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The warm afternoon breeze lazily trickled in through the half-open window and played with Tommy's hair. This late spring weather was his favorite; not too warm or too cold, although 30 minutes into his literature class it made him quite sleepy. He tried to pay attention to the lecture but his train of thought kept trailing off. When he focused on the teacher's voice again he caught the end of a particularly dreadful sentence.
“...you'll do the project in pairs, the deadline is Friday's class.”
Great, there goes his good mood. This teacher never lets the students choose their partners in group projects, something about learning to work together and adapting to new circumstances. Tommy just thought it resulted in rushed and superficial projects.
Whatever, he could still hope for a good partner. If he was lucky he was assigned to Tubbo or Jack and he won't have to worry about the awkward 2-3 hours he'd have to spend on the project with any other classmate. Not that he couldn't carry a conversation with them. He'd chat away just fine with anyone in here if he wanted to, thanks to his extroverted nature and lack of social anxiety that he prides himself on so much.
Well, almost everyone.
In the very back of the classroom sits Purpled Wylestrope, the one person Tommy just can't get along with. It's not his fault, the guy is insufferable! He's always acting so cocky, just cause he's a top student and kinda good at tennis. Anyone can win a county championship! At least Tommy thinks so, but he doesn't know much about boring sports like that. It’s clear to anyone with eyes that Wylestrope loves being the center of attention and he has a bit of a superiority complex.
Tommy doesn't have to turn around to know that the other is diligently taking notes, nor does he want to turn around. Seeing the stupid blond with his stupid middle part would just sour his mood even further.
Instead he spends the last 10 minutes of class still zoned out.
The shrill ringing of the bell shakes Tommy from the half asleep state he managed to lull himself into. Looking up he saw his classmates already crowding the teacher's desk, checking out the pairings for the group project. Some are making disappointed faces, others are silently celebrating - Tubbo and Jack high-five, so Tommy knows he's not with either of them. Damn it, just his luck. By the time he finishes packing up his things, most of the students dispersed, so he makes his way to the paper displaying the pairings. He glances over it- sure enough Jack and Tubbo are a pair.
Good for them or whatever.
Then his eyes stop at his own name and it feels like the world stops with them for a second.
No way.
Purpled.
Seriously? What the hell made the teacher think that was a good idea?! She has to know that the two of them don't get along. Surely she knows.
Surely.
He looks up and the teacher has stepped back while gathering her supplies, as if anticipating Tommy's reaction.
“Miss this has to be a mistake! I mean what kind of a-” Tommy realises how loud he's speaking and restrains his voice to a lower volume. “I would literally work just fine with anyone else. Why him? Please let me switch!”
She seems a little exasperated, as if the decision makes perfect sense - no the fuck it doesn't! - but her voice remains calm.
“Tom, you scored disappointingly low on your last two tests. You're a great student and I know you can do better. Maybe working with someone more focused will help you see that as well. Plus this could be a good opportunity to resolve the tension between the two of you. Maybe talk it out?”
Tommy opened his mouth to give a disgusted and incredulous response but he was quickly shut down.
“I'm not arguing about this. Get an A on the project and I won't pair you with him again.”
She left the classroom and a stunned Tommy. Talk it out? Like that’s ever gonna happen…
-
He decided to ignore the problem for the rest of the afternoon, which he spent at Tubbo’s. Tommy was supposed to tutor him in English but these sessions always turned into playing minecraft on their server after at most 40 minutes of studying. A quarter past 7PM they just about finished the pizzas they ordered when Tommy’s phone pinged with a notification. He got an email from… @p22wylestrope.
“Seriously? An email?! Who the fuck does this guy think he is?” He exclaimed, bouncing up and down in his beanbag from frustration.
“Whuh?” Tubbo asked, confused, while still chewing his last bite. “Who?”
“Purpled.” Tommy scoffed.
“He sent an email? Damn, maybe homework really is that serious for him..” Tubbo chuckled to himself before leaning in front of Tommy’s face trying to see the screen. “What’s it say?”
Tommy pushed him back. “Chill, dude, I’ll read it out loud. Gimme a sec…
Hello Tom, as I’m sure you’re aware, we’re partnered up for this week’s literature project. I want to get it done until Wednesday night, if you’re free on Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon. LMK which one works for you and where you want to meet asap. Purpled.”
“Damn that’s crazy. Like a business email.”
“I thought we could like… do the work separately and just send it to each other or something. Or better yet he could do the whole thing on his own since he’s such a nerd.” He was annoyed at having to make the arrangements, sure but he also didn’t really want to be one on one with Purpled.
“Come on Tom, your pride would never let you do all that.”
“Yeah that and he’d absolutely tell on me. Whatever, if we do it tomorrow afternoon I won't have to stress about this bullshit for the rest of the week.” He sighs, mentally already preparing for what is promising to be the worst few hours of his year.
Tubbo leans back trying to stifle a smirk. He was clearly enjoying Tommy’s torment, if only a little. “You better livetext me the whole thing.”
-
Tuesday morning came and Purpled was waiting by Tommy’s desk when he stepped into the classroom, leaning on it with his back while looking at his phone. When he walked over the other looked up, still smirking at whatever was on his phone.
“You’re finally here, I thought you were gonna be late again.” He said it with that sarcastic happy voice Tommy despised. He already had enough of this day.
“Shut up you prick, what do you want?”
“You didn’t say where to meet. So it’s gonna be your place.” The hardest part about talking to Purpled was the vicious non-stop eye-contact. Seriously, the guy barely blinked.
“What?! You can’t decide that alone! Why not your place?” The nerve of this guy, just deciding shit for Tommy like that…
Purpled (finally) glanced away at that. “ We can’t go to mine, it’s yours or the library. And I assume you wouldn’t be able to stay quiet for multiple hours at a time.”
Tommy was about to cuss him out for that, but he saw the math teacher entering the room from the corner of his eyes. Almost as if Purpled was trying to rile him up on purpose… What an asshole.
“Fine, my place then. I’ll send the address, be there at 4.” He sat down at his desk, his eyes followed Purpled’s form walking back to his own.
That could’ve gone worse.
-
The day crawled by so slowly Tommy was exhausted by lunch. His friends’ constant chatter and bickering was all but white noise at that point. He tried to empty his brain on the walk home, the slow breeze and the warm sun felt like a hug on his back.
The same sleepy feeling slowly overcame him again and when he arrived home he found himself in front of the coffee machine. God knows he'll need the energy for the afternoon.
He changed out of his uniform and looked through the project requirements while sipping on the warm drink. An 800 word essay on a given poet from the 20th century describing their main themes and literary tools. It's not a difficult subject but writing 800 words about it might prove to be difficult.
Tommy's parents wouldn't be home until 9PM, so the two of them would be able to work uninterrupted. Good. The sooner they're done the better.
-
The doorbell rang at 4PM exactly. Getting up to let him in, Tommy wondered for a brief second if Purpled arrived earlier and waited in front of the door just to be punctual. It certainly wouldn’t surprise him if he did.
Upon opening the door he came to the realization that he had never actually seen Purpled in anything other than his school uniform or PE clothes. He was standing in front of the door leaning on the wall in a gray t-shirt and black (really short…) shorts looking bored. He was quite tan on his arms and legs, Tommy found himself wondering if that was the tennis practices’ effect.
The sun shone in Tommy’s eyes from behind the other making the dirty blond hair framing his face glow in a golden tone. If he didn’t know any better he would have thought that it made for a nice view. For a second the two of them just stared at each other. Tommy realized that he was gonna have to break the silence.
“Uh. Hi, come in.” Okay, he managed to set the tone. As very awkward.
“Yeah. Hi.” Purpled sidestepped him and walked in, kicking his shoes off and placing them next to the door. “So… where should we-”
“Oh, my room, this way.” He led the other to his room, the only noise being the soft padding of the order's footsteps.
One of the privileges Tommy enjoys as an only child is the size of his room; slightly ajar large windows covered by floor length sheer curtains, ceiling height closets,, his bed across the door, his large desk lay in the far corner with his gaming setup and thick carpet covering most of the floor. A lone windchime jingled quietly in the window.
He saw Purpled taking a second to take it all in and try not to look jealous. Ha! He's not fooling Tommy. He gestured towards the carpet, where they both settled down and started discussing the project. Tommy took out his laptop. This was going to be a long afternoon…
It started out really awkward.
He didn't like Purpled, so he never talked to him in private before. Tommy naturally gravitated towards his phone, texting Tubbo with updates about how awful this was all going. He realized that the other acted totally differently when there weren't any others to see him. He was much more quiet but also seemed more earnest somehow. Tommy hoped this wasn’t Purpled using his charms to try and put him into the hypnosis he apparently had most of the school under. If it was, it wasn’t working.
Their initially reserved discussion slowly blossomed as they focused their attention on their work. Talking about that was much easier than making small talk. They had a shared priority afterall. Tommy wanted an A so that he won’t ever be partnered with Purpled again, and Purpled wanted an A because he was a nerd.
Tommy found himself somewhat enjoying the progress, even sparing a chuckle when Purpled made a lame joke. He started noticing little things the other did, things he never would have otherwise: how Purpled pulled his mouth to the side when he was concentrating, and how much he moved around on the floor, and how his eyebrows pulled together in disapproval when Tommy got distracted.
Around 5:40PM, in a quiet moment where both of them were absorbed by their work, he finally decided to address the elephant in the room.
“So like, what's your problem, man?” He said as he looked up.
Purpled looked startled. “Uh- what?” He let out a confused little chuckle.
“You know. Why's you such a bitch? I mean usually. At school.” His pulse picked up the pace from the minor confrontation. Maybe this wasn't a good idea.
“Me? You're the one who went to talk to the teacher cause you were paired with me.” Purpled raised his eyebrows but he wasn't angry, just incredulous.
“Yeah because you're a cocky bastard! You laughed when the teacher scolded me last week! And tried to trip me on my first day, in front of everybody.” Tommy started feeling upset about that all over again… Seriously, what was that even for?
“What- you still remember that? You didn’t even trip!” Purpled glanced away an let out a short huff. “Okay I'm really sorry about trying to trip you, that was a shitty move from me… I didn't want to be the loner kid like in middle school so I did what I thought would get me the uhh.. the social credit. Little did I know being a good student and athlete gives way more of those.” There was a pause where neither boy said anything. “And I didn't laugh at you last week, I wasn't even paying attention when Miss Branston scolded you. I was probably on my phone.
So, is this why you're such an ass to me?”
Tommy was still thinking about the other's apology when those words brought him back to the present. He was about to vehemently deny the fact but he has been antagonising the other for quite a while, especially with his friends who now occasionally joined in. Apparently they get tired of perfection, or something. He hesitated for a second before replying.
“Well, yeah, I guess. And you’re such a fucking nerd, I mean seriously, who sends an email to a classmate? Just use Instagram or something”
“You have me blocked on Instagram.” Purpled deadpanned. Oh shit, Tommy did do that. Over a year ago, which is why he didn’t remember until now.
“Well that’s cause you’re a prick. Tommy Innit only talks to real ones.” And he meant that from the bottom of his heart.
“Oh and you're just saying that to my face?” Purpled raised an eyebrow and leaned closer, smirking at him. He pushed his laptop away with his left foot. “Careful, I might trip you again.”
“Try it bitch! I'll fight you.”
“And you think you'd win?” Purpled laughed. He straight up laughed at the idea of Tommy beating him. The sound made his stomach twist up with a strange feeling, which he promptly ignored - he can't just let the other get away with such blatant disrespect!
He threw himself at Purpled, tackling him to the floor and trying to get ahold of his wrists. He saw the momentary surprise on the other’s face before being promptly thrown off to the side. Purpled scrambled to his feet and backed up until his legs hit the side of the bed.
“Oh you’re so done…”
Tommy stood up as well when he saw Purpled reach behind himself and grab one of his pillows. He had to do this smartly, he was facing the school’s best performing athlete after all. He waited for Purpled to make the first move, and sure enough the other lunged towards him with the pillow. Tommy attempted to sidestep him and grab the pillow but the other kicked his ankle out from under him and they both tumbled to the ground. They wrestled on the ground for a minute but Tommy wound up with his hands held up above his head.
Clearly the only reasonable option here was to surrender.
“Okayy, okay I give up, you won, jeez… Let go!” He managed to say between laughs. Purpled leaned back satisfied and let go of his wrists, he was obviously used to winning. Tommy decided that he can’t let Purpled have that.
Whatever, he wasn’t known for being reasonable anyways.
As soon as his hands were freed he reached up and grabbed the older around his waist, digging his fingers in.
Not even an established elite athlete is immune to tickles. The older broke out in giggles as he tried to wriggle out of Tommy’s attack. Tommy felt Purpled’s forehead hit his chest while his hands scrambled to try and hold him back. This finally gave him the opening he needed.
Tommy used minimal strength to roll Purpled off of himself and climb over him. While Purpled struggled under him forcing out “Stop!”-s and “Okay Chill”-s between huffs of laughter the blond congratulated himself on a well executed plan, then finally let up with the barrage of tickles.
He was laughing just as much as the boy laying below him, who was trying to regain his breath, a smile on his face so genuine, Tommy was sure he had never seen that expression before.
“Hh- okay… You win… ” Purpled huffed out between heavy breaths.
Both of them had to take a breather, during which Tommy’s attention slowly wandered over to the small moles littering Purpled’s face. He counted the ones around his mouth, the one on his cheek and the one under his eye. He noticed them earlier but he hadn’t yet had an opportunity to take a closer look.
His gaze wandered lower, inspecting the ones on both sides of his neck, then the one on his collarbone and the ones littering his forearms. Further inching downward, he noticed how the other’s t-shirt rode up after their tussle and exposed a slither of the skin of his stomach. Tommy saw soft pale skin adorned with white vellus hair and a lone mole.
Very predictable.
Very pretty.
The blond looked up and quickly got brought back to the present.
Purpled was beet red in the face, using his hands to cover his mouth and nose. He looked off to the side with his eyebrows furrowed in embarrassment (?).
“What’re you doing?” The older asked, finally looking at him. Right, maybe Tommy stared for a bit too long. Oh well, no point in lying now, huh?
“You look pretty.” He said it with so little hesitation he even surprised himself. He made that observation the first time he saw Purpled. He didn’t think he’d ever actually voice that opinion until right now. Purpled’s hands dropped to his sides and Tommy was left staring at his slightly agape mouth.
They stared for a second, then two.
Before he could start thinking about how big of a mistake he just made, Tommy felt hands toying with the sides of his t-shirt, sliding under the thin fabric and nails gliding over his back. Purpled stared at him intently. He’d never done this before but that many signals could have guided an airplane. They certainly gave him enough confidence.
As soon as Tommy started leaning down, Purpled retracted his arms to prop himself up on them and lean up, completing the kiss.
Tommy wasn’t sure what he expected, maybe for everything around him to dissolve, or for imaginary fireworks to go off. Something to indicate the significance of this milestone, his first kiss. But that wasn’t what he felt, in fact the only things he did feel were warmth and softness. He got lost in the moment.
He closed his eyes at one point, but the loss of his sight barely impacted him at all. He felt Purpled below him, pressing up to his lips, chest heaving between his hands. It all felt natural. Purpled pulled back and Tommy blinked his eyes open. His classmate flopped back to the floor with that same smile again.
“What was that?” He asked teasingly, blush still littered his features. Tommy tried to give an answer, but he was pulled back into a kiss before he could even think to tear his eye away.
This time it was easier because he knew what to expect. They fell into a slow rhythm, rocking back and forth on the floor with arms tangled together and homework long forgotten. For several minutes the only noise in the room was the small windchime in front of the open window ringing quietly and the two of them occasionally breaking apart for a breath of air.
Finally Tommy sat back and looked down at the top student in his school. What a boost to self confidence, to see him like that. He clumsily stood back up and offered a hand to Purpled. He took it like he was being helped up during tennis practice, it made Tommy chuckle internally. He pulled up the older and closed the distance between them, grabbing ahold of both his shoulders and kissing again. He just couldn’t help it, it was so good. Tan arms snaked around his neck and hung loosely as they melted together comfortably. Tommy took a step forward and pushed both of them on his bed, he reveled in the surprised yelp Purpled let out at the sudden movement. They settled back into each other's arms quickly, laying on their sides under the afternoon Sun.
“You’re pretty good at this…” Purpled mumbled against his mouth. Tommy used the moment to finally get his hands under the other’s t-shirt, getting to squeeze the soft flesh there. Well he wasn’t letting go of that anytime soon.
“What, kissing?” Tommy’s hands ran back and forth along the older’s spine.
“Making out.” Purpled corrected before burying his face in the crook of Tommy’s neck. That bittersweet scent Tommy always smelled around him was so much more intense up close. He leaned back in the pillows behind him.
Homework could wait a little longer…