James's stay away from Bradford's plan was effective for about twenty more minutes.

Him and Tyler finished their food while making aimless chitchat— which his friend seemed far more comfortable with than their previous topic— before parting ways for their second round of classes. Ty offered to walk him there, teasing him about getting lost again, but James's next course was Organic chemistry, and he thankfully remembered how to get there from his humiliating experience that morning, so he waved his friend off, insisting that he, "got this".

"Whatever man. Just don't be calling me when you get a fine for being out in the halls past the bell," Tyler said, and James reached his hand out quickly to grab his friends arm, stopping him.

"A fine?"

"Yeah man. This whole place is about making a profit. Of course they charge us for stupid shit like that. Didn't you read through the admissions book?"

"I thought that thing was a joke," James admitted, which made his friend snicker and shake his head.

"No way. You should probably check that out when you get home tonight. It costs you like five dollars every time you need to leave class to go to the bathroom". Since James had already done that once that afternoon, he looked at Tyler with incredibly wide eyes as he waited for him to say he was joking. He didn't. Instead, he pulled his arm from James's grasp and said, "you better hurry unless you have twenty dollars you're willing to spare".

"Twenty dollars?" James repeated, but Tyler was slipping into the nearest stairwell, leaving him behind.

While James had far more in his bank account than twenty dollars— he had a job back in Florida to save money for college— he really didn't want to pay the school for something as bullshit as that, so he began to make his way down the hall in the direction he remembered, walking at a pace slightly faster than those around him.

At some point, it occurred to him that he was following two of the four Bradford sons down the hall. It would have been hard to tell who they were, given that fact that from behind they all looked the same with their dark hair, but James recalled all of the twins being around the same ridiculously tall height, and one of the two boys parting the traffic ahead of him seemed to be a handful of inches shorter than the other. Kalen, James deduced. Like this, walking beside one of the three triplets, he seemed short, but James didn't recall feeling this way when they had bumped into one another earlier.

James wasn't nearly as tall as the triplets, and he could say this with great confidence, even though he had yet to be close enough to them to compare. They were just that tall. Just by observing how the one with Kalen towered over the majority of people he passed, James estimated him to be over six feet by a few inches: at least six' two. This was already three inches taller than James, so he guessed Kalen was only an inch or two shorter than him.

The two Bradford's turned into the nearest stairwell, giving James a view of the unidentified one's face for half a second. He noticed it was the shadowy one— which one was that one again?— and then the two of them were gone.

The particular staircase they had gone up was familiar to James, and when he realized he too had to go up them, he slowed his pace, making sure there would be distance between them so he'd go unnoticed.

He managed to delay himself long enough that he was able to easily stay out of their eyesight, but he could still hear their conversation as he started up the stairs behind them. "I'm just saying Kal, maybe you should talk to your teacher and see if she'll let you work on it alone".

"Dan," a smooth voice responded at a much smaller volume. "It's a twenty page research paper on ablepharon-macrostomia syndrome. I'm not writing it on my own. I'd never finish. We won't even need to meet outside of school to work on it, so you can stop worrying".

"But what if-"

"No," Kalen said, voice suddenly serious. James eyebrows raised. He wanted to hear his brother's response to that, but the only thing he got to hear was the opening and closing of a heavy door as the two of them left the stairwell together. Half a minute later, James exited through the same door.

It never once occurred to him that perhaps he shared a class with one of the boys until he was officially on the third floor and noticed them stop in front of the chemistry room, still talking amongst themselves. For a moment, James hesitated, averting his eyes as he considered who he was going to need to put extra effort into avoiding. If he recalled correctly, Mrs. Rodgers had told Kalen he would see him in class later, but maybe-

"Excuse me," some girl said, pushing past where James had paused in the middle of the hallway.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," he moved out of the girls way before turning to look back at the chemistry door, just in time to see the two boys part and Kalen slip into the room.

Fuck.

It wasn't that he had wanted to take the class with Daniel rather than Kalen, but he figured it would be easier to keep his eyes to himself if the Bradford in the room wasn't the one with the vibrant gold eyes.

When James entered the room, he was pleased to see Kalen sitting at the very front, eyes already focused forward even though Mrs. Rodgers had yet to take her place before the class. This meant it would be easy enough for James to avoid the other boy, keeping his promise to himself about the Bradford's as intact as he could manage, given the new circumstances. As he had in most of his classes, James took a seat in the very back of the room, and then removed his phone from his pocket to give himself more to do than stare at the back of Kalen's head.

The picture on his lock screen was what caught his attention. It was an old picture, from well over a year ago now, of him and his brother, about eight months before Ace passed. His mother had taken it on the first day of summer, after his first year in high school and Ace's junior year. They were laying in a hammock in their backyard, their heads on opposite ends and long legs crammed between them. Smiles were directed at the camera, but Ace already looked exhausted. At the time, they had known that something was wrong, but not what. By the time they knew what, it was already too late.

It had been such a good day, James recalled. His father had off work, and they had just sat outside as a family, laughing and eating their mothers wonderful cooking. It was one of the few days within Ace's last year that James could remember that his brother didn't suffer a severe migraine during.

They had shared Ace's queen bed that night, since James claimed that they stayed up so late talking James felt too tired to go to his own room, though the real reason was that he didn't want to leave his brother's side for that long. "It's gonna be fine, you know," Ace had said into the darkness, "even... even if I'm not fine, everything is going to work out, okay?" James recalled pressing his face into the spare pillow to prevent his tears from falling down his cheeks.

Now, around fourteen months later, James closed his eyes tightly at the memory, once again willing himself not to cry.

Crying over his brother was something he didn't do nearly as frequently as he once had, but sometimes memories would come back to him, and his heart would ache just as much as it had the day after Ace had died. He was surprised at first by this, since he had been expecting time to dull the ache, but he had long since realized that time mades pain less frequent, not less painful.

Mrs. Rodgers drew his mind from his agony as she moved from her desk to the front of the room, a pleasant smile on her face. James acknowledged the fact that Ty had been right. She was very pretty.

The first few minutes of class were occupied with her explaining what they would be doing that day, which was finding a lab partner, and then completing an inventory assessment for their lab drawers. This seemed an easy enough task to do alone, which James was completely prepared for, given the fact that his peers didn't know him, and all seemed to have already discussed their selection in partners prior to the class.

While the people around him rose from their desks and split off in pairs, James allowed himself a moment amidst everyone's distraction to watch Kalen, curious to see who the boy would work with. No one approached him, but Kalen still rose to his feet and moved to a lab table. A pair joined him at the table on the other side—a different station— but neither people acknowledged him, and he did the same.

It was curious, why someone so beautiful and wealthy would be working alone in a school that highly valued these two things, but James didn't get the chance to really dwell on it before his attention was stolen by Mrs. Rogers. She came to stand next to his desk, a smile on her face. "You don't have a partner?" It kind of sounded like she was taunting him, but James thought back to their earlier interaction and doubted it.

"No ma'am".

Her brown eyes flashed with something he found similar to mischief, but he didn't dare ask her about it. "I think I have a solution. Follow me".

Since he considered himself far from being an idiot, James had an idea of where she would be leading him. He didn't say anything about it as he followed her though, fearing that she would not care about his rule regarding the Bradford's, and would think him unkind towards his classmates. This woman having a good impression of him was vital, since it was the class James was hoping to do the best in. It directly correlated to his future, and figured it would look good when applying to colleges as a chemistry major with a good grade in an advanced chemistry class as a junior.

She lead him to Kalen's lab station, and the boy looked at him for a long moment, eyes briefly wandering down from his face before snapping back up and adverting. The next time he looked back at him, Kalen's face was blank, and he was looking at him with boredom, which was the complete opposite of how he had been looking at him just moments before. It perplexed James, and he frowned.

"Well Kalen, it looks like you'll actually have a lab partner this time around," Mrs. Rodgers said, smiling wide. Golden eyes widened a fraction, and then he was looking back at James, who returned the look with raised eyebrows because he had to have seen that coming. "I'm sure you two will work wonderfully together". With that final statement, she pressed a blank worksheet down onto the lab table and left them to go pass out the rest of the sheets.

Kalen's attention moved off of him and onto the paper, which James was perfectly fine with as he took the free labstool to the boys left. In his head, he was thinking about how to revise his rule to accommodate the most recent circumstances, but was coming up short. With a sigh, James glanced at the other boy before also looking down at the paper between them. "Um," he voiced, cleaning his throat. "So, um... well, I guess we should... I could-"

"I'm not too worried about it," Kalen cut in softly, not bothering to look up at him. James's eyebrows raised, because he wasn't exactly sure what that meant. Before he could ask, Kalen was speaking again. "What's your name?"

"My name?" James repeated slowly, eyebrows raised. Golden eyes blinked down at the paper for a moment longer before raising to meet his own.

"You know... what people call you? I didn't catch it earlier and I have to put it on the sheet," he explained, voice very soft, an almost smile tugging at his lips.

"Oh. James Anders, then." He watched Kalen's pencil hover over the top of the paper for a long moment as the boys gaze lingered on him, and then his eyes dropped along with his writing utensil and he wrong James A in neat little letters.

"James," Kalen said as he wrote it, and for a second James wondered if he had just said it for the hell of it, but Kalen continued. "I'm sorry for running into you this morning. I was in a bit of a rush".

"Oh," James said, surprised. "It's fine. I shouldn't have been standing there".

He got no response to that, and when he looked down, he found Kalen busy at work, looking from the paper to their lab drawer and then back again. James wanted to help him— he didn't want to give Kalen the impression that he would be a poor lab partner— but something about the other boys posture gave him pause. It seemed as though Kalen wished to go undisturbed in his work, body slightly turned so his back was to James, much of his actions hidden from him. Just watching him work also seemed like a bad option, and James preferred to avoid feeling useless, so he busied himself removing all of the items from the drawer and working the smudges off the glass beakers with paper towels.

They worked like this for a while, completing their work in a comfortable silence, and at some point it occurred to James that he was being watched by multiple pairs of eyes. Each time he glanced up from his task, he was greeted with the sight of many of his classmate's eyes on him, only to flirt away after no more than a second of uncomfortable eye contact. At first, ignoring it was easy as he dismissed the stares as perfectly normal— it was strange when a new student began to attend school— but after he noticed an entire group of girls stop their work to stare at him, he began to feel nervous. While he wasn't unattractive, James had heard himself described as average many times, and it was uncommon for people to openly gape at him.

His discomfort did not go unnoticed by his partner, and Kalen eventually ceased his work to look at him. "Are they bothering you?"

James had been staring back at the group of girls when this question was asked, and he blinked in surprise before bringing his attention to the other boy, who was simply staring at the dirty beaker in James's hands. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll keep washing them—"

"I'm not asking because you stopped," Kalen explained, eyes flicking up to James. The boy was leaning against the table in front of them, slouching forward slightly, and it made him look smaller than he actually was. "I'm just wondering if they're making you uncomfortable. I've gotten used to the feeling of being watched over the years so I hardly notice it anymore".

For a second, James wondered if he should shrug the whole thing off and seem completely unbothered, but he sensed Kalen already knew the answer to his own question, and an obvious lie to one of the Bradford boys didn't seem like a good start to coming off as non offensive to them. "I don't really mind being watched," James answered slowly, eyes moving to stare off to the side, where he caught yet another person watching him. "What's unnerving is the fact that I don't know why they're watching me. As far as I know, I've done nothing to warrant their attention, so it makes me nervous that I'm getting so much of it".

Kalen seemed to consider this for a moment, his eyes unfocused as he stared ahead, but then his lips pressed together and he turned his face back down towards the worksheet. It seemed as if he was about to completely drop the conversation and continue on, but instead he said, "well I guess I'm glad to hear you say that them watching you doesn't bother you, because it's mostly my fault, and it's probably not going to stop any time soon". Before James could ask when he meant, Kalen picked up his pencil and began writing again, and then, without lifting his head, said, "they're looking at you because they feel sorry for you".

This didn't seem likely, since no one in the class knew James well enough to know his recent past and feel sorry for him because of it. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing for them to pity him for. "Why?"

The look on Kalen's face was surprise. "I kinda thought that would be obvious". It wasn't, so James just shrugged. "How long have you been going to school here?"

It took one quick glance at the clock to answer this question. "About five hours". Kalen's eyebrows raised, but he continued to look at him with steady eyes. "I thought you had noticed... earlier..." James trailed off, thinking about the interest in Kalen's eyes that morning when he first saw him.

"Oh". Kalen looked away, the skin of his cheeks pinking slightly. "No. I didn't. I stopped paying attention to who goes to this school long ago. I mean, they don't really affect me anyways". This last part was said under his breath, and James wondered if he was even supposed to hear it. "They feel sorry for you because you have to work with me".

"With you?" James repeated, eyebrows shooting up. "Why? What's wrong with you?" This came out wrong, and once James processed his words he immediately opened his mouth to apologize, but the smile Kalen was hiding behind his hand stopped him.

"That's a completely different issue. They're thinking, he got stuck with a Bradford, so he's going to have to do all the work by himself. That's not true with me— my brother's maybe but not me— but they all think that," Kalen explained, making James frown. That seemed pretty stupid, since all of the people watching had to have seen the Bradford doing everything on his own.

Quickly, James looked around once more. Hastily, multiple pairs of eyes looked down. "I'm not worried about you doing nothing".

"No?" Kalen directed his attention back down to the worksheet, beginning once more, as if his own words motivated him to prove his worthiness.

"No," James confirmed. He looked down at the mostly finished worksheet. "I'm worried about you doing everything". Kalen paused, his pencil freezing on the paper, mid check mark. Slowly, he raised his head to look at him.

"You don't want me to do it?"

"Well, I guess inventory doesn't really matter if you really want to do it, but I'd prefer to not do everything on your own," James admitted. Golden eyes blinked slowly at him, confused. "How am I going to learn anything if you just do it all?"

"Learn?" Kalen repeated, his eyes growing wide. "You actually want to learn?" The concept sounded foreign to him.

"Well this is school, isn't it?"

Kalen actually dropped his pencil in perplexion. "It is, but no one actually wants to learn here". James had a similar conversation with Tyler earlier in the week, but it still didn't make much sense to him. "They just want to pass".

"Well I'd like to do both". For a long moment, Kalen just watched him, eyelids slowly dropping into a narrow. Then, he pushed the inventory sheet towards him.

"It's kind of a one person job, so you can finish it, and I'll keep cleaning," he offered, eyes roaming James face carefully. It seemed as if he was trying to show him something deeper, as if he saw this act was an example of how he would be sharing work with James in the future.

"Thanks". James's took the paper without pause and read over the instructions to see what he was supposed to be doing, aware of Kalen's lingering gaze all the while without acknowledging it.

It only lasted another few seconds before Kalen began cleaning where James left off, and they spent the rest of the period in silence. Even after James finished the worksheet they didn't speak, only moved around one another as they continued cleaning all of the glass wear. It became easy to ignore the people around them watching them work, and James found he only thought about it when their hands briefly brushed when they reached for the same test tube.

The only time they spoke was when the bell rang, dismissing them, and Kalen mumbled an unfocused goodbye before leaving him. James turned to watch him go, and then looked away quickly when he noticed Kalen joining two of his brothers outside of the classroom.

With a long sigh, James pulled his backpack over his shoulder and hurried out of the room, hoping he had enough time to find his next class before he was fined.

***

"You sure you want me to take you home right away?" Tyler inquired. "We could stop at my place for a bit. My parents would love to see you some more. I think they like it when you're over since it reminds them that I do things other than sleep sometimes".

James hummed around his straw. It would be easy to point out that Tyler already wasn't taking him home right away, since his friend had insisted on them ending their first day of park with iced coffee and then proceeded to parked his car outside of the coffee shop because he didn't want to "drink and drive", but James didn't really mind the extra time spent together. While he wanted to get home to help finish with the unpacking, his mother wouldn't be off of work for another twenty minutes or so, and if he began without her he knew she would feel bad he'd done some of the work by himself. Getting coffee was harmless.

"I'd like to see them too," James confessed honestly. Over the years, Tyler had flown to Florida a handful of times, but he always came without his parents, and stayed with James and his family. While it had been nice to see Tyler, James would have liked to see his friends parents as well. After all, they had been a constant in his life up until they moved. "But not tonight. If I don't go home my mom will just start unpacking without me and I don't want her lifting the heavy things. She still complains about her back since moving... how about tomorrow?"

"Alright, I'll let my mom know," Tyler agreed with a nod of his head. "You won't need to help tomorrow?" 

"Nah". James shrugged. "We should finish up tonight". Unpacking was something that him and his parents all happened to despise, so they doing it at a slow pace, only doing a few boxes a night. They had been particularly motivated the night before though– James's mother declared she wanted to finish as soon as possible to get the boxes out of her living room– so they were close to finishing. 

"Ahh," Ty said, seeming disinterested. "So how was your first day then? Anything exciting happen since we parted at lunch?"

"Oh yeah". James had been thinking about his class with Kalen all afternoon, but he avoided mentioning it to Ty right away. He thought if he sounded too eager to share the information, his friend would worry about his safety regarding the Bradfords. "Kalen is my lab partner in organic chemistry".

"Oh?" Tyler said. He sat up a little straighter in his seat, his eyes roaming James's face. Whatever he saw made him smile. "Just keep the eye fucking to a minimum, yeah?" Along with a scoff, James rolled his eyes. "People are going to be watching, you know. Just keep that in mind". This brought him some pause.

"People watching me reminds me of home," James admitted, ducking his head towards his half empty drink. He wasn't expecting any answer from Tyler, since the conversation would definitely steer them towards the topic of Ace, and James doubted anything had changed throughout the school day.

He was surprised when Ty said, "oh?" In a low voice.

His response took a minute to think of, and even then James only managed a quiet, "Yeah". They both sipped at their drinks. "Are you ready to talk about this?"

"I don't think I'm ever going to be ready, James, but we're going to talk about it eventually, right? We should probably get this first conversation out of the way". Tyler turned his head to look out of the window, face hidden. "I wanted to do it before summer ended, but yesterday I panicked and didn't say anything, so I guess now is the next best time. Besides, don't you want to talk about it?"

The question startled James since no one had asked him that in a very long time. No one wanted to talk about Ace and the progression of his mourning. They always felt as if they were burdening him by asking him to speak about it, never considering the fact that he was just bottling up his emotions.

"Yes," he admitted. "I do". Tyler turned his face back towards him, and James was surprised to find his expression completely blank. James didn't like it. "I don't want to talk about it if you have that mindset". He didn't want Tyler to pretend like Ace's death didn't effect him, like he didn't care. The conversation would just upset both of them even more then.

This must have occurred to Tyler as well, because suddenly looked defeated and ducked his head to hide his face. "I'm sorry. It's just..."

"Difficult," James finished, and Ty nodded. "You don't need to tell me that. I know. But it's me, Tyler. I figured that if you wanted to talk to anyone about it, it would be me".

"It is". With a long sigh, Ty melted back into his seat, iced coffee forgotten in his cup holder. "I'm trying, I am. I just still can't believe he's gone. It feels wrong, you know?"

"I do," James agrees. His brother had always been a steady presence in his life, someone he could rely on at all times, someone who would support him no matter what. With him gone, there was an undeniable absence in James life that often made him feel very empty.

Tyler's green eyes stayed trained on his face, and James saw far more emotion when he looked into them. "So," his friend began, voice soft but steady. "How have you been grieving? Is it getting any better?"

It wasn't hard for James to come up with an answer to that one. He thought back to the week after his brother's death, thought of himself on the floor of his bedroom, eyes glued shut with dried tears and his lips chapped from taking one panicked inhale after another. At that point, he still hasn't accepted it. He'd just been waiting to wake up from his nightmare.

"Of course it's getting better," he answered, staring out of the cars windshield as he continued to recall himself at his worst time. Tyler moved his elbow over the gear shift to press into James's arm, a kind of subtle comfort that he greatly appreciated. "It doesn't hurt any less, but each day I learn to manage it a little better".

"Yeah," the agreement came softly. "I don't think things like that ever really stop hurting". Tyler sounded incredibly sad, as if this was a burden he couldn't imagine baring forever. With a slight shift of movement, James pressed back against Tyler's elbow with his arm.

"It won't". James took a large breath to steady his voice, which was beginning to waver slightly. "He was my brother". That didn't seem to describe it enough. "I keep thinking back to the night I came out to him. I had been so nervous beforehand, not because I didn't trust him to keep my secret, and not because I feared him turning his back on me, but because telling him would be telling someone, and telling that first person was the beginning step to showing people who I really was. It was absolutely terrifying".

It felt like he needed time to compose himself, so he took a long drink of his coffee. All of the ice had melted, but the taste was still sweet against his tongue. Silently, Tyler allowed him time to think.

"I was nervous up until I looked at his face, because to me his face meant so many positive things. It meant love and patience and acceptance. I knew there was no way he could ever hate me, so I could completely be myself in front of him". It was silent then, and James knew Tyler was waiting for him to tell him the point of his story. "That sounds like a happy memory, right? It sounds like something I should look back and smile at, and I do. On the good days, that's something I'm now able to achieve, but most of the time, I look back at memories like that, when my brother was literally the base of my support system, my main source of happiness and comfort, and all I can think about is how much I've lost, and how it's going to be missing for the rest of my life".

Tyler was silent for a couple of seconds before breathing out a sad, "I'm sorry". It surprised James.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for". The way Tyler looked at him then had James doubting his words. "... do you?"

"For encouraging you to attend this stupid school with me, where you can't just be yourself," Tyler explained, and James eyebrows raised. For half a second, he thought about Kalen, and about missed opportunities. Then he laughed.

"I don't care about them knowing who I am, Ty. Really, I'm more than happy to just lay low for a while if it means I get to go to school with you again. As long as you know who I am, and you don't mind me ranting to you about how cute my lab partner is, I won't go crazy". Tyler chuckled at this, but when James looked at his friends face he still seemed troubled. "What?"

"It's just... about those memories... where you think about what you've lost?" Ty clarified. In understanding, James nodded his head once. "Well, I think you're looking at that the wrong way". James's eyebrows raised, and Tyler averted his gaze quickly. "I don't think you should be thinking of all of those things as gone. You lost Ace, James, yes, but you didn't lose love and support and happiness. You have your parents, and you have me and my family, and someday you might even meet someone else who offers you those things. It might never be exactly the same, but it's not gone".

They just looked at one another then, Tyler with a slight grimace, as if he was worried James would be angry at him, and James with wide eyes. He had never thought about it like that before, had never considered that the support he was receiving from other people in his life was the same support that Ace had provided for him, just in a different light. He knew that his parents loved him, and happiness was something that was returning to him one day at a time, moving faster now that he was somewhere other than Florida, and he could spend much of his time with his best friend. The support was something that had wavered in his family over the last couple of months, but they were all grieving in their own way, focusing on themselves. It was getting better between the as they healed and considered how one another felt, and now James also had Tyler, he didn't feel so alone all the time.

As far as Tyler implying that James would one day be in a relationship with love, support, and happiness, James didn't really know what to say. He had always been hoping to meet someone and fall in love in the future, and of course he would chose someone who made him feel that way, but he had never thought about it like that; like his future partner would have the ability to make him feel as happy and at ease as his brother once had, but in a completely different way. "Oh".

"Oh?"

"Yeah". James was quiet for a minute. "Thanks, I guess. I think... I think that's actually very helpful". It was something for him to remind himself whenever he got caught in that way of thinking: to miss his brother, not the way his brother could make him feel. Feeling happy, comfortable, and reassured wasn't something that was completely gone from his life: Ace was.

Of course, that realization brought on a whole different kind of sadness, but James would investigate that once he was alone.

"Okay," James said after clearing his throat. "So that's me. Now you". Suddenly, Ty looked horrified. "I'm not going to make you talk about how you feel or anything. I actually just want to give you something".

Tyler had always been largely influenced by material things, so James was unsurprised when his friends head raised quickly to look at him. It took a minute to fish the gift out of the front pocket of his backpack, where he had stored it earlier in the week. When his mother had given James the keychain for Tyler back in Florida, he knew he wouldn't be able to just give it to his friend, especially not with Tyler's discomfort addressing Ace's death. Now, since they had at least addressed his brother, James felt comfortable giving it to Tyler.

When he held it out to his friend, and watched his green eyes widen, James knew he had chosen the right time. "Is that..."

"It was my brother's," James confirmed with a nod of his head. "From his collection. We found it in his room right before we left, and I know he wanted you to have something of his. Even though it's small it meant a lot to him, and even though you were gone, I know you meant a lot to him too. I know you two kept in touch over the years, and he considered you one of his oldest friends". For a brief second, James thought back to his brother's funeral, which he didn't do often. He recalled Tyler standing beside him at the time, his shaking fingers wrapped tightly around the skin of James's wrist. They'd both been crying.

Tyler continued to stare at the key chain with wide eyes, but he didn't reach out and take it. "James, I-" tears were falling from his eyes now too, but neither of them acknowledged it. "I can't take that. It should be yours. I'm not-"

"Ty," James cut in softly. "It was never meant to be mine. We found it with a shipping label to your house, he just didn't have enough time to send it".

"Oh". Tyler raised a hand to scrub furiously at his eyes before reaching out and taking the key chain.

"There's this too". James removed the letter from where it had been tucked safely in one of his folders for school. The envelope was thick, indicating there were multiple pages of content. "He wrote things for people, before he left. I think he was going to send it to you with the keychain". This gave Tyler great pause, and the stared at the paper with very wide eyes, which glistened with unfallen tears. "You don't have to read it right away. I just want to give it to you now... for when you're ready".

Without a word, Tyler took the envelope from James, and then quickly dropped it in his lap as if it could burn him. The car was silent. James turned up the air conditioning, and sipped at his coffee.

They sat there for longer than James should have, given the fact that his mother should be home by then, and he didn't want her unpacking by herself, but James didn't want to rush Tyler through whatever process it was he was going through.

When his friend did come to, a handful of minutes later, all he did was grumble, "You Anders' boys are a pain in my ass," as he had so many times before, during summers long ago when James and Ace would team up on him in water gun fights, before putting his car in drive and pulling forward out of their parking space.