Even though work on Sunday was a bit awkward, especially with Jake's excessive flirting and Collier's inability to not blush at every word the handsome boy said, Cole was dreading leaving.

Leaving meant going home, and home meant dinner with his mother, Ron, and then the usual people at his lunch table.

It was going to be miserable.

"You okay?" Jake asked him as they walked out of The Gallery that afternoon. Collier had insisted on staying a bit late to finish a portrait, and Jake, the gentleman he was, offered to stay with him. Petra seemed extremely grateful for this, since Collier had a tendency to forget to do things and sometimes forgot to lock the store after himself, and she had to leave early to attend an art show across town.

"I'm great," Collier said, though he grimaced at how false it sounded. Jake just hummed at the obvious lie. "Sorry. I'm really fine, or I'm going to be. It's just that, well, my mother's making me actually eat dinner in the dining room for the first time since Emerson and his father moved in with us. I'm just not really looking forward to it". And then, because Cole was more thinking out loud than having a conversation, he didn't spare a thought to saying, "at least Henry will be there though," until it was too late.

"Henry?" Jake asked and Collier glanced at him quickly to catch the other furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. "Henry Stone?"

"Yeah," Collier said after a short pause. It seemed a bit insensitive of him to bring up the boy he spent a good portion of his time kissing in front of the man who he had just rejected the night before without giving him a reason.

"Henry Stone is going to your family dinner?"Jake asked. "Is it because-"

Fearing what he would say next, Collier interrupted him. "We're kind of friends".

"-of Emerson," Jake finished and Cole winced.

"Oh". It was quiet as they got to the corner of the building, both of them slowing to a stop since that was there they parted and their conversation clearly wasn't over. "That's a big part of it as well".

"You're blushing," Jake observed, narrowing his eyes, which of course made Collier's cheeks flush an even darker shade. "What's going on between you and Henry Stone?"

"Nothing," Collier said quickly, but it came out too fast. "We're... it's complicated".

"So that's why you're not going out with me, huh? Henry Stone. I have to admit, I'm surprised by that. I never saw you with someone so... sullen".

"I'm not with him," Collier corrected and Jake just looked at him for a moment before shaking his head.

"It's absolutely none of my business," Jake said, and then, before Cole could react, the taller boy bent forward and pressed his warm lips against his cheek. "Have a good night, Collier".

***

When he got home, he was surprised to find Henry Stone sitting in the chair closest to the television. Cole didn't really know why he was surprised, when he glanced out of the front window, Henry's silver car was parked on the street and now that he had thought about it, he had noticed it on his way in, but still, the sight of the boy sitting in his living room startled him.

Henry looked very angry at the moment. He was leaning back in his seat, his head tilted slightly to the left so he could glare while heartedly and Emerson and Sarah, who were sitting on the couch alongside one another giggling.

Collier cleared his throat and all three of them looked up at him. Henry's expression softened.

Cole couldn't stop himself from noticing how good Henry looked. Typically, he wore t-shirts and dark colors, but for dinner, he had worn light blue jeans and a button down mint green shirt, which somehow made his eyes look very black.

"You're covered in paint," Henry observed, revealing that he too had been taking the moment to study him. Collier just sighed.

"I spilt". Slowly, he crossed the room until he was standing before the other, causing Henry to tilt his head back slightly to look up at him.

"How many times?" Henry asked. Cole smiled.

"Oh, you're home". Collier turned, stepping to the left so he wasn't blocking Henry's view of the rest of the room. His mother was standing in the doorway, her eyes slightly red, indicating that she had either been crying, or cutting onions (so still, crying).

"What's for dinner?"

"Chicken". Collier eyebrows shot up. Before he could ask what's wrong, she was talking once more. "Please go upstairs and change dear, your face is filthy".

Collier inhaled sharply to protest, but both Emerson and Sarah shook their heads at him. "Um, okay?"

He went, slowly as a small sign of his protest, but surely. While he did as his mother said and changed his shirt, he put on one with an anime logo, just to spite her.

When he returned to the living room, the scene was almost exactly as it had been when he had entered, though this time both Sarah and Emerson were looking back at Henry as he glared at them.

"Alright," Collier said, making his presence in the room known. "What did I miss?"

He crossed the space, rounding the couch to get to the chair Henry was sitting in, and then dropping down on the armrest, slightly leaning against the other boy for support. "Well," Sarah began, "not much. Your mother cried for awhile because you weren't here and she thought you weren't going to show up but I had to remind her that you were at work".

Cole rolled his eyes. That explained how red her eyes had been. "Were you here for that?" He asked Henry softly and the boy just looked up to meet his eyes and nodded with a grimace. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Henry grumbled, his eyes dropping to his hands in his lap. "I just don't do well with people crying around me".

"I can relate". Henry hummed. "You look tired". He did. "When did you end up going to sleep last night?"

Since Collier had drifted off first, he didn't know what had gone in afterwards. All he knew was that when he had woken up in the morning, Henry was no longer on the other end. "Around midnight, I guess, not too long after you. I was awoken around three though at the sound of you falling out of bed, but before I could ask if you were okay the line cut out".

Collier didn't remember this, but falling out of the bed had long since been a irregular thing, so he simply just crawled back under the sheets and fell back asleep without completely waking up. "Ahh. Accident, sorry for hanging up on you".

"It's fine," Henry said, and then he smiled. "You make noise in your sleep".

"I know," Cole grumbled.

"Why do you sound so upset about it?" Henry asked, looking up at him with curious dark blue eyes. "It's cute".

Cole felt his face flush but tried his best to ignore it. "I did it when I was younger too. I always wanted a little brother, and I would always ask my mom for one. They clearly didn't want another baby, I was difficult enough, apparently, but she wasn't going to tell me that then so she just said we couldn't have one since I was so loud in my sleep that I would wake the baby up every night. It made me cry". Henry looked amused. "I just wanted a sibling".

"Why?" Henry asked, "how old were you?"

Collier thought about how at ease Henry always seemed, even when he was by himself. It was a talent that Collier did not possess. "Elementary school, around the age when Sarah couldn't come over every day. I was very lonely, actually. I've never been one to take comfort in solitude. That's actually why I started to draw. It was the one thing that could put me at ease and make me forget that I was alone".

"You're something else, Collier Jacobson," Henry assured him, still looking up at him, though not his expression was unreadable.

"What do you-"

"Alright boys and Sarah," Collier's mother greater, clapping her hands together to get their attention as if her shrill voice wasn't enough. "Are you ready to eat?"

"Sure thing, Ms. Jacobson," Emerson said and Collier blinked in surprise, taking this as a glance at his mother.

Collier watched the woman carefully, looking for a reaction, and was surprised when she looked right back at him. "It's actually Bleu now".

Cole tensed next to Henry, and the boy glanced at him, confused.

"Huh?" Emerson asked.

"You changed your name back?" Cole asked, his voice very flat. His mother chewed her lip and nodded.

"I did". It was quiet. "I'm assuming you'd like to keep your father's last name, but if you want-"

"I don't," Cole interjected quickly, not even wanting to hear her suggest it.

"Cole," Sarah said softly, clearly seeing he was upset. He ignored her since he didn't even know why he was bothered that his mother had changed her last name. It didn't effect him at all, all it did was make his parents divorce just a little more real, and he didn't care about that.

He was over it.

"I'm hungry," he said after a moment of silence in which everyone, including Ron, who had poked his head out of the dining room, looked at him. "Can we eat or are we all just gonna stand around and stare at me".

"I'm hungry too". This was Henry, cutting off Cole's mother who had opened her mouth to speak once more. Collier sent the older boy a grateful look and Henry just nodded, rising from his chair and wiping his palms on his jeans.

"Oh," His mother trailed off. "Alright. The foods ready". She turned, jumped a little at the sight of Ron, and then both the adults disappeared through the door. Collier relaxed a bit, only to startle at the feeling of Henry's hand at the small of his back.

"You good?"

"Fan-fucking-tablous," Cole shot back, smiling hesitantly. "I just forget sometimes, you know?" Henry's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I mean, I avoid being anywhere in this house except my bedroom, and I haven't been to my dad's in a while. When I spend all my time hiding from the real issue, it just surprises me when it comes back up".

"Well-"

"You guys ready?" Emerson interrupted and Cole turned his head to notice the blond eyeing the two of them wearily. Slowly, Cole felt Henry's hand drop from his back.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Collier said and Emerson grinned sympathetically.

"It won't be too bad".

Boy was he wrong.

The meal started out okay, the conversation revolving around why Collier was eating on a plastic plate while everyone else got glass.

"Oh," his mother said when Henry asked, "he breaks everything. Everything. We don't know who he got it from, his father was a athlete and I was a gymnast". Cole rolled his eyes and they landed on Henry, who was directly to his left. Henry was making a pained face as if he desperately wanted to laugh but was holding it back.

And then from there on out, everything went downhill.

The horribleness started with Ron bragging about Emerson and Henry's athleticism, and the Collier's mother complaining about his lack of skill in anything that had to do with moving at a pace faster than walking (and even then he couldn't stay upright).

Then Ron went on about Emerson's grades, all the while his son looked extremely uncomfortable and silently picked at his food.

"Collier doesn't do well in school," his mother flat out said and Cole just rolled his eyes. "He doesn't like to try". Collier snorted at this but didn't say anything in response.

"Cole just doesn't like math," Sarah cut in to defend her best friend, but Collier didn't really care what his mother had to say at this point. "He's very good at art and social studies and language arts-"

"If he's not distracted," Emerson teased silently and Collier glared at him. Emerson just chuckled and shrugged.

Luckily, his mother seemed to have missed the comment.

By glancing around at everyone's plates, Collier concluded that the meal was almost done. All he would have to do was endure a few more moments of this painful get together, and then he'd be able to leave. Perhaps he would ask to spend the night at Henry's, just to get out of the house. Maybe he could convince Henry to suck him off again-

"So," his mother cut into his thoughts and Collier jumped a bit. "There was a reason we wanted to have a dinner with both of you boys".

Cole and Emerson exchanged a look. "And?" Emerson asked slowly, sounding a bit nervous.

Once again, Collier's mother was only looking at him. He was fully expecting her voice to be the one that spoke that it startled him when Ron cut right to the chance with, "we're getting married".

Oh dear god.

It was quiet for a long time as everyone else at the table thought about this.

Collier began to laugh.

It was funny to him that just two weeks ago his parents had told him that they were getting a divorce. Two weeks ago from that very second, he had been sitting in his father's new living room for the first time painting the walls. Two weeks. That's how long it had taken for his love to turn completely around.

Everyone was looking at him, their expressions very different. Henry's face was blank, while Emerson was just watching with wide eyes. Sarah looked sympathetic, his mother did as well for some reason, even though this was her fault, and Ron was smiling awkwardly, as if he didn't know how to react to Collier's strange outburst.

"I guess you're not going to be Ms. Bleu for long," Collier pointed out before he began to laugh again. He wasn't really surprised by this news. No, what was surprising was how soon it came.

It took a long time for him to calm down, though even when the conversation started again, he was still chuckling to himself.

"So...," his mother began awkwardly. "What are you guys going to do on your day off tomorrow?" Collier's mother asked to break the awkward silence that only held Collier's occasional giggle.

"This is great," Cole interrupted before anyone could answer. "Swell". He stood from his chair and began to gather plates. "I am so done with this dinner".

"Collier-"

"I'll help you," Henry offered, interrupting Cole's mother once more in his time of need. Collier relaxed and smiled at the other boy before continuing around the rest of the table and collecting everyone else's plates.

Henry helping ended up being Henry taking his own plate, but Cole didn't really mind and followed the taller boy into the kitchen without a word.

Henry placed his plate on the counter next to the sink, and Collier did the same with his stack.

"So," the blue eyed boy began, leaning against the sink and crossing his arms. "You're going to be Emerson's step brother, huh?"

"You look really good in that shirt," Collier commented as a subject change. Henry just raised his eyebrows and watched in something like amusement as Collier stepped in front of him and pressed up onto his toes to kiss him. Letting out a soft noise of amusement, Henry leaned back so he was still out of reach. "What are you so fucking tall?"

"You can't just distract me by kissing me, it doesn't work like that," Henry argued and with a sigh of defeat Collier dropped his forehead against Henry's shoulder.

"I know".

Henry let out a long sigh of (probably) annoyance, but he didn't push Cole back at all, so he stayed there, subtly breathing in the scent that was Henry Stone. "So what are you going to do?"

"My dad comes back later this week," Cole said, opening his eyes and staining down at the gap between his body and Henry's. "I'll start staying with him when he gets back".

"Is it that back living with Emerson?" Henry asked and Cole shook his head against Henry's shoulder.

"It's not Emerson in concerned about, though I do wish him and Sarah would have sex at her house or something. It more so Emerson's dad and my mom that bother me".

"How so?" A warm hand was placed on Collier's hip and he sighed in content.

"They're never here, which bothers me, but it also bothers me when they are here. I just... I don't want them to get together anywhere," Cole explained, sounding crazy but Henry hummed as if he understood.

"Do you want your mom to be happy?"

Cole pulled back then, only an inch, and turned his head up to look Henry in the eye. "Yeah, but," he chewed his lip, allowing his eyes to fall to the other boy's chest. He felt a bit guilty for not wanting her to be content with Emerson's father. "Why can't she be happy with my dad?"

"It doesn't always work like that, Collie," was Henry's response and Cole just nodded his head. He knew that already, but for some reason hearing Henry say it made it a little more real.

"I feel bad for wanting what I do, but it's just-" Collier had moved to placed his hands on the counter on either side of Henry's hips, though in doing this, his right hand slammed against the pile of glassware they had just left on the counter. Cole watched in slow motion as the stack wobbled, and then keeled to the side and tumbled to the floor. Henry tensed and grabbed the smaller boy's forearms, pulling him a bit to the side to avoid either of them being cut by the glass that shattered and dispersed on the floor. "Oh fuck".

"Collier!" Was shouted from the dining room.

He looked up at Henry with very wide eyes. Henry, his head tilted down wards to look at the mess let out a long sigh. "She's going to kill me, Henry".

"That better not be what I thought it was".

"Henry, these are her favorite plates. She's going to skin me alive". For some reason, Henry seemed to find this funny because he chuckled. "Henry".

"I know". Using his grip on Cole's arms, he began to pull him backwards, away from both the mess, and the entrance to the dining room. "Where's your back door?"

"What?" Cole asked, looking over his shoulder. "We can't just leave".

"Sure we can".

Collier swallowed nervously, glancing over his shoulder one last time at the sound of a chair scraping over hardwood floor and then rapid footfalls. "Yeah, alright". Cole took Henry's hand, his smaller fingers slipping through the older boy's warm ones. "This way".

Quickly, Cole lead him out of the kitchen, taking him down the back hallway, past the laundry room and half bath, before pulling open the back door and gesturing for Henry to go out before him.

"I hope you realize that I'll never be able to come back here without her slaughtering me," Cole grumbled, stepping out of the house after Henry and shutting the door behind himself.

"You'll be fine," Henry assured, not nothing to drop his hand as he began to lead him across the lawn to the gate in the fence, which Henry pushed open using his left hand and leaned against so Collier could pass through before letting it swing shut.

"Where are we going?" Cole asked, seeing no reason to argue about his sure death since it wouldn't matter once it actually happened.

"Somewhere away from here," Henry said vaguely, his hand absently fighting on Cole's as he lead him down the driveway.

"Your house".

"Somewhere not there either". Collier opened his mouth to ask another question, but Henry turned to him, suddenly stopping. Collier, his reaction time very slow, walked until he was directly in front of the motionless boy and freezing when he finally realized he had stopped.

"What are you-"

Henry cupped his face, turning it upwards so their eyes met. "Do you trust me?"

There was no pause. "Yes".

Henry smiled. "Then trust me, Collie".

And then they were moving again, across the front lawn towards Henry's silver car. "Alright," Cole grumbled, more to himself than the other boy. "Always".