Disclaimer: I do not own Waterloo Road or any of the characters in the story

Chapter 21

Blaring music made Marco groan as he knew where the sound was coming from.

"Leo." Marco mumbled, nudging Leo's side, waking him up. "Your phone."

Leo sighed, reaching for his phone, not checking the caller ID before he answered.

"Hell…"

"Leo you are in so much trouble!" His dad yelled, making Leo cringe and move the phone away from his ear as his Dad ranted loudly. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?!"

"No, not really."

"Not really. You could at least apologise! How stupid is it that you left the house, whilst grounded, and didn't give a clue to where you where? You're hardly streetwise, you could get yourself killed."

"And that would be a massive inconvenience for you wouldn't it." Leo snarled, shocking his Dad, and Marco. "Just an extra thing on the list. You only really bother when it suits you. I've been trying to speak to you about something important all week, and you've always said it can wait. So this can wait 'til I get home."

Leo put the phone down, instantly regretting being so rude to his Dad, knowing he'd get an earful later.

"Damn you got him told."

"Well he shouldn't be so ignorant." Leo shrugged. "I can only take it for so long."

"Make sure he doesn't ruin your mood too much." Marco smiled, kissing his nose. "Especially after last night."

"Yeah, it was fun." Leo agreed, with a smile creeping onto his face. "At least that'll make today less crappy."

"That's the spirit." Marco replied. "Now I'm awake I really just need some coffee, want some?"

"Would love some."

Marco made coffee while Leo tried scrubbing the UV paint off his face for going home. It would only make things worse if he went home with cat whiskers painted on his face.

"Take me back!" Marco exclaimed, slumping onto the stool with his coffee. "I have the serious post-concert blues."

"I suppose you have science homework to take your mind off it."

"I've done it. I'm good at science now, thanks to you."

"I guess there's some perks to me being grounded then." Leo joked.

The two continued to talk and laugh, whilst having their coffee before Leo knew he had to face the music and go home. Feeling as if his courage had suddenly vanished, this rebellious idea of his seemed like an extremely bad one.

"Love you, see you later."

"If I don't die first. Love you too."

Leo's stomach was doing flips as he got closer to home. He was not looking forward to this.

As he entered the house, he was met with the scowl of his Dad, and the apologetic look from his brother.

"Think you're clever do you?" His Dad asked. Leo just looked at the floor, ready for the onslaught. "You think it's clever what you did? You lied to us Leo, and you could've been really hurt. You don't know how dangerous it can be out there at that time of night."

"You didn't listen to a word I said on the phone." Leo spoke up, though he'd rather have kept that thought in his head. "I'm always in trouble when I do something wrong, but when I need you to be a Dad and be there you aren't. You act like I've never been out the house; I'm not going to get stabbed."

"I don't know what this new attitude of yours is, but it can stop right now." Vaughn warned.

"I don't know what you mean." Leo shrugged.

"You used to never leave your room, and now you're hardly ever in the house at all. Has Marcus Fletcher got something to do with this?"

Leo had to refrain from laughing at the use of Marco's full name, but he managed to keep a straight face. "I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with the thing I wanted to talk to you about all week, but you didn't listen."

This stopped Vaughn in his tracks; he'd completely neglected talking to his son. He remembered Leo saying he wanted to talk with him, and he pushed it aside for work.

"Leo, I… I didn't know."

"I told you plenty of times." Leo shrugged, not showing any sympathy towards his Dad's hurt. As far as Leo was concerned, he deserved everything he got.

"You can talk to me you know."

"It's fine. I'd rather sort it myself." Leo sighed, walking past his Dad and up to his room, where he shut the door and he just lay on his bed. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to tell them, but they never listened to him, but he knew he couldn't go on the way he was. Leo knew he'd have to sort it out sooner rather than later, but he couldn't ignore the burning anger he had towards his Dad and Justin being so wrapped up in their own lives, yet when Leo decided to put himself first for a change, he was nagged at and in trouble.

He couldn't find a balance, and it was killing him. He wanted it to be like the night before all the time. Not a care in the world, living life and enjoying it with the people he loved, not shut up in his room, in a household that seemed like they couldn't go a day without arguing.

Marco sat at home, with his laptop in front of him, expecting a skype call from his parents any time now. He was unsure he'd tell them about Leo, but since it was the first time in weeks he'd have gotten a call, he knew mock results were always a good topic if they'd went well. He made sure to cover his tattoo, that lecture was for another day.

As the call was answered, he saw his parents on the webcam, and Marco was hit with a wave of homesickness, no matter how much he denied it, he was still only 16, and a long way from home.

"Hi mum, hi Dad."

"Hello Marcus. How are things in Greenock?" His Dad asked.

"Oh, it's great! I've made a few friends and there's one called Leo who's really clever, and he's helped me out a bit with a few bits and pieces in science, I'm never going to be like Ben for that. The house is immaculate, and I've had no house parties. I feel like a different person."

"You do look a lot healthier; I'm guessing the gym's been in good use?" His mum asked.

"Yeah, I have a schedule on the fridge. I never realised how I was about organisation until I moved up here." Marco laughed looking towards the fridge.

"Great, the school seems to be serving you better than the old one."

"Yeah, we've not long finished our mocks."

"Oh and how did they go?" His mum asked curiously.

"Great! I passed everything. I even got an A* as well."

"Well done! What was you're a* in?" His Dad asked.

"It was in art." Marco replied sheepishly, dreading his parents' reactions, which they looked very surprised.

"We never knew you were an artist. I've never seen any of your work." His mum enquired.

"It's something that's blossomed since going to Waterloo Road. I've always love art, but I never really gave it much thought, since the career options aren't anything like what Ben and Jamie are doing."

"I heard my name." His brother chirped, settling in the middle of his parents. "Hi bro! I've been sent to London for work placement, how lucky is that? So I get to stay here more often."

"That's awesome Jamie." Marco laughed, feeling so homesick.

"Now where's that art of yours?" His Dad asked.

"Oh, I have my folder here, wait a sec." Marco jogged to where his art folder rested where he hunted for some coursework that his parents would find half decent, and decided on a few, including unused tattoo ideas.

"Here's a few." Marco held them up one by one, trying not to just curl up in a foetal position and never leave the house again.

"Hey, who knew my little bro was the next Andy Warhol?"

"Not quite." Marco mumbled. "I'm not that good."

"You have talent." His Dad encouraged. "You could get a great career from it; I wouldn't mind hanging some of your stuff in my offices to brighten the place up."

"I'd use it in my decorating. Getting decent artwork these days is a nightmare." His mum agreed.

"I-I'm flattered, I really am. I thought you'd not want me to do it because you're all so clever."

"We're just thankful you've found something other than drink and drugs that takes your fancy."

"Yeah, those days are gone." Marco sighed. "I don't even have a girlfriend here. I'm completely off game."

Marco enjoyed speaking with his family and his brother, and couldn't help feeling a little sad when they had to end the call. Marco knew his family was alright, he just needed to grow up a bit to see it.

A knock on the door snapped Leo out of his thoughts.

"Who is it?"

"It's me." A familiar voice answered. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah." Leo sighed, as his brother entered his room, sitting down on the foot of his bed.

"Is everything alright?" Justin asked, confusing Leo as to why he was so concerned about him now.

"Yeah, I'm fine." The old lie raised its ugly head, but Leo couldn't help it. It wasn't as if he could rant about his family to his own brother.

"Look, I tried to stop Dad noticing. Sorry you got caught."

"It's fine, I shouldn't have been so stupid." Leo shrugged. "It's always my bad luck. I should just stick to not leaving the house."

"I didn't think he'd freak out so much."

"He thinks I'm socially inept, that's why. He think's I'll get kidnapped by a drug lord and held for ransom or something."

"Well that would be a decent reason for not doing your homework; I might have to steal that one bro." Justin joked, happy to see a smile on his brother's face. "What's this thing you've wanted to speak to us about this week?"

"You didn't want to know."

"I did, I was side-tracked."

"Exactly, it mustn't be that important to you if you shrugged it off that easily."

"Leo, you can talk to me, I'm your brother." Justin said sincerely. Leo knew he had no option now but to tell him. He would've rather have told his Dad and Justin together, but his foul mood with his Dad made him not want to tell him even more.

"Okay." Leo sighed, "You have to promise you can't tell anyone. Not Dad, not mum, not Tiffany. This stays between me and you."

"It's that bad. Me and Tiff…"

"…Justin, please. She can't know." Leo pleaded. Justin sighed and nodded in agreement, seeing how serious his brother was.

"Do you know when we were talking about people getting the 'wrong idea' about me and Marco?"

"Yeah." Justin answered, eyes focused on Leo, and what he was about to say.

"What would you say if I told you that people didn't have the wrong idea?" Leo asked, hoping he didn't have to clarify, but by the look on Justin's face, he knew that was highly unlikely.

"So, you fancy Marco?"

"Not quite." Leo sighed nervously, praying Justin wouldn't take this badly.

"Wait a minute, you and Marco? What?"

"We've been going out for a couple months now."

Justin just stared at Leo, trying to process what Leo had just told him. The longer the silence went on for, the more Leo was terrified of what Justin was going to say next.

"Justin, you don't hate me right?" This snapped Justin out of his thoughts.

"Why would I hate you? You're my brother."

"I know, but…"

"Leo, does he make you happy?" Justin asked bluntly, not letting Leo's negative thoughts take over.

"Yeah, he does."

"That's all I care about. The only difference is I can hit him if he hurts you." Justin joked. "But seriously, you're still you."

Leo felt a weight lift from his shoulders. Justin was his main concern, but he was fine with it, which meant step one was complete.

"Please don't tell anyone though Justin. I didn't really want to tell anyone until I felt like I could. You know how school is, I'll get slaughtered."

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. I promise."

AN: So Justin knows ^_^ and Marco and his family are on alright terms, though what will happen next? Only I have the answers :)

Thanks to everyone who reads/reviews/follows/favourites. You don't know how much you guys mean to me, honestly, I love you all to the moon and back

^3^

See you next chapter! Xxxx