Around and around and around and around . . .
Jono gave a mental sigh. Hamsters were such lucky creatures not to have to deal with human emotions and problems. Just put them in their wheel and let them spin until they grew tired, then let them fall asleep sitting atop their food bowl, and they were happy.
He watched Max running in his wheel, making it squeak with every turn, and he decided to put an end to the little whispers that had been circulating with frightening speed.
Of course, he had to get his jeans off first.
He stared down morosely at the zipper, cursing himself for having kept the jeans for years, faulty zipper and all, despite how his mother had begged him to throw them away long ago. He was starting to regret never listening to her. Mothers somehow always knew when something was wrong - girl problems, school problems, jean zipper problems.
Angelo walked into the basement-turned-bedroom without so much as a knock, since he hadn't knocked on that door for several months, and stared in barely concealed amusement as Jono hopped around the room on his tip-toes, tugging at his jeans.
"If this is some sort of weird ritual..."
Jono turned, eyes wild at having been caught at such a bad time, and then he lowered his shoulders in defeat. *Zipper's stuck.*
"Yeah, that's what they all say." Angelo snickered and settled himself on the couch, trying in vain to hide the grin creeping across his face. "Is there any particular reason why you're trying to get 'em off right now?"
Jono pointed to the splatters of paint across his thighs and knees. *Art class didn't go so well after Mr. Cassidy's . . . pep talk.*
"So I see." Angelo leaned back against the wall, studying the problem presented to him. "Maybe you should cut 'em off."
*I'm not tearin' up me jeans, Ange, forget it. This is me favorite pair.* He grunted as he failed once again at trying to get the zipper to budge. *The zipper can't stay stuck forever.*
"I bet it can."
Jono's eyes narrowed. *Yer not 'elpin', mate.*
"Sorry." Somehow, the apology was less than sincere, but he rose to his feet and walked to his friend anyway. "Here, lemme help."
*Get away from me!* Jono ordered, pushing the younger mutant away to no avail.
"Calm down! Jeez. I was just gonna try to help."
*Don't touch me.*
"You're really letting that whole Sam's thing get to you, aren't you?" Angelo glanced up, dark eyes glittering impishly. "What, you afraid I'm gonna hit on you?" He fluttered his eyelashes. Jono gave another mental sigh and folded his arms stubbornly over his chest.
*I'm not afraid o' that. You don't go fer the tall, dark, faceless type, remember?*
Angelo didn't reply, only shrugged and knelt, eyeing the zipper with calculating eyes. Jono raised his eyebrows, finding the opportunity too tempting to resist.
*You look like you've spent a lot o' time down there on yer knees, Ange.*
Jono was fully expecting a witty, biting comment in return, and all he got was a look that was nothing but slack-jawed surprise. Admittedly, Jono was a bit proud of himself that he had finally managed to say something to which Angelo was unable to reply.
Instead of answering, Angelo went back to tugging at the zipper, frowning as he realized the zipper was fighting back with a vengeance. "How the Hell you ever got this thing stuck like this, I'll never know."
*Talent,* Jono quipped dryly, deciding to simply close his eyes and tell himself that this wasn't happening.
He may have convinced himself of it until Paige walked into the room, stopping dead in her tracks at the sight before her.
"Jono?"
*This isn't...Aw, hell,* he swore, letting the back of his head fall against the wall.
Paige clenched her hands nervously behind her back. "Ah...I just wanted to tell you guys that this rumor business was getting outta hand. I actually came down here to tell you that I didn't believe it, but . . ." She trailed off, shaking her head sadly. Angelo jumped up then, victorious look on his face.
"I did it! It's unstuck!"
Jono didn't say a word, only closed his eyes and tried telling himself he'd wake up from this terrible, terrible dream soon. When he did pry one eye partially open and saw Paige turn and leave without speaking again, he turned a heated stare to his friend.
*Next time we go somewhere, remind me not t'let you give suggestions 'bout where t'go.*
******
*I think the bleedin' queen of England thinks we're gay, Ange.*
Two o' clock on a Saturday morning and there Jono and Angelo sat on the front steps of the school, one smoking a cigarette, the other ranting miserably about the rumor that had gone from a harmless jibe to ruthless persecution.
Angelo nodded mutely, taking another drag of the cigarette and exhaling the smoke, watching it rise and spiral above his head. "Prob'ly."
*All 'cause me damn 'amster was outta food.*
"Yep."
*Wot, you can't say any more 'n one word sentences tonight?"
"This morning," Angelo corrected, pointing to his left wrist and the watch that was wrapped around it. "And I just don't really have that much to talk about." Another puff. "I don't know what to say about all this. I mean, Dios. All I wanted was a friggin' Sam's card. I figured if anything, some people would get a few laughs at it, an' I might get busted for bumping my age up a few months so I could even get the stupid thing. I didn't know all this would happen."
*My life runs in circles, y'know?*
Angelo's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You're not gonna start ranting like Cassidy did, are you?"
The corners of Jono's eyes lifted slightly. *No. But I was just sayin'. This 'ole thing reminds me of one o' me best friends back home. 'Is name was Patrick. Good guy, one o' them guys who makes you sick, in a way. Band an' choir geek, always made first chair an' got the solos in 'em. Spoke fluent German...and Spanish,* Jono added as more of an afterthought, plucking at the bare threads of his jeans where they had given out around his knees. *Good lookin' bloke, or so Gayle used to tell me. Always had gels hangin' over him. Could've 'ad any gel 'e wanted, too.*
"Lemme guess. Gay, right?"
*Yup. Funny, 'cause 'e 'ad a girlfriend for appearance's sake, just so 'is parents wouldn't find out.* Jono shrugged, drawing his jacket tighter around him to shield himself from the early morning cold, a gesture from habit more than anything. It wasn't as if he had enough nerves to be able to accurately tell hot from cold. *'E was one o' the nicest guys I've ever met, though. Always was polite an' friendly, all that.*
Jono let out a quiet mental sigh, a sound that Angelo was quickly growing accustomed to, no matter how odd it sounded. *Mum tried t'tell me 'e was goin' to Hell 'cause 'e was gay, but I didn't care. 'E was always good t'me an' everyone else, so it didn't really matter. Poor bloke, though,* Jono shook his head, rumpled brown hair falling into his face. *'E never said a bad word about no one, an' I still 'eard some o' the most God-awful things about 'im from some o' the kids at school. Not everyone talked about 'im, of course, but some o' the little snot-nosed bigots did.*
"And now you're wondering how many people are going around sayin' that stuff about us, right?"
Jono nodded silently, giving up on the strings of his jeans and looking up at Angelo. *I mean, I 'eard terrible things about 'im, but I didn't 'ear it all. I've 'eard some o' the stuff goin' around about us, an' we're not even gay. Well, we are on paper, according to Sam's. Can you imagine some o' the stuff they said about Patrick?*
"Life sucks sometimes, amigo," were the only words of comfort Angelo could think to offer. Jono snorted, a strangled sound that was somehow odder to Angelo's mind than the sighs.
*Life sucks all the time, but I won't go into that.*
"Gracias," Angelo murmured, pulling a magazine out from behind his back that Jono hadn't even noticed before then. Whether it was from the darkness or just plain carelessness, he didn't know. "But life's about to suck for Jubecita the next few days, too."
*Why's 'at?*
Angelo turned the magazine around for Jono's inspection, mischievous grin on his face. "'Cause we're gonna plant some evidence."
*That's wrong, Ange.* Angelo's grin widened; the corners of Jono's eyes lifted again. *Serves 'er right.*
"And so it has begun," Angelo replied in an ominous voice, stubbing out his cigarette and placing it in the ashtray sitting beside him, one that had finally been granted after constant lectures about flicking his cigarette butts into the lawn.
*Just outta curiosity, Ange, wot's putting that in 'er room gonna do?*
"Oh, I'm not doing that. What do you take me for, hombre? Some sort of novice?" Angelo flashed another grin, turning the first few pages of the magazine. "See, I found this place advertised in another magazine so I mailed away for the catalog. Timely arrival, I'd have to say." He paused, turning another page. The previously benevolent grin turned wicked. "And as it turns out, this place has a webpage for easy, speedy ordering."
He laid the magazine down on the ground for Jono to see what he was looking at; the Brit's eyes widened to almost comical proportions. *Not that I really wanna know, Ange, but wot kinda magazine were you readin' that you found an ad for some kinky sex toy mag?*
Angelo glanced up, then looked back to the catalog, folding various pages over for future reference. "One of your metal books." Jono would have blushed if he could; Angelo snickered but declined to comment, instead rising to his feet and offering a hand to help his friend up. "C'mon. Let's go make Jubilee a preferred customer."