"Marco, I don't know if I can do this," Tim stated nervously.

"Yes, yes you can. I'm here for backup and if your dad gets too out of hand your mom said she'd calm him down. Trust me, I had to do this on my own. It's a lot easier with two," he smiled. "You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," he sighed, getting out of the car.

The boys walked up the pathway, Tim in the lead. He rang the doorbell. Thankfully, his mom answered.

"Tim! Oh, God," she embraced her son; mothers usually were the first to accept a person.

"Mom, t-this is M-Marco," he stuttered out of nervousness. She turned to the older man. "Thank you, Marco. Thank you for everything. You have to understand, this is extremely difficult for us—"

"I know. I've been through it too. If you ever want to talk, my ma would be happy to help, as would I. We're always here when you need us Mrs.—"

"Oh, call me Stacey. Anything with the prefix Mrs.-sounds old!" she laughed trying to lighten the mood. Judging by the still terrified look on Tim's face, it wasn't working.

"Where is he?" the younger boy asked his mother.

"In the living room. Be careful, honey," his mother followed both the boys in.

"Dad?" Tim said, mustering all the courage he could find.

"Tim? God, I was so worried," he hopped up off the couch and pulled his son into a tight hug, taking everyone in the room by surprise.

"Dad…what…what happened to the—"

"I've been thinking. You're my son…none of that will ever change! It's just…well…it's going to take some time,"

"Wow…yeah…that's all I ask," he scratched his head and smiled at his father.

"Who's your friend?" he gestured towards Marco.

"Him? Oh, yeah, dad…this is Marco del Rossi. Marco, my dad."

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Marco shook the elder man's hand.

"Same here. Would you care to stay for dinner tonight, Marco?"

"Actually, dad…Marco and I were going to go to the DOT tonight. If that's okay, of course,"

"Sure. Be careful, though."

"We will," Tim headed towards the door followed by Marco, "I'll be back later,"

Once they were out the door, Marco threw his arms around Tim.

"Okay you don't know how proud I am of you right now! I think your dad had, like, the best reaction I've ever—ever—seen. And our food tonight? It's on me. You deserve it,"

"Thanks, Marco. I wouldn't have done any of it without you, though." Tim looked almost embarrassed.

"Yeah, sure you would. Probably would've happened later, but you would have done it." He patted the younger boy's back before getting into his side of his dark green jeep. They pulled out of the driveway and headed to the DOT.

"So," Marco asked, sipping on his diet coke. "What else has been going on?"

"Hmmm, I have been talking to this guy at school," he said with a shy smile.

"Oooh, a guy," Marco prodded.

"Yeah. His name's James and he's pretty cute, if I do say so myself."

"Really? Is he interested?" he asked, his little mind already stirring up a storm.

"I think so, yeah," Tim tried to hide his smile, but it was becoming more and more evident. "He gave me his number and winked Friday…"

"Wow! A number and a wink. Nice," he laughed.

"Yeah. I really like him, you know?" he stirred his drink around with his straw.

"Then what are you waiting for? Call him!" Marco insisted. He didn't want to rush his friend, but if you like a guy…hey! Why not go for it?

"Ah, I don't know. Maybe I will later…not right now, though..." he said, rather nervously.

"Why not? As long as he doesn't have a boyfriend…" Marco asked, "He doesn't, does he?"

"No," Tim laughed, "I'm just…nervous."

"Come on. Don't be,"

"Uh-oh," Another guy walked up to the table. He was tall and muscular…he had straight, darker hair and very pretty hazel eyes.

"Tim? Hey! Who's this?" the guy asked a very nervous Tim.

"Hi James…this is…my, uh…friend Marco. We were just talking, do you want to join us?"

Noticing the look on James's face, Marco had an idea. "Actually, I have to go. You two go ahead, talk," Marco got up and headed to the counter where Craig was talking to Spinner. "Craig!" he said loudly so that James could here him. "There's my honey bunny!" he gave him a very big hug and whispered something in his ear.

"Oh," Craig said rather uncomfortably. "Yeah, so… um, we still on for tonight?"

Of course, Marco felt bad about putting Craig in that kind of position, but he had to make sure things would work for Tim and James, simply because that's the kind of guy he is.