AN: You know what sucks? I've had this written out for over a month, and I just didn't feel like typing it all out… Sorry!
Disclaimer: Still not mine…
Laurel Ducky: hangs head in shame I'm sorry… and thanks for pushing… it really does work!
Kikyo93 sniffle Do I still get cookies?
TheSilverbow: NO! Don't be sad! I'm sorry! You really were awesome motivation!
Angel stayed at Collins house for dinner that night, talking a bit with his dad, who Angel found, when he wasn't talking about his son as gay or an anarchist was actually pretty cool. He actually seemed kind of proud of Collins in other aspects. He was much looser and more open, and he had the same laugh as Collins.
After dinner, when Collins's dad was helping Abuelita with the dishes, Collins and Angel went up to his room to talk. Collins flopped down on the bed and Angel hopped up on the end of the bed, sitting cross legged. He looked over Collins as he closed his eyes and threw a pillow over his head, letting out a low grumble into it.
Angel lifted the side of the pillow and kissed Collins on the tip of his nose. "You okay?" He tilted his head to the side, almost sympathetically.
"Ya, I'm fine Ang. This is all normal." He sat up, sitting cross legged across from Angel. "So don't worry about me kay Angel babe?"
Angel nodded slowly, but didn't really think Collins was fine. Something was bugging him. He was looking at the wall on the side of his bed and picking at a loose strand of fabric from his dark jeans. "Collins?" He looked to him with a dazed expression. "Do you wanna talk to me about something?"
He let out a heavy sigh and scooted back in his seat a little. "Remember today when you asked me how I was so used to the gay bashing?" Angel nodded, but didn't speak so that Collins could continue. "That's cause that's all I got at home. Everyday. And this was before I even had a boyfriend, or you know, came out, so it was all assumptions. And then on top of that I was doing all sorts of crap like reassembling the principals' car on the roof, small crap like that, but still getting in trouble."
"So then, at the beginning of this past year before I moved here, when I was still in Santa Fe, a new guy named Roger came to our school. He was a trouble maker, like me, so we pretty much hit it off."
"So one day, Roger and I were in the back of the school, coming up with some grand prank. And we were bored and couldn't think of anything, so we decided to just let the frogs out before the dissection that afternoon, so we snuck into the science lab, let them out, and on our way out, Roger knocked over some chemicals, and we caught the science lab on fire. Totally on accident! But when it comes to trouble makers, who really believes that something like that was an accident?"
Angel nodded and his eyes went a bit wide. "What happened?"
"Well… Me and Roger ran. Probably not the best idea now that I think of it, but we did. And we hid in my room, since both my parents were out. And so, we were sitting in my room, and Roger asked me if I was gay, out of no where. And I told him probably. Then, out of curiosity, I asked him if he was. And he said probably not. So we were talking for a bit and we started kissing." He looked up to see Angel's expression, find out if it was okay to continue. Angel nodded and smiled. "So we started kissing. It was just kind of a 'see what I feel' kind of thing. We concluded that I was gay, and Roger was not. Which was all fine, but while we were kissing, my dad came home, and we didn't hear him, so he stormed to my room to tell me that he got a call from the school and blah blah blah, and he saw us kissing. That was all we were doing, really, but I don't know."
"My dad did that whole 'silence' thing before blowing up, but my mom, being the bitch that she is, called Roger's mom and dad. His dad beat the shit out of him and then sent him to military school in Massachusetts, so I didn't even see him again. My mom wanted to give me shock treatment, snap the gay out of me or something, but my dad wouldn't let her, so instead, I was sent here, away from the school I grew up in, not that I had many friends, but still. But as you know, Grans is great, so I'm better off here. I think I'm doing better anyway." He grabbed Angel's hand and offered a smile.
Angel returned the smile and squeezed his hand. "I like you better here…. So what happened about setting the building on fire?"
Collins laughed. "Well… I convinced them that it was an accident, so insurance covered a lot of it. My dad had to buy new chemicals and crap, and I had to pay for a new batch of frogs."
Angel laughed with Collins. "That's it?" Collins nodded. "That seems like a very small punishment for setting a building on fire."
Collins leaned back, resting his head on his hands with a cocky grin across his face. "Well what can I say? I'm good at getting what I want."
AVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
(Let's say this is a week later)
Angel did a twirl in the hall, drumming his hands on his hips in time with the music pumping out of his ear phones. Upon landing, Angel felt a small bump against his arm and opened his eyes to see the boy he had bumped into. He offered an apologetic smile and pulled off his ear phones. "Sorry 'bout that." He turned on his heels to continue down the hall when the boy called to him.
"What the fuck was that for fag?"
Angel looked down the hall quickly before looking back to the bigger and obviously stronger boy. "Look, it was an accident. Sorry, won't happen again."
But the boy didn't seem to hear what he was saying. "You think just because you got yourself a big tough boyfriend, you can touch any guys you want?"
He paused for a moment. Collins was still on suspense from the 'Wild Thing' incident, until he paid all the money back. "Don't you think the fact that I have a boy friend would mean I would want to touch fewer boys?"
But the badly placed humor was lost as the boy advanced quickly, grabbing Angel's arm and knocking him into the wall. His head hit the brick with a thud. "Listen to me…" he lowered his voice and snarled in Angel's ear. "… We don't need your fucking shit around here fairy."
Angel's free hand went to rub the back of his head soothingly. He let out a soft grunt when the boys grip on his arm tightened. "It's Angel." The boys eyes flicked with curiosity for only a moment. "Not fairy… Angel." With as much force as he could muster, Angel punched his right fist into the boys nose, just enough to make the boy stumble back and loose his grip on Angel's arm.
A thin trickle of blood fell from the boys nose, which was wiped away in a state of shock. "You're. Dead."
Angel didn't waste a moment in taking off down the hall. See? This was why he didn't like to stay after school. It was so much less safe when all the teachers went home. And all to grab Collins stupid homework that he wouldn't do any way.
Angel had made it just outside the building, in the back when the boy caught up with him, grabbing his arm and spinning him around, swiftly punching him quickly square across the jaw. Before Angel even had time to register what had happened, he was pressed up against the wall again, one of the boys hands holding him there, pressed against his chest just below his neck, the other bunched up in his shirt at his hip, pushing it up slightly so that his knuckles were digging into Angel's skin.
His eyes widened in shock and he lifted his hands to the boys shoulders to push him off. "What the hell are you doing!" But he was shoved back into the wall so hard he saw spots. The boy opened his hand around Angel's hip under his shirt so tightly Angel was sure he would have bruises in the morning. He felt hot tears burning his cheeks, and he wasn't sure if it was from his swollen jaw, the hand on his bruising his hip that fell just below the waist band of his jeans, though thankfully staying at his hip, or from the hot breath hissing in his ear.
"I swear to god, you fucking queer, try anything in this school again, anything, and I'll make sure you remember how much I hurt you. Got it?" He dug his nails into Angel hip again, for good measure.
He nodded and dropped to his knees as the other boy pulled away. He let out a bitter laugh and the boy stopped in his tracks to look back at him. "I guess what they say about homophobia is true, huh?"
Angel passed out after only the second kick to his ribs.
AVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
Collins was finally back in school four days later, and worried out of his mind. He hadn't heard from Angel for two days, which doesn't seem like a long time, but when Angel said he was going to call, or come over, he did. Collins had tried calling him, but Angel's mother said something about that couldn't come to the phone and had hung up on him. And the first day he came back to school, Angel hadn't been there, which only worried him more.
At the beginning of the day, Collins made his way to Angel's locker to wait for him. He was there for nearly ten minutes, and the hall was clearing out. He was just about to give up and go to his first class when he heard a slight shuffling and turned to see Angel.
Angel's cheek was still dark blue, and even on that warm June day, he was wearing a heavy red zip up jacket and loose fitting kaki pants. One arm hung to his side as his other dragged his book bag at his side, not slung over his hunched shoulders.
Collins dropped his books and ran over to him. "Angel? What the hell happened?" He took Angel's bag from him and walked slowly with him to his locker.
"I was a smart ass and got myself beat up." Angel smiled weakly. Collins was speechless, and Angel cut him off from anything he was about to say with a sob. "My mom said this is exactly what she was afraid of."
"What are you talking about?" Collins shook his head, not wanting to think about what Angel was saying.
"This Collins!" He motioned to himself, flinging his arm into the air, but hissed as his face contorted in pain.
"There's no way someone beating you up was your fault Angel. You mom can't blame you for that."
"I'm really sorry." He was crying harder now, not looking up to Collins, but to the floor and the tears fell from his face.
The bell was about to ring, and everyone was running to their classes, so nobody paid any attention, but Collins stood there, his own face contorting in confusion. He placed a hand on Angel's arm, only to have it shrugged off. But the shrug made Angel wince, his sobs coming even harder now. "Angel… You're sorry?"
Angel nodded, wiping his tears away, careful not to touch his bruised cheek or jaw. "I'm so… I'm so sorry Collins."
"Angel?" Collins voice was starting to shake as he tried to get Angel to look at him.
"Please Collins? Don't make this any harder. Please?" Angel finally looked up, his expression so painful, so desperate and pleading, that Collins couldn't even move for a moment.
"What are you saying?"
"I can't see you anymore."
Collins sucked in a breath and looked as if he had been punched in the stomach. "What are you talking about?"
"My mom thinks you're bad for me."
"Angel, you know that that's total shit! Why the hell would you listen to your mother!"
Angel was sobbing again. "Collins, I have three broken fingers, a dislocated shoulder, two bruised ribs, and I can't feel the right side of my face. I… I can't handle my mom get… getting mad at me on top of… on top of this." He looked up to Collins. "I can't be with you, friends or otherwise." He looked from Collins eyes to his lips, and to his hands. "I'm sorry."
With his good hand, he took his bag back from Collins, and turned to walk down the hall, but Collins grabbed his good arm, turning him around, pulling him into a passionate kiss. Collins was almost sure Angel was going to pull away, and for a moment, he didn't return the kiss, but after that moment, the bag fell from his fingers and his arm wrapped around Collins neck. He pushed back into the kiss, maybe even harder than Collins was, causing him to take a step back not to be knocked over. When Angel pulled away, he pressed his forehead against Collins', placing half a dozen small kisses in the corner of Collins mouth. After the small kisses, Angel pulled the rest of the way away, picked up his bag again and just walked away down the empty hall, three minutes after the bell rang, his bag dragging on the floor behind him.
Angel wasn't in art class that day. Chances are he was in the nurses' office. Collins didn't get any work done that day.