No Need to Sleep Living in a Dream (Boy × Boy) ✔

CHAPTER 2: An inexperienced heart

Evan Cooper

Evan had taken part in all the activities of the day and thanks to his happy-go-lucky personality, he was already blending in. He had spent most of the evening with those members from the hockey team who had also just started their fourth year.

There were other new acquaintances as well. One of them was Carla, with whom he had started talking when he found out they had the same last name. Then there was this loquacious guy named JK, and his much quieter friend Brian.

At the end of the day they and nearly every other student gathered around the campfire. Someone had brought a guitar and they sung together, like the very cliché of teenagers on a camping trip. Isn't there always someone who brings the guitar to sing along to around the fire?

It was well past midnight when Evan decided it was time to call it a day. He walked back with Chase, who yawned drowsily next to him. Neither of them said a word before they reached the tent Chase was sleeping in.

"See you tomorrow, man." Chase bid before opening the zipper of the tent and scrambling in. When Evan was alone, he started feeling uneasy about the fact he would have to share his tent with someone as hostile as Junior.

But Evan hadn't seen him after they went swimming. Maybe Junior had wandered into the forest where he wouldn't have to put up with all the annoying human beings and found himself an old deserted cottage to spend the night.. Or, well, it was also possible that he was already sleeping in the tent, as he was.

Evan crawled in as quietly as possible, hoping to avoid the wrath of the Little Sunshine if he happened to wake him up in the middle of his dreams.

His eyes speedily surveyed the guy sleeping next to him, and he had already turned his gaze away, when he halted. It felt like something cold had been poured down to his stomach. Evan gaped at the sight in front of him.

Junior was sleeping on his side, his left arm folded to his chest and his right arm loosely held his side. That arm was bruised like someone had gripped it with significant force, leaving behind a cluster of dark marks in the distinct shape of fingers.

No wonder he didn't take the flannel off.

Junior did seem like the kind of guy who easily got into fights, but something about his injury made Evan question if it was really just that.

Whatever it was, something about that fragile and innocent looking guy — no matter how foulmouthed and downright hostile he actually was —  with his bruised arm made Evan relent. Just a little, but enough to make him wonder: who was this guy and what had been done to him?

Dario Ortiz

The pink haired guy sitting next to Dario was someone he had noticed walking in hallways, but to whom he had never talked before. Beau and his group weren't difficult to recognize. They all wore either black from head to toe or colors so bright it hurt the eye. Most of them also had colorful hair and piercings. One of Beau's friends was in Dario's class, but they weren't exactly close.

Even though Dario had found Beau interesting, with his bleached hair and tattoos, he hadn't thought about him that much. He had sometimes envied them for being openly what they were: a girl in their group walked hand in hand with another girl and they often talked about things like Pride and wanting equality for the LGBTQIAP+ community.

Beau used to go out with a guy, who was in his last year of high school..

The thought made Dario's heart skip a beat. He took another look at the guy sitting next to him, realizing how relaxed he felt in his company. Yet, now that he realised Beau was gay, or bi or whatsoever, he became nervous. Not in the oh-gosh-keep-that-filthy-gay-away-from-me way, but nervous as in.. well, in a way that filled Dario's stomach with butterflies.