Description: (This story contains BL) Daniel Jekins caused some problems at his old school and was expelled. His parents not wanting to deal with him shipped him of to England to live with his great uncle. Everything was going fine until he met Austin a boy with haunted gray eyes. His life is forever changed as he tries to figure out the secrets those eyes hold. (This story is a spinoff from my story School Days but you don't have to read that one to understand this one).

Character Profiles:

Daniel Jenkins:
Birthday April 17th
17 years old
6'0''
Wavy black hair and dark blue eyes

Austin (last name unknown)
Birthday ?
15 years old
5'7''
Dark Blonde and gray eyes

Robert Sanders
54 years old
5'11''
Graying hair and beard. Sharp black eyes.

Nick Weston
24 years old
6' 1''
Light brown hair and light brown eyes

Michael Foster
26 years old
5' 7''
Flaxen hair and pale violet eyes

Chapter 1 Gray Eyes

Daniel Jekins sighed as he made himself a small breakfast. Recently his life had taken a tale spin, which he really only had himself to blame. At his former all boys' boarding school he had made his new roommate's life overly difficult. He had even inadvertently made the other boy seriously ill. So the boy's friends moved him out over the Thanksgiving break, of course they also had to be his rivals. To save face he put up somewhat of a stink. He did feel guilty he had made the other boy sick, so he really didn't do too much.

Right before Christmas break one of the boy's friends came and basically told him to leave the boy alone. Daniel would have been happy to leave it there. His teammates on the other hand didn't feel that way, unknown to him. The whole reason his friends were upset was because they all thought that the new kid, his former roommate, would be able to help Daniel pass his classes so he could stay on as captain of the football team. In the end he managed to stay on the team without the boy's help; unfortunately they lost.

For some odd reason some of his younger teammates blamed the boy and his friends for their team losing. They ended up doing something total stupid and cruel to the poor boy and one of his friends. The friend ended up staying in the hospital for a few days; fortunately his former roommate wasn't seriously hurt.

Unfortunately for his three teammates they would be expelled from the school and they were only sophomores and had two and a half years of high school left. He on the other hand was in his senior year and only had a few months to go. He was also captain of the football team, so basically it was his duty to take care of the people under him. Because of that he decided to go and talk to the dean and ended taking the blame. He had basically started with whole mess to begin with. If he hadn't tormented then none of it would have happened.

He ended getting expelled from the school and his parents were so upset with him that they shipped him off to England to live with his great uncle. He knew that he could have refused to go, he was seventeen, but then he would have a hard time finishing off high school and his parents would cut him off completely. So Daniel thought it in his best interest to go.

His uncle didn't mind keeping an eye on the boy, but liked his bachelor lifestyle. So he put Daniel up in a nice size apartment. The apartment building was more like a large house cut in four sections. Each section had its own bathroom and kitchen, but they weren't overly large. Not that he minded. It was a perfect size for one or two people.

Each of the other apartments in the building was filled with some of the oddest people the boy had ever met. He had the bottom right apartment. Above him was a retired doctor, whom everyone just called Doc; he also had the most annoying bird. The other upstairs apartment belonged to the next youngest person in the building, Glen. He happened to have just turned forty-five; he was a school teacher who was taking a sabbatical so he could write a novel. He kindly offered to be Daniel's tutor so he could finish off high school. Across the hall from him lived two old sisters Erica and Veronica, the whole town called them The Sisters. They had taken it upon themselves to take care of Daniel, since he was too young to do it himself. Apparently before Daniel had arrived they had taken care of Glen and drove him nuts.

Daniel sat down and started to eat his meal. He had been living here three months already, making it March. His birthday was next month, which would make him eighteen. He looked around his small apartment and realized that he was actually happy with his life. He never saw or talked to his parents, they just sent him money once a month. His uncle he had seen only a handful of times. He was about half way through his breakfast when there was a knock at the door. The boy got up already knowing who it was.

"Hello ladies," he said as he opened the door. The two little old women giggled.

"Hello dear," Veronica told him. "How are you this fine morning?" Daniel looked out the window and saw that one again it was cloudy.

"Fine," Daniel told them. "Would you ladies like to come in?"

"No we just made you some sandwiches for lunch and thought we'd drop them by before we left for the store," Erica said handing over the basket.

"Thank you," he said taking the basket from her. The basket felt awfully heavy for just sandwiches. Anytime the ladies made him food they always made too much. Once again his eyes drifted to the window. It looked like it was going to storm. He didn't like the idea of these two little old women being out in bad weather.

"Would you like me to go to the store," Daniel offered. "I was planning on going for a walk anyway."

"If you're sure you wouldn't mind," Veronica said.

"It wouldn't be a problem," Daniel said with a shrug.

"Then I'll get you the list and some money," Erica said as she dug in her purse. A few moments later the woman pulled out some money and the shopping list. "There you go dear and you can keep the change."

"That's not really necessary," Daniel tried to protest.

"Now you keep that money, we aren't skin flints," Veronica said wagging her finger. "Now you just drop the groceries off when you get them." With that done the two little old women went back to their apartment.

Once the two women had left Daniel quickly finished his meal and cleaned up the mess. He wanted to get to the store and back before it started to rain. On his way out the door he grabbed his coat just incase.

The air outside was cool and damp and the sky above rumbled threatening that the rain would come soon. He quickened his pace and hurried to the small store. That was the one draw back to his new life. The town that he lived in was incredibly small. It was so small that everyone lived in walking distance of everything so no one even owned a car, except a select few, and they never used them unless they went to a neighboring town. The town only had one gas pump because of this. The shopping was also very limited. There was only one grocery store, which was also the post office. Then there was a bakery, and there was a store that sold everything else from hardware to clothes. Last was a very small café. That was pretty much the whole town.

On the way to his destination he noticed how empty the street was. Most of the town knew that it was better to stay inside and not even attempt to go out on a day like today. That's why he thought it odd that when he finally reached his destination that he saw a boy hovering outside. This was the first time that he had seen the boy. He knew most of the people in the town, not by name of course, but he recognized everyone.

The boy looked to be a few years younger than him but it was hard to tell as his face was dirty. He wasn't very tall, maybe five eight. He had brown hair that nearly went down to his shoulders. His clothes looked to be too large for him and he was carrying an over large backpack that was stuffed full. The boy looked as if he was debating with himself about something.

"Did you just move here?" Daniel asked the boy.

"Just passing through actually," the boy said turning to look at him with haunted grey eyes. It was the first time that Daniel had seen anyone with grey eyes before and found that he couldn't stop looking at them. "Just what are you staring at?" the boy snapped.

"I was just wondering if you had a place to stay," Daniel said looking towards the sky trying to recover. "It's going to storm soon and it's going to be a bad one."

"I can take care of myself," the boy said in a huff before he stomped away. Daniel stood there a moment wondering who the boy could be. He hoped that the boy did have a place to go because he didn't lie when he said this storm was going to be a bad one. Well there was nothing that he could do about at the moment. So Daniel opened the door to the store and heard the bells signal his entrance.

"Hello Daniel," Mr. Morris said when he saw the boy enter. "Shopping for The Sisters?"

"Yeah," Daniel said smiling at the man. He and his wife had been running the store and the post office for nearly thirty years.

"That's nice of you," Mr. Morris said.

"I don't mind," Daniel said as he began to gather the items. It didn't take him long Betty and Erica only needed a few things as they went shopping everyday. Mr. Morris quickly rang him up.

"Would you mind taking their mail too?" Mrs. Morris asked. "We're going to be closing early because of the storm. Could you tell everyone in your building?"

"Sure thing," Daniel told her with a smile.

"You hurry home then," Mr. Morris said walking Daniel to the door.

Once outside Daniel scanned for the boy that he had met earlier but didn't see him anywhere. Figuring the boy had a place to stay Daniel hurried home, he already felt a couple of rain drops. Lucky for him he made it home just before the storm broke. He walked into the shared entrance and loudly knocked on their door.

"We were starting to get worried," Erica said when she opened the door.

"I made it home just in time," Daniel told her with a smile. He walked into her apartment and set the groceries down on the table. "I also made it to the store just in time too. The Morris' are closing early."

"We better go tell the others," Veronica said.

"Just after we put the food away," Erica finished.

"Well you ladies have a nice day," Daniel said with a smile, glad that he killed two birds with one stone. First everyone will know about the store and that would keep The Sisters busy for the rest of the day.

Once back in his own apartment Daniel tried to watch a little TV. He got almost a whole hour of a comedy before he lost the signal completely. He sighed and shut the TV off. With nothing else to do and no internet access Daniel decided he might as well work on one of his assignments.

Daniel wasn't sure how long he had been working on his assignment when there was a bright flash and a rumble of thunder. He looked out his window and saw that the storm was full blown right now. For a split second he thought that it looked as if someone was outside, but it was to dark to tell. The sky was so black that it almost looked like night. He waited patiently for another flash and he saw someone sitting under the tree across the street. Daniel cursed. No one should be outside in this weather. He grabbed his coat and quickly ran outside.

Once outside Daniel realized how cold it had actually gotten. Not wanting to be out here too long he hurried across the street. He immediately recognized that the figure huddled against the tree was the boy he met early. Not giving the boy time to argue this time Daniel grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back to his apartment. He knew the boy was trying to protest, but he couldn't hear him over the thunder.

"Who in hell don't you think you are?" the boy yelled once they were back inside his apartment. Daniel turned to look at the boy. The kid was completely soaked and leaving a muddy puddle on his floor. The boy was also visibly shaking.

"First off my name is Daniel and second I'm trying to save you from that," Daniel said pointing out the window trying to prove his point.

"I told you earlier that I can take care of myself," the boy mumbled but seemed to have lost some of his earlier anger.

"Look," Daniel said trying to keep his own temper under control, which he always had a problem with. "No one can survive in that. Why don't you stay here, at least until the storm clears."

"Fine," the boy said sounding reluctant.

"Good," Daniel said. "Now why don't you go take a shower to warm up. I'll get you some dry clothes and then we can have lunch."

"I can't pay you with anything," the boy said sounding defiant.

"I didn't ask you for anything," Daniel said feeling exasperated. "Now follow me." Daniel led the boy to the bathroom. "Why don't you start the shower, it takes a moment to heat up." Daniel then hurried to his room and grabbed some clothes for the boy to wear. The boy gave him a confused look before stepping in the bathroom and closing the door.

Now that that was taken care of Daniel quickly changed his own clothes, wet jeans were the most uncomfortable thing to wear. He then headed into the kitchen and dug through the basket that The Sisters had given him and he was right there was a lot more in the basket than just sandwiches. There were their famous cinnamon rolls, a jar of homemade chicken soup and a jug of apple cider. There was enough food in the basket to feed at least for people.

Daniel dug in his cupboard and pulled out the sauce pan and dumped in all of the soup. As he was heating it, Daniel was wondering what exactly he was going to do with his new house guest. He didn't even know the boy's name. In fact he knew nothing about him. He could have just invited a psycho into his home. He couldn't picture the boy hurting anyone though. Deciding it was best not to dwell on it Daniel put it to the back of his mind, luckily it didn't take long for the soup to heat.

Daniel had just finished setting up the table when the other boy walked into the room. He could now tell that the boy was younger than him and was smaller than he original he thought. Of course the clothes that he had given the boy were too large, but it was better than nothing. Daniel also noticed that the boy's hair was actually a dark blonde and not brown at all. Daniel couldn't help but wonder how long it had been since the boy had a bath.

"I didn't know what to do with my clothes, so I just left them there," the boy explained.

"That's fine," Daniel told him. "There's a washer and dryer in the basement. Now come sit down and eat before it gets cold." Daniel then sat down and began to eat. He watched as the other hesitated before he too sat down.

Once the boy was sitting down he didn't hesitate to starting eating. The boy was shoveling in the food so fast Daniel was afraid that he was going to choke.

"So what's your name?" Daniel asked him. The boy looked at him and swallowed before he spoke.

"Tell me yours first," the boy said looking at Daniel with those haunted grey eyes.

"Daniel Jekins," he told the boy looking away. Those eyes seemed to look right through him.

"Austin," he said and started eating his second sandwich.

"Just Austin?" Daniel asked curiously.

"Just Austin," the boy said. Austin then continued to inhale the food.

"So Austin what are you doing way out here in the middle of nowhere?" Daniel asked him wanting to get to know a bit more about the boy.

"Are we playing twenty questions or something?" Austin asked.

"No," Daniel told him.

"Then can we stop the interrogation," Austin said sounding annoyed.

"Fine," Daniel snipped back. He hadn't meant to offend the other boy, he was just curious. He thought that Austin could be a bit nicer though, considering that he was a guest. He was wondering how this day could get any worse when there was a bright flash of light and a loud crack of thunder; the lights flickered and went out. "This is just great!" Daniel said. "I have no matches and no candles."

"I have some in my bag," Austin's disembodied voice said. It was so dark in the room that Daniel couldn't see his hand in from of his face. He did hear the chair scrape across the floor as Austin got up, then not much after that. He thought for sure that the other boy would have bumped into something, but he didn't hear anything. A few moments later Austin had lit a candle and was on his way back to the table.

"Dinner by candle light," Austin said as he placed the candle in the middle of the table then the boy went back to eating.

The small candle that Austin brought out didn't give off a lot of light but it was better than nothing. But in the candle light the boy's once gray eyes now looked silver and Daniel found it hard to look away. He finally ended up looking at the candle instead and noticed how small it really was. He knew that it wouldn't last much longer.

"Don't worry," Austin said looking up at him. "I have more."

"So why do you carry candles with you?" Daniel asked before he could stop himself.

"Don't know when they might come in handy," Austin said with a shrug. The boy finally seemed to be full and was now working on his cider.

"At least you're prepared," Daniel said with a shake of his head. "I should have known that not keeping candles and matches in stock was a bad idea."

"This happen often?" the boy asked.

"Fairly," Daniel said glad that they finally had a conversation going.

"You don't sound like you from the area," Austin said seeming somewhat interested.

"I came over from the states and have only been here three months," Daniel told him. Now that Daniel actually heard the boy speak more than a few words, he couldn't tell where the boy was from. He didn't recognize the accent at all. "So where are you from?"

"All over," Austin said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I move around a lot."

"Really?" Daniel asked his interest peaked. "Why?"

"Why did you move here?" Austin countered.

"I get the point," Daniel said in defeat. He really wasn't in the mood to go over his life story and he already knew that Austin didn't like to talk about himself. "So what do you want to do to pass the time? It will probably be storming until late tonight."

"What do you usually do?" Austin asked.

"Usually I play cards with The Sisters," Daniel said then cursed. He had forgotten to check on them to make sure they were okay.

"The Sisters?" Austin asked curiously.

"My neighbors," Daniel explained. "They're a couple of little old ladies that live across from me. I better go check on them and make sure they're okay. Do you want to go along or do you want to stay here?"

"You would trust me enough to stay here by myself?" Austin asked surprised.

"Like you can go anywhere at the moment," Daniel said getting up. "Stay here I'll be right back."

Daniel quickly hurried across the hall, leaving Austin behind. He loudly rapped on the door and a few moments later the door opened. Both women were fine and had plenty candles to see by. They invited him into play some cards but Daniel declined saying that he had some matters that he needed to taken care of.

Once he had made it back to his apartment Daniel saw that Austin had lit some more candles and placed them in various places throughout the room. The other boy was currently sitting at the table looking nervous.

"Everything alright then?" Austin asked him.

"All is well," Daniel said joining him. "It still leaves us with the problem of what to do to pass the time."

"I have a deck of cards in my bag," Austin offered.

"You have everything in that bag, don't you?" Daniel said with a chuckle.

"Pretty much," Austin said as he dug in his bag.

The two of them spent the next several hours playing cards. As they played Daniel noticed that there was something a little off about the other boy. Austin hardly showed any emotion and the boy hadn't laughed or even smiled, not once.

Despite that Daniel enjoyed Austin's company; not that the boy talked much. It was just nice to have someone close to his age around. Daniel just hoped that there was a way he could talk Austin into staying a bit longer. Plus he was very curious to know what the boy's laugh sounded like.

AN: Another new story from me. Now this story takes place in England and I have never been there so please don't be to offended by my mistakes I might make. If they're too bad let me know and I will fix them. Also the town that Daniel lives in isn't a real town. I do have this story completely writen and will be updating this story every Friday. Well except for next week as it Christmas. Please tell me all what you think. Hope you all have a nice Holiday!