Degrassi The Next Generation - Riley Stavros/Zane Park (Slash)
Fandom: Degrassi: The Next Generation
Pairing: Riley Stavros/Zane Park
Theme set: Epsilon
Title: My Guy
Rating: mildly M-rated
Warnings: Slash, mentions of eating disorders and sex and drunken stupidity, character death, pet death, language, violence, self-hate but no self-violence, and homophobia.
Note: Season 10 setting mostly. With some futureverse.
#01 - Motion
Riley claims "he has moves" when they go to another LGBT mixer in another year--the both of them completely out this time--and Zane bites his lip to prevent what might possibly be considered an "maybe not so kind" laugh from slipping out as his boyfriend does an awkward (but so cute) standing jig.
#02 - Cool
If he shifted a millimeter on his stomach to the coverlet, the sunburned skin on his back throbbed and screeched in protest--even if it continued to hurt like fucking hell--the sensation of the healing aloe glossed on Zane's lightly massaging fingers was going to be absolutely worth it.
#03 - Young
Thirty years doesn't strip the light from Zane's trademark gorgeous smile, and Riley savors the soft press of those lips on his, is luggage crashing forgotten on the airport's floor as they embrace cozily.
#04- Last
"...Zane, for real this time, I'm not volunteering the team to wear hula skirts for the school's fundraising Hawaiian luau... I don't care if your ass looks good in it, man they'll kill me..."
#05 - Wrong
Riley woke from his concussion in the hospital down the far east side of town and distinctly remembered seeing Zane's sunny smile from the passenger seat of his Dad's car, then the feel of his own head impacting against the spider-webbing cracks of the windshield... but never the details of their last precious conversation before the haul truck stripped apart the right side of the car.
#06 - Gentle
When Riley was expelled for a brutal fight on school grounds, Zane lost his seldom temper for the first time and punched a shell-shocked Riley on his shoulder once in a faint but fierce motion.
#07 - One
Before joining the football team, he thought 'the two Rileys theory' had to be a delusion; Zane only knew one--who distracted him with the strong scent of his men's powdery deodorant and something deliciously peppery from lunch--who knew Zane was ticklish on his stomach but never used it against him unfairly--who purposely went out of his way to open doors for him on their dates, and made his day wonderful.
#08 - Thousand
He would spend a thousand minutes under Chinese water torture and scalped, mutilated, flayed alive, thrown to ravenous blood-thirsty animals--than to lay a single hand on Zane out of anger.
#09 - King
The crowd watches below as a ridiculously tacky crown crown is placed on the top of Riley's head; the Greek boy descends from the stage, arms crossed, and glaring uncomfortably at an also crowned Fiona who sneers nastily on the opposite end of the gym-- "It should have been you," Riley mutters out of the corner of his mouth, unfolding his arms to slip a hand into a now grinning Zane's.
#10 - Learn
His fist swung all the way back and landed squarely with a hard SLAM into the drywall-- as Riley's harasser (wide-eyed but very much undamaged) retreated from the lobby of the movie theater, Zane closed his eyes and let out a shaky, reassured breath.
#11 - Blur
The grass spun above and beneath him when the defensive lineman hit him hard, rolling with him; blue and yellow and red and green polyester jerseys muddied; a splatter of blood, as Riley spat out his mouth-guard; the shouting occupants mingled together in different flesh and fabric colors; finally, the world righted again as his concerned kicker heaved the lineman off him.
#12 - Wait
"Most people pronounce it in English "Za-das-ja-ee-kee" but the biggest problem I have with the stuff is that my Mom puts too much garlic in it," Riley said, making a face and turning away from the lumpy white bread dipping on the kitchen counter, "it will totally stink up your breath so don't--" and Zane incidentally did not catch that part, blissfully chewing his portion because it was just so darn good.
#13 - Change
There was no cure for homosexuality--no amount of specialized and expensive therapy, no matter how many girls he went steady with, no drugs or advice--and there was no cure he wanted for Zane.
#14 - Command
"Don't...' --and Riley's hands scrabbling to undo the buttons of his jeans still from their ministrations as his boyfriend says this to him sternly, and Zane slowly and sensually grins, his thumb brushing the denim of Riley's jeans and subsequently Riley's erection-- "Let me do it, Rile."
#15 - Hold
The construction site; Riley's secret clubhouse; is disassembled when funds for it disappear, to nothing but a bare spot of soil next to the apartments--"Nowhere to hide anymore?" Zane asks teasingly, slipping an arms snugly around his waist, and the other boy returns the gesture quietly.
#16 - Need
Sometimes, just sometimes, Riley wasn't the only one for who encouragement could be a necessity... but Zane accepted that it was a very difficult process of coming out for the other teenager.
#17 - Vision
Admittedly, Riley had never seen Zane in his soccer uniform, and he wished--crossing his legs awkwardly over the magically formed tent in his track pants--that he had not the chance to be cruelly exposed to Zane's bare, slim calves and those tight, ugly as hell but so sexy, Crayola-blue knee socks.
#18 - Attention
With a haughty expression, Riley turned in his chair and proudly held out his B plus final--"Didn't know you were dating a brainac, did you?"--and Zane's light brown eyes bugged out in astonishment--"...wait, you're actually acknowledging our relationship in the middle of biology class?"
#19 - Soul
Riley Stavros was more than his fellow bad movie critic, his personal mechanic and trainer, his teammate, his captain, his eye-opener to the glorious world of Greek cuisine, his project partner, his occasional source of disappointment, his high school sweetheart who was still shy about being intimate--he was his excuse to slip out the back window and sprint through a blinding snowstorm to answer a sobbing voicemail; he opposed Zane's personality by being reckless and insecure and didn't seem to quite fit him, but, Zane could not lie to himself and say the challenge hadn't been worth it.
#20 - Picture
"I need a bookmark or something..." Riley complains, tossing aside dirtied knee-guards, and Zane stops rummaging through the desk drawer to hold up a long photo strip from their date at the mall--"How about this?"--and Riley was sure that his boyfriend's smile couldnt' get anymore smug.
#21 - Fool
Regardless of whether or not Riley was going to kill him in that axe-murderer getup, Zane was honestly pissed that he didn't even consider their texting conversation about the matching costumes.
#22 - Mad
Zane had told him that 'mad' had several meanings associated with it--it was not just aggression--"I must be mad to even take you back this time," he would murmur to himself when they were alone, chest-to-chest with Riley, heartbeat-to-heartbeat--it was the nature of their relationship.
#23 - Child
"Mom..." A now fretful Mrs. Stavros glanced around to her fidgeting son in the doorway to her bedroom, shifting the evening's laundry under her right arm; "...We need to talk..."; behind her son, a Asian boy she had briefly seen over summer made eye contact with her and smiled in...was she mistaken...sympathy?
#24 - Now
Anya shoved him pointedly and mouthed 'What are you waiting for?' and he simpered over his shoulder at her excited look, flushing when Zane waved a little from across the packed hallway.
#25 - Shadow
Self-hatred use to hang over his consciousness and his thoughts like a suffocating veil, wrapping around his insides, around his lungs, around him like a second nature to his being; the enlightenment Zane had bestowed upon him manged to cox it, bit by bit, to unwind from around his heart.
#26 - Goodbye
Losing wasn't an option in Riley's agenda, and losing the person who transformed him into someone worth growing into also wasn't.
#27 - Hide
He wasn't shaken by the thought of personal demons--Riley had fought them forever--but he hadn't even considered that Zane may have had any to share.
#28 - Fortune
The price for the bouquet of individually dyed purple roses was outrageous and he was fairly certain he had been scammed--the amazed look on Zane's face canceled out any additional mental griping.
#29 - Safe
There were few places for a homosexual teenage boy in a heterosexual-driven society to feel safe; at school it was washing off the black permanent marker or shaving cream words on your locker of 'Die homo' or 'Go home fag''; at home it was pretending that you were too caught up in studies to date; but in his arms, there was no need to be afraid of rejection of to pretend about your true feelings.
#30 - Ghost
They both agreed... a haunting or curse at Degrassi and a threat of a zombie apocalypse caused by organic bananas did not come close to the sheer terror that were... mimes.
#31 - Book
When Mrs. Kwan asks them to read The Great Gatsby through 'a different lens' for their paper and to impress her, implying something major, his initial panic dwindles off when an excited Zane holds out their literary theory textbook, jabbing a finger at the fourth chapter labeled 'Queer Lens'.
#32 - Eye
Owen returns the favor one day of receiving a fist to the face, only it was the wrong person--on Wednesday morning, Zane finishes icing his black eye and hopes to god that Riley doesn't ask.
#33 - Never
"I've never forced myself on a girl," Peter said proudly, holding up his Styrofoam cup--with a wince, Riley took a deep drink--"More than once," peter then included with an evil smile and his best friend muttered a cuss under his breath as the vodka was raised to his lips again--"In front of her parents?" Zane piped up, hoping to end Riley's torture, and his face fell when the curly-haired boy groaned uneasily, close to draining the entirety of his glass--"In front of her parents and without clothes?" Peter asked eagerly, near cackling as Riley took another sip but a much tinier one; Zane stared in disbelief--"She had her clothes on...I didn't," he murmured timidly.
#34 - Sing
Riley starts... well, it sounds like yowling... off-ket while taking a shower and his boyfriend resists the temptation to 'by accident' toss a loofa at him, clear over the glass pane of the sliding shower door.
#35 - Sudden
The fire-engine red colour of Zane's spiky hair is highly distracting; Riley touches a strand hanging above his boyfriend's ear cautiously, frowning pensively and wondering how temporary it was.
#36 - Stop
Drew purposely turns the opposite direction to ignore Riley's hand stroking the small of Zane's back.
#37 - Time
"...Stole the golfing cart in Sunnybrook...?... It was a joyride, man, you made it sound like we are crooks or something..." The blond muttered defensively over his cell phone, and his left ear soon tingled melodically with Zane's clearly amused laughter.
#38 - Wash
Due to someone's carelessness, their old pink shirts find their way into the next load and 'contaminate' the new set of whites--when no one confesses to it, the football team glance meaningfully at Zane and Riley who stare back, one with mounting anger, the other shrugging innocently.
#39 - Torn
After the baseball game, Riley flashes that goofy and boyishly charming grin at him through the tinted taxi window, Zane agonizes a little between his original plan of going home or finding a suitable justification to having him roll down the window so he could snatch Riley's polo and pull him into a passionate kiss.
#40 - History
"I had an eating disorder when I was eleven... I was a bigger kid than what was my age group and I hated myself," Zane admitted aloud, gripping Riley's hand hard enough to bruise, and Riley thought it wiser to remain silent as light brown eyes moistened, "...But it is possible to overcome that kind of hatred, Riley... I want you to understand that you aren't alone..."
#41 - Power
The sport trophies littering his bedroom symbolized something deeper to him in the past--each one as he grew older symbolized how normal he was, how admired he was, how straight he was--and now they could be what they should have been: just sport trophies.
#42 - Bother
Riley glared heatedly at the popular student teacher Mr. Del Rossi who handed Zane the new LGBT flyers and winked handsomely.
#43 - God
His parents had raised him Greek Orthodox--God controlled anything and everything--but religion couldn't scare him away from sinful, stolen kisses at the corner booth of the Dot or the park's bench.
#44 - Wall
"Haah..." A sweating Zane gasps with his mouth open to Riley's shoulder, tightening his legs and his thin back arching against the school's cinderblock wall, "...C-could we have picked a better place to do this?"
#45 - Naked
It turns out the reason his boyfriend didn't want to remove his clothes when they fooled around that summer was because he was self-conscious about his chest hair--when Zane learns this, he can hardly resist the urge to make a confusing comment about virility and settles for 'all the more to love about you'.
#46 - Drive
It was fifty miles between their universities, and they couldn't afford the gas money, and they sincerely didn't care.
#47 - Harm
"...Please don't do anything rash, Riley..." he pleads, flinching a moment when Riley's shaking fingers tenderly brush the purplish-black disfiguration around Zane's eye and temple.
#48 - Precious
Zane had no personal experiences with pets or how important they could be to their owners but what he could do was provide comfort, and he did, gently clasping a choked-up Riley's shoulder as they somberly buried 'Agatone the Parakeet' in a Nike shoebox tied with black ribbons in the backyard.
#49 - Hunger
"Give me a bite of that," Riley orders from across the table, smirking--Zane rips a large portion of his burger out and presents it to him still between his teeth, raiding his eyebrows suggestively.
#50 - Believe
They were young and stupid, and they didn't question that for a second--Riley had no absolute certainty that Zane wouldn't dump him for the next overwhelmingly moronic blunder--Zane couldn't be sure if Riley was emotionally stable or assured enough in his sexuality to consider anything past high school--and that didn't stop them from trying, because it would kind of suck if they did.