Now it was official. Matthew's boss hated him. Why else would the fat man ask him to get the impossible interview with the one band that refused to receive interviews since they got popular two months ago? Oh, and then there was the fact that, if he didn't get to talk with ETERNAL, he was fired, no quarter given. The ass. So here he was, pacing around his puny little apartment, with his cruddy little cell phone in hand, trying to work up enough courage to dial the number of the band's manager, PJ Orvill. And, the sad thing was, Matt was already looking for another job, because he knew that this one wasn't lasting for too much longer. Though still he had to try and call, just to see if that, if there was a god of luck somewhere out there, maybe someone would answer.

Well, now or never.

Taking a deep breath, he lifted his hand and dialed the eleven numbers with his thumb. As he held the exact same breath, he pressed the receiver to his ear, and waited for someone to pick up. It rang three times, and he almost hung up, before someone actually answered.

"Hello?" It was a feminine voice, and, for some reason, Matt pictured a young teen girl with bleached blonde hair and white flip-flops popping grape-flavored bubblegum.

Shaking his head to get back to the present, he coughed lightly to clear his throat. "Ah, yes, is this PJ—"

"The manager of ETERNAL?" she interrupted, sounding rather bored with the situation.

"Uh, yes." Was he supposed to say something else? Maybe lie and say that he loved their music, even though he had never actually heard it. Could she hear his heart beating on the phone?

"I guess that I am. So, who is this?" she asked.

"Matthew Henderson, I'm a journalist for the local magazine, WhatEv, and I was wondering if I could maybe grab a small five minute interview." He closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the flat out refusal.

"Matthew Henderson?" now the tone in her voice said that she was suddenly interested.

He blinked. "Yeah."

"Actually, it is time that there was an interview." She paused. "How soon would you prefer?"

Wait, that was a 'yes'! He was smiling as he suddenly ran into his tiny kitchenette and pulled out a pen and paper. "Whatever time is good for you."

"On the caller ID, it says that your area code puts you in the San Francisco area?"

"That's where I live yes."

"That's perfect. Currently we are in the city. Although, we are not in the Four Season's like we told others because too much popularity soon ruins one's sanity, so we are actually in the Marriott on Fourth Street. Room 613." There was the sound as PJ took a deep breath. "But here's the kicker. Can you get here in about…two hours?"

Wow, that certainly quicker than he expected. But, he got to keep his job, so he certainly wasn't about to complain. "Totally."

"One more thing, and I truly am sorry about this, but do you think that you could drop by the Sushi Groove South and pick up the band's lunch? I'd do it myself, but I gotta keep this a secret otherwise they'd kill me. And the only way you'll actually get in is if you say you have food. Just pay for it and I'll pay you back, I promise. Just tell them order fourteen seven. They'll know. Is that okay with you?" PJ said all of this really quickly, and in a breathless sort of way that meant that she had only used one breath.

And he was thrown for a loop. The red pen stilled from where he was writing down 147, he already knew where the restaurant was, and he slowly put it back down. Pursing his lips, he wondered for a moment if he should actually agree to this, it seemed like a lot of trouble for what appeared to be a diva band. Really, they didn't do interviews, and he had to pick up their food for them. Seemed like they were just a wee bit self obsessed, even though they were relatively new to the famous crowd and probably wouldn't last all that long.

But he didn't want to change jobs just yet.

Sighing inaudibly, he answered, "That's not too much of a problem." Matt really didn't want to do this, and if he had his choice, he wouldn't. Suddenly he thought about his boss's reaction when he walked in and handed the arrogant ass his interview. Not being able to stop himself, he smiled, barely stopping himself from chuckling over the phone. Then he realized that he hadn't heard anything on the other line of said phone. "Uh, is anyone there?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, someone just asked me a question over here and they lied and said that it was freakin' important." She sounded really annoyed, and as she spoke, Matt imagined her blowing a strand of hair out of her coffee colored eyes. Wait a second, how'd that get stuck in his head? It wasn't like he was a pervert, so he never had to deal with these weird flashes of what someone looked like in his head. Honestly, it was kind of creeping him out.

Feeling the need to say something, he just did a 'hmm'. "So is there any thing else that I should know?" he asked, tapping the cap of the pen against the countertop.

"Actually, no, I think that's about it.—I don't care if you can't effin' set it up!" she was suddenly yelling, and it took him a moment to understand that PJ was talking to someone else, probably the person who asked her the 'important' question. She didn't seem to notice that she was blowing out his ear as she continued. "I am not a technology master….Listen closely, see those little wires that are colored at the end, red, yellow and white?...Look on the side of the TV….yeah, that's where they go….duh."

Deciding that his eardrums had endured enough, he interrupted her with a light cough. "Thanks for talking to me and I guess I'll be there in two hours."

"Oh, yeah, totally!" she sounded excited, and once again the image of the teen girl popped into his head. "And thank you." There was a click as she hung up.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sooo going to enjoy this interview." Matt said to himself as he replaced his cell in his pocket and meandered over to his computer. After he sat down, he quickly opened the internet and typed in 'ETERNAL' so he could get a decent look into their background so he didn't sound like a complete moron. Clicking on the first link that came up, he was met with a very large picture that filled his entire screen; it was obviously the group itself, which consisted of only three people; Crystal Swording, Jay Vendredi, and Paige Jemmin.

Crystal, who was on the far right, was extremely pale and had really dark eyes and hair. Dressed in an almost punk-like way in one of those insulting shirts, which was hard to read from the angle of the photo, and a pair of dark jeans with tears along her knees, she reminded Matt of a vampire in all of those horror films. He fought back a chuckle at her 'fuck off' stare she was giving the camera. She was holding a guitar, so it was obvious what part she played in the mix.

Jay Vendredi also had dark hair, but it suited his slightly darker complexion. He was wearing similar clothes to Crystal, though they didn't seem to fit him quite as much. It looked to Matt like he had too nice of a personality to willingly insult someone. Though this was just a picture, so he really couldn't read all too much into it. On the left, Jay was standing in front of a keyboard, his hand lightly on one of the controls. His eyes were focused on the third member of the group.

In the middle, there was Paige holding a microphone stand between her and Crystal. Dark curly blonde hair was pulled up into two small pigtails on either side of her head and tied by something lacy. Her outfit was the most surprising. It made Matt think of those maid costumes, but it was obvious that it wasn't meant to be sexy. It was black and white and frilly, but it made the young girl look more like a baby doll than anything else. Her eyes were alight with laughter, so he wondered briefly what she was thinking when the shot was taken.

There was a feeling that he knew her from somewhere.

Scrolling down the page, he started to read some of the background information as he muttered to himself, "Right Matt, you just happen to know someone who's famous. Happens all the time in the real world." As he skimmed, he learned the name of the dress that Paige was wearing, some strange thing called Goth Loli. Weird. Then his eyes widened when they came across her age. Holy, it said that she was twenty-four! She didn't look an effin' day over fourteen!

Life was so unfair.

*

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*

An hour and thirty-two minutes later, Matt grabbed his keys out of his coat pocket and stuffed them into his jeans. His caramel colored hair was still slightly damp from the shower he had taken, and he shook his head at the feeling of it dripping down his neck. As he walked out the door, he silently checked his personal inventory; notebook, pen, tape recorder, wallet, and cell. Check, check, check, check, and check.

He locked the door, then silently jogged down the stairs to the ground floor. In the parking lot, he easily spied his piece of crap. The poor vehicle had been repaired so many times with so many different car parts, that it was nearly impossible to tell what kind of car it was originally. Sliding into the driver seat, he turned it on, then put it in reverse, and backed out of his spot. Soon he was on his way, heading towards the sushi place.

He had to wait another half an hour, but finally he had the food. Which pretty much killed his checking account because it ended up being about sixty dollars, but hopefully it would be worth it. The sushi was put in little plastic boxes and then in two paper bags. Matt pretty much just tossed them into the passenger seat on his way to the hotel, not caring about whether or not it made it there in one piece.

Finally he was in front of room 613. He took a deep breath and then somehow magically knocked because his hands were filled. It was another couple of seconds before the door opened. Standing there was Crystal; at least Matt believed it was her considering she looked exactly the same in the picture. She gave him a stare for a moment, then grabbed his arm and dragged him inside. "You're Matthew, right?" she asked him.

"Yeah?" He thought that PJ was going to keep it a secret that he was coming.

"Okay, brace yourself, and I'll hold those." She took the bags away from him, then tilted her head back a little. "Paige! He's here!"

"It's about fuckin' time!" A loud voice shouted from one of the other rooms in the suite. Out of the corner of Matt's eye, he saw a yellow and pink blur heading towards him right before two thin arms wrapped around him and a warm body was pressed against his side. "Matty!"

Matty? What? He looked down at her, and her mocha colored eyes met his green ones when that feeling that he knew her brushed by his mind again, especially with her hair pulled back into a pony tail and wearing a yellow tank layered over a pink one. "Do I know you?" he asked.

Her eyes widened, and then her lower lip jutted out in a pout. "Matty," Paige whined, "Don't you remember me?"

"Honestly?" Matt replied, wondering if he had known her before. "Not really."

Crystal suddenly sighed loudly from behind him. "Dear God, just lie to her."

"Crystal!" Paige stepped back from him, and put her hands on her hips, glaring at her friend from around Matt. "Matty told me that lying will make your tongue turn black and fall out. Of course I know that's not true now but I was like five when he said it, so I was terrified for months."

Now he remembered. Turning, Matt gave her a wonder-filled look. "Paigey J." he paused and shook his head. She had changed a lot from the last time he had seen her fourteen years ago. She had been ten, and he sixteen. That was the year that her mother had died in a car crash. He and his drunken mother, at the time sober, had gone to his aunt's funeral, and Paige had been sitting there, staring off into space like she was lost, holding hands with some boy her age that Matt couldn't recall the face of.

"You do remember!" she cried out, giving him another hug. Then she grabbed his hand, pulling him over to the table like thing in the living room and pushing him down in a chair. "Okay, I need to know, how's Aunt K? And Uncle Joe, not to mention Grampa Don. You're the only person who's in contact with them, considering what an absolute ass my dad is." She made a face as she sat down across from him, and he couldn't help but grin at that. He had only met the man once, and the only thing that he knew was that he was in the Air Force

"Good job dude," Crystal said, coming over with the sushi and chopsticks, "You've awakened the monster. Just ditch the interview attempt and run, run for your life."

Matt chuckled. "Then she hasn't changed a bit." He took a deep breath and answered Paige's questions. "Mom's decent enough, considering that she ran off to Vegas with her boyfriend two months ago. And Dad's okay, I go and see him every so often. Gramps is fine, though he's now in a retirement home, but he loves the attractive young nurses." He waggled his eyebrows at her.

She laughed.

"Wait," Lowering herself into a seat, Crystal gave the both of them a weird stare that lingered on him, telling him that if there was any romantic history between him and her friend, he wouldn't be able to have natural children. "How do you know each other?"

"She—"

Paige interrupted him with a cheerful, "He's my cousin!" Then she stared down at the table like she was expecting something, and turned to her partner in music. "Where's mine?"

"Over on the counter. What am I, your maid?" Crystal retorted, waving her hands toward where the paper bags were. Turning to Matt, she placed her hands down on the table, and leaned forward. "So what makes you so special?"

"Special?" He asked, confused about what she was talking about.

"Why in the world PJ chose you to do our first interview."

Paige swiftly stood up, and practically ran over to where the food what. "I don't know, PJ's does whatever the fuck he wants, when he wants." She didn't look at either of them when she came back and sat down, shoving food in her face.

"He?" Matt said, "The person I talked to was a chick."

There was a clatter as Crystal dropped her chopsticks as she turned to Paige. "Please tell me you didn't." she sighed, then ran a hand over her forehead, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. "You stole his phone?"

"No," Paige answered, stuffing another Hawaiian roll down her throat. "He merely left his phone, and when Matty called, I answered and then had to let him get an interview. He's my cousin Crys, what was I supposed to do? And I hadn't seen him in fourteen years. That's two years longer than half my life."

"Oh," the guitarist replied, crossing her arms, staring down her friend. "So you just happened to use our manager's phone to set up a family reunion?"

Blushing, Paige looked away. "Maybe."

Suddenly Matt was laughing. He was clutching his sides, chuckling like he hadn't done in months. They both turned to him in surprise, but he just couldn't stop. Finally, he had his breathing under control, so he was able to answer their questioning looks. "She hasn't changed a bit. Not a bit. When she was little, you'd be talking to her about whether or not she wanted ice cream at her birthday party, next thing you know, you're on a conversation about if ice cream is made from cows frozen to death." He paused, giving a smile, "True story. She was six."

Crystal chuckled, probably thinking that it was fully possible for Paige to do. She must have seen the singer about to come back with something, so she cut her off. "Okay, why don't we just get this thing started with, instead of you two catching up?"

Matt frowned, then looked around the hotel suite. "Shouldn't we wait for Mr. Vendredi?"

"Uhhh," Paige started, looking down again.

"And you couldn't tell him?" asked Crystal angrily. "Really, doesn't he have enough on his plate without having to deal with you setting up the very thing that he doesn't want behind his back?"

"He doesn't want an interview?" Matt wondered aloud.

"Well—" Paige started.

"Shut up." Crystal told her with a glare that said that she meant business, "It's not for you to tell, and I really couldn't care less if he is your cousin. Jay can tell him or not. It's his choice."

Okay, Matt was confused. But he was going to stay out of this, he was too much of a pacifist at heart, avoiding conflict like people in the middle ages tried to avoid the plague. Leaning back in his seat, he put his arms behind his head and waited.

Paige sighed, waving Crystal away. "Fine, I won't say a thing." Her eyes suddenly jerked upwards when there was the sound of a door opening behind Matt, and she looked surprised. "Oh, hi, Jay, we were just talking about you."

Matt turned around. There stood Jay, dressed only in a pair of black boxers and a towel flat on his head, making it obvious that he had just gotten out of a shower or bath. Basically, he looked like the main male in a woman's romance novel with his lean muscles and tanned skin. He peered curiously at Matt for a moment, and then he seemed to understand why the journalist was there. Eyes narrowing, he glared at Paige, slowly shaking his head.

She stood up and hurried over to him, and it looked like she grabbed his hands. "I'm sorry, Jay, but that's Matt. He's my cousin."

Jay must have said something quietly because Matt didn't hear anything before the boy stormed off towards the separate room of the suite. Paige looked shocked as her eyes followed him. Then she stomped after him. "You do not hate me, Jay! Sheesh, you're worse than a girl on PMS!" The door slammed behind her, and Paige's shouts were heard from behind it.

Crystal just yawned. "Don't worry, you get used to shit like that happening all the time."

"Are they….together?" Matt asked, remembering the picture that he saw before and how Jay's eyes were locked on Paige. Not to mention that, in some of the things that he read, someone had wondered about if they did have a relationship.

"Oh, hell no." she looked just a bit past disgusted. "They're more like siblings then anything else. Heck, someone once asked Paige if she thought Jay was sexy in his swimming suit during high school, and she laughed right in their face. Said that he's attractive in that non-creepy sexual like way." She picked up another piece of her lunch and looked it over before popping it in her mouth. "Hey, you want some, Paige ordered the food, so I'm guessing that she ordered some for you."

Suddenly there was a loud crashing sound from where Jay and Paige disappeared. Matt jumped as his cousin's loud yell echoed. "Oh my God, Jay, you get that ass out there right now or I swear I'll make you model the next pettiskirt I make!" A short pause. "So you don't think I'll do it? Try me!"

It was another three seconds before the door opened, banging against the door, and Jay walked out, now dressed in a white button up and a pair of dark jeans. He didn't look at Matt as he went straight to the food, pulled out one of the plastic boxes, paused, and then got out another with two sets of chopsticks. When he came to the table, he dropped one box and one package of utensils in front of Matt, who looked surprised as Jay plopped back into the chair that Paige was sitting in before. "Uh, thanks."

Jay just shrugged in response before starting to eat.

Paige sighed, then sat down next to Matt, reaching across the table to grab her food. "Jay, that was my seat." She whined. He just gave her a stare, so she put her hands up in surrender. "Fine then. Oh," she turned to her cousin, "He says he's not going to talk to you."

Crystal snorted, earning a glare from Jay. "Man, just tell him. Knowing her," she pointed at Paige, "She'll just have him keep coming over, so it's not like you're gonna get rid of him anytime soon."

Shaking his head, Jay just sighed.

Matt opened the box in front of him and ate a crunchy shrimp roll. He had felt that the group was self absorbed, and he was one third right. So, Jay was the stuck up jerk, but at least the other two had some decency. Remembering what he had heard Paige yell, he looked at her. "What did you mean by pettiskirt?"

Both hers and Jay's eyes widened in surprise, and they shared a scared glance. "Y-you heard that?" she asked.

Crystal laughed. "He would have had to be deaf to not hear that."

The other two sighed in union. Then Paige answered, "Oh, he doesn't like my Goth Loli stuff, so I had to threaten him with wearing one."

"You make that thing that you wear at concerts?" he asked, thinking back to the YouTube videos that he had watched of them, wanting to actually hear some of their songs. As of right now, his favorite one was Let Me Love You.

"Yep!" she started hopping up and down in her seat. "I figured it out when I was a freshman, and have done it ever since. One hundred percent love doin' it too!"

One eyebrow quirked, Crystal said, "That's not all she loves doing."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Crys." Paige replied, then she turned on Jay when he smiled. "Oh, you think that's funny, do you?" She stood up, hands on the table, and leaned towards him. Jay, being smart, leaned away. Smiling, she sat back down. "Ha! You're scared of me now."

His silver eyes narrowed, and he stuck his tongue out at her immaturely. After that, he held his hand up, fingers straight, thumb against his palm, and tapped his chin, smiling evilly. Her jaw dropped, and her eyes widened, starting to water.

"D-do you really think that?" she asked him in a wobbling voice.

Crystal was just staring at Jay, looking disgusted. "Oh. My. God."

Matt was currently wondering what in the world had just happened, when Jay, who looked shocked at the reaction his action had gained, leapt up out of his seat, making weird signs with his hands really quickly. Suddenly Matt understood why Jay hadn't wanted to talk to him. It was because the boy couldn't talk to him. The same realization seemed to hit Jay at the same time, for he paled, then turned to Matt, panic in his eyes, slowly shaking his head, making cutting motions with his hands in front of his chest.

But it was too late.

"You're a mute, aren't you?" Matt asked quietly. Jay closed his eyes, slowly nodding.

Surprising everyone, Paige giggled. "Gotcha," she said as she wiped the fake tears off of her cheeks. "How's that for revenge, Jay?"

"That," Crystal stated, "Was evil. Pure evil." She paused and mimed crying tears of happiness. "I've taught you so much."

Jay's mouth popped open audibly. He signed something that Matt, who didn't know ASL, couldn't understand. But it was obvious that Paige did, because she answered his question. "Of course I faked that. You effin' called me a bitch, what did you expect me to do?" she crossed her arms, looking very pleased with herself.

Giving her a stare of something between dislike and petty rivalry, Jay sat back down, looked at Matt for a moment, then signed something else at Paige, jerking his head towards the journalist's direction.

"Oh, I hadn't thought about that," she muttered.

"You think?" Crystal asked her, grinning to show that she was joking. "Though, seriously, if he is your cousin, than I guess it's worth a shot of asking."

Matt got the gist that they were talking about asking him something. Considering that Jay brought it up, it probably had to do with the boy. "Asking what?"

Paige grabbed his hands and pulled him towards her. "Could you do us a huge favor?" she asked, and briefly, in the back of Matt's mind, he realized that she was playing him for a sucker to get what she was going to ask. How could anyone ever say 'no' to those big brown eyes? "Matty, would you not write about Jay's condition in your article? He doesn't want a whole lot of people to know because he'll get the whole, 'I pity you, you can't talk' thing happening."

"And, may I add something?" Crystal mentioned, "The exact same thing happened while we were in high school. Every single girl thought that, if they acted like they were sorry for him, he'd go out with them, boosting up their popularity because he was the hottest guy there." She paused as she watched Jay add something. "You were too the hottest guy."

"Ah," Matt sighed, running another hand through his hair. Then he realized what he should do. "Okay, I won't tell a soul, in writing or otherwise."

Jay signed, and Paige translated. "Why?"

Matt was surprised. Why would they even bother to ask? "What do you mean, why?"

More signing. But this time Crystal worked as translator. "I just want to know why you wouldn't say anything about it. Most people in the news business would leap at the chance to reveal something like this, considering it would jump start their career. So I want to know why."

"Well." Matt had to think about it for a moment. "Well, if I did write about it, I'm pretty sure that Paige would hunt me down with a butcher knife."

"Hell yeah." Paige answered, dropping his hands. She seemed to realize that she still had some lunch, so she turned back to her sushi, and started to chow down with a vigor that would have slightly scared anyone who didn't know her.

Jay smiled, and Matt blinked at how much that true smile changed the boy's face. The journalist couldn't help but answer with a smile, which caused Jay to blush and look away. They both jumped when Crystal slammed a hand down on the table. Glancing at her, Matt quirked an eyebrow. "What?"

"Can we start the thing now? Please, because you have a total…" she glanced down at the braided silver chain watch on her wrist, "Of about forty-five minutes until PJ tromps through that door, and then has a cow when he discovers why you're here. So unless you want to write a piece titled 'Ass gives birth to calf' hurry up."

Chuckling at the image that her words conjured up, he pulled out his notebook, pen, and tape recorder. Setting the recorder on the table, he pressed his thumb on the button with the red circle to start the tape winding. Then he looked up. "Okay then, what made you guys want to start ETERNAL?"

Sitting up straighter, Paige smiled, then answered happily. "Well, that was easy. Crystal plays a mean guitar, I have a kick ass voice, and Jay kills on keyboard. What else were we supposed to do?"

*

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A WEEK LATER

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*

Matt was going to enjoy this. Quietly he strode to into the small office where WhatEv was put together and printed. As soon as he stepped inside, his boss, Muriel Connor, spied him. "HENDERSON!" he shouted out, lifting a flabby arm into the air. Matt sighed, pretending to feel bad that he had been spotted, while on the inside, he was really looking forward to the confrontation for once. Keeping his head down, he made his way to Connor's office, going as slow as he could to further the illusion.

Connor held the door open as Matt stepped through into the threshold of the office. Right afterward, there was a loud slam, and Connor moved slowly around his desk, then sat down, somehow managing to fold all of the fat into the seat. Almost like trying to seat Matt out, he slowly leaned forward, trying to look menacing. "So, Henderson, what did I tell you last week?"

Glancing down at his feet, Matt hid a smile as he shuffled guiltily a little. "To write an article about ETERNAL."

"And…."

Matt frowned, then slowly pulled out the small manila file that he had tucked under his blue sweatshirt. He grinned as he tossed it across the desk, smiling even broader when Connor caught it. His boss's eyes widened almost to the point where they popped out of his head, and he opened it. "Bu-but how?"

"A magician never tells his secrets, why should I?" Matt sounded very self-assured as he lowered himself into one of the two uncomfortable chairs that faced the fat man's desk. "I happened to know a girl, who knew a chick, who talks occasionally to a guy." Technically it wasn't a lie. He did know Paige, who did know Crystal, who did actually talk to Jay.

"This can't be real," Connor muttered as he skimmed the pages. "You couldn't have done this. You used Wikipedia and wrote some random shit," He stood up suddenly, and slammed the file down. "Did you really think that I would have fallen for this low trick?!" Spittle flew out of his mouth, and Matt made a slight show of wiping it off of his face.

"Sir, that's about as genuine an interview as you can possibly get."

Connor leapt up and pointed an accusing finger. "Get out. I will not be hoodwinked!"

Matt opened his mouth to say something, then thought that it just wasn't worth it. The only reason that he hadn't wanted to lose his job was because he didn't want to have to find a new one. Truth was, he hated it here. Slowly he stood, brushing metaphorical dust off of his pants. "Fine." He almost walked out of the door, and paused, realizing that his article might be worth some money to someone else, he turned around and swiped the file off of the desk.

Mumbling fowl words under his breath, Matt made his way to his car. He should have just have told Connor to fuck off before, then he'd probably have a different job by now, even if it was only at Burger King. But anything would be better than that self pompous dirt bag. Still angry, he quickly drove out of the parking lot and onto the streets. By the time he made it back to his apartment, he was personally surprised that, with the insane way he was driving, that he hadn't hit some pedestrian, or even got pulled over.

Though, if he wasn't as self-pitying as he was, he might not have taken some sort of pride out of that.

After he locked the car when he arrived at his destination, Matt paused by his mailbox. Using the smallest key on his key ring, he unlocked the tiny metal box, and pulled out his mail, closing the box afterwards. Walking up to his room, he flipped through the envelopes. Bill, junk, junk, bill….he paused when he saw the one on the bottom. Surprised, he flipped it over, checking to make sure it was real, then he in front of his door, so he let himself inside, then tore into the letter like a starving man on food.

He wasn't hallucinating. His mother really did write to him. It was difficult to read her handwriting considering that it was extremely obvious that she was just a little drunk when she had decided to puck up the pen.

Dear Matt,

I'm having a whole lot of fun here in the City of Sin. The Casinos are fun, the alcohol is smooth as silk, and, the best of all, my hotel room is as free as air! Isn't that something? But, that's part of the reason of why I am writing to you. Like I've said, the Casinos are amazing entertainment, but more strong-fisted people than me have lost their entire life savings here.

I should be pretty safe, considering how much I actually save.

I put Sandra's ring in here, so that you, who are more solid than a rock, can keep it for a while, at least for the time that I'm here. You can give it back to me when I'm back in California.

With love,

Mom

Matt sighed, then reached into the envelope, and pulled out the small gold ring that his aunt always wore. The band was thick, with a small stripe of silver wrapped around it. Some sort of gem was what usually captured everyone's attention. The stone was a mixed color between silver and purple, somehow appearing green in certain lights.

He understood why his mother had decided to mail it to him. She had a problem with keeping things, especially if gambling was involved. Aunt Sandy's will had surprised everyone when she had left all of her favorite possessions, jewelry and books, to her sister, and not Paige, who would've have enjoyed them more.

Feeling a little depressed as he thought about Aunt Sandy, he sat down on his well worn couch, and his the pad of his thumb brushed against the gem on the ring. He didn't notice as the stone flashed brightly, as his eyes were closed. Sighing, he tilted his head back and lifted a hand to run through his hair.

Suddenly, a loud sound filled the air, almost a mix between a bang and a pop, making Matt leap off of his couch in surprise. His apartment was filled with steam; almost as if the all the water in the air had suddenly been over heated. Coughing lightly, he waved a hand in front of his body, trying to get the air to clear a little so maybe he could see just what in the world had just happened. Had a water pipe or something exploded? Or was it a mechanical failure of something?

Would he have to pay for it?

Stumbling a little, Matt somehow made it to the wall, and, with a hand on it to steady himself, he walked sideways, other hand searching for the window that he knew had to be around here. Finally he felt the cooled glass. Grunting from the effort, he managed to open the almost rusted shut thing, wincing at the loud screech it gave off. Finally he was able to breathe more than just water. Taking a deep breath, he turned around, ready to find out what had been the cause of the noise and steam.

And his mouth fell open in shock.

There, standing there in the middle of his living room, was a guy. He was bent over at the waist, one arm tucked next to his stomach, with his right arm extended to the side, staring intently at the ground. It took Matt a moment to realize that this guy was bowing to him. What the hell? Somehow, he had lost his voice.

The bowing guy suddenly spoke, his voice deep and husky. "Name your desire."

Feeling like someone had suddenly clubbed him over the head, Matt found his voice. "What the fuck?"

"I know that voice…" the trespasser whispered. A moment later his head jerked up suddenly to meet Matt's eyes. "Matt?"

Jaw dropping from the surprise, Matt took a step back. "Jay?"

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

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Yeah, so this is my first technical romance (*coughcough* yaoi *coughcough*) that I've decided to write. But, I had to do something that had a slight fantasy twist to it, otherwise it just isn't fun! So….yeah.

The chapters are going to be either in third person POV from Matt's perspective….or in first person from Jay's POV. Only makes sense considering that they are the leading men! So the next one's going to be written by Jay! Whoot! Jay's one of my favorite people that I've written about (Along with Roderick from Alex: White Tiger) but only because he's the first who's actually been shy! But he has a reason, considering that….

Whoops! Almost said too much!

My lips are sealed from here on out! Or at least until the next chapter!

(And I am aware of the fact that Jay's last name means Friday in French….that's kinda why I chose it)