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[img]https://i.imgur.com/fV9LVaC.png[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/XAqvYsB.png[/img]

[color=slategray][sub]Collab Featuring:[/sub][/color] [color=997fdb][sub][b]Marshall[/b][@Silent Observer][/sub][/color] [color=slategray][sub]&[/sub][/color] [color=31ba9f][sub][b]Jamie[/b][@smarty0114][/sub][/color] [color=slategray][sub]&[/sub][/color] [color=ff9c23][sub][b]AJ[/b][@Lovely Complex][/sub][/color]
[color=slategray][sub]Mentions:[/sub][/color] [color=a52521][sub][b]Owen[/b][/sub][/color] [color=slategray][sub]&[/sub][/color] [color=eda946][sub][b]Ophelia[/b][@Universorum][/sub][/color]
[color=slategray][sub]Day: Tuesday Morning[/sub][/color]
[color=slategray][sub]Location: Halls of BHHS[/sub][/color]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/OZZNI9x.png?2[/img][/center]
[indent]Still clutching the box of tea in his hands as if it were the most precious gift ever received, Marshall made his way to his locker. He was thoroughly and completely [i]shook[/i] by the entire encounter with Owen that had occured just moments ago. The bloody gauze, his own fear, Owen’s look of disgust, and the fact that Owen just so happened to have a box of his favorite tea on his person, or at least in his car. What did that mean? Were they still friends? Enemies? Something else? Marshall wanted them to still be friends, he missed Owen terribly, and he was going to do his best to fix this.

One step at a time, though. Apparently, Marshall had become quite good at making messes lately, and it would probably be best to try to clean them up one at a time, rather than just swinging a broom around blindly and attempting to get it all in one sweep. He was gonna fix things with Jamie first, as he had already made inebriated plans to do so. And then Owen. Closing his eyes and shaking his head, Marshall pulled out his phone to text his not-so hidden crush.

[quote]To: [color=31ba9f][b]Jamie[/b][/color]
[color=997fdb][b]meet me by my locker?[/b][/color][/quote]

Marshall tapped the send button and immediately his stomach dropped. Oh shit. This was actually happening now. The Owen situation had been an unexpected distraction, but now he had just texted Jamie, and that meant that he would probably be coming soon. Their homeroom class was only just around the corner. Marshall spun the combination lock and opened his locker, at top speed, so that he could check his reflection. Gazing into the mirror, he messed with his hair until it looked as perfect as it possibly could.

Jamie felt his stomach lurch as his phone buzzed in his pocket, the tell tale sign of a new message. He fished the device from his pocket and swiped it open, examining the message from Marshall. Sighing, he stood up and left the classroom, weaving through the stream of his fellow students, nervously tapping out a beat on his leg.

He saw Marshall, looking into his mirror, messing with his hair. He couldn’t help the smirk that broke out across his face at the sight, a smirk that he quickly erased. Steeling himself, he walked over to the boy, biting his lip as the anxiety threatened to punch a hole straight through his chest. [color=31ba9f][b]“Uh...hey,”[/b][/color] he said, nervously rubbing the back of his neck, suddenly all too aware of his black eye, and every other imperfection he’d ever noticed on himself.

Marsh startled at Jamie’s voice. Embarrassed at having been caught amidst his coiffing, his cheeks grew warm. Despite that, he put on the the most stunning smile that he could muster before closing his locker to face the other boy. [color=997fdb][b]“Hi~”[/b][/color] he greeted, still beaming. 

[i]Wait[/i]. Jamie’s face! Marshall’s smile quickly fell away, morphing into a look that closely resembled that of maternal concern. What happened to his eye? Without thought or reservation, Marshall stepped closer to him. Did Jamie get in fights? Marsh couldn’t recall that ever happening before. Jamie was a journalist, he certainly wasn’t a scrapper. Scrapping was Owen’s thing. [i]Double wait[/i]. Owen… Marshall’s earlier conversation with the fighter played back in his mind at that moment. [color=a52521][b][i]‘... if I see him at the gym again. I’ll do more than what I did last time.’[/i][/b][/color]

[color=997fdb][b]“Oh my god!”[/b][/color] Marshall gasped, his right hand dramatically flying up to his mouth in shock. Oh god, this was his fault! Owen did this because of [i]him[/i]. Jamie was hurt because of [i][b]him[/b][/i]. There was no other explanation, at least not in Marshall’s mind. He was responsible for this. 

Closing the distance between them, Marsh reached up towards Jamie’s cheek. With a touch softer than butterfly wings, Marshall’s fingertips barely grazed the skin just below Jamie’s injured eye. It was a far more intimate gesture than was likely appropriate, given the status of their relationship, but it was genuine. [color=997fdb][b]“Oh honey, what happened? What were you doing? What… what did you [i]say[/i] to him?”[/b][/color] He asked the questions in rapid succession, his eyes frantically scanning Jamie’s face for any other damage.

Jamie’s immediate instinct was to pull back, shying away from Marsh’s touch. He wasn’t exactly accustomed to people stroking his face, not since… well, not since AJ. His face grew warm at Marshall’s concern. God, this was embarrassing, showing up looking like he couldn’t hold his own in a fight. 

[color=31ba9f][b]“It’s nothing, really. Don’t worry about it,”[/b][/color] Jamie said, suddenly taking an interest in his shoes. Looking back up, he met Marshall’s gaze, his face returning to it’s normal complexion. [color=31ba9f][b]“You wanted to talk, so let’s talk,”[/b][/color] he said, cutting straight to the point.

Marshall frowned when Jamie flinched away. He pulled his hand back to his chest and looked relatively ashamed. [color=997fdb][b]“... Sorry,”[/b][/color] he apologized softly. When Jamie mentioned that it was nothing to worry about, Marsh disregarded that entirely. It was too late for that, he was already worried, and he planned to continue to worry until he smoothed things over with Owen. [color=997fdb][b]“Just keep your distance from Owen for a while, okay? He… he told me to tell you not to show up at the gym again, or it’d be worse. And I know I can’t [i]tell[/i] you to do anything… but… please don’t go back?[/b][/color]

The darker-haired boy chewed at his lip when Jamie wanted to switch the subject. Marshall didn’t blame him, he didn’t like how widely broadcasted his own encounter with Owen had been either. He understood not wanting to be seen as weak, and respected the desire to changes topics. [color=997fdb][b]“Right… I wanted to talk about what happened, at the party. Rather, what [i]didn’t[/i] happen at the party. You ran off before I could explain it, so, please don’t run away this time. Okay?”[/b][/color]

Jamie ran a hand through his sandy hair, sighing. Marshall’s words implied that maybe, just maybe, this conversation might have a happy ending. [color=31ba9f][b]“Okay, I will try my best to stay right here,”[/b][/color] Jamie said, smirking as he let his hair fall back down over his forehead.

The hand in his hair, his words, the smirk, the hair again. [color=997fdb][b][i]Cute, oh my god, he’s so cute.[/i][/b][/color] Marshall felt himself being distracted from his original goal in this conversation. Focus, Marshall, focus and you’ve got this. [color=997fdb][b]“Good,”[/b][/color] he said, returning the smirk. Now what? All of this time to prepare, and Marshall hadn’t even rehearsed his lines. This wasn’t acting, it was real life, and that made it hard as fuck to talk about. [color=997fdb][b]“Uhm, so… well. I kind of… needed a moment? A moment to myself. After Owen.”[/b][/color]

It was Marshall’s turn to awkwardly run his hand through his hair. He wasn’t about to admit to Jamie that he was [i]crying[/i] in the closet. That would be mortifying. Still, he had to clear his name somehow. [color=997fdb][b]“I went in that closet alone, I didn’t want or ask anyone to come in with me. It was just bad timing that [i]someone[/i] else did. Nothing happened.”[/b][/color]

Jamie nodded, chewing his lip nervously. 

Nothing may have happened in the closet, but something definitely happened in the hallway. In front of all who were rushing to homeroom. If these two boys weren’t so enthralled with one another, they, or at least Marshall, would’ve noticed their classmate, same year and all, striding down the hall, with the the morning light streaming behind him from the side doors that were propped open. He had a swagger that was out of this world. He knew he was the shit, and if you didn’t know he was the shit, you would soon find out that he was the shit. The light caused a halo effect around his head, and made his shampooed, chocolate hair stand out. One of his best features. How do you define this guy? Classy clothes, classy watch, classy ‘tude. 

[b]Bold.[/b]

Without any hesitation, AJ Tyler, the notorious jock who did whatever the fuck he wanted, when he wanted, slid in front of the drama kid, making sure Marshall had a good sight of who was getting in between him and AJ’s ex-lover, and in one fluid motion, not even saying any words, he pulled Jamie into a kiss. Making sure his hand was in his ex-lover’s hair. The kiss was rough, long, and passionate. Seduction was child’s play in AJ’s world. The resistance would crumble once their lips joined. Whether Jamie wanted to admit it or not, he still had feelings for him, and AJ wasn’t going to stop until he had no other choice. [i][b][color=ff9c23]Take it all in, babe.[/color][/b][/i]

Freeing Jamie from his grasp, AJ teasingly licked his lips, taking in the saliva left behind, before chuckling, [color=ff9c23][b]“How’s [i]my[/i] Wonder Boy doing?”[/b][/color] Did Jamie break things off with him months ago? Absolutely. Was he going to stop with his advances? Not until Jamie showed signs he truly, deeply didn’t want him. AJ turned on his heel to acknowledge Marshall, [color=ff9c23][b]“Oh, hey dude, how’s it going? I hope I didn’t interrupt anything important.”[/b][/color] If he did, he didn’t care.

[i]Shattered[/i]. Marshall looked on, wide-eyed, as Jamie’s gorgeous ex-boyfriend stepped in between them and full on kissed Jamie Callaghan. Marsh’s heart was in [i]shattered[/i] pieces, and surely shards of it would move through his bloodstream and kill him right where he stood. God, he hoped so, he’d rather be dead than be standing here right now. Everything had been going so well, too! They were finally going to talk it out and have a storybook happily ever after love story. Except for that was [i]never[/i] going to be the case, because Marshall was an idiot, and he had misread everything. Here he was, trying to apologise to his crush about a boy that he didn’t even kiss because he thought that he was offended by the thought that Marshall [i]might[/i] have kissed someone else. He felt like a complete fool, because [i]obviously[/i] Jamie and AJ weren’t broken up, so Jamie didn’t even care. The evidence was right there in his face, in the form of Jamie’s devastatingly pretty, post-make out mussed hair.

[color=997fdb][b]“I —”[/b][/color] Marshall began, and then paused.  [color=997fdb][b]“It’s —”[/b][/color] He looked from AJ to Jamie now.  [color=997fdb][b]“Nevermind. I’ve clearly misread… many things. I’ve gotta go, yeah.”[/b][/color] It was impressive that he managed to get all of that out without his voice cracking. He had felt the emotion clawing up his throat, attempting to choke off his words. Marshall turned on his heels then, and left the two lovers alone in the hallway. He wasn’t heading towards homeroom, though. To them it wouldn’t be clear where he was heading, but for him, it was to the safest and first place he could think to go; The music and theater wing. It had lovely soundproof practice rooms, where he could go and have himself a right and proper freak out without anyone but himself being wise to it. He would not show up in homeroom, and possibly not even to first period. The next time someone would hear from Marshall Radley, it would be through a text to Ophelia, not to the whole Candy group chat, just to his bestie.

[quote]To: [color=eda946][b]Feels[/b][/color]
[color=997fdb][b]u might wanna change my line from blue to black[/b][/color][/quote]

Meanwhile, back at the site of the kiss, Jamie was livid. And confused. And livid. Very, very, livid. He took a step back from AJ, his ex boyfriend and maybe the most complicated relationship he had at the moment, although his and Marshall’s was becoming a close second. He’d broken up with AJ months ago, but that hadn’t exactly killed the physical aspect of their relationship, not that Jamie hadn’t tried. There was just...an allure to AJ that kept bringing Jamie back. And this had been the worst time to go back.

[color=31ba9f][b]“AJ! Are you insane! I was— Marshall and I were...oh my fuck, this is so like you!”[/b][/color] Jamie shouted, not a care in the world for the surrounding witnesses. He ran a hand through his sandy locks, his exasperation evident as he closed his eyes, struggling to regain his composure. AJ had just kissed him. And he’d kissed him back. And Marshall had seen. And why did everything bad always happen to him? [color=31ba9f][b]“This, this, this thing we have going? It’s done, AJ,”[/b][/color] Jamie shouted, storming off, his legs carrying him far away from AJ and Marshall and every other ailment this school brought upon him.

At first, Jamie’s reaction amused AJ, but then watching him say ‘it’s done’ again and walk away from him [i]again[/i]... that caused the jock’s fist to ball up. He looked around at all the witnesses and then let his smirk mask his feelings in the moment, [color=ff9c23][b]“Enjoyed the show? I hope you took pictures.”[/b][/color] He winked at a girl, who had her phone’s camera aimed at him. She had started recording the moment AJ grabbed ahold of Jamie. After that devilish gesture, he turned on his heel and strolled down the hall, seemingly unbothered. Under his breath, he told himself,  [i][color=ff9c23][b]“You’ll come back. You always do.”[/b][/color][/i][/indent]