In which Tolly is the best boi, and there are waffles.

Karlo was invincible. He had his fists, his teeth. He could kick and punch as well as the rest of them. He could bite, and watch someone's life drain away along with their blood. Not that he'd ever done that, but if he had to, he was prepared to.

What he wasn't prepared for was Nat coming into school smelling like Tolly.

Nat walked into the music room, surprised to see Karlo sat on a table, with Ally stood between his legs, kissing him.

Nat cleared his throat, and the boys broke apart, staring at him. Nat noticed Karlo's facial expression change from anger to confusion to his usual expressionless appearance.

Karlo sniffed once, just to be sure, then scowled. Nat stank of Tolly. "Enjoyed your weekend?" He asked coldly.

Nat nodded, suspicious of Karlo's behaviour. The boy usually ignored him when possible.
"Yeah, I can tell." Karlo continued.
Nat raised an eyebrow.
Karlo shrugged at him, and turned back to Ally.

Nat interrupted them. "Could you please stop kissing and tell me what you mean?" He asked, exasperated.

Karlo looked at him again. "Ya stink o' sex." He smirked.

"But we didn't- not actually-" Nat stopped. "Anything else?" He asked, as calmly as possible.

"I know who it were." Karlo shrugged. "I can smell-" he paused "-them."

"Fuck." Nat muttered, but he was grateful that Karlo hadn't given him away in any way.

"Anyways, why'd ya walk in here?" Karlo asked.
Nat shrugged.
"Well, catch up later, kay?" Karlo asked, turning back to Ally.

Nat nodded, knowing that Karlo probably had quite a few questions burning in that mysterious mind of his.
He left the boys to their privacy, passing Xander in the corridor.
"Wouldn't if I were you." He called out, seeing the other boy head towards the music room.

"They've been almost fucking for a week now, I can ignore them easy." Xander smirked, pushing the door open.
Karlo flipped him off as soon as he walked in.
"Love you too." Xander retorted, pulling out his lunch box. "When you two come up for air, remember that I'm here okay?"

"Rule number one: no fucking in front of Xander." Ally laughed, turning to look at him. "No fucking at all, so far."

"You mean you guys haven't?" Xander asked.

"Nope." Karlo shrugged.

"Wow. I mean, I've seen this coming since I got to know you two, I would have thought you'd be at each other by now."

"Well, good to know what you think about." Ally smirked.

"Shut up!" Xander laughed.

"He just loves to imagine you naked." Ally smiled at Karlo, who blushed slightly.

"Or you." Karlo joked to Ally.

"Okay will you two stop before I make you? I was just saying, what with Karlo's history of fucking people.."

"I've never actually fucked anyone." Karlo muttered. "I kissed them, yeah, but only for the blood."

"You what?" Xander asked. "But I thought-"

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Xander." Karlo hissed, shrugging on his bag.

The door slammed behind him, and Xander turned to Ally. "What was that about?" He asked. Ally shrugged. "So, you going to follow him?"

"I'll give him time." Ally muttered.

Karlo stormed up to Tolly's office, walking in without knocking.
"Can you two not?" He complained, making Tolly jump back from Nat, quickly removing his hand from under the other boy's shirt.
Tolly cleared his throat awkwardly, having the decency to look embarrassed.
"I don't care if you two are fucking." Karlo shrugged. "I just don't care."
He sat down on the desk.

It was Nat that spoke up. "You okay?" He asked.

"I'm just so fucking done with hiding." Karlo finally spoke up.

"Humans freak out easily, it's best that they don't know." Nat said, trying to cheer the younger boy up.

Tolly looked at his younger brother's face. "Karl, you made the decision not to tell anyone. But that doesn't mean that you can't, if you want to. What's important is you're safe, and happy."

"Well it's already fucked up our life." Karlo hissed. "Don't pretend like you don't mind cause I know you do. You're stuck with her whilst I'm with Da' and it's all my fault. You and Hal, and Ella and Layla."

"It was bound to happen some time anyway." Tolly smiled, hugging Karlo tightly. "And Hal's at dance college, it doesn't affect him."
Karlo nodded, the memory of a young boy dancing, one arm holding up the child he was dancing with. Later on, teaching his little sister the steps, until she was twirling around the room with him, both of them grinning, ending up in a laughing heap on the floor.
"Karlo, you didn't ruin anything. And she was ruining you. It's okay, you know. To be you."
Tolly hugged him closer, almost smothering his younger brother in his jacket.
"So go on, go out there and be you." Tolly muttered. "You go hit those drums, hit those kids. You fight until you're where you want to be. At least you'll always have a home to go back to. And Hal will still swing you round the dance floor, and I'll still bully the crap out of you, and Ally will still kiss you in dark corners of the school." Tolly smirked. "You still haven't talked to me about that."

"You still haven't talked to me about you and Nat." Karlo said, pulling away from Tolly's hug.

"Didn't know I need to." Tolly shrugged. "It's all legal and we're happy, so end of story. Are you and Ally using rubbers?"

"Jeez, Tolly." Karlo coughed. "You should know me well enough. And him."

"I know, I'm kidding." Tolly laughed. "Got you to smile though, didn't I?"

Karlo shrugged, slipping off the table. "Thanks for the pep talk. You can go back to fucking each other. Just don't get caught."

He headed off, back to the music room, as if nothing had happened, leaving Tolly and Nat to look at each other.
"You're a good older brother." Nat muttered.

"I try." Tolly shrugged, smiling. "I learnt from the best."

"Hal?" Nat guessed, and Tolly nodded.
"So, I'm guessing I was right then?" Nat asked.

Tolly looked at him, taking a second to realise what he was referring to. "Belive what you want." He shrugged. "He's my little brother, always has been, always will be."

Nat smiled, and nodded. "Sorry. Just trying to understand him."

Tolly laughed dryly. "You think I understand him?" He smiled, moving to kiss Nat again.

Ally caught Karlo in the corridor. "You okay?" He asked.
Karlo looked at him through narrowed eyes.
"I get it." Ally smiled, falling into step beside him. "You need to get off to chemistry."

"Don't wanna." Karlo shrugged.

"Tolly will kill you if your attendance drops any lower." Ally pointed out, smiling.

"Tolly doesn't care. Not right now. He's a bit busy." Karlo shrugged, opening his locker. He swiftly sorted out his bag, and slung it across his back. "You want to go somewhere?" He asked, slamming the metal door shut, locking it with a flick of his long, pale fingers.

"Wherever you want to go." Ally smiled, taking the bag from the shorter boy.

"Hey, I can carry my own shit." Karlo complained.

"Don't complain." Ally smiled. "I've seen you wincing. Flexing your shoulder. Look after yourself a bit more, ok?"
Karlo shrugged, looking at Ally, piled with two backpacks, guitar case and a folder. He smiled, and wrestled the folder from the other boy, holding it in one hand and slipping the other around Ally's hand holding the instrument case.
"Fine." Ally sighed, letting go of his guitar. Karlo grinned, and shrugged it onto his back.
Ally slipped his hand into Karlo's, and they let the doors of the school close behind them.
"Lucky I drove today." Ally smiled, dangling his keys in front of Karlo's face, smiling when the boy batted them away.

Unseen by either of them, watching them go, from a window far above them, an IT technician smiled slightly, noticing how Ally had taken all the heavy bags, leaving Karlo with the lightest burden.
"Wonder where they're going." Tolly mused.

"Does it matter?" Nat asked. "And no, don't call him to interrogate him. Let him be a teenager."

"Sure." Tolly smiled. "I'm tempted to leave myself, to be honest. I've done all of today's shit."

"Then do so." Nat smiled. "It's not unreasonably early."

"There's a meeting after school I should probably go to." Tolly sighed, glancing at Nat. The boy was looking at him in a way that made Tolly make up his mind in a flash. "I'll say I'm ill." He smiled, shutting his computer down and grabbing his bag. "Come on then if you're coming." He smiled.
Nat grinned.

So, whilst Ally and Karlo were at Waffle House, Tolly and Nat biked back to Tolly's. Nat wearing Tolly's helmet, holding the other boy's waist tightly as they raced the autumn breeze down the roads to Redfort.
"Mom shouldn't be home until after 8 today, so you want to stay to dinner?" Tolly asked, locking his bike.

"Sure, what we having?" Nat smiled, leaning against the locker front door watching him.

"Well I'm happy to have you." Tolly smirked, searching his pockets.

"Not sure how to take that, all things considered." Nat smiled.

Tolly, smirked slightly, then looked at him seriously, "I fucking forgot my door key." He groaned. "Follow me."
Nat followed him down a small path, evendently walking between two rows of gardens. "This is us." Tolly said, clambering over the high gate.
Nat followed him with ease, jumping down into the small, scrappy garden. The grass was half dead and in need of a mow, and there was a rusting bike leaning against the fence.

"I feel like we're breaking and entering." He joked, as Tolly started fiddling with the door handle of the shed. After a while, there was a click, and Tolly grinned at him.

"Not if we don't break anything." Tolly smirked, reaching into a plant pot on a shelf. He pulled out a key triumphantly. "Right, let's go make ourselves coffee because we deserve it." He swung the shed door shut, and unlocked the back door of the house.

They kicked their shoes off in the utility room, and by the time they were in the kitchen with the kettle on, they were laughing their heads off.
Nat caught Tolly's eye, and quickly cut off his laughing by kissing him.
The kettle boiled behind them but they ignored it.
Tolly's hand crept up Nat's shirt, feeling the bandages around his stomach, hidden by the many layers that the other boy always wore.

"Water's boiled." Nat muttered, between kisses.

"Cool." Tolly grinned, pulling away from him to make the coffee. Nat shivered slightly at the withdrawal of Tolly's touch.
"Here." He handed Nat a mug of coffee. "Want t' watch TV or some'in'?"

Nat wrapped his hands around the hot mug. "Err-"

Tolly smiled, kissing him lightly. "Okay." He smirked. "Com'on up." He laughed at the crimson in Nat's cheeks. "Hey, nothin' like tha' unless ya want it. It's jus' warmer up there."
Nat nodded, and followed him upstairs. He looked around at the three bedrooms and bathroom that greeted him at the top of the stairs. "That's Mom's room, an' that's Hal's." Tolly pointed at two rooms. Between them was another door, which he pushed open. "An' this is mine."
Nat's eyes took in the computer, against a wall, facing a single bed. There was another bed in the corner of the room, with a basket of clean laundry sat on it.
"Used to be Karlo's bed." Tolly said, putting his mug down and following Nat's gaze. "He and I shared, which is why my room is bigger than Hal's." He laughed quietly. "An' he's pissed about it but he's never here so hey, I ain't swapping."

Nat cut Tolly's ramblings off by kissing him. "So what did you want to watch?" He asked.
Tolly kissed him again in response.
Nat laughed quietly, pushing him down onto the bed.

Ally glanced across the table at the boy sitting opposite him. Karlo was smiling at something on his phone, a forkful of waffle halfway to his mouth.
He ate the waffle, and looked up from his phone. "Wha'?" He asked, voice muffled.

Ally smiled. "Just.. you looked happy."

"I am. I've got waffles." Karlo smirked. "They're all I need in my life."

Ally put his hand over his heart, and feigned hurt. "Ouch." He smiled, "guess you don't need me then."

Karlo smiled back, "I need you to buy the waffles."

"Yeah yeah." Ally teased. "I get it. I'm replaceable."

"Well, Xander's too straight to buy me waffles so I'm making do." Karlo joked. "Lords, of we weren't in public right now, I'd kiss you." He hissed.

"Who says you can't?" Ally replied.

"Someone's needy." Karlo teased. "But there are people around."

"And?" Ally asked.

"Later." Karlo said firmly, smiling as he did so.