“God damn you Tumblr!” I snapped, slamming my laptop as a post about Alec and Magnus from The Mortal Instrument series breaking up appeared.

                I groaned and rubbed my eyes. I hadn’t been able to sleep last night, so instead, I had wasted all night on Tumblr. But the last thing I needed to see right now was shit about breaking up with your boyfriend!

                I got up and went in the shower, shivering as the cold water woke me up a little. I got out of the shower and dressed, fixing my hair and brushing my teeth before putting on cover-up.

                I made my way upstairs and grabbed a Monster out of the refrigerator. I took a swing of it and resisted the urge to chug it for some energy. I was exhausted.

                “Good morning Collier,” my dad said, entering the kitchen.

                “Hey dad,” I grumbled, sitting down at the counter.

                “You’re up early. Do you want some breakfast? I can make you an omelet before you have to leave for school,” he said.

                “Sure,” I said, too tired to even argue with him. He was going to pretend everything was fine and dandy until the issue of my sexuality came up again.

                I rested my head on the counter and watched him as he made me an omelet. He set it down in front of me and I thanked him before starting to eat.

                I missed this part of my dad. The dad that loved me and made me breakfast. Who was always in a good mood and kind to his children.

                But lately, I had only seen his homophobic side. The side of him I had feared, ever since I thought a boy named Max was cute when I was 8. I had been absolutely terrified of my own feelings, slowly coming to secretly accept my sexuality as I grew older, gaining feelings for Ant in high school. I had mentally prepared myself to face my parents’ homophobia for years.

                I ate, watching Colin as he stumbled out into the kitchen, lazily dressed and his hair still a hot mess. He sat down next to me as dad poured him some cereal.

                “Tired?” I asked.

                “Exhausted. I only slept for about four hours last night. I was on the phone with Ant until two in the morning. Being his idiotic self, he watched some horror movie with his mom and couldn’t sleep.” He rolled his eyes.

                I bit my tongue against my sarcastic reply. I would give anything for four hours of sleep right now. I was dead tired.

                Colin and I stood up when we were done eating. We said goodbye to our father and went out to the car.

                “Trust me, it’s safer if you drive,” I said, tossing Colin the keys and getting in the passenger seat.

                “I don’t want to drive,” he whined.

                “And I don’t want to hear your bitching,” I growled. I was in such a bad mood between the lack of sleep, my distant boyfriend, and the three homophobes threatening me.

                “Are you okay?” he asked with a concerned look.

                “Just dandy. Drive,” I said, pointing at the steering wheel.

                Colin started up the car and drove us to school. We walked up to school together and into the senior hallway.

                “Thanks for helping me sleep last night. I’m sorry I kept you up,” Ant said apologetically, bouncing over to Colin.

                “It’s fine. Anytime you need me, you know I’m always there for you,” Colin said with a sincere smile. He pulled Ant close and kissed him.

                I swallowed down my jealousy and opened my locker. I wish my freaking boyfriend would want me close enough to kiss him.

                The bell rang and I stuck close to my brother as we walked to class. I just didn’t feel like getting my ass kicked today.

                When lunch rolled around, I sat down at the table, in a worse mood than I could’ve imagined possible. Even Colin wasn’t talking to me, and I had a feeling he had warned Ant, Emma, and Zane too.

                I dug around my bag and let out a violent string of profanities that had Emma staring at me in shock. I kicked my backpack away from myself.

                “Fucking great. I forgot my lunch,” I grumbled.

                “Here, have some of mine,” Colin said, pushing the brown bag towards me.

                “I don’t want it,” I lied, my stomach growling its protest.

                “Collie, your stomach could wake the dead with that growling. Just eat some of my lunch. Maybe some food will put you in a better mood,” Colin said.

                I shoved his lunch back at him, glaring. “I don’t want your food!” I snapped. My head was pounding and I was ready to just pass out.

                I knew I was being cruel towards my brother, but I could feel guilty over it later. Right now, I just wanted some sleep.

                “Collie, calm down. He’s just trying to be nice,” Ant said with a frown, slipping his arm around Colin’s waist.

                “Shut up,” I growled. I knew I was just looking for any reason to be mean to everyone. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had been in such a bad mood.

                “Hey, don’t take out your bad mood on Ant,” Colin said, getting angry now.

                “Both of you calm down!” Ant said, rolling his eyes and shaking his head at Colin. He turned to me. “What’s wrong Collie?”

                “Nothing,” I lied. I felt like my world was just crumbling down on me.

                “Did Misha do something?” Emma asked.

                “Misha didn’t do anything!” I snapped. And that was the biggest problem. Misha didn’t do anything. He hadn’t texted me, hadn’t answered the phone when I called him last night, hadn’t wanted to touch me with a ten foot pole yesterday.

                “You need to calm down,” Colin said with a sigh. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you, and I know you won’t tell anyone because you’re Collie Archer and you’re stubborn. But you need to calm down and stop snapping at everybody before you say something you regret.”

                He was right, and I knew it. But I didn’t care. I flipped him off and stood up, leaving the cafeteria, wanting to be alone.

                I slid down against my locker in the senior hallway, glad that it was deserted. I rubbed my temples, wanting the pounding headache to go away.

                I put my earphones in and rested my head against the lockers, trying not to think too hard on Misha’s behavior yesterday. It was driving me absolutely crazy.

                “I feel it deep within, it’s just beneath the skin. I must confess that I feel like a monster,” I mumbled along with my iPod.

                The bell exploded a few minutes later and I got up and made my way to my English class. I took my seat next to Ant, not looking at him.

                “Collie? Did someone upset you, or is it just your time of the month?” Ant asked.

                “Ant, I’m not a girl. I don’t have a period,” I said, irritated.

                “Well then cheer up mister!” Ant said, slinging an arm around my shoulders and grinning at me.

                “Ant, I’m really not in the mood,” I said flatly. “Please get your arm off of me and leave me alone.”

                He frowned and pulled his arm away. “Collie, I’ve never seen you in a bad mood like this. It’s actually pretty terrifying. What’s wrong? You know you can trust me.”

                I wanted to. I wanted to tell somebody, anybody, what was wrong. I wanted to scream about my parents, the bullies, and Misha’s behavior.

                But I knew that I couldn’t. That was my burden to bear, and I would bear it alone. It wasn’t fair to dump my problems on other people.

                “I’m just tired, okay?” I said, hearing the annoyed tone of my voice.

                “Okay. But you can talk to me if you want to,” Ant said seriously. “You and Emma have become two of my closest friends over the past few weeks. I hate seeing you like this, Collie.”

               “Anthony! Collier! Be quiet!” our teacher said sternly, starting class. For once, I was happy that the fat bitch was making us shut up. I didn’t feel like talking.

                When the end of the day came, I walked towards the senior hallway, just wanting to get my stuff and go talk to Misha. Then again, he was probably going to piss me off more if he acted the way he had yesterday.

                Someone grabbed me and pulled me sideways, into an empty classroom. I let out a frustrated growl, spinning to face Vance, Drew, and Jake.

                “Leave me alone!” I yelled furiously, not in the mood for them.

                “You have two days to break Colin and Ant up,” Vance said, ignoring my outburst.

                “And you have two seconds to get out of my face before I hurt you,” I warned.

                Vance snickered. “You couldn’t hurt us if you tr-”

                “Time’s up.” I let my fist fly forward, catching Vance in the mouth.

                He whimpered and stumbled back, slapping a hand over his mouth. Blood began to ooze through his fingers.

                Jake and Drew were on me in a second. They threw me into a desk, causing me to knock it over and have it pierce my side.

                I sucked in a pained breath, rolling off of the desk and gently rubbing my side. I staggered to my feet and they grabbed me, throwing me against the wall and letting their fists fly at me.

                “You need to learn to do what you’re told and stop fighting back,” Jake said, slamming his body against mine, pinning me between him and the wall.

                I dropped to the ground when he moved away from me. He grabbed Vance’s arm and he and Drew led Vance out of the room, not bothering a glance back at me.

                I stood up and went to the boys’ room, repeating the action of cleaning off the blood and using cover-up to hide my new bruises. I was getting so sick of this.

                I went out to the senior hallway, finding my brother and my friends. None of them noticed that anything was wrong, and continued to laugh amongst each other.

               Colin grabbed the car keys and motioned at us to follow him. We left the school and went down the hill to the parking lot. I got in the car with Colin, Ant, and Emma. Colin drove for a few minutes before pulling into the Redner’s driveway and glancing at me.

                “I hope Misha puts you in a better mood,” he said.

                “I doubt it,” I grumbled, getting out of the car and slamming the door.

                I followed Emma into the house. She grabbed my arm and forced me to face her before I could go up to Misha’s room.

                “Seriously Collie, did my brother do something to upset you? Did he say something?” she asked in concern.

                “No. He didn’t say anything,” I said, yanking my arm out of her grip.

                I ignored her as she called my name, making my way up to Misha’s bedroom. I let myself in, the door banging against the wall.

                Misha spun around in surprise. “Jeez Collie, way to give me a heart attack!” he cried, slapping a hand over his chest.

                “Do you have work today?” I asked, kicking his door shut leaning against it.

                “No,” he said, watching me in confusion. “I don’t have work tonight. Are you okay? Did something happen?”

                Jake and Drew hurting me in the classroom today flashed through my mind, along with yesterday’s beating and Misha’s strange behavior.

                “Nothing happened,” I said at last.

                He stood up and moved over to his bed, sitting on it. I went over and sat next to him, clenching my fists when he scooted away from me a little bit.

                I leaned over, kissing Misha, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him closer to me, wanting him. Needing him.

                But like yesterday, he forced the kiss to stay careful. He pulled away from me, leaning back so that his face was too far for me to able to kiss him.

                “That’s it!” I exploded, jumping up and glaring at him. Everything crashed down around, overwhelming me. Everything that had been happening mixed with my exhaustion and terror. Terror of Misha breaking up with, terror of my parents, and terror of those homophobes hurting me again.

                “Collie!” Misha said in shock, starting to stand up.

                I pushed him back onto the bed. “I’m done! I’m so done! If you’re going to break up with me, just do it already!” I shouted.

                “I wasn’t going to break up with you,” he said, his eyes going wide. “Where the hell did you get that idea?”

                “Oh I don’t know, maybe from the way that you’re putting space between us?” I said, my voice viciously sarcastic. “So just do it and get it over with already so I can go home and blast Mayday Parade like some lovesick teen girl!”

                “Collie, I’m not going to break up with you. I would never break up with you. I thought you wanted your space,” he said weakly. “I…I was just trying to do what I thought you wanted.”

                “Why would I want that? Why would I want to be away from you? I fucking needed you yesterday Misha, and you wouldn’t even let me near you!” I cried, hearing the desperation slipping into my voice now.

                “Collie, what’s wrong?” Misha asked.

                And I hit my breaking point.

                “What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the fact that my parents hate me because I’m gay and they take out all their anger on me and sometimes slap me or make me choke on  mouthwash for kissing you. Or it could be the three homophobes that pull me into empty classrooms and beat the shit out of me for being gay. Let’s not forget the fact that I haven’t slept in over 24 hours and haven’t eaten a damn thing since breakfast. Mix that with my boyfriend randomly distancing himself for me, and I’m just fucking dandy Misha! Not a god damn thing is wrong!”

                I was screaming, and I didn’t even care. Misha stared at me, his mouth hanging open. I felt angry tears coming to my eyes and clenched my fists.

                I turned and moved to storm out of his room. But then I felt Misha’s arms around me, and I froze.

                He spun me around, crashing his lips on mine. I gave up, kissing him back and letting tears roll down my cheeks.

                Misha pulled away from my lips, kissing up my cheeks, following the tears to my ears. He pulled me into a tight hug, letting me bury my face against his chest.

                “I had no idea Collie,” he whispered. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

                “I shouldn’t have told you at all,” I said, pulling my face away from his chest. “It’s my business, not anyone else’s.”

                “Collie, you can’t think like that. Please. You need to tell me things. It’s not good for you to keep it all inside. I’m your boyfriend. You can trust me,” Misha said gently.

                He sat me down on his bed. “I’ll be right back,” he said and hurried out of his bedroom.

                He returned about two minutes later with a plate that had two slices of pizza on it. He set it in my lap and sat next to me, wrapping his arm around my waist and kissing me.

                “Eat,” he said, gesturing at the plate.

                “Thanks,” I mumbled, picking up the pizza and basically shoving the whole slice in my mouth.

                Misha laughed as he watched me. But then his eyes darkened, and he pulled me closer to himself.

                “You said three homophobes and you said they kept hurting you. Was it those guys I met at the store? And have they kept attacking you with you telling me?” he demanded.

                “I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, eating the last bite of pizza and setting the plate on Misha’s nightstand.

                “I don’t care. You’re going to tell me,” he said, tilting my head so that I was looking into his eyes.

                “Yes,” I said quietly, my eyes starting to water again as I lifted my shirt to show him the bruises from the past two days that I hadn’t covered with cover-up.

                “Oh Collier,” Misha whispered, gently tracing his fingers over the bruises. “If I had known, I would’ve killed those bastards.”

                “No. You won’t do anything to them,” I said, afraid. Misha wasn’t weak, but the three of them could overpower him. My tears started to leak over again. “God dammit Misha, stay away from them! They’ll hurt you! They’ve already threatened you!”

                I buried my face in my hands, embarrassed. I hated crying in front of people. Hell, I hated crying at all.

                Misha wrapped his arms around me, pulling me so that I was lying down with him. He pulled my hands away from my face and kissed me.

                “It’s okay to cry,” he said honestly. “You’re going through a lot.”

                I buried my face against his neck, letting myself breakdown. This was Misha. He wasn’t going to judge me for crying.

                “I love you Collie. I’m here for you. We’re going to figure everything out together. Especially these bullies and your parents. I know what I said yesterday, but I only said it because your parents told me you were uncomfortable with me loving you. It was stupid of me to believe them. But I still want you to move into my apartment with me,” he said, rubbing my back with one hand while the other stayed securely around my waist.

                “I want to move in with you,” I said, my voice choked. “I do want to move in with you Misha. I love you.”

                He froze. “You…what?”

                “I love you. That’s why I was so scared that you were going to break up with me. Because I love you, and I can’t stand the thought of us breaking up,” I said, pulling my face away from his neck and wiping at my still-leaking eyes.

                “I love you too Collie. And I’m sorry,” he said and explained everything that had happened at the store.

                “I hate them all,” I whimpered.

                He pulled me closer to his warm body, his lips brushing against my neck. “But you have me, and you have Colin, Emma, and Ant. We’re going to fix everything. We’ll get you away from your parents as soon as I have the money for the apartment. And we’ll get rid of these homophobes. I promise. I’m going to make everything okay.”

                “You’re such a dork. But you’re my dork, and I love you,” I said, kissing him deeply.

                He kissed me back, his usual passion and love finally present. I tangled my hands in his hair, rolling on top of his body. He placed his hands on my hips firmly, our lips working together perfectly, just like they always did.

                Misha pulled away before we got too intense. “Not right now,” he said, pecking my lips and shifting me so that I was cuddled up next to him. “You look exhausted. You need to sleep. I’m pretty tired myself.”

                “I’m sorry Misha,” I said, slinging my arm over his chest and kissing him. “This was all my fault. I should’ve told you earlier. I just hate dumping my problems on other people.”

                “I know you do Collie. But you can always come to me with anything. Now, goodnight, and I love you,” he said, kissing me deeply.

                I let my eyes shut. A smile came to my face as Misha started singing Guardian Angel by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

                “I will never let you fall. I’ll stand up with you forever. I’ll be there for you through it all, even if saving you sends me to heaven,” he sang quietly.

                I drifted off to sleep, safe in the arms of the boy I loved. Things were finally starting to look up. Misha was going to help me get away from my parents and get the bullies to leave me alone. Then we could finally be happy together with no one trying to get between us. 

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A.N.- Dawww cute moment between Collie and Misha! You guys have been waiting for Collie to open up, and he finally did! So I hope this chapter helped everyone's feels a little bit <3 What do you guys think of their relationship? :3