Red String of Fate

Together

"Henry...Henry...Henry?" Pierre nudged Henry gently. "Henry...the coaches said we could go get changed. Are you awake?" The only reply he received was a very quiet snore. Shaking his head and smiling fondly, Pierre lightly tapped the end of his nose. "Tres mignon," he murmured happily. He pulled Henry into his arms as gently as he could and slowly got to his feet. Henry instinctively curled up into his chest. He got a few strange looks out of the corners of his classmates' eyes as he carried the smaller boy back to the locker room, but he tried not to pay much attention to them.

Once inside the locker room, he gently sat Henry down on the floor and shook his shoulder. Henry stirred and brought up a hand to rub his eyes. He yawned sleepily, lowering his hand and blinking tiredly at Pierre. Pierre smiled happily at him. "Bonjour, Belle au Bois Dormant," he murmured, taking Henry's hand and squeezing it. He'd give him a proper kiss once they were away from prying eyes. Henry stared at him quietly, trying to process what Pierre had just said. "It's time to get changed," Pierre told him gently. "If you're still sleepy, we can nap when we get to your house."

Henry nodded and yawned again. "Alright," he replied sleepily, rubbing his eyes again. He's so adorable, Pierre cooed to himself as he helped Henry get to his feet. Henry retrieved his clothing and passed Pierre's clothes over to him. Pierre changed in the shower stall again, and when he came back out he saw Henry fully dressed and leaning against the wall. He walked over and nudged his shoulder, prompting a smile from the smaller boy. He let Henry rest his head on his shoulder until the bell rang, when they joined hands and walked out together. "Got any homework?" Henry asked, obviously more awake by now.

"Just a short worksheet for History," Pierre replied. "I have about half of it finished, so I can do the last bit when we get to your house." He bumped Henry's shoulder and winked. "And we can cuddle on the couch after I'm finished if you like." Henry blushed, but he didn't protest. Instead he pulled Pierre to a light stop before stretching up on his toes and kissing him on the cheek. It was Pierre's turn to have blood rush up to his cheeks, and he smiled bashfully at the green-eyed boy, who was smirking mischievously at him. "Oh hush," Pierre told him, though he did give Henry a quick kiss on the nose before they started walking again.

"I didn't say a word," Henry said cheekily, looking very pleased about the little kiss exchange. "I was simply enjoying the fact that I made you blush." Pierre rolled his eyes, but he didn't bother to hide his smile. He let go of Henry's hand so that he could drape his arm over his shoulder and pull him closer to his side. Henry shyly wrapped his arm around Pierre's waist, prompting Pierre to kiss him lightly on top of his head. "How late do you want to stay?" Henry asked as they strolled up the front walk of his house. "Because I thought that after Gil comes home from work we could have dinner then start doing some searches for my mum."

Pierre shrugged one shoulder. "As long as I'm home before curfew I should be fine," Pierre said. "Since it's a Friday night my curfew is an hour later. I'll be able to stay pretty late." He reluctantly released Henry long enough for the smaller teen to unlock the front door and lead him inside. He kicked off his shoes just like Henry did, and followed him inside. Henry made a beeline for his room to drop off his backpack before coming back to Pierre's side. "Do you have anywhere you want to start looking for her?" Pierre asked, dropping his backpack next to the couch and sitting down.

"Not yet," Henry admitted, sitting next to Pierre as the Frenchman dug his History textbook out of his backpack. "That's why I wanted to wait until Gil got home. He could give us some more hints for us to work with." Pierre settled himself with his homework and patted a spot closer to him. Henry gladly scooted over and snuggled into him as Pierre began to work on the last part of his assignment. "I tried looking her up online last night," he said, "but all I got were some random hits for people who definitely weren't my mum, and some story about a ball of string on some writing website."