A/N: I suck. :D So very sorry about the long wait, school randomly decided to suck me back in once I was free. I also took a trip to the States to visit my girlfriend, whee! Now I'm back home again, so I should hopefully be able to get out chapters more regularly now. (Of course, now that I've typed that, I likely won't. :smacks forehead:) I'm planning to make the chapters longer as well.

Thanks for the feedback Aeolus (I lost your AIM screen name D: ), LiminalMerlin (hopefully it'll lead to an interesting place XD ), Ghene (it's sad how evo slash is mostly a zombie these days :pokes it with a stick:).

Two Steps Forwards, Five Steps Back

Chapter Three

by sugar. coated

Roberto has been dating Juliana since before he even hit puberty, and in a way he guesses that makes a difference. Because Juliana is cute and very much female, and Roberto felt completely sure that he was completely straight until Bobby kissed him.

Not that Roberto really thinks a kiss is all it takes to change someone's sexuality, but it seems that it's enough to start doubts. At least for Roberto, since it did feel sort of nice, and he does sort of think about it at random, and he's never thought about kissing other guys before. Possibly because he's had no need for such things on the account of having a hot girlfriend (except they broke up just before Roberto left for the X-Mansion, so it's no longer present tense and he keeps forgetting that), but Roberto isn't really sure. He isn't really sure what he thinks about it all, especially what he thinks about Bobby. He does think it's too late to reconsider his preferences at the age of sixteen though.

So Roberto does what he finds to be logical; he tries to avoid thinking about anything related to kissing (and more) involving other guys, and he tries to avoid Bobby.

This is a mean thing to do, Roberto is aware of that. Because Bobby is nice and well-meaning, and Roberto does like him. They're friends, at least they used to be, and to go from friendship to avoidance doesn't feel good at all. It is the only thing Roberto can think of doing for now though, and it seems to work. Then he walks in on Bobby kissing Ray, and Roberto's brain lurches right back into an unpleasant state of confusion.

The hell? his brain exclaims, and Roberto stands frozen in place, trying to figure out just what is going on. If this had been the typical teenage movie the other boys would have noticed him by now, and in a way Roberto wishes that Bobby would turn and see him. Roberto is utterly confused, and he guesses that Bobby's reaction to him could give Roberto a clue how to react in turn, what to think, anything. Bobby doesn't turn however, and Roberto finally gets his legs to listen to the part of his brain that's telling him to leave the room.

Damn Bobby, trying to make me jealous, Roberto thinks, scowling to himself while hurrying away from the room. That doesn't make much sense though, because it's not a commonly used room, and he didn't have an actual reason to be right there right then. Damn Ray, Roberto tries instead, but that doesn't work either. Ray doesn't know what happened between the other two (Or does he? Roberto wonders, because it would be just like Ray to know of things like that just to give the Brazilian teen something else to fret over.), and Roberto said no to Bobby in any case.

Damnit! Roberto settles for, looking over his shoulder to see if any of the other two have left the room. The corridor is empty and he resists the temptation to go back to check on them again. That would be a little too voyeuristic for Roberto, so he settles for heading to the kitchen instead. That tend to be the most active place in the mansion, and Roberto feels like he needs the distraction. He is not going to start thinking about kissing Bobby again, not when it took him that long to stop in the first place.

TBC