AN: I'm back! I know it's been very long and I'm sorry, but I'm back now!

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Without further ado, here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy and don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you think!

Song list:

Bad things - Jace Everett


When Arcelia decided the party was over and kicked everyone out, Frank was about to go home. He was ready for his bed, for the quiet and dark of his room. Then Katrina asked if he wanted to come with to another party. Maybe it was the twinkle in her eye, or maybe it was mostly the alcohol in his system, but Frank suddenly found the word "no" missing from his vocabulary. So he went with Katrina and a group of people he barely knew and ended up at a house in a part of town he had never been to.

Now Frank was beginning to remember why he didn't do parties. The music was too loud, the lights too dim or too bright and the people too many and too close. At Arcelia's house he had found that if he just focused in on one person and tried to not talk to anyone, he was fine. He had fun even, and was ready to proudly tell his mother that he had enjoyed himself. Unfortunately for Frank, pride does go before a fall and Frank was falling. Quite literally, he was being pushed around by dancing strangers and had been about to fall a total of eight times in the last half-hour. Finally he had found an empty wall and was squeezing against it, trying to take up as little space as possible.

"If you lean against the wall instead of pressing against it, you'll look less like an idiot," someone yelled over the music. Turning, Frank found himself faced with a mass of spiked blonde hair, and it took him a good minute of staring to recognise Levi under it. The shorter boy was casually leaning against the wall, one leg on the floor, the other bent with a foot on the wall. Frank had to admit her looked effortlessly cool. Even in that ridiculously puffy shirt. "Right now you look like you're scared of people."

"I am," Frank replied, not thinking. Levi rolled his eyes.

"There's no need to broadcast it," Levi said, and gave Frank a pointed look. Bending his knees and resting one foot against the wall Frank mirrored Levi's pose. He even crossed his arms and furrowed his brows, trying to look brooding.

"Now you just look constipated," Levi commented, shaking his head. "Relax your face, imagine you have a better place to be."

"Like my bed?"

"Sure, whatever rocks your boat," Levi laughed, and Frank was taken aback by the lightness of his laughter. He had expected Levi to glare at him, or roll his eyes, but the other boy seemed genuinely entertained. Taking a deep breath and trying to relax Frank conjured up images of his own quiet bedroom.

"Is this better?" Frank asked, trying to keep his tone unaffected. Glancing over at Levi with artificial nonchalance Frank found that Levi wasn't paying him any attention anymore. Instead the shorter boy was looking over at another boy from across the dance floor. The boy across the room was black and wearing a brown leather jacket with no shirt under. He was leaning against the wall and looking Levi up and down. "His jacket is really cool."

"His jacket is cool," Levi agreed, but looked over at Frank like he was the single dumbest human being on the planet. "But his abs are cooler."

Kicking off against the wall Levi crossed the room and headed towards the other boy without another word.


When you came in the air went out

And every shadow filled up with doubt

I don't know who you think you are

But before the night is through

I wanna do bad things with you

Levi typically wasn't one to find himself kissing strangers at parties. However, when said stranger was ripped and dressed as a Star Wars character there really wasn't much of an excuse not to. So when sexy-Finn-from-Star-Wars lifted his chin to beckon Levi over, he found himself leaving his safe spot on the wall without a second thought.

"Nice costume," sexy-Finn-from-Star-Wars commented when Levi came over, smirking and giving Levi a once-over that sent a shiver down his spine.

"Nice abs," Levi shot back, resting an arm against the wall and leaning close to sexy-Finn-from-Star-Wars. Sexy-Finn-from-Star-Wars maintained eye contact with Levi as he lifted his beer to his lips and drank, offering it to Levi after. It was both the douchiest and hottest thing Levi had ever seen.

Even if Levi did decide to kiss a stranger at a party, it would take one hell of stranger for him to do it in public. Fortunately, sexy-Finn-from-Star-Wars was the devil himself.

I'm the kind to sit up in his room

Heart sick an' eyes filled up with blue

I don't know what you've done to me

But I know this much is true

I wanna do bad things with you, okay

"Hey, why don't you queens keep your perversion to yourselves?" Levi broke away from the kiss. He didn't usually pay bullies any mind, but he felt sexy-Finn-from-Star-Wars go stiff and saw the sweat on his brow.

"Why don't you mind your own business?" Levi snapped back, turning towards the guy who talked. Levi was vaguely aware that people around them were staring, and he could feel sexy-Finn's grab his wrist tightly.

"You wanna go, fairy?"

When you came in the air went out

And all those shadows there filled up with doubt

I don't know who you think you are

But before the night is through

I wanna do bad things with you

Levi didn't think when the guy came at him, instinct kicked in. He wrenched his right arm free of sexy-Finn-from-Star-Wars' grip, made a fist and punched the other guy square in the jaw. A rush of adrenaline surged through him as his fist made contact, drowning out the pain in his knuckles.

The guy Levi punched fell into his friend, who locked shocked. Raising his fist to the second guy, Levi tilted his head back, waiting. The second guy shook his head and dragged his friend away in a hurry.

I wanna do real bad things with you

I don't know what you've done to me

But I know this much is true

I wanna do bad things with you

I wanna do real bad things with you

Turning back to sexy-Finn-from-Star-Wars, Levi couldn't help smirking. Punching a homophobe felt pretty sexy. Sexy-Finn-from-Star Wars grabbed the collar of Levi's shirt and pulled him close. He seemed to agree.


While Frank was being awkward in a corner and Levi was off with some guy in a leather jacket, Dakota was out on the dance floor, living it up. The music was awful, but it had a strong beat and Dakota was too drunk to really care beyond that. He didn't care that people kept bumping into him, or that someone had spilled beer on his costume, he was happy and drunk.

"Hey, dirty dancing, we're leaving now," Abel grabbed Dakota by the shoulder, pulling him off to the side. Abel's breath smelled overwhelmingly of peppermint, making Dakota feel self-conscious about his own breath, which probably smelled like a good mix of different alcohols and garlic chips. "Todd already left with Emilia so it's just you and me, pal."

Just as Dakota and Abel were about to leave a tiny latina dressed as Harley Quinn grabbed Abel by the arm and handed him a red solo cup.

"Hey, you left your cup," she slurred, wrapping her arms around Abel, who glanced nervously over at Dakota. Following his suspicion Dakota grabbed the cup out of Abel's hand and smelled it. It certainly wasn't cherry coke.

"Have you been drinking?" Dakota asked, a sickening feeling spreading from the pit of his stomach. "What the hell, dude? You said you were driving?"

"I am driving," Abel insisted, shrugging. "Come on, Vasko, I'm not even drunk. I had a little bit, but I am fine to drive. No worries."

"You said you weren't drinking," Dakota furrowed his brow and crossed his arms. Harley Quinn had excused herself from the conversation and was dancing sloppily away.

"I said I'm fine," Abel protested. "Besides, it's not like you have much of a choice."

Dakota looked around, trying to spot a familiar face, but he couldn't find any. Even if he did see someone he knew he couldn't recognise them because of the costumes.

"What are you going to do? Call your mom? You can't win," Dakota resisted the urge to punch Abel and tell him that that his impression of General Ouromov was awful and that Dakota wasn't even Russian, but instead took a deep breath. "Come on, that was funny! Look, bud, I've done this before, it's not a big deal."

Suddenly Dakota wasn't feeling so good about his night anymore. He was beginning to realise that Abel was right, he didn't have much of a choice. He could call his parents, but that meant them seeing him drunk and he wasn't sure he wanted to add their disappointment to the already uncomfortable end of his night. He could call Tobias, but Bai was probably with Kalyani and he didn't want to disturb them.

"You're sure you're okay to drive?"

"What? Don't you trust me?" Abel threw and arm around Dakota and grinned. Dakota had an uneasy feeling in his stomach as he followed Abel out to the car.


Sitting on the front porch of the house waiting for his taxi Frank tried to drown out the sounds of the party. Even outside he could feel the heavy bass vibrating his body, but the talking and the singing were muffled. Smoke from cigarettes still floated around him, but if he turned his body away from the smokers he could get a full breath of crisp night air every now and then. His head was pounding and he was cold. If he had to pick a low point of the night, this was it.

"Hey," a hoarse voice sounded from behind him. Katrina came to sit next to him on the steps, a bottle still in her hand. Her skull make-up was smeared and her hair was a mess. She smelled of alcohol and vanilla. "Parties aren't your thing, are they?"

"What, me? I love parties, I party every day," Frank tried to play cool, but Katrina started laughing mid-sentence and he realised that nothing about his party boy act was convincing. "No, I don't party. At all. I'm more of a stay at home and avoid everyone kind of guy."

"I'll drink to that," Katrina smiled and took a swig from her bottle. It felt strange to think that he had thought he would kiss her earlier that night. He had been at least a little tipsy at that point and somehow found the courage to go for it during spin the bottle, should his turn land on her. It didn't and he felt ashamed of how excited he had been. Now he felt self-conscious just sitting next to her. "So what do you do? When you're at home avoiding everyone?"

"I, uh," Frank began, trying to summon some of his bravery from earlier. If he was ever going to break out of his shell he might as well start here. He took a deep breath and fixed his eyes on his shoelaces. "I compose."

"You compose?"

"Yeah," he said briefly, trying to hold back the stream of words he could feel coming. He couldn't help it and instead of remaining cool and collected he rambled incoherently about not being any good. "I mean, it's nothing major, I'm not good or anything, it's just a hobby. I just kind of like music, I guess."

"You just kind of like music?" Glancing over at Katrina he saw the beginning of a smile on her face. He could already hear the ridicule coming. He might as well have gotten "nerd" tattooed on his forehead. Or he could have told her about the collection of playbills he kept in pristine condition in a box under his bed. Neither would have made him feel less cool.

"Yeah," he sighed, looking away from her and suddenly finding his shoelaces immensely interesting again.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Katrina leaned closer to him, her face just inches from his. The smell of alcohol on her breath was really strong up close, but the mischievous twinkle in her eye sent a shiver down his spine. His mouth suddenly felt dry, his face hot and his heart pounded in his chest. "I kind of like music too."

"You do?" A wave of relief washed over him and he couldn't help but laugh. Somehow a girl in glee club liking music came as a surprise to him.

"Yeah," Katrina smiled brightly at him. From the few patches on her face that weren't covered in black or white paint he could see she was blushing. From how warm his face felt he could tell that he was too. "Would you play me something sometime?"

"No, I couldn't, I wouldn't know how. It's not good."

"Show me yours, I'll show you mine," Katrina said, smiling mischievously and biting her lower lip. Frank Foster didn't speak much, but he rarely found himself actually speechless. The past few minutes on the porch with Katrina were enough to leave him speechless and slack-jawed.

"You should have seen your face!" Katrina burst out laughing and nudged Frank playfully with her shoulder. He nudged her back and chuckled, forgetting for a moment the terrifying idea of showing her his work, or anything else. Gently pushing his shoulder with hers Katrina lay her head down on his shoulder and Frank stopped breathing. He tried not to breathe a least, willing his body not to move so she wouldn't move away. Her head on his shoulder felt so intimate he could barely breathe even if he tried, and he completely forgot about the other people around them or the smoke or the music blaring from the house. He hesitantly turned his head to rest his cheek on Katrina's head.

In just a few minutes the worst part of his night had turned into the best part of his night.


"It's going to be okay," Kalyani tried to sound more reassured than she felt. Her head was still cloudy with sleep, and she was still unsure about what was really going on. She had woken up roughly ten minutes earlier in an unfamiliar bed by an unholy beeping. It had taken her a solid minute to realise that it was a phone ringing and by then Tobias had already answered it and was asking whoever was on the other end where they were. He was fighting his way off of the mattress on the floor and seemed halfway out the door before Kalyani could ask what was happening.

"Dakota just called me," Bai said, looking around and grabbing his costume from off the floor and fumbling in all the pockets. He didn't elaborate until he found his keys. "There was something about a car, and I need to pick him up."

"I'm coming with you," Kalyani had insisted, sitting up in bed. It took her a few seconds to remember why she was wearing a t-shirt and basketball shorts that were both way too big, instead of her costume. When she did remember that she had thrown up in a bush and then wiped her mouth on the sleeve of her top, she wished she had forgotten.

They were out in the car heading toward the address Dakota had given them within five minutes of waking up.

"He sounded fine on the phone, right?" She asked, keeping her eyes on Tobias. His jaw was clenched and he was staring straight ahead. He had a firm grip on the steering wheel, his knuckles white. Without thinking she reached out and placed her left hand over his right. He glanced over at her and his jaw let go a little. Kalyani didn't know of anything else to say, so she kept her eyes on the phone, following the directions to Dakota's location. She kept her hand on Bai's.


Lima after midnight was very different from Lima during the day. The cars were few and far between, the streets were abandoned and everything looked washed out. Dakota had been sure he knew every street in the county, but sitting at a bus stop waiting for Tobias to pick him up he felt lost. The chill October wind ruffled his hair and sent a shiver down his spine. Every time he saw headlights heading towards him his head perked up, but they all drove by.

His pulse was still beating in his temple and his mouth felt dry. His hands were shaking and he felt unsettled. Part of him wondered if Abel made it home safe.

Driving with Abel was always a bit of a rough experience. The boy was always playing music too loud and talking too much with only one hand on the steering wheel. It usually didn't bother Dakota, but when he knew Abel had been drinking he couldn't relax. Dakota kept his eyes on the road, ignoring everything Abel said.

He would later thank God he did.

Abel was too busy rapping badly to notice that he was veering into the left lane. The transition was so slow Dakota hardly noticed either. Until he saw the other headlights heading toward them. Going on pure instinct he grabbed the steering wheel and pulled it to the right, hard. The car jerked back into its own lane, and Abel straightened it up. The other car honked at it passed. Dakota told Abel to stop at the bus stop and let him get out.

Sitting at the bus stop Dakota tried taking deep breaths of cool air to calm down. The air filling his lungs did nothing to clear his head, it just made him colder. While he did think his Captain America costume was cool, it wasn't doing a very good job of keeping him warm.

When Tobias' car finally arrived at the bus stop, the headlights blinded Dakota. He wasn't really sure it was Tobias who showed up and not a murderer until the driver hurried over to him.

"Koda, are you okay? What happened?" Tobias pulled Dakota to his feet, looking him up and down. Dakota all of a sudden felt silly for making Bai come and get him. He wasn't hurt or anything, he probably could have just looked up his address on google maps and walked home.

"I'm okay," Dakota said, trying to sound less shaken up. "I just had to get out of there."

"Where's Abel?"

"He left, I told him to go," Dakota said, explaining what happened. Talking through it helped and he could feel his voice grow steadier. "I didn't feel safe, so I just told him to leave me here."

"Why didn't you call me?" Bai asked, and Dakota was surprised by how hurt he sounded. He didn't sound angry at how irresponsible Dakota had been, or disappointed in his stupidity. "You know I would have come to get you at the party, right? You should have called me."

"I thought you'd be busy," Dakota said, glancing over at Kalyani who lingered by the car. Judging by the fact that she was clearly wearing Tobias' clothes, he figured he had been right. "I

"You Goddamn dumbass," Tobias sighed and shook his head, but pulled Dakota into a close hug. "Next time you call, okay?"

"Okay," Dakota mumbled, face pressed against Bai's shoulder. They had been best friends for two years, but Dakota wasn't sure they had ever hugged for this long. They stayed close until Dakota's hands felt steadier and his breathing was more even.

"Come on, let's get you home," Tobias broke away from the hug, but kept an arm over Dakota's shoulders as they walked over to the car.


"Do you remember your address now?" Tobias slid into the driver's seat after walking Dakota inside. The events of the night seemed to be catching up to him, he rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Did I not remember my address?"

"You remembered something about a creepy tree and a pink house, but that didn't really help much," he smiled and seemed to relax. Kalyani vaguely remembered searching her brain for her sister's address and coming up with nothing but images of different buildings in the neighbourhood. "Then you tried pointing the way, but you kept changing your mind. I think you might have the worst sense of direction out of everyone I know."

Kalyani laughed and shrugged, but blushed in embarrassment. She should probably go home and try to sneak in without her sister noticing, but looking at Tobias she found that she didn't want to go back home. She took a deep breath and looked down at her hands to calm herself.

"I want to stay with you tonight," she said, trying to ignore the irregular beating of her heart. It wasn't like she hadn't already stayed with him that night.

"You sure?" He asked, eyebrows shooting up.

"Yes," she said, looking over at him, but immediately realised the implications of what she had just said. "This isn't like a hook-up thing, it's just been a long night. So, if you need to talk, I'll be there."

"Okay," he said and the goofy grin on his face made her heart skip a beat.

So Kalyani found herself back in Tobias' room in the early hours of the morning. She hadn't really taken any time to consider what spending the night at his place would mean. The first time she'd slept there that night she had been too out of it to really process what was happening, but this time she was nerve-rackingly aware. Trying to ground herself she immediately sat down on his bed.

"Okay, do you need anything?" He asked, hovering by the light switch. "I'm ready to pass out, so, uh, you take the bed and I'll-"

"Don't be dumb, we'll share your bed," she replied, scooting all the way back on the bed. "I'm not that big, there's room for both of us."

Kalyani had a habit of making really bold statements and not thinking them through. That was how she ended up arm-wrestling a senior boy when she was a freshman, because somehow stating that girls could be as strong as boys meant she had to prove that she was as strong as any boy in school. When she offered to share Bai's bed with him, she didn't think about how that meant actually sharing the bed with him. It wasn't until they were both under the covers that she realised how close that meant they would be. She hadn't shared a twin bed with anyone since middle school, and none of her middle school friends had been Tobias' size. Awkwardly trying to find comfortable positions they eventually ended up with Tobias on his back, an arm wrapped around Kalyani who lay on her side with her head on his shoulder.

"You comfortable?" He asked, and she nodded, already feeling heavy with sleep. He was really warm, lying next to him she could feel the heat radiating off him. She hoped he couldn't feel her heart beating fast and hard in her chest.

"Your hair smells nice," he murmured, his breath warm over her head.

"Thanks, it's Celia's hairspray," Kalyani answered, and heard him laugh softly in reply. "I could get you a can."

"Thanks," he said, yawning. "That would really up my mohawk game."

"The only game that matters," she said, enjoying feeling the vibrations of his laugh.

"Obviously."

"Bai?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for taking care of me tonight," Kalyani whispered, trying to look up at him but not seeing anything in the dark. She waited in silence, but he didn't answer.

"Bai?" No answer.

"Bai?" No answer but his slow, deep breathing. Kalyani smiled and pulled herself closer to him, resting her face against his neck.


AN: I hope you liked it! Don't forget to review! I really appreciate them!

Edit: I made a mistake when I first published this, but I've edited it now. I referred to something I had planned but that didn't actually end up happening. Sorry guys.