- 12 Years Later -

Evening sunlight painted Trinity High-school in golden hues, filtering in through the fluttering drapes of the 11th grade science classroom. The black-haired boy seated at his desk let his pen drop; head drooping as he pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes in a rare display of weariness.

Valentine stirred restlessly in the plastic chair as he reached down to pick up his pen. His gaze drifted around the room, taking in the cement floor, the table littered with magazines and novels, the inexpensive furniture, coffee pot and TV. His gaze had traveled the same path at least ten times in the last few minutes. It wasn't that he was impatient... he just didn't like waiting around, as contradictory as that sounded. His gaze jumped from head to head as he tried to count the number of students struggling through Mr. Brigg's English exam but before he could even reach the second row, his train of thought was interrupted by the devil himself.

"Owens! If you're done with your exam, please bring it up here," Mr. Brigg said as he stared Valentine down through his reading glasses. With a tiny sigh, Valentine grabbed his very incomplete exam paper, slipped out of his desk, and made his way over to Mr. Brigg with slight irritation in his expression. He didn't know why, but Mr. Brigg was always on his case. Valentine didn't understand why—sure, he was a bit ADHD and tended to forget things easily, but that was nearly every teenager in Trinity Highschool but why did Brigg have to pick on him, the kid that's only been in school for 2 months? But of course Valentine was the one to get picked on—he always was. That was another thing – Valentine hardly ever associated himself with any teachers, much less any other students and yet he was always the target of humiliation. That's highschool for you.

As Valentine made his way back to his desk, which was in the smack middle of the classroom, he met gazes with another boy who happened to be completely done with his exam. The boy was blonde with square-framed glasses that Valentine liked to refer to as 'hipster glasses'. Their gazes hardly met for over five seconds when Valentine suddenly looked away, feeling a sense of paranoia. The thing is, the blonde boy, otherwise known as Nico Talavera, hated Valentine and again, Valentine had absolutely no idea why. Normally, he wouldn't care too much considering how much he'd gotten used to being so despised all the damn time but being hated by Nico meant something else – it meant being a loner for the rest of his highschool career.

Nico was probably the most popular boy at school for the most obvious reasons. For one, he was extremely attractive and nearly every girl fell for the light freckles that dotted his high cheekbones and the way a single dimple would appear on his left cheek when he smiled. Rumor around school said that Nico was bisexual, but no one could have admitted to seeing Nico dating another girl, much less another boy. Not only did he have the looks but he also had the brains. As far as everyone knew, the boy was a genius who basically got good grades without breaking a sweat. And speaking of sweat, the blonde boy was known for his ability to be good at practically any sport. He was literally perfect.

So, in summary, if word got out that the most popular kid at school didn't like Valentine, then of course he'd have a hard time fitting in.

Fortunately, just as Valentine made it back to his seat, the bell rang. After a bit of groaning here and there, the students tried to scribble the answers to the question they were last in before hurrying to turn their papers in. Valentine shoved his materials inside his school bag before heading straight for the door, but then—

"Valentine, can you stay here for a moment?"

Valentine shut his eyes for a moment and spun around on his heels as he headed back to good ol' Mr. Brigg, who had set his glasses to the side and was looking very, very disappointed. As usual.

Mr. Brigg waited until the classroom had emptied out before he spoke up, "I understand you just started at this school recently and you're still getting used to things, but your grades are already slipping. Is everything okay at home?"

Home. Valentine didn't really have a home—he resided in the first floor of an apartment by himself. It was more than enough, really, but sometimes Valentine wondered if he'd always been an orphan. The strange this is…Valentine couldn't remember. He couldn't even remember any experiences from middle school, elementary school…nothing. It was as if he'd just been born and all he knew was where he lived, what school he went to, what grade he was in, and what his name was.

"Um, yes sir," Valentine replied sheepishly, feeling slightly nervous by the sudden personal question. "I'm just, um, settling in at school and stuff. I promise I'll raise my grades," he replied, his words coming out sounding as if they were rehearsed. Valentine really had no idea how to settle in, and nothing he took at school actually made sense. Still, he couldn't exactly tell that to a teacher—especially not Brigg, who really needed to back off Valentine's case.

And surprisingly enough, Brigg did. To Valentine's surprise, he nodded once at Valentine, giving him permission to be dismissed to lunch and Valentine wasted no time to scurry out of class.


Lunch that day was definitely not what Valentine had been expecting.

Normally, he chose to remove himself from the rest of highschool society and seated himself in an empty table. It was the same exact table he always sat in and people—for some strange reason—never bothered to feel the new kid welcome. So as Valentine made his way toward that table, he froze when he realized it wasn't as empty as it should be.

Sitting there, with her back facing him, was a black-haired girl. Valentine glanced around for a moment, wondering if the girl was new or something because, well, no one ever sat in Valentine's table.

Valentine made his way over and set his lunch tray against the table before sitting in the seat opposite of the girl. When he caught sight of the girl's face, his breath slightly hitched and he quickly looked away, wondering if it was too late to make a run for it. Even though they looked absolutely nothing alike, rumor was that this girl and Nico were actually siblings. But really, the only thing the two had in common was that they were both attractive to a godly level. The girl's hair was wavy and reached down nearly to her butt, and her eyes were narrow and a lovely shade of emerald. Valentine had to force himself not to stare too long as he started to sit up again, "Oh, um, sorry," he mumbled sheepishly as he started to leave.

The girl immediately reached over and placed a hand against Valentine's arm, "No, no, it's okay!" She replied quickly, giving Valentine a warm smile that sent strange tingling sensations in the pit of his stomach. Once Valentine slowly sat back down, the girl removed her arm, "I'm Violet," She said cheerfully as she reached over and picked a French fry from Valentine's plate and popped it in her mouth. Valentine blinked once but said nothing and he forced himself to sit back down, trying not to look as nervous as he felt.

When Valentine didn't say anything for a brief moment, Violet reached over and grabbed another fry and bit the edge of it before straightening up, "You know, this is where you say 'Oh, hi, I'm Valentine, nice to meet you—'" Violet was suddenly cut off as she caught sight of Valentine's surprised expression, "—what? What is it? Did I drool while eating, because oh god that would be so—"

"No, no," Valentine quickly replied in a mumble as he tore his gaze away. The only thing that had surprised him was the fact that this girl actually knew his name, but he wasn't about to admit that, "You're fine," He added to Violet, who was now rubbing at her mouth in case she had drooled. He paused for a moment before giving her a small smile, "Hi, I'm Valentine. It's nice to meet you, Violet."

Violet replied to this with a warm smile of her own as she crossed her arms against the cafeteria table and leaned slightly forward, "There. Not so hard now, is it?" She asked in a teasing tone, which left Valentine very confused. No one ever talked to him, much less talked to him like that. Especially not popular and pretty girls.

So after another moment of silence had passed between the two, Valentine finally stopped pretending to be interested in the little crossword on the side of the milk carton and instead glanced back up at Violet, who'd been…staring at him. When their gazes met, Valentine was the first to shyly look away but he forced himself to speak up, "I, um, do you need something?" He finally managed to mutter out. The question caused Violet to raise an eyebrow as she examined him for a moment before finally nodding her head.

Valentine let out a tiny exasperated sigh under his breath. Of course she needed something. No one would ever sit with him just to have a nice chat, or just to be his friend, or—

"There's this party over at my place tonight. The parents are gonna be out and, well, I was wondering if you'd like to come." Violet gave Valentine a wide smile, but all he could manage to do was nod once in reply as he tried to process her invitation. He'd never, ever, talked to Violet in his life—in fact, he didn't even talk to anyone—so the fact that he was suddenly invited to some grand highschool party by one of the most popular girls at school slightly…scared him.

But he couldn't exactly tell Violet that the offer freaked him out, so he just nodded sheepishly, "Sure, I'll see if I can make it," He replied, though Violet's attention had been turned toward her purse, which she was digging through. After a moment, she pulled out a tiny sticky note, which she reached over and stuck against Valentine's chest. Not knowing why, Valentine flinched at the sudden contact but quickly hid his reaction by reaching over and pulling the sticky note off his shirt to read it. It was an address and beneath it was a 9-digit number that he assumed to be the girl's phone number.

Before he could thank her, Violet had already shot out of her seat and was waving at him, "You better make it!" She called out over her shoulder before making her way toward another table. His gaze followed her for a bit longer but when Valentine realized she was moving toward the table where Nico and two other popular kids sat, he quickly looked away, not wanting to catch their attention.

Valentine's eyes gazed over the sticky note once more, but he couldn't help letting out a tiny sigh. Once more, he was sitting alone.


Valentine stepped into the cool air-conditioned interior of the hall with its thick carpeting, elaborate red and gold hangings and impressive chandeliers. His blue eyes quickly scanned the amount of highschool students in front of him then his heart sank. Damn, he'd arrived late. But at least now he knew the invitation wasn't some sort of a dark prank. Instead, he felt like a single fish in a sea of a million and because of that, he figured the invitation he received didn't mean anything. Practically every 11th grader and other kids from different grades were inside Violet's house, which was basically a mansion.

Right when he was allowed into the door, he had been guided by a butler of some sort through a hallway. Valentine had taken one quick peek at what the butler was wearing and suddenly felt the urge to groan when he realized that even the butler was far better dressed than he was. Valentine, thinking it was going to be some small high school hang out, had decided to wear a pair of dark denim jeans and a white v-neck that complimented his lean body nicely, but didn't do him justice at the party. The butler, the freaking butler, didn't even look old enough to be a butler. He looked somewhere in his late 20's and unlike Valentine, he had a classy suit on. A suit at a highschool party. Made sense.

Once Valentine was guided through the hallway and into the back of the house, where the party was being held, the butler suddenly turned around and walked back into the direction they'd come from, leaving Valentine where he was now – in a sea of fish. And he was one fish among a million.

Feeling humiliated and completely out of place, Valentine wondered why he'd even bothered to come. Considering he had no car and he lived on his own, Valentine was given no choice but to take the bus to the party but luckily, the bus stop was a few blocks away from the actual house so no one had actually seen him, or so he hoped. He also didn't have any friends to actually party with, but that thought didn't even occur to him until now, when he was able to pick out every clique of friends at the party, all of which didn't include him. He was pleased to note that everyone was pretty much ignoring him. There wasn't any acrimony about it; they simply didn't seem to see him. He might as well have been a fixture on the table or a coat rack. This peace was disturbed however. In just a few moments, loud pop music started blaring and immediately, random groups began to break out into dances as the party vibe spread. It wasn't long before a commotion at the nearby entry to the party hall drew Valentine's attention. The talk had grown louder and several people were detaching themselves from conversations and dancing to head in this direction. Valentine looked towards the source of the shift and saw someone he could have happily spent his evening without seeing.

Nico had arrived at the party. He was fashionably late, dressed to the hilt in a pair of tight black jeans and a zebra patterned shirt, and tailed unobtrusively by Violet and another boy that Valentine vaguely remembered as one of the guys at the table that Violet usually sat in. Violet grinned at the warm welcome offered by her friends, returning greetings and flirting charmingly with a couple of the guys that flocked to her side. Nico, on the other hand, seemed very perplexed but it wasn't long before girls began making their way toward him. Typical.

Feeling even more out of place than before, Valentine made his way toward the bounty-laden refreshment table and caught sight of the punch that was left out for people to drink. Valentine reached for a cup and began pouring himself some of the juice but just as he was about to raise the cup to his lips, he felt a hand against his shoulder. Valentine paused after taking a single sip and lowered his drink when he caught sight of who it was. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say a simple hello, he instead almost spit the juice back into the cup in shock. The rich, full blossom taste of dry alcohol, laced with the strong, sharp sweetness of the juice flooded Valentine's mouth and senses.

The figure behind him giggled quietly as she studied Valentine's precious reaction to the alcohol-spiked drink. "It's just some alcohol with fruit punch, Val. It won't hurt you. Unless you drink too much of it, of course," the girl, who Valentine recognized as Violet, said.

The thought simply gave Valentine pause for a different reason now and he sniffed the cup slightly, reluctant at the thought of getting drunk at a party that would soon get wild. Unable to hide her amusement anymore, Violet gave up and looked away. "Okay, if you're afraid, don't drink it then. I can get you some of the kiddie punch, would you like that better?" she inquired with mild exasperation.

Valentine didn't dignify that with an answer, a familiar stubborn set coming over his features as he silently took a deep swill of the strange alcohol. It was disturbingly good, actually, so it wasn't like he had to force himself to drink it. It was just... the idea of it.

Violet leaned the back of her thighs against the refreshment table and crossed her arms as she studied Valentine with amusement, "I didn't think you'd come, but I'm glad you did," she said, tilting her head to one side as she gave him a warm smile.

Valentine took another sip of his drink and stepped away from the table. He opened his mouth to reply but without a moment's warning, Violet glanced towards Valentine with a slight quirk of her lips. "I have to go, try to stay out of trouble, all right? And go easy on that stuff," she nodded towards the already almost empty cup in Valentine's hand before she disappeared into the swirling crowd to join her friends.

Valentine snorted at Violet's admonishment, finishing the last of his spiked drink and setting aside the cup as he watched the girl disappear. He would not admit to feeling either nervous or out of place alone in the middle of this gathering. No. He would not. Very content to stay as far on the fringes as he could get, Valentine got one of the small plates nearby and tried some of the different delicacies from whatever was laying out on the refreshment table. At least, those that he recognized. Given he was in Nico's house, he wasn't about to try anything that didn't look something like normal food. The food, which was mainly desert, was actually very good, but some of it made him thirsty. Not sure what was safe to drink and what wasn't, Valentine went for another glass of the drink he'd picked out before.

It wasn't long before Valentine began to see doubles, so he quickly forced himself away from the refreshment table. It felt like time had slowed down, sound becoming muted and distorted like his heart pounding in his ears. Just as he was about to take a step forward, he crashed into someone. Whoever it was seemed annoyed since immediately after the crash, Valentine heard a line of curses that were all aimed toward him. Valentine, who just wanted to be somewhere quiet, ignored whoever it was and started making his way around the person, but was stopped when a vice-like grip caught his wrist.

Feeling dizzy and sick, Valentine turned to see who it was and for a moment, he forgot to breathe. Out of all the people to run into…of course it had to be him.

"Apologize, you brat," Nico was hissing, his grip around Valentine's wrist tightening until Valentine was sure he began to feel bruises form. Valentine was having a hard time getting his heart to slow down. The alcohol he'd consumed was working against him and it was a dozen times harder than it should have been to get control of himself and calm the raging revulsion and panic he was feeling. Valentine shook his head slowly. There was absolutely no way he'd apologize to someone who seemed to hate him for absolutely no reason just because he'd accidentally bumped into him.

Nico didn't seem amused by Valentine's reluctance to apologize and without warning the other boy used his grip on Valentine's wrist to quickly pull him along towards the patio doors as he lead him outside of the house. The air felt cool on his skin and Valentine felt dizzy and sick all at the same time as he stumbled along, not knowing what was happening. The music, the voices and the smell of alcohol faded as Nico and Valentine left the patio behind, delving deeper into the gardens until they were alone in an un-trafficked area of the grounds where the gardens met up with the side of the house. Nico pushed Valentine back against the brick wall of the house and let him lean there. Valentine shoved the blonde boy's hands away from him and Nico backed off a pace, looking away.

"Why'd you come here, anyway?" Nico asked, his voice cold and flat. Valentine couldn't help but let out a tiny snort at the question, as if to say it was a stupid one. Nico could practically smell Valentine's fear and disgust toward him. The emotion was so strong from the black-haired boy that it echoed in Nico's own senses, almost giving the blonde a headache.

Nico watched as Valentine pushed away from the wall, looking away as he crossed his arms over his chest, almost pulling into himself in a closed posture, "I was invited," Valentine replied stubbornly as he forced himself to meet gazes with Nico, but it was almost like staring into daggers. "By Violet," he added, as if that made things better.

Valentine noticed something like surprise cross Nico's expression for a moment but he was far too drunk to think of it as anything more than a delusion. The only emotions he'd ever seen on Nico were hatred, annoyance, and…hatred.

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't have come," Nico suddenly replied back, his glare hardening once more. "You're no longer invited, so just get lost. And don't drink any more, no one wants to have to carry you out of here." Despite Nico being a complete asshole to Valentine for no reason, Valentine couldn't help but feel as if Nico was somehow trying to put him out of harm's way. But the fact that he was being so rude and so damn aggressive was enough to make Valentine's blood boil.

Valentine gave Nico a dark look, "I'll stay, thanks," he muttered as he started walking around Nico to go back inside the house, not feeling very comfortable staying alone with the other boy. Something about Nico always sent dark shivers down Valentine's spine but he couldn't figure out what it was.

Before Valentine made it even two steps around Nico, the blonde boy had grabbed the front of Valentine's shirt and shoved him roughly back against the wall, causing Valentine to wince and groan in pain.

Valentine was drunk. Nico was trying not to take advantage of him. Valentine already thought he was a manipulative, callus bastard; Nico didn't need to feed that fire. He didn't ever want to see again that look of horror and disgust he'd seen on Valentine's face earlier. But Nico was no saint and in some matters his control only went so far. He needed to get Valentine out of the house without making a commotion but the boy was being so damn stubborn. He couldn't help but blame Violet for this, but he knew she'd only wanted to make Valentine feel more welcome. But Nico knew better than that. He knew that no matter what, there was no way they'd be allowed to treat Valentine like any other normal human.

Valentine groaned softly again and shoved his fingers into his hair, holding his throbbing head. He didn't feel so good and the weird feeling in his stomach wasn't going away. Nico seemed to sense that something was wrong and his arm caught around the other boy's shoulder, steadying him. Valentine suddenly jerked his body away, anger flaring hotly again, "Stop touching me!" he demanded, his words slurring just a little bit that time. He hated being touched. No matter how gentle the touch was, every contact seemed to send cold shivers down his body. To Valentine's surprise, Nico actually did take a step back and when Valentine tried to focus into the other boy's eyes, he saw something like sadness flicker in his eyes but it was soon replaced with something else. Nico was looking at him intently and Valentine felt his body temperature rising despite himself. That dark, alluring radiance that usually only presented itself when Valentine got the vibe that Nico was annoyed. Valentine swallowed quietly.

"Apologize for speaking to me that way," Nico growled softly, voice bitingly hard and yet dangerously silky at the same time, "You're in my house, in my presence."

Instinctively, despite how afraid he was, Valentine balked. An unbearable tightness built in his chest and he felt like the air pressure around him was being compressed painfully. Valentine couldn't tell what was going on, but he felt that Nico's will leaned very strong on him.

"Apologize." The command was repeated flatly.

Valentine suddenly fell forward, catching himself on one hand, clutching his chest with the other, his ears popping. "I'm sorry..." he rasped softly, his voice trembling despite the fact that he practically spit the words. "I apologize, all right?" he gasped through his teeth, feeling like his ear drums were going to shatter. At first, he thought it was a reaction to being drunk but since he'd never gotten drunk before, he couldn't really tell.

The pressure intensified for a horrible instant, then it suddenly eased and Valentine found himself once more gasping softly for air. He looked up to find Nico glaring coldly at him. Valentine was not prepared for when Nico's hatred-filled eyes met his. "Get out!" the blonde snapped softly through his teeth, his control slipping just enough that the rawness of the emotion inside him showed for a brief moment.

Valentine didn't need to be told a second time. He didn't know what kind of game Nico was playing, if he really intended to let him go or if this was a trick, but at the moment it didn't matter. He desperately needed to get away. He struggled to his feet, but before he managed to even make it a step away, Nico had caught hold of Valentine's shoulder and he pushed him back just enough so that Nico's mouth was beside Valentine's ear, "Your life is practically worthless, and I can't think of a single reason why I should keep you alive. But I'm going to say this only once, so listen carefully. If you utter a single word about what happened here today, I will know. So be a good little bitch and keep your mouth shut."

Nico dropped his hand away from Valentine's shoulder and without a moment's waste, Valentine hastily disappeared out of Nico's view, keeping his gaze low the whole time. He was so miserably confused at the moment but all he wanted to do was to make sure he didn't cross paths with Nico again that night. Or ever again. There was something unbearably dark about Nico and just thinking about it reminded him of the pressure he'd felt earlier when Nico had ordered him to apologize. He shuddered and wrapped his arms around his body, trying to keep warm as he stalked away from the house, knowing he was no longer welcome to the party. Then again, he never really did feel welcome.


Once Nico returned to the party, he made sure to wipe any traces of anger from his face. It wasn't long before he noticed the tension among three particular figures in the room but he didn't dare to meet gazes with them and instead, he pulled himself into the crowd.

Nico's gaze flickered across the room again for a moment, making sure to ignore the glaring stares of the three particular people he lived with. It was a good reminder that despite the glamorous, affluent face of things such as an innocent high school party, one could never afford to forget that danger, deceit and darkness never lurked far below the swirling glitter.


Author's Note - I hope you guys are enjoying this so far! Please tell me how you feel and if I should continue. Thanks~