I Have Friends In Both Places
Seventeen

The next day, Atlas awoke to Galen jumping on his bed, his voice shouting in excitement. “Atlas! Oh my God! I don’t know if I should say sorry or have you thank me!”

Atlas grumbled and rolled over in his bed, trying to rub sleep from his eyes. “Judging by how you’re acting, an apology is probably in order.”

Galen flopped down on the bed and rolled on top of the boy, laying his head on his arms which were on Atlas’s chest while his body fell into the space between the boy’s legs. He looked expectantly at Atlas who looked down and rolled his eyes. “Well, what did you do?”

“Technically, it’s not all my fault,” Galen started “I mean, Lele left the book and my notes out after going over them tomorrow, so I didn’t really know at first.”

Atlas groaned and covered his face with his hands. “Jesus, Galen, what did you do?”

“Okay, so, after you left yesterday, Alijah may have come up, and he may have shown me the book, and he may have asked if everything I wrote was true, and he might know that you two are mates now.”

Atlas froze, his entire body freezing as he continued to stare up at the ceiling. “What?” His voice was soft yet harsh as if he couldn’t believe what the younger boy had said.

“Uh, yeah.” Galen played with his fingers anxiously.

Atlas took a deep breath before flinging the boy off of him and onto the other side of the bed. “You did what?”

Galen smiled warily. “Uh, surprise?”

Atlas leapt from his bed and began pacing around, his hands pulling at his hair. “Oh no, oh no, oh no. What the Hell, Galen?” His voice was high, trembling with fear at the thought of what Alijah would think of him now. “Why would you-“

“Dude, why are you worrying so much? He likes you back. It’s obvious. Maybe this will just push him to confess to you and then I won’t have to hear you ramble about how ‘perfect he looked today’ when I’m trying to get ready to go to bed.”

Atlas shook his head. “No, this is going to ruin everything. I was just gonna keep it secret, hide it from him so he never knew. We could’ve just been friends!”

“That’s not how fate works, dude.”

“Well, fate’s a bitch, okay.”

“Fate set you up with ‘the hottest guy you’ve ever seen’,” Galen drawled out, putting quotation marks up with his hands towards the end of the sentence.

Atlas groaned, fell to his knees, pushed his face into the bed, and screamed louder than he thought he could. It was a scream that was meant to make him feel better, but it only made him worse. He hit his head repeatedly on the soft surface. “I’m.” Hit. “So.” Hit. “Dumb.” Hit. Hit. Hit.

Atlas groaned again, and Galen put his hand on the boy’s head, stopping his movements. “Dude, come on. It’s not that big of a deal. It was bound to happen anyway.”

“But it’s happening now,” the boy whined out.

“Yeah, and you’re gonna have to face it. Now, come on. There’s no point in worrying. Let’s go get something to eat.”

Atlas let out a whine before falling back and onto the floor. “I refuse to leave my room. You’ll have to drag out my cold, dead body.”

That declaration didn’t last long as only a few minutes later, Atlas was fully dressed, hair fixed, and being dragged down the hall by Galen. The human was chatting about Lele and how they planned on eating dinner that night because they hadn’t been able to lately. He talked about how much he missed his boyfriend over the days, and it made Atlas wish he had the relationship Galen and Lele had so much more.

The walk to the dining room had always seemed like a short walk, but as Galen dragged him along, it seemed to take years just to get to those two beautiful doors. Atlas was terrified yet excited to see if Alijah was inside. He was terrified because Alijah knew now. He knew what the boy thought of him, and he knew of the prophecy. How as he going to react? How was Atlas going to react if he approached him? How was this going to work out? Who topped? Well, that was obviously Alijah, but it was a decent question.

The doors were drawing nearer, and Atlas thought his heart might as well have just stopped altogether as Galen opened the door easily. The second he stepped in, Alijah’s eyes met his, shining with emotion that Atlas didn’t understand. It was something special though, and Atlas was scared what it might be.

Galen easily dragged him to sit at the table beside him, most of the people having already gone besides the three and two other people who Atlas didn’t really remember the names of, even if he had seen them around before. Atlas shifted in his seat every few seconds, trying to ignore the boy who was dead set on staring at Atlas until he looked back. Atlas just stared at his food- food that Galen had given him after noticing that the boy wasn’t moving.

Atlas ate quickly, trying to hurry through so he could leave quickly. Galen kept looking over at him with a worried look. He had stopped talking about Lele after realizing that Atlas wasn’t paying attention.

After finishing his food, Atlas stood abruptly and walked out of the room, trying to keep his breathing in check as he heard Alijah stand to follow him. Atlas walked quickly, trying to make it to his room before Alijah caught up to him. However, that wish was not granted as Alijah’s hand wrapped around Atlas’s arm as he turned to corner to his hallway. Alijah pushed Atlas to the wall, facing him quickly.

Atlas refused to meet his eyes as Alijah began speaking. “Please, don’t ignore me, Atlas. Galen told me about everything.” Atlas continued looking at the wall instead of Alijah making Alijah sigh lowly. Alijah’s hand cupped Atlas’s face, tilting it to where Atlas had to look at him. Their faces were inches apart, and Atlas thought his heart was finally going to give up as it stuttered at the feeling of Alijah’s cold breath fanning over him.

Alijah’s eyes were searching. For what, Atlas wasn’t quite sure, but they were searching for something in Atlas’s eyes while the younger simply gazed at him, taking in the familiar features with ease. “Come on, Atlas. We both know about it now. How we’re meant for each other as lovers.”

Atlas sighed at how the word ‘lovers’ was drawled out, slipping off his tongue sweetly. It made Atlas want to shiver at the quiet voice. Alijah was so close to whispering as if it was a secret between the two. They had been on a date before, obviously, but it was never brought up again, and for Alijah to come up like this. It was a lot.

“Can’t say I’m surprised. I mean, I’ve had my eyes on you since you’ve shown up.”

Atlas quirked an eyebrow at that. “Is that so?”

Alijah grinned as Atlas finally spoke up. “Of course. I mean, you’re absolutely beautiful. I can’t believe it took so long to admit this, but I think I may have developed a soft spot for you, Atlas Axel. Even before our little date.” Now he wanted to bring that up? “Speaking of, maybe we should go on another.”

Atlas stared at him incredulously. “Are you serious? We’re about to go to war, and you’re asking for a date?”

Alijah was leaning in, Atlas realized slowly. He had been inching closer and closer to where their lips were almost touching. “Well, I mean, I can’t deny my feelings for you, angel. I’m hoping you return them.”

“Of course, I do. I was worried you didn’t.”

Their words were almost silent, both taking in the silence around them. Alijah chuckled at the statement and placed his hands on Atlas’s hips. “Then, you wouldn’t mind me kissing you?”

“Alijah Hood, I would absolutely-“ Atlas was cut off by Galen Rabattre walking down, shouting for the boy. As the chocolate skinned boy turned the corner to the hallway, he let out a scream and covered his eyes while Atlas pushed Alijah away quickly, making the boy huff loudly.

Atlas grinned, folding his hands behind his back as Galen began ranting at him. “I leave you alone for two minutes while I try to eat my biscuits and gravy in peace, and you’re out here making out with Alijah? You weren’t even going to tell me? Or were you? I can’t believe this. You better thank me later, Axel. I swear to whatever I’m supposed to, you better thank me.” Then, with a loud snort, Galen turned on his heel and walked away, probably going to tell Lele of what he just witnessed.

“So,” Alijah drawled out. “About that date?”

Atlas smiled a genuine smile and shook his head. “I’ll go on a date with you if we win this battle.”

“You mean when.”

Atlas laughed a bit and turned to his bedroom door. “But, we can always listen to the playlist I made for you in here.”

Alijah grinned a devilish grin and followed Atlas into the bedroom. “I think I would like that very much.”

And though nothing else happened that morning, Atlas couldn’t deny that Alijah Hood was definitely the one for him, as even their taste in music matched, and that meant more to him than he would put on.