One more chappie after this one, I guess? :3 Well, this is the end-ish but I have an epilogue of sorts.

Hey, exciting thing – earlier on, I mentioned I made a play based off of this story. I was lucky enough to have it performed at my school, and I'm almost positive my friend recorded all/almost all of it. When I get it in a usable format, I will put it up on YouTube. If you are interested, I'll put up an extra chapter with the keywords on YouTube, so you can find it if you'd like. ^^Plus a link in my profile. It's really, really bad, actually. We sucked and there were like nine people in the audience but it was the best thing that ever happened to me and my actors are amazing. I got two guy friends to stage kiss. And yes, some guy DOES wear a sexy dress. He looked amazing, too.

Anyway. Story. Right.

That morning, in the dining hall, things were in an absolute uproar. Gilbert was yelling to everyone within earshot, and most of the other boys that had been at play try outs were whispering in groups, still unable to believe what had happened yesterday.

"Did you hear?" Gilbert exclaimed, running over to Roderich the moment he saw the other boy. "About that… that kid! I was there. He – it – he – was wearing a skirt. I knew he was a little girl. Man, it was only a matter of time!"

Roderich frowned. "You are overreacting. Just because he's in a skirt doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with him."

"What is more wrong than a guy in a dress? It's practically against nature! But he was always so… well, you know."

"Usually, Gilbert, I can put up with a fair bit of your ridiculousness, but you are crossing the line," Roderich sighed. Heaven knew he had the patience of a saint, to hang out with the albino boy during school hours and listen to him complain and posture and watch him show off in the halls and generally be 'awesome' (or so he believed). Roderich sometimes wondered why he did it, but that just brought up unpleasant thoughts on his part, and no satisfactory answer.

"It sounds like you're on his side," Gilbert grunted.

"There should be no 'sides'," said Roderich, waving off the other boy tiredly. "He's trying to be who he thinks he should be and if has nothing to do with you, so could you please stop harping about this? I have a calculus test this morning that I would like to study for, so –"

Roderich cut himself off, blinked, and stared as the entire dining hall went stone-silent. Two figures were standing in the doorway, the taller looking spooked but determined, the shorter, only defiant. Toris stood behind Feliks, hand on his shoulder. Feliks was proudly wearing a skirt.

They walked into the room to the heart-wrenching sound of nothing, their footfalls echoing eerily on the wooden flooring, Toris protectively shadowing Feliks, whose blonde head was held high and proud. Feliks flopped down at his regular lunch bench, almost on top of a shaking and staring Raivis, and smiled at his friends.

"So anyway, that homework last night took me, like, an hour and a half! What the heck – that's way too much work."

No response – every boy in the room stared at Feliks, listening to him breathe. Then:

"Yeah, it took forever! What's up with Roma assigning all this stuff we never covered?"

Tino had uttered the magic words – the tension in the room cracked, then slowly subsided, the students turning back to their own conversations, sneaking covert looks at Feliks and the others, but otherwise keeping to themselves. Feliks beamed gratefully at his friend.

Eduard cocked his head at Feliks. "Feliks, wow. How – wha – why?"

Feliks shrugged, less non-chalant than he would have liked, looking shaken but happy. "It was time for a change. Or a rebirth or something. I like skirts. What's the big deal?"

Tino raised an eyebrow. "There's no 'big deal'…"

"But?" Feliks asked, looking ready to bolt.

"'But' nothing, calm down!" Tino said, laughing. "You look great, really. If there was a problem, I would have told you last night. I was just nervous when I didn't see you this morning; but I knew you'd be with Toris, huh?"

Toris smiled wanly, his eyes flicking around the room. He hadn't moved from his post by Feliks' shoulder.

"I-I guess w-we should have known, h-huh?" asked Raivis with a small grin.

"We're with ya, y' know," Berwald assured him.

Feliks grinned, looking a little soggy, a little wobbly. "Well, damn, you guys are just about the best friends ever."

Only Lukas looked crestfallen. He had been staring at Feliks with a horrified expression since he walked in the door, as if realization had struck. It had.

"So, at the ball, that hot chick was… you?"

Orin actually giggled.

"Umm… hate to ruin the moment," interrupted Eduard, "but, what are the teachers going to think?"

"Oh boy…" muttered Orin

"Nothing in the school rules says that I can't," replied Feliks. "I checked. They probably thought it wasn't necessary to spell it out, or something." He chuckled. "They thought wrong."

"Hey, hey, oh man," exclaimed Alfred, dragging Arthur unwillingly over to gawk. "Dude, its true! I thought it was just a stunt to get Cinderella! I never thought you'd actually wear that thing all the time."

"Well, here I am," said Feliks, gesturing to himself.

"Aw, man, that's so cool! It takes guts, man, high five!" Alfred enthused.

"It's not, aru, its completely anti-establishment," Yao sniffed, stalking over to the growing crowd. Toris stiffened when Yao came into view, but only angled himself so he was partially blocking Feliks.

"It's not a statement, or anything," Feliks said. "Well, I mean, it totally is, like, a fashion statement, but that's not what I mean. It's just personal."

"Really, it's personal? Doubt it. You just wanna rock the boat, and get all the attention," Gilbert yelled from his post at a nearby table. Feliks glared and pouted in his direction.

"It's totally not. Mind your own business, 'kay?"

Gilbert's face darkened with annoyance. "Shut up, fairy. I can say whatever the fuck I want about you."

"No, you totally can't –"

"Gilbert, calm down," Roderich hissed as Gilbert stood, advancing on the little blonde.

"I'm not gonna calm down! I have a problem with this … this thing! What, you get mad at me when I cause trouble and make a scene, but suddenly it's okay to be a freak like him? He's being weird for the sake of being weird, and you all are okay with that?"

There was a warning silence at Gilbert's words, but he kept barreling on. "I hate how you accept him breaking all the rules cuz he says it's 'who he's supposed to be' or some shit but whenever I act up Lizzie goes all apeshit on me."

He was getting too close now, pushing Raivis aside to stand just in front of Feliks, not close enough to reach out to him but Toris tensed and looked about to leap. "But Lizzie was on your side the whole time! I confess to her, and I get fucking rejected; she thinks I'm too mean to her faggy cousin –"

Feliks was on his feet, too, hands on hips, tiny in the face of this larger monster but not backing down. "You can't get mad at me just because Lizzie rejected you – she only hates you because you're a self-righteous bigot!" he yelled.

Gilbert's eyes absolutely glowed with rage as he roared. "I hate you, you freak!"

And then he reached back and punched.

A million things happened at once. The crowd surged forward, all too far away to stop what was happening. Feliks fell on his back against the table, pushed out of the way of the blow. And Toris took the punch straight to the cheekbone, falling against the wooden floor with a sickening crunch. Ivan was there in an instant, meaty hands tangled in Gilbert's shirt, backing him against the far wall before anyone could blink.

"Toris!" Feliks yelled, kneeling next to the boy.

"Gilbert, friend, you have crossed the line," growled Ivan.

"I won't tolerate fighting in –" began Yao.

"Feliks, I'm fine – ow…" mumbled Toris.

"EVERYBODY SHUT. UP!"

And, surprisingly, everyone obeyed. Mr. Roma was standing on a table in the middle of the room, glaring thunder and lightning at the boys. Then he suddenly broke, smiling sunnily at the captivated crowd. "Thanks. Now. I leave you kids alone for five minutes and a fight breaks out? Not fun, guys."

Ivan, face still pressed against Gilbert's, grinned. "Gilbert punched Toris."

Mr. Roma arched an eyebrow. "Really, is that what happened? Anyone want to add?"

"Yes, would anyone like to challenge me?" asked Ivan meaningfully. There was no reply, then Gilbert lashed out.

"Anyone going to comment on the freak of nature?"

"Stop calling him that!" exclaimed Toris.

Mr. Roma turned his attention to Feliks. "Oh, cute skirt! It looks good on you."

"You can't be serious!"

"Well, what is your side of the story, then?" demanded .

"He made Lizzie hate me!"

"T-that's not true a-at all," broke in Raivis, red-faced and wavering.

Mr. Roma leapt off the table, his face in an exaggerated pout. "Awww… why do I have to deal with this? Fine – you know what? Arthur, escort Gilbert to the principal's office. Actually, Feliks, you'd better go, too. The uniform is cute but I'm not sure what to do about it. And Toris, you should go to the nurse's office."

"Like, let me take him," interrupted Feliks, helping Toris to his feet.

"Nope, principal's office, young man. I'm not letting you get out of this. Ivan, get your fists out of Gil's face and take Toris to the nurse's office."

Feliks blanched "No! You can't –"

"Let someone else take him," Ivan interrupted. "I will not go near Toris."

"What –"

"Raivis and I will take him!" Eduard offered quickly.

Roma sighed and shrugged. "Sure, sure, whatever. Just go."

Scattering, the students dismissed themselves.