On Saturday morning, James's father was in the kitchen eating toast. This was strange for two reasons, the first being that James rarely ever got to see his father eat breakfast, so the sight of him munching on toast gave him pause, and the second was that it was a Saturday, and that meant that the older man didn't have work, and should have been sleeping until noon. "Hey," James greeted, going over to the coffee maker as he typically did first thing on the weekends. His mother had off work as well, and often slept in as late as his father, so James fended for himself in the mornings.

"You making coffee?" his dad asked around a mouthful of bread. Crumbs fell from his mouth and scattered across his navy dress shirt and he groaned, rubbing them away with a hand. "I tried to figure it out but I gave up".

James looked at his father, then the coffee maker, and simply pressed the brew button. "I set it all up last night before I went to bed", he explained, going over to lean on the counter next to his father. "What are you doing up so early? And why are you wearing a button down?"

"Work," his father grumbled, displeased.

"On a Saturday?" 

"It's a Saturday?" His father asked with wide eyes, and James just looked at him blankly.

"You're joking," he deduced, and his fathers surprised face shifted to an amused one.

"I am," he agreed with a nod of his head, taking the last bite of his toast and then speaking around it to explain. "Mr. Bradford has off today, so he asked me earlier in the week if I would come in and get some paperwork done. He's paying me overtime, and said I can dress business casual".

"Ah," James voice, frowning. "It sucks that you're losing one of your days off though".

"Yeah," his father agreed, swallowing and shrugging. "I'll just catch up on my sleep tomorrow. It's not that big of a deal. The money will be nice". He elbowed James. "Our savings are almost up enough to get a new car".

"That's great dad," James said, and he meant it. He knew how frustrating it had to be for his parents to share the one vehicle they had, especially since they both worked during the day. More often than not, his father found himself taking the bus to work, which meant he had to wake up about an hour earlier than usually to accommodate the extended ride.

"Hey," his father said, elbowing him again to get his full attention, which has been directed at the slowly filling coffee pot. "It seems like I'm going to have the office to myself if you want to come see how it's done".

James would have liked this. It had been a while since he had spent time with just his father, and he honestly missed the man. Work had him occupied lately, and when he wasn't working he was typically sleepy.

"Ranicheck?" James offered, and his father sighed, but nodded, still maintaining his smile. "I'd like to, but I already told Tyler he could come over today".

"Ah, how's he doing?" his father asked before pointing at the coffee pot. "Is that finished? I gotta go soon and I'd like to take some with me if that's alright".

"Oh, yeah, that's fine," James assured, nodding his head. "Yeah it's finished".

"Cool". His father grabbed a travel mug from the cabinet behind him, and went over to the coffee machine.

"Tyler's good, I think," James answered. "He's been really tired lately, but he has insomnia so it's not like he can just sleep it off".

"Ahh," his father voiced, pouring half of the coffee pot into his travel mug before returning the pot to the hot pad. "That's unfortunate. He should talk to someone about that.  I suffered from insomnia when your mother and I began dating, and eventually I began passing out form exhaustion and falling asleep in random places".

"Oh," James said, frowning. "I didn't know that".

"It's not a part of my life that I talk about often," his father admitted, turning around to face him. "I should be home early today, around one or two, so I'll see you then. Tell Tyler I said hello".

"Yeah dad," James agreed with a nod of his head. "I will".

"Great". The man left the kitchen, padding across the tiled floor on socked feet, and James watched him go, feeling guilty that his father was working so hard to support them as a family. He wondered if he should start looking for a job to help out.

As his father left the house, keys jingling and the door clicking shut behind him, James poured half of the coffee left into a mug and went to take a seat at the peninsula. Typically, he would attempt to make himself breakfast at this point and end up eating burned bacon and undercooked scrambled eggs, but Tyler was on his way, and based on the text that had awoken him that morning, and he was brining breakfast along with him.

It didn't take long before there was a knock at his front door, and he left his half drunk coffee on the peninsula to go and answer it.

On the other side of the door stood Tyler, his hair a mess, his green eyes barley open, and a fast food bag in hand. He pressed this into James's chest the second the door opened and then pushed past him to get into the house. "I smell coffee".

"Yeah," James agreed, eyeing his best friend in concern. "Come on". He lead Tyler to the kitchen and immediately put the remainder of a the coffee into a mug for him, placing it on the peninsula before starting to brew more. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I haven't slept in forty two hours," Tyler grumbled, sipping at the rim of his mug and humming thoughtfully. "Give me some food, would ya? I payed for it, afterall".

Carelessly, James tossed the fast food bag onto the peninsula from where he was standing by the counter, grumbling about why Tyler had bothered to give it to him in the first place. Tyler tore opened the bag and pulled out a breakfast sandwich as well as a package of mini fried hash browns.

"I got like eight of these by the way," Ty claimed, shoving one into his mouth and James's stomach grumbled at the prospect. He hadn't eaten since his dinner last night with the Bradford's, and even then he had only gotten through about half of his food before he was harassed for long enough that his meal went cold.

Once the coffee grounds were in the machine, and there was enough water to brew an entire pot– because it looked like Tyler needed it– James returned to his stool, directly beside his friend's and pulled the bag in front of him. He removed the remaining sandwich, and then one of the many packets of hash browns before eagerly digging in, moaning around the first bite. "Thank you," he groaned around the food in his mouth, and Tyler hummed.

"So," Tyler began after a minute of them devouring their food in peace. "How did your dinner go last night? I was going to text you before I went to sleep to see, but my mom confiscated my phone because she thought it would help me sleep better if it wasn't in my room".

"Did it?" James inquired, looking over at Ty, who just gestured toward his own face. "Right. The dinner was fine. I mean, at first it was awful, and they wouldn't talk or anything, and then Kalen left me alone with all of them and they harassed me, and then I said something about understanding where they were coming from as brothers and Brad snapped at me and asked what I knew about brothers".

"He didn't," Tyler said, pausing in his eating and James nodded his head. "Shit man. Did you make him feel like an absolute prick".

"I think so," James admitted, and Tyler laughed. "Yeah, I gave this whole speech and after that they just started arguing amongst themselves, which I had no problem with".

"Nice," Ty said with a nod of his head. "You have successfully infiltrated the Bradford family, my friend".

"Yeah," James agreed half heartedly, shifting to remove his phone from the pocket of his jeans. "It was an interesting experience". He checked his messages, hoping for one from Kalen, but it was still only 9:30, so his boyfriend was likely sleeping. With a sigh, James placed his phone on the counter before taking another bite of his sandwich. "Do you think my brother would have liked Kalen?" James had thought about this a lot before, and he had even told Kalen that he though Ace would be fond of him, but he was curious what Tyler would think.

"Hmm". Tyler took a slow sip of his coffee. "Yeah, I think he would".

"Why the long pause?" James inquired, watching as Tyler removed two more things of hash browns from the bag, placing one in front of James.

"Well, you know as well as I do that Ace loved being you favorite person," He reminded, and James smiled a little. "I'm not saying that Kalen would be able to take that from him, but I think he'd give him a run for his money".

James felt his smile slip, and he looked away. There was something he wanted to say, and it was something he typically wouldn't, but after last night, after spilling out his whole soul to the Bradford's, James felt that if he could open up to them, he surly could open up to Tyler. "Sometimes I feel guilty".

"About?"

James took a sip of his coffee to clear his throat. "About not being sad anymore. I mean, of course I miss my brother, and yeah, I still cry sometimes when I think about him, but it felt like the majority of my life was just sad for a while after he died, and now it's not... It just feels so soon. I mean, it hasn't even been a year yet. Almost, but not yet". He chewed his lip as he awaited Tyler's response, and when it didn't come he shot a look at his friend to see him staring head, thinking.

Eventually, Tyler spoke, his voice very low. "There's nothing wrong with moving forward, James. Your brother wouldn't want you to be miserable the rest of his life," Tyler advised, and James hoped the words were getting across to his best friend as well, because he thought Tyler needed to hear them. "I think I feel guilty too".

"Oh?" James inquired, wondering his friend would reveal to him what he had suspected all along. That Tyler felt guilty for having feelings for Pierce after Ace had died.

"Yeah. I think... I think I feel weird because I loved him for a long time, and then I worked really hard to stop loving him after he turned me down, and then he died... It doesn't really make sense, I don't think, but I just... I feel bad for falling out of love with him," Tyler finished, still staring ahead. "Is that stupid?"

"I don't think anything we feel is stupid," James respoded immeditly, and Tyler snorted, his tired eyes shifting over to look at James. "Now that was stupid".

"That," Ty started, "was the type of shit you say to Kalen".

"Oh well". James shrugged, returning to his hash browns, breakfast sandwich long gone. "He loves me".

"Of course he does," Tyler supplied, and James shot him a surprised look. Making a face that was difficult to read, Tyler just shrugged. "What can I say? You're a great guy James. Very easy to love".

"Oh?" James inquired, a smile pulling as his lips as he prepared himself to tease. "But you don't love me, right?"

Tyler sighed heavily. "No. At least, not in the way you're suggesting, though I can almost guarantee you my life would be far easier if I did".

"How? James asked incredulously. "You'd have to compete with Kalen, who is gorgeous". 

As he poured hashbrowns into his mouth straight from the carton, tipping his head back, Tyler waved his free hand dismissively. When his second carton was empty, he dropped it on the table and then spoke as he chewed. "First off, you say that like I'm not attractive".

While Tyler was objectively handsome, James still felt the need to tease. "Have you looked in a mirror this moring? You look like a dead man with hash brown crumbs all over your face". This managed to get a snort out of Tyler, but he also pulled one of the napkins from the bag to wipe his face.

"Second off-" he continued after swallowing the food in his mouth. "Kalen is literally half my size–"

"Literally isn't the right word–"

"–and I am very confident in my ability to take him down," Tyler finished with a confident nod to his head, and James laughed.

"So what you're saying is that in a situation where you and Kalen fight over me, you would win?" James summarized and Tyler nodded.

"Oh hands down".

James laughed, and then advised, "you should learn to talk less".

In response, Tyler shrugged nonchalantly, and then grinned at him. "You're going to eat all those, right?" He inquired in regard to James's hash browns. "I'm expecting you to eat at least three packages".

***

"Dude," Tyler groaned, kicking one of his legs out from under the blanket to drive it into James's leg. "You need to calm down".

With a sigh, James tore his eyes from the television and looked down the couch at his friend, who was trying to curl himself into the smallest ball he could possibly manage underneath the fizzy pink blanket James's mother had brought out to him. He looked ridiculous.

"I'm fine," James said to the green eyes popping out over the edge of the blanket.

"You're tapping your foot a lot," Tyler argued. "And every couple of minutes you look at your phone and go-" he imitated one of James's most exacerbated sighs, and James rolled his eyes, but had to admit it was pretty accurate. "I'm sure Kalen's fine".

"I am too," James grumbled, checking his phone again. "It's just... well, he said he would be texting me when he woke up this morning, and he didn't".

"He doesn't need to text you all the time," Tyler pointed out, his gaze drifting back to the television set. "He can have a life outside of you".

"I know that," James breathed. "It's just that he told me he would text me, and he always texts me when he tells me he's going to, and he hasn't".

"Maybe he's still sleeping," Tyler mumbled, and James shot a look at the clock about the television. It was 12:50. He looked back down at Tyler, expression blank.

It was clear his best friend was trying to ignore the gaze on the side did his face, but it appeared to be a task too difficult to manage after two long minutes, and he sighed heavily. "Are you really that worried about it?"

"Yes".

"Ugh," Ty groaned, pushing the pink blanket off of his chest. "Fine". For a moment, he just struggled to grab something beneath the blanket— the moment was long enough that James was becoming concerned— but then his hand emerged, holding his phone. James watched as Tyler opened his contacts and began looking through them.

"If you're trying to call Kalen, I already tried that".

"Shut up," Tyler grumbled. "I'm not calling Kalen". He selected a contact quickly, before James could see who it was, and pressed the phone against his ear.

"... who are you calling?"

Tyler just glared at him. "Who do you think?"

Oh. James fought a grin. Pierce.

"Hi," Ty said glumly into his phone. "What!? No!... What is wrong with you?... No I don't... Uh, no... yeah, sure, that's fine... well what do you want me to say?" Tyler laughed then at whatever Pierce said in response, and fondly replied, "fuck you". James hid a smile behind his hand as Tyler's eyes slid over to him before widening. "Oh right, I didn't actually call to talk about that... Kalen..." Tyler was getting frustrated again. "Well I'm sorry that you're busy, I just want to know where Kalen is and if he's alive and stuff...it's a simple question, stop being a douche... listen fuckface- what?"

Tyler sat up, eyes wide as he looked at James. "What?" James demanded, sitting forward as well. "What's he saying?"

Tyler held up a finger towards him, his eyes dropping. "Oh," He said into the phone, shounding defeated. "To where?...What do you mean you can't tell me?...Pierce– ugh!" Tyler threw his phone on the ground. "He fucking hung up on me!"

"Tyler," James breathed, sounding exacerbated. "What did he say?"

"Uh..." Tyler avoided his gaze. "He said, and keep in mind, he didn't really clarify so I don't know–"

"Tyler".

"He said that he was at home helping move Kalen out of the house," Tyler said quickly.

"What?!" James yelled, loud enough that his mother rushed in from where she had been reading at the kitchen table.

"What is it?" She asked, panicked. "What happened? Are you okay?"

He hated the sound of his mother's panicked voice. It reminded him of some of Ace's worst days, when his brother would collapse or get violently ill. Normally, he would begin to apologize her profusely for causing her worry, but at the moment, all he could think about was Kalen. "Moving him to where?"

"I don't know man!" Tyler defended, "he wouldn't tell me".

"Fuck," James said, rising from the couch as he dialed Kalen's number again.

"James, what's going on?" His mother asked, eyes very wide.

"Somethings going on with Kalen's family," James explained, listing to the phone ring, and inevitably go to voicemail. "Shit!"

As Tyler tried to explain the situation as best as he could to James's mother, he called the next person he could think of. It rang for a solid minute before Michael picked up. "Hey," he said in James ear.

"Mike, what is-"

"You need a picture of the notes?" The other boy cut in. "Again? Yeah, I have them, just wait one minute".

"Mike?" James asked, but he could hear the boy talking to someone else, asking permission to go up to his room for a second and take a picture of something. He must have been given the go, because Mike's distant voice said, thanks.

It was silent for a minute longer, and then Michael said, "hey man, now is really not a good time–"

"Pierce told Tyler that he was moving Kalen out of the house–"

"Ugh, Pierce!" Mike groaned. "Look James, a lot of shit went down within the last twelve hours, and it's going to be suspicious if I'm up here too long. I'll stop by later tonight and explain everything, but I really can't talk to you right now. Just... please just be patient".

The line dropped then, and James threw his phone at the couch before dropping his face in his hands and groaning.

***

Mike showed up at midnight with lightly mussed hair, as if he had been pulling at it in his stress, and two coffees, one of which was thrust into his hand the second he opened the door. "We need to talk," Mike demanded. "About a lot".

James nodded in agreement and pushed open the front door, gesturing for Mike to come inside. Once the door was closed and they were both situated on the couch, James asked the question he had wanted answered all day. "Where is Kalen?"

Mike sighed heavily and said, "He's on his way to Minnesota," under his breath.