At lunch, Mycroft calls Greg to tell him about the morning.

"Everyone's talking about you," Mycroft says. "And me, I guess."

"Yeah? What were they saying?"

"Well, the girls in music kept talking about you and asking questions."

Greg laughs. "What were they asking?"

"They were asking if you're a good kisser and if I've seen your abs."

"Did you tell them you have?"

"No! I was afraid they'd claw my eyes out or something. They're all in love with you, but mostly Hilary."

"I know. She's told me."

"She has?"

"Yeah. That's why she knows I'm gay, because she asked me out. I actually did go out with her, because I didn't think it was a date, but she tried to kiss me when I took her home, so I had to tell her."

"Oh," Mycroft says.

"Does that bother you?"

"No, of course not."

"Good," Greg says. "What else happened?"

"The boys in gym left me alone. That was really awesome. Lee asked how long you're suspended for, so I told him only four days."

"Good. I'm glad they didn't say anything to you."

"Yeah, me too. So, did you go to the hospital?"

"Yeah," Greg sighs. "It's broken, of course. I can't play football for two weeks."

"I'm sorry," Mycroft says. "I feel like all of this is my fault."

"No!" Greg shouts a bit too loudly into his phone. "It's not your fault, ok? It's that stupid arse Dave's fault."

Mycroft doesn't say anything.

"Ok?" Greg asks.

"Ok."

"Good."

"So," Mycroft asks after a few minutes, "Are you in trouble with your dad?"

"Yeah. I'm grounded for a week. I can't leave the house, including football practice and tutoring at your house on Saturday."

Mycroft frowns. "I guess it could be worse."

"Yeah. He almost wasn't even going to ground me, but he figured he should."

"Why wouldn't he?"

"He thought it was cool that I was standing up for you. I got suspended for the same reason at my old school, so he wasn't really that mad."

"You were grounded for standing up for your boyfriend at your old school?"

Greg chuckles. "No, he wasn't my boyfriend. But he was being bullied, so I fought the bully."

"Oh. Well, that's good then, I guess. And you'll be ungrounded by next Wednesday."

"Yup. But my dad's not taking my phone away, so we're good."

"I'm not going to see you for a whole week. Your suspension begins tomorrow, so you'll be out Thursday, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday."

"I realized that, yeah," Greg sarcastically says. He laughs. "Are you going to miss me?"

"Of course I will."

"Aww," Greg says, "I'll miss you, too."

Mycroft doesn't say anything, he just frowns at the ground.

"Uhm," Greg suddenly says, "You can stop by after school. For a few minutes at least. Before my dad gets home."

"Sure," Mycroft says. "I'll be there."

"Great. Well, I'm going to go take a shower because I haven't been able to. I'll see you after school."

"Ok. I'll see you then."

"Goodbye," Greg says, his voice sounding like there's a smile behind it.

"Bye," Mycroft says, smiling too.

Mycroft stops by after school as promised. He eagerly knocks on the front door and waits.

"Hey!" Greg shouts, opening the door.

Mycroft stares at him with wide eyes.

"Dear god, is it that bad?" Greg questions while embarrassedly covering his nose.

"No, no," Mycroft says, stepping into the house. "It's…fine."

Greg nods and closes the door. "Luckily it's not as bad as it could be. I won't need surgery or anything, and it'll go back to normal. No deformities."

Mycroft nods and sits on the sofa. Greg sits next to him and adjusts the piece of tape on his nose.

"Your whole face is puffy," Mycroft says, examining Greg's face. His nose is swollen and the skin around it is red, and under his eyes are deep purple bruises. "Does it hurt?"

Greg shakes his head. "Not as bad as it could."

Mycroft nods. "You still look…amazing," he says, diverting his gaze.

Greg smiles. "Thank you," he says, taking hold of Mycroft's chin. He pulls Mycroft in and kisses him, but he quickly pulls away because his nose hurts. "I'm sorry."

Mycroft smiles. "It's ok."

They sit silently for a minute, Greg looking down at his shoes and Mycroft absentmindedly staring at Greg's torso. Since his discussion with the girls, he's been thinking about Greg's body. Of course he noticed how fit Greg is before, he's seen him nearly naked many times, but now that he knows more people think that, he kind of wants to take advantage of it being...his.

Greg looks back at Mycroft while Mycroft is still staring at his torso.

"What are you doing?" Greg asks.

"Huh?" Mycroft shakes his head. He looks back at Greg. "Nothing."

Greg grins. "Are you trying to look at my abs through my shirt?"

"What? No. That's…that's weird."

Greg laughs. He quickly stands right in front of Mycroft and lifts his shirt. He flexes and lets the muscle tighten. "Happy?"

Mycroft just stares at Greg's stomach. "It's…uh…" he clears his throat and looks up at Greg's face. "Good."

"Good?" Greg questions, sitting back on the sofa.

Mycroft laughs. "Yeah, good."

Greg smiles. "Show me yours."

"I don't have…anything."

"So? You've seen me nearly nude many times, and I've yet to even see your stomach. Show me."

Mycroft shifts in his seat. "I'm…pale…and not muscular."

Greg laughs. "Alright, you don't have to show me. Be stubborn."

Mycroft smiles. "I will."

Greg checks the time and apologizes to Mycroft that it's time for him to leave. "My dad will be home any minute."

"I understand," Mycroft says, standing from the sofa and grabbing his bag. "I'll see you in one week."

Greg follows him to the door. "Call or text me, ok? Let me know what everyone at school says."

"Hopefully they won't say anything more."

Greg laughs. "I'll tell Hilary to leave you alone."

"Thank you," Mycroft says. "They all kept telling me parts of me that are attractive. She said I look better with my hair pushed back."

Greg carts his fingers through Mycroft's hair, pushing it back a bit away from his eyes. "She's right."

Mycroft smiles. "Alright, thanks. I'll see you Wednesday."

Greg leans in to lightly kiss Mycroft once. "See you," he says, opening the door for Mycroft.

Mycroft gets onto the street and smiles back at Greg. He waves as he gets into his car and they drive away.

On Thursday, Mycroft hopes that the chatter from the fight would die down, but it doesn't. All day he gets dumb questions like:

"Did Greg really send Dave to the hospital?"

"No."

"Is it true they both are going to jail?"

"No."

"Did Greg break his nose?"

"Actually, yes."

"Have you seen him?" That's what Hilary asks when she sits next to Mycroft again. He really hoped the teacher would be back, but since he's not, the students are free to do whatever they want. Mycroft wanted to play the piano all class, but Hilary sits next to him before he can even get his music out.

"Uhm, yeah," Mycroft honestly says, scooting over on the bench so he's not touching Hilary.

The girls gasp.

"When?" Hilary asks.

"Yesterday after school."

"How does he look?" the second girl from yesterday asks.

Mycroft still doesn't know her name.

"He looks fine."

"Probably looks sexy as hell," the third girl from yesterday says.

Mycroft wonders if Hilary makes them talk in a pattern like that.

"He looked normal," Mycroft replies, getting annoyed by the girls.

"Boys always look hot after they fight," Hilary says. "Have you ever seen Fight Club? Brad Pitt is so damn fine in that flick."

The girls murmur agreements.

"Was it hot watching him fight?" Hilary asks.

"Not really," Mycroft says, more than a little bit annoyed now. "It was really scary."

"It was hot," the fourth girl from yesterday says. "I saw it."

The other girls squeal.

"You didn't tell us you saw!" Hilary says.

"Mmhm," the other girl says. "It was hot. Greg was really good at fighting back."

"That's so hot," Hilary says.

Mycroft rolls his eyes. "Oh my god," he mutters to himself. "Shut up!"

The girls look at him in shock.

"Yes, Greg is 'fucking hot', ok? Yes, I have seen his abs, as a matter of fact I bloody saw them yesterday. And you know what? You girls never will. So shut up because he's my boyfriend and not yours!"

The girls gasp in shock, but Hilary grins.

"You totally love him," she says.

"I do not. We've only been going out a few days."

"Mhm," she mutters, eyeing him closely.

"So you going to tell us if he's a good kisser, then?" the second girl asks.

"I don't even know your guys' names!" Mycroft says.

The second girl raises her hand, "I'm Hailey."

The third girl does the same, "I'm Hannah."

Then the fourth girl, "I'm Harper."

"All H's," Mycroft says. "Wow."

Hilary smiles. "That's why we're best friends. And you fit right in, Holmes."

Mycroft nods in understanding, then instantly wants to shake his head to say, 'No way in hell am I friends with you crazies,' but before he can say anything, Hilary starts talking.

"So," Hilary says, grinning wickedly, "You going to share all of Greg's secrets today?"

Mycroft furrows his brows. "He doesn't have any. And even if he did, I wouldn't."

"Aww," Hilary says. "That's too bad." She bashfully looks down at the desk in front of her and bites her lip.

Mycroft's suddenly aware that she's flirting with him. He gets very confused. Obviously he's gay, he just called Greg his boyfriend, so why would she be flirting with him? He wants to ask, but the bell saves him. It rings and he instantly stands to leave the room.

During gym, the teacher casts Mycroft aside while the other boys play dodgeball. Mycroft's thankful that he doesn't have to play, but he starts to miss Greg. He hasn't talked to Greg since he went to his house yesterday, and now watching the boys play is making him miss Greg trying to show off during gym.

As the boys file in and out of the showers, Mycroft stands by the door as always. The teacher never talks to the boys after they return to the locker room, but today the teacher, Coach Roberts, pops his head out of the door to his office and shouts, "Holmes!"

Mycroft jumps at the sound of his name and hurries over to the door. "Yes, sir?"

"Come on," he says, gesturing for Mycroft to go into the office. "Close the damn door."

Mycroft closes the door and awkwardly stands.

"Sit down, boy!"

Mycroft nods and sits.

"Alright. Well, I'll just jump right in. Are you gay, boy? I know kids are arseholes, but the jests come from somewhere. Are you?"

Mycroft looks completely confused, unsure of where this is going, so he hesitantly nods. "Yes, sir."

"Thought so," Coach Roberts says. "Anyway, we'll be doing sex education classes every Wednesday from now until winter break. Now, I feel morally obligated to, uhm, help you out, too."

Mycroft looks confused. "Sir?"

"I know you're a smart boy, and the internet tells everyone everything nowadays, but I'm offering you lessons, too. You know, about…everything that has to do with you. I'm not saying I'm going to, you know, teach you how. But you need to know about things that have to do with you."

Mycroft feels awkward. He wants to question if Coach Roberts should be talking to him like this, but he figures he means well. Mycroft bites his lip in thought.

"I've got…well, I've got pamphlets and things like that. I just don't want you to feel segregated against if I don't offer you any help, alright? And I don't want something to happen to you because the damn school system doesn't want every kid to know how to take care of him or herself."

Mycroft nods.

"Boy, it'd have saved me a lot of time in my day had someone offered me these classes."

Mycroft's eyes widen. He wants to ask Coach Roberts if he's gay, too, but Mycroft really, really doesn't want to get that personal with a teacher. But now Mycroft feels like Coach Roberts really does mean well. "Alright," he says. "Thank you, sir."

"Not a problem, Holmes," he says. "Now get out of my office."

"Uh, yes sir," Mycroft quickly stands and leaves the room.

After school, Mycroft calls Greg. He's glad to hear Greg's voice after not even texting all day.

"So did the girls bug you today?" Greg asks.

"Yes. I kind of yelled at them. It wasn't nice."

Greg laughs. "What'd you say?!"

"I told them to stop talking about you the way they were because you're my boyfriend and not theirs."

Greg laughs very, very hard at that. "You didn't."

"I did. They were getting annoyed."

Greg's laughter dies down, but he continues to chuckle. "That's really funny. What did Hilary do?"

"I think she invited me into their friend circle."

"Well, you're a mean girl, now."

"Ha-ha," Mycroft sarcastically mutters. "Funny."

Greg laughs again. "They're not that bad, ok? They're nice if you get to know them."

"Ok, ok," Mycroft says. "I just hope our music teacher returns soon. I don't know how much more, 'Oh my god, Greg is so hot!' I can take."

Greg laughs because Mycroft mimics a girl voice. "Well, you're lucky I don't talk about how much I love myself."

"Well, I could just talk about it too, but I don't."

Greg's heart beats faster and butterflies in his stomach flutter. The way Mycroft said that, he made it sound like he loves Greg; how he can talk about how much he loves Greg, too. Greg decides not to push it. Obviously that's not what he meant. Obviously he just meant…he could listen to how much I love myself…He wouldn't…It's only been a few days, he doesn't love me.

Mycroft doesn't even notice what he said. "Anyway," he starts, snapping Greg out of his thoughts. "I'm just pulling up to the library. I've got to go study. I'll call you later, ok?"

Greg nods, then realizes Mycroft can't see him nodding. "Uh, yeah, sure."

"Are you ok?"

"Yes, of course. Why?"

"You just sound weird."

"No I don't."

"Ok," Mycroft says, getting out of his car. "I'll talk to you later, then."

"Ok," Greg replies, trying to sound back in his right mind. "Have fun."

"Oh, I usually do."

Greg does chuckle at this. "Goodbye."

"Bye!" Mycroft happily replies, pulling his phone away and clicking end.

Greg falls back against his bed and holds his phone to his chest. "Holy shit," he whispers to himself. "No. That's not what he meant. It was a poor choice of words."

Greg stays in his room thinking for a few minutes, and as he's about to get up, his phone begins ringing again. He gets very excited because he thinks maybe it's Mycroft again, but when he sees it's Hilary, he frowns.

"Hello?"

"Greggy!" she squeals. "We missed you today."

"Yeah? I heard you guys still wouldn't leave Mycroft alone."

"He's just so fascinating, Greg. Why, you jealous?"

"Of course not."

"Mmm," Hilary sounds. "Your little boy toy is charming."

"Yes, I know."

"You totally love him," Hilary says.

"I don't," Greg defends, his heart beating fast again. "We've only been together a few days."

"That's what he said, too," Hilary says, chuckling.

"Because it's true," Greg says.

"Ok, ok."

"Just leave him alone, ok?"

Hilary sighs. "Alright. I'll try to keep my hands off. He's so cute, Greg."

Greg's cheeks burn with sudden anger. He really doesn't want to hear anyone talk about Mycroft like that. "I know he is."

Hilary chuckles. "You're both so territorial. Don't worry, I won't bite."

"Good," Greg says, a little too quickly.

Hilary chuckles again. "Anyway, I'm out doing a little shopping. Join?"

"I can't, I'm grounded."

"Boo," she says. "I'll talk to you later, then."

"Ok. Bye."

"Bye, love," she says, hanging up.

Greg rolls his eyes and the photo of her caller ID (a picture she took of herself on his phone on his third day of school there) and clicks his phone off. He puts it on his desk and goes downstairs to join his parents for dinner.

*Thanks for your feedback for last chapter! I was really excited about that chapter so I'm glad it went well. Thanks for reading!