a/n: I made it to chapter 2! Huge thank yous to my wonderful beta Deliria (look at her stuff it's awesome.) Without her, chapter 1 would have been an incoherent mess. As it is, this chapter was read-over by me, but she hasn't looked over it yet. I was just in a rush to get it to you guys! Edited version will be up later.

Also much love to everyone who reviewed! You made my day; I'm glad everyone likes Nate. (I do too. :3)

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ch.2

The next Monday found Nate in an incredibly familiar situation. He was just finishing Luna’s walk and approaching his apartment building when he stopped short, squinting even through his glasses. Something, no, someone, was sitting on his doorstep. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was Alex. He smirked to himself. Apparently, the kid hadn’t even managed to get inside this time.

“Shut up,” Alex told him before he even got out a word.

“I wasn’t going to say anything.” Nate found himself fighting off a smile. “I am going to ask why you’re sitting outside my apartment, though.”

“It’s locked, obviously. I can’t get in.”

“So you were trying to break in to my apartment, again. After I already caught you once.”

“Well, yeah. I mean, last time you gave me dinner. Figure it wouldn’t hurt to try again.” Alex scrambled to his feet and out of Nate’s way as the other boy fumbled with the lock and Luna for a minute before pushing to door open.

“You might as well come in. How long were you waiting out there?”

“I dunno, not that long. One of your neighbors asked me who I was, though.”

“I assume you didn’t tell her the truth.”

“Hell, no. I told her I was a friend from school. She gave me a funny look, but she left me alone.”

“Ah, yeah.” Nate ducked his head and started looking for something to do. Luna gazed up at him and thumped her curly, black tail on the floor. He settled for petting her.

“What?” Alex sidled closer.

“Nothing.”

“Why did you get all freaked out just now, hmm?” The smirk on his face grew more pronounced. Creepy kid wouldn’t meet his eyes, obviously embarrassed.

“What are you talking about?” Nate rose hastily, dark eyes flashing behind his glasses, and Alex merely raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, you know, when I said that I pretended to be your friend from school. You got all stiff and nervous.” Alex reached over and prodded Nate’ shoulder in reference, and the other boy nearly leapt backwards, his pale cheeks coloring quickly.

“I just thought it was a stupid lie.” The slight tremor in Nate’s voice gave him away, and Alex leaned in again. Creepy kid didn’t like being touched, huh? He’d have fun with that one.

“Sure you did. That explains why you went across the room to pet the dog when I brought it up.”

“There isn’t a law against petting your dog, as far as I know.”

“No, just against using pets as distractions.” Alex leaned in, his face inches from Nate’s. The boy glared up at him through both glasses and a fringe of dark hair. He might have been blushing.

“Back off!”

“Alright, alright. Don’t bite my head off.” Alex held out his hands in mock protest.

“Why don’t you try not to invade my personal space, then?” Nate snapped, and he crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at Alex. “If you’re gonna act like this, I might as well call the cops or something.”

“What? I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“You broke into my house!”

“That was yesterday. Besides, I didn’t take anything.”

“It was still breaking and entering. So why don’t you stop being an asshole and hurry up and do whatever you came here to do?”

Alex froze at that question, and looked at Nate out of the corners of his hazel eyes. Nate just peered over the top of his glasses, eyebrows raised in the same disapproving look a librarian would give a particularly loud student.

“You don’t know what you came here to do.” It wasn’t a question.

“Well, I was kinda hoping that you’d feed me,” Alex told him, while assuming what was meant to pass for a winning smile.

“And why do you need me to feed you? Don’t you have food at your house? Don’t your parents feed you?”

“I mean, there’s food, but nothing I can just grab and eat.”

“Well, prepare it yourself, or ask your mother to do it.”

“Heh. You think your parents are the only ones who don’t take care of you?”

“Mine don’t live with me, dumbfuck.” Still, Nate was edging his way towards the kitchen.

“So. Just because I share a house with mine doesn’t mean that we’re all close or anything.” Alex just shrugged and moved towards the counter, hoisting himself on to a stool. “So, what’s for dinner?”

“Dunno. What do you want?”

“Hmm. Do you have any soup? It’s cold outside.”

“Actually, I just bought some earlier. Tomato ok?” Nate opened the cupboard and took out the can of soup without waiting for Alex’s answer.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Alex leaned forward, resting his elbows on the counter, and watched as creepy kid made their soup. There really was something odd about the other boy, whatever it was. Firstly, Alex had to admit that he just looked strange: dark hair, dark eyes, pale skin, and glasses. And, really, he had to ask himself, who invites an intruder to dinner? Someone creepy, that’s who. Unfortunately, a loud crash interrupted him.

“Fuck. I hate storms,” Nate muttered. The thunder sounded again, and Alex could feel the whole room shake.

“Awww, is creepy kid scared?”

“What did you call me?”

“Umm…” Alex froze up. He hadn’t meant to reveal his nickname for the boy, but it was out. And creepy kid was pissed, by the looks of it. “Well, you never told me your name. What else was I supposed to call you?”

“Something besides ‘creepy kid’!” Nate huffed. But before he could give Alex a full verbal lashing, he had to deal with the soup.

“Ok, sorry. You really need to work on your anger management, you know?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Here’s your soup. I’m Nate.”

“Oh, thanks.” Alex placed his bowl of steaming tomato soup on the counter and blew on it gently. “That short for Nathan?”

“No, actually. My father doesn’t like the name Nathan, so my parents just went with Nate.” Nate ducked his head and shrugged, carrying his own bowl over to the seat beside Alex. He began to eat with a certain intensity, never letting his eyes meet Alex’s.

“So, Nate,” he drew out his host’s name, hoping to provoke a reaction, “you never answered my question.”

“What question?”

“Oh, I’m sure you remember.”

“Hmm, what did you say?” Nate tried to ignore Alex, even as a tan hand was thrust into his vision.

“C’mon, don’t pretend you can’t hear me. I asked if the storm’s freaking you out.”

“No, it’s not. I’m just aggravated. When it thunders like this, I have to turn my computer off, so there’s really nothing to do in this place.”

“You could always watch TV.”

“Look around,” Nate made a sweeping gesture with his arm, “do you see a TV anywhere?”

“Well, no,” Alex conceded. “Why don’t you have one?”

“It costs too much. Electricity, cable, all that stuff. I don’t watch enough TV to justify that.” Alex burst out laughing, and Nate turned on him.

“What are you laughing for?”

“You,” he tried to reign in his mirth, “you sounded like some old guy. Worrying about how much stuff costs.” Once again, he succumbed to laughter.

Disgusted, Nate picked up both bowls and dropped them in the sink. “Then you can leave now. Have fun walking in the rain.”

“But—”

“I fed you, and then you insulted me. Get the hell out.” Nate pointed towards the door, dark eyes trained on Alex.

“Look, I’m sorry! Just chill, would you?”

“No, I won’t ‘just chill’. Do you know how much renting and keeping up an apartment, electricity, gas, all that costs? A lot! And I have to go to school, too. It’s not easy, you know!” Nate stopped mid-rant, slapping one hand over his mouth. He looked as though he had more to say, but was too embarrassed to continue.

“Sorry,” Alex rubbed the back of his head with one hand, obviously unsure of how to react to Nate’s explosion. Bizarrely enough, Nate took this moment to actually look at Alex. Tan skin, hazel eyes, and brown hair. He supposed that it fell in that category in between brown and blonde that defied categorization and, apparently, frustrated girls to no end. Sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose, Nate vowed never to spend his lunch period alone with Caitlin and Rosemary ever again.

“Look, Nate,” said boy looked up in shock. He hadn’t expected Alex to actually call him by name. “I really didn’t mean it and— ”

“You want to stay here until it stops pouring, right?” Nate said flatly.

“Well, yeah, I guess that’s the idea. I really am sorry, though.”

“Ok, ok. Just stop apologizing, would you?”

“Heh, ok. And thanks. I mean it.”

“Sure, no problem.” Nate turned on his heel and headed back to his room, leaving Alex to stare after him. He’d obviously hit a nerve there with creepy kid. Admittedly, he had probably overstepped himself for a moment, had forgotten that they weren’t friends, that he couldn’t say stuff like that. Hell, he didn’t even know what he was doing in this apartment. If he had to admit it, it bothered him.

Alec glanced up at the clock; it was about 8 pm. Still a few hours left before his mother started wondering where he was. Nate was back in his room, probably doing homework. (He certainly struck Alex as that type.) Assured that he wouldn’t be bothered for quite some time, Alex stretched out on the lumpy, obviously second-hand, couch and promptly fell asleep.

Several hours later, the storm had abated, and Nate had finished working. He hadn’t heard to door open since her retreated to his room, so he cautiously crept out to the main room to see if Alex was still there. He was. Nate couldn’t help but crack a smile at the sight of the obviously outspoken youth curled up in a semi-fetal position on his couch.

Nate contemplated waking Alex up, but even his angry, revenge-centered shoulder-devil couldn’t convince him to rouse Alex at nearly one in the morning and force him to walk home. He’d just settle for seeing the look on his face when he realized that he had spent the night at “creepy kid’s” house. He paused for a second in thought, and then groaned.

There was no way in hell he was making him breakfast, too.

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next time: The morning after, a day at school with Nate, and separation anxiety. Ohoho!