A/n: Thanks so much for your reviews!! :D You all make me so happy...do me a favor and review again? Pretty please?

So, I forgot to thank my beta, last chapter (who is out-of-town right now...so there may be some serious grammar mistakes in this chapter! Haha), The Last Truffula Tree, for making my stories beauuuutiful. =)

I'm sorry if you were under the impression that your beta is the best beta in the world...well, you are gravely mistaken, because MY beta is the best. So.

I don't own RENT. You all know that!

Chapter 2

xoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Collins, hurry up!"

Mitch turned around, his hands on his hips. He waved his arms, annoyed at Collins, who was carrying three of his heavy bags. Mitch, however, had no bags in his hands; he carried only a pair of expensive sunglasses.

Tom Collins rolled his eyes, dragging his feet behind him. Finally, they reached the giant pool. Collins couldn't believe a cruise needed such a huge pool-- they were already in the middle of the ocean. Most things on this ship seemed like a big waste of money, though, and again, Collins was glad that he wasn't paying for it.

As usual, he had been invited along with Mitch and his parents.

It wasn't that Collins was ungrateful for the free trip-- in fact, he was excited to be going on a cruise with his best friend and object of his affections for more than two years now.

He didn't know what Mitch was to him anymore, which was...confusing, at best. Mitch was great at playing mind games with him, but Collins believed that somewhere, deep down, Mitch felt the same.

"Over here!" Mitch called, happy to have found a spot at the crowded pool. Collins looked across to the other end of the pool; it was so huge, he could hardly see the people on the other side.

He set Mitch's things down next to one of the chairs, getting a towel out of one of the bags. He laid it on Mitch's chair, and the other boy grinned and stood up.

Collins tried not to stare as Mitch took all of his clothes off, leaving him in only a pair of swim trunks. His eyes scanning his friend's buff, tanned body. Collins drew in a breath, remembering why he liked Mitch so much.

"I'm going in," Mitch said with a wink, jumping into the pool. His head popped out from underwater, and he looked expectantly at Collins.

"Well? Are you coming?"

Collins looked around nervously. He had never learned to swim. Being from New York City, constant swimming wasn't exactly one of his pastimes as a kid. Mitch, on the other hand, had taken private swimming lessons from a young age. His parents were loaded.

"Hello?" Mitch waved at Collins and shook his head. "God, Col. You're like, brain-dead today."

Mitch didn't know that Collins had never been swimming. Collins didn't want Mitch to know that he had never been swimming. Therefore, there was only one thing to do.

"Ready or not, here I come," he said to himself, closing his eyes and leaping off of the deep-end.

The last thing he saw was Mitch getting out of the pool, but it was too late as he sank to the bottom.

.x.

Angel Dumott-Schunard lounged on a chair, soaking up the sun's glorious rays and reading a magazine. His head snapped up as he heard a strangled, muffled noise, followed by a frantic splashing sound.

It looked like someone was drowning!

Nobody else seemed to be paying attention, including the lifeguard, who appeared to be reading the newspaper. The person who had been splashing at the surface moments ago was now sinking to the bottom of the pool.

Angel gasped, jumping up and walking to the edge of the pool. He dived in, feeling the sting as he opened his eyes underwater. A tall, gangly boy was frantically splashing around underwater, his eyes open wide. Angel reached out and grabbed his hand, and with all of the strength he possessed, Angel pulled him to the surface.

As they both came up for air, the boy gasped, his eyes wide as he tried to fill his lungs with oxygen again. Angel helped him make it out of the pool in one piece, bringing him over to the chair he'd been sitting on before.

"You okay, Honey?" He asked, concerned, as the boy caught his breath.

Finally, the boy looked up, and into Angel's eyes. Angel gasped quietly, shocked by the gorgeous, sparkling brown eyes of the once-drowning boy.

He looked to be about Angel's age, maybe a bit older. He was tall, and Angel couldn't help but check out his toned, dark pecs.

"Yeah. Thank you. You...you saved me." He looked at Angel with such gratefulness-- Angel just wanted to give him a hug. "I'm Angel," he said, holding out his hand for the other boy to take.

"Tom-- Tom Collins. Friends just call me Collins." The boy whose name was Collins gave him a weak smile, shaking Angel's hand for longer than was customary.

Angel didn't mind, though. He just kept on staring into those gorgeous eyes...

"So you can't swim, huh?" Angel joked, and Collins sighed, nodding, his hand still resting comfortably in Angel's. "I'm from New York. There aren't exactly beaches nearby, so...I never actually learned," he said, blushing a little bit.

"It's okay. It's easy, really. You know, you could learn and be good at it in no time. In fact-"

"Collins?" Mitch's voice pulled Collins out of his reverie. His head snapped up, and he took in the sight of his slightly perturbed friend.

"Hmm?" Collins said dumbly.

"Where were you? I wanted to introduce you to these chicks...They're pretty hot." He winked, and Collins frowned. Mitch flirted with everything that moved.

Angel spoke up from beside him. "So this is your friend?" He asked Mitch, gesturing to a soaked Collins.

Mitch nodded, pursing his lips in an almost territorial way. "Yeah."

"Then why weren't you there to save him, instead of sitting on your ass, flirting with girls?"

Mitch raised an eyebrow. "Dude, listen. I was just-"

"Don't call me dude!" Angel snapped. "Collins could have died!"

Mitch rolled his eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. Collins, come on."

Collins looked from his best friend to the boy who had saved his life. Begrudgingly, he stood up. "Thank you so much for saving me, Angel," he said sincerely, wishing that he could just stay sitting there with the boy.

Mitch smiled. "There. See?"

Angel ignored him, half-smiling at Collins. "It was no problem, Honey," he sighed, wishing that Collins would stay with him and not go back with this other boy, who seemed to have some sort of control over him.

With one last glance at Angel, and his long eyelashes and deep, brown eyes, Collins turned, following Mitch to the other side of the pool, where two teenage girls waited.

The first one grinned at Collins in a friendly way. She had curly, brown hair that fell around her shoulders. She wore a forest green bikini, which set off her hazel eyes. She was very pretty, Collins noticed, and he didn't usually think girls were attractive.

The other girl smiled shyly. She had caramel skin and long, thick, almost black hair that fell down her back. She was quite obviously Latina. This girl wore a red-and-white patterned bikini.

"Collins," Mitch said, pulling on his hand to bring him closer to the group. "This is Maureen," he gestured to the pretty brunette, "and Mimi," he pointed to the Latina.

Collins smiled politely, his gaze wandering back to Angel, who was sitting at a table, reading. "Nice to meet both of you."

.x.

Coming up in the next chapter...Mark and Roger meet Mimi and Collins; Maureen meets Joanne; and Collins finds out something interesting about Angel.