Alec had a hard time at school that day. He couldn't concentrate, and he felt like his headache was getting worse and worse. And to worsen the situation, Nick kept sending him texts. He didn't come to talk to Alec in person once. He kept his distance as usual.

It was becoming too much. At some point, Alec just needed a break. He needed to be out of the classroom. Fortunately, they had a free period. Alec left his cellphone in his bag and decided to go for a walk. He wasn’t going to leave the premises. He was going to wander the halls with no particular destination in mind.

He walked around. His eyes lowered to the floor. At some point, he stopped at realized he was in front of a familiar classroom, and peeked inside. He recognized the only two people in the room.

"Hey, Lukas." Alec walked into the room.

"Hey, Alec." Lukas smiled when he saw him. "Are you feeling better?"

"Um..." Alec frowned. He wasn’t feeling better. Not one bit. And he was sure it showed. "I'll get back to you on that." Lukas nodded. Alec pulled Lukas’ apartment key out of his pocket and handed it back to him. "Thanks."

"No problem."

“I’m sorry I didn’t give it back to you yesterday.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I always have an extra set on me.”

Alec was glad that Lukas was able to get home. The last thing he wanted was to cause him problems, especially after he tried to help him.

"Hi, Charlie." Alec glanced at Charlie, who was staring at them.

"Hi, Alec."

Alec had always felt this sort of tension from Charlie. Like he was cautious around him for some reason.

He decided to ignore it, not wanting to add more to his plate. He looked back at Lukas and noticed he was searching for something. He had emptied his bag on his desk.

“What’s going on?”

“Someone stole Lukas’ gym clothes again,” Charlie said.

“Really?” Alec looked at him.

“Yeah.”

It didn’t make sense. Not many guys had Lukas’ body type, so what kind of reason would there be to steal his clothes.

“I have an extra pair if you need it. It’ll be a little bit big, though.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I don’t have practice today.”

“Thanks.”

Alec left the room. He hurried through the hall to his classroom. He tried to think about who could have taken Lukas’ clothes. There was one name that came to mind, but it wasn’t his usual style. Alec slipped into his class without anyone noticing and grabbed his gym clothes.

Kyle spotted him and was about to call out to him, but Alec motioned that he would be back. He returned to where Lukas was with the clothes in his arms.

“Here, Lukas.” Alec entered the room. He stopped when he saw Mr. Keaton was there. Standing in front of Lukas' desk. “Oh. Hi Mr. Keaton.”

“I didn’t know you guys were friends.”

There was this dark aura around Mr. Keaton that threw Alec off. He had never seen him like that before. Like he was angry that he had disturbed him.

“We are.” Lukas smiled as he took the clothes from Alec. “Thanks for the offer, Mr. Keaton. I have to go. I’m already late.”

Mr. Keaton nodded, and he left the room. Alec couldn’t shake off the feeling he had just experienced.

“Are you okay?” Alec asked him.

“Yeah. Um… Thanks for the clothes.”

“No problem.”

Lukas walked out of the classroom with Alec next to him. Once they reached the bathroom, they parted ways, and Alec was once again wandering the halls.

As the day went by, Alec's condition only became worse. His headache was growing, and he hadn’t eaten all day. No matter what he tried, he couldn't stomach it.

His afternoon teacher took one look at him and immediately sent him home. He told Kyle to go with him to make sure Alec got back in one piece. Kyle didn't ask Alec what was wrong. He just silently took him home. Alec knew that Kyle really wanted to know what was going on, but he wouldn't force him.

Kyle rang the bell of Alec's house and waited. Alec felt his cell phone vibrate and knew that it could only be another message from Nick. He ignored it as his headache seemed to get worse with every message he got.

The door opened, and Filipe appeared in front of them. Alec stared at his brother, confused. He was sure his mother brought him back to school that morning.

"Hey, Filipe." Kyle smiled. "How've you been?"

"The same." Filipe glanced at his brother. "What's up with him?"

"I don't know. Our teacher told me to bring him home."

"Okay." Filipe opened the door and let Kyle walk in with Alec. "You know where his room is?"

"Yeah."

Kyle nodded as he helped Alec to his bedroom. Alec felt like his whole body was as heavy as a stone. Every step he took made it feel like his brain was bouncing up and down. Kyle waited until Alec got into his room and sat on his bed. He watched him, trying not to show how worried he was, but he was failing miserably.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah." Alec nodded and smiled weakly. "I'll just sleep it off."

"Okay. Well, get some rest. Tomorrow's Saturday, so you'll have tons of time to sleep."

"Yeah." Alec nodded as he grabbed the bottle of aspirin and took two out. He swallowed them without water and smiled at Kyle. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

"Okay." Kyle frowned as he went to the door. "I'll see you on Monday."

Alec nodded again as he removed his shirt. Kyle closed the door behind him, leaving Alec alone. He stripped to his boxers, and he slipped under his blanket. It was warm and comfortable there. Hopefully, it would be enough to help him finally get some rest.

Alec took a deep breath and gently closed his eyes, getting ready to sleep when he heard a knock at his window. He turned and looked towards it.

"Alec?" He could see Nick's shadow through the closed curtains. "Alec? I know you're in there." Nick knocked on the window. "Alec?"

Alec turned his head away from the window and pulled the blanket over his head, blocking out all the light. If the circumstances were different, he would jump at the opportunity to talk to Nick. He wasn't in the right state of mind to talk, especially since he felt like he would either pass out or his brain was going to explode.

He had to try and forget everything and try and get some sleep. Alec closed his eyes, letting the darkness take him so that he could deal with everything clearly the next day.

At least that what he had hoped. But the moment he closed his eyes and was in the dark, he saw him again. Nick. Naked. Sensually crying out his name. Alec closed his eyes tightly and curled up into a ball.