Continued from the last chapter.

"So," Neal started, steering the conversation away from Kyle's body with ease. "You've been hanging out with Angela a ton lately right?"

Kyle's right eyebrow raised by itself out of suspicion. Neal's question was far from subtle and Neal obviously didn't want it to be subtle anyway. That aroused suspicion.

"Yeah, I guess so. Why?" Kyle quickly answered the question guardedly before shooting one himself.

Neal shrugged, his lips were quirking up into a smirk and Kyle didn't like it. Cole watched on, having mixed feelings about the interaction.

He would have enjoyed it because he was still new to being friends with Kyle and Neal and whenever they had conversations like this, it was very funny to watch. But, Neal was trying to lead up to the topic of Kyle's relationship with Angela.

Neal had told Cole the day that Kyle had first had lunch at Angela's table that Kyle hadn't dated a girl since freshman year and any girls that he had liked were either taken or Kyle got over them before doing anything about it. This, in turn, made Neal very excited about the possibility that Kyle not only liked a girl but was dating her as well.

Cole didn't like that though. If it were up to him, Kyle would still be single, or at least not dating some other person. But Cole wouldn't let himself get caught up in those thoughts and instead put on a smile by thinking of the fact that Kyle would be happy about this. Very happy.

"Oh, you know," Neal looked beyond Kyle to Angela's table then let his gaze fall on his friend again. "I just think that you should have told your best friend when you made the plunge and got yourself a girlfriend."

Kyle's eyes almost popped out of his head from the shock. He looked from Neal to Cole to Neal to Cole again and realized that Cole had come to the exact same conclusion.

Seriously?

"Wha- you guys! Why would you think-" Kyle cut himself off when he remembered. He had forgotten to tell them. "Fudge."

Neal was nodding smugly and Cole was following him in suit.

"Mmmhmm. Don't try to deny it now," Neal sassed. Kyle shook his head and sighed.

"No, you guys don't understand, I'm not dating Angela," Kyle tried to tell them, rubbing his forehead because of the annoyance.

"Then what do you call repeatedly hanging out with someone after you both agreed to a first date?" Cole found himself asking accusingly.

"Dating," Neal answered.

"A friendship!" Kyle yelled.

Neal laughed but Cole's face scrunched up in confusion.

"You're serious, aren't you?" Cole softly asked after a few minutes. Kyle's eyes lit up and he raised his hand to get a high-five from Cole.

"I knew I liked you," Kyle grinned, his heart giving a hard thump when Cole's cheeks flushed.

Neal sighed deeply and looked at Kyle.

"Would you care to explain?" Neal asked Kyle. Kyle nodded and sat up straight.

"I did go on the date with Angela and it went well, great actually. But I realized . . . I realized why I shouldn't date her and told her why. She was ok with it and we both agreed to just be friends," Kyle went on to explain. He could see as the disappointment came onto Neal's face but his friend shook it off and smiled at Kyle.

On the other hand, Cole looked quite pleased and Kyle was curious as to why.

Well, to Kyle he didn't seem to like Angela so Kyle assumed that he was happy that Kyle wouldn't be dating her.

Neal looked between his friends and shook his head. They were acting so weird but Neal would not figure out why for a long time.

—————

2 weeks later

It's early Monday morning and Kyle is wringing his hands together. His Art teacher, Ms. Reed, had decided to display her class's paintings. She planned on placing the majority of the paintings throughout the hallway where the Art classes took place. Then she would select two from each of her classes and display those in the cafeteria.

He has had his art displayed before, in fact, this was probably his third time having his art displayed in the cafeteria and his seventh time having it displayed at this school.

But this particular painting was different. This was the painting that he had accidentally painted with two guys instead of a guy and a girl. Sure he had fixed the painting to make it look normal again, but it still felt like he was displaying a part of himself and some of his deepest most honest emotions were being seen by everyone.

It was nerve-wracking and his nerves were being thoroughly wracked.

Kyle was currently standing in the cafeteria with about 5 other students who had wanted to see their paintings before the rest of the school.

There were probably 50 other students who were in the art hall looking at their paintings but Kyle's was hung up in the cafeteria so he was only standing with 5 others. Kyle had talked to most of them because they were either in his class or just knew him for some reason but at some point, he stopped so that he could really look at his painting.

It was always a little odd to see something that he painted hung up proudly in the school like that but Kyle felt some pride knowing that his teacher thought it nice enough. Kyle looked at the other paintings and complimented the artists that were there before leaving the cafeteria. The buses would start arriving soon and Kyle didn't want to be around when kids started seeing his painting.

—————

Kyle was seated comfortably in his chair in his first-period class when Cole walked in. Cole went over to his own chair and dropped his stuff on the desk before weaving his way through the desks to stand next to Kyle.

Kyle smiled up at Cole and Cole returned the gesture.

"Hey, Kyle," Cole beamed. The two did a simple handshake that Cole had come up with a week earlier as a joke that the two ended up liking. It became their thing and Neal thought that it was so cheesy that he refused to learn it, and it stayed their thing.

"Hey Cole, what's up man? You seem to be in a very good mood today," Kyle told his friend, staring at Cole's currently crinkled eyes and widely stretched lips.

Cole looked around the two of them, deciding where he should sit, and sat at the desk in front of Kyle.

"I am happy. Today is the day I get to finally see your painting," Cole sang with a big smile. Kyle's body tensed at the mention of the painting but he forced himself to relax and smiled.

Kyle had mentioned it to Cole over the weekend and Cole had seemed enthusiastic to see it but Kyle had not expected Cole to be this excited.

Cole was almost bouncing in his chair and Kyle's heart warmed at the thought of Cole caring so much.

"Well, then you're going to have to wait until lunch because Ms. Reed hung it in the cafeteria," Kyle grinned, watching as Cole's wide smile turned into a puffy pout.

Kyle wouldn't have told Cole where the painting was if Cole had art this year, but because Cole was taking photography instead of art, he wouldn't know how they were placing the paintings and would look through all the paintings in the art hallway and never find Kyle's.

If Cole was more aware of his surroundings, Kyle wouldn't have told him because Cole would notice on his own, but Cole could probably go to the cafeteria for three weeks before noticing that the things on the walls were paintings. Kyle didn't want to torture himself and have Cole wait that long. Kyle wanted to see Cole's reaction as soon as possible and get it over with.

Cole's eyebrows suddenly furrowed and he looked at Kyle with confusion.

"Wait, I thought they were hanging the paintings in the art hallway, why is yours in the cafeteria?" Cole asked with incredibly cute confusion.

"Because Ms. Reed chose two paintings out of each class to place in the cafeteria so that she could acknowledge the best in her opinion," Kyle explained as casually as he could. Cole's eyes widened and his smile returned full force.

"Wow, Kyle!" Cole grinned teasingly. "You're a proper Da Vinci huh?" Instead of letting the compliment get to him Kyle grinned back and leaned closer to Cole.

"Oh yeah, I get paid millions for this stuff on the regular you know," Kyle smirked. Cole scoffed at the claim but was still smiling.

"Oh really?" Cole leaned forward as well and unconsciously went to bite his lip. Kyle's eyes caught the action and his gaze stayed locked as Cole swiped his pointed tongue along his pink, soft bottom lip.

"Yeah," Kyle whispered in a rough, husky voice. "Do you want me to paint you like one of my French girls?"

Cole was supposed to laugh, anyone who heard that line was supposed to laugh. But neither of the two boys could when they looked into each other's eyes.

The tension was thick and Cole had only one thought. And, somewhere, deep down inside of Kyle, he was thinking the same thing.

Then the bell rang.

Cole jumped away from Kyle with a squeak and quickly got up and out of the chair he was sitting in.

"Uh, I'm gonna go sit in my seat, talk to you after class, Kyle," Cole rushed out, giving Kyle a small wave and not sticking around long enough to see that Kyle didn't return it. Kyle did not move an inch, he was much too shocked to do so because he still wasn't sure of what had just happened.

Did I . . . ?

Kyle did not finish the thought, he let it trail because he didn't think that he wanted to acknowledge what he might have, almost done.

Kyle looked up at Mrs. Peregrine and forced himself to focus on what she was saying, not the odd thumping that was going on in his chest.

—————

Kyle walked through the crowd in the lunchroom, it took longer than usual because kids would stop him to compliment him on his painting, but, eventually, he got to his table and found Neal sitting by himself.

"Hey, Neal. Is Cole getting lunch?" Kyle asked as he sat down with his lunch in hand. Neal shrugged.

"I'm not sure, he hasn't gotten here yet so I guess so," Neal answered, putting a forkful of pasta in his mouth.

Kyle talked to Neal for a few minutes when Cole suddenly slammed his hands on their table. Neal jumped twenty in the air and looked at Cole in shock.

"Dude, what the-"

"Kyle," Cole blurted, interrupting Neal without a second thought and looking at Kyle. Cole's eyes were bright and he looked serious.

"What is it?" Kyle asked worriedly. He hadn't seen Cole with this sort of look before and he wasn't sure that it was a good thing.

Cole stared at Kyle for a moment.

"Your painting is amazing," he whispered, his expression turning into that of awe. "When I saw it, I felt as if I was actually there, looking at the city view with the couple and it was- God this is hard to put in words. Kyle, that painting was . . . breath-taking." Cole's voice raised to a normal volume mid-way so Kyle heard all of it.

Kyle stared at Cole. Cole wasn't carrying a tray of food, making Kyle realize that Cole has spent all this time looking at Kyle's painting.

That thumping that Kyle had been ignoring since he met Cole was back in full force. It was his heart. His heart was beating out of his chest and as he stared at Cole's bright red hair, flushed freckled cheeks, and big grey eyes, Kyle was faced with the truth he had been trying to deny for weeks.

Kyle was feeling things for Cole, and those feelings were probably more than that of a friend.

Kyle gave Cole a soft smile, taking this moment to, only for a second, hold Cole's hand. Cole's cheeks turned red and Kyle's heart constricted.

"Thanks, Cole, I'm glad that you liked it so much," Kyle told Cole warmly, taking his hand off of Cole's and feeling the absence of Cole's warmth. Cole shook his head and finally sat down.

"No, I loved it. As much as I hate to say it, Kyle, you have a gift," Cole smiled genuinely.

"Jeez, are you guys done?" Neal asked with faux annoyance. He grinned when his friends scowled at him, knowing that if he hadn't said anything, they could've gone all day. "Yeah, Kyle is great but we only have so much time for lunch and I am getting bored."

Cole's eyes suddenly widened and he got up.

"Oh damn, I forgot that I didn't get any food, I'll be back," Cole explained in a rush, sending a quick smile to the boys and hurrying off to the lunch counter.

Neal and Kyle snickered, watching as Cole scampered off to try and get some food. Neal started talking about his math assignment and Kyle followed along as best he could. He had just had a big breakthrough and was feeling pretty raw. And now he had to deal with half a day of school and rugby practice.

Kyle sent a silent prayer to the gods above. If realizing that you both have a crush on someone and that you possibly have a new sexuality at the same time was tough, then Kyle had to be a whole lot tougher.