Chapter Text
“Roman SHUT UP!” Mr Weichel yelled at the completely silent class in a very professional, teacherly manner. He sighed, “Now, can anyone point out the flaws in Colin’s paragraph?”
“What would you give me if I flip this desk right now?” Gage whispered to his friend beside him, not paying any attention to the chaos of a lecture in front of him.
He was mostly joking of course, they were in the middle of class, but since the old man had been droning on and on for the last hour, he would do anything to make his classmates crack a smile.
He was so bored.
Liam hesitated a bit too long over the dark-haired boy’s question, before finally coming up with a mostly joking answer of his own.
“How about a kiss?” He grinned, leaning dramatically over his desk.
Gage’s face reddened before he quickly recovered himself, only slightly stuttering, “Sure, if that’s a promise…” he grinned at his own words.
As innocently as he could, he waited for the perfect time to commit his crime.
Gage glanced at the clock, noticing that it was 12:23, and that the bell would ring in about 10 minutes. That meant that if he flipped his desk in 5 minutes, he should be able to scurry out for lunch before Mr Weichey beat his ass.
Gage loved planning his dumb ideas around the odds of him being able to get away and escape the consequences. He drummed his fingers on his desk, mimicking the tune of a new song he had just learnt in band practice.
Time seemed to stretch on forever, every minute crawling by, but finally, just after Payton raised their hand and Mr Weichel blatantly ignored her, all hell broke loose as he placed his hands on the cold metal of the underside of his desk.
The crash? Catastrophic
The damage? Iconic
Mr Weichel? Furious
His classmates? Shocked
Snickers began from his group of friends behind him, quickly followed by the stifled giggles from a few of the girls across from him who had been absentmindedly doodling in the margins of their work.
But what he relished in most, was the look of pure delighted shock on Liam’s face.
“Dude! I didn’t think you’d actually do it!”
“What can I say, I wanted a kiss.”
As Mr Weichel opened his mouth, the sound of the bell interrupted him, causing Gage to bolt out of class.
The laughs followed him as he dodged around Mme Starcok, careful not to harm her, who had come in to see what all the commotion was.
He practically flew down the stairs, taking the steps three at a time whilst hoping his friends would remember to grab his wallet as they came out after him. Only then did he notice the slap of familiar footsteps behind him.
“Wait up!” Liam panted, catching the back of Gage’s hoodie as he stumbled down the stairs after him. They began to slow their pace as they crossed the schoolyard, still snickering.
A car rushed past in front of them, forcing them to pick up a quick jog in order to make it to the other side of the road. They panted as they reached the alleyway, Gage turning to Liam.
“Well now, you better follow through with your end of the bargain,” he smirked at the other boy. Only then did it cross his mind that he had a girlfriend.
Gage pondered this for a moment. What he was doing should be fine, it was just a joke. He didn’t think Adi would care that much, right? It was stupid, he was sure that she had kissed some of her friends as a joke, this wasn’t any different!
It was fine, just a little peck between him and his……friend?
Besides, he hadn’t seen her in forever, Gage wasn’t even sure they were still together. Relationships were weird like that.
” I thought you were joking! I was joking! As I said before I never thought you’d actually do it!” Liam stuttered, rushing over his words in a slightly flustered state. He kicked a rock in front of them, acting casual.
“Oh…of course! Like yeah! Duh! I was joking too! You thought I was serious!” Gage responded, kicking the same rock as they approached it.
“Obviously not!”
“Well, that’s… good.”
“Yeah!”
“You sure? You sound a little… upset.”
They had stopped walking at this point, and the stillness surrounded him, rock completely forgotten.
“I’m fine!” Liam snapped.
“Of course! Never said you weren’t!”
“Umm…you literally just said I sounded upset!” He responded indignantly.
“Oh really? I said that? You sure pay close attention to me…” Gage smirked.
“What? No, I don’t?”
They were facing each other now, the only sound being their heavy breaths.
“Well, you’re making this whole ‘kiss’ thing WAY more embarrassing than it needs to be…” Gage let out an ironic awkward laugh. “You’re such a chicken”
“No I’m not!”
“Okay? Then prove it.”
Liam stared at him, hesitating for a heartbeat.
Then another.
But ultimately, he stayed quiet, not moving whatsoever.
Gage smirked at his friend’s silence, knowing he had won the argument. However, as he turned to continue walking to Subway, Liam’s hand suddenly reached out, grabbing the front of his hoodie and jerking his face over, crashing their lips together.
Gage let out an uncharacteristic squeal, bewildered by his friend’s sudden actions.
But he stood there, seconds draining away, wondering why he wasn’t pulling away after the kiss had stopped being friendly, he realized he was smiling. Not his usual crooked grin that he masked himself with, something a bit more genuine, soft. One he hadn’t fully felt in years.
Gage’s hand had unconsciously crept up to cup the other boy’s face and Liam’s hand stayed balled in his hoodie as they deepened the kiss.
Liam was the one who finally pulled away. Gage, continued to just stand there, shocked, partly because of how long they had stood there kissing, partly because of how much he had…enjoyed it.
He had never expected to feel so… alive yet powerless for someone. The feeling was very strange, and probably too strong for someone his age. But it felt, true.
As the two of them faced each other, breathless once more, a recognizable giggle sounded from behind them, paired with a voice filled with triumph. “What did I tell you, now you owe me 10 bucks!
Gage and Liam spun around to face the groups of his classmates who were giggling earlier, only then noticing how close they were to each other. As they started creeping further and further apart, Payton let out a groan. “10 BUCKS!?! I’m too broke for that!”
They all casually strolled past, Andy gloating about his newfound fortune whilst Sara consoled Payton. Only Audrey stopped and let out a kindhearted laugh.
“Don’t worry, we won’t tell Adi…yet.”
Winking, she quickened her pace to catch up with her friends who were still giggling about the scene they’d just witnessed.
The two boys stood there for a solid 20 seconds before bursting out into snorts of laughter, tears running down their cheeks. The random interruption had somehow made the awkward moment better, and Gage silently thanked the girls (for the first and probably last time).
“So…” Gage finally started, tugging at his own sleeve, sounding as if he was not quite sure where he was going with his words.
“So…?”
“That was weird…”
“What, the fact that a bunch of our classmates were betting on us kissing, including your girlfriend’s best friend?” Oh shit. Adi. What would happen to them now? This means he’d have to talk to her.
“Or the fact that we kissed?” Liam finished, an almost pained expression on his face, barely concealed by a small smile. “You know, I was the one who pulled away. So, if anyone should have a problem with this, it should be me.”
“You? You’re the one who kissed me in the first place! You are the one who suggested we kissed in the first place! Speaking of which, it was my FIRST kiss! You stole it!”
Liam laughed at this, a mocking tone. “Really? If it was so bad, I guess we have to try again!”
“Well, you certainly need some improvement.”
The boys fell into an uncomfortable silence before Gage let out a quick laugh.
"Oh, I was joking it was fine."
He then realized just how much time had passed and how suspicious it would look when their other friends came along and found them not even halfway there despite their hurried exit.
Gage unconsciously slipped his hand into Liam's to drag him along as he began walking again.
They'd covered a fair distance before he noticed his hand and flusteredly snatched it back.
"I’m sorry."
Gage almost jumped at the sound of Liam's voice.
"For what?"
"Well as you pointed out, I did initiate the kiss and you may not have wanted that so, I'm sorry." Liam responded in a rush.
'Well yeah, I-"
"But as I said before I also broke the kiss first so that has to count for something right?" He rambled on then realizing he interrupted Gage, apologizing again.
“It’s fine, I just wanted to say that yeah, I kinda didn’t know if I wanted the kiss at first.” Liam winced at this, urging Gage to continue, “However I…liked it?”
He squeezed his eyes shut, scared by what the words he had just uttered could do. Silence enveloped the two boys, and after a bit, Gage couldn’t take it anymore.
He opened his eyes, finding Liam standing there, mouth slightly agape, a wide smile forming at the corners of his mouth.
The sound of voices drifted from around the corner behind them, making Gage realize that they had stopped again and that their friends were approaching.
He slipped his hand into Liam’s, intentionally this time, and they took off running, Liam’s grin mirrored on Gage’s.