Jake looked up from his writing tablet and across the playground. He watched kids playing, laughing, and having fun, and wished that he was among them. But, alas, he couldn’t. Why, you ask? Because he had a creative writing project due at the end of the week and it was already Wednesday. But mostly because he had writer’s block.

Big time.

He had come to the busy little playground so he could get over his block. He always worked better while listening to noise. It occupied his ears so his mind could function without obsessing over something very, very quite. Like the ticking of a clock or a dripping sink.

This, however, was not working. He wanted to go play with the younger kids so badly he was fidgeting. And doodling instead of writing. He'd never been in an art class before, so he didn't know whether or not his doodles were any good, but he thought they were cute anytime he realized he was doing it. Which wasn't very often, and he routinely had notes from his classes with nothing BUT doodles.

He shook his head roughly and looked down at his pad of paper. On it was a small sketch of a cartoon girl swinging on the swing-set. He ripped it off his pad and stuffed it in his pocket, his sister would enjoy the little illustration. He smoothed his pad and looked back up at the playground, only to have his jaw drop open.

There before him, pushing the merry-go-round so it would go fast, was the most gorgeous boy he'd ever seen. He had very, very dark red hair, almost purplish in the sun's gleam, and he was wearing black shorts under a black tank-top. His skin glistened under the sun and was tanned a light brown. A black band on his left wrist shone when it hit the sun's rays just right, meaning it was either studded or had chains around it. He could see something hanging from the boy's neck on a thin chain, but he couldn't tell what it was.

In Jake's opinion, he was hot.

Jake shut his mouth with a ~click~ when he realized he was staring. Hard. If this wasn't love then it was pure unadulterated lust and he wanted that boy to slam him as hard as he could. He watched the black-clothed boy lean down to a young girl and listen to her speak before looking right at him.

Jake squeaked and looked down at the writing pad in his lap, black hair tumbling to hide the growing blush that was on his cheeks.

"Hello, you look bored, would you like to join us?"

Jake looked up to see the desirable red-head standing not two feet from him, and his mouth dropped open again. Damn, he's hotter up close, he thought. The necklace was actually dog-tags hanging from a gold and silver chain, matching the same chain that was wrapped around the black leather band on the boy's wrist. Damn, just damn.

"You're staring."

"Wha-what?"

"I said you're staring," the boy said, gold-rimmed brown eyes laughing. Shit, he's cute, he thought. He silently thanked his little sister for pointing the watcher out.

"Oh, I- I'm sorry," he said, looking down at his pad.

"Don't be. It's okay. I'm Luca, by the way. Luca Donatello. What's your name?"

"J-Jake Wood."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jake. Come on, come play with my sister and I," Luca said as he gently took the pad from Jake's lax fingers and set it on the picnic table. He intertwined his fingers with Jake's and pulled him up and towards the merry-go-round.

"I- I can't, I have a project due on Friday," the black-haired boy protested.

"If you take a break and play with me then I'll help you with it later," Luca said, just the smallest hint of innuendo in his voice. "I swear."

"Well…" Jake said, rubbing the back of his next. "I don't see the harm in it…"

The gold rimmed eyes lit up like shiny coins and the grip on the black-haired boy's hand was tightened a little. "Beauty. Let's go."

Luca managed to distract Jake for hours. They played like children until Luca's mother (Mama Donatello, Jake thought) came to get his little sister and Luca offered to finally help the black-haired boy with his project. So Jake took the red-head to his apartment so they could work with the radio on. Jake got his writing tablets and pencils in order while Luca flipped through his massive CD collection. The black-clothed boy gave a triumphant shout when he found a CD and put it in the player.

"Alright, mood music! I love this group. You look up the description for Power Ballads and you will find this band," Luca said as he flopped onto the couch next to Jake and grinned wildly.

Bon Jovi started playing soon after the black-clothed boy sat down, one of Jake's 'sappy' mixed CDs his older sister made for him, a mix of some of Jake's favorite love songs. The black-haired boy ducked his head to hide his blush again.

"So what are we doing again?"

"What? Oh, uh… a writing project for my English class," Jake said, quickly getting his blush under a semblance of control.

"What's the subject? Or did the teacher not give you one?"

"Um, no, our professor gave us a subject."

"So what is it?"

Jake mumbled something very quietly.

"What? I didn't hear you," Luca leaned towards the slightly shorter Jake.

"A short love story," Jake said louder before looking up suddenly and bringing their lips very, very close.

"Any love story in particular?" Luca managed to asked, distracted nearly to the point of not being able to think clearly from Jake's proximity.

Jake shook his head slowly, violet/blue eyes locked on golden brown. He closed his eyes, wishing that the room wasn't so hot, and was just about to open them when Luca closed the remaining gap between them and kissed him.

He pulled back after a moment and they looked at each other before pushing the paper and pencils off the couch and attacking each other with hands, lips, and teeth. Luca stripped the black-haired boy of his leather vest and began fiddling with his button-up shirt before growling and simply pulling it apart, breaking the hold on the buttons.

Jake gasped and giggled when the cool air touched his heated skin and he tugged Luca's tank-top over his head and threw it on the floor. He ran his hands over the tanned skin while the red-head sucked his neck, which felt oh so nice. He pulled Luca down and arched his hips against the other's, making the red-head yelp before he took revenge by sliding his hand under Jake and grabbing his ass.

Luca grinned into Jake's neck when he let out a soft gasp and slid both hands to the black-haired boy's very short faded denim shorts and unlatched the belt. He licked his way down Jake's chest and dipped his tongue into his navel, making Jake release a very strangled "Oh God!" and shudder from suppressed emotion.

"Easy, boy, easy," Luca murmured softly against Jake's skin. He slipped Jake's shorts, surprisingly loose, over his hips, planting butterfly-light kisses over his hip bone and down his thigh. Jake arched against the couch, kicking off his shorts and sliding one leg between Luca's own thighs.

"Just screw me, Luca. Please! Just please!" Jake gasped out, his body and Luca's racked with suppressed emotions trying to spill their way out. He grabbed Luca by the back of his neck and pulled him down to kiss his lips and his tongue slipped into the red-head's clumsily. Just the taste of him was almost making him go insane from the need to be touched.

Luca shed the last of his and Jake's clothes before they fell together into what their parents would call the most sinful thing in Heaven.

To them, it was Heaven. So the world could go and fuck itself.

Multiple times.

With multiple partners.

Luca and Jake soon released twin screams and collapsed.

"Luca?" Jake asked softly.

"Yeah, Jake?"

"I think I'm in love with you," he said truthfully.

"I know I love you, Jake," came the whispered reply into his ear.

Luca rolled over and wrapped both arms around Jake's waist, before opening his eyes and sitting up. His lover was sitting, more like leaning, on the edge of the couch with a laptop on the coffee table, typing rapidly. "What are you doing?"

"Writing," was the simple reply from the black-haired boy. "Would you like to read it?"

"Mmm, maybe a little later. I forgot about your project, I'm sorry."

"It's alright, love," Jake leaned over and kissed the red-head. "I'm almost done, anyhow. You were a big help."

Luca blinked in confusion. "But I didn't do anything!"

"You did more then you think, lover," Jake grinned crookedly and went back to typing. Luca curled his legs around his lover's waist and arms around his neck, watching the black-haired boy type away.

"When is this due, again?"

"Friday."

"And how much farther do you have to go on your writing?"

"Short stories have three categories; short, 3,000 words; medium, 9,000 words; and somewhat long, 15,000 words. I have about 2,500 words right now."

"Good. You can finish it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? But-" Jake was cut off when Luca tilted his head back and kissed him. "I'm sure I can finish tomorrow."

"Beauty."

Jake jerked awake to the sound of his phone ringing and he reached for it, intending on hanging up and letting whoever was on the other end suffer. However, when he managed to get the phone turned on, he heard his boss's falsetto start to babble and he held the phone to his ear. "What?"

"I said I need you to come in! Geeze, man, don'cha listen anymore? I'm really, really sorry, but Jill's called in sick and I need you to cover for her. Please, Jake? Please?"

"Sophie, I'm tired! Come on, I pulled a double shift the other day! And I have school work to complete," Jake said to his generally hyper-active boss.

"Please? I beg! I'll make it up to you, I promise! Think of how much in tips you'll get tonight! There's a party of ten coming in and I need your help! Come on, everybody who comes here loves you! You know you wanna!"

Jake gave a sigh and looked over at his sleeping lover. "I'll be there in an hour and a half. I have some things to do first."

Sophie squealed on the other end. "Thank you, Jay! You're a lifesaver!"

"Yeah, well, you owe me," He muttered before hanging up and kissing Luca on his shoulder. "Wake up, love. I need to go to work."

"Hmm, don't go," Luca said softly as he wrapped an arm around Jake's neck and kissed him sleepily.

"I have to. One of my co-workers is sick so I have to fill in for a couple hours," he smiled as Luca started cursing colorfully and tightened his grip on his black-haired lover possessively. "Come on, Luca, let's shower."

"Okay."

Some time later, after Jake and Luca had managed to make love in the confined shower stall while they showered, they emerged from the apartment and walked towards the center of town. They reached a crosswalk where they would have to separate and Luca kissed his lover good-bye, promising to call him the next day so they could get together again. Jake nodded and frenched his boyfriend hard, to remind him about the good things about the black-haired writer and waved when they finally did separate, Luca heading down Brown's Crossing and Jake walking down Cheery Way and towards the café.

"Jakie, honey! Yoo Hoo! Sweetie!"

Jake looked over one shoulder to see an older woman dressed in a pair of shorts and a long jacket that had the sleeves cut off over a tank-top waving wildly at him. He grinned and waved back. "'Allo, Mom! What brings you to town?"

She looked both ways before bouncing across the street and tossing Jake a brown bag. "Books! I just come from the bookstore! I love that place! Honey, why can't you work at a bookstore instead of a café, huh?"

Jake caught the bag easily and looked in it before blushing a deep crimson. His mother had a thing for manga and always liked to share her obsession with her only son, seeing as her daughters thought she was "too weird" to hang with. "You bought girl slash?! I didn't know they made those!"

"Well, they have guy-on-guy action all over the place, why not girls?" She asked innocently while tugging on the purple piece of string wrapped around her neck. Jake buried his head in his hands and his mother latched onto his arm. "Who was the guy I saw kiss you?"

"What?!" Jake gasped and choked, turning crimson again. "Nobody, really! It was nothing."

"Come on, sweetie! It looked serious! Is he your boyfriend?" His mother blinked at him. "Honey, are you gay?"

"MOM!"

Suddenly she was ranting very fast in Spanish. She'd spent many years in southern Spain when she was in her formative years, and moved back to the states in her early 20s, but she always started speaking the language when she was surprised or upset.

"Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, MOM! I don't speak Spanish! Mom, are you listening to me? Mom?" He sighed heavily, giving up on the still ranting woman, and started walking, his mother following behind him.

"YOU JUST MET HIM!" She shouted at last, coming to the present conclusion.

"Finally, a language I can understand," he muttered before whirling around. "Listen, I don't know what I am, nor do I really give a shit. All I know is I can't go any amount of time without thinking about him, alright? If you have a problem with it then I'm going to have to cut you from my life because I'm not giving Luca up!"

"I never said you had to, honey," His mother said softly, twisting her hands in her duster. "I just want you happy after all. But, sweetie, you just met him… It's just so soon. How can you be sure?"

"I don't. Simple as that," Jake said before turning and continuing down the street, wishing he'd gotten his car instead of walking and being interrogated at the same time. He heard quick steps and his arm was grabbed and wrapped around his mother's.

"Dear, I want you to know, I may not understand how you can feel this way after such a short time, and I won't pretend to. But I'll back you up. You know I'm here for you, right?"

"Yeah, I know," he hugged his mother. "You and your stupid manga."

"Hey! It's not stupid!"

"Why do you sound a teenager when you try an argument as weak as that?"

"ARG! I swear, if you weren't interested in writing I'd say you were in law school!" His mother said plaintively.

Jake just grinned winningly at her.

"Okay, seriously now, did you and Luca… have… sex?"

Jake leveled a Look (Patent pending!) at his mother, one eyebrow raised slightly. He was NOT about to tell his mother about his afternoon, no matter how understanding she was. "Webster's describes sex as 'all the feelings resulting from the urge to gratify sexual impulses'. So without any further explanation, it would be hard for me to really tell you."

"Jake, I'm being serious!"

"Mom, I'm 20 years old. I don't think you should know that deeply into my sex-life. I will let you know that I love him, okay?"

"Alright," she pouted. "but bear in mind, I will use this against you in arguments."

"How long have you been out of the mental ward?"

"Jake!"

"Mom!" he copied the same tone his mother had used and crossed his arms. "I really have to get to work, ya know. We have a party of ten coming in and I'm going to be late if I'm held up any longer."

"Oh! I'm sorry, honey! I shouldn't be holding you up like this. You go on to work, then! Call me when you get home, alright sweetie?"

"Yes, ma'am," he hugged his mother again and waved before jogging down the sidewalk and pushing open the door to a small café. "Sophie! Hurry up and put me to work!"

"Catch!" A blonde woman in a French braid called, tossing him a purple and gold accented black half-apron. "Towards the back and put on the charm, my boy!"

"Five minutes late," a fellow waiter said. "What happened?"

"My mother spotted me and wanted a chat."

"Tah! You poor thing!" The waiter shuddered, blonde hair falling into his eyes. "I can't help it, man, I don't like mothers."

"That's only 'cause you never had one. Smile and charm the socks off 'em with me, Allen."

"You're the man, man," Allen replied before whipping out his yellow pad and smiling winningly at a man. "Hello! My name's Allen, this is Jake, and we will be your waiters this fine evening. May I tempt you with an appetizer, sir?"

They worked the group for four hours, getting drinks and their food and generally being the top waiters in the café. At the end of the night, an hour after the official closing time, Allen and Jake bid goodbye and a come back soon to their clients and flopped onto a couple of chairs.

"I am exhausted!" Jake said.

"That was fun. Ya wanna go and get some food now?" Allen offered, still working off of his adrenaline.

"Are you kidding? I don't want to look at food until lunch time tomorrow. Ow, man, doing all that walking has done a number on me. I can't stand up."

"I know what you mean, man. I can't feel my legs. But, that was fun."

"I'm glad you think so. Can you drive me home? I left my car in the parking garage 'cause it was such a nice day."

"Sure, pal. Anything for a friend. Well, almost anything. Meh, you know what I mean."

"Shut up and take me home. I'm going to sleep for hours, and then when I come into work tomorrow I'm getting Sophie to pay me extra for tonight."

"Me, too! Don'cha forget me! I, however, am not coming in tomorrow because it's my day off."

"Lucky dog." Jake muttered as he shed his apron and had Allen help him to his feet. "What kind of plans do you have for your day off?"

"I plan on finding my girlfriend and letting her do anything she bleeding well wants with me. I've been working so much the past week, I kinda been neglecting her and I don't want her to feel that way. I have to admit I kinda like the chick." Allen said as he and Jake waved goodbye to the bus-boys and girl and they walked out of the café.

"You're a strange one, Allen," the black-haired boy said with a roll of his eyes.

"Why, thank you," he gave a bow and quirked a grin at his co-worker. "You are too kind." He pulled a ring of keys from his pocket and started sorting through it as he walked, pausing at a nearby green car. "So what do you plan to do?"

"Beside sleep?"

"Besides sleep."

"I dunno. Probably go find Luca and do something with him."

"Who's Luca? New best mate?"

"You could say that," Jake said slowly.

"Man, you seriously need a girlfriend," Allen glanced at his friend and then at the keys in his hand, trying to figure out which one would unlock his car. "Or maybe a boyfriend."

Jake choked and hit his chest. "What?"

"What?" Allen asked, light blue eyes innocently wide.

"I asked you first."

"So? I asked second."

"Bastard," Jake muttered.

"Dork." Allen retorted playfully when he found the right key and unlocked the little Honda. "We still on for paint-ball weekend after next?"

"Unless my classes change or something."

"Yes! I am going to annihilate 'cha! You won't know what hit ya!"

"Just get the damned car started."

Luca walked up the driveway to the front door to a white painted house with a red door and pushed it open. "Mama, I'm home."

A black-haired woman stuck her head into the hallway from the living room, the background sound to a kung-fu movie could be heard. "There you are, Luca. Where'd you get off to after the park?"

"I went home with a new friend of mine to help him with a writing project, since I distracted him from it. Had to make it up somehow."

"Yes," his mother nodded. "That was very good of you, I'm proud."

Luca smiled and started up the stairs. "I'm going to go to my room and see what I can do about those figures on the computer, they weren't adding up right last night."

"Alright, dear. Let me know when you get hungry and I'll order Chinese, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan, Mama. Where's Susie?"

"She's playing video games with a girl friend of hers."

Luca's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "Again?!"

"Yes. They picked up another one of those strategy games while at the mall yesterday and they're trying it out now."

"Okay. Thanks." He bounded up the stairs and knocked on his youngest sister's door before peeking in. "You too busy for a thank you from your one and only brother?"

"No, why do you want to thank me?" A red-headed girl looked up from her place on the floor, a game controller in her hand and a blonde girl reading a game guide on her bed.

"Jake."

"Ah! You're welcome, bro! How many times did'ja do it?"

"Susie!" Her blonde friend hit her with the guide. "Gawd, girl, is sex the only thing on your mind?"

"That and video games," Susie shot back and looked back at her brother. "Well? Are you going to tell me or not? Just give me a damned number already!"

Luca silently held up three fingers and his sister squealed.

"Can I spot 'em or what? I bet you're not going to be able to sit right for a couple of days," She said evilly.

"Shut it," Luca muttered and flashed her a wink and victory "v" before closing the door and heading to his room.

He closed the door behind him and flopped onto his bed before burying his head in a pillow and releasing a strangled groan. It hurt to stand, let alone walk. Ten minutes later, he sat up and turned the monitor to his computer on before glaring at the still calculating numbers and halting the program.

"Damn. Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn it!" he growled and started fiddling with the program. He was almost to the point of taking his baseball bat to the CPU when his sister banged on the door.

"Hey, are you still in there? Mama got Chinese and me and Peggy's gonna eat all the Lo-Mien if you don't get out here!"

"A break, just what I needed. Thank you, God," he muttered before turning off the monitor and getting up from his sprawled position on his bed. He pulled the door open to find Susie grinning wildly at him. "You eat all the Lo-Mien and I'll skin ya alive and use your hide as printing paper."

"Empty threats," his sister replied before making a face. "You don't have to worry that very much anyhow, Peggy doesn't like Lo-Mien."

"Then why'd you say it?"

Susie rolled her eyes and sighed heavily, "It's called motivation, you geek! Ever heard of it?"

"That's not much of a motivation."

Susie released a long-suffering sigh, like he was annoying her on purpose (Which he kinda was and no, he wasn't very sorry) and shook her head. "Fine, what would be a good motivation?"

He stayed silent and she suddenly started to giggle. He cocked his head to one side slightly and she laughed right out loud. He shook his head, muttered 'teenagers' under his breath and walked down the hall, leaving his sister laughing hysterically. He got down to the kitchen and had sat down and gotten a bucket of Lo-Mien and General Tso's before his sister returned to the kitchen and food.

"Why were you gone so long?" their mother asked.

"Just happened to catch something funny, Mama."

"Explain it to me?"

"You wouldn't get it, I don't think."

"My children, alvays watching out for their Mama. Makes me proud to have raised you two," she said, her accent suddenly very thick before she dropped it almost completely. "Okay, spill the beans."

"Tell ya later, Mama," Susie said before popping a piece of chicken in her mouth. Her mother gave her a nasty look. "I promise!"

Luca shot her a dirty look and she smiled innocently. Yup, this was going to be a heavy bribe to keep her mouth shut. Especially since she's the one who spotted Jake sitting alone in the first place. He was still thinking up ways to kill her and hide the body so it wouldn't be found until he was out of the house and in one of his own when the phone rang. He glanced at his mother, who nodded, and picked up the phone.

"Hello, Donatello residence, this is Luca, how may I help you?"

"Hey, Luca," a familiar voice, belonging to none other then Jake, said on the other end. "Are you busy?"

"I'm eating supper, but other then that, no. Where are you? I thought you were at work."

"I am at work. Listen, lover, my mother saw you kiss me and she suspects something. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if she knew something."

"So?"

"So I wanted to ask you if you wanted to keep our relation a secret or go ahead and let her know that I'm with you."

"Can't tell mine, they'd flip out. If you want to then I guess you can."

"I don't want to, Luca, you're mine, not theirs. Mine."

Luca grinned wildly into the phone. He liked the idea of being his and his alone, very much so. "Okay, okay, don't worry about it. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. And you can help me polish my story."

"Sounds like a plan. See you then."

"Good bye, lover."

Luca hung up the phone and sat back down again.

His mother and sister looked at him curiously, Peggy just got another helping of soup. "Who was that, Luca?"

"Just a friend of mine asking a question about a project he's doing. If I can help him with it tomorrow."

It seems so soon, but somehow, it seems… I don't know… RIGHT, somehow, like it was meant to be, Jake wrote in his journal that night. He'd called his mom soon after he got in and they talked for an hour before she finally let him go so he could sleep. He wasn't used to working that late, and it had worn him out. He now lay sprawled out on his bed with a pillow under his chest while he wrote in a blue spiral notebook with green paper. A glance at the clock on his nightstand told him it was nearly 2AM and he had yet to hear from Luca again yet. It was technically the next day, but he doubted he'd hear from his red-haired lover until morning. Damn.

He flipped the book shut and tucked it into the drawer before triggering the alarm and turning out the light, wondering if he was going to dream about Luca and his touch.

He figured he did dream of his lover at some point towards morning, considering the boner he had when the alarm went off. He did his morning routine and attended his morning class in a light daze, too busy thinking of Luca and all the delicious things they would do together.

To each other.

He shook his head, trying to get all the ideas out of his head because if he didn't… he might run into something…

…like the wall he'd just bounced off of.

He rubbed the sore spot on his forehead and shook his head again, this time at how dumb he could be and opened the nearby door to the restaurant he had been looking for.

He ordered a ham and cheese sandwich and found an empty table to sit at so he could work on his story. A short time later he was typing away on his little laptop, pausing now and again to either take a bite of sandwich or drink some soda. No one disturbed him, and he didn't bother anyone else. A waitress filled his glass a couple times, always glancing at the screen and smiling when he said his thanks.

One time she didn't leave but asked instead; "What are you writing?"

"Hmm?" he looked up to see her smiling at him and he smiled back. "I'm writing a short story for a class of mine."

"College class? Who do you have?"

"Professor Ford."

"Oh, yipes, I had him when I was in college and he just drove me nuts," she shook her head. "Far too strict with me, I never liked writing, anyhow."

"He's not all that strict."

"Must be mellowing with his age, then. Have fun in your classes," and she nodded and left to refill someone's tea glass.

"Thank you, I will."

Jake wrote a few more sentences and shut his laptop off, finished with the assignment save for some last minute polishing. Something he would do when Luca got to his place. He grinned wildly at the thought and left a few dollars on the table before getting up and leaving the restaurant.

Luca knocked on the blue-painted door in front of him and it was whipped open to reveal a wildly grinning Jake. He was tugged inside and the black-haired boy quite literally jumped him, wrapping long bare legs around Luca's waist and kissing him soundly.

"That's a nice hello," Luca gasped out between breaths when Jake was finished kissing him.

"I rather thought so," Jake purred before he let go of his lover and handed over the laptop. "Read," was the simple command.

Luca took the laptop and flopped down on the couch to read what his black-haired lover had written. Jake settled next to him and draped one arm over the back of the couch and rested his head on Luca's shoulder.

Luca closed the lid of the laptop and set it on the coffee two hours later. Jake opened his eyes, he'd been drifting in and out of sleep for the past hour, and looked up at Luca, slightly apprehensive.

"So… what do you think?" the blacked-haired writer asked nervously.

"I think it's one of the most emotional pieces I've ever read."

"Is that a good thing?"

"It's a beauty, love."

"You're not just saying that because I suck at writing?"

Luca laughed and ruffled his lover's hair. "Lover, you don't suck at writing, believe me. I read a lot, so I guess I'd know."

"Suddenly, I feel a hell of a lot better," he smiled and he was rewarded for his writing with a kiss from his lover. "Come on, let's go and get some coffee. I'm out."

"Sure, coffee's one of my best friends."

Jake giggled and Luca pulled him to his feet and they left the apartment and headed down the street, having decided to walk the short distance instead of taking the car. They walked in relative silence before Jake grabbed Luca's hand, intertwining their fingers together, and squeezed it. "You're not my friend, Luca," he said softly.

"Could never be friends," Luca agreed. "We're much more then that, so much more."

A short silence as they crossed the road, then; "What are we, really?"

Luca kissed Jake's fingers. "We're lovers, lovers who haven't figured out how much we really mean to each other as yet."

"We started as friends, didn't we?"

"Yes, in a way, but you and I became so much more. More then we had any right to be."

"Mom doesn't understand it, you know. How I can feel what I do for you."

"I know. Most people in our lives won't understand. But they won't matter, beloved."

"Why not?"

"Because we'll love each other forever."

"Forever," Jake breathed softly and nodded. "I like the sound of that!"

"I rather thought you might."

Jake leaned against his black-clothed lover's shoulder and Luca wrapped an arm around his waist. "Luca?"

"Yes, Jake?"

The black-haired boy stopped walking and looked up at Luca. "Will you make love to me again?"

"Anytime, anywhere," and he kissed his lover right there in the streets. "I'm yours."

---

"Luca?"

"Hm?" Luca opened his eyes to see his black haired lover perched on his chest and stomach, playing with his hair.

"Can I ask you something?" Jake asked softly.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, we love each other, right?"

"Right."

"And we're always messing around-"

"I believe it's called having sex, love," Luca interrupted.

"Yeah, that's a good point. Anyhow I wanted to ask you if we could make it official," he continued, a slightly nervous tremor in his voice.

"You don't have to ask."

"I know, but I'm a sappy romantic and that's the way of things."

"Alright, be my boyfriend?"

"Hey! I was going to ask first!"

"Beat ya to it," Luca smirked and kissed the edge of his lover's mouth. "So will you?"

"Forever," Jake breathed as he slid his body along Luca's and licked his neck.

Luca slipped his hands up and down Jake's sides and breathed in the scent of the black haired writer's shampoo. "We still don't know that much about each other," he said softly in Jake's ear.

"That's why it's called getting to know each other."

"You know, you hold a valid point."

"I try. So who do we tell first?"

"How about everybody all in one big e-mail?"

"Sounds so impersonal," Jake murmured softly as he snuggled into his lover's side.

"Yeah, but we'll only have to write one letter and then go back to what we were doing."

"That's not a bad idea."

"Why, thank you, Jake. I'm rather glad you approve."

"Shut up and kiss me."

And he did.

To Be Continued...