Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi or its characters. I just like to borrow some of them for my sick, twisted little world. It's fun.

A/N: You should know this by now but if not, this is a sequel to 'Fresh Start'. If you haven't read it, do. Bear with me on the first few chapters though, it got better, I promise.

Accolades:

Thank you to everyone who reviewed: MarcoandDylanLover, Degrassi Girl 2000, fleezajaayne, GuardianAngel4, centra, ReRe04, Sagittarius Sage, Tvchick91, Stacy, x0x0x, spellgirl5, bluelilly 1928, Platinum Rei, and DegrassiqueengoMandD. Please keep the excellent reviews coming.

Man Freakzoid: Thanks for the input. Of course I'll continue. Thanks for sticking with me since day one.

Meg: Hey, I kinda like Scott. Maybe not as much as Chad but he's mine. I might have to keep for a while longer.

Adamo4eva201: Great to see you again. Please keep my lovely reviews coming and I'll try to write well enough to keep them lovely.

Krinklecut: Wow! I thought I'd lost you. Good to see you again and know that you've hung in with me. Thanks.

Smoothncreamy: You offend me, I'm never lazy with my updates. I think the longest was two weeks and it was due to hurricanes and power outages. Anyway, I hope to continue my regular updates…barring writers block.

Spider-man-fan: Great name. I love spidey myself. Thanks for the great review and the compliments. Makes me want to update extremely quickly.

Lizzy: great to hear from you again. I'll keep writing if you keep reading.

Citygal509: But I like cliffhangers, Lucy. They're fun to write and keeps the reviews interesting. The death threats intrigue me.

Kate: Well, I still dedicate this to you. If you didn't persuade me, I wouldn't have done it. Thank you. One more thing, it takes a goddess to spot one, so I'll accept your compliment and send it back to you.

Chapter Two

Marco motioned Dylan to enter his house and watched him walk by.

He did this on purpose. That soft blue sweater that matches his eyes, wait a minute…I bought that sweater for him. Those butter soft jeans that encase his rock hard thighs and shape his perfect butt. He's taunting me. He knows my weakness for his good looks.

Marco shook himself out of his wayward thoughts as he joined Dylan in the living room. He watched as Dylan looked at his furniture and pictures scattered around the room.

Dylan took a deep breath as Marco opened the door for him.

Damn, he looks good. I've missed him. He's just so cute. All those dark features, the hair, eyes and olive complexion. So much potential to be mysterious. This is a great place.

Dylan walked into Marco's living room and looked around. The furniture looked comfortable but high end. Cherry wood tables and sturdy fabrics. A big flat screen television and stereo system sat across the room from the couch. The art work complimented the design of the room and the furniture.

Upon closer inspection, Dylan saw some framed snapshots strategically placed around the room. He saw family members; Mama, Papa, Rosa, Chris, and a few aunts and uncles. Then he found the photos of friends. One of Chad with Paige at prom last year. Marco with Spinner, Jimmy and Craig in their Grade Ten year. Marco and Ellie, from what looked like last year as well.

Dylan started to feel slighted because it was like he never existed in Marco's life. Then a few picture frames caught his eye on the bookshelves. There were four clumped together tightly. Dylan approached the shelves and glanced over the titles he'd previously seen in Marco's room…The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Prince, and War and Peace.

He moved up to the pictures and laughed slightly. Here were his pictures. A hockey shot of him winning MVP, a prom picture with his sister and Chad, a shot of Marco hiding his face in his shoulder while they were watching a movie, and finally, a picture of him with Marco in Italy. He smiled at the memory of a happier time between them.

Marco cleared his throat, attempting to get Dylan's attention. Dylan turned and grinned sheepishly at him.

"You've got a wonderful place. How'd you find it?" asked Dylan curiously.

"Over the internet, I needed somewhere to live and I didn't want to be hassled by a landlord," said Marco simply.

"You bought this place?" asked Dylan, still confused.

Marco nodded. "Yeah, I did. Seventeen and own my own home…not bad. Can I get you a drink or something?"

Dylan shook his head, "No, I'm fine. How's everyone?"

Marco nodded, "Everyone's good. I'm going back to Italy at the end of the semester."

"Why?"

"Do you remember Catalina?"

"Which one was she?"

"The five-year-old that fell in love with you. She went to the park with us the day of the funeral."

"The cute kid with pigtails."

"Yeah, she's making her first communion this year and she wants me there. I agreed to go, so off I fly."

Dylan smiled that old familiar smile that Marco had dearly missed, "That is so sweet of you."

Marco rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I'm a sucker for a pretty face and a person I love asking."

Dylan grinned, "That reminds me, you're going to help me pass this class right?" Dylan batted his eyelashes at him for good measure.

Marco leaned back on the couch and crossed his arms over his chest, "No, I'm going to let you hang yourself." At Dylan's stricken look, "James paired us together for a reason, so of course I'm not going to let you fail. What happened last year that he had to warn you about benching you?"

Dylan sat next to Marco on the couch, "Well, I screwed up last year. I dated my partner, broke up with him a few weeks into the class, he refused to help me, I failed James' class, I did poorly in most of my classes the last semester and now I'm repeating the second half of my sophomore year."

"What in the hell happened to you? You might not have been the best student in Degrassi but you never failed," exclaimed Marco.

Dylan shrugged and looked at him ruefully, "I don't know what happened. I got distracted by a few guys, I didn't study, and I stopped attending lectures. I wanted to go home. I was waiting for your year deadline."

Marco blew out a breath in disgust, "Yeah and it took you no time to find a guy when you got back." At Dylan's confused look, "I saw you in the grocery store the other day. You were kissing someone else."

Dylan dropped his head into his hands and then looked back at Marco, "That's Scott. We met at the end of term last year, right before I left. We hit it off, dated before I went home, and picked up where we left off when I got back." Dylan sounded apologetic for it but wouldn't be sorry for his choices.

Marco laughed half-heartedly, "You are amazing. You're the only guy I know who can almost blow a full ride scholarship for a guy. Can you even fathom what your parents would do to you if you flunked out? No guy is worth your mom's wrath."

Dylan chuckled, "I know. She wasn't happy with me when she saw my grades. I was threatened with bodily harm and an eternal grounding if she ever saw grades like that again."

Marco laughed. "I could see your mom doing that. Paige even brought up her grades last year. She wants to see you do well and not rely on hockey, especially since you never know what's around the corner."

"You are younger than me and you are giving me a lecture on the future. Don't you ever get tired of being responsible?" inquired Dylan.

Marco thought about that question for a minute. He'd never been asked that before and didn't have an answer. He never thought about being responsible, it just happened. So, for his answer, he shrugged.

Dylan shook his head, "This is college, relax a little. Smell the roses and don't kill yourself. It's your time to enjoy life, not work yourself to death."

Marco stood up and started pacing in front of the television. "You have no clue what I'm up against here. I'm the youngest student at Penn State. I've got to prove myself everyday I show up to class. They expect it out of me and I can't disappoint anyone."

Dylan held out a hand to him, "Calm down. That vein is starting to pulsate in your neck again. You acted the same way in high school, yet you managed to relax, have some fun and still make better grades than everyone. Why can't you do it again?"

Marco had tears in his eyes when he turned back to face Dylan, "Because there is one thing that is different now…"

Dylan stood up in frustration, "What is so different? Tell me…"

Marco turned his back on Dylan again and whispered, "You." He was forcefully turned back around to face Dylan again. Dylan kept his hands on Marco's shoulders as he stared at him.

"What do you mean, me? How am I different?" asked Dylan, extremely confused.

"You were the reason I let go. You taught me how to relax and enjoy life. I'm not sure if I can accomplish it on my own," responded a very sad Marco.

"Of course you can, and I'm still here."

Marco pushed his hands of his shoulders, "No, you aren't. You're someone else's now. Just let me do what I need to do and don't worry about it. I'm going to help you pass and you're going to work your ass off for me. That's the extent of our relationship."

"For now. I hope we can be friends as well as lit partners," suggested Dylan.

Marco just nodded, "Whatever. I need your schedule so we can arrange times to meet every week."

Dylan sat back down and took the piece of paper Marco held out. He wrote down his weekly schedule with classes and hockey practice.

Marco took the paper when he was finished and laughed, "Well, looks like we have classes at the same time and you have practice. We can get together twice a week for normal classes but I'd suggest an extra day for tests."

Dylan nodded his agreement of the schedule and suggested days it would work best for him, "Monday night and Thursday night for regular study days?"

"That works for me and we'll play by ear on the extra days depending on projects and tests."

Dylan couldn't fight the urge he'd been fighting since walking through Marco's front door, he pulled the younger boy into a hug. He knew it was wrong but it felt too right to let him go.

Marco melted into Dylan for a minute. He relished the feeling of Dylan's warmth, a feeling he missed. He took a deep breath and recognized the smell of Dylan's cologne, body soap and laundry detergent. He'd have known him anywhere without sight.

Marco pushed Dylan away, "I can't do this. You just admitted to dating another guy and here I am in your arms, again. I've missed you more than you probably know but not so much as to be the other guy."

Dylan hung his head in shame, "You're right. You don't deserve to be treated this way. I wouldn't want you to be second to anyone. You are so much better than that and me if I tried to do that to you."

Marco shook his head, "And on that note, I think you should go. I'll see you in class on Wednesday."

Dylan nodded his understanding. Marco needed him to go for his own sake. "Yeah, see you Wednesday. I promise to be on time this class."

Marco laughed, "You better."

Marco let Dylan out of his house and sighed. That was harder than he expected, facing Dylan without being able to be with him.

Marco wandered into his bedroom and immediately walked to his dresser. He stared down at the photos that hadn't made it into the living room. They were all Dylan-centric.

Dylan building a snowman with Paige and Chad, Dylan trying to coax Marco out onto the ice, Dylan and Paige at graduation, Dylan wrestling Marco on the front lawn for Marco's car keys. There were more as well, Marco's eyes misted over with tears at the memories he shared with this wonderful man he could no longer have.

Dylan left Marco's and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed his old home number and waited for Paige to answer.

"Hey little sis."

"What's wrong?"

"Forgot to mention Marco getting into Penn State a year early, didn't you?"

"Marco's at Penn State? When did that happen?"

"He's in my lit class and he's my partner."

"You're back together, that's wonderful."

"Not that kind of partner. I'm still dating Scott."

"So break up with Scott and get back with Marco. You know you want to and I know he still loves you."

"It's not that simple Paige. He saw me kissing Scott and now thinks that I've definitely moved on without him."

"Ugh, boys! Explain it to him. Tell him you were going to dump Scott when you got home. Since Marco didn't bother to hang around for his year deadline, you didn't see the point in making your summer a complete downer by severing all ties." Paige exclaimed into the phone.

Dylan laughed lightly. He could see her now, pacing around her room, throwing her hands in the air and rolling her eyes at what she considered being a bonehead move.

"You are so right, Paige. I'm going to do just that."

"I note sarcasm. So, what are you really going to do?"

"I'm going to stick with Scott for a while. He's a good guy and I enjoy his company."

"Whatever you think is best, hun. I've got to go, Chad's here and we're going to a movie."

"Be careful, sis. And if Chad hurts you, I'll kill him." Dylan said with a laugh.

Paige chuckled lightly as she turned off the phone.

Dylan walked up to his apartment building and noted someone waiting in the lobby. As he got closer he saw it was Scott.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" asked Dylan.

"Waiting for you. Where've you been?" asked Scott curiously.

"I went to set up a schedule with my lit partner. He's really anal about schedules and meeting times. He should be great for my GPA."

Scott enveloped Dylan in a hug in the elevator on the way up to Dylan's apartment.

"You look good. Are you sure I shouldn't worry about this partner? I know what happened with the last one." Scott joked good-naturedly.

Dylan rolled his eyes as he let the two of them into his apartment. "Dinner?"

"Yeah, wanna go out or stay in?" asked Scott.

"Stay in. I don't feel like dealing with people tonight. Chinese or pizza?" asked Dylan.

"Chinese. Movie?" inquired Scott.

Dylan nodded, "Definitely and I have the one I want to watch."

The boys ordered the food and Dylan put the DVD after it arrived. Until then, they talked, made out on the couch and just hung out…waiting.

Scott groaned as he saw what was being shown, "Come on, you've got to be kidding me."

Dylan laughed, "No, I'm not. It's a great movie. Explosions, stunts, lots of action and a hot guy, what guy could want more?"

Scott rolled his eyes, "Yeah, but Triple X, why?"

"I was nostalgic for it. Drop it, we're watching this." Dylan replied forcefully.

Seeing Marco and being with him earlier had forced Dylan into a melancholy that only familiar Marco things could help. He ate and watched the movie with Scott, while thinking of Marco.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Please review. I update quicker the more reviews.