“Holy shit, it’s hot today,” Ryan swore as he pushed into the locker room and immediately began to strip. “I can’t wait to dive into your pool tonight and have a chilled beer.”
Tide grinned and pulled off his own shirt before dabbing at his face. Practice had been intense today; Coach was not letting up the closer they drew to the game next week.
“Shotgun a shower!” Hunter yelled, tearing off his shorts and racing to one of the eight shower heads mounted on the opposite wall.
“Fuck…” Ryan muttered as the remaining seven immediately became occupied with other team members. “Fine, I’m gonna take the cubicle one, preserve my modesty,” he winked at Tide.
There were two shower cubicles with doors that were rarely used. Connor and Ryan raced towards them as Tide lifted up his flask to take a long drink of water. Tide could wait to shower, he mainly just felt dehydrated.
“Hey,” Connor exclaimed, yanking at the door of one of the cubicles, “this one’s locked. Jeremy I swear to god if you’re jacking off in there again…” Connor lifted himself up to peer over the door of the cubicle as the rest of them laughed.
“Well shit,” Connor frowned as he landed back on the ground. “There’s a naked kid in there.”
“That tends to happen in showers,” Ryan chuckled, “probably a junior, they had Gym earlier on.”
“But last period has already started?” Connor replied, knocking on the shower door. “Hey dude, you realise you’re late for your next class right? Plus you’re hogging a shower and there’s fifteen sweaty guys out here.”
“S-sorry,” a quiet stammer came that made Tide stop what he was doing and walk quickly over to Connor and Ryan.
“Forest?” Tide called out softly, edging nearer the door. There was a small surprised gasp from the other side. Tide glanced across to Ryan who shrugged unsurely.
“I’m just gonna –“ Tide trailed off as he lifted himself up on the door and looked over. Forest was huddled up against the tiled wall of the small space, clutching his knees to his chest. He was completely naked and let out a noise of embarrassed protest, leaning protectively even more in on himself as he registered Tide’s face.
“Sorry!” Tide exclaimed, dropping back down and swearing as he bumped his chin in the process.
“Dude,” Ryan whispered, nudging Tide’s side and causing the other boy to look at him. Ryan gestured a few feet away to a backpack lying on the floor, the zipper open. “I think they took his clothes.”
“Fuckers,” Tide bit out, rubbing his hand across his face in frustration. “Hey Forest, did someone take your towel and clothes?”
There was a few moments pause.
“Y-yeah.”
“What the hell?” Connor snorted. “Hey kid why didn’t you just come out and find a towel?”
“Just wait there a moment Forest,” Tide instructed before kicking himself, where the hell else was Forest going to go? Judging from the clock on the far side of the locker room the younger boy must have been holed up in the shower for around thirty minutes already.
Tide jogged over to his own locker and drew out a towel and a hoodie before pausing to look at the size of his spare shorts. There was no way they would fit Forest, the other boy was much smaller than him.
Eventually, Tide managed to convince the slimmest player on the team to lend him some track pants before returning to the cubicle. Ryan was still waiting there but Connor had lost interest and gone to shower himself.
“Forest?” Tide called out. “I’m going to pass you over a towel and some clothes okay?”
Forest made a small mumbled noise that Tide took to be an affirmative before passing the handful of clothes over the top of the cubicle.
A few moments later Forest opened the door. Simon’s track pants fitted okay but the younger boy was swamped by Tide’s hoodie. Tide couldn’t help the skip his heart did when he noticed that his own surname ‘Serrano’ was emblazoned across the back of the garment. For some reason, the sight of Forest wearing it was making Tide feel hot all over and incredibly happy.
Tide’s elation quickly soured again, however, when he saw how desolate Forest was looking.
“Who was it?” Tide asked, reaching out to take the damp towel back from Forest.
“I’m not sure,” Forest shook his head and walked carefully over to his backpack before fishing out his glasses. He let out a sigh of relief upon checking the contents of his bag, as if he had expected items to be missing. “I just heard them laughing,” Forest shrugged as he turned back to Tide and Ryan. There was a thick blush across his cheeks and he wasn’t meeting their eyes.
“That’s rough,” Ryan cleared his throat, “but why didn’t you come find someone to help?”
Forest’s blush only deepened and his fingers were fiddling with the hem of Tide’s hoodie.
“What class are you meant to be in?” Tide asked, quickly changing the subject. He figured Forest had probably been too embarrassed to leave the cubicle. Tide and Ryan pointing it out wasn’t going to help matters now.
“Biology,” Forest replied. “Do you think I’ll be in a lot of trouble?”
“Mrs Sharma?” Tide asked smiling. “Nah, she’s lovely, I’ll take you there and explain –“
“No!” Forest half shouted, jerking his head up to finally meet Tide’s surprised expression. “S-sorry,” Forest continued. “Just, I’ll already be interrupting the whole class and…”
Tide blinked in understanding, Forest was probably mortified by the idea of barging into the class and Tide announcing what had happened in front of everybody.
“No,” Tide shook his head and gave Forest a reassuring smile, “I’ll tell her you were helping us out with something okay? I can even get Coach to write you a note, don’t worry.”
“Why’s this guy wearing your shirt?” Hunter asked loudly, walking up behind them, rubbing his hair with a towel and eyeing Forest with confusion. Forest looked round, only to squeak when he noticed Hunter was butt-naked and standing so close to him.
Tide bit down on a smile as Forest took a step away from the other boy and closer towards Tide.
“This top has your name on it,” Forest murmured in surprise as he twisted the hoodie around and noticed the lettering.
“Yeah,” Tide nodded, “I know it’s a bit hot in weather like today, but it’s the only spare thing I’ve got I’m afraid.”
“But people will see me in it,” Forest looked worried and he blinked owlishly back up at Tide. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“He does not mind,” Ryan was grinning from ear to ear as he clapped Tide on the back, “besides, it looks good on you, kid. Don’t you think Tide?”
Tide smiled tightly at his friend, hoping Ryan got the message to shut up and that he wanted to kill him.
“What’s up Tide? Don’t you think your hoodie suits Forest?” Ryan continued, completely unperturbed, his eyes sparkling with mirth.
“He looks cute,” Tide admitted before his own eyes widened in horror. “I mean –“
“So, Biology huh?” Ryan interrupted loudly, squeezing Tide’s shoulder apologetically and smiling at Forest. “You better get going if you don’t want to miss the whole session.”
After wheedling a note out of Coach, Tide walked awkwardly with Forest all the way to the science labs. He kept trying to think of things to say, but Forest seemed to have gone into some kind of shell and wasn’t making any conversation whatsoever.
“Are you coming tonight?” Tide blurted out when they finally reached the classroom.
“T-to your party?” Forest asked, looking slightly anxious.
“Yeah,” Tide grinned and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “it would be really nice to see you there.”
“I tend to try and avoid people from school,” Forest admitted quietly, staring down at his feet. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea.”
“No one will give you a hard time, I promise,” Tide insisted. He wasn’t stupid, he knew Forest was being consistently picked on by some of the meatheads in his year. It made Tide’s blood boil; he wanted to protect Forest without coming across as stalkerish or overbearing. “I’ll be there to look out for you.”
Forest gazed up with wide eyes, he seemed to be studying Tide’s face for some indication of a trick.
“You’re into art right?” Tide asked. “My mom was really into art too, I’ve still got some of her old sketches she did, be cool to show them to you?”
“Oh,” Forest whispered softly, there was a small smile on his face. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
“Brilliant!” Tide announced, feeling immensely pleased with himself. “I’ll see you there then.”
“Wait,” Forest called out as Tide went to walk away. “What…what do I wear?”
Tide frowned for a moment before concluding that Forest had probably never been to a party before.
“Um, anything comfortable. I’ve got a pool so maybe swim shorts under your pants? I mean the temperature drops in the evenings and my house is heavy on the AC so you could always just wear my hoodie…” Tide trailed off. That had probably sounded way creepier than he had meant it to. However, when he looked back up Forest was biting his lip in a smile and his cheeks were flushed pink.
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