Take the Fall

Dedication - Sarah [mirkwood] you're the greatest. You don't know how much that meant coming from you. Thank you thank you thank you!

Also, to all the slash writers of MD…I declare this entire story dedicated to you! =]

Koon's POV

I woke up, and did the normal morning stuff. I ran down the stairs of our dorm building and bumped into Charlie, who fell flat on his back. I smiled, and offered him a hand up. He took it, and pulled me down with him. I nearly landed on top of him, but ended up straddling him. I mean, I didn't want to crush the guy.

Adam walked around the corner. I heard him inhale, and looked up. Charlie looked very surprised, and almost as if he knew there was going to be trouble. I picked myself up, and dusted off my uniform. I patted Adam on the back as I left. I know this wasn't the greatest thing to do. The last thing I wanted to do was make enemies with Charlie's boyfriend. "Keep him…" I whispered.

He looked about the break down, as he turned around to face me. He tugged my shoulder, and I was forced to spin around, as my face met his fist. I put my hand over my nose, which was bleeding rivers. I shot Charlie a look, and he got up to talk to Adam.

Adam was still glaring at me, but shoved Charlie away. He averted his attention to Charlie, and I stood stock still for a moment.

"Adam, it's not what you think."

"Then why do you seem so guilty?"

"I love you, Adam…"

"I wish I could say the same." Ouch! I could see Charlie visibly tremble as Adam renounced his love. Okay, sentimental me, I wanted to punch Adam into next week. How could he do that to Charlie? We weren't 'doing' anything!

"Adam, you don't mean that." Charlie fought his tears.

"Maybe I do! You'd never think that I had a mind of my own, would you?"

"Of course I-"

"Just shut up Charlie. You won't be saddled with me any more." Uh oh…

"Adam! You're not a chore, if that's what you're thinking!"

"It must be hard for you to make time for me, then. I mean, between hockey, and school, and Koo-"

"Shut up, Adam. Charlie and I are just friends. What happened here…it wasn't like that." I cut him off.

"You looked pretty God damn intimate to me!"

"You must be blind."

My nose stopped bleeding.

Charlie sunk to the ground in a ball of human. I looked at him, and so did Adam. Charlie was crying, and I could hear him choking as the sobs wrenched his body. How could Adam not take pity in that?

Adam only glared, but I could see he was pretty close to breaking. He turned to look at me. "Damn you. How could you?"

"How could I? It was an accident! I came down the stairs, and we toppled over each other."

"I doubt that such a coincidence is possible."

"You believe what you want to believe. Charlie and I are just friends."

He shook his head, and I couldn't help but groan. And Charlie kept saying what a jealous boyfriend he was…Adam was much worse! I guess it must have looked pretty bad, but come on!

Later I found out that Adam and Charlie were planning to go out for breakfast before they had to get to class. They'd chosen later classes this semester, as did I.

Charlie looked at Adam, then buried himself back into his knees, which were tucked to his chest. Adam shook his head, and went to turn the corner when Luis bumped into him. Both looked surprised.

"Luis, you're skipping today?" I growled.

Adam shot me a look, as if telling me that I'd caused enough trouble already. "Hi Luis."

"Hi. Yeah Koon, I'm skipping…No, really. I'm out sick." He coughed and grinned, obviously faking it.

Adam smiled. It was the most consideration of Luis I'd seen him perform in the one and half years that I'd known him. Charlie looked crushed, and I offered him a hand. He shrugged it off, and picked himself up. He took one look at Adam, and ran back down the hall to his dorm. I turned to follow, and shoved Adam into Luis.

"Preppy bastard." Yeah, I'm not the nicest guy when I'm pissed off. Adam was wrong there…just plain wrong. It was a misunderstanding, but Adam made way too much of it.

When I got to Charlie's dorm, I knocked, only to be polite. "Charlie?"

No answer.

I let myself in. He was on his bed, looking about to suffocate himself.

I put my hand on his shoulder, and he shook. "Adam?"

"No, it's me…"

He sighed. "Oh…"

Ouch - again. "Sorry - do you want me to leave?"

"No!" He sat up. "Please, don't."

So I stayed, and he brought out a secret stash of donuts. Yum! We ate breakfast, and he went to wash the tearstains off his face, so we could go to class. I sighed, and he looked at me.

"You know something…" He began.

"Huh?"

"Well, Adam and I…we've been through so much. We'll get over this. It's just a foolish little misunderstanding… it's no big deal." When he said it like that, it really didn't sound like a big deal. But it was! Adam seemed to be getting closer to Luis, and he seemed to think Charlie and I were going at it or something…In my perspective, Adam was definitely the wrong one.

As we walked to class, I saw Ken. It was clear to me after last night that we weren't a match. He was too timid for a guy like me. I was still fond of him, but I'd have to move on…It was lust, not love. It wouldn't be too hard either. I wasn't attached or anything.

Right now my focus was on Charlie - and vaguely on his boyfriend. Adam must have thought me something else when I preached to him about morals, and taking the other person's perspectives into consideration - which he didn't. The lecture had happened a few weeks before, and already I could almost feel myself drop down the social latter, into the pits and hell of evangelism.