T W E N T Y T H R E E

"No, Zeus, I wouldn't mind at all." With a content smile, Zeus connected their lips, slipping his tongue into Nika's mouth when his lips fell open. Nika grabbed a fistful of Zeus's shirt, pulling him closer, as his free hand wiped away the tears kissing his skin. Zeus's tongue traveled Nika's mouth, dominating the other boy easily. Nika groaned throatily when Zeus's warm hands roamed his chest beneath the fabric of his tshirt. "Zeus," he warned lowly.

"What? You don't want it? You don't want me?" The words escaped his mouth in a dejected tone. To answer his question, Nika grinded down onto him, leaving Zeus feeling hot and bothered.

"It's not that I don't want you," he breathed out. "I just don't want you to do anything you'll regret."

A smirk formed on Zeus's beautiful, dark skin. "Trust me, I won't regret anything. Because I'm in love with you, Nik." Nika halted his actions and Zeus was left with a hard-on. Zeus almost growled at the way his body craved Nika's. "Nik," he whispered.

"I-I..."

Zeus shushed him. "I didn't tell you because I wanted to hear you say it back. I told you so you knew."

"I love you, too, Zeus." As soon as Nika said those words, Zeus's lips found his neck, softly biting at his skin. "Fuck!"

"Can you grind on me again?" Zeus purred in his ear, a lustfilled tone laced into his voice. Nika groaned, rubbing against the boy beneath him. From his lips alone, Zeus held the power to leave Nika avaricious for frantic kisses. His whole body was aflame at a single swipe of his tongue.

"Zeus," Nika moaned softly at the feeling of Zeus's mouth licking at the skin of his shoulder blade. He could feel Zeus's hard-on through the fabric of his sweatpants and that wasn't helping matters. Neither was the fact that Nika's dick was throbbing, as well. "A-Ah. Fuck me," he murmurs.

Zeus lifts his head, his brown eyed gaze circling with desire. "Are you sure?"

"No, actually, I might let Reese do it," he replied. A knowing smirk formed on his lips when Zeus pushed him onto the sheets of his bed, a low growl rising from his throat.

"Like the fuck you will," he bit. The flickers of jealousy dancing through Zeus's eyes was driving Nika insane.

Apparently, it was a known fact that he knew how to fuck damn well when he was irritated.

Reese stepped into the shower, letting the hot water graze his skin. Locks of light brown he shampooed, throwing his head back, as the water cascaded down his bare back. Images of Nika's breathtaking smile and tousled blond hair flooded through his mind. Past his lips slipped curse words, as he ran his hand through his hair. For the past few days, Nika was rooted in his mind, refusing to leave. Every time Nika a dashing smile colored his lips, his heart ached because he knew he wasn't the reason for that smile.

Instead, it was the dark skinned boy with the coffee colored eyes that slept in the bunk below him. Nika invaded his thoughts and even though he tries so fucking hard, he wouldn't fade. He even tried to sleep with another, but all he saw was a pair of beautiful blue eyes piercing through him.

His heart was scattered into a million pieces from the sad smile on Nika's face when he told Reese he loved someone else. He tried to glue the pieces back together, but there wasn't enough corner pieces to meld the puzzle together.

Flicking off the shower head, he wrapped a towel, torn at the seams, around his taut, golden waist. Reese ran a small comb through his damp, brown hair. Scattered across his skin were droplets of water, clinging onto his eyelashes like a toddler refusing to loosen their grip on their parent's leg.

Reese watched through the recently, opened bathroom door, while Apollo and Heidi burst into laughter at a show they were watching. Even though Reese had no idea what they watching, the fact that their laughter reminded him of Nika left him feeling disheartened. On its own accord, his mind traveled back to the blonde's laughter that slipped past his parted lips. Reese groaned, the unwanted thoughts reeling through his head again. The thought of wanting Nika was difficult to bear, but the thought of him loving someone else shattered him.

Because he knew that Nika would never be his.

"I don't want your pity," Heidi almost growled. The headmaster sat at the other end of the room, his head on his elbows.

"I'm not pitying you, Heidi. I want to make sure you're okay. I've heard from an anonymous source that you were feeling depressed lately. So with your uncle's permission, I've signed you up for group therapy. Don't worry, we can have the sessions at a small community center just off campus. They have a licensed therapist who deals with depression and/or suicidal thoughts."

"You can't make me go," he muttered.

"I'm not making you, necessarily, but I'm letting you have the decision. I know that therapy is not for everyone. When I was your age, I went to my fair share of therapy sessions. It was a different type of therapy, though. You can bring someone with you on the first couple of sessions, if you'd like. And you can just listen. No one's forcing you to talk."

Even though he tried to mask it, the empathetic tone laced in his voice bled through. The pain written on Heidi's face was evident. "Who told you?" His voice was strained, almost broken.

"Mrs. Vance noticed you haven't been yourself lately and she brought it up to me."

Heidi forced out a laugh. "It's hard to act like yourself when you don't even know who you are anymore."

Concern flickered within his honey colored eyes. He pursued his lips at the brown haired boy. "I'm not going to force you, Heidi, but I'm going to ask you. It will help, I promise. And if doesn't help you feel better after two sessions, we'll try something else. I-I just don't want to attend a funeral with you in the casket."