lostmoonchild: Okay, here I am sitting at the library in Kennebec when I got to thinking. I don't know where the thoughts originally came from but here they are for you guys to read. Everything's from Odd's POV so you guys can deal with it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko.

I See You

A popular guy, that's you. I'm the comedian. You're good at soccer and you're handsome. You're even nice to others. Me? I'm just artistic and have no sense of danger.

That's what they see when they see us.

Do you know what I see when I look at you? I see someone who doesn't feel good enough to be worth anything. You play soccer not because you love it. I see past that lie well enough. You only play soccer to please your father.

How well's that working? I didn't think it would be going to great.

They don't see how often you want to cry or hear when you're pretending to laugh. They don't see how unhappy you are some days when Yumi doesn't notice that you love her. She doesn't even know your feelings like I do.

How did she manage to get your attention? It's not that I'm jealous but because I'm curious. I know that she's our friend but I want to know how exactly she caught your eye. Was it love at first sight or was it something else?

Do you want to know how I fell for you? The truth is, I have no idea. I just woke up one morning and my heart began to race in my chest. Your smile, your real one that is, was enough to set everything in motion.

You're my best friend and I don't want to do anything that would make you unhappy or even uncomfortable. I don't want to ruin our friendship.

That would surely kill me.

"What do you think it'd be like to like another guy?"

I stop drawing and look at you, seeing the look of absolute concentration in your eyes. This question's been bothering you for a while now. "Dunno. Can't be any different than liking a girl except you can't knock up a guy so that could be a good thing depending on how you look at it." I answer with a shrug. "Why?"

"Just thinking; one of the soccer players got outted."

I inwardly flinch at the news. So that's why people have been whispering all day and staring at one of the students as if he were a freak. He had slipped up in this environment and now he was being regarded as a diseased animal.

I don't care what people say about this being the twenty-first century. There are still people that have fits because two guys or two chicks like each other. Even if you like both guys and girls then you're shunned. "Who found out first?" I ask. I need to know so I don't get caught by that person.

"Don't know. My guess is Sissy."

Ugh, why in the hell would she want to do something this cruel to somebody? Did being gay honestly bother her that much? Maybe she shouldn't knock it before she tries it. The world would be so much better if people at least tried it once.

"Bitch."

You smile faintly at my response. That's the only one that truly describes who she is whenever she decides to be a pain in our asses. In that one word, I can sum up everything that she's ever done to hurt us.

"Seriously though, Odd. Do you think that it's a bad thing for a guy to like a guy?"

If you knew how I felt about you, would you want to ask me that question again? "Nah, love's love." I answer with a small shrug before going back to my art.

Even though I'm busy, you know that the conversation can keep going if you want to keep talking about it. Apparently though, my answer was enough to keep you satisfied for the time being.

Somebody wrote that God is love. If that's the case then why am I now being shunned? Why do the girls that I dated now look at me with absolute disgust?

I hold tightly to my pillow as Kiwi whines at my side, trying to soothe my tears. My friends' expressions were that of shock and complete surprise. None of them wanted to believe anything but there must have been something that made them realize that it was the truth.

Our friends won't abandon me; they've already made that clear. How many faces has Yumi gotten into in the past hour and a half? Five? Six? I don't know.

Jeremy and Aelita may be nerds but nobody's dumb enough to piss off the nerds. Strange things have happened to the computers of a few kids that decided to get after me. After the second computer "mysteriously" died, everybody with laptops got the message.

Don't pick on me.

It's your reaction that I'm the most afraid of. How do I tell you that I haven't done anything to you? Do I call up my parents and ask for a transfer?

No, being away from you would kill me.

As my crying settles down to mere sniffles, you enter the room with an unreadable expression on your face. I watch out of the corner of my eye as you lock the door behind you before you sit down on your bed. "Odd, we need to talk." I don't want to have this talk. I don't want you to say that we're not friends. That we can't be roommates anymore.

"Ulrich, I can explain."

"Tell me then why you never told me."

I flinch at the harshness of your words and close my eyes in shame. "I was afraid of your response." I tell you.

Can you hear the shame in my voice? I wanted to trust you with my most guarded secret but self-preservation won. Now it's left me standing in the middle of a war zone.

For the longest time you just sit there, staring at me with that damn unreadable expression. What do you want from me, Ulrich? Do you want me to apologize for being afraid? I can't do that! I can't apologize for being afraid of losing my best friend. Do you want me to say that I'll be leaving as soon as possible? Is that what you want from me?

Finally you move from your bed and come over to sit on mine. What are you doing, Ulrich? What's with that look in your eyes?

Shock spreads throughout my body as your fingers tangle themselves in my hair. You're being gentle, but why? Why would you be gentle to the guy that's been lying to you from day one?

You tug lightly and I sit up to look at you. The unreadable look in your eyes has gotten more intense. What are you planning?

My entire body jumps when your lips press against mine and suddenly your question that day makes perfect sense. I may have been able to see you, but I didn't see the one secret that you wanted me to see but were afraid of me seeing. "I see you." I whisper when we pull apart.

You smile a little bit and nod slightly in understanding. There's a new look in your eyes, one that tells me that you're done pretending to be something you're not. "And I see you," you respond.

As you and I hold each other in the silence of our room, I know that we'll be okay. No matter what happens, what rumors are bound to spread throughout the school, the world can't shun all of us. School's only a small issue. It's the real world that had better be ready to deal with us because we're not going anywhere.

lostmoonchild: Like I said, I've got no idea where this story came from. All I know is that I've got a few minutes before I got to meet up with my ride home so I'll see you guys later on! Read and review!