"You two seem peppy today." Neal commented as he bit into his pizza. "What's that all about?"

Kyle glanced over at Cole who, despite getting called out on his behavior, was still grinning at him, as if the two of them had some awesome secret.

When Kyle thought about it that way, he understood completely why Neal was suspicious. But, there was a totally normal and understandable reason for our weirdness.

Today was the day that Kyle would start helping Cole find his favorite activity. Kyle had messaged Cole yesterday, telling him that he wanted to start today so Cole was buzzing with positive energy from the very start of the day.

Kyle thought that it was quite interesting, simply because Cole had never really gotten into a sport yet in his life, yet he was so excited for Kyle to try and introduce him to some today.

And funnily enough, unbeknownst to Kyle, he was doing the same thing. Kyle was sitting up straighter than usual, his foot soundlessly tapping a song that Kyle wouldn't be able to tell you the name of and he was constantly giving full teeth smiles for no reason. Cole also sat next to him at the table and Kyle was turned so much towards him instinctively that he was almost sitting sideways.

But Kyle did not realize that he was doing any of this, in his mind he was acting completely normal and Cole was being the oddly happy one.

Since Cole didn't seem like he wanted to explain the situation with him when Kyle glanced at him, Kyle decided to explain it himself.

"Cole's mom is going to make him go to a boarding school unless he starts to get into a sport or exercise of some sort," Kyle said simply, shrugging when Neal's eyes widened considerably.

"Oh, woah. Okay, then why do you two look so happy again?" Neal asked, clearly confused as he looked between his cheery friends.

"Oh, Kyle is going to be helping me find one that I like." Cole answers when he realizes what Kyle had left out. "We are starting today."

Neal raises his eyebrows before he turns to Kyle with a teasing expression. Kyle mentally groans and smacks his hand onto his forehead when Neal starts to wiggle his eyebrows.

Although Neal did not seem like he planned on spilling the fact that Kyle had a crush on Cole anytime soon, he still enjoyed teasing Kyle about it. And it seemed like he enjoyed doing it in front of Cole as well.

Cole seems thoroughly confused and looks back and forth between Neal and Kyle, saying, "What? Why are you doing that? Why are you smacking your head?"

Kyle thought in his head that this was one of the main reasons why he regrets the fact that Neal knew about his crush. He was going to bring it up any time he and Cole did something alone together until they either start dating—which is not going to happen—or if Cole starts dating some other person.

Kyle decided to give Cole some sort of answer because he was starting to get frustrated. So Kyle said, "Neal is just being dumb and annoying, don't worry about it."

Cole doesn't seem eased with that answer but luckily drops it and goes back to eating his food.

"Well, good luck with your quest to find . . . whatever you had just said that you were looking for." Neal says with a shrug when he couldn't completely remember what we had said. Kyle interrupts with, "We said sports or exercise!" but Neal just shrugs again and says, "Whatever".

"I hope it goes well. Kyle would be a literal dick that walks around in his limp glory if you leave this school Cole, he wouldn't know how to function." Neal tells Cole, his voice only portraying seriousness and the truth. For that, Kyle gives him a very firm and hard whack against the back of the head. All while sporting a blush that was able to fight through his darker completion to display his embarrassment.

Although Cole was wearing a very trendy blush of his own, he still laughed heavily at Neal's shocking words. Kyle didn't seem to like that though and quickly went to defend himself.

"Stop joking around. I would be just fine without Cole." Kyle says. But, knowing deep down that Neal's statement was partly true, and seeing the small flash of hurt in Cole's eyes, he adds. "But I would still not like it if you had to leave, that is true."

Cole and Kyle's eyes meet again and they smile at each other, letting their gazes stay connected until Neal makes the effort to attract their attention.

"Alright so, now that that is out of the way," Neal says, making a perfect segue into the next topic. "I'm not much of a gossip, but did you hear about those two sophomore girls that just started dating. I fully support it for obvious reasons but I hear that so many of these guys are living because apparently, they are both the short firecracker types."

"They think that it is some porn dream come true or something. I really am so proud of being a part of the same high school as those horny buffoons." Neal tells us, his voice tainted with the very present sound of sarcasm at the very end.

Cole laughs and comments,

"You act like you are not a guy with a dick too." He jokes, giggling and watching Kyle's face as Kyle laughs as well.

"I am, but I actually know how to control and keep myself from shoving it out all over the place." Neal counters, his chin raised high to show the superiority that he had over others.

"Are you sure that is not just because it is so small that you have nothing to wave around?" Kyle asks Neal, trying to get a rise out of his best friend.

Neal pretends to think for a moment before shaking his head.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure that my dick is definitely big enough." Neal subtly brags, a smirk easily appearing on his face.

"Okay, I think that is enough talk about dicks for one day. Let's talk about school!" Cole suggests with genuine excitement, drawing out groans from Neal and Kyle.

The three of them do end up talking about school, and after that fun lunch, the day passes by in a breeze.

—————

Kyle was stretching in front of the bleachers that were beside the baseball field while he waited for Cole to finish changing and meet him there. Kyle hadn't had any rugby practice today, so he and Cole could start trying out different activities right after school. For their "exercise meet", Kyle was wearing some looser shorts that came a bit lower than mid-thigh, a pair of his most comfortable running shoes, and a muscle tank that showed off his rib cage and, if he moved the right way, his nipples and abs too.

Kyle wanted to believe that he had worn this outfit simply to combat the heat that he might feel while exercising with Cole, but if he was being honest with himself, he really wanted to show Cole the fact that he played rugby several times a week and worked out every day, resulting in some killer muscles that usually made girls swoon. That could possibly make Cole swoon.

Kyle had just finished doing just about any easy stretch that he could think of and had already gone through most of the more advanced and doable ones, so he decided to start jogging around the baseball field to warm up. When Cole finally made his way over to the baseball field, Kyle was on his seventh lap.

Cole felt slightly intimidated when he found Kyle jogging around the baseball field. This guy that was supposed to help him get into shape was probably gonna give him all that he had, the guy was running around for who knows how long and it was his own idea. No one forced him to, he was just running around, possibly for fun. Cole briefly wondered if he made a mistake.

But then, Kyle saw Cole when he started circling back. He's here, finally! Kyle thought excitedly in his head when he spotted Cole.

Cole was wearing a pair of loose basketball shorts that went just past his knees and a loose T-shirt that said something about a summer retreat in 1992. His hair was tousled giving him a bed head look that Kyle was very into and his cheeks were flushed. Kyle thoroughly enjoyed the look on Cole.

Kyle found that after his eyes went over Cole's body and appreciated Cole's broader shoulders, large thighs, and small hands, Kyle's gaze went back to Cole's eyes, then to Cole's lips, which were a soft red.

Kyle smiled, sending Cole such a bright and somehow sexy smile that Cole was stunned to stillness. Kyle waved at him and started running even faster to eventually stand in front of Cole.

"Hey, I'm glad you finally graced me with your presence." Kyle joked, his comment dyer than usual as he had just finished a jog and had spent a good second staring at Cole's soft looking lips. "I was waiting for so long that I started jogging to do something."

Cole did feel apologetic, but he was also distracted by the sheen layer of sweat that was starting to collect on Kyle's forehead and the way that Kyle's chest was rising and falling from his jog. He was distracted by the toned muscles that were easily visible on Kyle's calves and thighs, Kyle's strong and perfectly bulky arms and shoulders, and the glimpse that he got of Kyle's smooth ribs and pecks from his revealing shirt. And, along with all of that, Kyle still had on the brightest smile you could possibly imagine.

"Ah, um, I'm sorry." Cole apologized when he finally got his thoughts away from Kyle's body and back to the conversation at hand. "I realized that I left my change of clothes at home and quickly went back to get them. I probably should have texted you or something but I was thinking about trying to get back as soon as I could."

Kyle was actually surprised that that was the reason why Cole took too long, but he remembered that Cole had mentioned that he lived close enough to walk and his mom had thought that the extra exercise would be good for him.

"It also didn't help that I didn't know where the baseball field was and got lost while trying to walk here." Cole admitted with a small blush. Kyle laughed at this and went to give Cole hardy pats on the back. Cole winced and fell forward when Kyle hit him but didn't complain about it. He was probably just being weak about it.

"Well, I was never upset in the first place anyway." Kyle assured Cole, his face sporting a teasing grin when he saw Cole's expression. So cute. "So, let's get started."