When Happily Ever After Fails

Ricky? Hello?! Ricky!" Alex was shouting by this point and Ricky was startled back to reality. It took a few moments for the worry in Alex's voice to register with him, but when it did, he started to bawl all over again. Unsure of what else to do, Alex pulled Ricky into a tight hug. He was almost positive that he had never seen someone cry so much in the span of only a couple of hours.

When Ricky looked at him for the umpteenth time that night, he was confused for the first time. Before the world had been strictly black and white, but now it was starting to become clear to him that there were varying subtleties of gray. Whenever he had looked at the world, he had seen it as dark and that he had to find a way to light it up, but if that was the case, maybe some other people could be light as well. Maybe some people were looking to genuinely help.

"I can't go back to living like I was. I can't go back to spending more nights in the hospital then at home. I can't go back to drunk fights with my step dad and getting high just so I won't have to remember the bullying. Getting raped when I go to visit my dad, or getting called a worthless faggot by my mom. I can;t live like that anymore. I won't live like that anymore," Ricky said with determination growing in his voice as each word passed through his lips.

"I think I have a solution that will work for the both of us."

With his eyes still swollen, Ricky left the interrogation room behind twenty minutes later with Alex following closely. He could see Tucker shouting frantically at the bartender and flashing a picture of them together. It was now three in the morning and Ricky really couldn't blame him for worrying; he had been missing for over four hours and the club was about to close soon. Ricky wandered over to Tucker and tapped him on the shoulder and was quite entertained by his relieved facial expression.

"You! Oh, you are in so so so much trouble when we get home, mister! We have people coming over and it was supposed to be a surprise and now we're all out all over this place searching for you!"

"I was in the back room. Who do we have coming ov-"

"You stop asking questions!"

Tucker whipped out his phone and started to text numbers that Ricky did not recognize. In a flash, everything on the screen disappeared and Tucker was left muttering to himself. A slight chuckle from off to the left had them both turning around and Ricky couldn't help but grin at Tucker's obvious disapproval of Alex.

Alex attempted to introduce himself by offering his hand, but retracted it swiftly when Tucker did nothing but glare at him in reciprocation. Ricky froze when Alex slid his hand around his waist and pulled him closer. When he snuck a glance at him and saw the smirk, he couldn't help but laugh a small amount.

He was doing this strictly to piss Tucker off.

"You guys can take it up the ass later, we have to get home," Tucker said coldly. Tucker started to head towards the rapidly emptying bar and paused when he didn't hear footsteps following behind his own. "Are you and your fuck buddy coming or not?"

They made their way back through the winding streets that they had traveled earlier in the night with Tucker in lead and the mock couple following close behind. Whenever they whispered to one another, Ricky could see Tucker's fists physically clenching. This only served to egg Alex on, so he continued to whisper in Ricky's ear. He wasn't even using real words, which caused Ricky to became entertained so he laughed. This irritated Tucker, and the cycle just continued for twenty minutes as they walked home.

"So how did you two meet?" Tucker asked bitterly as they climbed the stairs to their apartment.

"I was playing detective and got to ask him all kinds of fun questions," Alex replied with a large grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. Once again, he slid his arm around Ricky to emphasize the point. "but you probably don't want to hear about that."

"You're right. I really don't."

Tucker attempted to open the door and then hip checked it when it still wouldn't open after he unlocked it. It slammed open and Ricky had to try his best to not yelp in excitement at the sight. He contained his excitement for a second, but only for that. After a moment's hesitation, he rushed out of Alex's grip and into the outstretched arms waiting for him inside the apartment.

Brad had grown taller, but no wider so he was still quite petite. This made the fact that he hadn't seen Danny standing behind him quite a shock. Once he finally managed to pull away from Brad, he attacked Danny with just as much enthusiasm. When he pulled away, he still felt a pair of arms around him, and when he turned, there was Alex; still attached to his waist.

"You joined our ranks?" Danny asked as he nodded towards Alex. Ricky was confused for a moment before he started to shake his head and laugh. Danny looked at the scowl on Tucker's face and was rightfully confused.

"They just got off on the wrong foot so Alex decided to piss him off a bit. No big deal."

"Thank god. So you have no problem if I after him?" Danny whispered in his ear. Ricky once again laughed and gave him full permission to go on the hunt before a thought occurred to him.

"Whoa, wait! Aren't you and Brad together?"

"I didn't tell you?" Danny practically screamed. Ricky took a large step back in order to adjust to the volume of Danny's voice. "We went the way of the Dodo, like, a couple weeks after you guys left. I cannot believe that neither one of us told you!"

Alex started to look around awkwardly. Danny decided that the best way to remedy the situation was to move very close to him and give him a sly smile. In an attempt to be subtle, Alex inched closer to Ricky and further from Danny. As far as he could tell, all of Ricky's friends either had temperament problems or were insane.

"I think that I ought to be heading home..."

"No, no! Stay!" Danny shouted at Alex. The boy flinched and Ricky couldn't help but giggle at his unfortunate predicament. Alex at been mocking his discomfort all evening, well, maybe it was time for him to get a taste of his own medicine.