I'm so glad you all liked the new chapter! Yeah! I'm on a role!

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Devin's PoV:

I woke the way I usually did. First, thinking how sad it was I had to wake up. Second, instantly on alert, thinking I was at home. Never know what might happen to me there. But then, something stirred against my chest, and my eyes popped open.

Alex. I was in bed, cuddling with Alex. He was still asleep, our faces inches from each other, my arms wrapped around him. Without conscious thought, I smiled. I had smiled more in the few days we had been friends than I had in my entire life. I had known Alex for years, been his silent shadow and protector, him never knowing I existed, and now I was sleeping with him.

I ran my hands along his body, memorizing the texture of him. This would probably be the last time I touched him in a while, considering last was only prompted by the drug. My hands went down his arms to grasp his wrists gently, and froze. I knew this texture of skin. The feeling of the raised, smooth skin of scar tissue. I turned his wrist over, squinting in the dim morning light.

There were two think, pale scars. Not multiple thin ones. He had cut with the intent to kill.

I studied his innocent, sleeping face. What could possibly make him do something like this?

I turned his other hand over, and sure enough, there were two more scars. I brought to the surface the memory of his face when he saw the scars on my arms. He had looked a bit afraid, but mostly concerned and worried, not shocked or horrified like many people had been.

He was used to this.

I saw his cold, expressionless face when I had asked him about his parents on our way home. "They were murdered..."

I had let it be, knowing the subject was probably sensitive. But now? I would have to ask him when he got up. For now, I just layed back down and pulled him closer, tucking his head under my chin.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Alex's PoV:

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was how warm it was. I tried moving, only to find that I was trapped in someone's arms. I opened my eyes sleepily to find myself staring at a pale, scarred chest.

Devin.

I was tucked against his muscular body, his arms around me and his head sitting comfortably on top of mine.

The second thing I noticed when I moved: I was sticky. We both were. I took my head out from under Devin's to look at his face and make sure he was asleep, which he was. I slipped out of his embrace carefully and looked down at myself, making a disgusted noise. I was a mess. Neither one of us had had enough energy to clean up last night.

Last night...

My face burned at the memory. Oh, God, what had I done? I lost my virginity. To another boy.

My frantic gaze went around the room. Were those curtains opened last night?

My eyes fell on the dresser. My clothes from the real world were sitting there, folded and clean, next to Devin's. I went up to them and gathered them in my arms. I should take a shower. I took one last look at Devin's face before going into the bathroom, and was struck by how beautiful he was with the early morning light shining on his face like that.

I bet he was one of those pretty boys when he was little. You the ones. The ones that get mistaken for girls if their hair is too long.

I went into the bathroom smiling, but a thought hit me that almost made me drop my clothes on the floor.

Those curtains had not been open last night. And the only way that my clothes could be in here AND clean is if... Omigod.

Ches. Ches had been in here. My face burned and I looked to see my whole body blushing. Ches had seen us.

I shook myself. It really didn't matter. Ches knew what happened before today.

I went over to the shower and winced at the sharp pain in my backside as I turned the water on. At least they ad indoor plumbing here. What were the chances of that?

It was only once I was in the shower with the hot water poring down on me that I realized how sore I was. I was sore in places I didn't even know existed, and that brought me back to thoughts of last night. I groaned. Devin probably thought I was a whore, the way I had begged and moaned last night.

I felt myself start to get hard and quickly looked for something else to think about. I saw a bottle of what looked liked shampoo and reached for it, but hesitated.

Oh, no, no, no. No more using strange items in Ches's house. We already knew what happened last time I did that. I saw a bar of normal looking soap as well, picked it up, and sniffed it. Smelled normal enough.

I washed off quickly and dressed, then tried to shape my hair into some asemblance of order. Gelling and styling it last night had switched the side of my part, and I quickly put it back on the right side. It made me feel almost normal. I took a deep breath after taking one last look into the mirror and heading into the room, hoping Devin was still asleep.

He wasn't. He was sitting up in the bed, sheets pooling at his hips. I automatically blushed at the sight of him. He smiled at me and stretched, causing the sheets to go dangerously low.

"Good morning," he said in a sleepy voice.

I quickly diverted my gaze to the wall. "G-g-g'morning," I said shakily. "How's your arm?" I asked, trying to get my mind off of his obvious nudity.

He looked surprised, as if he had completly forgotten about it, and looked down at his arm. I looked too. The bandages had come off a bit and were starting to unwind. They were also slightly stained with blood.

He gave a small laugh and began to rebind his arm. "It's fine," he said.

My eye widened and I ran over to his side of the bed. "Not it's not! These need new bandages," I said worriedly. I started to get up. "I'll go get them."

He began to follow me and I glared at him over my shoulder. "Don't you move until I get back."

He chuckled as I went into the bathroom to rummage around Ches's cabinet until I found the bandages.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Devin's PoV:

I really had forgotten about my arm. I had been much to distracted to think about it, but it stung a bit now. As Alex went and rummaged around in the bathroom, I unwound the rest of the bandages. The cut from our fight with the sign looked fine, but the bite mark had re-opened and were red and angry looking. Probably from the strain of my using so much.

Alex came back out of the bathroom with a bottle of alcohol and some bandages. He was back in his black t-shirt and jeans, but I didn't really mind. I had been attracted to him since he first came to Kingsley five months ago. This was my Alex, and I liked him no matter what he was dressed in.

He ripped a small piece of bandage off with his teeth and dabbed some alcohol on it.

"You don't mind me helping, do you?" he asked uncertainly.

Oops, I must have been staring. "No, not at all. I'm just not used to this," I said, smiling.

He looked confused as he knelt down in front of me with the bandages. "What do you mean? You just said you were, yesterday."

I flinched as he gently dabbed the bites. "I mean I'm not used to being cared for. This is the first time anyone but a nurse of doctor has ever taken care of me."

He looked up at me in surprise. "What about your parents?" he asked innocently.

I gave him a bitter, cold smile. "They sure as hell never helped me."

He eyes got wide and he backed up a bit. Damn, I scared him. I tried putting a cap on my emotions and gave him a sorry expression. "My bad. Didn't mean to get all dark and creepy on you," I said quietly.

He shook his head. "Nah, it's okay."

He went back to dabbing at my arm, and his position on the floor in front of me finally registered, bringing sexual thoughts to mind. Speaking of scaring him...

"You don't hurt to bad anywhere, do you, Alex?" I asked suddenly, noticing he was careful to keep any pressure off of the backside by crouching, not sitting.

His face turned tomato red and he jerked his hand away from my arm, knocking over the bottle of alcohol in the process.

He gasped and looked horrified. "Omigod! Damn, this is gonna stain Ches's rug! Shit!" he said, face still red, and I remembered that he had a bad habit of cursing a lot when he was angry or frustrated.

I got off the bed and knelt beside him. "It's fine. Just go get some paper towels or something from the bathroom," I said, touching his shoulder. He stared at me, eyes wide, and stumbled backwards, away from me. "R-r-right!" he stuttered and bolted to the bathroom.

I was confused at first, but looked down at myself and remembered I was naked. Well, shit. It disgusted him that much to be around me naked? I collect my clothes from the dresser and began getting dressed.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Alex's PoV:

I quickly gathered up large amounts of paper towels. Why had I bolted like that? I mean...he was just being considerate of me. But...him being that close...and freaking naked...

I just had to get away. Being that close to him made my body hot. I took a deep breath and went back into the room. Devin was sitting on the, dressed.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I knelt down to start cleaning up the alcohol, only the sharply inhale again at the pain. After a moment of cleaning, I began to realize the awkward silence that was settling over us, and I could feel Devin's gaze burning a hole into my skull as he stared at me.

I had to break it. "Yeah..." I said reluctantly, my face burning.

I felt the glare end as Devin said, "Huh?"

I looked at him sideways as I cleaned. "Yeah, I'm a bit sore."

His gaze grew concerned and he knelt down beside me, careful not to touch me. I sighed inwardly. So he did find me disgusting.

"Really? I'm so sorry...I should've been more careful." He looked somewhat angry at himself.

I shook my head. "No, it wasn't your fault. It was mine," I sated as I finished cleaning up the alcohol.

"How so?" he asked with a confused expression.

I steadied my gaze on him and put on the mask I wore at school and in public, the mask that had come down almost the second I had met him.

"Look, I could tell from your expression and what you said before we did it that you didn't want to have sex with me," I said bluntly.

Devin's mouth dropped open and he tried to interrupt, but I held up a hand. "It's alright. I practically forced myself on you and begged. But," I said shamefully, knowing what I was about to say would rip my heart out and be as untrue as possible, "I don't like other men. I'm completely straight, so you don't have to worry, I'll never hit on you again."

I turned to go into the bathroom, closing the door softly. Once it was closed I let the tears fall, leaving the person I was almost sure I was falling in love with speechless in the other room.

/\\\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\\\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

TAH-DAH! Gotta love your cliff hangers right?

And by the way, this is pretty much the end of the PROLOGUE! That's right! The real story starts in the next chapter, and all of the dynamic characters are finally gonna show up! Not to mention...you get the find out who that mysterious person was! I hope you all understand, this is going to be epically long. As in, like 40 chapters long, if I keep writing like I am now.