The next morning, Eran and Riley overslept.

By skipping breakfast, they were both able to make it to their first classes with seconds to spare. Riley had tried to make some sort of morning snack, but Eran kept pulling him away from the kitchen (literally), and scolding him for wasting time. Riley always made their lunches—at least partially—the night before. However, this time Riley worried that Eran would still be hungry even after finishing his lunch. Riley sulked in the car and Eran noticed.

"I told you we shouldn't have—" Eran was cut off by Riley's challenging glare.

Don't you dare, Riley thought, after the way you were acting last night...

Eran blushed and laughed timidly. "Nevermind."

Tony didn't even try to hide the disappointment on his face when he saw Riley was not going to be absent that day. During breaks between classes, Jay was busy "catching up on some work" (meaning, starting work that was due as soon as the teacher entered). Left alone, Riley's only companions were the vivid memories of Eran doing this and that from last night, and getting a hard-on in school would be bad, to say the least.

Elias's message to Riley before lunch didn't help. The message consisted only of a sneakily taken picture of Eran's neck.

When in bed during their first round (yes, they did it more than once), Eran asked why Riley had stopped kissing his neck.

"I don't want to leave any marks," Riley explained.

Eran grew strangely silent. Again, his lust compelled him to say something crazy, but Riley stopped him. "So if someone says, 'Hey, Eran, is that a hickey?' you're seriously perfectly fine with it?"

Eran silently thought about it, which surprised Riley. He's actually considering it?

"I don't care if anyone knows I have a lover. And once you're a college student, I don't care if everyone knows that lover is you," Eran stated casually.

Riley hugged his boyfriend, nuzzling his smiling face against Eran's chest. "You're the best."

"I know." Eran tilted his head, exposing his neck. "Now kiss me."

By the time they left the house that morning, most of the bruises were gone, but a couple still lingered. Even so, Eran insisted that he didn't care.

If he knew about this bite mark he gave me, Riley touched his right shoulder with the opposite hand, he'd understand how I feel.

"With that weird expression," Jay gestured to Riley's face, "you've gotta let me see." If Elias saw, then definitely Jay could look, Riley reasoned. He turned the phone so Jay could clearly see the screen.

Jay studied it, like a judge in a competition. "There's a lot of ways I can reply to that, but I don't think any of them are appropriate."

Jay tossed the balled up wrapper from his snack cake at Riley's head. "Every time I bring up Eran, you change the subject."

Ah, I was caught.

Right as the lunch bell rang, Tony had travelled off with some other male classmates before Jay could say anything to stop him. So, it was just Riley and Jay eating together.

"Let me guess: You gave him a hickey and now he's mad at you. You're having your first fight."

Riley smiled questioningly.

Jay's eyes widened. "Elias gave Eran the—"

"No!" Riley cut off Jay's preposterous theory.

"Why won't you tell me? Is it embarrassing? Did Eran tell you not to tell? Is it... too personal... or something?" Jay pointed to himself. "I am your best friend."

My only friend. Riley shifted his eyes. "Don't you get tired of me talking about Eran?"

"No," Jay replied matter-of-factly. "I actually find it really interesting. Especially you."

"I'm entertainment," Riley teased cynically.

"I want to support you. I'd be ticked if something important happened and you didn't tell me.

The truth was that since telling Jay that he loved Eran, he was more open to sharing things about his personal life. It wasn't until talking to Elias that Riley realised he was similar to Eran—Riley had walls up, hiding his weaknesses. People let you down. Now, Riley was figured out that while that was true, there are some people who might never disappoint you. It was time to test Jay. Even if Jay let him down, since Riley had Eran, he could survive losing everyone else.

"Last night, we had sex. But we didn't have... intercourse," he made sure to add, deciding against gesturing like he had before.

"Congratulations—it was about time." Jay swiped Riley's mandarin orange and started peeling. "So how was it? Better than a girl?" Jay presented the peeled orange resembling a lotus plant.

"I don't think it's really fair to compare. Eran's the first person I've loved, and they say love makes things more intense. Subjectively, it was way better, and he's ten times cuter and hotter than any girl." Riley took half the orange, and Jay kept the rest.

"Give me the juicy details. What did you do? How long did you go at it? I can't even remember the last time you were late," Jay paused, "to school."

"Um..." Riley chewed his lip. Their time in bed was intense—not only physically, but emotionally.

When they finished, they kissed until their lips hurt, and Eran clung to Riley.

"I've never felt like this before," Eran said, heart still pounding.

"Like what exactly?"

"Like the city could collapse and the apartment fall to pieces, and the world catch fire, and everything would still be okay because I have you."

Riley knew exactly what Eran was explaining. He felt like that every day. "Like madly in love, then?"

"Is it going to stop? Or become less intense? I don't know if my body can stand feeling all this emotion. I feel like I'll go crazy if I let you go." Eran tightened his hold.

I wanted you to be honest, but I'm so not used to this; I feel like I'll go crazy if you say anymore. Riley pecked Eran on the lips. "I love you."

Eran's reply was a whisper. "I love you too."

Riley was strongly compelled to say, "Let's get married." But he knew Eran would never agree. They'd only known each other for a few months and only been dating for one month. Plus, Riley couldn't be sure that Eran was someone who'd want marriage at all. I want to hurry and go all the way so we can be even closer, Riley thought anxiously.

"We're sweaty," Riley noted. "And sticky."

"Should we take a bath together?" Eran asked quite casually.

"You're okay with that?" Riley responded with surprise.

Eran sighed. "I shouldn't have made that joke."

Riley pouted. "No way. You must want to. You rarely joke. Especially about things potentially embarrassing."

"We'll just end up doing it again." Glancing away, Eran frowned.

And that's bad? "Okay, you can go first then." When Eran didn't let go of Riley, he received a questioning look.

Eran hid his face and mumbled, "I don't want to be away from you." He looked back at Riley with irresistible vulnerably spoiled eyes—almost like a kitten begging for attention.

That was how they ended up doing it again. In the bathroom, the light and slight echo made Eran twice as sexy. The marks that they still had now were like evidence of their passion from that time. A little embarrassing.

But Riley kept all that to himself. He put his fingers to his lips. "It was a hot night is all I can say."

"I feel like patting you on the back and buying you ice cream or something."

Huh? Riley's expression naturally matched his thoughts.

"Yeah, it's weird for me to feel proud. Dunno, guess I'm just happy for you." Jay stretched his arms and put his hands behind his head, scooting to lean more casually on the wall. Riley was sometimes in awe at how Jay could get comfortable just about anywhere. "When are you free this weekend?"

Riley looked at the ceiling, avoiding Jay's eyes. "Not tomorrow..." He admitted, "I'm going on a date with Eran."

"Where?" Jay scratched his leg with his other foot. "Wait..." He sat up quickly, "Outside?"

Riley shrugged. "Ice rink."

"You're going to skate around holding hands like lovers in a holiday TV movie?" Jay snickered, then full-on laughed for several seconds, clutching his stomach.

He finally calmed down when Riley kicked his side. "No."

"Then—heheh—what are you going to do?"

"Hah-key," Riley replied with emphasis. Then he smiled. "Eran and I are going to play hockey. One-on-one."

"Hm... Does Eran know?"

"It's his consequence for being stupidly embarrassed enough to say 'Don't care,' and leave it all to me." A mischievous smirk appeared. "Hockey is a high contact sport."

Jay patted Riley once on the back, smiling. "I wanna give you two scoops."