Author: TippierCoffee.

Disclaimer: I do not own—nor do I claim the right to—the show Codename: Kids Next Door. All credit goes to rightful owner: Mr. Tom Warburton.

LTLY series: 1. Learning To Love you; 2. Again; 3. Alone; 4. Ever After.

A/N: This story will mostly contain original characters, though Wally and Kuki will be present in some chapters.

Enjoy :)

Matt I.

No one ground my gears quite like Raph. He stood there with that stupid grin of his; the one he always wore when he was right about something. I had seen it countless times ever since we were little. We practically grew up together, him and I. His parents own the gaming company Moreno Tech. No one knew in the start because Raph never told. But on his tenth birthday, his farther decided to throw him a massive party in the mansion they call a house. People came, though not many were friends with Raph before that. They used to tease him sometimes, with his crooked nose and his buck teeth. Some even teased him with the complexion of his skin. That constant tan he naturally wore which made us white kids look like snow in comparison. Mr. Pedro Moreno went way out of his way to throw Raph's party—probably to make up for lost time and all those nights him and Mrs. Lilly Moreno were on businesses, leaving Raph alone with the house keeper Taélla. There was a bouncy castle, easily the size of my backyard, and petting zoos, and band performances, and beta test gaming equipment, plus demos to all the guest of the latest game Moreno Tech would release the year after. Suddenly, everyone wanted to be Raph's friend, and they came with their fake smiles, and baked cakes, and clung to his arm, and fluttered their stupid lashes. Fake as thieves.

Now, in middle school, both of us age twelve—going thirteen—we could brag of our six-year-long friendship. Not that we did, or needed to. I was the one who remained real, who didn't kiss ass to try out the newest gaming tech, as exciting as it was. Because I cared more for Raph than for his money, and I still do. That does not sop me from hating that stupid told-you-so grin of his. It irritated me as much as it always did as I stood there, soaked to the bone, strawberry-blond locks of hair disturbing my vision. Sure, he had offered me a place under that stupid, plain, black umbrella of his when it stared pouring, but the rain came so fast and aggressively it didn't matter anyway.

"Told you to bring an umbrella," he grinned, his voice cracking almost discretely.

"Shut up," I scowled, chatting him at the back of his head. He still kept grinning.

Annoying grin, pearly white teeth, and I wondered if I should tease him with having them bleached, even though I didn't think he did. So I continued scowling, my body shivering in this early-June shower, goosebumps raising the fine hairs on my scrawny arms. I sure hoped they would grow with time and the upcoming puberty. Raph was already broader than I, and just last year we could share clothes. I still fit his, but he… well, if he tried to put on a blouse of mine at least, the shoulders might rip. It would be a bit too tight for him.

Today we went home to my place again. Raph liked it there. The charm of an ordinary average American home. As ordinary as a home could get with a father who left town the moment he found out my mother was pregnant. Ass hat. She never really dated after that, not that I minded much. But sometimes, I did wonder if she ever got lonely, or stressed. Being the single mother of a soon-to-be teenage boy couldn't be all that easy. Personally, I liked the house Raph's housekeeper had better. She got it to spend those vacations she never had. An ordinary, boring home, on a boringly, quiet street in Cleveland. Raph's real house was just at the outskirts of Cleveland, too far away from our secondary school for me to understand why he went there. Not that I complained about his schools. We went there together after all.

Taélla's vacation house had had some use regardless. It's hard to not bump into old school mates once you change schools to start in secondary. A few of our old classmates made it to Garfield middle school, just like we did. They didn't hesitate to tell all about Raphael Moreno, the son of the owner of Moreno Tech. Raph denied it, of course, and when people wanted to come home with him to confirm, he sent a text to Taélla, she rigged up her vacation house, people came 'home to Raph', and no one believed our old classmates after that. After all, Moreno isn't too uncommon a surname for Hispanics.

We turned the corner which lead to that dead-end road where my house stood. Small with crumbling white paint and faded writing on our mailbox. Callahan. Matthew 'Matt' Callahan. Ordinary, boring name, befitting for an ordinary, boring house, on an ordinary, boring street in Cleveland. But today, something was different on my street. Along the way, a figure sat on the road. Shimmering eyes, tears disappearing in the rain-splotches on her cheeks, and raven hair plastered to her scalp and sticking to her cheeks, neck, and soaked clothes. She sat on her knees in the middle of a water puddle, knees touching the ground right before the sewer system—a squared box with furrows on the ground. She had her hands on her knees and shivered, her shoulders jumped up and down with her sobs, and she seemed to be mumbling something to herself. We both stopped in our tracks, Raph and I. I felt him cast a sideways glance to me, looked at him briefly, and wondered if we looked equally curious. We stared at the girl on the road again, leaning against the curb. I wondered how long she'd been sitting there, alone, on the road, crying in the pouring rain. She didn't look much older than the two of us, and I hesitated. Raph did, too. His uncertainty oozed off of him and hit me like a tidal wave. I hated when his mood affected me like that. It made me hesitate for a moment longer, holding my breath, taking in her clothing for some stupid reason. A green quarter-sleeved hoodie and knee-length loose jeans. They looked like the kind of jean-shorts I often found in stores in the male department. I never bought those, however. Too many damn buttons.

I let out a sigh and ran a hand though my soaked hair, brushing it out of my sight. We couldn't just leave that girl sitting there all day, someone must be looking for her. Parents, friends, maybe even the cops. I cast another sideways glance towards Raph, stuffed my hands in my pockets, and pulled my shoulders as close to my ears as possible. Who would have though an early-June shower could be this damn cold?

"Why are you sitting there?" I asked, Raph carefully walking in my heels.

"Mind your own business!" she snarled, a pair of emeralds full of lightning glaring at me, shimmering with tears.

They took me by surprise. I'd never see such a colour before. They sucked out my breath and I felt stupid when I couldn't really form words. What the hell? It was just some random girl on the road I didn't even know, no need to choke up like a moron! I cleared my throat and stepped closer, Raph's eyes drilling into my neck. He was definitely nervous about this.

"You'll catch a cold if you keep sitting there," I tried as gently as possible.

"What part of 'mind your own business' didn't you understand, Shit face?"

Okay. So she was rude as well, and had a mouth. I'd never heard girls cuss before, it felt foreign. Not that I thought girls were necessarily angels, and I often wondered if maybe they just cussed when they were alone together. But until she called me shit face, I had never heard cusses from girls. Knowing Raph, that overly polite, old-fashioned gentleman, he might tell her not to cuss just because, so I decided to speak up before he got a chance to make her even more upset.

"My name is Matthew, what's yours?"

"Piss off!"

"You know, my house is right over there," I pointed. "Maybe, if you'd like, you could come in. My mum makes really good hot chocolate, and her tea isn't too bad either."

"Are you deaf or what, you retarded fuck? I told you to piss off!"

This was pointless. I should walk. Even Raph seemed to think as much as he came up next to me. The rain disappeared when his shoulder brushed mine and he leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"Let's just go, Matt. She doesn't want to come, there's no point forcing her."

He was right. He always was. Raph, that diplomatic goodie-two-shoes. I respected that about him, but I also hated it. He knew I was envious of him, I once told in a fit of rage one of those days where we argued… or, I argued with him about something stupid I don't even remember. I dared stepping closer to the fierce girl with fire in her emerald eyes. She stared me down, and I reached out my hand, a careful smile on my lips.

"Won't you come?"

She glared for a while, her nostrils flaring, her teeth clattering, her fringe teasing the top of her lashes. She had to blink almost constantly to not get raindrops in her emerald orbs, but at least her sour face changed. It softened up, slowly but surely, and without words, never taking her eyes off me, she reached out her hand and put it in mine. My mum always read those silly romance novels, about love at first sight, and sparks, and women with soft hands, but these hands were anything but soft. They were rough, and the knuckles looked bruised. Not from something recent, but from something that happened a while ago. When she stood up I saw her right knee was scraped, and she limped a little. Maybe she'd fallen on something while running, or walking, or whatever she did, and decided to just not get up again. Grey gravel, picked up from the concrete, sat in the wound.

"That must hurt like hell," I heard myself say, like a real moron would have said it. My voice also cracked when I said 'hell', like I was scared to say that damn word out loud.

She gave me a shrug, letting go of my hand, eyes gliding to Raph with curiosity then back to me. Though she shivered, her legs was a shoulder-width apart, perfect stance to fight us if she wanted. Even her fists curled and uncurled.

"Sheila," she said, her tone still less-than-friendly.

"Huh?" such a genius response…

"My name."

"Oh!" I looked at my shoes feeling dumber than dumb, took a deep breath and swung my arm at Raph, almost hitting him by accident. "This is Raphael. I usually go by Matt, he usually goes by Raph."

She nodded without blinking, her stance as sturdy as before despite the skinny body shivering. I stood for a while, flickering my eyes to Raph, hoping for him to say something next because I was stumped. He came to my rescue, reliable as usual.

"Maybe we should go in now. You're both soaked," his grin came back, and more than ever I felt like ripping that damn umbrella out of his hand and run off with it so he could be soaked like Sheila and me.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter of Ever After.

As always: Criticism and/or advices on improvements are welcome and highly appreciated :)

-TippierCoffee