Chapter Text
The library is quiet, filled only with the sound of pages turning and the quiet murmuring of people working on group projects. Alex finds it peaceful, a nice background noise for studying. He’s never been one to study, school work comes rather easily to him, but he’d take any chance he got to spend with his new friends.
“Fuuuuuck! I can’t understand any of this shit!” Ivan groans, leaning back into his chair and slapping his hands over his face.
“What are you working on?” Alex asks, putting down his book to look over at Ivan’s work.
“Fucking advanced biology. I don’t know why I took the bloody class, I can’t make heads or tails of this shit!” Ivan falls forward, banging his head on the table. He doesn’t lift his head
“Oh! I already did the homework for that! Do you want some help?” Alex offers.
“Already? Mate, we just left that class!” Travis gapes at him, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. For a rich kid, he really doesn’t have good manners. Or maybe he just chooses not to use them.
“It’s not hard.” Alex shrugs “It’s just about DNA. That’s a simple concept.”
“Care to explain how it’s simple, Einstein?” Ivan glares up at him, but there’s no real malice in his eyes. He’s clearly just tired and overwhelmed.
“Sure.” Alex reaches over his paper, pointing at one of the questions. “Look at question three. It’s asking about the degradation of DNA as we age. The answer is Telometers.” He says, looking up to see them all staring in confusion.
“Right, I should explain that…” He flushes in embarrassment. “In basic terms, a telomere is a section of our DNA that prevents splitting. Telometers keep getting shorter and shorter as they divide, so as we age this process declines, resulting in a myriad of different issues that can crop up as we get older.” He explains, his hand moving about as he speaks.
His friends just sit there for a moment, looking at him in shock. Ivan looks… impressed? Travis very clearly looks like he’s in physical pain from his explanation, and he can’t tell what Castor is feeling, but he’s sort of pink and looks a bit sick.
“Mate… What the fuck.” Travis’ words come out as more of a statement than a question. He looks pained and confused… and sort of like he’s about to cry.
“What? I just paid attention in class. We learned this last week.” He looks between all of his friends in confusion. He doesn’t understand how they don’t know this, it’s pretty basic.
“Al, mate, I don’t think you understand how difficult this class is for the rest of us. I tried to take it and switched to regular biology because it was too hard.” Travis places a hand on his shoulder, looking him directly in the eyes to get his point across. Alex hates when he does that.
“You switched classes?” Alex looks at him like he genuinely can’t believe what he’s hearing. He doesn’t know how anyone could find a class so hard they had to switch out of it.
“Yeah, he was with us for the first week and then switched. Don’t you remember?” Ivan asks him, tilting his head in confusion.
Alex looks down at the table, shrinking in on himself slightly. “No, I don’t. I wasn’t friends with you all yet.”
There’s a collective silence as they’re all made painfully aware of how short of a time they’ve known each other. Alex had fit into their little group so easily it had been like he’d always been there. In reality, they’d only know each other for three months.
“I should have picked you up sooner. I saw your radiohead shirt on dress down day two weeks before I came up to you at the bus stop. I wanted to approach you, but you seemed like you wanted to be left alone. I was lucky that my mum was working late that day.” Castor says, looking frustrated with himself.
Alex’s lips twitch up at the corner, a smile trying to make its way onto his face. “Cas, it’s fine. I’m just glad to have met you three at all.” He places a hand on his arm, causing Castor to tense up.
That was the first time he had even initiated touch or used a nickname with any of them.
Trying not to make it awkward, Castor quickly shakes himself out of his stupor and smiles at him. “I’m glad I met you, too.”
—
Twenty minutes later, Castor speaks up again. “Hey, uh… I was wondering if any of you were free on the twentieth?”
“I don’t have anything to do.” Ivan says. Travis and Alex nod, both confirming that they’re free.
“Well, I was thinking… I play in my church's band, and I wanted to know if maybe… you all would come to the Christmas concert?” He asks hesitantly, biting his lip.
“Hell yeah, mate! I’d love to!” Travis immediately says, smiling widely at him.
“Same here, but I’d need a ride.” Alex cringes slightly, but a small smile finds its way onto his face anyway.
“I’d totally be down for that! Alex, I’ll get my dad to pick you up on our way over?” Ivan says, turning to the lanky teen.
“Yeah, I’m okay with that. I’ll send you my address.” Alex nods.
“Really? You’ll come?” Castor asks in disbelief.
“Of course! What do you take us for?” Travis says, clutching fake pearls in mock offense.
The group of boys laughs at his antics. And then the bell is ringing, telling them it’s time for their next class.
—
Castor can’t think. He’s sitting in the middle of maths, worksheet in front of him, and he can’t think about anything but study hall.
He can’t think of anything else but Alex. Alex, the incredibly shy boy he had started talking to only three months ago. Alex, who he now knows is smarter than he lets on. Alex, who flinches at being touched, touching him of his own volition for the first time. Alex, who he can’t get out of his head.
They love the same music. He plays three instruments. He can write poetry like nobody’s business. Alex is like no one he’s ever met before, and he has no idea how to handle it.
Every time they’re around each other his heart feels like it’s going to pound out of his chest. His brain turns to mush and his tongue gets heavy it becomes almost impossible to articulate any form of intelligent thought. He doesn’t understand why he’s like this or what’s wrong with him.
Suddenly, he’s reminded of the mall trip, and an emotion he knows well overcomes him.
Anger.
He had shoes two full sizes too small for him and a threadbare jacket he was shivering in. His jeans were torn at the knee, and it clearly wasn’t intentional. Castor had ripped the knees on his jeans before, for the look, but it was obvious Alex’s weren’t for fashion.
Some things he had said bothered him. His father ‘didn’t like hand outs’ but they were on welfare. His father hated people coming over and would ‘blow a gasket’ about it. He’s scared of what that might mean.
The one time he had seen Alex change for phys ed, he had hidden in one of the bathroom stalls and changed as fast as he could. He could be self conscious about his body, he was very skinny after all, but Castor has a sneaking suspicion that wasn’t the only reason he hid. He’d seen his wrists, and there were some scars that couldn’t be clearly explained away.
The anger bubbling in his chest is hot enough to hurt. He knows those kinds of scars, his older sister has them. He has no idea who the fuck made Alex feel bad enough to hurt himself, but he’s going to find out. And when he does? They better fucking pray the cops can get to them first.