My eyes wouldn't open. Feeling a yawn develop, I threw my hand out over my bedside table and felt around for my phone. I sighed and rubbed my eyes. They felt heavy and sore for all of two seconds before I was plunged out of lethargy with a text from Aubrey.

Im at school already

The time read eight AM. School hadn't started yet so I still had time to get there in time for the bell. I jumped out of bed and headed straight for the shower. When I went to the kitchen for breakfast, Mum was sitting at the table eating a bakery-bought scone. She looked tired and listless.

"Morning, Mum," I said and walked over, planting a kiss on her forehead.

She looked up at me with surprise, but immediately perked up. "Good morning, Charlie. You're up early considering the time the movie ended."

"Aubrey's at school," I answered as I pottered around in the kitchen, pouring myself a glass of juice and a bowl of cereal.

Mum looked a little tense for a moment. I sat down beside her and took a spoon of cereal before I looked at her questioningly. She seemed to ponder something, then stumble for words while I kept chewing and waiting for her to say something. It made me curious.

"About Aubrey..." Mum began. "Don't you think he's been causing you trouble since the two of you got close?"

I spat out my cereal, frantic to wipe at it as it dribbled back into my bowl.

"Oh, Charlie," she muttered, getting up and fetching me paper towels. "So gross."

I swallowed what was left in my mouth and stared at her, dumbfounded. Did she really think it was Aubrey who started to create all this drama? From a parent's perspective, it might've made sense that she thought this all started from when we started talking. Correlation equals causation, and all of that.

"Mum, it's completely the other way 'round," I said, pushing my bowl away. "I drew a lot of attention to him after outing him. Now he's kind of stuck in the spotlight because of me. Even though I'm the bully's target, Aubrey still gets caught up in it because of me. And he still somehow goes to school early."

Mum seemed to be pondering this, but nodded reluctantly. "I see. And the two of you... are you going out? Does he know you're gay?"

I shook my head. "He knows I'm gay but we're not going out."

A grumble in my belly made me pull my bowl back towards me. I shoveled another spoonful into my mouth and looked at her, grinning while I chewed.

"I'm working on it."

Mum giggled. "My boy's so handsome, he'll see that."

I chuckled and enjoyed the rest of breakfast enjoying chatting with Mum. Normally she'd be at work already, but I guess Aubrey's Mum let her have a late morning so she could stay home with me. Maybe I should stay home and hang with her, after all. But then I pictured Aubrey at school, waiting for me. I wanted to see for myself that he was okay.

Yesterday, I felt helpless when I couldn't help interpreting Aubrey's signing or understand anything he said in general. One sign language class per week just wasn't enough. Would it be unreasonable for me to ask Mum to allow me more than one class? I wanted to be as fluent as Aubrey and his friends. I wanted to be useful to him. I wanted to be the most useful... his most important one.

"...Mum," I started, but didn't really know how to ask. They weren't cheap, and she was already being so generous by letting me take one class for a guy I like. "Can I do extra sign language classes?"

She looked at me with surprise. "You want to do more?"

"Yeah, I'm not learning enough," I said. "I don't know enough. There's so much more for me to know, y'know? It almost feels redundant sitting in on just one class a week."

Mum nodded. "Find out the cost for the full course. It won't be free for you, though. You'll be working hard to make it worth it."

I grinned. "I'll be your maid, your cleaning lady, your bellboy; anything."

"Some chores around the house will be enough," she laughed. "Your enthusiasm already tells me it'll be the right choice. You never really took anything seriously up till recently so this is really nice to see, Charlie."

I nodded. All I needed now was to brush my teeth and check my schoolbag and I'd be ready to go. Time was running short though since I dawdled too long, chatting with Mum. I kissed her cheek and sprinted out of the house, all the way to school. Everyone was sitting down in Homeroom when I came in. Mr. Hardy was sitting at the teacher's desk. Something seemed to be weighing on his mind. Maybe it was about the whole Horse-Face and pervert thing.

His heart was in the right place, he just supported the wrong kids. I hope he didn't beat himself up too much about it. How did Aubrey feel about it? I looked over at him. His eyes looked red and tired, but he smiled when he saw me. He signed, "Good morning" to me and so I replied with the same.

He looked so handsome first thing in the morning, it made me squeamish.

"Handsome," I signed to him, having learned the word solely and specifically for him. His eyes widened as his face turned into a full blush. So did Ikeisha's, who was sitting right beside him.

Now it was my turn to flush.

I didn't even notice anyone else besides him. She waved for me to join them at Trey's seat, which was presently empty. I looked at Aubrey for a second and started to lift my hand near his face. He looked at my hand with curiosity but didn't flinch or move, so I pushed some of his hair aside to reveal his ear. His hearing aid wasn't in.

"I'm getting a new one," he said in a loud whisper, then wore his iconic glum expression. "He was so gross, I hated it."

Here was that delicious lip droop that always made me want to kiss him; every time without fail. "It'll only get better from here."

I let the hair that I brushed with my fingers fall back around his face, gently tracing my fingers along his cheek as I did so. I watched his soft white skin redden like someone went a little hard on the saturation for his character design, but that'd be more believable for a webtoon than a novel.

"You couldn't be tackier if I pulled you out of a Bostik pack," Ikeisha grinned.

The bell rang for class to start, and only then did Trey come in through the door. He saw me sitting at his desk right away. As I stood up to move, he didn't bat a lid back in my direction even once; instead taking a seat at my desk beside Ben. The look on Ben's face when he turned to see Trey coming up beside him was unexplainable. The fear, frustration, annoyance, awkwardness...shyness?

Mr. Hardy called the roll. Once he was finished, we were allowed to talk amongst ourselves before the bell went for first class. I sat quietly beside Aubrey, watching Trey leaning over and whispering to Ben. There was something going on that I didn't know. Trey hated Ben and Ben hated Trey, so why did Trey give him such special attention these days? I watched Ben's fingers curl as Trey spoke. Then something seemed to tip him over the edge.

He looked really, really pissed.

"I think Trey just told Ben about Donovan and Jesse," Ikeisha whispered, sneaking glances at Mr. Hardy to make sure he didn't overhear her.

Ben stood up and slid his chair and swung his bag over his back. He looked back at me with an expression I couldn't interpret, then excused himself to Mr. Hardy. Trey did the same and followed him out. What were they up to?

"What about them?" I asked. When they opened the classroom door, I thought I spotted the back of Horse-Face Hughes walking ahead of them. I felt my face pale. Aubrey looked the same. "They're still here?"

Ikeisha nodded, furrowing her brows with clear anger. "Police are so damn slow to do anything. They're still 'investigating', whatever the hell that even means. What the hell else do they even need besides two victims and a bunch of witnesses?"

"But the school isn't kicking them out?" I asked, cracking my knuckles while I became quickly enveloped with anger and frustration. I turned to Aubrey. "You knew? Why are you even here?"

He looked at me and blinked. Right, he couldn't hear me.

"He wanted to see you," Ikeisha said. "Plus, Trey and Ben aren't letting this slide. Those bullies picked with the wrong two guys' best friends."

"Huh?"

Ikeisha shrugged. "Trey's as protective of Aub's as I am. Or you are. Ben seems just as protective of you cause look how he just responded."

I think my heart just somersaulted. That Judo playing meat patty felt protective of me? A single tear rolled down my eye. I grinned at the thought. "He acts so nonchalant about everything. I forget he has emotions sometimes."

Ikeisha reached over and hit my arm. "He's your best friend, right?"

I laughed, rubbing my arm. "Why're you the one defending him? I thought you wouldn't have a bar of him."

"He's not a bad guy," Ikeisha shrugged. "Bit of an idiot but definitely not bad."

"Hehe." I kept grinning. This was definitely a positive for Ben. Then a minor detail that'd slipped my mind suddenly surfaced. My smile faltered and I looked at them as reality hit. "Wait, what're they about to go do then?"

Ikeisha blinked rapidly. "Um... Maybe fight?"

I groaned and scooted from my chair. "They don't need to go that far, right? The horse and pervert will be dealt with. Why would they go and get themselves in trouble?"

Liam must've heard me because he swung around in his chair and circled his hands around his mouth as a makeshift megaphone. "'cause that isn't nearly satisfying enough, dumb Rascal."

Jude stuck his fist out and punched Liam's arm. "Shuddup," he reprimanded.

Mr. Hardy looked like he was going to scold us for being noisy when the bell finally rang. He sighed and dismissed us. Aubrey turned to Ikeisha and started signing something to her, but since I couldn't understand it, I didn't wait around to find out. I picked up my bag and told them I'd catch up before heading straight out the door. It was first period now, so where would they be going to fight?

I powerwalked through the halls, searching high and low for anywhere they could've gone. I spammed Ben with texts asking where they are but didn't get any reply. I groaned with frustration. At this point, I was going to be late for first class. Aubrey started texting me asking where I'd gone, but I was too busy trying to find Ben and Trey. Were they really gonna go and pick a fight?

Really, I should be heading to class or at the very least replying to Aubrey's texts. But it felt weird just letting Trey and Ben up and involve themselves in a situation I basically created for myself, yet somehow got Aubrey dragged into. It should be me copping everything that comes with messing with those bullies, not those two. But I guess it became Trey's business the moment Aubrey got involved. There was no helping that bit.

But Ben? He'd get kicked out of the Judo club for starting fights in school. They were very strict about how and where they use their skills, something that Ben stressed about a lot. It might be why he was ordinarily so chill about everything, bar his embarrassment whenever he got rejected by Ikeisha. He always played it off well, it's not like he was ever as chill as he made himself out to be.

Was he really willing to go this far?

The halls were almost completely empty now, with just a few people rushing to their classes. I kept texting Ben as I walked until eventually, I started hearing a ping in response to every message I sent. Considering Ben hardly ever remembered to put his phone on silent, and the fact that us guys were the only ones he texted so it was never really an issue, I was familiar with that ping.

He was nearby. I followed the pings from my continuous spam until I heard some distant yelling and slamming from a locker room. Besides the large gym locker rooms inside the closed gym area, there were also these ones that people would flock to sometimes when the other was crowded or inconvenient.

The voices inside sounded angry and frustrated, but I could only hear Ben and Trey. And a big slam. I couldn't hear the pervert or horse. What was going on? Remaining as quiet as possible, I snuck inside and kept the door from clicking shut behind me. I kept my movements small and light so as not to bring attention to myself.

"You think I told you so you could just throw your whole passion away?" Trey asked through gritted teeth. He was holding Ben by the scruff, pinned against the wall. Ben told me he'd been creating more trouble than usual, but I didn't know that this was what he meant. This felt more like the throes of passion than anything sinister I'd be imagining this entire time.

"You said we should do something about it, so I'm doing something about it," Ben answered, fingers gripping Trey's wrists while trying to pry him off. "Let go of me, fuck's sake."

"I meant make a plan, you shithead," Trey answered, not moving an inch. "Something that'll force the police to do something about them, not get you arrested. You're damn lucky I dragged you in here when I did."

"The fuckers did this and that to my friend and you expect me to play it nice?"

"You think he's gonna be grateful if you get yourself thrown out of your club? If anyone's gonna beat those assholes to a pulp, it'll be me. I got the least to lose, anyway."

Ben stopped struggling and looked genuinely confused. They were standing so close that I could feel the yaoi gods all around them. Ordained by the presence of the holy spirit; godhead three in one. Yaoi, shounen ai, and BL. My gaydar was going off so loud that I could barely hear anything else.

Who would've suspected Trey Hansen and Ben Brown? The situation in front of me was serious, definitely serious, but I was grinning so much that I couldn't take the gravity of the situation with a grain of salt. Ben was being pinned like a stereotypical bottom and while this probably wasn't a practical thing in real life, it was like watching a real-life manga unfold before my eyes.

Hehe.

"You have some of the top grades in the school," Ben answered, genuinely confused. "How do you have less to lose?"

"Because they aren't my life," Trey responded gently, while still holding Ben down with some god given strength. "Judo's yours."

Ben grunted and looked away stubbornly. What a brat. Can't he tell he's being loved in Trey's own aggressively sexy way? Granted, I probably wouldn't fall for that tactic either. But they're both totally in each other's element and it could just as easily be Trey pinned like that as well.

I needed some fudanshi friends to rave on about this to.

They went silent. Ben kept his eyes averted, while Trey looked like his would burn holes through Ben. It didn't look like the most comfortable situation, but at least they weren't off fighting those assholes. Satisfied with this, I started to pull the door back open when its horrifically timed creak screamed, "Charlie's right here!"

Busted. I knew they caught me even before slowly turning around and catching both pairs of furious and embarrassed eyes.

Trey shoved Ben one last time before conceding, stepping backwards and creating a highly static space between them. Damn it. The yaoi gods surely cursed me for ruining their moment. I'd have to win their favor back later, but for now, I had to play this off somehow. I scratched my head and tried to grin despite my obvious sheepishness.

"Ah, hi. Sorry..." I fumbled. The right words escaped me, so I tried to play this off and just leave. "As you were, then."

I spun back to the door and pulled it open, but not before I heard feet stomping across the floor behind me. Ben slung his heavy arm over my shoulders but momentarily paused, turning his head back to Trey.

"Go to class," he grumbled as if that was supposed to be some melodramatic form of nonchalance. It was almost like an art. With two bro-dudes like Trey and Ben having mine and Aubrey's backs, I felt better about us surviving the day. Things would go smoothly and there was absolutely no way we'd be messed with again.

That's right... right?

My gut did a little twist and pull, as if to argue that life could possibly return to normal just like that. If my own basic biology was against me, then it didn't look good for us. But no matter what, I'd make sure Aubrey was at least safe. He'd been through enough because of me already.

There'd be no more.