Authoress' Note: Since I really have to finish this thing, I'm just joining all of the separate drabbles I wrote quite some time ago. It's all coming together like a puzzle, thankfully.
Summary: (AU fic) When you suddenly find your life shattered, you learn that love can be found in the most unpredictable places. Takes place through their last year of high school, so if you're looking for a Duel monsters story, this is not for you. ChazzJaden
Pairings: Mostly ChazzJaden and one-sided JadenAster, a bit of JesseJaden, but there'll be other pairings as well...
Warning: No warnings for this chapter. Only Chazz and his dirty, pretty mouth.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Gi Oh GX.

Chapter 10
"The Ghost Of A Good Thing"

When Chazz showed up the next day sporting a vaguely faded purple bruise on his cheekbone and a few more on his arms, Jaden's jaw fell; so did the entire rest of him actually. Slumped drearily in the disbelief left over by the realization that someone had dared to mar that pale, too-perfect-to-be-true face, the mere knowledge causing his insides boil right within his skin.

Apparently, some guy had tried to rob him while he was heading home for the day, he had resisted and well...the rest was kinda obvious.

Still, there was something fishy about the way his tale was excessively meticulous and sketchy at the same time, or the way he contradicted himself a few times as he was going through his anecdote. It just didn't feel right to him.

He and Sy had acted really strangely lately as well, interchanging fast glances instead of words like it was a secret language or something. Not that he was complaining, though. He was actually ecstatic about the fact that they were friends now. They were all friends, which meant he would no longer be the awkward line stopping those two from killing each other.

Chazz still messed around with him of course, calling him names and being the same jerk he had always been, and Syrus seemed to cope with it a lot better than before, even doing some name-calling of his own. Sometimes it was fun, others it was sort of uncomfortable for him because he never really knew what to expect when those two joked around.

But hey, maybe that was the kind of relationship they chose to have. As long as they were fine with each other, right?

Don't fix what's not broken, as they say, so Jaden was more than willing to let that one go.

AC/DC's Thunderstruck never got old, no matter how many times he listened to it. It was simply impossible. There was something about the name that just charmed him the very first time he heard it. An explosive classic; damn, that song was unadulterated perfection, in his opinion.

"Hey Chazz!" He really didn't want to believe the fact that Jaden's piercing voice was able to top Brian Johnson's cries — only it did, startling him out of his mind while he was living a flawlessly peaceful moment here.

Of course...It had been too beautiful to be true. "What now?" He replied tiredly without looking up at him. Sometimes he wondered why exactly he hadn't thrown him off some stairs and called it an accident yet.

"I kind of fell asleep last class so I was wondering...Can I borrow your notebook?"

"What do you mean you fell asleep last class? You do that every class, every day, you moron. Except for when it's lunch-time 'cause then you just dash through the door like freaking bullet." He made a gesture with his hand to describe the way that bone-head fled every time the ring for lunch rang.

Instead of pondering the truth in what he was saying, the loser actually nodded and grinned goofily at his comment. "Yeah..." His expression sobered up significantly after a second. "Wait, is that a yes or a no?"

Honestly, why did he even bother?

"No. I won't help your lazy, scumbag habits." The dark eyed teen yanked his front bangs and sincerely wished he could put the idiot here out of his misery without getting his hands too gory. "God, you're a...a..." The word took a while to come to him but the instant he found it, he knew it was perfect for Jaden. "You're a slacker." A green light lit on his head at the very sound of it rolling off his tongue. Yep, it was definitely the one. "Besides, you'd probably lose it anyway."

Caramel eyes narrowed slightly at the floor in deep thought (which he really doubted) and turned back up at him with uncertain inquisitiveness. "Okay, I can give you a warrant if you're so worried about it. That way, if something happens to your notebook you can legally beat me into a bloody pulp."

Chazz scoffed at his comment and looked out the window to calm himself. "Oh, believe me, I don't need a warrant to do that..." He sneered a little at the way the brunet simply nodded yes. People who recognized the threat of others without showing too much pride, he appreciated greatly.

Especially if he was deadly serious about his words.

"If you want it to be legal, then you do."

The slacker had a point. Man, did he love the sound of that. "Alright." Terrific; he had a favorite word now and a piece of paper would soon give him the opportunity to kick the crap out of Jaden. What could be better?

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He had been innocently walking by the Gym, looking for someone to mess around with, i.e. John or Bastion, and saw it.

More specifically, he saw her. Leaving dust behind for her contenders to suck in as she ran keenly through the track, looking devilishly hot as hell with that golden hair that soared in the wind and her Champaign eyes narrowed forward, determined and passionate. And judging by the dirty looks most girls shot her way, it was most certainly not the first or second time she'd passed through the mass of slow bitches.

Then again, how could she not? With those legs, Alexis could easily outrun Jaden and him on a race; hands down. Those things were freakishly long! Not that he'd have any time to whine though.

There'd be too much movement going on to even focus on the path, if you catch his drift. Too much magnificence popping into view to waste his time nursing his bloated ego. He sighed, loving the soothing way his shoulders sank when the air abandoned his chest completely. 'This right here has to be what falling in love feels like...'

However, before he could start fantasizing about unexpected rain (hmm...) or anything for that matter, the P.E. teacher whistled to make it all stop too quickly and dismissed everybody.

Which meant the girls had to visit the showers and ding, ding, ding! That son of a bitch wasn't as brain-damaged as he thought he was after all.

Anyway, he wasn't your average desperate little dork who had never gotten laid, (namely Syrus), so he wasn't about to sink that low. Well...at least not today.

The next weeks passed by calmly; sort of uneventfully, actually. Everything was fine and serene, so wonderful it didn't surprise him that much when Gabriel asked him to take care of the business for a few days. Her mom had had a heart surgery and she was going to look after her, at least until she got discharged.

And he'd agreed right away at the shaky tone in her voice. No second thoughts of any kind because Gab was his friend and she needed him. Naturally, it was a massively big responsibility, but he'd been pretty much handling everything single-handedly for a long time so what difference would it make now?

Jaden very smartly forgot to mention that fact, of course. Bringing up criticizes to a scared woman was suicide, after all.

The day was slow and quiet — two things he didn't know he would cherish so much. He was cleaning the coffee and whipped cream stains from the counter and thinking about his comfy bed while Jon Bon Jovi crooned softly in the background when someone snapped their fingers in his face. He glanced up...well, put some focus into his gaze and stared stupidly at Chazz's trademark your-a-hopeless-idiot face.

"Welcome back, loser." His overly sarcastic friend smirked mockingly and bore those pale orbs into his like he always did whenever he wanted to mess with him, and it drew a blush out of him almost instinctively.

A reaction he was unable to escape, 'cause hey, this guy sure was something. He watched silently as his fingers tightened around the wet cloth, smiling a little helplessly. So what if Chazz was doing something screwy and wicked with his head? It wasn't like he minded at all, particularly when he chuckled or smiled at him in a certain way.

Because it wouldn't be the first time caught himself thinking: 'Another one of those cunning smiles and I'm so in...'

"I was planning on drinking that coffee today. Think you can manage, slacker?" Though he had to admit, the part that came after that was constantly the nasty one.

---

How could someone have such craving for something so bitter and...dark? The night-creature sitting in front of him was calmly finishing his third cup, probably angling for the fourth one, sipping on it like it was plain water and not the exceedingly concentrated black coffee he asked for. With two tablespoons of his strongest coffee per cup, it was clear that this guy had a death wish.

Or maybe just a very unhealthy addiction. Who knew, right?

"You really like it, don't you?" He found himself asking out of the blue, already bracing himself for the inevitable sarcastic response he'd surely receive for asking the freaking obvious. A reply that maybe he'd been looking forward to hear since it was as expected as 4 showing up after punching 2 + 2 into a calculator.

But then Chazz reminded him of his kinda sinister unpredictability by simply nodding, his voice raw and a few octaves lower than usual from the heat of his beverage as he said, "Yeah, I love coffee." Something about his tone or the way his gray gaze seemed to light up at his own comment made him believe there was a whole nostalgic story behind that wacky fondness; either way, he didn't ask.

He more than happily settled for allowing the adamant smile pulling at his lips to show. This side of him — this unguarded, honest person he liked the most. The guy that could dream him off his feet with a single look because it was the real Chazz Princeton staring back at him.

No mask or bluffing act, just him.

No matter how hungry he was or how many times he looked, the food available in the cafeteria was still A-rated crap. Dorothy was a nice lady and all, but her cooking seriously made him consider the amount of nutrients found in dog poop.

He was so miserable and hungry that when the smurf popped down next to him, he didn't say anything to make him go puff with indignation — didn't even try.

A drained sigh softened his whole body in a second. It would be virtually impossible for the day to get any worse, in his opinion.

Or so he'd thought, because right then some blonde chick decided to spill her whole cup of orange juice on Syrus while she was passing by. All of it. His eyebrow raised on its own when he noticed that several drops had missed his arm and thus, his very beautiful gray shirt by mere inches. The girl apologized to them nervously under his piercing stare and left, not without very politely leaving some napkins on the table.

When he glanced at the shrimp and fully saw how it all had turned out for him, he threw his head back and crackled like there was no tomorrow. It seemed the man upstairs was getting creative with the ways He decided to make his day.

Ah, look at that. Syrus' head wasn't mushroom-shaped after all. So it is true what they say...

You really learn something new everyday.

He put an arm around the shorter teen's shoulders and leaned on him. "Worst part is, that's probably the only juice interchange you're ever gonna have, kiddo." Chuckling contently, he gave Syrus a courtesy squeeze before chomping on his meal with a smirk as wide as it would get and still be considered a smirk, even if what he was trying to shove down his throat was hazardous waste.

And damn it all to hell if he wasn't unraveling with cheerfulness at the way the other was staring at him incredulously. Oh, did he love being the effing jerk of the story.

With a burning hole on his stomach and hardly an ounce of energy left on body, Jaden yawned as he walked down the hallway. The full-time week of work was practically munching away at his sleep hours, he had to stay late stacking endless piles of cappuccino boxes and he was so hungry he could literally eat a horse.

He was so close to the cafeteria he could almost taste Dorothy's delicious food. The guys were probably already there waiting for him.

When he was 5 or 6 steps from it, Chazz's tall silhouette appeared in the doorway, smirking and looking all haughty like always and yet, like he'd never seen him before. If he didn't know any better, he'd say his black haired classmate almost glowed under the morning light.

Simply for the sake of reassurance, he glanced around to check if anybody else noticed that. 'Nope, just me...'

Strangely enough, that scary grin widened slightly the moment their eyes meet. The brunet raised one eyebrow and stared at Chazz warily. There were only two possible explanations for that kind of glee: a) He was up to something wicked, or the old and reliable b) Someone else was suffering greatly.

And why did the image of Sy come to his mind at that?

"You really creep me out when you smile, you know?" Seriously, how could someone with a face like that ruin the complete meaning of a smile?

This time, the other simply laughed. "I'm in a good mood, that's all." As much as he'd wanted to comment on that rather apocalyptic event, the fact that Chazz leaned over him and sniffed was a little bit too distracting. The thoughts and feelings running behind the odd expression on his friend's face were more than unreadable for him.

It kinda threw him off balance because, for one, he had no idea what the other was looking for. Besides, he really shouldn't come up that close to him because it produced some interesting consequences and he was sort of dying here, willing himself to keep his stance as ridiculously hard as that seemed. Did Chazz do it on purpose or something?

The only emotion he could discern on those brilliant orbs was perhaps mild interest — the other one might take him a little longer to make out. "You smell like coffee." He said plainly, eyeing his face (not precisely making eye contact, by the way) in a curious fashion.

And then, just like that, it all clicked.

'You really like it, don't you?'

'Yeah, I love coffee.'

"..." Neither a response nor the motivation to give one dared to cross his mind.

Yep, he was definitely doing in it on purpose.

Although he was too busy to notice much of anything, he did manage to pick up the way Chazz's expression sobered up in a second and how his tone switched from very enticing husky to a down-to-business one. "By the way, it's been 4 weeks, slacker! I need my notebook back."

Somehow, (thankfully) his own head cleared up at the change in the other's demeanor. "Alright, but I think I left it at home. Why don't you come with me and Sy after school? We could go to the lake after that, what do ya say?" Even if he really, really wanted Chazz to come, he honestly didn't expect him to actually consider his offer.

His face lit up at the opportunity.

A whole evening with his two best friends at his favorite place in the entire town. That'd be awesome.

The youngest Princeton tapped his chin, eyes narrowed cutely. "Hm..." He then sighed and shook his head. "I only asked for my notebook, not for a session of intense mind-torture. So...thanks, but no thanks."

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Why was he tagging along, again...?

For the twentieth time that day, he huffed disdainfully, arms folded over his chest. All he wanted was to get his notebook back, and here he was, barely pulling through one of the longest days of his existence with Mr. Brightside and Mickey Mouse chewing at his patience.

Said boys were chatting happily two feet or three ahead of him, distance he had placed himself. Far too fed up with life to glare holes into their unaware backs like he wanted to, he sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets, focusing his gaze on the stripped ground while they crossed the broad street separating them from Jaden and Syrus' neighborhood.

Ah, he definitely would end up in a mental institution after this. Y'know, the kind of place that only drives you crazy. Well...crazier.

But hey, maybe that was exactly what he needed. A nice, quiet place where he would always be taken care of, drugged even, and there would be no more school for him, or Jaden or Syrus. And no more Slade or Jagger, and oh God, he could've rocketed through the roof at that one.

Now, that would be a life. Even if the food was probably crap and the nurses weren't hot, it would be as close to paradise as he'd ever be.

A few steps from reaching the sidewalk, Jaden looked back at him and beckoned for him to get closer, flashing him the most charming and brilliant grin he could possibly offer. The black haired teen's head snapped up, and he found there was nothing he could do about the blush burning bright on his cheeks.

'Stupid slacker...Does he have to be so goddammed...' beautiful! '...cheesy?'

He jogged in order to catch up with them, but when he was halfway there his pace flattered slightly the second those cinnamon eyes grew wide in shock. Everything around him seemed to advance in slow motion, whereas, his mind and body did not. The bus was moving towards Jaden with great speed, so he knew he had to be just as fast.

Acting on raw instinct, Chazz leaped from his spot and got to him in no time. He put one hand on his shoulder, hooked the other around his waist and shoved him with all his might.

The force of suction the bus created as it passed by way too closely behind him grazed his back like a casual yet forgiving caress, making him sway a little in midair before he finally planted his feet firmly on the concrete.

Jaden took a few more steps forward, trying pretty valiantly to recover his equilibrium but falling to his knees eventually in stunned-to-the-core stupor. Luckily, he managed to get past his daze to keep himself from plummeting face-first into the ground by trusting his hands in front of him.

An eerie, unnamed feeling vibrated through him, shaking the foundations of his very being.

Strangely, it only took one insecure glance over the shoulder from Jaden to convince his denying self that the dark feeling rocking his body so furiously was none other than pure, mind-tearing fear — one that ran as deep as a silver blade through the heart and that increased with every second he spent lost in the other's caramel wide-eyed stare.

With his pulse still hammering away at the walls of his chest, he rested his hands on his knees to keep himself from following the slacker's actions and crashing down to the sidewalk like a corpse. He was so terribly scared out of his mind for reasons he didn't even understand, much less know how to act upon. At a complete loss for both words and actions, he traced the worn-out, safe pattern of denial and dealt with his emotions the only way he was acquainted with.

Good old Anger.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Despite the powerful, coaxing tone to his breathless words, the brunet didn't respond. Hell, he didn't even bat an eye, which only exasperated him even further. "How could you stay in the middle of the street like that?! You...you...moron!"

He needed a time-out here, dammit. His head was a total chaos. On one side, he kinda really wanted to walk up to the slacker and slap the living hell out of him. Still, the odd desire to kneel besides him and run his hands over his chest, arms and face, simply to check if he was truly okay, it was equally powerful.

Or perhaps stronger, even if he was certain the slacker was unharmed.

He had made certain of that, after all.

"Jaden!" The screech Syrus let out as he ran towards them split a final crack into his self-control, making it epically hard for him not to scream at him to get the fuck lost before he lost it completely. So instead of blowing up at the shrimp for reasons he might not be able to explain later on, he settled for hanging his head low with his eyes shut tight, hidden from Jaden's searching gaze 'cause he knew something inside him would break beyond repair if he kept eye-contact any longer.

Not sure what or why, but the feeling was convincing enough.

"What happened?!" Weird situation or not, he couldn't hold back the small snort that came out of his mouth at that. Only Syrus Truesdale would fail to notice his friend almost getting killed a few feet away from him.

Seriously...

Straightening up to stand at his full-height, he paced forward as calmly as someone with shaky legs could and came to stop at an arm-length from Syrus and Jaden. "Nothing. He just tripped over something like the clumsy little idiot he is." The indignant glare the smurf sent his way melted into a blank stare as he reached out and picked the brunet up by the collar of his red t-shirt in one swift, smooth motion.

A bizarre twinge of apprehension and maybe some kind of twisted-up sympathy stabbed at his gut when the brown eyed teen sort of leaned on him for support. Clearly, he wasn't the only one with wobbly legs.

Shame on him and all, but that last revelation kinda made him feel relieved.

"Right, slacker?" Just so the shortie wouldn't notice any of it, he steadied Jaden by putting one hand on his arm like it was nothing more than a casual act of friendliness, gripping him with the firmness of a rock castle until he was confident the other wouldn't fall.

After a long pause, his classmate finally answered with a wavering smile. "Yeah...Sorry I worried you, Sy."

Not being able to help himself, and actually not wanting to, he ruffled those chocolate locks affectionately and smirked down at the sloppy loser at his necessary charge.

"Good boy."

The instant they entered the neighborhood, Sy said goodbye and headed home — or ditched them, according to a faintly pleased Chazz. He wasn't sure if his best friend leaving had in fact thwarted his whole plan for a trip to the lake or not since it was very probable his black-haired friend would decline the invitation now that it was only the two of them, but he decided they might have had enough excitement for a day, anyway.

The front door was unlocked, which meant either his mother or Tony were somewhere around the first floor. As soon as he opened the door a warm, homemade pizza scented wave hit their faces and crept seductively around them, making him sigh happily while Chazz merely closed his eyes and smirked, hands in his pockets.

Ah, the best homecoming welcome ever. "Jaden, that you?" His ears literally perked up at the sound of his mother's voice.

Cheerful as ever, especially when steamy pizza waited for him at the table, he walked towards the kitchen where he guessed his mom was calling him from. "Yeah! I'm with a frie-" He looked back at his unwilling guest and his words died down in his throat right away at the suspicious expression in the other's face. He followed his observant stare and found his step-father standing in between them at the bottom of the stairs.

What interested him the most, though, was the way Chazz was gazing at the man. It was weird and kinda beyond words but whatever it was, he knew it was definitely not the way someone would stare at a friend's father. He shot him a questioning look before putting a hand on Tony's shoulder in order to make him break eye-contact with the youngest Princeton.

"Hey man, this is Chazz." Still more than a little confused by the other's odd behavior, he gestured towards him with his chin. "He's a good friend of mine from school."

Purposely, he ignored the clear-as-air stiffening that came off his classmate in waves at his comment.

At his very true statement.

"My, my, and just who are you?" His mother, like practically always, managed to sneak up on them, her eyes and tone amusedly delighted as she walked over to where the older teen stood silently — rather bashful if he was to describe it — and linked an arm around him, gently guiding him closer to Tony and him. "C'mon, you're too pretty to stay in that corner by yourself."

Shame on him and all, but Chazz's obvious awkwardness and the blush that glowed zealously on his pale cheeks was probably the best thing that had happened to him in months.

There was just something about seeing him so flustered that simply distorted his senses and made him feel like his face, as well as his whole freaking body, was wrapped all around by hellfire. In all the rarity of such occurrence, that craving that had become almost like a fetish of his or something. And in all honestly, he'd never given fetishes-related subjects any thought before, much less pondered on how good they could feel so he really was more than intrigued on that.

Back to the matter at hand. "His name's Chazz Princeton, Mom. He's a friend from school." His mother looked up at the black haired young man next to her and beamed sweetly, and much to his infinite surprise, his friend actually grinned back. Well, it wasn't that much of a surprise if he looked closely.

"Pleased to meet you." The whole thing smelled like success to him. She never smiled that way to any of his friends. Never. Sure, she was nice and welcoming and jolly, but he knew she reserved that infallible smile for only two people in the entire world. One of them wasn't even around to see it anymore, so it was really an honor.

"You can call me Leyla." Damn, the guy stupidly was charming. He laughed softly. It felt good to know he wasn't the only one who believed that.

"We only came to pick up some things, unless..." He ventured a beseeching glance at the ebony haired boy and saw a reluctant, uncertain plead in his eyes, mirroring his intention in his own Chazz-ish fashion. Either way, it made him tremendously glad. "You wanna stay for dinner?"

As expected, his mother didn't even wait for the answer. "Perfect. You two go get cleaned up and I'll set everything, okay?"

---

Thanks to his mom's cooking, the meal was delicious, to say the least. Rachel was napping, Alessa was at a friend's house studying and Sam was out in a date, so the four of them had the pleasure to eat in such heavenly peace and quiet. Or not, since Chazz was overwhelmed with questions and comments from both his mother and Tony, which he managed to counter with impossible grace and ease, speaking and eating like a true gentleman and his mom just could not have enough of it.

She almost died from a happy heart-attack when he offered to help her with the dishes.

Yes, he was perfectly blending in with his family and the best part of it all was that he wasn't even being phony in order to do so. His gaze, the easiness with which he performed every single one of his moves and the smoothness of his voice as he talked, he knew it was everything but fake. Was sure of that, very deep down.

He was truly like that. And even though it was an appealing side of him, he didn't find himself wishing for him to always be that person. He liked Chazz exactly the way he was —a witty, well-mannered and extremely sarcastic jerk with fleeting but constant moments of great adorability.

Because he knew Chazz wasn't really the Chazz Princeton if he wasn't any of those. Or all of them.

Oh, yeah. Even to these days, the guy could confuse the hell outta him.

After doing the dishes they went upstairs, to his room. He couldn't say whether Chazz was surprised or relieved to discover how organized his room was. He wasn't a neat freak or anything; he just liked it best when he could move around without tripping every five freaking seconds.

Neatness or not, he still had a pretty hard time finding that notebook. The other simply followed him with his eyes, raising an eyebrow at him when he disappeared inside his closet or behind his bed side. "Aha, found it!" It had been under his bed, lying there with some dust bunnies over it. "Here..." He blew the dust away and handed it over to a slightly peeved Chazz. "Thanks, man."

His classmate stared at him suspiciously for a while before saying in a deadly dim tone. "Jaden..." He cocked his head to the side a little at that, gazing at him with the biggest attention and inquisitiveness and the wait almost killed him 'cause his friend never talked like that. Not to him, not to anyone. "Did you even open it?"

Gasping with a hand on his chest and a baffled look on his face, he was the ultimate embodiment of indignation. It was, nevertheless, just a personification — one that his friend was not buying in the least. "Of course I did! You think I'd ask for it just to leave it there like that..."

The instant Chazz dropped his brows and lowered his eyelids faintly to glower at him, he decided giving up was a very good idea.

"Alright, I didn't exactly go through it..." At the darker gray glare aimed at him after that, he closed his eyes shamefully and rephrased, "I only read ten pages, but only because I couldn't understand most of what I was reading." Somehow, the other's discontentment triggered some kind of desperation in him, a hunger for approval that made him grasp at straws just to wipe it off his face.

Especially if he was being completely upfront with him by admitting his little academic problem.

Chazz's sigh made it all worse, either way. "Look man, Banner's out of his cat-loving mind if he expects me to learn all of those formulas AND understand them on top of that!" When the black haired teen straightened up and took on his stern-teacher stance, he turned his head away and waited for the beginning of an argument.

An argument that didn't look too promising for him, mind you. "He doesn't expect you to learn or understand anything if you fall asleep every class, slacker!" In a very Princeton manner, he tapped the cover of the notebook against Jaden's forehead. It didn't hurt his head at all since it hadn't been done with that intention; the feeling he got stung enough, though.

"Well, it's too late for that so why don't you just tutor me or something, Mr. Perfect?" He pushed the offending object to the side and returned the frown.

He'd been anticipating annoyance or maybe anger, but the bewildered stare he was receiving threw him off guard and he kinda wished he had a camera on him at the moment because Chazz looked like he'd told him he was an alien from a very, very distant galaxy roaming the earth in search for yummy brains or some idiocy like that.

"You...you want to learn this stuff?" The way he said that, it sort of made him believe he'd never thought he would have to use all of those words together in a sentence, in that exact order.

It sounded like a challenge to him. And if it was indeed one, he was so gonna nail it. He smirked boldly. "I do, actually. Unless you can't teach me because you didn't understand a thing yourself, that is."

Never one to back down from a challenge either, Chazz smirked back. "You're on."

He'd be lying if he said he hadn't expected him to add 'bitch' at the end of his agreement.

---

He banged his head against the desk below him and waited. Fifth time he'd gotten the entire problem wrong, his frustration was only understandable. His tutor didn't seem to believe that, though.

"Listen, I know this sounds painful, but you have to think really hard about it, slacker." There it was — the mocking evaluation he'd get for his lousy try, and sure enough, it was scornful, but the tone he used was neither mocking nor sarcastic; it was tired and hopeful and it warmed his heart immensely to hear that.

To realize that at least someone hadn't given up on his academic skills, and he respected him a lot for that 'cause that only highlighted his fiery persistence. Chazz stood up from his computer chair and sat down next to him on the bed, "The whole thing is not difficult at all, just a little messy. It's your job to sort it out and then find the answer."

"You're tutoring him?"

Raising their heads sharply like wary birds, they both turned to the doorway at the intrusion. Sam was standing there, her slightly freckled face scrunched up in a skeptical frown.

"Tch, good luck. You're gonna need it. He's got a peanut-sized brain." She glanced at Chazz with an expression that terrorized him out of his mind.

Interest and flirtation were both written almost imperceptibly on her soft rosy features and now that he looked closely, she was wearing some black eyeliner to accentuate the pretty shape of her ruby eyes. The most terrible part of it all, however, was definitely that way his classmate was smirking at her. He probably couldn't pick up her intentions because he didn't know her as well as he did.

Still, that didn't make it any less horrifying to him.

"I'm Samantha, Jaden's...sister." The brunet's jaw fell to the floor. Okay, something here was appallingly wrong. Samantha? Since when did she let anyone call her that? Countless times had he heard her bark about how much he hated to be called that. When the other opened his mouth to reply, she held a hand up to stop him. "Chazz Princeton, I know. Mom's still talking about how handsome and polite and simply great you are."

No bitterness and no disdain in her voice could only mean one thing — she agreed in everything.

"Anyway, I have to go now, so..." And just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, his older sister smiled shyly. His cynical, monotonous and smug older sister smiled. He wanted to scream and run in the opposite direction. "Nice to meet you, Chazz." Dazed and nervous, he stared after her as she walked away stiffly without waiting for a response, closing his eyes once she was out of sight.

He couldn't stop himself from noticing how right she was. This was nothing but a waste of time; a waste of his and Chazz's time, in fact.

Movement from his right startled him a bit, yet not enough to make him lift his eyelids. Well, that was until he felt something poke his nose, naturally. Chazz's elongated index finger was hovering inches away from his lips and nose, the tip of it so close to his face he had to go all cross-eyed to see it clearly.

"Don't make me believe her." With upmost care and sympathy, the midnight haired teen began to erase his incorrect scrabbling from the now too-thin paper sheet and swept the eraser bits away with his hand. He was enthralled by the act, to be honest, and even more when the other held the pencil out to him with a small reassuring smile on his gaze. "I know you can do this. Try again."

Holding eye-contact for only a second longer, he stood up again and threw himself into the other bed, the one reserved for guests (he called it Sy's bed, either way). He laid there on his back with his feet still touching the ground and fingers pinching the bridge of his nose, eyes shut. A sigh to behold, alright...

He could've stared at him until the end of times if the silence had remained forever. Only it didn't.

"I meant try again, as in now, slacker. I'm getting old here." The change in tone and attitude from Chazz surprised him more than his sudden outburst. Every so often, it was too easy for him to forget how horribly volatile he could be; mostly when he acted so nice and understanding.

A strange emotion bubbled on his chest the second he realized he didn't mind the mood swings in the slightest.

"Besides, I thought you said something about taking a trip to the lake or something like that." His ears perked up at that.

Now he was talking his language.

Without wasting another second, he started solving the stupid problem that stood between him and a nice afternoon at the lake with his black-haired friend.

Mrs. Yuki was an eye-catching kind of woman. Most likely on her late thirties (if he was to exaggerate because her lean figure said otherwise), with wavy, shoulder-length auburn hair and soft chocolate eyes. Her eyes were attractively large and rimmed with long brown lashes, exactly the shape he liked in a woman. Gorgeous didn't quite come close to describe her — simply put, she was very, very beautiful.

The slacker's resemblance to her was scarily clear. And yes, he just very plainly but indirectly admitted he considered the bone-head 'attractive'.

It wasn't his fault, anyway. Blame the moron for being so pretty and having the figure of a little, helpless damsel.

Oh, well...something to deal with later, he guessed. For now, all he wanted to do was close his eyes and take a warm bath in the dying sun's glow, with the trees rustling above him and the leaves hopping around them, carried playfully by the wind.

It was so peaceful it kinda struck his weary mind as surreal.

"So...you've met my family."

Without moving an inch, he offered Jaden a brief sideways glance. Damn...it was hard to remember the guy was still there when he was so quiet like that. A very random and dumb thought, but he was kinda, stupidly grateful for the privacy of the human mind. Another thing he had to thank the man upstairs for.

That was precisely why he was able to hold a straight face and say, "Jaden, maybe we should slow down a little. I don't know if I'm ready for a long-term commitment right now."

He waited a little while before turning back to the brunet with a small smirk. Ah, he really should start packing up a camera anywhere he went 'cause the face the other had was utterly priceless. He blinked twice in rapid succession and then laughed out light-heartedly. The shove he received on the shoulder knocked him off the really comfy sitting position he was in, leaning his back against a tree, and actually made him chuckle along, too, as much as he wanted not to.

Oh, what the hell. Maybe he could afford some sincerity, just this once. It wasn't like the slacker would tell, right?

Still, he needed to change the subject, like, fast. "Tony's not your dad, is he?"

Alright, perhaps he could've been slightly less straightforward about a topic as delicate such as this one, but...uh, Chazz Princeton, anyone? The guilt didn't come until the brunet casted his gaze down to the grass and tightened a fist absentmindedly around the green blades beneath his hand.

"No." As expected, it took the idiot some good seconds to grasp the whole situation. Eventually he did, snapping his wide caramel eyes back to him, confusion showing freely on his tanned face. "Wait, how did you-"

"'cause I'm smart." One of the few certainties of life, evidently. Even so, he rocked his head from one side to the other in defeated admittance. "Let's just say he doesn't have weirdly shaped hair and a goofy attitude to match." Okay, time to add some truth. "And...a picture of you and your mom with another man who looks a lot like you in the living room table might have given me a hint or two."

Honestly, it had been the very first thing he noticed when he walked inside that cozy feeling house.

Jaden stared very intensely at him for a while before looking straight ahead. "I guess that makes sense."

Why in the world did that barely discernible reaction make him feel like a true and complete asshole? He was and had always been one — no denial on that — except now he felt so small and stupid, like he hadn't in years and the only comfort he could find to excuse himself with was the very plausible fact that things couldn't possibly get any worse. He still had to apologize for being a dick. The idiot in front of him could be oblivious and simply annoying to no end, but he was probably the best friend he had ever had, by far. "Listen, I'm-"

"He died when I was six. On...Christmas Eve."

Right...scratch the whole 'can't get any worse' part. It was beyond awful now and he really hadn't meant it like that, never in his mind had been there an intention to hurt the perky brunet. It was all too fucked-up to even be true and it stung like hell because for once, for once in his sad, sad life, he could actually relate to what the other was feeling.

What hurt the most was the unshakable certainty he had in his conclusion that none of Jaden's 'sisters' were in fact related to him. None of them were in the picture he saw; it was only a little Jaden and his mother with that kind-gazed, brown-haired man. It must've been very hard for them to go on alone like that, his mother without a husband and him without a father or any siblings to rely on.

"No, Sam's not my sister. Neither is Alessa and Rachel is only my half-sister. Well, they kinda are because I love them all like sisters, but not really." The jolly teen shrugged faintly at his own awkwardly-spoken explanation and glanced at him warmly, serenely, leaning forward a little to make him meet his eyes. "That's what you were thinking, right?"

A bright smile escorted his words. A smile that forced him to remember the one he'd given him seconds before...

Yeah...a subject he just didn't want to recall, he decided. Better focus on something else. "I like her." He met Jaden's stare with a smirk and snorted. "She thinks you're stupid and called you a peanut-brain." There was a weird look on those wide eyes that he chose to ignore. It was gone in a sec, anyway, replaced by another one of those peacefully happy faces.

"She reminds me of you." So the girl was sarcastic and annoying too, hm? Well, takes one to know one, after all.

"But you met her first. Shouldn't I remind you of her?" Pleased and in an irritating mood, he countered with a triumphant, taunting frown, tilting his head back into his shoulder to emphasize the tease in his actions.

The brunet was the first one to break the eye-contact, his eyes squinted as he looked out at the twilight pensively, and there was something in the way those butterscotch orbs caught the sunset light that made him go all stupid and woozy. He then shrugged with a slight smile. "I guess it goes both ways."

Jaden turned back to him and, not that surprisingly, the reaction for the both of them was powerful and explosive and silent, like a contained bomb. A nuclear one at that, the blast turning out cold to his blood and warm to his heart and face and ears, so he didn't care that much about the fact that the moment they were living right there couldn't be any cheesier.

As long as it was happening to him, right?

For an instant, he found himself feeling some kind of strong sense of gratitude welling up inside him. He was thankful for a lot of things — sunsets, fate but most of all, he was grateful with this moron sitting next to him. For taking him along on his odd, clumsy trip, for sticking around even when he was an ass, for being always kind and patient with him...

For being there behind him, on that night.

Because he wouldn't be here now and he would've never lived to see this, to live this moment, and so he was happy. Ecstatic in fact, glad enough to lean forward and whisper, "Thanks." The word feeling hot and shaky as it rolled out of his tongue and it took his breath away. All of it, making him feel lightheaded, like it was nothing more than a hopelessly vivid dream.

"For what?" Jaden's expression was just as dazed as his, only there was a confused nature on it as well; so puzzled at his most-honest-declaration that it coaxed a smile out of him.

Still, no matter how curious and beautiful were the chocolate eyes he bored into him, he did not reply. He just kept on losing himself in the sunset's splendor dancing lazily on the skin of the lake.+

(End of Chapter 10)

Ugh, this story's a freaking mess! I'm sorry, but after cracking my skull open with a crowbar to see what the problem was, I figured out one thing. I really didn't have a place in this story for Chumley. I'm sincerely sorry, all of you Chumley fans out there, (if there are any, that is). I just can't fit him in, no matter how much I try.