So, they were right back to pretending. Of course, they still had the decathlon championship to get through, but after that, Miles couldn't help but wonder what would happen next. This was fairly unprecedented as he had never really had a boyfriend besides Flash. What was the protocol for making out on a hotel room floor and deciding to get back together? There was none that Flash knew of. Oh, God, Claudia was going to murder him.

"Are you nervous? I'm nervous," Flash mumbled as they stood at the entrance to their competition, waiting to go through the metal detector. "And where the hell is Peter? He rejoins the team last minute just to dip?"

"Don't even get me started," Liz Allan sounded exasperated as she was typing frantically on her phone, "Kaelyn's missing too. I'm gonna try and call Peter now, Beth, hun, do you know where Kaelyn is?"

Beth perked up, shaking her head with a sigh, "Nope, no idea, sorry. I wish I could be more help."

Liz just shook her head and pressed a kiss to Beth's temple and Miles found himself wondering when the hell that happened, but he kept his mouth shut. It was none of his business, but he did find himself to be a little jealous of the fact that other queer couples weren't afraid to be openly affectionate with each other. Still, he knew what he was getting into when he got back with Flash and he knew that. Looking over at the boy, he saw his eyes focused on the two girls as well.

"Quit staring, people already think you're homophobic, don't make it worse," Miles muttered with a small smile as he cut off that boy to go through the metal detector first. "And to answer your question, yes, I'm nervous as hell, but we're smart. We've totally got this."

"You're smart and you've totally got this, I feel like I don't know anything," Flash sighed as they waited for the rest of their team. "I cannot screw this up. My dad is coming to watch this and my mom, that's huge. You know it."

At that moment, Miles understood exactly why Flash was acting so nervous. His parents never showed up for any of the school events, seeing them at the championship would be a first. Knowing Flash's parents, though, there was still a chance they wouldn't even show up. He knew that if they didn't, it would break Flash's heart.

Miles squeezed the boy's shoulder, channeling as much affection and comfort into the action as he could, "You'll do great, you're one of the smartest people I know. If all else fails, you'll have me by your side."

"I don't deserve you," Flash whispered and Miles felt guilty for almost believing it.

Keeping his conflicting emotions in check, he just shoved the boy gently with a laugh, "Cut that shit out. I don't wanna hear you talking like this, not on a day like this. We deserve to be proud of ourselves just for getting here despite everything."

"Why do I feel like you're not talking about academic decathlon right now?" Flash asked, a teasing smile dancing across his face as he seemed to realize what Miles was really saying.

"Because I'm not," Miles scoffed, quieting as the rest of their team joined them.

"Okay, brief team meeting!" Liz announced as they circled up before entering the competition, "I don't think Peter or Kaelyn are going to make it, so we're gonna have to pick up the slack. It sucks, I know, but I know we've got this on lock, we just need to try a little harder. We got this, guys! I wanna hear you say it!"

"We got this," was mumbled amongst the team, but it was clear everyone was nervous at the fact they had somehow lost two of their team members.

"Okay, well that was disappointing," Mr. Harrington sounded exasperated, but he forced a smile onto his face as he said, "We're gonna kill this! Believe in yourselves, Jesus, teens these days are nihilistic."

Miles laughed quietly to himself as the team broke their huddle and began to enter the competition. They weren't going on right away, which Miles was so beyond thankful for because he was going to get eaten alive. He was far more nervous than he wanted to admit and despite everything, he kind of wished Claudia was here just to knock him out of it because if anyone could smack some sense into him, it would be Claudia. Still, he would have to survive without her.

"You look like you're about to puke, are you okay?" Flash asked, whispering to the boy as they walked together, "Please don't puke."

"I'm not gonna puke," Miles scoffed, but honestly, he wasn't sure. "I've never been good with these competitions, you know how nervous I get. It doesn't help that we're literally missing two members of our team. What if we lose because I get a question wrong? That's, like, a plausible outcome of this. If we lose, it's gotta be someone's fault and it'll be mine."

"Miles, Miles, you're spiraling," the other boy grabbed onto his hand and squeezed before letting go. His heart fluttered, but not because of the nerves. It was slight, but Miles felt a little bit better as he met Flash's eyes. "Just breathe, you're smart as hell and we've done this a million times. If we lose, it's not the end of the world. We've got three more years to get this shit right, one competition isn't going to destroy your academic decathlon career. You've got this, just take deep breaths."

Miles took a deep breath, the words slipping out before he could stop himself, "I love you."

He held his breath, but Flash hardly took a moment to respond before saying, "I love you, too, now come on, we've got a competition to win and we can't do it without you."

"I knew it," he heard a voice exclaim in a whisper from behind them. Turning around, they saw that Betty had been eavesdropping on their conversation, "Sorry, sorry, you guys are just not talking as quiet as you think you are."

Miles nodded, "Fair enough."

He was worried about Flash, though, because now someone knew and that was exactly what they hadn't wanted to happen. Looking over at the boy, he seemed strangely calm. He just took a deep breath and smiled over at Miles. Flash's reaction gave him hope, he realized. Maybe one day, things could be normal for them and this was just one more step towards that -- it was a comforting thought.

"Stop thinking so hard," Flash smiled, "We've gotta win this shit."