Look at me putting up two chapters at once. Hooray! I failed to mention last time that each chapter has a cliche in it. It was going to be song lyrics, but then I realized if I was naming a story after a cliche, I should go with that. Plus this way I can't get in trouble or whatever. ;;

Hope you're all enjoying this. Unfortunately, it's gotta get worse before it gets better...

Chapter One: March of Senior year

"So, bro, what're we doing tonight? I figure since Sharon's gonna be at Adam's all weekend, we can do an all night Romero flick fest." Static and Gear flew above the North Dakota Park, eyes staying alert for even jaywalkers. It was a bit of a slow night. Scratch that...it was so slow even Backpack seemed like he just wanted to go home and recharge itself. Anything but searching for trouble that clearly had more interesting things to take care of.

Gear hesitated. "Um…maybe tomorrow. I've kinda…got something I need to do."

"Oh, come on. It's Friday night! You are seriously not telling me you're staying in on a Friday night." Virgil was appalled at the mere thought. "Come to think of it…you've been scarce the last couple Fridays, haven't you? And some other times too…"

"Yeah…it's…a prior commitment I can't get out of." Gear seemed…uncomfortable. Why would he be uncomfortable?

"What, are you cheating on me?" Static asked jokingly. If it fell short, his partner didn't notice.

"Don't be stupid." Gear rolled his eyes. "I just have other plans, that's all. Why don't you see what Frieda's up to? I know Daisy's got that whole mock UN thing this weekend..."

Virgil looked thoughtful. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Haven't hung with her in a while." He felt kind-of bad; he and Richie always had such a good time together just the two of them, it didn't occur to him to invite anyone else along. "Yeah…I'll definitely give her a call."

"Word. Well, here's my stop. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" Static nodded. "Awesome. Peace!"

"And out." Static watched his friend fly off for a minute, a thoughtful look on his face.

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"You're kidding, right?"

After getting home and changing out of his uniform, Virgil had immediately called Frieda to see what was going on.

"No I'm not." She sighed impatiently. Men. "I think it'd be fun, and if I go with you, then I won't get hit on every ten seconds and can

just have a good time and dance for once."

Every Friday night, a popular nightclub called Visualize opened its doors to the still in high school set. It was a great way to help keep the kids off the streets and simultaneously boost their cash flow and clientele.

Frieda went there just about every weekend. She loved music and she loved to dance, and therefore she loved clubbing more than any sane person should.

Or so Virgil felt, anyways.

"Man…I don't know, Frieda. You know I'm not big into the music they play there."

"Who cares as long as it has a good beat? Besides, what else are you gonna do…sit at home watching The Notebook with your best friends Ben and Jerry?"

Virgil blinked a few times. "Wow, Frieda, that was…harsh."

"Thank you." He could practically picture the grin on her face. "That mean you're coming?"

"Yeah, I'm coming. Just give me some time to clean up first." He started surveying his wardrobe.

"Yay! Virgil, you're the best! I'll pick you up in forty, kay? Bye!" And with a click, Frieda hung up the phone.

"What have I gotten myself into?"

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The club was packed almost full by the time they arrived, the line outside resembling more of a fashion show than the last threshold before being able to dance until curfew.

Due to Frieda's near-constant attendance, the bouncers recognized her and it enabled them to bypass the line. They checked their coats, and headed into the club proper.

Kids their age were all packed onto the dance floor. Visualize was always a good mix of all of the different Dakota schools, and tonight was no exception. There were crowds at the bars buying refreshing (non-alcoholic) drinks. Everyone was out in full-force.

Virgil had been to Visualize once or twice before, but he never really had that good of a time. He loved to dance and he loved crowds, but something about an atmosphere like that made him feel exposed and slightly awkward.

Frieda, meanwhile, was reveling in it. "God I love it here…you want to dance?"

"Sure. It's why we came, right?" The two had to shout to each other, the loud thumpa-thumpa of music making normal conversation almost impossible.

She just grinned and grabbed his hand, leading the way. They found a place towards the middle of the crowd, and quickly commenced with the shaking of their groove things.

During the latest by Daft Punk, Frieda became distracted. She kept looking at something over Virgil's shoulder, throwing her movements off beat.

"What? What're you looking at?" She just pointed and he turned, taking a look for himself.

"Is that Richie?"

Yes, as a matter of fact, it was.

His back was to the pair, but Virgil would have known him anywhere. He and Frieda weren't dancing anymore, but just watching their friend from across the room.

"What is he doing here?" she asked.

"Dunno. Guess this place was his 'prior commitment' or something." Virgil squinted. "He by himself?" The thought of Richie coming to a club alone was…well, weird, frankly.

"Can't tell…let's go say hi!" Virgil nodded, and once again Frieda led him by the hand, only to stop short. Before he could ask what the hold up was, he looked and the smile quickly vanished off of his face.

Richie was dancing with a guy about their age, with really dark hair in a spikey, almost faux-hawk cut. The guy had his hands around Richie's waist and Richie had his arms around his neck. They were dancing pretty close.

Okay, they were really close. And from the way their eyes were locked, they might as well have been the only two people in the room. The dark haired boy said something into Richie's ear and Richie smiled and moved even closer.

"Who's the hottie?" Frieda raised an eyebrow.

"Don't know." Virgil, for some reason, found himself frowning. "Let's find out. Richie! Hey Richie!" He waved his left arm to get the blond's attention. Only instead of Richie noticing, the dark haired boy pointed to him and whispered something else to the blond. Richie squinted at the crowd, finally spotting Frieda and Virgil. He whispered something back to his companion and the pair met them halfway.

"Hey guys! I wasn't expecting to see you here!"

"Obviously." Even though he was yelling over the music, Virgil's voice was strained. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh, right. Didn't mean to be rude…guys, this is Simon. Simon, this is…"

"Frieda and Virgil, right?" Simon shook hands with Frieda, a warm smile on his face. "Nice to meet you…Richie's talked so much about you, I feel like we've already met and hung out a hundred times or so." He extended his hand to Virgil, who promptly ignored the gesture.

"Well, gee, I wish we could say the same." Virgil's eyes never left his best friend. "Unfortunately, someone's been keeping a few things to himself."

Due to how long they had known him, the subtle edge to Virgil's words made Richie raise an eyebrow and Frieda flinch. Simon just dropped his hand and gave Richie a quizzical look.

"So, do you guys come here together often? I haven't seen you around before." The name of Frieda's game was changing the subject and keeping things light.

"We decided to come here after dinner, actually. Sort-of a last minute decision."

Virgil felt his smile harden. Richie was on a date with this kid?

"Oh! Um…we can like, leave you two alone, if you want. We're not trying to cramp your style or anything…just wanted to say hi." Frieda looked a little embarrassed, clearly having come to the same realization as Virgil. Simon just waved her off.

"Don't even worry about it. You guys are totally welcome to hang out with us. Right?" He nudged Richie in the shoulder.

"Yeah, absolutely."

"You sure? We wouldn't want to interrupt anything. I mean, you two were dancing so close a second ago, you were practically inside each other."

Frieda and Simon stared at him in disbelief. Richie folded his arms, his eyes narrowing. Virgil just cringed. Even he couldn't believe those words had just come out of his mouth.

Simon glanced back and forth between the other two boys. "So, Frieda…do you want to go get a drink?"

"Yes, please. Let's um…go to the bar." She practically ran over to Simon. "We'll, um, be back. At some point. Maybe." Shooting Virgil a look that plainly told him to behave, she left with Richie's date.

Virgil could tell that he had really done it. Richie's expression was the "I'm seriously about to kick your ass in three different ways before you know what's happening" face usually saved for criminals. He walked off the dance floor and started heading towards the restrooms. Wordlessly, Virgil followed.

"Rich, look…I…" He was cut off before he could even apologize.

"Okay, what was that all about? What the hell is the matter with you?" They were standing by the men's room door, Richie on one side and Virgil on the other. "I mean, you've said some rude shit in your day, but this just boggles my mind. Seriously, what is your problem?"

Virgil started to give an answer, stopping short when he realized he didn't have one. "I don't know."

Richie rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay. You want to try again?" There was a halt in the conversation as someone walked out of the men's room, giving Virgil some time to reflect.

"I just…I guess I'm just upset that you didn't tell me." It was a good reason. However, something was telling him that it wasn't quite the right reason. He put that notion in his "to deal with later" pile.

"Except I did tell you. I told you I had plans." Or not, because clearly Richie wasn't buying it.

"Yeah, you said you had other plans. You didn't say what they were."

"Well, I didn't know that I had to run any plans by you before making them."

Virgil was taken aback. This was not going right at all. "Dude, you…you don't have to do that. But you've just…you never said anything about…about you having a…a boyfriend." He really didn't like that word all of a sudden.

A lot of the anger had left Richie, replaced by confusion. "Dude, Simon and I haven't hung out that much or anything. He's…he's not my boyfriend."

"But you still…you could have told me about him. Or whatever. I mean it just…it sucked to find out like this. And…I don't want you to feel like you can't tell me things. I don't want us to keep stuff from each other, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Richie looked away from him. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I should have, and I was going to. But, well…" Richie suddenly smiled and Virgil followed his eyes to Frieda and Simon at the bar. "I like him, Virg. I really like him a lot. And…I guess I just don't want to jinx anything."

"So, you…do you want him to be your boyfriend?" He really hated that word.

Never taking his eyes off his date, Richie said "Yeah. I do."

"That's great," Virgil smiled. It didn't feel right, but he smiled. "He's …he's a lucky guy. And you…deserve it. You should be happy."

Richie looked at him then, his smile growing brighter. "Thanks. But, you're not off the hook. I mean you really owe Simon an apology." Virgil nodded; he had planned on apologizing anyways. "Come on, let's go meet them at the bar."

After a moment, Virgil took a deep breath and then followed his friend back into the heart of the club.

-----

After a long night of dancing, laughing, and a wrap-up snack at Get Your Grub On, Virgil found himself at home. His Pops was asleep and Sharon at Adam's, so he was pretty much alone. And as wiped out as he was, he couldn't get to sleep.

Simon had a terrific sense of humor and liked cheesy horror movies. He went to a private school and loved science, did martial arts, could play Grand Theft Auto until his thumbs bled, had three earrings in his left ear, and was obviously very taken with Richie.

All in all, he seemed like a great guy.

Virgil couldn't stand him.

Oh, he had been nice and made conversation and apologized for the snotty remark and all, but he just did not like the kid.

Which was okay, right? You can hate your best friend's boyfriend and still be nice. It sucked that he was going to have to just be nice, but it was better than pissing Richie off again.

Virgil rolled from his back onto his left side. His hair fell into his eyes, but he didn't care enough to do anything about it. He was too busy replaying one particular moment at the restaurant in his head.

Frieda had been telling some story about something for the paper and Richie had made a joke. Nothing unusual about that.

But when Simon had laughed, he had put his arm around Richie's shoulders. And Richie had grinned and leaned into the half-embrace. And for the rest of the night, Simon's arm stayed around Richie and Richie absently laced his fingers through the hand on his shoulder.

Like that was how things were supposed to be or something.

He knew that Richie had claimed that Simon wasn't his boyfriend but judging from how they were together…

It appeared to be a matter of semantics.

He finally brushed his dreads out of his eyes, exhaling deeply as he checked the time. The clock read just after three in the morning.

This was ridiculous. He needed to sleep. More to the point, he was being completely stupid.

It's not like the world was ending. So Richie had a boyfriend. So the boy was great. So he was good looking too, Virgil supposed, in an athletic average height dark and handsome guy that could dress well and was really funny and nice kind-of way.

You know…if you were into that type of thing.

Which, Richie apparently was. Granted there was no accounting for taste but still, Virgil couldn't deny that they looked good together. This was not a huge deal at all.

So he finally decided that ordering his brain to stand down, closing his eyes, and going to sleep was the most viable option.

However, when he was finally able to drift off, all he could see was a brown-haired boy put his arm around a blond, their hands intertwining.

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It's right on the tip of my tongue...

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