They went on a date that night. It was hastily planned— the triplets had been bugging Kalen and James had received a simple get me out of here text— but it was still a date, just the two of them, so James was happy.

After a brief discussion they ended up deciding on Chinese restaurant a few streets over from Kalen's house at the younger boy's request, having claimed that he loved the cuisine but didn't have a chance to eat it often since their cook was so good. At this, James raised his eyebrows, and Kalen sighed and dropped his head back against the car seat.

James parents were staying in for the night, so they had given him permission to use the car. This excited him, because it was the first time he'd be able to take Kalen out.

"Yes we have a cook," Kalen said, the confession coming out like a sigh. "I know it's ridiculous. My father insists since he's never home for dinner".

"So... your cook—"

"Marvin".

"Marvin," James corrected with a grin, turning on to street the restaurant was on. "Does he just like, stay there and wait on you—"

"Well he doesn't live with us," Kalen assured. "He just comes in at five in the morning and leaves around seven thirty after dinner". James must have made a face. "He gets paid really well, and it's not like he just has to stand in the kitchen for the whole day. We have a whole part of the house where the staff hangs out during the day until they're buzzed".

"Staff?" James echoed, turning into the parking lot. "For your house?"

Under his breath, Kalen explained. "We have people who clean and do our laundry as well".

"Really," James began, voice very teasing. He parked in the furthest spot from the door and then immediately turned in his seat to look at Kalen. "You don't know how to do your own laundry?"

"Not by choice," Kalen protested, eyeing James, who just smiled at him. "I can learn".

"Why don't you come over some time and I'll teach you how to do laundry," James suggested, teasing. Kalen's golden eyes rolled, and he blew a huff of air out of his perfect lips.

"You just want someone to come do your laundry for you," he accused. "Besides, there's a lot more things I'd rather you teach me to do". Something about his expression then told James his thoughts were far from PG and he desperately found himself wishing he could kiss Kalen I public and not worry about the threat of someone seeing them.

"Let's go in," he said to resist the urge.

Kalen seemed to know this, because his lips curled up into a smile as he unbuckled his seatbelt and left the vehicle.

Fuck, James thought, how did I get so lucky.

***

Dates with Kalen were very similar to the nights spent out eating dinner as friends, though Tyler wasn't with them. The only other difference was the wandering of Kalen's foot up his leg every couple of minutes. It was nice, James thought, and the only thing he could think of that would make it better would be if he was able to reach across his table and take his hand.

When he said as much, Kalen raised his head from his food and gave him a hesitant smile. "Well..."

Because of the triplets, James knew what was coming next.

"I've been thinking about talking to my dad... maybe," Kalen admitted, peering up at him through his lashes. Stuck between wanting to be supportive and honest, James remained silent, lips moving as he searched for the right words to say. Kalen deflated. "You don't think it's a good idea either.''

"Hey," James breathed softly, shifting forward to sit on the very edge of the seat to lean across the table and peer up at Kalen's face. "I understand how badly you want them all to know. I know how much easier it would be for us if we didn't need to hide, but your father..."

"I know," Kalen cut in softly, looking crestfallen. James hated himself for being the one to put that expression there. "I know everything that could go wrong it's just... I've always gotten everything I've ever wanted before, and I've never wanted anything as bad as I want this... it had to imagine him saying no to me".

"Just because it hasn't happened before doesn't mean it won't," James reminded softly, and Kalen nodded his head.

"Yeah," he agreed. "You're right".

For a minute it was silent as James just observed the other boy, and then he sighed and laid one of his hands on the table, facing up. It was an offering, and Kalen immediately accepted it, sliding his hand into James. At that moment, James didn't care if anyone saw them. They were sitting in the back of the restaurant, away from most people, and Kalen had already said he didn't recognize any of the people around them.

"Let's get two things straight though," James advised, and Kalen's eyes widened. "I'm not saying that there's never going to be a time to tell him, I'm just saying that I don't think that now's the time. And secondly... this isn't about me Kalen, it's about you, so ultimately my opinion shouldn't matter. You tell your father when you're ready, and I'll be here to help you get through whatever the outcome may be, good or bad. Alright?"

The look on Kalen's face was very fond, and he twisted his fingers in James's. "Okay," he whispered, a smile curling his lips up. "Thank you".

"Of course," James assured, smiling back. With their free hands, they began to eat their food again.

"Oh hey," Kalen cut in after a bout of comfortable silence. "Wanna come home with me after dinner and spend the night?" His eyes remained on the table when he asked this, and James's eyebrows raised.

"Uh, to do what?"

"It's just, well, it's just me and my brothers tonight and they're gonna harass me so I thought if you were there they might lay off a bit... you don't have to".

"I'd like to," James answered quickly, shutting down any of Kalen's doubt as quickly as possible. "I'll just need to talk to my mother. It won't be a problem, she just likes to know where I am".

"Alright," Kalen agreed, smiling down at his food as he gathered another bite on his fork. "You've never been in my house before, have you".

"No," James confirmed, still eyeing the other boy. Just picking Kalen up earlier had been the first time James had even seen the Bradford home. Based on the extravagance of the outside, he was expecting something extremely fancy on the inside.

"I'll have to give you a tour then," Kalen offered happily. It seemed James opinion about him talking to Mr. Bradford hadn't dampened his mood.

James was incredibly grateful, for Kalen was at his most beautiful when he smiled.

***

They made it through the first fifteen minutes of the tour— featuring the foyer, the sitting room, the piano room (which was apparently used by Brad), the library, and the exercise room— before they encounter the Bradford triplets in the basements theater room.

They say Michael first, since he was in the back of the room by the door, fussing with the projector. "James!" Mike exclaimed, sounding surprised but delighted. There was something about the flush of his cheeks and the glossiness of his eyes that told James the reason for that. "It's great to see you!"

"Have you been drinking?" Kalen asked, eyebrows raising. Him and James shared a look.

"What?!" This was Joe, and James looked down to the row of plush rocking chairs to see the two other triplets peering over the back of their chairs. In the built in cup holder of Daniel's, James noticed a bright blue drink.

"Where did you guys even get those?" Kalen asked, and Daniel smiled. This seemed like a very rare occurrence, and James found himself staring.

"Shh," Joe hissed, and Mike and Daniel both laughed.

It made James think back nearly two years, to when his brother and his friends had stolen a bottle of vodka from the kitchen and drank it until they were all happy and laughing.

"You said you'd stop doing this " Kalen scolded, and Joe just waved a dismissive hand at his younger brother before turning back to the screen.

"Come on, Mike," Joe prompted, and Michael looked at James and Kalen with very wide eyes.

"James," he whispered. "Do you know how to hook up an xbox?"

James did, so he moved over to Michael with a sigh. "So what are you guys gonna do with this?" James inquired, his eyebrows raising when Michael leaned into him a little bit to watch him work. He smelled like sweet alcohol.

"We're gonna play on the big screen and shoot zombies," Mike answered and James breathed out a little laugh.

"That's fucking awesome," He commented, thinking about how much fun him and Tyler could have doing the same thing.

"Hey James," Joe called from the front of the room. James plugged in the final cord and lifted his head, smiling at the sight of Kalen attempting to reach the bottle Joe was holding high over his head. "Kal, stop mothering me for a second, would ya. James, are you gonna be at the party next weekend?"

"The party?" James repeated skeptically with a frown. He was worried the triplets were about to invite him to a drinking party and he'd feel obligated to accept.

It wasn't that he was completely against the idea, or that he wasn't curious. James just wanted to stay out of trouble for his parents' sake.

"Kalen, you didn't ask him?" Mike asked, and James looked to his boyfriend, who seemed perplexed by the question. "It's a party our father throws for the family every year, kind of like a family reunion. We each get to bring a guest".

"Why would I invite him?" Kalen inquired when Mike quieted. The shortest Bradford gave up on trying to rid his brother of his drink and returned to James's side. "Isn't that spot reserved for like... girlfriends?"

"Well you don't have one of those," Joe pointed out, sitting back down in his seat, facing towards the now lit big screen. To James left, Mike let out a small chuckle. "Why not take James? He's your closest friend, isn't he?"

Kalen paused, but still didn't look at James. "Well... yeah".

"Then that's settled!" Mike said happily, slapping James on the back before pushing around him and Kalen to go join his brothers in the row of seats.

"What is James supposed to do when I'm talking to family and stuff. You guys usually use that time to introduce your girlfriends, so wouldn't it be really weird if I introduced everyone to him?" Kalen inquired, and the three boys at the front of the room, who had begun to bicker silently among one another over game controllers paused at this. With a heavy sigh, Joe turned in his seat, kneeling to be able to look over the back of it at them.

"I guess you could invite Amore as well. Then James will have someone to talk to when you're doing your Bradford family things," Joe offered. His blue eyes shifted over to Daniel. "Hey, let Kalen use your guest spot for Tyler".

"What?" Daniel asked, sounding offended. Joe's eyes rolled.

"Come on man. It's not like you're bringing anyone. You're single."

For a moment, Daniel's mouth opened and closed a few times before he managed to say, "hey, maybe I'll bring Daisy".

Everyone besides James let out a loud groan then. "Come on man," Mike said, reaching around Joe to punch Daniel in the shoulder. "Give it up. She dumped you".

"She is way too fucking good for you," Joe added, and Daniel ducked his head down. James couldn't see his face. "We'll get Tyler an invite, no worries". This was said to James, who nodded and then shot Kalen a look.

"Alright... if Kalen wants me there I'll make it happen," James said, and then everyone was staring at the boy in question.

With wide eyes, Kalen looked up at him. "Of course you can come. The only reason why I hadn't already invited you was the whole girlfriend thing. I'll let my father know you'll be there".

They stayed talking with the triplets for a few moments longer but the second their game started none of them seemed to be interested in maintaining a conversation so they moved on to continue their tour, ignoring the call of "leave your bedroom door open" behind them in response to Kalen saying James would be spending the night. There were laughs in response, and Kalen just shook his head and grabbed James wrist, urging him to come on.

"Where are we going?" James inquired, shifting his arm in Kalen's grasp to be able to brush his fingers against the inside of Kalen's wrist. He received a fond look thrown over his shoulder.

"My bedroom," Kalen responded, and James eyebrows shot up.

"That's next in the tour?"

"No," Kalen admitted, but he didn't provide any further explanation. James didn't mind. He just followed behind his boyfriend softly, looking into all of the room they passed.

They went up two flights of stairs, down another hall or two before James was being pulled into a large bedroom. "You sleep here?" James inquired, eyebrows raising as he took in the king sized bed and large flat screen television mounted on the wall, as well as the clothing scattered about sparsely. "Your room looks like this and... oh my god, you've been in my room so many times, I'm so embarrassed".

"Why?" Kalen softly shut his door and then approached James at the end of the bed. His arms wrapped around James, hugging his waist. "It's not even clean". He grumbled something about the maid being busy cleaning up after Joe.

"That's not what I'm talking about," James said. "I was referring to the size".

Kalen made a humming noise. "I like your bedroom".

"It's so small," James groaned, pressing his palms into Kalen's back.

With a hum, Kalen's lips pressed against his neck, and he spoke against the skin there. "You have the bedroom of someone whose parents actually spend time with them. My rooms like this so I can keep myself occupied while my parents do business things," Kalen explained. A wet kiss was pressed to the space under his jaw. "I like your room. It smells like you".

"It smells like you too," James reminded, and Kalen hummed happily. Hands were on the back of his neck then, guiding his face down to the level of Kalen's so the shorter boy could kiss his lips.

It made him nervous, but he reciprocated cautiously, shifting his closed lips against Kalen's. When the other boy pressed his tongue against them, James pulled back. "Kal... your brothers—"

"They seemed pretty occupied, don't you think?" Kalen asked, unwrapping his arms from around James to place a hand on his chest and push him down against the mattress. James fell, eyes wide, and his hands immediately gripping Kalen's thighs when he straddled his waist. "I don't think they'll be bugging us for at least another hour or so".

Before James could respond, Kalen ducked down to kiss him again, this time taking advantage of James's parted lips and slipping his tongue between them. He tasted sweet, like they ice cream they had stopped to get on their way back, and James indulged in it until he felt insistent hands pulling at his belt buckle.

"Kalen, what are you doing?" James inquired, his hands going down to stop the other boy's. Golden eyes peered up at him, wide with confusion.

"Putting out," Kalen claimed without embarrassment, blinking down at him in a way that would be innocent if he wasn't telling James he wanted to have sex.

With a groan, James sat up, still holding Kalen's hands. Before speaking, he leaned forward to kiss the other boy softly, hoping to soothe some of the boy's worries. "Now is not the time".

"It's not?" Kalen asked, sliding his hands out of James and instead resting them on his shoulders.

It wasn't that he didn't want to sleep with Kalen—because damn, he did— but he didn't want to just yet. There were so many things they had to sort out before they got to that point, James thought, and he didn't want Kalen's family to learn of their relationship because one of the triplets walked in on them having sex.

"Because three of your older brothers are two floors down from us and I'd rather not have to worry about them walking in when we're sleeping together for the first time," James explained softly, hoping the other boy wasn't upset with his gentle rejection.

Thankfully, Kalen only sighed before wrapping his arms around James's neck. "You're right. I'm sorry. I guess I just... get ahead of myself with you sometimes".

James smiled at that and ducked his face into Kalen's shoulder, kissing the skin there. "Me too," he whispered.

There were so many more things he wanted to say right then, but his voice got caught in his throat.

He wanted to tell Kalen that sometimes his entire burned with the need to reach out and touch him. How sometimes he'd wake up in the middle of the night uncomfortably hot, his clothes damp with sweat just aching for Kalen to be there with him.

But he also wanted to tell him about less physical things as well, like how he wanted to listen to his voice for hours, or how happy it made him when he went into his room and could smell Kalen on his bedsheets, or how unbelievably and maybe even unhealthily fast he was falling in love with the other boy.

Somehow, he didn't need to say anything. Kalen just read all of these things from the expression on his face and then smiled at him and whispered a gentle. "Me too".