A/N: Hey, guys! Thank you for being patient for this update! I hope you enjoy it! My life has been turned entirely upside down lately, and it's been one wild ride, let me tell ya. Hopefully the madness will stop soon and I can go back to attempting to human, because we all know that I am trash.

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The next morning, Emil was highly aware of the mark on his neck. He was certain that Lukas had simply seen it and chose not to say anything. Personally, Emil wanted to drop to his knees and thank every deity in existence that Mathias hadn't been home to see it. Everyone in that apartment knew that Mathias would've never let him live it down. Shouts of, "Luke, our moody, teenage baby is growing up!" would have filled the apartment, thus making it so that Emil would never wander out of the safety of his bedroom again.

Once Lukas pulled up to the school gates, Emil immediately spotted the girls and jumped out of the car, ignoring his brother's goodbyes. He quickly shut the door and ran to the four gathered girls. "Thank God you girls are here," he breathed. "Quick, help me hide this!"

Lilli inspected the hickey on the Icelandic boy's neck. "That's a nice 'mark' you've got there, Emmy," she observed, smirking. She grabbed his hand and began leading him into the school, the other three girls following close behind. "How hard did Leon have to suck to leave it?"

"Who said it was Leon?" he defensively asked as Lilli pulled him into the girls' bathroom. "Wait, what are you doing? This is the ladies' room!"

Natalia stood next to the door. "Do you want your hickey to remain a secret or not?" she asked. "If we cover it out there, everyone in the whole school will know. Which would you prefer, Emil?" She smirked when he remained silent. "Also, it's obvious that it was Leon. We saw you leave the school with him."

"We're not stupid," Lilli giggled, fishing her makeup out of her backpack. "Now tilt your head up and let me cover that hickey." Her lips pulled into a smile as she went to work on her friend's neck. "Honestly, Emmy," she scolded, "do you forget that we're all friends with Mei? Of course we know where you got that hickey."

Emil groaned. "Do the guys know?"

Laura let out a short, howling laugh. "Of course not! Raivis and Neo may seem quiet, but those two are such gossiping bitches. And let's face it, Yong-Soo can't keep a secret to save his life."

"Max just doesn't care for gossip," Mei piped up. She leaned in and inspected Lilli's work. "Wow, Lil, you've become a real pro at this. It makes me wonder how often you hide hickies from all of us."

Lilli's face turned bright red as Natalia smirked by the door. "Th-That's none of your concern," she stammered, snapping her makeup compact shut. "All that matters is that I covered Emil's hickey."

Emil turned to look in the mirror. His eyes widened as he realized the mark was gone and that there appeared to be no trace of makeup anywhere. "Impressive," he mused. He turned to the girls. "Do I look okay?"

"You look fine," Natalia stated from her post by the door. She moved over by the sinks to the others. "It even looks fine up close. Now, we should probably get Emil out of here before someone sees him." Her hands pressed firmly against his shoulder blades as she pushed him toward the bathroom door. "That's right, Emil. Just walk out like nothing happened. And ignore what Laura is going to say on the way out."

He was about to ask what she meant before he heard Laura's loud voice, causing him to smirk. "God, Emmy! We know you're new to this country, but you can't just follow us into the bathroom like that! It's the ladies' room for a reason, to keep boys like you out!"

"I won't do it again," Emil sighed, playing along.

Mei grabbed his hand and began leading him toward the courtyard. "Let's get you to the boys. It should be okay for you to follow them to the bathroom." She spotted Leon and Yong-Soo and made a beeline for them. "Excuse me, boys!" she called out to them. "Could you keep an eye on him? He followed us into the ladies' room."

Yong-Soo grinned widely. "Tell me, Iceland, what does paradise look like?"

"There was a lot of screaming," Emil answered, causing both boys to laugh.

Leon clapped a hand on Emil's shoulder. "Well you've brought him to the right place. Thank you, ladies!" He grinned widely and guided Emil over to a corner by the wall. "So why were you really in the ladies' room?"

"Don't you already know?" the Icelandic boy questioned with a smirk. "I mean it's your fault anyway, the way you were attacking my neck last night."

The other boy laughed. "So you had them cover your hickies?" he asked, unable to keep the smile off of his face. His cheeks were growing more and more red with each passing moment. "I wish I could've seen."

"I'll remember to take pictures next time," Emil responded with a wink.

Leon rested his head on Emil's shoulder, red-faced and chuckling to himself. "God, you're so fucking hot when you tease me like that," he breathed, tightening his grip on the other boy's shoulder. "How will I ever be able to fully control myself around you again?"

"You'll find a way," the silvery-haired boy answered. "After all, you have to. You can't spend all day lusting after me."

That was when Leon leaned his head back, laughing loudly, before pointing in Emil's face. "Watch me," he challenged.

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Late October, 2014, Iowa City, Iowa

Thus passed two months of secret makeout sessions between Emil and Leon, plus the occasional hiding of hickies. Emil was still confused as to why he couldn't just date the attractive Asian boy, yet he never brought it up to Leon. He didn't want to jinx what they already had. All he hoped was that he could date him one day. After all, Leon didn't seem like the type of guy to lead someone on like that.

The Homecoming dance was that night, and they all decided to go as a group, which included going out to dinner before the dance as well. The girls all gathered at Laura's house to get ready while the boys gathered at Max's. After the dance, they were all gathering in Max's basement for one big sleepover, yet the girls' parents and guardians all thought they were staying at Laura's. Laura's parents didn't mind where she was staying, though. They had been doing this for years.

Lukas had demanded to meet Max's older siblings, who were supervising that night, before agreeing to let his brother stay. He, in fact, scoffed at his own husband when Mathias suggested he was being too overprotective. "I just need to be sure that Emil is hanging out with the right group of people," he had said, which made his Danish husband throw his hands up in surrender and sit down in the recliner.

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Saturday, 4:05 PM

Emil walked up to the door of a large, white house with a finely manicured lawn, Lukas in tow. He looked at the big, brass knocker on the door that read "SCHMIT". He glanced over at his brother, who looked impressed, and sighed. "My friends are going to think I'm weird because of you. I mean, look at you. Ever since we moved here, you've changed a lot. You used to be this professional business type of guy and now you've got a septum piercing and a nose ring. Don't get me started on your gauges. And your arms and legs are covered in tattoos! Is this some sort of weird rebellious phase you never had? A mid-life crisis? What happened to the Lukas Køhler I moved here with?"

Lukas, who was inspecting the tattoos on his right arm, grinned over at Emil and said, "I'm thinking of making these into sleeves."

"Did you hear a single word I said to you?" his brother groaned. He slapped his palm to his forehead. "Talking to you is seriously like talking to a brick wall sometimes, you know that?" When Lukas didn't answer, he sighed. "Why do I even bother?"

After ringing the doorbell, they only had to wait a few moments before a woman with curly, brown hair and smiling, green eyes answered the door. She was clad in a bright red sundress with a hair ribbon to match. "You must be Emil!" she greeted, smiling widely. "Who is this man with you?"

Emil gestured to his older brother. "This is my older brother, Lukas. Could you do me a favor and tell him that we aren't going to be doing anything illegal tonight? He followed me to the door because he's been reading parenting books and thinks it's American custom to meet every authoritative figure I'm around."

Lukas elbowed Emil in the side, face red. "Shut up," he muttered. "Go hang out with your friends. I've got it from here."

The younger brother was more than happy to hear those words before getting directions to Max's room. He took off as fast as he could so he wouldn't have to be around Lukas any longer. If anything, Lukas looked more like the teenage brother, not him.

"Iceland's here!" Yong-Soo greeted, throwing open the door to Max's room. "Come on in! We need to be ready by five. The girls have been on our cases, constantly texting us about preparing for the dance and all that. Neo almost threw his phone."

"Tell your girlfriend to stop sending me pics of how 'fine' their butts apparently look," Neoklis groaned from inside the room. "There's only one ass that looks extra fine tonight, and that's Rai's."

Emil walked into the room and froze the moment he laid eyes on Leon. He didn't even hear Yong-Soo shut the door behind him. It were as if he were deaf and blind to everything but the gorgeous Asian boy before him. All he could hope for now was that his jaw wouldn't drop.

Leon was wearing black converse, black dress pants, a black button-up dress shirt, and a strikingly bright red tie. He smiled over at Emil when he saw him staring. His lips twitched into a smirk. "What color tie did you bring?" he asked.

The girls had all gotten the same dress, except in different colors, so the boys decided to go with the same concept; all black and a brightly-colored tie. The color Emil had chosen was sapphire, upon his brother's recommendation.

Emil pulled out his tie and smiled. "Sapphire should be good for me."

Raivis walked over and held the tie up to the Icelandic boy's face. "This shade of blue really makes your pale skin glow. It's a really nice color on you."

Neoklis walked over, slinging an arm over his boyfriend's shoulders. "You're absolutely right, Raivis. It does look great."

The silvery-haired boy could feel the blush rising to his face. "Takk," he mumbled, trying to focus on anything but the people in front of him. He felt embarrassed that all of the attention was on him and silently hoped that someone would steal the spotlight from him.

"You chose blue too?" Max asked, walking over as he tied his tie. His tie was a soft silvery-blue. It really brought out his eyes. He smiled. "Awesome! Blue is a great color. Yong-Soo chose lavender to match Laura's dress." He rolled his eyes in mock annoyance and made a fake gagging noise, causing Yong-Soo to direct a smack toward him, which he easily dodged. "Neo chose lime green, and Raivis is wearing gold."

Emil smiled. "Now my problem is that I don't know how to tie a tie," he sheepishly admitted.

Max reached out and popped Emil's collar up, slipping the sapphire tie around the back of his neck. "Yong-Soo can't either, but that's just because he's a boosted orangutan," he laughed. "Some guys just don't know how, and that's cool." He tied the tie with ease and flipped Emil's collar back down. "I'll teach you sometime."

"Thanks, Max," the Icelandic boy said. "I really appreciate it."

"Hey, we're friends, aren't we? What good are friends if we don't help each other out every now and then?" Max winked and shot him finger guns. "I got your back." He then went over to Yong-Soo and began trying to wrestle the lavender tie out of his hands. "Give me that before I strangle you with it, you ape!"

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Saturday, 5:57 PM

Leon and Emil sat in the Asian boy's car that he was borrowing from his brother for Homecoming. They had beaten the rest of the group to the school, the others stopping at the residents of their families for pictures with their significant others. The two sat in silence, but it was a comfortable silence. Each boy kept sneaking glances at the other when he thought the other wasn't looking.

"You know," Leon began, breaking the silence, "you look really good tonight. I wouldn't be surprised if half the girls at the dance asked you to dance." He chuckled to himself. "I mean, you look really good."

"Would you get jealous if I danced with those girls?" Emil asked, looking over at his companion. "I mean, they're going to be looking their absolute best in those tight dresses with their hair and faces all done up."

"Are you trying to make me jealous?" Leon asked, smiling over at the Icelandic boy. "I won't be jealous at all, and here's why." He leaned in close to Emil and whispered in his ear, "Because either way you look at it, you're with me all night."

Emil felt chills through his body as it tensed up. He could feel goosebumps forming on his skin as he turned his head toward Leon to see that their faces were extremely close to each other's. His mind was screaming at him to kiss the boy before him, but what if that wasn't what Leon wanted. He decided to wait for Leon to make the first move.

"I'm sure I've already stated this before, but I am serious when I say I can hardly control myself around you," the Asian boy breathed, getting closer and closer with every word. "And now you have to go and look absolutely irresistible like this." He grabbed Emil's tie, a pleading look in his eyes. "Why do you do this to me?"

The next moment, the two of them were in a full-on liplock, Leon leading as he held Emil tightly. Emil felt like putty in the boy's arms, enjoying the melting feeling that was enveloping him. All either boy could hope for was that their moment wouldn't have to end. But alas, it did.

"I'm so confused," Emil admitted, looking over at Leon.

"What are you confused about?" Leon asked, inspecting the parking lot for any cars that would let him know their friends were there.

"Why is it that we kiss all the time, but we can't be a couple?" the Icelandic boy asked. "I'm just trying to make sense of it all. What really is so complicated about us dating and being a thing?"

Leon was quiet for a moment. "It's just complicated for me to wrap my head around. It's a personal issue that has nothing to do with you." He looked out the window and spotted Yong-Soo's and Max's cars. "Everyone's arriving, let's go."

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Saturday, 8:48 PM

There was only about an hour left of the dance, and Emil already knew that there was no way he would ever be able to dance with Leon. In fact, Leon hadn't danced with anyone but the girls in their group, and that was only because they threatened to blackmail him if he didn't. Emil had also been dancing with the same girls as Leon, but he just felt empty. Something was gnawing inside of him. He watched Raivis and Neoklis dance together, and nobody had made an issue over it at all. Why couldn't he just dance with Leon? He could feel his depressed feelings taking over. Why did he feel like Leon's dirty, little secret?

"Excuse me," a soft voice said as a slow song came on. It was a voice that Emil had never heard, and it belonged to a girl he had seen in the hallway a few times. She had long, blonde hair and a sapphire dress on. "It looks like we kinda match, don't we?"

Laura, who was sitting behind Emil, chimed in on the conversation. "Oh, my God! You two really do match! That's so cute! Mei, look! They match!"

Mei hurried over and looked the girl and Emil up and down. "Did you two plan this or something?"

The girl giggled. "Not at all," she insisted. "This is just my favorite color!" She was quiet for a moment before saying, "Would you like to dance with me?"

Emil saw Leon nearly fall out of his chair at the girl's bold request and smiled at her. "I would be honored to," he answered. "It's getting old dancing with the same four girls all night, and that's only when they're available." He stood up and offered her his arm. "Let's go."

Laura and Mei cat-called and shouted about how their "little Emmy is growing up" after him. They were too excited to see the jealous scowl on Leon's face. But Yong-Soo and Max sure saw it.

Emil positioned his hands on the girl's waist once they were on the dance floor. "So what's your name?" he asked, smiling softly as they began to sway back and forth.

Her lips curled into a smile as she placed her hands on his shoulders. "My name is Eve," she answered, swaying to the music. "You're a nice dancer."

"Thanks," he answered. "I haven't danced with anyone since I danced with my mother before I moved here. She used to play old records on her record player and make me dance to them with her."

Eve giggled. "That's really cute," she admitted. "Where are you from?"

"I'm from Reykjavik, Iceland," Emil told her. "I moved here this past summer with my older brothers." He blushed, not ready to admit that Lukas and Mathias were married.

"So kinda like Leon?" she asked. "I've known him since middle school. He doesn't really like me, though."

"Why is that?" Emil was intrigued to hear more about this. To him, Leon liked everyone. What could have been so bad that Leon wouldn't like her.

"Okay, so everyone knows that Leon likes guys, I mean it's obvious, right?" Eve began. "Anyway, he started dating this guy named Anthony the summer before our freshman year. What he didn't know was that Anthony liked me more. So every time that his boyfriend would get done hanging out with him, he'd rush over to my house and we would fool around. I'm not exactly sorry for it, though. It's not my fault Anthony was more attracted to me. Anyway, Leon found out three months later, and he blew up on me. It was so stupid. I guess he hasn't dated anyone since because he has really bad trust issues." She rolled her eyes. "So immature."

Emil didn't know what to say. She had just explained Leon's issue with dating him, and here he was, dancing with her. To him, Leon nearly falling out of his chair made a lot of sense at that moment. Was Leon scared that she was going to steal Emil, too?

Before he had time to think any further, he felt himself being pulled away from Eve. He could only hope that it was who he hoped it was.

"Now, you listen to me, and listen well, because I'm only saying this once," Leon growled into his ear. "If you finish dancing this song with her, I'll start acting like nothing has ever happened between us, and we'll go back to what we were before I ever kissed you." His breath was hot on Emil's neck as he took some deep breaths. "Do you understand me?"

"What do I get from you if I just never talk to her again and leave her all alone on the dance floor?" Emil asked with a smile.

Leon was obviously shocked by that response. He was completely taken off guard. "I want you to be mine, and only mine," he admitted. "I don't want to share you with anyone, especially her. When I saw her asking you to dance, that was when my heart sunk and I knew I needed to make a decision about us. Emil, please, I'm begging you. Please cure my loneliness and be my boyfriend."

Emil quickly turned around and pressed his lips to Leon's in the middle of the dance floor, a pretty bold move on his part. He nearly melted when Leon's arms wrapped tightly around him as he kissed back. It was definitely a magical moment that Emil knew he would never forget.