Joe could barely sleep that night because he was so caught up in his thoughts. Yesterday he had only intended to survive the day at school and afterward meet up with Steve to catch up on everything that had happened some more when that boy had come into his life. Rick Savage, the eighteen-year-old and damn gorgeous teen.

And Joe might not accept it yet, but he had fallen head over heels for him the minute their gazes had met for the first time. Steve had called him out on it and that was probably one of the main reasons he couldn't admit it. Another one was that Joe was usually into girls. He had never looked at another boy that way and it scared him shitless that his heart had already helplessly turned into putty whenever he was in Savage's presence.

At dinner, he had told his mum about the new boy, especially about the mutual interest in rock music that they shared. And his mum had directly suggested to bring him over for dinner in return, an idea that excited Joe to no end. He wanted to show his record collection to the younger teen, talk with him about music the whole night through. So he had decided to ask him about it sometime soon.

But still, he couldn't sleep. Partly because he felt so lost in his situation and partly because he simply couldn't wait to talk to the gorgeous boy again. So he decided to read a bit in order to pass out more quickly, which worked.

And before he knew it, it was morning again.

Joe woke up by the beep of his alarm clock, turning it off immediately, as usual. He normally laid in bed for another twenty minutes until he could get himself to wake up completely, but this time, the Savage boy was on his mind. And it made him leave the warm confines of his bed and dress quicker than ever.

He made his way down the stairs, happily humming a melody while entering the kitchen to make himself a bowl of cereals. He glanced at the clock all the time, almost impatiently waiting for the time it would be necessary to leave to go to school. He had to admit to himself that it seemed a bit comical, he never got so excited about school. But it didn't really matter to him at that moment, he just happily chewed on his cereals before making his way back upstairs to brush his teeth after he was finished. His parents were already at work, they always needed to be there quite early and usually left before Joe woke up.

Still humming a melody he brushed his teeth and then got himself ready for school, packing his backpack and taking another look at the clock. His smile widened as he noticed it was time to leave. So he quickly put on his leather jacket and shouldered his backpack before leaving the small house and walking towards school, just like the day before. Except that this time he wore a wide smile on his face.

As usual, he met Steve on his way, the latter smiling knowingly at the expression on his best friend's face. He apparently still believed Joe was in love. Because even if he denied it, it was obvious that he was. And Steve knew exactly who he had in his sights.

They arrived at the school building just a few minutes later, heading to their first lesson that was history. Well, it was Joe's first lesson, Steve had geography instead. So they headed to different classrooms, a frown forming on Joe's face as he noticed Sav wasn't in his when he entered. Hiding his disappointment, he made his way to an empty table in the back, dropping his things next to him and listening to the teacher calling out the names of the ones that should be in the lesson in order to see if someone was sick.

Joe's name got called out after a while, the latter just raising his hand in an affirmative sign. And then, after a while, the teacher called out Sav's name. As no one answered, she wrote down that he was missing and Joe's heart skipped a beat. So he usually had the same class with him. Thinking about that information, he was startled when there was a soft knock on the door.

"Yeah? You may come in", the teacher said and the door opened, revealing him. Joe's eyes immediately widened in attention.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Winter, I didn't immediately find the room. I'm still new and got a bit confused with the corridors", he said as an excuse, shyly tucking a strand of his wild curls behind his ear, and Mrs. Winter nodded with a gentle smile on her face, gesturing him to take a seat. The teenager looked around the room in order to find a free seat, and upon seeing Joe sitting there alone, making his way towards him with a soft smile.

Joe felt his heartbeat speed up in return, his cheeks reddening as Sav dropped down beside him and breathed out a soft 'Hi'. Joe nodded at him in return with a smile on his face, then taking out his college block and afterward placing his forearms onto the tabletop. Sav did the same and for a short moment, the skin of their forearms brushed against each other and Joe sucked in a sharp breath, hoping his neighbor didn't notice it. He didn't, or at least he didn't mention it.

"Well, today we'll start off with a little documentary about the french revolution, so please take out some paper for taking notes", their teacher finally said and got a VHS-cassette out of her bag, plucking it into the player and pulling down the white screen.

The documentary started quite quickly afterward, filling them in on basic information, audibly as well as visually. As it came to the whole part with the guillotines and Robespierre, Joe suddenly felt a hand covering his own on the tabletop and holding on to it. Warmth spread through his body at the contact that somehow contained trust in him since Sav had obviously reached out in slight fear and in need of comforting company. The feel of the younger's warm palm on the back of his hand and his lanky fingers gently wriggling themselves between his own made him incapable of moving in any way, so he just held still and enjoyed it while it lasted.

The documentary finally came to an end and Sav's hand shrunk away from his immediately at the sound of Mrs. Winter's voice. Only then he seemed to become aware of what he had been doing before.

"Oh... I'm sorry, Joe...", he nervously said and looked over at him with a guilty and insecure expression on his face, making Joe smile soothingly at him before answering.

"Don't be... I... I didn't mind it, actually."

The smile was back on the handsome teen's face at that and he also blushed a bit, Joe feeling proud for being the cause of it. They continued following the lesson afterward, sometimes helping each other with the tasks and Joe noticing that way that Sav was a brilliant student. Always attentive, always giving good answers whenever he got to say something. Joe presumed that a friend like that could only be helpful. Wait, friend?

"Sav?", he murmured silently towards him while Mrs. Winter was speaking and illustrating her words by drawing something onto the blackboard, therefore facing away from them. Joe's neighbor turned his head towards him almost immediately at his words, eyeing him once again with those doe-like blue eyes that made the other student feel completely fuzzy inside.

"Can I call you my friend already, or is that too forward?"

"No, I'd love that actually", Sav replied with a wide and dimpled smile on his face, brushing his bangs out of his eyes to make an even better eye contact. Joe's heart skipped at that response, the smile of his opponent causing the formation of a similar one on his own lips.

"And is it too forward to invite you over to my house for dinner sometime? My mum would like to meet you since she likes to get to know all of my friends."

Sav shook his head as a response to that question with the smile on his face widening even further.

"No, that would be fine. How about Saturday?"

Joe just nodded excitedly, feeling the urge to hug his new friend. But he didn't, they were still in the middle of the lesson after all. So Joe left it like that, directing his gaze at the blackboard in the front again and taking part in the lesson once more.

~~~~

The next lesson was sports.

Steve caught up with the two of them again, rambling about the stupid geography class and how much he hated it, especially the teacher, that made the whole lesson extremely boring. He told them he had been close to sleeping at one point.

They both laughed along with him, especially when he started to make jokes and imitate the teacher to make the impression more vivid for the two of them. Steve really was a funny guy and Joe noticed how Sav got more comfortable in their company by the second. Their sports teacher arrived shortly afterward, opening their changing room and letting them in along with the other boys waiting in front of it, Joe noticing some jocks that eyed Sav with a sneer on their faces. But he didn't think anything of it.

Well, until they had placed their bags on the benches and the door fell shut behind them, making leaving more difficult. Until Joe watched Sav being encircled by five of these jocks.

"What are you doing in our changing room? You're everything but definitely no guy, you queer", said one of them, the biggest one, that was obviously on the rugby team. The others laughed while the rest of the boys in the changing room watched with widened eyes, Joe being one of them.

"Say something, you gay motherfucker! What do you want here?", another one said with a shove to Sav's chest that made him tumble backward. His big blue eyes were widened in fear and he desperately glanced around himself, his expression silently screaming 'HELP!' in big capital letters. And as soon as the shove had occurred, Joe simply had to interfere. Sav was his friend after all and he didn't want him to be beaten up if he could prevent it.

"Hey, leave him alone!"

The jocks' eyes were on Joe in an instant and they left Sav alone, focusing on the one that dared to doubt their methods. And Joe suddenly felt very small. But he couldn't let that show, couldn't let them win so easily.

"Fuck off, this has nothing to do with you, Elliott."

"It has, Sav's my friend and if you try to hurt him, you'll have to hurt me first."

He didn't actually know what had made him say that, but it was enough to make the jocks give him a shove and, apparently, leave him alone afterward. They left the changing room with their middle finger raised at him, but they left. And that was all that mattered. Joe immediately went over to Sav, seeing him smiling shyly up at him with a bit of the shock still visible in his eyes.

"Are you okay, mate?"

Sav nodded as an answer with his smile gaining more confidence, and Joe directly felt better, too. They continued changing into their sports clothes afterward, Joe not being able to prevent a shy gaze over at his new friend as he changed his shirt and stood there all smooth chested for a few moments. The sight had his heart racing once more and he damned himself for it, finally being able to force himself to concentrate solely on changing his own clothes and afterward leaving with Steve and Sav in tow.

They started the lesson with a soccer match and got sorted into teams for that, Joe, Steve and Sav somehow ending up in one team with most of the jocks in the other one. Their team had a quite good keeper, too, Joe knew him from elementary school and also that he never quit his soccer team and was therefore still quite good. And Sav had mentioned he'd play soccer too, so they should have a winning chance.

Indeed, they did. And Sav was amazing, he shot the first two goals for them so quickly Joe wasn't even completely realizing it until it had happened. Their rival team apparently noticed Sav's qualities as well, because they started to foul him on purpose. More and more often the handsome teen laid on the ground with a pained expression on his face, but he stood back up each time and shot the penalty kick himself in most of the cases. And he converted those shots into goals every time he shot. By the time their teacher called off the game because of the lack of more time, the score said 7 to 1 for them, indicating that they had won the match.

Joe smiled and cheered at that with exhaustion on his features, looking over at Steve who did the same, and then over at Sav, who limped a bit but smiled either way. They shook hands with each of their teammates, Steve hugging Joe in a friendly way and finally, Joe found himself in front of the teen that was the most responsible for their victory. His chocolate curls stuck slightly to his sweaty face and his blue eyes were slightly droopy in exhaustion and to Joe, he looked incredibly gorgeous at that moment.

"You were amazing. I didn't know you could play that well", Joe stated with a grin, Sav smiling with a blush tainting his cheeks. The taller boy quickly approached him afterward, pulling him in for a short hug and ignoring once again how hard his heart was pounding in his chest at the nearness. Even though the hug didn't last long, Joe could identify a soft scent of lavender emanating from his friend's hair, hinting of his shampoo choices, and Joe stored it in his memory immediately, without even doing it consciously.

The teacher finally gestured them all to leave to the changing room again, which they all did. But Joe suddenly stood still as he noticed Steve next to him but that there was no sign of Sav. Steve first glanced at him questionably but he then quickly understood the cause for Joe's behavior.

"He'll come eventually. I bet the teacher's trying to get him into the school's soccer team after his performance this lesson", Steve assured his best friend and encouraged him to carry on walking towards the changing room, which he eventually did.

Steve was done with dressing himself again as Sav entered the room again with a smile on his face and a sparkle in his eyes. After seeing Joe's and Steve's questioning gazes, he immediately started to talk.

"He wants me on the school's soccer team! I never thought I'd be good enough to get into it!"

"What made you believe that, mate? You were amazing, like I told you before. He would be completely insane if he didn't ask you to join the team", Joe replied and Sav smiled thankfully at him, the taller teen's knees getting weak once again. He quickly changed his clothes to distract himself, preventing himself from looking over at his new friend to not let the feeling escalate further. Steve finally broke the silence again.

"I completely agree with Joe, you definitely deserve to be on the team! And just so you know, I need to go to my next lesson already. Joe, you're having a free period now, don't you?"

"Yep, that's right. You can go already, I'll wait for Sav since I have nowhere to be either way."

Steve nodded at that and waved at them before leaving through the door, leaving Sav and Joe on their own in the changing room. The taller teen bit his lip and played around with his fingers to kill the time while Sav continued dressing on the bench opposite him. Joe desperately tried not to look up, but he failed. Miserably.

Sav was standing there shirtless again as he looked up, a slight sheen of sweat glistening on his smooth naked chest that he started to wipe off with a towel before reaching for his shirt. But before he pulled it on, he stopped in his tracks, looking over at Joe curiously, catching him staring. The latter's cheeks turned as red as they possibly could as the blue eyes locked on his.

"Something wrong?"

Joe shook his head quickly and looked down, concentrating on his fingers again while he wished to disappear into the floor beneath him. God, how could he be so obvious?

He eventually looked up again as he felt a warm hand on his shoulder, noticing that Sav was standing right in front of him with a smirk on his face and still without a shirt on his upper body. Joe immediately bit his lip, waiting for Sav to say something.

"I just wanted to thank you properly for saving me from those idiots before, they surely would've beaten me up if it wasn't for you. I believe there has never been someone in my life that did that for me. They usually just watched me going down and laughed along. So thank you for interfering", the blue-eyed finally said and pulled Joe into a hug with a smile on his face. The taller teen directly returned the gesture, wrapping his arms around his opponent and directly getting hooked on Sav's body heat and warm skin. His hands ran along his bare warm back on their own accord before he could stop himself, pulling his friend even closer into his embrace.

But Sav finally pulled back a bit to look into his eyes again, the smile still evident on his lush rosy lips. Joe suddenly felt the strong urge to kiss them and he had to avert his gaze to stop that thought. His feelings were already going crazy like that, he could only imagine what an overflow of emotions kissing Sav would cause.

"Thank you", he said once more, catching Joe's attention again and leaving the embrace after placing a soft peck on his friend's cheek. And Joe presumed he was as red as a tomato after that contact. He could still feel the soft warm lips on his cheek while Sav was already on the other side of the room to finish dressing. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but nothing was coming out, just like at the moment he met the younger one. But after shaking his head and forcing himself to focus, he finally managed to get something out.

"Hey, which lesson do you have now?"

"I've got a free period, just like you. Then afterward French, I believe", came the immediate answer, Joe inwardly frowning because he didn't have French. But if he had a free period like him right now, they could spend the time together.

"Would you like to fetch something to eat with me while we're free? I'm quite hungry I have to admit", Joe asked again and the younger just nodded with a smile, finally having finished dressing and fluffing his hair again. He then walked over to the door and opened it to step out into the hallway.

"Are you coming, Joe?"

"On my way, mate", the latter replied still in thought, and ran his fingertips over the cheek Sav had kissed in a fascinated way as Sav wasn't looking. He could still feel those lips on his skin. And even if it had been just a friendly peck, Joe knew he had to feel those lips again. And again and again.