Art sat at home, looking out the picture window of his apartment. He had a clipboard with a sheet of white paper attached to it. Scrawls of lines with names connected to them were traced on the page. One name had VENTI, the other had ART.

Dating Venti was an experience. For the longest time he'd had this opinion of the jackal as a slightly shallow, self-centered individual who cared more about his body and himself than anyone else. Then Damon left him, or was it the other way around? He still wasn't sure about that, but seeing the jackal so vulnerable left him reconsidering his opinion.

Then he went out with Venti and found the jackal, while clearly self-centered cared about those he liked. When he went to the hospital he discovered out without a shadow of a doubt that Venti liked him.

But did Venti love him? Was Art just someone to keep the jackal from feeling lonely? Isn't that what relationships were ultimately for, to keep people from being lonely? He figured his father's Pride was created just for that purpose, in the case of his father. Why else would he keep three wives and several children?

Is that what he wanted? Someone just to keep him from being lonely? Or did he want a companion to love?

He shook his head. He was being silly. Of course Venti wanted him as a companion, not as someone to hold back the loneliness. Art certainly wasn't lonely before he dated Venti, and he figured he'd be fine without anyone.

That was a lie; and he knew it was a lie, but it was a good lie to keep telling himself. Truth be told, he wouldn't be fine alone anymore--not after seeing what kind of man Venti was underneath his overconfident exterior.

He drew a heart around Venti's name.

When did he realize he was in love with Venti? After all those months of resisting his charms, when did he fall in love with the jackal? And did Venti feel the same way about him? He didn't know.

The only problem with falling in love was that it was hard on the knees.

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