#n no one to speak to unless ethan is available

[gutmeats]

[FIC] Earthquake Prank (GONE WRONG) (GONE SEXUAL) (I DIED???????!!!!!!1???) | Part Two

AO3 Link | Previous Chapter (AO3 / Tumblr) | Next Chapter (currently not available

Fandom: Hollywood U

Pairing: Thomas Hunt x Avalon Hammond (M!MC)

Length: 5,643 words

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Teacher-Student Relationship, Fake Death, Canon Atypical Cursing

Summary: How do you apologize to your boyfriend after faking your death for a prank? Whatever your answer is, it's incorrect.

A/N: special thanks to my beta readers, @lame-kid-on-couch and @spacepumpkins ily smooch <3 they also beta read chapter one

Thomas Hunt watches in horror as Avalon falls through the open skylight and vanishes in the fog. “AVALON!” He screams, rushing to the edge. “Avalon! Avalon! Quickly, Ethan, downstairs! We have to--”

Ethan puts a hand on Thomas’ shoulder. “Professor… It’s too late..”

Lisa shakes her head sadly. “There’s no way Avalon survived that fall…”

“No…” Thomas stares into the smoke, kneading Avalon’s cardigan into a ball with his hands and pressing it to his chest. “I- I-” his voice breaks as he tries to speak. “I never told Avalon… how much I-- why didn’t I ever say…”

“Say what, Professor?”

Thomas whips around to see Avalon leaving the library, followed by Spencer and a few other students. “Avalon!” Relief floods his face. “You’re-! How?”

Ethan grins. “Do my eyes deceive me, or did Avalon successfully prank the Thomas Hunt?”

Lisa bounces excitedly. “We! Pranked! Hunt! We! Pranked! Hunt!”

“Is this the proudest moment of my life?” Ethan grabs Lisa’s arms and bounces with her. “Yeah! Yes, it is.”

Thomas looks in disbelief at the two bouncing happily, then at Avalon, who’s smiling- albeit somewhat sadly, and can’t meet his eyes. Slowly, he scowls. “No! You did not prank me! I never actually thought-”

Avalon tips his head to the side. “Come on, Professor. Accept defeat with a little dignity.” But even his gloating is a little flat.

Thomas stews silently for a moment, then throws Avalon’s cardigan back at him. “You may have won the day... but mark my words, I always have the last word.” And with that he turns and storms off.

Avalon reaches out to Hunt. “T-” He sighs and shakes his head, dropping his arm. After a moment, he pulls his cardigan back on and looks at his friends. “You guys owe me, big time.”

“That’s fair.” Ethan shrugs and pats Avalon’s back.

The five of them stand silently around the open skylight for a few seconds.

“So…” Lisa looks at the others. “What now?”

“I think we should clean up the screening room. We made that mess after all.” Avalon catches Bianca’s arm as she tries to slip away. “Nope. You too.”

Bianca huffs and frowns. “Isn’t that what the custodial staff is for? Why should we have to clean it up?”

“No. I’ll let the custodial staff know there’s a broken skylight out here so they can do something about the hole, but we’re cleaning it ourselves.” Avalon turns to the main building on campus. “You guys get started with the shelves and reels. I’ll be back with brooms for the broken glass. Crash, keep an eye on Bianca so she doesn’t try to get out of it.”

An hour and a half later, the five students lean against the walls and lie on the floor of the screening room. With the exception of the broken skylight, the room seems to be pretty much back in order.

“Ugh, is that it? Are we done?” Bianca moans. “Can we go home now?”

Avalon sighs and looks around the room, running a hand through his hair. “I think so… I mean, unless y'all wanna help me reinstall the skylight.”

The other four groan in response.

Avalon nods. “I thought you might say that.” Stretching, he pulls his phone out of his pocket and turns it off airplane mode. Instantly, he gets flooded with notifications. “What the hell-” He unlocks his phone and turns twitter notifications off before scrolling through them.

“What do they say?” Ethan looks over his shoulder.

“Well… it looks like a few are congratulating us for pranking Hunt…” He clicks his tongue. “...And the rest are condolences for my loss?” He squints, confused, and scrolls faster. “...Oh. Jenni tweeted that I died.”

“Oh my god!” Bianca laughs. “What did she say?”

Avalon finds the original tweet and reads it out loud. “‘OMG, just saw ‘@avasham’ fall through a skylight! Don’t think he survived. Sad days, he’s one of my close friends-’ with a frowny face, and the hashtags ‘RIP Avalon’ and ‘you will be missed’... since when was I one of her close friends?”

“Since tweeting about your death would get her a bunch of sympathy likes. Look.” Ethan points at Avalon’s phone.

Avalon rolls his eyes and types out a reply to her tweet. “‘Thanks for the condolences. Stop tweeting that I’m dead.’” He hits send and slips his phone back into his pocket. “Whatever. Since we’re done here, I’m gonna go talk to Hunt and apologize for all of us.”

“What, apologize?” Lisa jumps up. “What for?! Pranking him?”

“Yes,” Avalon says flatly. “Honestly, I think we took it way too far.”

“Well, you’re the one who jumped through the skylight!”

“Exactly. That’s why I’m going to apologize.” Avalon waves his hand and starts heading out of the room. “Y’all do whatever you want, I’m doing this.” He leaves before anyone can say anything else.

Crash watches him go, then looks at the other three. “Hey… do you guys think the professor will notice if some of his dried fruit goes missing?”

Avalon knocks gently on the door to Hunt’s office, then lets himself in without waiting for an answer. He locks the door behind him. “Hey…”

Hunt scowls. “What do you want, Avalon?”

Avalon sighs and takes a seat across from him, not meeting his gaze. “To apologize. We took our prank way too far, and that was even before I let them convince me to fall through the skylight. What we did in the basement was dangerous and stupid, and what I did after was even moreso.” He shakes his head sadly. “Most importantly, I’m sorry for putting you through that, Thomas. I was devastated when I thought you were knocked out, I can’t imagine what thinking I was dead must have been like for you.”

Hunt doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. Then he slowly stands up, putting his palms flat on his desk. “Don’t you ever-” he growls, but his voice quavers in a way that betrays his emotions- “scare me like that, ever again.”

Avalon looks away, ashamed, biting his lip. “I won’t. I promise.”

Hunt pulls the blinds on the window closed, then slips around his desk to grab Avalon’s hands and pull him out of the chair. He wraps his arms around Avalon, holding him close. He presses his face into the juncture between Avalon’s neck and shoulder. After a moment, he whispers, “Stay at my house. For the rest of the week. I don’t think I can let you out of my sight again after that.”

Avalon nods, turning to kiss the side of his head. “I will. I am so, so sorry.”

Hunt lifts his head, pressing a tender kiss against Avalon’s lips, and the two men stay like that for a while, holding each other in their arms.

Eventually, Hunt breaks away from the kiss and places his forehead back against Avalon’s neck with a sigh. “How am I supposed to get you home? You didn’t drive today, did you?”

“Fuck, no. I fucking hate LA traffic; Ethan gave me a ride so we could finish setting up…” Avalon gently strokes Hunt’s hair. He hums quietly in thought. “I do have an idea, but unfortunately for you, it does involve us spending about an hour with my friends.”

“Great.” Hunt grimaces and looks up at Avalon. “But I don’t think that’ll help to keep our relationship private.”

“It will if we play our cards right, but leave that to me. You should just think of it as getting to know your partner’s friends.” Avalon kisses the side of Hunt’s head, just above his ear. “Like the Spice Girls.”

Hunt sighs. “...Like the Spice Girls.”

Avalon leads Hunt to the common area of Lisa’s dorm where she, Crash, and Ethan are recounting the events of the day to Addison.

“--and that’s when Avalon fell through the skylight!” To emphasize what he was saying, Crash tosses himself over the back of a couch.

“I thought you said he didn’t die!” Addi exclaims, dismayed.

“He did, but he’s fine now.” Crash pops back up, leaning over the couch. He points to where Avalon is standing with Hunt, at the edge of the room behind the other three. “He’s right there, actually.”

“Oh! Ava!” Addi lets out a squeak, somewhere between surprise and relief, and rushes over to wrap Avalon in a tight hug. “I’m glad you’re not dead!”

“I’m also glad I’m not dead!” Avalon responds cheerfully, returning her hug. “That’s a whole thing I would prefer to keep y’all from experiencing!”

“Hey, quick question,” Lisa interjects, “what the fuck is the professor doing here?”

Hunt frowns. “Language, Miss Valentine. I know classes are over for the day, but I still expect a certain professionalism from my students while on campus.”

“Oh, sorry.” Lisa rolls her eyes. “What the fuck are you doing here, sir?”

Avalon lets go of Addi, but keeps his arm slung casually across her shoulders. “I’ve invited him to get dinner with us. As an apology.”

The other students look at each other, then at Hunt- who seems slightly startled himself- and then at Avalon.

Lisa speaks up first. “Why?”

Avalon tips his head to the side, eyebrows raised and eyes wide. “...As an apology. I just said that. Apology dinner!” He wiggles his fingers. “It’s the least we can do.”

Ethan stares at Avalon for a few seconds, then shrugs and stands up. “Well, we were planning on getting dinner already so I don’t see why not.”

“Well for one thing, he locked us in a basement,” Lisa retorts.

Avalon snorts. “We locked us in the basement, Lisa. He just took the key.”

“I just don’t see why we have to apologize at all! Especially since you already did a few minutes ago!”

“You saw his reaction. I don’t think a single, verbal apology is good enough.”

Lisa frowns and crosses her arms. “Wednesdays are supposed to be the nights where we hang out and pretend we don’t have unstarted homework due. How are we supposed to do that with one of our professors sitting with us?”

“Lisa… are you not doing your homework?” Avalon asks, concerned. “I can help you if you need it.”

Lisa’s face flushes and she scoffs. “Uh- of course I am, dad! I was just saying, you know, hypothetically if we didn’t have our work started…” She shakes her head and storms for the door. “Whatever! Let’s just go get this stupid apology dinner over with!”

“Right, well, we should get going before the dinner rush hits.” Ethan glances at Hunt and Avalon. “Crash and Lisa, you’re with me. Addi too, if you’re going to join us.”

“I’d love to!” Addison winks at Avalon and shoots him a thumbs up before following Lisa, Ethan, and Crash out.

“Wait- Ava didn’t drive, how’s he going to get there if he’s not coming with us?” Crash asks as Ethan herds him toward the door.

“Don’t worry about it.” Ethan looks back at Avalon one last time before leaving the building.

After a moment of silence, Avalon turns to Hunt. “Ta-dah!” He jazz hands. “An alibi.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“It’s better than nothing!”

Avalon sits in the passenger seat of Hunt’s sports car as they speed through LA, following Ethan in his porsche.

“Just as a heads up,” Avalon begins, gripping the inside of the door frame as Hunt zips through traffic. “This place we’re going, it ain’t exactly Michelin rated. It’s nice, yeah, but it’s one of them somewhat-cheap-but-high-end-feeling type places. Outta the way enough that we don’t gotta worry about paparazzi swarming us when Lisa is around, but still nice enough that TMZ or Dirty Hollywood ain’t gonna say anything stupid about us being there if someone does get a picture.”

“Thank you for the warning.” Hunt glances at Avalon while they’re paused at a red light.

“Mhm,” Avalon hums in response and turns to look out the tinted side window. They sit in silence for a moment before Avalon speaks up again. “By the way. Addison knows about our relationship. I think Ethan does too, but I haven’t told him.”

“What?” Hunt brakes a little too hard.

Avalon grips the doorframe tighter. “That first night we spent together, Addi and I had brunch planned for the next morning.” He shrugs and rubs the back of his neck. “I didn’t really think we were gonna see each other again so soon, much less because you’d turn out to be our teacher, so when she asked how the evening before went, I told her I went home with a cute guy named Thomas, and after that first day of classes she was able to put two and two together.”

“She hasn’t told anyone?”

“Of course not! Don’tcha think there woulda been tabloids and… I don’t know, weirdly invasive slash fiction on Tumblr by now if she’d told someone? Word travels fast, and gossip even faster.”

“I suppose…” Hunt sighs. “And Ethan?”

Avalon shrugs again. “Like I said, I haven’t told him, but he’s a smart guy so I’d be more surprised if he didn’t know. I mean, he figured out Janey and I have been each other’s beards since highschool without me saying anything about it. Besides-” he pokes Hunt’s shoulder- “You told Chris.”

Hunt waves Avalon’s hand away. “I was drunk! He didn’t even know I was talking about you until you told him your side.”

“Well how was I supposed to know you were also fucking him? You didn’t talk to me outside of class for, like, two months!”

“Because you’re my student, Avalon!” Hunt makes an exasperated noise and shakes his head. After a moment, he quietly says, “Do you know how hard those two months were for me? Having you so close, but just out of reach?”

“I know,” Avalon sighs. He gently places a hand on Hunt’s thigh. “It was hard for me, too.”

Hunt tightens his grip on the steering wheel and keeps his eyes locked on Ethan’s car ahead of them. Slowly, he lowers his right hand and places it on top of Avalon’s, lacing their fingers together.

He keeps Avalon’s hand firmly in his grip until they turn off the road and into a small parking lot, next to a smaller restaurant tucked away between the city and the suburbs. He puts his hand back on the steering wheel as Avalon moves his own back to his lap.

“It’s… quaint. I didn’t know this was here,” he says, quickly finding a parking spot.

“That’s the point.” Avalon smiles and taps the side of his head. “Not many people do.”

“Right…” Hunt sighs and looks at Avalon. “Let’s get this over with, then. I’d like to take you home as soon as possible.”

Avalon snorts and laughs, touching Hunt’s arm. “Dirty old man,” he says, fondly.

Hunt’s face flushes. “I didn’t mean it like that-” He frowns. “And we’re the same age.”

“I’m just teasing you, darlin’. I gotta get it all out of my system before I slip up and say something in front of my friends.” He begins to lean in to kiss Hunt on the cheek, but stops a few inches away and pulls back. Instead, he hooks his pointer finger around Hunt’s and gives it a gentle squeeze before letting go and exiting the car.

The two men walk toward the restaurant, where Avalon’s four friends are already waiting by the door.

“Took you long enough,” Lisa says hotly.

Ethan lets out a small laugh and opens the door, holding it for the others. “They were right behind us the entire time.”

“Whatever,” Lisa grumbles, following Crash and Addison inside.

Avalon laughs and shakes his head, stepping up onto the curb. For the second time that day- only this time by complete accident- he puts too much weight on his twisted ankle and begins to fall. For just a second, his body goes into panic mode. Instead of just catching himself, he braces for impact.

Which never comes.

At least, not in the way he expected.

Hunt pulls him upright, arms wrapped securely around his waist and concern in his eyes. “Are you alright?” He asks quietly.

Avalon’s face flushes. “Yeah,” he breathes. “I just tripped, that’s all. I could’ve caught myself.”

“It didn’t look like you were going to…” Hunt tucks some of Avalon’s hair behind his ear.

“Then I’m glad that you did…” Avalon gently places a hand on Hunt’s chest.

The two men lean towards each other, lips parted slightly.

Ethan clears his throat, still holding the door open while pointedly looking away from them.

“Hm.” With that, Hunt lets go of Avalon and enters the restaurant.

Avalon stands there, dazed for a second before shaking his head and following Hunt inside.

As he passes Ethan, Ethan grabs him by the elbow and says quietly, “Hey. Be careful.”

“I am being careful.”

“Ava, that wasn’t careful in the slightest. This is the kind of scandal that could ruin your entire career if it got out. As your agent-- more importantly, as your friend, I can’t let that happen to you.”

“Gah-- I know, it’s just...” Avalon takes a deep breath and sighs. He runs a hand through his hair. “It’s hard to be careful around him sometimes. I have to spend so much time around him every weekday pretending that I don’t-- that I’m not in a relationship with him. When he gets too close, all of me goes a little bit crazy.”

“I can’t say I know what you feel. But at the very least, please try to keep your hands to yourself in public.” He starts to enter the restaurant, but pauses and turns back to Avalon. “And maybe stop screwing around in his office. That’s a guarantee you’ll get caught.”

“Huh- wh- uh-! We weren’t--! We don’t--!”

Ethan laughs and shakes his head, and the two of them enter the restaurant together.

Try as he might, there was no way for Thomas to see the dinner as a way to get to know Avalon’s friends, not in whatever way Avalon had meant. They were his students, first and foremost, and the only things he could think to ask them about were class related. So, instead he opted to sit quietly and sip his water.

As did everyone else at the table.

Thomas couldn’t exactly place it, but something felt off. He’d had enough one on one time with Avalon that he felt rather comfortable in figuring out how Avalon felt most of the time, but the same could not be said about his friends. Conversation died out as quickly as it started, Avalon’s friends glancing oddly at Thomas every time. It was easier before the waitress took their orders, he just pretended to be as invested in the menu as everyone else seemed to be.

He did find that a little odd, considering he was sure Avalon had said they’d all been there multiple times.

“So,” Ethan says, finally breaking the silence that had fallen over the table since the waitress left. “Ava. How on earth did you get $30,000 in property damage?”

Thomas nearly drops his glass of water. “You… what?” He stares at Avalon in disbelief.

“Like I said the other day, prank went awry.” Avalon shrugs nonchalantly and sips his margarita. He was the only person at the table who had ordered an alcoholic beverage; Thomas realizes with a start he had no idea if Avalon’s friends were over the legal drinking age or not. He knew Avalon was, but he typically didn’t care to know the exact ages of any of his students.

“But how?” Spencer- Crash, Thomas reminds himself- presses, leaning across the table. “And how come we haven’t heard anything about this?”

“Because it was forever ago- literally, not like last week or something- and also in Texas. It happened when I was in high school. Senior prank gone wrong.” He takes another sip of his drink.

And doesn’t say anything else.

Thomas glances around the table, trying to gauge the reactions of Avalon’s friends, before clearing his throat and speaking up. “Yes, but how exactly?”

“I’d tell you, but we took a blood oath never to speak the details.”

There was a pause.

Then Lisa started laughing. “Good one, Ava.”

“I’m serious. Look.” Avalon sits up and holds his right hand out, palm up. He points out a thin white scar that ran across it, barely there anymore. “It hurt like a bitch and I couldn’t use it for a while. It still hurts sometimes, honestly. They don’t ever bring that up when characters do it in movies.”

More silence.

Ethan took a deep breath, rubbing a hand across his face. “Wwwhyyyyyyyyyy. Why would you do that.”

“To make sure we don’t talk about it, obviously.”

“Yes, but why?” Addison asks.

“Why do teens do anything, ever? Edgy bullshit is usually the answer.” Avalon shrugs again and waves his hand. He picks his margarita back up and goes to take a sip, but stops. “Hey. T-- Professor, you said you were a production assistant on Battlefield Earth?”

Thomas frowns. “Are you really using that to change the subject?”

“Yup. That must have been interesting, huh? That movie was made by some… interesting people, wasn’t it?” Avalon leans a bit closer to him, eyes wide.

Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes.

Thomas clenches his fist under the table, digging his fingernails into his palms to keep himself from reaching out and tucking that strand of hair back away. “If you’re talking about John Trevolta, I don’t know if he’s homosexual. It was 1999 and I barely interacted with him.”

Avalon let out a laugh- loud and beautiful- and that weird offness around the table seemed to dissipate, at least a little. “No! I didn’t mean John Trevolta-- well, I guess I kind of did? But not for that reason!” He suddenly turns serious and slaps his hand down on the table, staring intensely at Thomas in a way that makes him feel… something. Something enjoyable. “Scientology. That’s the reason.”

Thomas blinks, chasing away those lingering thoughts. “Oh.” He scrunches his face and shakes his head. “Why do you want to know about that?”

“Honestly, I wanted to know if you believed that cr--” Avalon cuts himself off, looking like a deer caught in headlights for a second before shaking his head and returning to normal. “But your expression kind of answered that.”

Thomas scoffs. “The only way I would be in a cult is if I was the head of one, and I already deal with enough people who can’t think for themselves.”

Avalon’s friends share a look, and Avalon himself takes a particularly big sip of his margarita.

Thomas furrows his brow, confused for a second, and then realizes what he just said. “Oh, not-” He frowns and glances over his shoulder. “This doesn’t leave this table at all, but you five are the least intolerable of my students this year.”

“Wow,” Lisa says, flatly, “That was almost a compliment.”

“Don’t let it go to your heads.”

“I mean, we can try, but we're bound to end up with inflated egos if you keep sucking us silly like this.”

Avalon chokes on his margarita.

“Anyway, Professor,” Ethan says, leaning forward to put himself between Lisa and Hunt.“I wanted to know how you found out about the prank if Avalon didn’t tell you. I spent four years working on it!”

“Perhaps you should have taken another four years,” Thomas responds.

Avalon gives him a look.

Thomas sighs. “As much as this… pains me to say, you did put a previously unseen amount of effort into your prank.”

Lisa scoffs and begins to say something, but Avalon reaches across the table and shoves a complimentary breadstick into her mouth. “Quiet, child.” She glares at him, but eats the breadstick, slumping back into the booth seat with her arms crossed.

“If you must know,” Thomas continues, ignoring them, “there was a variety of things that tipped me off. Did you really think transporting a machine big enough to simulate an earthquake of that size onto campus would go unnoticed?”

Ethan frowns at Avalon. “I thought you were distracting him during that.”

“I was,” Avalon states. “In some ways.” Then he chugs the rest of his margarita to avoid elaborating.

“Your second mistake,” Thomas says, “Was allowing Miss Stone to, ah, help. Not only am I well aware that none of you like each other, but she tells her friends everything she does, and in turn Miss Whitman tweets everything she says.”

“Hey, why did you invite her?” Addison asks. “I could have helped.”

“Because she overheard us talking about it,” Ethan answers, “and I got the feeling that if I didn’t let her join, she would do everything she could to ruin my plans.”

“She did that anyway.”

“Yes, but not as bad as she could have.”

Lisa scrunches her nose. “I liked it better when we were talking about anything but Bianca.”

“Well, the good news is, we don’t have to talk about anything now,” Avalon says, gesturing at the approaching waitress.

Although the conversation had all but died down again, Avalon was glad to note that the silence was considerably more comfortable than it had been when they first arrived. On one hand, Crash and Lisa still seemed a bit uneasy to be sitting with their professor, but on the other Ethan and Addison had quickly realized that this was a perfect opportunity to grill their friend’s boyfriend-- nothing too invasive or inappropriate for students to be asking their teacher, of course.

During a lull in the questioning as they ate, Avalon discreetly- unconsciously, almost- shifts his leg to press it against Hunt’s. When he notices Hunt looking at him, he smiles innocently. The corner of Hunt’s mouth twitches upward slightly for not even a half of a second before he presses it back into a line.

Once the food is eaten and the bill is paid, the group quietly files out, no one really wanting to extend this apology dinner for longer than necessary.

“So,” Lisa begins, hopping once in place and turning to her friends when they reach the parking lot. “Apology dinner is over, we don’t have to spend anymore time with the professor, I think we should go clubbing! Just the five of us. No offense, but I don’t want some old jackass tagging along.” She pauses. “Actually, no. Full offense.”

“Avalon is the same age as I am,” Hunt mutters under his breath.

“Yeah, um, actually-” Avalon stifles a yawn. “I’m kinda tired. Y’all go clubbing without me if you want to go. I think I’ll head home.”

“Aw, what? I wanted to celebrate our prank. We couldn’t have done it without you!”

Avalon sighs and rubs his face. “Lisa, it’s Wednesday. We have class tomorrow.”

“So?”

“So we’ll take Avalon home and then we can go clubbing,” Ethan states, cutting in.

“But it’s not as fun without him!” Lisa whines. “Plus, I’m 100% sure Ava is going to love this club.”

“I’m sure I will, on a day that I don’t need to work on a three page essay for one of the harshest professors I have a class with. Honestly, I think you should go home and get started on your assignments as well.” Avalon gives Lisa a pointed look.

“Ew, no, I’m still going clubbing. We’re just going to have to party extra hard this weekend.”

“We’ll see. If that's it, I’m going to call myself a cab and head home.” He glances quickly at Hunt.

“Don’t bother,” Hunt says. “I’ll take you home.”

Lisa raises an eyebrow. “Really? You seemed like you wanted nothing more than to get the fuck out of here and away from us. I’m surprised you haven’t left already.”

“Forgive me if I want to make sure the student I watched fall two stories into a basement gets home safe, Miss Valentine.”

Lisa turns back to Avalon, scrunching her face. “You’re not going to go with him, are you? I’d hate it if he knew where I lived.”

Avalon shrugs. “Hey, a free ride is a free ride. If he’s offering, I’m not going to turn him down.”

“Alright, but it’s on you if he eventually decides to break into your place to murder you in your sleep.”

“Yeah... something tells me he’s not going to do that. You don’t have to worry, I’ll be fine!”

Lisa pouts. “...okay. Fine. But you should check if he keeps any test answers in his car.”

“I won’t. And I’m sure he doesn’t.”

“Check anyway!”

“I will if you study tonight!”

Lisa scoffs and sulks off.

Avalon hugs the rest of his friends, then climbs into the passenger seat of Hunt’s car. As Hunt starts the car up, Avalon turns to him. “Hey, can we actually stop by my place? I know I’ve got enough at yours that I can stay there for the rest of the week, I just…” He sighs and lightly touches the spot on his neck where a gold band usually hangs from a chain. “I left my necklace at home because I didn’t want to lose it, and you know I hate not wearing it.”

Hunt nods briskly and begins the drive to Avalon’s neighborhood.

While Avalon changes into his pajamas, he can’t help sneaking glances over at Thomas, who has turned away. His partner was attractive, he couldn’t deny it, but currently he was focused more on how unusually quiet Thomas had been on the drive back from his house. The guilt from earlier that day had come back and was beginning to gnaw at him again.

He peels off his T-shirt, tossing it into the hamper and grabbing his sleep shirt from the nightstand. He slips the new shirt on, leaving it unbuttoned as he crosses the room to wrap his arms around Thomas's waist, pulling him close.

He gently kisses up Thomas’s bare shoulder and neck. “Hey, you…” He says quietly.

Thomas puts his hands on Avalon’s arms, leaning into his embrace with a soft sigh.

Avalon strokes Thomas’s hip lightly with his fingertips. “I know that it won’t make up for today at all, but…” Avalon kisses Hunt’s jaw. “Let me take care of you tonight?”

Thomas closes his eyes, sinking farther into Avalon’s arms just for a second. Then he stands up straight and shakes his head. “Go to bed, Ava.” He pulls away.

“...Okay.” Avalon lets his arms drop to his sides as he watches Thomas leave the room, turning the light off as he goes. “Okay.” He buttons up his shirt and crawls into bed, lying so he faces the door. He grips the gold band on his necklace for comfort, grateful for its reestablished presence.

A few minutes pass before Thomas returns. He barely glances at Avalon as he makes his way across the room to the other side of the bed. He settles down under the covers, his back to Avalon.

Avalon shifts, turning slightly. “Would you like me to-”

“No. Not tonight, Ava.”

He nods, swallowing hard. “Right. Okay.” He lies back down, hugging his pillow. He takes a few deep, steady breaths. “Toma, I… I’m sorry.”

There's a pause.

“I know, Ava.”

Normally, it didn’t take long for Avalon to fall asleep.

Normally, he could just shut his brain off as soon as he got comfortable.

Normally, he wasn’t fighting with Thomas.

That’s what this was, wasn’t it? He had upset Thomas, and now he was mad and they were fighting. He just wished he knew what to do to let Thomas know exactly how sorry he was and how much he regretted what he did. He sifts through idea after idea trying to figure out something- anything- that would work.

And then Thomas rolls over and presses against Avalon’s back. He puts a hand on Avalon’s waist and rests his forehead between Avalon’s shoulder blades.

Avalon freezes, unsure of what to do as Thomas’ shoulders start gently shaking. He squeezes his pillow, and for a few minutes just lets Thomas cry quietly.

It isn’t until Thomas lets out a strangled half-sob that Avalon rolls over and wraps his arms around him, holding him close and stroking his hair.

Thomas hurriedly wipes his eyes, trying to even out his breath. “You’re--” He takes a shuddering breath. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You didn’t wake me, I wasn’t asleep…” Avalon kisses Thomas’ forehead. “I couldn’t sleep. Not after today.”

“If I had known you were awake, I wouldn’t have…” Thomas trails off and shakes his head. “I’m sorry you had to hear that.”

Avalon frowns. “Don’t be. I understand why, Thomas. You don’t need to be sorry.” He strokes Thomas’ cheek lightly. “I’m just glad you’re not keeping it all bottled up.”

Thomas nods, turning his head and kissing Avalon’s palm. “I thought-” His voice breaks and Avalon can feel tears beginning to slip down his face again. “I thought I lost you, Ava.”

“I know.” Avalon kisses his cheeks before resting his forehead against Thomas’. “I know. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that…”

“I know we haven’t been together for that long, but I--” Thomas cuts himself off and takes a shuddering breath. “I care so much about you, Ava. I don’t know what I would have done if you had-”

“But I didn’t. I’m right here with you. I’m not going anywhere, Toma.”

Thomas nods and kisses Avalon before burying his face in Avalon’s shoulder. Avalon rubs Thomas’ back and runs his fingers through his hair, not unlike how he had earlier in the day.

And the two men hold each other.

Until they both fall asleep.