AN- Kat: this takes place about two months after "First Time" and it's actually got some sort of plot! ^_^ **sweatdrop**
Joey: Please review! She only owns the people who are a member of Pride, minus Ritchie of course….
Dai: She wants to thank all seven reviewers of "First Time" with big hugs and parties… but that's kinda hard… And she says she knows how it feels when your friends look at you weird for talking about Virgil and Ritchie as a couple… she got a pillow to the head over it… multiple times…
Draco: This will be a chapter story… and will go somewhere…. Maybe… but anyway yeah…
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"Hey Ritchie… You okay man?" Virgil called into his friend's house. "Ritchie?" Virgil shut the door behind him and wandered in and heard voices upstairs. He pocketed his key and began up. "Hey man, you up there?"
"I can't help it Ritchie!" Virgil paused outside Ritchie's room. He saw the shadows dance on the wall of Ritchie's mother's room.
"YES you can!" Ritchie said, desperately. "Just because he wants you to come, doesn't mean you have to! Mom you're divorced!"
"Ritchie we'll talk about this when I get back…" his mother said picking up suitcases and walking towards the door. Virgil ducked into Ritchie's room having the feeling she wasn't in the mood to see him.
"Mom it's crazy!" Ritchie said following her to the top of the stairs but no further.
"Ritchie! Enough. I'll see you in a few weeks…" With that the front door slammed shut. Virgil came out to see Ritchie with his head bowed in defeat.
Ritchie started when arms wound around his waist, "Virgil!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah man.. You mind me asking what it was all about?"
"How'd you get in?"
"The key you gave me, remember?" Ritchie nodded slowly allowing himself to lean back into his boyfriend.
"Mom's decided that since Dad called with some problem, that she's going to go and visit him to help out…"
"Low blow huh?" Virgil asked kissing the neck exposed to him. A murmured yes was his answer. "You want me to stay or go?"
"Please stay…." Ritchie whispered turning his head to capture Virgil's lips in a sweet kiss.
"Anything, beautiful…" Virgil whispered as they made their way towards Ritchie's room so they didn't end up falling down the stairs while making out. Moments with just the two of them were rare. They could only be together this way when they were alone, they could hide it till they were alone, and then they had to be together. And with crime fighting on top of it…it worked up frustrations fast. And they had to let them go, with each other of course… Feel the heat from each other's body, taste the sweat, feel the vibrations of the moans, and hear the love loud around them while they were in their own world.
"Virgil, I love you…" Ritchie whispered around rich mocha skin.
"And I love you too, Ritchie.. And I'm here for you anytime… Remember that," Virgil said kissing sweet lips gently only to have his lips chased after by the other teen boy.
Soon they were preparing for another joining with each other when Virgil paused in the kissing of his lover's body when he kissed a small, round, white mark on his leg. "I'm so sorry, Ritchie," Virgil murmured crawling back up to waiting lips.
"Don't be…" Ritchie whispered.
A little while later they were sitting in the living room Ritchie buried in Virgil's arms drawing comfort from his friend. A sudden loud knock at the door made them both jump. Ritchie got up reluctantly to open it, and was attacked, I mean hugged, by someone who was speaking too fast for either of them to understand. The blonde whose hair was much like Ritchie's then headed for the stairs.
"So which one is the guest room?"
"That's a girl?" Virgil whispered from the couch to where Ritchie stood about to really start tweaking. He shut the door and bound up the stairs, Virgil on his heels.
"What are you DOING here?" Ritchie demanded as the girl found the room she was looking for and unpacked her stuff ignoring the question. "Please tell me what you're doing here?" he tried getting really annoyed.
"Where's Mum?"
"Gone. Now tell me what you're doing here!"
"Mum knew I was coming!" she said with a shrug.
"Ritchie, you got a sister?" Virgil asked confused.
"No I don't. You know that!"
"Just trying to figure it out!" Virgil shrugged.
"Mum invited me… Is that a terrible thing?"
"No but you know, a warning is good…"
"Like I said. She knew!"
"She just left to visit Dad!"
"The asshole? Damn she needs a head check then dude."
"What are you doing here?" Ritchie asked. "I know Mom knew you were coming but I sure as hell didn't!" he said as she made her way past him and Virgil giving Ritchie's cheek a pinch.
"Visitin'. What else would I be doing here?" she asked.
"Why?"
"Mum asked me to come," she said sliding down the banister and going into the kitchen and rummaging around.
"Someone is out to get me," Ritchie said before following the girl into the kitchen. Virgil kept some distance figuring this was one of those delicate things.
"I'm here to talk with you. Mum said you was depressed and my, charm, would help you out."
"You planed this!"
"In few words? Yes."
"Okay then, why?"
"Who is he?"
"Virgil? My best friend!"
"No, no, no! The guy you're crushing on!" she replied as Ritchie keeled over into a chair, that fell causing Virgil to come busting in. "Graceful as ever aren't we?" she asked sitting on the counter.
"I'm okay V! Honest, I'm okay.. Just tipped the chair too far," Ritchie said.
"Can I be filled in here yet?" the African American boy asked.
"V, this is my cousin, Kal."
"Pleasure!" she chirped to him, as Ritchie looked none too happy. "Did I interrupt something when I arrived or something cause cuz, if looks could kill, I'd be dead…"
"Let's not go too far Kal…" he muttered getting up.
"Well, I'm going up to my room! Catch you guys later!" she said grabbing an apple and leaving and padding up the stairs.
"Tell me that, that was just some really bad dream V…"
"I can't cause then we'd have shared it…" Ritchie groaned as Virgil pulled Ritchie put to his feet and back to the living room to sit in quiet comfort with each other till they heard Kal coming down, dressed really nice. The two both went to separate ends of the sofa and sprawled, looking too casual. Artificial in Kal's opinion.
"Hey Ritch, got a key I can have bro?"
"By the door, Kal, as usual," he muttered.
"Thanks," she said pausing to kiss his cheek before heading over there and picking it up and adding it to her keychain. "I'll be back late so don't worry you know?"
"Yeah Kal… What bar or rave is it this week?"
"HA-HA!" Kal said. "I got a meeting about the dance happening next town up. I got to go so I'll explain it later okay? Bye Virgil! It was nice to meet you!" she called in as she left and her jeep pulled away from the curb.
"Why do you seem to hate her?" Virgil asked edging closer to the blonde who lay down so his head was in Virgil's lap.
"I don't she's just… Over bearing, too much at all times and all that stuff," Ritchie explained. "She may look a lot like me but we're really different… except the being gay."
"So that's why she really looks like a dude!" Virgil said getting a laugh from his boyfriend.
"Should have seen her when she had all but her bangs and some hair on the very back of her head shaved off," he laughed. "It was priceless! She said something about Sum 41 as the 'inspiration for her creative artistry of hair'!" he laughed some more before Virgil leaned down and kissed his nose.
"Hey man… I hate to break up a moment, but I got to get home… and maybe do some patrolling around the area…"
Ritchie nodded and walked with him to the door where they kissed goodbye and Virgil waved back to him. "See you tomorrow big V!" Ritchie called before shutting the door with a sigh… If only there was someplace that would accept them for as they are… hiding really wore on his nerves when he had to deal with hiding that he was Gear. Life was just a bitch. He ended up asleep on the couch at about eleven with the TV on.
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From what Kal could see, this was a great time to get Ritchie involved with the club. He needed it greatly. She unlocked the door and was as quiet as possible. She caught sight of the TV on and walked into the living room to see her cousin knocked out on the couch snoring. She smiled and got a blanket to cover him up with and then tucked him in. "Night cuz... And don't stay mad at me for too long this time…" she murmured placing a kiss to his forehead before heading up the stairs to get some shut-eye herself.
Ritchie woke to the smell of food the next morning. He sat up and stretched walking in and finding Kal busy working over the stove on pancakes, eggs, and two different kind of breakfast meats.
"Morning sweetie… How was the couch last night?" she asked flashing a grin from under the bandana and around her silver frame glasses.
"Okay considering the thing is so old…" he responded getting into the fridge for some juice. "Sorry I was so crabby yesterday."
"You just need a good fuck," she said putting food on a plate and Ritchie spewed OJ all over the kitchen table. "Really, at seventeen I'd think you'd know it goes in your mouth and not the table!" Kal wiped it up and set the plate before him. "I was joking anyway cause if the way you were glowing yesterday I think I just missed that great fuck you needed. You and Virgil dating?"
"Kal. Can't you ever hold a conversation that doesn't involve my sexuality somehow?"
"Yes but I want an answer to my question!"
"Yes… we are. We have been for about two months…"
"Not had a great time cause you're hiding it from everyone?" she asked.
"Something like that," Ritchie muttered around food.
"Look, I've got some friends I want you to meet, okay? Care to come with me tonight?" she asked.
"Where?" he asked getting up to put his things in the sink.
"To The Pride meeting tonight," she said with a smile, "that's where. We're gonna have a dance next month too… Maybe you and Virgil would like to come…"
"But it's the next town up! How would V get there?" he asked picking up his backpack.
"Me. Duh! I'll drive you guys up if you don't mind helping with some set up… Think it over and then talk to V," she said as he made his way to the front door. "Want a ride?"
"Nah. I walk every morning."
"Later, then!" she said climbing in and switching to her shades and going towards the community center.
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"It's fine to be worried about family members… it's natural. Even when you act like you can't stand each other," Sharon said as the girl looked out the window.
"I know that, Sharon, but… He seems so unhappy going everyday acting like his boyfriend is only his best friend. I know that he does love him so much!" Kal explained.
"What makes you think he's unhappy?" Sharon asked. The new girl in town came in and asked for a session or two, Sharon had agreed to take her in on her free slots since she was there.
"The tenseness of his muscles. He really needs some release…." Kal sat down in a chair tiredly. "His mother is trusting me to fix it… I know I CAN it's just, can I do in the time she wants me too…"
"What do you think will help him find release?" she asked.
"He's not suicidal or into self mutilation. If he's got a problem it's either go to me or the boyfriend. He's a good kid! Don't think I don't like his boyfriend! I really like that kid he really cares about my cuz and he loves him a lot, I can see it in his eyes whenever he looks at him. I just wonder how it feels to hold your true self in like that so much! From your own family!"
Sharon nodded, "Since my mother died, I felt that Virgil's been hiding something from us… That's my brother by the way."
"I had a guess…" Kal said.
"Why not try to start a chapter of the GSA here?" Sharon asked.
"The way they reacted to Boom Babies?" Kal asked. "We aren't treated much better half the time…"
"I understand but people may understand."
"Thanks for listening, Shar' but I've taken enough of your time for today. I'll be taking my cousin to the GSA chapter of the town just north of here… We're having a dance. Maybe you should come with your boyfriend, or girlfriend," Kal suggested.
"I'll see what I can do Kal. Are you coming back in?" Sharon asked.
"Maybe… Depends on if I got something to get off my chest… If I'm ready to talk about something really…"
"Doors open, so is the phone. That is when I don't have another person in here…" Sharon smiled.
"Thanks… I probably will be back…" she said leaving the room with a small smile.
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Kal drove towards the high and parked out front to wait for the last bell to ring in a few moments. When it did she waited for Ritchie to get out and she honked. He bid goodbye to Virgil and climbed in. "What's up?" he asked.
"We're heading out early so you can meet the full group and not the party group," Kal explained as they hit the highway.
"What makes you think I'll fit in with, The Pride?" he asked.
"It's a chapter of the GSA, you know, Gay-Straight Alliance," Kal explained to him as she drove along. "You think you and Virgil will want to come to the dance?"
"I know I want to go… I mean, where people accept you? I can't think of a place I'd rather be…"
"Besides with Virgil," Kal said as Ritchie hit her arm lightly as they laughed together. "I really think it will do y'all some good to get to the dance…"
"And I have to agree…"
"It's settled then. We'll invite him to the dance," she said with a smile. Ritchie shook his head at his cousin as they pulled into a parking lot. "Let's go in and let you mingle," she said jumping out as Ritchie got out slowly. She grabbed his arm and walked him into the building where people were sitting and talking in groups. A group near the door looked up when they entered and smiled to Kal and waved them over.
"Kal! You made it!"
"Thought you said you had family!"
"Who's the guy, Lex?" asked one guy looking over Ritchie with a smile.
"Ritchie, this is Cerene, Hector, Mitch, and Simone," she said gesturing to each in turn. "This, is my cousin Ritchie, who is taken Hec.. sorry," she said with a wink. "I'll see what I can do next time…"
"Hello, Ritchie," Mitch said shaking his hand. "Welcome to Pride."
"Thanks," Ritchie returned with a smile.
"Where's Ashley?" Kal asked looking around the room.
"She hasn't called and last night, she said she'd be here…" Cerene said shrugging her pale shoulders and disturbing the auburn locks that rested there.
The meeting was going well, they had three new members besides Ritchie and everyone was having a great time discussing what the Dance would be like. Ritchie had gone out the start the jeep while Kal left some ideas to be discussed while she was gone tonight when someone burst in the doors.
"Genna?" Kal asked as the girl ran into the room and over to her. Ritchie was standing by the doors, wondering what had upset the frantic girl.
"Ashley! It was Ashley!" she said gripping Kal's arms as tears formed in her eyes.
"What? What happened?" Kal asked trying to calm her down.
"It was horrible!! Over the bridge at the music hall… she was doing an errand with me and as I was coming out of the building and then I heard it… It was so terrible! I'm so sorry Kalexis!!" she sobbed to her. A policeman came in just then and over to Kal as she held the sobbing mass identified as Genna.
"Are you Kalexis Brooks?" he asked her as she nodded.
"Yes sir I am… What's going on? Did something happen to Ashley?"
"I'm afraid she's been taken to the hospital… She was shot in the chest twice." Kal's face went white.
"Ashley…." She breathed before keeling over in a faint, barely hearing her cousin's voice.
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"Cerene promised to keep me posted as long as I kept her posted on Kal…. I've never seen Kal so scared… she just completely collapsed and she looked so helpless… And, my cousin has always been someone I turn to when I need strength…ever since we were really young!" Ritchie ranted as he paced. Virgil sat almost gaping at his boyfriend. Sharon was upstairs tending to Kal, who had hit her head somehow in her fall. Virgil almost killed his sister to force her to take him up there to find out what caused Ritchie to become a complete mess, blabbering in a way that at first Virgil couldn't recognize who it was when he picked up the phone.
"Who's Cerene again?"
"Treasurer of the Pride, a chapter of GSA…" Ritchie said absently before the phone rang and he answered to find a sobbing voice on the other end. "Whoa… calm down a minute… Cerene, I can't understand what you're saying…. Hector's there? Put him on… Yes let me talk to Hector… Hector? What's going on?" Ritchie eyes were frightened as Virgil got up and placed a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder. "What?" Ritchie's eyes grew wide and sad at the same time. "Just now? Who did it?" he asked. There was a pause for a few moments. Sharon started to come down the stairs as she saw the boy on the phone. Tears were forming in his eyes. "Is it positive?" he asked before the tears fell over. "Thanks Hector…. I'll…. I'll tell her when she gets up…." Ritchie said before hanging up.
"What happened man?" Virgil asked before giving up and hugging the other boy.
"Oh Ritchie, tell me that Ashley didn't…." Sharon said not finishing her sentence as she walked towards them. Ritchie nodded, unable to speak through tears.
"It'll break her…" he got out crying on Virgil's shoulder.
"Virgil, I'll run home and get you some clothes… I think maybe you should stay here and help out a bit…" The boy nodded to his sister. Virgil just held the other boy as he sobbed.
"Ritchie?" Kal asked from the top of the stairs. "Can I talk to you a moment?" she asked. "Alone?"
"Sure, Kal…" he answered letting go of his boyfriend and walking up the stairs and following her into her room.
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"I thought that it wouldn't happen there…" Kal said sitting on the bed and pulling her knees to her chest.
"What wouldn't?" Ritchie asked.
"Hate Crime… Ashley and I moved to that city after her parents disowned her… We wanted to live in peace…" Kalexis said tears forming. "But they killed her…. Ritchie, my fiancée is dead!" she cried sobbing into her knees. Ritchie hugged his cousin close as she cried. "The only person who really loved me… She was my best friend before we took that step… Ritchie, what am I supposed to do without her?" she asked in a sob. Virgil came up with the phone in his hand.
"Hate to interrupt… But they said they need to talk to Kalexis," he said handing the girl the phone.
"Hello? Oh Hector… What's wrong?" she asked pausing to listen a moment. "Thank you Hec… Thank everyone for me… And for her… Yeah, I think I can-" Kalexis paused and looked at the two looking at her. "We can make it up there to make arrangements… You mean that Ricardo is actually going to…. Send him love for me till I get up there… Thanks…"
"What is it?" Virgil asked.
"I have to go up to help plan Ashley's funeral… which is being paid for by one of the founding members of the chapter… and I want you guys to go with me."
"Of course we will Kal!" Virgil said.
"But V, we have school!" Ritchie said.
"You get off for family death Ritchie… and Virgil might be able to talk to his sister and father about coming up as support for us," Kal explained with a small smile. "And the dance is being held in her honor, as well as to raise money for GSA and hate crime prevention."
"She'd be happy to make a difference," Virgil said placing a hand on her shoulder with a reassuring smile.
"That's all she wanted to do," Kal responded with tears but a smile.