Iz gave Trish 'High and mighty journalist' Tilby the finger to tell her what he thought of being told to haul boxes ("Hey, you there! Come over here and move those boxes somewhere else!") and continued talking into his cellphone. "...Yeah, he's totally lost it."

"Talk him out of it, would you?" Iz could practically see the puppy dog expression on Rick's face to go with the request.

He snorted. "What makes you think I have any influence over Alex what so ever?" And if he did, he sure as hell hadn't noticed it. He could slow him down, yes, if he changed the topic often enough and had enough moodswings, but Alex was like a pittbull in some ways. When a thought first entered his mind and he got his heart set on it, you couldn't change his mind if you hit him over the head with a 2-by-4, and to be honest, Iz wasn't tall enough to manage that even if it had worked.

"You're sleeping with him. That's got to count for something?"

Iz gave Tilby a bright grin as she swore at him, ignoring brief cold in his stomach caused by Rick's words, which had no reason for being there at all really but somethings were just better left unpondered. "I could try, for you, hon. But I can't promise anything."

Rick's sigh of relief on the other end made him laugh, earning him a strange look or two from the surrounding production staff. Iz was used to it. He leaned back on his chair. Miscalculating and leaning too far, he ended up banging his head against a near-by crate. "Ouch," he said calmly, picked himself up, picked up the cellphone, held it up to his ear, "Rick. Hold on one second." Picked the chair back up, sat down, held the phone up to his ear again. "Bloody frigging fuck! That *hurt*!"

"...What?"

Iz moved the hand not holding the phone, to feel the back of his head. "I'm going to get a gigantic bump on my head, I just know I will. Rick, get over here and kiss it better?"

"You hit your head? Oh good! Then you can go for the sympathy angle! Alex is a total sap, he'll go for that!"

"Hey, I'm *hurt* here!"

"Yeah, and I feel with you, I really do, but you're not the one Alex is dragging with him to that lab to play labrat."

Iz paused, contemplating it. He finally, reluctantly, decided that Rick might, possibly, be the one worst off.

***

"He's gay," Bobby said decisivly.

St. John gave him a look. "And you base that statement on what?"

"I can just tell," Bobby said. "Though the fact that he's so checking Mr. Summers out, was a really big hint," he added.

St. John glanced over at the three men standing by a pile of junk of a car again. The new computer guy, Alex something-or-other, wacked his friend over the head. The friend gave him a 'what? what did I do now?' look/gesture. "Yeah, okay."

Bobby propped his chin up on his hand, and looked thoughtful, in an idle 'don't have anything else to do' sort of way. St. John feared that expression. "You think he's... what's his name? The green guy? Alex. You think he's Alex' boyfriend?"

St. John shook his head. "No."

"Why not?"

St. John shrugged, returning to his Biology homework. "Just a hunch."

"You know," said Bobby, got on his feet and look determinded. "I want to meet him."

St. John gave him a puzzled look. "Who?"

"The guy." St. John blinked at him. "The one checking Mr. Summers out," Bobby clearified. "You coming?"

St. John saw a catastrophy written all over this. "Yeah, all right."

***

Izzy had no idea what the hell he was doing at The School (he wasn't entirely sure when The School had become capitalized either). Well, yeah, he'd promised to talk to Alex for Rick, but try as he might, he really couldn't recall anything about going to The School with Alex in that promise.

Not that he minded, really. He just had no idea what to do. So he followed Alex around and happily ogled the teacher Alex had come to see.

"Hi." Bright blue eyes and a beaming grin on top of a Snoopy t-shirt met him at around eyelevel. Iz stopped.

"Hi," he said cautiously and glanced over at Alex who was busy talking to the teacher and hadn't noticed anything. He looked back at the boy, who was really just a few years younger than Iz himself, but seemed so much younger somehow.

"You're with him?" The boy gave a toss of head in Alex' direction.

"Mmmhmmm," Iz nodded, noticing that there were actually two boys standing in front of him, blocking his path. He could just follow Alex, of course, but he was curious.

"But are you with him?" The boy with the Snoopy t-shirt asked, giving him an intent look.

Iz tilted his head.

"Bobby..." the other boy groaned.

Bobby elbowed him. "Shut up. So. Are you?"

"Yeah," Iz said, since, obviously, he was with Alex. Like he'd be here at The School if he wasn't...

Bobby beamed at him, while the other kid rubbed the bridge of his nose and eerily reminded Iz of Alex for a second.

"You a mutant too?"

"No."

"Oh."

"You've nice eyes," Iz said, half flirting, half pointing it out.

Bobby nodded. "So I hear."

The other kid closed his eyes. "Mary, mother of God..."

"Yeah?" Iz grinned. He could see the potential of this turning out way more fun than ogling the teacher inbetween getting whacked over the head by Alex for said ogling.

"Yup. Alex said so," Bobby nodded towards Alex and the teacher.

Iz blinked in surprise. "He did, did he?" How... interesting.