This is a fan-based story, based off of the novel "Hoot"; there is a possibility of some movie references being used in this story. Warnings are AU and Slash, more warnings to come; you've been warned, so do not flame!!!

Summary: It's been five years since the whole entire pancake house fiasco. Roy is in the 11th grade and Beatrice is in the 12th. Dana and his family had moved out of town after he was shipped off to boot camp; but for the senior year, they had moved back much to Roy's dismay. To everyone's surprise, Dana has been set straight (in a sense); but that's unknown to Roy and Beatrice, who avoid him for the first few weeks at of school. Dana corners Roy one day and apologizes for beating him up those years ago; then does something shocking, asks Roy on a date. Despite being shocked out of his mind, Roy is able to say yes; and Dana says that he'll pick him up on Saturday at eight to go to the movies. Roy tells Beatrice and Beatrice like Roy is shocked; but not that Roy is dating a boy, that Roy had accepted Dana's date offer. Despite everything, Roy goes out and finds the date to be enjoyable, and Dana to be quite attractive, falling for him that night and becoming a couple. Three months into their relationship, there is talk of a construction site that has been messed with during the night; which make Roy and Beatrice start thinking of Mullet Fingers, who hasn't been seen since he had escaped boot camp after his second stay those five year ago. Roy's suspicions are solved when one morning on the bench of his porch, an old raggedy tennis shoe is found filled with water and a little swimming mullet is in it. He rushes to the lot and finds a grown and very attractive looking Mullet Fingers, who very soon ends up giving him the shock of his life, by proposing to him. Roy declines at the first offer and runs off home; only to find that later than night; Mullet is in his room, asking him to marry him again. Roy declines again and Mullet continues. Now Roy is falling for Mullet, who's up to another crazy plan to stop another construction site and who won't stop proposing to him; and in a serious relationship with Dana. Whatever will Roy do?

Pairings: Roy/Mullet, Dana/Roy, more may come.

A/N: Can anyone tell me what Mullet Fingers real name is; I haven't read the book in awhile and it's never mentioned in the movie. I'd really appreciate it if someone would tell me.

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Prologue

"Come on Cowgirl, let's go!!!" Beatrice yelled as she knocked on the Eberhardt's door.

"I'm coming!!!" Roy yelled as he rolled his eyes. Beatrice only called him by the nicknames Cowgirl and Tex when she was angered or annoyed.

"Don't keep Bea waiting honey…" Mrs. Eberhardt said as she eyed her front door; at times she was startled at how angry Beatrice could get.

"See you mom." Roy said as he kissed his mother's cheek. "I may be a little late coming home…"

"Alright darling…" Mrs. Eberhardt said. "Just don't stay out too late."

"Okay." Roy said as he picked up his car keys from the hook and headed out.

He found Beatrice sitting on the bench on the porch with her arms crossed over her chest; she was looking at him with a slight glare.

"Hey, it's your fault for coming over early, and not knowing how to drive." Roy said as he closed the door.

Bea let out a huff of air and stood up.

"Let's just go." She said as she went down the steps.

Roy rolled his eyes again and followed suit. He went to his side of the car and unlocked the door, at the same time unlocking all the other doors. Bea jumped in and slammed the door shut and Roy flinched.

"Hey!" He said. "How many times do I tell you not to do that?!"

"This is an old car." Bea said.

"What are you talking about?" Roy said. "It's only three years old." He started the car and grumbled. "I bet it wouldn't seem so old if it were your car."

When he got his license, his father gave him his car and bought a new one for himself; Roy didn't mind all that much on account of the car was still fairly new, but envied the fact that his dad got himself a convertible.

"So, what did you do yesterday?" Bea asked as Roy drove.

"Nothing much…" Roy said. "Just sat around, read books, watched television, spent time on my computer."

"Nothing outside?" Bea asked a little surprised.

"I had sunburn I was trying to heal before school started; I'm lucky the last of it healed yesterday, I didn't want any chances of it coming back too soon." Roy said.

Bea nodded.

"Hey, isn't that Gary?" Roy asked as he pointed to the sidewalk.

"Yeah, it is…" Bea said.

Roy pulled over to the sidewalk and honked his horn, causing Gary to jump in slight fright. Roy pushed the button to down the window on Bea's side.

"Need a ride?" Bea asked.

"Yeah, thanks." Gary said as he walked over to the backseat door; pulled it opened and hopped in. Once he had on his seatbelt, Roy drove off.

"So, how has your summer been in New York?" Roy asked Gary, who had just recently been to NY.

"It was cool." Gary said simply. "There was almost always something to do, and it's awesome having an uncle who's a hotel manager. If there was nothing to do around the city, that was if it was raining; there was always something to do around the hotel."

"How long have you been back?" Bea asked.

"About a week." Gary said. "Before you ask, mom said that I needed to get my checkups over with and shopping for clothes; I don't get why we didn't do school shopping in New York, there were so many cool things there."

Roy, Bea, and Gary spoke some more about there summers until they got to school; Roy parked his car in his assigned spot and everyone went their separate ways.

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After school…

At lunch, Roy had agreed to both Bea and Gary that he'd drive them home. Right now, he sat in his car waiting for them to come along; to pass the time, he was reading a book he checked out from the library. He was so engrossed in his reading, he didn't hear the door open, it was the car shaking that caught his attention; he turned around to see who it was and he saw a panting Gary.

"Guess what?!" Gary said.

Roy eyed him and stared.

"What?" Roy asked.

"Someone who moved away is back in town!" Gary said.

"Who?" Roy asked.

The front passenger door opened and Bea hopped in, she looked worried.

"Dana Matherson is back." Bea said.

"Huh?" Roy said in a shocked tone.

"Let's go, maybe he's still around." Gary said.

Roy started the car, back up out of his space, and sped out of the lot; no one needed to tell him to go twice.

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"Well, maybe he's changed honey." Mrs. Eberhardt said as she spooned some rice onto her son's plate.

"After all, it has been five years since you last seen him." Mr. Eberhardt said. "Not to mention, he did spend two of those years in a boot camp academy."

Currently, the Eberhardt family sat around the dining room table enjoying dinner. A couple of moments ago Roy had told his folks that Dana was back.

"I don't know." Roy said as he picked at his food. "Dana seemed like the kind of person who wouldn't change for the world; he enjoyed torturing people too much."

"Roy, he went to one of the toughest boot camps in the country." Mr. Eberhardt said. "I doubt he'd have the courage to hit himself after everything he's been put through."

Mrs. Eberhardt chuckled at her husband's joke.

"Just give him a chance honey." Mrs. Eberhardt said. "You may be surprised."

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The next day at school…

"Oh my god…" Roy whispered as he and Bea turned on their heels and headed the opposite direction there were going just seconds ago. "Did you see how huge he was?"

"Roy, he's a damn near beanpole." Bea whispered.

"Nonetheless he's huge." Roy said.

"I take it we're going out for lunch today." Bea said.

"Yeah, it's on me though." Roy said.

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For the next few weeks it was the same routine; see Dana, turn the other way. Roy had protection, Bea; she was almost always by his side, but that day she had soccer practice. Bea had warned Roy that'd he'd be on his own soon; Bea was on the soccer team not only because she loved it, but also for scholarships and grants for college; so she wasn't going to mess up that season.

As Roy walked down the hallway towards the parking lot, he had the sudden urge to run; just like he had all those years ago when Todd had warned him that Dana was going to snatch him up and beat him. He stopped and just stared down the hallway, the door was a very long way off, but it was only a few yards; as Roy stared, it seemed like the door was miles away. He swallowed; then dashed down the hallway.

Different school, different hallway, different door, same result!!! Roy was only a few yards away from the door when he suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist and himself suddenly being yanked back. He let out a yell of surprise as he was pulled into a dark place, the only light being provided by the hallway, but that was shut out once the door was suddenly closed shut; Roy's mind was racing, he knew exactly who had grabbed him. He hit, scratched, and punched at the arms holding him.

"I finally got you!!!" A voice from behind him snarled.

"Let me go!!!" Roy yelled.

"Shut up, I'm not going to hurt you!!!" The voice from behind said as the arms around Roy tightened.

Roy continued to struggle despite what the other said.

"I'm only going to squeeze harder if you don't stop." The voice said.

After a moment, Roy's waist was in pain and it was hard for him to breathe, he had no choice but to stop.

"About time." The voice said.

The strong arms moved from his waist and then there were hands on Roy's shoulders, the arms turned him around and Roy was facing a huge shadow. One of the hands moved from his shoulders, and Roy flinched when a single light bulb was switched on.

"How come you've been avoiding me?" Dana asked.

"Uh, because I sent you to boot camp for two years and you most likely want to beat the living shit out of me." Roy said.

Dana chucked as he let go of Roy.

"I don't want to beat you up, far from it." Dana said. "I want to do what I should've done years ago though."

Roy readied himself to duck.

"I'm sorry." Dana said.

"Huh?" Roy said in shock.

"I should've said that right after you gave me the letter, but I was too stubborn." Dana said.

Roy looked up into Dana's eyes; he saw that he was telling the truth.

"Appology accepted…" Roy said.

Dana smiled at Roy; Roy was surprised to see straight pearly whites.

"I was wondering…" Dana said; suddenly, he seemed shy. "Would you like to go out sometimes?"

Roy knew that tone, he knew exactly what Dana was asking, but still asked anyway.

"On a date?" Roy asked.

Dana nodded.

"To the movies or to one of the restaurants…" Dana said.

"Uh…" Roy said unsurely. "Sure…"

"Great!" Dana said. "What about Saturday, to the movies?"

"Alright…" Roy continued unsurely.

"Awesome!" Dana said excitedly. "I'll pick you up at eight."

Dana moved past Roy and opened the closet door; he stepped to the side and held it open for Roy.

"After you…" Dana said.

Roy walked through the door; then looked back at Dana.

"Thank you…" Roy said; then he looked at his watch. "I must be going now."

"Have a nice day Roy." Dana said as he closed the closet door; then he went the opposite direction Roy was going.

Roy turned and went his direction; as soon as he reached the door, he made a dash for his car.

To be continued…

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For those who don't like the Slash pairings simply close the page or back away without flaming; that'll be much appreciated.

What'll happen to Roy?

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