The Trouble With Love Is…

11 years ago...

Andre was dropped off by his parents at the kindergarten playground and saw about 20 other kids there…all one skin color: white. He groaned. This would not be a good day today. Everyone looked different than him! He decided to try and make a friend, if he could. His mom made him pinky promise he would, so he was going to try. Being a different race was complicated on a child. He walked over to a small bench where a brown-haired girl was sitting, alone. She had a purple giraffe in her arms and giggled to it, kissing it's nose.

"Hi." Andre mumbled as he sat down next to her, putting his power rangers backpack and lunchbox down at his feet. "I'm Andre."

"Hi, Andre!" The girl greeted him in the most precious voice he's ever heard. "I'm Cat! This is Mr. Purple!"

"Hello, Cat. Hello, Mr. Purple." He smiled back. "Do you want to be friends?"

Before Cat could answer, a gang of mean boys came up and ripped the toy out of the little girl's arms, making her scream. "No! Mr. Purple!" She cried out as she reached for the toy, but one of the boys pushed her down to the ground. "Ow!"

Andre gasped and went to her side. "Cat! Are you okay?"

"Hey, you have different skin color than us!" One of the boys yelled out. "You're ugly!"

Andre ignored his mean names and glared. "Give back the giraffe! She wasn't doing anything to you!"

"Do you know who you're hanging out with?" One boy asked. "Freaky Valentine! She's a loser! Nobody likes her!"

"I like her!" Andre yelled, snatching the giraffe back and giving it to the small girl, who hugged it close. "She's my friend."

"Well, if you two freaks are friends, then we'll have to mess you up!" A boy said, cracking his knuckles.

"Leave them alone!" Another heroic voice came in and ran in front of Andre and Cat, protecting them. "Don't touch them!"

"Whoa…Beck?" One boy said, backing away. "We weren't hurting them."

Beck Oliver glared. "Good! Now get lost!" The boys ran off and Beck turned to the two students. Andre helped Cat to her feet and dusted her off, while she dusted her toy off. "You both okay?"

"Yep!" Cat giggled. "Thanks to you both, Mr. Purple wasn't bullied today! Thank you!"

Andre and Beck grinned. "Aw, shucks, kitty, it was nothing." Andre chuckled. "Let's go play!"

Beck nodded. "Cool! By the way, I'm Beck!"

Beck groaned as he smiled to himself at the same time. He loved his dream he had almost every night. The day he met Andre and Cat was the best day of his life. If he wasn't dreaming about that day, he was having another dream about them. During the day, he was always with them, so it was a plus to be with them in his sleep too. They were the loves of his life and he wouldn't take back anything he's been through with them for the world.

He heard his stomach grumbled as he sighed.

He wouldn't even trade his hunger pains.

When he confessed to his parents he was in love with both Andre and Cat, they kicked him out of the house and made him live in this beat up RV. They never fed him, so he had to fend for himself. Cat and Andre helped when they could, but with their families rejections too, there was little they could do. He wanted so badly to snatch them up and take them far away from here, but they were still in the process of working through the money part of that plan.

He was doing his damn best though.

Every day when he saw sadness forming in Andre's expressions and he felt his insecurities growing…

Every time he saw Cat growing shyer and scared of her parents when they put bruises on her…

That's what always made Andre and Beck work harder.

Seeing a new bruise on their precious baby girl.

Like now…

The RV door opened after his shower and he saw the door open and Andre walked in. "Hey." Beck gave him a smile, but when he saw Andre's frown, he froze. "What happened?" Andre looked back to the door and motioned for someone to come in. Beck soon saw the redhead and she hid her face with her hair. Beck walked up to them and moved the hair from her face, but she tried to hide whatever it was with her hands. "No, girl, let me see." He demanded in fear. He didn't want to see, but what choice did he have?

Cat looked up with tears brimming her eyes, but the old tears were already dried up on her cheeks…and plain as day was the large bruise on her cheekbone and eye on the right side of her face. It was dreadfully swollen and changing colors practically. "Please don't hate me." Cat whimpered. "I tried to get away, but my daddy wouldn't let me go." She burst into more tears. "I'm sorry!"

"Sssshhhh." Beck soothed as he held her close to him and looked over her head to Andre, who was looking angry. "Did you bring your makeup?"

Cat nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay, girl. Go to the bathroom and put it over that. Let's hope it covers some of it." Beck sighed as Cat went to the bathroom with her bag. "What the fuck are we going to do?"

"I don't know, but fuck, I want to kill that son of a bitch." Andre growled. "What the hell is wrong with her parents? Just because she loves both of us, doesn't mean she deserves to be beaten. You don't deserve to be starved. And I don't deserve to be called all those awful names my parents tell me every morning." Andre felt like punching a wall. "I can't believe our families treat us like this. We're their kids."

"Obviously we've shamed them so much, they hate us." Beck sighed. "I wish I could take Cat's place though…I just want Cat not to suffer."

"Me too." Andre kissed Beck's cheek. "2 more years, Beck. Two more years. That's it. We got this. We can get through this…please keep telling me that."

"We will." Beck hugged Andre. "We got to keep Cat safe and alive, keep me eating, and keep you strong. The three of us can do this."

A/N: Thanks for your reviews guys. Keep reviewing. -Thomas