(Not my photo)

Original story, created by- Dakotahstacy3. ONLY on Wattpad.
Anywhere else, it has been stolen, without permission. Support real artists and writers!
(Written back in July 2024)

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Peter's pov-

After everything happened I just...couldn't stay In that house any longer. I packed a bag and sneaked out of my room, I didn't dare go downstairs. My mother was to confused to do anything and my father...yeah...he would...

Tears clouded my vision, but I needed to focus so I  could get away and not hurt myself by tripping on something. I just wanted to be with Cole, I need to be with him. Now.

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Cole's pov-

I woke up to Peter's dad yelling at me and pulling me out of the bed. I didn't try to fight back or stay, I needed to get out of there before It got worse. I didn't want to leave Peter, I knew he was worried and scared. But I was to busy getting chased out to do anything. I quickly grabbed my clothes and bolted out of the house, still In a towel. The cold air hit me and not wanting to draw more attention to the house, I went behind some bushes and put my clothes back on.

I stared up at the house, hoping that Peter would be okay...I went home, not being able to stop thinking of him. I said I would protect him...and now I'm not there for him...

I barged Into my house, surprised to see my mom, but she was even more surprised.

"Honey! You scared me...are you okay?" She asked and walked over to me. "It's freezing outside, are you okay?"

"I-I...mom...something bad happened..." I said worriedly, furrowing my eyebrows.

"What? Honey... Okay, let's sit down." My mom said worried and walked me to the couch. "What happened?"

"Me and Peter were together...but his parents got home and...his fathers pissed. He'll never let me be around him again. And now Peter Is stuck there...I just want to help and protect him...and well, I'm here now..." I said.

"Oh..." My mom hugged me tight and rubbed my back "I'm so sorry, honey. Everything will be okay. We'll figure It out."

I just leaned Into her, not wanting to talk. Some tears clouded my eyes.

Then all of a sudden we heard a knock on the door. We looked at each other, worried about who It might be. I slowly got up and went to the door. The knocks continued, over and over. I opened the door...

Peter jumped forward Into my arms "Cole!" He cried out.

"Peter!" I shouted out In surprise, then pulled him away to get a look at him. "Oh, baby." His eyes were red and puffy, he was cold and carrying a bag.

"Can I stay here, please?" He asked looking up at me. He was so scared and worried.

"Yeah, of course. Come In here, baby." I closed the door and walked him over to the couch.

"I'll make some tea." My mom said.

I held Peter to my chest, while he continues crying. My poor boy...I hated seeing him like this. He didn't deserve to feel this way.

"What's gonna happen tomorrow?" Peter asked quietly, his nose stuffy.

"I don't know, baby. But I will be with you, every second, protecting you. I won't let your dad do anything to you. He won't see you, talk to you or hurt you. I won't let him." I hugged Peter tightly, never wanting to let go.

"Why don't I go get the guest room ready, Peter can stay In there. Unless... you rather stay with Cole?" My mom asked.

"He can stay with me tonight." I said holding Peter close.

"Alright." My mom smiled looking at us.

I carried Peter up to my room, placing him down on my bed. He fell asleep quickly with me next to him. Things will be okay...eventually.

—

The next morning, things were quiet, still. I didn't let the thoughts of last night bother me, I ignored them, only focusing on Peter. The sunlight shining through the window showed all of the dust around, It was just so still and quiet. No noises around, just Peter. His breathing was slow and calm, his face and body was relaxed, you can't forget his ginger curls looking beautiful, like always. Sunlight shining off each little curl.

I got up to pee and get some breakfast, while I didn't want to leave Peter, I thought It would be cute to make him some breakfast In bed.

"Good morning, honey. Are you okay, after yesterday?" My mom asked when I went downstairs.

"I'm alright, trying not to think about It." I said with a sigh. "I'm worried about Peter though. So, I was going to make some breakfast for him."

"Aw, that's sweet, honey. I already had my breakfast, so you get what you want." My mom kissed my cheek and walked to the living room.

I made some banana pancakes, bacon, sausage and poured two glasses of orange juice. Putting them all on a tray then carrying them up to Peter.

He looked so peaceful laying there, on my bed. My bed. Thinking of that made me smile. I placed the tray down on my desk and put my hand on Peter's shoulder. He was laying mostly on his stomach with his face smooshed Into the pillow.

"Good morning, baby. I made you some breakfast. Time to wake up." I said rubbing my hand on his shoulder and back, lightly shaking him awake.

"Mmm, what time Is It?" Peter said sleepily, running his eyes.

"Breakfast time." I smiled.

"I don't want to get up for breakfast. Not yet." Peter said putting his face down on the pillow.

"You don't have too, baby. I made It and brought It up to you." I said still rubbing his back.

He opened his eyes and looked at the tray of food "Hmm...fine, I guess I could sit up for awhile. Give me food." He sat up and bed and made a grabbing motion towards the food.

"Alright, here you go, baby." I said getting up then giving the tray to Peter. "I made some for both of us, so we could eat up here together." I say next to him and placed a kiss on his temple.

"Thank you...handsome." Peter said then took a bite of food.

"Aww, you called me handsome." I nuzzled my head against his.

"Yeah. You are pretty handsome...and very sweet. Thank you." Peter said looking up at me. This Is what I want In life. Peter looking up at me like that, us saying dumb jokes to each other, kissing and cuddling all the time. This Is what I love.

—

Me and Peter stayed together at my house all day, since we didn't feel like dealing with drama right now. I did finally give that gift to Peter, which he loved.

Earlier that day,

"You want to know something crazy?" I asked.

"What?" Peter looked at me interested.

"Me and Keith went to the library the other day, and I got some books...and I also got something for you." I said.

"You got a book!? Multiple books!? Wait, what did you get me!?" Peter asked surprised and curious.

"Close your eyes and let me go get It." Peter closes his eyes and I grabbed the gift for him, placing It In his hands.
"You can open your eyes now."

"Woah...wait, thats!" He said surprised with Is jaw open. "How- where did you get this? How did you know?"

"Well I saw It at the library...and I remember that you loved that book. Also there's a cute bookmark...and maybe a cute note inside too..." I said.

He looked at me with Is mouth still wide open. Then opened the book and read the note. "Cole." He said surprised and happy. "Thank you!" Then he jumped forward to hug me.

"Your welcome, baby. You deserve It. You deserve to be happy and I love seeing you happy." I said.

Peter was so happy and kept thanking me, randomly hugging me thought the day.

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Peter's parents tried to keep calling and texting him, even coming over to our house, knocking and screaming over and over. But It was really only Mr. Driscol doing all of this. Mrs. Driscol tried to call him down, but It obviously didn't work.

The sun was starting to go down, me, Peter and my mom all stayed home all day together. But another knock at the door interrupted the show we were watching. I reluctantly got up, not wanting my mother to deal with that again, or Peter. So It would be easier just to answer the door myself.

I sighed then opened the door, surprised to see someone that wasn't Mr. Driscol.

"Hello, Cole." My father said standing there before me.

"I- I- H- Hello. Uh, what are you doing here?" I said confused with my mouth slight open and wide eyes.

"Well...I wanted to see you and talk. Are you busy?" He said having a hard time making eye contact. He was nervous, hands on his waist and tapping his foot.

"Um..." I said looking towards the living room. "I can get away for awhile."

"Look, If your busy- that's fine. I shouldn't have come over anyways." My father said taking a step back.

"No. It's okay. Why don't we go somewhere else to talk though." I said. "Give me a minute to grab a jacket."

"Alright." He said. I closed the door and walked to the living room.

"Um, I'm going to go for a few minutes. Will you two be okay here alone?" I asked my mom and Peter.

"Yeah, we'll be okay, sweetie." My mom said.

"Yeah, It's okay." Peter said quietly.

"Where are you going?" My mom asked.

"Well- uh...dad Is here, he wanted to talk to me. So I said I would spend some time with him." I explained.

My mom paused then said "Okay then. Go ahead, honey."

"Alright. I'll be back soon." I said looking at Peter.

"Okay." Peter said quietly.

I walked back to the door and put on a jacket. Me and my dad walked to his car.

"I figured that, I shouldn't really be over here again. Or go inside...um, where do you want to go to talk?" My dad said.

"We could just talk In the car, so we don't have to go anywhere. What do you want to talk about?" I said.

"Okay. Well...I joined The Circle recently and I was at that meeting thing you had at your school. I'm really proud of you and everything you did to change the school. Also how you changed, then you managed to get other people to do the same...I just really want to change." He said, pausing every now and then.

"I think It's great that you joined the circle and are talking to me. I mean you literally knocked on the door, so that's something." I said with a small smile.

He looked at me, his face soften and I even saw a tiny smile. I never saw him like that.

"I guess so huh. How have you been, Cole?" He asked.

"Well, pretty good. I got two more friends, school can be fun sometimes but Is usually boring. Then me and my friends just hangout all of the time." I said with a smile.

"I glad. You definitely seem happier." He said then looked away. After all of those years of him being abusive to me and my mom. It was going to take time for him to change and gain our trust back.

"It's gonna take time, but I think you can change too." I said looking at him. "It won't happen overnight." Then I looked towards the house, thinking.
"Are you hungry? I haven't had dinner yet, what about you?" I asked.

"Yeah, I haven't eaten anything yet. Why do you ask?" He said.

"How would you feel about having dinner here?" I asked.

"I- I don't think that would be a good idea. Not yet. Maybe not ever." He said.

I knew he was right, but I still asked. "Your right, Its fine. We can have dinner sometime, but maybe somewhere else though." I said. I started getting cold, even with a jacket, the weather had been colder than usually. The car was getting colder and colder just sitter there.

"I should probably get back inside. But I'm usually not busy, so we can talk whenever you want." I smiled looking at my dad.

"I'll try to stop by more often, well maybe not here. It would probably be better If I didn't come by the house, at least for awhile. But I do want to see you more often Cole. You deserve someone better than me for a father." He said taking a deep breath.
"Cole..." He paused and looked at me "I'm sorry for everything I put you and your mother through. It was messed up, I was messed up. You two didn't deserve that." He apologized with a sadden face.

"You did deserve your father treating you that way either. You ended up doing the same thing because you didn't know any better...But now you do. Things change over time." I said. Wow, did I actually get wise? Garvey. Edwin, the island and the spirit bear all made me that way.

He lightly chuckled "Wow. I thought that parents we're supposed to be the smart ones."

"Well, like I said things change." I said with a smile.

"If I hear that word again, It won't sound like a word anymore." He said jokingly with one finger up In the air.

"Weird how that works huh? And If you think about It, change has two meanings." I said.

"Alright, don't go confusing me more." He said.

We were smiling and looked at each other. I didn't know what to say, maybe I didn't need to say anything right now. I leaned over to his side of the car and hugged him. He was tense but relaxed some then hugged me back.

I pulled back and said "I'll see you soon. Now I'm going to go back Inside, get warm and eat."

"Alright, you do that. I'm going to go do the same thing. I'll try to stop by more often." He said. We smiled at each other then I got out of the car and went back Inside.

Opening and closing the front door quickly, taking my jacket off and shaking at the cold.

"How'd It go?" My mom asked.

"It went well." I smiled then sat down on the couch. Next to Peter obviously, then wrapped a blanket around myself. "It's really cold out. Warm me up." I said looking at Peter and grabbing him.

"Ah, your hands are so cold! Cole! Stop! Your hands are literally freezing!" Peter shouted.

"Well, warm me up then." I said smiling.

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Peter stayed at our house that night, so we got to cuddle all night together. Both of us together In my bed. I haven't slept that well In a long time.

In the morning we had to get ready for school.

"Do you need any clothes, Peter?" I asked.

"I packed a few clothes, but I don't have much." Peter said.

"Well you can borrow mine If you need and we can get you more after school. Alright?" I said.

"Okay." He said looking up at me smiling softly.

We walked to school and I held Peter's hand while I could. But once we got closer to the school we let go of each other, going our separate ways to class.

My mom picked us up after school and we went to the store.

"What about this, Peter?" My mom asked holding up a shirt.

"Yeah, that's fine." Peter said.

"Well, If you see anything you like just grab It, okay." My mom said sweetly.

"I like this sweater." Peter said picking up a soft, dark green sweater.

"I like It too, It's warm and you would look good In It, baby." I said.

While we walked around the store I noticed how Peter got uncomfortable around people, worried what they might say or do to him. I hate that he's so scared of everyone. Even when I'm with him he's still scared. What am I supposed to do about that? How do I help him?

While we were looking at things, I over heard a conversation that I couldn't help but listen to.

"Hey, honey, you'll love this." A guy said.

"Ooo, what?" Another guy said excited. "Aww, that's adorable. I love the color and It's so soft."

"I knew you would." The guy said and then I heard them kiss.

I smiled after hearing that, looking towards Peter. I've never met any gay people before, let alone a gay couple. Well, at least that I know of. Wait, have I met someone that was gay and I didn't know? I didn't even know I liked guys...I'm gay? I don't know, even now...Maybe I don't need a label. I'm happy and that's all that matters.

"Hey, Peter." I whispered.

"Yeah?" He asked.

I stared at him for a second, thinking about what to say. But I didn't need to say anything, just kiss him.

—

As the week went on, Peter was constantly worrying about his parents and what other people might think of us being together. I tried to be there for him and help calm him, but I could only do so much.
He only really relaxed at night. When the night was dark and quiet, he would forget everything and finally relax. With no one around to bother him or stress him out, just me and him alone together. He would laugh and smile, then fall asleep In my arms. Every night.

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