1. Saving

Another heated argument ending with Jade storming out of his RV somehow drove Beck out as well, and before he knew it, he was driving to the local coffee shop. If a few cups of the liquid gold – enough to keep him focused on the shaking of his hands rather than his temperamental girlfriend – couldn't help him, then nothing could. When he arrived, for some reason, he found himself parked next to some weird pedal car. That could only belong to one person…

He shrugged off the thought, focused on nothing but the amounts of caffeine he was about to consume to drive all thoughts of Jade away. However, he was sidetracked once again as he nearly slammed into somebody else on the way inside. The obstruction rudely exclaimed, "Hey, Aladdin, watch where you're going!"

The voice was unmistakable. The long-haired male looked down to see Rex Powers, then back up into the eyes of one Robbie Shapiro. That explained the pedal car in the parking lot. The curly-haired boy held a lidded styrafoam cup, steam wafting from the spout. "Robbie? I thought you couldn't have caffeine." His voice was tinged with confusion and concern for the younger boy.

"I-I can't, but Rex makes me take him out to get him coffee; says it keeps him from being driven insane by my antics," Robbie replied with a light-hearted chuckle, despite repeating such depreciating words. "What are you doing here? Having problems with Jade again?"

"Don't get me started," the actor replied, combing his fingers through his long locks, exasperated. "Most guys turn to alcohol; I turn to coffee."

Robbie licked his lips, eyebrows furrowed in thought, before speaking. "Maybe all you need is someone to help keep your mind off of Jade instead of drowning yourself in coffee?"

Beck had been tempted to politely excuse himself from the conversation to go inside, but what Robbie had said stopped him. He raised an eyebrow at the ventriloquist, eyes glinting with confusion, as if he'd never even considered the idea. "Like who?"

"Well… there's always me," Robbie offered, gaze flickering to his shoes before returning to the taller boy before him.

Two eyebrows were raised as Beck studied Robbie silently for a few moments before falling to their normal position. Any wariness had disappeared from his dark chocolate eyes as he replied, "Yeah… you and me." He looked at his car parked beside Robbie's, then at the coffee shop in front of him. "C'mon, let's get out of here."

Robbie's eyes went wide at the prospect of getting to hang out with the only Beck Oliver. "You… you mean it?"

"Yeah, Rob, of course; you did just save me from a long, lonely, jittery night, after all. C'mon, let's head to my place for a movie marathon."

2. Human

Sometimes, Robbie had to wonder just who was the extension of who. There were times when Robbie could easily say that was the one in control, the one who could say what he wanted, even if the words came out soft and sort of all over the place. Other times, however, the lines would get a little blurry, and Rex would step in, all smart remarks and driving people away. It was as if Robbie were a coin.

And sometimes, the flip didn't always come out with the results he wanted. There were days when Robbie could do nothing but let Rex do as he pleased; after all, it wasn't like he was going to be stopping the rude puppet anyways. Sometimes, he'd come home with a black eye or a bruised rib because somebody – usually Jade or some other person actually willing to hurt such a fragile person like Robbie – got sick of Rex's sharp tongue.

Then there were days that Robbie felt completely at ease, enough to even leave Rex in his locker. Those were the days during which he was happiest, the most confident. But there was still something missing, the Jewish boy realized. He couldn't put his finger on it, though. However, there was one moment where he might have been on to something when he shared a warm holiday hug with one Beck Oliver.

Nobody would really know just how happy Robbie was when he posted that status on The Slap. That was the day that Robbie figured that maybe Beck could help him bring him one step closer to being more than just a side of a coin, to become whole – to being human.

3. Reveal

When Robbie had first come out of the closet, it wasn't a big deal. It wasn't even to more than one person. The ventriloquist hadn't even wanted to come out in the first place, much preferring to admire other males from afar. It wasn't as if Hollywood Arts wasn't open to people like him; at a performing arts school, one was bound to come across plenty of people that weren't straight. It was just… well, Robbie had enough problems with girls. He didn't need to have problems with guys, too.

One would probably think that choosing Beck Oliver as his first confidant would be dumb of Robbie, that he was trying to make a move on the long-haired boy. True, the other was quite handsome (and maybe Robbie did have quite a crush on him), but he knew that Beck wouldn't turn on him just because he was gay. Beck was open-minded, another positive trait to add to the many he possessed.

It had only been another Saturday afternoon they were spending together in the Silver Streak, reading old comic books that Robbie had brought over. Robbie's heart was jammed in his throat at the prospect of revealing the most secret part of himself to one of his best friends. "H… hey, Beck?" he stuttered out, eyes darting down to the worn fabric of the couch he was sitting on.

"Yeah, Rob?" Beck replied from his place on his bed, where he'd been idly checking The Slap. There was nothing interesting going on, as usual. "Something wrong?" he replied as he tossed his PearPhone to the bed.

"Can I tell you something? And you promise you won't freak out or anything?" He sounded nervous, much more than he needed to be, since he was only telling one of the most easygoing guys in school.

Beck raised an eyebrow, dark brown eyes glimmering with confusion as he watched Robbie. What could possibly be so bad that would make him freak out? "Of course. I'm not easy to freak out, remember?"

Robbie nodded ever so slightly as he licked his lips, stringing words together in his head before speaking. "Beck, I… I like guys the way I'm supposed to like girls." A deep, embarrassed red bloomed across his cheeks.

An amused smile crept to the actor's lips as he watched Robbie, remembering something similar to this in his own life, although he'd been in Robbie's position. "Really? Then I'm not the only one in the gang that does?" True, Beck was pansexual, but the attraction to the same sex was still there.

Robbie's eyes were as wide as saucers as he processed what Beck had just said. The Beck Oliver, the one that had girls chasing after him left and right, liked guys? And trusted him to know such a thing? Maybe he had more of a chance than he thought.

4. Accent

After the sleepover at Sikowitz's house, Beck had to wonder why he was given the character he was given. Of course, he had no problem playing Malcolm Winchester Figglesworth (try saying that five times fast); he quite enjoyed it, actually. However, how did Robbie manage to come up with the specifics: a British accent and a tendency to violate people's personal space all the time? The long-haired boy decided to do a bit of investigation, and he knew just how to do it.

The next day at school, Beck approached Robbie, his normal coffee cup in hand. The other boy was taking out books for his first class of the day when he heard Beck's boots thud dully with each step behind him. When Robbie turned around, he was suddenly pulled close by his waist to the actor's side, greeted with a warm, "G'morning, Robbie, how're you this fine Thursday morning?"

The only difference besides the abnormal chipper note in Beck's voice was the flawless British accent. Robbie not only took notice of how close he was to the tan-skinned male, but of the accent in his voice that was music to his ears. "Morning, Beck," he replied with a small smile. "What's with the accent?"

Beck took a few sips of coffee before pulling his arm away from Robbie, only to place it around his shoulders as he placed his face mere inches from the other's. "Accent? Whatever do you mean by that? This is how I normally speak. And who is this Beck you speak of? The name's Figglesworth - Malcolm Figglesworth."

Robbie gulped softly at just how close he was to Beck, his face heating up almost immediately. He had known that this would somehow come back to bite him, and this was the day. Here he was hoping that he wouldn't have to push back his desires for just one day, but apparently, whatever force of the earth wanted otherwise. This was going to be one long day…

5. Spy

Beck couldn't help but laugh a bit when Tori had started telling him stories of all the times she or Trina had caught Robbie outside of their house, spying on them when either of them had a guy over . The brunette didn't find it as amusing as Beck did, but that was probably just because she was being spied on. Then it started occurring to Beck that he had never found the curly-headed boy outside his RV or anything when he and Jade were together. While relieved, he was also a bit puzzled.

Beck finally asked Robbie one day in the middle of improv class, "Hey, Rob, so you remember how you used to, y'know, watch Tori or Trina when they had dates over at their house?"

Robbie's face blanched as his coffee-colored eyes grew wide, mortified that Beck knew about such a thing. He opened his mouth a few times, then closed it, before actually speaking. "How… h-how did you know that?" What a nightmare, to have a boy you have utmost respect for – not to mention just a bit of a crush on – know such a mortifying tidbit of information.

Beck shrugged, not really fazed by Robbie's utter embarrassment. "Tori told me. But that's beside the point! I was just wondering why, er, you never really came around to spy on Jade and me."

Instead of a lack of color, at this point, Robbie's face was stained with red. His eyes darted to the puppet in his lap, who for once had nothing to say about the matter. The actor supposed that he wanted to see Robbie squirm or something. "Well, um…" he started, glancing back up at the other male. "I-I guess you could say I was… jealous?"

"Jealous?" Beck repeated, his eyebrows knit together in bewilderment. "Of me? Did you have some kind of crush on Jade or something?" Last time he'd checked, Robbie didn't even much like Jade because she was so mean to him, even more so than Rex sometimes. Why he would harbor feelings of the romantic sort for her was confusing.

"No… I was jealous of… of Jade." A defeated sigh escaped the shorter boy's lips as his fingers went to his curls, pulling at them out of sheer nervousness. Of all the things to admit to Beck…

"You mean to say that you… were jealous of her because she was with… me?" The gears in Beck's head were turning at full speed at this point as he started putting the pieces together. Robbie didn't hide away in a bush to spy on them because he didn't want to see Jade with him. It was all starting to make sense. "You have feelings for me, don't you, Robbie?"