Marco went back inside, his parents were waiting for him.

"Great. I already had the 'be careful' talk, remember?"

"Marco, I know you don't want to hear it but—" his dad interrupted his mom.

"Don't baby him. If he thinks he's ready to be serious about Dylan, he should be treated like an adult, not a kid. Marco, I'm not going to tell you to be careful, you already know that. I'm going to tell you to think about it.  To think about what is going to happen if you an Dylan…do…uh…get serious. To think about how your relationship is going to change, how your other relationships are going to change. You have to decide if you're ready to take things to the next step, because things will change if you do."

"We love each other. If we are together it won't change anything between us. Dylan isn't using me for that. And so what if my friends find out, it's not like any of them haven't. Craig has, and he was cheating on Ashley when he did. He was stupid about it, he wasn't prepared and he got a fourteen year old pregnant. That can't happen with Dylan and I. We won't be stupid and screw up. We're in love."

Mr. Del Rossi was getting angry. "You are fifteen. You don't know what love is."

Marco was close to tears. "Yes I do. I know that every time I see Dylan me heart skips,  I know that I'm always happy when I'm with him or when I think about him. I know that's it's right. That's what this whole thing is about, you think it's wrong for me to love another boy. It's right, it's the only way it's ever going to be. I know you wanted me to marry some nice girl and have kids, but I'd be lying to myself if I did. It can't be that way, and nothing you can do will change it." Marco went to his room, not caring if he got through to his dad or not.

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                At Dylan's house the exact opposite was happening. He walked in, his parents sat in the den. His mom smiled, trying to make it better, he looked only to his dad. Mr. Michalchuk sat reading the paper, more like staring at it, but he refused to look up. He pretended Dylan wasn't there. He'd done the same thing a few years ago, when Dylan came out. His mother left the room, yet he stared at his dad, waiting for a reaction.

                "You can't ignore me forever, I'm you son."

                "I have no son, you're more like a daughter anyway." He finally lowered the paper.

"Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I'm not here, I'm still here. I've always been here." Dylan's voice cracked with emotion.

"I could care less if you are gay, but I don't want you acting on it in my house."

"You make it sound like an impulse. It's not, it's who I am."

"Can't it wait till you are out on your own?" Dylan's eyes narrowed.

"You want me to be miserable like you? Spend as much time away from my life as possible? If I don't see it it's not there? Bury myself in hockey to prove that I'm a man? Hope that you show up to just one of my games and pretend not to care when you don't? I'm sick of it, I'm sick of waiting for you to try to remember that you have a damn family." Dylan raised his voice halfway though. 

What happened next seemed a blur. Dylan watched as his father raised his arm, the next thing he knew he was on the floor. He pushed himself up and ran to his room, his eyes blurring with tears. The left side of his face burned, he glanced in the mirror. A cut on his cheekbone was bleeding, and it was already starting to bruise.

Dylan barely managed to pull him self out of bed in the morning. He pulled on some clothes and checked the mirror. The selling had gone down, and the cut was merely a scrape, but the bruise was dark and noticeable. Something else in his refection caught his eye; a small purple mark on his neck from Marco. He smiled thinking about the night before. He knocked on his sister's door, she opened it and instantly saw the hickey.

"Can you cover it?"

"Sure," Paige had a smirk on her face. She dabbed cover-up on the spot." Do you want me to cover your cheek too?"

"No. It's alright."

At School he made it through the halls with only a few looks. He got to Marco's locker, he was there getting a book off the top shelf. He took a deep breath then walked over to him. He put his hand on Marco's shoulder. "Hey."

Marco turned around, he spotted the bruise instantly. "What happened? Jay?" Marco touched his boyfriend's face gently.

"No. Marco…I haven't been completely honest about how my parents have been about this whole thing." He read the question in Marco's eyes. "Um…my dad wasn't exactly okay about it when I came out, he acted like I wasn't there, he wouldn't even talk to me. He got over it after a while, but he started working more, going on business trips. I thought he was over it completely, but when we started to date."

"So...your face?"

"I mouthed off." Marco leaned against the locker next to his.