Despite the triplets fears, they made it to the weekend without anything going wrong. It relaxed James some, and even Daniel and Mike seemed to think that maybe their father was coming around, but Joe still seemed incredibly weary about the situation. He had texted James something about their father acting suspicious, spending more time in his study and insisting he'd be left alone. Apparently Joe often got to sit in on his father's at home work hours as a sort of training to eventually take the place as Brad's Vice President of the company. When James had asked Michael about this, he had dismissed it as his father probably having a client who was taking their business from a rival company to them instead and wished for discretion. This apparently happened every couple of months, and Joe was always shut out for the phone calls.

Kalen, of course, was completely blind to his older brothers worries. He had been in a good mood ever since his family's dinner, and with all the time he spent with James, it was rubbing off on him.

By Friday morning, only two full days since Kalen's new found ability to be constantly happy, James found himself smiling more than usual as well. It seemed to be pissing off Tyler, who was back to being tired and grumpy.

"There's nothing even happening right now, why are you so happy?" Ty grumbled, leaning against Kalen's locker and closing his eyes. They had come into school earlier than they usually would to meet Kalen at his locker, and even though his boyfriend was running a few minutes late, James was sporting a small smile.

"Because Kalen said he needs to talk to me about something, and it means I get to see him before school". While the triplets were fine with James and Tyler joining them at lunch, they weren't exactly thrilled when James showed up at other times. He figured it had something to do with the fact that Kalen had gotten them to promise that he could still spend three afternoons out of five over at James's house, and they felt as if James was taking Kalen away from them. This was stupid, of course, because they hadn't been threatened when him and Kalen were 'just friends' and the boy was spending every afternoon over at his house, but then again, at that point they still got Kalen to themselves for lunch.

"Ugh," Tyler groaned, raising his hand and rubbing at his eyes. "Why am I even here then? I should be in bed".

This made James frown, and he eyed his best friend in concern. "Do you need some money to get a coffee from the vending machines?"

"I'm fine," Was Tyler's response, and his mouth opened wide immediately after to yawn. "God, I don't know what's wrong with me".

"Maybe you have anxiety," James pointed out, to which Tyler just blinked at him with a blank face. "I don't know. Are you worried about anything in particular?"

"Don't try to doctor me," Tyler demanded, but he didn't sound upset with James efforts, only tired. James rolled his eyes and looked away, down the hall, where he spotted Kalen and his brothers approaching.

"Maybe you should see if Pierce has time to fuck the exhaustion out of you tonight?" James suggest under his breath, and Tyler's eyes widened. "I'm using your own words".

"I forgot I said that," Tyler mumbled. He looked over his shoulder to see how far away the Bradford's were before turning back to James. "I can't just text him".

"Why?" James inquired. "Do you not have his phone number?"

Suddenly, Tyler was averting his eyes, his cheeks flushing pink. "No. I do".

James smiled a little. "Well, I know for a fact that you know how to send a text-"

With a low groan, Tyler reached out and punched James's arm. "Hey. We don't text one another. That's not what we do".

"Then why do you have his phone number?" James inquired, his eyes on Kalen over Tyler's shoulder. His boyfriend spotted him, and then raised a hand to wave since they were still too far away to say hello. Beside him, Joe spotted him as well and frowned, saying something to Kalen, who responded with an irritated look.

"Well..." Tyler's eyebrows drew together, seeming conflicted. "He gave it to me".

"Probably because he wants you to use it," James advised, and Tyler just looked at him face twisted skeptically. "Tyler, don't be an idiot". At this point, Kalen and his brothers were close enough to hear them, and Kalen's eyebrows shot up. "If someone gives you their phone number, it's because they're expecting you to use it".

"Why would he do that?" Tyler inquired, sounding kind of panicked and James rolled his eyes at his clueless friend before bringing his full attention to his boyfriend.

"Hi James," Kalen greeted, moving from Joe's side to stand directly in front of Tyler, who was still leaning on his locker. "Who gave you their phone number?"

"Hello to you too," Tyler grumbled, moving away from the locker to lean instead against James's side. The sudden added weight made him stumble, but he quickly adjusted.

"Hi. Who gave you their phone number?" Kalen inquired, moving to his locker and putting in the combination, his lips moving as he recalled the number.

"No one," Tyler groaned.

"Liar," Kalen accused. "Is it that guy you sleep with?" At this, Tyler tensed against James's side, and James shot a look at the triplets. Michael seemed perfectly normal, unsurprised by this information since he half already known about it. Joe and Daniel on the other hand both had looks of shock, though it manifested itself different on each off their faces.

Joe's eyebrows were raised incredibly high, and his mouth was slightly parted, while Daniel's eyes just widened slightly for a moment before returning to their normal size.

"No," Tyler protested and James eyed his friend from the corner of his eye. He was very clearly freaking out, so James wasn't surprised when Tyler mumbled. "I need to go," before leaving his side and hurrying down the hall. James watched him go with a frown, wanting to follow, but Kalen needed to talk to him.

"Huh," Kalen voiced, getting James's attention. "I hope I didn't offend him. I figured he didn't mind talking to me about it after graphically describing their sex".

"Ugh". This was Michael, who suddenly looked totally disturbed. Kalen shot him a curious look, but Mike was looking at James with a grimace, eyes asking: he didn't really describe to Kalen his sex with our brother. James just smiled at him.

"He'll be fine," James assured to Kalen, who was still frowning after Tyler. "He's just not sleeping well".

"Because of all the sex?" Kalen inquired, regarding James with raised eyebrows. James laughed at this and Kalen looked pleased to be the one to cause the sound.

"No," he denied. "From insomnia. Close though". Kalen rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders, looking into his locker and pulling out a textbook. "So what did you need to talk to me about?"

Kalen paused, textbook lifted halfway to his open backpack and James's eyebrows raised. "Oh," Kalen said, frowning. With a small huff, he stuffed his textbook into his bag and zipped it. He turned toward him, pressing his hand into the door of his locker to close it. "Okay, So don't freak out".

James eyed him up and down, and then smiled. "You actually seem like the one to be freaking out," he pointed out, shifting his gaze to the triplets for a second. He gathered no information from their blank faces, so he looked back to Kalen.

"I'm just worried that you're going to freak out," Kalen explained. He turned his head to look at his brothers. "Can you guys like, go away for a bit?"

"Nope," Joe answered, smiling at him.

"Ugh, Fine," Kalen groaned, looking back at James. "I'm going to do this anyways then".

Before James could ask do what Kalen was pressed against his chest, his arms hugging his waist tightly, fingers gripping the back of his shirt. James eyes widened, and then he slid his arms down to grip Kalen's hips. "Um, Kal?"

"I might have told all of my brothers that we would go out to get dinner with them tonight so they could meet you," Kalen said, voice muffled by his shirt. James tensed, eyes growing wide.

"What?" He asked, leaning back and trying to look at his boyfriend's face, but Kalen seemed pretty admit to keep hiding it in his shirt. "Kalen".

"I'm sorry," Kalen grumbled, finally lifting his head to look up at him. "They insisted". James narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend, who just looked up an innocently. "Please James? Please? I'll make it up to you". Kalen's teeth sunk into his lower lip then and James eyebrows shot up.

"Really now?" He asked, intrigued. Beside them, Joe cleared his throat loudly and Kalen pushed out his lower lip. With a sigh, James closed his eyes. "Fine".

"Great!" Kalen exclaimed pushing himself onto his toes and kissing the corner of James mouth before any of his brothers could stop him. "I'll call you this afternoon once I know the details". Kalen stepped away from him then, arms falling to his sides, and James just narrowed his eyes at him, ignoring the glares he felt on the side of his face. "What?"

"Sometimes I think you're trying to put me in danger," James admitted.

The smile Kalen gave him was incredibly sweet, as was his voice when he said, "oh, of course not".

James wasn't one hundred percent sure he believed him.

***

To calm down, James kept thinking about Kalen's fingers knitted through his beneath the table, the grip tight and unwavering, a kind of metaphor for the support Kalen provided him.

He was seated between Kalen and Michael, which calmed him some, and not being able to really see Joe, who was on the other side of Mike, would have made things a little easier if it weren't for the other four, more scary brothers on the other side of the table.

Somehow, despite busy schedules and prior obligations, all of Kalen's brothers had been able to make it, meaning James had to eat and endure the staring from seven blue eyes– Mike was the only one acting like a normal person and focusing on his meal– and three gold ones. It was really unsettling, but James tried to seem unbothered by the whole thing, hopefully to ease Kalen, who was a bundle of nerves beside him.

"Can you guys at least say something?" Kalen begged, dropping his fork against his plate out of irritation. "I mean, you haven't even touched your food".

"Not hungry," Garett claimed, faced pinched into something like disapproval. James found it to be an odd look on the man. Garett had the kind of face that seemed like it should always be smiling, with lips that naturally turned up at the corners, and very round eyes. Most of the time, it was hard for him to believe Tyler's previous statement that Garett often did whatever Pierce did, but now, with those blue eyes trained on him, wide and trying to appear unfriendly, James could kind of get it. He also understood why no one took the other boy seriously.

"Then why did you insist on getting dinner?" Kalen asked, squeezing James's hand so tightly that he winced. "You guys are being ridiculous".

"You're the one who wanted to get dinner," Pierce claimed. "We were just going to ambush him at his house".

James's eyes widened, and he shot a look at Kalen, who huffed at this. "That was a horrible idea," he accused. Pierce just smiled, and James put down his fork, his appetite lost. "You guys are never this quiet. It's really unsettling".

"Ah," Joe cut in, smiling in that way that James was afraid of. "Why don't you go settle yourself in the bathroom".

"No," Kalen snapped immediately, before James even had the chance to panic over being left alone with five men who seemingly wanted to kill him, and Michael.

"Kalen, we talked about this," Pierce warned, sounding less than pleased with his youngest siblings refusal, though, he often sounded less than pleased with everything. James wondered for not the first time that night why he was trying to get his best friend to date this man.

"We also talked about you guys being civil," Kalen hissed, and James rubbed at his face with his free hand, feeling entirely uncomfortable to be witnessing a Bradford family fight. "It's not that big of a deal. We're just dating. It's not like we're getting married. Even dad is fine with it-"

"Kalen". The icy voice belonged to Brad, and James felt his boyfriend tense beside him as he shivered himself. While James had always been told it was Pierce that he had to look out for, he found himself far more terrified of the oldest sibling.

Kalen and Brad looked at one another for a long, silent moment, gold eyes on gold, and then Kalen's entire body relaxed, and he dropped his head. James was just about to ask him if he was alright when Kalen whispered, "I am so sorry," to him before pulling his hand free and leaving his seat.

With wide eyes, James watched him leave. "Oh, fuc-"

"So," Pierce began, and James's eyes snapped over to look across the table at the other boy and his mismatched eyes. "How long have you two been together again?"

The questions kept coming, one after the other from each of the brothers.

Joe: "What'd you do to get him to date you?"

Garett: "What makes you think you're good enough to date Kalen?"

Daniel: "Do you pay for him when you go out on dates?"

Brad: "Are you having sex with my younger brother?"

Michael: "What exactly are your intentions with Kalen?"

A lot of these were spoken at the same time, and once the symphony was finished they all propped their elbows up on the table, interlaced their hands, and leaned toward him eagerly. In perfect synch, without even bothering to glace at one another before hand, they all said, "Answer the question".

It was so terrifying that James didn't even think to be impressed by the display. "Okay, look guys, I love your brother, and everything is going really well between us right now, and-" I'm pretty sure if I answered some of those questions you wouldn't let me see him anymore, James had been about to say, which happened to be self incrimination. Thankfully, he was interrupted by Brad before he could get that far.

"You love him," Brad growled, sounding more pissed than he had the entire night.

"Um..." James pressed his lips together and looked away, wondering if it was too late to back peddle. Based on the wide eyed look Michael was giving him, he guessed it was. "Yeah?"

"Does he love you?" Garett inquired, eyebrows raised. He, for one, no longer looked angry, which calmed James down some.

"Yes," James answered softly. "Or, at least he says he does, but I don't think he'd lie about that".

"Oh Jesus," Pierce groaned, leaning back in his seat and stretching his arms behind his head, the fabric of his white button down pulling tight over his sculpted chest. James blinked away, resisting the urge to blush.

They table was silent for a long minute, and then Garett began to laugh. It was a full sound, very resonate, and it made James warm to the other man slightly, not that he thought Garett would care. "Well shit," said the second oldest Bradford, laughter still weighing his voice. "I didn't realize this was actually serious".

"Kalen's in love with you?" Brad asked, sounding tired.

"Well... yeah," James replied honestly, smiling for the first time since Kalen had left the table. For a moment longer, Brad regarded him, and then he sighed heavily and removed his phone from his pocket, typing something quick before returning it.

He must have texted Kalen, because his boyfriend was sliding into the seat next to him less than a minute later, as Garett was saying, "I guess we should probably try to get to know you better if you're going to be around". He was like a completely different person, all smiles and eye wrinkles. The boys on either side of him— Brad to his left and Pierce to his right— shot him angry looks that both went ignored.

"Sure," James agreed with a shrug, sliding a hand under the table to rest gently against Kalen's thigh.

"Sorry," Kalen whispered again, cheeks pink. Under the table, his hand found James's. "It seems like you handled it though".

"It would seem so," James responded, dropping one of his eyelids quickly to wink at his boyfriend, who smiled in response. He was faking confidence, but he was willing to do that in order to relax Kalen.

"Okay then," Pierce said loudly to get his attention. "Is our little brother your first boyfriend?"

"Pierce-" Kalen began, but James squeezed his hand and shot him a quick smile to say it was alright.

"No," James answered. "He's not". Pierce's eyebrows raised and James maintained steady eye contact. "My first boyfirned's name was Taylor. He was a childhood friend of mine, back in Florida".

"Do you still talk?" Garett inquired, and he heard Kalen sigh heavily off to his left.

They had already discussed all of these things, just the two of them, and it had been slightly tense due to the fact that Kalen didn't like picturing him with someone else, or so that had been the younger boy's excuse.

"No". Beneath the table, James removed his hand from Kalen's and began to trace his fingers lightly up and down the seam of Kalen's pants, along the inside of his thigh.

"Why'd you break up?" Joe inquired, actually looking curious and not at all devious. It was a fair question, one James should have been expecting given the topic, but it was one he didn't want to answer, and he was grimacing before he could stop himself.

"My parents walked in on us," James supplied, taking a sip of his water to wash his dry throat.

"Walked in on you doing what?" Brad asked in a full voice, and James squeezed his eyes closed.

"Just let it go, Brad," Kalen demanded softly, his hand wrapping lightly around James's forearm so his hand was free to continue tracing the seam comfortingly. Opening his eyes, James was surprised to see the oldest Bradford looking down at his plate, the question dropped.

"So you're not a virgin then?" Pierce pressed.

"No," James responded before Kalen could scold yet another brother. "And before you ask, yes I take sex seriously. I was pressured into it the first time, and I honestly regret it. You don't need to worry about me pressuring Kalen into doing anything".

"And why should we trust you?" Brad demanded, taking a sip of his wine but not breaking eye contact over the rim.

"I guess what matters is that Kalen trusts me," James said, and Brad's lips drew tighter in a tight line. "I understand that as his brother you feel-"

He was interrupted by a harsh tone, "and what do you know about brothers?" Brad snapped, and James froze, body tensing in shock.

To this right, Mike's chair creaked as he shifted uncomfortably, and when James glanced to that side of the table he noticed all three of the triplets had their eyes down.

"You fucking idiot," Kalen said in a low voice, and Brad's eyes widened slightly at the sound of a swear word coming from Kalen's lips. Still, his gaze remanded on James, but as the silence stretched, it grew more and more uneasy.

James closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them as he began to speak. "My older brother actually died a little less than a year ago," James explained, nodding his head. "He had a brain tumor, and it ruptured, and it killed him".

Brad's face didn't change, but his eyes did drop to the table. "I'm sorry".

James nodded his head and dropped his eyes to look down at his plate. "I'm sorry that you can't scare me," he continued, addressing all of them then. "I get the whole protective older brother thing because I used to have one, but it's not going to work". He cleared his throat. "Do you want to know why we moved from Florida? Besides being broke because lord knows hospital bills are expensive".

It was quiet, but he waited for a response. It came eventually, and he didn't even bother to raise his head to see which Bradford said it.

"We moved because we were all so deeply unhappy there. We were living in this house that Ace and I had grown up in, eating at the same dining room table that we always ate at, the four of us, and I was going to a high school that my brother didn't get to graduate from because he died," James explained. It felt good to finally say these things, to finally get them off his chest and out in the open. It didn't even matter that most of the people listening to him hated him. "We couldn't stay there anymore so we came here, and it was better, it really was, but I still wasn't happy". James paused, and when he looked up, he looked at Kalen and grinned. "And then Kalen ran directly into me in the hallway and dropped all his stuff on the floor".

Kalen, who had appeared glassy eyed a second before, laughed easily, a smile stretching his face wide. "I'm pretty sure you ran into me," he teased, and James scoffed playfully.

"I'm pretty sure I was just standing there".

"There being in the middle of the hall," Kalen pointed out and James rolled his eyes. They landed back on Brad, who was simply looking at him with a neutral expression, gold eyes calculating.

"For the first time in a year, I'm actually happy now, because of your brother," James admitted with a smile. "And I should probably thank you, all of you, because if you hadn't have done such a fantastic job of keeping people away from him until now, I guarantee you I wouldn't get the chance to be with him". He cut off then and frowned, shooting a look at Kalen. "How unromantic is it that I just admitted to being grateful for your social isolation".

Kalen shrugged, seeming content. "Probably not very, but I don't care. When you put it like that, I'm pretty thankful for it as well".

James grinned, wanting to kiss his boyfriend, but figuring that was too soon, so he instead just squeezed his leg under the table, eyes staring into Kalen's as he tried to convey how much he loved him through telepathy.

The moment was interrupted by Joe slammed his hand down on the table, getting all of their attention. He was grinning coyly, and leaned forward to look down the table to where Kalen was sitting on James left. "Did you just say that you were thankful for us keeping people away from you?"

As so the Bradford bickering commenced, spreading out across the table until they were all complaining about one another, and James relaxed into his chair, happy he was no longer being interrogated.

***

"And where do you think you're going?" Pierce said, crossing his arms and staring Kalen down. James, who was attached to his boyfriend by the hand, paused in his steps, but he was pulled forward when Kalen continued to move.

"I'm walking my boyfriend to his car like a gentleman," Kalen explained, tugging James into the parking lot, trying to ignore all of the eyes he suddenly felt on his back.

"You know I'll get there safe without you, right," James inquired, and Kalen shot him a look over his shoulder.

"I know," he claimed, turning forward then. "I'm going to give you a goodnight kiss and unless you want to make out right next to my brothers-"

"We're not making out," James cut in with a little laugh as they slowed to a stop next to his moms car. Kalen turned to him and gave him a look. "Your brothers can still see us and they're all staring at us".

With a soft hum, Kalen pushed himself up onto his toes to kiss him. James allowed it, but he pulled away after a few short seconds, ignoring the tingling in his lips demanding more. "Nice try," Kalen said, grabbing the front of his jacket and pulling his face back towards him.

With a heavy sigh, James gave up, melting into Kalen as his hands came down to firmly grasp his hips. Slowly, Kalen passed his tongue over his lips one, two, three times before James allowed him access, opening just wide enough for Kalen's tongue to press eagerly into his mouth.

It was a great kiss— all of their kisses were great— but it was going on for far too long. Multiple times James attempted to edge back, but each time Kalen sucked him in, nipping his lip or sliding his hands up his jacket and pressing against his stomach, always making him want, no, need more.

They were both startled at the car horn that interrupted them and James finally succeeded in parting their lips, lifting his head and sighing at the sight of Joe's car, which had pulled up right next to them. "Break it up, will ya?"

"I have to go," Kalen said, turning back to look up at him. "Thank you for coming tonight".

"Oh no," James said with a little smile. "It's no problem. I had a great time". With a little laugh, Kalen pressed up to kiss him again, this time quickly, though it still warranted a honk from Joe. "I think you just secured my death".

"You'll be fine," Kalen assures, moving out of his arms, which then felt incredibly empty. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Yeah," James agreed, removing his keys from his coat pocket. "I love you".

Kalen beamed at him, walking backwards towards Joe's car so he could continue to look at him. "I love you too," he said. "So much".

James didn't get into his car until Joe's car turned out of the parking lot and his heart stopped beating so hard in his chest.