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Everyone knew what Melchior Gabor did during fifth period gym. They saw him sneak off behind the multipurpose building, to the shed next to the track field with a pack of cigarettes tucked skillfully into the waist of his gym shorts. Moritz watched him slowly place it into the elastic waistband every day before class began. Then, after stretching, while the entire class walked to the field, he would slip off behind the building.
No one ever told the teacher. There was no use to spread rumors because it was well known that Melchior was a nicotine junkie and didn’t care who was aware of it.
“I just wish I could talk to him….” Moritz found himself muttering while watching Melchior pull on a plain white tee shirt from across the locker room. He was lucky that Melchior hadn’t thought to look this way, or else he’d see the older boy’s gaze locked on him. “I mean. How on earth could I approach him without him laughing in my face.”
Ernst didn’t skip a beat. The brunette, who’s cheeks seemed to be permanently flushed, sighed. “Just….Go talk to him!” He shrugged, his own stare moved to the boy standing opposite of Melchior, a tall, blond, image of perfection. Or at least that’s what Ernst tended to call Hanschen behind his back in French class with a rosy pink complexion. “Ooh! I have an idea!” The younger squeaked eagerly. “When he sneaks off to smoke after stretches! Go with him!”
Moritz was far too embarrassed to say that he had never smoked a cigarette before and just shrugged. “I’m not sure, Ernie. That doesn’t sound like a good idea! What if we get caught?”
“He’s never gotten caught before. No one gives a shit,” Ernst pulled his gym shorts on, tying them quickly. “Just go with him. Ask to bum a cigarette. That should give you something to talk about. Besides,” He lowered himself to the floor, sitting to pull on his sneakers. “That might make you look kind of cool.”
“Ernst, I never, ever look ‘cool’.”
The brunette giggled. “That’s a lie. I think you’re pretty cool, Mo.” That didn’t make him feel much better. Ernst kind of was the schoolwide laughing stalk. Then again, so was Moritz. So what did he have to lose?
“Ernst!” The low, charming voice of Hanschen Rilow called out. The two boys in the corner looked up to see the blond’s gaze locked onto Ernst. Being the laughing stalk made this situation exceptionally odd. “Care to walk with me to the gymnasium?”
“S-Sure!” Ernst replied eagerly before stuffing his pants into the locker he shared with Moritz, who had forgotten his combination on the second week back at school. “Bye, Moritz. And good luck!” His voice came out in a light giggle and he sprinted out to meet Hanschen by the doorway.
All of the boys shuffled out of the locker room, meeting the large pool of girls already waiting to do warm ups in the large echoing gymnasium. The stretches were far too long and far too dull, nothing out of the new as the other teens in the room talked over squeaky shoes and long sighs.
This was the eighth level of hell for Moritz.
When it came time for the students to file out to the field, the raven haired boy skillfully hid himself in the back of the group, trailing behind the large mass. No one noticed him creeping away from the group. No one even noticed when he was with the group.
High on his success of crawling away without being caught, Moritz jogged to the shed, looking around for any sign or Melchior. Nothing. The other, younger boy was nowhere to be seen. He must’ve actually decided to join the group today. Or gone somewhere else. Nonetheless, Moritz was justly disappointed. The one day he snuck off, Melchior had snuck somewhere else.
“Stupid….” He cursed himself under his breath as he turned to walk back. “You dumb fucking idiot.”
“I don’t think you’re all that dumb.”
Moritz gasped, looking around him to see where the voice was coming from. It was definitely Melchior’s. He’d know that voice anywhere. But Melchior was nowhere to be seen. At least, not anywhere around him. “Look up.” The disembodied voice ordered. When Mortiz did, he saw the younger boy he was looking for earlier, reclining on the slanted roof of the shed. “Hello there, Moritz.”
“Y-You know my name?” Was all Moritz could manage, shocked that Melchior even knew who he was.
“Of course I know your name,” Melchior shrugged, sitting up completely before blowing out a long stream of grey smoke. “You’re in three of my classes. Now, what can I help you with?”
Moritz nodded, balling his hands into anxious fists. “C-Can I bum a cigarette?”
“Sure, come on up,” Melchior smiled coyly, leaning down and holding out an arm to Moritz, “Climb atop that crate.”
Moritz did as he was told, jumping onto the crate then taking Melchior’s hand with his own clammy one and being pulled the rest of the way up. “Thank you, Melchior.”
“Melchi, all my friends call me Melchi,” The younger smiled, before leaning back, holding himself up by his elbows. “I’m impressed that you found me, Moritz. People always come back here but none ever bother to look up. Not even the principal. So see, you’re not that stupid at all.”
“I was about to go back to the field when you called me,” Mortiz muttered, as if proving his own idiocy. Melchior simply shrugged, his perfectly shaping pale pink lips blowing out a cloud of smoke.
“Well,” He chuckled playfully. “Unlike the others, I want you up here with me. Cigarette?”
The white stick of nicotine was held out to Moritz from between long fingers. A gentle smirk was spread across the other boy’s face, big green eyes shining with amusement. Moritz, with a pale, shaking hand, took the cigarette and began to look it over, trying to figure out which side the filter was on.
“Oh, here….” Melchior sighed, plucking the small stick from Moritz's grasp before holding it up to Moritz’s lips. Slowly, he placed it into the other’s mouth, letting his fingers linger for only a moment over his chapped lips. “There you go. Need a light?”
“Ye-Yeah....” Moritz replied through clenched teeth. He could feel embarrassment seep through him, but he knew this was a chance to redeem himself. He watched as Melchior put out his own cigarette on the roof of the shed.
Melchior retrieved a plain, white lighter from the half empty carton and struck a light to it. Slowly, he moved closer to Mortiz, lighting his cigarette and staring at him with bright eyes from only inches away. Of course, the dark haired boy began to break out into a nervous blush. “Th-Thank you, Melchior.” He muttered before inhaling the smoke for the first time.
Big mistake.
Almost instantly, Moritz began to sputter and cough when the smoke reached his lungs. His breathing became restricted, and his hazel eyes began to water as he huffed.
“Oh my god, are you okay?!” Melchior gasped. His hand shot out to rest on the other’s back. “Breath, Moritz, you have to breath!”
Once Moritz had caught his breath once more, he was embarrassed to look up and see Melchior chuckling. “I-I’m sorry!” He sputtered out before hurling into another fit of coughing.
“No, no, no, it’s alright!” Melchior giggled breathlessly, his eyes locked on Mortiz. “Just, have you ever smoked a cigarette before?”
Moritz felt his cheeks go a brilliant pink. He had been caught red handed. This definitely didn’t look cool. “Yes. Of course I have!” He huffed breathlessly
Melchior only rolled his eyes, reclining back on the roof with a charming smile. “It’s quite alright, Moritz. You should have told me it was your first time smoking! Why didn’t you?”
“Well, I….I wanted to erm….” Moritz anxiously gnawed at his bottom lip. Nervously, his hand moved to adjust his baggy gym short and tug at the bottom of his tee shirt. “I wanted to seem sort of...well….cool to you because you’re uh so…..”
“Don’t say anything else,” Melchior muttered, sitting up and leaning closer to the perfect stranger. “I’m not all that cool. I’m just some nerdy high school kid. Besides, I think you’re pretty cool without a cigarette in your hand.”
“Really?” Moritz shrugged, the word coming out in a giggle.
“Very.” Melchior affirmed, then waited for Mortiz to put the cigarette to his lips again to continue. “See, it’s not all that bad once you get you used to it!” Moritz shrugged, inhaling deeply. “By the way, you’re really cute.”
The smoke threw itself out of Moritz’s lungs in a shuddering cough. He was confused now. Melchior couldn’t possibly mean that. We was way too attractive to have meant that. Just him looking over at Mortiz in a crooked glance made the older boy’s heart race. How could such a perfect human think he was cute.
“What?” He sputtered once the coughing stopped.
“Yes. Quite cute actually,” Melchior laughed. The beautiful, auburn haired boy leaned closer and took the cigarette skillfully from Moritz’s shaky inexperienced hand and put it in between his middle and index finger. “Come here. Let me help you with that one.”
He brought the cigarette to Moritz's lips, holding it there for Mortiz before instructing him. “Now inhale. Not too deeply, alright?”
Moritz did as he was told, trying to distract himself from the fact that the boy who just called him cute was pressing his fingers to his mouth. He breathed in, ignoring the faint burn of the nicotine. “Okay, dear. Now hold it for a moment...Now exhale….”
This time, a long cloud of grey smoke escaped Moritz’s lungs with only a slight cough. Melchior smiled at his proudly before putting the cigarette to his own lips and taking a deep drag from it. “Perfect….” He whispered before letting out his own stream of smoke. “You’ll be an expert in no time. Although, I doubt you want to be.”
“Really?”
Melchior scoffed, leaning back up to look the shaky boy in the eye. “Why do you keep asking that? I mean what I say, Moritz.”
Moritz opened his mouth to say something when he felt a pair of lips press to his own, shutting him up quickly. He winced a bit in shock, the feeling of Melchior’s lips against his causing more than just mild surprise. But Melchior didn’t pull away, instead he put his free hand around Moritz, finding purchase on his lower back.
The kiss was chaste, merely lips to lips for a handful of seconds, but it was mindblowing to Moritz. And when Melchior pulled away to take another drag, this time his face only an inch from the others, he found himself shaking from adrenaline. “Wh-What was that?”
“A kiss,” Stated the younger in reply. As if it were that simple. Moritz couldn’t keep his mind in one place, his eyes staring at Melchior as he turned away to blow out the smoke. “What?” Asked the teen when he saw Moritz still sitting agape. “That wasn’t your first kiss too, was it?”
Moritz couldn’t do anything besides blush as Melchior grinned and put out that half used cigarette. “Here.” He muttered thoughtfully before placing a hand on the back of Moritz’s neck to guide him steadily. “Let’s make sure it counts.”
Melchior tasted of nicotine and nervousness and sweet peppermint candies. In a matter of no time, he had Moritz’s back pressed to the shingles of the roof. His legs tangled in a bony mass with Moritz's and he had moved the hand of his more mature partner to his chest. The other hand had found it’s own way, fisting Melchior’s hair anxiously.
When Melchior pulled away, his eyes were wide and his breath was short. Dilating pupils focused on Moritz’s dumbstruck smile. “I’m hoping you’re going to want to become an expert in that.”
And again, Melchior took Moritz's breath away. This time without the use of cigarette smoke.