Robin stepped off the bus to start his leisurely ten-minute walk to school. A stark opposite contrast to the chaotic first morning he had yesterday. He set his alarms to wake him up earlier than the morning before and even made sure to be at the bus stop ten minutes before seven am so he wouldn't have a repeat of the day prior. This enabled him to enjoy a peaceful bus ride, sitting in the front row of the top deck with a clear view of the twisting and meandering roads that led him to school.

Today, he had switched it up, opting for his favourite jeans, which he knew made his ass look incredible. Though the denim was only a shade darker than yesterday's pair and sported a small rip at the knee, the small change felt like a significant step out of his comfort zone. He even decided to wear a different T-shirt. This time, albeit still white, had a cartoon banana riding a skateboard on the back.

As he stepped off the bus, his headphones filling his ears with soothing pop melodies, he was greeted by yet another beautiful day. The sun had no clouds for company in the blue sky, but the crisp breeze prevented the sun's rays from spreading across his skin uncomfortably. It was clear that autumn was fast approaching, and as he strolled towards his school, he wondered what the familiar street, identical terraced houses, trees, and shrubs would look like as the seasons changed.

As he neared the gates he felt his face flushing, this time not from running and panicking, but in anticipation for what the day would bring. He swallowed it down, walking through the school gates and the main door before catching a glimpse of his reflection in the same window as before.

His hair sat perfectly on top of his head, and he looked well-rested. Not like the mess he was the day before. Knowing he had people to talk to– a group to have lunch with– who were all lovely made his chest feel warm. He had kind of expected to be a loner for most of the year, mainly focusing on his studies and keeping his head down. But knowing he wouldn't be a complete outsider for the whole year left a smile plastered on his face that wouldn't budge. His grin increased, knowing what his first period would entail this morning. His free period– alone... with Yohan.

As he pushed the door into his form room, he was only met with a few glances in his direction, unlike the stares he had experienced yesterday. The room was half empty, with students sitting on tables and chatting with one another, waiting for the rest of the class to arrive. Walking over to his usual seat, he found that both chairs were still empty.

Although the classroom didn't have a seating plan as such, Robin knew it was an unwritten rule in most schools that once you had your seat, it was yours for the rest of the year. He wasn't about to run the risk of sitting in someone else's seat and facing someone getting pissy at him.

He let his body sink into the cold, uncomfortable plastic as the classroom started to fill with more students. Jemma's familiar face peered at him as she walked through the door. She looked calm and composed as she entered, highlighted by her perfectly placed makeup and ensemble. Her black cargo trousers with chains hanging from them were perfectly balanced with her delicate cropped lilac t-shirt with a ruffled lettuce hem.

Damn, did she always put this much effort into going to school...

"Hey, Robin!" As she walked over, a bright smile splayed across her face, the scent of her sweet vanilla perfume trailed her, wrapping around his senses like a comforting hug. "Glad you came back to school, and we didn't scare you off," she grinned.

"Ha ha," Robin said with a sarcastic tone in his voice, smiling back at her. "You guys are going to have to do a lot more to scare me off."

"Oooo, well, we better try harder then!" She teased, standing over him in front of his desk. "How was your evening?"

"It was good... I had a look at your band's Instagram page last night." He blushed slightly, remembering what he did while he looked at the page. "You guys are pretty good, the name is pretty funny too."

She laughed. "Thanks! Lucas, our lead guitarist, came up with the name. I know it's stupid, but it kind of fits us well as a group of misfit musicians."

"Do you have another gig coming up any time soon? I'd love to see you guys play."

"You didn't strike me as a hard-core metal rock band fan." She stuck out her tongue and held up the rock and roll sign with her hands, similar to the guy in the video, mockingly.

"I know, I know." Robin rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "I'm not really, but maybe I'll get into it, and yanno, I want to support my friend."

"Friend, why not friends...?"

A familiar voice emerged from behind Jemma, deep and buttery as he emphasised the 's' sound. He towered over her as she turned to look at him with surprise. Robin had no idea how he hadn't noticed him enter the room, as Yohan looked down with a small smile in his direction.

"Oh, hey" Robin and Jemma seemed to say almost in unison, both of them turning slightly red at the sight of the towering boy looming over them.

"Hey guys, so you found out about the band then?" Said Yohan, sitting down next to Robin, leaning back in his chair again and putting his boots back on the table with a thud.

"You two know each other." Jemma's index finger darted, pointing at the both of them, and a look of bewilderment appeared to have crossed her face. "I know you sat together in Form yesterday but didn't think you spoke much.''

"Um... We have English lit together," Robin managed to muster. He dared not tell Jemma about the classroom, fearing Yohan may get angry at him for sharing his... no– their– secret place. He sat down, staring at his hands, fearing his face might give something else away.

"Huh?" Jemma crossed her arms, her eyes forming slight slits as she seemed to be trying to answer a question in her mind. "Well, I..."

"Why don't you come to our gig next weekend?" Yohan interrupted Jemma, directing his question towards Robin. Her eyes widened at his question, letting her hands slam down on the table in front of them, making both boys jump slightly in their seats– Yohan's chair wobbling becoming unbalanced.

"I was just going to ask him, Yohan!" She said, playful annoyance in her tone of voice. "Robin, pleaaaseee say you'll come!"

"Sure, I'll come, sounds good." Robin managed to say, chuckling under his breath just as Mrs Wheatley walked through the door.

"Yohan, feet! On the floor. NOW!" She barked, pointing her finger to the back of the class, zeroing in on Yohan's big boots. He let out a large groan and slowly let each boot squeeze and slide off the table, back down onto the ground.  Jemma scuttled back to her seat at the far left of the room.

The class settled, and Mrs Wheatley made some school announcements and took the register. She spoke a bit about how students need to think about starting to apply to universities and working on their personal statements. The whole classroom groaned at the thought, but luckily their annoyance was cut short with the ringing of the bell. Bringing an end to the reminder of looming responsibilities.

Robin sensed the movement of the boy next to him, and he turned to see Yohan hauling himself up, slinging his rucksack over one shoulder – as he always did apparently – and looked as though he was heading towards the door before Robin even had a chance to get up himself. Before Yohan left though, he stopped in his tracks and turned to him.

"See you in our room?" He said, his left eye twitching slightly.

Our room... Did he really just say that? And did he just wink at me!?

"Yeah, um, sure, see you," Robin stammered, stunned in his seat as he watched Yohan saunter out of the classroom before Robin had a chance to follow him. 

♡.﹀﹀﹀﹀.♡

Robin took the opportunity to quickly go to the bathroom to freshen up before heading to the empty classroom. He was almost certain it used to be a politics room, based on the few politicians and historical figures that dotted around the room, the posters slightly peeling at the edges. But as they didn't teach politics at this school, he assumed this was the reason it was empty.

His feet seemed to already know the way to the abandoned classroom as he arrived in front of the door. His fingers hovered over the handle for a moment as he tried to slow his quickened breath.

It's fine, just two guys reading from one book. Nothing weird about that. Just two guys being dudes, bros, that's all it is.

With a deep breath, Robin opened the door and was hit with the light smell of smoke. His eyes drifted to the open window, and the tall figure leaning against the frame. A slight crackling sound penetrated the quiet calm of the room as Yohan took drags from the cigarette in his hand. Soft curls of smoke danced around Yohan's lips as he inhaled, followed by soft exhales, displacing the plumes and drifting the smoke out of the window.

Fuck he looks hot smoking, am I into guys smoking? Robin shook his head. Shut up brain.

"Hey,"

"Hey,"

Robin watched as Yohan's shoulders untensed as the cigarette burned down ever closer to the end, and in a quick, effortless movement, he flicked the butt into a bush below and let out a last puff of smoke through the crack of the window.

He left the crack in the window open to help air out the room and sat down in a swivel chair next to a desk, letting his body weight cause it to twist slightly, side to side. "Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to come over here?" His body was slightly slumped, legs spread wide as he stared at Robin with an expressionless face.

Robin realised he hadn't moved from the spot from where he'd entered the classroom. He was too busy admiring the tall, toned, beautiful guy in front of him. The way he had leaned against the window, how his muscles flexed as he placed the cigarette to his lips and breathed it in. How his legs crossed effortlessly, one hand in his pocket...

"Um, sorry, '' Robin muttered, trying to refocus his mind. Without even thinking, he went to take the seat on the other side of the classroom, as he did yesterday.

"Come over here." Yohan's voice was monotone, with a slightly domineering air to it.

"Um, what?"

"How are we going to read a book together when you're sitting on the other side of the room, dimwit?" He teased, his blank expression shifting into a warm smile as he observed Robin's evident awkwardness. He let his palm fall upright on the arm of the chair and allowed his fingers to curl into a beckoning motion.

"Oh yeah, duh..." Robin let out a nervous laugh, awkwardly rising from the chair he had just sat. Next to Yohan was a plastic chair, similar to the ones in form. Yohan was still swaying back and forth in his swivel chair, his eyes fixated on Robin as he made his way to the seat. Robin untucked the chair from the table and sat down. He tilted his head up; Yohan was sat up in the highest setting of the chair and it felt as though Robin had a giant next to him. He could feel the back of his neck prickle, his heart drumming as if he were a mouse caught in a cat's paws.

"Hang on," Yohan spoke, reaching down to the little lever at the side of the chair to lower himself to Robin's level. The chair made an awkward squeaking sound as it did until Yohan was almost eye level with Robin. As he lowered himself, the top of Robin's shoulder slightly brushed his arm. Yohan's knees awkwardly pressed up against the underside of the table as his legs bent to accommodate being on at Robin's height.

Yohan reached into his backpack and pulled out the book, and placed it on the table. Robin hadn't noticed it yesterday, but the edges were frayed and the cover dull with sun damage. Yohan began leafing through the book to find the page they left off on.

Robin felt the familiar lump forming in his throat as he mustered up the courage to ask a question. "Have you read it before? Looks like an old copy."

"Nah, I haven't, it was my grandma's copy."

"Oh,"

"Yeah,"

An awkward silence filled the air. Yohan found the chapter they had left off yesterday and smoothed out the pages with the palm of his hand. "So... Do you want to read out loud like yesterday to each other or... yanno read in your head?"

"I'll... I'll just read in my head I think." Robin stammered.

Fucking get it together man.

"Alright, let me know when you've finished reading a page, and I'll go to the next. I'm a pretty quick reader," Yohan said, a small smile escaping his lips as he spoke.

"Oh okay... sure"

The two boys then sat there, reading. Yohan wasn't wrong when he said he read fast. He seemed to finish the second page before Robin had even finished the first. His face resting gently in his hands, Yohan's eyes didn't leave Robin's face as he patiently waited for a satisfied nod from Robin, alerting him that the page was ready to be turned.

Robin tried desperately hard to concentrate, but all he could focus on was Yohan's breath, the slight rising and falling of his shoulder, and those big hands and fingers that appeared too delicate with each turn of the page. Similar to yesterday, they slightly brushed shoulders, and their knees would bump into one another every now and again– usually when Yohan was reaching over to turn the page. Each time it happened, Robin felt as if he had to physically lower his heart rate to stop himself from going into complete shock. However, just as they were on the last two pages of the chapter, Robin felt a knee lean up against his... and let it stay there.

Robin lost his place where he was reading and looked up at Yohan, expecting some sort of reaction from him. But Yohan just sat there, his head leaning on one hand, cupping his cheek as his eyes scanned the page. He didn't even seem to register Robin looking at him, his leg still resting against his own.

Robin turned his head back to the book, trying hard not to let his evident panic that was rising from his stomach to his throat show. They came to the end of chapter five and Yohan closed the book. Robin was unsure if they had been sitting there for minutes or hours, but when he checked the time, there were still twenty-five minutes left of their free period. What were they going to do now?

Yohan carefully slid the book into his backpack, causing his leg to disconnect from Robin's and remain that way as he reclined in his chair. "So, Robin, you're new then?"

"Um yeah," Robin rubbed the back of his head nervously with one hand.

"How are you finding it so far?" Yohan looked over at him, his eyes blinking expectantly, letting his eyelashes flutter slightly in Robin's direction.

God, I could get lost in those beautiful deep brown eyes forever...

"It's alright, only my second day, but Bristol is beautiful, much nicer than where I lived before."

Yohan grunted at Robin's comment, "Ahh, so you live in one of the nice bits. Let me guess, you're near the harbour?"

"Um, yeah, just by Bedminster."

"The rough end or the gentrified to shit end?"

"Ummmm, I mean, it's nice..." Robin could feel himself getting flustered with all of Yohan's questions. Gentrified? He knew that Bristol used to be known for being pretty rough, and he had thought about how he had seen quite a few homeless people around... but he never thought much further than that.

"What about you? Where do you live?" Robin said, feeling his throat tighten at his bold question.

"Close to you."

"Whereabouts?"

Yohan ignored the question; instead, he got up from his chair, reaching into his bag to pull out another cigarette. He went back to his spot, leaning against the slightly open window, and lit it. He inhaled with a deep breath and let the smoke escape his lips. Robin turned around to face him, trying to not oggle too much at the beautiful man standing in front of him. As he smoked, Yohan lifted his hand and tucked some of his curls behind his ear, exposing the plethora of silver jewellery that dotted around his ear lobe and cartilage.  The light cascading in from the window hit Yohan's face, bouncing off and highlighting his sharp jawline and cheekbones.

Fuck I can't believe I'm alone... with a boy... one as fit as Yohan at that!

Robin's thoughts were broken as he was taken aback by Yohan's next question. "So, you got a girlfriend?"

Yohan said, peering down at him from his great height as Robin still sat in the chair. Robin realised that for the majority of the time he had been anxiously picking at a bit of skin around his thumb under the table, which now started to become sore.

"No..." Robin said before he could think up a lie... What a strange forward question to ask someone you just met... Unless Yohan was trying to suss him out...

"Any of the girls take your fancy?" Yohan asked further, lifting the cigarette to his lips once more.

Ahhh shit shit shit. Is he trying to suss me out? If I tell him no, will he KNOW I'm gay? But would that be such a bad thing? Maybe then he'd know it's safe to make a move on me... But then what if he goes and tells the rest of the school and my cover is blown? I mean, I barely know the guy. Maybe he's like a gay witchfinder, luring in the gays with his beauty, and then when they confess to him, he exposes them to the whole school?

Yohan clearly seemed to notice the panic in Robin's eyes at the question. He let out a chuckle, small bursts of smoke escaping his lips as he did. "It's fine if not dude, I'm just trying to make conversation." He smiled down at Robin, finishing his second cigarette and sitting down next to him again.

"Um, no, I was just... thinking," Robin said quickly, trying to make a smooth recovery. "I mean, Jemma is nice and pretty, but I'm pretty sure we're just friends. The rest of her friends are sweet, but yanno, two of them are..." Robin made an awkward gesture with his hands.

Yohan's brow creased, and a puzzled look crossed his face. "Dating? Lucy and Amber?" Yohan said, his tone clearly questioning why Robin found it so hard to express himself with words.

"Yes!" Robin jumped on his answer. "And Isha seems sweet, but I barely know her and Jemma, but yeah... I suppose no, none have taken my fancy." Apart from you, you hot piece of man meat...

Yohan chuckled softly under his breath. "Well, maybe you'll find someone who takes your fancy at our gig next weekend... Are you still going to come?"

Yohan didn't say girl... He said someone? Does that mean his cover was already blown? Shit, shit, shit!

"Um, I don't have any plans, so, sure. Where is it?"

"At the Old Duke, on King's Street. You know it?"

"No... but I have Google Maps, so I'm sure I'll find my way!"

Yohan laughed, leaning back slightly further in his chair. His t-shirt rose up as he leaned back. Trying to maintain composure, Robin discreetly glanced at the slither of Yohan's exposed, toned stomach and the little snail trail beneath his belly button, leading down to his...

"Great." Yohan grinned. Robin snapped his head up to look at his face, hoping he hadn't noticed him staring. "Meet me there at six? We play at seven-thirty, but I want a few drinks before we go on. I know a bartender who works there, so he'll serve me. So... will you join me?"

Robin wasn't certain, but it looked as if Yohan was getting slightly flushed in the face asking him that question...  "Um sure, I'll be there!" Robin said, perhaps slightly too much excitement in his voice.

"Nice" Yohan leaned over and tugged slightly on Robin's shirt. "Perhaps wear something a little more... interesting, you'll stick out like a sore thumb with our crowd wearing that."

Robin shuffled a little awkwardly in his seat at his touch. He felt his face turn bright red. "Um, I'm sure I'll find something else."

"Good, good" Yohan said just as the bell rang. They both stood up from their seats and walked over to the door to go to their next class.

"See you later?" Yohan spoke softly, looking down at Robin, before they left the room.

"Yeah, see you later, Yohan."

As they left, Yohan's hand gently brushed up against Robins as he walked past him down the corridor to his next class.

Robin felt a shiver shoot up his spine as he stood there, stunned. Did Yohan just ask me on a... date?