****

Sorcerer Hunters

***

Future Echoes

**

~1~

"So, what's YOUR name?"

Marron Glacé had been putting his books from last lesson into his locker when he'd heard the voice. He stopped, finished putting his books down, retrieved the books he needed for the afternoon, then decided to pull his head out of his locker and see if who was speaking, was speaking to him.

He was met on the other side of the locker door by a well-built man, about his age- no, older. Blonde hair, blue eyes, leather jacket, friendly smile, folders and books tucked under one arm, the other arm leant against the row of lockers, ruffled into his hair. Marron stared at him for a few moments; the man's smile increased a little.

"You have one, right?"

"Uh? Oh, M-Marron Glacé. My name's Marron Glacé."

"Marron, huh? Pretty name for a pretty guy... I'm Gateau. Gateau Mocha. How about you let me buy you lunch?"

Marron smiled slightly wearily, locking his locker and slipping his keychain into his pocket. He got this on a near daily basis, though it was usually from girls. He was often mistaken for a girl himself, though by now, most of the guys in Marron's year knew about the boy's unusual femininity. Some had learnt through word of mouth, some had learnt the hard way. "Hey, pretty lady, have a date with me!"... "Lady?"... "Erk!"... once this had been established, it was as if a floodgate had been opened to the female population. They'd tried everything. Loud, bolshy types had gone up to him and demanded things from him; a date, a kiss, a hug, declaration of love... the quieter types would approach shyly, talk quietly of deep feelings that simmered within their bodies, talk of assurances of similar personalities and similar needs even though they didn't know each other, talk of a need to be close to the quiet young male... sometimes he'd get those love-predictions from magazines quoted at him. "What Star Sign are you?"... "Taurus"... "TAURUS! You wouldn't believe this, but we're a perfect match!"... it was either those, or those blood-type love prediction things. No matter the situation or the admirer, he tried to handle things tactfully. Dates were declined, kisses were not freely distributed, the same with hugs. "I don't even know who you are" usually followed, this would be then followed by either an enthusiastic introduction, or a teary "but I've sat three seats diagonally away from you in your class for the past year and a half! Are you sure you don't know who I am?". Some girls gave up at Marron's careful rejection, some girls didn't; he had lunch in the college canteen, and there would always be at least five girls hiding in various places in the dinner hall waiting for Marron to sit down with lunch, so they could suddenly appear, "Is this seat taken?"... "No"... "Can I sit here?"... "I'm not stopping you"... "Thanks! So, wanna have my phone number? Email address? Measurements?"... Marron always brought along a book for this eventuality. Most times he wouldn't be reading it, but a vaguely stern glare followed by a comment on his concentration being disturbed hushed the girls into enough silence to let him eat in peace. It felt harsh sometimes, but it was either that, or never get to eat. According to these unfortunate girls, Marron was the quietest most studious boy in the year; some gave up and went off to their loud showy playboy boyfriends, some still tried things, no-one succeeded. Marron was too used in his daily routine to be disturbed now.

People of the male description were a slightly different matter. Marron had had his fair share of male admirers too, though not as many as his female followers. The guys were always easier to sway away than the girls; in some respects, they were the same. There were the loud guys, "SO! How'ja feel about being my bitch tonight?" who got harshly rejected, and the quiet guys, who would be listened to, smiled softly at (that always set their pulses racing), smiled sadly at, and told that, unfortunately, Marron just didn't feel that way about men. Some would accept this, some would stand there, "B-but... you're so pretty!"... Marron would then gently ask what his physical appearance had to do with his sexuality, then they sadly agreed that there was not much of a connection, and go off.

This man was a new one, though. Marron couldn't recall seeing him around the campus, but then again, it was a big college. Marron wasn't about to change today, though.

"I can buy my own lunch, thank you."

"Yeah, but... if I paid for ya, that'd be money you could spend on other things... c'mon, what'd it hurt?"

A group of girls walked by. Some yelled Marron's name, some blew kisses, Marron jerked a thumb in the direction of their receding figures. "People like those girls, would want me dead."

"What, 'cause ya had lunch with a guy? Not everything's about sex and dating, Marron." Gateau turned Marron around in the direction of the canteen and pushed him along until his legs complied. "C'mon, I've seen you around this place almost every day, yer always alone and stuff, I know that lot all wanna get into bed with ya, but don't you have any friends?"

"Not really."

What Marron said was true, but hardly a hindrance to him. Anyone who wanted to be friends with him always seemed to want more from him; out of all of his admirers, not one had come up to Marron, "I love you, but I'd be perfectly happy with being just friends", and since many girls got attacked by their counterparts for just talking to the attractive young man, many girls didn't bother; with Marron, it was all or nothing. As for friends of his own gender... much as he disapproved of it, if a boy was caught just talking to Marron, rumors about both Marron and the other boy would be rife around school before they could be stopped. And the types that started these rumors anyway were certainly not Marron's type, for friendship or anything else. The kind who were loud and disruptive in classes... the kind who's idea of a good weekend was getting pissed and/or stoned out of their heads on friday night and not having any recollection of what happened between there and monday morning. Whatever they did was their own business, but Marron preferred the idea of being able to remember what his days were spent doing, even if they did all seem to melt into one after a while...

Gateau's hands left Marron's shoulders at that point, but Marron didn't feel like walking away just yet; this Gateau was a little strange to Marron, but for the moment, he seemed harmless. Innocent until proven guilty. Gateau looked a little disbelieving.

"What, really? Who do you hang around with and stuff?"

"You answered your own question earlier. You said you always saw me alone... most of the times, I am. When I'm not alone, I'm trying to fight amorous classmates away. Between that and studying, I don't have much time for... no, that's not it. I'm just not interested... but it's not that either."

Marron smiled.

"I'm sorry, I'm not making a lot of sense."

Gateau laughed, clapping Marron's shoulder into the hold of his sizeable palm. Marron blinked at him, looking around slightly as Gateau laughed. "What's funny?"

"I like you, you're weird. C'mon, have lunch with me. Maybe if I talked with ya a little more, I might get what you're saying about the friendship thing... hey, I know! Why don't we strike up a deal?"

"A deal?"

"Yeah. You have lunch with me, and, if you can really convince me you don't need any friends and you're really happy without 'em, I'll leave ya alone. If you can't convince me, then I wanna become your friend and convince you that friends are worth having after all. Deal?"

"You're certainly energetic, aren't you?"

Gateau smiled, pulling his fist down, muscles bulged slightly underneath the leather jacket. "Hey, with a body like this, I'd like to think I am. So, is it a deal? I'll keep bugging you till ya say yes, what about that?"

Despite the books under his arm, Marron felt no prior commitment towards his studies. Every day the girls saw him reading, but they weren't to know he only really did it to distract them from pursuing him... Gateau was proving himself stranger to Marron as time went on, but, despite his insistence, he didn't seem to be a threat. Not in the way that Marron usually coped with, anyway. This guy seemed hellbent on becoming friends as much as the others were hellbent on dating... Marron blinked at Gateau, his smile becoming a little warmer.

"I suppose there's no harm in friendship. Alright, I'll take you up on your offer."

"Cool! Hey, and if any of those weirdo killer stalker girls comes up to ya and tries anything, I'll-" Gateau cracked his knuckles. "- sort 'em out."

"That won't be necessary, Gateau."

"Oh, no, I don't mean... you think I'm that brutal? Nah, but don't feel you haveta defend your actions just 'cause of me. If they come up to us and ask us what we're doing, I'll tell 'em! We're having lunch together, 'cause we're friends. And if they can't handle that... well, that's their problem."

"... How do you know they stalk me?"

The two of them started walking to the canteen, Marron's comment opening the path for easy conversation to wander around. Gateau laughed, holding his hands behind his head.

"Hey, I've seen how they look at you, how they act with ya. You're pretty, they know that, you know that too, right? You've probably broken quite a few hearts without even realizing it, Marron... Glacé, was it? Yeah. Anyway... yeah... teenage girls can get quite hyped up sometimes, once they get their minds caught on something, they're not gonna wanna let it go. Even as we speak, there'll be girls out there plotting how to make you theirs forever... it's college, it's life, it's love, it's the way of things, ya know?"

By this point, Gateau and Marron were in the dinner queue. Gateau trailed to a stop, leaving his somewhat rhetorical question hanging in the air as he glanced the menu. He smiled at Marron.

"Whaddaya want? S'my treat, so don't feel you need to hold back 'cause of me, I'm happy enough I managed to break through and talk to you. Order whatever ya want."

So Marron did.

Lunch in hand, the two of them found an empty table, and sat down. Marron set his books down on the table, Gateau slipped his bag off his back and put his books into there. He looked at Marron's books on the table, then at Marron.

"Why don't ya put yer books into a bag or something? Makes them easier to carry around."

"Oh, I never have that much to carry around anyway. I keep the books I'm not using in my locker."

"I see... sensible. I like to keep all my books for the day with me all the time, then I can be sure I've not forgotten anything. There's always at least one person per day who always goes and leaves something in their locker and has to go off and get it... I dunno, you're probably more organized, anyway. The right studious student, right?"

Marron laughed and took a mouthful of drink. He set his drink down on the table, leaning back in his seat a little.

"Oh, I couldn't sit here and say I'd never left a book in my locker before, that'd be a lie. I just feel sorry for those who have a locker so far away from their lessons, so when they forget something, they miss that much of the lesson just going back for equipment..."

"Yeah, then it's the eternal question... 'get my books' or 'get the lesson down on paper and copy up later', both is extra work..."

"I know..."

The conversation continued on in that vein. The conversation went from the dinner hall to the campus grounds and covered general topics; Gateau and Marron discovered that their situations were similar; given the chance to make their own way in the world, both had their own apartments... that, and the particular college the two went to wasn't one to offer student housing anyway. Gateau paid for his apartment through various jobs, Marron currently relied on parental income. The job comment had led onto age comparison; Gateau was two years Marron's elder, which was, Marron decided, perhaps why he'd never seen Gateau around the college. Gateau had actually seen Marron around every day for the past few months, but had never said anything, never known what to say. Marron had shot a shifty smile at Gateau, "That sounds like a proposition to my ears"... Gateau had admitted that perhaps it'd felt like that at one time, but it'd turned into more than that.

"Obviously, it was those looks of yours that made me notice you in the first place, but... I dunno. I've seen you handle all those other guys - and girls - over time... and as I said, you're always alone. I'm not saying I wouldn't sleep with you, but I wouldn't wanna force it on you like those others. If friendship is all I can get from you, then I'm genuinely happy with that."

Marron had, strangely enough, blushed at that. He rarely blushed. He was used to the attempted flirting and loud comments and bawdy classroom talk and offers from classmates that went from the lewd to the downright disgusting, but... those situations had never been like this before. Gateau was so much older than him, in school terms, anyway. He was that bit older than Marron, but he admitted his feelings so freely... okay, so he hadn't said "I love you" like those others always did, but even if Gateau had said that, it probably wouldn't have shaken Marron like his actual words did. He knew the girls in his classes often got crushes on older men... and here he was, with one of those older men, who seemed to have a crush on him. Well, well.

The two sat on the campus playing field, open for general milling around at lunchtimes. Gateau was resting on his back, staring up at clouds as they scudded past, backed by a bright blue sky. The sun shone; it was a nice day. Marron sat alongside Gateau, his hands behind him, keeping him sitting up... he felt relaxed for having spent the lunchtime with Gateau, but something was still bothering him, even if only slightly.

"Gateau... I know... you're all on about friendship and things, but... well... I..."

"You don't believe I wanna stop there, do you?"

"... basically. I mean, it's not that I don't believe you, b-"

"No, it IS that you don't believe me." Gateau sighed, closing his eyes. "But that's okay. If you don't believe I wanna stop with friendship, believe that I honestly wanna win your trust, instead. 'Cause that's true. I meant what I said earlier, I'm seriously happy with your friendship!"

Marron frowned slightly. There was nothing to say he couldn't trust Gateau... but it almost felt as if something inside of him wouldn't. Frustrated at his own feelings as well as not being able to understand Gateau's, he nodded.

"I... see. I don't know if it's been extended exposure to those silly girls from my year, but... I don't know. Somehow, when someone says something like that, I can't believe it."

"Because everyone else says something different? Don't call those girls silly, Marron. They're only doing what they think is best when it comes to their feelings... they can't help it if nothing they can do can break through that shell of yours."

"Shell?"

"You gotta be hiding behind something if you're not gonna let anyone get close to you... you're only sitting here with me now 'cause I promise not to try to get into your pants the first opportunity I get... that's gotta at least be a type of shell."

"Doesn't it occur that maybe I'm..."

Marron trailed off. Gateau opened his eyes, turning his head, smiling. "You're what?"

Marron looked quietly distant. "One of the guys in my class once said that, since I had most of the girls in the year after me, I should just sleep with them all. 'They're up for it, what's to stop you?', he said. It just annoyed me. Can people really be that callous? I know I hurt those girls by rejecting them, but... it's for their own good! It'd only hurt them more if I slept with anyone who asked."

Marron looked down at Gateau, a sadly self-righteous look in his eyes. Gateau just watched Marron for a few moments, staring into his eyes. Marron blinked and looked away, "Sorry, I said something strange to you."

Gateau smiled gently.

"No need to apologize, you're just sensitive, that's not a bad thing." He closed his eyes again, smiling warmly. "Cause you don't know any of the other guys, then you probably never really realised, but... more people feel like you than you'd think."

"You wouldn't know it from them bragging around school about their latest sexual conquests..."

"A lot of the time, that's all it is, Marron. Bragging. People thinking people'll think more of them depending on how many people they've stuffed it into."

Marron was just quiet while Gateau continued.

"I was in your year once, it was like that then," he shrugged, "they're like that now, in my year now and your year both. But even if you DID try to increase yer popularity that way, there'd always be a faction who'd think of you as nothing more than a little slut..."

Gateau pulled himself up into a sitting position, smiling at Marron as brightly as when they'd first met.

"I prefer the sensitive Marron..."

Gateau reached out and swept Marron's hair back a little, brushing against his cheek.

"... right?"

Marron's head pulled back, staring at Gateau with vaguely blushing apprehension.

"G-Gateau, I..."

Gateau paused, bringing his hand down slowly. Then two of them just stared at each other for a few long seconds, Marron wondering if his blush was too visible... he wondered, for a second, how Gateau'd react. Would Gateau be angry? Marron felt relief as Gateau just smiled softly.

"Just trying to be friendly."

"U... un..."

An uncertain second, then the mood broke as Gateau glanced at his watch out of the corner of his eye.

"Oooh, crap, I'm late for basketball practice." He stood up, Marron stood up too, still a little shaken by what'd almost happened... whatever that was.

"Basketball?" Marron feigned casual interest. "You're on the basketball team?"

Gateau laughed, hefting his bag over his shoulder, stopping for a moment to smile at Marron. "Well, YEAH... you should come watch me sometime, I'm not bad... well, I really gotta go now. I'll catch ya tomorrow, though... if you want me to?"

The thought hadn't occurred that perhaps Gateau might not want to see Marron again, and Marron had forgotten his initial uncertainty over the lunchbreak.

"O-of course!"

Marron was about to defend himself, but Gateau was already walking away.

"Until tomorrow, then!"

Marron watched Gateau as he walked away, "Tomorrow..." whispered across Marron's lips...

Somewhere in school, bells rang. The familiar sound reminded Marron that he too had places to be, with classes to go to, and he hurried off to his formroom for afternoon registration.

Marron walked into the formroom to the usual screams of his fangirls. As usual, he ignored them... but inside Marron, something was a little less usual. Today, his thoughts resided with Gateau. Gateau confused him; Gateau was so insistent, but unlike the others, Gateau was so insistent on Marron's friendship... his friendship. Every other person wanted more from him, but Gateau... Gateau was attracted to Marron, but recognized Marron's limitations...

Marron just stared at some point up against the wall near the ceiling.

It seemed suddenly strange to him to be back in a classroom with all of the usual people. That lunchtime had been... quite enjoyable. Talking to someone who listened, who actually listened to Marron's point of view... Marron sighed slightly. Suddenly, the prospect of afternoon classes didn't seem so appealing. Marron idly wondered what lessons he had next... he didn't even have to check his timetable, though. One of the girls leapt up to him, "MARRON!!! We've got lit studies next!! But, but, I left my book at home, can I, um, share yours?"

Marron blinked at the girl. "I suppose..."

No harm in sharing equipment, after all. The girl was quite excitable, running back to her desk, squealing about how he'd said yes, Marron'd said yes to her, she was going to share a book with him next lesson, that meant that she'd sit next to him, that meant they'd be sitting together... Marron just lightly rolled his eyes, turning his eyes back to the front of the room. Some things never changed. Some things did... the form tutor called Marron's name, he answered. He checked up at the clock on the wall, about five minutes of the registration period left. He checked over his books one last time, making sure he had the right ones for the afternoon... he did. He also still had his lunch money... he took it out of his pocket and put it into one of the smaller pockets of his bag. It'd been nice of Gateau to get him lunch, even if he had been unsure at first...

The bell for afternoon classes went, and people started leaving the classroom. Marron quietly put his coat on, and slipped his bag's straps over his shoulders. He left the classroom, mentally working out the quickest way to get to his next class... the girl from before bounded up to him.

"Ummm, Marron?"

"Yes?"

"Is it okay, um, if, um, I, um, walk with you to, um, the lit room? Since, uh, we have it together, and everything... if it's, um, okay..."

Marron glanced at the girl with distanced amusement. She was so nervous... Marron felt the twinges of a good mood, and couldn't help a light comment.

"Am I really that scary?"

"... what?!"

"You sound so nervous. It's the same route either way, I can't stop you walking the way I'm walking too."

The girl blushed, looking down slightly.

"Y-yes... oh, um, thanks for letting me share a book with you... you must think I'm stupid, um, forgetting my book like that... didn't realise we had lit until my friend told me... turned out I'd been looking at the wrong day on my timetable... ha ha, isn't that stupid?"

"We all do it at some point." The thought crossed Marron's mind; the girl seemed serious enough, but there was always the chance... Marron thought, he wouldn't be surprised if the girl had purposefully left her book someplace in order to share with him. Besides, he wasn't the only person in that class, why didn't she ask someone else... but that wouldn't happen, would it? Why ask someone else when Marron was available to be asked?

The two of them left their home department, leaving amongst the usual afternoon crowds of people going to classes. Some people filtered off to their own various classes, the girl still stayed alongside Marron. She was still blushing, she seemed too nervous to say anything, and Marron couldn't really think of much to say to her in the first place. She looked up, glancing at Marron, then at something else.

"Oh, wow!!" She sounded excited.

"Hm?"

She pointed, past Marron's line of sight. "Look, it's the basketball team practising!!"... she giggled. "I wonder who's playing today? The guys on the basketball team... hee..." another giggle. "Loads of my friends like the guys on the basketball team."

"Really?"

"Yeah... one of my friends cut classes one time just so she could watch 'em. She got caught, though... she kinda got into trouble. But I kinda don't blame her, I mean, well, it IS fun to watch, all the guys running about and throwing the ball and stuff..."

"Well, if that's the kind of thing you're interested in..."

"The guys on the sports teams are nice... ha ha, but there are other people I like... ha ha..."

The girl looked away slightly. Marron sounded a little resigned, "I see."

Marron kept his eye out all the same as the two of them walked past the basketball courts. Not that he could really see anything; a small crowd of people blocked vision between the path and the courts... he could hear the repeated impact of the ball against the floor, and feminine squealings... most of the people in the crowd seemed to be girls. No surprises there. His ear pricked with recognition as he was sure he heard Gateau's name squealed... still, he was an older member of the college, it was likely he'd get girls crushing on him. And being in the basketball team... the thought occurred to Marron before he could stop it, 'Maybe it'd be interesting to see what they're doing...', then he wondered why he'd thought it.

He wondered why he was thinking of Gateau so much; he hadn't thought of much else since lunchtime, and it was starting to worry him, in a way. He couldn't stop thinking of Gateau... what did THAT mean?
Marron placated himself, thinking about what exactly Gateau was, anyway. Gateau was a friend... an interesting friend, but a friend. First person Marron could really remember who'd acted like that, who hadn't minded Marron's behaviour, who understood it, who was willing to count down his own feelings in order to make Marron comfortable...

Gateau was a friend. A new friend. Of course Marron was going to think of him - their meeting had seemed altogether too brief. Still, there was the promise of tomorrow... but today seemed to drag by so much...

Eventually, Marron reached his literature class, and, as expected, sat next to the girl. They shared the textbook, no problem. The class seemed to drag, as did the one after that, but once the bell at the end of that class rang, Marron felt relief; time to go home.

Marron took a visit to his locker after school, picking up the books he needed for his homework. He couldn't help but smile a little as he approached his locker; earlier, this was where he'd met Gateau... still, there were other matters to think about now. Just because he'd made a friend didn't mean that there wasn't still homework and coursework to hand in... he had to stay focused.

A noise distracted Marron enough to realise that he probably wouldn't be able to stay focused for long.

"Oh, Marron! Yo!"

Marron looked up curiously.

"Gateau?"

Gateau had been walking past the locker section when he'd seen Marron. At Marron's recognition, he smiled, jogging over. He looked slightly worn out, and he was still wearing his basketball clothes. Gateau smiled and nodded. "Yeah... ya remembered me, then?"

"I wouldn't forget. You... just got finished doing your basketball practice?"

"Yeah... it was pretty good, just practicin' and stuff, but it's good stuff. Kinda distractin' at times, though. Wherever there's a sport, there's always crowds of girls hanging around..."

"I know, I saw them when I was on the way to my afternoon classes."

"Oh yeah?" Gateau grinned, repositioning his bag on his back. "Ya see me anywhere?"

"No... I couldn't see anything, there were too many people in front of the basketball courts. I heard them screaming your name, though... the girl I was walking with said about how her friends had crushes on guys on the sports teams... I wonder if..."

Marron trailed off slightly. 'I wonder if any of them have crushes on you?' sounded wrong to his ears somehow. Gateau just smiled, leaning himself against the lockers, next to Marron's open one.

"You were talking to a girl?"

"Oh, she just wanted to know if she could share my textbook in class... she'd left hers at home, or something... it doesn't hurt to be civil, so I let her... she then walked to the lesson with me."

"I see... well, cool. Hey, since I've found ya and everything, wanna hang out a bit? Ain't got any afterschool things going on, have you?"

"N-no... I had homework, though..."

"Oh, okay. Hey, but it wouldn't be for long, though... well, if ya got work to do, I guess ya gotta do it. I gotta go out tonight anyway. Hey, why don't I walk ya home?"

"You don't know where I live."

"No, but it'd be nice to find out."

Marron pulled the last of his books out of his locker, depositing them into his bag. He watched Gateau almost curiously; Gateau really did want to spend time with Marron... Marron felt strange, because he wanted to spend time with Gateau too...

"I wouldn't want to inconvenience you..."

"It's no inconvenience, ya walk into school, don't ya? Can't be that far if ya walk."

So Marron had company on the way home that night; the two found that, to their bemused amusement, that they only lived a few roads from each other. Marron was a little surprised to find out that Gateau's apartment was a two-bedroomed one; Gateau said his family had practically insisted on it, Gateau often had relatives visiting who were keen on him. The Mocha family lived out of town, and it was easier for relatives to visit Gateau directly, in most cases, than for Gateau to visit them. His relatives had a car or two; Gateau didn't. Marron had smiled at that, "But don't most people want a car, once they get to your age?"... "Marron, wanting something and getting it are two different things... I'm still a student, I'm not earning that much!"... but for the most part, Gateau was happy in his apartment. Marron admitted to his being... almost a little depressing.

"It's alright when I'm at school, when I'm quiet around everyone else... but when I get home, it's just quiet. Sometimes the silence is overbearing."

"I guess it could be like that... hey, ya wanna come to my place for a bit, watch TV or something?"

"I have homework to do, Gateau."

Marron sounded a little cold when he said that, but Gateau just smiled. "Sounds like you would if ya didn't have homework to do. Well, I guess homework can't be helped, and I've got work anyway. So I guess we better go. What time do you set out in the mornings, though? Since we live so close to each other, I might catch ya on the way to school, ya never know."
Marron had the feeling that, if he told Gateau what time he set out in the mornings, Gateau would make himself meet Marron on the way to school... so Marron told Gateau the time. Why not? Gateau smiled, "I'll remember that!", then went back to his own place; Marron watched him as he went off, and went back to his apartment. There, he locked the door and set out his homework. Not a prospect he relished, but something that had to be done, anyway.

And so the days wore on. Most days were similar, most days melted into the ones before and after like before, but these days were different than days in the past; these days were days with Gateau. Gateau always managed to cheer up Marron's day, even in the smallest way... dull lessons were that bit more bearable, knowing he'd be able to talk with Gateau afterwards. Talking about what was never important; sometimes, whole lunchtimes would come and go where the two of them just talked about nothing, but even talking about nothing was relaxing. Marron bitched about teachers, Gateau bitched about teachers. They compared teacher characteristics, laughing at the stranger ones... they complained to each other about the amount of work that always seemed to be on their shoulders, but the complaining was always happy complaining; it was much nicer to be annoyed about schoolwork when there was someone to be annoyed about it with.

Occasionally, the two of them ended up visiting each other's houses. Gateau had just been curious to see where Marron was living, and then had insisted that Marron had to visit his house too. Marron had pulled out some homework to do, with which Gateau had tried to help him with; the two hadn't got too far, but it was nice for someone to care, Marron thought.

Returning home, Marron found something that would eventually work in his favour, even though it didn't seem like it at the time. A letter had arrived for him during the day, a letter from his parents. Apparently, there had been setbacks at work, or something. They hadn't really explained in much detail, the bottom line was, Marron wasn't going to be receiving as much as he had done to this point from them. The next day at school, Marron expressed his worries to Gateau; there were only two options he could think about. There was either getting a part-time job, like Gateau, or moving somewhere else... neither option really appealed to him. Getting a job would have been better if Marron had the first idea of how to approach something like that, but he'd always concentrated more on his schoolwork, figuring that things like that could be thought about later. Moving somewhere else was complicated, and what if he couldn't find somewhere so close to the college? His apartment was perfect in that respect; being close to college was always a bonus.

Marron had first raised the subject on the way to school; in response to this, Gateau had paused, looked serious for a moment, then turned to Marron, "You could move in with me."... Marron had looked at Gateau, then carried on, as if he hadn't heard. The point was next raised at lunchtime.

"... why do these things have to happen... I mean, I suppose I could get a job... but I'm always occupied with homework, if I had a job as well as all the work I have at the moment... I don't know if I could cope with that, Gateau. I suppose I have to move, but... I don't know how much time I have, I got the letter yesterday, but how much longer are they going to be able to support me like that, or did they just expect me to suddenly adjust? I swear, sometimes, they have no grip on reality..."

Marron sighed, stabbing viciously at vegetables on his plate. Gateau leaned his head on one fist, smiling softly. "Hey, what did the carrots do to deserve that?"

Marron looked up, slightly confused for a moment, then he looked down at his fork, realising the extent of his miniature food massacre. He sighed. "... sorry. I'm just annoyed... why couldn't they have phoned? Then we could have at least talked about the situation... and surely it would have been quicker... they don't seem to realise how difficult it is, Gateau!"

Gateau finished off his drink, then stared at Marron until Marron noticed; Marron stared back at Gateau for a moment, confused. "W-what?"

"Marron, I was totally serious earlier. If it's gonna be a problem, you could move in with me... I wouldn't mind, it's not like I don't have the room or anything, my relatives'd just have to deal with that. They never seem to visit these days anyway... it'd help if you gave a little to the rent, but it doesn't matter how much, it'd still be less than I pay out at the moment... I mean, if you still wanted to find a place of yer own, sure, you do that, but ya don't have to do that unless you really feel you have to."

Marron just watched Gateau cautiously for a few moments.

Gateau really was serious about having Marron move in with him... Marron looked away slightly.

"Gateau, I couldn't, I mean... y-you and me... living together?"

Gateau leaned over and poked Marron's forehead. Marron looked up at that, noticing Gateau's sardonic glare. "Hey, c'mon. Thought we had that sorted out ages ago. Just 'cause we were gonna be living with each other wouldn't mean that anything was gonna happen! I got two bedrooms in that place. One for me and one for you, or did you fail maths or something? Ya get friends sharing apartments and flats and stuff all the time!! Ya always see it on TV, in sitcoms and stuff. They always seem to have so much fun, but that's TV for ya. Weren't you telling me a while back about how your apartment felt kinda quiet and depressing? Well, this could be a solution to that!"

Marron just glanced at Gateau, a little unsure. Gateau sighed, slightly sympathetic.

"Don't think I'm trying to force you into it or anything, though." He shrugged, "Just thought it'd be kinda best for you, that's all. Maybe ya treasure yer independence, though... just think about it, okay? I'm your friend, I wanna be there for ya."

"... I-I know..."

Marron sat back in his seat, quietly thinking about it. Moving in with Gateau... would help alleviate the problems he'd suddenly been cropped with. Gateau was right, friends shared apartments all the time, didn't they? And after the couple of months or so they'd spent as friends, Marron trusted Gateau not to use this as an opportunity to jump Marron's bones or anything. Gateau was willing, it was a pleasantly unexpected solution to an annoying unexpected problem... there wasn't any reason to say no.

"... Gateau, if I said yes... you're sure it's alright?"

"Sure it's okay! Be nice to have someone to keep me company. Why, is that a yes?"

"..." Marron paused for a moment, going over his options in his head again, before nodding.

"Yes, it is."

Gateau seemed to freeze for a moment, before a slow smile spread over his features. "Marron... I never thought you'd actually say yes..."

Marron half-glared at Gateau. "Oh, so you were lying?"

Gateau waved his hands in defence, "No, no! I just... hey, it doesn't matter, forget it. I'll get onto the phone to the guy later today, I'll phone ya tonight and tell ya when you can move in. Shouldn't be too long... yay, I got me a new roomie!!" Gateau smirked. "We'll haveta have a housewarming party or something. Lotsa alcohol. Strippers. That kinda thing."

"Gateau..."

"Hey, hey, I'm joking, I'm joking!!"

Marron spent the rest of the day in preparation, mental and physical, for his incoming move. As expected, he got a phone call from Gateau, just before he going to bed. Gateau had got caught up at work, nothing special, but he still apologized for phoning so late. Gateau had contacted his landlord and checked it out, Marron could move in as soon as he wanted. So that was okay. It'd been friday when Gateau had called him; Marron spent the weekend sorting things out, packing his things away, and contacting his landlord to say that he'd be moving. Once that was sorted out, Marron phoned Gateau to tell him so. Gateau sounded so happy, but left the phone somewhat abruptly... he then turned up on Marron's doorstep, ready to help Marron move his stuff. Since it was only a short walk away, Gateau reasoned, there wasn't any point in hiring a van or anything. Marron had sighed happily, and let Gateau help him move his stuff over.

So, on that day, a sunday, Marron moved in with Gateau, and life was, generally, good.

Marron sat on the sofa in the front room, flipping through channels on the television. Gateau called over from the kitchen, "Anything on TV?"

Click, click, click, bleep. "Doesn't seem like it."

"Well, it's sunday. Never anything on TV on a sunday." Gateau emerged from the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe, two cans in hand. "Wanta beer?"

Marron looked up, blinking. Gateau waved the can at him, Marron realised, then shook his head. "Oh, no thankyou. I... never really got on with alcohol..."

"Ya sure?"

"Yes. Thanks for offering, though."

Gateau went back into the kitchen. Marron could hear the fridge opening and shutting, then he came back through, holding one can this time, and sat on one of the other chairs in the room.

"Heh, I bet those scary stalker girls in school would freak if they knew we were living together. They'd probably wanna know what I did that they weren't doing..."

"I've already had people in my class ask me about my relationship with you. The guys want to know if Marron and 'that tall prick' from the basketball team are fu- well, you can guess. The girls... some of them... they confuse me. One moment they'll be weepy-eyed over me, then they'll come over all blushing, 'M-Marron, do you know G-Gateau Mocha from, ah, the basketball team? We heard you guys were kinda friends... could you... ask him if he's single? Could you ask him if he'd be interested in me? He's sooooo maasculiiinnneee, I LOVE HIM so could you ask him?'... if only they could make their minds up..."

Gateau just grinned, opening his can. "Heh, so what do you say when they start gushing like that?"

"Oh, I just say 'we'll see' and it seems to satisfy them."

"So how come you never told me about them before? Chicks from your year... hey, if they're cute, they're cute. Anyone I might be interested in?"

Marron looked slightly shocked for a moment. Gateau'd never really expressed interest in anyone like that, not while Marron had known him, except for, well, Marron himself... still, Marron never reacted the way Gateau had wanted him to, and Gateau seemed to respect that... but Gateau was still a normal eighteen-year-old guy with normal eighteen-year-old drives. Maybe Gateau just didn't talk about things like that? Marron shook himself from his thoughts, "Oh, I... I don't know..."

"Never mind, girls like that are usually only interested in making a reputation for themselves, 'oh, look at me, I'm going out with an older guy, whee, lookie!!'... nah, just playing with ya. So... whatcha wanna do? Roomie?"

"Um?"

"Tellyawhat, it's just past six... how about I make us some noodles?" Gateau laughed, a little nervously. "Got cupboards fulla instant noodles, I never seem to have time to cook anything more these days anyway, sorry..."

"Oh, I don't normally eat in the afternoon." Most days, Marron ate his lunch at college and let that last him; cooking would just be a distraction from doing homework, anyway.

"Really? Well, hey, come on. Today's special, aren't you just a bit hungry? Don't know about you, but I'm hungry."

"... well, if you're making some..."

"Just come out and say 'Gateau, make me some noodles', honestly! You're always so polite... though I guess that's a good thing. Just not used to it, that's all."

Marron smiled to himself as Gateau went off to cook. The conversation carried on from the kitchen.

"I gotta tell my parents I got myself a roommate, they're always wantin' to know how I'm getting on out here. What about you? What about your family? Any brothers or sisters or anything?"

Marron shook his head. "No... I'm an only child."

"Yeah? Cool."

Marron didn't know that, in another time, in another life, he did actually have a brother, a brother who was fighting for his life after having to suddenly cope with his little brother's death and a sudden violent reminder thereof... Marron didn't have the slightest inkling of that, of any of it. Marron just leant back on the sofa, his hair draping over the sofa's arm.

"You think so? Sometimes I think it'd be nice to have a brother, or a sister, or someone close like that. People with such close relationships... it's quite heartwarming, but it's the kind of thing I'm only likely to read about. Unless something strange happened, I don't think it'd be possible for my parents to suddenly have a child and have him be around the same age as me..."

"Heh, neither do I. Hey, but don't brothers and sisters also drive each other mad? Nah, we should be glad we don't have siblings or anything. Besides, those relationships you're on about, the close ones... wouldn't it be possible to have friends with that closeness?"

"I suppose, though I'm not sure..."

"What do I have to do to get that kind of closeness from you, then? Tell me, I'll do it." Gateau peeked around the doorframe. "I just want you to be happy, after all."

Marron wasn't sure, so he didn't say anything.

After that, not a lot happened; again, the days rolled in, rolled out. Homework was done, school was attended, Marron did the things he had to do and Gateau ditto; life with each other was a relaxing experience, Gateau didn't disturb Marron when he was working through his endless piles of work, and Marron didn't question Gateau when he came home at strange hours of the day (or night, or early morning). Sometimes Marron wondered what it was that Gateau did until that time, but he never asked, it wasn't any of his business anyway.

However, two incidents happened close enough to each other for Marron to realise afterwards that, perhaps, they might have been linked. One event was a minor event that served to bring his and Gateau's relationship a little closer, whatever that meant at the time, the other was more of a turning-point... the first event which happened a few weeks before the other. It was one of those nights, a friday night, where the clock was ticking, and Gateau still wasn't home. Not that Marron was up waiting for Gateau or anything, homework was best got out of the way at the earliest opportunity, and if it meant staying up until three in the morning working on the latest text he'd been given, well, it was just more work he wouldn't be doing over the rest of the weekend. His bespectacled eyes wandered to the clock on the other side of the room. It had just hit two 'o clock... two in the morning... fridays were always a bit busy for Gateau, though. Basketball practice followed by an extended work shift... Gateau seemed to do all kinds of different jobs, Marron couldn't remember what his friday night job was. But whatever it was, did it really mean that he'd be out until this late? Marron clicked his pen against his chin a few times, curious... a little worried. Yes, Gateau came home late at times, but... what if something had happened to him?

Marron remembered Gateau's mobile phone; he started digging for his address book to find it, but at that point, he'd heard the front door go; relief washed over him, and he stood up, taking his reading glasses off. He went through to the front room, but didn't find any sign of Gateau... he frowned slightly, glancing into the hallway. The lights were off... he felt around on the wall, located the lightswitch, and turned the lights on, just for the sake of it. He was about to switch the lights off, when he saw what he'd been looking for, almost unexpectedly; Gateau was sat in the hallway. He looked up when the lights came on, startled.

"M-Marron! What are you doing up at this time?!"
"Homework. Did you only just get in?"

"Y-yeah."

Silence for a few moments. The two of them just stared at each other. Marron didn't ask the burning question in his mind... it was nothing to do with him, he shouldn't want to know... but he wanted to know...

Gateau looked away, looking almost... sad. "You wanna know where I was, don't you..."

"N-no, it's none of my business..."

"Hey, you never ask me where I've been... I'm your friend, doesn't that make it your business?" Gateau sighed, a long, shuddering sigh. Marron frowned slightly, something wasn't right here. Something seemed to be upsetting Gateau... Marron had the feeling that Gateau was trying to say 'I want to talk to someone about this' in an indirect Gateau kind of way. Marron walked over to Gateau, and crouched in front of him, a serious look on his face.

"Gateau... there's something wrong... do you want to talk about it?"

Gateau smiled wearily, lifting himself up off the floor, feeling heavy to his arms. "I thought you'd never ask, Marron. C'mon, let's go into the front room, I wanna sit on something soft."

Marron quietly followed Gateau there; they switched the lights on. Gateau sat on the sofa, Marron sat on the chair nearby, facing Gateau. "So... what happened?"

Gateau sighed, looking away. "It's... it's kinda embarrassing... but basically... I was working, until kinda late, and while I was there, there was this girl working there... about my age, y'know. Turns out that she's in my year at college, how about that? Anyway, we were just getting on, chatting, all of that... her shift ended, then after a while, mine did too... we got on well, and when I got outta the place, she was waiting for me, wanted to know if I wanted to go with her for a drink or something."

Ah-ha, Marron thought. Girl problems.

"Carry on..."

"Y-yeah... well, I figured that I might as well, basketball practice had been tiring, work had kinda drained me, figured you'd be asleep by the time I got in anyway, why not? So we did. And it was all fine and good, then we went... she said she'd walk home, I said I'd walk home too, she was like 'why don't we walk home together, then?', this weird tone in her voice... I was like 'well, okay'... then, we were walking through the park, ya know, that park a little off the college grounds... and... uh, well... it was like..." Gateau waved his hands around a little, trying to silently gesture at what he meant. Marron didn't have a clue, so prompted Gateau to continue.

"It was like what?"
"Marron, she just LEAPT on me! I don't know if she'd had too much to drink or what, but she just leapt on me, 'Gateau, I've liked you for a while, do you like me too?'... I was just like 'Well, sure, but...' I couldn't say anything else though, she was already trying to pull my coat off and stuff... she just smiled, really creepy, 'So, if we like each other, it doesn't matter, does it? Gateau, I want you...', by then, she had me pinned on the floor... I mean, not pinned as such... well, yeah... I... I didn't really fight her off, though... I could have done, but I didn't..."

Marron wondered just where this was going.

"... she leant in close, 'Gateau, d'you want me too?'..." Gateau sighed. "I dunno why I said yes, but for whatever reason, I did. I mean-" Gateau noted Marron's expression of subtle shock, "- don't think we actually ended up screwing in the park, 'cause we didn't, but... the reason for that... well, that's kinda the problem... cause... we were kissing and stuff, and she was like, well, um, feeling me up... she had this long hair, like this..." Gateau made a gesture with his hand. "... I think her hair was purple or something. But yeah... it was just... kissing her like that, running my hands through her long, soft hair..."

Marron shifted on the seat slightly, saying nothing. He'd have been lying if he'd have said that this was comfortable listening.

"... then... I... I wrecked it."

"... How?"

"... I said... um... someone else's name..."

Marron blinked. Not that he had personal experience, but... that surely wasn't a good sign.

"Someone else's name?"

"Y-yeah... k-kinda someone else from school... who the girl knew... she just kinda froze, then glared at me... then she slapped me, called me disgusting, called me a pervert, called me all kinds of things... 'How dare you lead me on like that?! If I'd known you were like that, I wouldn't have TOUCHED you, you FREAK!!'... damn, it's like, her words are imprinted on my memory..."

"She reacted like that... just because you said someone else's name?"

Gateau looked Marron in the eyes, then looked away. Somehow, he couldn't meet the look in Marron's eyes; not exactly innocent as such, but... Marron was...

Marron was the person who's name Gateau had said. Moaned. Gasped. Repeated.

Gateau wasn't about to tell Marron about that, though. Marron knew that Gateau had said someone else's name except for the one he should be saying; that was enough... just as long as Marron didn't come straight out and ask about it. Gateau wasn't sure he'd be able to pass the truth off convincingly enough...

"... Y-yeah, just cause of that... I mean... I..." Gateau stood up. "... sorry... I just kinda... need to get some sleep, I think... maybe it'll seem better in the morning. I just feel crap right now... sorry for keeping ya up, distracting ya from your homework 'n stuff..."

Marron just shook his head, standing up, stepping over to where Gateau was making his way to his bedroom. He wanted to say something, but Gateau's door was closed before he could say anything. Marron sighed, then went back to the kitchen to get himself some water. That had been the first time Marron'd seen Gateau like that... it'd been strange. It'd also been strange to hear him talking like that... Gateau, almost randomly getting off with girls he'd met at work. Did he do that frequently? For all of his original talk on how it was better to be selective than sleep with everything that threw itself at you, was Gateau like those sexual poseurs in Marron's own year after all? Was that why Gateau never spoke about things like that too much? Was something like that only worth talking about if it went wrong? Marron felt confused. He'd had vague suspicions, but nothing really concrete to think about... but really... what was to stop him? Gateau was the outgoing type, Gateau wasn't bad-looking when it came to that... the girls in Marron's year certainly seemed attracted to him, but outside of schoolgirl crushes, why wouldn't other girls like Gateau too? Why wouldn't he sleep with the girls who offered themselves? No ties, no responsibility, just sex... why not?

Marron presumed it'd be just sex, anyway. Gateau never brought any girls home to say 'hi'.

Marron wondered how he'd feel if that happened. If Gateau came back one day with some pretty girl, 'Hey, Marron! This is my girlfriend! Girlfriend, this is my roommate, Marron Glacé.'... the girl would probably say hello. Marron would say hello back. Then Gateau and the girl might go off, and... do the kinds of things that boyfriends and girlfriends would do...

Marron smiled wryly as he poured himself water, and went to the icebox of the fridge for ice cubes. He blamed his mood partly on his current lack of sleep; "If I didn't know any better" he thought, "I might almost say I was getting jealous..."

Still, the thought of Gateau leading some kind of sexual double-life was a strange one, to Marron. That'd been one of the first things that had convinced Marron of Gateau's worth; his insistence on a non-sexual friendship, a friendship bound purely by friendship, a friendship that didn't involve kissing or touching or holding or being held or being bound to someone in a different way - bound to them while they held back, gasping, panting, moaning, stroking, yielding, helping the other along to an orgasmic climax...

Marron almost dropped his drink. THAT was certainly a different thought. "I... really need sleep."

Marron backpedaled his thoughts. He'd always taken Gateau's friendship as a pretty innocent friendship, Gateau's occasional remark aside. Marron could live with that. But while their friendship was innocent... had Marron, somewhere along the line, assumed that Gateau's life was much like his own? Marron's life was homework, schoolwork, college, Gateau. Roughly and in no particular order. Whenever Gateau was with Marron, it was always the two of them... just the two of them. Only the two of them. Marron realised that, asides from what'd happened tonight, he didn't really know Gateau that well. Well, not that he didn't know him as such, more that he didn't know much about him, he didn't know that one part of him, that other half of him, and Marron didn't know whether to be worried or not. Whenever Gateau went out, it always started off as work, but... who was to say that every friday night did or didn't work out much like that one, but without the mistake?

Was that side only mentioned to Marron... when it went wrong? If this was the first time Gateau had mentioned it, and that was so, then how many times did it go right?

Marron remembered what seemed like a long time ago, Gateau mentioning that Marron might have a shell that he hid from others in. Marron mused on whether this shell of his now somehow incorporated Gateau... his life was with Gateau, but in that life, there was no unpleasantness... did Marron even want to know what Gateau's other life was like, anyway? Marron downed the rest of his drink, sighed, decided he was getting too introspective, decided that he'd been working on his literature analysis homework for too long, and then made a decision that seemed a lot more inviting, he decided to go to sleep.

Marron went back through to his bedroom, but couldn't help a quick glance in on Gateau before he went to bed. The door was slightly open... he pushed it, it made a creaking sound, but the shadowy figure lying on the bed didn't move, other than in sleep. Marron watched Gateau for a few moments, as if expecting him to suddenly do something... of course, he didn't.

Marron's eyes softened with a slight look of sympathy.

"Gateau Mocha... I really... don't know you at all... do I?"

Marron watched for a second longer, and was satisfied that Gateau was asleep. Marron drew the door to a close, and went back to his own room... Gateau waited until he heard Marron's own door close, then let out a sigh of his own from where he lay, buried deep within his blankets, but not asleep.

"... No, you don't, do you...?"