"I'm not a child... I don't just go 'I'm afraid' and avoid my fears. You should've trusted me to deal with it on my own. I don't need a life-coach holding my hand," he muttered, staring sadly out the window.

"Ok... I was just trying to help..." Romeo was starting to get worried. Gavin was past sullen. He was snapping now. Romeo sighed and shrugged his shoulders, driving most of the way back in silence. He started to think that maybe the picnic would be a bad idea with Gavin in this bad of a mood. "Do you still want to go to the park or would you rather I just take you home?"

"I'm really not hungry..." he said quietly, almost too quiet to hear. He was fighting off tears again, and just wanted to go home.

Romeo nodded once and kept driving past the park. He wasn't going to question Gavin's decision or even try to make him change his mind. He did, however bite the inside of his lip to the point it bled trying to keep himself from saying anything that could make matters worse. He ended up not saying anything at all. He sighed as he pulled in front of Gavin's apartment and completely shut off the car. He turned to Gavin and smiled weakly.

"I'll see you sometime soon?" He made the sentance a question rather than an affirmative just because he wasn't sure how angry at Romeo Gavin really was.

"Yeah," he sighed, opening the car door and climbing out. "Later." He closed the door and headed inside the apartment building, then up to his own apartment.

Romeo sighed and then put the car into drive and made his way back home. He stopped at homeless shelter and passed out everything that he had made for their lunch. It wasn't as if he was going to be able to eat it now. After his short, long-overdue visit he headed home again and ended up going to bed early. It was a lot colder tonight than he ever remembered it being before. But after a long time tossing and turning, he finally fell into a disturbed sleep.

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It had been days, over a full week actually, and Romeo hadn't seen Gavin anywhere at the park. He hadn't gotten a phone call or any kind of notification that he was still alive and doing well, much less that he wanted to see Romeo again. But he was certain that if he had been hurt so bad that he would have said something about it when he left Romeo's car for the last time. He got into his car after a full day at the office and realized that Gavin should still be at work. He really didn't like to bother Gavin at work, but he really needed to see at the very least if the secretary would give him the note to call Romeo. He drove there in a sullen silence.

When he got to the building and walked in, he was equally suprised to find that he had been laid off. Sonofa...now he had no illusion whatsoever as to the cause of Gavin's dissapearance. He seemed to be hitting a string of bad luck recently and it all seemed to stem from their excursion over a week ago. He sighed and started heading towards Gavin's place, hoping to find him there. He knocked twice and ended up sitting down beside Gavin's door. Stockerish or not, he was planning on waiting at least until he couldn't stay awake anymore before he gave up and went home.

A minute later there was a meow from the other side of the door, Tiki's paw sticking out upside down and trying to pull the door open. A few minutes later, the door opened, Gavin standing in the doorway. Tiki darted out and climbed up onto Romeo, meowing, purring, and headbutting him lovingly.

Gavin was an absolute mess. He seemed to have suffered dramatic weight loss within the last week, and there were dark circles under his eyes. His face seemed sunken in a bit from hunger and dehydration, and past him in the apartment, everything that hadn't been in boxes - save for his bed, blanket pile, and the television - was now packed away, the folding chairs and the table folded and against the wall by his bed.

The large window that wasn't at the head of his bed was uncovered, allowing the light to come in, and the apartment inside was as cold as ice. Even Tiki's fur was cold.

"This isn't a good time..." Gavin said, his voice full of distress.

"Can I make a random guess and say you're being evicted?"

Romeo's words were soft, but there was a serious edge to them. Something that screamed why didn't you tell me you needed me sooner? between the spaces in the sentance. He stroked Tiki a few times and looked up in Gavin's face, eyes widening just a little bit to take in the changes in his appearance. He let the concern he was feeling fill his face and soften his eyes.

"I can help you move out... I don't have a problem with helping a friend." He bit his lower lip in a nervous gesture. "That offer to stay with me is still valid, that doesn't ever expire. But.." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "...I'll pay for you to get a hotel room and storage unit if that's what you'd prefer." The last sentance seemed to whisper the words I'll never make you do anything you don't want to in addition what he actually said.

He sighed heavily and sat down in the doorway, leaning against the frame. "I don't know what the hell I want anymore... I don't know where to go. I don't know who to ask for help. I don't want to cause anyone trouble over me..." He closed his eyes, leaning his head back. His eyes were sunken in and his collarbone protruded farther than it should've.

"I'm just tired of living on eggshells... I have an education. I'm not stupid. I shouldn't have to fight this hard just to live with the bare essentials..."

"Well then... if you shouldn't have to... don't. I know I'm making it seem a lot simpler than it actually is. But you don't have to worry about putting anyone though any trouble as long as I'm around. ANY trouble you cause me, is well worth knowing you and being a part of your life. I don't mind sharing my house anymore than I mind sharing my evening with you. Time is more important than money to me anyway. You're already using something more prescious to me than the house. I'm never going to push you into anything. Like I said, the option for the hotel is still open, but people usually don't like living out of storage."

Romeo leaned back against the wall next to the door and continued to pet Tiki and listen to her purr. "Even if this isn't permanent... even if something happens and we don't work out. I wouldn't kick you out until after you had found another job and a good place to live. I'm not the kind of guy that would leave someone out in the cold like that." He winked. "But if that happens you probably wouldn't be welcome in my bed anymore. You know... unless you got REALLY lonely." He laughed.

"I was actually considering living out of storage," he said quietly, closing his eyes. "But I could be arrested if I was caught, and if that happened I'd lose my shot at any good job I might be able to get in the future..."

He sighed heavily, opening his eyes and looking up at Romeo. "Are you sure you don't mind...?"

Romeo chuckled. "I wasn't meaning live out of the actual storage room. And yes, I don't mind. Like I said, you're already spending my most valuable resource. My house is nothing next to my time." He looked at the sun's position in the sky and judged that they probably wouldn't have much time. "Lets start getting all of your stuff out. I don't think it'll all fit in my car so I'll go rent a moving truck, finish packing what you can while I'm gone.

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He came back shortly with the truck and helped Gavin load everything into it. Handing him the keys and telling him to follow to his apartment and that they would be back for his car later that evening. Once they got everything back to Romeo's place, he drove Gavin back to his car and took the moving truck back to where it belonged after filling up. Romeo had one more stop to make and he explained it as soon as he got back to the still locked front door with Gavin waiting by it. He jingled a set of keys in front of Gavin's face once he showed up.

"I'm sorry it took longer than expected, but I realized you'd need a key to get in and made the decision to go get it made before I came back." He grinned. "I hope you didn't mind waiting..."

"It's fine," he said with a shiver, arms crosses tightly over his jacketed chest. "I don't feel like I'm in any position to complain."

Romeo gave Gavin the extra set of keys and then used his own to open the door. Tiki was already exploring the house and the first thing Romeo did was collapse on his couch. He kicked his shoes off and yawned while rubbing his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. He stretched with his arms out like a cat, back bent and then arched the other way to stretch his muscles out.

"Do you want me to help with unpacking or would you rather do it yourself?"

"It's your choice," he said, watching Tiki gallop and leap around the house. The cat hadn't been in such a large space for a long time and was thoroughly enjoying having the room to play around.

"Which room did you want my things in? You don't have to humor me by having any of my things out in the open. Besides, the only things I have that aren't for a bedroom are the folding chairs, card table, the mini fridge and freezer, and a handful of things that I doubt will mix well with the appearance of your house..."

Tiki jumped lengthwise over the couch in one energetic running leap, a loud purring chirp in her throat as she did.

"Tiki," Gavin called. "Knock it off, you're going to annoy him."

Romeo pointed towards the first door on the left in the hallway. "That's the guest bedroom. You can put everything in there if you want to and decide where you're really going to sleep later." He winked but his voice was dripping with tease and he knew that Gavin wasn't going to sleep in his bed tonight. "We have enough places to sit and tables to put things on already so... " He got out his set of keys and held up the smaller one of the two that matched Gavin's. "This is for the storage shed in the backyard if you don't want them taking up space in your room. The mini-fridge/freezer would be fine to leave in the den on the other side of the kitchen, if that's ok, so it can be used for sodas and snacks.

You can take your time unpacking, but I'm sure that Eze will flip when she comes in for the day and sees boxes in the living room. I woke up rather early to help fix a botched project that someone was working on late last night so I haven't gotten a lot of sleep...but I'd be more than willing to help you unpack in the morning. I really need to relax for now. And don't worry about Tiki... just as long as she's litter trained she won't bother me. Not even if she starts ripping up furniture... all things materialistic can be replaced."

"She's litter trained and has a scratching post. She won't scratch up the furniture." He shrugged a little and turned to glance at the door that he would stay behind. "I guess I'll just move everything in there for now and only unpack a couple things, then... You don't mind if I take a shower later, do you?"

"Make yourself at home. You can even put the clothes in the dresser I have in there... it's a bit more barren than the rest of the house. All it has is the bed, the dresser and a nightstand with a lamp on it. OH! And when you feel up to searching for another job, you can use the computer in the den to build your resume and apply online. It doesn't get used much, but it's in good working condition. At least it was last time I checked."

"Thanks," he replied with a weak smile. "I think I'll move the boxes now so your house keeper doesn't freak out too much."

After moving everything into the guest room, Gavin went to go take a hot shower. Once his shower was over, he dried off and pulled on his boxers and loose cotton pajama bottoms that he liked to wear around when he didn't have to go anywhere. He'd forgotten to take a shirt with him into the bathroom, so he dried his hair a little more, then left to go back to the guest room.

Romeo went to wolf-whistle as Gavin walked between the bathroom and the hallway and stopped himself, letting the second half of it die down until he was just kinda looking at Gavin with his head tilted to the side. He winced looking at the marks on Gavin's back, sucking air in quickly through his teeth and squinting his eyes a bit. It looked as painful as it must have felt. He tried wording his toughts as gently as he could.

"The scars... are they from the fall and the aftermath?"

"Yeah," Gavin replied quietly, turning around to face Romeo. There were two surgical scars on the right side of his chest, one on the actual side and the other through the major pectoralis muscle. His right arm also had several surgical scars on it.

"I'm not sure if my back or my legs were chopped up worse... There's also a scar that hair won't grow on on the back of my head. That's from hitting the fire escape on the way down. Luckily the fracture wasn't too bad and I didn't suffer any brain damage from it," he said with a sigh.

"Sometimes I still have to walk with braces on if the weather is too bad..."

"That sounds rather not fun. But hey, I mean when the weather gets too bad to go outside there's always the fireplace in the den. I can't remember how many nights I've sat by that fire and warmed myself while staring at it's seductive entrancing and glowing dance." Romeo sighed and started looking like his mind was far away, thinking about another time. "Yes, the flames are good." He shook his head. "I was just thinking that it might be a good idea to get dinner. Did you have anything in particular that you're hungry for?"

"Actually, it's the warm humid weather that hurts the most," he replied, slipping his thumbs into his waistband at his hips. "That and when the temperature changes in only a couple days. Like going from the twenties to the sixties and vice versa. That hurts like hell. The cold weather actually feels good, though."

He thought for a few minutes, then shrugged a little. "I was going to ask if you minded if I borrowed your kitchen. Though I doubt you'll like the taste of poor man's cooking," he said with a soft, awkward chuckle.

Tiki sauntered over to them, sitting down at Romeo's feet and looking up at him. She lowered her head, putting a dead mouse on the floor and looking back up at Romeo, swishing her tail proudly as she waited for his praise.

Romeo sneezed and his eyes immediately started watering up. He pet Tiki and smiled at her before getting up to go wash his hands and get some allergy medicine from the top of the fridge where he always kept all of his medicine. He shook his head and looked at Gavin. He looked back at Tiki and back to Gavin and laughed, popping the pills in his mouth and swallowing them without water.

"I've got dust allergies too, which is the real reason that I have someone keeping this place so spotless. I always take this medicine before I go out anywhere so I never show it." He looked back out at Gavin. "I was thinking that it might be better if Tiki went outside with that, but I just remembered that cats need to stay in for a few weeks before they're let out. I don't know if she's even been outside before or not."

"I'll keep her in my room," Gavin said with a sigh. He picked Tiki up with one arm and picked the dead animal up by the tail with the other, taking it into the kitchen and tossing it into the garbage can. He washed his hands and carried Tiki into his temporary room and shut the door.

"She's not an outside cat. She went outside for a little while and was nearly killed by a dog. I'll just keep her locked away. But I told you before, she's extremely clean. You just react the way you expect to."

He sighed again, deciding that he wasn't going to bother with food tonight. "I think I'm just going to go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow." He went into his room and shut the door, crawling under the blankets and snuggling protectively with his cat; his best friend since he was a young boy.