This is dedicated to Eggman Oyu Castle! Sorry it's not your favorite pairing!

--

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew. He knew that there was nothing he could do. This was his end, his finishing point. This was the last time he would ever kiss the m-

"Oi! Fred! What're you doing up here all by your lonesome?" A red headed boy bounded into the room, plucking the book from his brothers hands. Startled, Fred jumped a bit, then turned to glare lightly at his twin.

"What does it look like I'm doing George?"

"Well, to me it looked like you were reading. And from the looks of it," he said, studying th cover, "it seems to be a gay romance novel?" He looked at Fred, a questioning glint in his eyes.

Fred shrugged. "Hermione gave it to me. Said it was an 'interesting' book. I wasn't reading it for the sex scenes ya' know."

George got a devilish looking grin on his face. "Mhm. Sure you weren't." He gave a close eyed grin and slunk his arm around his brothers neck. "I'm sure you got hard just reading it. I bet you'd get even harder if it were really happening."

With the hand that wasn't draped over Fred's neck, George reached down and grabbed Fred.

Fred let out a sharp gasp, his face tinging pink, and getting all hot. George whistled. "You really are hard."

"Why would that happen when I'm reading about two men fucking each other?!" Fred yelled, wrenching himself away from his double.

"Well mate, I don't know. Maybe it's because you're gay? But why should I care? I won't tell no one."

Fred's hands had balled into fists, and were shaking violently at his sides.

"Of course mum may be surprised you want to bang a man but-"

"Shut up!" Fred yelled again, lunging and then tackling his brother to the ground. His fists came down hard onto his brothers body and face, his eyes stinging with tears. Why he was getting so emotional he didn't know. George was only joking. Right?

"Fred! Fred, stop it!" George said, frantically trying to grab the others wrists. "God damn Fred! I said... STOP!"

George finally grabbed hold of Fred's wrists, and wrestled them to his sides. Staring at Fred's tear streaked face, George sighed.

"Get off me. You can have your book back."

Fred looked in his eyes, searching, but not finding, the sincerity he had hoped there would be. "God George I hate you!" Fred quickly stood and ran out the door, not looking back once as he fled from the house.

"You hate me? Isn't that going a little too far Fred?" George looked after him, a sad look crossing his face. He brought a hand to his face, wincing as a pain shot through him. His face was swollen and ginger. "It was only a joke. I didn't mean anything by it." Sighing he stared out the window for a moment before glancing around one more time, then standing up to walk out the door.

He took the doorknob, preparing to open the door when he spotted the book his brother had been reading. Suddenly very curious, he picked up the book, flipping it so he could read the back.

On the back, it read like so:

Jeriahs is a young boy living in the modern day U.S.A. He was your average boy, in your average world. With one, small, exception.

In the world he lived, people who were... Different... were often killed or kicked from the city they lived in.

Jeriahs was different. He had only one true love. Only problem was, the person he loved was a man. Now he's on a run around the country, trying to stay alive, but also trying to get his feelings across to the one he loved.
George felt his heart beating faster with every word he read. Just read the back made his heart pound like drums. "Wow.. He wasn't kidding. This story seems so.. Intriguing." George let go of the doorknob and took his brothers spot on the bed. He opened to the first page and began reading.

--

Elsewhere, Fred sat crying on a park bench, his eyes red, watery, and puffed up. His head hurt and his heart felt heavy. Why did he have to go and say something like that? Fred gave a shuddering sigh, and stared absently, with a blank look on his face, in front of him.

"Fred?"

Someone came up behind him and tapped him ever so lightly on the shoulder. "It is you!! What are you doing here? Did you finish the book I lent you?" Fred turned blankly to look at the person talking to him.

"Hermione? Oh. I'm here because... um..." he paused, his voice slurred as though he were drunk, "I forgot." He had turned his brain off and was now working on auto-pilot. His eyes were glazed over, his face ghostly.

Hermione stared at him in disbelief. This wasn't the normal Fred. Normally, he and his double were upbeat, a pain in the ass, and just plain rowdy! But now, he was depressed, and in a trance like state. It looked as though he'd seen a ghost! (Not that it was all that unusual, going to a school filled with them.)

"May I sit?" She asked softly, or as if speaking to someone that was deathly ill and in the hospital. She gestured to the open spot next to him and he nodded. She sat, and turned to look at Fred. "What's wrong? You look depressed."

"I'm not."

"You're lying."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"I'm n-"

"Stop lying Fred! You're not the normal you!" Hermione huffed at him. "I'm worried and you won't even tell me what's wrong!"

Fred turned his eyes to Hermione and saw the worried look that she always gave Harry in her eyes. She was really concerned. Starting to cry again he said, his voice chocked, "George. He called me gay. I was reading the book you lent me. He came in, took the book, and started to make fun of me. I punched him in the face and them left."

"Really? Well, it shouldn't bother you that much. You're gay aren't you?"

"Hermione," Fred whispered, lowering his voice until she almost couldn't hear him, "You don't how much it hurts to be called gay by the one you love most."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Your family. They don't know?"

Fred shook his head.

"Oh Fred!" She cried, "I shouldn't have lent you that book. I should've just-"

"Hermione, stop. It's fine. I really should just learn to like girls, well... Sexually. At least then I'll seem somewhat normal." Fred said in a flat voice. His eyes were locked on the ground. Letting out a sigh, and wiping away a fresh wave of tears her muttered, "Or maybe it's just time that I come clean."

"If you think you can," Hermione said, setting a gentle hand on his back. "It's not going to be easy. I mean, you've kept it a secret for so long."

"There's nothing else I can do. They're going to find out sooner or later. I'll probably be kicked out of the house but it's better then living a lie."

"Fred..."

"Ne, Hermione, can I kiss you?"

She answered him quietly, "If you think it'll help." Surprise coated her voice. Fred's eyes shifted from the ground to Hermione's brown eyes. They, like herself, were sincere.

"Are you absolutely sure? I don't want Ron to get mad at you."

"Don't worry about it. Ron won't care."

"If you're absolutely sure..." Fred muttered quietly, almost to himself. Looking only for a brief moment more, Fred leaned in and pressed his lips to Hermione's, his hand reaching to twine his finger through her hair.

Hermione's eyes drifted closed as she fell pry to Fred's kiss. Her hand traveled his body as if it were her own. Her tongue played with Fred's, daring it to go further.

He closed his eyes, too, but he didn't feel the same rush he did as when he was with a guy. It felt... Different. He let his lips longer a moment longer before breaking away. His eyes opened to find hers staring back.

"So...?"

"'So' what?"

"Did you get a jittery feeling?"

Fred shook his head sadly.

"Not at all?"

Again he shook his head.

"Damn. Not a thing."

He let out another sigh. "I'm a lost cause. Destined to be gay for life."

"You're not hopeless. Trust me. I've seen hopeless and you're not it."

"I'm sorry." A single tear rolled down his cheek as he leaned against Hermione's shoulder.

--

George closed the book, his hands shaking and his eyes dripping with tears. He'd read the book, all the way through without stopping. Now her understood why Fred and had reading the book. It was heart wrenching. In the end, Jeriahs was never able to confess. He died by the hands of the man he loved.

He was brought back into reality when there was a loud knock at the door. Quickly, he brushed away what tears were left, before the person behind the door opened it.

A moment later, a plump, red-headed lady stepped into the room. She wore her frizzy red hair in two clips to keep it out of her eyes and a simple dress with an apron over it. "Fred? Have you seen George? He ran out the door an hour and a half ago and hasn't come back."

"Mum, I'm George. Not Fred."

"Oh Sorry George. Have you seen or heard from Fred, then?"

George looked at the floor, too afraid to look his mother in the eye. "Mum, I think I've hurt Fred. Not physically," Gently, he touched the spot on his face where Fred had hit him, "but mentally."

"What do you mean, deary?" Ms. Weasly tried laying a hand on his back but he shook it off.

"I said some awfully mean things to him. Words I only meant as a joke. But he took it more seriously than I thought he would."

Still confused, Mrs. Weasly asked, dumbfounded, "Deary, I'm not quite following."

"I called him gay mum, for reading a book about gay men. I touched him in the sensitive place." He gave a slightly insane smile, as though he were remembering something so unpleasant it was pleasant. "I think I've done it. I think I've run Fred out of the house." He gave a nervous, some what chocked laugh.

Mrs. Weasly had a shocked look on her face. "George, what have you done? Your brother is gay, darling! You're the only one who didn't know! He doesn't know we know either, though. George, we'd already accepted it and now look at what you've done."

Check back in a couple of days for updates... It's not done yet. Sorry for the wait.