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"Look at that asshole. Sitting there surrounded by people. Gross," Simon muttered to himself from between the steps of the bleachers he was hiding under.
The noon sun shone in stripes across his eyes and the red cherry of his hand rolled cigarette glowed brightly from the darkness over his mouth. If anyone had been looking they may have seen a handsome young man akin to James Dean or Marlon Brando. A troubled soul lashing out at the world he was trying to hold together with ironic patches and safety pins.
Simon scoffed as he watched the stupidly symmetrical star quarterback, or linebacker or whatever, walk gracefully across the field with a few cheerleaders and fellow himbos hanging on his every word.
He dragged hard on the cigarette then dropped it at his foot, crushing it dead with his heel. He was just about to make his way home when he heard a whine and upon freezing, trying to hear over the sounds of idiots being idiots, there was a small, sad bark. Simon ducked into the shadows, following the sound, and shuffled through trash and leaves until his hand brushed something warm. Desperately hoping it wasn't a rat or something worse, Simon carefully pulled aside an old copy of the school's newspaper to see a ball of shivering black fur, a few shocks of tan and a large pair of black eyes. Oh!
He held out his hand and it was immediately investigated by a tiny wet nose, followed by an even tinier wet tongue. The puppy nuzzled into Simon's large palm and that was it, he was in love and there was nothing stopping him from closing his hand around the little shaking body and pulling it to his chest. He had a peek and determined the puppy was female then poked around the rest of the trash to make sure her mom or siblings weren't around. Finding nothing, he gave the puppy one last snuggle then put her carefully in the pocket of his hoodie where she poked her head and paws out to sit joey style, looking at her new world.
Holding his jacket closed gently and casting a furtive glance around to see the field now empty, he walked quickly towards the closest exit through some woods. He kept his head down, unable to tear his eyes away from the adorable creature nestled against his stomach, and hurried to the cover of the trees to avoid a teacher seeing him skip class.
It was as soon as he was hidden in the shade that he was almost knocked on his ass. Simon gaped at the wall of letterman jacket he had run into, then quickly opened his jacket to check on his new friend. The puppy looked unfazed, staring up at him sweetly as he ran a finger over her muzzle.
"What's that!?" a deep voice asked and Simon quickly closed his jacket and returned his attention to the person he'd run in to. "Is that…a puppy?"
Simon could only nod at Alec, the star football player looking at him with narrowed eyes.
"What are you going to do to it?" Alec ground out.
Simon frowned. What?
"What? Nothing! I found it, I'm taking her home." Simon couldn't help but back away stuttering. What kind of a monster did people think he was?
Alec raised his hands. "Whoa, sorry, dude, I didn't mean to assume that you'd…" He trailed off.
"Assume that I'd what?" Simon demanded. "Did you think I was gonna eat it? The poor kid with a dead dad was gonna hurt a puppy because he's a burnout weirdo?" Simon scoffed. Up until this point Simon had assumed that Alec was just stupid, very hot, but still skating by with his skill at football. Now, however, he knew he was just another bigot. Someone that assumed the smoking and the holes in his sneakers meant they could treat him like shit.
His spiraling thoughts were interrupted by Alec forcing his way into his eye line.
"Simon! Stop. I can see you thinking too hard. I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions. I see you looking like some kinda male model, all broody in leather and smoking and just so fucking distracting and my brain fizzles…you must think I'm a moron…"
Alec was rambling now and Simon just blinked at him. To put him out of his misery, Simon stepped forward and held open one side of his jacket.
"Alec. Shut up. Wanna pet her?" Simon asked softly, all forgiven in the face of a six foot man blushing furiously as he babbled and Alec stopped. He held out a large hand and the dog sniffed it, her pink tongue darting out for fingertip kisses. Alec sighed and rubbed under her chin until she closed her eyes in doggy bliss.
While Alec was distracted by the puppy, Simon took the opportunity to stare at his perfect face, his sweet, soft features and that was it, he was in love and there was nothing stopping him from closing his hand in the fabric of Alec's shirt and pulling him in carefully for a kiss.
When he pulled away, Alec grinned. "I've got to be honest, I've been wanting to do that all year."
"Well, if we're being honest…me too."
They smiled dopily at each other until the puppy whined, probably hungry, and Simon held out a hand that Alec took happily.
"Wanna come to my house and play with her? I'll let you name her." Simon promised with a wink.
"Really? Okay." Alec said, blushing again.
They walked for a while hand in hand, clearing up a few misconceptions each had about the other when suddenly, a block from Simon's home Alec blurted out.
"Kairi. For her name."
"Aw, you're a bit of a nerd! How cute," Simon teased, actually thrilled that Alec and he might have more in common than expected. "It's perfect."