"Has anyone ever told you how feminine you look?" Angelo, a young man who was employed because of his striking resemblance to a woman, was busying himself with his outfit. His voice was also something to be reckoned with. Despite being in his 20's, thus having already matured, his voice remained soft.

"Yes, Marcello, you above all." Angelo was in fact adjusting a piece he wore to make it look like he was well endowed. They were putting on a Shakespearean play today. Marcello had been allowed in the back to help Angelo because the lady who normally did was gone today. He refused to let anyone else touch him.

"Has anyone also told you that you're extremely picky?" Angelo laughed softly.

"That much is apparent, how long did it take you to see this?" Marcello thought for a moment.

"It's strange. You're so picky to the point where you refuse anyone's help except for mine and Patricia's, yet you don't mind kissing another man in front of hundreds of people in play after play. You also allow yourself to be snatched around by these imbeccile." Angelo laughed but nearly choked when Marcello had pulled the string on his dress far too tight. "Mi dispiace..."

"They're the ones that are rough with me?" Angelo shot a sarcastic glare in his friend's direction.

"Eh..." Another man had walked in on the pair.

"Angelo, your queue is coming up." Angelo nodded.

"I saved you a nice seat up front, Marcello." He smiled happily and walked past his friend and out the door.

"...He looks like a woman..."

It had been a few minutes since Marcello had taken his seat. He'd missed the first part of the play because he was helping his friend, but he'd seen all of them before. Watching these plays was actually how he met Angelo.

A terrible accident had occurred and the stage was set ablaze a few years back. Angelo had been playing as Juliet, just as he was tonight. A corset he was wearing made his breath come short. He had quickly succumbed to the smoke. Other actors had just stepped over him, not giving him a second glance. Marcello, however, had seen him collapse. He had no idea who the actor was, but no one deserved to die. He'd quickly jumped on to the stage to save a person he didn't even know. He also didn't hesitate in slicing the strings on the corset to get it off of him. Once he'd been given a look over from a nearby doctor and some water, he'd been declared to be perfectly fine. Since then, he and Angelo had been very close friends.

His thought's were interrupted. He loved the play of Romeo and Juliet. However, he hated that his friend played one of the depressing roles. This part in the play, where for one last fleeting moment, Juliet and Romeo locked eyes before the poison took hold in Romeo's veins. He hated it. It was unfair. Angelo's voice was soft and clear. The audience was always stricken with silence during this part. "Yea, noise? Then I will be brief. O' happy dagger!" He reached over and grabbed the dagger from the man who was playing Romeo. "This is thy sheath..." He pretended to stab himself, though, with how dramatic he was, it quite literally seemed like he had indeed stabbed himself. Marcello's breath hitched at the thought. "There rust, and let me die..."Angelo slumped over across Romeo. Even from this distance Marcello could see his friend's eyes welling up with tears. Fake, of course. He was an amazing actor. But something seemed off about him. He decided to ask him about it later. His attention turned to something else. A woman next to him was actually crying at how dramatic he was. He couldn't help the smile that appeared across his face.

"You were amazing, Angelo!" Said person smiled painfully.

"As you tell me every single time...please get this thing off of me...it hurts." Marcello grinned and hurried over to his friend to remove the corset. The look of immediate relief crossed his face as he kicked off the accursed high-heels he was also wearing.

"You wear this stuff so often, and it still hurts?" Angelo nodded.

"The fact that I'm thrown, snatched, tossed, and dropped from every possible direction doesn't help. I can wear this garbage all day long if I really wanted. Not when I'm being treated roughly." Marcello grinned.

"So you're saying you don't like it rough? What a shame..." Angelo was about to answer seriously when he understood exactly what his friend was actually talking about.

"Marcello, you jerk!" A piece of clothing was thrown at him. It was a lot heavier than Marcello expected, but nothing he couldn't handle. Unlike his friend, who was feminine in just about everything about him, he was a lieutenant in the Guard. He wasn't too big of a man. He had just enough muscle to make him extremely attractive, but not so much that he looked like a bear.

"How do you wear this stuff for hours on end?" He was now being serious. Angelo sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Practice. I've been doing this since I was young, about 4 years before I met you." Marcello walked up to his friend to help pull the dress off of him.

"I was actually thinking about that. How we met."

"Oh?" Marcello was turning the dress right side out to hang it up.

"You know, I was supposed to be on duty that day." Angelo turned his head.

"Really? So...if you had gone to work like you were supposed to..."

"You would have died." Marcello finished his sentence. His look was slightly stern. Angelo was used to it.

"It's funny how things work, no?" Angelo smiled and ran a rag under some clean water to get the make up off of his face. Marcello nodded.

"Much like how Friar Laurence could have easily told Romeo what was happening. Yet, had they lived, their families could have very well remained in their feud. Either way, Romeo and Juliet had no way of being happy together in this life." Angelo nodded.

"No matter how you look at it, the two could never have been happy. You know, I'm actually surprised you pay attention to the plays, Marcello. I'm in them and I hardly do. I happen to like the story of the Star-crossed Lovers. That's the only reason I know so much about it." Marcello tossed a shirt to his friend.

"Wait wait wait...how could you possibly be in a play and not know what's going on?" Angelo laughed in response.

"Very easily. Memorize your lines, actions, and queues. Leave it at that." Marcello thought for a moment and determined that that is actually possible. At least in his friend's case. Angelo was very intelligent. So much so that he could appear stupid because he's smart enough to know how to not pay attention. He was confusing himself at this point. He was distracted from his thoughts again when he saw his friend rubbing his lips with a pained expression.

"Are you alright?" Angelo looked over with a start.

"Not so much. These guys are rough with me in every way possible. Did you know that the jerk playing as Romeo split my lip because he kissed me so roughly? 'I need to be distracted from the thought of having to kiss another man.'" Angelo spoke in a fake, deep, mocking manner. "'Else people think I am a homosexual,'." He stuck his tongue out. "Nothing but a bunch of jerks..." Marcello grinned again.

"You know, I could see about playing the parts that involve kissing you. I certainly wouldn't ever treat you roughly..." He grinned all to deviously.

"As appealing as that sounds, I'm afraid you would have to take it up with the play-write. He doesn't allow just anyone to be in a Shakespearean play." Marcello laughed.

"I think I could find a way to appeal to his good side." Angelo was silent for a moment.

"You're serious, aren't you?" Marcello held his hands up in a dismissive manner.

"I know you don't like physical pain. I also happen to know how to appeal to your better side. I know how you work better than anyone around here. Who else could be a better candidate?"

"You just want to kiss me, don't you?" Marcello grinned at his friend's question. Even in this day and age, with the dangers of being a homosexual man, the pair weren't hiding it from each other. Marcello had teased Angelo about kissing men on stage constantly, not knowing the truth. When Angelo had finally told him, despite the fact that his friend was a lieutenant in the Guard, Marcello decided to come out with the truth as well. Angelo, however, loved to be difficult. Especially with Marcello.

"Would you deny me a kiss if I became an actor?" Angelo shot a smug look, but suddenly looked defeated.

"Well...no. I couldn't without risking my job." Marcello chuckled at his friend's defeat. Angelo shivered slightly. It was very very cold tonight. Marcello walked over and put his jacket on over the smaller man's shoulders. "Thanks..." Marcello smiled softly.

"It's no problem. Let's get home and get a fire going. I'm sure all you want to do is relax." Angelo laughed as if that was a severe understatement.

About 20 minutes later, the pair reached the home that they both shared. The both of them had money troubles and, after some debate, decided sharing a home would be the best option. Neither of them knew that they would quickly come into possession of better, higher paying jobs. Angelo, a professional actor and Marcello, a few ranks below the Captain. They didn't care to separate though. Sharing the home had given the both of them a sense of security that they didn't know another person could provide. So there they remained.

Angelo had been sprawled out on a couch near the large fire place in the main room. Marcello happily brought him a glass of nice wine and some bread. "Are you my servant today or something?" Marcello looked over questioningly.

"Do you want me to be?" Angelo laughed softly.

"What you do is your business. I happen to like being treated nicely. It certainly is better than my on-stage treatment..."

"If it's any consolation, I'd never treat you badly. On or off stage." Angelo seemed slightly happier.

"Nice to know there's at least one out of the thousands." He took a small drink of his wine and hissed in pain. The outside of his lip had healed from when it was split, but the inside was still significantly damaged.

"Are you alright?" Marcello got up and immediately went to his friend.

"Yes...My lip is still split on the inside, apparently..." Marcello took Angelo's chin in between his thumb and index finger. Making it clear to Angelo to keep his chin on his finger, Marcello lightly pulled his lower lip down with his thumb. Sure enough, on the left side of his mouth, there was a pretty bad cut.

"Angelo...There's no way that a kiss, however violent, could possibly do this kind of damage...What did he do to you?" Angelo froze up. Despite his amazing ability to act, Marcello had always been able to tell between a lie and the truth.

"I..."

"And don't lie to me, please." Angelo swallowed hard.

"He...he found out about me...And got angry..." Marcello's expression remained hard. He stood up straight and walked to the door.

"I'll be back in an hour or two." Angelo looked over from the couch.

"Marcello, you don't-"

"I do. I've had enough of that man. He's nothing but a drunkard off of that stage." With that, he was gone.

Marcello had gone to a tavern near to the stage. Inside, his eyes became fixed on the man who played Romeo. A look intent on murder appeared on his face. "Hey! Romeo!" The man turned around. He'd been called Romeo since the play had ended, so he immediately responded.

"Yeah?" Marcello walked up and landed a hard punch on the man's face, sufficiently splitting his lip just like the man had done to Angelo. "Che cazzo รจ questo?"

"You know damn well what it's for, scum-bag!" The man seemed confused for a moment before a sadistic grin spread across his face.

"...You...You fuck him, don't you! That's the only thing that can explain why you're doing this." The crowd around the two had quietened. "You're always with that man. Front and center for every god damn play he's in too." His breath smelled terrible. He'd been drinking bad liquor. Not that he seemed to care.

"I'm there to keep the peace. I also happened to be the one that saved his life in that fire a few years ago. You remember, the one where you ran like a little girl, shoving people aside just to save your own ass?" The man scowled and surged towards Marcello with surprising speed and strength. He was taken by surprise when the drunk man caught him in his abdomen with his shoulder. The two fell to the ground, the back of Marcello's head being greeted by the hard stone floor. "Dammit!" He raised his fist and made immediate contact with the man's temple. He recoiled in pain. "I forgot how much fun it is to get in a fist fight with a drunk..."

"You high prick! You think you can get away with whatever you want just because you're a fucking Tenente in the Guard!"

"You attacked an innocent man. I think of it as keeping the peace."

"The little cazzo is gay!" Marcello quirked his eye brow.

"And what evidence do you have?" The man seemed dumbfounded.

"He...He fucking kisses men!"

"He is an actor. And if you want to play that game, technically you're the one that kissed him. You seemed like you enjoyed it too...Romeo..." Some of the people in the audience laughed.

"What the fuck are you laughing at?"

"If I'm not mistaken, they're laughing at you. But, you should enjoy that, should you not? You are an actor after all." The drunken man made his way to the door.

"You're a fucking prick. I'll get you..." With that, the man was gone. Marcello sighed heavily.

"Now I have to go through all the trouble to get him arrested..." He paused for a moment when a guard walked across the door way. "Lucian!" The person he had yelled at stopped.

"Tenente Marcello?"

"The man that played Romeo in the play today, I need him arrested." Lucian took one look at his Lieutenant and didn't even ask why.

"Yes sir, right away." Marcello watched him as he disappeared before he decided that he needed to get back to Angelo.

It had been a couple of hours since Marcello walked out to go find the man who had hit Angelo. Angelo was dozing off in Marcello's chair. The door opened quietly a few moments after he'd actually fallen asleep. Marcello looked around the room. "Angelo?" The fire was burning a little low. He walked up and put a couple of chopped logs on it. As soon as he turned around, his eyes locked on to the sleeping figure in his chair. He laughed softly. "Has he never heard of his bed?" Marcello walked up and knelt down in front of his chair. "Angelo, wake up. I'm home." The smaller man stirred and finally opened his eyes. They immediately widened.

"Marcello! Dio, what happened!" Said person was taken by surprise at how suddenly Angelo had woken up and asked, rather demanded, what happened.

"I, uh...found the guy that attacked you and took care of things?" Small, soft hands found their way to either side of Marcello's head. "Uh, Angelo?" His head got pushed forward and down, nearly in Angelo's lap.

"The back of your head is bleeding." Marcello laughed.

"Not nearly as bad as what I did to him."

"Marcello..." His larger hands wrapped around Angelo's and pulled them aside.

"I'm fine, Angelo. I've been shot before. I'm sure I can survive a simple hit to the back of my head." Angelo still seemed very concerned. "I'm fine." He tipped his head so it came to rest in his and Angelo's hand, seeing how he was still holding both of them.

"I know you're fine...but you didn't have to do what you did..." Marcello looked at Angelo's lips. His lower seemed slightly swollen. Probably from when he drank wine.

"Ah, but I did. What kind of man am I to allow the one I love to be injured by someone else and do nothing about it?" Angelo blushed heavily at Marcello's statement, despite him having said it several times before. "Why are you blushing? You know I love you." Angelo smiled softly.

"I know...it's different when you say it out loud."

"Is it different in a bad way?" Angelo shook his head, the smile remained. "Good." He knew very well that Angelo was shy in every way possible. It was a wonder how he was such an amazing actor. He had let the younger man know a few months ago that he loved him, and he's been waiting patiently ever since. He never once tried anything to force himself on Angelo. They did have their moments though.

"You're probably the most patient man I've ever met, you know that?" Marcello nodded.

"I'm patient only when the out come is very worth it." Angelo laughed out loud now and playfully pushed Marcello's face away.

"How do you always know exactly what to say?" Marcello grinned widely.

"I need to know what to say. I have to interrogate people a lot. I also have to please a certain someone. One wrong word could end it all in either situation." Angelo suddenly stood up. "Where are you going?" He disappeared into another room and came back out with a rag and a bowl of water.

"Small injury or not, it can get infected. So turn around and sit still." Marcello laughed softly and obeyed. Angelo took up Marcello's seat again and hooked his legs over the man's shoulders.

"And why are you doing this?" He put his hand on Angelo's thigh and turned his head, only able to see Angelo from his peripheral. He received a soft, surprised noise from him.

"Reasons, Marcello." He dabbed the rag in the bowl to get it wet. As soon as he pressed it to Marcello's injury, he attempted to pull away, hissing slightly, but Angelo's legs remained and kept him still.

"That's not water!" Angelo smiled.

"It's not? My bad. I must have grabbed the rubbing alcohol instead." Marcello frowned.

"You can be very evil sometimes, you know that?" Angelo nodded happily.

"I know. But I'm not letting you get sick." Angelo resumed cleaning the dried blood and what was left. It was indeed a small wound, but with everyone around them getting sick and dying, Angelo certainly wasn't going to take any chances. Once he'd not done anything in a minute or two, Marcello rested his head in Angelo's lap. "M-Marcello? What are you doing?" He was blushing again.

"I'm being tired. And you're in my chair. My bedroom also happens to be one floor up and I do believe I'm too tired to do much of anything." Angelo sighed. He'd forgotten that he was very tired as well.

"Okay, okay. You can have your chair." In an attempt to get him to sit still, Marcello asked a sudden and somewhat random question.

"Why do you always get so nervous when I tell you that I love you? Aside from the obvious ban against two men being with each other, because I know that isn't what bothers you." Angelo looked down and almost immediately locked eyes with Marcello. He smiled softly before speaking back up. "Please don't lie." Angelo nearly melted.

"I don't know...It's probably because I'm so shy and it took, of all people, Tenente of the Guard to get me to come out and stop lying to myself. I guess I'm still apprehensive for some reason or another." Marcello's eyes were closed and he was listening intently.

"Hm." It was all he said when he got up. He offered his hand to help Angelo from his chair.

"Um...Marcello? Are you alright?" Marcello smiled happily and nodded.

"I'm just debating something in my head right now. I'll let you know in the morning."

"Alright, Gentlemen, last night's performance was exceptional. However, an issue occurred with Claudio and he's been arrested for assault against a civilian and an officer." Angelo was slightly antsy at the statement. He knew exactly what had happened. "Good news, I've already found a replacement." Angelo looked up curiously. His eyes widened almost immediately. "Everyone, meet Marcello de Luca. He's attended to see our plays for a few years now and knows Romeo and Juliet very well." Angelo almost couldn't believe what he was seeing.