This chapter made my heart melt writing it. I cried in joy. I sobbed and weeped because it was so cute.

No, this is not a decoy to make you think there's no angst in this chapter. /lh/hj

*   *   *

"That'll be..." Scar continued to draw out the word be as he picked up a property card to read off, "One thousand, four hundred bucks."

"Are you kidding me?!" Grian stared down at his small pile of Monopoly money. "How- I- Wha- Huh?!"

Jimmy, who had been out of the game for ages now, nearly fell over onto Scott as he was laughing so hard. Grian didn't have nearly enough to pay off the rent on that space.

Scott snickered. "I think you're out, Grian," he said, peeking over from the other side of the board. "Oh, yeah, you're definitely out."

Grian groaned as he sunk down in his seat. "That's not fair," he whined. "Can't I trade you something? I have railroads!"

Scar hummed, seemingly considering his options before nodding. "Alright, I want all of your railroads," he decided. He held out his hand for Grian to hand him the railroad cards. "Rail me, Grian."

As he was reaching for his cards, Grian froze and his face turned a bright red as he moved to look at Scar. "Excuse me?"

Scar blinked. "Wha- Oh!" He gasped, dark red flushing his face. "Wait, I didn't mean- I- I meant that- your railroads- I-" He covered his face with his hands and slid down in his seat so he was barely visible to everyone else.

Grian, rolling his eyes playfully, opened his mouth to speak, but Lizzie beat him to it, calling Grian's name from the kitchen

"Grian!" she said. "Get your stuff together, Joel's ready!"

Grian gasped in response and tossed to Scar whatever was left of the cards and play money he had. "Okay," he yelled back. Hopping off his seat, he nearly tripped and fell as he darted over to the front door to step into his shoes. He grabbed a bag from off the floor and tossed the strap over his shoulder.

"Someone's excited," Lizzie said, giggling, as she came down the front hallway. She peeped her head around the dividing wall between the foyer and the dining room. "Are you coming with, Scar?"

"I'm good," Scar said, most of the sound muffled into his hands.

Lizzie snickered. "Alright, then."

*   *   *

"Are your eyes closed?" Joel asked, guiding Grian forward from behind. He'd told Grian to close his eyes as soon as he walked through the front door, saying that he wanted everything to be a surprise.

Grian huffed. "Yes," he said. "They've been closed, Joel."

Laughing, Joel stopped, Grian following suit. "Right, right." Joel's voice moved around to Grian's left side and the latter could hear the creaking of a door opening in front of him before Joel took Grian's hands in his. "Keep 'em closed for just one more second," Joel said slowly, gently pulling Grian forward again. "Aaand, open."

When Grian opened his eyes, he was met with a lot of white so bright that it was nearly blinding with the sun shining through the window and reflecting off of everything.

"I haven't painted much yet," Joel explained. "I thought it'd be a nice thing for the two of us to do together. But, uh... yeah. This is your new room."

Looking around, Grian was struggling to hold back tears as he took everything in. In place of the plain mattress that was there previously, there was a black-painted, wooden-framed bed in the right-hand corner, and a nightstand sat next to it in a similar style. Joel's old red lamp perched atop the nightstand, matching the bright red comforter on the bed. Several floating shelves were placed strategically on the wall of the bed, each one holding a small, colorfully wrapped box with a bow contrasting the color of the wrapping paper. Along the same wall as the bed, was a decently sized closet cut into the wall, full of clothes that Grian adored.

"There's more," Joel said with a cheeky smile, grabbing Grian's hand again and pulling him to the left side of the room.

Behind the door was a white writing desk and a red, low-back office chair next to a white combo dresser.

Grian turned back to Joel with a confused (and almost offended looking) expression on his face. "You did all this... for me?"

Joel crossed his arms triumphantly. "Yes, sir!" he answered. "All for the one and only, very special," - he leaned forward to whisper, "and need I say quite handsome in his so-called "best friend's" hoodie" - he pulled away, laughing as Grian's face flamed - "Grian Gotts."

"I-" Grian took a shaky breath and looked around again. "You... How much was all of this?"

"Oh, that is something you will never need to know, kiddo," Joel said with a chuckle. He went quiet for a moment as he watched Grian stare at each thing in the room with skepticism. Sighing, Joel cupped a hand over Grian's cheek and gently turned his head to face him. "Listen," Joel began quietly, "I know it's a lot to take in." Grian nodded a bit in response to that. "It's probably really strange and hard to believe, isn't it? And it's going to need a lot of effort to get used to. But, we're in this together now. Got it?"

Grian nodded again, sniffling.

Joel's eyes softened. "Aww, are you crying?" he teased.

"No," Grian said, though that in itself came out as a sob. Most likely taken off guard, Grian covered his mouth as another sob broke free before trying to move away from Joel as he whispered desperate apologies.

Joel let Grian back away. "Grian," he said gently, and Grian shook his head violently while he tried to forcefully calm himself. "Grian, it's okay," Joel said, kneeling down in front of Grian and looking up. "It's okay, bud. Trust me. I get it. You can cry all you want about this, I don't mind."

Grian shook his head again. "N-no," he managed, "it's an-annoying-"

"It is not annoying, young man," Joel chided gently. "This is meant to be a safe place for you. This is a place where you can cry if you need to. Not that I ever like to see it, but if you need to, go right fucking ahead." He paused, studying the way Grian's ragged breathing had calmed a bit. "You're allowed to experience emotions. You're allowed to cry if you're upset or scared or anything in between. It's completely fine with me if you need to cry about something. Bonus points if you come to me for comfort. What am I going to get upset about?"

Grian had pretty much stopped crying by now, and Joel couldn't tell whether Grian had forced himself to stop or if he really was feeling better now.

Joel smiled softly. "Again, I'm not saying that I enjoy when you cry, but..." He let out a long breath and took Grian's hands in his, his eyes burning a bit. "Bud, when you come to me for comfort or even just let me see you cry, it's a sign to me that you're comfortable with me, that you trust me. And that means the world and back to me, you know that? It's going to take some time, but please tell me that you already knew you're allowed to cry in front of me."

Grian was quiet for a moment as he looked away.

"Grian?"

Just the mention of his name seemed to reached down and forcefully tear a painful sounding sob out of Grian's throat, and he went to sit on the floor with Joel, who immediately pulled him into the tightest embrace he could without hurting him.

Joel began to rock them from side to side, whispering soft reassurances in Grian's ear.

"I'm s-sor-" Grian cut himself off with another wail before he could finish and held onto Joel tighter.

"Shh, it's okay," Joel whispered, half-unsure if Grian could hear it over himself. "You're okay. You're okay..."

They didn't exchange any more words for a while, but at some point Grian had whispered a quiet "Thank you," and something about the way he said it make Joel break down as well.

Grian had immediately pulled away. "I'm sorry," he blurted. "I didn't t-to-"

Joel shook his head. "No, don't apologize," he said, his voice nasally. "You didn't do anything wrong, bud. I'm just a cry baby." He winked at Grian, and the younger laughed.

Grian glanced around the room again. "Thank you," he repeated, reaching out to wrap his arms around Joel again and burying his face into the brunette's chest. "Thank you so much."

"Of course, kiddo." They parted, though only enough so Grian could look up at Joel. "Alright, let's go get your things."

Grian furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "But I have all my stuff," he said, and pointed to the backpack he set on the bed earlier.

Joel turned to look in the direction Grian was pointing. "That's all you-" He paused. "Oh..." He groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead. "Oh my God, I'm so-" Burying his face in his hands, he let out a frustrated grunt. "I'm so stupid."

Grian looked away. "It's fine," he said.

"But it's not," Joel whined. "That was so rude of me- I am so sorry, Grian."

"It's fine," Grian repeated. "I don't really care about how much stuff I have, anyway."

Joel stared at Grian for a moment. He looks like he's telling the truth, he thought to himself, but he's also known for lying about these things... Sighing, Joel shook himself out of his head and got up from the floor. "Alright, bud, let's get your things put away so you can open your presents."

Grian shot up to his feet. "Presents?!"

Joel snickered. "Duh," he said, nudging Grian with his elbow. "Welcome gifts."

*   *   *

They'd finished putting everything away rather quickly, as most of what was in Grian's bag was just clothes. When they were done, Joel sent Grian on what was almost like a scavenger hunt to find little gifts dotted around his bedroom. After he found all of the gifts, Joel invited Lizzie so Grian could open them.

"Oh, you didn't," Grian breathed as he opened one of the smaller boxes.

Joel smiled. "Oh, but I did."

Grian looked up at Joel, his eyes noticeably watery. "You- I-" He looked back down inside the box and pulled out a maroon, leather wrap bracelet with a silver charm on it. There was something engraved in the charm. "Wait, what's this?" Grian held the bracelet closer to his face so he could read it. "So-" He froze, his eyes drifting to look back at Joel. "Son?"

Lizzie gasped and turned to look at Joel. "Did you-"

"Now, nothing's official," Joel said, holding his hands up. "Not yet, at least. I can't legally do much until my next birthday, but..." He looked at Grian and showed off his own bracelet - a black, leather wrap with the word father written on a gold plate. "I've been thinking about it for a while now. All I need is the okay from you."

Grian didn't say anything at first. Instead, he stared at Joel, then glanced over at Lizzie, who looked just as surprised as he did himself. He looked down at the bracelet in his hands, feeling like he was going to burst into tears at any given moment. "I... I don't know..."

"That's okay," Joel said patiently. "You don't have to. It's..." He sighed. "It's early considering, uh... considering recent events, I know, and it'll probably be a little weird considering our close ages, but..." He reached over to hold Grian's hands in his own. "Grian, I want to give you what you should've been given a long time ago. Remember what I said earlier? That this is a safe place for you?" Grian nodded. "I want this to be a safe place for you for the rest of your life. Well... maybe not this old apartment, but..." He smiled at Grian, who snorted at the comment. "I'm sure you get what I'm saying."

Grian nodded, looking away as he thought. "I..." He shook his head. "I don't..."

"You don't have to say yes if you don't want to," Joel said. "It's completely up to you. If you're on board, I'm on board. If you don't want to, I won't do anything. No pressure, okay?"

Grian stared at Joel for a moment before handing him his bracelet. "Can I think about it?" the dirty blonde asked quietly.

Joel nodded, smiling. "Of course, you can, kiddo," he said as he brushed a strand of hair behind Grian's ear. "Take all the time you need."

"Okay." Grian glanced over at the clock, which read nine-thirty-eight, and stood off the couch. "Can I-" He paused. "Can I go to bed?"

Joel and Lizzie exchanged glances. "Whenever you want," Joel answered. "But you still have things to open. You sure you want to go to bed right now?"

Grian nodded.

"Alright. Goodnight, Grian. I love you."

"Night," Grian said quietly before scurrying off to his room.

Joel turned to look at Lizzie. "Did I..." He paused, chewing on his lip as he thought. "Was that a mistake?" he asked, hating how his voice cracked. "I knew it was pretty early to ask, but..."

Lizzie gave Joel a soft smile. "I'm pretty sure it's not because of what you think it is," she said in a hush voice. "We both know he's had a difficult time adjusting to living with us. I think it's a little too much to spring adoption onto him along with moving in with you. I don't think it has anything to do with his mom."

Joel let out an agitated whine, lowering his head to rest his face in his palms. "I feel like an idiot," he said. "I should've realized-"

"Stop that, you goof," Lizzie scolded. "I'm sure it's fine. Once he's gotten used to everything else, he'll probably agree to it. Give it a bit of time, babes."

Joel sighed. "Right." He lifted his head again to kiss Lizzie's cheek, earning a giggle from his girlfriend. "Thanks, love."

"Anytime."

*   *   *

I know what you're probably thinking right now: "Joel wants to adopt Grian? They're both in high school. High schoolers shouldn't legally adopt other high schoolers."

Technically, you're correct. Just bare with me, alright? This will make a lot more sense a little bit down the line and in the "next" book. Just trust me. /lh

P.S. I put next in quotations because although Joel and Grian get their own book next, Scott's POV will be posted as book two at the same release time. /lh/cl

You're welcome for your free insight ;) /lh