Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, except my good intentions. Brian, Justin and the wonderful world of QaF belong to their respective owners, blah blah blah.

A/N: Ok, so this was at first inspired by the movie the Runaways (no, I'm not a big Twilight fan, I just liked that one movie with Kristen Stewart.) but after awhile the story took me to a whole different place than what it started out to be. So I'm not really sure about this yet, it is a work in progress and even though it wasn't a highschool!fic in my mind at first, well you might just get that after all lol! Justin and Brian are the same age, in the early 90's, living in a small town (doesn't really matter if it's in America or Europe). Title from Guns n Roses song Nice boys.

Nice boys don't play rock n roll

"It's really the worst you could ever be. A goth, gay and on smack in the worst place, Luxembourg. It's so sad.""
Brian Molko

"Well, will you look at 'em running? Run my ducklings, run!"

The jocks passed them by, most of them not even sparing a glance at the school weirdos.

"Quack, quack, quack" Justin yelled after them, complete with duck hand movement.

"Shut the fuck up losers!" one of the jocks yelled back at them.

"Mr. Hobbs! Get back in line right now!" the school gym teacher, a middle-aged short man with a receding hairline, and a beer belly that had probably seen better, fitter days, hurried Hobbs back to formation. The two teenagers, burst out laughing, as Hobbs gave them a loathing look and run to catch up with the others.

"Quack, quack. Daisy Duck, run, run!" Justin yelled once again, laughing.

Hobbs's look of hatred was simply indescribably hateful, I guess. He finally catched up with his last-in-line teammate, a tall brunette, who seemed to be stalling, more interested in the scene unfolding in front of him than keeping up with the rest of the team.

"Hobbs, Kinney, hurry up will you? We don't have all day!"

When the jocks finally turned around the corner Justin reached into his back pocket for his smokes. "Can you believe he's making them run all these miles on a Saturday?" he asked the other boy.

"Yeah and pass through the whole town too. Everyone has to see the heroes of this city!"

Justin snickered. "Our saviors!" He put 2 cigarettes in his mouth, lit them up, and passed one to his friend. "All this town needs is another basketball championship victory after all. All 3 of all the previous ones have made such a difference pulling us out of this shit." He added sarcastically.

"Do you think they actually have a shot winning this year?"

"Nah" Justin shaked his head no. He looked around the park they were hanging out at. Not a soul in sight. And it was the middle of the fucking day. God-damn dead city.

It was no wonder he was considered a misfit here. A rocker, with his fingernails painted black and his hair dyed (black of course, is there any other colour?), drinking, hanging out in places other than the few "in" bars, sporting eyeliner and a cheap-ass electric guitar everywhere he went, in a city where the coolest guy probably listened to duran duran? Not to mention that gay etiquette was not part of this city's agenda even in the lovely year of 1991.

"Kinney has the hots for you, you know."

Adam's voice brought him back from his musings. "Who?"

"Kinney? You know, tall, dark and handsome? Captain of the basketball team?"

"He is straight" was Justin's answer. He had already lost all interest in the subject.

"Yeah, right. You know I heard he fucked the gym teacher?"

"Mr. Garry- baldie?" Justin was disgusted.

"Ew. No. The replacer guy who was here last year, when Goribaldi went to have his "surgery"."

Justin grinned. They all knew what "surgery" meant. You' d think after 3 failed hair transplants the poor fuck would finally give up. Why he had to take a whole month leave every time he entrusted his fortune in the hands of modern science, no one knew.

"And I heard his girlfriend is actually a dyke." Justin rolled his eyes but his friend didn't seem to catch on. " They are only together for cover-up."

"Since when do you work for CNN? And anyway" he said quickly, not letting his friend respond "even if this is all true, I still don't give a crap about Kinney. If it's true then he' s just another sell-out and he's better off hanging out with the heteros if he wants to be like them so much."He stood up and reached for his still seating friend with one hand. "Lets get outta here. I'm bored."

"Mr. Taylor!"

Justin actually stopped his sketching and dignified his teacher with a look.

He was in a good mood.

"Could you do us the honor of answering the question Mr. Taylor?"

Justin smudged the sketch a bit. He probably had to add a bit more shadow to the side of the nose.

"I don't really remember it. Could you repeat it?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the paper.

The teacher took a deep breath and asked again. "We're taking about the great Gatsby, Mr. Taylor. Particularly the symbolism of the light across the water. Would you say it is a strong symbolism?"

"I guess." Justin doubted the teacher gave a fuck about his opinions on symbolism in American literature.

"What feeling would you say it conveys then?"

"Want. Great want. No…." Justin searched for the right word. "Need."

"Yearning?" Mr. Dawson guessed.

"Yes, yearning. Something so necessary that it hurts not to own it. And probably hurts just as bad after you do."

The teacher seemed to be borderline between pleased and pissed. He nodded looking closely at his student.

Just then, the bell went off.

"Don't forget your papers! They are due on Monday."

As the students began to leave the classroom, Justin closed his notebook and began putting it away.

"Could you please not put away your notebook? I'd like to see it, if you don't mind."

"Actually I do mind." The teacher eyed him wearily. Justin sighed an ok and passed it on to the older man.

"This one is pretty good" He pointed at the sketch Justin had been drawing, which in his opinion was mediocre at best. The teacher flipped the page and got absorbed into reading for a couple of minutes. "And this…This is powerful writing."

Justin looked down at the notebook. The pages were littered with small scribbles.

"It's a song I ve been working on." He said indifferently.

"A song, huh?" The teacher seemed to be interested. He looked down at the paper again. "It doesn't rhyme."

"Doesn't have to."

"No. I guess not." He flipped through the notebook some more. He seemed to be pondering something. "Justin."

"Mr. Dawson."

"You know you are one of the smartest kids in this class."

"Well, that's not much of an achievement considering who my classmates are."

Dawson grinned. "I think you are selling yourself short." Since Justin seemed more interested in his fingernails, he went on. "Have you applied to any colleges?"

"Not really. I…" he hesitated. "I can't really afford it actually." He added grudgingly.

"I'm pretty sure you can get a scholarship. If you need a tutor…"

"That won't be necessary." Justin started to back off away from the desk. "I'm not interested in college anyway. I've got other plans."

"Plans?"

"Yeah." He opened the door and smiled. No one, except his best friend (his only friend for that matter.), could ever remember seeing him smile in all his years as a high-school student, so the teacher was in shock for a second.

"I' m starting my own band."

"What took you so long?" Adam was waiting for him in the hall.

"I got the "oh-you-'re-so-smart" speech from Dawson." Justin rolled his eyes.

"Again?" Adam frowned a bit. "I really want to get one of those someday..."

Walking in this school full of losers was something Justin could never get the grip of, no matter how many years passed. Or maybe he was the loser. He successfully ignored the glares and stares of his dear schoolmates. God, graduation day was not close enough.

"So did he tell you how you are wasting your life and shit?"

"No. He asked if I needed a tutor."

"Oh. Well. He was always one of the nice ones I guess."

"I guess" Justin answered indifferently. He turned left, at which point he abruptly stopped.

There they were. The jocks, and cheerleaders and all-around boring ass people. Kinney was staring at him again. Creep.

"Hey. Where are you going? I thought we were going to my place."

"Aaaah… yeah. Sorry about that." Justin turned to his friend. "I got detention."

"Again? Fuck. Whatever. Gimme your pack."

"Excuse me?"

"Your cigarettes, idiot. You don't need them where you are going." He pointed down the hall. "You're gonna get them when you come over to my place for guitar practice."

"Cheap-ass motherfucker. " Justin murmured while searching through his back bag. He fished out his Lucky Strikes. "Maybe you could get your own, for once."

Adam snickered. "C u later."

"Yeah, whatever." Justin turned around and walked towards the group of mindless muscle-bods.

Hobbs was saying his c-u-later-s with Kinney, all the while looking at Justin disgustedly. Justin returned the compliment. It seemed like all of them were there just to talk to Kinney, cause they were all leaving now. His girlfriend gave him a long sloppy kiss (Justin was sure he was going to vomit any minute now) and they were all off, leaving Kinney behind. God, the guy didn't go anywhere without his fan club. Justin was pretty sure they even followed him to the toilet, one of his minions holding his dick so he could piss. He rolled his eyes and passed by Kinney and into the classroom. The brunette followed him inside.

"He is so weird" Brian Kinney thought.

He couldn't understand why anyone would want to be weird in this town. Why anyone would want to be different in any way.

He looked at the clock. 5 minutes had passed already. Score!...

Taylor was sitting right in front of him. Even though Brian could only see the back of his head, it wasn't difficult to imagine the other kid's bored expression. Did he have another one anyway?

Sometimes he really did hate him, like all the others did. Cause he was so snobbish and up his high horse, and he thought everyone was beneath him. He was the only gay guy in the school. Well, the only one who was out anyway. Sometimes, when Brian would hate him he'd think that he was just a disgusting faggot, like Hobbs said.

And sometimes, just sometimes, he'd imagine what it would be like if those blue eyes looked at him with something other than contempt. If things were different, and he wasn't who he was. If he actually had the courage to go up to him and say all those things he had been meaning to say since they were both 14 years old.

But he would never be so pathetic. For anyone.

"Ok, you are dismissed people. Have a good day and I hope I never have to see you in here again." The students let out a sigh of relief.

"Finally" Justin thought. He was already thinking of the song he wanted to practice today. God knew he needed all the practice he could get. Self teaching had its drawbacks. Thankfully he had Adam to help him and in the 2 years they'd been friends Justin had improved so much that he actually considered himself a pretty descent guitar player nowadays.

He got out of the classroom and started down the hall.

"Taylor."

Wow. Hell must be like fucking Alaska right now, cause there was no way Brian Kinney was actually talking to him. He turned around and looked at the other boy. He was putting up a brave face but Justin could see right through him. "Nervous much?" he thought.

"Yes?"

"Are you going to your place? Cause I thought we can walk together since I live right next door to you. You know…."

Justin stared at him.

"Or whatever." Brian said with fake bravado and was just about to leave when Justin said "Actually, I'm going to Adam's place. It's the same way." and started walking towards the exit.

Brian followed him outside taking a deep breath.

They were walking down the empty street. It was a quiet afternoon. Beautiful, someone might say.

Justin hated it.

Another empty street… When would he finally be in a live, buzzing city? Maybe New York or London or Tokyo. All great bands have a big ass concert in Japan anyways. It is tradition.

He looked sideways at the boy walking beside him. They had been schoolmates and neighbors since they were kids. Justin could even remember a time or two they had played together when they were 10 or something. But what did he know about Kinney, really? Sure, he was the team captain and he was with the most popular girl in school (who was a stuck up bitch of course.) But other than that, Kinney kept so much to himself, despite his many friends, that he was probably a bigger mystery for this school than Justin was.

Was Adam right? Was Kinney really in the closet? He needed someone to pull him out... And he thought Justin was the guy for the job…? Well fuck him. Justin was tired of every guy coming out of the closet in this school hitting on him, somehow figuring just because they were both gay it was obligatory they were fuck buddies or friends or something. If Justin had actually slept with all those guys he would have probably fucked half the football and one quarter of the basketball team by now.

"Ok let's not get ahead of myself here." Justin thought. "He's probably high or something"

"Why are you looking at me funny?" Brian asked.

"No reason" Justin focused on his feet again. Nope, no sign of dilation of the pupils or red eyes. "Is your mouth dry?"

"What? No!" Brian's mouth was definitely dry right now, but what the fuck was Taylor talking about?

Justin looked at him exasperated. "Are you high?" he finally asked.

Brian was dumbfounded. Justin had to be joking. But the serious expression on the other boy's face told him otherwise.

"No…" He finally said.

"Oh." Justin seemed disappointed.

They continued walking, not speaking.

"So…" Justin turned to Brian once again "you don't have anything on you? Like, not even pot?"

"No…"

"Ok." Justin looked at his feet again. "Too bad."

How come Brian had never noticed the walk home was so long? And he was pretty sure it wasn't such a climb before, but rather mostly a downwards road. But it had to be. Why else would his hands be sweaty?

Justin was right beside him. He was apparently not at all influenced by the rockiness of the road (and it was definitely long and windy and hard. No other explanation for it.) They were walking slowly. Too fucking slowly.

"So…um… are you coming to the game on Monday?"

Justin gave him a blank look.

"You know….basketball? End of season?"

"Oh that." Justin finally caught up. "No… I m not really into sports"

"Or they are not really into you" Brian thought, but refrained from commenting. In all their years in high school, he didn't recall one instance when Justin had actually been willing to participate in anything for gym class, outside the usual requirements. Not that he was fat or anything. He had a great body actually…

Brian cringed inwardly. He really, really shouldn't be thinking about Justin in that way. And certainly not right now.

"Well, yeah but… it is a big event. The most important of the school year." For Brian it was something even more. It was probably one of the most important moments of his life. Their big chance at winning the title that had been eluding the school's basketball team for years.

Justin just shrugged.

Brian was starting to get pissed. Figures the freak wouldn't give a shit about anything important. "It is important." He said in a dead- serious tone. "We've worked all year for this. It's our shot for the title." At Justin's apathetic look, he carried on. "Maybe if you actually did something that required team work, instead of being on your own all the time, you'd have an idea what I m talking about."

"It s just a basketball game. And what's with the personal attack anyway?"

Brian thought his ears might fall off any minute now. "People are counting on us to win!"

"I' m just saying, it's not going to change anything anyway, even if you win. And isn't it supposed to be about the fun, not the win? "

"That's the fucking scouts! This is all about winning!"

"Wow, you are so passionate about this!" Justin laughed. Brian was taken aback for a second.

Brian was pretty sure they were talking about something important a moment ago. So why had he forgot all about it? Maybe it had something to do with how warm he felt suddenly, or how everything looked brighter for a few seconds when Justin had laughed.

It was almost summer. Bright sun and everything. That was definitely it. Nothing more.

"If you want an athletic scholarship, I can see how that would be important for you. But other than that, I don't think I could do all that "team work" you are referring to alongside some of the other guys in your team. Especially Hobbs."

Justin's comment brought Brian back to the present. He felt he should defend Chris. He was supposed to be one of his best friends, after all.

Who was he kidding though? The guy was a total sleaze.

" Yeah, Chris thinks that team work is when you bust everyone's balls…"

Justin's laugh convinced Brian that he didn't need any friends, after all.

"So this is Adam's." Justin finally said.

The other boy hesitated. "ok. Well, see you Monday I guess"

"I'm not coming to the game." Justin reminded him.

"Right. See you whenever then." Brian turned around without a second glance and started walking the rest of the way to his home.

"Brian."

If anyone would have asked Justin later why he'd done it, his only answer could have been that he had no clue as to what he was thinking.

"Do you want to come in? Hang out? Adam will be excited to see someone other than me for a change."

As they were walking through the door, after having been greeted by a dumbfounded Adam, Justin figured he must be in a really crazy good mood today.

A/N: I hope the characters aren't too OC-ish. I mean, I want Justin to come off as a bit of a snob (but in a cool way), but I think he was a bit of a brat anyways, especially in the first season (Again in a very good and totally cool way!). And I hope Brian doesn't look naïve or unrealistic either, but maybe he would have been just a bit more open at that age or something? Also, I don't live in America or a big European country, so I'm not a 100% sure about some things regarding the school system so please don't hate me! Also, no offence to Duran Duran fans, jocks, um…. black hair and guyliner and to any one or anything who might be offended..

Anyways, thanks for reading ;)