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Three Roads: Chapter 46, Game Face

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Writer's Note: For the people with good memories, anyone remember Kyle? He was a teammate of Toby's during the 1^st season of the story and hasn't appeared at all in the story since then. I decided to bring him back. For those of you who don't remember him, he was never a big character, just kind of someone who was there for an occasional laugh. Hope you enjoy!

As indiscernible buildings flew by his vision, Tim stared out of the window with a slight smile on his face. It was an uncommonly warm day for early January in Sunnydale, but Tim was loving it and, much to his surprise, he was actually beginning to enjoy the changes he had been through lately in his life. He loved the fact that he got to work in one of his favorite places, even if Jon worked there; but that in and of itself had surprised him. The two "sworn enemies" had actually co-existed quite nicely, they both might even call the other a friend, if the other boy wasn't present that is. Not being in school had seemed like the end of his life when he was officially kicked out a few months ago, but now thoughts of going back where far from his mind. He had a great job, great friends, and even a great family. He turned from the window and his smile grew wider when he realized that his little sister, Tathiana, was singing with the radio.

"How come every time you come around my London London bridge wanna go down..."

Tim, amused, looked back at her and chuckled quietly. He looked at his mom, who was driving and saw her roll her eyes.

"What?" Tim asked.

"It's so sad the crap that kids listen to these days. I can't believe they took a children's song and it made it disgusting."

"This song is disgusting?" Tim said unconvinced.

His mom repeated the song lyrics, "You don't find that sexual and inappropriate for little kids?"

"You're right," Tim agreed, "I never thought about it that way."

"This song is nasty?" Tathiana asked from the back seat, "I don't get it."

"Well, honey," her mother started, "sometimes when you like someone you get a little..." She thought for a moment trying to pick a word that her young daughter would understand.

"Flustered." Tim smiled.

Tina laughed, "Yes, flustered."

"Ewww, I don't want to talk about this anymore." Tathiana yelled.

"You asked." Tim smiled.

"Shut up!" she screamed as she put her hands over her ears. Tim and his mother glanced at each other and both laughed. Tim felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket and he hastily reached into his pocket and saw that Brian was calling him.

"Hey Brian, what's up?"

"Hey, Joey and I are at the mall just hanging out, we might see a movie. You want to come by?"

"Ummm...I'm out with my family, we just came from lunch, so I'll be probably half an hour to get home and get my car."

"I can drop you off if someone can give you a ride home." Tina said to her son.

"Good," Brian said overhearing what was said, "Joey can take you home. We're at the food court entrance."

"Ok, see you in like ten minutes." He disconnected the call and stuffed the phone back into his pocket, "Are you sure it's ok with you? It's kind of out of the way."

"Not really, but it doesn't matter, we're already out."

"Thanks." Tim said sincerely as he turned his gaze back to the window. Things were definitely looking great right now.

**********

"Woo hoo!" Richard yelled from the passenger seat of Toby's car, "We are finally in Sunnydale county! I thought we'd never get here with the way you drive."

"Fuck you," Toby laughed, "We made it here in record time."

"I know. I kid I kid. No, but it'll be nice to be back in the halls with people my own age and not having to hear my mom and dad talk about each other when I go see them."

"That must suck."

Richard nodded, "It does. The sad thing is I'm starting to get used to it."

"I don't know what I'd do if my parents ever split up. I can't imagine it ever happening."

"Neither could I, but it happened. I just wonder if all those years in high school when I thought they were this great couple if they were just pretending for my sake."

Toby thought it over, "Could be."

"You ever think about all the things you probably didn't notice because you were a child?"

"All the time! Some of the things my mom tells me now I'm like no way."

"Like what?" Richard asked curiously.

"When I was home for six months, she told me a lot of stories. When I was like five or six I remember my mom coming home one time after her and my dad went to Vegas and she had a black eye. At the time, she told me that my dad had accidentally hit her with their hotel room door. But she told me that they were out super late one of the nights and had decided to walk back to their hotel that was just off the strip and that my dad got jumped by these guys. So she said she jumped in and one of the guys punched her in the face."

"Are you shittin me?"

"No, I was like wow, she lied to me just cause I was kid. It's weird to think of my mom fighting with a bunch of dudes."

"It's not to me. Your mom can handle herself I'm sure. I wonder what the other guys looked like when it was over."

"You're so dumb."

Richard let out another loud yell of relief as they exited the freeway, and Toby gave him an exasperated look, "Someone's excited about the new semester."

"Hell yeah. I can't wait to start campaigning for the elections."

"Found a running mate yet?"

"Nope, you want to run with me?"

"Not a chance in hell," Toby smiled, "I'm surprised you didn't ask Brian to run with you."

"Why?"

"You guys seem attached at the hip."

"We're not attached at the hip. It sounds like you've been listening to Joey."

"There must be something to it if he keeps saying it."

"If you want to know if something is going on between Brian and I, you should just ask." Richard smirked.

"Is there?"

"No. We flirt and stuff, but nothing has happened."

"Do you want it to?" Toby asked looking straight ahead.

"Uhhh...why do I feel like this is a loaded question?"

"It isn't. I'm asking as an interested friend."

"And not as a jealous ex boyfriend?"

"Get over yourself," Toby said rolling his eyes, "If you don't want to tell me that's fine; I see where we stand."

"Ok, calm down. I wouldn't be against something happening. Actually, I'd really just like to fuck him. All the flirting and everything gets me so hard."

"So it's just like an animalistic attraction?"

"I guess you could say that. He is a good guy though, but I don't think he's interested in anything more. I think he gets off on knowing he makes me horny and right now it's enough for him and for me."

"Interesting."

"And you? Who are you after?"

"No one."

"Still doing the no men for a year thing?"

"Yep. Not that it's been that difficult. No one's really looking this way."

"There's always someone looking." Richard smiled.

**********

Cooper's heart almost leapt out of his chest when he heard the lock in the door turn. He didn't know if he should run to the door or stand up. But he reminded himself of the same thing he had reminded himself of the entire winter break, "You just got what you want, don't scare him off."

He only called Eric once during the entire break. Every other time they had spoken on the phone, Eric had been the one to call. As the door opened, Cooper used all the restraint in his body to remain seated on the couch and not get up. As Eric shut the door, he hadn't noticed that Cooper was sitting in the living room until Cooper cleared his throat. A smile immediately appeared on his face and he sat down his duffle bag, "Hey."

"Hey."

Cooper couldn't take it anymore so he stood up and Eric, relieved to see that Cooper looked happy to see him, began to walk towards him. Cooper stuck his hand out to give Eric a handshake as Eric moved his head towards Cooper to give him a kiss. Half way into performing their actions, they both realized what the other was trying to do. Eric, a little disappointed that Cooper didn't want a kiss went for a handshake, and Cooper who was excited that Eric wanted a kiss, lowered his head towards the shorter boy. They both laughed at their inability to connect and finally settled on a hug.

"That was awkward." Eric laughed.

"It was."

"Where's Toby?"

"He's asleep in his room. He got here like an hour ago and was pretty wiped. I guess he drove most of the way from L.A."

"I see, what are you doing right now?"

"Uh...nothing, why?"

"Have you eaten? I kinda feel like going out."

"We can do that, let me go see if Toby wants to go." Cooper had already turned towards the hallway when he felt Eric grab his hand.

"Actually, I prefer if it was just me and you."

"Oh," Cooper laughed nervously, "That's fine."

"Let me go put my stuff away and then we can go."

Twenty minutes later, the two boys were being seated at a Denny's in downtown Sunnydale. After the waiter, that both Eric and Cooper thought was cute, took their drink orders, there was a heavy silence at the table. Cooper didn't want to say anything to make Eric uncomfortable or to upset him so he opted to say nothing, which had started to bug Eric. Tired of supplying all of the conversation, Eric decided to ask what was going on, "Why are you acting weird?"

"Am I?" Cooper asked looking up from the menu.

"Yes. You are being quiet. Cooper Hwang is never quiet."

"I'm nervous as hell right now."

"Don't be," Eric said, "If I don't like or want something, I'll tell you. I can't believe I'm saying this, but be Cooper. The random off the wall shit that comes out of your mouth is one of the things I like."

Cooper smiled, "I hope the security cameras caught that because I know you'll never admit to saying that."

"Exactly."

They both shared another laugh and Cooper began to relax, " I assume we came here to talk."

"Just a bit. Why did you have something on your mind?"

"Honesty is super important to me. So if we're going to do this, you know be together, I want to make sure that the lines of communication are wide open. We should be able to tell each other anything."

"I agree," Eric said, "You know over the break I was thinking that I should really give this all I have."

"What do you mean?"

Eric shrugged, "I mean like if we're going to date and be a couple, I might as well give a hundred percent effort. Hence, me trying to kiss you. What was with the handshake?" Eric teased.

Cooper blushed, "I know. I wanted to kiss you, but I'm trying to give you your space."

"I know I said that I needed you to be patient..." Eric stopped talking for a moment as the waiter came back to deliver their drinks and to take their orders. He collected the menus as quickly as he could, catching onto the fact that he had interrupted a serious conversation.

"Ummm...but yeah, I do need some time to be totally comfortable with all this. We both do I think, it's possible this won't work. Especially with us living together. I mean it's insane."

Cooper nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Sorry, I am all over the place," Eric started, "There's just a lot in my head about this."

"I get it. There's a lot swimming around up here too, but I'm definitely in for the ride, however long it lasts."

"Me too." Eric smiled.

"Well, maybe you want to wait until after I tell you something."

Eric could tell that Cooper was being serious which made him all the more nervous, "Ok."

"Like a year ago, I had sex with Joey."

Eric laughed, "I'm glad you finally told me punk."

Cooper was relieved, "You knew?"

"Not 100% sure, but I was pretty sure something had happened. At first, I was a little hurt you never told me, but then I was like well who am I."

"So it doesn't bother you?"

"Is there anything still between you two?"

"That bitch wishes. But seriously, there never was. It was just two friends helping each other out.

"How come you never told me?" Eric asked.

"There never really was a perfect time. Plus, I'll admit it, I was worried that if I told you would judge me and not want to go out with me."

Eric nodded, "I'm surprised Joey didn't let it slip."

"Me too. Who knew he could keep his mouth shut when it wasn't stuffed with cock."

Eric winced at the comment, but Cooper was right there to call him on it, "Hey, you said you wanted the old Cooper back."

********

" I can't believe we're back here already." Toby said a little bitterly as he slammed the door to his car the next morning.

"I actually sort of missed school," Eric said, "I like having a bit of a routine."

"I like being here cause I can check out all the hot sexy guys...or not." Cooper said looking to see Eric's reaction.

Eric and Toby just laughed, "You can look," Eric started, "I plan on it."

"Yeah, please don't change just because you two are shackin up. I need someone to laugh at." Toby joked.

"And a big fuck you to you." Cooper said as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and grabbed Eric's out the backseat. Eric was surprised when Cooper didn't hand it to him, but instead followed Toby as the three of them began to walk through the parking lot.

"You gonna hand me my bag?" Eric asked.

"No, I got it."

"Uhh...it's ok, I can handle it." Eric said with his arm outstretched.

"I want to."

"Cooper, I'm not going to let you carry my bag."

"Ok fine."

Eric was surprised by the rough way Cooper had passed him the backpack, "Are you mad now?"

"No." Cooper pouted.

"Wow, ok."

"I'm just kidding," Cooper laughed as he punched Eric in the shoulder in what he thought was a playful manner, "If you want to be all Mr. independent homo that's on you."

"Here's my stop." Toby nodded in the direction of the tennis courts, "I'll see you guys later."

"That was abrupt." Eric said when he was sure Toby was out of ear shot.

"He's going to practice, what else should he have said?" Cooper asked.

"He was really quiet in the car and just now, you think he feels left out?"

"Already? We haven't even had a chance to exclude him yet, give it time though. It'll inevitably happen."

"I don't want to exclude him." Eric said sincerely.

"I don't either and I think that we should try our best to make sure we don't do so, but obviously there'll be some differences, we don't want him watching us have sex...or do we?"

"No we don't." Eric said very quickly.

"I wasn't like trying to drop a hint about having sex soon or anything like that."

"I know, you don't have to keep doing that, I'm not going to run away screaming...at least not yet."

"Don't worry, it's just an act. I'll be back to my old self in no time, you just wait."

"Oh, I'm sure."

*********

Toby walked into his Sports Psychology class after tennis practice and was glad that he had gotten there early enough to grab a seat in the back. Whenever he could, Toby always claimed his seat in the back of the classroom. For one, he felt the chances of being called on to answer a question were a lot less if he sat in the back, plus there was less pressure to pay attention if the professor's lecture was boring. He sat down and watched as the students slowly filtered in. He saw his teammate, Kyle, walk into the room and nodded. He didn't expect Kyle to come sit by him, despite the fact that they were teammates as Kyle had always been slightly homophobic.

"Yes," Kyle said as he slid into a seat next to Toby, "someone to copy off of."

"Don't sit too close or people will think you're gay too."

"You think so?" Kyle said nervously as he looked around.

"I'm fucking with you."

"Haha. Right." Kyle said as he scooted the desk away from Toby.

Toby rolled his eyes and began doodling on a notebook waiting for class to start, "I saw you and Brian practicing today."

"Huh?" Toby said.

"You and Brian, I was watching you guys practice. He looked good, can't say the same for you."

"I didn't hit very much during the break, so I'm a little rusty." Toby tried to keep his voice as even as possible.

"Well you looked like it."

"Why don't you concentrate on your doubles game and leave the singles to me?"

"Damn, did I hit a nerve?"

"No, but my fist is about to hit your face." Toby said as he returned to doodling on his notebook. The professor walked in a few minutes later and greeted the class. She began passing out the syllabi and going over the basic requirements of her class. Toby rolled his eyes as he saw a girl walk in a few minutes late. "How could a person be late to the first day of class?" he thought. It was incredibly disrespectful in his opinion. The teacher scanned the row of seats and pointed the girl to one near the middle of the room. As the girl fully turned to walk back to her seat, Toby made an audible gasp as the air caught in his throat.

"Are you ok?" Kyle asked as he looked at the expression on Toby's face. Toby didn't say anything, he just nodded. The girl found her seat and began to pay attention to the teacher's instructions. Toby, on the other hand, hadn't heard anything the professor had said in the last few minutes. He kept staring at the girl, his mind going a mile a minute. It was the girl that had been raped in the dorms last year by the guy Toby had let in.

"Why are you wiggin out man?" Kyle whispered. He had been watching the range of emotions playing over Toby's face for the last couple of minutes and was curious about what was going on, "do you think that girl is hot and it's creepin you out? It's ok dude, you might just make it after all."

"Don't you ever shut the fuck up?" Toby said louder than he meant to. A few people looked over their shoulders, but the professor didn't seem to be distracted. Toby knew this was his time to exit, he couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed his backpack and roughly threw it over his shoulder and hastily made an exit out of the classroom.

"I didn't know what else to do." Toby explained to his friends later, "Now, I probably have to drop that class."

"Why?" Cooper asked immediately, "It's unfortunate what happened, but it's not your fault. If you could have avoided what happened, you would've."

"It is my fault, if I had just followed the rules..."

"I thought no one knew." Eric interrupted, "No one in the housing department who didn`t need to know knew who you were. She may not even know it was you."

"People talk," Toby said sounding even more unconvinced, "Some of the other resident advisors could have mentioned it to other students."

"So what are you going to do?" Eric asked.

"I really want to drop the class, but I need it. Maybe I should talk to her."

"That's the absofuckinglutely worst idea I've ever heard in my life," Cooper practically yelled, "How do you think that conversation will go...so you may not know me, but I'm the guy who let the guy in who raped you. Yes, raped you. Remember that painful time in your life?"

"Ok, I get it, you don't have to be an asshole about it." Toby glared.

"You're gonna let him talk to me like that?!" Cooper said looking at Eric.

"Uh what?"

"How about defending me since we're kind of attached now!"

"Are you high?"

"No, but I wish I was."

"Have you really been high before?" Eric asked curiously.

"No, but I wish I had."

Toby let out a loud sigh of annoyance and both Eric and Cooper, feeling a little bit guilty, returned their attention to their friend, "Sorry." they both sheepishly muttered.

**********

"Bliss!" Richard exclaimed as he entered the Pride Center, "what are you doing here?"

"You know how the classes let out early on the first day so I thought I'd come by and see you and say hello." she said giving him a hug.

"Hopefully the boys were a good host to you." Richard said looking between Brian and Joey.

Joey shrugged, "Eh. I tried, but I'm always at your service." He said seductively licking his lips.

"Do you want to read the sexual harassment brochure again?"

Joey crossed his arms and muttered, "Fuckin laws."

"Where did you go?" Brian asked Richard.

"To the bathroom...I could have used your help."

"Sorry, I don't get on my knees in these pants, they're too expensive."

"You could have sat on the toilet seat."

"Do you want to read the sexual harassment brochure again?" Joey said in a very high pitched mocking voice.

"It's not sexual harassment if it's mutual." Brian smiled.

Joey stuck up his middle finger, "I would seriously give both of you the fucks of your lives if you were ever so lucky to have any of this."

"How funny," Bliss giggled, "I tell people that all the time."

"Skank." Richard teased.

"Speaking of which," Bliss started, "Have you found a running mate for the elections yet?"

"That segue way makes no sense, but no I haven't. Do you know someone who is interested?"

"Yes, me."

Richard laughed nervously, "Are you serious?"

"Yes I am."

Joey and Brian both snorted and Bliss gave them a dirty look, "Do you even know anything about school politics?" Richard asked seriously.

"Not really, but I'm sure you could teach me."

"Bliss, I don't know if this is a good idea..."

"Hey," she interrupted, "You owe me." She split two of her fingers into a V and then flicked her tongue several times in between them.

"My God!" Joey yelled, almost falling out of his chair, "when will the lambs stop screaming?!"

"Oh, come on like you've never eaten pussy before." Brian laughed adding to his friend's torture.

"I don't even like saying the word. It makes me have nightmares, literally. It's like a black hole that will swallow me whole or something."

"Now that's disgusting." Brian shivered.

"Fine, Bliss, you're in..."

"Yes! This is going to be so much fun!"

"You need to be serious about this, this is incredibly important to me. Sure it'll be fun, but there's also a lot of work involved. I want to give this the best possible effort I have."

"I understand and even if I may not be the smartest person..."

"Isn't that the understatement of the century." Joey whispered to Brian.

"I can definitely help you get more than enough votes."

"And how's that?" Richard said, almost afraid to know the answer.

"There's nothing a little chest shake can't over come."

**********

"You tell him." Eric whispered the following morning as he stood in Cooper's room.

"No, you tell him."

"You've known him longer." Eric said, using any advantage he could think of.

"So what, you used to live with him."

"You live with him now."

"Uh, so do you smart guy." Cooper laughed.

"Damn it. We're doing this...whatever this is," Eric said as he motioned between him and Cooper, "and you're not willing to help me out?"

Cooper laughed, "Like you came to my aid yesterday? Oh, we forgot about that didn't we? Now what biotch?!"

"What are you guys talking about?" Toby asked as he entered the room.

Cooper let out a loud scream of surprise and Eric rolled his eyes, "Nothing just chatting."

"OK, I'll be ready to leave in like twenty minutes."

"Actually, I think I'm gonna drive today."

"Ok, good. I was going to have to stop for gas."

"No, I mean we should take separate cars today. Cooper and I were going to go out after."

"Oh...ok, that's cool."

"We would wait for you, but we wanted to catch a matinee and you'll still be in class."

"No need to explain," Toby smiled, "You kiddos have fun. See you later." He finished as he walked out of the room.

"I feel like such a jerk, you think he hates us now?"

"I know I'd hate you after that." Cooper said.

"Just for that I'm picking the movie."

**********

"Well look who it is, it's the straight guy!" Kyle teased as he did his morning stretches.

"Leave me alone."

"Damn, you really were thrown off by popping wood over that girl yesterday weren't you?"

"Could you shut the fuck up? I'm not in the mood if you can't tell."

"What's wrong?"

"None of your damn business."

"Hey guys." Brian smiled.

"Be careful," Kyle whispered, "P.M.S. is rearing it's ugly head."

"What's P.M.S?"

Toby gave Kyle a look that told him he was in danger of dying a very painful death, so he wisely moved away from the two boys and began hitting with some teammates on another court.

"You ok?" Brian asked.

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Alright, I was just trying to help."

"Well, I don't need your help, I'm just fine on my own thank you very much." Toby said.

"Ok then. I'm gonna go to the other side of the net now so we can practice."

Twenty minutes of frustrated anger later, Toby's racquet bounced off the cement surface and he knew before he bent over to pick it up, that he would need to fetch a new one from his bag. As Toby walked to his bag, he saw Coach Williams coming towards him and he rolled his eyes as he knew he was going to get lectured, "You break another one and that's five laps you'll have to run."

"I might as well start running then."

"What's wrong?"

"My mind is just...fucked up right now. Some stuff happened this morning and yesterday... and it's just on my mind."

"Why don't you just pack it up early today."

"I'm ok Coach but thanks."

"That's an order, Toby. You of all people know that when your mind is on something else, you can't play good tennis. So go fix your problem and I'll see you out here tomorrow."

Toby scoffed, "Are you serious?"

"As serious as a heart attack." Coach Williams said as he walked away. Toby stood there for a few moments in disbelief that he had been kicked off the courts. He had half the mind to tell Coach that he wasn't leaving, but he also didn't want to lose his spot on the team so he decided he'd take Coach's advice and hit the showers early.

**********

"Morning." Tim smiled to his mother as he grabbed a bowl from the dish rack.

"Morning. You don't have work today?"

"Nope, it's my day off."

"Any plans today?"

"Not really. I might go to the mall."

"That sounds like fun."

"Yep."

Tina took a deep breath, "I want to talk to you about something. This isn't a judgement call or anything like that, but just something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Um, ok."

"Have you given any thought to going back to school?"

"Not really no. Why?"

"Your father and I were talking and we didn't know if you had made a permanent decision on whether to go back or not."

"It's not really up to me. The school has to let me back in."

The phone rang and Tim motioned to his mother that he would get it, "Hello? Hello?" No answer." He shrugged and sat back down.

"Your father thinks he can make a few phone calls to swing things in your favor. Plus, even if Sunnydale won't take you back, there's always other schools."

"I wouldn't want to go to another school and, right now anyway, I'm sort of enjoying things the way they are. It's kind of nice not dealing with school."

"You're not even going to attempt to apply to Sunnydale for next fall?"

"It's early January. I still have a month or two before applications are due...that is if I decide to apply."

"As long as you haven't permanently ruled out returning to school. It's hard to do anything these days without a Bachelors."

"I know Mom."

She smiled and ruffled her son's hair as she walked past him to put her coffee mug in the sink, "I'm just concerned, you know that."

"I do."

"Who are you going to the mall with?"

"If I go, I'll probably go with Brian."

"Not Toby?"

Tim registered a look of surprise on his face, but luckily his mother's back was still to him. He had always been very careful to make sure that the times Toby had come over, it was never near a time when his mom would be home. She had never said it outright, but Tim knew his mother well enough to know that if she ever found Toby here, it would not be a pretty sight.

"Nope."

"Do you still see him?"

"You mean like are we a couple?"

"No," his mother said turning around, "I would certainly hope not. I mean are you guys still friends?"

"Yes. We talk mostly online."

"I see."

"Why are you asking?" Tim asked, trying to make sure his cover hadn't been blown.

"I hadn't heard you mention him in a while, that's all."

He could tell by his mother's tone that she wasn't asking simply to be asking, but for now it seemed like she hadn't caught on.

**********

Toby pulled into his driveway and let out a sigh of relief. Between having the girl who was raped in one of his classes and feelin ditched by Eric and Cooper, he had been able to concentrate very little today. He was glad to be home. All he wanted to do was go sit in his bathtub, listen to music, and hopefully drift off into a deep sleep until morning. He opened the door to see both Eric and Cooper sitting in the living room. It was obvious they were waiting for him.

"I thought you guys were going to the movies."

"We decided not to go." Eric said simply.

"Which really means that we felt like assholes for ditching you, hence why we made you dinner." Cooper interjected as he motioned to the dinner table.

Toby saw the pasta and garlic bread on the table and couldn't help but smile and also be thankful that his friends hadn't deserted him after all, "You guys didn't have to."

"We just wanted to make sure everything was ok between us." Eric said.

"It is. I'm happy for you guys, really, it's just...nevermind."

"No, say it. And talk fast I'm hungry!" Cooper said as he walked to the table.

Toby looked to the floor, he knew what he was about to say would be ten times harder to get out, if he looked at either Eric or Cooper, "I just got in good with you guys again...you know after everything that happened and I just don't want to get pushed out."

"You really thought we'd do that to you?" Cooper asked.

"Not on purpose, but yeah."

Cooper punched him hard in the arm, "Fuck you for thinking that."

Toby rubbed his arm where it was still stinging, "You're lucky you made me dinner or your ass would be knocked out right now."

"Please," Cooper scoffed, "I'd cut you with my shank before you even threw a punch."

"Ok, ok, let's eat." Eric interrupted.

That night, after Toby had a bath and had been further relaxed thanks to the comforting music he had chosen to listen to, he climbed into his warm bed. The last thought he had before falling into a deep sleep was one of gratitude for the awesome friends he had in his life.