Love thinks about it. Is it weird that he's on this school? Is he so different that people are questioning it? He can just answer like anyone would do.
'It's close to my house. If I want, I can always go there.'
That seems logical, right?
'How did you get in then?' Tangmo asks. Vier is staring at Tangmo, as if he doesn't like his questions either. Why is he suddenly so interested? They do not feel like sincere questions, it's rather about incomprehension.
'I know Good since I was born. He helped me to prepare.' They both nod their head. Vier slurps his noodles. He doesn't want to interfere.
'That way.' Tangmo says. 'I'm sorry I attacked you with this questions. I was just wondering.' Love is glad he apologizes. For a while he felt like someone who shouldn't be here. As if people didn't want him here.
'It's alright.' Love doesn't even know if he means what he says. He just doesn't want people to judge all the time. 'Let's finish our food and go to sleep.'
Love gets up and walks toward the door. He's not hungry anymore.
'Why don't you sleep here?' Vier interferes. He didn't want to do that, but he doesn't want to waste an opportunity again. 'There's enough space in my bed.'
Love checks the bed, it's true. He won't fall out of the bed when asleep.
Tangmo is cleaning up and he opens the windows. The smell of food is hanging in their room. He stops moving when he hears Vier's request.
'Vier, isn't that a bit inappropriate? I don't want to say you're indecent, but-'
'Hey, it's just between friends. I don't want Love to be caught by a neighbour.' Vier doesn't understand why Tangmo is acting like this. It has been an hour already. Maybe he's jealous that Vier and Love are starting to get along.
'If you're sure, it's alright.' Tangmo changes into the boy he usually is. He is worried about Love, that's all. They don't know each other but he feels a connection.
'Do you have something to wear for me?' Love asks Vier. It will be too large for him, but that doesn't matter.
Vier takes something out of his closet. Tangmo laughs, because he can't imagine Love wearing that. Anyway, he starts to undress. Tangmo averts his gaze. Vier notices the shyness of Tangmo. He must be in love, he thinks.
They go to bed peacefully. Because Tangmo wants to make Love laugh, he turns off the lights and starts reading a scary story on his phone. He notices that Love lays in the arms of Vier, maybe because it's more comfortable to listen like that.
'Aren't you scared?' Vier asks Love in the midst of the scaryness. He almost whispers it in his ears.
'Not a little bit.' He whispers back. Vier loves this moment. He has been thinking about something like this since the moment he met the boy in his arms.
Tangmo finishes the story. For him it's an excuse to turn on the lights again. He wants to see how they're holding each other. According to him, this is not jealousy. He's really worried that someone may abuse Love, who's new to this world of boys. Vier wouldn't do that, but he's protective anyway. Tangmo has two sisters, so he's raised like this. He feels like Love's older brother.
Suddenly the smoke alarm goes off. It's not from their room, there's no smoke at all, it must be from somewhere else.
Vier takes Love's hand. Then he takes Tangmo's hand. Tangmo wishes he could have done that to Love, but he's glad that Vier doesn't forget to take him with him. Then he would feel abandoned.
All boys run outside towards the lake. Everyone loses his friends, because they want to get away as fast as possible.
Love looks behind him. Tangmo isn't around them anymore. Although everyone is standing still, watching the view, there's chaos. The atmosphere makes Love feel like this.
Vier pays attention to Love. He thinks they should go anywhere else, where it's more quiet.
Vier's POV
'Hey, do you think you would feel more comfortable somewhere else?' I ask Love. He really looks uncomfortable. He turns his head to me.
'Maybe.' Love says with a whispering voice. Suddenly I feel like we're on my bed again. It was hard to ask him something like that, but I did it anyway. But then Tangmo had to interfere. He made me feel bad. I don't have any intentions of abusing Love. What does he think about me? Now I know that he just wants to be as protective as possible. He didn't tell me the reason why, though.
'Let's go.' I hold his wrist so we don't lose each other. 'Let's take a walk in the forest.'
'That's scary.' He laughs, but he isn't really scared. Maybe my request is a bit weird.
'We'll stay on the paths.' I assure him. He nods, smiling. He looks behind him. We should be back on time.
'We had a fun evening.' Love says. Usually he doesn't say random stuff like this. When we sit next to each other in the classroom, he just says things about what he hears and not about what he thinks at that moment.
'That's true. Do you think this is just a drill?'
'I think, because no one came to count. There must be a lot of boys that are still sleeping.' He makes me laugh.
'That wouldn't surprise me.' I point at a bench. He understands that I invite him to sit.
We just sit in silence. I don't want to force him to say anything.
Because of the quietness I think about my feelings. Tangmo is assured that I'm in love with Love, but I don't know. I want to be a good friend to him. I want to be by his side.
Suddenly he holds my hand. I feel his heartbeat. He stares at me, not saying a word.
