Under a Paper Moon

[Gustav’s POV]

I looked down at the pair in front of me, there were tears in Max’s eyes as he clung onto Si. The sight broke my heart, not gonna lie; Si was so upset and hurt and broken, Max was so upset at him being upset and the hugging and the almost-crying and aghhhhhhh. I wanted to hug them both, I suppose I could but I don’t know, I’m too awkward to do that.

I smiled down sympathetically at them, just as the bell rang. I watched as Si buried his face more into Max’s chest, and as Max tightened his arms around his shoulders. “I need to get to class,” I mumbled, taking a few steps towards them, “Si, are you gonna be okay?”

“Y-yeah,” he whimpered, “I have Max. Th-thanks Gus, really.”

“No problem Si,” I smiled. He looked up at me from Max’s arms before pulling away from him to latch onto me. He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist, burying his head into my chest; it took me a little by surprise, but I hugged him back just as tight.
Soft whimpers made their way to my ears as he began to cry into my school shirt, “I-I’m s-so sorry Gus!” he sobbed.

“What?!” I asked, what the hell is he on? Hmm. “What are you sorry for? It’s okay, Si! Really. Just…let Max take you to matron okay?”

He nodded, letting go of me before wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve and walking back over towards Max. Max smiled at me wearily, wrapping an arm tightly around his waist before leading him off to where the nurse’s office was. God damn, I hope he’s okay.
I turned on my heel, walking the opposite direction as the pair towards my last class – then I could see Fraser and go home and everything would be okay. Fucking hate school, ugh.

-

I walked into History, muttering a half-hearted apology to the teacher for being later than everyone else before making my way to my normal seat beside John; only to find that some chavvy bitch had taken it, for fuck sake. John shot me an apologetic look, obviously he hadn’t been able to stop her from sitting there, dammit. My eyes scanned the rest of the room for somewhere to sit, before landing on the empty chair beside Oli.

I waved at him as I sat down next to him, pulling out a pen from my blazer pocket – I didn’t even need to check to see if I had my History books, I didn’t, I never do because History is a waste of fucking time. I hate it so much, you have no idea, but it was either this or RE and I’d rather learn about stuff that is actually true.

Ooooh burn.

“Gustav?” I heard Oli whisper, trying not to get caught talking by the asshole-teacher. I looked up at him, not even responding audibly. “Do you know where Simon is?”

“Yeah,” I whispered back, “I found him…umm…kicking about the English building. Why?”

Oli shrugged, “Max was freaking out about him not being there at lunch.”

Max was freaking out about him? Max, Max who’s barely known him a week (or something I don’t even know how long they’ve been friends) when I barely freaked out about where he’d been! The thought crossed my mind once or twice, but I never really bothered about it; oh god I’m such a horrible friend, aren’t I? I did sort of help him though! Fucking Stuart and fucking Jocko (not literally though) I honestly hate those two with all my heart, I hate them so much. How could they do that to Si?! Max seemed to really really care about it all though, he really likes him doesn’t he?

What if he likes him like…like that? He can’t though… But what if he does? Oh my god that would be so adorable if they went out! Oh my god, that would be more than adorable! I can’t even…I can’t comprehend how cute that would be!

“Oh,” I replied, pausing for a few moments before speaking again, “Max really cares about him doesn’t he?”

Oli nodded, “he cares about him a lot. Like… a lot a lot.”

“Like… as much as you care about Josh?” I giggled as his cheeks flushed a bright red colour.

“I guess you could say that,” he bit his lip.

“OH MY GOD!” I squeaked, earning a glare from the teacher – pfft fuck you, someone’s in love with my little Simon! Well, no probably not but I don’t care, I want to set them up. Oh my god, we should make them go on dates and stuff and asdfghjkl. I lowered my voice to a whisper, “do you think he likes him like… like that?”

“Maybe,” Oli mumbled, casting his eyes down to the page in front of him. “Why? What does it matter?”

“We have to set them up!” I grinned, “Si’s been…he’s been… a little bit down, I don’t know if you’ve noticed it. I’ve no idea why, well, I sort of do but going out with Max would so cheer him up! We have to set them up! Ah!”

A smile ghosted across his lips, “we could. I need to ask Josh first though, he’d fucking slaughter me if we tried to do that and Max got hurt.”

“someone’s a bit pussy-whipped,” I smirked. Has to ask Josh’s permission? Pfft! Whipped as fuck, man. But anyway, I hope it works out, that would just be so god damn cute! Because Si is small and Max is small and Si is fuzzy and cute and asdfhjkl and Max is fuzzy and cute and asdfhjkl! It makes sense, you see my reasoning surely. Plus it might distract him from the whole thing with Stuart and Jocko… what am I going to do about that? I could tell John, I could tell Ben. Hmm… honestly I don’t know, if I tell John then they’ll probably kick the shit out of me for it… I don’t want that, but Si… hmm.