A/N: So before we begin, you should know a couple of things. This is slash fiction, as stated before. That means dudes kissing dudes, boys groping each other, and intimate situations between two males. Got it? Good. Next, this was franticly and sporadically written at one in the morning, and hasn't been beta'd or anything. So basically what I'm saying is that it's crappy and probably riddled with errors. Sorry. Finally, this story isn't going to be all about sex. These first few chapters will not be lemon-scented, sorry.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy. First post (WOOT!) so we'll see how this goes. Here goes nothing:

Chapter One: Friends?/Friends.

Mason was all sprawled out across the couch, a rather large and haphazardly-made quilt draped over his slumbering form. The young werewolf had nowhere to go, and so he was currently staying in the loft above the Sub Station in Waverly Place. But Jerry wasn't as dumb as his daughter assumed; he'd had the eldest Russo child place an enchantment on the staircase, so that a certain teenage girl wouldn't get any ideas about a midnight romp with her half-monster boyfriend. Alex, however, was not as easily discouraged as her father would have liked to believe. She was currently in the process of trying to estimate the distance from her bedroom window to the terrace.

"Now let's see," she mumbled absentmindedly to herself, "if I tie this bed sheet, this blanket, and this pillowcase together, and I jump the last couple feet… Yup, I'll probably be fine." The raven-haired girl set to work attaching one of the pieces of cloth to the edge of her window sill, being careful not to let the wind slam the window closed. It would be hard to explain to her father why she was leaning out her window in her pajamas at three in the morning. Well, besides the obvious anyway; she couldn't very well tell her father that she was planning to climb down the side of the building and do some hardcore snogging with her boyfriend.

She smiled to herself at the thought. She lived for talking her way out of things, and, although it could mean lots of trouble, she felt that she wouldn't mind such a challenge. But that was beside the point. Alex hoisted herself onto the ledge and grabbed hold of her make-shift rope. She placed her feet flat against the wall and gently closed her window with one hand. Then she shuffled her way down the wall, just as she had done on the rock wall in Adventure Ed. When she bothered to show up, that is.

The going was fairly easy. The flat brick building was much easier to climb down than a bumpy rock wall. She cracked a mischievous grin, knowing that she was about to get exactly what she wanted without anybody getting in her way, and she was being super sneaky about it too. After all, why play by the rules if you're exceptionally good at breaking them?

Her bare feet hit the terrace with a small thud. So far, so good. Alex let go of the "rope" and rubbed her hands. Now all she had to do was open the sliding door just a crack and –

"Aaaah!" Her high-pitched shriek rang out, bouncing off the walls of the brick buildings and sailing upward into the onyx sky. There, in front of the glass door, was Justin, scowling with his arms crossed. It was quite obvious from his robe and his slightly tousled hair that he had just woken up. Maybe Alex wasn't as stealthy as she thought.

"Alex. I thought I might find you here. Care to explain what you were planning to do? I figure you've got, oh, forty-five seconds or so until Dad gets down here. Thirty if Mom left the pie out on the counter." He glared at her angrily, but smugly all the same. Since his sister enjoyed breaking the rules so much, it was only right for him to enjoy catching her in the act.

"Practicing for gym?" Alex said with a slight smile.

"Yeah. Maybe you should practice actually being present for gym first. Oh look, here's Dad."

Jerry's voice boomed from the top of the stairs. "Alexandra Margarita Russo, you'd better not be down there when I get to the bottom of these – Hey, is that the leftover pie?"

"That's my cue to disappear!" Alex called as she grabbed onto the rope and scampered up to her room.

Justin grimaced and then looked at his father, who was just climbing down the last step of the metal staircase. "Dad, you have to go after her! She's on her way back up to her room right now, but if you turn right around you can catch her!

"Alright, Justin, just give me a second to catch my breath," Jerry said as he moved towards the pie. "Hey, hand me a fork, will you?"

"Dad, this really isn't the time for pie. We have a serious problem here. Alex broke the rules and she's about to get away with it again. Dad, you never punish her like you should. If you just read one of the books I gave you, just one," he ranted, but was quickly interrupted.

"Justin, I understand. Yes, Alex can be a pain sometimes, but she's very different from you. You like structure and order, and because of that you don't get into trouble. Alex, well, she's discord, chaos, and mischief trapped in the body of a teenage girl. She does get punished, but not always in a way that you see fit. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. You turned out alright, and she will too. Now get some sleep. Oh, and if your mother asks where the pie went… Mason ate it." And with that, Jerry rushed up the stairs (well, hobbled up the stairs would be a more accurate description), probably to quickly scarf down the pie before entering Alex's room.

Justin sighed. His father meant well, but just once it would be nice to see Alex really get what she deserved. She probably wouldn't even lose her wand for a week for this fiasco.

"Justin?"

He turned around. The voice belonged to Mason, who was now looking at him over the top of the couch. Justin had almost forgotten he was there.

"I heard what just happened, and I can't help but say I agree with you. Alex is wonderful, but sometimes she's just… "

"A nuisance?" Justin offered.

"Haha, yes." Mason's laugh was light; sure she was his girlfriend, but that didn't mean he had to lie about her. "Hey, come sit with me for a while? I promise I won't bite!" Mason said as he patted the seat next to him.

"Wow. The author of Magical Creatures: an Examination wasn't kidding when he said that werewolves made awful jokes," Justin said with a sarcastic smirk. But he took the invitation anyway, situating himself next to the brown-haired boy.

"Ouch. That hurt. And to think that I was going to be the comforting friend! I guess I'll have to reconsider my offer," Mason said jovially with a playful punch to Justin's arm.

"Hey, it's not my fault I'm sort of mean. Alex has conditioned me." Justin smirked again, and then continued, "Hey, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Yeah, sure, go ahead."

"Where will you go? I know Dad and Mom let Harper live here, but considering your relationship with Alex this situation is probably only temporary. Where… I mean, do you have somewhere to go?"

Mason shifted a little, rubbing his palms together as he thought. "Well, not exactly. I mean, I guess I haven't given it much thought. It seems like this whole adventure with your sister… your family… has been touch and go. This is the first time in a long while I've really got a place to nod off for at least a week."

"Well what about your friends? Can't you crash with any of them?"

"My mates? Well, I don't have too many of those in non-canine form. I try to stay away from the non-magical population. It's rather hard to explain my lifestyle to them, as I'm sure you can relate."

"Yeah," Justin said as he thought about all the times he'd lied to Zeke and the rest of the school to keep magic and the wizard world a secret. "Yeah, I understand. Well listen, I'm getting tired, so I should be off to bed. I'll see you in the morning. G'night." He heaved himself off the couch and started to make his way towards the stairs.

"Justin?"

"Hmm?"

"Does my breath smell?"

"What?" he asked, turning around.

"Does my breath smell?" Mason repeated.

"No. Your breath smells ni – its fine. Why?"

"Well, you got up in such a hurry. I thought maybe my breath was offensive or something."

"Oh. No, it's not your fault Mason. I'm just tired, that's all. You know how I like to have my eight hours of sleep every night. It looks like I've already missed at least thirty minutes." Justin turned away again to ascend the stairs.

"Justin, come sit with me."

"No that's quite alright. Would you look at the time? Almost midnight! I'd better be off."

"Justin, come on. Come back here. Please?" Mason nearly pouted. NEARLY.

There was a pause. Justin reconsidered, then fell victim to the almost-pout and reclaimed his seat next to the other boy. "Alright. I'm here."

"Thanks. So, what's the matter?"

"What?"

"Why'd you get up and leave so fast?"

"Well," Justin began, "let's just say I'm not very popular."

Mason laughed a little, but quickly stopped when he saw Justin's glowering face. "Sorry. It's just that you make no sense whatsoever. When did I ever bring up popularity?"

"You did! Indirectly, at least." Justin sighed. "It's just… when you started talking about not having many normal human friends, it made me think of myself. I have Zeke, but that's pretty much it. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being the smart one, but would it really hurt to just be a little bit liked? Anyway, I thought that you were going to ask me about friendships and things like that, and I felt uncomfortable." Here, Justin laughed slightly. "I guess I'm no good when I'm uncomfortable. I know a lot of things, but when I'm put on the spot it really throws me off."

"Stage fright," Mason said quietly.

"Yeah, something like that. Look, I'm sorry if I offended you when I tried to leave. Like I said, no good when I'm uncomfortable."

"Hey, no problem. Everybody's got their issues."

"Yeah."

And for a long time that's all that was said. The two boys sat in silence, just appreciating each other's company. It went on that way for fifteen minutes, until Mason spoke in a hushed tone.

"I hope you win the wizard competition."

"What?"

"I said: I hope you win the wizard competition."

More silence.

"But… But Alex is your girlfriend. If she doesn't win you two can't be together!"

"I know," Mason whispered. "But a relationship is a relationship. I like Alex, but I can't say that what we have is anything more than juvenile. She's not old enough to understand all that the word 'love' actually entails, and I don't think I am either. But you have something Justin. A real talent, a knack for magic. I know you'll do great things with it. I can't imagine what this world would be like if gifts like that were neglected for the sake of a teenage relationship that might not even exist by next month."

Ear-splitting, bone-shattering, profoundly-long silence.

"Well… thank you. That's really, really nice."

"You're welcome."

Then Justin reconsidered what he'd just said. "Oh! No, I didn't mean the part about you and Alex not lasting, I just meant when you complimented me. It's not like –"

"It's alright Justin, I know what you meant," Mason said with a smile. "Now I think it's time we both got some sleep. Gotta have your eight hours, right? And, you may not believe it, but I'm an absolute bear in the morning."

"I thought you were a wolf!" Justin exclaimed sarcastically.

"Oh haha. And I'M the one with the bad jokes."

"Sorry, I couldn't help it. Alright, well I'll see you in the morning, ok? Night." And with that, Justin went off once more towards the staircase, this time much more calmly.

Mason touched his shoulder. "Justin? You know we're friends, right?"

Justin turned and looked at him. "Right," he said, a smile gracing his lips as the words left. Mason smiled back, and then the two went their separate ways. Justin crept slowly up the stairs towards his room, trying not to wake the others. Mason curled up on the couch, covering himself once again with the old quilt.

All was quiet in Waverly Place.