“Hey, Forest?” Tide questioned with a bemused smile. The younger boy had only had two small bottles of alcopop but he was clearly wasted.

Tide had watched Forest swaying off out of the room before he glanced pleadingly at Ryan. The other boy was currently propping Cindy up as she threw down a losing hand of cards and announced herself the winner.

“I’ll look after her, don’t worry. Go make sure your boy doesn’t drown in the pool,” Ryan snorted a laugh, rolling his eyes as Tide mouthed ‘thank you’ at him and scrambled to follow Forest.

“There’s no sign!” Forest declared with a pout. His voice was a lot louder than his usual mumble and he was prodding his finger accusingly into Tide’s chest.

“Sign?” Tide frowned.

“For the bathroom,” Forest hiccoughed, looking up at Tide through enviously thick, dark lashes. “I need to pee.”

“Right,” Tide nodded, feeling himself blush. “No problem, I can show you where one is.”

Tide steered Forest through the clusters of people towards the stairway. He never allowed anyone to go upstairs during these parties, but he could see from here that the downstairs bathrooms were already occupied. Besides, he figured Forest would be more comfortable away from the noise.

It wasn’t until he reached his room with attached bathroom that he worried Forest might get weirded out by Tide bringing him up here whilst the other boy was clearly vulnerable and drunk.

“Hey,” Tide began to explain when he turned round and saw Forest smiling happily at him. Forest’s face seemed so relaxed and open, totally different to the closed off and guarded expression he wore at school. It made Tide’s breath catch.

“Is that the bathroom?” Forest asked, already walking over and opening the door. “Oh my god, you have a fish tank in here!”

“Yeah,” Tide laughed, “I really wanted to be a merman when I was a kid so I became obsessed with all things aquatic. My dad had the tanks installed for my tenth birthday.”

“Woah…” Forest trailed off as he leant against the side of the aquarium, his breath fogging up the glass.

“That one’s called Captain Bobble,” Tide explained in a mock serious voice as he noticed Forest staring at his Oranda goldfish.

“He’s so cool,” Forest laughed as he reached down and began unzipping his fly.

“I’ll be outside,” Tide blurted, pulling the door closed as fast as he could and stubbing his toe in the process. Tide swore and limped gingerly to the bed, before flopping down on the navy blue sheets. He had always been horrifically awkward, he had no idea how he had managed to make friends, especially true ones like Ryan.

Ryan’s family were equally rich so the other boy didn’t give a shit about what he thought he could ‘get’ from Tide. They had always just got on like a house on fire. Even when Tide had started realising he preferred guys over girls, Ryan had just accepted it and even brought Tide a flash drive with all of his older brother’s gay porn on it the very next day. Tide had immediately hidden the flash drive in a drawer whilst Ryan laughed his ass off at how beetroot red he had made his friend go.

“D-does he have a wife?”

“Huh?” Tide jumped as he looked over to see Forest emerging from the bathroom. The other boy’s loose green sweater had slipped down slightly to one side, revealing a delicate collarbone and the soft skin of his shoulder.

“Captain Bobble,” Forest continued, crawling onto the bed beside Tide, completely oblivious of Tide’s pulse going into overdrive. “He looks a little lonely.”

“I talk to him every day,” Tide replied before groaning and putting his hands over his face in embarrassment. He had just admitted to his crush that he spent a portion of his day conversing with a fish.

“Oh, that’s good,” Forest giggled, leaning back against the bed’s headboard and staring up at the glow in the dark plastic stars Tide had stuck on his ceiling when he had been twelve.

“I didn’t understand that game,” Forest whispered, as if it was a grave secret.

“I know,” Tide smiled as he interlaced his fingers together on his stomach and rested back beside Forest. There was about two inches between their bodies touching and Tide’s skin felt like it was buzzing. “I’m sorry if it wasn’t fun for you.”

“No, it was fun!” Forest hiccoughed, turning to face Tide, although the movement caused him to push his face into Tide’s shoulder. “Oh,” Forest whispered, “you smell so nice.”

“T-thank you,” Tide choked on his own spit. “What do I smell like?” he added, curiosity getting the better of him.

“Soap,” Forest frowned with a serious face before leaning in to sniff Tide again. “Just really clean.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Tide laughed, feeling himself relax slightly as he reached over to ruffle Forest’s hair. The other boy grinned as he arched into the touch with a pleasured shudder.

“I thought you might be making fun of me,” Forest frowned again a moment later as he drew his knees up to his chest. “When you asked me to come to your party.”

“Of course not,” Tide said, feeling his heart sink. Had Forest really suspected he might be that much of an asshole? “I just wanted to get to know you better.”

“The art!” Forest suddenly exclaimed, reaching out to tug at Tide’s sleeve. “You said you’d show me art.”

“Oh, my mom’s sketches – yeah!” Tide grinned, feeling excited. He had always wanted to show his mom’s work to someone who might understand and appreciate it. He leaned over his bed to scoop up a bag from underneath it.

“She was an architect,” Tide explained, handing Forest the books. “So she mainly drew buildings, I know that’s not really what you’re in to but –“

“These are incredible,” Forest was staring wide eyed down at the page. When he looked up, his expression was so earnest and genuine it made Tide feel dizzy. “Thank you so much for showing these to me.”

“Sure,” Tide swallowed as his voice cracked. He didn’t really ever talk about his mom since she had passed away. Only Ryan had come with him to the funeral and since then Tide had just wanted his dad to be happy.

“They’re so detailed,” Forest lifted his glasses away from his face to squint at the page up close. It made his nose scrunch up adorably and Tide bit his lip in a smile.

After they had finished looking through the books Tide glanced at his phone and realised they had been away from the party for over an hour. He had completely lost track of the time.

“Did you want to go back downstairs?” Tide asked.

“Oh my god, Cindy!” Forest suddenly sat up straight with a panicked look on his face.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Tide reached out to steady him. “Ryan’s looking after her, I know that probably sounds a little dodgy but I swear he’s a really decent guy. He would have come and got us if she wanted to find you, I promise.”

Forest nodded before giving Tide a sheepish smile and leaning in close enough for Tide to smell mint shampoo. “Can I tell you a secret?” Forest asked in a hushed whisper.

“Yes,” Tide nodded.

“I –“ Forest licked his lips, his glasses were still propped up on his head and his brown eyes were wide and sparkling. Tide held his breath.

“I’ve never drunk alcohol before,” Forest giggled, before he collapsed against Tide’s chest and yawned.

“You don’t say,” Tide snorted, shaking his head affectionately as he looked down at the boy in his arms. “Come on, let’s get you back downstairs and home to bed.”

“Noo,” Forest whined, pawing at Tide’s shirt. “I don’t want it to end. It’s nice.”

“What’s nice?” Tide asked, forbidding himself to wrap his arms around Forest’s warmth and snuggle closer to him.

“Talking to you,” Forest sighed contentedly. He propped his chin on Tide’s rib cage and stared up at him. “Why are you so handsome?”

“Oh boy,” Tide laughed, as he detached Forest from his chest, painfully ignoring the other boy’s whine of protest. “You are very drunk Forest, I think it’s best we get you home and somewhere safe.”

“Is it not safe with you?” Forest frowned, looking confused.

You have no idea, Tide groaned internally. He couldn’t believe he had allowed himself to get into this situation, on a bed with his crush who was drunk for the first time. He felt all kinds of wrong, like the type of guys he couldn’t stand.

“Come on, let’s go find Cindy,” Tide stated, sliding off the bed and taking hold of Forest’s hands, pulling him up. Eventually, he managed to get the younger boy to reluctantly leave his bedroom and go down the stairs with him.

“Well hello there!” came a loud laugh. Tide flinched as he looked over to see Vincent and a few other people drinking by the kitchen doorway opposite the staircase. To Tide’s displeasure Connor’s girlfriend Ashley was there along with Kristina.

Kristina was narrowing her eyes at Forest where Tide still had his arm swung supportively around the younger boy’s waist.

“You don’t allow guests upstairs?” Kristina asked, but it was more of a statement than a question.

“He wanted the bathroom,” Tide replied awkwardly, “the others were occupied.”

Tide felt Forest stiffen beside him as the other boy wriggled out of his grip and moved fractionally further away. Forest’s usual guarded expression was back and he was staring hard at the floor.

“Wait, isn’t that the kid that had gay porn in the cafeteria?” Ashley cocked her head, her ponytail swishing around her shoulders.

“Ash…” Tide growled warningly, he knew how the other girl could get and Connor wasn’t currently around to rein her in.

“Oh shit, it is,” another boy, James, piped up. “Holy crap, I can’t believe he’s so horny that he tried to wheedle his way upstairs with you,”

“He didn’t,” Tide snapped, he could already see Forest starting to walk away, his shoulders hunching inwards.

“You don’t need to be so damn nice all the time, Tide!” Kristina exclaimed. “I heard some guys talking about how he was checking them out in the locker room, it’s really gross.”

“I wasn’t!” Forest suddenly shouted, his voice hoarse. His hands were balled into fists and his face had gone a splotchy red.

“Yeah – that’s right!” James laughed, “Jason Cole was talking about it. They had to lock him in one of those shower cubicles just to get him to stop perving on them.”

“Jason did that to you?” Tide snapped, wheeling on Forest.

“I wasn’t looking at them!” Forest replied furiously.

“Then what were you doing upstairs?” Kristina asked acidly, stalking towards Forest. Tide instinctively blocked her path. “Please don’t tell me you were trying it on with Tide? You have looked in a mirror, right sweetie?”

“Kristina!” Tide shouted angrily. He turned to see Forest’s back as the other boy ran away. “Fuck, wait Forest!”

Tide chased after him but wasn’t able to find Forest anywhere in the house.

“Hey Tide,” Ryan called out, coming up to him in the lounge. “Cindy and Forest already left if you’re looking for him. He seemed upset – did something happen?”

“Damn it,” Tide bit out, rubbing his hands down his face and groaning. “Do you know where he lives? Was Cindy still drunk? Do you think they’re alright to get home?”

“Woah there,” Ryan reached out to steady Tide as the other boy took a deep breath. “Yeah, Cindy was fine, I offered to walk them but she’d pretty much sobered up and said they only live a couple of blocks away. Now are you going to come enjoy the rest of the party or not?”

Tide stared miserably back at his friend who nodded in understanding. “I got it man, just you go to bed okay and I’ll take care of everything.”

“Sorry,” Tide muttered.

“No need,” Ryan shook his head, “hey, is it cool if I crash here?”

“Of course,” Tide nodded, “your usual room has clean sheets.”

“That’s my man,” Ryan grinned before reaching out to squeeze Tide’s shoulder. “Hey, whatever it is I’m sure you can explain it to Forest on Monday. It’ll be okay, it’s obvious he likes you despite you being a massive inarticulate dork.”

Tide managed a small smile before nodding and heading back for the stairs.