***Misha’s POV***

                “Misha? Are you okay?” my coworker, and friend, Jamie asked with a frown.

                “No. My boyfriend isn’t answering my texts,” I said, shoving my phone into my pocket and nervously nibbling on my nail.

                “Stop biting your nails. I’m sure he’s fine. Isn’t he in high school? He probably has class right now,” Jamie said, pulling my thumb away from me so that I couldn’t bite my nail anymore.

                “You don’t understand Jamie. Someone physically attacked him at school yesterday. I can’t stand the thought of it happening to him again,” I said miserably.

                “Hey, I’m sure he’s alright,” Jamie said with a comforting smile.

                I sighed and looked around the store. Business was slow today, and I just wanted my shift to be over so that I could go home. I wanted to see Collie already. I was worried about him.

                I pulled out my phone and checked it again, but still had no reply from Collie. I had texted him three times already and he wasn’t answering me.

                “I’m turning into the overly attached girlfriend,” I groaned, banging my head against the counter.

                “Well, you’ll have to deal with that later. Customers are here,” Jamie said, patting me on the back.

                I picked my head up and glanced at the door. I froze and felt my face pale as the couple neared the door to the store.

                I gripped Jamie’s arm. “They’re my boyfriend’s parents!” I cried in terror. “Jamie, they hate me! They’re homophobic as hell! They’ve kicked me out of their house and threatened me to stay away from Collie!”

                Jamie sighed. “Well, this will be an interesting experience.”

                “It’s not funny,” I hissed as they opened the door and entered the store. “You handle them. I’m going to go be busy somewhere else.”

                “You have to work the register you idiot!” he said, pulling his arm out of my grip. “Now calm down. If they try to pick a fight with you, we’ll just call security.”

                I nodded went over to the register, wishing I wasn’t so tall. They could easily see me if they looked over.

                As Jamie made his way over to them, I pretended to be busy filing papers. I glanced up, watching as Jamie smiled at them politely.

                “Hello! Do you need help finding anything?” he asked.

                Mrs. Archer held up a piece of paper with a picture of jeans on them. “Yes, we’re looking for these in a size six,” she said.

                “I’ll check the back. In the meantime, there are some jeans in those size right over there!” Jamie said, pointing to the rack. I could tell he immediately regretted doing so.

                The rack of jeans was too close to the register for comfort. Jamie spun around and started towards the back of the store to check for the size they were looking for.

                “Shit. Sorry. I wasn’t thinking,” he whispered, looking honestly sorry. “I’ll try to be fast so that you’re not alone with them for too long.”

                He hurried along to the back as the Archer’s made their way towards the jeans rack near the register. I gulped dropped my head back to the papers laid out in front of me.

                “Misha Redner?”

                I gulped again and looked up at Mr. Archer. “Hello Mr. Archer,” I said, forcing a polite smile. “Nice to see you again, sir.”

                “Collie’s back home,” he said flatly.

                The smile slipped off of my face. They had gotten Collie back home? But how?

                “He told us he wasn’t staying with you when he ran away, but that you two were still seeing each other. You’ve got him brainwashed,” he said, hate in his eyes as he glared at me.

                “I…I just…” I snapped my mouth shut, not knowing what to say.

                “People are always going to try to put you down for your sexuality Misha, but I want you to keep your head up and smile at them. Don’t you ever be ashamed of it.”

                My mom’s words the day I had come out to my parents exploded in my head. I met Mr. Archer’s eyes with a steady look, suddenly confident.

                “I love your son, Mr. Archer. I know you don’t approve of homosexuality, but that doesn’t stop Collie from being gay, and it certainly doesn’t stop me from being in love with him. I would do absolutely anything for your son. I would do anything to make him happy and keep him safe. And if you hate me for that, then I am truly sorry for you,” I said.

                Mr. Archer’s face turned red with anger. “You’d do anything to keep him safe? Is that why he’s a bruised mess?” he asked coldly.

                “I don’t know what happened to him. He wouldn’t tell me,” I said, hearing the pain in my own voice. “Believe me, if I could’ve stopped it, I would.”

                I looked over and saw Jamie peeking at us from the backdoor. He met my eyes and I very slightly shook my head at him. I wasn’t done with the Archer’s yet.

                “I don’t mean to be rude to you. But I think that you’re really hurting Collie by not accepting him,” I said, wishing I could tell them what jerks they really were.

                “Don’t tell me that you faggot,” Mr. Archer hissed. “You stay away from him. I’ll send him away if that’s what it takes to keep you two apart.”

                “You can’t keep us apart,” I said before I could stop myself. “Don’t you care about Collie’s happiness?”

                “Of course we do. That’s why we’re going to get him away from you,” Mrs. Archer said, finally joining the conversation.

                “You know, he told us you loved him. But he also told us that it made him uncomfortable,” Mr. Archer said, a smirk coming to his face. “So much for him being gay and happy with you.”

                I felt myself paling a little. He was uncomfortable with me loving him?

                I cleared my throat nervously. “I did, uh, say it suddenly. But he is happy with me! And I’m happy with him!”

                “Look at you. You’re a terrible influence for Collier. You even dress like a flaming homo,” Mrs. Archer said coldly.

                I looked down at myself, pouting. Okay, well now I know where Collie inherited his rude remarks about my clothing from…

                I was wearing a rainbow hoodie over a pair of black shorts and my flip-flops. My arm was, as usual, stacked with bracelets, my favorite one right on the edge of my wrist.

                “Uh…I wasn’t wearing a rainbow hoodie for pride. My sister bought it for me in North Carolina,” I said, glancing back up at Collie’s parents.

                “I like Emma. She’s a good girl. Not an abomination like you,” Mr. Archer said.

                Normally, comments like that didn’t bother me at all. My parents had helped me build a thick skin when it came to my sexuality.

                But these were my boyfriend’s parents saying these things. And now they were telling me that not only would they send Collie away to keep us apart, but that Collie was uncomfortable with me loving him.

                “Okay, I think it’s about time I stop awkwardly standing behind the backdoor. Here are the jeans,” Jamie said, coming over and tossing the jeans to Mr. Archer.

                Jamie glanced at me. “By the way, I’m with your boyfriend’s dad. I like Emma.” He smirked. “She’s wicked hot, man.”

                “Jamie!” I said in annoyance. “She’s 17! You’re 21! Stay away from her!”

                “Hey, your boyfriend’s only 17 too!” Jamie whined.

                “Yea, but I’m only 19! I’m not four years older than my boyfriend!” I said in annoyance. Honestly, why did all of my friends try to get with my little sister?!

                “Don’t you call my son your boyfriend,” Mrs. Archer said, giving me a disgusted look. “He’s not a faggot like you.”

                “Whoa, listen lady. If it wouldn’t cost me my job, I would tell you off right now. But I need this money, so instead, I’m going to kindly ask you to pay for those jeans and get out. You have no right to come in here and insult Misha,” Jamie said, glaring at Mrs. Archer. “It’s not his fault you can’t accept your kid’s sexuality.”

                Without another word, Mrs. Archer tossed the jeans onto the counter. I rang up the price and took her money, handing her the change.

                “Thank you. Come again,” I said, trying to reel back in my anger. “And I just want you to keep in mind that I honestly care for Collie. I don’t think you should be so angry at me for that.”

                They left, not bothering a glance back at me. I watched them disappear and sat down, groaning and rubbing my temples.

                “Sheesh, what assholes. I thought you said your boyfriend was a chill guy? How can anyone be chill with parents like that?” Jamie asked.

                “Collie is chill. His parents are just…ugh. Before they knew I was gay, they were nice to me. I mean, I never really talked to them. But they were always polite and nice. They’re just huge homophobes,” I said with a tired sigh.

                The door to the store opened and I stood up, watching as three guys came in. I stood at the register as Jamie went over to help them.

                I found myself zoning out, my thoughts on Collie. Was he really uncomfortable with me loving him?

                “Hey, aren’t you Michael Redner?”

                I looked over at the three guys. “Misha,” I corrected. “I’m Misha Redner. Do I know you?” They didn’t look familiar to me.

                “We’re friends with your sister, Emma. I’m Vance, that’s Jake, and that’s Drew,” the tallest of the three said, jerking his thumb at his friends as he said their names. “Aren’t you dating Collie?”

                I nodded. “Yea, I’m dating Collie. Are you friends with him too?” I asked curiously.

                “Kind of. We’re friends with his older brother,” Vance said. Jake and Drew snickered and nodded.

                “I don’t understand why everyone acts like Colin is so much older. He’s, what, 11 minutes older?” I said with a sigh.

                “Wait, what?” Drew asked in confusion.

                “Colin and Collie are twins, you dope,” Vance said, elbowing him.

                “I didn’t know that!” he said.

                “I always forget,” Jake said with a frown.

                I noticed that Vance was watching me with a look in his eyes that I didn’t like. It was as if he knew something I didn’t. Something that was funny to him.

                “Hey Misha, you’re shift is over. Lana is here,” Jamie called as my other coworker, Lana, came in and waved at me.

                “Sweet. Well, it was nice meeting you three,” I said to Vance, Jake, and Drew.

                “Nice meeting you too Misha. Have fun with Collie. He’s a good guy, you know?” Vance said, smirking.

                “Yea,” I said, kind of uncomfortable now. Why was he smirking? What did he know about Collie that I didn’t?

                I walked over to Lana and Jamie. They watched me curiously, glancing between me and those three guys.

                “You know them?” Jamie asked.

                I shook my head. “No. But apparently they know my sister and my boyfriend.”

                “I still want to meet your boyfriend Misha!” Lana said, smiling and wrapping her arms around me.

                “You’ll get to,” I promised her with a smile, hugging her back. I would be proud to show Collie off to all of my friends.

                I released Lana and kissed her cheek. “Anyways, I have to head out. Apparently my boyfriend’s being kept prisoner at home by his parents. He ran away, and they dragged him back. I need to go check on him.”

                I waved to them and left the store. I drove myself down to the Archer’s house and parked a little ways down.

                I crept through their neighbor’s backyard and darted over to the side of their house, crouching down next to Collie’s window. I frowned, realizing it was locked from the outside.

                I unlocked the window and pushed it open, sliding into Collie’s room. He wasn’t in here, and I shivered at how cold it was.

                Making my way over to his bed, I smiled, realizing he had tacked up a picture of us together next to his bed. I sat down and gently ran my fingers over the picture.

                The bedroom door open and I turned, watching as Collie entered his room. His headphones were in, and he was looking down at his iPod.

                He looked up and let out a startled noise, jumping back. He slapped a hand over his chest and yanked his earphones out, coming into his room and locking his bedroom door.

                “Misha! What are you doing here?!” he cried.

                “I came in to check on you. Your parents were at my work,” I said.

                “I know. They told me they were going to TJ’s Apparel. But before I could text you, my uncle took my phone. He’s babysitting me.” He made an annoyed face and rolled his eyes. “Anyways, how did it go?”

                “Great. You knew,” I groaned. I told him everything, leaving out the part about him being uncomfortable with me loving him.

                He came over and sat down in my lap, wrapping his arms around my neck. He kissed me lovingly.

                “I was so mad they dragged me back here Misha. I don’t want to be here,” he said, hate coloring his words.

                “I saw your friends at the store too,” I said, wanting to make him feel better.

                “My friends? I have friends?” he asked in confusion.

                “Vance, Jake, and Drew,” I said, laughing.

                His face paled, and I instantly stopped laughing. I frowned, wrapping my arms around his waist.

                “What? What’s wrong?” I asked, Vance’s smirk coming back to my mind.

                “Nothing. I just…I haven’t really talked to them since Colin came out,” he said with a shrug. He cleared his throat and kissed me again. “I missed you all day, you dork.”

                “Collie, stop trying to change the subject. Why did you go pale like that?” I demanded.

                “They’re not the biggest fans of me,” he said.

                “Are they the ones who hurt you?” I asked, feeling anger rising in me. If they had been the ones who had hurt Collie and I had just walked out of the store without them making them regret doing it…

                “Like they could ever beat me up,” he scoffed.

                “Swear?” I asked nervously. There was something in his eyes that had me doubting the truth of what he was saying.

                Collie held out his pinky. “Pinky swear, since you’re such a dork you like it.”

                I wrapped my pinky around his, trying to calm myself down. This was Collie! He wouldn’t lie to me.

                Collie’s eyes widened as the sound of someone coming down the stairs reached our ears. He grabbed my arm, pulling me around to the other side of his bed.

                “Get under my bed!” he hissed.

                I dropped to the floor and managed to crawl under his bed just as someone began knocking on his door. I peeked out, watching Collie unlock his door and pull it open.

                “Uncle Chris is leaving,” Mrs. Archer said. She, Mr. Archer, and a man I didn’t recognize were standing at the door.

                “Here’s your phone Collier. Bye,” the man said handing Collie his phone and giving him a one-armed hug before disappearing.

                The front door shut a few seconds later, and Mr. and Mrs. Archer pushed Collie into his room. Mr. Archer sighed, placing a hand on Collie’s shoulder.

                “Look, we don’t want you to run away again, okay?” he said gently.

                “Whatever,” Collie grumbled.

                “We’ll talk about your injuries tomorrow after school. And if you run away again, we’ll just find you and bring you back,” Mr. Archer said.

                “Goodnight Collie. We do love you,” Mrs. Archer said.

                “Dad can’t love me. He’s a boy and I’m a boy,” Collie pointed out.

                “Collie, not tonight,” Mr. Archer said, sounding tired. “We’re not having this argument tonight. You’re not gay. And you’re not allowed to see Misha. He’s a faggot, and you’re not.”

                “Get out of my room before I hit you,” Collie snarled. “Don’t you ever call Misha a faggot.”

                “Goodnight Collie,” his mother said flatly, dragging Mr. Archer out of the room and shutting the door.

                Collie locked the door and stormed over to his bed. I crawled out from under it and stood up, watching him cautiously.

                “How dare he call you a faggot,” Collie growled, clenching his fists tightly.

                “At least he doesn’t call me a dork,” I said, pulling Collie into my arms and kissing his cheek. “Now calm down.”

                “I can’t. I can’t calm down Misha. I can’t stand this!” he said, struggling to keep his voice down.

                I could see the desperately furious look in his eyes. He was angry at his parents. Hell, he was angry at the whole world. Everything he kept inside was turning to anger and it was just storing up for a massive outburst.

                “Yes, you can. Because you have me,” I promised him, kissing him.

                I led him over to his bed and we sat down together. Collie looked up at me, the furious look replaced by an exhausted one.

                “Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?” he asked.

                “Of course,” I said, kissing him again. “I can get out if they come back.”

                He laid down, curling up and resting his head in my lap. I began to run my hand through his hair as he pulled the covers over himself.      

                “Goodnight Misha. And you still owe me a hot tub night,” he mumbled, closing his eyes.

                I chuckled and nodded. “Yes, I do. And I’ll get that hot tub night to you Collie.”

                After a few minutes, Collie’s breathing slowed down and his body had relaxed. I continued running my hand through his hair, staring at that picture of us together tacked up next to his bed.

                In it, Collie and I were smiling at the camera, holding up red solo cups, probably filled with soda. I remembered that night clearly. I had come to the Archer’s house with Emma for a bonfire, and had been talking to Collie when Emma had snapped the picture.

                Now I was dating Collie. Hell, I was in love with Collie. And that knowledge made him uncomfortable.

                I looked down at Collie, hating to see the bruises that decorated his face. His hand, on the bright side, seemed to be doing a bit better. The nasty colors were starting to fade and the swelling had gone down quite a bit.

                Stubborn Collie should have seen a doctor about his hand, but of course he felt the need to tough it out. Independent as always.

                Sometimes it was exhausting to have such an independent, closed boyfriend. I wanted Collie to be open with me.

                But I loved him, and I would have patience with him. When he was ready to tell me things, I would be ready to hear them.

                I looked down at him, frowning to myself. Was he really uncomfortable with my love? Did I make him too uncomfortable?

                Maybe I should back off a little. I guess I did come on too strong with my feelings for him. I would just back off a bit, and give Collie time to get used to my feelings. I would do anything for Collie, and if I had to pull away from him a little, I would do it.

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A.N.- Do you guys think Misha's new "plan" is going to go over well? .__.