Here Comes the Shame

The monday after. Everything that had gone down the weekend before were a slightly muddled mess after all the drinks and excitement. But the things that did transpire were so wonderful and deliciously lecherous that they were impossible to lose to the haze of alcohol. A number in his phone guaranteed that if he ever needed to jog his memory about what had transpired, the young man Sammi would be happy to try and remind him of they had done. Of course, that call would not be made any time soon for Lelei. His schedule was kept busy with keeping the kids in the Academy in line as the year's end drew near.

Lelei was able to keep his personal life separate from his professional life quite easily. When the time called and he needed to be a stern figure of authority, he was exactly that. No amount of fine boy booty could keep Lelei from staring down an unruly student or breaking up a bad fight. During down time, however, he was more prone to looking a little more bright and chipper than usual. Most perceived it as simply good moods. The more wizened among his peers sensed the true origin of the sunny disposition and dropped Lelei hints that he knew. He only gave them a wink and a nudge in response.

It was only when someone mentioned that Leeroy was also in a decidedly different mood that Lelei remembered he should follow up with his wingman. Especially since it sounded like Leeroy's mood had gone in the opposite direction of Lelei's.

The day passed before Lelei could find Leeroy, walking down the hallway with his shoulders and head down in a decidedly melancholy way. Lelei feared that his night had not gone as well as Lelei's, and he approached with a little caution.

"Leeroy. Leeroy! Hey."

He fell into step beside his former wingman, smiling a little.

How's it going, man? Still feeling a little hungover from the weekend?"

@"Porky"

Lelei had opened with a little joke, hoping to raise Leeroy's spirits before actually engaging with whatever seemed to be his problem. The joke was also a fairly innocuous way to gauge Leeroy's attitude and feelings based on the reactions it got out of him. They were not very promising. Lelei could sense the effort behind the smile and his words, as if Leeroy was straining to interact in a more publicly-acceptable manner. Leeroy was putting up a front, or hiding something.

A smile was maintained on Lelei's own face for the sake of Leeroy.

"I hear you. These kids can run you ragged sometimes."

At least it seemed that Leeroy was not entirely ignoring or avoiding their weekend. But again, considering how Leeroy seemed to be acting, it could have all been part of the facade he was maintaining. His smile became more strained, and it killed Lelei.

"Y-Yeah. It was, uh, pretty good. Sammi was a lot of fun..."

"Fun" was putting it mildly, but that felt like the only way Lelei could have phrased it at the moment. If he just went ahead and showed Leeroy the pictures he had taken of Sammi during their evening on his phone, then it would have been super awkward instead of high five-worthy.

"What about you? Did, uh, Tomi manage to stay awake before you left the bar?"

Had the situation been a better one, Lelei would have been a gossiping schoolgirl regarding the escapades he and Sammi had conducted that night after the bar. Lelei would have been grinning like a madman as he alluded to all the things they did to each other, or for each other. Then he might have busted out his phone and surreptitiously showed Lee the bounty of dirty pictures from that night, showing both of them in various states of undress and wetness.

But the situation was not better. There was no ignoring the tension in the air between them nor the nerves that Lee was feeling. The question then became "why?". Why was Lee looking like he was just putting on airs for sociability, and hiding something terrible within himself? Lelei needed to know, especially since he was paranoid enough to suspect he had something to do with it.

"Yeah. Yeah... Sammi was a blast. Hey. Lee."

Lelei sped up for a second so he could step in front of Lee, stopping the walk and talk and seeing him face-to-face.

"We're bigger than this. We're adults here. Something wrong, and I'd like to know what it is. Man to man."

He leaned a little closer to Lee, concerned and whispering.

"Did something happen after we left the bar?"

Unfortunately, during their stop, Lelei had not kept in mind the fact that they were in the middle of a hallway. Fortunately, for the purposes of their personal talk, no one was around. Even more fortunately, Lee was still willing to open up about the problem without asking to duck into a side room or more isolated part of the Academy.

At first, Lelei was mildly confused. Nothing happened.

"So... What? Tomi didn't put out?"

Getting blue-balled by a cute drunk boy was disappointing, at least in Lelei's view, but that seemed like something that would not cause Lee to be so... distressed. Even Lelei would have not seemed to down about a boy not giving him some. Upset? Maybe. But not embarrassed and defensive about it. Hell, he might have laughed it off and tried again next weekend.

Then Lee elaborated. Lelei listened closely, nodding to let him know that he was indeed listening. Lee seemed to be talking around the issue at the beginning, with bringing up his teaching position and all. As he went on, though, Lelei picked up on why he had mentioned it. Then he finally just came out and made his point. Lelei immediately felt awkward about the entire trip to the bar.

"Yeah. I get what you mean.

I'm... I'm SO sorry, man. I didn't know."

Suddenly everything Lelei did that evening seemed so dickish in his mind. It had been unfair of him to push Lee into that situation considering his condition, and it was also unfair to the boys. He had set up everybody into the most awkward of situations, except for Sammi.

"You... You shoulda told me. I would've respected that. I'm a horny shark, but I ain't gonna make everyone follow my lead. Oh man... I hope everything at least turned out... alright. For you and Tomi..."

The reasonable part of Lelei's brain knew that he should accept Lee's forgiveness, and not be too hard on himself for making a mistake. But in the moment, Lelei was compelled to apologize. Knowing that he had put Lee and Tomi into a super awkward, and probably uncomfortable, position was a total embarrassment. Lelei just wanted to bow his head, hide his face and apologize to Lee and Tomi. That is, assuming Tomi would ever want to associate with either of them again.

"Tomi..."

A second wave of regret spilled over Lelei as he imagined how hard the kid must have taken it that night. Lelei was imagining Tomi finally getting up his courage to put the moves on Lee, only for his... condition to show itself. Maybe Tomi was better than Lelei imagined, but Lelei could only imagine Tomi getting really angry or really depressed. A mental note was made to contact Sammi, whose number Lelei had received that night, and ask about how Tomi is doing.

Lelei had taken to awkwardly shifting his weight from one foot to the other out of awkwardness, rubbing his neck and generally trying(and failing) to look at Lee.

"No... It's better than you told me before I tried taking out to find some ass a second time. Hey, if there's anything I can do to make it up to you, just say the word."