Chapter 2 

Albion snuck glances at the boy next to him, who was sleeping peacefully on his desk once again.  As much as Albion tried to be friends with Fenner, he was like a wall. His replies were always short, and his only feelings seemed to be boredom and tiredness. 

At least he’s this way with everyone and not just me, he thought with a small shrug, staring at the boy.

“You’re gonna burn a hole in my face if you keep staring at me like that.”

Albion blushed, feeling the heat reaching his ears as he grabbed his textbook to hide behind. “I was just checking you were alive,” he replied, although they both knew he was lying. 

Fenner begrudgingly sat up in his seat, stretching out his arms until his shoulder clicked satisfyingly. Glancing over at the clock, he huffed in annoyance slightly. “Shame, there’s still 10 minutes left. Thought I’d slept through it all.”

Albion slowly moved the book so that he could actually see the board and resumed his note-writing.

“Why do you sleep through every class?” Albion asked after a moment, tearing his eyes away from the board to look at Fenner. The other boy shrugged slightly before simply replying “insomnia. I find it easier to sleep at school so I do.” 

Albion nodded, contemplating that for a moment before asking “how do the teachers never tell you off though?” 

Fenner just replied with another noncommittal shrug. “Guess they just don’t care,” he said, springing from his seat the moment the bell rang and heading for the door immediately. 

“Fen wait for me!” Albion called, getting up from his own seat and grabbing his bag to follow after the other boy. Fenner always left class quickly and left him behind, but this time Albion was determined to catch up to him.

“Don’t always run of like that,” Albion said disapprovingly once he’d finally caught up to Fenner in the hall. The other boy just sighed, turning to him with a raised eyebrow. 

“Why do you follow me? There’s plenty of other people to bother instead,” Fenner said on their way up to the top floor of the library; Fenner’s favourite place to go nap. 

“Am I really bothering you?” Albion asked hesitantly, looking like a dejected puppy. He knew that Fenner was always cold, but it didn’t occur to him that the boy actually disliked his company to some considerable degree. 

Seeing the worry on the boy’s face, Fenner sighed. “No, it’s fine.”

A grin spread across Albion’s features and he grabbed Fenner’s hand, dragging him up the three flights of stairs to the top of the library. Albion tried not to think too hard about how he was holding Fenner’s hand, and Fenner tried to think about anything other than the fact that he enjoyed holding Albion’s hand.

“All I do is sleep though, how is that entertaining?” Fenner asked after a moment, watching a little disappointedly as Albion let go of his hand and sat down on a sofa, pulling out his sketchpad. 

“All I do is draw, and I don’t like being on my own, but you don’t disturb me, so it works out pretty well,” Albion explained, grabbing a pencil and beginning a new sketch of something or other.

Fenner shrugged, nodding slightly as he sat down next to the other boy. “Makes sense I guess.”

Albion actually really wanted to draw Fenner’s sleeping face, but he was certain if he asked Fenner for permission then he’d come across as very weird, and there was no way in hell he was just going to draw him without Fenner’s permission, that would be top of the list on ‘how to be a creep’.

So instead, Albion just sketched random things and practiced his shading skills whilst Fenner napper; the silence working out well for the both of them.

Eventually their last class arrived, signalling the end of Albion’s first week at his new school. He had successfully managed to hang out with Fenner in the library a few times as well as eating lunch together twice, so Albion counted that as a win on the social front.

As it turned out, Fenner was actually rather popular. He excelled in sports and was attractive: the only ‘problem’ was his asocial nature; he hated talking to people and avoided them when possible. 

Most people assumed that this was because he was extremely introverted, but in reality…he was scared of getting close to someone. They always forgot him in the end, and it was already painful enough going through that every time with his father as well as partners and friends in the past.

It was just too painful, so Fenner kept his distance instead.

And then Albion had popped up. No matter how hard Fenner tried, Albion was always there, smiling and talking to him. Fenner had managed to escape the boy for the first couple of days when Albion didn’t know the school layout very well, but now he knew Fenner’s routine well and would sometimes even reach the library before him.

This posed a massive problem for Fenner: Albion was a bubbly, kind and sweet person, just like Fenner’s mother. And he loved to be around bright, happy people; it was the kind of home he’d always grown up in and as a result, people with similar personalities were always comforting to Fenner.

“An F. Really Fenner, you need to pay more attention in class,” the maths teacher said disapprovingly as he dropped Fenner’s test back onto his desk.

Fuck, Fenner thought. It’d only been five minutes and he’d already zoned out in class; they were getting tests back and an F meant that he’d have to retake the test next week. If he didn’t pass next time, his parents would be severely disappointed in him.

If there was one thing Fenner detested, it was feeling like a failure.

“An A+, well done Albion. Very good, especially for your first test here.”

Albion glanced at Fenner awkwardly; this was bound to feel like rubbing salt in an open wound, when Fenner had just got back his own…not so good test result.  

And then an idea occurred to Albion. “Hey Fen, how about I tutor you over the weekend and after school until you retake it next week?”

Fenner snapped his eyes over to Albion, staring at the boy next to him. “What, seriously?” Albion’s notes from the first day had been well-written and concise, as well as easy to understand. This meant that there was a good chance of Albion’s teaching style being similar.

Albion nodded enthusiastically, fiddling with his pen a little nervously. “Of course!”

Fenner considered it for a moment. If he hung out with Albion more, he was bound to be upset when eventually the boy forgot him. On the other hand, Fenner couldn’t stand the thought of his parents being disappointed in him.

His mum won.

“Sure, that’d be amazing,” he eventually agreed.

Albion grinned brightly, sliding his phone in Fenner’s direction. “If you put your number in, we can arrange to meet up tomorrow for our first study session.”

Fenner took the phone and put in his details, before looking up at Albion and saying something very unlike him.

“If I pass the test, I’ll take you for coffee.”

Fenner mentally slapped himself; what part of ‘don’t get too close’ does this fall under you big oaf??! He thought frustratedly. He was about to take back his offer when Albion nodded, beaming. 

“It’s a deal,” the bright boy said happily.

Part of Fenner’s mind wished he’d said ‘it’s a date’.