Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer rights apply.

Warning:Updates will most definitely be slow. Sorry, guys.
This contains SLASH, in other words: same sex couples. It also contains drug use, violence, sexual situations, and MAY contain a(n OC) death. This story is marked for mature readers only, please treat it as such.

Pairings: Will be sporadic, and a surprise. I'm not ruining the story by telling you end pairings.

Beta'd By: Sarah2437 (Thank you for your hard work!)

Getting Back Together Again

Chapter XXVIII - Hooking Up Is Harder Sober

Bumlets woke up to a raging headache despite the fact that he had yet to even open his eyes. "Holy hell, what the fuck did I do last night?" he muttered to himself as he turned over.

"Who did you do, that's a better question," a voice answered from behind him.

Bumlets shot straight up in bed, knocking his head on the top bunk of the bunk bed he had apparently slept in last night. He ignored the fact that the pain in his head had just doubled as he looked quickly around a room he had never been in that contained three guys he had never seen before, all in their boxers. "Wha-?" was all he managed to get out as his stomach dropped in dread at the implication.

"Don't let him tease you," the youngest looking boy said, coming forward to squeeze his knee. "You were fantastic. I had a wonderful time."

"What the fuck, Gadget?" asked the guy who had yet to speak. "You are not allowed to joke about having sex with dudes!"

The boy, Gadget, crossed his arms as he glared at the older man. "Who the hell said I was joking?"

"And are you saying there's something wrong with being gay?" the third guy broke in. "That's very bigoted of you." He crossed his own arms as he stuck his nose in the air. "Exactly what I would expect from a Catholic."

"What's bigoted is that sentence, you-" he snapped angrily before shaking his head and sighing. "Shut the fuck up, Hunter, you aren't helping anything." He frowned at the ground a beat before glaring back up at the other man. "Get the fuck out of here, why don't you, and go find Spot. We need to know what the fuck we're doing about this," he said, jerking his head in Bumlets direction.

"Doing about what?" Bumlets asked, rubbing his head. He swung his feet off the bed only to freeze and pull the covers over his lap when he realized all he was wearing were boxers. What the fuck had he done last night?

The man who had initially spoke, Hunter, leered at him. "We saw it all last night, sweetie, no need to be modest now."

Bumlets colored as the younger boy nodded his head, but he kept focused on the matter at hand; he'd figure the rest out later "What do you have to do about me?" he asked again, looking around the room slower this time. "Where's Bam?" he asked when it became clear the other boy wasn't around.

"Bam," Hunter started with a smirk, "is upstairs with the big boss learning exactly why people shouldn't bring outsiders here." He sat down next to Bumlets on the bed and threw his arm around him. "Last time I brought somebody up here I had to kill the poor lass, you know."

"Hunter, don't scare him," the other man snapped. "And who the fuck says 'lass'? You suddenly Irish or some shit? Get the fuck out of here and go check on Bam."

Hunter just snorted. "Ha, yeah, right, I'm totally on that," he replied with an eye roll. "Bossman was pissed. No way I'm getting anywhere near that!"

"You're talking about Sean, right?" Bumlets asked as he scooted away from Hunter on the bed. "Listen, I-"

"Woo-hoo-hoo!" Hunter replied in a half laugh/half whistle. "Man, you are definitely going to have to die now. Who knew a little bit of dick would turn Bam into a loud mouth?"

Bumlets kicked Hunter off the bed, making sure to keep a firm hold on the blankets so his lap would still be covered. "Shut the fuck up, you asshole. Bam didn't tell me anything," he snapped before looking up at the other guy in the room that looked about his age. He immediately let the rage drain out of him. "Listen, I know Sean from school," he tried to explain. "We're friends."

"Oh, that's definitely not right," Hunter replied from the floor. "Bossdude doesn't have friends, and you better hope he didn't hear you say that or he'll kill you even more."

"You can't kill someone more than killing them, you idiot," Gadget said, rolling his eyes. "We're either going to kill him or torture him. Once he's dead he's dead. You can't make someone more dead, dumbass."

"Gadget, you're not fucking helping anything," the third man spoke up as he saw Bumlets's face paling. "We might not even do either one. It's not for us to decide, remember. It's up to Spot"

"Oh, we're definitely doing one or the other," Hunter replied, getting up from the floor just to hop onto his own bed. "You notice how pissed off he's been lately? And then Bam didn't bring Jack back last night and instead brought this clown," he explained, jerking a thumb in Bumlets's direction. "Somebody's definitely getting tortured and killed."

"Jesus, what the fuck are you telling him, you dumbass?" a new guy asked from the doorway. He was the first person Bumlets had seen since he had woken up that was actually dressed.

"Where the fuck is Bam?" Bumlets interrupted, his face fixed in a frown as he got up from the bed and wrapped the sheet around himself. "I want to see him right fucking now," he demanded, striding over to the other boy. "Or so help me, I'll-"

"You have no idea how much that turns me on," Bam interrupted, pushing past the guy standing in the doorway so he could enter the room. He smirked as he looked around the room. "What did I tell you guys? He's a fucking caveman."

"Always knew you were a fucking twink," Hunter muttered.

Bam immediately picked a book off the floor and threw it in his direction as he whirled onto him. "Take that fucking back before I rip out your fucking eyes and replace them with your balls, you sack of shit."

"Fucking enough!" the man shouted from the doorway. "Hunter, Speed, Gadget, get the fuck out of here," he ordered. "Spot's not in the mood to look at your ugly faces today."

"Yeah, yeah, figured that would happen," Speed muttered, heading for a dresser that seemed to need the wall in order to stay upright. "Lemme just get my pants."

"No, now. Get the fuck out," the other boy replied immediately. "Seriously," he said as everyone in the room simply looked at him. "Have you noticed how bad of a mood Spot's been in lately? He said he wants the room cleared immediately, so I'd fucking suggest you do it."

"I'm fucking in my boxers," Speed griped even as he grabbed Gadget's shoulder and walked them both to the door.

Hunter followed behind, pausing as he passed by the other boy to look him up and down. "You suddenly not up for relieving tensions anymore?" he scoffed. "Or has Spot finally found someone else?" He smirked when all the other guy did was glare at him. "Found someone else," he muttered from underneath a snort. He smirked as he turned back to look in front of him. "Called it!" he sang out as he headed for the door.

"It's no wonder he doesn't want to deal with you fucking imbeciles!" the boy snapped from the doorway before walking into the room and closing the door behind him. He let his eyes drift from Bumlets to Bam before he let out a sigh. "I don't think I need to explain to you what a big deal this is-"

"Yes, you do," Bumlets muttered as he sat down on the bed and frowned. "How the fuck do you expect me to know what's going on? Were there supposed to be instructions somewhere or some shit?"

Bam tried and failed to hold back a laugh.

Slingshot gave them both a pointed look. "I don't have to tell you what a big deal this is because Spot will be in here soon enough to drill that fact into your hard fucking skulls. And let's just hope he doesn't decide to do that part literally."

"Oh, he won't," a voice said from the top bunk across the room.

All three boys jumped before Slingshot started cursing.

"God fucking damn it, Stealth! When I said everyone needed to leave you didn't think that fucking meant you?"

Bam and Bumlets shared a look after several seconds when it became clear Stealth wasn't going to answer.

"Stealth's ..." Bam tried to explain to his date before he was interrupted.

"Spot left to go find Jack," Stealth finally explained. "He doesn't care about Bam's date."

Slingshot ran a hand through his hair. "Then what the fuck am I supposed to do with these two?" he snapped, waving his hand in Bam's and Bumlets's direction. He waited half a minute for a response that didn't come. "God damn it, Stealth," he hissed under his breath before turning to Bam. "What the fuck am I supposed to do with you?"

"I'm kind of hungry," Bam replied with a shrug. "You could offer to make us breakfast?"

Blink turned over in his sleep and burrowed into the body next to him. It was when the mysterious body stiffened that he realized something was off. He immediately shot up and looked down at the person next to him.

"M-mush?" he stuttered out as he slowly took stock of their surroundings. "Wha-what the fuck happened? Why the hell are you naked? Why the hell am I naked? Why are we on your kitchen floor?"

"I think the more important question is 'why are we both covered in semen?'," Mush answered back calmly.

Blink's eyes widened. "Th-there's s-semen?" He dropped his head into his hands before running them through his hair. "Holy fuck, what did I do?" he grated out. He could hear his pulse beating through his veins as he tried and failed to stop from panicking. "Oh, fuck," he declared as he leapt up and started pacing the kitchen, suddenly ignorant of the fact that he wasn't wearing any clothes. "This is like one of those PSA's from the 1940's about the dangers of having a gay friend." Blink ran his hands through his hair again as he kept up the pacing. "Like, 'don't have a fucking faggot for a best friend because the minute you're vulnerable they're going to try to have sex with you, because that's how all gay men are.' And I just became that. That's me now. Holy fuck. Holy fucking shit."

"You aren't a …" Mush cringed from just thinking about saying it. "You aren't the f-word, Blink," he settled on saying as he stood up himself and grabbed his friend's shoulder to force him to stop his pacing. "Clearly neither of us remember what happened last night. I don't think you took advantage of me."

Blink pulled away from his friend. "What the hell else do you think could have happened?" he asked, flinging his arms out in an attempt to let out some of the energy that seemed to be accumulating in his chest. "I don't know if you've forgotten this, but you aren't gay, Mush. So how could you have possibly taken advantage of me? And, clearly, you know, being straight, you didn't want this, which means I did everything, and that means I-" Blink's voice cracked as he tried to finish the thought. "It means I-" his voice cracked again as tears ran down his cheeks. "Fuck," he grit out, running his hands through his hair yet again. "Fuck, I can't believe-"

"Blink, you didn't do anything," Mush said, ignoring the fact they still had yet to put on any clothes and pulling his friend into a hug. "You didn't take advantage of me," he repeated. "I know it."

"Of course I did," Blink answered, pulling away. "How else do you explain this? And you can't know anything if you don't remember any of it! So you can't-"

"Look at us," Mush interrupted, gesturing to both their torsos. "Maybe it's different for you, but when I masturbate I don't leave this much … um …" Mush colored as he thought about it, but pressed on. "I don't leave this much behind. Like, at all."

Blink stared at his best friend for several seconds before looking down at both their chests. "So, you think this thing ... " He looked back up at Mush. "You're saying you think this was mutual?" he asked in a small but hopeful voice.

Mush nodded before he shrugged. "It'd certainly make the most sense, don't you think?"

"So … so you don't think I … you don't think I …"

"I don't think you raped me," Mush replied with a shake of his head and a small smile on his face. "You don't have it in you Blink. I know you don't. If I would have said 'no' or told you I was uncomfortable, you would have stopped. So, I must not have said 'no' or been uncomfortable," he explained with a shrug.

Blink gave a great sigh before running his hands through his hair again. "But you're straight," he argued. "Straight people aren't okay with sleeping with their male best friends."

Mush just shrugged. "So, maybe I'm not straight then."

Blink went back to simply staring at his friend. "Mush, you can't just change your orientation like that. That's not the way it works."

Mush shrugged again. "Why not? It's my orientation."

"It doesn't matter if it's yours or not," Blink tried to explain, running his hands through his hair once again as he tried his best to approach the issue calmly. "You can't just - you can't just do that."

Mush grabbed his friend's shoulder before he could start pacing again. "You're kind of having a nervous breakdown, Blink," he pointed out. "How about we put on some clothes and go out for some breakfast and just process all this, okay?"

Blink sighed again. "I'm having a nervous breakdown, and you've clearly gone into shock," he replied before picking up his shirt from the floor.

"Do you want to borrow some of my clothes?"

Blink immediately started shaking his head.

"... Because I'm pretty sure everything we were wearing yesterday has cum on it," Mush finished explaining.

Blink immediately dropped his shirt before he nodded his head. "Right, yeah, it'd be nice if I could borrow some clothes. And maybe I could use the shower?"

Itey groaned as he woke up and remembered the night before. He had let Skittery off easily again. He wanted to fucking punch himself.

Tell me when you're sober.

God, he was fucking pathetic.

Tell me I'm worth it. Tell me you love me. Tell me you care about me. Tell me you miss me. Tell me you want me back.

God, he really was a god damn fucking damsel, wasn't he?

But that was all he needed to bring this whole thing back to being open-ended with Skittery. Even though Itey knew he was fucking wasted when he said it. And even though Itey knew he was only saying it in order to compete against Sarah.

What had Itey told him? Not 'Go fuck yourself', not 'Sorry, you're too late', not 'I don't believe you', not 'You don't deserve me', not 'I found someone better than you.'.

No, he'd told him 'Tell me when you're sober.'

Jesus.

Itey sighed as he climbed out of bed in search of some pants. And now, he had to call Sarah and tell her what happened. Tell her that despite how adamant he had been that he was going to cut Skittery off he had, in fact, done the exact opposite of that.

And why the hell had he fucking done that? Because Skittery certainly didn't seem to have any type of fucking problem with cutting and running.

Skittery came and went as he pleased, and while he'd gotten angry about what was transpiring between them, he certainly had never seemed heartbroken. And, while Itey had been happy enough projecting his own emotions on Skittery and pretending that was enough, he couldn't do it anymore. And he certainly couldn't coddle him for the rest of their lives.

So, he'd try again. He'd call Sarah, explain the situation, and promise to try harder the next time. She'd understand, because she was an understanding person, and because she actually liked him and cared for his overall well being. And that was just more proof that Sarah was a better match for him than Skittery.

He certainly wasn't a masochist, after all.

"You fucking idiots want to wake the fuck up?" a voice asked. David pried his eyes open to see Sean glaring down at him. He immediately scrambled back and ran into Jack, who had just started to wake up himself.

David looked around, making sure he was in his room like he had thought he'd been last night. "How-how did you get in here?" he asked before looking towards his open window. "My bedroom' two stories up."

"Yeah, so it was fucking easy," Spot snapped before leaning over David to smack Jack in the back of the head. "Oy, Jackie-Boy, time to wake the fuck up and go home. This sleep over's done."

"Sleep over?" Jack muttered as he sat up in bed and rubbed an eye. "Who's sleeping over?"

"You said you didn't want to go to Brooklyn," David explained, looking between both boys before deciding to get out of bed even though he was only wearing boxers. "So, I said you could sleep here, as long as you were quiet." He pulled on the first pants he found. "Which, in retrospect, was probably not the best move on my part. My parents have-"

"Wait, what the fuck do you mean 'as long as I was quiet'?" Jack asked, getting out of bed himself and frowning when he noticed he was only wearing boxers as well. He quickly walked over to David and swiped the shirt he was about to put on. "Why the fuck wouldn't I be quiet?" he asked loudly.

"Because you were drunk, Jack," David said as he grabbed his shirt back and quickly pulled it over his head. "And you're hardly being quiet now," he pointed out in a loud whisper.

"And where the fuck are my clothes?"

"They're on the dresser," David replied, pointing at them before shooting a glance towards his closed bedroom door. "Would you please quiet down? My parents-"

"So absolutely nothing happened last night, right?" Jack asked as he strode to the dresser and started stepping into his pants. "Like, nothing gay, right?"

David frowned at him as he crossed his arms. "I don't know, depends on what your definition of gay is. If you mean 'Did I jump your bones because I'm too attracted to you and couldn't contain myself', then, no, nothing gay went on. But it by 'gay' you mean 'Did I cry all night and complain about having no friends or family', then, yes, something gay went on."

"Wait, what?" Jack replied over Spot's snort. He stared at David with wide eyes as he froze midway into putting on his shirt. "That didn't happen," he quickly replied, shaking his head. "I don't remember that."

"Yeah, I wouldn't imagine you would, because, like I said before, you were really drunk last night," David explained. "You have to at least remember telling me about your parents."

Jack stared at David with wide eyes. "What the fuck did I tell you about my my parents?"

David matched Jack's look as he realized he had walked into a subject he shouldn't have brought up. Jack had trusted him, after all, and, even though he hadn't meant to, David felt like he had just broken that trust. At the moment, he couldn't do much more than shrug at the other teen. "Nothing-" he cut himself off with a wince. He'd always had trouble lying. "Nothing bad," he finally decided on saying.

"Jesus, fuck, what did I tell you?" Jack asked, his voice growing high-pitched.

"My fucking god, who the fuck cares?" Sean interrupted. "Nobody gives a fuck about your deadbeat parents. Can you just drop it so we can go home?"

"I think that's a little uncalled for," David said, turning to address Sean as he stepped in between him and Jack.

Jack put his hand on David's shoulder before he stepped forward. "Nah, Davey, it's fine," he assured the other boy with a shrug. "Home doesn't sound like such a bad idea. I've got some things I need to take care of over there any way."

"Fucking finally," Spot muttered before walking towards the window. "Hurry the fuck up then. If those little assholes've drank all the coffee before we get back I'm placing you solely responsible," he said before jumping out the window.

Jack rolled his eyes as he went to follow him. "It's always gotta be the fucking window," he muttered. He turned back to David. "You're not going to … I mean, I didn't tell you anything last night, so there's nothing to tell anyone else, right?" He shifted nervously as he waited for a response.

Eventually David blinked before nodding. "Right. No, of course i won't tell anyone," he promised.

Jack nodded back as he breathed a sigh of relief. "Right. 'Course not. You aren't the type. Thanks for putting me up and shit. You know," he said with a shrug before mimicking Spot's move and disappearing from David's view.

David stood frozen for several seconds. He lived on the second story! Still, there was a pretty big part of him that was glad they didn't have to leave through the front door. With any luck he wouldn't have to explain anything to his parents.

"It's fine, Itey," Sarah said, once again sighing into the phone. "I already told you I wasn't expecting-"

"I know it wasn't what you were expecting!" Itey interrupted from the other end of the line. "That's why it was so important that I did it right. And I didn't, and I know that. But I will. Get it right, that is. I'm going to go talk to Skittery, and then, I promise, this whole thing will be over."

Sarah sighed again. "I don't doubt that," she admitted. "But I don't think this is going to go the way you want it to go. Or say you want it to go. Because I don't think you really want Skittery to give up on you."

"Of course I do!" Itey argued. "Sarah, Skittery's been nothing but problems. You're so much better. And I like you. I really do. I don't understand why you don't believe me!"

Sarah sighed again as she sat down on her bed. "It's not that I don't believe you," she explained. "I just … I also know how you feel about Skittery. … Felt about Skittery," she corrected when Itey started to interrupt. "And it doesn't just go away in a few days, Itey!" she continued. "You can lie to yourself all you want, but eventually you're going to have to face it."

"You can't just decide this for me," Itey snapped back. He sighed through the phone. "Look, whether or not I like him isn't the question. He's not good for me. We can both agree on that, can't we? It's better for me to cut it off."

"Itey, you can't just decide to stop liking someone," Sarah replied. She sighed again; she was getting well and truly fed up with this conversation. "What you think you should do, and what you want to do are two different things. So, I'm sorry if I find it difficult to believe that this isn't going to work out when you go against what you actually want to do."

"So you're saying I should just go ahead and date Skittery? So I can go through this all over again in a few months?" Itey snapped. "I've already been through this, Sarah. Skittery and I have already broken up over this very thing. And we got back together, and, sure, it was better than it used to be. For a little while. But then it went right back to the way it was before, and now we're doing it all over again. That's the cycle you want me to follow?"

"No!" Sarah replied, her frustration growing by the second. ""But what I am saying is that you shouldn't rush into things! Your choice isn't between me and Skittery! It's between Skittery and nothing. Do you understand that?"

"What? Why?" Itey replied quickly. "What'd I do wrong? I don't understand. I thought we were having a good time. What happened?"

"Nothing happened, Itey," Sarah promised, sighing once more. "I've been telling you this! You just haven't been listening! You can't just decide to change how you feel about someone, and then do it the next day! These things take time! Usually a long time. And I'm not going to constantly battle Skittery for your attention."

"And I'm telling you that's not going to happen!" Itey argued back, his own frustration growing. "I'm going to talk to him. I'm going to tell him to back off! I'm going to tell him I'm not interested! Because I want to be with you!"

"I realize that, and I want to be with you, too," Sarah replied. "But you can't just-"

"So what's the problem then?" Itey interrupted. "I'm going to tell him I'm not interested, and he's going to back off. You don't have to compete with him, Sarah. I promise, okay?"

Sarah sighed again, resting a hand on her forehead. "Let's just deal with one thing at a time, okay, Itey? If you want to tell Skittery you aren't interested then I support it. But you can't do it if you're doing it because dating me is the end result. You have to do it because you want to do it."

"Of course I want to do it, Sarah!" Itey swore. "I just need to talk to Skittery and then-"

"So talk to him then," Sarah replied. "Let me know how it goes, okay? But I've gotta go, alright? I've got plans, and I still need to shower, and eat, and, you know, I have to get ready. So, I'll talk to you soon, okay? Bye, Itey." She hung up the phone without giving him a chance to reply. She stared at her wall for a full minute, gathering up her composure. At this point, she didn't care how it actually ended, she was just looking forward to it ending.

She had lied about having plans; she just couldn't keep hearing promises she was certain wouldn't be kept, while at the same time having the hope that they would. She quickly dialed a new number. Despite the fact that her plans were a lie, now she needed some. She didn't think she could get through the day without some distraction.

Jack and Spot had been walking back to Brooklyn in what Jack would call companionable silence before Spot saw fit to ruin it. First, it was just a snort, which would have been fine, but then he went on to talk.

"Miss your mommy and daddy, then, do ya, Jack?"

Jack had been expecting some sort of insult, and quickly went on the defensive. "Yeah? So?" he snapped. "I don't think it's unheard of to miss parents that you haven't seen for years, do you?"

"Unheard of? No, probably not," Sean answered back with a shrug. He let silence reign for half a minute (allowing Jack to calm down) before he continued. "It is pretty pathetic though."

"Like you would know anything about it!" Jack exclaimed, immediately angry again. He halted his walking so he could glare at the other boy. "I wouldn't expect you to understand; you're completely heartless. But there are some people left on earth that actually care about things, you know."

Spot rolled his eyes, not bothering to stop walking. "Yes, you are absolutely right. I see the error of my ways now. In fact, I miss my parents, too. So, if you want, when we get back home we can go to my room and have a good cry about it together. Maybe while we hug?"

"You aren't funny," Jack muttered, sending a dark scowl to Sean's back before hurrying to catch up. He had no doubt that Sean would leave him there, and he was still having trouble finding his new home by himself.

Spot just shrugged again, ignorant to the glares that were being shot at him. "Wasn't trying to be funny there, Jackie-Boy. I was trying to be belittling."

"Mission fucking accomplished," Jack replied through clenched teeth. "I'm surprised no one's tried to shoot you in the fucking back yet."

"Who says they haven't?" Spot answered as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "It never matters; I can handle a couple bullet wounds."

"There is something seriously wrong with you," Jack muttered back.

"There's something seriously wrong with you not coming home and Bam bringing home some fucking slut," Sean replied. "You want to explain to me what the fuck you were thinking last night?"

Jack shrugged despite the fact that Sean wasn't looking at him. "No one told me I had a curfew. I don't understand the big deal."

That made Sean stop walking. He spun around to face Jack. "The problem is that I specifically told you to stay with Bam," he snapped. "And, unless I'm somehow mistaken, it wasn't Bam you woke up next to this morning."

"Well, no, but-"

"That's the fucking problem," Sean interrupted, glaring at Jack.

"Right, but-"

"What if something had fucking happened?" he interrupted again. "What if he'd been jumped? Or you'd been mugged? What the fuck were you even thinking?"

Jack stared at him for several seconds with an open mouth before he rediscovered words. "You were … worried?" he asked, squinting his eyes in disbelief.

Spot glared at him before turning back around and continuing the journey into Brooklyn. "And now there's some fucking slut-stranger in my god damn house that I had to leave there because you decided to go off and be a slut yourself. Jesus fuck, I don't understand why you assholes can't just keep it in your pants for a night."

"Woah, woah, wait a minute," Jack demanded, rushing to catch up to Spot so they were walking side by side. "I didn't have sex with David! He said so himself; you heard him! And you don't need to worry about Bumlets, he's-"

"Who?" Spot interrupted, turning so he could flash Jack with a glare.

Jack rolled his eyes. "The slut Bam brought home. Jesus, you hang out with him at school. How the fuck do you not know his name?"

"Why the fuck would I need to know his name?"

"So when I call him by his name I don't then have to explain who the fuck he is," Jack snapped. He shook his head and sighed. "Anyway, I promise he's fine. No danger to anyone, okay?"

"Right, that's believable," Spot answered, rolling his eyes.

"I've known the guy practically my whole life! He's trustworthy!" Jack insisted, grabbing Spot's arm to halt his walking.

Spot immediately reached up to smack him in the back of the head. "Don't fucking touch me," he commanded, ripping his arm away before continuing to walk. "I'll take what you said under advisement. Now shut up and let me think."

Jack waited a full two minutes before talking again. "Are we seriously walking all the way to fucking Brooklyn?"

"Yes."

"But why-?"

Spot stopped walking again, whirling around to glare at Jack once more. "So I can calm the fuck down and not kill everyone of you stupid idiots as soon as I get home," he snapped before spinning back around and continuing on.

"You do not do 'worried' very well, do you?" Jack muttered to himself before following along behind.

"Maybe we thought we were on fire last night because we were so drunk, and we took our clothes off in order to save our lives," Mush suggested as soon as he swallowed his bite of hashbrowns.

"That's the most unbelievable reason yet," Blink answered with a sigh. He rubbed at his forehead, content to ignore the breakfast in front of him. "How do you explain the semen then?"

"It was to put out the fire?"

Blink couldn't help but snort at that. "I guess it's good that fire turns me on so much, then, huh? Who knew it would save our lives one day?"

"It only works on magical fire though," Mush explained with a straight face. "You know, the kind of fire that can't burn clothes."

Blink sighed and rubbed at his forehead again. "I don't think so, Mush," he replied. "We both know what really happened. I-"

"We had sex," Mush interrupted, not wanting his friend to blame himself for anything. "Or, if not sex, then sexual acts, at least," he amended before taking a sip of his orange juice.

"Right," Blink agreed, feeling absolutely none of his guilt abate. "And I'm sorry about all of it. I know you haven't done anything like that, you know, at all, with anyone, and …" He dropped his face into his hands as the guilt became too much for him yet again.

Mush just shrugged. "I haven't done anything with anyone because I never wanted to," he reasoned. "I think that yesterday I wanted to."

"Yesterday you were drunk," Blink answered, head still buried in his hands.

"That doesn't mean it didn't happen," Mush pointed out, now ignoring his breakfast just as his friend was.

"I know that!" Blink exclaimed, finally looking up at his friend. "You don't think I don't know that? That's the worst part of this whole thing!"

"Blink," Mush started, looking at his friend with a frown. "Do you regret what happened?"

"Of course I do!" Blink burst out. "Why the hell wouldn't I? Don't you?"

Mush shrugged again. "No," he answered simply.

Blink gaped at his friend. "Well, why the hell not?" he snapped. "Do you even understand what happened last night?"

"Yes, I think I put it together, thanks," Mush replied as he stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "I'm trying to say that I enjoyed it. Otherwise we wouldn't have kept going."

"You were drunk, Mush," Blink pointed out, his agitation growing. "Of course you would enjoy it drunk."

"And because I enjoy something drunk that means I'm not allowed to enjoy it sober?" Mush asked, glaring at his best friend as his own frustration started showing through.

"No! That's not what I'm saying! What I'm saying is-!" he said angrily just to cut himself off. "Wait," he continued, his voice suddenly emotionless. "What are you saying?"

Mush shrugged. "I'm saying I might want to try it again sober," he said, careful to avoid looking his friend in the eye.

"You're straight."

"You're focusing on that again? Is my sexual orientation the only thing stopping you from doing it again?" Mush interrupted.

"What? No! Yes! Maybe!" Blink answered quickly before staring at his friend with wide eyes. He dropped his head into his hands. "Fuck, Mush, this is a lot to drop on a guy."

Mush nodded as he laughed. "How do you think I feel? I've gotta experience it all first hand."

"Have you even thought about how you're going to explain this to Boss?" Slingshot asked Bam with a sigh as he slid some scrambled eggs onto Bumlets's plate.

Bam just shrugged as he bit into a piece of toast. "Figured I'd just leave that one to you."

Slingshot raised an eyebrow. "You're joking me," he said after several seconds of silence. "Bam, you've gotta realize how serious this is," he said, turning around to make some more toast.

Bam just shrugged again. "Not really," he admitted. "Jack blabbed about everything long before I brought Bumlets here, and he told me himself he'd already guessed at most of it anyway-"

"I did?" Bumlets interrupted, looking up from where he had been staring down at his plate. "I don't remember that," he admitted with a frown.

Bam put a hand on his shoulder. "Well, you ended up pretty drunk, sweetheart," he answered quietly before turning back to Slingshot. "So, I didn't tell him anything he didn't already know. Can't imagine Spot'll be that upset. He brought in a nongang member himself not too long ago."

Slingshot's hand slipped and he ended up dropping a piece of bread on the floor. "You had better leave that last one out of your argument," he demanded with a snap. "And you should know that Spot's concern is with keeping us all safe. It's not a punishment thing."

Bam just rolled his eyes, taking a sip of coffee "I know that, Mom. But, honestly, he can't be too concerned about covering us up if it's so easy for someone he's going to school with to pick up who he is. He can't just go around doing whatever the hell he wants and then blame me when it's his actions that've gotten us screwed."

"Bam!" Slingshot exclaimed, spinning around to face him as he shot a quick glance towards the entryway into the kitchen. "Watch your fucking mouth," he demanded in a hiss.

Bam slammed his coffee mug on the table as he glared across the room at Slingshot. "You know, there was a time when you were the one calling Spot on all his bullshit! Guess his dick's made you nice and complacent, huh?" he asked, jerking up from his chair. "This is such bullshit. I didn't do anything wrong!" he declared before catching Bumlets by his armpit and jerking the other boy up as well. "We're leaving. Let's go, Bumlets."

"Wait, what?" Bumlets replied, his eyes wide as he tried to swipe some toast as he was dragged away. "God damn it, I'm hungry!" he complained, already too far away to reach anything on his plate. "Why the fuck is everyone making such a big deal out of this? I'm not going to fucking tell anyone, you paranoid bastards."

"It's a big deal because people who don't belong to the gang aren't allowed to be around gang business!" Slingshot explained in a loud voice. "And this little bastard knows that!" he said, pointing at Bam. "And now he's angry because he just figured out he can't get away with doing it!"

"Yeah, well, rules were meant to be broken!" Bam declared back just as loud, still holding on to Bumlets.

"Don't I know it," Spot's calm voice came from the doorway. He walked into the kitchen, Jack following behind him. He walked over to the table and swiped Bumlets toast, taking a large bite of it as everyone else in the room silently watched him.

"That was mine, you bastard," Bumlets muttered

Spot immediately focused on him, walking over in two strides. "Oh, was it? My apologies," he said, extending the toast to him just to drop it on the floor as soon as Bumlets reached for it. "Still want it?" he asked before stomping on it with his foot and stepping back to address everyone in the room. "I'm all for breaking rules," he explained before turning to glare at Bam. "But not if they're my rules."

Bam immediately took up protest. "But it's not as if-"

"Sit down, Bam," Spot interrupted. "And stop trying to talk Slingshot into being argumentative; I just got him to stop."

Bam nodded solemnly before doing as directed, pulling Bumlets to him as he did so.

"Slingshot? Jack?" Spot asked, jerking his head to the door as soon as he got their attention. "Private conversation. Get the fuck out."

Slingshot nodded before turning off the stove under his half-done eggs and heading towards the door. He grabbed Jack along the way, making sure to frown at him so he knew Bam wasn't the only one in trouble.

Spot watched them leave before heading for the stove and grabbing the pan off it. "How'd you get Sling to cook?" he asked as he went over to the table and sat down. He stole Bam's fork as he started eating the half-cooked eggs.

Bumlets winced at what could only be Sean blatantly trying to get salmonella, but Bam didn't seem perturbed in the slightest.

"I swear I didn't tell Bumlets anything," Bam started, leaning forward in his seat to get closer to Spot.

Spot immediately stopped eating to push his head back. "Don't get all whiney about it," he demanded before getting back to the task of eating. "Plus, he's fine. Jack vouched for him."

Bam knocked his boss's hand away from the pan. "There's not a bit of that sentence that made any sense," he snapped, glaring at his boss.

"Yeah," Bumlets agreed, leaning forward himself. Spot sent him a glare for getting into his personal space that went largely ignored. "Jack would never vouch for me."

"Who gives a fuck whether he would or not?" Bam snapped out before glaring at Spot. "What the fuck does it even matter? He's still wet behind the ears. And, yet, somehow, for some reason his opinion is worth more than mine? What the fucking hell? I've been with you since the beginning, and-"

Spot didn't seem perturbed by all of Bam's yelling. He just shrugged before calmly replying. "I vouched for him, too, of course."

Bam quickly looked between Bumlets and Spot before bursting into a smile. He looked back at Spot with bright eyes. "Does that mean I can keep him?"

Spot just shrugged and nodded before getting up and tossing the pan in the sink.

"Wait, you can't just claim a person like that!" Bumlets exclaimed, jerking up from his chair to avoid Bam's hug.

"But Spot said I could!"

Sean rolled his eyes before quickly striding out the door. He really had no desire to see what came next in whatever demented relationship Bam was adamant in creating with the other boy.

It was harder for Sarah to find someone to hang out with than she had thought. She didn't understand why she always had too many friends whenever she had a test to study for, but absolutely zero friends when she actually needed to hang out with someone. Still, she left her house, unable to stand it in her room any longer.

She wasn't used to this much anxiety. Not since she'd been a freshman and had the displeasure of dating Masson, anyway. After that she had grown more confident, and taught herself not to overexert herself for a guy ever again.

But Itey seemed to be putting a wrench into those works. She liked him. She really did. But she knew that whatever was going on between them wouldn't last. Either he would go back to Skittery or he would grow tired of her not being Skittery. She had seen enough teen romance dramas on television to know that the rebound never worked out.

And yet, here she was, allowing herself to become a rebound.

She walked around Central Park and mourned her pitiful circumstances before she finally ran into someone she knew. "Swifty?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Sarah!" Swifty exclaimed back, his eyes getting brighter as a smile grew across his face. "What're you doing here? Don't you cheerleaders usually go shopping on Sundays or some shit?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "All cheerleaders except the ones that insist on going out with druggies, or so I've been told multiple times. But it's fine. I appreciate the time by myself," she lied. She quickly changed the subject as Swifty's smile fell slightly and he turned to walk away. "So what brings you out here?"

Swifty shrugged at her. "Bad gambling decisions," he finally replied in a low mutter. "Two fucking in a row, too, if you can believe it," he continued, his mutter growing in volume as he got angrier. "I know they're all fixed fucking races, but does that stop me? No, of course not," he ranted for his own benefit. He shrugged again at Sarah's confused look before explaining. "Horse racing."

Sarah slowly nodded. Gambling had never really been her thing. In fact, she thought the whole idea of it was rather stupid, but she hadn't talked to Swifty in a long time and none of her friends were hanging out with her, so she decided not to explain why the whole sport was just a waste of time and money.

"Think it's stupid, don't you?" Swifty voiced for her instead. He laughed when Sarah's eyes widen. "You gamble enough and it gets pretty easy to spot who loves it and who hates it," he explained with a shrug, still smiling. "It doesn't bother me," he assured her as she kept up her silence. "Just means I'll find someone else to complain to about it."

"You can complain to me," Sarah offered quickly, not liking the idea of being alone again. "I mean, if you'd like to," she added when she realized how eager she sounded.

Swifty laughed again as he nodded at her. "I was thinking about getting some coffee, actually. Want to keep me company? I'll buy."

Sarah nodded, grateful to have finally found a distraction.

Skittery spent his morning drinking coffee to stave off his hangover and lamenting upon his losses. Itey was done with him? Didn't believe him when he finally had the courage to tell him how he felt? Wanted him to tell him all over again when he was sober?

Fuck him! Itey knew how bad Skittery was with emotions and all that other prissy ass shit. And he should know him enough to know that he had feelings for him. Didn't those things come naturally in a relationship?

He had barely been able to say all that sappy stuff when he was drunk. How the fuck was he supposed to say it sober? And then to be rejected after he had spewed out said sappy shit, and told he was just supposed to say it all over again?

Itey was trying to make him fail, the little bastard. Probably just trying to relieve his guilt for going out with Sarah. If he gave an ultimatum that he knew Skittery would never do, then it would be Skittery's fault the relationship failed and Itey could get away guilt free. The fucking nerve.

Skittery clutched at his coffee cup but was saved from more of his irritated inner monologue when another gang member came into the kitchen.

"Hey, Newbie," Speed greeted as he came in and poured his own cup of coffee. He sat down at the kitchen table and looked over at Skittery. "So, you look like shit."

Skittery jerked his gaze from his coffee mug to Speed, giving him a dark glare. "Gee, thanks so fucking much for that observation," he snapped.

Speed rolled his eyes as he mockingly held his hands up in surrender. "Easy there, buddy. Just making observations," he explained before dropping his hands to take a sip of coffee. "Drink too much last night?"

"No," Skittery snapped even while his head pounded with his hangover. "I know how to drink, thank you very much. I'm not a god damn child."

"Certainly acting like one," Speed muttered under his breath.

But Skittery heard him and wasn't level-headed enough to think about what he was doing. He leapt up from his chair, glaring down at Speed. "I'm not in the mood for you, Speed Racer or whatever the hell your name is," he snapped. "So I suggest you go back to wherever the fuck you came from before I make sure you wish you'd have never come out of your momma's cunt."

Speed smashed his coffee cup on the kitchen table, making a ruckus as porcelain, bits of wood, and hot coffee fell all over his arm and the floor. He paid it no mind as he leapt up, grabbed Skittery by his collar, and pressed the coffee-cup-turned-shiv at his throat. "Let's clear this right the hell up right now," he said in an amicable voice. "You're new, so I get that you think you're hot shit because you're a gangster now." He put a hand on the back of Skittery's neck, forcing their foreheads to touch as he twirled the shiv between his fingers. "And, yeah, you should feel pretty impressive, because out there," he said, pointing off towards the wall, "out there, you've got Spot's protection. And that means fucking everything in the world. But in here," he continued, pointing at the ground with his shiv this time, "in here, it's strongest survives. Spot doesn't get mixed up in inner gang squabbles. So, you see, he can't protect you," -he pointed to Skittery's chest with the shiv- "from me," he explained, pointing at his own chest with the knife. "You see where I'm going with this, Honeypot?"

Skittery nodded, his eyes wide as he stared at the shiv that was once again spinning between Speed's fingers.

Speed immediately burst into a smile and patted Skittery on the back. "Fantastic!" he exclaimed, spinning the shiv one more time before placing it on the table and sitting back down. "Now, I was trying to be fucking nice before, believe it or not, so why don't you fetch me another cup of coffee and we can talk about whatever the fuck's got you so bent out of shape," he offered.

Skittery just nodded again, his eyes still wide as he went off to fix another cup. "Do you-?" he started to ask before his voice cracked. He quickly cleared his throat. "Do you take cream or sugar?"

"Aren't you a darling lad?" Speed replied, beaming at him. "Nah, black's fine. All that other shit is too much fucking work."

Skittery nodded again, despite the fact that Speed wasn't paying any attention to him. He filled up the new coffee cup before silently walking over and setting it on table in front of the other man. He continued to stare for several seconds before sitting himself down.

Speed frowned at the new gash that was now in the kitchen table before taking a long sip of his new coffee. He placed it back down and smiled over the table at Skittery. "So, what's changed you into such a prima donna?"

Skittery took a long sigh before leaning forward in his chair. "So, there's this boy," he began.

"I don't understand why you can't call off work this one day," Bam whined as he walked Bumlets to work. "The shop's in Brooklyn, which means Spot can totally pull some gangster moves if they threaten to fire you for skipping or whatever."

Bumlets rolled his eyes at the other man but didn't slow his walking pace. Bam had yet to stop being exasperating, but Bumlets found that it was growing on him. A little bit. Maybe. "I have no desire to make them even think of firing me. A friend got me this job, remember?"

"But it's a special occasion!" Bam whined, tugging on Bumlets's arm.

Bumlets took his arm back. "This some sort of gangster's holiday I don't know about?"

It was Bam's turn to roll his eyes. "No, stupid," he scoffed before beaming at the other boy. "This is the next stage in our relationship!"

Bumlets took it back; Bam wasn't growing on him. He was just as annoying as ever. Bumlets stopped walking, grabbing the other man's hand to get him to stop as well. "I never promised you anything, you hear me?" he asked in a stern voice, glaring at Bam. "We are not in a new stage. There's not even a relationship, you got me?"

Bam just pouted as he swung their cupped hands back and forth. "I very distinctly remember you telling me that you didn't hate me."

Bumlets frowned at him. "Yeah, I said that, but-"

Bam literally skipped, still holding onto Bumlets's hand as he started to walk again. "Boom!" he explained, "We just maxed out our level. Level two!" he announced, flashing two fingers up to the sky as he beamed.

Bumlets couldn't help but smile. Yeah, okay, Bam was growing on him. He had to keep reminding himself that the other man was a gangster; he was too cute.

Bam suddenly turned to him, as if he had sensed what the other man was thinking. "We're at level two now, don'tcha think?"

Bumlets tried to frown, but found he couldn't, so instead he settled on eye rolling and giving in. "Yeah, we're on level two," he admitted quietly, looking down at their still clasped hands.

It wasn't twenty minutes after his talk with Speed that Skittery took off to Itey's house. Not because he wanted to, of course, but because Speed was threatening to kill him if he didn't at least go and end it.

Spot was once again preoccupied with something or other, so Skittery was allowed to slip out of the house without whatever 'buddy' Spot would have insisted on.

He rolled his eyes at the very idea of treating gangsters like five year olds. The buddy system. Just in case they got lost or some stupid little idiot that somehow had never heard of Spot tried to rob them. And then somehow managed it.

It was a ludicrous idea.

So, like all ludicrous ideas, Skittery was content to ignore it until it became a huge problem. Like the huge problem he now had with Itey, for instance.

But the Itey problem, he had to remind himself, that would be solved soon. He was sure of it. Or, at least, hopeful for it.

Skittery froze in his walking, thinking of turning around and going back home despite the fact that he had just walked all the way to Manhattan. Maybe he didn't have to do this. Maybe he could tell Speed that he'd hopped the terminal to the subway and got a free ride. And the conversation didn't take as long as he expected it to. But it had been talked about, and it was over now. Mission accomplished. He could probably get Speed to believe him. If Speed even actually still cared by the time he came home.

"Skittery?" Itey's voice asked from behind him.

Skittery froze before slowly turning around. He mentally cursed himself for unconsciously walking straight to Itey's house. "Hey, bud. Hey, I'm glad you're home," he greeted as he walked over to the front porch. "I was actually coming over to talk to you."

Itey tilted his head at him. "Then why'd you walk past my house?"

"I didn't."

"Skittery, I was literally on my porch watching you walk down the street, past my house."

"Wasn't me."

Itey rolled his eyes. "I yelled at you to come over here after you had just passed the neighbor's house."

"I never heard you."

"If you didn't hear me then you wouldn't be here talking to me," Itey pointed out before flopping down in one of his plastic arm chairs. "Forget it," he allowed when it looked like Skittery was going to protest again. "Whatever. It doesn't matter." He gave Skittery a pointed look. "What'd you come here for then?

Skittery tried to answer, but his voice got caught in his throat.

Itey just rose an eyebrow. He continued to stare at a quiet Skittery for half a minute before sighing and giving up. "That's what I thought," he said, turning towards his front door and feeling stupid for hoping yet again that his supposed best friend would be able to come through.

"I came to tell you," Skittery started, freezing Itey in his tracks half inside and half outside his house. "I came to say that those things I said when I was drunk … well, I didn't say them because I was drunk."

Itey turned to look at him again, his eyes wide and his eyebrows high. "That's your spiel? You choose to be a giant ass to me day in and day out, and this is what you decide to say to me?"

Skittery's eyes darted to the left and right of Itey but didn't settle on him. "What do you mean 'that's it'? I thought that was a hell of a lot! And it's not a fucking spiel!"

"I want to hear it," Itey demanded through clenched teeth.

"You heard it last night!" Skittery argued right back.

"I want to hear it right fucking now while you're fucking sober," Itey yelled loudly. "Let's fucking hear it, you stupid, insensitive bastard!"

"I c-" Skittery's voice got caught on the word and he had to sigh and close his eyes. "I care about you," he gritted out. "And I … I lo- I love … you." He finally opened his eyes to see Itey smirking at him with one raised eyebrow. Skittery glared at him. "Happy now, you fucking asshole?"

Itey shook his head. "As if I'd let you get off the hook that easily," he replied with a smirk. "I'm going to make you say it so often you fucking choke on it," he promised before turning to go inside. "My parents are out doing who the hell knows what if you want to spend the night," he offered over his shoulder.

Skittery grinned before skipping up the stairs after him.

It wouldn't be until morning that Itey remembered Sarah.

Spot laid on his back in his bed, hands laced behind his head as he relaxed. For the first time in what felt like forever he wasn't worried about someone from his family, and he wasn't thinking of god damn Racetrack.

It was quickly becoming his favorite Sunday of all his life.

So, he was especially pissed when Slingshot walked into his room without even bothering to knock and announced that Rambler had dropped by.

"Kick him out into the street," Spot mumbled, turning over so he was on his stomach before burying his head under the pillow.

"He says it's important," Slingshot replied, not moving from Spot's doorway.

"I don't give a fuck what Rambler thinks is fucking important," Spot snapped back. "Get the fuck out, Sling. I was actually enjoying some fucking peace for once in my life."

Slingshot kept his place. " Yeah, except I think it is actually important. He's got a class right now, you know, and how often has he ever skipped one of those?"

"Find out what the fuck he wants then," Spot snapped. "You're a big boy. I'm sure you can fucking handle it."

"I handled it last time he was here," Slingshot replied. "And if you'll remember he promised to make me bleed all over the floor the next time he saw me. Rambler's your responsibility anyway; I shouldn't have to get stuck with him all the time."

"Jesus fuck." Spot finally sat upright in bed, rubbing at the bed head he had already managed to create. "This is about Bam calling you my house bitch, isn't it?"

Slingshot widened his eyes. "He never said that!"

"I don't fucking remember what he said," Spot admitted before yawning. "It was something like that."

"It was nothing like that!" Slingshot argued. He started to follow his boss out of the room before noticing Spot was only in boxers. "You wanna put on some fucking pants there, Bossman?"

"No," Spot answered harshly. "Because as soon as I kick fucking Rambler out I'm going the fuck back to bed," he explained as they made their way downstairs.

They met Rambler at the lobby just as Spot started complaining about how much faster taking the drainpipe down would have been.

"Spot! Ole buddy, ole pal," Rambler greeted with a wide grin, stumbling over to them. "How's the bossman doing? The King of the castle? I've heard you've been running around the streets again. Good idea. Great idea. Wouldn't expect anything less from you."

Spot shoved him in the chest as soon as he got closer than arm's reach. "Stop sucking up, you fucking idiot. When has that shit ever worked on me? Just say what you wanted to say and then get the fuck out."

"Well, you see, Spot, buddy, it's not as easy as all that, you understand. Of course you would understand. Of course you would," Rambler replied, wringing his hands in front of him.

"No, I'm probably not going to fucking understand," Spot snapped, taking a step closer to the other man. "But you're going to tell me anyway. And I swear to fucking god if you got another fucking lawsuit filed against you I'm going to string you up on a ceiling fan by your fat ass neck."

Rambler put his hands above his chest as he took a step backward. "Hey, hey now, Boss. I didn't do any of this. You know that, right? Of course you do. Of course you do. I'm just reporting it. That's all I'm doing. And you wouldn't shoot the messenger, would you? Of course you wouldn't. You-"

"I will if the fucking messenger doesn't tell me what the fuck he came here to tell me," Spot promised. "My patience for you ran out fucking years ago, so tell me whatever the fuck it is that you feel is so important and then fuck off."

Rambler audibly swallowed. "Your boy, he-"

"Which fucking boy, you fucking idiot?" Spot interrupted again. "I have plenty. Be more fucking specific." He tried his best to hold back the strong desire to strangle the other man.

"The one you brought to my Sunday class," Rambler explained. "The one-"

"Racetrack," Slingshot interrupted as if Spot didn't know who the hell he was.

Spot rubbed his head. He was surrounded by incompetent idiots. "Yeah, that guy. What the fuck about him?"

"He … uh … he didn't show up to class today," Rambler explained. He had gone back to wringing his hands as he shifted his weight from foot to foot.

Spot blinked at him for several seconds before snapping. "Are you fucking kidding me? You woke me up to fucking tell me that Racetrack played hooky today? I don't give a god damn fuck, Rambler," he shouted before turning on his heel and heading back up the stairs.

"But, Boss! What if-" Rambler started only to be interrupted by Slingshot this time.

"Rambler," the second-in-command snapped before calming slightly. "He's probably just taking a break, and he'll be there next week."

"But-"

"Spot doesn't care, Rambler," Slingshot interrupted before following after Spot.

TBC

Okay, for you guys, I tried to get this one done fast. Not that it really does you any good, as we're still in the middle of the cliffhanger as it were. Next chapter will be the big reveal. That wasn't actually how it was outlined, but I think it works out better this way. Gotta keep you guys on the edge of your seats, yeah? ;)