Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, places, or events mentioned in this; it is fanfiction because I am a fan, that's all.

The Artist and his Soldier

It was around one or two in the afternoon, on a Thursday. The Artful Roger was pretty pleased that they still knew that, that they still kept track. It meant they had a connection with the outside world, and hadn't totally changed, mutated, from the kids they once were.

It was plain to see that they had mutated. Roger could see and accept that, even though he wasn't a moof. Thinking back to the Human Crew, he decided that they had a kind of irony about them; they were probably among those who had changed the most. He knew hatred was human, but surely love was more so?

The Human Crew were far in the past, at any rate. Peace reigned, which was obviously good. It still felt unreal after all the fighting. But they had the lake, which was quite clearly brilliant. Good food, clean water, everything that they used to have, they felt like luxuries now.

Even Justin felt that way. Justin was far too young to feel that way, but he did, and that was that. Roger felt kind of guilty; it wasn't his fault, but Roger did take care of Justin, which kind of made Justin his kid.

Justin was Roger's kid and Roger did take care of him. But they had a problem, and Roger wasn't fixing it. Part of their houseboat was cracking, and might let in water at any moment. None of the others had noticed, being too busy and/or pregnant to take notice. Roger knew that he should go to the deputy mayor to sort this out; everyone knew Edilio was the best at fixing stuff. But Edilio was deputy mayor, and was thus surely very busy. He would have much more important things to do. Roger didn't want to bother him.

Besides, Roger probably wouldn't be able to string two words together around Edilio - he had had a crush on him since before the FAYZ. He was organised, calm - even more important in the FAYZ. He was also really attractive, which was honestly not even slightly fair. Roger had never stood a chance.

At the moment, he didn't know where anyone he lived with was, which suited him just fine. He worried about Justin for a moment, before setting that thought aside. He was sensible, wouldn't wander off.

Roger was on his houseboat, which he shared with Justin and a few others. He sat inside. He took out a piece of paper from the storage space under a chair, and carefully flattened it. His paper, pencil and others box probably contained most of the art products in the FAYZ, and they had cost him quite a bit.

Sitting at his desk, he remembered a visit to NYC, when he was very young. The trip had been boring for him, but he longed for any new scenery. So he began to draw.

The boat was tied up, because it was day time, and everyone who lived on the boat liked to come and go fairly often. Roger had a few friends, and he liked to catch sight of Edilio whenever he could. It always made him feel a bit creepy, but come on. It's not that bad.

He heard Justin call from outside.

"Hey Roger?"

He sounded slightly worried, for some reason, but Roger didn't think there was an emergency.

"What is it?" Roger responded. He didn't know why Justin was calling from outside instead of just walking in.

"Well, uh, you know that crack we've got round the back?" he said, as unsure as before,"I've got Edilio with me, to fix it."

Roger dropped his pencil.

"Oh, right, well, you two are coming on board, aren't you?" he said, trying to cover up the sudden break in his voice.

"Yeah," Justin said as he opened the door and walked in. "I was just checking if you didn't want to be disturbed."

Roger only half heard the last sentence, because Edilio had just walked in. He was wearing a slightly yellow t-shirt that looked a bit small for him and some cutoff jeans. They looked remarkably well kept. On his back was the plain backpack which contained his mix-and-match toolkit.

"Hey, you're the Artful Roger, right?" he asked, sounding relatively at ease. Roger liked his accent.

Roger belatedly realised that he was probably expecting a response.

"Oh! Yeah, that's me. Umm, hi?" he stammered. He felt a little faint.

"Hi."

All was silent for a moment.

"So, are you going to show me the problem?"

Roger blushed.

"Oh, of course, sorry, I'll just - umm," Roger stood up and lead Edilio (trailed by Justin) to the back of the houseboat and gestured awkwardly at the crack.

"Do you want me to go inside and leave you to it, then?" Roger didn't want to leave, but he would feel weird hanging around and staring openly at Edilio.

"I think you should stay outside, Roger," Justin grinned. That little - he knew exactly what he was doing.

"I don't care - hang around if you want. You might get bored, though. I mean," Edilio trailed off and shrugged.

Roger darted inside to fetch his earlier artwork and the pencil, which had rolled into a corner. He went back outside and stationed himself where he had a nice view of the Honduran boy.

Justin giggled at Roger, and the artist glared at him in return. His work, Justin believed, was done.

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Edilio was actually a good conversationalist, whenever Roger managed to focus on the actual words he was using.

"I don't really remember you from before the FAYZ," he was saying. He then flushed. "Sorry, that was rude."

Roger rushed to reassure him.

"No, it's fine. I was really quiet, you know? I don't like to be noticed..." He trailed off, not really knowing what to say. Roger, it seemed, was not a good conversationalist. Not when in close proximity to Edilio, at any rate.

"I'm the same, though I suppose you did better at that than I did." He laughed and stood up. "I think that's done. If it happens again, come find me sooner."

"Oh, yeah. I'll, uhh, do that. Are you leaving now?" Roger managed to smile through the sinking feeling in his chest.

A glimpse of some emotion hurried across Edilio's face; it may have been surprise.

"Do you want me to leave? I mean, I've got nowhere to be, but man, if you don't want the company," Edilio seemed unsure, so Roger jumped in.

"No! No, if you want to hang around. I just thought you'd be busy, is all," he smiled awkwardly.

The Honduran boy grinned.

"I suppose I'm staying, then."

Roger smiled.

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Diana was disgruntled. She had just been to the toilet for what felt like the ninetieth time that day, almost fallen in, hurting her foot, and acquired a buzzing headache for her troubles. She was returning to her houseboat for a nap; it was about four in the afternoon, but who'd stop her? She was pregnant, for chrissakes!

So when she opened the door to her houseboat and was met with a cacophony of shouting and laughter, improbably coming from just two boys, she couldn't really be blamed for getter rather irritated.

The boys hadn't noticed her entrance; both were utterly absorbed in their conversation. She stormed up to them, seething. They looked up, and Edilio grinned at her.

"Hey Diana - I didn't know you lived with Roger."

"You are both getting off this boat, taking your volume with you, and going far away," she growled. When they continued to look at her, vaguely nonplussed, she snarled, grabbed each boy by the hair, and pulled them to their feet.

"You are leaving. Now."

They exchanged wide-eyed looks of sheer terror and scuttled off.

Ahh, Diana thought, peace.

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"I'm sorry about her. I forgot she liked to nap," Roger said.

"Not your fault," Edilio shrugged. He brought his left hand to rub at his scalp where Diana had pulled.

Roger noticed.

"Yeah, she doesn't normally do that. I wonder what her deal is today?"

This made Edilio laugh. "She is pregnant. She's not going to be completely calm, is she?"

Roger noticed that Edilio was even cuter when he laughed. Dammit, brain. And things had been going so well.

"Yeah, I suppose. Where should we go?" Roger was pretty pleased with himself - he hadn't stammered once.

But Edilio frowned.

"Oh, uh, we could hang out with Dekka, I guess? I don't think she's busy right now," he said, scratching the back of his neck.

Roger felt a sinking feeling in his stomach; it was ridiculous, they'd been hanging out for two hours. But still.

"If you want, I guess?" He'd meant to agree, but his voice had betrayed him.

Edilio straightened his back.

"Or, we could hang out around the fields. Just us," Edilio said, and Roger's heart skipped.

He smiled. "I think that would be great."

Edilio returned the smile, offered his hand, and said, "Let's go, then, yeah?"

Roger took his hand, and they went.

AN: This is my first multi-chapter fic, so con-crit is definitely welcomed! Please, please do. It is unbetaed, so all mistakes are my own. Thank you, and please review