A Spanish Rose has Thorns

@nicolasofscratch;

Parties aren’t Emma’s scene. Plain and simple. She’s gone to a few in her time, back in Portland, but that was mostly due to the insistence of her best friend who so happens to be the complete opposite of Emma and loves parties. If she had to rate her interest in high school parties, it would be ‘little’ to ‘none’. But this time around, things are different. For one, she goes to this party willingly. Or she’s inspired to because of the ever-growing headache that is her living situation for the duration of the ski trip.

Her normal routine upon arrival at any high school party is: find a clean cup, fill it with something to dull her senses of the loud music and even louder people, and roam. But this time around, that routine changes to: find a clean cup, fill it with something to dull her senses of the loud music and even louder people, and knock it back so you can fill the cup up again. It’s unwise of her, but the only way she’s going to sleep peacefully (or sleep at all tonight) is if she’s slightly inebriated. And since she doesn’t drink normally to begin with, it should be an easy enough task. She stops after her second glass though, knowing full well that she doesn’t understand her limits and maybe two glasses might be enough. She tops her glass up with only soda the third time around before she, after deviation from her normal routine, returns to it and roams.

She does that for a bit. Then at a point, she definitely feels the alcohol kick in and becomes much friendlier than she normally is. Friendly enough to go “why the fuck not” to an offer of 7 Minutes in Heaven – a game Emma normally despises and deems as childish, a pitiful excuse to makeout with strangers at gatherings such as this. But this isn’t Emma normally. This is Emma on two glasses of whatever the fuck she put in there, and this version of Emma thinks 7 Minutes in Heaven sounds like it’ll be an okay time. She mostly wants to see the audacious pairings and be part of the crowd as they go ‘oooh’ and ‘ahhh’ at whichever two gets matched and has to be shooed into a bathroom. With her mind less on edge like this, it’s easier for her to admit to herself that she misses human connection and being a part of things.

She barely registers when it’s her turn to be one of the two to be pushed into the hotel bathroom. More importantly though she thinks, she has no idea who the fuck she just got paired with. Does he even go to Broadripple? Of the group that’s playing, she recognizes the God Squad guy, the dude she ran into naked that one time, Poster Bitch, Penny, Speech and Debate Captain, Bitch in D1, her roommate, the quiet dude she sits with at lunch sometimes when she’s not sitting with the unofficial Murder Club, Jamie (Obviously. Also, what the fuck is he doing here?), Flick, and the jacked dude who she cannot believe for the life of her is a Junior with the muscles he’s packing.

“Okay–” Emma starts, laughing a little once the door shuts. She’s in a surprisingly good mood despite being exiled to a bathroom with an absolute stranger for the next 7 minutes. “–not to be rude, but like, who are you, dude? I swear I’ve never seen you before.” Unsurprising since she barely interacts with people if she doesn’t have to. “Are you like, new?” Bold of her since she’s new herself. “Or just, I don’t know, super low key at BA?”

“Oh. Wow. Tell me how you really feel, Miss...Hayashi? Did I get that right?” Nico let the question linger, since he hadn’t exchanged a word with her his entire year and a half at Broadripple either. It wasn’t like she was any more popular than he was. “My name is Nico,” he extended a hand to shake, “Nico Rosales. And no. I’m not new. I play a lot of sports. And I think I’ve seen you skulking in Cinema Club.” Nico wasn’t 100% sure they shared the same club, but the whimsical black hair looked familiar enough to him that he figured he’d mention it. Cinema club often involved people sitting quietly in the dark watching a movie, though, so to miss him there was at least understandable. Still, being ignored kind of hurt his fragile self-esteem. “I picked the movie in October. Cabin in the Woods? Any of that ring a bell?”

Nico was not usually a partier. Much like Emma, he rarely went all out, and most of the time, he definitely would not have joined a game of Spin the Bottle or Seven Minutes in Heaven. Usually he just hung around the edges, a wallflower who enjoyed watching other people make fools of themselves. He didn’t drink almost ever and he tried not to do drugs because of his medication, so smoking was as hardcore as he got, despite being a troublemaker. To be one hundred percent honest, he’d joined the game hoping to get paired up with one of the cute boys once he saw they were playing. It was bound to happen, right? Odd number of people play and maybe he gets stuck with them in a bathroom. Hormones got the better of him and his imagination did the rest, thrusting him into the game in a show of unusual boldness for the hispanic athlete.

“Anyways...we got, well, seven minutes. We don’t have to if you don’t want to,” he said, understanding that kissing a stranger was not usually what you signed up for in these games. Emma probably had her eye on someone in the circle too, and they weren’t Nico, that was for sure. “I totally get it if I’m not who you were expecting. We could just..talk about movies, if you want.” Then he looked down, his voice mumbly and indistinct, “But if you want to, then we could, and maybe then you’ll remember me next time, hopefully for being a good kisser?” Nico chuckled as he said that, shyly rubbing one of his forearms, a hopeful little smile on his face. The boy said he had no game, but it was as good a line as he had ever heard, and he tried to meet her eyes to see how she’d react. Kissing a girl shouldn’t be much different than kissing a guy, right?

+ @nicolasofscratch reacted for a starter!

The boy’s house was dope, it was the kind of lodge he could imagine himself booking out with a bunch of friends over winter break if his old friends from school were ever this organized. Though, it wasn’t so much the house that was awesome as it was the energy. Put a pile of boys in one lodge together and suddenly, the moment any faculty stepped outside, it was a madhouse.

Rooting through drawers, Jay was currently underlining one with his latest investments. A few bottles of Jack, cigarette packets ( he owed Hugo like five at this point ) some edibles he was saving just for JJ since he was being such a good sport about the Flick thing, and essentially, whatever else he’d brought that he didn’t exactly want other people getting into. Mostly though, he had to hide this shit before Matt got in. Otherwise, who knows what he’d have to bribe the guy with to get him to keep a secret.

Hearing footsteps at the door to his room, he suspected it might have been Matt to start with. Quickly shoving a sweater over the contraband, he looked over, instead, seeing Nico. Despite their last encounter, Jay actually kind of felt relieved. “Oh. Hey dude,” He said casually, shoving hands into the drawer and layering it up. “You got your room all sorted yet?”

“Yea, all moved in. Unfortunately,” Nico said, having discovered who his roommates were. He’d been hoping for a repreive from sharing a room with Izzy, but it seemed like he wasn’t that lucky. And he was in a room with Jamie, which didn’t seem too bad since the moment their stuff was put away he vanished. But eventually they’d all have to sleep in the same space together, and that was going to be interesting no matter how it shook out. “I’m just wandering now, trying not to be in that powder keg of a room.”

Then he quirked a smile up, “Whatcha hiding?” he asked, inviting himself into the room, plopping down onto a bed.

“You kind of give yourself away, with the ‘unpack the moment I arrive’ thing.” The spanish boy said by way of explanation, “Most of us won’t unpack at all and will live out of our bags the whole trip, and the rest of us immediately went exploring to see what there is to do, because putting clothes away is about as much fun as folding laundry,” Nico gestured at himself doing the latter, “Only Damian is anal enough to put his clothes away immediately, so that means you’re up to something.”

Jay was usually pretty oblivious to everything short of free food and who was offering it, then, he had a nose like a hound. So Nico staring at him would have usually gone by undetected had he not been so obvious about it. Jay felt his jaw go slack for lack since for once in his annoying life, he actually didn’t know what to say. He’d never been stared at like that before, or that he was aware of anyway, it was kind of… Well, now he got why girls were so freaked out by it.

“Uh.” Was his genius reply to the dirty thoughts comment, feeling like either he should peel his actual skin off to escape the awkward encounter or maybe start charging for it. How much could he make? Twenty bucks for staring? Fifty to cop a feel? He’d have to run the numbers by Drea later. Kat was too mathematically challenged. “Sorry?” He apologized for inflicting the guy’s perversion, though not sure it was exactly his fault, or if he should really apologize, or what to even reply, to be honest. “Thanks,” He said, grateful for the blazer, using it to cover himself and throwing the sock over his shoulder. “Oh you know, just swim team stuff. I got one of the guys good last week so… Guess it was my turn this week. I think I’ll just have to take my chances, you know?”

“So there is a prank war going on!” Nico exclaimed, back still turned to him, “I knew it! Raquel kept saying I was crazy, but the spraypaint, and now the nudity, and the bunny...” He turned back around and saw his jacket wrapped around Jay’s waist, realizing that a lot more of the boy was still...bare, and his words faltered a little as the ball of buzzing hormones tried to keep his mind on track. For all the staring he had just done, he was now working very hard not to look at Jay at all now. It was arguably more awkward, but at this point  “I want in. I’m great at pranks. Who are we getting back? Who are we paying it forward to? I make a great distraction. I’m good for way more than just my ability to supply a blazer to a guy in need.” “Also, sorry,” he said, turning sheepish, running a hand up and down his long-sleeved white shirt, “For totally freaking out just now. I’m not usually. I don’t usually. I’m...it was a moment of weakness. Surprised, that’s all. I’m not a creep I promise.” Nico chuckled at that, eyes briefly alighting on Jay’s face, and only his face, to see how he reacted. Nico hadn’t hung around with Jay nearly at all since he arrived at BA, and he didn’t want this moment to be what Jay thought of when he thought of Nico. He wasn’t...a pervert.

@izzydesantis​ gets a plotted starter!

Nico shut his eyes, eyebrows furrowing while he tried to keep his breathing steady. Because he’d just re-read the same sentence for the third time in a row. And as much as he liked to know that “a unit rate is the equivalent rate when compared to 1″, he didn’t need to know it three times over. But every time he tried to move on, Izzy would loudly exclaim, mostly in anguish, declaring how something was rigged against him. That guy was cheating. The controls were laggy. He had so finished building that wall in time! The FPS and his Ping were against him, whatever that was.

It all spelled out a major headache for the boy on his bed, who was trying to relax. He was already stressed about his upcoming tests. He studying math for crying out loud. You can’t even study math! He was hoping that looking back over problems he got right, doing them again in his head, would help him get ready for a test he was not prepared to take. So after the third interruption, he released an angry augh! before slamming his book and notebooks down onto his mattress. It wasn’t very dramatic. They were soft mattresses.

But he uncurled from his sitting position, dragging his sweatpants and muscle shirt clad self to the opposite side of the room, where he angrily lifted one of the headphones covering Izzy’s ears. “Hello!? Do you mind not yelling every sixteen seconds? I’m trying to study.” He wasn’t very nice about it. He was rarely very nice to Izzy. At best they were contentiously opposed.

Why was it that every time Ben had finally convinced his body to settle and allow him to sleep in the past couple weeks, something came along to jar him back awake? He grunted incoherently when the screen of his phone lit up, buzzing on top of an empty Doritos bag and rattling a neighboring pen off of the side table and onto the floor. He turned his face into his pillow, biting back a groan of frustration, and pulled his top blanket over his head. It was Saturday. Saturdays were for late starts. But as soon as Ben lulled himself into a fall sense of security, his phone went off again. And then again. Years of dealing with the dire consequences of not replying to his sister’s or mom’s texts fast enough were what caused him to finally reach out and grab his phone with a muttered curse.

Turning onto his back, he held the screen above his face, squinting up at the notifications. His eyes narrowed further when he spotted that they were from Nico, then crossed when he read the messages themselves. “Fuuuck,” he whispered. Swiping at the most recent text and opening their text conversation, he quickly typed out ‘bro gimme a min’ then let the phone fall on top of his comforter. Rubbing a hand over his face, he sighed. Well, he was awake now. In quick succession, he rolled out of bed, changed his clothes, grabbed his hydro flask and two granola bars from his desk, and left his room as he tucked his phone into his coat pocket. Spotting Nico outside, Ben tossed one of the granola bars at his chest. “Think fast,” he said around a yawn, jogging down the set of steps in front of the building.

Nico’s phone went off with a buzz in his hand, a short text alerting him to the fact that he clearly woke Ben up by the abruptness of the message. He felt bad about it for maybe three seconds before remembering that Ben had done it to him several times. Instead, Nico’s hands flew up into the air as he did an impromptu victory dance, turning a quick circle on the steps of the Aloy Wing. The wait was more bearable now that he knew someone was coming, and he took a few moments bouncing from one foot to the other to keep warm while he waited for the familiar face to poke out. When Ben finally arrived he did not, in fact, think fast. The granola bar slapped into his chest and tumbled limply between flailing fingers. He thought for a moment he would recover, but his fingers closed over thin air and the package crinkled as it hit the ground. “It’s too early in the morning to think fast, Ben,” he complained, scooping up the granola bar from the concrete. It was still sealed so it wasn’t ruined or anything. Besides, not like there was rabbit blood on these stairs. All honesty, Nico would’ve probably eaten it if it had been open before it fell. Five seconds, right?

“Good morning princess,” he smiled as he munched the top of the granola bar, swinging an arm affectionately around Ben’s waist, “I was getting stir crazy in my dorm. I live in a building with Damian.” Nico said as if that explained everything about his predicament. “So, thanks for rescuing me.” He pointed the half a granola bar down the sidewalk, kicking into a slow jog. He wasn’t pointing at the gym. Nico had terrible sense of direction. He merely intended to get them moving. “Leggo!”

[Psst! Ben!]

Nico texted while standing outside Ben’s dorm building,

[Beeeeeeeeeeen]

He kept staring down at his phone, hoping the boy would answer or let him in. After a few moments of his fingers freezing, he chuffed and tucked it away, keeping a hand wrapped around it to feel the telltale buzz of a text message. Nico and Ben had gone on runs in the morning for as long as he was on a sports team. Usually they just met outside the buildings, but with the whole ‘we encourage you to go directly to your destination’ policy currently in place, loitering and hoping your buddy showed up didn’t exactly fly. For obvious bear-related security reasons, they had also made the forest off-limits for now, which meant that he could no longer go running in the mornings. Which was great for not being attacked by bears, but terrible when it was 6am and you were trying to get your run on...or at least whatever passed for a run when the forrest was off limits.

Getting no reply, Nico fished his phone out of his shorts’ pockets, firing off a swift text.

[Downstairs. Bored. We can’t go for a real run. Come to the gym with me?]

The gym was, technically, in bounds. It was indoors and safe (assumably). It was a destination he could go directly to and from. It would give him some place to do something physical. He just didn’t want to go alone. He waited for a few more moments, shoving his hands back into the pockets of the maroon zip-up hoodie, trying to keep his fingers warm. He was dressed for working out, but leggings and shorts didn’t keep you very warm while you waited outside for someone to hopefully be awake.

Al knew there wasn’t any point an arguing, but that wasn’t going to stop his drunken sass and usual rambling. “A disease? Nah. I’m good on that. That was a good one though.” He ran his fingers through his hair, a common action for him when he was heavily under the influence. “I’ve had way more to drink than I probably should…but that’s an issue for another day.” His statement had hidden meaning that was not intended. “Not worth my time? You’re going to take the cake for some of the nicest things I’ve ever heard.” Al smiled, patting his friend on the back once he was being supported by Nico. “Bebere agua, mi amigo.  Mi cabeza me va a doler manana. I’m not ready for it.” 

His own feet were not his friend at the moment, without Nico this would have been a big struggle. The last thing he needed was to get hurt which would affect his sports playing along with having to hear about it from the both of his parents. “Thank you for helping me, Ni ni.” Al chuckled at the pet name, something he really only said when he was fucked up. “Ustedes son buenos amigo.” The entire world felt bigger to him, and this walk was going to be cake and without complaints because drunk Al could do it without fault.

Being helped by Nico was nothing new, and Al was thankful to have him because he’d really be struggling. “Dancing is awesome. I’m happy you had that experience.” He was trying his best to make sense with his words but things tended to come out differently at this point. “You danced with a boy too? Look at you. Please tell me you got his number. If we need to do some searching tomorrow, I’ll do it after I wake up from death. Aren’t you glad this happened? for someone that doesn’t like parties you had a good night.” Al had nearly fallen on his own accord but thankfully had Nico helping him. “Uhm. That felt like an attack. I demand a complete apology!” He laughed. “Yeah, do you want to be in it to piss him off?”

“Absolutely I wanna be in it to piss him off,” Nico said, grinning. He already looked pretty wrecked. Sweaty hair, scuffs under one of his eyes that were still healing. But he could do better. “Here, just...we’ll get to that picnic table.” He pointed one out that wasn’t too far away, just far enough to get them away from the central party. He reshuffled Al’s weight on him, ignoring the little kid nickname he was called on the way. Nico didn’t like feeling small or little, and the nickname, under any other circumstances, would’ve made him withdraw or get pissed off. But Al was a hobbling alcoholic mess with no idea what he was saying, so he let it go. For now. “But no, I didn’t get his number. I barely even got his name. You know I’m shit at flirting. Kevin,” was all he answered about the boy, “He was only so-so at dancing but so was I so it was fine. And the secret, my incapacitorily drunk friend,” he used the hand not wrapped around Al’s back to turn his face in to stare at him. Then he spoke low and slow, “is that I don’t dislike parties. I dislike partying. Subtle difference.” They kept moving as he spoke, inching across snow covered ground towards the picnic table; an island in an ocean. “I have fun at parties all the same. I just don’t like doing all the crazy stuff parties are known for. Getting drunk. Hooking up. Doing drugs. Not my style. Sit.”

Nico lowered Albert down onto the bench, fished Al’s phone out of his pocket, and then started taking off his clothes. Not all of them, just his jacket at first, but then he pulled his arms into the sleeves of his shirt and pushed it up until all the fabric was gathered around his neck like an awful scarf, the boy suddenly naked from waist to collarbone. He hastily messed up his sweaty hair until he resembled a much drunker, fuckboy version of himself, fully aware that it was cold as nuts outside and he had just willing taken off half his clothing. But then he dropped down next to Albert, swinging a cheerful arm around him and holding up the phone, making sure it caught his bared skin and the mounds of snow. “Say hi to dad!!!” Nico announced cheerfully.

Jay had never really been all that interested in playing sport, but given that his skateboard had been taken off him before the first period of his very first day along with his phone and earbuds, it was clear he’d need to find something else to occupy his time than being modern Tony Hawk. That’s when he’d been signed up for the swim team by one of the priests under the grand impression he might be good at it. ( Or it might just be challenging enough to keep him from getting into trouble. ) Oddly enough, they hadn’t been wrong, but Jay would be the first to admit it wasn’t the swimming that entertained him the most. It was the jockish camaraderie with the team that made him feel like he was a part of something. Something fun. Even when the guys got cocky and decided to fuck around with each other.

And he supposed he deserved it. Last week, he’d swapped one of the guy’s shower soap with some of that hair removal cream he’d found in Kat’s shit and all about turned him bald. This week it was Jay’s turn to become victim to a prank. So while washing himself of chlorine he was none the wiser until shortly after, he noticed that his dry uniform was gone with all but a single sock left behind. “Nice. Assholes,” But he was grinning as he grabbed the sock, taking a look around the empty showers. Not even a towel, awesome. 

At least it wasn’t far back to the dorms. Well no, it was really far, but what else could he do, he only had a sock? Cupping a hand around the crown jewels, he decided to brave the outside corridor, hoping that if he was going to run into anybody, it wasn’t going to be a teacher. He’d had enough detention this week and it was only Tuesday. However as he looked down the hall one way, and then the other, he came out the door just in time to bump straight into somebody rounding the corner. A press of wet skin to someone’s uniform and Jay fumbled to keep himself from accidentally groping either the other person or himself in the process. “Shit, sorry,” He sure had a habit of running into people. “Uh, so this —” He glanced down at himself, feeling the cold straight on his ass cheeks and not loving it. His broad-nipples felt like they were giving Madonna a run for her money. “Is basically exactly what it looks like. Hey, I don’t suppose you feel like lending a blazer?”

There were a number of feelings you didn’t expect to run into outdoors in the middle of February. Warm and wet was definitely on that list. It took Nico several moments to realize what happened, something moist and very warm pushing into his back, the faint echo of a sauna very unusual in the cold air. He finally turned around, if only to see what was going on, and was immediately greeted by Jay. A lot of Jay, to be precise. Mocha latte colored skin was on display everywhere, and he was very clearly trying to keep himself as hidden as possible, only a sock keeping him for being entirely nude. Nico isn’t proud...but he stared. Jay was gorgeous. Like, Nico had no idea just how gorgeous, drop dead, salivating a little gorgeous. And he was, impossibly, naked in front of a boy who despite knowing he was gay had never done much more than dance with and kiss on other boys. With all their clothes on, usually. Nico turned red. “Oh!” he finally managed a monosyllabic reply, realizing he’d been much more than a little lingering in his gaze. It took a few more seconds for the question to come through, and Nico just nodded, undoing the buttons on his blazer, sliding it off of his arms, still red in the face. He coughed once, trying to cover his obvious reactions to a hot, naked boy in front of him. “Yes, please cover yourself before my thoughts get any dirtier or your nipples put someone’s eye out.” He held out the blazer and dutifully turned away so Jay could put it on. Not that it would help anything from the waist down anyway. “Um, I can’t help but ask...Jay, why are you naked right now?” Nico spoke while turned away from him, not trusting himself not to keep memorizing the lines of his body if he watched him put the clothes on. “Barts pretty far away. I uh, don’t know a good route back where you won’t get seen...like this.”