A/N Just a heads up, this chapter fucking sucks. I tried to edit it, and failed horribly.

By Tuesday, everything seemed back to normal. It had taken the remainder of the weekend for James to wrap his head around Tyler's confession, but he had managed after many hours of thought, and they found themselves discussing the usual morning content: school, Kalen– specifically, how frequently him and James had been texting and about what–, and when James would come over and have dinner with Tyler's parents again.

"Why do they want me there all the time?" James inquired, kicking his legs up on the dashboard of Tyler's car, glancing at the time as he did so. Green eyes observed this action skeptically, but nothing was said about it. "It's not like they don't know me, and I'm not really that interesting".

"You're telling me," Ty grumbled, laughing a second later when James swatted the back of his head. "They're just happy that I have someone to bring home for once. The company I kept for years when you were back in Florida was fine but I didn't want any of them coming into my house".

"That's sweet," James joked, and Ty's eyes rolled. "Do your parents like it when Pierce comes over".

"Oh, no no no. That man has never been in my house," Tyler claimed. "I mean, at least not for that reason. When he was still in high school he would come over when his family was invited for dinner, but my parents do not like him. Besides, we don't have the kind of relationship where we go over to one another's houses. We just..."

"Have sex in public places?" James finished, and Tyler flushed but shrugged, as if he had no control over this. With a smile, James's eyes moved back to the time. They had nearly twenty minutes before class began, and James cursed his friend for insisting they arrived so early to secure a good parking spot.

"Just come over for dinner sometime soon, okay? You know how much my mother loves you".

James did, and he smiled. "Yeah, alright. I'll talk to my mom about it. I'm sure she'd like to do something with both of our families together too".

"For sure. It's been a while since we've done something like that. I mean, we took you guys out for dinner after moving in, but we haven't had one of those dinner parties since I used to live in Florida".

"Yeah," James agreed, somewhat sadly as he thought back to the last time they had all had a planned dinner together. He couldn't remember it specifically, since it had taken place all those years ago, but Ace had surly been present. "Hey, do your parents know you like men?"

"My mom knows. My dad does too, probably," Ty said softly, shrugging his shoulders again. "I needed to confide in someone about your brother so I talked to my mom. I'm assuming she told my dad but he's never brought it up to me. You know my dad though. I can't even imagine what he would say". James snorted at this, and then checked the time again.

He was incredibly anxious to leave that morning, feeling off put that Kalen was in the building instead of the back of the car, participating in their conversation.

"Okay, you need to stop doing that".

Unaware that he had been doing anything wrong, James's eyebrows raised. "Doing what?" He questioned, bringing his attention back to Tyler, who was glaring at him.

"Looking at the time and sighing loudly," Tyler accused. "It's driving me up the fucking wall. What's the rush anyways?" Quickly, James averted his eyes and didn't respond. "Oh my god, you just want to go see Kalen".

"So what if I do?" James grumbled, somewhat embarrassed.

"I thought you still can't decide on how to act on that," Tyler reminded, eyes narrowing in an accusatory way that made James shift in his seat. He didn't really see the importance of the last statement.

"Just because we're not dating doesn't mean that I'm not allowed to want to see him," he grumbled, and Tyler made a tsking noise with his tongue on his teeth. "He's my friend, Tyler, and I-"

"And you miss him," Ty finished, sounding exacerbated. "This is fucked up man. You're fucked up". As he said this, Tyler was gathering his things. "Well come on then".

"What?"

"Lets go".

"Go where?" James began to gather his things as well, quickly to keep up with Tyler, who was already situated with his backpack on his lap and his hand resting on the door handle, ready to go.

"James, don't be dumb. To find Kalen".

***

Finding the group of four black haired boys was easy, but that wasn't much of a surprise since the Bradford's tended to surround themselves with chaos.

Immediately upon entering the school, the sound of hundreds of whispers hit them, and Tyler swore, reaching over to grab a fist full of James's shirt before pulling him towards the noise.

Sure enough, after pushing through the majority of the crowd, they could see the two of the Bradford triplets, Joe and Daniel, speaking in low voices to two other boys, one of whom seemed nervous, while the other seemed mad. Behind the two Bradford's causing trouble were Michael and Kalen. Mike was frowning a little bit, seeming unsure of what to do in the situation, and next to him Kalen seemed horrified, his golden eyes very wide.

"Oh," Tyler breathed from beside him, his voice low. "This really isn't good".

"What?" James whispered under his breath, just loud enough for his friend to hear. "What's happening?"

This received no response, so James surveyed the screen before them more closely. The two boys being spoken to by the Bradford's were standing suspiciously close together, and when Daniel said something more to them under his breath, the boy in the front quickly reached behind him to grab at the hand of the other boy.

Immediately, James looked to Kalen, only to notice that the black haired boy was turning away from the scene and retreating. No one seemed to notice his exit. Even the people he pushed out of his way were too distracted by the tense situation in front of the to bother looking at him.

"I'm gonna see where he's going," James said to Tyler, taking his eyes away from Kalen for a brief second to look at his best friend. Even Tyler seemed entranced by what was happening before them, green eyes wide and glazed over with an emotion that looked something like fear. It made James think about Tyler and Pierce for half a second, but that was all he allowed himself, since Kalen was getting away. Carelessly, he began to push people out of his way to follow after the other boy.

He successfully freed himself from the mob just in time to see Kalen push open a door at the end of the hall and slip into the room beyond. The brief side view of Kalen's face he got had him picking up his pace, leaving the rest of the Bradford's and the whispers behind him in the hall.

When James reached the class room Kalen had turned into, he paused outside the door, looking in at the other boy through the thin rectangular panel of glass. Kalen's back was to him, and his head was tilted down to look at the floor where his backpack lay at his feet. With a deep breath, James pulled open the door just enough so he could slip inside. It closed behind him with a soft click, the sound just enough to alert the other boy.

"Go away," Kalen began, the tone of his voice indicating the seriousness of his words. It made James pause in his journey to cross the room and join the other boy.

"I... I just wanted to make sure that you were alright". He wanted to be there so Kalen wasn't alone, but he also wasn't about to force his company if it wasn't wanted.

The golden eyed boy turned to face him, his eyes flickering up and down James's figure carelessly before looking away. "Oh," he began, "it's you". From how he spoke, James couldn't detect if he thought this was good or bad thing.

"Yeah," James confirmed after a heavy pause, unsure of what else to say.

Kalen turned back around quickly then, hiding his face once more. "Why are you here?"

Hesitantly, James took a slow step backwards, preparing to leave if Kalen asked him for a little more space. "Didn't I already tell you that?"

"Yes". Kalen sounded exacerbated. "But why?"

Jame didn't understand the question. No. That wasn't right. He understood, he just didn't understand how to put it into words. "I..." He trailed off, thinking about how Kalen just had to know the answer by now, but also not judging the boy for wanting to hear it said, especially since Kalen's brothers were currently in the hall tormenting someone for being like their little brother without knowing it. "Because I care".

"James," Kalen breathed, and there was something wrong with his voice. No longer able to stay back, James dropped his backpack to the floor and closed the distance between them and gently nudging Kalen around to face him.

He only got a glimpse of the other's tear stained cheeks before folding him into his chest, arms coming to wrap around Kalen's slim waist. It was still for a pause, and then Kalen's small hands curled into fists against his chest, and his thin body was racked with sobs. For the first few minutes, James just soothed his hands up and down the other boy's back, waiting for his breathing to steady and his shaking to stop, but when neither of these things happened, he decided to mumble soothing words in Kalen's ear.

"It's okay. It's gonna be okay. Deep breaths". He wasn't aware how long they stood like that, pressed together in the darkness of that classroom, but it was long enough that the bell rang above them, and all the hallway noise faded. James didn't care that he was late, or that he would possibly face a fine, all he cared about was that Kalen was okay.

Eventually, Kalen's breathing slowed from ragged gasps to steady breathed, and he lightly nuzzled his face into James's neck. "I just..." Kalen began, his voice hoarse. "I don't get why they do this. Why do they care that those boys like one another? I doesn't matter".

"I know," James whispered, pressing his face into Kalen's hair, resisting the urge to kiss the top of the other boy's head. "I know it doesn't matter".

"Why do they think they have the right to determine who other people fall in love with?"

"I know".

There were a few more minutes of silence, and then Kalen groaned, "ugh, I'm sorry".

"It's alright," James assured, his hands dropping to his sides as Kalen stepped back out of his embrace. "Do you feel any better?"

"Yeah," Kalen admitted, blinking up at him with red rimmed gold eyes before groaning and raising his hands to rub at them. "I'm sorry. I'm so embarrassed and I got your vest wet and-"

James hadn't even realized, and couldn't find himself to care. It was navy anyways, so the moisture would barley show. "Kalen, it's alright".

Kalen looked him up and down once before raising his hand to look at the watch on his wrist. "You're really late to class too... you didn't need to-"

"Kalen," James cut in softly, daring to raise a hand and push black hair off of the other boy's pale forehead before dropping his thumb to a smooth cheek bone in order to wipe at the wet skin. "I really don't mind. I'm glad I was here. I wouldn't want you to be alone".

Kalen was just staring at him, as in in awe, and James went to drop his hand, hoping some distance would shake the boy from his current frozen state. That was apparently the opposite of what Kalen wanted though, because his hand shot out and wrapped around James wrist, holding his hand against his cheek. Before James could ask what the other boy wanted, Kalen was turning his face into James's palm and lightly kissing the skin there.

It tickled. James wondered if anything had ever felt that good before.

It was over quick, and then Kalen was reaching up and sliding his fingers through James's, squeezing his hand before releasing. "Come on," the black haired boy said lowly, gathering his backpack from the floor before moving to walk to where James's laid, crumpled by the door. James's eyes followed him. "I'll walk you to class". Kalen lifted the backpack from the ground and held it out towards James.

"Oh, you don't have to do that," James assured as he took his bag, not wanting Kalen to be any more late than he already was. This didn't really seem to concern the other boy, because he just smiled widely. If it weren't for the red rimmed eyes James would have found it hard to believe this boy had been crying just a few minutes before.

"Sure I do. I can be your hall pass. As long as you show up with me, you won't get marked late. Besides, it's my fault that you're behind".

It really wasn't. Kalen hadn't made James follow him, hadn't made him stay and hold him while he cried. That had all been James's choice, and he'd make it again in a second if he had to.

The only thing he could think of that Kalen was at fault from was simply being himself, because that was what had made James feel this way in the first place.