The sunlight was blinding Riley in the early morning, forcing him to use his hand to shield himself from the unwanted wake up call. The hand he used was wrapped around Jessie, and Riley waving the same hand over his eyes caused Jessie to rustle in the bed.

Jessie was still pressed against Riley's side when he jabbed him near the ribs. He briefly smiled when he heard Riley's laugh in the early morning, and Jessie kept his eyes shut as he wanted to go back to sleep.

"Sorry." Riley gently whispered into Jessie's hair.

Jessie let out a comfortable exhale as he remained comfy on Riley's chest. He used his free hand to draw a circle on the chest area that was untouched by him, and he then tapped his fingers against it - with that action being the only sound they could hear in the silence.

"You awake yet?" Riley checked, as he felt Jessie fidget more in the small bed.

Jessie checked the time on his phone and saw that there was another 2 hours before they had to be at school. He heavily sighed when he put his phone down, and then he moved closer back to Riley.

"I'm still sleepy." Jessie groggily moaned.

Riley repeatedly brushed Jessie's arm by using his hand that was wrapped around him. The gentle rubs were soothing for the both of them as Riley felt extremely relaxed with Jessie next to him.

"We can just stay like this then," Riley told Jessie. "Go back to sleep."

Jessie nodded his head before he kissed Riley's side. Snuggling in more, Jessie closed his eyes shut as he embraced Riley's warmth and heat.

Riley listened for Jessie's breathing to quieten down. Riley wasn't sleepy at all, but he didn't dare to move as he gazed at Jessie's sleeping figure with a warm glow in his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jessie was already dressed for the day as he waited for Riley to do the same. Playing on his phone, Jessie heard the bathroom door open and saw Riley emerge from it.

"Ready to go?" Jessie asked as he pocketed his phone.

Riley shook his head no as he grinned back at Jessie. Jessie was wearing a similar expression when he saw Riley walk up to him and grab his face.

Riley then gave Jessie a long chaste kiss that soothed his own heartbeat after seeing Jessie dressed so appealing. He then gave Jessie a second and a third kiss after he wasn't finished claiming hin.

Jessie had to push Riley away because they were going to be late if they didn't stop now. He smacked the pout away as he then kissed it better to make up for hurting Riley's exaggerated feelings.

"You weren't as fun as last night," Riley complained as he went back in to start kissing Jessie's neck.

Jessie continued to laugh as he summoned all of his strength and self-restraint to drag his body away from Riley. "That's because we had the whole of last night together, but right now we're going to miss registration."

'Technically no...' Riley thought to himself.

Riley recalled last night at how he felt and heard Jessie slip away from him last night. He pretended to be asleep because he didn't want to spook and scare Jessie, so he let Jessie do what he felt like he needed to do.

When he returned to their room last night, Riley was unexpectedly ecstatic when he felt Jessie climb back into his bed. When Jessie had slipped back in the bed, Riley's entire body suddenly woke up as he felt content with Jessie's return.

Riley couldn't help himself when he trapped Jessie's entire body closer to him, and the loving kiss on the head was to soothe his own erratic heartbeat.

When Riley felt Jessie kiss him on the lips before he went back to sleep, Riley knew that he was even more crazy for Jessie. He was glad that Jessie came back to him, and Riley wanted to keep Jessie by his side for as long as they were together.

Riley eventually felt his body get dragged out the door as Jessie pulled him towards it. Locking the door behind them, they pulled the straps on their bag as they left the dorms together.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Football practice had just finished as everyone from the team began to head back in. They had a big game with another school in a couple of weeks time, and Jessie was making sure his team was in ready shape so that they could destroy them.

Jessie tried to raise team morale by complimenting each one of his members whilst they were getting changed. A pat on the shoulder, a praise for their skills, and a small smile at each and every one of them went a long way.

Riley watched Jessie interact with every person on the team, and he admired the way Jessie took his time to show his appreciation for every player.

Riley was ready for his own praises when he saw Jessie walk back to his side. "Dear captain, how will you sing my praises?"

Jessie laughed at the way Riley was batting his eyelashes. "You're a bit slower than normal. You also need to pass the ball more, and trust the team to score when you don't have a clear shot."

A wounded Riley dramatically grabbed his chest. "Oh captain my captain... Piss off."

Jessie tore his sweaty shirt off his body and threw it at a chuckling Riley. The action was intended to dismiss Riley and annoy him more, but Riley took it in a completely different direction by smelling it.

"That's just gross." Jessie told Riley.

Riley shrugged his shoulders as he threw it back at Jessie. "I just find your bossy power and your sweaty naked body even more sexy right now."

Riley stood up from the bench and moved close behind Jessie. Teasing him with a lick to the neck, Riley ran his hand down Jessie's sides. "Want to grab a shower together? I can always go as slow or as fast as you want..."

Jessie quickly elbowed Riley, a little harder than intended, and made sure he distanced himself from Riley with several paces. "Are you fucking out of your mind?!"

Jessie looked around them scared, and was thankful that they were in the back of the room with no one else around. He was terrified that people would see them being intimate because he wasn't ready yet. So he naturally felt irritated at how Riley was so forward with his behaviour.

Riley realised that he was too caught up with his own feelings and desires. It felt like a reflex to be closer to Jessie physically, and he knew he regretted it when he saw Jessie's angry and annoyed face.

Riley surrendered his hands as he tried to apologise to Jessie for his mistake. "I'm sorry Jessie, I wasn't thinking."

Jessie looked around them one more time before he grabbed his belongings. "I'm going to shower - alone."

"Jessie, wait..."

Riley reached for Jessie's hand to apologise, but Jessie flinched away from Riley as he walked even quicker away from him.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Lunch time was up and they both still hadn't talked about what happened in the locker room.

They were both sitting together with Cameron, with the latter not aware about everything that happened after he met Jessie last night. Cameron wanted to pretend like everything was normal between them all, and he hadn't had a chance to talk to Riley about his feelings for his brother in private.

Cameron looked between the pair, and saw how Jessie was poking away at his food while Riley was tearing the label from his water bottle. He could feel the tension was different between the pair, and although he wanted to help resolve it, Cameron knew it wasn't his place.

But that didn't stop Cameron from trying to get them to openly communicate with each other. "Don't tell me it's another petty fight?"

"No." They both replied with a shared glance at each other before looking away.

Cameron watched at how they were both back to avoiding each other. He wanted to do something that would draw them both back onto the same, happy side.

"Remember when we were young, and you both ripped apart the floor in our treehouse?" Cameron laughed, "We were lucky it wasn't too high, because that drop when I fell through it hurt like a bitch."

Cameron reminded them of this memory because he wanted them both to remember the shared happy times they had together. It seemed to work as they both smiled at each other, as they then laughed at Cameron's pain.

"I'm pretty sure that prank was made for me," Riley told Cameron. "But because I caught him in the act, he made me help him and get you."

"You're such a snitch!" Jessie laughed. "You're the one that gave me a hammer to speed it up!"

The atmosphere around them was less awkward and more joyful. The happy memories were soon interrupted when Olivia and Chantelle carried their trays to the table.

"Hey guys." Chantelle greeted them all as she kissed Cameron hello.

Olivia did the same as she kissed Jessie on the lips before he could even react. Jessie pulled away after he realised what happened, but it was too late as he already saw Riley's reaction.

When the girls were adjusting themselves into their seats, Cameron looked at how Jessie and Riley were silently exchanging a conversation.

"How did practice go?" Olivia asked as she started biting into her pasta. She then passed her water bottle to Jessie and silently asked him to open it.

Jessie returned the water bottle to Olivia, and received an affectionate hand squeeze because of it. "It went great, we're going to beat Halesford."

Riley was slightly shaking his head in disappointment as he saw how Olivia moved even closer to Jessie. Riley saw how Jessie was trying to get his attention and apologise, but Riley wasn't in the mood to hear it.

"I'm going to get some fresh air before we go to science." Riley came up with, "I need a breather before biology drags the day longer."

Riley was already leaving the table when Jessie asked him to stop. "Wait, Riley."

Chantelle and Olivia were understandably unresponsive when they watched Riley walk away from the table. Jessie was itching to chase Riley and talk to him, but a strange force made Jessie want to stay in his seat.

Jessie's concerned look moved to Cameron since he didn't know what to do. Jessie saw his brother roll his eyes and vigorously nod his head, so Jessie decided to leave the table.

"Back in a minute!" Jessie forced out as he listened to his brother's suggestion.

Jessie removed himself away from Olivia before she could ask him what was wrong. Cameron showed his support for Jessie again by telling him to go quickly, and so Jessie followed Riley out of the room.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jessie just managed to see Riley turn the corner before he disappeared into the filling up corridor. Running down to catch up with him, Jessie pulled Riley into the locker room so that they could talk.

Locking the door behind them, Jessie double checked that nobody else was in there. He needed to be able to talk to Riley openly because he didn't want anymore crossed wires between them.

"This is going to be cliche, but it's not what it looks like..." Jessie said as he forced Riley to sit down on the bench with him.

"I know," Riley believed, "But humour me and explain what it is then?"

Jessie was truthful when he told Riley,"I haven't had the chance to talk to her yet since last night. I really do want to end this thing between me and her."

"That makes me feel better I guess." Riley muttered as he began to look downwards.

Jessie showed his confidence and leaned forward to sweetly kiss Riley. He raised his hand to hold Riley's face, and only pulled away when he wanted Riley to talk to him.

"I was hurt when you pushed me away in the locker room." Riley admitted, "But I know it was my fault for being stupid and careless."

Jessie scooted closer to Riley and played with the hand that was resting on his lap. "I don't blame you, I kind of like imagining you being all fluffy and domestic like that."

Riley smile was a different kind of brightness that Jessie hadn't seen before. It was innocent and extremely cute to see, and Jessie liked this smile on Riley.

"But I'm not ready to be out there like you are." Jessie whispered lowly, hoping that Riley would understand him. "I'm still getting used to all of this right now. I'm just trying to be what you deserve from me, but also what I need myself to be."

Riley had been in Jessie's shoes before, he knew that every person experiences their sexuality awakening differently. Knowing the boy in front of him, Riley could confidently assume that Jessie was overwhelmed with his feelings for another man. While those feelings weren't openly stated, Riley could feel it every time they kissed or held each other.

"I should have been more considerate and not joke around like that." Riley felt slightly guilty for putting Jessie in that position back in the locker room. But if it was in private, then he knew the scenario would have turned out completely different. "Although I wasn't really joking to be fair."

"Believe me, I'm sure you would have your way with me if we were alone."

Riley carefully looked around them both and saw that they were alone. He then pushed Jessie down onto the bench as he hovered above him. When he saw Jessie smirk at what he was doing, Riley slowly moved in to capture Jessie's lips in an electrifying kiss.

Time was lost as they stayed close to each other. They both explored each other's mouths as wandering hands rubbed each other's side possessively and affectionately.

The bell soon rang and signalled that lunch time was over. With one last affectionate kiss, Jessie pulled his lips away from Riley as he leaned forward so that he was now sitting up.

Riley got off the bench and held his hand out for Jessie, who gladly accepted as they both stood up together.

"We'll go back to pretending again." Riley told Jessie supportively.

Riley wanted him to be comfortable with everything that was going on between them and himself. Riley knew he had lots of times to sort his own feelings out for Jessie, so it was only fair for Jessie to have his own time to deal with everything.

==========