Chad led Troy up to his room. The shorter boy was edxhausted, that was no secret. Troy curled up on Chad's bed and closed his eyes. Chad kicked off his shoes and climbed in beside him. Troy imediately moved so he could be closer to the other and rubbed at his weepy eyes.

"Are you gonna be here when I wake up?" Troy asked.

"Yeah, of course I am." Chad said softly.

"Promise?" Troy asked.

"Promise." Chad said, rubbing Troy's back gently. Troy simply nodded and closed his eyes. He was asleep before Chad even knew it.

When the party guests had all left his mother came into the room. He smiled sadly at her and she simply looked at Troy. Even in his sleep he looked defeated. She sat on the edge of the bed and his eyes slowly opened.

"Hey." She said softly.

"Hey." He said, looking at where he was. He was a wet mark where his head had been moments before and realized he'd been crying in his sleep. He looked up slowly. "I wasn't a dream, was it?"

Troy swallowed hard.

"No, it wasn't." She said.

"What am I gonna do?" He whispered.

"You're going to come stay with us. You're going to finish school. You're going to be ok." She said. Troy looked at her.

"I can't go back to school." He said. "I can't."

"I know. Not right now. You'll have to go back eventually." She said. He gripped his pants tightly. He wanted to scream. School? She was thinking about fucking SCHOOL? His PARENTS were DEAD. Didn't that mean anything?

"Troy, calm down." Chad said softly. His entire body was shaking, his face was turning a pale green, his eyes watered. "Troy."

"Huh?" He whimpered.

"Come on. Let's go." Chad said. He pulled Troy up off of the bed and walked him down to the bathroom. He yanked up the toilet seat just as Troy collapsed and threw up. He rubbed Troy's back gently.

"You don't have to worry about school right now, ok? You need to worry about you. My mom'll come around. Don't let her get to you." Chad said softly.

Troy leaned against Chad and closed his eyes. Chad wrapped his arms around him and sighed seeing virtually nothing in the toilet.

"You need to eat something." Chad said softly.

"I don't want to. I don't want to do anything. I want to scream. I want to rip something apart. And I don't even know why, because I'm still somewhere between shock and mourning. I don't want to feel this way because it's not real yet." Troy said. "And I'm so pissed."

"You can be pissed as you want. You can feel anything you want right now." Chad said.

"I don't want to feel it." Troy whispered.

"Just stay here. Right here. I know I can't fix what happened..but I can be here to help you through it." Chad said. Troy closed his eyes and
cuddled against Troy shamelessly. "But if you're gonna stay in my bed you need to brush your teeth."

"Alright." Troy said, his voice low but with a slight laugh in it. Chad ran his fingers through the boy's hair. They were both aware that neither was straight, so they didn't hide it from each other, more to the fact that they embraced it. There was a mutual attraction, but both were too afraid to act on it.

Troy stood and retrieved his toothbrush from Chad's room and brushed his teeth. He was rubbing at his eyes when he was done, but he wasn't crying. Chad led him into the room and Troy went through the cloths in Chad's closet and pulled out a large white t-shirt that was baggy on him and he stripped down to his boxers. He pulled on the white shirt, and it felt so normal. This was generally what would have happened tonight anyway, but he didn't like the circumstances. He felt tears slide down his cheeks again and suddenly Chad's arms were around him again. He turned and buried his face in Chad's chest. He couldn't believe they were gone. He'd just seen them this morning. He sobbed into Chad's shirt. They left even when he begged them to stay.

"They fucking left me!" His scream was muffled but nonetheless, audible.

"They didn't mean to, Troy." Chad said.

"Yes they did! I BEGGED them to stay! They didn't listen!" Troy screamed. Chad squeezed him closer.

"They didn't know this would happen." Chad said softly.

"But they didn't love me enough to stay." Troy sobbed.

"They loved you." Chad said. "You know they did. You were everything to them."

"Chad I can't do it. I can't live without them." Troy whimpered. Chad lifted his face.

"Don't you DARE leave me. They didn't have a choice. You do. Please, don't take yourself away from me." Chad said, stroking his hair. "I need you. And I'll be there for you. Don't do this."

Troy grabbed Chad's shirt and nodded, not trusting his voice. Chad lifted Troy off the floor in a tight hug. Troy wrapped his legs around Chad's waist and buried his head in Chad's neck.

"You're gonna be alright, Troy. You really are." Chad whispered. Troy remained silently wrapped around him before moving to the bed and laying down with Troy on top of him. Troy shifted slightly so he wasn't stradling Chad's waist.

"What if your mom walks in?" Troy asked.

"She'll deal with it." Chad said, wrapping his arms around Troy. "Now get some sleep. You need it."

"But I'm scared to go to sleep and wake up and think that everything's ok and then find out it's not." Troy said.

"You have to sleep eventually." Chad said.

"Don't leave while I'm sleeping." Troy said softly.

"I won't. Pinky promise." Chad said, holding out his pinky. Troy hooked his in and they swung their hands back and forth for a moment.

"What's going to happen to my parents house?" Troy asked suddenly. "Who's going to set up the funeral? Oh my God, Chad, I can't do it. I can't."

"Don't think about that right now." Chad said.

"What else am I supposed to think about?" Troy asked.

"Close your eyes." Chad said. Troy obeyed, resting his head on Chad's chest. "What do you feel?"

"I dunno." Troy said softly. "Scared. Abandoned. Lone-"

"Physically, Troy." Chad said. Troy quieted for a moment.

"I feel you breathing. Your chest under mine." He paused.

"You're warm. Your arms are around me. Your breath in my hair. Your body under mine. Your skin under my face."

"How does that make you feel?" Chad asked.

"Safe." Troy whispered. Chad laced their fingers together.

"And what about this?" Chad asked.

"Comfortable." Troy whispered. Chad trailed his fingers along Troy's eyes and nose.

"And this?" Chad asked.

"Sleepy." Troy mumbled.

"Think about those feelings. Think about everything that you can physically feel right now. You'll be able to sleep then." Chad said. Troy let out a soft sigh and cuddled closer.

"There's one more thing I'm feeling." Troy said.

"What's that?" Chad asked.

"Terror.." Troy said as he drifted to sleep.

Chad looked at Troy in concern. The boy was perfectly on top of him, like their body's were made to fit together. Chad slowly drifted to sleep.