I woke up first. Greg continued to sleep soundly while I started getting ready for the day in the adjacent bathroom. I came back for some clothes after a bit to see you was slaw and sitting up.

    "Hey sunshine." I greeted softly, while I pulled on some pants.

    "Hey." He said quietly.

    I glanced over at him. He wasn't looking too peachy.

    "Everything alright?" I asked.

    He laid a hand tentatively on his torso and grimaced. He pulled up his shirt just a bit and there was a dull red/yellow mark there.

    "Where'd that come from?" I blinked, concerned.

    He look guilty. "My binder...I've been wearing it for too long."

    I stood there, slightly confused. "I don't really know all that much about binding, what do you usually do when this happens?"

    He seemed uncomfortable. "I usually don't do anything."

     I frowned. "Is that...healthy?"

   He didn't answer. He just stared at the floor, fingers clenched in the fabric of the sheets of my bed. I walked towards him and sat down. I put my hand gently onto one of his.

     "Greg?" I asked, trying to look at his face.

     His brow twisted up. "I'm sorry! Okay? I hate this! I hate my body!"

     He wiped his face quickly. "Yesterday didn't help. Nothing like your parents screaming you're a girl in your face to really screw you up mentally."

     I bit my lip and rubbed his back as he heaved, sobbing gently.

    "I'm here for you." I assured quietly.

    He took a few deep breaths and tried to calm himself down. This worked after a while.

    "Breath in." I instructed, he complied, and I counted to four seconds. "Hold it," I counted seven seconds. "Let it out." I counted eight seconds.

    He did that a few times. Eventually he was calm again. "Where did you learn that?"

    "My therapist." I admitted.

    "You have a therapist?" He questioned, looking up at me.

    "I have anxiety problems." I explained, sighing. "She's really nice."

    "Huh."

    We sat there in silence for a bit. Then all of a sudden my dad opened the door.

    "Hey, boys! I was thinking we could run to the store in a bit to go Greg shopping, so get dressed." He gave a thumbs up.

    "Thanks Mr. Halabi." Greg said, returning his thumbs up, and my dad disappeared.

    He reached for his binder, which was still in the same spot he had left it last night. I put an arm on his shoulder. He stopped, and let it drop.

    "What you're supposed to, is take breaks." He sighed. "Every eight hours, which I haven't been doing. Which is what I should be doing."

    "Is there an alternative?" I inquired.

    He bit his lip and glanced at me. "I could layer up, if you wouldn't mind me borrowing your shirts."

    I grinned. "Of course!"

    A thirty minutes later Greg was wearing quite a few of my shirts and we were climbing out my dad's car to go raid a Target.

    "Do you think we can like...be gay in public now?" I asked, as we walked down an aisle looking for a toothbrush.

    "Cause I yelled at my dad again? I dunno. Depends if you want to whole school to know or not." He shrugged.

    I nodded, subconsciously pulling at my shirt. I didn't really like shopping, but it was more okay with Greg.

    "Oh my God." I realized. "Can I tell Abby?"

    "Yeah you can tell her." He agreed, leaning down over the dental selection.

    I put the basket around one ant and arm dialed her up with the other. Greg started adding stuff to the basket while I wasn't paying attention.

    She eventually answered thank goodness.

    "What's up?" She asked.

    "Okay, so nothing bad. I mean it is, but it's okay now. A lot has happened over the weekend."

    "Okay then," she replied, sounding confused. "Go on."

    I told her the story of the lunch and Greg's sister and his second and not really more successful coming out. I left out the kissing part, she probably didn't need that.

    "Good giblets." She marveled. "And you guys are all right?"

    "Yeah he's living with me now, we're shopping, say hi Greg."

    "Hey." He greeted.

    "Hello! I'm glad you guys are all right. Is there anything I can do? Do you need anything?"

    "I think we're okay for now. If anything else arises, we'll call you." I confirmed.

    "Thank, and Greg?"

    "Yeah?" He stood up straight to get closer to my phone.

    "I'm so proud of you! You have no idea." She complimented. "Honestly that's one of the bravest stories I've ever heard."

    Greg look embarrassed. "Thanks."

    "Micah?" A new voice asked.

    The two of us spun around on our heels to see no other but Abe standing there, looking lost and confused in our aisle.

    "Um, I'm gonna have to say goodbye now Abby." I said quickly.

    "What-?" She exclaimed, startled, before I hung up on her.

    "Is this dude causing you trouble, Micah?" Abe questioned, pointed a finger at Gregory.

    "No!" I said quickly, waving my hands in submission. "Not at all. Abe! What are you doing here? I've never seen you about in about outside of school."

    He narrowed his eyes in confusion, glancing between the two of us as he struggled to comprehend why exactly Greg was fashionably ignoring him while dumping things into my basket I was holding. I figured it was a strange sight because the last time he saw us together, he had to stop Greg from beating me up.

    "I live a ways off. Is he forcing you to shop for him? What exactly are you doing?" He inquired again.

    "We're getting supplies." Greg said simply. "Let's go to another aisle Micah."

    "Yeah we're kinda busy at the moment..." I continued to try and explain as Abby texted me wondering why I had hung up on her.

    "Supplies for what? Is what you're doing legal? You still haven't told me if you have Micah's consent." Abe insisted, folding his arms.

    "Abe, it's a long story." I sighed. "He's not forcing me to do anything, I'm helping him out."

    "Is he wearing your shirt?" Abe blinked. "Micah what the heck is going on here?"

    Greg put his hands up. "You got me, I'm out of excuses."

    "Excuses?" Abe was glaring at me.

    I felt very put-on-the-spot. I tugged at the collar of my shirt. "Greg needed some help...with some stuff...and I'm helping him. We're actually friends."

    Greg snorted. I resisted the urge to kick him. Abe still looked very unconvinced.

    "Friends? You sound like you're lying." He raised an eyebrow. "I still think there's some form of consent abuse going on here."

    I glanced back at Greg, who shrugged back at me. It was hard to read what he meant sometimes, but I honestly wasn't sure what else we could say, except for the truth.

    "Are just going to keep following us around?" I asked, as we moved aisles with Abe in tow.

    "Yes, cause I'm worried he's bullying you into doing this." Abe stressed again.

    "I don't know what else I can say to you." I replied honestly.

    "For God's sake." Greg said finally. "We're not friends okay, you happy?"

    "I knew it! Come on Micah, I can drive you home." Abe started to walk off, and turned back confused when neither of us followed.

    "Micah?" He asked again.

    "Tell him." Greg sighed.

    "Tell me what?" Abe just about demanded. "Are you doing something illegal?"

    "You can't tell anyone, alright?" I begged. "No one at school or in the play can know."

    "I can't promise that if your safety is at risk." Abe said.

    I bit my lip. "It's not. Greg's not my friend...that part's true. He's a little more than that. He's my...boyfriend."

    Abe stood there stunned for a moment. My hands were shaking, and my heart my pounding slightly.

    "Boyfriend?" Abe blinked. "You're...dating?"

    "Yeah." I scratched the back of my head.

    "But...just a month ago I had to stop him from punching you. It's a little to sudden to believable Micah." He was frowning and looking back at the two of us. "That still doesn't explain why you're buying him stuff."

    "It was kinda sudden wasn't it." I realized, reaching for Greg's hand as he tried to wander away. "He's my soulmate, we're soulmates."

    "I'm gay." Greg added helpfully.

    I pulled down my shirt collar to reveal to soft warm glow on my chest.

    Abe stared for a moment, he looked unsure.

    "Look, it's okay if you're not supportive of this, we're just asking you to please not tell anyone." I begged again.

    Abe broke from his confused trance. "Not supportive...? Oh because I'm Christian? Micah Christianity means I believe in equality, as in for everyone. I'm just surprised."

    "About what?" I breathed, extremely relived that I was getting positive feedback.

    "I would have never have pegged you and Gregory Smith." He mused.

    "I was surprised too." Greg nodded.

    "Are guys happy?" Abe continued.

    "Absolutely." Greg grinned.

    "Yeah." I agreed.

    Abe shrugged. "Then that's all that matters. If someone's telling you that God doesn't want you to be yourself, then they're lying and nitpicking out of hate. Don't listen to that kind of stuff."

    "Oh, thank you." I said, gratefully. "That's really nice of you to say."

    Abe shrugged. "It's the truth, and I promise I won't tell. For real though, that still doesn't explain the shopping. I'm still kinda curious."

    "I tried to come out to my parents and they kicked me out. I'm living with Micah now." Greg explained hesitantly.

    Abe frowned again. "I'm sorry you have to deal with people like that. My parents kicked me out too, I'm adopted."

    Greg nodded, looking a little less uncomfortable. "Thanks...?"

    He ruffled our heads, because he was tall enough to do that. "No problem. I guess you've had a change of heart, huh? I'll be protecting both of you now."

    "Yeah." Greg laughed softly.

    Abe looked around. "I should probably go find where Isaac's run off too, you never know what that kid's going to get himself into. It was nice seeing you two again."

    "Bye." We both mumbles vaguely as we walked off.

    "He's such a dad." Greg shook his head in amusement. "But yeah, I guess I underestimated him."

    I snorted. We went back to our shopping. It was all good.