Itey cups the spider in his hands, then stands, turning his grinning face to Pie Eater.

"Heya, Pie, lookit dis!" he cries, beaming as he walks towards his friend. "Got meself a spidah!"

Pie Eater shakes; he hates spiders, the little things with black-diamond eyes, eight creepy legs, their bodies covered in wiry hair… he shudders. Things like that shouldn't exist.

Itey grins up at Pie, and holds out his cupped hands. "C'mon, Pie! Lookit da pretty spidah!"

Pie shakes his head, his body now rigid. Itey frowns. "Why? Doancha like spidahs, Pie?" He raises his eyebrows. "Doancha like me?"

Pie blinks. "Nah, Itey, I love ya." he says without hesitating. "Love ya, Its."

Itey grins and blinks and Pie draws back with revulsion; Itey's eyes are now black-diamond eyes.

Itey holds out his cupped hands and Pie's upper lip curls back with disgust; both hands are covered in wiry hair.

"Ya loves me, Pie?" Itey asks. "Kiss me den." he says calmly as six, jointed arms burst from his ribs. Pie screams, clutching his face as Itey's human hands drop the spider, and thin into clones of the 'arms' jutting from his ribs. "C'mon Pie!" he jeers loudly. "C'mon!"

Pie opened his eyes and saw Itey staring at him. He let out a short scream, then Itey's hands… human, callused, caring… grabbed his sweat-soaked upper arms.

"Pie, 's jus' me!" Itey whispered huskily. "Calm down!"

Pie shook his head fervently. "But youse was… youse was a spidah, Its!" He shuddered. "I hate spidahs."

Itey smiled, amused. "I know ya does, Pie." he said, putting a hand on the back of his friend's neck. "But I ain't a spidah." He grinned. "I's Itey."

Pie grinned back, now very aware of Itey's bare chest. "Yeh. Youse Itey. I's jus' dreamin'."

Itey ran a hand over Pie's back. "Feel bettah, den?" The young Italian asked. Pie nodded.

"T'anks, It's" he said, still sweating, though now not because of the nightmare.

There was a short silence between them, when Itey leaned over and kissed Pie's cheek. Pie blushed hotly and looked at his curly haired friend, who was smiling cheerily.

"What was dat fer, Itey?" Pie asked.

Itey kissed his cheek again. "Ya talk in yer sleep. Didja know dat, Pie?"

Pie's face darkened another shade. "I does?"

"Yeh. Hoid ya say ya loves me." Itey shuffled closer, his bare shoulder now touching Pie's. "Made me real 'appy, 'cause I loves youse too."

Pie relaxed and Itey grinned as his pastry-loving friend took him in his arms, and they lay down together on Pie's bed, their mouths merrily met.

Snitch awoke the next morning, surprised to find himself alone in bed. His first thought was that he'd missed the wake-up call, when Skittery's face appeared at the side of his bunk.

"Heya, kid." Skittery greeted with a grin. "Where's yer pal Itey?"

Snitch shrugged and glanced around the room. He did a double-take when he came to Pie Eater's bed, and a little laugh escaped his lips. "Dere 'e is!" he told Skittery, pointing. Skittery looked at the two newsboys, sleeping with their arms wrapped tightly around each other, and he smiled.

"Looks like Pie found a friend durin' da night." he said as Snitch pushed himself off his bed and hugged his lover from behind.

"Nah." Snitch corrected, kissing Skittery's cheek as they watched their friends sleep contentedly. "Dey found demselves a dream come true."

***AUTHOR'S NOTE***

PIE/ITEY!

LURVE TO PIE/ITEY!

WOO~~

Okay, one down, two to go. Watch for two more fics coming from me SOON SOON. ^^