Careful

Simon sat down in the last row in the Calculus class, too preoccupied with taking out his notes to realize that instantly there was a bubble of open seats surrounding him. He was used to it anyway, so he wouldn't have given it much thought even if he had been paying attention. Simon had taken Algebra in eighth grade, so he was a year ahead, along with a couple other sophomores in the class, but mostly Trigonometry was full of Juniors.

Asher Ericsson eyed the Sophomore who walked into his class. Usually he wouldn't notice the super advanced kid, but this one seemed to catch his eye. He looked a little bit like the boy he'd asked his friends not to pick on anymore, but Asher knew he'd need to get a better view of him to tell. In hopes of achieving this Asher got up to sit next to the boy with confidence, then chickened out at the last minute, and sat in the chair directly behind him. There was a bubble around the boy which caused Asher to cringe, as he knew he was the cause, so he called to his friends to join him so the boy would feel a little less alone.

"Hey." Asher called, and the boy didn't look up, so he tried again, "Hey Simon, how's it going?"

"I'm.." The boy paused and turned to look at him in confusion. "You sat with me a few days ago didn't you?"

"Yes I did." Asher replied, beaming that the boy remembered his good deed. "I just wanted to say... I hope people haven't been bothering you. You can tell me if they do, seeing as how you're Liam's brother and everything. Just say the word, alright?"

"Nobody's bother me at all, actually." Simon smiled slightly. He was confused, but not upset at that fact.

"Good. These guys, don't listen to them, they're a bunch a blockheads." Asher gestured to his friends sitting around him."Hey, Do you.. who do you sit with for lunch? Did you want to sit with us today?" Asher stuttered out slightly, and one of the boys nudged his arm in annoyance.

The team never invited sophomores to sit with them, not even the boys on the JV football team.

"I uh-" Simon began, but was cut off by the appearance of the teacher into the classroom. The teacher began a boring lesson, and Asher mostly tuned him out. What Asher found more entertaining was the boy sitting in front of him. None of the other boys had talked to him yet, and in hopes of preventing such endeavors Asher took to keeping one of his legs on Simon's book rack under his desk, and the other on the side of his chair. Asher still didn't quite trust the boys on the team, and his position suggested that Simon was his territory, and therefore not be messed with.

"Hey?" Asher whispered when he was so bored he couldn't take it anymore. "Got a pencil?" He asked, though he had several mechanical pencils on his desk.

"D-Don't you have your own?"

"I do, but they're out o' lead." Asher smirked in a teasing manner. He could feel the stares of his friends on him, but he ignored it. Simon dug through his bag quickly and pulled out the first pencil he had which was one of the mechanical pencils that came in a variety pack. Simon hadn't used it yet because it was pink. He handed it to Asher, not really paying it any attention.

"You don't have a different color?" Asher stared at the pencil a moment, then chuckled.

"I.. uh-I might?"

"Never mind. It's fine. I like the pink." Asher smiled slightly as he caught a view of Simon's flushed cheeks. The boy next to him gestured to his face, and mouthed something to his friend, and Asher wondered if perhaps the other boys hadn't seen him smile over something non football related before. Asher realized that he liked teasing the smaller boy. He had a strange desire to fluster Simon, or catch him off guard, that he'd never really had before.

"Do you think the Sophomore's a virgin?" Asher whispered to Garrett.

"I dunno. The sophomores on the team sure aren't." Garrett responded.

"Should I ask him?" Simon heard a snip-bit of the conversation behind him. He almost recognized the voice as Asher's, but he wasn't quite sure.

"Do you even need to?" Another asked.

"look at 'im, he totally is." Still another voice added.

"Fine. Fine." Asher relented with a grin, "Hey Simon. Me and my buddies here want to know something." Simon shifted uncomfortably, but turned to look at the group.

"Are you a virgin?"

"Wha-What?" Simon stuttered in shock, turning to look back at Asher and his friends who were suppressing laughs. The football boys seemed to find the whole situation funny, but Simon didn't understand why any person would ask that kind of a question.

"Are you a virgin?" Asher repeated, in a sincere tone. Simon had a dusting of baby pink across his cheeks and Asher was pleased with himself for being able to put it there. Simon often shut down when speaking to strangers, but Asher was glad to see Simon being receptive to him.

"Yeah. I mean... aren't you?" Simon asked after thinking a moment.

"Maybe." Asher shrugged, and one of the boys behind him snorted. "Maybe not. That's really an inappropriate question to ask someone."

"But- But you asked me. Why would you ask me if it was inappropriate?"

"I wanted to know." Asher shrugged, and the boys around him chuckled. "Besides, virgins are the most fun."

....

"Hey." Shea said looking up from his meat loaded pizza. The two of them were sat together, alone, at a small table towards the back of the large cafeteria. "You look stressed, what's up?"

"Oh just some boys in my math class." Simon rolled his eyes.

"You want me to take care of them?" Shea cracked his knuckles suggestively.

"Ew stop that. That's like something my brother would say."

"Your brother sounds smart." Shea stated. "But seriously, don't let them mess with your head, okay?"

"I won't." Simon promised. "How do I know you aren't trying to mess with my head?"

"Oh I totally am." Shea chuckled. "What are you doing after school today?"

"I'm not sure. Probably making dinner for my brother, then homework and bed. Why?"

"No reason, just if you aren't doing anything, you could maybe come over to my house?" Shea suggested, reaching over to take the second half of Simon's sandwich.

"Oh..Uh. Sure we could do that. I'd like that." Simon smiled slightly.

"Cool."

....

Shea walked down the crowded hallway, smiling to himself. He was admittedly quite excited about having Simon over to his house. Simon was entertaining to Shea, he liked his little stutter when he was nervous, and how flustered he would get over any little thing. He wondered how Simon might react if he actually flirted with the boy. So far Simon had been very oblivious.

Of course, Shea knew not to that from past experience. No matter how nice somebody seemed to be, things could go south very quickly in those situations.

"Are you Shea O'Connor?" A boy with dark brown hair, and light eyes stopped Shea in the hallway.

"Yes, why?"

"Have you been hanging around Simon Matthews?" The boy whispered, his voice wrought with severity.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Shea puffed up his chest trying to match the size of the much larger boy.

"Well don't. If you keep poking around in things you aren't supposed to, someone is going to get hurt." The boy said, then turned down a hallway walking swiftly away. Suddenly he turned back around. "Just be careful, okay?" The boy said, and with that, finally left. Shea shrugged, and walked on to his next class.

He was never one to listen to strangers.

....

"What movie do you want to watch?" Shea asked, running a hand through his hair, which refused to stay out of his eyes. He had a pair of light blue shorts, and a creme colored hoodie on. Earlier he had a pair of white sneakers on, but by the time they had gotten comfortable on the couch he had kicked them off, leaving only the white socks, which stretched to about halfway up his shins.

"I don't care. You pick." Simon sat with his knees hugged to his chest, he had never been to a friends house before, and his discomfort was evident. It wasn't like he didn't want to be there; he did, but he just didn't know how he was supposed to act.

"Si, Chill." Shea smirked, "You don't have to sit so far away." Simon moved approximately an inch closer, not wanting to scare Shea, or come on too strong, as he often thought he did. "Here." Shea smushed into Simon, sending the smell of cologne over him, and took the opportunity to wrap his arm loosely over Simon's shoulders. Shea had been worried about what Simon would think earlier, but he knew the boy would never get the message on his own. Shea liked Simon, and he wanted to be more than friends, so he figured he had to make that fact very clear.

"Isn't this weird?" Simon asked after a minute.

"Not at all." Shea said pushing Simon's head into his shoulder, "This is perfectly normal. Friends sit like this all the time." Shea stated semi-sarcastically, but Simon didn't seem to notice and he rolled his eyes in frustration. Shea's arm felt nice on Simon, it was warm, and safe, and both boys realized they enjoyed each other's touch as well as company. To Shea that ought to have been enough, but Simon was timid and slow moving in those matters, so the two merely settled in for some random movie. Shea didn't care, what they were watching, just as long as he got to sit with Simon.

"You've ..uh.. got an eyelash." Simon said after a few minutes. Shea looked down to see the boy gazing up at him with large eyes that reflected the moving images of the TV. He'd known they'd been sitting close, but just not how close, and it was his turn to be nervous. Usually Shea was cool calm and confident, but today he felt like a sloppy mess, in the presence of a boy he liked. Of course, Simon didn't seem to like him back usually, but he seemed to be sending at least some of the signals back, and Shea was sure Simon must have been aware of his intentions. It simply couldn't be any more obvious.

Shea could feel his breath tickle his nose in the dark of the room, and he shivered at the sensation. Being close to people made Shea feel better. He hated being alone, it made him remember darker times.

"You could... guh" Shea grunted, his voice moving a few octaves lower, "Get it. If you wanted to." Simon didn't move for a moment, and the room dropped to an uneasy silence, the friendly nature of the two seemingly out the door. Then Simon leaned over using his arm to sturdy himself. Though he picked an extremely sensitive spot on Shea to push. Shea shifted at the action, one of his legs jerking out from under him, but didn't want to be too obvious. Making a move like that seemed so out of character for Simon, but there was no way it had been an accident, was there? Shea shifted again.

"Stay still." Simon commanded, and Shea froze in place. The couple of seconds seemed to last for ever as Simon focused on his task. Shea was in hell for those seconds, wanting both to push Simon off, and pull him closer. Shea shuttered at the continuous pressure, as Simon carefully brushed away the out of place eyelash. Shea was absolutely positive Simon could feel his hard-on, but if he could, he hadn't indicated such. Nobody just accidentally brushed somebody's area. It had to be on purpose. "All set." Simon whispered.

"Ngh..."Simon's tone sent flutters, down Shea's back, and he let out a strange combination of a grown and sigh, which caused Simon's eyebrows to furrow in confusion. "I've got to go to the bathroom." He said quickly, and rushed out of the room to relieve himself. He wondered if Simon knew what he was doing to the poor boy.

Simon, on the other hand, sat in complete confusion, eyebrows arched at the strange scene. Shea was usually so grounded, and it was strange to seem him acting so out of character. Simon resolved he must have been acting in a strange way, that wasn't right for when a friend came over, and scolded himself internally. He kept screwing everything up.