"Hey, there you are!" Norman let out a relieved sigh as you and Danny, side by side, crossed the school parking lot to greet him, "I was just about to call you again," Though the dark-haired boy looked happy to see you were okay, he clearly wasn't fond of Danny being right along with you.

"Where were you, anyways?" Michael said with a quirked brow- you fought down the reddening in your cheeks and nonchalantly shrugged your shoulder. You could see Danny fighting back a smile out of the corner of your eye. After the... events that had transpired between the two of you you'd taken over the (thankfully) empty locker room to get yourselves cleaned up and to make sure there wasn't a trace of hurt left in Danny's beautiful face. Now, no one knew of anything but the two of you and you both planned to keep it that way, at least for the time being. You believed that Danny didn't deserve to have to shoulder the weight of a serious relationship right now in the midst of all this chaos.

"Just- went for some air," You say with an inconspicuous tone that manages to make it over both Norman's and Jason's heads- Michael looks suspicious but lets you off the hook as he leans back against the car door to wait for everyone else. Brahms, however, is a whole different story. His eyes lock with yours for a fraction of a second and you can tell he knows, just like that. You tear your gaze away. "You don't mind giving me and Danny a ride to his place, do you?" You ask, silently begging for Brahms not to say a thing about what he so obviously has caught on to. Instead, he just cracks a toothy grin and says,

"Oh, of course, I don't mind one bit- hey, uh, Mike? Why don't you drive, I'm exhausted," The devilish grin on Brahms' face says more than you would ever have liked it to. You know that this drive to Danny's, though it's only a few minutes, is going to be nothing short of pure agony. 

"Why not," He sighs, and Brahms passes him the car keys. Sharing an apologetic glance with Danny, you move to take your seat in the back while Jason takes his own beside Michael. Danny is clearly about to come to sit beside you when Brahms shoves his way ungraciously through with nothing but that cheeky grin being flashed once again in your direction. Danny is about to speak but he decides to just leave it, scooting into the car as well. Since the backseat is only meant for three and you have four, Norman, awkwardly, crams himself in all the same. It's a tight fit, uncomfortably so, but at least you're all inside. Michael slots the keys into the ignition and the drive begins- the tension shoots sky high almost instantly, with Norman trying desperately to have as little contact with Danny as possible, with Danny looking entirely out of place, with Brahms knowing too much for his own good, and with you crammed too tightly against the door with someone who knows you just 'boinked' the bad boy.

"Sooooo," Brahms hums nonchalantly, all attention turning to him, much to your terror, "How was that air? As good as everyone makes it out to be?" Danny snorts out a laugh and covers it up with as natural a cough as he can muster. It's not natural at all. 

"Uh- Yeah- I mean no- I mean-" Your face flushes and you lose your voice so you just shrug your shoulders and shrink into yourself, forcing your eyes out the window. 

"Hmmm," Brahms continued on, "I don't know if you're giving that air all the credit it deserves. It seems pretty-" Brahms has to stop talking to contain his face-splitting grin, taking a second to recompose himself and put on his casual face once more. "It seems pretty thick," 

"What the heck, Brahms?" Norman cuts in, leaning forwards to give his friend a dumbfounded expression, "Why the interview? And why are you being so- so weird about it?"

"You're talking about the air like people talk about dicks." Michael added from the front seat to earn a punch in the arm from Jason, a motherly scoff and scold from Norman, and a choked sound from you as your soul ascended and left your body to waste away in the mortal realm. 

"Oh, am I?" The way Brahms gasped, 'surprised', made you want to hit him upside the head. You obviously didn't. "God, I had no idea, I'm so sorry! I'll make sure to be more accurate with my speech in the future," This time, he giggled, completely unphased by you elbowing him hard in the ribs. The topic was dropped- or at least, it would have been if the boy beside you hadn't continued talking. "I've just been told so much that that air was so good and that anyone would be lucky to get a taste of it,"

"C-Can you please- drive faster?" Your words come out in a humiliating croak and you crane your neck to hide your flaming cheeks. 

"Faster, you say? What, was the air not fast enough for-"

"What the hell is up with you, Brahms?" Michael asks again, cutting him off this time- Norman is immensely uncomfortable in the far seat and the ice-eyed man seems to have noticed that it was because Brahms was being so strange and cryptic. "You're pissing us all off, man, we don't understand what-" And then, understanding blooms in Michael's eyes, visible to you through the rearview mirror. Fuck. "Oh. My. God." 

"What?" Norman asks, only to be ignored as Michael stopped the car in its place to twist in his seat and lock eyes with Danny. Danny tensed up like a statue, hands clasped in his lap so tightly that his knuckles went white. 

"You didn't." Michael's eyes then turned to you- you quickly tore your gaze away. Lastly, they turned to Brahms, and the glow in his emerald gaze was more than enough evidence for him. Pulling back into his seat and returning to set his hands on the wheel, though he didn't yet move, Michael sucked in a breath. This time when he leaned he leaned to Jason, hissing quietly in his ear. Jason's incredulous look was turned to you next and your face went even redder. 

"What?" Norman asked again. Ignored. With his hands shielded by his seat, Jason signed, 'you slept with HIM?' adding extra flair to his sign for 'him' to make sure you could see how shocked the man was. You cracked a sheepish grin, looking over at Danny, and in tandem you both shrugged your shoulders. "What is going on?" Norman cut in for a third and final time- at last, he was met with an answer, but it definitely wasn't one that was enough for his curious mind.

"You'll learn in time, kid," Michael said with a huff of a laugh, starting the car up to continue onwards once more. Shuffling in your seat, the rest of the ride was silent save for Brahms' occasional snicker. You knew he was thinking of the stunt he'd pulled on you and Danny.

***

"Bye~!" Brahms calls out in a singsong voice, grinning madly as you and Danny scurried up his front steps. You turned, waving, your grin still not quite touching your ears as it so usually did when Danny was at your side. You were nervous of what your friends thought. You were nervous of what Danny thought. As your friend (boyfriend? lover? what?) unlocked his front door, your faux-smile fell completely and your arm dropped to your side. What if they thought you were a terrible person for sleeping with Danny Johnson? What if they hated him and thought he'd taken advantage of you or something? What if they never wanted to speak to you again because you had sex with basically the one person who's made them feel like aliens for their entire- 

"Hey, sweetheart, chin up please." You hadn't even noticed that your face had fallen, weighed down by your crumbling thoughts. A gentle hand placed itself on your cheek, and you lifted your own hand to rest on top of it as you brought your eyes up to meet his own. 

"Sorry," you mumble, frowning, "I shouldn't be all bummed out like this. You're the one who had the shitty night, I have no right to feel bad for myself." You swallow the growing lump in your throat, "I'm sorry."

"None of that baby. None of that. C'mere," Opening his arms and pulling you close to his chest, Danny settled on hand on the back of your head the run his fingers lightly through your hair. "My night wasn't all shitty. There were some pretty good parts at the end there." You savor the way his chest rumbles lightly with his chuckle, and lift your own arms to wrap around him in turn. "Mandy might not ever forgive me, but I'll do everything I can to make it up to her. It's not worth sulking and feeling bad for myself, either." Despite his words you heard the hitch of his breath, a telltale sign that tears were on the way. You pulled back, looking up at him warmly, and watch as a tear slips down his cheek once more. "I-" He laughs, reaching up to wipe the tear away, "I don't usually cry like this. I'm just... tired. Emotionally. And, well... and physically." With this, he shoots you a wink that makes you smile and go light red. Another tear slips past his defences. 

"I hate you, Danny Johnson." You grin, and there's no way he could ever believe those words as you kiss away his tears. 

"I hate you too, (Y/N) (L/N)." There's no way you could ever believe those words as he captures your lips in his and pulls you in for a hug like his life depended on it.

"Come on," You say through a shiver as the two of you pull away, "I'm freezing." 

"Let's get you in  bed then, yeah? I'm tired, and you look nice to cuddle." 

(A/N): This one's short, but that's because I need to drop it off on a happy note :)

Get ready.