“Hey, Al, are you ready for today?” Patrick asked him as he made it to his locker. 

“Yeah, I’ll be ready. Don’t worry about me, I’m not the one that cracks under pressure.” Alfred said as Randy and Earl snickered. 

“The only thing we need to worry about is that O’Connor kid following us and getting in the way,” Earl said as Alfred felt a small flame of rage flicker in his stomach. They hadn’t said anything bad about him yet but he wasn't taking any chances today. 

“Yeah, hopefully, your little stray dog doesn't mess things up today,” Randy said as mimicked a dog. 

“Enough you guys, Rigby’s a nice kid. Besides he’s got his own stuff to do after school today.” Alfred said as he grabbed the books he needed for the day out of his locker. Patrick laughed as Alfred glanced over at him. 

“Yeah sure. He’s a “good” kid.” Earl snickered as Alfred glared at him. 

“He IS a good kid, he’s nicer than any of you guys are.” Alfred snapped at Earl. 

“Man, you don’t know anything do you, Al?” Patrick laughed as he shook his head. What the hell was he talking about. 

“Dude, he’s gay. Rigby’s gay.” Earl said through his laughter as the others laughed with him. Alfred stopped for a second, he had no clue Rigby was gay. That explained how he acted when Alfred jokingly flirted with him. Rigby didn’t like him, did he? 

“So what if he’s gay? That's no excuse to treat him like crap. If he’s a good person there's no reason to bully him.” Alfred said as he closed his locker. 

“And if your lap dog falls in love with you?” Patrick chuckled, as Alfred glared at him.

 “I’m not gay so it doesn't matter.” Alfred spat at Patrick. He felt weird like he was lying to himself. He wasn't lying to himself though, was he? 

“We just thought it was weird that you still want to be his friend. You know how the town feels about anything LGBTQ+.” Earl shrugged as they finally stopped laughing. 

“I’ll be just fine, I don’t need you guys trying too “protect” me. I can handle myself just fine.” Alfred said as they walked to class. 

“Alright alright have it your way then.” Patrick said putting his hands up in defense as they went their separate ways. Alfred sighed as he sat down at his desk. Their town was very conservative, if the church didn’t approve of it then no one did. The only thing people got away with was mafias. The only reason Mafia’s were able to work and profit in the town was that they claimed they were acting on behalf of the church. It didn’t help that the Andor mafia also bought the town the new church down on 4th street to seal the deal with the minister. However, the Mafia and the church both shared the same views on the LGBTQ+ community. He thought it was bullshit that couldn’t accept it. What was wrong with people loving the same gender or no gender if they truly did love each other? Anyone should be allowed to love whatever or whoever they want. 

Alfred was snapped out of his thoughts as the lunch bell rang, he quickly got up from his desk and ran to the courtyard where he was supposed to meet Rigby. It didn’t matter to him what Rigby’s sexuality or any of that was. Rigby was an amazing person and that was all that matters. Rigby was waiting for him under one of the trees by the fish pond, Alfred smiled as he saw that Rigby was completely invested in a book he was reading. 

“Whatcha reading?” Alfred asked as he snuck up behind Rigby and grabbed onto his shoulders. Rigby gasped and dropped his book and he spun around to see Alfred snickering at him. 

“ALFRED! You scared me!” Rigby huffed as he yelled at him and picked up his book.

 “Sorry I didn't mean to make you drop your book.” Alfred chuckled as he sat down in the grass next to Rigby. 

“So what ARE you reading? Something scandalous?” Alfred asked as Rigby’s face turned bright red. 

“N-n-no NOTHING like that.” Rigby stammered as he brushed off the cover of his book. 

“Sure.” Alfred teased as he laid back on the grass. 

“It's called “The Demon’s Guardian” you probably wouldn’t like it,” Rigby said as he went to put the book away. 

“You can’t say that, I don’t even know what it's about,” Alfred said as Rigby looked at him hopefully. 

“Well, it's about this guardian angel that gets thrown out of heaven and gets his wings taken away. He then meets a bitter alcoholic demon who reluctantly agrees to help him get his wings back. However in the end the guardian angel has to choose between his wings or his newfound demon friend.” Rigby explained excitedly as he happily hugged the book to his chest. It was adorable how invested in the book he was. 

“If it’s anything like your description then I’ll have to read it,” Alfred said as Rigby stared at him wide-eyed. 

“REALLY!? You're the first person I've told about it that actually wants to read it! Now I’ll have someone I can talk about the book with!” Rigby said as he practically bounced up and down with excitement. Alfred smiled at Rigby’s excitement, it was adorable how excited he got over a book. Adorable? What was he saying? Rigby locked eyes with Alfred and blushed hard when he realized Alfred was staring at him. 

“With how excited you are about it, it must be a good book.” Alfred chuckled as Rigby nodded. 

“Sorry I got so excited. It's not every day I get to recommend my favorite books to people.” Rigby mumbled as he tried to hide his embarrassment.

 “No it's ok, you don’t have to apologize for getting excited.” Alfred smiled as Rigby tried to get rid of the blush in his cheeks. Even though he wasn't gay it was still so much fun too tease Rigby and see him all flustered, he had no idea why he just loved how flustered he got when he flirted with him. 

“What's your favorite color?” Alfred asked as Rigby gave him a confused look. 

“Wha?” Rigby mumbled stunned by the sudden topic change. 

“I felt like you needed a change of topic, so what's your favorite color?” Alfred asked him again as Rigby relaxed a little. 

“My favorite color is light green. Kinda like pastel green, like the color of light plant stems hidden underneath the bursting colorful petals.” Rigby said as a small smile spread across his face. 

“Mines light blue. Like when the sky meets the edge of the puffy white clouds, or when it rests against the horizon.” Alfred sighed as he stared up at the sky. 

“Do you play any sports?” Rigby asked as he laid down on the grass next to him. 

“I play baseball, and a little football sometimes. what about you?” Alfred responded as he looked over at Rigby. 

“I used to play soccer but I quit because I lost interest in it. I was good at it though.” Rigby shrugged as Alfred smiled at him. 

“Well, then I challenge you to a game,” Alfred said smugly as Rigby laughed at him. 

“You couldn't beat me in soccer. You don't have the right build for it.” Rigby said confidently. 

“I have the right build for everything. But we’ll see who's right when we have that game.” Alfred said as he sat up.  

“You're so on,” Rigby said smugly as the bell rang. 

“Alright well I’ll see you later in Matthew’s class, but you can count on losing that game.” Alfred laughed as he got up and helped Rigby off the ground. 

“The only one going to be losing is you.” Rigby laughed as Alfred just shrugged. 

“See you later!” Alfred said as he waved goodbye and headed to his next class. He was totally going to prove him wrong.