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A week without proper sleep. Possibly two weeks, Noah wasn’t particularly counting. Exams were coming up and he was working his ass off studying. And now, on top of that, his history teacher just announced a project that would be worth 25% of their grade. Noah was going to bang his head into his desk until it broke.
The project was done in groups of two. Noah looked around and realized that none of his friends were in his history class, which meant he was either going to get picked as a last resort or he’d be doing the project himself. Great.
“Ah, Noah,”
A voice called from behind him, sly and sweet with a Spanish accent. There was only one boy in the school that it could be. Noah wouldn’t say Alejandro was his enemy. A year ago? Absolutely he was, but they've made amends since then. It was the end of junior year of high school and they decided they wouldn’t waste time on silly rivalries—though that doesn’t stop the playful banter between them, nor does it stop Noah from continually trying to one up Alejandro, only now it was subtle. Putting their rivalry aside by no means meant they were friends, though. Just friendly. Noah turns around in his chair, immediately met with pretty jade eyes. An unfortunate side effect of becoming friendly with Alejandro was the super very small crush Noah developed on him. In his defense, who didn’t have a crush on him? He was perfect.
“What do you want?” Noah raises his eyebrows, unable to quit making eye contact.
“Would you want to partner up for the project?” Alejandro’s voice was coy, some people would call it sultry, but his charming voice didn’t whoo Noah—well, technically it did, but he wasn’t publicly fawning over him. Noah tilted his head. It was an odd suggestion seeing as they weren’t particularly friends, and Noah was almost positive Alejandro knew at least one other person in the class, so it wasn’t like Noah was a last resort.
“Why?” He asks, sounding meaner than he wanted. He wasn’t opposed to partnering up for a project, he was just confused.
Alejandro tilts his head to the opposite side as Noah was tilting his, a small smile on his face.
“Well, this project is worth a big percentage of our grade, and being the two smartest people in class, why shouldn’t we pair up and make the job easy?”
Alejandro was smiling at him with that damn pretty boy smile, so soft and genuine that Noah almost wanted to believe it was real. Alejandro, though getting better, had been the fakest student at the school. He would lie often, use his charms to get his way, he was slippery. Noah bad mouthing him to Owen was what started their original rivalry. Before, they would banter and silently compete for first in anything they did together, but what Noah said must’ve struck a nerve because Alejandro suddenly scowled and glared at him any chance he got. Recently, Noah apologized for it, though it was shitty and half-assed, Alejandro accepted it and they put everything behind them. Mostly everything. Noah still doesn’t 100% trust him. He’s seen glimpses of a real Alejandro, part of him wished—longed to know him like that, not know him from the facade he puts on at school.
“You make a good point. Fine.”
Alejandro practically leapt out of his chair, his soft smile turning into a full grin. He didn’t really think Noah would agree.
“Ah, perfecto, cariño!” Alejandro beamed, leaning forward, “If you’re not busy, we can work on it at my place tonight.”
Noah narrowed his eyes. They weren’t friends, and yet, Alejandro was so quick to invite him over. Honestly, Noah wanted to jump for joy. Being invited to your crush’s house? Exciting.
“Uh, sure, I guess,” Noah looks away, feeling suddenly much warmer. The way Alejandro was looking at him, so excited to have him over, it made Noah want to melt. He looked like he was going to burst from pure joy and excitement.
“Wonderful! Text me your address, I’ll pick you up at 5.”
And then the bell rang. Alejandro said a quick, giddy goodbye before heading to his next class. Noah was in complete shock. He wasn’t sure why he was getting so worked up. It’s not a date, they’re working on a project for school. Nothing crazy. He was not going to freak out about it.
🥀
“I’m freaking out, Gwen!” Noah shoved his face into his hands. Gwen was currently putting away textbooks in her locker, trying to console Noah while also trying to leave as soon as she could. She had a date with her girlfriend that she was not going to be late for.
“Dude, relax, you’re just gonna go over to his house, work on the project, probably argue half the time, and then go home. Easy.” She pats his shoulder, offering him a less than enthusiastic smile. Noah frowns at her.
“Yeah, sooo easy.” Noah rolled his eyes, pouting. He was too damn tired for this. Courtney walks up next to him, ignoring how disheveled he looked and instead focusing on Gwen.
“Ready for our date?” She giggles, smiling happily as Gwen kisses her cheek.
“Always, baby,” Gwen smiles back, then sighs and looks at Noah, “Are you gonna be okay, dude?”
Noah was not going to be okay. He would probably have to fight off his sisters many, many questions and maybe even have a panic attack, so definitely not okay, but he didn’t want to hold Gwen up when she had plans with her girlfriend. He waves her off dismissively and turns to his own locker, shoveling textbooks into it. He can hear giggles and chatter from the girls as they leave the school. It made him envious. That’s what he wanted with Alejandro. But they just became kind of, sort of friends, he didn’t want to completely ruin that by confessing his feelings. Noah slams the locker shut, revealing Owen, Izzy, and Eva standing way too close to him.
“Fuck! God, guys, stop being creepy!” Noah scolds before getting crushed in a hug from Owen. Izzy glares at him, sizing him up. She had such a weird infatuation with figuring out what was bothering him. Noah hated it.
“You look like a mess.” Eva points out bluntly as Owen drops Noah back on his feet. Izzy nods in agreement. Owen frowns at him,
“Aw, little buddy, are you alright? Still good to hang out tonight?” He asks, aware of Noah’s tendency to get overwhelmed during the day and then unable to deal with his friend’s energy. Noah completely forgot they had plans to hang out at Owen’s house. He can’t believe himself.
“Shit, dude, I forgot we made plans,” Noah winces, patting Owen’s shoulder, “I’m actually working on a history project with a, ah, classmate.”
Izzy and Eva look at him suspiciously, but Owen is oblivious to any suspicious behavior from his best friend. He just crushes him in another hug.
“That’s okay, little buddy, I know school is important to you,” He smiles, but Noah can’t help but feel guilty for forgetting. It’s not like they don’t hang out all the time, but Owen is a quality time kind of guy, Noah knows it hurts when he bails on them.
“You can.. come to my house on Sunday, sleep over.” Noah offers, hoping to make up for being so forgetful and ditching them for a stupid crush. Owen’s eyes light up, his smile beaming. He agrees immediately with another hug. Noah’s surprised his spine is still intact after all these years of Owen’s hugs. Owen mentions they have to get going as his mom was making dinner and wanted them to be there on time. The group say their goodbyes and Noah watches them leave. He was left to stew in his anxiety and dread. Really, there was nothing to dread, it was a simple study date—er, not date. They were just working on a project. Together. At Alejandro’s house. Oh, Noah was screwed.
The walk home was nice, not ideal, but nice. Noah wasn’t a big fan of walking, but his family only had one car and 6 people trying to use it, so Noah stuck to walking to and from school unless he could get a ride from a friend or a sibling without inconveniencing anybody. He had an hour to get ready before Alejandro was going to pick him up. He took that time to get changed into something casual that still made him look pretty. He wasn’t usually one to care about his appearance, but Alejandro made him want to care. Noah decided on a black button up, purple sweater vest, and jeans that made his ass look so good, and an abundance of jewelry. He even put on some eyeliner, something he rarely ever did. Did he look kinda emo? Yes, but here’s to hoping Alejandro was into that.
Walking down the stairs, Noah could smell the dinner his mom was making. Part of him wanted to cancel on Alejandro just so he could enjoy his mom’s dinner, but the louder part of him wanted nothing more than to hang out with Alejandro. He walks into the kitchen.
“Amma?” Noah calls out, hearing a hum of acknowledgment from his mom, “I’m going over to a friend’s house to work on a project. He’s picking me up in about 10 minutes.”
Noah’s mom turns to him, smiling. He really didn’t want to get into the fact that the so-called friend was Alejandro as she’s heard his hours of rants about him and would just question things even more.
“Friend? Come on, anpe, you always call your friends by their names. Who?”
Noah sighs, his cheeks flushing.
“Alejandro..”
“Burromuerto?” His mom questions, eyebrows raising.
“Yeah, we paired up for a project,” Noah swallows hard, “It’s cool, we’re friends now, so..” He trails, eyes fixating on the clock on the wall. He felt so embarrassed about simply going over to a boy’s house. Well, it wasn’t just any boy, it was Alejandro, and that’s why he was so embarrassed. He hears his mother sigh, though full of love, as she walks up to him.
“I know, anpe, your sister’s talk,” She smiles softly, “I believe Veda mentioned something about a crush?” Oh, she was teasing him. Oh, fuck him.
Noah turns away, face red,
“Ammaaa,” He whines, completely and utterly embarrassed. His mom grabs his face, holding his cheeks in her hands.
“Oh, relax, I’m only— are you wearing eyeliner?” She moves Noah’s face to the side, examining the makeup on his eyelids, “Are you sure this isn’t a date?”
“Amma!” Noah squeaks as he pulls his face out of her hands, “We’re just studying. It’s not a date.”
His mom waves her hand and rolls her eyes teasingly as Noah checks his phone.
Alejandro 🌻: I’m here :)
Noah starts booking it out of the kitchen before his mom can say anything else, calling out that he’s leaving, and hearing a ‘use protection!’ in response. His face was so completely red, Alejandro would be an idiot not to notice. He walks outside, taking in a deep breath of fresh air, relishing in the fact that his mom was the only person he had to deal with. All of his sisters must have been hidden away or busy. Parked on the side of the road is a red Audi with the top down, and sitting inside that is Alejandro, dressed in a red cropped tank-top and khakis, the same outfit he wore to school. Noah felt his stomach flip as he made his way to the car, butterflies fluttering throughout his entire being when Alejandro smiled and waved at him, so genuine and excited.
Noah sits in the passenger seat and straps in, looking over at Alejandro with a small, shy smile.
“Hi,”
“Hola, bombón,” Alejandro greets with a grin, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, “It’s been far too long since we last saw each other.”
Noah rolls his eyes,
“It’s been 2 hours, you’re so dramatic,” He pokes Alejandro’s arm as they start driving, earning an adorable chuckle from the boy. Noah silently prays to any god out there that Alejandro is a good driver, he’s had to deal with too many horrible ones in his life.
The car ride is quiet, music playing at a low volume, the roads are smooth, it was all working together to lull Noah to sleep. He didn’t realize he was dozing off until Alejandro spoke up.
“Are you alright? You seem tired, Noah,” He mentions, taking his eyes off the road way too long for Noah to be sure he was a completely safe driver.
“I am tired, exams have been a pain in my ass,” Noah complains, sitting up straighter in hopes of keeping himself awake. He wasn’t going to fall asleep in Alejandro’s presence, that would be so lame. The Latino boy looks at him with an eyebrow raised, opening his mouth to reply but Noah cuts him off.
“Keep your eyes on the damn road!”
🥀
As they pulled into the garage of Alejandro’s gorgeous house, Noah was struggling to stay awake. It was cute, really. Alejandro wouldn’t say he had a crush on the boy, but, well, he did like him. A lot. It was stupid, pathetic even, but Alejandro couldn’t stop thinking about him. That’s why he offered to pair up for the project in the first place. And now he was at his house! Alejandro spent the last 2 hours since school ended tidying up his room and squealing like a dumb school girl in his bed. José was out for the night which meant no teasing from him, and his father was drowning in paper work, so no insults either. It was perfect.
Alejandro leads them inside, Noah stumbling slightly up the stairs behind him.
“¡Mamá! I’m back!” He calls out, walking into the living room where his mom was knitting. She looks up from her project and smiles, and then turns her focus to Noah,
“Ah, you must be Noah,” She asks, turning towards both of them and setting her knitting supplies down on the coffee table, “Alejandro talks about you often. You two are working on a project, yes?”
Alejandro’s face heats up when his mom reveals he talks about Noah often, feeling Noah’s eyes land on him and seeing his mouth twitch up in the smallest of smirks.
“Yeah, history.” Noah confirms, his sleepiness apparent in his short answers and quiet demeanor. Sure, he usually keeps to himself, but he was acting shy now. And while cute, definitely out of character.
“Well, you boys have fun,” She hums, “¿Y Ale? Mantén la puerta entreabierta.”
Alejandro blushes, shoving his hands in his pockets, mumbling “sí, mamá” under his breath. He guides Noah upstairs to his room, observing the boy’s clear fascination with their big house. It was much bigger than needed, truly, with only 4 people living there, but if they had the funds, why live somewhere small?
Alejandro’s room is average sized, neat and clean, decorated with trinkets and gifts and an embarrassing amount of dinosaur posters, figures, books, you name it. Very few people knew about his adoration for dinosaurs, Noah being one of them. He asked what he planned to go to college for, and was surprised by the paleontology answer, which then led to an hour-long ramble about dinosaurs and everything Alejandro loves about them, and now that he’s thinking about it, that is such an embarrassing thing to do. Alejandro will never understand why Noah still hung out with him.
“Your room is nice, very dinosaur-y,” Noah teases, setting his bag down by the door. Alejandro has the immediate urge to blab on and on about why his room is full of dinosaurs, but he controls himself. They’re only here to work on the project. So instead, he rolls his eyes and sits on his bed, patting next to him for Noah to sit down.
“So, any topics you had in mind?” Alejandro asks, placing his laptop on his legs and opening it. Noah took a second to respond, sleepily blinking at him.
“Mm, no, not particularly,” He admits, “Aren’t you the one who suggested we pair up? I figured you’d have ideas.”
Alejandro supposed that was fair, even if the snark to Noah’s voice made him want to argue that it wasn’t fair at all. He huffs,
“It’s a team project, so we should both bring ideas to the table,” He suggests, his tone matching Noah’s. The shorter boy narrowed his eyes at him, a small smile tugging at his lips.
“Fine, you first,” Noah crosses his arms and looks at Alejandro expectantly.
Alejandro’s mind went blank as he stared at Noah, at those beautiful deep brown eyes that turned caramel in the sunlight, his cheeks flushed a subtle dust of pink, and those lips, he would bet anything in the world that they’d be soft against his, with how much chapstick he notices Noah using all the time. He wants nothing more in this moment to lean in and kiss him, gently and lovingly, show Noah just how much he means to him. But he can’t. He has to contain himself, not risk scaring him away. Alejandro clears his throat, face no doubt red now, and turns back to look at his laptop.
“.. The French Revolution?” He suggests, clearly not confident in his answer in the slightest. Noah tilts his head at him, stifling his giggles.
“Right, because no one else will do that,” He jokes, chuckling under his breath. It was all playful, and yet Alejandro felt he had humiliated himself.
“And you have a better option?” Alejandro challenges, not turning to look at the other boy out of pure embarrassment.
Noah grins, leaning back on the bed,
“I never said I did,” He argues, “What about the Cold War?”
Alejandro’s face scrunches up,
“I’d rather not do any war-related topics,” He admits, rubbing the back of his neck. He would blame it on his peaceful, nonviolent nature, but the truth was that he had a sensitive stomach, and stupidly, even simple descriptions of death made him queasy. Noah didn’t ask, and Alejandro was incredibly grateful.
“Didn’t you just say you wanted to do the French Revolution?” Noah questions, eyebrow raised playfully. Alejandro huffs.
“The French Revolution was not a war,” He corrects, “It was a revolution, an uprising! It was the lower class coming together to destroy their tyrant, it was so much more than a dumb war. Plus, there was no established military against the French military, so it wouldn’t be considered a war in that regard either.” Alejandro rambles, turning to look at Noah as he finishes his small rant. Noah looked so.. soft. His eyes were half-lidded, pupils wide, the smile on his face genuine and loving. Alejandro had never seen such a look on him before, but damn did he like it.
The two stared at each other for a while, examining the other’s face as they started subconsciously leaning closer. So close. And then, a soft knock on the door. Alejandro jumps back, Noah following suit and sitting up straight again as Alejandro’s mom walks in holding two plates of food.
“I made arroz con pato for dinner,” She hands each boy a plate of food, smiling when Noah examines it skeptically, “Rice with duck, my dear.” Noah blushes and mumbles a quiet thank you to her. She turns to her son.
“¿Se están portando bien ustedes dos, Ale?” She smirks, “Ustedes dos eran bastante cercanos hace un segundo~” She elbows Alejandro in the arm, causing her son to flush a deep red and look at her with dread in his eyes.
“¡Mamá, por favor!” Alejandro whines, realizing how grateful he is that Noah decided not to take Spanish his junior year.
“Tranquilo, solo estoy bromeando,” His mom rolls her eyes and tosses her hands up in defeat, “I’ll leave you to it! Have fun, boys!”
Alejandro sets his plate of food on his nightstand, not having much of an appetite. He was nervous and now embarrassed and he could feel his stomach doing flips. Noah ate some of his plate, though he looked uncomfortable being the only person eating. Alejandro understood, he understood so well.
“You don’t have to eat if you don’t want to,” He assures, placing a comforting hand on Noah’s back. Noah shrugs, poking at his food.
“No, I should, I promised my amma I would eat when I’m not home,” He takes another bite and struggles to choke it down, “Sorry, not great with new foods, it tastes good though.”
Alejandro rubs gentle circles into Noah’s back, smiling as he feels the other boy relax into his touch.
“Mamá won’t be offended if you don’t eat it all,” He reassures, understanding how difficult relationships with food can be. He had his own food-related problems, which were harder to overcome with a stomach as sensitive as his. Not taking his father’s degrading words to heart helped.
Noah nods at him and sets the plate off to the side. He looked tired, extremely so, like he was struggling to stay awake. He mentioned not getting great sleep while they were in the car, but now Alejandro was wondering if he was downplaying it. How long has it been since Noah got a decent night's sleep?
“Dinosaurs.” Noah mumbles, legs pressed against his chest and face resting on his knees.
“Pardon?”
“Our project should be about dinosaurs,” Noah elaborates, grinning when Alejandro’s eyes light up. He would give anything in the world to talk about dinosaurs, even if it’s only for a few minutes to a room full of people that couldn’t care less. Noah knew this, he was smart to suggest it.
Alejandro got to work immediately, jotting down all he could remember off the top of his head—a lot—and then looking up answers to other questions he was unsure of. Noah didn’t add much to the conversation, simply leaning over to watch Alejandro type. Actually, Alejandro almost forgot he was there until he felt weight on his shoulder. He turned to find Noah leaning his head against him, breathing softly, asleep. It was already 10 PM, Alejandro should’ve taken him home by now so he got the rest he desperately needed. He nudged Noah’s side, which didn’t do much of anything. Honestly, it made it worse as Noah mumbled in his sleep and leaned in further to Alejandro.
Alejandro’s face was so warm, his body tingling with butterflies as the boy he likes—and he’ll admit it, he really likes!—sleeps on his shoulder. He slowly closes his laptop and sets it on his nightstand, trying not to disturb Noah too much. And then, he’s not sure what to do. Does he let Noah spend the night? Noah’s family might get worried. Unless Alejandro texted them!
Quickly, Alejandro finds Noah’s phone. It is, of course, locked, but it has Face ID on, so he points it to Noah’s face—gently lifting one of his eyelids so the phone would actually identify him—and his phone unlocks. Perfect. Alejandro scrolls down contacts until he finds “Amma❤️”, which he can assume is his mom considering Noah mentioned her by that name earlier. He sends a quick text.
Hi, Ms. Mudaliar! This is Alejandro, Noah fell asleep and as he confided in me earlier that he hasn’t been getting good rest, I do not wish to wake him. Is it alright if he stays the night?
Noah’s mom answered quickly, as if she was awaiting a text from her son, answering with a yes and a thank you. Alejandro places Noah’s phone atop his laptop and turns to the boy. He was still sound asleep. Alejandro was about to lay him down, but realized he wouldn’t be the most comfortable with the outfit he was in. Slowly, gently, he unclasps Noah’s abundances of necklaces and shimmies off his bracelets, placing them all on his nightstand. He was in jeans and a button-up, and while Alejandro wishes he wouldn’t sleep in that, he didn’t want to strip the guy while he was asleep.
Against his better judgement, Alejandro shakes Noah awake. The boy glares at him, clearly not enthused about being awoken.
“Ah, sorry to wake you, I need you to get undressed.” Alejandro whispers, trying not to startle the barely-awake Noah.
“What?”
“Not for anything weird! I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable while you sleep.” He explains, face flushing a deep red.
Noah hums and stands up, just tired enough that he doesn’t even think about what he’s doing. Alejandro stands up after him and walks to his closet to grab a T-shirt and shorts, handing them to Noah when he’s done getting undressed. Alejandro didn’t mean to look, really it felt like he was violating Noah by ogling at him, but he couldn’t help himself. His body wasn’t necessarily attractive in the objective sense, but Alejandro thought it was perfect. He was thin, with most of his fat lying at his stomach and hips, and he had very little muscle. His happy trail poked above his boxers and Alejandro felt like he was going to explode. Noah getting dressed didn’t help either, because now he was wearing Alejandro’s clothes. Both the shirt and the shorts were too big for him—he was practically drowning in the shirt—and he looked absolutely adorable.
Now dressed, Noah sat back on the bed and, much to Alejandro’s heart’s horror, made grabby-hands at him. They were subtle and gone in an instant, but Alejandro melted. It was the cutest thing in the world. He sat down next to Noah, who placed his head on Alejandro’s shoulder once again.
“I don’t know why I did that, sorry,” Noah mumbles, clearly embarrassed about his sleepy behavior, “I swear I’m not in control of myself when I’m half-asleep.” He laughs, the cutest laugh in the world, and Alejandro isn’t sure if he’d survive the night at this rate. He was going to die of a Noah-induced heart attack.
“I don’t mind. Es lindo.”
Just as quick as he woke up, Noah fell back asleep. Alejandro isn’t sure he’d even remember this pocket of time where he was up, seeing as how he mentioned being half-asleep. Now that Noah was in much more sleep-worthy clothes, Alejandro lays down, pulling Noah with him until they are next to each other on the bed. Alejandro felt fluttery, the burn to his cheeks and flip of his stomach making everything so clear. He had the biggest crush on Noah, and has for a long time. And now, he had said crush in his bed. Alejandro hoped none of his family members barged in to find him in bed with another boy, the boy in question also wearing his clothes. He would be ridiculed to high heaven.
Just as Alejandro gets comfortable and turns his little lamp off, he feels two arms wrap around his torso and a face press into his back. Noah was… spooning him? He was still asleep, Alejandro knew that, so was he just always that active when sleeping? He felt giddy, his whole body was so fluffery with butterflies, oh Alejandro wasn’t going to sleep for a while. He couldn’t believe Noah was pressed against him right now, cuddling him, sleeping in his bed, all like they were boyfriends.
Alejandro hopes, maybe, they can be.
🥀
The sun is blinding even with his eyes closed. Noah groans as he turns around and buries his face in whatever is closest to him. It’s warm and soft and Noah wants to fall back asleep immediately. But life is against him.
The person who swings the door open doesn’t even knock, which is so rude and Noah is about to call them out on it but they speak up first.
“Yo, Al, Mamá made breakfast!” A voice calls out, a voice Noah doesn’t recognize. That’s not one of his sisters, or their boyfriends. He doesn’t even recognize it as a friend of theirs. So, he pokes his head up, eyes hardly open.
“Wha?”
The blurry figure stands up straight and mumbles an “oh shit”. Then, a hand grabs his face and presses it into the bed, holding it there despite Noah’s sleepy protests.
“We’ll be right there, José.” The person next to Noah bites out, sounding less than pleased. It’s Alejandro, Noah knows that much. What was Alejandro doing in his house? Wait, was he even in his own house? The night before starts coming back to Noah, how he was actually not at his own house and instead in Alejandro’s working on a history project. He must’ve fallen asleep because he can remember watching Alejandro type on his laptop and next thing he knows, he’s here. Whoever was at the door has since shut it and left, and Alejandro is no longer holding Noah’s head down.
“My apologies, mi sol, I just ah,” Alejandro pauses, pulling away from Noah to look at him, “I believe José got the wrong idea..”
Noah struggles to remember everything about last night. He hadn’t planned on staying the night, so he didn’t bring sleep clothes, and yet he wasn’t in a button up and jeans. He looks past Alejandro and sees his clothing spewed across the floor. And now that he thinks about it, he has terrible bed head every morning and the eyeliner he impulsively put on yesterday was probably smudged all over his face. Oh.
Whoever this José guy is definitely thinks they hooked up.
Warmth swallows Noah’s face, flushing it a dusty red. He leans back into whatever warm and soft thing he pressed his face into earlier was, and made the realization that it was Alejandro. Embarrassing, because Noah knows how bad of a sleep cuddler he is. He was probably clinging to him all night.
“Who is José anyways?” Noah mumbles into Alejandro’s chest, enjoying the warmth too much to be embarrassed about it. Alejandro’s hand snakes its way up to the back of Noah’s head and pets his hair. Noah was melting into him.
“My older brother,” Alejandro replies, sucking in a breath, “He’s an asshole and didn’t know you were even coming over last night.”
He’s an asshole made Noah intrigued by what that entailed, but he didn’t ask. The next part however made Noah dread going downstairs for breakfast. Alejandro’s brother just saw Noah, eyeliner smudged, hair a complete mess, clothes all over the floor without a care in the world, in his baby brother’s bed, with no prior context as to why he was here in the first place. No doubt he thought Alejandro snuck in a boy to hook up with and just got caught.
“He thinks we hooked up, doesn’t he?”
Alejandro, sadly, pulls away and gets out of bed. Noah almost whines in protest, but stops himself. He might not be in control when he’s half-asleep, but he’s awake enough now to not be a whiny bitch to the guy he accidentally fell asleep on and then clung to all night.
“Sí, and your bed head doesn’t help at all,” Alejandro teases, grinning as Noah desperately tries fixing it, “My bathroom is just through that door, do what you need and meet me downstairs, okay?”
Alejandro’s voice was gentle, kind. He wasn’t angry that Noah accidentally made their impromptu sleepover look like a hookup, as so many other men would’ve kicked him out and screamed at him, because who wants a rumor spreading about you and Noah?
Noah nods, and Alejandro leaves the room. He sighs and finally gets out of bed. It’s not fair how warm Alejandro is, like a personal heater. Noah could hardly keep his temperature regulated at all times, he was constantly cold. It wasn’t fair.
Alejandro’s bathroom is nice, very clean and organized. Noah looks in the mirror and groans. His hair decided to be extra bitchy and messy today, in his face and sticking straight out to one side. So embarrassing that Alejandro saw him like this. A gallon of water and intricate hair-placing later and Noah decides he looks presentable. His hair tries relatively fast, so he wasn’t worried about looking like he drenched himself in water when he went downstairs. His eyeliner was smudged terribly, but that was an easy fix as Alejandro had makeup wipes on the back of his toilet. And now that he was presentable, he finally takes into consideration what on earth he’s wearing. Alejandro’s clothes. He only knows because Alejandro wore this shirt to the huge slumber party their friend group had. Against Noah’s better judgement, he brings the hem of the shirt up to his face and sniffs it. Creepy, embarrassing, but it smells so much of Alejandro that Noah couldn’t find himself to care.
5 minutes. Noah had, pathetically, stood in the bathroom taking in the scent from the shirt and just overall stewing in bliss for 5 whole minutes. The only thing that pulls him out of the bathroom is the wandering thought of, what if Alejandro walks in on this? Noah snapped out of it quickly after that.
He walks downstairs slowly, hearing voices, all unfortunately speaking in Spanish so Noah couldn’t properly eavesdrop. That didn’t stop him from trying.
“No, Mamá, no tuvimos sexo.” Alejandro.
“No me importa si lo hiciste, Ale,” Alejandro’s mom, Noah’s pretty sure, “Pero él tiene dieciséis años y tú diecisiete, eh..”
“¡Pero Mamá! Fue con un hombre.” Noah can assume José.
“Oh, silencio, José,” Mom again, “¿Al menos usaste protección?”
“¡Mamá!” Alejandro squeals, Noah has to stop himself from giggling, “Ni siquiera hicimos nada…”
Noah doesn’t want to be caught eavesdropping, because that would be embarrassing as Alejandro knows he doesn’t know a drop of Spanish, so he walks into the room. Four people, Alejandro, his mom, and two other men he can assume are José and their dad. Everyone is very tall, and they’re all inspecting Noah with so much judgement that he feels tiny. Alejandro offers him a smile, and he relaxes a little.
“Al menos es lindo,” Alejandro’s mom elbows her son and snickers lovingly, all while José rolls his eyes.
“Parece un idiota..” José murmurs, and walks to the end of the table to sit down. Alejandro’s face is red, his fingers subtly fidget with his bull necklace. He was nervous. Cute.
“Ah, you forgot some eyeliner..” Alejandro trails off as he grabs Noah’s chin to turn his head to the side and uses his thumb to wipe off the remaining eyeliner. Noah’s pretty sure he’s just as red as Alejandro is now.
When he’s done and pulls back, Noah can see the faces of the other Burromuerto’s; shock, interest, a little bit of disgust. Noah wanted to perish.
Alejandro’s hand finds its way to the small of Noah’s back and guides him to a seat across from José—who has his arms crossed and is eyeing Noah up judgmentally. Alejandro shoots José a glare before sitting down in the chair next to Noah.
Whatever they’re eating looks good, though Noah can’t find an appetite under everyone’s disgusted gaze. He’s pretty sure there’s an omelette on his plate, and some type of meat. Maybe beef? The omelette has little green bits that look a little bit too close to celery, so Noah opts for not eating. A celery allergy, how stupid. It’s a surprise he hadn’t died from anaphylaxis yet. Not to mention a sesame allergy in an Indian household, his genes were trying to kill him off.
Alejandro picks at the meat on his plate but eats the omelette. Noah could ask if there’s actually celery in it, because he really is hungry, but the room is eerily quiet and everyone would hear him ask.
It was the most awkward breakfast Noah’s ever sat through.
🥀
“I’m truly sorry breakfast was so awkward,” Alejandro apologizes as they get into his car. Noah was still in the T-shirt and shorts that he slept in, and truthfully, he didn’t plan on giving them back.
“Eh, not your fault,” Noah waves a hand at him, “I’ve been through worse.” Partly true, but he was only telling Alejandro what he wanted to hear.
The morning is chilly and quiet, just early enough on a Saturday morning that hardly anyone is driving around. The sun is poking through clouds in a heavenly way, illuminating the ground under it in golden streaks. Alejandro is caught in the light, his skin sun-kissed and golden. His eyes seem to shine. As Noah stares at the boy driving the car, he realizes just how much he enjoyed being around him. If only they didn’t have that stupid rivalry for years before, maybe they could’ve been really good friends, maybe even more.
They pull up to Noah’s house, just as silent as the rest of town, and Alejandro walks him to his door. Despite all the tension from Alejandro’s family and his embarrassment about falling asleep during their studying, Noah feels like they were just on a date.
“I do hope to see you soon, mi sol,” Alejandro smiles at him, the sun still hitting him perfectly, gorgeously. Noah smiles back and leans up on his tip-toes to place a sweet kiss on Alejandro’s cheek.
“You will.”