Disclaimer: See Chapter 6

Redsandman99 Well thank you.

NeroAnne Not with Amy just a red head. Lol. Sorry. Yep. Thanks. I agree. After a while I don't think they would really notice everyone else. Ya know? Thanks. Yep. I've never been claimed as a pet before but this is cool. Lol. Don't worry, he'll come in soon. Have I ever told you how much I love your long reviews. They make me smile!

Alethea293 It's all good love, we all have busy lives. I'm glad you like it. Sorry about your breakfast, I hope it didn't get too cold/warm/soggy depending on what you were eating.

Slashdlite Thanks! OH yeah. Hmm… that's a nice visual.

Seraohalexiel Thanks love! (You know until you brought this up I didn't even know it existed. I'm so lost sometimes… lol) A little hot? Lol

InYourHonor Thanks. I like it too. Oh love, it's gonna have a lot. I want so much to happen and I haven't even put in a quarter of it yet. So you'll have many. :)

Welcome Home

Jeff woke early, feeling better than he had in years. He felt like he could take on the world and he planned on it. He showered and once he heard the patrons leaving he began to dress. A pair of low-rise jeans hugged his lower half, showing off his gorgeous legs and tight rear. The teal shirt clung to his lovely developing upper half. He looked in the mirror above the sink and sighed, he missed his own clothes and wanted to talk to Shannon so badly. He shook his head, the damp locks sticking to his cheeks as he went back to his room, shutting the door behind him.

"Knock knock," came a voice that Jeff hadn't heard in a long while.

Jeff smiled. "Hey John," he greeted before turning around to face the topless man. "I haven't really seen you since I got here.

John nodded sheepishly. "Needle's scare the hell out of me. I told Ron to tell you for me so I didn't look like a complete ass," he explained, walking over to Jeff's bed and sitting down. "You going out?" He looked the man over, thinking that Jeff was really good looking, now that he had put on some weight.

Jeff nodded after a moment. "I gotta get my clothes and stuff from my old apartment still," he said, turning to John again this time with a smile. "You wanna go with me?"

"I thought I was going?" Ron asked, smiling at the wide eyes he received from the two. He pressed a hand to his heart. "I'm so hurt." He chuckled, trying to feign real hurt as he leaned against the doorframe.

"I wanna go too!" a small voice injected, popping our from behind Ron. "Please!" Cody smiled, looking over Jeff and John.

"Can we all go at once?" Jeff asked, unsure of the rules of his new home. He looked over to Ron, waiting for an answer.

"I don't know. We've never had to ask before so I'm guessing we can," Ron said, moving to sit on the edge of Jeff's bed, close to John. "It couldn't hurt to ask though."

Jeff nodded, hurrying over to grab Cody's hand and leading him into the foyer. "Where would she be?" he asked, smiling at how easy it was to move and breathe and how wonderful his felt all over.

Cody led Jeff down the stairs and the other left, knocking lightly on the door. "Mama Melina," he called gently. He waited. He looked into Jeff's emerald eyes with excitement. A few moments passed and the door opened, Papa Paul standing there, staring down at the two. "What do you want?" he asked, no malice in his voice or stern face.

"Is Mama Melina busy Papa?" Cody asked, smiling at the tall man. "I wanted to ask permission to go out for the afternoon." He was careful with his words. He knew one wrong step could anger Papa Paul and after all, Papa Paul was the strict one but the first to protect them.

"Is that my Cody?" Mama Melina asked, making her way around the big man. She smiled, seeing the two boys together, hand in hand. "Well Jeff, it's nice to see you too. What can I do for your boys?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest and leaning against her husband.

"I was wondering if Cody, Ron, John, and I could do to get my clothes from my apartment today," Jeff said, earning a sharp look from Papa Paul but a smile from Melina.

The woman thought for a second only to nod. "On one condition Jeff. You have to start calling me Mama Melina," she said, feeling the velvet of her robe on her arms. "You may go and so you know you do not have to ask as long as you are back before work starts."

"Thank you so much Mama Melina!" Cody squealed, pulling Jeff back up the stairs before he could even utter a word of thanks.

Jeff smiled, looking around his room of people. "We can go!" he said, looking over his new friends. "But you have to change." He looked over Cody and John both in near nothing. "OR else some crack head is going to try and rape your pretty butts."

Cody looked down at his red short shorts with a smile. "Don't leave without me," he said, hurrying off to change.

John smiled, getting up and making his way back into his room. "Be out in a second," he said, shutting the door to his and Jeff's bathroom, a quick short cut between the two rooms.

"How do you think Shannon's gonna take this?" Ron asked, motioning for Jeff to take a seat next to him.

Jeff shrugged. He hadn't really thought about it. He had more over hoped that Shannon would be out when he got back and it would save them a fight or an awkward conversation at best. "I just hope he's not there. I need you to watch Cody through. I live in a pretty tough neighborhood. They'll try anything to jump his bones," he said, looking over at the dark man. "And you should put on a shirt or all the girls are gonna try to molest you." He chuckled, Ron ruffling his hair. "I'll be waiting right here."

Ron nodded, getting up and making his way to the door. "I hope you'll be ok out there," he said, stopping at the door and looking back at Jeff. "I don't want you to have a slip and end up back on drugs. You're too good for that."

Jeff smiled. "I know Ron. I know," he replied, voice soft. He watched as Ron left, and sighed. He hoped he didn't go back either but seeing Shannon and Trish, it was a big risk because he knew they would have it, but he was willing to try to at least have his clothes and few belongings. He leaned back on his bed, hands folded under his head in a makeshift pillow. He hoped he could talk Shannon into coming back with him but he knew how it would turn out but he still hoped.

Time passed and Cody peeked in on the other man. He could see that Jeff was laying there distressingly. "You know Jeff, you didn't have to stay here with us," he said softly, walking over to the bed and giving a gentle smile.

Jeff chuckled sadly as he sat up to look at Cody's freshly changed clothes. "It's not that," he whispered, looking down at their socked feet.

"What is it then?"

Jeff sighed. "Shannon. I don't want to see him because he'll have a fit." He looked up at Cody again. "He won't want to come here either. He'll die before he comes to a place like this. He's been at this longer than I have and he's not up to change," he said, flopping back onto his bed. "It'll just be an argument if he's there."

Cody climbed on the bed and pulled Jeff's head into his lap. He started to stoke the fading hair, the other colors starting to fade back into his natural blond. "You should let it go back," he whispered, running his hands through the silky strands. "Just think of it like your hair."

"'Like my hair?" he asked incredulously, looking up at Cody with a look of confusion.

"Yeah." Cody ran his fingers through Jeff's hair again. "You're hair grows out and it changes. It's like people. We make decisions and they can change over time. Just like your hair." He smiled, chuckling slightly at Jeff's face.

"Riiight," Jeff chuckled, sitting up and looking back at the younger man.

Cody sighed, watching as Jeff stood and threw on the same boots he'd come in with. "You'll see," he whispered, Ron and John returning just at the same moment. "You'll see."

Jeff fiddled with his hands as he made his way out of the house and down the street towards his old apartment. "I don't know about this," he said, looking over his friends, John covered in a deep blue with fur trim around the collar and hem pf his pants, Ron in a sleeveless and a pair of loose jeans, and Cody in a tight pair of jeans and a loose black t-shirt. They all looked like regular people just walking down the street in the middle of the afternoon.

"Don't worry Jeff, we're just going to get your things and then we'll go back," John said, wrapping an arm around the other man. "Tonight's gonna be fun, your first night on the job."

"John, be nice," Cody scolded, reaching over and taking Jeff's hand.

"Just because I like sex doesn't mean Jeff won't. Most of the patrons are nice anyway. It's not like they'll hurt him," John said, pulling out his sunglasses and putting them on.

Jeff snickered, Cody and John like bickering brothers. He tried to listen to the three and get lost in their conversations so he didn't have to think of Shannon. After another block he remembered that he didn't know anything about his new home or the rules of it. "Hey guys, what are the rules?" he asked, looking from John to Ron to Cody.

"Well the big one is to keep your language clean. So no cursing unless it's just us," John said, thinking hard.

"Keep our rooms clean. It's not very appealing if they aren't," Cody piped in.

Ron smiled. "Don't just squirm around the bed, it doesn't make money."

"Most of us have our own phones that have their own lines but we won't let our flavor of the nights use them for more than a minute." It was John again.

"Bad habits are to be gotten rid of, right when you open the door," Cody slipped in, hoping he didn't offend Jeff with his recent detox.

"Oh if you're taking sick leave be sure you're sick or else it's hell," John said after a moment of silent. "I know."

Ron leaned over to Jeff and whispered in his ear, "Papa Paul found John taking sick leave because he wanted to spend time with a patron and the poor guy almost died," he explained, watching John tense up before shaking it off and starting a completely different conversation with Cody. He pulled away. "That's pretty much it. We eat together most days and what Mama Melina and Papa Paul says goes and if you haven't already noticed Mama Melina is very lenient but Papa Paul is very strict but he cares about us more than she does."

Jeff nodded, keeping everything that was said in mind. He mulled it over as they walked, immersed in various kinds of conversations.

His walk wasn't very long but Jeff wished it were because just minutes after they stopped talking they were at his old apartment building in all its dirty glory.

"Home sweet home," Jeff sighed, looking over his home of six years. "Well lets hurry. Shannon'll freak if he sees all of us here at once. He'll think it's another train bang."

Cody looked at Jeff. "What's a train bang?" he queried, taking Ron's hand in his as they entered the building. He tried to ignore the mice huddled to one corner nibbling on some kind of leftover food.

"We'll tell you when you're older," John said, looking up to see the pained look on Jeff's face. "Do you have anything to carry your things in?"

Jeff nodded. "Should. Shannon had this thing about those reusable Wal-mart bags. I guess he could steal more if he had one," he said shrugging, walking up the first flight of stairs to the second landing. "Just down the hall." He led the way, smiling in comfort as he remembered all the time he'd spent there, all his memories.

"Jeff?" John asked, moving closer to the smaller man. "It's kinda scary here," he whispered, the yelling bothering him just enough.

Jeff chuckled. "You should be here at night," he said, looking up at John. "It's what you get used to John. At night you hear gunshots and sirens. But it's home."

John nodded, knowing that he had it good compared to this.

Jeff stopped at his door. "Home," he whimsically sighed, smiling at the faded metal letters on his door: '2G'. He pushed the door open, completely unphased that it wasn't locked. "Well lets go." He looked back at the three and led them in.

Ron and Cody looked around in silence, remembering their own pasts. John stood in the door, feeling worse about how bad Jeff had had it while he'd lived comfortably all his life.

"That's my bed over there," Jeff pointed out, walking across the studio apartment to the kitchenette. "Shannon must've gotten cold because my blanket's gone." He walked over to the still intact cabinet and opened it, showing his pill collection. "I used to stash my stuff here." He pulled out a bottle and tossed it to Ron.

Ron caught the bottle, watching as Cody moved around the tiny apartment and sat on the open windowsill. "What are they?" he asked, shaking the bottle before opening the top. "Ecstasy, Valium, and Tylenol?"

Jeff nodded, motioning for the bottle. "Yep." He caught the bottle and set it back where he'd first hid it and moved back his mattress on the floor. He looked around his apartment, taking in the blackened walls and burnt spoons. He looked down at the threadbare mattress with a sigh. "Well we better get to work," he finally said, looking over the room just a little more.

Jeff found the reusable bags and gave one to each of his friends to hold while he cleaned out the closet just beside his bed. Shirts, pants, skirts, tights, hair dyes, a dress or two, socks, and a few pair of boots made their way into the bags. He sighed, looking over the now half empty closet. He looked at the small shelf that held a few large boxes above the clothes.

"You have a lot of clothes Jeff," Cody laughed, looking at the three over filled bags.

Jeff laughed too, grabbing one box that was labeled with his name, the other two with a giant 'S' on the fronts. "This has my pictures and stuff," he said wearily, smiling sadly around the room, his eyes landing on the door.

There stood a beautiful short blond man. "Get a sugar Daddy?" he asked, leaning against the doorframe, a tight mesh shirt showing off his spacious luscious chest leading down to a sexy pair of legs clad in a black denim that fit like a second skin.

Jeff stiffened, turning around to face the eyes of his best friend. "H-hey Shan," he stuttered, setting the box down and walking past it. "How've you been?"

"I've been working my ass off trying to find you. Shad and JTG have been looking too and Eve's been worried sick," he snapped, crossing his arms over his chest and looking over the other three in the room. "These you're new flunkies?"

Jeff winced, knowing Shannon was pissed at him.

Shannon looked over the smallest one: Cody and scowled. "You're going to that whore house aren't you?" he asked, strutting over to Jeff and clutching the front of his shirt. "You and that little bitch over there. They've sucked you in!"

Jeff sighed, trying to break the hold Shannon had on his shirt. "Shannon," he whispered, pulling free before clinging to the shorter man. "It's not what you think. Come with me. Come to the house with me."

Shannon yanked away, looking at Jeff like he'd lost his mind. "What the fuck is going on with you? You just vanished a month ago and now I know you've just been living it up over at the fucked up place? Did you just forget that I was still here? That Trish was here?" he asked, slapping Jeff across the face. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Jeff cradled his stinging red cheek as tears entered his eyes. It wasn't the pain that hurt as much as it was the fact that Shannon had hit him. "Trying to live past twenty-five," he answered solemnly. "I got clean Shan. This stuff was gonna kill me. It's gonna kill you. Just come with us, please."

Shannon reared back and slapped Jeff again, this time across the other cheek. "Fuck you," he spat, looking at the three around them, all wide-eyed. "I've spent my whole life here Jeff, you know that and if you think I'm gonna drop all this to be some house whore you've got another thing coming. I like my freedom, if you want to be caged up like some bird you go ahead."

Jeff sighed, reaching out to Shannon. "It's not like that. It's so much different. Shannon, please, life can be so much better."

Shannon gave a cruel laugh. "Yeah right. You say that when you ran away from a perfectly good home. Left your father and your brother-"

"Shannon."

"Left them because you couldn't handle it."

"Don't do this, not in front of them."

"Couldn't handle if your brother found out about you."

"Shannon!"

"You and your Art teacher, sneaking out –"

"I'm begging you!"

"-fucking at all times of the day when you could find a free minute."

Jeff hid his face, thinking of the shame and anger in his father and brother's eyes. "Shannon, please," he whispered dejectedly.

"Matt would've disowned you," he huffed, furious eyes landing on Jeff. "You act like the victim, when you really started all this and then you act like you've found some God to save you skinny ass. Let me tell you that there is no such thing to save us from this life of drugs and sex."

Jeff felt his heart ache for Shannon, he knew he had it rough and life on the street was harder than it seemed, especially if you'd lived there your entire life. "I gotta go Shannon. You know where I am now," he said, taking his box and walking past his best friend.

The other three followed, looking back as Shannon stormed into the apartment before stumbling back out.

"Yeah and good riddance! You sucked as a roommate anyway!" Shannon called, the tears hid carefully behind his eyes showing through in his voice as it started to tremble. "I hope you rot in that place!" He turned, the first few tears sparkling on his cheek as they started to fall.

"Jeff," Cody whispered, moving close to the other man as he carried his bag of shoes, tights, and skirts. "Will he be ok?"

Jeff nodded, tears evident on his face as well. "He's just mad at me right now. It'll get better over time," he said, looking down at his box and giving a weak watery smile. "I have some pictures of home, if you want to see them before 'work'."

Cody nodded enthusiastically, anything to keep tears out of those emeralds that were shining bright before they left. "I love you Jeff," he said, resting a hand on Jeff's tattooed arm after finagling the bag to sit still on his shoulder.

"Love you too Cody, love you too," Jeff said, chuckling aloud. "Love you too Ron and John." He smiled, his friends chuckling lightly. "Let's get home." He tried to ignore his heavy aching heart as they made their way back.

John smirked. He knew Shannon would come to see Jeff, after all, who wouldn't want to see their best friend after so long?

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(A/N): Well. Shannon didn't take that the greatest. Don't worry though, this isn't the last time we see him. And Jeff now has all this things and tonight, the real fun begins. So, next chapter will have brand new characters and a lot more fun. I'm also sorry for the lag. I keep thinking a chapter is going nice and then I hate it and pretty much start over so I'm sorry for the long wait. Also, if you want to see something a little different from me Break Away has a new set of main characters. So past the shameless promotions. Tell me what you guys think. Title is Welcome Home by Coheed and Cambria.

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