Kilik stayed over, more because they both passed out on the couch rather than actual planning. After waking up three minutes before class without setting an alarm, the two showed up ten minutes late amidst titters from the other students.

"We don't care what you do in your free time, but please do not allow your philandering to interfere with school time," the teacher (a substitute; they'd never seen her before) said, sounding unamused. A chorus of "ooooh"'s came from their classmates, reminding Black Star of the night before. Middle schoolers. They were all acting like they were twelve.

"Nah, nah, Star's got his eye on someone else," Kilik said with a grin, sliding into his seat next to Black Star as the latter rolled his eyes.

"Suck a dick!" Black Star said brightly; this (unsurprisingly) earned him a talking to after class, but that wasn't unusual.

"Dude," Black Star said with a wince. He was sitting at lunch with Kim, Jackie, Patty, Kid and Kilik, the latter of whom he was addressing. "My binder is killing me. Come to the bathroom and help me fix it." In his rush to get to school that morning, he hadn't taken the time to adjust his chest binder with the same carefulness as usual.

"I'm still eating, man," Kilik complained, shoving more pizza in his mouth. "Can't you do it yourself? Or get Jackie to. She knows how to do it."

"Jackie can't go in the dudes' bathroom!" Black Star stood, reaching under the back of his shirt to try and at least relieve himself of some discomfort.

"I'll go," Kid said with a sigh, setting down the book he had been reading. "I'm not eating anyway, and even if i was, you'd think that the comfort of a friend was a little more important." He looked Kilik up and down and shook his head imperceptibly. No doubt he was thinking something disdainful.

"You sure, Kiddo? It's no big deal," Black Star assured, making to sit down again; Kid gestured impatiently for him to get up again, Kilik muttering something.

"It is a big deal, you dimwit. Do you want to destroy your ribs? Honestly, Black Star, I expected that you of all people would care about your body more than this." Kilik snickered and Black Star whapped the back of his head with a hand before offering a sheepish grin to Kid.

"If you say so, Kiddo!" He slung an arm around the taller's shoulder and was shrugged off just a couple of seconds later; Kilik gave him a meaningful look as they walked toward the bathroom, no doubt expecting Black Star to have asked Kid by the time they returned. He didn't. He was too grateful to Kid for helping him to bug him with the question Black Star knew he'd say no to anyway.

Kid was the only cis guy other than Kilik that Black Star had ever had help him with his binder; it was a little nerve wracking, if he was being honest. Was Kid comparing the two of them in his head? Did he think he was more of a man than Black Star just because Black Star happened to have boobs? Kid didn't make any comments, though; he just helped Black Star to fix his binder, his fingers ice cold against Black Star's back.

"We're done," Kid announced after a few minutes, looking at Black Star in the mirror. "Does that feel better, or is it too tight?" Black Star grinned.

"It's perfect! Thanks, Kiddo." Kid nodded, stepping back and examining Black Star critically before adjusting his shirt a bit, no doubt needing to make him look more symmetrical.

"You should finish your lunch now. I'm sure the bell-" He was interrupted by said bell, and Black Star clapped him on the back once.

"Thanks again!" He jogged out of the bathroom to the lunchroom; Jackie was waiting with the remains of his food at the door, and he took it gratefully, attempting to finish it as they walked together to class.

"You had three chances today alone when you could have asked!" Kilik was over at Black star's house again, the two of them babysitting Thunder (who was fast asleep in Kilik's lap) and playing card games.

"I didn't want to bug him!" Black Star insisted, putting a card down on the discard pile. "Since he was the only one who stepped up and helped me in my time of need-"

"Oh, please, stop exaggerating." Kilik laughed, drawing a card from the pile. "I'm sure you loved the chance to be shirtless around him anyway." Black Star was quiet for a moment, looking at his cards and drawing one.

"You think he even sees me as a guy?" Kilik looked up, startled, blinking a few times.

"Dude, what? Of course he does. Why wouldn't he?" Black Star just shrugged, waiting for Kilik to take his turn. Kilik fiddled with his cards.

"... That why you don't wanna ask him?"

"What? No! He's gonna say no regardless, that's why I don't wanna ask." Black Star forced a laugh, watching as Kilik took his turn.

"Okay, good." Kilik looked up at him before looking back to his cards. "Because if that's why you don't wanna ask, you don't have to." He didn't have to anyway, which they both knew, but Black Star appreciated the sentiment behind it.

"Please!" Black Star laughed, discarding a card with a grin. "You think the mighty Black Star is afraid of some guy being a transphobe? The worst that happens is I have to kick his ass, right?"

"Right." Kilik grinned back, if uneasily. Kid wasn't just "some guy" to Black Star, and they both knew it. His crush, his teammate, his friend (if you could call him that). Maybe goading Black Star into asking had been a mistake.

** A/N: Hey, guys! Sorry the update's a couple days late, I didn't have time to get on and upload this until now! If you haven't voted in the update poll, please do! You can find it on my profile page or in my forum here:

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