Title: Something New

Rating: PG-13 for themes and language

Characters: In this chapter: Marco, Dylan, Marco's parents, Carlos, Paige, Ellie, Sean, Jay, Towerz, Tom

Pairings: Marco/Dylan, Spinner/Paige, Ellie/Sean, not sure of any others.

Disclaimer: I don't even live in the great country of Canada.

Author's Note: First off, thank you to ALL of my wonderful reviewers! You guys are so awesome. :D And also, to BMWrocks, I know I add tons of angst, problems, and other stuff… but that's kind of what makes a story, isn't it? I think reading about perfect relationships would get boring after a while. Also, about Dylan getting drunk? I respect your opinion, but I have to disagree. If Dylan were around his hockey buddies, all casually drinking beer, I do think he would join in. But maybe not. ) Anyway, thanks for your comment… I will try to tone down the drama bit if wanted.

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"Do you think I should ask Melanie?" Ty asked, without looking up from his magazine that he was idly flipping through.

"What?" Dylan said, confused by the sudden question. He was strewn over his unmade bed, flipping uninterestedly through the television channels. Ty, however, was lying on his stomach on his floor, looking through recent hockey scores.

"Do you think I should ask Melanie to go to the dance with me?" the brunette boy repeated. "She's pretty hot, and I think she likes me."

"Yeah," Dylan replied, "go ahead and ask her. I think Scott already did though."

He let out a long, slow sigh. "Of course he did." The two had gotten back from hockey practice only ten minutes earlier. They were both hot, sweaty, and smelled pretty badly. "I'm gonna go take a shower," Ty announced, pushing himself up into a standing position.

"Okay. Want me to join you?" Dylan jokingly asked, winking.

"Hey, it's not your birthday yet," Ty joked back, and grinned. They both laughed. Just as Ty was heading into the bathroom with a towel, the phone started ringing. The Michalchuk household was basically his second home, so he didn't hesitate to pick up the phone and answer it. "Hello?" he said.

There was a pause on the other end, and then a boy's voice, "Who is this?"

"Who is this?" Ty said suspiciously.

"Marco," the voice answered.

Grinning still, he said, "Oh, hello Marco. I'm sorry, but Dylan and I are a little busy right now…" He smirked at his blonde friend, who was watching curiously, and then let out a fake sexual groan. "Oh, Dylan…"

Eyes widening, Dylan jumped up from the bed and snatched the telephone out of his friend's hands. "Marco?" he said quickly. "Ignore that. It was just Ty being an idiot." He gave the brunette boy a large push out of his room, and then closed the door.

"Oh," Marco said, feeling relieved but still a bit hesitant to do what he had to do. Dylan could tell his boyfriend had something heavy on his mind.

"So what's up?" There was no immediate answer. "How's the homework coming along?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Marco said in a low voice. Dylan raised his eyebrows but said nothing, knowing Marco would continue when he saw fit. He couldn't think of a single homework assignment that would make the younger boy as nervous as he was - but then again, Marco was a very devoted student. Maybe he needed help with something. Who knew?

"Okay," Dylan finally said, trying to get him to talk.

"Well, see, we're doing plays in English."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. We got to pick our own partners."

"I see."

"Craig and I are partners."

"I know."

"Ms. Kwan handed out the plays, though. We didn't get to choose them."

"All right."

"We got a romance."

Dylan laughed. "Wow."

"If we don't do the play, we'd get a really bad grade. It's worth a lot of points."

"Okay. So what's the problem?"

Marco hesitated, and then continued in slow and somewhat shaky, "There's a kiss at the end."

"Wait, so you have to kiss Craig?" Marco miserably told him yes. There was a pause for a few seconds, and then Dylan burst into laughter once more. The Italian boy was stunned into silence - why was he laughing? He just told him that he was going to kiss another boy, yet he was laughing.

"That's too funny," Dylan kept on laughing. When finally his chuckles had subdued, he asked, "But why did you call to tell me this?"

"I… I thought you'd be mad. I mean, we've already kissed. Twice. And Carlos… he walked in on us and said he was going to tell you, so I just thought… and then I called… but you obviously aren't too mad."

"I'm not mad at all," he assured his boyfriend. "It's a homework assignment. I understand you have to do it. Besides, it's not like he's a better kisser than me, right?" he playfully asked.

"Well, that's another thing…" Marco responded, and the two laughed again.

"He's still straight though, right?" Dylan went on, smiling to himself. "I mean, the kiss didn't turn him gay or anything, did it? I'm not in the mood for any competition."

"I don't know, let me ask." Dylan let out a small laugh when he heard Marco's voice raise, and he asked Craig, who was obviously somewhere near Marco, "Craig, my terrific kissing skills haven't made you attracted to me, have they? You're still straight, right?"

The older boy listened amusedly as he heard laughs coming from both boys on the other end, and then Craig's voice saying, "Straighter than ever, Marco."

"Still straight," the brunette reported back to his boyfriend. "And just to prove his point, he's downloading some kind of straight-male-must-have-porn on my computer… Craig!" There was a bickering sound from the del Rossi side of the phone, and Dylan once more, had to laugh. "Well, Dyl," Marco said. "I gotta go. Sorry about this whole thing."

"No problem. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely."

For some reason, Dylan had a strong urge to say I love you to his boyfriend. He didn't know how Marco would handle it, though, and he was a bit intimidated by what the consequences of it would be. So instead, he just said "Bye, Marco" and then hung up the phone. He stared at the phone for a few seconds, lost in thought, before a sudden voice snapped him out of it.

"Don't tell me you're just now getting off the phone," Ty said, standing in his doorway and wearing nothing but a towel. "Did you just have a long, steamy session of phone sex?"

"No," Dylan said, rolling his eyes. He looked at how little his best friend was wearing, and shook his head. "You know, you've been naked in my other room more than any gay guy."

"Well, it's not hard to beat no one," Ty joked. "Besides, I'm not completely naked. If you'd like, though -" He grabbed the top of the towel and acted like he was going to take it off.

"No, man!" Dylan hurriedly said. "That's all right. Remember," he laughed, "gifts don't come until next week."

"Right. The big one-eight. Can you believe we'll be in university next year, dude? So many more hot chicks… I can't wait."

"Ty, to get into a university you have to be at least a little bit smart. No smart girls are ever going to want to hook up with you."

"Oh, you just wait and see, Michalchuk. The ladies will be crawling all over me." Dylan laughed, before picking up Ty's clothes and shoving them at him. Then once again, he pushed Ty out of his room and towards the direction of the bathroom.

"Go get dressed," he instructed.

"You're not this forceful with Marco, are you?" Ty said, shaking his head.

Laughing, he slammed the door in his face.

-----

BaddaBoom: Ellie, hey!

NOLabels: Hey Marco.

BaddaBoom: Are you doing anything tomorrow? With Sean, or your dad or anything?

NOLabels: Umm… nope. Why?

BaddaBoom: Come to the mall with me after school?

BaddaBoom: Next week is Dylan's birthday, and I want to get him something special. You have to come with me.

NOLabels: Sure.

BaddaBoom: Great. Want to see a movie and get dinner afterwards?

NOLabels: Dinner and a movie, huh? Don't tell me you've gone straight.

BaddaBoom: Noo… I just miss hanging out with you like we used to.

NOLabels: Well, sounds great. I've got to go, though. Dad and I are making dinner.

BaddaBoom: Okay, have fun. See you tomorrow.

NOLabels: Bye Marco.

-----

"Settle down, class," Ms. Kwan said, in a strict voice. Marco, Paige, Spinner, Craig, and Ellie stopped discussing plans for Dylan's party as they each went to their own seats. "I hope everyone is ready to perform their plays. We're going to the auditorium today, so everyone please stand and quietly make their way down there." The whole class stood up and made their way out the door.

"Marco, could you stay behind please?" Kwan asked, and though surprised, he nodded and waved goodbye to Ellie. "As you know," the teacher said when the rest of the students were gone, "I've been reading everyone's journals. Some entries in yours have me… particularly concerned." Marco's cheeks turned bright red - he did know, of course, that she would be reading them… but to have her comment on them… to his face… this was just too much.

"Our school counselor is Ms. Sovet and I know she'd be more than happy to speak with you. I realize that you just recently… came out to your parents, and that must be very hard on you," Ms. Kwan went on. "And now, all of these troubles with your… boyfriend, I'm sure it can seem overwhelming…"

"Um, Ms. Kwan?" Marco interrupted, embarrassed. "I'm okay. Really. My mom's there for me all the time, and my pa… well, I think he's starting to come around." Okay, so that was only sort of a lie. "Dylan and I did break up for a little bit, but um, we're back together."

"You don't have to be embarrassed, Marco. I once taught Mr. Michalchuk and I saw him struggle through the same things that you are. I just want you to know that a good relationship should never only be about sex; whether it's a heterosexual or a homosexual relationship and -"

He interrupted once more. "I know, Ms. Kwan. But Dylan and I really are okay. We discussed everything. I don't need to talk to Ms. Sovet."

"All right. You're a good student, and I just wanted to make sure everything was okay." She smiled at him, and then the two left the room towards the auditorium. When they got there, Marco went off and sat by his friends.

Ms. Kwan told the class, "Okay, up first: Gavin and Paige." Spinner walked out first onto the stage, dressed in a cowboy's hat, a thick pair of boots, and some sort of brown, cowboy-type vest. Paige followed after him, dressed similarly but in a short brown skirt and with a bandana over her mouth.

They began their play, and Ellie leaned over to whisper to Marco, "What did Kwan want?"

"She wanted to make sure I was okay," he whispered back, and then shrugged. "Because of my journal, you know?"

"Oh." Ellie leaned back, and the two watched the rest of the play. It ended with Paige's character pulling a "gun" out and killing Spinner's character. She robbed him, and then left town. When it ended, Spinner got up from the dead, took Paige's hand, and the two bowed. Everyone clapped.

"Very good," Kwan said, nodding. "Next, we have Craig and Marco." Marco stood up and joined his partner behind the stage, as Craig pulled the dress over his head and put on his wig, and Marco quickly changed into his suit and tie.

"I'll go first," Marco volunteered, and he made his way onto the stage. He did his best to keep a straight face when Paige let out a quiet catcall (Ms. Kwan had told them that laughing onstage would deduct points from their grade). Finally, Craig took a deep breath, and followed. His dress hung down past his knees, and his wig kept falling into his eyes.

There was a moment of silence as he stood in front of the audience, and then everyone burst out into a mad fit of laughter. It was like an epidemic, spreading over the entire auditorium. Even Ms. Kwan put her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter.

Craig bravely endured all of it, standing on stage like it didn't matter than he looked like a drag queen from hell. When the laughter had finally died down, Craig looked his friend in the eye, and said in the best female voice he could, "There isn't much time for us to meet."

Marco bit back a grin. "We have all the time in the world, Julia, my lady. No one knows." He put his hand on Craig's shoulder, and ignored the laughter that once again came from the audience.

"No one knows?" Craig went on, taking Marco's hand away from him. "The whole town watches you, Gregory. Everyone knows."

"It doesn't matter," Marco said, trying the best he could to get into his character. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ms. Kwan nodding her approval. The rest of the audience was watching, amused by Craig's portrayal of a woman.

They went through the rest of the play with no mistakes. Finally, it was that time. They said their last lines. Kissing Craig in the privacy of his own room was one thing, but in front of all his classmates was completely different. The time for the kiss was now, and they connected their lips. The kiss was probably shorter than the others, but they both still put all into it. The audience was silent.

"All right!" Paige finally yelled, clapping her hands together. The boys pulled away, and other people started applauding as well. Some of them were laughing, some looked completely grossed out, but no one's reaction was as bad as either anticipated. Ms. Kwan clapped as well.

"Very good job, boys," she said when the noise died down. "This shows how well two can perform in a scenario that they are not used to. They made the dialogue their own. And Craig, if I may say, was an extraordinary woman." Everyone laughed once more, and, though slightly embarrassed, the two bowed before returning to their seats.

"That wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be," Craig told his shorter friend.

"No way. At least no one threw anything at us," he replied, grinning.

"You did awesome," Ellie whispered, giving her best friend's hand a little squeeze. Hazel and Jimmy were called to the stage next, and Marco smiled as his classmates congratulated the two quietly.

"So, Craig," Spinner said, "what was it like to kiss del Rossi?" He grinned impishly.

"It was great, Spin," the curly-haired brunette shot back. "You should try it some time." With that, he put his wig on Spinner's head, and everyone who was listening giggled.

Finally, Hazel and Jimmy began their play (a tragedy), and everyone watched the play with interest.

The rest of the day seemed to fly by. Before they knew it, the final bell rang and Ellie and Marco left the school, destination: the mall. "I have no clue what to get him," Marco confessed as they climbed into Marco's mother's van.

"Hello, Marco. Ellie," Mrs. Del Rossi said kindly when they were buckled up. The two greeted her back.

"I bet if you see the perfect thing, you'll know," Ellie said. "Just try to think of what he really wants right now. It can't be too hard, can it?" Marco agreed, and they continued the drive to the mall. When they got there finally, they thanked Marco's mother, and climbed out of the vehicle.

"Have fun," Mrs. Del Rossi said, smiling. "I be back later to pick you up."

"Bye Ma," Marco called over his shoulder.

They both knew it would be difficult to find the present to buy for Dylan, but two hours later, they left the thirtieth store empty-handed. "This should not be that hard!" Marco groaned, running his hand through his hair exasperatedly. "I mean, I know him really well… why is this so difficult?"

"You're worrying too much, Marco. No matter what you get him, he will like it," Ellie responded. She grinned. "And even if he doesn't, he'll pretend he does."

"I don't want him to pretend. I want him to actually like it." He stopped suddenly, and then snapped. "I've got it! It's perfect!" Grabbing Ellie by the wrist, he took off running. She was dragged along. He wouldn't answer the question of where they were going; instead, he ran like Ellie wasn't speaking.

Finally, he hauled her into a store that neither of them visited very often. When they came out, Marco had purchased something for his birthday, with a large smile on his face.

"That was an awesome idea, Marco," Ellie said, nodding. "He's going to love it."

"I hope so!"

-----

"Spinner! Hurry - up!" Paige said, as loudly as she could in a hushed voice. Spinner entered the room, rolling his eyes. "People are going to start showing up in ten minutes. If you and Dylan aren't gone, I'll -"

He didn't listen to the rest of the threat as he tramped upstairs towards Dylan's bedroom. He'd agreed to take Dylan out for a dinner so they could plan for the party - but over the past week, he had been so busy that he had forgotten to mention it to Dylan.

Spinner paused at Dylan's door, forced a smile onto his face, and then knocked. "Come in," Dylan's voice said, and Spinner opened the door.

"Uh, hey Dylan." The blonde boy was sitting at his desk, writing something. He looked up when Spinner entered his room, however, and briefly smiled. His official birthday wasn't for three more days, but the surprise party was in ten - no, eight - minutes.

"Spin," he returned.

"What're you doing?"

"Homework."

"Oh." He paused. "Well, yanno, I'm really hungry. Aren't you?" he asked, hoping Dylan would say yes.

"Not really," he said, going back to his homework. "I just ate a sandwich." He looked thoughtful as he began scribbling on the piece of paper before him.

"Well, I don't have a car with me and I'm really starving…" He was a bad liar, and everyone knew it.

"So eat something here."

"There's nothing to eat here," Spinner said, starting to get impatient.

"Then borrow my car," Dylan said, not looking up from his work. He flipped through some of the pages in his book, wrote something down, and then went back to the book. When he realized Spinner was still standing in his doorway, he put his pencil down and stared at him. "What exactly do you want?"

"I want you to go with me to dinner," Spinner said, somewhat awkwardly.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously. "Did Paige put you up to this?" He quickly shook his head no. "Spinner… are you asking me out on a date?" he joked, eyes shining. Spinner's own eyes quickly grew large.

"What?! No! I'm just… I'm hungry and I thought, seeing as Paige and I are so close now and everything, that um, you and I… should get to know each other better." He looked at his watch - he had five and half minutes to get him out of here.

"What do you mean, so close now and everything?" the oldest Michalchuk asked, his playful grin quickly turning into a frown. Spinner had been at their house awfully late the night before… yet he and Paige were locked away in her room for most of the day. He stood up and crossed the room, to where Spinner was standing. "Did you and Paige have sex last night?" he demanded, crossing his arms. Spinner quickly took a step back.

"W-what? No!" he said, once more.

"You better not have. If I find out you and my baby sister are doing something -"

"I know, I know," Spin said, rolling his eyes. "Whatever. Just, do you want to go grab something to eat with me or not?" When Dylan didn't answer right away, he added, "It's on me," even though he didn't want to.

"Really?" Dylan grinned. "In that case, sure. Let me grab my keys. Now that you've mentioned it, I am really hungry. I could use a huge expensive meal right about now."

"Funny." Spinner and Dylan went down the steps, got into Dylan's car, and started driving - with Dylan behind the wheel - towards a restaurant. Just as they were leaving the street, Dylan quickly did a double-take. "Wait - was that…?"

"What?" the younger boy asked.

"I could've sworn that was Marco, going towards our house… but he said he was busy tonight."

"I didn't see his car," Spinner quickly said. "Dude, I think you're hallucinating."

"You sure?"

"Uh, yeah. Now hurry up. I'm starving."

----

Journal entry 13
Marco del Rossi


Well, today is Dylan's birthday party. It took me forever to pick out his present, but I got him something that I know - well, hope - he'll love. This last week has been great. We've hung out a lot. It's been pretty much drama-free.

Turns out, Carlos got one of his friends to tell Dylan that I've been "cheating" on him, but Dylan laughed and ignored him. I'm glad he wasn't mad about the whole play situation. Our play, by the way, turned out awesome. Craig and I got top marks.

I guess I will be leaving soon. I'm going early to help Paige decorate. Today should be a fun day!

Ciao.

/Journal

-----

"Marco! Thank God you're here. Spinner forgot the party was today, and we just got Dylan out of the house five minutes ago. We have a lot of decorating to do," Paige babbled, as she opened the door and let the Italian boy into her house.

"I know. I just passed them - I don't think he saw me though. When is everyone else coming?" He put down the bags of things he brought to help decorate, as well as his gift for Dylan.

As if answering his question, the doorbell rang. Marco opened the door and found Ty, Scott, and Brad standing on the Michalchuk's doorstep. "Hey buddy," they said, walking in as they owned the place. "Dyllie-boy gone?"

"Yes," Paige answered for him. "Can one of you guys run down to the bakery and pick up the cake?"

"I'm on it," Brad said, smiling. He went back outside, climbed into his car, and drove off in the direction of the bakery.

"Great. Ty, I need you to start hanging these up," she said, handing him some decorations. "Scott, you're in charge of moving the furniture around. All of these chairs -" she flicked her hands towards the living room chairs " - need to be moved into another room, and those need to be moved back towards the walls. And then move the table over there, we'll put the refreshments and food there."

"Paige, this is an invite only party, right? I mean, it's not going to be like your last party, is it?" Ty asked. He looked at Marco and then lowered his voice, "Because we all know how that one turned out."

"It's a birthday party, Ty. Friends only. This'll be completely low-key. My mom and dad will even be here."

"Good," Ty said, and then the two boys headed off to do their assigned jobs. The doorbell rang once more, and Paige hurriedly went to answer it. This time, Hazel, Ash, Terri, and Ellie were standing outside.

"I am so glad you're here," she said, ushering them in. "We have so much to do. Marco, there's a bunch of food hidden in the pantry - it's behind all the Tupperware. I need you to bring that out and put it on the table. Ellie, can you get the drinks?" The two walked into the kitchen together.

"I'm nervous," Marco told his best friend when they were alone. "What if he doesn't like the present I got him?"

"Marco, he will," Ellie assured him. They gathered the food and drinks, and carried them back out to the living room. By that time, Jeff, Michael, and two boys and four girls Marco didn't recognize had also joined the party. Everyone was hard at work. Within a matter of minutes, the whole house looked more festive. The party had a hockey theme - it ultimately looked like a seven-year-old boy's birthday party, not a guy turning eighteen, but they all knew Dylan would love it.

The doorbell rang once more, and Craig, Jimmy, and more older kids that Marco didn't know entered the house. They all continued to get ready. At one point, the Michalchuk parents came in, but most were too busy to notice. Brad returned to the cake - it was decorated with icing hockey sticks and pucks, and had only two candles: a "1" and an "8".

Marco didn't think they suited the cake at all. He went into the kitchen, and searched through the drawers until he found a giant pack of birthday cake candles, and even some fake candles that didn't blow out no matter how hard you tried. He put seventeen regular candles on the cake after pulling out the lone two, and then topped it by putting the fake candle in the dead center. He knew that would make Dylan mad.

He put the cake away, and then once more, the doorbell rang. Everyone else was too busy doing his or her own thing to answer it, so Marco opened it. He nearly gasped at what he saw. "What're you doing here?" he asked rudely.

"I was invited," Tom replied. "But if I knew you'd be here, though, I wouldn't have bothered coming." He was scowling down at the shorter boy.

"Well, I am here, so bye." Marco started to slam the door, but Tom quickly put his foot in the way. "Listen, kid, I'm over Dylan, okay? We're friends. He's all yours."

Marco raised an eyebrow slightly. "You mean it?"

"Yeah. I do." He walked into the house, carrying a large gift-wrapped box. "You know, I'm not exactly the asshole that you think I am." Doubtfully, Marco's other eyebrow joined its first, high up on his forehead. "There was a time when Dyl and I were just good friends. That's what I want again. He's an amazing guy."

"Yeah," Marco agreed. "He is."

Tom nodded at his ex-boyfriend's boyfriend, before heading off with some of the other people that Marco didn't know. He supposed they were all friends.

Just then, the phone started to ring. "Everyone be quiet!" Paige instructed loudly, and the whole house fell silent. "Hello?" she said into the phone. "Oh, hi Honeybee. Okay. See you soon." She hung up the phone, looking a bit panicked. "They're almost here! Everyone get ready!" Marco joined up with Ellie, and the two crawled behind the couch. When everyone else was hidden, Paige turned off the lights and ran to hide herself.

A few seconds later, the door opened. A loud burp was heard, and then Dylan's voice saying, "That was great, Spin. Thanks." He and Spinner entered the living room. "I will never understand why my mom's so adamant on keeping every light in the house off."

He flicked on a switch, and then looked completely surprised to have a huge number of people jump up from their hiding spaces and yelling, "SURPRISE!"

"What the…!" He stared, a bit shell-shocked, around the room before bursting into laughter.

"Happy birthday, Dyl!" almost everyone shouted.

"Oh, man. This is great. Thanks so much guys," he smiled, looking around at the corny hockey decorations and a banner that said Happy 18th, Dylan! "Spinner!" he suddenly said, looking down accusingly at his sister's boyfriend. "That's why you insisted on treating me to dinner, eh?" He pulled a surprised Spinner into a tight hug. He went around and greeted all of his guests, gave his family members a hug, and then walked over to Marco.

"So this is why you were too busy to hang out with me tonight?" he grinned. "Either way, I'm glad you're here."

"Me too, Dyl. Happy birthday." He stood straight and gave his boyfriend a soft peck on the lips.

"Well, Dylan, cake or presents first?" Paige asked.

"Mm… tough decision," he said. "What kind of cake is it?"

"Chocolate," Brad said.

"Awesome. Let's do cake first, then."

"Dylan, you just ate," his mother scolded slightly.

"A lot," Spinner muttered grumpily.

"I'm a growing boy, Mom," he laughed. "Well, give it a couple of days and I'll be a man." He grinned widely, and nearly everyone in the room shook his or her head. "What?" he asked innocently. They all laughed.

Paige dimmed the lights and lit all the candles on the cake. She was the first to break into, "Happy birthday to you…" and everyone else quickly joined in. "Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Dylan… Happy birthday to you!"

"And many mo-o-ore!" Craig added obnoxiously at the end.

Dylan paused for a few seconds, and then looked at Marco. They exchanged smiles, and then Dylan closed his eyes and hovered over his cake. He was apparently making a deep and thoughtful wish. Finally, he opened his eyes and began blowing out the candles. Seventeen of them were blown out in one breath - the one in the center, however, remained lit. Frowning, Dylan blew at that one too, but still, it didn't go out.

The guests at the party were laughing at the curly-haired boy's inability to blow out the candle. He stopped blowing after a few seconds, and then stood up straight. "Let me guess… trick candle?"

Laughing, Marco nodded. Dylan threw the candle down, shaking his head. "Dirty trick." Mrs. Michalchuk began cutting out the cake and handing it out.

"Why don't you open presents now, Dylan?" one of Dylan's good girl friends asked when they'd all finished eating the cake.

"Okay." They all sat down, with Dylan in the center of the room, surrounded by gifts. He began to reach towards Marco's.

"Wait," Marco said, grabbing his arm. "Open mine last."

Dylan grinned and reached instead for another present. "To Dylan, from Tom," he read aloud, before tearing through the wrapping paper. "Wow," he said, when it was opened. He lifted the expensive hockey stick up for everyone to see. "Thanks, Tom. This is nice." Almost everyone else's presents were similar; Dylan was overjoyed.

Finally, only Marco's present was left. Dylan gingerly took the gift in his hands, and opened it. When he did so, he breathed in deeply - almost a gasp - and looked at Marco. "This - this is amazing, Marco," he said at last.

"I knew you'd like it," he said with a smile.

"Like it?" He eyed his gift again, almost in awe. Everyone else was silent. "I love it. Thank you."

"That was a great idea, Marco," Mrs. Michalchuk said, and everyone nodded their agreements. He shyly smiled.

"Who says we start up a street hockey game?" Ty called, disrupting the somewhat sappy moment the two boys were sharing. Everyone started shouting and ran outdoors, borrowing hockey sticks from Dylan.

"You never taught me how to play," Marco told Dylan, grinning as they walked outdoors side-by-side.

"It's not hard. Trust me," he put a stick into Marco's hands with a smirk. All of the guys and a few of the girls at the party played street hockey for a long time. Everyone else was sitting off to the side, talking and laughing. A couple of hours later, some people said goodbye and left. A few hours after that, everyone but Dylan, Paige, Spinner, and Marco were gone.

"Hey, Marco?" Dylan said. "Do you wanna take a walk with me?"

"Sure," Marco said, following his boyfriend outside. They took each other's hands as they walked comfortably in a companionable silence at first.

"I just wanted to say, thanks again for the present. No one has ever bought me something that meant that much to me." Marco smiled hard when Dylan stooped down and kissed him on the cheek. "And to repay you," Dylan went on, "I'm taking you somewhere special."

"Oh yeah?" Marco said. "When?"

"Right now," Dylan grinned. He seemed to be leading him back into the woods - there were more trees as they continued walking. "I'm taking you to my favorite place on Earth when I was a kid. I used to come up here almost every night."

"Should I expect to find dirty magazines?" Marco joked, and the two laughed.

"Nah. I did all of that stuff in my own room. Oh, we're getting close. Close your eyes," he instructed, placing his hands over Marco's eyes. "No peeking!" he said. Marco wondered where he was being led, but the boys walked in silence for a few minutes, with Dylan guiding his boyfriend by the shoulders. "Okay, we're here." He removed his hands. "Open your eyes!"

Marco did as he was told, and then blinked once or twice to make sure he wasn't seeing anything. "I had no clue this was here," he said after a little bit. They were standing in front of a large lake - it was glittering, clear, and extremely pretty. The sun was still out, though not for much longer.

"This is beautiful," Marco breathed, looking around.

"Yep. I always came up here and swam with Paige, or a couple of buddies. It was amazing - it could have been the coldest day of the summer, and that lake would still feel as warm as it would if it were one hundred degrees out," Dylan said. Suddenly, he grinned. "What do you say to a quick swim?"

"What?" Marco said, raising his eyebrows. "I say there's no way I'm swimming in these brand new jeans."

"I'm not asking you to!" Dylan said, pulling his shirt off. He grinned and motioned for Marco to do the same thing. Next, Dylan began unbuttoning his jeans and slid them off easily. Here he was, nearly naked, standing by a huge lake. Marco's eyes, however, grew wider than ever before when Dylan continued to undress - he pulled off his boxers and flung them off to the side. Marco got more than an eyeful as he ran and plunged right into the lake.

"Dylan - what are you - what're you doing?!" he said, a bit embarrassed; but also a bit pleased.

"Going skinny-dipping. You can't tell me you haven't ever wanted to skinny-dipping." He smiled widely. "Come on. The water feels great."

"No way," Marco said, shaking his head firmly.

"Please?" He gave him a puppy-dog face. "It's my birthday!"

"You know I can't resist that look." He sighed. "Fine." Slowly, he pulled off his shirt and carefully folded it and sat it on the ground. "Just… don't look, okay?" Dylan laughed and turned around in the water, treading in place. He could still see Marco out of the corner of his eye, though, and he liked what he saw.

Marco pulled off his jeans and boxers faster than he ever had before, and then dove into the lake. When he surfaced, he took a deep breath. "You're right. It does feel great."

"Want to play a game?" Dylan asked, smirking mischievously.

"What game?"

"Well, see, I try to chase you in the water. Every time I catch you, you have to kiss me." He grinned.

"Sounds fun," Marco smiled. "But there's something you don't know about me, Dyl."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"I took advanced swimming classes for nine years." With that, he took off towards the other end of the lake, completely naked, with an equally naked Dylan following close behind.

A little while later, after playing their game for a bit, Marco crawled out of the lake and pulled on his boxers, soaking wet. The sun was nearly down, and he was starting to get a bit chilly. Dylan followed him out, putting on his own boxers. He pulled Marco closed to him, and then kissed him hard on the lips. "Today was a lot of fun, Marco."

"Yeah, it was." He smiled. "I never dreamed I'd go skinny-dipping."

"First time for everything." They lay back in the grass, laying close to each other for warmth. Dylan kissed his boyfriend once more, and then the four words came toppling out of his mouth. He hadn't meant to say them. He was scared of the reaction he would receive. But still, the words came.

"I love you, Marco."

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Umm… I've always wanted see Marco and Dylan skinny-dip. So I wrote that. :D Sorry this chapter took so long to put up. It was really long (about three pages more than usual) so maybe that makes up for it? This chapter is also pretty angst-free.

I hope this is okay; it's 3:15 AM and I need sleep badly, but I promised myself I wouldn't sleep until I finished this chapter. So please, review and make my day. D

Thank you, everyone, for reading!