It started a few weeks after Mae comes back home. At the time being, Angus was happy to see his friend well and alive, and back. He had missed her, and knew that Gregg had missed her, a lot more than anyone was allowed to see; so when Gregg had all but ran to him, smiling and waving his arms all crazily, the spark of life within his eyes that Angus had seen died out when Mae left for college, he knew. He knew she was back, and now that she was, his Gregg was back, and Angus could be happy. Gregg could finally be himself again, and really, that was all Angus wanted.

Then the crimes started happening.

Angus really didn't mind (okay, he did a little. But it's not like Gregg's behavior was going to be fix overnight). He known that, once Mae gets back, there were chances of Gregg slipping into the criminal and rebellious life again, so he didn't get too upset when Gregg brought back something he could've possibly either stole or wanted to show off as some trophy for some big crime he and Mae had done. For a minute, Angus allowed Gregg to become the same kid he had been back in high school.

But of course, for every minute Gregg does a crime with Mae, it's another that's going to slow their goal.

Angus tries really hard to be quiet - to bite his tongue and never say anything about Gregg and Mae's friendship now she's back in town. Gregg's happier than he's been since his friend went away, and Angus doesn't want to ruin that. He doesn't want the light in Gregg's eyes to go out again, and he'll do anything, anything at all, to keep Gregg from falling away, from being sad and depress, and lonely again. He doesn't want to hug him in the middle of the night when he cries, because there's something deep inside of Gregg that's missing - Mae - and he doesn't know if that something will ever come again. Gregg's happy with him, and he loves him, he knows that, but Mae is his first friend and they've been through a lot, so in a way, Angus doesn't have the right to complain. Mae was Gregg's first; Angus came along a bit after when Mae and Bea became friends.

But it's so, so, so hard.

Mae's acting like everything is normal now that she's back. She keeps dragging Gregg into these schemes he has, enabling him, when Angus has tried so hard for him to remember that they have plans, plans Angus wants to see through. He and Gregg were going to leave this town, they were going to live their life, and they were going to be happy. They can't get happiness if Gregg is goofing off whenever Mae visits him during work hours.

Angus wants to tell him that, wants Gregg to know, but he doesn't have the heart to tell him. He's happy with his friend, and Angus would have been the bad guy for ruining it; despite the situation killing him.

It's not just that though.

With Mae back in town and she and Gregg hanging together, sometimes their plans get cancelled. Usually last minute, leaving Angus very annoyed, but also despaired. For a brief moment, it felt like Gregg was slipping away from him, away from their dream, and Angus is so fucking scared. He's scared that everything they worked hard on, everything they've been through, it was all for naught. He wonders if Gregg still cares about him.

He had asked that question one night, and the look he'd received for it should've quell his fears. Of course Gregg still cares about him, he loves him, and they were going to make their dream come true, no matter what it takes. Angus then ask about Mae, and Gregg wants to know what about her. Angus tells him that she'll probably be shock that her best friend is leaving her, and Gregg tells him that she already knows about their plan, and that she's cool with it. Of course, the fact that Mae seemed devastated didn't escape Gregg's eye, and Angus could see some hesitation in his eyes, as he slowly looked to his left, refusing to meet Angus' eyes.

No, he thought. No, we're not about to put our plans on hold for some girl.

Angus loves Mae, just like Gregg loves her. She's his friend, and he'll always want to make sure she's okay and she's doing well. However, Angus cannot, and will not, allow her to ruin their plans, after they worked so hard. After Angus tries to bring Gregg back to life after she'd left. He's angry, and before he knows it, he's saying something that he instantly regrets, and of course Gregg hears it, and looks at him like he's a different person. Sure, there are times where Angus can be rash - growing up with abusive parents has a tendency to leave some scars that can never be healed, and no room for growth development - but they were rare and few. This was not one of those times, and he knows that. So now they are staring at each other, Gregg in disbelief and Angus, Angus can't back down from what he'd said. He has to stick with his guns.

And of course, this makes Gregg angry and they get into an argument. Angus doesn't like it - he hates it when they fight. It reminds him of his parents, and then he sees Gregg's hurting, despite the anger, and all of it makes Angus want to curl up and disappear forever. He never meant to hurt Gregg, and he's pretty sure Gregg feels the same way, so afterwards, Angus decides to drop the subject. Gregg's happy with Mae, and doing crimes, and spending less time with Angus. He shouldn't mess with that.

He's hurt, deeply, though.

Another week has passed and things were getting tense between him and Gregg. Talking just seems to lead to arguments, and Gregg continues to look at him like he's a stranger. Angus is feeling like he's just digging himself into a hole, one he'll never get out of, so he continues play pretend everything is okay, that he's fine with having a big, giant, mechanical robot on the couch, dripping acid onto his floor. Gregg looks happy that he likes it, since this was a gift from him to Angus in terms of making up for a lot of shitty things he's done, and while his heart is in the right place, Angus wish he would've just thought it out more.

But he continues to hold in everything, until he can't anymore.

The tire to Bea's car is flat, and they now had to decide what to do. Mae is still talking about Donut Wolf, and Angus' patience had ran out by then. He inadvertently snaps at her, and then Gregg's snapping at him, and the two get into another argument. They were yelling at each other, anger and sadness in their eyes, and Angus thought maybe this couldn't get any worse, when-

"I...I think we should take a break."

Angus is staring at him, eyes wide, body numb. His chest is starting to hurt and he can't feel anything anymore. He knows he's about to cry, he could see his glasses fogging up with tears, but Gregg refuses to look at him, and suddenly he's angry again. He's about to tell him fine, that if Gregg really wants that, they should break up in general, when Mae stops them and says she found a spare tire in the trunk. The two didn't say anything after a while, and Angus decides to change the tire, with Gregg and Mae hopping back into the car. As he works, he can't get those words out of his head, and he could feel his heart breaking again, and all Angus wants to do is cry. Cry, cry, cry until he couldn't anymore. He wants to know if Gregg means that, that that was a spur of the moment, and that Gregg would never...

Suddenly, Angus just want this day to be over with.

They make it to the Wolf, and order what they want, and there's this awkward silence between the three of them. Angus doesn't have much of an appetite anymore, but for the sake of it, he eats the doughnuts. He really doesn't want to, he think he's going to cry, and then Mae mentions the robot, and of course, Angus couldn't keep his mouth shut. He figures if this really all over, he might as well tell Gregg the truth; he hates the robot and wishes it was gone. Gregg is shouting at him for being a liar, and they argue once more, never noticing how ill Mae was until she was literally puking out her food. The two watch her in concern, and just as she was about to pass out, Angus caught her and they rush her outside, where she continues to puke.

Settle, Mae wants to know if she's done anything to upset the two, since she wasn't having a good time herself. She asks if Angus hates her, which surprises him because, honestly? He doesn't. He just hates that whenever Gregg has an episode, he forgets that he was a job to do, and they have plans, and they can't fool around like they use to. Gregg and Angus has spent enough times away from each other now that they have jobs, and Angus often visits family, so the little time they do have for each other, should be for them alone. With Mae back, Angus doesn't get that time with Gregg anymore.

So, he tells her that he doesn't hate her, and then she went on to say that if she's bothering them in anyway, they should've let her know, instead of dragging her into this mess. Angus wants to talk to her, because really, Mae's a good friend, and Gregg, he loves him to pieces, and he doesn't want to lose both of them, but before he could even get a word out, it was Gregg who was talking. He was talking about how when he was little, he got sent off to his uncle's house, for reasons unclear to him. While there, he'd basically followed his uncle around until one day, his uncle left him by the pen full of sheep, and young, innocent Gregg had decided to open it. As it was, with most caged animals, the moment the pen open, the sheep's fled, down a very steep hill, with an intersection down it, and some of the sheep's decided to cross the word, despite Gregg chasing after them, yelling at them to come back. Unfortunately, because streets aren't safe to play in, for neither people or animals, a truck came and killed most of the herd. Some of them went back to Gregg, but then another truck came and killed them too. Only one sheep remained, and went into the forest and was never seen again.

It was a horrible story, one that Angus had listen to once, but for Gregg, it was probably a turning point for him. Gregg had told Mae that he has plans, plans he wanted to follow through, as what Angus has been saying, and he really needed his job in order to make his dream come true. Angus could feel his heart fluttering when he mentioned that he loved him, and wanted Angus to be by him, as the doubts that had been pouring in since the fight started to cloud his mind. It had reassured him that despite everything they said, Gregg still loved him. He still wants to be with him, and when Gregg reached over to squeeze his hand, Angus knew right there and then, that Gregg wasn't going to leave him for a very long time.

Later on, after dropping Mae off, and gave Bea back her car, apologizing for the flat tire, the two finally settled down and talked like adults. Gregg admits he doesn't want to break up, and he's sorry for hurting Angus, and Angus is sorry for being selfish, though Gregg tries to claim he has every right to be. Angus was right, Gregg can't be pulling off crimes when he has a job and a dream to achieve. Angus has worked so hard to instill that behavior in him, and he can't fall back into the same ol' thing right now. Angus has been hurt enough without Gregg adding onto it, and he's going to try harder not to let that happen again.

When Angus stares into his eyes, he could see a spark that was completely different from the spark Gregg was so use to. This spark seemed to be burning brighter, and shine a little more, and when Gregg kissed him, Angus could taste the spark as well.

Yeah, they'll probably do just fine, in the future.

A/n: Ow, ow, my fingers! D: