They met in the old corner of the school library - the one with forgotten dictionaries and sunlit floors.
Benjamin pulled Donny behind a shelf lined with atlases. "Come here. I have a secret."
Donny followed, eyes wide. Benjamin pressed a folded note into his palm. Donny opened it slowly.
It read: I keep thinking about the way your hands shake before you draw. I want to kiss them. Would you let me?
Donny looked up. His breath hitched. "Now?"
Benjamin didn't answer with words. He reached gently and took Donny's wrist, brushing lips against his knuckles. Once. Twice. Reverent.
Donny gasped, biting back a grin. "That's a yes."
They stood like that - half in shadow, half in light.
Christopher appeared minutes later with books under his arm. He spotted them, didn't speak, only smiled. His gaze lingered on Donny's flushed cheeks and Benjamin's tousled hair.
Later, he passed Donny a note tucked between two pages of Leaves of Grass.
It feels holy, the way you look when you're loved.
Donny read it three times, heart blooming wider each time.