Begin at the end: a Lazytown college tale

by Michael James Diction

Pixel, Ziggy, Trixie and Stingy battle addiction while Stephanie and Sporticus face trials of their own. Like nothing you've ever read. First fiction, so validate me with your reviews, por favor.

1. Chapter 1

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Ch. 1: Alchemy

"Do you think God forgives the committed?" Pixel asked Marcus while taking yet another hit off the glass pipe.

"Forgiveness? You mean if we die in this room surrounded by base-heads, rotting food and 24 separate game consoles while the two of us have a combined GPA of 0.8 and should be in Western Civ?"

"Uh-huh."

"If we had to stand before the Almighty smelling like KFC dipped in feces would He open His arms to us?"

"Yeah!" Pixie enthused, sporting a Wiimote in one hand, a Playstation controller in the other. "We've chosen a path and we walk it no matter where it leads! God has to understand commitment like that. Any man who created the world in 6 days knows what dedication to a cause is all about."

"Crack Rock is not a Cause, Pixel. You haven't come up with any new inventions since orientation and the dean isn't gonna let you get by on your good intensions"

Pixel placed the dueling systems on pause and looked around the room. He took it all in: the maggot-infested bags of McDonalds, the stacks of unopened mail, and the random freebasers strewn about the floor like Civil War re-enactors. regarding his friend in an unusually dramatic fashion, he turned his tired eyes to Marcus and sighed.

"Then maybe you should pray for an end to need, holy boy."

Marcus was a religious studies major, Pixel a scientist. They had met at Lazytown High in 9th grade where the emaciated, moca-skinned and soft spokenly pious young man had fallen hopelessly in love with the town's resident Gizmo Guy from the moment he first laid eyes on him. This meant conversations that made sense to no one else but them, endless hours IMing one another while Pixel researched his latest projects, and most importantly for Marcus, sleepovers with the group he referred to as the S.P Disciples or the Followers of Sporticus. He knew in his heart that he would never be able to tell Pixel how he felt, but being able to sleep next to him on those nights- to wedge his sleeping bag between the massive modem and the object of his affections; inhaling his geeky scent while listening to the gentle hum of the computer, well, it made both his other friends and his all his problems seem a hundred miles away. Moments like those made him say to himself that he would follow his beautiful boy into hell and back… little did he know he would have to.