Monday, morning

     After spending almost the entire weekend with Daniel, and him sleeping over for two nights in a row, Frey was a bit confused when he woke up by himself on Monday morning.

Daniel and he had picked up Hannah on Sunday afternoon, cooked dinner for the three of them together and had entertained Hannah until bedtime, before Frey had left to go home to catch up on a bit of homework he had ignored for the duration of the weekend.

Frey was still feeling drowsy in the mornings, and he had trouble staying awake past nine o'clock in the evening.

He felt like a kid all over again; fighting sleep in the evening because he didn't want to go to bed early, while he needed to be woken up by Daniel—or his father on Monday morning—or he would sleep until way past noon.

Now that he was focusing on Daniel, and they both had admitted being in love with each other, new worries arose in Frey's mind.

He had pondered over his feelings for both Daniel and Jenna a couple of weeks before accepting he was in love with Daniel—a boy—and admitted it aloud. He had hoped once he would know who he liked more, the worries would leave, and he would actually be able to enjoy being in love.

But he fell for a boy, and that in itself brought troubles with it; coming out.

They had agreed not to label whatever there was between them, but now Frey couldn't stop wondering how he was supposed to behave in school.

It was easy when they were in the privacy of either of their homes. He could kiss Daniel and nobody would ask him what was going on.

But what was he supposed to do when Daniel arrived in school? Would Daniel walk up to him? Would he kiss Frey in public? Would they hug?

Would Daniel understand that Frey wasn't exactly publicly out yet and that he wasn't sure how to come out?

Did he even want to?

He kept thinking about it until Arun nudged him, waking him from his stupor.

"Frey? Have you spoken to Jenna this weekend?" Arun sounded hesitant, and pulled Frey away from Hendrik, James and Wes, to a quite part of the hallway where nobody was going to hear them talk.

Frey shook his head. He had received a couple of messages again, but he had turned off his phone while he was with Daniel eventually.

"I... I heard something... this Saturday."

"Wh-what did you hear?" Frey wondered if Daniel had told people already, and if half the school was already aware of their relationship. If he could call it a relationship. "Is it about Daniel?"

"Yeah... You know?"

"What, that he's been with me the whole weekend?" Frey frowned, confused a little. Why wouldn't he know something that involved him?

"What? No! That's not what I was talking about—wait, he was with you the whole weekend?" Arun hissed in surprise. "What happened?"

"I told him about my feelings, they're mutual... I thought you heard rumours about us."

"No, I didn't." Arun sighed. "I heard something that involves Daniel, Jenna and Mitchel and I don't want to be a little snitch. But I think you should talk to Jenna."

"And not listen to whatever Mitchel has to say?" Frey chuckled, grabbing his phone to show Arun the message Jenna had sent.

She used practically the same words; talk to Jenna, not listen to Mitchel.

As if he would ever listen to Mitchel; he hated his guts.

"Listen, Jenna... really likes you. And she did something that she needs to explain to you... and Daniel."

"Can't you just tell me?" Frey started to feel annoyed, but when he scanned their surroundings, his eyes found Daniel walking down the hallway.

He was in the company of Lacy and Michelle, and they were heading their way.

And as soon as Daniel looked up and towards him, they made eye contact and Frey couldn't fight back the smile that crept onto his face.

He looked stunning, even though his clothes were a bit old, a tad bit too big, and his hair was messy.

In Frey's eyes, Daniel could wear the most hideous clothes and still look gorgeous.

But maybe that was a bit biased since he was in love with the boy.

Maybe not everyone agreed with him, even though Frey knew a lot of girls thought it was a shame Daniel was gay. He had his charms, just like Frey. He just never used them the same way.

As they got closer, Frey's nerves grew again, and he started wondering how he should behave again.

"Hey." Daniel's greeting was simple, and he didn't sound as relaxed or happy as he did during the weekend.

"Hey..." Frey muttered back, fiddling with his hoodie nervously.

"Hi Arun," Michelle almost whispered, and Arun's face flushed.

Lacy stood beside them, and rolled her eyes at the awkward scene.

"Hi," Arun turned to face Michelle, and smiled unsurely.

"Can we stop the awkwardness?" Lacy whined, nudging Michelle with her elbow, while snapping her fingers in front of Daniel. "For god's sake, Shelly. We know you like Arun. Why act awkward?"

"Maybe because she doesn't know if it's mutual?" Daniel frowned, staring at Arun, who didn't dare to look at anyone.

"They went on a date Saturday." Lacy shrugged a shoulder before she put an arm around Arun's shoulders, and one around Michelle's. "Our little love-birds."

"Lace!" Michelle groaned, her face nearly as red as a tomato.

"Can we talk?" Arun asked, shuffling a foot, looking at Michelle. "Without spectators."

"Eh, sure..." Michelle nodded, and hesitantly the two took off to another quite area.

"Now, are you two going to act awkward too?" Lacy turned to face the boys, who were standing aside each other. "Should I find new friends that aren't going to act like little children who first had a kiss?"

"Lacy, can you for once stop the bitchy attitude?" Daniel rolled his eyes and turned to face Frey. "Do you want anyone to know?"

"Eh... Not sure..." Frey admitted with a shrug. "Can we not... go out publicly right now?"

"Sure." Daniel smiled warmly, telling Frey he really didn't mind. "Whenever you're ready."

     As soon as school was out—and Frey had taken a shower after P.E.—he met up with Daniel in the bike sheds as agreed during lunch.

"Has Jenna send you another text?" Daniel asked while he unlocked his bike. A bike that was nearing his end; it was a miracle it was still able to hold Daniel's weight, even if Daniel wasn't heavy dur to a lack of decent nutritional foods most of the time.

Frey bit his lip at the thought of Daniel starving any day. He hoped Daniel would accept some spoiling, because Frey was planning to help out with their financial struggles whenever he could.

"No, why?"

"She's kind of desperate to meet with me. I told her I don't mind talking but that I had plans with you first."

"Yeah, about that, thanks for going with me." Frey smiled, even though he wasn't particularly happy about their plans.

Daniel had persuaded him to go over and visit his mother right after school. Daniel had repeatedly told Frey it was best to end their fight as soon as possible. Life could be short, and he shouldn't hold grudges for too long.

Daniel was strict, and Frey still needed to get used to that part. But he had agreed nonetheless, knowing Daniel was right.

"No problem. I guess we're tog—dating now..." Daniel cleared his throat after finishing his sentence, turning away from Frey with a slight blush on his face.

Frey didn't miss the fact Daniel wanted to say they're together now. It was just weird and awkward because they hadn't labelled it as a relationship.

It felt too make things official, so Frey just nodded before they took of on their bikes, towards his mother's house.

"So, is your mother really as controlling as you always said? You whined a lot about her whenever you were drunk." Daniel stated out of the blue, while they were nearing Frey's former home.

"Yeah, she really is." Frey nodded and bit a lip, thinking about her schedules, her rules, and how she always told him to stop overreacting whenever he felt shitty. She was almost toxic to his mind, making him believe there wasn't anything wrong with him.

And he did wonder how things would be like right now, if she would've taken his complaints serious and acted upon them like his father had.

"So, are you nervous to talk to her now?"

"Yeah, the last time I spoke to her, she denied there was anything wrong with me while I had just gotten diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. Even after a professional had told me I was right, and my moods weren't just caused by puberty, she tried to tell me it was puberty."

"She sounds stubborn."

"Dad says she's just trying to protect me. But I think she could protect me differently."

"I can see what your father means, though. She probably didn't want you to get labelled as Bipolar to prevent you from people treating you differently because of it."

"I get that too, but she could've at least gotten me the help I needed, and then tell me not to flaunt around my disorder. Which I would never do, but still."

Daniel nodded when Frey shortly looked to his left to look at Daniel.

"I wonder how she'll act in a minute."

"I'm right there to support you, and if she refuses to listen, we'll leave."

Frey smiled and both reached out to take each other's hand in there own shortly.

They locked their bikes in the front yard, Frey taking out the key to the front door to head inside without ringing the bell. He really didn't want to face her on the doorstep already; with a possibility half the neighbourhood would be witnesses to a fight.

Daniel stopped him from opening the door, cupped his face, and pecked a quick kiss on his lips. "Just remember to stay calm."

Frey nodded and smiled, almost melted because of Daniel's sweet gesture.

He went inside with shaky hands, followed by Daniel—who closed the door after them.

"Mom?" Frey called out, unsure where he would find her—the study upstairs, or the kitchen.

It appeared to be the latter, when he heard a chair scraping the floor hurriedly. "Frey? Is that you?" His mother sounded rather relieved, right before she came rushing into the living room, where Frey and Daniel were standing awkwardly—not feeling at home at all.

"Hi mom..." Frey managed to mutter right before she engulfed him in a hug, pecking kiss after kiss on his cheek.

"Oh, my baby... you're back!"

"I'm not a baby, mom." Frey complained with a roll of the eyes. Still, he allowed her to suffocate him with her hug and kisses because they hadn't seen each other in a while.

"Oh, you'll always be my baby." His mother chuckled while she cupped his face to look at him. "Are you moving in again?"

"Mom... I'm here to talk. I'm staying with dad."

She seemed to get angry at that statement, but to Frey's surprise, she simply sighed, nodded and pulled him in for another hug.

Daniel stood beside them, smiling at the scene, but visibly unsure on how to behave.

"You wanted to talk." His mother formally spoke up, little to no emotions showing in her expression or sounding through her words. "Let's sit in the kitchen, grab some drinks, and tell me what it is you want to talk about."

At least she was willing to listen.

And that—to Frey—was a huge change.

Words: +/- 1982

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