Lizzypowers: yes, yes please give me looooong reviews. -Smiles- Prepair for a story in it's self as a reply. Where to begin? Oh, yes. I love bribes, but I only did this as a special occasion but…hm…maybe, since my b-day is next week I'll update twice. I dunno…. Oh and you like my little –inner monologue- thingies? –Smiles really wide because she likes to put things in between dashes because it indeed is in my pants- And yep, I wasn't joking, I really do talk to my computer sometimes and my mom just happens to catch me. But really now, if a character is like…fucking up in the story –pardon my Italian- I just have to yell or murmer at it angrly. You…watch…queer as folk? I love you, searious, where have you been. Are you my missing sister, I LOVE THAT SHOW! But…just like you, since I turn 13 on Sunday, next Sunday…actually the 29th, I have to sneak and watch it too. Yes, I soooo agree, Jack and Will need to get to together already! The lines? Oh, thank you, I love doing those smooth one liners, I'm so sarcastic that I do that a lot, like in class I'll be like "If you really want to know what the problem is I'll tell you. I'm pissed off because this asshole over here –points to best friend- won't tell me what the hell she got me for my birthday. My head is killing me like an elephant is sitting on me and I have the attention span of a 2 year old, which shows on my report card" and say it in this long monotone voice and people just stair at me like "What the hell?". You love Michael too? GOD! We are so totally perfect match. I love that song so much…dude, I play it every day. Did you hear the dance whore remix by Simon Bookish? That is like…hotter then hot…it's on fire. Places? It was day, he was depressed and he wanted to go to sleep. Don't feel bad, I get confused all the time. I turned down the action for a while, just trying to set the mood. You don't like hot Marco/Dylan action? Gasp, I thought that's what every girl wants? More Ryan and Marco skirt smuttyness?...OKAY! Hot Jake action with another boy? Hmmm…you see…I hate to do this…but you will know when the time comes. I never said he was gay,….-smiles-. But when he does kiss…it will be the hottest thing to ever see in life and when you do you'll do the matrix out of your seat and your mother will stair at you oddly too. Yeah, the author alert thingy kicks ass doesn't it? I'm glad you enjoyed it, I Live To SERVE you know. So like…please review as always.

Enigmus: I'm glad people like Ryan, I though ya'll might hate him. Keep the reviews coming. Thank you!

azure266: I said it before and I'll say it again, long reviews rock my socks. Well, I don't have socks on right now so…hm…they rock my…they rock my….they rock my deodorant that's next to me. Jake being raped…-smiles evily- I dunnoo…you tell me. Lol, thanks for liking my annoying twists and turns, and I am also shocked at how my mind twists things, I think I'm just fucked up…..In a good way of course. Why does every body think that Michael and Jake are "together?". Hmmm…

I'm sorry I haven't reviewed, I'm on punishment, and on my birthday of all days, but since it is my birthday, i snuck on line, went "Fuck it" and decided to give my viewers wanted!We learn that Ryan is secretly transferring his sexual desires into his paintings; he's highly depressed, sick and has moved into the Del Rossi house hold until the time being. Jake breaks down finally and seeks advice from the lovely Michael and Marco spills his heart out to a complete stranger at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere. Isn't it wonderful? Also, Jake admits that he was…wrong and that not everything is about…HIM! Also, maybe you won't hate Michael as much now that people finally begin to realize he was the victim in the relationship, not Jakey.

Please don't get me wrong

See I forgive you in a song

We'll call the Likely Lad

But if it's left to you

I know exactly what you'd do

With all the dreams we had

Just, blood runs thicker

Oh, we're as thick as thieves you know

If that's important to you

It's important to me

I try to make you see

But you don't want to know

Chapter 12: What Became Of the Likely Lads

Ryan slouched down onto the couch, grasping his hand in pain and looking at his pictures sprawled all over the floor. Mrs. Del Rossi had transformed the guess room into a bedroom for him while he stayed there and he happily re-decorated it in record time. He didn't really know how he did it, but he did. He had many new paintings and pictures ready, as if the art gallery was calling his name all over again. He had 5 new personal favorites called "Somewhere Where We Separated", "Divisions of A Dream That We Both Love", " Lover Where Are You Now?"," Seductive. Seduced. Deceived. Destroyed." and "Simply Cynical". Each one showing a different tone. With the first one," Somewhere where we separated", It shows a dark dirt black road with skies that were painted red and lakes that connected at the bottom forming a sort of broken down the middle heart. There's a person standing on one side of the lake and another person on the other, their backs to each other, facing separate ways.

"Divisions of A Dream That We Both Love" is just a self portrait. It shows him sitting there in a red chair, staring out towards the person observing, but his lips are to the side, as if he's looking to the left and someone else's lips are in the corner, inches away from each other. There's a rueful smile painted literally on his lips and his eyes are closed, his hands brought up against his chest in the form of and X.

He noticed that all his paintings have love themes in it, more so with "Lover Where Are You Now?" which shows a girl crying on the floor, her mascara strained and droopy. She's wearing a black bow, which keeps her pony tail in place and is holding a brush within her hand, drawing her own self portrait with her own blood.

" Seductive. Seduced. Deceived. Destroyed." Is his most honest picture ever. Because it's from his point of view, it's a picture of Marco. He automatically threw that one to the floor and moved onto the last one, because he didn't want to think about Marco right now. He had more important things to take care of. His personal favorite was his last one, "Simply Cynical" the most surreal, imaginable, twisted, mundane, theatrical, magical, un-logical, trancelike thing anybody will ever see. At least, if the press asked, that's what he'd tell them.

"Simply Cynical" Is the most delicious little creation he had ever made besides "My Fair Fantasy". As a matter of fact, it was a continuation of it in a way. A backwards continuation. The boy with raven black hair is still there, it's still in moonlight and there are still roses all around. He's sitting alone on the same rock, counting off the petals, you see them dropping to the floor, and there's a person behind him, reaching over his shoulders, pulling off the roses with him. They're shirtless by the way. The person behind the boy has one rose placed to their nose and is smelling it while the other has their eyes half open, looking solemn. The other behind him however is elated.

What's the meaning to the picture?

Ryan got up and blew out the candle in the room; Marco's weeping often kept him up at night, and walked down the hall to check up on him." Marco" He said softly as he knocked," Hello?"

But no one answered.

Taking further action, he opened to door to only find…an empty bed. Marco was gone.

Ryan looked around a bit, puzzled to where Marco could be but at the moment, though he cared so much for the boy, he couldn't care less. He was still sick, confused and tired so he shuffled back down the hallway.

Jake picked up the telephone and waited for a few seconds. A dull ringing filled his ears before a voice that was very soft came onto the phone." You tracked me down" They said with faux shock.

"You weren't that hard to find"

"Maybe I wasn't hiding" They said back idly.

"You know, if you're going to be like this…"

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. Let's start this over again. Hi, Jake"

"Please" Jake smiled a little bit," Call me Jakey"

"Oh…I get it. What's the matter?"

"Why do you say it like that?"

"Well, obviously this isn't about us getting back together-"

"Back together?"

"Metaphorically speaking. Nothing more, nothing less. So what has happened to flip your world upside down? That messed you up so bad that your last and final resort was to stoop down to calling me?"

"You see, this is why I haven't called you earlier. You're so fuckin' bitter"

"Bite your tongue Jakey" They said warningly. "You wouldn't know bitter unless it bit you on your ass."

"Look…"

"Look what Jake? Have you just really called me to start a conversation and seek my advice or blow out steam?"

"It's a two for one special" Jake sneered," You lust for my voice anyway"

"Yeah Jake, I really do. But using my mortal weakness as your mental gain is nothing for me and everything for you. Since I do…or did…fill the co-dependency void rather wholly before what's-his-name stepped in"

"His name is Marco"

"I'd rather forget, as long as someone's taking care of you"

"This game that we have is so much fun to play, but I don't need a bitch right now, I need a friend"

"Don't be asinine, you know I can multitask"

"Michael…"

"Fine, fine. Shoot, pour your little devastated 15 year old confused heart out to me, I'm all ears"

"I'm…I…uh…."

"At a lost for words?"

"Please Mikey"

"I don't like that tone in your voice, it's so…"

"Venerable" Jake finished.

"I don't like to see you in utter despair"

"Unless you cause it right?" Jake said harshly.

"Ouch Jake, I'm wounded"

"It was coming"

"And it's gone. Continue with your rambling now please"

"I did something bad…or at least I think I did. I kind of Broke up Marco and Dylan and now he's depressed and I don't know about Dylan and well that now's affecting Ryan because he has no one to talk to."

"That's it?"

"Yeah…that's it. God Mike, I called here to ask you for help and this is how you treat me?"

"It's still all about you?"

"Yes Mike, it's about me. M fucking E. And it always has been because you won't have it any other way"

"God forbid it would be about anything other than the Great Jake because the world would crash and the heavens would fall."

"Bitter…"

"Jake. I'm not bitter, just stupid. Because I still worship you like some hero even after all these years. You're selfish. You're bitter and cold. And I…"

"Am nothing"

"Exactly. So hang up the phone"

"Do you still…"

"Do you need to ask?"

"But…"

"Why else would I be here"

"It's like I can't even-"

"We don't need words anymore"

"This is-"

"Natural, we just haven't talked in a long time. We were even cutting each other off during the chat on the internet. I just don't for us to drift any further than we have to. That's why I'm talking to you now and that's why you're talking to me now. Because we both still care, and please, go on and deny it."

Jake laughed quietly.

"Something funny?"

"You finally talked about yourself" He laughed out

Michael laughed a little bit," Yeah…I just did"

"Can we just…"

"Start over again?" Michael finished.

Jake fell back into his chair and wrapped the cord over his legs," Hello Michael"

"Please…call me Mikey"

Marco sat down on the doorstep and took a deep breath. And then another one. And another one. There was one voice message on the phone but he decided that he'd check it later. He had a ticket in his hands and a mind full of dead ended memories all leading back to Dylan. He could've told Ryan and Jake that he was going, but he didn't think they'd understand, or want to understand. He could fly over to Dylan's and be there in 2 hours if he wanted, but to make sure he was doing the right thing first he picked up his phone and called Dylan's house.

"Hey, It's Dylan, please leave a message after the beep…ha…wait, no, not that beep, this beep…well…the mechanical sounding one…right about….now…beep" Marco smiled a little. "Hi Dylan...ugh…it's me, Marco. I know I left things off on an rocky edge and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, because…it really is my fault. Everything you said was right and now I just want you back into my life. Please, help me balance…me out again…." The machine beeped indicating that Marco's message was over. Sadly he put the phone back on his belt loop and looked down the street at the lights and sat on a park bench as it began to drizzle. A person looked t him from under their umbrella and smiled softly, scooting over, they muttered "I just hate rainy days…"

"Oh, not me. Just the things that happen on them" Marco replied as he became drenched in the now almost down pour.

"Here" The stranger said, holding out the umbrella.

"Oh no, I don't want to take that, then you'll get wet" Marco said politely

"Oh please, I'm already soaked." The person sneezed. They held a shaky hand out holding the umbrella, "We can share…" The person wore a trench coat and a hat over their head. Marco was weary, but cold, he moved closer under the umbrella until him and the stranger was face to face.

"You know, I had this friend, who believed in love so strongly that he went for anything and everything just to show that he meant it. You seem love troubled." The person continued.

"I am, boyfriend problems" Marco said.

The stranger nodded." Ahh, I see."

"I just left home in hopes of running off just to have him take me back and then I got weak, I chickened out." Marco confessed.
"Don't you have people at home who worry about you?" The stranger continued.

"Yeah, a son, a mom…a friend…" Marco trailed off." I guess this sounds pretty dumb, but I just wanted more than their recognition. They will always support me; I just wanted the truth…not one person who'd lie to me"

"And they would?"

"If they wanted to please me yes…maybe not Ryan, I could rely on him to give me the truth…"

"Ryan is you're…"

"Friend…more like a brother, we're close" Marco replied." God, why am I here. I should be home…"

"Then go on home, the airport will be here forever, tomorrow's just another day" They said taking time with saying it. Marco noticed that they had checkered black and white shoelaces on.

"Thanks, I think I will…" Marco said, getting up. The person handed him the umbrella." I think you're going to need it more than I will…go on home kid" And got up and began to walk off when Marco called him back," What's your name?"

"Call me Mike" They said and walked off.

Jake came down the steps slowly and came into the room to see Ryan sleeping on the bed, his legs over the side and his mouth open. Marco sat in the corner with his hands on his head watching Ryan with fascination when Jake knocked and asked to come in. He had papers in his hands, different pictures of the past. Marco looked up, surprised and nodded for him to come in and not wake up Ryan." He was waiting for me when I got home" Marco whispered," Then he fell asleep after. Weird huh?"

Jake nodded and folded his legs on the floor before looking up," Look Marco, I'm sorry. For everything, I know that this is hard you and I was being-"

"Jake, stop" Marco said.

"No, I'm serious. I was being selfish and inconsiderate in the beginning and now I just feel empty. As I'm sure you do, you deserve to be with him and he loves you, and I can't help but feel responsible for that"

"How did you become so grown up?" Marco asked smiling softly.

"I live with you don't I?" Jake said as he got up and gave Marco a hug. He noticed the papers in his hands.

"What are those?" Jake asked, pulling away.

"Pictures apparently, Ryan's new stash. Pretty damn good if I do say so myself. Very subtle but very sexual" Marco replied, handing Jake some of them.

"Me likes…" Jake trailed off as Marco whacked him on the head.

"No impure thoughts until you're my age" Marco warned as Jake flipped through them.

"But really, these are nice, maybe you should write a book and he should illustrate" Jake remarked as Ryan stirred around on the bed and sat up groggily. "Hey…" He trailed off, his eyes adjusting.

"Sleep enough?" Marco asked, getting up and sitting on the bed.

"Never" Ryan replied." I just hear you two talking and decided to get up "

"How about this, I think we all need a break from our melodramatic lives, let's go out somewhere tomorrow" Marco said happily.

"Hmm…I have plans" Ryan said, wiping the sleet out his eyes, he still had that damn cold.

"Prey tell what they are?" Jake asked, because he was nosey.

"I'm rescuing my brothers and sister" Ryan stated.

"And how in the hell are you going to do that?" Marco asked.

"Simple" Ryan stated," Breaking and entering"

Smiles, make me happy, I only turn this age once you know