A/N: Okay so there's a few things I need you to read, before you read this. First of all I would like to give a little warning, because there is some of the material in this chapter that might be slightly angsty; Since I'm not completely sure where the border goes for it to be angst, I am not sure if this is anything I should be really aware about, but just so you can consider yourself warned.

Also this chapter is longer than the usual; this does not mean to expect that every chapter will be this length from now on; I am trying to keep pushing myself to do my best, so I've tried out, writing longer than usual, and I might keep up getting it longer, I might not; I am not sure about this yet.

Another thing is that I can't promise to be this fast with updates always, from now on, but I will do my best to update a little more often that I have been, so far.

Okay I think this was all? Please let me know what you think? It means a lot to me, to hear what you guys think about my work.

Enjoy?

Danny still didn't know understand what had been going on the past few days; it all began with that name, Thad had come and he'd even dared to slap him. Nick had come yesterday and had humiliated him in front of everyone, in the hallway, and he just couldn't find head and heels in it all.

Right now he was sitting alone in his dorm; Beat was out. Well actually his name was not beat; that's just what they all called him, because he was just like a human beat box. But Danny was sitting alone, trying to think through what had been going on.

Of course he had figured out by now, that Nick was in love with that Jeff guy. He could keep up that far. And yes, he had to admit that the guy was pretty hot. He was gentle too, but just really not Nick's usual type! Danny knew very well that Nick was into one nightstands, and he could guess well enough to know that Jeff wasn't into that kind.

Nick was into one nightstands. That was true; but he had not always been like that, and Danny knew that. He knew very well, because before Danny went to Dalton, he and Nick had gone to the same school. This was a very plain and normal school; Nothing like the safe environment inside the walls of Dalton. He and Nick had found out the hard way. While thinking back, flashes began running through his mind.

"Hey, Danny?" The familiar cheerful voice of his best friend, and crush, sounded behind him. He turned around to see Nick standing there, with a smile playing on his lips, making Danny send him a flashing smile.

"Hi, Nicky. What's up?" he found himself asking. God how he loved to look at Nick's face. He always had a smile on his lips, and never failed to make Danny's heart flutter and send butterflies to his stomach. There was just really something about that boy.

"Uhm. I kinda need to talk to you about something-" Nick started off, and was suddenly looking a little nervous. "In private." The smaller boy added, with something that looked like a little blush, creeping up on his face.

"Oh. Okay." Danny said with a little frown. He knew that Nick knew that he could always come to him, if he had problems, so actually it wasn't that weird, that the boy was now asking to talk to him. "Well I happen to know that my math local is empty at this time of day, and it's just around the corner?" Danny questioned and gestured for Nick to follow.

Inside the classroom, Nick was beginning to look very nervous and Danny just wished he could hold him and tell him that he didn't have to be nervous; he could tell him everything without being judged -he did after all have his own little secret. But something in the back of his mind, told him that now wasn't the time.

"Sooo? What's up?" Danny asked, leaning up against one of the tables, facing Nick who was sitting on one of the other tables.

"I know-" Nick started but then cleared his throat, just to start over. "I totally understand if you don't want to be my friend after this, but I just need to tell you-" Nick's voice trailed off, but this time he did not begin speaking again.

"Tell me what? –Nick you know I would never just let you go!"

"I know you might think its wrong, but it- To me it's just the only thing right!" Nick tried to explain, but it just seemed so much harder to do, than he might have expected it to be.

"Nick?" Danny asked when he had gone silent again.

"I like boys!" Nick burst out, before really thinking further over it. He'd held it inside for so long, and he just couldn't keep it a secret anymore; he was just not strong enough. He needed to share it with someone, and Danny was really the only one he would dare telling, just now.

"What?" Danny asked, making sure to sound as accepting as possible, but inside he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. He didn't find it wrong. Not one bit. He just couldn't believe the doors, which had just been opened before him.

"I'm gay." Nick admitted after gulping audibly, his face turned towards the floor.

Danny didn't say anything to this; he just pushed himself off of the table and walked over to wrap his arms around his friend. He pulled Nick close and just held him there, trying to show him how much it meant to him, that he trusted him enough to let him know.

"I'm relieved, because-" Danny began and looked down at the boy in his arms, taking in how he was just sitting there and looking up at him with big eyes. "I am too." He said in a low voice.

"You're not shitting me here, man? Because I'm not sure if I can take that right now." Nick said, with tears in his eyes. He didn't cry, but the tears were there, making his eyes glimpse in the light.

"No shitting." Danny said with a small smile. "And you know. Knowing this only makes it a whole lot easier for me, to tell you what I've been waiting for a perfect moment to say for a while." He took a deep breath trough his nose. "And I think that moment is now." He said and stroked Nick's cheek with the backside of his left hand.

"Tell me-" Nick began. "Tell me what? Danny!" Nick really was curious when it came to things about him.

"Well-" Now it had become Danny's turn to be nervous."Just that… I kind of- maybe-" He gulped and turned his head away, though not letting go of Nick. "I've fallen in love with you." He mumbled, but Nick heard him clearly.

"Danny." He said, unable to form any other words, but wanting Danny to look at him. "Danny!" He repeated when Danny hadn't reacted the first time. Slightly hesitating, Danny turned his face towards Nick again.

"Oh!" Danny said when he realized he was still holding Nick. He was just about to let go when Nick grabbed both sides of his face and leaned up to kiss him gently on the lips.

Since that moment, he and Nick had been together; neither of them had ever officially asked to other to be his boyfriend; they just knew that they were.

Danny only half noticed the song playing on his iPod changing. He didn't really notice what was going on around him; not that much was happening anyway, since he was alone. The thoughts of his past had taken him elsewhere.

"Nick!" Danny was walking up to Nick in the hall. Once again they had not had the same class, but meeting each other in the hall made it all just a little bit better.

"Hey, Dan" Nick chuckled. He looked a little like he'd just seen something funny, but Danny didn't quite know what that should be; Nick was just looking at him after all.

"What are you laughing at?" Danny asked and felt a little offended. It could only have been him, Nick had laughed at, because no one else was in the hall anymore.

"Have you been sleeping in class again?" Nick just asked instead and Danny was quite taken aback.

"What?"

"You have my name written on your face." Nick said nonchalantly.

"What are you talking about?" Danny asked; he was getting a little confused; He had not written Nick's name on his own face, that was ridiculous! How would he even see what he was doing, if he would ever do something like that?

"Well you must have been dozing, since my name is standing backwards on your face, so I'd assume you've been dozing on your notebook?" Nick always so matter-of-fact-like and sometimes it surprised Danny.

"What? Get it off!" Danny yelped.

Nick just laughed as he began rubbing the spot on Danny's face, where his name was standing. "So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" He asked. Danny had after all asked him to stay in the hallway a little longer, in the text he'd received.

"Oh. Yes!" He said and his face lit up. "Well of course you know prom is coming up, right?" he asked, but didn't give Nick the time to answer, before he continued, "Well I know that you think prom is silly, and I kind of do too. I was just thinking, that since we're, you know- us. I was thinking that maybe we should go together?" He then finally cut to the cored and asked what he'd been trying to.

"Prom?" Nick tilted his head to the side. "Do you want to? Because if you do then yes; I'll go with you." He said. As Danny knew, Nick did think prom was a little silly, but for Danny, he would go.

"Well. Yes, I'd like that a lot." Danny then said and smiled at Nick, who just smiled back at him.

"Now we need to get to class!" Nick said, grabbing Danny's wrist and pulled him along.

Even the day today, Danny kept wishing he'd never asked Nick to go to the prom with him. Not that anything bad happened; it's just that most people do not find it normal that two guys went together to a prom, and they sort of began realizing by then.

It didn't take long after prom, before most people were beginning to stare and buck away when any of them came too close. They had gotten the idea that him and Nick was gay, and they very well knew, that not all people was accepting about this, so they had to do something.

"Danny I know this is hard for you; it's hard for me too! But I don't want to risk seeing you hurt!" Nick had his voice raised a bit, even though Danny was only a few meters away. Both boys had tears in their eyes because they knew that they had to do this.

"Nick I don't want this! Can't you see this is hurting me, exactly like what you say you don't want to happen?" Danny was fighting with all of his might to stay with Nick.

"Dan, they're going to find out if we keep being so close at school; and if they find out, they won't just keep distance to us!" Nick's voice was hoarse and he felt like he could break down any second. "I don't want them to hurt you." He said in a broken voice and reached out to caress Danny's cheek, but the taller guy turned his face away. "Danny we have to stay apart in school." It pained him to say, and Danny knew, but it had to be that way. "I'm sorry. " Nick whispered before he'd left the room.

No one ever said their break up had been any big scene with a fight and stuff flying through the room. But it did hurt, though they both had known that this was what really had to happen.

They did manage to stay away in the school time, even though they were both aching to fall into each other's arms and never let go. They wanted to but they couldn't. Not in school; but after school they were free to do whatever they wanted to, and after school they often saw each other and spend time together like every other normal couple. Until that one day.

Nick and Danny was walking down the street, their hands intertwined. They hadn't held hands for days and it felt amazing. It felt so amazing they didn't remember to watch out, and when Danny had kissed Nick in the park, they suddenly heard a shout from behind.

"FAGS!" Danny and Nick both turned to look at where the sound came from. What they saw was something of the most horrifying Danny had ever seen, and he could never get the image out of his head. Walking towards them was their school's jocks; one of them cracked his knuckles and another one grinned widely, while a few others were yelling nasty words at them.

"Dan, you need to leave." Nick said, his eyes were wide as he looked into Danny's. It hit Danny, how he Nick actually looked like he was panicking, and Danny understood. This was what they'd been trying to keep away. What they'd been trying to prevent.

"No. No! –I can't leave you Nick." Danny was slightly panicking as well. He knew he wouldn't be able to deal with being bullied. He wouldn't know what to do and when he would be thinking back, later, he knew he would have broken down much faster than most people would have.

"What have we got here? A couple of fairies, huh?" One guy said as they getting closer, and the others laughed. "We don't want you around here, spreading your fairy dust all over the place!" The guy then said in a strong voice.

"Hey, Tomas!" Another guy called, making the one who'd just been talking; turn his face to look at him. "Do you think we can cure them?" it was scoff and chills were running down his spine as his hand clenched. "Maybe we can punch the gay out of them?"

"Danny!" Nick yelped in panic when he heard that sentence. Danny's hand was still in his, and their fingers were still laced together when one of the jocks grabbed Nick's shoulder. "Run, Danny!" His voice pitched at the pain from the jocks clenching fingers.

"No! Nick! I'm not leaving!" Danny whined. He winced hard as a cracking sound was heard, when one of the other jocks had grabbed Danny's shoulder and hauled him away, tearing their fingers apart from each other.

Somehow Danny got luckier than Nick had, since the jock that had grabbed him just threw him on the ground, and didn't hold on to him, like the other did, at Nick. He did whimper when he hit the ground though.

"Danny! I said LEAVE!" Nick shrieked, and something in his voice made Danny obey. –Something he would regret ever after. He ran, like he was told. He ran and he didn't look back. The tears were streaming down his face and he could hardly breathe, he just kept running.

Even the day today; Danny did not know exactly what had happened to Nick that day. He just knew that the next time he'd met him, he'd been different. He didn't care about the way he dressed and his arm was in a sling. This was not the thing which had puzzled Danny the most; it was the look in his eyes. The usual happy glint in Nick's eyes was gone and he looked like nothing would ever mean anything to him again.

Truth was; Nick never became himself again. He changed completely, and the happy boy, that Danny once knew but still very much cared for, had changed into something he only hardly recognized.

Danny didn't even remember how it got decided that the two of them should transfer to Dalton together, but it happened. He did recall that their parents had been involved, though. They'd ended up transferring to Dalton as fast as possible; and they began the same day. It didn't take long though, before they became separated and got different friends and came down to only seeing each other once in a while for a one night stand.

It really did hurt to think about, but during his stream of thoughts, Danny had pulled a couple of sheets of paper out from under the bed, where he always kept them. His fingers ran over them as a gentle caressing, when he read the lyrics that he and Nick once had written together. "My Shining Star." The title stood clear at the top. It wasn't professional at all, but it still meant a lot to him, that simple words on the paper.

Jeff had a free period and was back in his room, in front of his laptop, watching as Skype was trying to reach his little brother. He was alone since Thad had stayed back to talk to David and Wes about something for the next competition they were going to take part in or something, so why not take the time to call his brother and just chat a little?

"Jeff? Jeff are you okay?" Austin's face popped up on Jeff's screen and he smiled at his brother; knowing that his camera was turned on as well.

It was a little funny, how much the two boys looked alike, yet they looked so different. They both had the same blonde hair; only Austin's were thicker and slightly curvy, while Jeff's had always been very flat and showed slight signs that he naturally wasn't platinum blonde. Austin's nose was a little bigger than Jeff's, and his eyes were slightly darker than Jeff's. Jeff's face was also a little slimmer than Austin's, but yet they really just looked so much alike.

"I'm fine Austin!" Jeff chuckles when his little brother visibly relaxed. "Can't an older brother, living on his school, call his little brother without it having to be because something is wrong?" Jeff couldn't help but laugh a little. Austin always did this to him; he always made him smile, which was one of the things he really loved about him.

"I suppose." Austin agreed. "It's just not so often you call me at this time of day. Isn't Thad supposed to be with you now?" The younger Sterling asked with a frown; he knew that Jeff preferred to call him when he was alone, since it wasn't always something other people needed to hear, what they were talking about.

"He stayed back, with Wes and David." Jeff shrugged. There wasn't really much to say about it. "They needed to talk about some solo they didn't know who to give to, or whatever." Jeff had really had a lot of problems with concentrating today; his brother just had this quality of taking Jeff's mind of things, which was yet another reason, why Jeff loved him.

"A solo, huh?" Austin sent him a little smirk through the screens; he knew his brother was a great singer. "They should just give it to you already." Austin laughed and his whole face just brightened. It always did when he smiled.

"Oh, stop it Austin!" Jeff rolled his eyes but couldn't hide the slight blush that crept up on his face from the compliment. "How's mom and dad?" He asked instead to avoid talking about himself.

"They're fine. –Dad just got out of bed again; he was ill, remember?" Austin simply said. There wasn't much to say, since it all went pretty well. "How about you, man? Any guy that I will have to come and take the talk, with?" Austin just laughed, when Jeff blushed.

"Austin!" Jeff yelped and put his hands to his face, slightly hiding himself away.

"What?" Austin questioned. "So there is someone? Well a potential boyfriend needs to treat you right, Jeff!" The younger reasoned.

"But you don't have to talk to him!" Jeff argued, but realized that he just busted himself, the moment the words left his mouth, and he blushed deeper.

"Are you getting anywhere with him?" Austin asked with his chin resting on his hand, talking as though having a gay brother and talking about guys with him, like he talked with his friends about girls, was the most natural thing in the world for him.

"I-" Jeff started. "Not really." He then sighed. "He's kind of a jerk, and I don't even know what it is with him, and he kind of looks at me like I was some sort of toy that he's playing with." Jeff didn't really know what to do with himself as he confessed this to his brother, so he just sighed deeply, once more and waited for Austin's respond.

"What? He can't just play with you!" Austin yelped. "Okay either you show him that you're not one to play with, or I'm coming to do it for you!" Jeff could clearly both hear and see that Austin was getting angry, and he couldn't really blame him.

"And how do you expect me to show him that?" Even though Jeff was the oldest, he'd never really had any experience with relationships, like Austin had, so it didn't even feel wrong for Jeff to ask him for advice.

"Show him what it's like to feel like a toy?" Austin said as though it was the most obvious ever. "Give him a taste of his own medicine! It'll show him that you're not one to play with, and it will give you his attention." Austin leaned back in his seat and looked at Jeff on the screen, mirroring Jeff's position.

"What?" Jeff asked but his alarm made them both stop. "Oh. Austin, listen. I need to get back to class, but you are not coming to teach Nick a lesson, you're staying home. I'll handle this, okay?" Jeff brushed the conversation off, after he'd turned off the alarm.

"Okay." Austin just said with a slight shake of his head and a little roll of his eyes; yet he was smiling.

"Thanks, man. I'll call you later." Jeff said and sent his brother as he was about to close the conversation.

"Hey, Jeff!" Austin's voice stopped him.

"Yeah?" Jeff asked and looked at his brother one more time.

"Go get him, tiger." Austin grinned, his smile turning even wider as his brother grinned as well.

"You're such a cliché!" And with that, followed but a light giggle, Jeff closed the conversation and closed the laptop. It only took him a few minutes to gather his things for the next class, before he brushed out of the door.

Jeff walked down the hall in his own thoughts. He was kind of confused now that he wasn't talking to Austin no more, and his thoughts ran wild; though hours had passed since he'd woken up and it happened, he was confused. Confused was one thing. Embarrassed was another. He'd never done anything like that before, and he had promised himself that this was the first and only time he would let himself do anything like that.

He had to admit that he was very ashamed. He'd never woken up with that kind of feeling before. He had kept seeing flashes of deep, dark brown eyes, when he'd realized the strong feeling between his legs. He had kept remembering a rough touch, which he knew for sure he had never felt. He had not been able to stop himself; but he had promised himself that he would never do it again. Not under those circumstances.

He was truly lost in thoughts about what he'd done, and the strange part was that no matter how hard he tried to forget, he couldn't. Those brown eyes kept haunting him, so he just faced the ground as he turned the corner, but met something firm but soft.

"Watch it!" a voice hissed and Jeff's head jerked up to look right into those deep, brown eyes he'd been dreaming about.

"I-" Jeff began but shut his mouth again. Those eyes were nothing like the ones he'd seen in his dream, yet he knew that it was the same set. "I'm sorry." He then said.

"You better fucking be!" Nick swore; making Jeff take a step back. He'd never heard Nick talk that way, and if he thought he sounded harsh before, well he obviously had never expected this. Honestly he'd never expected anyone to talk to him like that.

"I'm really sorry but-" Jeff began and then stopped again to gulp.

"But, what!?" Nick's voice was hard as a rock and it hit Jeff right in the face.

"What's wrong?" Jeff asked, his eyes showing slight concern. "What's the problem?" Jeff knew that something had to be up because yeah, Nick was cocky and thought he was better than others, but he wasn't rude. Well now he was, but he'd never been before.

"You are my fucking problem!" The smaller teen snarled. "Now get out of my way little white miss fucking saint! I need to get to class." Nick scoffed before his voice turned into a grumble.

"I'm… Very sorry… Whatever I've done-" Jeff felt his eyes get watery and knew that by now they would be big and blank.

"I-" Nick began in a split second of weakness. He was certain that he would never win, so he urged himself to stay away and pretend like he'd never seen any glimpse of hope, when he looked at Jeff. "Yeah, whatever." He then said and pushed past him and walked away. Regretting everything, the second he'd turned the next corner. The look Jeff had had in his eyes; the look of a kicked puppy, was following him around but he pushed it away, to the back of his mind.

Jeff though, was standing as though he'd been pinned to the ground. He felt like something had ripped his heart out and stomped on it; yet a little glimmer of something he couldn't quite place, had been seeded in his mind, the second Nick's features of defenses had fallen for just a split second, like Nick might not mean it. Maybe he just… -Jeff didn't even know, but something had happened that split second and it gave Jeff the clue, that Nick would not stay like that forever.

Any thoughts?

Anyone at all?