chapter one:

"Okay, well," Peter Parker squinted at the paper despite having 20/20 vision. "What about. . . la balle. . . bl―bleue a sauté joy-usement?"

"Joyeusement," Caelum Forest replied, not looking up at him as he scribbled down answers for his Russian homework.

"Joyeusement," Peter corrected himself, hanging out of his chair. "Il a roulé dans la rue."

"Mhm," Caelum agreed, despite the pronunciation being a bit wonky.

"This is baby stuff," Peter complained.

"Do you want to read my copy of The Count of Monte Cristo?" Caelum asked, raising an eyebrow down at his work. He worked on top of his sleeping bag, he had a Russian test coming up and he needed to work on his genitives.

"You could read it to me," Peter suggested, standing up and coming over to him. Caelum rolled his eyes, hiding his smirk from his face.

"I have homework," He replied a bit vague but was more than willing to read the book to him. "Let me finish this."

Peter didn't say anything, but he went to his desk. Caelum moved over, allowing him to sit at the desk. He and Peter worked in silence for about ten minutes. It was so quiet, he could hear the ceiling fan hum overhead, whirring constantly. Caelum stopped writing, looking over, Peter wasn't usually this quiet. Even when he was working on new trinkets, he hummed to himself or played music. But, now he was silent, fiddling softly with his wrench. Caelum rose his good eyebrow, setting his pen aside and looking over at the boy.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Peter looked away, frowning to himself, his nose crinkling and eyes narrowing at the wrench, "Nothing, don't worry about it."

Caelum scoffed, "Now I want to worry about it. Tell me ― what's wrong?"

Peter sighed and leaned back in his chair, "I. . . I really like you, Cael."

Caelum scoffed, looking down, "God, I hope so."

Peter shook his head, "Just listen. I like you, a lot, but. . . I don't want us to be a secret, okay?"

Now it was Caelum's turn to frown, his heart stuttering a bit, "We're not a secret ― Ned knows about us, and so does Ms. Parker, Sarah and Dorri, and―"

"That's not what I mean, Cael," Peter seemed very upset. His face reddened and his fists clenched, Caelum suddenly got the feeling that he has been thinking about this for a while. Why is he just now bringing it up? "I want to go public about us. I don't want to just be your 'Queens boyfriend' and 'Midtown best friend'. I want―"

"No," Caelum said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest. "I can't do that."

"Cael―"

"Do you remember what happened last time someone found out I was gay?" Caelum pointed to the side of his face. This particular side had a nasty black and grey burn that covered the right side of his face. His eye was permanently squinting, unable to open completely, and metal brands of the stove top embedded in a boomerang-like fashion burn in his skin. The eyelashes and eyebrow were burned clean off and we're likely never going to grow back. Finally, his iris, that used to be chocolate brown color was silvery white now.

His father had done this to him before his untimely death. A permanent scar to literally brand him as a 'faggot' for the rest of his life.

"I'm not ready yet, Peter," Caelum explained, lowering his hand. "I don't want this happening again. I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

"'Because of you'?" Peter repeated reproachfully. "Caelum, nobody is going to hurt us, and besides, I wouldn't let them."

"You don't know that," Caelum countered, probably sounding paranoid. "And besides, Spidey is not invincible. I don't want to get you hurt, and I'm not ready to come out yet."

"Caelum, please―"

"I said no!" Caelum snapped, cutting the boy off.

He could hear his father's whispers behind his ears, "You faggot! I won't have any motherfucking fags in my house!"

Caelum breathed, calming down, "I'm not ready. I'm sorry Peter, but I'm not."

Peter sighed, quiet for a moment, like he wanted to say something else, but thought against it. "Don't apologize. I can see where you're coming from." He came over and wrapped his arms around his neck. He pressed his face down and Caelum smiled.

"I know that this is a big deal for you, but. . ." he sighed, rubbing his face. "After what happened, I can't. . . I. . ."

"I understand," Peter said, but Caelum felt like he wasn't telling him everything.

"Is there something else on your mind?" Caelum asked and Peter shook his head, standing up.

"No, forget I ever said anything about it."

"Are you sure, Parker?"

"Yeah," Peter looked at him and gave him his signature of sunshine. Caelum couldn't help but smile back. He fell in love with Peter's smile years ago, and he was lucky enough to still be able to see it.

He closed his textbook and stretched, "You're not going to finish your work?" Peter asked and Caelum shrugged.

"I'll finish it on the train," he replied and Peter scoffed.

"Wow, you're such a delinquent," he teased and Caelum laughed, shoving his books in his bag and setting it beside the door.

"You're one to talk, Spider-Boy," he smirked. "I don't go around the city swinging in a skin-tight suit." Peter laughed and Caelum grinned, moving to lay down on his sleeping bag. May said he was more than welcome to use the couch or the guest room, but Caelum frequently had night terrors and Peter's company helped eased them. May reluctantly agreed to him and Peter sleeping together unless she heard any 'mood music' going on between the two.

"You know you can sleep in my bed," Peter said, just like he said every night they had been rooming together. The room was very small, barely enough to hold one person, but after Peter did his 'internship' with Tony freaking Stark ― Caelum was never going to get over that ― they had been receiving gifts from the man. This included a bunk bed/desk with a nice computer setup, state-of-the-art Stark Tech. Caelum was admittedly a little jealous.

The point was, there was little space in the room and Caelum slept on a twin-size sleeping bag that took up half the floor space. Logically, it would make sense to sleep with Peter. Besides the fact that they were dating, they would easily fit in the bed and he wouldn't have to sleep on the cold, hard floor. It made perfect sense.

But, every time he attempted to sleep in the bed with Peter, he woke up at night screaming at the top of his lungs, nearly falling off the bunk itself, and spending hours at night recovering from panic attacks. Every time he tried to sleep with someone else besides him, all he could manage to think about were the cold handcuffs slicing the skin off his wrists, the weight of his Principal above him, pressing into him.

He felt the cold pricking his skin and the fear making his hairs rise. He felt his tears going down his face, his desperate plea to stop or to just kill him. His screams and his struggling and crying out for someone to help. He felt the warm, moist breath of the man huffing behind him as he whispered softly in his ear, making him writhe and shudder.

"No thanks, Parker," Caelum smiled at the boy who simply watched him silently. "I'll stay here." Both of them knew why he stayed on the ground. Both of them understood what happened, at least to some degree. But neither of them wanted to address it.

Peter gave a small sigh as he finished climbing the rest of the bunk, "Okay, night Cael."

"Night Peter," he responded and cut the light out.

° · ° · ° · °

School has been an interesting thing for Caelum. With his grades being the rollercoaster that it had been at his leaving, he worked hard to keep it back on top. Peter always kept his grades at a 3.6 or higher ― it was an obligation if he wanted to stay with the decathlon. Before the accident, Caelum's was on par with his. Since then, however, his grades fell, and despite him bringing it back up to a 3.4 at the end of last summer, he wasn't able to compete anymore.

Mr. Harrington, the teacher who supervised and ran the team, felt bad for him. He, like all the faculty, knew what happened after Davis was put away for good. He also knew that it wasn't entirely his fault for his grades dropping and didn't blame him for not coming back while that man ran the school. But, since the official rules barred him from being on the team, Mr. Harrington offered if he wanted to be his assistant.

Naturally, Caelum was chary of the offer. He wasn't keen on 'assisting' anyone after his time with Davis, but Mr. Harrington quickly, and quite frantically, explained. Essentially, he would be an honorary member. He wouldn't be able to participate, but he would be able to get all the perks as if he were on the team. He could attend the events, compete in practice matches, and help the others study in the meantime, but he wouldn't be able to compete on a national level.

Caelum was fine with it. He was only on the decathlon because of his father, and now was pretty good friends with the team because of it. Well, with the exception of Flash Thompson ― mainly because he was a dick and a half ― and Elizabeth Allen, but that was because of petty jealousy. He didn't have anything against her. Not really.

Once Caelum came back for the first meeting of the new year, nearly everyone was fine with it. But, of course, Flash Thompson had several issues.

"Why is he here? He missed a semester of school last year!" Flash raged when Mr. Harrington had left the room to get supplies. Everyone else sat around them, Peter and Ned were by his sides. Michelle Jones was sitting on the ground, reading a thick black book that had nothing to do with the subject matter. Sally Avril and Abe Brown were reading off flashcards to each other. Charles Young, Cindy Moon, and Elizabeth Allen were all studying privately.

Everyone looked up when Flash spoke, seeing the boy sneer at Caelum who was eyeing him levelly. The back of his neck tingled, itching to possess the boy and make him do something stupid, but he suppressed the urge.

"Eugene, why does it matter that I'm on the team?" Caelum rose an eyebrow, challenging the boy with his given name. "I can't even compete at nationals."

Flash visibly twitched at the name, his brown cheeks reddening with anger. "Because the decathlon is about having the most intelligent people compete against one another. You, for all intents and purposes, dropped out of high school to have sex with our principal. I don't see how that shows our team as elite or intellectually advanced. We don't do this for fun, Algol, we do it to win. You don't get a freebie because you faked being a high-school dropout."

Caelum stared at the boy, taken back and shaking with anger. Flask smirked in his seat as if he had won already. Peter spoke in Caelum's silence, "You don't know what you're talking about!" He snapped, but Flash had already tasted blood.

"Do I? What so, Principal Davis just left all on his own then? Were you lying, Algol? You didn't get buttfucked by―"

"That's enough, Eugene," Caelum said, his voice calm. He breathed for a minute, tightening his fury into a small knot and releasing it slowly. "Or, would you like to go into a detailed explanation of what you know of getting fucked in the ass? Surely, you, Eugene Thompson, knower of all things, must know about it?" Flash was quiet, his lips moving to form words that thankfully weren't coming out. "How about instead of bringing up unnecessary vulgar things, we should do what Mr. Harrington assigned us: study. I don't see how gay sex has anything to do with whales."

"Don't try that shit with me, Algol," Flash snarled baring his teeth in white anger. "You're nothing like the rest of us, you're barely allowed in the classroom, and you aren't going anything for the team except grab us and wait on us. You're useless, always sucking someone off to get what you want!"

Caelum ground his teeth, watching him carefully. The back of his neck tingled, itching for him to possess the boy. "For someone who talks a lot of shit about being the smartest guy in the room, you're making yourself to be a real asshole. Look around you, your teammates, your beloved 'friends'," he motioned around the classroom at all the bowed headed but tuned ears. Nobody's pencils were moving, nobody was talking to each other.

"They don't want to be involved in this shit," Caelum continued, "You want me off the team, for what? I can't fucking compete if you didn't already notice that. Last time I fucking checked, their work didn't hinge on who was involved where. Don't be an ass, get back to work."

Flash had the audacity to laugh, eyes narrowed ruefully at him, "You're the only idiot here, Algol. You're like the ultimate third wheel, always hanging off of Peter like a puppy. Parker is strides farther than what you could ever be. You're the scum of the school, the 0.01%. Nobody would miss your ass."

"Peter is my friend," Caelum stated calmly, clenching his fist to keep him from punching the boy. "If you really did have actual friends and not ass-kisser ones, then you'd understand that. We all took the same test to get in here, you just happen to have everything spoon fed to you like some dip-shit who hasn't had to work a real day in his life. With your ego so far up your ass, I'm surprised it hasn't been pushed up there by Davis himself?" The mention of the man's name brought silence to the room that filled Caelum with tension and anger. He called at his bad experiences to and narrowed it on this one boy, stepping over to him, his eyes barely blinking as he walked.

His words were as cold as death and his eyes darkened with sinful memories. "Is that why you hate me so much, Thompson? Did very Davis start paying you special attention to, hmm?" Flash gave the smallest of shudders at this, almost unnoticed by Caelum. "Are you jealous me? Of what I had to go through? Because that's how it started, you know, he made you feel special, feel smart and unique. Soon enough he'll have your on your stomach, ass spread wide for him." He was in front of him now, an eye trained on each other, and his neck prickled and burned. "Is that what you fucking want, Thompson? Because I can have the prison on the phone and I know the cell number. You want to chat with that man, I'll get it for you and you'll how bad it is to take it up the ass by that man."

Caelum leaned in close, almost do that their noses were touching, and he whispered, "For the record, he would tear your ass in half."

Flash stared at him for several seconds before providing an angry, "Fuck you!" His hands shaking and eyes narrowed in hatred. Caelum could tell he had scared him enough. The entire room was silent with a thick tension nobody dared to touch. The door opened and Mr. Harrington stepped through.

"Okay! Here are the replacement study guides if anyone needs them!" He set them down on a desk and smiled around at everyone. Nobody was smiling back. Everyone looked down awkwardly at their papers, not quite sure what to say at the abrupt change in transition.

Flash, on the other hand, was red in the face, and squabbling with anger. "Did. . . something happen?" He asked, suddenly reading the room.

Caelum watched Flash for a minute before letting out a silent breathe, running his hand over his head. He gave Mr. Harrington a reassuring smile. "No, sir. Flash and I had a disagreement, but we were able to solve it civilly. Right, Flash?" Caelum turned to the boy his eye narrowed, daring to say something snarky.

Flash glared at Caelum, but gave a short nod, going to his desk to get back to work. "Oh?" Mr. Harrington asked, slightly surprised. "Well, I am glad you two were able to come to a conclusion. Let's get back to work then. We'll do a group study in ten minutes."

Caelum went back to sitting with Ned and Peter as the room's tension slowly eased. "What the hell?" Ned hissed as Mr. Harrington moved to help quiz Sally and Abe. "You know he's going to be out for you now, right?"

"He started it," Caelum scoffed, and looked over at Peter, smirking. "Thanks for defending me. I appreciate it." a quieter part of him wanted to comment that it had been cute, but he knew there were prying ears around and he didn't want to disclose their relationship, not in this environment.

"Well, someone has to be your knight in shining armor," Peter gave him his lopsided grin and Caelum laughed, looking down, smiling to himself. "Are you okay? Those things you said about Davis. . ."

"I'm fine," Caelum assured. "Don't worry about me." Peter watched him carefully and Caelum nudged his shoulder, smiling at him. "Really, don't," he insisted again. "Just a few words. That's hardly a flesh wound ― barely a papercut."

Peter's brown eyes watched him carefully and Caelum resisted the urge to suddenly steal a kiss. He quickly looked away, knowing that his neck would get uncomfortable if someone stared for too long. "If that's how you feel," Peter murmured, looking down at his paper.

Caelum leaned over, whispering softly in his ear, "I know I can say a few words to you that'll make you feel a thing or two. Don't tempt me, Parker." Peter went beet red and it took all of Caelum's willpower to not throw his head back in laughter. Peter pushed him away, only causing him to laugh harder.

"God, please don't start flirting again," Ned groaned and Caelum chuckled, looking over at him.

"You're welcome to join us." He teased, and Ned looked slightly appalled, his cheeks turning a tint of pink, which made Caelum and Peter laugh.

° · ° · ° · °

After decathlon, Peter went on patrol and Caelum went to work. It had taken a lot of arguing back and forth with Sarah, Dorri, and May, but eventually, they allowed him to go back to work, with a few exceptions. For one, he had to be back in time for dinner, and he couldn't work on Sundays because that's when they went to the cafe and spend time with the boys.

Caelum was eager to get anything, they originally didn't want him to work at all. Caelum thought this was completely unreasonable. May was paying for two mouths now, and even though Caelum tried not to eat too much, Peter would know and force him to eat enough. They had a. . . issue during the summer about that and the boy wouldn't let him live it down.

So, Caelum worked extra hard, pushing for tips and getting the maximum number of hours possible. Originally, he considered working at the Café, but it had been so much farther away that he was missing at least twenty minutes of possible work time. Instead, he went back to Delmar's Deli-Grocery, which was considerably closer to the Subway where he got off. Delmar, after having the last six months explained to him, was more than willing to rehire Caelum. He did good work, brought money in, worked well with customers, and the man liked him.

Caelum worked usually from four to nine, and then he went to the apartment to have dinner with Peter and May. Sometimes, Peter would meet up with him, and walk home with him. Caelum enjoyed the nights like this, the city buzzing with exhaustion from the day. The street lights whirring and yellowed, illuminating dark corners and dangerous alleys. Sometimes, just to humor him, Peter would jump from the tops of streetlamps, as if the ground was lava, or swing down from the top of a building to kiss him.

God, they were both such silly romantics.

Tonight, though, it had been raining. The clouds had been heavy all morning, just waiting to burst at their fluffy seams. He scrunched his nose as he stared out the window, wondering if Peter would be willing to send him an umbrella. However, as soon as he thought it, Peter texted their group chat, saying he and Ned were going to be a bit late. There must've been an issue on patrol? He contemplated texting Peter to see what was wrong but reconsidered it. He didn't want to put him in any danger if he didn't have to.

Caelum turned, wishing Delmar a good night as he finished locking everything up and began on his way.

Caelum pulled his thin jacket up and hunched over to protect himself against the freezing rains and chilly winds. He hurried, the walk to the apartment was about twenty minutes but it was fifteen if he ran.

His teeth chattered and goosebumps ran up his arms as he walked. He sniffed, squinting down the sidewalk, a woman was twisting a key in a door, frantically trying to get out of the rain. A man lurked behind her, and as soon as she entered, he stepped in behind her.

Caelum furrowed his eyebrows, walking up to the door, and pressing his ear to the cold metal. He heard a muted scream and a heavy thud. He swallowed hard, trying the door, but found it locked. He hissed a swear, looking around, and finding the buzzer, scanned the names before ringing one. "Hello, Miss Pearson, this is, uh, Ca. . . Caleb from the room, uh, under yours, I can't find my key, can you let me in?"

He waited a moment, "Yes, dear of course." The buzzer rang and Caelum hurried in, swinging the door open and looking around. The layout of the apartment was similar to his own. There was a slightly ajar door and from inside was heavy thuds and a sob.

He ran over, swinging the door open and seeing a man pressed against a woman, who struggled beneath him, tears in her eyes. Caelum's stomach twisted, hearing Davis behind his ears.

"Get on your knees."

Caelum swallowed, his stomach doing cartwheels, "Let her go, sir," He snapped, his voice cracking and sweat building on his brow.

The man turned, annoyed at the interruption. The woman was still crying and she tried to squirm away. He held her at the wrist, his eyes narrowed and anger burning through him. "Get the fuck outta here kid," he snarled, and Caelum glared at the man.

"Let her go. Find something else to stick your dick into, sir," the man sneered and pulled a knife on him. It was small and had a blunt edge from the looks of it. Caelum narrowed his eyes.

"I said to leave unless you wanna be looking at your guts, kid," the man threatened, with what sounded like a New Jersey accent.

"Don't think I will." The man turned his lip into a snarled, letting the woman go and rushing towards him. Caelum stood his ground and blinked.

He was easily in the man's body. He stopped moving and dropped the knife, kicking it across the room so it went underneath the washing machine. He watched the dumb bitch stare at him in shock because of kid the stupid kid. He was going to strangle the goddamn runt for―

Caelum went back to his own body and gripped the side of his head, hissing. The man groaned, stumbling back and holding his own head as if his brain was oozing from his eyes.

Caelum turned to the woman, who was gaping as she witnessed it. "Call the police," he grunted, trying to stand straight. "Get him arrested for assault and attempted rape. I suggest locking him in here, too. He's probably not going to be moving for a hot minute." Caelum turned and quickly left the building.

° · ° · ° · °

He stumbled down the street, his right eye still throbbing in pain. Caelum groaned, leaning against a wall, trying to make it stop. This has been happening ever since his father burned him. He didn't know what was wrong, or if he should go to someone about it. He hadn't even told Peter what was happening to him. The boy would worry himself to death if he had heard his eye was causing him pain.

The rain soaked through his clothes as he breathed heavily. He had to hurry back, or else he'd get sick, and he couldn't afford that, not for him or the boys.

He stood up, and began to walk, rubbing his eye irritably. He bumped into someone else and stumbled back a few feet. "Oh, sorry, I wasn't watching where I was. . ." He trailed off, staring at the man.

His white eyes gleamed in the darkness, the bottom half of his face covered completely by a scarf. He could make out strands of dark hair from underneath a hood over his head. He wore a heavy jacket, not dissimilar to that of a homeless person, and his hands twitched as if he wanted to touch him.

Caelum stared at the man, recognizing his partially covered face. He was the one from his dream ― his nightmare. He thought his imagination conjured up him, just a random face he had seen on the street at some point, but. . . here he was. In the flesh, with white eyes. On a dimly lit street with no one around, at night.

"I've. . . I've been. . . I've seen so much," the man rasped with a kind of disgusting sound as if he were a fifteen-year smoker or had an awful cold. It made Caelum want to run. He turned, trying to leave, but the man grabbed his arm. "Wait!" The man hissed, yanking him back with a kind of superhuman strength.

Caelum's back hit the brick wall and he cried out in pain. His heart raced and fear crawled across his face. "Please, I―I don't have anything on me," he stammered, trying to pry the man's grip off him, but it was solid.

"For so long, I've waited for you. . . for you to be ready," the man whispered, his hand moving up slowly. Caelum tried to move away, but the man grasped his cheek, squeezing gently, murmuring to himself. "Look at you, that eye. . . you're perfect. . ."

"Please," Caelum whimpered, tears welling in his eyes as his time with Davis vividly flashed in his memory.

"He'll want to see you, yes, yes, he'll want to inspect you as well. Just to be sure, just to make sure. Just to make sure you're per-fect," the man split the last word into two, emphasizing each syllable. He leaned down and moved towards the side of his face. "We'll make you perfect."

Caelum squirmed, hearing a car turn down the street. The man did too, turning his head as the headlights approached. "Soon. Not now, soon. Too much to test." The man dropped him and he landed flat on the ground as the other man turned to run.

The car that was driving down was a mustard-colored taxi. The driver pulled to the side and rolled down the window, "Hey, you okay, kid? Need me to call the police?"

Caelum stared at the ground, his body trembling, tears mixing with the rain that ran down his face.

"Kid is everything―?" Caelum moved to stand on shaking legs. The taxi driver called after him, but he didn't reply.

Memories peaked at the surface of his mind and he could help the sobs that pierced his throat. He couldn't cry out here, he had to get home.

He hurried back to the apartment, looking over his shoulder and running when he crossed dark allies. Fear moved him and hyperventilation causing him to wheeze badly, his eyes watering with the sting of cold winds. He swore he could see the haunting white eyes in every corner, he could feel the grip on his shoulder like critters over his skin. He gagged, stumbling over an unleveled part of the sidewalk, stumbling and falling on his palms. The pain helped root him, as he scurried back to his feet, like a rat trying desperately to crawl into a sewage drain. He swallowed hard, seeing the familiar lights of the apartment in the distance. This spurred him to run even faster.

He took the front steps two at a time before stumbling into the wet, rusty metal door. He clumsily shoved his key into the lock and for a horrifying second, it didn't turn. His mind imagined the man behind him, laughter evident in his disturbing pale eyes as he took him by those calloused, hard hands, yanking him away from safety and into the darkness of the side alleyway.

Eventually, the door opened and he ran up the steps, not having the patience for the elevator. He stumbled several times, his skinned hands burning as he clawed his way up the metal grating stairwell.

At long last, he made it to the apartment door and he forced it open, hardly giving time for his key to turn in the lock. Peter was sitting on the couch, several sheets of paper in front of him along with an open textbook. The sunny boy looked up at him and his mouth turned upwards in that familiar and brilliant smile. However, when he saw the fear in his eyes and the tears on his face, it fell.

Caelum's weary body finally caught up to him. He had run nearly ten blocks in the freezing rain. His body was freezing cold, rainwater dripped from his hair and unto his face. It mixed with his salty tears and runny nose. His chest heaved and burned for air that still wasn't coming. He swallowed back a wave of sudden nausea as his knees finally buckled and he fell on his side. His body shook from the shock of the cold and what had happened. He wasn't breathing and swallowed hard, hoping that it would fix it, but it only caused his chest to hurt even more.

Peter jumped to his feet, shouting his name and trying to get him to sit up again. May ran from the kitchen and into the room, hearing the sudden commotion. She immediately took charge and started shouting orders. Get on the couch, get him a towel and clean clothes, breathe for me, honey, hurry up!

Caelum took a deep breath, and his eyes rolled back into his head.

° · ° · ° · ° · ° · ° · ° · ° · ° · ° · ° · ° · ° · ° · ° · ° · °

I'm a month late, but heey that's alright 'cause I'm here now, and we're finally starting this thing!

Okay, so first of all, hello! Sorry for taking so long, that was a mess, really. I literally had a month of writer's block and didn't know what to do about it, but I'm mostly done now, so don't worry. Also, I didn't like how this chapter had been coming out, but I figured it out in the end and it's here now, so please don't be mad.

This story will be getting bi-weekly updates because I haven't stockpiled enough chapters to give it a shorter update period, but once I do so, it'll be back to the once a week updates, maybe twice a week once we get near to the end. I have a lot planned for this book, so I hope you guys enjoy it. Again, I'm sorry for taking literally a month to get this out to you guys, but I'm excited to be able to break your hearts again, lol. This is going to be a brilliant ride if I do say so myself. Thank you for sticking with me. I'll see y'all next time and remember. . .

Don't melt~!
- Happyritas OOO

NEXT UPDATE: February 6th!