“Maria? Are you okay?” Jessica asked, noticing her friend being inattentive. The red-headed girl didn't hear her friend. Jessica pulled Maria's arm lightly as she whispered, “Eh, Maria!”

“W-What?” Maria asked back, finally coming back on earth. Jessica stared at her friend with a concerned look. “What?” Maria asked, not understanding.

“What that doctor said to the child touched you, right? You thought about Shawn...” Jessica replied, putting her arm across Maria's shoulder. The latter smiled back weakly.

There was a child in the waiting room, a little girl of 8 years old, she brought a little kitten with her, the little animal was shaking terribly, so the doctor examined it, and tried to save it. But unfortunately...

“He doesn't deserve to die...it's not fair. I mean...I don't think I'll be able to handle it. First my mom, now...now my brother is being...my god...a heart surgey...oh my god...” Maria's eyes started to get teary. She didn't want to cry, she wanted to be strong. Like her mother would have advised her to be.

“I know. Shawn's a kind-hearted boy, I'm sure the angels won't let him die. I'm sure...of it...” Jessica was getting water in her eyes too. She loved Shawn a lot. He was like a brother to her. “When he's going to wake up, I'm going to give him a huge huge hug!” Jessica said to cheer up the atmosphere, Maria laughed a bit with her, saying that she was going to say the same thing.

“I wonder where he is,” said Corey approaching the two girls. The latter looked at the french boy with the what-are-you-talking-about look on their faces. “Taylor, where is he?”

“I don't know...why you're so concerned about him all of a sudden?” Jessica answered. Though Corey was Shawn's boyfriend, Jessica didn't fully trust him. Not only because he broke one of the nicest couple she knew, but also because there was something about him which sounded fake.

“It's just that...he was so touched by what happened to Shawn last night, how come he's not here when the heart surgery is going on?” Corey replied as he looked around. He seemed a bit nervous.

“Maybe he's very affected and it's too painful for him to come here. He'll probably show up later on when Shawn will be awake,” Jessica supposed. Corey looked back at her with eyes of disbelief.

“Hi guys, sorry I'm late,” Kathryn greeted with a little smile. She kissed her friends hello and sat next to Jessica. “How are things going?” Jessica updated her on Shawn's situation as Maria went back in her thoughts and Corey walked away.

“So it was him...” whispered the french boy to himself. Corey approached one of the waiting room windows and looked outside. It was almost noon, but he wasn't hungry. He sighed deeply thinking about how much Shawn had to suffer. “I'll be there...” Corey whispered with love. “I'll be there...”

“Finally!” Maria and Jessica said in unison as the doctor entered the waiting room. He just got out of the operation room. Ben and Corey turned their faces. Maria, Jessica and Kathryn got up and Corey and Ben approached. “So??” Jessica and Maria asked in unison, they were holding each other's hands. Kathryn was holding Jessica's hand. Ben didn't say a word, neither Corey.

The doctor stared at all of them for a moment, then he cleared his throat. “Something quite...ahem...something quite unexpected occured,” he said as he lowered his eyes a bit. Everyone looked back at him with eyes filled with confusion. “When we tried to clear the blood vessels of his heart, we found an unknown type of liquid blocking the path. And...” The doctor seemed confused too, he never saw something like that before, “...what's even more unusual is that the heart is beating normally. Even without blood...”

“WHAT?!?!?” Maria and Jessica replied in unison. Kathryn's and Ben's eyes were filled with surprise and extreme confusion. Corey lowered his eyes and sighed. There was a moment of silence, confusion ruled the atmosphere. “But...is he okay? I mean, is he awake now?” Maria asked with worry ruling her heart.

The doctor bit his bottom lip and coughed a bit, “As unbelieveable as it seems, your brother is still alive even without blood going to his heart. But he is in a coma, a very strange coma. We're...we're completely lost...we never had a case like this before and I've never heard of anything which looked like this...it's...strange...”

“Oh no...” Maria said with sadness in her voice as she sat back down on her seat. She couldn't believe what was happening. She covered her face with her hands and started crying, she couldn't be that strong. Jessica sat next to her and...tears were running on her cheeks. Kathryn sat next to her and put an arm across her shoulder.

“What's going to happen now?” Ben asked, he was surprised and quite confused about this whole situation but he didn't forget that the life of his son was at stake here. “Are you going to do an analysis or call specialists or anything like that?”

“Like I told you, this is a very strange case and the first one we've ever come across. We've already taken some of this odd liquid and we're going to analyse it. But...” The doctor seemed a bit nervous, he didn't want to put more pain in the atmosphere but he had to warn them, “...we don't know if Shawn's going to...going to have another attack or something. We don't even know if we were the ones who saved him last night.”

Ben sighed and pressed his forehead with his fingers. He had a terrible head ache. Corey seemed very thoughtful, he didn't say a word. After a little moment of silence, the doctor excused himself and went back to his work. He said they could go and see Shawn if they wanted to. Maria immediately went there and Jessica accompanied her. Ben walked out of the hospital, he needed some time alone.

“Are you going to wait for Maria and Jessica?” Kathryn asked Corey almost whispering, she knew Corey was kinda real low after hearing such news. “I have to go so...if you could tell Jess that...ahem...” She noticed that Corey wasn't even listening to her. “Hey, Corey, if you're going to...” The french boy walked away and got out of the hospital. Kathryn was surprised at first but...she understood.

[Song: Tommy]

Wearing a black t-shirt with a white drawing of a small dragon on the front, dark blue jeans, dark grey shoes with dark red coloured rays on the sides, Tommy was heading to his favourite friend's house. That is, Fox's house. He felt he had a closer connection to the latter. Sure, he liked Kevin, Corey and Shawn, his cousin, but with Fox there was something "more". Something like a special link.

Tommy arrived infront of Fox's house and knocked on the door. He didn't see the doorbell at first. After waiting for a moment, he pressed the doorbell and this time, someone opened the door. “Hello, madam,” said Tommy quite shyly. Then he asked, “Is Fox here?”

The woman, Fox's mother, stared at Tommy with eyes of disbelief. “Are you...a friend of his?” she asked. Tommy nodded in agreement. The woman slightly raised her eyebrows, she was surprised. “Well, that's something new,” she commented with a little smile.

“I don't understand,” Tommy replied back, almost above a whisper. The woman just smiled and invited Tommy in. He entered but with confusion in his eyes. Fox had never invited someone to his house before? “We have a lot in common,” Tommy thought with a little smile.

“Fox is in the shower right now, so you can wait in his room,” Fox's mother said after closing the front door. “It's upstairs, second door on your left.”

“Thank you,” Tommy replied, still above a whisper as he climbed up the stairs.

Second door on the left...there it was. Tommy turned the doorknob and entered the room. “Seems like he didn't clean up since a huge while,” Tommy thought with a smile. He closed the door behind him. The room wasn't really big. A bunk bed, a desk (in an awful state), a cupboard (worst than the desk) and on the floor lied a variety of stuff like some comic books, old socks (which seemed to need an urgent wash), some pieces of legos and etc. Tommy couldn't help but laugh a little. “My god...he's a pig!” Tommy whispered with a laugh. Then he sat on the bed and waited for Fox. He looked around with curious eyes. On the ceiling, there were some drawings of stars. Tommy loved stars-filled sky too.

“So long to take a bath?” Tommy thought as he removed his shoes. He wasn't wearing any socks, as he didn't expect to spend a huge while with Fox. He came to say hi and talk a little and then he would go back home. “Damn! I should have put some cream on!” He whined as he scratched his toes (of his left foot) gently. He had really sensitive feet. Sometimes the itchings were really awful. Shawn once told him he had the same problem but after putting a medical cream everyday, it went away. It went away after 2 weeks of that medical cream application. Tommy started since some days. A little while after the itchings started. Only Shawn knew about it. “Gee, c'mon, stop! Please!” Tommy whispered. He didn't want Fox to know about it. Why? He couldn't tell.

“Me and my stupid mind!” Tommy thought with anger. Why did he forget to put on that cream? Then, the door opened. Fox entered and closed the door behind him. He was a bit wet and was wearing nothing except a white towel around his waist and black sandals.

“Tommy? Hey! How are you? What are you doing here?” Fox asked, surprised and amazed by his friend's visit. The latter smiled back and immediately stopped scratching his toes. Even if the itchings were a bit horrible.

“I..ahem..I came to say hi and to talk,” Tommy replied. “Did I..do something wrong?” He asked as a little bit of fear entered his heart.

“Nah! I'm really glad you came,” Fox said with a big warm smile. “Tired of your shoes?” The black haired boy commented with a smile as he noticed his friend was barefoot. The latter's face redened.

“Oh, sorry 'bout that,” Tommy answered as he picked his shoes up to put them back on. But Fox quickly approached his friend, took the shoes and put them near the door. Tommy didn't understand.

“No need to be soooo shy around me. Look at me, I'm almost naked. So if you wanna let your feet out, no problem. Besides I ain't going to put on my shoes just cos' your here!” Fox said, laughing a bit in the end. Tommy smiled with him. “Now, give me a moment and I'll be all yours,” Fox said as he opened his closet to take out a t-shirt, a pair of boxers and a pair of long shorts. “Unless you wanna see me in Adam's state!” Fox joked to make his friend laugh. It didn't work that much as Tommy felt something else at that moment.

“There!” Fox said with a smile after dressing up. He closed the closet and climbed on the bed to sit next to his friend. He had put the radio on before climbing on the bed. “So, what's up?” Fox asked with his pretty smile.

“Nothing much, really. My mom went to Chicago to visit her sister, my dad acted a bit strange this morning. He didn't even talk to me. And...by the way, your mom acted weird with me. Why? It was like if I was an alien or something,” Tommy replied, smiling a bit in the end.

“Really? Geez. Well, you're the first friend I have who came to see me at home, that's why my mom was surprised. She always asked me why I never invited my friends, guess she's happy now,” Fox explained with a little laugh.

“I'm the only one to have come to visit you at home? How come? I mean, it's not like you're not popular or that you're ugly and such,” Tommy asked as a reply. He always thought popular and cute guys were never alone. They always got visits or phonecalls. Tommy never had a phonecall or a visit. But, it was because he was ugly and not popular. Well, that's what he thought.

“I had friends, of course. Dozens of them. But they weren't real friends. They didn't even care about me, so I always told them to never show up here. But now...you're here. There's Kevin, Corey and Shawn. I know I'm not that close to them, but I'm sure we're going to be like brothers soon. And with you...well...the only way we could get even closer than we are actually is by having sex! Hehehehe.” Fox explained as he put an arm across Tommy's shoulders.

Tommy smiled back, but the last sentence almost made his heart stop. He was scared of his feelings. Was he like Shawn? Or was it because he never had a girlfriend? Or maybe...it's cos' he never had such a close friend like Fox...damn!! Those itchings started all over again! “That's...that's sweet...” Tommy replied, almost whispering. Then, as he couldn't resist, he started scratching his toes a little. Fox didn't really notice. Then the latter started to talk about a movie he saw in which the story of a character looked like his. Tommy tried his best to listen, but the itchings were too strong. He went on scratching his toes gently. Then, Fox noticed.

“What's wrong?” the black haired boy asked with a little smile and concern in his eyes. Tommy replied that it was nothing but the look Fox gave him made him confess his little problem. “Oh I see,” Fox commented after Tommy's explanation.

“I know...it's gross...I'm sorry,” Tommy said as an apology. He didn't want to pollute the good atmosphere. It was almost like he was going to cry. Fox started to laugh. “What's so funny?” Tommy asked, confusion in his eyes.

[Song: Fox & Tommy]

“You're so special, you know that?” Fox replied after his laugh, with a big warm smile. “Gimme that foot,” He asked Tommy. The latter's eyes doubled with confusion. “C'mon, I ain't going to hurt you,” Fox said to reassure his friend. Tommy approached his left foot, Fox lifted it on his lap. He started to rub it gently. “It happened to me...well...it was on my hands but still, it's the same thing,” He explained as he opened his bed drawer to take out a tube of medical cream. He poured some on his hands and went on rubbing Tommy's foot. “You like that?” Fox asked with a smile as he looked at his friend's relieved face.

“Oooohhh ye...I mean...yes...” answered Tommy, almost whispering. But then, fear came back in his heart. Not much though. Tommy stared at the black haired boy, his smile, his gentle touch. The butterflies in his stomach and the fast beating of his heart made Tommy realize what were those feelings...

“Hey, you're gonna owe me a foot rub too,” Fox said as he went on rubbing Tommy's foot. They both laughed and enjoy that moment. A moment of joy. “You told me Shawn was ticklish, right? Specially on his feet, right?” Fox asked with a mischievous smile.

“Yeeaahhh...I mean...yeah...” Tommy answered, not even doubting what was up ahead. Fox looked at his friend and his mischievous smile grew.

“You know, there's a question I'm asking myself right now,” Fox said as he firmly gripped Tommy's foot. He had Tommy's foot in an ankle lock. Tommy asked him what was that question. Fox laughed a bit and replied, “I was wondering if you are as ticklish as your cousin!”

Tommy's eyes widened as Fox started to tickle his feet. Tommy started to laugh hysterically. He was ticklish all right. Fox scratched playfully Tommy's sole, heel and toes. Tommy was laughing like crazy. But a question didn't stop popping up in his mind, “Could this be love?”