-1Summary: Troy has always known that he was different. Until he met the new kids at school, he never knew how different he really was.

Warnings: This is a slash fic. Just in case that isn't clear enough for you, I'll rephrase it: Boys date boys in this story. If that's not your thing, that's fine. Just don't read it. Another warning I want to make is that this story is rated M because the language in it is a bit worse than in my last one. I'm not sure how far you can go before you need the higher rating, but I didn't want to risk it.

Author's Note: I just want to say that I am really excited to have the first chapter of this ready. I really like it and I hope that other people will too. So here you go, my new baby.

Freak

Chapter 1: The Fused One Arrives

"The four of you understand that you have been entrusted with an extremely important task, don't you?" the head elder asked.

"We understand," The chosen four said in unison.

"We will work our hardest to succeed," The Fused One assured her.

"That is all that we can ask for," the elder said. "We also ask that you be careful who you reveal your gifts to," she added.

"Don't worry Madame Elder," said the powerful protector. "I will make sure that we are all careful." She pointed a look at one of the other protectors.

"Well, we'd best be on our way," the Fused said.

"Yes, you should. Be careful, all of you. And remember, their customs are different from ours, so do your best not to make a big ruckus." And with that, the four left on their mission.

"Troy!"

"What?" Troy said as he pulled himself out of his thoughts.

"So?" Chad asked.

"So what?" Troy asked back.

"So are you going to answer my question?"

"What was it again?"

"Come ON dude! I asked you why you're spending so much time with Ryan Evans lately."

"I don't know." Chad gave him a look that said he wasn't buying it. "Well, I guess I just think he's a pretty interesting person to talk to and be around."

"And?"

"And that's it," Troy said.

"Are you sure that's all?"

"Yeah." Troy was starting to get uncomfortable now. "Uh, shouldn't we be heading off to class now?"

"Yeah. We wouldn't want to be late to the first day of the new semester," Chad said with loads of sarcasm.

"Well do you really want to be late to class?"

"No, I guess not. Oh! Did you hear that we've got four new students today?"

"Really? Where from?"

"From that weird cult."

"Which one?"

"Um, what is it they call them? Oh, the Power Keepers."

"Really? I thought they never left their little town."

"Apparently changed their minds. But it's only those four." At this point, they had gotten to their homeroom class and went to sit down. Ms. Darbus went to the front of the room and addressed the class.

"Hello class and welcome back after your long weekend. I have some very exciting news for you. We have four new students joining us today. Now as I am sure many of you already know, they were raised in a culture that is different from ours and they may feel a bit uncomfortable here. So I want you all to give them a warm East High welcome and be as hospitable as possible." She then turned and stuck her head out of the classroom. "You may all come in now." She then came back inside the classroom.

"Class, I would like to introduce you to Aaron Gratzen, Alexandra Kratz, Devin Masters, and Evan Masters." They each came into the classroom in the order that Darbus had introduced them in. Troy felt a bit frightened when Aaron walked in. The guy was huge! He was about six foot two and looked like pretty much every inch of him was muscle. Troy was fairly sure that this guy could tear him in half if he had the urge to. He could totally picture Aaron leaping on him with his claws, razor sharp teeth, and that yellow and brown coat. Wait. Why was he picturing Aaron as a jaguar? Maybe he really was going crazy like Chad seemed to think he was.

Next came Alexandra. "Dude, I think we found you a new girlfriend," Chad said from his left. Troy had to admit that she was stunning. Tall, brown hair, green eyes, and the kind of curves that most girls would commit first degree murder for. The thing is, Troy didn't find himself attracted to her at all. Once again, he was probably going insane. Or something else.

The Masters brothers actually came in at the same time. Devin looked like he was probably not going to have any trouble getting a date if he wanted to, but that was about as far as Troy's analysis went. He probably would have gone more in-depth, but he was too distracted by the other brother. Evan was about Troy's height and had light brown hair that was about the same length as Ryan Evans' hair. His eyes were a blue that was so pure that it didn't seem natural. It was almost as if his eyes could pierce anything and look straight into the heart of it. He wasn't at all sure why, but Troy was extremely intrigued by this boy.

After the little introduction, the new kids found some empty seats and sat down. Much to Troy's dismay, Evan sat in the seat directly to his right. How could he stare at the object of his strange and unexplainable fascination without getting caught if the guy was right next to him?

Well Evan made it a little bit easier by talking to him. "Hi, I'm Evan," he said. "What's your name?"

"Uh, I'm, uh…" Troy found himself dumbfounded and unable to put a sentence together.

Luckily for him, Ryan turned around at this point and filled in the blanks. "That's Troy Bolton, the star of the basketball team here at East High. Don't worry, he does talk. Today's just a bit of an off day for him. Am I right, Mr. Bolton?" he turned to Troy.

"Right. Sorry," Troy said. "First morning after a long weekend. I guess I'm just a little tired from all the excitement."

Evan laughed. "It's fine. My tongue gets a bit tied up sometimes too. Especially when I'm not completely in my head."

"Wow. He has a really cool laugh." Troy thought to himself. "Wait. How can a guy's laugh be cool? You really are starting to get weird, Troy." Why was he acting like this?

"Stop it," Devin said from the other side of Evan. Troy wondered who he was talking to. Then he looked at Devin to find his eyes boring into him with a significant amount of anger in them.

"Stop what?" Troy asked.

"Stop looking at my brother like that," he said. Troy was really glad it wasn't Aaron doing this, because right now it looked like Devin really wanted to tear Troy in half. Or spit fire at him.

Evan, on the other hand, looked like he wanted to crawl under a rock. "Will you just calm down?" he hissed at Devin. "Please excuse my brother's behavior," he said as he turned back to Troy. "He never did learn his people skills very well." He shot another look at his brother.

"Oooooookay. Well we better focus on Ms. Darbus now," Troy said.

"Yeah," Ryan chimed in. "Otherwise you'll have to paint sets in detention."

They turned their attention back to Ms. Darbus and listened to her go on about opportunities in a new semester, and how everyone had a clean slate, and blah, blah, blah. Everyone sighed with relief when the bell rang and they were released.

Troy was glad to be out of there, because after Devin's little outburst, Aaron and Alexandra started giving him dirty looks too. Then he got this splitting headache and could have sworn he heard a girl's voice in his head screaming, "Who are you!?"

However, after getting out of the room, his head calmed down. He went to his next class, thrilled to be away from the new kids. Then, as everybody started entering the room, Troy saw Evan come in, followed by Devin. Devin seemed to have calmed down since homeroom. Evan once again sat next to Troy, and Devin sat next to Evan again. "Hi Troy," Evan said. "I guess we have class together again."

"Uh-huh," Troy responded. He was still a bit uneasy with both of them, especially with Devin, who still looked a bit unhappy with him. "So are you two, uh, twins?" he asked, trying to make the situation a bit less awkward with some small talk.

"Oh, definitely," Devin said. "We're identical, can't you tell? I mean, it should be obvious, with Ev's blue eyes and my green, or especially with how my hair is almost black and his is light brown."

Wow. That was the first time Troy had heard any kind of humor come out of Devin. It was rather unexpected. However, Evan looked a bit peeved.

"You know, you don't have to be such a smart ass, Dev," he snapped at his brother.

"No, I don't mind. It was funny," Troy said. At least now he wasn't fearing for his life quite as much.

"Yeah. See? He thinks I'm funny," Devin said with a smug look.

"Well I still say you're an ass," Evan replied moodily.

"But he's a funny ass," Troy said.

"Oh, so now everybody's a comedian, right?"

"Everybody but you," Troy and Devin said at the same time. The three of them all burst into fits of laughter.

"Okay class, quiet down," Mrs. Impediman, their math teacher, said as she walked to the front of the room to start her lesson.

After math, Troy went on to his other classes. Devin and Evan were in every one of his classes. Alexandra was also in their English class, and she was more social this time too.

At lunch, Troy sat at his new official table, which was the drama club's table. He wasn't sitting there because he wasn't getting along with his team, it was just that he and Ryan Evans were getting be good friends now and Troy had been invited to sit with him. Sharpay even accepted him sitting there, just as long as he never tried bringing "that bitch Gabriella" with him. That was one of the few times Troy had actually agreed with Sharpay on anything.

Gabriella really had become kind of a bitch after the musical last year. She started pushing Troy around and acting like she owned him. The thing is, she didn't even like Troy that much. She had cheated on him several times during their relationship, and only wanted to do something "girlfriendy" when there were other people around. Her behavior just made it easier for Troy to break up with her.

Yes, Troy had already been planning to break up with Gabriella before. He just didn't have a good reason at first was that he was questioning his feelings for Gabriella. And not just her, but all girls. It's why he had been getting closer to Ryan. He was feeling confused and hoping that Ryan could help clear things up. Yeah, that wasn't exactly his best idea ever. Ryan's idea of helping him was unexpectedly kissing him, and then telling him that he felt nothing. Now Troy was even more confused. He was not attracted to girls anymore, but he didn't like any guys either. Except maybe…

No, He wasn't into the new kid. Was he? He really needed to talk to Ryan. "Hey Ryan…" he started.

"Yeah Troy?"

"I need to talk to you about something."

"Okay, shoot."

"Well it's about one of the new kids."

"You mean the ones that are walking right this way?"

Troy turned around and saw that, indeed, all four of the new kids were walking toward them. So much for talking to Ryan.

"Hi Troy!" Evan said as he plopped himself down in the empty seat on Troy's left. Devin sat on the other side of his brother. Aaron and Alexandra were standing awkwardly, staring at the full table.

"Where do we sit?" asked Aaron. Troy wasn't surprised to find that Aaron's voice was almost as scary as he was.

"Um, why don't you and Als find another table?" Evan said.

"But we're supposed to-" Aaron started. Alexandra, Devin, and Eva all shot looks at him. He froze up and his mouth seemed to get glued shut.

"It's okay," Alexandra said. "We'll just sit over there with Martha." They went and sat at a table that was about ten feet away from them, and where they could still see Devin and Evan very easily.

"So are you guys twins?" Ryan asked the Masters brothers.

"Oh yeah, you never did answer me when I asked that earlier," Troy said.

"Oh. Dev's my baby brother," Evan said.

"I'm only a year younger, Ev," Devin said, rolling his eyes. "I'm just so smart that I got to skip kindergarten," he gloated.

"Wow, kindergarten," Ryan said sarcastically. "You're soooo smart."

"I know."

"So are either of you going to join the drama club?" Sharpay asked.

"I was thinking I would," Devin said.

"Cool!" Ryan said excitedly. "So do you have acting class next?"

"Yeah. Do you have it too?"

"Yep! This will be really fun. Are you doing drama too, Evan?"

"No," Devin answered for him. "Evan's a sports guy."

That sparked Troy's interest. "Really? Do you play basketball?"

Evan grimaced. "Heck no. I cheer."

Troy burst out laughing. "Cheerleading's not a sport?"

Devin got a worried look on his face, while Evan looked pissed. Suddenly, the cafeteria lights all turned off. "Fire!" someone screamed. Troy turned in the direction of the scream. There was a large flame on the floor, but it disappeared almost immediately after he looked at it. The lights then came back on.

"Yes it is," Evan said in a strained voice.

"What?" Troy asked.

"Cheerleading," Evan explained. "It is a sport."

"Whatever," Troy said. He then stiffened up because Aaron was standing right behind him, looking like he meant business.

"Is everything alright here?" he asked.

"Yes Aaron, I'm fine." Evan seemed a bit annoyed.

"Are you sure? Because you just-" Evan shot Aaron a look and he stiffened and shut up like before.

"Just Head back off to your table, Ay," Evan said while waving his hand toward the table. Aaron walked back to the table in a zombie-like manner.

"What was that about?" Sharpay asked in a somewhat scared-sounding voice. Apparently, Aaron had that effect on everyone.

"Oh nothing," Devin said. "We've just all gotten close over the years, and Aaron is the massively overprotective big brother of the group."

"Okay," Sharpay said. The bell rang. "Oh shoot. There's the bell. Off to class then, I guess." They all stood up to head off to their classes.

"I can show you to the theater, Devin. Follow me!" Ryan said excitedly as he grabbed Devin's hand and dragged him out of the cafeteria.

"So what do you have now, Ev?" Troy asked.

"It's Evan," he corrected in an irritated voice, "and I have Phys Ed next."

"Really? Me too. I'll show you the way over there." They started walking toward the gym. "So you are a junior, but you don't have your P.E credits yet?"

"No. I'm just taking it to help me stay in shape for my sport." Evan seemed to be getting steadily more irritated. Troy was starting to wonder why.

"That's why I'm taking it too," Troy said. "Well here we are," he said as they got to the locker room door.

"I know, Troy. I had to come here this morning to get a locker and put my clothes away."

Troy was starting to get tired of this. "Okay, what's with the attitude? Did I do something?"

Evan let out a sigh. "No Troy, you've just been a perfect little angel today." Evan walked inside and Troy followed him.

Troy walked to his locker, and was surprised to find that Evan was opening the locker next to his. "Our lockers are right next to each other? That's cool."

"Yeah, super fun!" Evan said with sarcasm dripping from his every word.

Troy had finally had enough. "Seriously! What is your problem!?! Ever since lunch, you've been getting bitchier and bitchier with me! What. Is. The. Deal!?"

Evan stood with his mouth hanging open in shock.

"I'm sorry," Troy said, feeling bad about his little outburst. "I shouldn't have exploded on you like that. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything."

"No, it's not that," Evan said, finally coming back to himself. "It's just that I've never had a guy be that blunt with me before."

"Really? What, are all the guys terrified of you where you come from?" Troy asked jokingly.

"Actually, they are," he said while he began to change. Troy was about to ask what he meant, but froze up when he looked at Evan to see him in nothing but his boxer-briefs. The boy was in amazing shape. Troy stared for a few seconds as Evan pulled his shorts up. "What's wrong?" Evan asked. He noticed Troy staring. "Are you surprised that someone who's just a cheerleader is in such good shape?"

Troy snapped himself out of it. "Uh, yeah, that's it."

Evan laughed slightly to himself while he put his shirt on. "I told you that it was a real sport."

"Uh… sure," Troy said while he started to change. He found himself checking every once in a while to see if Evan was watching. When he was down to his boxers, he glanced over and saw Evan's eyes dart away. Troy blushed a bit and continued changing. He finished and said, "All done. So are you ready to head out to the gym?"

"Yep. Let's go."

They went out to the gym and were told which class they would be in. Evan was in Ms. Livingston's gymnastics class. "That's not very surprising," Troy thought to himself. "So what class am I in?" he asked, mot that he really needed to. He was always in his dad's basketball class.

Taylor McHessie, who had been put in charge of organizing the students, looked at the list. You're in Livingston's class Troy," she said.

"What!? But I'm supposed to be in my dad's class!"

"I'm sorry Troy, but all decisions here are final. You are in the gymnastics class and you can't switch out."

"That's bull crap!" Troy exclaimed.

"Once again, I'm sorry. Now please go to your designated group."

Troy angrily stomped over to the gymnastics group. At least Evan was in the group. That made things slightly better. They went into the gymnastics room and started working. First, the teacher wanted to see what they could do. They started with simpler things like cartwheels and just doing half and quarter turns on the beam. Then it started getting progressively harder. As they got to the harder skills, people started sitting down along the wall when they couldn't so the next thing. Eventually Troy had to sit with them and watch. Some people had experience and lasted for a while, but none of them were as good as Evan. He flew around on everything with an almost unearthly grace. Several more minutes passed, and Evan was the only one left. After finishing an insane beam routine that Ms. L asked him to do, he jumped down.

"Great job!" the teacher said. "How much experience have you had in gymnastics?"

"About two and a half years of class, and I've been cheering since sixth grade," he replied.

"Impressive. So you're a real athlete."

"Yep." He had a content, somewhat smug, look on his face as he turned and looked at Troy. The teacher had him go back with the rest of the class while she got ready for the class tomorrow. There were only a few minutes left to class now.

Evan stood next to Troy, bouncing back and forth with the smirk still on his face. "Okay, I get it. You can stop gloating now."

"Only if you say it."

"Oh you're just loving this, aren't you?" Evan's smile simply got bigger in response. "Fine. Cheerleading is a real sport."

"And…?"

"And you were right."

"And…?"

"And I was wrong."

"And…?"

"And you're an asshole."

"But I'm a cute asshole, right?"

"I guess so. Wait. I didn't mean to…"

"It's fine Troy. Don't worry your pretty little head about it," Evan said.

"You think my head is pretty?" Troy asked.

"Sure." The bell rang. "Well I'm gonna head off now. See you later, Hun." He gave Troy a quick kiss on the cheek and ran off.

Troy touched the spot that Evan had kissed. "What was that about? Is he…?" He stopped thinking about it and rushed off to the locker room, hoping to catch Evan before he left. When he got to his locker, Evan was already gone. "I guess I'll have to talk to him about it tomorrow." He changed back into his school clothes and left the locker room to go to his last class, stagecraft.

Troy had been in basic stagecraft last semester and Mrs. Davis, the teacher for that class, had asked him to join the advanced class this semester. Ordinarily, he would have to take the design class before joining the advanced class. However, Davis said he was one of her best students and they were getting a bit short-handed lately. Several people had been dropping the class. Also, kids were starting to learn not to mess around in Darbus' class, so there were less detention helpers. That was why Davie was so desperate for help.

Troy was standing in front of the auditorium door. He opened the door and went inside. Davis saw him walk in and instantly got excited. "Troy! You're here!"

He ran down to her. "Yep!"

"Troy?" someone said behind him.

He turned around to see Evan, along with Ryan, Devin, Aaron, and Alexandra. "Hey. I didn't know you would be in this class," Troy said.

"Yeah. Devin, Alex, Aaron, and I all worked on the tech stuff at our school last semester," Evan explained.

"Cool."

"So you all know each other?" Davis asked. They nodded. "Great! Okay, let's get to work. We've got a lot to do."

"Is that one lump or two?" Ryan muttered in a very good impression of Angela Lansbury. Devin laughed, but then stopped when Davis started grouping them.

"Okay, Ryan and Devin, you're going to work on costumes. Alexandra…"

"I prefer Alex, actually."

"Okay. Alex, you and Aaron can join Henry and Trevin on platforms. And Troy and Evan, You'll be working with Julie and Michael on the thrones. Now everybody, get to work."

They all went off to do their jobs. Julie and Michael left to get wood and had Troy and Evan measure the already existing throne. Troy decided to take advantage of this time and talk to Evan.

"So what was that in the gym earlier?" he asked.

"What was what?"

"You kissed me."

"Oh, right. I'm sorry about that. I forget sometimes that kissing isn't always okay here. In our culture, you kiss your friends on the cheek to say goodbye. Well, the powerful and the fused do, anyway. The strong only do when addressed by a powerful or a fused."

"A what?"

"Sorry. Those are some terms that we use in my home town," Evan explained.

"Right. You know, I almost completely forgot where you came here from. Everyone was expecting you and the others to act weird and not fit in at all, but you're pretty similar to the other kids here."

"Yeah. Except for Aaron. Of course, Ay kind of stood out at home, too."

"I can see that. So you weren't… flirting with me?"

"There's no need for you to worry about being around me, Troy," Evan assured him.

"So you aren't gay?" Troy asked.

"Now I never said that."

"So you… ARE?"

"Julie is talking to Davie and getting some paint. She said she'll be back in about ten minutes," Michael said as he came back into the shop.

"Thanks," Evan said. "Oh, and Troy, the answer is yes. I am."

"You are what?" Michael asked.

"Gay," he said as casually as if he were talking about the weather.

"Really? Me too," Michael said. "So do you have a boyfriend?"

"Nope. Do you?" Evan asked.

"No. Would you like to go out some time?" Michael asked.

Troy was starting to feel uncomfortable. He had a strange feeling in his stomach and his face was starting to get hot. But why? Because they were flirting? It didn't bother him when Michael flirted with Ryan. So what could it be?

"You want to go out with me? Like on a date?" Evan asked Michael.

"Yeah. You know that you're really hot, right?"

"Great. Michael the man-whore is at it again. I should probably try to warn Evan before things go too far," Troy thought to himself. Michael was notorious for trying to get any guy he could get his hands on. Of course, he never really wanted to date them. He just wanted one thing.

"We could hang out at my house after school today," Michael suggested.

"No! You keep your grubby little hands off of Evan! He's mine!" Troy screamed silently. "Wait, what? No, not mine, but he's a friend and I don't want Michael messing with him."

"You really think I'm hot?" Evan asked. Oh no, he was falling forit.

"Yeah. You're really good looking," Michael said as he reached out and started rubbing Evan's arm.

"No!"

"Aiiigh!"

"Eeeek!"

There were screams suddenly on both sides. Troy looked around. On his right, Julie was standing in the doorway of the shop with a can of paint. Most of the contents of the can were on her face, clothes, and in her hair.

Troy turned and looked to his left. Erika Fitzpatrick, one of the girls on props, was sitting on the floor holding a frozen paintbrush.

People started rushing into the shop. Everyone asked the same thing. "What happened?" Julie answered first.

"I was walking into the shop, then suddenly the top of the paint can flew off and the paint exploded all over me."

"Where's the lid now?" Mrs. Davis asked.

"There!" Erica Goldman, another one of the prop girls, yelled, pointing to the ceiling. The lid was stuck to the ceiling directly above Julie. She jumped aside just in time to avoid the lid as it fell down.

"What about you, Erika?" Davie asked as she turned to the other girl.

She still looked a bit dazed. "I was washing this paintbrush in the sink. Then the water shot out and got on the floor. After that, the water on the paintbrush froze solid and I slipped on this patch of ice and fell on my ass." Mrs. Davis shot her a look. "Sorry. I meant to say butt."

"It's okay. Now everybody, get back to work. And get things cleaned up in here." She left, along with most of the other kids. They left just Erika, Erica, and the throne crew to clean up mess. They finished just as the bell rang. Troy stood in the shop for a little bit.

"Did I do that?" He wondered. This wasn't the first time something freaky had happened when he was upset. About two months ago, some of the football jerks were harassing Ryan in the locker room. Troy got angry, but didn't do anything about it. The next thing he knew, all the lockers burst open and the room filled with so much steam that it was impossible to see. Then the steam simply vanished, revealing that Ryan had gone from being thirty feet away to right next to Troy, with no idea how he got there. Also, the football guys' clothes had somehow found their way off of the guy's bodies and into their lockers. It had kind of freaked all of them out.

And of course, he couldn't forget the incident last week. He had a vivid and terrible nightmare. He was sure he had woken up, but he was floating six feet above his bed and fell a few seconds after waking up. He tried telling himself that he hadn't really woken up before, but he was still not convinced of that.

Troy decided to stop worrying about the weirdness until he got home. He walked out of the shop and overheard Evan talking to Aaron.

"I'll be fine, Ay," Evan said.

"But what if it happens again?" Aaron asked. "That was the second time today."

"I already told you, that wasn't me!"

"What about lunch?"

"I let my anger get the best of me, but it won't happen again."

"But what if it-"

"Hi Troy!" Evan pretended to just notice him. "So are you headed out now?"

"Yeah, I'm going to my locker right now."

"Can I walk with you?" Evan asked.

"Sure, I guess." They walked toward their lockers together. When they got to Troy's locker, he asked, "So where's your locker, Ev?"

"It's Evan, and my lockers right here," he said, pointing at the one to the right of Troy's.

"Really? Wow. We just have everything together, don't we?"

"I guess so. Well. I have to go. My ride's waiting for me."

"Yeah, me too," Troy said.

"You don't drive?"

"I do, but my mom took the day off and insisted on bringing me to school and picking me up today," Troy explained.

"Oh. Okay, well let's go." They both went outside.

"There she is!" they both said when they saw their rides, and ran over to them.

"Who's picking you up again?" Evan asked.

"My mom," Troy said, pointing at the silver minivan they were standing in front of. "What about you?"

"My host mother," Evan said, pointing at the same van.

"I think you're confused," Troy said.

"No, I think you are confused," Evan said.

"Boys, you're both right," Lucille Bolton said as she got out of the car.

"What?!" They asked, shocked.

"I'm Troy's mother," she said to Evan, "and Evan and Devin are living with us," she explained to Troy.

The rear door of the van opened and Devin popped his head out. "Come on guys. Let's go!"

They all got in the van and Mrs. Bolton started driving home. On the way, Troy said, "So mom, you didn't tell me they were staying here."

"I thought it would be a nice little surprise for you. Especially after I met them this morning. I just knew you'd be great friends."

"But where in the house are they staying?"

"In Billy's room. We already got another bed in there."

"But isn't Will coming to visit for a week starting this Friday?"

"Yes. We'll figure out a sleeping arrangement when we need to. Don't worry dear."

"Okay." They pulled into the driveway. Troy's mother got out of the car and immediately went in the house, saying that she was starting dinner.

"So who's Billy?" Evan asked.

"Will is my brother. He's two years older than me, and he absolutely hates being called Billy. I think that's the only reason my parents still call him that." Troy explained.

"Why would they want to make him mad?" Devin asked.

"They're still kind of mad at him."

"About what?" Evan asked.

"Justin."

"And Justin is…?"

"His boyfriend."

Devin got visibly pale. "Do they have issues with him being gay?" he asked, glancing at his brother.

"No," Troy said. "Well, my dad isn't in love with the idea, but he is okay with it."

"Then why are they mad?" Evan asked.

"Because he never actually told them. They found out last year when they walked in on him and Justin… uh, yeah. Why don't we head inside the house now?"

Evan laughed and they went inside. Devin looked confused. "Wait. I don't get it. What happened?"

"Why don't I show you your room," Troy said, avoiding the question.

"Sounds good," Evan said.

"We'll explain it when we get in there, Dev." Weird. Troy could have sworn he just heard Evan's voice, but he hadn't moved his lips at all. He shook it off and led them to their room, which was right next to his. After they were all in the room, Devin closed the door.

"Okay. So what happened?" he asked.

Troy got visibly uncomfortable. "Well, my parents found out about Will when they came home early one night from a party and caught him and Justin… well, you know."

"No, I don't know! Can you please just tell me already!?"

"They were going at it," Troy said, clearly embarrassed.

"Going at what!?"

"Oh my goodness Dev! You know, you can be really dense sometimes," Evan said.

"Well I don't get it!"

"Here's a hint, bud: Boing boing," Evan said, bouncing one hand vertically on the other.

"Ooooooooh!" Devin exclaimed. "Now I get it."

"How did that explain it" Troy asked.

"When you watch as much Buffy and Angel as we do, it makes sense," Evan told him.

"Okay. Well I'm going to put my stuff in my room," Troy said. He went to his room and opened the door, releasing a brown and white blur. He set his stuff down and heard a scream come from the room next door.

"Augh! Get it away from me!"

Troy ran into the room to find Evan on the floor laughing, Devin standing on a bed looking terrified, and a hyper beagle at the bottom of the bed, wanting to jump on him.

"Max. Come here, boy." Troy said. The dog ran over to Troy and he started petting it. "So I'm guessing you don't like dogs?" he asked Devin.

Devin had calmed down and gotten off of the bed. "It's not that I don't like them It's just…"

"It's just that he's a weenie and can't handle them jumping on him," Evan said.

"I'm not a weenie! I just don't handle the high energy animals very well." Devin defended himself.

"That's fine," Troy said. "I have trouble with it too. But you don't have to worry about Max. He doesn't bite. He's a little sweetheart. Aren't you Max?" he rubbed Max's belly.

Devin tentatively walked over and pet him. After a while, he seemed to get much calmer. "So how was your day, Devin?" Troy asked.

"Pretty good. I would think you'd already know that since we have almost every class together."

"Yeah, but what about acting?"

"I loved it! Darbus is a little crazy, but we played some games today and got to talk to Ryan some more. He's really cool, and really funny too!" He said all of this in the span of about six seconds. Troy laughed. "What?" Devin asked.

"You have a little crush, don't you?" Troy said.

"On who? Ryan?" Troy nodded. "NO" Devin screamed. "Why would you even ask that!? I'm not fused, so how could I possibly have a crush on a strong!?"

"Devin!" Evan yelled at him. "Calm down! He doesn't know whether you're fused or strong… Or powerful," he said with a smirk.

"Well I'm clearly not powerful," Devin said, shooting his brother a dirty look.

"Well Troy doesn't know that for sure. I mean, you've never dropped your pants in front of him before."

This was getting to weird for Troy. "Enough!" he said. "Now can you guys please explain what the heck you're talking about?"

"Sure," Evan said. "What do you want to know?"

"Well to start, what do all those terms you use mean?"

"Like fused, strong, and powerful?" Troy nodded.

"Strong means male, powerfuls are the females, and the fused are the homosexuals," Devin shot out.

"Okay, but why those terms?" Troy asked.

"Um, I think that's more of a topic for another day," Devin said.

"Okay." Troy let it go, but he was still wondering about the strange Power Keepers.

Author's Note: So there you go. This is my new story. Let me know what you think of it. I really do want to know. Just so you know, I am almost done writing the next chapter of my first story, so I'll have it up in the next few weeks.