When they arrived back from the mall, Troy's parents were waiting for them in the living room. Ryan's eyes were slightly red from crying and Troy's hand was still tight in his. "Hey boys," Troy's mum called.

"Hey," Troy smiled.

"Everything okay?" His dad asked, he could see the faded tear trails and the puffy red eyes, but he also knew better then to try and let the boy know he was there. He had found that when he tried to help Ryan the boy would shy away even more.

"Yeah." Troy smiled, "We had a good time at the mall, didn't we Ryan?"

"Yeah," Ryan said quietly.

"Well that's nice to hear," His dad smiled. Troy sat on the sofa pulling Ryan down next to him. Troy moved so he was a lot closer to Ryan he knew that he was only comfortable when they were both touching.

"We need to talk about tomorrow," Troy's mum said, she could see Ryan tense up. She also noticed that Troy's hand had moved to Ryan's lower back, should could just make out the soft circular movements he was going. She couldn't help but smile. "I know you don't want to to school, Ryan and if you don't want to then we can't make you."

"However Troy you will be going to school tomorrow," His dad stated.

"I'll go to school." Ryan said quietly.

"Are you sure?" Troy asked staring deeply into Ryan's eyes.

"Yeah." Ryan nodded his head weakly.

"I think you're doing the right thing," Troy's dad smiled. "You're in my class tomorrow morning till lunch anyway, you can sit on the bench doing some work if you want?"

"Thanks," Ryan smiled.

"And then you're in my class for science and then it's English and you like English." Ryan nodded at Troy who smiled at him.

"And any time you feel you can't stay there you come to my office or you find Troy. I've explained to the teachers that you have something going on, don't worry I didn't tell them what. But they're going to be very supportive and you have a pass if you need to leave the class room if it gets too much."

"Thank you," Ryan smiled. "You've been really kind to me, and I hope one day I'll be able to pay you back some how."

"Don't you think of doing such thing. You're welcome to stay here as long as you want, it's nice having you around." Troy's mum smiled. "Now why don't you two boys go get showered and washed up." Troy smiled gratefully at his mum and he and Ryan headed up to his bedroom hand in hand.

Ryan had his shower first, and Troy sat on his bed staring at the ceiling. Tomorrow was going to be hard. Troy knew that they wouldn't be able to walk hand in hand through the corridors and he knew how tough that was going to be for Ryan, it was as though he was his anchor and when things got too tough for him the first thing he would do would be to latch onto Troy. Troy didn't mind, he liked being their for Ryan to hold onto, he liked the feel of the smaller hand in his. So not holding onto Ryan just as much as Ryan held onto him tomorrow was going to be hard.

Troy smiled as Ryan walked in to the bedroom, he was wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts. "Troy," Ryan started.

"Yeah?"

"Can you do me a favour?" Ryan asked nervously.

"What is it?" Troy asked.

"Could you... put the dye on my hair?" Ryan asked as he held out the box of hair dye. Troy smiled and nodded.

"Don't blame me if it comes out wrong. I've never done this before." Troy laughed as Ryan sat between his legs.

"Just dollop it on and make sure it's even." Ryan grinned. He sat with his hands on his lap and as Troy started to massage the hair dye on his scalp he couldn't help but feel relaxed. He moved his hands to Troy's legs. Troy stopped what he was doing and watched as Ryan's slender fingers snaked up his trouser leg and traced patterns on his skin.

Troy smiled, it felt good, it felt normal. He massaged the rest of the hair dye in Ryan's hair making sure it was even. As his fingers traced over Ryan's scalp he was pretty sure he heard a mewing sound coming from the soon to be blond again boy. He looked down and saw that Ryan's eyes were closed, he couldn't remember seeing him look so peaceful. Troy smiled and bent down he placed a soft kiss on Ryan's cheek, it was so soft it was more like just a gentle touch then a kiss. Ryan's eyes shot open and he looked at Troy and smiled nervously.

"All done," Troy grinned. Ryan smiled and moved away from Troy.

"Thanks." Ryan smiled.

"How long till you wash it off?" Troy asked.

"Half an hour. So should be ready to come off once you've finished in the shower." Ryan smiled.

"Okay," Troy smiled. Ryan sat himself on the bed and grabbed his book from the side and started to read as Troy headed into the bathroom.

Troy walked into his bedroom twenty minutes later, Ryan was sitting where he had left him only instead of his reading book in his hand was a piece of paper. He was concentrating so hard on what he was doing that he hadn't heard Troy enter. "Hey," Troy smiled.

"Hey," Ryan grinned. Troy was wearing his boxers which were slightly tighter then Ryan's and Ryan couldn't help but look. "I'm going to wash this off..." Ryan said quickly and headed out of the bedroom quickly.

Troy sighed and sat on his bed, he looked at the piece of paper that Ryan was working on and smiled. He had no idea that the boy could draw, the picture was perfect it was of two boys that looked a lot like Troy and Ryan. The picture was simple, they were just outside in what looked like Troy's garden, just holding each other. Troy grinned as he placed the picture back on top of the book and then closed his eyes.

A few minutes later Ryan walked back in, his black hair now blond. "Does it look okay?" Ryan smiled.

"Looks nice." Troy said not too sure what to say, he knew he wanted to say words like beautiful, hot even but he didn't want to scare him away. "Come here." He smiled, Ryan nervously approached him. Troy grabbed a couple of wipes from his draw and sat Ryan on the bed. He stood over him and gently started to wipe the hair dye from his face.

Ryan leant into the touch, Troy's hands felt really good against his skin. "Thank you," Ryan smiled.

"Don't worry." Troy threw the wipe on the side and sat next to Ryan on the bed. The blond boy put his head on his shoulder and Troy wrapped his arms around him.

"Tomorrow, remember if you need me I'll be there okay." Troy whispered. Ryan looked up and placed a soft kiss against Troy's lips.

"Thanks." Ryan smiled.