Sorry it took so long to update again! But next chapter will probably be here in a few days, so hopefully that makes up for it!

Chapter 12

As soon as he saw Bonney at their first break, Killer grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the mass of people, towards a part of the school where hardly anyone ever came.

"Wow, Killer, what's going on?" she asked him.

"Emergency meeting," he answered, and that seemed enough for her to follow him.

When they'd reached the deserted part he was going for, he stopped her and softly pushed her against the wall, to make sure she wasn't going anywhere and would listen to what he had to say. And she did, looking at him and waiting for him to speak.

Killer cleared his throat. "So, you know Penguin?"

She slowly nodded. "I don't have any classes with him, but I know who he is. And the whole school knows you two have been fighting."

Killer stared at the ground. "Yeah, well… We kissed." He carefully looked up to see her reaction.

Bonney's eyes went big, and a huge smile took over her face. "You kissed?!" she repeated as quietly as her excitement let her. "How did that happen?"

Killer looked around to make sure there was nobody in their vicinity, before he explained. "Shakky made us talk out our issues at his home, and then his father let it slip that Penguin liked me, and then they forced me to go up to his room, where we were alone, and then we kissed," he said in one breath.

Bonney's smile slightly faltered. "But did you want it?"

"Of course, I wanted it!" Killer pulled at his hair. "I wanted it, alright, but now I don't know what to do. What do I do when I see him?"

Bonney's smile returned. "I don't know, kiss him again?"

He looked her in the eyes, unamused. "You know I can't do that. This doesn't mean I'm ready to come out. You're still the only one who knows I'm gay."

"And Penguin, I imagine," she said dryly.

"And his dad," Killer reacted somberly.

Bonney laughed. "His dad?!"

"It's not funny!" he said desperately. "He caught us kissing."

She snorted. "It's a little funny, you have to admit."

"It's not. But anyway, they promised not to tell anyone." He shook his head. "But now I still don't know what to do."

Bonney cocked her head slightly. "Well, it depends… Do you like him?"

Killer shrugged and looked back at the floor, his heartbeat revealing the answer to that question. "I guess…"

"Enough to want to be with him?"

Again, he shrugged. "I don't know…"

"Well, that's what you'll have to figure out first then." She pushed herself off the wall and placed a hand on his arm. "You know I think you shouldn't live your life pretending to be straight. And it will probably never be the right moment to come out, but there might be the right person to do it for. You'll just have to figure out if he's worth it."

Killer looked at her, impressed. "Wise words… for someone who's also still in the closet."

She raised her hands. "Hey, for me it's a fifty percent chance I won't even have to come out for the right person. For you, it's probably zero. You'll have to give in at a certain point or live your whole life alone."

Killer sighed. "Fine, I'll figure it out." How he would do that, he had no idea though.

"Good," Bonney said. "In the meantime, don't go around avoiding him. Just act normal, be you."

Killer nodded slowly. He'd try.

It was only the next day when Penguin saw him again. It was from a distance, but when he was sitting in the canteen, waiting for Shachi, he noticed Killer standing on the other side of the room. Penguin smiled at him and waved shortly. Killer smiled back, but otherwise didn't let him know he saw him.

To Penguin's disappointment, the next day was quite the same. This time they met in a hallway, passing each other on their way to class. Again, they made eye contact, smiled at each other, but Killer kept walking and didn't say anything. Penguin didn't know what to think, but it was definitely not the follow up he'd hoped for, after that kiss.

Fortunately, he had Shachi to complain to. He was glad he had told his friend, even though he felt a little guilty about it towards Killer. But Shachi appeared to be way better at hiding his knowledge than Penguin had thought, and for that he was grateful.

Then it was Friday. Finally. Friday was biology day. He would spend two hours in the same classroom as Killer. Penguin made sure he'd reached the room in time, so the chances of Killer sitting next to someone else already would be smaller. He stopped at the doorway and looked inside to see if the other boy was inside yet, but this wasn't the case. For a moment he was contemplating whether he would take a seat and hope Killer would come sit next to him, or if he would wait until Killer arrived.

"You're in the way," a voice said close to his ear, startling Penguin from his thoughts. His heart jumped, not only because of the surprise, but also because he immediately recognized who the voice belonged to.

Without thinking, he stepped aside to let Killer though.

As the Killer walked past him, he cast an amused look at Penguin. "Made you jump."

"Did not," Penguin replied, trying to get his heart under control. He was just so glad Killer was talking to him, acknowledging him. He quickly followed Killer, and as soon as he chose a desk, Penguin picked the seat next to him.

As Penguin sat down, Killer glanced at him, but didn't say anything. Penguin unpacked his bag and wanted to talk to Killer, but he wasn't sure what to say. He wanted to ask if Killer had been avoiding him, because it sure felt like that a little, but he was afraid such an accusation might scare him away. There were plenty of other seats still free, so Killer could just get up and sit somewhere else if he wanted to. Penguin was just happy he finally had some contact again. He wasn't going to screw this up now.

"Penguin, Killer," the teacher looked at them from his desk at the front of the classroom. "I don't think it's a good idea for the two of you to sit together. Looking at the incidents you've had in the past few weeks in this, and Ms. Tashigi's class."

Killer made ready to pack up his things to probably move to another seat, but Penguin stopped him, by placing his hand on Killer's, while addressing the teacher. "Oh, it's okay, sir. We talked it out."

The teacher looked skeptically at them. "Yeah? You kissed and made up?"

Penguin felt how Killer froze, and he himself had a hard time keeping a poker face as he nodded. "We made up."

"Hm," the teacher didn't seem convinced. "Do you agree with that, Killer?"

Killer quickly removed his hand from underneath Penguin's. "Yes, sir."

The teacher nodded. "Okay, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt then," he said, and moved his attention to two loud boys who stepped through the door.

Penguin looked at Killer and saw him looking back. Penguin let out a nervous chuckle. "That was an interesting choice of words…" he said as quietly as possible.

Killer didn't seem to find it as amusing. "If anyone finds out, I'm gonna kill you," he said, equally quiet.

Penguin raised his eyebrows at that, but couldn't help pretending he didn't hear him right. "What? You're gonna kiss me?"

Killer glared daggers at him. "Fuck you."

"Hmm, that escalated quickly." Penguin couldn't help but smile. "Seems like you skipped a few steps there."

Killer clenched his fists and was ready to attack Penguin, when he seemed to remember the teacher again. He took a deep breath to calm himself down.

Meanwhile, Penguin just had to laugh at how easy it was to rile him up. "Jeez, I'm just teasing you." He turned his attention to the whiteboard, as the class was about to begin. "Nobody's gonna find out unless you want them to."

The class started, and neither of them spoke anymore. However, Penguin was still very conscious of Killer's presence next to him. Only after about 40 minutes, he noticed that Killer was left-handed, and that his right hand was resting on his desk, near Penguin's desk. Penguin couldn't help himself, and slowly let his own left hand creep towards it. A spark went through his body when their fingers touched, even if it was just the slightest bit. Penguin didn't want to force it, so he left his hand in that position, where it was just barely touching Killer's.

Killer didn't remove his hand. He didn't even act like he noticed. But after about a minute, Penguin felt the slight brush of Killer's fingers against his own, as the blond softly moved them. Penguin's heart made a little jump of joy when Killer hooked his little finger behind his.

Penguin didn't hear a word the teacher said anymore. If Killer was so scared to be found out, this was a huge leap for him, and Penguin was so happy he was taking it. This did mean something, right? It did mean he liked Penguin. At least enough to risk anyone seeing this touch and interpreting it in a way that Killer didn't want. Penguin felt the butterflies fluttering around in his stomach.

But as the bell rang to indicate the end of the first hour of biology, their spell was broken, and Killer pulled his hand back.

As their classmates saw this as the start of their 5-minute break and started to get noisy, Penguin looked at Killer. He wanted to kiss him so bad. And the fact that he now knew Killer liked him too, made it so much harder to not do it. It made him a lot more confident, and he honestly couldn't care a whole lot about what their classmate would think if he kissed him here and now. But he knew that Killer did care and that was the only thing stopping him.

Killer looked purposely away from him, and even though Penguin missed the eye contact, it did make it easier for him to lean forward an bring his mouth towards Killer's ear – or where he thought Killer's ear would be hidden underneath his hair. "I do want to kiss you again, though," he whispered.

Killer grunted. "Don't push your luck."

Penguin sighed, slightly disappointed. "I'm gonna get some tea." He stood up and walked out of the classroom, towards the coffee and tea machine that was just around the corner. He was even more disappointed when Killer didn't follow him. But maybe he wanted too much too fast. At least now he knew that he stood a chance. He just had to give Killer some time and space to come to him on his own terms. He would give him every opportunity, though.

When he sat down and class started again, he tore off a piece of paper and scribbled his phone number on it. After all, he was pretty sure Killer didn't have his number yet, and he wasn't going to let that come between them. He folded the paper and shove it over to Killer's desk. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Killer open it, and then quickly tuck it away in his planner, without any further reaction to it. Penguin had slightly hoped to get Killer's number in return, but wasn't completely surprised when that didn't happen. He'd just have to be patient.

I do want to kiss you again, though… The words kept echoing through Killer's mind. God, he wanted to kiss Penguin again too. But the fact that he had given Penguin the idea that he could just say that to him, in class no less, was not good. Sure, he didn't say it out loud and instead whispered it in his ear, but that didn't make it any better. If anything, the intimacy of it made it worse.

As he sat in the alternatives' corner, waiting for the bell to ring for his last class, he got his planner out of his bag. A lot of people just used their phone calendar, but he liked to keep a paper one. It gave him a better overview of things that had to be done.

When he opened it to the current week, he saw that the little paper was still tucked in between the pages. He folded it open again and looked at the phone number. I do want to kiss you again… Fuck Penguin for being so forward. Still, Killer couldn't do nothing with the information given to him.

He got out his phone and started to create a new contact. He first entered the number and checked it trice to make sure he hadn't made a mistake. Then he wondered what the least conspicuous way would be to file it in his phone. Wouldn't just 'Penguin' attract attention if someone were to see it? Because he didn't really have a reason to have Penguin's phone number, right? Maybe just 'P' would be safer? But then again, that looked way more suspicious, even though the person seeing it wouldn't know whose phone number it was. Maybe he should just use an unsuspicious code name, like 'Pete'… No, that was just stupid. His real name would probably best for now… who would go through his contacts anyway?

He started typing when a door close to him opened, and a gust of wind blew the little piece of paper from his planner. Killer wanted to go after it, but before he could get up, someone else had already reached for it and picked it up.

Killer felt his face heat up. "Wire! What are you doing here?" He quickly turned off his phone screen.

"That's a great way to be greeted," Wire said as he walked towards him.

"You know what I mean!" Killer said, as he tried to snatch the piece of paper out of his friend's hand. "I know you don't have any classes anymore at this hour."

Wire took his hand away from him just before Killer could get hold of the paper. "Detention," he said as a form of explanation. Then he looked at the note in his hand and grinned. "Ooh, who's phone number is this?" He turned it around to see if there was anything else – like a name – scribbled on there, but when he didn't find anything, he handed it back to his friend.

Killer snatched it away from him. "No one's," he said, but he felt his head must have had the color of a tomato. "No one important. Just some chick, who gave me her number. But I'm not interested." With every word he spoke, he felt like he was making his situation worse. The heat in his face wouldn't cool down either. He was glad he could hide behind his hair for a large part.

Wire didn't seem to buy it. "Why not?"

Killer shrugged. "I'm just not. You're not interested in every girl either, are you?"

"Sure," Wire answered. "But then why do you still have her phone number and why is your face still red?"

"I was just gonna throw it away." To demonstrate he was serious, Killer ripped up the piece of paper in as many pieces as he could and walked over to the trash bin. When he let the paper fall in it, the bell rang, and Killer had never related more to the phrase 'saved by the bell'. "Gotta go to class, see ya!" He picked up his things and walked away. "Good luck with detention!"

It was only when he was inside the classroom that he dared to open his phone again, and the new contact page he was working on popped up. 'Name: Peng' it said. Killer smiled. Yeah, that would do.

TBC.

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