"This is so…surreal y'know? Painting and buying furniture for our soon to be…restaurant." Nero said the word as if the entire concept was too good to be true, which really, wasn't so hard to understand.

We ended up nabbing the place on Van Nuys Boulevard. The owner, J.D. Morisson, told me he saw a lot of himself in me, offering his complete and total support.

I just found it disturbing that an old unmarried fat guy 'saw himself in me.'

Nero never really recovered from Trish's comments, despite how many times I told him freaks were cool. It isn't exactly easy to convince him when everywhere he turns; somebody is telling him other wise.

Meanwhile, Trish had left me several voicemails and text messages, apologizing for being a bitch and I considered forgiving her on more then one occasion, just so that things would be less awkward at work.

Anyways, the main thing to focus on was the fact that our goals were finally coming to life, that everything was falling into place.

Finally.

"Hey Ne…ro!" I slowly walked towards him with a malicious smile, hands dripping in blood red paint.

"What are you doing?" He squeaked.

"I just wanna…give you a hug."

Nero started backing away as I reached my hands forward, arms flailing around spastically. "No! Get away from me!" He yelled, giggling playfully.

"Oh come on, just one hug!"

"No!"

"Please?"

"No!"

Nero finally started sprinting towards the other side of the room, me sprinting after him while laughing joyously. It was one of those 'Kodak' moments that you see on TV and in magazines, the both of us grinning and running around like little kids. My face almost hurt from the way the skin pulled back to reveal my teeth, the smile not dying down anytime soon.

"Get your but over here so I can give you a hug!"

"You'll never take me alive!"

"Wanna bet?" I jumped up as far as possibly, successfully latching onto his back and throwing him onto the tarp covered ground, with me on top of him. "Got-cha." I whispered into the shell of his ear.

Nero grunted and turned over to face me. "No fair…" He breathed.

Really, he was a sight to be hold. His face was flushed red, his hair was damp and mussed, his chest was rising and falling rapidly. I could feel his heart beat, pounding faster then I've ever heard it before.

Bada boom.

Bada boom.

Bada boom.

My own heart was racing as well, the pulse pounding behind my ears, reminding me how close the two of us were. Our noses were practically touching and his breath blew across my lips, causing my stomach to erupt in a million and one butterflies.

"Nero?" I whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I think-"

Suddenly I heard a jingle come from the front door and somebody call out 'hello' in a thick Italian accent. Nero and I parted in a haste, the both of us sliding to opposite sides of the soon-to-be restaurant.

"Boys? I came to check how things were going?"

"Great." Nero grunted.

"They're going fine Mr. Morisson; we just had a little miss hap with the paint."

"Alright. Are you still going to Petey's today?" Petey's was a large, fairly cheap emporium that sold restaurant and hotel furniture in bundles for good prices. Mr. Morisson insisted we get a move on, time is money after all.

"Yes, Nero and I want to get a good look at what they have to offer."

"That's good, that's good. You know I believe in you two, don't let me down."

I gave a half assed salute. "Aye aye sir." Mr. Morisson smiled before disappearing into the empty kitchen. "Maybe we should get cleaned up?" I offered, feeling intensely awkward and slightly guilty.

It all came crashing back down at the same time, a brash realization hitting me. I'd almost kissed my best friend.

So, maybe this wasn't something to be ashamed of.

But it wasn't something to be proud of either.

For one thing, I didn't exactly know how he felt. And another thing (probably the most important thing): I didn't know how I felt. I couldn't toy with his emotions, not if I don't know for sure. I couldn't even bare the thought of hurting him

"Yeah, lets go get our clothes in the back room."

Nero and I stood impishly, tattered clothes covered in paint, faces still slightly flushed.

I wondered, more intensely then ever before in my life, what was going through his head at the moment? Did he even realize how close we had come to having some romance movie moment?

"So…" I whistled.

"Have you talked to Trish? I feel a little bad about messing up your guy's celebration a couple weeks ago." He finished.

"No. She deserves the silent treatment."

"I…I don't think she does."

"What the heck has gotten into you? Just last week you were saying how annoying and bitchy she was."

"Yeah but I realized…you like her, you guys are friends and I don't want to mess that up Dante."

"You're not messing up anything." I said sternly once we reached the back room, pulling my shirt above my head. "She needs a little time to think about what she said."

"She's not five."

I rolled my eyes, replacing my shirt and pulling off my pants. "She might as well be."

Nero shrugged and I thanked the heavens that he was a quick changer, last thing I need is more intense awkwardness.

"But…this isn't like you Dante. You don't, not like people."

"I don't like people that don't like you."

"But that's stupid!"

"Why? Because I refuse to dumb myself down for people that are narrow minded and ignorant?"

"Because you refuse to have your own life."

You are my life.

But I didn't say it out loud.

I couldn't.

Not yet.

"Can we just…talk about this later? I'd rather focus on the restaurant."

Instead of focusing on my attraction for you.

"Fine."

I had to resist the urge to sigh with relief as the two of us walked out the front door and down the street. The great thing about Petey's is that it was practically next door. Just a walk around the block and we were already at the entranceto the store with Mr. Petey himself standing there smiling as creepily as possible. "So glad you two could make it! We have huge sale going on today!"

"We're only here to look Mr. Petey."

"Of course, of course! Well whatever you take a liking to, we can always hold for you." He gave us a huge fake smile, coffee stained teeth looking exceptionally disgusting.

"Sure thing." I latched on to Nero's arm and dragged us away from the fake (almost robotic) man, trying not to jog as we trudged further and further into the large store. I spotted the carts and quickly pulled one out, gesturing to the inside with a smile.

"What?" Nero asked dubiously.

"Get in."

"What, am I four now?"

"Come on, it'll be fun!"

"People will stare."

"Who cares? We're freaks, remember?"

He grunted, hopping into the cart quickly. See, in my mind I kept thinking that if I got Nero to stopping caring what people thought, then maybe his paranoid feelings and rituals would start to go away. It was a desperate plan, a flawed plan, a slightly childish plan.

But it was all I could think of.

I started racing us down the isles, Nero squeaking loudly as we maneuvered past crowds of people.

"Houston, we have lift-off!"

"You're crazy you know that?!"

"Yeah! That's the idea!"

Eventually we made our way through a food court where a security guard suddenly started chasing us. The fat panting guy kept screaming at us to halt, as if we were actually committing some horrendous crime.

"Faster!" Nero screamed with a giggle. "He's gaining on us!"

"Tubs doesn't have a chance!" The two of us laughed, weaving in and out of isles manically, only cracking up further when the security guard stopped (clearly out of breath.)

"Where to, sir?" I asked in a fake British accent.

"To the bathroom appliances!"

I smiled, racing to the back of the store where large windows lay instead of blaring lights. The sun was dipping low but still shining bright, something that tended to happen in LA quite often. Yellow shapes were dusted across the gray flooring, light bouncing off each piece of furniture like never ending rainbows.

Nero hopped out of the cart, smiling when I sat in one of the large tubs on display. He sat across from me, legs resting on top of mine, causing my heart beat to quicken once again.

"How much trouble do you think we'll be in?"

"Who cares?"

"How do you always do that Dante?"

"Do what?"

"Not care. How do you not care?"

I shrugged. "I only care about what actually matters."

"Like me?"

"Well…yeah."

"And your parents?"

"No."

"What about Trish?"

"What about Trish?"

"You care about her, right?"

"A…little."

"It's still more then nothing." He pointed out.

"I don't know what your sudden fascination with Trish is, she's like…like this tub, it's cool to have around I suppose, but I don't really need it."

"So…we're sitting on Trish?"

"Pretty much."

"Awesome." He smiled, counting his fingers and pushing a string of hair back and forth. "So…what piece of furniture am I?"

"You're like…a bed. I need it, every single day. I feel uncomfortable without it. I can't sleep anywhere else; it just wouldn't be…the same."

Nero looked up at me, a square of light hitting his face and illuminating his wide blue eyes and the sheen of sweat just above his lip. He just kept…looking at me. He wouldn't look away for even a moment, his blinking decreased rapidly. He almost looked like he was about to say something, mouth almost opening.

Then the security guard finally found us.

Followed by the entire Petey's staff, including Mr. Petey himself.

"What the hell is going on here?!"

Nero immediately shrunk back into himself, face growing horror stricken and body starting to twitch and shake.

"Stupid kids." One employee hissed.

"They should learn some dam manners!" Another tuned in, until pretty much everyone was yelling insults at us.

It was like I was watching the entire thing in slow motion; Nero's face grew more and more distressed by the second. Everybody just kept coming at us from all angles. Didn't they know how to take a harmless joke? The worst part is: the both of us were cornered, stuck in this bathtub with no escape.

"I think they should pay for all the merchandise they knocked over on their little 'adventure.'"

"I think they should be banned!"

"I think we should call the police."

Nero squeaked, body shaking violently.

"Enough!" I shouted. "Just ban us and let us leave."

Some of the workers agreed, most of them protested. Though, the only opinion that really mattered was Mr. Petey's, so when he nodded and gestured for us to leave, I almost felt like crying.

I took Nero's hand, pulled him up, pushed across the angry mob, and sprinted towards the door with him in tow. Once outside, I took him around the block and behind an old gas station.

"I…" he was panting frantically. "I…" His face almost looked purple. "I…can't…breath…"

"Shhh, calm down, we're alright. We're alright, Nero." His breath slowly started to become normal again as I rubbed his back soothingly.

"I..."

Twtich.

"Ran."

Twitch.

"Cant, cant, cant! Run. People! Hate!" He started mumbling incoherently, eyes growing crazy. "Store! Different!" He yelled. "Different!"

I looked at him, confused. "Nero…"

"I…I…" Nero trailed off, muttering crazy things under his breath. This was my first brush with Nero's apparent insanity.

And it definitely wasn't the last.