The moment Pete gets too close to the fire is the scariest thing he's ever been through. He yells loudly, jumping away and falling to the ground. Joe immediately climbs out of the hole, rushing to his side.

"Ace, Patrick!" Joe shouts as loud as he can, gripping Pete's hand that isn't burnt. Pete squeezes his eyes shut tight, clenching his jaw.

Both of them come running to Pete, seconds later. Patrick drops to Pete's side, basically pushing Joe out of the way and taking his place. Ace's eyes widen at Pete's damaged hand.

"Joe, go get Alyssa. Tell her it's Pete." Ace says calmly, and Joe nods, immediately running to the nurse's office. "Stay with us, dude. It's gonna be fine. You'll be okay, promise." Ace sits behind Pete, lifting the latter's head to rest in his lap. "Just focus on squeezing Patrick's hand for me, alright?"

Pete nods, breathing slow, deep breaths. Patrick pulls both of Pete's hoodies off carefully, leaving him in a long sleeve button up, which he begins to unbutton. "Wha-what are you doing?" Pete asks slowly. Patrick clutches blindly at Pete's bare chest, his eyes locked with Pete's, finally finding the necklace and ripping it off.

"I didn't even think of that. Fuck, Patrick, you're a genius." Ace says, taking the necklace when Patrick hands it to him. He stuffs it in his pocket. "Better?"

"A little. I don't feel like I'm going to burst into flames anymore, my hand just hurts." Pete says, and Ace nods, carefully turning around to see Joe and Alyssa running towards them.

"She's almost here, Pete. It's gonna be fine." Ace assures him, moving Pete's hair out of his face. Pete looks up to see Ace smiling at him as if he cares, a sharp contrast to when he's angry and yelling.

"Aeson, you jerk, what the fuck did you do?" Alyssa asks, dropping to the side that Patrick is not on. She takes Pete's hand in hers, despite his protests. Joe runs off, probably to find Andy.

"He burnt himself. We were working on weaknesses. I don't know, I guess he got too close to the fire. Just fucking help him!" Ace says, huffing out a breath and running his hands through Pete's hair. "Focus on me and your boy, Pete. Come on."

"You're gonna be fine, Pete. This will only hurt for a second." She says, smiling at him when he looks up. She takes his hand in hers and squeezes, closing her eyes. Pete screams loudly, but then the pain is gone.

He looks down, and his hand is completely back to normal. "What the.." Pete trails off, looking from his hand to Alyssa and then back again.

"Fuck, fuck, thank you so much, baby girl." Ace says, helping Pete sit up. "You alright, pretty boy?"

"I'm fine now, I think." Pete says, looking up at Alyssa. "How the fuck did you do that?"

"Healing power. That's why I'm the nurse." Alyssa says, smiling at him. She and Patrick help him stand up, and Patrick dusts the snow off of him. She immediately turns to Ace and begins chewing him out.

The adrenaline quickly wears off, and Pete is suddenly aware of how cold it is since he is only wearing a half-unbuttoned shirt. Patrick steps up quickly, buttoning Pete's shirt back. He reaches down to pick up the now soaked hoodies because of the melted snow before dropping them back down.

He shrugs his Letterman jacket off and places it over Pete's shoulders, leaving him in a short sleeve t-shirt that shows off his tattoos. "Won't you be cold?" Pete asks, and Patrick raises his eyebrows, shaking his head. Patrick crosses over to where Ace is and gets Pete's necklace from his pocket, putting it over Pete's neck so he can hear Patrick.

Am I ever? Patrick asks, laughing silently at the blush that arises on Pete's face. He forgot Patrick literally has the power to be the hottest human being on the earth.

"No, I'd say you're always pretty damn hot." Pete says, making Patrick roll his eyes. The latter rolls his eyes, throwing an arm around Pete.

Let's go to class. We missed lunch. Patrick says, smiling at Pete as they walk away from the football field. Alyssa and Ace continue to argue as Patrick and Pete walk back to the school.

When they reach their sixth period math class, the regular teacher isn't in there. A guy that looks a little older than Pete and Patrick is leaning against the desk, greeting people as they come in.

"What's up? Nice to meet you." The guy says, holding his hand out to Pete. "I'm TJ Phillips."

"I'm Pete, and this is my.." Pete trails off, looking at Patrick.

"Patrick. He and I know each other." TJ answers for Pete, bringing Patrick in for a hug.

He helped me figure out my sexuality. Patrick says once they pull away. TJ laughs, nodding his head.

"That I did." TJ confirms, earning a weird look from Pete. "I can read minds."

That's how he knew I was attracted to dudes. I told Joe Brendon was hot. Patrick explains, looking down at his feet. Dr. Phil here made me go to detention and let me cry on his shoulder when I found out I liked dudes as well as girls. He was such a trooper about it, too. Letting me snot all over him when most guys would think I'd try to make a move on them or something.

"Well, being gay myself did help a little." TJ says, rolling his sleeve up and showing Pete the tattoo of a pride flag on his left forearm. "I understand the stereotype for gay dudes. People think we're attracted to everything with a dick."

"I get it, too. When I first came out, it's like all of my friends back home were afraid I was gonna grab their dicks or something." Pete adds, squeezing Patrick's hand. "I'm gay, too. At first, I thought it was wrong because, like, it was illegal for a long time. And I didn't think my parents would approve, but they didn't really care that much."

The bell rings, signalling the beginning of class. TJ waves at them to sit down as he turns around and writes, 'Thomas Jameson Phillips - Mr. Phillips' on the board.

"Hey, class. I'm sure a lot of you know who I am, but for those of you that do not, you can take a look at the board. I'll be here for the rest of this semester and possibly a bit afterwards, taking Mrs. Graham's place for her maternity leave." TJ explains, turning back to the class with a smile. "Before any of you ask, I read minds, I'm twenty-three, I'm gay, and no, I'm not dating anyone. Any other very personal questions you'd like to ask?" When no one raises their hand, he smiles and begins to teach the math class.

He makes it way more interesting than Mrs. Graham could've ever thought to be, giving breaks and starting conversations when everyone looks bored. All in all, it's a good class.

When the bell rings, Patrick and Pete wave at TJ and walk out of the door, finding Ace standing there and looking angry. "Ace, dude? What's up?" Pete asks, grabbing Patrick's hand and pulling him to the side of the hallway Ace is on.

"Alyssa fucking likes this asshole Mr. Phillips. She thinks he's hot and keeps calling him her 'Future Husband.'" Ace seethes, jaw clenching and eyes narrowing. Pete and Patrick share a knowing look - one that says TJ's already more interested in Ace than he'll ever be in Alyssa, and they haven't even met. "That's supposed to be me, you know? I've been here all along, and some new piece of ass thinks he's just gonna walk in here and take her? I think not."

Mr. Phillips appears in the doorway, greeting more students as they walk in, and Ace's face softens, his mouth dropping open. Pete and Patrick follow his gaze to see him staring dreamily at TJ. "Uh, Ace?" Pete asks, snapping in front of his face.

"He's so pretty." Ace says before he snaps out of it, covering his mouth when he comes back to himself. "I-I didn't. I didn't mean that. You heard nothing." Ace fake glares in TJ's direction once more before storming off.

"Well, that was weird. But Ace officially has a man crush that we can tease him about." Pete says, smiling at Patrick and walking towards the steps.

Definitely. Patrick smiles, following Pete down the steps and to the elevator.

sorry it's been a week i had camp lol

ace has a crush on tj!!!!!! ok but same bc joe adler is fineeeeee.

^^ i updated the characters thing so you can see who plays tj lol

thoughts?