A/N Sort of rushed the ending but I know I've not got time right now to write anything better. Maybe in the future, it'll get a re-write.

It became abundantly obvious to Jay that the old adage "All good things must come to an end" was entirely true. Yesterday had been a good thing. It gave him hope. Hope that things could be different, hope that Donovan did actually care, hope that he could be in a proper relationship. But Mark's demeanour had changed over night. Again.

He was out of the hospital now having been given the all clear from his doctor. Not that anything was majorly wrong with him in the first place; just a bad combination of drugs and alcohol. Despite this, as Jay had discovered, the hospital had still put him on some strong pain killers. Maybe because the NHS was fucked up and full of incompetent nurses. Or maybe because someone or something was out to get Jay and thought it would be funny to instil him with that little bit of hope that Donovan had actually changed, that he'd be out of this relationship after all. But no-one would be that mean. There was nothing to blame but Jay's own unfortunate luck.

So Jay was taking the all too familiar walk to Donovan's flat with Donovan in tow, the two barely speaking a word to one another. Just like it should be. Not that it should be. Jay wanted something more, something permanent and he was confident that Donovan did too, he just didn't want to admit it. The hospital had definitely shown a different side to Mark. A side Jay would like to find again, preferably without the use of drugs. And besides which, if he didn't find it, he'd be stuck in this relationship permanently. At this rate he probably had more chance of getting with Simon than he did changing this relationship. But now he was stuck in this pseudo-relationship because of his own damn stupidity. He'd had the chance to get out of it but he'd kept himself in it.

Donovan unlocked his flat door with the key that had played a crucial part a couple of nights ago. Although, Mark wouldn't know that since his memory of those events were blurred at best. He knew drugs and alcohol were a bad combination. But love and jealously lead to an awful form of desperation. And he felt guilty; he was paying his dues. He was pretty sure that was what he'd tried to do in the hospital. Then again, he couldn't really remember what had happened then either. The door was pushed open and Mark gestured for the other boy to walk in. It was quite unusual for Jay to be able to walk in of his own accord, normally he was lightly pushed but he didn't question it. The door was shut behind them and Jay felt an all-too familiar feeling of being trapped here. But it was only for a split second. Before Jay could realise exactly what was happening he was up against the closed door, being passionately kissed by Donovan. Okay, so maybe this was quite atypical. Normally, it was just straight on with it, never any foreplay, if kissing counted as foreplay. Other than before Donovan was prepared to rape Jay the other day, which left a distinct feeling of dread in Jay' stomach.

Neither last very long, the feeling of dread and the kiss. Both came to an abrupt stop with two words,

"I'm sorry." Mark swallowed, quite seriously. This time Jay was entirely sure that Donovan was perspicuously aware of what he was saying unlike at the hospital where he'd been drugged up with medication,

"You already told me that." Jay remarked with an awkward smile and a feeling of relief that, despite what he originally had thought, Donovan hadn't changed entirely since yesterday. After that there was an air of silence for a while. It wasn't exactly awkward per se, it was just that neither knew exactly what more to say or to do,

"How's Cooper?" He questioned to Jay who was a little surprised at the question. Well, he was a combination of perplexed and nervous since Donovan obviously didn't care for Simon in the slightest so Jay couldn't help but be a little anxious that the question was some sort of trick. He apprehensively stated,

"Didn't really talk much but he was back at school." In all honesty, Donovan felt a wave of relief wash over him which muted some of the guilt he'd felt. Obviously, he hadn't done too much damage to Simon. The silence returned again and Jay began to wonder why he was here at all; it didn't seem like Mark had planned any of their normal activities. In fact, it didn't seem like Donovan had planned anything at all. But everything happened for a reason or so they said. Even so, Jay couldn't help but feel a little bit frustrated. Donovan should get on with whatever he was meant to be getting on with.

Mark had planned to make things right somehow but when it came to appeasing was more difficult than it seemed. So the silence was prolonged. There was too much to be said; in depth discussions about feelings and apologies and God knows what else. It just wasn't happening. Mark moved to sit on the sofa and Jay took the initiative and followed. Normally, he'd wait for some kind of instruction but Donovan seemed to be quite placid today so what was the danger?

That one movement somehow said it all. Actions spoke louder than words and all that shit. It showed Jay wasn't waiting for Mark's instructions any more. If they wanted an actual relationship which both boy's did regardless of their lack of admittance, then they had to be equal. And that's what Jay had just effectively made them. In one small gesture. And it didn't stop there; he wasn't trying to push his luck but sometimes limits needed to be tested and now was as greater time as any. Jay reached for Donovan's hand and subsequently held it and neither pulled away. In fact, it was quite nice. It further proved that actions spoke louder than words. They'd never done anything like this before. Just hold hands with nothing further in mind. It was surreal but ultimately lovely. Maybe because it was innocent or maybe because it infused what both boys wanted, that relationship.

And for once, Simon wasn't on Jay's mind. Neither was much else actually. Just this sort of tranquillity they'd achieved. If they were going to make a go of this, obviously there were longer term things to think about. Like how he was meant to tell his friends after everything and then there was his family and every other person at school to worry about. But it didn't matter. Not right now.

Jay couldn't quite believe his own fortunate luck that this was actually happening; he'd never been in a real relationship really and this seemed like it was just the start of one.

A/N And that's it. The End. Finito. A huge thanks to all my lovely reviewers, I've never wrote a story that people actually seemed to like so it's really appreciated. Hopefully, I'll be writing more Inbetweners fics in the future, although I can neither confirm nor deny whether it'll be more M/M. Maybe a sequel's on the cards.

Thank you for everything,

FemaleInbetweener x