The moonlight casted a dull glow of light from the open window in Franco's bedroom, as he and Silas curled up close on his bed. Franco had his head resting on his boyfriend's bare chest, randomly tracing shapes on his side. Silas was completely relaxed for once, his arms around Franco's waist, nearly lulled to sleep.

"Francisco, what was the song you were singing the other day? The one about fear." Silas's voice was deeper than usual and slightly husky from lack of use. It made his accent thicker and Franco had to bite his lip to avoid squealing.

Dang, he loved his boy's accent.

"Fear Is A Liar, by Zach Williams." Franco mumbled back, turning his head slightly so he could look at him with a smile. "Why? Did you like it?"

He shrugged a little, humming as he did so. "Yes. I do not like very many American songs, but I did like that one."

Franco's smile widened into a grin and he nodded. "It can be Vance's and your song. It's his favorite at the moment."

Silas cocked his head to the side curiously, trying to find a trace of jealousy in his usually always possessive boyfriend, but could find none. "You do not mind, especially not after we..." He trailed off with a tiny grimace, not actually wanting to say it.

"Kissed?" Franco laughed. "No, I don't mind. I was a little jealous in the beginning, before Vance explained that he just wanted to try and get you to understand." He gently tapped his fingers against Silas's skin. "That, and I know he wouldn't be into you in more than a brother kinda way. The only person I've ever seen him love that wasn't related to him was Oakleigh. He's never even slept around. Heck, I think he's still a virgin, considering the fact that I don't know if the two of them had sex."

Silas honestly could not hide the surprise on his face. Vance was a really good guy, if you looked past the empty gazes and cold shoulder he gave everyone in the first meeting. It was hard to think of him being that hung up on one girl, and then never mending the broken heart even after six years of not being together. How badly had she hurt him?

Franco, as if reading his thoughts, nodded. "Vance was a... Messed up kid, to put it bluntly. His mother verbally attacked him everyday, and was barely ever around. His father... Well his father wasn't much better. He hit him. And he talked bad about him every chance he got. And Vance always put up with it, ever since he was born. It did a lot to kill his self esteem." Franco sighed. "He's gonna kill me for telling you all of this, but I don't care." He grinned, but slowly sobered up as he spoke again.

"At sixteen years old, Vance was the only child to his abusive and neglectful rich parents. He took pleasure in destroying everything in sight, mostly because he liked watching things break as much as he felt broken. He got into fights everyday because he hated the pompous other rich kids that went to the same private school as him. He stood up for everyone that couldn't do so themselves, like me, which lead people to believe that there was actually a heart under that leather exterior."

Franco sighed, smiling fondly as he recalled the past Vance. "And there was. It was slightly battered, but it was the purest and brightest heart anyone would have been blessed to see. If you got past his defenses, Vance was sweet and caring and sensitive. But he was also stubborn and easily hurt. He used to wear his heart on his sleeve to anyone he let past his defenses, and that is what actually got himself hurt."

Franco paused, obviously giving Silas a chance to process that before continuing on. "Oakleigh's parents were poor and homeless before they got jobs working for Vance's family. Her father was Vance's personally chauffeur and her mother was a maid. Vance had no idea she and her family lived in the basement of his parent's mansion until one day, he ran down there to try and find his mother's collection of old wines... Needless to say the second he met Oakleigh, he was obsessed with her."

"The two of them became friends quickly, and everyone who saw the two of them together knew that they were soulmates, despite the fact that Vance was white and Oakleigh was black. There was a connection between the two that no one could ever force or try and replace. Vance was simply made to love her."

The way that Franco said it triggered a part of Silas's memory. Made to love her. That was nearly the same exact way Vance explained why Silas was so hooked on Franco. Was that possible? Vance had the same exact thing Silas has now with his boyfriend. A soulmate.

And she left him.

Silas tried to picture his life without his Francisco, the only person he's ever been emotionally attached to. He couldn't do it. There was a flash of deep, heart aching pain and then everything was dark.

Silas couldn't picture his life without his boyfriend, because he knew in doing so, he would lose his heart, his soul and his mind.

Now he could understand Vance's pity party. Now he could understand why Vance was so standoffish around everyone.

He lost himself when he lost Oakleigh, and she was the only person able to bring him back.

* * * *

Vance was tossing and turning in his bed, earbuds blasting music in his ears as he struggled to gain a full night's rest. Ever since that conversation with Silas, his mind was a mess.

To say he was jealous of the kid would be an understatement.

He was happy of him, no doubt about it, because he knew both Franco and Silas deserved happiness, everyone did, but that didn't stop it from hurting. Especially because he knew the two of them would make each other so fucking happy. Franco was crazy about the kid, and Silas was too. The both got the same, dazed expression on their faces when they talked about the other - as if they had taken some kind of drug that had taken their mind and planted it on some... some love-sick, happy cloud. They wouldn't leave each other.

Not like she did to him.

His mind took him back to Silas explaining his feelings and Vance groaned, turning up his music loud enough for his ears to ache - hoping to distract himself from his own subconscious.

It didn't work.

And it only hurt because everything that Silas had explained, was exactly how Vance had felt.

As a lost, naive kid, Vance had never tried to find a significant other. He didn't search for girlfriends, nor did he party hard enough to wake up in someone else's bed. He didn't want that kind of attention. He knew that relationships could lead to disaster, and he wasn't willing to risk destroying his already breaking heart.

But then Oakleigh came along.

He wasn't sure what it was; maybe her frizzy, curly black hair and hazel eyes. Maybe her curvy, short body that fit perfectly in his. Maybe her ridiculous, wheezing laugh that she hated so much. Maybe her sweet, fiery personality that made him feel things his body and heart never had before. Maybe it was the way she made his heart skip a beat simply by looking at him.

Maybe it was all of those things.

All he knew was the second he laid eyes on her, he needed her.

But she made it blatantly clear that she didn't feel the same.

Vance's mind took him back to that dreaded time when he was sixteen years old, as if his heart wasn't in enough distress.

"Oaks!" The younger version of him was smaller, with hair that was too thick to look tamed and bright eyes that only shined with happiness when he was around her. They were only friends, Oakleigh and Vance, even though it was clear the both of them wanted to be more. They acted like a real couple already, minus the kissing. Vance couldn't understand why she wasn't willing to be more.

That should have been his first red flag.

Vance was running up the stairs and into his room in the house he used to live in, grinning broadly as he launched himself onto his bed next to her. He had been stuck in school all day, and then needed to run off and do a bunch of things to help out Franco before he could be here, meaning he was missing his daily dose of best-friend.

"Let's do something today! Anything you want. Just the two of us." He rolled over to stare at her, but he felt the grin freeze on his face and then slowly slip off when he caught sight of the expression on her face.

She looked sad. Defeated. "We need to talk," She whispered, her voice devoid of emotion.

That should have been his second red flag.

Everyone knew the phrase "we need to talk" never leads to something good, which means lost, naive Vance did anything to try and distract her from whatever was on her mind. Something to avoid this "talk".

So naturally, he kept talking.

"We can watch one of those action movies you like, and you can take one of my sweatshirts-"

"Vance..."

"Or, we can play Halo." He grinned, but it was shaky and nervous. "I just got the new one-"

"Vance."

"Or, or, we can go to that restaurant. You know, the one with all that Italian food you-"

"Vance!"

He jumped in surprise when she shouted and jumped to her feet, glaring at him from the foot of his bed. She didn't look any less sad, but now she looked annoyed, and it caused him to guiltily stare at his hands.

"I don't want to see you anymore." She declared, and just like that, Vance was jerking up stare at her with wide eyes, his lips parted in surprise, but she continued before he could speak. "I don't want to be friends with you. Or acquaintances. Or your girlfriend. Nothing. This little... fling has gone on too long. I want to put an end to it."

As if in a daze, Vance slowly got to his feet, cocking his head to the side. "End it?" He echoed softly, frowning as if he didn't understand. He heard what she was saying but... his mind couldn't accept it. She couldn't cut him out of her life like this. Even though he was young, he knew that she was it for him. It was Oakleigh or no one for Vance.

"You can't end us, Oaks." He whispered softly, knowing better to reach out and touch her even though his body ached to take her in his arms. "It's you and me, baby. Forever."

He knew his words struck a chord within her because her glared at him, trying to hide the way the pain deepened in her eyes. "There is no us," She spat the last word as if it were a curse. "There never has been."

"You're lying." He whispered back, unable to stop his voice from shaking. After all these years, all sixteen years of his life, Oakleigh was the first person he allowed into his heart and she was doing the exact thing he feared she would. "I love you, Oakleigh Ann Williams. You know that. And I know you love me too."

She shook her head, her dark hair whipping her in the face. "You stupid boy." She grunted, clenching her jaw. "I don't love you. I never have. How could I? You can't even love yourself."

That was low, and she knew it too when he stumbled a step back and his face paled. His eyes welled with tears that he struggled to hide, and when he spoke to her again his voice was shaking and rough. "You don't mean that," He whispered weakly.

Digging at his insecurities wasn't something he appreciated, especially because his ego wasn't as high as everyone thought it was. Hearing something like this from someone he cared so deeply about hurt. A lot.

"Of course I do. I ain't never lied to you, have I? I don't love you. You're nothing but a silly boy, and I'm bound to get tired of you sooner or later. I'd rather it be sooner."

Vance winced, lowered his eyes to the ground and swallowing thickly before he slowly nodded. "If that's what you want." He whispered.

Oakleigh nodded sharply, allowing her mask to fall when he wasn't staring at her. Her eyes glossed over with the threat of tears and her face scrunched up in a pained wince to keep from launching herself into his arms. To refrain from apologizing and doing anything in the world to take that heart-broken look off his face.

"It's what I want." She said instead, feeling a fleeting sense of satisfaction when her voice sounded much more confident than she felt.

Her heart damn near broke when she heard him sniffle.

He waved one of his hands then and lowered himself onto his bed. "Then have fun. I wish you well." He breathed. He forced himself to smile and look up at her one last time, even as a tear slipped down his cheek.

And that was the last view Oakleigh got of Vance, his heart-break clear in his eyes, forcing himself to smile as he cried.

He never saw her since.

Vance shot up on his bed with a gasp, yanking the earbuds out of his ears and treading his hands through his sweat drenched hair. His breathing was erratic, his eyes wide as he looked around his room wildly, and with one pained cry, he began to sob.