When Leo walked up to the school gates, he felt a faint vibration in his back pocket and pulled out his phone, glancing at the notification bar.

  Ivan Piotrowski: Go around. There's a section of the fence that's eroded

  15:21

  He smiled to himself and walked along the gate until he spotted the aforementioned section. He glanced further behind the gate and watched Ivan emerge from a corner and walk up to him, his figure backlit against the afternoon sun.

  “I'll be there in twenty.” Ivan mimicked. He kept walking until his chest was almost against the fence, his hands tucked into his jacket pockets.

  After having said goodbye to his friends and giving them a semi-believable excuse, Leo had run to the school, arriving outside the school gates 40 minutes later. He hadn't noticed Ivan when he had arrived.

  Leo stepped closer until his feet were touching the fence, and he hooked his fingers through the wire, staring into Ivan's green eyes — which he could actually see now that Ivan's body was completely blocking the sun.

  He smirked. “I got sidetracked.”

  Ivan nodded slowly, then gestured to the bottom of the gate. “Let's go before the security cameras see us.”

  Leo glanced at him quizzically. “They work?”

  Ivan snorted in response. “Of course not.”

  Leo let out an amused chuffle and watched Ivan bend down and lift the eroding fence, creating a gap for Leo to go through. Ivan's hands were gripping onto the very edge of the fence, covering some exposed area of wire. That had to hurt.

  Leo crouched onto the balls of his feet, grunting as he manoeuvred under the gate. “Finally reaping the benefits of this place's neglect for our safety.”

  When they finally reached the library's back windows, Ivan gripped onto the edge of one of the closed windows, pulling it open until there was a gap big enough for them to fit through.

  When Leo stepped foot into the library, he glanced around the dimly lit space. They were at the very back of the library in a small nook with couches, beanbags and even an old radio that was shielded behind the dozens and dozens of towering bookshelves.

  He slumped down into one of the yellow beanbag chairs, dragging a nearby orange one closer to his own. Ivan sat down in the orange one.

  The beanbags were not close enough for their knees to touch, so Leo reached his hand out, and Ivan clasped it immediately.

  Still so weird.

  Leo turned excitedly to Ivan, who was leaning back in the beanbag, an arm draped over his closed eyes. “Now that we're friends—”

  “I don't think that's a very accurate label.”

  “— We should try to… You know?” Leo swiped a hand through the air. "Get to know each other better.”

  Ivan opened his eyes, then sat up, turning his head listlessly to Leo. “After 17 years, I think we know enough.”

  “You don’t even know my favourite colour.”

  “Red?” Ivan wore a pleased smirk on his face. An infuriating expression that only made an appearance when he knew that he was right about something.

  Leo narrowed his eyes disapprovingly at him. “Lucky guess.”

  Ivan shrugged. “You could say that. Also, your phone case is red.” He gestured to the phone in Leo's hand.

  “So is your sweater. And the colour looks really saturated, so you don't wash it often, but the drawstrings have definitely seen better days, and the seam you're always tugging is barely holding on, so you do wear it often. So I'm assuming it's your favourite hoodie.”

  “And of course it could just be your favourite hoodie without being your favourite colour, but you're too predictable for that.”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Leo remained quiet for a few minutes, then crossed his arms over his chest dramatically, suddenly offended at being described as predictable. Ivan didn't know what he was talking about. Leo was definitely not predictable.

  “Smartass.”

  “I'm a smartass because I pay attention?”

  Leo gave him an offended look. “I pay attention.”

  “To yourself? I know.”

  “I'm paying attention to you right now.”

  “Because we're talking about you.”

  Leo huffed. “Then let's talk about you.”

  “Fine.”

  “Okay.” Leo relented. “Can I ask you a question?”

  Ivan nodded.

  “Where did you go? When you skipped school.” It had been eating at him all day.

  Ivan hesitated for a second before answering, “The graveyard.”

  Leo's eyes widened in surprise. Of all the places he could have mentioned — the mall, the park, even his own house — that was not what he had expected to hear.

  “To do what?”

  Ivan shrugged. “I don't know. I didn't even do anything. I just sort of stayed out there until it got too awkward. And then I left.”

  Leo snorted. “Nothing could be more awkward than how awkward just standing outside a graveyard already is.” He added. He watched Ivan smile slightly, albeit to himself, and did a small victory dance in his mind.

  “You'd be surprised. There was a family there, and they had parked their car on the road just at the edge of the cemetery, and these two kids—a girl and a boy—stayed in the car, while the rest of them went to a tombstone.”

  “Everything was fine for, like, 15 minutes, and then one of them must have pressed something because Love Is An Open Door started blasting from the car speaker.”

  “It was so fucking loud I think even the dead bodies could have heard it if they weren't… well, dead,” he said. “Then to make matters worse, the little girl started singing along extremely passionately to the song. Her parents came running to that car, but she managed to get through two verses before they reached her.”

  Leo laughed, imagining what that would have been like to experience. He fell back into his beanbag, almost taking Ivan with him. “Jesus Christ. Maybe this is a sign that I should start skipping school to go to the cemetery."

  “I'm sure the dead people would love to have you,” Ivan remarked wryly.

  Leo sat up again and adjusted their clasped hands to a more comfortable orientation, slightly enjoying the way Ivan's warm hand felt in his. “If I die, I'd want them to play the entire Frozen soundtrack. You could show up in a blue dress and a blond wig and serenade my family.”

  Ivan rolled his eyes. “That's child's play. I'd go with The Lion King.”

  Leo wrapped his fingers around his chin, eyebrows scrunched in thought. “But I don't want people to dance at my funeral. They should be happy, but not that happy.”

  “I think you'll be too busy being dead to care.”

  “You won't be saying that when I come back and haunt you for dancing,” Leo said pointedly. “And no one else. Just you.”

  “I'd just haunt you back.”

  They continued arguing about who would haunt who for a long time, the conversation drifting from topic to topic before settling back into a comfortable silence. He felt Ivan's hand tug his slightly, and he turned to watch Ivan shift, rotating his body in Leo's direction.

  “Now can I ask you a question?” Ivan asked

  The blond was drumming the fingers of his free hand against his thigh, and his face held a sober expression. So it was that kind of question.

  “If you must,” Leo said through a playful sigh, hiding the sudden apprehension that had filled his stomach. But Ivan had already asked if he was gay. Not much could scare him now.

  “Why don't your friends know you smoke? It's not like you would be the only one.”

  Leo ran a hand through his hair and blew out a preparatory breath. “It's… different for me. I can't afford to be like them. You know? I'm supposed to act like an alpha. Be an example.” But mostly it feels like I'm failing.

  Ivan said nothing in reply and just nodded in understanding. Leo was grateful for the silence. He didn't think he could handle a joke about what a bad Alpha he was going to make.

  After sitting in silence for a few seconds, Leo broke the quiet with another question. “Since you know my favourite movie. What's yours?”

  Ivan bit the inside of his cheek, a contemplative frown overcoming his features. “I don't watch movies often, but I guess Inception—or Whiplash.”

  “Huh. I’ve never watched either,” Leo admitted truthfully. “But I heard they were good.”

  “I’ve never watched Trainspotting either.”

  “You should. It's a masterpiece.” Leo waited for a beat, his breath caught in his chest as he turned to the blond with a playful smirk. “Maybe we should go together so I can show what true cinema looks like.”

  Ivan rolled his eyes playfully.

  “Why not?”