Woot! I'm on a roll again. Yaaay! Anyway, thanks to my peeps WiseDraco and especially my home girl Drake'sgirl for reviewing my stuff. You waited religiously? Dude. I feel bad now. So here's the next chapter.

Also, Megan is 14 in this. Poetic license. Plus, her age really isn't important when the story is about Craig and Eric.

Chapter 5

Eric Victorious

Craig woke up to the smell of food. Food? There had been no real food in the apartment since the last owners left. Mostly he ate TV dinners. There was seriously real food in the house…? And on the first day of senior year?

Lucky him.

He stood up and walked into the kitchen.

"Aha." Eric was behind the stove, frying bacon and eggs and baking biscuits. He jumped.

"Oh. Good morning!" With the corner of his eye watching the stove like a hawk, he walked over and gave Craig a loving kiss.

"Morning, sweetheart. Huh. Food."

"Yes, food."

"How the hell did you get food?" Eric grinned.

"I bought it, dear."

"You brought money?" Eric nodded.

"Just enough to get us through to next month." Craig smiled and took Eric by the hand. He brought it slowly up to his lips.

"I promise you I am getting a job. Wal-Mart has loads of openings." Eric shook his head.

"But what about school?" Craig smirked.

"I've already been accepted to UCLA with a scholarship. You worry about yourself, OK?" Eric nodded.

"Sit down to eat."

When they were finished with breakfast, Craig started getting ready for school. He sighed when he stepped into the shower.

He takes good care of me. Makes me wonder if I really deserve it…

When they were both ready to go, Eric grabbed his backpack.

"Meh. We'll be a half-hour early…got your project?" Craig nodded, picking up a model.

"Yup."

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Eric sighed and walked up to the door. He opened it to find his sister. She was battered and bruised, but she had a wide grin on her face and she waved to her brother. It made him proud.

"Hi, you guys!" Eric blinked.

"Hey, kiddo. What's up?" He looked at his sister up and down. He then clicked his tongue.

"Come in. You look starved. I'll heat up what's left of breakfast and then I'll clean up your battle scars a little bit. Must have fought that bastard off somehow after he finished with Mom." Maureen nodded.

"OK." She walked in and sat at the kitchen counter, kicking her legs a bit. She was nervous.

"You have a really nice place, you guys." She said quietly, munching on her food. Eric looked at her.

"Thanks." There was an awkward silence for two minutes. Then…

"Mom's in the hospital." Maureen said. Eric nodded.

"I see. Is she OK?"

"We don't know yet. By the looks of it, though, it'll be a couple weeks." Eric nodded again.

"They can't leave you in that hell hole, though." Eric said incredulously.

"Not until they arrest him, that is." Craig added. Maureen nodded.

"I don't want to be at the shelter by myself, though. Grandma's too far away…" Eric knew what was coming…

"They wanted to know if I had any other family in the city." She said nervously.

"I said yes, my older brother. They said I should ask you so here I am." Eric's face broke into a smile.

"You can stay as long as you need to. We have plenty of room, right?" Craig looked at Eric with concern.

"Food?"

"When you get your job we'll have enough. Please, Craig? She's my sister." Craig nodded.

"All right." After they finished eating, Eric cleared up the dishes and they started for school again.

"Hey, there's Megan!" She ran up to her best friend and left the two lovebirds behind.

They looked at each other, smiling.

"I love you so much. Maybe we should…" Craig trailed off, looking unsure of his action.

"Maybe we should what?" Eric interrupted Craig.

"Maybe we should…um…hold hands? Going into school?" Craig looked into Eric's eyes pleadingly.

"You've been looking forward to this for a long time, haven't you?" Eric smiled lovingly.

"Uh-huh." Eric took Craig's hand, fingers entwining.

"I love you." Craig blinked. He had this guilty pang in his stomach. Eric was too good. Too sweet. Too honest. Too pure. Even that wretched father of his didn't ruin such purity.

"I love you too. With all my heart. You have to believe that, even though you're too good for me." Eric looked puzzled.

"Are you mad at me…? When did I say I was too good for…?" Craig put his hand over Eric's warm lips, could feel them curl into a sweet smile.

"No, I just know it. You cooked me breakfast this morning. You brought money. You endured your dad. You help me with everything. You take such good care of me…" He could feel his lip quiver and his eyes fill with tears.

"I don't deserve you, Eric…" Eric clicked his tongue and pulled Craig close to him.

"Yes, you do. You saved me, Craig." He shook his head.

"We're gonna be late for school." They ran up to the front and took a deep breath, squeezing each other's hands.

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Craig kicked the door open.

They were met by cheers. Mindy rushed over to Eric and threw her arms around him and then Josh and Clayton and Michelle and Edgar walked over and it was amazing. Drake Parker even smiled at them as the large, nerdy group walked past him, and his girlfriend Carly winked.

They halted at Eric's locker, always the first one in the group alphabetically.

"They really need to let seniors pick what locker they get. I'm so tired of being away from everyone." Michelle laughed.

"Jeez, Eric, I'm in your homeroom!" Eric shuffled his feet nervously.

"Yeah, but I meant…" And everyone knew what he meant. After all, "B" and "R" were extremely far away in the alphabet. Craig's homeroom was 3 halls down. Eric sighed as the bell rang. Josh and Mindy walked down to her homeroom and Clayton to his. Michelle whirled around and scampered into her and Eric's homeroom. Eric turned to his boyfriend, who was slowly slumping down the hall. He grabbed Craig by the shoulder and turned him around, kissing him forcefully.

"See you 5th period." He said breathily. Craig nodded.

Eric noticed a new spring to both their steps as they walked to their homerooms.

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Woo-hoo! I thank my new lovelies! The reviewers who reviewed while this was in progress! Thanks to everyone on LiveJournal, and the Drake and Josh fan forum who reviewed this while I was on a little mini-hiatus.

Also, I totally got the chapter title from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Snape Victorious just sounded pretty badass.

Also, the way the homerooms go...that's how they do it at my school.

Stay tuned!