The cafeteria was deafening. That was to be expected on a Friday afternoon, though. Everyone was revved up for the weekend and couldn't wait for that final bell to ring. Most students were busy making plans for the upcoming Saturday and Sunday. I, however, sat with Beyond, Near, Matt, and Matsuda at our usual Friday table.

B pulled out his usual lunch: a peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich.

Matsuda gave him a look. "Hey, B. I've been counting; that is your one hundred and fifty-ninth consecutive peanut butter and jelly so far this year. Why don't you eat something different?"

I groaned. Here we go.

Beyond stared him down. "It's peanut butter and jam, Matsuda."

"What's the difference?"

There it was. "Well, I can't jelly my dick down your throat, now can I?" That was B's favorite reply when someone—anyone—asked him what the difference between jelly and jam was. He took a bite of it. Near thought it was hilarious and snickered childishly in his seat beside me. I grinned myself, and bit into my school-made pizza.

"Oh," Matsuda said nervously, flushing a bright red color. He scratched the back of his head and avoided eye contact. "Well, uh… why do you always have it?" He asked again, his question having been ignored previously.

"Why is your hair always black?" Once again, it was avoided. Beyond swiped his mouth with his tongue.

"Because," Don't do it don't do it don't do it, "Because I was born this way!" I facepalmed. He did it.

I turned sideways and blocked Matsuda from my peripheral vision as he went off singing Lady Gaga. Near grinned at me, and I offered a scowl in return. Matt, sitting diagonally from me, swore at his crotch. "What are you doing?"

"Fucking gym leader used a full restore."

"Oh, Pokémon."

"Yeah," He mumbled absently. I smirked at him.

Matsuda drooped himself over my shoulder as he belted out the chorus to Born This Way for perhaps the third time. I glared at him. "Fuck off."

Thankfully, the bell rang, letting us know that we've got to get our asses to fifth period or we're late. Near stacked up our trays and empty wrappers like those speed-stackers and disposed of them like the little lackey he is.

One period of sleep-inducing Business later, and I was back in Philosophy, waiting for the perpetually tardy Mr. Pirro to show up. Matt was drooped over the desk, snoozing as he did. I lounged in my seat, feet on the empty chair across from me, staring off into space. Gevanni had taken a trip to the bathroom. Near kept himself busy by seeing how many dice he could balance on Matt's head before they toppled.

When the dark-haired kid returned to the classroom with ample time to spare, he stood and looked at my feet on his chair. "Move 'em."

I begrudgingly dropped my feet from his chair with a heavy sigh. My sneaker hit Matt's foot beneath the table and he sat up, spilling dice all over the table. Near frowned and gathered them up again.

"Good morning, sunshine," I greeted my crush. "Hey, so I was thinking. After the game tonight, do you want to come to my place and kick each other's asses in Super Smash Brothers?"

"Thanks, but I think I'll be doing the ass kicking. You'll just be losing as you normally do," He mumbled with a stretch.

I wrinkled my nose and glared at him. "Fuck you. I've been training."

"Ah-huh," He hummed disbelievingly.

"Alright," I slapped my notebook down onto the desk. "I'll show you." I shrugged off my sweatshirt, letting it hang off the chair behind me.

"Whatever you're going to be 'showing,' Mello, I suggest you keep your clothes on," Mr. Pirro said as he walked briskly into the room with a handful of papers. The class erupted with laughter.

I leaned back in my seat and slid my arms behind my head. "You're right. This body would be just too much for the ladies to handle without clothes," I smirked, glancing at Misa, True, Storm, and Takada at the other two tables behind me. I received eyerolls from one hundred percent of them.

"Ah, yes, all of that unkempt testosterone in one person must outweigh their puny estrogen," He sighed sarcastically.

"I think you interchanged hormones, Mr. Pirro," Matt snorted as he stretched again. Once more, the class giggled in unison—well, the girls and Light did. L, Near, and Matt just kind of smirked, Gevanni was staring off into space obviously concentrating on figuring something out in his head.

Mr. Pirro closed the door and waved his hands around. "Okay, okay, looks like you all need to go back to Anatomy and-or Psychology and figure out the hormones involved in the human bodies again. I don't teach that."

With a few more stifled snickers at my expense, class began. Even though we started late, we also ended early, as was the tradition of last period on Friday afternoons.

And so, thirty minutes later, the five of us were already out on the field and warming up. Near hit on me, as per usual. Matt left, destination unknown. Slowly but surely, the rest of our team shuffled in and joined us. Gevanni threw one last pitch into my glove to warm up and we took a seat on the bench, watching everyone else begin what we'd just finished.

Near pranced in and squeezed himself between pitcher and catcher, almost elbowing the chocolate bar I cracked open out of my hand. I gave him a futile glower. He simply offered a so-called "cute" grin to me, then to Gevanni. I rolled my eyes and threw my black catcher's glove in his face and stalked out of the dugout to meet Ruvie.

The other team arrived shortly after our coach, and soon enough the game was underway. I expected to see Matt there, but his fuzzy little head was nowhere to be seen. I guess I was kind of glad. I bet his presence at one of my games would shift my heart into overdrive and my nerves would get the better of me like my anger always does. At the same time, though, I was also disappointed in a way. In which way, I didn't know.

All I was sure of was that Matt better not have been getting baked before he came to my house where we'd be in the company of an eleven-year-old girl.

With the first pitch, the batter tried to hit the deck to avoid a pitch that was slightly too much inside. Okay, it was a little more than slightly. And aimed directly at his head. The ball thudded against his shoulder and the ump stood up behind me with a call of, "Dead ball! Take your base."

The batter rubbed his shoulder and hustled down the first base line. I signed to Gevanni for a fastball on the bottom outside corner. He hit his target with barely an inch off, but before the ball could hit my glove, the next batter tipped it almost straight up. I called off Gevanni and the baseball fell easily to me. Without more than a glance, the ball sailed in a straight line to Beyond's glove at first, and he tagged the runner out as he tried to dive back to tag up. Double play.

Nine otherwise boring innings later, we were ahead by an ungodly amount of points. The other team—never one to actually win a game—kept their losing heads held high as they ran by us, slapping each of our hands in succession. Their coach grabbed my hand. "Nice job out there, catch."

I grinned and offered a "Thanks."

Only after all the equipment was packed up and shoved in the back of Ruvie's car did I realize that Matt was lounging on rock just outside the dugouts. I whacked him with my glove as I strolled up to him. "Fancy seeing you here."

He nodded a greeting back at me. "Yeah, Mia's borrowing my car for the afternoon, so she dropped me off here about an inning ago." I started toward my car, and he slid off the rock, following naturally.

"You're actually letting her borrow your car?" I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering just who the fuck was walking beside me. Matt never let anyone behind the wheel of that Chevy unless he could help it.

Matt just shrugged. "Yeah, I mean, her car's in the shop and she had some appointment somewhere—I don't know, Mom asked me before she did to let her use it, so... I have a verbal contract with her though, if she gets so much as a scratch on that thing, she's paying me for the damage," His voice turned grave. There he is, I thought to myself. I nodded along as we both slid into my own dumpy little vehicle.

"I don't know about you," I groaned, twisting in my seat, "but I'm fucking starved." I slowly pulled out of the parking lot.

"I'm thinking burritos," Matt mumbled with agreement, sifting through my CD collection hanging from his visor.

"Deal."

After a moment of careful scrutiny, he slid a CD out of the sleeve and examined it. He angled it word me. "What's this?" Glancing over, I saw that it was a plain blue disk, much like the other hundred and a half mix CDs I've made and been given over the years.

"I dunno," I shrugged. "Put it in."

Matt leaned forward with a sigh of, "That's what she said." He jabbed at my radio, exchanging whatever CD I had in there previously with the one in his hand. A moment later, a booming, high-pitched voice rang through the car. Matt and I both lunged for the radio, turning it off not a moment after it came on. I retracted my hand, gripping the steering wheel tightly, hoping the goose bumps from just that slight contact weren't noticeable.

We shuddered in unison. "Fucking Justin Bieber," Matt scowled.

"Elsie." I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"Speaking of, the little monster gonna be home tonight?" He slid the CD back into its sleeve, deciding the radio would suffice. He sunk down in his seat.

I nodded glumly. "Yup, unfortunately."

"Sweet, I can kick her ass with Peach again."

I inhaled through my teeth, tilting my head. "I don't know, man, she's been getting wicked good lately with Ike."

Matt just let out a dismissive pfft. "Yeah, ah huh. Nobody beats Peach."

"Except occasionally Donkey Kong."

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"Ugh." I rolled my eyes, pulling into Taco Bell. I ordered our food, accepted the payment from Matt for both dinner and gas, and eventually exchanged our currency for goods and-or services. We sat in the parking lot staring at Walmart across the highway as we stuffed our faces with burritos and chicken.

"Oof, this is disgusting," Matt mumbled, digging at the drumstick with his teeth again. "Disgustingly delicious, unf."

"Uck, God, yes." I chuckled, smirking at my burrito, hand hovering underneath it to catch and wayward beef or beans.

With minimal grease stain incidents, Matt swung out of the car and dumped our garbage in the bin beside the door. I watched as he sauntered across the parking lot, slumped and careless. But his slumped and careless ass looked good. I couldn't help but notice. I turned away and blushed to myself as he turned around and started back.

As he dropped back into his seat, I glanced back over, face sufficiently calmed. "So, um… yeah." I lost my guts and my train of thought simultaneously, instead just putting the car into gear and heading home. Matt just shrugged and scooted down in his seat, dozing off in the post-KFC food coma.

I drove home in the silence, only broken by the quiet hum of the road and my best friend's low, even breathing. When I finally killed the engine in my driveway, I looked over at him for a moment, just admiring his ginger stubble and angled nose. Yeah, he was definitely attractive. You know, if there was any argument before.

I took a shaky breath and finally nudged his shoulder. "Sleeping Beauty, rise and shine before Ike and DK tag-team your ass out of New Pork City."

He stirred, groaning. "Like hell."

We went inside, only to be hugged and squeezed by my infinitely lovey little sister. She clung onto Matt's arm as they settled into the couch for our match. I slipped upstairs to change from my uniform while they set up the Wii, and I plopped right into my spot on the couch once I was in comfortable sweatpants and T-shirt.

We played for about an hour. As predicted, Matt kicked everyone's asses ninety percent of the time, I won about seven percent of the time, leaving Elsie to dominate three percent of the time. In other words, li'l sis won once, I twice, and Matt thirteen times. Finally, mom convinced Elsie to move it upstairs and get ready for bed.

With the couch between us finally free, Matt turned sideways and crossed his feet in my lap. "Oh, fuck you," he swore at the TV and I grinned, tossing Peach across the stage. When he finally whipped my DK ass into the distant sky for the last time, I tossed the Wiimote onto the recliner and sighed. Matt snorted. "Oh, what? Giving up now, gorilla-fuck?"

"That made literally no sense. And yes," I said pointedly, standing up. His feet fell from my lap and he reluctantly shut down the Wii, following me upstairs.

"Fiiiiine."

I collapsed onto my bed with an oof. "Oh, God, the burritos are getting to me."

"Wuss." Matt flopped on my couch across the room, turning on his side and making himself right at home.

A groan escaped my lips. "Yeah, whatever," I mumbled, turning my back to him and pulling my pillow over my head.

We sat like that in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, neither of us willing to get up to turn out the light or change, and neither of us willing to point that out. We were both painfully aware of both facts. After a few minutes of brewing over recent events, I lowered my pillow and glanced at him, only to find him already staring back. My face heated a little and my heart took a jump. "What?"

Matt just raised one shoulder in a shrug, humming that telltale "I dunno" noise. He sighed and rolled onto his back, staring up at my ceiling. I watched every move as if in slow motion, observing and absorbing every shift of muscle under skin, every twitch of his eyes. He was absolutely captivating, and I could never get tired of just looking at him.

A little voice in the back of my head whispered, "Gaaaaaay."

Yeah, I know, I shot back at it. I was more surprised at the fact that I knew it than the fact itself. Yeah, okay. I was gay. It was just going to take a while to get used to hearing that from myself before confirming anyone else's suspicions.

By the time I looked over at Matt again, his eyes were closed and his breathing deep. I sighed lightly, laying on my back too, listening to the flow of air in and out of my nose. I listened to the rhythm, slowing almost imperceptibly until my consciousness lost count and I was asleep.

A/N: Well, I know it's been a while, but I am back! I'm infinitely sorry for dropping off the face of the Earth for a while. I've been super busy with multiple AP classes and my own original story as well. If anyone's still interested in this story, which I hope they are, you're in luck and there will be more!

Extra sorry for the wait, but you all know that reviews make my day. ;3

~Rachel