In the changing, swirling world of fandom, I will always ship Neil/Todd. So my first sketch has got to be about the moment Neil realises he might have, you know, The Feelings.

I adore Haykatsi0o's 'Sketch Dump' - and as I am a singularly lazy writer, the idea of not having to connect chapters in any meaningful way is wonderful. So I nicked the idea.

Disclaimer: DPS is so not mine.

Reviews are wonderfully glorious things. (You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.)

Neil doesn't know, and then he does; just like that, no trumpets, no fanfare, just the matter of a moment, and it's so obvious that in the cold grey light of morning he wonders if he's even the first to find out.

He wakes to see the Todd hopping around the room in the pre-dawn shadows. Todd is clearly attempting to get dressed without turning on the lamp and disturbing his roommate, and he bumps into the desk chair in the process. He grabs the chair just before it hits the ground, and throws a worried look over his shoulder at Neil.

Neil shuts his eyes fast. Todd breathes an audible sigh of relief, and buckles his belt. Neil returns to watching him lazily through sleep-blurred eyes.

His pale skin faintly glows in the blue-grey light and there's an elegant simplicity in the shape and structure of his body, like a young birch tree. Neil wonders when on earth he started comparing his roommate's body to trees and then realises that in the six weeks they've been roomies, he's never actually seen Todd in a state of undress.

Todd mutters something under his breath as he slips his t-shirt quickly over his head, that Neil can't quite work out. It almost sounds like he's psyching himself up. Now Neil is intrigued, and watches Todd openly.

Todd turns to reach for his jacket, sees Neil staring at him, and jumps. He looks confused for a moment, before, almost guiltily, mumbling, "Good morning." He sits down on the edge of the bed.

"Is it?" asks Neil. "What's the time?"

"About five-thirty." Todd casually ties his shoelaces

"What are you doing?" Neil frowns.

"Going for a walk." Todd shrugs on his jacket, and ducks his head in embarrassment. "You know. Um. Carpe diem."

Neil groans dramatically and rolls over in bed, burying his head in the pillow as he hears the dormitory door close. He must be the only boy in the entire school whose roommate thinks that 'carpe diem' means going for a walk before sunrise.

But of course Todd would think that. That's what makes him Todd. So subversive you don't even realises you're being subverted until -

And that's it. That's the moment. That's when Neil knows. It isn't a romantic or epic or poetry-worthy knowing; more the sudden realisation of a teenage boy that, however perfectly formed and magnificent the breasts of Charlie's coveted centrefold spread may be, they're not going to do it for Neil.