This story is organized oddly. This first part is the first part of the story, and the other chapters are like choose-your-own-ending bits. The first - Ink - is realistic and has few happies. The second - Ever After - is very much fantasy and has happies. Choose your ending accordingly, please. If you flame me regarding this, I will NOT be happy with you.

Stef’s reading Magic’s Pawn. Or Magic’s Price, depending on what kind of sense of humor you want him to have. And DARNIT, I didn’t realize my unintentional circular reference until after the lunch-scene…
You’ll be lost a bit if you haven’t read Mercedes Lackey’s Last Herald-Mage trilogy (Magic’s Pawn, Magic’s Promise, Magic’s Price), but the summary is at the end for those who haven’t. It’s a bit simplified.

The book David steals is Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens.

April Fool’s (Part I)

They were in World History Honors together in freshman year. The first day, they sat next to each other because David was almost late and it was the last seat left in the room, and then they got a seating chart that was alphabetical and Mitchell and Vasserman aren’t anywhere near each other.

Two days into the school year, and David was wondering how in the world he managed to get standardized test scores high enough to make the class. It was driving him crazy, and he felt stupid compared to all these kids who’d been smarter than him for years and probably would be for longer than that.

Then came the horror known as Group Projects. It wasn’t difficult, just annoying. His three-person group consisted of a young lady by the name of Rachel Jiang, and Stephen Vasserman, and himself.

It was okay, if one didn’t mind the fact that Jiang was a perfectionist and kind of snobby, too. David couldn’t match her exacting standards, and really didn’t even think to try. Stephen, he found, could, but didn’t bother, because he didn’t think much about impressing her. Didn’t think much about impressing anyone, he realized, near the end of the two-week-long project. Except maybe for teachers.

Stephen got sick on the last day that the three of them could meet, from one to nine on a Saturday. He had to leave at four, and Rachel finished up the project. David would have, except she wouldn’t let him.

He didn’t mind. It gave him a chance to look at porn.

They sat together at lunch, because David was making friends with an acquaintance of Stephen’s from middle school, and it’s better to sit with a freshman you know than get abused by sophomores you don’t.

Midway through the school year, David brought up the topic of names, for no apparent reason; mused aloud that more than half of the kids in the room probably had names from the Bible, Torah, or Qu’ran, or something Celtic, and that degenerated into a discussion on for whom people were named.

Chris, David’s friend, had a name that was obvious. The long form, Christopher, was something about honoring Jesus Christ, and they were stumped by David, which came next.

"There are two Church-honored Davids," Stephen said, emerging from whatever book he was reading at the time; it was something with a disturbingly effeminate guy on the front, along with a horse, but the title was covered by his hand. "One was a king of Israel who went and defeated the Philistines and slew Goliath, and who grew up to become a sinner with evil children. The other was a monk in the British Isles who founded all sorts of churches." He gave David an amused look. "Whichever meaning you take it at, I’m not sure you want either to be your namesake."

"Wasn’t there a Saint Stephen once?" David tried, grasping at phrases to find a return-jibe.

"He was stoned to death because a large mob of Jewish people believed that he was blaspheming, in fact."

"How pleasant," winced David. "And I thought mine was bad."

"It is. At least mine wasn’t a confirmed sinner."

So they were silent for a few moments, as Chris read the teaser for Stephen’s book and declared it ‘girly; why are you reading that sort of crap anyway?’ and Stephen responded that ‘Girly books mean better understanding of girls, which makes them happier when you’re dating one’ before David announced that he thought Stephen was really too long of a name.

"What would you prefer?" asked Stephen, with a look that was somewhere between amused and bemused.

"Steve. Steve’s a good name."

"Stef, then, if you’re going to shorten it."

"That sounds like Stephanie. Which is a girl’s name."

"Steve sounds like stevedore."

So after a lengthy explanation of the definition of ‘stevedore,’ Chris declared that maybe Stephen had a point, and so, Stef it became. And it stuck like a burr. Worse than glue, even.

David asked Kate out at the end of freshman year. Her name was Ekaterinn, and her parents were Russian immigrants. She and Stef got along better than he had anticipated, and it turned into a sort of set-of-three until it was DavidandKateandStef by September.

She tried to explain something called ‘yowee’ to him, and he didn’t get it, but Stef laughed and put up with it and collected the web addresses she gave him. He said it was funny, and then turned to Kate and asked her what she thought of Van and did she prefer ‘Lendel.

David was lost ten seconds into the conversation, so he stole the book Stef was reading, about an angel and a demon who were averting the Apocalypse, and decided he liked it.

Stef never got the chance to read that particular copy; David found it in his basement, four years later, when he was packing up to go to college.

Kate and David broke up in October of sophomore year, right before Halloween. It wasn’t that they didn’t get along – they did – but they were more friends than friends. She stayed with them at lunch, until second semester when she started taking gym that period and switched her lunch to eighth.

He found out that Stef didn’t like porn, that week, and resolved to get him to.

On Halloween, Stef didn’t dress up. David didn’t go trick-or-treating, but he had decided to dress as the demon from the book that he’d stolen from Stef.

Stef was himself. Actually, he wasn’t himself. What he said was, "I am a symbol of hatred, fear, and social ignorance," which made David laugh until he realized that Stef was serious and let him in, his smile fading.

Stef’s little brother, Aaron, was going trick-or-treating in their neighborhood as a barrel of toxic waste. David had an inkling that either Aaron liked Calvin and Hobbes comic strips, or it was another mark of Stef’s influence.

He put some rock music on in the basement and they talked about everything and nothing and girls, until Chris came by with his twin little sisters, and Chris got hauled into the house and the sisters got to run around on their own, at which time they talked about just girls. Ones with big breasts.

But that was Chris, saying that. Stef was reading a book he’d picked up off the floor, that David’s mother had been reading. It looked like a ‘torrid romance,’ whatever the heck that meant, and Stef didn’t seem to be enjoying it, so Chris and David stole it and read bits aloud to embarrass him. Especially the bits where the hero got to ravish various pretty girls, explicitly.

April first, David said later, was probably the worst day of any effing year in high school for him, outside of spring break of junior year. He didn’t know why he did it; it was probably spring fever or just plain stupidity, rather than anything Freudian. No matter what Kate said afterwards.

Stef was putting stuff in his locker, before school, and David came up to talk to him, like every morning.

"Just play along," was all David said, and kissed him, the way Stef’d seen him kissing the girls since Kate, intense and deep and the kind where the girl knew that he wasn’t thinking about having his tongue in her mouth when he did it.

People were rubbernecking when he let Stef go, and there was a traffic jam thirty seconds deep in the hall, mostly of freshman girls watching with bright, eager eyes and open mouths, writing notes on each others’ hands that looked suspiciously like web addresses.

And David yelled, "April Fool’s!" loud enough that everyone in the hall could hear it.

It cleared up much faster, after that.

There was a partner activity that day in French class.

"Are you really dating David?" Kate asked, when she was assigned to work with Stef, and he froze.

"No," came the answer. "It was a prank. April Fool’s."

"Oh." She stopped. "So the rumors about the torrid romantic escapades the two of you have been having aren’t true?"

"Slasher," he said, fondly, shaking his head, and added, "Of course not."

Stef read all through lunch, that day; didn’t look up, let alone meet David’s eyes. Chris covered up the silence, but even he felt it – like there was an ice-wall there, or just emotions strung more intensely than steel and wound tight like the cloth of the jeans the girls were wearing. He wished Kate were there, to break the silence with a joke or a comment, or just blithe happiness.

Except, he knew, she’d take sides, if it came down to it. He’d heard the story – the rumor mills for the sophomores were flooded with it, in various forms; that David had kissed Stef and Stef had punched him for it, or that this was their way of outing themselves, or just David’s and Stef had rejected him… there were so many different stories, and the backgrounds that went with them were even more varied and creative.

All Chris knew was that something had happened, and that it had driven a wedge between the two of them.

"What the hell happened to you two?" was what he asked, finally. "I think I’m trying to have a conversation with your sandwich."

"You don’t want to know, believe me," was David’s response. Stef emerged from his library book long enough to say, "It’s not your fucking business," before going back to reading.

David cornered him at his locker, again, after school. It wasn’t like Stef could have avoided him, not if he wanted to bring home everything he needed to get his homework done.

"Why in the world are you so angry? It was just a joke!" was the opening line.

"If you’re going to play jokes like that, I’d prefer if you kept it verbal." Stef slammed the door shut and savagely twisted the lock over to zero.

"Why are you being so neurotic about it? You’re acting like a girl, for God’s sake! It’s not like you’re gay; why can’t you just take it at face value, as a prank?"

"Thank you so much for your estimation of my character, David. But, really, it’s not about me – it’s about every single person you alienated in doing it. All those people who now feel like attraction between people of the same gender is a joke to be laughed at, rather than a very serious issue that some people feel strongly enough about that they’re willing to kill others."

"Nobody’s that seriously crazy!"

"Tell that to Matthew Shepard," he answered.

David didn’t know what to say to that. "Look, I’m sorry, all right? Just… I didn’t realize you’d be so touchy. It’s not like you’re gay or homophobic or anything, so I figured you wouldn’t mind."

"So you figured." There’s something very sarcastic, and very sad, in his tone of voice. "You got five, David. I’ll see you tomorrow." He picked up his backpack and put it on.

Well, it was better than a I don’t want to see you ever again, that was for sure. "Yeah," he answered dully. "Tomorrow."

Summary of LHM: There is a teenage guy. His name is Vanyel (Van) Ashkevron. His family doesn’t like him, he’s pretty, and he wants to be a Bard. As punishment, he is sent to live with his "cruel" Aunt Savil, who is a Herald-Mage (sort of like a minister of the Queen’s justice who can do magic) and teaches Herald-Mage Trainees. Savil has three proteges: Tylendel ( ‘Lendel) Frelennye, somebody-or-other, and somebody-or-other, which tells you how important they are. The two somebody-or-others are lifebonded (soulmates).
Van finds out he cannot be a Bard (long story, not important). He is upset. He finds out that Tylendel ‘likes boys’.
Van gradually finds that he is attracted to Tylendel. Nobody likes him and he has strange dreams. He has a serious emotional breakdown. Hurt/comfort ensues and Van and ‘Lendel get together. Everyone is happy until ‘Lendel’s twin, Staven, is killed.
‘Lendel goes a bit insane. He decides to use his Mage-Gift to wreak revenge on the family that did it (his family has a feud with another family) and uses Van’s latent Mage-Gifts to help. In the process, someone to whom ‘Lendel is very close is killed (not Van) and ‘Lendel commits suicide.
Van is very upset. It is also about then that everyone else comes to the realization that Van and ‘Lendel were lifebonded, too. In an accident, all of Van’s latent Mage-Gifts are awakened, and I do mean all.
Van tries to commit suicide. Nobody is happy. Stuff happens. You meet more gay guys.
(End book one)
(Book two)
Stuff happens. Van is upset. His family tries to marry him off and fails. He rescues people. He is heroic. He misses ‘Lendel.
(End book two)
(Book Three)
Van is older now. The king is dying; Van is introduced to a Bard (Stefen) who has the weird talent to be able to sing away pain. Stefen is shaych (their word for someone who has same-sex romantic inclinations) and he likes Van. Van feels old.
Van and Stefen become friends. Van and Stefen go to meet Van’s family (as friends). Stefen seduces Van in the second most emotional scene in the trilogy.
Herald-Mages start dying. Wars are starting. Van realizes that he and Stefen are lifebonded, strangely enough.
Stuff happens. Van is gang-raped. More people die. Van decides that Stefen is ‘Lendel reincarnated and everyone else figured this out ages ago. Savil dies. Van dies heroically. Stefen does good deeds and dies at an old age. They become ghosts. (End book three)
Uber-summary: There is a gay guy. He falls in love. His lover dies. He falls in love again, several years later. He dies. His lover dies. Everyone is in Bermuda.