Archive of Our Own ^beta

Billy sighed. He was having a hard time focusing on his lunch, which wasn’t too unusual, but today it wasn’t because he and Kate were arguing again. Although it very easily could turn into that, he realized, as he spared Kate a glance and saw that she was glaring at him over her Wonder bread sandwich, drumming the fingers of her free hand on the table and matching his sigh with one of her own. 

“Kaplan, you’re pathetic.”

Billy frowned and returned his gaze to where he’d originally been staring, probably forlornly and, okay, pathetically. Teddy Altman was sitting at a table with some of his basketball teammates, laughing and grinning and generally looking perfect. Their table was by the window, where the sun streamed in and hit Teddy’s blond hair so it glowed gold and man was Billy in over his head.

“Now I may not be gay,” Kate said, although Billy was pretty sure she wasn’t straight either, but he usually kept quiet about that, “But as far as I understand, it’s pretty much standard operating procedure to have at least one ill-conceived crush on a straight guy. And I’ve tried to let you have that. But, Billy, you haven’t even talked to the guy. Hell, he might not even be straight and you wouldn’t know because all you’ve ever said to him is ‘sorry’ when you ran into him in the hallway. And then you spent the rest of the afternoon blushing!”

“Kate, trust me, Teddy’s got to be straight,” Billy said, resting his chin on his hand and shaking his head, watching a pair of flirty seniors approach Teddy’s table and make a beeline for him in particular. “I don’t have that kind of luck.”

Kate groaned and covered her face with her hands. “You are so pathetic,” she reiterated. Then, “Don’t you think it’s a little bit suspicious that he’s probably one of the top five hottest guys in the school and he’s never had a girlfriend?”

Billy frowned. “How d’you know he’s never had a girlfriend?”

“The girls’ locker room is really the best place to catch up on gossip. Pretty much every girl in school is waiting to see who he’ll ask to prom. A couple girls even asked him, but he turned them all down. Pretty girls, too. I’d go to prom with them.”

“Maybe he’s waiting for someone specific,” Billy suggested, watching the flirty girls walk away with disappointment etched plainly on their faces. He guessed if you were as attractive as Teddy Altman, you could afford to be picky.

“Yeah,” Kate said, a slow smile – more of a smirk, really, and wasn’t that scary – spreading across her face. “Maybe.” She paused, thinking. Billy could practically see the wheels turning in her head. “Hey, you wanna try something?”

Billy’s eyes went wide. “Honestly? No.”

“Aw, c’mon!” Kate smacked his arm. “Don’t be chicken.”

“I think I’m being reasonable! The last time you said that, I came home drunk and my mom grounded me for a week.”

Kate grinned. “But you had a fun time. I know you did.” She poked his nonexistent bicep playfully. “And this isn’t something that will get you in trouble. Not if we do it right.” Billy was still skeptical, but Kate put on her wide-eyed, puppy-dog face and Billy knew it wasn’t worth arguing. “C’mon,” she pleaded. “Don’t you trust me?”

He sighed, and it was probably a tad more dramatic than strictly necessary, but it seemed to get his point across because Kate perked up instantly. “Fine,” he said reluctantly. “Fine. Yes, I trust you. But I get the feeling I’m going to regret saying that.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.” Billy held up his hands. He was determined this time. No giving in. This was a bad idea.

“You don’t even know what I’m going to do yet!” Kate protested. “I haven’t told you!”

It was a day since he’d agreed to go along with Kate’s mysterious “plan.” He didn’t know what they were trying to accomplish. He didn’t even know what they were doing here, standing outside a random classroom after school, but he had sort of an idea, and he definitely didn’t like it.

“If it involves confronting Teddy Altman, it’s not a good plan. It’s actually probably the worst plan you’ve ever had, and that’s saying something.”

Kate punched his arm. “Rude,” she snapped. “My plans are great. And so is this one. Maybe my most brilliant one yet. Trust me.”

“I’m really starting not to.” But it was too late to say anything else, because there was Teddy, swinging his backpack over one shoulder, waving goodbye to the teammates that were in his class and catching Kate’s eye. He looked surprised, because why wouldn’t he be surprised that two random strangers he’d barely interacted with had cornered him in the hall outside his final class before he could leave? I feel like a stalker. Maybe I am a stalker. Kate, I’m going to kill you.

“Billy Kaplan?” Holy shit, he knows my name. “And… Kate, right?” Teddy said, smiling amiably. “Kate Bishop? We talked yesterday.”

Billy glared at Kate. She pretended not to notice. She hadn’t told him she’d talked to Teddy Altman! When had this happened? What had they talked about? She better not have brought Billy up… If Teddy figured out Billy had a crush on him… Billy couldn’t even imagine his response. This was a bad idea.

“We did,” Kate said, and where the heck had that pleasant tone of voice and glittering smile been hiding for the entirety of their friendship? She looked like any other average, non-demonic high school girl. “How was school?” Wait. Was she flirting? That sounded like a flirty question. She was touching Teddy’s arm. A few of Teddy’s teammates trickled out the classroom door, saw Teddy interacting with Kate, and grinned. One of them gave Teddy a slap on the back; another winked. Billy felt even more out of place than usual.

“Oh, it was, um, fine,” Teddy said, looking uncomfortable. His gaze shifted briefly to Billy, who felt his face go hot. He had never been this close to Teddy Altman for this long. He’d never been this close to Teddy Altman for more than those two seconds in the hallway when they’d collided, when his hands had treacherously found Teddy’s sculpted torso and he hadn’t stopped blushing for an entire afternoon. “How… um… what are you doing here?” He looked at Billy again. Is there something on my face? Billy nervously brushed his hair with his fingers, hoping it wasn’t sticking up too drastically.

“Billy and I were just about to walk home together and I thought I’d stop by,” Kate said, and it wasn’t technically a lie. It certainly wasn’t the whole truth, but it wasn’t a lie. In reality, they’d each snuck out of their respective classes early because apparently embarrassing Billy in front of the Teddy after class was all a part of her so-called brilliant “plan.” And there Teddy went, looking at him again! There’s definitely something on my face. Why didn’t Kate say anything?

Was Teddy blushing? Kate must have looked prettier than even Billy gave her credit for. Why didn’t she have more boyfriends? He realized they never really talked about her love life, just Billy’s total, pathetic lack of one. Was that selfish of him? Did she want to talk about her love life? Did she have a love life? He had no idea.

“Hey, y’know I usually don’t listen to gossip,” Kate was saying, snapping Billy out of his rambling thoughts, “But I couldn’t help but hear that you don’t have a date to the prom yet.”

And he was looking at Billy. Why did he keep doing that?

“You heard right,” Teddy shrugged. “I’m not actually sure I want to go with anyone… No one who’s… well… anyway. Yeah. Why?”

“I was just wondering if you wanted to come with me!” Billy choked and collapsed into a fit of coughing. Kate glared at him. Teddy’s blush deepened. What the hell are you doing? Billy wanted to yell. How was Kate asking Teddy to prom supposed to help him? How was it supposed to help anyone? Did Kate even find Teddy attractive, except in an abstract, “sure he’s objectively attractive but he’s not my type” kind of way? Since when had Kate even wanted to go to prom in the first place?

“I, uh… Kate…” Teddy wouldn’t stop staring at Billy. Immediately after this, Billy was going to run to the bathroom and figure out what the hell it was Teddy kept looking at. If this was some poorly planned attempt to get Billy to get over Teddy, it wasn’t working. If it was anything else, he couldn’t even imagine what that might be.

“It’ll just be you, me, Billy, and maybe a couple other friends.” Do we even have any other friends? “It’ll be fun! My dad will rent a limo, we can go to dinner, I’ll force Billy to rent a good suit so he doesn’t look like such a slob…”

Teddy considered them, although he seemed to spend more time looking Billy up and down than examining Kate. “For what it’s worth,” he said quietly, “I don’t think you look like a slob.” Yup, Billy was definitely blushing. Of course Teddy was attractive and nice. Even if he was lying through his teeth, because yeah, Billy pretty much looked like a slob. “And sure. Yeah, that sounds like fun. I’ll go.”

“Great!” Kate grinned brighter than Billy had previously thought possible. She held out a hand. “Let me see your phone, I’ll give you both our numbers.” Teddy handed over his phone, watching Billy the whole time. Billy nervously rubbed the back of his neck, making eye contact uncomfortably. Teddy had nice eyes. Teddy had nice everything. Crap.

“Well, feel free to text either one of us!” Kate said, glancing between the two of them as she handed Teddy his phone back. There was that smirk again. What the hell was Billy getting himself into? “We’ll make plans later. I’ll probably wear purple. And like I said, we’ll rent Billy a nice suit. Something that actually fits.” She glared pointedly at Billy’s too-loose shirt and too-tight pants. Teddy’s gaze followed hers and Billy felt distinctly uncomfortable.

He didn’t know what Kate was planning, but it certainly didn’t feel “brilliant.”

They were walking home together when the dam finally broke and Billy exploded. 

“What the hell was that?” he shouted, running his hands through his hair. He’d checked his face in the bathroom mirror after Teddy had said his goodbyes, but there hadn’t been anything off, anything to explain why Teddy had kept looking at him.

Kate feigned obliviousness. “Don’t know what you’re talking about, Kaplan,” she said.

“Yes, you do,” Billy said, stepping in front of her to meet her eyes and halt their progress. “You asked Teddy to the prom? You don’t even like him!” Right?

“No, but you do, and you sure as hell weren’t going to ask him, so I did it for you!”

“So now Teddy’s going to the prom with you… How does that help me?” Billy really had no idea what Kate had been thinking. He’d been planning on spending prom night watching bad movies and trying not to think about Teddy sticking his tongue down some girl’s throat; now he was going to spend the whole prom watching his best friend dance with his crush and get miserably drunk on spiked punch wondering how his life had gotten to this point. And probably have about a dozen panic attacks between now and then, but that was to be expected either way. 

“Because you’re coming with us,” Kate said, like this solved everything. “Because Teddy was about to say no when I first asked him, but as soon as I made a point to mention you’d be there, he changed his mind right away. Because he couldn’t stop staring at you like your pathetic face held the answer to the meaning of life. Because he’s so clearly into you, and you’re into him, and if forcing the two of you to unknowingly take each other to prom and spending a few hours as an awkward third wheel is what it’s going to take to get the two of you to get over yourselves and make out already, then at least I’ll get a nice dress out of the deal.” 

For a minute, Billy could only stand there, gaping, replaying selections of Kate’s exasperated rant in his head until the pieces all finally clicked. He shook his head. “Where are you even getting this from?”

Kate groaned and threw up her hands. “I pay attention to people! I know what it looks like when someone’s head-over-heels because I’ve been friends with you for three years and you’ve been mooning over Teddy since he started going to school here! Billy, he stared straight at your ass the whole time we were walking away. That boy is not straight. I talked to him yesterday to feel things out, name-dropped you—” 

“Kate!”

“—His face lit up like a Christmas tree. Or, wait, you’re Jewish, let me try again… His face lit up like Times Square at night. Ooh, I like that one. Anyway. He’s into you, I swear.” And Kate looked so sincere; Billy almost wanted to believe her. But he couldn’t. It was too much to risk getting his hopes up. “How many times do I have to tell you to trust me?”

Billy bit his lip and shook his head. “Alright, fine,” he finally said. “I’ll play along. Maybe Teddy’s not totally, one hundred percent straight. That doesn’t mean this whole prom scheme is gonna work out.”

Kate grinned. “Of course it will. And if it doesn’t, I promise ice cream, and you can even say you told me so. But it’s totally going to work.”

Late that night, Billy was in the middle of cramming for a test the next day when his phone buzzed. It was an unfamiliar number.

<Is this Billy? This is Teddy. Just checking to make sure I got your number right.>

Billy felt his heart flutter as he picked up his phone to respond. <Yeah, this is Billy. Sorry about Kate. She can be… pushy.>

<No, it’ll be great. My mom kept bugging me about taking a girl to prom. You should’ve seen her face when I told her.>

Billy smiled at the way Teddy was talking to him like they already knew each other. It felt familiar, and… nice. At least if Kate’s “plan” didn’t work out, maybe they could be friends? It was better than nothing. (Better than how his previous crushes on straight boys had worked out.)

<My parents didn’t even expect me to GO to prom. Now my little brothers think I have a girlfriend. Ha.>

There was a lengthy pause during which Billy pretended to focus on studying, but his mind kept circling around his conversation with Teddy. This was honestly already too good to be true. He would thank Kate in the morning if he didn’t know how insufferable and smug she would act.

Finally, his phone buzzed again. Billy almost dropped it in his haste to pick it up. <So you don’t have a girlfriend?>

Billy almost laughed out loud. Teddy was kidding, right? Billy’s sexuality was practically an accepted fact throughout the entire school, even if he’d never officially come out. He’d certainly gotten enough black eyes and split lips for it, although having Kate around as a deterrent (she was more intimidating than any bully) certainly helped things.

<You’re kidding, right?> Billy sent back.

<What? You’re an attractive guy. You could have a girlfriend.>

Billy rolled his eyes. <I know you’re new this year, but you really need to catch up. You know I’m the resident gay kid? Not to freak you out or anything.> Even though he was probably freaking out already. Billy definitely was. Why had he sent that, again? Apparently his inability to filter his own words also applied to texting. Great.

Another agonizing pause. Maybe Teddy was rethinking this whole prom thing. He probably thought he’d got himself caught in the middle of some three-way deal. Or maybe he was straight as a line and now that he knew Billy was gay (which, really, how hadn’t he heard that already?), he was disgusted and never wanted to see or speak to him again.

It was almost five whole minutes later when Teddy texted back: <I guess I’ve heard rumors. Didn’t want to assume.> Then, a few seconds later: <Do you have a boyfriend?>

<Nope.>

<Alright. Cool.>

Billy spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what Teddy meant by “cool” and not nearly enough time studying for his test the next day, which he was almost definitely going to fail now.

The next day at lunch, after hopefully managing to scrape by with a C on his U.S. History test, Billy sat down next to Kate and groaned, burying his face into his arms. “I’m going to flunk eleventh grade because I can’t stop thinking about Teddy Altman,” he complained.

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” she said. “That was a hard test, anyway. Ooh, and ix-nay on the crush thing, because uh…”

“Do you two mind if I sit with you?”

Billy’s eyes went wide and he whipped his head around so fast his neck cracked, to see Teddy hovering behind the chair behind him. Mouth agape, he couldn’t even get the right words out. Thankfully, Kate was on the ball.

“Go ahead! We were just talking about the U.S. History test.”

“Oh, yeah, we took that in our class too. It was killer.” Teddy stretched, his shirt riding up and revealing a solid inch of skin around his stomach. Of course he was tan all over. Billy cursed inwardly.

Teddy looked down at the lunch table, saw that Billy had a comic book – the latest issue of the All-New X-Men – sitting open next to his lunch.

“So who’s your favorite X-Man?” Teddy asked with a nod toward the comic. Billy looked up, surprised Teddy had recognized what he was reading. Of course Teddy Altman was full of surprises, because Billy’s life was never easy.

“Um, well my favorite mutant is Scarlet Witch, but she’s an Avenger, so… Wolverine,” he said.

“Although he thinks Cyclops is the hottest,” Kate butted in. “Even though everyone knows it’s Angel.”

Billy blushed. “Shut up,” he said quietly, kicking Kate’s shin. She ignored him.

Teddy squinted at the comic book. “Really? Not Colossus?” He shrugged. “Whatever. To each their own.”

Kate grinned. Billy frowned. “He’s definitely up there,” he agreed. “I guess I just like a man in shades.”

Teddy laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Although Billy couldn’t imagine when that information would ever be relevant.

After that, Teddy ate lunch with them pretty much every day. He even hung out with them after school a few times. He confessed one day that, while he liked his teammates, he didn’t really see any of them as very close friends. He liked being able to talk about comics with Billy, and movies with Kate, and argue with both of them about Game of Thrones.

(“Obviously Daenerys is going to win the Iron Throne,” Kate had said, daring both of them to disagree. Billy had long ago learned never to take that dare. Teddy hadn’t.

“Really? That just seems kind of… easy,” he said. “There’s gotta be some sort of twist. Back me up here, Billy.”

Billy stammered and choked on his juice. “Uh, I, uh, I guess GRRM has definitely led the story in unexpected directions up till now. I don’t see why he’d go with such an obvious ending.”

Kate glared at him, betrayed, but clearly not surprised.)

And yeah, Billy wondered if maybe Teddy wasn’t straight. Was he just a tactile guy, or did his constant touches – hands on shoulders and arms and backs, knees knocking against knees, thighs and shoulders brushing when they sat too close – mean something more? He didn’t talk about girls the way most guys did, but maybe that was just because Kate was with them. To be fair, he didn’t talk about boys like that either. But he never seemed grossed out when Billy did. 

Overall, it was confusing. Billy found his heartbeat racing more frequently than it ever had; on a particularly warm spring day, Teddy peeled off his shirt to lie in the grass by a baseball diamond where Little League teams were playing and Billy swore his muscles actually rippled. He was perfect, and he was nice, and Billy almost felt bad about wanting to shove his tongue down his throat because Teddy just seemed so blissfully oblivious to how he made Billy feel.

Prom approached quickly, too quickly for Billy to even begin to get a handle on his emotions. Kate bought a dress, Billy rented a suit, and the prom committee decorated the gym for the big night. And at six o’clock one Saturday evening, a limo pulled up in front of Billy’s family’s apartment building and he joined Kate, who was already sitting in the back seat.

“You ready to win over your man?” she asked, grinning. Billy glared at her, but replied sincerely.

“I’m ready to have a good time. That’s all I need,” he said, and really, wouldn’t that be enough? Shouldn’t it? Wouldn’t it be selfish of him to expect anything more? 

They went to pick up Teddy, waited outside the limo for him to emerge from the building and when he did, Billy’s heart stopped.

He looked perfect, more perfect than ever. His hair was combed to one side, exposing the line of silver earrings down his ear (and how many times had Billy imagined running his mouth and tongue over each one of them, making Teddy moan), and his suit fit impeccably well, clinging and falling in all the right places. It wasn’t even remotely fair.

“You guys look great,” Teddy said. He was looking at Billy. He was always looking at Billy, it seemed, and Billy still didn’t know why, because he wasn’t attractive, he wasn’t anything special. He wasn’t interesting. Not like Kate. Not like Teddy.

“Should we head to dinner?” Kate asked, breaking the silence Billy hadn’t realized had stretched on for several minutes now.

“Uh, yeah,” Teddy said, looking like he was snapping out of a trance. Billy felt similarly.

They all climbed into the back of the limo. Teddy was next to Billy, their thighs pressing against each other, their shoulders and elbows constantly bumping. It was going to be a long night.

By the time the three of them finished dinner and arrived at their school, prom was well underway. No one noticed them slip through the crowd and linger near the edges, sipping punch – “It’s already been spiked; I can tell,” Kate said sagely – and exchanging glances. 

They spent about an hour talking, like it was just another day at lunch and everything was normal. Like there wasn’t this tension in the air. Like Kate couldn’t stop grinning like she knew something they didn’t.

A song Billy recognized started playing. Teddy must have recognized it too; his eyes flicked to Billy, but when he spoke, he addressed Kate. “Do you, um, want to dance?”

Kate took a minute to answer, then shrugged. “Sure,” she said, though she plainly wasn’t enthusiastic about it, and Teddy looked equally uncomfortable. At least Billy didn’t have to worry about Kate stealing his man. Well, not his man, obviously, but… Anyway.

Three songs went by. Billy was surprised at how calm he felt, watching Kate and Teddy dance. He’d expected to be bitter and uncomfortable, maybe even angry, but there was clearly no chemistry between them and it was almost enjoyable watching Teddy stumble around Kate’s feet and Kate attempt to show him where to put his hands (“No, my waist is here,” Billy imagined her saying. “Okay, Teddy, I know you didn’t mean to cop a feel, but that would be my boob.”)

It was… nice. Spending an evening with his friends. And maybe Kate’s “plan” hadn’t worked like she meant it to, but it was okay. This was okay.

Smiling to himself, Billy wove his way back through the crowd toward the bathroom. After getting all that punch out of his system – and he was starting to think Kate had been wrong, because he didn’t even feel buzzed – he checked himself in the mirror. His hair was, surprisingly, cooperating. Not sticking up at weird angles or fluffing out in unexpected places. That gel his mom had bought him actually worked like she said it would. Go figure.

He was walking down the darkened hall back to the gym when an arm shot seemingly out of nowhere and threw him back against the lockers. A combination lock dug painfully into his back. Great. Just what I needed. Let’s get this over with…

To Billy’s surprise, the face glowering down at him wasn’t Kesler’s, nor were the arms keeping him pressed up against the lockers and probably bruising his shoulders in the meantime. He didn’t remember the guy’s name, but he was one of Teddy’s basketball teammates, flanked by two others. And the punch in the gym might not have been spiked, but Billy could smell on these guys’ breath that they had definitely been drinking.

“What’s your problem?” Billy asked, without any real force behind the question. He’d been through this so many times it was starting to lose its potency. A few punches to the face, maybe a knee to the groin, and he could limp back into the gym and pretend it never happened. And I was having such a nice time…

“What’s your problem, fag?” shouted Big, Tough, and Ginger, Billy’s spur-of-the-moment nickname for the boy holding him up against the wall, and c’mon, did he really have to use that word? “Why don’t you find some other boy to flirt with, you sick freak? Leave Teddy out of your gay fantasies you fu—”

Billy’s knees gave out as Big, Tough, and Ginger slid across the ground, the recipient of a fist in the face. Billy looked up to thank his savior – Kate, probably – and gaped.

“Teddy!” Okay, Kaplan, now try not to sound so pathetic, would you?

Teddy, however, was focused on his teammates, namely the one who’d been harassing Billy. “Teddy can take care of himself,” he said, glowering at Ginger as the boy got to his feet. “You can stay out of it.”

“C’mon, Altman, don’t tell me you actually like hanging out with that f—”

Teddy didn’t even let Ginger finish; he punched him again, straight in the eye. “Yeah, I do. You got a problem with that?”

Ginger glared, spitting onto the floor. Billy grimaced. Ew. “Maybe I do.”

“Then let’s settle it when you don’t smell like cheap beer. And when I’m not wearing a rented suit.” Teddy readjusted his suit jacket pointedly. He looked furious, and honestly Billy hadn’t seen him this passionate since… well, ever, including that time Kate had said Jon Snow’s chapters were boring.

Teddy held out a hand to Billy, still glaring at his teammates. “C’mon,” he said, his voice softening instantly. Billy was taken aback by the sudden shift, even more so when Teddy turned to look at him – Kate’s words from weeks ago came back to him – like his face held the answer to the meaning of life. “Let’s dance.”

“Um.” For a minute, Billy couldn’t respond, caught in Teddy’s gaze like a tractor beam. He laid his hand in Teddy’s and let himself be led back into the gym. “Okay.”

It was, of course, a slow song, but Teddy didn’t hesitate. He led Billy to the center of the floor, wrapped his arms around Billy’s waist, and started shuffling back and forth, the graceless dance of a couple of teenagers whose only exposure to ballroom dancing was in the movies. Still dazed, Billy let his hands fall on Teddy’s shoulders, keeping a few inches between them, but Teddy wouldn’t have it. He stepped closer, so their torsos were pressed together and Teddy’s face was in his hair and Billy’s breath was in his ear and Billy could almost feel his heartbeat.

Is this happening? “What was that?” Billy finally asked. Teddy’s hands clutched fistfuls of his jacket and he felt Teddy sigh.

“They’re jerks,” he said, voice pent up with anger leftover from the confrontation. “And I’m sick of worrying about what they think all the time. I don’t care anymore.”

Billy didn’t know what to say. “Okay.” Pause. “So what does that mean for me?”

Teddy sighed again, and the minutes stretched into infinity. “It means I’m gay,” Teddy finally said, “And I’m completely obsessed with you.”

And right there Billy’s heart stopped beating and he could’ve died happy; honestly, he almost laughed out loud, because how was this his life? This sort of thing didn’t happen to him, not to Billy Kaplan. Billy Kaplan was sad and lonely and gay, he came home with black eyes and split lips and gave fragile excuses, he got C’s on his tests and only asserted himself when Kate forced him to and had panic attacks in the dark and took more pills every morning than an eighty-year-old man just to keep himself going. Billy Kaplan was not obsession-worthy, certainly not Teddy Altman-worthy, yet here he was, dancing up close with Teddy like they were glued together and breathing in his hair and sighing into his neck and what had he ever done to deserve this? 

Teddy pulled back, and for some reason he looked uncertain. Insecure, even. And then Billy finally realized that he still hadn’t said anything. They stopped dancing and he started breathing somewhat normally again. “Cool.” Is that it? Nice one, Billy. “I mean… I… I’m pretty obsessed with you too.” He could only imagine how red his face was.

Teddy grinned. “Come outside with me.”

They’d barely shouldered their way out the gym doors when Teddy grabbed Billy by his jacket and clumsily pressed their mouths together. Billy’s eyes went wide and for several moments he couldn’t react. Teddy’s hands were in his hair and he backed up against the outside wall of the gym because he knew otherwise he’d just fall over; his legs felt like Jell-O.

Finally managing to collect himself, Billy’s hands reached tentatively toward this person who couldn’t possibly be Teddy, because Billy just wasn’t that lucky, that just wasn’t his life, but oh gosh it was. He gripped the back of Teddy’s jacket and let out a breath through his nose, a soft “mm” in the back of his throat. His tongue slipped forward and swept across Teddy’s bottom lip; Teddy pressed even closer to him and opened his mouth and their tongues met and slid across each other, hot and wet and desperate.

“Oh my God,” Teddy breathed when he came up for air, mouthing his way across Billy’s jaw, down his throat, fumbling with his tie and buttons to get to his collarbone. “You’re so perfect. Oh my God.”

“There’s something seriously wrong with you if you believe that,” Billy said, grinning. His fingers tangled in Teddy’s hair and he gasped when Teddy sunk his teeth into the juncture where his neck met his shoulder, pulled off Teddy’s jacket and untucked his shirt to slide his hands up Teddy’s stomach, thumbs tracing the lines of his muscles.

“I’m dreaming. Or unconscious. Or dead. I’m definitely—gahh.” Billy broke off, lost the ability to form words when Teddy’s hands found the waistband of his pants, slid around to perfectly cup his bottom and squeeze.

The double doors to the gym opened with a crash.

“I fucking knew it.” Kate.

Teddy sprung off Billy like he was made of hot coals, and Billy rushed to button up his shirt to cover the red mark forming where Teddy had bit and sucked on his shoulder. Kate grinned.

“If you guys are finished, I’m getting pretty bored in there,” she said. “Are we gonna dance some more or do you guys wanna go home?”

Billy didn’t think he could keep his hands off Teddy if he stayed. “Home,” he said, voice hoarse. He glanced at Teddy, shirt untucked and hair a mess and lips bright red from kissing. He’d never looked more perfect. “Let’s go home.”

<So this was all Kate’s plan?> Billy and Teddy texted late into the night. They’d kept their hands and mouths to themselves in the limo, for Kate’s sake, except for a chaste goodbye kiss when they dropped off Teddy. Kate had looked smug the whole way. <She’s kind of a genius.>

<Don’t tell her that. It’ll go straight to her head.>

<Got it.>

Billy paused, wondering if he should say what was on his mind. If it’d be awkward. What the hell, he figured.

<I don’t know what you see in me.> And didn’t that sound pathetic.

<Are you kidding? Look in the mirror more often.>

<I’m serious! You’re Mr. Tall, Blond, and Perfect and I’m… scrawny and only have two friends. Not exactly an equal match.>

<I can’t even begin to tell you how wrong you are. I’m going to need at least an hour over dinner next Friday to tell you all the ways you’re wrong. And then I’ll have to take you to a movie afterward, so I can have a bit of a break and maybe stick my tongue down your throat before I continue to tell you you’re wrong on the way home.>

Billy grinned. He was doing an awful lot of that lately. <Then I guess it’s a date. You’d better have a long list.>

<Trust me, I do.>