A/N—Disclaimer: I don't own Lost Boys. The movie, and all the characters and happenings contained within it, belong to whoever owns Lost Boys. And it's not me.

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The deception was incredibly difficult. It broke Paul's heart the first time Marko tried to go outside during the daytime—"I want to go outside and play!"—; how could he explain it to the little boy? He struggled for days, trying to keep Marko busy, attempting to find a reason why he couldn't go outside and play.

"You need to stay indoors so that we can read to you more," was eventually what David came up with. It was a big commitment, as Marko took them at their word and piled book after book upon them. But they stuck to it, and the child's reading level rocketed. Paul, Dwayne, and David found themselves reading books about learning to read, just in an attempt to follow the little boy's progress.

The months passed. Marko outgrew the little toys and the picture books (Paul cried the first night Marko bypassed his favorite story for a longer chapter book); David and Dwayne dismantled the playpen and the crib as Marko grew older, and new pieces of furniture came in. The baby gates went down, since he could climb over them anyway. Paul counted down to Marko's fourth, then fifth, then sixth birthday, and then stopped.

Three Years Later

The realization hit him as he tucked the tired six-year-old into bed.

Marko was six. And after six came seven. And with seven came first grade. Tears filled his eyes, and he was glad that Marko tended to burrow under the covers while Paul tucked him in, ready to fall asleep the moment the lights went out.

He left the room, turning out the lights, and managed to make it to the main room before he curled up on the couch and cried like the baby his little Marko no longer was.

"Paul, he has to grow up. You know that." The couch creaked as David sat down.

"I…I k-know," Paul whimpered, burying his face in the pillows. "It just happened so fast…"

"Yeah, it did."

"He…he…HE STARTS SCHOOL!" Paul wailed, all his prideful misery coming out in a burst of tears. "My baby starts SCHOOL next year!"

David laughed as Dwayne glared at the two of them as he dashed over and closed the solid wooden door they'd been obliged to put at the entrance to Marko's room since he'd gotten into the habit of sleepwalking.

"Yeah, and he'll enjoy it immensely, Paul. He loves to read, and he picks things up really quickly. He'll love it."

"I know…" The tears wouldn't stop, and Paul rubbed at his face, trying to wipe them away. "I just can't believe he's grown up so quick…"

"I can't either. Neither can Dwayne."

"Wrong. I knew he was growing up. I just didn't tell you." Dwayne's answer revealed where Marko was getting his tendency for sassy answers.

"But he's going to grow up, and it's up to us to make sure he grows up well."

Paul nodded.

And then a fear struck him.

"If he's so smart, David, what do we do when he starts to wonder why we never go out during the day? If he's so smart, what do we do when he only sees us at night, and all we do is leave? What then?"

David thought for a moment. Dwayne answered. "A job. Night shift—we have to sleep for much of the day because we work the night shift. He'll buy into it long enough—"

"Long enough for what?" Paul's voice was louder than he'd meant it to be, but the fear in his chest was rising. This was all leading up to something, and all he knew was that it wasn't what he wanted for Marko. Not this…not what they had… "Long enough for us to make him a vampire? NO!"

"We never said that," Dwayne snapped at him. "Never."

"Then what were you thinking?"

The silence was horrid.

"I don't know what I was thinking," Dwayne muttered. "But I wasn't thinking of that."

"No," David agreed. "We're not going to make him a vampire."

"Ever." Paul insisted. He wanted it cleared up. He wanted it cleared up now.

"Ever."

But they still had to keep Marko in the dark for twelve years. A job might work, but what happened when Marko started going to the Board Walk on his own? What happened?

Paul had finally managed to get his tears under control. It was a relief, as he hated crying. But his heart was still aching.

He hadn't thought about his baby growing up. It hadn't crossed his mind, when Eliza Hendrickson had shoved her young child into his arms, that the infant would grow up. He guessed that he'd always thought that he would be taking care of a young child.

But that wasn't going to happen. Because Marko wasn't immortal. Marko was going to grow up. Marko was going to go to school. Marko was going to…

Marko, eventually, would have to die.

Paul cried himself to sleep on the couch, trying to catch the few hours he was ever permitted with a six-year-old around the place.

He wasn't sure just yet what they were going to do as Marko grew up. But he was absolutely certain that no matter what happened, Marko wasn't going to be a vampire.

That was a choice Paul wished he had never made.

And it wasn't one he was going to let Marko make.