Just one more chapter after this... Dun, dun, dun.

This fic request is brought to you by: DarkAngel048

For disclaimer see my profile: shadow101202

A Familiar Face Enters The Picture

Chapter Warnings: Swearing(Mild)

Fred dreaded the meeting with his coach that he had this afternoon. He hadn't done very well on that test at all, as well as the surprise test he took in one of his other classes... Or at least it was a surprise to him. Trudging along down the familiar hallways of the sports office building, he rounded a corner to reach the last room on the left of Section F. It was here that the football coach's office was located. Quietly tapping on the window portion of the open door, the coach looked up to see one of his best players in a battle weary state.

"Jones... You look tired, you feeling alright?" Fred nodded. Flopping down into the chair in front of the writing desk, he awaited whatever judgment the coach was going to pass. "Look Jones... Fred, you haven't been to practice for a week. Is there something going on?" Fred just shook his head in defeat. He had decided to stay silent about the hazing, he didn't want another reason to have a target painted on his back. "Well, if that's the case... I may have to temporarily suspend you for next year,"

"What!" Fred stood up, throwing his hands down onto the desk with restored vigor. I thought I'd only get suspended 'till the end of the season! The coach sighed,

"Look Fred, it's like this: You haven't shown up to practice for a consecutive week and I just checked your grades to see that your classwork hasn't really been up to par lately. That tells me you aren't serious about this scholarship. I may even have to cancel it if you don't buckle down," Fred sat down once more returning to his previous demeanor of doom and gloom.

"Is there anything I can do, coach?" the older man nodded as he continued on.

"Ask someone to help you study. I know you've got some smart friends who will probably help you out... As for practice, I want to see you down here everyday next week and I want you to stay join me in the morning for an early jog," Fred sighed and nodded, "We'll see how next week goes and talk some more then, okay? Good, now get out of here and get your rear in gear!" he tried to sound peppy as Fred slowly meandered out the door.

"So then he said to find someone who could help me," Fred spoke over the phone to one of his closest friends.

"Hmm... Well I'd help you, but I don't really know those subjects and Velma is studying abroad for the year... Oh, I know! You could sign up for the tutoring program on campus," Daphne counseled her depressed friend, "By the way Fredie is something bothering you? You seem kinda... down," Fred sighed. Over the course of about five minutes he spilled all the crap that had been welling up inside of him, slowly coming to a head. "Wow... You've had a lot going on. I know times must be tough for you, but stay focused on what you have to do now and the rest will come later. I really want to talk with you more about this, but I have to go catch my plane. I'll text you when I arrive in Italy, k?" Fred mumbled a quick goodbye and safe trip before disconnecting the call with a very final sounding slap as his cellphone closed. Right, focus... But how can I focus, if I have to worry about what might happen next week at practice? Sigh. Guess I better look into that tutor thingy. Quickly scanning the school's website, Fred found the building where the program base was centered and headed there right away.

When he arrived, a friendly sophomore greeted him at the front desk.

"Can I help you?" she asked in a cheery way that didn't quite sit with Fred, but he brushed it aside.

"Yeah, I was wondering where I could sign up for the tutoring program?" she smiled and pulled out a form from some unknown crevice behind the counter.

"Just fill out your name and contact and the subjects you need help with, please," borrowing a pen he quickly scribbled out what he needed and handed the paper back to her. Scanning the form, she found his name,

"Thank you Mr... Jones. I'll give you a call tomorrow to figure out times and such," the process had been much easier than Fred had expected.

"Gee, thanks," with that small burden taken off his shoulders, Fred walked back to his apartment with a new sense of optimism.

Returning home, Fred looked over his past two tests that he had taken without too much effort. After about an hour of studying, Fred's brain couldn't take the concentration. Today was Friday, he had a whole two days to mull over the problems that he had. Running his hands through his hair, the blond sighed in frustration. Deciding he better eat something, Fred fixed himself a sandwich and went to bed after finishing it.

Fred awoke to someone's incessant knocking on the door of his apartment. Crawling out of bed, Fred managed to make it to the door. Lifting up his nightshirt, Fred itched his belly and opened the door in a lazy manor only to be hit in the face with a heavy fist that knocked him to the ground.

"Oh, shit! Are you alright?" Fred groaned as he looked up to see the face of his attacker was also the face of the badass dude who had taken down "Steel" Steve. Scrambling to his feet Fred looked for an escape which made "Scotty" chuckle. "There's plenty more from where that came from, but I'm on the clock so it won't be now," letting himself in, he shut the door behind him and examined his new "pupil". Shaking his head the redhead muttered something along the lines of 'typical bachelor'.

"Who are you?" Fred tried to keep the couch between him and the muscled man in front of him. Raising an eyebrow the bespectacled assailant gave the answer for this whole debacle.

"You rang for a tutor, right? You put I could 'drop by anytime' on the fill out sheet," Fred slowly realized that this tall, powerhouse of a man would be his tutor. Oh... this did not turn out how I thought it would... After a moment or two of standing there in a dumb state, "Scotty" decided to continue on and introduce himself. "Name's Scott Melville, I'll be your tutor for Political Science and World Geography... and History," he read off the list, "Huh, you really smart enough to take these classes?" the mild insult snapped Fred out of his daze.

"What do you know?" Scott cut his eyes up to meet his heated gaze for only a moment before he went back to looking at the form.

"So," how he kept on going with a normal conversation was beyond Fred, "you, uh, wanna get dressed, or what?" Scott eyed Fred's night clothes, which consisted of a set of briefs and a short muscle shirt. "Still wearing tighty-whitys, eh?" Fred blushed at the weird comment. What does he mean 'still'? It made no difference though, since he was thoroughly humiliated, he went to change into something that he knew made him appear more mature, his ascot.

When he came back into the living room, Scott chuckled at the attire. And he still wears an ascot... If I didn' know better I'd say he was born with it. They sat down to study and had barely cracked the books when Fred's stomach growled. Blushing yet again, he got up to get something to eat, offering something to his 'guest'. When Fred opened the fridge, he found that there wasn't really anything edible. In fact the only thing left was a slightly wilted head of lettuce and his air freshener which happened to be an open box of baking soda.

"Well," Scott's deep voice startled Fred. Fred hadn't expected him to sneak up from behind. "Looks like we better head out on a little shopping trip,"

Fred had thought that going shopping with another guy might be strange, but it was actually a good learning experience. Scott had showed him things that were nutrtious and kept for a while in case he didn't get to it right away. But more importantly, the taller male had tutored him even while they were wandering around in the store. Quizzing him on capitals and discussing the effects that the Cold War had on the entire world. It was great, but it also made Fred wonder what Scott might talk about were he not, as he had put it, 'on the clock'. Fred studied on his own at home, but it wasn't the same. The rain that clogged the air outside made him want to sleep, but he pushed himself to study a little more. Tomorrow Scott would come to tutor him again, albeit not as early. When I wrote that down, I didn't expect someone to come knocking at eight in the morning, sheesh. Oh well, I should probably be getting up earlier anyway.

Scotty came at nine the following day and every day after that. It felt strange to Freddy, since he figured the guy hated him, but he found that Scott was very professional about it and that he wanted to become a lawyer one day. Fred was still uneasy around him though, he knew that Scott could rat him out to the coach at any time he wanted. And not just about the hazing, but about Matt too. Thinking about Matt made Fred somewhat depressed, remembering Daphne's words, he continued to focus on the task at hand.

The dreaded Monday came and Fred was back to class, as well football practice. At first, everyone just ignored him, but then things got somewhat rough during the scrimmage match where Steve tackled him. Some of the his other teammates joined in, creating a dog pile that crushed Fred. C-Can't breathe! Just as Fred thought he might pass out, or that his lungs would explode from the pressure, the coach caught sight of the incident and blew his whistle. The guys took care to make sure Fred was miserable, but it was bearable, which was the important thing, to him.

It had almost been a week since Scott had started tutoring him and Fred was growing ever suspicious of what alternative motives the redhead might have. Fred nonchalantly mentioned something about the length of the locks.

"Isn't it about time you cut that wild mane of yours, Scott?" he questioned. Scott rolled his eyes,

"Maybe I like it shoulder length. You got a problem with that, Jones?" Fred frowned, but shook his head. Lately Scott and him had more easily gotten off topic to talk about real life stuff. Standing up during one of their 'five minute breaks', Fred watched as Scott walked over to admire the photos that were framed above his television. "Still got this nosy mutt, huh?" he muttered it to himself, but Fred heard it nonetheless. Approaching him from the back he was suddenly face to face with Scotty as the taller man turned around after setting the photo back onto the TV. Almost pushing him up against the wall Fred demanded,

"Are you out to get me?" Scott raised an eyebrow.

"What?" his characteristic smirk was settling over his features.

"You know that I'm gay and that I took part in that hazing of your friends. Are you trying to get back at me or something? Are you stalking me?" Scott turned his head to the side trying to contain his laughter. Reaching a hand up to his face, Scott removed his glasses and leaned back against the wall, making Fred almost fall over. Leaning in close to the blond's face, he whispered sensually,

"Wasn't it always you who was so obsessed with me, Jones?" Fred reeled back. No… it couldn't be…

"Red?" by this time, Fred had backed up all the way to the couch. The newly revealed Red Herring grinned.

"So kind of ya to remember me Freddie," he walked closer to the shock ridden teen, "I thought maybe you'd forgotten about me," He's going to kill me. Fred thought.

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