James panted heavily as he began to slow. He'd been chasing Marcus from about the first stop sign on Marcus's street to the school grounds, and he was exhausted.

"Come on!" Marcus called over his shoulder. "For all those muscles, you sure are outta shape."

James laughed, walking forward slowly. "For so little muscle you sure can run."

"Ha. Thanks." Marcus slowed to a stop as he reached the front steps of their all-boys school. He turned around and clasped his hands in front of him, taking a deep breath. "I love fall."

James smiled, running his fingers through his hair to push it out of his face. "Why? It's so…"

"Wonderful? Magnificent-?" Marcus's eyes sparkled as he looked around the slowly filling courtyard.

"Cold." James said flatly as a gust of icy wind blew the fallen leaves across their feet. James had stopped walking by now and was a good three feet away from his best friend. Marcus glared at him, as well as a small teenage boy that looked like a porcelain doll could.

James laughed. Marcus always looked so cute when he tried to act tough. It just wasn't him. Marcus's bright pink lips broke it's a beautiful smile and James smiled back.

"I'm jealous." James said, placing a hand on his hip and cocking his head to the side, taking in Marcus's perfect smile.

"Why?"

"Your teeth are really white."

This time Marcus laughed. It was a beautiful sound to James and he couldn't help but smile wider.

"That's ridiculous, James."

"Heh…I know." But people are pretty ridiculous when it comes to love.

James blinked. What? Where the hell did that come from? He blinked again.

"What's wrong James?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Everything's…peachy." James looked at Marcus's bright pink cheeks against his slightly whiter skin. He looked down to Marcus's lips, which were turning from bright pink to a deep, but lightly painted, blue. He meant to look back up t Marcus's eyes, but his kept trailing downward.

Marcus's thin; elegant; white neck. His small; rounded shoulders. His thin, yet lightly muscled chest. Elegant arms: smoothed and shaped in all the right places. Long and well built legs, he was a great runner.

Extremely good at soccer, James thought slowly, almost a whisper in his mind. He's like a really pretty girl…but he's a boy.

For some reason, James liked that thought. No matter how angel-like Marcus was, he'd always be a boy.

In the short amount of time all these thought skittered through James's mind, he had gotten really close to Marcus. And the only change in Marcus's positioning was that he had dropped his arms to his sides and tilted his head up, not a lot, but—

Enough to reach up on my tip-toes and kiss him.

Marcus's cheeks flushed at the thought. Not that he didn't always day dream about James, but he never did it when James's body was an inch or so from touching his own.

As James's mind was processing the angelic beauty of Marcus, Marcus's mind was processing the undying hotness of James.

His full; dark lips. His perfectly chiseled chin. His broad shoulders, strong arms. His muscles weren't grotesquely thick, but they were a good size for lifting at least a hundred and five pounds of human Marcus. His skin was a deep bronze and his chest was rock hard and held a six pack.

I only know that because of gym though…

He had black hair, raven black.

Finally Marcus's eyes came back up, and connected with blue pools of crystal.

Okay, that was even cheesy to me. And everyone knows I'm the gayest guy here. I'm into all that mushy crap.

But that was really the only way to describe them. Pitch black pupil, blue in there inner ring, baby blue in the middle, almost crystal on the outer ring, them more black before the white of his eye. James was also a good, two inches taller than Marcus.

However, what James saw, took his breath away.

Green. Emeralds, almost. Marcus has the most beautiful green eyes. They were like moss, but shiny and always full of hope and love.

Like emeralds.

James had been leaning closer and closer to Marcus. He had even reached his hands up and set them gently on Marcus's hips. Finally he could feel their breath mingle. Their lips only millimeters apart, and James thought he was finally ready for Marcus to see how he really felt…

"Homos!" a boy yelled, loud, obnoxious, and dream shattering. James's trance was broken. And he did the only thing he could think of.

He pushed Marcus. Hard.

Marcus yelped and fell backward onto the cold stone steps of their school. He looked up at James, tears filling his eyes. And James laughed. He really laughed. Cold, disdainful, and teasing.

"What? Did you really think I was gonna kiss you? You stupid homo." James kicked some dust that had been blown onto the smooth cement at Marcus as everyone gathered around him, laughing in the same cruel way.

Marcus's tears spilled over causing the stupid jocks and bullies of his school to laugh harder. Marcus wiped his eyes and went to stand up, but some hand placed their hands under and around him and lifted him from the ground. Marcus looked to see Ayden and the only other two people that didn't care that Marcus was gay.

"You should all be ashamed of yourselves." Ayden lashed out angrily, clutching Marcus tightly to his chest. Marcus buried his face in Ayden's shirt and let his tears flow.

Everyone knew that Marcus was extremely sensitive for a fifteen year old boy, but only James had seen him cry. Mostly when he was comforting Marcus after saving him from a gang up of bullies.

Most people didn't mess with James. One, because everyone liked him. And, two, because he could kick someone's ass really quick.

And that's how Marcus had made it through his first year of high school, he befriended James. And right now that's who Ayden was glaring harshly at. So harsh that even James stepped back as Ayden advanced on him. His voice was only a whisper, but it held so much hating passion that even the idiots beside James shivered. "Especially you."

And with that Ayden turned and left with Thames and Joshua tailing behind him. And Marcus had to accept that these were his new best friends now.

To Be Continued.