School on Friday is awkward and strange. It's so quiet in English. Everything seems so perfectly in-place except that Oscar keeps turning around in his seat and smirking at us. The fifth or sixth time he does it, I look over at Dutchy, who sits staring blankly at his textbook.

I rip a piece of paper out of my notebook. Are you okay? I slide it over to him.

Moments later, it slides back. Better than yesterday... mostly tired. Didn't sleep. Still kind of scared.

Things will be okay... we'll live.

He sighs when he reads it and slides it back. I'm sorry.

Puzzled, I stare at the note for a moment. For what?

For being such a dick last night. I thought about that, too. So, sorry.

A couple of lines down is more of his writing. I meant what I said to you last night backstage.

I smile. Me too.

The note slides over to my desk one more time. Everyone's having a big party after performance tonight... but do you wanna just have a night in?

Before I can write back, the bell rings. Dutchy and I sit and wait until Oscar walks out, that stupid fucking smirk still plastered on his face. As we get up to leave, I lean over and smile. "I'll see you after performance."

Things do not go quite as smoothly as they did last night. Every techie working on the show knows about us, thanks to Oscar and Morris. And every one of them snickers and whispers when they see us. The performance was awkward and there were a couple of technical "flukes" with Dutchy's lights and microphone, which leaves him tense and irritated after the show.

We walk out of the green room without speaking to anyone and head straight for the dorms. We pass a couple of techies on our way, who make cat calls at us and yell random obscenities. Dutchy grates his teeth together and walks faster.

As we walk into his room, Dutchy kicks aside some clothes and then drops onto his bed. Sighing, he looks up at me. "I hate this beyond all reason, Specs."

"I know." I lay down beside him, snaking an arm behind his shoulders and drawing his head to my chest.

"How are we supposed to deal with this?"

I sigh and stroke his hair lightly. "To be honest... I'm not the one to ask. I ran away from this the last time it happened to me."

Dutchy picks his head up and looks at me. "The last time?"

Closing my eyes, I shake my head. "That's why I came in so late in the year. I'm lucky they let me in, otherwise I'd probably be in a coma or worse by now." I sigh and open my eyes, letting them meet his. "See... beginning of freshman year, this group of guys at my school found out I was gay. It didn't fly. But to make a long story short, I couldn't go in a locker room, go to a football game, hell, go out in public alone without getting the shit beaten out of me. So I just ran away from it."

"Wow," Dutchy says, running a hand along my cheek. "I'm sorry, Specs." He lays his head back down and wraps an arm around my waist, squeezing lightly. "Then how come you're so normal?"

I can't help but chuckle. "Dutchy, what about me is normal?"

For the first time since last night, I hear him laugh, I see him smile. I have to close my eyes and savor it for a moment. Before I have the chance to open them again, Dutchy's lips are pressed to mine. I let things slide along and sigh a little as he rolls onto me, pushing my shirt up and over my head.

I lay back and let Dutchy take over. I figure he needs it, needs to feel in control, to feel like a man. I hope he does, as I let him step up to bat.

Dutchy rolls off of me and lays on his back a while, panting. It takes a while for me to catch my breath as well, and when we're both calmed down a little, we look at each other and grin.

"You feel a little better?"

He nods. "Actually, yeah. Ain't that something?" He rolls onto his side, reaching over me for his boxers. I follow suit and we lay there in our skivvies, as Dutchy likes to call them, finally beginning to relax. Dutchy yawns.

I brush his hair back from his forehead. "Do you wanna just call it a night?"

Dutchy flops onto his stomach and lays his head on my chest, throwing an arm over me. "Yeah, but you're staying here."

I smile. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

He grins and lifts his head up to kiss me. "I love you," he mutters against my lips.

I smile. "I love you, too." He lays his head back down and starts to drift off to sleep in my arms. I know the situation is far from resolved, but it's good to know that at least we're okay.

For now.