Disclaimer: If I owned Degrassi, the show would revolve around Darco. And since Dylan's barely ever on it, much less it having a lot of Darco-based plots, I don't own it. Boo.

Title: Catch Me

Pairing: Mostly Darco, duh. Also some Crellie, Spaige and Jashley.

Spoilers: If You Leave. Also Sunglasses At Night, but briefly.

Setting: This story is set a couple months after If You Leave. AU from there, and a bit before. Craig never had a coke addiction and is now with Ellie, and Paige and Spinner are back together. Paige lives with Marco and Ellie.

Rating: PG-13 / T

Summary: Ever since Dylan had left to go play hockey for Zurich, Marco hadn't been the same. Everyone thought he was acting very 'Pre-Sean Ellie.' They didn't know how right they were.

Author's Note: I thought up this idea while I was trying to get to sleep the other night. So I decided to share.

Flames: Are not welcome. No matter what you say about my story, I'll never change it. So don't bother.

Style: I'm an angst writer. Learn it, live it, love it. xoxo

Warnings: Self mutilation (cutting)

d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o

"Marco, you need more fun in your life," Paige said, crossing her arms as Marco sat on the couch in their living room, flipping through a book for one of his college courses. "I mean, really. Since Dylan's left you've been this emo wannabe. You're starting to remind me of Ellie."

"Hey!" Ellie said in protest, looking over at Paige from the front door. "I resent that."

Ignoring the red head, Paige sat down next to Marco, and closed the book in his lap. She also decided to ignore the glare he gave her. "Marco, it's been two months. You need to stop being so depressed. Dylan wouldn't want this for you."

"It hasn't been two months," Marco said softly, staring at the cover of the book.

"What?"

"I said," Marco started, looking back up at Paige. "It hasn't been two months."

Ellie looked over at Paige, who looked confused. The red head just shrugged. "Uh, yeah, Marco. It has."

"No, it hasn't," Marco said more forcefully this time. "It's been two months, one week, five days, eighteen hours and," he checked his watch, "twenty six minutes since Dylan's left."

The two girls stared at Marco for a moment, before Paige shook her head, trying to rid herself of the thoughts that Marco was slowly going crazy, and grinned. "I have an idea. How about we all hang out tonight? Order a pizza, rent a couple movies, and have fun. You need it."

Marco looked skeptical. "Who's 'we'?"

"Well, you know. Me, you, Spinner, Jimmy, Ashley. And I guess Ellie and Craig can join in, too. If they want. You know, the gang. It can be a little 'cheer Marco up because before you know it he's going to be wearing all black and listening to emo music' get together. What do you say?"

God help them, Marco was actually considering it. After a few moments, he nodded, shrugging. "Fine. But let me study in the meantime."

Grinning, Paige sat up from the couch, clasping her hands together. "Deal!" She quickly grabbed her cell phone from her purse and started dialing numbers, obviously intent on getting everyone there.

Why did Marco have a bad feeling about all this?

d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o

"I love this part!" Ellie said, grinning as she pointed to the screen. The gang was in the middle of watching House of Wax. At the moment, Paris' character was running away from the killer. And everyone looked pretty amused at the scene. Everyone except Marco, that was.

"Oh my god, did he just stick that in her foot?" Paige quickly covered her eyes, flinching as she snuggled in closer to Spinner. "That's so gross."

"Hey, it's better than Black Christmas. The killers in that movie like to eat eyeballs," Craig said, grinning. This didn't seem to help Paige. If anything, she seemed even more mortified than she had before.

"I'll be right back," Marco said quietly, getting up from the couch. He didn't want to be hanging out with his friends right now. They were all snuggling up to each other. They were acting like couples. And it just made him miss Dylan more. He wanted his boyfriend back. He wanted to be with the one person who could make him as happy as all his friends were at the moment. He needed Dylan.

"Okay, but hurry. We're not pausing, this is way too good," Ellie said, her eyes glued to the screen.

"Nice way to make the evening all about Marco, Ellie," Paige said, sending a small glare the red head's way. She turned to the young Italian man. "We'll pause it. But if you're not back in five minutes, we're continuing without you."

"Paige, you just want a reason to stop watching," Spinner said, rolling his eyes slightly.

"He just stabbed her foot, Spin," Paige said, giving Spinner one of her infamous 'duh' looks. "Who really wants to see that?"

"Uh, me?" Spinner answered, raising his eyebrows.

Shaking his head, Marco started towards the staircase. When Paige called after him, he turned, shrugging. "I got it. Five minutes," he said, nodding. When Paige seemed satisfied with his answer, Marco made his way up the stairs. As he entered the bathroom, he kicked the door behind him, but didn't seem to notice when it didn't shut all the way. He got his razor out from the medicine cabinet and lifted up his sleeve, before pressing the cool blades to his skin.

d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o

"Can we watch it now?" Spinner asked, getting a little impatient. Why did they have to wait for Marco, anyway? Yeah, sure, their friend had been depressed lately. He got that. That's why they were all hanging out together, for him. But Marco had already seen the movie twice times. With Dylan. How was watching every second of it going to make him feel better about his boyfriend being gone? Exactly. It wasn't.

"No. It's only been four minutes," Paige said, looking over at the staircase from her spot on the couch. "Maybe someone should go check on him."

"Why?" Craig asked, staring at Paige with a confused look. "Afraid he's fallen in the toilet or something? C'mon, he's fine."

"Craig, he's depressed. He misses his boyfriend," Ellie said, giving her own boyfriend a look that said 'don't be such an insensitive jerk.' Craig help up his hands in surrender, smiling innocently.

"Maybe he called Dylan," Spinner said, shrugging. When Paige moved to stand up, he put a hand on her arm, stopping her. "I'll go check on him. You stay here. But don't start the movie without me."

As Spinner made his way up the stairs and down the hallway, he looked around, listening for any sign of where Marco would be. "Marco?" No answer. He opened the boy's door, looking inside the room. No sign of him. And his phone had been tossed on his bed, forgotten. Which meant he wasn't on the phone with Dylan. As Spinner closed the dark haired boy's door, a light caught his eye. The bathroom door was a smidge open. "Marco?" Spinner knocked on the door before pushing it the rest of the way open, and his eyes went wide. "Dude, what the hell are you doing?"

There Marco was, sitting on the closed toilet seat, a razor in his hand. Blood flowed freely from cuts on the inside of his arm, and tears were streaming down Marco's face.

d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o

Haley: I know it's short, and I'm sorry. This just seemed like a good place to end it. Now, I know I usually invite characters for my after chapters, but I don't know which ones! So, you know what? You choose for me!

Marco: Well, you obviously have to have me. The story's about me!

Haley: Yes, of course, it has to have Marco. You pick the others. I need at least one more, two at the most! Anyway, review please. Love ya'll! Kisses!