When Collier's alarm went off, his hand reached out from under the covers and began to swat at his nightside table for his phone. When he didn't find it, he rolled away from the warmth encasing him, wincing a bit at the ache in his lower back but ignoring it as he continued to search for his phone.

His eyes opened.

It took him about three seconds for him to register that he wasn't home, and then an extra four to remember where he was.

Not wanting to wake Henry up, Cole scrambled out of bed and began frantically searching for his jeans, knowing that he would find his phone in one of the pockets.

By the time he had turned his alarm off, he figured it was a miracle that he had not awoken Henry.

Henry.

Henry Stone.

I love Henry Stone, and last night I gave myself to him completely.

Cole thought of the promise he had first made with Sarah, and then with himself. The promise that he'd wait until he was legal to have sex, and when he did it would be with someone incredibly important to him.

Still, Collier was happy it had been Henry. By this point, Henry was someone who was incredibly important to him, and even though they were both still seventeen, Cole was happy it had been Henry to take his virginity.

He had been so caring, his touches so soft and him movements slow. It had been all Collier had ever wanted; it didn't matter to him that Henry hadn't been his boyfriend.

Well... it did matter a little bit, but Cole wasn't going to make a big deal out of it.

He didn't want Henry to know it still hurt that they weren't together. They just fit so well together, and they were happy- even Henry wouldn't be able to deny he was happy, Collier knew. Collier had given Henry everything he had. He had given him his feelings and his time and his love and his body. It wasn't that he felt like Henry needed to give him anything in return, it was just that he wanted Henry.

But Collier had to be realistic and remind himself that it wasn't likely. It wasn't like he would have sex with Henry and suddenly the boy's feelings would change completely. That's not how love worked.

Sighing, Cole looked down at the time on his phone. He had to be to work in one hour, but Henry's house was a bit closer to The Gallery so he had more time to lay around.

Cole climbed back into bed with the sleeping boy, but didn't attempt to rest. Instead, he gave himself this time to gently trace Henry's features with his finger tips.

Henry, who when awake typically looked stoic, looked surprisingly peaceful when sleeping. His hard expression completely gone, the lines of annoyance of his face softened to smooth skin. He looked so young, Cole though, and that was coming from a boy who was constantly mistaken as an junior high student.

"He has a perfect nose," Collier mumbled to himself, tracing the shape of it with steady fingers.

Collier considered Henry's sexuality for yet another time. Was he gay? Did he strictly like boys or was he also interested in women?

Cole had never seen Henry interested in anyone before, and he had been observing the boy for years. There was no hints before their first kiss that Henry even liked men. Collier had actually contemplated that the boy was asexual a few times.

If Henry did like women, Collier could only imagine how beautiful his children would be. It wouldn't even matter who his wife was really-

Cole cut his thoughts of, his fingers hovering over Henry's slightly parted lips.

One day, Henry Stone would have a family; whether it be with a man or a woman. He would have someone in his life who he loved, and probably wouldn't even remember Collier.

Cole was sure he wasn't Henry's first, not after the way the man had performed the night before, so he wouldn't always be remembered as the taker of Henry's virginity. They weren't dating so he wouldn't be known as an ex boyfriend or anything like that.

You're nothing to him. 

Sighing, Cole pulled his hand back and rolled out of the bed.

To some extent, he knew that wasn't true. He didn't mean nothing to Henry or the boy wouldn't have kept him around this long. They were friends, and to Collier that was better than nothing.

Cole looked at his phone for the time again and then slowly began to pull on his cloths from the night before. He knew that Henry wouldn't care if Collier borrowed his cloths, but it just seemed easier to wear his own and avoid even the small chance of a conflict.

Before leaving Henry's house (via window of course because being caught sneaking out with a limp didn't seem to be the best way to meet Henry's parents) Cole did two things.

First, he brushed his teeth with the toothbrush Henry kept for him in the bathroom. Then, he went into the bedroom and leaned over the bed to press a soft kiss to the corner of Henry's lips. Cole wasn't sure when the next time he would get to kiss him would be, or even if their would be a next time.

He also couldn't really remember the last kiss him and the older boy had shared the night before due to his sex induced haze, and, just in case, Cole wanted to remember the last kiss he shared with Henry.

Cole spent the walk to The Gallery completely in his mind, taking the right turns only out of habit. All he could think about what how he should have left Henry a note or something before leaving, and how to hide his limp so no one noticed.

It almost immediately became clear to Collier that he failed the second he entered the old brick building and saw Petra, who was eyeing his form wearily, and then meeting his eyes with a knowing look.

"What?" He asked, rubbing his face and hoping that he had something stuck to the skin of his forehead and that's what she was noticing, not his inability to walk straight.

"Oh don't you what me," she snapped, showing him her white teeth with a large grin. Her bright red lipstick was yet to be smudged, meaning she had not yet popped open a fresh bottle of wine. "I know the walk of shame when I see it. I've done it enough times myself".

"Ew," Cole said immediately and she laughed sweetly. "It's not the walk of shame". Collier definitely wasn't ashamed of Henry. If either of them were going to be ashamed with the other, Cole was positive that Henry would be ashamed of him and not the other way around.

"Whatever. The walk of love, if that's what you want to call it. I don't care. As long as you're able to stand in front of an easel and the use of your arms wasn't fucked out of you, I think we're good," Petra said and Cole rolled his eyes at her vulgar language, used to it after working for her for over a year now.

"Don't worry about me," he assured, raising both of his hands. "I still have the ability to accept, and cash the checks you're paying me".

With that, Cole walked- well- limped to the stairs as Petra's laughter followed him.

Going up them was a bitch. It hurt almost as bad as it had to climb out of Henry's basement that morning.

"You alright?" Jake asked when Cole reached the landing and he froze completely. He had been hoping that Jake wasn't there yet so he could get everything set up without worrying about Jake noticing his trouble with walking. Then, by the time Jake had gotten there he could be in front of his easel and not have to worry about moving for a while.

But no.

He just wasn't that lucky.

"I'm good," Cole said quickly, still not moving and Jake raised his eyebrows at him.

"Are you sore from moving yesterday? I heard you struggling your way up the stairs. That's why you took off right? How did that go?" Jake asked, but Cole had only focused on one question. The one that could possibly spare Jake's feelings.

"I'm sore from moving yesterday!" Cole exclaimed, finally moving forward. "That's totally it".

Jake eyed him for a moment before shaking his head. "No it's not".

"Huh?" Collier asked, his movements faltering. Jake just smiled at him.

"I'm not a virgin, Collier. I've had boys crawl out of my bed before walking like you are now," Jake said, his brown eyes moving to his painting for a second. "So Henry Stone fucks good enough that you can barely walk, huh?"

"Shut up," Cole groaned immediately, bringing his hands to his face and covering his eyes as if Jake was showing him something he desperately didn't want to see. The other boy laughed sweetly and Collier dropped his hands to smile at him sheepishly, though it quickly faded.

"Hey," Jake said, dropping his paintbrush on the easels ledge and taking a few steps toward him. He stopped in the middle of the room though, looking unsure if he had the right to move any closer. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Collier said, taking a step forward and wincing at the pain that ran up his spine in response to the action. "I'm great. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You look happy," Jake said with a nod, as if agreeing to something, "but you also look sad, if that makes any sense".

"It doesn't," Cole said quickly, although he completely understood. Jake's eyebrows raised a bit but he didn't say anymore, instead standing and looking at Collier for a minute longer before going back to his easel. "Do you really want me to talk about it?"

"Why wouldn't I? I'm your friend. You can talk to me about boys if you need to talk to me about boys". Jake said it simply, as if it really weren't more complicated than that.

"But-" Cole tried but cut off after a moment. "Well we-"

"Just because we went out on a date doesn't mean we can't talk about other boys".

"Really?" Collier began to cross the room to stand at the emptyeasel alongside Jake's.

"Of course," Jake said, and then he grinned. "I'll start, if that's okay". Cole nodded. "I'm really happy that we didn't work out-"

Collier snorted at this. "What does this have to do with other boys?"

"Be quiet and maybe you'll find out," Jake said, though it was clear he was still teasing. "I'm happy we didn't work out, because two nights after our date I got a call from my boyfriend back home".

"Jake Oliver, you had a boyfriend-"

"No!" Jake said quickly and then he rubbed his forehead. "Technically he's my ex boyfriend but neither of us wanted to break up".

"So then why did you?" Cole asked, taking a seat on the stool before his easel. He knew it Petra decided to come up and check on them and saw that he was getting payed to do nothing, she would flip a lid, but Petra rarely disturbed their "creative process".

"I was leaving. If you haven't realized, it's quite the drive from Florida to Wisconsin," Jake pointed out and Cole nodded. "But anyways, he called me and we talked for awhile and decided we were going to at least try to stay together. I know it probably won't work, and so does he, but I've never met anymore more worth it in my life. I have no doubt about it, he's the love of my life, and if we were still whatever I guarantee you I would have broken up with you in a second if it meant that him and I felt to be together, even if it is long distance".

"Wowwww," Collier said, but he was smiling at Jake, not at all offended by his words. After all, he did end his (short lived) relationship with Jake because of a boy who made it clear to him multiple times that they would never be together.

"There you go looking sad again," Jake said and Cole blinked up at him before shaking his head and climbing off his stool.

"I need to get my stuff set up". It was really just his way of holding off his conversation with Jake about Henry, he didn't actually want to work.

When he had everything set up, minutes later, he tried to distract himself with his work, rather than Jake's eyes on the side of his face. "It's your turn to talk to me".

"Talk to you about what?" Cole asked, playing dumb and he dipped his paintbrush in tan paint.

"You know, you're really not that cute when you're pretending to be stupid". Cole raised his eyebrows but didn't comment on this. "So, how did you and Henry end up having sex?"

"Who ever said it was Henry," was Collier's immediate response. Jake was silent, so Cole looked over at him. The brunettes expression was not amused and Cole ducked his head. "I was sad so I went over to his house and then it just happened".

"The sympathy fuck," Jake said affectionately and Collier winced. "So what's going on between you two anyways. Are you together?"

"No," Cole said, shaking his head and looking back towards his painting. "We just kiss every once and awhile. He's made it very clear to me that we'll never be anything more than friends".

Collier's phone buzzed in his pocket and he eagerly removed it, hoping to see Henry's name on his screen.

But the message wasn't from him.

From: Dad

Will you be coming home tonight?

Collier sighed and typed a quick reply.

To: Dad

Yes.

"Do you want to be with him?" Jake asked softly and Cole paused before returning his phone to his pocket. There was no use in lying.

"More than anything".

Jake's sigh seemed to be sympathetic. "Then you need to talk to him".

While it was good advice, it also made Cole incredibly nervous. Still, Henry was important to him, and he'd swallow his pride in order to let the other boy know it.

"Cole?" Jake asked and Collier looked at him, unsure of what he was asking. "Are you going to talk to him?"

"Yeah". Collier chewed his lip. "In person. At lunch tomorrow".