The movie was over and Tommy realized that Dylan wasn't even watching. Dylan's silence was beginning to become awkward. If he didn't speak to him, or if there wasn't something that caught his interest completely, Dylan would zone out and stare into empty spaces. He knew it was probably something he didn't want to talk about, or maybe something he wasn't ready to talk about. Yet he was starting to get tired of it. Ever since they had become a couple Tommy had made it a point to keep a fluent communication in between them. Especially if you'd consider the fact that it was his hidden feelings towards Dylan that had driven him into doing many stupid things, the one good thing had been dating Nate. But he knew that if this stayed on course things could get bad, remembering how Dylan and Julian had gotten right after their father died, he decided he should do something.

"Babe?" he asked as he looked at Dylan.

Dylan looked back at him, startled out of his thoughts. Gazing quickly around the room as if he was trying to remember where he was, he looked at the TV and saw the credits of the movie. He never even realized it was over already. "Sorry I must have gotten distracted or something."

"Are you ok?" Tommy asked him.

"Uhm, well yeah," he lied.

"Are you sure?" Tommy insisted.

"I told you I'm ok," he said rather harshly and regretted it immediately as he saw the quick flash of pain that went through Tommy's face.

"Ok then, I'm going to get something to drink, I'm kind of thirsty," Tommy said. He got up with a hard look on his face and walked towards the door.

"I'm sorry," Dylan said as Tommy was about to reach the door.

"I know there's something wrong and it hurts that you don't trust me," Tommy said without looking back.

"It's just... You wouldn't understand..." Dylan said looking down.

"Try me," Tommy said with sudden anger at Dylan's words.

"If you're gonna be an ass about this, then fuck off, Julian's leaving me and I don't need any more shit, ok?" Dylan said, before he threw himself onto his bed, on his stomach, face sunk into his pillow. Tommy's confusion got the best of him. He stood there, dumbfounded for a few moments before he realized that Dylan was sobbing into his pillow.

"What do you mean with Julian's leaving you?" he asked as he got on the bed next to Dylan and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Now that he's got Martin all he wants to do is go up there or be with him if he's down here..." Dylan said before sobbing some more. "And in the fall he's going to go up there to go to school and he's gonna leave me here..." he added before resuming his sobbing.

"What? No!" Tommy said. He put his arms around Dylan and struggled to turn him onto his stomach. Dylan didn't put up any resistance and meekly turned onto his back. "Listen to me, why in hell would Julian leave you?"

"Because he's all lovey-dovey with Martin, and he's wanted to go study at Washington U since before Nate got in, and now I know he likes the idea a lot more. He applied there, he didn't tell me, but I know he did. He applied to Southeast Missouri State too, just like you and I did, but I know he's going to get into Washington U."

"Well we don't have the results yet, how can you be sure that he's going to go up there? Don't you think he might change his mind?" Tommy asked.

"No, I know he wants to go there, and I know he'll get it there too... That's why I applied there too..." He said before pushing his head into his pillow again.

"Ok, so you applied. What's so bad about that?" Tommy asked him.

"I made an ass outta myself! I'm not going to get in!" Dylan answered, parting his head from the pillow just a few seconds to get the words out.

"Babe, I know you are no MIT student to be, but you are pretty damn smart if you ask me," Tommy answered as he ran his fingertips over Dylan's hair.

"Still I know I won't get in, and he will," Dylan said, turning around a bit.

"Ok, you know you are as smart as he is, he's better at language and reading stuff and you are better at science and number stuff, you know that."

"But I bet my essay won't be as good as his was..." Dylan started saying before he realized what he was doing. "I'm sorry babe... I'm talking like it didn't matter where you go..." he started apologizing.

"It's ok, I know you didn't mean to," Tommy cut him off.

"I guess I'm overreacting, it's just that Julian never got so caught up with Ryan and now he seems so happy with Martin... I guess I just thought he was forgetting about me."

Tommy recoiled. His hands stiffened and he moved back a bit. "So, aren't you... You know... Happy with me?" he asked Dylan.

"Of course I am! I'm sorry baby I didn't mean it that way... I love you," Dylan answered as he sat up and wrapped Tommy up in his arms. "I'm sorry babe, it's just that Jules and I have been together always. I can't even explain how much it terrifies me to think of not having him around..." he said as tears rolled down from his eyes.

"I know I'll never mean to you what he does..." Tommy started saying.

"Don't say that, I love you so much... you, he and Nate are all I have. And you put up with so much shit from me, I can't imagine not having you either..." Dylan said before he started crying on Tommy's shoulder.

This was the real problem. He wasn't just scared of Julian going to school up in St. Louis, he was afraid of having to chose which way to go if he got accepted into both schools. "Dylan I won't make you chose between Julian and me, if you get admitted up there, then you can go. We'll work something out."

"But... I don't want to, it's going to be all weird..." he said into his shoulder.

"Besides if you both get admitted up there then who's going to take care of the house? You're going to have to come down here periodically don't you think?" Tommy asked him.

Dylan backed off enough to look him in the eye. "I hadn't thought about that, and if we both get into Southeast Missouri State, then Julian can come on the weekends."

"See? Stop worrying, things will work out," Tommy told him.

Dylan started wiping his face and smiling. "Yeah I guess I was just over thinking about the whole thing."

"Live the present man, now let's go get some food so we can go to bed," Tommy told him.

"OK, are you gonna sleep over? I mean Julian's not here and..." Dylan started.

"Of course I'll stay, don't ask and stop worrying." Tommy said. They started walking out and as they went down the stairs, Tommy fought the urge to tell Dylan about what his counselor had told him. Thanks to his grades, his chances to get into Southeast Missouri State University were so little that he should apply to as many schools as he could or consider a community college.

Julian lay asleep with an arm draped over his chest. Feelings swirled in Martin's heart non-stop. The happiness and closeness he felt with Julian was so strong that he didn't quite now if he could put it to words. Martin had wanted to bottom for Julian ever since the previous week. Julian had said it was ok, that Martin could fuck him and he would be okay with it. Somehow Martin had felt like he wasn't being fair and he made it a point to have Julian do him this time. He knew that Julian had somehow sensed his surprise by the girth of Julian's dick, and he wanted to get over it. What surprised him a bit more, was actually realizing that Julian's dick was pretty much a longer, uncircumcised version of Nate's. In the end, he had to admit that he was also afraid of having such a thick dick in his butt, for it had been quite some time since he'd had one that thick. Brent's wasn't small, but it wasn't that thick. It had been years since he'd seen one that thick, one like his brother's.

As he looked down at Julian's sleeping face, he felt an urge to kiss him and ask him to never leave. But he knew better than that, it would probably scare Julian, or make him wonder about the things he hadn't told him about. So many things lay in his past, things he didn't even want to think of. He moved a little bit further to the right, trying to get out without waking Julian. A few seconds later, and with a bit of care, he was out of the bed and in the bathroom taking a leak. When he was standing in front of the sink, he ran a hand over his butt, noticing the slight tenderness that remained after their sex. Julian had been gentle, as Martin had asked. After he'd gone in he stayed motionless, allowing Martin to get used to him. In less than a minute Martin had started wiggling his butt and asking him to fuck him. Julian had merrily obliged and in a few minutes, they had both reached an orgasm.

Julian had apologized for not lasting longer, but Martin didn't think there was anything to apologize for. After all it had been him who had caused Julian's orgasm, when he'd cum from how much Julian's curved dick was rubbing against his prostate. After agreeing that a second round might set things straight they had waited a while and then for a good time, Julian thrust himself in him before Martin switched roles and started sitting up and down on Julian's dick. In the end, they both ended up sweating and light headed after what seemed to Martin as a killer orgasm. Now as he rounded the bed and got next to Julian, all he wanted was to lay with him and relish in his company. Julian stirred and slightly opened his eyes to look at him before moving closer and wrapping his arms around Martin.

"Good night my Mayfair witch," Julian whispered to him.

"You and your books," he answered.

"Nate's to blame, he got me to read them," Julian said.

"Well, I am yours anyways," he whispered back to Julian.

Julian tightened his hold on him and moved a little forward to kiss him gently on the lips. "I am yours too," he said before giving him another kiss. He felt a lump form in his throat, but luckily Julian didn't say anything else and after a few minutes he realized Julian had fallen asleep again. He wanted to stay up and watch him sleep a little more, but he was just as tired and shortly he fell asleep too.

Nate had gone jogging and had wakened him up before leaving. He had to do an assignment for one of his classes. He didn't know why he had to take another sociology class. Becca didn't have to take any other anthropology classes after taking intro to Anthropology the previous semester, only if she wanted and as electives. But his counselor had pushed him into taking Sociology 102 class this semester and the teacher was nothing more than an idiot grad student who was trying to get his masters and leave. And this assignment was just as stupid. Clip newspaper articles regarding discrimination and group formations related information. Then he had to write an essay linking the articles to the theories they had covered in class, theories that Luke had already covered in his previous Sociology 101 class. Nate had brought him a bunch of newspapers that he had gotten from the coffee shop near the English building. Boredom might be the cause of him thinking every single article he had seen up until now was stupid, but so far there wasn't much he had found that was useful.

There was a knock on the door and he thanked his luck for getting him away from the stack of newspapers. He ran to the door, realizing he was just in his boxers, but he didn't care and he just opened the door. Martin stood there in a black wife beater and a pair of gym shorts. "Nice," he said before he walked past Luke and into the room.

"Look at you, it looks like you just got out of bed," Luke said as he closed the door.

"Yup, so?" Martin asked him as he sat on Luke's bed and scrunched his face at the stack of newspapers on top of Luke's desk. "Haven't finished the evil homework huh?"

"Nope, care to help?" Luke asked as he got a few of them and threw them at Martin's lap. Martin arched an eyebrow at him and threw the newspapers at his side. "So I take it Julian's still sleeping," Luke said as he sat down at his desk.

"Yeah," Martin said and immediately blushed.

"You boys had fun?" Luke asked him smiling, yet not taking his eyes off his desk.

"Yeah, he's so good... I think I'm falling for him," Martin said as he turned a dark shade of red.

He smiled, but this time he did look at Martin. "Someone's got it bad, huh?" he asked Martin.

"Well, yeah..." Martin managed to answer before giving a short nervous laugh.

"And do you think he feels the same way?" Luke asked him.

"Well I hope he does, I think he does..." Martin answered.

"He's a good guy, I'm happy for you," Luke said smiling at him.

Martin looked up at him and returned the smile. He got up and off the bed and then he walked to Luke and wrapped his arms around him. Luke got up to face him and returned the hug. "I love you, I love having you around. You know I never had anyone to talk to, after Matty and I..." Martin began saying.

"It's ok, I love having you too," Luke said holding him tighter.

"You know, after my parents died he was all I had, and then when he was gone I didn't want to let anyone take his place," Martin said.

"I'm never gonna take his place I know that," Luke said.

"You can be my little brother," Martin told him.

"Little brother?" Luke asked and moved back a little so he could look at him in the eye. "Sounds good to me, I always wanted a brother," Luke said smiling before he pulled Martin back against him.

"Although I did hump you from behind..." Martin said before erupting in laughter. Luke joined in the laughter and soon they were both sitting on the floor wiping tears away from their eyes.

"It feels like that was years ago..." Luke said when they had calmed down.

"Well a lot of shit has happened since then," Martin said.

"Yeah, guess we've grown up a little," Luke agreed.

Martin smiled as he looked at Luke. They had grown very close and when he came to think about it, both Luke and Nate had a lot of the personality traits that his brother had. Nate resembled him physically which had been obvious to him since a while ago, but he also had the sort of quiet, protective, strong personality that Matt had. On the other hand, Luke was the cheery, devilish and naughty side of Matt that he remembered had put him at ease a lot after the death of their parents.

In a way, he knew that the attraction he had felt towards Nate a few months before had been mostly rooted in the resemblance he noticed between Nate and Matt. Now he knew he didn't exactly need his brother, he needed the company and the love that was for sure, but Julian didn't resemble Matt as much as Luke or Nate did. Right now, there was no doubt in his heart that he loved Julian and that Julian loved him. Although he hadn't told Luke so when Luke asked if he thought Julian loved him, he was sure of it somehow. Julian shared so much with him, and his actions showed too much for Martin to doubt of his feelings.

He realized Luke had sat down again and was skimming through the newspapers. "Sorry, want some help with that?" Martin asked him.

"Zoned out there for a while huh?" Luke asked back.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Martin answered.

"It's okay, I get lost in my thoughts sometimes too, and so does Nate," Luke said.

"Ok, what are we looking for?" Martin asked as he sat in Luke's bed and started going through the newspapers.

"Discrimination or something that talks about groups, you know clubs, reunions and the like," Luke answered.

Martin nodded and started running his eyes over the articles. Nothing on the first newspaper, he placed it next on a stack where he saw Luke discarding one. The second one didn't seem to have anything, not at least in the first sections... His eye caught a face that he hadn't seen since the previous year. He quickly looked at the title of the article where Michael's face stared up at him and ended up reading the whole thing.

Martin went cold. The article took over half of the page and it made him dizzy. Michael had killed a man, he was free and there was no way of telling where he was, or what he wanted to do. 'more aggressive and violent than before' the article stated. He felt like throwing up, he got up and felt dizzier, he took a deep breath and saw Luke had looked up at him worried.

"Martin, what's wrong?" Luke asked him.

"He killed someone..." he managed to get out.

"Who did?" Luke asked even more worried as he walked up to him and put his hands on Martin's shoulders. Martin pointed at the opened newspaper with the article and Luke picked it up. Martin sat down on Nate's bed and started taking deep breaths while he kept his face covered with his hands. "Oh my god..." Luke muttered. Martin looked at him and saw fear in his face as he kept reading. After a few minutes Luke got up and looked just as pale as Martin knew he was himself. "He's not going to hurt you," Luke said as he dropped the newspaper and sat next to Martin.

"He killed someone and escaped last Saturday, that newspaper is from two days ago, they haven't caught him," Martin said feeling his stomach turn once again.

"How in hell did they wait 'til then to publish something about it?" Luke asked as he put his arms around Martin.

"It said in the article that the police have been refusing to give information, maybe they got in the way and tried to keep the article from being released before that," Martin pondered aloud.

"And why the fuck would they do that?" Luke asked.

"I don't know, Luke what if he tries to hurt you guys or..." Martin said before he started crying.

"He won't do anything to you, or any of us, Martin look at me," Luke said as he grabbed Martin's face and pulled it up so Martin would look at him in the face. "We are going to get information from the police. After all he tried to kill you before, they can't just deny us information if they know he is out."

"But they've been keeping stuff in, and the article came out Thursday, it says there that he got away last Friday," Martin said angrily.

"I don't give a shit, whether they like it or not, they have to tell us something," Luke retorted.

"There is someone... The therapist, he was supposed to give me counseling, but I refused, it said in the article that he had sessions with Michael, and he was the only one willing to talk..." Martin wondered if the guy would actually help.

"Do you know how to contact him?" Luke asked him.

"Yeah, I've got his number upstairs on my cell," Martin answered.

"OK, you stay here and I'll..." Luke started saying as he got up.

"NOOO, please don't leave me alone..." Martin yelled as he started shivering.

"Okay I'm sorry, I can call Julian and ask him to get it and come down here," Luke said as he sat down next to Martin again.

"Luke I'm so scared..." Martin said before covering his face with his hands again.

"I know buddy, but I've got you covered, I swear I won't let him do anything to you..." Luke started saying as the door opened and a sweaty Nate walked in.

"What's wrong?" he immediately asked halfway through the room as he looked at them.

"I thought they had enough evidence to send him to jail," Brent said.

"They did, but apparently someone helped him dodge that bullet," Darryl answered.

"So he's been free for about a week now?" Julian asked.

"Yeah, and the article was delayed until Thursday, someone didn't want it to be known," Luke answered.

"Well what matters now is to find out what the police have been doing about it," Nate said. He looked around and looked from Becca to Martin. Martin was sitting on Luke's bed with Julian next to him, one of his arms over Martin's shoulder. Becca was sitting on Nate's bed, facing Martin, with Darryl right next to her, holding her hand and Jessie on her other side. Both Martin and Becca had been quite silent since the room had filled up. The dorms were roomy in a way, but for holding two people.

Julian had been the first to get there and the hardest to calm down after reading the article. He kept muttering curses and threats against Michael even after Becca had gotten there with Jessie. Of course, when she walked in and heard Julian say "If Michael just as much comes near you I'll..." she almost fainted. It took a while to calm her down, and Darryl's arrival had helped. Now Nate and Luke's room had eight people inside. Brent was sitting at Nate's desk chair at the foot of Nate's bed and Luke was sitting on his own desk chair at the foot of his bed, with Nate standing next to him. Even though they had managed to pile up without much trouble, the abundance of questions or remarks every five seconds was beginning to make it a bit uncomfortable.

"I have seen patrol cars going around the outer parts of school and campus security seems to have doubled their frequency in patrolling," Brent said.

"Now that you mention it, some of my classmates have mentioned something about that," Luke said.

"Yeah, even one of my teachers said something about campus security acting as if they were guarding a prison," Darryl mentioned.

"Yet they never explained why they've doubled security did they?" Luke asked.

"I think we should stop talking about all this and give Martin and Becca some peace don't you think? We're just making them more nervous," Brent said as loud as for all of them to hear. His words had an immediate effect. All of them either stopped before they could get what they were about to say out or nodded in agreement.

Martin looked up at Brent. "Thanks, I was getting a bit nervous," he said. Brent nodded and looked away, but Martin didn't miss seeing how Brent had looked from him to Julian and then looked down a few seconds later.

"You're meeting that police therapist in a while aren't you?" Jessie asked Martin. It was the first time she had talked since she got there with Becca.

"Yeah, in twenty minutes," Martin answered as he looked at his watch.

"You said he had already given you some information before," Jessie told him.

"Yeah, but not much, just information he had gotten second-hand. He said it wasn't even in Michael's record," Martin said.

"How can it not be in his record?" Becca asked looking at him. The teary shine of her eyes struck him and was all he needed to budge and say all he knew.

"He said he couldn't get a good hold of Michael's record, that he had never been sentenced or the like. But there were accusations against him, sexual abuse, battering, and extortion. All of those accusations were dropped, no legal action was taken against him, but he said this time we did have enough evidence and with his previous accusations, he would be sent to prison," Martin said, hating the feeling of all of their eyes on him.

"And how the fuck did they overlook that he tried to kill you in front of us?" Brent asked.

"Why didn't you tell us about what the therapist had told you?" Luke asked, beating Julian who was also dying to ask the same question.

"I didn't ask why the previous charges were dropped, and I guess it was because of the same reason I didn't tell you guys what he had told me. I was supposed to get counseling with him, but I never wanted to go, then Luke and Nate got me to go to Aunt Marla's and so I told him I already had a therapist. He assured me the case was going just fine, he didn't know for sure because he isn't a cop, but he did say from all he knew it was being dealt with completely. I guess I was just stupid enough to believe him, or we were both stupid by believing it," Martin answered.

"You should get going now," Becca told him.

"Nate care to come with me?" Martin asked.

"What about me?" Julian asked.

"The guy already knows Nate is involved, I don't want to get you into this whole mess," Martin whispered back to him.

"It's ok Jules, we'll be back shortly," Nate told him.

"Ok..." Julian said feeling dejected. He felt as if all of them looked down at him for being a year younger than most of them and it made him angry.

"They'll be ok, we should order food for when they get back. We should all have lunch don't you think?" Brent asked drawing attention away from Martin and Julian.

"Yeah we can get to that," Luke said.

"Be careful boys, please," Becca asked them.

"We will Becky," Nate answered.

"I'll be right back babe," Martin said before giving Julian a quick kiss. Julian smiled at him, feeling less angry and smiling at him as he left with Nate.

As they leaned back against Martin's car, Nate kept glancing around them. And Martin kept looking at the road next to them, waiting for Dr. Murphy to show up. "I'm a little confused here," Nate said as they waited.

"About?" Martin asked not looking back.

"Why didn't you come with Julian, he's not a boy you know," Nate answered.

"I know he's not a boy, that's not why I asked you. If it had been for that we could say you're a boy too you know," Martin shot back.

"Ok, then please do explain," Nate said a little angry.

"I guess it wasn't my choice to make, but I didn't want to get him out here. You know, knowing that Michael could be out there, what if he'd be watching us and sees Julian... He doesn't have anything to do with this and if anything would happen to him..." Martin said with his voice breaking.

"Martin, he's not gonna do anything to us, you read the article. He's violent and aggressive, he might have just gotten lucky when he escaped. For all we know he might screw up anytime now and get busted. Whoever has managed to protect him so far won't be able to pull it off now that he's actually killed someone," Nate tried to assure him.

"I still feel scared to shit man," he answered.

"Don't be, I got your back buddy," Nate said as he wrapped an arm around him.

"You already saved me once and that might have gotten you in danger now," Martin said tearing up.

"I don't give a damn. You're making it sound like I did something amazing and it really wasn't, I just from my heart," Nate said.

"It was amazing to me," Martin said back.

"Well anyways I know you'd do the same for me anytime," Nate said as he pulled him closer.

Martin smiled and knew Nate was right. Maybe a year before he wouldn't, but right now he knew he'd put himself in the line of fire for any of his friends. He looked up the road and saw Dr. Murphy getting out of a dark blue car. "Here he comes," Martin said and Nate straightened out, removing his arm from Martin's shoulder.

"Mr. Mayfair," Dr. Murphy said as he approached them and offered a hand for Martin to shake while holding a folder in his other hand. "And this young man would be?" he asked after shaking Martin's hand and offering the same hand for Nate to shake.

"I'm a friend of Martin," Nate said giving him a wry smile.

"I don't feel exactly safe knowing that Michael's been on the run for a week now," Martin said giving him a stern look.

"Well that's understandable," Dr. Murphy said as he handed the folder to Martin. "That's my file on Michael Schozsinsky. I am not supposed to hand out that type of information, but in this particular case I will make an exception."

"This particular case?" Nate asked as Martin opened the file and skimmed through the pages.

"Someone has been covering for Michael Schozsinky since his junior year in high school, and I quite frankly am sick of knowing that the police knew about all of the things he had been accused of and still they have covered his ass," Dr. Murphy answered.

"Do they have any information on his whereabouts?" Nate asked him.

"The first time I asked, I asked the wrong person, he told me the department was doing their job and I shouldn't try to meddle in their business. Then I asked someone else and he said they don't even have a clue," Dr. Murphy answered.

"You work for the police, won't you get into trouble for giving me this?" Martin asked as he gestured with his face towards the folder in his hands.

"I might, but I don't really care if I do. I have an office of my own and patients of my own, I do have a contract with them, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if I'd lose it," Dr. Murphy answered. "Not anymore at least."

"And why would that be?" Nate asked him.

"Dusty was my friend... and what that motherfucker did to him... I don't give a shit if I get fired. You kids have the right to know what the police has been hiding."

"Dusty?... The guard?" Martin asked feeling a lump in his throat.

"Yes, he used to work at the station before he took the prison bus position," Dr. Murphy answered.

"Do you know how Michael..." Nate was going to ask but Dr. Murphy cut him off.

"Yes, I added a few notes in the file and it's all there," Dr. Murphy said.

"You must have some clue of why the police is covering him up," Martin said and then thought he had been too hasty at asking when he saw the stern look that Dr. Murphy gave him.

"In the file you will be able to see his family information, and if you research you'll realize that Walter J. Schozsinsky, Michael's father, has a very prominent position in the governor's office. Let's just say that he knows a lot of people in his line of work, people who owe him favors," Dr. Murphy said before turning around and getting in his car without saying goodbye to him. Martin was shocked and angry at once.

"This is fucking bullshit..." Nate said.

"Aristocracy and bullshit tend to go together," Martin said shaking his head as he moved to get in his car.