It's been a couple days since Cole admitted his love to Cloud and it was nearing the end of the month. Cole still hadn't mentioned Mattew who he wasn't exactly concerned about, but he was bothered about CPS coming by the end of the month. He didn't want them to take him away anymore and Jane had called to tell him to act well so they would make him stay there as their child.

      He didn't want to be anyone's child except a Maroni.

     His mum walked into the kitchen, greeted him with a smile before turning to the fridge and bringing out a slice of left over pizza. Cole rose a brow as he watched her warm it.

"You are going to eat that this morning?" He asked, swallowing down the last of his tea before taking his empty plate to the sink.

"Yes." Ashley groaned but perked up when the microwave beeped. She got out her pizza and settled on the counter before turning to Cole. "Don't look at me like that. I'm hungry and I haven't made a reasonable food since, Urgh, last week or so." She huffed before taking a bit into her pizza. She didn't even swallow before she started ranting again. "And I'm so stressed. With work and CPS coming over daily to check up on you. I mean, what if they take you from us? God, your dad's going to go bonkers."

"Mum, it's going to be fine." Cole reassured, coming over to place a hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be all right. I'll just give my statement and tell them how much I would rather be here than anywhere else."

His mum smiled up at him. "Thanks Cole. That's nice to hear."

     Cole gave her shoulder a squeeze before walking around the table to pick up his bag. Licking his lip as he threw his bag strap over his shoulder, he asked, "Hey, mum. I've got this other problem. I really don't know if it's a problem and-"

"You can tell me." She nodded as she finished her last bite from the pizza.

     Cole contemplated if there was any need telling her but just shrugged and said, "Cloud and I have been dating for about two weeks and someday within those weeks, Mattew kissed me. I haven't told Cloud yet because I'm really scared.  I don't know if he's going to be mad at me or brush it off like it didn't matter."

     Ashley pursed her lips, her fingers drummed the table lightly as she looked at him. "You cheated on him?"

"No!" His eyes widened. Was that the first thought that crossed her mind because if it was then what would Cloud think when he would tell him? "No, I would never cheat on him. I-I love him."

"Then you didn't cheat on him. Especially since you don't have feelings for Mattew." She said flatly. "This Mattew is Jane's son right? The cute one with the freckles."

"Yeah. But what do you mean I didn't cheat on him?" He asked quickly when he noticed he was going to be late to school if he didn't leave in the next five minutes. "Because, at that time, I had some sort of crush on him."

"And you haven't told him?" She rose a brow at him and he shrugged shyly.

"It kept slipping my mind when I was around him."

"Or you just don't want him to start judging you." She said sternly like she was teaching him a lesson. Ashley stood up from her seat with her plate and added, "You better tell him today before someone tells him because then, you'll really have something to be really disturbed about."

     Cole knew his mum was right because if he were in Cloud's shoes, he wouldn't want anyone telling him Cloud kissed someone else. It would be hard for him to know who was lying and who wasn't.

"Thanks mum." He responded finally, smiling at his mum who smiled back.

"Sure Cole." She said as she dropped the dish in the sink then cleaned her hands with a napkin. "Could you wait, I want to take you to school."

     Instantly, Cole felt weird. His mum hadn't taken him to school since when he was in elementary. If he ever missed the school bus, he had to take the bus to school. Now that she was offering he didn't know how he should feel.

"Okay."

"Is Tames up? I haven't seen him this morning." She asked, walking past him to the door, acting like her sudden generous offer was something they were used to.

"He spent the night with Payne. He's probably gone to school. Payne's an early person."

His mum smiled at him, "Wow, you just came and you already know the guy."

"I spend my free time with him sometimes." Cole said, following her to the sitting room when she got her car keys from the shelves.

She nodded, glancing around the sitting room as if she was looking for something then said, "That's good. You should learn from him. Such a responsible boy."

     Cole bit back a question that hunted his mind since his parents finally accepted him. Why? What did Payne show them that made them accept him? 

"In case you are wondering," His mum called out suddenly, drawing him out of his thoughts to look at her. She smiled warily at him and continued, "Payne wasn't who made us accept you. I'm ashamed to say but it was Jane. The second your dad told her you were gay and um, called you names, she had yelled at him. Telling him how much she would want him as her son if we kept up our hateful act.

"The thought never actually crossed our minds until then. The fact that we could lose you because we weren't being good parents. I don't even know if the movies on TV were trying to mock us with the way they were constantly showing acceptance. Then Payne came over to help out in our garden. I let him because, well, he looked nice. And from there we became friends. Your dad and Tames even liked him a lot.

"Then one day, when he was helping me cook, he told me about his childhood story. That was when I found out he was gay. I couldn't get the courage to tell him to leave. Then he smiled and asked me if I was okay with him and that if I liked him anymore."

His mum sighed, her eyes watering slightly. "I mean he was a wonderful guy and I always ignored the fact the he was gay right after until he found out about you from Tames. Payne made us realize what we were doing to you was wrong. I mean, you are my baby and I let that disgust over gay people cloud my judgement of you."

"Mum," He interrupted before she could start crying and said, "It's fine. I forgive you."

His mum stared at him in surprise, her hands quickly raising up to clean the tears out of her eyes, "What do you mean you forgive me? I hurt you-"

"And I'm hurting people. I'm tired of hurting people. I hurt this family by coming out gay. I hurt my brother by pushing him away when he wanted to be my brother again. I hurt Mattew by making him fall in love with me. I hurt my boyfriend by kissing my best friend. And I haven't told him." Cole couldn't help the break in his voice. "I'm supposed to be the one asking for forgiveness for ruining this family. I shouldn't have come out."

"Stop thinking like that." She gasped, walking up to him to grip on his shoulders. "Don't ever say that again," She repeated, her eyes staring into him. "A month ago we would have been having a different conversation, but I know different now. I know you like men. I know you love a boy in your school and I know you kissed your best friend. I wouldn't have known anything about you if you had kept quiet. I wouldn't even want to know back then, but now, all I want to know is everything. How you became friends with the Lumbergs? How you and Cloud met? And the best of all, I want to know how my boy is doing? I love you so much. Don't let what I did in the past destroy what we could build up again."

Cole couldn't believe the words that came out of his mum's mouth. He could believe it if it was his dad because he did the mushy things, but what his mum just displayed, left him baffled. And it took everything in him not to cry when his mum pulled him into a hug.

He swallowed and said, "I'm crying so much. How about I just miss school and you call me in as sick?"

"I love you Cole and I still want you as my son. So I rather not lie and have the CPS see reason to take you away because I let you stay back and do nothing. The last thing I need is to be called irresponsible at work." She groaned as she pulled away.  Then, with a smile, she shook the key in his face. "Let's take you to school, shall we?"

Cole huffed and rolled his eyes in the defeat.

     First period and second were a blur. Mostly because he was sleeping and for some reason wasn't caught in class. Cole was able to evade the twin when they came up to him to ask him to eat lunch with them. The offer was tempting, but he needed to tell Cloud what has been on his mind before some unknown asshole try to destroy the relationship he was holding on to.

But more like holding on to him in this present situation.

    Cloud had his arms around Cole as they walked to their man cave. Cloud was giving Cole a hard time to breath with the way he squeezed him every so often.

"I'm going to die if you continue." Cole managed within pants, holding his tray tightly until Cloud finally let go of him.

Cloud grinned, his eyes widening ever so often. "You are just adorable."

Cole huffed in annoyance but slowly melted to relief when he saw their room. He nodded at Cloud when he opened the door for him and he walked over to the stool to put his tray on it.

   As before, the couch lay in the middle of the room, a stool in front to hold his tray of food and the shelves that had his novels. Cole flopped on the couch then watched Cloud who walked over to the shelves and brought out the book Cloud had bought for him.

"That reminds me, you never read the book I bought for you?"

      Cole mentally groaned in remembrance of the book. He hadn't finished it but 200 pages in and it was still boring like, where the hell was the fun? The minute he closed it, he hadn't been able to pick it up again. And with stuffs going on at home and in school, he never got the chance.

     But he wasn't going to tell Cloud that. "It was nice. At least to where I stopped. But I've got stuffs to do. Like loads." He shrugged then bit into his burger.

"Like what stuff?"

"Graduation. College, University. Not letting the CPS take me away from my family. Tames' gonna cry a river if that happened."

Cloud quietly came over to sit beside him. He said, "Maybe it suits them right for making you go through what you went through before they accepted you."

He shook his head. "If I didn't love my family, I wouldn't even be bothered. But I do and I want to be with them. I mean, they finally accept me. They don't just want me to be their son but the son they accept and love. What gay guy wouldn't want that?" He admitted then turned to Cloud when he didn't say anything.

Cole frowned at him. "Aren't you going to say something?"

"Why would I? I love it when you talk about something you love. It make me love you more." His boyfriend smiled at him and he swallowed, heat rushing to his cheeks quickly from the way Cloud's eyes remained on him.

     Cole because suddenly self-conscious but pushed the thought away as he scarfed down the last of his cheese burger. He cleaned his mouth and turned to Cloud only to have his lips attacked.

   Cloud kissed him, pushing him down on the couch softly as he tasted him. Cole probably tasted of the cheese burger he had just eaten but he didn't care as he let Cloud kiss him deeper.

He wanted to continue and maybe, maybe not have sex with him but he had something to tell him that may or may not have their relationship on a shaky ground.

"Cloud." He managed to pull away from Cloud but that didn't stop Cloud from leaving a wet trail of kisses down his neck. Cole tried to remain focused as he continued, "This may sound bad but Mattew kissed me while we were dating."

     Cloud stopped mid bite on his neck and Cole's heart race but not for the way Cloud's teeth grazed his neck before coming up to look at him. He stared pointedly at Cole who was growing scared by the second.

"Did you kiss him back?" Cloud asked, confusion sipping from his voice.

Cole really didn't want to disappoint him but when he didn't respond to him, Cloud sat up and stared blankly at him. "You kissed him back." He stated, not even giving Cole the chance to talk. "Why would you?"

"I liked him." Cole admitted stupidly and Cloud's eyes widened. But Cole didn't give his boyfriend any time to suggest something awful before he added, "It was a simple crush. That was why I couldn't tell you I loved you. Because at that time, you didn't have me completely. But now you do because I love you with everything I have."

     Cole didn't know what else to say when he Cloud still didn't reply him and still had his game face on. Cole didn't know if he should cry for him to believe or kiss him. He just stared back at him and waited for it.

     A slap across the face, a break up, a desperate cry. Anything to let him know where he stood.

"You love me right?" He asked suddenly, gazing at Cole with a defeated look on his face that made Cole bit back a gasp. Cloud looked second away from crying even though there weren't any tears to prove it.

Cole threw his arms around Cloud, pulling him in for a tight hug. He released a shaky breath when Cloud tightened his arms around him and said, "I love you. No one else. If I had anything for Mattew it's definitely gone now."

Cloud pulled away to place his forehead on his, "I love you too." He said then kissed him lightly on his lips.

   Cole was relieved to finally tell him that. The result wasn't as bad as he had expected and he sure knew he wasn't going to be doing anything to put himself in that situation again.

________________________________
A/n
Important information!!!

I just found out a chapter of mine had been made private. Chapter Title is Park Confession. Talked to Wattpad last night and they finally made it public. If you don't have it please remove this book from you library and add it again.

Plus, this book had gone mature so yeah...

Sorry for the inconveniences.