Thank you to everyone who have reviewed, you have no idea how much that means! Well... you probably do, but it's still very appreciated. Thank you! Hope you like this chapter. )

Marco woke first, he had always been an early riser and Tim had a lot of stress to sleep though. Yawning and rubbing his eyes like a toddler, Marco turned over to see Tim burrowed under the covers of his sleeping bag as a groundhog would or something. Marco smiled at the ridiculous analogy, but as he watched the other boy sleep, he couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that Tim slept like he was hiding from something. Someone maybe. Turning over to lie on his stomach, Marco folded his hands over his pillow and rested him chin on top of them. He was probably only inches away from Tim's head, but Marco couldn't bring himself to wake him up.

Instead, he thought about how they were going to get into Tim's house- well, former house, and retrieve his things. He couldn't help realizing that he had no idea when Tim's dad went to work or when he'd be back. Luckily, it was Saturday so that gave them tons of leeway. Glancing at the clock on his desk, he checked the time; 9:30 AM. The smell of his mother cooking breakfast in the kitchen was already wafting through the door, making him smile. This was pretty much a perfect moment. Just before reality started and nothing in the world could touch them. Wriggling out of his own sleeping bag, Marco grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom for a shower.

The water that ran over his skin was just hot enough that if he twisted the knob one more smidgen, it would probably burn him, and that's just the way he liked it. The one time he and Dylan had showered together, they'd fought over the temperature the whole time. Shampooing his hair, Marco shook his head and smirked at the thought, that jerk. Rinsing and drying off, Marco stepped out of the shower and dressed and brushed his teeth. Finally, he toweled most of the water out of his hair and scrunched gel into it, turning the natural waves into curls. Returning to his room, Marco smiled to see Tim still asleep. Stepping over his sleeping bag, still strewn across the floor, Marco kneeled next to his friend and gently shook him awake.

Not fully awake, Tim sighed and turned over. The, remembering where he was, he sat up and looked at Marco, blushing slightly. Marco chuckled and said, "Shower's free. I can give you a shirt, but I don't think I have any jeans that'll fit you." He paused to think about this for a moment. Tim wasn't all that tall, only a few inches taller than Marco himself, plus he was pretty skinny. His mother would fix that soon enough. "But you know, you could probably fit into my shorts, though. They're super long on me, so they'll be fine on you." Before Tim could answer, Marco turned to his dresser fishing out a pair of black shorts and a shirt he thought Tim might like.

Reluctantly, he took the clothes, Tim knew there was no arguing with Marco. Glancing down Tim said, "I still never got to say thank you… for everything. So… thanks."

"No, I should be the one thanking i you /i right now," Marco said sincerely. "And having a cute guy in the house? So not a problem," he mentally slapped himself as soon as he said it, but Tim just smiled shyly.

"I guess I better get that shower, huh?"

Marco nodded, "Yeah, food's going to get cold, so… yeah."

So shower Tim did, with the water just under scalding so that his skin was slightly reddened when he got out, but he liked it that way. Besides, the only time he could only think of one thing. So Marco thought he was cute?

Breakfast was pretty quiet. Neither of them had much to say, and besides, Tim was busy eating as though he hadn't had a decent meal in days. Marco suspected that he hadn't, which made him too sad to do more than pick at the meal. When Tim noticed that he wasn't eating, he paused with the fork in his hand, "Is, um... something wrong?" he asked with concern, and Marco thought it was sweet that Tim would be concerned about him when the younger boy had so much more to be worried about.

"Nah, it's okay, eat," Marco said with a smile, "If you're not well fed, I'll never hear the end of it from Ma." It was the truth, no one left Mrs. Del Rossi's table until they'd gained at least three pounds. "But," his voiced dropped to a secretive whisper, "you better hurry up because we need to be on time for the mission."

Tim couldn't help but laugh, "Secret mission?"

Marco looked at him, mock offended, "Yeah," he said as though it were obvious, "Operation: Get Tim's Stuff, remember?"

As soon as it had appeared, the smile was gone from Tim's face, and he looked at his watch. It was ten-thirty, just enough time for them to get there and out before his dad's lunch break. "I don't know about this Marco…" he started, but the young host would have nothing of it.

"What kind of attitude is that for an agent? Unless you change your thinking right now, I just might have to assign someone else and you wouldn't want-"

"Okay, okay," Tim said with a smile, not exactly knowing what to think. As they got up to leave, Tim insisted on washing his own plate, despite Marco's assurance that he didn't have to. A few minutes later they were out the door and walking toward Tim's house, which was only a few blocks away.

When they arrived, Tim went around to the back of the house and stood by the window that must have been to his room. Marco followed him and watched and he stood on a patio chair to open the window. After a minute or two, Marco heard Tim hiss out a breath and say, "Shit," in a slightly panicked and morose voice.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked, getting more and more worried by the second.

Tim stood there frozen, almost paralyzed. "It's locked. He locked the window to my room," he answered in disbelief and looked over at Marco. "I never, ever keep this locked."

Marco sighed with exasperation. It killed him to think a father went to so much trouble to keep his son out. "What about the kitchen?" He asked, as a last resort, not wanting to give up now just because he wanted some sort of victory over Tim's dad.

Tim shrugged and dragged the chair over to the kitchen window. Struggling with the latched for a moment, Tim smiled when Marco stage whispered, "Use the force!" After a few minutes, he managed to pry it open and couldn't help grinning at the achievement. Waving Marco over, he deftly climbed through the rather narrow space and landed precariously on the sink so that his foot was dangerously to the garbage disposal and his hand was leaning on the ledge very close to the switch. Shifting carefully, he hopped down and helped Marco through. Making sure no one was in the house, he motioned Marco down the hall and to his room.

Of course, they couldn't do this without being silly and sneaking there as they thought James Bond would, humming Mission Impossible music along the way. As they reached his room Tim laughed, but Marco looked at him as though that weren't proper secret agent behavior. Shaking his head, Tim opened the door, flipped on the light switch, and gasped. Looking over Tim's shoulder, Marco had very much the same reaction, mixed with an appalling disgust for Tim's father.

His room was a mess. All the posters had been ripped from the wall; several rockstars' faces had been torn right in half. The sheets that should have been on his bed were carelessly strewn across the floor, and countless possessions along with them. "Tim… I-"

"No, it's okay," Tim interrupted him, not wanting Marco to say anything, "I… expected this," he said more to convince himself than Marco, because the older of the two wasn't too sure. It hadn't sounded like Tim had been expecting this if that gasp was anything to go by, but Marco didn't know what to say in this type of situation. "Let's just get stuff and go, okay?" Marco couldn't do anything but nod.

Tim grabbed a big duffel bag from the top of his closet and started stuffing clothes in it. Marco looked around for other things Tim might want. Toothbrush, iPod, headphones, CDs, books, what looked like a sketchpad he knew better than to open. Of course, it wasn't long before he tripped over the sheets though, and flew headfirst onto the ground. Tim looked over at him tangled up in the cloth and couldn't help but laugh. Marco semi-glared at him, "Oh, you think that's funny, do you?" He picked up the pillow nearest to him and directed it right toward Tim's head.

Of course, Tim had to throw it back after it had hit him, and it continued until they were both in a full on pillow fight. When they were both tired, they dissolved into a fit of laughter until something caught Marco's eye. It was a photograph of a woman and she had Tim's eyes so he was pretty sure he knew who she was, but he asked anyway, "Who's this?"

Taking a look at the photo for a moment, Tim shrugged and answered casually, "My mom. She-" But he stopped suddenly, and Marco heard it, too. The sound of a car pulling into the drive way. Tim froze until he heard the driver's side door slam and he grabbed the bag, zippering it as fast as he could while Marco rushed to the window, unlocking it and throwing it open. They pushed the duffel out first before they both scrambled through the window, just as they heard a key turning in the lock of the front door. Landing hard on the back lawn, both boys started to make a run for it when Tim's father was certain he'd heard a noise coming from the direction of Tim's room and went to investigate.

Scared out of his mind, Tim didn't stop running until they were far out of sight of his house and any trace of his father. Leaning against a tree to catch his breath, Marco looked at Tim and then they both couldn't help but laugh. Some adventure. It suddenly seemed like the sort of thing people wrote stories about, not the sort of thing that actually happened. Before long they were hugging again, but only for a moment before the two of them realized what they were doing and let go quickly.

Blinking at each other a few times, they started to lean together, just the slightest, but it was oh so slow, and neither of them knew which turned away first. Both disappointed, but otherwise far too relieved, they continued the walk to the Del Rossi's slower and taking as much time as they needed and in the most comfortable silence either of them had ever experienced.

I promise there will be kissing in the next chapter! I swear! I hope you like it!