Disclaimer: I don't own the History Boys, Alan Bennett does. If I did own it, Posner would have gotten more than a hug – which is the whole point of these.
This set: Mostly Posner's POV

1 – Comfort
Posner was well aware that Dakin was infatuated – if not halfway in love, it was always hard to tell with Dakin – with Irwin, which automatically put the teacher ahead in their not-very-competative-because-he-knew-he-didn't-really-stand-a-chance race for the boy, but he still felt a bitter sense of victory that he was the one Dakin had turned to for reassurance after they were told of Hector's death, and he didn't care that it was most likely because the other man was in hospital.

2 – Kiss
Half an hour later, Posner was kicking himself: he'd had the opportunity to snog Dakin when he'd demanded if that mockery of a hug was all he was getting – he could of quite easily tugged the other boy forward and – but no, in the end he'd just gone for another hug, which was brilliant fantastic wonderful...but not quite perfect.

3 – Soft
Posner liked places that were high up, he could separate himself from the rest of the world and just think...and he liked it more when Dakin came to sit with him, because while he wouldn't get much contemplation done anymore, at least he had something to lean on that wasn't concrete or bark or something.

4 – Pain
The throbbing in his cheek was all Posner could focus on as Dakin stood in front of him, shoulders heaving and blaming him for everything the dark-haired boy could think of, before he snapped, screamed something in Yiddish or German or French or a combination of the three and sobbed as the pain in his cheek was drowned out by his heart breaking.

5 – Potatoes
As a child, Posner had always been inordinately fond of chips - he wasn't sure why, perhaps because they didn't have them much at home – and he loved smothering them in whatever sauce came to hand, he wasn't particularly fussed; and not even Dakin's disgust at the practice would make him stop, something that made him feel rather proud of himself, as it meant he wasn't completely hopeless like the other boys were saying.

6 – Rain
Posner sat and watched the rain the evening after their discussion on the holocaust in Hector's class, and hoped (oh god he hoped) that Dakin was being sarcastic when he congratulated Irwin on winning the argument, because he didn't think he could cope if Dakin just...didn't care.

7 – Chocolate
The bar of Dairy Milk shoved in front of his face shook Posner from his thoughts, and he followed the arm up to the person who held it, which, to his surprise, was Dakin, who refused to meet his eyes and muttered something about 'how you always buy us something even though you don't celebrate'; well, what else could he do but take it and thank the boy properly with a kiss on the cheek?

8 – Happiness
This was the best moment of his life, Posner decided, as he drained the cup of tar-thick coffee Dakin had shoved into his hands before shuffling off to bed ('because this way you won't wake us all up with the blasted kettle') and found 'I think I kinda love you' scrawled on the bottom with Sharpie marker.

9 – Telephone
On reflection, it was incredibly sweet, but being woken up at 3am by a drunken Dakin singing 'I Just Called To Say I Love You' outside his window did nothing to put Posner in a good mood, especially when he had only managed to get to bed a couple of hours earlier; so he made sure to accidentally question a hung-over Dakin about it within Timms' hearing the next day, knowing that the eavesdropper would spread it among the others and tease Dakin mercilessly.(1)

10 – Ears
Ears are really rather useful, Posner mused, as he pulled a rather startled Dakin down for a kiss by said extremities.

11 – Name
He thought it was weird, after 14 years and a term of being referred to constantly his last name by anyone that mattered in these things – which basically boiled down to everyone but his parents and the teachers from the infant school – to get to university and suddenly go back to being 'David' again, even to the people he'd known for a better part of those 14 years; so he was incredibly thankfully for brilliantly stubborn Dakin (because he'd always be Dakin to him, until told otherwise) who refused to call him anything but 'Posner'.

12 – Sensual
For some reason, they were sitting eating a fruit salad while talking about various 'facts' – such as carrots helping you see in the dark, and crusts making your hair curly – when somebody, probably Lockwood, brought up the ability to tie a knot in a cherry stalk with your tongue being a myth because 'nobody I know can do it, and I know a lot, if you know what I mean'; Posner snorted at this, leant over Dakin to grab a cherry out of the bowl, plucked the stalk off and proceeded to prove Lockwood wrong; Dakin gulped and couldn't look Posner in the eye for the next three hours.

13 – Death
Irwin doesn't know when to leave well enough alone, and considering the response last time, decides that they should discuss the holocaust again, this time focussing on what the people might have been feeling; the boys take it in turn to speculate until it gets round to Posner, who tells them in a hollow voice what his grandfather told him about his time in the concentration camps, having to see his older brother waste away...and it's Dakin who ends the discussion, who very calmly tells Irwin to not bring up this topic again, and who steers him out of the classroom and into a bathroom so the other boys won't see his breakdown – and Posner can't help but fall a little more in love with the older boy for it.

14 – Sex
None of the boys could ever really get past the fact that Posner was almost a full year younger than them - his birthday being in August and theirs all being around September/October – and had a tendency to treat him accordingly, using innuendo for things around him, or just not talking about things when he was in hearing distance they termed too crude for innocent ears; therefore they were all surprised when Posner got annoyed and said "For god's sake, can you just say 'shagged' already, all this innuendo is making my head spin,", Dakin was the only one to laugh.

15 – Touch
When the boys are out and about, Posner always ends up sat by Dakin – normally at a lower elevation, like on a lower step, or on the bench of a picnic table while Dakin is sat on the table itself, or if they're all sat on the ground Posner will lie down so he can look at the sky while the others talk about things he's not interested in – and no, this isn't always intentional, most of the time the others will make him sit there; he doesn't really mind though, Dakin has a habit of playing with the hairs on the back of Posner's neck idly, not really noticing what he's doing, and it's really really relaxing...and it's also fun to watch Dakin get more and more confused as to why the others are smirking at him.

16 – Weakness
One thing Posner was thankful for about his affections not being returned was that he knew Dakin a lot better than Dakin knew him, despite what Dakin may think to the contrary, which means that Posner can manipulate the other boy into doing things for him, mostly without Dakin noticing, but when he does he still goes along with it simply because it's sweet, innocent Posner that's done it, and he's too shocked to think of a way out of whatever it is – this amuses the other boys who are often subjected to Dakin's bewildered rants about it.

17 – Tears
If anyone asked Dakin how he'd met Posner, he'd probably remember it being the first day at secondary and that Posner had been stood off in a corner on his own; if you asked Posner how he'd met Dakin, he'd remember that he was stood in a corner watching a few people he knew and a lot he didn't run around, missing his friends who'd all gone to the comprehensive, and thinking that turning eleven last week really hadn't prepared him for this, and desperately holding back tears because he didn't want to be seen as a wimp by everyone, when a small dark haired boy wandered over, offered him a handkerchief and asked if he'd ever read 'Lord of the Rings', because he and his friend Scripps were having an argument about who was better, Aragorn or Boromir, and what was his name and Posner smiled for the first time since he got the results from his eleven plus.

18 – Speed
The good thing about living in Yorkshire, in Posner's opinion, is that there are a lot of hills for him to ride his bike down at full speed; he particularly liked winding in and out of the lines painted on the road, but by far the best thing was when Dakin would spot him, pale, and storm after him demanding that he get out of the middle of the road 'before you get hit by a car and die, you idiot', because Dakin would always yank him into a half-hug when he does (eventually) stop.

19 – Wind
The storm had absolutely terrified Posner, but the thing that scared him most was that he was off in Cambridge while everyone else was in Oxford and oh god what if they were hurt or dead, and he was just reaching to pick up the phone and start dialling when it rang, and when Posner answered he heard a hoarse sounding Dakin saying "oh thank god, David..." and suddenly, he wasn't afraid anymore.(2)

20 – Freedom
Posner was getting a new start, away from the expectations heaped upon him by his family, the derision from his schoolmates, and, though he was rather guilty about it, he was sort of glad to be away from his friends, who, while well-meaning, did very little for his low self-esteem with all their teasing; no, he was here in Cambridge where he knew nobody and nobody knew him, and he could be himself totally and completely, and maybe finally get over his infatuation with Dakin...he hated every minute of it.

21 – Life
Posner spent much of his time just going through the motions, people expected him to do something, so he did it, because of this he normally had a rather blank expression on his face, oh, occasionally he'd show expression, when watching Dakin (melancholy, wistfulness, happiness), when the other boys were teasing (annoyance, sometimes anger, though normally amused tolerance); the only time his face and actions ever really came alive was when he was performing, it didn't matter what – and that was why Dakin always stared while he was doing so, a calculating expression as if to figure out why this made Posner animated, and how could he recreate it – he never figured out that this was why Posner loved performing, because he could say the things he couldn't find words for that were just bursting to come out, and Dakin would actually pay attention to him.

22 – Jealousy
He had to remember to thank Scripps for remembering that yes, he was gay, when organising this surprise birthday thing - he was hesitant to call it a party, because it wasn't, not really – as the venue turned out to be one of the local bars that catered to bother sides of the preference spectrum, and if it wasn't for this, he'd never get to see Dakin trying to glare a hole through the man he was currently dancing with; and really, it was rather nice to not be the jealous one for once, especially as it let him know that he was in with a chance; and, he mused, that was probably Scripps' intent all along.

23 – Hands
Posner's hands were rather long and thin, his grandmother had announced that he had the hands of an artist and tried to make him do violin lessons (he'd thrown a fit and she compromised with singing lessons); Dakin's hands were rather short and blunt, and he used to be rather clumsy and drop things a lot (his mother still calls him 'butterfingers', he hates it) – but somehow, Posner thinks, their hands fit together perfectly.

24 – Taste
Most of the boys had started smoking a few months ago, mainly because it looked 'cool', however, Posner always found excuses to go somewhere else until they'd finished as he hated the smell of the smoke, thought that standing there with a burning stick of flammable material in your mouth was idiotic, as was flicking hot ash everywhere, they basically destroyed your lungs, and if they tasted as bad as they smelt he wanted nothing to do with them, besides, he was addicted to something far nicer; after a week of Posner avoiding him, Dakin quit.

25 – Devotion
Scripps had often said that he had a 'spaniel heart' – and really, he couldn't argue; after all, he had spent the last few years pining after the school's Lothario.

26 – Forever
He'd been told that this was a phase, that it'd pass, but when it got to the end of his first year in the real world, and just over three since he'd last spoken to the man in question, and he still wasn't over him, Posner realised that this...whatever he felt for Dakin was here to stay, and he may as well get used to it.

27 – Blood
"You are an idiot, a complete and utter idiot," Dakin said as he patched up Posner, Posner of all people, after he got in a fight, before sighing, kissing Posner on the cheek, and saying "but you're my idiot" which really made the whole thing worth it in Posner's eyes.

28 – Sickness
During the third year at the grammar school, Posner had managed to get the flu, which then developed into bronchitis, meaning he was off school for the best part of a month; however, that was four years ago and he's never had anything worse than a cold since, but Dakin will still walk over and physically put a hat and scarf on him if Posner isn't wearing any; Posner thinks it's sweet.

29 – Melody
The minute Posner walked out of that classroom, the full force of what he'd just done hit him and he regretted ever singing that stupid song...but the hastily scrawled note shoved into his hand by Dakin as he walked past, reading 'That was sweet, if slightly pathetic', more than made up for any mortification he felt.

30 – Star
Posner was leaning on a fence in a field, looking up at the stars and working out which constellations were which and remembering the myths around the figure – it was one of his methods for calming down, he'd walked off when the guys decided to fall back on teasing him for entertainment – when he felt a pair of arms go round his waist tentatively, and a chin rest on his shoulder, and he could see dark hair and relatively pale skin out of the corner of his eye so he knew it was Dakin with certainty, and his heart leapt; but all he could think of to say was "If you start singing Elton John down my ear I will hit you."(3)

31 – Home
Posner had lived his whole life in Sheffield, couldn't think of going anywhere else, it didn't really seem...well, right, so he did his degree at Cambridge, did his teacher training, and took a teaching post at his old school, using Hector as a baseline (without the touching of the boys) - because he certainly remembered more from Hector's lessons than he could from any other, he can still recite the first piece of poetry they were taught – and moved a few streets away from his mum (because he's a good Jewish boy, even if she won't be getting grandchildren out of him) however, nothing really seemed quite...complete until Dakin strolled into his classroom one evening, while he'd stayed late to finish some marking, and proclaimed that he'd grown bored of London and was nicking his couch for the foreseeable future, and something inside Posner clicked back into place.

32 – Confusion
It was probably a bit mean, Posner decided, turning up at Dakin's birthday do, saying hello, and then wandering off into a corner to discuss theology with one of the other guests, but maybe it'd make the other man realise that yes, he is another person and can function perfectly well without Dakin to focus on; and besides, that look of bewilderment plastered across Dakin's face was priceless.

33 – Fear
Dakin didn't like small children – he couldn't charm them and he wasn't old enough to get the automatic obedience an adult does – therefore Posner's cousins took great pleasure in swarming him – purely to further their favourite cousin's chances of course, as he could then rescue the dark haired boy.

34 – Lightning/Thunder
The boys had been taken to some science museum or other - Posner hadn't been bothered to remember which one, it's not like he'd be going back there anytime soon – and, of course, they'd all been drawn to the Van de Graaff generator, what teenage boy would turn down the chance to play with electricity, which turned out to be Dakin, in this case, leading to Posner latching onto him, dragging him over and forcing him to put his hands on it; to the amusement of the other boys, Dakin's hairstyle was destroyed; to Dakin's amazement he actually enjoyed Posner grabbing him; to Posner's joy he was perfectly willing to act on this new discovery.

35 – Bonds
Posner wasn't sure who was the most annoyed about being handcuffed together, him or Dakin; however, some good had come of it, they'd spent a rather enjoyable few hours plotting Timms' violent death, and Posner felt it was a rather good 'bonding experience', even if that wasn't quite the original intent.

36 – Market
Posner liked to go down to London to go to Camden, he did it once every few months, when he had enough money for the train fare and to actually buy things, and met up with other likeminded people of his acquaintance; therefore, he was quite surprised when he bumped into Dakin – he wasn't quite sure he wanted the people in Sheffield to know what he was up to, as he was sure to get teased – but on the basis Dakin's attention seemed to be torn between staring incredulously at his face and staring incredulously at his bum (he made a note to thank the vendor who insisted he get those trouser and wear them out) he didn't think that would become a problem.

37 – Technology
Posner, like many others of his generation, had given into the wonders of technology and joined a networking site, with the intention of tracking down the friends who'd abandoned him when he got into the grammar school, whereas they had to go to the local comp, and annoying the hell out of them; he wasn't expecting to get an email from Stuart Dakin of all people, inviting him out for a drink.

38 – Gift
Posner collapsed against the doorframe laughing about thirty seconds after opening it; there, in the middle of his living room, was a very annoyed tied-up Stuart Dakin, with a bow stuck to his hair and a post-it stuck to his forehead reading 'Happy Hanukah Dave, - Jimmy'.

39 – Smile
He walked away, whistling 'Wish Me Luck', and Posner just stood there grinning stupidly; when Scripps asked why he was so happy, all Posner would say was "He didn't say no."

40 – Innocence
Posner wasn't sure why he'd been classed as the innocent of the group, as he was pretty damn sure he wasn't - you don't grow up the grandchild of holocaust survivors without overhearing some pretty horrific stuff – but the look on Dakin's face when he swanned out his front door in leather pants was well worth the irritation of the last few years.

41 – Completion
All Posner heard was "Oh, fuck it," before he was dragged up and out of his seat and into a kiss – a very enjoyable kiss, once he got over the shock – and when he opened his eyes, Dakin was stood there grinning sheepishly and the whole world looked a little brighter than before.

42 – Clouds
Posner had decided to go and watch the clouds, and he must have fallen asleep because when he opened his eyes the sun was in a different place than it was when he closed them, which was annoying, he hadn't really meant to stay out long; oh, and there was also a sleeping Dakin using his stomach as a pillow, but he wasn't complaining about that.

43 – Sky
"No Dakin, we don't dance about bonfires, nor do we do anything 'sky-clad', for God's sake; we're Jewish, not Druids."

44 – Heaven
'How would you like to die' was the topic of this lunchtime discussion, and there were all the predictable answers of old age, in a blaze of glory, while sleeping, laughing; until it got to Posner who just smirked and said "Wouldn't you like to know," before laughing at all the scandalous expressions on everyone's faces – he laughed even more when Dakin pulled him off to one side later and said "I hate to break it to you, but I don't think my stamina's that good."

45 – Hell
'What do you think hell is like', Irwin had asked them, and the boys took great delight in inventing more and more disturbing tortures (and thusly, scarring Irwin for life) until they realised Dakin hadn't said anything, so demanded his idea of hell – "There's no Posner," said with an odd little half-smile – and Posner blushed bright red while the other boys began teasing Dakin.

46 – Sun
It was the middle of summer, and therefore rather hot – so hot, in fact, that many of the boys had taken to wandering about with their shirts off, including Dakin – and Posner was beginning to think he should carry a bucket of cold water around to pour on his head, as this was leading him to entertain thoughts that good Jewish boys shouldn't have.

47 – Moon
David heard a commotion outside the halls, so stuck his head out his window to see what was going on, just in time to see his friends from Sheffield yank their trousers down to moon Cambridge's rowing team (who had just lost), causing him to groan and bury his head in his hands while debating whether or not to help them out; Dakin's shrieks of 'Posner, help!' made up his mind about interfering – he'd leave them to it for a while, they had it coming.

48 – Waves
Posner was quite surprised to find that the Dakins had decided to holiday on the same beach as his family – same hotel even, he knew this because his mother (incurable gossip that she was) had come dashing upstairs to tell him so after she saw them check in – but he resolved that he was going to carry on as if they weren't here, he was taking a holiday from everything, including chasing after Dakin; therefore, he was quite surprised when said boy yanked him behind an outcrop and hissed at him 'to stop being such a fucking tease, poncing around all wet in your trunks' before pulling him in for a bruising kiss; Posner laughed and asked Dakin if he'd prefer the speedos instead.

49 – Hair
Posner didn't understand Dakin's minor obsession with styling his hair, especially as he was of the opinion it looked best all mussed up from hands running through it, preferably his own.

50 – Supernova
It was New Year's Eve and they'd gone down to London for the celebrations, and just as the countdown began Dakin turned to him and said "You know, it's good luck to be kissing someone at midnight," before leaning down to do so and all Posner could think was 'Fuck the fireworks, this is so much better' before kissing back.

(1)'I Just Called To Say I Love You' belongs to Stevie Wonder and came out in '84.
(2)Refers to the Great Storm of 1987.
(3)Posner is talking about 'Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word' by Elton John, which came out in '76.