Atticus was a man with a mission: touch Blake. He and Riya had had to get the usual bus that morning as Ceyden was busy with a meeting. It was the first time he’d been in such close proximity to Daniel, and he was half expecting some kind of treatment from him.

After all, today was Atticus’s birthday. The day his mother died.

Atticus had always assumed Daniel hated him because of his mother’s death - Daniel’s own mother was extremely close to the older red wolf, and had been distraught when she learned of her friend’s death. She had passed that hatred for Atticus over to Daniel.

But as much as Atticus blamed himself for his mother’s death, he knew it was her own choice to give birth to him later rather than perform an emergency c-section. Her choice meant that the chances of her baby surviving were higher, but her own life was put more at risk.

Atticus wished he could have met her - she sounded incredible, and as much as his father found it hard to talk about her, Atticus didn’t know a great deal about the woman, and that made him very...disappointed? And sad. Like he was missing out on something great everyone else got to experience, but he never had the chance.

Because he killed her.

Riya tapped his arm, able to tell he was spiralling in his own mind. “What are you thinking about?” He smiled weakly, but it didn’t fool his best friend. “It really doesn’t matter, we’ve already talked about it a hundred times and I know it’s not my fault,” he said quietly as they stepped off the bus.

She immediately understood, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him in for a tight hug. “Listen Atti. I don’t think the guilt will ever go away, but one day you’ll be able to accept that it wasn’t your fault.”

He smiled thinly, pulling away from the hug in time to see Blake approaching them. “Hey, are you guys ok?” He asked, concern crinkling his brows. Riya nodded, smiling brightly. She had more than a small inkling about who Blake’s mystery crush was.

Riya decided to pull a few strings of her own as she and Blake parted from Atticus, who’d been silent since they got off the bus. “It’s Atticus’s birthday today. He’s 17 now. Same age as us,” she mused, slipping glances at Blake.

“What? Oh, I didn’t realise. I’ll make sure to say something later.”

Riya rolled her eyes, this was a prime opportunity for her to nudge Blake in the right direction. “I’m sure he’d love a birthday hug.” She couldn’t stop herself from laughing at her own words, her giggles only increasing when she caught sight of the blush on Blake’s cheeks.

“He’s your crush, right? He’s totally adorable so I get it.” Blake sighed, taking his seat. “I’m not even going to try denying it. Does he even like guys?”

Riya smirked. “Oh I dunno, maybe you should see...” Blake looked thoroughly unamused. “Ok fine, yes. He’s gay. And pretty open about it, with massive gay vibes. Wanted to check?” Blake covered his face with his hand but Riya didn’t miss the massive grin on his face.

“Let’s talk about you though. You like men?” Blake side-eyed her. She was a good first person to come out to. He’d already confirmed that he had a crush on a man, but answering a yes/no question was very different to saying the words.

“I’m gay, yeah.”

Riya squealed, clapping her hands gently before vigorously highlighting her textbook when the teacher glanced in her direction. “Have you told anyone else? I’ll keep it on the down-low, I promise.”

Blake smiled, jotting something down from the board before turning back to her. “Thanks, I really appreciate that. And no - unless a wild animal counts.”

Riya almost choked on her own surprise. “Definitely gonna need to elaborate on that little piece of information.” He actually didn’t, Riya was pretty sure he was talking about Atticus’s wolf, unless he made a habit out of talking to random animals.

Blake only chuckled in response, deciding he’d come out to the football team first. Then, a thought occurred to him. “Does Atticus...have um...unusual eyes?” His desk mate raised a brow at him, typing something in to her calculator.

“Amber is an unusual colour, I guess. Unless you mean unusual in a slightly different way, in which case you’ll have to gaze into his eyes yourself to find out.”

He rolled his eyes, although he liked the idea very much. “Yeah ok whatever, maybe I’ll actually do that.”

Riya was unbelievably tempted to make some comment eluding to the fact that he had a sex dream about her best friend, but she couldn’t find any way to tease him about it without giving away that she knew about his conversation with a wolf.

Instead, she satisfied herself with making comments about how cuddly Atticus was, and how she was certain he’d like a hug from Blake. She snuck in a few comments about how a birthday kiss wouldn’t be so bad either, just so she could see Blake cover his pink cheeks in an effort to hide from her.

Eventually the lesson ended and Blake was free from her psychological warfare. During the first break, Atticus hung out with his other group, giving Riya a small smile and a wave as they passed each other briefly in the hall.

Atticus still looked sad, and it tugged at Blake’s heartstrings. After all the teasing, he really was tempted to wrap the boy in his arms, hoping that it would cheer him up somewhat. But, despite the teasing, he wasn’t entirely sure that Atticus would be comfortable hugging a guy he barely knew, so Blake shoved that desire down into his box of ‘thoughts about Atticus’.

The more he saw the young man, the more he wanted to be with him, make him smile and laugh. He was in pretty deep at this point, and it had only been three days.