I'll go ahead and state this now: the first four chapters of this were written awhile ago. They're not exactly great. My writing style has changed, the focus of this story has changed, etc. They still fit the story, though, so I left them. To put it shortly, please don't judge this story by the first chapter or two. Thanks.

Warnings include: a little more angst/drama than really needed, slash, mentioned het and rape, death, unlikely events, etc. lie ahead. Read on at your own risk.

A Rose by Any Other Name Still Has Thorns

Vincent groaned, driven on by the heated moans issuing from the man beneath him. Shuddering, he collapsed beside his partner on the bed, opening an eye and giving a lop-sided smile. He reached out and brushed some of the blonde hair out of Will's mismatched eyes, earning a heart-melting smile from the other man.

"Love you," he murmured.

"Vinny..." Will replied with a contented sigh.

"Vinny? Vinny... Oh, Vinny..."

Vincent was rudely awakened by something rather heavy, a person, sitting on his bed and grabbing his shoulders to shake him from his sleep. He groaned before tentatively opening his eyes, holding up a hand to shield his eyes from the harsh glare of the overhead light. His heart dropped to his stomach upon seeing his dorm mate grinning down at him.

"Come on, Vinny," Will said, standing up now that he had successfully completed the task of waking up the older man. "We've got class in a bit over half an hour," he continued, moving over to the mini fridge to find breakfast for his friend. "That should give you enough time to shower, right? I mean, you do kind of need it. You smell pretty bad, Vin." Will glanced back at his friend's bed, grinning at his joke. His grin soon faded, though; Vincent hadn't moved other than to pull the covers up over his head.

"Viiinceent..." Will whined, moving back to the other's bed. "Come on, man. Seriously. Get up."

"Go 'way, Will," Vincent muttered. "I'm skipping today."

Will frowned. "Vincent...you've been skipping a lot lately. You know I'm glad to let you borrow my notes and stuff...but you know it's not going to be enough. It's one thing to copy your best friend's notes. It's another to actually have it taught to you. There's no way you'll pass the course at this rate..." Will let his babbling trail off. He knew it wouldn't do any good. And Vincent would still pass. He was just one of those people that was always lucky enough to pull off miracles like that. And while he was concerned about his friend's grades, the real reason behind his concern was simply that he missed the other man while in class. 'I worry about you, Vinny,' he'd often wanted to say. 'You mean a lot to me, you know?'

"I know, I know," Vincent muttered. "I'll come to class tomorrow, okay? Promise."

Will sighed heavily, but moved for the door anyway. "If you say so, Vinny," he said quietly, grabbing an apple from the bowl on the table as he passed it. He cast another glance at the immobile lump in the bed before stepping out of the dorm, locking the door before closing it behind himself.

"You just don't understand it, do you, Vinny?" he said quietly as he walked down the hallway. He slipped the apple into the messenger bag that hung from his shoulder. He wasn't hungry right now.

~Vincent~

I sat up after his closed the door, leaning forward on my knees. These fantasies were getting ridiculous. I'd had them before, sure, but I thought about him most of the time, now.

I'd met him two years ago when he first came to college. He was assigned as my dorm mate; my pervious one had dropped out. Will was fresh out of high school and eager to start college. I was drawn to his cheerful nature and seemingly boundless energy. He was a sweet kid. I had been dating this girl at the time. Audrey, I think. She had this unbelievable flame-red hair and long, gorgeous legs. She was a great girlfriend, but it just didn't last. We were only friends in passing, now.

Still, I'd had a girlfriend when I had met him. We became friends fairly quickly. I won't deny that I was attracted to him; his personality was great. And he wasn't bad on the eyes at all. He had, and still has, this blonde hair. It's not golden or anything. It almost has a grayish undertone. But I still like it. And his eyes...I love his eyes. They aren't even the same color. The right one is blue and the left is green...or the other way around, really. They were framed by these fairly long eyelashes. He was sweet, outgoing, pretty, and I was completely smitten.

Now don't start thinking that he opened my eyes to the attractive qualities of men. I had already discovered my bisexuality and had already had a boyfriend or two. So it wasn't like a door was opened and I discovered my true sexual preference. I still liked women; I just liked him better than my girlfriend.

I started having fantasies about him awhile back. They were few and far between, but I still had them. They're much more frequent, now...more like an every night thing. I dream about having sex with him and declaring my undying love, only to wake up and remembering that, no, he's my best friend. My dorm mate. Nothing more. He could never be anything more. And after the end of this semester, I would never see him again.

~Will~

I absent-mindedly jotted down notes as the professor spoke. I wasn't too concerned about it. Whatever I didn't catch, the tape recorder I'd brought would. I was glad that I'd remembered it, today. I had a lot on my mind and would rather think, today.

I met Vincent two years ago. When I first saw him, I was a little skeptical of him. His spiked-up hair was dyed a bright purple and his fingernails were painted black. His eyes were a dark red color, the color of red wine. Or blood. I remember mentally praying that they were contacts. I don't mind anymore, though; I like his eyes.

Still, I had been a little afraid then. I had asked if he was Vincent Palmer. He said that he was and it was like my fears had been confirmed. I was to be living with this man for four more years, or until he graduated...or dropped out.

Not long afterward, I met his girlfriend, Audrey. She was pretty and was nice when Vincent was around, but whenever he left, it was like a completely different side of her. She would claim that she saw the way Vincent looked at me and that I had better stay the hell away from him if I wanted to live. Once, when meekly pointing out that we shared a dorm and could do nothing to avoid one another, she slapped me. I did my best to avoid her after that. Now that she and Vincent have broken up, she's nicer. We talk sometimes in the halls; she's apologized for the slap and the things she said.

Still, despite Vincent's outward appearance, he was a nice guy. He showed me around campus and was more than willing to walk with me to fast food places for lunch—neither of us have a car and he doesn't even have a license, so we still walk places. I remember having to help him dye his hair a few times once the roots started to show. I learned that his hair was actually a pretty auburn color, but he still wanted to bleach and dye it. Sometimes I've wondered what he would look like if he were to just grow it out. I'm sure it would be pretty, but the purple hair is just a part of him, I guess.

Still, after living with him for a few months, I developed an infatuation for him. I had always suspected that I liked other men. Vincent proved it. I wish I could stop liking him, though. He's not even attracted to men. He had a girlfriend, and I've never seen him show anything even resembling interest in the other guys on the campus. I guess I'm just out of luck.

I looked around the room dully before realizing that class was over. Shutting off the tape recorder, I put all of my things back in my messenger bag and started to leave the class.

"Mr. Rayner, could you stay behind, please?" Mr. McMurray, the professor, called.

I stopped and glanced at my watch before looking back to him. There was plenty of time for whatever he wanted to talk about. "Yes, sir?" I asked, moving over to his desk. I swallowed nervously. Perhaps he'd noticed the fact that I hadn't really been paying attention in class today. I hoped that wasn't the case.

He stood up, towering over me as just about everyone else on campus does. "I noticed that your second shadow Mr. Palmer isn't here today."

"No..." I said slowly, realizing that we were alone in the empty room. "He...he didn't seem to be feeling well this morning. He stayed in bed."

"Hm," Mr. McMurray replied, glancing over at the door. I did the same, seeing that it was closed. "Pity," he said in a low voice. I looked back to him. He was looking at me like some hungry animal on the prowl like I'd seen in various nature programs. I started to back away and he smiled slowly. "Mr. Rayner, come here, please," he said, smiling a little more as he stepped around his desk.

Biting my lower lip, I shook my head. "I really should be go—" I stopped realizing that I'd backed into a wall. "Go-going..." I finished, stammering.

"Oh, I'm sure you could spare a few more minutes, Mr. Rayner," he replied, stopping in front of my and placing his hands on the wall on either side of me. Nowhere to run... Vinny, where are you when I need you?

Vincent was playing solitaire on his laptop when Will walked into their dorm, closing the door behind himself and leaning back against the wood as he gasped in harsh breaths of air.

"Hey, Wil—" Vincent froze as he looked up and saw Will. His eyes were watery and the skin around them was red and puffy from crying. "Will," Vincent whispered, setting the laptop aside and scrambling to his feet before moving over to the other man. "Will...what happened? Tell me...please..." he whispered.

Will let his bag drop to the ground with a thud. He sniffled and wiped tears away from his eyes as he shook his head. He couldn't tell Vincent... How are you supposed to tell your best friend that you were raped by your teacher? He cringed thinking back to it. Mr. McMurray had started pushing his shirt up when a knock had come at the door. Not wanting to be caught, the bastard had come up with some excuse, sending the intruder away. He'd dragged him into his office... He shook his head, trying to clear the images from his head. No matter how he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about the way the teacher had kissed him, touched him. He raised a hand to his mouth and his shoulders jerked a little.

"Will, talk to me, please...!" Vincent begged.

Will shook his head and pushed past Vincent, running to the bathroom, Vincent close behind. Dropping to his knees, he leaned over the toilet and coughed a couple of times before vomiting up the remainders of the canned ravioli he'd eaten for dinner the previous night.

Without thinking, Vincent knelt behind Will and slid his arms around the other man's waist. He rubbed the blonde's stomach gently with one hand, rubbing his back with the other as Will gripped the edges of the toilet, coughing a little more, though nothing else came. With a shaky hand, Will reached up to flush away contents of the toilet bowl. Then, turning slightly, he collapsed in Vincent's arms.

"Will..." Vincent whispered, hugging the other man close, rubbing his back. "Will, say something...please..."

Will shook his head. "Just hold me, Vinny," he whimpered. "Please..."

Vincent nodded and pulled Will closer, wrapping an arm securely around his waist and rubbing his back with his free hand. He rocked slowly from side to side as Will hiccupped and gripped his shoulders tightly. The blonde buried his face in his friend's shoulder, sobbing quietly.

Vincent's watch, sitting on the side table in the other room, began to beep repeatedly, signaling that it was time to get ready to leave for his next class.

The alarm went unnoticed.

As stated before, a lot's going to change and things will get better! I promise!

If you read, please review. It's nice to know whether or not people actually read my stories.