"Hey dad?" Collier asked, leaving his bedroom. Ever since they had finished moving him in, about three hours before, he had locked himself in his new bedroom and tried to sleep away the exhaustion.

It hadn't worked, and instead Cole had just laid there with his head on his pillow looking around at all the boxes he would have to unpack.

Eventually, thinking about all he still had to do wasn't really helping his emotional state, and the idea of spending a second longer in that unfamiliar bedroom made him want to bash his head against the wall.

"Yeah?" His dad asked, looking up from his book and over the back of the couch to see Cole. "Are you heading back to your mother's tonight?"

This was something that had been discussed before Cole had left the house for the night. After Henry had calmed him down enough, and kissed him enough, Cole had gone down stairs and taken his crying mother aside to explain that he wasn't completely moving out. In order to make this divorce easiest on all three of them, Collier had decided that he would be living at his mother's house just as much as he would be living at his father's.

"What about Ron?"  She had asked him, her eyes very large and hopeful, though still rimmed with tears.

"There are worse things in life than my step father," Collier had claimed. "For example, seeing you less than I already do".

"Not tonight," Cole assured his father, though he still went over to the door and slipped into a pair of shoes. "I was actually wondering if I could spend the night with some friends? It's been a long day and I don't think I can stand sleeping in my room here, or my room back at mom's tonight. Tonight, I just kind of want to forget everything".

His father nodded slowly, his eyes understanding. "Of course, Cole. Do you need a ride anywhere, or is someone coming to get you?"

"I really just feel like walking, actually. It might help to clear my head". Besides, Henry didn't live that far away.

"You sure? I'm not busy or anything-" Cole's father cut of as his son smiled at him.

"I'm really okay dad, but thanks". Collier checked the pocket of his jeans for his key, and then the other for his phone. "I'll be home tomorrow after work".

"Make sure your phone is charged just incase your mother or I need to reach you for anything," His dad asked of him and Cole nodded in agreement before shooting him one last smile and leaving the house. 

The walk did a poor job of clearing his head, and Collier wished he had brought earbuds or something to use music as a distraction. The silence could be deafening when your own thoughts were shouting in your head.

A distraction.

At that moment, that's what Cole needed Henry to be. He didn't need him to be sweet, or loving, or hold his hand, he just needed him to kiss him senseless and make all his problems go away, even if it was only for a little bit, just as he had in Collier's bedroom earlier that day.

As he usually did when he got to Henry's, Collier went around back, finding the window he usually used for entrance and crouching to knock on it. 

Henry jumped and looked over, squinting his eyes to see what was out in the darkness and then scrambling off of his bed and coming over to open the window. "You know," the blue eyed boy began, leaning out through the window to smile at Cole, though blocking his passage in the process, "you should really start using my front door. I nearly pissed myself when you knocked".

"Jumpy tonight, are you?" Collier asked. Henry's behavior was explained a second later when screams erupted from his television set. Startled, the tall boy looked over his shoulder before grumbling and leaving the window to go pause the movie. "What the hell is that?"

Cole pulled himself into the room feet first, hanging there for a second before dropping down. For the first time while doing this maneuver, Collier caught himself on the corner of Henry's bookshelf instead of toppling to the floor.

"I don't know," Henry said, looking at the television with a blank expression. "Carter told me to watch it, said I'd like it".

"Do you?" Cole asked and Henry just looked at him with very wide eyes.

"I'm not a huge fan of movies with rape, you know". Collier just nodded, turning and pressing himself up onto his toes to pull Henry's window shut.

"I can understand that".

Collier sighed then, allowing his hands to fall to his sides. He didn't turn around to face Henry again, and a moment later the tall boy was hugging him from behind.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his voice very compassionate and Collier squeezed his eyes shut.

"I'm fine," Cole offered honestly. "Just a little sad, I guess. How can I not be sad though? I mean, I was kind of blindsided by this whole thing, even though I shouldn't have been. I spent seventeen years getting used to my parents being together, I feel like three weeks is a really short amount of time to adjust to them being apart. I don't know, maybe I should just stop talking".

Henry squeezed his waist a bit before turning him around in his arms. "You need to talk to someone, Collie. I know you're not going to talk to your mom, or your dad, since you wouldn't want them to feel guilty. You're not going to try to talk to Sarah because you know you she's not reliable for a conversation longer than three minutes without Emerson these days, and then when she figured out you were actually trying to talk to her she'll feel guilty, and you're not going to talk to Ian about it because you two don't get that in depth with your problems, right?" Henry asked and Cole just blinked up at him, a bit surprised that Henry had been paying that much attention to him and all his relationships. "Talk to me, Collie".

Cole chewed his lip for a moment and then nodded. He had come here to use Henry as a distraction from his problems, but once again Henry had surprised him by caring about something that had to do with him.

"I'm sad, Henry. I'm sad that my parents are getting divorced and I'm sad that I can't live with all three of us together. I'm sad that my mother cheated on my father, and I'm sad that I understand why she did it. I'm sad that my parents were only ever meant to be friends, and I'm sad that it took me this long in my life to realize it, but most of all, I feel like absolute shit for wishing that we could go back to them being miserable and me being happy".

There, he had said it, and the words caused Collier's eyes to fill with tears.

"Collie-"

"No," Cole cut in, rising his hands to grip Henry's shoulders. He didn't need to hear him lie, even if he was only doing it to make him feel better. Henry could tell him that he wasn't a bad person for prioritizing his own happiness over that of the people who raised him, he could say it was normal and he didn't need to feel guilty, but Collier knew he wouldn't believe any of the words he had to say. "I'm done thinking tonight, Henry".

And then Collier kissed him, his fingers fisting tightly into the fabric of Henry's shirt to pull him down to his height, giving him the best access to his lips.

"Cole," Henry said against his mouth, trying to pull back to speak but Collier just shook his head and began whispering:

"Please, Henry, Please," until the blue eyed boy shut him up with his lips.

They shuffled backwards awkwardly, Collier's hands pushing Henry's shirt up as they did so. He didn't want to part their lips to take it off, so he just held it up to chin level until Henry pulled back and lifted his arms.

Removing the shirt, Cole threw it to the ground before placing a hand on Henry's bare chest and pushing him down onto the mattress. Henry let off a soft huff of air as he hit it, and then was quick to scoot back so he was stretched out across the mattress instead of half on it with his legs over the edge. Cole hummed in content before (surprisingly) gracefully moving to hover over Henry, straddling his hips.

Henry sat up, cupping Cole's face with warm hands and pulling him forward to connect their lips again.

Their kiss could only be described as hungry. It was someone coming up for air after being forced under water for so long their lungs ached. It was too much and too little at the same time, but that didn't stop Cole from wanting more.

**SEX SCENE REMOVED***

***Chapter with sex scene can be found for Free on my Patreon ***

The lasts thing Collier recalled before falling asleep was Henry's warm hands on his bare skin as he pulled him closer and whispered, "thank you," into his ear.