~Xander’s POV~

“Hey boy.” I murmured as I opened the door to my apartment. My blue healer, Rex, barked and licked my hand before heading over to the living room and sitting down in the recliner while I flopped back onto the couch.

I was barely relaxing for a minute before there was a knock on the door. I just ignored it, closing my eyes.

“Man! Open up! I know you’re here!” Jason yelled and I sighed, calling to him.

“Doors open! Lock it!”

I heard the door open then the twisting of the lock before Jason came in wearing some jeans and his football jersey. Damn it. Can’t I rest for a moment?

“What?” I growled, resting my arms over my head.

“We’re playing Black Ops. The DeathReaper and BloodEye are back. We’re taking them down.” He ordered and I scowled.

“The rulers of the Jungle? Are you crazy?!”

“No! But I want to defeat them! Have you seen the river after they quit for the night?! It’s full of over two hundred people! No, way more than that! Like a thousand! I heard they kill themselves when they run out of ammo and then just go right back! The trail leading to the bridge is even stocked full of people!” He ranted and I sighed, rolling over to face away from him.

“Not tonight dude. Practice got me worn out.”

“How is it any different than yesterday?! We had practice then!”

“That was when you kept me up until midnight playing the damn game and I couldn’t sleep.” I growled, glaring at him and he sighed, patting Rex’s head.

“Fine, fine. I’ll go home. Tomorrow we’re playing though.” He ordered, pointing at me sternly and I grunted. He took that as an agreement and headed out. I sighed in relief when I heard the door close and pulled myself up, locking the door and stripped from my clothes as I headed into my room. I pulled on my black pajama pants before turning off the lights and climbing into bed. Rex curled up at the other side of the bed and I instantly fell asleep, even if it was five thirty.

Too bad I had to wake up again at eight to learn I left something in the lockers rooms and head back.

~Skylar’s POV~

“Can we go home?!” Hanna whined.

“Go ahead. I have to try this out and then fix any problems.” I sighed, raking a hand through my hair. I had taken off my hat when we started moving the lighting into the gym and boy was it a pain.

“I’ll walk her out.” Akuma told me, probably sensing my annoyance. It wasn’t at Hanna, no, I understood she was tired. It was nine o’ clock. I just was getting pissed off at the stupid system that didn’t want to seem to work.

And if Hanna didn’t stop leave, she was going to be the target of my foul mood.

I watched as they headed out of the gym before pulling my shirt off with a growl and getting to work installing the stupid strobe lights again. Damn it, couldn’t they get a decent AC for the gym?!

“Work god damn it!” I ordered, hitting it then yelped, stepping back and fell on my ass off the step ladder, my arm bleeding and the light still not working.

“Damn you lights!” I yelled, flopping onto my back with a sigh. I breathed deeply for a moment before rubbing a hand across my face and felt the drop of blood. My eyes snapped open and I looked at the two inch long gash. Fuck, that’s right. I’m bleeding. At least it didn’t look deep enough for stitches or other major things.

I pulled the shop rag I had tied around my forehead before turning it to the other side without sweat and tied it tight with my teeth.

“Dammit.” I growled then got up again, getting up on the step ladder again and glaring at the wires. Then I realized what it was.

“Fuck! How stupid of a mistake is that! Now Couch Mathers is probably going to make me run two miles for getting blood on his court because of a fucking unplugged wire?!” I yelled loudly, gritting my teeth.

I quickly put the wire in and was blinded and shocked at the same time which lead me to fall back again. But this time I didn’t fall on my ass. I didn’t even fall. Someone grabbed me. And it wasn’t Akuma.

I looked up and gasped at the sight of Xander frowning down at me. I instantly backed away, bowing my head rapidly. “I’m sorry. So sorry. Didn’t mean to be a bother. Really. Oh fuck.” I turned back to the strobe light as it turned off again and like that my temper snapped and I started glaring at it while calling it every curse word in the book and pacing the gym back and forth while hitting my head.

“Damn you mother fucking son of a bitch. Stupid twat, why won’t you work?! What, did Jack forget to plug in the wires….the right way. Dammit!” I stormed off to the cart in the corner of the gym and stared down, the wires not matching up to the way they do in my brain.

“Dammit Jack! How hard is it to put a few simple wires in?! Red goes to blue, white to black, yellow to orange, pink to purple….”

I trailed off as I fixed the wires the right way. But of course, as soon as I was done, I was shocked again. “Dammit! Bitch!” I growled, narrowing my eyes as I waved my hand back and forth.

I heard a chuckle and I blinked in surprise, turning to see that Xander was still here. I looked at him in confusion. “I thought you left.”

“Why would you think that?” He questioned, tilting his head.

“Whenever I apologize to a jock, they usually sneer and turn away our beat the shit out of me.” I shrugged, pulling the milk I had been saving out and taking a long sip. Ah….Japanese milk.

“What’s that?”

“Milk.”

“Why’s it in a can?”

“It’s Japanese.” I smirked, shaking it a little and took out another Pocky.

“What is that thing anyway? I was wondering that earlier.” He questioned, nodding to the cookie and I blinked.

“It’s a Pocky. A flavored cookie stick. Chocolate covered, strawberry covered, oh! And my favorite: Toppo Green Tea ones. Though, chocolate is a close tie….”

I shrugged and flipped on the strobe lights, nodding as they worked perfectly now and turned them off, turning the multi-colored flashing lights on and nodded as they worked. But unfortunately, the disco ball didn’t. I scowled up at it, growling under my breath.

“Why are you shirtless, by the way?” I jumped. Dammit Xander and his stupid quietness.

“Why? Am I too sexy for you?” I questioned, winking at him and he frowned. I swear he was blushing a bit but I couldn’t tell because of the stupid disco ball! Dammit! Dammit! Damn it!

“Maybe I should just go with the light up floor.” I sighed, rubbing my forehead and grimaced when I saw the red blotch on the shop rag already.

Damn I was bleeding a lot. Ah, fuck it. I’ll just sleep all day tomorrow.

“You’re not too sexy for anybody and I doubt you could get a light up floor here.” Xander scoffed and I smiled at him.

“Oh please. I see you staring at me from the corner of my eye. Didn’t know you were interested in guys. Anyway, never doubt somebody with a lot of money and a dad in the electronic development biz.” I chuckled, glancing at him and he scowled. Yup, he was definitely blushing. I thought he was straight….oh well.

“Development biz?” He questioned and I nodded.

“Video games, movies, etc.” I replied, frowning while I looked at the wires again.

“Ah, so the rumors are true.”

“Which rumors?”

“That you helped create Black Ops.”

“Pft. That game? That’s one of several. I’ve helped with many different top ranking games. Gears of War 3 is the latest one. I’ve got advance copies.” I explained, frowning at the Disco ball wires. Dammit Jack. Can’t you get anything right? No more Japanese candy for him!

I switched the wires back and sighed in relief as it turned on. I grabbed onto the wall beside me, my head slightly dizzy and I looked at my arm. Damn, it was redder. Stupid platelets, heal me already!

“Dude, come on. Even with that blood is dripping on the floor.” I looked up in shock as Xander grabbed my hand, leading me towards the boys locker room and I watched the back of his head. His black hair was messy and sticking up in some places. Had he been sleeping? Wait, what was he doing here? I asked him that now as he sat me down on the bench and got the First Aid kit.

“Oh, I forgot my cell phone and my sketch book.” He answered and I cocked my head to the side.

“You draw?”

“Yeah, is it that much of a shock?” He growled, narrowing his eyes and I shook my head, glancing at my arm as he untied the rag. Damn I bled a lot. Maybe that cut wasn’t so small?

“What’d you do?” He questioned, dabbing it with disinfectant after wiping it clean and I sucked in a breath.

“Strobe light attacked me.” I grumbled, pulling on the hair in front of my ear and looked around.

“I don’t think one could attack you if it wanted to.” He chuckled and I shook my head rapidly, pausing for a moment as that made me dizzy then retorted.

“They can though! They scratch you, blind you and shock you!”

“Are you sure you’re not talking about Pikachu?” I blinked in surprise, raising an eyebrow at him.

“I saw your shirt.” He chuckled.

“Ah,” I replied, nodding then thought about it, “Yes, I guess so. But still, strobe lights are evil. I will enjoy smashing it later.”

I smirked, grinning evilly and he stared at me face. “Creeper smile.”

The smile instantly dropped. I turned away, pouting as I bit into a custard pudding KitKat. “Jerk.”

“What kinda KitKat is that?” He asked, staring at it and I grinned.

“Custard Pudding. It’s really good. Well, it actually kinda tastes weird. But then again, I like tasting weird things. Wink, wink. I wonder if you’d taste weird. Hm….oh wait, I’m not supposed to think that. You’re straight, aren’t you? Am I still saying this out loud? I should probably stop. This blood loss thing is a big pain in the ass. Where the hell did Akuma go? He better not be having sex in the back of the car again! At least make it’s Hanna’s car! I like the backseat and rather not sit in jizz. Oh, wait. I’m talking to Xander, that’s right. Not Akuma. So no yelling. I should really shut up now.” I snapped my jaws shut as I realized I was rambling mostly from all the sugar and then blood loss. I let out a groan, hitting the back of my head against the lockers.

“Shit today is so weird. You’re a senior, correct? Why are you helping me?” I asked as he wrapped the gauze around my arm just a little below my elbow. He frowned, tilting his head to the side while he bit his lip softly. One word came to mind: Cute.

“Don’t really know. What would you do if you found somebody bleeding and cussing out inanimate objects?” He chuckled and I taped my cheek thoughtfully.

“Ask them what it did and then join them.”

He stared at me for a long moment and I stared back. Eventually he just burst out laughing and I frowned. Seriously, I was telling the truth. I would.

But, maybe that’s just the candy. Or my slightly messed up thinking….

He had stopped laughing now and he sat beside me with a small smile, an occasional chuckle here and there.

“Do you know how weird that sounded?” He questioned and I shrugged.

“Oh well. I am weird.” He snorted, nodding.

“That’s what everyone says.”

I frowned, tapping the Pocky against my cheek before taking a bite and standing up abruptly. He stared at me for a moment while I grinned.

“I hafta finish my job. Wait….when is Homecoming?” I asked, frowning and he blinked in surprise, watching me.

“Next Friday. Do you have a tattoo?”

I blinked, blushing slightly and looked down at my right arm. I had gotten the same Fairy Tail tattoo as Drake and everyone from the Fairy Tail Guild.

I also had a tribal tattoo of a phoenix and a dragon circling each other on my back. I looked back up to see him studying me. I just smiled. “I’ve had two for a while. How old was I? Fifteen I think.”

I nodded to myself and he looked surprised. “I’ve never heard of a sophomore having tattoos.”

“It’s not like I told people. I got my tattoos where they could be hidden. Besides, the one that almost no one knows about has the most meaning. I rather not have people seeing it all the time. Plus going shirtless around school would be kinda bad for me….” I stopped, trailing off and sighed while rubbing the back of my neck. I was still slightly dizzy from blood loss but that couldn’t be helped at the moment.

Damn.

~Xander’s POV~

I watched as he rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh, flexing his muscles and his other hand was in his pocket. I looked at the tattoo on his shoulder. Where had I seen that before? Is it something for the geeks or something? I knew I saw that Drake kid during PE with one while we changed. Except his was blue and on his chest.

He started to turn away and my eyes caught sight of the phoenix and dragon tattoo. Was that the one he was talking about? It looked intricate. Like Yin and Yang. Is that the one he said had meaning?

“You’re staring at me again, naughty boy.” Skylar tusked, looking at me from over his shoulder. I quickly looked away. What the hell was up with me?

“Are you sure your straight?” I jumped when I turned my head and his face was right in front of mine. What the hell? Why’s he so quiet?! Wait, what did he ask?! Of course I’m straight!

“Yes!” I scoffed, narrowing my eyes at him. He didn’t react, just stared at me. I looked back, not knowing what else to do.

He sighed, shaking his head. As if he was disappointed with something then suddenly I felt something. I glanced to the left to find him biting my ear. What the hell?

I felt the heat rise on my cheeks as I held back a moan and his breath blew into my ear with a mocking sound. “And yet you react like this. Shame. You’re kinda cute.”

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What?