I am so sorry for the errors on the last chapter. The new document manager on the site does that when you fix errors on it. It's crazy. So I'm now not fixing anything on there. lol. So hopefully this one will be more reader friendly. Stupid thing.

Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews. I really had no idea where this story was going and just wrote it because it was a great start...but I've sat down and worked out a plot and I can't wait to try and work it out. So thank you for the boost you guys. It helped a lot.

Warning: Again, quite a lot of language and homophobic name calling. Erm, that's it I'm pretty sure.

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"Marco, look."

With a little jump Marco looked up from a display of herbal teas by the door to spot Dylan hovering near the counter. The coffee shop they both frequented together was small and quiet, dimly lit with soft jazz music dancing through the air and inbetween the eccentric customers dotting the room talking to their friends, poring over college course notes, or reading paperback novels with odd covers. It was like all the other coffee shops really. Mellow, cozy, and a place to simply unwind.

Marco shook his head good-naturedly and walked over to Dylan with a smile on his face. "What am I supposed to be looking at?"

The blond boy rolled his eyes theatrically and pointed to a sign behind the counter. Help Wanted. "They're hiring. You've been looking for a job right? And you love this place. You should apply don't you think?"

The Italian boy's grin grew wider as he snatched an application off the counter and looked it over. Glancing up at Dylan he nodded his head at an empty table in invitation before shuffling over and taking a seat. "Okay. Fine. You're right as usual. Help me out though. I don't want to sound like the idiot teenager that I really am."

Dylan stared at him as if he'd gone insane and his eyebrows disappeared beneath his golden hair. "Who exactly are we talking about here? Not the same Marco who could probably pass my college courses with his eyes closed...and make a far better grade no less? This Marco is asking me to help him get a job? I've said it before and I'll say it again. You ...are ...freaking ...weird."

Marco glared for a moment before reaching forward and yanking the older boy's hair hard, bringing his face up close to his own. "Dylan, your mouth could outrun sound one day. I'd take care of that if I were you." With a harsh tug, the shorter boy sat back once again to stare at him.

Instantaneously the two boys fell into a fit of laughter. Several minutes passed by where Dylan and Marco could barely breathe, but eventually their howls died down. A sparse giggle bubbled up ocassionally but Marco had once again consumed himself into his application form and Dylan was absent-mindedly bobbing his head to a heavy metal song only he could hear. Marco looked up and smiled fondly at the blonde.

Ever since his election during the school year he and Dylan had never gotten back together. Oh sure, he knew they both wanted to. Dylan looked at him the same thoughtful way he used to, and he danced around the bush constantly. Marco simply assumed Dylan wasn't entirely sure of his footing in this situation... so he hesitated.

Not for lack of trying of course. There were accidental kisses on New Year's Eve and those too long touches when they were working on homework together. Yes, it was quite obvious they'd get back together one day... but Marco was getting so tired of sitting around waiting for the words and putting up with those passionate staring matches and coy smiles. It was unnerving and frustrating. It was always two steps forward...only to be followed with two steps back. Absolutely no headway or end in sight. Just like those old cartoons when the cat chases after the mouse but the sliding carpet on the floor leaves him running in place.

A clearing throat caused Marco to startle slightly and made the cloud of nostalgia fogging his brain disappate. Dylan smiled warmly at him across the table and tapped the watch on his wrist meaningfully. "We'd better be going. It's getting late."

Shrugging into their jackets and "accidentally" elbowing each other the entire time, Marco watched as Dylan tensed beside him abruptly and stared over his shoulder with an oddly curious expression on his face. In a moment's time Dylan's eyes widened in recognition at the air behind his head and placing a protective hand on his shoulder.

"Zacharias," he said, nodding slowly as if waiting for someone to yell April Fools. "It's been awhile."

Marco's eyebrows drew together in confusion and at the sound of another voice he turned to face the speaker. He almost gasped aloud upon seeing the stranger however. He had to be Dylan's age and very tall and lean. Built like a dancer, his brain threw in abstractedly. His hair was chesnut brown and long, tied back at the base of his neck in a way that could only be described as elegant. A pair of strangely pale green eyes stared out of a thin, handsome face, and a golden earring dangled from one ear. The boy was....stunning.

"Yes, it has," the boy known as Zacharias replied in a suave manner. "Long time no see, yes? You haven't changed a bit have you? Still seventy feet taller than me and the rest of the male population and still built for sin. What's your secret?"

Marco smiled at the brunette boy. He couldn't describe it. The boy's confident demeanor, steady gaze, even the fairly disliked snotty voice all made him weak in the knees. Smiling widely Marco reached over to nudge the very uncomfortable looking Dylan. "He's just very lucky. Congratulations on making him blush though. I've never been completely successful."

As the last word fell from his lips all of the new boy's attention immediately changed course and fell over him. Zacharias' smile turned distinctively devilish and one eyebrow rose up in interest and amusement. The spotlight was beyond distracting, Marco thought.

"Ah, and who is your friend Dylan? I swear you always did keep the good secrets to yourself."
Marco shuffled self-consciously as the other boy stared a hole through him, and willed the color rising up his neck to stay away from his face. Dear God, please don't let me embarrass myself today of all days.

"Oh, uh, Zach, this is Marco. Marco, Zacharias Bailey. He's an old friend from high school."

As if in slow motion, Marco watched the lithe boy reach forward, smoothly take his hand in his and place a soft almost nonexistent kiss atop it. Marco closed his eyes tightly and held his breath, hoping with everything he had that his shiver hadn't been too apparent even as he lost the battle against his blush. Man this was mortifying.

"The pleasure is all mine I'm sure. But please, call me Leo. Zacharias has far too many syllables for casual conversation, don't you think?" Marco only smiled stupidly and rubbed at his hand, too far gone in the beginnings of a crush to take in much of his surroundings. He vever noticed the now dubbed Leo's smile growing wider as if he was planning something.

Leo.

A silent scream sat on Marco's lips as he sat up in bed with great force. Cold sweat trickled down his back and tickled his neck, freezing cold pajamas sticking to his legs. Running a hand through his long hair Marco tried to ignore the shaking in his hands.

It was only a dream. A dream. A really stupid and completely imaginary dream. Breathe. Just breathe. It's over. All over. Relax.

Breathing heavily in and out he slumped uselessly against the headboard, feeling the hard wood cutting into his back. With a martyred sigh that echoed off the walls in the midnight silence, Marco grabbed the sign language book off of his nightstand and flipped on the lamp to sit out another sleepless night.

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They...were in the library.

Jay leaned back more heavily in his chair, balancing on the back two feet precariously. Alex had drug him in here as soon as the school's doors had opened, running like a mad person to the forbidden zone. According to her, it was life or death.

He snorted to himself, throwing his head back and toying with his hat. It rather was life or death. Either leave this hell hole alive and breathe easy or die of boredom in the middle of the encyclopedia section.

Bored. Bored. Heh, there's a fly on the wall. Bored. I wonder if Alex wears black or white underwear. Maybe pink even? Bored. Tap tap tap. Hm, that's kind of fun. Tap tap tap tappity tap.

"Will you quite it Jay!" snarled the girl across from him. Jay looked up and took in her peeved expression and could almost hear the nails scraping against the chalkboard in her mind. He thumped his hand one more time on the tabletop in sullen surrender and glared right back at her, reprimanding the voice in his head that was trying to laugh at the way her nostrils were flaring.

"Tell me again, why are writing this?"

Alex's eyes slit dangerously and the pencil in her hand looked about ready to snap in half. She leaned herself over the table so her volatile eyes were level with his. "We aren't doing anything. I am writing an essay because failing twice was enough for me. You want to spend another year staring at the same walls then by all means, continue tapping Buck 65 on the table until I gouge your eyes out with my pencil. Otherwise, shut the fuck up and grab a book!"

After huffing agitatedly to prove her point she threw herself back in her chair and once again busied herself with the book, angrily flipping through the pages without purpose. Jay placed his elbows on the table and hunched over, smiling.

Man he loved her.

The library doors squeaking open at this ungodly hour brought both of the room's occupants out of their inner musings. A few moment later after several quick but quiet footsteps a downright tiny, dark figure rounded the bookshelf into their little secluded niche.

Enter object of jealousy.

Alex brightened considerably, though it wasn't very obvious, and Jay could tell, that for the moment atleast, he had ceased to exist. "Marco, help me out. I don't care what anyone says, Shakespeare's got a stick up his ass and no one can understand a word he says."

The short boy scowled at her and plopped down beside her, grabbing a small memo notepad from a pocket in his ghastily overlarge pants. Flipping to a blank page he started writing to her on it, occasionally communicating a word with his hands instead of on the paper.

Jay only stared at them enviously for a brief period of time before he tuned them out and began his tapping again in hopes that it would tick Alex off, if only to gain her attention for a minute or two. Man, he really did act like a two year old. Hmph. What did the little midget think he was doing here at this hour anyway? Surely he didn't come to school this early everyday. Either that or he was every bit of the freak Jay thought he was.

Meanwhile however, instead of contemplating the mute boy's habits, Alex was entirely too engrossed in writing her essay to even acknowledge the tapping. Dotting a period after a sentence she immediately swapped over to the notepad.

And what was the chick fairy's name?

Alex looked up into Marco's partially obscured eyes impatiently. The boy answered signing each letter of the name out. T-I-T-A-N-I-A Alex was still learning so he tried to use the sign language as much as possible around her. At the oddest of times to catch her off gaurd and makes sure she was getting it all. Luckily though, Alex had turned out to be an extraordinarily fast learner, proving she only did so badly in school because she probably didn't care.

Thanks, she signed back, hurriedly bending back down over the table to scratch out a couple more lines.

Marco nodded and then turned to look over at their silent companion, glancing him over. He got the feeling Jay didn't like him much. Which of course was nothing new. Nothing new at all. It's just, he had hoped, for the sake of his best friend, that the older boy would atleast be civil to him, rather than this cold shoulder. But then again, he supposed that was a little too much to ask. What would could they do? Make small talk? Sighing, he turned to Alex and signed to her.

It seems someone else has a stick up their ass. What is his problem?

The girl looked up from her homework and stared at Jay thoughtfully, taking in his tense posture and agitated, incessant tapping. She stared for so long even that she had to shake her head to break the trance she had fallen into.

Recovering, she slowly turned back to Marco. Half signing and half writing a couple of words she didn't know yet on the paper, she answered.

He doesn't like change I think.

After a moment of processing Marco nodded back soberly, reaching up and raking his long, fine hair over his forehead pensively. Looking up through his self-imposed curtain he smiled a grim little smile.

No one ever does.

Jay watched the entire exchange between the two irritably. It was beyond obvious they were conversing about something that had nothing to do with Sir Confuses A lot. At about that moment Marco looked up from his quiet conversation and caught eyes with him through his veil of hair.

Marco smiled.

As if from an electric shock Jay jumped, feeling a heart pounding jolt tear through his body. He'd never been so surprised in his life. An actual smile. Shit.

In the blink of an eye the sweet smile was gone and Marco was once again huddled over Alex's essay pointing out misspelled words and scribbling away in his little notebook.

Jesus. That had scared him out of his mind. However, a little voice in the back of his mind threw out a random thought.

The queer looked normal when he smiled. As in a normal human being not a creature from Mars. The shadow almost disappeared from his eyes and he didn't look quite so small and vulnerable. Even his dark clothes looked a bit brighter. Almost pleasant, like he had a personality after all. As if....

What the fuck? Stop right there! Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 dollars. Was he actually just contemplating the change a smile made on the fag's face? I mean...was he really?

Well....damn.

The gay kid was mute...and Jay wanted to see him smile?

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