Title: I Thought I Knew You

Author: Ari

Notes: Uh…lots of threatening…and a little secret discovered…

Warnings: FaytxSophia fluff, pocket knifes, FaytxAlbel fluffy silliness…you'll see…Bad language, vomiting…

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Chapter 3:
A Furry Face

The next day found Fayt going through his classes with a nervous and jumpy feeling. Any time he heard his name or someone reached out for and touched him, he practically had a heart attack. The boy was completely expecting The Wicked One to find him and murder him. When he'd been planning and carrying out his little hair prank, it had seemed like a great idea, perfect revenge, but after thinking on it for a while Fayt had started to feel sick. Not that he was scared or anything! No, he wasn't scared…just edgy…

A large hand slammed down on his should and Fayt spun around like Hades himself had jumped him. A gurgle that could almost be called a manly squeal escaped his throat as he leapt from his seat to face the person standing behind him.

"Hey kid, what's been eating you? You've been flighty all day."

Fayt let out a tiny breath of air he'd been holding. Cliff raised an eyebrow and stared down at the younger student. Fayt had been odd all day, so the blond had been keeping an eye on him. The blue-haired freshman seemed vaguely nervous, almost like someone caught with something they knew they shouldn't even have breathed on, much less touched.

"Oh, Cliff. Sorry, I was spacing out for a moment. A little tired, you know?"

"Yeah…tired…" the bell rang over the thousands of screaming voices all trying to be heard in the schoolrooms and halls.

"Cliff, I've got Symbology class, we'll talk later." Fayt hurried off down the hall, Cliffs loud voice shouting 'Symbology! What kind of crack class is that?' rose above everyone else, but Fayt ignored it.

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The minute bell rang just as Fayt collided with an outstretched arm protruding from a doorway. The fist hit him right in the chest, forcing the air out of his lungs. He gasped and the hand yanked him into the empty room.

Fayt caught a glimpse of Ororon closing the door before he was thrown up against a cabinet. Two hands slammed down on either side of his head, and Albel leaned forward to snarl right in his face.

"Okay, maggot. What the hell did you do to my hair?"

Fayt cracked a smile and stuck his chin in the air defiantly.

"I'm sorry, but what are you talking about?" Albel hissed and grabbed handfuls of Fayt's shirt, yanking him forward only to slam him back down into the cabinet again. Fayt's head let out a sickening crack as it smashed into the glass, and pretty sparkles danced in front of his face.

"My hair, you fucker! It's gone! You have three seconds," Albel lifted a foot and pulled a pocket knife from his sock, it clicked open and was pressed to Fayt's throat. "To explain yourself before I slit your wimpy throat, you fool."

Fayt's eyes darted wildly from The Wicked One's face, to the blade at his throat, and to the door. 'Okay Fayt, think fast! Uh…what would Cliff do?"

Completely opposite to how worried and jumbled his mind was, Fayt's face remained calm, no use giving Albel more to work with.

He raised a hand slightly, and then hesitated, this could potentially be very, very life threatening and possibly revolting.

"Three seconds are up, mag-" Albel wasn't able to finish his sentence because Fayt had raised his hand and began lightly brushing back the bangs that fell in front of Albel's face.

"I don't see anything wrong…" Fayt suggested with a smile. Albel remained frozen, perfectly still, he wasn't quite sure how to react and deal with this sort of thing yet. Fayt swallowed, this was so creepy! He leaned forward a little more, carefully so he didn't slit his own throat, and wove his hand through The Wicked One's black locks. He hated to admit it, but Albel had nice hair. It was probably treated with expensive shampoo or something. Fayt resisted rolling his eyes. How girly was that?

Fayt moved a little more, raising the other hand slowly to rest it on Albel's arm, he slowly began to pushed the knife away from his throat, carefully making sure to keep the violent man focused on his other hand, now slightly massaging his scalp.

"Am I interrupting?"

Fayt froze, and both of them turned to stare at the door. Ororon stood there with a rather amused look on his face, and both Fayt and Albel realized how odd they must have looked. Albel pinning Fayt to a wall, half-heartedly pressing a pocketknife to the other boy's throat, while said boy leaned in close and ran fingers through his hair with a complacent smile on his face.

Albel snapped out of his daze suddenly and shoved Fayt back into the glass for a third time.

"Fag." He spat and stomped out, knife slipping right back into his sock. Fayt just leaned against the cabinet; it wasn't like he was going to go to class anyway.

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"He held a knife to you?" Sophia rushed over and began examining Fayt's body yet again. "You poor dear! Are you alright?"

'Dear?' Fayt wondered. 'When have I ever been 'dear'?'

"Do you want a massage?" Sophia's hands landed on his shoulders and Fayt found himself nodding automatically.

"Yeah…today was stressful…"

The only bad thing was, Fayt wasn't sure what was more stressing, having a sharp object held to your throat, or having Albel calling him a fag.

Over the next few days, Fayt came to the conclusion that it was neither of those things. Fayt had surprisingly (sniker)come down with a bought of food poisoning, which developed into phenomena. Oh happy day…

BANG BANG

"Fayt! Are you alright?" Cliff continued banging on the door of the bathroom stall. "You've been in there twenty minutes!"

Fayt resisted the urge to growl at the man; instead, he pushed himself up off the floor. His stomach had rebelled this morning, so he was once again sitting on the floor next to the toilette. He pushed open the door and stumbled right into Cliff. He kind of deserved what he got from Albel. Three days after his prank on Albel, the pink dye had washed out, turning out to be quick rinse dye. So Fayt was once again blue-headed, and yet Albel The Wicked remained tailless, since Fayt's prank was more…permanent…

"Whoa, Fayt!" Cliff mumbled as he righted the boy. He kept a firm grip on Fayt's shoulders so the boy wouldn't topple over right in front of him. That would be too embarrassing…

"Sorry, little dizzy today. I'm fine though…"

"Fine?" Cliff snorted and dropped his hands only to laugh as Fayt swayed back and forth again. "You can't even stand, you have a fever, and you look thinner."

"No, I'm fine. I'll see you after class…" Fayt turned and made his way towards the door, only to have the large blond grab his arm.

"Nope. Bed." Cliff stated. With a quick sweep he lifted the boy from the ground, carrying him bridal style. "Oh my love!" he joked. "I shall sweep you away to our bed now! Where we can lay together, warm in each other's arms!" Cliff was trying to joke around to distract himself from how light Fayt actually was. The blue-haired boy began to squirm as much as possible, even with his eyes starting to droop shut.

"No…don't…I'm not a…fag…" Cliff halted so suddenly he almost dropped the boy in surprise.

"Now who called you that, kid?" he demanded, but he received no answer from the sleeping Fayt. "Aw kid, you need to take better care of yourself, or at least let someone else do it…"

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"Cause you're a fucking bastard."

"So? Why should I care?"

"Cause he's sick, and it's your fault."

"He's faking. He should be fine by now."

"He got food poisoning followed by phenomena. He's really sick."

A pause, almost hesitant.

"How sick?"

"Vomiting, fever, headache, weight loss, standard symptoms." A sideways glance. "People have died from phenomena, ya know." It hadn't happened in years, but he didn't need to know that…

Another, almost angry and embarrassed pause.

"Fine, but only for a second. No more!"

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Albel stood in the doorway, a scowl perfectly in place as he entered the silent room. 'A double? What a fool…' he thought to himself. He moved forward into the room, walking in a defiant manor, hands on hips, stopping at the foot of the bed to glare down at its occupant. 'Well, he's cuter asleep…' Albel concluded. 'Whoa, no… Weird thought…" Albel glared down at Fayt again, as if his pervy mind was Fayt's fault.

"You fool. It was only a tiny dose of a cleaner. What a baby…" the man rolled his eyes and glanced around the room. He grabbed the desk chair and yanked it over, sitting on it backwards; he grabbed the book that had been lying on its seat. "Karite, by RedCrow? He would read fantasy…tch!" Albel glanced back at Fayt one last time before opening the cover. "Worthless maggot…"

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The first thing he did was glance around the room. He was in his dorm room, in his bed. Wataru wasn't there; actually, no one was there.

"Glad you're all so worried about me…" he grumbled, swinging his feet over the edge. The window was open and the floor was icy cold, it sent shivers down his spine as his soles hit the wood. His desk chair was pulled up next to the bed and his book lay on the seat. "Someone was here…and they were reading my book… I didn't think Cliff would like fantasy. Maybe it was Maria? Yeah…got to have been Maria."

Fayt stood and gave a final stretch to pull his tired muscles before he was up for the day. He could still make it to a couple classes if he hurried. He sure felt better after that nap…

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And so…the feud ended. Everyone was happy and loving and friendly…they would all get together and sing campfire songs all night, help each other with homework, while waiting on each other hand and foot…

Yeah right, I wish!

Their fights reached a childish high after that. Fayt bleached Albel's clothes, Albel threw all of Fayt's furniture into the lake, personal items were shredded, boxers hung from the roof as banners, buckets rigged to fall on heads, homework stolen, computers bugged, video camera's in showers. (Fayt sings in the shower ((Torso only, pervs!)) ) Ant farm smashed in Albel's room, hands in warm water, frozen bra's stolen from girls, the list is endless…but there is one…one that was priceless…and yet a complete accident.

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Fayt was once again making his way to Albel's room at around 2 a.m. in the morning. Can of neon green paint in one hand, paintbrush and baby balloon stamps in the other. Albel lay on his side again, but facing him this time, covers kicked off, silky slim arms and chest barred to the world in all its glor- 'Stop that train of thought! Naughty Fayt!' The teen was about to get to work, doing his worst that night, when his eye caught something he hadn't even seen before.

Twined loosely in Albel's grip was the fuzzy face of a bear. Albel The Wicked slept with a teddy bear… How in the world had Fayt missed that before?

'His back was to me that time…' he remembered. The paint forgotten, Fayt slowly crept over to the bedside. When he wasn't scowling or smirking, Albel's face was very smooth, almost pretty. No wrinkles of anger or malice. He looked so little and kind sleeping, especially since he had an arm wrapped around a teddy bear!

Fayt choked back a snort as he thought about how to do this. The bear wasn't being held onto very tightly, but he still wasn't sure if Albel would wake up. So Fayt decided to be extra mean that night, to get back for the food poisoning.

After the green paint was leisurely spread around the walls, furniture, and closet, Fayt came back to the bed. A rolled up shirt would act as a substitute and it was quickly pushed into Albel's arms as the bear came out.

When he got back to his own room, Fayt began to examine the toy a little more closely. It had a tag in his ear and when opened, neat and pretty handwriting reveled it as a present.

'To my baby darling, Albel. Happy Birthday! Lov, Mommy.'

The little note was cotton candy sweet, and Fayt almost felt bad for stealing it. Almost. The bastard had poisoned him. (Even though Fayt already smashed an ant farm in Albel's room as retaliation. :p)

"It's cute," he mumbled as he held the stuffed animal out at arms length. "I guess it fits." It was white with green eyes and a little pink nose. The fur was a little dirty, but Fayt figured it was old. He gave a small shrug and flopped into bed for the night. A white teddy bear hooked beneath one arm.

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Fayt received evil glares all through the next day. It wasn't a sure thing, but maybe the green paint had saved him, for a while. It was possible Albel thought he'd misplaced the bear. It was an unwritten, unspoken rule: One prank per turn, and Fayt had broken that rule. But Albel would figure it out eventually…

He and Sophia were hanging out again, this time in the library, working on a paper due the next day.

"Fayt, I wanted to ask…will you come to my party next month?" she had propped her head on her hands, her papers were pushed aside and her pen was dropped.

"Yeah sure." He agreed. "What's the occasion?" Fayt smiled as a feral blush spread across her cheeks.

"It's my birthday." She smiled.

"That's great! Of course I'll come! How old will you be?"

Another blush.

"Nineteen…" she whispered, a smile on her face. She seemed so proud.

"Of course I'll be there. What would you like?"

"Oh nothing! You don't have to get me anything." She quickly protested.

"But I want to, you're my friend."

"Oh…a friend? Really?" Fayt didn't miss the slight disappointment in her voice.

"Well…we could be more that friends…if you'd like…" Fayt refused to look at her; he could feel his cheeks burning. He set himself up for a laugh or an embarrassing excuse, but it never came.

"I'd like that…" she murmured, her cheeks flaming now too.

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Chapter 3 all edited! Man, my grammar is horrible! I have sickened myself! Oh well, I hope you still enjoyed the chapter. This one was kinda…cute? I dunno…

Okay! Raise your hand if you thought Albel was gonna get kissed in the empty classroom …But NOOO! You can't rush things otherwise it's BAD! No rushing! BAD!

R&R PLEASE!