"Are you reading Hamlet?" A familiar voice said and Cecil looked up at Sydney who was standing before him, most likely waiting for Atticus to come out of the locker rooms so they could go home.

When his class had ended, Cecil had decided to take his fifteen minute break to sit and read for a little, though the only place for him to sit was on the bleachers dedicated for parents, which was vacant except for him.

"Yeah," Cecil said, sticking his thumb between the pages and letting the book fall closed. "I've read it before but I know Remy feels connected to it for some reason so I figured I should go over it again. Familiarize myself with all the quotes so I know when he uses them".

"That's dedication," Sydney said, dropping down onto the bleachers next to Cecil. "I never know what he's talking about when he quotes things. It makes him very angry in the very angry way that only Remy can be. You know, when he just stares at you silently and you wish you could disappear".

"Ahh," Cecil said fondly. "Yes. I typically know all of the quotes, so that face is reserved for me making a stupid comment slash joke slash pun".

"Of course," Sydney said, crossing his legs at the ankles. "How are you two doing? I ask a lot but he doesn't want to talk about it. I'm guessing you've realized that he's kind of a private person".

"I have," Cecil said, and then he smiled. "We're doing good, I think. I got him to laugh earlier this week, which just about made my entire life". Sydney was as quiet for so long that Cecil turned to look at him with raised eyebrows. "You alright?"

"You..." Sydney began, his eyebrows furrowed as if confused. "You made him laugh? You- you made him laugh?"

"Yeah?" Cecil said, shrugging. "I know it's not a common occurrence, but I don't think it's that big of a deal".

"Cecil, I have never heard Remy laugh before," Sydney said, and Cecil laughed at the joke.

"Yeah right. You're his best friend, you probably hear him laugh every day". Sydney just looked at him for a moment longer, eyebrows still raised in disbelief, and then shook his head. "You're not serious, right?"

"Dead serious," Sydney admitted. "You made Remy laugh for the first time in... in who knows how long". Cecil looked away, towards the pool, and swallowed heavily. "How'd you do it?"

"Make him laugh?" Cecil asked and Sydney nodded. Unable to help himself, Cecil smiled. "Well, I'm not on hundred percent sure, and you can't try this for many reasons, but I think it helps to have sex with him first".

Sydney stood up the quickly, his hands curling into fists, and Cecil blinked in alarm. "You did what?" His boyfriends cousin seethed and Cecil set his book down on the bleachers and rose to stand in front of Sydney, who glared at him.

"I'm sorry. I thought he would have told you by now. We had sex-" Cecil began, but he was cut off when Sydney slammed his fist into his mouth. Cecil stumbled back a step, but stayed on his feet. "What the hell, dude?"

"Everything alright over here?"

They both turned to look at Jordan Sullivan, who was standing there casually with both of his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. Cecil wanted to make some comment on how stupid he looked wearing jeans at the pool, but he figured there were more problems at hand.

"Yeah, we're alright-"

"We are not alright," Sydney snapped. "You forced my cousin to have sex with you".

"What?" Cecil asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "No I didn't".

"Wow Clarke-" Jordan began and Cecil just sent him a glare.

"Sydney, I swear to you that I didn't force Remy into anything".

"You must have," Sydney snapped, still glaring and Cecil who was looking at him in disbelief, still surprised that Sydney had punched him in the face. "I know Remy, and I know that he would never willingly have sex with you".

"Clearly you don't know Remy as well as you think you do then," Cecil shot back and then immediately wished he hadn't when Sydney launched forward again to hit him. Thankfully, Jordan as able to push the boy back.

"Please don't fight here. Carter sent me over to calm the two of you and I will carry your asses outside".

"Take him outside," Cecil grumbled, tasing a hand to rub at his sore jaw. "I've done nothing".

"You had sex with my cousin against his will".

"Stop saying that," Cecil demanded. "Jesus. Talk to Remy about it if you don't believe me. I was the one telling him I thought we should wait but he didn't want to".

"Have you no self control?" Sydney snapped and Cecil scoffed.

"You talk to me about self control when the most beautiful person in the world is sitting on your lap and asking you to fuck them". Sydney looked like he was going to punch him again and Cecil sighed. "I'd never take advantage of him. Please understand that, and I didn't hurt him. I was very careful not to hurt him and then I gave him a back massage when he said he was sore. That was it. Then we just laid there and talked about his family". Sydney narrowed his eyes. "His real family".

"You don't even understand what this means, Cecil," Sydney said, exacerbated. All anger faded from his face. "Why does he talk to you about his family? Why does he laugh for you?" Sydney dropped back down onto the bleachers and Cecil flicked a hand in Jordan's direction, motioning for him to leave. Surprisingly, there was no argument and Jordan slipped away.

"I don't know," Cecil said, "but I'm happy he does. I think it means that he trusts me... that he at least feels somewhat the way I do".

"And how do you feel?" Sydney asked, turning his head to regard him and Cecil swallowed heavily.

"I haven't really talked to him about it, but I think I'm in love with him," Cecil admitted and Sydney sighed, his shoulders dropping.

"Well I'm glad he'll open up to someone. And at least you're someone who appreciates him". Cecil nodded and chewed his lip, trying to think of what he could say to the clearly upset boy to make him feel better. Sydney had to know that already Remy loved him, there was nothing for Cecil to say about that, but he didn't want to say anything else about Remy to avoid angering Sydney further. "Can you promise me something?"

"What?" Cecil asked softly, not agreeing right off the bat in case he was asked to do something that would affect his relationship.

"Don't let this turn into one of you sex revolved relationships, Alright? He deserves more than that".

"I know," Cecil agreed. "I won't". Sydney just sent him a disbelieving look. "Don't get me wrong. I think that the sex is great. Like really really great- sorry, forgot I was talking about your cousin- but I'm not letting that dictate our relationship. For the first time I feel that I'm in a healthy relationship".

"Don't ruin it," Sydney snapped, and it was all he could say before Atticus ran out of the locker room and immediately set off towards them.

"Don't run, Buddy!" Carter yelled from across the pool and Atticus looked sheepish as he slowed to a walk.

"Hey man," Sydney greeted his cousin, giving him a tired smile as he dropped his hand to ruffle Atticus's hair. "Buddy, your shirt was on backwards".

Cecil looked down at the boy to confirm that it was, and then smiled at Atticus. "Looks great".

"Thanks Mr. Cecil," Atticus said, grinning up at him. "Are you going to come over today? Remy said that you will come by some day when I'm home. Papa said that you couldn't come over yet but Remy doesn't care".

"Ahh," Cecil said, and then he sighed. "Maybe I should listen to your father on this one". He glanced at Sydney, whose eyebrows were raised. "I don't think he likes me very much".

"Can you blame him?" Sydney grumbled and Cecil just shrugged his shoulders. "We should get going. It was... nice to see you Clarke".

"Bye Mr. Cecil," Atticus said, turning and walking away. Sydney turned back to him with narrowed eyes.

"I'm happy that you make him happy, but remember I won't hesitate to kill you, Cecil Clarke".

"Uh-huh," Cecil said, leaning back on his heels away from Sydney, and then Sydney was leaving, not bothering to spare him even one more look. When he was out of hearing distance, Cecil chuckled. He wasn't going to hurt Remy because the idea of hurting Remy had his heart aching; not because he was afraid of Sydney.

"Yo Clarke!" Jordan yelled and Cecil looked over at him. He was leaning against the lifeguard stand, his head tilted back so Carter could absently push his fingers through his hair. "Get your ass- ouch Carter, don't hit me- ohhh- your butt over here".

Cecil sighed and looked around. He didn't have another class for thirty minutes, and the pool was closed until eleven, when the last lesson ended. While he typically spent his time reading, as he had been doing, Jordan was still beckoning him over.

He went to them, slowly, and glanced longingly at his book on the bleachers across the pool. "What do you want Sullivan?"

"You fucked the twink?" Jordan asked and Cecil looked at him, unamused. Carter's hand tightened in Jordan's hair and pulled.

"If you call him that again I'm going to punch you in the dick so hard you can't have sex for a month," He said, monotone and Jordan blinked his wide green eyes.

"You never got mad at me for calling Caroline a slut".

"That's because Caroline was a slut," Cecil pointed out. "She cheated on me".

"We were all there," Jordan said, and Carter sighed loudly.

"We didn't know, Clarke. If we had we would have told you," Carter said. "Emerson was just upset because Sarah dumped him for Carmen Huego's older brother so he rebounded-"

"On my girlfriend, Yeah, I remember," Cecil said, his voice hard, and then he sighed. "It's alright. I don't really care anymore. I'm with Remy and he's great".

"Yeah?" Jordan asked, and Cecil nodded, allowing himself to smile.

"He's great. Funny in a dry sort of way," Cecil said, and then he looked down. "He's different from the rest of my past relationships. It's like he's more real than everyone else".

"We're happy for you Clarke," Carter said and Jordan scoffed.

"I'm not. I was going to leave Carter just so we could rekindle our passionate love-" Jordan began but he cut off with a laugh as Carter jerked his head backwards and forced Jordan to meet his eyes.

"You're so funny," Carter taunted and Jordan laughed again. "You're lucky I love you".

"I love you too, Baby," Jordan said, and then they were kissing, and Cecil sighed, looking away, down at the water for a moment before deciding to go back to the bleachers and continue reading his book.

He was three quarters the way through the book, and wanted to finish it before he saw Remy again, just so he could talk to him about his favorite play.

Cecil considered what Atticus had said about him coming over that night. He'd like to see Remy. They hadn't been able to do anything the day before since Remy had promised his father he would drive to the coast with him to get fresh seafood for dinner.

Cecil recognized this as Remy's father trying to keep them apart, especially since Remy said multiple times that he didn't even like seafood, but Cecil wasn't trying to do anything to piss the man off further.

But he wanted to see Remy. Somehow, during their short relationship, he had gotten addicted to the boy's presence. It felt wrong to go a day without looking at his face and hearing his voice.

Cecil approached his bleacher and sat back down, but he didn't look at his book, instead reaching under the bleachers for his duffel bag and unzipping the pocket with his phone.

He took it out and smiled at the message on the screen from Remy.

Beware of Sydney.

Followed by a:

Did he really punch you?

Cecil typed back a quick:

You could punch better than Sydney and you're half his size.

Not even a second later, another message popped up on his screen.

Hey.

Watch it, Clarke. I could kick your ass and we both know it.

Cecil grinned and typed out the words. 'I'm coming over tonight. I need to see you' but erased them. It would be a surprise.

You're right, hun. Beware of Remy.