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Three Roads Chapter 49: Friends of Dorothy

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Joey sat with his head resting in the palm of his left hand. A sour expression covered his face as if he had just eaten or smelled something unpleasant. He sat in the Pride Center alone and more than a little upset that his friends were all probably having more fun than he was at the moment. Eric and Cooper were probably enjoying their time together somewhere alone. Richard and Brian were almost surely causing someone else severe nausea as they flirted with each other endlessly. Toby was undoubtedly excited that it was his twenty first birthday today and Joey was just pissed off that once again on Valentine's Day he had nothing to be excited about. It was if someone had heard his thoughts of desperation, because immediately after he thought about canceling his plans to go out with his friends that night, Chase appeared in the doorway.

"Hey stranger." Joey said smiling for the first time that day.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Just sittin here."

"You looked upset."

"Eh, it's Valentine's day and I'm single. What can I say."

"I'm single too." Chase said. Joey expected something to come after that but it didn't.

"I'm surprised you're single actually," Joey started, "You look like the type of guy who would need girl repellant."

Chase gave an embarrassed smile, "Apparently I'm wearing it anyway no girls are looking this way."

"No girls..." Joey said with a mischievous smile. He could tell by Chase's expression that his last comment had made him slightly uncomfortable, "Sorry, I was just joking."

"It's all good. Do you have any plans tonight?"

"I'm supposed to go with Toby and the guys to a club tonight. It's his 21^st birthday and he wanted to go to a club and get "fucked up" as he put it."

"Are you twenty one?"

"Nope, still nineteen."

"You're a baby." Chase teased.

"Fuck you, trust me I have more than enough experience. How old are you?"

"Twenty three."

"Damn and you're still in college?"

Chase stuck up his middle finger, "Back at you."

Joey laughed, "I'm teasing."

"I know. You sound like you don't want to go tonight."

"I do, but I don't. I'm just going to end up dancing by myself."

"Why not try and meet a guy there. I'm assuming it's a gay club?"

"Of course."

"Well...if you decide not to go call me and we can hang...you know watch a movie or something."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean I'm single so I'm not doing anything and I'll be alone cause I'm sure Kevin has some girl. So yeah, just think about it."

"Yeah, maybe I'll just make an appearance at the club, just to show Toby some support and then I'll swing by your place."

"Sounds like a plan."

**********

Eric buttoned his white long sleeved collared shirt...finally. He had been trying to do so for the last couple of minutes but had been unable to due to his shaking fingers. He had no idea why he was so nervous. This was just dinner with Cooper. What was there to be nervous about? He debated over whether to button the top button on his shirt and decided that it looked better if he had a little bit of skin showing. He looked at himself in the mirror and loved the way the white shirt and the blue jeans looked together. The jeans were faded throughout to give them that fashionably current look. Eric checked his pockets for his wallet and his car keys, grabbed onto his door handle, and took a deep breath as he opened the door. At the same time, Cooper was coming out of his room and Eric immediately felt underdressed. Cooper was in a silky black shirt with matching black slants.

"Wow." Was all Eric said.

"Yep, this sexiness right here only took five minutes. What took you so long, were you jacking off?"

"Uh no." Eric said convincingly despite the fact that he had jerked off about twenty minutes ago in an attempt to release any tension there might be on this date.

"You ready to go?" Cooper asked.

"I'm going to change."

"Why?"

"Because you look hot and I look like a crazy bag man."

"No, you don't."

"I'm not going to be in jeans when you're lookin like that."

"Keep on the jeans. Trust me." Cooper said.

"No, I made up my mind." Eric said turning to go back in his room.

"No, those jeans make your ass look good."

"Liar."

"No really. I used to stare at it before I was allowed to whenever you'd wear them."

"Really?" Eric said starting to change his mind about changing.

"Yep."

"Who says you're allowed to look at my ass now?"

"I guess it's more I can realistically fantasize about it now."

"Perv."

"You love it." Cooper said, "Ok, let's stop though. I don't want to be horny all during dinner. I want to get my grub on!"

"I thought you guys had left already." Toby said joining his friends in the hallway. He was still wearing his pajamas.

"You do not look like you're going to the club anytime soon." Eric said.

"I still have a couple of hours." Toby shrugged.

"This is probably the last time tonight you'll be speaking coherently." Cooper said with a grin.

"Let's hope." Toby said, "What time are you guys gonna get to the club?"

"Well, it's like eight right now, so we'll probably be done by ten-ish or so and then we can head to the club." Cooper said.

"Good, I'll just be getting started." Toby smiled.

"Alkie." Cooper said.

"Tonight I will be. It's why I didn't ask you to take care of me besides the fact that you're a scrub with no license. I know you have issues with alcohol, but luckily Richard doesn't."

"You sure he can control you, if need be?" Eric asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I'll be drunk off my ass, that's about the only time he could."

"Good times," Cooper said, "We should get going before we lose our reservation."

"Yep. We'll see you in a little bit." Eric said.

"Yep...though I may not even be aware you're there." Toby smiled.

**********

"Hey, you look hot." Toby said as he opened the front door to let Richard into his house, Richard was wearing a baby blue polo and blue jeans that fit him perfectly and had been expertly ripped in several places.

"Why aren't you dressed?" Richard said a little annoyed as he closed the door.

"What do you mean?" Toby said as he looked down at the black tank top and basketball shorts he was wearing.

"You harassed me all day long to make sure I'm going to be here by 9:30 which is way too early to be at the club anyway and then I get here and you're not even ready."

"Are you trying to fight me on my birthday?"

"No," Richard said plopping down on the couch, "I've just had a long day. What did you do?"

"Absolutely nothing, which is exactly how I wanted to spend the day. And soon it'll be time to get fucked up. You still got me for tonight?"

"Yep, I'll be your personal caretaker." Richard smiled.

"I have something to tell you." Toby said.

"What's that?"

"There's a reason I asked you over here so early." Toby said seriously.

"Is everything ok?" Richard asked sitting up.

"I don't know...I'll just show you," Toby said as he was leaving the living room and walking to his room, "Give me a second."

Richard watched Toby walk out of the room, confused as hell at what Toby was talking about. He took the momentarily silence to close his eyes and try and relax a little bit before what he was sure would be a long, but fun night. He must have fallen asleep because he jumped when he heard Toby clear his throat. He opened his eyes, not knowing what he was going to see, but he registered a confused expression on his face when he saw Toby standing in front of him in nothing but a pair of tight white briefs.

"What am I supposed to be seeing?" Richard said.

"Exactly what you're seeing." Toby said. Richard wasn't sure, but Toby sounded like he was trying to be seductive.

"Is this a dream?" Richard said dumbly.

"Not even a little bit." Toby smiled. Richard had started to move his legs together and then apart and then together and apart again. Toby knew from previous experience that this meant that Richard was starting to get horny.

"I think you're teasing me." Richard smiled.

"Nope. I'm not Brian. I'm telling you that you can have me right here, right now, any way you want it."

"Damn. Like that?"

"Just like that." Toby said as he pushed his briefs down his legs. He threw them on the couch right next to Richard and motioned for Richard to come to him. Richard took one final look at Toby's hard dick before walking towards his ex boyfriend. Richard was surprised by how nervous he was when him and Toby were mere centimeters apart. Richard moved his head forward to kiss Toby but Toby stuck out his tongue and licked Richard's lips instead.

"You still taste good." Toby said before sticking his tongue in Richard's mouth. Toby brought both of his hands to his ex flame's face and they kissed vigorously, moaning into each other's mouths the entire time. They finally broke away from each other and both were out of breath.

"I'm so horny." Richard said, almost in a whimper.

"Don't worry, I'm going to take good care of you." Toby said as he slowly slid to his knees. He put his face right at Richard's crotch and began to lightly and playfully bite the obvious bulge in Richard's jeans.

"Ooooh, that feels really good."

"You want me to suck it?" Toby asked.

Toby couldn't ever remember Toby being this playful, but he was enjoying it, "Yeah."

"Tell me."

"Suck my dick."

Toby wasted no time in unzipping Richard's fly and yanking down his jeans. He could see a wet spot that had stained the front of Richard's gray boxer briefs.

"Mmmmm." Toby moaned as he licked the spot. It made Richard jump and Toby grabbed a hold of Richard's still clothed dick and he put his warm mouth over it and once again playfully bit down on it.

Richard laughed, "Don't bite it off."

"That's not gonna happen cause I want to ride it before the night is over."

"Then maybe you should take it out and get it nice and ready." Richard said hoarsely.

Toby pulled the boxer briefs down Richard's legs. He held Richard's dick to his stomach and took his tongue to the ball sac that was begging to be licked.

"Oh my God, I forgot how good you are at that."

"I'm much better at sucking dick." Toby said as he took Richard into his mouth. As if they had spent no time apart, Toby easily deep throated his ex boyfriend's dick several times in a row before beginning to jerk off his own dick. Richard put both of his hands on the side of Toby's face and began to pump Toby's mouth. Even Richard was impressed at how well Toby could take his dick. He was pulling almost all the way out of Toby's mouth before plunging balls deep all the way back in and Toby looked like he could take it for hours.

"You love my cock don't you." Richard said with his eyes closed as he continued to fuck Toby's mouth. Toby let the dick fall out of his mouth and began jerking Richard off.

"I love you dick man, always have. You should get reacquainted with mine."

Richard dropped to the floor with Toby and they again panted as they kissed passionately before getting into the 69 position. Toby had never been a fan of this position, but tonight the sensations of pleasing and being pleasured by Richard at the same time were driving him wild. After a few minutes of this, Richard sat up, "Sit on my chest."

Toby moved quickly to straddle Richard's chest. Toby took his own dick in hand and playfully tapped Richard's face a couple of times.

"Man," Richard said sliding his fingers through Toby's ass, "You still got that ass."

"Always. You want me to sit on your face?"

"Yeah, smother me man."

"Oh!" Toby yelped when he positioned himself over Richard's face. Richard was alternation between sucking on his balls and his eating his ass. Toby's hands were running through his own hair before going down to play with his nipples. He wanted to get every ounce of pleasure he could possibly get out of this experience. He began grinding his ass over Richard's face and was glad that Richard was up to the challenge in never missing a beat in expertly eating Toby's ass. Toby was now jerking himself off furiously.

"I can't hold it." Toby moaned.

Richard scooted Toby off his face, "What?"

"I can't hold it." Toby said again before aiming for Richard's face. The first shot jetted out of Toby's dick and landed on the carpet a few feet away. The next shot clearly surprised Richard as it hit him in the forehead and strung across his face. The next couple of shots hit him in the nose and pooled on his lips.

"Fuckin a!" Toby said still convulsing. He bent his face down and began licking his cum off of Richard's face. He again plunged his tongue into Richard's mouth and they traded Toby's cum between them. Richard broke the kiss, "Get on the couch, I need to get off."

Toby climbed onto the couch, his ass exposed. Richard swatted him hard, "Love your ass."

"I know you do."

"I need to get off now." Richard said more to himself. For a moment, Toby had thought that Richard was going to enter him bareback, but instead, Richard began humping Toby and sliding his dick through his ass. He swatted Toby again and was even more turned on by the moan that escaped from Toby.

"I'm so close."

"Shoot on my ass." Toby said who was once again jerking off.

"Say it again."

"I want your hot cum on my ass."

"Here it comes!" Richard yelled as his cum streamed across both of Toby's ass cheeks.

"Mmmm...yes." Toby said as he reached around to Richard's cum in. Richard scooped a gob of it on his finger and fed it to Toby. Richard, finally spent collapsed onto the floor and began laughing, "That was fucking crazy."

"You loved it." Toby said sliding on the floor next to him.

"I did. I just...what's gotten into you?"

"It's my 21^st birthday. There was no way I wasn't going to have at least a little dick."

Richard turned his face towards Toby, "How'd you know I'd go for it?"

"Because you still can't resist me."

"That's true." Richard said turning to stare at the ceiling. Toby could tell that there was something more that Richard wasn't saying.

"What? You can tell me." Toby said.

"Do you think... I don't know...we were ready for that?"

"For what?" Toby said propping himself on his elbow.

"What we just did. You don't think it'll make things complicated?"

"Too late if it will." Toby laughed.

"Seriously though," Richard said turning his head back to Toby, "I mean we seem to have this way of making each other's lives way more complicated than they need to be."

Toby shrugged, "I don't know. Even though this conversation is ruining my post orgasmic bliss, I don't regret what we just did. We both got what we wanted."

"Which is?"

"As much of each of each other as we can handle for now."

Richard thought about it for a moment, "That's a good answer, but what happens if this happens again?"

"Who said it was going to?" Toby said evenly.

"I'm just saying..."

"Honestly, I don't know."

"Me either."

"I need to shower." Toby said.

"Me too."

"You want to go first?

"You don't want to shower together?" Richard said a little hurt.

"No we can." Toby said getting to his feet. He extended his hand to help Richard up. As they walked to the bathroom, naked as they were born, both were as satisfied with the other as they had ever been.

**********

"Do you think the owner of this restaurant is really named Dorothy?" Eric asked as he took a sip of water.

Cooper chuckled, "Are you serious?"

"Well it'd be kind of funny."

"You don't get it do you?"

"Get what?"

"The restaurants is called Friends of Dorothy. It's like a way to reference someone as being gay. This is a gay friendly place so it's called Friends Of Dorothy."

"It would have been better if the owner had actually been named Dorothy and then all of the people who came to the restaurants would be friends of Dorothy, you know the owner."

"That's dumb. Don't try and make something up because you're wrong."

"Shut up or I'll find some hot guy to dance with when we get to the club."

"Oh hell no."

The waiter sat down a cajun style hamburger in front of Eric and a twenty ounce sirloin steak in front of Cooper.

"Hell yeah that's what I'm talkin about." Cooper said as he hastily picked up his knife, "Do you think tonight will be fun?"

"Yeah," Eric said placing a napkin on his lap, "It'll be nice to go out. It's been a while. I just wonder how drunk Toby is going to get."

"Me too. I just hope he doesn't cause any trouble."

"I doubt it. He told me earlier that he usually just gets super horny when he's drunk."

"Good times. You were kinda funny when you were drunk."

"Was I?"

"It wasn't funny then, but the situation is funny to me now. Why did you decide to drink that night anyway?"

"I was feeling bad about Jon, plus I'm not against drinking. More that people like to get plastered for no reason is what bothers me." Eric said eating a seasoned French fry.

"Interesting."

"That same night after you put me in your bed. I had a dream that a big blue block kept whispering `I love you'."

"I know," Cooper said cutting into his steak, "you told me."

"Did you whisper that into my ear?"

"What?" Cooper said knowing full well what Eric was asking.

"I love you."

"I did." Cooper admitted after an uncomfortable silence.

"Ok, I was just wondering."

"Ok." Cooper said hoping for a change of subject.

"Did you really mean it?"

Cooper looked at Eric seriously, "Why are you asking me this?"

"Cause I'm curious. We've never really talked about it."

"Of course I meant it. I wouldn't have said it if I didn`t."

"I guess I just find it strange. Love is such a strong word."

"I did...I do. I don't really understand it either. And I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but...I think I was always attracted to you. And I'm not saying any of this expecting to get a response or an I love you back...but yeah like I told you a few weeks ago, if you could see what I see in you, there's no way you would be asking me any of these questions right now."

"Wow, that's...I don't even know what to say."

"It's fine." Cooper smiled. He shifted in his chair and decided to bring about the subject change himself, "How is your food?"

"Not that good actually." Eric scowled.

"I told you not to try anything new." Cooper said.

"How's yours?"

"Fuckin fantastic."

"I see." Eric said disappointed.

"Maybe you should order something else." Cooper suggested.

"No, I'll just take it with me, maybe Toby will want it."

"So you're not going to order anything else?"

"No, by the time it gets out here it'll be time to leave."

"But you were so hungry when we got here."

"I know," Eric shrugged, "I still am, but I'll live."

"Do you want to trade?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'll take your cajun burger and you have my steak."

"No," Eric said unconvincingly, "you've been wanting a steak for a while."

"Eric...take the damn steak."

They switched plates and Eric eagerly cut into the steak and quickly put a piece into his mouth, "Wow, this is good."

"I know." Cooper said, biting into the cajun hamburger.

"Do you like it?" Eric asked, hoping he wouldn't have to switch back.

"Yeah, what's wrong with you this is great." Cooper thought the hamburger was disgusting, but he wasn't going to tell Eric that. As long as Eric was happy, he was too.

**********

"We're inside the hip hop room next to the bar." Richard said yelling into the phone.

"Why do you have Toby's cell phone?" Cooper asked.

"Cause he was trying to drunk dial his grandmother. It was for his own protection."

"Wow, he's already drunk?" Cooper said looking at his watch. It was barely 11:00.

"Yeah, he started drinking before we left the house. He's dancing with Tim now. I'll see you guys in a few minutes." Richard ended the call and immediately saw darkness as someone covered his eyes, "Peek-a-boo!"

Richard knew it was Toby immediately, "Don't you mean guess who?"

Toby giggled, "You know what I meant. Were you just talking to my grandmother."

"No. Eric and Cooper are here."

"Where?" Toby said turning around and almost knocking Tim over who had appeared behind them.

"Calm down." Tim said.

"Why? Am I making you uncomfortable?" Toby asked as he licked Tim's forehead.

"Stop, that tickles." Tim said jumping around. He cleared his throat when he saw Richard staring at him with an expression that was anything but amused, "You need to behave." Tim tried to say evenly.

Toby pulled Tim close and turned towards Richard, "Is Richie being mean to you? Cause I told him not to be. Just because I've sucked both your cocks doesn't mean you too can't get along."

"Right." Tim said uncomfortably.

"Really...I mean this isn't a competition about whose dick is bigger. Cause Richard's is longer, but yours is thicker."

"Really?" Joey said coming out of nowhere, "I would have guessed the other way around."

"Why's that?" Richard asked.

"Just would have. Care to prove Toby right?" Joey said raising his right eyebrow.

"No thank you."

"That's just because his dick is probably really small." Brian smiled.

Richard stuck up his middle finger, but Brian was ready, "It's only that big?"

"I don't know, come over here and find out."

"Trust me. It's bigger than that." Toby said moving from Tim to grab Richard's crotch. Richard swatted his hand away and Toby pretended to be disappointed.

"You didn't swat my hand away earlier."

"What happened earlier?" Joey said, his eyebrows arched.

"Let's just say, Richard here gave me a great 21^st brithday present."

Richard was surprised when he felt himself blushing and he glanced over at Brian but couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Man, what I wouldn't give to see you two go at it." Joey said, his mouth half open.

"You want to dance, stud muffin?" Toby said as he slid over to Joey.

"Hell yeah. Let's go."

"Hey everyone." Cooper said as he and Eric joined the group. Richard looked down and smiled widely when he saw the two of them were holding hands.

"How was dinner?"

"Great," Eric smiled, "We went to this place called Friends of Dorothy."

"That's a really cool name for a gay friendly place." Richard said.

"See I told you." Cooper smirked.

"Hey, what did I miss?" Jon smiled.

"Jon, what are you doing here?!" Eric said extremely surprised.

"Yeah, what are you doing here." Cooper said, his tone showing how annoyed he was.

"I wasn't doing anything, so Tim invited me to tag along."

"Oh, you invited him?" Eric asked glaring at Tim.

"Yeah," Tim said nervously, "Like he said he wasn't doing anything so I told him he should come."

"It's cool," Eric said, "I just didn't know you guys were all buddy buddy now."

"We're not, I still hate him." Tim said trying to loosen the tension.

"Apparently. You want to dance?" Eric said to Cooper.

"Yeah sure."

The two of them walked off leaving Richard, Brian, Tim, and Jon standing there.

"Well that was awkward." Jon chuckled.

"That's an understatement." Brian acknowledged.

"Can I talk to you outside?" Tim said grabbing Jon by the wrist before he could answer.

"And then there were two." Richard smiled.

"Yep." Brian said looking down at the ground, "You and Toby are back together?"

"No! Why would you think that?"

"He said earlier..."

"That was just a one time thing."

"You don't sound too sure." Brian said.

"What do you want me to say?"

"Nothing. You don't owe me anything."

"Oh come on!"

"I'm sorry, but this is my first time at a place like this and I'm a little wired is all." Brian said.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah. It's absolutely amazing and terrifying to be here at the same time."

"I know what you mean." Richard said giving a sympathetic smile.

"Do you really?"

"Ok, so I don't. I've never really had a problem with it."

Brian laughed, "I hate you. I have these mixed emotions a lot of times. Half of me doesn't care if someone I know sees me here, the other half thinks it'll die if someone from school recognizes me."

"At least they'll see you with the hottest group of guys in Sunnydale. Speaking of which, you want to go join them?"

"Yeah, I think we should."

"What is it?" Jon asked a little aggressively when he and Tim were finally outside.

"Do you think Eric knows?"

Jon gave Tim an incredulous look, "How could he?"

"I don't know. I feel terrible."

"It was a drunkin make out session so what." Jon said.

"You know we are violating our pact by talking about it right now."

"We didn't do anything wrong." Jon reassured him.

"Then why do I feel guilty?"

"I don't know. Cause I don't."

"That's cause you never really cared for him did you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I used to tell him that all the time."

"Why did you bring me here if you were gonna whine the whole time?"

"I'm sorry. I just feel like I've betrayed him some how. We need to agree right here and now that there will be no more make out sessions."

"Ok...there was only one anyway."

"There were two. You were just absolutely shitfaced the second time."

Jon couldn't supress a smile, "What else did we do that I don't remember?"

"Eww! Nothing else."

"Don't pretend you didn't like it, I'm a first rate snogger."

"I hate that word."

"But you still like my kisses."

"Stop!" Tim said when Jon began to lean in for a kiss, "We just agreed we wouldn't anymore."

"I was just teasing you."

"I'm sure."

"Let's go back inside. I'm sure we're more conspicuous by being out here."

"Right." Tim said as he hastily went inside.

**********

"Can you believe this shit?" Cooper said as he stood in the middle of a parking lot holding the left side of Toby, "We paid $10 each to get in for a little more than an hour."

"I know I know," Richard said as he patiently held onto the right side of Toby, "but at least he had fun."

Toby was surely hearing none of this as he had passed out minutes ago. The only reason he wasn't on the floor was because his friends were holding onto him.

"I didn't even have time to find me a guy." Joey said angrily.

"Shut up ho! I saw the way you were dancing with Toby. You guys were practically fucking." Cooper said.

Joey laughed to himself and looked off into the night as if he were reliving the experience of being on the dance floor with Toby.

"I hope we can come again and stay longer." Brian said excitedly.

"You had fun then?" Richard asked.

"Yeah." Brian smiled widely.

A security guard approached the boys and beamed his flashlight over Toby's limp body, "Is he ok?"

"Yeah," Richard began as he was the closest to the guard, "it's his 21^st birthday."

"Ah," the guard nodded, everything making sense now, "You guys have a good night."

Eric pulled up in Richard's car and made sure it was in park before getting out. Richard and Cooper slowly lowered Toby into the backseat and Tim climbed into the back with him, while Eric handed over the keys to Richard.

"I can take you home after." Richard said to Tim.

"Thanks, but it's ok. It's probably not safe to go home at this time of night anyway, besides Cooper and Eric already said I could crash there."

"Ok."

Toby moaned loudly, but still appeared to be unaware of what was going on around him, "We'll have you home soon." Tim said softly into his ear.

"Yeah, Tim's gonna take care of you until you get home." Richard and Tim smiled at each other and it seemed that a truce of sorts had been called between them.

"I'll meet you guys at your place." Richard said looking at Eric before pulling off.

"Fuck!" Joey screamed.

"What? Did you forget to wear you tampon?" Cooper asked.

Joey threw him a nasty look, "Fuckin sick. I was supposed to hang out with Chase tonight. But I was having so much fun...I forgot."

"What's a straight guy doing inviting you over on Valentine's day anyway? Sounds suspicious." Cooper asked.

"That's what I said." Brian followed.

"I wish there was a way for me to know for sure if he was just being nice or really gay."

"I can help you with that." Jon said.

"How?" Joey said skeptically.

"All I need is a couple of minutes with him and I'll be able to tell you with 100% accuracy if he's gay or not and what his dick size is."

"Are you drunk?" Eric asked.

"I'm dead serious. It's one of my many talents."

"Bullshit," Cooper yelled, "If you could tell a guy's dick size, you would have gone after me instead of Eric."

"Hey!" Eric said playfully pushing Cooper.

"You'd normally be right, but I don't like uncut guys."

Cooper stuck up his middle finger, but Jon already turned around, "I'm going home. Good night."

"We should get home too." Eric said.

"Alright, we'll see you guys later." Cooper waved to Joey and Brian.

**********

Eric and Cooper were home about twenty minutes later, but Richard and Toby were already inside in the bathroom. They could hear Toby throwing up before they reached the bathroom.

"It's ok, there we go." Richard said rubbing Toby's back. Toby grabbed some toilet paper and wiped his mouth before crumpling on the floor and seemingly falling asleep immediately.

"Well this is pretty much how my night's going to go." Richard said.

"Yep, I think so. I bet he's not having fun now." Cooper said a little judgmentally.

"Probably not." Richard smiled, "Tim's on the couch asleep."

"Yeah, we saw," Eric said, "Do you need anything?"

"No, you guys go to bed. I know you're tired."

"Alright, well just wake me if you need anything." Eric said, as both he and Cooper proceeded down the hallway.

Eric got to his door first, "I had a great time tonight. It was by far the best Valentine's day I've ever had."

"Me too." Cooper said with a serious expression.

"Good night."

"Hey Eric?"

"Yeah?"

Cooper cleared his throat, "Will you sleep in my bed tonight?"

"Why, what's wrong with your bed?"

"Nothing. I meant that I want you to sleep in the bed with me."

"I want to, but...I don't..."

"I don't want to do anything but sleep. Believe it or not, I'm not ready to do anything more than that with you either." Cooper said looking Eric directly in the eyes.

"Ok, give me a few mintues to change."

Back in the bathroom, Toby lay motionless, his head resting in Richard's lap. Richard was tired, but knew he wasn't going to get much sleep tonight. Even though he knew Toby would be ok, he wanted to be sure of it, and so he wouldn't allow himself anymore than some light dosing every now and again. He looked down and ran his hands through Toby's hair. He thought Toby looked so peaceful just laying there in his lap. As he looked at Toby, he thought back to the events of earlier in the night, and he still wasn't sure if ht was ok with what happened. He was excited and scared for what it could possibly mean. After all, he still loved Toby and loved him more than any other person on the planet, but Toby had also hurt him and cut him more deeply than anyone else and that was hard to forget too. He closed his eyes, trying to think of somethine else, but it was to no avail, all he could think about was Toby.