Hey dankis for the reviews, I know, Franky's reaction was one of the first ones I thought we would be funny .

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Darren stared at Craig who had sat back and was looking down at his hands.

"What was that?" Darren stuttered. Unsure what he was supposed to say. He bit his bottom lip and scowled. "Why would you do that?"

"Because… God damn it Darren I don't know okay! I think it has something to do with the way you looked, I felt so bad for you…" He couldn't even finish his sentence.

"So you pity me? You think this will make it better!" Darren shouted, he couldn't understand why, but his stupid defence systems had switched on and he was on automatic. He had no control, he wanted to stop shouting, to grab Craig and return the favour. "Just get out!" Darren shouted, Craig backed away, he couldn't believe it, he knew Darren couldn't mean it, he was probably just being defensive but still, it hurt.

"My mum wants to know what happened to you anyways." Craig stood in the open door way, waiting for an answer. Darren looked down then looked back up in to Craig's eyes. His expression had changed. He looked vulnerable and hurt. Craig quickly made his way back to Darren's side and embraced him. Darren didn't make any attempt to push him off; he grabbed him, clinging for the security. "Don't tell me if you don't want to, I don't mind." Craig sighed and kissed the top of Darren's head, he felt possessive and that he was the only one who could protect Darren, it felt special.

"I'm sorry." Darren murmured in to Craig's shoulder. I couldn't help it. "I really like you Craig, and you have no idea how happy I am you may feel the same way."

"I think I do, when you came back home you looked like crap and I felt like I wanted to help, I wanted to hurt who'd ever done that to you. It made me realise something." He smiled slightly and kissed Darren again, pulling away only to whisper the words, "I really, really, like you." Darren went a most ill fitting shade of red.

A few days latter

Darren and Craig were alone in the sitting room, the TV was on, once again Dr Who reruns. Craig was leaning against Darren, cuddling right up against him, but he was ready in case some one else came in, ready to jump quickly to the far side of the seat that was. Darren gave a quick exhale laugh at the 'he's not your type' line by Captain Jack. Craig didn't like Jack that much; he still thought Rose was better looking. Craig turned and looked up at Darren, he smiled to himself, the past few days had been quite hard. It was that just starting out phase in which you like to spend as much time as possible with each other, but they couldn't with out the fear of being caught. They had to plan when they could be together, they'd already nearly gotten caught by Louise one night when Darren said Craig could come hang out after hours at the SU bar. And Steff had nearly walked in on the two making out in Craig's room but he told her to leave because he was doing 'boys things'. She had assumed he meant the usually teen boy thing and left in a hurry.

The door handle creaked and Craig darted from Darren's side. Jack strolled in to the room, the bar was being well watched by the hired workers and Frankie.

"Hello boys. What are you two doing inside on a day as good as this one? Why don't you go get some fresh air, in fact, I insist." He grabbed Darren and Craig's collars and led them to the back door, throwing them out. Of course this left them both somewhat confused. They stood and wondered what to do.

"Why don't we go grab some lunch, or go to the park?" Craig smiled. Darren shrugged and they headed off to Drive and bye to pick up some sandwiches. They picked up to BLTs, two packs of crisps, one beer and one bottle of coke. They walked down the street towards the park, it was quite far to walk but neither of them minded much. On the way they mindlessly chatted about useless conversation filler.

They got in to the area out side the SU bar when Darren slowed down. Craig turned and saw the hesitation in Darren's face. He turned and saw a gang of student ahead, walking quickly towards them.

"Look who it is blokes! The fag!" The leader grinned as he came to a halt in front of Darren.

"Just sod off all right. I don't want any trouble." Darren sighed and tried to get by, but they stopped him. Craig was, needless to say, extremely scared.

"Didn't you learn your lesson last time?" One of them taunted. "We don't like your type. Fuck off." He raised a fist and hit Darren hard in the face, his nose began to bleed and he clung to it tightly.

"I'm not gay you wanker, where did you even get that from?" Darren shouted in his defence, for some reason it did hurt Craig to hear him say that.

"Oh stop that, you said the same thing last time. It's obvious mate, just look at you." He kicked, Darren fell. He gripped his leg then cried out in pain as the other man kicked his ribs.

"Darren!" Craig shouted, finally getting the guts to do something.

"Oh look, it's his boy friend." They grinned easily as some of them turned towards Craig. "Shit." He cursed and ran. He couldn't believe he was leaving Darren but his legs just started moving, he wanted to save himself. Darren groaned and tried to sit up, only to be kicked back down. His face was red and the side of his arm was scratched by the ground. A few people were watching in horror from the SU bar. Amongst the workers in side was Russ. He saw the large crowd around the windows and wandered over; he saw what was happening and ran out side. He may not like Darren but he knew that gang, they were jerks, Darren had probably done nothing wrong.

"Oy!" Russ shouted in a typical British fashion. The group turned and saw him running towards them. They started laughing and trotted off. Darren stayed motionless on the floor. The only thought he had was wither they'd caught up with Craig.

Craig hadn't stopped running, he looked around quickly, panting heavily. He could hear fast approaching footsteps. He could make it to the Dog, maybe, possibly, no. They'd get him by then. He cursed then saw it, just ahead of him, Evissa was just closing. Sean was still standing out side, keys in hand. He ran. He grabbed Sean's hand and begged him to let him in side. The older man was hesitant but then heard the shouts and running coming closer. He nodded and Craig ran inside.

Russ helped Darren sit up on the concrete floor. He looked like hell. Russ sighed and swabbed at the cuts above Darren's eyes. His boss had only just regained consciousness; nothing seemed to be broken but Russ was still worried.

"What did you do?" He grinned, trying to make small talk. Darren just looked at him. "I'm kidding, I know them, and they cause fights all the time."

"This wasn't the first time they've decided they didn't like me." Darren smiled. "They decided I looked gay."

"Now that's stupid. You hit on every girl that walks by." Darren laughed quickly then inhaled, it hurt to laugh. It hurt to breathe heavily even.

"Is Craig okay?" He asked. "Some of them started to chase him."

"I don't know, I didn't come out before he left I guess. You should try calling his phone though." Darren pulled out his phone from his pocket and swore, the screen had been broken and numerous buttons had been pushed to far in. "Use mine." Russ smiled and passed Darren his phone.

Craig's breath returned to normal as he sat behind the counter in the salon. Sean came over and looked down at him.

"They've gone now." He smiled. "What did you do to them? Surely you could do the math, one of you and three of them."

"I didn't do anything." Craig spat defensively. "They attacked Darren and I just, I guess, got myself involved. But thanks for letting me hide here."

"No problem, now get going." Craig's phone started to ring, but it was on silent.

The end of the longest chapter in this stories history! Woot woot or what?

Ha ha! Please R and R