Chapter 44

Killer had never thought it felt so good to be back at school. After a week of sitting at home, he was so glad to be surrounded by people again. Just any people, honestly, but especially his friends. And of course, he would be able to see Penguin.

He was chatting with Heat in their math classroom, when Penguin walked in. Killer immediately made eye contact, while whatever Heat was saying disappeared to the background. He watched how Penguin walked through the isle next to Killer, smiling slightly at him. When he walked past Killer, he didn't say anything, but almost accidentally dropped a tiny piece of paper on his desk. Then he took the seat behind Killer.

Killer placed his hand on top of the piece of paper as casually as possible, his heart racing. He wanted to see what Penguin wrote him, but he didn't want to do it while Heat's attention was still on him. His friend would want to know what it was about, and Killer would not have a good reason to keep it a secret. So, he waited until Ms. Tashigi had started her class before he opened the little note.

'Meet me between the coat racks beside the math wing after math.'

Killer's heart started to beat even faster when he read the tiny line scribbled at the bottom of the piece of paper. 'PS: I❤U.' Killer couldn't help smiling.

He glanced at Heat to make sure he wasn't watching him, before he grabbed his pen and wrote underneath the first line, 'OK'. Behind the last line he wrote a tiny two, so it said 'I❤U 2'.

Killer folded the paper up again, and pretended to stretch his arms behind him. When he felt Penguin's fingers touch his hand, a spark went through his body, and he let go of the note. He withdrew his hands immediately.

When the bell rang to signal the end of their math class, Killer made sure to pack his bag as slowly as possible, giving Penguin the opportunity to leave the classroom way earlier, so it wouldn't look like they were following each other.

When Heat and Killer left the room as well, Killer turned towards his friend. "You go on to physics. I need to take a shit. I'll meet you there."

"I can wait," Heat answered.

Killer had been afraid he'd say that. "Nah man, I feel like it's gonna take a while, just go ahead and save my seat."

"Okay." Heat shrugged and chuckled. "Good luck with that."

Killer snorted, but was relieved to see Heat leave for their next class. He pretended to walk towards the toilets, but they were right next to the coat racks Penguin had mentioned. There were three coat racks, about four yards long, which were standing in a right angle against a windowless wall, hidden between the toilets and the janitor's office. This made it one of the darkest places in school, especially during the colder months, when the racks were full of coats. If you were standing at the end of the path between the racks, no one would see you, unless they were very specifically looking for you.

Looking very specifically for Penguin, Killer found him between the first and second row of coats. Killer looked around to see if anyone was watching him, and when that didn't seem the case, he shot into the dark path as well.

He walked as far as he could, pushing Penguin against the wall. He lifted Penguin's chin with his hand, and kissed him on his lips. It was a necessity, something he desperately needed after days of not hearing from his boyfriend at all. He felt Penguin's lips part slightly, and Killer slipped his tongue into his mouth, his heart beating frantically in his chest. He did his best to ignore the voice in his head that said, 'If someone comes looking for their coat…' No one probably came looking for their coat between third and fourth period. He let himself become one with Penguin.

When they broke apart, Penguin gave him a heated stare. "Fuck, you're so hot. You realize you just French kissed me at school, only a few yards from where people are walking?"

Killer placed his finger against Penguin's lips. "Sshhh."

Penguin kissed the finger, and then opened his mouth and took the finger between his lips, licking, and sucking it suggestively.

Killer's eyes widened, and he felt his dick twitch. "Peng!" he hissed warningly, and quickly pulled his hand back, his finger now wet from Penguin's saliva.

Penguin chuckled. "Sorry."

"Why did you want to meet me?" Killer asked quietly.

Penguin licked his lips. "If I'd known you would kiss me, that would have been reason enough." He smiled and put his hand inside his pocket. "I wanted to give you something." He retrieved his hand and showed Killer a keychain. "I found it while cleaning my room, and… well, since you keep calling me your little Penguin, I thought I'd give it to you, so you can keep a little penguin with you wherever you go." He smiled shyly. "Besides… It's holding a knife, you see? It's a killer penguin." He winked at Killer.

Killer stared at the keychain, and then at Penguin's face. God, that was the most adorable thing ever. He was so in love with this guy. He took the keychain from Penguin's hand. "I love it." Then he wrapped his arms around Penguin and pulled him into a hug. "I love you."

He felt Penguin wrap his arms around him as well. He looked up at Killer. "Can I get another kiss before we go our separate ways again?"

Killer smiled at him. "Yes," he said, his lips already ghosting over Penguin's. This kiss that followed was long and tender. Killer didn't want to let go of him.

When they finally put some space between them, Killer sighed. "When will I see you again?" he whispered. "Alone, I mean."

Penguin looked a little desperate. "Well, I've got detention the whole week, since my father ratted me out. And even after that… I'm not sure my father allows you into the house anymore… he's still angry."

"At me?" Killer asked.

Penguin nodded. "Afraid so. I tried to tell him that it wasn't your fault, but he doesn't want to listen."

Killer felt a little guilty. "Well… it was kinda my fault. I asked you to skip school."

"Yeah, but I could have said no. It was my own decision to do so." Penguin crossed his arms. "He shouldn't blame you."

Killer thought about it. If Penguin couldn't convince Law, there was really only one option… It wasn't something he wanted to do, but if he wanted Law to approve of him again, he would have to.

He parked his bike in the driveway. The yellow Beetle was standing there too, indicating that Law was home. Mustering up all his courage, Killer removed his helmet, and rang the doorbell. He'd rather keep his helmet on, hide his face, but if he wanted to make a good impression, he couldn't do that.

He immediately heard Bepo bark, but it took a few moments before the door was opened. Law stared at him with a slightly hostile look on his face for a few seconds, before he spoke. "Penguin's still at school. He's got detention."

Killer swallowed hard. "I-I know."

Law raised an eyebrow. "Then what are you doing here?"

"I'm here for you, actually," Killer had to make an effort to keep eye contact with Penguin's father. "I came to apologize."

The look on Law's face turned to slight surprise and curiosity. "Apologize?" his voice already lacked the hostility that had sounded in it before. "What for?"

Killer took a deep breath. He had practiced what he would say, what he hoped Law wanted to hear, even if it wasn't exactly what Killer was feeling. "For Thursday. I shouldn't have asked Penguin to come. I should have realized it was more important for him to be at school, and put school before anything. I don't want to get in the way of his education. I also should have accepted my own punishment and shouldn't have tried to find a way around it. So, I'm sorry."

Law stared at him in silence for a few seconds, seemingly studying his face, and then he chuckled. "Well, Penguin told me you got in trouble in the first place because you defended both him and me at school… is that true?"

Not having expected this question, Killer had to think back at what had happened that day at biology for a second. "Uh… yeah, I guess. Those guys were just being homophobic in general, but they did say nasty things especially about Penguin, and you… You know, there's this picture of you going–"

"Yeah, yeah, I know all about it, please don't remind me of it," Law interrupted him. Then he narrowed his eyes. "What did you think of that picture?"

Killer colored red as he thought back at the photo of Law in his underwear. He wished he had never seen it. "I… uh…" What did Law expect him to say? Neither a positive nor a negative answer seemed to be a good option. "It was a nice picture, I guess? But, no offense, but you're too old for me."

Law burst out laughing. "Thank God for that." He smirked. "I don't think your father would like it if you took an interest in me."

Of course his father wouldn't like it, what was that even supposed to mean?

Law's face turned serious again, but he didn't seem angry anymore. "Killer, can you be one hundred percent honest with me?"

Killer nodded. "Of course," he said, even though it entirely depended on what Law was going to ask next.

Law looked him straight in the eyes, his gaze piercing through Killer's bangs. Only now Killer realized Law was about the same height as him. He'd seemed taller. "Do you love Penguin?"

Killer sighed relieved, and smiled. This he could answer honestly. "With all my heart."

A slight smile appeared on Law's face. "In that case… you are forgiven. But don't ever let anything like this happen again."

Killer nodded. "Of course, I only want what's best for Penguin. He's the love of my life."

Law snorted. "You two deserve each other." He shook his head, amused. "Wanna come inside?"

Killer hesitated. It would be an hour before Penguin would be home. "I… don't think so, thanks. I still have a lot to do at home." It was only half the truth. Sure, he had quite some homework to do – he still had to make up for last week as well – but he mainly didn't feel comfortable enough to spend an hour alone with Law.

Law nodded. "Well, I appreciate you coming to talk to me."

At that moment, Bepo managed to dart past Law, and ran outside. Killer quickly shot out his hand, and grabbed his collar, while crouching down to dog-level. "Where do you think you're going, buddy?" he asked. Bepo whined, but Killer stroked his head reassuringly.

Killer looked up when he heard Law chuckle. "Penguin usually takes him for a walk when he gets home from school. He gets restless when Penguin's home later than usual."

Killer looked at the dog. "Aww, you're not worried about Penguin, are you?" He ruffled the dog's fur. "I get it, though… I wouldn't want to miss a walk with him either." He moved his gaze towards Law again. "I can take Bepo for a walk, if you want."

Law chuckled. "I thought you had things to do at home."

Killer blushed slightly. "Yeah, you're right. I'll be going then."

Penguin was sitting on his bed that evening when his phone blew up. His eyes widened as he saw the numbers of Killer's newest video go through the roof. The video had been watched over 60.000 times already, when he looked at it around nine o'clock. An hour later, it had hit 100K.

"Holy shit," Penguin mumbled, as he saw it had gotten so many likes and comments. The video had also been shared a lot. He quickly scrolled through the comments. Some that stood out to him were, 'Who would have thought that song could sound so good?', 'God, I wish he played this for me', 'This kid shreds!', 'You're so lucky to be his girlfriend!' – Penguin chuckled at the heteronormative naivety of the commenter – 'Wow, I love this song even more now!', and 'I think he goes to my school'.

Penguin stared at the last message. Shit. He clicked to see the answers to that comment, and saw a few reactions; 'Yep', 'Yeah I've seen him around', 'I think his name's Killer', 'Well, he's killing it on this guitar, that's for sure!', and 'Yeah, he's in my year'. Penguin clicked the profile of the last person to see who it was. However, they hadn't posted any videos and their profile nor profile picture gave any indication of who it could be. Checking out the other commenters, he couldn't find anyone he knew, though from the profile pictures he could say they seemed familiar. They might go to his school, but be in another year.

Penguin didn't know what to do. People from his school weren't supposed to find out. Well, it probably wasn't a huge problem, right? There was no way of knowing the account belonged to Penguin, and there was no way of finding out Killer was gay, just because of this account. So what if people from their school had found this? It was cool for them to know how good Killer was at playing guitar, wasn't it? Yeah, this didn't have to be a problem.

Penguin opened his chat with Killer, and sent him a message. 'You're TikTok-famous!'

A minute or two later, he got a response. 'Haha, really? What does that mean?'

Penguin checked the video again. '110K views and counting on the video I posted this morning. Nearing 9K followers.'

'😳 That sounds like a lot…' Killer replied

'Damn, Peng, how does it feel to have a famous boyfriend?' a message from Shachi came in. Apparently, he had noticed the numbers on the newest video as well.

Penguin first answered Killer. 'It IS a lot… but… some people from our school have found you too.' He sent him a screenshot from the comments of people saying Killer went to their school.

Then he opened his chat with Shachi. 'IKR?! 😱 It's a good thing we're a secret or I would have been fending off paparazzi by now,' he joked.

'Haha, oh well,' Killer sent back. 'They can't find out you're running the account, can they?'

'Pretty sure they can't, no,' was Penguin's reply.

'😂 Better watch out no paparazzi is gonna find out about you then.' Penguin looked at Shachi's message. He knew his friend was joking, but… if Killer would become really famous, that could actually happen. Penguin shook his head. He really didn't think paparazzi would show up just when Killer had a few videos that did well. He was pretty sure this wasn't even considered going viral yet. Besides, nine thousand followers wasn't that much in the grand picture. If he had a few million, it would be another story.

'Well, it's no problem then,' Killer texted him. Penguin was glad they agreed on that. He was sure if this would have happened a few weeks ago, though, Killer wouldn't have been so relaxed about it. But then again, a few weeks ago, Killer wouldn't have kissed him unprompted in a dark corner between coat racks at school either…

Penguin smiled. It seemed to him that little by little, Killer dared to be himself a bit more. That thought made him really happy. And it made him hopeful that one day, even if it was in the far future, Killer would be ready to come out, and they wouldn't have to sneak around anymore. Yes, that was what Penguin would like; telling the whole world Killer was his.

Even though he knew it wasn't going to happen any time soon, he could dream…

TBC~!

Thanks so much CleoKitty20 for your comments! ❤