Here's the second chapter. I hope you enjoy.

Thanks to Aerle for betaing!

Chapter 2

Penguin let the door fall shut behind him. "I'm home," he said without much enthusiasm. As if he could feel Penguin's mood, Bepo, their white dog, came running towards him and jumped up at him. Penguin smiled. "Good to see you too, buddy." If there was anyone who could lift his mood, it was Bepo. He walked towards the couch, where he dropped his bag and let himself fall into the soft cushions. Pepo immediately climbed on the couch as well, and lay down, his head in Penguin's lap.

"How was your day?" his father asked as he came walking from the kitchen.

Penguin shrugged. "Fine. As usual."

Law put a damping mug of tea in front of him. "Yeah? Nothing interesting happened at school?"

"Nope. It's school," Penguin said as a form of explanation. He picked up the mug and carefully sipped from his tea.

"Well, something interesting's gotta happen at school at some point," Law commented. "No love interest yet?"

Penguin snorted. His dad always made sure to be as open to any possibility as he could, so he never used the word girlfriend or boyfriend. Which was good, because at least Penguin couldn't disappoint him then, by bringing home the wrong gender. "No. And if there was, I wouldn't tell you."

Law frowned. "Why not? You can tell me everything, you know that. I won't judge before I meet them."

"It's the meeting I'm afraid of," Penguin said. "You always try your best to embarrass me."

Law raised his eyebrows and then shook his head. "At your age you're embarrassed by everything."

"At your age," Penguin parroted in the most idiotic way he could manage. "Not everyone turns into a shameless old man like you."

"Wow, mean," Law commented and he stood up. But Penguin knew he hadn't offended his father. Law was never really sensitive about his age, or at least didn't show it. Besides, he was a pretty young father, being 36, so he didn't have much to complain about in the first place.

When Law left him to himself, he snatched his bag, and grabbed the first book he saw, to start on his homework. He didn't have much else to do this afternoon, anyway. Shachi was visiting his grandmother, so he wouldn't be around to meet up or even chat with over Skype or anything.

He opened the book in the free side of his lap. It was biology, and immediately his thoughts went back to their class, earlier that day. Killer hadn't been the first to make fun of his name, but still, Penguin had been a little disappointed in him, since Killer seemed pretty nice in the beginning.

He sighed. "Dad, why the hell did you call me Penguin?"

Law just pulled a book out of the bookcase and looked over his shoulder. "Because it's a cute name, and it was fitting when you were a baby."

"Gee, thanks." Penguin rolled his eyes.

"And it was for a big part your mother's choice," Law added. "You know, I'm not the only one to blame for it."

"You're the only one left."

"I don't want to hear you talk bad about your mother," Law warned him.

"You started!" Penguin shot back. He had barely known his mother, since she died when he was five. And while Law had later admitted he'd never really been attracted to her, he had still cared a lot for her. He had just been in a relationship with her, because coming out as gay hadn't been an option back then, and a relationship with a woman had been expected of him.

"I didn't say anything bad about her. I still like the name Penguin." Law looked straight at him. "Be grateful you don't have such a standard name like John or Peter or James."

Well, he did have a point there. Still, Penguin wasn't very happy with the name he had gotten either. "You could at least have given me a dangerous sounding name."

"What, you would have preferred Shark or Tiger?" Law made a claw from his hand and let out a playful roar.

"Shut up." Penguin rolled his eyes, and turned his back towards Law, which annoyed mainly Bepo, who had to take another position on the couch.

On Monday, Killer got a surprise during math. He wasn't sure if it was a pleasant or an unpleasant surprise yet. It was probably unpleasant, because it was pleasant. If that even made sense.

The teacher, Ms Tashigi, explained that Penguin had transferred to this math class, because his old math class was too easy for him. That was the reason why Killer hadn't seen him there the first month of the year, but now had him sitting next to him. It was all Heat's fault for not showing up and leaving the spot next to Killer free, really. So their math teacher had thought it was a good idea to place their newest student next to him.

Killer crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at Penguin when the latter sat down. Maybe if he just glared through his bangs long enough, Penguin would go away again.

Killer had hoped he'd only have to see Penguin during those two hours of biology they had together every week. It wasn't like Penguin had been on top of his mind all weekend or anything, to be honest, he had barely even spared him a thought, but seeing him here again, when he wasn't expecting it, still did something to Killer. He liked seeing him, and hated himself for that.

Penguin rolled his eyes. "Listen, I like this just as little as you, so you can stop glaring daggers at me."

Killer scoffed. He doubted Penguin had the same problems with this as he had, but of course, he didn't say anything about that. "Just go sit somewhere else."

Penguin didn't make any attempt to move, and instead took his math book out of his bag. "Tashigi told me to sit here, so I'm sitting here. Deal with it."

Killer sighed. "Fine, whatever." Maybe it wasn't so bad. Maybe it wasn't bad to peek at Penguin every now and then. Killer's hair covered half his face anyway, so no one would even notice – he had used this to his advantage more than once during a test already. Maybe it wasn't bad to like Penguin, as long as no one ever found out.

Killer couldn't help but smile when he looked at Penguin. He really was cute.

He tried to focus on what the teacher was explaining, but noticed his gaze often drifted off towards his neighbor. Maybe this was a problem after all. If he was developing a crush, it would only become harder to hide it. Besides, he wasn't planning on letting his schoolwork go to hell for this, just because his mind was distracted by Penguin all the time.

Shit, what should he do?

Focus, he answered his own question. Just focus on math. Killer reached for his calculator, while staring at the exercise in his book. His heart jumped when his fingers met something way softer than a calculator. He cursed his heart for acting out of place, while slowly looking at his hand.

Yep, just as Killer had feared. His hand lay on top of Penguin's, who had grabbed his calculator in turn. Killer cast a quick look at Penguin, but when he noticed their eyes met, he immediately looked back at their hands again.

He swallowed. "That's my calculator," he said, and he placed Penguin's hand next to the devise, ignoring his rapidly beating heart.

"I've forgotten mine," Penguin explained. "Can't I borrow yours for a bit?"

"No," Killer answered. "I don't care." No one can know. No one can know, he repeated inside his head. Of course he cared enough to lend his calculator to Penguin, as long as there wouldn't be a chance of someone finding out Killer was gay. But there was a risk, and he just couldn't take that risk.

"Wow, no need to be so cold," Penguin commented.

Killer snorted. "I thought penguins liked cold."

"What was that, you bastard?!" Penguin lost it. Did that bastard seriously start making jokes about his name again? He would not let that slide easily this time. If he did, Killer would just keep making jokes like that for the rest of the year.

"Oh come on, that one was too easy to pass!" Killer commented with a smirk.

"Yeah? Well, I'm not calling you a murderer either, am I? Just because you've got a stupid name like that?" Penguin hadn't even noticed he had raised his voice, nor that he had stood up.

"Penguin," he heard the teacher say in the background. But he didn't care, and neither did Killer.

"If you did, I would give you a reason to call me that." Killer stood up as well, trying to look threateningly, but Penguin wasn't intimidated, even though Killer was almost a foot taller.

"Killer!" Tashigi now sounded a little angry as well.

"Ha! Was that supposed to be a threat? Like you even could kill me!" Penguin shot back.

Around them, some of their classmates had started to bang their fists on their tables, chanting "Fight! Fight!" But neither of them really noticed it.

Killer looked down on Penguin. "Is that an invitation to try?" Damn, he really wouldn't mind it kissing those lips right now. But of course, he couldn't. He knew that. So instead, he grabbed Penguin's shirt, and pushed him against the nearest wall.

"Are you mad?!" Penguin reacted, and he tried to plant his knee between Killer's legs. However, the blond was just in time to avoid a painful collision with his crotch, by blocking the hit with his leg.

That was when Killer suddenly realized how close they were standing to each other, and how much physical contact they had. He felt his face heat up, and backed off, just the moment Ms Tashigi was pulling him back as well.

"Eustass, Trafalgar, what do you think you're doing?" She said, trying to look sternly at the both of them.

Killer turned his head away and sat down on his chair again, without saying anything.

"Don't think you can just continue this class as if nothing happened! To the principal's office!" she pointed at the door. When Killer stood up again and started packing his bag, she turned to Penguin. "Both of you!"

Penguin didn't say a word either, while he packed his back and left the room. Tashigi walked with them towards the principal's office, probably to make sure they wouldn't start fighting again. But Penguin didn't really feel like fighting anymore. He was still angry at Killer, but couldn't really recall why he had let it get so out of hand. It wasn't like him to get so mad, but Killer somehow got under his skin.

When they reached the principal's office, Tashigi knocked at the door and opened it. "These two men started to fight in the middle of the class," she said as she pushed them into the office. "I still have a class to teach, but I'll stop by after that." When principal Shakky nodded to her, she left the room.

"Gentlemen, take a seat," Shakky said, pushing her glasses a little lower down her nose so she could look over them.

Both sat down quietly, Penguin cast a short look at Killer, but the latter seemed to be in his own world, view slightly cast down.

"What are your names?" Shakky asked, but before either of them could answer, she turned towards Killer. "You're the Eustass kid, aren't you?"

Killer crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Kid's my father, yes. My name is Eustass Killer."

"Hm, yeah, I remember your dad," the principal muttered. "And what about you?" she asked Penguin.

"I'm Trafalgar Penguin, Ms," he answered.

She wrote it down and then looked at them again, the glasses giving her an even sterner look. "Care to tell me what happened?"

Both of them stayed silent for a while. Killer didn't want to be reminded of how stupid this whole thing was, how he used his own frustrations to start a fight with the person he actually liked.

Penguin thought it was stupid too, but mainly hoped his father wouldn't hear about this. So after a while of awkward silence, he sighed. "We got into a fight, but it was just because of a misunderstanding. It won't happen again."

From the corner of his eyes, he could see Killer turn his head towards him. Before them, Shakky raised an eyebrow. "I may hope so. What was the misunderstanding about?"

"A calculator," Killer said before Penguin had even time to think of something. "It was silly, really."

"A calculator is a reason to start fighting?" Shakky asked them.

The two of them stayed silent. Well, the calculator was what started it… just maybe not the reason it escalated.

"You're in high-school, boys, so I would advise you to not behave like you're still in primary school." Shakky pushed her glasses higher up her nose again and leaned back in her chair. "Well, if you understand how silly it was, and you can look each other in the eye again, I'll let you go with a warning, this time." She stayed silent for a bit. "So, can you?"

Killer and Penguin looked at each other and nodded. "Yes, Ms."

"Good. I'll talk to Ms Tashigi later, to hear her side of the story." She nodded once. "You may return to your class now."

Killer nodded, and Penguin sighed relieved. A warning wasn't that bad.

"However, I will have to inform your parents about this," Shakky added, and Penguin's mood immediately dropped again.

Without another word, Killer and Penguin stepped out of the office, and closed the door behind them. Both kept standing there for a moment, not saying anything.

Penguin cast a look at the clock. There were still ten minutes left of their math class. He should go back, but he really didn't feel like facing Tashigi again, right now. He looked at Killer, who still hadn't moved either. "Shall we stay away?"

Killer looked back at him and chuckled. "Yeah, let's do that."

TBC

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