Ch.4. Finally. Sorry the update took so long. My life got in the way and then my internet wouldn't connect. lol. And because of the wait (and because I was bored) I wrote a one shot for you guys.

Thanks for the reviews you guys. They rocked as always. I baked some of my newly acquired ego into them because I have entirely too much and you guys deserve some! And yes, nikki, definitely chocolate chip!

virgo-of-swords: I thought he was hispanic too, then I found out that his actor Adamo was italian, and ever since then I thought of him as italian too.

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He had been lying awake staring at the ceiling when an annoying buzz of an alarm went off somewhere to his left It sounded alot more like a death nell to Marco however. Today was the day. The day he was supposed to talk to Dylan after school. He hit the button on the dumb alarm clock that had just gone off in the middle of his pre-most-embarrassing-day-of-his- life pep talk. He had been doing pretty good if he did say so himself. He had almost convinced himself that he wouldn't stutter.

With a sloth-like quality that can only come from feelings of absolute dread, Marco got up and got ready for school, taking extra care picking out what to wear and mentally thinking of what would be the most suitable coffin size.

Downstairs was no different. His mother and father were yet to be awake (he always got up before everyone else). The silence whispered words of impending doom and humiliation, making Marco hurry more than usual to grab his things. Writing a quick note explaining that he was going to hang out with a friend after school he all but fled from his house and walked to school.

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"Dylan!" said the screechy voice that could only be a half-awake Paige. "It's time to get up you idiot! If you want a shower you will get your skinny butt out of bed right now! We're running late!" A pause. "Later than usual anyway."

Dylan groaned and buried his face deeper into his pillows. It was too early to expect him to actually get up. What was he? A performing dog? Very slowly, and against his will, his mind began to climb through the fog and clear enough to think. Yeah, he needed a shower before he was late. What did he have to do today that was so important anyway?

Math test? No, that was tomorrow.

Take Cale to practice? Yeah that was one thing. But there was something way more important. He knew it. Dylan lifted his head and rubbed his eyes. Come on. What was it?

Oh my god! Marco!

Dylan jumped up as if he'd had an electric shock. He had to talk to Marco today! It was today! He stood in the middle of his room, freezing to death in only a pair of pajama pants and slowly, he smiled as wide as he could. He began to quickly grab clothes and other necessities to take a shower. Today was going to be interesting.

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"Hey Marco. Sorry I had to hang up on you so fast last night. We had a project to finish before nine o'clock. Anyway, so today's the big day. Your date with-"

"It's not a date. Quit saying that." Marco cut off. He was getting a little freaked out by all the comments of dating and liking and everything else. These people had no idea what they were talking about.

Ellie closed her locker and leaned against them with her arms folded and a bored expression glazing her eyes. She sighed. "Marco, what do we have to do to make you understand? Dylan likes you. Has ever since that beach trip. And you-"

Marco slammed his locker shut and rounded on her. "What makes you think that? The guy is a grade 12, he's on the hockey team, and he's got the kind of looks that cause heart failure, in case you haven't noticed. And then...there's me. The short, puny, feminine guy. Really, whatever notions you have in your mind are wrong. He just so happens to be nice enough to deal with me snivelling on about my problems. That is all. Nothing else. Now please quit. I know your intentions are good and all, but it's really just depressing me."

With these last words Marco grabbed his stuff and headed to his first period, leaving Ellie staring after him with a shocked expression. If it wasn't for the fact that Marco's naivety was part of his charm, she would have clocked him by now. Shaking her head agressively, she ran off to her class also.

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A tall boy with lank brown hair stood in front of his locker, writing some note or something on the back of his hand, not paying attention to his surroundings at all, which is probably why he jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand come down on his shoulder.

"Holy...oh, Dylan, hey."

"Hey Cale, I owe you one for yesterday." Dylan, whose locker stood directly beside Cale's, started fiddling with the lock as Cale smiled at him. "Eh, no problem. It's not everyday a guy you like comes and talks to you or anything."

Dylan stopped dead for a second. "Who said I liked him? Marco just wanted someone to talk to." He turned scared eyes to his friend.

"Please Dylan, I may not be gay, but I have had a few million crushes in my highschool career. The look on your face, not to mention on this Marco guy's face as well, was pretty clear as to what was going on. I just did the courteous thing and left you two to it." He flipped his hair out of his eyes with a toss of the head and turned imploring eyes at Dylan. "You did ask him out didn't you?"

"What! My sister asked the same exact thing! Is it a conspiracy?!?! Whether or not I have a crush on Marco does not mean I am going to ask him out. He doesn't want me like that. And I can accept that."

Cale snorted. "Sure. Whatever. You two carry on with your little friend act. But mark my words, I will be there to do some much needed laughing and I-told-you-so-ing. Until then, I will try to stay out of it."

Dylan threw his patented 'yeah right' look over his shoulder as he headed to his first period. He loved Cale. He did. But the guy was creeping him out.

Wait a minute. Was he really that obvious?

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Okay, Marco, you can do this. Nothing to panic about.

The last period had ended, his locker had been visited and now he was in the boys bathroom staring at his mirror reflection for one last attempt to reassure himself.

Just tell him what's going on. Ask for advice. Don't stutter. Don't blush. Don't do anything stupid. With a final deep breath, Marco grabbed his bag and began walking out of the school towards The Dot.

Ellie's words still haunted him. "Marco, what do we have to do to make you understand? Dylan likes you. Has ever since that beach trip." He would give anything to be able to believe her. It would the most amazing thing if Dylan 'did' actually like him. No, not just amazing. It would be a freaking miracle. But, like he always did if something made him happy, he thought of every way it could go wrong. Thinking about it made him depressed, so the line of thought was quickly ended.

Looking up, Marco found that he had reached his destination, and with one final deep breath, he opened the door and stepped inside the restraunt. It was only just starting to fill with people so it wasn't crowded or overly loud, but enough people to make him seem inconspicuous. Marco looked around a bit frantically until he noticed in the far corner an achingly familiar head of golden curls.

Dylan was bent over what looked to be calculus homework, an order of fries and a drink by his elbow. Marco indulged himself a bit and allowed himself to stare at the unknowing boy much as he had done the day before. The older teen's blue eyes were narrowed in concentration and he was biting his lower lip slightly, one strong, capable looking hand was gripping the corner of the textbook and the other was writing. He sat by a large window and sunlight spilled forth, shining through his hair and shadowing his face.

God he was beautiful.

At that moment Dylan looked up and saw Marco standing near the entrance. He waved him over and quickly started placing things back in his bag as the dark haired boy drew closer. Marco knew he was going to die then. The second he had sat down the blonde smiled that heart stopping smile and Marco forgot how to breathe yet again. This sucked. He was never going to get anywhere with Dylan if he couldn't even keep his lungs functioning.

There were no greetings, just eye contact, a smile, and mutual silence. A waitress came over and Marco ordered an expresso. Not until the coffee was placed before him did he finally speak, soft and hesitantly.

"I always... have this feeling. Like my parents can see right through me." He grinned into his glass. "I feel like I let off these gay vibes that they have a radar for. Sometimes I sit there watching TV with them and I wonder if any second they might jump up and start yelling and disowning me, because they could tell. Somehow they would just know."

Marco looked up quickly into Dylan's eyes, which were intense and completely focused on him, and dropped his eyes back to his cup just as fast. He smiled. "I know it's totally irrational and everything. But I just...can't help but think they'd find out." Again he looked up into the blue eyes across from him, but this time he allowed them to stay, and his voice dropped even lower. "They're such homophobes Dylan. They'd never understand."

Dylan nodded his head understandingly. He knew. He had been through it of course. He brought his hand up to the back of his neck and began to, very unsurely, find something to say that would make sense and comfort him. "It's the guilt. The feeling of having eyes on your back." He grinned stupidly. "The gay vibes as you call them. They're nothing but guilt. You feel ashamed of who you are because your parents wouldn't understand." Here he stopped and looked off into the distance, lost in thought, his voice a mere whisper. "And maybe they won't. But the one thing about coming out to your parents, is that you have to be comfortable with yourself first. It's the only way. Or the hurtful things they may say from shock....could break you."

Dylan jerked out of his reverie and turned back to his companion, letting his hand drop from his neck. He locked eyes with Marco and was nearly knocked to the floor. Marco's eyes were on fire with some alien emotion he'd never seen before. It was breathtaking and it made his heart do daredevil stunts. He continued, his voice a bit shaky and choked. "All I can tell you is to never be ashamed of who you are. Because it's not your fault and no one should ever make you believe that. You're just another human being looking for love like everybody else. Nobody....not even your parents, should have the right to take that one life altering thing away. It's not theirs to take anyway."

By this point Marco was beyond moved. He didn't have unsched tears or anything, but his throat was deffinently tighter and his breathing was hitched. This boy. This simple, wonderful, beautiful boy had said words that had broken through everything. He knew what it was like. He had been there. Marco of course had known this before, but not exactly what that had meant. He found himself looking at the blonde teenager before him with awe in his eyes and wonder in his voice. "Thanks Dylan."

Dylan, who was starting to feel a little awkward after such an emotional chat, decided it was definitely time to lighten things up. He flashed a bright, crooked smile at Marco and threw one of his french fries at him. "Ah, enough of this. What are we? Girls?"

Marco, relieved, busted out laughing and stole a french fry. Things were so much easier to get through when you had Dylan sitting across from you warmly teasing you like he always did.

Still giggling slightly Dylan sat back, an errant chuckle still bubbling forth, and looked at the younger boy. He was still lit up and giggling, eyes closed tight and shoulders shaking. It was, Dylan's mind pointed out, the cutest thing he'd ever seen.

Here was a boy, so adorably naive and sweet that he'd probably never even made out before. And he was so alive, with that inner light that Dylan found so entrancing. It was like being blind forever only for him to open his eyes to this amazing new world. And there was Marco at the center of it all. It was quite a dazzling discovery Dylan decided, and not one he minded in the least.

Dylan checked the clock on the diner's wall and saw that practice started in thirty minutes. "Hey Marco, I've got to pick up a friend for practice now." He paused, considering. "I liked this though. And I'd like to still talk to you if it's ok. We didn't exactly get very far or anything. Same time and place tomorrow?"

Marco, who had only a second ago been able to stop laughing, had the air knocked out of him again. Was he ever going to get to breathe today! He couldn't believe it. Dylan wanted to talk to him again! Marco already knew, no matter how much his heart told him not to get attached, that he was going to do this anyway.

"Um, y-y-yeah. I-I'd like that. Tomorrow."

Dylan beamed at him and grabbed his bag. He stood, pulling it over his shoulder and said "Okay, tomorrow it is." As he walked by he ruffled Marco's hair and headed out.

Marco turned his body so he could watch him go. He couldn't believe that had all just happened. Dylan was now out of sight and he was grinning so hard it hurt his face. But he didn't care. He turned around and hugged himself tightly.

Yes, he thought, definitely tomorrow.

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Yep, that was it. I was out of it when I wrote it so it's not as good as it was going to be. Because it was going to be awesome, but...sadly, it's not "that" good. Anyway, R&R.