Sorry it took me so long to get this up. This chapter took SO much work, and learning to drive has eaten up all my time at nights. Bad Kate, bad. :) But here it is.

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It's amazing how much three words can change.

Three syllables. One sentence.

Thousands and thousands of feelings and emotions tied to them.

Marco sometimes had to pinch himself. It didn't matter what he was doing. Quantum numbers in chemistry, speeches on the Cold War, eating lunch. Midway through anything he'd find himself staring out a window with an abstract look on his face, wondering if perhaps he had been dreaming....that the confessions that day were just a figment of his over-active imagination.

Then Dylan would come sit at his table in the lunchroom with that blinding smile turned in his direction, ruffle his hair...and only then, did he actually believe he was really that lucky.

Standing in front of his mirror tonight, thinking back, he still couldn't believe it. That it was all real. Tonight was Dylan's prom. He'd been invited...and a great surge of dejavu filled his mind. He was getting ready much the same way he always did for a big date...in front of the mirror on his closet door and fixing his hair, his mama sliding in behind him for a few last words before he left.

"Tonight's the big night?"

Marco raised his gaze to look into his mother's eyes in the mirror reflection. "I suppose you could say that."

"I remember my prom. It was my first year away from Italy and I was dating a boy named Gabriel, if my memory serves me right. It was quite a memorable night. I do believe I was first introduced to your father at the prom. He had lived out of town but he was visiting a friend. Fate smiled at us I suppose. Memorable night indeed." she whispered fixing up Marco's suit a bit. "Hopefully yours will be also."

Marco smiled beatifically at her affectionate expression and kissed her on the forehead, happy that he was finally taller than her. "I'm sure it will be."

A knock from downstairs gained their attention and Marco listened with held a breath as he heard the front door open and his father saying hello. Letting out the breath he'd been holding, he turned back to his mother and smiled. His father was definitely trying...and that was always something to be happy about.

His mother shoved him toward the bedroom door with a bump from her hip and made shooing gestures. "Get Marco. Can't keep the boy waiting. He's probably down there chewing his nails away trying not to say something stupid to your father."

Marco snickered quite loudly but did make his way down the stairs, hearing strained conversation echoing up to him, making him giggle even harder. At the bottom of the staircase he could clearly see the small entry way, complete with his father standing unsurely with his arms crossed across his chest, and Dylan chewing on his fingernails, as his mother had correctly guessed, and bouncing nervous glances around the room.

"....so on the ice in the forward position you- Oh, there you are Marco!" exclaimed Mr. del Rossi upon sight of his son, clearly glad for an interruption from the seemingly excruciating conversation he had been trying to uphold.

"Hey Pa." Marco said, moving further into the room, trailing a hand lightly on the wall. "Quit torturing Dylan."

His father looked slightly taken aback. "I wasn't torturing the boy. We were talking hockey." He turned quickly to the tall blonde, making him jump slightly. "Right?"

Dylan let off a breathy laugh and caught Marco's eyes, feeling the beginning of a faint flush creeping up his neck. People shouldn't be able to clean up that nicely, he thought. Especially when the suit was slightly too big. "Y-yeah. Just talking about hockey." Casting a sharp glance at Mr. del Rossi, Dylan motioned with his eyes towards the door. "You ready to go?"

Marco nodded enthusiastically and started walking over. "Yeah, defini-..."

"No, no wait!" called Mrs. del Rossi's voice from the stairway. Marco turned to see his mother practically bouncing down the hallway, a camera in tow. "You're not leaving until I have some pictures."

Marco's eyes bugged out unpleasantly. "Ah. You've got to be kidding me, Ma!"

"No, I'm not kidding! Just a couple. I promise."

Dylan could feel tears pricking at the corners of his eyes as he tried as hard as possible not to laugh. Dear god, Marco looked mortified. Dylan stepped over and placed a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder. "Come on Marco. Indulge her. It's not an everyday event."

Marco glared scathingly at him but did turn to his mother and nod sullenly. Posing like cardboard figures a few seconds later, Marco looked over at Dylan, muttering out of the corner of his mouth. "Yes, Dylan, let's indulge her. Let's not forget this, the most embarrassing thing ever."

Dylan's plastered on camera smile got bigger and more genuine as he spoke to Marco, eyes never wavering from the where they were fixed forward. "It's not that bad. I had to do this at home with Paige and Spinner. It's no big deal."

Marco actually turned his head to stare at him, forgetting the camera for the moment, a laugh quickly working it's way from the back of his throat. "You had to do this already? With Paige? I am so sorry!" he giggled out.

About five photos later his mother pronounced herself satisfied and once again made her shooing motions towards the door. "Now go. I don't want to see either of you before dawn. Have fun!"

Dylan kissed Mrs. del Rossi on the temple quickly and guided Marco out of the house, an arm coming up to encircle the smaller boy's shoulders. "See? Painless."

Marco turned to his companion, jaw dropping. Recovering quickly he rolled his eyes. "Oh shut up."

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Marco climbed out of the car and swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. Here goes nothing, he thought. Marco had been a bit reluctant about going to prom. For one, he was only a grade ten, and two, they were just about the only gay couple in the entire school. But after many trembling lower lips and eyelash bats, Dylan had coerced him into going.

Marco looked beside him at Dylan climbing out, running a hand through his hair, wondering if he was allowed to back out yet.

Dylan, only slightly aware of the other boy's unease, shrugged off his suit's jacket and threw it into the front seat, shutting the door behind it. Hm, he didn't see Cale's car yet. He must still be picking up his girlfriend. He began lazily undoing the cuffs of his dress shirt as he looked over at Marco, who was gazing at the building with a look of dread on his face. He smiled softly at him. The boy had been quite wary of the whole situation from the second he had asked, and his fear of the situation didn't seem to have abated any. Cuffs undone, Dylan walked over to Marco, rolling the long, white sleeves up to his elbows.

Jerking off the bow tie from around his neck he flung an arm around Marco's small shoulders, noticing the tense strain that was there. Perhaps he had underestimated how uneasy Marco was about this.

"I know it seems a little scary..." he said, looking through the semi-darkness, smirking at the deep bass that could be heard even from the parking lot. Dylan used his other hand with the tie in it to tuck under the younger boy's chin, so he could look him in the eye. "but really, contrary to what you've made up in your head, they all already know about us. Word travels fast. We're just going to go in there and have some fun." He smiled widely, thinking of something. "And if anyone has a problem with us...Cale will be here. So no worries."

Marco sighed heavily and looked over towards the building again. Perhaps Dylan was right. As always. Didn't make him any less apprehensive however. "Yeah. Okay. Let's go. We've got to show these people how to dance after all." he joked, already walking from the parking lot to the entrance, waving Dylan to hurry up.

The first thing Marco noticed upon entering the building was the noise. It was, well, loud, for lack of a better word. The kind of loud where the bass is so full it rattles your spine and the high keys were almost unheard. Second thing he noticed was the crappy decorations. Marco snickered behind his hand at the black and white streamers hanging lopsided from the walls and ceiling and the rented flashing lights. Who put this thing together anyway?

He kept quiet however. Dylan was smiling like an idiot, obviously perfectly at home among these crappy decorations and people whom Marco had never met in his life. Dylan kept waving and shouting various greetings in all directions. To girls, to guys, most of which being hockey players Marco noted.

Call him paranoid, but they all seemed to be looking at him funny, which he supposed wasn't all that weird. Everyone already knew about Dylan's sexuality, and two plus two always equaled four. He was well aware that by now everyone knew what he was to Dylan. He was still trying to get used to it...but he was proud of the fact that it was becoming easier as time passed. While he still had an aversion to public displays of affection, like holding hands or kissing in plain view of others, he'd finally become accustomed to holding hands under tables and such.

It was nice to know that he was finally learning to live it.

More and more people were beginning to show up and the press of bodies around them was getting a bit crazy. Smiling goofily, he turned and tugged on Dylan's sleeve, rolling his eyes jokingly, watching as Dylan smiled a goofy smile back and place an arm around his shoulder. Marco was just about to turn towards Dylan and ask a very lame "So what now?" but a voice behind them luckily cut in.

"Hey Dylan! There you are!" Marco and Dylan turned around to see Cale similarly attired with a short, blonde girl in red latched onto his arm. Dylan stepped forward and they did their manly handclap and Dylan turned to the girl with him. "Hi. Cale, rude as ever, seems to have forgotten to introduce me. I'm Dylan." He paused minutely, gesturing to Marco. "And this is my boyfriend, Marco."

The girl blushed horribly at the attention and seemed to cling harder to Cale's arm. "Mandy." she muttered, just barely audible over the music. Marco smiled. At least he wasn't the only one who felt out of place around here. Cale caught sight of Marco and nodded. "Hey Marco. Didn't know if Dylan was going to come. He kept saying he was going to pass over the phone. It's good to see you here."

Marco laughed and nodded enthusiastically. "I didn't think Dylan would want to come to one of these either. I almost had a heart attack when he asked me last week." Marco replied, pointing his thumb in the older boy's direction.

Dylan looked affronted, but did smile along with them. "Whatever you guys. The important part is that we're here." His words were met with a comfortable silence, Dylan and Cale bobbing there heads slightly with the beat in the background. Marco raised an eyebrow at Dylan's head bobbing. He caught the gaze of the silent girl across from him, silently rolling his eyes with a smile. How had they ended up with such dorks?

The silence eventually got awkward though, and Marco rocked on his heels looking from person to person. This was stupid.

Cale, seemingly agreeing with Marco's silent declaration, turned his attention to his date. "What do you say we dance?" She blushed even darker than before and nodded animatedly, her grip on his arm tightening that little bit more. Cale nodded to Dylan, then to Marco before he made his way to the dance floor.

Dylan smiled after them, turning towards Marco and offering his hand. "You. Me. Dance. Now."

Marco sarcastically raised an eyebrow at his antics, but did take his hand. "Whatever you say Tarzan. Lead the way." Dylan grinned brightly and ruffled his hair, leaning in to speak into Marco's ear. "Come on then Jane."

The dance floor was....awkward. At first anyway. They went out to near the middle where Cale and Mandy were slow dancing to one of the fastest songs there was and very slowly and unsurely Dylan placed his hands on Marco's waist. "Are we good?" he whispered into his hair.

"Yeah...yeah we're good." Nervous, but definitely good, Marco thought as he brought his hand up to rest on the taller boy's neck. Now if only everyone would quit staring.

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About an hour later Dylan had asked Mandy if she'd like to dance while Cale went to go get drinks for everyone. So now Marco found himself tailing Cale over by the refreshments table, a whole lot calmer than earlier, having been introduced to many of the seniors and having had a few dances to chill him out.

One thing kept nagging him however. During one dance that he and Mandy had sat out, claiming they wanted a break from dancing, and they had watched Dylan and Cale. The thing that got him was Cale. The two wunder-dweebs had danced like crazy. Stupidly, up close and personal, fast. And Cale....Cale looked as if he didn't care. The close proximity with the other boy hadn't seemed to bother him in the least. It was like he had been dancing with a girl, and not his very-openly-gay best friend.

So here he was, eyeing Cale a little oddly as he grabbed some glass bottles of soda and began heading to the back where all the small tables were situated. Pulling up a chair he sat beside the older boy, playing with bottle that had been put in front of him. The question still lingered, however. It wouldn't really leave him alone. Finally he gave up.

"Aren't you afraid what people will think?" he burst out, completely without thinking. Cale looked sharply over at him, a puzzled look on his face, causing Marco to squeeze his eyes shut tightly and look back down at the table. "Sorry."

"No, no it's okay. But what do you mean?"

Marco very slowly allowed his gaze to rise until he was looking into the other boy's eyes. "You know..." he said, making vague motions with his free hand. "when people see you dancing with Dylan like that....don't you worry what they're thinking about you? Don't you ever worry they'll think you're gay too?"

To his surprise, Cale burst out laughing, almost spitting out the soda that was in his mouth. It took quite awhile for him to finally calm down, and gasping slightly he pulled Marco closer to speak conspiratorially into his ear. "Let me ease your mind a bit. My reputation isn't very high on my list of priorities." He paused, turning his now calm eyes to the dance floor watching as Dylan dropped Mandy in a silly dramatic little swoop. A smile ghosted his face, making Marco smile a bit too. "And besides....if I don't treat him normally...who will?"

They stayed in comfortable silence for several minutes, just watching their dates dance, falling into small fits of giggles when Dylan pulled some stupid stunt to embarrass Mandy. Jerking out his small reverie Cale turned back to Marco. "Come on. Come walk with me." he said, already beginning to stand, draining his drink as he rose. Marco stared at him a bit dumbly before he shakily stood up as well.

Walking outside around the exterior of the building under the ugly yellow lights shining down on the parking lot, Cale began to speak again.

"Look at it this way Marco...either I become uneasy around him because of what Dylan is and risk losing him forever...or I forget about it and look past it, see Dylan as the guy I grew up with." He looked over at his companion and shoved his hands into his pockets. "The choice was the easiest I ever made. When you have a friend like Dylan...you don't give them up over petty differences."

Marco stopped walking and looked off at the cars shining a little too brightly in the distance. "I understand. Dylan's lucky."

Cale stopped too and gazed unabashedly at the younger teen. "You still have Ellie don't you?"

"Yeah" he whispered, brushing the hair out of his eyes. Marco felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Cale staring at him intently. "Well, there you go. You're just as lucky. Don't take it for granted."

Marco looked up into the other's boy's eyes and nodded slowly. "Yeah. Thanks."

"There you guys are! Mandy's having a fit, dude! You might want to go find her."

Marco jumped slightly and looked beyond Cale's shoulder to see Dylan walking speedily in their direction, hair flying behind him, a smile on his face.

"Ah, the lady calls. See you." called Cale as he turned minutely and clapped Marco on the back, wiggling his eyebrows at Dylan and flashing a devilish grin as he passed by on his way inside.

Dylan watched Cale go, confused, before turning to something more important. Marco to be exact. He leaned a shoulder against the wall, and almost smiled as Marco did the same. "So why did you guys leave?"

Marco grinned. "Just talking."

A smirk formed on Dylan's face and he reached up, placing a hand next to the darker teen's head caging him in against the wall. "About what?"

"About what time we were planning on ditching you and Mandy for a make-out session in his car." Marco supplied.

Dylan tried to hold it in, but with a very undignified snort he cracked up. After placing a quick kiss on his lips, his head dropped down onto the other boy's shoulder, a hand coming to rest on his waist. After a bit of time to recover from his laughing fit he turned bright eyes to Marco. "Believe me, Cale cannot kiss. Ask Mandy."

Marco just grinned cheekily at him and pretended to take an avid interest in his fingernails. "Oh I dunno. That's not what I heard."

Ooh, that smirk was not helping, Dylan thought. He could feel his willpower slipping as he looked at it. Evil, evil little smirk. It's being cute on purpose. Taunting me. Marco looked up from his fingernails and raised an eyebrow in question. Damn it!, the little voice in Dylan's head yelled. I give up! The hand next to Marco's head slid over to rest on the hollow of his throat and he leaned in close. "Well let me help change your perspective."

With a small breathy laugh from Marco, he leaned forward and drew the boy into a deep, unhurried kiss, hand on his waist sliding around to the small of his back, and the other moving up further to slide into his hair. He could feel trembling hands sliding up his chest as Marco opened his mouth and it was like everything was just fading away. The lights, the music, even the wall behind Marco's disappeared. There wasn't anything else.....just Marco.

Through the dizzy whirlwind of sensation going through his head he vaguely registered the small hands on his chest were creeping up around his neck, and the kiss was slowing down, about to end softly.....

...until a flash from the left caused them to practically jump out of their skins. Turning his head, breathless from the kiss and angry for the interruption, Dylan found Cale cackling like a madman with a camera in hand and a very giggly Mandy standing behind him.

Marco growled low in his throat and dropped his head down onto Dylan's shoulder in despair.

"Cameras!" he moaned, the picture of helpless frustration.

Dylan blinked stupidly for a second or two until he rememered Mrs. del Rossi earlier that evening and began laughing so hard he could barely breath, head buried in Marco's hair and gripping his waist for dear life, afraid he might just fall down.

Marco smiled softly into the white cloth under his nose and burrowed further into Dylan's chest, happy to simply hide from the evil camera and let the blonde boy do the talking. Besides, he loved the way he could feel the laugh's vibration and hear the other boy's heartbeat. To look up and pay attention to the conversation going on...would be to miss knowing. It was infinitely nice. Best thing he'd ever experienced even. He was very lucky, he thought, remembering what Cale had said earlier. When you had someone like Dylan...you didn't give them up.

He felt the deep rumble as Dylan asked Cale to give him a copy of the picture then to tell him to get lost. Hearing the footsteps fading away Marco lifted his head slightly to peek up at Dylan and smile cheezily. No...you definitely didn't give them up.

Dylan freed a hand and tucked it under his companion's chin to bring his face to a better angle. Leaning in Marco could feel his breath melting with his own. "Where were we?" Dylan murmured against the younger boy's lips...only to have the words lost as another dizzying kiss took over.

Perhaps this whole prom thing wasn't such a bad idea after all, Marco thought.

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After prom, life sluggishly started rolling again, though Marco did find himself staring off out of windows during classes remembering it. His mother had been right. It had been memorable.

He was, slightly upset that he had missed the dance he had put together for the lower grades. Paige had reported back telling him the gym had been beautiful and that the Indian theme had been fun. Marco was even more surprised to hear that his curtains had caught fire and the dance had still continued outside.

But as he told her, missing it had been worth it.

Today, however, he wasn't thinking about prom....he was thinking about Dylan.

Today was the last day of school for him. It was horrible trying to even acknowledge the fact that Dylan was leaving for college after this summer...that he would see him even less than he already did. Hell, he was freaking out that he wouldn't see him at school for his last two weeks of school! Why did the seniors leave school earlier than the rest of the grades did anyway? It wasn't fair. It was like they were speeding something up that was life-altering...like an apocalypse or something.

Granted there was still Dylan's graduation to go to...but the idea of sitting for ages holding Paige's hand and having to listen to her cry as she watched her big brother leave her too, made it seem even worse. It often felt like everything lately was dead set on reminding him of his boyfriend's upcoming absense-- the night Mrs. Michalchuk had made him parade around in his graduation cap and gown, or the day he had stayed over and listened wide-eyed to Cale and Dylan plotting to bring white mice to the graduation just to scare everyone, the class ring that hung from a chain around the blonde boy's neck.

For seven months, Marco had spent almost every weekend with the boy, and was grasping desperately at a way to make the situation seem better than it was. And failing miserably he might add.

Marco dragged through his periods. First...second...third...they were all blurring together and it felt as if the clocks were moving their hands faster than they rightfully should. The last period bell rang...and he felt his stomach drop while his heart lodged itself in his throat.

Dylan's last year of high school was officially over.

Standing shakily to his feet and pulling his bag over his shoulder he walked soundlessly out of the classroom, ignoring anything his friends might have said to his back on his way out. He had somewhere to be.

Haltingly walking towards the grade twelve lockers he was overcome by the memory of the first day he had made this trek. Scared, nervous, naive. How he had tried to run away, how he had stuttered. While he was never as tongue-tied around Dylan as he used to be...the thought of running away flashed through his mind. It would be nice, that's for sure...to run away from this whole situation, pretend it wasn't happening. But that wasn't feasible.

He looked up from the floor where his gaze had firmly stayed for the duration of his walk and caught sight of Dylan walking out of last class with a few friends surrounding him, saying their last minute goodbyes. Marco wondered if they knew how serious their goodbyes really were, wondered if they really understood that they might never see each other again.

Dylan looked up, locking eyes with him and smiling half-heartedly, then saying hurried goodbyes to everyone following him. Reaching his locker, Dylan reached forward and tucked a fly away lock of hair behind Marco's ear and sadly did the combination for his locker.

The click of the lock sounded unnaturally loud to Marco and he even winced slightly at the sound. Sighing deeply, he handed over the cardboard box he had carried over, catching Dylan's eyes again, only to drop his back to the ground. Just pretend it's not happening, he thought.

Very slowly Dylan started to grab each item out of his locker. A football, a small calender, a baseball cap...each item hitting the bottom of the box. Like a death knell with every quiet thump.

Dylan threw a paperback novel down and a heavy piece of paper fell out, landing upside down on the floor. Marco hurriedly bent down and picked it up. Turning it over he came face to face....with himself.

It was a photograph. A picture of him to be exact. He was sitting on Dylan's couch with an x-box controller in hand and an idiotic grin. Marco remembered that day. Maybe two months ago. Dylan had gotten a camera for his birthday and had gone a little crazy with it.

But one thing caught his eye. In the lower right hand corner, in silver sharpy, a word was written in Dylan's boyish handwriting.

Serendipity.

Marco jerked his head up, a question in his eyes. "Serendipity?"

Dylan smiled warmly and plucked the photograph from in between Marco's fingers, placing it in his back pocket. "I read it in a book once. I didn't know what it meant, looked it up. It means an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident." He cocked his head to the side, looking intently at the younger boy, his smile growing bigger. "I guess ever since then I always associated that word with you. You had to be the best accident that ever happened to me...and I'm grateful for it."

Marco's smile trembled a bit and he laughed breathily, pulling Dylan into a hug.

"Thank you, Dylan. The same goes for you." He pulled back a bit to kiss Dylan on the cheek, for once not even caring if there was anyone to see.

"If it hadn't been for you, I'd have never learned to live with it."

FINIS.

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Faithful readers, as you've noticed this was the end of "Learning to Live With It." I know I promised it was going to be longer but I changed my mind halfway through writing this chapter. This last bit seemed like a good stopping point. I still have about 5 or 6 chapters already planned out in my head but they all seem more like a beginning than an end, so that's exactly what I'll use them as. Oh and if there's anything in particular you might want to see, now is the time to tell me. I can't promise it will be there, but plot ideas are ALWAYS welcome.

Again, thanks for you guy's help. It is so much appreciated. As is feedback. I am still so blown away by how many reviews I've gotten. A great many of you have gotten me smiling like an idiot and one or two have even made me cry. It's just so amazing and I am eternally grateful to you all.

Thanks to Christina, my beta. She is really nice and she's always really upbeat about everything. Thank you Christina!

And of course....Melissa! As I've already told you a million times I love you to death! Your help with this chapter was sorely needed and much appreciated and I wish I knew a way to show you just how much I needed it and loved the help that you gave me. Needless to say this chapter is practically all your doing. Thank you so much, you are such a great person, and I love you so much! Just.....GAH!