Andy is still pissed at Pete the next morning, shooting daggers at him. Pete couldn't care less about Andy or the grudge he has for no reason against Pete.

What Pete is focused on is Patrick, who will not even look in the vicinity of Pete. Good thing, too, because Pete knows hickies are littering his neck, the long sleeve shirt and two hoodies - one of those being Andy's - he's wearing not doing anything to cover up the incriminating marks. Pete can see a hickey right in the middle of Patrick's throat, which he knows Patrick either didn't notice or didn't care enough to cover up.

Joe looks more confused than ever, catching up to Pete as they enter Mr. Wells' class. Patrick is sitting in Joe's seat, which is on the other side of Andy. Pete takes his normal seat, the one closest to the door and lets Joe sit by Andy.

"What's going on?" Joe leans over to ask Pete, who shrugs, looking down at his book.

"Who do you think makes these books? If no one outside of the academy and our families know about this place, I mean." Pete asks, changing the subject. Joe sighs, reaching over and closing Pete's book.

"Look, lover boy, I'm not here to play games. Tell me what you did to piss our boyfriends off." Joe says, leaning in closer to hear Pete better.

"I didn't do anything." Pete says, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. Mr. Wells has his back to them, writing something on the board.

"I've counted about twelve hickies between you and Patrick that say you did." Joe shoots back, smirking at Pete's blush.

"I-" Before Pete can answer, he hears his name and looks up to see everyone's eyes on him. He blushes again, dropping his head.

"Pete, I'd like to see you after class. Maybe you can manage to pay attention for the rest of it, however?" Mr. Wells says, shaking his head and looking disappointed.

As soon as he turns his back, Joe is leaning back into Pete's personal space, talking quieter this time. "You pissed the hottie off? Lucky you getting to go to his office alone." Pete rolls his eyes, pushing Joe away.

The bell rings about fifteen minutes later, and Pete watches as his three.. well, his friend, his frenemy, and his crush jump up and leave immediately. He gathers his stuff and trudges to the front of the room.

Mr. Wells beckons Pete with a finger, grabbing his briefcase and walking out of the room. Pete struggles to keep up with him until they reach a door labelled Professor Gavin Wells. Mr. Wells opens the door, and Pete follows.

"Sit down. Let's talk a moment. I've already texted Aeson and let him know you'll be a little late." Mr. Wells says after he sits down, gesturing to the seat across from him. Pete does as told, leaning back into the chair and staring at the ceiling. "You run into any vacuum cleaners last night?" Mr. Wells says, and he's smirking when Pete looks up.

"Uh, umm. No, sir." Pete says, but he doesn't sound very confident. Mr. Wells laughs, giving Pete a knowing look.

"Call me Gavin, Pete. I call you by your first name, it's only fair you do the same." Gavin tells him, smiling at Pete's confused look.

"Technically, you call me by a nickname." Pete corrects, and Gavin smiles, nodding.

"You're right. So you should give me a nickname." Gavin says slowly, still smiling at Pete. "It's fine, we'll work up to it. Now, back to the whole hickey situation. I assume it was Patrick?"

"How.. how did you know?" Pete asks, gaping at his teacher. Gavin smirks, shaking his head.

"Patrick usually tells me everything, and the last thing I heard was that he was planning on asking you out yesterday. I figured it didn't go well when I saw he switched seats, but from your appearance today, I can tell something went down." Gavin says, raising an eyebrow when all Pete does is blush. "I'm not asking for details, I'm just asking if everything's alright. Patrick can be.. a little stubborn at times. I just want to make sure he's treating you right."

"The thing is, he's treating me right. I just don't think I'm treating him right?" Pete explains, but it comes out as a question. Gavin leans forward in his seat, a concerned look on his face.

"I understand Patrick can be difficult when it comes to expressing his emotions or even just something as simple as speaking to you. He's always had a problem with being comfortable around new people after what happened with his parents and Bren." Gavin says, reaching in his desk and grabbing a piece of paper.

"What happened with his parents?" Pete asks, looking Gavin in the eyes. He freezes for a second, almost like he thinks he shouldn't tell Pete before sighing and handing Pete the piece of paper.

Patrick M. Stumph - Patrick V. Stump
Family: Patricia Vaughn (mother), David Stumph (father, deceased), Kevin Stumph (brother, incarcerated), Megan Stumph (sister, missing).

"Kevin's in jail, and Megan is missing?" Pete asks, his mouth falling open when Gavin nods, taking the paper back.

"When Patrick came here, his father died about six years before in a... an accident." Gavin says slowly, biting his lip and pausing. "He was burned alive." Pete gasps, and Gavin gives him a sad look. "It wasn't Patrick's fault. Police called it arson. They never found the killer. Patrick was pretty torn up when he found out the power he had was fire."

"I can imagine." Pete mumbles, still in shock from the information.

"When Patrick got here, the two of us really connected. I used to have bad social anxiety when I was a student here, so I understood what he was going through." Gavin explains, turning a picture on his desk around so Pete can see it. It's thirteen or fourteen year old Patrick standing next to Gavin when the latter had no facial hair and looked younger. "I've tried to act as sort of a father figure to Patrick because he's the closest thing I've ever had to a son. My ex and I had a child. A little girl. But neither of us were ready for the responsibility having children comes with, so we put her up for adoption. That was about seventeen years ago." Gavin turns the picture back to face him, smiling at it.

"Not to be rude, but how old are you? You don't exactly look old enough to have a seventeen year old daughter." Pete says, furrowing his eyebrows as he studied Gavin's face. He's telling the truth. The man doesn't look a day over twenty-four, but he has to be apparently.

"Thirty-three. Lacey and I were sixteen when she got pregnant. I swear she was the love of my life. But she gave up her powers to work a nine to five job every weekday and have kids with some guy that works at Home Depot." Gavin says, rolling his eyes.

"Damn, you're that old?" Pete asks, covering his mouth when he realises what he's said. Gavin bursts out laughing, nodding his head.

"Yeah, I am." They both laugh for a second before Gavin checks his watch. "You should go before Ace tries to blow me away and I have to fight him again." Pete makes a mental note to ask about the again part sometime in the future. "And please make up with Patrick. He's a good dude. If he ever treats you wrong, just let me know."

"Will do, Gav." Pete says, smiling at Gavin's surprised expression at the nickname before he begins his walk to the football field to hopefully make up with Patrick.

ok so i wrote a little thing that's like all the info u need on all of the characters.

it's called meet the characters (the elements) and it'll have all of the details up to this chapter on it.

u guys should check it out

thoughts ?