Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of the characters... but I like to play with them. ;)

A/N: Thank you for the encouragement sent my way! Your reviews and story alerts are to me what Bella's scent was to Edward. I savor them. I was able to crank out this chapter over the weekend, so I'm still on track for my crazy Tuesday and Saturday posting schedule. There was a general consensus among all of you that Edward dressed as a cowboy was very, very good thing. Sigh. A girl can dream... and write naughty stories about it.

Emmett Cullen was turning 21.

And the world would never be the same again.

At first he had planned on doing a bar crawl with some his legal friends, but since Rosalie still had a few months before she came of age and some of the bars wouldn't let in anyone under 21, he changed his plans. I'm not sure why Rosalie wanted to be included in what was sure to be an embarrassing evening, ending with Emmett passed out most likely in a pile of his own vomit. She probably wanted to keep an eye on him and give out dirty looks to any and all women who checked him out, and possibly take blackmail pictures.

Since his plans changed, he extended the invite to Jasper and me, as well as to Alice, Bella and Jake. It was nearing the end of the term and I knew I wouldn't get a lot done over Thanksgiving break, so I almost begged off and told Jasper to have a good time without me, especially since it was a Thursday and I had class the next morning. But it was trivia night at Emmett's favorite sports bar and he insisted on bringing me in as a ringer. How could I refuse my big brother on his birthday?

Emmett had only successfully convinced me to go with him to trivia night one time before. Em and his friends were so impressed by my vast wealth of useless knowledge they nearly carried me around the bar on their shoulders after our table won. Luckily I managed to create a diversion. Then I discovered that a group of my friends, all of whom happened to be gay, had also been playing the trivia game. When I was chatting with them at their table Emmett decided to embarrass me by coming up and gloating that I had played with his team and not theirs.

"You see," he had said to them, putting his arm around my shoulders. "Blood is thicker than... fruit juice."

Thank goodness they all laughed, because I was mortified. I knew that someday Emmett was really going to offend someone. Most people had no way of knowing that that's just the level at which we teased each other. Alice got picked on for being so tiny but remarkably loud. We all picked on Emmett for being a giant and somewhat oblivious to the world around him. When I was younger they both teased me for being a nerd, then a virgin, and now the teasing just morphed into gay jokes. Sometimes the jokes extended to Jasper and to some of my other friends as well. I don't think just anyone could have gotten away with it, but maybe it was glaringly obvious that Emmett didn't have a hateful bone in his body.

Even so, with the addition of alcohol into the equation, I was not particularly looking forward to the birthday outing until I found out that Jasper and I were celebrating too. He and Rosalie had gone home the weekend before Emmett's birthday and Jasper had finally taken the plunge and told his parents that he had a boyfriend. Apparently they were both actually pleasantly surprised that his boyfriend was one Edward Cullen.

In a rare heart-to-heart with Rosalie, she told me that their father had said that I was a "good kid" and that Jasper could "do a lot worse." I took that to be one of the highest compliments I could be given. I think it helped that I could "pass" for a straight person, that they had known my family for years, and that they could probably tell any of their conservative friends who saw us together that we were just "good friends" since we had known each other for almost five years now, but none of that was enough to bother me.

Jasper fudged the details as to the when and how our relationship started just as I had with my parents, but it didn't matter if they knew the logistics, they had accepted me, or at least the idea of me, as his boyfriend.

I knew that were we to spend any time with Jasper's family, physical contact would probably be a no-go, but I tried not to take offense. Emmett told me that Colonel Hale made a show of taking Emmett into the basement to see his gun collection after he caught Em with his arm around Rosalie. Though from what I knew, fathers were generally a lot more protective over their daughters' virtues than their sons.' Still, I was planning to tread those waters carefully when we came to them.

Jasper and I had celebrated privately that Sunday night when he returned... twice. But this was the first time we were able to go out together in public having everyone important in our lives know about our relationship. It felt significant to me. Even though it was impossible and irrational, there was always that thought in my head that Col. and Mrs. Hale could walk into whatever establishment we were in and see us holding hands, or kissing, or touching each other inappropriately when we pretended no one could see us.

To make my evening even better, I found out that my professor had cancelled class the next morning, so by the time Jasper and I got to the bar, I was practically giddy.

We got our black "x"s drawn onto our wrists, indicating that we were not of drinking age, and then I took a quick sweep of the room. Trivia night was always crowded, but it seemed even more so than the time I was here before.

I was combing the room for Emmett when I felt a cold chill as my gaze focused on a fairly nondescript man with light brown hair sitting at the bar. He was seated next to a younger man who looked a little uncomfortable with the brunet's hand resting on the small of his back. I'm not sure why their positioning struck me. It wasn't unusual to see affection between two men at bars near campus, even those that weren't specifically gay bars, but something about the gesture made me uneasy.

I nudged to Jasper, and pointed, intending to ask if he thought there was anything off about the interaction. His response was not what I expected.

Jasper groaned and buried his face in my shoulder.

"I was hoping I could go the rest of my life without ever seeing him again."

I gasped, "James?"

Jasper looked positively ashamed as he raised his head and nodded at me.

I didn't know how to react. I couldn't help the flare of jealousy and a weird feeling that could only be described as territorial, male dominance. I wanted to go up to the brown-haired man and tell him that he was a creep and a domineering asshole and that I won out and got the boy in the end. Of course, he probably didn't even remember Jasper, who knows how many boys he actually did end up deflowering.

Thinking about it that way caused the moment of jealousy to pass and I looked at Jasper with pure gratitude.

"I'm so glad that-

"Me too," he cut me off. We didn't need to say it out loud.

Our lips met in a wistful, loving kiss.

I heard Emmett's booming voice then over the crowd and we headed toward it. We approached the table and sat down, wishing Emmett "Happy Birthday" and nodding at a couple of Emmett's friends from the wrestling team, as well as at Rosalie, who looked like she was doing her best to pace Emmett on the pitcher that sat in front of him. Though I'm sure the half-eaten pile of wings at the table was helping slow the alcohol absorption.

"Where are the others?" Emmett asked, his face full of concern, though I had a feeling the sentiment was directed toward his trivia game and not at the absence of his friends. He didn't need to worry, because moments later Alice pranced through the door with Bella and Jake trailing behind her. The two of them were holding hands and Jake's signature grin was plastered on his face. Ever since Halloween, they had been doing a lot better. It had been a long time since I had seen Bella so jubilant. She had even gone so far as to sneak in a trip to the mall with me, under Alice's nose, to look at some jewelry stores. Not because she and Jake were planning on getting engaged any time soon, she claimed, but that because the idea was solidifying in her mind she wanted to see what was available. I pretended to believe her and made mental notes of what she liked so I could report back to Jake.

He was grateful. I told him that's what gay friends were for.

Alice reached the table first, wrapped Emmett in a hug and wished him "Happy Birthday." After we all got settled, there was some idle conversation about classes and upcoming finals and the embarrassing loss by our football team the week before. I teased Alice about not inviting Seth to come down from La Push on a school night. She smacked me upside the head, though she still maintained that they were just friends with benefits. I was about to make a retort when Emmett silenced us all with a loud clearing of his throat.

"All right," Emmett looked shockingly serious. "Let's get a few ground rules out right now. Don't shout out your answers in case someone at another table overhears. Ed, you'd better sit next to me." I rolled my eyes, but everyone shifted so I could be seated to the right of my older brother. He continued, "We go to Eddie the Human Encyclopedia by default, but otherwise I'm going to delegate your categories. Jake and Bella, you're on arts and entertainment. Ben and Tyler have sports covered. Jasper, you've got history and geography. Alice and Rosie are in charge of current events."

"And what's your role in all of this, Emmy?" Alice was the only one of us with the nerve to ask.

"Me and my catlike reflexes are in charge of putting in the answers, and keeping all of you in line. It's my birthday, dammit!" His grin betrayed his strong words as falsely harsh.

We started up again with our usual banter until it was time for the game to start and Emmett shushed us. I was worried that he was going to make us get up and do some calisthenics to warm up. Fortunately the game started before he got any ideas.

The first question popped up. I saw the words "only," "President," and "Supreme Court Justice."

"Taft," Jasper and I said simultaneously.

"Who?" Emmett whispered.

"William Howard Taft, our 27th president? Really, Em?" I rolled my eyes at Jasper who just laughed at my incredulousness.

Luckily Emmett was so focused on submitting the answer that he didn't respond to my condescending dig at his expense.

The next question came up. It was about chemistry.

"Glucose," I said without hesitation.

Emmett plugged in the answer. Only after having done so did he ask me if I was sure.

"Oh, please, challenge me here," I said with bravado.

The grin on Em's face when he could see me getting into the game was priceless. I immediately regretted wanting to stay home, Emmett's personality was infectious.

The next question was about the most recent perfect game in Major League Baseball, which all six of us men at the table answered in a hushed chorus.

During the first round of questions there was only one answer that I didn't know, but luckily it was about epic poetry and Bella was all over it. Of course she then proceeded to scold all of us for not having read Paradise Lost.

Even though I was getting into the trivia game, as the evening wore on, I couldn't help but see James out of the corner of my eye. He wasn't that unfortunate looking, and he walked around with a surety, a cockiness, that I could see would be appealing especially to an impressionable 18-year-old. But he seemed more like a predator than anything else, as if he was not here to enjoy an evening in a sports bar, no, he looked like an animal vigilantly stalking his prey.

I really did try to not pay attention to him, but eventually I realized that he had abandoned the man he was with earlier, and I saw him pounce on a boy who could not have been a day over 18.

As soon as the trivia game ended and we all suffered through Emmett's semi-drunken gloating celebration, I focused my attention on James entirely. I had no idea what the conversation was at the table around me, transfixed as I was on the way he was talking to the boy. He draped an arm over the boy's shoulders and leaned in to whisper into his ear. The boy's eyes grew wide and he smiled shyly up at the brown-haired hunter.

I couldn't take it anymore.

Jasper's eyes grew wide. He had been keeping tabs on me all evening, and I think he sensed the hostility that had been slowly filling me up.

"Ed? What are you doing?"

"Saving that kid's virtue," my voice was cold and hard.

If Jasper made a move to stop me, it didn't register.

I got up from the table and cracked my knuckles. I'm not sure where my boldness was coming from. With an older brother like Em, I had roughhoused a lot when I was younger, but I don't remember ever being in a real fight. The last thing I punched was a speed bag at the gym. So it was an out-of-body experience as I walked up to James, as if I were watching myself as a stranger would. I fed off that stranger's confidence.

His back was turned to me as I approached him where he sat at the bar. I tapped his shoulder.

"Excuse me," I said.

"Do I know you?" he didn't seem as irritated as I thought he should be. I realized it was because he was checking me out.

"I hear you get off on fucking virgins and then hanging them out to dry," I said.

The boy's eyes grew wide and he tried to squirm out from under the arm that James had tightened around him.

"Where'd you hear that from?"

"Your reputation precedes you. You should be flattered. You sick fuck."

He laughed at me.

"Oh yeah? Or are you just jealous that I don't want you because you're used goods."

That was enough for me.

My fist went back, like a coiled spring, and then I released it.

Luckily for me it was a bull's-eye, I hit him right in the nose and he doubled over, blood spurting out of his face. I couldn't help myself, thinking about him hitting on Jasper, kissing him and getting him into bed, so I took the opportunity to land another heavy punch to his stomach, successfully knocking the wind out of him.

I snapped out of my momentary rage, and I could feel a throbbing pain coming from my hand. Then I started to hear the bustle around me as people rushed toward us. Someone shouted, "Call the police!"

And then there were strong, unfamiliar arms restraining my own behind my back. I didn't put up a struggle.

"Care to explain this? Or do you want to wait for the police?" the bouncer gripping me tried to sound menacing.

"Call the fucking police," I spat. I glared at James. "He was going to have sex with a minor." I nodded to the boy who was standing terrified off to the side.

"Are you 18, kid?" the other bouncer asked, his voice softer than the Neanderthal holding me back.

"N- n- seventeen," his teeth were chattering.

I exhaled. Lucky fucking guess.

It was then that I noticed Jasper. He and Alice had come up and were approaching the boy, trying to reassure him. Jasper was telling him that everything was okay, that he shouldn't blame himself, and meanwhile Alice was asking if he came with any friends or if there was anyone she could call.

Even though James was a mere six feet away clutching a towel to his nose, Jasper still sensed this boy's need for someone's empathy and despite his own discomfort was providing that support. I didn't think it was possible, but it made me love him even more.

There was a flurry of activity around me while I was being restrained and it became impossible to focus my attention on Jasper. Though, as the number of people in my field of vision increased, I realized that some of the kid's friends had been located and I was grateful that he was no longer alone. I was surprised at how quickly the police arrived and took down our statements. Because of my accusations against James and the fact that the boy was 17 and in a bar, I was definitely not the person in the most amount of trouble, so the police let me go. They did, however, take down all of my contact information and threatened me about the next time I decided to get into a bar fight.

Yeah, right.

Eventually, the bartender realized that my hand was starting to swell and bleed at one of the knuckles, so he handed me some ice wrapped in a towel and went to get me some gauze from their first aid kit.

Once all the commotion died down, I was politely asked to leave the establishment and I did so without complaint. I was surprised that Emmett and everyone else filed out of the bar with me. It was only a little after midnight, but even after my profuse apologies to Emmett for ruining his birthday and my insistence that no one needed to end their evening on my account, they wouldn't hear any of it.

Someone suggested going to an all-night diner near campus, which was agreeable to me. I had gotten so caught up in the trivia game that I had only eaten a couple wings, and I needed something to distract me and calm down the adrenaline that was still surging through me. So the nine of us crowed into a booth and began perusing the sticky diner menus, making small talk about biscuits and gravy, waffles, and the merits of steak fries over shoestring fries.

After we placed our orders there was an awkward silence around the table. Finally, Emmett spoke the elephant in the room, "I didn't think you had it in you, gaywad. What was that all about?"

No one else knew the entire James story, and for all intents and purposes I didn't know him before this evening. But it wasn't my story to tell, so I decided to ease the tension I could feel emanating off Jasper.

"Queer code," I said matter-of-factly.

"What? You have a code?"

"Creepers who hit on underage boys get hit in the face," I said calmly, shrugging my shoulders.

"You know about this code too, Jazz?" Emmett was still trying to lighten the mood.

"Of course. It's in the handbook. And before you ask, the Gay Fairy leaves you a copy of it under your pillow after the first time you jerk off to Hugh Jackman."

Everyone at the table burst into laughter; Em was laughing so hard he shot coke out of his nose.

Though he had lightened the mood, Jasper remained fairly quiet for the rest of the time in the diner. After we ate, he gave me a pleading look, so I announced that we were going to beg off early. We both apologized to Emmett, but I think he understood that there was more going on than I had shared.

We rode back to Jasper and Alice's place in silence.

As soon as we entered I went into the kitchen and got a glass of water, then I took it back to the empty living room. Jasper emerged from the bathroom with a fresh bandage, sat down next to me on the sofa and silently proceeded to re-wrap my hand.

Despite the tender care he was showing to my wound, the expression on Jasper's face was completely unreadable. It was a mixture of anger and fear and pride and what seemed to me like every other emotion that could register on a human face. I knew that we should talk about this and that it wouldn't be pleasant. But Jasper and I had such a good track record of working out our problems that I hated the idea of letting this be something that caused a fissure in our relationship.

I took a deep breath, then spoke, "You're mad at me, aren't you?"

Jasper raised his eyes to meet mine, and then he took a deep breath as well.

"A little," he spoke softly but some of the anger visibly drained from his face. "I- I guess- I didn't mind that you punched James out, the fucker deserved it, and you really saved that kid from a world of regret. So I mean, part of me is proud of you, but- but- I know that you did it mostly for me, out of jealousy or redemption or something like that."

I bit my lower lip, gazed down guiltily, and nodded. He knew me so well.

"And even though you're really sexy when you're jealous," he paused, then reached out and ran his hands through my hair forcing my eyes up.

There was still conflict on his face, however, that didn't correspond with the small smile he flashed me.

He continued, "I guess I felt a little... emasculated. It's not like James was coming onto me or anything; you were trying to seek retribution for something that happened a long time ago, something that made me feel really weak and pathetic. And- and I don't like you thinking of me as weak."

He pushed himself up off the couch and started pacing back and forth across the room, but I decided I shouldn't press him.

Finally it spilled from his lips.

"And the whole thing just reminded me that- that it could have been me. Was I like that Ed? Do you remember what I was like last year? Did I look so terrified? So naïve? I don't remember him being so desperate and sad. Surely I would have noticed how pathetic he was," he paused and looked at me with a face of stone. "Edward, I have to know the truth. You didn't- don't- pity me, do you?"

I was on my feet in a second and I threw myself at him. He was so startled by the movement that he took a few steps back to steady himself with the addition of my weight. My lips were all over his in an instant, more forceful than I usually was, but I needed him to feel how strong my feelings for him were. I needed him to understand that we were equals.

Eventually I pulled away, knowing that I owed him a verbal response. I cupped his chin in my hand, letting the other rest on his arm. I needed him to look into my eyes and understand that my words were coming from an honest place.

"I have never, ever, not even for a heartbeat felt sorry for you, Jasper Hale. You were nothing like that boy. This James character just preys on the vulnerable, and you were vulnerable in a different way. Not because you were young or weak, but because you were acting out, being reckless. And just thinking about him having the nerve to try to take advantage of you when you were obviously broken, added to the idea of his lips and his hands on your body, well, I wanted to punch his lights out even before I saw him with that kid. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," I was near tears, but my words still weren't coming out quite right. "I just- he- he'll never know what an amazing man you are, and it just pissed me off knowing that someone like him exists in this world."

Jasper's gaze didn't waver even after I dropped my hand from his face. He leaned in toward me and traced my spilled tear with his thumb where it had trailed down my face. He closed the distance and gently pressed his lips to mine, taking my bottom lip between his. It was a chaste kiss, but one filled with adoration.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you, too."

And I threw my arms around his neck in a tight embrace, clinging to him as if I was drowning and he was my life raft. In so many ways he was.

Jasper laughed at me as I refused to let go even as he began walking toward his bedroom. He had to walk slowly, with me joined to him as I was, and I only let go of him as he sat down on his bed in a movement which forced me to tumble on top of him.

We were both exhausted from the evening's events and so we simply stripped down to our usual sleep attire of skivvies and crawled under the covers. Just as Jasper was reaching to turn off his lamp there was a knock on his bedroom door.

"You two decent?" Alice's voice came out from the hallway.

"Yeah, come in, Ali," Jasper called back.

She came in and hopped onto the bed at our feet, sitting Indian style as we both propped ourselves up against the pillows.

"That was the guy from the party last spring," she said simply.

Jasper nodded. I figured that he would have told Alice the story especially since she was the one who had dragged him to the party, but she and I never really talked about it. It never seemed my place to talk about Jasper in that way.

"Well, for what it's worth, I think what you did was romantic, Eddie. Stupid, but romantic."

She crawled up to the head of the bed and knelt between us, first giving me a kiss on the cheek, and then Jasper. There was a lot more she could have said or scolded me for, but it wasn't necessary. She knew we had already talked about it, so with a yawn she scooted off the bed then and headed out of the room. Reaching the doorway, she turned back toward both of us, her eyes shining with happiness and said softly,

"We should all be so lucky."

She was right.

And we were.

A/N: I hope that didn't feel like filler, because it wasn't meant to be. There is an angsty teaser of Chapter 9 posted on The Fictionators blog in their Teaser Monday section: www(dot)fictionators(dot)com. There is a host of other teasers up as well, so check it out! Such a great way to find new stories!