A car rolled up in front of a modest house. Looking around excitedly one of the passengers turned to the others and stated the once thought they had all been thinking, "It looks a lot smaller now". It had been nearly twenty years since they had left this place and moved on with their lives. Although the five occupants of this house, that looked far too small to have held all of them at one time, had gone on to live in France, Germany, the United States, and England, that little house in Dublin would never be far from their minds.

Here they stood, upon the ground where they had once played the most intense front yard football match known to man (an event that lasted from the early afternoon until it was so dark they couldn't see the ball anymore), flooded with memories. They turned to each other, dressed in black, wishing that this reunion had happened upon better circumstances. They reminisced with sad smiles and unshed tears about their "fifth musketeer" telling stories involving baking pans and a spatula, a hairdryer and a rare plant, and an odd lamp he had bought cheap.

"We should go, they are all waiting."

They all turned back towards the car. One man, who looked like he once was a spirited youth but now perpetually tired, turned back to the house. Though people used to always said he looked ten years younger than he actually was, he had aged a lot in the last couple of years.

"Goodbye Craig, we'll all miss you."

September 2008

"So what should I expect?"

"What'd you mean?"

"This house share of yours. What should I expect of your housemates?"

John Paul McQueen and Craig Dean were in the back of a cab on their way to the house Craig shared with three other students. A year ago, John Paul had left Craig at the airport saying that Craig wasn't ready to be with him. Now, here they were, a proper couple, moving in together.

"Damien you'll really like. Inez is really loud and half the time I have no idea what she is saying, but she is sweet. Lola and I don't really get along but you'll probably love her."

They pulled up in front of a house, John Paul thought that it was rather small, smaller than the loud McQueen house, but perfect. He wouldn't have it any other way.

They walked through the gate, Craig touching the head of the small ceramic dog resting on the fence, "Hello Angus".

John Paul looked at "Angus" and decided not to question it, it was just one of those things. John Paul couldn't help but notice how at ease Craig was in this place. This house seemed like more of a home than that flat above the Dog could have ever been. He lazily threw his bag on the couch, shouted something up the stairs, and opened the fridge to see what they had. He turned towards John Paul and grinned, "I swear anytime I am gone, this place goes to shit. The only things in here are a wedge of cheese, French dressing, and…a magazine."

A voice came from behind them, "Craig, you know that I think reading materials are best served cold."

Craig quickly walked around John Paul to give the bearded red head a hug. John Paul amusingly watched as they pulled apart and began talked like little school girls. However, he soon began to feel a little left out and began to regret not coming in the first place so that he would have been a part of the story, so that he could have experienced all of these things with Craig.

"…remember Maurice?"

"The one who kept telling us about the wonderful times he had fighting with Napoleon?"

" Yes! Well I saw him a week ago and he talked about his marriage to Joan of Arc and how he let her fight because he was a very forward thinking man who was a strong supporter of women's rights…"

Craig laughed along and John Paul was glad to see Craig so happy. Before he met Kieron, he would often sit in his room and think of Craig. Sometimes he wanted to just be near him (so much so that he would often go to call him, then think otherwise), sometimes thinking of him brought upon tears, sometimes he wished Craig was miserable, mostly though he wished Craig was happy. Seeing him laughing like this only confirmed what he hoped true.

"John Paul this is Damien. Damien this is John Paul. My boyfriend." It seemed so odd to hear Craig say this. John Paul was so used to Craig pulling away from his touch avoiding any public displays of affection. During their trip here he kept looking at Craig, at their linked hands, at Craig's head resting on his shoulder, and wondering when this was going to stop, when he was going to wake up or when Craig was going to wake up and realize that everyone thought they were gay.

Damien looked confused for a second, "John Paul…" He looked at Craig with raised eyebrows. Craig nodded, "Oh! Well its nice to meet you." and as he shook John Paul's hand, Damien looked back at Craig with what John Paul could only call an approving look. Or… well that's what he hoped it was.

"Where are the girls? I wanted them to meet John Paul." He moved next to John Paul, putting his arm around his waist.

"Inez left yesterday. Said something about terrible Irish food and that she needed something homecooked. Lola is with her new German boyfriend, they took a quick trip away while uni was on holiday." After a short silence, "Okay boys, well it looks like it's just you and me. C'mon dinner's on me."

"You don't have any money."

"Well then, dinner's on you." He said walking out the door.

Dinner was a blast and John Paul soon began to feel more at ease around Damien and in this new city. He couldn't help but love everything about it. A third year student at Trinity, Damien was a character, keeping them entertained with anecdotes about his childhood in Limerick or stories about things that happened while Craig was gone. Listening to Damien and taking in Dublin, John Paul kept thinking about how much he regretted not coming with Craig the first time around.

When Craig was in the bathroom, John Paul turned to Damien. "Will you tell me what happened last year? I want to know what happened to him after he came here, but he's keeping his mouth shut."

"Yeah." He glanced up, seeing Craig weaving his way through tables. "Later though. After he nods off alright?"

-----

Hey-

I thought I'd start a new story. I've been wanting to know what happens between McDean after their sunset ending and John Paul's two episode return didn't really give me any ideas, so I decided to just create my own continuation of their storyline.

For those of you reading "Alone" I'm going to update that soon- I anticipate only 2 or 3 more chapters for that story.

Thanks for Reading

Sam