Dawnstar94 - Thank you! You're right, boys at school are never worth it. They are always just g.r.o.s.s

I feel bad for having to write this. I like Benvolio and don't like writing him sad. It's just this was the backstory I gave him in Child Swap and ALYN and I have to write it!

To say Romeo had been devastated would have been an understatement. He had bawled and bawled his eyes out, and then ran up to his room, slammed the door, locked the door, and continued crying. After his parents had given up, Benvolio's dad simply rolled his eyes and told Benvolio to talk some sense into his cousin.

Benvolio had talked soothingly through the keyhole. He hated Mercutio for a few moments then and there. He was so insensitive sometimes. He was careless, callous, and it was always Benvolio dealing with Romeo when Mercutio had made some crass remark or done something ruthless. Benvolio hated being torn between the two if they ever fell out, which was usually quite rare, but still, things had been right between the three for a while now...

In the end, Benvolio had left Romeo, reasoning he needed to calm down before he could be spoken too. Horrible, depressing, emo music came pounding out the speakers anyway, and there was little he could have done when Romeo was in that mood.

His dad and his annoying twin sister Beatrix had already left. His uncle and aunt were clearing up the food, complaining about Romeo's moods. Benvolio's other aunt, Isabella, was helping them. He apologized for not being able to coax Romeo out of his room, and left.

Suddenly, he felt his phone buzz. Benvolio had quite an old phone, with a really irritating need to ring and vibrate at the same time. He pulled it out and read a text.

'I need to talk to you. Meet me at the park, I'll be sitting on a bench by the entrance. Rose x'

He wondered what she needed, and tapped back a reply quickly. He pushed aside his worries about Mercutio and Romeo, and his thoughts turned to her. Maybe he could help her out instead.

It was a relief to see her thick curvy figure and wavy dark brown hair. Benvolio smiled at her. She smiled back weakly, before delivering that fatal line.

"We need to talk"

Benvolio's stomach plummeted.

"What is it? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, it's nothing to worry about, I mean..."

Her purple eyes were filled with sorrow. Benvolio usually liked to gaze into those special purple pools.

"What is it?" he asked, sitting down, turning to look at her. Her heart-shaped lips quivered.

"I just want to say first...you've been a really sweet caring boyfriend and I have been very lucky"

"What's going on?"

Benvolio's heart sped up. He felt the pounds against his chest, and a tight twisted difficult knot forming between his stomach and lungs.

"I...I've met someone, and I want to be with him now"

Benvolio's eyes blurred, and he knew that if he wasn't careful, the hot liquid would pour down his cheeks. 'Be cool,' he told himself, 'don't do a Romeo meltdown...'

"Who is it?" Benvolio managed to choke out, although he knew who it was. Of course he knew who it was. There was only one person it could be. A certain bitchy blond ballet dancer, who spoke in a hideously and unnaturally high girly tenor...

"Gabriel...I love him. He's so...different, and so brave. I've never met anyone like him, he's beautiful. He cares so deeply about animals, and I agree...he's passionate about the things he cares about...like vegetarianism, dancing, and how men should be allowed to like girly things in this day and age. And he's simply one of the sweetest boys I've ever met...he doesn't leave the toilet seat up or talk about football and jerking off all the time..."

"I don't talk about football and jerking off!" cried Benvolio. It was a stupid thing to protest about as he was being dumped, but it was the first thing that sprung into his mind.

"But those friends of yours do" replied Rose. She looked just as upset as Benvolio, but went on "I get on with his friends really well, I love him, I honestly do. I'm really sorry, Benvolio. I hope we can still be friends"

"I...I..."

"Perhaps you need some time to think it over?" Rose proposed. Benvolio just looked at her, and then he heard some high-pitched snickering behind him. He turned around, to see the boy himself, lounging against a nearby tree.

"Hello and goodbye. Time to run along home" sang Gabriel. He gloated, smug self-satisfaction written all over that feminine face.

Benvolio jumped up, took one last look at her, turned on his heel, and fled. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he ran. He must have looked a pathetic sight to the passersby. When he got home, he slammed the door, and started the long route to his bedroom.

"Benvolio! There you are. Did you coax Romeo out at all?" asked Anthony, moving into view. He caught sight of his son's tears "Hey, what's the matter?"

"Go away!" sobbed Benvolio, storming past him, and running into his room. He slammed shut the door, shoved his armchair against it so he wouldn't be interrupted, then threw off his shoes, slamming them against the floor one by one. He ripped off his glasses, and so the world turned into a blurred hazy mess. Then he turned, suddenly tender, and fell on his bed.

He cried for a while. How could Rose do this to him? His whole body and mind swirled with hurt. He thought she loved him. He'd told her secrets, stuff he hadn't even told Mercutio and Romeo, how he'd felt after the death of his mother. She'd been the first person who'd actually listened in the same way Benvolio liked to think he did to others. And she'd left him for Gabriel Fulgencio, of all people! The boy was a cheap lousy slut, related to a cruel social climbing manipulative tart, who was dating evil bullying Tybalt...

Now he knew how Romeo felt. Sure, his hurt was genuine rather than irritating attention-seeking, but he felt everything Romeo had described. Maybe he and his cousin were a lot more alike than they'd thought.

Tears bled down Benvolio's face, and he just let them dry. Anthony and Beatrix just left him alone. His dad was rubbish at comforting people anyway, and so he probably didn't want to bother with any empty meaningless attempts to coax it out of him. They weren't close, and Benvolio didn't even want to talk to him. He wanted to talk to someone who would listen.

But Rose wasn't there anymore.

As the room grew dark, he only had enough energy to get and close the curtains, before crawling under the duvet, and crying some more.