A/N: Another story, bitches. Well this is kinda sweet & sad at the same time. Not sorry lol I wrote this a month ago & am just now posting this if that doesn't give you an idea of how lazy I am!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rocket Power or there would be definitely more episodes with Pi & Lars in it(:


It was late. Pi didn't exactly know what time it was, but the sun was coming up. Why he was up? He didn't know for sure. The night was filled with blurred memories. Bits and pieces that he wasn't sure how to connect... he got that way when he drank heavily.

His favorite thing to do was drink. He just wanted to forget. And he liked himself better with alcohol in his system, it gave him confidence which he wouldn't have sober.

Lars was the opposite of him. He loved to get stoned. It was his favorite thing. He loved the good buzz to help him feel better when he was naturally angry. It calmed him down on his bad days. Not to mention it made him hungry, which helped him have a regular weight instead of being underweight. He could forget his troubles and feel good about his life. He could pretend that it wasn't entirely fucked.

So, Pi got high to please Lars and Lars drank to satisfy Pi. It wasn't a good combination. For the two to be cross-faded. Yet, they did it anyway. To make the other friend happy. It was a silent agreement to keep their friendship strong.

Pi was buzzed when he stepped outside to watch the sunrise. He needed a cigarette badly... but he left his pack at home. He accidentally left it at home in his rush to buy weed for Lars. Lars told Pi to get it because he was getting alcohol. It was odd. How well they got along when they were cross-faded. Usually, Lars degraded him and made him feel like shit. But when he was cross-faded, they got along fine. Better than fine. Lars treated Pi like he was his favorite person ever.

Pi tried to think of why that was. But left it up to the combination of booze and good kush. Lars always got buzzed first. He drank a lot more than Pi did. Pi started off slow. Then as the night got later, he drank more. He paced himself. Lars went all out in a few hours until he passed out somewhere.

"Whatcha doing out here alone?" Lars walked outside of the front door. Pi was sitting on the porch steps of Lars' house.

"Thinking about how much I could use a damned cigarette." Pi replied as he heard Lars' footsteps behind him. He had always been comfortable with Lars. Mainly because they enjoyed beating the shit out of anyone who disrespected them. But also because they connected on a deeper level than anyone else. Pi thought they were getting closer. But he also didn't know if that was because they were just shit people.

"Here. You need a lighter?" Lars pulled out a pack. He got two out. One for Pi, one for himself.

"Yeah, I left mine at home." Pi pulled his legs up to his chest. Lars lit the cigarette for Pi then passed it to him. Lars lit his own.

They sat together in silence for a while. They both looked at the sky. Pi watched the morning sky change and get lighter. A million thoughts crossed Pi's mind. He wanted to ask Lars many things but couldn't open his mouth, afraid of interrupting this moment of pure solitude. No fighting, no laughter to make things better, this was just the truth and silence.

Now, their cigarettes were half gone. Pi turned his head to look at Lars. His best friend. Lars seemed lost in thought.

"You're my best friend." Pi kept it simple. He didn't want to ruin the moment, but he felt like he needed to say it. Lars cracked a big smirk. As if it was funny to him.

"I've known that since we were seven and you punched me in the face for hanging out with Sputs without you." Lars kept his gaze towards the sky.

"Well, yeah! You were an asshole for not telling me. Fuck you for that. I'm still a bit pissed for that." Pi had a serious tone in his voice.

"That was thirteen years ago, Pi." Lars pointed out just how long they've been best friends. Pi crossed his arms.

"Why do you drink with me if you don't like it?" Pi changed the subject. He couldn't reply to Lars. He knew how long they've been friends. There wasn't much argument. Besides he usually lost in disagreements with Lars.

"For the same reason you get stoned with me. We depend on each other to be happy. I don't know why, we just do." Lars breathed out smoke.

Pi stared at Lars. He rarely saw Lars in a serious state. Pi thought that Lars looked beautiful. But that was something he had to keep to himself and never tell anyone. Unless they asked him what he thought of Lars Rodriguez.

"My buzz is fading." Pi flicked ashes of his cigarette onto the bushes.

"Yeah, it is for me too." Lars agreed with him.

"Well... it's seven in the morning. We stopped drinking and getting stoned at three." Pi licked his lips. He wanted to kiss Lars in that moment. That would have made Pi so happy. He just wanted to see if they had any emotional connection. Or if it was all in Pi's head.

Lars remained silent. He didn't know what to say, he was tired but he wanted to stay up with Pi. They rarely got time alone. Either Animal or Sputs was with them, one or the other.

"You think my parents will notice if the house smells like weed?" Lars asked Pi, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Sandy and Raoul? They know you and Twister smoke, they won't give a shit as long as the stuff isn't in their sight." Pi had a point.

"Yeah, I don't know why I asked that." Lars knew the answer. So why did he ask Pi?

"To distract us from the real problem at hand." Pi said in a low voice.

There was more silence. This time, Lars looked at Pi. There was a look of worry in Lars' eyes but he would never admit that he was concerned.

"What's the real problem?" Lars asked a question he so obviously knew the answer to it was dumb. He just wanted confirmation from Pi. He wanted to hear it. That made it real, at the time it felt fake.

"I'm attracted to you. I connect with you on an emotional level and I don't know if you feel the same way. If you don't, that's fine. But that's how I feel." Pi let it all out. He didn't know if it was because his buzz was fading but he had confidence at that moment.

Lars tossed his cigarette into his yard. He lit another one. Pi was still working on his. There was silence. Lars didn't know how to reply. He had noticed Pi acting stranger than normal over the past few months.

"You do... well fuck, I need to think about this. For a few days. Maybe a week." Lars said while he exhaled smoke.

"That's fine. I don't need an answer. I just needed to tell you, or I'd go insane." Pi looked at the sun rising. It was a new day. Hopefully a better one. Now that his secret was out in the open.

"Are you gay? Or is it just with me?" Lars didn't know how this worked. Having feelings for another guy.

Pi wasn't exactly gay. He didn't think he was. He had multiple girlfriends that he loved before this revelation. But he wasn't in love with anyone like Lars. With Lars he felt like he was on top of the world, like nothing could ruin him. But at the same time, when Lars was a dick to him it hurt. God did it hurt. It brought Pi down so low he wanted to cry.

"Just you, as far as I know." Pi flicked his cigarette on the cement walkway.

Lars licked his lips. He had never had many girls like him before. Never had many people like him in general. In fact, his family found it hard to like him. And this was his best friend.

"I don't want to lose you as a best friend but I just don't know how I feel right now. I love you. I always have. But maybe this isn't the right time to get together or anything. I'm not used to anyone liking me. Let alone have them tell me about it." Lars' words made Pi's heart sink. He felt so bad. He wanted to cry. But he didn't. He couldn't cry in front of the guy who made him cry. Pi wouldn't give Lars the satisfaction of ruining Pi.

"That's just a nice way of saying nothing will ever happen between us." Pi took in a sharp inhale.

"That's not true. Maybe in a few weeks, months, or even a few years it'll be a good time for us. But as of right now, it's just bad timing. Sandy and Raoul have really been up my ass to be an adult. Dating you would just piss them off. It's just bad timing." Lars spoke in a gentle voice. A voice Pi had only heard once when Pi's mother ran away and left him with his drunk of a father. Lars didn't speak softly to anyone Pi knew of. Maybe it was just the wrong time.

"Can we just pretend that this conversation never happened?" Pi asked him with tears welling up in his eyes. He didn't want to cry in front of Lars. Not now, not ever. But he seemed to be losing that battle.

Pi hated putting himself out there and being pushed down. Over and over again. He couldn't understand why nothing good ever happened to him.

"No." Lars answered him in a crisp voice this time. Pi refused to look at Lars. Maybe he was being a jackass. Maybe he had some deeper understanding of this that Pi didn't know about yet.

Pi didn't know what felt worse. Keeping this secret for over a year or finally telling him this now. Either way he felt like this would change how Lars saw him. Things from this point on would be different for both of them. Lars would have to be careful what he said or what he did with Pi.

The game had changed. The rules were different now. Pi wasn't sure if he could deal with that. Would it be better or worse? He didn't seem to know.

They had always been close. Pi didn't want this to distance Lars from him. It hurt telling him. It hurt being with him now. It would hurt every time he saw Lars. It would hurt every time Lars made a joke to make it seem normal. Pi knew he would. And it would hurt every day of Pi's life from this point on.

"Why not?" Pi finally spoke in almost a gasp. He fought back tears. No, he couldn't cry. He wouldn't cry.

"Because you're my best friend. I care about your feelings and I respect them. I could never pretend like they didn't matter to me." Lars said to him. Pi heard him clearly but couldn't comprehend what Lars was trying to say. Pi looked away from Lars. He felt tears run down his cheek.

Pi gasped but remained silent. He couldn't talk to Lars. He couldn't physically talk to him. He would burst into tears.

Pi felt something grab ahold of his hand. Pi looked down and saw that Lars was holding his hand. Why was Lars doing this to him? He made Pi feel like shit for having feelings and now he was enabling Pi.

His stomach sunk but his heart was beating fast. As it always did when Lars touched him. Pi was hoping this moment would last a long time. Even though he knew Sputs or Animal would wake up soon and ruin it.

Pi looked down at the grass beneath his shoes. It was a perfect rich green. He laid his head on Lars' shoulder. Expecting Lars to push him off of him, as he normally would. But he didn't. Lars let Pi lay his head down on him. Lars smelled of cigarettes and weed. Which usually turned Pi off. But he didn't mind it at all this time.

In fact, it would be a smell he craved when he couldn't sleep. A smell he could get addicted to. Just because that's how Lars smelled, even at his worst.