(a/n: i give you all my dearest apologies for my titles, both for every chapter published and for every one to come)

also this part kept fucking up for me so i just republished it sorry if you got excited

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Steven woke up to the scent of coffee, the wonderful scent making him smile as he poked his head out from under his blanket. If he was to be honest, Steven didn't actually drink coffee. He just really liked the scent of it.

That, and the coffee smell meant there was coffee being made somewhere. Coffee being made meant mom was up, and mom being up this early meant she was in a good mood. Since mom was in a good mood, she probably (hopefully) made breakfast.

Therefore, breakfast was ready.

With his newly found conclusion, Steven sleepily trudged his way downstairs, a smile on his face. His smile grew bigger upon seeing a stack of pancakes waiting for him on the table, and his mother sitting next to them sipping her coffee.

"Steven, sweetie? Why, uh.... Why did you drag your blanket down here? You're not sick or anything, right?"

It took him a moment to process what she meant. He gave a small giggle, shrugging his shoulders as he shook his head. "I don't know... I actually just realized I even did that. Oh, could you pass me the syrup?"

His mother shakes her head, a loving smile on her face. "I have no idea how I ended up with such an odd child. Are you sure you're my son?"

Steven giggles in response, his tired mind too focused on his food to really care. He begins stuffing pancake into his mouth, fully intent on eating as much as possible before he has to leave for school.

"It's almost eight, you should get going. I'm going to go grocery shopping while everyone's still at home, okay?" She leans in, pressing a kiss to Steven's forehead. "Have a nice day at school."

The door closes, and Steven's barely halfway up the stairs when there's a knock at his door and a familiar voice crying out," Ze? Steven! Let's go!"

What the fuck is Max doing here so early?

"Max!?"

"Yeah! Either get out here, or open the door for me!"

Steven rolls his eyes, and continues up the stairs towards his room. There's no point in going back down, either he'll get tired and leave or he'll realize that the door's been unlocked the entire time.

So he goes into his room, gets his clothes out and heads into the shower. It's a nice shower, leaving him feeling awake and pretty good all around.

At least until he realized he left his clothes for the day in his room somewhere.

Opening the door, Steven walked in,towel around his waist and a tired smile on his face. Seeing Max sitting on his bed, however, wiped the smile off his face in an instant. If anything, it scared the shit out of him.

"M-Max?"

Max just chuckles and gestures to something laying on his bed. Upon closer inspection, it's a jacket. Just a plain, black hoodie with a few marker stains from last night.

"Cute jacket. Looks, uh.... Looks a lot like Anthony's."

Steven blushes a little at the statement, running his hands through damp hair in an attempt to not freak out. "Shut up. He left it here last night and-"

"Oh. Last night, you say? You know, if he leaves first thing on the morning after, he's probably not worth it."

That wasn't Max's voice. It was far from being Max's voice.

"Minx? What-why.... How'd you get here?"

Minx laughs, crossing her legs and putting her hands in her lap. "I was in Max's car. By the way, I like your hair."

Steven blushes, staring down at the ground. "C-can you guys leave? Like, I love you guys and all, but uh.... I'm naked and wet and cold, I'd like to put some clothes on."

This is where Minx tosses Steven a shirt, jeans, and Anthony's jacket. Steven notices that the shirt isn't even his, and he's about to call her out on it when Minx cuts him off.

"That's Max's shirt. You're gonna wear it to look cute for Anthony, alright?"

"O-oh. Uh, alright then." He didn't have the courage to argue with Minx, so he just nodded his head and waited for them to leave so he could get dressed.

.

Anthony stared at Steven, the smaller boy wearing a really nice red flannel shirt, and too focused on their project to notice Anthony's gaze.

Steven was also wearing his jacket. The hoodie had to have been at least three sizes too big, easily going down to his mid-thigh. But....

He looked tiny, tiny and cute and Anthony was doing his best to resist the urge to walk up behind him and just hold Steven. Hold him close and never let go.

"You need help there, Ze?"

Bryce was absent today. Apparently he had gotten sick, but Anthony wasn't too sure if that was entirely true. He could've sworn he saw Shawn and Bryce kissing in the restroom earlier today.

Either way, they were making good progress. The assignment had been simple enough- create something to represent nature. The only issue is that their teacher had thought it'd be fun to give them different types of places to recreate.

Some groups got off easy, with things like forests, or swamps. Other groups got stuck making a picture of the arctic, or trying to figure out how to draw mountains and goats.

Theirs had been the ocean. In retrospect, it seemed relatively easy. Draw some fish, some crabs and sharks, a fuck-ton of coral and seaweed, then turn it in for an A.

But then they realized that none of them knew how to draw crabs or decent looking fish.

Steven had the most artistic abilities out of all of them, so he was doing all the animals. They had agreed that since Bryce keeps ditching them, he's doing all the coloring.

"Well, that should do it. What now?" Steven's sweet voice snapped Anthony out of his thoughts, and he looked over at the smaller one.

He looked really, really good today. Anthony couldn't help but wonder if Steven would be willing to meet up with him after school. You know, just for the sake of two dudes being 'friends.'

"Well, I guess we just wait for Bryce to come back. Uh, hey, um..." Anthony pauses for a second, wondering if he should go through with his 'plan' for a moment or two. He laughed nervously before continuing, "I was wondering, do you have anything planned after school? I was kinda thinking that maybe you and I could go out and do something."

Steven's eyes light up, and he grins like the dork he is. "What kind of something, huh? Can we get ice cream? I really want some ice cream right now."

Anthony chuckles, because of course this kid is more excited about fucking ice cream than anything else. "Sure. You wanna catch a movie while we're out too?"

He nods, quietly putting his stuff away.

Anthony smiles, and without thinking he speaks. "So it's a date, then."

He quickly realizes his mistake, and for a moment or two he panics, carefully watching Steven for any kind of reaction.

But Steven only smiles shyly, looking Anthony straight in the eye with a light blush on his face.

"Yeah. It's a date."

.

Anthony had never been good with people. He's been ignoring his friends for the past week and a half, ever since the "milkshake incident," as Anthony had dubbed it. His friends were probably used to this, yes, but they had noticed how Anthony was practically glued to Steven's side.

To say the least, they wanted some form of explanation.

Anthony was walking towards the front of the school, where he and Steven agreed to meet up, when he's suddenly stopped by Smarty.

"Hey Chilled! Where you going, buddy?"

"Oh. Just heading out, I guess. Why do you ask?"

"Well, we're meeting up at Galm's place today for a movie night, and probably some games. You're gonna come, right?"

Anthony frowns slightly. He completely forgot that today was Thursday. They always head over to Galm's on Thursdays.

"You see, I kinda had plans for today. Like, right now kind of today. So I gotta get going. Maybe next week, alright?"

Smarty looks disappointed, any sign of happiness fading quickly as he sighs and nods his head. "It's that kid, Steven, isn't it?"

Anthony smiles at the thought of Steven, and gives Smarty a tiny nod. "Yeah. We're going out for ice cream, and maybe a movie."

Smarty looks hurt. He gives a small nod, biting his lip as he eyes the ground. "O-oh. Well... You guys have fun, alright?"

Chilled couldn't help but feel guilty as he watched John walk away.

Why is he upset? Was it something I said? He wasn't like this before, right? Maybe he's just upset that I'm not going over to Galm's tonight.

"Chilled! Hey!" A sweet, excited voice calls out to Anthony, and in an instant all of his concern melts away.

"Hey, buddy. You ready to go?"

Steven smiles brightly, giving an excited laugh as he claps his hands. "Of course!"

Anthony chuckles, throwing his arm around the other's shoulders. "Let's get going, then. Ice cream, you said?"