ORLAND

Bright blue eyes twinkled at him, pinning him in place.

A smile on the beautiful being's face broke out, releasing a bright laugh. They brushed blonde hair out of their face and leaned forward.

Orland's body refused to move as they came closer. Those eyes gazed at him, so innocent yet mischievous. A hand found Orland's bare stomach—since when wasn't he wearing a shirt?

The blonde being leaned forward and pressed unbelievably soft lips against Orland's neck, causing his breath to catch. The hand on his abdomen slid lower, fiddling with the top of his jeans. His button popped open, and Orland swallowed hard.

Those blue eyes appeared again, and again the blonde laughed at him.

"Orland…" he breathed in something incredibly close to a moan. "Should I… Orland…?"

Orland jolted up in his bed.

His entire body felt hot and covered with a thin sheen of sweat. Orland ran a hand down his face, taking a deep breath.

That damn dream…

The flash of creamy white skin and startling blue eyes danced behind his eyelids and Orland groaned, squeezing his eyes shut as he violently tried to shove away the thoughts.

"Orland! Breakfast is ready!" his mother's voice floated from downstairs.

Orland sighed, leaning his head back.

"Be down in a minute," he called.

Orland took another minute to calm down before forcing himself out of bed and getting ready, trying to banish the memory of that damn dream from his mind.

*.*.*.*.*.*

Another wistful sigh from his right and Orland huffed.

"Just say it," he ordered.

Leann cast him a glance, her cheeks turning pink.

They stood outside the schoolyard, leaning on the low, white-stone wall that ran around the courtyard.

Orland and Leann had been friends since primary school. Something about her calm demeanor had drawn him to her, and she never seemed bothered by his abrupt behavior.

They just… clicked. Neither of them ever felt romantically towards each other, though; it just hadn't been there, and neither of them were interested in trying to force it—no matter what anyone thought.

"I just…" Leann began, sighing for the fifteenth time in just as many minutes, "She's so cute…"

"Then talk to her," Orland stated. He felt like a broken record.

He felt as if they had had this conversation every day since the beginning of the school year.

No, wait, it began over summer—that's right.

Leann had kept running into her by the library. Orland always had to hear an earful about how cute and bookish she was, and how pretty her eyes were.

Not that Orland exactly minded listening to Leann's problems—he supposed that's what friends were for. But despite his intense friendship with Leann, Orland still wasn't fond of humans. He never had been, and he didn't want to hear about them all day. Orland had never understood what anyone could see in them.

That was, until now.

"Oh, hey Leann! Hey Orland!"

The familiar voice made Orland's spine stiffen.

It was the one from his dream.

"Orland… Should I…?"

A lump grew in Orland's throat, but he swallowed it back down.

Leann gave him a curious glance when he didn't turn, and she nudged him. Orland reluctantly pivoted.

Blue eyes pinned him in place.

A bright smile greeted him.

Beside him, Leann squealed in delight.

"Aw, hey, Leonel! You look good today!"

Leonel's pretty pale face flushed even as he beamed. Orland was tempted to mutter stupid to Leann. What a stupid thing to say.

Leonel always looked good.

Throughout the years, all of them had grown. Orland was still easily the tallest, but Leonel had hit an unexpected growth spurt, standing just below Orland's chin. The top of Leann's head still barely came up to Orland's shoulder.

Leann still dressed nice, but she no longer wore the frilly dresses her mother used to make her wear; instead she wore tight-fitting summer dresses that drifted to her knee, her long silver hair pulled into intricate ponytails or braids. Today, it was in a high ponytail, a single braid on either side of her head. Her body had grown its expected curves—for a human girl—and her enchanting dark eyes often caught attention on campus.

Orland knew he had grown handsome, as well. His cheekbones were sharp as ever, his dark blonde hair almost brown now, and cut short to show his pointed ears. His body was lean, his eyes a sharp green that cut through people whenever he looked at them.

No one, Orland thought, however, had changed as much as Leonel.

He still had a somewhat round, soft face, but the rest of his body had thinned out. His blonde hair sat about his ears and constantly needed brushing out of his face. A hat usually adorned his head—today it was red—and he wore cargo shorts and button-up shirts that made his unbelievable eyes pop. He had such a girlish figure that he—much to Leonel's annoyance—was still mistaken for a girl.

Orland couldn't mistake him for a girl, though.

They had been in gym together. Wretched gym. That was why—Orland thought at that very moment, trying to ignore the heat beneath his collar—that was why he had those stupid, vivid dreams.

He'd seen Leonel shirtless many times, so there was no mistaking him for a girl.

So why was he constantly having dreams of him?

"Thank you," Leonel answered, dragging Orland from his thoughts, "You do, too."

Those blue eyes turned to him, and Orland's spine stiffened again. Creamy white skin flashed behind his eyes, and a new image, one he'd never seen before—one of that white skin colored in pink, Leonel's head thrown back in pleasure—erupted in his thoughts.

"Orland, how are—"

"I have to go."

Like a bullet Orland was off, leaving Leonel and Leann to gape after him.

Orland stormed towards the school, cursing himself.

That was suspicious. No doubt he would hear about it from Leann later. What would he say? How could he explain that away? Orland had gone this long without telling Leann about his dreams, even though he knew that she knew something was bothering him.

Orland sighed, ignoring the people leaping out of his way, cowering at his glower.

There was no avoiding it, it seemed.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*

LEONEL

Leonel turned back to Leann with a frown. She gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Sorry, I don't know why he did that," she said, "He's been acting weird lately. I'm sure it wasn't you."

Leonel smiled a little, tucking his hair behind his ear.

"N-No, it's fine," he said, giving a small sigh. His face was hot.

That look Orland gave him—it was dark and intimidating.

Paranoia seeped into Leonel's chest.

Could he know? Leonel thought, Could he possibly know?

He minutely shook his head. There was no way. No one knew—no one except his mom, the fact of which still made Leonel's face burn with humiliation.

"Well, we should probably get to class," Leann said.

Leonel perked up.

"Huh?" he asked, glancing around. There were still some people milling about, but some already filtered into the school. "Oh… right. Is your class far away?"

Leann's face turned pink, and Leonel smiled a little. She was so cute and sweet.

If Leonel wasn't the way he was, maybe he could like a girl like her.

How things would be so much easier then.

"O-Oh, no, not really," she admitted, avoiding his eye, "I just… have something to do before that."

Leonel hummed in understanding before smiling at her.

"Alright, then. Well, I'll see you later, then?"

"Yeah, of course," Leann said, looking at him and beaming, "And don't worry about Orland. He's really a good guy. I think he just… has a lot on his mind."

Leonel chuckled.

"Don't we all?" he said, his thoughts threatening to turn dark again. He pushed them away, but Leann twirled a finger in her hair, her face turning thoughtful.

"Yeah…" she murmured.

There was a pause, and Leonel opened his mouth to ask her.

"Well, anyway—I've got to go," Leann burst out, "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, haha. Bye."

They hurried off in the opposite direction—Leonel for the school doors, and Leann for what looked like the direction of the school library next door.

Leonel hummed curiously before shaking his head.

For some reason, nerves danced in his stomach—and not the ones he normally had, either. It was a dark, warning feeling. As if something were about to happen that he was unaware of.

Leonel huffed, annoyed with himself, and weaved through the crowd of people, determined to get the day over with as quickly as possible.

*. .*. .*. .*. .*. .*. *. .*.. *.. *.. *.. *.. *.. *

Hope you liked it! More characters to be introduced in the next few chapters 3 Let me know your favorite characters/couples in the reviews :O I'm curious!