’s (way, way earlier) inquiry as to whether Tyler would date anyone else on the soccer team. “Jansen’s huge. If Tyler tried anything, Jansen could kick his skinny a** into next Tuesday. Maybe then he’d understand what I go through every time he wants to ‘play rough’.” He realized too late that Tyler was a tired topic, and he wanted to get onto something else. Maybe if he learned about Noah, that would…”Hey, um…” Dang, what was there to know? He knew Noah’s grades, his sports, his “friends” (or lack of). He got an idea. “Noah, do you have a girlfriend or a crush or…?” Now there was something relatable. Something they could talk about.<br>
<br>
<br>
“I’m not that much smaller than you,” Finn protested. “You’re right, though- I don’t really drink milk. I usually eat an orange or an apple and then have some dark lunchmeats and drink water. That’s really all I need…” He stuck out his tongue. “I don’t think I’ve had milk since sixth grade…” He looked over at Noah’s food, noticing the guy had two chocolate milks. “May I please have one?” Without waiting for a reply, he reached across the table and took one of the chocolate milks, guzzling it down. “Whoa, that’s…good…” He said, impressed. He’d never figured Noah and him would have the same taste in anything, much less something as consequential as drinks. He licked his lips, leaving a slight milk mustache. “Anyway, I thought that was just what athletes are supposed to eat. Don’t tell me I’m living a lie…?” Maybe Noah was more of a soccer know-all than he was. It would explain why he always came off so pretentious.<br>
<br>
<br>
Speaking of pretentious, Noah was replacing him with Ethan? “That guy?” asked Finn, a little jealousy creeping up his throat and into his voice. “He’s only good at blocking because people don’t notice him and kick the ball straight at him,” he whined. “The only reason he tried out for the team is to make colleges notice him more—and the only reason he got on is because he’s slightly less sucky than the other tryouts. Come on, replace me with, like, Kale or something. He knows what he’s doing, and he’s got a good kick.” Under the table, Noah kicked him in his good foot, and Finn looked around, wondering if Ethan had heard them or something (not that he would care), before realizing that no one heard anything. <i>Huh, </i>he thought, and made a point of grabbing Noah’s foot between his legs. It finally became aware to him that he might be flirting with Noah a little bit—not that Noah seemed to notice—especially now that he’d apparently taken up a case of footsie.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah simply took out and read the note in response, making Finn blush. Harder, still, when Noah mentioned buying him food. “I-I don’t know what’s on, so, anything!”</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">"Are you--" Noah tried to keep a straight face but failed. He cracked a smile out of appreciation for the bizarreness of the situation  "Are you kicking me under the table?" Noah peered at their feet. He made a show of scoffing. "And you stole my milk. I thought we were having a truce." He clutched his remaining milk carton in one hand and stirred the straw with the other. Noah pursed his lips. He wondered if he was acting overly friendly toward Finn. Or if this was just what their dynamic was. He needled Finn's good foot with his Nike. It became something of a competition to him after the first time.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Well," Noah wavered on the question of his love life. He folded his arms and thought about this morning. Noah slid his hand to his jaw. "Sasha Olson asked me to watch her volleyball game." Noah wondered if he should be telling Finn this. He didn't want Sasha to find out he was talking about her. "I told her I didn't have time after school. And then I realized she was trying to ask me out." Noah flexed his fingers, looking at them. "She's really shy and everything so it went over my head." In retrospect, it made him feel as oblivious as his algebra teacher accused him of being. Noah drunk most of his chocolate milk in a few seconds. Even if he had understood, Noah couldn't visualize himself hanging out with Sasha Olson.<br>
<br>
<br>
He glanced at Finn. "What about you? Or is it still too early for that?" Noah asked but then he remembered Red. How he walked in on their moment earlier. Noah had to admit to himself that Red did have really nice hair. "I think I know your type. Pretty and dumb, right?" Noah knew he was being a jerk but also that this was his type of humor. "With obvious personality issues." Noah smirked. It occurred to him offhand that he was sort of describing himself. Then he stopped smirking. At least he was trying to change though.<br>
<br>
<br>
What Finn suggested about their new line up struck a cord with Noah. Kale had better foundation than Ethan but he lacked his endurance. He taped his fingers on the table. "At least Jansen comes to play. Kale and Ethan... " Noah shook his head but sighed and stopped. He brushed the back of his neck. "Neither of them could score as many goals as you." Noah admitted.  He scowled at Finn for putting him in this situation. "But Kale might be the better choice."<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah glanced at the clock. They were almost out of time. He stood up to dump his tray, grabbing his and Finn's chocolate milks. Noah only realized halfway to the trashcan that he had barely touched his food.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">“Are you-?” Noah broke his own sentence, and Finn could almost hear the implicit ‘flirting with me’ end, hanging in the air between them. Then Noah branched away, scoffing, on to some other thing, and Finn lost his chance to wink and act seductive. He wasn’t sure that, if that had happened, it would have been more about screwing with Noah’s head or about Finn noticing the earlier flirting and…oh, come on. If Finn had a crush on Noah, he would know. He always knew. He liked Red, and Tyler, and Andrew, and Alejandro Garcia, who played baseball and called all the soccer players “little posies” but dressed as a woman for the school play, so obviously wasn’t <i>that </i>homophobic. Noah jabbed him in the good foot; Finn slipped his shoe off (easy enough, since the crutches facilitated the use of slip-on shoes) and rubbed the side of Noah’s leg, above the ankle, with his socked foot.<br>
<br>
<br>
Well, they were definitely still competitive. “Sasha Olson is nice.” Touching Noah’s shoe with his toe. Dang, even his shoelaces were rich- Finn could feel the quality. “Pretty, too. I sat behind her during class last year- I don’t remember which class, but it was really boring. She has the best hair.” He laughed at Noah’s social blunder. “Well, I’m sure if you ask her out and explain that you didn’t understand, she’ll still go out with you. It was a mistake anyone could have made; just make sure not to blame her.” He grinned. “You know, if you want to ask her out. If you’re into that.” One eyebrow raised. The way Finn flirted was straight out of a bad flirting textbook.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Hmm. Um, I like four guys. Tyler, Red, Andrew, and Alejandro…maybe this other guy…” He narrowed his eyes in consideration. “This other guy I’ve been flirting with. Probably not, though.” He laughed loudly a moment later. “Actually, the personality-issues idea is pretty accurate, and I do like pretty guys, too. Who doesn’t? But dumb? Not so much.” He smiled. “My ideal crush would be someone who could keep up with me, who was nice to me, but not like…like, they tell me the truth, if I look stupid or something. An athlete. Any sport, doesn’t matter. Soccer’s my favorite, but, you know…um, taller guys are nice.” He shrugged. It didn’t occur to him exactly that the ideal guy was a match for Noah, but he did get that the question made him feel a little uncomfortable toward the end.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah changed the subject to soccer, and for a moment, Finn felt relieved as Noah acknowledged that he might be right about something, topping it off with a surprising compliment. Finn blushed, elated. “I’m going to figure you out, you know,” he said, following Noah to the trashcan. “You’re either a total asshole who learned to play nice to get what he wants, but doesn’t practice that often, or a big sweetheart with a prickly exterior.” Noah banked their trays; Finn noticed he had a nice back. “Such a gentleman. One point toward Prickly Exterior.”</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah's gaze darted in Finn's direction, stalling there for a moment. He quirked a smile that became more scoff as it went on. Noah glanced away.  "Prickly exterior?" He said as if he'd never heard those two words paired together before. Noah darted toward the table to grab their stuff. He needed to visit his locker before class. They still had time though. "Maybe you're the one with the prickly exterior. Like how you tried to get back at Jansen earlier." Noah smiled again at Wesley's expense. Jansen would be less amused to find out about his supposed relationship with Tyler though. He huffed. "There's nothing to figure out about me. I just like to play soccer." Noah paused for a second. "And win at soccer. So far, it's going pretty good." He said.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Who's Alejandro?" Noah asked, the first question of several he had. He furrowed his eyebrows but shrugged after a second. Tyler, Red, Andrew, Alejandro, and someone else. Noah turned to look at Finn. He found himself agreeing to some of his dating criteria. The athletic part definitely. He veered in the direction of his locker. It was a short walk there and Noah started filing his textbooks away wherever they fit. "<i>Being</i> tall is nice." Noah said and smiled. He just barely broke six foot, but that was an accomplishment compared to most of his teammates. "It might be hard to kiss someone tall though. Or if they were really short." Noah pushed his locker door shut. Now he could pack everything under his arm. "Is Tyler tall?" Noah wondered afterward if that was a strange question.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah slumped against the lockers for a second. The digital clock on the wall blinked at him. It was late by two minutes but they still had a few minutes. More considering that Mrs. Sanchez was always late coming back from the teacher's lounge.<br>
<br>
<br>
"About the movie," Noah said since they'd never decided anything. He took out his phone and scrolled through the cinema's website. "There's a bio pic playing. And a generic superhero movie. A slasher flick and a buddy cop comedy." Noah paused, ticking them off on his fingers. He paused as another synopsis caught his eye. "There's this historical piece about this Roman general and his... lover. Who is a guy." Noah tried not to react in anyway that would be considered squeamish. "Hey, that's my favorite directer though." Noah added, scanning the text on his phone. He glanced at Finn.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah reddened but he kept a straight face. "We can see whatever. I'm not assuming you want to see that movie just because you're..." He trailed off. "Did you need to go by your locker?" Noah started walking down the hallway without waiting for an answer.<br>
<br>
<br>
(I haven't gone to sleep yet so I think this it still counts as Monday?)</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah always scoffed, but Finn found the smile there first. “Maybe,” Finn agreed. “I may be a sweetheart hidden in the body of an a-hole. But, you must remember, this is the guy who consistently flirted with the guy I was dating. I could make an argument that I’ve earned the right to be like this.” He gestured to his body with one hand, keeping the other on his crutch. “What about you? Just doing it for kicks?” He laughed at the whole ‘soccer’ mess. “Soccer isn’t a personality. Winning isn’t a personality. If you honestly think that that is you and that is all, you have another thing coming. Especially once we get to college.”<br>
<br>
<br>
But, alas, Noah changed the subject. “Alejandro is that drama kid who is always around during soccer practice, but never plays,” Finn said. “He’s always calling us names, but I think he’s joking. I think you share, um, math together?” He laughed a little because the concept of sharing math with a peer was weird to him. He’d finished his third year of college calculus just this summer, and he was only a junior in high school. As they moved toward Noah’s locker, Finn was forced to raise one eyebrow very far up onto his face. ‘Being tall is nice’ was not the best comment to say to someone when they told you that was what they were looking for in a guy—not unless you were advertising yourself. Noah, however, was probably completely oblivious. “I’m not that short,” said Finn. “Unless I’m dating the Hulk, I think I can manage.” He smirked. “Tyler’s an inch shorter than me, but he spikes his hair so he doesn’t feel like an itty bitty baby when we go out. Oh, he’s stronger than me, though. Clearly.”<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn laughed at Noah’s obvious discomfort about the movie choice. “Let me clarify- before I am a gay guy, I am a guy. I don’t want to see some stupid love story just as much as you don’t want to see it.” He ran through the options in his head. “Do you wanna see the superhero movie?” he offered. “I like superheroes.” They were making Noah five minutes late, but Finn just didn’t see the big deal. “I have free period the next two periods because I’ve finished all my math courses that are offered at our college and also, I took history over the summer. So I get three free periods today…” He smiled. “Aah, the life of a lazy overachiever, am I right?” He stretched. “I’ll walk you to class, though, if you want.” He blushed. Well, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do. He tended to finish his Study Hall work the night before he had Study Hall.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah smirked at Tyler's height related woes. A pushy guy who spiked his hair to look taller. Overcompensating much? He waited for Finn to catch up with him. Noah smiled as he was told how it was. Gay guys were still guys first. "Okay." Finn picked the movie he would've chosen for himself. "It's about time The Flash got his own movie." Noah said. "I wonder who the bad guy's going to be. I'm pretty sure The Flash is D.C not Marvel. Which is a nice change." Noah knew he just outed himself as a nerd to Finn but was part caring.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah lifted his eyebrows. He did know Alejandro, or of him. Finn just supplied a name to a face. A few kids watched the team practice but not many were in the drama club. "That guy?" He paused mid-tread through the hallway. Noah stared at Finn incredulously. They had the Finn-sucks-at-picking-guys conversation so many times now, Noah could summon it again by quirking an eyebrow. "I don't think he's gay anyway." He said slowly to break the harsh news. "He hits on the cheerleaders. Or do you think he's living a lie?" Noah asked wryly.<br>
<br>
<br>
"And by the way, winning can be a personality trait. You just wouldn't know." Noah said with a perfectly straight-face. He rested against the Freshmen lockers. "College?" Noah went blank faced for a moment. "I'd want to go somewhere with a good sports program." He said. Weirdly he had never admitted to anyone else out loud that he thought that far ahead. "It's too bad soccer isn't more popular here." Noah frowned and glanced down at his crossed arms.<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn listed off an impressive list of scholarly accomplishments. Noah sort of knew he was bright, everyone on the team did, but he stared at him. It used to seem like his teammates didn't do much outside of practice but Noah wondered if he just never noticed. "Huh," Noah said almost too faintly to hear. "So math is really your thing then?" Noah allowed himself to remember the Red incident earlier. Finn made some offhand comment about teaching him math. Or something like that. It was impressive. But Noah didn't know how to communicate that to Finn at all.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah stalled but it got to the point of going to class or ditching. "I'll meet you after school. Is by the gym okay?" He asked.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Finn. He didn't know if he'd ever said that before. Finn was talented in the math sphere- a closeted nerd, if you will- but he didn't particularly enjoy nerd things that other nerds liked. Picture Mozart hanging around with other types of artists than composers, and flipping them off. If Finn had been born in another century, that easily could have been him. "But it should be cool. I think I've seen it advertised once or twice." He sighed. Not having T.V. put him way out of the loop. He didn't know Noah would be into nerdy things either. "So, you're like, a superhero movie connoisseur?" he asked. "The Flash. What's his superhero suit? Is he just naked all the time?"<br>
<br>
<br>
"I never said he was gay," said Finn, switching into their later conversation. And then, it hit him. Noah had no clue what he was talking about. "Oh, my god. Noah." he scolded. "Noah, Noah, Noah. No. I don't think he's living a lie. Look at me, Noah." Why did he keep having to explain this to people? Why did he need to explain this to Noah? "You know what bisexuality is, right? It's when you like guys and girls. Lots of people are bisexual. I'd posit that there are more bisexual people than gay people. Just because he flirts with girls, doesn't mean he's not interested in guys. In particular, me." He sighed. "But it doesn't matter. I have no intention of dating anyone ever again. I will have one night stands until I am too old to have one night stands and then I will off myself."<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn flipped his hair back, staring at the lockers. "I bet you get a full ride," he said. "I'd go to Baylor if I had your talent. It's Division I, so you don't have to have such a firm academic background." But Finn did have a firm academic background. "I'm probably Division III." He wasn't actually very proud of that. He wanted to go to Baylor, but he wasn't actually <i>good </i>at soccer- not naturally, not the way Noah was. So what if he worked harder? "You're way better than me. Sports are my passion, but math is my life." Well, he guessed that answered the other question. "Actually, if it weren't for math, I wouldn't be able to play...well, anything." He shrugged and then with a shock realized that Noah was the closest he'd ever come to talking about the Notebook thing. He was about to ask-- <i>Wanna see my notebooks?</i>- when Noah dismissed himself. Oh. Finn was probably boring the poor guy to death. He wasn't very fun, on his own. "Um, okay, but I just realized that the night we were going to see the movie, I'm, um, busy." He hoped Noah wouldn't remember that they hadn't set a date.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">A thunderous expression crossed Noah's face. "I know what bisexual means." He glanced off to the side to keep from glaring at Finn. Which would have been an overreaction. It seemed like Finn plucked the word from his inner thoughts without any care of the consequences. "I..." Noah halfway made an exclamation. He faltered. "I know." Noah frayed his shirt sleeves. He wasn't in uniform but wore their team colors. Orange and black. Noah glanced at Finn. He processed what he said about Alejandro. Noah shifted against the wall. He resettled his arms lower against his chest. "You're pretty popular." Noah only heard how disgruntled he sounded in retrospect. Once he got defensive it settled in for a while. Noah knew that about himself and he didn't like it. He huffed several times and it helped.<br>
<br>
<br>
"That would last like five days." Noah said when Finn proposed to quit relationships forever. Then again five days might have been excessive. More like three. Finn thrived on relationships. Maybe not necessarily romantic ones, but he was a pretty outgoing, social guy. Noah thinned his gaze at Finn and stared at him. While he didn't believe Finn, he felt the urge to protest the boy's new life plan. "One night stands and suicide. Make sure to put that on your resume. But I bet colleges would still take you since you're apparently some kind of genius." People put up with a lot when it came from someone talented.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah pressed his shoulder against the locker. At this point, class was a secondary concern. He stopped from going to math to defend himself but now he was absorbed in what Finn would say. Noah glanced at the glossy waxed floor when Finn acknowledged his talent in soccer. For a moment if felt like he was in a parallel dimension. Finn was probably the only person on the team who never said anything like that to him before. Noah forced himself to follow the rest of their conversation. "You're as good as I am." Noah said, protested, when it seemed like Finn thought otherwise. "We're just good at different things. That's why we work so well together on the field. I get the ball to you because I know you can deliver."<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah meandered in the hallway. They were close to his class and he glanced that way.  Noah turned toward Finn. He'd didn't want to go while they were still talking. No one else was in the hallway anymore, but that just meant there was no one to interrupt them. "Wait. You can't make it to the movie?" He asked and furrowed his eyebrows. Noah repositioned his textbook under his arm. He pressed his mouth into a line. "Okay. But for the record, The Flash isn't a streaker. He's just really fast. How about tomorrow?" Noah asked. It was the weekend.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn felt the way Noah looked, to a slightly lesser degree. As the soccer captain looked away from him, Finn took his arm. “Calm down,” he said, ironically, because he wasn’t calm, and he didn’t know why. “You’re the one who…” He stopped. Something in his head was saying something along the lines of, <i>he made a mistake. Let it go. </i>As Noah, who was now clearly nervous, played with his shirt sleeves, Finn made a little noise that could almost be described as a scoff. “Fine then,” he said, and then laughed a few moments later. “So are you,” he pointed out, and, without really thinking about the consequences, he leaned over, abandoning one crutch, and wrapped an arm around Noah’s waist. “You’re <i>popular </i>to me.”<br>
<br>
<br>
He leaned away from Noah as the status of his future non-relationships was questioned. “I don’t want to get emotionally attached,” he said bluntly. “I was emotionally attached to my father. I don’t know where he went. He’s been gone for a month. I was emotionally attached to my boyfriend. I broke my ankle. I was emotionally attached to my friends, but, if you didn’t notice, they don’t care about me much off field. Not the way I care about them.” He sighed. “Don’t joke about it. I hope to never feel emotions again.” And yet, looking at Noah, Finn knew that wasn’t going to be easy. Because it was rather obvious, wasn’t it? There was only one reason to flirt with a guy, and that was if you liked him. Finn decided to just rip the band-aid off, before his newfound crush got any worse. “You’re straight, right?” he asked. Mentally, he hit himself. Of course Noah was straight. He liked Sasha Olson.<br>
<br>
<br>
“But you’re talented,” said Finn, “and I’m just hard-working. I’ll show you.” His remaining crutch just so happened to be on the same side as his hurt ankle, so as long as he kept his leg lifted, it was about the equivalent of  having two regular legs, but one was growing out your armpit. He wandered over to his locker, opening it and going to the bottom, where he kept his non-academics related books and notebooks, pulling out the soccer editions. It was weird to bend only one leg and strain your arm because crutches didn’t bend. Volume one had every play down to exact angles and movements, and volume two had the statistics of every player in the tri-county area. Volume three was the thickest, containing statistics of every player in the state, outside the tri-county area. He straightened up, making a return trip to hand them to Noah. “And I’m not a genius, by the way. I just like math.” He hated that word.<br>
<br>
<br>
“No, I can’t make it to the movies tomorrow. Or any time next week. Or ever.” He wanted to explain, but he should probably let Noah get going. “Um, goodbye. You can borrow my notes until later, but please don’t show them to anyone.” He blushed, embarrassed, and then decided to go through with it. “I don’t want to go to the movies with you because I think you’re really cute and I’m really boring, so it wouldn’t be fair to you to make you take me to the movies. I’m going somewhere far away now. Okay, bye!” He took off on his own crutch, not going quite fast enough for his taste.<br>
<br>
<br>
(I feel Finn's awkwardness. I FEEL IT.)</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">(Sorry this is late. I didn't mean to throw off our pace. Especially considering what's going down.)<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah dropped Finn's gaze to contemplate that question. A series of expressions crossed his face. From startled to panicked to uncertain. Noah frowned when Finn abruptly went toward his locker. A second ago, he hadn't wanted to answer Finn, but now he did. Pride could help him admit it out loud. Along with the satisfaction of contradicting Finn. Noah followed  him across the deserted hallway. Luckily there weren't any nosy hall monitors around. He wondered if he should help Finn open his bottom locker, but he manged it himself. Noah supposed people on crutches learned to adapt.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah blinked when Finn presented him with notebook after notebook. He glanced at them as they piled into his hands. Noah scowled, unable to understand what they were for. But he flipped though one and froze. The records, statistics, and formulas were more detailed than most sites did on professional players. Noah held the second book up and leafed though it. He found statistics on Jansen almost immediately. Wesley was in there too. They probably all were. "I don't understand what you're saying." Noah said. He looked up. "We're the best players on the team, but I automatically outrank you because you work harder?" Noah waited a beat before continuing, his judgement was harsh. "That's retarded."<br>
<br>
<br>
"Wait, am I in here?" Noah pursed his lips. He wondered if there was a index or something. Although Finn had presumably written them when they still disliked each other.  Noah glanced at Finn. He forfeited the search for his statistics before it even started. Noah shifted the soccer editions in his hands. It felt like he didn't have enough saliva to speak.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah redirected his gaze inward. Was Finn a stronger person than him? He'd obviously dated guys before. And been okay with certain people knowing about it. Noah took a shallow breath but it went nowhere.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah glowered when Finn announced he was fine with the movies, just not with him. But then Finn kept talking, dropping verbal gut punches. Noah's heart pounded hard once and he glanced away. His first instinct was to flee but, his first feeling had been relief. The warmness he felt for Finn hadn't dimmed any. Noah even became more aware of it. Finn called him cute. It meant more coming from him than it had from Sasha. Or anyone. "Wait up. Where are you going?" Noah rushed to catch up with him. It wasn't hard. "What about somewhere else?" He asked. "What about a restaurant or something?" Noah hesitated for a moment. "I still want to hang out with you."</div>
				
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			<h5 class="userTitle message-userTitle" dir="auto" itemprop="jobTitle">Lord Legendary</h5>
			

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	<div class="message-userContent lbContainer js-lbContainer " data-lb-id="post-2584955" data-lb-caption-desc="Melix · Feb 7, 2015 at 3:11 PM">

		

		
	


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					<div class="bbWrapper">“Let’s put it this way,” said Finn, when it came time to explain to Noah exactly why he was better (soccer wise). “You remember Charles Darwin, right? He created the Theory of Evolution, ate all the turtles he was supposed to be experimenting with, and was basically a <i>bag of f***ing crazy </i>who influenced other people who were also, how do you say, a bag of f***ing crazy into doing really racist stuff in politics throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century in America and indirectly affecting World War II.” He sighed. “Well…his ideas do apply to soccer. Not the racist ones, obviously; the ones who say ‘the fittest are those who don’t have to work as hard to stay on top’. Not ‘the fittest are the nerdy little wimps who have to work hard for it’.” His tone was absolutely scathing. As far as he was concerned, everything he was saying was completely and undeniably true. “Besides…” He considered the possible repercussions, then did it anyway. Turning around on his one crutch, he lifted his shirt, revealing the extremely bruised, scarred, and torn up area of his body that was his stomach. Some places had stitches; over fifty-percent were clearly home-made, during times when Finn was tired of paying hospital bills. “This doesn’t happen to the ‘fittest’ in survival of.”<br>
<br>
<br>
“And yeah, you’re in there,” he told Noah. Noah’s page he had memorized. It wasn’t the statistics on it that were interesting, however,  it was the personal commentary. One sentence. ‘Amazing soccer player, but oblivious to a world outside soccer.’ To illustrate the point, he’d chosen the story of the assistant soccer coach.  Which was one reason why he was pleased Noah hadn’t bothered to look further into the notebooks. Maybe someday he’d tell that story, but not today.<br>
<br>
<br>
Cut to the present- Finn was fleeing because he’d purposefully embarrassed himself. Noah had already caught up to him, a fact that ceased to annoy him once Noah mentioned going to a restaurant. His stomach growled, his shirt having dropped back down over it before they’d got to where they were in the hallway. “Listen, Noah,” he said bluntly. “There’s really not any non-date recreational activity available in this town; you don’t want to date me; and I believe I’ve made it clear that I’m not interested in dating you.” Not true. Finn was always interested in dating someone he’d professed to have a crush on- he was trying to convince himself that he’d rather not date at all. “Restaurants, movies…those are more ‘date’ activity than friend activity. I don’t want that. Come over to my house instead.” He hadn’t invited anyone over in years. Oh, well. It was clean. “That’s a ‘friend’ activity.”<br>
<br>
<br>
(0.0 If Noah wants it, he'll have to convince Finn that dating is okay.<br>
<br>
<br>
Hey, whoa. Post 50. Whoo-whoo!)</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">(During Finn's lecture on Darwinism, I could <i>just</i> see the question marks over Noah's head as he tried to follow.  xD  I died. That was hilarious.)<br>
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<br>
A light frown crossed Noah's face. He glanced at the reflective floor as he considered Finn's proposal. The moment lasted longer than it would have under most circumstances. Noah brushed his thumbs to the lining of his pockets. He wasn't a thoughtful person by nature, but he understood the significance of their closeness. Noah looked at Finn once he collected himself. His decision manifested in a frown. "Why do we have to go to your house?" Noah asked. He watched Finn to gauge whether this was another competition type thing between them. "I asked first. We should go to mine." The pouty element in his voice left no room for argument. Except that some people actually did. Like Finn. And possibly everyone on the soccer team at some point, or them all collectively.<br>
<br>
<br>
A line of tension built behind Noah's mouth. He had the same look several times a day. Although mostly when he was alone. Noah slumped against the freshmen lockers. He reached under his arm for the soccer editions. The journals were useless in his hands. Noah was more focused on what Finn showed him earlier. His bruises and training scars. Noah stared at the cover of the soccer stats-book but he saw something else. He tried to keep his expression properly blank. "Have you been training by yourself?" Noah asked in something of an accusatory tone. He looked Finn in the eyes and scowled. "Are you stupid? Obviously whatever you're doing isn't working out." It was too natural to have his say. Even when Noah wanted the idiot to like him. The way he treated Finn up until recently, and the way he wanted to treat him now were overlapping.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah held onto his Finn's gaze. He felt like he still had a point to make. "You could practice with me. Since, according to you, I'm the best soccer player in the tri-state area." Noah might have stretched it a bit there, but he spoke with the smoothness of someone who knew what they were saying. "I could teach you things."<br>
<br>
<br>
Things. Although what he wasn't sure. Maybe some insider tips on how he learned to handle kicks over the years. And the best guards and reflexes.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah glanced down after a second. "Okay, I don't care whose house we go." The longer they went on, the more grateful he was for the opportunity to hang out together at all. "Would your mom be home?"<br>
<br>
<br>
(Post 51)</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn grinned in spite of himself, harboring a little bit of competition in his face as Noah went on, until Noah asked about his Mom. And then Finn realized exactly what was going to happen if he brought Noah home and his mom <i>was </i>there- he could see it. His mom in the corner, either working on her novel, (which Finn actually liked, surprise surprise) or sewing, although her disheveled appearance and her bending over some machine (Finn’s mother did not believe in these newfangled devices known as chairs, apparently; Finn had only ever seen her use them when she ate) might give the appearance of something else. She would turn around with her yellow teeth, crooked because although her family could afford it, she could never stand the thought of orthodontics. Her teeth were “good enough”. “Hey, Finn!” she’d shout, and Finn would be absolutely mortified.<br>
<br>
<br>
<i>And then </i>she’d notice Noah. “Oh, my goodness! Finn’s brought a boy home!” Oh, dear god. Kill him now. “And not that awful Tyler or Jansen boy. This one is cute! What’s his name?”<br>
<br>
<br>
And before Finn could say anything, Noah would introduce himself, and Finn’s mother would say, “Oh, the Noah you’re always talking about? I always did think you had a thing for him.”<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn shuddered. “Ugh. Um…” He tuned back into their conversation. Was he training by himself? Insults. Bragging. That concession. Right- that was where he’d had that unfortunate daydream (a day-nightmare?) “No, I haven’t….Um, I train by myself. Just running and things, swinging around. Aerobics. Yoga. This is mostly from when I fought Tyler, but also from the time that I fell out the window of a bar just after discovering that I am a lightweight and alcohol and I do not get along. I landed on concrete, which is about when I realized  that no matter how popular I am, I will also never make friends with cement.” Yay! Story time!<br>
<br>
<br>
“Let’s go to your place. I’m going to hazard a guess that it’s bigger and has a yard, and also my mother is embarrassing and I’d rather do whatever we’re going to do without getting a forty minute lecture on the proper uses of protection before she allows you to go in my room .” He was speaking from experience- Tyler dealt with it constantly, Jansen upon rare occasions, and Wesley once…which was why Wesley no longer came over to Finn’s house. In his mom’s defense, she did this to all his female friends as well…which was also why he didn’t bring females home.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah decided long ago to go with Finn's info dumps. It was hard to rationalize them sometimes--the window story was one such--but he stored the information away for later. Finn's life stories were more interesting than his, but he didn't necessary think of that as a good thing. "It has a yard. There's a net setup too." Noah directed his gaze elsewhere for a moment. "I guess there's no change of playing a game though." He said softly, mostly to himself. Noah returned his impassive eyes to Finn. "Protection?" He repeated and blinked. "Why, what's in your room?"<br>
<br>
<br>
For several beats of a moment, Noah absorbed his own statement. His ears turned red. "Wait. Does that actually happen?" Noah went stiff in an effort not to react in a way that would embarrass himself. His dark gaze struggled to stay focused. "And it takes forty minutes?" It occurred to him, he didn't have to follow this vein of conversation. Noah glanced away and his skin gradually returned to its natural olive tone. "My grandma..." He began in a searching tone. "She knows about sports. She might ask how much you can lift, or about your favorite teams, but that's about it."<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah thought about her and Finn's inevitable meeting. He rubbed the back of his neck. "She smokes. They both do." Noah added in warning. He wanted to be up front about everything, but it seemed like he still had a parental figure edge. In terms of whose house would be the least embarrassing. He glanced at Finn and seriously considered sneaking him in through the basement door. Could he bypass any family--friend interaction? Noah went blank faced in consideration.<br>
<br>
<br>
No. His grandma would want to know why if she found out. And her usual probing questions would be directed at Finn in a misleadingly friendly and jovial tone.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Do you like video games?" Noah asked. "I've got Madden NFL15." He paused as he thought through his gaming collection. "Or a first person zombie shooter? Or Grand Theft Auto." Noah's nose scrunched briefly. "And a tapeline, but it's in the backyard."<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah looked at the three journals in his hands. He grabbed the notebook featuring him and his teammates and passed the other two off to Finn. "I guess I'll see you after class?"</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">“Oh- we could play badminton,” said Finn, irrationally excited (for a moment) at the thought of playing a sport not offered (or worse, required) by their school- before remembering the small inconvenience of having a broken ankle. “Or not.” Noah then surprised him by asking a question that Finn had thought the answer to was suspiciously obvious. Still, he opened his mouth to answer, a pained look on his face. “Me.” It seemed to dawn on his friend just moments later, when he hurriedly changed the subject. Good- Finn was tired and he wasn’t sure how to answer either of the last two questions.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Wonderful,” Finn said. “I’ve always wanted the kind of grandmother you hear about, who bakes cookies and teaches you to square dance and what not.” Finn had a grandfather- an adopted one- but the man preferred to listen to modern-ish music like Turn Down For What just after it went out of style and had nicknamed Finn “the Geek”, two facts that made him unbearable to be around for any length of time. “Is your grandmother cool or-“ he paused to use air quotes “-‘cool?’” She sounded like a great mix of the two- not a poseur like his Gramps.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Oh, smoking is fine. Everyone smokes. I’ve smoked before.” Just once- because once you start, it was almost impossible to quit, and he’d known that like most smokers, he would eventually want to quit. It seemed to Finn, though, that Noah was trying to air any dirty laundry before Finn found out about it himself- a good policy, in general, but Noah was middle class- which meant this was absolutely pointless. “You don’t need to tell me anything. If you had something worth sharing, it would be all over the school by now, if not as canon, then as rumor.” There were a couple of kids who would later claim to know all about Finn’s sexuality- and his boyfriend. <i>And, for that matter, Noah. </i>There was no such thing as a secret in high school.<br>
<br>
<br>
“I’ve played videogames…like, twice. I probably like whatever you like,” he postulated, adding to himself that if he didn’t, he’d pretend. He wasn’t going to be picky about what he and Noah did—not more so than he was already, at the very least.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Give me a hug before you go back to class.” Ooh. Disrespectful. “Captain.”<br>
<br>
<br>
(((Just now realized that said 'hub' and not 'hug'. I don't wish to know how much 'hub' changed the context. Sorry  <img src="https://www.rpnation.com/media/emoticon1-frown.23669/full?d=1488654524" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":(" title="frown    :(" data-shortname=":(">  )))</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">"A hug?" The strained expression on Noah's face smothered his thoughts. His eyebrows flexed as he wondered whether Finn meant that or if he was joking. He glanced at Finn's crutches. Noah's family didn't hug. Only girl classmates who were his friends hugged like it was an every occasion thing. Those same girls teased him for ignoring them. Noah walked toward Finn and reached his hand around his shoulder. His gaze went to Finn's shoulder blades. A few seconds passed and he wondered when to let go. Noah stepped back after what felt like just long enough. He frowned. "You were kidding, weren't you?" Noah asked as his suspicion redoubled as certainty.<br>
<br>
<br>
Although he already decided not to self-analyze it. Even if Finn hadn't been joking.<br>
<br>
<br>
"I'm not really a hugger so don't get used to it." Noah said and turned his face toward the empty hallway. It would be awkward going in since he skipped twenty minutes of class already. Noah attended school to play soccer though, learning was a secondary requirement. He put his hand on his side. "Maybe try calling me captain more at practice where it actually counts?" Noah asked. His tone was deadpan but his smile widened after a moment. "Or at games?"<br>
<br>
<br>
"How should I know what's going around school and what's not?" Noah asked with a little defensiveness although all of it was self-directed. "Where do you hear all of this stuff anyway?" Finn's social knowledge spanned layers and layers that Noah appreciated on some level, but declined to grasp. It may have spanned from Noah's dislike of criticizing people off the soccer field. At least, people he didn't know. Noah frowned. He understood himself well enough to recognize when he was being a snob.<br>
<br>
<br>
"My grandmother asks a lot of questions." Noah said after he realized he hadn't answered Finn's question. "And she makes bets with other parents about who's going to win our matches." He smiled. "Well, I should go to class. Talk to you later?"</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">“Yeah, a hug. It’s kind of a thing friends do?” Finn snapped, glaring at the other boy. Noah acted like everything he did was some sort of foreign concept, and it was kind of starting to bug Finn. It wasn’t f***ing rocket science, it was a sign of brotherly affection. Was Noah just hesitant because he knew Finn was gay or was there something-? Oh. <i>No. </i>It lasted a few seconds, and Noah’s hands were in the wrong place, and Finn accidentally didn’t hug back because he was shocked that it was happening, but they definitely hugged, and Finn definitely liked it…a little too much. When Noah asked if he’d been joking, he decided to just go with it. Better than the alternative, which was to admit how cute his soccer captain (and rival) was for the second time in under an hour, and be shot down again. “Yeah, we probably shouldn’t hug any more anyway. You’re terrible at it, honestly. I mean, you play physical contact sports. You shouldn’t be as insanely bad at hugging as you are.” He smirked, knowing Noah couldn’t back down from a challenge. And then he backed up, because he knew Noah couldn’t back down from a challenge. And fell. What? He was only on one crutch. Crutching was rocket science, apparently.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Yeah. I’ll, uh, I’ll call you Captain. In front of the other guys, too, if you want…” Finn would talk about anything just to stop talking about hugs with Noah. It was the equivalent of talking about one-night stands with Jansen: awkward. In any case, once Finn was stood on his feet again, he was happy to agree to anything else Noah had said. (“Hey, let’s go kidnap the President’s daughter!” “Sure, whatever you say, dreamboat!”) Instead, he was asked questions…”I try to stay up in people’s business because I feel that if at any time the information becomes useful, i.e. to save a life or to get a date, then the information is need to know.” Honestly, it was something Finn wished people did for him. If the number of people in this school who knew about Tyler increased by just a little, Finn felt he’d be in much more helpful hands.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Sure. Later.” But they wouldn’t talk later. Finn had just decided going to Noah’s house was a terrible, awful idea. It had something to do with the buzzing in his pants, then in his hand as he saw the text from Jansen’s phone. “Oh my god,” he breathed, voice catching. Without turning around to get his other crutch, he loped back out the hallway, toward the outside.<br>
<br>
<br>
(Sorry it sucks. Best I could do. But the reason it sucks is because I have a twist planned for my next post.  <img src="https://www.rpnation.com/media/emoticon1-smile.23674/full?d=1488654843" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":)" title="smile    :)" data-shortname=":)">  )</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">The school bell rang.<br>
<br>
<br>
His classmates gathered their supplies.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah weighed in on a conversation about surviving in a Zombie Apocalypse. The general consensus was that the more athletic the person, the higher the possibility of surviving was. Noah disagreed to an extent. Being intelligent seemed more useful he decided. When Noah said he couldn't survive the Zombie fueled extinction, the other sophomores scoffed. But at the same time, no one claimed to be able to survive it either. After ten minutes of round-about discussion, Noah realized he needed to meet up with Finn.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah slung his books under his arm. He jogged to his locker and deposited everything inside. Noah stalled for a moment in the hallway. All the other students were in a rush to reach the bus before it left. The hallway emptied steadily. Had they agreed on a place to meet up? Suddenly a wave of uncertainty went through him.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah revisited the hallway where they'd talked. He slumped against the lockers. Noah wavered between waiting and searching the school for Finn. A guy on crutches shouldn't have been difficult to find.<br>
<br>
<br>
Red passed him in the hallway. He and two equally tall, blond, attractive, boys were laughing at something. Noah mulled about it for a moment before approaching them. "Hey," Noah said as a prerequisite although he didn't like chitchat or small talk. The guys turned to look at him. They regarded him with a mix of offended irritation and polite curiosity. Noah wondered if he had accidentally interrupted some important conversation. Or maybe he sucked at approaching people. "Have you seen Finn?" He asked.<br>
<br>
<br>
(Lolz. I love your plot twists. They make me want to be better at plot twists  xD .)</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">There was one good thing that came out of the thick blind fold that was over Finn’s mouth: it kept him from screaming out in pain. No doubt that would have made everything infinitely worse- Tyler absolutely hated it when Finn screamed. The camera stared at Finn; Finn, devoid of any energy that would have allowed him to flip the camera off, or even lift his arm, did nothing. “You’re boring,” Tyler complained. “I don’t want a ten minute video of you doing nothing. Let’s start over.” He got up off the bed, where he was sitting, and crossed to the other side of the room, removing forcibly the phone’s batteries and replacing them with a new set of Triple As.<br>
<br>
<br>
“How about this?” suggested Tyler, although what he offered was most definitely not suggestion. “I tell you what to say, and then you say it.” With a t-shirt hanging loosely over board shorts on a skinny frame, Tyler looked innocent and benign. He was neither of those things. Leaning over the bed with the camera on again, he looked at Finn and shouted, “Say, ‘HI, NOAH!”<br>
<br>
<br>
“F*** you,” said Finn, but his voice was muffled by the blind fold. Tyler glared, ripping the blindfold off.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Say hi to Noah.”<br>
<br>
<br>
“Hi, Noah,” said Finn weakly to the camera.<br>
<br>
<br>
He couldn’t believe he’d gotten tricked. It was true- Finn had trusted Jansen the most of all of Tyler’s friends. He was rude and angry, but three-quarters of the time he found some way to warn Finn if something were about to go down. He’d never beat Finn up before, either. He’d watched the others do it, once…but he’d never participated. Yet he let Tyler borrow his phone…<br>
<br>
<br>
“I’ll make this video short,” said Tyler, dragging Finn over to him and sitting down. He pulled Finn’s head onto his lap. “You’ve been cuddling up to Noah all day. Is this true, or false?” If Finn said false, Tyler would have hurt him.<br>
<br>
<br>
“True.”<br>
<br>
<br>
“But he doesn’t care about you,” said Tyler. “I’ve seen this guy. He cares about soccer. He’s dealing with you so you’ll be able to play sooner. But,” he added playfully, “if you can’t play soccer at all, he won’t pay you any more attention. Watch.” All of this was on camera.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Hey, Noah. Ever wondered how a human sounds when three of its ribs are broken at the same time?”<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn screamed. It wasn’t a human scream. It sounded like a thousand dying bears.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Bye-bye, Noah. Don’t talk to my boyfriend any more, okay?”<br>
<br>
<br>
<i>-x-</i><br>
<br>
<br>
The first picture was sent to Noah’s phone just moments after he asked Red, “Have you seen Finn?”<br>
<br>
<br>
“Not since this morning,” said Red, giving Noah a pointed look as if to say, <i>before you interrupted us.</i><br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Isn’t our boyfriend pretty now? </b>the caption of the picture asked.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah ignored the snark in Red's reply. He also didn't want to reference what happened this morning. A part of Noah preferred it that Finn hadn't spoken to Red since their class. Even if it meant he couldn't find Finn sooner.<br>
<br>
<br>
The other boys sensed the tension between them. Their smiles dropped, although they hadn't been welcoming to begin with. Red and his friends left Noah standing alone in the hallway. They walked close together, probably to give each other a play by play of everything Noah had done wrong when he approached them.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah slouched against the locker. Finn's absence bothered him more than the loss of Red and his friend's regard. His prospects of finding Finn had dropped significantly in the last few seconds. Noah wondered if Finn bailed on him. Maybe he said more wrong than he thought during the day. He remembered those stupid comments he made at lunch and in the hallway. Noah stared at the digital clock. How long until he could accept that Finn ditched him?<br>
<br>
<br>
Maybe Finn just decided to take an abnormally long bathroom break.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah frowned in consideration. He remembered his phone buzzed when he questioned Red. Noah unearthed it from his pocket. He strode toward the door and unlocked his phone.<br>
<br>
<br>
Wesley and Jansen were at Jansen's locker. Wesley huffed. He had his arms crossed and paced. "Can we just go already?" He asked. Wesley drove to and from school. He didn't have to ride the bus. When Wesley noticed him, all but the hint of aggravation had disappeared from his expression. "Hey, Noah. I thought we didn't have practice today." He said.<br>
<br>
<br>
"We don't." Noah said.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Oh," Wesley said. Clearly confused by his presence so late after the bell rang.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Have you seen Finn?" Noah asked. "We were going to hang out."<br>
<br>
<br>
Jansen slammed his locker door shut at the same moment Wesley shook his head. "I haven't. But it's good you guys don't hate each now." He laughed and glanced at Jansen. "Come on dude. I've got stuff to do." Wesley smiled at Noah. As if he'd rather deal with him than Jansen at the moment. "He lost his phone." Wesley explained.<br>
<br>
<br>
Wesley turned to leave. Jansen glared at Noah and followed.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah walked outside too. He glanced down at his phone. His grandmother brought it last year when he scored every point in one game. He saw the picture and stopped walking. Finn looked freaked. And hurt? <b>Isn’t our boyfriend pretty now? </b>Noah dropped his phone on the sidewalk. It clattered on its side. He knelt and picked it up. His breathing quickened. Noah scanned the picture again. He kept looking even after he'd memorized every detail. <i>Our boyfriend? </i>Wasn't that Jansen's phone number?<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah texted back: where r you? After a moment he added: is this the guy finn used to go out with?</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">The reply was as quick as it was harsh. <b>Used to date? That’s laughable. We’ll never stop dating. </b>He ignored Noah’s other question. On the bed, Finn was biting a pillow to keep from screaming more. Tyler was sitting against him, using him as a cushion, and the knot on Tyler’s upper neck was pressed against a particularly angry bruise on Finn’s back. That, along with everything else, was more pain than he could handle. Before he knew it, he was a sobbing mess. “Are you seriously crying right now?” snapped Tyler.<br>
<br>
<br>
“No, I’m laughing,” Finn lied. “I’m so happy.”<br>
<br>
<br>
“You are?” asked Tyler, turning slightly to scrutinize Finn’s features. His cheeks were wet.<br>
<br>
<br>
“You care about me so much,” exclaimed Finn, “that you would do all this. I mean, you’re breaking the law for me right now.”<br>
<br>
<br>
Tyler smiled at him. “Of course I care about you, baby. I love you. You know that, right? I love you.” He grimaced as Finn continued to speak. “And what law am I breaking right now?” he asked curiously.<br>
<br>
<br>
“I’m sure there’s something about domestic violence…” Finn muttered, not bothering to say those three little words that left such a bitter taste in his mouth time and time again.<br>
<br>
<br>
“You think we’re domestic?” Tyler raised his eyebrows- both of them. He was an exceptional specimen of sadism and masochism, but he couldn’t lift just one eyebrow on its own. “That’s hot,” he informed Finn, grinning. “No doubt about it.”<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn groaned. He knew that look- that was a look that meant Tyler was about to kiss him, and get pissed if Finn didn’t pretend he liked it well enough. (In Tyler’s defense, before things got terribly bad…Finn loved his kisses. The feeling just wasn’t the same anymore.)<br>
<br>
<br>
“I love you,” said Tyler, cuddling up to Finn on the bed, and Finn sighed. “You love me too, right?”<br>
<br>
<br>
“I- sure.” He didn’t have the strength to argue any longer. “Tyler? If we’re going to be kissing for a while…you never remember to be careful with me.” Maybe this would work- but maybe not. “Can I have some Advil, maybe, please?”<br>
<br>
<br>
“I’ll find you something. We have Melatonin here on my bedside table. It’s over the counter, so it’s not very strong, but…”<br>
<br>
<br>
“Whatever.” Maybe while Tyler was doing whatever to him, Finn could try to sleep. He was tired more than anything…”Just let me…I’m so…I can’t…” He was out before the pill even touched his tongue. Tyler continued kissing him anyway.<br>
<br>
<br>
When he was bored of that, he texted back Noah. <b>I’m at my private residence. Wanna come over? Finn and I are having all sorts of fun…educational fun. </b> <img src="https://www.rpnation.com/media/emoticon1-winkingsmile.23677/full?d=1488655014" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=";)" title="smile wink    ;)" data-shortname=";)"><br>
<br>
<br>
He wanted to get so up in this guy’s face that he would quit. He’d always made a point to ignore Finn’s soccer friends (except for Jansen, obviously, and, to some extent, Wesley) but he’d make an exception for this guy. He needed to hear it- that Noah and Finn didn’t mean anything to each other.<br>
<br>
<br>
Tyler sent Noah the video. No editing- just a gagged, then in pain, Finn.<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Do you like him? You’re not even gay, right? </b></div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah held his phone tightly.<br>
<br>
<br>
This person, whoever he was, Finn's ex maybe, shouldn't have even known he existed. Noah felt like Tyler engaged him in a battle of possessiveness over Finn. He wanted to reply with something insulting, but he didn't think Finn would appreciate it. Which made it an exercise in maturity and self-control because Noah was possessive of his importance to Finn. He wanted to be more important to Finn than Tyler. Noah walked toward the student parking lot with his gaze ahead, but not really focusing on anything. He felt weirdly rejected that Finn had left with Tyler anyway. Maybe Tyler was just gloating.<br>
<br>
<br>
His phone had another message. Noah glowered at it. There was a video this time. A video and no explanation and Finn in distress. Noah's mouth hung open. He couldn't tell if it was real or some prank. Either way, Tyler acted more like a stalker toward Finn than a boyfriend. Noah didn't know he could think so lowly of someone. Someone he never met.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah typed a reply when his temper cooled off. <b>I</b>'<b>ll like whoever I want to. Thanks for asking. </b><br>
<br>
<b><br>
</b><br>
<br>
<br>
Noah didn't know if he had any right to resent Tyler. Except Finn was his teammate and he cared about him. And hadn't Tyler been the one who pushed Finn off the swing set? Finn had to walk around in crutches because of Tyler.<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Let me talk to Finn. </b>Noah texted before he got into his car. He sent another text to Finn asking if he was okay. It felt surreal. Noah never texted him before. He never wanted to before now. They'd just been guys who played on the same team.<br>
<br>
<br>
Wesley's car was just leaving the parking lot. Jensen would probably be in the passenger seat. Noah didn't know where Jansen lived, but Wesley did.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah slid the gear into reverse. He would follow them then.<br>
<br>
<b><br>
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Wesley was not having it this time. “Jansen. Fuck. I know you’re only pretending not to pay attention because you don’t want to have this conversation again.” The taller of the two boys stared down at his cell phone, frantically texting someone (probably his cell phone provider, and probably a bunch of gibberish. Wesley knew that trick.). “You <i>never </i>let me sleep over at your house. Yet you sleep at my house all the time. I’m begging you, please, just let me stay the night.”<br>
<br>
<br>
Jansen just glared. “You can and have slept over at your girlfriend’s before. You might be upset at each other, but she’s not going to refuse to let you sleep there when your parents are fighting again.”<br>
<br>
<br>
“What happened to all that ‘You’re my best friend, Wesley; I love you’ shite?”<br>
<br>
<br>
What happened was Jansen screwed up. Here was the deal: Finn was his friend. Tyler was his brother. Finn and Tyler were dating, so his loyalties were to the couple, and it should have been that simple. Unfortunately, this was not the case- simply because (well, not simply because, but partially because) Finn and Tyler were constantly beating each other up. Jansen did have a responsibility to his brother to take his side during the break-up, but he also had a responsibility to warn Finn if Tyler were planning to, say, break his leg, which had been the original plan that morning (Tyler was p*s*ed at Finn- understandably. Imagine getting no affection at all, in your mind, for no reason, from your partner. You’d be upset.)<br>
<br>
<br>
Then Noah entered the scene. How Finn went from “I can’t stand this bleeding areshole, but I’m stuck with him, so, oh, well” to “I think he’s a total cutie” was a mystery to Jansen, but he’d seen the signs in both of them, and he’d had to tell Tyler.<br>
<br>
<br>
So now Tyler and Finn were at Jansen’s house and Jansen absolutely did not want Wesley getting involved. That was what happened with the ‘I love you’ shite.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Look. My brother’s over and-“<br>
<br>
<br>
“I don’t care! Finn’s right! All you ever want to do is be alone with Tyler! Tyler, this! Tyler, that! Tyler, Tyler, Tyler! I love you, Tyler! Come help me with my menstrual period, Tyler!”<br>
<br>
<br>
“That is not what this is about!” shouted Jansen, and immediately turned red. “Look. I’ll let you stay over tomorrow night if you wish, but right now I kind of have a situation…Is that Noah’s car?”<br>
<br>
<br>
“What?”<br>
<br>
<br>
“Following us. That ugly-ass car. Is it Noah’s? It looks like Noah’s.”<br>
<br>
<br>
Wesley turned his head around. “You have got to be f***ing kidding me. What are the odds I’ve noticed that car before twice? It’s still there? What the f***?”<br>
<br>
<br>
“Here. Pull over. I can walk from here. If he’s interested in me, he’ll pick me up.” Jansen dialed 911 and handed it to Wesley. “Just in case it isn’t Noah…”<br>
<br>
<br>
The car slowed and he hopped out, waving his arms. Time to find out what was happening….</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah followed Wesley's car and kept several feet of distance between them. The speedometer stayed on the 45 mark. He liked to go faster, but he didn't want Wesley and Jansen to notice him. Noah would follow them to Jansen's house and...  Ask Finn to leave with him. Noah hadn't ever hit a person on purpose and he refused to now. Tyler sounded like a jerk. Noah was a jerk too, but of an entirely different kind. Finn could ride with him if he decided to go with him. The passenger seat wasn't cluttered like the backseat of his car.<br>
<br>
<br>
He could fix it. He could solve the Tyler problem.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah sought an acceptable music station on the radio. Pop songs baffled him and he scoffed at love songs. All the love songs on the radio were about straight people anyway, which he hadn't realized until now. Outside of soccer, his timing for realizations were terrible. His grandma called him self-centered. At first he thought she was joking. But his grandmother didn't joke, it sounded like that sometimes because she was utterly deadpan.<br>
<br>
<br>
The car in front of his slowed. Noah tensed his hands on the wheel. He didn't want to relent that Wesley and Jansen noticed him until Wesley's car pulled over. Jansen stepped out of the car. He seemed to be glaring at him.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah stared back without much of an expression. He turned on his blinker and pulled to the side of the road. He hadn't fully parked when the passenger swung door opened. Noah's eyebrows furrowed. Jansen raised his arm and waved at Wesley before he got inside. Noah lowered the volume of the Bon Jovi song on the radio.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah barely talked to Jansen.<br>
<br>
<br>
He didn't ride with him except on sports trips. Noah didn't like him in his car. Especially since he recently imagined Finn in the passenger's seat instead. "You're doing a shitty job at controlling your brother." Noah said first thing. He thrust his fist into the steering wheel. It honked sharply for a moment. Noah pursed his lips. "He's been spending me scewed up texts. And he's got Finn. I'm not even sure Finn wants to be at your house. What the hell is his problem?"<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah flickered his gaze to Jansen. He wanted Jansen to explain Tyler's behavior to him. Or rationalize it in a way that made sense. "I need directions to your house." He said.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">“I’m not his guardian or his mentor and I’m sure as Satan not in charge of him,” Jansen snapped at the captain, burying his face in his hands. He counted to ten before putting his head back up. “Sorry, Captain. This is my fault. See, what happened is…you know Tyler and Finn have been together a while, right? Like, a long time.” Jansen struggled over how to explain their relationship in a way that would make sense to possibly closeted Noah. “You’ve never had a boyfriend or a girlfriend before, have you? So you don’t get that when you’re in love you do crazy things. Like…breaking your beau’s arm or punching them in the face or stabbing them…look, the point is that while Tyler and Finn have a unique relationship, they are in a relationship. So when you two started…I had to tell Tyler. And he’s not pleased.”<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn groaned as he rolled over.  The slightest movement caused tinges of pain that let open a slight window of consciousness. At his desk, Tyler was tinkering with some sort of strange looking mechanical doll. It reminded him of a date they’d been on: Tyler had taken him to some sort of club where ‘Ladies Get In Free’. The result of this was the invention of Tyra and Sarafinna, a pair of lesbians who came to <i>mingle</i>. Finn hated that night. Girl underwear was weird. He couldn’t quite remember, but it seemed like that night was the first time Finn realized…as Tyler (Tyra) hit on other girls…that this wasn’t love. This was obsession. Tyler had not yet come to that conclusion.<br>
<br>
<br>
Tyler muttered as he worked. “Cheats on me…lies to me…deserve someone who’s loyal…loves me…” Finn wanted to complain, to let Tyler know that he’d never even flirted with another guy while they were in a relationship but he knew that would only make his situation worse. Tyler didn’t trust him.<br>
<br>
<br>
“I’m sorry, Noah. You’ll learn this as time goes on, that it is usually best not to poach other guy’s boyfriends. Look, you’re a cute guy, so you’ll have a boyfriend in no time if you come out of the closet. It just can’t be Finn. “ Jansen wondered when admonishing Noah had grown to giving him a pep talk. “If it makes you feel better, there’s a lot of gay guys other than Finn and the club and that redheaded popular guy. There’s me- I mean, I’m pan, but- and I’m pretty sure Wesley’s cousin Lemuel…you know, the cool Jewish guy who jokes around in History? There’s no way he’s straight…uh, hey. So, my house is up here.” Jansen awkwardly gestured at a deceivingly immaculate blue house just ahead.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Anyway, just leave Finn alone.”</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah furrowed his eyebrows, momentary disturbed by Jansen's intimate knowledge of his dating history. It took Noah a second to ignore the impulse to defend his romantic life choices. Like, his inability to understand his own psychology, let alone anyone else's. Noah exhaled slowly and loosened his grip on the steering wheel. "You're the one who told?" It wasn't an information based question. Noah glared at Jansen.<br>
<br>
<br>
Team loyalty didn't mean much nowadays.<br>
<br>
<br>
He could always ax Jansen from the team and give Edward a chance.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah considered that for two seconds before he remembered how terrible Edward was at directions and motor functions. They did not need a repeat of the Marsh county game. Noah stared at Jansen though. For an inordinate amount of time. Noah's eyes were naturally void, naturally dark, and narrow. He was the captain of the team. Maybe he could inspire some unwarranted concern for Jansen's place on the team.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah face scrunched at Jansen's description of real relationships. "That doesn't sound too great actually. And I have a right to be pissed off at Tyler even though I haven't gone near Finn. In a. . .  romantic way." Noah blushed and glanced at the windshield. He didn't get why people kept insinuating that. Except he did spend all his time with complaining about Finn or competing against him. "He's the reason Finn is on crutches. Of course I'm pissed." Noah said.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah maintained a deadpan expression during the duration of Jansen's spiel as he described the LGBT community of their school. For a moment, he leaned in. "Wait, Lemuel? Really?" Noah asked, but then caught himself. "Well, that's nice. And It's interesting how thoroughly you know the gay community at our school." Noah said. "But I'm really not interested in those people."<br>
<br>
<br>
"I can't leave Finn alone." Noah said exasperatedly. "I have after school practice with him every other day."<br>
<br>
<br>
He drove back onto the road. It wasn't a long trek to the blue house. Noah hadn't known he'd been so close to Jansen's house when Wesley and Jansen noticed him. He pulled into the driveway. Noah glanced at Jansen. "Tyler's not violent is he?" He asked, realized he should have asked this before. "I mean, he wouldn't try that on me, would he?" Noah asked and scowled.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">“I am the one who told, yes,” said Jansen. He glanced over at the smaller boy (as Jansen was something of a hulk) and determined that even if he and Noah were to get in a fight, he himself was in no danger. As Noah continued to deny his feelings, Jansen took out the spare family phone he’d had on him all day and pointed it at Noah. One red and green button and the TracFone clicked out a picture. “Look at your face,” said Jansen, pushing the grainy subpar quality photo at Noah. “You’re blushing so hard. Are you honestly going to sit here and tell me you don’t like Finn? I’ve seen how you act on the field. You scream at each other to try to get rid of some of the sexual tension and it just makes it worse. The whole team jokes about it behind your backs.”<br>
<br>
<br>
On some level, Jansen wanted Noah as far the hell away from Finn and Tyler as possible- for Tyler’s sake. On another, ever more surfacing level, Jansen wanted Tyler to himself. Using Noah to break them up served that purpose rather nicely, although he wouldn’t ever tell anyone that. No one must know there was anything more than a big, caring goofball inside this hulk of a shell.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Anyway, I’ve already done my part. It’s not my job to convince you not to follow me into my house and kick the shit out of my brother.” He got out of the car and stood up to his full, over 6 foot height. “And yes, Tyler is violent. As far as your other question goes, no. I don’t think there is the slightest chance Tyler will do to you what he does to Finn. He doesn’t care about you, so its less likely you’ll end up tied up while he has his kissing way with you. He will try to harm you, though. He will kill you if you try to take Finn away from him.” Jansen shrugged his shoulders and headed inside, ducking to narrowly avoid hitting the door to his house on the way in. “Oh, and Captain?” he called over his shoulder as he passed. “I can’t <i>wait</i> to see you at practice tomorrow.”<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn noticed the yellow drill on the table long before Tyler noticed he’d woken up from his brief nap. It had some weight to it, and it gave him an idea.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah tucked his arms into his chest. He followed Jansen, cutting through his front yard. His annoyance stayed with him and, if anything,  it became uglier and denser. "You act like you don't care about anything." Noah said loud enough for Jansen to hear. Everything Jansen said to him swirled. Noah wanted to contradict all of it, but he also didn't want to dignify Jansen with a response. He pressed his lips together. His scowl tilted at his mouth like he'd sucked on something sour. "I can't wait until practice tomorrow either." Noah said. <i>So I can kick soccer balls at your face.</i> Having disputes with his teammates was at the top of his list of things to stop doing. Deciding that and going through with it were different things of varying difficulties, Noah thought.<br>
<br>
<br>
He kept his distance from Jansen, but followed into his house. Noah tugged his arms closer to his chest. His gaze went to the various furniture and nick-nacks in Jansen's house. He'd never been there before, but a few others on the team probably had. Like Wesley.<br>
<br>
<br>
And obviously Finn.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah peered at his surroundings, but he didn't stare at anything long. He kept closer to Jansen once he passed the threshold, like a freshman who didn't know where his classroom was. Noah felt too much like an intruder in his house. Wesley and Finn having visited there made him feel more of an outsider, not less. "Great, this is progress." Noah said to himself. His own nervous habit that amused his grandmother greatly. He glanced at a hallway. "Finn are you around here?" Noah ignored Jansen's existence as far as speaking to him went. He'd had enough of him and inwardly refused to ask him where Tyler's room was.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah stepped into the hallway. He peered into the first room for Tyler and Finn. Noah discovered the bathroom on accident. His brow furrowed and he turned around. "Finn?" He asked a little louder.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">When he heard Noah, Finn knew his plan had to come together fast. There was no time to calculate the probability that this would work or that it would all go awry: Finn had to do it and run, like a normal person. With a flick of his wrist and a scream in pain as his arm shot forward, the drill slammed with force into the back of Tyler’s head. Absorbed in his work, Tyler never had a chance to turn around. Blood sprayed from the fallen young man, and a little trickle began pooling onto the light grey shag rug floor. Finn winced, noticing how sticky his hands had just become. Oh, well. He would deal with this <i>mess</i> later…<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn finally understood Tyler.<br>
<br>
<br>
Now for the hard part. Launching forward, Finn ignored the pain in his ankle and forced himself to just walk, dragging his arm (and the bed) along with him. Retrieving the drill from where it had bounced off Tyler’s crown, Finn twisted around and was immediately delayed by Tyler’s hand wrapping around his foot. Oops. Looks like he hadn’t knocked Tyler out- a situation easily remedied by three sharp, repeating whacks to the head with the Bee, as Finn was now affectionately calling it. Removing his foot from Tyler’s grasp, Finn braced himself, bad foot against the bed, and drilled at the rope. Eventually, it snapped.<br>
<br>
<br>
Finn wondered if he’d hallucinated Noah’s voice- he could no longer hear it. He wondered if he was dreaming as he limped across the floor and to the phone. Three turns of the rotary dial (this family was obsessed with antiques- at least, Tyler was) and he had the police. “Hello?” asked Finn.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Hello, 911? What may I do for you?”<br>
<br>
<br>
“I’m being held captive in my ex-boyfriend’s house. 249 West Montgomery. I’m hurt and he’s bleeding from lacerations to the head. He’s unconscious. I don’t know if he’ll make it. Please hurry.” He hung up and waddled out the bedroom door. “Noah?” he shouted. “Are you here? I need help.”</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah heard the noise and drew closer. It sounded like the thwack of someone being struck.<br>
<br>
<br>
He remembered what Jansen told him. That Tyler would kill him if tried to take Finn away from him. His blood pounded in his ears as he went toward the door. It opened without him having to prompt it. Finn stepped out.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah exhaled sharply and went over to him. He threw his arms around Finn's shoulders. Despite it seeming like he should feel awkward, Noah didn't. He hugged Fin harder. Without regard for his balance situation. He cringed and gave him a little space. Noah crumpled a little in the force of his sudden relief, and exhaustion. "I thought I heard something. Like maybe you getting hit or something." Noah said, aware that he sounded concerned and maybe Finn would think that was dumb. "I hate him and Jansen." Noah said darkly and that seemed to make it truer. He drew his chin up and looked at the bedroom Finn came from. "Where is Tyler?"<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah glanced at Finn quizzically. All his trip to Tyler's house, he didn't know what he'd say to him. Noah still didn't have any words prepared, but it felt like he didn't need any. His outrage would carry him.<br>
<br>
<br>
He stepped toward the door and opened it. Noah spotted an antique telephone almost immediately.<br>
<br>
<br>
It took him a moment to notice the spots of blood. The spatter on the rug seemed to turn and turn in his mind. Noah glanced to the side to find Tyler--only willing himself to not look once it was too late. Noah backed in the door frame.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit." Noah said like it was a vocabulary on its own. He turned to Finn. He'd seen the rope attached to the bed and the pictures Tyler send him. Noah noticed now. He saw the drill in Finn's hand. He sagged into the woodwork. "What did you do?" Noah asked. "Is he dead?" His voice changed pitch despite his effect to remain in control of himself.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">“Noah,” Finn choked, and threw his arms around the soccer team captain. He was so glad to see someone, anyone, other than his tormentors. “I’m so sorry I missed our-“ He choked again- this time, not because he was crying or because he maybe possibly had blood in his throat- but rather because he’d almost said “date”. “Hang out.” There.<br>
<br>
<br>
It was strange how so much could change in so little time. (Not the Tyler situation- as long as Finn left him alive, that circumstance was bound to get worse. Yes, finally, Finn was done with Tyler. Now that he was fighting back for real, though, he imagined there was no way Tyler was done with him.) Hours ago, if he’d been hurt, Noah would have done anything possible to make him feel worse. And now?<br>
<br>
<br>
“Is he dead?” Finn had spaced out for far too long. The hug ended as abruptly as it had begun, leaving Finn balanced on nothing. “Aaah!” he stumbled, catching himself quickly on the wall just next to Noah.<br>
<br>
<br>
“No.” said Finn firmly, turning to watch Tyler’s steady breathing through that door and across the room. “I wish.” He glanced over at the taller, darker-haired boy, and sighed. “Do you think I’m a bad person?” Before he could receive an answer, Jansen turned the corner and reentered the room, having abandoned Noah earlier in search of something decent to eat.<br>
<br>
<br>
“See? Finn’s fine. There was nothing to worry about after all,” said Jansen, mouth filled with cream cheese and bagel. He clearly had a different definition of “fine” than everyone else. “Why do you have blood on your hands…?” Moments later, it dawned on him. “Where’s Tyler?” he whirled around, whipping saliva encrusted crumbs all over the place. Seeing him on the floor, he took a step forward, and then a step back. Another step forward, and he turned around.<br>
<br>
<br>
“Noah. Old buddy, old pal. Dear, sweet Noah.” He cracked his knuckles. “I need your opinion on something.” God, he looked pissed. “Do you think Tyler would prefer for me to help him first, or for me to kill Finn first?”</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Noah's opened his mouth sometime between discovering Tyler, and Jansen finding them, and he hadn't closed it yet. He shirked from the heat in Jansen's eyes. Aimed at Noah and Finn, it felt corrosive. The kind of permanent grudge that could stay intact over a lifetime. Noah remained planted in Tyler's room. The tendons in his fists flexed and loosened. Noah's expression solidified to a morose line.<br>
<br>
<br>
At some point, he anticipated being punched. Noah made swift peace with that. A compartmentalized part of him was relieved. At least Jansen and Tyler's parental guardians weren't present. Janson's seething he could deal with. Noah wouldn't have stood the same glare from their parents, possibly his own grandmother, without wilting away.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Go fuck yourself." The words were said without jabbing. Noah felt next to nothing against Jansen for his role in Tyler's freakish, narcissistic game. He tensed for a long moment afterward, wincing into his shoulders. "It's not Finn's fault your brother's a crazy..." The exact noun fleeted from his grasp, but crazy felt like a strong enough adjective on its own. Noah's gaze trailed to where Tyler lay slumped. He looked less than sleeping but far from dead.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah made a mental note not to piss off Finn.<br>
<br>
<br>
Although the bar seemed pretty high since he wasn't crazy.<br>
<br>
<br>
"We're gonna go." Noah said, the words were loud but still somehow small. "You should help your brother." He added, but swayed in case Jansen disagreed. He knew Finn was behind him, literally and metaphorically. Since Finn recently upgraded his level of badass, Noah was sheepish, but certain they could take Jansen. "This thing is over." Noah said. Everything in Jansen's face agreed that wasn't true.<br>
<br>
<br>
Facing off against one teammate, siding with another. Noah knew this was a cracking note of disaster, a fissure in his perfect team. Jansen's poison would leap to Wesley, and crawl toward the others. Noah's gaze glinted with sparks of his own grudge, newly forming, finding structure on top Jansen's blase attitude toward Finn.</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Finn didn’t say anything. It would appear that Noah had everything under control. “Let’s go.” He grabbed Noah’s wrist, pulling him outside of the house. His leg and foot hurt, but there were more pressing matters to attend to. “Thank you,” Finn said finally, climbing into Noah’s car with difficulty. “Also- I’m sorry for being so blunt about this, but you need to drop me off far away from here, and then you need to get away from me. I don’t want any trouble to follow you because of me- well, any more trouble.” Finn winced. “Also, wherever you leave me, it can’t be at the hospital. We have neither the money nor the insurance necessary to pay for everything.” <i>And I can’t pretend to be someone else again because they know me now.</i><br>
<br>
<br>
Maybe Finn had assumed too much. Yes, Noah had come to get him, but that didn’t mean Noah wanted to take Finn anywhere. “Do you want me to get out…?” He felt a bit awkward about the current situation. “Please take me somewhere…”<br>
<br>
<br>
<i>Why this? </i>Finn wondered, staring at Noah. <i>Of all the people to hate me, both of them are the boys I like…</i>He was sensing a pattern, and he didn’t like it- although he highly doubted Noah was capable of doing anything Tyler had ever done.<br>
<br>
<br>
He sat silently, pondering something. “Do we really seem like we like each other? I mean, it’s obvious I kind of like you, but…I was under the impression that you are straight?” He worried a tiny bit over asking a question like that, but then again, why would Noah take offense? He made it pretty clear he wasn’t homophobic, even if he was straight. “I wish I’d landed on my head…” <i>Then nothing would have happened to Noah. Or, if it had, I wouldn’t have to know about. Although a police investigation would obviously find him not guilty…</i>Speaking of police, were those sirens off in the distance? Oh, no. “You gotta go- with or without me. Gas it.”</div>
				
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					<div class="bbWrapper">Being barred from going to the hospital left Noah with startlingly few options. His wrist was tingly from where Finn tugged him along earlier. With a million and one things going on at once, he tried to focus on what to do next. Starting the car, with its tendency to stall sometimes, for one. "Um, leave you and don't come back?" This sounded impractical on his part. On the list of things he couldn't do, leaving Finn was at the top. Noah switched gears and reversed out of Jansen's parking lot. By the time they reached the bend in the road, the police sirens had centered around Jansen's house.<br>
<br>
<br>
Cold sweat prickled on the back of his neck, but Noah was otherwise stable. "Um, am I straight?" Except that Finn had the worse timing for bringing stuff up. Noah stared at the many trees arching canopy like above the road. He pressed on the petrol to put as much distance between them and the police. "Uh," Noah said, brilliantly.<br>
<br>
<br>
Around you, maybe not.<br>
<br>
<br>
He didn't want to hit on Finn. Not now. These were the worst circumstances ever for encouraging any sort of romantic thing. Words like rebound came to mind, and him just needing somebody to comfort him. Noah didn't want to say no either. Like a gigantic user, he didn't want to discourage Finn's crush on him, in case he maybe decided to be gay-bi-pan-something?<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah missed the turn to his house, but on second thought, his house seemed like the obvious choice anyway, if they were on the run.<br>
<br>
<br>
"Shut up. Unless you mean since your head is so big, it would have absorbed the blow, and you would have been otherwise fine." Noah said. He slowed into an unfamiliar neighborhood. Apartment buildings on the left side had concrete landings and burnt out streetlamps. It sort of reminded him of a meth bust he'd seen on T.V once. On the right, there was a kid's jungle gym, which included a swing set, and a winter green slide connected to preschool sized panels of xs and os for tic-tac-toe.<br>
<br>
<br>
Noah should have gone a different way. He glanced at Finn, but automatically felt guilty for thinking he would have some kind of reaction. "I guess this is where we move to Montana and take on new identities?" He asked. "Um, there's ibuprofen in the glove box. Since apparently we're not going to the hospital." He added. "I have no idea if that helps."</div>
				
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				Last edited by a moderator: <time class="u-dt" dir="auto" datetime="2015-08-25T23:52:14-0400" data-time="1440561134" data-date-string="Aug 25, 2015" data-time-string="11:52 PM" title="Aug 25, 2015 at 11:52 PM" itemprop="dateModified">Aug 25, 2015</time>
			
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