When they arrived at Luke's party, it was almost in full swing. Sure, it was still early, but Luke started early and went long into the night. "Hey!" Luke opened the door himself, a grin spreading across his face. "I thought you weren't gonna make it!"

"He fixed what was broken," Shane shrugged.

"Oh my god!" Luke looked taken aback. "It talks!"

"Shut up," Jason rolled his eyes, pushing past Luke. Last year – last week, even, the friction of their bodies so much as brushing together would have doubled Jason's heart rate, but not anymore, not now that Shane was in his life.

"Does it drink?" Luke asked, grabbing two beers from the table.

"Only soda," Shane said, catching Jason's glance. They had established on the way up that neither would drink, because Jason had to drive, so he couldn't, and Shane would feel bad drinking if Jason wasn't going to.

"Flynn?" Luke offered a beer to Jason.

"Not tonight, its Nate's night to drink, my night to drive; he here yet?"

"Yeah," Luke nodded, setting the beers back down, only to have them immediately snapped up by a couple of people Jason didn't know. "Soda's in the fridge, Nate's with his gal in the living room or out back. You on the prowl?"

"Nah," Jason shook his head, reaching for the hand dangling at Shane's side. "I brought a date and there's no way that I'm leaving him to be snapped up by someone else." He laced his fingers through Shane's, and Shane smiled shyly, dropping his eyes to the ground. He and Andy hadn't been all that public at first, as it was Shane's first relationship and he wanted to take it slow.

"Oh Jason," Luke shook his head, mocking his friend. "You said he wasn't your type!"

"Eh," Jason shrugged. "I think I was wrong." He gave Shane's hand a small squeeze, and Shane felt his heart rate increase just a little.

"Congratulations, Flynn," Luke patted Jason on the back. "I know that it's been awhile since you had someone, your standards are just so high."

"Or maybe I was just hung up on someone, eh?" Jason tilted his head to the side, once and for all testing to see if Luke knew about his long-standing, now ending crush.

"Jason…" Luke shook his head, and Jason could tell that Luke was begging him not to start this. He had known. The whole fucking time. Well at least he still wanted to be friends. At any rate, it didn't matter now; Jason's feelings for Luke had diminished over time, and now that he had Shane, the crush seemed to dissipate instantly. "Go show your date a good time."

"Ok," Jason smiled and gently tugged on Shane's hand. "Come meet Nate."

"Sounds good," Shane nodded, suddenly very self conscious. There were people everywhere, he had a horrible, ugly scar on his face and he was on the arm of a boy who was bound to attract attention the second he walked into a room.

"Hey," Jason stopped Shane in the hallway and pulled him into the coat closet. He shut the door, ignoring the random catcall from someone in the hallway who was probably already well on their way to a stomach pumping. "You ok?"

"Yeah, fine," Shane nodded. "Why?"

"You're tense," Jason observed. "I felt your hand tighten while we were walking, didn't seem calm."

"Oh, I'm ok," Shane let out a deep breath. "I'm just a little nervous."

"Why?" Jason smiled as he looked at Shane through the nearly dark but surprisingly spacious area.

"These are your friends, I'm afraid that they won't like me, that I'll repel them or something, or I dunno, make them feel weird."

"These are the most accepting bunch of freaks I've ever met," Jason chuckled. "You don't have to worry about them liking you, they will, they like everybody – well, almost everybody, but you're nothing like the people they hate."

"But Luke-"

"Luke likes you, Shane," Jason tilted his head to the side. "You couldn't tell?"

"He was…" Shane licked his lips nervously. "Jason, he was staring at my scar."

"Oh Shane," Jason took a step closer to Shane and pushed back the boy's thick hair. "You're beautiful, ok?" he leaned in and placed a soft kiss to the center of the scar. "This doesn't make that any different."

"It's hideous," Shane shook his head

"It's you," Jason insisted, taking Shane's hand again. "And it's beautiful, just like the rest of you, ok?" Jason looked into Shane's eyes, as they were now adjusting to the dark. "Luke was looking at you the way he was not because of your scar, but because he and I both know that you're way out of my league," Jason whispered. "I'm just glad that you haven't figured it out yet."

"I'm not out of your league," Shane shook his head. "I'm a pitiful wreck who-" Jason stopped Shane by gently placing his hand over the boy's mouth.

"You're not, Shane," Jason shook his head. "You're not pitiful, you're not a wreck, and you're not just a boy who's afraid of the dark. You're nice and gentle and gorgeous and stronger than anyone I've ever met. Why do I keep having to tell you this? What is it going to take for you to see in yourself the person that I see?"

"I could ask the same of you," Shane said, pushing Jason's hand away. "You think that I'm this great person for making it through all this, but don't you get it? You're the person leading me. You've bent over backwards to be nice to me and to make sure that I'm doing alright, and as much as I hate that it's true, I don't think that I would be doing alright without you."

"Well I'll be out there with you," Jason said, again taking Shane's hand firmly in his own. "So what do you say? Let's go have a good time."

"Ok," Shane gulped as Jason pushed the closet door open.

"Hey," Jason leaned into Shane as they re-entered the hallway. "Permanecer fuerte, novio."

"Novio?" Shane looked up at Jason. "Really?"

"Shit, you speak Spanish?" Jason asked, gulping.

"Yeah," Shane nodded. "Three years so far, you?"

"Since the 4th grade."

"How have I lived with you for a week and not known this?" Shane muttered.

"It's been a long week," Jason reasoned.

"True, but still…" Shane trailed off, unable to forget the single word. "What you just said, Jason, was it just a comforting term or do you actually want it?"

"Shane," Jason smiled, taking a nervous breath none the less. "I want you to be my boyfriend."

"Good," Shane smiled, moving just a little closer to Jason as they walked. "'Cause I want that too."

A/N I finally got around to posting a picture of Luke on my profile AS WELL as pictures for some of their schoolmates who have yet to come in yet - I recommend just looking at Luke for now, though.