AN: I AM SO SORRY. I honestly never meant to let this or any of my stories hang for so long. I really want to finish this, and I will. I'm not sure how steady my updates will be, but please don't lose hope! I tried making this longer to make up for the long wait. I hope you all enjoy it and I hope I didn't lose too many readers...


It was late Sunday evening, and Pogue and Caleb were spending it in Nicky's, watching a football game on the new TV Nicky had installed not too long ago. They were sitting at a table near the corner it was in, sipping on their sodas and snacking on their now cold fries. During a time-out, Pogue checked his phone and sighed.

"I gotta head out," he said as he stood and slipped into his leather jacket, "My mom's car needs to get its oil changed and apparently, she needs it done now."

Caleb chuckled and leaned back in his seat. "Moms always need things done right at that exact instant."

"Oh, don't I know it," Pogue rolled his eyes. "Catch you later," he said as he headed towards the exit. Caleb nodded his goodbye and watched Pogue walk away until he heard the announcer on the TV again. Had he watched a second later, he would have seen the scene that was about to go down.

Pogue had just opened the door and stepped outside when his t-shirt was grabbed and he was pushed against the cement wall next to the door. He was met with the frigidness of Justin's blue eyes, his red-tinged cheeks, and the anger set in his shoulders.

"Stay away from him," Justin warned, his face inches away from Pogue.

The long-haired teen scoffed and shoved the other boy away. "Do you think you scare me?"

"I think you're a jealous bastard who's trying to steal my boyfriend," Justin answered, back in Pogue's personal space again, but Pogue just leaned against the wall and watched him with cool eyes.

"Tyler's a smart kid. He can make his own decisions," Pogue shrugged and pushed himself off the wall. "You'd know that if you weren't always busy shoving your hand down his pants and keeping him away from us."

Justin let out a laugh of disbelief. "You'd know Tyler and me are just fine with our relationship if you didn't waste your time pretending you could have what's mine."

"Yours?" Pogue laughed, a swell of anger rising in his chest at Justin thinking he could own Tyler. "Tyler will never be yours, buddy. He always comes back to us, to me, if you haven't noticed."

By this time, the two of them had their faces inches away from each other, close enough to feel the heat radiating off each other's bodies.

"Too bad, I'm the one who gives him what he needs," Justin shot back and nearly growled at the smirk that Pogue's lips had slid into at the statement.

"Only because he didn't realize he could get it much better elsewhere, but trust me, he definitely knows now, and I know he's not scared to take it," Pogue told him smugly and was about to take a step back when Justin shoved him, then took a swing at him that Pogue narrowly avoided.

"You asshole, I knew you tried something with him!" Justin snarled out as he tackled Pogue to the ground, the two of them rolling around as they threw punches and wrestled.

"You're just mad because Tyler finally realized he could do way better," Pogue grunted out as one of Justin's fist met with his ribs. It elicited a growl out of Justin and had him throwing more punches.

Pogue didn't know how long they were at it, but soon enough someone was shouting at them and pulling him away from Justin.

"What the fuck is going on?" Reid demanded as he stood between Pogue and Justin, a hand on both their chests to keep the fuming teens separated.

"Your friend here is trying to get into Tyler's pants," Justin explained, his eyes locked onto Pogue's.

"Oh, I've been there, done that," Pogue lied just to get a rise of out the other boy, and it worked, but Reid just held him back and glared at Pogue.

"Pogue, shut the fuck up," the blonde sneered, "Get over your schoolgirl crush and let Ty be happy."

"Me? Really? He started this shit, attacking me as soon as I got out of Nicky's. What did you want me to do?"

"You're trying to take what's mine."

"First off, I'm the voice of reason here, and that's a problem. Second, Pogue, maybe you should have kept your big mouth shut yesterday. And third," he turned to Justin, facing him head on as he stood between the two of them, "Do not ever talk about Tyler like you own him again or I'll show you what being owned is."

Justin scoffed and looked away for a moment. "And here I thought you were on my side."

"I'm on Tyler's side," Reid corrected and looked over his shoulder at a glaring Pogue. "Go home, Pogue," he ordered and before he could retaliate, he added, "Before I get Caleb." Pogue sighed and with one last menacing glare, walked away towards his bike.

"So what now?" Justin asked and Reid shook his head, partially in disgust and partially in disappointment, as he walked past him to get into Nicky's.

"Reid, come on, man," Justin sighed and followed Reid in. "You know I did it for Tyler."

"Right," he muttered as they made their way to the bar. He purposely ignored Caleb and the tugging on his Power as the other teen reached out to him. "Let me get a coke and an ice pack," Reid told Nicky and took a seat on a barstool.

"I only want him to be happy," Justin continued and sat next to Reid, "And I know he's happy with me."

Reid's jaw clenched slightly at Justin's words, but he forced himself to relax and focused on taking a sip from the soda Nicky set in front of him. "Tyler knows what's right for him," Was all Reid said as he handed Justin the icepack.

"Then why did you try so hard to keep Pogue away from him?" Justin countered and pressed the ice pack against his aching cheek.

"To let him test the waters with you," Reid answered simply, "He came back different from camp, more confident and happier than I'd seen him in a while," he explained further, then shrugged, "I didn't want Pogue ruining what you guys could have before Tyler had a good taste of it."

"How sweet," Justin muttered and dropped the icepack on the counter.

"I know," Reid smirked and finished off his soda. "I've got plans so catch you later," he said as he pulled a couple of dollars out of his pocket to put on the bar next to his drink.

"See ya," Justin muttered in reply.

"One more thing," Reid said before he turned to leave, "Tell Tyler the truth about what happened today or I will," he locked eyes with the other teen, his steel stare daring him to try something.

"Wasn't planning on doing anything but," Justin replied smoothly, giving Reid a placating smile. Reid responded with a quick quirk of his lips before he finally turned and left.

He could feel Caleb's eyes boring holes into his back as he walked by but he paid no mind and just kept walking, but that didn't stop the older teen's voice in his head.

What's going on?

Nothing.

I know you're lying. What happened?

Ask Pogue.

Reid didn't let Caleb answer; he focused on shutting his mind off and got into Tyler's stolen Hummer.

To say the following week of school was awkward was an understatement. Tyler was upset with Justin and couldn't really look Pogue in the eye, so he avoided them both and spent most of his time with Reid. Pogue and Justin got into scuttles in the hallways and the locker room, but Caleb or Reid usually stopped them before they turned into anything big. Friday afternoon couldn't have sooner.

"He hates me," Pogue sighed. He was in Nicky's, sitting at a table with Caleb as he watched Justin and Tyler quietly talk in the corner near the pool tables.

"No, he doesn't," Caleb soothed, "He's confused, sort of angry, and really upset. He's just dealing with it the same way he always does: clamming up and trying to go unnoticed."

"He won't even look at me," Pogue argued.

"Give him time," Caleb shrugged and leaned back in his seat, "At least it's out in the open now."

Pogue sighed again and tore his eyes away from Tyler to look at Caleb. "Yeah," he muttered under his breath.

"C'mon, let's play a round of fooseball. Loser buys the drinks," Caleb offered, wanting to get Pogue's mind off the situation.

"Fine," Pogue murmured and followed the older teen to the fooseball table.

Meanwhile, Justin and Tyler were in their own little world.

"How many times do I have to say sorry?" Justin asked, an almost pleading tone lacing his voice.

"I just wish you hadn't done anything at all," Tyler sighed, avoiding making eye contact with the other teen. "I told you it didn't change anything, so I don't get why you had to say anything to him at all."

"I was jealous, I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry," Justin repeated for what he felt was the hundredth time, but still, he made sure his apology was heartfelt. "I hate it that you're mad at me," he admitted and slipped his hand into Tyler's, lacing their fingers and squeezing lightly. "I miss talking to you," he murmured as he leaned in to place a soft kiss on Tyler's cheek.

"I miss you, too," Tyler said softly in reply and finally looked up to meet Justin's eyes. "But you didn't just go and fight with one of my best friends, you basically told me you don't trust me."

"I do, Tyler, I swear, but I just didn't think," Justin explained, his other hand finding Tyler's. "C'mon, we haven't seen each other outside of school for almost a week now. Let me take you out tonight. A nice dinner, a walk around the park, we can recreate the playground scene from Spiderman, hm, how about it?"

Tyler rolled his eyes but let out a laugh to let Justin know he was joking. "Alright," he agreed and leaned forward to kiss Justin softly. "But you better behave like a gentleman," he teased with a grin.

"Promise," Justin said with a smile, "I'll walk you to your door, give you a kiss goodnight, and then go to my room. No funny business."

"…maybe a little funny business."

"Whatever you want," Justin chuckled and pressed his lips against Tyler's. He sucked his lower lip in between his own and ran his teeth across it before pulling away.

"Okay," Tyler breathed out and smiled. "Before you convince me to get to the funny stuff now, how about we go find Reid before he wrecks Nicky's?"

Justin turned his head to look for said blonde in the crowd, but instead, he managed to meet eyes with Pogue's. Not able to resist, he smirked and gave him a quick wink. How obviously the other teen's jaw clenched made him smirk a little more, but he turned back to Tyler. "Where is Reid, anyway?"

"That questions usually leads to finding Reid in a bad situation," Tyler sighed and leaned up to give Justin one last kiss before he led them off to find Reid.

Pogue watched Tyler and Justin as they made their way around Nicky's from where he sat with Caleb. "I can't wait for him to fuck up so Tyler can finally see him as the jerk he is."

"I'd rather not have Baby Boy hurt," Caleb pointed out. "Just let it play out, Pogue."

"Yeah," Pogue muttered under his breath, but it didn't stop him from thinking about how hard he'd hit Justin if he hurt Tyler.

And he knew that was a 'when', not an if.