Riley lay on the couch in Eran's apartment and looked out of the picture window at the darkening sky. I wonder if it will snow tonight.

The thought of keeping warm by cuddling with Eran made Riley smile. I want him to hurry home. I want to be with him. I love him. Riley sighed. He loved Eran, and if Tony couldn't understand that, then fine. He'd thought of the possibility before confessing, so he wasn't shocked. And he didn't think he felt hurt. Looking at it from a pessimistic point of view, things went really well. But more than anything, what Riley was surprised by was the fact that he felt somewhat angry.

Like planned, it happened during lunch. Unlike planned, it was the first thing to be brought up.

"So, what did I miss?" Tony had asked facetiously, knowing he'd missed absolutely nothing during his absence, because nothing ever happened.

Jay who was sitting in the middle had looked meaningfully at Riley. 'Are you going to tell him now?' he seemed to ask. The look in his eyes noted that it was a perfect opening, but there was a risk that it wasn't the right time.

Riley felt the same way, but at the time didn't know it wouldn't have mattered when he said it—Tony's reaction would have been the same. Riley took a deep breath and said casually, "Eran and I are dating."

Tony rolled his eyes. "At least say something funnier." At Jay and Riley's awkward silence, Tony waved his hand. "Give up. It already failed." He narrowed his eyes in what seemed like annoyed confusion when still neither Jay nor Riley admitted the joke.

"I love Eran," Riley had responded plainly.

"You want me to believe you're gay?" Tony scoffed.

Riley and Jay exchanged looks. "For Eran, yeah."

"Bi, technically..." Jay muttered.

Displeasure marked Tony's expression. "That's not even funny."

"That's why it's not a joke."

Tony had glared and turned to Jay. "And you're okay with this?"

Jay leaned away defensively. "It's not my affair to not be okay with." Even if it sounded somewhat neutral, the fact that Jay was already sitting closer to Riley and had leaned in Riley's direction gave Tony a clear enough idea that he didn't have an ally.

"You're probably just confused, Riley. You haven't had a girl in at least half a year, right?" Tony's suggestion reminded Riley of the things Eran had said to convince Riley that he'd mistaken his own feelings. "That girl two classes down—"

"I love Eran."

"You don't know what you're saying."

"I know what I'm saying, Tony. I—Riley, a man—love Eran—also a man. Probably, I'd love him if he was a girl. I'd love him if I was a girl. I'd love him if we were both girls."

Tony had cringed at least twice. "But neither of you are girls. You're seriously okay with... doing stuff with another guy?"

Riley looked Tony in the eyes. "You seriously think you can handle hearing the answer?"

Tony turned away. "What the fuck..."

There had been a long silence during which Riley was sure that from then on, Jay would suffer trying to split himself evenly between two friends. He thought if Jay had to choose sides, he'd pick Riley's; Jay was looking at Tony with disappointed eyes. But Riley didn't want Tony to be cast out.

Finally, the silence was broken. Tony turned back around to Jay and Riley and said, "Just don't talk about it around me. Or bring him up." Those were Tony's conditions and Riley agreed.

Jay flashed his phone screen in front of Riley: 'Looks like we'll do most of our talking outside of school.'

And Jay had been right in one way—the rest of lunch, between classes, and at the end of school no one said much to anyone else. Riley decided to leave first, letting Jay stay with Tony. If he wanted, he could have walked with them, since they were all headed in the same direction, like old times. But it'd be uncomfortable for all three of them.

Staring at the living room ceiling, Riley decided that if Eran asked, he'd sugar coat the whole situation. If Eran thought their relationship was making anything difficult for Riley, he might propose ending it. I can't let end what just started. Riley recalled that he'd only ever touched the skin on Eran's hands, face, and scalp. Surely, even middle school couples were already doing things Riley wouldn't be able to do until his birthday. And his birthday only marked a timeline. It wasn't as if as soon as the clock struck midnight, Riley and Eran would just pull away at each other's clothes.I don't even know what he looks like with his shirt off. I wonder if I can get away with putting my hand—no, no, no. He'd be totally pissed.

Riley heard the front door open and almost wanted to run up to Eran and pounce on him happily, like a dog that'd been waiting for his human. But he stayed lying down.

Eran walked over to the couch and looked over to see if Riley was awake. "Oh, I thought you might be asleep."

"Would you have kissed me if I was?"

"Maybe."

"Then, Take 2!" Riley closed his eyes.

Eran lightly rapped his knuckles on Riley's head and walked away. "I wouldn't, of course. It'd be kind of weird."

Riley tensed, recalling he'd once done something 'kind of weird.'

The room was becoming darker along with the sky, because Riley hadn't turned any lights on; Eran hadn't turned them on either. Moments later, Eran came into the room with a cup of tea and handed it to Riley.

Riley sat up and took it, then Eran sat down beside him. "Where's yours?" Eran pointed at the mug in Riley's hand. Confused, Riley mumbled, "I'm a cupholder?"

Without replying, Eran took the mug out of Riley's hands and set it on the coffee table, then laced his fingers with Riley's. The warmth that had seeped from the mug to Riley's hands now spread from Riley's skin to Eran's.

"How did it go telling Tony?"

"It'll be fine as long as I don't mention any details." Or anything else. "I wouldn't kiss and tell anyway."

"That's good."

Riley took Eran's hands and held them between his own. "I'm so in love with you," he said quietly. Riley could feel Eran's pulse quicken.

"Why?"

"Not sure." Can I kiss him now?

"I'm sorry." Eran spoke softly.

"What are you sorry for?"

"I don't know why you love me."

Riley frowned. "You don't have to know why. Just know I do."

Eran shifted his eyes. "Everything you say is embarrassingly romantic."

"That's because I'm embarrassingly in love."

Eran sighed.

It doesn't matter why. "Do you say you love me because I love you?"

"Huh?" Eran looked confused and then frowned. "I say it because I mean it. Since the beginning... the only difference is that you realised it long before I did," he grumbled.

I want to kiss him.

"Don't make me say any more embarrassing things."

"If you stop doubting me, I won't need to say embarrassing things. And I won't need to say doubtful things to you," to doubt you, "so you won't need to say embarrassing things either."

"I see." Riley found it cute as Eran thought seriously and nodded. He really hates feeling embarrassed. Eran touched the back of his own fingers to his own cheek. "My hands are warm now."

"Mine too." Riley linked his pinky with Eran's.

Eran moved closer to Riley. "You don't have to stop until I tell you to," he said in a quiet voice and then kissed Riley softly.

They kissed again. And again.

Riley's mind went blank and only processed the sound of Eran's breathing and the warmth coming from his lips.

Maybe it was Riley, or maybe it was Eran, but someone teased the other's lips with his tongue. The kiss got deeper.

Riley's mind started to clear and he wondered what he was more likely to get away with—kissing Eran's neck or slipping his hand under Eran's shirt. He chose the latter and simultaneously, he felt Eran's fingertips on the hem of his shirt. That's when he realised: He wanted us to do this. Eran deliberately warmed their hands so that they could touch each other and twitch only from the new sensation, not from the cold.

And he did; Eran flinched and made brief noises and Riley couldn't completely hold back. So he kissed Eran's jaw and neck, and was delighted when Eran responded positively by pressing his fingertips into Riley's skin. And he thought he had to be hallucinating when Eran chuckled from the ticklish sensation or dreaming when Eran nibbled his lip. And he had no clue when or if they'd stop. Eran didn't tell Riley to stop even when Eran ended up on his back with Riley on top of him.

"R-Riley..." Eran breathed.

"Stop?"

Eran pushed his tongue into Riley's mouth which Riley interpreted as 'No, don't stop.' We're in trouble, he thought. This was the kind of way he was worried he'd hurt Eran. I'll have to stop this myself. Resolve strengthened by his concerns for Eran's psychological well-being, Riley pulled away and off of Eran, and then pinned his arms down.

Eran stared at up Riley and looked incredibly sexy, but Riley had to stay responsible. "What should we have for dinner?" he asked, smiling as if they weren't just making out and he wasn't pinning Eran down.

Eran didn't say anything, just continued to stare at Riley.

"Eran..." Through Eran's wrists, Riley could feel Eran's heart begin to pound again.

Riley let go of his lover and stood up. Eran didn't move, so Riley kneeled down and stroked his hair. "It's okay," he coaxed. Eran had to be feeling shocked or guilty or confused or maybe all of the above.

Finally, he took a deep breath and spoke: "Am I a bad person if I say I don't care about whether you graduate first anymore?"

Riley held Eran's hand. "I don't think you're a bad person for changing your mind. And I say that from an objective point of view."

Eran glanced at Riley with skeptical eyes. "Objective? Is that even possible."

"It is. Because subjective Riley wouldn't say that it's something you should take some time to think about."

"I feel like I'm losing if I revoke the condition."

"Losing to what? The Eran from a few days ago?"

"Yeah."

Riley smiled. "What's different between the Eran from a few days ago and the Eran now?"

"...The Eran now... understands more clearly how he feels about you. The Eran now is twice as frustrated about you being in high school and yet much less concerned about it. The Eran now just wants to be with you as much as possible, as soon as possible... It's completely legal." Eran said more quietly, "But doesn't it mean more if I can wait?"

He's overthinking things again.

"You think I'm overthinking things, don't you?"

Riley nodded honestly.

"Romeo and Juliet were hasty. Where did they end up?"

"Um... Romeo and Juliet didn't die because they had sex... I think all that matters is why you're doing it, not when."

Eran sat up. "Then, tonight. Let's do it," he said decisively.

"O-objective Riley suggested you think about it, outside of the moment."

"I want to... I want to love you freely... I want to be able to love you without having to worry."

Subjective Riley says, 'Why wait for nighttime? Let's start now.' "Then let's not plan a time. It will happen when it happens."

Eran nodded in agreement.

"If we start to do something and you start crying..."

Eran rolled his eyes, "I won't cry."

"Or—"

"Or beat you up. I'll be sure. Completely sure."

I'm completely sure I was not prepared for this.

A/N: If you were Eran, would you consider Riley's age or high school status an issue? I definitely would be nervous about it.