Disclamer: Do I have to put one of these at the beginning of every chapter? Surely people get by now the fact that I. Own. Nothing. Kapeesh? Heehee...I said kapeesh :)

Zack looked around. Slater had been conspicuously absent for the length of his conversation with Jessie, having disappeared soon after he'd burst on top of them. What had happened? He looked over at Jessie. "Hey, did Slater say he was going somewhere earlier? Cos I haven't seen him for a while..."

Jessie glanced about. "Hey, yeah. That's true. Wait, I think Lisa asked him if he wanted an ice cream." She leaned towards Lisa. "Hey, Lisa," whispering because Screech was asleep at her feet, one leg kicking as he dreamt of...whatever it was he dreamt of, "did you ask Slater if he wanted something earlier?"

The girl looked up. "Wha? Oh, yeah. About...half an hour ago, I think. He said he wanted a coke, so I gave him the rest of the fifty dollars I had left and told him to do what he wanted with it."

Jessie looked incredulously at her. "You gave him more than forty dollars, and told him to do what he liked?"

"Yeah." Lisa looked at Jessies face. "What? It's not like I needed it!"

Jessie sighed. "Lisa, we really need to teach you the value of money sometime..."

"Yeah, yeah, like you keep saying." Lisa sneered. "'Lisa, you need to learn the value of money. Lisa, you need to learn respect for other people. Lisa, you need to learn not to mace shop assistants who get in your way.' If I didn't do any of those things, how would I have fun?"

Turning away from her, Jessie rolled her eyes at Zack. "He's got about forty dollars, a whole afternoon to blow it, and no actual need to repay it or suffer the consequences from blowing it all. What would you do?"

"Strip bar."

She slapped him. "Bad Zack. Now, get into Slater's head. Where would he go?"

The two sat in silence for a second, Jessie's brow furrowed in thought. Then Zack sniffed, and stood up. "Too difficult thinking. Going to randomly search. Be back in days begging for water."

Jessie huffed. "Well, don't blame me when I've found him and you've been wasting your day."

Zack's voice floated back to her. "Found him!"

She thumped a fist into her palm. "Dammit! Foiled by Zack. Again!" She glanced to her side, where Lisa was looking at her with a very odd look. "What?"

She shrugged. "Nothing. It's just usually the people who say things like that have a white cat. And sometimes an eyepatch. And a plot for destroying the world."

Even after the lesson he was supposed to have learnt earlier, Zack couldn't resist sneaking up on Slater as the taller boy looked avidly through one of the fixed telescopes positioned along the high wall of the beach. Quietly, he got as close as he could, and...

"BOOOooogrrrraaaAAAGH!" Zack gasped as Slater twisted and snatched him into an incredibly strong headlock. Able only to make the most wild of motions, he cut a hand across his throat to show he was suffering from the lack of air and blood to his head. Either that, or he wanted Slater to hang up a phonecall...which didn't make any sense at all.

Slater's all teeth bared muscles tensed dangerous man pose relaxed as he recognised the styled blonde hair. Slowly relaxing his grip enough for Zack to speak and breath, but not enough to escape. Not even flinching from Zacks flailings, Slater smiled down. "Now, Zack, what did we learn when we snuck up last time? Actually, that's a stupid question. Nothing, clearly. Let me rephrase. What SHOULD we have learnt, hmm?"

Zack made a sound usually made by large male walruses on the Discovery Channel, and Slater mock-thought for a second. "Hmm, no, don't think you got it then, preppy. Try harder."

"Don't sneak up on people oh please let go my throat is going to snap in half and my lungs are exploding is there an ounce of human decency in your body?" Zack croaked.

Slater grinned. "Well done!" Then he dropped him.

Zack lay face down on the floor. "Oh, hello floor, my old friend. I've come to see you once again..."

Slater looked down. "Wow, you're saying song lyrics. I musta hurt you bad. Come on." He heaved him back up.

Zack stared sightlessly at Slater's face. "Could you hold me upside down for a couple of minutes? I want to help the blood get to my head as quickly as possible."

Slater shrugged, and grabbed Zack by the ankles. Zack screamed.

"Joke! I was joking! Don't hold me upside down! For one thing, it will ruin my hair!"

Slater, laughing, let go of Zack, before leaning back against the rails. "So...why you following me?"

Zack brushed himself down. "We just noticed you'd been gone for a while. What have you been doing? Lisa told us she'd given you money."

Slater went a little red. "Nothing. Just...been standing. Here." So saying, he pushed the telescope away from where he'd been gazing a moment before.

Zack noticed, and reached out to hold it in place. "I see. What's Slater been checking out, I wonder?" He leaned in to take a look. After only a second of looking, he slowly straightened up, and narrowed his eyes at Slater, who laughed nervously.

"I see. Interesting. And the guy you've been looking at, do you even know his name?" Slater shook his head. "Do you know what he likes?" Again, Slater shook his head. "Do you have even the slightest intention of asking him out?"

Slater blanched, and spluttered. "I can't ask him out! If anyone found out, or if he threatened to tell anyone, or if he wasn't gay and he knew I was when I asked him out..."

Zack folded his arms. "You're scared."

Slater's shoulders slumped. "Like when my parents caught me wearing makeup." He looked at the expression on Zack's face. "It was when I was ten, and it was only a little bit!"

Zack stared a second more, then shook his head. "Creepy. Anyway, AC Slater? The man who took on two muggers to stop them from taking a half eaten bag of popcorn? The man who went out with Jessie for so many years? The man who THEN went on to tell Jessie he was gay through oral sex? With someone else, of course. This man, who has done so much so fearlessly, is scared?"

Slater considered. "Yeah. Pretty much."

"Just clearing the situation up."

Slater turned and rested both elbows on the railing, looking out over the sand. Zack moved up to stand next to him. Slater sighed. "I just...want. Him. There."

"The dark haired one? Why him?"

Slater shrugged. "I don't know. There's just something...about him."

Zack looked at the boy in the distance, squinting to make out the details. "Well, from what I can see, he is hot as hell."

Slater looked sidelong at Zack, who smiled. "I'm not joining the club, Slater. I'm just making a comment upon the fact that the guy does seem to fit most of the requirements for what is judged as good looking-ness."

Slater muttered something, and Zack leant in to try and catch it. "What did you say?"

"Nothing. Just thinking out loud."

Zack shrugged. Whatever. "So...why do you want him?" Slater turned, and Zack raised a hand. "And this time, explain. I don't want you to just say 'there's something about him' again."

Slater smiled shyly. "Okay. Well, I've seen him around quite a bit, and I think he lives on my street. I don't really know much about him, but he always strikes me as really...interesting. I'm drawn to him. I mean, there's nothing to suggest he's gay or anything, but I can hope. And he reminds me of someone...someone I once really liked."

"Sounds like you got it bad, Slater boy. So you know nothing about him, and you really like him, but you're too scared to ask anything about him? Or even find out for certain if he lives on your street?" Slater nodded. "So...what are you going to do about him then?"

Slater shrugged, frowning. "I dunno. I was just gonna..."

"Just gonna what? Spend the rest of your teenage years perving on him from a telescope on a beach whenever you get the chance?" Zack suddenly felt angry. Angry that one of his friends would be so gutless. Angry, that they hadn't been able to help with this.

Slater turned, fists clenched. "I've never done this before! He was here, I was here...it's as close as I'm ever gonna get to sleeping with him, for god's sake!" Slater suddenly slumped down onto the ground, and ran a hand through his hair. "I've never done any of this before."

Zack crouched next to him. "Yes, you have Slater. Every time you've asked a girl out, every time you've done that, no matter whether it was a lie or not, you've done it. And you'll do it again. And it will be real this time."

Slater looked up into the blondes face, and Zack almost gasped at the tears gathering in his eyes. "But...with girls...that was normal. That was what is normal! But..."

Zack grabbed him by the shoulders. "If that sentence was going to finish sounding anything like 'being gay isn't normal', I would have punched you so hard that you might have flinched a little. I'm quite puny. But never, NEVER say being gay isn't normal, or unnatural, or depraved or anything else! You may as well say 'being a man is wrong', or 'being Asian is twisted'. I can tolerate a lot of things, but that pushes the boundary, Slater!"

Slater sniffed, wiping a tear away from his eye. "You think so? You don't hate me or anything?"

"Please. I can't hate you for anything, AC. You're a friend, as much of one as Jessie, or Kelly, or Lisa, or Screech. And look at him! We still all love him, right?"

Slater nodded, smiling through his sadness. Zack smiled back. "Good. Now, we're going to get you that boy, but in a cunning, cunning way. And everything is going to be shiny and pretty, and flowers will dance with bunnies yadah yadah yadah. Better?"

Slater lifted himself up, and wiped his eyes again. "Better. Thanks, man."

The two boys grinned at each other, and turned back to gaze out over the sand. Zack felt happy, despite the fact he'd just promised to help Slater trick a boy into going out with him. At the time, it didn't seem too important. There were just a few things niggling at his brain...

"Slater, answer me something. How long have you...known?"

Slater looked over. "Well, I think I've always known. I just needed drunkeness and a hot guy to bring it properly out."

"No, I mean, everyone says that. I mean when did you know for sure? Like, what was the first thing that made you think it?"

Slater considered for a moment. "Wrestling."

Zack raised an eyebrow at Slater, who laughed, and shrugged. "What can I say? It was a while ago, in a wrestling competition. I was going at it hammer and tongs with this guy who was my equal. No worse, no better. Then, just as I grabbed his leotard and pulled it really tight over his ass, I got suddenly distracted. You know, 'distracted'. The same distracted you are when Michelle sits in front of you in Chemistry."

Zack's eyes glazed over. "Thank god for cheerleaders and their skirts. If it weren't for her, I might have got a good mark in Chem, but it sure was worth it..."

Slater sighed, and clicked his fingers in front of Zack's face, bringing him back down to earth. "So, like I say, that was when I first thought that I might have been gay, or something. Or, knew that I might be gay or something. Before that, it was just a liking of 'pretty' clothes, and a tightening of the pants whenever...a certain someone walked by. It was that made me sure I didn't just like him, I liked hims. You understand?"

Zack nodded. "I think I get you, man. Makes it more understandable, you know? Thanks, by the way? For being so honest, and everything? I guess this must be difficult?"

The other boy shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, it is. I still haven't told my dad. And I don't think I will. Not for a while, anyway. Maybe on his deathbed."

The two boys turned back to the beach, gazing over it again. Zack started to scheme on how to catch the boy in front of them, morality be screwed! It was going to be foolproof, and Zack could already tell it would be one of the more entertaining exploits he'd ever pulled off...so long as it went correctly...

Then Slater looked over, consideringly. "Zack, can I ask you something now?"

"Yeah, sure. Anything."

"How come Dan keeps giving me the angst-y bits?"

"Heh. Who knows? Just go along with it. If you do, you get ice cream."

The two boys simultaneously lifted their ice creams, and grinned at each other.