The ride home wasn't as awkward as Blink had expected it to be. He'd expected the ride to be completely silent, but instead Mush seemed to be making the extra effort to make sure that Blink was comfortable, and was trying to ask about his life. The two soon found that conversation flowed fairly easily between them, as long as conversation stayed away from the events that had happened after school that day. Mush asking Blink how he was feeling had produced the only awkward pause of the ride home.

When they reached Blink's house, Mush pulled up into the empty driveway and shut off the engine.

Blink reached for the door, but Mush stopped him by grabbing for his arm.

"Look, Blink," Mush began. "I'm really sorry for what Snoddy did to you."

"I'm used to it," Blink replied, more harshly than he had intended to. They had gone over this already, and it was over. Blink wanted to enjoy his time with Mush, and didn't want to dredge up the earlier events.

"You shouldn't... you shouldn't have to be used to it."

Blink shrugged. "Look," he said hesitantly. "You saved me from well, whatever Snoddy was going to do to me. So thanks. But you shouldn't have to defend me. We're not friends or anything."

"Why not?"

"You're a jock. And you've never exactly been friendly to me." But even as he said it, Blink knew that it was a lie.

Mush moved his hand, and turned away from Blink. "If that's the way you want it," he said coldly.

Blink winced. He wasn't making the best impression. "I'm sorry, Mush," he said apologetically. "It's just with everything that's happened, I don't really know who I can trust anymore. I'd like to be your friend, if you'll let me."

Mush flashed him a grin. "Sounds good. I'll see you in school Monday then."

Blink got out of the car, and as Mush pulled out of the driveway, he called back, "Have a good weekend."

Blink was practically floating as he walked back in. He and Mush were friends now. That had been something that Blink hadn't even thought to dream about. Making out with Mush, sure, but actually being friends?

He went inside, and plopped down on the couch. Reaching for the phone, he dialed Race's number without even thinking.

"Mush and I are friends," Blink crowed as soon as Race answered.

"That's nice, are you ready for your date tonight?"

"Oh. Right. Date."

"Don't tell me you forgot. Jesus, what sort of a gay man are you?" The scorn in Race's tone was evident. "So crush boy actually talks to you and you totally forget about your boyfriend?"

"Well, I had a stressful day."

"Or have you forgotten what he said to you?"

"He stopped Snoddy from beating the shit out of me today." Blink paused and counted to three. Race, as usual, lived up to Blink's expectations.

"WHAT?!" Race hollered so loudly that Blink had to pull the phone from his ear, and wait until Race was finished cursing to continue. "No, seriously Blink, what the hell happened?"

"Just the usual idiocy, Race, I'm fine."

"Bullshit."

Blink sighed, and quickly filled Racetrack in on the day's events, provoking the usual amount of cursing and hetero bashing from Race that he had come to expect in such a situation. He waited for Racetrack to get it all out of his system, before he attempted to return to the serious matter, of him being friends with Mush. However, Race would hear none of it.

"So, your date tonight," Race pointed out. "When, where, and do you have a condom?"

"I'm not going to have sex with him on our first date."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because I'm not you?"

"Well, bring a condom anyway." Race didn't wait for a response, and continued. "So where are you going anyway?"

"Just to see a movie, and to the club for dinner after."

"Oooh, the dinner and a movie date. Yeah, you're going to need that condom."

"I am not."

"Don't rule it out already. So what are you going to wear?"

"Jeans?"

Race sighed. "I'm on my way over. We'll get you ready for this date."

The phone went dead, and Blink stared into the phone with a blank expression. Sometimes he thought he needed better friends. But then he remembered that he could now count Mush among them, and that left a smile on his face.

Race had set up Blink with everything that he claimed that Blink would need for his date, some of which Blink thought practical, and others that had caused him to blush. He suddenly knew way more than he wanted to about some of Race's fetishes, and how Race and Spot had gotten their reputation.

By seven o'clock, Racetrack had left, and Blink was left to wait for Bumlets' arrival. As each minute passed, he grew more and more nervous. Bumlets wouldn't actually stand him up, would he? After all, this was his first real date. Maybe Bumlets wanted someone who was more experienced. Or someone less like Blink.

"Ryan?" his mother said quietly, joining him in the dining room. "I thought you were going out, but Tony left..."

"I have a date," Blink said matter-of-factly.

"Oh." His mother said it in a tone completely devoid of any expression. Neither pride, nor shame shone through her tone.

"Is that all you have to say? Oh?"

"Well, sweetheart, I'm glad that you have a date. Is it with a nice boy?"

"Yes."

"Where, where did you meet him?"

"Racetrack, I mean Tony, introduced me to him at a club."

"Oh."

"Again with the 'Oh's.' What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just... happy that my little boy is going out on a date. With another boy."

"Mom, I am eighteen. So it's not surprising that I'm going out on a date. And I'm gay, so obviously I'm going with a boy. Who else would I be going with?"

"I'm just still not used to the idea darling. But I'm, I'm happy for you. And I'm sure that your father is as well."

"Right."

"He is, sweetheart, he just isn't very good at showing it."

Blink ignored her, and continued to stare through the screen door, searching for any sign of Bumlets' beat up '97 honda.

Just when he was beginning to grow desperate, the car appeared in his driveway, and Bumlets stepped out. Blink nearly started drooling. Bumlets' dark hair fell over his eyes. He wore slacks, and a button down white shirt, with the sleeves rolled up. He looked more hot than any other human being on the entire planet.

Blink didn't even wait for Bumlets to get up to the house before he headed outside, slamming the door behind him.

"Hey," he said in greeting.

"Hey," Bumlets replied. He glanced over at Blink's house, and saw Blink's mother glancing mournfully out the window. "Everything okay?"

"Just my family. It's nothing, really. Let's go."

"Blink," Bumlets pried. "Are you sure?"

"They're still not comfortable with me being gay, and they're kinda freaked out that I'm dating. It's normal stuff, seriously. I just... can we go now?"

Bumlets nodded, and backed the car out of the driveway.

Starsky and Hutch hadn't been as bad as Blink had thought it was going to be. The plot was stupid, but Owen Wilson had been hot enough that he hadn't cared. And Bumlets had left his hand lingering on Blink's leg during the second half of the movie, which had been oddly distracting, especially once he'd started rubbing his hand over his knee. It made Blink feel oddly content.

As they were walking out of the theater, Blink heard a voice call his name. He whirled around, and Bumlets put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Mush came towards them, smiling widely, pulling a short blond girl behind him.

"Hi," Mush said cheerfully. "Having fun on your date?"

Blink relaxed a bit, and smiled. "Yeah, we've had a good time so far."

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Bumlets cut in, looking amused.

"Right," Blink said, feeling a bit nervous. He was going to have to introduce his boyfriend to his crush. "Diego, this is Nick. Nick, this is my boyfriend, Diego."

"Nice to meet you," Mush said, extending his hand, which Bumlets took. The group of four exited the theater, comparing notes about the movie. Mush had thought the movie was hysterical, and was going to see the movie again next weekend.

"Owen Wilson was hot, also," Bumlets pointed out, but then he turned to Blink and smiled. "But not as hot as you are."

The girl, who Blink was assuming was Mush's girlfriend of the week, made a disgusted noise. "Let's go Nicky," she whined. "We've got a party to go to."

"But Ashley-" Mush started, but she was pouting.

"Let's go."

Mush shot Blink an apologetic look, and meekly followed his girlfriend out to his car.

Bumlets rolled his eyes at their retreating back. "He's rather whipped, isn't he?"

"Yeah."

Blink wasn't sure whether he should be amused by the exchange, or worried. Mush had come over to talk to him of his own free will, but then again, Ashley had been disgusted, and Mush seemed to be very much in love with her. She could stop whatever friendship that was starting to develop between them. Or worse, start something in school.

Blink squeezed Bumlets' hand. "Let's go eat," he said, smiling. "I'm starving."

The club was more crowded than usual. Admittedly, it was a Friday night, but then again, the club wasn't usually this crowded. Which meant that it actually took a few minutes to locate Race and Spot, who weren't making out on a table for once. Instead, they were watching a giant argument that was taking place in the middle of the dance floor.

"You cheated on me, Dutchy!" someone was shouting. "I'm not an object, and I'm not just going to sit there and wait while you go out and party every night, and then be content when you come home to me. I'm your boyfriend, for fuck's sake."

"But I love you, Specs!" someone else, that Blink had to assume was Dutchy, replied. "Isn't it enough that I'm coming home to you?"

Blink turned to Bumlets to crack a joke, but froze when he saw the angry look that had covered Bumlets' normally jovial features.

"I fucking hate him," Bumlets muttered. "I can't believe he did that again."

Blink placed a hand on Bumlets' shoulder, trying to comfort him. He vaguely remembered Racetrack saying something about Bumlets having his heart broken, and from the look on Bumlets' face, he had to assume that this Dutchy was responsible.

Blink hated Dutchy already.

"Come on," he said, pulling Bumlets away from the crowd. "Let's go somewhere with less drama."

He waved to Racetrack as they headed outside. Race smiled at him, and winked knowingly, then followed Spot towards the back room of the club.

Bumlets paused when they reached his car. "Look, I'm sorry, it's just that Dutchy... he kinda gets to me."

"He doesn't seem like the best person," Blink said, trying his best to be tactful. The guy had been cute, but he definitely wasn't the nicest person Blink had ever known.

"Yeah, he's a whore," Bumlets answered bitterly.

Blink winced audibly. Bumlets was scaring him. He didn't like this bitter Bumlets, and he certainly didn't want to see him this upset. He responded in the way that he'd seen Race calm down Spot numerous times; he kissed Bumlets' neck.

Bumlets groaned lightly, and turned to Blink, and pulled him in for a long, deep kiss.

Last time they had kissed, Blink had been too drunk to really pay attention to anything. So really, in his mind, this was his first real kiss. Somehow, it didn't fit his expectations. Bumlets was a wonderful kisser, at least as far as he could tell. But it just didn't have that magic that Blink had expected a kiss from his boyfriend would have.

Still, it definitely wasn't bad, and Blink didn't mind at all when Bumlets' tongue worked its way into Blink's mouth, exploring and caressing his own tongue.

Blink let out a groan as Bumlets sucked hard on his lower lip, and nearly gasped with pleasure as Bumlets licked his way up his cheekbone, to flick at his ear.

"Oh, God."

Bumlets seemed to take Blink's exclamation as encouragement, and pushed Blink back against the car, and trailed a hand down his chest, circling around his belly button, and then grasped at Blink through his pants.

Blink's eyes bulged out.

"Bumlets," he gasped. "I'm not sure that – " he let out a moan involuntarily. Damn, Bumlets was good at this. "Please, I'm not."

Bumlets removed his hand. "Nobody's watching," he pointed out. "They're all in the club watching Dutchy be an asshole. And I thought you were enjoying that."

"Oh, I was," Blink said, and blushed as Bumlets glanced down at the rather significant bulge in Blink's jeans. "But I'm just... I'm not ready yet. I'm not Race... if you know what I mean."

Bumlets nodded, and kissed him again, although this time it was softer, and not nearly as passionate. "I understand," he replied. "Come on, I know a great Indian place down the street."

"That sounds good," Blink smiled up for him.

Bumlets gallantly opened the door to the car for Blink, and then the two drove off for a much more relaxing part of the evening.

It was past midnight by the time Bumlets returned Blink to his house. The rest of the evening, after what Blink was already starting to mentally refer to as 'The Incident' had passed smoothly. He'd enjoyed his conversation with Bumlets over dinner, but he was still a little bit worried that he'd offended the older and more experienced boy.

"Night," Blink smiled, and leaned over to kiss Bumlets goodnight.

"Night," Bumlets replied. "Are you free any other time this weekend?"

"I'm supposed to see Race tomorrow," Blink said thoughtfully, "But I think I'm free Sunday afternoon."

"Great, so I'll pick you up around three. Sound good?"

"Sure."

"Okay then."

Blink got out of the car, and into the house. A light was still on. Wonderful.

He watched Bumlets pull out of the driveway, and then entered the house.

"Ryan," his father called. "Living room. Now."

Blink sighed. This definitely was not the way to end his evening.

"What?" he snapped as he entered the living room. "Here to yell at me about going out?"

"Don't take that tone of voice with me, young man," his father replied. "If you would listen to me for once, then we wouldn't have these problems.

"We'd have problems no matter what," Blink muttered. "Fine then, if you aren't going to jump down my throat about being gay, then what do you want?"

"I was hoping," his father began nervously, clearing his throat. "I was hoping... to know how your date went."

"Oh." Blink was shocked into silence. He hadn't thought that his father would care. "It went... it went well."

"That's... that's good. Goodnight, Ryan."

Without saying another word, his father headed for his bedroom, leaving a very confused Blink standing all alone with his thoughts.

Author's notes – Woo! Update! Apparently, I just needed to figure out which class was the best one for me to write in. Which is, by the way, my world politics class, because the professor is very boring. And spends most of the class showing movies. But that's besides the point.

Anyway, this might be the last update for a while, because I'm intending to do nano, so if I don't update again by November 1st, then don't expect an update until December. I'm hoping to finish another chapter of Shades of Grey, and finish the cookie fic before nano starts, but I don't know if I'll manage to update this again. I'm sorry!

This chapter is dedicated to Ivan and Sam, aka the computers of signpost and B. Because them having computers makes everyone happy.

Next chapter: Blink asks Race for advice about sex. Unfortunately for you, this fic is PG-13... so either I'm going to have to up the rating, or just cut it down. pouts And Mush and Blink get a lot closer.

Shoutouts!

Lasplx-Mush is trying to do the right thing. Because he is ohmygodsocute

B-You live! As does Sam. And I'm glad you liked the chapter

Braids-Snoddy is mean. But Blink and Mush are cute, so it makes up for that

Mondie-So, Mush is definitely not an asshole now. And many thanks for the roses!

Berri-Mush is always sexy. Because he's Mush.

Oxy-So, has Mush redeemed himself now? And Blink could use a hug.

Emme-Well, here's another update! Sorry it took so long, I've been busy. And I'm glad you liked!

Rumor-Two reviews from my rumor! Yay! loves I'm glad you're back online, because I missed you! huggles

Til next time!
TSB