Mandark sat at his desk in his room, thinking about his rival Dexter. He was supposed to have been in bed hours ago, but the annoyingly ingenious redhead had crept into his mind. The one who he could never defeat; the one who, for some strange reason, Mandark could still not stop thinking about at the moment....Maybe he could sneak into Dexter's lab again and programme his inventions to attack and kill him...? No, he had already tried that four weeks ago with disastrous results. Mandark frowned as he fingered the singed hem of his cape-a warning from Dexter not to come into his lab. (Who knew the boy worked late at night?)

Dragging his hands through his jet black hair, Mandark considered his options. He could always a) let it go and hope to beat Dexter with his own skill, b) stop being evil and actually team up with Dexter for the benefit of the entire world, c) try another one of his many plans that involved sneaking into a certain ginger's laboratory, or d) try to somehow get Dee Dee to join him in his quest for evil and get her to kill her own brother.

While the first two did not appeal to the raven at all, the last two did not seem like something he could succeed at, let alone work to his advantage. Thus, the evil spawn of hippies remained at his desk in the dark, musing how to get rid of his most hated opponent. After a long while of thinking and reasoning out his plans in his head, Mandark remembered something that would ultimately alter his "destiny".

"Of course," he whispered in the slightly nasally voice he had had since childhood. "It's been right there in front of me the entire time. How could I not have seen it?"

The "it" he was referring to was in fact the relationship Dexter had with a random male peer. (The younger boy had come out as gay in the sixth grade.) It had ended horribly for a reason only the couple-and Mandark's nosy little sister-knew about. The redhead had stopped working on his lab and experiments for ten months-and that had been for a milder form of heartbreak. Imagine what his reaction would be to a relationship he thought would last much longer than the previous one had. All Mandark had to do was get Dexter to believe he cared for him and when Dexter was deeply attached, break his heart, sending him into a wild depression. The raven boy eased a cruel smirk onto his face.

Tomorrow was Monday, hopefully meaning Dexter's first day back after getting over an illness and the first day of the second quarter. It was then he would take his plan into effect.

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

"Dexter? Can you answer the question?"

Even though he had not been paying attention, the redhead only barely glanced at the board before saying in a slightly bored tone, "Sodium Oxide."

His Chemistry teacher looked disappointed-she liked to make examples of students, especially those who were exceptionally talented, who were not listening to the lecture. "Yes Dexter, you're exactly right. Now who can name this element combination...?" Miss Lawson's voice faded into the background as the raven silently studied Dexter. No one would have been able to miss two weeks of class, only to come back and not listen to the teacher and still be exactly right when answering the question they did not hear. No one, that is, except Dexter and himself.

Mandark glared at the crimson head ahead of him. How could Dexter afford to be so laid back in an AP class? Even Mandark had to work it a bit. The shorter boy was probably going to be the college student that was every professor's wet dream....

Brring!

The school bell interrupted Miss Lawson's speech on the "happy" elements and all her students flooded through the classroom door into the hallway. Mandark quickly gathered his things and practically ran to join his class, ignoring his teacher's cries to slow down. Thankfully Dexter did not have any friends, so Mandark did not waste any time in dragging him away down the hallway, through the front doors, and around the side of the school building toward the dumpsters. The young boy was struggling the entire way, so when Mandark let him go, he glared at the taller boy and tried to get past, only to have the raven hold him in his spot.

"Dexter, I have to tell you something."

Dexter may have looked skeptical, but Mandark was not sure. "Here?" He questioned Mandark in an almost American accent. (Over the years, the smaller boy had been losing his Russian accent until it was almost nonexsistent.)

"It had to be in private." Mandark snapped defensively. Immediately he cringed, knowing this was not the way to make the boy in front of him believe he liked him.

If Dexter noticed this action, he did not say so. "It couldn't wait until after school or something?"

"I couldn't wait." Mandark tried to make his voice sound desperate and anxious. "Please Dexter, let me talk."

Dexter seemed to have an inner battle between his common sense and his curiosity. Curiosity won.

"What do you want?"

"I...I want you, Dexter."

"Excuse me?" Delicate eyebrows rose to his forehead.

"I think I like you, Dexter...I...think I may even love you." Mandark was pretty proud of the almost pleading quality he managed to put into his voice. Dexter would have to go out with him now, what with Mandark's great performance. Besides, there were not very many guys in the school willing to go out with an intellectual gay boy.

"You think? You haven't tried to find out for sure?" Dexter's skepticism was now evident in his tone.

"Well, I..." Mandark trailed off in feigned despair. "I'm pretty sure...." He finally whispered. This acting was working out better than he thought it would. To his surprised pleasure, Dexter sauntered up to him.

"So you want to...test it out? Is that what you're asking for?" He peered up at Mandark through half-lidded eyes, his voice barely louder than the raven's last sentence. The addressed teen swallowed hard and suddenly lost all control of his "great performance" and voice.

"I-I, uh...I would l-like to, yes."

Dexter's eyes snapped open and they were filled with delighted malice. "I'm not interested in being a test subject." He brushed past the raven boy who seemed to be rooted in shock. When Mandark finally got over the initial surprise, he ran around the corner to see Dexter heading toward the school doors. He managed to grab the redhead before he could go inside.

"You don't feel the same?" Mandark demanded angrily, twisting the younger boy to face him again.

Dexter fixed the older teen with another glare, this one nearly able to melt everything in acid that it came in contact with. "No I don't, because quite frankly Mandark, I could and would not like someone I've disliked as long as you." He shook off the ebony-haired boy's grip on his shoulder and walked inside without looking back.

Mandark felt something akin to the defeat he had experienced so many times before in situations concerning the redhead, but this time it seemed to go deeper. It was not only the loss of causing Dexter always thought he was right. Mandark's eyes grew even darker, staring at the diminishing figure still walking down the hall toward his second-to-last class.

He would make the ginger fall for him and break his heart before the quarter was over. He would not lose this time.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

A/N: Okay guys, I'm sorry, but I haven't seen the show in years and my computer's being retarded. Translation: My computer won't allow me to view the Dexter's Laboraboratory episodes when I try to so....I hope my remembrance of the characters' personalities and interactions is still pretty solid.

Please review and let me know how I did on the first chapter! XD (Please?)

~theflawintheplan