When Times Get Rough

Chapter One

"Enough with the suspense, just get it over with," Marco said exasperatedly. "I just want to know if I got in or not. Which I know I won't."

"You know I find your insecurity appealing, but I find your impatience appalling," Dylan said, slapping Marco's ass lightly.

"Big vocabulary," Marco commented, "And you're lucky my dad didn't see that," he added in a whispered voice. "Now get on with it."

Mrs. Del Rossi had her hands over her mouth, the sauce pot forgotten. "Dylan, please," she said, her voice heavy with Italian accent, "Just go!"

The envelope opened easily as Dylan slipped the letter out of it. The only part of it Marco could see before Dylan turned away was his name and address at the top of it. The kitchen was silent for a few moments while Dylan read the letter. Mrs. Del Rossi tapped her foot and Marco clenched his fists and looked away.

"Well, Marco, I'm sorry…" Dylan began. Marco bit his lip. "But you're stuck in school with me for the next four years!" It was obvious that Dylan was trying to act upset, but the excitement in his voice was easily heard.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Del Rossi shouted excitedly when they heard, Mr. Del Rossi putting down his paper and going to kiss his wife. He then hugged Marco, patting him roughly on the back. "I knew it! My boy is a genius!"

"I can't believe it! I'm in!" Marco said, smiling widely. Dylan enveloped him in a strong hug, lifting him off the ground. It was almost a natural reaction as his hands slid up over Dylan's arms and shoulders, tangling in his hair as Marco tilted his head up and kissed him softly on the lips. It was as if time had stopped.

"I knew you could do it," Dylan murmured against Marco's lips.

"Well all knew it!" said Mrs. Del Rossi, not distracted in the slightest over the display of affection. With Mr. Del Rossi, however, that wasn't the case.

"Please." It was said shortly and curtly, in a tone that clearly said he was displeased but was trying his damnedest not to make a scene. Mrs. Del Rossi put her hand to her mouth as her husband stood up.

"I will not have that in my home," he said, looking specifically at Dylan. "My son cares for you," he said, his words slurring together through his accent, "and I respect that. But I do not want to see you two… doing things in front of me. It is disgusting!"

Marco closed his eyes. This was not happening. The best day of his life, getting into uni, Dylan's uni, and his dad had to go and ruin it with his homophobia. Dylan put Marco down, but Marco's hand remained firmly around his waist, and he squeezed reassuringly. Dylan understood what Marco was saying, even without the words, and his hand trailed up Marco's back to rest on his shoulder.

"Dad," Marco began. "It's not disgusting." Mr. Del Rossi gave him a look that distinctly said he thought it was. "Dylan and I care about each other and…" Marco paused. He wanted to be able to phrase this correctly and not stumble over his words. "If we want to kiss, I think we should be able to kiss."

Before Mr. Del Rossi could respond, Marco's mother began to speak. "Well, I think it's wonderful that you two are going to be in the same university. And I think that we - " she paused to look over at her husband, "can allow you to kiss in our home. After all, you two are in the relationship, not your father or myself." Marco grinned. He was so grateful to have his mother, because his mother understood.

"You can do it in this house," Mr. Del Rossi said, his teeth grinding together in anger. "But never in front of me. I don't want to see it."

Dylan had been silent for a while, but his voice seemed to have returned. "We can deal with that, Mr. Del Rossi," he said, giving Marco's shoulders a squeeze. "But now that we all know the good news, I think Marco and I are going to go out and get a burger or something at The Dot, right Marco?" Dylan didn't even look at Marco for an answer, but set the letter on the kitchen counter. "It was nice seeing you two again."

Mrs. Del Rossi smiled and leaned over to kiss Marco on the cheek and then Dylan. Marco's mother gave them both a sympathetic look, but turned back to her sauce. Mr. Del Rossi had sat back down and was reading his paper again.

As they shut the front door to the Del Rossi residence behind them, Marco turned to Dylan with a somewhat confused look on his face. "Why'd you give into my dad so easily? You should have let me handle it, I'm sure I could have changed his mind…" Marco trailed off. "Maybe not. But at least, well, I don't know. At least I could have let him know what I thought about all his stupid rules."

"We both know you couldn't have changed your dad's mind, I just wanted to get out of there. I wasn't actually planning on going to The Dot, you know." Dylan winked, and Marco felt that twinge in his heart every time Dylan smiled at him, or winked at him, or held his hand, or kissed him. He was hesitant to call it love… he had a hard time describing what he felt about Dylan.

"Want to go for a drive?" Dylan asked. Marco nodded and got into the passenger seat of Dylan's convertible, settling into the soft leather. Dylan reached over and grabbed his hand, squeezing slightly. Then he started up the car, turned the radio onto Rock101FM, and they drove off, heading in no direction in particular. The wind whipped Marco's hair in every direction possible, the May sun shining brightly in the sky. They went past The Dot and out of Toronto altogether. Marco closed his eyes and when he finally opened them again, the car was pulling to a stop on top of a large hill.

"Sometimes I come out here to… you know, think," Dylan said, blushing slightly. Marco grinned and they got out of the car and walked together, their hands brushing occasionally until Marco finally linked them together.

They sat on a large boulder, their knees brushing. "I'm nervous about uni," Marco said after several moments of silence.

"I was nervous too," Dylan admitted. "And it is pretty tough, the workload. But the parties are fun, you meet a lot of great people, and seeing as you're a freshman…"

Marco angled his body toward Dylan's, resting a hand on his knee. "What about it?" he asked.

"Well, you have the option of an older roommate. Junior or senior." Dylan smiled. "I'm a junior. And if you're comfortable with it…"

Marco smiled back, running his tongue over his lips in the way he knew drove Dylan mad. "I'd love to. If they'll let me, that is."

"Well, I had a roommate my own age when I started uni, so I'm not exactly sure what you have to do to get a younger roommate, but when I go back for finals and stuff next week, I can talk to someone from the administration if you like," Dylan offered. Marco already knew that he only had one official week of school left and one week of finals before his sophomore year of college was finished. It was hard to believe that Dylan was only a couple of years from graduating and Marco was just starting university.

"That'd be perfect," Marco said.

After a while, Dylan stood up and slid off the rock and went back to his car. Marco restrained himself from getting up after him, still sitting and staring off into space. Dylan returned several seconds later, carrying a blanket and spreading it out on the ground.

"Come down here, Marco," Dylan said, sitting on the blanket and patting the space next to him. Marco did so, lying down with his hands under his head. Dylan followed suit and their bodies pressed comfortably against each other.

It was one of those moments where Marco didn't need to be kissing, hugging, or even holding hands with Dylan, yet he still felt that undeniable surge of electricity between them. Just being close to him made Marco happy, and he knew it made Dylan happy as well. Marco often wondered what would have happen if he'd never met Dylan, where would he be now? Certainly without a boyfriend, but to him, Dylan was much more than "just a boyfriend". He was a close friend, a confidant. Sometimes he felt like he didn't deserve Dylan, but even then he pushed the thought out of his head. He was happy, he was sure that Dylan was happy, why rock the boat by questioning their relationship. They hadn't had sex, and Marco hadn't felt the need to. They hadn't even gotten each other's shirts off, but they had also never said the words Marco had wanted so badly to say, so badly to hear said to him.

He pulled one of his arms out from under his head and used it to turn Dylan's face towards his. Then he leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the mouth.

"What was that for?" Dylan asked, smiling as he propped his head up on his elbow.

Because I think I love you. "No reason." Marco smiled back, though, and leaned forward to kiss him again.

Marco hit the button on his alarm at 6:30 the next morning, jumped out of bed, and rushed into the bathroom to take a shower before school.

He and Dylan had stayed out until some time around eleven, and on school nights, that's when Marco usually went to bed. He wasn't tired, just slightly exhausted. Not to mention, they had both fallen asleep in the grass for a few hours, so that made up for the lost time for sleep he should have had.

As he finished combing his hair around 7:30, his mom walked in and sat down on his bed, and Marco turned to face her. "Hey, Ma. How'd you sleep?"

"Fine," she said. "I am sorry about what your father said," she told him. "You know how he gets."

Marco did know, but he didn't particularly want to talk about it. "I know, Ma. It's not your fault. Listen, I'm gonna be late. I've got to get going. See you soon." Marco leaned over and kissed his mom on the cheek.

"Have a good day, I love you," Mrs. Del Rossi said.

Marco nodded and grabbed his book bag from the edge of his bed and ran out of his room and into the car, yelling over his shoulder, "Love you too!"

Marco pulled up to Degrassi CS, parked his car, and headed into homeroom where Spinner was waiting.

"Del Rossi! Dude! Guess what!" Spinner said, running up to him, waving a letter in his hand. Even if he hadn't cared to hear what Spinner was going to say, he knew he would hear anyway. So he remained silent, a smile on his face. Spinner threw his arms around Marco, squeezed tightly, and finally let go, panting. "You'll never guess! I actually got in!" Spinner thrust the envelope into Marco's face. "Take a look! Did you get your letter yet?"

Marco looked at the seal. It was from the same college he was going to. He didn't even have to read the letter to know that Spin had gotten accepted. "Spin, that's great! I'm so proud of you! I'm in too, we can be dorm mates… maybe." Marco would have much rather shared a dorm with Dylan, but he had to offer.

"I hope you're not ticked or anything, but I got a dorm with a senior… for experience or something." Marco was thrilled, and shook his head.

"Not at all, I'm actually rooming with Dylan anyway…" He blushed slightly.

"Del Rossi!" Spinner said, pointing a mock-accusing finger at him. "You dog!"

Marco raised his eyebrows. "So. That makes you, me, Paige… has Hazel gotten her letter yet?" Spinner nodded, smiling, telling Marco that she was in as well. "Then that's all who applied, right?" Spinner nodded again.

"Listen, I gotta go talk to Paige. If I'm lucky, our dorms will be close… I think she's starting to forgive me about the Manny thing and I don't want to screw it up anymore." Spinner rushed off without saying goodbye, and Marco smiled to himself.

With Spinner, Paige, and Hazel coming to uni with him, not to mention Dylan already being there, the coming school year was bound to be good. After all, even if the workload was tough, his friends and his boyfriend would be there to help him through it all.

Author's Notes: First of all, thanks so much to everyone that reviewed. I'm glad that the story is getting such positive feedback, especially since it was only the prologue that you've all seen. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, you got to see a little more of what Marco's dad is like when he's subjected to public displays of affection. Just so that you all know, Marco's dad is not the kind of father that hits Marco, he's just strict.

Unfortunately, I don't have a preview of the next chapter just yet, but I can tell you that the last month of school for Marco will be summed up in about 3,000 words so that we can get it over with. Chapter three and possibly four bring the events of summer, and by chapter five, they'll be at college. Woo, aren't we excited?

Now I just have to figure out when I want to add in the smut. Thanks for reading!