"There goes Mr. Whitaker's fine ass."
Abel mumbled that the second their Physics teacher walked into the room, he was late today, which was nothing out of the ordinary. It gave the students more time to talk about homecoming and the game this weekend, so no one did mind aside from the other teachers.
The Alamance bulldogs were finally playing against their longtime rivals: North-view high school, and he'd be damned if he said they weren't annoying as hell. It was the usual rural vs. suburban kid shit, so they were naturally disposed to dislike each other. That's just how it was, but the Bobcats despised Alamance a little extra for whatever reason.
Students from both schools always got into it at malls, sporting events, etc. All that ever did was make it worse. Abel turned toward him, brushing their short, black and white box braids over their shoulder and asking the same burning question that everyone else was.
"You going to the game on Friday?"
The brown-haired boy raised an eyebrow and shook his head.
"No, I am not sitting through another hour of racial slurs ever again. Did you hear what they were calling Michael and Shaun last year?" He took out his cream-colored notebook and pencil when class finally started. "I've never heard the hard '-er' more in my life than at a game against North-view. The w-people are a different breed over there."
They snickered, "You ain't never lied, but isn't Joseph playing? You have to go! Gotta support your lil' boyfriend."
Their voice was singsong, and Jericho turned away from them in his chair, and rolled his eyes. Even though it's been almost two weeks, people were still talking about it.
"Abel, you too? Come on."
They made a giant bubble with the peach-colored gum in their mouth and smirked when it popped.
"Y'all ain't fooling nobody. Have you seen the way he gets when he talks about you? He's down bad, I'm telling you. He gets this dreamy-ass look on his face, and if I didn't know any better, I'd think he likes you a lot more than he's letting on."
Grumbling out a 'whatever,' They both turned back to the front where the teacher was and started taking notes, took a quiz, and the rest of the class was a breeze. Aside from Abel harassing him about his relationships, of course.
By the time the bell rang, he was one of the last ones out of the classroom because he stayed behind to get an extra credit worksheet. On his way to Spanish, he got a text from Joseph saying to meet him in the bathroom near his classroom. He walked across the hall to the restroom and pushed open the wooden swinging door.
He was on autopilot, forgetting entirely about his rule: they weren't supposed to be alone together in any capacity. Someone grabbed his waist from behind and kissed his nape, brushing his hair out of the way and pulling their hips together.
The brown-haired boy leaned into him. He was exhausted from the weekend and it felt nice to be loved on every once in a while. The temperature was dropping, and it finally felt like autumn outside, so the blond had on those gray fleece sweatpants.
He turned around. The seasons changing never stopped him from wearing his signature wife-beater. Today's was olive green; it matched his eyes, and he paired it with the matching gray zip-up. Grabbing a handful of Jericho's ass through his chinos, he took the gasp he made as an opportunity to dip his tongue into his mouth.
He didn't mind this more possessive side of Joseph. They parted after a while, and he looked up to see the taller boy's handsome face. He was growing his beard back out, and you could almost make the Ursa Major constellation if you were to connect the freckles on his face.
He mumbled, 'I missed you like crazy.' sweetly in between a kiss planted against his jaw, and god knows Jericho was getting cavities just standing here listening to him speak.
Still in disbelief that the boy in front of him had something to do with the erasure of that Kylie Parker girl, and until he had concrete proof, he'd keep his mouth shut about it. Joseph made him feel way too fuzzy inside to ruin their relationship with a b-movie synopsis.
"I was here all last week, just busy. So you miss me or this ass, cowboy?"
Joseph grabbed his backside with both hands this time and squeezed hard, digging his nails into the soft flesh, eyes darkening as his tongue flicked out slowly to swipe over his equally pink lips. He leaned in until their foreheads bumped together.
"Would you be mad if this cowboy said both?"
Jericho laughed, letting the sound fill the empty bathroom and bounce off of the walls. When he finally settled down, the blond looked at him, a crooked smile on his face and stars in his eyes. He's been doing that more often now.
"What?"
Jericho pulled the strings on the other boy's jacket until he was close again.
"Mm, nothin' baby," He tilted his head to the side as he leaned in again, "You're perfect." he felt Joseph smile against his throat and start kissing slowly.
The brown-haired boy groaned, pushing against his chest when he started to suck another hickey onto his neck, and Joseph growled at him.
"We ain't been seen together in a minute. I'm just markin' what's mine, 'Cho. You understand, right?"
Everyone at school probably already knew they were fucking. He doubted anyone would try anything funny, even as a joke.
"One is plenty. And, class starts in a minute. Joseph, the Prince of Alamance, can't be late."
He smiled again with teeth this time, and that starry-eyed look from earlier returned tenfold. It was almost blinding.
"Prince? Is that so? Hmm," he scratched his beard, scheming, "Gimme a kiss then princess, maybe I'll walk a lil' faster, just for you."
Jericho inwardly cringed at the nickname. Bit of a backstory with that particular term of endearment but stood on his toes anyway to hold his cheek and brush his lips over the other's. Kissing the corner of his mouth and then backing up when he tried reaching for him.
"If we didn't have class, fuck," The green-eyed boy gave him a once over, frustration painting his features. "Baby, just gimme five more minutes, I'll show you some real southern lovin'." He drawled, keeping direct eye contact while he adjusted himself in his sweats.
"Mm, I know you would. Next time, Joey, go."
The blond pouted but opened the bathroom door, and the brown-haired boy watched him as he jogged out into the hallway and then disappeared. In turn, he scoffed and took a left at the corner to enter his own classroom. Head spinning and his face warm, he walked toward his desk when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket.
When he went to grab it, his fingers got entangled in something metal but also string-like that definitely wasn't in his pocket this morning. He took out his cellphone along with the other object, and his eyes widened when he checked his messages.
'We gotta talk after 4B, so don't even think about leaving yet because I need my chain back, sweet thing.'
He held the 24k herringbone chain that Joseph never takes off in the palm of his hand. He probably dropped it in there earlier when he was distracted. Jericho could just as easily find Michael and hand it off to him, but that would lead to several awkward questions.
For example, how it ended up in his pocket when half the schools never even seen it and the other half has never seen it leave his neck. The shorter boy grumbled to himself while he pocketed the necklace and hung his backpack behind his chair to sit down.
———————————————————————————
Joseph finished sending his text with a slight smirk on his face when one of the field hockey players, Miranda, tapped his shoulder. His AP stat teacher took attendance, so they had about three minutes to talk to other students before class started.
"Who're you texting?"
The brunette's voice was just a little more flirty than usual, and she also sprayed on just a touch more perfume than she should have this beautiful morning. She was okay, though, sometimes.
"'Jericho."
He tucked his bottom lip into his mouth to keep from smiling like a buffoon when the name left his mouth, Joseph couldn't stop thinking about him. Sometimes just seeing him drives the blond crazy, his heart starts racing a mile a minute, and this euphoric feeling blooms all over his body.
He felt giddy and nervous and alive all at the same time. Gave him even more space after they had sex because he wanted to be careful, but he missed him so much. There was only so much he could take.
Plus, people started noticing they weren't attached at the hip lately, and the quarterback has had to keep his eye on a few of his own teammates. These were guys he knew either had something against himself or had a thing for Jericho and were starting to loiter around him again.
That was bad news because he could get possessive fairly quickly, and violent faster than that, he had an image to uphold. But even that didn't matter because his brain short-circuited when it came to Jericho.
Everyone knew that he was born with a golden spoon in his mouth; that's why half the school wanted him, but he never felt an authentic connection with someone until Jericho stumbled into his life.
Joseph's dated his fair share of guys and girls. Given who he was, it was easier than he'd like to admit. But, Jericho wasn't a whole different story; he was an entirely different genre altogether.
He was real and it kept him grounded, humble. But the shorter boy was also plenty quiet and kept to himself. It was new, scary too, because he had not a clue what was going through his head and how fast or slow to take things. So he needed to be patient regardless.
It would all be worth it in the end. The more he thought about it, though, the more evident something else became as well. Rubbing his free hand down his face, he chuckled when it all finally dawned on him. He was screwed, and he didn't even understand how it took him this long to realize this went beyond liking a person.
The blond knew he liked him quite a bit, but you don't just 'like' someone for three-and-a-half years, so was this feeling actually love? Because now that was a rode he was driving down with no brakes, his eyes closed, and hands off the wheel.
"This shit is crazy..."
He made sure Miranda didn't hear a damn thing he said, but she probably got everything she needed from the cycle of emotions on his face. And, that was all it took for the flame of jealousy to become a wildfire. He could tell when she smiled sweetly, her thin lips almost disappearing.
"Jericho? Oh, I saw him like hanging out with some light-skin girl, Angelica, I think, at café sushi like the other day."
Jericho was the only person standing in the way of him and everyone else that had the hots for him, and they damn well knew that. And, there was no telling how far they'd go to ruin what they had either.
"What's your point?"
She leaned in real close to whisper in his ear, "whatever, but like, he went into the men's restroom at the same time as this other guy for like a good 20 minutes. Like the door was locked and everything. He came out looking all scared and like disheveled and such, but I don't know, maybe they were like just talking."
She stuck out her bottom lip and shrugged innocently, and he knew what she was trying to make it sound like. The way she phrased it ended up bothering him for the rest of class anyway, and so did her annoying voice.
The frustration compounded until he saw him again during their fourth block. He'd keep it in check until the end of class, though, because he didn't want to cause a scene.
If something did happen to him, though, there was going to be an issue because if he was assaulted A: he didn't tell him and B: he doesn't who this 'other guy' is.
He's had a 'crush' on one Jericho Tucker since fucking freshman orientation, but he'd only thought of him as a best friend, or at least he thought. And, he had to convince himself that he was okay with that, and he liked to pretend he was until he let him into his world.