When he reluctantly roused himself from sleep, more from habit of younger days just like this, it was to the sound of banging and shrieks.

Rory was right. They never seemed to stop, did they?

Oh wait. It's stopped now.

And he forgot to call his father.

Scrambling off the bed to fumble through his jacket pockets, he grabbed his phone and pursed his lips nervously at the number of calls he had missed; his phone was almost always on silent.

He called back to Harry's.

"John, you bastard!" came the shriek into his ears.

He winced, and the first words he said were, "I'm sorry."

"Where the bloody hell are you?! What's the point of getting a mobile phone if you're not going to bloody pick up? Been calling you all NIGHT!"

"I'm so, so sorry." He said softly, "I completely forgot. Tell father it's my fault."

"Why are you whispering? Are you in a drugs den?"

"No- Harry. I do apologize for not calling, I was asleep,"

"Where?" his sister demanded, "At the bar?"

"I'm… well I found a boyfriend." He said hesitantly, crossing his arms over his chest as he waited for her to blow up at him; she never approved of boys. Not so much that they were the same sex as him, no, she couldn't say anything there, more that they were boys. "Stayed at his for the night."

"When did this happen?!"

He took a deep breath, then went all in, "Last night."

"WHAT THE HELL, JOHNNY!"

He jerked away from his mobile, Harry's shriek loud enough for him to hear even without at the required distance, "No, he's different," he managed, an attempt to shut her up.

"How do you know?" she demanded, but that was Harry, always demanding things, being a smudge overprotective, over everything, the bullies at school, homophobes by the street.

He shrugged, a reflex before he realized she couldn't see him, "He seemed nice."

"Nice." Harry said it as if it were a bad word, "All of them seems nice at first, that's how they reel you IN!"

"Harry…"

"Boys are BAD. Why do you think I go for girls?!"

"Because you're gay. And though I'm bisexual, you always take my girlfriends, somehow. And I want to try this. You have to let me try this. I'm not usually wrong about people."

"Except that time when you were very wrong."

He stilled, but Harry never took anything back. The line crackled as she waited for him to speak, obviously not going to speak herself. "Harry."

"I'm just looking out for you, John."

"I have a good feeling about him." He said feebly at last, "Let me try."

Her silence answered him more than her words ever could, and though he liked to deny it, her approval was always very dear to him. A hesitant smile tugged at his lips, "Thank you."

She harrumphed, "You're still in trouble." She snapped.

"I'm sorry. Tell father I really am."

He ended the call, tension bleeding from his shoulders as he grasped at the warming device less tightly. Father wouldn't be pleased, he believed in... what was it, tough love? He meant well, though. He'd taught them to be careful, and what he did last night was so far from careful one could laugh at the absurdity of it.

He turned around, eyebrows shooting up as he caught Rory's stare, "You're awake."

"Mm-hm."

"Are you panicking?"

He hoped not. Rory shook his head, pushing himself to a sitting position, "Not presently. Everything alright with your folks?"

He looked down at his mobile phone, "Yeah," he looked up and smiled reassuringly, "I worked it out."

"What time is it?"

Well shit.

He completely forgot about the time, and shoved his phone in his pocket just as Rory glanced at his alarm clock. "I'm late for school." He said, voice strained, as he pulled on his jacket and hurried into his shoes, "I'm so…"

"Dead?"

"Cheeky little bastard." He leaned over Rory to kiss him gently on the lips, a nudging, slow one quite unlike the ones last night, or this morning, "There. Something to remember me by."

"I'll see you… later?"

"Will probably be grounded." He noted a bit ruefully.

"Grounded?" Rory furrowed his eyebrows, "You're not a child anymore."

"Not in their eyes." He sighed, a hand on the doorknob, "Shall I sneak out?"

Rory blinked rapidly, as if he had missed something, "Why would you need to…?"

"You're not really awake, are you?" he smiled, a small, sweet quirk of his lips, "How rude." And no wonder he wasn't freaking out. "Well, you won't want to break the news to your parents like this, will you?"

Rory stared at him a little bit longer, fumbling to catch up, obviously, if by the way he kept flopping his mouth were anything to say about it. "Like…?"

He sighed, leaning forward to snog Rory thoroughly for a good minute before he pulled back. Rory's hands fell to his side from where they had been buried in his hair, chest heaving and lips gleaming with wet.

There. Much more awake.

"I have to go. Do you want me to sneak out?"

"N-no. Just… leave and I'll see you later."

"Really?" he smiled.

"Yup."

He opened the door and closed it behind him when he stepped into the hallway, almost completely certain Rory was going to have a sexual crisis in the room, alone.

In the meantime, he walked down the stairs as silently as he could, hearing the shower run, which meant people were awake, which meant he had better leave.