Troy watched as Ryan picked at his food. They were all sat at the dinner table, Ryan picking more then eating. "Ryan, is something wrong with the food?" Troy's mother asked softly.

"I... I'm not really that hungry," Ryan said, he had eaten half of his chicken and that was all whereas Troy and his family's plates were almost empty.

"Well that's okay, pet. You can always have something later if you're hungry." She smiled sweetly at him.

"Thank you," Ryan smiled. Troy grinned at him and finished his food and Ryan got lost in the typical family conversation around him. Once everyone had finished Troy and Ryan headed up to his bedroom.

"When you want to finish your dinner just tell me I'll put it in the microwave for you." Troy said and sat down on the bed, Ryan stood hesitantly at the doorway. "So what do you want to do?"

"Do you think you could help me with the assignments for English?" Ryan asked nervously.

"Sure." Troy smiled and patted his bed and Ryan sat down gingerly next to him, grabbing his bag from the floor. Troy did the same and moved so he was lying on his stomach, Ryan mimicked the move and they put their work in front of them. For half an hour Troy helped Ryan with his reading and when Ryan was answering the question he read it through correcting the spelling mistakes he made.

"Thanks," Ryan smiled shyly at Troy who had just finished doing his own work. "It's easy doing work with you."

"Well I'm glad, cause I never do work normally and I can see having you here is going to influence my working method." Troy grinned.

"What would you normally be doing? If I weren't influencing your working method." Ryan smiled closing his English text and grabbing his calculus.

"Probably out with Chad and the guys," Troy answered. "Though wishing I wasn't."

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked curiously.

"I mean well the guys are great, there just... I feel like I have to put up a face around them." Troy sighed. "I have to be the basketball guy, the guy who gets the girl, but with you it's easy. I can just be Troy."

"What's wrong with getting all the girls?" Ryan laughed.

"Nothing if you're into girls." Troy smiled.

"Wait, what?" Ryan asked his face showing just how shocked he was. "You're..."

"Gay, yes." Troy smiled. "Have been for a while now. Just if I told the guys they wouldn't be the guys any more."

"Yeah... but if they're your friends shouldn't they understand?" Ryan asked thoughts of calculus gone from his mind.

"No one's come out as gay at East High so I wouldn't know how they would react, and it's just something no one talks about." Ryan smiled at that. "What was it like at your school?"

"I was accepted, I wasn't the only gay student and it was a small school people just kept to themselves."

"A small school in New York I thought everything there was so busy and big?"

"Dad thought it would be best if I went to a smaller school," Ryan shrugged.

"Your dad sounds like he was a great person." Troy said softly.

"He was," Ryan mumbled. "I miss him a lot." Troy wrapped an arm around Ryan's shoulder and held him tightly.

They sat like that for a few minutes before Ryan pulled away from Troy and wiped his eyes quickly. "Do you want to watch a film or something?" Troy suggested he could tell that Ryan didn't want to talk any more.

"Yeah sounds good." Ryan smiled.

Troy decided it would be better if they got changed into their pyjamas that way when the film was finished they could just get into bed. Troy felt relieved that he had finally told someone about him being gay, though it wasn't as if it was the first person to find out. Troy had been with other boys just no one from school or anyone who knew who he was. Troy smiled when Ryan headed into the bathroom to change. As Troy took off his jeans he pulled out what he had found at Ryan's and sighed. In the palm of his hand was a shiny silver blade, it had dried blood on which showed it had been used recently. Troy didn't understand why any one would want to self harm, but it killed him to know that Ryan did.

He changed quickly into his sweat pants and plain tee he had just pulled it over his head when Ryan walked in, he wore plain black sweat pants and grey tee, he was also wearing a zipped jumper covering his arms. Troy smiled and told him to pick the film.

Troy was glad that Ryan chose a comedy, they sat in Troy's bed snuggled together as he only had a single but neither seemed to care; Troy was perfectly content having Ryan's head against his chest. As the film finished Troy noticed that Ryan's laughter had slowly started to stop and as he looked down he couldn't help but smile. Ryan had fallen asleep, a small smile playing on those precious pink lips. Troy didn't have the heart or energy to move, so he turned the television off and pulled the covers over them and slept with Ryan in his arms.