Clay ran full into him when the lunch bell rang. He hadn't been around during lunch, off on his timely mission to get all the good school gossip. Desmond nearly fell over but Clay grabbed hold of him before he did. When Desmond was properly vertical and could look at Clay he saw his friend looked excited enough to vibrate straight out of his skin.

"Clay... you okay?" Desmond asked slowly.

"I just found out some of the juiciest news, and it needs to be shared, right now," Clay dragged him over to the railing and out of the flow of traffic.

"What the hell has you so excited? You haven't been this twitchy since you found won that bet about Ezio's last girlfriend," Desmond said and leaned against the banister that kept people from falling off the second story open walkway.

"One. I was right, as usual. I went to the band room to get any good stuff from Rauf and dun dun dun!" then he leaned over to Desmond so no one could overhear, "Rauf and Yusuf were in the quartermaster's office together-

"Yeah... so?" Desmond asked.

"Yusuf was on Rauf's lap. And not like how friends do," Clay bounced a little. "I didn't stick around though. Cause I'm not a weird voyeur-

"News to me-

Clay smacked him on the shoulder, "Anyway! I was right, as usual. Though it isn't 'official' yet since I was talking with Ava and she said she hasn't heard anything. She also thought I was crazy by the way," Clay said thoughtfully.

"Because you are," Desmond stressed. "I mean you thought that just because two people are near each other enough they'll go out. Not to mention Rauf and Yusuf don't even have the same friends, at all. They just inhabit the same space sometimes during football season. It's weird man," Desmond frowned.

"But that isn't all," Clay said, like he hadn't even heard Desmond. Desmond sighed and just slouched against the banister. "Malik and Leo broke up."

"... What? When? How?" now that was sort of interesting to him since Altair's mood was directly influenced by Malik's mood, which could be good or great for him. So if something was eating Malik usually it made Altair more snappy and annoying and a dick head.

"Last night apparently. I don't know why, but Malik broke up with him. Malik didn't come to school today either because apparently Ezio threatened to do something horrible to him for breaking Leo's heart."

"Geeze," Desmond rubbed his temple. He had tutoring with Altair today too. Today might be a nightmare.

"Ava said Leo took it really hard," Clay was still talking, totally oblivious to Desmond's mental turmoil. "He went home from school early for something, not sure, probably just being upset."

"Geeze, what a bunch of five year olds," Desmond groaned. "It's a breakup, not the end of the world."

"Yeah well you know how Leo is," not that Desmond could deny that, the entire school knew who Leo was. He'd won a big art contest, nation wide, and it had been aired on the morning announcements and since then you couldn't not know who Leo was. He was a pretty happy guy, could sometimes be a bit sensitive, and sometimes a lot oblivious, but he was okay. Desmond had seen some of his art. He was good. "Tomorrow he'll be fine."

"I meant more Ezio. Threatening a guy for breaking up with his best friend? He's absolutely insane."

"Yeah..." Clay agreed, "Ezio's a big meat head though. I'm sure Leo and Altair will talk him out of actually inflicting bodily harm on him."

"For my sake I hope so," Desmond sighed.

"Yours?"

"If Malik gets beat up it'll piss Altair off and... well-

"Oooh, I get'cha," Clay nodded. Not that Altair would hit him. But it wouldn't be unlikely if Altair took out some of his emotions during sex. "Stay away from him then. Cause fuck that guy I will kick his ass if he hurts you," Clay said very seriously.

Desmond smiled a little, "Thanks man. Trust me, I don't plan on getting in the middle of it."

"Good," Clay nodded, the bell rang.

"Shit. I need to go-

"Wait wait, one more," Clay grabbed his arm.

"Clay-

"Fuck, fine. I'll tell you after school," and Clay released him. Desmond literally ran to his locker, grabbed his books, and then ran to his class.

He slid into the class sheepishly, "Sorry," he told the teacher. They just told him to sit down. Caterina gave him a look when he sat.

"You're late," she said in a whisper as the teacher took roll.

"Yeah someone was talking my ear off," and then he realized who he was sitting next to. Caterina was friends with Ezio and Leo and sort of friends with the rest of Ezio's group of idiots.

"What'd they have to say?" she asked quietly.

"Leo and Malik broke up?" hoping that phrasing it like a question meant he didn't really care.

Caterina's face went stony a moment and he hoped he hadn't just pissed her off, "They did," she said, "Leo took it bad. Ezio took it worse."

"So I heard- Here," he added louder, when the teacher called him. "He wouldn't... actually hurt Malik right?" he asked.

"I hope not," Caterina said. "He might need to talked off a cliff. Here!"

"Or kicked away from the edge," Desmond rolled his eyes and felt a surge of pride in making Caterina giggle. She didn't laugh or joke often so to get that sort of reaction out of her was a confidence boost.

"Is something wrong Ms. Sforza?" the teacher asked.

Caterina just shook her head and hung it, smiling. Desmond was glad when the teacher just said they were going to work on their midterm packets. Desmond pulled out his and went back to talking, since it wasn't so unheard of for them to work out problems together. "Do you know why Malik did it?" he asked Desmond, still keeping his voice down, he didn't really want Altair to overhear.

"Way I heard it Leo said he was cheating," and Desmond's eyes widened. Malik was cheating? "Or accused him of cheating. He thought Malik was doing something and Leo was being weird and clingy. It's been going on for a few weeks, surprised Clay didn't find out about it sooner."

"So Malik just cut ties?" Caterina nodded. "Shit."

"Yeah. They haven't been happy for a while though. Malik is joining the Marines when he gets out of school and Leo's really against the war in the Middle East."

"Trouble in Paradise," Desmond said flatly.

"Something like that. But they've been fighting for a while and now it just-" Caterina stopped talking and working when someone came up to the table. They both looked, Desmond tearing his eyes away from Caterina and tried not to gulp at Altair standing at their desk. "Do you need something?" Caterina asked sharply, annoyance instantaneous.

"I was wondering if I could get some help," and though he was looking at Caterina his eyes flicked over to Desmond briefly.

"Don't you have a tutor to make sure you don't suck at chem?" she asked.

"I do. He's sitting right there," Altair looked at Desmond and now he did gulp. "Which is why I asked."

Caterina looked at Desmond, clearly it was up to him. Shit. This was a terrible situation. "Uh... I guess it's okay," he said, trying not to be awkward. Altair went and grabbed a chair to sit opposite him, the chair in front of Desmond empty. While he did that Desmond sent Caterina a look like he hoped she caught on fire. Caterina just raised her brows at him and he settled down when Altair sat. "What are you having trouble with?" Desmond couldn't help but sigh. Now he couldn't even avoid Altair in chem. Perfect.

"Problem six," Altair said and gave the both of them the most apologetic, pathetic, look ever.

Caterina sighed a little, "Okay. So this is what you do-

Desmond arrived a bit late for tutoring. He'd attempted to meet Clay under the pavilion but Clay had had to go home because Harold apparently was in a mood and Clay needed to be home before he got there and stay in his room or he'd never be able to it. Desmond promised to call when he was done.

Altair was waiting for him, legs kicked out under the table and chewing on the end of a pen. He looked up when Desmond got close and Desmond felt himself stop slouching when Altair looked him up and down. He sat across from Altair. "Where were you?" he asked.

"Doesn't matter," Desmond waved it off. "So we're just gonna do vocab and work on the hand out," Desmond pulled out his and the vocab cards. "How do you feel about midterms?" he asked.

"Good," Altair nodded. "Though it's stupid they're after winter break. Do they do that in other states?"

"Not that I remember," Desmond said, "Though midterms are usually a big deal until high school," Altair nodded again and leaned back in his chair. "So we left off at problem thirty," Desmond said, flipping through the handout, "Or do you want to do the vocab first?"

Altair looked at him like he was thinking really hard about something. Or he thought Desmond was a moron. Which he wasn't, thanks, his GPA was one of the highest in the senior class. He had his arms folded and his lips pursed over to one side of his face. "Altair?" Desmond asked.

"I'm having a party the day after midterms," Altair said surprising Desmond, "You wanna come?"

Desmond blinked a few times, honestly not expecting that to come out of Altair's mouth. "Is it like a block party?" Altair nodded, "Booze?" Altair nodded again, "You have a better music selection than Ezio's parties?"

Altair snorted, "I was wondering if you'd ask Kaczmarek if he wanted to provide the music? Guy's got a good ear."

"I can," Desmond said and felt like he was having a weird, out of body, experience.

"What about you Miles? Gonna come?" and that did not have the reaction Altair probably thought it would because Desmond just felt turned on and his dick paid attention. Oh this was such a bad thing. Altair rose his brows at Desmond questioningly.

"Yes," Desmond said, surprising himself with how thin his voice sounded. He cleared his throat, "Yeah, sure, I'll come," and he was glad his voice didn't crack or do that weird thing it was just doing. "Is the party invite only?" Altair shrugged, "That isn't an answer you know," Desmond said, annoyed.

"Makes no difference to me. Ezio bothered me about having a party at my place since the last time he threw one everyone trashed the place. So we're having the end of mid term party at my place," he shrugged again, clearly he didn't give a fuck. But then Altair wasn't really a big party guy. "And I got the vocab, lets just work on the packet," he said.

Desmond's brain needed a few seconds to catch back up to what they were talking about, "Okay, sounds good," Desmond said and Altair pulled out his own packet.

Once Desmond got home from tutoring he called Clay. "Hey," Clay said, speaking low.

"Hey. How you doing?"

"Fine. Dad's home. I'm staying in my room."

"You okay?" he asked as he went into the house and waved hi to his mom who was sitting on the couch.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Clay assured him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah yeah I'm sure. I ordered Chinese already and it's here so I can just warm it up when I'm hungry."

"Okay," Desmond said and went into his room, though he always got worried when Clay did this. Harold wasn't... a nice dad. He was overbearing and controlling and judgemental. He wanted Clay to be an engineer to take over the family business, but Clay wanted to be an astronaut. Clay wasn't even allowed to say the word astronaut in Harold's presence without making his dad mad. Since his mom had died Harold had started to drink a lot and while most days he was fine, some days he got really drunk and yelled at Clay. As far as Desmond knew Harold had never hit Clay, but scream at him for sure. "If you want to you can come over."

"Yeah, I know," Clay said, sounding haggard. "He's just mad cause work's been stressful. It's fine, I'm fine," but Clay was still speaking softly, Desmond knew so Harold wouldn't be reminded he was there. Though if Clay wasn't actually there he'd get into a lot more trouble. It was a weird cycle of stupidity with Harold.

"So you still had that thing to tell me?" Desmond asked as he shrugged off his jacket and backpack. He kept the phone tucked up against his shoulder as he hung his jacket up and put his helmet on the back of his door.

"Yes!" Clay said delightfully and back to his normal self. "I heard, from Ava, that Altair-

"Is having a party after midterms? Yeah, I know," and Desmond fell onto his bed, bouncing a little and rolled onto his back to stare at his ceiling.

"... You know? How the hell did you know before I told you?"

"Altair told me," Desmond said watching his ceiling fan spin.

"... He did?"

"Yeah. And you're invited too. He wants you to play music. Not for money, just to hook up your iPod."

Clay was quiet for a moment, "Did he personally invite you?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Dude. I think he likes you."

Desmond sighed, "He doesn't like me Clay," he ran his hand through his hair. "We just sleep together okay? Half the reason he even likes being near me I'm sure is cause he likes to imagine I'm naked," he made a face.

"Dude, he invited you to his party-

"He invited me after he invited you you fucking idiot," Desmond huffed. "He was like 'Hey Miles will you ask Kaczmarek if he wants to play music at my party? Also you can come if you want, whatever, not like I care, cause I don't care about anything cause I'm a gold medal jackass,'" he said in his best Altair impression which had Clay laughing into his hand. Desmond wasn't very good at impressions. "Ask Lucy if she wants to come. Basically it's a free for all."

"Sweet. Well I know Ava is going, and she told me she's dragging Connor along."

Desmond made a face, "Seriously? That kid is way too quiet to go to a party like the football players throw."

"Yeah I figure, but Aveline knows what she's doing. She wants him to socialize with more people other than the two of us. I mean he barely talks to Shaun, Rebecca, and Lucy and spends a lot of time with you cause you both live on base."

"I guess," Desmond made a slight face. "Still his innocent naivety is kinda cute-

"Oh please don't start."

"Whaaat?" Desmond huffed and rolled onto his stomach, "I'm allowed to think boys are cute."

"What about Altair?"

"What about Altair? We're not dating. This isn't an exclusive relationship. But really, once Connor gets all that hair out of his face he's... pretty cute actually."

"The haircut is pretty bad isn't it?"

"I just want to shave it all off!" and over his side Clay laughed quietly again. "Apparently his mom cut it for him and while I like Ziio-

"Yeah it's horrible," Clay agreed, laughed softly.

"He'd look pretty hot in a mohawk," Desmond said thoughtfully.

"Anyone looks good in a mohawk, Des," Clay said.

Desmond thought about this a moment, "Yeah you're right." Clay didn't reply. "Clay? Clay you there?" he asked after silence.

"Yeah, I'm here. I think I need to go though. My dad's stomping up and down the hall and pacing in the living room. I think... I think I should go."

"You're fine?" Desmond asked.

"Yeah I'll be fine. Trust me if my dad ever smacked me I'd call the cops."

"Good," Desmond said.

"I'll see you at scho- yeah he just yelled my name I'll see you tomorrow," and he hung up before Desmond could say goodbye. Desmond pulled his phone away from his face and frowned at it. He wanted to help Clay. But he didn't... really know how. Clay could handle it. Harold wouldn't hit him. At least he hoped not.

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