In the morning, Dave woke to find himself completely wrapped around Sebastian, spooning him from behind. It felt … good. Normal? As if this was the way he was supposed to wake up, every morning. Dave considered for a moment if this feeling might change if he substituted a different guy – maybe one of those celebrities he secretly had a crush on – for Sebastian.

Nope, didn't change a thing.

"Are you done pretending you're in bed with Josh Hutcherson or Jake Gyllenhaal?" Muffled by the pillow, Sebastian's voice still cut through Dave's thoughts.

Chuckling, Dave wriggled closer to Sebastian. "Not my type. Either of them," he admitted, voice rough with sleep.

"Really?" Sebastian scoffed, turning over so he could see Dave's face. "Care to share your fantasy island fuck team, then?"

Dave's eyebrows pinched together in confusion. "What?" Did he actually hear what he thought he'd heard Sebastian say?

Sebastian rolled his eyes. "God, there's just so much to teach you, grasshopper. Fantasy island fuck team – 5 celebrities. Gay. Straight. Living. Deceased. No rules. No STDs. Who would you want on your private island?"

Dave knew the flush that he was sporting must be epic by the way Sebastian was laughing at him. Well, near him. The difference between Sebastian's 'I'm being an asshole' laugh, and 'I'm amused' laugh was becoming easier to distinguish.

Turning more serious, Sebastian asked, "What's with the blushing? Why is this embarrassing to talk about?"

"I'm not totally sure," shrugged Dave. "I guess just picturing … me … with them. Like, you've seen me. Hell, even you said –" Dave was prevented from saying more by Sebastian's lips which were suddenly attached to his own.

"Don't fucking say it," Sebastian said tightly, rolling away to stare up at the ceiling. "I feel like shit every time I think about that night. And what happened because of it. David, I'm sorry. Profoundly sorry for those words and how I treated you. Please. Please don't believe they're a reflection of how I actually feel about you."

They were quiet for a long time, listening to the sounds of the birds, the groundskeeper blowing leaves, and the noises of thirty or so boys waking up on a Saturday morning. Dave lay down to stare at the ceiling too, reaching out and finding Sebastian's hand. "It wasn't your fault, Sebastian. Trying to kill myself – it had nothing to do with you – as much as your ego might not be able to accept that," he teased as gently as he could.

"Fuck," Sebastian muttered to himself. "I need a minute," he announced louder, squeezing Dave's hand one before rolling out of bed and wandering into the bathroom.

Rolling out of the bed, Dave snagged his jeans from the back of the chair where he'd left them the night before and tugged them on.

"We should go shopping sometime." Sebastian stood in the doorway to the bathroom, propping his hip against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest. "And why are you putting your clothes back on?"

"Because it's morning?"

"Saturday morning."

"And?"

Sighing loudly, Sebastian rolled his eyes, marching over to stand in front of Dave. He smacked Dave's hands away from the top button of his jeans, slipping his hands inside the waistband to hold Dave's waist. "I know this might surprise you, but I go to an all-boys boarding school," he murmured, trying to school his face into a serious expression.

"No shit," Dave replied with an eye roll.

"Uniforms are required. Monday through Friday, from the time we leave our rooms in the morning until 7pm. White dress shirts. Slacks. Dress shoes. Tie. Wool blazer," Sebastian lectured.

"I've noticed," Dave said dryly.

"It's Saturday," Sebastian emphasized, sliding his hands around to Dave's back, pulling him closer. "I can wear whatever I want."

Dave smirked. "Uh huh."

Sebastian brushed his lips against Dave's ear. "What I want is to be wearing as little as possible." He ran his hands up under Dave's t-shirt, enjoying the feel of the warm, smooth skin.

Trembling, Dave tried to act as if Sebastian's touch wasn't having such an impact on him. "Uh huh."

"And you putting your jeans back on … it just wasn't on the agenda. Not until later, when I take you to brunch." Tilting his head, Sebastian allowed himself to kiss Dave slowly.

It took a moment for Dave's eyes to flutter open after Sebastian pulled away. "I never received this agenda of which you speak," he teased quietly, working on tamping down his arousal.

"Well, now. That's a problem. Gonna have to fire my personal assistant for such a grievous error."

"Uh huh."

Sebastian smirked. "Are you always this articulate?"

"Bite me, Prep School," Dave shot back, laughing as he did so. "I earned As in my English classes."

"Yeah, at public school." Sebastian's opinion of the public educational system were apparent in his tone.

Dave's jaw tightened at the slight. "So what should I infer from your implication? That the only hope I had of earning a decent education was if my parents sent me to some school like this? Because I don't know if you realize this, but most of us don't have a snowball's chance in hell of affording a chichi place like this. What your dad outlays for your education at Dalton is what I'll spend educating myself at Ohio State. Reality check, Sebastian, not all of us have your dad's checkbook."

Twisting out of Sebastian's arms, Dave walked over to toe on his shoes. "Bast? I'm saying this as your friend – sometimes the crap that comes out of your mouth, it's really arrogant and elitist. And it makes me sad to think that you're judging people – judging me – based on things that are out of our control."

Pursing his lips, Sebastian looked deep in thought as he considered Dave's words. "So you don't do the same thing? When you see me in my uniform? Make assumptions? I'm just asking."

Dave sighed, walked over to Sebastian's bed and sat down, staring down at his hands as he considered the question. "When I look at you, I realize that there's a couple different Sebastian's living in your body. There's this arrogant, asshole persona you wear too easily, especially when you want to be left alone. Then, there's the Sebastian you are when it's just us. The guy who bravely showed up to my hospital room and asked my forgiveness and kept coming over to play gin rummy while I recovered at home. The guy I called last night because somewhere, deep down, I knew you'd show up – and not push."

Looking up, he offered a brief smile to Sebastian. "Hummel would have pushed."

"Of course."

"And then, there's the Sebastian that's underneath all of that – that I know is there and that you're probably terrified of sharing with anyone. Even with me. But do I think I judge you based on your prep school education? No. I think you're beyond lucky, and I kinda envy it. Although your football team kinda sucks. Do I think you'll be better prepared for university studies? I'm not sure, Bast. Because while the classes here might be more rigorous – I think it's kinda like living in your own private bubble. And I don't know if that's judging you or not."

"Ever consider a career in counseling?" Sebastian moved to sit next to Dave.

Shaking his head, Dave explained, "Ideally, I'd like to become a sports agent, or do sports management. Something where I could stay involved with athletics."

"Well, unsolicited as it may be, I'm just throwing out there that you might try sports psychology. You're pretty good at getting inside my head." Picking up Dave's hand, Sebastian side-eyed him. "Still mad at me?"

"No. Of course not."

"Then can I convince you to kick your shoes back off and come back to bed with me?"

Dave toed the shoes back off even as he said, "Dude, we're sitting on your bed."

Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Sitting on the bed, and lying down on the bed – veeerrrry different things."

"Yeah," Dave scoffed, scooting backwards, "one's vertical, one's horizontal." Raising an eyebrow, he studied the light pink flush creeping into Sebastian's cheeks. "Oh. My. God. You're a secret snuggler," Dave burst out, pointing an accusatory finger at Sebastian.

"You're judging!" Sebastian huffed, flopping back onto his pillow and crossing his arms tightly.

"About that? Yeah. Yeah, I am." Dave laughed while peeling Sebastian's arms back so he could lie down inside their circle.

"Oh, I see how it is. Not only are you judging me about wanting to cuddle, but now I'm relegated to the big spoon role. You know, after our fifth official date, we are so going to have to have a serious conversation about our roles in this relationship." He pressed up against Dave's back, his hand gliding down to unbutton Dave's jeans, and release the zipper before settling around his waist.

"Fuck. Talking about our 'roles'. That has to be the gayest conversation I will ever have," Dave muttered under his breath.

"Says the guy who had his tongue in my mouth less than five minutes ago," Sebastian drawled, brushing a soft kiss on the fine hairs on the back of Dave's neck.

"Whatever."

"Besides," Sebastian paused significantly, "I figure the gayest conversations we'll have will involve heated discussions about where you want me to put what part of my body and precisely how hard and fast you need it."

Dave lay their quietly, picking apart Sebastian's words and all their possible meanings.

"You're thinking too hard," Sebastian said against Dave's ear.

Repositioning himself, Dave looked into Sebastian's eyes. "Are you serious? About us? 'Cause I can't tell. And I don't want to make a fool of myself."

Throat suddenly dry, Sebastian tried to swallow around it. "I'm serious about wanting to be your friend. I … it's not easy for me to make friends. To let people in that close. And I'm serious about wanting to see … where this goes, between us. If you want to. We can hang out as friends, if that's all you want. Friends with benefits. Boyfriends. Yeah, I'm not sure."

Dave reached up to sweep Sebastian's bangs off of his forehead. "I don't think we're ready to change our relationship statuses," he chuckled. "But, I'd like to hang out with you. See where things go."

Sebastian's teeth peeked out to grip his lower lip. "Okay, then. Then, I respectfully suggestion we 'go' back to sleep. Then, we can 'go' to brunch and then we can 'go' watch a movie."

Eyes fluttering closed, Dave nodded as he dropped his head on Sebastian's shoulder. "Sounds good to me."

As the butterflies in his stomach took flight, Sebastian moistened his lips with the tip of his tongue before capturing Dave's lips. It was a relatively tame kiss – but Sebastian was totally okay with that.

He was looking forward to seeing where things would go from here.

End Note: I don't see this as the end of the story, just this 'chapter'. I'll be updating as the muse allows. Thank you for reading! k8