---Saturday Morning at the College---

BANG BANG BANG!

"Eh?" Mike looked up from under his covers and stretched. "Who is it?" he asked sleepily.

"Cha-Ree's gone!" a feminine voice replied. "Open the damned door, short-stuff!"

Erika. What's she doing up this early? he thought softly as he climbed out of his bed and unlocked his door before dropping back into bed. "Not my fault I'm short, Erika, it's something called genetics."

"Whoopie. Have you seen Charlie? He stayed the night over but he was gone when I got up," she said as she sat down on Mike's bed. When she didn't get a reaction from him she whipped the covers back to find that the little brunette had gone back to sleep. A vain popped on her temple and she grabbed the short teen's shoulders and shook him hard. "WAKE UP, SHORTY, CHARLIE'S MISSING!"

"Let. Me. Go. E-ri-ka. Be-fore. You. Break. My. Neck," Mike managed to gasp out as he was being shook. The taller architect student released him and he dropped back and smacked the back of his head on his headboard. He clutched at it in slight pain and glared balefully at his friend. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Charlie's gone, do you know where he went?"

"Did you check your mirror?"

She blinked. "Wha'?"

Mike yawned and blinked slowly, settling back down. "Charlie leaves notes for people, generally on their mirrors. He dropped me a note by sliding it under my door, it's on the desk. He'd woken me up when he'd done because he knocked. He's gone to see Dave."

Erika jumped off of Mike's bed and searched his desk for the note. She found it pinned to a cork board that was above his desk, mirroring Charlie's, and read it.

Went To Dave's. -C

And here she thought Charlie liked to babble.

"Why?" A soft snore answered her and she attacked the sleeping lump with a stuffed bear. "I asked why!"

Mike clutched the bear to his chest and hugged it. "He has nightmares, correct?"

"Yeah, but what-"

"So he doesn't go back to sleep when he has nightmares, he goes and does stuff. Most of the time he'll stay here but if it's really bad he'll make the trip to Dave's and spend time with his family."

"But Charlie doesn't have family."

"Dave is his family, along with Roger, but I think he's down south right now. Roger's the father figure he never got to have and Dave, well, I'm not sure what Dave is to him," Mike got out of his bed, taking the stuffed bear with him, and flipped on the coffee pot. "Why are you up so early, I thought you went clubbing with Charlie?"

"I did and I just am."

The short brunette rose an eyebrow. "Want some coffee?"

She nodded and was given a mug with sugar in it and a spoon. The coffee would still be a few minutes. "What's with those nightmares of his, anyhow?"

Mike shrugged noncommittally. "It's a Charlie-thing."

"You know, don't you?" she asked shrewdly.

Silver eyes stared blankly (something picked up from the braided artist while they were both in their early teens) and he gave a slight nod.

Erika grabbed the collar of the little brunette's pajamas and shook him again. "YA GOTTA TELL ME!"

"Josh, save me!" he squeaked.

"What's all the noise for?" a new voice asked in a sleep laden voice and Erika jumped back from the brunette and stared in shock at the bed.

A blonde head popped out from under the covers and gold rimmed brown eyes blinked sleepily.

The architect student's jaw drop open. "Josh?! What are you doing here?"

"I was sleeping."

"You slept over?!"

"If I didn't I'd be wondering what I was doing here," Josh murmured and yawned before sniffing the air. "I smell coffee."

"That's because the coffee maker's on," Mike piped up.

Erika looked back and forth between them before erupting into giggles. The duo glanced at each other before looking back at the girl with green tipped dark blonde hair. "You two slept together!"

"Yes, we did," Mike said gently as he poured coffee into three mugs and doctored the last two. "But don't think that something happened."

She stopped laughing and blinked. "You mean to tell me that you two, Hot&Heavy Central, slept together in the same bed and you didn't have sex?!?!?" she threw her hands into the air. "What is this world coming to?"

The little brunette blushed as he gave his guests their coffee mugs. "Chill, Erika."

"Bah! What is this thing you call 'chilling'?" Erika said as she flopped down onto Mike's bed, careful of the much taller blonde's legs and the hot coffee. "Besides, it's sweet that you two's decided to wait for a little while."

"Charlie didn't..." Mike started.

"You're not Charlie."

"You didn't."

"You're not me," she said and looked the pajama-ed brunette up and down slowly and he blushed again. "Definitely not me."

"Something I'm glad for," Josh piped up and Erika glared at him. "I'm gay, remember?"

"Are you really?"

The taller blonde rolled his eyes at the word play. "Yes, I'm happy."

"Good."

"You've been watching far too much TV," Josh said to her and Mike giggled. Erika flashed them a peace sign.

"Television makes you smart!" she said goofily and they laughed. "Get dressed, pretty boys, let's go get some breakfast."

"Are we going to spend the weekend together?" Mike asked as he tugged his pajama top off and wiggled into a shirt and sweater.

"Sure, why not? I think we should spend a little more time together," Erika said as she ruffled the short teen's already messy hair. "You're so cute when you're only half dressed!"

"Erika!" he flushed pink.

"But it's true, Mikey, tell him, Josh!"

"It's true," Josh said as he sipped his coffee, watching his little boyfriend blush a deeper crimson.

"Josh!"

"What?" the blonde blinked innocently and leaned over and kissed his boyfriend on the cheek before his blood pressure could rise any higher. "She's teasing, baby."

"Why do you have to pick on me, 'Rika?"

"Because Cha-Ree's not here so I can't pick on him," she replied. "And you're shorter than me. And fun to pick on. Adorable as all hell, and did I mention short?"

Mike smacked his forehead with his palm and shook his head. "Please, whatever you do, don't say I'm molest-able."

"I wasn't going to, I swear. I might've been thinking it, sure, but I wasn't going to say anything about it, scout's honor," she said and held up a scout's salute.

"That's not going to work, Erika," Josh noted and she cocked her head. "You were never a scout."

The architect student blinked and swore colorfully.

The shorter teen blinked. "Did you come up with that second to last one or did Charlie?"

"My cousin Jamie and his friend Sylk did."

"Gifted," he deadpanned and received a smack on the head with a pillow. "I meant in a good way!"

"Oh, well, just forget I did that, then," she smiled and held out a pair of blue jeans. "Hurry up, I'm starving."

"Okay, okay, chill out," Mike muttered and he took the pants and was ungracefully shoved into his bathroom.

"Dress, now!"

Josh couldn't help but snicker and Erika turned a sharp glare on him.

"You're next!"

The blonde squeaked pathetically.

---Some Time Later---

"So what happened next?"

"We went to get some food since Mike ate all the popcorn."

Erika leaned on the table and looked the short brunette up and down. "It's amazing how much food a little guy like you can suck down and still stay so skinny."

"I have a high energy job," Mike replied before he started on his second plate of breakfast enchiladas.

"No shit."

"Anyhow," Josh continued before a fight could break out (Even though it looked like Mike was more interested in his breakfast than fighting with a gal pal). "We found this great restaurant with the best Italian food this side of the state line, unless Roger is around."

"Roger's a good cook?"

"Yup, he and Mike's mom teamed up to teach Charlie and him," he indicated his little boyfriend (Who was too busy chowing down to listen). "to cook when they were about 10 or so."

"That ranks high on the Awesome Meter," she said as she sipped some coffee.

"Yeah, sure does. I suck at cooking, about the only thing I can cook is whop-em-on-the-counter biscuits," Josh said and thought about it. "Well, those I can't exactly guarantee coming out good either, so..."

Erika laughed and the blonde grinned. "So what are we going to do if we can get Mike away from the table?"

"If he was paying any attention at all, he'd say study but since he's not, I say we go find some fun."

"Like what?"

He shrugged. "Hell if I know."

"I say we go on a cuisine spree," Mike said as he pushed his plate back. "Man, I'm full."

"You just ate half the menu, you say you're full, and you want to go on a cuisine spree?" the architect student laughed. "You really are too much, Mike."

"I try."

"I noticed," Erika said and sipped her coffee. "What kind of cuisine?"

"I want some borsht," the short brunette teen said as he leaned back in the booth.

"What the hell is borsht?"

"Something Russian," Josh supplied. "I don't think you want it. Can't we get gyros for lunch instead?"

She thought about it. "Can you settle for gyros, shorty?"

"Yeah, I can settle."

"I can't believe we just made lunch plans and it's not even 9AM yet," Erika muttered half-heartedly

"Welcome to my world," Josh replied.

"Hey! I object to that!" Mike glared at his tall boyfriend and the blonde kissed him hard. "Suddenly I don't mind so much," he said breathlessly.

"That's my Puppy."

Erika sighed and smiled goofily. "You two are so cute."

"Don't say we should sell tickets," Mike said.

"But, Shorty, most of my girl friends would just DIE if they saw this! Please?! They'd pay big money!"

"No."

"But YAOI is so good!"

"Erika, no."

"But-"

"NO."

"Damn!" she crossed her arms and pouted pitifully. "You suck, Shorty."

"Do not."

"Do."

"Do not."

"Do."

"Do not."

"Children, cool it," Josh said before the play-fight could get violent (It usually didn't but sometimes it did) and they both pouted. "There's a film festival this weekend."

"There is?" both Erika and Mike perked up and he looked over to her. "Wanna do it?"

She grinned sadistically. "Yeah, let's do it!"

Boredom diverted, mission complete, Josh thought privately as he laid some money on the table. "Let's go, kitties and puppies."

End Chapter 7