Fragile Threads [boyxboy]

Chapter 2

Shit. If he missed the bus, he was so screwed. Ethan took another look at the time on his phone and tried to walk faster. Already the good front seats on the bus would be taken, and he would have to go three to a seat at this rate. Why the hell was talking about college with his teacher so important? Now he was going to miss the bus.

Ethan didn’t want to walk home. School had only been over a few minutes and already the halls were barren.

 He flicked his hair out of his eyes, hesitating at his locker. He didn’t need anything from it, and he didn’t need to put anything away, so he could just skip it—

“Fuck!” Ethan gasped in surprise as blackness covered his eyes and he was pulled backwards. He panicked for a moment before remembering what happened at that party on Friday.

“It’s been a week,” the voice grumbled sourly in his ear.

Okay, so maybe it was last Friday. But Ethan didn’t have to call the guy. If he was so desperate, he could call Ethan. Or, of course, do this again.

And how had he known where Ethan would be at the end of the day?

Ethan didn’t answer and squirmed a bit, trying to ignore the feel of the solid body behind him. He felt the cloth over his eyes tighten as it was knotted behind his head, and then Ethan stumbled forward. He felt out a wall in front of him and turned around, trying to gauge where the guy was.

“If you didn’t want to see me again, you could have just texted me that,” the guy sighed, sounding like he was at least a few steps away.

“You’re the one that started this, you have to be the one to keep it going,” Ethan spat.

“You’re in a bad mood,” he grumbled. “Do you want to come over to my place after school?”

“And how does that work?” Ethan asked, gesturing up to the blindfold over his eyes and ignoring the comment about his mood. “It’ll look like you’re kidnapping me or something.”

A faint chuckle. “I’ll take it off. You’d have to keep your eyes closed, though. I’ll lead you out,” he offered.

“It’ll look like you’re holding my hand,” Ethan bit out dryly. He probably wasn’t going to risk that.

“Who said I was going to do it that way?” he sighed, sounding frustrated now. “What’s your problem today anyways?”

Ethan clamped up and didn’t answer. He didn’t want to talk about it. There was another sigh, and Ethan felt a hand over his shoulder. “Keep your eyes closed,” he was reminded as the cloth loosened and was pulled off. Ethan had half a mind to look anyways, out of spite. But that’s probably what the reminder not to look had been for.

What did he expect Ethan to do anyways? It’s not like Ethan didn’t understand the feeling of wanting to hide it. Still, Ethan listened and let himself be guided out by the arm. The doors were held open for him as they left the school and went through the parking lot.