Author's Note:

01.02.17: Spent all day writing this when I could've been doing dissertation work - I'm such a good students.

Anyway, read on.

Michael was glad that day one of school seemed to have gone off without a hitch. As soon as they had sat down for dinner, Kathleen had begun to grill him about his day, and as he told his recount, he realised he'd had a pretty good day. Workload had started off light, but he was sure it would begin to pile up soon, he'd managed to spend time with friends as well as make a new one in Allison.

Being the nosy mother that she is, Kathleen was also quick to ask if there were any boys at school that Michael liked the look of. It was only then that he remembered being given Danny's number by Lydia. As soon as he'd settled himself in the library, it completely slipped his mind, until now. He gave his mother the most vague, non-committal answer he could think of, offered to wash the dishes, and was quick to busy himself in the kitchen before she could push the subject further. Kathleen must've picked up on the signs, as she took herself up to her bedroom so she could get ahead on her elementary school planning.

Dishes all done, Michael reached into his pocket and pulled the folded scrap from his pocket with wrinkled fingers. Leaning against the counter, he unfolded it and read it over and over. His other hand hovered over the pocket holding his phone, unsure of whether to take it out and follow the instruction. With a sigh, he shoved the scrap back into his pocket, made himself a mug of hot chocolate, and retreated upstairs, deciding he'd do some assigned reading or something.

After a couple hours, Michael had abandoned his assigned reading in favour of the next novel in a fantasy series he'd gotten into over the holiday. Another hour later, and he'd made a good dent in it. But the phone number in his pocket was still weighing on his mind. Marking the page, he set the book down and pulled the paper from his pocket again.

It wasn't that Michael thought Danny was unattractive and that was why he hadn't text him yet. In fact, he thought Danny was very handsome, and it wasn't hard to imagine being in the older boy's arms as they danced or did… other things. But that only ever happened in his imagination. Michael saw them as nothing but fantasies. He was finding it seriously hard to believe that Danny was actually interested in him.

He didn't think that he was particularly attractive or anything, and definitely not on Danny's level. Lydia thought he was cute, but she was Michael's best friend so she has to think that. Danny was probably the first actual other gay guy to show an interest in Michael, not counting straight boys trying to pull a mean joke, or testing themselves on Michael to see if they were gay or bi. He was pretty sure Danny had never shown any interest in him before, but maybe he just hadn't been looking.

Swallowing back his worries, Michael reached for his phone, keyed in the number, and stared at the keys for a moment, trawling his brain for his favourite movie.

'Alien'

A few moments later, Michael's phone buzzed in response.

'what?' Was Danny messing with him? Was he playing it off like he hadn't given Michael his number, or had he been even more mean and given him the number of some random guy who had no idea who he was.

'You told me to tell you what my favourite movie was. It's Alien.'

'oh!sorry was really confused for a moment :P'

'isn't that a scary movie?'

Michael couldn't help but smile slightly at that. Perhaps this wasn't the joke he first thought it was.

'Yeah, and it's in space. Y'know, "In space no one can hear you scream"?'

'haha i'm not much of a scary movie fan'

'bit of a wimp really'

'Big muscly guy like you? Nah, I don't believe it. :P' Michael hoped his attempt at flirting went down as well as he hoped it would.

'So what about you, what's your favourite movie?'

'hehe thanks ;) hmm… promise you won't laugh?'

'Cross my heart'

'the lake house'

'Okay, that's cute.'

'what can i say, i'm a sucker for romance'

'I'd have pegged you more as a Fast and the Furious guy?'

'oh god no the idea of watching that just made me cringe'

'Haha, I'm with you on that one. :)'

'would you wanna be with me at the party friday night too? ;)'

'Ooh, smooth. ;)'

'Lydia's roped me into helping her set up, so I'm definitely gonna be there.'

'think you'll be able to tear yourself away from party management to have a dance with me? ;)'

'Hmm… I think I could spare a couple minutes for you. :P'

'looking forward to it :)'

'Hehe, cool'

The moment Michael set his phone down, he regretted sending that last message. '"cool"?' he questioned himself 'God, I'm a complete idiot…' Groaning audibly to himself, he rolled over and did a quiet scream into his pillow.

Michael had spent all of Friday afternoon helping Lydia dress her back yard for the party, but when they discovered that Lydia only had a handful of solo cups left, the duty fell on Michael to walk to the store to get more. Even though Jackson could easily have picked some up on his way over, but Michael wasn't bitter about it, not at all. Not that it mattered now, he had the cups now, and was nearly back to Lydia's.

As he was heading up the steps to Lydia's front door, over the quiet thump of music he heard a voice calling his name. Turning around, he saw that it was Allison, and with her was a boy with tan skin and messy brown hair.

"Hey Allison," Michael smiled at her in greeting. "Who's this?" he asked, looking to the boy beside her.

"This is the pro goalie from the other day, Scott," she replied, looking between Michael and Scott with a smile.

"Oh, with the mad reflexes?" Michael questioned, glad to be able to put a name and face to the boy who had blown everyone else out of the water at the practice. "Nice to meet you, I'm Michael." With a smile, he offered his hand out to Scott, who shook it firmly.

"Nice meeting you too," Scott smiled, and Michael had to admit, it was a nice smile.

"Not been here a week, and you've already got a cutie on your arm. Good work, girl," he teased Allison, causing both her and Scott to blush. "Have fun, you two." Michael turned and hurried up the steps and inside, the music growing much louder once he crossed over the threshold.

"There you are!" Lydia dashed out from the kitchen, snatching the pack of cups out of Michael's hand. "I've had to get the crystalware out and they're $150 a piece!" Michael followed her back into the kitchen, rolling his eyes slightly.

"Sorry, sorry, but I'm here now. Don't you have any cheap glasses?" Michael questioned, leaning against a counter as Lydia tore open the plastic packaging.

"That is not the question you should be asking; the question you should be asking is 'What am I gonna get Lydia as a thank-you for setting me up with a hot boy?'" Lydia said with a smirk before turning and heading into the back yard.

The music was even louder out here, and Michael found it slightly hard to move between the people dancing and drinking. Lydia was moving swiftly though, and snatching glasses out of the hands of some people and handing them a cup in replacement. "I think the question you should be asking is "how am I gonna thank Michael for getting me these cups at the last minute?"' Michael replied.

"Well," Lydia started as they reached a table of drinks. It was covered with crates of beer, bottles of spirits and soda, as well as several bowls of chips. "I could make you your first drink, but somebody's beat me to it…" Lydia was looking past Michael now, and following her gaze, he saw that she was looking over at Danny, who was standing at the far side of the pool. He was talking to Jackson, and had a cup in each hand, one being his own and the other, Michael assumed, was for him.

Michael's stomach fluttered slightly, and he turned back to Lydia. "You're 100% sure that this isn't some prank Jackson's pulling, right?" he asked, wishing he didn't worry so much.

"Of course I am!" Lydia crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at Michael. "Jackson can be mean but he would never be that mean. And I told you, Danny spoke to me too, so it hasn't all come from Jackson. Now go over there, tell Jackson I wanna talk to him," Lydia had stepped forward now, and was fixing Michael's t-shirt, picking off pieces of fluff and hair, "and then you and Danny can get well acquainted, okay?"

Michael couldn't stop himself from smiling at Lydia. "Thank you," he said before quickly dipping his head to kiss Lydia's cheek.

"I know, I'm amazing," Lydia smiled, before putting her hands on Michael's shoulders, turning him around and pushing him in Danny's direction.

Michael's feet quickly took over and carried him the rest of the way over. He only had a short time to worry about how he was dressed. His blonde hair was in messy spikes again, and he had the same blue-framed glasses he always wore, but was tonight dressed in a red-sleeved baseball tee, distressed dark grey jeans and black sneakers. In an effort to make himself feel more comfortable, Michael pulled the sleeves of the shirt slightly up his arms, leaving them just below his elbows.

"Hey," Michael said, getting both Danny and Jackson's attention. "Lydia said she wanted to talk to you about something?" he directed at Jackson, who cast a glance over the pool to where Lydia was now talking to Allison and Scott.

"Sure she does," Jackson said, rolling his eyes as he took a large sip of his drink. "Try not to gay Danny up too much." With that, Jackson pushed past Michael and made his way over to Lydia.

"Not sure there's much you can do to 'gay me up', I'm already definitely gay," Danny joked, which comforted Michael somewhat. "Here," he said, holding out one of the cups to Michael, who took it gratefully.

"Thanks." Without even looking at the contents, Michael took a deep drink, making him cough slightly. "Wow, that's strong," he said, transitioning from coughing to laughing.

"Oh, sorry, Lydia told me what you liked, but I mixed it. I can get you another, if you-"

"No, no," Michael said quickly, not wanting to give Danny the wrong impression. "It's fine. Thank you for making it for me," he smiled, and got one in return from Danny. He watched as Danny took a sip from his own cup. "I'm guessing you didn't drive here then?"

Danny smiled, shaking his head. "Jackson brought me in," he answered, looking over Michael's shoulder to where Jackson and Lydia were now dancing closely.

"That was strangely kind of him," Michael teased, eying Danny over the rim of his cup. The boy was wearing a tight, dark green, short-sleeved t-shirt, and dark blue jeans. "You look nice tonight," he commented, not wanting his looking at Danny to come across as creepy.

Danny chuckled. "Thanks. You're looking pretty good yourself," he said, moving to step a little closer. Michael could smell Danny's aftershave now, and it smelled as good as he looked. "So have you got any more little jobs to take care of, or are you free to enjoy my company now?" he asked, a playful smile on his face.

"Well, I should probably go and make sure that no-one's screwing around upstairs," Michael joked, looking back to the house. "But it's not my house, so Lydia can deal with that." With a grin, Michael took Danny's hand and pulled him towards the small crowd of dancing teens.

Once they started to join in on the fun and as more alcohol went in his system, Michael began to lose track of time. He noticed Jackson and Lydia had slipped away from the crowd, and Jackson had Lydia pressed against the wall as he kissed her neck. He also spotted Allison and Scott dancing away, ignoring the rest of the crowd.

Looking back to his own partner, he felt Danny's hands on his waist, gently pulling him in closer. Michael lifted his arms up around Danny's neck, looking up at the slightly taller boy with a playful smirk. He could feel the heat of Danny's body radiating off him, and he suddenly noticed how dry his mouth felt. This only became more of an issue when he realised that Danny was leaning in to kiss him.

'No, not like this!' "Hey," Michael started, bringing his head back slightly, earning a confused look from Danny. "How about I get us another drink?" Danny's confused look dissolved into a smile and he nodded, letting his hands slip from Michael's waist so he could leave.

Michael hurried over to the table of refreshments. He was pretty sure he could remember what Danny had been drinking as he filled the two cups. He took a couple big gulps of his own before starting to make his way back over to Danny, mouth feeling much less dry.

Yet again, he struggled to make his way through the crowd. Having to dodge elbows and suck in breath to squeeze between people, he gingerly made his way through the crowd, spilling as little of the drink as he could. Unfortunately, he didn't notice someone swinging their arm, catching Michael squarely in the back. As be began to fall forward, he was reminded of his dream. But he wasn't falling off a building this time. He was falling into Lydia's pool.

He had just enough time to suck in some air before he hit the water. The pool water was cold, and the chill immediately choked the air from his lungs. Twisting around in the water, Michael tried to orient himself. Reaching out, he felt the bottom of the pool, so twisted to put his feet against the bottom and pushed up, breaking through the surface of the water, immediately beginning to cough harshly.

He heard a several shouts of his name, and felt a strong hand on his arm, pulling him. Suddenly there were arms under his shoulders, hoisting him out of the pool. Finally on solid ground, he coughed up the last of any water he swallowed, starting to shiver as water dripped off his body. He pulled his glasses off, the water on the lenses making it just as hard to see as if they hadn't been on anyway, and wiped at his eyes.

"Dude, you okay?" Michael turned towards the voice, seeing Danny on one knee over him, having been the one who pulled Michael out of the pool. Lydia was also stood nearby, looking worriedly down at her friend. Everyone else stood around him seemed to be looking at him with amusement. Michael could feel the heat rushing to his face.

"C'mon." Danny offered his hand out to Michael, who took it and allowed himself to be pulled up. Once up, he wrapped his arms around himself, trying to keep himself warm, but he couldn't stop himself shivering. Feeling like a total embarrassment, Michael turned and hurried inside, running through the kitchen, up the stairs, and into the guest bedroom that he would sometimes stay in when he and Lydia would have late study sessions.

Not caring that he was soaked through, Michael sat himself on the edge of the bed. He rocked back and forth, trying to warm himself up, but he continued to just sit there, cold and dripping. He wiped his eyes again, some of the drips being tears. 'God, Danny's gonna think I'm a total idiot, I'm never gonna hear the end of this, I'm-' He was startled from his thoughts by a knock at the door.

"Michael?" It was Danny's voice on the other side. The last person Michael wanted to be seen by. "Michael, are you in there? Lydia said you probably would be." 'Dammit, Lydia,' Michael scowled.

"I-I'm in h-here," Michael managed to get out through chattering teeth. Slowly the door opened, and Michael glanced over to see Danny stepping in. "C-come to t-tell me to d-delete your number?" he asked quietly, looking down sadly at his wet legs.

"I came to bring you a towel," Danny said as he walked over, and Michael felt a warm fluffy towel draped around his shoulders. "And I brought your glasses up too." Michael heard them being put down on the bedside table. "Are you okay?" he asked, crouching in front of the blonde boy. Michael couldn't stop the small smile appearing on his face at how caring Danny was being.

Michael gave the older boy a nod. "Freezing c-cold and my dignity took a h-hit, but I'm f-fine." The shivering was starting to fade, the warmth of the towel beginning to seep in.

"Take your shirt off."

"Excuse me?!" Michael blurted, blushing brightly.

"It's soaking wet and keeping you cold, take it off and you'll warm up faster," Danny said, laughing gently.

"Oh." Michael really needed to stop embarrassing himself. Standing up, he let the towel fall from his shoulders, reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it up over his head, tossing the wet garment aside.

Danny had picked the towel up again, and lifted it back around Michael's shoulders. "There," he said quietly, rubbing the towel up down Michael's arms. "That better?"

Michael looked up slightly to meet Danny's eyes. "Yeah," he answered softly with a nod. His arms had been trying to cover up his body, but now his hands were drifting slowly to rest against Danny's chest. "Thank you," he whispered, not caring that Danny seemed to be leaning in closer.

"Anytime." Michael's eyes closed as Danny's lips met his own, hands sliding down from Danny's chest, along his toned stomach to rest on his waist. Danny had one hand on Michael's shoulder, the other moving up to cup his cheek. Michael's lips moved with Danny's, the kiss becoming more intense.

Danny's tongue was soon in Michael's mouth, and their bodies were flush together. Keeping his hands on Danny's waist, Michael slowly stepped back until felt the bed behind him, at which point he fell back and pulled Danny down on top him. The older boy was surprised by the motion, giving Michael a playful look. "What're you doing?"

"Keeping warm," Michael smiled up at Danny before pulling him in for another kiss. Danny didn't seem to mind as he continued to use his tongue to play with Michael's. The younger boy ran his hands up Danny's body, sliding his shirt up slightly, hands coming to rest up around the older boy's neck, one hand fingering through his short dark hair, the other gripping his shoulder.

Moving from Michael's mouth, Danny began to trail kisses along his jaw and down his neck, sucking and biting gently at the now-warm flesh. Michael's head tipped back, small gasps of breath caused by Danny's actions. He could feel Danny's hands at his hips, thumbs slipping under the top of his jeans. Was he going to insist Michael take those off too?

He didn't have time to find out, as the door was pushed open and Lydia walked into the room. "Mich-AH!" she squealed, spinning to put her back to the boys on the bed. Danny quickly scrambled off of Michael, and the blonde sat up, pulling the towel tightly around him.

"Lydia!" He yelled, recognising the girl through his slightly blurred vision. He reached for his glasses, which Danny had dried off before bring them up, and put them on. "Can't you knock?" he asked as he stood from the bed and hurried over to the girl.

Turning around, Lydia glared up at Michael. "I came to tell you that I called your mom, told her what happened, and that being the amazing friend that I am, sent you to bed so you didn't catch pneumonia or something!" She crossed her arms defiantly over her chest, staring Michael down.

"I…" Michael was lost for words, and looked back to Danny for help, who just shrugged. "I'm sorry," he sighed, giving Lydia an apologetic smile. "And thank you."

Lydia's expression softened, and she gave Michael's arm a gentle squeeze. "You still feel cold… you're okay, yeah?" Michael nodded, smiling gratefully at the girl.

"I'm fine. Danny's looked after me." Michael glanced back to Danny, seeing the older boy smiling in his direction.

"I saw." Lydia's knowing grin made the blonde blush lightly. "You should rest," she said before turning and walking back to the door. "Make sure he rests," she called over her shoulder to Danny, before leaving the room and pulling the door shut behind her.

Michael sighed and turned, walking back over to the bed and sitting down. "Sorry about her," he said, looking up at Danny, who moved to sit next to him.

"It's cool, she just cares about you," the older boy said, putting his arm around Michael's waist. "And she's right, you should rest. Have you got anything you can sleep in that isn't soaked through?"

Michael nodded. "I've got a couple things I keep here when I stay over," Michael said, getting to his feet and walking to a chest of drawers filled with men's clothes. Most of it was Jacksons, but Michael had a couple bits. He pulled out a pair of clean underwear and some pyjama shorts, and quickly changed into them, hoping that Danny would be a gentleman and not look.

When he turned around, Danny was standing at the window, looking down at the party outside. "Do you wanna go back down there?" Michael asked, getting the feeling that Danny would rather be having fun than babysitting him.

Danny turned around at the question, and Michael noticed the boy's eyes looking up and down his body. "No," he answered, closing the window blinds. "Lydia said I should make sure you rest," Danny walked over to the light switch, flicking it and bathing the room in darkness. "And besides, I wanna get to know you better, and this seems as good a time as any."

Michael wandered over to the bed, turning on the small lamp to give a little illumination to the room as he climbed into the bed. He never would have imagined Danny would be so sweet. Nor that he would look so good undressing. The boy had taken off his shirt and thrown it aside, and was now slipping out of his jeans, leaving him standing in grey trunks that left little to the imagination.

Danny laughed lightly as he saw Michael looking at him, and walked over to the bed, lifting the covers and sliding in next to him. "We can save that for later," he joked, putting his arm around Michael and pulling him in close. "For tonight, let's just talk." Michael smiled as he cuddled into Danny and draped an arm across his stomach.

"Sounds good to me."

Michael and Danny talked for hours, talking about anything they could think of. Family, pets, favourites, funny times and sad times, anything. Michael couldn't remember if the party had still been going on by the time they eventually fell asleep, but Danny stayed with him the whole night, and even walked Michael home from Lydia's the next day.

Unfortunately for Michael, Kathleen saw the boys coming, and once he was inside, she barraged him with questions: who was he, how did they meet, were they safe? Michael felt the embarrassment of the previous night all over again. After assuring her that nothing beyond kissing happened with him, Kathleen finally got on to asking Michael about falling in the pool. Despite his claims that he felt fine now, she made him take medicine for cold and flu all weekend.

After school on Monday, as Michael was getting his skates out of his locker, Danny stopped as he was passing. "How're you feeling?" he asked, leaning his side on the lockers.

"I'm fine, Mom had me doped up all weekend, so I'm probably not gonna be ill for the next decade," Michael joked, earning a laugh from Danny.

"So you're healthy enough for a second date sometime then?" Michael couldn't quite pin the look on Danny's face, but it looked almost… hopeful. Maybe things were turning around.

"Definitely healthy enough," Michael answered, closing his locker.

"Good. How about we catch a movie some time?" Danny stepped away from the lockers, standing straight in front of Michael.

"Well, it can't be anything scary. Can't have you getting scared, can we?" he teased, taking a step closer to Danny, who's hand came up to rub his arm.

"I think I could handle a scary movie, so long as I had a hand to hold." Danny's hand slid slowly down Michael's arm, and reaching his hand threaded their fingers together. "Sound good?"

"Very good." Giving his hand a squeeze, Michael leant forward to quickly give Danny a peck on the lips. "Text me the details later… or just text me later." He squeezed Danny's hand again before letting go and walking away.

"So that was cute." Michael turned to the voice and saw Allison at his side, walking with him towards the exit. "Guessing things went well Friday night then?"

"After he fished me out of the pool, yeah, they got better." The look of surprise on Allison's face made him realise she didn't know about him falling in the pool, so he quickly filled her in.

"Wow, sounds eventful," she whistled.

"Yeah, just a bit," Michael chuckled. "How was your night with Scott?" he asked, nudging her gently with his elbow.

"Don't ask," she replied, sounding annoyed. Now it was Michael's turn to be confused.

"What happened?" he asked as he held the door open for Allison.

"He just left me there, stranded. He looked like he was having a migraine or something, then ran out to his car and drove off," she explained, standing patiently while Michael sat down to pull on his skate gear.

"Sounds rough," Michael commented as he stood up. "But he probably had a really good reason. I doubt he'd have done it just to be mean or something." Looking back over Allison's shoulder, Michael caught sight of the boy in question, who was heading in their direction. "He's coming over," he warned Allison, looking back to her. "Just hear him out. Then make up your mind." Michael gave her a comforting smile and squeeze of the shoulder, before turning and starting to skate away. Turning a corner and heading down the sidewalk, Michael looked back through the chain-link fence to where Allison and Scott were talking. He smiled, and looked away, quickly moving down the sidewalk towards home. A gentle buzz in his pocket made him grin, and Michael sped up, eager to get home.

Author's Note:

01.02.17: So this brings the events of the first episode of the show to an end. Hopefully you'll like how I've been working Michael into the story of the show.

Anyway, let me know what you think, and thank you for reading.

~Ryan