PAIRING: Eli x Fitz aka Elitz, because they are obviously meant to be

WARNING: Mature content ahead: language, drug use (weed so not really), and guy on guy sex is in this fic's past, present and future.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Degrassi or any of its characters, just putting my own alternative spin on things.

A/N: I never intended on finishing this story. Then someone left a review years later demanding for its completion. I will be updating each chapter and uploading anew. Most events will be the same with some tweaks and a few more years of writing experience to fluff this bad boy up. ENJOY!

CHAPTER 1 - FORGIVENESS (2020 REBOOT)

"Fuck!" huffed out Elijah Goldsworthy as he angrily ended the phone. He threw his iPhone across the room and it made contact with his wall before landing on his bedroom floor. Now he was probably going to need a new phone. He felt the temperature rise throughout his entire body, frustration and anxiety cutting off his ability to think clearly. The anger was beginning to overwhelm him, so he got up from his bed in the hopes that standing upright would bring relief. His frustration continuing to build, he had a sudden urge to hit something. He needed a release or to see something be destroyed. He hated being overcome with this rage and hated even more how easy it was to give in to it. Remembering some of the exercises Clare had tried to teach him, he shut his eyes and drew in a deep breath through his nose. He held it for a brief moment and released focusing on letting the air out through his nostrils. He repeated this notion twice more and finally felt his fists start to unclench.

He tried to think through the anger, but all it would do is bring him back to the same train of thought. The thought of how he was her boyfriend and he hated when he didn't know everything that was going on in her life. Hours would go by without her returning his texts at times, usually stating that she was busy homework or to give her space. It didn't feel right to Eli, with him feeling that she was keeping secrets from him. His job, like he had stated many times, was to protect her and he needed to keep tabs on her life in order to do so.

This especially meant any encounter with Fitz, his sworn enemy, who had recently been released from the juvenile center he had been at the last couple of months. Fitz had been attempting to talk to Clare recently and it was driving him crazy. He had come so close to almost stabbing Eli at the school dance, which is how he ended up in the juvenile center to begin with. Now that he was out, it seemed he was trying to get closer to Clare regardless of the fact that Eli was still dating her. She had sworn that she wouldn't let anything come between them, yet she was distancing herself from him. Could it be due to her conversations with Fitz? Had he told her something that made her not want to be with him anymore? His thought began to spiral and Eli felt the anger building inside him once again.

Remembering the reason why he had gotten angry in the first place, Eli went to back his phone. The screen didn't have any damage to it, but his phone case had a chip on one of it's corners from the impact to the wall. He opened up his text messages and clicked on the most recent, more like the only, conversation thread, which was with Clare. No new messages had been received since Clare's latest text to him today. Prior to that, she hadn't texted him since this morning after second period. The text from Clare glared back at him, as he re-read it for what was probably the fifth time. "Eli, you don't need to be around me all the time. Can you just give me a day alone... please?"

The anger was starting to build inside him once again. He couldn't believe this was how she was communicating with him now. He shook his head, locked his phone and decided to move on to checking the locks on all the doors and windows in the house. If Clare wouldn't be able to ease his mind, he would have to do it in his own way. He didn't enjoy not feeling safe in his own home, especially since the events that went on with Fitz. Now all the worst scenarios would play in his head and being home alone was more difficult than ever. His parents, Cece and Bullfrog, were out for the night, at some rock concert. They had invited Eli along, but he chose to stay home, hopeful that Clare was going to need him. He couldn't imagine himself being far away from her, in case something came up. Even though she had effectively told him to leave her along tonight, he still had to be there as her lifeline, just to be sure.

Going through each room, Eli checked to make sure each window and door had been locked. Feeling safer now that he had double checked, he went into the kitchen and gulped down a glass of water. The cooling sensation of the cold water help to bring some slight relief to his boiling fury. He went to the living room and plopped himself down on the couch, grabbing the remote with one hand while he gulped down a second glass of water with the other. He turned it on and started flicking through the channels to find something, anything that could get his mind of Clare. It seemed that in his time of need, there was nothing that was able to grab his attention and make him forget. He cursed mentally, rolled his eyes and popped in classic horror movie, Suspiria, from his dvd collection.

Knocking at the door was the first thing Eli heard as he jolted up from the couch. Looking at the TV screen, he quickly realized that he had fallen asleep at some point, as the DVD was at the main menu screen. Rubbing his eyes, he checked the time to see that it was after midnight. Who the hell could be at the door at this time? Did his parents lock themselves out of the house somehow? Confused and still groggy, he slowly got up from the couch and glanced at his phone. One new text message notification! Eli swiped it open and saw that it wasn't from Clare, as he had hoped, but from his parents. His parents said that they wouldn't be home until morning. They must have had too much fun at the concert. The knocking on the front door commenced, snapping Eli out of his thoughts and back to the situation at hand. He walked up to the front door and undid the two locks. He reached for the doorknob, twisted it and slowly opened the door. His jaw nearly dropped when he opened the door, and Eli had to blink a couple of times to make sure what he was seeing was real. Was it possible that he as still sleeping and having a dream within a dream? He stood there for a few seconds, mouth open, suddenly realizing that the cold air coming into the house meant it was definitely not a dream. The person standing on his doorstep was the last person that he thought would ever be here, Mark Fitzgerald, better known as Fitz.

Eli felt his body shut down all around him and he was frozen in place, his sworn enemy standing right in front of him. Numbness enveloped his body as Eli was hit with a wave of thoughts. What was he doing here? What did he want? Was he going to kill me? Was this about Clare? Where WAS Clare? The sudden explosions of questions frightened Eli even more as he tried to find a reason to why his worst enemy was here at his house. There was no rhyme or reason he could think of and that only puzzled him even more. He hadn't thought of the scenario in which the enemy would walk right up to his front door and knock. What the hell is he doing here? Would this be the moment his life was going to be ended?

The trembling in his body began in his fingers and radiated to the rest of his body. Trying not to lose his composure, Eli continued to think about why Fitz was standing her right in front of him. He had lost track of how long it had been, almost as if time had stopped once the door opened. Had it been a couple of moments or minutes now? He didn't know, all he could do was stare at the other person on his doorstep. Eli was in no way up for a fight, but the wave of fear that hit him let him know that his body was ready if that were to occur. He didn't close the door however, he just stood there, staring, nearly fainting.

"I need to talk to you." were the first words that came out of Fitz's mouth and Eli remained still, not phased by the words, yet still attempting to analyze them.

"Is it okay if I come in?" he asked as Eli continued to tremble. Eli was frozen in place, afraid that if he tried to move, his legs would give out from under him.

"It's really important, and I promise you, I'm not here to fight or anything. I just want to talk." pleaded Fitz, before breathing out his final plea, "Please?"

The final "Please" snapped Eli back into the world of the fully functioning. Starting to regain control and sensation of his body, Eli took a few steps back, fully opened the door and gestured for Fitz to come in. Keeping a close eye on the bully as he let him in, Eli closed the door behind them. Locking it, Eli put his head against the door, and tried to process what he had just done. He had just willingly let the guy who pulled a knife on him, into his house. What the fuck was wrong with him? Why did he just do this? Why? Closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath, Eli took his head off the door and walked into the living room area. Seeing Fitz on his sofa, sent a quick chill up Eli's spine. He had promised he just wanted to talk, but Eli remained extremely cautious as he took a seat on the other edge of the sofa, as far from Fitz as possible.

An ice cold silence filled the air all around them, as they did nothing but look in the opposite directions of each other. They stayed like this for a few minutes, not speaking or looking at each other, not even breathing too loudly. The tension, or whatever this was called could be cut with a knife. Fumbling with his fingers, Eli gave a quick look over at Fitz, having avoided looking over at him long enough. When he glanced over, he saw that he had his head down, sulking and... was that a tear? Quickly turning his head back, Eli nervously tapped his fingers, still trying to stop his body from trembling so much. A few more heavy silent moments passed and Eli let out a deep breath that he didn't know he had been holding in. Mentally cursing himself, Eli hoped that Fitz hadn't heard him.

"I'm- I'm just so sorry," blurted out Fitz, trying his hardest not to let out a sob, as he wiped a tear from his face. Taking in a deep breath, he looked up at Eli, wiped his face again and continued.

"I don't know how many times I can say it. I'm just so sorry for everything."

Turning his head to back face Fitz, Eli suddenly felt his heart drop. He had never had someone give such a heartfelt apology. Looking into his former bully's eyes, Eli felt the unexpected. He felt sorry for whatever situations and events had brought Fitz to such a dark place. He could see just how sincere Fitz was being in this moment. The truth was clear as day and right in front of him. There was true sorrow and pain that was seeping out of Fitz's big blue eyes. The tears, that were now streaming down his face, stirred up guilty feelings within Eli. At that moment, he wished that their stupid feud had never started in the first place. As he was looking at this broken down guy in front of him, Eli realize that he could never be enemies with someone expressing such heartache.

Feeling so overcome with emotion, Eli felt his eyes start water also. He fought hard to make sure that they didn't slide down his cheeks, but there was no way to stop. Wiping his face, Eli gave another look at the "big bully" in front of him that was practically convulsing from crying so hard. They had been going up against each other since last year, and at the end of the day, it was for nothing. They had tried to hurt the other and here, they both were, crying in front of each other as one begged the other for forgiveness. For the first time, Eli felt an urge to be kind to Fitz. He wanted to hug him and console him.

Eli scooted down the couch and did the first thing that came to mind. He carefully placed his arms around Fitz's neck and hugged him with all the strength that he had left. Returning the embrace, Fitz grabbed on to Eli's body and squeezed onto him even harder. He buried his face into Eli's chest and let out all the cries that he had been holding in. It was a new feeling having this bigger guy being so close to him, nothing like being close to Clare at all. His skin was a little rough from the peach fuzz of his facial hair touching Eli's neck, but still felt soft to the touch. He inhaled softly and basked in the smell of Fitz's hair for a short moment.

"I'm so sorry, Eli... I'm just so sorry... Please forgive me." cried out Fitz in between his sobs.

Fitz squeezed on for dear life, as Eli held on to him with all his might. He started to stroke Fitz's hair to attempt to calm him down, and Eli took another quick inhale of all the aromas of Fitz. Eli closed his eyes and finally let out what he had been wanting to say for so long.

"It's okay Fitz... I forgive you."