RESTART. I had this almost finished (eight pages) and my computer restarted, causing the file to get lost. You have not suffered true pain if that hasn't happened to you. The bad part, I wrote a song, right on the spot, and it also got lost and I loved it. :'( HOLD THE TEARS. There were so many awesome dirty jokes…
DISLAIMER: I own nothing, unfortunately. Although if my file would've saved, I would own the song in this. But it didn't. HOLD THE TEARS.
Seventeen Years Old
September 24
Di Angelo Household
Darren gripped his stomach as he sat on his bed and Elliot appeared in the doorway. He whistled as he walked in and sat next to him, causing the bed to shift slightly.
"How can you be so fucking cheery when I'm sitting here feeling like hell?" Darren always got crabby when he was sick.
"I'm not going to help you with French if you snap at me again." Elliot said, and Darren tried to calm down.
"Right, it's just I hate being sick because it reminds me of when I had to go in for testing and all that…" he shook his head and continued. "So, please tell me we aren't using the textbook? It's all in French and it hurts my brain." He was pouting.
Elliot reached over to his boyfriend's nightstand and grabbed something. "Wear your glasses if it hurts so badly." Darren groaned but put them on. "They're not that bad. They make you look like a sexy librarian. Now, I'm going to point to something, and say it in French."
Darren nodded and Elliot pointed to a lamp. "Lampe." Elliot nodded and pointed to the bed. "Lit." he nodded once again and touched his nose. "Le nez." Elliot smiled and put his hand on his cheek. "Joue." He touched his forehead. "Le front." He held his hand. "La main." He kissed Darren and he said. "Je t'aime."
"Je t'aime trop. What is mouth in French, though?" Darren pouted, obviously not knowing the answer. "Okay then. Now, repeat after me: bouche." He did and Elliot smiled and Darren made point of smiling obnoxiously. "Oh, ha ha."
"Le sexy times now?" Darren asked innocently. Elliot shook his head and they continued the homework.
September 30, 5 years earlier
Middle School Courtyard
Darren flung his things onto the wooden bench and ran after David, tackling him and sending both of them sprawling. They laughed and Darren ran back to grab his things, running into a shorter boy. The shorter boy fell, his things going everywhere.
"Oh my god, are you all right? I swear I didn't mean to. I wasn't looking. Um, here are your things. Honestly, I'm extremely sorry." Darren kept apologizing and the smaller boy looked at him. "Is there something on my face?"
"No, just, it's all right. Would you mind showing me around? I'm new and don't know where the hell anything is. I'm Elliot, by the way. Elliot Tyler." He held out his hand and Darren took it.
"Darren's the name and baseball is my game. I had to do it, sorry. My name's Darren di Angelo. Full name is Darren Christopher Paul Grace di Angelo. But just call Darren, ok?" he smiled and the new kid smiled too.
"I feel out of place." Elliot muttered.
"With out the proper jacket and the Canadian accent, no wonder. Just bring your jacket tomorrow, new kid. You'll fit right in. That is if people don't notice your accent."
"People will make fun of me for being Canadian? Great…" Elliot sighed. "First I'll be bullied for being gay, and now for my accent."
"Whoa, dude slow down. There's a no bullying policy, it's enforced. Cool, your gay. Guess I have someone to go to now." Darren laughed.
"So, you're still cool even though you're gay?" Elliot was confused by this point.
"Dude, I'm the top dog here. Everybody knows who I am. I'm sexy, according to a lot of people." He was still smiling that smug smile.
"So people won't make fun of me for my accent?"
"I'll probably joke about it once and a while, but that's just who I am." He shrugged. "Besides, to me, Canadian accents are sexy." He winked at Elliot and grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the school as the bell rang.
They ran past all the classrooms, and Darren led him into the band room.
"Regla número uno." When he got a confused look, he asked, "You don't know Spanish?"
"I'm from Canada. Not a lot of Mexicans or Spanish speaking people. I speak French as well as English." He shrugged.
"Good thing I took French last semester. Okay, règle numéro un. When we're skipping class, speak in another language. The teachers look at you like you don't know where you are at and lave you alone. Règle numéro deux, you can't wear hats. I only wear them because my teachers think that I can't speak English." He pulled Elliot's hat off. "Règle numéro trois, always wear your jacket. One, it's freezing in here, and two you'll get in trouble. You're lucky I wore one of my vests today." Darren shrugged out of the jacket and handed it to him. "Take it, new kid. It'll be a little big, but just cuff the sleeves and it'll look like a blazer. Don't worry 'bout returning it. I have more in my dorm."
"You board here?" he still hadn't put the jacket on so Darren grabbed it out of his hands and basically forced him into it.
"My dad travels. No family, no aunts, uncles, or grandparents. It looks good on you. You look good in blue." Darren was standing in front of him as he adjusted his own tie.
"What about your mom?" Darren shook his head as he fixed Elliot's tie after his own.
"Died when I was four or five year's old, can't remember. Leukemia." Elliot gave him an empty look. "Leukemia is cancer of the blood or bone marrow. A person who has leukemia suffers from an abnormal production of blood cells, generally white blood cells. The DNA of immature blood cells, mainly white cells, becomes damaged in some way. This abnormality causes the blood cells to grow and divide chaotically. Normal blood cells die after a while and are replaced by new cells which are produced in the bone marrow. The abnormal blood cells do not die so easily, and accumulate, occupying more and more space. As more and more space is occupied by these faulty blood cells there is less and less space for the normal cells - and the sufferer becomes ill. Quite simply, the bad cells crowd out the good cells in the blood. Good enough explanation?" Darren gave Elliot a sour look.
"I'm sorry I asked. I honestly had never heard of it…" He looked down.
"New kid, look at me. I don't care. Ever heard of acting? I wasn't acting about my mom but the look was acting. I looked up leukemia and basically memorized everything. Photographic memory. Are you boarding here?" the question took him off guard.
"Um, yeah, I am. I was supposed to stop by the offices to get my stuff and the room number I'm boarding in…" he looked down.
"Well come on then! Pressé, pressé, Elliot! I board alone right now. We could be roommates! Sweet!" Darren was acting like a puppy going for a walk.
They headed to the main office, where Darren kept up with the Spanish speaking act by telling the Mexican secretary, "Mi amigo quiere saber lo que la habitación que está y lo que es su horario." Translation: My friend wants to know what the room is and what is his schedule.
The secretary looked him up in the computer and said back to Darren, "Sala de doscientos veintidós." Translation: Room Two hundred-Twenty.
Darren grabbed the bags they had brought that were Elliot's and he muttered to the secretary, "Gracias, tenga un buen día." Translation: Thank you, have a nice day.
They walked out of the office and Darren slipped into French and started talking to Elliot.
"We do have same room! Yes! I'll show you the way, and we'll just skip classes today." Darren smiled at Elliot whose eyes had widened at the idea. "Lighten up. When you room with me, you're gonna skip a lot. I get my homework at the end of the day, so I'll just get yours too. I'm floor monitor; basically that's why I had a lone dorm. The teacher's love me. Oh, here's Mr. Low. He teaches Spanish." Darren quickly stopped talking in French and switched to Spanish.
"Hola, Mr. Low. Sólo estoy mostrando Elliot a su habitación." Translation: Hello, Mr. Low. I'm just showing Elliot to his room. Darren smiled as his teacher said, "Bueno."
Darren slipped into French as he told Elliot, "Mr. Low doesn't know French, so, don't get mad but…" He trailed off, choosing his words carefully.
"Moi et Elliot sont va aller l'école sauter." He smiled back and the teacher said, "Have Fun!"
They laughed as they went to the hallway with the dorms. They arrived at Darren's room and he slipped the key into the lock and he entered. He waved Elliot in and shut the door. And finally went back to English.
"Sorry, I know it's annoying to speak in another language, but I have to in order to communicate with people. I usually speak Spanish, you're the only exception, for that." He winked and went into the closet and grabbed sheets and threw them at Elliot. He went to his drawer and pulled a new jacket out and shrugged it on.
"Need help?" he asked and helped the shorter boy put the sheets on the bed. "I have a feeling one day you're going to end up being taller than me. I have sort of a Spanish accent from talking in it all the time. After speaking it for a while, it's a huge pain for me to say butterfly. See? I say it like boo-ter-flee. I'm not even Spanish or Mexican. I'm Italian and Greek, with something else in there too. Guess we both have annoying accents."
"You act eerily normal for everything that's happened to you." Elliot said, breaking the silence.
"I'm going to share something with you that I've never told anyone else. My mom wrote me a letter while she was dying. It was right before she wasn't able to write any more. And sometimes, I think that my life is hard, and then I think of her. She died at age 30. She wasn't able to see her only son grow up. Grow old, get married, have kids. I sometimes wonder if she was till here, if we'd be normal. I wonder if I would be normal. By normal I mean straight, not gay. Would she love me if I was gay? Would she want me to be straight? My dad tells me so many great things about her. But when I asked him if she was homophobic, he wouldn't answer. I want to show you the letter she wrote me. She expects so much of me and I don't know if I can do it." He walked over to his dresser and pulled out an envelope. He sat next to Elliot on the smaller boy's bed. He started to read.
"Darren, you were more than I could ever ask for. You made the last few years of my life worth living. After this, you'll only have your father. If he's anything like he was when I was alive, he's great. He always will be. Judging by who he is, he will not have remarried. He told me that when you turned eleven, he wanted to pursue a dream of directing. I want you to know that I'll be proud of you no matter who you are, what you do in life, whether you're gay or straight, or whether you end up being a reject like your dad was. I have to go now, but I want to tell you one last time I love you. You seemed like a blessing. Just make sure you don't cause too much trouble.
Je T'aime
Mommy
Darren was trying not to cry. Elliot hugged him. If you looked at them, you wouldn't have guessed they just met. You would've thought they knew each other for a long time. Elliot handed Darren a tissue and Darren shook his head.
"This doesn't make you weak. Not at all." Elliot told him. "Only strong men can cry in front of their friends, Darren."
"Je T'aime, Elliot." He said.
"Je t'aime trop, Darren." Elliot said.
What they didn't know was that they would be saying it for real in five years, as more than friends.
December 21, Same Year
By the week of Christmas, Elliot had been accepted into the group and became Darren's partner in crime- well, at least as a floor monitor. Darren and the Pips (what Elliot called the small group at first) had taught him Spanish. The teachers still didn't know that Darren and Elliot could speak English, and the boys would sneak off during the day.
Then, Elliot started developing feelings for Darren. The way his hair fell lightly in his eyes, the way his eyes would spark up every time the snuck out, the way he couldn't properly pronounce the word mouth in French, the way he would grab Elliot's wrist every time he'd be reluctant to go with him (that quickly faded), the way his voice sounded whenever he sang in front of him, and how whenever he'd smile his half smile his left side of his mouth would open and his canine tooth was visible. One day, Elliot decided to tell Darren.
They were sitting in their dorm, studying, when Elliot spoke, speaking in English.
"If I tell you something, promise you won't make fun of me." He said and Darren nodded, so he continued, "Darren, since we met I knew we'd be close friends. But lately my feelings have… grown. I love you, Darren." Darren just nodded.
"Yeah, I know." Elliot was shocked.
"You do?"
"Yeah, you tell me every night, basically. Every night you say 'Je T'aime' to me. We have a brotherly type of love." He shrugged and returned to his French textbook.
"But Darren, I don't love you in a brotherly way. I love you more than that. I'm in love with you Darren." Darren sighed and closed the textbook.
"You're thirteen. You're not in love with. You're going to meet a lot of people in your life. Don't settle for me. I can't love you, Elliot." He said getting up and sitting next to Elliot.
"But I thought you were gay?"
"I have so much time to figure out what I am. All the time we've spent together, I've realized I'm not ready to be out and proud. I'm not like you. I don't have the ability to love people the way you do. I don't like getting attached to someone." Elliot had his head in his hands.
"I made it all up in my mind." He muttered.
"Whatever 'it' was, I'm afraid so, Elliot. I don't know how to love you like you want me to." He put his hand on the other boy's knee. "Je t'aime, Elliot. Mais pas comme ça. Te amo, Elliot. Pero no la forma en que quieres que yo. Ich liebe dich, Elliot. Aber nicht so, wie Sie wollen, dass ich. Ti amo, Elliot. Ma non nel modo desiderato a me." Darren and Elliot had taken up German and Italian. "However you want me to say it, that doesn't change the fact of it not being true. I love you, Elliot. I'm not in love with you though." Darren brought Elliot's hand up and kissed it. "I'm sorry I led you on. I didn't mean to."
"Well you did, anyways." Elliot stood up and left the room. When Darren ran after him, he almost forgot to yell in Spanish.
"Elliot! Please don't go. Please stay. If not for me, for the rest of the guys." He reluctantly went back with Darren.
Then Darren did something he never thought he'd do. He sat down next to Elliot and he reached up and put his hands on his cheeks. He scooted closer and Elliot asked breathlessly, "What are you doing?"
He leaned a little closer and whispered into Elliot's ear, "I'm seeing what you see between us. Seeing if there is something." Elliot's eyes widened as Darren leaned in, connecting their lips in a soft kiss.
"Stop." Darren was surprised by the words coming from Elliot's mouth, be he obeyed. "Why do you insist on making my life?"
"I said I don't know how to love you. Why can't you show me?" Elliot was standing up as they continued the conversation.
"This is not you. I constantly ask myself if you are a Spanish speaking prep boy, a French speaking jerk determined to break my heart, a German speaking boy that just acts innocent, an Italian speaking sweet boy just trying to follow his roots, or Darren; the English speaking boy I met my first day here. Darren; the boy that smiled and showed me a part of life that I never knew existed. Darren; the boy who accepted an outsider into his group of friends. But Darren, this isn't you. The you I know was that boy I saw crying that first day here. Who cried over his mom, who actually showed he had a weakness. This is not you. You're trying to be a new person. You're trying to build up enough confidence to show people that you do speak English and you're just using me as a step ladder. I get it, Darren. You're tired of hiding. And you may be tired of being in the closet, but you need to come out eventually." He was standing across the room as Darren whispered, "I would never do that to you."
"What?" he didn't know Darren was talking about.
"I would never use you like a step ladder. You mean too much to me… I thought if I tried hard enough, you'd notice me differently. I don't wan to be known as the boy who cries almost every day over his mom that he never got to know." Elliot had walked back over to him and put his hand on his shoulder.
"Darren, that makes you, well, you. That's who I'd like to know better." Darren looked up at Elliot.
"Elliot, if you're not busy, will you come with me somewhere tomorrow? I want to introduce you to someone." Elliot was confused but nodded.
December 22 That same year
The graveyard was only about five minutes away from the private school, so the boys just walked there, not talking. As they approached the graveyard, it dawned on Elliot.
Darren shoved his hands into his slacks and turned to Elliot.
"You see now. This is what my dad and I would do every year. We'd come to the graveyard, and I'd stand next to him holding his hand. This is the first year he hasn't been here." Tears were threatening to fall and Elliot held his hand out. Darren looked at it for a second before letting a tear fall and took it. They entered the open iron gates and Darren walked to the grave without even thinking.
As they stood in front of the tombstone, Darren let Elliot's hands go and knelt in front of it.
"Hi, mom. This is Elliot. He's from Canada, he moved down here in September. You'd like him, I know you would. I'm doing pretty well in school. I'm taking Spanish, French, German, and Italian. I'm the floor monitor, which basically means at night I have to make sure everyone is bed by eleven. I just wanted to say I wish I could come more often. And right now, I just really wish I could see you. Right now I need someone to help guide me, because I can't do this on my own. Everyday I put on a mask and I pretend to be someone I'm not just to stay popular. I don't want to stay here. I don't want to stay in this small town. I have dreams of going to college and playing baseball. But I just can't do it on my own." He was crying by that time. "I miss you mommy. I miss you so much it hurts."
He brought the sleeve of his cat to his eyes and wiped the tears away and he laid the red rose on the grave. He looked at Elliot more tears came to his eyes and one fell down his cheek and Elliot reached up and wiped it away. He put his arm around Darren's shoulders and they walked away.
As they approached the school, David and Mike approached them.
"What's wrong with Darren?" Mike asked slowly.
"What, are you two dating now?" David joked.
"No, we're not. And Darren just needs time to himself right now." He pushed through them, guiding Darren to the big wooden doors.
He sat him down on his bed when they got to his room. But when Elliot turned around to go into the bathroom, Darren whined for him to come back.
"I'm just going pee, Dare, I'll be right back." When he returned, Darren was pouting and he patted the spot next to him. Elliot looked out of the window and saw the sun setting.
He sat next to him and Darren thanked him by wrapping his arms around the older boy's waist. He rested his head on Elliot's shoulder and kissed his cheek.
He shrugged his coat off and threw somewhere to be known later and he pulled Elliot's off too, throwing it remotely in the same place. He pulled Elliot down with him onto the bed, resting his head on his chest. Elliot wrapped his arms around Darren comfortingly even though he wished it meant more to the boy that had fallen asleep on his chest.
*Next Day*
Darren groggily looked at the clock and closed his eyes before jumping up.
"No, no, no! Why today?" he'd slept in, even on weekends and holidays he'd have to be in uniform and patrolling the hallways at six thirty sharp. It was seven-oh-four. He grabbed his uniform and ran into the bathroom. He had just got out of all of his previous clothes and was about to get into his uniform when he heard Elliot call out his name.
"Yes?" he said, walking out into the dorm and saw Elliot smirking as he saw Darren walk out.
"Nice pink boxers. What are you doing?" Darren rolled his eyes.
"You would look there first. I have to get into my uniform for patrolling. You should too." Elliot groaned.
"It's your day to do that…" he said, sitting up and gazing at Darren as he walked over and sitting next to him.
"Come on, babe, please? I don't want to do it alone." Elliot was confused. Darren simply laughed and ran back into the bathroom.
Elliot had never changed into his uniform faster. While Darren slowly got dressed, making sure he had his dress shirt tucked in but has it unbuttoned at the same time when he came out to get a tie.
"Stare much?" he asked, but winked as he went back into the bathroom, promptly shutting the door.
He didn't know what their title was, but he didn't care. He only cared that there was a chance he could be with him.
Eventually, Elliot got up and walked out the door. About five minutes later, Darren walked out of the bathroom, hair wet and in his uniform. He yawned and grabbed his bag, walking out to find the hallway almost full with people.
But as he began to walk down towards the breakfast hall, someone grabbed the back of his blazer and pulled him down a deserted hallway.
"What, giving up your life of skipping now?" Darren smiled at the familiar voice, and got the boy to let go of his collar.
He looked around and grabbed the other boy and pushed him up against a wall.
"Never, ever, doubt me, New Kid." Elliot smiled at the name Darren had given him the first day he arrived.
"Seriously, Darren, we need to talk though." He said pushing the slightly taller boy back.
"Why? Why can't we do other things?" he whined.
"I need to know what this is to you." Darren finally gave up and looked at him.
They sat down at the base of the wall for a few minutes before Darren spoke up.
"You wouldn't believe me if I said that I'm in love with you. But I like you, Elliot. I guess I just don't want to see anyone else with you, so I did it myself. I don't want to see you get hurt, and I won't hurt you. At least not on purpose, anyway. I'm not ready to say that I'm in love with you, but I'd like a chance to at least see if I could be. I don't want to see someone take advantage of you. I would never do that." he crossed his leg to prove his point.
They got up and Darren grabbed his wrist and led him into the band room, which had been turned into a choir room over the months.
"Remember when I dragged you in here and took your hat?" Elliot nodded and Darren smiled and pulled it out of his bag. "I figured I'd keep it, like you're wearing the jacket I gave you." He shifted in his seat. "Some people would consider what we have as dating. I'd like us to use that title, Elliot. Only if you want. I would never force you into anything."
Elliot smiled and leaned a little closer. He pressed his lips to Darren's, lightly, and pulled back.
"So, is that a yes?" Darren asked.
"I guess so." After a few seconds of Elliot looking around the room he said, "Its sad how this is a choir room, yet it's not used for choir. Basically a storage room…"
"You know if we get a petition with twelve names on for a club, we can start it." Darren muttered.
"We know, like, eight people off the bat! Plus us, that's ten. Two people." Elliot's brow furrowed and Darren sighed.
"Who wouldn't want to be in a club that basically almost every popular guy is in?" they gave each other high fives and walked out of the room.
After they got almost twenty people to sign up, they turned it into the headmaster, who sighed and told them that if they cleaned the choir room and found an adult to run the club, they could.
"I know who. Mr. Low, remember? The Spanish teacher. I'm his favorite student because I can speak Spanish so fluently. I'll talk to him, but I have to tell him that I can talk in English." Daren laughed, as they were speaking French at the time.
As Elliot walked to grab Mike and David to help clean, Darren walked up to Mr. Low's Spanish room, located on the second.
"Mr. Low?" His teacher looked up, and then got confused when Darren spoke (nearly) perfect English. "I have to ask you a favor. As you notice, I can speak English. But I have to ask you a favor."
He sat down on front of his teacher as Mr. Low said, "What would that be, Mr. di Angelo?"
"You know how on my first day in Spanish class, before I was excused from the classes for being floor monitor, how you would sing a song almost every day, and when I asked you why, you said you loved music."
The older man looked at him before saying, "That is true. I tried to make a living in music, but alas, it was not successful."
"Well, about nineteen other guys and I are making a choir, and I- we wanted to know if you'd be willing to be the supervisor." Darren bit his lip as his teacher smiled.
"You know you're father loved music, too. He was in a band, you know. Very popular. Then one day in their third year of making music, the band just disappeared. I understand the other three guys tried to make it on their own, but your dad did lead vocals. Eventually the band went under. Now, your dad is a director, the drummer became an actor, the bassist and guitarist split up and went to separate bands. Sad, really. They gave up something that some people only can dream of." He had never seen Mr. Low like this before.
"So, is that a yes?" he asked, raising his right eyebrow.
"I would love to." Darren jumped up and gave his teacher a bear hug.
As Darren left the room, his vision wet suddenly blurry. He went to dorm, and grabbed his glasses, which he rarely used.
He took the few minutes alone in the dormitory to look at things on Elliot's nightstand. There was a picture of Elliot and basically an older version of Elliot. He looked on the back of the photo and saw the words, Elliot and Christopher at Vancouver Canuck's Game.
So, Darren thought, he's a Canucks fan...
He looked at the next photo and saw it was of a little girl, about seven years old. Annabel, the only reason I stayed. It was as if Elliot was telling Darren his life story.
When he came across the last photo, he saw himself in it standing next to Elliot. Elliot's left eyebrow was cocked and the corner of his mouth was pulled into a smile as Darren was behind him, his head on his shoulder and his hair wet.
He thought back to why he was wet.
Oh right, he thought, they pushed me in the pool.
He turned the photo over expecting to se only a few words when there was a whole paragraph. Darren. I knew from the first day I met him that we'd be friends, but I never knew I'd fall in love with my best friend. It's usually what guys say when they have a girl as their best friend, but I'm a normal teenage guy with a group of friends. Except the fact that I can't get the thought of us being together out of my mind. He's gay, I think, so it's not completely far fetched. But ever since mom and dad freaked out when I came out to them, I feel as if the only person I can confide in is Christopher and Darren. I don't want to lose him. It's just- I need him.
As he set the photo down, he saw a spiral notebook poking out from Elliot's pillow. It was opened and he saw a page with his name in Elliot's neat scrawl, so he began reading.
It sometimes feels as if I can't do anything. If I am nothing. My best friend has everything. I lost everything when I came out to my parents. I had to do it, but why did I choose to do it when Christopher wasn't there to protect me? I feel un-perfect. As if there is nothing I can do right. Darren hasn't noticed I've stopped eating and that every time I do, I become "sick." It doesn't feel right to eat like I used to. It feels gross. I've begun to swim and run and wake up at about five and take a jog. I've done this for about three months, and I hate hiding this from Darren. Darren; the perfect boy; popular, can speak five different languages; floor monitor; perfect in every way. He's out of my league. He's definitely out of my league. If he only once says I'm perfect I'd stop. But until then…
He threw the notebook under the pillow as the doorknob started to turn. He stood in the middle of the room.
"Hello. You're wearing your glasses." He started towards the bathroom.
"Where are you going? I thought you were down at dinner." Elliot gave him a guilty look.
"I must've eaten something bad. I don't very well. I'll be out in a-" Elliot was interrupted by Darren engulfing him in a bear hug, similar to what he did to Mr. Low.
"Please don't leave. Never leave me. You're perfect, Elliot. More perfect than I'll ever even wish to be." He let out a surprised noise as Elliot hugged back.
"I won't as long as you promise never to leave me." Darren pulled back and smiled.
"Like you for always." He muttered to Elliot.
"Love you forever." Elliot said.
As Elliot pulled his shirt, slacks, shoes, and tie, Darren had gotten undressed in the bathroom, washing the gel out of his hair and letting the curls come loose.
"How is it even possible to have curls when neither my dad nor my mom had curly hair?" Darren groaned at sat at the end of Elliot's bed.
"Curly hair is a recessive gene. Well, it can be." Elliot said sitting up and running his fingers through his curls.
"So, are silver eyes recessive? Because if they are, then you're lucky." Darren smiled as Elliot gave him a confused look.
"Why?" he said letting his hand fall out of the younger boys hair.
"No reason. Unless you count that silver eyes are sexy as a reason." Elliot rolled his eyes and pulled Darren down on top of him when he started to lie down.
"Wait," Darren said suddenly. "What does recessive mean?"
Elliot laughed and turned his lamp off. "I'll tell you in the morning." He said.
In a few minutes, Darren's breathing slowed and evened, and Elliot was pulled into sleep.
November 28th
Back to Seventeen Years old
Darren woke up to find Elliot asleep next to him. He had been brought memories of his past in his dreams and he sighed. He hadn't told Elliot he was guaranteed a scholarship to California State College. He wanted to be with his father. He also wanted to be with Elliot in Chicago.
He grabbed the letter where the words mocked him. It was an application to Chicago University.
Darren was in his senior year and he had to make his decision by February 15.
He put the application back into the drawer as Elliot began to stir. He nuzzled his head into Darren's neck.
Darren had told Elliot he was going to California State, so Elliot was making use of his time with him.
Darren sighed and turned around to look the older boy. Elliot gave him a drowsy look and Darren laughed before kissing his nose.
February 14
Darren had secretly sent in his application to Chicago University. Elliot had already confirmed that was where he was going.
On Valentines Day, he got an acceptance letter. He hid it from Elliot and he made his decision.
August 10th
Elliot and Darren's flight's left the same day. One to Chicago, one to California. Darren would be turning Eighteen in five days.
Darren boarded his flight first, hugging Elliot goodbye for what could possibly be the last time.
*few Hours Later*
Elliot stood in his apartment, which he'd be living in alone. The thought that he might never see Darren again depressed him.
He unpacked his stuff for the next few days and on Darren's birthday, he got a visitor.
The doorbell rang and Elliot reluctantly got up and answered. What he saw would shock him forever.
"You really thought it'd be that easy to get rid of me?" Darren was standing there; smiling a wide smile as Elliot completely tackled him. Darren whispered, "I'll never leave you. I made you that promise that I never would. You told me you would never leave me either. I always keep my promises."
Elliot smiled, remembering that day. "Like you for always." Darren said, and he saw the twelve year old boy who had curly brown hair, electric blue eyes, and freckles running across his nose. Elliot saw the boy he fell in love with.
As Elliot smiled at him, he saw the boy he met that first day. He saw innocent little Elliot, the new kid, with scared silver eyes, blonde hair falling in his eyes, and him being smaller.
Then, the younger boys disappeared and they saw the other. Darren returned the smile as he entwined their fingers together, both of the saying at the same time, "Love you forever."
This is the last official chapter. There will be an epilogue; I just really hoped all of you like it. Review or don't, I don't really give a damn anymore.
